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Faxion Online delivers the ten commandments of PvP
Thou shalt target the healers? Check. Honor thy guild and group? Check. If you fancy yourself a PvPer, Faxion Online's newly released Ten Commandments of PvP is worth a read. Even if you're not, the list will no doubt provide a chuckle or two in what appears to be the latest evidence that the free-to-play fantasy title will deliver its MMO conventions with tongue planted firmly in cheek. In a new press release dated this morning, UTV True Games laid out a PvP manifesto with its trademark sense of humor, alluding to artifacts unearthed "at a remote dig site (located two floors above the basement of the company's Austin studio)." Said artifacts have caused a bit of consternation for Faxion's devs, as UTV creative director Mike Madden explained. "All heretofore planned projects, both announced and unannounced, that pit player against player must be reviewed to incorporate the deeper meaning conveyed to us by these ancient tablets," he said. Faxion Online is currently in open beta, and you can learn more -- as well as sign up -- at the game's official website.
Massively's first look at Faxion Online
The worst thing about touring through a virtual world is not knowing exactly what to bring with you. Over the last several months I have slowly but surely tweaked my habits to make writing easier. Even then I am sometimes perplexed as to how to do it better and what tools would work best for me. Luckily, the greatest tool of all time does exist and is dirt cheap. It fits within my pocket and works with any operating system or peripheral. Yes, I'm talking about a stack of Post-Its. As I ran through the different areas of Faxion Online with one of the developers, I scribbled my notes down on the tiny notepad. Then I stuck the notes to my computer monitor for later reference. I also took screenshots (not the ones you see in this article -- these were supplied by UTV True Games, the developer behind Faxion) and later used them to try to remember how I felt during the walkthrough. While writing, I looked down at my Post-Its and saw three key words: optimization, stylized graphics, and gross fat guy. Click past the cut to see what else I might have jotted down.
Class abilities come to light in Faxion Online announcement
It looks like players of the highly anticipated PvP-centric free-to-play MMORPG Faxion Online will use a wide variety of abilities and powers to experience the core of the game. While someone will raise those levels and sharpen those skills the old fashioned way, she can also improve on those abilities using queued, offline skill training similar to EVE Online's. Abilities include Shockwave, a wave of force that will knock back enemies and deal damage; Legion, an ability that only Hell players will get (because Hell is the cooler side) that releases spirits into the bodies of its victims (hopefully while Raining Blood plays in the background;) and Tribunal, which allows players to flourish a weapon, causing all sorts of bodily damage to nearby enemies. That's not all: there are 50 abilities per class available at launch, allowing multi-class cleverness or single-specialization accuracy. All of the abilities grow normally with time, but their advancement can be sped up using microtransactions. Some abilities will be level-limited, however, to ensure that no one player has such an advantage. We visited UTV True Games during GDC Online, so check out that tour here. The game seems to be in great hands -- its developers harken from the lands of Ultima Online, Shadowbane, and many other popular titles. Keep an eye out because the game is expected to hit beta stages later this year. That means you still have time to download some Dio. Or, if you're on the Heaven side, here's something more your speed. %Gallery-113832%
