Sword of the New World is a free to play fantasy MMORPG. It's a bit different from other MMORPGs in a few ways. Most notably the setting, which is somewhat similar to the 17th century colonization of North America, although a fantastical version with magic and monsters. But also how it plays. For starters, instead of controlling 1 character, you control 3. The fights are also on a more massive scale. Most MMORPGs have mobs of enemies, this has mobs of mobs. And they respawn quickly, often before you can finish them off.
Characters
Character classes are Fighter, Wizard, Elementalist, which are pretty standard fantasy classes. But also the Musketeer, who specializes in firearms, and the Scout, which is a healer and a jack-of-all trades class. But beyond the core classes are "UPC"s, which are "Unique Player Characters". These are actually playable versions of various NPCs in the world. You start out having 9 character slots, but you can expand this, up to something like 40 characters total. Characters don't appear to have any sort of level cap, at least not exactly. Levels stop at 100, but characters can still progress beyond that.
Besides a character's class, their "stance" helps define their abilities. Stances are basically how a character does something, or what they do. For instance, if you equip a Scout with a knife, they use the "Assassin" stance. But equip them with nothing, and they use the "Medic" stance, and focus on healing. Similarly, there are different stances for how the Fighter and Musketeer fight - be it a sword and shield, or with a rifle or with a pistol (or two pistols). Stances have "levels" as well, as a character fights in that stance, they gain experience and level up in them. Each stances has 4 or 5 "skills" that a character can use, though they start off with only 1 skill and learn more as they gain levels in that stance. These skills are generally special attacks (for combat stances) or spells (in the case of magic users).
Visually, there's not a lot of character customization, at least at the beginning. Pretty much every character of a given sex and class looks alike, other than their clothes. You can buy hats and later wigs which change their hair. Some of these (or the ingredients to make them) apparently require purchase though the real world money store. Right now, when you create a character, you pick a "costume" for them to wear, but apparently in the upcoming expansion, a character's look will depend on the armor they wear (unless you have an in game costume).
Equipment wise, it appears that you have to upgrade every 4 levels or so. Fighters can pick between a variety of melee weapons or even some firearms. Musketeers pretty much just use guns; though can use pistols or rifles. Elementalists can use items that let them cast fire, ice or lightning bolts. Scouts pretty much just fight with knives, either one or two.
There are a lot of equipment slots, but early on you won't have much except armor and a weapon.
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