The levelup forums have been up since yesterday. The message board is only temporary though meaning that all registered accounts will be deleted once they open up the improved forums.

http://www.levelupgames.ph/news_detail.php?id=399

Also check out this post that I found on their board:

Closed Beta shall be from next week up to April 30
Full Open Beta shall be on April 30

Yes, there will be a wipe once Open Beta starts
There will be no wipe from open beta to commercial launch.

And another post by one of the admins:

Client downloads will be available after Closed Beta. Stay tuned for official announcements.

This means that anyone who gets into the closed beta will receive his account information together with the CDs which are either sent by mail (for those who live outside of Metro Manila) or picked up at their office. This erases the possibility to enter the Closed Beta for anyone who lives outside of the Philippines if he doesn’t happen to have a friend who lives there.

As some of you might have already guessed the beta has been moved forward from March 19 to March 28.

Levelup news

This might sadden a few of you but on the bright side this also means a greater chance on grabbing one of those rare beta keys. “A greater chance?“ you might ask yourself. You’re able to win a beta key by either creating a blog and submitting it to the perfect world team or by joining one of the contests held by the authors of one of these two blogs.

Waukster’s Blog

Tristan’s Blog

If you didn’t know these two blogs yet, you should definately check them out, not only for their great content but also because they’re giving away beta keys for Perfect World in the form of contests.

The official website of PW got a major facelift, you may want to check out the new site at

http://www.levelupgames.ph/perfectworld/index.html

The new site is really nice, it received a lot of new content and wallpapers. The forums will be up soon as well. In the meantime you can check out the FAQ that I came across.

Perfect World FAQ

# General

1. I hear this game is F2P !?

– Yes it is, however there is kind of an „Item Mall“ where you can buy „no gameplay critical items“,  like better mounts, fireworks, beautiful social clothing and more… ! But you can’t buy any better weapons or armors in this shop (!!)!

# Character

1. What are the basic attributes and how do they interact?

– The basic attributes are: CON, STR, DEX and INT. CON increases your HP, DEX increases your avoidance etc. while INT increases your mana pool, STR don’t seem to have any influence but every item has a specific requirement of attributes. So mostly you need to raise the attributes depending on the weapons and equipment you want to use. A good sword needs a minimum of e.g. 20 STR…

2. How does your character advance?

– Your character advances through quests and killing mobs. There are 105 level. Each level you get some attribute points to spend on your attributes. Also you will have access to new skills and old skill upgrades.

3. How about the skill system?

– Every class has their own set of skills. During your levels you get access to more and more skills. Specific skills require that you have previous skills learned. Also you can upgrade old skills to a more powerful version. However to get skill upgrades and new skills you need to spend Skill points. You aquire skill points through killing monsters as well as through quests.

4. Is this game group dependant?

– No you can mostly solo. However there are some instanced dungeons where you can enter with a group of up to 6 players. There you will encounter different kind of boss mobs as well as higher rewards.

5. I saw you can carry another character? How does this work?

– Yes a male can carry a woman. All you have to do is going near a person and click on the „Carry“ button. If the other player excepts it you begin to carry her. You can then freely walk like usual, while holding her in your arms. You can even fly, ride a mount etc. while carrying her! Also both players have the possibility to kiss each other.

# Combat

1. Can you fight while mounted or in the air?
– Yes you can fight while mounted as well as in air, land and sea!

# PvP

1. How is the PvP System?

– No PvP till level 30 (except duels)!
– Above level 30: You can attack everyone outside safe zones (Towns). If you should kill someone you get red. For each consecutive kill the time you stay red gets longer. Being red dimishes over time. If you are red you can get freely killed by everyone (without them getting red!) and you are able to drop items on death (not just from your backback!).
– There are also Guild vs Guild Wars. But those will be held in instances, kinda like „Battlegrounds“ where you can compete with a max of 80 people on each side. This will also be the goal to the player build home cities etc.!
Also there is the territorial wars / city pvp system. You can find more info on that in Waukeens Blog about the City PvP System

2. What about the death penalty?
– No penalties below level 10
– After level 10 you loose a bit of XP but you don’t loose any items (UNCONFIRMED: There is a very low possibilty to drop items too)!
– If you are red you have a high possibilty to drop items!

3. What stats can you see on the enemy?

– You can’t see their level, but you will see the HP. You can also view the most basic items he wears, but only after you click the specific button in the target window!

# Items

1. Do Items decay over time?

– Items do have a durability and must be repaired in the shops (they get damage during the fights!). However items cant get destroyed by not repairing them.

2. Do I have to buy all items or do they drop etc.?

– You will get items from drops as well as from quests or the shops. In the NPC shops you only get the basic version of the items (armor&weapons). As loot you may find items with special enhancements to different attributes. There are also many different items you can get from loots or quests which can enhance your character in a different way. Crafting of items is also possible!

3. Can you enchant items?

– Yes items can be enchanted with different crystals etc. They can also get different colored glows depending on the crystal used. Enchanting can also fail, but you will NOT loose your weapon, only the crystal you used (weapons can be upgrade to a +9 max – but this is very expensive)!

4. Are there any soulbound items?
Yes there are, but only very rare quest items. Everything else from armor to weapons are not bound to a character!

# Quests

1. Are there many quests?

– This game is all about the lore of the chinese Myth „Pangu“. There are over 5000 quests implemented. From crafting quests, character advancment quests, to usual mob killing, finding items, time limited, instanced quests etc.! There are also plenty of quests which can enhance different things on your character… more pet slots, special items etc.!

2. Do quests have good rewards?

– Quests are the main way to advance your character, they often give plenty of xp and also many good items. Also some quests have additional advantages which may increase different kind of things on your character (pet slots, enhance inventory etc.). Quests also increase your skill points as well as may change your faction…
CLASSES

3 races and 6 classes
Elves: Archer and Cleric -> when more info is available I’ll update
Human: Swordsman and Mage ->when more info is available I’ll update
Beast: Warrior and Summoner ->when more info is available I’ll update

Crafting

Any character can craft anything, so you don’t have to ask the other crafter to create the armors or weapons for you.
There are 4 craft professions:
blacksmith: craft the weapons
dressmaker: craft the armors and the fashion cloths
artificer: craft the jewels,bows and ammos(arrow).
apothecary: craft the potions

I haven’t been this excited about a game for a long time and I even started blogging, not only to get a chance playing the CB but also to introduce this fabolous game to other people. I have played a lot of high quality MMO’s like WoW, Lineage 2, Guild Wars etc. and from the looks of it this game has the potential to blow these games out of the water. And for those who are still uncertain, I present 10 perfect reasons to love this game.

1. Tons of fashion cloths, you can even create your own cloths.

2. Customize your face to look just like you.

3.Create your own hometown
You can create the houses, the plants,furnitures,etc.

4. 16X9 width screen mode.

5. No map loading time. You can travel all of the world without any stop.

6.Fly on a bird or with enchanted wings as the elven race.

7. Tons of social animations

8. Tons of social skills:crafting, mining, etc.
Any character can craft anything, so you don’t have to ask the other crafters to create the armors or weapons for you.
Four Crafting professions:
Blacksmith: craft the weapons
Dressmaker: craft the armors and the fashion cloths
Artificer: craft the jewels, bows and ammos(arrow).
Apothecary: craft the potions

9. Tons of amazing pets and mounts

10. Territorial Battles

The game divides the whole terrain into smaller domains and has a built-in territorial battle system where clans and factions can build, arm and fortify a city or multiple establishments at the same time. Fortify the captured city with catapults and armaments to effectively guard your location against opposing attackers who are keen on expanding their territory.

Be a Perfect World Closed Beta Tester Now!
Great news! You can now experience the upcoming Level Up! game, Perfect World, by being part of our Closed Beta Testers!

Closed Beta Testers will have exclusive access to the game prior to the Public Open Beta and experience Perfect World first hand before we officially launch the game to all servers.

There are several ways to get this Perfect World privilege:

As a Cafe Owner
– We are looking for prospective cafes to test Perfect World! Level Up! will conduct a daily raffle for closed beta test accounts to give equal opportunity to other cafes.
– Each cafe will receive accounts proportionate to the number of seats.
– If you want your cafe to participate in the daily raffle for CBT test accounts, send an e-mail to perfectworld@levelupgames.ph with the subject “PW Cafe” along with the following information:

o Cafe Name
o Contact Details (Phone Number, E-Mail Address, Cafe Address)
o Contact Person
o Number of Seats/PC’s

– Cafe winners shall be informed via e-mail and on the website announcing the cafe name and address for players nearby to visit the Cafe and try Perfect World.

As a Clan
– If you are the Clan leader and would like a good number of your clan to participate, you can join simply by creating a thread in your clan forum boards and recruit prospective members in that thread or discuss anything about Perfect World.
– Send the thread URL link to perfectworld@levelupgames.ph with the subject PW Clan.
– We will select the most active thread and give a minimum of 10 CBT accounts to the winning Clan per day or half of the members who signed up in your thread in excess of 10.

As Individuals
– Create a blog site.
– Place a topic on Perfect World in your blog site.
– Download the PW banner below and post it in your blog site with a link back to this page.

– Send your blog address to perfectworld@levelupgames.ph with the subject PW Recruit.
– Selected entries shall be posted in the web.

Perfect World, a game fully conceptualized and developed by Beijing Perfect World Technology, is one of China’s first, original, and full-3D online game. With more than 30 million renminbi (RMB) invested in the three-year project, everything from the graphics, backgrounds, gameplay elements and 3D engine was designed from the ground up. Their efforts paid off when Perfect World won international acclaim and numerous accolades from gaming organizations, including the prestigious Golden Feather Best 3D Online Game for 2005 and Golden Feather Most Original Game for 2005.

Level Up! Philippines signed a contract for the exclusive rights to Perfect World with the Beijing Perfect World Technology last December 12, 2006 in Beijing, China and earned the right to bring the game to Filipino shores. They are currently fast tracking the Beta stage of the game to give Pinoy gamers a chance to discover why this game has taken Asia by storm.

The Story Behind The Game
The game’s background story is spawned by the rich traditions and myths of ancient China. It is anchored on the legend of the god Pangu, “the Creator” and the Elements that the other gods fashioned into a new world called the ‘Perfect World’. In this new world, three races vie for control of the epic and mystical realms; the Humans, Wings, and Werebeasts.

Initially, each race has 2 particular job classes:
Human Race: Swordsman (WuXia), warriors who excels in strong physical attacks and Element-Mage (FaShi) conjurers of powerful magic for the Humans;
Wings Race: Archers (YuMang) stealth elfin-like creatures who fire deadly arrows and Priests (YuMang) mystical protectors and trustworthy allies;
Werebeast Race: Werebeast (YaShou) behemoth lycanthropes who can transfigure to powerful beasts at will and WereFox (Yaoling) summoners of mighty creatures to aid them in battle.

 In addition, characters can choose to join the ranks of Heaven (Xian) or Hell (Mo) and fulfill specific roles.

Territorial Battles
The game divides the terrain into smaller domains and has a built-in territorial battle system where clans and factions can build, arm and fortify a city or multiple establishments at the same time. Fortify the captured city with catapults and armaments to effectively guard your location against opposing attackers who are keen on expanding their territory.

Battle in Land, Sea and Air!
All characters and classes in Perfect World have either inherent attributes, special equipments, summons or even mountable animals that make it possible for characters to not only fly, trek and swim but also to duel and clash on any of the terrain. Perfect World created a world with flying monsters and floating cities and ruins, all waiting to be explored.

High detail character customization
The game allows players to customize character features, from head to toe. Every detail of the human body: hair style and color, facial features such as distance of the eyes, shape of the brows etc., body shape, skin color, torso size, width of limbs, etc., can be customized using a unique slider system that offers full control to the user. Using this customization system makes each character unique.

Massive Quest/Mission System
The game itself has more than 5,000 quests waiting to be discovered and completed. Quests can be race- and class-specific. Instance quests are available for players who would like to make their own adventures.

Crafting System. Each crafted item is unique as the item will bear the crafter’s name.

Item Upgrading System
When a player upgrades his/her items, the item will have a glowing effect, the color depending on what gem was used.

Huge continuous terrain
The entire game world is within one large map that requires no loading or no changing of maps so players can move around without waiting for scenes to change.

Day, Night and Weather Shifting
The game shifts from night to day and sunny to rainy season on a regular cycle, changing the view of each area to suit the time. This “real world” effect will immerse the players more effectively in the game.

16:9 Widescreen Mode
Allows players to play in widescreen mode to simulate a movie-type experience.

Perfect World Mailing System
This enables players to communicate with their online and offline friends, clan mates or factions. Aside from mail, items can also be sent through this unique system.

Player Chat rooms
Chatting among players is now made easier with in-game chatrooms, allowing easy and clear communication among them. Players can create and secure their own page so for easy communication between friends and clan mates.

Double Experience Option NPC
Leveling is easy with the Double Experience Option. A non-playing character (NPC) can provide 12-14 hours of 2x EXP per week (non-stackable) at the discretion of the player.

Martial Training System
This system allows you to train your character and improve its martial combat skills. Now players can be sure that the warrior they send to battle will dominate in the battlefield and bring you honor.

Riding Pet System
Pets are not just companions in Perfect World. Players can train their pets, mount them and use them as a means of transportation.

Level Up! Philippines will launch Perfect World, around second or third week of May 2007, just in time for the Philippine mid-term elections.Level Up! Philippines has just purchased 30 new Intel-based Dell servers to house what the local game publisher believes would be the next biggest online game.”Perfect World is a free-to-play, item-based online game that offers a buffet of experiences.

To give you an impression of the game I’ve uploaded a few screenshots.