Age of Wushu

[Morreion]

Age of Wushu official site

Age of Wushu devs making 'painstakingly accurate' recreation of ancient China (Massively)

Age of Wushu may feature wire-fu and mythical monsters, but it also features a pretty realistic recreation of 15th century China...

First impressions from the Age of Wushu beta (Massively)

If I were to sum Age of Wushu up in only a few words, they would be "EVE Online in China." Skill training is remarkably similar to what's found in EVE. Instead of continuous level progression followed by gear progression, Wushu features time-based leveling by which players quickly reach a basic mastery level then expand their characters horizontally by learning new skills and fighting styles. Also much as in EVE, the system is pretty clumsy and hard to negotiate, but that'll eventually be solved with guides and wikis.

...Each school also has several fighting styles. In the beta, there were three different styles for each school, and I'm told there will also be several neutral styles and a fourth fighting style available for each school. If you want to expand your arsenal, you can even learn another school's fighting arts or neigong by stealing them, though the caps for leveling other schools' styles are lower. While mastering your first neigong and fighting art will take only a couple of months at the most, mastering several will take a very long time.

...If you've been griefed by a PKer, you also have a defense; you can put a bounty on his head. Any player with a bounty gains a glowing red icon that spins around him, and constables (player characters) can hunt him down and collect the bounty. In a way, putting a bounty on criminals encourages constables to be active and hunt criminals down because you're paying their wages. If a player with a bounty is killed by a constable, it's just like if he were killed by a police NPC, except the jail time is higher.

Age of Wushu is probably the greatest sandbox you'll never play (Massively)

Crucially, the game feels alive, lived in, and world-like precisely because you don't know exactly what to do from the moment you log in. You don't follow the usual themepark script, even though there is a main story quest, and you don't put your nose to the grindstone, searching for the optimal path to level 80 or map completion or whatever. You don't immediately tab out and search for the one true talent tree build or the location of your class armor quest NPC. That stuff simply isn't very important, and "endgame" begins almost immediately. Did I mention that you can fish and paint?

The Art of Wushu: The right martial arts school for you (Massively)

Shaolin: Never run from a fight

Shaolin is a school focused on excellence in close combat. Whether against one foe or many, a Shaolin monk is a powerful ally or deadly enemy. In PvE, Shaolin monks are primarily DPS/crowd control type characters with many options for shutting down groups of foes and dealing heavy damage. They're a bit tougher than most schools, but they're not the go-to class for tankers.

Age of Wushu CEO talks localization, cash shop, and more (Massively)

Do you see Age of Wushu as part of a larger trend of non-linear or sandbox MMOs making some sort of comeback? Do you feel there's more of a demand for this type of game in Asia as opposed to America and Europe?

The character growth mode in Age of Wushu is non-linear. This sandbox mode generates the feeling of immersion, which provides players with a complete gaming experience. Snail is dedicated to creating unique worlds. I believe such products will be popular not only in Asia but also in Europe and North America.

Age of Wushu delays launch to 'spring 2013' (Massively)

Time to put on your lemon faces, folks, because this news is going to make you pucker up: Snail Games has announced that Age of Wushu is delaying its launch. The release, which was originally scheduled for February 1st, has now been moved to a more nebulous "spring 2013."

[Morreion]

Age of Wushu Beginners Guide (Ten Ton Hammer)

Once in the game world you’ll be introduced to a rather different questing system. You’ll see your objectives on the right side; you can click the NPC name to auto-walk to the location of the NPC. The game does an excellent job of walking you through the steps of each quest. There are minor differences between the different starting locations, but ultimately it all boils down to the same series of quests.

The first interactive quest will teach you parrying. You’ll talk to the NPC, hold the right mouse button down, and then be given the next step which is to use a skill book. Skill books teach you new abilities that you can use. You use them from your inventory, click “study”, and then open your skillbook to drag them to your action bar. The first skill you learn will be “Embrace the Moon.” This skill reduces damage after each successful parry and is a passive activated ability.

Hands-On Age of Wushu with QA Analyst John Lynch (Ten Ton Hammer)

The sandbox MMO genre is expanding and more and more games are finding that niche where they give players a giant world and let them decide what to do with it. This is one of the key defining features, especially in a game with open world PvP. One of John’s favorite moments is when a brawl between two players turned into a large scale fight with everyone joining in a manner of minutes – the world lives and breathes, and players are the emperors of their own entertainment.

The Art of Wushu: Gathering and crafting (Massively)

Pound for pound, poison makers produce the best items for improving combat performance in the game. Poisons don't expire over time, and are always available and always deadly. They're more effective than a new sword and cost a fraction of the price.

Poisoners produce poison-maker mats, which are used to upgrade clothing items. These poison stones require a craftsman, as the main materials used in their construction are craftsman mats! Still, a craftsman trade partner selling at a low price can let you produce materials to sell, or you can sell gaultheria and have others make the stones instead.

Poison-making also includes its own gathering skill, which lets it gather unique herbs used in poisons and upgrade items. It also uses hunting and herbalism materials for some of its crafting.

Age of Wushu elaborates on crime and punishment (Massively)

The color of names denoting wanted players has changed; names will first change from white to orange after players add to their infamy by performing murderous deeds. Name colors will then escalate to red and finally to purple if the killing continues. Other players can still place bounties on murderers at the orange level, and either NPC police or player constables (there can be up to 1000 per server) can collect on them.

Depending on the severity of an offender's actions, different options are available once jailed. The lowest tiers -- orange and red -- can wait out the sentence, pay a hefty bribe to wipe their slate clean, or place wagers on a dice game to try and win their way out. Of course, they can also attempt a jailbreak with friends. The worst offenders (purple) are slated for death row and will be publicly beheaded if they can't afford the bribe or manage to escape.

The Art of Wushu: Making silver through harvesting (Massively)

For a low-level character, iron is the best source of income. It respawns quickly, costs small amounts of vigor, and sells pretty well. If you're a blacksmith, you can turn iron into pupil ingots (make training blades and disassemble them) to hit both the iron and pupil ingot markets simultaneously. Craftsmen can also make pearl essence from trainer rings, but it sells poorly. As a craftsman, I generally sell pearl essence only if I'm desperate since the NPC silver cost is kind of high.

Age of Wushu to launch on April 10th (Massively)

If the launch delay of Age of Wushu caused you to sad-emoticon all over the internet, then it's time to break out the colon-and-capital-D keys: Snail Games announced that it is releasing the martial arts MMO on April 10th in North America.

Age of Wushu explains battle arrays (Massively)

Arrays vary in strength and scope, with the simplest array requiring only three players to execute. There are six arrays in the game without any school requirements and several more in individual schools, allowing for a variety of group-wide buffs that provide several effects in combat. And if one of the people in the array happens to be a skilled Weiqi player, arrays only get better.

Age of Wushu introduces the Meridian system (Massively)

Meridians are sort of like talent trees that can be charged up with "chi," a resource that's accumulated through battles. Each of the nine meridians offers ways to boost abilities, lower skill cooldowns, and change skills. All but one meridian are tied to one of the game's combat schools.

Put your Age of Wushu avatar to work while you're offline (Massively)

Many of the NPCs that you see milling about the game's cities and towns are in fact offline player characters going about their business. Your offline avatar can be a fire-breathing street performer, a cafe owner, a blacksmith, or one of several other professions depending on where you log out. There are both risks and rewards inherent in the the game's offline systems. The former include the ability to be kidnapped (and to subsequently log in to an unfamiliar location) while the latter allows you to collect money and items earned from various tasks.

[Loendal]

Ok, I need to pick my jaw up off the floor and stop drooling now....

Holy CRAP does that look awesome! But, the cynical side of me has already begun saying "Yes, but that's handpicked footage, there's no guaranteeing that anything even CLOSE to that level of awesomeness will actually happen in the normal day to day playing."

[Morreion]

This game looks very good, but my big worry is the F2P microtransaction thing ('pay to win') which often seems to ruin these types of games...

[Loendal]

Well, from what I've heard about the micro-transactions (And admittedly, I haven't dug really really deep) is that it's mostly Appearance items and speeded XP gain while offline. I guess we'll have to wait and see.

I've already downloaded the client; I'm anxiously awaiting April 10th

[Loendal]

Well, looks like you can actually connect NOW if you register and create an account I had the client downloaded and while waiting for my clothes to wash and dry for Sunday, I saw an ad on Armorgames and clicked the link. I created an account via e-mail, as the Facebook link never seemed to work.

I discovered this Sunday, right before I had to head to my Aunt's for Easter doin's with the family, and had to work Sunday night. Got a little taste of the game. However, Monday morning when I came home I dove in and started playing with zeal.

First impressions are favorable; the game is without a doubt, beautiful. Lots of scenery and details that look very nice. (Screenshots forthcoming) I was able to crank the graphics to Ultra and I'm still getting 60 FPS, and my machine is a few years old and certainly not cutting edge tech. That being said, it almost HAS to look pretty just due to the sheer amount of time one spends travelling from place to place! Every quest and mission has a clickable link that sets off the Autopathing and walks you right to where or who you need to go. This has left me with a sense of being lost if I don't have an autopathing link to follow. That pretty much just stems from not having had to walk there on my own, and probably my own internal laziness

The scenes are huge, and even small villages take a while to pass through on horseback, but I'm riding a fairly slow mount, too. This was a freebie I got as part of a quest that I've yet to complete. "Here, take my old horse, she'll help you get there faster".

The game definitely has that Korean MMO feel, lots of similar looking characters milling about with lots of spam on the World line; tons of NPC's walking here and there trying to entice you to enter their shop; entire streets packed edge to edge with player-run offline stalls (Ala Knight:Online, if you've ever played that). I saw some of the Offline Player NPC's going about their business as well. Basically, like it says above, you get a job when you log out. Some examples that I've seen are ones such as "Wudang School Cleaning Disciple" who sweeps up around the school grounds. The player's name shows up under the official title. When I logged out this afternoon to go to bed, the game told me I was going to be either a Lumber cutter, a Cleaning Disciple or a Teahouse Waiter. You don't get to pick which one.

Confusion from travelling a really big world at a fairly slow pace aside, the game's complexity is a bit overwhelming. Alot of stats that will take time to learn, alot of words with I's and X's in strange places, and a combat system that isn't much like anything else I've played before. This could just stem from my newbieness to the game, I'm sure at some point the combat will seem more clear cut than it is. I can trounce three baddies at a time sometimes (Heck, I one-shotted a pack of 5 once!) and then other times I get roflstomped by a single enemy. Pay close attention to what the pop-up tells you about the enemy level, a "Well Matched" combatant will fall MUCH faster than a "More Skilled (Skillful?)" opponent, and those seem to be the two ratings I see the most on my quests and just travelling about.

On the subject of combat, I'm trying to get a handle on the whole Rock->Paper->Scissors construct. I'm having a hard time keeping track of what skills I should be using at what time, in addition to that struggle, I have to remember what my School skills are designed to do so as to put them to my best advantage. This isn't mindless combat, you have to keep on your toes and pay attention. Throw in terms that I'm not used to and it becomes even more complex. This isn't really a BAD thing, persay, but it's definitely a stumbling block. It's also not nearly so fast paced as other MMO's I've played. Combat can be over quickly, but if you're going to go past a few quick shots to kill something, you will be surprised how long it seems to take.

I haven't touched on the PvP aspect of the game yet, as I really don't think I have what it takes to take out a bountied player yet and I can't go into School Competitions, Raids or certain School missions such as Spying due to not being high enough level. PvP is optional though, you have to turn on a special fight mode called Jiangdu (I may have spelled that wrong) which is essentially a toggle switch. I did see the game's justice system though. There are messages that pop up in the middle of the screen about bounties, law breakers getting caught and such. Today I also saw a collection of around 6 players get executed for their crimes in quick succession, so I imagine they were a nasty group that finally got caught.

The current Storyline mission that I'm stuck on needs me to group up and go raid a family's household, which of course is swarming with baddies. I already got groused at for not being that knowledgeable about combat and getting separated from the leader while on the quest. He slightly loosened up when I explained that I'd just started that morning. He was killing the baddies pretty quickly, and en masse, so my little contribution just didn't seem to support him well enough.

I may actually scrap this character and start fresh because I only found out AFTER I'd joined the Breeze Sword portion of Wudang School that the master for the Yin Yang Sword (Dual Wielding blades, what I wanted) was right around the corner. I can't learn from him until I reach "First Understanding" power-rank (Which I think is essentially my character level). I'm hoping that restriction is because I joined the Breeze Sword school first, and need to get higher level before I can add a second school. The hope is that if I come in fresh and go directly to Mr Yin Yang Master I can start there instead.

Anyway, before I go off on another tangent, I'm liking what I'm seeing though the complexity is a bit off-putting. Mostly because I haven't had to actually learn HOW to fight in a game for quite a while now. There are alot of quests that I've worked through which basically fall into the "Kill 10 Rats" category and a few UPS style missions, but I figure the bigger, more inventive quests will come after I've gotten to a rank in which I can join School tasks and PVP.

I probably didn't answer alot of questions with my wall of text, but ask and I'll try to answer you

[Morreion]

Very interesting- keep us updated! I'd like to be wrong on my microtransaction fears

[Loendal]

Screenies as promised

A Taoist Temple near the mountain school of Wudang:


Riding down a woodland road; it doesn't show really well in the still-image but the shadows amongst the trees shifts brightness as you move along the road and the sun's position changes. Not the "Instant Shadow" effect of some things, but a subtle darkening. Like the way sunbeams work from the clouds on a windy day:


The City Walls of Liangu (I think I spelled that wrong too). These things are massive! I had to zoom way back to get them in the picture


Tried dueling today; kinda got my butt kicked. Mostly because I've gotten in a habit of blocking and waiting for a chance to strike against NPC's. Players are a little smarter and they use Feints to break your block. I got leg swept into the dirt repeatedly

They have an interesting double currency system. There are Taels and Coins. Taels are used in player to player trading, and Coins are used to buy things from NPC's, though if you are short on coin, it'll take Taels to make the difference if you have a toggle activated. I can't find any currency exchange to turn coins into Tael, but I know that you can sell crafted goods for Taels in shops and stalls. I've taken up Fishing, Cooking and Farming to try and make some Taels so I can start buying goods off these player stalls. I've seen some incredible swords I'd like to get my hands on.

The Experience / Cultivation system is also unique. You build up Experience in sort of an online ticker that gets deposited into your Cultivation pool. You then choose skills you want to cultivate (level up) and it starts a timer for it as you play, taking Cultivation points out of your pool to do it. When the cultivation is complete, the skill goes up a level. Obviously, the higher the level, the longer the cultivation time. There are also items you can buy that will speed up the cultivation rate and Exp gain. These are not Coin-Shop items either.

Took a peek in the Coin Shop today, also. Saw alot of gear in there. I haven't really looked at it in depth to see if they seem game breaking or not, but you CAN buy gear for Gold (Which is the Real-money currency).

[Morreion]

Nice screenshots there- the game looks great!

[Morreion]

Age of Wushu's free-to-play model detailed (Massively)

Age of Wushu will remain free-to-play at launch, with no box price or subscription fee. You'll have full access to combat, locations, stories, trading, guilds, and all other experiences without paying a single cent.

That doesn't mean that you can't spend money on the game if you really want to. Age of Wushu's "mall" will sell vanity costumes that do not enhance stats or abilities.

The Art of Wushu: The right stats for each style (Massively)

Martial arts are divided into three attributes: Yin, Yang, and Tai Chi. These are further subdivided into external styles and internal styles. Each school has a primary attribute, and this determines which martial arts are effective for that school. For instance, Beggars are Yang attribute, while Scholars are Yin attribute.

GDC 2013: Age of Wushu's world is your playground (Massively)

We asked Miller what his favorite feature was from the game. Not surprisingly, he cited PvP "hands-down" as his preferred pastime. Miller said that when he was learning the game, he got tossed in jail after killing a few of his coworkers. Because he didn't understand the mechanics of the jail system as the build wasn't being fully localized at the time, he ended up languishing there. Miller said that he gambled away all of his money (unsuccessfully) with the guard before just sitting there for four days. Finally (and probably not with the help of his slain coworkers) he figured out how to get free.

Fortunately, the options available to get out of jail are clearly explained in the current build, so hopefully nobody will suffer as he did.

Age of Wushu China introduces factions, dating, and weather (Massively)

Players can also participate in online dating, Age of Wushu-style. Dating allows players to choose an offline player with whom to build a relationship through various quests.

On top of these changes, players will also enjoy a more robust and active environmental system that includes a day/night cycle, seasons, and weather -- even eclipses!

Age of Wushu shows off guild warfare (Massively)

The latest development blog on the game explains how guilds can control territories as well as how they can lose those lands if they fail to defend against their enemies.

Age of Wushu launch day roundup [Updated] (Massively)

Age of Wushu is a free-to-play martial arts sandbox that's set in a semi-historical China. On top of several schools of fighting styles, the MMO includes unconventional features such as kidnapping, offline professions, crafting battles, and weddings.

The Art of Wushu: Launching into Age of Wushu (Massively)

Almost everything in Age of Wushu is time-capped. Life skills have daily caps, team and martial practice have daily caps, skills don't level unless you log in to switch them (and won't level offline unless you're VIP), and if you're not online, you're not harvesting, selling, or making money. Managing a guild (or at least a relevant one) requires building a lot of social connections, and that necessitates that you log in and talk to people all the time. If you are a casual kind of person (and I know a lot of you readers are), Age of Wushu is probably not your game. If you don't like occasional bouts of "emergent gameplay" (to include spontaneous, random PvP), it is definitely not your game.

Age of Wushu opens new server to meet launch demand (Massively)

The Red Phoenix server is now available for new and existing players to enjoy with the same launch events as the original three servers.

Age of Wushu getting new PvP, PvE content (Massively)

Snail has updated Age of Wushu's website with its immediate designs for the western version of the recently launched wuxia sandbox. The firm has grand plans to bring content from the game's Chinese server to North America including the Mount Hua PvP competition, new rage skills, and the new Yanmen Pass instance.

The Age of Wushu team on what's coming after launch (Massively)

The in-game marriage system recently came online on Chinese servers. The system refers to ancient Chinese marriage traditions and regenerates the whole procedure of the wedding ceremony. Players will experience the Ming Dynasty wedding via the system and enhance interactions with each other. The system will be available on North American servers around this summer.