ERHQ.de: What advantages and disadvantages do players have when joining a minor fraction instead of the main factions?
How will the gameplay between the minor and major factions look like? (i.e. PVP, team missions, etc...)

Masthead Studios: Minor factions (a.k.a. Organizations) are different from Major Factions (Continoma and Noir). Players join Major Factions in order to take part of the grand conflict between the government and the rebels. Depending on what side they take, NPCs will have different behavior towards them and certain quests can be completed in different ways. The cost of insurance – the authority that allows players to retain their property when killed – is tied with player’s loyalty towards the party that ensures them that right. The main storyline is based around Continoma and Noir. Organizations are different. Organizations are guided by their own personal interest and the feud with other organizations, and they constantly give minor quests. Each Organization is affiliated with either Continoma, or Noir, or they stand on neutral ground, but often Organizations that side with Continoma will war between each other. Organizations are based around strategic knowledge that they specialize in. These design technologies are closely guarded and given only to people who are loyal to that organization, in the form of favors. Players who gain reputation towards a faction will be allowed to receive such exclusive designs, usually powerful enhancements for available technology. Reputation is like currency – each time a player receives a favor from an Organization, his Reputation towards that organization drops and he has to work hard to recover it.

Is there something to eat?

ERHQ.de: Will there be instanced zones and how will they influence the gameplay?
If there will be raidable instanced zones, what will be the goal to fight through these?

Masthead Studios: Again, Earthrise will feature an open world, which will not be instanced. The goal for completing a dungeon and killing the boss at the end would be to finish a quest or get some craftable resources, to gain experience and skills or simply to brag about it. The best items in the game will be made by players, so raiding a boss to get the best item in Earthrise will not happen.

ERHQ.de: How big will be the world you're creating and how will it limit player movement through it?

Masthead Studios: The action in Earthrise will take place on a pacific island, called Enterra. It is the only place left on Earth with surviving humans who fight to reconquer what was lost by them during the Third World War. The main island is bigger in size than the whole world of many popular MMOs, but not too big as we don’t want an empty world. We will leave to our players to judge the real size of the island when they enter the game, we don’t want to give them false expectations. Big and small are quite flexible terms.
Player movement will not be restricted by the environment, but only by the monster strength and the guards which will attack criminals or players from opposing factions.

ERHQ.de: Will players be able to influence the story? Will it be a static world or will players be able to make a difference?

Masthead Studios: Players will be able to complete quests from the major quest line in different ways, which creates a non-linear story progression. While the story will remain the same for each player and there’s balance and player experience restrictions on having fully modifiable story based on the actions of other players, it is the sandbox experience and economic and political freedom that will allow players to make a difference in the game.

ERHQ.de: The concept of offline advancement is really interesting. Could you tell us something about its nature and how players will be able to reap the fruits of their labour?

Masthead Studios: Offline gameplay is a simplified life simulation that is based on the concept that while your character is not out there saving the world and making himself a name in combat or crafting, he has an ordinary job that brings a small, yet steady money flow. Characters will be able to get jobs based on whatever education they have and total job experience they have accumulated. Longer job experience and a laundry list of diplomas will ensure your character better jobs and more income. Still, no offline income will offset whatever rewards you reap when actively playing. Aside from money, players will be able to earn achievements at their workplace, that offer them free items, designs or additional income that rewards the players for staying at one job in a long-term, instead career-hopping.

ERHQ.de: How is the resource gathering system going to work?

Masthead Studios: There are three groups of resources in Earthrise and each has a special method of earning them. The common materials will not be gathered – they will be available at the global market for a price. Common materials are the basic materials required to craft any item. The price for common materials will depend on how many mines are free of mutant threat and the combat activities at the mines will cause the prices to fluctuate which is golden mine for speculators and stock market players. Uncommon materials will be mined by mining buildings Guilds construct in their own territories. These materials will be the basis of all powerful and expensive items in the game and guilds can influence the market by controlling supply of those materials. There’s one very special resource which has to be harvested in a very dangerous area, and to survive there, players will have to pilot massive exoskeleton mechanoids. These mechas will be tightly specialized into either harvesting or combat, so one single harvester sent to mine resource will be helpless against any attack from mutants or other players – to gather that resource, players will need combat mecha backup which makes it a cooperative experience different from any other in the game.

Another Monster Concept Art.

ERHQ.de: What are the different ways that players will be able to travel through your world?

Masthead Studios: Although the island of Enterra is quite big, players will find it easy to move from place to place. They will be able to craft or buy their personal vehicles, which will significantly increase the movement speed of their character. There will also be teleports scattered across the whole island, which will provide for instant movement from place to place. The second option will not come for free, players will have to pay to use it.

ERHQ.de: Will there be vehicles and aircraft? And if so, would they be usable in PVP combat?

Masthead Studios: There will not be flying vehicles in Earthrise. The only vehicles will be player-owned hover crafts, which will be used only for transportation, we don’t plan to include them in PvP, otherwise Earthrise will become a more mechanized vehicle oriented game and the players and human factor will not count as much. We don’t want that.

ERHQ.de: How does your team look like? Are there already community managers? And if not, do you plan on employing some for the different communities?

Masthead Studios: We have a team of typical employees who work on a game – programmers artists, game designers, level designers. We also have a community manager and are planning to add more for different languages as the community keeps growing.

ERHQ.de: Last but not least. The most important question of all. Do you enjoy what you do?

Masthead Studios: If we didn’t enjoy what we were doing, we would not have made this interview, hehe.
Everyone in the team loves his work and is very dedicated in making Earthrise a significant MMO title when it launches.