Originally posted by anarchyart Originally posted by Fadeus 2 days before they announced it was going gold.
All I can say is, try the retail version. I've been playing for 3 days now and to me everything feels just so right about this game. It's fun and addictive and the graphics and gameplay have really sucked me into the world of AA. It's just a balls out good time. Haven't noticed any instancing at all yet, although I'm pretty busy having fun. Getting massive air (press B at the top of a jump ) blowing up cities and running over mutated pedestrians (Killing Spree!) it's the most fun I've had in an MMO since......I've never had this much pure fun in an MMO. Period.
Auto Assault is all about fun and on that it delivers in spades.
What Server/Race you playing Anarchy? Glad you're liking the game, loving it myself as well, I agree, it is just great pure mindless fun.
Orignally posted by Danjak It's nothing like Guild Wars... I just wanted to make that clear for anyone considering the game. I don't consider Guild Wars to be a persistant world, a true MMOG. This game is.
It really is, it's not even debatable. I don't know why people think otherwise.
There is an instancing drop down menu, but that's only to help with overcrowding. The game spawns alternate instances when it gets crowded, but it's not like you can go off into your own personal instance. You'll still be surrounded by other players (assuming the server isn't deserted)
Instancing is also used to seperate PvP and non-PvP when you get to Ground Zero, but same deal, it's not a way to get away from other players at all.
When I want a single-player story, I'll play a single-player game. When I play an MMO, I want a massively multiplayer world.
Originally posted by JtHM What Server/Race you playing Anarchy? Glad you're liking the game, loving it myself as well, I agree, it is just great pure mindless fun.
Right now I'm on the west coast non-RP server. Playing a Human Lieutenant, I've made an alt of each class and I really enjoy how the Lieutenant drives. Man this game is fun. So fun in fact that I would rather play it than BF2. My Xfire stats don't show it because I don't use Xfire when playing BF2 for lag purposes, but I've been playing BF2 like 4 hours a night for the last couple months. But now, I only seem to be able to play Auto Assault because it's just all about fun.
See, I feel the exact opposite about it. Too me the game felt like every other MMO just with a different skin on. Pulling my car up to the quest guy standing in the middle of a camp to get a quest from him that was the usual ole type box for me to read felt very used and done already for a new game like this one.
The car felt like it was hammered into the game and made to fit so they could give it an auto themed name. It just all felt wrong too me and done before, just different mobs and a different theme.
Indeed. This has been my impression as well.
I think whether one likes it comes down to whether one really likes (1) the novelty of driving around in cars, (2) the more twitch-based action-based gameplay and (3) the destructible environments and crashing into them and blowing them up. I think the people who are liking this game are reporting liking it because they like a combination of (1), (2) and (3).
Well I am far from a action game type player. My back ground is EQ and WoW as far as MMOs go and the RPG aspect of gaming (story line particularly) has always been very important to me. What I particularly like about this game is yep, it's got the mission (quest) model on which to hang the gameplay which I really enjoy. It's familiar and engaging. These are particularly well written and developed (at least for mutants and meks, humans are a bit lacking). But the unique thing that sets AA apart is the speed of combat. While I am usually made very uncomfortable about high speed action gaming (like FPS) this has just the right edge where you have to keep moving (well you don't have to, but you'll wreck if you don't) while lots of mobs are adding and you constantly need to check progress and timing etc. but you don't die every few seconds like an FPS. And yes, driving fast and crashing thru stuff *is* fun, tho I am nearly reluctant to admit this rather visceral truth. The whole game just feels speedy and refreshing. No stopping to loot, run to next mob, wait to determine combat approach, engage mob when you're ready, stand there to fight (as a caster in games I'm used to if you move you can't even fight, quite different) press a few buttons, repeat. Don't get me wrong, I like that process too, and am loving how this is fitting in nicely as an adjunct to WoW, which I play as well based on which "vibe" I'm feeling like.
I suppose you could see this as hammering a car into the same old in the aspect it is still an RPG and I am unsure how to make an RPG w/o those aspects that currently define the genre, primarily questing, and my MMO experience is by no means vast enough to know if there is one with fast paced combat and continual movement, but from my impression of what I've been reading there is not. That's how AA is unique and oh, so pleasing for me.
As for original topic of this thread I think this game will be a slow, but strong, grower. I do think many got the wrong impression from the marketing thinking it is more of a PvP game than it is, and less of an RPG. Word of mouth will fix that. I have already recruited my husband and have a few more people I will feed this evil sweet candy to, and once they have a taste I know they'll be hooked. .First one's free!
I beta tested this game, and I was not impressed what so ever, I loved the scenary but that is about it.
The models were not all that great, I dont like having quests and having an arrow telling me were to go.. whats the point of that?
I did like the action in the beginning, but to me it felt like an archade game, I am sure the younger generation are going to love this game... but this game lacks depth and immersiveness. Its like buying a new car, your stoked and all excited but you realize its just another car :P
But again, im not capping on the game, it was fun for the first day I played but again it wasnt enough for me.
I am glad games like this and GW exist though, it does help clean out the kids for the seriouse RPG'ers in other games
Ugh I beta tested this game, and I was not impressed what so ever, I loved the scenary but that is about it. The models were not all that great, I dont like having quests and having an arrow telling me were to go.. whats the point of that? I did like the action in the beginning, but to me it felt like an archade game, I am sure the younger generation are going to love this game... but this game lacks depth and immersiveness. Its like buying a new car, your stoked and all excited but you realize its just another car :P But again, im not capping on the game, it was fun for the first day I played but again it wasnt enough for me. I am glad games like this and GW exist though, it does help clean out the kids for the seriouse RPG'ers in other games
Actually, from what I can tell, the game tends to skew toward an older audience, not so much the "younger generation." Most of the people I talk to in it are over 30. I haven't seen any Chuck Norris jokes, "ORLY," or other goofy crap like I do in WoW and other MMOGs. So, I don't know about that one.
As for the arrow indicating where you need to go for your mission, it's no different than City of Heroes telling you which building your mission takes place in. If that bothers you, Auto Assault even has an option to turn off the mission arrow. It's completely up to you.
You mentioned the models weren't good - that one confused me. Here's a screenshot of my character and one of my car:
That's not even with all the options on as I'm running it on my laptop. How much better do you want?
Lastly, there's a lot of depth in the game - at least as much as you'll find in other MMOGs. You've got an meaty crafty system which allows for experimentation, different skill paths for your character so that two players of the same class are not alike, a LOT of stats to advance through either leveling or items, and well-written stories. I don't know what kind of depth you're looking for beyond that. If you consider other MMOGs deep, then this is right up there with them. (Personally, I don't consider any MMOG to be all that "deep"... I just want the game to be fun.)
One thing that AA subscribers can be doing is passing the 14-day buddy codes they got with their retail boxes out to interested parties. I'm doing that later this week, and chances are (with my backing) that my one subscription will account for another, and so on and so forth. The codes are there for a reason, folks, make em count
(BTW, I'm on the EU Desolation server... human for now!)
I will give it to AA for the fact that it is fun, but after lvl 5 your characters end up doing more of the same...I got 3 characters up to lvl 15 and for each one it was a blast up until lvl 5, everything else felt bleh.
I like the physics, I like the car combat. It really felt more like a solo experience than an MMO experience.
Originally posted by anarchyart Originally posted by JtHM What Server/Race you playing Anarchy? Glad you're liking the game, loving it myself as well, I agree, it is just great pure mindless fun.
Right now I'm on the west coast non-RP server. Playing a Human Lieutenant, I've made an alt of each class and I really enjoy how the Lieutenant drives. Man this game is fun. So fun in fact that I would rather play it than BF2. My Xfire stats don't show it because I don't use Xfire when playing BF2 for lag purposes, but I've been playing BF2 like 4 hours a night for the last couple months. But now, I only seem to be able to play Auto Assault because it's just all about fun.
I have to hand it to NCSoft. Killer game.
Cool, I really liked Meks and Humans in Beta, Muties did nothing for me for some reason. Decided to go with Meks when it went live. We're on the non-RP East Coast server Apocalypse. If you wanna roll some Mek alts feel free to looks up up, decent number of people in the guild ranging in level from newbs to 45+. That goes for anyone else as well.
In fact I would already be playing it daily if it was not for the PvP ending, I fear I will be shafted and experience a bad ending, thereby I play other games first...but AA is nice and I will definitely play it and try it seriously "soon".
I am 'finishing' Oblivion first, there is quite some content in it, lot of fun...and I grow older and less efficient, so it may take me longer...especially with a job and all. But after that, if Heroes of Might and Magic V is not in store, AA is likely to be tried next...if Heroes is available...well it will be after that for sure.
- "If I understand you well, you are telling me until next time. " - Ren
Originally posted by Anofalye I will buy and try the game 'soon'.
In fact I would already be playing it daily if it was not for the PvP ending, I fear I will be shafted and experience a bad ending, thereby I play other games first...but AA is nice and I will definitely play it and try it seriously "soon".
I am 'finishing' Oblivion first, there is quite some content in it, lot of fun...and I grow older and less efficient, so it may take me longer...especially with a job and all. But after that, if Heroes of Might and Magic V is not in store, AA is likely to be tried next...if Heroes is available...well it will be after that for sure.
What do you mean by PvP ending? If you're referring to the final zone being a Contested/PvP zone, you can also enter a PvE only instance of that zone and have access to all the content there safely if PvP is not your cup of tea...
Well what else we could do is all your rank 5 people out their write reviews and rate Auto Assault (those that have played it) Im not asking you too lie I mean teh game speaks for itself right? I also I ahd no idea my post would get this many responses its actually pretty cool its good to know some people care
Originally posted by Poemaster Well what else we could do is all your rank 5 people out their write reviews and rate Auto Assault (those that have played it) Im not asking you too lie I mean teh game speaks for itself right? I also I ahd no idea my post would get this many responses its actually pretty cool its good to know some people care
It could be that most level 5 people are just being polite... you know, if you have nothing nice to say, say nothing at all.
As for me, I am waiting for Hard Truck: Apocalypse. All the road warrior action, with NO monthly fee. Lets face it, most people are saying that they spend their time solo in AA, so they might as well just go play a single player game.
Can anyone give a rough idea of what the end-game will be like? I know theres seperate pvp/pve ground zero, but have no idea how deep it is. I hope it will be easy to jump straight in and not have to spend long hours acquiring epic/fabled loot.
Originally posted by anarchyart Originally posted by Fadeus 2 days before they announced it was going gold.All I can say is, try the retail version. I've been playing for 3 days now and to me everything feels just so right about this game. It's fun and addictive and the graphics and gameplay have really sucked me into the world of AA. It's just a balls out good time. Haven't noticed any instancing at all yet, although I'm pretty busy having fun. Getting massive air (press B at the top of a jump ) blowing up cities and running over mutated pedestrians (Killing Spree!) it's the most fun I've had in an MMO since......I've never had this much pure fun in an MMO. Period. Auto Assault is all about fun and on that it delivers in spades.
You say that about every game that isn't WoW AA...
- Scaris
"What happened to you, Star Wars Galaxies? You used to look like Leia. Not quite gold bikini Leia (more like bad-British-accent-and-cinnamon-bun-hair Leia), but still Leia nonetheless. Now you look like Chewbacca." - Computer Gaming World
Originally posted by Vhaln Orignally posted by DanjakIt's nothing like Guild Wars... I just wanted to make that clear for anyone considering the game. I don't consider Guild Wars to be a persistant world, a true MMOG. This game is. It really is, it's not even debatable. I don't know why people think otherwise.There is an instancing drop down menu, but that's only to help with overcrowding. The game spawns alternate instances when it gets crowded, but it's not like you can go off into your own personal instance. You'll still be surrounded by other players (assuming the server isn't deserted)Instancing is also used to seperate PvP and non-PvP when you get to Ground Zero, but same deal, it's not a way to get away from other players at all.
Then it is as I thought in the first place. I wasn't referring to the single combat instances, I was referring too the multiple versions of each city that guild wars does and I am sorry but I find that highly dissapointing.
- Scaris
"What happened to you, Star Wars Galaxies? You used to look like Leia. Not quite gold bikini Leia (more like bad-British-accent-and-cinnamon-bun-hair Leia), but still Leia nonetheless. Now you look like Chewbacca." - Computer Gaming World
You say that about every game that isn't WoW AA...
Not true and I loved WoW at one time too. Stop taking cheap shots at me because I got the best of you in some EQ2 thread or whatever it is that's got your panties in a bunch toward me. Or because you're still in love with WoW and I've been there done that and hate it now. My opinions are as valid as yours. And I'm saying this from the bottom of my heart, Auto Assault is WoW on wheels. Sure I might get bored of it one day, but while it's good it's great. I expected nothing from Auto Assault and found a raised bar for my expectations of pure fun in an MMORPG.
(press B when you get to the top of a jump)
Originally posted by Fadeus
Then it is as I thought in the first place. I wasn't referring to the single combat instances, I was referring too the multiple versions of each city that guild wars does and I am sorry but I find that highly dissapointing.
But you don't know how many people entering a city will cause a second instance and how many instances you would have per capita. I have only ever seen 2 instances of the same city, you just don't notice it. Don't let that sully the chances of enjoying a great game.
Originally posted by Fadeus Then it is as I thought in the first place. I wasn't referring to the single combat instances, I was referring too the multiple versions of each city that guild wars does and I am sorry but I find that highly dissapointing.
I think you might be confused as to what makes Guild Wars less of an MMO, then. It is not the city instances, but the everywhere else instances, where players and groups all go off into thier own personal versions of the world. AA is not like that.
When I want a single-player story, I'll play a single-player game. When I play an MMO, I want a massively multiplayer world.
Originally posted by anarchyart Originally posted by Fadeus You say that about every game that isn't WoW AA...Not true and I loved WoW at one time too. Stop taking cheap shots at me because I got the best of you in some EQ2 thread or whatever it is that's got your panties in a bunch toward me. Or because you're still in love with WoW and I've been there done that and hate it now. My opinions are as valid as yours. And I'm saying this from the bottom of my heart, Auto Assault is WoW on wheels. Sure I might get bored of it one day, but while it's good it's great. I expected nothing from Auto Assault and found a raised bar for my expectations of pure fun in an MMORPG. (press B when you get to the top of a jump) Originally posted by Fadeus Then it is as I thought in the first place. I wasn't referring to the single combat instances, I was referring too the multiple versions of each city that guild wars does and I am sorry but I find that highly dissapointing.But you don't know how many people entering a city will cause a second instance and how many instances you would have per capita. I have only ever seen 2 instances of the same city, you just don't notice it. Don't let that sully the chances of enjoying a great game.
Nope, haven't trusted your opinion on a game since you started piping about how wonderful the NGE was. Not sure what EQ II thread you are referring too.
And I have already tried Auto Assault, I said that. I tried it just before it went gold so I think I already do have an idea of how it plays, said I wasn't interested yet you seem to not feel my opinion is the valid one. You know better then me huh? I expected nothing from Auto Assault and found a mildly amusing game that ins't worth a monthly.
As for instanced I am not even sure how what you said changes what I said? It's instanced period, my assumption of the game was correct and I didn't like care for it's implementation, regardless of how it appears or seems or wether you know when a new one starts or not. I wasn't even in a city when I saw the instance picker, I was referring to how Guild Wars handles it's cities.
- Scaris
"What happened to you, Star Wars Galaxies? You used to look like Leia. Not quite gold bikini Leia (more like bad-British-accent-and-cinnamon-bun-hair Leia), but still Leia nonetheless. Now you look like Chewbacca." - Computer Gaming World
Originally posted by Vhaln Originally posted by Fadeus Then it is as I thought in the first place. I wasn't referring to the single combat instances, I was referring too the multiple versions of each city that guild wars does and I am sorry but I find that highly dissapointing.
I think you might be confused as to what makes Guild Wars less of an MMO, then. It is not the city instances, but the everywhere else instances, where players and groups all go off into thier own personal versions of the world. AA is not like that.
I never brought into dicussion what makes an MMO. I simply said I didn't like the fact that it had instancing the way it did. I never said anything about my own private versions of the world, and your assuming on my reasons why I don't care for it.
- Scaris
"What happened to you, Star Wars Galaxies? You used to look like Leia. Not quite gold bikini Leia (more like bad-British-accent-and-cinnamon-bun-hair Leia), but still Leia nonetheless. Now you look like Chewbacca." - Computer Gaming World
Originally posted by Vhaln Originally posted by Fadeus
Then it is as I thought in the first place. I wasn't referring to the single combat instances, I was referring too the multiple versions of each city that guild wars does and I am sorry but I find that highly dissapointing.
I think you might be confused as to what makes Guild Wars less of an MMO, then. It is not the city instances, but the everywhere else instances, where players and groups all go off into thier own personal versions of the world. AA is not like that.
I never brought into dicussion what makes an MMO. I simply said I didn't like the fact that it had instancing the way it did. I never said anything about my own private versions of the world, and your assuming on my reasons why I don't care for it.
Fadeus, everything you have wrote about this game has been completly false. I think that is the problem a lot of people have with you in this thread. The things your are saying about AA only proves you didn't even play the game very long and only spreading lies about the game. For someone who didn't like the game very much is spending a lot of time in the AA board spreading lies about it.
If you are going to talk about a game, at least get your facts straight before doing so.
Hello fellow gamers, my MMO experience is limited to Coh/Cov's. Ive been playing them for almost a year now and while I still enjoy it I think im ready to move on. I really like what Ive seen so far in auto assult and I have a few questions. For one is it easy to find teams? I like teaming and meeting up with new people. Formulating strategies with a group is really fun especially when our strategy works. My next question is does the game seem stable to you. If it is lagg filled then I will probaly wait until the devs iron out the bugs, dont get me wrong I understand that the game is new and it wont be perfect (what new mo is) but if its too buggy then that would really turn off lot of people and Im running a pretty good system (p4 3.2 Gig 2 gigs or ram and 128 mb radeon I know i need to upgrade to a 256 at the very least:)' answers to these questions and any suggestions you might have would be greatly appreciated.
Originally posted by Busterman484 Hello fellow gamers, my MMO experience is limited to Coh/Cov's. Ive been playing them for almost a year now and while I still enjoy it I think im ready to move on. I really like what Ive seen so far in auto assult and I have a few questions. For one is it easy to find teams? I like teaming and meeting up with new people. Formulating strategies with a group is really fun especially when our strategy works. My next question is does the game seem stable to you. If it is lagg filled then I will probaly wait until the devs iron out the bugs, dont get me wrong I understand that the game is new and it wont be perfect (what new mo is) but if its too buggy then that would really turn off lot of people and Im running a pretty good system (p4 3.2 Gig 2 gigs or ram and 128 mb radeon I know i need to upgrade to a 256 at the very least:)' answers to these questions and any suggestions you might have would be greatly appreciated.
As you can tell from my previous posts in this thread, I'm a big cheerleader for this game. I love it, and I want others to love it too. That said, to give you the straight scoop, grouping is actually the number 1 problem with the game right now. Group features are slim to none. A LOT of people are bitching about that and the devs have already responded that they WILL be adding more grouping features. So you should know up front that grouping needs love, and until it gets that love, a lot of people aren't that interested in grouping.
Despite the lack of convoy/group features, however, I've still been grouping a lot. Every time I log in, in fact. If I see someone killing the same bad guys as me, I'll ask them if they want to group and they've always said yes. The community seems mature and fun-oriented. The group dynamics are similar to other MMORPGs, although the lines between the classes are much more blurred (the "healer" can actually do a lot of offense too, for instance). And what's cool is that it has built-in voice chat for groups. Not that many take advantage of this yet (I never did until last night), but those that do get another cool benefit. You don't have to use voice; it's entirely up to you and I haven't seen anyone demand it. Anyway, I've been grouping a lot and have found the grouping to be just as fun as in other games. Last night my group took out a boss multi-staged boss level (no spoilers, but it was VERY cool) and had a blast. I assumed the role of "tank" and bumped up my defenses at the expense of my speed and offense. If I wanted, I could have bumped up my offense at the expense of my heat rating (like mana for bullets), or my hit points at the expense of my speed. Lots of differenet options for each player... so yes, there's depth here beyond what people realize.
As for lag - it's practically nonexistant for me. Beta was horrible during the stress test (of course), but it appears they've ironed all that out. No noticeable lag. As for crashes, I have crashed to desktop a couple of times, at most once every other day. All of my crashes occurred after alt-tabbing out to do something on the internet and then come back in. I've heard alt-tabbing causes some problems. Since it works fine 90% of the time though, I still do it. ;-)
Originally posted by Vhaln Orignally posted by DanjakIt's nothing like Guild Wars... I just wanted to make that clear for anyone considering the game. I don't consider Guild Wars to be a persistant world, a true MMOG. This game is. It really is, it's not even debatable. I don't know why people think otherwise.There is an instancing drop down menu, but that's only to help with overcrowding. The game spawns alternate instances when it gets crowded, but it's not like you can go off into your own personal instance. You'll still be surrounded by other players (assuming the server isn't deserted)Instancing is also used to seperate PvP and non-PvP when you get to Ground Zero, but same deal, it's not a way to get away from other players at all.
Then it is as I thought in the first place. I wasn't referring to the single combat instances, I was referring too the multiple versions of each city that guild wars does and I am sorry but I find that highly dissapointing.
When you say a game is heavily instanced and mention Guild Wars in the same sentence, it conveys the wrong message about the game. DDO is heavily instanced. Guild Wars is nothing but instanced. This game is neither. That's where the confusion about your comments is coming from.
So yes, the cities do spawn multiple instances when they are overcrowded to reduce lag for everyone. You see that as a bad thing, I don't. But saying this is like Guild Wars is just inaccurate. If anything, the game is like City of Heroes, which does the exact same thing in respect to spawning multiple instances of a zone if they are overcrowded. I'd rather not look at a slideshow when I move into a crowded city as I have in games that don't offer this benefit. But to each his own.
Personally I hate grouping, Love solo. I don't want grouping, I don't want better grouping, forcing me to group will shorten the length of time I play the game.
I don't want them to change it. If you want to group you can, but there is no reason what-so-ever to try to poeple do it.
I have easily 20K words on this. I'll save it for now.
On the class thing, AA (and newer MMO) are getting things right. Healing in MMO's is a bad idea. (hear me out) Becuase it makes a class centric grouping system. You must have a healer or you don't have a group, no matter how many people you have.
In AA, the only heal I've see so far is a whimpy heal over time, and you get by without it. Good. People shouldn't forced to be healers. Few want to be them, if you force people into the role, they suck at it. We need fewer sucky healers, we need less of a need for healing.
We'll what happens at the high-end but I'm LOVING the solo-centric, non-healing manitory, high paced action, twitchy combat that is AA.
If they try to turn AA in EQ or WoW (loads of PvE raids) I'm out. PvP ftw!
-=-=-=-=- Achievers realise that killers as a concept are necessary in order to make achievement meaningful and worthwhile (there being no way to "lose" the game if any fool can "win" just by plodding slowly unchallenged). -bartle
Bartle: A: 93% E: 55% S:3% K: 50% The Test. Learn what it means here.
Comments
All I can say is, try the retail version. I've been playing for 3 days now and to me everything feels just so right about this game. It's fun and addictive and the graphics and gameplay have really sucked me into the world of AA. It's just a balls out good time. Haven't noticed any instancing at all yet, although I'm pretty busy having fun. Getting massive air (press B at the top of a jump
) blowing up cities and running over mutated pedestrians (Killing Spree!) it's the most fun I've had in an MMO since......I've never had this much pure fun in an MMO. Period.
Auto Assault is all about fun and on that it delivers in spades.
What Server/Race you playing Anarchy? Glad you're liking the game, loving it myself as well, I agree, it is just great pure mindless fun.
Desolation Guild Leader
Orignally posted by Danjak
It's nothing like Guild Wars... I just wanted to make that clear for
anyone considering the game. I don't consider Guild Wars to be a
persistant world, a true MMOG. This game is.
It really is, it's not even debatable. I don't know why people think otherwise.
There is an instancing drop down menu, but that's only to help with overcrowding. The game spawns alternate instances when it gets crowded, but it's not like you can go off into your own personal instance. You'll still be surrounded by other players (assuming the server isn't deserted
Instancing is also used to seperate PvP and non-PvP when you get to Ground Zero, but same deal, it's not a way to get away from other players at all.
When I want a single-player story, I'll play a single-player game. When I play an MMO, I want a massively multiplayer world.
Right now I'm on the west coast non-RP server. Playing a Human Lieutenant, I've made an alt of each class and I really enjoy how the Lieutenant drives. Man this game is fun. So fun in fact that I would rather play it than BF2. My Xfire stats don't show it because I don't use Xfire when playing BF2 for lag purposes, but I've been playing BF2 like 4 hours a night for the last couple months. But now, I only seem to be able to play Auto Assault because it's just all about fun.
I have to hand it to NCSoft. Killer game.
Well I am far from a action game type player. My back ground is EQ and WoW as far as MMOs go and the RPG aspect of gaming (story line particularly) has always been very important to me. What I particularly like about this game is yep, it's got the mission (quest) model on which to hang the gameplay which I really enjoy. It's familiar and engaging. These are particularly well written and developed (at least for mutants and meks, humans are a bit lacking). But the unique thing that sets AA apart is the speed of combat. While I am usually made very uncomfortable about high speed action gaming (like FPS) this has just the right edge where you have to keep moving (well you don't have to, but you'll wreck if you don't) while lots of mobs are adding and you constantly need to check progress and timing etc. but you don't die every few seconds like an FPS. And yes, driving fast and crashing thru stuff *is* fun, tho I am nearly reluctant to admit this rather visceral truth.
The whole game just feels speedy and refreshing. No stopping to loot, run to next mob, wait to determine combat approach, engage mob when you're ready, stand there to fight (as a caster in games I'm used to if you move you can't even fight, quite different) press a few buttons, repeat. Don't get me wrong, I like that process too, and am loving how this is fitting in nicely as an adjunct to WoW, which I play as well based on which "vibe" I'm feeling like.
I suppose you could see this as hammering a car into the same old in the aspect it is still an RPG and I am unsure how to make an RPG w/o those aspects that currently define the genre, primarily questing, and my MMO experience is by no means vast enough to know if there is one with fast paced combat and continual movement, but from my impression of what I've been reading there is not. That's how AA is unique and oh, so pleasing for me.
As for original topic of this thread I think this game will be a slow, but strong, grower. I do think many got the wrong impression from the marketing thinking it is more of a PvP game than it is, and less of an RPG. Word of mouth will fix that. I have already recruited my husband and have a few more people I will feed this evil sweet candy to, and once they have a taste I know they'll be hooked. .First one's free!
Ugh
I beta tested this game, and I was not impressed what so ever, I loved the scenary but that is about it.
The models were not all that great, I dont like having quests and having an arrow telling me were to go.. whats the point of that?
I did like the action in the beginning, but to me it felt like an archade game, I am sure the younger generation are going to love this game... but this game lacks depth and immersiveness. Its like buying a new car, your stoked and all excited but you realize its just another car :P
But again, im not capping on the game, it was fun for the first day I played but again it wasnt enough for me.
I am glad games like this and GW exist though, it does help clean out the kids for the seriouse RPG'ers in other games
Tatsit
Tantus Games
COO/Game Director
Actually, from what I can tell, the game tends to skew toward an older audience, not so much the "younger generation." Most of the people I talk to in it are over 30. I haven't seen any Chuck Norris jokes, "ORLY," or other goofy crap like I do in WoW and other MMOGs. So, I don't know about that one.
As for the arrow indicating where you need to go for your mission, it's no different than City of Heroes telling you which building your mission takes place in. If that bothers you, Auto Assault even has an option to turn off the mission arrow. It's completely up to you.
You mentioned the models weren't good - that one confused me. Here's a screenshot of my character and one of my car:
http://img227.imageshack.us/img227/4504/screenshot200604162226074jg.jpg
http://img62.imageshack.us/img62/2451/screenshot200604160139506ex.jpg
That's not even with all the options on as I'm running it on my laptop. How much better do you want?
Lastly, there's a lot of depth in the game - at least as much as you'll find in other MMOGs. You've got an meaty crafty system which allows for experimentation, different skill paths for your character so that two players of the same class are not alike, a LOT of stats to advance through either leveling or items, and well-written stories. I don't know what kind of depth you're looking for beyond that. If you consider other MMOGs deep, then this is right up there with them. (Personally, I don't consider any MMOG to be all that "deep"... I just want the game to be fun.)
One thing that AA subscribers can be doing is passing the 14-day buddy codes they got with their retail boxes out to interested parties. I'm doing that later this week, and chances are (with my backing) that my one subscription will account for another, and so on and so forth. The codes are there for a reason, folks, make em count
(BTW, I'm on the EU Desolation server... human for now!)
I will give it to AA for the fact that it is fun, but after lvl 5 your characters end up doing more of the same...I got 3 characters up to lvl 15 and for each one it was a blast up until lvl 5, everything else felt bleh.
I like the physics, I like the car combat. It really felt more like a solo experience than an MMO experience.
Current Games:
Right now I'm on the west coast non-RP server. Playing a Human Lieutenant, I've made an alt of each class and I really enjoy how the Lieutenant drives. Man this game is fun. So fun in fact that I would rather play it than BF2. My Xfire stats don't show it because I don't use Xfire when playing BF2 for lag purposes, but I've been playing BF2 like 4 hours a night for the last couple months. But now, I only seem to be able to play Auto Assault because it's just all about fun.
I have to hand it to NCSoft. Killer game.
Cool, I really liked Meks and Humans in Beta, Muties did nothing for me for some reason.
Desolation Guild Leader
I will buy and try the game 'soon'.
In fact I would already be playing it daily if it was not for the PvP ending, I fear I will be shafted and experience a bad ending, thereby I play other games first...but AA is nice and I will definitely play it and try it seriously "soon".
I am 'finishing' Oblivion first, there is quite some content in it, lot of fun...and I grow older and less efficient, so it may take me longer...especially with a job and all. But after that, if Heroes of Might and Magic V is not in store, AA is likely to be tried next...if Heroes is available...well it will be after that for sure.
- "If I understand you well, you are telling me until next time. " - Ren
Desolation Guild Leader
You say that about every game that isn't WoW AA...
- Scaris
"What happened to you, Star Wars Galaxies? You used to look like Leia. Not quite gold bikini Leia (more like bad-British-accent-and-cinnamon-bun-hair Leia), but still Leia nonetheless. Now you look like Chewbacca." - Computer Gaming World
Then it is as I thought in the first place. I wasn't referring to the single combat instances, I was referring too the multiple versions of each city that guild wars does and I am sorry but I find that highly dissapointing.
- Scaris
"What happened to you, Star Wars Galaxies? You used to look like Leia. Not quite gold bikini Leia (more like bad-British-accent-and-cinnamon-bun-hair Leia), but still Leia nonetheless. Now you look like Chewbacca." - Computer Gaming World
Not true and I loved WoW at one time too. Stop taking cheap shots at me because I got the best of you in some EQ2 thread or whatever it is that's got your panties in a bunch toward me. Or because you're still in love with WoW and I've been there done that and hate it now. My opinions are as valid as yours. And I'm saying this from the bottom of my heart, Auto Assault is WoW on wheels. Sure I might get bored of it one day, but while it's good it's great. I expected nothing from Auto Assault and found a raised bar for my expectations of pure fun in an MMORPG.
(press B when you get to the top of a jump)
But you don't know how many people entering a city will cause a second instance and how many instances you would have per capita. I have only ever seen 2 instances of the same city, you just don't notice it. Don't let that sully the chances of enjoying a great game.
I think you might be confused as to what makes Guild Wars less of an MMO, then. It is not the city instances, but the everywhere else instances, where players and groups all go off into thier own personal versions of the world. AA is not like that.
When I want a single-player story, I'll play a single-player game. When I play an MMO, I want a massively multiplayer world.
Nope, haven't trusted your opinion on a game since you started piping about how wonderful the NGE was. Not sure what EQ II thread you are referring too.
And I have already tried Auto Assault, I said that. I tried it just before it went gold so I think I already do have an idea of how it plays, said I wasn't interested yet you seem to not feel my opinion is the valid one. You know better then me huh? I expected nothing from Auto Assault and found a mildly amusing game that ins't worth a monthly.
As for instanced I am not even sure how what you said changes what I said? It's instanced period, my assumption of the game was correct and I didn't like care for it's implementation, regardless of how it appears or seems or wether you know when a new one starts or not. I wasn't even in a city when I saw the instance picker, I was referring to how Guild Wars handles it's cities.
- Scaris
"What happened to you, Star Wars Galaxies? You used to look like Leia. Not quite gold bikini Leia (more like bad-British-accent-and-cinnamon-bun-hair Leia), but still Leia nonetheless. Now you look like Chewbacca." - Computer Gaming World
I never brought into dicussion what makes an MMO. I simply said I didn't like the fact that it had instancing the way it did. I never said anything about my own private versions of the world, and your assuming on my reasons why I don't care for it.
- Scaris
"What happened to you, Star Wars Galaxies? You used to look like Leia. Not quite gold bikini Leia (more like bad-British-accent-and-cinnamon-bun-hair Leia), but still Leia nonetheless. Now you look like Chewbacca." - Computer Gaming World
I never brought into dicussion what makes an MMO. I simply said I didn't like the fact that it had instancing the way it did. I never said anything about my own private versions of the world, and your assuming on my reasons why I don't care for it.
Fadeus, everything you have wrote about this game has been completly false. I think that is the problem a lot of people have with you in this thread. The things your are saying about AA only proves you didn't even play the game very long and only spreading lies about the game. For someone who didn't like the game very much is spending a lot of time in the AA board spreading lies about it.
If you are going to talk about a game, at least get your facts straight before doing so.
As you can tell from my previous posts in this thread, I'm a big cheerleader for this game. I love it, and I want others to love it too. That said, to give you the straight scoop, grouping is actually the number 1 problem with the game right now. Group features are slim to none. A LOT of people are bitching about that and the devs have already responded that they WILL be adding more grouping features. So you should know up front that grouping needs love, and until it gets that love, a lot of people aren't that interested in grouping.
Despite the lack of convoy/group features, however, I've still been grouping a lot. Every time I log in, in fact. If I see someone killing the same bad guys as me, I'll ask them if they want to group and they've always said yes. The community seems mature and fun-oriented. The group dynamics are similar to other MMORPGs, although the lines between the classes are much more blurred (the "healer" can actually do a lot of offense too, for instance). And what's cool is that it has built-in voice chat for groups. Not that many take advantage of this yet (I never did until last night), but those that do get another cool benefit. You don't have to use voice; it's entirely up to you and I haven't seen anyone demand it. Anyway, I've been grouping a lot and have found the grouping to be just as fun as in other games. Last night my group took out a boss multi-staged boss level (no spoilers, but it was VERY cool) and had a blast. I assumed the role of "tank" and bumped up my defenses at the expense of my speed and offense. If I wanted, I could have bumped up my offense at the expense of my heat rating (like mana for bullets), or my hit points at the expense of my speed. Lots of differenet options for each player... so yes, there's depth here beyond what people realize.
As for lag - it's practically nonexistant for me. Beta was horrible during the stress test (of course), but it appears they've ironed all that out. No noticeable lag. As for crashes, I have crashed to desktop a couple of times, at most once every other day. All of my crashes occurred after alt-tabbing out to do something on the internet and then come back in. I've heard alt-tabbing causes some problems. Since it works fine 90% of the time though, I still do it. ;-)
Then it is as I thought in the first place. I wasn't referring to the single combat instances, I was referring too the multiple versions of each city that guild wars does and I am sorry but I find that highly dissapointing.
When you say a game is heavily instanced and mention Guild Wars in the same sentence, it conveys the wrong message about the game. DDO is heavily instanced. Guild Wars is nothing but instanced. This game is neither. That's where the confusion about your comments is coming from.
So yes, the cities do spawn multiple instances when they are overcrowded to reduce lag for everyone. You see that as a bad thing, I don't. But saying this is like Guild Wars is just inaccurate. If anything, the game is like City of Heroes, which does the exact same thing in respect to spawning multiple instances of a zone if they are overcrowded. I'd rather not look at a slideshow when I move into a crowded city as I have in games that don't offer this benefit. But to each his own.
Is the lack of grouping really a problem?
Or is marketing the game to people who expect it?
Personally I hate grouping, Love solo. I don't want grouping, I don't want better grouping, forcing me to group will shorten the length of time I play the game.
I don't want them to change it. If you want to group you can, but there is no reason what-so-ever to try to poeple do it.
I have easily 20K words on this. I'll save it for now.
On the class thing, AA (and newer MMO) are getting things right. Healing in MMO's is a bad idea. (hear me out) Becuase it makes a class centric grouping system. You must have a healer or you don't have a group, no matter how many people you have.
In AA, the only heal I've see so far is a whimpy heal over time, and you get by without it. Good. People shouldn't forced to be healers. Few want to be them, if you force people into the role, they suck at it. We need fewer sucky healers, we need less of a need for healing.
We'll what happens at the high-end but I'm LOVING the solo-centric, non-healing manitory, high paced action, twitchy combat that is AA.
If they try to turn AA in EQ or WoW (loads of PvE raids) I'm out. PvP ftw!
-=-=-=-=-
Achievers realise that killers as a concept are necessary in order to make achievement meaningful and worthwhile (there being no way to "lose" the game if any fool can "win" just by plodding slowly unchallenged). -bartle
Bartle: A: 93% E: 55% S:3% K: 50% The Test. Learn what it means here.