GAMES has taken the pleasure of interviewing the game developers over a ChangYou about their newest free-to-play Martial Arts MMO, TLBB.

First off, let me just say that it is such a great pleasure to be interviewing ChangYou regarding their latest Martial Arts MMO, TLBB.

1. TLBB’s trailer informs viewers that it will be the “most powerful” Martial Arts experience of their MMO life. What sort of features does TLBB have that makes it stand out amongst other Martial Art MMO games?

Players will see from the trailer just how vibrant, exciting and captivating this MMO looks and when you combine that with its original storyline, TLBB delivers stunning atmospheric surroundings and a genuine martial arts feel with unique features. Players will get a good feel for the game from the word go and, once up to level 10, will get a chance to play as one of 9 classes available in-game. The latest expansion (v0.85) titled The Shadow Curse has also come with brand new features such as the artifact weapons. These rare weapons consist of four of TLBB's most sought after items; the Traceless Sword, Melting Falchion, Blue Silver Circle and Windstone Fan and will become the envy of any player who manages to get their hands on one.

View the TLBB trailer here: http://enter-tlbb.com/

2. It seems TLBB offers a great deal of events in the game. Could you describe to us in detail what each event are about?

In TLBB, there is always something to get involved in. With 24/7 in-game events such as Chess, Lucky Bingo and the Thief Raid, players will also benefit from the newly launched expansion that offers up fresh events like Ice Space (where you can gain XP quickly), Suppression of the Bandits (helping players to get closer to one of 4 artifact weapons) and Trade Day Event (where players can practice the art of buying and selling).

For full details about the new expansion and the events available, please visit:
http://tlbb.eu.changyou.com/shadow-curse/#events

3. TLBB offers a unique guild system which includes a feature that allows players to build their own city for their guild. How does this feature work and what inspired the creation of such a feature to be made for guilds?

TLBB emphasizes the guild system by creating a unique development structure incorporating city level increases, trading, quests, special guild equipment and creating the guilds in the first place. A city costs 1000G and the GM must apply for it at the corresponding NPC. Each guild city must be located in a territory, so when the GM is applying for the city, they select where the city is located (if available). The developers were poised to create a system that inspires guilds and encourages them to take advantage of their experience; this feature does exactly that.

For more info, visit:
http://tlbb.eu.changyou.com/gameguid…ingguild.shtml

4. This is the first time I’ve ever seen any MMO offer a Pet System where pets have their own “island”. Pets also can be chosen between baby pets and grown pets, and can even have their own titles. Can you elaborate to the players on all the features that are offered by the pet system?

Yes, they are very privileged pets (the fact they've got their own island) but fortunately for players, it's a place where the pets can be captured and used as sidekicks throughout the game. There is an array of pets ranging from crocodiles to dinosaurs and bats to squirrels so players will have lots of fun finding out which one they love most and which one works best for them. The great thing about the pet system is that it allows players to level up the pet almost as much as the character itself. Pets can become so crucial in battle and, most times, a necessity throughout quests. Their attributes include:

Strength – affects physical attack
Intelligence – affects magic attack
Stamina – affects physical defence and HP limit
Willpower – affects magic defence
Agility – affects hit, critical hit and reflexes

For more about the pet system, you can visit:
http://tlbb.eu.changyou.com/gameguid…eature03.shtml

5. It looks like TLBB is joining other MMOs in having a special wedding and monarchy system where players can get married as well as be a disciple to one another. What makes these two features stand out in TLBB?

The master/student system benefits both lower level and higher level characters in TLBB. By becoming a master, players are able to benefit from special rewards (such as Double XP) when they recruit a student and complete quests together (among other things). On the marriage side, players are treated to a traditional looking wedding that is customary to China itself. Again, with a number of great rewards and benefits that will help players along their journey (both individually and as a team), marriage will help lift XP and equip warriors with extra skills.

6. The game offers a class mount system where specific pet mounts are offered to players depending on their class. How exactly does this work?

There are 9 different classes in TLBB, each with their own designated mount once a player reaches certain level caps. The Assassin class (for example) has the Eagle, which becomes available to players at level 40, but reach level 60 and a player will receive the White Eagle mount which is faster and looks different. Each class has its own type of mount, all unique in their own way, and it's up to players to choose which one they like best from the start. Throughout the game there are other ways of getting mounts including the token shop, events (in-game and out-of-game) and competitions in the forum and social networks such as and .

For more about the class mounts available, please visit:
http://tlbb.eu.changyou.com/gameguid…eature05.shtml
To join the Facebook group, please visit:

7. Does TLBB offer instances where players can go into dungeons and complete objectives?

Yes, there are events available at all times as well as set times throughout the day including Chess, Football, Thief and Rebel raids. Doing these in groups of 6 is a great way to gain lots of XP, especially when using double XP time!

The levels of mobs in TLBB's instances/dungeons scale themselves depending on the level of the team going in at the time. So, a team averaging level 20 can do the same instance as a team averaging level 80, but the mobs will scale themselves nevertheless. In the event where the team has mixed levels, then the mobs will also scale themselves accordingly.

8. Each class will have a choice of picking out a “life skill” to go off of throughout the game. How does this feature work? Is each class limited to only one life skill or can each class learn more skills?

There are lots of life skills to be learnt throughout TLBB, but each class boasts its very own. Class attributes can be enhanced by these unique skills for example the Pyromancer, who can produce an item that temporarily increases strength, agility, fire resistance and ice resistance. The secondary life skill for each class enhances the success rate of the primary life skill.

9. A lot of MMOs allow players to sell items to each other early in the game. Does TLBB allow players to sell items to each other through a marketplace system?

There are 2 methods players can sell items to each other; a shop that can be purchased and ‘Peddling'. The shop is persistent and online even when the player is not but requires a steady flow of income to be kept open as it is taxed. However there is a limit as to how many shops can be opened by players.
Peddling requires players to be online and their character to be sat in a designated area of one of the major cities. It costs a small amount of silver but this will allow players to add the items and prices at which they want to sell them at.

10. How is the class balance in the game? Are there many classes to pick from?

There are 9 classes to choose from, they are; Assassin, Taoist, Shaolin, Beggars Alliance, Voodoo, Pyromancer, Minstrel, Lotus Order and Royalty. They all have individual benefits, moves, magic, mounts and more so it will be up to the player to figure out which one will work best for him/her. Class pillars are available for players to choose their preferred type of character, whether that's a tank, healer or DPS.

For more information on pillars and player buffs, please visit:
http://tlbbeu.wordpress.com/2010/10/11/classcharts/

11. Last but not least, will everyone be able to play the game? Is the game limited to certain countries?

TLBB is available on European servers and parts of South America and Asia. North America has the same game available in their market too - named Dragon Oath - where players will need to log onto specific servers (please visit http://do.us.changyou.com/ for more information). We will be localizing the game for specific regions including Turkey (upcoming) and more in the near future, as we want to cater for a wider audience in the western MMO market.

For full details about TLBB, www.enter-tlbb.com

That’s all for the interview. I hope everyone has learned about this new upcoming MMO from ChangYou.

Thanks for your time!

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