Showing posts with label mmorpg review. Show all posts
Showing posts with label mmorpg review. Show all posts

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

RODE Online to launch this March 2012

Rise of Dragonian Era, or R.O.D.E. Online, a new dragon-based fantasy MMORPG from MGAME USA, is set to go global soon, the company revealed recently.



First announced back in 2009 at the Brand New MGAME press event, R.O.D.E. Online (or War of Dragons: Age of Dragons in South Korea) is a fantasy MMORPG set in a world where tribes around the world have allied with the great dragons Firean and Azurian to fight against the dark dragon Devilo and each other.


Here’s a quick glance at R.O.D.E. Online’s features:

DRAGON RIDING SYSTEM - Players can take part in aerial combat as they ride their dragons in the sky.

MOUNT SYSTEM - There are various mounts to choose and collect including dragons.

CASTLE SIEGE - Players can conquer and seize castles located in the Piral continent.

CRAFTING SYSTEM - Players can obtain materials through mining, extracting, fishing, and gathering to craft rare and helpful items.

DEVILO SYSTEM - Monsters will randomly attempt to invade castles that belong to players.

REGION WAR - Players can take part in massive PvP battles known as the Region War, where Azurian and Firean fight each other for domination.


Check out this video gameplay of RODE Online



The Korean version of R.O.D.E. Online is in open beta and an English version is currently in the works. Not much information about the English version has been released by MGAME, but I’m told that there will be a closed beta test in December.

I’ll let you guys know if anything new pops up. In the meantime, you can check out R.O.D.E. Online’s Korean website to get an idea of what to expect.

War of Thrones Beginners Guide

War of Thrones
- is a 3D turn-based browser MMORPG created by GameWave and published under the platform of Voomga. The game features a lot that can be found in client-based MMORPGs, but it also has some unpleasant experiences like repetitive scenarios, over-explained tutorial, and auto-tracking mode.


Table of contents
1. Introduction and Review
2. Basics
Sanctus a forum moderator of voomga.com

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WoT: 2.4 Skill selection explanation and builds

This post is just a part of the series posts about War of Throne's Beginners Guide By Sanctus of voomga.com.

2.4 Skill selection explanation and builds

Skill's action consumption will be expressed in percentage (E.g 5 slot = 50%)

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Dual-Wield
Arguably the most common weapon chosen among all other 3 based on it looks that make it looks more appealing compared to the rest.
All skills of the dual-wield inflicts either a burn, bleed or both status.
The only weapon class passive that gives an increase in speed.
With an advantage in speed, which means dual-wielder attacks faster than other class normally and hence charge up power (for ultimate attack) faster too!

Key points: Speed and multiple hits.

Note: Effectiveness for critical for dual is weaker compared to other classes due to multiple hits.

Stats distribution each level:
Full dps: 7 strength. Lower on critical rate.
Balance: 3/4 strength : 4/3 agility. Higher critical rate at the lost of some damage.
Critical rate: 0/1/2 strength : 7/6/5 agility. Not recommended as damage will be low and effectiveness of critical rate for multiple hit is reduced.

Skills:

Level 1
Double slash
Cooldown: 10 second
Action consumption: 60%
2 hit skill which inflicts a bleed status based on the agility stat.

Bread and butter skill, most often used skill. First skill to max to dish out maximum damage.
Advised level: blazing barrage x2

Level 10
Blazing barrage
Cooldown: 30 second
Action consumption: 100%
6 hit skill which inflicts a burn status based on the agility stat.

Secondary attacking skill, ineffective till level 3 (6 x 31% + bonus burn) due to the high action consumption as you could do 2 normal hits with the action consumed.
Advised level: double slash /2.

Haste
Passive
Increases speed


Only passive skill in the game that adds speed. Privileged!
Advised level: Higher the better, balance out levels with attacking skills.

Razor Skin
Passive
Increases bleed damage.


Does not really add significant damage to be proven useful.
Advised level: 0 or 1 to gain additional ranking rating.

Fire Mastery

Passive
Increases bleed damage.


Does not really add significant damage to be proven useful.
Advised level: 0 or 1 to gain additional ranking rating.

Level 25
Intimidation
Cooldown: 45 second
Action consumption: 50%
Duration: 60 seconds
Increases damage.

Damage buff! Improves dps greatly at level 1 (+200). 50 damage per level.
Advised level: Level 1-3. Requires casting, skill point better invested in anticipation(passive damage buff) or other skills.

Anticipation
Passive
Increases accuracy and damage.


Another damage increase with additional accuracy bonus. 50 damage per level.
Advised level: Higher the better, balance out levels with attacking skills. Better than intimidation as it's a passive, no casting required.

Level 35
Crippling blast
Cooldown: 30 second
Action consumption: 80%
Single low damage skill that inflicts a speed nerf with bleed and burn status.

Useful in PvP to slow down enemies speed. Reduces 50 speed (0.05 fps) even at level 1.
Advised level: 1 or higher. Additional skill to gain skill points. Raise only for PvP purpose else keep level at 1 till other skills are maxed.

Level 50
Thousand fiery blades
Cooldown: 1 second
Action consumption: 100%
Power consumption: 200
9 hit ultimate skill which inflicts a bleed and burn status based on ? (Not mention in the skill description)

Ultimate attack. Deals a huge amount of damage. Useful for PvP starting attack or finishing move to prevent opponent from healing up.
Ineffective till level 2 (5 x 24% x 5 + 4 x 30% + bonus bleed/burn) due to the high action consumption as you could do 2 normal hits with the action consumed.
Level 1 damage multiplier: 16% x5 + 20% x 4 = 160% + bleed/burn damage (low multiplier due to bleed/burn bonus?)
Multiplier per level is also low at: 8% x 5 + 10% x 4 = 80% (bleed/burn damage increase not mentioned)
Advised level: 2 or higher.

Level 60
Finesse
Passive
Increases accuracy, critical, dodge

An critical rate increase at last with additional evasion and accuracy.
Advised level: - (Current max level at 50, no supporting information on skill)

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One-handed
One-handed skill has a chance to reduce damage, defence amd inflict a burn status.
Passives gives tanking and survivability power
Best HP passive is the the game adding 800HP per level.
Disadvantage of having the slowest lv1 skill cooldown at 15sec but fret not as it inflicts a damage reduction status!

Key points: Tanking.

Stats distribution each level:

Tanking: 7 stamina. Maximize tanking.
Balance: 3/4 strength : 4/3 stamina. Lower tanking power at the gain of some damage.
High dps: 6/7 strength : 1/0 stamina. Not recommended as this is a tanker class. Play polearm if you are looking for a tank/dps built.

Skills:

Level 1
Rend
Cooldown: 15 second
Action consumption: 60%
1 hit skill which inflicts a damage reduction status based on the stamina stat.

Bread and butter skill, most often used skill. First skill to max to dish out maximum damage.
Advised level: Whirling blaze x 2

Level 10
Whirling blaze
Cooldown: 30 second
Action consumption: 100%
4 hit skill which inflicts a burn status.

Secondary attacking skill, ineffective till level 4 (breakdown unavailable, 200%) due to the high action consumption as you could do 2 normal hits with the action consumed.
Advised level: Rend x 2

Level 25
Inner harmony
Passive
Increases HP/EP recovery and resistances.

Basic survivability skill, bonus regenration and resistances.
Advised level: 1 or higher. Kept at level 1 till other skills are maxed. 1 EP, 2HP recovery and 1 resistance per level isn't worth the skill points

Level 35
Overpowering strike

Cooldown: 30 second
Action consumption: 100%
1 hit skill which inflicts a defence reduction status.

Rather weak skill which reducing defence by a small amount (1000def at max level) for a low duration time.
Ineffective in dealing damage unless at level 5 (200% damage) as action consumption is very high (100%).
100 defence and 1 second duration increase per level.
Advised level: 1 or 5 and higher. Kept at level 1 for skill point gaining or level 5 and above to deal comparable damage to normal attack.

Mountain defencePassive
Increase defence and HP


Basic tanking skill with additional accuracy bonus. 400HP and 100 defence per level
Advised level: 1 or higher. Raise when HP/defence is needed or after other skills are maxed.

Gladiator instincts
Passive
Increase accuracy and damage.

High initial damage increase (380) and additioal accuracy bonus. 20 damage and accuracy per level
Advised level: 1 or higher. Kept at low levels till other skills are maxed. 20 damage per level isn't really worth the skill points.

Level 50
Rampage
Cooldown: 1 second
Action consumption: 100%
Power consumption: 200
3 hit ultimate skill.

Ultimate attack. Deals a huge amount of damage. Useful for PvP starting attack or finishing move to prevent opponent from healing up. Does equivalent damage compared to normal attack at level 1.
Level 1 damage multiplier: 50% + 150% = 200%
Multiplier per level: 50% + 50% = 100%
Advised level: 2 or higher.

Level 60
Armour of thorns
Passive
Increases deflect

Another useful skill to return damage for tanking.
Advised level: - (Current max level at 50, no supporting information on skill)

Image
Polearm
Polearm skill has a chance to inflict a reduction in speed giving an upper hand in PvP.
Passives gives all rounded bonus covering tanking and attacking aspects.
Best HP passive is the the game adding 800HP per level.
Added advantage of sharing the fastest lv1 skill cooldown with dual-wield.

Key points: Tanking and damage dealer.

Stats distribution each level:
Full dps: 7 strength. Lower tanking power. Strong dps.
Balance: 3/4 strength : 4/3 stamina. Higher tanking power at the lost of some damage.
Tanking: 7 stamina. Maximize tanking, highest block rate, defence, HP

Skills:

Level 1
Impale
Cooldown: 10 second
Action consumption: 60%
1 hit skill.

Bread and butter skill, most often used skill. First skill to max to dish out maximum damage.
Advised level: concussive barrage x 2

Level 10
Concussive barrage

Cooldown: 30 second
Action consumption: 100%
3 hit skill with a chance to reduce speed.

Secondary attacking skill, ineffective till level 4 (2 x 55% + 90%) due to the high action consumption as you could do 2 normal hits with the action consumed. //confirmation
Advised level: impale / 2.

Level 25
Intimidation blast
Cooldown: 30 second
Action consumption: 80%
Deal 1 hit normal damage with bonus attribute damage based on percentage.

Weakest and the most useless skill for polearm. Bad damage multiplier which adds insignificant damage.
Advised level: Level 1. Raise for additional skill to gain skill points, other than that this skill is utterly useless

Deflection
Passive
Increases deflect and HP.


Basic tanking skill, huge bonus in HP and minor deflect amount. 800Hp, 10 deflect per level
Advised level: 1 or higher. Raise when HP is needed or after other skills are maxed.

Level 35
Deadliness
Passive
Increase critical damage.

Passive increase for critical damage. 1% per level
Advised level: 1 or higher. Kept at level 1 till other skills are maxed. 1% per level isn't worth the skill points

Focus
Passive
Increase accuracy, damage and dodge
.

Damage increase with additional accuracy and dodge bonus. 50 damage per level.
Advised level: Higher the better, balance out levels with attacking skills.

Level 50
Celestial Wrath

Cooldown: 1 second
Action consumption: 100%
Power consumption: 200
2 hit ultimate skill.

Ultimate attack. Deals a huge amount of damage. Useful for PvP starting attack or finishing move to prevent opponent from healing up. Does equivalent damage compared to normal attack at level 1.
Level 1 damage multiplier: 50% + 150% = 200%
Multiplier per level: 50% + 50% = 100%
Advised level: 2 or higher.

Level 60
Parry
Passive
Increases block

A block rate increases, useful against high critical rate build.
Advised level: - (Current max level at 50, no supporting information on skill)

Image
Two-handed
Two-handed skill has a chance to inflict a defence reduction thus reducing opponents damage reduction greatly.
Unique passive of HP/EP drain which gives excellent solo-ing capability without being a gold user.
Other passives gives minor HP, critical rate and percentage passives.
Low number of active skills (2 + 1 ultimate) compared to other class (3-4 +1 ultimate), thus obtaining of skill point is a bigger challenge compared to other classes.
Average lv1 skill cooldown time of 12sec.

Key points: Damage dealer.

Stats distribution each level:
Full dps: 7 strength. Lower on critical rate.
Balance: 3/4 strength : 4/3 agility. Higher critical rate at the lost of some damage.
Critical rate: 0/1/2 strength : 7/6/5 agility. Not recommended as damage will be low and not effective even if critical hits are scored often.

Skills:

Level 1
Power strike
Cooldown: 12 second
Action consumption: 60%
1 hit skill.

Bread and butter skill, most often used skill. First skill to max to dish out maximum damage.
Advised level: thunder blow x 2

Level 10
Deflection
Passive
Increases HP.

Basic tanking skill, minor bonus in HP. 500HP per level
Advised level: 1 or higher. Raise when HP is needed or after other skills are maxed. Consider keeping at level 1 as HP bonus is very low.

Level 25
Thunder blow
Cooldown: 30 second
Action consumption: 100%
1 hit skill which inflicts a armour reduction status based on the strength stat.

Secondary attacking skill, ineffective till level 4 (200%) due to the high action consumption as you could do 2 normal hits with the action consumed.
Advised level: power strike/ 2.

Bloodthirst
Passive
Increases HP/EP drain.


Survivability skill at last! Decent HP/SP drain to enable solo-ing of instance easily compared to other class. 5HP, 2EP drain per level
Advised level: 1 or higher. Raise when more drain is needed to survive or after other skills are maxed.

Level 35
Brutal strength
Passive
Increase critical rate.

Passive increase for critical rate. 20 per level
Advised level: 1 or higher. Kept at level 1 till other skills are maxed. 20 critical per level isn't much a significant difference compared to the skill points invested.

Level 50
Blade storm

Cooldown: 1 second
Action consumption: 100%
Power consumption: 200
3 hit ultimate skill.

Ultimate attack. Deals a huge amount of damage. Useful for PvP starting attack or finishing move to prevent opponent from healing up. Does equivalent damage compared to normal attack at level 1.
Level 1 damage multiplier: 50% * 2 + 100% = 200%
Multiplier per level: 25% * 2 + 50% = 100%
Advised level: 2 or higher.

Level 60
Ferocity

Passive
Increases critical percentage and damage

Increases critical rate and damage.
Advised level: - (Current max level at 50, no supporting information on skill)

Note: Level 60 skills will be updated soon.

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WoT: 2.3.1 - 2.3.3 Weapon/support/trading skills

2.3.1 Weapon Skills
There are currently 4 different kind of weapon skills available which are:

Image
Dual-Wield
Weapon generally has the lowest minimum and maximum damage gap
Skills: 2,6,9 hit skills, damage over time, fastest lv1 skill coodown at 10sec
Passives/Buffs: Accuracy, bleed, burn, damage buff & passives, dodge, speed
Skill's stat synergy: Agility
+25% damage against polearm
-25% damage against one-handed

Image
Polearm
Weapon generally has the lowest minimum and maximum damage gap
Skills: 1,2 hit skills, chance to reduce speed, fastest lv1 skill cooldown at 10sec
Passives: Accuracy, critical, critical %, deflect, damage, block, HP
Skill's stat synergy: All
+25% damage against one-handed
-25% damage against two-handed

Image
One-handed
Weapon generally has an average minimum and maximum damage gap
Skills: 1,3,4 hit skills, burn, damage reduction, defence reduction, slowest lv1 skill cooldown at 15sec
Passives: Accuracy, damage, defence, deflect, HP, HP/EP recovery, resistances
Skill's stat synergy: Stamina
+25% damage against two-handed
-25% damage against dual-wield

Image
Two-handedWeapon generally has the highest minimum and maximum damage gap
Skills: 1,3 hit skills, defence reduction, average lv1 skill cooldown at 12sec
Passives: Critical, critical %, damage, HP, HP/EP drain
Skill's stat synergy: Strength
+25% damage against dual-wield
-25% damage against polearm

2.3.2 Support skills

Image
DefenceSurvivability/support and tanking skill
Buffs: Defence buff in a fixed number or in a percentage, resistance buff
Passives: Defence, HP, resistances

Image
Recovery
Survivability/support skill
Skills/Buffs: Instant/over-time healing, healing buff, special damage reduction (bleed, burn, poison)
Passives: EP, EP recovery, healing

Image
Poison
Offensive skill
Skills/Buffs: EP reduction in a fixed number or in a percentage, poison buff, poison damage

2.3.2 Trading skills

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TradeEnables more effective mining, harvesting. Unlocks ore/herb refining, bar making, consumable creation.
The higher the level the collecting skill, the better the rate of getting the material.
Higher level skill of refining/smelting ect. is required for the higher level of the material.

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WoT: 2.3 Skills

2.3 Skills

You will have 4 slots for learning different kinds of skills.
The first slot is already unlocked for your weapon skill.
The second slot will be unlocked by a quest for free
The third and fourth slot have to be unlocked using 5000 and 50000 coins respectively.

Skills can be reset by paying 50000 coins or forgotten for free.
Note that forgetting the skill will result in losing all skill points gained!
For weapon and support skills, skill points are gained each time the skill is used.
Where else trading is gain by either gathering, harvesting, mining, refining, herbalism, alchemy (making consumable item) or smelting.


Each active skill has a cooldown and slot and energy (SP) consumption.
Cooldown is how long before the skill can be used again.
Slot consumption is number of bars used up (The blue bar that charges up before you can attack).
Energy consumption = EP used. You require to have enough EP in order to use the skill.
Level 50 skill uses power to do an 'ultimate' attack which does a high multiplied damage attack.

Each of these weapon skills has their advantages and disadvantages against each other.
Choose wisely as forgetting and learning a new skill would result in losing all skill points gained!

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WoT: 2.1-2.2 Level and Character Attributes

Basics
Let's start off with the basic stuff which almost everyone knows!
This part would cover building your character stats, skills builds.

2.1 Level
There you start off as level 1 in probably every other game.
Your journey now begins as a newbie like every other new player alike.

Leveling up increases your HP, EP and you recieve 7 stats points. Additional 7 stats point are obtain per 10 levels. The max level currently is at at 60.

2.2 Character Attributes
Exp: Experience points, once it's full you level
HP: Hit points, once it reach's zero you are dead
EP: Energy points, used for using skills
SP: Spirit points, used for doing instance at heroic or legendary, reviving when you are dead or for some specific quests.
Power: Used for using lv50 skill. Increases when you attack (including pet) or been attacked. You gain 2 power each time and 5 if a critical damage is dealt.
(Yellow bar under the SP bar in the main screen)


Damage: Self explanatory, higher it gets the better
Defence: Increases damage reduction by a percentage
Accuracy: Chance to hit when attacking
Dodge: Chance to evade when attacked
Speed: Action bar refill time, the higher the faster you attack.
Critical: Chance to critical, chance to do a critical hit doing x% critical damage
Block: Reduction of critical chance

Title:Opens title award window.
Zodiac: Current unavailable
Mastery: Unlocked at level 40. Combat Mastery Experience used for upgrading
More Stats: Opens the window on the right


Strength: +3 Damage, +1 Accuracy, +5 HP per stat
Stamina: +20 HP, +5 Defence, +1 EP, +1 Block per stat
Agility: +2 Critical, +2 Dodge, +2 Accuracy, +5 HP per stat
Commander: Increases your leadership ability (Current not available)

Reset Attributes: Brings out the menu for you to buy skill reset using gold.
Recommended: Auto assignment of stats. I strongly advice you not to use this
for various reasons which will be explains later below.


Fate: Gives you a stat bonus depending on which fate is chosen.
Luck: Ranges from worst, bad, normal, lucky, best. Rumoured to affect item drop rate.
Title: Gives a wide range of bonuses, damage, speed, EP limit, EP recovery, defence, HP limit, Recover. 20 levels.
Merit: Required for increasing title. Get this from quests, merit certificate
or merit exchange.


Average Damage: Min damage + max damage/ 2
Speed: Increases speed by 0.01 fps per 10 speed
Damage reduction: Increases with diminishing returns (Ratio of defence : reduction % is reduce as defence value is increased)
Critical Damage: Critical damage modifier
Element damage/resist: Increase in element damage done/reduction in element damage taken
HP recovery: HP recovery every 5 second. HP recovery in multiples of 20 (E.g. 10 x 20 = 200hp per 5 second)
EP recovery: EP recovery every 5 second. EP recovery in multiples of 5 (E.g. 10 x 5 = 50ep per 5 second)
Drain HP/EP: Leeches back HP/EP per hit. Leech value in multiples of 10. *
Heal HP (Healing): Increase healing by a percentage. (E.g 2000 x 10% = 200 extra heal)
Reflect Damage (Deflect): Return damage to enemies when attacked. Returns damage in multiples of 10. **
Reduce armour (Sunder): Reduces enemies defence when attacking. Defence reduce as stated amount.



Notes:
* HP/EP drained based on damage whichever is less.
(E.g. Having 30 HP drain would allow 300 Hp of draining but if damage is less then 300, then only that damage is drained)
** Damage returned based on damage taken whichever is less
(E.g. Having 30 Reflect Damage would allow returning of 300 damage but if damage taken is less then 300, then only that damage is returned)



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Thursday, November 3, 2011

Dragon Nest Online Game review

Dragon Nest is the latest in a string of Action-MMORPGs to migrate from South Korea. While the developer, in this case Eyedentity Games, is usually responsible for the awesomeness in any given title, Dragon Nest owes a great deal to its localization team in North America for some of its more joyous aspects.



That's not to say that Eyedentity Games didn't do a great job, though -- because they did. Dragon Nest is a solid action game; the controls are tight, combat makes a lot of sense, and group interaction during the fifteen-minute (or so) dungeons, like rushing in to juggle an enemy after an ally has knocked them up, is intuitive while remaining interesting.

They've also done a lot with very little in terms of visuals. While nothing in Dragon Nest seems to extend beyond PS2-era visuals, a cohesive, vaguely children's-bookish art style combined with smooth animations and lots of effects has stopped me from completely disregarding the simple looks. Dragon Nest isn't a graphical powerhouse (and given its intention of being playable on as many systems as possible, it was probably never intended to be), but presents itself with enough confidence and occasional pizzazz that its simple appearance never became an issue. That said, it's weird -- and kind of off-putting -- seeing some of the women with their boobs half hanging out in a game that, from a glance, looks so family-friendly.

But that's kind of Dragon Nest's MO. It looks simple on the surface, but there's a lot more depth (and fun) than initially meets the eye. Fighting isn't just a simple case of mashing the mouse buttons (although that's certainly part of it); dodging when you need to, turning your dodge into a counter attack, and knowing when and how to cancel an enemy's attacks are all very important. Self-preservation is key to the later, tougher fights, because even the Priest class (which I primarily played) heals only very rarely, and for quite small amounts. Instead, the "healer" relies more on disabling enemies and positioning them cleverly for allies to pour on the damage. It's a system I enjoyed immensely, though at times felt a little less rewarding than I would have liked.



Rewarding players is something that Dragon Nest definitely needs to work on. Sure, quests have rewards, but I found myself getting rewards that I typically had no need for, like Topaz Fragments (which I have yet to find a that requires them), or pieces of gear I couldn't use yet, like a level 20 necklace when I was still level 17. Finding gear that was too high-level for me was a consistent issue with Dragon Nest. There seems to only be gear made for specific level ranges, so during gap levels I found myself accumulating gear I couldn't equip. That's a problem, given how little inventory space you have by default. More can be bought permanently from the NX shop, but if you plan on playing for free, be prepared to go all Sophie's Choice on those new boots and that new pair of pants you found. More frequent usable upgrades would help alleviate this, because I would be less inclined to keep gear if I knew more was always coming.



Dragon Nest Gameplay




Luckily, the quests themselves are entertaining, even with temporarily-unusable rewards. Whenever you pick up or turn in a quest, you are met with some genuinely clever, often witty dialogue with the NPC. Each NPC is completely fleshed out, and they make tongue-in-cheek jokes about the similarities they may have to other NPCs in other towns. Reading the dialogue is delightful, and it's entirely thanks to the North American localization team at Nexon.

Although the quests always send you to a dungeon, the dungeons have enough engaging encounters and difficulty levels that they tend to at least keep me interested throughout. The boss fights on the hardest (or "Abyss") difficulty are particularly cool. Sometimes Abyss bosses come with a second, identical boss for you to tackle at the same time. Other times they are just super strong, have way more abilities and double the health. Whatever the case, the boss encounters are always challenging and enjoyable.

Getting a group together to tackle a dungeon on Abyss can be a pain, though, especially if you've got a specific dungeon in mind. The current party system only displays players looking for party members in your local area. Players can display which dungeon and difficulty they're running, but typically don't, and there's no matchmaking. Nexon's other 3D session-based MMO Vindictus has a dungeon-by-dungeon party system which works much better. 

If you get tired of running dungeons, challenge maps and a PvP arena also exist to ceaselessly murder in, too. I find the PvP pretty fun, but with more than about 8 players in a map it got too chaotic to really do anything. Instead, if I got singled out, I'd sit and watch my character get juggled for 20 seconds, unable to do anything except die. That's less than an ideal experience, but that's why smaller maps are available, I guess.

Article source: here

Saturday, September 5, 2009

Ran Online

RAN Online
RAN Online is campus-based MMORPG, which features schools (Mystic Peak, Sacred Gate and Phoenix) vying to become the best of the best. Players can choose to become the sword-wielding Swordsman, the melee fighter Brawler, the bow-brandishing Archer, and the Qi-Gong expert Shaman.

Previously, these job classes are gender-bound, meaning one can only create a male Swordsman/Brawler and a female Archer/Shaman. In the recent game patch called “The Rebirth”, this limitation is now a thing of the past. Players can also do better in the game with the assistance of the RAN Pets, who can perform specific skills.

Another latest addition in the game is the inclusion of the Hover Boards, which makes traveling easier, not to mention that players look cool wearing the Hover Suit as well.



Taught to fight
18 years ago a total eclipse enshrouded Asia and a meteor shower swept the land leaving only destruction in its wake. The affected part of the continent was quarantined by the rest of the world: the meteors had opened a dimensional rift into a demonic realm!

Soon afterwards, a new organization sprang up: it gathered wealth and resources, and built schools meant to train the strongest and the smartest: they would become fighters and make their stand against the uprising evil.
The organization erected shields around the schools, hoping to keep possessed humans and living dead at bay. But in Leonair, one of the campuses, the shields went down and, in but a single night, the school fell.
Now only three of them remain. And the fate of the world rests in their students’ hands.


The training begins
In the intro screen you will be greeted by a greatly-inspired hard-rock tune, which perfectly sets the mood of the game. Unfortunately the music in the rest of the game will be pretty ordinary, but the intro theme really rocks!
You have to choose your campus and your role: each school has its own peculiar style (old-fashioned, mystique, high-tech) while the available careers are four, but each one has two paths to be followed: even if careers are pretty standard (tank, melee DPS, ranged DPS, healer/buffer), specializing in one path is a way to customize them. You will receive skill and attribute points for every level, and you will be able to spend them accordingly, choosing to concentrate only on a few powers or to develop a wider array to draw upon. Just keep in mind that, in order to raise certain skills, you have to meet both level and attribute requirements.
If you want more skill points, you can perform tasks for a particular NPC who will award them on completion: usually it will be a hard task, but it will be worth your while.
As soon as you have spoken with teachers and other persons inside the school to understand the basics, you will be given missions. The first tasks are meant to let you explore the campus and give you an overview of locations (both interior and exterior) and opponents. Missions are detailed in the appropriate panel, and there are just enough of them to go by; usually they will involve killing mobs, but at times you may be required more menial tasks like cleaning rubble… a break from grinding, anyway.


Fighting style
Fighting mobs is pretty straightforward: just left-click and your character will start to auto-attack the enemy. The right button is reserved to use abilities, and you can place them on a shortcut bar, as well as potions and consumables you might need in battle to heal and regenerate power. Standard method, and it works, but considering that, as you progress, fights become more and more fast-paced, a quick activation of skill via keyboard (just like for consumables) would have helped.
Since WASD keys are reserved for items, movement is point-and-click and to rotate the camera you have to keep pressed the central mouse button; odd choice, and awkward at first, but it is balanced by a very efficient map system: you click anywhere on the mini-map and your character will go there, no matter how many twists and turns it takes. You can also buy “tickets” to fast-travel back and fro between the school building and the last place visited… or where you died. Apart from ordinary loot from the mobs you killed, there is a feature worth mentioning: destiny boxes are a sort of Easter eggs where you can find temporary buffs or, less frequently, bombs and even spawning bosses.
Students also want to look cool while fighting evil: the schools and departments will provide different uniforms as you progress, and if you want to further customize your appearance you can buy other unique outfits from the item shop (as well as other perks to help you leveling). Only the choice of faces is pretty limited.
Scantily-clad girls and fashionable boys will look even cooler while they perform their moves: while the game makes large use of polygons for environment, animations really look great, with plenty of special effects you won’t easily get tired to watch.
And since rivalry is so common among schools, there are limited time frames when members of different college can fight each other in PvP.


The darkness within
Your opponents are the spawn of hell, but in the beginning the mobs you’ll encounter will be just possessed humans; only later in the game you will face monstrous opponents like zombies and vampires. Perhaps the designers wanted to keep the horror theme more on the inside, but maybe some horns, claws and fangs more would have helped. But the real problem with enemies resides in the lack of information: the only thing you can see is a vital bar, but you will receive no information at all about the challenge level, as in most MMO. As a result, you’ll have to learn by yourself which opponents you can take on, without any means to assess it.





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