The Chronicles of Spellborn (TCoS) Cheats

Chronicles of Spellborn Is Now Free To Play

2009-08-20T09:17:00.000-07:00

It has begun…

As you may know, The Chronicles of Spellborn goes free to play.

With a somewhat rocky launch, The Chronicles of Spellborn by Acclaim, has decided to go the free route due to lackluster reception, however, his doesn’t mean that the game is at all bad, it’s just a decision by Acclaim. RezPLS was able to play the game during closed and open beta, and everyone here thoroughly enjoyed the game play. CoS has a fresh style to mmorpg’s, as it uses a more active combat system, allowing you to set up really interactive combos using the “skilldeck” system.

But there’s a twist…

Acclaim will not be releasing new updates or patches for the game, which means the game is essentially “frozen”. Acclaim does state that they plan to continue to create events and allow players to do the same as well. Hopefully this doesn’t place the coffin in the grave for CoS, only time will tell.

What is Chronicles of Spellborn?

One of the main features of CoS, the skilldeck, is essentially a rotating hotbar, which allows you to create your own combo systems. This is one of the first apparent features, but also one of them which turned some people away. As the developers of CoS put it “We still face the problem of assumption where people see the skilldeck in its uncomplicated low-level form. It’s hard to realise the freedom, strategy and personality it adds to combat later on. It’s one of those gameplay mechanics which is truly easy to learn, but hard to master.”

Chronicles of Spellborn also has very lush graphics, which will put will now put it as one of the best looking F2P games out there. It has quirky animations and character models which gives the game a surreal vibe, but also an immense amount of style.
Check it out

What does the future hold for Chronicles of Spellborn?

There have been many games recently closing it’s servers (Matrix Online, Shadowbane, etc) because it’s not able to support itself no longer, but there is still a lot of life left in these games.

So what will happen to Chronicles of Spellborn? Well, making predictions, hopefully Acclaim will be able to secure the game with some sort of item shop or premium content. Older games that have made the switch were never able to correctly adapt, and with heavy server costs, down they went. There are other games that closed their doors but were later revived by the community, and now has an active base yet again. So who knows? RezPLS wishes the best to everyone at Chronicles of Spellborn and hope they are able to continue to produce some really great content, we’ll be sure to check it out in the years to come.

Citadel of Ail

2009-08-01T05:06:00.000-07:00

Lore

The Citadel of Ail is the largest structure in Green District on Quarterstone. The building was the main Rune University built using old blueprints from House Onyx. While the University mainly complemented the ‘minor’ university of Rune High House, it had a secondary function in that it was used for experimental research on the various effects of magic and minerals. This research was conducted in the Citadel’s Ancestral Forge.

It was here that House Rune learned more about the Deadspell Storm and discovered new uses for minerals such as levium, ankhstone and vitridur . Other Houses sponsored the experiments of House Rune, most notably House Silver, which sold House Rune’s research as new products. However, the Ancestral Forge was closed down by the Enclave Council in 984 AC due to an accident. The resulting explosion killed a number of people and it was then that the Enclave realized having such a dangerous place right in their middle class housing district wasn’t the best of ideas.

It all proved useless. Ten years later in 994 AC, the Arcane Surge wreaked havoc in the lush Green District. The Arcane Surge was a blast of rogue magic that shot forth from the Citadel of Ail and destroyed everything in its path killing hundreds. But it was the aftermath that proved even more deadly. The explosion deposited Arcane Infused Ore Residue – also known as AIOR – all over Green District, causing the first signs of the Tempest Disease to emerge.

This disease corrupted and changed the chemistry of the brain of any living being, may they be human, daevi or animal and warped them into twisted combinations of creature and AIOR. Those poor souls were robbed of their sanity, and would attack anything not infected on sight. The people corrupted by the Tempest Disease were later referred to as the Shunned.

Subsequent to the Arcane Surge, the Green District was locked down to prevent any spreading of the infection, shutting off salvation for many restless souls, but with it also the true reason of why the Arcane Surge occured in the first place…

It was this disaster that caused the Enclave to found the Enclave Militia and Hawk’s Eye Academy, drafting people through conscription to ensure the Enclave would be ready for any and all disasters. House Rune has used Rune High House as their main university ever since, though there is the newly founded Citizen’s College in Quarterstone’s Fountain District as compensation.

Gameplay The Citadel of Ail – Fame level 30-35

The Citadel of Ail’s main building is four stories high and was used, in order, as living quarters, administration, debate and leadership and as an observatory and repository for artifacts, rare items and relics.

Creatures and NPC’s within the Citadel are all warped and mutated due to prolonged exposure to the Arcane Infused Ore Residue (AIOR).
When players enter, they set foot in a large hall that has carpets and polished stone. On both sides, double doors bar the way, and the only way to transgress is by taking the main hallway door straight on.

The main hallway has a series of rooms connected to it; and halfway through players can enter the administration offices or archives. Administrator Becks awaits adventurers there.

Players can continue their journey around the rubble and take the stairs to the living quarters. Here they will have to find their way through the rooms to the main stairway leading up to the debate circle. The stairs to the Debate Circle are guarded by two mutated creatures.

These creatures are mutated dogs that were once pets to the inhabitants of the citadel: Pooch and Tack.

After defeating them, players can enter the Debate Circle. This was used by the citadel scholars to dictate their ruling. It has a few mutated humanoid mobs and near the double doors to the repository stands Supreme Chancellor Amsell, the final boss of the Citadel of Ail.

Paragraph 1.0.5.1 - Is that loot in your pocket?

2009-07-14T06:01:00.000-07:00

Greetings, Heroes of the Enclave!

This paragraph is small in size (approx. 8MB), but large, if not huge, in consequence.

Though we didn’t adjust the loot tables on mobs, we fixed a problem with how loot tables are processed. As a result, all mobs and resources now drop more diverse loot. Items which were previously not dropping at all, are now available.

The complete patch notes can be found here.

Have fun.
Link: Patchnotes 1.0.5.1
Link: Forum
Link: mmorpg Cheats

TCOS Patch 1.0.5 - Scroll of a helping Scythand

2009-06-16T09:55:00.000-07:00

Welcome to Patch 1.0.5 - Scroll of a helping Scythand, as the extended maintenance continues you can take your time to have a look at our news and Patch notes for this update.

New recruits and veterans alike will be greeted by the newly built Hawksmouth Docks at Hawk’s Landing. The Docks and the surrounding area are now home to some of the less fortunate people of the Enclave, waiting for some brave soul to help them out. They will introduce recruits to the game and offer rewards to those who assist them.

As well as this new content, a crafting quest has been added, introducing players to the crafting system by forging a brand new weapon and placing their first Sigil.

To enhance questing in The Chronicles of Spellborn, a Quest Tracker has been added for your convenience. The Tracker shows the uncompleted objectives that remain in a Quest, allowing adventurers to play without having to switch between the game and the Quest Log every now and then to check up on their progress. Players can select up to five quests to be tracked simultaneously.

Tales From the Vale, a storyline which has been open-ended till now, finds its grand finale. Players at around Fame Level 30 can now venture into a mysterious cave in Homestead to wrap up the events in the village of Waller’s Hill.

Ancestral Mages will find the behavior of their Spirit Pets improved. Pets are now better at keeping aggro of hostile mobs and at hitting moving targets. Some Pets have had their Skill Decks altered to give them specific purposes. For example, the Calaspider now has a ranged attack which reduces Physique, enhancing its PvP viability.

Players grouping up might want to reconsider ignoring Runemages for their Parties. Targets that are now ‘Burning’ will no longer transfer their Flames to melee attackers. This allows the Runemages’ Party Members to stay in the action without getting burned to a crisp themselves.

Apart from numerous Player Skill fixes, members of the Brotherhood of the Glaive have had their Skill Decks fixed and rebalanced. Their Thugs were especially notorious for stacking their ‘Expose Range’ attacks. This has been toned down and their group behavior has been improved.

User feedback, activities and encounters in the Demon Chamber of Cowardice have served for a couple of improvements to the Demon Chest. Loot will now be awarded when the third lock is opened, so it no longer requires a player to interact with what is inside. The looting itself now uses regular Group Looting mechanics, so the reward is now available as a group loot, rather than before, which had the item go to one person.

After adding new server and client-side tools to investigate the community-dubbed ‘sync issue’, we encountered several small problems. These have all been fixed, so the real-time aiming and player movement is now significantly more accurate. These fixes are paired with a new interface setting, ‘Player Lag Smoothing’. This allows players to increase or decrease the visual smoothing of other players movement. This will not interfere with accuracy.

One of the issues was more prone to occur during repeated jumping, so ‘bunny hopping’ players beware! We will continue to monitor this situation to keep the real-time combat system perform at its optimal capability.

..these and many other fixes and improvements await you in Scroll 5: A Helping Scythand.

* All players will be placed at the Docks, due to the terrain changes with this patch.

The full Patch notes can be found here. We hope you enjoy this latest update for The Chroncles of Spellborn!

Link: Patchnotes 1.0.5
Link: Forum
Link: mmorpg Cheats

TCOS Cheat: Safe zone on objects

2009-05-15T11:22:00.000-07:00

In TCoS if mobs are chasing you, you can jump up on various objects and most of the time the mobs cant get to you. But mobs will not stop trying to attack you while up on the object either. So if a monster is chasing you, and there is a good treestump or boulder or something to jump on that isnt too small, most of the time the monster will not climb up after you. I my party had a boss mob start chasing us, out of habit we jumped on a large boulder so not to die. The boss mob could not get up on the boulder, and stayed there trying to attack us while we finally killed it with ranged attacks and spells. This works most of the time for normal mobs also. They very rarely follow up on the object, and when they have, you can jump down and jump back up and sometimes they wont chase up top the 2nd time.

Spellborn Community Webinar

2009-04-03T13:53:00.000-07:00

Meet with the Acclaim Team behind Spellborn and get the latest news and information.

We will covering various aspects of the game and taking time to talk to you, our community about your thoughts, ideas and concerns.

Title: Spellborn Community Webinar
Date: Friday, April 3, 2009 Time: 3:00 PM - 4:00 PM PDT

After registering you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the Webinar.
Space is limited, reserve your Webinar seat now at: https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/309284880

Link: Forum
Link: mmorpg Cheats

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TCOS: Welcome to patch 1.0.3.1 — Paragraph Of Lost & Found

2009-03-25T06:51:00.000-07:00

Welcome to patch 1.0.3.1 — Paragraph Of Lost & Found

Today, Tuesday, March 24, 2009, the patch 1.0.3.1 “Paragraph Of Lost & Found” will be roll out on the Spellborn NV universes (servers).

In order to give you the best experience in The Chronicles of Spellborn, our developers worked hard on fixing little annoying issues and we are glad to announce you that these bugs that needed to be solved, are gone now!

The patch notes are available on the forums and on the launcher of the game.

See you in the game!

Link: Forum Thread
Link: Patch Notes

TCOS: Acclaim Closed Beta Started!

2009-03-20T01:50:00.000-07:00

The first group of players that will have access to the Closed Beta are handpicked from the Acclaim Voon chats, David Perry's twitter and Historian's beta tester list. This first group of players has been limited to 200-500 players to allow game testing.

Check your 'Account Summary' to see if you have Closed Beta access: http://www.acclaim.com/myaccount.htm it will say 'Spellborn Status Active'. If your account is ACTIVE launch the game client and login.

Players anxious to join the game can download and install the game now, so you will be completely ready to play once the game opens http://spellborn.acclaim.com/downloads.html

For Spellborn updates check the website http://spellborn.acclaim.com or follow our Spellborn twitter at http://twitter.com/mmoverload

The Closed Beta will be available for a limited time and we haven't decided if we will refresh player accounts once the game transitions into Open Beta. During the Closed Beta premium subscriptions will not be available for purchase. After the first group of players have tested the game we will start activating 1,000 accounts every 12 hours until we feel the servers are at capacity for the Closed Beta. The first player accounts to be activated will be players that have Acclaim Memberships and then at random from Acclaim's user base.

Report game bugs and issues in the Closed Beta Bug Reporting forum: http://phpbb.acclaim.com/spellborn/index.php

If you need to register click this link: http://spellborn.acclaim.com/register.html

Thank you for your patience and enjoy the game Acclaim Games

Link: Forum Thread
Link: Register
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TCOS Patch 1.0.3 – “Scroll of Glaive & Coin“ coming today!

2009-03-16T08:04:00.000-07:00

We have some really good news for the start of this week, today is the day that our new content Patch 1.0.3 – “Scroll of Glaive & Coin” will hit the Live Servers!

Due to this, we will extend the daily maintenance from 13:00 to 15:00 CET, to roll-out that patch to the servers.

Here are the highlights of Patch 1.0.3:

• Speech Bubbles - Whenever you write in the Local Channel, new Speech Bubbles will appear and underline your point. Options to change their behaviour such as turning them off during battle for your avatar or for others have been included in the Interface Options.
• Exarchyon - House Maul still has a score to settle with their former special operations group, the Brotherhood of the Glaive. Players can seek out their secret base in the level range of 20–25 which is drifting on a fragment in the Deadspell Storm.
• Market Place - The Leviuna Family, who have been employed by House Silver, have set up trading hubs known as the Market Place for selling your goods to other players. Set the prices yourself or use the price history to find a good deal. Each shard allows access to the Market Place at certain settlements through special traders.
• High House Allegiance - A new icon representing your High House is displayed above character names. You will now know with whom you duke it out.
• High House Chat - The High Houses have erected new communication channels exclusively for members of their house. The new channel is easily accessible with the new House Tab, or by typing "/h" for "House".
• Quick Reply - Typing "/r" opens a new chat line with the player who sent you the last whisper already filled in.
• Loot System - Looting slain opponents never was that easy. The completely redesigned Loot Window now appears in the "interactive in-box" area (bottom right), to not occlude your view while you are still fighting. The timers of the items are paused when you are in combat, so you can pick the items you want after the combat. You can also see who looted which item and the results of the rolls when more people opted to take the item when in groups.
• Signposts - New signposts are now available on all shards, that will guide you on your journeys. You will never have to take a wrong turn on the crossroads again.
• Quests - Many fixes, changes and additions (besides the ones mentioned below) have been made to Quests.

The full patchnotes for 1.0.3 – “Scroll of Glaive & Coin” can be found here.

We hope you’ll have fun with all the new stuff we added to our game!

Link: Forum Thread
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TCoS Quests: Menances - a complete Guide

2009-03-11T14:36:00.000-07:00

Disclaimer: This guide contains heavy spoilers. Oh, and for revealing the locations - those who really don't want to search know sources how to find these locations anyway.

General Remarks
All of these should be soloable around their respective level, possibly even lower, if you're good and have a suiteable class. A group of two should solve any problem, and a group of three to four can take on significantly higher level Menances.
I denoted Menances that can help you bridging the possibly left Fame gap to 27 with * for solo kills and ** for group kills. The fame is quite OK for an equal level and really good for higher levels. Get those quests either at the numerous Quartstone docks or on the way there.

Old Wilfried
Type: level 10/1 Boar
Location: southeastern Hawksmouth - has a tendency to wander into the nearby Aronites
Tactic: Typical boar, hitting harder and having more health. If you know how to dodge no problem.

Gravis Werden
Type: level 15/3 Aronite
Location: patrolling along the wall in the very south of Hawksmouth
Tactic: Mainly a melee fighter without too many tricks, but many dangerous Aronite groups surrounding him.

Tiny Tyke
Type: level 15/3 Hyena
Location: running circles in northern Aldenvault
Tactic: Hit's viciously and is hard to dodge. Use Disarming Strike / Mind Blade / Vile Hunt & Ante Opener.

Serkin the Chestcutter
Type: level 15/3 Ousted
Location: Ousted camp near the portal to Gravesbow in Aldenvault
Tactic: He himself doesn't hit too hard and has both melee and magic skills. Is protected by low level Ousted groups.

"Big Mama" Molar
Type: level 20/3 Lion
Location: southern part of Tarnflower Fens in Hoggsridge
Tactic: Hit's viciously and is hard to dodge. Use Disarming Strike / Mind Blade / Vile Hunt & Ante Opener.

Daphne Bunscook
Type: level 30/3 Glaive (instead of level 20)
Location: patrolling the road southwest of the Hoggsridge lake
Tactic: Didn't really fight back much, not hard. Pull her into the open because she might bug and fall through the world.

Belevitos Berserker *
Type: level 25/3 Berserker
Location: partols the eastern rim between Cairnbog and Scourmarsh in Hearth
Tactic: This one is relatively hard - she moves in and out of melee and varies tactics. Most important is to get her isolated and then simply have a deck with both good melee and ranged options available.

Karaklos *
Type: level 30/3 Crocodile
Location: hides under a tree just east of the Hearth battlefield
Tactic: Typical crocodile with more health and hitting harder. Watch out for Hamstring and Physique debuffs and use Use Disarming Strike / Mind Blade / Vile Hunt & Ante Opener. Pull it into the open because it might bug and fall through the world.

Shunny *
Type: level 35/3 Slackjaw
Location: patrols the main streets of Eastern and Western Stack in Green District
Tactic: Sometimes doesn't fight, some does - if he does, he hits hard, but usually is rather manageable like all Slacksjaws. Make sure to clear some of the surrounding mobs before engaging him.

The Beast *
Type: level 35/3 Hyena
Location: running circles along the shore / carapace wall / bridge in the Green District park area
Tactic: Hit's viciously and is hard to dodge. Use Disarming Strike / Mind Blade / Vile Hunt & Ante Opener.

Duraman *
Type: level 35/3 Urugaut
Location: at the Demon Wall near the eastern portal in Brightvale
Tactic: Typically hard hitting Urugaut - either be good at dodging or use Disarming Strike / Mind Blade / Vile Hunt & Ante Opener.

Jason Moonwit **
Type: level 35/3 Aronite
Location: in the main camp of Tarnflower Fens in Brightvale
Tactic: He himself doesn't hit too hard and has both melee and magic skills.But he packs a punch and has some tough groups of Aronites guarding him. Pull him into the open because he might bug and fall through the world.

Hirck Freep **
Type: level 40/3 Glaive
Location: patrolling in front of the central Glaive camp in Gravesbow
Tactic: Capable melee fighter with fall back ranged and quite some hitpoints. Many Glaive are patrolling this area, so watch out.

Barra Barra
Type: level 40/5 Bathander
Location: the very east of Gravesbow
Tactic: Is surrounded by many normal Bathanders and even more Hyenas in vincinity. Either thin those out before or pull her out to the northeast near the wall. Hits very hard, but is dodgeable. You should either use a standard level 20 regenfood or have a proper selfheal available. Hitbox is a hell to melee.

Mjirna Conall *
Type: 45/3 Criminal
Location: in the Glaive camp in northwestern Garminholm
Tactic: Didn't really fight back much, greatest problems are the Glaive groups around that area, although they're quite spread out.

Spheya (quest not available)
Type: 45/3 Panther
Location: roams the eastern parts of Garminholm, with an annoying tendency to fall through teh world
Tactic: Keep and eye on the local wildlife and be sure to keep its melee under control or dodge / heal on a regular basis.

Bunnister Jilnas (quest not available)
Type: 45/3 Criminal
Location: small island in the northwest of Sorrowmist
Tactic: Hits rather weak - just kill him.

Shagga (quest not available)
Type: 45/3 Panther
Location: patrols around the swamp in Sorrowmist
Tactic: Hits rather weak - just kill it.

Heralon Shurinai (quest not available)
Type: 50/3 Aronite
Location: in the big Aronite encampment in Stonedeep
Tactic: Uses weak magic - just clear any other Aronites before engaging and just kill him.

Dodogan (quest not available)
Type: 50/3 Obodena
Location: the big hollow mountain in the southern desert of Stonedeep - entrance is to the north-east
Tactic: Very few hitpoints, so can be nuked after pulling the one or two groups around him first - often does not even hit at all.

Geer (quest not available)
Type: level 55/3 Howler
Location: around the Howler hole near the eastern portal in Mount of Hero North
Tactic: Typically tough Howler with nasty poisons and fast retreat moves (very likely actually the retreat bug). Warriors simply rely on their Warcry, Rouges need to be careful while dodging heavy at range, while Mages should try to take it slow and rely on massive selfheal.

Zack the Zealot 55/3 (quest not available)
Type: level 55/3 Glaspail
Location: around the Howler hole in Evhail's Haerth in Mount of Hero North, although often eaten by local wildlife
Tactic: Fair mix of melee and magic attacks with decent damage, slight AoE. Quite doable, but avoid disarms and fight in the opens - he is very prone to the retreat bug with all those trees around.

Ferrus
Type: level 55/3 Ancorr
Location: patrols the Shard edge of the western island in Desolate
Tactic: Has very few HP and can be nuked - just disarm it or precharge a combo.

Jhryux L'niar
Type: level 55/3 Vhuul
Location: patrols the Shard edge of the Eastern Peaks in Desolate - note that the local wildlife doesn't like it, either...
Tactic: Has quite some HP in is quick on its feet, but only weak melee attacks and no special moves - easily controlable.

Daahn Daaevid (quest not available)
Type: level 55/3 Ghost
Location: patrols between the Deslandes Estate and the northern ruins in Slywood
Tactic: Casts magic and has melee moves - hits not particularly hard. Just remember dodging and debuff physique if you want to stay in melee.

Waya (quest not available)
Type: level 60/3 Wolf
Location: patrols on a east-west line between the tavern and the Tree of Ascendance in Slywood
Tactic: Hit's viciously and is hard to dodge. Use Disarming Strike / Mind Blade / Vile Hunt & Ante Opener. Watch out for the wildlife around it, especially the roaming cats.

Hyonia Shurinai (quest not available)
Type: 55/3 Aronite
Location: partols the northern Knifewilds in Mount of Heros South around the little Aronite encampment
Tactic: Has strong ranged attacks, including one that applies a burn. Best ambush her afar from support and close quickly to melee, where she's rather weak. Sometimes is not attackable, then just follow her a bit until she debugs.

Goor (quest not available)
Type: level 60/3 Howler
Location: roaming the eastern parts of Mount of Hero South, usually near the small Mine entrances
Tactic: Extremly bugged due almost constant being in retreat mode and thus being unhitable most of the time. Bring healing and lots of patience and expect to kill up to a dozen wild-life on the way. The poisons are nasty bug nothing too serious with good regenfood and dodging.

Perrefin Sadirn (quest not available)
Type: level 60/3 Ghost
Location: spawnable via using a monolith at the northwestern edge of the Scoured Hills
Tactic: Mix of strong melee and magic attacks, including a blood hook. But very doable at the level if you keep an eye on your healing / resistbuff and dodge a bit.

Possibly Missing
It seems like every Zone has two menances in it. Based on that information, we still miss:
* Scoured Hills - one (possibly bugged)

Thanks for all the contributions.

Good luck hunting !

Link: TCOS Guides

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Sneak Peak: Patch 1.0.3 changes

2009-03-10T13:32:00.000-07:00

Sneak Peak: Patch 1.0.3 changes
Patch name: Scroll Of Glaive & Coin

Combat and Statistics

-Physique impact was toned down. The speed increase/decrease maximum at rank 5 or -5 is now 40%, down from 50%
-Morale impact was fixed. The damage bonus only operated on a part of the player damage calculation. The bonus is now applied on the final value.

World and Interface

-Mobs on Parliament and Ringfell had their respawn time increased.
-Bosses in instances now award increased Fame and PeP amounts.
-Whisper reply was added. ‘/r’ will now open a chatline with a whispertarget set to the last player you received a whisper from.
-Local Chat will now be shown in Speech Bubbles. Options to change the behaviour of these Speech Bubbles have been added to the Interface menu.
-The Loot window has been reworked. Loot will now be displayed in the bottom right so it won’t block the view in combat. It also received new ‘Need’, ‘Greed’ and ‘Pass’ icons.
-When a player joins a High House, the symbol of this High House is displayed above the player name.
-When a player joins a High House, the player will automatically join a new High House Chat channel. This channel is available for everybody of the same High House. It can be accessed through ‘/h’, for ‘House’.
-The Market Place is now available for players! The Market Place is a trading hub provided by representatives from House Silver. At these traders, players can offer their wares for prices they can set for themselves. Other players can browse through all the available item categories to see what is offered or search for a specific item they need. Items bought on the Market Place will directly go to the player inventory. For buyers and sellers alike, a price history is kept for each type of item and shown via an histogram. This way sellers have something to base their item price on and buyers will be able to spot the bargains!

Quests and Lore

-A lot of Quests have been fixed or altered.
-Some Quests in Quarterstone had their walking activity reduced.
-A new Quest Chain starts off in Hoggsridge, available at level 7, where the player will investigate the presence of The Brotherhood of the Glaive.
-After finding more details about The Brotherhood of the Glaive, players will now be able to go to Exarchyon to attack their base, a level 20 to 25 instance on a Fragment in the Deadspell Storm.
-Players around level 20 will receive mail to help with a new Quest Chain on Ringfell.
-A new level 27 Quest Chain, starting at the Oracle, will send players to Brightvale.

Group Looting

Master Looting

Solo Looting

Link: Forum Thread
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Item Redemption for Premium/Special Edition owners available!

2009-02-13T05:27:00.000-08:00

The Player-Site has been updated, so that every owner of the Premium/Special Edition Box of The Chronicles of Spellborn will be able to redeem the Special Item. Click on the "Read More" button to see the redemption procedure.

We would like to sincerely apologize for the delay in redeeming your item.

Enjoy!

Link: Forum Thread
Link: mmorpg Cheats

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Community Spotlight: Fan-made Spellborn Video

2009-02-10T02:29:00.000-08:00

Some of our Players really have some great creative juices flowing in them, and Community Member Lumay is no exception.

To illustrate how immersive and stunning the graphics of Spellborn are, this Community Member decided to fire up the game and record some amazing footages from many different zones of The Chronicles of Spellborn.

Don't wait any longer and go check out this really great fan-made piece, and do yourself a favor, play it in High-Quality! :)

Enjoy!

Link: Forum Thread
Link: mmorpg Cheats

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Dev Blog: Introduction to the new Tutorial

2009-02-04T08:08:00.000-08:00

"Perhaps the biggest challenge we have to overcome as developers is that of assumptions. People assume they will play Spellborn in a way similar to how they played through their previous romp."

Today we would like to present you the first part of the new developer blog. This time Matthew will tell you about the new tutorial of the upcoming patch and explain some details and the combat changes from the past to the present. Don't miss it and click "Read more" to read this brand new developer blog!

Enjoy!

Link: Forum Thread
Link: mmorpg Cheats
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Road to Patch 1.0.2

2009-01-23T09:20:00.000-08:00

Greetings Spellborn players!

It’s time for an update about the upcoming patch, labeled 1.0.2.

First things first, let’s talk about the projected implementation of it. As you know from the past “Project Update”, we announced that the patch would find its way to the game in late January (next week). It was also communicated that the brand new Tutorial will be part of the update. Since we really want to have a great tutorial experience we are intensively testing it internally, even right now, to make sure the basic controls, interaction, combat information and gameplay flow are working as intended. If we spot elements that are not meeting this criterion, we will take necessary actions.

What this all means is that it is possible that this patch would be delayed, postponing its release to early February. In terms of the content of the patch itself, it will contain the complete set of new outdoor Menaces (outdoor “bosses” similar to Tiny Tyke, with kill-quests designed to fill in the level gap around level 25), many quests fixes (especially for the High House Quests), as well as a PvE balance as far as the density and respawn times of hostile mobs are concerned.

But that is not all, for we have been busy and worked on many other things.

A perfect example would be the optimization and amelioration of the font display in the GUI and also in the game. These were gripes that you, players, have been voicing on our official forums and you will be glad to know that major changes have been done! Please take a look at them in the Read More part!

Link: Forum Thread
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Vote for Spellborn @ Beckett Massive Online Gamer Awards of 2008!

2009-01-19T13:12:00.000-08:00

It’s voting time again! This time it is for the “Beckett Massive Online Gamer Awards of 2008” and the voting is now opened! We would be delighted if you could take some minutes of your time and cast your vote for The Chronicles of Spellborn as “Best New MMO Release of 2008” at Beckett. Be quick, it will close on 31st of January 2009 !

Beside that category you can cast your vote in the following categories:

Best MMO of 2008
Best Fantasy MMO of 2008
Best Sci-Fi/Historical MMO of 2008
Best Expansion/Addition of 2008
Best MMO Trailer Released in 2008

Thank you again for your support!
Link: Voting
Link: Forum Thread
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Allvatar-TV Show with Spellborn Special on 16th of January starting at 9 PM!

2009-01-15T04:41:00.000-08:00

In cooperation with Game-TV.com there will be a Spellborn Special show on Friday, 16th of January, starting at 9 PM (CET), with information about The Chronicles of Spellborn on Allvatar-TV (German).

You will be able to get some sneak-peak look on Mid- and High-Level content of Spellborn, as well as Tips and Tricks concerning the combat system.

Guests will be Axel Schmidt and Matthias "Marracas" Fellinger from publisher Frogster and the show will be held in German language. Aside from game information, you will also get the chance to win some T-Shirts and full game versions of Spellborn. Last but not least you will also be able to ask questions (in German or English) via an IRC chat, which the team from Frogster will answer in the show. Christian “Kelas” Witte (Community Manager DE) will also be present in the IRC-Chat Room.

So be there!

Link: Allvatar-TV
Link: IRC-Chat from Allvatar
Link: Forum thread
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Project Update

2009-01-10T09:35:00.000-08:00

Hello Spellborn Players and Community Members!

Before starting this Project Update, I would like to wish all you a very happy New Year on behalf of the whole Spellborn development team! Best wishes of health and success in both your own and your Spellborn lives! ;)

So here we are; another year passed, but this time, Spellborn has been released. What a year 2008 has been, dare I say! From the massive crunch times before the various launches to the excitement and even sheer joy of the first players connecting to the live servers; the year 2008 will stay in our hearts as the first steps of this little game of ours called The Chronicles of Spellborn.

But that is all behind us already and we are now focusing on many things that you, the players, will be delighted to see when they make it into the game.
The year 2009 for The Chronicles of Spellborn can be summed up in a few words in fact: more fun, more content, and… more content!

The main goal is to provide content and features that will support the best replayability of The Chronicles of Spellborn while making sure that everything can be enjoyed to its fullest.

Over the past weeks and month, we have been closely monitoring the feedback from the community of players and have already been taking actions to make sure that the game experience is as perfect as possible.

A month after release, the first December content patch was shipped with bug fixes and content implementation, with hot-fixes in-between to take care of the urgent issues.

One thing is already sure: we will keep on updating the game as often and regularly as needed.

With regards to short term planning, a new content patch is going to be rolled out soon (we expect it for end of January), which, among many quests and bug fixes, will also introduce new unique outdoor monsters (called Menaces, from which you might already know the cuddly “Tiny Tyke”). In the coming week, we’ll reveal some of these new Menaces on our website.

But the biggest chunk of this patch is undoubtedly the upcoming “Tutorial”. After reading the various comments from the community, and also from the various press reviews about Spellborn, we decided it was needed to implement a tutorial explaining basic movements, camera control, NPC interactions and combat controls in a dedicated area of the game, before players set foot on Hawksmouth Square. With this new system, we aim to provide all the tools to newcomers to have a great first-time experience which will motivate them and allow them to play the game further with greater enjoyment.

Also, we will invite you, the players, to experience the new instance in the Deadspell Storm called Exarchyon. This massive dungeon will take the players inside the raftyard-based headquarters of the Brotherhood of the Glaive, a hostile faction where many encounters and challenges await. The instance is aimed at players of Fame Level 20 to 25.

Concerning the mid-term planning for 2009: we will be working on two main features that you have been waiting quite some time for, and by two features, I mean, the Market, where you can trade your goods and items with other players, and, for PvP-aficionados, the possibility to sign up for Unranked 2v2 or 4v4 Arena matches. Ranked matches will eventually also find their way to the game, but will be introduced at a later date. After rankings have been added we’ll continue to add more Arena features depending on how you, the players, experience it. Of course, many other additions besides these two features will find their way into the game mid-term wise, but these are simply the focus-point for now.

As for the long-term planning of 2009, we would like to implement elements that would strengthen the feeling of belonging to the Spellborn world by, for example, allowing Guild Alliances. We are still finalizing the concepts for some elements of the feature which we want to implement at some future point in the year, so for now, hold your horses. Talking about horses, or rather, any potential mounts, they are also a feature that we will be working on. You know how much we want our world to be coherent in terms of immersion so who knows what mounts will be like…

To conclude this Project Update, rest assured that even more content will be implemented to the game over the course of the year, parallel to the features I just explained, ranging from new quests and new instances to new zones and even more. Yes, there is a lot coming up, guys! So stay tuned and logged in!

And that is a wrap for this update. We hope you will like the aforementioned details and features we plan to implement in the game over the course of 2009. We are already very excited about this New Year, and count on you players to join us for the ride!

Take care, and again, happy New Year!

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TCoS Races

2009-01-07T05:22:00.000-08:00

One of the major differences in appearance in The Chronicles of Spellborn will be the chosen playable race. These two playable races are completely different in appearance, but similar in handling. This means that your choice of race has no direct impact on the content or game experience of The Chronicles of Spellborn.

Humans
Once a servitor race to the Vhelgar, humans are a versatile and resilient race. They are hard workers and great thinkers but were forced to live in the shadows of their masters being used as a cheap labour force. In time more and more humans started to oppose the rule of their masters and formed a rebellion to stop their oppression. After a valiant battle with the Vhelgar Queen and guardian of the Altar of the Undying - Satanamura - the humans succeeded in destroying the altar and thus freeing themselves from Vhelgar rule. Humans are however prone to act before thinking and as such did not foresee the cataclysm unleashed by the destruction of the Altar and the subsequent storm of spells that froze all living beings in ice and tore apart the Empire of the Eight Demons and the world with it.

Daevi
The daevi, like the humans, were a servitor race, created by the Vhelgar to oversee the humans and act as enforcers. Being different in many ways the daevi found themselves subject to the same treatment as humans and in time found them to be intelligent and forthcoming. Later an unofficial alliance was formed between the two races, turning yet another race against the Vhelgar and their iron rule. The daevi joined the battle in which the Altar of the Undying was destroyed and felt the trembling of ancient forces. But once the Altar shattered, they too were frozen in place for centuries. Born as a hybrid race, the daevi bloodline consists of human and Vhelgar blood. This mixture is the main reason for their differences in appearance. The most telltale difference between humans and daevi are their legs and feet. Where humans have a knee and a heel, daevi walk on their toes and use their heel as a second knee. Their feet are extremely large and angled differently which makes it impossible for them to wear boots or sandals. Instead, they protect their knees and shins with a different kind of armour.

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Explain your Skill Deck!

2009-01-06T05:27:00.000-08:00

Vincent Leeuw, Content Designer for The Chronicles of Spellborn plays an Adept. He is Fame Level 9 and today he explains his Skill Deck.

The knack in becoming efficient in combat is to have an efficient Skill Deck. As combat is pretty hectic to start with (you need to walk, aim and 'fire' your Skills at the same time), you don't want to spend much time looking at your Combat Bar trying to figure out which Skill to use [...].
The key to efficiency is creating sequences.

You can check the forum thread where Vincent explains his Skills sequences and the reason why he chose such combination, and the, we invite you to post your own Skill Deck and explain it to the community!

Enjoy!

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The Consanguineous Vault: Vault of Foes

2008-12-23T12:14:00.000-08:00

The Chronicles of Spellborn offers group content, but it also possible for the players to experience instances on their own.

One of these challenges is waiting on the fragment of The Athenaeum located in the tempestuous Deadspell Storm. Accessible at level 10 after players have successfully left the starting regions behind, one of their tasks will be to go to the Athenaeum to experience the unique solo instances available in the massive dungeon.

These instances are called the Consanguineous Vaults are ruled by the Veridan faction, the followers of the Oracle and its teachings.

The first Vault, called Vault of Foes, features enemies of ancient times, prisoner from the Undying Ice. After interacting with an NPC telling more about the purpose of the Vault and the lore behind the encounter, players will thaw the foes from the Ice and use their skills to defeat them.

Check out the screenshots of this first Vault below:

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TCoS Archetypes

2008-12-20T03:22:00.000-08:00

The first thing players get to decide is what Archetype they want to play. All three Archetypes have a different background and function differently in group play. Once an Archetype is chosen, it will remain a characteristic of the created character and cannot be changed. The three Archetypes are:

Warrior

Masters of arms and close combat, Warriors use their brutal strength and intimate knowledge of a wide array of combat situations to turn any battle to their favour. Mistaking these skilled fighters for mere brutes has been the downfall of many a foolish assailant. From the blood link of the Bloodwarrior, the pure rage of the Adept, to the spirit possession of the Wrathguard, one will never encounter a more skilful force of raw power then a warrior!

Rogue

Precision, deception and speed are the main attributes of a rogue. Skilled in the arts of assassination, Rogues are precision instruments of death. Every rogue has a variety of lethal tools at their disposal. From the venomous lashes of a Deathhand, the shape changing madness of the Skinshifter to the deadly traps of the Trickster, rogues can dispatch those foolhardy enough to cross them with the greatest of ease!

Spellcaster

Scholars of hidden knowledge and experts in the art of controlling time, space and the elements are known as Spellcasters. Spellcasters are attuned to the primal forces that roam the Deadspell Storm, enabling them to unleash devastating magical powers on their opponents. Although close combat might not be the Spellcasters strong suit, when these masters of the arcane get the right distance between them and their foes, there is nothing more lethal. From the spirit legions of the Ancestral mage, the anti magic of the Void Seer to the pure explosive power of the Rune Mage, a Spellcaster is best left in a good mood if one values his life!

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Vote for Spellborn as best MMOG of the year 2008 at OnlineWelten!

2008-12-19T02:17:00.000-08:00

It’s time again for the yearly Awards at OnlineWelten.com for the Best Games of 2008. The Chronicles of Spellborn was nominated for the “Best MMOG 2008” and thus we hope for your Vote for this Award!

People from Germany also get the Chance to win a Playstation 3, after successfully submitting their Vote for the Awards, so what are you waiting for? Head over to OnlineWelten.com and cast your Votes!

Link: OnlineWelten
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Patch 1.0.1 & Screenshots of the Citadel of Ail!

2008-12-19T02:12:00.000-08:00

Yesterday you discovered the Citadel of Ail thanks to a piece of Lore and gameplay and along with some artworks, but today, it's time to show you how the Citadel looks and feels in-game.

With this series of new screenshots, you will meet the Shunned, former inhabitants of the Green District, but you will also have a sneak peak at Chancellor Amsell, final boss of the Citadel, waiting for brave adventurers in the Debate Circle.

In addition, today is Patch 1.0.1 day! Many bugs have been fixed, and we invite you to check out the change-log in our forums!

Enjoy!

Link: Patch Notes v1.0.1
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Hoppy Invasion: the Game!

2008-12-11T08:36:00.000-08:00

The Chronicles of Spellborn is an MMORPG that relies on manual aiming skills and also good control over the character since you can evade ennemy's attacks in real-time.

Today, and in collaboration with publisher Frogster, we would like to invite you to participate in the first season of the brand new mini-game called "Hoppy Invasion".

Fire your skills at these flying and invading critters and try to achieve the highest score! There are really cool prizes to be swaged like an iiyama flat screen, or boxes of the game, among many others. But that's not all for you can win a prize every day !

So don't wait any longer and start playing the game at the following address, Hoppy Invasion http://spellborn.frogster-ip.com/hoppy/

This mini-game is opened to anyone from anywhere in the world!
It's time to put an end to the Hoppy infestation!

Link: MMORPG.com Reader's Choice Awards
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MMORPG.com Reader's Choice Awards: Most Anticipated Game for 2009

2008-12-10T05:23:00.000-08:00

Today, MMORPG.com revealed their nominees for the 2008 MMORPG.com Reader's Choice Awards in Most Anticipated Game category.

MMORPG.com readers can vote for their most eagerly anticipated game with an expected 2009 release date, and among them, your beloved The Chronicles of Spellborn!

"The Chronicles of Spellborn

The Chronicles of Spellborn is based in a world that has been literally torn apart by powerful forces. Players in the world will be introduced to a brand-new twitch combat system unlike anything that they have seen in other MMOs, engaging PvP, a unique art style and a design concept that relies on the players’ wits rather than “hand-holding” mechanics."

Don't miss your chance and hop on to MMORPG.com to cast your vote for The Chronicles of Spellborn! We are counting on you!

Link: MMORPG.com Reader's Choice Awards
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Spellborn review on Eurogamer!

2008-12-08T07:17:00.000-08:00

Recently, the good folks over at Eurogamer finally got their hands on a copy of The Chronicles of Spellborn and shared their impressions in an elaborate review of the game, scoring 8/10!

From its fast-paced, exciting battles to the beautiful, haunting environments, it's an MMORPG like no other we've played - and what it lacks in expensive polish, it makes up for in enthusiasm, ambition and creativity. Two weeks in, and despite the rush of amazing console and PC games of recent months, The Chronciles of Spellborn holds our attention. We look forward to seeing how that plays out over the coming months.

You can read full review on Eurogamer website.

Enjoy!

Link: Eurogamer review
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TCoS Combat: Tips, Tricks & Tactics

2008-12-04T06:54:00.000-08:00

The Chronicles of Spellborn features a real-time combat system where you have to manually aim at your opponents to defeat them.

Yet, aiming is just one step towards becoming one of the heroic fighters of the Enclave, for Spellborn also allows you to manually dodge the attacks of your enemy in real time.

In this new article, we give you some tips and tricks on how to use the combat system of Spellborn to its fullest. Dealing with dodging to predicting attack
patterns of enemies, you'll find really useful tactics in this new article.

You can read on it now here.
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The Chronicles of Spellborn: Easy Botting

2008-12-02T02:21:00.000-08:00

XP+FAME bot (not moving)

It's fairly easy to accomplish but there might not be people who realize the opportunities.

First of all, if you've played the chronicles of spellborn, you should know that the skill system works with a rotating bar.

It's like a dice with 6 vertical sides, and on each vertical side is a 6 skillslot horizontal bar.

When you press 1 of the first 6 skills on your skillbar it will rotate to the 2'nd vertical side.
On and on till it reaches the 6'th one then it resets to the first.

So now you know the basics.

If you know what spellborn is about you also know it's a fps style like targeting system where you'll have to use the right mouse botton (being pressed) to target at your enemies, and the left button is to look around.

To apply the following exploit you have to press the right mouse button twice so you get into the 'fps'-mode kinda thing. Where looking is the same as targeting and clicking the left button means using a skill.

If you put fast cooldown skills on every first number of the vertical rotating bar, and then hold the left mouse button it will automaticly use/cast the skills you have selected in the horizontal bar.

Since mobs (also low lvl ones) aggro quite easily you can stand on certain positions where there will only spawn 1 or 2 at the same time which will be able to aggro you.

So if you make the following skill set you'll just be able to stand there doing those skills while the mobs run into you and die while you damage them and occasionally heal yourself.

(the rotating skill bar)

HORIZONTAL BAR

V 6 Heal skill - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6
E 5 attack skill - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6
R 4 attack skill - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6
T 3 Heal skill - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6
I 2 attack skill - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6
C 1 attack skill - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6
A
L 1 2 3 4 5 6

You can just put something heavy on your left mouse button and leave, and come back for increased FAME & XP levels!

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The Chronicles of Spellborn Crafting system explained

2008-12-01T06:13:00.000-08:00

Whilst out adventuring in the many dungeons or on the fields of Spellborn, players will find a lot of items. These items vary from weaponry to leftover food rations. The primary use of many of the items found during your adventures will be to use them and while some might seem useless, most can be used to craft new items or repair broken items.

These items can be obtained in a logical way. In Spellborn, humanoid hostile NPCs, when killed may drop what they currently wear. These items will indeed be broken, necessitating repairs. To the contrary, hostile animal NPCs won’t drop money or equipment. You’ll be able to loot tusks, fur, guts, etc, used for your crafting needs.

Repairing broken items
If you happen to come across broken items that you want to have repaired, you should take the item to the nearest shopkeeper He can appraise your item and he will tell you what items he will need to repair your item. The recipe list of required materials will then be deposited in your inventory.

When you find all of the items needed to repair your broken item, bring them together with the recipe to any blacksmith and he will be able to create the item in question. The repaired item will be placed in your inventory and can be used after you leave the shop.

For instance you find a broken Sword.

First you bring the broken sword to a vendor The NPC looks at the weapon and appraises it for a small amount of money. He then gives you a recipe that lists the ingredients needed to repair the item, which looks a bit like this:

If you bring those items and recipes to any Forge NPC he will let you create the item for a fee.
After creation the item will appear in your inventory.

Crafting new items
When out adventuring you will definitely come across a large amount of recipes. These recipes can be used to craft various items that will either look very nice or give you a small boost to your character statistics.

The materials and ingredients required to complete a recipe are found all over the world and differ in quality. Some are pretty easy to get, whilst others are very hard to come by. It might be that the items you require only drop on a certain shard or from just one kind of creature or humanoid.

If you read the required materials written on the recipe you can find out what items you need to find. You can buy them, trade them with fellow guildmembers or try to find them in the world.

If you have found all the required materials, bring them together with the recipe to the nearest forge and the shopkeeper will forge your item for a small fee. The item will then be automatically placed in your inventory and can be used after you have left the forge.

Shops
Shops play an important role in the life of a player and are operated by NPCs. You can go to a shop for a wide variety of services, ranging from the crafting of items to dyeing armour and clothing, and buying recipes. The following shops can be found throughout the cities of the Enclave:

Forge:

Forge Assistant: Sell Weapons and Armor.
Blacksmith: Identify Broken items to create Recipes. Craft items from Recipes.
Sigilcrafter: Craft Sigils from Recipes. Place and remove Sigils.(link to FD)
Tailor: Sell Clothing
Dyer: Dye Armor or Clothing.

• Rune Shop:

Tattooist: Sets Runemage Tattoos.
Bloodletter: Applies Bloodwarrior Scars.
Tinkerer: Sells Trickster Gadgets.

• Soul Shop:

Preceptor: Teaches Adept Stances.
Orb Weaver: Creates Void Seer Spheres.
Soul Catcher: Sells Skinshifter Soul Mazes.

• Spirit Shop:

Heraldist: Sells Wrathguard Crests.
Echotamer: Sells Ancestral Mage Spirit Pets.
Physician: Sells Deathhand Poisons.

• Tavern:
Tavern Keeper: Sells Consumables.
Cook: Creates Consumables from Recipes.

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Release Q&A

2008-11-29T04:30:00.000-08:00

1. Will it be necessary to uninstall the beta client of the game before installing the release client of the Chronicles of Spellborn? In any case, what measures have to be taken regarding the GameGuard?
No, it will be possible to update your beta client (either Closed Beta or Open Beta) of the game to the release client of The Chronicles of Spellborn.
There are no special measures to take concerning the Gameguard. Yet, we strongly recommend that you keep your computer clean of any spywares/malwares that might be identified as suspicious software while the game runs. You can use programs such as Ad-Aware or CCleaner and your favorite Anti-Virus program before installing the game in order to avoid any issue with spywares/malwares or viruses. Make sure no other processes are running when you launch the game client (there is a known issue with programs such as SETI@Home).

2. Will the beta accounts still be active for the release of the game and will it be possible to register as a subscriber with them?
No, all the beta accounts will be deleted. You’ll need to create a new account in order to be able to register as subscriber.

3. How many universes (servers) will be available? What will be their names, rule set (PvP or PvE) and their language?
The six following universes will be accessible to the player for launch:

(Localized universes launch date may vary on release date of The Chronicles of Spellborn in specific countries)
1 Deiquonril PvP International
2 Dravhare PvE International
3 Jumanvhare PvP German
4 Mornexus PvE German
5 Sarakaril PvP French
6 Drayom PvE French

4. Should all members of a guild belong to the same High House regarding the PvP system between different houses on PvP universes or it won’t be a problem for the players?
Guilds don’t influence the High House PvP settings. A guild with Runite members will be able to attack guild mates being in another High House. Choose wisely and carefully.

5. When the universes (servers) of The Chronicles of Spellborn will be launched and accessible?
The first universes (servers) will be launch and accessible to players the 27th of November 2008 at 10:00am (CET). Additional universes will be opened the 28th of November 2008 at 10:00am (CET) (please note that Mindscape box release is scheduled for 5th of December).

6. Is there an early access for players who pre-ordered the box ?
No, there is no early access planned.

7. When the FreeToPlay Client will be available to download?
The FreeToPlay Client Online will be available to download the 5th of December 2008.

8. Will the Redemption of item from the Premium/Special box be available at launch?
No, the Redemption of item will NOT be possible at launch. The Redemption of items system isn’t currently 100% fully functional. Nevertheless, The Chronicles of Spellborn box owners don’t need to worry, their Premium/Special box info will be stored on our database, and as soon as possible, the item will be redeemable on the Player-Site. There is again, no need to worry about losing anything for The Chronicles of Spellborn Premium/Special boxes owners.

The redemption of the item is only and simply delayed.

9. Will online payments for the downloadable version of the game be available for the release of the game? What payment methods will be available?
Only box owners will be able to play until the 5th of December 2008. Then the Free2Play Client will be available for download. At this stage, it is possible to subscribe immediately. Right after creating a Free2Play account, players can log into the Player-Site with the information they just filled in when creating the Free2Play account. They can hit the “Subscribe” links in their profile information boxes, and also buy a subscription by going to the Shop tab, all accessible on Spellborn’s Player-Site. Payment methods may differ from one country to the other.

Once it’s done, they are 100% flagged as subscribers, and all limitations linked to Free2Play account are dropped. Going for a subscription also grants access to the Player-Site Forum for Subscribers and Box owners, containing plenty of cool features.

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The Chronicles of Spellborn's open beta impressions

2008-11-25T07:27:00.000-08:00

Since the launch of open beta in Europe and removal of the NDA this weekend, The Chronicles of Spellborn has now entered the public eye on a much larger scale. MMORPG has been providing some in-depth coverage of the game recently, including one of the first extensive looks at the character creation process.

However, sometimes it's good to get a "regular-guy" perspective on these first impressions, so we're particularly interested in a recent run-down from the A Ding World blog. In this thorough look at the current state of open beta, Sente runs through character creation, control, user interface, questing and much more. It's a great read if you're interested in learning more about this upcoming MMO, set to launch on November 27th in Europe and in January for the US.

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TCoS Character Creation Preview on MMORPG.com

2008-11-24T06:42:00.000-08:00

MMORPG.com Managing Editor Jon Wood had the recent opportunity to take a run through the Beta of The Chronicles of Spellborn. Today, he shared his impressions about the unique character creation process of Spellborn with the readers on MMORPG.com.

You can read the full and detailed preview on MMORPG.com. Enjoy!
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Open Beta of The Chronicles of Spellborn!

2008-11-21T13:00:00.000-08:00

The Closed Beta is coming to an end, and it's time for the European Open Beta test to kick in!
Starting today, Thursday the 20th of November, you can register on the Spellborn Player-Site at https://eu-players.tcos.com for an Open Beta spot and download the game client.
The European Open Beta test of Spellborn will start on Saturday the 22nd and will end on Monday the 24th of November. This Open Beta test is only available to European Players from the following European countries:

Current European Closed Beta testers of The Chronicles of Spellborn will be automatically granted access for the Open Beta test and will not need to download a new game client nor sign up for Open Beta. The Closed Beta test will officially stop today, Thursday the 20st of November at 10pm CET. A Closed Beta Closure event will take place from 8pm CET to 10pm CET. The characters created during Closed Beta test will be wiped in preparation of the Open Beta.

The Open Beta test will start on Saturday the 22nd of November at 12pm CET and end on Monday the 24th of November at 10pm CET. After the Open Beta, all characters will be wiped to prepare the game servers for the official launch of The Chronicles of Spellborn.

Please note that the Player-Site will be taken down tomorrow Friday the 21st of November for a hardware maintenance and upgrade in preparation of the Open Beta. This downtime is scheduled from 11:30am CET until 2:30pm CET.

See you in Open Beta, and for the lucky Closed Beta Testers, see you all tonight at 8pm CET for some "gentlemen" PvP killfest ;) !

Link: Forum thread
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Preview Gaming night in Hamburg (Germany) this weekend!

2008-11-21T12:57:00.001-08:00

This Friday the exclusive Preview gaming night for The Chronicles of Spellborn will happen in cooperation with the event partner ROCCAT and GIGA. The event will take place in the ROCCAT Evolution Camp in Cooperation with Frogster in Hamburg (Germany), where 3 happy winners will get the chance to take a deep look for 24 hours into Spellborn.

They not only get the chance to play the game before its release, but will also get a free trip from and to the camp (as long as they come from within a German speaking country). A cook will also prepare some nice meal for all participants and people will get invited for a nice breakfast on Saturday morning. Beside of all that, all winners will receive a suitable fan package and a coupon for a full game of The Chronicles of Spellborn. Still not enough for you? Ok, you’ll also receive a ROCCAT Sense or ROCCAT Taito mouse pad.

The Event will happen on Friday 21th of November at 4 PM CET and will last till noon on Saturday. So, if you want to take your chance of winning, you should hurry and run to our partner GIGA and answer the questions over there.

We look forward to meet the winners, GIGA will be at the place as well with two reporters. Later on they will show parts of the Event on their own TV channel GIGA The Show. This Thursday there will also be some preview presentation at 10:45 PM CET in their MMO Show.

We will be able to join the show on liveStreaming here :
http://www.giga.de/live/
Link: Details for the preview event from GIGA
Link: Forum Thread

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New North American Release date for Spellborn!

2008-11-19T03:42:00.000-08:00

Acclaim Games Announces New North American Release Date for “The Chronicles of Spellborn”

Acclaim plans Closed Beta for end of November with an official release in January 2009

Los Angeles, CA (November 18, 2008) – Acclaim Games officially updates the release schedule for The Chronicles of Spellborn MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game). With additional testing and ongoing game improvements, Acclaim’s release schedule has been updated with Closed Beta testing to begin on November 27 and a new release date scheduled for January 2009. Acclaim’s licensed territories for Spellborn will include North America, United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, and South America.

When the European countries go live on November 27, Acclaim will simultaneously start Close Beta testing in its territories and then go live in January 2009. Both launches will have the exact same product versions featuring identical Freemium models but with a different release date to accommodate additional testing for a smooth official release. Extensive testing of the game will ensure players receive the highest quality gaming experience at launch.

With players around the world eagerly anticipating the launch of Spellborn, the game has undergone some key upgrades to allow more players to participate and enjoy the various features of the online game. In all regions, Spellborn will be a “Freemium” game, with a Free to Play zone and a required premium subscription service in order to access the full game past the Free to Play zone.

The Spellborn game client will be completely free to download and install, and will feature the special Free to Play zone with no time restrictions (only level limit). Key features of this Free to Play zone include the following:

• Free players are limited to the starting zones Hawksmouth and Aldenvault.

• A gameplay limit occurs at Fame level 7, when free players have progressed approximately 90% towards Fame level 8.

• Upon reaching this limit, all character progression is blocked and the player will receive a pop-up informing them of this block and what is obtainable beyond this with a premium subscription.

The following elements will be explicitly blocked:

• Players will be unable to gain Fame in any way or form, frozen at a fixed amount.

• The player will be able to accept quests, but not able to complete any objectives/quests.

• Able to kill mobs, but the player will receive no kill credit. This means, no fame reward, no pep reward and no item reward.

• Unable to travel beyond the zones Hakwsmouth and Aldenvault.

Players who want the full game experience and wish to go past the zone restrictions must purchase a premium subscription option priced at $15 per month to open all game content. This Freemium model will allow many more players to experience the gameplay before choosing the premium subscription to access the full array of game features and content.

Initial feedback from the MMORPG player community has been excellent, and the development team is taking this feedback to make various improvements to the game

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New TCoS Article: The Arionites and the Ousted Story!

2008-11-17T07:20:00.000-08:00

The background story and lore of The Chronicles of Spellborn are unique and harbour many plot twists and elaborate schemes. What players take for granted, might very well be a grand deception and what they see, might have been planned long before they became a witness.

Yet, this is just one of the many layers of The Chronicles of Spellborn’s world, for players will also fight against two Hostile Factions known as the Arionites and the Ousted. Both share the same goal: the complete eradication of the Enclave and its citizens.

The reasons for such hatred are explained in two new articles released today on our website. They will shed light on the intricate lore of both factions, being strongly opposed to the power of the Enclave of the Five Sacrifices.

Link: Forum Thread
Link: The Arionites
Link: The Ousted
Link: Screenshots
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New TCoS Article: The Reticule

2008-11-11T07:14:00.000-08:00

The Chronicles of Spellborn features an innovative combat system where players have to manually aim at their opponent to damage them. There is no more auto-lock on target, so players of Spellborn have always full control over their character's actions.

Such a new combat system needs specific visual feedback to ensure the game experience is as intuitive and natural as possible.

To illustrate it, we released a new Gameplay article today, featuring the reticules used in Spellborn.

From Magic to Melee attacks, the reticules provide visual information on your character's skills at any time.

Without further ado, we invite you to read on this article !

Enjoy !

Reticule Article.

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The Chronicles of Spellborn Combat system explained

2008-11-10T03:08:00.000-08:00

TCoS - Combat
The combat system in TCoS is made to increase the effect of tactical choices made by the player during combat. Furthermore there are too many games that use a combat system that is too dependent on damage outcome using formulas and percentages that sort of take away player control. For instance if a combatant wins due to a lucky streak of critical hits or by using a weapon which does random bonus damage, the outcome is not based on player skill but on sheer luck.

Targeting System à la FPS
One of the things that is very different about TCoS in comparison to most other MMOGs, is the targeting system. The game has no auto attack combat where a player can target an opponent and click the attack button once and wait until the opponent is defeated. Instead TCoS will let you hit where you swing by actually keeping your opponent manually targeted using your targeting 'crosshair'. So if a player wins a battle, it means your choices and reactions made the difference, not dice rolls and luck.

Skills
If a player has to aim and make tactical choices during combat it is not the idea to swamp the player with tons of spells and skills, at least not all at the same time. Players will have access to a large number of different skills they can use during combat, but never more than a handful are displayed on screen at any time.

The Skillbook
All the skills a character has learned during play are kept in their Skillbook. Characters learn new skills as they advance in level and by exploring the world of Spellborn. Skills learned at the early levels of advancement are by no means weaker skills which have no use when the character becomes stronger. The damage and the effects of a skill are related to the power of the character that uses them and thus remain useful throughout the game. They grow stronger as the character levels up. Which skills a character can learn depends on their chosen archetype and discipline. Warriors can learn melee skills such as Impale while a Runemage can learn magical skills like Ring of Fire.

The Skilldeck
Players select several skills from the Skillbook and place these into the character's Skilldeck. The Skilldeck can be compared to a deck of cards as seen in many collectible trading card games. It consists of 6 rows (called tiers) with 5 skill-slots per row. Each skill-slot can be filled with a chosen skill, as long as the skill was learned and is available in the character's Skillbook. The players are completely free to experiment and create their own fighting styles and tactics. Teams can coordinate the composition of their Skilldecks to increase their battle performance.

Combat
The Skilldeck appears as a kind of cylinder with the 5 Skills of one row visible at a time. When the player executes a skill, the cylinder will turn and reveal the next row. Players can compose the skills on the deck as they like and combine them into effective sequences or organize them to unleash powerful combos.

With the mouse wheel or the 1–5 keys, the player chooses which skill he wants to execute. By pressing the mouse key, the selected Skill is executed and the Skilldeck turns to the next position, where another skill (or the same) skill waits. Once used, the skill takes effect in the area where the player is aiming.

Combos
In addition to this combat system, skills can form combo-chains. All skills have a combo type and these combo types initiate certain bonuses if they are used in the correct order. For instance a skill can be labelled as an opener, which means that it starts a possible combo-chain. A skill labelled as a finisher ends the combo-chain and will do increased damage (or provide additional positive effects for the character, or negative effects for their opponent) depending on the skills used in between the opener and the finisher.

This icon indicates the Skill is a Combo Opener

This icon indicates the Skill is a Combo build-up

This icon indicates the Skill is a Combo Finisher

Being prepared is just half the work. A focused Skilldeck with flexibility to adjust against various types of opponents will greatly improve a character's battle performance. Players are free to play around with their Skilldeck and adjust it as much as they like to. They can change skills at any time (except during combat) in order to defeat a previously too difficult enemy.

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Personal Experience Points - PeP

2008-11-07T08:01:00.000-08:00

Slaying and defeating adversaries in combat and completing Quests do not only provide you with Fame, they also grant you PeP; Personal Experience Points, a way of defining your combat-experience besides sheer player skill. PeP is tracked in the PeP Sphere (smaller one) underneath the Fame Sphere (bigger one) in your Player Character Status.

Just like gaining enough Fame raises your Fame Level, gaining enough PeP raises your PeP Rank (to a maximum of 5). With each rank you gain you will enhance certain aspects of your Player Character. They enhance your Attributes and shift your default Base Level for State Ranks of all three State Bars up by one rank. While the first option will enhance the effectiveness of your associated Skill and Affinities, the second option will also enhance your Movement Speed, Attack Speed and various forms of dealt Damage. Each rank influences your Player Character as follows:

PeP Rank 0 – No effects.

PeP Rank 1 – Raise all Attributes by 1 and gain 1 additional rank Base Level

PeP Rank 2 – Raise all Attributes by 2

PeP Rank 3 – Raise all Attributes by 4 and gain 1 additional rank Base Level

PeP Rank 4 – Raise all Attributes by 7

PeP Rank 5 – Raise all Attributes by 11 and gain 1 additional rank Base Level

Unlike Fame Levels you can actually lose PeP Ranks. Each time your Character dies, it will suffer a blow to its self-esteem and lose a complete PeP Rank worth of PeP; effectively lowering your PeP Rank by one. Note that you can never have fewer than 0 PeP and a PeP Rank of 0.

For example, dying with PeP Rank 2 with 30% into Rank 3, will make the character PeP Rank 1 with 30% to Rank 2.

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Spellborn hands-on preview by Eurogamer!

2008-11-06T10:03:00.000-08:00

Few weeks ago, Eurogamer has been invited to participate in the Closed Beta of The Chronicles of Spellborn and we played the game with them to show what Spellborn is about.

The outcome of this demo has been published today on Eurogamer and we invite you to check it out now !

Among updated gameplay information, this hands-on article also contains some great details on how the combat system of TCoS works!

To conclude, we can't resist to quote the following from the article : "If Spellborn's impressive catalogue of innovations pulls together into a compelling experience, we can see this as a cult hit in the making."

Enjoy!

Eurogamer hands-on article.

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The Chronicles of Spellborn: Shardship Travel video!

2008-11-06T09:38:00.000-08:00

Outside the relative safety of the Shards, the Deadspell Storm reigns supreme. Gigantic maelstrom of magical energies, only the brave dare to set off on a journey through the immensity of the Storm.

By joining the crew of a Shardship, it is up to you, players, to defend it against against hostiles humanoids or even monsters lurking in the Deadspell. It is also possible to go for a more luxurious and pricier travel method, a teleport, for those who can afford it.

So, don't wait any longer to"Join the Crew" and check out this new video !

Last but not least, we also added video streams to most of our already published videos ! Go have a look !

Enjoy !

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Shards Story revealed !

2008-11-05T07:25:00.000-08:00

The Chronicles of Spellborn will feature 4 Shards at release, each with their own unique setting, environments and wildlife. But before you set foot on these realms, how about discovering their history ?

With these new articles, you can read on the origins of each Shards, beginning with Parliament, where you will start your adventure in TCoS; and Quarterstone, where you will seek the guidance of the Oracle; Ringfell, where you will meet the mysterious Speyrfolk, and Mount of Heroes, where the terrible Howlers menace is creeping underground.

To read on these new articles, check out the "Shards" menu in the "Story" section of the TCOS website. Enjoy !

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250 TCoS Beta Keys on MMORPG.com!

2008-10-28T03:12:00.000-07:00

As you might remember, we announced last week the shipping of a new patch to our Closed Beta version. That's one good news, but the other good one is that we need new Beta Testers in order to stress and test this latest version. This is now your chance to participate in this Closed Beta phase of The Chronicles of Spellborn.

So don't wait anymore and head to MMORPG.com to possibly win your TCoS Beta Key among the 250 ! While you are at it, don't forget to hype Spellborn on MMORPG.com! We need you to spread the teachings of the Oracle over the world!

Last but not least, we have already started inviting Community Members from our boards to reward them for their active participation! Check your email box, there might be a surprise for you!

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TCoS is NOT a Free2Play Game !

2008-10-21T07:29:00.000-07:00

So first, TCoS is NOT a Free2Play game.

There is indeed a Free2Play ZONE, ie the starting area. the Devs, are still looking into the extent of said area. That means, that you, players, can test the game for free, and then have to go for a regular subscription to continue playing the game and level up your character. No subscription equals to being stuck in free2play zone.

Second, there are NO item malls, there is NO item selling.

To sum up:

You can play the beginning of the game for free. This allows you to see whether you like Spellborn or not. If you do like it (we hope so ), then you go for a subscription and that's it! Nothing more, nothing less, just go ahead and continue playing.

Rather than offering the usual "14 days trial" or similar, we decided to go for this free2play starting zone. This will allow you more time to get a good feel on the combat system and on the questing, and in general to give a good impression on what Spellborn is all about.

At the end of the day, if you want to have a character and level it, access all the gameplay and zones of the game, you go for the regular subscription.

I repeat, TCoS is NOT FREE2PLAY. There is ONLY a ZONE with Free access. Of course, there will be limitations as in it is not possible to travel and explore ALL the zones of Spellborn with this free account. To explore, level up and continue beyond the starting area, a subscription is needed.

The Free2Play zone is nothing more than a trial period, which you already know from many other MMOs out there. We simply assume that Spellborn would gain more attention by offering such model, in comparison to the 14 days trial, and would give you more time to become familiar with the combat system and gameplay, without the concern of loosing days of play because of RL events/work/etc, preventing you from playing. I think it's even more fair for you guys.

Same system will apply to European version, but we'll come back to you with all details on that later.

Hope this alleviates all your concerns.

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TCoS: Boss Encounters

2008-10-06T02:34:00.000-07:00

Boss encounters, maybe the most important aspect of the game for some players. Whether it’s fire breathing dragons (which we don’t have) or waves of demonic little creatures (which we sort off have), boss encounters form the cornerstone of instances and pinnacle of achievement... for some.

Boss encounters is a term I’m using loosely here, it doesn’t stand for something necessarily big and dangerous. It means the encounter is unique, typically harder then the encounters before it and usually marks an achievement of some sort. We have bosses of level 4 and bosses of level 50, some are tiny, some are huge, it’s all there.

Boss encounters can be located inside instances as well as outside. Our outdoor bosses are spread everywhere and go as low as level 4. Usually players are lead to them with quest lines or lore, but innocent travelers might stumble upon them deep inside a cave system.

Designing these encounters is always difficult. Bosses work like players; they have their own skilldecks with tiers and are thus limited in the same fashion. One can say they have exactly the same possibilities as players, but that’s not entirely true, I’ll get to that later. The skills are usually designed to match with the quest, lore and surroundings. A bear boss would look silly with a ‘wing buffet’ attack, obviously, but also, will there be other mobs nearby and what are the surroundings?

Finding something that fits into all these factors is nice, finding something that actually uses all these factors is even nicer. Imagine a big Urgarut in the Quarterstone mines as a boss. This is a pvp area, so what we would try is to involve pvp in the boss’ skilldeck. Something like, placing debuffs that will kill the player when the timer runs out unless he kills another player. All though this might be a bit too straight forward, mechanics like this really make for rich and different encounters.

Bosses inside instances have a more controlled environment, just the players from the group and mobs from the instance will be present. Bosses inside instances can be easily supported by scripts, because of these controlled environments. These scripts can handle actions and events that are not possible with the use of just the regular skills from the skilldeck. They range from lights going on and off to the flooding of an entire area.

I’ll briefly handle all the stages of designing and implementing a boss fight. It starts off with the Lore & Content people designing an instance. For example, they might have some spooky old house which is partially destroyed and decide that the old housekeeper is the boss that still wanders around. They also indicate what kind of attacks they want the boss to use. Like, mostly melee attacks, using his broom and that near the end of the fight the roof should come down.

This concept will then be discussed with someone from Combat, like me. Skills are now designed in detail. Usually they’ll also receive an extra layer of effects to make the fight a bit deeper, basically adding some extra challenge for players that like to maximize skill usage. We strive to make the fights like huge intricate jig-saw puzzles, you won’t have to place every piece to see what the image will be, yet placing them all will create the perfect result.

Now I will sit down with the scripters, that roof coming down near the end of the fight is not possible with regular skills, it has to be triggered at a set moment and needs custom graphics. Art will take care of the graphics, while the scripters will make sure the roof comes down at the right time. For these events I will need to make a skill that will be attached to the script, so the falling roof will actually do damage to everyone standing below it. The scripters will make sure the damage skill is triggered when someone is hit by the roof. In the mean time, I make the rest of the skills for the boss in our Skill Editor. (see the attached ‘shock and awe’-screenshot). The finished skills are then put in a new skilldeck, which in turn is attached to the boss.

Voila, time to test if it’s actually working and balance it out.

Now comes the hard part, balancing it, making sure it’s fun. Testing on a functional level isn’t too much work, checking if the skills actually do what was designed. Testing if it’s fun, if players get the experience that was designed is definitely the harder part. Also, the creativity of players is impossible to foresee. Of course we are developing the tools the players will have. Still, it’s a challenge to predict how certain encounters will eventually be played. In the end, that remains up to you .

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A primer to understanding the classes

2008-09-29T07:21:00.000-07:00

was getting a bit tired of trying to get a sense of what each class does by reading their abilities and decided to make short summaries detailing each archtype and subclass. While making this primer I realized how it helped me better understand each class in context of the others so I decided to repost my work here.

So if you are still tying to fingure out which class suits your tastes then reading here would be a good start in wrapping your head around the details of each class.

The archtypes

There are two types of classifications for classes. The first listed here is the archtype class. This class embodies the core features of the classes related to it. As you level up you are restricted to your archtype skills. At level 50 you can perform various deeds for NPCs to unlock each skill from other archtypes. So when you think of what class to pick keep in mind if you are dedicated enough to playing the game you can get things that they would be lacking in. Also keep in mind that in my overview of archtypes I listed things people can commonly understand. Each archtype has certain abilities that are unbelievably good and role defining for the archtype.

What do rogues offer that the other archtypes don't?

=- Only archtype with a decent number of attacks that deal greater damage if you can hit their backside.
=- A large number of attacks where damage is dependent on their concentration being greater than the target's.
=- Large number of abilities that increase their resistence to attacks as long as they keep connecting with these attacks. Missing with these attacks reduces your overall damage mitigation.
=- Decent number of ranged abilities which have the highest damage potential compared to the other archtypes.
=- All their ranged skills are penalized with a minimum range clause.
=- Access to a wide variety of skills that allows you to weaken defence against all of the attack types, but the majority of skills require you to be in melee range.
=- Only archtype with access to the blind effect which prevents a player from using any ranged attacks.
=- Decent variety of abilities designed to lower the damage mitigation of your opposition.

What do warriors offer that the other archtypes don't?

=- Only archtype with access to a small number of attacks that completely ignore any natural defences an opponent has, which hit for heavy damage.
=- Warriors have a lot of attacks where damage is dependent on their physique being greater than their targets'.
=- Warriors also have the ability to greatly increase their running speed as long as they keep connecting with their attacks. Missing certain attacks reduces your movement speed.
=- Warriors have a large number of abilities that manipulates the running speed of enemies in the warrior's favor.
=- Only archtype with access to the disarm effect which prevents a player from using any melee attacks.

What do mages offer that the other archtypes don't?

=- A decent number of heals. The other archtypes have only one heal each.
=- A large number of attacks where damage is dependent on their morale being greater than the target's.
=- Access to a decent number of attacks that amplify damage as long as you keep connecting with your attacks. Missing these attacks reduces your damage.
=- None of their multitarget skills are capped. The other archtypes are usually capped to two or four targets.
=- Greatest number of abilities with tradeoffs than the other archtypes, and in a decent amount. They are tradeoffs like giving allies a debuff while trying to offset that gain with coinciding buffs.
=- Decent number of skills designed to be anti melee in a variety of ways.
=- Largest number of ranged abilities ranged abilities augmented with various secondary effects.
=- The majority of their ranged skills are spells, so they don't suffer the minimum range penalty and resistances against these spells have to match the correct spell affinity and there are three affinities.

The subclasses

The following is about the second classification which is the subclass. Subclass abilities are restricted. This doesn't guarantee that what makes a subclass unique won't be made available to other subclasses due to raising the level cap or balance changes, but it's reasonable to believe the general flavor of the class won't change much from what it initially starts out with for a very long time.

What differentiates Ancestral Mages from the other mage subclasses?

>- Ancestral Mages make use of a pet. The majority of skills require you to harm your pet or put it in jeoperdy to perform various tasks.
>- All of your teleportation skills involve forcing characters to get close to your pet or to get your pet to come to you.
=- Decent number of skills designed to lower the base damage of a player regardless of them using spells, range or melee.
=- Small number of attacks where damage is dependent on their morale being greater than the targets.
=- A large number of skills which greatly increase their damage as long as they keep connecting with their attacks. Missing such attacks reduces your damage.
=- Greater amount of group buffs than the other casters.

What differentiates Rune Mages from the other mage subclasses?

>- Rune Mages can draw runes which act as an AOE that stays active for a period of time. The other casters barely have any persistent spells.
>- Uses a decent number of AOEs with DOT effects.
>- Small number of attacks where damage is dependent on their physique being greater than their targets'.
>- Decent number of abilities that greatly increase their running speed as long as they keep connecting with their attacks. Missing these attacks reduces their movement speed.
>- Compared to all 9 classes Runemages definately have higher than average hit points unlike the other mages who probably have average health.
=- Large number of melee skills. The other casters are lacking in this area.
=- Decent variety of skills designed to hamper movement ranging from effects that directly manipulate movement to effects that force opponents to think about how much they want to move and where they should be moving.

What differentiates Void Seers from the other mage subclasses?

>- The only caster with access to the silence effect which prevents a caster from using spells (small number of abilities).
>- Only caster with access to doom effect which reduces the effectiveness of healing (decent number of abilities).
>- Specializes in heavy damage to single targets.
=- Makes usage of reflection effects, which redirects part of the damage a target recieves in a small variety of ways.
=- Decent variety of abilities designed to reduce opponents' natural defences against all types of spells.

What differentiates Deathhands from the other rogue subclasses?

>- The only rogue with access to the acid effect which reduces an opponent's resistances as they receive more damage and can damage a healer if it tries to heal that person.
>- Decent variety of skills which lowers important stats of an enemy as they receive more damage.
>- Decent variety of skills which lowers important stats of an enemy as they try to move.
>- Largest amount of heals with the greatest amount of variety of all the rogues.
>- Deathhands can use poisons which are actived by a large number of abilities. The effects of poisons remain unknown for now.
>- Only rogue with abilities that don't have obvious drawbacks that need to be managed so the good effects outweight the bad effects. The other rogues have a small number of skills with conditional drawbacks.
>- Compared to all 9 subclasses Deathhands probably have average hit points unlike the other rogues who definately have lower than average health.
>- Only rogue that can't teleport.
=- Specializes with DOTs.

What differentiates Skinshifters from the other rogue subclasses?

>- The only rogue with access to the silence effect which prevents spells from being casted.
>- The only rogue with access to the doom effect which reduces the strength of healing.
>- The only rogue with access to the disarm effect which prevents a player from using melee skills.
>- Specializes in heavy damage to a single target.
>- Greatest control of all 9 classes in teleporting to specific locations.
=- Barely has any ranged skills. The other rogues have a lot more ranged abilities.
=- Skinshifter have a small number of attacks where damage is dependent on their concentration being greater than the target's.
=- Decent number of abilities that greatly increase their damage resistences as long as they keep connecting with their attacks. Missing with these attacks reduces their ability to mitigate damage.

What differentiates Tricksters from the other rogue subclasses?

>- Tricksters make usage of gadgets which augment their combat abilities with additional effects after being thrown. The effects of gadgets are unknown.
>- Because of gadgets, tricksters have the largest amount of ranged abilities with the most precise attack arc out of all 9 subclasses.
>- Only rogue that can't increase their damage if they position themselves behind their opponent. Limited to whatever their archtype gives them.
>- Tricksters don't have any heals unlike the other rogues. Restricted to the one heal available by their archtype.
>- Decent number of skills designed to hamper the movement of the opposition.
=- Have a variety of skills that makes it difficult for the opposition to touch them or even harm them that well, especially with melee or ranged attacks.

What differentiates Wrathguards from the other warrior subclasses?

>- Push a button and hit multiple enemies. Only a few wrathguard specific skills are designed to hit one target.
>- The majority of multi target skills have a higher target hit cap unlike the other 5 non-mages.
>- No heals unlike the other warriors. Restricted to the one heal available in its archtype.
>- Large number of skills where damage is dependent on their morale being greater than the targets.
>- Large amount of skills which greatly increase their damage as long as they keep connecting with their attacks. Missing such attacks reduces their damage.
>- Their abilities get more powerful as the number of allies or enemies, that are in their range to affect, increases.
>- They have a large variety of ways of increasing/lowering the damage of friendlies/enemies.
>- Only class of the 9 that can manipulate friends and enemies by teleoporting them to its location.
=- Decent number of skills that completely ignore any natural defenses.

What differentiates Furyhammers from the other warrior subclasses?

>- Has a decent number of attacks where damage is dependent on their concentration being greater than the targets.
>- Large number of skills which increase their resistences as long as they keep connecting with their attacks. Missing such attacks reduces their resistences.
>- Only warrior class with access to the silence effect.
>- Only class out of the 9 that can hit multiple targets with the disarm or blind effect.
>- Decent number of heals but the majority is designed to help the furyhammer only unlike the bloodwarrior.
>- Makes usage of a small number of skills designed to reduce the running speed of multiple opponets.
>- All ranged attacks are teleportations.
>- Only warrior to not have party buffs. Instead has largest variety of enemy debuffs.
=- Specializes in defense against melee and ranged attacks.
=- If it is disarmed or blinded it still has a large variety of skills that allows it to keep on attacking, unlike the other warriors who are more weapon dependent.

What differentiates Bloodwarriors from the other warrior subclasses?

>- Can form various types of blood links with other characters. Forming blood hooks allows linked characters to feel the same pain the bloodwarrior is feeling. Forming blood bonds allows linked characters to redistribute some of their pain to the bloodwarrior instead.
>- Properly managing links is important because a variety of healing effects, buffs and debuffs you put on yourself can be shared with linked characters.
>- A decent variety of skills also come with their own specific drawback requiring you to do something detrimental to your bloodwarrior with the hope of gaining better benefits.
>- Compared to all 9 subclasses bloodwarriors have higher than average hitpoints while the other warriors both have lower than average hitpoints.
=- Largest variety of group buffs.
=- Blood Warriors have a decent number of abilities that greatly increase their running speed as long as they keep connecting with their attacks. Missing certain attacks reduces your movement speed.

Don't view this primer as completely accurate because the information posted about this stuff is dated and may have changed after QA testing the classes in various combat situations.

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TCoS Beta Impressions: 12 New Screenshots!

2008-09-26T07:16:00.000-07:00

Today the TCoS team continue there Beta Impressions mini-series with another 12 screenshots made by the beta testers during their adventures. You can find these screenshots on the main site, in the Screenshots section. Enjoy!

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TCoS - Launch Date Announced

2008-09-25T08:37:00.000-07:00

One of the most eagerly awaited online role-playing games is approaching the final stretch in its development. The German, English and French versions of The Chronicles of Spellborn are scheduled for release on November 27th, 2008 in Europe. In preparation of the release, the innovative fantasy MMORPG has started into the next phase of the closed beta tests along with a large content patch Wednesday, 17th of September..The update brings along substantial advancements in the class system, the quest architecture, the fame system and the combat gameplay as well as improvements on art and general game mechanics lifting the game onto a new level of gameplay experience. During the upcoming weeks, developer Spellborn NV and publisher Frogster will invite more selected registered community members into the closed beta tests. A detailed beta and release schedule for The Chronicles of Spellborn will be announced shortly. Interested fantasy adventurers can register via the brand new beta registration on www.tcos.com to get the chance to have a look at the game before the actual release.

Source: tcos.com

This article however does not mention anything about US launch. It was always a common knowledge that game would be released in Europe first, but we are not sure just how far behind will US version come along. Indications are that it shouldn't be too long of a wait for US players.

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FAQ: Release, Payment, Beta & Beta Invitations, etc.

2008-09-24T01:47:00.000-07:00

What is the current state of this game, I see the "Signup Beta NOW!" thing at the corner of my screen and I signed up for 'Beta'. But which beta is it in right now?

At the moment game is in Closed Beta 3.

Closed Beta 3? Can I still get a key then?

We still give away limited amount of Closed Beta keys. People who receive such keys are bind by NDA (can't tell anyone what they saw in game) and overall help us test the game.

Allright, what about Open Beta then?

Open beta is something entirely different, since indeed nowadays people view it as free demo, rather than actual beta test. When that will happen is too early to say yet, but normally it is one month before the release.

And the release is when?

Release is planned for November 27th, 2008 in Europe.

What about USA? I read game might be released in EU first?

Recently we have announced our NA publisher - Acclaim. We aim for same release date worldwide.

Are US players able to play in a Closed or Open beta?

Closed Beta - Yes.
Open Beta - still remains to be seen if there will be separate NA servers.

What about payment? Will it be free-to-play?

No. You will be able to play for free in certain beginner zones, but you will have and pay monthly subscription fee to access the rest of the game world. As for payment method, besides the credit cards we plan to have game cards as well, though this haven't been finalized and confirmed by all publishers yet.

What about item mal? Will it be available for TCOS players?

No. We do not plan to introduce item mal system to TCOS.

Ok, so back to beta. Do all the people who register for it get their keys?

No. The key hand-outs are based mostly on forum activity and general contribution to the community.

I signed a while back and still got no key?

See above. People who have signed earlier do not have a priority over those who signed up later on. We have to know you are still alive before sending you a key.

I joined a while back and singed for beta then, but I upgraded my computer system since and I can't send in my new dxdiag. What should I do?

We are aware about this and unfortunately you cannot update your dxdiag at this point. It won't affect your chances to get into beta though, for we do not plan to invite people based purely on PC spec. In fact, new beta sign-up design does not even require dxdiag file anymore.

How long it takes before I get a key if I post on forums?

It depends. Usually we invite people in waves and it may take a few months before you receive your key.

But but but... I want my key!

Well, feel free to note that in this thread, so I do not have to search far on hand-out day.

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Heroes and Villains

2008-09-14T10:48:00.000-07:00

Where would a post-apocalyptic fantasy world be without its share of Heroes and Villains? Well I reckon it would probably exist, but that world would be either filled with fluffy little bunny creatures gallivanting through stretch after stretch of meadow filled with white flowers or it would be a rather dull place where nothing happens. Come to think of it, those two are identical!

In this Development Diary I'd like to pick out a few Heroes and a few Villains and tell you a little something about them. Let me stress the word little, because well, we do want to leave it up to you to find out more about the history of these people, creatures or entities. For some I had to really hold my tongue even though I so anxiously wanted to tell you more.. but I can't.. I simply can't.

To quote a known Veridan historian, "How does one tell the tale of a thousand Heroes?" and well, to be honest, I have no idea! So, I just closed my eyes and whirled my finger above the great list of characters in TCoS and dropped down a few times. The first name to crawl from under my, squashed fingertip was Bazir Shadowcrest.

Heroes
Bazir Shadowcrest
Age: Unknown
Race: Daevi
Class: Skinshifter
Function: Leader of Shade's Grace
Location: The City of Quarterstone

There is a rhyme that parents in the Enclave tell their children when they are acting obnoxious or annoying. A rhyme that refers to a woman so brooding and cunning that she is feared by most, yet held in high regard by her peers.

The rhyme goes as follows:

'When Children refuse to listen,
'And ignore their parents' pleading calls,
'She will come with fangs that glisten,
'In times when Darkness falls.

'To teach these very Children,
'To be nice and to be good,
'Else she will take them bound forever,
'And nibble on their toes like food.

'So still your screaming and obey,
'Else Bazir will come..
'To take you all away!

Fortunately for the children of the Enclave, this rhyme holds no real truth.

Bazir Shadowcrest is the best Rogue in the Enclave and she knows it. Being taught by a master in the arts of the Skinshifter, she adapts to every situation with the utmost precision. Bazir is the very word Rogue come to live and has dedicated her life to the ways of stealth, precision and the art of not being seen.

The very visage of the short Daevi woman does not really instil fear in the hearts of men and many stupid and overzealous adventurers have made the mistake of underestimating this master of shadowy Skills.

Bazir Shadowcrest's personal life is a mystery and is shrouded by rumours and legends. It is not even known which High House she is aligned to, although people openly state that she calls House Shroud her home.
There are legends that tell of a master rogue that taught her everything she knows. Rumours also entail that she murdered her family on request by that same master. But whether these rumours and legends are true remains to be seen as Bazir keeps her mouth shut and only opens it to those she respects.

Although her history and private life are obscured by secrets and shadows, Bazir has dedicated her very life to the continuance of the Enclave of the Five Sacrifices. Her small group of elite rogues known as Shade's Grace is available for the highest price, selling themselves as mercenaries for spying, sabotage and the occasional assassination, to those that know what it is capable of. Under no circumstances will Bazir act upon any indifference between the High Houses or internal troubles within the Enclave.

She currently resides outside of the Temple of the Oracle in the city of Quarterstone where she discusses the future of the Enclave with other heroes and respected members of the various High Houses.

Doyen Sellgret
Age: 45
Race: Human
Class: Wrathguard
Function: Commander of the Marksmen
Location: Aboard the Shardship: The Silent Child

The Enclave of the Five Sacrifices would be nothing without the commitment of the people that lead the various factions and High Houses. One of those people is Doyen Sellgret, dedicated commander and leader of a group of researchers and soldiers calling themselves the Marksmen.

The Marksmen have put the focus on a race of birdlike creatures known as the Vhuul and do everything in their power to come to understand the very nature of these creatures and why they hate the Enclave with such extremity.

Doyen Sellgret swore his allegiance to House Rune at an early age and was fortunate to have wealthy parents that hastened his rise in ranks quite considerably.

After three years of spending every second of his time on experiments that involved the various magical effects upon people within the Deadspell Storm, Doyen stumbled upon a fragment of Ancestral World that contained the skeletal remains of creatures known as the Vhuul. Not satisfied with the knowledge and information on the Vhuul available to him at that time, Doyen started spending more and more time researching the Vhuul.

Now Doyen and his Marksmen are sponsored by House Rune and House Silver and have been embraced by the rest of the Enclave as a spear point organisation dedicated to everything related to the Vhuul. There is no one that knows more on this particular subject than Doyen Sellgret.

Even though a lot is known about the Vhuul and their whereabouts, the most important information and knowledge has still to be uncovered.

Orbiting around Quarterstone in his own Shardship, The Silent Child, Doyen Sellgret greets every adventurer with as much fervour as he does with the news new Vhuul have been spotted somewhere within the known Shards.

Villains
Shagaine Lusinfarn
Age: 68
Race: Human
Class: Furyhammer
Function: Leader of The Brotherhood of the Glaive
Location: Unknown

You can call Shagaine Lusinfarn a lot of things, but one thing he is not is a quitter. As the current leader of the Brotherhood of the Glaive, Shagaine has put a lot of effort in making life for everyone living in the Enclave of the Five Sacrifices a living hell. Raised prices on the shardwide market, raids on Enclave Armouries and even trying to establish forward strike posts in the heart of Enclave territory.

You could say that the rather broadchested Leader of the Glaive has done rather well for himself and his followers, but if you would look at the true agenda of the Brotherhood back when it was founded and compare it to the one that is currently used, there is a world of difference.

Shagaine Lusinfarn started his career in the ranks of House Maul. Together with his childhood friend Brole Exeto, he enlisted in the Hawksmouth Militia and served out his time as an Arms master until his right to citizenship was approved. But unlike most, Shagaine and Brole actually wanted to stay within the ranks of the Protectors of House Maul. Their request was approved and together they climbed the ranks and fought for the glory of the Enclave.

Times changed and several years after their combined joining of the armed forces, Brole was promoted to commander of the First Legion of the Maul forces. Having the right to chose his own second in command, Brole chose Shagaine. Together they devised a strategy to drive back the Howlers on Mount of Heroes and started their approach to the dreaded Howling Mountain.

But when both warriors witnessed the horrors and atrocities that had befallen the citizens of the Enclave upon the accursed Shard, they knew that more was needed than just protection of the weak and needy. Shagaine listened to Brole and agreed with his friend when he came with the notion to abandon the simplistic ideals of House Maul and start an organisation that would not only protect those citizens in need, but would also hand them food, shelter and water. Thus the Brotherhood of the Glaive was born.

But people change and the reasons for changing can be many. In the case of Shagaine Lusinfarn, the change came when he heard of the death of his commander and friend Brole Exeto. Suspecting that his friend had to have been assassinated under the command of some within House Maul, Shagaine swore vengeance. He brooded and plotted and started to direct every shred of power under his command to the demise of the Enclave and more directly House Maul.

To this very day, Shagaine schemes and plots and tries to limit the Enclave's successes at every turn. But even though the Brotherhood can count on the help of the Ousted, there are more enemies within the Shards of the Ancestral World than just the Enclave of the Five Sacrifices. Shagaine is brooding a clever plan and is on the verge of extracting his revenge upon those who he believes have betrayed him and Brole Exeto all those years ago.

Adinthalos
Age: Dead-ish
Race: Malvakang
Class: Vhelgar General
Function: General of the Demon Army Forces
Location: Six feet under

Prior to the world being ripped apart by the Great Collapse, the Empire of the Eight Demons enlisted generals from a race known as the Malvakang, also known as lesser Vhelgar. One of these lesser Vhelgar was a being known as Adinthalos, bigger, bolder and more vicious than any of his horrendous brethren. It was because of these characteristics that Adinthalos was chosen by Ormoburu to lead one of the primary forces within the Demon Army, that of the forward strike force.

Adinthalos followed the orders issued by his new master with vehemence and continued to lead the army to such an extent that he never lost a single campaign and Ormoburu was pleased. But three years after his promotion to the rank of general, the order came to march upon the Altar of the Undying near the city of Quarterstone. Adinthalos faltered, for the orders did not come from his master, but from one of the other Elder Vhelgar. Sworn to only obey the wishes of his master, Adinthalos was stuck between disobeying a direct order or failing his master. The Malvakang General made up his mind. Even when the Elder Vhelgar made sure Adinthalos knew that the marching orders came from the Eight Demons themselves, The Elder Vhelgar could not sway Adinthalos to execute the orders.

The Elder Vhelgar were furious but dared not go against the orders of one of their own, especially one such as Ormoburu. If Ormoburu had ordered the Malvakang General to only take orders from him, Adinthalos was not at fault.

Mere hours after the Elder Vhelgar had left, a Human and Daevi insurgent force chose to infiltrate the Demon Army Camp and sabotaged the only means of leaving the valley, trapping Adinthalos and his army and cutting it off from the Altar permanently.

The Malvakang General fought with all the force he could muster, a fight that resulted in many insurgent deaths, but also one that Adinthalos had to pay the ultimate price for, his own life.

Now the avatar of Adinthalos can only be fought by undergoing an Ancestral Dream, where it waits for those from the future to test their mettle against him.

Personal views
The universe of Spellborn is so vast and its inhabitants so many that it is impossible to say which of the characters we have come up with during our 'little' development journey I like the best. There are those that feel like a friend and that there are those that I totally despise.

We have our share of bad *** villains, people and creatures that will make your skin crawl and those that might make no sense in whatever way you look at them. But not everything is as it seems though, there are ancient secrets to unearth and not everyone will be happy if that happens.

I hope that if you run into either the above mentioned heroes or villains or those not mentioned, that you understand that each and every character that makes a difference has his or her own ideals and thoughts. They have their own personal agenda and their own allegiances. Some appear nice and well but are complete and utter bastards, while others might appear to be a sack of Hoppy droppings and ultimately come to be known as a respectful person or creature. All I want to say is that looks can be deceiving.

If you do run into Adinthalos though, during one of our Ancestral Dreams, do kick him in the nuts for me, cause he caused me no small amount of stress. Why on earth did I ever come up with a creature that has no hands! *sigh*

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TCoS Character Creation & Customization

2008-09-13T02:08:00.000-07:00

When creating your character you'll have several choices depending on the Race you've chosen:

Human : Male : 4 Body types : Skinny, Athletic, Chubby, Hulky
Female: 3 Body Types: Skinny, Athletic, Chubby

Daevi : Male /Female : Different Body Textures; and a body color palette different from the one Humans have. Well.. Daevi are half demon/half human after all

Dress to Impress: Clothing, Armors, Shields, Jewellery have no statistics. It's for the looks, it's purely cosmetic.

At certain shops you'll be able to "re-paint" your gear, in order to match your currently equiped armor, clothes.

Create your own armors, clothes, weapons, thanks to Crafting. More Craftable sets are also available as your character levels.

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Fileplanet selected for TCoS Beta!

2008-09-10T02:54:00.000-07:00

With the game nearing completion, the pressure on the Beta is getting higher and higher. Open Beta is getting closer and plans for a first of its kind end of Beta event are well on their way. Because we want the Open Beta available to as many people as possible, we looked for a partner that is able to make it all happen; Fileplanet (insert cheer noises here).

The good thing is that we can trust Fileplanet to arrange the entire Beta process giving us the space to focus on finishing the game. Their Beta experience and reliable servers will ensure the Open Beta can be enjoyed by anybody that wants to be part of it!

Today we kicked off by starting the first of many Focus Tests using 500 testers selected by Fileplanet. Of course this process is spied upon by a number of our hard core community testers

More info on this deal will follow shortly. Any constructive comments are welcome in the thread linked below.

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The Chronicles of Spellborn Combat Stress Test

2008-09-09T08:07:00.000-07:00

The video shows you an internal Combat Stress Test. All characters are level 1, with a few basic skills.

Oh and quoting our dear Selachii: "Also, the movie clip I told you about last week, it's finished! All I can say is, gah, I hate hearing my own voice" so don't be harsh on him and Matthew.

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Q&A: Skills, Combos and Bodyslots

2008-09-08T11:50:00.000-07:00

Q&A: Skills, Combos and Bodyslots
by El 'Selachii' Drijver

Combos:

Q: How many different combo effects will each class generally have? Will some classes have more options for combos then others?
A: All classes have an equal amount of combo possibilities, 3 openers and 3 finishers.

Q: Will there be arch type based combos used only with arch type skills and sub-class combos special for each of the nine classes?
A: The openers are based on archetype; the finishers are based on subclass.

Q: What's the current highest number of skills that can be performed creating one chain?
A: 8

Q: Do the skills between the finished and starter also need a specific sequence? Will combo chains be broken if you make another move in between the opening move and the end move, that’s not a "middle" move? For example, you do opener and then 3 random skills and then finish off... Will the combo then be valid or will the combo fail?
A: No, any attack following a combo opener is considered part of the combo sequence. The only skill type that cannot be executed while in a combo string is combo opener. After starting a combo sequence, using an opener, other openers will be disabled. This is something that needs to be considered when building your deck. The combo length is variable, if you execute a finishing move after building 3 combo points, the combo is executed succesfully, but the bonus will be lower.

Q: Will there be skills that can be used for multiple combos?
A: Each finisher can be used in combination with each opener. All skills can be used for combos. Skills can even be used multiple times within the same combo sequence.

Q: Will using different combo skills within the combo change the outcome? Or are combos only aimed at the finisher?
A: No, the opener and finisher determine the buffs/benefits.

Q: Are there plans for combos for groups? Or special combos for different factions? Or even combos which you will need a partner for, to execute it?
A: No, apart from the obvious benefit that some combo’s might drastically lower a stat which might benefit your teammates more then yourself.

Q: Does combo's work for healing spell? Say if I choose to be a sort of "healer" and stay in the background and heal the group, will I then be able to pull of combos using only healing spells which increases amount of health healed?
A: Yes, any skill can be used for combo points, some of the openers and finishers are aimed towards healing benefits as well.

Q: Will we see which spells are starters/finisher? Does it say in the spell tooltip if the spell is Combo Starter/Linker/Finisher etc?
A: An icon in the spellbook indicates the combo type, the effect is listed in the tooltip. Check the screenshots

Q: It was said that combos will not be needed to win battles. So how much of an advantage say would I have if I used them against a person who didn't? Taking into account we are both on a level playing field in terms of skill.
A: How much? About a liter. What I mean is, the advantage depends per opener/finisher and how it’s being used. I can’t really express the ‘optimal’ effect one can achieve.

Skills:

Q: It said that at level 50 characters could purchase the skills of the other archetypes. How will this work and how many of those skills can be purchased?
A: As you can read in the Skill trainer journal, they can’t simply be bought, the original designer/master skill trainer of the skill needs to be found. Not all skill trainers live on the shards that are in release.

Q: Will there be a system in place for counterattacks? (Like deflections, disarming, throwing your opponent off balance, etc. Will shields affect game play, i.e. will I be able to use some kind of Block ability or are shields just for show?
A: No. We’ve had a combo system in place with ‘counters’, but this turned out to be too hard and too complex in our fast paced combat. Shields have no effects for the simple reason that all our gear is purely cosmetic.

Q: Will the range differ per ranged skill?
A: In general, all bow (ranged) skills have the same range. Some bow and ranged magic attacks differ though.

Q: Ancestral mage questions: Will there be variations to pets, that have a specific role (like have a tiger instead of a hyena for melee damage) and what kind of roles will these pets fill (all of them, even healing roles?)?
A: There will be different pets who cover a similar role, but there are no different appearances for the same role/pet. All roles will be covered, I guess most pets cover 1 role well and might cover a second or third partially.

Q: Will skills have varying selectable levels? As in, if I purchase a fireball skill (lvl 1), then the next most powerful version (lvl 2), will I be able to assign any level of my choosing to the skill bar, or will it default to the most powerful version?
A: No, skills scale with your level, so there’s only ‘your current level’.

Q: Does the rune mage have casting time and how long it takes to create a rune? Will creating different runes take longer cast times?
A: Not longer then casts from other classes might take, there’s no ‘cast bar’ that needs to be completed, cast time is a set length.

Q: How you can obtain items (sigil, rune, etc.) which can be placed into skill slot? How do these sigils affect skills?
A: Both Skill- as Gear sigils are obtained via drops, crafting recipes or quest rewards. There’s a very wide variety of skill sigils, they range from increasing the damage, reducing the cooldown to increasing the range.

Q: Will there be any off-combat skills (for example: sprint, hide, track, seek for hidden treasure.....)?
A: No, all though a skinshifter shifting into a boar so he can cross a dense forest untouched, might count as one.

Q: If you find a skill trainer, but you aren't ready for the skill yet, can you learn it immediately but can't use it, or do you have to return later when you are ready?
A: The skill trainer will not reveal it’s identity until you are ready to learn and use the skill.

Q: When I enter combat my skillbar starts at 1 rotating through the different layers as I use skills. What does reset the bar to 1 again? Target death? Switching targets? How quickly does it reset?
A: The first tier is reached again when: a skill on all following tiers was executed or when the skilldeck timed out. Time out occurs after about 8 seconds of no skill usage. It does not reset to tier 1 upon target death/switch.

Q: If I got that right, the aura of the Wrathguard affects enemies and team members alike. Will the Wrathguard have an ability to keep single targets (a single enemy for example) out?
A: No, choose your aura wisely

Q: Will there be team abilities/combos that need more than one player or will benefit from more players cooperating? "Team Abilities"?
A: No, like mentioned before, only the obvious, for example: one player lowering enemy physique while the other executes ‘crushing’ attacks, which benefit from having a higher physique then your target. The system of these types of benefits is quite intricate.

Q: There won't be any class with skills that can resurrect players. Will it be possible to teleport a player to the position of another using a special skill? (Will there be items that can resurrect players?)
A: No, don’t die.

Q: Will there be any form of Crowd Control and if so, how will it work?
A: One of the key elements of combat in Spellborn is the always present combat effectiveness of a player. There are no skills which reduce a players’ combat effectiveness to 0, so you will always be part of the combat until you’re dead. No traditional mechanics to stun-lock, root, fear and polymorph. However, it is possible to influence player movement speed, disarm etc. but these skills merely reduce the combat effectiveness, not nullify.

Q: Do all abilities, except of self buffs, have the same effect in PvP and PvE?
A: Yes, players might react different to certain skills then mobs though

Q: Can players successfully fight enemies of higher levels? Can a lvl 5 group for example win a fight versus a lvl 23 enemy? Will the enemy resist or evade most attacks? Or is a higher level just stronger and has more hit points than a lower level?
A: Yes, although the difference in damage and hitpoints will be significant with a level difference of 18 (as in your example), so that’ll probably be very hard. There are no ‘unfair’ mechanics in place, like reduced hit chances or damage modifiers, that would go against Spellborn combat policy.

Bodyslots:

Q: How many bodyslots will one receive and how many can be visible on any given time (on the blood warrior and the runemage for example)?
A: It’s different per subclass, ranging from 10 to 15 bodyslot items per subclass. Only 5 can be equipped in the bodyslot-bar at any time, though. Tattoo’s and Scars show on torso, arms and head.

Q: The rune mages body slots are tattoo’s.. Will it be looking like normal tattoos or will they have some glow particle effect, etc.?
A: They’ll look like normal tattoos, but with specific shapes. Glows and particle’s, however awesome, are on the post release to-do(/wish) list. It’s one of those things I really want, but then again there are many of those.

Q: Will the skinshifter be able to move while using all his bodyslots... like the one that turns him into a bush... will it be the walking bush or does it set roots? Will the different appearances of the Skinshifter have any real advantages except camouflage?
A: As a plant, no, as a Boar (or whatever), yes. Skills are being tuned to benefit from shapeshifting. Another great, PvE, advantage is that a skinshifter shifting to an Arionite, will actually be considered an Arionite by all NPC’s, mobs and wildlife around him, draw your own conclusions…

Q: Skinshifter “in disguise” will “skin out” as soon as someone targets him (even if Skinshifter is OOC), or as soon as it directly participates to the combat?
A: When the skinshifter attacks or is hit by an attack.

Q: It was said in the Dev Journal that a player could buy the bodyslots items at the appropriate shops in game. I'm just wondering if this will be the case for all the body slots items or will be able to loot, find, craft and win them also?
A: All can be bought, no crafting, looting etc.

Q: Will you have to buy bodyslots for Bloodwarrior too? It seems a bit strange to buy scars…
A: The Bloodwarrior doesn’t buy scars, he buys bodyslots with combat experience of battles fought long ago. When wielded, these magical powers manifest themselves through scars like they were experienced first hand when they were created.

Q: Is there any cooldown to using bodyslots?
A: Yes, it differs per subclass and per bodyslot.

Q: Is it possible to blend bodyslots in a combo? For Example, can a Deathhand use 2-5 other skills and then a finisher which will add 50% to the poison on the Bodyslot?
A: Depends on the class, but to some extend yes. Deathhand poisonous attacks can be used in combo strings and will award normal combo points. However, there are no bodyslot-combo-finishers, or openers for that matter. They won’t have a different effect on the combo then regular skills have. Not all bodyslot related actions award combo points though, like the ancestral mage ordering his pet to attack, which will have no effect on the combo string.

Q: Will certain combos only be available when using certain bodyslots?
A: No

Q: Will there be reagents needed to execute some of the skills, such as ammo?
A: Was being considered, but no.

Q: Will Bodyslots offer abilities that are permanent, without time limits?
A: No

Q: Are the Bodyslots as we have seen them so far final or will there be more, with content patches for example?
A: What lies hidden must be found. (Sorry I was forced to use this line once, really, no really, it’s just a coincidence that it’s this question, seriously…)

Q: How will tattoos and scars work on players that have already tattoos? Will they overlap each other or are there defined free areas on the body?
A: Regular tattoo’s will be diminished (temporarily) by the presence magical body tattoos.

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Acclaim to publish The Chronicles of Spellborn in North America

2008-08-30T03:09:00.000-07:00

Action-oriented MMORPG The Chronicles of Spellborn has found a publisher in Acclaim Games, the MMO-focused reincarnation of now-defunct Acclaim Entertainment. The company was founded by former Activision CEO Howard Marks, who bought the brand name from the original Acclaim after it crashed and burned in 2004.

David Perry -- Chief Creative Officer of Acclaim Games -- published a letter to the Spellborn community announcing the deal. In it, he talks up the game and the dev team behind it, saying that they immediately stood out to him and the other folks at Acclaim. We'll assume that Acclaim was the company that wrote the letter of intent way back in April, but who can say for sure?

Spellborn had already landed a publishing deal for Europe and Asia with Frogster Interactive. Last we heard the game was due out by the end of 2008, but we're not super-confident about it. Spellborn is still in its closed beta testing phase at the moment.

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TCoS Gaming movie from Games Convention in Leipzig

2008-08-25T06:17:00.000-07:00

Courtesy of German gaming site onlinewelten.com, we're able to bring you a presentation of The Chronicles of Spellborn straight from the Games Convention in Leipzig

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Chronicles of Spellborn - Long - Gameplay Footage

2008-08-19T05:39:00.000-07:00

A new video showing lots of combat and game play footage of this exciting MMORPG for the PC, due out this year.

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Peruse the history of the Chronicles of Spellborn

2008-08-14T06:53:00.000-07:00

Following on the heels of the first part of the timeline, this second chapter in the history of the Chronicles of Spellborn brings things further into the present. Known as "Death's Dream", the period following "The Great Collapse", this era is delineated by the fragments of the Ancestor World:

"To most scholars it is unknown what has happened in this period. Some of them are not even convinced it lasted a full 500 years. What is known is that the remnants of the world - the various Shards and Fragments - are covered in Undying Ice during this period and that all survivors of the Great Collapse are frozen in time, trapped within a deep slumber."

And what's further known is that the Chronicles of Spellborn just keeps looking better and better the more we learn of it.

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TCoS Beta Screenshots part 2

2008-07-22T13:07:00.000-07:00

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TCoS Beta Screenshots part 1

2008-07-20T08:14:00.000-07:00

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Chronicles of Spellborn promo video

2008-07-04T10:11:00.000-07:00

This is a promo video or trailer for The Chronicles of Spellborn. Music is by the band "Within Temptation". "Within Temptation" is a Dutch rock band. The band was founded in 1996 by vocalist Sharon den Adel and guitarist Robert Westerholt. Their music is variously described as symphonic metal, as well as gothic metal in some media, although in an interview, Den Adel said they fell into a symphonic rock genre.

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Character Stats for The Chronicles of Spellborn

2008-06-10T05:21:00.000-07:00

Character stats
The creators of The Chonicles of Spellborn had one goal in mind when creating this game and that is to make it easy to learn but hard to master. This allows for easy to user character stats but also allows for users to crunch those all important stat numbers to tune and tweak their character.

Attibutes
The center of character stats are divided up into three main categories known as Body, Mind and Focus. These are linked to the class archetypes. The Warriors have body as their basic attribute, Rogues have the focus attibute and caster have the mind attibute to dive into. Each class archetype has three special classes and each have their main attibute from the specified archetype plus a second attibute. This will allow each special class to have 2 attributes and they are as follow.

Warrior
Bloodwarrior ( body + body)
Furyhammer (body + focus)
Wrathguard (body + mind)

Caster
Runemage (mind + body)
Ancestral Mage (mind + mind)
Void Seer (mind + focus)

Rogue
Trickster ( focus + body)
Skinshifter (focus + focus)
Deathand (focus + mind)

The system in The Chronicles of Spellborn offer two kinds of set resistance classified as Attack resistance and magic affinity. Attack resistance is divided up into melee, magic and ranged resistance and is not linked to the character's attribute. Magic affinity is divided up into Rune, Spirit and Soul affinity and are linked to the character's attributes.

Each character has three main states that will impact on their performance and they are physique(which impacts the character's run speed), morale(which impacts the damage output) and concentration(which impacts the character's attack speed). Each one is ranged from -5 to +5 with zero being the number where the state has no effect. The bar will always go back to rank zero of a certain amount of time. Character attributes will determine how how fast the bar will increase and decrease.

The Chornicles of Spellborn has a PEP system(Personal Experience point) that allows characters bonuses to the attributes and states of the character if it stays alive and gains exp in combat. When a player dies all the bonuses disappear and the system is reset. The system is as follows

Rank 0 - No bonus given
Rank 1 - State bar zero point + 1
Rank 2 - Minor body, mind, focus buff + state bar + 1
Rank 3 - Minor body, mind, focus buff + state bar zero point + 2
Rank 4 - Moderate body, mind, focus buff + state bar zero point + 2
Rank 5 - Moderate body, mind, focus buff + state bar zero point + 3

These attributes and states will not have a direct impact on hit pints and extra hit pints are gained upon reaching the next levels. Certain skills and potions will allow players addition hit pints and when out of battle the character's HP increases as a normal speed. while sitting down with no weapon out the hit point generation is horribly fast and because the character is not moving and is

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The Chronicles of Spellborn : Beta FAQ

2008-06-04T08:17:00.000-07:00

As of right now, TCoS is in closed beta testing. They are taking applications for open beta, and still have a few more "rounds" of closed beta to go through. No applications will be accepted within Beta for individuals who have a video card which fails to comply FULLY with dx9.0c with Pixel Shader 2.0.

Q) Where do I sign up for Beta?

A) The direct link is http://www.tcos.com/beta/beta.php . You must be registered on their forums to apply.

Q) My account activation email never arrived or did not work, what can I do?
A) Email forums@tcos.com with your username and be sure to mail from the account you used to register.

Q) My application is filled out, but it says I didn't fill in a field, why is that?
A) Usually this is one of two things: when saving your dxdiag file you must make sure to change the file type in the dropdown to XML, and when filling out the application you must input text giving us your reason for wanting to test.

Q) I don't have a priority or beta key, where do I get one?
A) The key field is for individuals with a beta account prize or priority code provided by Spellborn International Ltd. If you have not received one of these, you always have the opportunity to input one at a later time.

Q) I upgraded my computer after I filed out the dxdiag, is there anything I can do?
A) You can return to the beta application at a later time and re-upload the new dxdiag file.

Q) How do I know my application went through?
A) If you return to the Beta application page, you should see only the option to update your dxdiag.xml file and a space to fill in a key. If you see the full form, it means it was not received.

Q) I wasn't selected for the first round of Beta, is there still a chance of getting in?
A) Yes, there will be many rounds of invites to the Beta. Just because you didn't get picked first, doesn't mean you won't get in.

Q) What stage is TCoS in now?
A) They are conducting their International Closed Beta, having begun this phase of testing at the end of November 2005.

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The Chronicles of Spellborn - Quests and "Why"?

2008-06-03T04:08:00.000-07:00

We all wait for the next patch (some devs got sick and patch got delayed). As nothing interesting happens I decided to leak a interesting quote from "Wolf" [DEV]

Before you read it keep the following in mind:
a.) Players complained about too much running (fed ex quests)
b.) Devs said they try to change it (they agree).
c.) => It will be changed.

Well since I am responsible for the talking stuff in the end, let me try to explain the design of Spellborn, questwise.

The first 10 levels of Spellborn are not supposed to be filled with tons and tons of fighting, because well, we are a new IP, with a new story and a long long long history of wars and such. The first 10 levels are used to explain part of the Enclave and to get players into the mindset of the bureaucracy of the Enclave and the fact that they all seem to dislike each other vehemently while still being part of a greater whole; the Enclave of the Five Sacrifices.

Once a player reaches Quarterstone and thus reaches the right to be a citizen, there is yet more story. Why? Well you are in the social hub of the Enclave and there are no clear threats present other than the occasional arrogant gladiator, bullying landlord or giant hoppy... You do get to run around a lot yes, but it is done to build the atmosphere of the game and to tell the story.

Does this all mean that there is no fighting involved and that everything is a-okay as it is? Hell no, there is tons of fighting, hitting each other over the head and intrigues that involve the High Houses, but it is set up to be mid to end level content, because you have to prove yourself and we don't want to throw all our secrets out the window in the first 15 levels.

You will see that there are quests where the Enclave had nothing to say, where you visit places where law is ... not there.

Everyone is expecting Spellborn to be World of Warcraft, where generic NPC X gives you a no brain Kill 20 wolves because I said so quest. We chose not to work along those lines and our Game Design was always sent along the "Less Grind" lines. We set up quest progression along that same line.

This does not mean that we will do nothing with the grievances of our future players, on the contrary. We have spent several evenings polishing the quests in Hawksmouth and now Aldenvault to create more tension and have things give off a bit more atmosphere and challenge. Those changes will be found in future instalments of the Beta. But do not expect there to be quests to kill every sort of wildlife on the map, it is wildlife and there to make things interesting. Killing them should give you the chance for needed resources and such, so there is an incentive to start hacking away.

When you reach places where the social status is not defended by a thousand guards and a big wall, you will see that there are things to do a plenty. After level 10/11 you get the chance to either do the quests on Quarterstone and read up on the lore about the Enclave or head to Ringfell by Shardship to deepen your lore on the Speyrfolk. You could actually do both or mix it when you do not like being amongst those tattoo painted freaks anymore..

It is a design issue, where the "Less Grinding" sometimes contradicts the value of killing creatures. It is something we will have to discuss with the whole design team to see what we can change and how we can do that without cascading our way to infinity.

One thing though, people complain about the walking too much bit, while you could take the shortcut through the woods. When we say that, they complain that they have to fight boars then and might die, thus losing their PeP... you see the issue? There is always a pro.. and a con... and we have to cater to both parties ^^

I hope this cleared some things up!

Thanks for the feedback!

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The Chronicles of Spellborn Beta combat movie

2008-05-25T13:23:00.000-07:00

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Current state of beta and general info about The Chronicles of Spellborn

2008-05-19T03:36:00.000-07:00

Introduction
When reading my postings you have to keep in mind that I like spellborn and that I want it to be a huge success. The only reason I actually leak info (beside my dislike for NDAs) is that the game doesn't need to hide.
You need to keep in mind that success shaped all following games in the MMO world. Everquest's huge success started an army of clones with a new king called World of Warcraft. WoW's huge success led to the next wave of clones. Spellborn has nothing in common with those games. Its world, its playstyle, even the attributes are new. It is full of innovation. If Spellborn will be a big hit, developers will see that you do not need to make Everquest-Clones to make a successful MMO. It would be a glorious day!

But I am also a honest and very judicial person. If something is bad or only decent or "not perfect" I will say so. I am the kind of guy whose judgement can be trusted (or so I think).

1. Beta History and Developer
One year ago beta was running for two weeks until a patch killed the netcode. Before the patch everything was running smooth beside the common problems (clicking certain npcs crashed the game, only level 1-10 zone playable, some quests not working, some tooltips missing, ...). After the patch it was impossible for most people to log in at all. Some parts of the client disconnected, while you could still chat. It happened when too much information was send to the client when logging in. Those people that could play had extreme rubberbanding. It was unplayable.
Servers went down. They hired some korean netcode experts and then... silence.

After some months they started giving updates to the beta testers, such as dev journals. Later they were all made public.

One year later beta server went back up. Our QA is working 24/7, Devs are playing the game themselves all day long (yes, they play it themselves!) and chat with us players. I saw one guy complaining about a quest being bugged and next the Dev called someone to help him check what is wrong. They also discuss with us players in the forum, listen to feedback and accept reason. You see Developers write down some idea they had and then you see player reasoning why this would be bad and the Developer agrees and drops the idea. Being a MMO player since the first MMOs, I can tell you that is not common. Its really rare and awesome.

2. Graphic and Sound
Some characters are not that good and I really dont like most of the weapon, but overall the graphic is plain out awesome. It is no second Crysis, it looks like a computergame with a slight comic flair. Sometimes more comic, sometimes less comic. The best way to describe it is loving/lovely.
They put alot of work into details and everything fits together. It not just the characters or the world or the sound. Everything together makes it stand out.

The world design is the best I have seen so far. No other MMO and only precious other games can come close. The zones do not only look awesome, they FEEL awesome.
Only bad thing is that they recycled certain locations. Three of the docks in Quarterstone (capital city) are exactly the same. All taverns look the same, only difference is that the basement is closed in some.

More outstanding than graphic and world design is the sound. The music is one of the best parts of the game. The moment I log out, I feel alone and empty... and after some seconds I notice that its the absence of the spellborn music. And the last game that I played without music disabled and mp3 running was FEAR.

This makes me sound like a real fanboy, but it is the way I experience the beta.

3. Interface
What can I say? The chat sucks (size, colours). Developers agreed and maybe one of the next patches will help there. When you disable the interface you get additional 10 FPS, prolly bad coding or the skill wheel.
Most parts of the interface can be unlocked, which means they minimize until you mouseover them. That leads to bugs in groups if your partymember unlocks his hitpoints.
The design itself is okay, its neither ugly nor special.

4. Getting into the game
Tutorial is new and sucks. Most people that are not used to FPS/twitch gameplay leave the tutorial zone and die to the first mob they see while FPS/twitch player take two of those mobs easily.
On level 3 on you can pick a new skill every level, yet nobody tells you that. You can spend 2 attribute points every level, yet nobody tells you that.
On level 5 you can pick your class (you start as mage, warrior or rogue archtype), yet ...
Devs said that they will improve it and most of the tutorial is missing in the current build.

5. The MOST IMPORTANT part: Combat
It's a real blast. You avoid damage by moving to the side. Your movement and dodging keeps you alive. You deal damage by aiming your spells and attacks. Melee attacks are swings you need to aim, ranged attacks are like Quake Railgun or CS AWP (they hit instant if you aimed right, kinda lame that there are no projectiles) and area spells are usually like blizzard in WoW, a target circle you place.
Your "action bar" is a skill wheel. If you are not familiar with spellborn, here is a short overview:
Your have 6 actionsbars with 5 skills each. Your skill wheel starts with the first actions bar. You use one of that 5 skills and your wheel turns to the next actions bar. You use one of that 5 skills and your wheel turns again.
There is no auto attack. Your only way to deal damage is use that skills. You cannot have ranged attacks, heals or defensive abilities in every tier of your skill wheel. Therefor you need a well build "skill deck" to be effective. Skills all have good synergy, its really good and well designed. But so far skills have barely any balance at all. Some stuff is sick strong, other things nearly useless. Resistances don't work and life regeneration ticks so many times a second that you always have 100% hitpoints.

Every class has 3 combo opener and finisher. Opener usually include a buff or effect. Every following skill you use will add a combo point and increase the strength of your opener buff (more healing, more damage reflect, more attribute buff, ..). When you use a finisher all combo points are gone and your finisher is amplified by the number of combo points you had. Some deal more damage if you have more combo points, moral gain, some buff, some debuff, etc.
If you miss with a skill your combo points are gone. That means if you use an opener, then build up 5 combo points and miss with your next attack, it's all gone. Maximum combo points are 8.
Not sure how it sounds, but it works good in the game itself. As I already said, it's a well designed system.

See here: http://www.tcos.com/en/gameworld/?id=skillsystem

Right now there is also a desync bug, which causes players and monster not to be at the location where they are displayed. Dodging therefor is really difficult, but by not going for visual clues but "feeling", I was able to avoid being hit at all by some mobs.

PvP sucks due to the desync right now. In the old beta it was awesome and if they fix the desync its awesome again. PvE is (unbelieveable) fun. Your basic fights against a common groups of some humanoid bandits is beyond everything games like WoW did offer. Its full of action.
Melees go in, hit you and debuff you so you take more damage from ranged attacks, drain your movementspeed, etc while ranged mobs in the same group deal heavy damage, kite you, dot you, etc. I hope that I can show you a movie of a basic spellborn fight soon (I will not post my own screens or movies, I will only use what other poster link in the beta forum. Sorry, I really like my beta access and want to keep it).

6. Leveling
You cannot level by grinding. Mobs reward 10 exp, simple quest that require you to walk 10 yards give 1000+ exp. It is one of the big downsites of spellborn right now. While the quest texts are great and a good read, most quests require you to walk from location 1 to location 2.
Beta testers with the current max level say its basicly 90-95% running around and barely any killing or special quests at all. Developers already said that this is a problem they noticed themselves while playing and they will add more killquests.
There is also a group of beta testers that is absolutely happy with the situation and do not want any killquests anyway. They say the quest texts are like a book and they feel drawn into the world.
Overall the plan of the Devs was to avoid wow-like "kill random wildlife for no good reason" quests.
Right now all quests between level 16-20 are bugged, so its not possible to get a higher level. Biggest problem there is that shardship travel is bugged and you cannot reach the alternative level zones. Right now you make Hawks Landing 1-6 => Midlands 7-10 => Quarterstone to 11-20. Instead of quarterstone you could also go to Ringfell but you cannot reach it. Also your main story requires you to visit the oracle and you cannot reach that either.
But its a beta, nothing special about it.

7. Summary and Impressions
Even thou some parts of the game are bugged right now (beta started 1 weeks ago, keep that in mind), it going really good. There are zone crashes, some bugs and so on. But unlike warhammer and aoc they actually created the game they promised. Beta is far more advanced than either of those two other games.
They will not release the game in 2 months, but they will deliver.

8. Equipment
Level 1 characters look awesome. You can get barely any new equipment ingame, so all screenshots will show characters the way they were created. No more newbish peasent characters. You have a good looking platemail and a sexy axe as level 1 char!
Equipment itself has no stats. You can cloth your toon the way you want. Big platemail as caster, naked warrior and so on. "Items" are magical sigils that you can use to enhance your weapons and jewelery. Instead of replacing your good looking sword of doom with the ugly fork of ownage, you find a gem of ownage you place in your sword of doom to improve your items.

You can sign up for Beta here

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The Chronicles of Spellborn beta Screenshots

2008-05-06T05:34:00.000-07:00

More mmorpg cheats.

The Chronicles of Spellborn download

2008-04-28T00:52:00.000-07:00

This is the beta client for The Chronicles of Spellborn beta. If you have not been accepted into the beta you will not be able to play this beta.

You can sign up for Beta here

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About The Chronicles of Spellborn

2008-04-28T00:38:00.000-07:00

This is probably one of the most underrated MMOs currently in works. So here I will provide some information about the game for those of you that might not be familiar with TCoS. All copy-pasted from official website, public information. For more info visit their FAQ section.

Skill and Combat System

Introduction

I will kick off with introducing myself. I am Coen Neessen, the Lead Game Designer for The Chronicles of Spellborn. I have been involved with designing most of the core mechanics for TCoS and I am currently working on the skill and combat systems. In the article below I will try to explain a bit about what makes the skill and combat system for the game so special and interesting. After you have read the article, feel free to give your opinion in this forum topic.

Tactical Choices

What we are doing with the combat system in TCoS is to increase the effect of tactical choices made by the player during combat. Furthermore we think that too many games use a combat system that is too dependent on damage outcome using formulas and percentages that sort of take away player control, and can take away the joy of victory. For instance this can be especially true of a combatant who wins due to a lucky streak of critical hits, or by using a weapon which does random bonus damage.

Targeting System

One of the things that has drastically changed in our game (in relation to most other MMOGs) is the targeting system. We have removed auto attack combat where you would target an opponent and click the attack button once and wait utill the opponent is defeated. Instead you hit where you swing by actually keeping your opponent manually targeted using a targeting 'reticule' or 'crosshair'. So if you win a battle it means your choices and reactions made the difference, not dice rolls and statistics.

Skills

If the player must aim and make tactical choices during combat we don’t want to swamp the player with tons of spells and skills, at least not all at the same time. Players will have access to a large number of different skills they can use during combat, but never more then a handful are displayed on screen at any time.

The Skillbook

All the skills a character has learned so far are kept in their Skillbook. Characters learn new skills as they advance through the world of TCoS and uncover more of the past. Skills learned at the early levels of advancement are by no means weaker skills which have no use when the character becomes stronger. The damage and the effects of a skill are related to the power of the character that uses them and thus remain useful throughout the game. Which skills a character can learn depends on their chosen archetype and class. Warriors can learn melee skills such as overhead cleave while a Runemage can learn magical skills like rune blasts.

The Skilldeck

Skills in a character's Skillbook are not yet available during a fight; they must be placed into the Skilldeck to be used during combat.

The player must select several skills from the Skillbook and place these into the character's Skilldeck. The Skilldeck can be compared to a deck of cards as seen in many collectible trading card games. It consists of 6 rows (called tiers) with 5 skill-slots per row. Each skill-slot can be filled with a chosen skill, as long as the skill was learned and is available in the character's Skillbook. There are some minor rules for placing skills in the Skilldeck, but other then that the players are completely free to experiment and create their own fighting styles and tactics. Teams can coordinate the composition of their Skilldecks to increase their battle performance during large tournaments in the Quarterstone Arena.

Combat

During combat only one of the six tiers is active at any time. Combat always starts at the first tier. When a skill is executed the next tier becomes active and so on until a skill is used from the last (sixth) tier, in which case the first tier becomes active again. The time it takes before the next tier becomes activated (and thus when the next skill can be executed) depends on which skill was used and the current attack speed of the character. To execute a skill, the player selects it with the number (1 to 5) keys (this is similar to selecting a weapon in a first person shooter game) and then uses the skill with a press of their mouse button. Once used, the skill takes effect in the area where the player is aiming.

In addition to this, skills can form combo-chains. All skills have a combo type and these combo types initiate certain bonuses if they are used in the correct order. For instance a skill can be labeled as an opener, which means that it starts a possible combo-chain. A skill labeled as a finisher ends the combo-chain and will do increased damage (or provide additional positive effects for the character, or negative effects for their opponent) depending on the skills used in between the opener and the finisher.

Being prepared is just half the work. A focused Skilldeck with flexibility to adjust against various types of opponents will greatly improve a character's battle performance. Players are free to play around with their Skilldeck and adjust it as much as they like to. They can change skills at any time (except during combat) in order to defeat a previously too difficult enemy. Players will even have the option to ‘save’ different Skilldeck setups. This can be useful if players use certain team tactics with their guild or if the player wants a special Skilldeck for use during PvP encounters.

Skill and Combat System Follow-up Interview

In the forum topic linked to the article we had a lot of comments and good discussion. Many of you expressed that the system is very refreshing and will deliver some real next generation MMORPG combat, while others wondered about how this new system would work in practice. As in all forum discussions, there were also some valid questions raised. We thought it would be a good idea to strike while the iron was hot and sit down with lead game designer Coen Neessen again and let him answer the questions the community asked.

In the article you briefly talk about combo-chains. Could you tell us a bit more about them?

It’s very important to keep in mind that using combo-chains is an extra dimension to combat that enhances your efficiency. Making combos is a solo exercise. You are not dependant on other classes or players to perform them. Your opponent can break a combo though. Using combos makes PvE a bit easier (while not being necessary), but it will probably have the biggest impact on PvP competitions where every little bit extra helps. In order to make a combo-chain you have to use an opener skill, which is a normal skill on its own, with the added affect that it opens a combo-chain. Combos may consist of up to 10 skills, at which point they are automatically finished. All combo types (each skill has one) have a certain extra effect if they are used in a specific order. Using the ‘wrong’ one doesn’t stop a combo-chain, it just means you don’t get its extra effect. A choice you might be willing to make if you deem another skill more useful at that time.

The manual targeting using a ‘crosshair’ sounds a lot like FPS gameplay, is The Chronicles of Spellborn going to be an MMOFPS?

If the difference between an mmorpg and an mmofps is that the mmorpg is static and the mmofps is dynamic, it is more an mmofps then an mmorpg. Lots of the common formulas found in a traditional mmorpg have been replaced by things that can be directly influenced by the players themselves. So If the definition of an mmorpg is upgrading your character's formula sheet: it isnt an mmorpg for most part. There are attributes and statistics you can enhance or decrease which are similar to other rpg’s. Like increasing attack speed or reducing an opponent's maximum hitpoints. Other than the ‘to hit’ and 'dodge' chance, most of the statistics of other rpg’s are used in TCoS. There is still some tweaking to do with these statistics but they are not as numerous as in some other games. This has been replaced by the Skilldeck, a more visual version of statistics in a sense. It should be noted that TCoS is not a typical First Person Shooter, however it is a Role-Playing Game. In this sense, the acronym MMORPG seems to be appropriate, and is what we've chosen to call something that, above all else, is intended to simply be fun to play!

Are skills on top of normal (autoattack) combat or do you start attack mode by activating a skill on tier 1?

Skills are the only means to do an attack. There is no default autoattack. Skills can range from a normal Slash attack to a devastating Poison Eruption.
Isn’t a maximum of 5 skills at any one time too restrictive? For instance, a heal spell, a damage spell, an emergency teleport leaves only room for 2 more skills. This can make it very hard to have variation in your attacks and combo-chains.

We don’t prevent that, because we don’t need to. You won’t need a combo-chain opener skill or a finisher skill on every tier. Furthermore you can learn multiple open or finish skills. They can be totally different skills with different effects. Heals or other buffing effects are combo skills too, so they add to a combo-chain. Combo-chains are an added dimension: they enhance your battle performance but the foundation is still the skills and their effects. The setup of your Skilldeck dictates more or less your flow of moves in combat. There is no need to have a heal ready at all times because moving to the next tier happens quite quickly. Having a diverse but specialized (sort that one out and you have the balance) enough Skilldeck is key to victory. Finally there will be some rules as to how you can fill your deck. Some skills have a limited number of times they can be placed in a deck for example.

What do you do when in combat and you need a skill that is 4 tiers away?

It really is all about making a diverse enough Skilldeck. It lets you react to most situations correctly if you have a good setup. Sometimes there will be situations where you would have rather had access to a certain skill but this really isn't much different from skills with 'cooldowns' or 'refresh timers'. The Skilldeck is a bit more fast-paced and gives you relatively short windows of opportunity in which to perform the right skills. If a window of opportunity is lost you’ll have to use the next one, which will come relatively quickly since tiers come and go regularly. Again, having a heal on each tier might seem a good idea, but it really restricts your options a great deal, which leads to being too dependent on those heals instead of trying to kill your opponent. Instead you should try to work out a combat flow with heals and other buffs available at times where you know (or at least suspect) you’ll need them.

Concerning the windows of opportunity: it is important to know that you only stay at your current tier for a certain amount of time. When you wait too long the combat bar will rotate back 1 tier every time a window of opportunity has passed. This also prevents combo-chains from being built on other targets than, for instance, the planned PvP target.

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