Is PERFECT WORLD Worth Playing in 2021?

I played Perfect World International back in 2008 through 2010, a grand total of approximately 2 years. Yes, 2 years of my life and thousands of dollars were wasted in this MMORPG – and let me be the first to tell you that the time I spent, the people I worked alongside, and the memories I made, were definitely worth it. The financial investment however, was not. I still kick myself from time to time knowing how much I wasted on a game, but justify it with the logic that “I would’ve spent it on something else anyway.”

Fast forward 11 years after closing the door on that part of my life, I found myself curious of how Perfect World was doing in 2021. So I went ahead and downloaded the enormously-sized game and realized that I no longer had access to my original account. After re-signing up, I began a nostalgic trip down memory lane..

Upon logging in I learned that there were several new races, each with their corresponding race-specific classes. The Tideborn with the Psychic and Assassin classes, the Earthguard with the Seeker and Mystic classes, the Nightshade with the Duskblade and Stormbringer, and finally the Technician and Edgerunner which seemed to be Human and Winged Elf from what I could tell. Perfect World has always been known for its extensive character creator, but seeing the overhauled creator for the new Technician and Edgerunner classes was something else entirely. Almost like they’d taken a page out of Black Desert Online’s book – albeit not nearly to the same extent unfortunately.

After making it into the game I found that we all share the same unique starting zone now. When I played, Humans started in Etherblade, Untamed in City of the Lost and Winged Elves in City of the Plume. Having a central starting zone makes it easier for players to join one another and participate in content together, but at the same time the game loses some of its unique personality. I remember back when I first played this game, Winged Elves possessed the ability to fly from level 1 whereas I as a Human had to earn that right. This meant that my sister, who I played with at the time was required to fly across the entire map to level with me, as there was no way I could reasonably be expected to traverse it on foot. Not having that experience for new players – or the opportunity for experience like that is definitely a con to having a general designated newbie area, but at the same time, I can understand this makes the game feel more alive, and presents more opportunities for early-level cooperative play.

By the time I ceased my playthrough of the game, I ended at approximately level 60. This was a bit of a grind to obtain, as leveling through the introductory levels of the game (1-15) was relatively quick and painless, and leveling up until 40 was fairly straightforward. After obtaining level 40 however, the quests became much more sparse, scattered all over the world without chains to follow through, wasting my time flying around the world from point A to point B then back to point A for 5% of my XP. This got progressively worse as the game went on, with level 50 requiring substantially more XP to level than 40. Quests were usually very basic, but time consuming as it took minutes to reach each location, but were as complex as “loot 5 items” or “kill 5 monsters.” Variety was evidently a flavor the developers were not familiar with, but at its core this is a Chinese MMORPG so it stands to reason.

Thankfully there have been improvements made to both the graphical aspect of the game, and the gameplay. Not specifically pertaining to old classes – from what I could tell they looked as bland and boring as ever. However the new classes had much flashier special effects, looked significantly better and the environments in areas added with each of the large expansions that initially introduced the new races and classes were of equally high quality. This did leave a sense of disconnect, as half the game looked very flat and dated, and the other half looked like an entirely different game released 5 years later. The combat itself was tab-target, which, considering when this MMO was developed and released, makes sense. There really weren’t that many developers ready to take on the “new and innovative action combat system” at that point in time.

I know some of you might be wondering if the MMORPG is still pay-to-win. The short answer of it is yes, it most definitely still is. Not a single person I asked argued otherwise. But if you’re honestly not trying to be competitive, and are more of a casual player like I am, then this probably won’t be much of an issue to you.

Overall, Perfect World International is still a very packed MMO. There are a lot of players out participating in everything the world has to offer. The chat is alive and filled with chatter. The market district is full of people trying to sell everything they can to afford more cash shop currency. There are plenty of guilds grinding up attempting to conquer the map. This is an MMORPG that has definitely withstood the test of time and although mismanaged to a degree by Perfect World Entertainment, is still a relatively solid game.

If you’re looking for something casual, I recommend trying this out. If you’re looking for something more competitive? Ready your wallet.