Bovinity Divinity wrote:
I gotta wonder why people even bother making these small-name MMO's right now in the shadow of World of Warcraft. =O
This response by one of the devs answers your question best, Bovinity:
Quote:
We feel that Aerrevan brings an element of roleplaying and immersion that you don't see in an average MMO. We feel that most MMORPGs on the market today do not deserve the RPG part of that title, and we aren't alone. We have taken a number of steps to try and bring our world to life and move away from the static worlds most MMOs give. There are three features that play a big part in setting Aerrevan apart from the rest. First is Dynamic NPC Interaction. In Aerrevan, NPCs are more than just questgivers and trainers, each NPC has a full knowledgebase about the world around them, opinions about conflicts in the world, as well as unique dialog about themselves and their own lives. You can communicate with NPCs in plaintext by typing to them and they will respond accordingly. We have used this system extensively and intertwined it with our quest system, meaning some quests are hidden in dialog and aren't immediately available. It's worth mentioning that we do not have quest indicators in Aerrevan. Personally I'm tired of following exclamation marks and an arrow on my radar to complete every quest. Instead, players will actually have to read quests and use their knowledge of the world to find their destination. Or ask an NPC if you don't know where something is
! Secondly we have the classless character system. In Aerrevan there are no classes. At character creation, players decide their characters "background" rather than a class. Backgrounds are simply stating what life your character has lived up until now. Choices include Noble, Farmer, Commoner, Nomad, and much more. Each background makes minor changes to your starting stats and inventory. Backgrounds do not limit what you can do or what skills you can use, players are welcome to use any skill or combination of skills they desire. Want to make an elven warrior that wears plate armor, uses a bow and is skilled with fire based AOE spells? Go ahead! There is really no limit to what you can do. All this is powered by our hybrid skill-based leveling system. Thirdly we have guild control points. Any guild can capture and control a guild control point in the game world. This location becomes their territory. Control points range from small camps and ruined forts to massive capital cities. Once a control point is captured, the leader of the guild is able to change a number of variables in the area such as taxes, trade tariffs, spending, and so on. Guilds that control large cities and important locations will become notorious in the game world and guild leaders have the potential to become very powerful people. If a guild controls a location long enough, NPCs will learn the names of the guild and its guild leader and have the ability to talk about them. These systems all work together to help make Aerrevan a truly unique experience.
You can read the whole interview at
http://www.warcry.com/articles/view/int ... es-New-MMO.
Me, I've been pretty much MMOless since quitting EQ years ago because no game I tried gave me the same kind of world to explore. WoW from the beginning was so cartoony that I just couldn't 'lose' myself in it and VG, while beginning with promise (very early beta), soon compromised itself into a handholding mess where nothing was fun anymore.
This game may do the same thing but it is the first game where the devs truly don't seem to want to follow the 'tried & true formula'. So, I'll give it a try.
Beta, first wave is closed now. Apps are being taken for the next wave.
