Jason T Clark.net

It’s Friday right? Ok, I can tell you about this then…..

Somehow I stumbled upon a very interesting MMORPG called “Rohan Online: Blood Fued” out on the MMORPG.com website. You see, I’ve been looking for a really good RPG to test since I beta tested Guild Wars during their open beta a few years ago. Now that Guild Wars has been released and is doing quite well, I haven’t been compelled to try out anything, just because I was so biased about the concept behind Guild Wars- you know, the whole FREE concept? Yeah, that’s a good one. Now I know that there are several MMOs out there that charge a fee, but unless that RPG is unequivocally the best thing since pants pockets, I don’t see why I would pay somebody every month to play it. Now, don’t comment to me about why it’s important to have play-to-play platforms, I understand the idea of that perfectly. Still, there are other ways to use micro payments besides simply paying to login.

Now all of that was said to explain why Rohan Online is so intriguing. From my vantage point, it seems like the game could be free to play when it’s released, but at the same time they have released and Item Mall and an Exchange Market, which is web-based, and can be used to buy, sell, and exchange items in the game. Players have been creating fansites for this kind of thing since the birth of MMOs like WoW and Everquest, but this is one of the few that I’ve seen where that is the point out of the gate. Second Life and other virtual worlds environments have this too, but Rohan does it with a slight spin- these are weapons, and items that AID you in your quests- not flashy AOs (animation overrides) or scripted bling. I’m sure that with enough looking around, I’d find more little known MMOs that are doing the same sort of thing.

Ok, so the download was quick, the patches were a applied in the same swift fashion, and I was up and running within a matter of a few patient minutes. I was impressed with the fluidness of the environment, especially since I’m not running the hottest GPU on the market at the moment. With decent graphics, particle effects, and a well laid out UI, I think I’ll be tinkering around with Rohan for as long as I can.