GameBanshee Feature: Horizons Hands-On Preview

Artifact Entertainment's David Bowman escorted us through a one-hour session of Horizons: Empire of Istaria last week and we've went ahead and posted a preview of the MMORPG based upon what we saw. Here's something to get you started:
Our first destination was a floating island, where David pointed out another floating island off in the distance. Such physics hint to the advantage of flight, and David showed me how his dragon character could indeed fly. This ability is not automatic, David explained, but instead becomes more advanced as a dragon progresses through "rites of passage". Dragon characters will begin as a juvenile (which cannot fly) and will have to complete a rite of passage in order to ascend to adulthood. Once an adult, a dragon has a limited flight ability and is able to use its breath weapon. A second rite of passage will cause an adult dragon to become ancient and grant variable breath weapon effects and a more advanced flight ability.