I had a chance to sit down with Alexander Zacherl of Fairytale Distillery during Das Tal's playtest this past weekend. Das Tal is an upcoming open PvP sandbox MMO that takes a lot of design inspiration from MOBAs. In its desert-themed world, you battle over settlements, camps, resource nodes, and more. Players battle using a system similar to those seen in MOBAs with free-aiming combat and players can hide in brush that conceals them unless other players enter the brush too. Access to the game is currently limited to alpha playtesters on the weekends for the most part, with a 24/7 setup coming soon.

The interview is split into two parts, the part that took place over Skype during the playtest and the part that took place afterwards by email.

Playtest part of the interview.

Me: Is the active XP bar telling me how much I'm getting out of a potential rate or is it out of the cap?

Zacherl: Out of the cap for now.

Okay, I didn't know if it slowly went up and gave me more the more I was on or if it was something different.

Active XP doesn't go up. Active XP is like when you kill mobs, players, craft something, that kind of thing. Item XP, you get for using the right kind of items. All of the XP types are factored into your total.

I was looking at the fact that you can take over a settlement. How does building structures work right now? Do you just build atop the ruined structures for now?

Exactly. You can take free ruins and turn them into buildings. That is the scope. They work. They do stuff. But it doesn't have the breadth of buildings that I want yet. Also, you can build walls and doors, which are useful. Good to keep people out.

How many settlements are on the map so far?

Three. One in each corner, basically.

Are essences just for XP?

They're also used to craft stuff and build settlements right now. You can use them to get item XP or craft things.

How do item XP and active XP combine?

Those plus the XP you get over time is your total XP.

The NPCs can take over the objectives?

Up until they started doing it, I was like "okay, I leave them to it."

So it's a bug, then?

It's actually not a bug. More of an "unintended feature." But I actually do not intend to take it out. If you manage to let a mob steal stuff from you, well, bad luck.

Is the loot from events, like the meteors, shared between members of the clan or does only one person get it?

Loot, you have to manually share. XP, from the mobs, for example, is being shared between clan members. You would have to take the loot out and split it up. These meteors and stuff are single-player. They aren't on a clan basis. But bigger events like resource spawns, those are shared between the whole clan.

And loot drops on death?

Yes, everything drops on death right now.

Then I can expect to lose this stuff a lot.

Definitely. It's not very important right now because equipment is not very strong or useful. That's the next thing we're going to change, the new skill system next month. Then it's getting more interesting.

Are there any self-healing items or skills?

Just the rope or the splint. The splint has a skill that will heal you when people attack you.

What benefits are farms and such going to provide?

It's basically a large amount of resources. The smallest will give you 20 while the largest will give you like 1000. You will basically need those to get a city going. They're going to be the main resource income.

Oh, these have 35 minute timers.

Yeah, exactly. They're actually going to go to daily timers soon. These are going to turn into daily fights, relatively big ones, whereas small events are things that you can do all the time.

Are settlements going to be the same?

Settlements are probably going to be the rarest fights, like big siege fights. That happens like every couple days or so.

Is there a point you can be killed instead of just KO'd?

Yeah, if they gank you and force you to respawn.

Interviewer’s note: You get KO'd from battle. Your opponents can then use a "gank" skill on you to kill you. Otherwise, you can either be revived by friendly players or slowly gain health until revival.

What are siege tents for?

They're basically for when someone already owns a settlement. These are where you start the event to lay siege to the city.

I keep pulling too many mobs. You guys are already designing this around group content, it looks like.

[laughs] Well, I want the mobs to really be a threat to players so they learn how to deal with aggressive players, right? They shouldn’t be so easily farmable that they’re different from players. And while they are easier than players, they are still difficult. That’s the point.

So team-killing is possible, even when you’re in clans?

Yes, it’s always possible. It’s a bit of a core of the common system for me, that there’s no distinction between friend and foe. That you have to figure out the right timing for stuff.

In a vague sense, is this starting to represent what you are looking to do with Das Tal?

Yeah, it’s getting closer to that. It’s still pretty hectic and meaningless because there’s no real long term goals in there. But it’s slowly getting closer.

Right now, the biggest problem is that it still feels way too much like an arena, right? Kill someone and they’re instantly back. You don’t have a lot of big picture stuff to think about. That is the kind of stuff that comes with running for a long time.

And that is the next step we are working on. Like, the core gameplay, well, it’s decent. It needs better skills, it needs better bounds, it needs a little less lag. That’s all basically polish. The big picture stuff, that’s still massively missing.

Email part of the interview.

I didn't actually ask - is the spear a confirmed weapon and what role would it play, if so? Offense? Defense? Support?

Confirmed. Hybrid of long-range melee offense with a lot of defensive abilities to protect the user and her allies.

How far off is the 24/7 release and how much of the game will be represented by the first pass at 24/7 testing? Will the world ending cycle be a part of it?

Hopefully in November. Worlds will end, probably not yet with a big bang. First have to figure out balance for the time of the test. Still a bare-bones version of the game.

How big is the world planned to be during 24/7 testing? Just a rough estimate of about how many players might sit comfortably on it at once.

Bigger than currently but probably only to a factor of 1.5 or 2.

Once 24/7 testing begins, how often are wipes planned for?

After every server ends. We'll start out with 7-day-servers and then see where it brings us.

During the playtest, we talked a bit about helping other clans or joining with other clans. Considering the firepower required to take down bosses or siege settlements, do you think alliances between clans might one day be a feature?

Definitely. Alliances are a must.

Are you always going to be able to respec as much as you want. If so, what will you be allowed to respec? Weapons? Skill points?

Not sure yet. In the next phase everything can be changed. Maybe this will get restricted over time if that's better for the game.

The game is very clearly focused on PvP currently. Is PvE content intended to stay limited or will other staples of the MMORPG genre, such as dungeons, eventually be implemented?

It's going to stay very limited.

Have you come any closer to deciding on a business model since the FAQ was written?

Not really. Pay-once for now—first have to make a decent game.

Each of the worlds will eventually end, but will players have to start over at the end of each world? Based on the description of "The Escape," maybe there are plans to let players that survive the ability to keep their progress, while those that perish won't?

It's unlikely that you can transfer power/wealth from one world to another - but yeah, there may be special perks for winners.

Bounty hunts, will they maybe extend to players eventually?

Only if I can come up with a design that works for that. Many MMO designers have failed at the attempt. Hard problem.

Are the events on the Events page all that are planned so far? I figure that at this point, you are trying to get all of them into the game before working on more potential events?

We'll pick from the list unless we have a genius idea that is better than anything listed. =D

We talked a bit about it but the details were a bit unclear. How much control will players have over the way settlements are set up? Will buildings have building nodes or will players be free to place them anywhere within the confines of their owned settlement?

Strict nodes for now. More flexible nodes mid-term. Free placement much later if we get to that point - too much work for now.

What kinds of biomes are planned? The game has a distinct feel because of the desert setting currently and I am curious to know what other kinds of settings are possible.

Desert Wasteland (in the game), High Mountain Range (WiP), Toxic Swamp (soon after), tbd …

How are you planning to continue developing bosses?

Bosses are going to turn into player-triggered but relatively rare prime-time events. Maybe daily, maybe less often. Need better AI and a bit more interesting abilities.

Are you planning to continue pushing the MOBA-like map design?

Yes. we're basically going to take this map and make it bigger and more interesting by adding unique locations and unique mechanics from different biomes.

Are spawns going to stay as they are implemented now or will there be a "central starting zone"?

Multiple starting zones are more likely. Basically a concentric model, start from the outside, work your way into the center.

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You can find more info or buy into Das Tal's Early Access phase at on the official website. Early Access starts at €40.