Metal Reaper Online (Part Four)

Gameplay (Continued)
Character Progression Related
In terms of character progression related gameplay, I've found that there's not too many eye-catching features found in this game.

As far as I can see, there's your typical focus on equipment upgrades, skill learning and perhaps attainment of titles (but I wonder if you can call that a "progression" though).

• Equipment Focused
  The following are screenshots of my character's info or status window (when fully equipped and naked).
  
  As you can see, there's none of those "Strength", "Agility", "Intelligence", "Dexterity" and other whatnot parameters, that you can usually find in most MMO games, is there? Furthermore, as soon as I've unequipped all of my armor and weapons, you can immediately see a drop in most of my character's stats.
  
  Yup, essentially, the game more or less deals purely with equipment...and...the stronger your equips, the more powerful your character then becomes (minus the branch factor of course).
  

  So what then constitutes as "strong equips"?

  Well...apart from the "level" criteria (which is a given), there's also the "rarity" aspect. And rarity...comes in the form of "Common", "Rare", "High Rare", "Super Rare" to "Legendary".
  
  
  
  Naturally, you will have to note that with the accompanying rarity increase, the "number" of bonuses that you MIGHT find on the item also increases correspondingly. As such, its pretty much safe to say that the higher the "level" and "rarity", the more powerful the item will be.
  

  Bonuses that directly affect the existing stats of an item are automatically factored into it...so much so that what you see is what you get. For instance, the "ATTK + 26" bonus is already counted into the "Min-Max Damage" shown on the HK VP70 rare handgun.

  
  
  Other than that, an "attractive" alternative would be "Set Items"...which are also pretty "powerful". However, that is only if you can assemble the entire set (to harness its benefits).
  
  Sadly though, that is probably (just about) the hardest part of it all...as its practically down to "Lady Luck" in determining what you might loot. Nevertheless, that's all you can do I guess...to keep on hunting out in the sectors (with monsters) and/or the instance dungeons (regardless).
  

  But I do believe that your chances of getting something "nice" will be higher if you hunt out in the "high-risk" sectors rather than in the "low-risk" ones (in comparison with your character's level).

• Branch Skills
  Recalling the Class Selection which I've previously talked about, another aspect that is highly related to character progression is the raising of your branch related skills.
  
  
  
  And as far as this goes, regardless of whichever branch you've picked, each character is apparently only going to be given 1 skill point (SP) per level up.
  
  With this limited amount of skill points, the player will then have to make their own choice with regards to which branch skills to pick up, which to max and whether it will be some passive or an active skill.
  

  Passives are marked with a "P" at the top left corner of the skill while actives usually have a cooldown and some "STA" (kind of like MP in typical MMOs) requirement to use.

  Thankfully though, each of the skills appear to be independent of each other and are not needed in the learning of "higher" skills (you'll just need to be of the right character level).
  
• Achievements
  
  
  
  Achievements in Metal Reaper Online function quite similar to "Titles" found in Dragon Nest and "Medals" in Dragonica.
  
  By performing acts to satisfy the condition(s) of the achievement, you will be rewarded with a title that can be worn or attached to your character.
  
  If the title has an accompanying "benefit" or "bonus", you will be bestowed with it accordingly (when you use it). But if it has none, then its merely a "cosmetic" title with not much use in particular (except for showing off, I guess).
  

Crafting
At around character level 10, players get introduced into the crafting scene in Metal Reaper Online.

And as far as this is concerned, you will be given a chance to pick ONE out of the four crafting "professions" available.

• Ringring - In charge of making pistols, rifles, shotguns and sniper rifles.
  
• Rei Chen - In charge of making rocket launchers, flamethrowers, heavy machine guns and chainsaws.
  
• Ranber - In charge of making armors (top, bottom and plates).
  
• Kuron - In charge of making armors (helmet, gloves and shoes).
  

Once you've made your choice, you will then be able to access some sort of "crafting interface" (like as shown above) by interacting with your "mentor" again. Additionally, you will also obtain some skill progress "indicator" in your "Skill Management" window (press "K" and look under "Tech Manual").

From then onwards, its just a simple matter of assembling the "right ingredients" to craft what you need. And to do this, just hover over the ingredients to find out how you can obtain them.

But from what I can tell, ways to get them include the disassembling of items (of various rarity), looting from monsters (found in missions) and as rewards for participating in special events.

Lastly, once you've crafted enough of them (to skill up), you will then be granted further access to more stuff (to craft) as well as better ones. Its a pretty linear and simple system to be quite honest.

Do note that upon accepting a crafting profession, the player will no longer be able to "switch" to another one...that is unless they are willing to spend some real life money to purchase some "item" sold in the "cash shop" or "item mall" (that will erase their existing choice).

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Next: MRO (Part Five)

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