I've never done a review before but I really feel like this game should have more information about it so more people would join.
I've experienced the leveling part of the game and the end game pvp and I feel I have enough grasp on the game to write a review.
Okay so let's start with the facts of the game.
There's 3 factions or whatever you want to call them. Wei, Shu, and Wu.
Each faction has their own territory that they control. Territory can be lost or gained through Kingdom Wars. (I'll explain kingdom wars later on)
Each class has a choice to recruit conscripts. Conscripts are basiclly soldiers that you can control. Think of them as pets if that helps you. You're able to equip them with Chest armor, a weapon, and a talisman. Skills can also be taught to them and they can have their class changed at later levels.
There's 4 different classes that each have 2 sub classes at later levels.
Warrior - Can weild 2handed weapons or dual weapons. They can have 2 conscripts.
Fencer - Can use dual weapons, Bow, or Crossbow. The Fencer can either be melee dps or ranged dps, your choice. Has up to 4 conscripts.
Conjurer - Think of this as the mage class. Has up to 2 conscripts.
Tactician - The supporter class. It can heal and still do a little amount of damage. This class has up to 6 conscripts (most out of all classes).
There's two ways to PVP in this game. (Well that's what I think :P)
Kingdom Wars
Duel Arena
Kingdom Wars happens 2 times a week for 2 hours (that's how it was in CB). Kills during Kingdom War will provide you with merit which will let you buy items from a merit rewards shop. What happens during Kingdom Wars is that the opposing factions will become hostile towards you. For example, If you're Wei, then Shu and Wu players will become attackable anywhere. Normally you cannot attack other players unless during Kingdom War. During this time, opposing towns can be taken and/or claimed. They can be taken by destroying the towns statue. Once destroyed the town will be controlled by your faction. Guilds are able to claim certain towns. In order to claim a town a guild must do the most damage to the statue. Guilds that have the ability can use ships and siege weapons during war time. Once the War period has ended, opposing players will no longer be hostile and towns will no longer be able to be taken.
Duel Arena is an area where players can enter an arena and be able to attack anyone else that is in the arena also. No merit will be awarded to kills in the duel arena.
And that's about all the game information I can think of off the top of my head. There's probably more I could have added that I couldn't think of lol.
Okay now it's time for my opinions!
I can not get enough of this game and there's so many reason why!
I'm going to start of with the PVP. I have never ever never had this much fun in PVP than during Kingdom Wars. I haven't experienced any other game that has this type of PVP system. In my opinion, this game is about 20% gear, 30% skill, 50% stat and talent setting. The 50% stat and talent may make is sound like there's one spec that completely rapes all but that's wrong. Each way you spec has different ups and downs. There is no perfect way to chose and I love it.
Now for the PVE. In the first 24 hours of playing, I was able to get to level 40 (Cap was at 120 for CB, no clue what it actually is.). The reason for this is because questing gives a lot of experience and when you're sleeping you can AFK grind using your Conscripts. Now you're probably wondering what the hell that is and I'm going to tell you. It's when you set your conscripts to Seek and Destroy which will make them go around killing monsters while all you have to do is sit there. To some people this system might make them turn away, but to me it makes me stay. Also there's an autowalk system that will walk you to the quest objective and then back to the quest giver.
That's really all I have to say and once again I could probably say more but I'm a little tired so this is all....for now lol.
If you have any questions about the game feel free to ask and I might be able to answer them :P
Comments
There is a loyalty function for your soldiers. They start out at a 100 I believe, they lose lyalty when they die and it also decreases overtime, at certain increments your soldiers will become unresponsive. You can replenish loyalty with merit points which I hear is ridiculously overpriced for the amount it increases. I havn't played long enough to figure out if it really is overpriced or not, I am just going by what I hear. What is your opinion on the matter?
Once soldiers reach level 30 their loyalty will start decreasing slowly. There are other ways than merit points. For example there's cash shop items , i'm pretty sure there's drops from monsters than increase loyalty, and I think you're able to buy the cash shop item with ingame currency from other players. I'm not 100% sure about that though.
Remember, the merit price can change as this game is still in testing.
PS. If you were in CB then you should be getting some rewards for testing that will be given in OB
The loyalty item issue was pretty clearly highlighted in CB, as being too expensive/time-consuming for a player to sustain long-term. On the other hand, it's also a pretty blatant candidate for the cash shop once the game leaves beta. For CB, they handled things with a stop-gap measure of just giving a bunch of loyalty boosts for free, so that we could keep testing and playing, so we'll see what they do come OB. Some of the mechanics won't appeal to everyone, but if they fix a bunch of the bugs/issues that were pointed out, it's certainly got some potential.
A Modest Proposal for MMORPGs:
That the means of progression would not be mutually exclusive from the means of enjoyment.
So how big an "army" can you realistically put together and support? Does it matter greatly on "which" units you build, or does it lean towards "zerging"....in other words, just build the most units you can and throw them at your enemy.
I'll admit to being intrigued by this game, but want to read more player views to see if it's worth the download time.
Thanks in advance for any responses!
Az
I think you may have the general idea of the game wrong lol.
About the army thing. Each player has their own avatar character. Like WoW, EQII, LoTRO, etc.
According to the class you choose though, you'll have a certain number of soldeirs that you can have. Soldiers are like pets pretty much. They'll attack what you attack, and some can heal.
Here's a video and another review that'll help you learn more about the game
Video > http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1NG4yvV59E4
Review > http://mmohut.com/review/kingdom-heroes
( Video and Review are made by MMOHut)