Fractured is the first open-world sandbox MMORPG mixing action combat with fully interactable environments, appealing equally to lovers of competitive and cooperative gameplay. Jump right into the fray from day one. Defeat your enemies through your own skill and cleverness, not equipment or level.

Gather resources, craft, trade and venture into legendary travels as a solitary hero, or start a settlement with your guild and grow it into the next empire.

Fractured plans to bring together the best of Action RPGs and Sandbox MMOs, two genres that haven’t been successfully matched before. On one hand the game will feature a highly skill-based combat system that rewards tactics, reflexes and nimbleness of fingers; on the other hand, the user will be immersed in a fully player-driven economy, with an emphasis on realistic resource management, crafting and advanced world colonization features.

On top of that, Dynamight Studios wants to broaden its audience by allowing new players to be competitive from day one, by getting rid of the “grinding” mechanics that characterize the genre, and by implementing innovative rules on player interactions.

On Friday, January 15, at 2pm CET (8am EST), Fractured game servers will be opened again to all registered users for a new open playtest that will be running until Sunday night!

This is the first time we run two open playtests so close to each other, and here’s why:

• The first one was around New Year’s Eve, which meant many of you weren’t able to participate;
• We’ve introduced massive client performance improvements and we’re looking for feedback on them;
• We’ve added manual combat mode toggling and various balancing changes (to be detailed in an upcoming forum post);
• We’d like you to re-assess PvP balancing with enchanted gear.

Like last time, the event is all about testing PvP, so:

• Characters start with all existing abilities unlocked and all 60 talents points already earned;
• Your bank can generate all armor sets and weapons, plus enchanting reagents;
• Everyone can harvest resource nodes (they’re not connected to a city).

What are you waiting for? Client download is already available!

Also, like last time, you can win a key for the Winter Alpha! More info below!

CLIENT OPTIMIZATION

While on average the community has deemed the performance of the game client to be good, with solid framerate and no stuttering, things have been noticeably problematic with many players on the screen. 

The issues some of you faced were mostly caused by memory (RAM) usage and CPU usage, rather than GPU usage. In fact, memory could become so bloated with 50+ players on the screen that it would cause disconnections on older computers!

All these issues have been fixed and we’re eager to see how the Fractured client performs on different machines now that:

• Memory usage / player on screen is ~90% lower;
• CPU usage has been heavily optimized;
• Commit memory reserved by the client is ~50% lower. This change is not something you see in the Task Manager on Windows but rather in the Performance Monitor.

ENCHANTING

When it comes to defining your strengths and weaknesses in battle, the types of armor and weapons you’re using and the material they’re made of are crucial… and so are the enchantments you put on them!

Enchanting is a complex process that requires gathering reagents from all over the world, which is clearly not suitable for a short-lived test. This is why we’ve introduced the following changes:

• As mentioned before, you bank can now generate enchanting reagents too.
• The cost to claim a land parcel in the wilderness has been decreased from 1,000 gold to 200 gold.
• The cost to claim a city has been decreased from 5,000 gold to 1,000 gold.
• Smelting ores, processing hides and burning charcoal is almost instantaneous.

We can’t wait to see what builds you’ll be able to come up with!

Play Free, Win A Key

Yes, you can get free access to the Winter Alpha (or even permanent game access) by playing during the End Year Open Playtest! To do so, you must be ranking high in one of 5 dedicated contests:

• Highest PvP Ranking
• Best Game Footage
• Best/Most Creative Character Build
• Most Knowledge Acquired
• Coolest Land Parcel

This is how it works:

• The winner of each contest gets a key that grants permanent access to the game, from here to full release and after!
• The highest ranking competitors of each category get a key that grants access to the next test, the Winter Alpha!
• Everyone who participated with a meaningful contribution gets 1,000 Foundation Points 

Let’s get to the details of each contest now!

Highest PvP Ranking

The upcoming playtest is all about PvP, so we can consider this as the most significant contest of all!

PvP ranking works as follows:

• Each character has an ELO-based score. You gain it by killing other players and lose it by getting murdered, disregarding your alignment, the victim’s, or your militia affiliation.
• Like all ELO-based systems, the larger the difference between your score and your victim/murderer’s is, the more you gain/lose. Killing an opponent with a score much lower than yours doesn’t make you gain any points.
• The score is visible in a dedicated menu together with the choice of Alignment, your Karma, etc.

This content awards 2 permanent keys, one to the highest ranking player with positive karma and one to the best with negative karma!

Best Game Footage

The Open Playtest features a massive graphical upgrade. Would you like to be the one showing it to the world? If so, record some footage and post your videos in a new thread in this forum section including the words “video contest” in the title.

We only accept entries recorded at 60 FPS (or higher), 1920×1080 resolution (or higher, but always with a 16:9 ratio) and no filters (e.g. gamma filters).

Group PvE and PvP are our favorite subjects, but feel free to let your creativity flow!

Also, if you upload your footage on YouTube or elsewhere, make sure to keep the original files: some clips may be selected for a future game trailer – given you like the idea, of course

Best Character Build

You’re given the abilities. You’re given the talents. You’re given the equipment. All you have to do is let your creativity flow!

If you want to take part in this contest, all you have to do is post your character build(s) in a new thread in this forum section. Details on the idea behind the build and how you’ve used it in actual combat are much appreciated.

Please mind we won’t be evaluating only the effectiveness of your build, but also how creative it is and your ideas on how it could evolve in the future!

Most Knowledge Acquired

Knowledge can’t be spent in this test, since you are already given all the abilities and talent points. It can be acquired, though!

The player who will manage to get the most knowledge by doing PvE, exploration and slaying Legends, will be rewarded with a permanent key. If more than one player gets to max out their knowledge, one of them will be drafted!

Coolest Land Parcel

Not fancy focusing on your character? Then make your land parcel the most beautiful of the realm, take some screenshots of it and post them in a new thread in this forum section. including the words “parcel contest” in the title.

That’s it, easy!

In Fractured, choosing where to start your journey doesn’t mean following a different series of quests in an otherwise identical game. Join the first MMO where the race you belong to has an actual impact on game mechanics, from the type of society you live in to the ways you can interact with other players.

1. No human is born good or bad. Make your choice to uphold the law or break the established order. From a righteous governor to a cruel brigand, any path is open to you on planet Syndesia. Beware, though: you’ll be subject to the rules of a feudal society, so think beforehand to the consequences of your actions!
2. Living on a planet overwhelmed by giant vegetation, Beastmen have developed a deep connection to nature that endowed them with super-human resilience and keen survival skills. If you enjoy a cooperative and defensive gameplay in a peaceful community, look no further: Arboreus is your new home.
3. Banished to a hostile planet scarce in resources and filled with dangers, Demons possess an inner evil alignment that makes it natural for them to prey on each other and on other races. Make Tartaros your choice if you’re hungry for blood and dream of becoming a legendary ravager, assassin, or worse.

Finding a broadsword in the corpse of a rat sounds a little unlikely? Forget about old RPG clichés and enter a world where every item is crafted by players. Exploit the uneven distribution of resources to get high profits when trading at faraway markets – but make sure you reach your destination alive!

Stake your claim to free land in the open world, secure it from your enemies and start your own cultivation and livestock business. Your products will never be in low demand since access to food and water is essential for survival, especially when venturing into long extra-planetary travels.

Wood, stone, metal, gems, herbs. Each planet is rich in some commodities and entirely lacks others. Explore the massive universe of Fractured to locate and harvest the rarest resource nodes in every region, but remember: locals might try to stop you as environment exploitation can damage a whole ecosystem!

Not all resources are fine with being harvested. Fur, hides, bones, carapaces and several other key crafting components can only be obtained through PVE combat. If you’re an avid monster hunter, Tartaros will be your dreamland… or perhaps your worst nightmare.

Tired of MMOs where the fun begins 80 hours after you’ve started playing? In Fractured, you’re free to join your friends in the most epic adventures right off the bat. Once the strengths and weaknesses of your character are set, you’ll be on a quest for knowledge and reputation, not attribute points!

Say goodbye to the conventional RPG level and skill systems you’ve seen way too often and embrace the power and flexibility of the Knowledge System. It’s about time you get rewarded for your courage and cleverness, not for the hours you’ve spent hunting zombies or punching a training dummy!

Take a moment to rest in front of a fire in your home, a tavern or your group’s encampment. Prepare a set of abilities to define your role in battle and assign your talent points to finely tune your build. Done? Time to enjoy the freedom of a MOBA with the persistence of a MMO!

Fractured is out to break the boundaries of the MMO genre by bringing the combat style you’ve loved in single-player Action RPGs into a complex sandbox universe. Learn to aim, dodge and master over 400 abilities and 40 unique status effects: only your skills and tactics will lead you to victory!

Stuck between a clan of bandits and a raging river? Animate the waters to protect you, or freeze them over to cross to safety – then melt them to drown your foes! In Fractured, the natural elements around you can always be exploited to defeat your enemies, even when all hope seems lost.

Looking for a new home? Find a suitable location and start a settlement with your guild. As a governor, you’ll be able to guide its development into a social, trading, or military hub. Beware, though: the rise to power of your city won’t go unnoticed, so get ready to protect it from hostile raids and sieges!