Perfect World International System Focus: Flying Mounts
PWI Product Manager Jon Belliss discusses the Flying Mounts feature in the company's flagship MMO.
By Guest Writer on August 03, 2009
Less than a year out from its initial launch, Perfect World has already seen two expansions and an exponential growth of players.
One of the systems that makes Perfect World International stand apart from most MMORPGs is its mounts system. Similar to other MMOs, there are both ground and flying mounts. However, Perfect World is unique in that flying mounts are combat enabled. This unlocks an entirely new style of combat and adds a new dimension to PvP.
Characters first gain access to flight at level 30, with the exception of the Winged Elf race. Winged Elves are able to fly at level 1, however, their wings will consume mana until they reach level 30.
To unlock flight, characters must undertake their race’s flying mount quest. After a character has obtained their flying mount, they can fly anywhere and everywhere, with no penalty to their mana pool.
Each race has their own unique mode of air transportation:
Humans (Blademasters and Wizards) use Flying Swords. Their starting mount is a magical sword called Celestial Fly.
Untamed (Barbarians and Venomancers) ride Flying Beasts. Their starting mount is a giant stingray called Wave Pacer.
Winged Elves (Archer and Cleric) have Wings. Their starting set is called Eagle’s Wing, which you may be able to guess, look like Eagle wings.
Once your character has taken to the skies, you will notice entirely new sets of flying mobs to battle. Flying monsters actually give players 1.5 times the normal experience points you get from fighting ground based creatures. Flight is also conversely the best for avoiding mobs as you travel—go as high as possible, set your destination and off you go!
In keeping with the spirit of customization possible in Perfect World International, players are not stuck with one flying mount—there are many options to choose from if you want to change your ride. Perhaps you are a Blademaster who would like the glow of your Flying Sword to match the refining glow of your armor. Or a Cleric who wishes to cultivate a cute and dainty appearance can choose the Sparklebright butterfly wings.
Check out some examples below how Flying Mounts can add another layer of customization:
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With multiple Flying Mounts to choose from, players can be sure to find something to fit perfectly with a Fashion outfit. And with the robust player economy of cash shop users and non-cash shop users, everyone one—spender or not—has access to the variety of Flying Mounts available in Perfect World International.
Join more than one and a half million registered users and step into a Perfect World today at http://pwi.perfectworld.com/.
Most of your good mounts are at the Item Mall..So if you want a good mount bring your wallet..I like the game but the movement in the game is slow.So if you want something faster to get around..The Item mall mounts is where its at.
"Winged Elves are able to fly at level 1, however, their wings will consume mana until they reach level 30"
This statement is incorrect, basic elf wings always consume mana no matter what the level. You would think on a press release they could get simple facts straight.
Basic flight mechanisms are slow, if you want to speed up your avatar or want more variety in your method of flying, then spending in the cash shop is a necessity and it is not cheap. You can spend $30-$50 on one. If you like to pvp then get your $50 out you will most definitely need it. This game can be extremely expensive if you enjoy pvp to keep up with the Jones.
But I will say that flight in this game is far superior to what is offered in Aion. There are no areas where your flight is limited except in instances. At present there are no instances that allow flight or jumping.
Ground transportation is faster, again only if you buy through the item shop, but then you are limited by the terrain. None of the ground transportation is free except for horses, which require a big expenditure or a very grueling quest line. Horses are rare in the game because of that.
The game is only expensive if players don't have the patience to earn the in-game coins.
Last time I played PWI $30-$50 was 3-5 million game coins, which was fairly easy to farm out once you hit level 60 or so (and still possible earlier). I have a store character that made over 4 mill a month and that was really slow compared to what other players could do selling more expensive items.
As for the wings, the basic elf wings use up mana and, if the player takes the skills to upgrade their natural flight, can be some of the fastest in the game. At level 30 elves, like other races, can opt to buy wings from the shop. The wings that are bought don't consume mana but their flight speed cannot be upgraded with the 'flight' skill. Note that by level 10, the amount of mana consumed by the basic wings becomes trivial in most cases since the character will be regenerating mana faster than the wings use it.
Some further thoughts: The 'cheaper' flight options (wings, mounts, swords) can usually be upgraded to the point they rival the fastest. Upgrading the most basic flight mount for a race to the fastest speed was less expensive then the highest-end mounts that had a high speed. (There's some still-faster mounts on the franchise servers but I don't think they've hit PWI yet.) Supposedly, you could do much the same with the ground-based mounts but as I never felt the need to get one I don't have first hand experience.
The flying and jumping in PW is one of the funnest elements of the game. And there's places where you can jump off a cliff and drop for what seems like minutes. What's more, because of the ability to jump real high (not to mention flying), the entire time I played the game I never once got stuck somewhere. Unlike every AAA MMO I've played and have managed to get stuck just walking around.
The movement option that's even more addictive and has the potential to nickle and dime a player out of their spending cash is the teleport stones. About 10 cents each, they are bought in 10-packs and make getting around PWI amazingly fast. Almost any place worth going to has a teleport station either right at it or very close by. The teleport stones allow one to zip from wherever one is to any teleport station they have on their map (and an option can be bought add every teleport station to the PC's map).
Teleport stones and the map is the first thing I buy on a private server; just too amazingly convenient.
-w