PvP sandbox MMO Legends of Aria launched into early access back into December with a $19.99 price tag and came to Steam in August. After just three months on Valve’s platform, however, it will go free-to-play — on that platform only — next month as the Legends of Aria: New Dawn.
When the New Dawn update hits in November, players will be able to log into the game for free and experience Legends of Aria in all its gank-y glory, with some limitations. Notably, free players can’t own or co-own a house, form a guild, earn loyalty points, add friends, or bid on land or auctions, and they have limited bank capacity. LoA developers Citadel Studios said that these restrictions were arrived at with the goal of limiting spammers and bots. To lift those limitations, you can purchase the $19.99 Citizen Pass, which replaces the traditional game purchase, or get the $9.99/month premium subscription, which comes with a number of other benefits.
One other note: The option to play for free only extends to the Steam version of Legends of Aria. If you want to play without Steam, you’ll still need to purchase the game from its website.
Coming alongside the New Dawn update is release 0.8 for the game, which will add a bunch of new features, including nine new martial abilities, crafting order changes, a macro system, books to store runes, townships, militias, theft, and changes to the game’s base risk and reward systems. All the changes are detailed on the LoA website here and here.
