Last weekend I installed the Russian Open Beta of a new MMORPG called Skyforge. The world setting is described by the game developers as fantasy sci-fi and with spaceships flying around but also sword fighting, old school armor and magic seems like a good way to describe the game world. With a bit of tweaking, you can set the game language to English, but you will soon notice that not everything has been translated yet. However, the game is perfectly playable and so far seems to be a lot of fun.
In Skyforge your character is an immortal being trying to become a god. Eventually, when you become a god several abilities unlock, like being able to switch classes during combat and being able to transform into a divine form.
There is a class system in place that I didn’t encounter anywhere else before this game, it basically allows you to switch classes after choosing an initial class at the start of the game. You do have to level skillnodes for each class separately, but it will go a lot faster to farm at higher level and then up a lower class instead of starting from scratch like we have to do in other MMORPGs. This doesn’t seem like bad move since we see something similar in the very popular MOBA (Multiplayer Online Battle Arena) games, where you can level your main account (in Skyforge read: character) as well as each character (in Skyforge read: class).
Skyforge will be f2p (free-to-play) but does offer a premium mode in which you will get 50% extra sparks (skill points), 50% extra credits (in-game currency) and some other perks. None of the perks will make you stronger than the non-paying players though and that is a good thing! The amount of sparks is capped at a certain number each week, so having a premium account will make you hit the cap faster, but won’t help you advance faster in general.
I initially wanted to play a healer class, since I enjoy grouping more than playing solo and normally you have a better chance in finding a group as a healer than a damage class. It turns out Skyforge doesn’t have full healing classes and instead has what the developers call support classes, so instead I went with the a damage class, called Cryomancer. The Cryomancer is a sorcerer like class who utilizes cold magic. Other classes in the game are Paladin, Lightbender, Archer, Beserker, Kinetic, Necromancer, Slayer, Gunner, Warlock/Witch, Monk, Alchemist and Knight.
In Skyforge you don’t have regular levels, instead you have Prestige. Whenever you upgrade a skill node in the Ascension Atlas or upgrade a piece of equipment your Prestige level grows, Prestige unlocks quests and more difficult versions of certain dungeons/raids. The last variable in your Prestige ranking is the amount of followers you have.
All in all, I think Skyforge has great potential, being f2p makes it accessible for everyone to try and I like the fact that it’s easy to switch class. The premium mode so far seems balanced too, since it only speeds up the progress but doesn’t make you stronger than non-paying players. The fact that progression is capped allows everyone to keep up, although you will still need to play 10-20 hours each week to reach the cap, so there will definitely be ‘better’ characters in the game. I’m not sure if I’m buying a founder’s pack for the benefits since I don’t really plan on rushing this game, but I might get one to support the developers and hopefully speed up the European launch! Until that time, I will be logging in from time to time on the Russian OB to keep an eye on the changes they make!
If you need help installing and playing the Russian open beta, just let me know in a comment!
