The internet is full of proposed NFT and Blockchain games. I came across World Eternal Online (WEO)^[1][2] and decided to take a deeper dive into this proposed title as it looks much closer to my preferred normal non-NFT game style (RPGs like WOW) compared to the seemingly primitive NFT games dominating the field today. I don't claim to be an expert on this stuff, so take everything I have to say with a grain-of-salt. Moreover, as this game isn't even in beta yet, a lot will likely change before it's open to the public.

Why (this article)?

World Eternals Online is a proposed AAA role playing NFT game. The game plans to allow play as a traditional role playing game with battling heros and crafting, but throws a modern NFT twist with land ownership and tradable NFT assets. As of this writing a pre-sale of heros, land grants and crafting licenses has been announced, but dates and details have not. As there are a lot of proposed NFT games out there and many may crash and burn, I decided to do a bit of research on this one and decide if some investment may be worth it. Moreover, I decided to organize my research for myself and the community. Hence this article.

How (will it work)?

Gameplay

The game is developed as a roleplaying game with heros, crafters and landowners.
Players use heros to battle monsters, go raiding, complete quests, and battle PvP in an immersive 3D world.^[3] The devs claim the world will grow as players complete more quests and achieve game-wide accomplishments. Unfortunately, battles sound to be primarily auto-attack based on pre-selected skills and weapons (vs. real-time player control). I do like the stylized graphics that have a great effect without requiring photo-realistic rendering. This will help keep the game playable on both PC and mobile, which the devs claim are both targeted. Non-fighting roles in the game include crafting and land ownership. The main pull is likely heros battling, so let's start there.

Heros

Heros will have multiple battle styles and attributes. In fact, we are told the initial set of different heros will number at least 40 ^[4] and have many different attributes.

As with other RPGs different heros will be ideal in different scenarios. Different damage types or areas of impact will be needed for different enemies and to fill out a raiding team. The official hero article^[4] suggests collecting multiple heros to fill these roles. Individual players may have multiple heros, but will not be able to switch while in combat. This suggests that collaborative play may be necessary to achieve questing goals.

Devs list rarity, faction, skills, level and traits as attributes of heros leading to many combinations with even more when considering multiple weapons and potions. Rarity should be self explanatory.

Heros are slated to have 4 playable skills, such as attacks, that are auto-cast during battle. The suggestion is that these skills could be added to a hero in different combinations depending on hero capabilities. Traits, such as resistance vs attack types or enhanced XP gains are randomly assigned and upgradable. Factions are not discussed in detail. Only an example is given.

Heros of a like faction can be combined to raise rarity and stats. I like this idea as it helps individuals increase their heros overtime and don't only have to rely on availability of rare heros on the NFT market. I always find it annoying when playing other NFT games and come up against an opponent who either has been around forever or put a ton of money in to get a super-rare NFT and I have no chance to get one myself. Increasing existing heros in WEO, even if it ends up being slow, lets me know I won't always be out-classed by someone with too much crypto to know what to do with.

Heros will be available through P2P markets and through random summoning with tokens. Initially the WEO pre-sale will provide heros with the "Eternal" trait, which will enhance all later summoned heros. Cool!

Pets

Panchilla is one of the in-game pets. Presumably there will be others. Pets are said to be bred by crafters and have upgradable traits. Pets seem to serve primarily as assistants in gathering resources in addition to the obvious benefit of having an in-game companion. Seriously, who doesn't want a flying yoda-dog?

Landowners

Owning virtual land is in vogue these days. WEO is banking on this trend as well. In the game a land deed allows a player to claim a town and offer buildings of other players to use. This includes crafting booths and guild halls, if I read the announcement correctly. It seems this is a long-term more passive earning method in this game, but potentially very profitable if the number of land claims is limited or grows in a well controlled way. I like this option, in principle, but there isn't much more to say.

Crafting

"Almost everything in WEO is crafted from monster loot and resources."^[3]

The gameplay discussion indicates that gear potions and even pets will only be available through the crafting mechanism. No dropped gear from monster kills. Players will need to gather or barter for materials to craft and landowners will get rental fees for crafters to set-up a booth. Crafting will require a booth in a town and a crafting medallion, this encourages crafting as a dedicated role in the game.

I like the idea that crafting is a real specialty as most games I've played crafting is a secondary role that all players have. This means many players just craft what they need or trade with a few fellow players. This leads to minimal player-to-player interaction. Here it seems the developers are leaning towards encouraging active community interactions by removing the secondary crafting role of many players and encouraging dedicated crafting players.

Earn considerations

I have little to comment as there is such little detail there is no basis to evaluate how the in-game and game-adjacent economies will work. Prior announcements included that the in-game economy will be based on the WEO crypto token. Land owners will receive WEO from crafting in their town. Crafters will obviously get WEO from selling items to players. Heros will receive WEO revenue from questing and bosses. Presumably the details of this will be first driven by players working within the parameters set by developers. Naturally, moving WEO or NFTs to an exchange will allow for earnings aswell.

 
 

When (will it be available)?

Unfortunately, there is still a lot unknown about when this game will be playable. It likely will not be generally open until 2023. While I have not seen any official date, I have heard rumors that the beta is targeted for 2022. Yea. It may be a while.

A pre-sale of in-game assets has been announced.^[5] They plan 3000 spots evenly divided between community members engaging though discord or other social media, VIP members purchasing spots, and strategic partners who presumably plan to invest significant sums.

The referenced announcement discusses criteria for community members to be considered. As I write this fewer than 10% of those spots have been awarded, so there is still opportunity to be added this way. Purchasable VIP NFT passes will be available initially at 0.1-0.3 ETH.^[6] and potential higher on exchanges after sale. The amount here is acceptable, but may be a challenge for some potential early adopters. The timing of this sale has not been announced.

Overall I'm mixed on the pre-sale of in-game assets. As there are over 20k Discord members at the time of writing, less than 10% will likely be able to participate in the pre-sale. The cost and options for pre-sale heros/lands/crafting has also not been announced, so it possible even early adopters who invest considerable time contributing to the community to earn a WL spot could end up priced out of the pre-sale. This has the potential to discourage the growing discord community.

Who (is making this game)?

In many respects the NFT game world is a combination of the wild-west and a gold-rush. Individuals are trying to make it rich on all sides and some are not so scrupulous. Moreover some don't even know what they are doing. A little research into the team behind WEO was encouraging^[7][8]. The CEO Vincenzo Alagna has experience as both senior leadership in game development and iOS game development. This tells me that he both knows the technical requirements to make the game work and the amount of work it will take to get it going, but also understands the business side of gaming and what it takes to keep the development afloat. As they have secured considerable outside funding ^[9], they should both have sufficient operating funds for development and some venture capitalists checking in to put some pressure on for progress. I think the team and business side shows positives all around. This is no late-night brainstorm by inexperienced gamers like some NYFT projects.

What (do I think about it)?

Conclusions

I think this game looks very exciting. The team behind it has the experience to make it work. The gameplay looks to elevate the NFT gaming field. If nothing else, I'm looking forward to convincing myself it's of the keep spending hours in front of an RPG with the justification that I could sell the assets for real money, if I wanted to. Not that I expect I will want to: Better to keep playing.

 
So will I play this game when it comes out? Almost certainly yes! Will I battle 20k others for a WL spot?... not sure. Either way I'm hoping to get the hero ... well I don't think she's named yet (image right)... but she is said to create and control light over a wide spectrum. Seems good for me as I spend my IRL days cutting up things with lasers.

A few Pros and Cautions:

Recall, there isn't even a beta yet so a lot could change.

Pros

- looks to have compelling game-play and environment
- potential for NFT/crypto earning while playing an immersive RPG game.
- PC and Mobile clients should increase engagement and improve access.
- Discord already above 20k users and shows signs of a good community.

Cautions

- Not yet playable & minimal demos/info
- Needs to keep community to succeed.
- Pre-sale looks limited and hard to join.
- Small pre-sale and long waits could undermine early interest and stunt growth.
- As with many NFT games the crypto economy is player driven and an unknown.
- It is hard to value without details of implementation. 
- The barrier to entry after pre-sale unknown

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Images above used with permission to create posts about the game.

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Below are a number of references and sources readers may be interested in or were used to prepare this document.

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1. Official game website ↩

2. Official game announcement on Medium ↩

3. Official discussion of gameplay on Medium ↩ ↩

4. Official discussion of some Heros ↩ ↩

5. Official announcement of the pre-sale whitelist ↩

6. Official VIP whitelist sale information ↩

7. Studio LinkedIn Profile ↩

8. Game studio website ↩

9. Article on external funding and those behind the team. ↩