Monthly Archives: August 2010

Earth Eternal Perhaps Not Eternal

Earth Eternal Perhaps Not Eternal

 

In an extremely saddening message Matt Mihaly, CEO of Sparkplay Media, the creators of Earth Eternal has announced that his company has run out of money and that he had to lay off all but one of his employees.

 

“There’s no way to disguise what I’m about to tell you as good news, so I won’t try. Unfortunately, Sparkplay has hit hard times and is not going to survive. I had to lay off all of our staff except for two people (one of which is me) on Friday, and it’s likely that by this time next week neither of us will be with Sparkplay any more either. The simple fact is that we’ve run out of money.”


Earth Eternal has run out of money


For Earth Eternal players this means they have roughly another week to enjoy the game.

 

“What does this mean for Earth Eternal? The answer is that it’s hard to tell. We’re putting it up for auction today and are reasonably confident that someone will buy it and keep it running. There is, however, the chance that nobody will want to take on the cost of running it. If that happens, Earth Eternal will go down when our internet and hosting provider pulls the plug for non-payment.”


It will hardly matter but some “good” news is that everyone can have as many items from the premium shop as they want:

 

“I’ve turned off the ability to buy credits now or earn them via offers/surveys. I’m also going to set all non-permanent items in the credit shop to cost nothing so that everyone can have some fun,”


Matt is understandably sad but manages to stay extremely classy, and takes all the responsibility for the ordeal:

 

“I’m sorry. I’ve failed you despite my best efforts. I’ve never worked harder in my life, but it wasn’t enough. Things that we planned on happening didn’t, and things we didn’t plan on happening did. I don’t want to go into a lot of detail and I don’t want to try to shift responsibility to anyone but myself. There’s really nothing I can say other than I am very very sorry to have let you down.”


The OnRPG team wishes the whole Sparkplay team all the best!

 

Source: Official Earth Eternal Forums

Heroes of Kungfu Interview: Kung Pao Browser Game!

Heroes of Kungfu Interview: Kung Pao Browser Game!
Questions by Vincent Haoson, OnRPG Journalist
Answered by Team Webmmo

 

Heroes of Kung Fu is a martial arts, browser based game from WebMMO that’s been operating for about half a year. We here at OnRPG had the chance to check up on the guys behind this latest martial arts online game. Here’s what they have to say about the game.

 

OnRPG: It’s been about 5 months that the game has started operations how’s the game holding up?
WebMMO: To sum it up in a word: great. The game has been gathering momentum since the day it opened, and now we’re five months in and still going strong. Month five has been our best month yet, and we expect our popularity amongst gamers to keep on growing in the months to come. 

 

OnRPG: How big is the game population? Has it met your expectations? How so?
WebMMO: Our worldwide population is really staggering. The Chinese servers alone host millions of players and we plan on having our recently opened English servers match it. The turnout has been exciting — definitely beyond what we initially expected. A portion of HoK players are converts from our other Webmmo games, who, upon hearing about the new release, decided to try it out. However, the majority of players are new walk-ins who saw the game banner on related sites and went for it. It was just a matter of time before they were hooked.

 

HOK Kingdom

 

OnRPG: It seems that the game has been opening servers in a regular basis, why? (could you elaborate on the answer?)
WebMMO: Multiple servers give players a greater variety of game play. This way they can try out different characters and weapon professions, and switch between them as they learn the strengths and strategies of each one.

 

New servers are also a big benefit to newer players that are able to grow along with the server. Instead of joining a server with a lot of legacy players hoarding all the top rankings, they start off on a more level playing field and enjoy competing with one for the top spots.

 

OnRPG: Can you explain how a martial arts game can get itself compressed into a browser based medium and still be exciting for players?
WebMMO: Fun is fun, regardless of technical limitations, and a good game will immerse players in its game world right away.  We feel confident about the popular martial arts themes, back stories, characters and action that we have here. We want to combine the competition and style from that period in history with the accessibility of the browser game format.

 

OnRPG: Can you tell us how the PvP system works in Heroes of Kung-Fu?
WebMMO: There are essentially three forms of PvP interaction. The first is the arena where players fight in a ranking system and are permitted to wear special gear only after reaching certain levels. The second is the guild battles where competing guilds declare war upon each other and must fight to defend their guild hall or defeat the other guild hall’s sign. The final method is basically world PvP where players with a hostile status can be engaged at any time by another player. 

 

HOK Instance 

 

OnRPG: As the title of the game specify, it seems that the roots of the game is on martial arts so what were the basis of your classes for the game?
WebMMO: When we talk about martial arts, there are literally dozens of different styles to choose from. It would be impossible to include all of them in one game, so we chose six of the most compelling styles available and expanded on them. The Spear – Destruction class is immediately identifiable for those familiar with the character who killed a thousand soldiers in one battle in the epic Three Kingdoms story. And an infamous killer who slays with one fatal blow has got from the Dagger – Assassin class. These are all common occurrences in the Warring States period, so this is a player’s chance to see what it’s like to be as deadly in combat as any of those hardy men and women.

 

OnRPG: Is the game more of an action based martial arts browser based game, or more of a strategy martial arts game? How so?
WebMMO: It’s a strategy based martial arts game. Most battles are won through better preparation and a deeper understanding of the game mechanics. Since skills and gear play a big role in battles, most fights will be determined by how well the player has managed his or her character’s upgrade. 

 

OnRPG: What do you think is the game’s edge against the other martial arts client games? Why do you think so?
Webmmo: Our emphasis lies on creating a positive player experience.  We often hear chat is much friendlier than a lot of other games out there. That’s because we try to create this kind of atmosphere with the support of our CMs. There’s also a level of responsiveness and interaction between players and GMs, which can be rare elsewhere, and the players genuinely appreciate this level of attention.

 

OnRPG: What’s currently the most used job class in the game? Why do you think players love that class?
WebMMO: Dagger – Assassin. The idea of a quick and agile character that attacks hard and fast seems to appeal to a lot of players. They don’t have the flashy effects of the Sword – Mystery, or the incapacitating blows of the Dagger – Duelist; they are nothing but pure, unadulterated damage. Get hit by an assassin, and you’d be coughing up blood. If you’re still alive, that is.

 

OnRPG: How involved are the players in the game’s overall operations? why?
WebMMO: We try to get them as involved as we can. We like to promote veteran players to moderators because they are good at encouraging newer players and engaging senior players with their individual enthusiasm for and knowledge of the game.

 

HOK Navigation 

 

Player feedback is also key in our decisions about how to run the game because they are the one’s battling with and against each other every day, so they have a fairly well-developed sense about what works and what doesn’t. Of course, it’s our job to make the final decision, but that’s after taking what we’re hearing from the players seriously.  

 

OnRPG: How big are you expecting the game to be? Why do you think so?
WebMMO: Really big, no doubt about it. Even though it’s not as graphic-extensive as other games, sheer game play alone is more than enough to engage new and old players alike. The system has been designso well that players care more for the numbers that appear in their battle log than for characters and monsters dancing around trading blows.

 

The average time a dedicated player needs to finish up all possible daily activities without spending extra on hastening timers? Ten hours. But get players involved in all aspects of the game community and player chat and they’ll spend twice as long online chatting with the active in-game personalities.

 

Heroes of Kung Fu pride itself on its community. As stated earlier, it has a unique blend of friendly players and helpful moderators that you rarely find in other browser games. The interaction new players receive from the older ones make for a pleasurable experience and is one of the main factors that keeps them coming back. Game achievements have a greater sense of accomplishment when there are others around to congratulate you on them.

 

OnRPG: How active are the players in the game? Are you satisfied with their activity?
WebMMO: We’re always looking for better ways to increase player participation. Happy players are likely active players, and vice versa. And dedicated players are the lifeblood of a game – they are the ones bringing in new players, supporting newbies, and pushing us to continue developing the game! We like to encourage more and meaningful activity by promoting our events and rewards and developing a positive community for players to be active in.

 

OnRPG: What other features can players do with the game aside from PvP-ing?
WebMMO: Besides the features already mentioned, players look forward to our instances. Each instance has a different level of difficulty, and requires teaming up with other players to defeat NPCs for a handsome reward. Also, by beating an opponent in the arena, a player has an opportunity to take on a slave who will earn the winning player extra experience…at least until the slave fights back. And players earn different benefits by rising through the ranks in the martial hall and arena tournaments.

 

OnRPG: Don’t you guys run out of events with the game constantly providing players one event after another? (could you elaborate on the answer here? thanks)
WebMMO: While we are holding new events all the time, we are fortunate to have a good team working hard to come up with new and creative ideas. It also doesn’t hurt that our players are really good at providing feedback on what they would like to see.

 

We initiated a regular Trivia Challenge on each of our servers that is really popular with the players right now. And it’s a challenge coming up with unpredictable questions every day, but that’s also part of what makes our jobs fun – being able to keep up with the players and also keeping them on their toes.

 

OnRPG: What’s in store for the game in the coming months ahead?
WebMMO: Players have a lot to look forward. Aside from the monthly events and activities, the game developers also have a few new things they’re planning to add to the game when the time is right. Can’t elaborate on those too much right now because a number of them are still in the “should we, shouldn’t we” stages. Let’s just say players will definitely like what we have in store for them.

 

Okay, you can stop twisting my arm. New legendary items are being designed for the game. New monsters, new class skills, new special instances, a system to promote veteran players assisting newcomers, an inter-server competition, a more elaborate guild and kingdom system…

 

OnRPG: Thank you for your time!
WebMMO: It was a pleasure. Thanks to OnRPG and Vincent Haoson for profiling us for their loyal readership. We wish them all the best and welcome any interested gamers to check out Heroes of Kung Fu!

EverQuest’s Landmark Seventeenth Expansion, EverQuest House of Thule

EverQuest’s Landmark Seventeenth Expansion, EverQuest House of Thule

 

The unparalleled seventeenth addition to Sony Online Entertainment LLC’s epic adventure EverQuest House of Thule is on its way. Now in its unprecedented twelfth year, House of Thule brings immersive gameplay, captivating storytelling and exciting worlds to continue the EverQuest legacy, now set in a never-before-seen dreamland full of mystery and adventure. House of Thule offers an expansion rich in content and packed with game-changing features including a level cap increase and the addition of player housing, which new players, veterans and MMO fans will relish.

 

EverQuest

 

The adventure continues across Norrath where prominent figures are falling into dream-induced comas. The clerics and mystics of the land are powerless to wake their leaders from their unnatural sleep, evidence that something is deeply wrong in the world of dreams.

 

A strange home has also appeared in the Feerrott jungle, its look sinister, its purpose, unknown. Upon entering the house, the air is thick with tension, caused by an ensuing conflict between the Thule deities; Cazic, Terris and Morell; the Lord of Dreams. Their turmoil has affected the world of Norrath, clashing reality with delusion, and around every twisting passageway, dreams and nightmares take on their physical forms. Unhinged by imagination, there’s no way of knowing what beings lay in wait for intrepid explorers. Prevail over the overlords of the House of Thule. Unravel its secrets and prevent Norrath from being consumed by the power of its dreams.

 

New Expansion Features and Additions:

– +5 Level Increase – Achieve a New Max Level of 90 and set a new standard of gameplay
– More than 800 AAs – Elevate your power and abilities beyond the norm
– In-game Housing Addition – Make your permanent mark on the world! Collect and display treasured items
– New Housing Trophy System – Display your trophies and receive statistical benefits
– Hundreds of new housing items to decorate your house to your own style
– 18 Raids – Collect valuable rewards from all new adventures
– 13 Zones – Be the first to discover untouched lands of Norrath
– 450+ Spells – Exponentially add to your caster’s arsenal
– 17 Missions – Experience intriguing lore and immersive Missions
– 120+ Quests – Challenge your skills and gather useful loot
– Inventory increase – Indulge the packrat in you and collect even more game goodies

 

The scheduled release date for EverQuest House of Thule is October 12, 2010.

 

EverQuest

City of Heroes Dev Diary – Electric Control

City of Heroes Dev Diary – Electric Control

 

Our good friends over at NCSoft sent us over the this Dev Diary for exclusive first publication! It talks about the design process that has resulted in the amazing looking Electric powers in City of Heroes.

 

“Electric Slide”

 

Castle: Floyd “Castle” Grubb here. I’m the Lead Designer for powers on City of Heroes. I created the mechanics behind the new Electric Control power set in City of Heroes Going Rogue, along with Keetsie, who actually made the power look great.

 

Keetsie: Hello, I’m Keetsie Braz da Cunha, a Paragon Studios VFX artist. One of my many projects was Electric Control, a brand new set for the Controller and Dominator archetypes.

 

Castle: The Electric Control power set wasn’t actually designed with players in mind, originally. It was built as an experimental test bed and designed to have almost every power as a “Chain Power” – You hit one target with an effect, and it jumps from that target to 2 others, and so on, until a link missed and failed to pass on. It was a fun experiment, and we had a lot of head scratching moments trying to figure out all the oddities that cropped up based on it.

 

When we needed a power set for Dominators and Controllers for Going Rogue, I had a couple choices, but Electric Control seemed to fit the bill the best. However, we first needed to make some serious alterations to get the set into shape for actual game play. That process mainly involved reducing the number of chaining powers and replacing them with more standard control effects. The signature powers of “Jolting Chains” – a chain Knockdown power, and “Static Field” – a placed field which pulses Sleep effects and drain enemies endurance, remained the center pieces of the set, and the two powers which our closed beta testers have found the most surprising and fun.

 

Electric Control seemed to fit the bill the best

 

Keetsie : My overall goal for Electric Control was also the biggest challenge – making it look different from the other Electric sets. We have Electrical Blast, Electrical Mastery, Electric Melee, Electric Armor and even Storm Control, which uses lightning bolts.

 

So how were we going to make Electric Control look and feel different from all of the electric powers in-game? This can be really difficult with more abstract sets like Energy or Kinetics, where the artist has to invent the visual language to represents the power. But for literal concepts like electricity, there’s more freedom to explore new visuals.

 

For Electric Control, I wanted to get away from the Zeus-like thunderbolts of the blasting set and try something new. To spark up some inspiration, I turned to YouTube for its wealth of footage of plasma balls, power line disasters and singing Tesla coils. Along with all the amazing shapes and movements, I was reminded of the obvious; electricity is fast. Really, really fast. That erratic, quick timing was something I wanted to emphasize for Electric Control. Elements like the sporadic pulses in Static Shield and the pops of light in the gremlin bodies were used to suggest the rapid nature of electricity. Some of the lightning sprites are only visible for 2 or 3 frames – barely a tenth of a second.

 

Some of the lightning sprites are only visible for 2 or 3 frames - barely a tenth of a second.

This timing needed contrast, though. Just like in animation, if every element in an effect moves at the same speed and stops at the same time, the result is flat and boring. I had to introduce some slower elements to contrast with the main sprites. Some electric attacks leave behind smoke to “slow out” the effect. Smoky residue is a guaranteed way to imply that something painful just happened. Additionally, I experimented with suggesting retina burn, by letting electric bolts or glows linger and fade out after the power fired. These slow, but still somewhat violent elements, gave me the overall timing I was looking for – something akin to “JAJAJAJA! Owww….” They also made the fast stuff look even faster.

 

I think a good chunk of the beauty of this set can be credited to Castle. “Chain Powers,” powers that jump from target to target, were his idea and ultimately contributed a lot to the erratic nature of the set. These were complex powers to set up, and I had to work closely with the designers to get the effects working properly. Powers like Jolting Chain and Synaptic Overload, some of my favorites of the set, are great examples of artists and designers collaborating to make powers play and look great.

 

Powers like Jolting Chain and Synaptic Overload are great examples of artists and designers collaborating to make powers play and look great.

I hope you’ve enjoyed seeing behind the curtain a bit and enjoyed our segment of this series of Dev Diaries. If you want to see videos of Electric Control in action you can see it in ViDoc #3 on our Facebook Fan Page. Until next time, this is Castle and Keetsie, signing off.

 

ESTsoft Corp. talks about CABAL Online 2

ESTsoft Corp. talks about CABAL Online 2

 

ESTsoft Corp. is planning rollout of a new title called CABAL 2 (Official Title Unknown), a sequel to its worldly-known title CABAL Online soon to the public. Gaining excellent reputations from all over the world including Asia, Europe, North and South America, ESTsoft Corp. aims to bring another refined MMOG title to the global gaming market.

 

Designed to bring action-packed fun for MMOG fans, CABAL 2 shares the similar concept in terms of its eye-catching action with incredible graphical effects, and allowing players to share their online gaming excitement with the community.

 

Cabal Pet

 

“CABAL 2 will offer the strength that CABAL Online had, and we take that idea to develop what’s much more,” stated Min, Young-Hwan, CTO and Director of Game Department of ESTsoft Corp. “Hope gamers worldwide feel the excitement and joy that we wanted to bring out with this game because we plan to meet those high expectations to this title.”

 

CABAL 2 project has been underway at ESTsoft Corp.’s R&D Center in South Korea for several years, and is one of the highly anticipated projects in company’s history.

 

ESTsoft Corp. states that the recent news about a Chinese publisher Moliyo (???:CN), a former publisher for CABAL Online, having to release CABAL 2 is not related in anything with ESTsoft Corp., and is preparing a legal action against Moliyo for using Jing-Tian-Dong-Di (????:CN) a Chinese name for CABAL Online in China literally translated as “Earthshaking” for their alleged new title without any consent and the illegal game operation of CABAL Online in China after the license expiration.

 

No date has been set for the release of the title, though ESTsoft Corp. will conduct beta tests in Korea throughout the year of 2011.

Zone4

Zone 4 was once the premier fighting capital of the world where it held the famous Free Fighting Championships (FFC), the world’s most popular fighting competition formed by the renowned martial arts legend known as Roddy Hart. Over the years, it attracted the fiercest and most dominant fighters from all over the globe, each hungry for blood, fame, and the recognition as the next top fighter in the world.

However, it also attracted some of the most corrupt and evil fighters who were willing to do just about whatever it takes to win. Soon, the FFC ran rampant with drug use, cheating, match-fixing, and gambling, leading to mysterious disappearances and the deaths of some of the world’s top fighters.

Zone 4, once a proud destination for fair, unbiased competitive fighting quickly became a district overrun by the most corrupt fighters and gangs. But there are those who are banding together to fight back, to gain back the respected reputation that the district once had, and to restore peace in Zone 4.

Cloud Nine Online Review: Strong Rendition as Holic2

Cloud Nine Online Review: Strong Rendition as Holic2
By Kei Beneza (divdielife), OnRPG Journalist

 

Cloud Nine Online is a 3D anime type MMORPG, visually similar to games like Rose Online and Fly for Fun. For those of you who don’t know, this game is actually an upgraded version of Holic Online, which served its purpose well before its closing date back in 2009. The story revolves around the land of Lunatia, a world torn apart by Gods who represent 6 human emotions. After speculating on the chaotic world below, the Gods of Hate, Emo (Sorrow), and Anger decided to fire up the human revolution by using their powers to aid people in the unholy war.

 

After realizing the folly of their fellow Gods, the Gods of Joy, Happiness, and Love decided to stop their misguided kin by battling against them. With death and destruction plaguing the land, it was also in this moment when The Divine God, (whoah, that’s a lot of Gods!) Gloria rose up to put a stop to this meaningless argument, sealing all her fellow gods (rendering them powerless) in a stone to prevent the world from breaking.  Much like any other MMO, it’s the divine hero who can make a difference… that would be YOU… Good luck with the pressure lol.

 

Starting up

After choosing the Nation you want to represent, you’ll finally be taken to the character selection screen. All in all, there are 3 races to choose from: Seneka, Matsuka, and Koshare. In my opinion, you could say that there are 6 races in the game as their male and female versions tend to differ in terms of stat bonuses and specialties. Sexist much!?

 

Cloud Nine Characters
Character Creation

 

Classes

Cloud Nine Online was actually gracious enough to provide us with a nice set of default classes to choose from: Hunter, Warrior, Mage, Monk, Cleric, and Rogue. If you think that’s all, Cloud Nine Online also kept a rather nerfed version of Holic’s subclass system, giving you the ability to customize your character in your own unique way. Flexibility is one of the best traits of this feature since you are not bound and glued to the linearity of your class. Players are only allowed to keep 1 subclass at a time, and must tend to them separately by switching to whichever class is useful at the moment. It’s a recycled (yet nerfed) feature, but it does pay to have an extra class lying around in dire situations. Some races also work better with certain classes as their racial abilities tend to enhance a class’ performance, but that shouldn’t stop you from trying out different combinations.

 

Cloud Nine Town

 

Monster Marathon

The best feature in the game would have to be their Monster Taming System. For those of you who don’t know, Monster Cards play a big role in this game, as they unlock certain taming items to allow players to acquire monsters, which can aid them in battle. These pets have their own attacks and special skills, and are quite essential if you want to gain the upper hand in combat. Similar to players and their classes, monsters also have their own specifications and are mostly different from their beastly kin, so always remember to keep an eye out for strong ones. Know that these pets can also level up and have the ability to evolve further as they progress with their new masters. While some monsters do extremely well in combat, others are acquired to act as mounts, allowing you to run faster.

 

Monster Player Marathon?

If you think that the Koshare and Matsuka are beastly enough, the game also lets players transform into monsters through items obtained from different enemies. After triggering this effect, your character’s stats and skills match with the designated monster, giving you more destructive power often leading to your advantage. There are tons of Monster Transformations in the game, and it would be just awesome to try them all out.

 

Cloud Nine Play Screen

 

I remember you!

Personally, I really missed crafting and upgrading items. Since most of the new MMOs out there respect the loot system instead of the hardcore crafting and butchering of items, it felt quite refreshing after crafting my first item in Cloud Nine Online.  Here you can create new items by mixing up looted materials from monsters, socketing them with gems that give extra effects and stat advancements. It’s a fresh comeback for an old outdated feature.

 

Graphics and Visuals

The ingame graphics are still no different from Holic Online. The background is still rendered with bright pastel colors, with minor adjustments in shade to indicate that you’re moving on to another area.  The HUD and interface is very generic, which is a good thing as people tend to take time memorizing where their BASH command is placed. The characters are rendered in cell shaded format, similar to anime games like Rose and Fly for Fun. It’s a very old format, but still welcome nonetheless.

 

Cloud Nine Crits

 

The Verdict

It’s not the freshest MMO out there, but Cloud Nine has still got some fight left in it. It may just be a new rendition of an old MMO, but if you’re gonna buy rebalanced versions of certain games like SUPER STREET FIGHTER 4, then why not try this one for free? It’s a good game overall, with tons of features and technicalities to pursue. The character class system is also superb as it enables players to completely customize their characters performance through the default dual class system. The learning curve is pretty short, so you’ll probably be playing like a pro in no time. If you’re looking for a fun game with fewer technicalities but tons of possibilities, this game is definitely something you should consider trying.

 

The Good:
– It’s Holic 2!
– Very basic yet deep character customization system
– Monster System
– Graphics are bearable.
– Crafting and Quests

The Bad:
– Graphics are still outdated
– May get old after some time
– Why exactly do we have to level classes separately?

ROSE Online review: Seven Planets, One Hero

ROSE Online review: Seven Planets, One Hero
Written by Mohammed Afzal (MageMoa), OnRPG Journalist

 

R.O.S.E. Online (Rush On Seven Episodes) is a wonderful and thoughtful name for an MMORPG and it seems as if the developers have done more than just creating a good name. ROSE Online was one of the first MMOs with a large number of features and a thoughtful storyline. The gaming community absolutely loved it and ROSE Online was a very successful P2P MMORPG, but things went downhill after a while. MMO companies decided to release free games with a huge scale of features and ROSE Online started to fade away and it eventually became a F2P MMORPG with a decent amount of players but the original game was gone.

 

Nowadays, many players aren’t even aware of the origin of the name of the game and the real meaning of it. After a lot of research I finally got in touch with a ROSE online expert and he told me the story of ROSE Online…

 

Gods, heroes and planets

Rush On Seven Episodes is a very unique name. It is actually connected to the storyline of the game. I’ll try to explain the storyline in a nutshell: ROSE Online consists of seven vast planets, once created by the Goddess Arua. All seven planets had their own God or Goddess. Unfortunately, Hebarn, God of the planet Hebarn, kept threatening Arua. Junon, God of Junon, decided to protect Arua from Hebarn, but he couldn’t handle it alone. He decided to recruit certain heroes to help him fight against Hebarn’s army. These ‘heroes’ are the players of ROSE Online. It’s a wonderful storyline, which doesn’t find its roots in one of those Chinese legends, but giving the Gods and Goddesses the same names as their planets is a bit lazy.

 

Rose Online Character Creation
Character Creation

 

Original, but not unique

Enough about the storyline, let us take a look at the game play. The character creation of the game is really basic. You have the option to pick a gender, one of the twelve faces and one of the few hairstyles. Please keep in mind that the game is pretty old and therefore its character creation is not half bad. On top of that, its character customization is pretty advanced. There are hundreds of different clothing choices and they all look amazing! From bamboo sticks to pirate hats: The wide variety of equipment is impressive.

 

Rose Online Customizable Character
Amazing character customization 

 

The combat of ROSE Online is pretty nifty. There are a lot of skills to master, there are many different opponents with different abilities to battle and the skill effects are wonderful. But the combat does have some flaws, for example the point and click system of the game. The game does not offer WASD movement, which makes walking in general really dreary. On top of that, there is no real action involved in battles. You just click on a monster and push a button afterwards, just like in 80% of the currently released MMORPGs.

 

However, the original classes make up for that. You start off as a Visitor, the usual ‘beginner’ class. After reaching level 10, you can become a Muse (the magic class), a Hawker (Rangers or Assassins), a Dealer (Gunners or 2-handed melees) or a Soldier (the melee class). These classes will have the ability to advance at level 100 into one of the two available classes.

 

Level 100 might sound a bit far away and I actually can’t say differently. The grind of the game starts early and it can be very disappointing to many players. Do not get me wrong, the grind is not horrible and it is not that hard to level, but the point and click system makes it very dull.

 

Robots, carts, factions and clans

As I said in the introduction of this review, ROSE Online offers its players a nice amount of features. One of my favorites is the ”Tuning System”. The Tuning System is just a trendy definition to define the ways of transportation in ROSE Online. There are three ways to transport your character: Castle Gear, Carts and the Flying Vessel. The Flying Vessel is just a ship, which can be used to move to a different planet. Castle Gears and Carts, however, can be obtained by collecting certain items and/or doing certain quests. It is hard to obtain them, but once you got them you will have the time of your life! Riding around in a cart is just fascinating. You will be able to travel much faster and you can enjoy the scenery at the same time!

 

ROSE Online Carts 

 

The Player versus Player features of the game are stunning. There are the regular PvP and Clan versus Clan battles, but there is more than that. You can participate in Open PvP matches or set off to the Training Grounds to become a skilled PvP’er!

 

Believe it or not, ROSE Online has even more to offer. The ‘Faction’ feature is my favorite and probably the most complicated feature of the game. Gravity Interactive managed to describe the feature very well, so here we go:

 

“Factions differ from Clans because the faction community is controlled by NPCs rather than by the users. By joining factions, users can participate in various quests which drive the stories of the 7 planets. Every faction has a certain extent of authority on economy, politics, public orders, magic, arts and religion. Each faction has its own alliances and hostilities, and different events can occur as a result of the complexity of the relationships between factions.”
— Source: Rose Online’s Website

 

That sounds marvelous, doesn’t it?

 

Rose Online Warrior 

 

Conclusion

ROSE Online might be a bit old, but it is certainly not outdated. The game has managed to survive through all these years and that wouldn’t have happened if it wasn’t an excellent game. The graphics are cute, the customization is brilliant and the features are amazing, but the low population, the point and click combat and the lack of WASD cannot be ignored. The game is definitely worth a try and you will be received with open arms into the nice community, but do not expect too much of this game.

 

Pros:
– Wonderful features
– Beautiful scenery
– Cute graphics
– Flashy skills
– Original classes
– Great PvP

 

Cons:
– Tedious grind
– No WASD
– Point and click combat
– Low population 

Hey YOU! Stop Cybersexing (in WoW)!

Hey YOU! Stop Cybersexing (in WoW)!


Blizzard Community Manager “Arrestide” has announced that Blizzard will be keeping a much closer look at public chat channels in and surrounding Goldshire.

 

“We hear perennial complaints about spots in our game where this activity is said to take place, and Moon Guard Goldshire appears in that list with some regularity.


Often the public assumption is that unless a GM appears with a crack of lightning and a mighty hammer, Blizzard is turning a blind eye…. this is very much not the case.”


Cybersexing in World of Warcraft!

 

Arrestide goes on to say why they will do this:

 

It’s our goal (and in our interests, obviously), to present a safe and accessible environment for play. While defining “offensive” behavior can be subjective, the policy linked above reflects our working definition, and our intent to keep certain types of offensive behavior from affecting the play experience.

 

And he concludes by saying:

 

Members of our CS team will ‘patrol’ Goldshire on Moon Guard on a regular basis, and take appropriate action for individuals violating the Harassment Policy. Note that this pertains primarily to public messages (/say, /yell, General) and unsolicited whispers. We won’t be showing up with that mythical crack of lightning– we’ll just be watching silently for any rule-breaking language and following up privately with the players in question.

 

So, better move your cybersexing habits to a private channel now! 😉