Age of Wulin (CN) - Boss sidekick system

Amongst the many unique features and systems found in Age of Wulin, the boss sidekick system for normal players is perhaps the first of its kind I have seen in recent years. What is this about? Well, other than the random miracle quests which opens up to random players, sometimes an instant boss mob will ask players for help as well. The decision which players make will affect the overall world storyline for every players in the same server.

If the player decides to help, he or she will spawn beside the boss mob as one of its minions. Note that boss mobs here are mostly humans, as there is little fantasy elements in Age of Wulin. The number of players a boss calls upon will depend on the instant dungeon's settings.

Update: As with most of the Chinese articles, wrong info is hard to be avoided by the bad media over there. Instead of the previously reported AI control, players will get dressed up as mobs beside the boss and remain in control of their characters and utilize the skills they already have. Players will also revive after a short time upon being killed. Of course, there will be great rewards if the team of human players are defeated.

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Age Of Wulin (CN) - Game items up for auction

While Closed Beta 2 is hitting this coming weekend with no more data wipes, Snail Game has decided to hold a grand cosplay party on Christmas Eve to apparently celebrate this event. Included in the event list is the live auction for actual game items, which caused a mini backlash once again for the rather outspoken company and its CEO.

1. Out-of-stock Closed Beta keys with special customized numbers

2. One-of-a-kind weapon, mount and armor skins belonging to the ultimate weapons found in Chinese martial arts novels, starting bid for most expensive skin at RMB 10,000 (USD 1575.27). Some skins will only have 1 in the whole game.

3. Absolute VIP customer service with 24 x 7 around the clock personalized service

4. Meeting with the development team

5. Exclusive forum tag

Do note that these are just skins, with no stats or abilities included. On one side, I guess it is a fair deal for a game with no equipment enhancing items sold in the cash shop. What are your thoughts? 

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Age of Wulin (CN) - Open Beta delayed

Well, I am certainly not surprised by this announcement. Though not an official one, reporters from several gaming websites managed to get hold of Snail Game's CEO, Mr Shi Hai (below, right), about the ongoing Closed Beta 1 phase and his thought about the current status of Age of Wulin. As usual, this frank and candid boss did not mince his words, preferring to speak what was on his mind. More Age of Wulin CLosed Beta 1 coverage here (link)

Q: How is the current response from players for the regionally separated Closed Beta 1?

A: There are 2 kinds of feedback, one from veteran gamers which understands the game's mechanics more and feel that Age of Wulin is shaping up to be a really huge game no matter the functions or art style. The second group of gamers, those who are more casual (which is me), joined the Closed Beta with less baggage in mind and just want to play for the fun of it.

They might feel Age of Wulin still has many bugs, but what they don't realize (I do!) is the current client is just the beginning, hence all the errors and bugs will be ironed out as the game progresses. Overall, the expectations for Age of Wulin rose again through this Closed Beta phase, with the throngs of gamers queuing all over the country waiting to play the game, that is the evidence.

Q: Mr Shi Hai, you once mentioned by getting the crowd to pay for the Closed Beta phase, the move will attract "better" game testers. But why is this not so for the European server?

A: The European players are just wanting to experience the authentic Chinese Wulin atmosphere of the game, but with the China players they have a different mindset. The sale of Closed Beta keys is purely for the sake of attracting the higher quality gamers. As the expectations for Age of Wulin are very high, it would be disastrous to open the game to those not trusting of what we are doing, not analytic enough and don't see the big picture. All these negatives will affect the game's progression.

Q: Is the method working so far?

A: Yes, very much. The group of Closed Beta testers are very magnanimous in accepting the faults in the game, and posted very informative suggestion threads in the forums. The extreme negative opinions are less than 1% of the overall given.

Q: How are you going to change the minds of those not supportive of Snail Game's ideas and the way Age of Wulin is going?

A: I will not prepare to persuade them, once Age of Wulin is in the Open Beta phase, it means Snail Game has polished the game for release. We believe in what we do, it is up to the market to accept our product or not.

Q: Age of Wulin will go into Closed Beta phase 2 in December, what new features are scheduled to be added?

A: More open features which will let players explore the world with absolute freedom will be added. This will include the "Qinggong" feature, which was not fully opened in the initial Closed Beta. Character's actions are still "stiff" and zombie-like, this is something we will like to address in the next client version. So these are the 2 main things which will be added.

Q: When will Age of Wulin enter Open Beta?

A: It is hard to say now, with the current client I would give it 85 points, with several areas still needing changes. These include improvements to the new player guidance system. Due to the number of areas which need optimizing, it would certainly take a few months more than anticipated. Open Beta, which was originally scheduled for April 2012, will most probably happen in the 2nd half of 2012.

Q: Age of Wulin has both monthly fee and cash shop options. What are the effects of not buying a monthly card?

A: Players will gain points, including skill points, faster with the monthly payment. Skills will also progress and upgraded faster.

Q: From your own opinion, how much will a hardcore and high-end China player need to spend monthly?

A: I can't really give a sum on this. Even if you buy a monthly card, you learn skills faster than others, the PvP and PK functions in Age of Wulin requires actual technical skills. Even with the best equipments, a player might not win another who have not spent on the game.

Currently, Snail Game is not encouraging players to spend too much every month to play games. While the payment features are not in Age of Wulin yet, we wouldn't complain and will be happy if players spend a few hundred dollars (Chinese Yuan) every month playing.

Q: In the eyes of the European gamers, Chinese wuxia culture basically is similar to their knights culture. How is Age of Wulin preparing to showcase this authentic Chinese wuxia experience to them?

A: Actually, 95% of the Westerners are not able to differentiate between deities, swordsmanship and fantasy, while the other 5% feels that wuxia is similar to Japan's Samurai culture or their knights. The only thing we can do now is to be as authentic and by-the-book as possible and present it to them, but we cannot guarantee they will accept our work.

Q: What other progress is Snail Game going to have in 2012?

A: First, Darkness and Light (link) will get a new game title. We are currently talking to an overseas gaming company, as we are interested in publishing one of its titles. That is all I can say.

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Age of Wulin (CN) - Closed Beta 1 final walkthrough

YouTube screwed me over the past few days hence I did not really have the mood to post much as videos were not being uploaded. No idea why, since this is the 2nd time this year the company hates to process my videos. Back to topic, this will be a short final walkthrough before Closed beta 2 starts on 25th December. Read on!


1. Some readers were thinking that the crafting and cooking processes I posted in earlier parts of the walkthrough are in the form of playing that Bejeweled kind of mini-game. This is not true, as you will still need to gather materials, place them in a window and craft and cook. The mini-game sare just ways to build more relationship with the NPCs and get some points (I did not really keep  notice).

2. Once again, combat. Combat was always meant to be "slow" at the start, no one will be a wulin master after playing 2 days of the game. Since there is no character level system in the game, you are always going to build your character through exploring the world and doing quests. Yeah, you can just farm some equipments in instances, but bear in mind players out exploring will be gaining more titles and learning more "hidden" skills.

3. I once said there wasn't a transport feature which brings players across maps, and I am very wrong. There is the horse carriage, but it won't be an instant teleportation, as you can see in the video below.


The other transportation available will be the river boat. Tired of manually controlling your horse to go to the other side of the same map? This will come in handy, although not across different maps. Players can opt to get down anywhere along the route for both the horse carriage and river boat.


4. Qinggong, or the skill to walk on water etc. Well, let me give you a spoiler. I mentioned some time back Qinggong will be a set of skills, and it really is. The very first Qinggong skill players get through questing will be a double jump, meaning to tab the spacebar twice. From what I saw players shouting in-game, there is a triple jump skill book as well, probably from boss mobs. All these will then lead to the higher level Qinggong skills as your character progresses. Work for them!

5. I am still missing some actual features report, including dungeons, PvP and offline features etc. which I will try to cover in Closed Beta 2. Something I will like to post a tiny bit, which I mentioned before, players might log out of the game, but their character might be active in the game acting as street performers in town, a tea seller or running some errands, becoming NPCs. Hence when players log back in sometimes, the characters will be at a different location.

So, my thoughts on the game? Yes, for the very last time, the combat may seem dull, but Age of Wulin is a game which will want players to work and grow their characters into martial arts master, with a pinch of realism added. You won't get to see much mythical beasts, if any, like dragons, there ain't now fancy spells like Ice Storm or Meteor and there certainly ain't any over the top armors on show.

I am actually looking forward to this change of fresh air, but is the Western market accept this dramatic change of tempo in MMOs? I see it as a tough transition for most, but we shall see when the English beta hits somewhere in the summer next year.

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Age of Wulin (CN) - Tour of Tang Clan

The final of the 4 clans available in Age of Wulin (CN) Closed Beta 1, this is the Tang Clan. I was going to translate it as House of Tang, but it sounds a little too... funky in my opinion. Tang disciples are all trained assassins, masters of using various poison and killing targets without leaving a trace. Tang Fortress is where the clan calls home, and it is really, really huge as well.




The first basic weapon for Tang characters will be the dart. Or blades, whatever you like to call it. The fun part, players can jump or move while shooting/ attacking targets. Active and mobile kiting, I love it. But then comes the not-so-good parts of playing this really fun clan.


After checking a few times, there is no "normal" attack for this weapon, meaning all attacks are skills using MP. The first buff skill and the first skill which uses Rage points (a buff as well) both increases attack with additional damage, but at the cost of more MP as well. The darts must be replenished as well, thus costing some in-game money. In my next Age of Wulin (CN) post, I will be posting the final part of my Closed Beta 1 walkthrough. Stay tuned!

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Age of Wulin (CN) - Tour of Er Mei

Er Mei is actually written out as "Emei", but I thought I should type it as 2 words to reflect the correct real-world spoken pitch. Located on top of Mount Er Mei which is an actual place in China, the clan in Louis Cha's martial novels was founded by Guo Xiang, the little girl who adored Yang Guo in Return of the Condor Heroes. Compared to Shaolin and Wudang, I find the location much, much bigger.



Starting off, players from this clan will be using 1-handed daggers. Similar to Wudang using dual swords from the beginning, the choice of weapon is no doubt, weird. But what I had in mind was that the developers did not want players to immediately jump into the various famous single-sword skill sets.

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Age of Wulin (CN) - Tour of Wudang

So, after the previous tour of Shaolin, this time I will be taking a tour of Wudang. If you noticed, the Wudang clan in Age of Wulin uses dual swords as the main weapon starting off. The weapon itself is 1 item, not 2 single swords by the way. I don't think I came across a game where Wudang utilized this weapon (heavy 2-handed sword is actually a legit weapon according to Wudang lore, another branch of Wudang), but I am kind of lazy to dig further into the history books. And oh, both males and females characters are accepted into Wudang.




Wudang is a huge place, with cliffs and more cliffs going up to the skies. Much space is still rather empty, but all these will just give Snail Game more creativity in placing new NPCs, Miracle Encounters and quests as the game development progresses. I am touring Er Mei clan now, and if you think Wudang and Shaolin is huge, Er Mei will be bringing "huge" to the next level...

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Age of Wulin (CN) - Closed Beta 1 walkthrough Part 3

Before I get to the tour of Wudang, I thought I should continue with Part 3 of the small walkthrough. Once again, I will like to talk about combat. Yes, combat against normal mobs will be the typical "point and click", with the different types of skills mentioned in Part 2 kind of meaning less at first. Age of Wulin is not geared towards fast-paced PvE combat, but once again, tactical PvP combat. Ever wondered why there ain't really any trailers or feature article focusing on PvE so far?


If you look at the new Korean trailer (link), which is actually a remake of the Chinese trailers, you will see a PvP match in there. Again, there is no mention of PvE. If you are a sucker for Dungeon Fighter or Vindictus kind of combat, this isn't really the game for you. I feel like jumping off the cliff on the back of a horse trying to get this through to people...


Talking about PvE, killing mobs will drop players normal equipments, materials and some random items. There will not be any currency dropping as far as I have seen. Currency comes in 2 kinds, tradeable and one which is soulbind to characters. Most quests give players both kinds of currency upon completion.

Let me now talk about the Miracle Quest/ Encounter feature, which I ran into once so far. Talking to random NPCs and gossiping with them will sometimes lead to such an encounter. For mine, I was told a certain miner NPC discovered a secret cave in the mountains, and buying the NPC some wine will probably let him spill out more information. I did, and was given the coordinates to locate the cave, seen below.


This is just a simple example of the Miracle Quest/ Encounter feature. For more advanced encounters, players will really have to build up the relationship meter with the NPCs. There isn't really a guide on which NPCs lead to what encounters though.

Seen here is the Miracle Encounter window. The first tab records which NPCs you are having a grudge with or having an awesome relationship with. The second tab records all the prominent gossips which might lead to a Miracle Encounter. This system may also work if you have a bad relationship with a NPC, but another NPC which is against him as well might aid you and give you a secret quest. It is all about relationships.

Next, equipment upgrading. There is no such thing as +1, +2 etc system in Age of Wulin, the same goes for socketing. The only way to enhance equipments with additional stats will be to fulfill the requirements listed on the equipments, if any. Let us take a look at the sword I got from my Miracle Encounter. As it says below, I will have to reach Level 10 of the life skill, Cooking, and have 7 of a particular item before a special stat is revealed. Yeap, this is the only enhancement system seen so far in the game.

I guess this post will be getting longer than it should be, but I will like to clear off the basics as soon as possible as this is just the first test version. Below, you can see the character stats window (I hid the stats, lazy to explain those).

Red square - The strength of the character. As mine is just a newbie, it says my strength is equivalent to that of just a beginner in practice.

Yellow square - Karma. Having done nothing significant, I am still listed as a commoner. Do note that his is not the official title system.

Purple square - This is the interesting one. Other than normal equipment look on the left and cash costume look on the right, this is the "social status" look. I am not really sure what this might be, perhaps important people in the game, for example the leader of the number one guild, might get access to exclusive costumes.

Below are the other 3 tabs which can be found in the character stats window, each briefly explained.

Reputation - Shows the reputation points players have with each clan and in the overall game world. There are different levels of course, filling the bar will open up the next.

Title - There are 4 kinds of titles, World, Clan, Life skills and Temporary.

Mount - For now, there are only different designs of horses in Age of Wulin, no dragons, unicorns, phoenix etc.

I will leave questing to another time, but there are lots of quests (this is a quest grind game) with long storytelling and fabulous rewards. Once again, players who are used to grinding out mobs for EXP should really be prepared for a huge change in mindset. With the Miracle Encounter system, players can always travel back and forth areas, even the beginner town, as there might be something surprising just around the corner.

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Age of Wulin (CN) - Tour of Shaolin

I did not play much of each clan as this Closed Beta 1 phase will be wiping of data after 1 week of testing, and each account is limited to 1 character slot only. We take a look at 1 of the 4 clans available during this phase, Shaolin. There is actually not much I can talk about, hence I took some videos of the surroundings.




The combat skills you see below are just the basic ones, available after players complete some clan quests. There are tons more out there, through Miracle Quests, normal quests and more. Being my first character, I have to admit I was grasping how combat actually works. The Wudang clan I am currently playing now will fare much better, so stay tuned!

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Age of Wulin (CN) - Closed Beta 1 walkthrough Part 2

So, here is Part 2 of the walkthrough for Age of Wulin's Closed Beta phase 1. As this phase lasts only 1 weeks with data being wiped, I will not really go indepth into certain features as I am pretty lazy myself. In this post, I will be talking more about Life Skills and a little about combat and skills, which is one of the most confusing part for me.


First, a look at the life skills available during this phase. There are 4 different categories, with players only able to choose one from any. It will be best to pick something similar, for example hunting or fishing with cooking.

The combination example given above might seem flawless, but there is a catch. When I first chose crafting (accessories etc) as my manufacturing discipline I found out that I need items from which can only be produced by a player who chose blacksmith. One way or another, each manufacturing discipline will depend on one another. Some cooking recipes will require fish, some other meat (from hunting), hence players will have to trade each other. Speaking of cooking, the Cook trainer has a Bejeweled kind of mini-game as well...


As you can see below, I settled with fishing for my gathering discipline. I was kind of disappointed that there are fixed fishing spots in Age of Wulin, as I was thinking I could just fish as long as there is a lake or river. All players have to do will be clicking on the flashing mouse sign. Since the fishes here are low levels, the fish symbol is quite near to the ending point.


Different spots require different level of fishing skill (1, 10, 15, 20 etc), even up to over level 200. Each attempt at fishing decreases the stamina mentioned in Part 1 and minus 1 off the fishing rod's durability. Here is the map which displays fishing, woodcutting, mining etc spots. The function can be turned off manually.

I also had begging under the Market discipline, and it is not easy, trust me. I have to really, really beg players to literally buy the sack off me. Not something I really enjoyed though, but I am guessing those players who bought will have positive karma points added.


Ok, here is the part where most people will get slightly pissed. Remember about me saying that the China server has a monthly point card which no one really know what it does? Well, being a VIP premium member will give players access to various benefits, including faster skill upgrade while offline, able to buy exclusive stuff from the Cash Shop, better rewards from Miracle Encounters and more.

From what I read above, the Fortune Teller life skill will only be able to such paying players. I am not sure how this system will work in the English server though. I am thinking of the premium member package just like in Silkroad Online and Cabal Online.

Ok, now to the part I am loathing to post about, combat. Let me keep things simple and let you guys find out more when the English Closed Beta begins. First, there are 3 types of skills. They are known as (roughly translated) Emptiness (blue circle), Stance (green circle) and ... erh... Solidness (red circle).


Blocking -  Blocking mode can be activated during a battle by pressing the right mouse click (default). There is a limit as to how many times a player can block attacks, as the "blocking shield value" will decrease and eventually be smashed after several attacks. It is wise to use this together with moving about during PvP.

Stance (green circle) - These are buff skills to be used when players are in the defense position. Everytime a player successfully blocks an attack with a Stance buff active, the player will gain some bonuses. From what I tried so far, only 1 Stance can be activated.

Emptiness (blue circle) - Skills under this category are used to counter Stance/ block, dealing slightly lesser damage than Solidness as its true purpose is to break the defense value and block position of opponents.

Solidness (red circle) - These are the "normal" attack skills, some using MP while others use up the Fury points (fire symbols under MP bar). If I am not wrong, this is to counter players who are casting Emptiness skills. There are different combos as well, with special effects occurring at the end if chained correctly, like the part where I knock the target back in the video above.

Normal buff skills - These are normal biff skills which increases attack, defense etc. All buffs, including the Stance buffs so far, have no duration. They stay activated permanently until logged off. No more looking at the countdown timer!

Even if PvE is rather stale (I have not entered the instances yet though) and there is no mob level, it is still wise to check the color code beside a mob's name before battling it, with green being the most suitable. Once again, Age of Wulin is not a mob grinding game, but focused more on living the martial live and killing mobs only when needed (quests, materials). Combat is more interesting in tactical PvP.


The combat system above is like a Scissors, Paper and Stone game, with each countering one another, leaving players to decide which move is the best. Button mashing on any skills will just be your downfall if fighting against skilled players with a proper tactic. The system so far is kind of redundant on the normal mobs though. Perhaps bosses which I have not met will make players think carefully on their moves. You can actually see 2 players having a PvP match in the video below.


Just to add on something, the game world might seem small on the map, but it is really quite extensive. There are no teleporters, portals or anything near which will bring players from one map to another. The most there is will be a boat service ferrying players across the map, if there is a river. Running from Shaolin to the beginner town took me nearly 20 minutes!


Speaking of Shaolin, Part 3 of this walkthrough will be focused on Shaolin (some teaser screenshots above) with some of the basic Shaolin skills, and hopefully Wudang will follow next. Since this is a data-wipe phase and only 1 character slot is allocated, I guess deleting characters will be just a norm.

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Age of Wulin (CN) - Closed Beta 1 walkthrough Part 1

So, the very first Closed Beta phase for Snail Game's Age of Wulin started at 2pm (GMT+8) earlier in the afternoon. Being the very first batch of public gamers flooding the server, we are always bound to be the guinea pigs, and it came true with a less than enjoyable start. Players were disconnecting, stuck in one of the area with no NPC and more. It didn't help that Snail Game was still selling tons of CBT keys over at the event area. Well, enough of ranting, let's get started!


Character creation in Age of Wulin is pretty standard. Starting out, players will have to choose from 6 different storyline. Each will have different quests, outcomes and story paths for the players. Only the first is available for CBT1. The customizations are pretty self-explanatory, but it is the naming part which intrigued me. There are 100 surnames for players to choose from, after that players will type in the given name (Chinese only, no English). I am wondering how will they do it for the English and other foreign servers.


As there is no character level system in the game, characters' stats come into the focus. There are a few special stats, for example Stamina and Hunger. When using life skills, Stamina points are consumed. The higher the Hunger stats via consuming food, the faster Stamina regenerates. The other new stats are about defense against fighting stances, defense against critical damage etc. Additional stats can be found on some of the costumes as well.

Next will be entering the newbie town. As you can see, there are simply too many players, with quest NPCs doing the disappearing act as well. Taking a walk to the wilderness nearby, I actually fell to my death... Just a reminder, Age of Wulin looks much better in-game, I have no idea why the video quality is lowered once uploaded onto YouTube...


Since entering one of the quest room is out of question as a bug and the latency caused the NPC to be spirited away, I decided to take a footage of the town. It is a middle-sized town, neither too big nor small. You would have realized by now, there is actually no auto-path in Age of Wulin, something I am definitely used to in Chinese MMOs. Clicking on the NPC names at the quest bar will only open up the map and show you their locations, which I ain't really comfortable with.


If you noticed, NPCs have a semi-circle meter when mousing over them. Running into them will cause them to startle and move back, followed by some harsh words. This will be the basis of the NPC interaction system, where high affinity with them will lead players to exclusive quests and rewards. Random mobs will also spawn in the town, with alerts telling players and asking everyone to hunt them down.


With the main quest line getting stuck and no combat quests, I decided to go learn one of the 15 life skills available - accessory making. The interesting part is that players may challenge the Accessory Trainer to a game of Bejeweled... Which I won after a shaky start. I am guessing each Life Skill trainer will probably have a mini-game for players to challenge.


Once again, due to the main quest getting bugged, it is hard for almost all the players to progress and choose 1 of the 4 open clans (Shaolin, Wudang, Er Mei and Tang Clan) to enter. I guess I will stop here for today. Tomorrow, I hope I the quest is fixed and I can touch more on life/ gathering skills (there is something which will piss players off) and of course, combat.

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Age of Wulin (CN) - Closed Beta 1 begins tomorrow

24 hours away from now, Closed Beta phase 1 of Age of Wulin (CN) should be up and running for the players mentioned in the first region, including overseas players. By then, I should have already uploaded 1 or 2 videos, with the first probably going onto my Facebook page first. Let's hope there is no connection error for me (hence no promises), I can't wait!

The team from Snail Game has already arrived at location one, Xi' an, which is the capital of Shaanxi province, to promote Age of Wulin in the designated internet cafe with live events going on. This will be the first of seven stops.


As mentioned in my previous posts, Closed Beta 1 will last for 7 days for 7 different regions, hence a total of 49 days before the public Closed Beta 2 begins on 25th December until around April next year. Both phases will require a purchased Closed Beta key or lucky winners of events. If you managed to get one like me, do send me an email and we can explore the game together!

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Age of Wulin (CN) - Guild War preview

This time next week, the Closed Beta 1 phase for Age of Wulin China would have started for a few hours already. Even though I am registered for it (link), I am hoping there will be no hiccups for overseas player though, even if Snail Game has recognized us as part of the player group. So, before next Sunday arrives, I will be posting a few articles on the system found in Age of Wulin. First up, a preview of the guild war system.


In Closed Beta 1, there will be 11 areas opened for the top 11 guilds to build their base. After a player registers a guild and there are no 4 players in it after 3days, the guild will be disbanded. Those with the amount will become an official guild. When the number of players in a guild reaches 100 and there is 20 silver in the guild bank, it is possible to upgrade to level 2. Only upon reaching level 2 can a guild declare war on others and vice versa. For Closed Beta 1, guilds with a base will not be able to declare war on another with none.



Pretty much similar to Ragnarok Online's War of Emporium, there will be a short time for both attacking and defending guilds to prepare for the war once it has been declared. For the defending guild, the guild master have the option to relocate where the guild throne, the ultimate goal of the attacking guild, is placed within the walls. If not done so, the game will automatically choose a spot itself.

Both guilds will see the names as red, indicating the enemy. Killing anyone during a guild war will not affect the karma status of players. While the attackers can kidnap the female servants in the guild base and exchange them for silver, the defenders may spend silver to hire NPCs to defend or build various traps. Once the attacker gain control of an area, their guild flag will be shown there.

Here is one of the more interesting parts of the guild war. For the defenders, there will be 8 portals (or 4 connections) which will allow them to travel instantly to another area. However, the attackers may destroy and gain control of 3 of the portals and use them to move around, except for just 1 main portal. Of course, the linking portal on the other side must be captured as well in order to be used. The defenders may also attack and gain back these portals.

Once the attacking team discovers the guild throne in either of the 4 throne rooms, gaining control of it will declare the end of the guild war and change of ownership. The information posted here are all for the Closed Beta 1 phase, hence details might change accordingly when it is ready for an official release.

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Age of Wulin (CN) - Closed Beta draws near

So, the very first Closed Beta phase for Snail Game's highly anticipated martial arts MMO, Age of Wulin, will begin on 8th October 2011 with 7 different regions having 7 days of testing each (link) before the second Closed Beta phase with no region lock kicks off on 25th December 2011 until next year. Both phases will require players to get one of the 60,000 keys on sale though, which caused quite a stir at first and eventually settled down.

According to the website, the game's new server hardware has arrived, and it is known as the IBM BladeCenter (link). The image you see below is actually the casing or chassis for the servers, which may contain up to 14 BladeCenter servers. I am not really sure which model Snail Game is using, but being open about the technology will certainly mean they are confident about it.

Well, that is not exactly what this post about. A mysterious package arrived at my house early this morning which got my parents startled, as the delivery guy from this private mail service rang and pressed the doorbell for quite a few times. So what items came?

Ah yes, the cheaper Closed Beta key package for Age of Wulin with a mousepad :D By hook and by crook, I managed to find my way of getting this package delivered here. The key has been used and activated, but I am not really sure which region I belong to even though I chose Asia Pacific, as overseas players will be randomly drafted into either of the 7 regions. But with that said, I am still on course for the 2nd Closed Beta phase ^___^ Stay tuned for real, actual high definition videos soon!

Update: Overseas players will be entering Closed Beta 1 on 8th October 2011 till 14th October 2011! After this, it will be a no-wipe Closed Beta phase 2 on 25th December 2011!

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Age of Wulin (CN) - CEO reveals new game details

So, an avid fan of Snail Game's martial arts MMO, Age of Wulin sent me an interview article I missed out on the Chinese media. The interview is done with Snail Game's CEO, the enigmatic Mr Shi Hai, which was is actually carried out on Weibo, China's preferred choice of Twitter-like social media and it lasted for 3 hours. Please note that some questions and answers are summarized and only selected ones are translated. More info about the game can be found here (link).

Q: Will Age of Wulin (CN) be delayed at the last moment again?

A: This is the very first time the comapny has stated in black and white on Age of WUlin's website regarding the beta schedule.We did create an illusion in the past,  having an optimistic time frame in mind for the beta test, but perhaps we were too optimistic and sent out the wrong information to the players through interviews and forums. We did try to get the beta phase out as soon as possible, but the game just wasn't finished.

Q: What happens if the beta phase gets delayed again on Dec 25th, the date for Closed Beta 2 and the phase where all players who activated the beta keys can play together?

A: If by then the players do not see Snail Game's hardwork and feel that we are dropping players a smokebomb, I advise players to delete Snail Game from their to-play list. Even if they tell their friends how sh*t Snail Game is, I will have nothing to say.

Q: What is it about the 35 hours growth period in Age of Wulin?

A: The main quest line currently takes over 30 hours to complete, but the other world and game interactions does not have any time limit.

Q: Will the Miracle Quest system be triggered by different character surnames (each character has a surname when creating) ?

A: From what I last know, surnames do not affect the Miracle Quest system. I must confirm this again with the project department.

Q: Will overseas players be able to participate in the Closed Beta 1?

A: For overseas players, we will open a new proxy server for them (no specific additional details). For the other regions, once again, will not be able to play with each other during Closed Beta 1.

Q: Will Age of Wulin support game pads?

A: Currently the game can be played using game pads, but it is not officially supported at this moment. We will work on this once the game has been polished.

Q: Has the Cash Shop and final business model been confirmed?

A: Nothing is confirmed now for the final build, that is why we had the summer camp seeking advice from players and the Closed Beta phases. We want to bring out a polished product to please the players and build a trusting relationship with them.

Q: We read that the European server (under gPotato EU) will be opening soon. What are the exact details?

A: For the registration phase, it is up to our partners in Europe to handle. I must stress that the upcoming Closed Beta phases is the process which will optimize Age of Wulin. I can confirm the version our European partner is getting will be the more polished one after the Closed Beta phases (which ends in April 2012).

Q: For betraying one's clan (e.g. Shaolin attacking Shaolin), will the Miracle Quest system be affected?

A: From what I know, the NPCs will remember such acts. In theory, you can do whatever you want, but sometimes players must control their actions as well.

Q: How big will the client be?

A: It is currently around 6GB. The client can also be updated for future phases, hence there is no need to re-download.

Q:  Can players immediately PK others upon joining the game?

A: No, players will not be able to do that. But PK is possible when performing Qing Gong (scaling walls, buildings, treading on water).

Q: How many characters can we create now?

A: There is only 1 character slot available now. As the amount of freedom in Age of Wulin is high, one character will be able to leave a clan and join another. But given that all actions will be remembered by NPCs, frequently leaving and joining clans is something players must control.

Q: Will the marriage system be ready for Closed Beta 1?

A: Marriage feature is actually one of the big systems in Age of Wulin and currently it has some interactions with NPCs. We have many ideas for this system, but it will be developed and implemented only after the Closed Beta phases, which means the system's exact details are not confirmed yet. While marriage between players and players is the most important element, marriage with NPCs is also a part of the system. This will affect the whole game world in some ways.

Q: What about the auto-path system in Age of Wulin?

A: Many game companies nowadays take little effort in polishing this system, with players walking awkward paths and walking into objects all the time. Age of Wulin has a save path system, where players can use the routes veteran players use. Or simply save their own paths for personal use during the 2nd time.

Q: How is the user-created martial arts system going on?

A: There will be minimal content for this feature, but it will be improved and updated once Open Beta begins.

Q: Are players able to kill others who are offline (please read Point 17 here) ?

A: No, the current system only supports players kidnapping players who are offline. This system will be affected by server disconnections and lags, hence we are actively seeking feedback from players during the Closed Beta phases and help us polish the game.

Q: Can skills be taught to my in-game girlfriend?

A: No, currently skills are learned via skill manuals. In the future, user-created skills can be taught to others. However, if you have a skill manual and want to "duplicate" it, you can find a player with the appropriate crafting skill to do so (each character can only have 1 crafting skill). The higher the crafting skill, the more powerful skill manuals they will be able to duplicate.

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