Monthly Archives: May 2013

Siege on Stars – This Universe Is a Bit Deeper Than You Thought

By Jordan Hall(ApocaRUFF), OnRPG Journalist

Siege On Stars is a free-to-play browser-based space MMORPG that seems to be somewhere between EVE Online and an A-RPG such as Akaneiro: Demon Hunters or Path of Exile. It features a large universe to explore and complete missions in, research, resource gathering, manufacturing, and just about everything else you could want in a space game. The game is brought to us by Joyhubs, who also brought us Seven Seas Saga – they sure like S’s in their titles.

Customization

You wont be making your own unique beauty by using the latest and greatest character customization tools, unfortunately. You will get to customize your ship to a decent degree, though. You can equip it with parts, upgrades and other stuff you would expect from a space-themed A-RPG. You even get the ability to spend points in stats and skills trees. Between all the methods for changing yourself or your ship, you wont need to worry about being exactly the same as everyone else – unless you’re worried about aesthetics.

Stats

Graphics

The graphics are decent for a 2D space game, and I liked the artwork. While some people will complain about the 2D graphics, because there are browser-based games with 3D graphics now, a lot of people will enjoy the almost nostalgic art style that is used. The User Interface, for the most part, was quite nice. It fit the theme of the game perfectly and was easy to navigate. The only complaint I have is the targeting graphics, I just could not stand them at all (but that’s a personal preference).

Graphics

Controls

Almost everything is done with the mouse. You will move and attack by either right or left click, both seemed to work. It worked well, but it was a bit confusing trying to attack a specific ship. While playing, I honestly could not stop thinking about how fun it would have been if the game used an Asteroids-type control system. However, the point-and-click system that is used does not harm your ability to have fun. Overall I am pleased with the controls.

Community

Your typical online community. You have the nice guys who are helpful, the trolls, and everything in-between. If you’ve ever played an online game that has a global or zone chat, you will be prepared for what you’ll see in Siege on Stars. I can say that I never had any negative experience in my time with the game, but I cannot promise that other people will have the same pleasant experience as I. When it comes down to it, I found the community to be helpful to newbies and nice to strangers.

Gameplay

Siege on Stars had me confused when I first started playing it. At first, based on the feature list, I thought the game would be a 2D Eve Clone. But after playing it, I found the game to be more akin to an A-RPG such as Path of Exile than Eve. But then as I further progressed into the game, my view changed to once again thinking it was more like Eve. Right now it feels a lot like Eve of Exile, if that game were to exist.

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Combat isn’t very exciting. I had trouble finding opponents that I could not completely obliterate. There wasn’t much depth to it at first, but later on some options for strategy open up. Such as the hot bar being able to allow you to activate multiple weapons or abilities. But, for the most part, I have to say I wasn’t impressed. As I said in the “Controls” section of this review, the combat would have been so much more fun if it had an Asteroids-type control system.

Combat

The game world seems to be quite large, and there is a conquering aspect to it. A majority of my time was spent completing missions for rewards and resources that can be used to upgrade my ship. These missions were mostly straight forward “kill everything” type deals, and I have to admit they weren’t very fun. The enemy was usually way stronger than me, or way weaker, and it consisted of flying towards the enemy and then left clicking. If you’re a fan of EVE-style combat, you may enjoy it.

Map

You will choose one of four factions, which are your typical Freedom, Tyranny, Religious, and A-Bit-Of-Each archetypes. I’ve yet to see a big impact caused by the faction you choose. That may because I only tried one faction. It could be that the differences between the factions are more apparent if you try more than one. While what faction you choose may not be a massive change in gameplay(but don’t misunderstand, there IS a change in gameplay depending on your faction – just not a massive one), it is nice that they tried to put story into the game and I appreciate it.

Factions

It seems that every game needs an achievement system nowadays. This includes Siege on Stars. I’m not saying it’s a bad thing. In fact, I would argue that it’s a proven good thing, as it gives players just a bit more since of achievement, which is what a majority of gamers want. Like most achievement systems, the one in this game as a LOT of repetitive achievements for you to get. An example, “Salvaged 1,000 Space Wreckage in total. Salvage Benefit +3 forever.” And while it may be repetitive stuff like that, it’s nice that you get more than a crappy badge that no one will ever pay attention to for completing the achievement.

Achievements

I dabbled a bit in the crafting side of things and found it kind of interesting. While not the most innovative crafting system, it did make you think for a bit. As you would expect, you get the resources for crafting by doing missions. I’ve got to admit that this isn’t my favorite way of doing things, I still have nightmares from RaiderZ’s crafting system. To me, if you get all your resources from doing missions, why not just give the items as rewards and skip the middleman?

Crafting

Planets act as a sort of hub town that you would expect to find in an A-RPG. It provides all the services you might need, but there are a few differences. Biggest amongst them, I think, is that there is an option to “plunder” a planet. I never had the balls to try this myself, so I can’t comment on it – don’t bite the hand that feeds you and all that. But the simple fact that it’s there is pretty interesting. You can plunder the same planets you go to for your everyday needs, but it could end up backfiring and you can lose your ability to land on that planet and trade.

Plunder

Conclusion

Siege On Stars is a very interesting browser game. When I first came into it, I was expected another run-of-the-mill sci-fi RTS that the market seems to be bloated with. I’m glad I was proven very wrong with my original assessment. While it isn’t the most amazing game I’ve ever played, it was certainly one of the better browser-based sci-fi games I have gotten to try. If you are looking for a low-spec alternative to EVE Online, give this game a try.

Features: 3/5

Customization: 3/5

Graphics: 2.5/5

Controls: 2/5

Community: 4/5

Overall: 3/5 – Worth a try if you want a new sci-fi MMO.

Wargaming Announces 15-Year Anniversary World of Tanks Tournaments

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Wargaming today announced a special World of Tanks tournament in celebration of the company’s 15th anniversary. The tournament will take place in key regions around the globe, including Europe, North America, Russia, South Korea, Southeast Asia, China and Vietnam. Winning teams from each region will score themselves an all-expenses paid trip to the World of Tanks development studio located in Minsk, Belarus.

 

Following a traditional eSports 7 vs. 7 format, the tournaments will kick off this month, with final games scheduled for the end of June. Second and third place finishers won’t walk away empty-handed and will take home massive in-game gold prizes for their efforts.

 

“This is a great opportunity for teams around the globe to take on their peers and prove they have what it takes to really be the best at World of Tanks,” said Alexey Kuznetsov, eSports Lead at Wargaming. “We’re extremely excited to welcome the winnings teams to Belarus and give them a closer look at how their favorite game is made.”

OnRPG Shotgun News 5/16: World of Tanks, Dawngate MOBA, Wildstar, and much more!

By Shannon Doyle (Leliah), OnRPG News Lady

Wargaming Celebrates 15th Anniversary with a Tournament

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Wargaming is celebrating it’s 15th anniversary this year with a very special World of Tanks tournament. Winners of the tournament from Europe, North America, Russia, South Korea, Southeast Asia, China, and Vietnam will get an all expense paid trip to the World of Tanks development studio in Minsk, Belarus! The tournament will follow the traditional 7v7 format beginning this month. You can sign up for the tournament now on the World of Tanks website.

 

EA To Publish Dawngate MOBA

A new MOBA will be entering the ring, developed by Waystone Games and Published by EA. You can register for the beta now through your EA Origin accounts but the social media for the game is currently locked down so there is no news on when beta will be or anything further.

 

Wildstar Begins Closed Beta Two

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The second Wildstar closed beta event begins today. This time around they’re focusing on The Dominion, the second faction which has all new zones, dungeons, and Battlegrounds. And following feedback from European players they have removed the region lock on beta invitations so anyone has a chance to get in.

 

Warface Coming to Japan

Crytek has announced they are partnering with Nexon to bring Warface to Japan. Recently Warface hit the 10 million player mark in Russia and the South Korean Warface has just crossed into open beta.

AlphaBeta Soup 5/16

OnRPG has a few very exciting beta key giveaways going on this week including the weekend Prime World Beta, and Fishing Hero. In addition Netmarble introduced the online board game Dice Venture known internationally as Modoo Marble. Beta for that will begin May 29th but you can register now. And lastly Anno Online has made the transition to open beta. Additional news you won’t find below just yet comes from Rift which hopes to have the new F2P conversion on the public test shard soon. You can find all this and much more in the list of current Alpha and Beta events below. We’ve highlighted the newest in orange to make them easier to see.

 

OnRPG Giveaways

These are all the beta giveaways currently running on OnRPG. There’s no guarantee that we won’t run out so grab them quick.

Everlight Open Beta Privilege Pack Giveaway
Fishing Hero Closed Beta Key Giveaway
Prime World Weekend Beta Key Giveaway
World of Warplanes Closed Beta Key Giveaway
Yitien Open Beta Pack Giveaway

 

Dates Announced:

Below are the MMOs who have announced upcoming beta events that haven’t started yet or are currently in progress for a limited time.

Legend of Edda Vengeance Open Beta May 16
Dice Venture Applications Open, Closed Beta Begins May 29
Ballistic Closed Beta Spring 2013
Final Fantasy XIV A Realm Reborn Closed Beta June
Firefall Open Beta July 9
Age of Wulin EU Closed Beta 2013

 

Alpha:

These games are currently in Alpha. Signups are available via the link.

Gloria Victis Pre-Alpha
Lunaria Story
Onigiri Alpha (Japanese) Between Phases
The Repopulation
Xulu

 

Closed Beta:
MMOs which are in closed beta require application and often require approval before access can be gained.

Age of Wulin(EU, Asia) EU in Early 2013
Arcane Saga (Formerly known as Prius Online)
Ascension: Arenas of War Current Status Unknown
Black Prophecy Tactics: Nexus Conflict Current Status Unknown, Website No Longer Exsists
Born To Fire
Bounty Hounds Online Beta Testing Complete. No Launch Date Announced
ChronoBlade
Dragon’s Prophet
Eldevin
Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn
Infinite Crisis
JollyGrim
Kartuga
Loadout
MechWarrior Tactics
March of War
Marvel Heroes
Patterns
Prime World
Strategoria
Transformers Universe Now accepting applications.
Warface
World of Warplanes

 

Open Beta:
Games in open beta require an application but often it is little more than signing up for an account.

Anno Online
City of Steam
DK Online Servers Closed Temporarily
Dominatron
Dragona Online Russian
Dragon Pals
and Titans
Dust 514
Ecol Tactics
End of Nations Open Beta delayed until further notice, refunds have been issued.
Everlight
Firefall
FoxLi Rush
Gunswords(English and Russian)
HeroDex
Heroes & Generals
Neverwinter
Origins of Malu
Oversoul
Path of Exile
Raceroom Racing
Real World Racing
Samurai Taisen
Scarlet Blade
SmashMuck Champions
Tales of Laputa
The Aurora World
The Lost Titans
UFO Online
Universal Monsters Online
Warface South Korea
War Thunder
WorldAlpha
Yitien

OnRPG Shotgun News 5/15: Allods, Dragon Nest, and Smite

Allods Announces Dungeon Builder

gPotato has announced they’re adding a new dungeon builder to Allods Online. The expansion will allow players to generate their own dungeons and game content for themselves, their friends, and other players. The patch, called Path to Victory is due to launch June 5th with many more features including an all new Weaponsmith tradeskill.

 

Dragon Nest Europe Announces Mare Oblivion

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The third major patch has been announced for Dragon Nest Europe. Mare Oblivion introduces the Nest of the Sea Dragon, a new farming system, and some new items as well. Players interested in getting some buffs will now have the opportunity to become farmers and even learn recipes to cook the food they produce on their farm or catch from the sea.

 

Smite Introduces Isis

Isis, the Egyptian Goddess of Magic has been introduced to Smite. She is a scepter wielding mage with abilities like Spirit Ball and Circle of Protection. You can find out more about Isis, her abilities and how she plays in various scenarios in the video below.

Elsword Fires Up PvP Season Two With Massive PvP Changes

Elsword

 

Kill3rCombo, publisher of the hit free-to-play action MMORPG Elsword, today officially launches PvP Season Two. With updated PvP quests and items, along with a rebalancing of PvP skills, Season Two is geared towards both PvP veterans and beginners looking to break into the exciting Elsword PvP scene.

 

Players will now be able to set forth on an expanded PvP story quest system, which helps players learn the “ins and outs” of the Elsword PvP world; completing these quests rewards players with numerous helpful items. In addition, new daily quests allow players both veteran and new to receive Competitor’s Coins by performing small daily PvP-centric challenges. Coins can then be cashed in for sought after PvP items. The new Competitor Coin system is in addition to the existing Area Points system, which has been refreshed with a number of new items for Season Two.

 

Season One veterans will also find a variety of changes that better balance the PvP experience, such as a new scaling weapon system, which lets weapons improve as a player levels up. While Season One rankings will be stored on character profiles, new Season Two rankings will be added, so all players start with a fresh chance at renown and glory.

Medieval Model Design Experts for Gloria Victis

Medieval Model Design Experts for Gloria Victis

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Black Eye Games has partnered with Medieval Worlds to bring the most authentic medieval experience to Gloria Victis possible. Medieval Worlds specializes in historical and medieval model design, medieval architecture, as well as weapons and interior design. These professional designers will be consulting as well as taking a direct hand in the construction of the Gloria Victis world. Black Eye Games calls the collaboration a “match made in heaven.” A developer’s blog going into more detail is expected on the Gloria Victis website in the next few days.

 

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Immortalis: An Element Based iTCG

By: Vincent Haoson, OnRPG’s Mobile Master

 

The mobile gaming scene has scene the rise of a lot of iTCGs. With Aeria Mobile releasing  a lot of iTCGs as of late. After reviewing their fan-service-y Pirate Maidens, I take a look at their more “serious” iTCG, Immortalis and see if Aeria Mobile offers a whole new iTCG experience or a re-themed version of Pirate Maidens.

 

Starting Off

In Immortalis, you are a soulbinder with the task of controlling “immortals” or monsters that you can use to aid you in battles against monsters or other players. Typical to any TCG (IRL or Internet-wise), you are given a starter pack that contains a Rare “Immortal” with commons. You can then either conjure immortals or go through quests to earn experience points to get stat points to increase Party Cost or Stamina points.

 

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Before you would go any further, the game makes you choose which would be your “partner” Immortal be from the Immortals you would get from the starter pack. You are also given the choice what element would your avatar be. Immortals that fall under your chosen element would earn bonuses within your roster so it’s best to choose to have a line-up that has the same element as your avatar.
Your Immortals

Once you’ve decided what your partner immortal would be, you are then tasked to either get more immortals for your roster or go through questing, as I’ve mentioned earlier. I’m going to focus first in the review is the Immortals aspect of the game.

 

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Each immortal you’d get would have its initial stats divided to ATK and DEF and each card has a party points cost which determines how many you can put on a party. Your party will determine how big the boosts you will provide to your guild whenever battles occur (which happens at lot actually).
You can acquire Immortals through “conjuring” them, acquiring them through questing or getting them from incubated eggs that you can also get through questing.

Conjuring

The game gives you a lot of options when it comes to conjuring immortals for your line-up. The typical conjuring process requires you to spend conjure mana which can either be earned by going through quest areas, given automatically as login bonus and earning them through specific battles.

 



The other process requires you to spend actual money on the game. The Rare Conjure has a higher chance of providing you with higher rarity immortals at the expense of your wallet. Of course that’s one of the drawbacks to having the “advantage” in a micro-transaction based game. So the balls on your court with that one.

 

Evolution/Sacrifice

Typical to any iTCG game, Immortalis has the sacrifice/evolution mechanic. For Sacrifice, you get to increase a chosen card/unit at the expense of other cards. Evolution on the other hand gives you the option to acquire “rarer” cards because evolution allows you to “merge” your similar cards/units to get a higher rarity version.

 

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While game’s sacrifice mechanic is nothing to write home to since every iTCG that came out already has this, I must commend that the game’s evolution system is in fact interesting. Unlike in other games (Marvel: War of Heroes for instance) where once you merge cards you don’t get something new. In Immortalis, once you evolved the card/unit more than thrice, you get a whole new card out of it. I also liked the variety of the cards you get once you evolved them. You get a different colored unit each time you evolve the card giving it a little variety from the humdrum all-too familiar gameplay.

 

Questing

For any iTCG out there, the only way for players to get cards aside from buying them outright is going through repeatable “quests” where you have the chance to either get the card or get items that you can use for whatever game feature it is available in-game.

 

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For Immortalis, the other items you can get as you go through quest areas are mostly MP recovery items. Questing in the game is pretty straightforward where you won’t necessarily have to do anything aside from tapping at the quest button. Progressing along each area requires you to spend points which can be upgraded whenever you level up or whenever you finish an area.
Aside from the random encounters of getting items, immortals and experience points, questing also is the staging area for boss battles. Facing bosses in Immortalis doesn’t take much from you since the only way to defeat them is if you have a strong party composed of members of your own guild.

Guilds

Speaking of guilds, Immortalis puts a lot of emphasis on the interaction of people through the game’s guild system. The game partners you out from the start and once you are part of a guild you are then tasked to build a party (composed of you and two other guild members) that will form as your “default” party during boss battles.

 

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Being part of a guild would also allow you to get people to trade with. You can also hatch your eggs with the help of your guild mates, as along as they are alive and actively playing the game.
Battles

Another use for guilds in Immortalis is to find support whenever battles happen. Battles in Immortalis pits your guild against another guild and for a duration you are given the opportunity to test out the strength of your parties against the guilds of other people.

 

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This game feature would actually be your reason why you keep on coming back to the game. Since battles occur on a daily (hourly) basis, you and your guild needs to actually invest more time on the game than normal. The problem however is if the guild you are in is inactive since inactive guilds would only mean longer battles and the worst case scenario is that you’d lose more often than necessary.

Conclusion

Among the list of iTCGs out for the iOS, I can’t really recommend Immortalis as one of the top games to download. While the game does have a huge library of units, the game doesn’t have the wow factor for you to keep on playing.

 

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Yes, battles are interesting to a point, but unless you have a group of friends to play with- or if you have a very active guild then it would only make things interesting, for a short duration. So the bottom line is, if you’re looking for an iTCG game to enjoy that’s not Marvel, then Immortalis is a decent option.

Company of Heroes 2

Written by Remko Molenaar (Proxzor) OnRPG Journalist

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Having so many new RTS games launching such as the new Starcraft expansion or even a high definition version of the legendary Age of Empires 2, there is a series that absolutely cannot be missed. As a big fan of war games and mainly the ones that have the Second World War as a setting, I have always been a big fan of the Company of Heroes series. The game itself always was very different from other RTS games, the game was never really meant to be played hardcore but more casually. I got the chance to play in the Closed Beta, and even though almost anyone can get into the beta, it is still super-secret.

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It has been quite some time since we have heard something or seen something with the Company of Heroes name. The last game was Company of Heroes: Tales of Valor, the standalone expansion that was released almost exactly 4 years ago. Back then, the game already surprised me with how well everything was made physics wise, and boy I have seen a lot of new eye candy in this new version as well. Company of Heroes 2 is this time focused on the Eastern Front, and the Soviet Red Army is the new playable faction. One of the major upgrades with their new engine is the line of sight, and even though I really didn’t like the thought of that at the first glimpse, I must say that it works extremely well and creates some scenarios in some of the games. The new line of sight doesn’t let you see around corners that you normally couldn’t see around, meaning you can ambush everyone perfectly even though they are behind the next wall. This also makes the game a lot harder than what it used to be, because it also is more focused on the close quarters combat. Another new feature brought into the game is the temperature that you will have to pay attention to. Even with those crazy Russians that claim they walk in t-shirts when it’s snowing outside, the frostbite really hurts. Troops can be caught in blizzards, and other deadly storms and thus require shelter or at least a fire next to them if they want to survive the deadly winter. Deep snow also has an influence on the troops, they will move slower and makes them more vulnerable. And pay attention to the ice covered lake, one mortar and your troops will be sleeping with the fishes.
With all these new features, how much has actually changed in the core of this game? Well this is a difficult thing to say, as I’ve said in the intro I personally felt that it has gone more hardcore. The game actually rewards the faster and smarter players, and even though it has already been in the older games, the game does require some serious ‘macro’ to be mastered. As a frequent RTS player, this term is really familiar and basically means maintaining your economy and doing as much as possible outside the battles, such as buying new troops and placing new buildings. Unfortunately the match making system is a little broken right now, and as a result I got matched with people around the same level against people that obviously had played a lot more games since they were a high level. And as a result we got shown the door in the battle room, we didn’t stand any chance at all and they had an easy walk over. As an online player you can earn rewards such as ribbons and other achievements, and experience to get a higher rank. Unfortunately, I got teamed up several times with players that had a higher latency, and as a result they lagged the whole game and people do not hesitate twice when the option gets available to kick them, luckily an AI will take over but does miss the real quality a real person has.

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Currently in this closed beta we are only able to play the game in a skirmish mode. You can either play versus the computer or get matched up with players and against players. The objective is simple, control as many keynotes as possible to keep having your resources flowing in before you run out of points. By holding these points, you can obviously earn more resources and this makes your enemy lose more points, meaning the control of the map is the key to win the game. Since I am really familiar with RTS games, I saw that my skill really influenced the game, after the game is finished you can see graphs of how well you and your team has done, when I compared mine with my teammates I was highly above them, and when I compared them with the enemy that was at least ten levels higher, I fit right with them in. What makes Company of Heroes 2 a lot more serious compared to the other versions, is that it really is shaped in a RTS game that can be compared with a lot of the RTS games from this time, you will have to keep paying attention all over the map, even in your base while there is nothing going on. Having key points on the map such as buildings, bunkers and even sandbags will help you drastically winning a head on firefight. But this will only help you in the first five minutes of the game, when the second ‘tier’ heads onto the battlefield you will get blown up. Mortars, light armor or even tanks can totally demolish the save bunker or sandbag that you are hiding behind, and thus playing with the new line of sight can really surprise the enemy team.

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Conclusion
Even though Company of Heroes 2 is still in closed beta, I doubt it will be long before everyone is able to test the game. Even though almost everyone can get a beta key if wanted, the game still is under a NDA as a write this. And thus a lot of the game can change as I write this, but I highly doubt it. There will be some small fixes here and there, and some major upgrades of course but the online aspect is so rock solid already behind the matchmaking issues that I doubt it will change that much. Now that I’ve seen the multiplayer aspect of Company of Heroes 2, I really look forward to the full game, with the new line of sight features and the temperature to think about; the game is still the same but it also has totally changed and created a much more difficult multiplayer that as a RTS fanatic really pleases me.

Prime World Beta Weekend Key Giveaway

OnRPG is partnering with Nival for a third key giveaway for the North American servers of the RPG MOBA, Prime World, for the weekend of June 1st and 2nd!

Prime World mixes elements of faction combat, empire building, luck of the draw equipment gathering, RPG character building, and tried and true MOBA combat into a mixing pot that is entirely fresh and unique to itself. With colorful graphics, smooth gameplay, a unique fifth gold stream, and a large and growing cast of characters, it’s truly one of the top titles in the field. But now is your chance to see for yourself!

To get your key you have to follow these instructions:

  • If you are not a member of OnRPG Please sign-up here.
  • Enter your OnRPG username and password below to get your key
  • The key will appear at the bottom of the page. Copy & paste it to a safe place as you may not be able to retrieve it once you close your browser!

 

To Redeem your key:

  • Visit www.playpw.com.
  • Simply make an account and follow the instructions to redeem your key.
  • The event runs from Saturday June 1 through Sunday June 2.
  • All elements of the game will be available except gold will not be purchasable. A new 4v4 Mob battling mode will be in rotation along with the 3v3 and 5v5 map!
  • Your participation in the beta will ensure access to all future beta tests!