Corrections + Pictures!

Well thanks to the fantastic "Senior Social Media Marketing Coordinator" Sam, I have to correct a couple of things in my last post. I have to say its a real breath of fresh air to have a development team of a free MMO so interactive. According to Sam the drop rates of Soul Gear between the closed and open betas are exactly the same. Also the max level is 125 instead of 150. Sam also explained how the team was addressing post-60 content which is great to hear. I also received a kit of BoI screenshots, concept art, and wallpapers so I'm going to include in this post my favorites of those.

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Leveling 60+ concerns

I've been playing probably an unhealthy amount of Battle of the Immortals lately, the new "Action" MMO by Perfect World International. I'm currently sitting at level 58 with the max level at a lofty 150. In my earlier posts and my videos I predicted that the initial fast leveling and plentiful quests would surely very quickly become a thing of the past, giving way to a grind for the top gear/levels. Now apparantly that point has been defined as level 60.

In the Closed Beta there was a mechanic called Combat Aid which was essentially an in-game bot. This allowed the top players to grind all day, then chuck on the bot when they went to bed. This caused (logically enough) an outcry amoungst the players and it was quickly removed for the Open Beta. Unfortunately that has made leveling 60+ even more difficult, with no new content being added, or the amount of experience required lessened. On top of that the drop rates of Soul Gear (The best gear for its level) has been decreased by a significant margin.

Now that I'm nearing the level 60 mark I'm slowing down a fair bit. I've run Specter Island (The instance that drops 60 Soul Gear) a bunch of times but not one piece of gear for my class has yet dropped. I'm hoping for a news release in the next week or so addressing the leveling wall that hits players at 60, and hopefully they make our lives a bit easier.

The game has a lot of potential, and I don't mind a certain amount of grinding, but seeing as people have slowed down so dramatically after hitting 60, I would hate to think about leveling 100-150.

Battle of the Immortals can do no wrong

Yesterday the developers of BoI announced that they were givin away 5000 ZEN (Cash shop currency) to every single Closed Beta user. This effectively means that everyone playing can have a look at a large number of things on sale in the cash shop. Because I'm on dialup at the moment I can't check how much 5k ZEN would cost in actual money, but it certainly is a significant amount.

This is a very clever play by the developers. They are doing an extremely good job at selling their product, with no ill effects. I predict that a large number more people will be spending actual money on the game now that they have experienced what the cash shop has to offer. Compounded with the early bling, and comfortable leveling pace BoI is shaping up to be a really popular game.

It is also good to hear that the developers are beginning to address the major problems that the community has had, such as tab-targeting , WASD moving and better HP/Mana regen rates. There has been also a lot of complaining about the PvP aspect of the game which I expect/hope will get a revamp soon enough.

This is what I spent most of my ZEN on.

Epic mount + diving suit + wings = awesome!

Battle of the Immortals ain't doing it too badly

So I have been dabbing my hand once more into the wonderful pool of free MMOs. This time it involved a game currently in closed beta: Battle of the Immortals. Its an impressive name, projecting heroic images of massive champions, legendary battles and perhaps some CSGWWNEDBTSATEAOVGs (Cash shop gods who will never ever die because they spend all their excessive allowance on video games)

The developers have put up a lot a big PR smoke screen underlining how unique their game is and how fun it is, as well as how balanced the cash shop will most certainly be. Undeneath all the fluff stands a game with generic classes, little variation in terms of questing, and a massive push in customisation of gear. And I feel that if the developers play their cards right, this game could be a massive hit.

You see, from what I saw there are over 130 levels, but within the first 30 levels, which anyone can reach in no time at all, everyone had a crazy weapon, a full set of armour including a cape, a mount which looks very nice, and a pet that each player can chose and level up. BoI has the best starting couple of hours in a free MMO that I have ever played.

Eveeryone loves to look like a one-man rave party in their games, but usually getting all the fancy glowing gear takes months of grinding and boredom before someone else jumps the line by getting it all out of the cash shop. With BoI providing some very nice looking items at the very start, it will pull in a massive number of players who are used to starting with a cardboard sword and apron when they first enter the game.

BoI is very much like a Diablo MMO with a high level of gear customisation, and for most players MMOs are all about the gear and showing off. I'm certain the big old F2P MMO grind will appear and smack every player saying "Use the Cash Shop" but fingers crossed it won't be too bad. I'm going to be playing at launch, but I'm not sure how long for or how seriously, but it will be interesting to see how this game developes.

Oh, and I'm making previews on every BoI class which you can check out on my youtube channel.