Views from an old player that returned

SeikenRyu

I have played Cabal about 4 years ago and started playing again about a week ago.

 

The Good

Cabal has the most fun combatsystem i know of and even though many say that cabal sells "power" in the shop... its very limited. But you can sell many items from CashShop to other players which gives those players lots and lots of ingame cash... so you could argue that with this they have much easier access to better equip.

But never the less, one can enjoy the whole game without paying a dime. I played til lvl 149 and only stopped because my guild wanted to switch games, i never needed premium, i never needed any +EXP or any of that sort. Yes it took me long, but reaching the highest lvl is not the goal in Cabal, once you hit about 120 you reached the endgame, earn some cash, get better equipment, join the Nation War (100 vs 100) and just have fun.

short, cabal offers an interesing combatsystem and gives access to most parts of the game long bfore you reach maxlvl.

 

The Bad

But for all that it is good, Cabal has its major flaws also... first and foremost Weapons and Gear. When you reach about 60-70 you get to somewhat mid-tier of equipment which when right crafted, enchanted and extended becomes most powerful or so it was. Nowadays there is more avaibility in the highest tiers, but that brings them only on the same ground than the middle tier which itself is cheaper. While i say cheaper, you can believe me that its not cheap... crafts have mutliple outcomes and so do enchantments and materials are also not easy to get. So you need luck at dropping the materials, luck at the outcome of the craft and luck at the enchantments. High end gear with more avaibility can only keep up because you dont need everything to be good to perfect, but costs significant more and trying to copy the process of perfection is practically impossible for about 99.9% of the players due to high cost.

short, mid-tier items can be made as powerful as high-tier relatively cost effective.

 

The next flaw are so called "lowered dungeons" that have unlike all other dungeons a lvl upper limit. There are 3 of them and especially the last one offers perfect craft drop of the before mentioned mid tier, which means that players with high characters that still try to get good gear are screwed, because they cant get in those dungeons and the gear is characterbound.

 

The last flaw are the entry items, each player that wants to enter a specific dungeon needs the appropriate entry item, so if you want to enter with a party of 5, everyone needs one such items, but the droprate of entry items is so low that prices for them on the market are for those who do dungeons alone. Combine this with a relatively low droprate on valueables you will see not many happy faces in your party. In the end, if you want to try to make money in dungeonruns you are you going to size down your party until you are all alone.

But thats just part of the plan of the developer to earn some money, since dungeon entry items are for sale in CS.

 

The End

Even with all that, Cabal Online is for gem that shows that doesnt rely on endlvl content, because most players never reach maxlvl (cur. 180). Access to most dungeons is granted long before that and while playing the game it grants slow character progression. Of course the trick to enjoy this is to think outside the box. Most MMOs trained everyone into thinking that reaching maxlvl is the most important goal and that the game only really starts then, but not in my Cabal, no sir.

So i am really looking forward to Cabal 2 and hoping that they could work out some of the flaws of the game.

kashiegamer

I remember staying for half a year in the lvl 129 bracket, then after a patch, moved on to 139 or 149(?) bracket for amonth, before eventually going to 169 bracket. 170-180 bracket was too hardcore for me.

 

Loved this game.

sofear

sir. you may have got me to try CABAL again.

if i remember correctly. this game had truly epic sound track. i loved it.

 

can you tell me what is so great about the combat system?

 

isnt it TARGET / HIGHTLIGHT> buttom mash. (no dodge/miss/ aim) required?

V-L-A-D

Originally posted by SeikenRyu

I have played Cabal about 4 years ago and started playing again about a week ago.

 

The Good

Cabal has the most fun combatsystem i know of and even though many say that cabal sells "power" in the shop... its very limited. But you can sell many items from CashShop to other players which gives those players lots and lots of ingame cash... so you could argue that with this they have much easier access to better equip.

But never the less, one can enjoy the whole game without paying a dime. I played til lvl 149 and only stopped because my guild wanted to switch games, i never needed premium, i never needed any +EXP or any of that sort. Yes it took me long, but reaching the highest lvl is not the goal in Cabal, once you hit about 120 you reached the endgame, earn some cash, get better equipment, join the Nation War (100 vs 100) and just have fun.

short, cabal offers an interesing combatsystem and gives access to most parts of the game long bfore you reach maxlvl.

 

The Bad

But for all that it is good, Cabal has its major flaws also... first and foremost Weapons and Gear. When you reach about 60-70 you get to somewhat mid-tier of equipment which when right crafted, enchanted and extended becomes most powerful or so it was. Nowadays there is more avaibility in the highest tiers, but that brings them only on the same ground than the middle tier which itself is cheaper. While i say cheaper, you can believe me that its not cheap... crafts have mutliple outcomes and so do enchantments and materials are also not easy to get. So you need luck at dropping the materials, luck at the outcome of the craft and luck at the enchantments. High end gear with more avaibility can only keep up because you dont need everything to be good to perfect, but costs significant more and trying to copy the process of perfection is practically impossible for about 99.9% of the players due to high cost.

short, mid-tier items can be made as powerful as high-tier relatively cost effective.

 

The next flaw are so called "lowered dungeons" that have unlike all other dungeons a lvl upper limit. There are 3 of them and especially the last one offers perfect craft drop of the before mentioned mid tier, which means that players with high characters that still try to get good gear are screwed, because they cant get in those dungeons and the gear is characterbound.

 

The last flaw are the entry items, each player that wants to enter a specific dungeon needs the appropriate entry item, so if you want to enter with a party of 5, everyone needs one such items, but the droprate of entry items is so low that prices for them on the market are for those who do dungeons alone. Combine this with a relatively low droprate on valueables you will see not many happy faces in your party. In the end, if you want to try to make money in dungeonruns you are you going to size down your party until you are all alone.

But thats just part of the plan of the developer to earn some money, since dungeon entry items are for sale in CS.

 

The End

Even with all that, Cabal Online is for gem that shows that doesnt rely on endlvl content, because most players never reach maxlvl (cur. 180). Access to most dungeons is granted long before that and while playing the game it grants slow character progression. Of course the trick to enjoy this is to think outside the box. Most MMOs trained everyone into thinking that reaching maxlvl is the most important goal and that the game only really starts then, but not in my Cabal, no sir.

So i am really looking forward to Cabal 2 and hoping that they could work out some of the flaws of the game.

Very good review mate!!! I was just thinking to post the same but found your post here

I've been playing for two years or so, and returned to the game last week, after a year of break. I have a 110lvl Force shielder with all the Shineguard set +7 with great bonuses (All purple), a Warrior 90lvl and a Blader 90lvl.

So I agree with everything you've said, but you forgot to mention the AWESOME gear look, like from 60lvl and above (Shadowtitanium and above). Here you can see almost all the weapons and armors of CABAL, except the last 2 tiers (Drei Frame & Lycanus): http://www.cabalonline.com/gameinfo/item-weapon.asp

Also I'd like to inform that with the last patch "Saint's requiem" they maked the game very easy for new players and they gave some advantages for players below 60lvl or so. Until 60lvl you don't need to buy anything as they have added mobs that are dropping the best gear you can get for low level with 100% drop chance. These sets are available about every 5-10lvl and contain everything is wearable. Also now you can get two astral boards from 48lvl absolutely for free by killing two open world semi-bosses (100% drop chance, easy to kill bosses, bosses respawn 5-10 seconds after kill), unlike before you had to pay 100kk+ to get one. Plus the money given from quests are much higher than they was before the patch so at 60lvl you end up with about 50kk only from quests.

In Cabal the classes are very equal in powers so you aren't forced to choose the most powerful, but the one you like. Cabal is my 2nd favofite game after Guild Wars 2, World of Warcraft could be 2nd if it didn't have a subscription fee and better graphics.

frillycheesesteak

Originally posted by sofear

sir. you may have got me to try CABAL again.

if i remember correctly. this game had truly epic sound track. i loved it.

 

can you tell me what is so great about the combat system?

 

isnt it TARGET / HIGHTLIGHT> buttom mash. (no dodge/miss/ aim) required?

I would also like to know more about the combat system. I'm currently 20 levels into Cabal (Force Shielder) and I've yet to come across any form of combat more technical than the rudimentary point-click-spam method. Wikipedia mentions a "combo" system, but I guess at level 20 it's just not available to my character yet?