I wanted to take a moment to put a review for this game, both to share my experience and counter a lot of stuff being said about the game.
First, let me start off by saying I was surprised. What was downloaded as a short "let me just play this while my friend gets on" quickly became an addicting and fun MMO experience. As someone who played a lot of MMO when I was younger, I am very picky and don't enjoy just any MMORPG game that comes out. I played games like old school Maple Story, 1x/1x/1x Ragnarok Online official, where you earned your build / gear with solid player effort. None of that easy mode MMORPG experiences you get nowadays where the game plays itself and you gear yourself with cash shop.
The graphics are very simplistic which may turn off some players who judge entirely on graphics. But the love and care is there and you can see it clearly. Whoever made this game knows what makes a good MMORPG. You want to fight monsters? Yup. Craft powerful gear/items that are better than ones you find? Yup. Want to sit in town and play anime/game music like Mabinogi / FF14? Yup. Be the best at a specific skill, class, job, and compete in world rankings against the top players? Yep. Everything and anything can be yours if you put the effort.
The game is rich and rewarding experience in a simple package. It has a learning curve which may confuse some players initially but the community is so far very friendly and helpful. Plenty of players offer tips and advice even though its a new game and everyone is learning still.
Now, let me settle some stuff people comment about:
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GRINDING
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As I mentioned above, Im an old school MMORPG player. Though I've cut back as I got older and can no longer stay up for days at a time grinding mobs for a rare piece of gear... I still enjoy playing MMORPGs when I can. Many players nowadays have no idea what a 'real grind' really is and think that just killing some mobs on a screen for an hour makes a grindy game. If that is you, then yes, this game will be grindy. But for me, the levels came by pretty smoothly. I was able to gain 30 levels in literally 2 days just doing basic mob killing with very little time spent on any specific maps. Majority of my playtime came from crafting (which is my favorite thing to do). For those who just want to kill stuff and have fun, its not a very grinding game. If you're a completionist however who wants to max out every skill in the game... or a player who is striving to be the leaderboard rank 1 in Mining or Arrow Shower skill... then yeah, you got a grind ahead of you. For the average joes, your levels will come fast and your build will come together how you want it quite easily. Gear farming on the other hand... just like any MMORPG, takes time.
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GM BANNING / BOTTING
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I can say pretty firmly that those complaining of being banned from botting are completely guilty. You can see the proof in exactly their explainations they posted on the comment section.
Listen, the game offers a Macro system. For example, if I have 5 attack skills, I can put them all into 1 Macro icon. Then slot that icon to my left click. So everytime I left click my mouse, it will use all 5 skills as they come off cooldown. If I have 3 buffs, I can put them all on a different Macro ICON and slot that icon as well. So I press one button to use all the buffs at once. This helps players who are grinding mobs have an easier time. However, as you can see, even those macros are added to the game.. it doesn't AUTOMATE anything. Its a very primitive macro system that doesn't work without player input. This means you cant just go watch youtube while the mobs are dying on their own without you there. Clearly other programs are being used behind the scenes for a player to automate the procesc without them being present... and when they are banned... the blame the GM and say its the macro system.
You can take my explanation of the macro system here and compare it to what people are saying.. you'll see that its impossible to automate the game without player input using the built-in macro system. Anyone doing such, is obviously botting and their bans are justified.
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CRAFTING
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As a fellow crafting in many MMORPG games, this is a make or break for me. It's the ultimate deciding factor that determins a good MMO to a great MMO. The ability to make the economy player driven and allow players to have the power to craft powerful gear is really nice. I mean, think about it... if you spend hours, days, weeks of your IRL life to raising your mining and blacksmithing skills... wouldn't you like it to be on par or even stronger than late game equipment? Well your prayers have been answers here.
You have mining, herbalism, fishing as your gathering skills. This then fuels your weapon smith, armor smithing, jewelry craft, cooking, alchemy and artisan (instruments). There are tons of stuff you can make.. for example, cooking can make buffs that give you better gathering bonuses or extra rerolls when crafting powerful gears. Jewelry craft can also make rings with similar effect or powerful buffs to help you fight / stay alive.
And for challenge seekers, just like EVERY SINGLE COMBAT SKILL has a leaderboard ranking... each of these life skills also has its own leaderboard. You can be the top miner or chef on the server. Even more goals for those who want to be the best.
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Conclusion
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In the end, I am very happy with the experience here. The GMs have been pretty nice, at least the ones I've met in Channel 1 town. The playerbase is friendly and helpful... most of us are pretty new since the game only has been out a week (from this review) so people are learning as they go. You have level 60 players who haven't even realized the middle mouse button allows you to view equipment / trade with other players lol. Its a fun experience. For those who miss chilling in town like Prontera (Ragnarok Online) or Mabinogi... the experience is very similar here. Give the game a chance. Its not even a large download.
