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Thinking of playing/buying. Please Advise me!
tristanryan
Member Posts: 233
A few questions if anyone has the time. (please)
1. I know nothing about the game other than 30 minutes worth of reading. There seems to be different options to purchase. From what ive gathered, There is a deluxe VIP and then another version with more rewards. If im willing to pay more, or whatever it is, can i get the good deal still? Or is deluxe all that is available now? (confused)
2. Can i trust to use my credit card with these guys?
3. Do you enjoy the game or regret your purchase?
4. Any advice or anything else you can tell me possibly? (good OR bad!)
5. I read that players who spend a little money have an advantage. This is okay. But is it Pay-2-Win? 
6. Im so confused on the purchasing options. Deluxe = 60 days VIP? Elite = No longer available but 90 days? Will the 60 days last untill full release or what? What do you do after the 60 days and the game isnt released yet?
Please fill me in on this game and if you enjoy yourself, regret your purchase etc etc. I love sandbox and i also enjoy PvP.
Comments
All mmorpg that has item mall is Pay 2 win basically. Only game that isnt pay to win is subscription game except couple like LOTRO. But the subscription game starting to decline because more money earned on item mall than subscription by far. Which is sad part.... The fun of mmorpg games starting to decline by greed. If you plan to compete without using your wallet then its not good idea to play cuz its inevitable.
Kain_Dale
My advice is that you should download the game and play it first before spending any money. It won't cost you anything and you'll get 10 hours playtime free + 60 minutes every day when that's spent. In those first ten hours you'll get a good feel for the game and you'll know whether you want to invest in it eventually. Far too many people nowadays jump in with both feet and throw their money away, then cry because they feel cheated or scammed when the game does not meet their expectations.
AoW is pretty slow in the beginning and many things can be confusing to a completely new player. It features things that no other MMO does, so it takes a little getting used to. If you want to play around more with different schools and stuff (like I did), just create a new account with another email adress and you've got ten hours more - on a new char ofc but still.
As for p2w: the whole game is geared towards people spending money. The VIP thing lets you do offline meditation and other things that will speed up your char's development, while a non-paying player will be advancing a lot slower. You'll basically need to sub or spend money to play the game "for real", but tbh that's no different than many other f2p titles. Can't say I've seen any über leet op gear for sale though, so it's not p2w in that sense.
it's a 7.2gb download, use the 10 hours + daily 1 hour and you will know if you like it.
It is a good game (despite its business model) from a purely gameplay perspective.
1. I'm not sure about the English version's package deals... But there's a VIP status ingame where you can do basic stuff (like mining/fishing, voting, etc) and f2p version where you are severely limited.
2. The company itself is established, i supposed, not those back alley sweat shop operations. Still, be careful as usual.
3. I'm playing the f2p chinese version on Asia Server (haven't paid a cent to them yet).
4. Take it easy when you get your butt kicked. It will happen. In other games we can attribute the loss to our lack of skills; here its "there's always another player who paid more".
5. Yes. It is a pay to win game. (pls refer to my other post for explanation)
6. Everything (items/horses/bags/etc) which is time-limited ingame wlll start countdown the first time you used it. So the VIP status will also start countdown the first time you log in.
I am enjoying to a certain extent. But for the company to give unlimited powers to those who wish to pay for it, in a open pvp environment (like pre-trammel UO) while restricting basic functions of f2pers will hamper the popularity of the games. They are already merging chinese servers and asian servers due to huge population decline.
Not sure about you, but i rather look forward to seeing how Perfect World develop its Swordsman Online.
They only reason I'm on mmorpg is because my toon is in jail, again... and I'n not paying the guard off to get out! I've been kidnapping people all day, and I aint giving any of the money I made back, plus I'm to scared to try to break out
... Have fun. Tell me what you think.
OP this is rediculous. You guys have a goodnight.
Thanks a lot for the answers!
Now my main concern is on the wiki it says Closed Beta 2 ends on January 9th. Thats less than 60 days away, by a large amount. And no information on when the game will be released (unless im missing something). Id hate to jump in spend some cash then nobody can play for days/weeks/months. Anyone clarify this for me?
I thought about this on your 2nd or 3rd question. I was going to say that CB2 ends in about 2 1/2 weeks, but chars will not be wiped, and I've had a shit ton of fun this week.
I would disagree with the graphics and movement part, and to a certain extent, your examples for it being a pay to win game.
The graphics is one of the better ones for games developed in China (sadly). The musical scores are authentic classical pieces that suits the artistic style, and overall it manages to recreate a scenic, idyllic world for immersion in this genre.
Movement wise, if you hold down block, you will move slowly. Try letting go of the block and use the appropriate movement skills after you obtained the manual (shft, ctrl, double/triple jump or double tap). Though jumping is suicide facing certain schools. -.-
All items deteriorates, and basic items (wood class) can be bought from npcs. Mid level items (iron, bronze? class) can be purchased from school npc using contributions. Higher level items (bronze, silver, gold or jade class items) have to be player made. So it is a money sink, not really a pay to win.
The pay to win comes from item mall pills that level your internals (press K, last/bottom tab on left if the UI stays the same), as well as the unlimited training using silver.
Playing for enjoyment at your own pace is great, but any competitive FFA PvP will be frustrating when the 2nd/3rd internal skills is released and you see a huge gap between paid training and normal training.
I'm a little hesitant about Wushu as well
I tried the beta and It's sort of ok, but something bugs me about it
1 - if you pay (monthly), your character will progress faster and knowing how this follows the chinese game philosophy, it'll probably go the way of the perfect world and eventually become p2w
2 - the skill system is very similar to Eve Online, but you have to actively stay online unless you're a paying customer. if you're paying, you can log off, so in that sense, if you don't play a lot and don't pay, you'll feel very underpowered
3 - it's open pvp, so that means the paying members with ALWAYS have an upper hand
4 - in a few months when some people will be WAY ahead, it'll be hard to catch up and so unless you join in right away and start leveling and paying right away, you may end up giving up when some players are just too powerful to handle and the griefing starts to appear (in that sense, eve is different because there are so many sets of skills you can be good at, but in AoW it's mostly the same stuff)
5 - the battles and everything else in the game is fun, but I can see how it can eventually turn into a horrible waiting game, especially if ypu're not paying. basically to adnvace in skills you have to wait for them to count down, or pay money, or pay ingame currency all of which are not really fun. you can't raise you skills any other way, e.g. by killing monsters or doing anything at all, it's all on a timer
overall, it's a very original and interesting game, but I would wait before paying for it. it may take a year or so past the release date to balance out and become worthy of money
I review lots of indie games and MMORPGs
I would say this is a rather accurate reflection of the general sentiments felt over at Asian/TW playerbase. A few points to note though:
2- Elite (paid) offline training is good only for one level of any skill. Once you level up in the skill you selected, your offline training will stop. If leveling that skill takes 8 hours and you went offline for 12 hours, you will waste 4 hours of potential training time. Alot of Chinese/TW/Asian players circumvent this by AFK-ing and macro/bot programs, Snail is not doing anything against botters except restricting gathering skills of free players to prevent gathering bots (and forcing players to pay subscription in order to craft).
3- Those buying official currency and training with them do not need to abide to time limit or log off to train. Theoretically how fast they level their skills to lv36 (and gaining the 2nd/3rd set of internal skills) is limited by how fast they can click the 3 buttons if they have their wallets opened. This affects not only the open world pvp, but the arenas, challenge for school management position, fights for clan castle/fortress, etc.
4- And when the normal player starts to slowly catch up to the paying (not just the monthly sub payment for VIP/elite, but the "dump money into item mall type") players, the company releases the next set of internal skills which blows the previous ones out of the water. Currently its at the 3rd set in TW/Asia, but preview of the 4th and 5th is out, so expect the same to happen at US/EU versions.
5- You can raise the internals (press "K", last tab) by killing mobs... but you can buy pills from item malls that lets you gain that faster then killing mobs. Those who trained the correct internals boosting the appropriate stats will have huge advantage over those who don't later on in the game, the difference will be very visible by 3rd set of internal skill.
Well... enjoy.
I bought the delux package and I would have to say if I was going to seriously play this game (Which I am doing now) I think ?I would only do it as ViP, the $10 a month sub is less than some other MMO's and its advantages are definately worth it in this game. For instance the offline cultivation and better crafting options alone make it a much more dynamic game.
Most of the items, excluding certain vanity clothing, can be bought in game...exp potions from herbalist players horses from vendors bags from tailors, and the economy is definately robust enough that if you participate in it, I don't think you would ever have to spend gold to procur the basic items needed (bags and food). A lot of people complain about the unbound silver for gold but I don't spend gold on silver and have raised a lot just from gathering and crafting skills and setting up a stall.
I keep hearing things like "unbound silver another way for snail to get your money" when I think it should be "unbound silver a way to make sure you participate in the economy", but if you are a pk and never want to make anything I guess $ would work as well.
As far as being able to train skills for real money, it is possible to train skills with unbound silver but
1) As said above you can get unbound silver for selling stuff, I have participated in the prayer event a couple of times with just money I have made in game.
2) So far, with the limit on internals available in the western version, a large enough group can take down anyone know matter how much they have spent. Full Stop. I don't know if that will change or not but it does provide an equilizing element...this is an MMO you can get friends to help.
how game where You cant buy better items, upgrades is P2W?
You dont know anything about this game only complain complain
NA CB2 have less content than chinese CB2 had, later You can make own fashion, if You are in guild with territory You can buy fast horse, or slow from npc at any map
while I see a lot stuff about how great VIP is, keep in mind while You are offline You can be kidnapped and only thing You will get will be 5h debuff, I am in chinese version from more than half year and VIP is more for ppl who can play 1h a day I am offline only at maintance and dont have any problems, as for guy who wrote about gathering, both EU and NA versions claim they wont do it, but only time will show
haha. I want to thank you aswell. I only know what I know. Tell me, The two internal skills that I have now, is the second just naturally better than the first?
Do have a good place for me to see character stat breakdown? I made this poison that reduces "Balance," I don't see balance as a stat though. I have about 79 other questions. I hold those for now. Thank you.
Better wait for non restrictive close beta of age of wulin aka gpotato version or use english client of russian server. Currently snail is running this game into the ground. It's a good game but marred by
The poor translation (I'm a chinese and i don't even understand what they're translating sometime)
P2win centric business model (Cash > cash shop gold >in game gold >buy your level up thru skill point pill and money practice mode)
Lots of player complaint at the official forum on a lot of issue (thou get locked or deleted very swiftly)
Generally speaking, yes, the second set is better than the first as it provides higher HP and Blue Bar (not sure what they translate this to). However, in practice, the level of synergy with the 3 basic martial arts set provided by each school is different. For example, wanderer valley's 1st and 2nd internal skills does not synergise well with its own martial arts compared to other schools like Tangmen. Still, within the school, max level 2nd set is usually better than max level 1st.
Here's a table comparison (in google translate gibberish) if you want a quick glance on what 1st/2nd/3rd internal of each school does, for quick comparison to see the improvement of 2nd set over the 1st: http://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&js=n&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&eotf=1&u=http%3A%2F%2Ftw.meetgee.com%2FMiniSite%2FTopic%2FView.aspx%3FID%3D2041486%26GameID%3D7832&act=url
For your second question, unfortunately i do not play a poisoner so i'm not sure which poison you are referring to. However, most stats can be seen from "C", 1st bottom left tab, extend out the right hand side add-on window using the little arrow right side of potrait, 1st and 2nd tab at the bottom of the extended window. If the stat is not there, it might not be a stat per se, but a "status".
A status is like a buff/debuff which, in combination with particular skills' buff/debuff, causes an effect. For example, some scholars skills adds an unbalanced status, which makes the target susceptible to be knocked off his/her feet (punted).
Hope it answers your queries. I came here to see if the english version is translated well since majority of my friends cannot read chinese (and i type rather slow at that), but after reading most posts it seems the garbage translation efforts confuses more people than the language barrier itself.
Thanks man. Well the translation is better than I first thought it would be. Still a lot of "Hit wall at great angle" lol it reads like the old kunfu movies.
No way in the world I am choosing gpotato over anything. Not after allods.
The russian version of might be good but I am hearing European players say the ping from playing cross atlantic is pretty bad. Also I prefer the current model of F2P over what the chinese model has right now, straight up buy to win skills in the cash shop, which snail has kind of implied it will not do in the US version.
So far you can not buy actual skills in the US cash shop, you can not buy actual economic items (like wheat) in the US cash shop, though you can get boosters to help with the gaining of skills and wheat faster in game. This is acceptable, I wish they would end the prayer event but I am using it with silver I got in game.
If Snail goes the asian route and just flat out puts OP skills in the cash shop I will stop playing or caring about this game that day.
I'm not so sure about whether snail will go that way or not... but well, they did package the martial arts to "not look like" martial arts skill books for asian servers...
Another crappy google translate. Pardon me:
http://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&js=n&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&eotf=1&u=http%3A%2F%2Fsg.9yin.woniu.com%2Fact%2F201211%2Fqbjf%2F&act=url
I will not go tick by tick, but I will offer up my opinion..
The game is complicated. One of the most complicated RPG systems I have ever played. Also one of the richest, it has many aspects.. I still don't tottally understand the whole game, but I can tell you from the Life skills minigames to the Team Practice "dancing" minigame that there is quite a bit to learn.
It has a great deal of choices to make and the character creation is far from limiting, although it keeps you within the lore (no European on African features or skin colors). Schools play a defined role, and the game really puts emphasis on school politics. A whole system of espionage and conflict between the schools exist. Guilds also have their place and for some people (like EvE) can supersede the school choice so you could typically have a band of misfits from many schools if you choose to.
The negatives for me is that combat can be confusing and the control scheme for me was very different. The game could be more responsive than it is right now. Too laggy for sure and it makes combat more of a guessing game than tactical. Also the cash shop only offers rentable gear (it's only for looks, but you still have to rent it every month) which makes no sense for so many vanity items.
There are no day and night cycles or weather.. Not a big deal for most but in a game touted as being a sandbox this is actually an important feature. Most sandboxes have very detailed weather and time systems.
Still some translation to be fixed, but it's still very playable.
In order to enjoy the game right now you really have to buy deluxe edition, I have it and have had no problems with payment. They offer many ways to pay. Since there are going to be no further wipes the VIP status is in effect and it's 60 days for VIP plus I think 15 gold.
In all, I find the game entertaining. Not a waste at all.
This. Can have all the interesting innovations in the world, if combat sucks, I wont be playing it.
Was trying to make a quick bit of change before I logged and that's when I saw my chance. The perfect kidnap victim..
As I'm planning my grab and escape, because you know the laws always looking and wanna be hero's are everywhere. That's when this Tangman decides to jump my target just before my approach..
Well no other choice.. Time to kill her and claim my prize. Unfortunately she wasn't up to fight for the rights on our victim and bailed. I didn't complain, was too tired and didn't want more blood on my hands than was needed..
Delivery made on time and I logged..
The game really allows for some interesting encounter.. This was in Chengdu the most populated player hub of the cities currently. I've checked out Jingling also and it looks pretty nice, not finished though. Can't wait till more players actually can get into the game on a regular basis and we can push out to populate other cities..
PM before you report at least or you could just block.