by Jef Reahard  on Dec 28th 2012 12:00PM

Betas, Fantasy, Business models, Game mechanics, MMO industry, New titles, PvP, Opinion, Free-to-play, Massively Hands-on,First Impressions, Sandbox, Age of Wushu

 

Age of Wushu is probably the greatest sandbox you'll never play

 

 

MMOs are old hat at this point. I don't want to say they're boring, because then what are we all doing here? There's a certain sameness, though, and we know exactly what to expect, when and where to expect it, and in most cases we're firmly entrenched in a particular gameplay comfort zone.

Imagine my surprise, then, when I sat down to play Age of Wushu last week and found something utterly unlike most of the genre in every way that matters. It's difficult to compare the sprawling martial arts saga to other titles, but if you're looking for AoW's closest MMO relative, it would have to be EVE Online.

House of the Flying Dragon Hidden Dagger Hero

If you take EVE and replace its cold steel spaceships with impossibly nimble martial artists or swap out its vast nebulae for vast lakes and willowy bamboo forests, you've got Snail Games' new Ming Dynasty MMO. The game drips with the historical fantasy atmosphere established in Wuxia flicks like Hero, House of Flying Daggers, and of course, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Real-world martial arts sects like the Shaolin and Wudang are present and accounted for, and the game's eight factions offer a dizzying array of skill-based gameplay choices, most of which involve PvP of one sort or another.

[mod edit]

Spot on article, most of it anyway.

Too bad he's a bit confused regarding the whole ptw thing. Paying for convenience items or faster leveling is NOT pay to win. Paying for things that can not be attained through normal gameplay is. AoW does not sell things that you can not acquire in game (at least not yet), therefore it's not ptw (yet).

Someone wrote a great reply in the comments to the article, I'll just quote it here:

"A concept is not subjective. Your understanding of a concept is subjective. The difference is significant. Popular understanding does not change meaning, it merely alters semantics. "Pay to win" can evolve linguistically to represent something other than what it meant originally, but the concept itself does not change.

 I find the understanding you ascribe to "pay to win" lacking. It eliminates a concrete, clear concept for a much more slippery one.

According to my understanding of the concept of pay to win, an advantage must be available for cash that cannot be obtained via other means. In other words, "(You must) pay to win."

According to your apparent understanding of the concept of pay to win, all that is required is that an advantage be possible to obtain via cash. In other words, "(You can) pay to win."

I contend that your understanding of the concept is much more difficult to pin down, and thus inferior. Where do you draw the line? Is it pay to win in subscription games for players to be allowed to own multiple accounts, allowing them to direct the power of 5 characters at once?

I find people have a universal distaste for the term "pay to win," and have begun to use it to describe anything in cash shops of which they disapprove. This dilutes the concept. "Pay to win," shouldn't be a subjective synonym for "bad," we already have words for that. It ought to be a clearly defined concept, and in that pursuit I think my stated understanding above fits better.

Hi - I've removed most of the article because pasting full articles from sites discourages people from visiting the sources and is essentially, violates their copyright.

Here's the rule as written in our RoC:

Copyright and Press Material

• Reposting material in its entirety from other sources is against our rules. Quotations from things such as news articles are fine, provided it is cited and (if possible) linked to. We ask others to respect our content and ask our readers do the same for other people's content.

I agree with massively, Age Of Wushu is a fab game and really does bring something new to the table. Massively have followed the game and are way ahead of mmorpg.com when it comes to Age Of Wushu.

MMORPG.COM only jumped on the wagon for the second beta, i mean they didn't even put Age Of Wushu in the awards list yet they put ArcheAge in it.

Age Of Wushu is more sandboxy than ArcheAge.

Originally posted by Amana

Hi - I've removed most of the article because pasting full articles from sites discourages people from visiting the sources and is essentially, violates their copyright.

Here's the rule as written in our RoC:

 

Copyright and Press Material

• Reposting material in its entirety from other sources is against our rules. Quotations from things such as news articles are fine, provided it is cited and (if possible) linked to. We ask others to respect our content and ask our readers do the same for other people's content.

 

An excerpt and link is generally how to go about this

Ah makes sense. Sorry!

Originally posted by Rimmersman

I agree with massively, Age Of Wushu is a fab game and really does bring something new to the table. Massively have followed the game and are way ahead of mmorpg.com when it comes to Age Of Wushu.

MMORPG.COM only jumped on the wagon for the second beta, i mean they didn't even put Age Of Wushu in the awards list yet they put ArcheAge in it.

 

Age Of Wushu is more sandboxy than ArcheAge.

I was suprised at its lack of mention as well. It still doesn't get as much attention as games like the one formerly known as War Z, which is much less MMORPG and more MMOFPS  (especially as it stands today).

Originally posted by Biskop

Spot on article, most of it anyway.

Too bad he's a bit confused regarding the whole ptw thing. Paying for convenience items or faster leveling is NOT pay to win. Paying for things that can not be attained through normal gameplay is. AoW does not sell things that you can not acquire in game (at least not yet), therefore it's not ptw (yet).

Someone wrote a great reply in the comments to the article, I'll just quote it here:

"A concept is not subjective. Your understanding of a concept is subjective. The difference is significant. Popular understanding does not change meaning, it merely alters semantics. "Pay to win" can evolve linguistically to represent something other than what it meant originally, but the concept itself does not change.

 I find the understanding you ascribe to "pay to win" lacking. It eliminates a concrete, clear concept for a much more slippery one.

According to my understanding of the concept of pay to win, an advantage must be available for cash that cannot be obtained via other means. In other words, "(You must) pay to win."

According to your apparent understanding of the concept of pay to win, all that is required is that an advantage be possible to obtain via cash. In other words, "(You can) pay to win."

I contend that your understanding of the concept is much more difficult to pin down, and thus inferior. Where do you draw the line? Is it pay to win in subscription games for players to be allowed to own multiple accounts, allowing them to direct the power of 5 characters at once?

I find people have a universal distaste for the term "pay to win," and have begun to use it to describe anything in cash shops of which they disapprove. This dilutes the concept. "Pay to win," shouldn't be a subjective synonym for "bad," we already have words for that. It ought to be a clearly defined concept, and in that pursuit I think my stated understanding above fits better.

It also better fits into the etymology of the phrases we use. If it were a case of "you can" instead of "you must," then SWTOR's new model would be "pay to play," as "(you can) pay to play." That's not the case though. Pay to play means "(you must) pay to play."

That's one of the clear, consistent and precise explanations about PTW I've ever come across +1

As for the game itself, all I can say is that I'm loving it (despite the UI, translations and many other issues) .

Originally posted by GrayKodiak

Originally posted by Rimmersman

I agree with massively, Age Of Wushu is a fab game and really does bring something new to the table. Massively have followed the game and are way ahead of mmorpg.com when it comes to Age Of Wushu.

MMORPG.COM only jumped on the wagon for the second beta, i mean they didn't even put Age Of Wushu in the awards list yet they put ArcheAge in it.

 

Age Of Wushu is more sandboxy than ArcheAge.

I was suprised at its lack of mention as well. It still doesn't get as much attention as games like the one formerly known as War Z, which is much less MMORPG and more MMOFPS  (especially as it stands today).

 

 

Typical mmorpg.com.

I find it frustrating reading this article which so readily compares the game to EVE Online yet gives little to no indication as to exactly what the two games have in common.

So this game is a sandbox and EVE is a sandbox, what does that even mean?  (i'm not intending to ask for the definition of sandbox, i'm only pointing out they declare the game a sandbox without telling me why they feel it is one)

Originally posted by Ghabbo

Originally posted by Biskop

Spot on article, most of it anyway.

Too bad he's a bit confused regarding the whole ptw thing. Paying for convenience items or faster leveling is NOT pay to win. Paying for things that can not be attained through normal gameplay is. AoW does not sell things that you can not acquire in game (at least not yet), therefore it's not ptw (yet).

Someone wrote a great reply in the comments to the article, I'll just quote it here:

"A concept is not subjective. Your understanding of a concept is subjective. The difference is significant. Popular understanding does not change meaning, it merely alters semantics. "Pay to win" can evolve linguistically to represent something other than what it meant originally, but the concept itself does not change.

 I find the understanding you ascribe to "pay to win" lacking. It eliminates a concrete, clear concept for a much more slippery one.

According to my understanding of the concept of pay to win, an advantage must be available for cash that cannot be obtained via other means. In other words, "(You must) pay to win."

According to your apparent understanding of the concept of pay to win, all that is required is that an advantage be possible to obtain via cash. In other words, "(You can) pay to win."

I contend that your understanding of the concept is much more difficult to pin down, and thus inferior. Where do you draw the line? Is it pay to win in subscription games for players to be allowed to own multiple accounts, allowing them to direct the power of 5 characters at once?

I find people have a universal distaste for the term "pay to win," and have begun to use it to describe anything in cash shops of which they disapprove. This dilutes the concept. "Pay to win," shouldn't be a subjective synonym for "bad," we already have words for that. It ought to be a clearly defined concept, and in that pursuit I think my stated understanding above fits better.

It also better fits into the etymology of the phrases we use. If it were a case of "you can" instead of "you must," then SWTOR's new model would be "pay to play," as "(you can) pay to play." That's not the case though. Pay to play means "(you must) pay to play."

That's one of the clear, consistent and precise explanations about PTW I've ever come across +1

As for the game itself, all I can say is that I'm loving it (despite the UI, translations and many other issues) .

PTW has never been you MUST . It been a more or less Paying give you a strogn competitive advantage.

Such as, IF YOU DON'T HAVE 8 HOURS TO PLAY THE GAME A DAY TO FARM THEN you must ptw. This is how most PTW games have been. so for the average joe if they want to win they have to pay.. but its not actuall nessesary. (If you spend an absurd amount of time farming).

I figure if your going to be so detailed about a non-issue (in an attempt to claim AoW is not PTW) then you might as well be accurate.

Mind you AoW might not be PTW... then agian maybe it is.. simple enough sub games shouldn't have items that provide competitive advatages. If im paying that should be the end of the story.

is Age of wushu the same game as age of wulin at the eu gpotato site? kinda confused, want to try this,  but i would like

it to be the right game ofcourse lol :)

Originally posted by Ramanadjinn

I find it frustrating reading this article which so readily compares the game to EVE Online yet gives little to no indication as to exactly what the two games have in common.

So this game is a sandbox and EVE is a sandbox, what does that even mean?  (i'm not intending to ask for the definition of sandbox, i'm only pointing out they declare the game a sandbox without telling me why they feel it is one)

Read this http://massively.joystiq.com/2012/12/18/first-impressions-from-the-age-of-wushu-beta/

Then read about all the features of the game here, everything you need to know http://uk.ign.com/wikis/age-of-wushu/Novice_Guide

And then actually see for yourself and download the game http://www.ageofwushu.com/

Originally posted by strangiato2112
massively may be right, it might be a great game but most will never play it because of forced PvP.

That's the point, you don't have to play it, plenty of other MMOs that don't have PVP. It's pretty easy to avoid PVP in Age Of Wushu to be fare, unlike games like GW2, PVP in Age Of Wushu has consequences.

Age Of Wushu also has loads of PVE as well as PVP.

Originally posted by Rimmersman

Originally posted by GrayKodiak

Originally posted by Rimmersman

I agree with massively, Age Of Wushu is a fab game and really does bring something new to the table. Massively have followed the game and are way ahead of mmorpg.com when it comes to Age Of Wushu.

MMORPG.COM only jumped on the wagon for the second beta, i mean they didn't even put Age Of Wushu in the awards list yet they put ArcheAge in it.

 

Age Of Wushu is more sandboxy than ArcheAge.

I was suprised at its lack of mention as well. It still doesn't get as much attention as games like the one formerly known as War Z, which is much less MMORPG and more MMOFPS  (especially as it stands today).

 

 

Typical mmorpg.com.

You would see more coverage on this site if SnailGames would invest more into advertising on this webpage. But then, on the other hand we wouldn't be allowed to discuss the negatives about the game on these forums without getting temp banned left and right.

So i rather prefer a more open discussion of AoW here instead of biased articles.

Originally posted by Volgore

Originally posted by Rimmersman

Originally posted by GrayKodiak

Originally posted by Rimmersman

I agree with massively, Age Of Wushu is a fab game and really does bring something new to the table. Massively have followed the game and are way ahead of mmorpg.com when it comes to Age Of Wushu.

MMORPG.COM only jumped on the wagon for the second beta, i mean they didn't even put Age Of Wushu in the awards list yet they put ArcheAge in it.

 

Age Of Wushu is more sandboxy than ArcheAge.

I was suprised at its lack of mention as well. It still doesn't get as much attention as games like the one formerly known as War Z, which is much less MMORPG and more MMOFPS  (especially as it stands today).

 

 

Typical mmorpg.com.

You would see more coverage on this site if SnailGames would invest more into advertising on this webpage. But then, on the other hand we wouldn't be allowed to discuss the negatives about the game on these forums without getting temp banned left and right.

So i rather prefer a more open discussion of AoW here instead of biased articles.

Putting it like that i would have to agree.

Does this game have:

Crafting, indepth crafting not that garbage you get from your standard themepark?

Player based economy not a loot based like themeparks?

Housing?

Open world?

Social hubs/skills?

Player made content?

Unrestricted movement thru the world ( not linear paths like SWTOR)?

How is the pvp designed? Is it free for all, broken down into zones, faction vs faction, etc?

Never realy got into this since it was a f2p game. because F2P = p2w or restrictions and a sandbox should never have restrictions in any manor. If it has most this i may actualy look into it and buy. I love a good sandbox but i hate f2p models just on principle.

Originally posted by Amana

Hi - I've removed most of the article because pasting full articles from sites discourages people from visiting the sources and is essentially, violates their copyright.

Here's the rule as written in our RoC:

 

Copyright and Press Material

• Reposting material in its entirety from other sources is against our rules. Quotations from things such as news articles are fine, provided it is cited and (if possible) linked to. We ask others to respect our content and ask our readers do the same for other people's content.

 

An excerpt and link is generally how to go about this

The Blog Age is really challenging traditional intel property law, as re-blogging substitutes for original thought more and more often.

Thanks for your efforts...but you're holding your finger in the internet dike that's ready to collapse under a sea of litigation.  (I know, you don't really have a choice about it.  Carry on anyway.)

Originally posted by Rimmersman

Originally posted by Ramanadjinn

I find it frustrating reading this article which so readily compares the game to EVE Online yet gives little to no indication as to exactly what the two games have in common.

So this game is a sandbox and EVE is a sandbox, what does that even mean?  (i'm not intending to ask for the definition of sandbox, i'm only pointing out they declare the game a sandbox without telling me why they feel it is one)

Read this http://massively.joystiq.com/2012/12/18/first-impressions-from-the-age-of-wushu-beta/

Then read about all the features of the game here, everything you need to know http://uk.ign.com/wikis/age-of-wushu/Novice_Guide

And then actually see for yourself and download the game http://www.ageofwushu.com/

It seems like whenever people ask how this particular game is a sandbox they don't get a direct answer.

Instead of sending us to a series of pages, would you be able to answer the question for us?

Originally posted by Onomas

Does this game have:

Crafting, indepth crafting not that garbage you get from your standard themepark?

Everything is player made, you can get drops in the world but the best is player made. You can finish anything by yoursdelf, you need other crafters.

Player based economy not a loot based like themeparks?

Player based economy.

Housing?

Vast castle forts and land ownership

Open world?

Yes, it has instanced dungeons though so not totally open.

Social hubs/skills?

To many to list.

Player made content? 

In what way.

Unrestricted movement thru the world ( not linear paths like SWTOR)?

Yes.

How is the pvp designed? Is it free for all, broken down into zones, faction vs faction, etc?

FFA/Faction with serious penalty for PK. Prsion, beaheading, bountys, public executions.

 

Never realy got into this since it was a f2p game. because F2P = p2w or restrictions and a sandbox should never have restrictions in any manor. If it has most this i may actualy look into it and buy. I love a good sandbox but i hate f2p models just on principle.

 

Read plz. http://uk.ign.com/wikis/age-of-wushu/Kidnapping