Originally posted by SalivalMundane
No sex, just clones. lol, Seems im losing interest in this game, once i noticed their release date was dec 2012 i kinda put it on the back burned and have big doubts regarding the hero engine and a sandbox MMO. I also really dislike how they are attempting to get more money from different ad campaigns, really seems like Repop is a money grab game and might be a complete disaster of a game.

Release date is not December 2012. It's some time in late 2013. Hero Engine can build any type of MMO, first person shooter, sandbox, action rpg, etc. Last but not least, the game has never ran any type of ad campaign.

The game will have both a Hardcore PvP (FFA/Loot) and a Normal ruleset server. The normal rule set server features PvP that is a cross between Dark Age of Camelot and SWG mechanics wise. All players start as Inactive Military and as such they can only attack or be attacked by others in the contested areas (which is a good sized slice of the world in between the OWON and FPR controlled territories). If players set themselves as Active Military then they can attack or be attacked by opposing Active Military members anyplace in the world (but friendly guards will still protect them). There is also a third faction (Rogue Nations), which is basically not affiliated with either of the two main factions, and allows users to set their own hostility rules to other nations. For rogue nations each nation (which is like an extended guild) is in essence their own faction. Rogue Nations start hostile to everyone else, but they can form alliances and such with other rogue nations to prohibit them from fighting one another.

It will be a free to play game with a cash shop, but it is not a pay to win game. The store will mostly be operating on account perks (bank slots, character slots, mission slots, inventory slots, etc) which can also be unlocked in bulk through one-time memberships (pay once, lasts forever) and cosmetic items. There will be stims which can enhance your potential to learn (increases skillup rates) but those can also be obtained through adventuring, and give a smaller bonus than in most other games. We value free players, as they enhance the experience of everyone else, and don't want them to feel like they can not compete.

Ironically you could make an argument that Star Wars Galaxies (in the eyes of many players the best sandbox MMO to date) was the precursor to WoW's very theme park oriented gameplay. The idea had been tossed around for a while. In SWG you had rebel, imperial, hutt and other theme parks that were very similar to the quest centric gameplay that now dominates the market. You'd go through a series of missions for those NPCs, and eventually work your way up to the feature characters.  It was just a small part of the gameplay of SWG though.

Other games before WoW had begun a shift towards a more quest centric approach, but just not to the same level. DAoC's epic quest series gave very good experience, but you still had to grind on mobs for most of your exp. Everquest 2 which beat WoW to market by a month or so, also gave good experience for quests, but there were not enough of them to level off of completely and much of its world was still group oriented.

But in those days the main way to gain experience was just to grind on mobs. Killing over and over. Anything that gave experience, kill it. Leveling by quest was much more enjoyable for most players than leveling by slaying whatever mob gave exp. It gave them some focus, and allowed for some storyline to be inserted. All in all, it was an improvement over no direction at all.

Unfortunately like anything else, once the strings were visible and every game started cloning the style, players quickly realized things that they may not have originally. They were generally being driven along the same path as everyone else. Most quests followed a few basic templates and the story meant very little. Players were suddenly grouping less because it was more efficient to solo grind in a lot of cases. So now we have players sick and tired of the same grind, and wanting something new. But if you compare it to what existed beforehand, I still feel that quest grinding is preferable to mob grinding.

Originally posted by Dakirn

Everquest started with absolutely no quests at all.. unless you call the jboots quest a "quest".......

With regards to a flagging system (sorry didn't see that post before)...

On the regular servers you can choose to be Active or Reserve in the military.  The default is reserve, and that offers you protection in your factions uncontested areas (which for OWON and FPR are very large). You will still be able to be killed in the contested areas. It's set up similar to how DAoC's frontiers were set up. You can advance your character completely in the protected areas, you don't have to PvP if you don't wish. Cities are created in the contested areas though, and rival nations will be able to kill you when in those areas. Your guards and turrets (which will spawn in the player created cities) will protect you in those areas though.

I think the main problem with a flagging system on the normal servers would be that it would eliminate the territory control features. Controlling certain areas allows you to create choke points, control resources, etc. But that isn't really possible if players can avoid the PvP and just run by the players defending them. I think its a feature that works well in some games, but not too much to Repop. We are open to the idea of a PvE server if there is enough demand for it though.

Actually there is one former SWG dev that Josh probably missed as it was just a part on his resume, but he is a volunteer who came on in the past 6 months just wanting to contribute to the project. He is the only former SOE employee on the team though.

We should stress, the game is similar to SWG in spirit and some of its designs. But it is not an SWG clone in any way. Many of our mechanics are very different. But similar to SWG it is a sandbox, features deep crafting, city building, has a similar pet system, skills based, etc. The PvE game is very different from SWG though, and many of the mechanics of other areas are very different. Although both games are skills based, for example, there are no boxes and mastery in Repop. You can use DNA to improve skills, but you don't unlock boxes. Abilities are earned through skill trees, but not automatically, you must acquire the Training Cards for them. We have many similarities to SWG, but Repop is also a very different game.

A bit of extra information since this is often an source of confusion.

- Action Mode is just a different way of control.  It basically loops through your mouse clicks, what you clicked on, what you barely missed, the body part hit, how fast you clicked, if you are crouched, prone or standing, if your clicked targets were hostile or friendly and the modifier used (by default you have left mouse button for normal abilities, right mouse for momentum based abilities, and there is also a modifier key for defensive actions). You have an optional GUI which will show you all the abilities you know and to optionally inform you of each ability used. When action mode is enabled it interprets all of this information client side and then sends it to the server as an ability request. It will automatically keep track of what abilities are on cooldown, and try to find the most appropriate ability for what you were trying to do. The cooldowns are designed in a way that will attempt to make full use of your abilities. As a result, in Action Mode you just point and click at targets like you would in a first/third person shooter. It's still using the same RPG mode rolls and everything server side though and you still need to acquire abilities to do certain things. It's just a matter of which of the two control schemes you prefer.

- Both modes are exactly the same to the server. It doesn't differentiate between the two, other than how it sends the FX.

- When your in action mode your firing will automatically play client side FX on your client as soon as you fire to reduce the feel of latency.

- In both modes the combat round (maximum actions you can do) is quicker than in your average MMO. Buffs and debuffs are typically shorter duration and occur through combat.

- RPG Mode performs just how you'd expect an MMORPG to perform. Ability bars and cooldowns. Action mode still has the option of using ability bars, but it frees you up to do it all through the mouse.

- When in Action Mode you use Mouselook. Meaning wherever you move the mouse you aim/face.

- If you have action mode enabled and you open up any of the GUI windows it will automatically switch you into RPG Mode, and then switch you back into Action Mode when the window is closed (which you can also do by hitting escape).

- There is no significant advantage to either mode. It's just a matter of preference. In some situational cases one mode may be better than the other. You could argue that RPG Mode gives you more fine control over what you want to do, but since you can still use ability bars/action keys, you actually have that in both modes but would be using it less often. For some weapons Action Mode may be easier for AoEs since it will automatically detect where to launch the AoE, rather than using a ground targeting reticle. That may or may not be advantageous. You can switch between the modes instantly though, by default by using CTRL-A. You can switch between first or third person by default by using CTRL-F. Next week's alpha build will also have a customizable third person camera allowing you to tweak your camera angle in third person or to quickly switch between presets. It could also be argued that since you have to click on opponents that RPG mode gives you less chance of missing, but it should be noted that if you miss your target Action Mode casts 5 additional raycasts in the nearby area trying to detect what you were trying to hit, giving you a little bit of leeway for missing. It also could be argued that if you are facing static targets that Action Mode allows you to more easily switch targets because you do not need to target and then use an ability, you simply click and it does both.

Originally posted by Burntvet

The truth is, this game is so far from release there is no way to say what it will or will not eventually be. Everything can be changed, this far out. Right now, the Repop is nothing, it does not exist beyond a demo and some ideas.

I suppose you could apply some of that to any game that is not released. It has been alpha testing since June though, so I suppose it exists beyond a demo. The game is a late 2013 release, so it's not THAT far off.

Originally posted by redman875

Player housing is more a themepark aspect of gameplay, more themeparks use it than sandboxes. Complex crafting isnt sandbox, though a lot of sandboxes like eve type games go nuts with a player based economy and very complex processes.

Day and night weather...is now sandbox?

I really wish people would stop calling games sandboxes because you can craft a lot or grow things and theres player housing...really irritates me for some reason.

No classes, no storline quests to feed people gear and xp, the ability to fully loot in pvp (high risk pvp not themepark syle where you die then get a free trip to your bind and no loss of anything) no factions also is a sandbox feature politics must be guild based and there must be something on the line such as territory or clan holdings. This is what makes a game sandbox.  Players deciding what class or role they are not the character creation screen, players making their purpose not a storyline and NPC's, players giving themselves a point in game not a quest system, and a market and guild structure based on player politics and supply/demand.

I think you oversimplified a little bit there. But I also think that the lines that separate the two are hard to draw out exactly. It means different things to different people.

How many sandbox games allow you to build a house within the world, and not in a virtual instance? How many are able to allow you to create a city filled with dozens of them and other structures? Comparing the Inn Rooms of a game like Runes of Magic or AO for example, is a lot different than the sprawling housing areas in SWG or UO.

Do many theme park games have day/night? Sure. How many of them alter the spawns based on them? Have shops that close? NPCs who hit the pub? Etc.

As far as crafting is concerned, to me the difference between the sandbox and theme park approach to them is that theme park games typically involve a gear grind. High end crafting gear really doesn't have a place in them. It's all raid gear. Where in a sandbox the approach is very different. You can often exist entirely as a crafter, without being tied into the leveling system, and crafting items are generally among the best if not the best in the game. So yeah, sure both types have crafting, but they are very different uses of it, typically.

On the list of things you consider a sandbox... I'll give you maybe no classes on that list, though I don't think being skills based makes a game sandbox. It is typically a sandbox feature though. Territory control also, as it causes player created activities. Repop of course has both of those things.

The other things though I disagree with. Full loot is not a sandbox element. It's something that UO did and many sandbox titles since have done, but it's also one of the features that turns away casual players, and has caused sandboxes to become a niche genre. All games have factions, though I'm guessing your referring to PvP wise, and FFA. That's not sandbox. That's hardcore PvP.

No storyline quests, I'd disagree there too. Is The Elder Scrolls series not sandbox because they have deep stories? Is Grand Theft Auto not sandbox because you can do the storyline, as well as the sandbox elements? SWG made the term theme park popular in the genre, and it's also considered by many to be the best sandbox MMO to date. I think when you drive players through story in a linear fashion, then it's no longer a sandbox. Having some story though is pretty much required. In a game like Repop you aren't really going to ever have any linear path. Once you leave the tutorial areas your pretty much in a big world. You won't have to look hard for something to do though because you will be receiving job offers in your mail pretty much constantly, catered to your location and skill set. As you travel the world you'll also see a lot of engagements happening. So there will constantly be things to do, but it's up to the player if they want to do them or not.

I think the one big thing with sandbox and theme park discussions is that noone really knows where to draw the lines. To some players certain features are sandbox and to others they are not. To me though I think the biggest thing that differentiates the two is that theme park games typically lead you down a linear path chasing a carrot. Where sandbox games allow you to choose your own adventure.

Hello everyone. I just posted the End of August report on the official site: http://www.therepopulation.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=277:end-of-august-2012-report&catid=61:new-frontpage-news&Itemid=428

Build notes are also printed below for your convenience:

Abilities

• Multiple attack abilities have the capability to set different accuracy values for each attack now. This allows for the second attack in a double attack ability to be less accurate than the first.
• Each specific ability now has the ability to adjust how it performs against certain armor/protection types. 
• Ability damage will now increase based on your skill level based by adding to the penetration value. 
• Began the First Aid revamp. Most of the old abilities have been removed. Below is a full list of the new First Aid abilities. Unless otherwise noted First Aid abilities now require a Medical Scanner to be equipped to perform.
• Bandage Wounds (First Aid) is still a tier 1 First Aid ability and now heals more damage initially. It still does not require a Medical Scanner to be equipped. It only can be done from melee range, consumes a bandage and has a long usage time.
• Revive (First Aid) is still a tier 1 ability which does not require a Medical Scanner to revive an opponent. It has a slow use time and only restores a player to 10% health and endurance. You can obtain this ability by completing a tutorial in the training facility.
• Medical Scan is now a tier 1 First Aid ability which performs a short range 10% heal with a 4 second usage and a fast recharge time.
• Nano-Stitch is a tier 2 First Aid ability which utilizes Nano-technology to seal a players wounds to stop bleeding. It can be used from Medium range.
• Nano-Regen is a tier 3 First Aid ability which rapidly accelerates cel and tissue regeneration, increasing an allies regeneration rate over the next minute. It can be used from Medium range.
• Ranged Medical Scan is a tier 4 First Aid ability which restores 10% health to a player with a 4 second use time. Where it differs from Medical Scan is that it has Medium Range and a longer recharge time. It also uses slightly more energy.
• Added the tier 4 First Aid ability: Nano-Vaccine. This attempts to remove negative afflictions from an ally.
• Extinguish Flames (First Aid) is now a tier 5 ability and has a 100% chance of putting out a fire on a burning ally.
• Added the tier 5 First Aid ability: Rapid Scan. This ability consumes Momentum but is quickly restores 10% of a players health with a fast use time and a fast recharge time.
• Set Bone in Place is a tier 6 First Aid ability which can Set a broken or Injured limb in place, effectively. It can be performed without a Medical Scanner.
• Resuscitate is a tier 6 First Aid ability which revives a fallen player with 25% health and endurance.
• Only a Flesh Wound is a tier 7 First Aid Ability which consumes a moderate amount of momentum. It convinces a player that their wounds are not serious, boosting their morale.
• Advanced Medical Scan is a tier 7 First Aid ability which will heal 17% of a players health from medium range. It consumes more energy than a basic Medical Scan, and takes longer to perform, but has a separate cooldown timer.
• Added the tier 8 First Aid ability: Advanced Nano-Vaccine. This has a separate timer from Nano-Vaccine and can affect multiple afflictions, as well as having a higher probability of removing each.
• Added the tier 8 First Aid ability: Advanced Rapid Scan. This is similar to the tier 5 Rapid Scan in that it is a quick healing ability that can be used from medium range. The difference is that it restores 17% of a players health and is on its own separate timer. It also consumes more Momentum and Energy, however.
• Just a Scratch is a tier 9 First Aid ability which convinces a player that they are not badly injured.
• Med Scan Area is a tier 9 First Aid ability which performs a medical scan on nearby allies. It is essentially a group heal with Medium Range. It restores 10% health to each ally in the vicinity.
• Added the tier 10 First Aid ability: Vaccinate Area. This ability will vaccinate nearby allies. While it is not as powerful as the Advanced Nano-Vaccine, it can affect multiple allies.
• Added the tier 10 First Aid Ability: Rescue. This ability consumes a good amount of Momentum but performs a long range heal on an ally for 25% of their total damage.
• Aerosol Tactics abilities have been implemented and are documented below. They focus on medium range AoE Damage Over Time.
• Added the tier 1 Aerosol Tactics ability: Spray. This ability will do damage, followed by damage over time and a status effect.
• Added the tier 1 Aerosol Tactics ability: Cloud. This ability will affect multiple enemies and do immediate and lasting damage as well as adding a status effect. The downside is that it has a shorter than normal range.
• Added the tier 2 Aerosol Tactics ability: Smoke Screen. This is an AoE ability which not only does damage, but also attempts to create a smoke screen, causing confusion amongst enemies within it.
• Added the tier 3 Aerosol Tactics ability: Gust. This overpowers a blast so that it has a chance to knock a single opponent Off Balance or Backwards. It consumes Momentum.
• Added the tier 4 Aerosol Tactics ability: Wall. This creates a wall near you that will affect enemies who walk through it for the next 20 seconds.
• Added the tier 5 Aerosol Tactics ability: Release. This releases a slew of gas targeting the very near area. It consumes a small amount of Momentum.
• Added the tier 6 Aerosol Tactics ability: Slow Release. This releases the gas low to the ground, which will decrease the initial damage done, but have longer term effects on those within its area of effect.
• Added the tier 7 Aerosol Tactics ability: Heavy Gust. This ability consumes Momentum but is like an Area of Effect version of the tier 3 Gust ability. It can knock multiple enemies off balance or backwards.
• Added the tier 8 Aerosol Tactics ability: Smoke Wall. This is similar to the Smoke Screen ability, except that it lays down a wall of Smoke, rather than an area. This lasts for 20 seconds, and has a chance to blind and confuse anything walking through it.
• Added the tier 9 Aerosol Tactics ability: Maximum Release. This ability consumes a large amount of Energy and a moderate amount of Momentum, but does heavy damage, followed by damage over time over an Area of Effect.
• Added a new tier 1 Robotics ability: Salvage Parts. This is used on destroyed robots to salvage resources from them, and is similar to the Corpse Extraction skill, but for robots.
• Double Time (Leadership) had its tier lowered from 3 to 2.
• Motivate (Leadership) had its tier reduced from tier 6 to tier 5.
• Inspire (Leadership) is now a tier 6 rather than tier 7 ability.
• Air Strike (Leadership) is now a tier 7 ability, rather than tier 8. It also had its damage and recharge time increased.
• Mind Over Matter (Leadership) is now a tier 8 ability, rather than tier 9.
• Iron Man Mentality has been changed from a First Aid to a tier 9 Leadership ability.
• Protect (Protection) has been changed from a tier 4 to a tier 3 ability.
• Make Peace (Diplomacy) now has a proper description.
• Sabotage Robot (Robotics) now requires you to be in melee range, and requires 7.5 seconds to upload the EMP Virus. It also has a new visual effect.
• Fixed the description of the Explosive Trap ability (Trap Knowledge).
• Fix Robot is now a tier 2 Robotics skill that requires Sorted Robot parts. It will is a robot only heal.
• Feign (Unarmed) is now a tier 6 rather than a tier 7 ability.
• Uppercut (Unarmed) is now a tier 9 rather than a tier 8 ability.
• Tweaked the damage of the following abilities: Kick, Roundhouse Kick, Springing Thrust, Sucker Punch, Eye Poke, Sabotage Robot, Low Blow, Shield Slam, Shield Bash, Shove, Jab, Rip Open Wounds, Round House, Knockback, Power Shot, Body Blow, Headbutt, Shin Shot, Uppercut , Kidney Punch, Frag Grenade, Incendiary Grenade, Air Strike, EMP Grenade, Maniacal Kill Spree, Smoke Wall, and Leg Sweep.
• Reduced the cooldown times on the following abilities: Shove, Rip Open Wounds, Trip, Round House Kick, Knockback, Headbutt, Comeback Rally, Feign, Shin Shot, Uppercut, Leg Sweep, Face Shot, Cripple Legs, Phalanx, Hold, Whirling Pummel, Disarming Pummel, Kidney Punch, Dizzying Flurry, Burst Fire. 
• Reduced the Momentum cost on the following abilities: Rip Open Wounds, Shield Bash, Shield Stun, Twirling Trip, Face Shot, Cripple Legs, Disarming Pummel.
• The following abilities have new icons: Lunge, Dizzying Flurry, Rapid Fire, Unthreatening Approach, You Don’t Want To Do This, Verbal Assault, Verbal Lashing, Sabotage Robot, Extinguish Flames, Knee Shot, Crippling Shot, Arm Shot, Aimed Shot, Rifle Fire Storm, Rifle Monkey, Impactful Rifle Work, Butt Attack, Bleeding Slash, Gaping Slash, Fire Storm, Head Slash, Warning Shot, Startle Shot, Head Blow, Twirling Trip, Axe Trip, Thrusting Pell, Sundering Strike, Explosive Trap, Critical Rifle Work and Sentry Alarm.
• Uppercut now takes longer to execute but now has a chance to stun if your opponent is Off-balance. 
• Reduced the debuff duration on Kidney Punch.
• Stunning Blow now has an increased chance to stun. 
• Bludgeon (Blunt Weapons) had its recharge time increased from 3 seconds to 8 seconds. 
• You will no longer try to Kick in action mode unless you have the ability.
• Fixed a typo in the Dizzying Flurry description.
• Disabling Thrust now properly uses its weapon data for damage.
• Fixed a bug that was causing Trade Blows to not do any damage.

Combat

• Integrated the Energy system into the game. Your chest piece will determine your stock energy pool, recharge rate and the maximum that you can split the pool. You can then augment this by using fittings on various various if you wish to enhance it. You can dip into this pool for both offensive and defensive purposes, which will be described below.
• Energy Shields are the defensive purpose of energy. They can absorb energy based attacks but each time they do so they will consume energy. When the energy runs out they will cease to absorb damage. Energy shields are effective vs. Energy attacks, but are ineffective vs. Physical attacks. When an energy shield is absorbing damage you can both see and hear it.
• Weapon abilities can also consume energy. If a weapon has run out of energy then it will do far less damage.
• You are able to split the pool of energy consumption between your Shield and Weapon pools. This allows you to leave example 40% of your energy to shields and 60% to weapons, for example.
• We've settled into the following 8 damage types: Acid, Energy, Physical, Fire, Cold, Electrical, BioChemical, Spirit.
• Sweeping changes to cooldown timers and momentum requirements. In general abilities will require less Momentum and have shorter cooldowns than as previosly the case.
• We now have much more fine control over damage absorption rates.
• Reorganized how rare and boss mob generated abilities worked. Each species now gets their own tables. NPCs should now be using more special abilities.
• Aerosol Tactics abilities have been implemented. This tree focuses on medium range AoE Damage Over Time, and the first weapon type to take advantage of it is Flame Throwers.
• When using an Aerosol weapon in Action Mode you can hold the defensive modifier key (CTRL by default) when you left click to lay down your Wall abilities.
• Tied Medical Scanners into the Action Mode system. If you have a medical scanner equipped it will perform basic Unarmed moves that do not require you to be unarmed if you have any. Most of its functionality comes from clicking on friendly targets, however.
• Significant changes to the Armor, Penetration, Damage Reduction and Damage code. Combat is now faster paced in general.
• Knockbacks are now functional. Lurkers, Malagion and some boss mobs can now perform them, as well as some player abilities.
• You will now be able to see yourself Dodging, Parrying and Blocking attacks. There are multiple animations which will automatically be inserted when this occurs.
• Burning effects will now stack up to 3 times.
• Added new combat effect icons for: Knocked Down, Off Balance.
• Sniper Rifles and Aerosol Weapons should now be using proper animations.
• Rocket Launchers are now be properly aligned to players.
• Made adjustments to the Damage Over Time calculation to add some minor randomness and to properly apply the damage amount.
• Increased the range on Hunting Rifles.
• There is now a backwards walking animation while shooting a pistol.
• Plugged in a new Knockdown animation.
• NPC special abilities have seen a range of balance tweaking.
• Damage reduction now has configurable caps. This corrects an issue of high quality armor absorbing all damage vs. damage types it is strong against. 
• Fixed a bug that was allowing players to Dodge, Parry or Block some ranged attacks.
• Fixed a bug in Trap abilities that was not giving players the required sub-abilities to use the traps.
• Removed the Escape (Stealth) ability.
• Fixed semi-automatic running animations.
• Fixed a bug that was causing boss generated special abilities to not be selected properly. Boss mobs will now have a more impressive reportoire of abilities, beware!
• Corrected a bug that was occurring if an ability had multiple damage types associated with it. It will now trigger both types rather than only one. 
• Adjusted the effect on Cyborg laser fires, so they are timed properly with the animations.
• Made adjustments to the Fear effect, lowering it’s volume and altering it’s timing.
• Fixed a bug that was causing some Bleeding effects to not apply correctly.
• Fixed a bug that was causing Faugea, Lurker and Wyrm attacks to not work properly.
• Elkar attack animations are now playing properly.
• Reworded the Terrorize combat effect that Elkar use.

Engagements
 

• Engagements can now scale in difficulty based on the number of players inside of them. This is determined on a per template basis.
• Engagements now support optional objectives which will give bonus points but not be necessary to complete an engagement.
• Integrated a mission and engagement bonus buff system. This is described in full detail in the Mission notes. 
• Added three new engagements to Koleyna in Loch Aza. These engagements center around the criminal element in the city. If players are able to help sufficiently with Bogard's thugs, then OWON can maintain their presence. Guards will spawn, and there will be new static missions in the area for players to partake in. Bogard will not go down quietly though and will continue to try to gain a foothold. Depending on the stage of influence he has, there will be different goals and missions.
• The following engagements were updated to support scaling: Lesoo Occupation, OWON Training Grounds, Plymouth City Needs Metal, Plymouth City Needs Calibrite, Bombs in the City, Destroy Cult Artifacts, The Cultists Have Returned, Oasis Watch Needs Lumber, and Oasis Watch Under Attack.
• There are new Bandit engagements around Plymouth City.
• The Bombs in the City engagement now features more terrorists in the newer, larger City Hall.
• The Bombs in the City engagement's bombs have been made slightly larger and easier to spot. They have all been moved and placed in new spots, with some being easier to spot than was previously the case.
• Christine Robinson no longer despawns when the Bombs in the City engagement begins. The other NPCs who did though will still despawn.
• When Bogard has control of Koleyna, his thugs will graffiti the town. Players can earn bonus points in the engagement by cleaning up the graffiti.
• If you wrest control of Koleyna from Bogard, the top performer will be given the suffix title "Hero of Koleyna".
• Fixed a bug in the Oasis Watch Tower engagement which was causing it to skip to the Retake Oasis Watch stage rather than initiating a cycle.
• Tweaked the NPCs required to complete the Cultists and Retake Oasis Watch Tower engagements. 
• Terrorists from Bombs in the City now have new weapons and alignments.
• Fixed a couple of Bombs from the Bombs in the City engagement that were stuck inside of walls.
• Fixed a bug related to engagement points tracking.

General
 

• Implemented new character models.
• Clamped some of our facial options a bit tighter so players were not able to make deformed faces.
• Weapon trails will now only emit from the bladed or damage delivering parts of weapons, rather than from the entire mesh.
• Added new bloot splurt and splatter FX. There are different variations for different body parts.
• The female model now supports animation masks.
• Added many new particle types and textures.
• Created new developer tools which allow us to make batch changes to item, fitting, npc, or other changes to quickly rebalance issues that may arise.
• Added a new GM command which allows us to dump out information on any skill in a way that is formatted to be placed on our web site. This is currently only available to alpha testers, but in the future we'll open it up to the general population once we have added more features.
• New hair styles have been added.
• Created a new DestructableObject type. This is used for inanimate objects that have hit points and can be destroyed but do not fight back. Things such as player/npc/engagement created barricades, walls or roadblocks.

Items

• We now have the capability to emit particles on masked regions of weapons allowing for better looking weapon particles. This is featured in the new melee weapons.
• Added Adrenaline Injections. These will restore a portion of your Endurance instantly. The portion restored is based on the Quality, Grade and Level of the crafted item. All injections share a 2 minute reuse timer.
• Added Regenerative Stimulators. These work the same as Adrenaline Injections, except they restore a portion of your health.
• Flame throwers are now available. Flame Throwers are an Aerosol weapon that will generally do less initial damage than other weapons, and has a relatively short range. They generally are used for Area of Effect Fire Damage Over Time. These can be purchased from Firearms vendors.
• Medical Scanners are now available. These devices are required by many First Aid abilities and allow for faster and longer range healing that was possible with bandages. These can be purchased from Medical vendors.
• Weapon shells can now alter the type of damage that the weapon does.
• Added new weapon shells for melee weapons that allow then to deliver Acid, Heat and Electrical damage. These shells will deliver this damage instead of Physical damage. Each of these shells also has a permanent particle effect that can be seen whenever the weapon is held or in it's sheath. In a future patch these will all be player created, currently you can obtain them rarely from Engagements and as drops from boss mobs.
• Chestpieces now come with built in energy generators. These will determine the base energy pool, recharge rate and split pool max for your energy generation.
• Added a new Energy Tank fitting. This fitting type 3 fitting can be inserted into Armor to allow it to store Energy and increase your Maximum Energy pool.
• Added a new Energy Charger fitting. This type 6 fitting can be inserted into armor to increase the rate at which you recover energy.
• Fully Automatic Rifles have had their range and damage increased, but their firing rate decreased.
• Chain Guns are now available from Firearms vendors, and are a type of Automatic weapon. They are shorter range than Automatic Rifles but fire more quickly. These basically have the same stats that Fully Automatic Rifles used to have.
• Advanced Armorcrafting will now drop from some NPCs and is available as a reward from some Engagements.
• Added numerous new visual appearances for ranged weapons. Replacing modern weapons that were there as placeholders with new sci fi themed models.
• New melee Kris weapons are available and come with Acid, Electrical and Heated variations.
• Adjusted item visualizations/alignment for many weapons.
• Added a new Setlang-hide Sleeves piece.
• Setlang-hide Armor has been boosted to be in line with other Light Armors.
• Reduced the price of Combat Knives.
• Fixed some precision bugs in the Item system where it was using integers that should have been floats.
• Corrected a bug that was causing Heavy Armor to not correctly apply fitting points.
• Fixed a bug in Melee Durability fittings.

Missions

• Integrated a new bonus buff system for missions and engagements. Any time you complete a mission you and your entire group will have a chance of receiving a random buff. Each of these buffs stacks up to three times, increasing the potency and duration as they stack. The following bonus buff types are currently supported: Pep In Your Step (Movement Speed), Feeling Lucky (Luck), Mighty Strong (Critical Multiplier), Nimble (Dodge), Feeling Resilient (Endurance Recovery), Focused (Accuracy), Attentive (Skill Gain Bonus), and Undeterrable (Momentum Retention). We plan to add more over time. Engagements can give these same buffs but they only give them to the player, and not to their group. Though they do have fine control over which players receive the buffs.
• Missions can now reward random Treasure templates, rather than being forced to specify rewards. This allows us to have a random reward based on certain themes of the mission. For example a crafting mission may give crafting materials or training manuals, where a combat mission may give weapons or armor. Where this differs from our previous system is in the old system we had to specify which items each template rewarded and in the case of repeatable templates, this was too restrictive and resulted in us often skipping item rewards in favor of Card, DNA or other rewards instead. These rewards can be given at any stage of a mission and can be awarded through certain branches or dialog, as well as being capable of being used as an end of mission reward.
• Missions now support having an exact requirement of greater or less than value in any particular skill as a pre-requisite. This allows us to better filter our mission templates to the appropriate player types. 
• Mission Templates now have greater control over their faction checks, allowing us to give exact values and a greater or less than comparison within them.
• Missions can now reward military experience at any point of a mission, rather than only being able to do it at the end.
• Added a new type of kill task which can be accepted via mail and have its reward wired after a radio broadcast on completion. This mission type is used in new kill tasks throughout the world that target random mobs within the area you are in for military assignments. 
• Trapping missions are now supported.
• Added a new multi-part mission series that begins with Melanko Serum Testing. This series has pre-requisites and the first mission in the series requires you to Trap. 
• You can now train in Aerosol weapons at the OWON Training Facility. Lessons are taught by Corporal Steele and require a Merit Chit from the Training Grounds.
• Dr. Osmus has set up shop at the OWON Training Facility’s medical center and is offering Medical Training (and a Medical Scanner tutorial) in exchange for Training Chits.
• You can now learn the Salvage Parts ability by speaking to a robot named Scraps in the OWON Training Facility. 
• Quintin Wilson in Plymouth City now offers a static collection mission that allows you to exchange Setlang Hides to have an armor piece of your choice created. Setlang-hide armor is Light Armor.
• Added a new static collection mission to Koleyna that will reward them with military experience in exchange for Lurker Hides. This is only available when OWON has control over the city.
• Added a new static mission: Hides for the Homeless. This is given in Koleyna when OWON controls the town.
• Added a new non-repeatable mission to the Koleyna area: Eliminate the Lurker Menace. It will reward you with a decent reward if you get a group together to kill the large Lurker Menace in the area, but each player can only collect this reward once.
• Introduced several new thug-themed mission templates to the Koleyna area that were in the game previously but waiting for relevent areas to be built. This missions center around thugs bullying the local businessmen and players being able to make the choice to assist or let it go. There are also underworld related missions for the opposite side.
• Implemented new long-range delivery missions. 
• Updated the following missions to support Treasure Specs: Missing Weapon Shafts, Hacker Needed, Paranoid Hacker, The Truth, the Whole Truth, Discreet Courier, Smuggling Run, Could You Make Me Something?, Calib Parasite, Family Heirloom, Medic!, Stop the Shakedowns, Lurker Tails, Seeking Coal Miner, Taken in the Night, Enough is Enough, Breaking and Entering, A Lost Heirloom, Eliminate the Lurker Menace, Military Assignment: Eliminate , Eviction Notice, Department of Community Support: Security Division - Setlang attacks, Research Division Special Assignment: Unique Specimen DNA, My Wife is Gone..., Remember Those Data Chips, Department of Sciences: Research Division - Raxin Heads, Department of Sciences: Research Division - Arrvor Chitin, and Lost Data.
• Most areas have numerous new mission templates available to them, in some cases a large number.
• One Time Missions are now available in the Outskirts of Plymouth and Timbertoc areas.
• Adjusted Mercenary spawn points at The Hole on the Hill so they should all be clickable for Smuggling missions.
• Added turn in Waypoint markers to the following static missions: Handwritten Poetry, Family Heirloom and Model Ship. You’ll be able to see these markers from longer range than the standard method, displaying as pointing arrows on your minimap.
• Increased the rewards on the Model Ship and Handwritten Poetry collection missions.
• The Reviving the Fallen mission will now properly give you directions on how to obtain Training Chits.
• Fixed a bug that was sometimes causing mission credit rewards to not be properly split between the group. 
• Fixed grammatical errors in many missions.
• Removed the camera zoom effect on the "A Pick Me Up" mission template.
• Fixed a null alignment bug on the FPR Bounties static collection.
• Thugs should now properly spawn after you speak to the vendor in the Stop the Shakedowns mission.
• Fixed a bug in the Medic! mission that was allowing you to get an item reward when you failed.
• Fixed a bug in the Delivering Assignments mission template that was causing it to not appear in all of the areas that it should have. 
• Removed some debug text that was appearing in the chat window when you accepted an item activated mission.

NPCs

• Group Formations are now working for NPCs. Added several formation types.
• Grouped many of the mobs in Tikt Tunnels. These mobs will fight in formation.
• NPCs who used ranged weapons can now run and gun rather than needing to stop to fire.
• Increased the hit points on Above Average or higher difficulty monsters. This will make Bosses and Raid Bosses significantly more difficult, be warned.
• NPCs now support a combat trait system on a per NPC basis.
• Combat AI will now tick faster, allowing for quicker NPC reactions and adjustments.
• Added a new plant based species: Fragaria Achillea. This immobile plant species has a paralyzing poison attack that can be used at long range.
• Added a new underwater species: Honoka. This large underwater species resembles an eel with large spikes and tentacles.
• Added a new four leg and two armed species: Okolat. They use crushing attacks on their opponent and are very effective against heavy armor. Okolat have exceptional hearing and can detect stealthed beings much better than most other species. They are also known for their charging attacks which have a tendency to drain your endurance and prevent you from building momentum. 
• Added a variety of energy based controls for NPCs, to alter their energy pool sizes and regeneration.
• Lurkers now swing faster and have more special abilities.
• Elkar are now considered Light Armor.
• Faugea, Elkar and Drake can now Rally, which will cause them to trade blow for blow with their attackers for a short period of time.
• Arrvor now have a new poisonous sting and AoE sting abilities based on their difficulty.
• Many new items were added to NPC loot tables. This includes generic drops, harvestables, particle weapons and new rare items.
• New Robot mobs have been spotted near Plymouth, Timbertol, Loch Aza and Oasis Valley. 
• Increased the potency of Vulture Acid Spray.
• Added new NPC traits: Veterinarian, Disillusioned and Fisherman.
• Many new NPC appearances were added, including several new "junkie" looks for the Koleyna area.
• Added numerous new NPCs to Plymouth City including a Veterinarian where you can buy some low quality and overpriced pets, in addition to pet supplies.
• New NPC chatter types added. Thugs in general will now have a variety of new things to mix into their dialogs with players and NPCs.
• Adjusted damage modifiers for fodder/minion slightly so they do a bit more damage.
• FPR Guardians and OWON Peacekeepers now have powerful energy shields.
• Setlang Alpha Males had their difficulty reduced.
• Added a new stronger type of Raxin, which is the Raxin equivalent of a Setlang Alpha. 
• Adjusted prediction metrics to help with positioning. 
• Threat detection optimization.
• Faugea are now considered Medium Armor.
• Fixed several issues with the pursue code that was causing NPCs to not properly pursue or to take odd routes. 
• Generated boss special abilities had their accuracy increased.
• Fixed the OWON and FPR cyborg models and animations. 
• Fixed an issue in the Elkar turning animations.
• Corporal Diaz in the OWON Training Facility should no longer go on walkabout.

Social

• Introduced a new and improved emote system, whose details will be documented below.
• You can now /emote text if an emote command does not exist.
• Added /yell, /bow, /cry, /clap, /curtsey, /insult, /laught, /point and /wave emotes. We'll continue to expand these emotes as testing continues. 
• Using one of the above emotes with text at the end will give that text along with the animation. 
• If you /wave while having another player targeted it will /wave to that player. 
• Added new -help sub-arguments to emotes to get information on additional ways of performing them. For example /wave - help will show you all the ways you can use /wave.

Tradeskills

• You can use the Salvage Parts ability now to extract Power Distributors, Wires, Batteries, Circuit Boards, Robot Parts and Power Couplings from dead robots using the Salvage Parts ability (Robotics).
• Added a new Pharmaceutical recipe: Injector. This will create injections that can be used by players as an instant consumable item.
• Added a new Lesapen plant harvestable. This resource is gathered and provides a Fruit that can be used in cooking. These can currently be found in the Outskirts of Plymouth.
• Added a new Kosha plant harvestable. A favorite of Vultures, this resource is can be used in Pharmaceutical recipes. In high quantities this fruit can help cool the body. Kosha plants can currently be found in Oasis Valley.
• Added a new rare gathered harvestable: Multi-Hued Yano. This is a small insect which is often found feeding on plant-life. It warms the body when eaten in large quantities, and can be useful to those with the Pharmaceutical tradeskill.
• Added a new Yellow Poxy harvestable resource. This resource is gathered and provides a resource used in Pharmaceutical recipes. It has endurance enhancing effects. These can be found outside of Plymouth City and near Koleyna.
• Added a new Lavender Poxy harvestable resource. This resource is gathered and provides a resource used in Pharmaceutical recipes. It has health enhancing effects. These can be found on the trail to the Mysterious Cave, west of Plymouth.
• Added new recipes for Energy Chargers and Energy Tanks. Energy Tanks can be learned from Armorcrafting 101, but Energy Chargers require the Advanced Armorcrafting manual.
• Added a new Advanced Armorcrafting training manual. This is only obtained through missions, engagements or as a rare mob drop.
• Honoka can be harvested for Bone, Venom and Meat.
• Fragaria Achillea can now be harvested for Fruit.
• Okolat can be harvested for Meat, Egg Sacs and Mandibles. 
• 15 new Clothing Patterns have been introduced.
• Increased the harvesting area sizes in and around Plymouth. They are spread over a larger area but are less dense.
• Several new crafting component types were added, and branches within those. This includes Medical Compounds, Injectors and Medical Ingredients.
• Genetically Engineered Pet summoning items are now stackable.
• Added Coal to the Koleyna area.
• Introduced a new harvesting mission template: We've Been Poisoned.
• Fixed some buggy fitting recipe results.
• Chromite Ore should no longer float off the ground on slopes. 
• Increased Calib Parasite harvest rate.

User Interface

• You can adjust Energy Pool values on the Character window. This allows you to set what percentage of your Energy goes to Shields and what percentage is left for Weapons. Armor shells specify the min/max values for these.
• There is now a fourth bar under your nameplate that shows your energy tank value. The split on the bar shows where the split between your Defensive and Offensive shield is set at.
• Changed the color of the Energy bar so it is easier to differentiate from the Momentum bar.
• Energy values are now displayed on armor Info Cards.
• Weapon damage types are now displayed on item Info Cards.
• Sub-abilities are no longer listed in the Abilities window.
• Status Bars should no longer have issues with players who were using Titles in their names.
• Fixed a bug that was causing your status bars to not properly update when targeting other players.

World

• Plymouth City has received a significant upgrade graphically and to its layout. It is more visually pleasing and better laid out in general. This includes a new shuttle port and visible shuttle flights from time to time. Some area such as City Hall and the Medical Center are signfiicantly larger than before, and stretched out over multiple levels. The Shady Lady Pub has been moved outdoors and now has a much different feel from the Mayflower Pub. There is also a new scenic trail, and many more smaller changes.
• Loch Aza has been added. This is the wettest area in the OWON protected regions. It includes the village of Koleyna, a troubled fishing village that is often burdened by the local thugs. The town's mission and engagement activity centers around the local kingpin, Bogard. Bogard's Thugs have their own faction, so your actions with them will matter. The local wildlife includes Elkar (night only), Okolat, Fragaria Achillea, Lurkers, Setlang and Vultures. It also includes multiple raid bosses. 
• The area surrounding Plymouth City has been re-terraformed. There are new paths, trails and cubbies to explore. There are also additional patrolling guard paths. 
• A new Plymouth Canyon area has been added. It connects with Upper Oasis Valley and the Oasis Water Basin, and features a military complex in the Plymouth Control Station.
• New sections of Timbertol Desert are now in-game.
• Adjusted the world lighting. You can now see horizon colors.
• Added a new lighting approach to Plymouth City, which will later be seen in other areas. This approach not only looks better but it has increased performance.
• Rain now properly drops when it hits the ground and is better integrated into the weather system. The rain cloud appearance and fog have also been improved.
• Improved clouds.
• There is now a more noticable path that leads from Plymouth City to the Hole on the Hill.
• Added large mountains and giant arch to Upper Oasis Valley.
• Made significant adjustments to the spawns in the Plymouth Outskirts. There are new types of mobs and less safe zones.
• Plymouth Outskirts now features new night time only spawns.
• The Plymouth Outskirts areas have been moved south and the map in this area has been slightly restructured.
• Wreckage Site 94 has been moved out of the Plymouth area, but will later be appearing elsewhere when the contested areas are introduced.
• Visiting Koleyna for the first time will reward you with a permanent boost to your Fishing skill.
• The Mysterious Cave is now considered a Dangerous Area and will give a 15% skill gain bonus while inside of it.
• Added new smaller world areas: Bados Trail, Loch Aza Outskirts, Southern Aza and Southern Plymouth Canyon.
• Many adjustments to the spawns around Plymouth City. The goal here was for less “safe pockets” and a more uneven distribution of mobs.
• The Plymouth area now features a new falling oak leaf particle effect.
• You can now see shuttle traffic from the apartment instances in Plymouth City. 
• Tweaked NPC and mob spawns in the Timbertoc area and added new generated mission opportunities related to them.
• Added some new animated displays for monitors or readouts to liven up some of the computers in game. Some of these can be seen in Plymouth City.
• Increased the LOD factor of signs in Plymouth so they should stay in higher quality from further range.
• There is a new Watchtower overlooking Plymouth City.
• Added a new animated DNA Station to the second floor of Plymouth City's Hospital.
• Lamps in Plymouth City should now transition more slowly into LOD to avoid visible popping.
• Bosses in Tikt Tunnels now have variable spawn times.
• Bosses in Tikt Tunnels are now itemized and have a chance to have some decent loot.
• Adjusted the spawn rates in Tikt Tunnels to speed up the pace.
• Adjusted the difficulty of mobs in the Tikt Tunnels.
• Flares are now supported by the Astronomy system.
• Lower Oasis Valley has been repopulated and now includes Okolat, Fragaria Achillea and Robot spawns.
• The OWON Training Grounds have been re-optimized.
• Added new NPCs and distributed spawns in the Outskirts of Plymouth/Ammann Village area.
• Numerous terrain tweaks to stitch together minor seams. 
• The Astronomy system is now more error tolerant.
• Fixed floating rock formations and trees in Timbertoc.
• Adjusted Jerry Perciballi and Paula Sampson’s spawn positions so they are easier to click on.
• Removed a spot where you could get stuck in a hole outside of Timbertoc.

My personal opinion on GW2 is that it's a breath of fresh air for the genre. A heavy focus on public quests and putting the social aspect back into the genre. WvW is also fun, and features like personal loot and the res mechanics might have sounded bad on paper to some of us (they did to me), but worked out brilliantly. The underwater areas are also top notch.

It's not perfect of course, and some will focus on those aspects (lack of challenge, repetition, not enough story development, mediocre class system). But personally, I've had a blast playing it. And I think it's great to see a developer come in and try a lot of things that are outside of the norm.

On a sidenote, on regular rule set there is also multiple PvP rewards, that don't involve looting another players items.

- There are PvP engagements which will automatically distribute rewards to higher performers, or sometimes to all performers. They can also give negative achievements for failures.

- You gain military experience every time you defeat a player from a rival nation. This military experience is used to gain military rank and military rank can be used as a filter on missions and as a requirement on items, and have a vendors to allow you to purchase those perks.

- Rival Nation members also have their own loot table which will very rarely result in items, but will generally result you tearing their nations insignia off, which you can turn in to for additional military experience and a possibility of rewards.

The current plan is to release two servers a Normal and a Hardcore.

The Normal ruleset will be partially protected faction based PvP, which is similar to Dark Age of Camelot's, except with the addition of Rogue Nations.  There will be no corpse looting on those servers and each faction has some areas which are protected unless they go to Active Military (which then allows them to be attacked anyplace, and to attack other Active Military members anyplace).

The Hardcore ruleset will flag everyone as Active PvP, effectively removing the safe areas (though guards will still protect allied players) and will feature player looting.

Repop is a Sandbox first and foremost. But it also incorporates some features that have been popular from theme park games, while giving them each a sandbox twist. It has both a randomized mutating public quest system (engagements), and a complex generated mission system, but there is no real linearity to the game. Once you finish the tutorial you can pretty much go out and play how you wish to play.

Sandbox Elements

- Complex Nation system.

- City Building.

- Home decorating.

- Complex Crafting and extensive Harvesting systems which allow crafters to advance outside of combat.

- Non-linear gameplay.

- Generation schemes for both missions and engagements to create ever-changing content.

- Your choices do matter. They can affect future work opportunities and can have an effect on how engagements filter through the world.

- Skills based with special abilities. No class limitations.

- Day/Night and Weather systems mix up the world. Some shops close and NPCs despawn at night time, some mobs are only available during certain times of day. Signs and lights also turn on or off during business hours.

- Extensive pet system which allows you to tame many animals, or genetically engineer species by splicing their DNA.