Interviewee:  Mike O’ Brien, president and co-founder, ArenaNet

Press:  17173.com

Interview questions:

受访者：麦克•奥布莱恩，董事长和联合创始人，ArenaNet

提问方：17173.com

访问问题：

1.During the China CBT3, players found that there are some differences with the US version. From developers view, what changes and differences of GW2 China version in your opinion compared to the west version?

1. 《激战2》国服这次免费测试，玩家发现国服和美服存在一些不同的地方，从研发商的角度来看，相较于美服，国服有哪些不同的改动？

答：Mike O’Brien, president and co-founder, ArenaNet: The largest set of improvements we made was to the new player experience. We used our experience launching the game in NA/EU to identify what players found confusing as they joined GW2, and made sure to fix those things before launching in China.

答：Mike O’Brien，董事长和联合创始人，ArenaNet：最大的改动是新手体验系统。我们利用在美服/欧服的运营经验，了解了让《激战2》新玩家感到困惑的方面，并确保这些问题会在国服上线前得到修复和改善。

In the NA/EU launch version, the game only properly introduced a few systems, but mostly it provided everything with no introduction at levels one and two: downed state, profession abilities, off-hand weapons, underwater, crafting, gathering, map completion, fast travel, banking, trading post, PvP, and WvW. In the China version we spread out more of these so we could provide a proper introduction of each. Note though that advanced players can still skip ahead: they can work on various aspects of map completion, travel with Asura Gates, and join PvP or WvW, before the level at which these features are introduced.

美服/欧服的游戏版本，初期仅介绍了少许的游戏功能，剩下的大部分内容在一级和二级时全部展现在玩家面前，没有详细的解释说明：倒地状态、职业技能、副手武器、水下战斗、制作、采集、地图完成度、快速旅行、银行、交易所、PvP和世界之战。在国服版本里，我们把这些内容分散到更多等级，针对每个系统提供最合适的介绍。但请注意，有经验的玩家仍然有办法绕过这类教程：即使人物等级较低，游戏尚未开启更多内容时，他们仍然有方法能够探索地图，透过阿苏拉星门旅行，加入PvP和世界之战。

In the NA/EU launch version, the game introduced a new personal story step every few levels, so after completing each story step the player was expected to do some leveling up before attempting the next. In the China version story steps are grouped together so that players can complete an entire section of the story at once.

在美服/欧服，每过几级会出现一段新的个人史诗。玩家完成一段剧情后，需要升上几级才能继续下一段故事。在国服，几段剧情被融合到一起，玩家就能够体验较完整的故事剧情段。

In the NA/EU launch version, the game provided a skill point, a trait point, and some attribute points on each level up. These were very incremental changes that were difficult to notice or appreciate. In the China version the game provides rewards in bigger batches so that players can immediately notice and appreciate the difference. For example, one level you get five skill points at once, another level you get a big boost to your attributes.

在美服/欧服，每次升级时会提供一个技能点，一个特性点和一些属性点。这些增长很难让人注意到，也没有太多成就感。在国服，游戏把零碎的奖励汇总起来。玩家立即发现有所收获，体验到人物成长的乐趣。例如，在一次升级时你获得五个技能点，另一次升级时你的属性获得了大幅度的提升。

In addition to improving the new player experience, we also made changes that we think are right for the long-term play experience. The biggest of those must be the change to the dye system. In the NA/EU launch version dyes were character unlocks, whereas in the China version they're account unlocks. With this new system you only need to collect a dye once and you can use it on any character. This is more convenient, but it means demand for dye will go down, so we're also reducing supply. Dye unlocks now come only from crafting and from the gem store.

除了改善新手体验，我们还改善了针对长期游戏体验的适当调整。最大的改变是染料系统。美服/欧服上线时的染料是针对人物解锁，但国服的染料则是帐号绑定的。有了这个新系统，你只需要收集一次染料，然后同一个帐号内的所有人物都能使用了。这让游戏更加便捷，同时也意味着染料的需求会减少，所以我们相应减少了染料供应。现在，染料只能通过制作和宝石商店的道具开启。

Actually NA/EU players have been asking for dyes to be account unlocks for a long time and we'll want to make essentially this same change for NA/EU. The differences will be in phrasing. In the NA/EU version players purchase dye packs from the gem store; in China players purchase dye identifiers from the gem store. Either way you purchase something and it gives you random dye, permanently unlocked for all characters on your account.

事实上，美服与欧服的玩家一直以来都在要求染料实行账号绑定，而且我们也希望借此次机会在美服/欧服上实现此功能。不过这项功能在外服与中国上的具体差异我们还在进行调整。现在美服/欧服上，玩家从宝石商店购买染料包；而在中国，玩家在宝石商店里购买的是染料鉴定器。但无论采用哪种方式，你总需要先进行购买，随后得到一个随机的染料，在使用之后即可为你账号下所有的人物开启一种颜色。

Getting back to the question, I have provided a sampling of changes we made for the China version but this list is by no means exhaustive. A lot of our work went into changes that seem detailed or hard to notice, but to us, those details matter a lot. We re-implemented every hint in the game. We made the game teach itself and removed the old ineffective help system. We added a content direction system so that the game always points you to something you can do next. We even made behind-the-scenes changes, like changing the way the game stores its data on disk, and rewriting critical back-end servers to prepare for launch capacity.

回到问题上来，我们为国服版本做出了大量改进，在这里只列举几个小小的例子。当然我们很多工作非常细致，也许很难为人察觉，但对我们而言，这些细节真的非常重要。我们为游戏重新定制了每一条提示。我们摈弃了旧有的没有帮助的引导系统，提高了游戏本身的教学能力。我们加入了内容引导系统，这样游戏总是能引导你体验下一步内容。我们同时还对后台做了许多改进，例如说，我们改进了游戏数据在磁盘上的存储方式，重写了后端服务器上的关键程序，提高了服务器运载能力。

2.GW2 China announced will sync with the global version previously but we found actually there are a lot things that do not synchronized. For instance, in the US version, the weapon skills unlock by battles but in China server this is by level. What is the reason here?

2. 《激战2》国服在开测前宣传与美服同步，但实质上有很多不同。比如美服通过战斗打怪解锁武器技能；而国服通过等级解锁，为什么会这样设置？

答：Mike O’Brien: We think that unlocking weapon skills by level is a better system. It's simpler, it gives players more time to learn their first weapon, and then it means that they have all skills unlocked immediately when they find new weapon types later in the game.

答：Mike O’Brien：我们认为通过等级解锁武器技能是个更好的系统——更简单，让玩家有更多时间学习他们的第一个武器，在此之后，当他们在游戏中找到其他新武器类型时，所有的技能都已经解锁了。

To answer your question more generally, when we talk about keeping the versions synchronized, our core concern is to ensure that players can experience every new Living World episode and every new Feature Pack when we release them at about the same time in each territory. Thus it's important to us that the territories shares common core systems so that new content we introduce works the same everywhere in the world.

对这个问题可以总体解释为：我们所说的版本同步，中心思想是为了保证玩家能体验到每一次新的世界动态章节和新功能，而这些我们会在同一时间在各个地区同时发布。因此，每个地区共享共同的核心系统非常重要，这样我们发布的新内容在世界各地才能同步运作。

Going back to the example of weapon skill unlocks, it doesn't particularly matter to a player's enjoyment of Living World episodes or of a new Feature Pack release whether he had originally unlocked his weapon skills through combat or through leveling. Either way, the skills are unlocked. So we made that change for China because we think it's right for China, and we have plenty of time to decide later whether we should bring that change back to NA/EU too.

回到武器技能解锁这个例子上，无论玩家是通过战斗解锁还是升级解锁，这都不会影响到玩家在世界动态或新功能中的体验。无论是何种方式，技能都会解锁。我们为中国做的这项改动，是因为我们认为这适合中国，然后我们还有很多时间来决定我们是否也会把这项改动做到美服和欧服上去。

In some cases we have allowed the versions to diverge because there's a change we can make for China that would be very difficult to bring back to NA/EU. I'll give an example. In GW2, guilds can exist across multiple worlds. In the NA/EU version, guilds earn influence separately and spend it separately on each world that their members play on. In the China version, guilds have a single pool of influence, and the upgrades they purchase with influence benefit members on all worlds. Obviously the China system is better, but it's not easy to take a system like that back to NA/EU where guilds already have different unlocks on different worlds.

而在有些时候我们允许版本间有所差异，是因为在中国适用的改动不一定会适用于美服和欧服。我举个例子：在《激战2》中，每个服务器都有许多公会；在美服和欧服，不同服务器的公会成员为公会获取或花费影响力时是分开计算的；而在国服版本中，公会的影响力是集中计算的，在不同服务器的公会成员都能享受到公会用影响力购买的升级。很明显，国服的系统更好，但是要把这个系统做回到美服和欧服中就很困难了，因为各个公会已经在不同服务器有了不同的解锁选项。

In some cases we couldn't allow even a temporary divergence without threatening our ability to ship new Living World releases and Feature Packs globally. I'll give an example. At launch in NA/EU we had long queue times for WvW, and WvW is only getting more popular over time, so we expected very long queue times in China. It was important for us to fix the WvW queuing situation before launching in China. But this was not something we could allow to diverge, so we ensured that we released the new WvW map, Edge of the Mists, in all territories prior to the launch in China.

有些时候我们并不能让美服和国服有一点点差异，尤其那可能会影响到全球同步发布新的世界动态和新功能。举例来说：在美服和欧服上线时，世界之战的排队时间很长，随着时间推移，世界之战只会越来越受欢迎，因此我们预计在国服也有很长的排队时间。我们的当务之急就是在国服上线之前要修复好世界之战的排队问题。但我们不能接受在这个问题上有版本差异，所以我们确保了在国服上线前就在所有地区首先发布了新的世界之战地图——迷雾边界。

Keep in mind, we'll be releasing a Feature Pack after CBT3 but before the launch of the game in China, so you'll see more of that type of global change then.

请记住，在巅峰体验以后我们还会发布新的功能，但是会赶在国服上线之前，届时各位就会看到更多这些全球性的改动。

3.Besides the above questions, others like WvW, in the US server, a new player can directly enter WvW at level 2 through the WvW icon; but on China Server this needs level 35 without WvW icon and playeres have to run in it. What’s your consideration here?

3. 除上述问题外，还有如参与WVW，美服新手任务后（2级）就可以通过图标直接进入战场。国服却要达到35级之后才能参与WVW，并且还没有图标直接传送，要靠自己跑路进去，为什么这样设置？

答：Mike O’Brien: In China also, players can enter WvW at level 2. We don't think that's a very good experience, but it's there for advanced players.

答：Mike O’Brien：同样的在中国版本中，玩家仍然可以在2级时就进入世界之战。其实我们觉得这样的游戏体验并不理想，但高端玩家还是有方式选择自己的游玩方式。

You're seeing a partially implemented system in CBT3. Here's how it will work: the WvW button will appear at level 35 or when any character on your account has earned a single rank in WvW. So if you want early access, you can use an Asura gate to travel there at level 2, earn a single rank, and all of your characters will get the WvW button.

你可以看到我们在巅峰体验中做出了一些系统调整。现在的机制是这样的：账号上至少一个人物到达35级，或者账号上至少一个人物的世界之战等级提升一级，只有满足两个条件之一，世界之战的按钮才会显示。所以，如果你想尽早进入世界之战，你只需在2级时使用阿苏拉星门进入世界之战，提升一级，这样你所有的人物就都可以看到世界之战的按钮。

4.KongZhong once said there will be no VIP system in game, but in the CBT3 that the Royal Title system caused big controversy here as players basically regard this indeed is the VIP system. As a GW2 developer, how do you think about the situation here?

4. 宣传时空中网称游戏中不会出现VIP，但国服中“皇家爵位”功能争议巨大，玩家普遍认为这就是VIP系统，作为研发方你们怎么看这种情况？

答：Mike O’Brien: As developers, the important thing to us is that we hold true to our standards of what should be and what shouldn't be purchasable. You may have read my 2012 blog post on this subject. For those of you who haven't, I'll summarize. We think it's right that players can spend money on items to provide visual distinction or customization, and can spend money on account services and time-saving conveniences. We think it's right that players can trade gems for gold and vice-versa, such that players can keep up with other players and be on a level playing field, whether they use their time or money to do so. But we think it's never ok for players to buy a game and not be able to enjoy what they paid for without additional purchases. And we think it's never ok for players who spend money to have an unfair advantage over players who spend time.

答：作为研发方，对于出售什么物品和服务，我们十分重视并坚守标准。我在2012年发过一篇相关的博文。针对可能没有看过那篇博文的玩家们，我在这里阐述一下。玩家花钱购买外形道具来装扮自己，或者购买账号服务来节省时间以获得一些便利，我们认为这些都是合理的。玩家用宝石兑换金币或者用金币兑换宝石，使自己不至于太过落后于其他玩家，能跟得上游戏进度，不管他们是花时间还是金钱，这些都是合理的。但是，如果购买了游戏，却不能通过额外消费来丰富自己的游戏体验，这才是不合理的。并且单纯只靠消费就能够比那些在游戏中投入更多时间的玩家更加优越，这当然是不合理的。

 这些是我们的原则。和其他的研发方有明显的区别。尤其是在中国，感觉拥有所谓的VIP就代表着超级强力，而没有VIP就一文不值。那不是适合广大玩家的游戏，那是“花钱称霸”的游戏。

 我们相信《激战2》里的“皇室爵位”系统绝非“花钱称霸”的系统，它绝不是中国玩家认为的那种ＶＩＰ。它的本质是一个忠诚度系统：爵位系统中基本所有功能都是商城中原有物品的整合，只是相当于增加了一项打包优惠的功能。这些东西你都可以在宝石商城单独购买。这些只是提供便利的内容，并非“更优越的能力”。游戏里绝不会有“花钱称霸”的内容。

I know that players everywhere are skeptical of microtransactions after having seen them abused in other games. So I wouldn't ask you to take my word for it; I ask you to see for yourself. In talks with KongZhong we've decided to expand CBT3 and allow players to experience the game soon without a CD key. I hope to see you there.

我知道，现在很多游戏里都在大肆出售道具，所以玩家会怀疑GW2里也会有这样的情况。我不会请求你们相信我的话，只请你们自己到游戏里去看。我们和空中网经过商议，即将将开放全体玩家无门槛的游戏进入。希望在游戏里和大家见面。