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Now that NDA is no more...
Harkkum
Member Posts: 180
I would like to hear what the game is actually like. From the screenshots released and information from Heatwave it seems a curious combination of features. The game world seems entirely barren and the system of gods and classes is hardly explained at all. How does this game differ at all from the heaps and bounds of other MMOGs already out or being developed? Or is the only thing this game has to offer its quasi-historical setting?
Comments
Currently I haven't put much hours into the game - but it feels like guilds wars. I also find it very frustrating... there alot of quests, perhaps to many -- to the point that I get overwelmed (could just me, others may not feel this way) -- Questing in this game gets rather frustrating for me (I don't want an arrow like WoW showing me the route, but the location of quest objectives are very lacking... I feel like i'm running more, then anything else... and I'm constantly opening up my quest journal to get the details of my quest, even a simple quest tracker like objectives completed on the screen would be handy. The quests and mobs are also way to easy... I can kill a mob the same level as me in 2 hits... it seems to be always 2 hits and they die.
The graphics are clean and have a realism appeal to them, which I like. Game also has a old school feel to it, just wish is was less themepark... or and equal match of grinding and quests.
The game has more than the quasi-historical setting. Overall, it is a typical game in early beta. I say early because it has just been revived from being in beta previously.
To answer your questions, the land is not barren, in fact it is an immense game world full of all sorts of creatures, factions, quests, etc. I was actually pleasantly surprised. As far as the Gods, it's part of the game is all. Call it an epic quest track that gives you abilities every few levels. That would be the state I would call it right now.
Currently there are 4 classes: Soldier (tank), Gladiator (melee dps), Priest (healer and CC), Magus (caster dps and CC). Honestly, at this point, they are pretty standard. Again, the game is in early beta, so they all are kind of a mediocre fun to play. As far as explaining them all in more depth, to be honest there's not much to explain. Each class basically has 3 areas of advancement as they level: Abilities which you receive automatically and upgrade automatically as you level (core stuff like taunt attacks for soldiers, dps attacks for gladiators, heals for priest, and nuke for magus), Feats which you spend points on as you level (think talent trees or alternate advancement), and god abilities which you gain through completing quests for your god. Lastly, as you level you gain access to minions, which are like EQ1 mercenaries or Hunter pets, but basically add to your overall combat ability. They level with you as long as they are out on the adventure with you. You stick them in the camp and they stop levelling. You get one minion until level 10 when you get another, etc. They are interesting and allow you to do most open world content without a group. Some of the instanced group zones actually require yourself, your minions + two or more other players (+ their minions) to complete. They appear quite difficult, although I have not progressed far enough to see.
To be honest, the game is fun, but it is beta and feels empty. It actually gets to be more fun as you progress, but at this point I think people are having a hard time motivating themselves to get through the level 7-10 range when the game feels boring. Overall I like it, but it's not released yet. If it were released in it's condition "right now" I would not pay to play. I would probably play it for a while if it were free "right now." No telling where it will be in a few months though.
Is the NDA really down? Seems odd for a game that just entered a new stage of beta. I will say this: Daendor is pretty accurate. This is a game that is not ready yet but has potential.
I'll say more if I find the NDA is really down.
The NDA is down. I posted this news item last week:
http://godsandheroes.com/gods-heroes-lifting-the-nda/
We have also removed the NDA from our forums, making all conversations public. if you log in with your G&H account, you should be able to see them easily and reply.
If you haven't seen our State of the Republic by CEO/Executive Producer, Anthony Castoro, you should check it out here:
http://godsandheroes.com/gods-heroes-state-of-the-republic-february-4th-2011/
We have an update regarding our Beta Status & Mature Content:
http://godsandheroes.com/beta-status-update-mature-content/
I will be at PAX East with Massive Online Gamer to promote our Correspondent Contest, where you can get paid to write about Gods & Heroes: http://godsandheroes.com/be-the-gods-heroes-correspondant-for-massive-online-gamer/
We hope you will all come by and see what we are working on so dilligently.
Cheers,
Donna
Not a bad game over all but the graphics are so-so and just about everyone looks the same i.e. armor and robes.
Also like some else has said, there are a large amount of quests that are spread out all over the place. For example you'll get one quest in the first city that takes you to one location, then in the same city you'll get another completely in the opposite direction and there are many similar type quests. Now I know people will say "that's cool, I like non-linear/sand-box games" And that's fine I can agree, but questing is the main xp and it's really not a sand-box game at all. So having this hodge-podge running all over the place quests just make it confusing
Also I know Roman and Greek mythology are very similar, but this game feels more like "Gods & Heroes: Athens Rising"
I do like the fact that Heatwave states they are aiming for a muture audience, so we'll see...
Worth keeping an eye on.
The best thing about the game is the unique 'god power' that they have. I built a toon who worships Bacchus and it's a fun part of playing it.
But, this is truly a WoW clone in every sense: the UI is similar, the gameplay is the same, the quests are run of the mill. There is still some animation work to be done but even once it is clean this is not necessarily a breathtaking game. It's nice looking...but, that's it.
And, the biggest hit right now is that the content is extremely thin. If you're going to be a WoW clone you're going to be compared to WoW. So, you'd better have a TON of content to keep things busy. ATM, this does not.
I think it could be ok as a basic MMO...but, it's going to have a hard time getting and keeping subscribers I think.
Just for the guys talking about grinding / questing. For the record, the only real reason to do the quests are cash and gear. It is a rare occasion where the actual quest reward gives outstanding xp. If you really want to level, it's likely you are better off killing mobs your level +1 than even running back to turn in a quest. Don't even waste your time on a Based on my experience in game, the time spent running can cost you about 50% of your xp for any given session in an area. I generally gather up all the quests I can in an area and go grind something the appropriate level. Once I ding or decide to stop, I run back and turn in quests that were completed. The only quests I go out and immediately complete and return are ones that I want / need the reward.
Be warned though: The current iteration of G&H has a bug with single item reward quests, it won't let you complete them. It is a known bug. What that means is: if the quest only has 1 item reward, it will not allow you to complete it. Cash and XP rewards, minion rewards, starting island quests, and rewards where you have to choose an item function normally.
I'm going to say I disagree with the content being thin. The world is huge and there are quests for multiple levels spread out all over the place. There is a lack of cohesion though, so it has a disjointed feel compared to a game like WoW. But honestly, I find it difficult to compare anything to WoW anymore.
There is quite a bit of content, actually and we're adding more all the time.
Wait till you check out the way player estates work. Very quest/content oriented as well. Also different from some other games you might compare it to. Should also note, we're not trying to be the game for everyone. We're a game for people who like the time period and enjoy adventuring and living in that virtual world.
Anthony Castoro
EP, Gods & Heroes: Rome Rising
http://www.godsandheroes.com
CEO, Heatwave Interactive
http://www.heatwave.com
The game is vast and lots and lots of quests and content.
The quests in a lot of cases especially after level 15 get very challenging and are chained so you do have to travel about a bit but if you do the right quests you open up diverse travel routes that make things a lot faster.
Searching around will uncover additional quests and some of the epic instances provide much better gear, groups required to complete these areas.
The game is more like an Everquest than WoW much more , great world and feel as you play on. Very challenging agro and combat in some areas where you really have to take care.
The quests are not all paint by numbers so you do have to look around a bit and read the quest text very well done for the stage the game is at at the moment. With enhancements to companions and your camp and estate coming along I guess it will get a lot better.
This is a game I feel can be really enjoyed and will have a good community and ammount of gameplaythat is not all paint by numbers.
Quite Impressive.
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Sorcery must persist, the future is the Citadel
Glad you feel that way! Hope the the new Quest UI and Quest Map tips make it even more enjoyable!
Anthony Castoro
EP, Gods & Heroes: Rome Rising
http://www.godsandheroes.com
CEO, Heatwave Interactive
http://www.heatwave.com
I think it may have been a mistake for Heatwave to allow beta access to the average gamer this early in development. Due to the recent trend of using beta periods for hype-generation, rather than collecting user-feedback, many players have learned to view betas simply as free early-access periods for a game that will change little upon release. I've seen quite a few posters dismiss the game entirely because it didn't fit their idea of what a game should look like at beta. I don't believe that all publicity is good publicity, especially in this industry, where first impressions are hugely important, and consumer memory is extremely long. In my opinion, it would have been better for Heatwave to wait until they had something a little more impressive to show.
The game itself is decent at this point, it's just not worth paying a standard monthly subscription, regardless of your interest in Roman history. If all Heatwave does is fix bugs, clean-up combat, and add player housing before going live, I don't see this game appealing to more than a very small niche of gamers, and that may be putting it kindly. However, like others have mentioned, the potential to do something great is there. I can imagine both the estate system and the minion system being really fun and engaging if done right, and as I was exploring the game's vast terrain, I thought to myself more than a few times that it would lend itself fairly well to PvP. If open-world PvP isn't the direction the developers want to take, which is understandable, I think the Coliseum would be an amazing place to offer arena-style PvP matches and other mini-games.
The question is really whether or not the core game-design allows for the type of alteration the game needs to be great, and whether or not Heatwave is able/willing to invest the amount of time and resources it would take to do so.
I will continue to keep my eye on the game until release, not so much because I'm enjoying it as is, but because I really do see a lot of potential in it.
Adhesive33, you make a fair point about the Beta, but ultimately we need a lot of feedback to get the game where it needs to be. There will always be some collateral damage there, but that isn't new. This game has a decent following, and to be honest, we don't need Rift or WoW numbers to be successful (not that I'd have a problem with that!). So, we have to win people over by telling them what we plan to do, listening to their feedback and then executing against it. If we do that well, at least some of the people who have difficulty early in Beta will give it a second look when they hear from people like you that it's worth playing.
We plan to do PvP well, but the game at it's core is a PvE game, and we need to get that party right first. Therefore, we plan to introduce a comprehensive PvP system post launch, incorporating the Estate game, Roman military expansion, Senate Politics and of course...gladiatorial competitions.
I laid out the overall course for the game recently in a "State of the Republic" which you may find interesting.
Anthony Castoro
EP, Gods & Heroes: Rome Rising
http://www.godsandheroes.com
CEO, Heatwave Interactive
http://www.heatwave.com
The screenshots are a bit deceptive as the actual gameplay is indeed worse (visually). The animations in particular are poor and some mobs goes directly from standing up to lying down which looks quite weird.
However these visual short comings I think could be fixed with some polish but as they look like now, I would not play a game released in 2011 and looking like it does.
As for your other questions, I cannot really answer as I could not get over the poor visuals.
My gaming blog
I would like it , when i can download it !...Website down ;(
The website is up fine now; you can visit http://godsandheroes.com and sign up there. We'll be sending out new invites & keys in a few weeks, when we're ready to take on the next beta phase.
Cheers,
Donna
I thought it was pretty solid, haven't played as a main only a few hours every few days or so, there were a few graphical glitches but nothing too bad I felt. Overall I was expecting a lot worse and was quite surprised. I'm not personally a fan of the setting but it was/is better than some.
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The person who is certain, and who claims divine warrant for his certainty, belongs now to the infancy of our species.
Glitches will be fixed. Character textures are being uprezzed as we speak. The death animation bug has a fix going in the next patch.
Visual quality is indeed in the eye of the beholder, but I take issue with the term deceptive. The screenshots we release are unmodified, taken directly from the game unless otherwise noted. The default grahical settings are not at the highest, so I recommend you play with them to make sure they take advantage of your hardware. During a recent live demo, a senior designer from BioWare remarked at how suprised he was at the visual quality. People who say the game looks like it's old generally have older hardware or haven't turned the settings up.
That being said, to each his own!
Anthony Castoro
EP, Gods & Heroes: Rome Rising
http://www.godsandheroes.com
CEO, Heatwave Interactive
http://www.heatwave.com
My only knock is what Yamota had to say. I've been testing the game for a while now and the game has major promise. I don't think it's close to being a finished product in the least so I hope Heatwave works some miracles if they are going to release the game in 2011. I have been grinding hard reporting all the bugs i come across so power leveling is not what I do, therefore I have no idea what the game is like in the higher levels but I could only imagine. The way the pet system is working, there's an opportunity to have major battle grounds with each player and their pets.
This is NOT a WoW or Everquest clone. The system is totally different from the pet system to the fighting (finishing moves). The only comparison is really what makes any game a MMO.
This game has the potential to be EPIC!
Fair enough. As long as the beta period is actually used to improve and influence the direction of the game, I can completely understand the pros of early-access outweighing any cons, and I appreciate you taking the time to explain it.
Regarding plans for post launch, everything you mention is what makes me truly excited about GnH, but I hope you can understand the skepticism consumers might have in regards to features being "promised" for some indeterminate time after launch, i.e., sometime after we've already invested our time and money into the game. As a business owner, I can totally understand the difficulties in getting a project off the ground in a complete and "final" state, and I know Heatwave shouldn't be blamed for the shortcomings of others, but the reality is that many consumers feel they have been burned time and time again by investing in a game based on the promise of future content that never materializes. I do believe that the closer GnH comes to incorporating these features before launch, the better chance it will have at succeeding, but that's probably fairly obvious, and, like already mentioned, may not be practical/financially feasible. Best of luck, either way. Heatwave Interactive seems like an awesome group of people, judging by all the toga parties, and it would be great seeing them succeed.
I have to defend the gfx a bit, I really don't see them being all that bad. In fact, once I maxed out all the settings, the game looked pretty damn good, and I've played everything from AoC to Rift. My only complaint is that the gfx style is a bit sterile, but that's a fault of the art-direction, rather than the gfx engine itself. WoW has continually proven that you don't need a cutting-edge game engine to create an enjoyable and immersive world, but you do need style. GnH is right on the edge, if it can just be given a slight makeover to make everything appear a little more gritty and dramatic, I think complaints about the visuals would end. Just my opinion, of course.
Adhesive33,
I understand your concern about managing player's expectations. I've been at this for a long long time now and I've seen it all, and made plenty of mistakes myself. That's why we're trying to be as transparent as possible. It may not make for the best hype machine up front, but I'm more concerned about making sure that every player that comes is more likely to stay.
Plenty of bigger companies with bigger budgets have had nice big splashy launches and either gone under shortly after, cancelled the game, or put it on life support. Gods and Heroes won't be perfect at launch, but it will be fun, and the imperfections will be known, acknowledged, planned for and dealt with in a very open way.
Thanks for the props. Feel free to keep us honest if you think we're dropping the ball. Our core community has been great about that!
Anthony Castoro
EP, Gods & Heroes: Rome Rising
http://www.godsandheroes.com
CEO, Heatwave Interactive
http://www.heatwave.com
I just got a Beta key from here at MMORPG for this title and have it downloading.
Seeing this type of Dev involvement with not just the CORE community, but also peripheal communities like the one here at MMORPG.com is a BIG PLUS imho.
I'm looking forward to the testing ahead of me.
Anyone and everyone can feel free to disagree with any or all of my opinions and observations whenever I rarely post them; it doesn't bother me one bit. Just know that I'll likely never respond to YOUR disagreement or personal attack, because I know better than to argue with idiots, especially upon internet Forums. See what I did there? -- Dinidain
too bad that game didnt came out in 2005/6, but even now it looks solid and interesting even in beta stage.
Thanks for that, Dinidain.
Our team is committed to keeping that open dialogue with our community now and even post-launch. We're very hands on and I am proud that we can be to this degree. We like that from CSR to CEO, we all listen and respond to the communtiy and their needs.
I believe this sets us apart in a positive way. It has been working so far, with the forum involvement of our team, to these 3rd party sites, to our Ustream Live Dev chats and our IRC channel. We /want/ to talk to you!