Wizardry Online Preview

NerdReactor is offering a hands-on preview for Wizardry Online, and while the game doesn’t scream “Wizardry” to me, it certainly seem like some ideas on how to implement more challenge in MMOs are interesting. Let’s just hope it doesn’t turn out too frustrating:

If you die and certainly that will happen you will have to deal with a weight scale that has the power to bring you back to life. On one side will be your soul. On the other side, you will have to place items that you’ve gotten on your travels to equal the price of your soul don’t worry, it shouldn’t be too steep. Things like healing potions and the like can be placed, and if you don’t happen to have enough, you can either pay with real-world money to buy some items to make up for what you don’t have. The tough thing is that the items you place will give you a certain percentage towards the possibility of reviving. You might have an 87% chance to revive, but that still leaves a 13% chance to fail. You will have two chances to revive your character, and if you fail the second time, your character and his/her items will be lost forever. You can always make another character, but certainly at the higher levels that’s not going to be preferable. It will be interesting to see how this system is balanced.

Getting back to trolling, well, you’re in for a heck of a time. If you die, malicious players can do evil things like move your body further into a dungeon and closer to monsters. So by the time your soul gets back to your body, you may be in for some trouble. Player killers can also get the chance to steal items from your dead corpse, so they have an incentive to kill you. Don’t go around flashing your dungeon best, and that may increase your chances.

I decided to play as a Mage, and I rather liked it. The mage’s spells take time to cast. Some are auto-targeted, and others will require you to aim at the enemies while they’re moving and your spell is charging. I found this latter mechanic to be interesting. That spell is a small area-of-effect spell, and it requires a little bit of strategy, and some good timing to pull off well. You have to patiently stand still while your magic is charging and your enemies are advancing, increasing the tension. If you don’t happen to aim well and hit the enemies you intended, you might need to back up and try again.