Let me start by the supposedly “good” news first. After the reveal of Palace of Moving Flowers, Rootless Clan, and the school-less factions (3 more to be mentioned below), Snail Game announced the 4th new faction coming to the China server, Villa of the Beasts (万兽山庄).
A neutral faction focusing on melee attacks using just the fists and legs, this faction is founded by brothers and hidden deep within the wilds. Surrounded by rare but powerful beasts, almost every member of the faction is able to tame the fiercest beasts, hence earning the name “Villa of the Beasts”.
Currently led by 5 brothers, there are hints of players being able to eventually obtain a pet companion. However, this is not shown in any of the screenshots thus far.
To summarize the upcoming 6 new faction/schools/clans, here is the complete list with their unique “features”, with the school-less faction not counted as one.
Palace of Moving Flowers – None mentioned, just the most secretive of all factions
Rootless Clan – None mentioned, just that all members are… sort of castrated
Xu Manor – Specialize in living skills
Shen “Golden Needle” Family – Specialize in medication and acupuncture
Peach Blossom Island – Specialize in facial augmentation (for disguise, spy missions etc)
Villa of the Beasts – Specialize in taming animals
Here comes the supposed “bad” news. Yes, developer Snail Game is currently testing out a character trading system in China’s test server. Gamers who have played MMORPGs such as Granado Espada (Sword of the New World) will be familiar with such a system.
It is a rather simple process, with players selling their characters in a new online marketplace. While the character is on display for sale, he or she cannot be used. From what I see, there is no bidding/ auction system for now, with a static price needed to be placed by the seller.
Snail Game stated that this feature is used so that players can safely trade their characters, rather than selling whole accounts and getting hacked etc. While it seems justified, I wonder if this system will make its way to the English server…
