The Free2Play MMO Skyforge is considered one of the most promising MMORPGs of the coming years. Time for an extensive preview.
There was a large-scale one-hour live stream of Skyforge, in which the developers presented the game. We at mein-mmo have been following Skyforge for a year now and have reported on it repeatedly. Now, with the start of the closed beta in a few weeks, we want to provide you with a comprehensive overview of the game and its many design ideas. Some of these are relatively ambitious and demonstrate that the game is taking its own path.
The Basics
Skyforge is a Free2Play MMO being developed for PC. It is being created by the Russian team Allods in collaboration with Obsidian Entertainment. Obsidian is responsible for ensuring that it works in the “Western market.” The publisher is my.com.
The production effort is extremely high. Many people are working on the game; at one point, it was said to be over 500, and this has been the case for a long time. Therefore, Skyforge can be considered an AAA game.
The game will run on mega-servers, similar to The Elder Scrolls Online.
The Backstory: Vacancy in Olympus
Skyforge takes place on the world “Aelion.” Like other worlds in this cosmos, it was protected by an “Elder God.” However, he disappeared some time ago. Since then, other deities with their servants, followers, and believers have been trying to seize control of the world. Those are the villains.
The player takes on the role of an “Immortal” to prevent this and has the long-term goal of perhaps becoming such an “Elder God” who then watches over Aelion.
The Aesthetics: Somewhere between an optimistic Blade Runner and a truly depressing Lord of the Rings
The Free2Play MMO will not be purely fantasy or purely science fiction, but a mix of both. There are already different areas with various themes to admire in the individual zones. It is a colorful mix: from the green hell of a bio-nightmare to technologically advanced sterile science-fiction worlds or quite intense “We hit Ratmen on the pumpkin” steampunk-fantasy regions.
Items will not be visible on the characters; the hero or heroine can be customized freely, and “costumes” can be equipped as desired.
The character creation is solid and varied, as seen in early videos.
Instanced and Lobby-based
Skyforge is being developed for PC, but it incorporates some gameplay ideas that are more commonly known from console games. There is a large globe that can be rotated, serving as a kind of world map. Here, players can directly jump to individual adventures and then end up on instanced maps. The offerings on the globe will change every 40 minutes.
The adventures can be repeated and will adapt to the player’s strength and also scale with the group size.
So far, few “larger, more open” areas have been sighted in the first builds. The Allods team wants to provide players with a wide selection of “content.” They should be able to choose what suits them: PvP, Large-Scale PvP, Quests, Group Content.
The Progression System: No Levels, but Prestige
The player’s power increase in Skyforge does not occur through levels or tiers, but through “prestige,” which increases with every possible form of activity in the game.
The “Ascension Atlas” is a kind of extended skill tree. It can be reduced to the individual “branches” of the respective classes. There are various nodes that are interconnected. To become stronger in a class, the player must invest one of three resources. These correspond to what are skill points in other games. They can earn these through activities.
Depending on the nature of the ability to be unlocked, they require “destructive” (red), “creative” (green), or “balanced” (blue) essences. Additionally, players need “evolution points” in the respective class they want to upgrade. They earn these by playing that class. This prevents leveling a class that a player is not actively playing.
With the nodes in the atlas, players can unlock either new skills or passive bonuses to various stats. Some of the bonuses apply not only to the class currently being played but also across other classes.
At the beginning, the class “skill trees” are linear; later, the paths split, and it becomes significantly more complex.
The Class System
Skyforge features a multi-class system like Final Fantasy XIV. This means: A character can switch through different classes at the push of a button; no twinks are necessary.
At the beginning, the player can choose between Tank (Paladin), Support (Lightbinder) and DPS (Cryomancer).
To unlock more classes, the Immortal must first make progress in the base classes to then take a path in the Ascension Atlas that unlocks the “advanced” classes. This is supposed to take some time.
Skyforge has already mentioned plans to introduce more “prestige” classes. Playable classes include the Berserker and the Gunner, who plays an important role in the live stream.
In initial tests, the Cromancer emerged as the most popular class in PvP, while the Lightbinder was less sought after.
The Gameplay – Combat System
We have already written a huge special about the combat system in Skyforge once before. It is essentially designed to feel like an “action” game without exhausting players. They should be able to chain abilities together using mouse buttons. There will be combos that require the right button to be pressed at the right moment to trigger bonus effects. However, it’s not just about the mouse button: Certain skills are activated via hotkeys.
Ranged classes are expected to primarily use chargeable skills. The classes will feature different “resource” systems to add more complexity; for instance, the Gunner is supposed to build up heat when his weapon overheats during continuous fire, which can then be reduced through other abilities.
It’s not a purely “free combat system” but rather a hybrid. It still features tab-targeting. Players can log in targets for their abilities, so to speak.
While there will be a tank, there will not be a “pure” healer. This role will be taken by the supporter, essentially a “healer with offensive qualities.” When enemies take damage, they have a chance to drop a “Healing Orb.” Players can collect these orbs to replenish lost health.
Overall, they aim to achieve a fluid, fast-paced arcade gameplay without major downtime.
From Giant Rat to Ultimate Villain: The Enemies in Skyforge
The enemies feature icons that symbolize their role. There will also be supporters, tanks, or DPS among the enemy packs that players have to respond to accordingly.
Enemy abilities are indicated by the “telegraph” system: before an area becomes “dangerous,” there is a red area above it that warns the player in advance. This principle is already known from numerous games.
Skyforge will present both the typical “large, rather weaker mobs at once” groups so that players can feel really powerful, as well as individual strong boss mobs that can challenge groups. For the selection and variety of the boss mobs and their abilities, they have already received positive feedback from initial testers.
Boss fights should be varied and interesting, even in the low-level area
In the live stream, you can observe a fight against a kind of “Rubik’s cube” that has an incredible amount of HP. One player must always enter a turret and shoot the boss, while the others must prevent trash mobs from taking him out. After a short time, the player in the turret then attracts the boss’s aggro and another must take over the turret.
The bosses, by the way, as far as we could see, do not have a massive health bar (essentially a uni-bar) that decreases extremely slowly as it goes along, but several “HP layers” that the under-immortals need to blast through. So it’s about making that “x12” health bar go down to “x11” first.
Equip and Stats
How stats work in Skyforge, we have already introduced extensively in this article. The equipment is relatively sparse. The classes get a primary weapon and a “secondary item” (e.g., the Paladin receives a shield). These are class-specific. Additionally, there are four rings that can have various stats. There is no armor in the traditional sense.
A God Needs Followers! – The Browser-like Mini-Game
Removed from the actual combat gameplay, there is a kind of mini-game within Skyforge – somewhat like the minions in Rift or the garrison in World of Warcraft. Here, players can gather followers, send them out, recruit new ones, make them work, and even let them pray.
The system has been previously introduced here.
Guild System: Because it would be lonely at the top
There is also an extensive guild system. This is called “Pantheon” in Skyforge. The guilds can grow, wage wars, and expand their influence here. This is one of the newer systems; it was introduced only a few weeks ago.
However, it appears that they are taking an interesting approach that draws on established MMOs without merely copying from a single source, thereby creating something new.
Godlike – The Ultimate Goal in Skyforge: Divinity
At the end of the Ascension Atlas, there is a very special reward called “Divine Status” for immortals. This is a kind of “ultimate ability” that is supposed to be significantly more powerful. Players can temporarily enter a “Godlike” mode (suits it).
The special thing is: When friends are around, they can summon you in this “God form,” and then you can help for a short time.
As endgame events invasions, server-wide event chains, are planned.
What comes next? Will Skyforge also be available for consoles Playstation 4 and Xbox One?
The first closed beta will start in a few days. Players can purchase founder packages here. There is no exact schedule for what happens next.
However, the game is definitely set to be released in 2015.
A port to next-gen consoles Xbox One and Playstation 4 is considered an interesting idea. However, there are no further details at this time as they want to wait for the PC launch.
Skyforge is considered one of the most promising MMORPGs of the coming years. We will, of course, continue to keep you updated (and also try to give out some beta keys). If you want to stay informed about the game, check back with us often. On the Skyforge theme page, you will find everything important and unimportant, all news and updates.
