The headline says it all really. Age of Wushu, a F2P martial arts MMORPG, has been pushed back from its February 1 launch day until the much larger window of Spring 2013. Steeped in ancient Chinese history and mythology, or Wuxia, Snail Games has postponed the Age of Wushu’s release based on closed beta feedback.

This will allow us to better address community feedback and continue to update the game. When a more precise update on the release timing is available, we will share that information.

That is essentially all we’ve got. As of press time, we’ve no details of exactly what Snail Games is looking to correct, what we can expect for future testing or even what areas of the game will see the majority of polish. It’s possible to speculate from community feedback, but given the breadth of it, Snail Games could go in numerous directions.

Hit the jump for our exclusive introductory interview to the Wuxia-based MMORPG. Continue Reading

Over the weekend I had the chance to try out Guild Wars 2 during the game’s first beta weekend, as well as put in some time with TERA as its head-start began on Saturday. Jumping between the two games I was really able to get a feel for each games combat system and if I had to pick a winner between the two, I’d have to say TERA wins and wins easily.

Now don’t get me wrong, Guild Wars 2′s system is an improvement from the standard tab-targeting we’re all used to, but it just can’t compete with real action combat that TERA features. ArenaNet went with a sort of a hybrid combat system where for all intents and purposes, its basically tab-targeting, but they added some dodging moves for a more action oriented combat feel. While dodging is possible, I dont’ see it coming into play quite as much in PvP as it does in PvE. After all, players are going to be locked on to you, so dodging will mostly be used for AoE (area of effect) spells.

In all honestly, during my time in World vs World, I didn’t really notice much difference between a true tab-targeting MMORPG and GW2. It pretty much felt the same to me.

On the other hand, everyone in TERA has to aim at their targets, so dodging is extremely important, and if you’re good at it, you’ll have a huge advantage, especially in PvP. It’s also a hell of a lot more exciting as everyone needs to be constantly moving, in PvP and PvE. Healers need to hit their target with their heals, so they can’t just sit there apart from where the combat is, unless they happen to have unbelievable aim. Melee characters also have the ability to block attacks adding even more depth to combat.

With tab-targeting, any ranged class was always a little boring to play, most of the time you’d just keep your distance and spam your ability bar. In TERA you’re constantly on the move trying to get the best shots, since TERA has some abilities that allow players to do more damage when attacking an opponent from behind.

The real deciding factor for me is that today I’m hungering for more TERA and not so much of GW2, even though I really enjoyed WvW.

Today Turbine announced the fourth expansion to Lord of the Rings Online, named Riders of Rohan.  The expansion which will be released in the fall of 2012 and will bring with it a level cap increase, new locations, mounted combat and much more.  Executive Producer, Kate Paiz, stated that Riders of Rohan will be the largest expansion to date and will be twice as large as Rise of Isengard.

NEW FEATURES:

• Experience the Riders of Rohan – Join with the Rohirrim and ride across the sprawling Plains of Rohan; witness the breaking of the Fellowship at Amon Hen; forge alliances with the Ents of Fangorn; and aid Éomer, adopted son of Théoden, as he seeks to protect his homeland from the growing Shadow.

• Introducing Mounted Combat – Ride into Combat atop your loyal War-steed as you defend the people of Rohan from the forces of Isengard and Mordor. Customize your War-steed’s armor and level its skills over time to aid you in mounted defense of King Theoden’s lands. Mount your steed and gather your fellows to fight against Warbands, contingents of roving warg riders that have been scouted all over the Plains of Rohan! It falls to you to head off and defeat this new threat before they over take the land.
• Advance to level 85 – Continue your legend in the next chapter of The Lord of the Rings Online. Experience new adventures in the epic story, and gain new skills and deeds as you face new challenges on your journey to 85!

Last week BioWare released a video of Game Director James Ohlen talking about some upcoming changes to Star Wars: The Old Republic, one of which was the Legacy System.

Up until now, we knew that the the Legacy system would create a sort of family tree for your main and alt characters and they would gain some sort of benefits. I for one assumed the benefits would be non-combat such as cosmetic gear, titles, mounts or something along those lines, however in the video James clearly states that all characters will gain new abilities and powers.

Being someone that has never played an alt character and who doesn’t plan to, this Legacy System completely gimps players who choose to stick with a single character. The Legacy System almost forces players to start over with an alt in order to remain competitive with other players.

Since SWTOR is all about story and is the game’s main focus, it’s no wonder BioWare would put in place a system that puts a huge incentive for players to start over. However for those of us who are not alt-players, this system makes it pointless to continue playing as we would do so with a permanently gimped character.

What BioWare is trying to do is add replay value to a genre that quite frankly doesn’t need it. Incentivising players to start over should be the last thing any MMORPG should do as the game itself should be engaging enough for players to continue logging in even after completely the story. However when you create a game that has the same old game mechanics and endgame as every MMORPG of the last decade, getting players to start-over is probably the only way to keep your subscribers.