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Is it worth it?
Vargobr
Member Posts: 2
In my everylasting search for a worthwhile mmorpg, I ran across Horizons. It's been a long time since I've logged onto any mmorpg for fear of "buyers remorse". For the people that play the game, what do you think? Is it worth it? What kind of things make it worth it? I've been to the Horizons website, but you know how game sites buff up their appeal to make a sale, and I don't want to make a mistake.
Comments
It all comes down to what you personally want from an online game
If you're looking for PvP then that's one reason not to want to play Horizons, it doesn't have it. Sure I'd love to have little tournament matches against some of my friends in the arena outside Tazoon, but in a way the lack of PvP helps improve the community and collaboration amongst its members
So if you want a game where the community support and help each other as part of our daily lives, as well as have a good time together (since we're all on the same side), and you want to set up with your own bit of turf and become a master craftsman selling your wares from a store you have built, or an adventurer offering trophies and reagents (along with various lootable equipment that is of benefit to other adventurers and crafters alike) for sale, then you might want to take a closer look.
If you would like to see a game with a remarkably intuitive user interface and control mechanism, then you might also be interested. I'm thinking to myself 'why am I mentioning this ?', and the answer is that when it comes to the user interface, Horizons has it done right, in a way that other games are trying to copy now, but (imo) none of them really come close (yet).
Eye candy isn't my thing, but it's worth mentioning that Horizons has it. If you've got a system that can cope, crank up the texture details to maximum, enable terrain clutter and decals, set max view distance to approximately a third, and enjoy Horizons in all its glory. It is a spectacular sight, and as my wife has commented from a geologist's perspective, the mountain ranges and terrain in general are very realistic compared to some other mmorpgs we have tried. It's not just the terrain though, when the combination of highly detailed and exquisitely designed textures, high poly count models, spectacular particle and shader effects, and the most realistic looking sky I have ever seen in a game including day and night cycles, you are in for a jaw-dropping beautiful experience. All I can say in addition to my comments on how it looks, is that I wish that the client wasn't such a resource hog, though I really do appreciate the beauty of it all.
The crafting system is one thing that truly sets Horizons aside from other games. So far all the points I have covered are things that are done well in Horizons that I feel are not so elegantly integrated into other games of the genre currently available, however the crafting system is worth additional mention. I won't try and describe it, I'll leave you to experience it for yourself if you would like to try the 7 day trial
I will say a couple of things quickly on it though... Generally player-crafted is the accepted standard of equipment in Horizons. Sure there is rare equipment of many types that is dropped from monsters or rewarded as quests that are part of events, and there is always more being added, but the difference between rare equipment and player crafted is that with player crafted equipment, you get exactly what you want, and it does a very good job of providing the magical benefits offered by the techniques crafters can use.
Like I said, I have highlighted aspects of the game that truly set it aside from others of the same genre. There are all the usual things such as tasks, quests, epic quests, adventuring, grouping, guilds, events, invasions, that other games have, and of course there is the ability to play as a dragon if you so desire.
Give the 7 day trial a go. You don't lose anything except a few hours a day for a week by trying it out
Give the free trial a whirl. Although you need to put in a credit card to use it, just cancel a day or two ahead of the trial end date and you should be fine.
I think you should definitely try the free trial before buying.
Nothing bugs me so far, although I have only played about 70 hours. It is just a great game with VERY nice graphics, and the creatures get better and better the higher you get. The crafting is soo relaxing lol and the adventuring is similar to many turn based RPG's. The UI is highley customizable, there are a TON of graphical options. The graphics set to full everything will bring the best computer to its knees so a medium setting is what I'd recommend for the average to good system. The textures are among the most detailed I have ever seen in a game, and the music is HANDS DOWN the best of any MMO ever.
It is truly the best kept secret in MMORPG's today. Check out the free trial at www.Istaria.com the download is about a gig and patching will take about 20 mins. Just a ton of game there and the best community I have ever experienced.
The core gameplay really is good. The only thing that bothers me is the lack of quests. I have heard that they are fixing it...just wish I had known that before I started my trial so I could hold off...oh well.
Things that bug me ? Well I'm a patient person, so there's nothing urgent...
Having said that, I look forward to features such as furniture for our houses and taverns. I am eager to see what will happen to my favourite craft school (confectioner) since it is listed in the latest design preview. Also because I am on the european shard of Unity which is hosted by a different company which doesn't have an active worldmaster, I would like to see more WM-led raids and attacks by the withered aegis, the main enemy in the game. The American/RoW shards have such attacks by the enemy quite often since they have active worldmasters.
I'm also a bit of a quest fiend, any quest available that I can do, I do it. So I'm always on the lookout for new quests
Horizons has a surprising number of quests, not to be confused with the huge volume of tasks it has. In terms of actual quests which are a little more involved than such tasks like 'kill 10 of these' or 'gather 5 of these' or 'deliver this letter to Vrex', there are actually a large number of quests in Horizons to be found. Many of them are certainly not grand in their rewards if usable equipment is desired, coin and experience are the regular reward. However amongst them are the occasional quests that offer interesting items worth keeping. Certainly the quests for the epic spells are worth pursuing.
Always seems to be new quests coming out for me to do, the latest set of quests I've been enjoying have been the new Gangaf the Tinkerer quests. I'm about half way through, the boots of speed were a rather fun reward, some people are getting crazy speeds while using those boots !
Hrm...where would I find these quests? I haven't had much luck as of yet.
Sslanis and Kion
See the Trophy Hunter the Town Marshel or Impirial Harold (spelling Im sure )
Other then that, see class trainers for task both adventurer and crafter. Also click on just about any NPC you run across, sometimes they will have a task for you also.