The Mortal Online Game Store is opening anytime now. This update targets some of the questions regarding the release, the shop, and the Beta. It is also a disclaimer to protect both you and ourselves. We want you to join our Beta and support the development of the game, but we also want you to know what you are up for!

Shop and Game Version information

Mortal Online will be sold in 10.000 copies to start with. This is because we want to be able to better control the Beta-phase by administering only one (or two) servers.

Prices will be stated in the shop. They are subject to change.

The shop will accept American Express, JCB, Mastercard, Visa, Visa Electron, Direct Debits (in Germanym Netherlands, Spain and Austria), EPS Austria (Austria), Giropay, ING Homepay (Belgium) Paypal, Ukash, Wallie, iDeal (Netherlands), Paysafecard, Sofortuberweisung (Germany, Austria, Switzerland.

Only one (1) purchase is allowed per account. You are free to register several accounts. Please remember though, that if a credit card is used more than 5 times in the same week for the same payment, the banks Fraud scanning will ban the card for 2 weeks. The details of this vary between cards and should be checked with the bank issuing the card. It has nothing to do with the MO shop.

Important! When you enter the shop, you will see the prices and have the option to choose one of the versions. When clicking “checkout”, that version will be temporarily “reserved” for you for a couple of hours. As you may only buy one version per account, this means that you cannot go back and choose another version during those hours. This is a technical safety-line; if something goes wrong during your purchase you still have some time to get everything right, but it also means it’s important that you choose the right version from start.

Please remember that you are not buying anything until you fill in your payment options. If you choose one version and then change your mind before paying, you don’t have to buy it. It simply means you cannot change to another version during this time.

The monthly subscription cost of Mortal Online will be €14.25 for Europeans and $14.25 for everybody else. This cost is subject to change.

The monthly subscription cost includes all future updates and expansions for Mortal Online. No additional costs will be charged for future expansions.

The Beta server is located in Stockholm, Sweden. It's fully possible to access the server from all countries; however we obviously can't guarantee the speed and performance over long distances. Earlier Beta-testing has shown good, playable ping from the U.S. for instance, but please remember that the speed of your local network provider in U.S. is an important factor as well.

Additional game servers, including servers in other countries, are considered for the near future. There will be no extra costs involved in starting a character on one of those servers if and when they are up. However, character transfers will not be possible, at least not to begin with, not even between servers in the same country. This has to do with each server and character lore being unique - i.e. your character obviously cannot have slain a certain Dragon if the Dragon never existed on the other server.

The Beta is divided into Blocks of 2.000 players each, depending on buying-order. Every second week 2.000 additional players will be able to enter the Beta. The full schedule is as follows:

July 20 Block A (including 999 Limited Editions)
August 3 Block B
August 17 Block C
August 31 Block D
September 14 Block E

The Digital Download only version will go on sale a week later than the Boxed Version and The Full Loot Bag as previously stated in the shop. This is because we hope to sell the physical products first, as they are a big cost to us if they sit on our shelves.

Shipping is included in the price for the physical products.

The physical products will be shipped from Sweden around September. Further updates before the launch of the full game will be shipped free of charge in connection to the launch. When buying a physical version you are also allowed to download the game, and play it in your corresponding Beta block.

The launch of Mortal Online is planned for Q4 2009 (Oct-Dec). This is not set in stone however, as we want all core features to be in place and properly tested before charging monthly subscriptions. We do not guarantee a specific release date for Mortal Online.

At this point Mortal Online is M rated 18+, a final rating will come closer to release but is very likely to be the same.

MO System Requirements (an estimation)

Please note that all options and scaling are not yet in the game, meaning the requirements will change over time.

Minimum configuration (1024x768, detail reduced)
OS: Windows XP Service Pack 2 or Windows Vista
Processor: Intel Pentium 4 3Ghz or equivalent
RAM: 1GB
Video card: ATI Radeon 9800/nVidia GeForce 6600
Video memory 256MB
Hard drive space: 5-25GB

Recommended configuration (1680x1050)
OS: Windows XP Service Pack 2 or Windows Vista Service Pack 1
Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo 2.4GHz or equivalent
RAM: 2048MB Dual Channel DDR2
Video card: NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT or equivalent
Video memory: 512MB
Hard drive space: 30GB

Beta testing and gameplay

The Beta is starting July 20 with the features from Combat Beta active, as well as a few new ones. The very first steps have to do with architecture, back-end and network-performance. To begin with, we are aiming to test:

MO Updater (auto-patching system)
Account System, Login, Logout
Character Creation (The “human family” only, like Tindremenes, Khurites etc, male and female)
General Network and Server stability and speed
Crowd congestion tests
Seamless World-streaming
Updated Prediction System
Sound
Client System Performance

This is not very fun from a gameplay-perspective, although crucial from a technical standpoint. To make you run around in the world and have some feeling of purpose in this crude beginning, we are also testing:

Attribute balancing, basic Skill gain (a few example skills)
Further real time PvP, Melee and Archery Combat testing and balancing
"Vendor-crafting" (you bring resources to a vendor, who then crafts stuff for you according to your instructions, like in Combat Beta). The Skills and GUI (Graphical User Interface) for the "real" crafting is still in development
Very basic resource-gathering (refining, prospecting etc will be in together with crafting later on, meaning at the moment you will get magically pre-refined resources when mining, etc)

Fundamental AI-behavior, a few creatures
World traversing, Swimming and Combat Swimming
Around 32km^2 of the Myrland continent
Basic banking (global at first, local if we manage to get it in before this weekend)
Local chat (no languages)
The Flagging System (complete with temporary insta-guards in guard zones)

That's it. Nothing more, nothing less. These first important steps will be the foundation of the game, and updates will come quickly and at a regular basis once we are confident most of the above is working in the new massive environment.

Please also remember that both your possessions and your Characters can be wiped from the server at any moment, and that this may happen several times during the Beta.

You're in for a rough ride, but we are excited for those of you who want to embark on this journey with us!

/the MO Dev Team

The closed Combat Beta is going as planned, we’ve been inviting players from the community each week since beta started. If you haven’t got an invitation yet please be patient, so far we are doing this in a relatively small scale.

The test phases have been great for Mortal Online; we are getting a lot of good feedback on combat, movement, crafting, balancing, latency and stability. We are very happy with the stability of the server and the clients.

Even though our movement prediction system is not yet in place we have also got very good test results from US players on our EU server. We didn’t expect US players to actually be able to compete in our real time combat system, but they have shown it’s very possible, so far.

We’ve had some great testing sessions, and it’s been lots of fun for us to see what kind of crazy gears/weapons people come up with on the battleground. We’ve also had our a* kicked by some real skilful players. Here’s some screenshots from the beta.

Within the next few weeks we are going to switch to our release build, which is the next step in our testing phase. As this build contains the complete prediction system we will soon have some information about what kind of ping players will need to be able to compete at the same terms as the rest in our real time combat.

Don’t forget to still sign up for the beta if you haven’t done so yet, it’s not too late to be part in the different beta phases.

Mortal Online Release Plan – Shop Opening Soon

PRE-ORDERS AND BETA

For several weeks the Combat Beta has been up and running on our first server with very good results, and now we're excited to announce the release plan for Mortal Online. On June 29 we will open up our shop for pre-orders of the game, also giving you access to the Beta Phases.

Our goal from the very beginning has been to develop Mortal Online with a close and honest connection to the community on our forums. With the Combat Beta showing good and stable performance we have reached the point where we feel it’s time to take the community interaction to the next level. It’s important for us as an independent company to know how many of you are committed to buy and try out the game, and we also want your feedback during the next crucial steps in development. All 10.000 users pre-ordering the game in any of the formats available will be given free access to the Beta Phases until the official launch of the game.

Please note that the Beta Phases will run on a server in Europe only. It’s fully possible to access this server from all countries; however we can’t guarantee the speed and performance over long distances.

During the coming Beta Phases, users with a pre-order will be able to follow and participate in the further development of the core features for release. They include, but are not limited, to:

- The full Myrland continent
- At least 9 races, male and female
- Blood mix and character customization
- Main features of the skill system
- Full PvP, full loot
- Full melee and ranged combat
- Basic magic combat
- Mounts and mounted combat
- Basic GUI for the crafting system
- Resource gathering
- Basic Guild mechanics
- Basic player housing
- Basic NPC mobs and wildlife
- Hidden/secret features

We strongly feel that we want these features to have reached a “polished and proper” state before starting the monthly subscriptions, but as always when it comes to game development it’s hard to estimate how long this will actually take. That said we are aiming to reach this state (and start the monthly subscriptions) in Q4 2009, when all the core features above should be in place and thoroughly tested.

BETA QUEUE AND GAME VERSIONS

We have decided to make 10.000 copies of the game available on June 29. The Beta spots will be divided into blocks of 2.000. Every second week, starting July 6, we will accept a new block of 2.000 players into the Beta until we reach 10.000 accounts. This will be done on a first-come first-serve basis, meaning the earlier you book the earlier you’ll get in.

There will be three different versions of the game in the shop:

1. Digital Download Only
2. Boxed Version
3. Limited Edition (999 numbered copies)

All versions give you free access to the Beta phases. Access to digital download is not limited to the Digital Download Only version. More info about the different versions will be made available in the shop before it opens.

Ending notes
That´s all we have to offer this time. Don’t forget to check the for upcoming releases and other fun stuff. We developers are active on the forums whenever possible, to read or answer your questions and comments.