On August 5th, the second Closed Beta for the MMORPG Astellia ended. After this test, many shared their experiences in forums and on Reddit. The conclusion is predominantly positive.
How did the second beta test go? The second beta ran from July 30th to August 8th. For this, the developers of Astellia adjusted some content, which was criticized in the first test.
There was an attempt to reduce the downtime between battles, and the world PvP was given a bit more focus. Players are generally satisfied with the changes, although there are some concerns about the number of players.
Too few testers for the world PvP
What do the players think about Avalon? In the large world PvP, the three factions Ceres, Physe, and Eos compete against each other. For one week, players can join a group, fight for it, and earn rewards.
In the second Closed Beta, this area, which is very similar to the world versus world from Guild Wars 2, was supposed to be tested. However, many players simply couldn’t find opponents, as they reported on Reddit:
- Groqstrong: I jumped into the area of Avalon, but it was like a ghost town. Where are the PvP zones?
- Idunaz: I used the “Instant Level 50” boost and wandered around Avalon. During that time, I encountered 4-5 opponents in an hour.
Players are concerned about player numbers: User CieI is pessimistic regarding the PvP area. He describes that there were already problems with Avalon in Korea because the Open World PvE simply offers more rewards.
The Reddit user PizzaForever98 goes even further. He fears that Astellia will generally struggle with low player numbers in the West because there has been hardly any media attention for the Asian MMORPG.
There will be no Bless 2.0!
What do players think about Astellia? PizzaForever98 does have concerns about player numbers but finds the MMORPG very good:
The game is really fun, but there are still thousands of beta keys unused and you hardly see players in-game. The game lacks a bit of PR.
Many users call it Bless 2.0, but it has nothing in common with Bless, except for the engine. The developers urgently need to create awareness, or the game will die quickly.
Other players also draw positive conclusions from the beta, even if some concerns are expressed:
- explodedteabag: I enjoy it. I love the design of the Astels and that you can deploy and put them away as you like.
- Groqstrong: The graphics of the Astels is the only issue I have with the MMORPG. [..] I understand that Astellia doesn’t bring much new, but it also doesn’t advertise itself as a game changer. The game may not be for everyone, but I like it.
- DemonicToys666: The game is really fun and it reminds me a lot of Aion. I would love to play it at launch, but I don’t want to invest money because it will probably fail.
What criticism is there? Not all voices on Reddit are positive. Some criticize Astellia for not bringing any unique features or innovations.
Normadie calls the Astel system an overly glorified pet system. It only increases the grind because you have to level both yourself and the pets.
The Reddit user Famous_Cryptographer is not enthusiastic about Astellia and asks:
A game released in 2018 with DirectX9 and Unreal Engine 3? An AFK simulator with the only exciting feature being to dodge fields on the ground?
Girls that look like 12-year-olds with big breasts and high heels, setting out to explore the world? [..]
Is this the MMORPG that’s supposed to give players a bit of hope?
Good performance inspires hope for the future
How was the performance of the beta? There are often discussions about performance in MMORPGs. Some games do not reach the desired FPS count, which is why performance is closely monitored during the beta.
However, here too, the positive voices prevail, stating that they had no problems with FPS counts and lags. Again, user Groqstrong again draws the comparison to Bless.
There are said to be worlds of difference in performance between the two games, favoring Astellia.
What’s next for Astellia? Currently, there is no exact information about the future of the Asian MMORPG. What is certain is that a release is still planned for 2019.
When exactly and whether we will have another beta test beforehand is still unknown.
We also took a look at the MMORPG in the first beta and drew a conclusion:
