Great mud, favorite actually. Unlike most other muds botting is acceptable, without being an overwhelming advantage on the non-botters.

The learning curve is slightly steep, but there is almost always someone online to help around.

Roleplay in not expected, but there is a HUUGE list of emotes, plus custom emotes you can do, and rp is very much encouraged, we have a few great ones :)

Godwars II is what you might imagine a classroom full of first graders devolving into after a teacher has left the room for 20 minutes. I have seen a lot of reviews (mostly negative) and a recent forum post where KaVir can not make up his mind as how to handle this group of players and wanted to give it a try. first off, I want to say that the mud itself is amazing. If I could just connect to my very own godwars II and play, I would be fairly happy. My only hitch as far as the game goes is the lack of players around my age as a newbie to pk with. As I am really into PK, this is a rough spot for me. There are more people as I go up the ladder, so I guess I will have to work up to that point.

My second and largest issue is the playerbase as a whole. These are the sorts of players you need a lot of beer or some good medication to handle for to long and nothing is off limits. I have seen reviews where KaVir basically trashed a player for complaining about all the spam and issues and stated that he provides the tools to allow you to deal with yourself. This is half true and half not. Firstly, at this very moment when I create a character I land in the main village, where there are three characters whose purpose is to do nothing but stand around and be used to spam chat (more on that later). There is also a bot (sealboy) who was made to make fun of another player who basically just says and emotes random stuff over and over again. There is also a player who has botted tossing the heads of two people he dislikes back and forth from one hand to another. This is obviously a wonderful place for newbies to be introduced to the game. While they're trying to learn their way around, everything is cluttered by these useless chars and all of this spam (which we don't actually have the tools to deal with). As I mentioned before, nothing is off limits--it's not all that uncommon to see insults flung back and forth on the newbie channel (or even at the newbies, for that matter).

My final biggest issue is the use of the channels and bots themselves. I have seen references to characters being set up to be used in response to another player chatting, but I never really thought it would go as far as it has. Right now as I write this, there is currently a bot called troll whose purpose is to do nothing but send a random prewritten message to the chat channel when hellbane or one of the many alts previously mentioned standing around in the village uses the channel. While I am told that KaVir previously asked for this to be kept off of the chat channel, he is not here (nor has he been in almost a week now) and the aforementioned tools to combat these issues are doing us all a lot of good. Along with the spam bots, the bots I mentioned earlier are also used for their own form of spam. There is a bot that someone wrote that will remember everyone's chat messages and which you can use over a public channel to see what someone's last chat was, as long as how long ago it was sent. Naturally, this is being abused as well. There are probably at least 5 characters per every unique player (on the low end) that were created and whose purpose was to send some insult over chat and quickly disconnect. These are triggered by the bot any time someone goes into a fit of rage and feels like sending insults at someone else's clan, mother, brother or famly. It's like having a hotkey with preprogrammed insults for the players you hate the most you can use without requiring to much effort.

I enjoy the game quite a lot, though I am not sure if I want to stick around and watch all this drama play out. Using the ignore feature would basically have me ignoring ~90% of the current active player base which is a bit depressing and irritating all at the same time. I don't mind it off and on, but eventually it's a bit like listening to a couple of kids constantly fight with each other back and forth and it gets old really fast. KaVir's tools for handling these issues are not very complete and thus the game does not really tend to run itself in the absence of an admin. As he has been gone for about a week or so, I do not see anything changing that fast. In the event he takes notes, I fully expect another forum post asking the community at large how to clean up the trash that has infested his mud; apparently thinking for himself is a bit to much to ask. I believe there are less complex (but better run) muds out there that will not require a masochistic attitude to play.

When I first came across this supposedly PK-oriented game on TMC, I was impressed with the complexity of its combat system and I looked forward to some intense PK action. Sadly, over the years, my adventures there have led me to feel that this a game you should probably avoid at all costs. The player base there is very small and they get extremely upset when you kill them, often subjecting you to torrents of abuse over one small death. Killing them also seemed to upset the designer of this game, and he often changes the game play on their whims. If you somehow manage to succeed in any facet of the game, you will find the mechanics are quickly adjusted against you. This has ruined PK and allows this tiny incestuous group of players to run 'bots' to kill mobs for hours while safe from PK. Since PK is pretty much the only thing to do there, you will find yourself bored in short order. However, if you enjoy scratching your head in befuddlement, or banging it repeatedly against a wall, perhaps this is the place for you.

I know that reviews tend to concentrate on Mechanics, but it appears that Godwars II has been hit by some issues I’d like to talk about. Despite Kavir and Ragnar’s assurances that the game is a happy lovely place now, Batty and his brother still continue to control it.

The game essentially is controlled by two brothers, Batty and Bonecaster. These two have about 95 characters between them (however they try to split it up and talk about other people playing from the same place), and keep the top two slots on the pantheon board by mapping these 95 chars up so that no one else can get there. Essentially the only way to get up to the top two is to have that many alts to map with as well, thus making it less Godwars and more Altwars.

Apart from their alts, which are fairly annoying, they have taken to spamming the main meeting point for players with chars that just send random messages to Gossip and the village around them. Gossip is uncensored and unmonitored, so the solution here is to just tune the channel off and forget about it, but it’s not. We now have yet another bot that when a specific player and his alts (Zoal) speak, sends more random messages to chat. It gets incredibly spammy and annoying, but again nothing is being done about it.

Finally these buffoons have taken to walking around after players they don’t like and stealing the kill from their chars with a character much older. Want to argue with them, awesome! You can do so as long as you have a couple age 500 characters to fight them with, because odds are it’s going to be a two on one. It’s not uncommon for them to use an age 500 (which is the highest level in the game, if you will) to lower a player down that they couldn’t beat before, then use a character that player’s age to kill him, thus earning a victory.

It is incredible to me that Kavir lets this go on. They have badgered and insulted newbies, spent more time voting Godwars II down and talking trash, as well as harassing players and at times making them quit. I recommend Godwars II for the mechanics; see other reviews, but until Kavir actually changes something notable to keep these two from making the game hell for anyone who they don’t like, it is pointless. There are numerous comments talking about changes and etc., but there has yet to be a change to fix these problems. It would also be worth noting that it’s the same couple of people that try to push every review down with comments. Some are valid, some are less so. I hope that eventually Kavir gets tired of seeing these two trash his game and wants to do something about it; finding other bad reviews where they were listed as problems is not all that hard.

Kav should be commended for seeing their attempts to make the game harder as issues and fixing them, but there becomes a point where they are less players and more parasites on the game to be removed. When they are not around spamming the hell out of the main channel, people have fun and there’s a lot of good conversation on the channel usually. You have a fair bit of flaming and arguments, but it’s nothing that tends to go on.

I started playing God Wars II about 5-6 years ago, and through those 6 years and my playing on and off, there have been many numerous changes. I have to say that it is one of the most advanced and complex muds I’ve ever played, and for that I really enjoy it; it’s not to often one stumbles upon a unique mud with all of the options for character customizations that are available.

One of the most unique features I have seen is the movement and combat in the mud. Movement isn’t done room by room as with most muds, but is distance based; you target a location, NPC or building and then type ff to start your feet moving in that direction. This allows for a lot of combat that still sort of exists in other muds but can’t be exploited to it’s full potential. For example, imagine a ranged build where you are casting; in most other muds, you might be able to throw stuff from room to room, but it’s not exactly ranged. In God Wars II, a caster could start casting and retreat away from another player so that their melee weapons could not hit them. It is then up to the player to find some way to catch the caster or disable him from retreating.

As I mentioned already, the FF command would start your feet moving forward; this idea is not only limited to your feet. Each limb (feet, left and right arm, head and sometimes tail) gets different commands, which are called techniques it can perform. A caster has commands like wiggle, snap, clap and point, which they are able to chain together to cast spells. For example, a caster might type rw rc rp to teleport; It means that they are wiggling their right finger, clapping, then pointing in the direction they targeted; upon completion of the final tech the caster is teleported. This set of commands also extends to weapons as well; when you wield a weapon, it alters the techs you can perform with that hand. A whip might have a lash tech, but it wouldn’t make sense for a sword to have the same sort of command.

Your characters are built up by using powers and talents; you get powers by aging up, and occasionally you have the ability to grab an extra talent. Powers generally give ranked-based bonuses, with talents to add to those or add other abilities to your character. For example, a demon might have powers in Demon form, which gives stats per rank. An age 400 player then, could have demon form at a base of 40 (minus any bonuses you may have).

As mentioned before, apart from powers you have talents which further allow you to customize your character. Talents like ambidextrous, which allows your off-hand to perform techs at the same speed as your right hand, to tough hide, which allows some setups to gain extra resistance.

All in all, God Wars II is a very enjoyable mud to play; it’s loose set of rules and an admin that is willing to work with the players is of course a bonus. One primary problem I am noticing is the trend from players to bots. While I have been guilty of botting (botting your kills and then playing with your character is much more fun for me), it has turned into a war to see who can make the most characters. For example, there is an event that occurs 4 times a day that is called the great war. It is essentially a fairly sophisticated card game. While people would generally bot it sometimes with between say 1 and 4 players, KaVir decided that to make it more fair, if you joined the war with more than one player, the gods (the NPCS in the war) would go after you harder than anyone else. To get around this, two people have created a multitude of alts; essentially what happens is they put enough bots in the war than there are gods, so essentially they always win quite a lot of glory each time they decide to flood the war with bots. This might not be a huge issue, but should you dare to not agree with them while they harass other players (and newbies quite often as well), you get to be the target of some 40 plus odd bots that go after you. While I don’t have a problem with PK, as God Wars II is a PK mud, it seems as if the mud has degraded into a contest of who can have the most bots.

God Wars II has made huge improvements in the time I played; while there have been lapses in new features from time to time, KaVir always adds something new and cool to play with and tweaks it a bit as he goes to make it more in balance with the rest of the game. As I mentioned before, I particularly enjoy the unique setting and gameplay that God Wars II offers, as well as the vast array of customizations open to each player. While there are issues with two people harassing everyone and flooding the war with bots, I believe KaVir will work out a fix that will balance things out again. I would really like to encourage everyone to go give the game a shot.

I've said on the mud for quite a while now that I would write a review, and yet it just never happened. So here it is in all of its dubious glory.

My character name on the mud is Ragnar, and I've been playing Godwars2 for about 6 years. Well, since mid-2006 anyway. So, I feel I have a fairly good view of the mud and how it has progressed over a period of time. As a result, I thought I would write a review focusing not on the mud mechanics, but rather on the social mechanics. That is, I have found that all reviews for godwars2 seem to focus on the combat, the coordinate based movement and so on, as they rightly should. These are extremely important and innovative mechanics that have kept me and countless other players around for years. But, when I look at a mud, mechanics are the surface, but what truly determines whether or not I stay is the social mechanics, or, how players interact with one another and how the staff interact with the players. That's what I'll try to address in this review, and I'll try to do it reasonably objectively.

Player/player dynamics One of the most interesting aspects of gw2 is the fact that there are no explicit rules. Help rules specifically tells you that common sense and a certain amount of critical thinking will tell you what ought and ought not be done. But there are no hard policies, hardcoded rules, bans or anything of the sort. This has had a few affects, both positive and negative. Negatively, this leads to the obvious: people feel that they are entitled to do whatever they want. Which really, they are. This means they can be quite abusive, but merely be disagreeable in relation to other players, not explicitly to the rules. However, this has, in large, been dealt with. The positive aspect of having no rules is the way in which these types of people are dealt with. Simply put, we as the player base have, over time, come to an agreement on a set of implicit rules. It's a flexible, malleable, and inconstant and subject to change system, but it's been here for close to 7 years, and the players as a whole generally seek to enforce them. Such obvious rules as, 'don't spamkill newbies,' and 'don't ignore game breaking bugs.' But also less obvious rules, like: 'try to help newbies if you have the experience,' and, in respect to said newbies, 'be patient and intelligent about how you learn to play the mud.' I personally find that this system that we have developed, though perhaps flawed in some ways, is superior to any set of admin chosen rules, because it not only was decided on by the community as a whole, but also can change easily and doesn't require admin intervention. This manifests itself in a variety of ways as well. For example, on many muds, there are designated newbie helpers, who will help a newbie even if they are impatient, belligerent and coarse. On gw2, almost every single player will go out of their way to help a newbie, but we have no actual obligation to do so. This means that when we get that stray newbie who is impatient and unwilling to listen to advice, we are under no restrictions, and generally don't even bother. This, combined with the steep learning curve, affectively means we are a game free of angry teenagers and people who lack the patience to learn and the intelligence to read helpfiles. Perhaps this makes the mud and the player’s elitist? I can't really answer that objectively, but I will say that godwars2 conversations are often harsh, uncensored and coarse, but they are also the most intelligent, thoughtful and logically sound conversations I have found on a mud to date. So, this has its positives and negatives as I have said. But if you enjoy a mud where intelligence and hard work actually pays off, then we might be right for you. If you are impatient, easily offended and unlikely to take advice, then perhaps it's not. Note though that if you decide to try us, I would advise at least glancing at our website: http://www.godwars2.org It has valuable information that may help you from the start.

Admin/player dynamics. The second element to social dynamics on a mud that I look for are admin to player. That is, how do the admin respond to player suggestions, how do they interact with the players, and how fair and objective are they. On this, I can definitively say there are no negatives. KaVir, the only coder and primary staff member, is one of the best, if not the best, admin I have ever had the pleasure of mudding under. I say this not because I have been on his mud for so long, but rather because I find his method of player interaction extremely affective. Basically, KaVir has a close relationship with the mud players, as opposed to the distant one characteristic of most muds. When he is logged on, he talks with the players about anything and everything, and I have never seen him ignore or refuse to answer a question. Similarly, I would say three quarters of the changes made to the mud are player suggested, and he draws them from the entirety of the base rather than from a few players like in some muds. If a newbie has a good suggestion, it will be added, or at least considered. If the suggestion isn't workable, KaVir is in the habit of explaining why, and even giving the player a chance to rethink and resuggest the change. What this leads to on a social level is that KaVir is not often viewed as an enforcer. He's not viewed as a player certainly, but the way in which players interact with him allows for a feeling of player involvement, and means that those player enforced rules discussed above are not contrary to the implementer's philosophy, because we know what his focus for the game is, and where he's trying to take it. We develop our player dynamics accordingly, and, as a majority, work to further those goals. Finally, KaVir is very fair. In those rare cases in which player rules are insufficient and admin action must be taken, he considers all sides, from what I have seen. Discussion is accepted and responded to, and he is far from a dictator. I would go so far as to say he does not enjoy or even remotely want to enforce admin rules, and as a result acts more like a facilitator for enforcing rules than anything. It works, ultimately. Godwars2, to quote a forum thread I have long since forgotten, is similar to a study on sociology. How a group of people will develop their own society and culture when no rules are at first present. We have done so, I would say, and I would also say that it works very well. I have enjoyed godwars2 immensely, and fully intend to continue as a very active player into the foreseeable future. I hope you give us a try. We always have room for more.

I only played this mud for one month, but it is a month of my life I wish I had back. It was not very long after starting that I was shocked by this awful mud and its tiny playerbase.

One player in particular named Fraust, was constantly spewing racist, sexist, homophobic nonsense that I found highly offensive. Another player named Freakazoid has ruined the war minigame by entering 10 characters at a time.

The administration is either powerless to stop this kind of behavior, doesn't care, or possibly encourages it. Don't bother with this game.

Pros: Complex combat system Coordinate-based movement Fun war minigame

Cons: Slow Development (only one person working on the MUD) Not much to do besides PK (of which there isn't much) Almost nonexistent player base Nepotism (improvements made on the wishes of a select number of players) Class balance issues Rampant botting (especially in war minigame)

I have been mudding for nearly two decades now and have multiple alts on many different types of muds. When I show up to a new mud, it's generally a foregone conclusion that I'll know most of the commands and most of the classes. Therefore, I was quite shocked when I logged on to GWII to find that I was a true newbie once more.

Trying to describe this mud is quite difficult since everything on it is totally original. There are no rounds and no rooms. The combat system is completely new, as are the classes which you can rebuild at the drop of a hat. Thus, when I first created and did everything wrong, I was able to simply shift my things around without having to make a new alt. I will admit that it all seemed a bit daunting at first glance, but the help files are good and the players are friendly and always willing to answer questions and offer advice.

The world is made up of two zones: the realm and the nexus. The realm is the safe place where people can hang out and chat and it also contains a small number of areas mainly for unclassed people. The nexus is the dangerous zone where all the cool mobbies, areas, and quests are. Yes, quests on a pkilling mud. Though the realm is safe, the nexus is deadly and you have to constantly watch your back or you'll find your limbs laying at your feet. Also there's no 'best' and 'worst' class. Since you can change things around at whim, the person who you demolished 5 minutes prior might adjust and return the favor. Thus, no one is ever safe.

The Imm running this mud is called Kavir and he is very hands on with the place while remaining utterly laid back. He regularly puts in new features and areas and also has time to chat with players and asks our opinions on where we think the mud should go.

Last, but most certainly not least, this place is made to work with readers for the visually impaired and a good number of the players are. So if you're 'looking' for something out of the ordinary, come check this place out cause it's a lot of fun.

This is the godwars mud currently being run by KaVir, who created the original godwars. It is a true successor to the original, but utilizes an overland map and 2 spacial dimensions in concurrence with an innovated combat model based on weapon and stance based combos. There are usually 10 or so players logged in at a time, though the world is pretty big so you wont see them much unless they are killing you.

I discovered MUDS back in high school and tried out many different ones. I had checked out many MUDS, trying to find a community that I felt a connection to, mostly by sparking my interest in the gameplay.

The MUD I first enjoyed was a mud based on the Robert Jordan series of which I had no prior knowledge of until I joined. It was created from scratch and it had its own special feeling. The environment was social, both OOC and IC. The leveling was simple, yet addicting as well. I stayed with that mud for about four years. I soon became tired of the mud because I felt that it was repetitive and also, I never did read the series that it was based off on.

My friend then introduced me to another mud. I had never heard of God Wars II until then and I am glad that he told me about it. About three of my fellow mudders from the previous mud played it and helped me out a lot through the learning process.

The gaming structure is not simple, it is quite complex. I firmly believe that at first, the mud may seem intimidating, but I found the challenge enticing and I strove to learn how to play correctly. Also, I must state that it may be easier for experienced mudders to play this mud because it is basically an expansion off the regular typical mud.

The battle system consists of different types of weapons and equipment. Each of these items are designed according to the definition. The mobs that we fight in order to age are various and have distinctive attributes that make the mud seem more realistic, although it is set in a fantasy type genre. Each race has its own powers, set for the individual to decide on how to shape their character. Combined with a set amount of general talents, they can make the character very strong and powerful against other players as well as mobs.

The only issue that I had at the beginning was the aesthetics issue. I came from a mud where I enjoyed personalizing equipment and items, with appropriate names and cute coloring. But as I went on playing the game, I realized that customization would deter from the overall reality of the game. That being said, there are ways of personalizing your character by altering its appearance as well as having certain types of equipment change the look and how you are perceived by other players. In this way, I believe that it adds onto the overall feel of the mud and is correctly set in place.

The other thing that I appreciate about this mud is that it is constantly evolving. It is not a finished product where innovation stops and the administrators just moderate and create new areas for players to explore. This mud is constantly changing, additional races, talents, powers, ideas that steadily come into play.

The forum itself is a place where players' thoughts can come together and make suggestions or report bugs or anything that is on their mind in relation to God Wars II.

In conclusion, I believe that if a person wants to discover and enjoy God Wars II, they must open their minds and be patient in learning how to play because there is a lot of new things to learn that can be different from a typical MUD. It is not that it is strange, but that in the end, it all makes sense. For example, you do not just kill a mob, you interact with it. The techniques that you use against the mob determine if you hit it and cause damage to it. Based on your stats, powers, and talents, it will determine your character's capability in fighting opponents well.

One last note, this mud has basically no rules. There is no censorship and so people are freely able to talk about anything and may even use harsh and crude words to fellow players, but the main point of it all is that you are mature enough to not take advantage of this prized attribute of God Wars II. The overall structure of the mud utilizes a lot of knowledge and I, for one, truly appreciate all the hard work put into this mud by the Admin.

You coil your legs beneath you, ready to spring. Damocles leaps up into the air. You leap up into the air. Damocles backflips away from you. You backflip away from Damocles. Damocles kicks both feet at your face as he flips backwards. Your shimmering aura absorbs the impact of his kick.

You land, your bare feet slamming down on the paved street. Damocles crashes to the paved street. You leap up into the air. You spin around in midair. Damocles somersaults over the store. Damocles kicks at your back with both feet while in midair. You deftly evade his kick.

You swing your body into the stance called 'Crane Spreads Wings'. You land back on your feet and drop into a defensive crouch.

You leap up into the air. You somersault over the store. Damocles somersaults over your head.

You target Damocles. You land, your bare feet slamming down on the paved street. Damocles kicks at your back with both feet while in midair. You lean to the right of his kick.

Damocles crashes to the paved street. ...later... You coil your legs beneath you, ready to spring. Damocles coils his legs beneath him, ready to spring.

You leap up into the air. Damocles leaps up into the air. You somersault over Damocles's head. Damocles somersaults over your head.

Rylnor chats, 'KaVir's mud. No one touches it.' You land, your bare feet slamming down on the paved street. Damocles lands, his bare feet slamming down on the paved street.

God Wars 2 is a game under almost nonstop development. It is updated frequently and is going to be undergoing dramatic updates and changes soon. The admins take ideas and concepts from the playerbase and modifies them and encourages discussion, dissection, and eventually talks about balance issues before it starts being put 'under construction'.

The current players are a good source of information especially when trying to learn how to play the game. but once the ball gets going, it really gets going. A unique mud that is very much into the players is what this game has to offer.

God Wars II is the MUD that has completely replaced my other online gaming activities. Other reviews have covered the 'what it is' very well, so let me fill in some of the 'non-mechanical' aspects. First, God Wars II is not a roleplaying MUD. It is centered on combat, most of it (currently) Player versus Mob, but also including Player versus Player. The motivation of most players is twofold - develop more powerful characters, and explore the continually added new features of the game. There is no IC interaction, but there is plenty of discussion of 'builds' - combinations of character features, usually oriented toward making your character better in certain situations. The jewel in the crown, the heart and soul of GW2, is its combat system, which is absolutely peerless. It models, in real-time detail, everything from spectacular martial arts techniques to armed combat with a large variety of weapons, to magic, and all sorts of dark-fantasy oddities (invisible creatures, demonic characters fighting with horns/tails/wing spikes, predators knocking you over by physically slamming into you, body parts getting severed, poisons, fire, etc etc). (My current character, for example, habitually cuts hands off his opponents with a swipe of a bladed tail, then catches the severed hands as they spin through the air, and keeps them as trophies.) Now, one of the important aspects of the GW2 culture is that the game is in a long-term 'open beta'. The creator of the game, KaVir, is online regularly, sometimes daily, and available to answer questions, even newbie ones, within reason. Since the MUD is constantly 'under construction', there is a lot of chat volume dedicated to the discussion of features just added, or about to be added. KaVir encourages plenty of feedback on his work. The game's development history goes back a good number of years, and shows no signs of slowing down. A few words on PvP - this takes two forms on GW2, open player killing (PK) and 'duelling'. After the initial training of a character, most of the action takes places in a game world called the Nexus, which is fully PK-enabled. There is no shame, and very little disadvantage, in being killed by another character. Given the size of the world, it is not often that one comes across other players in the Nexus, unless of course they are actively hunting for PK, and have taken an educated guess as to the location of suitable (weaker) targets! The usual result of a successful PK is the two players involved chatting about what just happened. Most players do not object to being killed - their characters come back just as strong as before, within less than a minute. Most players encountering a weaker opponent will attack without hesitation, and this is not considered unfair or even impolite. 'Duelling' is a slightly more 'formal' PvP activity. Two players agree, usually via the chat channel, to meet for a duel, sometimes as a form of competition, at other times to 'test' a new build. The combat takes place in a 'duelling arena' - other players or random creatures cannot interfere. Kills in a duel are not counted toward the players' 'PK' statistics (which are only cosmetic/bragging rights in any case).

Now for 'builds', the strategy aspect of GW2. A build is a combination of class (one of four currently, with a fifth on the way), combinations of class powers developed to various 'ranks', talents (which you either have or have not, they do not grow in ranks), basic stats (Brawn, Power, Mettle etc, akin to D&D abilities), trained stats (skill with specific weapons and fighting styles/stances), equipment (magical or otherwise) and subclasses (at high power levels). This allows a huge variety of characters to be created. Also, all but a few aspects of this can be changed within minutes, so a player can 'rebuild' with a minimum of fuss to fix ineffective strategies. All of this adds up to an amazing game, where you explore the vast strategic variety of possible character builds, fight all sorts of mobs to grow in power, and chat about it all to the creator of the game, its admins and other players just like yourself. If you like complex mechanics and the challenge of individual combat against mobs AND players, all kept fresh by continual and frequent innovation, this game rocks like nothing you have seen.

Drop by, and say hello to me if you see me there - I am Negator there.

After seeing that there hasn't been an updated review written for nearly a year, I thought that I'd spend a little bit of time and draft something up. God Wars II is a mud that definitely deserves all the attention it can get, even though it has a fairly stable and loyal playerbase.

First things first, God Wars II is primarily a player-killing mud. After your Avatar chooses a class (which in and of itself is a challenge that will take new players many, many hours to complete), you will have the option to go to a separate plane of existence known as the Nexus. This is where you will spend most of your time, performing map-quests and killing various mobs in search of 'Primal Energy' (the equivalent of experience points).

But the Nexus is not a place for the faint of heart. There are no player-killing restrictions whatsoever, and at peak times this can make navigating through the Nexus a herculean exercise in caution, stealth, skill and luck. In other words, it's one heck of an adrenaline rush - and it's really, really fun.

KaVir, the creator of the game, has recently implemented a new rule wherein more powerful players lose unspent Primal whenever they slay someone weaker than themselves, though (in the long run) dying at the hands of another player in the Nexus is little more than an inconvenience (and a learning experience for newbies, as it will happen quite a bit with your first character). The penalty? The recently slain will reappear on their respective home-plane, where they will have the chance to fully mend their wounds and repair their damaged equipment before setting back out into the 'multiverse'.

In order to clarify the term 'multiverse', it needs to be pointed out that God Wars II is composed of several different planes of existence. There is the Realm, which is a plane reserved primarily for teaching newbies how to play the game and adapt to the world. This is where Avatars (i.e. freshly-created characters) start, and they are confined to this plane until they fulfill the necessary conditions required to choose a class. Still, to complete all the various tasks in the Realm takes quite a bit of time, and there is an abundance of adventuring to be done there.

The Nexus is the primary plane of existence. Albeit admittedly still in its initial stages, it is already massive and I cannot think of an efficient way to traverse this plane by foot. It's not entirely populated at the moment, but there is still plenty to do and it has a decent selection of monsters to slay and treaures to seek. Grab a drake, summon a giant owl, turn into a cloud of bats, learn a reliable teleport spell or (at the very least) acquire a horse and venture out into this place. But don't forget to watch your six, lest you be dropped with a swiftness.

There also exist other planes of existence - the Spirit Plane, the Shadow Plane, even Hell - although most of these can be accessed only by members of the appropriate class. Again, although still in their initial design stages, these planes all offer various ways to upgrade your characters.

Combat is where God Wars II really shines. I've never played a mud that places more freedom in the hands of the player. You can independently control four separate locations: left arm, right arm, head, feet (and sometimes other body parts, such as tails). That is to say, with the right amount of practice, you can execute an acrobatic flip over your opponent at the same time as you stomp him with your feet, launch a throwing knife at him with your right arm, perform the appropriate arcane gestures to freeze him with your left hand, and then bite a chunk out of his cheek on your way back down to the ground. You can circle enemies, duck down and grab dirt, lop off body parts (hands, legs, heads, etc...), sweep your opponents, and this is still only the beginning. If you can think of it in real life, there's a good chance you'll be able to do it in God Wars II.

The four classes - Mage, Werewolf, Vampire, Demon - all seem to be (surprisingly, I might add) remarkably well-balanced. Four more classes (Druid, Werecat, Lich, Dragon) are currently on their way. During the last nine months I have played three of the four classes, and have died numerous times at the hands of those both older and younger than myself ('divine age' is the equivalent of 'experience levels' in God Wars II ... after earning enough Primal, you can choose to spend it on either aging your character or gaining various class-related powers). Despite these deaths, never once did I feel that they were because of a game-mechanics flaw. Player skill (i.e. the person sitting behind the monitor) is important in this mud, and a player who has no idea what he or she is doing (despite having a god-like character with amazing stats) will quickly be torn to pieces in the Nexus. And, in my opinion, that's awesome. Still, the majority of god-like characters tend to be piloted by players who know exactly what they're doing.

God Wars II has a steep-learning curve due to its complexity. Even to experienced mudders it will take quite a bit of getting used to. To combat this confusion, the helpfiles are more than sufficient, and usually possess an answer to almost any query that you may have. At times, though rarely, they are lacking in specific details ... but this can be remedied by a quick question over the global channel. The players, many of them utterly merciless in the Nexus, still make every effort possible to answer questions and help newbies learn how to play.

Nonetheless, this is a mud that requires patience. And if you've had the patience to read this entire review up until this point, then maybe God Wars II is worth a visit. I don't think you'll be disappointed. It offers incredible combat and extremely advanced character customization. This is one mud that I've stuck with for a while, and have no plans of going anywhere in the future. The playerbase is interesting and will keep you on your toes, the administration is always willing to answer questions and is *constantly* updating the mud, and the game- mechanics are nothing short of spectacular. All in all, God Wars II is one of the few unique muds out there that deserves both recognition and praise. It's not to be missed.

I first started playing Godwars 2 when it was GladiatorPits III which was the testing ground for the aforementioned mud. The learning curve is a little steep, but nothing a quick glance at a helpfile cant fix.

The combat system is unlike anything I have ever seen in a mud, it is without a doubt the most robust ive ever seen, It's like playing a fighting game on xbox, but with 26 buttons instead of 4 with a different set of techniques, attacks, and combos for each weapon, style and class.

Now on to the Talents; Talents are the 'Skills' of Godwars, you gain a talent slot by reaching a certain pinnacle such as mastering 6/8/10 weapon styles. There are over 100 talents each ridiculously well thought out. Each having certain requiring its own stats/style/weapon requirement.

Classes. Now classes are split up into different categories. Revanants being the undead brought back to life, ie. Vampires. Lycanthropes or werebeasts, ie. Werewolves. Illuminati or the magically gifted, ie. Mage. And finally there is the Nephilim or the beings that never had a human form to start with, ie. Demons. All the classes are fairly balanced, but as always are being worked on constantly to maintain balance. The world is huge and easy to navigate, the equipment system is based on random drops from powerful mobiles.

It's hard to say anything bad about this mud. It's always evolving, there is always something to master, be it your strategy or your character itself. Players are very friendly and very helpful, and for the most part literate and comptetent. All players from the start have their own realm where they can go to heal, or repair their armour in peace, each with their own storage 'warehouses'. Well I tried to put a conclusion on this but there just isn't an end to what I can complement its just an excellent game and you should try it.

I've only played this game a couple of times, but it doesn't take long to understand that it provides a far more advanced combat system than the standard MUD fare. More than anything, it plays out like a text equivalent of a console street fighting game. You have a certain number of actions available for each hand, your head, and your feet. Depending upon your character's fighting style, particular combinations of these actions perform more advanced attacks and maneuvers.

It's a lot to take in at first, but after spending a little bit of time with it, you can do some pretty wild things. I've only experienced a small portion of it, but the sheer number of different options in combat are staggering.

From what I've seen, the Staff and other players seem quite friendly and patient to a new player. It makes absolutely no sense to me why there are so few players in this game while hordes of people get involved in the same old back and forth, near optionless combat found nearly everywhere else. It has to be because they just don't know that something like this is out there. (I didn't before being pointed to it, myself.) If you are looking to play with an engaging fighting system, this has to be what you want.

Let me start out by saying that whatever you choose to do after reading this review, not trying Gladiator Pits for a fight or two would be a pity, I can say without exaggerating that this mud is definitely one of a kind.

I started playing Gladiator Pits last year, just trying it after reading the review by Alayla (on TMS). I liked it at first, because of how easy it was for a new player to just roll in, no in-game skills to practice or numberchase for just to be able to compete with the regulars, a steep but still very managable learning curve and a graceful and unique combat system. But I quit after some time, even though there were a few people logging on every night there was just not enough to do to keep the player occupied.

Skip to just last week, I decided to check on Gladiator Pits again, after about 8 months and I'm hooked again. The combat system is still graceful, unique and a lot less boring then the automated systems on your standard Diku/Smaug/Whathaveyou. The amount of weapons has increased quite a bit (which actually means something here, every weapon has different attacks and techniques to use) and you can even use different types of magic now. You can now customize your character with different skills and talents (think feats in table-top D&D or perks in Fallout). But best of all, there is now a wilderness with different randomly-generated dungeons, keeping you occupied even when there's no one else online. Sadly though, while those that do visit seem to be nice people, there are still not a whole lot of people logging in at the same time.

So if you want something different. A nice, if a bit small, community. A unique[1] combat, movement and magic system. Easy to learn but hard to master gameplay. A chance to choose your own fighting style, there isn't one 'power-build' you need to use to compete.

Then log on to: godwars2.com port:3000 (The information in the database is outdated, please use this host and port)

[1] Not just a buzzword, I promise, try it and you'll see.

Gladiator Pits III is a pure PK mud, designed to test player skill in terms of both pre-battle preparation and on-the-spot reflexes, as well as the ability to adapt quickly to new situations. There is no character advancement - every character is on equal footing - and so it is purely a test of player ingenuity.

The basic concept is fairly straightforward, although the mud may take some getting used to for those not already familiar with Gladiator Pits II. Context-sensitive hints and informative helpfiles are available, and most players should find themselves ready for their first fight within a few minutes of connecting.

Knowing how to fight however, is a long way from mastering combat. With 25 fighting styles and well over 500 fighting techniques, there is no lack of things to learn. Dozens of different weapons and pieces of armour are available, each with their own advantages and disadvantages. Eight different stats indicate the strengths and weaknesses of each gladiator, but it's up to the player to decide the allocation of those stats.

The mud also uses a coordinate-based system, which allows players a great deal of flexibility in terms of movement. The same system also handles weapon lengths and missile ranges in combat.

The combat system itself is non-automated, and is geared more towards the fantastic than the realistic, drawing inspiration from anime along with movies like 'The Matrix' and 'Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon'. Each gladiator has three fighting locations which need to be combined in order to fight effectively - 'left hand', 'right hand', and 'feet' (which also represents overall body posture). Each location has its own set of commands and techniques, depending on the weapon and fighting style used.

With such a trully awing and thought-provoking combat system, pk is fast paced against the training mobs and even more so against fellow players! Come join the battles! Will you be the victor or the fallen?