wushu
Latest
Jet Li: There's 'no good reason to debunk virtual gaming as a sport'
Jet Li may be known for his martial arts prowess, but he's also an avid gamer according to an interview translation at MMO Culture. Li recently attended an Age of Wushu PvP tournament and had some interesting things to say about e-sports and the validity of video gaming as a sport in general. "If poker card games and chess both have the players sitting down and are considered sports, why not virtual gaming as well," Li explained. "There are two kinds of sports: one physical and one mental. There is no good reason to debunk virtual gaming as a sport, and I believe the participants of such virtual PvP events have the same mentality as physical athletes."
Age of Wushu global PvP tourney welcomes Jet Li
Martial arts superstar Jet Li put in an appearance at Age of Wushu's first global PvP tournament last week. The competition drew virtual fighters from North America, China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Vietnam, and Malaysia, according to MMO Culture. The tourney winner took home 1,000,000 CNY (approximately $161,000). Li has been involved in various aspects of Age of Wushu's pre-release marketing campaign, including a brief teaser that you can view after the break. The fantasy wuxia MMO officially launches in North America on April 10th.
GDC 2013: Age of Wushu's world is your playground
As Age of Wushu is just a couple of weeks away from launch at this point, catching up with Snail Games at GDC this year was one of our highest priorities. We tagged and bagged Associate Producer Colin Miller for a brief interview about the latest pre-launch decisions and preparations that the team is making. Miller had a lot to say about the tweaks and improvements that have been done to this martial arts sandbox. A huge amount of work has been poured into cleaning up the localization over the beta period, not to mention the interface. "Most of our feedback was pretty negative on the UI that we had in place, so we've been trying to rework that a bit," he said. "Hopefully there's going to be some improvements there." All systems are go for an April 10th launch, Miller assured us. Keep reading after the break for more on what Snail Games plans for Age of Wushu after it goes live.
The Art of Wushu: The right stats for each style
There are a few questions I answer on a very regular basis in Age of Wushu. "How do you make money?" is a pretty common question, but I think we've answered that. "Can you annotate my book?" happens rather frequently, too. However, the most common question I answer is "what stats should I get?" The answer for this question is anything but simple, and I end up spending hours explaining it to individuals. If I went back through my chat logs, I could probably fill this entire column just by copy-pasting because I've answered this question so many times. For the first time, this information will be available as a public resource. Instead of spending hours of my time explaining it to people, I can just link it! Even if you think you know what you're doing with your stats, this is a must-read.
Buy a box for Age of Wushu and gain exclusive adventures
Who doesn't like buying a boxed edition of a free-to-play game? The folks at Snail Games certainly hope you want to do precisely that, since the studio has just announced a special boxed retail copy of Age of Wushu. Available at some point after the game's release on April 10th, the boxed copy will retail at $19.99, but supposedly contains more some $80 worth of bonuses for purchasers. Aside from two months of free VIP status, a 30-day mount, and 500 pieces of silver, the boxed edition contains an exclusive quest. Players who purchase this version will gain access to a solo adventure with Jet Li, fighting to save a village from destruction. If you already purchased one of the big content packages for the game, don't worry -- everyone who purchased the Elite Edition prior to the first beta event will receive all of the boxed edition goodies for free. Otherwise, you might need to grab yourself a box when it comes out.
Openly mock gravity with Age of Wushu's flying skills
The wuxia films that inspire many of Age of Wushu's mechanics have a fairly uniform attitude toward vertical mobility: screw gravity. Needless to say, the game takes that lesson to heart. A new article and video detailing the game's Flying skills makes it clear that players will not simply be encouraged to defy gravity but to go all-out and actively mock the idea that anything more than boredom keeps both feet planted on the ground. Flying skills are treated like normal skills in the sense that players must locate skill tomes to unlock new abilities, but once unlocked these skills are only limited by the character's Stamina. As long as your character has Stamina you can feel free to run straight up walls, jump off with a series of spinning backflips, and then land from a great height without so much as a bruise. If you do run out, though... well, gravity responds poorly to mockery. Check out the video just past the cut to see what it looks like to spit in the face of downward velocity.
Age of Wushu's free-to-play model detailed
Age of Wushu is launching for keeps on April 10th, so get your wallets ready! Or, well, don't. 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. Skills "may be sold in the mall at future dates," but will be low-level skills that need to be cultivated and would not outweigh school or quest skills in PvP.
Age of Wushu introduces Battlefield Arenas
Age of Wushu is launching out of closed beta on April 10th, and with that launch comes another newly announced feature: Battlefield Arenas. These arenas allow players to test out their PvP skills in a closed and controlled environment before hitting the mean streets. The arenas will introduce two distinct modes: Power Competition and Death Mode. Power Competition scores teams for the kills made, while Death Mode is faster and more intense with no respawn timers and no time limit. You can read more about these Battlefield Arenas at the official Age of Wushu site and be sure to watch the arena modes in action during the video embedded just after the jump.
The Art of Wushu: Winning in market PvP
Last time on the Art of Wushu, I promised I would write on how to sell production crafts. Crafting is a big deal in Age of Wushu, so it seemed like a reasonable topic to cover. However, I realized doing so would probably be a mistake. Why? If you followed my advice from two weeks ago, congratulations. You probably noticed a huge nosedive in a few markets: hemp, ramie, iron, and mint all took a huge hit. It's a bit flattering to see how I can write a post on what to sell and readers like you guys take it to heart, flooding the market with supply and crashing the value of these commodities. If I gave advice on production crafting, the same thing would happen. Instead, this week I'm going to talk about real market strategy. Pointing out things that sell doesn't help you if the market takes a nose-dive. Understanding supply and demand curves, market equilibrium, and the importance of market diversity are all long-term tools that will help you regardless of what you're selling.
Put your Age of Wushu avatar to work while you're offline
When you log off from your favorite MMO, does your avatar dream? Maybe, but when you log off from Age of Wushu, your character continues to be an active participant in the wuxia-drenched fantasy world. 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. Read all about it at the official Age of Wushu website.
Age of Wushu sharpens up informations on edged weapons
Many of the combat forms in Age of Wushu are fully capable of inflicting grievous bodily harm without a weapon, but that doesn't mean you can't hack at people with sharp bits of metal. And there are a lot of variants on the core principle of "sharp bit of metal," as displayed in the latest development blog examining three linked types of weapon. While swords, blades, and daggers all have the same core design and function, they're very different just the same. Blades are the largest and most savage of these one-handed weapons; they are tools, meant to end lives as quickly as possible without any concern for elegance. Swords, meanwhile, are weapons and statements both, associated with grace and elegance in movement. Or you could opt for the short and concealable dagger, favored by duplicitous fighters everywhere. Even within a fairly narrow range of weapon types, variety abounds if you know the details.
Age of Wushu introduces the Meridian system
What do needles and MMOs have to do with each other? Hopefully, normally, thankfully nothing. However, Age of Wushu has drawn inspiration from the Chinese technique and philosophy of acupuncture to draw up its character-building Meridian system. 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. Snail Games says that it is possible with a lot of hard work for players to master all nine meridians on a single character.
Embrace your maniacal side with Age of Wushu's Jianghu system
How do you know where you stand in relation to your fellow players? You may call some of them your friends, but words are wind. Thanks to Age of Wushu's Jianghu system, however, you'll soon be able to neatly track your relationship with others. You can partake in several relationship types, such as being Close Friends, Acquaintances, or Blood Enemies. Friendship is measured by Intimacy, which can be earned by teaming up and giving gifts and decreased by killing or kidnapping. Players can choose to add others to their Enemy List after being killed or kidnapped, and things just go downhill from there. But wait, there's more! Along with defining your relationship status, you will also be able to act in such a way as to earn the tag of Heroic, Maniacal, Evil, or Sinister. Players with a higher Chivalry than Guild rating will be named Heroic, while players with a higher Guilt than Chivalry rating will fall to the dark side.
Age of Wushu explains battle arrays
If you're going to be taking part in group combat in Age of Wushu, you need to know about battle arrays. Despite the name, these are not organizations of various battles that serve as an index of information. Rather, they're a type of buffing formation that players can enter to improve a group's overall effectiveness in conflicts. A new article on the official site goes into detail about how battle arrays work and what players can do to maximize their effectiveness. 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. To get a clearer picture of these group-based buffs, dive into the full article.
Age of Wushu to launch on April 10th
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. Content Generation Lead Tyler Rawlins says that the extra beta testing has done a world of good for the game: "The beta has been a great way to connect with the player community and introduce a real world of Wushu to the Western audience. We received and incorporated an abundance of player feedback during beta and can now announce an official launch date for Age of Wushu." Age of Wushu was originally slated for a February 1st release in North America. It currently boasts over 10 million player registrations in China alone. You can watch the high-flying launch announcement after the jump.
The Art of Wushu: Making silver through harvesting
I got a lot of backlash over the last installment of The Art of Wushu. While the issues over pay-to-win are understandable, an overwhelming number of you seemed to disbelieve the amount of silver I was able to produce daily. Some of you protested my 1D/daily figure (which is on the high side), while others questioned whether I could make even 500L per day. My email was flooded with people asking me to share some of my secrets. I was going to talk about movement and parkour this time, but because you guys asked, you'll get an answer. "How do I make money in Age of Wushu," you ask? Let's cover the easy ways to make money. These are methods that literally any player, regardless of subscription status or level, can take advantage of. This time we're going to cover harvesting -- what sells and what doesn't. Let's get started.
Age of Wushu elaborates on crime and punishment
While it is true that Age of Wushu has an open PvP world, that doesn't mean that players can wantonly sashay about inflicting mass murder upon others without consequence. And as beta has progressed, Snail Games has refined AoW's crime and punishment system. 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. [Source: Snail Games press release]
Video demonstrates random encounters in Age of Wushu
Just as life itself is full of surprises, so, too, is life in Age of Wushu. Along with the expected, such as combat, questing, and crafting, Snail Games has also tossed in some of the unexpected by way of random encounters. While carrying on with their planned adventures, players in AoW may be surprised by various vignettes including fighting, solving puzzles, or just talking with NPCs. Although players may stumble upon these encounters, they can also seek them out and try to discover their initial triggers. Want to see one unfold? The following video, which hails from an earlier AoW test version according to Snail, shows the progression of one of these random encounters that ultimately leads to acquiring a new skill. [Source: Snail Games press release]
The Art of Wushu: Paying doesn't mean winning
Age of Wushu has come under a lot of fire as a pay-to-win game. There are ways to get in-game power for out-of-game money, so there are a lot of reasons to assume that real cash can turn you into one of the top fighters in Jianghu. Fortunately for the dedicated players (and to the chagrin of cash shop whales), the truth is a bit more skewed. There are varying degrees of pay-to-win cash shops, but Age of Wushu's cash shop provides very few outlets to directly buy power. The main culprit is the simple fact that spending real money can give a player silver to spend on anything he or she wants. Silver is king in Age of Wushu. The entire player market revolves around silver, and the largest source of it comes from the cash shop. Does this mean you need to pay to have a chance?
Age of Wushu gets a UI and localization overhaul
North American players and fans of Age of Wushu are in for a treat. In response to player feedback from the closed betas, the development team has been working on a major overhaul of the game's localization and UI. The localization and UI changes are among the updates that kept the game from its original February launch date, but Snail Games is placing more emphasis on a smooth experience at launch than pushing the game out the door as quickly as possible. These updates are in their final testing stages and will make their way into the ongoing beta soon. [Source: Snail Games press release]
