Should I try this game? If so, why?

mruppert

Hey all,

Long time MMOer here, I played EQ2 since beta, and just left recently due to the fact that I feel I have done everything the game has to offer (not true, but hey, its a feeling ). I have dabbled with some others, but none has really grabbed me like EQ2 did. The utter depth of the game was the big winner for me. Lots of classes. Crafting, raiding, mounts, fun battles, tons of zones, friendly community, a lot of role  play, etc. What about Horizons would make me want to love and cherish this game like I did EQ2? I'd appreciate some serious responses, rather than the, "JUST TRY IT LOL" responses that topics as this usually garner. One of the most important things about a game to me is COMMUNITY! Graphics... eh... whatever, I'll play HL2 or the ilk for graphics! I want deep gameplay, tight knit community, high level content, not too much of a boring grind, tons of deep, engaging quests with meaningful rewards, and CRAFTING! Hehehe.



Thanks ahead of time!

xauss

jeez - where to begin with a game with such baggage.

read these forums before you decide - maybe for you waiting for Vanguard: SoH is the best bet

that said, dont let me put u off, there a plenty of reasons for and against u trying it.

AGAINST

every company involved with this one failed to deliver in one way or another. current owners pixel magic (PM) are essentially a rebranding of EI who's criminal theiving of subscribers and non-subscribers is well documented (as well as investigated by authorities)  

server populations would be well below what gamers (and PM) would want, you wont find too many lowbies to group with. and as a lowbie crafter, you would find it difficult to sell your wares

lag may be an issue for some

FOR

community - those left love their game. communities are forged on the interdependence that the crafting system dictated, although many now can do it all for themselves. you will get help for armours, weapons, spells because everyone recognises that there is no way a new player can do it by themselves

crafting - a grind to level, but the possibilities to 'tech' (pimp) spells, armour, weps, tools etc add massive depth and options - perhaps check out Horizons Craft Calculator (HCC) http://hcc.reclamation.dk/

classess / multiclassing - possible to play dragons (who learn to fly when they reach adulthood) - or multiclass bipeds. additional to 29 available classes, multiclassing gives massive variety and utility to your char, some abilities are masterable (allowing their use once mastered when playing as another class). an excellent site for info ... http://horizons.gamersinfo.net/schools/schools.php

world map - massive and seamless (no loading screens from area to area - unless you port)

graphics - matter of taste, but i certainly preferred them to the shiny toon-like chars offered by WoW for example

as you may have gathered i am a fan of the game, but havnt played for some 8 or 9 months, and are unlikely to again, unless it goes the way of shadowbane (i.e ftp), or gets emu'd

Hadesprime

the company that currently owns have proven to be rather crooked.



With many many many reports of accounts being billed 2 4 5 times a month and no way to actually cancel an account its a risk thats for sure.



Horizons was a borderline game to try when Tulga AE had it. But not worth the time of day at all now that PME/EII has it. At least with Tulga there was SOME hope that the enourmous grind that the game is might be relieved with some actual quality development. Now there is no hope of that at all whatsoever.

TherosIron

If you were to try out Horizons DONT put your credit card details in , you may be in for a shock.

The owners are still wanting people to contact PBT to cancel , which may not stop you from being billed in the future.

A thumbs waaaaaay down for customer service.

Dont take my word for it scout around other forums and read for yourself ... dont trust the official community forum as negative reactions from upset customers are removed .. that says alot.

green13

I had very mixed experiences when it came to community.

Some of the players there were the friendliest I've ever seen in any mmo - but the other end of the spectrum was equally extreme. Players being openly rude and just horrible to other players.

Here's my story...Last time I played (after getting an invitation to try the game again) I picked up this quest which told me I had to kill a particular named mob and the quest gave no indication at all as to where I should look. There are multiple continents in the game and previously my quests of that level and had seen me travelling all over the place. So I asked on the general chat. No-one really knew, but a few players had suggestions on where they thought it might be. So I went to those places.

Meanwhile I'm listening to three players on general chat snarling and spitting at other players. Quite openly, in the general chat channel, saying things that I've never heard in any other mmo.

Two hours later I still haven't found this mob. So I ask again on general chat- and get pounced on. These three ripped into me for being whinging, lazy and stupid. And it went on and on and on for about ten minutes before I just log out. A couple of hours later a dev logs on and discovers the mob was bugged and not spawning but by then I'd really seen enough.

I encountered a lot of really really really friendly players on Horizons. I had another quest which was impossible for me to do - at level 10 I had to kill level 10-20 mobs in an area where they all spawned together. And at level 10 I would get owned by anything more than 1 or 2 levels higher than me. And another player passing through that area saw me, saw I was clearly out of my depth, asked what on earth I was trying to do, then helped me to do the quest. Very neighbourly.

But the bad eggs stink up the place. Trawl through Horizons forums long enough and you'll see them - they stand out. They're the posts from the crowd who played Horizons at launch and positively loathe anyone who started playing the game after it was made 'easier'. They'll tell you how awesome they are because they levelled a dragon to 100 back when it was a real game, and all those noobs starting now are lazy little gits and it's their fault the game is worse now.

Annoying gits are everywhere and I'm usually happy to ignore them. But at least when I last played and surveyed the forums, there was an unusually high concentration of them at Horizons and they had free reign on the chat channels. I figured the devs were just too desperate for their subscription money to deal with them.

Hadesprime

a community does not a game make. As it is the experiences Green relayed are typical of the horizons community.



Horizons has to many negative aspects to ask anyone to endure at this time. As I said with Tulga there was at least a chance those could be addressed and developed out albeit slowly. With the new owners who can't even manage maintenance properly there is no hope at all none period nadda. Even with Tulga Horizons wasn't that great of a game.



To those who like crafting Vanguard might be a better alternative.

xauss

sorry to hear about your experience green - maybe it occured more on the US servers

you do sometimes get disagreements in any MMO - i like horizons because there was so little of it - sure you get the rude noobs who are demanding for stuff and to be powerlevelled who may get short change on the chat channels when they become rude / tiresome, and all the other things that can happen (e.g personality clashes) but on the whole it is the most mature, generous, curteous bunch of players anywhere to be found in an MMO

green13

From memory there were only one or two shards open when I played that time. It was soon after they'd done one of the shard merges because there were too few players left on in the individual shards.

I certainly wasn't a rude, demanding or tiresome noob who got shortchanged either. I asked once where this mob was, and two hours later not having found it asked again.

The devs apparently did a big rewrite of all the quests before inviting players back to retry the game but decided to send the invite out before having rewritten the dragon quests. That was an interesting business decision given dragons are their major selling point. There was quite a discussion on that point when I first asked on chat where this mob was.

Nor was I their only target - I listend to them tear into older players with impunity for the two hours I was searching for that mob. I've never seen anything like it. But having seen all those posts on the forums it didn't surprise to me to find it there.

 

zaxang

I was considering giving this game a try a while back. Simply put, I just wanna play the dragon race . I payed for it and I couldn't create a new character because EI sucks! So I cancelled the account.

Is the gameplay even fun though? I mean, what does the game have to offer as far as unique gameplay goes.

Compare it to something I hate, like WoW.

green13

I found the gameplay as much of a mixed bag as the community.

There are so many reasons why Horizons should have been an awesome game. And even playing it for only a little while you can see some of that potential. It's big drawcard was supposed to be the player-built-and-run-world - player crafting driving the economy, players building and defending their own towns. And of course dragons.

But there's a heavy grind factor - particularly for dragons, who kind of need to advance in crafting and fighting together.

Combat was ok - certainly nothing special. It's all timer based. A bit like SWG is now - you attack and watch while your various special attack timers tick over. It's not a system I'm a fan of but it was playable.

The quest system was really really really bad last time I played, though it was something they were supposedly in the process of fixing. They'd fixed all the quests except the dragon ones at that point so that might be better now.

The dragons look very cool - there's no denying it. You get a fair amount of freedom customising it's look.

I didn't get to see much of the housing/economy side of things. I came across a lot of abandoned half-built towns and the economy - well the newbie gear being sold by players was outrageously overpriced. But that was ages ago - dunno what it's like now.

SWGLover

With the chronic billing problems and the fact that the State of Montana AG is actively investigating Horizons due to possible legal issues, you'd have to be crazy to let them have your credit card number.

Sadly, a game broken from day one.

Aeronis

If you liked EQ2 then I think the only MMORPG that could be recommended is Vanguard. It takes a lot of the best elements of EQ1 and EQ2 and melds them together with unique features.

blackcat35

I played everquest for years...and am thinking about trying everquest 2....

I was looking at horizons but the things said here makes me realize that their are even more problems than before with horizons, so will stay far, far away from this game.....

Grinding isn't all that fun unless gameplay rocks....

I'd try out Ultima Online if you haven't yet, its a pretty deep game....I am leaving out of boredom but played it for several years......