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My thoughts on MxO (long)
tonalvoltage
Member Posts: 5
This is something I posted on the MxO boards and I thought I'd share it here as well.
I tried liking this game. I really did. This is not to disparage anyone that actually enjoys playing. However, I'm level 19 and I'm already bored. I almost dread the thought of logging in and calling up Agent Gray for another mission.
Here are a few of my gripes.
Complexity
For a game being released in 2005, I would have expected a much more complex game than what was given to us. There's no in game email. There's no complex crafting. There's no real game economy. No way to edit your profile. No "bank" option to store your extra clothing/weapons/items somewhere (yes I realize they increased the inventory size but it's still not enough). There are scant chatting options, though I do like some of the AIM implementation and being able to chat with those outside of the game. What about a global organization channel? That kind of thing doesn't make sense in a medieval setting, but surely the Matrix in all of its technological glory should have some way for people of the same organization to communicate and organize things. Why no chat bubbles above people's heads in area chat? The effort was made to program "
", why not what they actually said? I could go on. All things considered, MxO is fairly primitive as far as structure is concerned and was less than I expected.
Bugs
Where to even begin? I've had so many bugs and problems with this game. Right now I have probably around 30 something open petitions. To be fair, some of them are feedback and suggestions, but most of them are bug reports, and they all say "Pending Resolution." It's quite aggravating to go through an entire mission to the very end to have the NPC you're supposed to kill not even be there. Or have a crucial mission item not able to be uploaded to a hard-line (I did get around this by eliminating all other code bits from my inventory, but still). Or buy something on the marketplace, have the money taken from your total information, and not receive the item. Or every time I enter combat it switches my clothes around. This is not to even mention the other countless problems I've had logging into my damn account. I was one of those that had the pleasant experience of staring at the "Your character is already in the matrix" for about 20 hours. For another good period of time I was treated to the wonderful message of "Negotiating with servers." I had to reinstall the game *several* times because of some other odd errors. I still get dropped for no reason (it's not my connection) and the lag in some places is horrific (it's not my connection or my computer).
Environment / Missions
The environment of this game is dull, monotonous, dark, and depressing. Dark and depressing doesn't necessarily have to be a bad thing, but I thought the matrix was supposed to represent humanity at the peak of its technological prowess, not some dank hole where everything looks the same from street to street and the only difference between gang members is their title. I suppose this is purely a matter of taste and opinion, so I understand that some people are just nuts about the setting, but I'm getting quite bored with it. All of the buildings have essentially the same innards and structure; I've done enough missions to have memorized the layout of each of the different types of apartments/areas, so no new surprises. All of the missions are the same as well. Kill X. Get data disk. Insert data disk. Talk to Y. Escort Z out of the building. Upload fragment at a hard-line. The names of the NPCs do make me chuckle a bit, but what happened to the critical missions where the storyline was involved? Every so often Agent Gray will call me up to tell me I'm a good little boy, pat me on the back, smile, and hand me a wonderful skill enhancing dress that I can't wear. What happened to escorting Zionists to safe locations and protecting them from fake agents to preserve the peace? At least *that* was interesting. Now missions have no meaning other than to get XP and money.
UI
The UI in this game is one of the most counter-intuitive things I've ever come across. God forbid I ctrl+shift hyper jump without holding down the right mouse button, the camera spins all over the place to give me a grand view of my character landing into a spot of purple NPCs because I couldn't see where I was going. Besides which, ctrl+shift often doesn't even work and I have to rebind it several times to get it going once again. Why can't I zoom all the way in for a first person view instead of looking at the back of my character's head? Why do I have to hold down one button to steer and another to run, can't there be an option to put them both on the same key/button?
Combat
Combat is even worse in the UI sense. I tried all of the new camera options including static, and it doesn't seem to help any. Interlock is a bit like watching a ****** kung fu movie where the cameraman was up way too late the night before snorting cocaine and popping pills. It's still a buggy mess; half of my specials don't work right, or I will win the roll and the NPC will get to hit me anyway. Sometimes I'll win the roll and just stand there like an idiot while the NPC looks at me, and no damage will be assigned. The whole interlock and free firing combat don't mix has already been discussed in another thread, but I agree that something needs to be done. While I'm waiting for my opponent to get up (why can't I just smash his face in the ground while he's down) three of his buddies get to fire at me five times. Why can't I have some sort of area attack that draws in any immediate foes to interlock? Oh that's right, I forgot, fighting more than one thing with interlock is nearly impossible. Not to mention if you and a friend want to engage the same NPC, you all play a polite turn taking game and pause to watch each other throw punches. Also, the whole random rock/paper/scissors thing is getting on my nerves. There is no reason that something a level below me should consistently out roll my every move. This has been discussed a million times so I won't go into it. I'm also not complaining about the difficulty, but sometimes it just doesn't make sense to me.
Clothing Drops / Buffs
What the hell is this about? Buffs like 3% damage resist are completely useless because of my skill cap. What's the point of even having these clothes? Not to mention, I get a +19 bonus from beginning karate and a +19 bonus from advanced karate (don't remember the actual skill names) but since I'm level 19 I am capped at only +19 damage? I don't understand this one at all. Why even stack the bonuses on different skills if it doesn't matter? Why drop clothes with bonuses if they aren't even going to help you? Why does Agent Gray give me high heels and skirts? Is he trying to tell me something? They say that males mostly loot female clothing and females loot mostly male clothing to force interaction. Um, ok, but if you take a look at the marketplace most of the crap up there is for females. Not to mention the marketplace is bugged as well most of the time.
Story
I have yet to see any real live "story" elements happen. I'm a casual gamer, I can't be on 24/7 like some of the people who are already level 45-50 so it's possible I've missed something. I of course will stick around till the end of my free period to see how this all plays out.
Customer Service/ Cancelling your account
Some may or may not know that you can't cancel your subscription online. You have to call a support line, be put on hold for some amount of time, then get *hassled* by a custserv rep that tries to talk you out of cancelling for another 10 minutes. I really don't like this.
We shall see. As I said, I want to enjoy this game. Any constructive comments are welcome.
Comments
aloow me.
Complexity:
Did any one send e-mails in the matrix trilogy? No. Did they get on the Zion broadcast network, or did they have secret meetings in abandoned buildings.
Hell, why go see teh oracle at all! we'll just e-mail her, or give her a buzz on the ole' horn!
Complex crafting.....I assume you've tried to make some of the higher level items and abilities then?
Chat bubbles.....just STFU.
Bank?? You don't think that inventory space in the Loading area with over FIVE HUNDRED storage spaces is enough of a "bank"?? Did you even PLAY this game?
Bugs: Played any other recently released MMOs? Played, say, Neocron or Anarchy Online, even now, years after the've been released? They have more bugs than MxO. More game-stopping make you want to quit bugs. MxO has a few bugs...it was just released. There are almost DAILY patches.
Environment/missions:
maybe you need to leave the slums, and check out some other areas of town. ya know, International, downtown, etc. Of course, byt eh sound of it, you didn't play the game long enough to realise that there were other areas.
Missions...don't like the type you're doing? PICK A DIFFERANT TYPE OF MISSION. If you want to escort NPCs, pick a rescue or escort mission. Or did you even play the game long enough to get to get to teh optional mission lists? By the way, missions also give you faction points, and loot. They're fun to do in a team. Occasionally Niobe (npc version here) meets with you and give you cool stuff. I saw no mention of these things in your little article here, so I wonder if you got that far....
UI:
If you don't like the controls, rebind them. there are several presets, and they are totally customisable. If you don't like the controls, you have no one to blame but yourself for not taking the time to rebind them. Btw....if you press control slightly before space, it works every time. Or you can rebind it to another key...or a mouse button...or whatever.
I agree with you about the lack of a FP view. It drives me nuts.
Combat:
first, teh rolls are random, but the modifiers are controlled by YOU, via equipment, and tactics. If you're sick of your specials failing, maybe dizzy them, or stun them first. I study Kung-Fu IRL....if someone came up to me and tried some flashy special move right off the bat, I'd break their arms.
Only so many people can hit the same person in teh face at a time. You'll just have to wait your turn. You try beating some poor bastage with yer m8s IRL, and see if you don't all get in each other's way if you try to beat on him at the same time. The solution? Pass him around! Or stand back and shoot from a distance with free-fire....
I gotta say it again. If you don't "get" interlock, you need to study the mechanics a bit more and learn to use it effectively. I can take down someone 10 levels higher than me by using strategy and my knowledge of how the combat moves can be used in sequence effectively. You too can learn, young grasshopper.
Clothing Drops/Buffs: most of teh loot you will find....buffed or not...is worthless. It's meant to be either decompiling fodder, worn by n00bs, or sold/recycled.
A lot of skills don't stack teh way you describe, but rather replace each other. You'll notice that for example, Write Code caps out at lvl 15. When you get say, Apparel Maker, and level it to 10, you don't get a 25 Write code....you're still at 15. If you raise Apparel maker to 30, you have a write code (for apparel anyway) of 30. The write code skill was your apprenticeship, so to speak.
On the female-to-male clothing issue, I agree with you. I also hate the marketplace bugs. I put stuff up for sale 12 days ago, that no one can see, thus no one can buy, and I can't de-list it or I have to pay my own asking price....retarded. This area of the game needs more work.
Story:
well, that further confirms my suspicion that you've not played the game very much at all. If you had finished your critical missions, and gotten some of the later ones....or maybe spent some time in the clubs, noticed all teh LED Agents taking over the Blue-pills of teh world, gotten involved in teh battles yesterday, you might have noticed the story. Or if you read the in-game newspaper, listened to RFZ, joined a clan and met main characters, and GOTTEN INVOLVED, maybe you'd have noticed the story.
Customer Service:
Yeah, weak in a couple areas. I think maybe when you call tehm to cancel, they want to know why, so they can improve the game. just a hunch though....I'll prolly never cancel, so I won't know.
In conclusion, I'm sorry, but I think you've not scratched the surface of the game, and thus missed out. What a shame. Did you get past level 10 and get a real Hyper-jump, at least?
IMO, they need to make the first 10 levels more exciting for n00bs, and maybe have a couple critical missions that force players to go to International at lvl 11 so you know that there are other areas of teh game, and that the subways and roads actually do go somewhere.
Anyway, sorry you couldn't get into it...maybe MxO is not for you.
Chill... As I said, I'm not trying to disparage people that like this game.
Some responses:
Complexity:
Did any one send e-mails in the matrix trilogy? No. Did they get on the Zion broadcast network, or did they have secret meetings in abandoned buildings.
Hell, why go see teh oracle at all! we'll just e-mail her, or give her a buzz on the ole' horn!
Complex crafting.....I assume you've tried to make some of the higher level items and abilities then?
Chat bubbles.....just STFU.
Bank?? You don't think that inventory space in the Loading area with over FIVE HUNDRED storage spaces is enough of a "bank"?? Did you even PLAY this game?
Ok, and just how do you send a private message/tell to someone in WoW or EQII? Half the features in MMO's don't fit with their respective genres. In game email would only add to the UI and ease of communication, not detract from the story/setting.
Crafting is a joke... don't even get me started.
And the no chat bubble thing is irritating. Especially in crowded areas it's harder to find who exactly is talking when all you see is "..." above people's heads.
maybe you need to leave the slums, and check out some other areas of town. ya know, International, downtown, etc. Of course, byt eh sound of it, you didn't play the game long enough to realise that there were other areas.
Missions...don't like the type you're doing? PICK A DIFFERANT TYPE OF MISSION. If you want to escort NPCs, pick a rescue or escort mission. Or did you even play the game long enough to get to get to teh optional mission lists? By the way, missions also give you faction points, and loot. They're fun to do in a team. Occasionally Niobe (npc version here) meets with you and give you cool stuff. I saw no mention of these things in your little article here, so I wonder if you got that far....
I went to international and downtown, and even the constructs. Yawn. The missions are all the same, regardless of what type you choose. Assassination missions would have me escort NPCs, escort missions would have me kill people, etc. There's like 10 different building archetypes they used for each section and I very quickly memorized the "instanced dungeons" and the room layout of each. Doing missions as a team is ok, but generally irritating since all hell breaks loose when more than one person initiates interlock on an NPC. I did in fact get some stuff from Agent Gray... I said that. He gave me female clothing that I couldn't use. Whoopie.
UI:
If you don't like the controls, rebind them. there are several presets, and they are totally customisable. If you don't like the controls, you have no one to blame but yourself for not taking the time to rebind them. Btw....if you press control slightly before space, it works every time. Or you can rebind it to another key...or a mouse button...or whatever.
The UI in this game reminds me of the time I played SWG drunk. Don't get me wrong, I'm sure some people like it, I just hated it, even with the customizations.
Combat:
first, teh rolls are random, but the modifiers are controlled by YOU, via equipment, and tactics. If you're sick of your specials failing, maybe dizzy them, or stun them first. I study Kung-Fu IRL....if someone came up to me and tried some flashy special move right off the bat, I'd break their arms.
Only so many people can hit the same person in teh face at a time. You'll just have to wait your turn. You try beating some poor bastage with yer m8s IRL, and see if you don't all get in each other's way if you try to beat on him at the same time. The solution? Pass him around! Or stand back and shoot from a distance with free-fire....
I gotta say it again. If you don't "get" interlock, you need to study the mechanics a bit more and learn to use it effectively. I can take down someone 10 levels higher than me by using strategy and my knowledge of how the combat moves can be used in sequence effectively. You too can learn, young grasshopper.
I know how to play the game. I'm talking about some serious bugs here. I would win the rolls on my specials but instead the NPC would hit me and I would take damage. Wait my turn? Is that how it works in real life? It's not that I don't "get" interlock... It's actually a good idea, just poorly implemented and buggy as hell. It's extremely irritating to "win" every role yet die due to bugs. Not very much *fun.*
Clothing Drops/Buffs: most of teh loot you will find....buffed or not...is worthless. It's meant to be either decompiling fodder, worn by n00bs, or sold/recycled.
A lot of skills don't stack teh way you describe, but rather replace each other. You'll notice that for example, Write Code caps out at lvl 15. When you get say, Apparel Maker, and level it to 10, you don't get a 25 Write code....you're still at 15. If you raise Apparel maker to 30, you have a write code (for apparel anyway) of 30. The write code skill was your apprenticeship, so to speak.
On the female-to-male clothing issue, I agree with you. I also hate the marketplace bugs. I put stuff up for sale 12 days ago, that no one can see, thus no one can buy, and I can't de-list it or I have to pay my own asking price....retarded. This area of the game needs more work.
I heard the clothes are even more useless now with the latest swing of the nerf bat. It's just dumb anyway, everybody ends up wearing the same stuff because that's where the good buffs are. It would have been a better system if you could wear whatever clothes you want and instead loot clothing attachments to put on to any peice of clothing you want. My character in MxO wears purple pants, a yellow shirt, a white hat and a green jacket simply because of buffs. Ug.
Story:
well, that further confirms my suspicion that you've not played the game very much at all. If you had finished your critical missions, and gotten some of the later ones....or maybe spent some time in the clubs, noticed all teh LED Agents taking over the Blue-pills of teh world, gotten involved in teh battles yesterday, you might have noticed the story. Or if you read the in-game newspaper, listened to RFZ, joined a clan and met main characters, and GOTTEN INVOLVED, maybe you'd have noticed the story.
You're right; I haven't played much since I cancelled my account, I lost all interest. But I did however, do all critical missions available to me. The clubs are stupid... you can argue with me all you want, but I don't buy and subscribe to an MMO to go to a fake club and dance with female toons run by men. I'm sure there are real girls out there as well, but the whole thing is just stupid. RFZ? Please. I tried listening to it, I really did. My musical tastes are picky and when they played Vengaboys "We like to party" I vowed to never visit RFZ again. And I did join a clan. One of the biggest machinist clans on the server. Every single one of them seemed like immature punks, right along with practically everyone else I met.
Customer Service:
Yeah, weak in a couple areas. I think maybe when you call tehm to cancel, they want to know why, so they can improve the game. just a hunch though....I'll prolly never cancel, so I won't know.
In conclusion, I'm sorry, but I think you've not scratched the surface of the game, and thus missed out. What a shame. Did you get past level 10 and get a real Hyper-jump, at least?
IMO, they need to make the first 10 levels more exciting for n00bs, and maybe have a couple critical missions that force players to go to International at lvl 11 so you know that there are other areas of teh game, and that the subways and roads actually do go somewhere.
Anyway, sorry you couldn't get into it...maybe MxO is not for you.
Customer Service is atrocious. First, having to call to cancel is bull. Second, if they want to do "exit interviews" to find out why you want to quit, they should ask your permission, not harass you for 10-15 minutes while giving you their spiel about "exciting new patches in the months to come."
I got to level 19. By then I was sick of doing missions and camping mobs. Hyperjump is freaking cool though, I did like that quite a bit.
Yep. MxO definetly not for me.
Man that sucks. too bad you only gave the game two weeks. level 19? whoopie! really, how can you complain about the clothing? wear whatever you want. i always try and look as cool as possible. with buffs. dont like what your wearing? ever tried switching or trading with someone?
Heres the game. do missions, live the story, chill at some clubs. repeat. But, may i ask, what game are you going back to and why is it better than mxo?
I may try it again in a few months. I had some other game breaking problems as well; for a while my char was bugged and for 5 days or so it sat there at the "Negotiating for servers" page. For a while the devs told me I might have delete my character and start over, which I refused to accept and demanded they fix it on their end, since I knew it was their problem. Thankfully that issue was resolved, but I encountered so many bugs while playing it was ridiculous. By the time I decided to cancel I had maybe 45 petitions open.
Right now I tried out EVE online and am loving it... it has the depth and complexity I was looking for that MxO didn't. But, to each his own.
Level 19 is high enough to make an accurate evaluation of any game. Why should you have to grind to 40+ for the 'fun' stuff? The game should be fun at all levels.
so do something besides level. How about you get out there and help your faction in the events?
WharG0ul, you're boarderline trolling. Calm it down a little.
Thanks
KillerTwinkie - That one guy who used to mod mmorpg.com's forums.
Level 19 is high enough to make an accurate evaluation of any game. Why should you have to grind to 40+ for the 'fun' stuff? The game should be fun at all levels.
no no no. i was stating two weeks. two weeks is nothing. if i gave WoW two weeks i would have quit. you know why? westfall sucked, elywyn forest sucked. level 19 is high enough to have an impression, but two weeks of retail is hardly enough. the MxO team patches like crazy mo'fos. no offense. i think there have been two patches already, and two live event update patches. thats 4 patches. they are working on the game and so far, the leveling is dumb, but the pvp ROCKS!
You're talking about time. I'm talking about interface, mechanics, and content. Most MMORPGs improve with time, but that doesn't mean you can say 'this game is will be good a year from now so it doesn't suck now!'. Level 19 is more than enough time to get to know the basic mechanics of the game and experience enough content to make an accurate evaluation whether it's enjoyable to keep playing or just a pain in the butt.
unless of course you spend that whole time doing something lame, and not enjoying teh better parts of the game.
A player could start a new toon and grind like mad to level 19. Wouldn't be much fun though.
But, if that player stopped looking at MxO like just another MMO, and went out and enjoyed the story with a good clan, participated in the constant events, the PvP, and did misisons with a team, they would have a lot more fun.
the thread starter just obviously needs to play another game. That's ok, that why we HAVE other games, not everyone likes the same things.
then why do you have e-mail notifications if you don't want people to actively participate in discussions?
It's not like I run around flaming everyone, calling them names and what-not.
GRANTED, I did tell the thread-starter to "STFU" about chat bubbles....but they're chat bubbles.....ugh! I probably shold have used a cute little smiley so they knew I wasn't trying to be insulting...more of a "you gotta be kidding me" type thing.
Whatever. If I don't post, I lose my rating, if I do post, I get told I'm a troll.
IMO, the real trolls around here are the people giving games they've never played a negative rating because it's the cool thing to do or might compete with their game, or something.
Yeah, well, you recieved your warning for trolling and telling other members to "STFU". I have read your posts in these forums Wharg0ul, and as I said before, it's borderline trolling.
You can post all you want, but make sure its not bashing other members or telling someone that they're stupid because they're not participating in the story.
You know the drill.
KillerTwinkie - That one guy who used to mod mmorpg.com's forums.
well, I certainly apologise to anyone I may have insulted, but I think as far as MMORPG.com members go, I'm not exactly the most abrasive. I pretty much try to be helpful, and engage in debates enthusiastically...maybe too enthusiastically.
Part of it I guess is the rampant bashing by people who have never played this excellant game, or played it very little, or only played the beta. I don't know what the community here has against this game, but it is excellant, and I simply can't let it get bashed so unfairly.
I'm not a "fanboi" of the Matrix. I've played a fair share of the games listed on this site, and enjoyed most all of them. But in all other MMORPGs, there has never been one which captures teh RPG spirit like MxO.
Once again, I apologise if I upset anyone...(I didn't hear anyone crying), but this game is far too good to be deserving of the treatment it gets here.