Here’s a new one for us, and if you like it, you can throw money at it right now: It’s called Endless Trials, and it is gunning for some of the more tedious and repetitive tropes of MMORPGs. With graphics that look more like FML than WoW, Endless Trials – ET – bills itself as “an MMO without the boring parts,” which to the three-man Danish dev team means a focus on endgame instead of “tedious leveling and grinding.”
“We all love a good challenge, something fun, something that pushes us and affords us a sense of accomplishment. The leveling and grinding part of the game, however, that is where boredom can creep in. With that in mind, we have set out to create a new, semi-hardcore MMO that focuses on endgame content. We are calling it Endless Trials, and it is our attempt at making raiding great again! Each new character will follow a brief introduction quest, and when we say ‘brief’ we mean exactly that: it will take just an hour to finish. From there, you get some basic gear and get in on the real action, battling dungeons with your friends, completing daily quests for rep and rewards, farming for crafting materials, and hanging around the space station with other players. This is a game in which leveling plays a minimal role. The key here is excitement. We want Endless Trials to feel fresh every time you play, not like a job that you are doing half the time just to get to the real fun!”
The game’s newly launched Kickstarter seeks $66,218 to fund the game, a not unreasonable amount given the retro graphics. Studio Fire Hurts (how appropriate is this name for an endgame MMO?) says it’ll follow a free-to-play model with a cosmetic-focused microtransaction shop, but nothing sold will affect gameplay or be pay-to-win. Expect eight classes, half a dozen dungeons and raids, rare drops, and multiple expansions focused on different gameplay elements. Right now, the devs say the game is still deep in development.
There are a few unique mechanics in play with this game too. For example, check out the artifact system – basically, letting your playtime lapse will mean the doom of your most powerful rare gear.
“These items will grant the user with immense powers, and bring along glory for the lucky guilds. To ensure that these items are always in play, there will be certain requirements for play-time per month to keep them. If the player holding an artifact isn’t active, they will be destroyed from their inventory and will once again, become eligible for drop. Each player will be able to see who has these items, and which items have still yet to be found. To ensure a balanced raid experience, there will be a maximum number of permitted artifacts in play in a given raid instance. So, guilds and players need to decide which artifacts to bring along in a given raid, if a guild should be lucky enough to have several players with artifacts.”
