Meridian 59 is now free to play.

[Psychic Robot]

Not sure if anyone is interested, but M59 is an old-school MMO with lots of PVP and drama. If you're interested in learning more, feel free to ask me questions, visit Gilroy's for all the information you need, and check out the game site to sign up for a free account.

[Koumei]

...I might be wrong, but I recall seeing it mentioned in a gaming magazine over 15 years ago. Is that the one?

[Juton]

...I might be wrong, but I recall seeing it mentioned in a gaming magazine over 15 years ago. Is that the one?

Probably, I played it briefly during 97 I think.

A question to PR: How's the solo and the class balance? Are the guilds populated with morons?

[Doom]

Wow, that was the first MMO I ever played...'92, maybe?

[Psychic Robot]

There is no "class balance." You basically build your character with stats and "schools" however you see fit. You have a certain number of levels to divide up among them according to your intelligence. Every character has magic. Every single character uses spells. No exceptions.

Characters don't level; they have HP and percent-based skills. You fight things and get more HP; you use your skills and get "imps" (improvements) for them. Endgame is all PVP content.

Everyone has secondary characters called mules that hold things and do dirty work (buffing, bard magic, teleporting, etc.) for them. Don't worry about that for now, as you need like a million shillings (yes, they use shillings for currency) to build one properly.

Schools of training:

Weaponcraft: Fighting, stabbing, shooting. Necessary for pretty much every character, even mages. (You need two levels of this to get dodge and block. Very important.)

Kraanan: Warrior spell school. Lots of buffs and the all-important anti-magic aura.

Jala: Bard magic. Singing to invoke special effects. Only mules use it.

Riija: Illusion magic. Very useful, but very expensive and difficult to acquire. If you build a character with it, you want this to be your first school of magic because it's so expensive (and char building gets more difficult the more schools you know). Useful in PvP, but difficult to master.

Shal'ille: Good cleric spells. Healing and some semi-useful other spells. The big two spells in this school are dazzle (a blind effect) and purge (removes all buffs on a person). Useful on real characters and mules.

Qor: Necromancer spells. Animating the dead, spraying acid on people, etc. The big two spells in this school are blind (a blind effect) and hold (paralysis). Useful in PvP.

Faren: Evoker spells. Fire, frost, lightning. A few utility spells in the mix. Only fire and lightning are actually useful, and 95% of the time, you'll want to use fire in PVP.

There are basically three builds.

Pure fighter: You use Weaponcraft and Kraanan exclusively. You will use melee skills in PvE and a bow + self buffs in PVP. You will also set up anti-magic fields everywhere.

Three-schooler: You use Weaponcraft, Kraanan, and Qor or Shal'ille. You dazzle + purge + bow or you blind + hold + bow.

Mage: You use Faren as your primary offensive weapon. Very difficult and expensive to utilize properly. I recommend against it. Remember, you need to have two levels of Weaponcraft for block and dodge. No matter what.

Now, some players create permutations of these and different interactions between the schools of magic, but these are the basic three. I'd recommend pure fighters for any starting players because they'll help you get the gist of the game while allowing you to make money.

Be warned that some of the grind in this game is nightmarish, and botting of spells is allowed and discussed openly.

Are the guilds populated with morons?

Mostly. You're going to want to avoid the majority of big guilds because they're populated by asshats with giant egos who spam broadcasts (the part of chat that everyone in the entire server can see) with dumb shit. Also, once you're in a guild, you can be freely attacked in the streets of Tos. This doesn't mean much now, but if you play, it's a big deal. So don't join a guild until later.

However, the game is a lot of fun. Post on the forums to get a feel for the game and check any build you're going to try out. Also, be warned that PKs are douchenozzles, and the will kill you and take all your shit. Fortunately, the majority of the equipment in M59 is common and can be bought at shops.