So.. Gameloft is a company. They take good games like Zelda, Starcraft, Halo, Uncharted, Call of Duty, Final Fantasy, Diablo, Resident Evil, etc, and remake them on iOS, minus the actual IP. They do this to varying degrees of sucess, but usually with a high amount of polish.
Now, they've done World of Warcraft!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ql-iu98XGds
It's a full-blown MMO on iPhones and iPads. (It's a universal app)
There are 4 races: (descriptions stolen from character creation)
Human: Humans always look to the horizon. They chase power and want to change the world, whether for good or for ill. Their settlements are among the brightest lights in a dark and untamed world. Humans constantly seek to explore new lands.
Elf: And ancient race with strong ties to the forest, elves have a detached view of the world. They often have difficulty believing that events in the world have much importance to them, for they consider consequences in terms of centuries.
Orc: Orcs love close combat and plunge furiously into the thick of battle, giving no thought to retreat or surrender. People think they are savage, bloodthirsty marauders, but pride and hero worship course deep in the blood beneath their green skin.
Undead: The undead have journeyed to the end of the night. Some have found wisdom, and others only sorrow. A selfish and cunning race, they have all the time in the world to pursue their dreams... until they become nightmares.
And there are 4 classes:
Warrior: Warriors take pride in their might and mastery over weapons and armor. They can defeat enemies with powerful battle skills or protect their party with various defense skills. Some even learn to exploit the magic power of weapons and armor.
Mage: Mages are proficient in controlling the power of the elements. They cast powerful spells on their enemies, and have various tricks that allow them to be dangerous from a distance.
Monk: Monks have faith in the gods. Different kinds of faith bring different kinds of abilities. Some use divine power to heal others; others devote themselves to the training of body and spirit; and some are masters of fearsome magic that channels the wrath of the gods.
Ranger: Rangers are dexterous and skillful assassins. They are masters of ranged weapons, as well as sneaking. Their nimbleness keeps their enemies at bay.
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As far as I can tell at this point, the races are purely cosmetic. The classes however seem incredibly varied, even within themselves. I've only rolled a monk so far, but looking through the talent tree I'm pretty excited about what lays down the road. There are two separate trees, and they both seem pretty lengthy, and seem like they offer a decent amount of customization to make my monk unique.
For instance, I'm planning on being mostly healsy, but I pulled a couple talents off of the military tree to up my survivability. (A passive that adds your strength and agility stats straight into your armor, and a buff that ups strength and agility)
If they other classes have as much capacity for variance, then I am looking forward to seeing what the other classes have to offer.
There is crafting as well, but it's slightly different than WoW. Your crafting xp doesn't get you levels, you use it to straight up buy your new recipes, assuming you can find the vendor that sells it. Haven't messed around with it too much, but we'll see how it works out. It seems though that much more mats are required. Hopefully this will be balanced with needing less in order to afford the next recipe, and that might eliminate the need to make 30 billion cloaks.
Combat is solid enough. Tap your enemy to target, you get skills on a skill wheel you can spin through, and there is also an expandable hotbar. Party members show up on the side with their hp/mp/rage/energy meters. Tap on their bar to target, making buffs and such pretty easy.
It does require WiFi, though I've heard jailbroken people say that it runs just fine with any of the myWiFi or 3g unrestricter apps (that let you use any normally wifi-only apps over 3g). So if that's your thing, you can WoW it up on the bus or train or whathaveyou. So that's cool.
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I've just made a guild for us, we are the PennyArcadians, so if you are playing, sign up with the following instructions!
- Click your portrait
- Click the "Social" tab
- Enter "Xaviar" in the box and click add. (without the quotes, names are case-sensitive)
- Click my name. (which is now in your friends list)
- Click "Whisper"
- Ask to join!
- (Alternately, drop me a PM here)
If anybody else has anything they'd like in the OP, lemme know.
Penny Arcade Order & Chaos Friend List:
Forum Name - Character name - Race/Class - Server
Xaviar - Xaviar - Undead Monk - Arcadian Forest
Big Red Tie - Bearfeast - Human Monk - Arcadian Forest
Renzo - Khulric - Undead Mage - Arcadian Forest
get2joe - Krypt - Undead Monk - Arcadian Forest
Octobot - Envy - Human Warrior - The Whispering Islands