FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: What is an MMORPG?

A: A Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game (MMORPG) is a game that lets thousands of players connect to the same game world (server), where they can adventure and interact in many different ways. Every players progress is stored in the same game world.
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Q: What is Mortal Online?
A: Mortal Online is a first-person MMORPG in an open player-controlled fantasy game world for the PC. Player versus Player (PvP), or rather Player to Player interaction plays an important part in Mortal Online as trading, learning, combat, rumors and alliances are largely dependent on communication between players.

Our approach to character creation, character progress and skills are to get away from hours and hours of pointless grinding and quickly immerse you into the community – once there, your real journey begins.
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Q: Can I have more than one character on my account?
A: Yes. By creating an account you create your own Deva, or "shared soul", in the game. Your Deva can have several characters connected to it. The Deva grows in power as each of your characters do and can even learn skills that all your characters will benefit from. Read more about skills and the Deva further down.
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Q: Will there be different playable races in Mortal Online?
A: Yes, there will be different races in the game, each with their own unique characteristics and cultures. More information will be added as the development progresses.
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Q: What classes will I be able to play? Are there class restrictions?
A: Classes in Mortal Online will work rather different than in most other MMORPG's. You don't begin the game as a specific Class, although you may choose from different presets to get some help along the way to become one. Classes are managed by special Guilds in the game (meaning "traditional" labor- or profession-guilds like merchant-guilds, blacksmith-guilds, thief-guilds and so on) where you have to apply and get accepted to get the specific Class-title. (You may choose whether to show the title publically or not). Classes will have prerequisites in the form of skills, attributes or sometimes even things like reputation, social status or wealth. In essence, you will have to give up certain attributes and/or skills in favor for others, meaning your choice of skills will be restricted. In turn, you will benefit from certain Class-bonuses as long as you stay true to your Class by meeting the prerequisites. Whether it's worth to make that sacrifice or not is of course up to you. You will have many different classes to choose from ranging from the traditional warrior, thief and mage types to some special classes intimately connected to the game world. Also, some classes are reserved for veteran players.

Mortal Online will have class restrictions for several reasons, the main one being that we want to encourage interaction between players. For instance, forming an independent guild that can manage entirely on its own will require a broad spectrum of characters, not just a few with all the necessary skills. The same goes for the lone wolf warrior; to be really successful in the world you need to interact with other characters by studying for them or at least by purchasing crafted goods you cannot make on your own.

You are not limited to one character and one class though. Your Deva (account) can hold several characters that will benefit from each other in different ways.
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Q: How many character levels are there in Mortal Online?
A: None. We have no levels and therefore no level restrictions - i.e. certain levels needed to reach an area or to be able to handle a specific sword. You are free to travel the world in any way you like, limited only by the terrain, mode of conveyance or dangers in the environment. In the same way you can use any sword you like, provided you have the necessary skills to wield it.
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Q: How does the skill system work?
A: Skills are very important in Mortal Online, as they define what you can and cannot do, sometimes even what you can and cannot see. The skills you can learn are restricted by your class, this means that a warrior cannot learn each and every magic school, for example.

Two types of skills are Action Skills and Learning Skills. Action Skills will typically be trained by being used in the game, while the majority of Learning Skills are trained in the background and requires some time.

To lessen the tedious work of training a character from scratch, if you for example want to alternate your play time between a mage and a blacksmith, we have a group of skills called World Skills. The World Skills are connected to your Deva and will improve no matter what type of characters you are playing. This way if one of your characters for example explore the map or learn about history, so does all of the other characters connected to your Deva.

More intricate details of how the skill system works will be described later.
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Q: Will Mortal Online be another clone of that game?
A: Definitely not. There are two main categories in the MMORPG genre which are often referred to as “Theme Park” and “Sandbox” respectively.

The overwhelming majority of MMORPG’s today belong to the Theme Park category. A Theme Park is often carefully planned and can deliver some very unique attractions. On the other hand, the attractions usually require you to be of a certain age or length to ride them, you have to stand in line, and none or minimal interaction is needed from your part. Like a real theme park it always looks the same and chances are you grow tired of the rides after 20 times or so, unless the theme park creates new exiting rides to keep the park entertaining.

In a Sandbox game you are able to create your own rides, and you interact with other players most of the time instead of NPCs. Every time you play will be a unique experience as the player interactions determine the outcome, and the world changes and reacts dynamically to their actions. This type of game typically lasts longer, but requires more involvement by the players.

Mortal Online is a true sandbox game, and with its focus on a realistic graphic style and the deep skill- and PvP-system, it is far from the typical MMORPG fantasy games seen today. The open and player controlled world is just one of the many features that makes Mortal Online unique.
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Q: How much will it cost?
A: Mortal Online will require a monthly fee similar to other MMORPG’s on the market.
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Q: What is the PvP like in Mortal Online?
A: Our game differs from most other MMORPG’s in the way that it is based on PvP and player interaction – the PvP is not a feature added on top of “the real game”. This means that Mortal Online is played on PvP servers only. Your chances of success in the real-time combat are based on your skills as a player, however character skills and equipment is of course an important factor to victory as well.
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Q: Is there any PvE?
A: Yes, the world is vast and large parts lies waiting to be discovered. Besides the hunting of common and rare animals any traveler is bound to face savage beasts or scavenging mobs. Explorers of the non-human or ancient cultures will find their denizens highly unlikely to leave their treasures unguarded. Some very unique creatures roam the world as well, and to confront them you will need creativity and cooperation with other players.
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Q: What is Star Vault?
A: Star Vault is a newly formed independent game company in Sweden, and with independent we mean self-owned. We are a very small team of developers with years of experience in the MMORPG genre among others, and our common goal is to develop the games we want to play ourselves. To put it simple: we have chosen to be independent as it gives us the opportunity to develop games without the boundaries of a large publisher.
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Q: Is this game for the casual or hardcore gamer?
A: With its deep game system, Mortal Online will probably be regarded as hardcore by many, but we hope that our hybrid skill advancement system and freedom to choose your own style of play will appeal to both casual and hardcore gamers. Mortal Online won’t require you to put hundreds of hours of game play to be able to join your more experienced friends or contribute to the game world. However, Mortal Online is not a point- and click game where only the stats of your character decides the outcome of a battle, and that may indeed be regarded as too hardcore for some.
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Q: Is Mortal Online comparable to any other game out there?
A: It’s never easy to compare your work to others. The core team comes from the beta days of Ultima Online and wants to build a PvP game in the same spirit but with today’s technology. Some of the very first MMORPG’s had features we have always seen as primary for the genre, and we are surprised to see that so few have developed games based on those features since that time. In short, we find many of today’s MMORPG’s impressive and fun, but see most of them as “cooperative PvE” games with only rudimentary PvP functionality. This makes us even more determined to see our vision come true in Mortal Online.
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Q: When will it be released?
A: Q4 2009

Q: Will there be a beta release?
A: Beta is currently in progress. Visit the store to buy a pre-order, which gives access to beta.

Q: How long has Mortal Online been under development?
A: We started planning Mortal Online back in early 2002, but the project really took off in 2005.