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My First Day Impressions
SideTraKd
Member Posts: 100
I've played nearly every major mmo release, and I love the genre. I have a decent rig, although it is a little over two years old now, it still stands up. In the weeks leading up to this, I had pretty much decided that I wanted to roll a casting DPS class. Most games I have played healing roles and have also tanked, so I felt the urge to move towards a caster.
Character Creation
Not the most impressive creations, but passable.
Elves
-Awful. If I'm ever going to play an Elf on either side, it will have to be a female. The men look like women, anyway. I can't even look at them.
Bright Wizard
Server - Isle of the Dead
-No lag. None that I experienced. Awesome job on this!
--I did actually end up experiencing brief lag in Webworks PQ... but it wasn't that bad
Mouse selecting self
-Immersion breaking. Why is this even needed? Constantly selecting myself without attempting to, and seemingly at random sometimes. Highlights yourself with an icon and a circle, and breaks immersion. Also contributes headaches in battles when you attempt to select an enemy, but select yourself instead. Becomes a serious pain when attempting to loot. Over time, this got even MORE annoying, not less so.
Confused AI
-Targets sometimes seem unaware that they've been attacked or by whom. A mob was standing right next to me and did not aggro but the mob farther away did. One ran right past me and ignored me. Some just stand there and do nothing while you kill them. The wolves quest in chapter two is a great example of this. Very boring to go around killing 25 wolves that rarely even fight back.
World Graphics
-Very Nice. Not the most amazing graphic environment that I've ever seen, but it doesn't need to be. Competes very nicely with, or wins over, other mmorpgs.
-Straight edged graphic models that appear in most (all) mmorpgs are present, but to a lesser degree, or seem less obvious.
Player Graphics
-Stiff
-Movement sound is the same on any terrain and rather annoying
-Stuck! I found myself getting stuck on several terrain items and not being able to move for no apparent reason. Initially I thought it was because of lag, but then it kept happening, and became obvious that lag wasn't the issue. And, as I said before, I did not experience any real game lag. It didn't happen that often, and when it did, I was able to break free by wiggling a lot. Still annoying. Possibly just a beta thing, though.
-Physical combat feels lacking. It was very anti-climactic to hit something with my staff. I could barely tell that I was doing it. Magic was pretty solid, though. Now I'm really glad that I didn't have my heart set on a melee class.
Sound
-Area music always seems to convey a "battle-drums" setting, even when not in battle. This did seem to happen less frequently as I progressed.
-Can't turn the music off yet without turning the main sound off. This almost killed me, considering my previous point.
-Main theme music is very good and has already stuck in my head after a few scant hours.
-Every once in a while a sound will play as though something has been completed or an objective has been met when nothing is apparent or reported. This is pretty loud and has blasted me out of my seat a couple times. Good thing I don't have heart problems..!
Public Quests
-Fun, but targets die quickly, early ones often with one hit, resulting in the person who can click/skill as rapidly as possible getting the best roll bonus for the loot. This may improve with less congestion once players move on to other areas. A positive point is that everyone gets influence for contributing, regardless of the loot roll. I found myself waiting to do the first one again, even though I had already done it several times and maxed out my area influnce. The highest contribution I was able to manage was 8th, but I did manage to win 3rd on a loot roll, and the rewards even for a lesser bag were not bad. Later on, I did find myself not joining in as much. The idea is a good one, but some more cooperative scenarios would be pleasant. From what I saw, it is all based on "kill something as quick as you can and move to the next". Some things to force players to work together instead of just trying to beat each other to the next kill would be nice.
Quest locations
-Mixed feelings. I don't like being shown exactly where to go and led around like a puppy, but these are marked on the map and not pinpointed. Tells you the area where you need to be but doesn't give you a specific icon. It's a much better idea than directly pointing you to the exact location, and you can disable it if you don't want it on.
Morale
-Rises too slowly and drops too quickly to be of much use so far. The abilities can not be placed in your hotbar, and I didn't see a way to hotkey them.
Combustion
-I can see that I have some, but not how much I have, unless I take the time to mouse over the icon, which is not really possible in a quicker battle setting. Need to know how much I have at a glance because certain skill damage depends upon it.
Tradeskill
-Choosing a tradeskill is difficult because no real description of the skill is provided prior to choosing it. There is information in the ToK for this, though. I have to be honest and admit that on a weekend of play, I would not care one iota for building a crafting skill. Once the game goes live, then I will care.
-I missed lunch... and dinner...
After a midnight snack, I decided to move on to Chaos.
Magus
More AI Issues
-The more I play, the less impressed I am with the AI. Mobs are not reacting well at all, and it is becoming increasingly mind-numbing to kill them. If this is not fixed, I fear that it will become a disaster.
Shadows
-Magus move around on a floating disc. My render shadow is a square, with no
human form element at all. It could be an experience with just my machine, but I doubt it, and I'm sure this will be resolved before release.
I wasn't able to develop a taste for this class and it felt unnatural to me, so I moved on.
Overall, I believe that this is a quality product that has less problems than other games I have seen that were fully released. The game IS fun, if you can find a class that fits your style. The biggest danger this game faces is letting the PQ and RvR turn into a zerg-fest, but the fact that cooperative play and strategic planning are absent on the first day of a lot of new people playing a game does not surprise me. That would only come with time on ANY game.
This game will be a part of my collection and it will be added to my list of current subscriptions. How long I play it remains to be seen, but from what I have seen so far, it deserves a fair shot at keeping my attention.
Comments
nicely written.. (the way I like to read reviews... short and to the point...)...
I agree on many points...
nice conclusion
..Cake..
AI pathing issues this close to release?
Can you elaborate if this was a rare encounter or is it prevelant?
Every third mob I encountered either ran for the hills when pulled, or ran straight past me about two steps, then turned around and engaged. Beta vets I've spoken with said that it wasn't this bad previously, and that Mythic has obviously broken something. Hopefully this problem will be quickly identified and corrected.
ya my magus had same prob with the shadow but not a biggie should be fixed by launch
The following statement is false
The previous statement is true
Every third mob I encountered either ran for the hills when pulled, or ran straight past me about two steps, then turned around and engaged. Beta vets I've spoken with said that it wasn't this bad previously, and that Mythic has obviously broken something. Hopefully this problem will be quickly identified and corrected.
Ahh if they been working pretty good before ,I bet that may be server warp or somthing with the load.
Nice fair review and by points as you encounter them, keep it coming!
You obviously have not played every mmo release if you found the self clicking mechanic hard (target self) to control...it's used in a few mmo's and is not bad in any way whatsoever. Only a novice selects mobs with the pointer, thats what the targeting hot keys are for.
The AI pathing was quite bad on every server I tried, one of them was maxed out, and then I chose the server with the least amount of people. It wasn't just isoloated incidents, it was really bad everywhere on almost every mob. When I would shoot something with my Witch Hunter, I found my self surprised if the mob actually ran to me instead of standing there for 5 seconds.
This is the only real game breaker that I have seen. The 2 second cool down sucks balls too, but I can play through it. The PvE so far has been rediculously easy, but that is to be expected under level 10. The PvP is great though. I have had some really good battles so far. Lots of fun.
However, this game will only be good with a solid thriving population. Waiting in que for 1 hour and never having people to play these Public Quests with would ruin this game.
as for the AI depends on how far you get into the game, i am guessing that the monsters you where attacking where trying to run to you but then they keep fleeing in fear but then they decide to attack you but then flee again in fear, that does happen it does seem retarded but when a monsters flee in fear from you it is because you are to strong for it.
No, it's been bad since the beginning. In-fact, worse in the beginning. Up until a month ago you could not fight monsters inside of dungeons or buildings because they would go into the wall and continue to hit you.
Pathing in the game is horrible. The AI problems you described seem to be exactly what they were in closed beta.
"There is as yet insufficient data for a meaningful answer."
No, it's been bad since the beginning. In-fact, worse in the beginning. Up until a month ago you could not fight monsters inside of dungeons or buildings because they would go into the wall and continue to hit you.
Pathing in the game is horrible. The AI problems you described seem to be exactly what they were in closed beta.
I forgot to add that in my review but you are correct. Pathing is pretty bad for this late stage, they have some work to do.
"Censorship is never over for those who have experienced it. It is a brand on the imagination that affects the individual who has suffered it, forever." - Noam Chomsky
Hmm... that is disturbing then. Pathing's never been Mythic's strong suit. I've had DAoC artifact boss encounters bug on me... last month. That's a full five years after the encounter was released.
Here's hoping they have a team working on it feverishly, and a very large man with a whip standing right behind them.
No, it's been bad since the beginning. In-fact, worse in the beginning. Up until a month ago you could not fight monsters inside of dungeons or buildings because they would go into the wall and continue to hit you.
Pathing in the game is horrible. The AI problems you described seem to be exactly what they were in closed beta.
Man.. that is such a shame, I just can't play a game with such retarded AI.
It's not just the pathing, there are no social mobs that I have seen yet, even when they are right next to eachother. Most just stand around in a small area or run off apparently for no reason.
I feel like I am shooting fish in a barrel.
I can run right next to them and nothing agros, or if it does it stops chasing me after about 15 yards. It is pretty bad, the worst I have seen in a premium game.
I've had mobs aggro, very specifically squigs and villagers. Hell, the first dwarves right outside the Greenskin starter outpost are aggressive and have chased me until the guards pwned them. Also, I've had guards add to villagers.
Regardless, mob pathing and AI aren't ready for release ATM.
Targetting hot keys I use constantly for mobs that are close or for assists, but anyone would know that tab targetting through 50 different mobs to get the one you want near the back is not the way to go, especially in PvP/RvR. But it wasn't so much the fighting that makes self-clicking annoying. It's looting and interacting with environmental objects where it truly becomes a pain, especially if the item is small. Always having to adjust the camera angle just right to get close enough to an object and click it, instead of yourself. And the area that the game engine considers to be "you" is quite wide, which has resulted in my avatar being selected numerous times when my mouse wasn't really near it.
And there is NO reason whatsoever I would ever need to click on myself. Some classes or players may need it, but a ranged DPS with no healing skill doesn't. It needs to be able to be toggled.
That said, it isn't game breaking. I'm not giving up my pre-order, and I will still be having an active sub.
The AI, however, may end up being a problem...
Targetting hot keys I use constantly for mobs that are close or for assists, but anyone would know that tab targetting through 50 different mobs to get the one you want near the back is not the way to go, especially in PvP/RvR. But it wasn't so much the fighting that makes self-clicking annoying. It's looting and interacting with environmental objects where it truly becomes a pain, especially if the item is small. Always having to adjust the camera angle just right to get close enough to an object and click it, instead of yourself. And the area that the game engine considers to be "you" is quite wide, which has resulted in my avatar being selected numerous times when my mouse wasn't really near it.
And there is NO reason whatsoever I would ever need to click on myself. Some classes or players may need it, but a ranged DPS with no healing skill doesn't. It needs to be able to be toggled.
That said, it isn't game breaking. I'm not giving up my pre-order, and I will still be having an active sub.
The AI, however, may end up being a problem...
I agree with you but have to point out ONE reason you want to click yourself!
/drumroll
You get a title for clicking yourself 100 times!! (Its true)
To be more serious I am sure there will be an option to disable self-clicking and I am sure pathing and monster AI will get better. Let's just hope they get it right I have faith in them.
If you are not accustomed to eating kiwi, go slow at first.
I would have to agree here, use the TAB key to target monsters and players
No, it's been bad since the beginning. In-fact, worse in the beginning. Up until a month ago you could not fight monsters inside of dungeons or buildings because they would go into the wall and continue to hit you.
Pathing in the game is horrible. The AI problems you described seem to be exactly what they were in closed beta.
I forgot to add that in my review but you are correct. Pathing is pretty bad for this late stage, they have some work to do.
How can you 'forget' something this game breaking?
I would have to agree here, use the TAB key to target monsters and players
Doesn't sound to me like either of you have been involved in large fights where you need to pick a specific mob/player out of a field. Tab targetting has it's uses, and I do use it primarily, but it is folly to think that you're going to be effective sitting there taking the time to cycle through a ton of targets to get the one you want in a battle situation. You do that, and by the time you have your target, I will have already killed it.
Besides, I already responded to Hydrakana's post...