Great game

There is a lot of misinformation on this forum about Wizardry Online. I've been playing on and off since closed beta and wanted to give an idea of what the game is like that is based on actually playing it.

First of all, it's not what I would call hardcore, but it is around the same difficulty level EQ (1999) was prior to getting dumbed down. Perhaps a little easier. Permadeath is unlikely unless you do something really stupid - you can pawn your armour etc until you get your resurrection chances to 100%, or add money or something. I would have to be really drunk to manage to get killed permenantly.

The game is somewhat of a hack and slash, with skill trees + levels. Classes are NOT equal, for example mages are very whimpy early on yet get powerful later. A lot of people complain about the targetting system and rogue camera. If you play it long enough you will realise that you target using tab or right click and, once targetted, you don't need to worry about the camera. Battle reminds me of a cross between RTS & MMO and is viable with a controller.

The dungeons are fantastic - very well designed. It has been a long time since I had that dungeon feeling in a game. There are lots of traps, so you can't just wander about not paying attention, and lots of puzzles. The quests are mostly fed ex or kill 10 rats, but as the monster AI is *really* good, the fights are actually challenging. For example, monsters will try to circle you, run to range and use missiles if you are a fighter, hide behind corners when wounded and trying to dodge your sword. As a Mage you will have a tough time early on, but the spells trees (as well as the skill trees) are very well thought out.

My favourite feature of the game is the class change. You can change classes (with a couple of items and 10k gold) but go back to level one of the new class. You have a soul system though that levels up independantly of normal levels, and this influences a LOT of the game - so think of soul level as your player level. When you change class from, say, a Fighter to a Thief at sould level 3 and character level 10, you can take 3 skills with you. You go back to class level 1 but maintain all the benefits of your soul level.

You can also carry some skills from your previous proffession, depending on what soul level and class level you were. So for example, I played a fighter to level 10 and kept my self heal and a buff that made me harder to hit, then changed to Mage. My mage is then more complex and keeps some of the skill buttons my fighter had (but quite limited amount). Mage is now more fun. You could also play a thief just to get the ability to open chests, then switch to a fighter who can now open chests for better loot in his career.

This class morphing is my favourite part of the game.

And the PK aspect? Well in all my time playing (and past soul level 1 in case anyone thinks that is the issue) I have never ever been even hit by another player, never mind ganked. I see all this nonsense about ganking, but the fact is they have developed a superb self policing mechanism whereby the community regulates itself due to the social consequences of stealing and PKing. I think it is the best implementation of PK I have found yet - I don't normally play PvP.

The lore is great and I love the eastern feel to it - it really feels different to most of the stuff we are used to. The graphics are fine, very stylised - a bit lacking in colour, but no problems and it plays well.

Most of all it's a real challenge and great fun crawling through dungeons. There are lots of things to do and it feels quite sandboxy in some respects. I find it cute and enjoy the stroy line.

Well worth a play, and I think I will continue to play it for some time. I don't think it will be my main game for all time, but one I keep coming back to as it is just fun and challenging.