it is not so often that i get engaged in a new game that i haven’t been updating any of my blogs for more than a month… but since i got my account last May 18 and my game CDs last May 19, neither my wife nor my son were able to peel me away from my monitor… i have been playing PerfectWorld eversince i installed the game and, aside from the obligatory sleep, lunch, and dinner, i am at my computer all my waking hours… anyway, this post is not meant as a review, really, because i haven’t explored all the features of the game yet… this is simply a chronicle of my experiences for the past month or so…

the gameplay

exploring PerfectWorld is very simple enough… all you need is some knowledge of where you want to go, what you want to do, and what your quest/s are for the moment… yes, the whole game is based on quests that either you are to kill some monsters or bring something to someone else, usually an NPC or non-playing character… the difference with other MMORPGs such as Ragnarok Online, you don’t need to kill randomly simply to level up… you are given quests, and after doing those quests and remitting [reporting successfuly] to an NPC, you are given yuan [money], soul [or mentality which can be used to buy or get skills] and additional EXP [experience] which adds to your total points to get levelled up later on…

with twice the EXP and monster drops for closed-beta testing [CBT], i was able to get to the maximum of level 70 in a little under 3 weeks of continuous play… but with open-beta coming soon and with no news about the EXP rates, i don’t know how long before i can reach the maximum of level 105 for OB…

anyway…let me introduce you to Egwene, one of the Wheel of Time heroines and obviously, one of my favorite characters of the book since i also use her in other games… she is now a level 70 Wu Xia [or a swordsperson but that really is a misnomer as you will learn later], one of the 4 playable characters in the human race, and one of the 8 playable characters overall… her travails amd travels over the world of PerfectWorld have now since become the stuff of legends in the world of PW-CBT, at least… dunno if i can sustain the same intensity of play during the OB, though…

moving on… i said Egwene being a swordsperson is some kind of a misnomer because Wu Xia’s particularly are not limited to using only swords as the name suggests… they can also use spears, claws or fists, and from the following pictures, you will see that she mostly use double hammers or in some, a maul or a long hammer…

the game screen

this is how your screen will mostly look like, with some differences in the placment of skill and item slots… but aside from thse, everything will mostly be the same…

the upper right corner is the player information… from there, you will see your character;s present level [in this case, 13], current HP [or life] and MP [or mana], as well as how you currently look like… errr… what’s that again?? look like?? yep, you read right, folks… one of the game features is character customization wherein you can create a totally different look… face, eyes, ears, nose, chin, lips, body size, cup size [!!!], waistline, etc etc… you can even make your character look like yourself!! heheh…

anyway, i am getting ahead of myself here… at the upper right is your map, the current time of day, and some buttons along the lower part of the circle to help you in finding out where you are…

bottom left is your chat window plus a window on top of that showing you how much EXP and soul was given by a particular kill, a chat buttong for your clan [guild], party, personal messages, and world chat where you can broadcast messages to the whole PerfectWorld using a special tool called a megaphone [go figure!!]… along the bottom to the right of the chat window is the items slots currently holding HP [red] and MP [blue] pots… the after that comes the skills slots, and finally the Bag [B], Character [C], Skills [R], Emoticons [E], and System Info and Configuration buttons…

and at the middle of the screen [always] is your character… i believe that already is an explanation in itself…

and you see that white halo/aura/thing around her? you get that everytime you get to another level…

sure, levelling is easier from level 1 up until level 20… it gets a little harder from then on… but wait! should you now stop? if you are a human or a beast race, answer to that is no because you have a new goal… to get to level 30 and be able to fly!!! weeeee!! yep, if you are used to walking [and running] from levels 1 up to 29, from level 30 onwards, you can now use a flying device to soar around PerfectWorld… and besides. there are some quests and locations you need to fly to… for Wu Xia’s that would be flying swords of different kinds, look, and speed… and of course, getting to that level where you can hold your own in Player vs Monster [PvM] and Player vs Player [PvP] is one of the purposes of levelling up… my level 70 character can ‘definitely’ hold her own… told ‘ya, she’s now the stuff of legends in CBT… she’s feared, she’s loved, and most of all, her knowledge of game quests are very much appreciated by all players…

Wu Xia’s are STR- [strength for attack] and DEX- [dexterity for evade, hit, and defense] based characters… lady Egwene’s final stats for level 70 is STR 220, DEX 110, CON [for HP or life] 60, and INT [intelligence for MP or mana] 5… she is a double hammer user, ergo, uses hammer-based skills…

playable characters

aside from the Wu Xia, again a human swordsperson, there are still other races one can play… i’ll try to detail them here one by one, but you have to forgive my very limited knowledge as i haven’t really played any of them except for one other…

the Fa Shi is another Human character you can play… they are mages who can control the elements around them… they are very slow to attack, but once theire conjurings get you, either you are dead or crippled… so watch out for them…

BeastKind — divided into 2 sub-forms, Yao Shou and the Yao Ling/Yao Jing… the Yao Shou is considered the best tanker there is in the world of PW… they can either fight in tiger form as a true tanker, or in bear form as a semi-tanker/semi-fighter… going to high-level quests and dungeons are impossible without beasts in a party [oh, btw, a party in PW can only be composed of up to 6 characters]… like the Wu Xia, Yao Shous are also STR- and DEX-based male characters…

a Yao Ling/Yao Jing, on the other hand, is a gentle creature with gentle manners and skills… she [because they can only be female characters] is INT-based and rely mostly on her command of magic and her affinity for combatant pets… i also created this character, but because of lack of time, i was only able to level her up to lvl 42… i like her ability to tame pets, and have these pets level up alongside her… and fight alongside her, too!!

the last race you will encounter in PW are the Wingkinds… these are fairies who either do support magic or long range attacks… the Yu Mangs are hybrid offsprings of Humans and gods and can use highly specialized bows to ward off attackers and other enemies… the Yu Ling’s on the other hand, are the healers of the party… their skills are highly prized, and a party will not continue until their call for a healer have been heard… Yu Ling’s have been known to tank magic-based monsters, even those high-level ones…

the Wingkinds can fly as soon as level 1…

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this is already too long for a post, that’s why i’ll end this here… but this is not finished yet!! not by a long shot!! next, i’ll tackle all Wu Xia skills and what would be best where… ok??

have all the fun in the world!!

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