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So much viral "antimarketing" on CO, great game, tons of potential; initial review
sanskrit
Member UncommonPosts: 95
Viral marketing and "antimarketing" are all over the web these days. People with a vested intrest or anti-interest in a product are dishonestly touting or negging everywhere. It's all over MMORPG.
I thought about trying CO, but hesitated when I saw all the hate on this board. Gave in and dropped the $50 just to see how they did the much vaunted character generation. Am so glad I wasn't swayed by all the ridiculous hate here, and think this is a great game with tons of potential.
My background, all from launch: AO, Shadowbane, WoW, GW, AOC extensively, many other games tried.
Review:
Launch 10 of 10, the best launch of an MMO I've experienced slightly above GW. Exactly ONE crash in 36 hours of play, no memory leaks whatsoever. It is the first ever MMO I've been able to play for 8 hours straight at launch wthout any crash, bug or glitch. Truly amazing.
Bugs 9 of 10, have experienced only a couple of buggy missions over 100+ completed. Outstanding.
Performance, 10, easy on hardware
Graphics, 8, the zones ive seen so far look great. FYI, I would give AOC a 5 for graphics because of the repetition of graphic elements, even though it's a very "pretty" game, so take my rating with a grain of salt.
Underlying gameset, 9, the way the powers, gear, trades, I rate GW a 10 in underlying rules of character ability usage, and combination of complexity of powers and lack of clutter, and AOC a "1" so adjust your expectations accordingly here.
GUI, 9, smooth, easy to learn and use. Lots of control without the "screen mess" of wow and other games
Character generation and appearance: 10, the best I've ever seen. One of the hallmark complaints in MMOs is that everyone looks the same. This game sets the standard for character appearance in MMOs going forward, and for that alone it qualifies as "next generation."
Fun factor PvE: 8, same old MMO kill and escort missions or this would have been higher.
Fun factor PvP 10, incredibly well-balanced for a two week old MMO. There will be some tweaks, but the system is solid overall. IMO. this has the chance to be the best PvP MMO since GW and that's saying something. If they could somehow get a player controlled assetsexpansion into this game ala AO Notum Wars or Shadowbane, this could be amazing. Mass PvP in this game could be amazing.
Yesterday I did 8 hours straight of arena PvP without a single crash, lag spike, etc. Had to tear myself away from the comp. The hero powers in PvP are amazing while well-balanced for a startup MMO (some few tweaks needed unlike every other MMO I've played where balance somehow eludes the devs. This game should also prove harder to hack and exploit for PvP than other games.
The bad:
People complain about poor grouping mechanic. Well DUH, name me an early launch MMO where grous are prevalent, WOW certainly wasn't. This game has tons of raiding and group instance potential.
Well I really have nothing bad to say. This is a very solid product with a very solid underlying ruleset.
Final: IMO, this is the best MMO since GW with extreme potential. Compared to utter, miserable failures ala AOC, this game really and truly shines.
Feel free tp disagree, plenty of room for that, viral antimarketing hate spammers please spam elsewhere though. or I'm going to make you look like the idiots you people generally are...
Comments
/popcorn
i have enjoyed the game so far. i limit my gameplay so i wont be done leveling my toon within the first month of playing. overall, i like it.
Very much enjoying CO. It has some "forgivable" flaws and needs some balancing still ,etc but over all great game. The only thing I disagree with in the review is best launch. CO had a pretty good launch and crashes were minimal. LOTRO had a better launch though and deifnately holds the #1 spot that i have seen to date.
CO would have had an even better launch if the day one nerf patch had not been put in place.
It is a fun game though and I played through the Monster Island Crisis now which was about the most fun I have had in an MMO so far. It was an absolute blast and I was with a fun group.
The coming content and new power set looks good too. They need to add Growth and Shrinking power set as well since (based on Monster Island) soem of the Mechanics for your hero to become gigantic are in place already.
Hard to take somone serious when they claim "so much viral antimarketing"...
Didn't even bother reading what has to be a very biased review.
Most of the negative stuff I've read is about the plan to charge real cash for performance enhancements at the item shop, in addition to the monthly sub. Cryptic said that there will be some of this, but that these items will also be available in-game.
What's that look like at this point? Is the item shop fully operational? Any performance enhancements available? If so, can you get them in-game? If you can, is it part of a fun quest or is just a boring grind that is more likely to get you to go RMT?
This game has "potential" but as it stands now is not a great game. Every launch has bugs and CO is far from any exception as the game is riddled with bugs, From broken missions to actual game mechanics being broke. However the most glaring problem is the complete lack of content. The zones (what few they have) are very bland and become boring rather quickly. Also the developers have even admitted to the lack of quest after there patch that reduced xp by 40 percent at launch.
The trouble with mmorpg.com is that it's full of MMO haters and people that don't even play or own the game they are bashing. This place is all about venting your frustrations, and nothing more.
This dosent make any sense, If they dont own or have never played the game why would they be venting there frustrations about it?
What about the viral promarketing?
It makes more sense for Cryptic to send a few paid posters to the gaming sites to talk up the game than for some other company to hire forum saboteurs to torpedo the game, since Blizzard, NCSoft, SOE don't automatically gain anything from people not playing CO.
"" Voice acting isn't an RPG element....it's just a production value." - grumpymel2
great game. Only crashed once in 3 days but got right back in after 30 mins
Have No Fear Cohas is here!!!
This dosent make any sense, If they dont own or have never played the game why would they be venting there frustrations about it?
I said fullstop, mmorpg sees alot of people venting their frustration. I said there are people who bash a game they've never played, didn't say they're frustrated with a game they've never played.
Its an odd by product of internet speak that not LOVING a game is all it takes to see you labelled as a venomous hater and conversely speaking positively somehow makes it legitimate to label you a fanbois.... The truth of the matter is more likely that the people throwing these labels about are generally trying to intimidate or apply peer pressure to force through their own subjective view without going to the trouble of actually making their own case or arguing anothers....its certainly not a practice to be encouraged and the worse way to begin a review.
Like any game CO has its merits and its deficiencies, where each lie, and what you personally seek from a game really determines how you percieve it. A review is a subjective opinion on a game, its value to another lies in the trouble it takes to explain its reasoning because that enables someone to assess the reviewers bias and draw some conclusions of their own.
Thankfully people can and should exert discretion when looking at any form of marketing beit positive (although we have come to accept it in daily life, we should remember it is based upon the principles of exagerating or even misleading to direct the reader - it is somewhat telling that this form of coercian doesnt' ignite the OP's anger) or negative (which the OP is quick to denounce but perhaps is just a case of balance asserting itself.)
In terms of the future we might see a games larger potential but we have no way of knowing when or even if it will be realised so the only valid comments are to what is actually in place.
At all times keep an open mind, assess anothers opinion by all means, but be wary of the extremes and look for honesty more in what is not said than what is shouted and screamed in your ear.
So is this the "pro-marketing" review? Are you a employee of Cryptic? I mean, I think this is a fine game with lots of potentiial as well. But I am not the 10/10 guy you seem to be. I mean, 10/10 is perfection. That means that element of the game could not BE any better than it is. Sorry bub, but there's no part of this game I'd give a 10/10.
I give your review 4/10!
Please list these broken missions because at lvl 25 I've only run into 2 busted public missions and they're both fully functional as of last week. Also list these broken game mechanics...I've not noticed any...sure there's some unbalanced things but what game doesnt have balance issues? I've also not noticed this lack of content we're constantlyf inding things in our crime computer, drop quests etc. The game launched with a minimal set of zones boo hoo..thats what expansions and free content upgrades are for. I think if theyd' of launched with TOO many zones like say hmm Warhammer the population would of been far to spread out and thus reducing the amount of fun when you can't complete anything that requires more than 1 person.
The xp reduction was removed by like lets see LAUNCh...and the lack of content is only towards the end levels there's more than enough content pre lvl 30.
Right now I am at about a 7.5/10 based on the current state with a 10/10 based on potential. For me it all depends on how quickly Cryptic can put out more content to fill the XP gaps, and add more grouping content in general. I would also like to see each set get about 3-4 new powers to help make each of them more complete.
Someone may have mentioned this already but it isn't really "viral anti-marketing" it is simply good old fashioned word of mouth. And in this case there are a lot of dissatisfied players so you're hearing a lot of negativity.
Look at the comments of people defending it, when someone's defense to a post of "Lots of broken missions" is "I've only run into 2 broken missions" well that's not really helping the game.
If you are a huge fan of being a superhero and are willing to overlook all the issues with the game then good for you, but most people aren't willing to ignore all the broken parts. It also doesn't matter if many of those broken parts are fixed within a month, the damage will have been done. When people pay $50 for a game and then run into broken features and balance issues they get frustrated and quit. They don't want to wait and see if it all works out in the end because they have to pay to wait for it. And usually those same people won't come back once it is fixed because they're already fed up.
The truth is companies have to do smoother releases, sit in beta longer and let more bugs be found and fixed. When there are so many MMOs out that are running, free to download and then just the monthly fee, and don't have broken parts anymore, there is no point in playing the new broken MMO with little content.
Problem is they could not Atari had set fixed deadline for the release, this is far different from Aion where NCsoft is publishing/dev the game or WAR where Mythic is owned by publisher EA which was flexible with its release date. IMO this was best time to release the game wait any longer and they to face up against Cataclysm and TOR. This gives them time to polish it up by summer 2010.
Underlying mechanics of this game is good unlike WAR or AoC so i do not see why people won't be willing to give Devs some time to fix things, but it comes down to how long.
I'd really like to see the massive bug report that some are complaining about. Im at level 26 and havent ran across a bug yet....maybe I'm just stupid, but I don't think that's the case.
As for lack of content, every game I have played from it's beginning has lacked content to sufficiently and fluidly level to endgame. WoW had gaps at every 10 levels and once you got to 50 it got even harder to go without grinding. Silithus didn't even have content in it in those days. LOTRO had a gap at about level 25 or 26 for me at least. But by that time the quests, zones and mobs had gotten so repititious that I had given up on the game. That and the fact that too much of the content required a group. AO still requires massive grinding. WAR seemed pretty fluid, but you had to go 40(?) levels killing the same mobs over and over and over again with quests fit for a FTP korean mmo. Do I need to mention AoC? lol
Lack of content is not a "Launch problem" and it is not a major issue if it's only about 3 levels worth that's missing, which from what I've read on the official CO boards (I'm at level 26), is what you'll face and that only tends to happen in the last 10 levels.
As for a small world, I disagree...for a launch it's very big. And the areas are sandbox style rather than linear pathed instances. It pretty much makes me forget that the areas are zoned instances.
As for the areas all looking the same....I have to disagree again. Yes, the desert still looks like a desert no matter where you go in the desert and yes Canada is still cold no mater which direction you go, but the inhabitants in each area are unique and their "stomping grounds" are completely different from each other. For instance, in the desert you have the ghost town, the toxic waste site, the theme park and the prison....all very unique from each other. Even a game like WOW didnt really do this. Most of the towns in WOW had the same old copied houses from level 1 to level 60 (at launch). There were unique zones, but no true uniqueness with the zones i.e. everything in said zone had a very similar feel. So basically what CO did was make a desert and throw a ton of "mini-zones" into it....same with Canada, the city and I cant comment on Lumeria or Moster Island seeing as how I havent gotten to those locales yet. So, in truth, Co has a reverse world compared to many other games. Instead of 2000 zones, they built 5 zones and added several unique areas to each of them.
You take this and the fact that this is one of the most in-depth games as far as character creation and skill choice (probably since AO) and you have yourself a winner. The only problem is that some people just dont like Superhero games, solo-friendly atmosphere, a challenge(now that they fixed difficulty) or cell-shading and you can't tell them their wrong...that's all opinion based. What you do need to do is take an objective look at past launches and realize that CO did provide one the best launches in MMO history based on things that can be compared.
Either way, the game will be a success if alot of people play it, be a success if enough people play it and be a failure if not enough people play it and that's really the only true gauge of a games success.
Me personally, will quit a game that is broken and never come back or one with too little content. Why? Because I just paid $50 bucks to have an unenjoyable experience and I'm angry.
Different people have different outlooks but for me a company should wait and release a game when it works and has enough to keep players busy, releasing earlier to be out before other big releases doesn't help you if your game doesn't work as it should. Then instead of losing people because of other big launches you lose people who don't want to play it and won't come back, plus by the time it's all working smoothly more games will have been released. Where as if they waited an extra 3 months they would of still been in before the big releases and would of had it polished. Unfortunatly for them you pick who you do business with, so if the company you picked is forcing you to release before it works, it is still your fault.
But I'm a person with little tolerance for such things and maybe it's not a big issue to other players. Once I write off a game though I never go back and try it again. If a game is functioning solidly but I get bored then I will go back again later to try again since the game was fun I had just run out of things to do, if the game was initially broken or so poorly done nothing was fun then I never try again (eg. WAR).
As far as CO is concerned I am just offering a view of how other players might be approaching this, and why there are so many negative posts about it. When you spend money and something isn't fun then you get pissed off. For me CO was never an interesting enough game to spend $50 on. But since I haven't gone in and experienced the broken yet I will be willing to try it once it's free.
That's basically become my philosophy on MMOs lately, wait for the game to become free and then try it out. You save money, the major issues are normally fixed and there's more content. And definetly never ever preorder.
OP might be very experienced in MMIO's but apparently is sort of new at Internet forums. Most of us here won't believe a lot of what is posted because we know that people's reviews are based on their own preferences and tolerances, and the results vary widely.
I must say, the OP looks like a viral fanboi post, with so many 10's (no game, ever has any feature that's reach a 10 IMO, there is always room for improvement in every area).
So we have to take the OP's opinion with a grain of salt, just like we do the negative posters (and outright trolls)
This game caused some people problems. We saw reports of not being able to get into the early release (yes, I know they failed to read), we saw complaints of significant server downtime in the first 4 or 5 days of the release as well.
We've read about the lack of content, which is so prevalent some created a thread here to provide tips to people on how to avoid running into the problem.
Some of the PVP builds appear to have been over powered, and the PVE was so overbalanced the Dev's nerfed it on the first day much to the dismay of many people who were used to a more rapid pacing.
The person who rated it about 7.5/10 is probably being more honest, and I'm just as suspicious of folks being over positive as I am of their being too negative.
No, I don't think there is a coordinated attack on CO to bring the game down, its just too niche to even bother with for most companies to worry about..
"True friends stab you in the front." | Oscar Wilde
"I need to finish" - Christian Wolff: The Accountant
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
You are welcome to your opinion. I was quite clear, or so I thought (in more than one place in the review actually), that the high numbers were -relative- to my extensive experience of AO, SB, WOW, and GW, all from launch, and many other games from lesser play, rather than some ideal of the perfect game. Compared to AOC launch, for example, and in the other categories i rank, CO is indeed a perfect 10. An ideal perfect 10 of a game? I'm admitedly not qualified to say. Please don't put words in my mouth.
1. Re: my lack of forum experience - Did you happen to see my join date? (which ironically precedes your own... by two years). I have lurked this site for years before actually registering. You see, I actually spend my precious gaming time -playing- the games rather than making 8000+ posts here. How bout you? As far as internet forum days go, my experience goes back to old fashioned BBS in the 80s. How bout yours? Weak try at ad hominem.
2. Could I have been more clear that the ratings I gave were subject to -my own- preferences, even stating as much several times? Are you quoting from my review where I advised readers -expressly- to "take my opinion with a grain of salt?" pfffft
3. The problems you list are relatively trivial, and part of the nature of all new software, not just games. I actually played all the games I listed during the first few weeks of launch, and in comparison, this game is a 10. Stop putting words in my mouth. I never said this game was the perfect piece of software, just rated it in relation to other launches.
4. I find it funny that you addressed -none- of the points in my post specifically, yet took the time to type out such a long reply, which I rate 2 of 10 for entertaining troll factor.
I think Cryptic have done a good job techincally with CO, its actually pretty robust, I am sure the volume of content will be addressed into the future, however I don't believe these are the real concerns with this game and the lack of real depth and lack of genuine conviction in the theme will always make for a lacklustre post creator experience.
Ultimately all we have at present is a character creator whose physical application (ie the world you step into) is completely unresponsive or unreactive to anything you choose to do (by design not by accident). it's a world where all the myriad choices of customisation count for diddly squat - there's literally only one thing to apply your powers to once you are out of the starting gate. The world is generic and static, there's no element of player control/choice in how things are resolved and no element of variety, no matter what your powerset, in what you can do to solve them (the choices, consequence and responsibility that comics use to define character are all absent).
Given the experience of CoH and general progression in MMO's and AI, I think Cryptic have lazily or carelessly opted for a very old fashioned style world which actively exists to undermine any virtue given by its characetr creator - as if the variety of choice at the outset just exagerates the complete absence of genuine variety later in the game.
game sucks, end of story..... tried it, hated it, no content, battle system isnt that great, graphics are pretty but take a huge hit on performance (even with a good machine), very few "good specs" if you want your hero to actually do well...... moving on.
You are choice impacting the game world is the future of MMO and no MMO currently out has it. TOR and Secret world will incoporate this.