Mu Online

MU Online
Developer(s)	Webzen
Publisher(s)	Webzen (MU Online Korea & Global MU Online), Digital Media Exchange (MU Online Philippines), FPT Online (MU Vietnam)
Designer(s)	Webzen's MU Studio
Platform(s)	Windows 98/ME/2K/XP
Release date(s)	October 6, 2003[1]
Genre(s)	MMORPG
Mode(s)	MMO
Rating(s)	ESRB: Teen
Media/distribution	Free Download
System requirements Pentium III 500 MHz equiv, 64MB RAM, 32 MB graphics card, Internet access, DirectX 8, sound card, 250 MB hard drive space.

MU Online (Korean: 뮤 온라인) is a 3D medieval fantasy MMORPG, produced by Webzen, a Korean gaming company.

Gameplay

MU Online was created back in December 2001 by the Korean gaming company Webzen. Like in most MMORPGs, players have to create a character among five different classes and to set their foot on the MU Continent. In order to gain experience and thus to level up, a players needs to fight monsters (mobs). MU is populated by a large variety of monsters, from simple ones like goblins and golems, to frightening ones such as the Gorgon, Kundun or Selupan. Each monster-type is unique, has different spawn points, and drops different items. For more information regarding monster types and descriptions, refer to the Official Global MU Online's Webpage.

Outlaws and Heroes

Outside of a duel, PvP fighting is possible but discouraged. When one player attacks another, a self-defense system is activated, in which the attacked player may kill the aggressor within a time limit. Self-defense is also activated when a player attacks an Elf's summoned creature. If one player kills another without Self-defense active, they become an Outlaw, more commonly known in-game as "Player Killer" or PK. Outlaws have disadvantages during game play, depending on his Outlaw level.

To clear the Outlaw status, the character must wait a significant amount of time without killing other players. The waiting can be shortened by killing large number of monsters, which is generally done in one of the servers that does not permit PvP attacks, to avoid being attacked by another person (NON-PVP). The amount of time reduced from the outlaw penalty is equal to the monster's level in seconds, and depending on the number of monsters killed, the penalty time may be dramatically decreased.

• Hero: A Hero is a character that has killed three or more 2nd Stage Outlaws since logging into the account. The Heroes have a 1/32 chance of dropping items at death and will lose less experience when killed by a mob. The Hero status clears in one hour, though the timer is reset back to one hour after every PK killed. To become a Hero, a player must kill three 2nd Stage Outlaws without letting the outlaws hit them. If Self-Defense activates, the kill doesn't count to become a Hero.

Note that the chance of dropping an item at death only applies when killed by a monster, a Guard, a Hero or a Commoner. Also, items that cannot be thrown to the floor, such as wings, items +5 or above and excellent items will never drop at death.

Character Stats

Every character has four basic statistics: Strength, Agility, Vitality, and Energy. When a player gains enough experience points to level up they can distribute 5 points freely among these stats. Magic Gladiator and Dark Lord characters gain 7 points instead of 5. When a character reaches level 220 they may take on a special quest so that every level up will get them 6 points instead of 5. In addition, for every level beyond 220 they will receive 1 point, so there is no waste. After doing this quest, at level 380 a player can start a new quest to get their character getting 7 points each level instead of 6.

• Strength - This is a character's physical strength. The more invested in this stat, the more damage dealt when striking with a melee weapon and the less chance of missing an enemy. Higher strength allows a character to equip stronger armor and weapons.
• Agility - This measures a character's dexterity. Agility increases a character's hitting accuracy, attack speed, defense and evade rate (known in the game as defense rate). While Strength determines melee damage, Agility determines damage from a Bow or Crossbow. Some weapons and equipment require large numbers of Agility points, and every piece of Elf armor requires some.
• Vitality - This is a character's toughness. Vitality gives a character extra HP so that it can survive more damaging hits.
• Energy - This is a character's capability to use skills and spells. Dark Wizards and Energy Elves need large amounts of Energy to learn new spells, while Dark Knights mainly require it to use their weapon skills more often. Investing points in Energy increases maximum mana, mana recharging rate and "AG" as well as increasing the damage that a skill does.
• Command – This is a special stat that only Dark Lords have. It measures the ability a Dark Lord has to handle the pets of nature. By increasing command, a Dark Lord may learn new spells (apart from Fireburst, which only requires energy, and Force, the spell given to new DL's). A Dark Lord that has raised a lot of command can also hold the maximum capacity of 80 guild members if he's a Guildmaster.

Quests- Like almost any other massive multiplayer online game, MU Online has quests according to the player's level (since Season 5). But it is quite different from others as most of the items for the quest are easily found and therefore not much of a challenge. After completing it, the player will be rewarded either by receiving loot, or by an upper class depending on the player's level and class type. A player must have a certain level pertaining to their class in order to start the quest.

NPC-NPC- non-player-characters. Mu is loaded with NPCs. They are quite important in the game, as they stand for various shops selling armor, health, weapons etc. It has many NPCs with tasks other than just selling fighting equipment. One major flaw is that most of the NPCs with the exception of Marlon are stationary.

Game World

There are many maps in this game. The beginning maps are Noria, where elves begin, Elbeland, where summoners begin, and Lorencia, where all other classes begin. Successive maps hold stronger enemies and greater rewards, with level restrictions on each map to prevent weaker players from accessing the more difficult maps.

Character classes

At the start of the game the players can choose between five different character classes - Dark Wizard, Dark Knight, Elf, Summoner or Rage Fighter (the last two are playable only through a purchase from the in-game shop). After levels 150 and 180, players can respectively unlock a Magic Gladiator and a Dark Lord. Each class has its specific powers and items, making no class truly "better" than the other, and all four are typically used to their fullest extent when grouped together. As characters levels up, they can transform themselves into stronger classes. Each progressive class change grants, gain access to new spells, skills, weapons and wings as well as an associated change in appearance. Later on in the game, the player can create special characters, only accessible to players who have reached certain levels. Certain maps have special monsters that others do not. Excellent weapons as well as armor are very highly favored in the stronger maps.

Spells and Skills

Like most RPG games, characters in MU can use many different kinds of magic and special abilities. Each character has its own set of spells and some weapons may be enchanted in order to provide the character with a specific spell. Casting a spell costs MP (mana, or magic point) and sometimes AG or stamina.

Items

The availability of different types of items on MU is considered the most interesting feature of the game. Besides the normal item variety, items may contain special bonuses that are assigned almost randomly. Creating a 'perfect' (as in maximum leveled) item within the game is almost impossible. Since items can be so different, it is quite common to have a unique set of armor.

Item Level

The item can have different levels ranging from 0 to 15 on the global servers and often going further on other servers. The item will change colors or even glow depending on its level. While a higher level item is stronger than a lower level item, it will also require more strength and agility to be used.

If the character wears a full set of the same armor, extra effects will be bestowed upon the character. A set with only level 10 or higher items will make small lights will fly around the character when he stands still and gives a 5% total defense boost. A set with level 11 or higher items only will add lines of energy circling around the character giving a 10% defense boost. At a level 12 and 13 set, the lines will become an aura around the character and will add a 15%(level 12 item) and/or 20% boost(level 13 item). The same mechanism of calculating the set bonus is used in the level 14 and 15 items - 25% boost for a level 14 item and 30% boost for a level 15 item.

Item Bonuses

Items may randomly have bonuses attached to them. They are commonly known as "options" throughout the game. These bonuses make the item stronger. These bonuses, similarly to an item's level, can be increased using a Jewel of Life.

• Weapons: The bonus increases damage.
• Armor: The bonus increases total defense by a specific value, which can prove to be extremely useful.
• Shields: The bonus increases the defense rate, which affects the probability of the character being hit by an enemy.

A SM wearing a Staff of Kundun+13 in the game.

Luck Items - Items with luck have a higher chance of success when attempting to increase their level (either by using a Jewel of Soul or upgrading in the Chaos Machine). Most importantly in combat, luck gives an extra 5% maximum damage for every luck item the character is currently wearing.

Excellent Items - Items labelled as Excellent are rare and glow the colors of a rainbow, and their text will appear in a fluorescent green color. An excellent item will have additional properties which vary from increasing total mana to increasing overall damage. An excellent item can also increase in level, have a luck option, and have a bonus option just like normal items. Excellent weapons and armors have different bonuses. Pendants are classed with weapons, and rings are classed with armors.

Ancient Items - Even rarer than excellent items. These items have their defense/damage values increased beyond the levels of excellent items. Ancient items are characterised with text the same color as excellent items and a blue background behind the text. A blue glow will appear around the outside of these items. Each set has a different ancient metal and unlocks different options. The item carries the prefix of the appropriate ancient metal, for example Heras Skull Shield. Each set has a specific metal, and not all sets can have ancient metals.^{[clarification needed]} Along with the same options as excellent items, ancient items can additionally have "set" options that are only applied when a character is wearing more than one ancient item of the same set. The options are unique to each set.

Equipment

• Armor: These are the armor sets that are used by the characters. The sets are made of Boots, Gloves, Pants, Armor and Helm. The Magic Gladiator cannot wear a helm so its sets do not include helms, therefore giving this character class a disadvantage. The armor a character is wearing provides an easy way to guess a character's experience and overall power. Some higher level characters who are not able to afford more expensive armors may be mistaken for a low level. Wearing a complete set of armor where all the pieces come from the same armor set gives a bonus to defense rate.
• Weapons: There are many varieties of weapons ranging from swords and bows to staffs and Scepters. They require either one or both hands to equip. A shield can be equipped when a one-handed weapon is used.

• Rings and pendants - These items provide resistance towards certain status effects, but can also provide HP recovery, mana increase and AG (stamina) increase through options.
• Pets - Pets can be used by a Dark Lord. So far there are three different kind of pets. They are similar to Guardian Items, but they have unique abilities, can be leveled and recover their health.
• Guardians - The Guardian items are similar to the Dark Lords Pets,which can be used by any character in the Game, but have a limited usage, such as when the Guardians HP reaches 0, the guardian is lost, unlike the Dark Raven/horse the player can Restore the health of the pet. In the Mu Online world one will come across various types of Guardians such as the Imp or Guardian Angel. Guardians have unique abilities and are used mostly by new players before they reach level 180. The Guardians' abilities mostly consist of decreasing or increasing the damage taken by players and monsters respectively. In Mu Online Season 4/5 new Guardian items were added. Among these were a Pet Skeleton, a pet Panda (which increases damage and gives an experience boost), Satan, a spirit of Guardian (which is an upgraded versions of the Imp), a Guardian Angel, and the Pet Rudolf (which picks up zen for the user). The Unicorn is the only guardian pet which can be used in a chaos combination. Ten Unicorns will form a dinorant.

• Wings - Wings provide a powerful increase in damage and decrease in damage received for a character, and also demonstrate that they are over level 180, 220 or the highest level - 400 as there are three types of wing. Wings allow a character to hover over the ground instead of walking, and are faster than walking or running. They may have options attached, such as Automatic HP Recovery, and they also allow entrance into Icarus. There are three levels of wings, all of which are created via the Chaos Machine. Each character class has their own set of wings (except Dark Lord who wears a Cape).

Jewels

These are the second most expensive, rare and useful items in MU. There are 7 different jewels, each one with its own use. According to the story, each of the jewels is a fragment of the sealing stone that held Kundun before it shattered. They are the Jewels of Chaos, Bless, Soul, Life, and Creation. There are also Jewels of Guardian and Harmony. On Mu Global, jewels have a very low drop rate. This makes the jewels' value extremely high, thus forming the base of trading and exchange for items.

Boxes

These are rare items dropped only by Golden Mobs (monsters). To open a box and find out what is inside it, it must be dropped from the player's inventory onto the ground. It could drop zen, a good regular item (+4/5 +option and maybe +luck), an excellent item, or nothing. The boxes currently implemented are Boxes of Luck, Heaven (private servers only), and Kundun. A Box of Kundun will have a level associated with it, ranging from +1 to +5, that determines the reward.

Regular events are scheduled several times each day for players to compete for prizes. Many have set fees to enter whereas others occur in the openly accessible maps. For the Blood Castle event, players compete to retrieve a sword, staff or crossbow for a fallen archangel. Players who enter Devil Square must fight rapidly spawning enemies to survive, with the prize going to the player with the most kills. Chaos Castle places all the players in a small area where the last player standing wins. The event takes place in the Valley of Loren, and allows the player to kill their own guild or party members. The guild that owns the castle after two hours have passed will be the new owner of the castle until the next event. On some servers the castle-owning guild receives a prize for winning the castle. Others also do it for the fame.

MU Master Events

Grand Masters, known in Global MU Online as "MU Grand Masters" or [MGM]s. The MGM events are mostly simple events that most players have a chance to win, such as "Catch the MGM", "MGM is lost" or "Missing 3 items" - the first player to meet the MGM with his/her request is rewarded with a Jewel of Bless, a Jewel of Soul or other items. There are examples where players have received other rewards in similar events, all of which are announced on GMO's official homepage.

Sequel

Webzen is currently developing a sequel known as MU2. Rumours about it appeared in 2004 and its development was held back until 2009. MU2's debut trailer was showcased at the G-Star 2011 Expo in Busan on November 10th, 2011. Like its predecessor, MU2 is developed by the Korean gaming company Webzen. The game is based on Unreal Engine 3 and is expected to share familiar features with MU Online as distinctive UI and controls. MU2 is expected to be released as early as 2013.

See also

• List of MMORPGs

References

1. ^ MU Online on Gamespot.com

External links

• Global MU Online - Official Global MU Online (hosted by Webzen)
• Webzen's Games Portal - Webzen's Global Games Portal
• Webzen - Official Creator and Developer of the Game (Korean)
• Webzen - Official Creator and Developer of the Game (English)

• Mu Online at GameFAQs