anticipting yesterday’s official open-beta launch of LevelUp!’s newest offering to the MMORPG gaming market, PerfectWorld, many of my clanmates from Clan Lotus either took a leave of absence from work or didn’t go to school since the opening of the game is pegged at noon… at eactly 12pm, all of us from the boards immediately logged in, created our characters and entered the perfect world of PerfectWorld… but, alas!! everything is not perfect in the world, after all…

UPDATE 20070720: considering that the open-beta launch was just 2 days ago, and that it is a free-to-play game, i was wondering why there are no players in-game today?? is it because of the gameplay? i don’t think so… it is easy enough… because of the quests?? nope, they’re fun to do… because of the players around?? that’s just!! no one’s around!! hmmm… maybe because of the prices in the Item Mall?? maybe…

UPDATE 20070724: after of about a week of playing, we still have to see more players logging in… i mean, if this is to be successful, we need more players in-game… but the thing is, it is just too expensive to play PW… imagine, a P500 load will just give you 10K of gold which you can burn through in about 4 to 5 days simply by levelling and crafting at mid-level or about levels 40-50, and prolly 2-3 days at higer levels [levels 60-80]… ex.pen.sive…

the game remained the same from how we remembered it when we were playing closed-beta… the monsters were the same [albeit, of improved names], quests were the same [also with improved titles], and getting experience and yuan were basically halved, though that was already expected… nothing new, right? well, no… everyone, and as in everyone, were disappointed when we looked at the Item Mall… you see, the Item Mall is where we can buy premium items like fashion sets for both men and women, flying- and land-mounts, charms, amulets, and heirograms, and crafting materials… here, now, comes the difference… and a very very big difference it was!!

from closed-beta, we were able to buy, say a bronze amulet [description: Restores up to 50% of HP upon activation, up to a maximum of 100,000 HP] for 2 Gold [which is equal to 30600 yuan]… we were told before that, come open-beta, we can now buy Gold by converting LU! cards worth P100, 350, or 500 to gold with the conversion being P1==20 golds, or 0.05 centavos per gold… thinking back, we were happy with the conversion rate since P50 will convert to 1000 golds, while P500 will convert to 10,000 golds… not bad, really… even if they raise the price in gold of the premium items in the Item Mall, it would still be inexpensive… say, the bronze amulet from 2 golds to 10 golds?? easily affordable… uhh, 50 golds?? still okay… how about 100 golds?? a little steep, but still acceptable…

but yesterday, we found out that a bronze amulet now costs 900 Golds [13,770,000 yuans] or a little under P50!! now, i can’t speak for other players… but for me, this is just ridiculous!! i live for amulets, better if it was a gold amulet [cbt-price: 10 golds]… and if we follow current prices, a Gold Amulet will now cost 4500 golds!! or 225 pesos!! like i used to say in-game: shets… really really shets…

new players, as in those who weren’t able to play CBT, yesterday, when they found out, suddenly lost interest in the game… some of my clanmates are thinking of not playing anymore [more so the student-players], and i was thinking i can use the money to pay for something else instead of buying LevelUp cards… i mean, when before you use a bronze amulet once per day at levels 30-40 costing you just 2 golds a day, it will now cost P45 a day!! i used to burn through a gold amulet at levels 65-70 in a day… guess how much i’d have to pay everyday just to have the same convenience?? shets…

when i was talking before to an LU! employee regarding the item mall prices, he said that the focus of the prices were really the student-players… but even if the student’s parents are rich, i don’t think he/she can afford the item mall prices… again, THIS. IS. JUST. RIDICULOUS!!

granted, LU! has to earn from a free-to-play game, somehow… but the prices they set for the item mall will just never cut it… ok, so maybe i’ll still play the game, but i will not be using the item mall anymore… i mean, instead of buying a bronze amulet, i will just content myself in using red pots… yeah, i believe that’s what i will do, instead…

with pRO, a P500 LU! card is good to go for 2 months whatever level you are in… with PW, it will not even last 3 days at higher levels… yes, either stop playing the game altogether, or don’t use the item mall anymore…

sheeessshhh… where’s your perfect world now??

answer: went down the drain fo all the good it did us…