GDC10: gPotato talks PvP and open beta for Aika

Aika, the upcoming free-to-play game from gPotato, is one that's been attracting quite a bit of attention lately at Massively. The free-to-play MMO arena is rapidly losing the stigma of shallow, uninteresting games, and Aika is shaping up to be a perfect example of that. Innovative features such as the Pran -- the fairy familiar that is proving to be one of the most popular parts of the game -- and an intricate PvP system have given Aika a solid seat in the "one to watch" category.

We recently took a look at Aika in First Impressions, and enjoyed a talk with Community Manager Christina Kelly during Aika's second round of closed beta testing. Now the game is on the verge of open beta (which will bring some fun new features to the game), and the Aika team was very busy at GDC this week, but Christina found some time to sit down and chat with us again.

Follow along after the jump as we delve into the PvP and politics of Aika, as well as what we have to look forward to in open beta and launch.

PvP in Aika is the real core of the game. The developers at Aika have put a fair amount of time into creating an extensive system and offering a great variety to the size and type of PvP battles available. Our recent First Impressions explored the PvP system a bit, but it's nearly a game in itself, and the Aika team was kind enough to expand on it for us.

There are three types of PvP available, nicknamed the "fight for pride", the "fight for power", and the "fight for glory". Battlegrounds (the fight for glory) offer the smallest scale of the three PvP types, supporting 6v6, 12v12, and 24v24 battles. Players fight for honor points to earn weapons, armor, and accessories that can't be earned otherwise.

Relic Wars are the much-discussed 1000 vs. 1000 battles. This "fight for pride" battle style sends players to loot relics from the temples of other nations, earning permanent buffs to things like XP and strength. The buffs stack, so if your nation manages to loot four +10% XP buff relics, you'll earn the benefit of a full +40% boost. The combination of the huge scale of battle, the attempts to earn buffs for your side, and the national pride of defending your own temple from invaders makes Relic Wars the most exciting PvP area of the game.

Finally, we have Castle Sieges, the fight for power. Castle Sieges are a souped-up game of capture the flag, where the politics of the game really come into play. If a nation manages to break through the defenses of an enemy castle and capture their flag, they become the rulers of the defeated nation.

The leader of the foremost attacking guild becomes Lord Marshal, which is much more than a fancy title, according to Christina: "Being Lord Marshal is a really cool game feature, because it gives one player per nation a very uncommon amount of power over the player experience of everyone in the nation, also people in other nations as well. You can set the tax rate -- the tax rate is important because it affects every single transaction that goes on in the nation. You can, as the Lord Marshal, withdraw money from the national treasury once a week and do what you like with it. You have a certain chat mode, where if you say something using Lord Marshal chat you'll get this red message on the screen of all the citizens of that nation. To be Lord Marshal is a balancing act. You have to balance being a leader [with] personal perks like being able to withdraw money from the treasury."

While it's nice to be able to dip into the till as you wish, it is possible (and wise) to use that cash for the betterment of your nation, via actions such as reinforcing the Lakian temple to make it harder for opposing nations to attack and possibly unseat you. It behooves you to keep your nation happy as Lord Marshal: an abuse of power might be fun for a bit, but eventually you'll find that your subjects aren't sticking around, new guilds and citizens aren't joining, and guilds may eventually band together to overthrow you.

Speaking of other nations, what if you're not interested in constant warring with all of the other four? gPotato has assured us that it's possible to form an alliance with other nations. Allied nations enjoy all the benefits of working together - they can share PvP channels, shops, and much more. By teaming up to attack other nations, allies will enjoy strength in numbers.

Don't get too comfy in your seat of power, though: "We have a dynamic and fluid hierarchy of power," Kelly said. "Every week the game determines who the strongest nation is, and that nation cannot make alliances with another nation for a week. So if you're the most powerful, you're not supposed to just stay there by making alliances and going after the weaker nations all the time."

Open beta begins for Aika this Tuesday the 16th,and will be introducing an exciting new feature: mounts. Mounts are class specific, although they offer different skins and colors to provide variety. The scout and rifleman classes, for example, ride hoverbikes while the warlock attacks from the back of a dragon and the warrior thunders into battle on his formidable battle hamster (no, really). If those don't work for you, try riding a unicorn as a Paladin, or check out the Cleric class with a giant cat mount. Feel free to explore them all and settle on one without fear, as characters from open beta won't be wiped, and you can ride your mount straight into launch!

The Aika team has been hard at work preparing their game, and we look forward to seeing how the game fares in open beta. Thanks so much to Christina Kelly for her time!