Chase's MYTHOS Preview Part II
The default camera option is a rotatable top-down view similar to some games you may know.
Before I go into further detail about the game, I should explain that it is still in closed beta, which means a lot will change. For example, up until about two weeks ago, all of the wilderness in the game was instanced, with randomized, set cookie cutter paths between Point A and Point B. What the devs found was that most people were playing the game as if they were alone, killing things in their own private randomized wilderness and hardly ever partying. Socialization was more or less limited to the chat box in the corner of the screen. Now, however, the game has an Overworld added to it, with dungeons still being privately instanced and randomized, but the town and the world above being shared with a limited number of other players. While various things are still being adjusted, it has achieved its goal of encouraging (but not forcing) players to group together to do dungeons and quests. I myself joined a group with a bunch of German-speakers to hunt down the Mythos version of Fallen Ones and venture into a dungeon.
The thing to keep in mind about this game is that the developers are unbeatably amazing in their socialization with their player base. They listen to our suggestions and complaints, and somehow manage to make changes that satisfy almost everyone. They listen to our ideas and suggestions on skill balance and make them work with the game. The forums, where most of this interaction occurs, is littered with posts from developers either responding to our ideas, helping us in our tech support problems, or socializing in various bits of forum silliness, sometimes posting and showing us that they are STILL working long into the late hours of the night. These devs care, and I have absolutely no doubt that they are going to make a record-breaking game.
But enough of the loving, it time for the game details! Right now there are four different races (each with male and female genders) and three different classes. Each class has three skill trees, and more character builds than you can shake a stick at. The skills you choose tie very closely in with the stats you put points into (Strength, Dexterity, Vitality and Wisdom), resulting in many different builds that are fun and useful throughout the game. There are more skills in each tree than there were in Diablo II, and the only skill requiring prerequisites are essentially power-ups for that base skill. To explain it in a simplified manner, imagine starting with a fireball, and as you level you gain access to post-requisite skills that power up that fireball into something that explodes on contact and catches things on fire while simultaneously lowering that enemy resistance to fire with the attack. The end result is you can put points into your favorite skill starting from Level 1 and watch as it grows more powerful as you level up.
The crafting trees are as easy to use and understand as the skill trees
One of the more interesting ways to customize your character is via achievements. Mythos takes them to an all new level, with each unlocked achievement being equipable (with one open slot unlocked every 10 levels), and they can range from doing +10% damage for killing 10,000 monsters, to extra strength and dexterity points for killing a boss, to even gaining movement speed for picking up a large number of shoes. Some achievements have successive levels, with bonuses that stack, and others are secret and fun, and can even involve kicking a certain boss to death.
Whenever you level up you get three things: 5 stat points, 2 skill points, and 2 crafting points. Crafting in this game involves specializing in one of three crafting trees (Terran, Ethereal and Sylvan), and collecting ingredients from around the world and from monsters to make what you want. You also need to get recipes, which are dropped from monsters and sold by vendors. Each crafted item you attempt to make has a sliding scale that raises stats but also raises your chance of failure. Additionally, there are special things called Heraldry Sockets in each crafted item, which have a level assigned to them based on your skill and success at making the item. One thing you can specialize in is Heraldries, which are a kind of temporary gem with various enchantments you put into the items you make. If you have two characters working towards one specialized and riskily crafted item, you can make some extremely high-damage weapons and high-defense armor. As an added bonus, you can pick up all the junky items you would otherwise ignore and break them down for more crafting materials. The end result is a useful and somewhat fun element to the game that isn found in other dungeon crawlers.
Speaking of dungeon crawling, there are various ways to go about it in this game. The simplest way is to wander around, either on your own or while doing quests, descending into various randomized dungeons and slaying all that lay within. Another way is to find or buy runestones, and then searching for the matching color runegate to travel to places never before seen. These runestones (as well as all dungeons) come in two flavors: regular and epic. Epic maps have monsters in such quantity that wandering in alone becomes hazardous for all but the most experiences players. But don worry about having people steal your loot when attempting these epic maps, because in Mythos the only loot you can see is your loot. You have absolutely no idea what anyone else is getting, and the same amount of items drops no matter how you play the game.
Zone 2 will be returning in Overworld form soon. It features deserts and dry wastelands.
So what if you find something good that could work for one of your other characters? Well, all you have to do is go to one of the major towns and send it via in-game mail to another character. This gives you the stash space needed for each character along with ease of transfer, eliminating the need for shared stashes or guild members or friends to help you trade your stuff around. Then what happens if you find something really good and want to trade it? Well, there are various chat channels, including a trade channel, and channels based on area for you to search for people who might have something you want. The best part about Mythos trading is that unlike Diablo II, the copper, silver and gold you trade are actually valuable. The last factor into the economy will be the introduction of ingots, the currency bought through the game future in-game store that will give you access to many useful and fun (but not unfairly overpowered) items, pets, in-game housing, and other features that are planned around the full-game release.
Those are all the details I am going to go into for this interview. If there is enough demand, I will write a LONG and DETAILED sequel interview in the future, but for now I will leave you with an exclusive batch of new interview questions from some of the people working on Mythos.