Thank you Dennis Choi, the founder & CEO of NPICSOFT Inc., the developer of ELOA (Elite Lord of Alliance) and Richard Sunmyoung Moon, Head of Global Business at WEBZEN Inc., the official publisher of ELOA in the West, for accepting 2p.com's exclusive interview.
![ELOA (Elite Lord of Alliance)]( "ELOA (Elite Lord of Alliance)")
1. ELOA and Inspirit Online are essentially the same, aren't they? Why there are two different names?
[Dennis]: We understand that this situation must have caused a lot of confusion among players, who learned about ELOA and started playing it under the name of "Inspirit Online". Inspirit Online is not an official version of the game. In fact, we have sent many official notifications to the corresponding company, declaring Inspirit Online as an illegal copy of ELOA. It is important to note that NPICSOFT has registered the global license of the brand name "ELOA", along with its characters, etc. This includes licensing rights for North America, Europe, and other countries. However, a company called "GRE" is still continuing its unauthorized services. The developer of ELOA is NPICSOFT, and the official publisher of ELOA is WEBZEN. Inspirit Online is simply a copy of ELOA, a game developed by us, and will be considered as an unauthorized, illegal private server.
![ELOA (Elite Lord of Alliance)]( "ELOA (Elite Lord of Alliance)")
2. Is copyright issue involved? How do you plan to address this issue?
[Richard]: After a thorough investigation, we came to the conclusion that Inspirit Online is using a CBT client from the Southeast Asia version of the game, which was leaked without authorization. Now that the publishing contract has been signed, WEBZEN will take every legal and business measure to manage WEBZEN's license to the best of our ability. WEBZEN has been authorized to utilise all rights for the game's brand and license to enforce adherence the lawful copyright of NPICSOFT, and will try our best to protect the license of NPICSOFT which was infringed without notice.
![ELOA (Elite Lord of Alliance)]( "ELOA (Elite Lord of Alliance)")
3. Assuming Inspirit Online has built up a potential player base in NA and EU, how does ELOA plan to succeed in the western market?
[Dennis]: Unlike Inspirit Online, the content of ELOA as an MMORPG is constantly improving and expanding. Most of the game content currently open to the public is composed of instance and raid dungeons, which has been the express intention of the development team. Very soon, we plan to create a large-scale siege battle and neutral area where players can continuously enjoy open-world PvP, along with open-world raiding.
Although ELOA has a more dynamic battle style compared to other MMORPGs, we also plan to make it possible for players to engage in a variety of PvP battles, even in the open world.
![ELOA (Elite Lord of Alliance)]( "ELOA (Elite Lord of Alliance)")
4. What is NPICSOFT's attitude on the existence of Inspirit Online and ELOA?
[Richard]: After NPICSOFT discovered this illegal copy of the game, they sent an official notice to their Korean partner, Netmarble, in order to work together to put a stop to the unauthorized service of Inspirit Online.
While the official publishing contract with WEBZEN was still in preparation, NPICSOFT had also taken important advice from WEBZEN on this matter into consideration. Now that the publishing contract has been signed, WEBZEN will take every legal and business measure to manage WEBZEN's license to the best of our ability. WEBZEN has been authorized to utilise all rights for the game's brand and license to enforce adherence the lawful copyright of NPICSOFT, and will try our best to protect the license of NPICSOFT which was infringed without notice.
![ELOA (Elite Lord of Alliance)]( "ELOA (Elite Lord of Alliance)")
5. How will NPICSOFT support ELOA in terms of future development?
[Dennis]: ELOA is currently serviced by our Korean partner company, Netmarble, and contains much higher quality content compared to Inspirit Online, with the localization for North America and Europe already in progress. About 100 developers at NPICSOFT's ELOA studio are currently devoting all their energy to the global release. We're very certain that the running of Inspirit Online, without any basic understanding of ELOA, will never be a match for the official content of the original game.
6. Compared with Inspirit Online, will ELOA have different features?
[Richard]: WEBZEN's official version of ELOA already has huge amounts of content readily available for our beta test. This includes new maps and classes which have already been developed by NPICSOFT, but are not included in the leaked CBT version that Inspirit Online is using. We're very certain that Inspirit Online, currently operated illegally, will never keep up with our content releases. We look forward to showing you the distinct differences between the original and copy, as we offer much better quality assurance for our live operations, and receive direct support from the original developers of ELOA. Because of this, the two games will show incomparable differences in terms of service stability, with superior security/server connections, and so forth.
![ELOA (Elite Lord of Alliance)]( "ELOA (Elite Lord of Alliance)")
7. How is ELOA different to other Korean MMOs you publish in the west?
[Dennis]: I think ELOA is superior to any other MMORPG currently active, owing to its unique dynamic battle system among many MMORPGs where stable server synchronization is the most crucial. I believe the unique feature of ELOA is the strategy whereby users can customize their own various skills and combos, and apply them to battle at any time, as opposed all the emphasis simply being on actions.
In addition, we provide a smooth gaming experience with an easy-to-use "Automatic Party Matching System", to support users in PvP areas and dungeons.
Also, we allow players to acquire and grow their own pets to move faster and enjoy various conveniences. Users will be able to see a variety of pets in the town.
![ELOA (Elite Lord of Alliance)]( "ELOA (Elite Lord of Alliance)")
8. How many classes will be available at launch?
[Dennis]: So far, there are a total of 5 classes available for players to choose from. The core system of this game is the "Triple Battle Stance Switch System", where each class has 3 battle stances to switch between in real time. (We also plan to introduce a new class via future updates, in addition to the already existing 5 classes.)
Each battle stance has its own unique features for playing solo, in a party, and PvP. Based on this feature, users can enjoy a total of 24 skills per each battle stance as they please. Players can gain the advantage in battle by not only easily responding to constantly changing battle tactics, but also by customizing their own battle style and combos as freely as they want.
Players proficient at combos in this way can take an advantageous position in PvP battles against other players who have equivalent abilities. This makes battle control in this game more interesting compared to any other previous MMORPG.
![ELOA (Elite Lord of Alliance)]( "ELOA (Elite Lord of Alliance)")
9. We hear that the game has a deep class specialization system, do you mind giving us more details?
[Dennis]: Your character acquires talent points at a certain level. What's interesting about ELOA is that skill mechanics are directly affected by the talents you decide to learn, and there are many modifications that players can make.
Some modifications are purely beneficial to a skill, for example, increasing the size of a fireball cast by a mage by 50%, which means you can hit more monsters at the same time. Other modifications come with drawbacks, such as increasing the Attack Power of a fireball by 20%, but increasing its cast time by 40%.
You can see where this is going, ELOA will offer deep modifications for players and everyone can decide for him or herself whether a talent is worth it for their playstyle. I've only mentioned two modifications for one skill, just imagine how many builds there are going to be for all the different classes and their skills! We can't wait to see what builds players come up with!
![ELOA (Elite Lord of Alliance)]( "ELOA (Elite Lord of Alliance)")
10. Do you have beta and release schedule for ELOA now?
[Richard]: The first beta test will start this autumn, with the official launch slated for the end of this year. We are currently looking at the Beta Test date to be finalized, but we will announce the upcoming schedule soon. So stay tuned!
![ELOA (Elite Lord of Alliance)]( "ELOA (Elite Lord of Alliance)")
11. Great! Do you have anything else to add before we conclude the interview?
[Dennis]: To be honest, we, the ELOA developers in Korea, were disappointed when we received news of the illegal copy of ELOA. It's sad to see a game which has been developed for such long time, and with great effort, being illegally distributed. However, the disappointment did not last long once we entered our wonderful partnership with WEBZEN, with their ability to help us provide quality content and services to our customers. In fact, this made us even more driven to rise to the challenge, giving us extra motivation to provide the very best product to our users.
We will show our energy and enthusiasm through the Western launch of ELOA in the near future, and we will repay you with better content and even more enjoyment. Also, we are always eager to hear your feedback and valuable comments. Thank you once again!
One of the best commons in the game for arena. If your opponent can’t kill it in the next 2 turns you will just win the game (of course if you have a normal amount of health left). It generates great value even if activated once since a lot of murlocs buff each other (like Grimscale Oracle). Also if you manage to get a Murloc Knight from Murloc Night you will win the game. Overall you should almost always pick it.
Definitely an amazing card released in TGT which is stated really nicely. You essentially get a Stormforged Axe which is already a good card but instead you get it without 1 mana overload next turn which is great. Really pushes Paladin’s early game even more towards Paladin’s side.
Having your hero power give you 2/1 is really good as it can kill most 2 drops and give you card advantage. The 4 health on Warhorse Trainer lets him survive long enough to gain value from Silverhand Recruits. This card combo’s especially well with Muster for Battle. Definitely a good pickup even without synergy with other cards
Competitive Spirit is a win more card and usually you won’t need many of these in arena. Obviously you would want Competitive Secret to buff at least 2 minions for it to be average and with increasing amount of minions buffed it becomes better and better. Definitely fits nicely in aggressive Paladin decks which will be able to put out a lot of minions early on and use Competitive Spirit to get value but if you play a slower deck this card definitely loses potential. Also since it is a secret it gives your opponent hard time figuring out what it is and making his plays awkward.
This cards gives Paladin what it lacked: Removal. It is 3 damage for 3 mana which isn’t too great but you get to keep your buffed minion.Definitely pick if you didn’t manage to pick up removals like Truesilver Champion
Since health doesn’t matter most of the time in arena Tuskarr Jouster is essentially a 5/5 for 5 mana and sometimes will restore some health which won’t matter too much unless in specific cases. Generally 5/5 are good because they can trade with most 4 drops and survive.
