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Ok, so what the hells new with this game?
Bahk
Member Posts: 259
Heya everyone, lol I was thinking about returning to this game. I played it when it first released for about 4 months, but it looks exactly the same when I left. No expansion or anything?, anyways hows the population? is there any end game raid material in the game? Hows the community? thanks
Comments
1) No expansion no talk of an expansion
2) Population is small. Choas has around 300 people nightly primetime visible. No idea on invis but thats pegged around 50 to 75. Order has around 200 to 250 nightly primetime visible.
3) no end game at all and no raiding potential. No dungeons basically and no time table on when or if. They are still dealing with the games fundamental flaws first before they would even consider designing a dungeon.
4) Community is small therefore tight nit. Its not a symptom of the game but a symptom of the smaller playerbase. The smaller ANY MMO community is the better and more helpful they are. its pure math and not the second coming of Tulga.
5) what has changed since you played
a) world was completely changed as far as locations since they merged. Same landmasses just things changed around. They added a whack load of golems.... other mobs as well. There are about 6 mob models in game with varying skins for the levels of mobs.
b) expert forms and resources were put in game ( no tier 6 yet though its in development apparently)
c) Dragons have been heavily worked on and improved playability wise. In fact you will mostly see dragons now days. Hoard leak removed. Ancient Right of passage along with adult ROP is in game. Lairs just added. There are 400 of them on each server
d) you can now port with certain cargo discs in tow. I believe it is the one stack item discs. Helps with construction. Portaling costs are higher when you do so.
e) pawnbrokers were just nerfed in that you can no longer sell mass quantities of items to the pawnbrokers to make money. In fact they are only good for selling what little money drops there are in game. This change is not going over well. Two sides of the camp one that supports it and one that says the player population isn't high enough to stimulate the economy and revalue money.
f) Mr Beagle was just brought in to write quests and a backstory for the game. But this isn't the second coming of the lord that the game believes it to be.
g) some quests added for bipeds but when compared to most MMO's horizons has next to no quests.
h) Performance issues-- have been improved. The portaling memory leak has been improved though not eliminated. You can port a good number of times if you have the horsepower and almost never have to relog to clear ram. But overall DPS issues are still very much present. This is evident when you walk into a player town and the game has to load all the structures. You will have to do things like turn spell effecs off when hunting etc etc. But note it is indeed improved since YOU last played but still very much under the MMO par for performance. In short you really need to take their stated specifications and totally trash them. If you have the horse power the game runs ok though not great. ( See p4 3.0GHZ and 2GB of ram and smoking video card type of machine)
Since you asked about raid material I can safely say this isn't the game for you. Horizons is a laid back game one in which you chit chat when people do talk and grind away the levels. There are no dungeons and not a lot of content to keep you occupied. If you like loot from your mobs than Horizons definitely isn't for you because mobs still mostly drop crafter resources mixed in with dragon only hoard drops and the odd crystal. But in the end they have a free 14 day trial. I believe the game can keep most occupied for about 3 months before they have experienced everything that is horizons. So if you are looking for an MMO to stay with at this time Horizons is as well not for you. Consider it an open pay to play beta. Some people like it. Lots don't.
This is your should I play horizons question
1) If you like to adventure, dungeon crawl and like it when you loot a fallen monster than Horizons is not for you
2) If you like to craft and you like to build things than horizons may be for you.
Your mileage will vary.
I dont get it, why doesnt this game die? It has under 1,000 active people playing the game. Except for the dragon lairs and AROP, there really isnt anything that seem to be improved since I left the game about a year ago. Yes it really had no content. I just makes me laugh how the devs used the dragon as a complete marketing tool to help bring in players. In a way, it worked but they screwed up people left because of it.
Have played: CoH, DDO EQ2, FFXI, L2, HZ, SoR, and WW2 online
well...
HZ has a feature that no other game has. It has plots and with these plots is something they do called plot reclaimation. That is people will lose their plots 30 days after they cancel their accounts. Lots of people simply do not cancel their subscription because they VAINLY hope that the game will improve to the point where they can stand to login. So whereas chaos and order are having LOW nightly populations is in no way a reflection on how many PAYING accounts they have. So because of this feature Tulga gets a boon in that the farmer joe servers they have aren't being maxed out by their paying player base. They not only save money this way but get free money in return.
No other game has features that make it pretty much nescessary to keep your account active. People simply do not want to lose those pixelated bricks boards and bars they put into their plots. So you then have a world full of claimed plots that aren't being used but paid for.
Hardly the mark for a successful game. But the fan bois will argue with me heavily there.
Who knows maybe one day the game will improve to the point of real honest to goodness playability. Maybe there will be events that are different from those sham festivals they run now. Maybe one day.....
Yeah, I know abotu the plot reclaimation, they had it way back of May '04, when most of the player base was complaining of not able to buy plots of land because of another player who have quit.
Tho I doubt there is much hope some of these players if not any of these players will come back. Plots isnt the only reason people are staying, its because of the dragon. Almost everyone there now are have a hardcore interest in dragons, since Horizons is the only game at the moment that offer a playable dragon, it is the only game they will play. Alot of players who have left, have gone to WoW, EQ2, and Eve Online.
The biggest downfall for Horizons would be another game comes out with playable dragons. Right now ToA is another game in development that have dragons. Another is the game is too laid back right now. People in general dont like to sit around all the time, they want to kill stuff. Doing quests have an adventure to it that you could with a group or by yourself is fun.
At the time, when I first got Horizons, I thought that games graphics were very good. Now they are quickly becoming subpar with everyone eise. There are alot of MMOGs are coming into the market now that are far better.
The client seem to be quiet bugging with Windows, is it the only client I have been on or seen that will cause you to crash alot. During that open house thing Tulga Games did during March, I crashed ten minutes after I logged on. Yeah the same old crashing I always get during my time with Horizons.
Have played: CoH, DDO EQ2, FFXI, L2, HZ, SoR, and WW2 online
Ok, looked more into this game. I have to admit that im impressed with the community, because of this.. the game is still alive, and im suprised it still is, really. Not much has changed within the game aspect since I left I may give it a shot.. hell play the 14 day trial or whatever thanks for the info guys
"No other game has features that make it pretty much nescessary to keep your account active. People simply do not want to lose those pixelated bricks boards and bars they put into their plots. So you then have a world full of claimed plots that aren't being used but paid for."
Actually, UO does this (housing), not only this but also gives out vet rewards based on continued active account subscription lengths. I know of a few other games to that do similiar things (just can't think of the right now, to early in the morning for me
). You make it sound as though its a shady deal by the company, when it actually makes perfect sense, although I do agree it helps them retain customers therefore continue to make money (but then again, thats what all game companies intend to do one way or another).
Welcome back Bahk, hope you enjoy your stay. If not maybe you will be willing to check back sometime in the future as the game continues to improve and change, and give it another shot. Goodluck to ya either way!
I play a dragon primarily and indeed I play because of the dragon...
If I wanted to play a dwarf, elf, human or what ever fantasy biped I would play any of the other thirteen in a dozen fantasy mmorpg's
=> Horizons : Empire of Istaria <=
Rvlion, Dralion, Sslion. (Retired due to bad management and service of GN)
=> Star Wars Galaxies <=
Dralion the Human (Cancelled 2 hours after playing the "improved game")
So if Wow added the ability to play a dragon in it's expansion what would you do?
Incidentally, if I wanted a game where only crafters and dragons get love, where I have to grind for XP, with no quests, almost no dropped loot, almost useless dropped loot, no reward for killing bosses, (unless playing a dragon) extremely poor CS (Unity) no response from numerous tickets, including a name change, no dungeons, no true endgame of any sort, very few armor types, bronze, iron, steel etc. no mounts, lifeless, uninhabited cities, few and far between patches which, when they arrive contain 99% content for crafters and dragons and 1% for the rest, dwindling player base, especially on Unity, continuing client performance issues, no world model, devs that hide in IRC and rarely post info on the forums, no class reps on the forums.....
I'd still be playing Horizons.
Don't stop there, tell us how you really feel ...
About half that list is due to playing on Unity. Until Tulga can get control of Unity back, I don't see you folks getting any kind of decent support. You have my sympathies...
As for the rest of your list, you're ignoring demon-class weapons, blighted weapons & armor, blood weapons, Crimson Scourge jewelry, class jewelry set pieces, and the Rancor, the Zealot, and the Mace of Divine Intervention. You're ignoring trophy drops, componant drops, cash and hoard items, and the *nine hundred* kinds of crystals that were just introduced. The most desirable items in the game are coming from boss mobs that you do have to group up and fight, so your assertion that there's no reward for killing them is just factually inaccurate. Love for crafters always improves things for adventurers; the festival foods just released for confectioners, for example, all produce various combat buffs. How is that not adventurer love?
No dungeons, no mounts, no pets - true. I'd like to see them too. Client performance is an area where improvements have been made and more needs to be done. I'd be delighted if the engine would start handling occlusion properly and using the video card correctly. All things in time, I suppose.
By the way, since you complained about dragons getting so much love - the technology developed for lairs also makes dungeons possible.
Guildleader, Mithril Council, Chaos
Well...
I played on Unity. CS was poor before I quit; my name was changed in the sep '04 merge patch and I ticketed constantly about getting the issue fixed right up to when I quit in december. My final couple of tickets were NEVER responded to. At the time of quitting I had close to 200 adventure levels ground out and 300 craft, 3 gold, and a LOT of gear including a full set of dyed cobalt chain and a full set of teched health jewellery needing a couple more levels to grow into. So starting over on a US server is not a real attractive option. It's been 18 months since the merge and Tulga STILL has not dealt with GN.
Firstly; I said ALMOST no dropped/useful loot. Trophy drops, (crafter) componant drops (crafter), cash (not much, and not many mobs) and hoard items (dragons) I am well familiar with the frustration of trying to get a certain type of drop, but MOSTLY looting trash components for a craft I don't even do..
You mention lots of LOOT added to the game. I quit in december '04, how long did it take before what you mention was added? Confectioners were ONLY just looked at, right? Crystals? took a long time, didn't it. I read the forums through the last year, ALL the complaints and cries for dropped loot, crystals. And I've read posts complaining that a lot of the blighted gear is NOT so good. And these mobs you mention are WA, right? high level, designed to be a challenge for a group of multiclassers. Do regular mobs still spawn, or does the same problem exist, and do they still drop mostly useless craft crap? If my char was level 40 and grinding up through the levels could I still expect to get some decent armor or weapon drops?
But I quit because of the grind. The constant grind to level armorer or jeweller. Once I could make cobalt chain and plat health jewellery I could not face grinding for mithril. I used to login, start mining, and read a book, or watch TV. Two hours of yawning to get another level. It was the same with adventuring, except I found myself running around looking for mobs, but finding none due to the then new spawn system. I wanted some quests to do, even the ones I had were removed or destroyed. They promised racial quests, and I hoped some class quests would arrive too. I also held out the vain hope of racial structures, namely elven, hence why I did not buy a plot.
I watched a guild of 40 active members dwindle down to 5. Cobal, a poster on the main forums, apparently took over the guild, absorbing the few remaining members, after I'd stopped playing. Unity is almost dead now, and though I'm sure the US servers are quite active, starting from 0, especially as an elven scout/druid/ranger would be too painful. I just can't face the grind again.
Finally,
By the way, since you complained about dragons getting so much love - the technology developed for lairs also makes dungeons possible.
Nice, but they are NOT in game right now, nor will they be for some time. When I quit last year I hoped to come back in a few months when things improved. I am still waiting.
Actually, WA of all levels drop blighted gear and crystals. Yes, they are intended for groups to fight - what's wrong with that? Got to have something to do on guild hunts...
Yeah, a lot of stuff got put on hold pending lairs/ARoP. However, as of last night, I own two nice lairs and am just amazed at how they turned out. Tulga gets hit for not putting out expansions - well, the lair system (including classes, quests, etc.) would qualify as an expansion all by itself - and Tulga is giving it away, not charging subscribers another $50.00. I've been waiting over two years for last night, and damn, it was worth it.
I know lairs were promised at release. In the past I've wished more than once that they had just released the floating island lairs & made people happy while they worked on the underground lairs.
Today, I'm glad they didn't. I'm glad they aimed higher and took their time to get it right. I think they'll treat racial structures with the same respect.
Guildleader, Mithril Council, Chaos