Spellborn Japanese Beta reveals Item Shop items

News

As you may already know, Japanese portal Excite bought the publishing rights for Spellborn in Japan. Spellborn is being redeveloped by Korean company Frogster Asia Co. Ltd. at the moment.

For reasons I don't know, the Japanese publisher is more up to date with the redevelopment than Acclaim. They set up a site (it looks very nice), and they're already testing the beta. The news page is full of updates and there's a lot of activity on the forums, too. The item shop has been implemented and here's what they're selling (or at least what Google Translate says they're selling):

INVENTORY SPACE

Bags: temporarily (30 days / 90 days) increase the inventory space with 40 slots

- "It can expand to the maximum of 80 frameworks." - this broken translation tells us the inventory has been reduced to 40 slots; equipping the bag increases the total number of slots to 80
- when the bag "expires", items can only be taken from the extended inventory space
- this is the same model Frogster is using in Runes of Magic, where players cannot obtain a permanent increase in inventory space; people will have to pay every month or every three months for bigger backpacks

CONSUMABLES

HP recovery potions: 500 HP ("lower") and 1000 HP ("intermediate") flavours

- potions come in stacks of 11 each
- safe to assume they instantly recover HP upon use
- 30 second cooldown
- can be traded
- speculation: "huge" (~2000 HP and more) potions will be introduced as the level cap will increase with future expansions; we're still waiting for Carnyx, you know 
- speculation: current HP restoring food might be nerfed or completely removed from the game so that the HP restoring potions will become desireable

HP Recovery amulets: 400 HP ("lower") and 800 HP ("intermediate") flavours

- both flavours come in two types: one expires in 24 hours and the other in 7 days; so we have 4 different HP amulets
- all potions have a 2 minute cooldown;
- cooldown is not shared with HP recovery potions
- unlimited use until expiration
- cannot be traded
- safe to assume they instantly recover HP upon use
- probably a "huge" HP recovery amulet will be introduced in the future

"Scrolls of return": scrolls that return the player character to a certain place in the gameworld when used

- return to Ringfell Hearth (11 uses)
- return to Quarterstone Palace District (11 uses)
- return to Parliament Hawksmouth (11 uses)
- return either to a user-chosen location (one location has to be chosen prior to using the scroll) or to a "safe location" of any map - can't really understand from the translation (16 uses)

All the above scroll types have the following characteristics:
- 5 seconds cast time
- cannot be used while moving
- can be traded
- requires at least Fame level 10 to use
- cannot be used in "Arena" (Quarterstone Arena District, all PvP zones or both???)
These are the scrolls currently available. I speculate more locations will be added and that there will be no more free shardship travel. It is possible everyone will have to pay in-game money to use the shardships and fight possibly more dangerous mobs during the journey, to make the scrolls desireable.

State potions: potions that increase the Physique, Morale and Concentration states

- these apparently come in stacks of 16
- they increase the states to "maximum" (I assume "maximum" is the level of the State at PeP 5)
- 5 minute cooldown, shared cooldown with other State potions;
- can be traded
- I am having a hard time with the Google Translate engine; it would seem the state is increased by the potion for only 30 seconds;
- if the above is true, the potions are nearly useless, since states increase with each PeP level and there are abilities that increase the states when used in combat; and the next item in the store is much better than all potions:

PeP guard: prevents PeP death penalty

- used to prevent PeP level decrease upon death, 10 charges
- IMHO this item had to be present in Item Store

GEAR

Now this is possibly the most controversial aspect of the item shop: gear.

As you know, there are three archetypes in Spellborn: Warrior, Spellcaster and Rogue. The Japanese item store offers 3 armor sets for each archetype. Well, there are actually 6 armor sets, since each one comes in 24 hours and 7 days flavours. That means these sets cannot be permanently purchased. But since only the period one is allowed to wear the set differs, I'm gonna explain as if there are only 3 sets available per class.

There's a cheap set (C), a moderately expensive one (M), and an expensive one (E).

The cheaper the set is, the less items it includes: (C) 3 items, (M) 5 items, (E) 8 items

The cheaper the set is, the lesser the minimum Fame level required to wear the set is: (C) Fame level 3, (M) Fame level 8, (E) Fame level 14

The cheaper the set is, the less powerful it is:

Warrior:
(C) Body +2, Mind +2, Focus +2; (M) Body +3, Mind +6, Focus +6; (E) Body +6, Mind +12, Focus +6;

Spellcaster:
(C) Body +2, Mind +2, Focus +2; (M) Body +6, Mind +3, Focus +6; (E) Body +6, Mind +6, Focus +12;

Rogue:
(C) Body +2, Mind +2, Focus +2; (M) Body +6, Mind +6, Focus +3; (E) Body +12, Mind +6, Focus +6;

Items in each set also provide ranged defense, melee defense and magical defense. I'm not gonna list all the stats for all armors, but if you need an idea, the expensive sets provide a cumulated amount of 325 defense (broken down into melee, ranged and magical). Each archetype armor set leans towards some type of defense.

I have no idea how much this will affect gameplay, since I'm not used to items in Spellborn having defense stats. What I am certain of is that PvP gamepay will be affected. Players who did not purchase the armor sets will be at a disadvantage, especially if they will not be able to craft armor pieces with defense stats. Will there be such crafting in the game? I don't know, but if they introduce it, Spellborn becomes a gear based game. If they don't, players who don't buy (or should I say rent) armor sets will be at a disadvantage. Tough stuff.

CONCLUSIONS AND FURTHER SPECULATION

First, Acclaim is not Excite. I mean the game Acclaim will offer us can be wildly different from the Japanese version. We have the example of Dungeons and Dragons Online: free to play and micropayment funded in North America and subscription based in Europe, simply because it has different publishers.

But then again, the Korean arm of Frogster is the one developing Spellborn now, instead of the defunct Spellborn Works BV. I have no information about Acclaim also developing the game, I only know they publish it. Please correct me if I am wrong. If I am right, we might get the same game version the Japanese play right now.

Most item store stuff looks good to me, except for the gear. There are some questions that need answering, because it's still unclear how this gear will affect the game.

I believe Frogster will do a decent job supporting the game. Their Runes of Magic had at least one expansion few months after release, adding at least a new high level zone; Spellborn's Carnyx might become real sooner than we expect.

Most probably mounts are next. That's fine with me, for some weird reason I never got bored of long walks in Spellborn. A mount would be nice but not essential. Flying mounts on the other hand would be a blast!

I am quite certain there will be no permanent mounts in the Item Store, such mounts are not present in Runes of Magic either. And until now what they did with the store is just like in Runes of Magic.

Expect XP potions. You drink it, you gain 50% more XP for the next hours. I'm cool with that, some people migh want to rush it to level 50.

Frogster might push it with housing and bank space and Guild furniture, just like in RoM. But Spellborn would have to suffer major modifications (read: professions, gear becomes important) for that stuff to catch on.