Internode has had the opportunity to take an In-Depth look at the qualities and traits of Fury - Auran's new PvP centric MMO. Their article (snippets below) give you a good idea of the feel and flow of the game, and also what you can expect as a player in a game that doesn't cater to the cookiecutter MMO design template that many developers follow these days.
Most importantly, the refreshing idea of a game balanced around PvP rather than PvE makes for a delightful and new gameplay experience.
Internode writes:
The players will be able to trade, gossip, organise groups and just hang out at sanctuaries. Although, when I asked whether Auran would crack down on guilds devoted to dancing naked they said that they hadn't given it much thought. This is also where you will be allocated specific tasks called trials. Players will then have to use perform these trials in PvP games in order to unlock abilities and help to progress in rank. There will be four multiplayer types in the first release of the game. The multiplayer matches are: Fortress, Vortex, Elimination and Bloodbath. Bloodbath is your standard all-in kill-one-kill-all free for all deathmatch type game. Vortex is a 32 player (16 x 16) capture the flag type game.
Fortress is an interesting massive team based battle where players attempt to capture and hold specific supply points in order to win the map. An adaption of the advance and secure type of gameplay which is common in FPS multiplayer now. I got to see the Elimination mode being played. It was an extremely fast team based game where one team basically has to kill (or eliminate) the other. As with all team games the team which plays best as a team has the greatest chance of survival. This will be highlighted in Fury as not all characters can tank and deal massive amounts of damage. Healers and other types are required to cast buffs for the group to enhance their ability to fight and survive.
Rather than advance their character by levels Fury implements a rank system. All up there will be 10 ranks for players to advance. Players will also be able to create an unlimited number of different incarnations for their characters. This means that one incarnation of your character could be a healer and the other could be a tank. Essentially you can virtually go in to battle as a different type of character every time you play. Further to this it will be possible for characters to fight outside their rank. As in, a higher level ranked character will not necessarily own a lower rank just because of their higher level. Players will be able to compete against players of higher rank and still have a chance of winning based on how they play.
Auran have gone to great lengths to customize and optimize the multiplayer matchmaking in the game. Players will actually be ranked and matched based on past performances of how they have competed. This will provide a totally dynamic matchmaking system. All of these factors help to define Fury as a relatively unique form of an online competitive action sport rather than your stereotypical "game". There will be no story based single player for this game. It will predominantly consist of team based multiplayer combat. What other games in the marketplace provide a direct point of comparison to Fury? Guild Wars, while allowing for multiplayer team based combat, also was a story based single player level grind as well. World Of Warcraft also incorporates both types of gameplay.
