What the heck is Wushu?
Well, in the words of the creators;
Age of Wushu is a new MMO that recreates an ancient Chinese world of kung fu. If the term Wushu is new to you, fear not, it’s an easy concept to explain. Simply put Wushu is a general term for Chinese martial arts. For example in martial arts movies such as Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon or Hero, characters leap from rooftops and display gravity-defying feats of martial arts prowess. In Age of Wushu, you can perform all these unbelievably powerful skills and become a legendary Wushu master!
In Age of Wushu each world event or quest you participate in grants experience, which is then converted into cultivation points. These points are then used to directly enhance your character’s internal skills and fighting moves. You can even gain cultivation points for your character while logged off. As such, the character development in Age of Wushu is completely different from traditional MMOs, there is no grinding or levels. (Axen's note: Training skills while offline is only something people who pay for premium time can do)
The in-game cultivation conversion system is key to character growth, as cultivation points are used to enhance internal skills and martial arts moves. The conversion rate varies per situation and depending on the activity can be much faster or slower. There are many ways to boost conversion rate in the game waiting to be discovered. (Axen's note: The time it takes to train skills is reminiscent of EVE, though I don't think there are skills that'll take months to train.
)Another important factor in the Age of Wushu world is Reputation, which represents how your character is seen in public. Reputation actually has nothing to do with your fighting skill; but what you have done in the world. In the game, you interact with NPCs, decide whether or not to help them, and face various challenges in the mysterious world. All these events are related to your Reputation, which is a direct record of what you have achieved in Age of Wushu.
The economic system in Age of Wushu closely resembles that of the real ancient Chinese society. What you earn depends on what you have achieved in your unique personal experience. You can even earn money by kidnapping other players! (Axen's note: Crafting and player made goods are basically the life-blood of the world)
There are 17 life skills that fall into four categories.
Gathering: Miner, Hunter, Farmer, Logger, Fisherman
Manufacturing: Tailor, Chef, Poison Maker, Craftsman, Blacksmith, Herbalist
Arts: Musician, Chess Master, Calligrapher, Painter
Market: Beggar and Diviner
(Axen's note: You can learn all of the Gathering skills, but only one each of the other skills. I also recommend you pick up all the Gathering skills.)
Careers are practiced and gradually mastered over time via in-game events and quests. Mastering skills is exhausting work, and as such you can only train them so much each day. (Axen's note: Basically the amount of XP you can gain in any one crafting job is capped. You can still create stuff, but you will not be getting XP for it for a good while.)
Okay that's the PR for it, what do you think?
Well, the game is very sand-boxy. Which depending on the person may be pretty hit or miss. I personally love it.
There are tons of quests to do and a personal story to complete, but you can just as easily spend your time exploring, fighting, crafting, selling, playing freaking Chess, kidnapping people, setting fire to villages, the list goes on.
Combat is your standard hotbar fair, but you have tons of skills to learn and combine.
The game does a lot of neat things and I'm honestly hard pressed to think of another MMO I could compare it too. EVE seems the closest, but still it's not quite right.
Does the game have classes?
Yeah, kind of. After you complete your newbie-tutorial you will be asked to join one of eight "Schools". Each school has its particular themes and styles and even restrictions. Here is a quick rundown of the eight schools you can join.
Emei
School Alignment: Righteousness
School Proficiency: Melee / Long-distance
School Weapon: Palm and Finger, Dagger
Skill Specialty: Group Healing
The origins of Emei's Martial Arts come from its founder Guo Xiang. Even though Emei is a female-only School, they are just as righteous and chivalrous as their Shaolin counterparts. Guo Xiang supposedly inherited the Heaven Reliant Sword that contained sacred Martial Arts secrets. This made the Emei even more famous, equivalent even to Shaolin and Wudang. Emei's martial arts range from powerful inner energy skills to the use of bladed weapons and unarmed combat. The main weapon used by Emei disciples is the sword. They use needles and hairpins as projectile weapons to throw at enemies periodically as well. Like Wudang, Emei's skills are dual-natured, having elements of "roughness" and "softness", "long-range" and "short-range" attacks in the same style of fighting. They rotate between deceptive and direct attacks and can be used effectively by women to overcome opponents who are physically stronger than them. Some movements in Emei's swordplay are feminine in nature and are named after ancient Chinese beauties and phrases used to describe beauty.
Wudang
School Alignment: Righteousness
School Proficiency: Melee
School Weapon: Palm / Sword
Skill Specialty: Continuous Group Attack
The Wudang believe that the balance of one’s mind and body is essential to the mastery of the martial arts. In combat, they redirect energy used against them, throwing enemies off balance with a punch, or maneuvering thin swords through enemy defenses. There is a saying, “The most respected in the north is Shaolin; the most respected in the south is Wudang”. With focus on Internal Skills,Wudang disciples progress slowly in the beginning but catch up and even surpass many in their later stages. By incorporating Taoism concepts within their martial arts, Wudang’s fame almost surpasses that of the Shaolin.
Shaolin
School Alignment: Righteousness
School Proficiency: Melee
School Weapon: Palm and Kick, Sticks and Staffs
Skill Specialty: Group Stunned
The historical origin of Shaolin started in AD 464, Batuo, a Dhyana Master who came to China from India to spread Buddhist teachings, saw that Mount Song resembled a lotus flower and wanted to establish a Temple within the "flower". The Emperor agreed to build a Temple to worship Batuo. The Temple is located at the bottom of Shaoshi Mountain, which is covered with lush forests (Lin). So the Temple was named, "Shaolin Temple".
Shaolin excel in external skills, and many of its disciples have become great masters in the world. Shaolin has always striven to uphold righteousness, therefore Shaolin have always had a good reputation with the common people of China.
Beggars' Sect
School Alignment: Righteousness
School Proficiency: Melee
School Weapon: Fist and Kicking, Stick and Staff
Skill Specialty: Group Damage
No matter which Dynasty you come from, there will always be beggars. The Beggars' Sect is also one of the supporting pillars in defending the country from foreign invasions. This caused them to become one of the largest righteous schools. Their leader carries the revered “Dog Beating Staff”as a symbol of his authority and position. The most notable martial art of the Beggars' Sect is the Eighteen Dragon Subduing Palms. People from all walks of life join the Sect, including scholars and military officers. As such, the martial arts of the sect are rather diverse. Due to the large size and nature of the school they have a wide network of communication and the members have a reputation for their excellent information-gathering skills.
Scholars
School Alignment: Neutral
School Proficiency: Mid-range
School Weapon: Duel Sword, Musical Instrument
Skill Specialty: Music Attack
The Scholar school was established by two refined scholars, Xiao Bieqing and Shi Yanbing. They felt like old friends from the moment they first met and decided to set up this school. They wanted to create the school as a way to make friends with other scholars like them who were well versed and educated in cultural arts. They also wanted a place to teach their martial arts skills. All of the members in the Scholar school are practiced lute players, and skilled at chess, calligraphy, and painting. Their kung fu skills use musical frequencies to attack, which is very special ability, as they had to spend a lot of time cultivating internal kung fu to develop these skills.
Tangmen
School Alignment: Neutral
School Proficiency: Long-distance
School Weapon: Darts, Daggers
Skill Specialty: Poisons and Hidden Weapons
The Tangmen have always been shrouded in mystery. The poisons they make are highly toxic and could kill on contact. Their hidden weapons are the smallest yet deadliest in all the country. In Age of Wushu, the Tangmen are located in Sichuan and are run by the Tang family. The Tang family have been famous for poisons and hidden weapons for hundreds of years. Their family castle is surrounded by secret devices and is very difficult to infiltrate. Even though the Tangmen people are famous, very few people in Jianghu truly know them. When they do appear, it’s hard to track them, so people often times think they could be an evil sect. The rumor is that the Tangmen have 7 different types of hidden weapons including poisonous needles and blinding sands. The most famous hidden weapon is the “Storm Pear Flower Needle”. A highly skilled martial artist could use it to hit enemies at 64 different points simultaneously, making the technique impossible to defend against.
Royal Guards
School Alignment: Evil
School Proficiency: Long-distance
School Weapon: Blades and Swords / Palm and Kick
Skill Specialty: Crafty and Cunning
The Ming Dynasty government established a complete set of intelligence agencies, with the Royal Guards as the most famous. They were established to supervise, spy on, and oppress any unlawful acts by government officials. They can enter the Royal Courts freely to report to the Emperor directly. The Royal Guards are active in all corners of China and secretly join in many major tournament events. They are a cruel and ruthless group that garner fear from all other schools due to their use of evil kung fu skills
Wanderer's Valley
School Alignment: Evil
School Proficiency: Long-distance
School Weapon: Sword and Blade, Fist and Kicking
Skill Specialty: Sinister and Ruthless
The creator of Wanderer's Valley was a sophisticated fortune teller with an unpredictable temperament. He established Wanderer’s Valley secretly after he knew he would not live past the age of 45. He began to recruit infamous people of China to join the Wanderer’s and was brewing a secret plot. Nobody fully understands Wanderer’s Valley, as the members of Wanderer’s are very secretive people who use poisonous and cunning Martial Arts skills. While Wudang and Shaolin are considered to be official members of Wulin, the people of Wanderer’s Valley are considered exiled members of Wulin. Most people don’t know where their skills come from. They do things according to their own wishes without leaving any trace.
Is this game free to play?
Well if you read the OP you'd know I mentioned premium time (Called Jianghu VIP in-game).
Yes the game is F2P, however the bonuses for paying for premium time are really nice.
Currently it costs $9 USD for 30 days. The bonuses are:
Better Cultivation Rates
Allows you full access and better conversion rates for all your cultivation points.
Offline Stalls and Cultivation
Allows you to open a professions stall and cultivate your skills offline. Your character never truly goes 'offline'. (Axen's note: Basically allows you to continue selling stuff and continue training a skill like in EVE while offline)
More Warehouse Spaces
Warehouse space (bank), up from 18 to 36.
More Booth Spaces
Increased booth space for your stalls allows for more sales.
Musician Attacks
When you use Musical attacks you only need to play the first part of the song, the game will take care of the rest for you.
Divination
Allows you to divine and make fortunes for other players.
Access to Exclusive Equipment
Change the look of your character with vanity clothing and accessories only available to Jianghu Elite members.
Special Adventure Rewards
Gain access to bonus rewards from random encounters.
Queue Priority
Gain access to the green portal and gain priority in the log-in queue. (Axen's note: Though I have yet to see a queue myself)
Experience Placement
The experience you get will be transferred to 5 different experiences and always have the fastest transferring rate.
Special Tasks and Events
Gain access to bonus tasks and events.
Carry More Money
Carry up to 10 Ding of Coins (8 for non-VIP), and 1000 Ding of Tael (30 for non-VIP).
Special Chat Room
Enjoy a special VIP only chat room.
Change Outfit
Switch between equipment with the press of a button.
Team Cultivation Bonus
Increases team cultivation by 25%.
Gather Bonus
Enhance success rate of gathering.
School Raid Bonus
Increased chance of acquiring skills pages and Inner Skills during school raid events.
Guild Info
PAers play on the Blue Dragon server!
The Long Wang Gang (LongWangGang).
"We follow the Path of the Silly Goose and the Way of the Cardboard-Tube."
Just go to your local Guild Administrator to submit an app or post on the forum or bug us in game!
Here is a more or less accurate list of PAers:
Axen- Nergui (Craftsmen)
Aldo - Alds (Blacksmith)
Banzai5150 - Dwidus(Chef/Painter/Divinator)
Arthil - Akeche(Craftsman/Painter)
Kass - Qasamir (Herbalist)
CyberJackal - Jiaxua (Poison Maker)
TheKoolEagle - Keagle (Blacksmith)
Nerdtendo - WiiMote (Tailor/Painter)
Cobell - YuPianZhou (Chef/Music)
wmelon - ChiangBing (Blacksmith)
DesmondPfeiffer - Replicant (Tailor)
Mith - Mith (Tailor/Weiqi)
Hmuda - Hmuda (Chef/Calligraphy)
CorriganX - Corrigan (No crafts as of yet)
Maguano - BoMein (none yet)(rerolled)
MrVyngaard - DelunPhezhi (???? / Weiqi)
Fantastication2 - Fantapants (chef/painter temporarily)
Other Handy Info
Game Guide courtesy of the creators. It actually does have a lot of useful info to get you started.
Age of Wushu Wiki has a fair amount of info too, but it looks to still need work.
Review from Massively.
Review from Gamematics.
Review from CheatCC.
Review from GameDynamo.
Review from PA Report.
Cultivation Guide is something I strongly recommend giving a read.
Meridian Guide explains just what Meridians are and why you wish to pay attention to them.
Come vote for Age of Wushu to be Greenlight on Steam!
Final Thoughts
The game is a bit rough around the edges still. The translation is adequate, but you will come across some oddities. I really enjoy the game though. It is probably one of few really solid sand-box MMOs out there and the theme and style (fantasy-feudal China with a flair of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) does make for a rather unique experience.
The game can be a bit complex to get in to as a newbie, though if you've played EVE Online then some concepts will come quicker to you.
If you can look past some of the rough spots and power through the learning curve you'll find yourself playing a surprisingly fun game.
Hey, you can try it for free so give it a whirl!