Why did Elyon decide to remove air combat? What horrors are awaiting in the dark of its cash shop? How does leveling work? These are a few of the choice questions asked by French gaming site Jeux Online in a new interview with Bluehole’s director and Kakao Games Europe’s project manager.
On the subject of Elyon’s design pivot away from air combat in its original vision as Ascent: Infinite Realm, the studio chalked it up to “feedback from players on things that are technically impossible to correct.” The devs do once again repeat the answer of aerial combat’s potential return to Elyon, but only taking the parts of air combat that were the most well-received and only after the game has hit an “established structure.”
In terms of Elyon’s leveling progression, which our impression piece noted as requiring some mob grinding and side-questing, the studio explained that the design decision was meant to prevent veteran players from progessing faster than new arrivals (considering the game has open world PvP). Finally, the game’s cash shop will reportedly feature cosmetic items as well as “functional items” that are very likely things like inventory slots and warehouse extensions. Incidentally, Elyon’s second beta test will see these cash shop items tested, with players being handed out free cash shop currency to try it out.
The interview also notes a couple of questions that did not receive answers, such as how well Elyon is being received in its native Korea and how many other games from Bluehole and Kakao will be arriving to the west.
