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My experience with TCoS
ethion
Member UncommonPosts: 2,888
I'm level 9 and have played in a few areas.
Initially the lore and environment and graphics of the game were excellent. However after playing it for 15-20 hours the environment isn't keeping me impressed. The area's I've been to are similar looking.
Still graphics and performance are good. Initial launch problems have been near non existent. This game has had a very good launch.
Quests are mixed some are good some are bad, but I'd say in general they rate lower then some other games. This is due to inconsistant or non existant rewards and quite a bit of running around. It is a bit frustrating now because there are too many people and mobs are being kill stole as the competion is high.
Generally xp in the game is pretty slow. Quests don't give consistent xp, some give a lot some give next to none. The range on xp seems to be around 1-5 mobs worth of xp. So I found that grinding mobs seem to give me faster xp then questing. I'd guess the fastest way to level in this game would be grouping and killing the huminoid camps. These seem to respawn fast and give good xp per kill relative to the effort to kill them.
There is no voice chat and the UI in the game feels kinda basic. Poor customization. I couldn't make the chat font as large as I would have lited to. I couldn't change the chat window size but only drag the tab off to have a free standing window. At 1980x1200 the font everywhere in the game felt a bit to small.
I've been having issues with the game locking up on me after 1-2 hours. Fortunately it isn't locking up vista so I can just close down the process and restart it insteand of having to reboot my computer.
The combat system is probably the most unique feature you will see right off. It is a very interesting system and beyond the concept that you can move to dodge what I find really interesting is how bufs and debufs work in the game. This adds a deep dimension to combat stategies and applied well should go a long way to beating bunny hopping players.
NPC ai looks promissing too. The NPC bandet camps have groups. What was neat is that they tend to operate more like real players. Ranged and casters stay back melee and tanks are up front. The ranged characters will even kite you if you want to chase them. I really found this aspect of the game interesting.
The system of armor and appearances is both good and bad. Your equipment doesn't have stats and you can dress up pretty much how you like and focus on sigils which give you enhancements you add to armor. So this is kinda like taking the appearance slots in eq2 to the next level. Generally a great idea.
However I don't like that there are no class restrictions on armor. So your wizard character can be decked out in full plate with a 2H battle axe. This just isn't right in my book. Also the armor selection in game seems pretty slim. I didn't see any good caster armor, no robes, no wands or speters, etc. The character creation armor selection feels barely adequat. That said you have a lot of options and slots you can play with to create your appearance.
Drops at least in the first 9 levels are pretty slim. I have gotten several of the same sigil type from killing a boss. Other then I have had a 4-5 resources, a couple of weapons from a quest but you don't get a list to chose you just get one weapon which I'm not sure is very exciting. After playing 9 levels I'm not using anything I didn't start the game with. So there isn't any feeling of progression in equipment. There isn't anything to tinker with trying to find good sigils or anything. This was disappointing.
Group sizes are 4 which feels restrictive and people are used to larger groups.
There is no healer class per say so if you want to play a healer it is hard to figure out what class to play.
Anyway those are some of my thoughts after playing the first few levels.
At this point I'm close to stopping playing this game.
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Ethion
Comments
Seems like you burned yourself out before level 10 because you are playing it like you just got hired to test it.
Instead of doing the quests to find out about the lore of the game and what this world is about, it seems that you abandoned this crucial part of any game (immersion) in favor of.. grinding mobs simply because they gave more consistent exp. You play this game like a shareholder expecting a return instead of just playing the game for fun it seems. Why the rush to level.. whatever? Why do you have to gain "more" exp to have fun or make it seem worthwhile?
If you were reading the quests and enjoying the lore, I'm sure they would have sent you to a few different places where the game starts to open up. But because you get 1000 exp one quest, then 300 the next, 250 next then 2000 exp.. you preferred to hunker down in one spot and kill mobs for a steady rate of return. Then you complain that there are too many people leveling off mobs and then there aren't enough. I'm not sure if it occured to you that they were probably doing exactly what you were doing. It would seem a mix of the two instead of a steady mob diet hour in/out would have made more gaming sense as you don't get burned out just.. killing.
I still have no idea why people play this way, then complain about no content. Or boring content. Or leveling's too easy. Or not enough areas. When all they do is live in one or two spots and zones and ignore a huge part of what the developer made for them to have a much more enjoyable ride.
"TO MICHAEL!"
*clap clap clap*
You hit it right in the middle popinjay. In fact I am beggining to think most of the new MMO players have never even bothered to play any of the classic RPGs like BG or (even though they are not my cup of tea) FF or even Monkey Island, where you REALLY had to read (and a lot) to fullfil a quest (and you enjoyed doing so!) . People just don't even read quest dialogues anymore, they just click "accept" run to the place kill, obtain, do EXACTLY what the quest objective is and don't even bother/care to read WHY they are doing it. I mean the way some people play MMOs today make Quake Enemy Territory seem much more inmersive than any MMO out there.
666
You can start on quarterstone at level 9, youll be getting about 5-20k per quest over there
have you started your house quests as well? Whenever you can,take quests that are of a higher level than yourself. Fame is rewarded differently than xp, and the tougher the challenge, the more youll get.
A lot of the quests are simply filler,and arent required to do. There are more quests available per level than are actually needed, so you can pick and choose what to do, and doing quests that are too low for you will reward a lot less fame. At level 9, head over to QS and Hoggsridge and begin looking around there.
The UI is pretty terrible specifically the chat box which doesnt allow font size increase or colour choice. You can drag the window out and resize it that way,but the font always remains tiny. You also cant move the health and status bars around, nor increase or decrease the size of the mini map. lots of people have complained about this so hopefully it will all get changed soon enough
You must have been playing another game. Leveling by just killing mobs is on average much more than 10 times slower than leveling by doing quests.
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Delanor
1 - What is the new in this game?, the combat?, where is the most important? where is the depth?, exist the logical freedom of a VIRTUAL WORLD? or is... another clone?, another repetitive and boring level game?, where was this company in the last 2 or 3 years?.
2 - Saddly, there is not so much "PopinJoy's" in this type of games, saddly.
Seems like you burned yourself out before level 10 because you are playing it like you just got hired to test it.
Instead of doing the quests to find out about the lore of the game and what this world is about, it seems that you abandoned this crucial part of any game (immersion) in favor of.. grinding mobs simply because they gave more consistent exp. You play this game like a shareholder expecting a return instead of just playing the game for fun it seems. Why the rush to level.. whatever? Why do you have to gain "more" exp to have fun or make it seem worthwhile?
If you were reading the quests and enjoying the lore, I'm sure they would have sent you to a few different places where the game starts to open up. But because you get 1000 exp one quest, then 300 the next, 250 next then 2000 exp.. you preferred to hunker down in one spot and kill mobs for a steady rate of return. Then you complain that there are too many people leveling off mobs and then there aren't enough. I'm not sure if it occured to you that they were probably doing exactly what you were doing. It would seem a mix of the two instead of a steady mob diet hour in/out would have made more gaming sense as you don't get burned out just.. killing.
I still have no idea why people play this way, then complain about no content. Or boring content. Or leveling's too easy. Or not enough areas. When all they do is live in one or two spots and zones and ignore a huge part of what the developer made for them to have a much more enjoyable ride.
You couldn't be further from the truth. I've spoken to every npc in the first town, yes even if they don't have a quest. I was trilled with the initial story and setup of this game and was looking for lore. But so far it is frankly lacking. The NPCs only talk about there lives and immediate things they need. I've spoken with the npcs in the houses and the trainers and they give you pretty minimal knowledge just enough to understand how classes work and a bit of the back story on them, same with the houses. I love the lore that was setup in this game and would love to uncover more of it.
It seems like in the second area the majority of my time is spent helping kids looking for things like toy parts spread all over the world.... I felt that the writing for the quests in the first quest area was better then in the next area. And yes I have read the quest journals.
Part of the expectation in a role playing game is that you grow and evolve in the role. I'm going up in level which is good but what's missing is any gear upgrades. Part of the fun in the game is finding cool new items or even not so cool ones but things that you can use.
I like questing but expect to get some reward from it
For example in EQ2 I tend to do each zone to death, I do every quest that is available.
The point about inconsistency is just that. If I spend an 30 minutes doing one quest and get maybe 250 fame it is kinda a letdown when I get 175 fame for killing a mob. Grinding mobs would be more efficient, although that isn't how I like to play a game, it was an observation. Maybe thats why I'm leveling slower cause I'm working on the quests and NOT grinding...
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Ethion
It sounds like you were right on the cusp of the point where quests will have a bit more meaning. I didn't enjoy helping the kids that much either. Do some Hoggsridge quests, discover the source of the AV well (and its poison), visit Quarterstone and the Green District, and join a High House.
But the real problem is that you're thinking too much about efficiency and leveling speed. Forget about your level. Forget about efficiency. Those will only distract you and frustrate you. In some games, that may be the ultimate goal, but if you apply that here you'll probably just end up frustrated.
Also, if you're not enjoying the immersion for what it is, then TCoS may not be a good game for you. If you're not enjoying the fights and the combat and prefer that EQ2 autoattack system then TCoS may not be a good game for you. If you really need that steady stream of levels and gear just to enjoy yourself then TCoS may not be a good game for you.
It sounds like you were right on the cusp of the point where quests will have a bit more meaning. I didn't enjoy helping the kids that much either. Do some Hoggsridge quests, discover the source of the AV well (and its poison), visit Quarterstone and the Green District, and join a High House.
But the real problem is that you're thinking too much about efficiency and leveling speed. Forget about your level. Forget about efficiency. Those will only distract you and frustrate you. In some games, that may be the ultimate goal, but if you apply that here you'll probably just end up frustrated.
Also, if you're not enjoying the immersion for what it is, then TCoS may not be a good game for you. If you're not enjoying the fights and the combat and prefer that EQ2 autoattack system then TCoS may not be a good game for you. If you really need that steady stream of levels and gear just to enjoy yourself then TCoS may not be a good game for you.
wow... well said Aganazier
It sounds like you were right on the cusp of the point where quests will have a bit more meaning. I didn't enjoy helping the kids that much either. Do some Hoggsridge quests, discover the source of the AV well (and its poison), visit Quarterstone and the Green District, and join a High House.
But the real problem is that you're thinking too much about efficiency and leveling speed. Forget about your level. Forget about efficiency. Those will only distract you and frustrate you. In some games, that may be the ultimate goal, but if you apply that here you'll probably just end up frustrated.
Also, if you're not enjoying the immersion for what it is, then TCoS may not be a good game for you. If you're not enjoying the fights and the combat and prefer that EQ2 autoattack system then TCoS may not be a good game for you. If you really need that steady stream of levels and gear just to enjoy yourself then TCoS may not be a good game for you.
Thanks for the tips on other areas, course hopefully they aren't too tough for me to do
I really think the setup and houses etc made for a great game lore I just hope to see more growth in that.
Leveling efficiency isn't really the point but it is a distraction. I am definitely not doing what I would need to do to maximize my advancement in the game
I spend a lot of time talking to every npc and exploring every corner of the world whether I have a quest or not. But I do see inconsistencies and they are irritating.
I'm not sure if I like the game or don't like it yet. I've been focusing on it to get an impression over the two weeks of free play and I'm planning to buy one month even if I don't like the game just to send a vote to the company that they did a good job on the launch and that I support the free trial process. Yeah maybe it is silly but I see my dollars as my vote to give feedback
One other thing, you say the eq2 autoattack system and I really thing that you make way to big a point about autoattack. Autoattack is just something going on in the background, if it was 0 it wouldn't matter at all for the play in eq2. I mean it would impact the balance of some classes and all but the focus in eq2 is on using combat arts or spells, bufs and debufs, and doing optimal sequences. Not terribly different then in spellborn. What I really like about spellborn combat is the use of 3 attributes body, mind, and moral or something like that. I probably have the named mixed up, but the point is they have a big impact on game play and on the effect of other abilities making for a very stratigic mix which I frankly find fantastic. The dodging and running around etc doesn't thrill me and I kinda see it as a hard thing to balance in that it seems like a class that debufs moral I think makes the player super slow which might be a killer for that class and maybe there is no defense against it. However I'm still a noob so I'm not forming any opinions...
The other major issue I have with spellborn is the lack of progression which doesn't seem to be a valid impact of the game design but either poor itemization or an arbitrary design decision. I don't see any valid reason why sigils, and broken item and recipes couldn't drop more frequently at lower levels. If people are supposed to form and opinion about the game in 7 levels it seems that ther is a lot lacking in these lower levels. One of the things that is exciting in these games is getting new stuff and so far I don't think I've gotten anything I really can use in 9 levels...
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Ethion
I'm guessing you haven't chosen a house yet and been to Quarterstone or any other shards? I'd recommend choosing a house so you become a citizen of the enclave and start using shardships. The quests do get a bit deeper again at that point and you will be mixing up more environments. Also, drops only really start at around lvl 10. You will be fighting more humanoid enemies which drop broken gear and quests will give out more items.
If you still don't enjoy the game at that point then it's probably not for you. Nothing wrong with that of course
Id have to agree that this game is not a top notch game. the lore is very generic and i feel like ive read all these convos from snes rpg's years ago. the combat system is sloppy. yeah u have to have your cursor in the general area of the creature but with the zoom level on this game that just means u have to have your target in the center 30% of your screen. after that its just hold down your mouse button and let it swing away. yeah u get to dodge attacks but i can run away from things in other games to dodge attacks aswell. the controls arent crisp and usually i have to hit "x" about 20 times just to get my char to sit down and rest. ive explored all the beginning zones and chosen a house beyond and everything i do just feels like the same thing ive been doing since level 1. i have a feeling that this game will be dead within 2 weeks when peoples free play runs out. the only plus i can find is the lack server problems right after launch. it does run smooth without to many glitches but then again its a very simple game that feels like it shoulda came out around 2003.
All fair criticism and I mostly agree. Out of all the MMOG's I've played this is the first one that actually gets better as I take my time, read everything, and explore some. I really got tired of other games where I play to level rather than to relax and enjoy myself. The side effect of this is that the game is a little less addictive. The level and gear treadmill is very addictive as Blizzard has realized!
I didn't mean to criticize the combat system in EQ2. I played the game for a long time and liked it a lot despite the rough edges. I say autoattack as a way to describe that type of system where you have autoattack and a static ability bar full of abilities. Many people are more comfortable with systems they are familiar with and don't enjoy spending their free time learning new systems.
I totaly agree about the itemization. It would have been easy for them to make Sigils a larger part of the game. I also believe they will. Some of the quests I have done lead me to believe that Sigils are new to the world. Maybe they will become more common as time goes on and the game's development continues. It also looks like they may fix up the black towers and give us transportation portals. Mounts would be nice as well. Its one of those situations where the potential of the game is almost better than the current state of the game.
thanks again for the reply.
Having just made lvl 9 I have been talking to all the npcs in each house trying to get the lore for the houses and also just a general feel for the environment. I think this is an important decision and I'm gonna need to ponder if for awhile I think.
Anyway I'm off to explore all the side areas I can get to without dying.... Hmm I sure hope my pep can't go negative I think I'm probably gonna have a rough time if these size zones take a bump up in level although I do have a lvl 7 quest that wants me to go into the northern zone to deliver something so hopefully thats a sign that it isn't too bad
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Ethion