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It's all new stuff.

Generally speaking, the life cycle of online games in China is not too long. Due to many reasons such as the continuous updating of game production technology and the loss of players, the old predecessors who appeared in the past two years can easily be overtaken by new faces.

This argument doesn’t really need much evidence. If you think back, we must have played a few online games ten years ago… but now, the younger generation of players may not have even heard of the names of these games.

Long-term operation may be the most difficult part of online games’ survival. It is not uncommon for games to be very popular when they are first launched. We have seen too many games that are very popular when they are first launched. However, in this cruel race, there are few games that can maintain high popularity and continue to provide new content to players after being launched for many years.

You can't deny that "Against the Current", which just launched a new expansion pack "The Angry Sea" and held a grand sixth anniversary celebration, is one of them.

To this day, we may still remember that when "Ni Shui Han" was first born, the entire NetEase building was whispering the name of "Ni Shui Han". The birth of "NetEase's last MMO" attracted the attention of players across the country... and that was nearly six years ago. The old rumors such as "you will lose blood when it rains" and "you can't breathe without recharging money" have been used to death.

So, this time we won’t continue to look at the old calendar, nor do we intend to spread out any “stinky and long foot binding cloth”. Today we are going to review something new. For example, it is necessary to first mention the “Thirty Years in the East, Thirty Years in the West” that officially debuted in the “Raging Sea” expansion pack, that is, the new genre “Canglan” that has created countless memes.

Two months ago on May 9th, "Canglan" made its debut on the official account of "Ni Shui Han". At that time, it was still a bit mysterious. The official only released a promotional silhouette - a huge ruler-shaped weapon, with the promotional text "The six-year period has come, thirty years in the east, thirty years in the west, don't bully the young and poor, I, Canglan, will soon return to the South China Sea."

Playing with the "Xiao Yan" meme is just the prologue to the appearance of "Cang Lan". After the trailer was released, the official "Ni Shui Han" began to promote the concept of "player co-creation of genres" and officially collected various player opinions. Today, when "Cang Lan" officially debuted, we found that the player's opinions were indeed included in the game mechanism of "Cang Lan".

In terms of experience, the characteristic mechanism of "Canglan" "Turning Rivers and Moving Seas" is full of depth. "Canglan" has two freely switchable postures, the main attack "Hailang" and the main defense "Zhenhai". Even if it is the same skill, the two postures will produce completely different effects. Players can choose to flexibly switch postures to fight according to different needs on the battlefield.

The "double blood bar" mechanism proposed by the player "Beiyue" was also adopted by the official of "Ni Shui Han" and designed as a player-created content into the skill mechanism "Qilin Shield" of "Canglan".

The Qi and blood of "Canglan" will be divided into two parts: "real Qi and blood" and "Qilin Shield", and the recovery speed of "Qilin Shield" and "real Qi and blood" are independent of each other - this also means that "Canglan" who makes good use of the "Qilin Shield" to fight obviously has a higher operating ceiling, and the distinction between experienced players and novices will be more obvious.

Another player's suggestion, "Physical Magician Cc", to "summon a huge Flame Scale Ship to carry out area attacks on enemies and impose negative status", was also designed into the skill mechanism of "Canglan" by the official "Against the Water Cold", becoming "Canglan's" second unique skill, "Cloud Ship Expedition". While maximizing the visual sense of déjà vu, it also does have a powerful control effect.

Obviously, whether it is because of the jokes in the initial promotion or because of the "genre co-creation" that truly adopts the opinions of players, the "Canglan" that now returns to the South China Sea will attract a large number of players to try it out, adding more variables to the PVE or PVP battlefield. But more importantly, the appearance of "Canglan" is just a drop in the ocean of the "Raging Sea" expansion pack.

The official opening of the group dungeon "Changshengguan" is also the top priority of the "Raging Sea" expansion pack.

In the previous preview story, we already know that the messenger under the mysterious Blood Crane Lord will appear in the "Changsheng Temple", and players will have to compete with many messengers such as "Si Shui, Si Xue, Si Lei" and so on.

Of course, the combat gameplay of "Changshengguan" is worth talking about, but that is more of a "strategy" rather than a "review". So, I want to talk to you about the new attempt made by "Ni Shui Han" in "Changshengguan" this time - narrative.

When players go deeper into the "Changsheng Temple" and start to have intersections with the various messengers, they will gradually understand the stories of these messengers in the process of exploration or battle. For example, why did "Si Shui Zhenjun" go from being a nobleman to a "villain" in the eyes of the people of the world, why did "Si Xue Zhenjun" close his heart, and what exactly did "Si Lei Zhenjun" want to fight against.

These "narrative" parts are largely integrated with the combat gameplay. Players will learn the stories behind these bosses during the exploration and fighting process, and then judge the good and evil of these characters by themselves.

Of course, the exploration and combat process itself is also of high quality. For example, the chase with the "Xuan Beast Hantian" is completely different from the ordinary "standing output". This is obviously a very good attempt.

The six-person team challenge mode "Linlangqiju", which is an iteration of "Shenji Tianyan", will also officially meet players in "Raging Tides".

This kind of random gameplay has been recognized by the player community in previous versions. Whether choosing a six-person team or a solo challenge, "Linlangqiju" has a unique mechanism that is both interesting and strategic, coupled with generous rewards, which will naturally arouse players' desire to explore.

So, when it comes to rewards, we have to mention the many benefits that come with the launch of "Raging Tides".

The exquisite red-haired "Wu Hong" and "Liu Hong" that everyone can get for free when they log in are obviously the highlights. Some of the benefits of the 6th anniversary celebration that have been launched before have also been extended. For example, the out-of-print joint costume "Xingzhe Wukong", the summer costume "Qingxia Jinshi/Qingxia Fangchen", and the rare appearance coupons that can be obtained every day, and the "free face/body shaping" that will not end until the end of July.

Obviously, whether it is the increase in game content or the gift of various benefits, the official of "Against the Water" has indeed put a lot of thought into this "Sixth Anniversary Celebration" and the expansion pack "Raging Tides".

Overall, "The Wrath of Time" is clearly an expansion pack worthy of the "sixth anniversary" time span, and I am personally very satisfied with it.

After all, in this expansion pack, "Against the Water" not only simply launched a new genre, but also proposed the concept of "co-creation by all people" to absorb players' ideas and restore the genre "that players want to play". Even in large-scale copies, "Against the Water" is still trying to change something through narrative, such as the stereotyped BOSS image commonly seen in MMOs.

This is certainly a good thing. I am curious, as a domestic MMO focusing on long-term operation, what will Ni Shui Han bring to players in the next celebration? And will these various attempts eventually feed back to the entire MMO category and truly achieve the slogan of "making MMO great again"?

This is indeed exciting.