Howdy, Stranger!
It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Quick Links
Beta Phase 2: My First Impressions
Well, I got the thing downloaded, patched and running last night!! Here's my impressions:
I'll gloss over everything in here and if you want me to go more in detail for any topic, just let me know.
Very first impression:
I couldn't for the life of me find a class guide. Sure, I know the 3 races and 4 basic classes, but I also know that there are branches within the classes. What are these branches, and the pros/cons for each.
Training Issues:
In short, the training is horrible. It baby steps you through how to do movement and camera control. Then, when I got to actually learning how to use/setup the interface, something happened where I couldn't progress. This could be the root to my interface issues, but I sitll feel that the interface needs a lot of work. See below.
Interface Issues:
The biggest issue that I had here was that I couldn't figure out how to talk in the general "map chat". So, I couldn't get my other questions answered. The interface seems very hidden within itself and to do things like emote or attack or even chat seem like it should be much easier.
I eventually found the answers to most of my questions, but a simple thing like a key-bindings window through the main menu select would be really nice. Currently, I don't think there is a way to change your key-bindings.
Movement Issues:
Well, the first issue was I couldn't figure out how to turn on the wsad movement. (the toggle is 'h') Once, I figured it out, it seemed very clunky and thrown together. The camera and wsad movment seem very loose. I'd like to see it be much tighter. WoW, for example, has a very nice movement schema. Also, the chat window won't stay expanded if you are using wsad for movement, but it will stay expanded (and ready to type) if you are using point-click.
Personally, I also found that the pan (Q/E) and strafe (A/D) keys should be switched. But, that could be fixed with being able to remap keys or just getting used to it.
Attacking Issues:
I didn't get a chance to fully get used to this, but initially it was very confusing. I think you have to double click on a mob to start attacking it? This is really annoying, because if the mob moves, then you end up clicking the ground and walking towards it. There is also an auto-attack toggle (it's to the left of your shortcut bar, next to the run/walk toggle) that you can turn on, so that you don't have to continually double-click the mob. I simply could just be doing this wrong though. I could use some guidance here.
For casting (cause I was playing a spiritualist), I found that I could click on a mob, then click on a shortcut button to cast a spell. This would make my character automatically run/walk to casting range and cast the spell. This just seemed very smooth and intuitive.
Looting Issues:
When you kill a mob, the loot drops on the ground. And *everyone* can see it. You have about 30 seconds to pick it up before other people can 'steal' it. The objects are relatively small, and it takes percision to click on them to pick them up (if you miss, you walk forward which is annoying). this really sucks when/if you have multiple mobs on you at once and kill them in succession. However, I saw hints that there is a button that you can press to pick things up around you, but I don't know what it is!!! Again, another area, where a key-maping menu would help a ton.
Team Griefing Issues:
I think we were all officially hazed last night. lol Ok, I know that the Phase 1 people were just having a bit of fun and hazing us newbs, but it did get annoying. What they were doing was pulling the higher level mobs back to the starting areas. These mobs would simply one shot us lowbies. Kinda frustrating, but I didn't care too much because I wasn't to the point where I was losing xp when I die, and I don't still fully understand the game yet. I really hope that this stops.
Questing / Leveling / Skilling Issues:
Questions like: How do I get quests? Where do I turn them in? These questoins were flooding the "map channel". I too had to ask when I was ready to turn in my first quest. From my current understanding, this is how the questing system works (it took me at least 30 minutes to figure it out)...
When you have a quest, there is a window on the right side of your screen (by default) that has your objectives. When the objectives are completed, a blue button that looks like a satelite will appear. hover over the button and a message will display, click on the OK. That is how you turn in quests. From my understanding, quests are given to you automatically and you can turn them in at anytime/anywhere. That is nice, but knowing when you get the quests and if you are doing all of the quests is still a mystery to me.
Also, I have no idea how you learn new skills, etc. I only got to level 3.5 before I had my final crash and couldn't get back in because of the server issues.
Server and Graphics Issues:
I crashed 3 times last night in about 1.5 hours. On the last crash, I couldn't get back in. I thought that the latest crash might have corrupted something, but I checked the boards and others couldn't get in as well. So, the servers need to be fixed and it's just a waiting game. Also, I don't like having my computer just turning itself off, or locking up. Forcing a computer to turn off is always bad, so I hope that the graphics issues get fixed asap. I've heard that it has something to do with the glow effect. So I'm just oging to turn it off until I hear that it's been fixed.
Overall:
After I got over the initial learning curve (and it's steep), I was having fun! I was checking out the auction house (which doesn't look like it's working yet) and the teleporting system when I had my final crash. The graphics are great (though the level up graphic could be much better) and the gameplay is overall fun. My biggest issue is with the interface, it needs to be more intuitive and have editable keymapings.
Useful Things to know so you avoid my initial confusion:
/Map - to talk in map chat (use a capital M)
H - toggle on/off wsad movement
- toggle shortcuts to the keyboard numbers instead of F-keys
C - character info and emotes
B - buddy list and guild list
Ctrl-click a person to invite to party/guild/whisper
/PlayerName to send a whisper
Comments
I think all of the things you had problems with were dead on accurate. Many others have voiced such concerns.
The gameplay for me is fine. Using the spacebar helps a lot. It both attcks a mob once you have clicked on it, and picks up loot if you have your cursor over it. I use spacebar a lot.
The biggest issue for me, like you mentioned, was the chat window. Maybe it was because I was using a very high resolution...but the chat log was very small and not easy to read or type into. It is an after thought. In other MMO's I have played, it has been an intrical part of the system. Here, it seems like an after thought.
But in general, I love the play style, I love that there is basically no downtime. The graphics are amazaing, and the PT levelling system is perfect and adds a whole additional "skill" and patience portion to the game. I give it a B+ thus far.
Well I don't know of any way to specifically rest faster than your regeneration. Perhaps there is one, I just don't know about it. However, potions are an intrical part of this game and are not very expensive at all, for the lower level ones anyway.
Some people are thinking of potions as a crutch of sorts, they aren't a crutch at all, but an absolute necessity. It's just a different way of thinking about healing compared to a traditional MMO.
I normally get a decent amount of HP potions for not very expensive, and then a few small FP potions for when I want to use my FP more. But it isn't much of an inconvenience in my opinion.
Just thought I would give a tip on controls -
You can click on an enemy to target, then hit spacebar to initiate a basic attack. (if not in range it will move you towards the mob) If you have auto attack turned on, it will of course continue to use the basic attack until you or the mob are dead.
Also, you can click the spacebar to automatically pickup loot around you.
Left click a mob, spacebar to attack and spacebar again to pickup the loot.
You get new quests as you lvl up and you hit "J" to view all your current quests.
I played for a few hours and I haven't crashed yet it could also have something to do with your video card, so make sure you got all the latest drivers. Turning off glowing effect also helps.
I read somewhere on the official RFO forums that you can remap your keys manually inside your gamefolder.
The only thing I don't like about the game so far is the camera rotation speed. Its way too slow it feels kinda laggy, which I hope they will fix before retail.
bump
so the new people to this forum can see a middle ground review
P.S. I'm still very much enjoying this game!
another way to boost FP regen is to equip a spirit shield (150%) or weapon (500%)
also, FP seems to come in abundance at higher lvls, especially as it has to cater for higher FP required skills