Mortal Online goes Free-to-Play, Well Almost

Michael Dunaway
By Michael Dunaway, News Editor Posted:
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I'll be honest here, when I heard Mortal Online had gone Free-to-Play I didn't even realize the game was still in operation. Mortal Online was originally released as a P2P game back in 2010, and attempted to pay homage to the old Ultima sandbox style MMOs of yesteryear. Unlike most traditional MMO's, Mortal Online does not use the traditional level and class system but instead focuses on a more free-form skill and attribute system not unlike the Elder Scrolls.

However, upon release the game was riddled with bugs and performance issues. Over the next two years the MMO would see a variety of performance patches and the introduction of two expansions whose deployments could easily be summed up as mildly catastrophic. The expansions introduced new features but in doing so suffered from a variety of technical issues, including a multitude of bugs that affected the game's mechanics, performance and stability which in one case, lead to some game features being disabled directly after release.

With the introduction of the F2P model the developers behind Mortal Online, Star Vault, hope to breathe new life into the MMO. Unfortunately they seem to be going the way of EQ/EQ2/SWTOR (though maybe not as extreme).

New players will have access to the entire game but will have a skill restriction of 60 (from a possible 100). F2P players will also be locked from using thievery skills, owning houses, looting expensive objects and trading said expensive objects. Additionally, F2P players will be restricted to just one character slot.

Anyone wishing to unlock the additional features will have the opportunity of purchasing a monthly subscription. You can find the full F2P breakdown on the official site here.

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In this article: Mortal Online.

About the Author

Michael Dunaway
Michael Dunaway, News Editor

Michael Dunaway has been part of the MMOBomb team for years and has covered practically every major Free-to-Play MMO title since 2009.

More Stories by Michael Dunaway

Discussion (17)

OMJesus 11 years ago
Started playing this game and at first the extended trial thing seemed annoying but I have come to realize that I can still be pretty good in PvP/PvE.Currently I am a tamer/mage and I have yet to die at the hands of those p2p over geared players.Took me about three character creations though to get to where I am as different ancestors will give you more or less of a certain stat such as str,dex,int,psy,con.I plan on going p2p later on and becoming a beast in pvp but for now I am still exploring the world as a f2p "Summoner" :P

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chense 12 years ago
nice game but to big no good tutorial or story and lags as the f##k

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jesterhead 12 years ago
i take back everything i said about this game.
There is SO MUCH FREAKING STUFF you can do in this game.
Its ultima online on steroids with upgraded graphics.

it has a long way to go, but if it gets the support it needs and keeps growing i could be a big hit.
addicting as all heck. not cookie cutter like 90% of the other games out there.
something challenging and completly different then whats on the market.

theres PVP and full loot. a criminal system (if you attack innocent players) in place.
you can craft just about anything. hunt animals. take over area of the game for your guild. build entire forts.

the only problem is the graphics, animations and sounds.
The environment looks AWESOME! a lot like Dark Souls. But character models are not so great. animations are kinda choppy as well. The sound effects in combat are weak as well.

But even as a free user, the sheer amount of things you can do is insane.
Most likely subbing to this game.
i recommend anyone that like sandbox MMORPGS, UO or just like something different and challenging (it does have a learning curve) to check it out.

Beware. it will make you think. its not WoW where you can just die and come back with your sword of 1000 truths and uber gear.... this game will set apart the real gamers from the people that just play COD all day...

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jesterhead 12 years ago
p.s. if you download it... set it up for an overnight download... cause it takes ALLLLLLL DAY!

started a 10 am.... 5pm and its still patching....

70calories 12 years ago
Awwww swing and miss

Adrian87 12 years ago
I was just creating my account. Was about half way done when i came back and finished reading the article. Changed my mind pretty fast about this one. F**k extended trials.

Darttz 12 years ago
Nice to see another game going F2P, but with such restriction they wont grow their player base but only registred acc base...

Jellopy 12 years ago
Def. gonna give this one a chance. If they've ironed out the mentioned bugs i wouldn't mind paying for it. Used to be a huge fan of UO and the similarities are quite evident. Closest thing to seeing a release of uxo. Wish I'd known sooner.

jesterhead85 12 years ago
"with no limits" it says...

"Free to play" it says....

play what? restrictions are !@#$ing ridiculous...

-quote-

Free to Play accounts will have a skill restriction of 60 (from a possible 100). Subscribing will unlock all the features of the Premium Account. Free to Play accounts will be able to experience all of the basic gameplay and basic features found in Mortal Online.

Accounts that switch from Premium account to Free to Play will have their character skills max potential locked at 60. Should Free to Play accounts re-activate a subscription, their skill cap will raise again to 100 and previously earned skill points restored.

Both Free to Play accounts and Premium accounts start Mortal Online with 1 character slot. Additional character slots may be purchased for a maximum of 4 slots. Players who purchased the client previously (active sub or not) will grandfather in 3x character slots and will have the ability to purchase the 4th character slot. Grandfathered character slots will remain to the player, even if switching to the Free to Play model.

-end quote-

can we get a few thousand players to tell them how stupid their model is?
basically only subscribers or potential subscribers will be playing. the F2P player base will be almost non-existent on this game.

HellcatM 12 years ago
Funny thing is on Facebook I called this game B2W and they gave me a beta key. :P Go figure you bash the game and they want you to try it.

woo... 12 years ago
looked good until i saw the part where u cant loot expensive object... whats the point in playing if the best you can be is mediocre

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Okoice 12 years ago
Looks cool. But the restrictions suck. Maybe i am gonna try it.

Tio_Z/frealms 12 years ago
For a moment, I was so happy...then I realized it was just a now timeless version of the trial.

Fun game, reminds me of UO but 3D. Shame some of the restrictions make it more of a casual extra game to play than a main one to gather your pals to.


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