Tarisland – a Chinese game with aspirations of WoW greatness?
By ForGeeks Tarisland — is a cross-platform fantasy MMORPG by China’s Tencent Corporation. Players take on the role of brave adventurers who find themselves in the midst of a war raging on the continent of Taris. After such a pathos description usually go epithets like «killer WoW», «best mobile mmorpg game» and others. Is it really like that? Is it worth trying to run it at all? The short answer is —no and… maybe yes. But if in detail, then all in order.
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Stylistically and gameplay-wise, Tarisland resembles the mobile version of World of Warcraft, which isn’t surprising since the latter is no longer sold in the Chinese market. The story is long and a bit confusing, but the point is the same — for veterans of Warcraft on this game will evoke not just memories, but literally muscle memory. Classes, abilities, lore and everything else — in one way or another resembles WoW, albeit sometimes remotely. The only difference is that this game was developed primarily for mobiles, and already in the second for PC. And that’s the most important thought — for mobile devices it’s quite bearable for wasting time, but for PC… questionable, but okay.
And that’s a good point.
What have the developers done so far in Tarisland?
After a relatively long time, the game was officially released like a month ago, and it’s important to clarify what has been accomplished so far. The developers promised an elaborate world, an interesting story, and various PvP and PvE activities. Tarisland also promised to introduce a large number of equipment and skills, and the combat system was built on the classic principle. Overall, the promises were fulfilled, but with caveats. More precisely, everything looks good for the mobile format, but definitely not for PC.
The plot is short and ordinary, the world is simple in essence, all the activities have long been familiar to mmorpg players. The game doesn’t offer a fundamentally new experience in terms of gameplay. But what has already been done is enough to make it worth spending an hour or two a day between work and home/study etc. and going on quests and dungeons. Tarisland’s season zero had the following content:
- Nine character classes, including Warrior, Paladin, Ranger, Barbarian, Fighter, Bard, Priest, Mage, Shadow Swordsman and Soul Catcher (important clarification — not only race but also gender are tied to classes, which is frustrating to many. The developers are slowly adding two genders to the classes, but so far the customization of character classes is extremely scarce). Each class has two specializations and «unique» ability — hello Wow again.
- Five dungeons for five players, eight raid bosses for ten players, and plenty of PvE modes. In general, you can play with randoms, but on high difficulty it’s still better to recruit your own permanent team. Problematic, but on the other hand, the game is free.
- PvP-mode “Arena”, as well as various types of extra activities, such as fishing, amusement parks, puzzles, etc.
- Unique bosses, as well as a built-in damage per second (DPS) counter, allowing you to track the effectiveness of the battle.
- Hundreds of skins and mounts that can be obtained by completing quests — here, of course, they have tried their best.
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Simultaneously with the game’s launch, Tarisland launched the Legendary Dungeons Championship. It runs from June 21 to July 31 and consists of two stages. In the first stage of the championship users will be able to win valuable prizes. In the second stage users will compete with each other in the speed of passing dungeons and defeating unique raid bosses. Players who are in the top 100 in terms of the speed of killing each boss will receive unique titles, achievements and in-game rewards and other trinkets. The developers plan to actively support the game and the interest of the audience, which is pleasing. With such an attitude mobile mmorpg may well occupy its niche, albeit not the best.
The developers are planning to actively support the game and keep the audience interested, which is encouraging.
Tarisland Level System
Tarisland has a character development system in which progress is scheduled by the day since the servers launch. This is done specifically so that players who don’t have the opportunity to spend a lot of time in the game don’t fall too far behind those who play more. This system allows for an even distribution of progress and game content, making it easier for players with different amounts of free time to participate in the game and providing a balanced gameplay experience for all players. It’s a good thing for mobile players — one hour of play a day is enough to keep up with the rest of the game.
Class and ultimates — hello warcraft
Class abilities are the backbone of the combat system in Tarisland. Each specialization within each class has 6 «unique» class skills that are gradually unlocked as the character levels up. They are «Unique» if you have never played WoW or other similar games before. When a player changes specialization, all class skills automatically change as well. Throughout the adventure, players will gradually unlock the capabilities of different classes and create unique skills. Each specialization has unique class mechanics.
Ultimate abilities — are another feature of the combat system, as they complement the class skills. Players have access to 2 ultimates out of 6. Ultimates abilities can perform a variety of functions: interrupt, dispel, provoke, increase movement speed and crowd control. Each type of ultimatum ability is suitable for a specific combat scenario.
In most PvE zones, you can change the ultimates you use immediately after leaving combat. You can be in a dangerous dungeon or exploring open terrain — this flexibility allows you to carefully choose and customize abilities depending on the objectives. However, some PvP areas (such as arenas) have stricter rules. You can only change abilities during a limited preparation time before a fight. All in all, it’s a classic system from WoW that works well here.
Pay to Win?
The publisher assured that there would be no Pay-to-Win elements in the game. However, everyone noticed tokens for entering heroic dungeons, a modestly sized bag, a limited number of crafting points, and other items that are often associated with F2P projects. At this point, the developers have changed their minds and confirmed that few pay to win items will be there. Now for crystals (which are purchased for real money) you can buy a seasonal battle pass and pump the tree of certain «skills». The former doesn’t affect gameplay, but the latter — yes.”
The first will not affect gameplay, but the second — yes.
But as smart people have already calculated, you can only get ~20% better for a real investment, and you have to spend a lot. An obscene amount. Few people would want to try that, but still pay to win is there. It will be important to see how these aspects will look a couple months after release, because in today’s world neither closed beta testing nor even a launch can always be indicative. But it’s also important to keep in mind — this is a free-to-play mobile game.
And it’s a free-to-play mobile game.
