Black Prophecy escalates the species war with Episode 2

by Justin Olivetti on Sep 21st 2011 2:30PM

Sci-fi, Patches, PvP, Free-to-play, Black Prophecy

"The time of peace has ended," gamigo writes in the introduction to the second major content update for Black Prophecy. We weren't under the impression that this was a tranquil game up to this point, but we suppose it's going to get a lot less peaceful with the introduction of warzones.

Episode 2: Species War takes PvP to a much more intense place, as players will be encouraged to duke it out for the control of strategic locations in space. By pulling up the warzone tab, ship captains can identify where the contested borders are and zip right over to them. Up to 200 players can engage in a single warzone, pursuing multiple objectives with the ultimate goal of capturing the command center. By participating, players will not only earn honor points, but XP and loot as well. Black Prophecy is adding rare blueprints that can be purchased with these honor points.

The update addresses the game balance in several ways, such as equalizing the benefit of shields and hulls. Players will receive a free skill reset because of the changes.

To celebrate Episode 2's release, gamigo is throwing two consecutive bonus PvP XP weeks, from September 21st through October 6th.

Black Prophecy Episode 2: Species War

Source: Episode 2 patch notes, Black Prophecy

Reader Comments (3)

Is this game any good now that it launched? Does it still have the infamous mouse lag that made it unplayable during beta?

It's still horrible which is too bad. Eve Online desperately needs some competition.

I just recently started playing this. I'm not sure what you mean by mouse lag so I guess it is fixed.

Personally, I've been enjoying it as a single player experience. You can see the general framework of the way most MMO's have you grind. However, since it is a spaceship sim, it's a heck of a lot more fun than running up to and clicking on mobs. The prologue storyline was deep and interesting, and accomplishing some of the mission objectives are fun and challenging in a GTA mission sort of way.

That being said, the population is sparse (at least on the NA server) which makes PvP tough. The game is designed for group battles and they seem to have some scripted clan battle missions which I haven't had the opportunity to participate in, mainly due to lack of pop. Hopefully, the new warzones will aid in meaningful PvP. The other open areas are also where you go for "kill X amount of X" missions, so the net result will likely be easy XP in those places.

The clan stations are a very cool idea, but the game lacks a simple clan info window if you aren't a member, or a way to apply to them in-game. That is something that perplexes me.

Altogether, I think Black Prophecy is at worst a fun, quick way to get my flying sim fix, but could be a lot better.

Oh, and it's free.