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Review from long-term beta tester
Tdogz27
Member Posts: 21
Edit 7-8-12: I just bought it for $37.50 and I'll try to keep this thread updated: http://www.mmorpg.com/discussion2.cfm/thread/356425/page/1
I joined the beta a long time ago, and I've been following this game for years.
This review will be brief, because I don't have very much time at the moment, but I noticed that a lot MMORPGers are hungry for more reviews from long-term testers. So, in that vein, I hope this can help answer some of these questions. Additionally, I will be happy to answer other questions about the game.
Story
This is where TSW shines. The story is absolutely amazing. The missions are engaging. The puzzles can be difficult but are almost always fun. If you think that the puzzles are too difficult, you should have seen the earlier versions - they used to not even highlight "areas" on the map...and at least the riddles actually make sense now! lol
However, the missions do include WAY TOO many solo-instances, which can be annoying if you are trying to group-up to complete these.
Also, do not expect the rest of the zones to be nearly as complete as Kingsmouth. Kingsmouth offers an amazing amount of puzzle/mystery and interestingness to players. Almost every corner has something new and unique for you to figure out. This falls away very quickly as you progress throughout the rest of the game. There may be 1 or 2 other zones that feel nearly as complete as Kingsmouth, but most of the "magic" from the mysteries disappear completely. This includes Fusang, the persistent PvP zone - see my thoughts on PvP below.
Character "classes"
The classless and leveless system works, for the most part. Personally, I love the freedom. However, it took some getting used to and don't believe them when they describe how much freedom you actually have in designing your character/class.
The skill wheel contains 525 abilities in total. Some of these are Active abilities, and some of these are passive abilities. You can only have 7 actives and 7 passives on your hotbar at any time. The skill wheel is segmented by different weapon-types. There are 3 range weapons (assault rifles, pistols, and shotguns), 3 melee weapons (hammers, swords, and fists), and 3 magic weapons (blood magic, chaos, elementalism), and each weapon has their own "specialization" in the types of abilities that you will find within that weapon-tree. You can only have 2 weapons equiped at any given time, and in order to use an active ability you have to have the corresponding weapon-type equipped. However, passive abilities do not have this same restriction - you can equip any passive abilities that you have unlocked, regardless of the weapon type that you are using.
What does this mean? This means that you have a whole lot of freedom in how you create your "spec," but not as much freedom as TSW may be advertising. At any one time, you can only equip active abilities from 1 or 2 weapon types; regarding active abilities, you are only able to use a slice of the skill-wheel at any one time. However, the freedom to equip any passive is certainly enjoyable and leaves lots of room for creating powerful combinations.
The true power of a "build" comes from how well the 7 actives and 7 passives "synergize." Tricks of the trade - with such a limited number of abilities that can be equiped, it is very easy to gimp yourself by spreading yourself too thin. What does this mean?...it means that hybrids builds will not be nearly as prevalent as Funcom initially advertised. You will still be min/maxing like crazy (holy trinity etc). Although, your character can remain a "hybrid" as long as you have several different specs/builds that switch out for different situations. Meaning, if you have the gear and AP (ability points), your one char can be a tank for one fight, and a healer or dps for the next fight. This is cool. And it works.
Ability points are gained through "experience" and this is how you "level."
Lastly, with a system with this much freedom, it has become quickly obvious that OP flavor-of-the-week builds pop up frequently. It will happen a lot, and I wouldn't expect this to change. Balance will be exceedingly difficult for Funcom.
PvP
IMHO, the pvp is fun, but very shallow and pretty much fails. A couple weeks into the game, you may even forget that there are 3 factions instead of just 1. This is coming from someone who LOVES pvp in MMOs. I also love everything about the setting for this game - lore, etc. - so I was pretty sure I would be able to get into this pvp. Apparently there is no war in this secret war...
Instead of an engaging war between secret societies that spreads all over the world, PvP is segregated into instances. 2 of the 3 instances (battlegrounds, or whatever they call them) are not even available yet. So, basically, there is Fusang...the persistent zone. It gets repetitive fast...even if you do it for a week straight. Soon, you realize that this is the ONLY piece of pvp in the entire game. Literally, there is NO world pvp, anywhere in the game. Their excuse for this: open battles on the streets of kingsmouth would not fit into the lore of the game...there would be no secret to the secret societies. My response: Who are we supposed to be hiding from?...the survivors of these occult disasters, who have been battling wave after wave of undead?...because their worldview's would be destroyed if they saw a human shoot lightning from their hand? Perhaps if there were other, non-aware, NPCs throughout the game, I could buy this reasoning. Aside from that disagreement, I can imagine TONS of ways in which to implement world pvp without allowing battles in the streets. Simply place "no pvp barriers" around the areas that you wish to protect from pvp, and then place pvp objectives (and faction mission reps) in out-of-the way regions of each map. done.
PvP is cool mainly because you can try to come up with awesome builds that destroy your enemies, but other than that, it needs more attention and it needs to be more pervasive throughout the game, not just sequestered to one single instance. As an illuminati, I want to be tasked with sneaking into the Templar HQ and try to steal some artifact or something. Also, Fusang itself could use some more excitement. There are only 3 available missions within Fusang...that means that the entire game only has 3 PvP missions available for us players! And these missions are : take a base, take a spawn point, kill enemies. Fusang should be littered with secrets/missions/puzzles/mysteries that can unlock crazy buffs or faction-bosses or mechs or something that can help your team win. You know, give it the same attention/polish that they gave Kingsmouth.
MMOness
I am a social gamer and I like MMOs for lots of different reasons.
TSW is technically an MMO, but at times it feels like a solo rpg. You may have heard people say this by now, and that's because it is true. Almost every single mission can be soloed - it doesn't have to be, but it can be. Yes, you can group with random people that you see walking down the street, but TSW never really encourages you to group except for dungeons. The dungeons are awesome btw. Regarding grouping, many recent MMOs have instituted "dynamic events" or "public quests" or something similar that provides incentive for random people to just group up and work on something. TSW is lacking this.
I can't comment very much on the AH/economy, because it was only implemented in beta like one or two weeks before live, so not very much experience gauging the success/failure of the economy. But I can see how it could succeed just fine.
UI / Crafting
The UI is OK, but I wish we had more freedom in how to customize it. You cannot move or resize the vast majority of frames. Funcom has stated that they hope community modders will take this on. Hopefully that happens. Soon. If you are a healer, the raid frames will drive you insane, for example. There is also no target of target (you can hotkey the "assist" version of this, but there is no GUI representation of the target of target's hp etc.,).
Also, you area unable to have a "sidebar" with pots/usable items. You can fake this, however, by creating a new "inventory bag" and then locking it so that it doesn't dissapear with the rest of the inventory. This allows you to have a bag of pots/usable items on your screen during fights, however, you are unable to bind hotkeys to this bag, and, therefore you must click these items if you want to use them. This can get clunky, as the game still has many bugs (I actually don't think it was rdy for release), and you may end up picking up a pot and draggin it around the screen instead of just "using" it.
Crafting is unique and I enjoyed it, but it didn't have very much depth. There are no levels or specializations, anyone can craft anything as long as you have the pattern and the mats.
OK, I hope this helps some make their decision.
I actually did not purchase the game, because I think it still needs a lot more polish, content, and features (mainly PvP) before I can justify spending the time and money on the game.
TLDR:
The story, setting, and ambiance will rock your socks. The classes are cool too, but not as much freedom as advertised and some (many, perhaps most) abilities are just broken and/or OP. The PvP is fun, but limited to a single instanced zone and can quickly become repetative. The UI is OK, but should get better as modders fix it. Dungeons are cool, graphics are amazing, and chicks are hot. I did not buy it because of lack of content, polish, and features.
T
Comments
Solid review.
+1
BigCountry | Head Hunters | www.wefarmpeople.com
Good review. I reviewed your review and give it an A+! I'd add this bit to your review:
Character Customization:
Severely lacking. Everyone is the same exact height and build; no option to change it. The available faces, hair, etc. are pretty basic. It seems they put a fair amount of effort in the clothing system, which is nice, but I still call it 'fair', not extraordinary, or even good.
They need to add a hieght and build option. They need to add a lot more hairs, faces, and details. They need more clothes, too; I actually have high hopes for this, since a lot of the asthetics of clothing is based in their cash shop, so adding more will mean higher revenue for them (which is a good thing for them, I'm not complaining).
Emotes:
They need more emotes. This includes letting us sit in chairs. To be fair, most MMOs are severely lacking in emotes, so it's not a TSW problem specifically. They need to focus on allowing players to do the most basic of things such as sit in chairs, lie down, maybe even co-op emotes like shaking hands (MxO had this way back in the day, so I'm sure it's not too difficult). I'm amazed MMOs still don't do things like this.
Decent premature review, a little too biased for my taste. Wait the full month before you guys start reviews.
A netural review - I like it. Good balance of pros and cons.
In addition, I enjoyed your review which had no named mmo or aka direct comparision to a particular mmo.
This review was enjoyable to read, I hope your next reviews stay the same.
Nice job OP, exactly why I am avoiding TSW.
Take off the lipstick, it's still the same pig.
Instanced, solo, quest grind, linear story... etc. etc.
doesn't mean its not a hell of a lot of fun
I angered the clerk in a clothing shop today. She asked me what size I was and I said actual, because I am not to scale. I like vending machines 'cause snacks are better when they fall. If I buy a candy bar at a store, oftentimes, I will drop it... so that it achieves its maximum flavor potential. --Mitch Hedberg
Actually I found this to be the least biased review I've seen.
it isn't OMG BUY IT NOW FUNCOM™ DOES IT AGAIN and it isn't OMG SHIT FAILCOM BLOWS
Hey guys,
I'm glad that some of you found this review useful.
I know that a review is technically an op-ed filled with support information, but I really tried to keep my opinions to a minimum. I believe that most of what I included should be easy logic to follow, for anyone who has spent several weeks to a month or so playing TSW, and hopefully it doesn't make too many "illogical leaps." To those of you who feel that it is too early for a review of this depth, I say that it is not too early for someone who has been playing the game for months. Will the release version be a bit better than beta?...of course, but, it will not be a fundamentally different game. Plus, beta had access to 95% of the content and all of the features in the release version.
Some things that I did not want to put in the original post:
I actually had mixed feelings about sharing my review with the MMORPG community, because I feel that my thoughts might reveal the wizard behind the curtain, so to speak, and I do not want to reduce the likelihood of this game succeeding because I truly truly want this game to succeed!
I have been looking forward to this game more than any game in recent memory (I am 28 and have been playing games since I was like 5). I am predisposed to love this game - HUGE fan HP Lovecraft , modern horror/fantasy, consipiracy theories, secret societies, "fringe" science, vampires, werewolves, zombies, etc. I love the dark setting, and modern feel. Basically, I am obsessed with this game and, conflictingly, dissapointed in the presentation. No, my disappointment is not because I was expecting the TSW mesiah to answer life's biggest questions...I am disappointed because they released this game before it is finished. I am also completely obsessed with the idea of a classless and leveless MMO that allows you to swap out abilities/gear for an instant 100% respec.
As I mentioned, I did not purchase the game, yet. But perhaps I will. I HOPE that they fix the issues that bother me so that I can get in this world and annihilate those silly zealots, the Templars, across all 8 zones. Seriously, aside from the obvious bug issues and broken abilities, the PvP (or lack thereof) is the biggest reason I did not buy this game.
Again, glad that some of you found my review useful, and I hope that I can soon join those of you who have decided to purchase.
T
So you made a review about a launched game and included comments about broken abilities that you found i beta that you have no idea if where fixed at launch? Great job.
It's one of the things they worked on hardest right before launch - fixing the broken and OP abilities. They even redid how things trigger in the game from multihit powers and how dots refresh.
Yes they fixed a lot of things before launch, but all of the things that I mentioned are still broken.
I have access to the TSW live and testlive forums, and I can confirm that this is the case. For example, half of the T2 blood passives do not work properly - they do not "synergize" by proccing eachother. I do not have the time nor the energy to list all of the things that are still "broken" with the game, but, if you feel sufficiently motivated to do your own research, you will find that what I have said is still true. This info is available on the TSW forums, for example.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts and opinions. One of the better reviews I've read.
Instanced pvp = fail for me sick of that crap. Thx for review saved me some money
Pretty spot on review.
I feel the single-player/dungeon experience of TSW is worth it. I'll find my PvP jollies elsewhere. Sad..but inevitable.
Thanks.
So, after spending some time debating between TSW for $37.50 http://www.mmorpg.com/discussion2.cfm/thread/356425/page/1
or
Endless Space for $30 on Steam
I opted for TSW:)
I'll try to keep this thread updated.
T
Friggin, seriously!
I think the cat got out of the back when the world went to hell; what is the difference if people fire at each other in the presence of even crazier shit going down in the streets? Wouldn't it, in fact, make total sense if they did? You'd expect total chaos, and as if some unaffiliated mook was to see it, what the hell is he going to think about it after seeing *zombies* ffs?
Nothing about the secret world is secret anyway, the fake news coverage in the game seems to have quite the handle on basically everything going on as is.
Writer / Musician / Game Designer
Now Playing: Skyrim, Wurm Online, Tropico 4
Waiting On: GW2, TSW, Archeage, The Rapture
That's all that matters in all honesty.