The Check's in the Mail
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style="font-style: italic;">Players can now
send items and coin via mail in Mythos.
Among the many changes to Mythos
in the recent release is the introduction to the mail system. Just like
in most other MMOGs, players can use mail in
style="font-style: italic;">Mythos
to send notes, items, and coin. You don't need to find a mailbox in the
current build, but you can't send items from the clearings outside
dungeons. You have to be in a major town.
Opening the mail menu
automatically opens up your inventory and character sheet, too, so
finding the item you need to mail is a snap. You'll pay a minimal fee
to ship your item, but it's nothing that will make you hesitate to send a
useful rare or crafting recipe to a buddy.
It's in the Bag
With
crafting components dropping from enemies and coming from harvestable
trees and nodes of ore, Flagship Studios knew players would need a
better way to sort their inventories. To that end, they've added an
ingredients tab to the inventory screen. Now weapons, armor, potions,
and maps go to the primary inventory screen while crafting ingredients
automatically go to the ingredients screen.
From my limited
testing, it looks as though there are dozens of different ingredient
types. Maybe too many. My bag had something in half its slots after
running one overland area and one dungeon. I had no clue which ones I
need because I did not have any recipes yet, and mousing over the item
did not provide any information about which type of crafting the item
aids.
UI Changes
The UI in Mythos
received some major changes with the latest release. Probably the
biggest of those is the camera controls. Instead of a fixed camera
looking down from a 3/4 perspective, I was able to free up the camera
to follow my character. I found I could also rotate the camera without
going to the Vanity Cam mode, which was nice. Finally, players who need
to be able to use WASD controls can now do so, though I don't know that
it's very useful for me in this style of game. Having options is always
appreciated, though.
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style="font-style: italic;">Ralsu didn't
die...this time.
Another change I noticed was that the health and life orbs have
changed to cylinders and have been separated. Instead of both being on
the left of the HUD, they are now on opposite ends. I don't have a
strong opinion about the placement, but I do like the look of the
cylinders better than the orbs used prior to this release. Finally, the
screen now gets a red glow around its edges when your character is
about to die. Coupled with the heartbeat sound effect, it adds some
sense of urgency to the situation.
Shadowlands and PvP
It would be remiss of me to not mention the player-vs.-player (PvP)
changes implemented with the new Mythos
release. At character creation, players can now flag their characters
as Shadowlands only. This designation means that PvP combat can erupt
in any town, dungeon, overland map, or clearing. No place is safe!
Players who lose a PvP battle are subjected to the humiliation of
having their corpse looted of any one item. Thus, the skilled PvPers
can just slaughter you to take your better equipment and get even
stronger.
Don't worry if PvP is not your thing. Without the
Shadowlands designation, players must consent to PvP. And Flagship
Studios has introduced an Anarchy statistic to characters to keep
people honest. Players who pick on the weak, killing characters well
below their level will find their Anarchy score suffers and that when
they die in PvP, the victor will be able to loot more than one item
from their corpse.
Parting Thoughts
Mythos
has undergone some major changes in the last week. Flagship Studios is
really working hard to get things ready for open beta. I won't be
surprised if open beta starts by the end of April. I also expect to see
some tweaking of crafting, racial traits, and skill bonuses. I also hope
itemization gets a full pass. I love that I am actually getting
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/29574">legendary items
to drop now, but the drop rate for items in general seems a bit high.
A few weeks in, and I am still having a blast. I can't wait to see what
comes next!
Have you tried the
Mythos beta? Do you want to? href="http://forums.tentonhammer.com/showthread.php?t=25395">Let
us know in our forums.
To read the latest guides, news, and features you can visit our Mythos Game Page.
