MMO Gamers

The Chronicles of Spellborn (TCOS) has gone from Open Beta to official release.  TCOS categorizes itself as a “freemium” game, a lovely made-up word, with the game being free to download and free to play up to level seven and in the two zones allowed, after which point you can still run around the world but are unable to complete quests, earn Fame (XP), or earn Player Experience Points (PEP) which is another kind of XP that improves your performance.  You can make alts and play those up to level 7 also, giving you the chance to get a feel for all the classes at no cost.  After that you’ll be expected to pay the $15 monthly subscription if you wish to level you characters beyond that.  As a treat and to celebrate the game’s release, Acclaim have removed all level restrictions up until the 7th May, giving you a little under two weeks to try and hit the level cap, if you’re so inclined.  The game client was a 3 GB download and then wanted 9GB of hard disk space to install it on.  A bit of patching later and I was logging in.  There was a choice of two international servers, one for PVP and one for PVE.  I went the carebear option.

There are three Archtypes to choose from; Warrior, Rogue, and Spellcaster, each with three classes.  Interestingly there is no dedicated healer class, with all classes getting some heal spells, though some classes do get more and better heals.  When creating your character you have the choice of humans or daevi (dudes with hooves), male and female.  You get a choice of body types from really skinny, muscular, and obese; and choices in faces and hairstyles.  You also get to choose your clothing, armour, and weapons, which is purely cosmetic.  Armour and weapons have no value or defence rating; instead you equip sigils in them which you get from boss drops and quest rewards.   So you can have a plate wearing mage or a scantily clad tank, whatever takes your fancy.  You can spend a lot of time getting a look you like but there really are very few options to choose from.  I probably spent more time deciding on what colours to make my armour rather then what armour to wear.

The graphics are quite good.  I had all my settings up high and didn’t seem to experience any problems, aside from anti-aliasing making everything look worse rather than better so I turned that off.  I was also getting disconnected from the server often enough to make mention of.  While TCOS does have its own artistic style, the graphics are comparable to Warhammer.

I tried each archtype and at level 5 you get to choose your class.  I got my rogue to 5 and went Trickster and I’m currently playing a spellcaster, who is at level 7 and is a Void Seer.  I didn’t care much for the Warrior archtype, though he could take a beating.  While I won’t go as far a saying combat is where this game shines, the developers have taken a unique approach.  Instead of having spells on your hotbar you have a rolling skill deck.  You scroll across to the skill you wish to use, then once you’ve clicked your mouse button the skill deck turns and presents you with the next lot of skills and so on.  Setting up your skill deck requires a little thought also, getting the best and fastest combination available.  You can also learn one new skill every level but are presented with a few options, so choosing which skill best suits you and your play-style becomes important.

Positioning was important on my rogue, with flanking attacks and back attacks.  I didn’t have any stuns though, and getting into position required good timing.  Once you figure out a mob you can pretty much get out of the way of all damage and get into flanking and rear positions.  I don’t know how this will work in PVP where your opponent is less predictable and most likely running around you in circles.  My Void Seer didn’t require any particular position and for the most part I stood still, moving around a bit to avoid some attacks.  This class had a self heal that was determined by how much magic damage I did on follow up, as well as a 12 second lifetap that healed all players doing melee damage on the mob.  Again this is where setting up your skill deck is important, ensuring that you follow up your lifetap spell with melee attacks.  Combat is slower than Age of Conan but faster than Vanguard, but you’re kept fairly busy with your skill deck and manoeuvring that it seems fairly fast.  It does take a bit of getting used to but after a few levels it starts feeling more natural.

This is a MMOG so you can expect much the same type of quest and quest delivery that we’ve all become accustomed to.  The very first zone you enter into, Hawks Landing, is littered with your “kill 10 X” quests, and I would’ve expected some better quests in order to lure in the subscribers.  If that’s the type of quest the developers are trying to pitch the game with, I wonder what they’re going to be like at level 30 and so on.  Still, there were some more interesting and fun quests as well.  The game features all the things you’d expect, such as crafting, and while mounts aren’t in the game yet, I’m assured that they will feature in an upcoming patch.  There’s inns you can go to and your avatar can actually sit in some designated chairs, and there’s a number of emotes available though not all that extensive.

I’m still not sure what I think of TCOS.  It’s different enough to stand out, yet it’s still much the same as any other MMO.  There are a lot of things I like about it;  I like the graphics style and the combat is a nice change.  The game has a quality and a polish that makes it better than the Free to Plays on offer, but it’s not quite AAA material.  There’s potential however and with some game updates and an expansion this could well be a Triple A title worthy of a subscription.  I am drawn back to the game, but I’m not sure how long that will last and whether the novelty will wear off.  Still, it is free to download and has some free content on offer, so worth a look in my opinion.