2022 Update: I removed the original content since it was getting too long, and there have been some slight changes since 2017/2020, and more throughout 2022. Making disclosure here that I am a CM on the official Discord as of 2022, in the event that it's important to anyone's interpretation of this review. Beware this is still very long but I didn't want any possibility of misinterpretation and wanted to cover every notable that new players bring up or that reviews could mislead people on. Since the original review, the following changes are worth noting: * Fan sites mostly still being forbidden is still beyond silly and is still a problem, but there is a tedious workaround that Nexon should be happy with, so this one should gradually become a nonissue over time. * Bots are still present but feeling the pressure. More could be done but its a lot better than before. * Communication between Nexon and players is still not very good, but it is hopefully slowly improving. * The combination of these led to me flipping my review from No to Yes. Things that are still the same: * Monetization is almost completely revolved around lootboxes, which contain some utility items that lootbox buyers can sell on the MP to others, but their main draw is cosmetic items which can also be sold on the MP. They don't have any exclusive perks off this, but they can pay2win off of it by selling the spoils. Free players can buy any of the main items obtained from lootboxes, provided a lootbox buyer decides to sell it. There is a good supply of most of these items, such as VVIP capsules and Exquisite Enchant Runes. - This has led to a situation where the Netherlands cannot use the ingame marketplace at all, due to Nexon's desire to offer lootboxes there. If you are in the Netherlands, I do not recommend you play any Nexon game at this time. The rest below is just me clarifying some details about the game, since most Steam and Youtube reviews are either hyperbolic, poorly researched, or outdated. Particularly reviews from before 2017 or so, when reforging was added. Early game is massively dumbed down as of a update several years back called Rise, that made gear tremendously more powerful, especially after Lv. 90. It is painfully easy up until Lv. 100, where suddenly the game spikes back almost to full difficulty. Lv. 105 and Lv. 110 raids are completely unnerfed, and provide a suitable challenge if you want to test yourself. This game is not open world, and has instanced battles/towns. You party up with up to four people (eight for some special raids) and fight a raid boss. Endgame PvM is purely raiding. PvP is not really a thing in this game due to balancing issues. All 20 (at the time of this review) characters are viable and able to solo all content that can be done solo, and the dps differences between them are not significant enough to force you to pick any one over the others. This game's engine is ancient (from 2007 or so), so its performance isn't top notch and has some counter-intuitive things you need to do for optimal performance. If you have any kind of GPU newer than like a GTX 500, turning down your graphics settings will likely reduce your performance. This is a relic of the era, where dedicated GPU were not powerful or common. Low settings uses more of your CPU instead of your GPU, and this is a very CPU-limited game. The ones you want on Low on low power GPUs are Anti-aliasing and Water detail. If your performance is bad on DirectX 11 mode (its relatively new and not ironed out yet), try DirectX 9 mode. 64-bit is generally superior and should be used on any PC able to run it. There is side-content at endgame, like the Mercenary Lounge which lets you build friendships with the other characters that aren't the one you are playing. This side-content is very much side-content though, if you aren't interested in action combat PvM Vindictus isn't for you. The playerbase still here is friendly, as is the norm with most smaller games. We have a Discord you can join if you want to try this game, you can find it with Google. It is actually hosted by Nexon, and is a semi-recent (in the last few years) improvement to communication. Just don't expect to actually chat with Nexon GMs/etc. People in the Discord will help you with any questions/issues, or you can just chat with others about the game. The game has a wide variety of outfits for fashion that can also be dyed, but they mostly come from lootboxes, so expect to need quite a bit of farming for gold to afford the more popular ones on the marketplace. There are quite a few hairstyles as well, all obtained from the Avatar Shop. They are bought with NX, or with a coupon you can buy off the ingame marketplace with gold, from other players. Raids are fun, if a little short when you are in a stacked party. If you like challenges, there are a set of four raids called Redeemers raids that set a higher bar to have to clear. If you really like challenges and don't mind big stat requirements, there is Hell Mode Redeemers, which are the same raids but with a few new twists, and tend to take 20-59 minutes to clear, or 60 to fail by time out. Progression is a lot less RNG than it used to be, but it still takes effort. Failing enhancement requires you to pay some of the materials used in crafting that equipment, plus an Enhancement Rune and some AP to be able to enhance it again. Each time you fail enhancement, it slightly raises the chance that you will succeed the next time and gives you some of the stats you would have gained if it succeeded. After enough fails, the next attempt is guaranteed to succeed. You can obtain one Unstable Enhancement Rune a week from using seals obtained in raids, and you can use this rune to reforge (the process mentioned before). Failing enchants returns scraps of the scroll, with which you can combine four matching scraps to create a guaranteed success version of the scroll. - Some reviewers have been calling the game pay2win, but through completely false reasoning. You can get rich with pay2win routes by buying lootboxes and selling their contents on the MP; the flip side to that is that it means f2p can obtain those cash items without paying. Aside from just the advantage of gold, the closest you get to a pay2win unfair advantage is free2play players being locked to one enhancement rune a week without spending or having a temporary event supply them. At endgame, due to the material costs of reforging, one rune a week is generally enough anyway. I bring this up because they will point to things like VIP and runes in the cash shop, and immediately declare the game pay2win because you can buy power and advantages. Nowadays nobody would seriously recommend buying VIP or VVIP off the cash shop because the ingame market, which anyone can use, is better value for sourcing it. Being able to buy Enchant Runes is not a big deal because enchanting provides avenues to not need them at all (scraps mainly, but there are also 100% success runes buyable on the ingame marketplace). Enhancement Runes are a plausible thing, but again I can't see f2p people getting enough gold to reforge often enough that once a week plus events isn't enough. This isn't to say the game isn't pay2win, it is. Each lootbox has a ~1% (varies per crystal) chance to yield a big item you can sell for 30-500m (on NA server). For perspective the most expensive rare drop in the game, outside of a certain unpopular raid, is ~70m (on NA server). If this kind of pay2win turns you off, your options on MMOs in 2022 are very limited.
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