Fractured is a dynamic world MMO, something that I have wanted since World of Warcraft came out nearly 15 years ago. Typical MMO’s stick with one world and almost nothing changes over time. So once you have finished the story there isn’t a whole lot left to do but repeat the same end game dungeons over and over and over to try and get better gear sets. It seems that Fractured is trying to change this by allowing players to change the world. You can construct towns, drive your own economy, effect the environment through magic, and much more. Fractured truly seems like a living world.
Right off the bat, there is something different about Fractured. When you choose your character, you will have to select from one of three races. Each race has traits that will be set and change the way you play. Each race has inherent strengths and weaknesses. Once you start your adventure there is no grind to get through the lower levels where you have to kill hundreds of boars to get ten tusks or any of that nonsense. You can jump right into the thick of it. Instead of leveling up, you gain knowledge by interacting with the world. The “skill tree” is horizontal rather than vertical so you can learn over 400 different abilities but they don’t all come from killing stuff. It’s more about being clever and finding new ways to interact with the world. It’s really a cool idea and I would love to see how it works.
While on your adventure you might want to build a home and if you so desire found a town that you and your guild can grow and develop. Eventually you can establish trade routes to bring revenue into your area further developing the area. But be careful with how you use resources because if you start abusing the land citizens will begin to complain and it will affect the environment. The economy is supposed to be almost entirely driven by players. Which is cool but could also come with some downsides. Most notably are ones that appear like EVE Online. If you didn’t get in early there is no way you can join and make a difference in the world now. Everyone is light years ahead and that gap continues to grow. The other problem I see here is other players trolling/griefing new players. If you can disrupt cities and trade routes it will likely ruin the enjoyment for some, this is the entire reason I stopped playing Ark. It will be interesting to see how they adapt to these challenges.
The combat is really interesting because most RPG’s have auto locking and you cannot hurt your fellow teammates. In Fractured that is a thing of the past and you play more like an action RPG where strategy takes center stage (adjusting combat to the enemy) and being cautious about attacks not hurting party members. This adds an extra layer of strategy and worry about how area effects will damage players and enemies a like. There is going to have to be great communication between group members. I think that is going to be great fun. This sounds great but there are definitely going to be trolls and that is going to be hard to counter.
Even with the possible issues, I think that Fractured looks amazing and is a step in the right direction for MMO’s. Fractured is moving away from the World of Warcraft formula to a great mix of Fallout, EVE Online, and Ark. If you want to get in on the ground floor check Fractured on Kickstarter.