Crowns of Power

Crowns of Power, also referred to as CoP, is a 3D fantasy-themed massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) released in 2008 by Rampid Interactive, LLC. the game closed in 2010 and was later purchased in 2017 by Conkered Gaming LLC. Crowns of Power takes place in the 3D fantasy world of Arder, a magical world in the center of the universe in which magic prevails. Crowns of Power is mostly known for its unique class system and smaller world populations, creating a unique sense of community unlike any other.

Gameplay

Crowns of Power falls under the MMORPG category, drawing inspiration from the text-based MUD genre of old as well as the traditional role-playing games like Dungeons & Dragons, The Realm Online, Meridian 59 and EverQuest .

In Crowns of Power, players created a character's appearance and choose a color-based spell school^[1]

Players use their avatar to adventure through a fantasy world called Arder. Players progress through the game by slaying mobs and completing quests which yield experience points for levels and loot like armor, weapons, potions, magical spell runes and artifacts.

Crowns of Power allows players to interact with others through role-play, grouping, raiding and the joining of guilds,. There is also the ability to duel players, converse with others in a World chat, trade and place items for sale in a player driven market.

The game world consists of 9 environmental zones and 4 dungeons. There is currently one alpha (PvP) server that can support small numbers of people online at a time. There are also plans for future PvE servers.

Free-to-play Model

Crowns of Power is free to play, there are no zones, bosses or content limited by a subscription. Crowns of power uses the classic free-to-play model that generates revenue through a cash shop where players have the option to buy points to pay for talents, change their appearance and buy upgrades such as bank/bag upgrades and more.

Spell Schools

In Crowns of Power there are 5 colors of mana/magic – green (nature), red (fire), blue (mind), white (healing, protection), black (death).

Mana, like most other games of this genre, is the energy source that allows a player to cast spells. In Crowns of Power, some more powerful spells require additional “reagents” to cast, which are items that are consumed upon casting the spell and can be purchased from non-player characters (NPCs) or found off mobs in the world. Mana is expanded by gaining levels, doing quests and discovering hidden “Mana Nodes” throughout the world.

In Crowns of Power each character may have up to 17 mana balls, each spell costs a certain amount of mana balls, the cost of each spell is increased depending on their power. A player can choose up to 2 spell school colors, allowing players to create their unique combination of spells and playstyle.

Unlike most games, spells (skills) are learned by inscribing runes. Runes can be purchased at certain merchants during lower levels. However, after a certain level runes can only be found by boss spawns throughout the world or traded by other players, making exploring and hunting bosses a big part of the game that also drives the economy.

PvE (Player vs Environment)

In Crowns of Power, players explore the world by foot. There are items and spells that increase a player's run speed replacing the classic use of mounts. Each player also has a recall stone which can bind to a city, giving a player access to fast travel. There are also travelling portals located at major cities and portal scrolls that may be bought from NPC's, these portals scrolls can be used at any place and can be used as a wormhole through zones. there are also spells that generate portals for group members.

Crowns of Power uses the classic quest method of kill quests, escort, fetch quests, and item gathering to progress through the levels. There are also unique boss spawns throughout the world that offer loot for players that include gear upgrades, runes, artifacts and more.

Crowns of Power currently uses the classic trinity of tank/healer/dps. Green being the color as the main tank class because of its unique attribute of generating threat. The white color functions as a classic healer, white/black being the dedicated healer because of its ability to generate mana at a faster rate through the use of a black spell called "convert soul" and any spell combination can dps to an extent. A lot of the bosses offer the traditional tank and dps with few mechanics in between, in high level dungeons however bosses with different mechanics that force the players to be more interactive are introduced.

PvP (Player vs Player)

A big aspect of the game is its PvP system, players have the power to govern themselves in a volatile world where PvP combat can be engaged in nearly everywhere they go. Characters are not eligible to participate in PvP until they reach a minimum level of 20. Once level 20 and if guilded, players will be vulnerable to attacks from other players. At level 50 which is the current max level, all players are vulnerable to attack from other players. Players may also attack other players, whether they be innocent or an outlaw/murderer.

If players choose to attack an innocent player their name will turn orange (outlaw) and if the player kills an innocent their name will turn red (murderer) There are different penalties on death depending on the player's status. Innocents drop only reagents. However, there are harsher penalties for orange/red such as dropping potions, gold, and even runes. A player's murderer status will only change if pardoned by the community through a community ledger.

There are also the 5 legendary crown items (Which the game derives its name from), which are awarded by participating in a weekly raid competition for each for their respective color. These are unique powerful head pieces which have a unique effect. These crowns of power last a week and drop on death regardless of a player's innocent/outlaw/murderer status which make them a desirable item for PvP players.

Guilds

Crowns of Power, like other MMOs, offer players the opportunity to team up with other players for PvE & PvP. Players guilded will display the guild name under the names. Guilds may form alliances or be at war with other guilds. There are also Guild Halls which can be purchased by guilds through the use of gold. Guild halls can be upgraded and generate resources that can be used to generate unique items. Each guild hall generates a different type of resources which allows players to interact, trade or even war with other guilds for these resources.

Development

The development of Crowns of Power began in 2007 when co-owners Pete Simard and Chris Bechard committed company funds towards a development team to produce Rampid Interactive’s first 3D based graphical game. After acquiring licensing for use of the Torque Engine^[2] that has been used to produce many other titles,^[3] they hired on a team to implement the design. The team started with Pete Simard as the Programmer/Director and Matt Ensign who was responsible for all content related tasks involved in the project as well as the development of the 3D world. Pete then hired on Bogdan Iliesiu as the sole artist of the team who can be credited for making most of the 3d models, including the main character models and a lot of the texture work seen in Crowns of Power. Matt Tapply was brought on shortly after to help develop the 3D world, create quests, implement itemization, create spell effects, AI and more.

Rampid Interactive closed the game in 2010. In April 2017 Crowns of Power was purchased by Conkered Gaming LLC. The game is in currently in alpha stage in Torque and is planned to be ported to the Unreal Engine which would introduce new and improved graphics, mechanics, zones, dungeons, and more. There is currently no scheduled release date for the Unreal Version.

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