Using tongue-in-cheek stick puppets, the folks at
Age of Empires Online have emerged to give us a quick overview of the gear system in a new
dev diary. Yes, even empire-building titles rely on good ol' fashioned
MMO gear to equip armies.
Once attached to an army, gear changes the appearance and stats of your
troops. The more rare the gear, the tougher they become. Gear can be
found, purchased, and crafted as you may expect. You have to purchase
the civilization with real-world money in order to be able to equip the
very best items, however.
And if you're curious about
Age of Empires Online's pricing structure,
ShackNews has the full skinny.
Some of the purchases are merely cosmetic, although it looks like
there's bad news for those looking to avoid a "pay to win" scenario:
"Unfortunately, Microsoft's approach to monetising Age of Empires Online
seems to be one of placing non-paying players at a significant disadvantage."