World of Warships

World of Warships

World of Warships is a free-to-play naval strategy MMO currently under development by Wargaming. Enjoy massive sea battles against a multitude of players from around the world. There are plenty of real-life tactics to choose from that will give you the edge against any head-to-head opponent.

World of Warships has an enjoyable amount of sea vessels to choose from, including long-range aircraft carriers, bruising battleships that deliver devastating damage, and quick-and-nimble destroyers that can maneuver their way into advantageous positions.

So get ready to breach the poop deck, blowing your way to victory and erect your mast.

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Wizard 101

Wizard 101

Wizard101 is a 3D MMORPG developed and published by KingsIsle Entertainment, featuring a magical setting with a polished and unique graphic style which will make playing the game an amazingly  entertaining experience.  Wizard101 is a highly polished game with plenty of lore and an original graphic style.  Play as one of seven Wizard types and thwart  the sinister plans of Malistare Drake while learning new spells and exploring the realms of Wizard101.

Wizard101 is a unique game where players take on the roll of a child wizard who has just enrolled in Wizard Academy.  Its obvious Wizard101 draws its inspiration from the widely popular Harry Potter franchise, but it manages to pull it off in style without feeling like a knockoff.  Anyone who plays this game will immediately notice how much higher the production values are compared to many other MMORPGs.  From character creation to the tutorial, the voice overs, interface, and even the game’s terrain look very polished.  New players chose which magic type to specialize in by answering a series of questions with seven possible outcomes to determine your class.

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Warframe

Warframe

I’ll admit, I wasn’t entirely sold on Warframe at first glance. It was yet one more free to play FPS in a veritable sea of titles plagued by pay-walls, poor gameplay, terrible graphics and unscrupulous developers. In short, I wasn’t really all that interested in checking it out. I’m willing to own up to my mistakes.

A week or two ago, I noticed one of my Steam friends playing the title – and that they’d been playing it fairly frequently for some time. I decided it couldn’t hurt to drop them a line – to ask them what they thought of the game. They sung the game’s praises quite highly, and I figured I might as well give it a fair shake. After all, it was free. What did I possibly have to lose?

Only several hours of time where I could have been doing something productive, but instead wound up shooting down angry mutant space marines and robots. So…yeah. It’s pretty damned fun.

The basic story of Warframe isn’t really anything special; basic, standard space opera fare:

You are an ancient warrior equipped with a powerful and ancient suit of armor -a titular Warframe – and preserved for centuries in cryogenic sleep. You’ve recently been awakened to a solar system completely unfamiliar to you, in which a terrible war is being waged. The brutish clone armies of the Grineer, suffering from centuries of genetic degeneration, try to exert their will over the galaxy, vast armies of monstrosities infected by the Technocyte plague consume everything in their path, and the merchant cabals of the Corprus remain indifferent to pretty much the whole conflict, so long as they can make a profit.

As one of the Tenno – the faction to which all players belong – your job is to wipe out the lot of ’em, restoring peace to the galaxy (presumably).

After a brief tutorial, you’ll dive headlong into your first mission; destroying the power generator on a Grineer ship. Here’s where the MMO component of Warframe comes in: missions are designed primarily around four-played co-op, and if you simply hop into a mission and start playing, there’s a good chance at least a few people might actually join your game. Of course, there’s also a good chance they won’t, and you’ll be in for a thoroughly frustrating experience trying to force your way through a mission designed for multiple people. There’s also a marketplace, clan system, and friends list, as well; though curiously enough, although I installed the game through Steam, the list is entirely independent of the client.

The multiplayer component is actually where Warframe encounters the most trouble – odd, for a game designed around four-player co-operative play. Level ranges of planets in the solar system aren’t shown, so finding somewhere appropriate to your level involves a lot of guesswork; there aren’t any latency indicators, either. What’s more, games in progress don’t show the relative level of players. I actually wound up with a player more than ten levels higher than me on an assassination mission (basically, a boss fight). To my knowledge, bosses scale with level.

That was a fun fight.

Matchmaking quirks and minor bugs aside, though, there’s an extremely solid game here. Combat is incredibly fun and fast-paced; you actually feel like some sort of space Ninja as you jump and run off walls, slash through hordes of enemies with your blade and gun down even more from a distance. Though it’s somewhat curious that there aren’t really any grenades (or explosives), that’s sort of offset by the fact that each Warframe has its own unique abilities. I went with Loki, a frame which is all about stealth. Other Warframes include Excalibur (specialized for sword combat), Nyx (who messes enemies up with psychic powers) and Volt (one word: zap).

All of this is underscored by an intense customization system, which allows you to equip your Warframe and weapons with augments that serve a wide array of different purposes such as granting special abilities, adding bonus damage or increasing your health/shields. You can also hop into the foundry and use your accumulated resources, drops, and credits to build powerful equipment from blueprints both found in missions and bought in the marketplace.

Of course, like any free to play, there’s a cash store. While there are a few benefits that definitely smack of pay to win (Sentinels, for example, are incredibly powerful), most of what’s is either stuff that can be unlocked by grinding or boosts that make it easier to grind.

Warframe is a well-made, entertaining MMOFPS which definitely has some decent chops even though it’s still in open beta. Even in spite of the other faults, the combat here really shines through. Give Warframe a try, if for nothing other than that.

Trove

Trove

Trove is an open-ended Fantasy MMORPG currently under development by Trion Worlds. In Trove, players will be able to build whatever they can imagine. Travel through countless realms and complete quests, defeat enemies, and discover the deepest secrets of the realms.

Trove has an expansive loot system, with hundreds of items to find in your adventures. Customize your character, level up, and build the world of your dreams. Each world is unique in that no two worlds have identical landscapes or environments. Raise and lower terrain, chop down trees, and dig your way around.Trove promises to be a fun new title, so stay tuned for more updates as they release!

Tera: Rising

TERA Rising takes the fight beyond whack-a-mole monotony with enhanced aiming, dodging and tactical timing to create intense and rewarding combat. The recipient of multiple industry accolades, including Best PC Game at E3 and Best Combat at PAX, TERA Rising gives players the best of both worlds: MMO depth with visceral action combat.

TERA Rising delivers pulse-pounding action, stunning Unreal visuals, and an immense immersive world so jumps in and find out what true action combat is all about.

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Swordsman Online

Swordsman Online

Swordsman Online (also known as just Swordsman) is a free-to-play MMORPG from Perfect World Entertainment. Swordsman Online is based on the popular novel, The Smiling, Proud Wanderer by Louis Cha, with Chinese martial arts being central to the game’s visuals and combat style. The game has seen massive success in the Chinese market for a number of years and is finally being localized for a western audience thanks to efforts from PWE.

Players will take on the role of a wandering warrior whose journey leads him/her on an unexpected adventure to avenge their destroyed village and become a great hero. Player and guild actions will dynamically alter the world, changing the environment according to user decisions. Towns can be saved or demolished, unique NPCs and quests can become available and secrets may reveal themselves, all based on the elaborate branching narrative of player choice.

There are ten different schools of martial arts available in Swordsman Online, of which players will choose one to follow. Combat is heavily action-based and relies less on character stats and more on player skills. Quick reflexes and mastering your character’s movement and abilities will give players a distinct upper hand in both PvE and PvP combat. For more details on all of Swordsman Online’s classes, check out our Swordsman Character Classes Guide.

One unique feature of Swordsman Online is that publisher Perfect World Entertainment chose to preserve the essence and culture of the Chinese version by adding subtitles to the Chinese cutscenes rather than dubbing over with English voice actors. Potentially a polarizing decision, it allows the player to experience the game as it was originally intended.

Swordsman Online saw full release in July of 2014 (Release Date: July 29th) and is, of course, free-to-play for all users.

Stronghold Kingdoms

Stronghold Kingdoms

When I first installed Stronghold Kingdoms, it was with bated breath. The botch job that was Stronghold 3 was still fresh in my memory. As such, I was more than a little skeptical that Firefly would manage to get free-to-play right. I started the game completely expecting to be shutting it off in disgust after just a few hours.

Yeah, in case you haven’t guessed, I’m going to be playing this one for a while.

Although Kingdoms shares a lot in common with its predecessors, it’s also got a lot of mechanics that those familiar with base-building mobile games will immediately recognize. For one, everything in Kingdoms takes time. At first, the amount of time it’ll take to construct a building or research a particular tech will be relatively minimal. As you progress, however, the time (and cost) of construction will crawl gradually upwards, until you’re waiting several hours to build something. In addition, there’s also a host of achievements which will net you resources for their completion. Naturally, all of this leads to building army to attack other players, all while shoring up defenses to prevent players from hitting you.

Military action – which plays out without any real involvement from the player, as per the genre – isn’t the only thing you’re going to have to manage. While working out the logistics of your army, you’re also going to have to build up your village, ensuring a variety of different foods and resources both to keep your stockpiles up and to keep your villagers happy. After all, ensuring your population enjoys your rule is the only way to gain Honor, which allows you to level up and unlock more research points. All of this is pretty basic stuff for a base building game, of course.

Where the game really shines is in interaction with other players. Your village is set up on a realistic map of whatever region you’re playing from. Zooming out will reveal hundreds (perhaps thousands) of other players managing their own villages, forming their own alliances, and building up their own armies. Because of this human element, each region actually has its own economy and political climate, with each local marketplace having its own supply-and-demand. There’s also a very real sense of intrigue to your interactions with other players; you might, for example, bribe someone to attack a rival, or threaten other players in your parish with military force when it comes time to elect a leader.

Now, there’s also a bit of a hardcore element to Stronghold Kingdoms. While many attacks will result in a loss of resources, a few rare instances will see your entire village razed to the ground. In such a situation, all you can do is pick up and rebuild (preferably somewhere else). You’ll keep your Honor and research, but everything else will be gone.

Where freemium comes into play is through the use of cards, which can be played to give you anything from a small boost in resources to a huge reduction in build or research time. While these cards can certainly net players a small advantage, they’re definitely not necessary to play the game. In other words, Firefly’s done a rather admirable job of integrating free-to-play into Stronghold Kingdoms.
The game definitely isn’t perfect. There’s a bit of a learning curve even after the tutorial, and tooltips don’t always display as much information as they could, while build times end up being downright excruciating at higher levels. Still, those who’ve the patience will find themselves a fine medieval castle building game, complete with just the right level of political intrigue.

Star Trek Online

Star Trek Online

Star Trek Online is the franchise’s recent foray into the free to play MMO realm. Since the game’s launch, this has the first time Star Trek fans can explore the Star Trek universe on a truly massive, online scale.

This Star Trek MMO from Cryptic Studios allows players to determine their own fate in the galaxy as the Captain of a Federation Starship, or play the game as a Klingon Warlord and expand the Empire throughout the galaxy.

Not only will players have the opportunity to visit iconic locations from the popular Star Trek movies and books, but will also be able to reach out to unexplored star systems and make contact with new, undiscovered alien species. One of the things that we here at MMO ATK like the most are the Episode Missions. Every moment spent playing Star Trek Online feels like you’re playing through an episode from the show. New characters pop-up, new conflicts arise, and discovering new systems, aliens, and starships is really fun. We’ve spent the better half of a work day just customizing our ships.

That brings us to the next best part of Star Trek Online, customization!

Using Cryptic?s Total Customization technology, every ship in the game can be customized, from its shape, color, and overall construction. Your ship will retain that Star Trek “feel,” (as they so eloquently put it) but will also represent your own unique style.

Sci-Fi MMO players will have a great time, even if you’re not a Trekkie, but Star Trek fans are in for a buffet of Trekkie goodness.

So go on and immerse yourself in Star Trek MMO universe, just don’t ask us to beam you back after you get sucked in.

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RIFT

RIFT

Back when RIFT originally hit the Internet, a lot of people were talking about how it had the potential to be the game that finally killed World of Warcraft. Unfortunately, like so many titles before it, RIFT failed to live up to everyone’s lofty expectations. It simply wasn’t engaging enough to stick up to the reigning champion, nor did Trion have the chops as a developer to oust Blizzard from their throne. That isn’t to say RIFT wasn’t a good game – it was quite possibly one of the best MMORPGs released in 2011, with an interesting story, a great world, and awesome dungeons/world invasions.

The most unique aspect of RIFT was without a doubt the Rift mechanic. Across the realm of Telara, areas of elemental instability have a tendency to crop up. Once these unstable portals open up, they begin to spawn monsters that will march forward on the map. left unchecked, these monsters will eventually conquer entire areas of the world map, killing NPCs and players alike and effectively making zones inaccessible until the rift is sealed.  In a similar style to Guild Wars 2’s public quests, players entering a Rift Zone will be prompted to join a public group to take down the rift, co-operating with others to seal off the instability and protect their realm.

Aside from that – and I’m sure I’ll catch a bit of flak for this one – RIFTS essentially plays like World of Warcraft, albeit slightly re-tooled. Any veteran of WoW or similar games will find the mechanics and controls immediately familiar and accessible, though the depth of class customization might be slightly bracing, at first. Players can choose one of four different callings at character creation: Warrior, Rogue, Cleric, or Mage. Each of these callings has eight different subsets, or “souls,” the progession of which is fully customizable: a player is able to choose up to three souls from their calling to access.

Unfortunately, the similarities shared between RIFTS and World of Warcraft ultimately proved to be its downfall, and in June of last year, Trion Worlds finally decided to make the leap from a subscription-based model to a free-to-play system. Thankfully, Trion’s done a fairly good job of implementing its cash shop, and it’s more or less a carbon copy of the system in place in EverQuest. Although it does allow you to purchase in-game equipment, none of these items are impossible to earn for non-paying players.

RIFT might not have killed World of Warcraft, but it certainly proved itself a worthy competitor. If you’ve a few hours to kill, why not download it for yourself? Who knows – you might enjoy it. Besides, you don’t really have anything to lose, right? It IS free, after all.

Perfect World

Perfect World

One of the most popular downloadable MMO games ever, Perfect World is a vast land filled with beautifully stunning graphics and epic classes. The incredible detail in the game makes it one of the most visually impressive games out there. The play style is easy to learn yet takes a certain degree of skill to perfect for any class. With a massive amount of quests to complete and varied dungeons to explore, you will find it hard to leave this game alone!

Pros: A large world filled with varied visual delights. Highly customisable character in regards to looks and clothes. Plenty of quests, dungeons and events.

Cons: Hard to farm enough gold for high level gear and items. Hard to gain experience level 95+.

Path of Exile

Path of Exile feels like what Diablo III should have been. That’s what I’d heard people saying, anyway.

For my part, I wasn’t entirely certain whether or not to take them at their word, after all, the Internet has a wonderful way of running away with even the smallest shred of hype. After spending a bit of time with the game, though?

It?s true. Every damned word is true. Path of Exile may well be the closest thing to perfect the genre has achieved since Diablo II, and it honestly blows Blizzard’s efforts (which feel clumsy and uninspired by comparison) clear out of the water. That’s right, I said it: Grinding Gear Games has done a better job of creating Diablo than the game’s original designer.

Factor in that the MMO effectively represents the pinnacle of the free-to-play business model and it’s even more impressive.

Path of Exile, as the name implies, puts you into the shoes of one of seven different characters who’ve been exiled to the hostile, ancient land of Wraeclast. Each of these characters represents one of the game’s classes; each class is tied to one or two out of three attributes (Strength, Dexterity, and Intelligence, naturally). This is where it makes its first, most impressive divergence from the typical dungeon-crawler formula.

See, in Path of Exile, there is only one talent tree, and each character starts at a different area on that tree based on their primary attributes. The Witch and the Templar, for example, share one track that increases their mana regeneration, while the Duelist and Warrior share a Strength track. What’s more, these talents don’t actually give your character new spells or abilities.

Those are gained through gems you’ll receive as quest rewards and find scattered throughout the world of Wraeclast. As near as I can tell, these gems are class-agnostic (though what class you’re playing will have an impact on what gems you find earlier in the game). Socketing one of these magical stones into your weapons or armor will grant you access to a new spell or ability. As you level up, these stones and the abilities they contain will level up alongside you, gaining experience as they’re used in combat. Each of these stones is tied to one of the three attributes, which does limit somewhat which stones your character can actually use. If you’re using a fireball stone as a warrior, you’re not going to be able to level it up all that much before reaching the limitations of your abilities.

That said, the way Path of Exile manages talents and classes provides an unprecedented level of freedom, allowing players to build their character however they see fit, with only passing consideration given to their starting class. It’s an incredibly unique way of doing things, and it makes the game all the more addictive.

Another strange deviation from the traditional dungeon crawler is the absence of gold. Near as I can tell, all of Wraeclast works on a barter system. Trinkets such as scrolls of Wisdom (basically, Identify scrolls), Portal Scrolls, and Whetstones can be traded for items and equipment; loot you pick up in your travels can likewise be traded for scrolls and other small items. It’s a big of an odd system, and  one which does admittedly take some getting used to.

Now, as for the multiplayer component; Path of Exile can be played as a single-player experience, a multi-player affair, or an MMO. The folks over at Grinding Gear Games have accomplished this balance through the implementation of several different Leagues (and the ability to recruit people to join your party using notice-boards in the game’s settlements).  These leagues add a new angle of competition to the game, allowing players to vie against one another for a spot on the leader-boards. Players can even pay Grinding Gear Games to create their own leagues, with their own unique set of rules. A few example leagues include Iron Man (where players cannot trade with vendors, regenerate mana, or refill their flasks in town), Hardcore (permanent death), and Cut-Throat (permanent death and open-world PVP). Players and characters can move between leagues and will, and dying in a Hardcore league, for example, will only shunt the player and their character back to a standard one.  It’s a very interesting mechanic, and one I haven’t quite gotten to test as much as I’d like.

Anyway, I think I’ve nattered on enough. At this point, one thing should be clear: Path of Exile is an awesome game, and if you’ve not yet played it, you need to do so right now!

Neverwinter

Neverwinter

This game is one in which I have experienced great pleasure in playing. It is based on the Dungeons and Dragons tabletop games and while elements of this are found in the game it is extremely subtle and as such can be enjoyed by anyone. I found it was incredibly easy to get sucked into this rich and detailed world and I recommend this to anyone who likes a great, solid fantasy MMORPG.

One of the things that stood out for me was the soft targeting game mechanics. I like the fact that it helps you target your enemies without being a pure hard lock-on. Instead, it just helps you center your target so you are able to launch standard left-click attacks or use your ‘encounter’ mechanics on them. Encounter mechanics are abilities that you use from your keyboard on the Q, E and R keys (W being used for movement via WASD). They can be offensive or defensive abilities and you can customize which ones you want available at any particular time.
Encounter abilities are not the only abilities you can learn. There are also at-will spamable skills which can be accessed through left and right mouse buttons and also daily abilities used on the 1 and 2 keys. Daily abilities are not actually something you can use once a day. They can be better described as charge abilities as you have to charge up a bar to use them. All these abilities are unlocked as you gain levels by spending points and most have three levels of power to them which you also upgrade.
Feats can also be gained as you gain levels. This is mainly minor buffs to your character as upgrading them will give you a small increase in defense, offense or some kind of utility, depending on what you pick.
Every now and then you will get the chance to upgrade your basic stats by a small amount as well. This stats are the stats that you roll when you create your character. So, for example, you can put an extra point into wisdom or charisma.
Character creation is an enjoyable process in which you pick your species, class, appearance and roll your initial stats. The appearance customization is pretty detailed and allows you to create a fairly unique character without overloading you too much with nitty-gritty details.
Which species you pick actually matters a little in relation to class as certain species are better at certain things, for example, an Elf makes a wonderful cleric. However, there is nothing stopping you making a Half-Orc cleric at all.
The species are Half-Orc, Human, Half-Elf, Elf, Tiefling, Halfling, and Dwarf with another species coming soon.
The classes are Trickster Rogue, Devoted Cleric, Control Wizard, Great Weapon Fighter and Guardian Fighter with another class coming soon.
The game revolves around the usual MMO fare of the ‘go there, kill that’ sort of questing but the way everything is laid out makes it all really fun instead of the typical monotony experienced in other games. You get a sort of ‘OK, let’s DO THIS!’ feeling instead of just thinking ‘Ok.. fine let’s do this.’. This may partly be due to the fact that action is very fast paced and intense with trigger fast reaction speed needed to dodge in and out of the fight and land your hits precisely. Also, everything flows very smoothly from fight to fight with very little boring travel times involved.
All in all this game is definitely one of the best games to have come out recently and definitely one I am going to continue playing in my free time. And that is the best recommendation I can give!

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League of Legends

League of Legends

January 13, 2013 – League of Legends (LoL for short), is a 3D fantasy MOBA by Riot Games where players choose from one of many champions and fight it out in PvP battles against their enemies. Each individual ?game? or ?match? doesn?t take place in a persistent world, players earn experience points for winning matches, which can be used to permanently improve attributes in all future games. League of Legends is actually very similar to a popular Warcraft 3 mod called DotA (Defense of the Ancients).

Players take on the role of hero characters, leading an army to the enemy player?s base to destroy their fortifications and armies. It takes the RTS (Real-Time Strategy) genre and gives it more action.  During each game, players will have approximately 1 minute and 30 seconds to select a champion, two summoner spells, and some runes. League of Legends currently has well over 60 playable heroes, each of which are distinctly different. Each of the heroes has 4 unique skills, of which 1 is an ultimate, as well as a unique passive ability.

The heroes are actually incredibly balanced, and even the 8 beginner champions, which are fairly ?easy? to play, aren?t at all ?under powered? or anything like that. After playing a few matches with the recommended characters, players should try out other champions as well, because the best way to really master League of Legends is to learn every champion?s skills. Memorizing every champion?s skills may seem a bit nerve wracking at first, but you will get the hang of it, as just by playing the game regularly players will learn on their own what each hero is capable of. Of the game?s many playable heroes, most of them won?t be available to newbies, as they have to purchased in the game?s store with the ?influence points? earned from playing and winning matches.

The more matches a player wins in League of Legends ? the more experience their champion gains. Every level yields a single mastery point, which can then be spent in the ?masteries? tab. Masteries are passive enhancements which will enhance a champion?s attributes in every single game. The masteries work a lot like the ?talent? points in World of Warcraft and Runes of Magic, but they are ?account wide?, so it doesn?t matter which champion you select; you?ll always receive these bonuses. The three skill trees in the masteries tab are Offense, Defense and Utility.

League of Legends is popular in the eSports realm, becoming a major game in MLG (Major League Gaming) professional play.

Pros: Many characters to play, Good support, Flawless PvP.

Cons: None I can think of!

Winner of an MMO of the Year Award in 2013.

League of Angels II

League of Angels II

League of Angels II is the next flagship title in GTArcade’s original League of Angels franchise. The previous League of Angels titles have both achieved worldwide success. The first LoA is still played in over 150 countries and received numerous awards such as Facebook’s Best New Game in 2014 and MMOsite’s Best Browser Game in 2015. LoA – Fire Raiders was named Best Mobile RPG in 2015 and has topped mobile charts all around the world.

In development for 2 years, every aspect of League of Angels II has been designed to push the limits of next gen browser games. The game sends out a clear message that The Angels Have Transcended to players around the globe. North America is the first stop in League of Angels II’s global journey, but far from the last! More regional launches will follow shortly so stay tuned for exciting news.

League of Angels

League of Angels

League of Angels is a browser-based fantasy MMORPG from GTArcade where you will battle the forces of evil, with Angels by your side. In the game you act as one of the few that stand up to the evil forces of Suurde, while you seek to restore the power that the ‘Angels’ once had. Saving the Angels is only one part of your goal, as you attempt to defeat the evil in the land.

League of Angels will feature: A new battle system, that let’s you manage your party as well as a guardian angel which will buff the group and launch special ranged attacks, many dungeons including single player, cross server, arena, co-op and rogue-like dungeons, mini games and more!