[TS info: Lingiesrv.dyndns.org port:9987, ask for the password]
Overview
Another free to play game here, Uncharted Waters Online (UWO) is made in Asia by NetMarble. You start out as a nobody, and through hard work you become a somebody. You can fight on sea or on land, trade, and explore to make your mark on the 14th to 16th century era. Despite a huge number of historical marks, there are too many conflicting pieces to put down a certain date, which is a nice touch to me. You gain the ability to have aides (which leads to jokes often in schoolchat), but you can never sail more than one ship. Your levels determine a large majority of the gameplay, such as your number of skills and your available ships.
Classes
Ok, the obvious first (and easiest) job type to explain is the Merchant. Merchant ships tend to be moderately weak in combat, somewhat faster than Battle ships, and have a huge cargo. Whether it's trading bought goods (faster), or actually producing your own goods (much more lucrative), the Merchant job type is by far the easiest. Able to buy more, sell at a higher profit, and produce, Merchants tend to be the first choice of new players and the fallback role for anyone short on money.
Adventure job classes focus around discoveries. Discoveries can literally be anything~even stepping into a new town counts as one, though undoubtedly hundreds of people "discovered" it before you. Adventure specializes in essentially non-combative roles; discovering plants, animals, ancient things, and recovering shipwrecks. Adventure ships tend to be moderately durable but don't have quite the firepower of even trade ships, a good sized cargo, and fast speed. Adventurers aren't really a first choice for many players, at least from what I see.
Obviously, the Battle job type (called Maritime, but that sounds too general to me, maritime = having to do with sea, so...
) is the hardest. Combining battle skills with the inherent money hole that is fighting and repairing, its hard to do much. In my opinion. Battle ships are slower, the cargo varies but is usually lower than Adventure's, but they excel in combat with more men, more cannons, and better turn speed. Battle jobs are all based on combat, whether that's cannon-, melee-, or land-based. Battle characters can also learn Shipbuilding, which is the most lucrative skill once it's a high rank. Battle characters tend to be either new players that want to be pirates, or experienced players that basically want more fighting.Gameplay
Already mentioned, there's not much to add. Gameplay revolves around your class's specialties, which can be changed at any time. Here's some important info though: starting waters are entirely PvE. Only certain areas are PvP, and those are decently close to starting areas, but nowhere you can get without actually trying. Plus, there's a warning that pops up when you enter, and a constant marker on your map. School chat, which is a nice feature (albeit there are only 200 total players allowed in
), is very useful for helping others or getting help from others. Companies, which are essentially guilds, allow for many more things once you get in one (though I don't have one, I may start a SEN company if we get a few people on) [Old info; SEN company is now up and running, simply head to any Company Administration Office, apply to SEN, and I'll let you in ;D] Quests come in two categories, of which you can have at most one: Event and GM/School. Event quests require Fame to unlock, as well as time (I'm currently on Chapter 18, IIRC, and have been for the past 3 days), while GM/School quests are different...GM quests look at your overall progress in whichever class you're examining the quests for and give a few quests based on this. School quests are entirely in order, no fame, time, or any other requirement except having completed the previous quest. GM quests give a variety of rewards, while School quests give gold, fame, and the infrequent additional item. School quests are intended to teach you how to play, while giving you more rewards than GM quests, so generally it's wise to complete them 
Combat
As alluded to before, this could be split up into three subsections: cannon-, melee-, and land-based. Cannons tend to be the best choice for newer players; they have range, and can deal massive damage. On-hit effects ranging from smoke balls to make your enemy less accurate, incendiary to...well, set 'em on fire, grapeshot to tear through the enemy sailors, and chainshot to destroy their sails also are available. Cannons, however, need cannonballs to fire, and the more men you have the more damage they do, so there is a space conflict...which leads to melee combat.
Melee is for players looking to get more loot. Specialized ships like Galleys tend to be the best; high troop count combined with rowing power to speed more effectively than sails make for a melee ship that's hard to beat. One skill, called Plunder, makes it much more lucrative than cannon-based combat. Plunder allows you to...well, plunder more stuff when you win. Of course, there's also ramming, but I have yet to see a player do that often.
Finally, there's land-based combat. This battle system is more or less turn-based. Fighting against usually bandits, thieves, and ex-military, there tends to be more skill involved with countering the enemy. You get a meter that fills up when you attack, allowing you to use items that deplete the meter a certain amount.
And that's really it. Any more, you can learn by the in-game school system, school chat, or asking me directly. Now, for my unbiased, not-trying-to-sell-you-the-game opinion: UWO, for a free MMORPG, is MASSIVE. It's so open that there's literally no limit to what you can do...well, ok, you can't marry the barwench, but you understand what I'm saying. It's not a very action-packed game, even for my Battle class, so if you're looking for constant excitement you probably need to go ahead and leave. Even so, it's the only game I have that relaxes me 100% of the time.
Screenshots and Videos
Screenshots
Also, nighttime Videos
Player List
SEN Name -- UWO main | UWO second
Oh, and I don't have (or don't remember getting) a referral link, so no more of that BS
Oh, and capitalization IS IMPORTANT.
Oh, and one more thing: Contact me when you hit the levels required for a Flute, and you'll get one free
Links
Wiki
Olous
Post has been edited 12 time(s), last time on Jul 19 2011, 10:32 pm by poison_us.
