Gloria Victis isn’t just a one of the MMOs you can see nowadays – it’s a game set in a Medieval open world, with a strong focus on realism and immersion, giving the players as much freedom and fun as possible. So who you can become in Gloria Victis?
First of all, a fighter. It seems obvious but that’s the truth – there will always be someone to defeat or protect, as well as a place to conquer or defend. Players can fully customize their character’s equipment, completing the most suitable sets from the hundreds of available pieces of clothing or armor, which allows, for instance, to dynamically change from a heavy-armored vanguard warrior into the fast, agile spearman or a more balanced fencer. This, combined with the Non-Target combat system and open PVP – excluding the few safe zones, as the nations capitals or towns significant for the storyline – effects in a really wide range of available tactics.
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It is all about the Risk vs Reward – in light armors players can perform stronger attacks as their moves are not as limited as in the heavier ones, but to win a battle they need to block or evade as much enemies’ strikes as possible. On the other hand, full plate or brigandine offers a great protection so you can focus on slaying your opponents – but these armors are exhausting to wear, making an escape impossible in some cases.
Speaking of the Risk vs Reward, we have also to say a word or two about the PVP loot system adopted in the game. As Gloria Victis offers both exciting PVP and challenging PVE, by the community’s choice a Partial Loot was implemented. It means that a player can loot a defeated opponent, however – contrary to the classic Full Loot MMOs – the victim doesn’t lose all their equipment but only the certain number of items, chosen manually by the winner of a fight. Thanks to this system, Gloria Victis PVP is attractive both for veterans of hardcore MMORPGs and less experienced players. On the other hand, when a player fall down in PVE, they doesn’t have to start again and again with barely nothing, like in the Full Loot system.
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Player’s skills and play style also affect the way how PVP looks for various players. If good timing, fast reactions and creativity on the battlefield are your advantages, you can become one of the best duelists, capable to parry or avoid most of the enemy’s strikes, counter them and find a gap in their defense or a way to attack their back with a powerful blow. Risk is high here – if you lose, you will probably be looted by an opponent, but if you win, glory and spoils of war will be yours.
On the other hand, in group combat the team play skills are the key. You will need to move cautiously, staying close in your team’s formation with your shield ready to block, aim your strikes at the weakest enemies in coordination with your partners and protect the wounded, because every single gap in the shieldwall can settle the outcome of a battle. These are the gruesome fights, but it is also a place where the heroes are born – players who managed to stand the enemy despite being outnumbered and lower level, having their skills and a warrior spirit as the only advantages, become the legends inside the community.
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There is also a place for the experienced hunters, scouts and archers, who perfectly know the surrounding lands with the hideouts or spots where they can attack an enemy or wild animals without being detected. It sounds easy – just hide and shoot a bow from the safe distance – but in fact it’s one of the hardest ways to live in Gloria Victis, as it requires precision and nerves of steel, as well as an ability to predict the combat scenario and to adapt to the dynamically changing situation.
Players can fight each other almost everywhere, but the most exciting form of PVP in Gloria Victis is the territory control system. In future the world map will be dynamically reshaped by the guilds, which will be able to move their nation’s borders by taking control over the new lands. But even right now, by capturing the lands factions receive attractive bonuses, like the additional spawn points and an access to the better resources spots or merchants offering the unique items or crafting materials. It is really important, because the economy is player-driven – weapons and armors doesn’t drop from wolves but are forged by the blacksmiths.
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And there is the next role to enjoy. Almost every single item – including the prefabricates – has to be crafted by players, using realistic processes designed after the authentic Medieval techniques. But it does not limit to the personal items – there will be also the ships, buildings, siege machines and fortifications to construct, upgrade or repair. Fortifications will greatly improve the structures defense properties, while building the marketplace or warehouses in a town will greatly increase its meaning on the trade routes, effecting in higher income gained by a guild controlling it. Crafters will be also able to create the deck weapons for ships as well, bringing the PVP to the new level.
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These are not the all possible ways to live in Gloria Victis – let’s just mention the renegades, which will be able to leave behind their belonging to the either Midlanders or Ismirs, with their suicidal crusades against the Azebs and everlasting conflict caused by the Walter’s Leveling, and live on their own – raid, plunder, conquer and even unite as the player-ruled nation.
It is all about the freedom and creativity!
