Try it out, you can run around and shoot right now at level 1, but you can't gain exp or do damage to anyone, so the game isn't as fun as it will be toward the end of May. There is a post on the forums that has a complete status update for the server.
http://forums.sorien.org/viewtopic.php?f=43&t=1060Everything should say 100% toward the end of May when beta starts and exp can be earned.
Heres how to play:
First thing you should do is go to the globe and change your keyboard settings, because you can use mouse or KB, I prefer KB, but you can also do various hybrid combinations as each function can be mapped to any button you wish, on the KB or mouse.
4 bars to watch for.
Health-green bar, self explanatory
Fatigue-yellow bar, goes down if you RUN or cast a spell. Refills by itself, refills while strafing.
Power-blue bar, it's basically mana for casting spells. The amount of "ley" you have determines how fast your power bar replenishes.
Ley-purple bar, Ley determines how fast your power bar refills, depending on your class different things manipulate your ley.
Ley dependencies
Cleric-Clerics get ley from their home shrine/base. The closer they are to home, the more ley/powerful they are. They get 0 ley in enemy shrines, unless the shrine is destroyed then they get 50%.
Magician-Magicians get ley from owning manapools sprawled throughout the land. Clerics, Mages, and Ments can bias pools to make their magicians more powerful, but Mages bias super fast compared to all other classes.
Mentalist-Ments get ley from their own mind. Their ley is at a constant 70%, with no variation whatsoever.
Arcanist-Arcanists get their ley from pools, any pool. They cannot bias at all, but they are offensive powerhouses with full ley. With the right spells picked at 30, an arc can take on whole teams.
There are four classes, levels 1-30. Each level you can research into more spells, with tons of varations. You cannot have all of the spells, so you will have to choose your paths carefully.
Magicians can fire Ice, Fire, Earth, and have a Protection (Armor) list.
Clerics can call ghosts, raise dead, heal teammates/self, destroy/raise shrines, and build near impenetrable walls.
Mentalists can jump super high, fly, use lightning bolts as a weapon, or use "mind spells", spells that do instant damage from far away and can even go through walls.
Arcanists can jump super high, drop "signs", which are basically runes/traps, shoots the most devastating weapon in the game, Mana, and has the unique ability to drain power from enemies with "Void".
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It's a game heavily focused on teamwork, with great depth. You could have 6 characters and still not have every spell in the game, even if you have 6 level 30s.
Magestorm has easily eaten up 8 years of my life. Now that it's free I'm going for 16!