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Choose My Adventure: I believe I can die in Age of Wushu
Wow. What a game, Age of Wushu. I mean, I have played many, many open-world, free-for-all PvP sandboxes in my time before this one, but Age of Wushu places all of those cool systems in a world that the West generally doesn't play in and then adds in little systems so that there is always something to do. Always. In fact the most common complaint I hear about the MMO is that there is too much to do but not enough explanation to cover all of the activities. I think the real frustration comes not from the lack of guides and pop-ups but from the fact that many of these "helpful" guides are localized for English-speaking audiences enough for them to make some sense, just not enough. I mean no offense here; this is just the truth: Broken English inside a game can make already complex gameplay much harder to understand. There are many small anomalies as well. For example, an NPC referred to me as a man although my character is a woman, and when a small icon indicated that I was hungry, I ate some food, but then an icon told me, "Hungry and Thirsty. HP and internal Energy Recovery speed increases slightly, but you will need some food." Huh? I just ate... I think? Now I can see why Patrick's Age of Wushu guides are so popular!
Battle your inner demons in Age of Wushu's Possessed Encounters
Age of Wushu will soon be introducing a new game mechanic that pits you against... yourself. The Possessed Encounter is a triggered event that will teleport you to an instance where you'll fight against a random Manifestation of Evil, complete with mirror counterparts of your character and any players with you. These encounters can be triggered by normal NPC battles, through collecting life skills, or even by an act of Jianghu (suicide). Each character can only activate a Possessed Encounter once per day, but you can join your friends in their trials twice. The Possessed Encounters -- as well as more promised winter content -- are coming soon.
Age of Wushu previews its winter content
Winter is coming. Literally. We're almost halfway through September. Age of Wushu is using the oncoming winter not as an ominous portent of doom but as a chance to introduce a bunch of new content to the game, starting with school instances. No matter how benevolent your school may be on the surface, there's always more going on underneath. Within the depths of these instances lie not only money and glory but perhaps ever more powerful techniques that have been lost to time. Both secret scripts and new ultimate scrolls will be added to the game, with the latter offering true mastery over a school. The secret scripts once threw the realm into chaos, but deciphering these arts will be the mark of a true master. And if you've had your fill of all that, you can always take advantage of the upcoming marriage system and settle down for in-game domestic bliss. It's a lot of new content for the game, and all players need to do is wait for the winter.
Choose My Adventure: Age of Wushu charms and confuses
So here we are in the second week of the Age of Wushu Choose My Adventure coverage. There's no way that even a dozen weeks would cover everything there is to know about this awesome MMO, but luckily the point of this column is to show what it's like to jump into game not only while I'm blind but also when a crowd is directing my every major decision. That means that I get to act like myself and enjoy getting lost in a game that is truly a living world. Age of Wushu is fantastic for certain newbies just as it seems it is for vets. Of course, it's not all that rosy. In almost every article I have read about the game, and even in the chat room while I streamed the game live (it's embedded after the cut), I saw players who expressed their disappointment in how confusing the game is. Massively's own Patrick Mackey has been helping me along the way, and he said on the stream that the best thing to do to alleviate confusion is to "join a guild." I agree, so that's going to be one of the questions I put up for a vote. Having access to Patrick, the readers and players, and the developers themselves does put me at an advantage over typical newbies. Click past the cut and lets get to what I thought about the choices that were made last time, and be sure to vote on this week's poll questions!
The Art of Wushu: The limits of human reaction time
We're finally back on track with the kung-fu lessons, and today we're going to talk about something very important: how being human limits what you can do in an Age of Wushu duel. Like a lot of skills relating to dueling and strategy, this is a fairly broad skill that can be applied to a lot of games. Reaction speed is one of the most difficult things to train in Age of Wushu, especially for old-timers like me. Reacting to things in a timely matter is a massive advantage; it lets you punish feints, interrupt sluggish normal attacks, and stun people out of dance-like moves. The trouble is, we're human, and humans are slow. This time, we're going to look at exactly what that means in hard technical terms.
Choose My Adventure: And the winner is...
Choose My Adventure is a funny column to write. At some point, you as the author know which game will likely win, but you also know that at some point everything can go wonky. I've seen games that seemed to be the sure thing get knocked off by a lone wolf or underdog. I like to poke the developers who are running the games that are in the polls in the hopes that they let their community know about the column and get the polls heating up. There's nothing like a good vote to get people excited about MMO games, and that's the way things should be. Even though I watched the poll go a few different ways, it was relatively obvious what title was going to pull it off. I started to prepare by updating the top titles and reading up on some of their systems. Choose My Adventure is not a light undertaking; it's a real adventure -- hopefully -- through an unfamiliar world. I knew I would need the community's help in deciphering the winner. And what a winner!
The Art of Wushu: Talking Mount Hua with Age of Wushu's Peter Kang
A day or two after writing about the Mount Hua expansion last time, I had the chance to sit down with community manager Peter Kang -- better known to the Age of Wushu playerbase as Earthquake -- and talk about the various changes in the expansion. We had a fairly long talk. Like true wuxia fanboys, we derailed quite a bit to talk about Legend of Condor Heroes, but we discussed where Wushu is, where Snail would like it to go, and the relationship between Snail USA and the dev team in China. It was pretty enlightening because he clearly plays the game and is acutely aware of the impact the company's decisions has on players.
Choose My Adventure: The loser's circle
None of the games you are about to read about is a bad game. Don't let the title of the article fool you; these are all great games, but so far none of them has won a poll during a Choose My Adventure run. What is Choose My Adventure? Well, you wonderful readers will pick the MMORPG for me. and over the next several weeks you will also vote on what I will do in the game, which faction I will pick, which class I will have to roll, and so on. It all depends on the game -- and you. So you and I have some work to do. It will be a long road but hopefully a scenic one. With your help, I will be able to keep up the tradition of putting a Massively writer through six weeks of joy, frustration, pain, and loot. A lot of loot.The list of losers is potentially long, but I decided to keep it relatively short and sweet. If you see your favorite game on the list, go tell the game's community. Get out the vote! Or have some fun torturing me! I normally go with indie or games that do not normally get much coverage, but these losers just begged me for a chance at winning CMA.
Jukebox Heroes: Age of Wushu's soundtrack
You're probably not going to catch me in Age of Wushu any time soon. I mean, don't get me wrong, kidnapping and castration are definitely the innovative features we as an MMO community have been begging for, but "PvP sandbox" is like spraying a game with anti-Justin repellent. But I will gladly listen to Age of Wushu's soundtrack because it is simply wonderful. I was really just expecting very generic Chinese music -- you know, the kind you might hear as muzak in your local take-out restaurant. Instead, this is a score worthy of a movie adjacent to Jet Li's presence. Perhaps that's why he's shilling for this game. I couldn't track down the composer for this, so if any of you know, drop me a line and I'll make sure to give you credit. What I do know is that it was a great pleasure to listen through this entire score, and picking out just six tracks to highlight proved a challenging task.
Age of Wushu merging servers next week [Updated]
If you reside on the White Tiger or Black Tortoise servers in Age of Wushu, you'll see a change in your world next week soon. When the servers come back up after the scheduled weekly maintenance on August 28th September 4th, only one of those two servers will remain; in order to improve the player experience, everyone from Black Tortoise will be merged onto a freshly reset White Tiger. To answer questions and help prepare players for the merge, Snail Games has created a FAQ post, which includes such tidbits as all school positions and guild territories will be reset. To help prepare the servers, there will be an hour-long special maintenance for those two servers only on Monday, August 26th September 2nd starting at 1:01 a.m. EDT. The merge will then take place on Wednesday when maintenance begins at 4:00 a.m. EDT. [Update: According to an edit made to the original blog post, Age of Wushu's server merges have been delayed until September 4th.]
The Art of Wushu: Climbing the Mount Hua expansion
I always have misgivings when I'm covering an expansion early. I rarely have enough time to really delve into the various features. You guys should know by now that I really like writing in-depth stuff, and since Age of Wushu's first expansion has been out for only a few days, I really haven't had enough time to make a solid opinion on it. But either way, the expansion is out and I have to talk about it. It includes a new, cool PvP battleground, some new features I'm not really fond of, and some other features I really like. It also had quite a bit of controversy at launch, and the player response was... interesting, at least.
Age of Wushu's Legends of Mount Hua expansion launches
Have you been eagerly awaiting the day you could dive into the new systems and features of Age of Wushu's first expansion, Legends of Mount Hua? Well, today's the day! Players are now able to get in and try their hands at the Youyun Sixteen Area Prefectures Battle Arena, a 40 vs 40 PvP battleground, and Yanmen Pass, an 18-man instance. Those with the urge to help out newer players will find the Martial Brothers system for mentoring helpful, while those who seek revenge on others will no doubt get use out of the Jianghu Gratitude and Revenge System. And the truly competitive of spirit can take part in the Mount Hua Competition. The new faction system and the Jianghu Heroic Playstyle and Treasure System will offer a variety of rewards. For a look at what's in store, check out the LoMH images in the gallery below and the official launch trailer after the break. [Source: Snail Games press release]%Gallery-195681%
Six new Age of Wushu faction trailers sighted in the wild
Age of Wushu's expansion is hitting the game's Chinese servers in a couple of days, bringing with it six new factions. MMO Culture has posted teaser trailers for all six, including one for the infamous Rootless Clan that features in-game castration as an entry requirement. There's also a seventh trailer for players who opt to remain faction-less. Click past the cut to see the new videos.
The Art of Wushu: Being a master or an apprentice
Fun facts for fans of the Art of Wushu: I wrote three articles about Age of Wushu for this week. I started off writing something lame, but I scrapped it because I didn't like the topic. The second is one about reaction times, perception, and brain chemistry. However, I realized somewhere in the middle of writing it that I used terms about "skill levels" that I have never really defined, and I figured it would be a good thing to do that before I went any further. So this time, we're going to talk about skill levels and what they mean. All of them are fairly discrete, and they are pretty universal, whether you practice swordsmanship or carpentry (or do either in a video game). I have probably used the term "expert player" over 9000 times while writing for Massively, and I've held an opinion on what an intermediate player is since long before I was blogging. This is a good way to identify where you and others stand, which is how you'll know what kind of advice you need to get to the next level.
Age of Wushu Changing Skies trailer features new weather systems, lots of kung fu
Age of Wushu's Chinese server is getting a content update on August 8th. You don't have to wait that long to see it, though, thanks to a new trailer posted at MMO Culture. The patch, loosely translated as Changing Skies, will add new weather and day/night cycle systems. There will also be sandstorms that reveal secret locations, changing environmental sounds, and the new character selection screen shown above. Thus far Snail Games has not indicated when the new content will be exported to Age of Wushu's American or European servers. Click past the cut to watch the trailer.
Age of Wushu to feature castration mechanic
Want to join the new Rootless Clan that's coming to the Chinese version of Age of Wushu? You'll need to lose your virtual junk first, as the evil-aligned sect is basically an order of eunuchs that forcibly castrate initiates. And yes, it's in the game. MMO Culture has all the details, including a gameplay video if you're so inclined. In a nutshell, prospective Rootless monks must obtain a special daily quest and then undergo the castration process, which features a dedicated health bar. "After around two minutes, the process will end," the site says. "However, the success rate of castration is still considered low at this time. If it is unsuccessful, the victim will still sustain significant damage." Click past the cut to see a snippet of castration gameplay for yourself.
More details and video emerge for Age of Wushu's Legends of Mount Hua
What to do while waiting for an expansion? Learn as much as you can about it, of course! And thanks to the latest info from Snail Games, players anticipating Age of Wushu's first expansion can delve even deeper into the inner workings of the new systems coming in Legends of Mount Hua. In the Jianghu Gratitude and Revenge System, players have the opportunity to gain enough reputation with an NPC to convince him or her to fight alongside their character. On a darker note, players can also use that reputation (and a little gold) to hire an NPC to exact revenge upon another player. How far will the punishment go? That all depends on how much the player is willing to pay. The Jianghu Hero and Treasure System, on the other hand, focuses on rewarding players for defeating Jianghu martial arts experts in duels to the death. These earned treasures are a new type of equipment with powerful stat bonuses, varying in power ranks and benefits. How does one come into one of these duels? By catching the eye of the experts by defeating certain enemies. Players can also get a glimpse of the conflict that awaits them in Yanmen Pass, a new instance where players will choose which story to complete, in the trailer after the break. [Source: Snail Games press release]
The Art of Wushu: Preparing for group PvE
I will be perfectly frank when I say that I tremendously dislike PvE in Age of Wushu. It's not that the PvE is bad compared to other games; it's that I feel that the point of the game is ultimately PvP, whether that comes in the form of economics or direct combat. I play Age of Wushu because I like the PvP, and I don't see the point in spending hours in co-op dungeons to get rewards that I could just buy on the market. However, the playerbase pretty much disagrees with me. Most high-level guilds focus heavily on PvE. There seems to be a very fixed mindset in place with MMO players that encourages them to go for "endgame" PvE content, even though it is really just one path of many in Age of Wushu. Therefore, I feel obligated to cover it. If you are interested in learning more about forbidden instances, I advise you to get into a high-end guild and ask questions. I can give you the basics of what to expect and how to prepare, but there are a lot of specifics and everyone does things a little bit differently.
Snail announces Age of Wushu mobile and console titles, feature film
Snail Games has huge plans for its successful Age of Wushu IP. The firm has already announced an expansion for its wuxia-powered MMORPG, but now it's aiming at a console port, a mobile port, and a feature film set in the same universe. The company's press release offers no details on any of the new projects aside from promising more details "at a later date." As for the big-screen treatment, Snail founder and chairman Shi Hai says it's only natural. "The Age of Wushu game looks and plays like a major martial arts motion picture, so bringing the property to movie screens is a logical evolution," he explained. "Our goal has always been for the property to reach the widest audience so evolving to a feature film and expanding the experience to consoles and mobile devices continues our plan." [Source: Snail press release]
The Art of Wushu: Exploring China with true parkour
I'm a bit spoiled by Age of Wushu's flying skills. Parkour in Wushu is one of the most satisfying things in any game, as heroes can truly go anywhere and do anything. When I was first playing the game in beta and was unsure about everything else, I said with certainty, "Any game with airdashes can't be bad." As it turns out, the parkour in Age of Wushu stands head and shoulders above the travel in any other game. Other games have jumping puzzles that are awkward, and some games have flight or other Z-axis travel that allows players to freely go wherever they like. In Wushu, it takes effort to get to hard-to-reach places, but the feeling you get when you climb the highest heights and explore places no one else might ever see is truly satisfying.
