Exteel

Exteel is an MMO Third-Person shooter game published by Korean game company NCsoft, and developed by NCsoft's E & G Studios.

Exteel is a third person shooter where players control giant customized mechs (similar to Virtual On and Armored Core) into combat against other online players, or more rarely, against computer controlled enemies. The game features fully customizable characters, as well as a variety of gameplay modes.

An alpha version of this game was released in Korea, and closed beta testing began in the United States on November 16th, 2006. The developers anticipate releasing Exteel as a "free to download, free to play" format. However, access to better weapons, maps and parts will be limited to customers paying a fee, this game will be Free To Play if you buy the disk with a cash shop. The game's maps contain advertisements for other NCsoft titles, most likely to justify for free play of the game.

Closed Beta
This phase of testing began on 16 November, 2006 and ended on 31 January, 2007. A new closed beta test phase has started on 18 September 2007. All previous beta accounts have been wiped.

Open Beta
A new open beta session began on November 15, 2007. Players can create a PlayNC Account and then "Link" that account to their Exteel account. This also removed the Non-Disclosure Agreement.

Weapons
There is a good majority of useable weapons in the game. During Open Beta all weapons may only be bought with "Credits" the Exteel Currency. Currently there are Sub-Machine Guns (SMGs), Shotguns, Rockets, Cannons, Swords, Shields, and Recifiers. There are also upgraded forms of each weapon, such as the basic SMG is a Tommygun and the further upgraded form would be Beam Spitters-C. At the moment there are many topics on the forums discussing the unbalance between weapons.

As of 11-25-07, SMGs are being asked to have reduced abilities. Shotguns are asked to be moderatly increased. Cannons are asked to be greatly increased. Spears are asked to be increased on par with swords. Rockets are asked to be slightly increased. All other weapons are thought to be well-balanced with their difficulty of use.

Sub-Machine Guns:
are as in all games, the automatic weapon. These are considered "Noob" weapons due to the fact that they deal out greater damage and are most flexible to most players. Players using SMGs will deal with much flaming however players using Beam Spitter-c SMGs will be flamed at even more, due to the ammount of damage and rate of fire Beam Spitters deal. May be dual wielded.

Shotguns:
Are considered underpowered. After Closed Beta shotguns recieved a decreased "Nerf" and have been rarely seen amongst Low to Medium ranked players. Higher Ranked players use them alot more frequently. Shotguns have low range and decent damage however they overheat quickly. May be dual wielded.

Cannons:
are also to be know as "Snipers". They possess huge range, furthest amongst all weapons to-date. The damage is also extremely high, as is accuracy. The Cannon uses "Lock on" system. You must take time to stop moving, run your reticle over a player until it says LOCK. Cannons are recieving much speculation lately on how it does not live up to the difficulty of use. Cannon shots are easy to dodge, and take to much time to set up and are not worth the damage they deal. Cannons are a Two Handed Weapon.

Rockets:
Rockets are a favored weapon amongst many players. Rockets shoot... rockets. Rockets are allowed to fire while firing and deal decent damage. At the beginning of Open Beta, most new players to the game believe rockets to be cannon hacking, in which a character is using a cannon while moving, and firing more than one shot. This is scoffed and laughed at by smarter players. Rockets are also receiving much speculation as to whether they are fine as is, or deserve a slight buff. Rockets take around 5-6 shots to kill a fully healed player. Most of the time this will cause the weapon to overheat. The main reason rockets are thought to need buff is due to the fact that they have absolutely no Auto Lock on system and its target reticle is the smallest.. It requires some of the most skill to land a hit, and is not worth the little damage. Rockets are a Two Handed Weapon.

Recifiers:
Recifiers, a very unknown name. The Recifiers are the healing weapon in the game. They cannot do any damage to enemies unless using a skill. Recifiers are well balanced and players using them are welcomed with open arms by all teams. Recifiers may be dual wielded.

Swords:
Every game has its melee weapon, or a few. This is the second most commonly seen weapon in the game. Many new players are seen with a Katana like sword. People who become fond of swords buy a Beam Sword and further upgrades. Swords deal moderate damage and are well balanced. Upon landing a hit the stucken target is stunned for a second. Swords require some skill and do not have a reticle. Swords are dual wialdable.

Spears:
Spears are the only other melee weapon in the game. Spears do moderate damage, and are somewhat similar to swords. However many complains are rising about how much the spear needs to be incrased. Spears do not do as much damage as swords at the moment but are favored amongst many players. Spears are dual wielable however it never is dual wielded due to the fact that spears may not be thrusted in unison and do not overheat fast enough for anyone to want to use a the second one.

Shields:
Lastly there is the shield. Shields are mainly worn with a sword or spear and are rarely seen with a gun equipped as well. Shields are balanced and take the brunt of the hit for a couple of seconds until it overheats and you take the rest. Shields are dual wieldable but never seen because it provides no DPS (Damage Per Second) and shields overload to fast for it to be a useful defense..

Skills
Skills are common amongst all players and will often be seen in battle. Skills cost 25,000 credits, which is a lot. Skills also only stay in inventory for 30 days, this is not a big deal because in 30 days of gameplay you should have over 300,000. Skills are often in controvercy because they do not do that much damage for the 25,000. They also require SP (Skill Points) to use. Skills arent completely balanced eaither.