Swords of Legends Online is an action-combat MMORPG that takes place in a fantasy world themed around Chinese mythology. Developed by Wangyuan Shengtang Entertainment Technology CO. and produced by Gameforge 4D for the West, who are producers behind titles like Shenmue 3, Elsword, Tera, and Aion Online.

SOLO takes its story and aesthetic inspiration from a Chinese Television Series by the same name. Furthermore, that same TV series was inspired from a successful RPG game known as GuJian. So, this is a game adapted from a TV series that was adapted from a game. Which is a pretty neat legacy to call back to.

Anyway, there’s a lot to be excited about when it comes to the Western release of this title which was dropped in Eastern markets in 2019 as the game boasts dynamic PvP and PvE content, a deep Transmog system, Player Housing, six playable classes on release, flying mounts, and an in-depth character customization system.

Class Introductions

There are, for Western audiences, six available classes on release. Each class has two ‘specializations’ that allow most classes to flex between a primary and secondary role.

The Spearmaster is a melee focused class that plays off the aesthetics of a Lu-Bu like fighter wielding a massive two-handed spear to deal damage and ward back its foes. General is the name of the Spearmaster’s DPS specialization and it brings a ton of close-range AOE effects that are valuable in clearing through mobs quickly and effectively. The Spearmaster’s second specialization, Phalanx is a tank spec that increases the threat generation and survivability of the Spearmaster immensely allowing them to soak aggro and lead parties through dungeons and raids.

The Summoner is a ranged ‘pet-based’ class that utilizes unique summons to deal damage and protect their allies. However, unlike pets in World of Warcraft or Final Fantasy 14, the Summoner’s cute fox is quite genuinely their weapon. Syncing with movements of the Summoner’s Staff, the spirit fox that this class calls upon for aid zips around the battlefield as the Summoner lays down its damage while specialized in Nature’s Wrath,the Summoner DPS spec. While in Nuwa’s Blessing, the healing/support specialization, Summoner’s call upon the aid of a fairy called Moluo to protect and lay down heal-over-time effects on their allies.

The Reaper is a versatile class that brings both a Support and DPS specialization to the game. Wielding a scythe, this class edgily specializes in DOT effects and swift rapid attacks to bring down their foes while specializing in their DPS spec, Assassin. When operating from their Occultist specialization, Reapers sacrifice their own life to aid their party-members, and can apply buff effects through devious insects, and split damage with a party-member of their choice.

The Spellsword, my chosen class for the Beta, is a pure DPS class with both ranged and melee specializations. While in their Sword Artist spec, the Spellsword operates from a range firing magical swords at their target. Additionally, Sword Artists can send and place swords on the ground to act as teleport locations giving this spec some skillful mobility. Bladestorm is the name of Spellsword’s melee focused spec. This spec creates a zone to operate in and focuses on dealing massive amounts of damage to those enemies that dare wander in. This spec also boasts extremely high mobility, helping the Bladestorm to get on its targets and stay on them.

The Bard is a ranged supportive class with both DPS and Support specializations. This class has access to spells and abilities that uniquely buff up the party prior to fights which truly lets one live out the supportive musician fantasy. Within the Bard’s DPS spec, Dissonance, the Bard moonlights as an elementalist weaving the five core elements of SOLO from its abilities directly into its enemies. Conversely, while specced for Harmony, the Bard takes these same elemental energies and turns them into buffs and heals for their allies to enjoy.

Last but not least, The Berserker wields a massive sword into battle and has a very lone-wolf aesthetic to them. Which is fitting since one of the perks of this class is that they can literally turn into a wolf. Anyway, the Berserker features both a DPS and Tank specializations. While specced into Slayer, the Berserker focuses on dealing damage alongside phantom warriors that the Berserker can work in unison with. While specced into Drunken Master, Berserkers become tanks that consume brews and utilize wind magics to increase their defensive capabilities.

There is a seventh class that’s unlocked in China who has access to SOLO’s first expansion, so we can guesstimate that should SOLO be successful in the West that we’ll also eventually have access to it. Until then, these Swords of Legends are at your disposal, and each offers varied and unique experiences when compared next to each other.

Leveling and the Story (No spoilers!)

SOLO’s leveling experience is fine. There’s not much to note that's different from any other MMO. Many of the quests involve moving to areas, killing a certain number of mobs, collecting a certain number of items, or occasionally interacting with pieces of the environment. Standard MMO stuff.

What is good about the leveling experience though is that, early in the process, you are introduced to a Class Hall style area that is unique to your chosen class. These zones are not only designed to fit the aesthetics of the class you’re playing, but they also offer story glimpses into the origins of your class. But most importantly, they offer genuinely good tutorials for you to familiarize yourself with the Soulpower systems and rotations of your class and spec. Though this can have the tutorial feel like it's overstaying its welcome, I’m a fan of a game erring on the side of over explaining its systems rather than relying on players to do their own research just to be functional members of a party later on.

Focusing on the story, the leveling experience is naturally designed to be the primary vehicle for the game’s story which it claims as one of its biggest drawing points. And I can’t disagree with the sentiment that this may be what brings in and hooks some players. However, from my experience with the story through the leveling process in the Beta, I didn’t really feel the story sink its teeth into me.

However, there are cool story beats (especially within the class lores), cool action sequences that utilize the in-game engine, and awesome character designs where I can see fans clamoring for their favorites and praising the game for its rich detail. But my Beta impressions were not as polished as I’d personally have liked them to be. Inconsistent translations, voice-overs switching between Chinese and English mid-conversation, dialogue pacing being off, audio and visual bugs, and sometimes an outright lack of translation were common experiences for me. And though that isn’t to say these things won’t improve with time, the initial presentation of the game broke my immersion and wasn’t enough to hook me on its story. However, with plenty of flavor-text materials in-game, and a rich back story to call upon, there’s plenty of hours of digestion available to all those that want to endlessly consume everything that is SOLO in terms of lore.

Overall, my experience with this avenue of the game felt very samey in comparison to other Eastern titles, but again, there’s time to improve between now and release. Devs have already updated fans on a more expansive Western voice cast coming in for the game, and plan to include presentation options that allow for switching between the Western and Chinese voice cast.

PvE Endgame

Naturally, MMOs don’t really find the bulk of their most engaging content throughout the earlier levels. Instead, MMOs these days are designed to focus on end-game content. SOLO is no exception to this rule and boasts both PvE and PvP content for players to enjoy. PvE players in SOLO have some options with the common Dungeons, World Bosses, and Raids, as well as mini-game style quests to participate in during the post game.

Dungeon content in particular is split in difficulty, offering players avenues to gauge for themselves how difficult they want their experience to be with Normal, Hard, and Extreme difficulties available. Lower levels of difficulty can be cleared without the traditional party paradigm, so it’s possible for 5 DPS to clear through a dungeon. While harder difficulties will require a more balanced and traditional party structure (Tank-Healer-DPS). Additionally, dungeon content scales on the number of participants and rewards are scaled up with more party members.

In terms of raid content, from what we understand, the exact same can be applied with different difficulties, member scaling, and scaling rewards. However, Beta testers were unable to put the raid difficulty to the test for themselves as Raids are scheduled to come out post release.

World Boss content is tied into a skill system known as Bounty Hunting. By participating in Bounty Hunting players open themselves to encounter several different types of overworld bosses, some of which can be tackled solo while others will need groups to take down. Further, the Bounty Hunter skill tree comes with its own portal spell that phases the player out of the base world, meaning that as a Bounty Hunter you’re going to be separated from the non-Bounty Hunters for a short period so that your content doesn’t disrupt or overlap others. A nice touch for those not wanting to get randomly one-shot for running through what would be a boss location.

PvE Rewards & Systems

SOLO shares the ‘lockout’ system with pretty much every other MMO. This means that once players earn their rewards from the weekly dungeon, raid or boss, they will be locked out again until the following week where they can earn rewards again. Naturally, this elongates a player's play time and commitment to obtain their items, but it also prevents them from burning through all the content available in a short amount of time. Not a bad thing, and this is common practice in the genre.

For World Boss content, the difficulties on bosses is factored into how often they can be looted and what is a part of their loot table. Some easier world bosses can be consistently farmed from, while more difficult ones have a traditional lockout loot tables to them.

However, it’s worth noting that SOLO, unlike a lot of more modern MMOs, has an old-school currency system behind its grind. So, even if you don’t receive the drop you were chasing in a given week, you’re still allotted a resource that will help you along your gear progression path. As an old school WoW player deeply nostalgic for the old Valor and Honor point systems, this was a blessing and positive reflection of the game and its developers for me.

PvP Content

SOLO has multiple avenues of PvP expression for those players wanting to really show their mastery over the game’s systems. The first and most traditional of these is the instanced Battleground content. Players can queue up for 15v15, 10v10, and 3v3 battles to earn rewards within the instanced zones. The formats of each of these Battlegrounds is varied from traditional capture the flag style objectives, to king of the hill, to more modern battle royale takes.

Your World PvP experience can be tailored around the Faction PvP System which allows players to alot themselves either into the Mysticism (Red) or the Heaven’s Children (Blue) Factions. These Factions can be changed on a short weekly timer and are not account bound by any means, so there’s no big commitment if you jump from one side to the other. Faction PvP takes place within specific zones, so those players wanting to make the most of these systems must move into the chosen environments to participate and earn their rewards. Additionally, you can participate in WPvP outside of the factions if you wish to remain ‘neutral’.

There are bigger Faction PvP systems coming post launch, like Guild-vs-Guild, Alliance, and 100 vs 100 instanced combat. But for now, Factions are the primary way to ship World PvP content.

As players participate in Faction PvP, reach benchmarks, and earn reputation with either of the factions, they are rewarded with currencies and upgrades that help them along an entirely unique path of gear progression that is separate from PvE. Which is a big plus for both PvE and PvP players. Alongside progression systems, there are cosmetics and mounts to earn via the Factions as well. So, those players that want to play the Glamour/Transmog game have plenty of motivation to get involved with the PvP scene.

Beyond these traditional PvP structures, there is a system known as “Rampage Mode'' which is unlocked at max level. Essentially, Rampage Mode allows players to flag themselves for combat in the overworld to participate in World PvP. However, Rampage Players can only attack other players that have flagged themselves for Rampage as well, so there’s no ganking lower level players or those not wanting to participate in World PvP.

This seems to be the Devs response to wanting that more traditional World PvP feel, but Rampage Mode does come with negative drawbacks the longer it is used. At certain thresholds of ‘Negative Qi’ players are quite literally locked in the Underworld due to their time spent in Rampage Mode. Naturally there are methods to return your Qi to normal, but the Developers seem to believe that the rewards earned from Faction content should keep players invested in Rampage Mode despite its negative effects.

Player Housing

One of the biggest features, and honestly one of the most under-respected features, that SOLO is bringing to the MMO table is its expansive housing features. SOLO boasts their housing system as a true progression system unlike other MMOs, and has tied daily-quests and true progression features into the system. By pushing through these systems, Players unlock furniture, gardens, bath houses, and more for their plots and can truly invest themselves into this system as much as they can PvP and PvE content.

And for those more ‘traditional’ minded players, there are benefits for you to participate in Player Housing as well since you gain access to Workbenches, expanded inventory space, personal forges, and workshops that you gain benefit from in your daily grind.

The Cash Shop, Subscription Model, and Battle-Pass

Last but not least, let’s talk about the Cash Shop. Swords of Legends Online does have an expansive cash shop that’s available for players to purchase from. Items within the shop include mounts, outfits, weapons, and light character recreation. However, the items are purely cosmetic. None of the items within the cash shop offer a statistical advantage to any player whatsoever, and this trend has remained consistent within the two years of the games release in China and other eastern markets.

Typically, Eastern MMOs release with a cosmetic shop that players can buy from, which serves to slowly gear their players into steadily purchasing before genuine upgrade items start leaking in patch after patch. If upgrades don’t come from the shop itself, it’s often some form of currencythat can be traded for upgrades in-game which circumvents the negative perception of having raw upgrades in a cash shop. To see SOLO come forth with not only an ‘honest’ cosmetic shop on the Western release, but also one that has remained consistently cosmetic in their primary market brings me a huge sigh of relief. Pay to Win elements simply have no place in any classic or modern MMO, and to see everyone behind the game recognize this should be a sign that this game is being led in the right direction.

Oh, and did I mention that any item purchased from the cash shop is account bound? That’s another HUGE plus for SOLO’s monetization scheme.

And before I forget to mention this, Swords of Legends Online operates off of a one-time purchase model with an optional Battle-Pass. This means that the only time you’ll be paying to play Swords of Legends Online, is when you initially purchase the game at one of its three price tiers.

Standard - $39.99 USD

Delux - $59.99 USD

Collectors - $99.99 USD

Each of these editions comes with Preorder Bonuses, but non-standard tiers come with in-game cosmetics to add to your character’s expansive dressing room.

Following the game's release, players can elect to purchase a Battle-Pass for additional/seasonal cosmetic rewards. Devs have made a claim, much as they have with the Cash Shop, that no genuinely powerful items will be tied to the Battle-Pass. Again supporting the strictly cosmetic monetization of the Cash Shop. This Battle-Pass will operate similar to those that we have seen from other games that utilize the system like League of Legends, Fortnite, and Call of Duty with both Free and Premium Tiers. Details on the Battle-Pass availability are simply, ‘post-launch’ with no direct timeframe for release.

Closing Thoughts on Swords of Legends Online

From the initial direction of the Devs leading into and throughout the Beta, their promises to present a road map near release, and with even more content from the main release scheduled to make its way West post launch, there’s a lot to be excited about with Swords of Legends Online. Additionally, though immersion breaking for myself, the audio and visual bugs that happened for me throughout my time with SOLO’s Beta will get fixed. Dialogue will get added, the cast will get expanded, and translations will be made right, and the experience will only become more homogenized with time. And that’s a good thing considering you want your initial experience with any game to be as clean as it possibly can be.

Despite this though, I’m not sure if SOLO’s gameplay loop is enough to keep players around and invested. I never truly felt the hook of the gameplay, and though I love the systems behind it, I don’t think it’s enough to pull me away from the more popular titles I’ve already invested in. However, first time experiencers of the action MMO genre and fans of the Chinese mythology may fall in love with this title. There may be hiccups when it comes to converting full-time players from the other big MMO giants like Guild Wars 2, WoW, FF14, and Black Desert Online, but hopefully all the positive things that are being done system-wise for Swords of Legends Online are enough to convert some die-hard fans to their banners and help carry this game into a happy and fruitful future in the struggling MMO scene.