
I had a chance to see Age of Wushu at New York Comic Con, which intrepid sleuths should take to mean “there was a line about two hours long to play it.” The people I did manage to watch play while staring over their shoulders, however, seemed to be having a fun time. Regardless, news broke this week from Age of Wushu in China that the developers have installed two cash shop exclusive skills. While it is unlikely that this system will be anything but popular in China, Snail Game is walking on eggshells if they expect the same system to work in the western hemisphere once Age of Wushu hits North America and Europe.
For their defense, the two skills are mostly for cosmetic reasons, versions of other skills that simply have better animations. RuneScape does this in a similar fashion by selling premium animations for actions like chopping wood and cooking food. According to players in the Chinese game, the skills aren’t very useful barring perhaps one or two, and players are buying them for little reason other than to feel special. While Snail Games has not dived into the realm of selling advantages, gamers should certainly keep an eye on the game’s Chinese servers.
Age of Wushu is a level-less, skill based game.
(Source: MMO Culture)