General Inroduction of YulGang Online

[General Introduction]

In the year of 2005, [YulGang: Balance of Power] has been recognized by Korean Government to be the best MMORPG by winning the national President Award in the MMORPG category. In the same year, [YulGang:Balance of Power] has been awarded with seven game awards in China, and since then, it has become the best and widely played MMORPG across Asia. [YulGang: Balance of Power] currently has servers active in Korea, Japan, China, Taiwan and Thailand and has been receiving rave reviews from the MMORPG community. Since the opening to up until now, [YulGang: Balance of Power] has logged more than 35 million users and even now has more than 600,000 concurrent online users. [YulGang: Balance of Power] is a game that incorporates adorable animations with stunning combat visuals to create a game that is both fun and easy to play. While there are surprisingly complex skills, [YulGang: Balance of Power] incorporates a simple control system that allows even the most inexperienced players to get the most out of the game.

[Meaning of the Title]

The title of the game "YulGang" is an abbreviated form of the full title "Yul-Hyul-Gang-Ho," which has a meaning of "Hot-Blooded Strong Tiger." The subtitle "Balance of Power" refers to the two factions that are presented in the game: "The Order" and "Chaos." This game is created on the basis of the most popular Korean Martial Arts Comic "Yul-Hyul-Gang-Ho" which has its version in English "The Ruler of the Land."

[Basic Storyline: Creations of Factions: "The Order" and "Chaos"]

The story of [YulGang: Balance of Power] takes place in a mythical realm of martial arts. In this realm there is a place called "Central Valley" where martial artists from all over the world gather to practice special combat tactics and skills to improve their strength of mind, body, and spirit. In this realm there existed clans which were created to more effectively spread the knowledge of martial arts but as the clans grew more and more numerous, a faction arose that called itself "The Order" which, in effect, ruled the clans with the best martial artists administering to the factions needs. "The Order" was also created for fighters who wished to not only learn new skills and improve their abilities but also to gain spiritual enlightenment. Soon, another faction was created to be set in opposition to "The Order" and this faction was called "Chaos." Those who allied themselves with this faction saw fighting and learning skills to be the priority and thus, saw spiritual enlightenment as a frivolous endeavor. As time passed, these two factions were plunged into conflict and the original hope of solely developing martial artists through training and discipline was lost and "The Order" and "Chaos" basically became two political entities. In [YulGang: Balance of Power] players become martial artists and begin their journey through "Central Valley;" learning martial arts, completing tasks, and mastering skills. As they progress, players will be able to choose factions to join and participate in massive battles for the honor of their factions. Players choose their factions at the level of 35. [The Faction War System: "Authority Clash"] In [YulGang: Balance of Power] we named the faction war, "Authority Clash" and it is the battle between two factions: "The Order" and "Chaos." The battle takes place in a separated map, where players can enter via a NPC. Once players join the battle, they will see statues of the story writer and a painter. They will represent each faction. The objective of this clash is to break down the symbolic statue of opposing faction. In trying to complete this assignment, players will have to face players from the opposing faction and engage in a large massive combat. Players will gain many benefits in terms of finance and honor if they win the battle. "Authority Clash" also follows along the line of misunderstanding that has been reoccurring between two factions. Such grouping of the factions will let players to team up against the opposing faction and hence build strong connection each other with the faction or "the house." ("The House" represents "guild")

[The Guild System: "The House"]

[YulGang: Balance of Power] has its own guild system embedded, and it is called "The House." Its function is not more and less than what guilds provide in any other games, but the terminology that we use is a more realistic term in the Martial Society. Players will be able to start creating their own houses once they reach the level 35, which is the level that they decide their factions. If two factions are two big communities in this game, "The Houses" will serve more as the sub-communities under each faction to build the stronger connection between individuals. As the numbers of members grow, each house will have more social and political power within the game.

[Characters Description: "5 Classes"]

1. Bladesman - It is the warrior that has relatively weaker health and defense ability in comparison with "Swordsman." It also has weaker attack power; however the attack precision and faster attack rate are the main strength. It has a short attack range. 2. Swordsman - It is the warrior that has strong health and defense which provide the ability to withstand a lot of damages. It has strong attack power, however low in precision. 3. Archer - It is an agile warrior that uses arrows to attack from far distances. It has relatively low health and defense ability; however, it has very high dodging ability. 4. Healer - It is the magic character in this game that has relatively low health and defense ability. However, it has the ability to heal other players and executes distanced attacks very well. 5. Spearman - It is a character that uses spears as the main weapon. It has relatively weaker health and defense; however its attacking power is the strongest of all characters. The attack range is short.

[Rage Mode]

"Rage Mode" is a mode that players will reach when their "Rage gauge" reaches full. As players fight against monsters "Rage gauge" will increase as they receive hits from monsters. Once this gauge is full, players now enter into "Rage Mode" which increases the attack power, and this mode lasts for a certain period of time which varies between levels, character specification, etc.

[Abilities and Skills]

There are "abilities" and "skills" in the game. 1. "Abilities" - "Abilities" are specific to each type of character, with "ability" points being rewarded with each level up. It allows players to improve certain specifications of their characters such as accuracy, damage or even the duration of "rage mode." Players must be careful when they use ''ability" points because those are the main factor that determines what type of characters they are going to raise. For example, a healer character has ''abilities'' for improving the amount of HP heal, increasing damage and the duration of buff skills. Upgrading the first ''ability'' will help their ''ability'' of healing, the second will help them become an attack-oriented healer, and the third will help them become a better buff-skill provider. 2. "Skills" - "Skills" are specific moves that are performed by pressing a certain hot keys after a setting. Players can train skills when they reach their requirements of "Ki" points, level and class. "Ki" points are rewarded with the kills of each monster by player themselves or a member of their parties. There are two different types of "skills:" "Combat Skills" and "Support Skills." "Combat Skills" deals with the damage to monsters using moves that become flashier and cooler at higher levels. "Support Skills" are any skill that does not involve directly with the attack damage to monsters such as Wind-Drifting, healing and buffing.

[Party System: "Party Request System"]

Forming "parities" in this game is very crucial. Players can level up and strengthen their characters much faster by partying with other players. This game is made to be difficult to play alone. If players play alone, they will have to use way more of potions and will take much longer time to raise their characters. Therefore, it is very crucial for all players to find their allies in the game for a better game environment for them. In order to promote and assist players forming parties in the game, this game provides the party request system which players can systematically request parties in the game; then players will be able to see the lists of players who are looking for parties. A party can have up to eight members. An example of an efficient party would be one or two players focusing on healing, one healer providing buff skills and the rest of the party consisting of damage-dealing characters such as Swordsman, Bladesman or Spearman. (a monster that has 1000 experience points at death would not simply provide 500 experience points per character when a party has two players, but it will provide about 700 to 800 experience points),

[Pet System]

There are total of four "pets" available in the game: Hawk, Mouse, Tiger and Leopard. These are all cash items, so any player at any level can obtain pets by purchasing those from the Cash Shop. Pets are there to support the character development, at the same time, certain types of pets can be used as a transportation method.

[Items]

"Items" are extremely significant in this game. When players level up, their attack and defense abilities will only increase by one to three points whereas an item can be enchanted up to +6- attack or +4- defense. Each enchantment increases attack by +6 or defense by +3, and different essences will greatly affect item stats also. Players will be crafting items to assist them in fast leveling to use many high leveled items, and once they reach this level, they use these high level items available in the game, and as towards very high levels, players will be crafting again to create the unique and very high in capability items.

[The Apprentice Training System]

This system was created so beginners and low-level players would be able to receive help from a higher level player at his/her own discretion. Beginners can get acclimated to the game quickly through the help of experienced players and low-level players will be able to advance themselves through the latter parts of the game through their relationship with their master. Creating a master/apprentice relationship with another player is relatively easy once you’ve satisfied all the requirements. Of course both players must agree to start this relationship in order for it to work. Also, if there are no benefits or advantages for either of the players, there is no real need to start this relationship. Yulgang: Balance of Power’s Apprentice Training system allows new players to advance much faster than is usually the case all allows the master to teach 3 skills and give items to the apprentice and gives the master experience from his/her apprentice’s gains in level and allows the master to receive items from the apprentice’s quests. While the in-game individual user experience is important, we also have a heavy investment in the growth of the Yulgang online community as a whole, this is why the Apprentice Training System was created.

[Party Play]

Yulgang: Balance of Power is focused on the online user community and this is reflected in the party system which is designed to bring the players closer together. Of course, compared to solo play experience will be accrued much more slowly when you are in a party. However, as players’ levels increase the party system will become more and more useful, if not necessary, in order to advance. Especially in the case of extremely experienced players whose characters’ levels are high. These players will rarely be seen soloing their missions, rather, they will be in parties in order to accomplish their task with other users in, or around their own level, because bonuses will be attributed to their party’s experience. For instance, if a player kills 10 monsters that usually give a solo player 50 EXP points each, then a full party with 8 members each killing one monster will give a total of 710 experience. Because there will inevitably be members of the same party that are of different levels, we have also included a party experience penalty that changes with the monster’s level in relation to the players’ levels. For every level that a player is higher than the target monster, there will be a 10% experience penalty. For instance, if your character was a level 10 character and the monster you kill while in a party is a level 10, you will receive 100% of the experience. However, if you are a level 11 and kill the same monster you will only gain 90% of the experience from that mob. Let’s say that you kill a monster that gives a level 10 player 50 EXP points but you are a level 11. The EXP you gain will be 45 instead of 50 because of the 10% party penalty. This penalty is calculated through the highest level character in the party. This means that if a level 10 character parties with a level 20 character, while the hunting will be fast, each monster will give you only a small percentage of the experience that you would usually gain if you were to kill monsters of your same level.

[The Pet System]

In YulGang, pets are creatures that help you hunt and raise your own character. In order to receive a pet, you must past a qualification test similar to a promotion test. Once you past this qualification test, you are able to receive a Summoning Charm. Summoning Charms are used to summon pets and each character may hold up to 2 of them. The first time you summon your pet, you will be prompted to name it. Once it is named, you will be able to raise your pet and level it along with your own character. Pets are able to wear clothes and accessories just like other characters, with the exception of weapons due to the nature of the animals. There are four different types of pets that you can choose from: Mouse, Hawk, Leopard, and Tiger. You are able to ride the Leopard and Tiger pets and you are able to move faster when mounted. Pets are similar to regular characters in terms of stats, but they aren't given primary stats (Spirit, Strength, Stamina, and Agility) but they are only given secondary stats (Attack, Defense, Accuracy, and Dodge). Pets also have a system of Loyalty. Based on the level of Loyalty, the pet's stats, experience gain, and your ability to summon the pet will change. There are 9 levels of Loyalty and at the lowest level, the pet may even refuse to be summoned. You can raise your pet's Loyalty by feeding it certain foods that it likes. Pets may also be promoted in the game. After a pet receives its first promotion, it may learn skills. Characters earn Ki points and spend them to learn skills but pets learn their skills through skill books that are obtained through quests or shops. Mountable pets may also learn wind-drifting skills for even faster movement speed as well.

[Crafting]

There are two different components to YulGang's crafting system: enchantment and enhancement. Both systems have different success rates based on the craft level of the item and a chance of failure exists. Enchantment allows you to take a certain type of gem and apply the options embedded within it to a piece of equipment. Sapphires are used for weapons and Emeralds are used to enchant defensive equipment. When you fail an enchantment attempt, your gem is lost but your item is retained. If your enchantment attempt succeeds, the item name turns blue and the options that were embedded in the gem are applied onto the item. An item may be successfully enchanted up to four times. In the enhancement system, you use a certain gem (a Ruby) to increase the efficiency of the item to make it stronger and more effective to its purpose. A successful enhancement will increase a weapon’s attack by 6 or a piece of defensive equipment’s defense by 3 and the enhancement level is displayed to the right of the item name in brackets. You may successfully enhance an item up to 10 times, with a guaranteed 100% success rate only for weapons up to level [2] enhancement. However, a failed enhancement attempt results not only in the loss of the gem, but also the loss of the item as well. Although not part of the primary crafting system, Applying Essence is another system that allows you to strengthen your item. Amethysts are not dropped by monsters but are only available by purchase through an NPC store. There are six different types of essences that may be applied to an item: Water, Fire, Wind, Poison, Inner Energy, and Physical Energy. Each essence has different effects on equipment, and their effects also differ when used on a weapon or on defensive equipment (among defensive equipment, essence may only be applied to robes). The same essence may be applied on an item up to 10 times, and a failed attempt will result in the loss of the gem and initialization of essence stats of the item.

[Types of Attack]

YulGang's unique features include the Combo Attack and Skill Combo Attack. Ability points that are obtained at each level-up can be invested in certain abilities that raise the power or proc rate of these combo moves. The Combo Attack is a move where the character does three choreographed attacks for slightly greater damage at a faster rate. Investing ability points in Flowing Blade will increase the proc rate of Combo Attacks. As a side note, healer characters expel energy balls as their form of attack and do not have Combo Attacks. Skill Combo Attacks use chi points to perform a powerful skill. In YulGang, consecutively activating different skills will not cause the character to perform those skills consecutively. Instead, there are Skill Combo Attacks. You may register at least two different skills in a Skill Combo which will cause the character to consecutively use the registered skills in a combination attack. The downside is that you will use more chi points than usual, and the Skill Combo is not repeated like other skills. Other forms of attack in YulGang include regular attacks, skill attacks, critical attacks, critical skills, armor crushing attacks, attack reflections, triple arrow attacks, and chi arrow attacks. Each form of attack has its own unique characteristics and the wide variety of attacks adds distinctive flavor and fun to YulGang Online.