Gameforge introduces Gates of Andaron in developer tour

Gates of Andaron, the free to play MMO from German developer Gameforge, recently arrived in North America, and we were fortunate enough to take a tour of the game. Community Manager Ben Buchwald and Senior Marketing and PR Manager Marcel Jung were our guides, showing us around and giving us some insight into the land of Iberia. Follow along after the jump for a look.

Like all of the Gameforge games, Gates of Andaron is free to play with a game store. You can purchase moonstones -- the currency in Gates of Andaron -- and use them to buy upgrades for your characters. The GoA team has worked hard to keep the playing field level, though, so any item or upgrade that can be purchased in the store can also be achieved through gameplay. They created the store with an eye to a shortcut, not a permanant advantage for paying players.

We began our tour with a look at the game store. Moonstones are the currency used in Gates of Andaron, and they can be purchased from the site. Payment options are designed to leave nobody out in the cold -- ten different payment methods are offered, including a call from your cell phone that will add the purchase price to next month's cell bill. Once you've got your moonstones, you can hit the game store for a shopping spree, buying things like Serendipity potions and Survival tinctures -- items that can help protect your weapon when you attempt to upgrade it. (Weapon upgrades have a guaranteed success for the first few levels, then you have an increasing chance of upgrade failure and destroying your weapon.) You can also purchase a mount for your character -- each race has a preferred mount that works well with that particular race. Humans have horses, felines have buffalo, and fairies have caribou. They're not restricted, however. A feline character can ride a caribou if she doesn't mind looking a bit silly. Packages are also offered in the store, with items bundled in groups to save time. The pro package, for example, contains five Serendipity potions and five survival tinctures. The game store has a nice variety of items, all available in game as well, and serves as a handy shortcut or even a "Window shopping guide" for those who want an idea of what is available in game.

So let's take a look at the continent of Iberia and its woes. Iberia is divided into two warring nations: Valorian and Derion. The Valorians are a tough, warlike people with a strong agricultural and metallurgic industry. Weaponry and battle preparation are a part of everyday life for them. The kingdom of Derion, on the other hand, is known for its beauty and magical aura. They have achieved a successful coalition of magic and science, relying on it to protect their kingdom from outsiders and create a harmonious life for themselves. These two nations began warring thousands of years ago, but in spite of the current ceasefire, hostilities continue to this day. Both nations of course have their own versions of how the conflict began, so reaching a solution seems impossible. You will travel back and forth in time to see events for yourself, and perhaps come up with a way for the two kingdoms to reach peace. Good luck!

You'll start your travels in Iberia with the character creator, where you have three different races to choose from. The human race is a balanced class -- not too strong and not too weak in any particular area, and a good starter class. The feline race seems to fall in line with the Valorians: the race is defined as strong and ambitious, a tough class with higher starting HP than the others. Their counterpart is the fairy race -- wise and intelligent with a strong affinity for magic. Once you've chosen your race, the six available classes are a pretty familiar set. The warrior -- typical tank class, Nightwalker -- similar to rogues or assassins in other games, priests -- versatile monks that can heal or deal damage, magicians -- high damage dealers but vulnerable if foes can get to them, archers -- ranged damage dealers similar to hunters, and evocaters -- the necromancers and summoners of the group.

We entered the game on the Valorian side, in the starting zone with a nice assortment of NPCs ready and willing to show you the ropes of the game: how to move around and interact with friends and foes alike, how battle works. An unobtrusive crawl down near the bottom corner of the screen provides basic tips as well. Once we got a look at the starter area, we headed to Keter, the main city of Valorian. The city is the home of the child king, who has assumed the throne in the absence of his father. The king's mysterious disappearance is the subject of several quests in which you are asked to look for the king. (Here's a hint: it's a long questline throughout the game, and you aren't going to find him in ten minutes.) The fairy Noel is one of the first NPCs you'll come across, and an important one -- he has several quests for you to get you heading in the right direction.

The city also features a large castle with crafting NPCs who can make any number of items including scrolls, potions and armor, with a weapons crafter promised in a future patch.

GoA is a combination of instanced areas that are directly tied into the main questline, mission maps that are a form of PvP between both kingdoms, and large persistent areas. The areas are designed to be doable by solo players if necessary -- groups aren't completely a necessity until you reach higher level dungeons and the PvP mission map areas.

Gameforge has created Iberia as an extensive, varied land with plenty to see -- the different regions are very distinctive in appearance, and it's obvious the Gameforge team had a lot of fun creating the areas and the monsters in them. There is no shortage of quests, battles or instanced missions to be had, and Gates of Andaron has done a great job guiding new players through how everything works.

Thanks so much to Ben and Marcel for their time!
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