Rappelz

Rappelz
Studio	nFlavor
Publisher	Gala-Net
Erstveröffent- lichung	2006, November 3, 2008, February 14, 2008, September 8, 2009, May 28, 2009, September 10, 2010, February 16, 2010, July 15
platform	PC ( Windows )
genre	MMORPG
Game mode	Multiplayer
control	Keyboard & mouse
medium	Download
language	English, German, French, Polish, Turkish, Korean, Japanese
information	5 million registered accounts in the US version

Rappelz [râpelzz] (full name: Rappelz Epic 7 - The Trial for the European version , Rappelz Epic 7 - Awakening for the US version) is a free online role-playing game from Korea, which uses the SpeedTree engine, among other things . It is one of the typical Asian grinders in Asia , i. This means that in order to develop the character and level up, a large number of monsters have to be killed for experience points. Quests are also available, but not very pronounced.

Rappelz is about a fantasy world that is ruled by three peoples with different characteristics: The Deva , guardians of light, the Asura , servants of the dark, and the Gaia , a human neutral race. The game also includes a PvP system. In addition, the use of captive animals or creatures - which then fight for their owners - is possible for any class and race.

Peoples and professions

At the beginning of the game you have to choose one of the three existing races. Each has its own special features as well as characteristic skills and property values:

• Asura: specialized in attack skills and a particularly high evasion value
• Deva: Support and healing skills, especially defensive; but can also dish out damage
• Gaia: Connection between the two other peoples, rather balanced warrior people

The peoples of all start on the so-called apprentice Island ( English trainee's Iceland ). There you have to decide on a specialization of your character after a series of quests . He is learning a new profession. Basically every people has three basic classes: warriors , magicians and an animal class. Depending on the people, these then have their characteristics and can take on different tasks in a group of players ( healer , supporter , tank , puller , etc.). After completing these starting tasks, you will be teleported to your hometown, depending on your race.

The three basic classes are further divided into different higher jobs:

• In the Asura, the player begins with the so-called adept ( English stepper ) - the three basic classes are rogue (English: Strider ), magician (English: Dark Magician ) and conjurer (English: Sorcerer )

• In the Deva, the player begins with the disciple (English: Guide ) - the three basic classes are Knight (English: Holy Warrior ), Acolyte (English: Cleric ) and Tamer (English: Breeder )

• In the Gaia, the player begins with the Wanderer (English: Rogue ) - the three following basic classes are the Mercenaries (English: Fighter ), the Mystics (English: Kahuna ) and the Animal Trainers (English: Spell Singer )

All three basic classes can accept another job from a certain level (level 50, job level 40). The warrior and magician classes can choose between two professions, while the animal class has an advanced job.

Usually one can distinguish the higher jobs of the warriors into the so-called DamageDealer (the classes that cause the highest damage) and the tanks (the classes that draw enemies to the group and absorb the majority of the damage). The distribution of tasks is not so clear with the magicians, the higher classes of the Deva are mostly used as healers, as they have the highest healing rate. A healer can also be used with the Gaia. The magician class of the asura, in turn, can be called DamageDealer.

Animal system

The animal system in Rappelz is one of the most important elements of the game. It allows the player to develop a pet in addition to his actual character . He can keep it by his side and it can support him in the fight. It can fight monsters together with the player and thereby also receives experience points and can, like the character, advance in level. For each level up, the pet receives one point for learning new skills. These skills include dealing out damage, buffs, or even healing spells. Pets can be equipped with a weapon and armor to increase their damage and defense points. However, this equipment is invisible. With the right equipment and well-trained skills, the pets deal a lot of damage and accelerate the game enormously.

Another important point in the Rappelz animal system is that each player class can have any number of pets, but can only produce one at a time. Exceptions here are the animal classes, which at a higher level can sometimes produce two pets at the same time.

To get a pet, you first need a blank pet card. This is, in the lower rarity range, to be bought at the dealer in town. Higher rarity levels, on the other hand, can only be looted by monsters ( drops ), the higher the rarity, the lower the chance of finding such a card. Once you have a blank pet card, you can tame the card. To do this, you look for a pet monster and kill it with the ability "Tame Creature". As soon as the player conjures the creature control ability on this monster, the monster will be tamed with a certain probability . If the taming fails, the pet card disappears and no pet is obtained.

In the course of the game the pet can also change externally, it can be evolved . This procedure changes the appearance and increases the status values. This also unlocks new skills. Evolution 1 goes from level 1 to 50 and can be delayed ( overbred ) from 50 to 60 . Through this overbreeding, the pet will become even stronger on the next evolution and acquire more skills than usual. The downside, however, is that overbreeding takes longer and the pet stays in the weaker evolution for as long. Evolution 2 goes from 50 or from 60 to 100. Here too, 100 to 115 can be overbred. Evolution 3 is the current maximum for pets.

With the Epic 7, which was released in autumn 2010, a new pet combination system was introduced. This allows the player to combine his tamed pet with another tamed pet of the same type and thereby obtain an enchanted pet of this type. For example, you can combine a Pantera pet with a Pantera and get a power level 1 Pantera. Two panteras at strength level 1 combined result in a strength level 2 pantera. These enchanted pets may have a. a slightly different look, unlocked new skills and be able to carry more equipment. However, disadvantages of this system are that combining can fail and a pet is lost and that enchanted pets lose their durability once they die. This means that it has to be charged relatively expensively on a regular basis in order to prevent the loss of the pet.

The pets are divided into rarity. The lowest rarity, as already mentioned, is to be bought from the dealer in town. The rest can be looted by monsters. Here's a quick rundown of the game's pets so far:

Normal:

• Panther - Puma- like pet specializing in melee attacks
• Tortus - turtle pet specializing in high defense and tank qualities
• Poultry - chicken- like pet, specializing in quick melee attacks and high evasion rates

Usually:

• Orc - pet specializing in melee attacks and medium defense
• Yeti - specializes in defense and tank grades and medium melee attacks
• Blue Pixie - Specializes in healing and assisting the player with mana-boosting abilities
• Red Pixie - specializes in ranged magic and damage over time
• Skeleton - specializes in quick melee attacks and high evasion rates
• Wolf - specializes in high evasion rates and melee attacks
• Kraken - specializing in melee magic and physical damage, can also buff the player with an ability
• Siren - specializes in debuffing and slowing opponents with curses and other magic

Unusual:

• Falconman - specializes in melee attacks and good defense
• Harpy - specializes in ranged attacks (physical) with the bow, has poor defense and can increase the attack speed of the player character
• Salamander - lizard-like pet specializing in melee magic and physical damage, has poor defense
• Unicorn - white unicorn specializing in assisting the player with enchantments and healing
• Nachtmahr - dark unicorn specializing in melee damage and self-enchantments

Rare:

• Engel - specializes in good defense and tank qualities. Can also heal players and pets, and deal ranged magic damage
• Eimus - Werewolf-like pet specializing in melee damage and blocking damage with the shield
• Tafari - Half human, half serpent, specializing in ranged magic and curses to weaken and cripple enemies
• Kentauros - half man, half horse, specializing in very good melee damage and medium defense
• Clown / Joker - based on the appearance of the evil joker. It is the only pet so far that has no active abilities and is therefore not suitable for use as a DD or similar. It basically only functions as a chance enhancer for the new pet enchantment in Epic 7 and can only rarely arise if the enchantment of two other pets fails.

Very rare:

• Cerberus - three-headed hellhound specializing in melee damage and high hit security
• Blue Djinni - blue genie , specializing in melee damage and good defense
• Mystical Djinni - yellow genie specializing in ranged magic and partial healing

Unique:

• White Dragon - specializes in very good ranged magic damage and very good defense
• Carbuncle - specializes in high defense and medium melee damage
• Death Knight - specializes in high melee damage and attack speed

Soul creatures: With these cards it is possible since Epic 8.2 to tame almost all creatures that exist in the Rappelzwelt.

A distinction is also made between the rarity levels unusual (field mobs), rare (dungeon mobs) and very rare (dungeon intermediate bosses, counter bosses).

A soul creature's skills are determined randomly.

As Rappelz evolves, more and more new pets are added.

Game server

The first western server from Rappelz was started in October 2006 with the US version in open beta . Regular game operations (end of Open Beta) began on November 3, 2006. Shortly after the release of the third expansion (Epic III) by Rappelz, further servers in the US version started. They are all named after Rappelz's tame pets (the exception here is Tanda , who was named after a game master ). The US version originally had 7 servers, but a server merger took place in February 2010. In it, 4 servers were made into 2 each, and a new server was started at the same time. The US version currently has 5 servers, one of which is PvP and one anti-PvP-oriented (no open PlayerKill, see below, is possible here).

The European version was launched in January 2008 in Open Beta with the languages ​​German and French. The game finally went online on February 14th. There are now Turkish, Polish and Italian. The European, German version currently has four servers, three of which are normal and one is anti-PvP-oriented (no open PlayerKill, see below, is possible here). Here, too, the servers are named after pets that can be tamed (e.g. Horus, Bastet).

PvP

In Rappelz there are four independent PvP systems: the open PlayerKill system, regular duels, dungeon victories and the special deathmatch zone .

The open PlayerKill (PK) is the most common method for PvP. It is an open system, i. that is, it can be done anywhere in the world (outside of cities) and you cannot choose whether to participate. To use this method, a character must activate PK mode. After that he can a) attack and kill any character in the world and b) be attacked and killed by any character in the world. If the PK mode character kills another character, he loses morale. In addition to the loss of morale, the player receives penalties in the form of a red player name. This red name means that he is outlawed and can always be attacked (even if no PK mode is activated). Another penalty is the curse, which results in the lowering of some status values ​​for a certain period of time. While the red name can be paid for by donations in the city, the curse must be eaten out. The German version has a server on which this version of PvP is switched off (server "Fenris").

The regular duels can also be held anywhere in the world, but require the consent of both players. With this version there are no penalties and / or loss of morale, but also no insidious attacks or assaults.

The third form is the Dungeon Sieges . This is the only group PvP in Rappelz so far. In Rappelz, the dungeons , i.e. places with very difficult and high monsters, can be conquered by guilds . This gives them certain advantages, such as a teleport in front of the entrance of the dungeon. A guild can challenge the respective owner guild and it comes to a Dungeon Siege, in which the guilds fight against each other in a monsterless version of the dungeon. The owner receives the dungeon for a week and can be challenged again that week. Dungeon Sieges always take place on weekends at fixed times.

The fourth and final option for PvP is the so-called deathmatch zone . It is an instanced larger area where open PvP with anyone is possible without penalties. Here everyone is on their own, it is not possible for the players to create groups among themselves. The deathmatch zone is divided into a free area, in which players of any level can be, and once into an area that is limited according to player level. This zone can be entered at any time.

costs

In contrast to comparable games, there are no monthly costs for this game. It is financed through the publisher's shop, where items (in-game items) can be bought with real money. On the one hand, there is equipment / jewelry to buy there, these can imperceptibly raise character stats, change the appearance of the character or just represent a status symbol. On the other hand, there are potions that triple the number of experience points received for an hour and thus enable the character to develop more quickly. This is especially useful as this game belongs to the Asian cattle category . A special feature of the Rappelz shop is that only a few items cannot be sold in the game against the game currency. As a result, the gap between shop users and non-shop users is relatively small. The game or the game client can be downloaded free of charge from the operator's website.

Versions

Rappelz is an endless project by the Korean development studio nFlavor . It is continuously being developed and expanded. Each new stage of development is listed under the term "Epic" followed by a Roman number (similar to Chapter). The game is currently on Epic VII. Rappelz can be compared to games like Lineage II .

Several versions of the game currently exist. There is an American version in English , a European (in German , French , Turkish , Polish ), a Korean, a Japanese, a Hong Kong, an Arabic (under the name Hope of Nations ), a Russian, a Taiwanese version and since July 2010 also a version for the Philippines. Apart from the language, there is hardly any difference between the versions. However, some versions may have more recent patches available earlier than others. An exception here is the Arabic version by Rappelz; it bears the name "Hope of Nations" and is graphically slightly adapted to the customs there (including no scarce clothing for women). The versions are operated on different servers and cannot be mixed (it is not possible to play with the US client on a DE server or vice versa, for example).

Security software

Rappelz also uses security software to protect against unauthorized modifications to the game, cheats and other tools to gain advantages for individual players, which is installed when the game is installed. This is nProtect GameGuard from INCA Internet. The program updates itself regularly in order to be polished against newer types of cheats etc. However, inadvertent conflicts with firewalls or other software that is not a prohibited tool at all can arise. Some firewall software are e.g. Sometimes not compatible with GameGuard, which prevents the game from starting until it is switched off.

swell

1. ↑ http://www.gpotato.com/ Rappelz "5 million users"
2. ↑ http://www.rebell.at/ ( Memento of the original from September 26, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Rappelz “Just another free MMORPG?” Test on relbell.at 

Web links

• de.rappelz.webzen.com/landing/ - Official website
• Download - German and English client
• Test at www.gamona.de