Enter the adventuresome world, discover the wideness of the Ocean, explore the land together with your friends and many other adventurers. Experience a completely new gameplay and learn how to trade, to steer and to fight on the water.Florensia, an MMOG afloat and ashore!  Not only in the dungeons deep in the heartland, but as well on and below the water, numerous challenges and dangers are waiting for you. Sounds exciting? let Simone Lackerbauer, a Marketing Coordinator of Burda-ic, give us more details about Florensia.

MMOsite: First congratulations, you've successfully launched the first closed beta for Florensia on March 20th, 2008. How is everything going on with the testing? What's the feedback? Does it meet your expectations?

Simone Lackerbauer: Thank you very much! The test was a great success for us. The 700 players we chose out of 20.000 registered users gave us a lot of feedback via our forum. The beta absolutely met our expectations. There were no major bug issues and the positive responses regarding quests, teamplay and graphics quality showed us Florensia can and will be a great success outside Asia as well.

MMOsite: Why did you name the game "Florensia"? Does it have anything related to the storyline of the game? Any story behind it?

Simone Lackerbauer: Before the world of Florensia we know today came into existence, there was only one huge continent called Lux Plena and it was full of magic. Due to corruption and war, Lux Plena almost completely got destroyed and all that's left are the few known islands and the vast sea. But the governors of our world today know there is more to be discovered than only these islands. In the old language, "Florensia" means "travelling and working for your goals, going ahead on the way of life". Everyone in the known world ¨C may it be the pirates, the brave adventurers or the monsters on the open sea ¨C is working for their goals, so that "Florensia" becomes the reason for their existence.

MMOsite: It seems a lot of players are eager to play Florensia. And many players feel frustrated that they failed to receive a CB key. In your opinion, why Florensia is so appealing to them?

Simone Lackerbauer: First of all, common facts like the exceptionally appealing graphics and the whole look and feel of the game attract the players. We think our players know that Florensia is more than just a f2p MMOG. They can see we have a growing community which is one of the most important things for a massively multiplayer online game. They also know there is way more behind Florensia than what they have already seen. With the upcoming features, such as the battle pet system and the advanced job classes (and many more we can't name yet), the variety of things you can actually do in Florensia will significantly increase. The well-balanced interdependence of land and sea adventures is also an important aspect.

MMOsite: To tell the truth, I'm fascinated with the graphics of Florensia, which are in cartoon style and not too realistic. Would you care to talk more about the art design of Florensia?

Simone Lackerbauer: We are happy to hear that. The combination of cuteness, individual styles, sophisticated landscapes and dangerous monsters alongside the Japanese art design is really popular in our community. The team behind the graphics and the illustrations is amazing, we already received a lot pictures, for example the illustrations of the Black Dragons Pirate Hideout. One of the creative directors from the game Granado Espada has joined Netts for working on Florensia and we really love the special style of Florensia. For us, the look of a game is really important, because the players have to be able to identify with it.