Gala-Net has announced that their MMO Rappelz will be getting a new expansion this Fall. Titled “Epic 7: Awakening”, the expansion will contain new zones and an overhaul to the Guild System.

Epic 7 will see The Veiled Island be expanded to four times its current size. Some of the new areas include the Nanani Breeding Grounds, home to giant killer insectoids, Unicorn Forest, and Dragons Nest. The Veiled Island is the location of the new The Hidden Dungeons, which will hold items and gear for high-level players.

Along with all the new content, Epic 7: Awakening will bring in a complete overhaul of the current Rappelz Guild System. New features and cosmetic changes will be added, along with a tameable Death Tyrant.

Rappelz (a play-on of the french word “rappel” meaning to call or return) begins with the presence of two, powerful gods in charge of creation and existence. The gods, however, deemed humans (the Gaia) “too ignorant to develop its own civilization” (from Rappelz). So they sent two other races, Deva representing lightness, and Asura representing darkness, to assist the Gaia. However, a woman named “The Witch” disturbed the peace by claiming that the history of the Gaia had been muddled and attempted to win over them. This resulted in chaos and the three races bound together and defeated The Witch. Now, years later, the followers of The Witch seem to be at hand, and the Gaia start to investigate the credibility of The Witch’s words.

Rappelz highly benefits from the structure of its quests. Like WoW, there is a plethora of quests available to tackle and many can be accepted at once. This allows for efficient quest completion and fluidity in grinding. Your character will level very smoothly as you complete quests that are constantly available in the three main towns. This shadows the dreaded grinding aspect of this MMORPG making levelling twice as rewarding and half the chore. Rappelz has a rather conventional fighting system that is spiced up with the inclusion of chips which are items used on enemies to inflict more damage upon them for a limited amount of time. Chips add strategy by requiring timing of skills and attacks to achieve their full potential. Moreover, there are pets that can be tamed to aid you in battle. These pets can also level up and even evolve. However, in usefulness, they are more cosmetic in comparison to how difficult the more powerful pets are to obtain. Overall, the battle system is plain, but the small additions help keep it interesting. Rappelz is a worthy imitator of WoW. This is in absolutely no way a bad thing. WoW is a revolutionary MMORPG that has captivated over 8.5 million players world-wide. Rappelz borrows some wonderful innovations in WoW and uses them to their advantage. The end result is an unparalleled, free-to-play MMORPG.