Fractured is Holding an Open Stress-Test for Players

Alright, I’ve given this game long enough I think. I’ve been covering Fractured for a while now – not in a dedicated sense, no, but I’ve been covering it periodically through my bi-weekly MMORPG News videos.
However, after first discussing it back in August 2017 – Wow, it’s been 3 years since I first talked about this game? How long has this MMO been in development for?
Looking at the Kickstarter, it seems as though everything was expected to deliver in December 2018. Yikes! And it’s already half way through 2020? Okay, so I get that this game has seen quite the delay.
But that happens, a lot with indie-MMOs, so it’s to be expected. I’d just forgotten it’d been in development for so long.

So I was on their website earlier, and noticed that the team behind the game are holding an open stress-test.
The test will take place on May 26th for those of you that back the game, and May 28th for everyone else. The test period is going to last until June 1st, 2020.

But since this is my first, large, dedicated video on Fractured, let’s talk about exactly what kind of game it is. That way, you guys can decide whether or not it’s worth your time.
So, what is Fractured? According to their website, Fractured is an upcoming MMORPG that they’re titling “The Dynamic MMO,” this is due to the game being heavily influenced by the actions of the player.
Every facet of the game, the combat, the environments, the economic system, civilizations and character progress are all supposed to be static, unique, defined by each and every individual. But we’ve heard this time and time again with MMOs, so I remain skeptical.
Fractured will be a PvPvE MMO that features 3 different worlds: Arboreus will be a PvE-world with Tartaros being a PvP-oriented world and Syndesia being a culmination of the two.
I’m not sure exactly how this will work, whether or not these worlds will function like servers, but supposedly you’re going to be capable of moving “between planets” but there will be limitations.
Fractured is an isometric MMO. You know Path of Exile or Diablo? Yeah, like that. Unlike the aforementioned games though, this is being done on a much tighter budget with a much smaller dev team – but that just means they likely have a much clearer defined focus on what they want.
I guess, if you were to compare this to anything, you could call this the “Western Lost Ark” or “Western Project TL,” as that’s essentially what this game is going to attempt to compete with.

Now before we go any further, no, Fractured is not going to be a free-to-play MMO.
Honestly, I struggle to see what their plan is here – there doesn’t seem to be too much interest in Fractured right now, with them raising $120,000 years ago in crowdfunding from only a thousand backers.
During their last stress-test, there were only 15,000 players online – which is substantially lower than MapleStory 2’s over 42,000 and only slightly higher than Soul Worker’s 11,000 player peak in concurrent players.
And those were both free games – this is going to be buy-to-play, which means you’re actually going to be required to fork out a hefty sum to be able to play it.
I’m not saying that Fractured won’t be worth the one-time fee, far from it. I think the game actually looks like it has a lot of potential.
My concern is that, realistically, with such little interest, it might end up turning out more like Project Gorgon, which is a fantastic game.. but nobody wants to play it because it requires a purchase.
I dunno. I feel like it would’ve been a better choice to launch this as a free MMO as it would definitely appeal to a significantly larger audience, much like how Albion Online, which was a buy-to-play sandbox MMO with 200 active concurrent players now averages almost 10,000 players at any given time during the day.

What makes Fractured unique? According to the website, the game is going to feature a large, open world that mixes in fully interactable environments and action combat to create a highly competitive, cooperative gameplay experience.
Not only will the game provide players a haven with which to craft, trade and adventure, but you’ll also be able to establish your very own settlement with your guild and grow it into a competitive empire.
While the stress-test is going to take place during the end of May, June will feature a brand new Alpha for backers to participate in. It will introduce a plethora of features that weren’t available during previous testing phases and will bring the game ever closer to its inevitable release.

I’m not overly fond of isometric MMOs. I had fun back when I played Devilian, I had some fun in Lost Ark, MU Legend was.. a little lackluster. My experience with the genre has definitely been lacking.
But that doesn’t mean I’m not excited to both stream and play Fractured. It’s a brand new upcoming MMO that I’ll be able to try out and experience not only with Mrs Stix, but also all of you.
While I may disagree with a few different aspects of the game, I’m still more than willing to give this a try.
I mean when Mrs Stix first tried out World of Warcraft, she couldn’t get over how bad the game looked. But the more she played, the more she slowly began to see the charm behind the game. Fast forward 2 years, and we’re still playing it periodically together.
The very same might apply to Fractured and I’m more than happy giving this game the benefit of the doubt.
The devs behind the game might be taking their time releasing the title, but I’d prefer they get everything right the first time, avoiding any potential failures that would result in the game shutting down before even having the chance of shining.