Developed by Snail Game, creators of Age of Wushu, Black Gold Online will be entering Open Beta in the coming months in China. The business model was recently announced, and it is a rather weird one to understand. There is no cash shop, no monthly subscriptions. What gives?
1. The system, Black Gold Time, will automatically (every hour) or manually “lock” the loot players get within a time frame.
2. After a few hours, some items will be “locked”, while others will enter player’s inventory.
3. The basic items and less valuable one will be spared from this “lock” system.
4. Players will then purchase gold using cash, and selecting which time-slot’s items to claim. Time-slots can be deleted manually.
5. There is a dice roll option, and if successful, players may get a discount to claim the items. There is a chance all items in the time-slot can be claimed for free as well.
6. Snail Game claims that this is to minimize the number of “useless drops” players need to handle.
I am not a fan of the game, since the gameplay itself is really frustrating while trying to copy features and design styles from Guild Wars 2. While fervently advertised as a non-target MMORPG, the basic combat is still traditional point and click.
