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Okay, where's the negative about this game?
Clang
Member Posts: 16
in Planeshift
From about every thread i read on this game forum, people said this game is good. Supposely they got..
-no monthly fees/cd, no advantages that cost real money.
-newb friendly
-good tutorial
-lots of spells/classes/monsters.
I never tried this game, but it has 6.9 rating. If it was so good it would be at least 7.5+.
So what kind things does this game "lack" or makes it with a low rating? Just asking.
Comments
Read through the threads here (or anywhere) and you'll see where people feel the game is lacking. It's already been discussed at length. It's really better to just look at what's already been posted, but if you want a very abbreviated list of what needs improving:
- the client is unstable and is a memory hog
- to close it in windows, you typically have to use task manager
- the game is vulnerable to bugs and exploits that force periodic money, item, and character wipes
- not all races and genders have character models
- magic is so underpowered that it is almost useless when compared to physical attacks
- you cannot alter the appearance of your character with clothing etc. (just armor)
- communication with NPCs emmulates text-parser games where NPCs look for keywords and combinations, many players find it frustrating and counter-intuitive, new players almost universally struggle with it
- PVP combat is unrealistic and relies on "hit and run" attacks, something many regard as out of character and not in the spirit of the game
- the levelling system is unrealistic and obnoxious: to advance in a skill, you must find a trainer of that skill. you then spend money and "progression points" to get training in that skill, and then you practice the skill until you level up. However, progression points are obtained by killing things (and to a lesser extent by doing quests, however quests give so few progression points that you MUST kill things in order to level). Also, progression points can be spent on anything. So if you wish to be a mason, musician, linguist, or wizard, you must kill rats. Lots and lots of rats. And then you move on to tougher monsters. And then you spend those points on musicianship, or smithing, or mining.
- which brings me to this: everyone must be first and foremost a fighter, unless you're just going to stand around and chat. it is impossible to be a pure-spellcaster because magic is so weak.
- characters cannot gain skills without the help of trainers; you cannot get better at something simply by doing it a lot
- there is no limit on how often you can drink potions or how many you can drink at a time. you can hotkey a shortcut that makes your character drink a dozen potions, and there's nothing in the game mechanics to stop it.
- the HP of everything was dramatically increased, making healing and attack spells even weaker.
- there is no transportation in game yet except by foot. this means it takes 15 minutes to get from one city to another.
- unlike other games, there is no progression from "newbie area" to "experienced area" to "advanced area". the result is an out of ballance economy where the devs are tweaking things according to the progress of the most advanced players. this makes life as a newbie that much more difficult.
- life as a newbie is difficult. you can't do much of anything except kill rats, and you have to know where to go to find the rats, and then you're just standing around killing the same rat over and over again.
- you can only sell dropped items and animal parts to specific NPCs, and new players find it difficult to locate those merchants
- NPCs always respawn in the same exact spot.
- NPCs respawn very quickly, but there are relatively few of them; this makes complaints about spawn location ownership and killstealing rather common (there should be many more spawns that respawn much more slowly)
- to mine, you have to dig for specific items (if you dig for gold at a diamond mind, you won't find diamonds by accident)
- mining locations aren't characterized by anything and are found only by trial and error or spoilers
- the names of weapons don't necessarily reflect their potency. you can have a "ruined dagger" in perfect condition, and you can have a "perfect sword" that is broken, and you can have a "mastercrafted battleaxe" that is much less powerful than a typical player-crafted weapon
- it takes an unreasonably large amount of steel to produce weapons
- it takes the creation of many weapons to advance even a little in weapon crafting; the creation of each weapon is very expensive and time consuming. making a weapon should require dedication, but the payoff should reflect what you put into it
- character generation works by giving your character a life history made from a list of possible events and experiences; those experiences then alter the stats of your character, however, people don't roleplay the character made by the generator; instead, they manipulate the generator into giving them a powerful character, and then they delete the history of the character and write a new one for it
- quests that become bugged cannot be dropped and reattempted
The game is a tech demo, some calling it a pre-alpha, so there are a great many features not finished, bugged, or missing. Since it is made by people in their free time, advancements are rather slow compared to many other games. The game is basic, but the end goal is grand.
If you are looking for a polished game with full features, PlaneShift can not live up to that yet. Many people stay just to see it develope. Others play because of the unique community. All depends on what floats your boat. Try it out. You loss nothing but a bit of time if it is not your cup of tea.
I changed my mind. PlaneShift is not worth the time.
Yup. Planeshift isn't short on excuses.
There is a difference between 'reasons' and 'excuses'. Now, do you have a reason or an excuse for not joining the PlaneShift team to make the game better? You do have all the solutions to the problems, I assume.
I changed my mind. PlaneShift is not worth the time.
The guy asked for a list of shortcomings and I provided it.
Solutions:
Modeling, textures, bugs, streamlining the code: Time and personel are the only solution.
Fixing the progression system: First, the devs must decide that the existing system is flawed. Only then can progress be made.
Fixing communication with NPCs: The newer quests seem to recognize the problems with NPC communication. Right now, the settings devs seem to be doing the best they can with the system they have. Since the dev team is unwilling to move away from a text-parser format, this is probably all that can be done.
Ballancing the economy, mob spawns, magic, levelling, crafting, and so on: I believe that a fundamental problem is that the devs adjust the difficulty of the game based on the players at the very top. The problem with this is that players who are new get screwed. A lot of the problems seem easy to solve, but we're told by the devs that the problems are not easy to solve, and I will not contest that judgement.
The guy asked for a list of negatives about the game. Maybe they'll be solved years from now, but for now they're with us.
I changed my mind. PlaneShift is not worth the time.
They are excuses though. "Please excuse the shortcomings of the game, we're working on them."
If a person enjoys the game, they play it. If a person doesn't enjoy the game, they don't play it - even if they recognize that it's a work in progress. But let's call it for what it is.
You should see some of the other companies that try to create a "free" MMO. I put quotations around the word free because most games these days aren't free. They have cash shops, which end up (unfortunately) controlling the game.
Another thing that most companies do for free games is not inform people often, or you can tell that they are not extremely serious. Take the company Webzen, they hardly inform anyone about most of their games.
As you can see, the devs of this game are trying extremely hard to work on a game. Especially since it is all valauntary work. They are coming to forums like these and hearing their communities opinions/problems, and listening with both ears wide open.
Personally, I am glad for what these people are doing. These are the true makers of a 100% free MMO (something we haven't seen in a while)
__________________________________________________
In memory of Laura "Taera" Genender. Passed away on Aug/13/08 - Rest In Peace; you will not be forgotten
Perhaps, but the response Moon gave was the response he and others give whenever Planeshift's shortcomings come into question. Instead of talking about where the game needs work, individuals such as Moon attempt to minimize awareness of such flaws, or respond with the blurb about the game being in development. They're obsessed with PR and the image of the game, but sometimes you just need to answer the question. People already know the game is a work in progress.
Although it's "free t-shirts" free, not opensource free. I will say this though, and hopefully I won't get myself in trouble by being honest: Planeshift's devs keep their eyes on forums like this because they want to pounce on any negative reviews people have for the game. Getting feedback is really only a secondary objective, and in truth it seems like asking for feedback is just another way they're trying to improve the game's image. Maybe I'm being cynical, but there's a pattern to their behaviour that can't be denied.
Talad promotes uncivil behavior.
Tuxide, that's not really a list of shortcomings. That's just a list of positive features that have yet to be added.
"What's wrong with Planeshift? What's wrong is that it doesn't have as much content as it will in the future!"
You'd make a good politician.
Talad promotes uncivil behavior.
The difference is if the players feel that there is an absence or problem that affects them.
Players feel the effect of magic being useless. Players feel the absence of clothing and character models.
Talad promotes uncivil behavior.
Yeah, I'm excited about it and I'm looking forward to playing it once the download is available! I'm surprised that they're calling this release 0.4 though. A lot of game content has yet to be added. I was always told that 0.4 would come once all the maps, models, skills and so on were in game. So this isn't the Steel Blue we were expecting, but there's so much new stuff coming with it that I don't imagine many people will complain.
Talad promotes uncivil behavior.
I started playing this game like 3 years ago... when everyone was expecting crystal blue. I dl'd it, played it but it took like 40 min to update... then they would have this problem with the client that it would not start properly. When I could finally play... you get out of a cave like spot that if you walked into a wall the char would fall and be killed.... and if it was a memory hog then... I don't want to imagine how it's hogs memory now.
In conclusion:
Furry game and as such... it should die in a fire.
Make War On Bed, Make Love Wherever U Want To
Talad promotes uncivil behavior.
Talad promotes uncivil behavior.
Ylian would be a fine race if there wasn't only one model and gender available (with no options for age, facial hair, skin tone, etc).
Talad promotes uncivil behavior.
His suggestion is that Planeshift is attractive to the furry community. I'm not saying he's right.
In terms of skins, culture, body movements, etc, enkidukai have recieved the most code and artwork, and they seem to recieve new things before the other races. They are the only race to have their own city and their own language, and they are further subdivided into seperate tribes.
You can say that new features will come with time and development, but Planeshift has always been a game in development and will be a game in development for quite some time.