Nexon’s Maple Story global recently released a patch which introduced the game’s 5th jobclass: the Pirate.  Since the game first launched back in May 2005, the only available jobs to players were Thief, Warrior, Archer and Mage, each with their respective job branches.

The way of the Pirate opens to the player once they reach level 10 and have at least 20 DEX.  There are two different paths a player may pursue:

Gunslinger	Brawler
The Gunslinger attacks from a distance with elemental bullets to deal small amounts of damage at a rapid pace.  Their HP is rather low, but this is compensated by skills which provide heightened mobility.	The Brawler attacks at extremely close range to deal massive damage.  Attacking up close ensures this job will take a lot of damage.  A high HP score offsets this a bit.  The Brawler is also capable of transforming into an energy form.
Ideal Stats: STR: X (where x = your level) DEX: As high as possible LUK: 4 INT: 4	Ideal Stats: STR: As high as possible DEX: X (where x = your level+5) LUK: 4 INT: 4
Weapon= Guns click image for complete list of guns	Weapon = Knuckles click image for complete list of knuckles

I admit Maple Story is one of my guilty pleasures.  I think when it comes to MMOs, I like my games simple and cute – this prevents the addiction from becoming too severe *cough*WoW*cough*.  I have been excited for this job for a very long time and I already have a level 10 character ready and waiting to make the job advancement.

Many long-term players are estimating that while fun, these jobs will have little to offer when it comes to defeating high level bosses such as Zakum.  In terms of partying skills, both brawler and gunslinger come up short, so these jobs are ideal for people who don’t mind a little soloing.

Regardless, both jobs look like a lot of fun and are worthy of trying.  With so many people creating them after the patch, you should have no problem forming a party.

If you are new to the world of Maple Story and are thinking about embarking on the path of the pirate for your first character, I recommend checking out Ayumilove’s extensive Pirate guide located here.  Also, Sleepywood has compiled a list of Pirate skills all the way up until the 4th job advancement.  [Insert Pirate pun ending in arrrrrrrr]

Related Entries:
Nexon Japan Announces Tenvi

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Aeria Game Entertainment, the company who is localizing the MMORPG Shin Megami Tensei: IMAGINE has announced recently that it will begin Beta testing.  Testing has not begun yet, but you can sign up for it here.  You may need to first create an account with Aeria if you don’t already have one. 

This video gives a decent intro to the game’s key features.  There is no word on exactly when the game will be available to testers, but it’s exciting to be prepared.  If you want more information on the game, this wiki may help.

Related Entries:
All Kotowari entries with the MMORPG tag can be found here.

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If you’re wondering who Nexon is, then you have probably never heard of their flagship title, Maple Story. Maple Story is a rather unique MMORPG in that it is both side-scrolling and 2D. May sound kind of lame to some, but I must admit, I play Maple Story from time to time and have about 3 solid (> LVL 70) characters. Please don’t make fun of me.

Anyway, Nexon started developing a new title called Tenvi. Tenvi is in the same vein as Maple Story in that it is also side-scrolling and 2D, but it does bring a lot of cool new features to the table. The main differences are enhanced character sprites and the addition of a Guardian which follows your character around.

The game features 3 different races (each come in male or female), which can take up arms with different guardians. Here is a summary of the races:

		Race: Andoras The Andoras race most closely resembles humans. They specialize in advanced technology, so for that reason their guardian is a robot. Their robot wields swords, guns, and hammers.
		Race: Tarie The Tarie race looks very much like elves in most games. They have white skin and pointed ears. They actually transform into their guardian which is a kind of dark hero. Their skills revolve around status effecting magic.
		Race: Silver The Silver race has brown skin and horns. Their guardian is a tamed Dragon. They also excel in magic, but unlike the Tarie, their magic is holy in nature.

The Guardians bring some unique features to the game:

• The characters can “become one” with their guardian. The Andoras rides in its robot, the Tarie transforms into its hero, and the Silver rides on its dragon.
• At level 20, when a character is one with their guardian, they gain the ability to fly.
• Both the pilot and guardian can equip different equipments which change their respective appearances

Tenvi is already open to the public in Korea, and will be entering beta-testing in Japan come August 21st. Nexon brought just about all of its titles over to North America, so we should be hearing about it soon. In the meantime I leave you with some screens to enjoy:

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 Recently NCSoft revealed some details of their mysterious work in progress known only as Project M.  The game is confirmed to be a MMORPG called Blade & Soul, but the system that will support the game is the topic of some speculation. 

An amazing video was released to the public displaying the game’s graphics.  To be honest, judging from the quality of the graphics, they could never be for the XBox 360.  That leaves PC or PS3, or possibly both.  A recent interview with NCSoft’s president Chris Chung seems to suggest that the game will appear on the PS3.

Each Race will have 2 jobclasses, right now we only know of about three.  The Jin appears to have both a standard swordfighter, as well as a class which has levitating blades that surround the character.  For Gon I only noticed the jobclass which uses metallic fists to fight.

The game appears to feature PVP, standard MMO monster hunting, and parties of up to three people.  PVP battles seem very intense, and focus on martial arts, which is what the designers intended.  The complexity of PVP battles seems to further suggest that the game will be for PS3 rather than PC.

Some Intense PVPing

Other features worth mentioning are how players can run swiftly across walls–a really cool feature that will make for some interesting gameplay elements.

I was also quite shocked to see that when a player is hit with an especially strong attack, they are knocked back quite a bit.  It also seems that players can take advantage of when a player is knocked down.  Perhaps this means okizeme will affect combat like in fighting games.

If you frequent my blog you’ll notice that this is the first time I have talked at length about an MMORPG.  That’s just how exciting I think this game is.  If I could shed off all the responsibilities of a normal life, I might consider signing up for Blade and Soul once it’s released.

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