Age of Wushu

The European cousin to Age of Wushu, the martial arts sandbox already released in North America, is finally cracking open its beta doors to let in select players next week. That's right: Age of Wulin starts closed beta on Monday, June 17th. But eligible testers needn't wait until then to make their characters; gPotato has enabled access to the launcher until the evening of the 15th to let players create their avatars and reserve their names. Players should note that CBT characters will be wiped for when beta opens to all.

Got other questions about Age of Wulin's upcoming closed beta? If so, gPotato has some answers via its new FAQ. For instance, this closed beta will be short but all players will enjoy full VIP status. Another important item to note is that AoW will not have an NDA; players are welcome to talk about, review, livestream, and share their in-game experiences with others. And for those who haven't yet received a closed beta key, don't worry -- more were sent out today. While checking your email, catch the closed beta trailer after the break.

[Thanks to mad283 for the tip!]

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Snail Games showcased two new MMOs today at E3: Black Gold and Age of Wushu. The two games have more than their parent in common; Black Gold utilizes the Age of Wushu engine. Set in a fantastical steampunk world, Black Gold is a mish-mash of colorful fantasy elements and grunge-ridden steampunk inventions, as we found in our hands-on with the game earlier today.

Each faction within Black Gold (fantasy or steam faction) has three races of its own. The steam faction holds humans, dwarves, and vampires (what steampunk MMO would be without vampires?), and on the fantasy side you'll find more humans, a cat-like race, and a shape-shifting barbarian race. It might be a little limited in race selection, but maybe character creation will be just as interesting for the players as it is in Age of Wushu.

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What's life without a little weather to keep things interesting and give socially awkward people something to talk about around the water cooler? While many MMOs have given up on including weather systems, Age of Wushu kindly disagrees. The title is preparing to roll out dynamic weather in a forthcoming update, and a new teaser trailer hints at the possibilities that it could present.

The trailer shows a character running through a storm at night. Sheets of rain come down as the occasional bolt of lightning illuminates the surroundings for a few seconds. Check out the video after the break, and don't forget your poncho if you're heading into this title!

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Previously in The Art of Wushu, we discussed the basic combat mechanics in Age of Wushu. If you have played the game for more than a week or so, you are likely familiar with most of it. A basic RPS mechanic is the simplest type of combat design, and many other games, especially those with "robust" melee combat, tend to have some RPS as the basis of its complexity.

However, Age of Wushu focuses a lot on uneven risk and reward. It is not enough to simply have RPS elements. A combat design built around mixups should also have many different options between these mixups that create an inter-RPS. Let me explain broadly: Some rocks beat other rocks, but the other rocks provide better rewards when used against scissors. Some rocks might even provide benefits when used against paper! The series of mindgames interwoven into your attack choice are the focus for this week.

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Earlier this morning Massively received multiple tips regarding layoffs at Age of Wushu publisher Snail Games. We contacted the company and were provided with an official statement by Director of Game Development David Baker.

Yes, there were a handful of layoffs at Snail Games USA yesterday. After the launch of Age of Wushu the team size was corrected to meet the size of the game and the community. The Age of Wushu team was expanded before launch and the necessary contractions were needed post-launch. Snail Games USA values all the employees that worked on Age of Wushu and continue to work on the Age of Wushu upcoming expansion for July. Layoffs are a hard part of working in the game industry and are necessary when team size becomes larger than what the development team needs.

[Thanks to everyone who tipped us.]

Snail Games has a busy lineup in store for next month's E3. The studio will use the expo for several reveals, including a steampunk MMO, a dance-off MMO, and an expansion for Age of Wushu.

The steampunk title is Black Gold, which is set in a fantasy universe where industrial technology and magic are at war (yes, it has giant mechs vs. dragons). It will have six races and six classes, although the classes will also have subclasses to allow for interesting combinations. Black Gold is set to begin closed beta testing tomorrow in China and Taiwan.

Age of Wushu: Legends of Mount Hua promises to deliver new content starting in July, although Snail Games has yet to go into specifics as to what that content might be. The dance MMO is called Music Soul and features nine game modes that pit boogieing players against each other.

[Source: Snail Games press release]

If you haven't had enough to do in Age of Wushu yet, then you are one easily bored cookie. But never fear, Snail Games is here! The team has been frantically adding more systems to the game to flesh out the martial arts title, and now players can get married, gain ultimate scrolls, and try out a couple of new PvP modes.

The marriage system in Age of Wushu is more complicated than in other MMOs. A dowry must be given, a wedding package purchased, and a special team task performed. The benefits for the happy couple are several, however, including rings that teleport each of them to their spouse.

Players can now attempt to obtain the most powerful skills for their respective schools through ultimate scrolls. Unlike other skills, players are restricted to getting an ultimate scroll only from their dedicated combat school. These skills are good to take into the PvP battlefield, where death modes and faction modes await.

Many readers balked when I said Age of Wushu had the best combat in an MMO ever back when I did my first impressions piece. I admit, it was a bold claim. However, even after playing Guild Wars 2, TERA, and numerous other games with "deep MMO combat," I stand by what I said back then. Age of Wushu's PvP combat is the best in any MMO.

If you're coming from a mostly MMO background, combat in Age of Wushu is a bit daunting at first. It's really nothing like combat in any other MMO. It has a bit slower pace than a typical action-MMO, but it is the first to really employ tempo control. Attacking recklessly is a patch to a quick defeat, forcing players to make tough tactical decisions.

If you're like me and came to MMOs from a fighting game background, things readily click into place. Baiting common reactions and punishing them, punishing actions on reaction, and getting in the head of your opponent is better-rewarded than in any other MMO combat system. I don't want to badmouth games like GW2 that have great combat, so don't get me wrong; many other games have excellent combat. Age of Wushu's battle system is just even more fantastic. When I win a fight against an even-leveled opponent (or higher level, though that's rare) without taking an unblocked hit, I feel like a total beast.

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Party like it's 2013! Snail Games invites players in the world of Jianghu to join in a special Age of Wushu Royal Celebration starting today. This celebration will have various events sprinkled throughout the month, from earning rewards just for just logging in to chances to face and fight world bosses for their loot. And the rewards themselves range from gift packs to buff items to VIP bonuses.

Want to earn a special gift pack? Log in for one hour a day and you'll get one for each day. Players who manage to spend at least two hours online every day for the entire week will earn a much larger reward that includes a 30-day mount and a number of buffs and bonuses. Gain even more rewards for leveling school inner skills and for being a VIP. The event is open to all players regardless of school or skills. For a full listing of the events and their accompanying rewards, check out the official event schedule.

[Source: Snail Games press release]

Age of Wushu is not the most accessible game. It is full of confusing systems that are hard to decipher, and a large part of the "skill" in the game is being able to wade through the mess of gameplay elements and produce an optimized character.

Meridians are one more extremely confusing system to handle. There are nine meridian lines, advanced characters can activate four of them, and even training them at all is pretty confusing. Training the correct ones adds another layer of complexity to an already confusing game.

I'm not a huge fan of the system -- it causes a number of metagame problems, particularly due to the increased HP inherent to everyone who trains a meridian line. However, it's there and we have to make the best use of it. How do we do that? Read on!

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Sobriety is overrated. Sure, a lot of games give players the options to get characters plastered, but Age of Wushu takes it one step further by incorporating the pop culture notion of drunken fighting into the game. A character with a high alcohol tolerance won't just be able to fight after tipping back a few drinks; he'll actually be able to fight better due to an Evade buff granted after imbibing. Characters with lower tolerance, meanwhile, will just stagger and find themselves unable to react appropriately.

That's not the limit of what you can do with liquor in a fight, though. You can also spray your opponent with spirits in mid-battle, hopefully intoxicating and disorienting the other fighter. Of course, if you attempt to use this technique on someone with a predilection for potables, you might find that you've just handed your nemesis a major advantage. Take a look at some plastered punching in the preview video just past the break.

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If you're up for dropping some money on the recently launched Age of Wushu, a new special retail edition is available both online and at Gamestop. This box version of the game goes for $20 and offers "more than $80 worth" of in-game goodies.

These incentives include a special horse mount, in-game currency, 30 days of VIP access, reputation scrolls, fashion outfits, and boosts for experience and Chi. If that hasn't sold you yet, Snail Games is hoping that some one-on-one time with martial arts film star Jet Li will. Players can train with a digital Jet Li in a special instanced adventure that comes only with this edition.

We direct the curious to the special retail edition trailer after the jump.

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Scheduled events are a huge part of Age of Wushu. While each player has the option of enjoying the game at his own pace, scheduled events mark the major ways people can have an impact on the world at large. Because these events have to occur at a specific time, their placement will always be convenient for some and inconvenient for others.

Recently -- and without warning -- Snail changed the server time in response to complaints about various events being inconvenient. This time change was influenced by a vote thread on the official forums, but was otherwise invisible; there were no warnings in the game's launcher or via in-game announcements until days afterward. The lack of communication about the time change was bad enough, but unfortunately, listening to the vocal minority had much larger, far-reaching problems for players. [Please see the end of this article for Snail's appended response to these arguments.]

I was going to talk about meridians this time, but addressing this topic was something you requested. You came to the Massively tip jar. You emailed me directly. You messaged me in game. You even came to my house and said, "Hey man, you should write about how messed up the time change is." You asked, and this is my reply.

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Snail has updated Age of Wushu's website with its immediate designs for the western version of the recently launched wuxia sandbox. The firm has grand plans to bring content from the game's Chinese server to North America including the Mount Hua PvP competition, new rage skills, and the new Yanmen Pass instance.

Snail also implores gamers to "stop living in the close friend zone" by availing themselves of the game's wedding mechanics. The company has also published its official stance on gold sellers and gold spam, as well as its intention to ban both buyers and sellers.

[Thanks Mikey!]

The free-to-play action MMO Age of Wushu had such a successful launch day last week that Snail Games has expanded to another server over the weekend.

The Red Phoenix server is now available for new and existing players to enjoy with the same launch events as the original three servers.

Be sure to check out our launch day coverage if you're curious to learn more about the martial arts MMO.