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Questions to old beta testers
Ocllo
Member Posts: 52
I didn't get to test this game the last time, so I have some questions.
1. Is the game world all instanced just like Guild Wars? What I mean is towns being hubs and anything outside the hub is instanced.
2. Does the game have large scale PvP? When somone says ancient Rome / Mythology, I picture massive armies looking to take what people have and massive armies looking to defend what people want to take from them.
3. If the game does not have large scale PvP, how does the PvP work?
4. How item based / gear based is the game?
Thx for your time
Comments
It's been a while...I'm sure someone has a better memory than I but...
1. I don't remember much Instancing at all to be honest...
2. I never PvPed and I'm pretty sure there was going to be an Arena-type PvP element...I don't remember any large scale PvP ever being discussed...I think you can only be Roman...I may remember a Dev saying once that future Plans would lead to other Nations, but that was hardly discussed...
3. At the time of Beta I'm pretty sure this was a mostly PvE Game...
4. Gear based? I seemed to remember it was...Well...gear and Minion based with Minions being your main gear if that makes any sense...
Hope that helps a little
1 - the cities were public instances, meaning that they were instanced but everyone was in the same instance. The cities were absolutely huge though.
Outside world was persistant. Some dungeon instances.
2 - large scale PvP was planned for the first expansion. The first expansion was going to have a different country and its pantheon of Gods and you would have faction based PvP.
3 - other than duels you had group PvP, your group and your minions vs another group. Im pretty sure it was in the Circus Maximus in Rome. Dont remember any PvP currency in beta.
4 - it was gear based. It was a "theme park" type MMO so it was mostly gear based. Never got to end game(I dont think it was even in the last beta) so dont know how gear based it was.
Thanks, I remember now...Kinda like how Moria is on LOTRO...
I have a question for beta testers. What were the priest and mystic classes like? Are there any staff melee/ranged hybrids or is it very cookie cutter melee dps vs ranged dps?
Thanks ;*D
The game world itself was colourful and well represented, it felt very Roman like atmosphere. You started off in a slave camp that you had to escape from, soon after that you got you first minon.
As I remember you could have 5 minons in total. You could only have humans minons at the start but later you could get mythical creatures minons at your command. I played a ranged magic user and I can still remember the joy I had when I got x2 minotaurs for my front Row.
The basic Gameplay was like if you wanted to be a tank character you would aggro the mobs yourself and fill your back row with healers and magic users/debuffers that would automatically heal you when your health was low, I belive you could set them tatics as well. If you wanted to play a magic user class you would control your main charater and have heavies for the tanking in the front row like my minotaurs.
Tatics for Minons where set in a camp that you could call up at any time, and if i remember correctly you could even euip them diffrent armour and weapons.
Did'nt do any PVP as i dont think it was set up for that at the time so I can't comment on that.
The creatures and charcters were well represented graphically, and really did look the part also the location looked really good I remember standing on the harbour once and just looking out to sea.
The only thing I did'nt like was the static feel to the towns and villages, all the local quest givers where just standing still waiting for you to go up and talk to them, it didnt feel alive enough. No dogs running around, no villagers getting on with their daily tasks ect, no noisey blacksmith working away, but It was closed beta at the time and I guess that could have changed.
Im looking forward to its release as I enjoyed it greatly.
This matches my recollections. Really highlight "Theme Park". On the scale between Theme Park and Virtual World, G&H was about as far towards the Theme Park end of things as I have ever seen in an MMO. Sort of disappointed that they aren't revamping the game. I had fun, even with all the bugs, but the world design was outdated in concept and implementation three years ago.
As far as gear specifically, I remember that power of gear scaled up significantly, even during the level 1 to 10 progression, so yeah, I'd say it's pretty gear dependent.
The game was skill based. Initially, the skill trees for each class offered huge freedom as to where you wanted to put skill points and when. Just before development folded, they tried to rework things into more structured skill trees, which was better for balancing and avoiding players easily gimping themselves, but it also took a lot of fun out of game play. I wonder how the new devs will structure things?
Want to know more about GW2 and why there is so much buzz? Start here: Guild Wars 2 Mass Info for the Uninitiated
I was in the old beta, but quit playing about 3-4 months before P2 died shelfed it because I got in the LOTRO beta.
From what I remember, the beta was never in very good shape. The servers were only up for 2-3 days a week... and by "up" I mean, they were up for an hour or two at a time and would crash for an hour or two. There was no global or regional communication system at the time. You could only communicate with other players through /tells or if they were standing right next to you. Your NPC squad movements were like having a bunch of mirror images of you running around. The game needed a LOT of work.
All the same, I really loved the game concept and the ideas they had going. I'm excited to see this one getting picked back up and hope they can do something with it.
I agree that his matches my memory. I'd like to add that I recall if you entered a dungeon in a group you got an instance, if you entered it solo you got the option of going into a private instance or going into a public instance with the default being a public instance.
I recall the game being highly gear based with your gear, minions, and minion gear.
Eh, as others have said it has been quite a while, but I did run a priest. I do remember that I felt pretty solid as a class.
You have to remember that you have your pets to DPS/tank for you, while you provide healing and spell support. I believe the priest classes were ranged casters, but again it has been a while.
The choice of deity determines which type of priest you become (sorta like which skill tree you take). I believe one was dark and the other light. I will have to think for a while to try and recall the differences between them.
Any news as to when another beta, closed, open or otherwise?
I only clocked about 12 hours on G&H before it got canned for Star Trek but.....
1. Is the game world all instanced just like Guild Wars? What I mean is towns being hubs and anything outside the hub is instanced. -
-From what I remember, there was no instances. It was a pretty seamless world especially for back, what, 4 years ago?
2. Does the game have large scale PvP? When somone says ancient Rome / Mythology, I picture massive armies looking to take what people have and massive armies looking to defend what people want to take from them.
-I didn't get to experience PVP but the mythology part comes from which God you "pray to". Different Gods give different benefits/buffs and if my memory recalls correctly, you're not bound to just one if you so choose. Great addition to the game.
3. If the game does not have large scale PvP, how does the PvP work?
-Not to sure but I would imagine it would be on a smaller player scale since once you get a few levels up you'll be walking around with 5+ minions.
4. How item based / gear based is the game?
-All the loot I ever collected, including minions, came from drops off "monsters". It's definitely a game where if you kill more stuff, you'll get more gear...
Hope that helped.
Considering I'm a Diablo 2 loot wh0r3, I like what you put for number 4.
I seem to recall there being a smith or something in your camp that you paid to upgrade your minion gear? Like you didn't need to upgrade all the robes on all 50 caster minions you have, you instead pay to upgrade that item slot on all casters. Does anyone else recall that or am I mixing memories from another game in?
Your right, once your minions reached a ceratin level you can upgrade that classes (ie solider, caster, or healer) armor in your camp. Orginally there was a max of 8 minions you could have with all sorts of formations, they then realized it was too hard to manage and balance while you played in a group so they reduced it down to 4.
I was one of the original beta testers.
From what I recall, the game still needed alot of work. I know thats very general and non informative but hey, for anyone whos ever beta tested, then you know when someone says "man this needs work", it really means this needs work. Like all betas, it was very laggy, had choppy performance ect. Wasnt optimized much.
Gameplay was restricted usually to what they wanted you to play, just like other betas and to the level areas they were ready for you to focus on.
The minions were ok but still needed work on the ai, If i recall you got your first minion very early in the game.
There was no crafting. Nothing indepth anyway, the game would have literally failed in this area. It had an upgrade system of sorts and some odd recipe system for minions which if i recall correctly was lootbased. Not like the crafting people literally begged Deo and Binky for, for like a year. Yes people wanted something deep that perpetual wasnt willing to do, and even wrote up page after page of crafting ideas on the forums for them to use but nothing came of it. Other than the typtical, "this wont be in at launch we want to launch a stable game first" comment developers retardly make on the norm.
It had several classes, like 6 and there were issues with one.. i believe it was the rogue, anyway one class got redone into some strange hybrid mess of a class and the rogue was slated as a post launch addition.
The world however, was gorgeous, if it were to do well it would be in this area . The artists did a great job and due to the nda I never took screens but know that the size of the world and the look of it rivaled and in some cases surpassed qualities many triple A titles have out today. Think aoc? kinda? but better imo.
pretty vague memory of it all but I hardly think it was one of the games headed towards failure, it just needed work and a good player run economy to back up the combat system they were working on which was actually nice. If I could offer advice this time on this try at a launch, Id say do not forget the economy. When perpetual sold sto, they sold it to a bunch of people who dont believe in game depth, replayability and the wonders it can do for an mmo, and now that game is so shallow its only worth a month or two tops of gameplay to any gamer.
Perpetual didn't sell Star Trek Online. They "sold" the IP...and if I remember correctly, it was bought in bankruptcy court. Perpetual's version of STO and what Cryptic made are two different games, COMPLETELY different games. Bashing Perpetual on what Cryptic did concerning STO and comparing it to Gods and Heroes is just bad ...
Gods and Heroes has potential, major potential. Otherwise it would be as dead as Tabula Rasa....
I have faith in Heatwave. They pretty much made a company to "finish" Gods and Heroes. That deserves some major credit.
...It's been several years. Bad game experiences tend to get worse over time....
Well, Id agree, but id think you should read again. Im not trying to flame you but.. I dont think I gave a completly bashing nor negative opinion about the (G&H) game nor its developers in any way, not intentionally. The guy asked about G&H and what us beta testers remembered about the experience which up till today i wouldnt even speak on since perpetual went under, and that was my experience both on the forums and in the game.
Yes it was very limited because playtime was limited. I have no pre conceptions on fail nor mal opinions of the (G&H) game nor its developers, ( unlike some of the asshats in the guild communities there did) and I hope the game does well but im not going to sit there and lie about the experience just so G&H fans from now or then can be happy with my post.. Thats how I got into testing, I tell it like it is and looked at it from a learning standpoint. It was beta and during beta and well before that, the game was found lacking in certain areas..we let them know it, again sir during beta and well before..feedback on an unfinished product. Go figure.
The rest of your short post is pretty much irrelevant and sort of petty sir even for as short as it was? Current or Former Cryptic employee attitude much? To sit there and take the time to try and correct someone over what was "sold" when it in fact sir, was "sold" (Also ..note wait... bo's arent minions? Please ..then over minor details?) And to sit there and say theres no resemblance? What you take a starfleet uniform and slap it on a minion.. call it a bo? Trade it? equip it? sound familiar? I played both games brother (STO cryptic and G&H perpetual). There were only 200 of us who can actually say that, were you one? Or a developer? If not? Maybe you should ask some of the former devs about sto who actually posted and said "That was my idea there," rebutting cryptics "No we didnt use perpetuals stuff". Just whatever, doesnt matter now. You win cause its just moot 3 years later, Cryptic has what they have and they can have it but they didnt get this (G&H) and thats all that matters.
As for your faith in Heatwave int? Man I cant agree, I dont know heatwave, about the only folks Id have faith in there are Chris and Mike (if theyre there), I cant speak for the rest because its a new company getting familiar with someone elses work.
We will however get to see G&H completed and Im happy about it. It deserved to be finished and will get some sub money from me when it is. Matter of fact the same lifetime sub money I planned to use on sto, will go to heatwave.
Till then, my points stand, the game would have lacked without economy and will suffer without it come launch if its not there to compliment the rest of the game. If in fact im reinvited to test G&H, and I hope that I am, Ill be no less opinionated on what the game lacks because I really have seen it's potential and know the former developers passion for the product is as genuine or moreso than mine.
Wel;l your mystic was sort of the opposite of the priest. It was your typical spellcaster debuffer whereas your priest was your typical spellcaster healer buffer. However, the way the skill trees worked in G&H was very much like WoWs in that you could vest earned points into leaning one way or another.
Mind you we didnt get to complete full toons ie we didnt get to levels 40-50 or anything the game wasnt ready for that much at the point we were in. Rest assured if you have played wow or even aoc youd have played the mystic or priest because of the roles they took on. The consensus was that when tools in wow and other games had worked so well, they werent trying to "reinvent the wheel" so to speak according to the community leads. Thus no need to confuse anyone wanting to get into the game and have to go through this steep learning curve.
When your trying to differenitiate the game from another, the differences werent so much in skills and progression so much as it were plot/settings and where they wanted to go with that epic experience of being the son of a god. No other game at that point was like G&H in that regard and no other game had the combat syetm it was to have.Overall It was a different experience yes, but not so much that youd be totally lost when you go into it which was a good thing.
It was sort of like this, you ran quests and looted. It was a lootbased game. During of the course of quest rewards and looting dead npc's ect you were able to obtain recipes which you could inturn take to a blacksmith type guy in your camp who would outfit your minions and the character. (hope Im not lyin to ya there but thats how i remember it). It was more of a trade in type system, apparently an attempt to avoid the grind of crafting and resource gathering.
1. Is the game world all instanced just like Guild Wars? What I mean is towns being hubs and anything outside the hub is instanced.
Nope, each two classes had a different starting zone, it was open world as I remember. Towns weren't instanced and I remember the big thing before it was brought down was someone getting into Rome.
2. Does the game have large scale PvP? When somone says ancient Rome / Mythology, I picture massive armies looking to take what people have and massive armies looking to defend what people want to take from them.
Well its as big as you would think it would be. Each main character controlled a group of 6 minions, so even small scale battles would be pretty big. I was always worried of people just sending all there minions at the leader to kill him and just mop up the minions.
3. If the game does not have large scale PvP, how does the PvP work?
PVP wasn't tested alot before it was shut down, there was dueling in though. Remember getting owned by a dev.
4. How item based / gear based is the game?
Gear from what I saw seemed to be alot. Normal weapons and different items you pick up and sell were in as well.
Thanks for the great info. I have a few other questions for our beta testers.
What is the economy system of this game?
Is the economy mostly driven by the players?
What is the currency named in this game?
Historically, the main currency of Ancient Rome during most of the Roman Republic and the western half of the Roman Empire consisted of coins including aureus (gold), the denarius (silver), the sestertius (bronze), the dupondius (bronze), and the as (copper).
If I remember correctly... the currency in game was pretty much exactly what you just laid out. Gold, copper, bronze etc.. etc...
I played a Gladiator class... mostly DPS, but could take a decent beating as well. Minions I managed to get before beta shut down were a mix of Priest and archer types.
Game is heavy on Gear... before it shut down, I was above lvl 20, had allot of upgraded equipment which made it nice. There are/were plenty of quests available to keep you going... and for the most part, they were like every other MMO, but to give them credit... the quests were nicely done for what they had available.
I do remember doing some PvP, but to what extent, I can't remember.. it's been quite awhile.
Combat for the most part was PvE during the beta.... with tons of pop ups on "how did you like this quest" or "what was your fav part" yadda yadda... type stuff. Which was cool I guess.
Class balance was in need of some work... but still, I have seen worse that is released already. Can't say much for the graphics ... I'm sure they have updated it by now, or plan too. It wasn't bad... but that was long ago.
Game play wise... kind of like Age of Conan ... kinda, sorta. Not as graphic, and not as graphicly intensive... course, that might have changed by now. Like I said, dependant on gear, minions, and the minions gear.. all which was upgradeable. I think most if not all was done thru quests.
There really wasn't too much on the market... you could buy stuff to upgrade your equipment from vendors. Not sure about crafting... don't recall it being in the game at that stage anyway. Don't recall if there was a plan to put it in or not.
Large scale PvP, I believe was in the plan... faction based. At the time of beta it was all pretty limited still as to what we had.
It was pretty fun though.... hope they upgrade it, and continue to improve on the original.
From what I remember the PvE combat was pretty well done. Minions had some issues with pathing etc but I really liked the balance of minion grouping and how you could tweak and gear your group. PvP as you could Imagine with lets say 20 players and each bringing 6 minions to a fight would be pretty large scale... thats 120 blades swinging. Never got a chance to test out the pvp but was able to duel and that was pretty fun.
The devs talked about adding in other nations such as Greece and Egypt i think were the two discussed. (not really sure) What I would like to see is Heatwave actually putting this into the game in beta. like how DAOC did with Albion, Hibernia, and Midguard maybe.. Either or, I have High Hopes for this game and it really did have potential.. to this day I really never understood why they closed the doors to develop an even worse game.
When I beta tested the game I was part of the initial 300 that were invited to play, but due to technical difficulties was unable to play on my rig for a couple of weeks, when I finally could play after a patch or two I was all alone, but was able to level to ~lvl 18 solo. The game honestly reminded me of EQ2 graphics and animations with an open world full of npcs both friendly and not so friendly. The combat was the usual mmo fair. I was never able to find any pvp in the game, but did find areas that seemed oriented towards player duels/gladiatorial type combat. Hope that helps, it was awhile ago.
Cheers mate!
MMO Vet since AOL Neverwinter Nights circa 1992. My MMO beat up your MMO. =S
I was in the very first batch of core testers, think there were about 20 of us, the game played amazingly well and was enjoyable even in that early stage.
it was sad to see it die, perpetual had some awesome people working for it, and they really seemed to want to listen to the playerbase, they even payed for 5 of us to go with the developers to e3.
as for the gameplay it was pretty standard for todays mmo's, quest hubs, instanced dungeons, talent trees, etc.
the god/class combos added a little variety in each class.
hope heatwave actually gets it off the ground.
i miss binky.... aka iclavnius