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Is this our new home? (used to asian MMORPG)
Warning: Huge Wall of Random Text.
I come from 5 years of Lineage 2, or longer. It was practically where I played my first MMO, and it was a hell of an experience.
Played it since C1, end game was never an issue. Never felt a rush to reach it, because the game was SO grind heavy. But the world was so big, so open, to explore for weeks. I remember many times, because I didn't have enough money, or didn't want to spend 16k on the GK, I actually WALKED underwater from Talking Island to Gludin, lol.
I PvPed a good amount in L2. I was never very strong, or high lvl, but as a Plains Walker, I always felt unique and when in fights I searched for those mages and healers to go backstab them.
I think the aspect of the game I enjoyed the most, was the social one. Being in a guild, making friends, just hanging around, talking, killing some mobs, or having encounters with PKs or in-game "nemesis", or enemy guilds that we always got into fights with. I really enjoyed the easy-to-access PvP in the game. You could just attack anyone you wanted, at any time (outside of towns). It made for a very dramatic and action like atmosphere.
Then I took an arr..., I mean, a break from the game for several years, and finally decided to join the newest big hype.
You guessed it, Aion.
I did enjoy it a lot at first. The grind was not as strong as in L2, but still very grindy. I liked the game play, and the art style, same way I liked Lineage 2. I guess the game play too, it all felt very asian MMO like. I guess a lot of these asian MMOs have somewhat of a similar feel to it. You could say I feel at home with it.
It wasn't the perfect game. But it was actually quite decent, and was doing very well at first. But the reason I left and many of us did, is because we got tired of the bots and gold seller spam in the game. NCSoft didn't try to fix it at all (in time), so many of us players just stopped playing (farewell lvl 36 Elyos Sorceress).
Several years later, I fell into the SWTOR hype. I wasn't actually interested at first, until I played the Beta. In the Beta, I managed to get to lvl 22 in the beta weekend. I got to Taris, and I enjoyed what I had played up until there. Of course I played it solo, it reminded me a bit of KOTOR 1 and 2. Huge fan of those games.
It pre-ordered the game, and played it. For a bit longer than a month. Got to lvl 50 with a Shadow, and got bored. "Worlds" felt small, linear, scripted, dead, etc. I found out I didn't like the "WOW" fighting style it had. I never felt an urge or too motivated to actually meet people in-game and make friends, or join a guild. You didn't really see a lot of people anywhere, but in the Fleet (130 more or less at peak times). And the PvP is what disappointed me the most. 3 Warzones, and I can't say I liked them a lot. Randomly get teamed up with a bunch of people that can't or won't throw a ball in Huttball, Stealthers that capture points in Alderaan while stealthed, and Voidstar.. just awful. And Illum. When I entered Illum and figured that the whole point of it was running around in circles at the central point just trying to click faster on the armament than the other guys, while trading blows with the opposing faction every now and then, was absolutely boring.
SWTOR was not for me. Everything separated with loading screens, small scale, non-community, instanced and lame 4 people "raids". I never actually played an Ops. I guess that's the 1 thing I missed from the game. I hope I didn't miss on a lot. Still, it couldn't replicate the large scale (some people would call it Zerg) PvP of Lineage 2, or fighting Baium, Antharas, Valakas, Ant Queen, Orfen, etc. Not even mentioning Castle Sieges, or GWs.
And in the Story department, yes, I "enjoyed it". I also enjoyed In the Name of the King 1 and 2. While the Story is above average for an MMORPG, it's below average if you compare it to KOTOR 1 or 2. Not that I care about story a lot in MMOs, coming from Lineage 2 and Aion. (Altho I loved it in L2, it didn't really have so much scripted stuff, but it felt a lot like a "the background is there, do whatever you want with the world" kind of feel. It gave a lot of room for RPing, and the atmosphere was just right for that). L2 is the most sandbox-like (fantasy) MMORPG I had the pleasure to play.
I'm sorry for the walls of text. Unnecessary introduction maybe, lol. I just rambled a lot. Great if someone feels similar to me. After all, these are just experiences, not truth.
So, back to the matter of the thread, I'd like to know, if you guys think this game could make a new home for me?
It has the asian feel I'm used to. The art style similar to Aion, and the characters remind me an awful lot to Lineage 2. I could totally imagine the concepts were in-fact stolen or copied by EME.
The grind won't be a problem for me. And I really like the art style of the characters. I'm very used to the sexy barely covered armors that many of the characters use, coming from Lineage 2. Remember the Dark Elfs? Yeah.
I'm not bothered by the Elin, so let's not get into that, lol. Very used to it, having grown up with Anime, still watching it, and they remind me of the dwarfs in L2, only a lot more.. sexualized?
The combat system looks nice, refreshing in terms of MMORPG PvP.
Can anyone compare the game to L2? Is it as open worlded? Without instances, large scale PvP (open world), and with good community opportunities?
One thing I REALLY miss, is that in L2 you had like 1 million classes. Every class was so unique and special, that every group and pvp fight and everything was different. SWS and BD buffs were always a luxury, and finding a strong OL or WC was always pretty awe inspiring (wow, talking OLD time C1 when I was a kid, everything was so magical, lol, probably a large reason why I'm so very biased towards L2).
Nowadays most games have like only 8 classes, not a lot to make you unique. I remember, as a Plains Walker, there weren't a lot like me. AW and TH were always 100 times more popular.
So.. I wonder if anyone will read all of this.. if you did, how's Tera?
PS: I wish I had a beta key to try Tera. I'm reluctant to pre-order, don't wanna go through SWTOR all over again.
Comments
"Most MMOs only have like 8 classes now.."
Lol, TERA has eight, which I find quit funny.
As for PvE, it's mostly 5 man dungeons, most instanced, some open world. Besides the island which is seperate from everywhere else, you can just walk from zone to zone in TERA with no loading screens, from 11-45 content just walking, no screens.
Apparently 20 man monster invasion events are coming, so that should be something more up your alley. Also since you like being grouped TERA has BAM quests from level 20-58, BAMs are monsters that would take 10-15minutes to solo and are recommended to be fought in a group, so your encouraged to group up for them, although they can be solod with enough skill, especially with the use of an item that weakens them but also makes you get no xp from killing them, and they give a lot of xp so thats not the best way to do it.
As for PvP, it has penalty free OWPvP but only two battlegrounds atm, however you can schedule up to 10v10 deathmatches at any level with anyone and wager money, which is my primary source of income so far lol. You also have guild vs guild battles, while they have no benefits or rewards yet, your guilds record is kept track of and they can be fun.
I don't know if TERA will give you what you want and it's totally up to you to try it, I just felt like addressing some of your points.
Yeah, that's why I said the 8 classes thing. It's like a standard among many MMOs today.
Thanks for your replies. You got me a reply with the technical aspects, which I'm already familiar with. I don't know tho how it actually feels or how well it is executed and how it compares with my past experiences.
/salute
Video of a fight with a BAM - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CaFNZOaS6dQ
Ah, well sorry I couldn't explain the feel a little bit better...
Well it is a lot different than SWTOR, your attacks actually feel very powerful and it takes more tactics and position to play well, especially regarding PvP.
While most classes start off slow, besides the warrior...they always are fast, most generally pick up once you get more moves and start being able to get your primary combo chains down, which activate moves quicker when used after one another.
As for customization of your particular class you have crystals which are slotted into your armor, you get up to 8 atm, red crystals which have offensive benefits and blue ones which have defensive, they can give bonuses like 4.5% bonus damage on crits when attacking from behind or 3.8% bonus damage when below 50% health, chance to summon a shield on knockdown, etc.
And at level 20 you start getting glyphs which allow for further customization, like a glyph for healer allows for you to paint three targets with your lockon heal instead of 2, whereas one for my slayer gives 50% chance to reset cooldown on my overhead strike, etc. Im not sure where the glyph calculation chart is...
Edit: In your original post you made it seem like you didn't know much about the game...now it seems like you know everything.
Not sure why you asked questions you already had the answer too...
Hahaha, I've seen enough of those.
Thanks xD.
Yeah I accidentally hit enter, I added a lot more...however it seems like you already know the answers to most things you asked so I was wondering why you wrote so much lol.
Anyways i'm sure someone else who can relate it to L2 or Aion can come by to help you out because I am not very familiar with either.
It's not as simple as that.. I'm looking for a slightly different perspective?
Nevertheless, I appreciate your replies. Thank you
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This is just my opinion, and it might actually help you choose to try Tera since we seem to be of differing opinions about the "WoW-style" combat.
I was gravely dissapointed with Tera in my bets tests, just recently requested my refund. The game is beautiful, the combat isn't bad, though I've never personally thought spam-clicking a mouse was better then spam-clicking a keyboard.
These are the things I didn't like.
-Lack of factions makes pvp seem random
-Chat, Vendors, Quests, Maps, ehancement systems all scream F2P. Perhaps its just the nature of it being an Asian game, but if the graphics weren't as good as they were I'd swear I wandered onto a game like Aika.
-Not a fan of the combat, reminds me of SWG post-NGE
-Customization is poor. SWTOR had bad customization options..but atleast you could change the body-shape. This may be due to the game still being in beta..but the uniform size for everyone is frustrating (Every one of the stone guys is fat, every one of the dragon/wolf dudes are bulky...etc)
-The enhancements and all that make me believe that this game will be a lot like WoW with min-maxing. Some people like that, I personally don't.
Hope this helps, head over to curse, they're giving away Beta keys for next test (on the 9th I think) that way you don't have to pre-order.
That's some very interesting stuff there.
Random PvP is something I like (L2). Although in L2 it was more exciting because there were HUGE penalties to dying.
I'll have to see about those F2P like systems, lol. Luckily I got a key for next beta.
Never had the pleasure of playing SWG, the combat is something I'll have the chance to try in the upcoming beta.
Customization is not an issue for me. In L2 you had barely none. Same body everyone, only like 5 faces and 8 haircuts or less depending on race (just throwing out random numbers here). I have sort of a huge OCD so this actually makes it easier for me. Aion and SWTOR were insufferable on character creation, I just couldn't decide on what I wanted, although SWTOR is much less complex than Aion with all the sliders. I actually like the consistency among races. Like you say, the stone guys being "fat", the dragon/wolf dudes being bulky. I don't mind.
As long as the character looks cute to me I'm okay with that =P. It's more the lack of classes that depresses me. (at least it's not like Aion where you could make them uberly disproportionate).
Thanks for the reply
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In response to the other quote, yes, I saw =D. Luckily, I got a key too. I'll get to try it soon, can't wait! If the guys here could use some more opinions/impressions/insight I'll gladly make a thread about it.
Oh, and it does really help, thanks. Constructive criticism is hard to find these days.
You may not have realised it but you don't need to spam your mouse, you can hold your mouse button down and it works just fine for the generic attack of every class.
Interesting piece of information you should know. The core Dev team of Tera is the same as the core Dev team of L1 and L2. Tera was suppose to be L3. NCSoft fucked up some where (idk what) causing good chunk of the Dev team to quit and go to blue hole and they made Tera. Why there were some lawsuit against Tera thats pretty much dead end but they do it to mess with Tera, same reason why GW2 is been pushed like crazy to try to come out same time as Tera.
Grind wise this game is not grindy like Aion and L2. But i'll say play the game and see for yourself. Either click or it doesn't
Yeah, I knew that =P. That's why it somehow feels a lot like what would have been an L3 to me. Seriously. The art style of the characters, how they look, move, stand, act, sound, attack or anything of the sort feels VERY Lineage to me.
When I look at the characters, I see Lineage 3, lol.
You could also just wait....... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y18gN0GvmFY
Yeah, that's Lineage Eternal. Not Lineage 3.
Yeah I wonder who is making Lineage Eternal since the devs who made Lineage 1+2 left NCsoft to make TERA lol.
No idea. Although it does look nice. Plays like Diablo a bit? Gameplay and the only having 3 classes thing reminds me of games like Lunia Online.
But it's still not a full 3D MMORPG. Know what I mean?
Its full 3D with isometric camera.
Hate it when camra is locked to mostly top view, makes teh game feel more like RO, even though its full 3D it doesn't feel fully 3D
Some also left NCSoft and are working on ArcheAge.
Jake Song is head of company creating ArcheAge and he was one of lead desingers of Lineage afaik.
Still AA is long way since it hit west though.
I'm still waiting on an Oriental MMO based on the Sword World franchise. Plenty of Manga and Anime has been made from it, like Record of Lodoss War, Legend of Crystania, and Louie the Rune Soldier, plus tons of Replays (accounts of tabletop games cleaned up and sold as books in Japan) Not to mention an incredibly successful RPG series in tabletop and computer forms.
Seems like a natural to me.
'Sandbox MMO' is a PTSD trigger word for anyone who has the experience to know that anonymous players invariably use a 'sandbox' in the same manner a housecat does.
When your head is stuck in the sand, your ass becomes the only recognizable part of you.
No game is more fun than the one you can't play, and no game is more boring than one which you've become familiar.
How to become a millionaire:
Start with a billion dollars and make an MMO.
Well mmorpg is a hard market to enter. avg cost of an mmorpg is 30-60m, and with today's ever growing demand and tech its probably lot higher. For new studio it be way to risky, Blue Hole probably only under took Tera because the dev team came from NCSoft, so they know they are very experenced and can pull it off. A brand new company with new dev team won't dare to try something that risky.
As an old Lineage 2 player since beta, I'll share my experiences with you. Keep in mind I've only leveled to 23 in the Tera NA betas.
If you're like me and looking for something to keep you from returning to L2 again, this game has potential.
The beginning areas are linear and do open up at higher levels, which I've seen through videos and exploring as much as I could in the betas. Still it does have a closed in feeling at times. Large mountains and hills seem to be common. I'm willing to look past this if the gameplay is worth it.
The pvp system is close to L2's system, but instead of attacking someone to flag, you hit a skill called outlaw. The skill takes almost no time to cast. Clan vs Clan battles are in Tera also, but the rewards to seem a bit weak. You will miss castle sieges, but like that it has the potential for open world pvp fights over bosses. Which I've heard you need to kill for gear to do the high level instanced dungeons. Not sure how the open world bosses are at max lvl, and how they compare to doing instances.
Enchanting goes + or - instead of breaking the weapon into crystals like L2. Lol at all the people whining about the amount of money they will have to spend in Tera enchanting. They can't even imagine what I've spent in L2.
The game feels like it could be a good new home, but there are a few things that I dislike compared to L2.
The instanced dungeons for one. I've played lots of MMO's looking for my next home, and always go back to L2. Lets hope this time I stay with Tera. I've given up on an experience like I had in L2. Like you, it was my first mmo. Everyone seems to want instances and BG's. The biggest thing going for this game aside from combat is the no factions. Thank god a company is releasing a polished no faction game!
I'd say for an old L2 player, this game is worth a look. It starts off rough, but just remember leveling a new char in c1. lol.
Take my opinion with a grain of salt, since I'm not keeping a very close eye on either game at the moment, but... as an ex-L2 player (since C1 as well) I personally see more of L2 in Archeage than in Tera. I guess it has something to do with the general atmosphere of the open world and the freedom that L2 gave me.
That may be true, but Archeage is 6 months (being extremely generous) to over a year (a more realistic estimate) from seeing a release in the West. Besides, what if you wait for over a year, to only realise in the end that you don't like Archeage after all due to X reason?
Oh, you definitely have a point. ArcheAge is indeed far from being released and I see nothing wrong with people enjoying Tera for what it is. However, I just don't get the same feeling from Tera that I got from L2, and thus it can't replace my L2 fix (of course this is entirely subjective). Whether Archeage can do it remains to be seen, but the chances look higher atm.
In the meantime I'll just enjoy other games (and types of gameplay) that are not necessarily related to L2 or to MMOs in general.