Elder Scrolls Online Beta Review

So...Elder Scrolls Online. Whodathunkit way back in the day when the ES series first came out in the 1990s? Although, the type of gameplay that the series offers just screams MMO. The real question, however, is can they do it right. Let's break it down...


GRAPHICS: 8.5/10

I saw a few complaints about the graphics of this game in chat, but I am guessing they were mostly from people who are used to playing single player games and not MMOs, or were playing at a lower graphical setting. On ultra the game looks great, and really helped immerse me in the game world. There are a few critiques with some textures, but it wasn't enough to distract me from the overall visual aspects of this game.

There were also a few graphics bugs here and there both in the game world (e.g. some floating MOBS) and character bugs (e.g. odd non-symmetrical facial alignments); however, I am discounting them since they were few and fully expect them to be addressed come launch.


SOUND: 10/10

I thought sound was just sound before, but ZOS (Zenimax Online Studios - the makers of ESO) have really done their job. They have good game world music, sound effects, and all the quests (at least the ones I did through levels 1-12) were all fully voice acted! It's comical to think that SWTOR used this as one of their primary selling point for their game, while in ESO it's just another feature in their list of features. Some of the voice actors are well known actors and actresses and really help bring life into the character. Especially early on in the game with John Cleese voice acting a Don Quixote-type character. It really impressed me because he did an excellent job, and I just love Don Quixote (so I am biased here).

The beautiful sounds and voice acting follows previous Elder Scrolls games, like Skyrim, and maintains that reputation.


INTERFACE: 9/10

For the most part really clean and well done. It takes a bit getting used to with the menu bar system (e.g. the rotation needed for potions), but overall top notch. I like the fact they are trying to get away from MMO screens looking like spreadsheets, and making it look more like a game to be played. The default is no floating texts, no buffs shown, no name plates, etc. It's great. It's clean and immersive.

1st person is done very well, and I actually played my whole gameplay in that mode. The only downside is not knowing when a large charge attack is happening, since it appears in red on the ground. Easy to see in 3rd person, but who really looks at the ground in 1st person. I hope that they make it so a red outline on the edges of the screen occurs or something to help indicate charge attacks in 1st person.

As for no floating texts on damage and healing, I can live with that. Honestly, I healed all the dungeon instances I ran, and I rarely looked at party health bars in the party window. Instead I was looking at the actual player (OnMouseOver shows their health bar). This was necessary, since this game isn't click-target-based. Thus, you need to know where the person is that needs healing, because you need to aim the heal at them or the area they are in.

I won't say it's innovation, since non-click-targeting is in other ES games, and in DarkFall Online, but it is done so well here. An idea is only so good as it's implementation, and they did a great job with putting gaming back in MMOs, rather than looking at numbers and tables, etc. This leads me to the next section.

COMBAT: 9/10

Combat is great. It is non-click-targeting and action driven. You can move/roll out of enemy attacks, and need to aim your bow/spells at enemy players. It can get kind of frustrating with lag, especially for spells with a timer. Since some spells need a "valid target" to cast and a "valid target" to exist at the end of cast. This allows enemy players through movement or lag to not get casted on. I guess it's to conserve magicka (mana) for the caster, since the spell would miss, but I think starting the cast can be done without a valid target, as long as the end cast has a valid target.

This is also an interesting subject area, because like Rift and all classless MMO games, ESO has a great level of freedom for the player. There is an archtype that the player chooses to play (i.e. mage, fighter, rogue, healer) and that defines the player to some degree, but then it doesn't in another. It's hard to explain in a short space, but I will try.

Each weapon/armor has different skill options, as well as just a base class option of skills (e.g. mage) which the player can choose to use. There are no restrictions in the type of weapons and armor that a player wears so a mage could wear heavy armor for example. And instead of a staff use a sword and shield. Hence, if you need a tank in an instance and you are all mages, one can be a tank (this actually happened and worked). Also, I played a mage, but had a spec in healing and since we needed a healer I healed the party.

This opens the door to playing with your friends and letting them play the classes they want. There is no longer any need to wait 30 mins to find a tank. Just have at least one of your friends have a heavy armor set in their inventory and perhaps a skill point or two in a "tanking" skill line and viola. So just a great system in general.


QUESTING: 8.5/10

So far, one of the best questing systems I have played in an MMO and I've played a...lot. It helps that the quests are fully voice acted, but the quest system itself is well designed. Rarely, did I feel like I was grinding the quest mill (although that's inevitable), and it was more about helping these people with issues that mattered to them. It may not have mattered to me much as a player/character, and a few times I was like so why am I doing this besides needing xp. But it did seem that the quests that you were doing did matter to the npcs that you were helping. It wasn't kill 10 rats, then kill 10 wolves because...God, only knows. It was at least kill X because it greatly affected the npc is some manner, so it gave some weight and meaning behind the quests.

To push it that much further would be trying to incorporate meaning into the player to do these quests. However, this would come to a great expensive of both time and resources for the actual payoff, since it would require what SWTOR did and give different options to the player that mattered, and then thus different quest chains (including voice acting) for all those different choices. In ESO, it makes no difference, and the end result is the same, which either completes the quest or forwards you to the next one. There are some "red" texts which are finalized choices, but I don't think they actually affect the gameplay much, and exist to give the appearance that it mattered. And truthfully, that works perfectly fine for me.

Besides questions, there are dark anchors which work to a similar style as public quests (PQs) that existed in WaR and then in Rift. They resemble Rift a bit more, since they are essentially rifts, but here ESO does a much better job, since they are much rarer (I hope it stays that way) and keeps them unique. This then adds a freshness to the questing procedure and acts as a break for the player. It also allows them to involve themselves in a social aspect (i.e. needs many people to do them), which also gives a break from soloing.

All quests so far are soloable (at least up till level 12 where I left off). Everything expect the formal dungeons, which I will talk about next.

DUNGEONS: 9/10

So there are two types of dungeons in ESO public and private (my own terms). Public ones are dungeons that are like any other place in the game world, except in a dungeon type atmosphere.  There are quests there, and some additional loot. However, these are not instanced and so it can get very busy in them. In beta all of these dungeons were incredibly easy because there were way too many people in them. Post launch I feel it will be less crowded and then meeting the odd adventure in there will be great. Because it would let the player meet a stranger, who has similar goals, and possibly end up teaming with them.

Private dungeons are instanced dungeons and act similar to the dungeons in World of Warcraft. They look gorgeous and play well. The three that you can do at around level 12 are short and quick and fun. They have a perfect amount of difficulty that it makes it challenging and rewarding to complete. They are kind of short (maybe 20-30 mins), but ESO has wisely made three of them. This helps people who don't want to spend 1.5-2h doing a dungeon still allow them to do them, but for those who do can do the others.

The difficulty is at a good setting (please don't dumb it down) at this point, and our party wiped a few times which is great. It should be challenging!


PVP: 9/10

All PVP is done in Cyrodiil which is a separate instanced large alliance vs alliance vs alliance (AvAvA) area. I believe ZOS said it's bigger than the starter areas for the different alliances. Regardless, it's a game unto itself and is worth at least a try.

I won't get into all the details, since there is a lot. But to summarize there are three different factions (instead of the classic two) and everything is there for the taking. There are many castles which can be claimed by the different factions and taking and defending them is a large part of this scenario.

Like I said, it's a game unto itself and in Cyrodiil you can gather, quest, and even do dungeons, but they are public. So you can do a great job clearing a dungeon, only to have the enemy from another alliance come kill you and your party and then kill the boss and take the loot. So great. Reminds me of Ultima Online and EQII (pvp server). However, public dungeons are easy, and are not like instanced dungeons with elite mobs. It would be nice to see at least some public dungeons with instanced-dungeon-difficulty and loot (i.e. random world bosses spawning in there a la Aion).

The mass PVP battles were epic and fun. It's a great feeling to use a siege weapon to break down a castle wall or pour boiling oil onto enemy players as they try to storm your alliance's castle.

CRAFTING: 8/10

I only crafted a bit in this game just to test it out. I only scratched the surface, but from what I saw it seemed quite indepth and interesting. At first glance it looked like the very boring WoW-ish crafting system, but it's not. It has some twists and aspects that makes it refreshing. Although, I didn't fully test it out, so I am still unsure. However, it seems to have some aspects that were taken out of EQII crafting with quality of items, etc. I really like the idea that you can add more of a material to create higher level gear. That was a very smart design. I believe the devs have said that crafted gear will be considered top gear. I hope that I am remembering that correctly.

Of the gear that I crafted from level 1-10 the gear was better than quested gear received. However, it's much better, since you can make the gear have qualities added to them, which is beyond just enchantments, and something I won't get into.

I just hope that top level crafters are a rarity, which in turn would make uber gear rare. I just hope they don't generic-it all down to the boring philosophy that "we are all winners." Inequality creates competition and pushes people to be better. Seeing a great crafter make a great weapon pushes other crafters to also attain that level. If everyone eventually becomes this, it just belittles the overall profession and rarity of the items to the point of it being normal and generic gear. But that is purely my $0.02.


OVERALL GAMEPLAY: 8.5/10

I went into beta not knowing much about ESO. To be honest, I haven't really been following it that much. I watched a few YouTube videos about it, like Shoddycast, but it really didn't grab my attention. I got invited to the previous beta, but I didn't even bother claiming my code to test it. For this beta, I am glad I did. I was pleasantly surprised how much I enjoyed the game.

It's kind of hard to categorize this game, since it takes aspects from many different game genres so it's more of a hybrid. There are aspects of ES (i.e. Skyrim), MMO, theme-park-yet-sandbox. I think it's all a hard balance to maintain. MMO players are a demanding bunch, so to juggle all these features can be a difficult task. So far, I believe they are succeeding.


FINAL THOUGHTS:

I really appreciate the relatively slower paced leveling system. I don't think MMOs should design their game to be able to be max level in a week or even two weeks. They put years into making a game world, only to be blown past it in a week? It never made sense to me. This trend is actually a nail in the coffin for MMOs, since once it's "end game," there better be more. I mean if devs really love their world, then the player base should love just being in it, end game be damned. Reaching end game shouldn't be the primary goal, but just a goal and the focus should be playing the game. Single player games succeed because it's a great game to play through, not because of the end game (well it's over by then). I hope ZOS keeps a slower paced leveling system. The game is meant to be played and the world to be enjoyed.


SIDE NOTE:

I hope this game does well, it seems like a lot of hard work went into making it. I just hope that the company stays true to their fans. $60 initial purchase and $15/m, I think is the dollar cap that should be implemented. I really do not like how the industry is trying to exploit their playerbase with micro-transactions, especially DLCs. I forsee a large backlash from the community if ZOS tries to charge what they already are, and then tries to take further advantage of their playerbase. I just hope they do not get greedy and instead keep with these price points, and give everything the players deserve for their $15/m; rather than try to do some future DLC idea. I feel that would be a terrible and would only hurt the game, and the ES brand, which stands for great quality, value, and gameplay for their players.

All that is Xsyon - Unicorns, Rainbows, and Puppy Dogs

It's time to do another review, and it's going to be about Xsyon.

Well, what can I say. I have heard about Xsyon off and on for a number of years, but it has never interested me enough to learn more about it. It's an odd reason too. It is one of those games that I would really want to play if it were true. What do I mean by that? I heard it was a sandbox game, etc, etc. Yes, I got burned by Darkfall and to a degree, Mortal Online. MO wasn't as bad, since I only followed it for a while, but Darkfall I followed for 4 years. 4! I mean, I would check their website every week for updates...for 4 years. I woke up early the day of pre-order and hammered their site for 2 solid hours to get a preorder...all to be disappointed.

I really couldn't invest the time or the emotional stress that DFO caused, so I, like an abused child, tried to erase it from my memory...only happy thoughts. Unicorns, rainbows, and puppy dogs. I heard about their release date, and lo and behold it was a disaster. Yes, I predicted it. The reviews and posts about the game were dismal, the people were very unhappy, and there was "weeping and gnashing of teeth." Unicorns, rainbows, and puppy dogs. It was so bad that the company pushed back the release date for a few more months. I would be lying to say if I was the least bit shocked. Not that I want to say anything bad about sandbox, indi game companies, but it's just as it is.

The MMO business is a hard genre to get into, and it's a very time consuming and difficult type of game to make. It's constantly a "work in process," you have a very dedicated and needy player base. They don't stand for much, and expect the world (literally). It's hard to do all that with a small limited budget and small staff. Look at companies that throw 50-150 million dollars at it, and they even start sweating of what they got themselves into. I mean, don't get me wrong. I love the indi market, and TBH I think they are going to be/are the game changers in the market. They are the ones that will take risks and drive innovation, because they have the least to lose (not on a personal level, but on a fire 100 people and lose 50-150 million dollar level). So bravo for them to make the "game they always dreamed of making," since they don't have to fall under all the marketing and high end big wigs who know nothing about actual gaming in MMOs making the big end decisions. Enough about that, so yeah, Xsyon wasn't on my radar which is a lot to say, because I know about most MMOs...at least the ones worth knowing about.

But like the ol' adage, "bad publicity is still publicity" stands true. The reviews were so bad, I took more notice of the game. Like the young underwear adds of Calvin Klein the name of Xsyon spread further than it intended, and people talked about it to the point where I wanted to know more about how bad it really was. How bad was it? What was so bad about it? What kind of game was it that made it so bad? Like the instinctual nature of driving slow turning your head and looking at a bad car accident, you just wanted to know. So I started doing a little reading and watching videos. It sounded like what I remembered it to be. The fanboi were defending, the haters were hating, and "the stockings were hung by the chimney with care..."

So yeah, just as I figured Xsyon is one of those games "too good to be true." It gives what all the niche players of sandbox gamers want...but really is that all possible? No.

I read (ok skimmed) the review by Willbonney, and that really didn't help me. I wanted a real review, something that wasn't biased either way and comprehensive enough so I would understand the game, the state of the game, and what I would expect. I couldn't find any, so I went onto YouTube. I stumbled on some old 8 month vidoeos, which I dismissed. I wanted something current. Something that I could actually see and would give me an idea of the state of the game. I finally started to watch some of the Saintbob tutorials, and it seemed ok. The graphics are meh, but the gameplay was interesting. It reminded me a lot like Wurm, which I only briefly tried, and since it's a new MMO I am hoping a lot more indepth. I was intrigued.

I looked around the web site to see if I could apply for beta, but only pre-orders were given beta access. What? It almost killed it right there. Then...then...there was no NDA. What? Interesting. The pre-order gave 2 months free, and then then I read a statement from the main developer saying he is going to release it on March 1st, because he is tired. Hmm...not the best marketing line to sell a game. He was saying that there is a really small team, and that he fired some staff previous because they were not doing the job he thought they were doing. He was working hard, and couldn't keep working that way...hmm...you know, I have been lied to so many times as an MMO player. Just plain honestly works for me. Like Josh Lyman, it got my attention of the honesty that was being said here.

Let see, I swore I would never pre-order an MMO game again. And here is a game that isn't polished, that I don't know much about, I know it's a sandbox with a small staff and could potentially go under at any moment...let's pre-order!

Now I am not going to give a play-by-play of the game or my adventures, but let's get right into it. I mean you have suffered enough with my ramblings above:


INTRO:

Xsyon isn't a game for the feint hearted. I mean you are the motivator, and you are the instigator. The game will give you nothing if you don't work for it. It isn't "Theme Park" model. If the only game you ever experienced is a "Theme Park" game, you will be greatly disappointed (i.e. WoW). However, if you have played UO (Ultima Online), Eve, SWG Pre-CU or even D&D PnP, then you will kind of already know what to expect and adapt accordingly. I am not suggesting that WoW players will not like this game, but it's such a different game, that it will quickly fustrate the WoW-ish players to the point of /ragequit.

GRAPHICS and ANIMATION: 5/10

The animations are pretty bad, animals from what I have seen don't really do much. I saw bears just standing there doing nothing, while I saw raccoons sitting up and perhaps eating something and then going back down on all fours. The trees, water, waterfalls and the weather graphics are beautiful. I love going into the mountains on a hunt and just looking at the scenery of the nature of the game. However, I just love exploring. I haven't come by anything significant like ancient ruins, etc but who knows. I haven't traveled too much around.

Running looks really odd, like the Friend's episode where Phoebe jogs with Rachael (don't judge me, I wasn't a big fan, but I saw that episode and it reminds me of it). Everything else is basic like you bend down to gather something. Sometimes the animation bugs out and you stand up while you are still gathering.

Also, a few times after I finished gathering I stand up and do a scare crow stance. Which is what you use when you do character design. I guess it's reverting back to the default?

You can swim (not underwater yet, nor can you drown), run, walk, jog, jump, and climb up most hills...I think a climb feature will be placed to actually climb things not climbable atm. Resting regens HP (health) and energy. There is also a lying down to rest option, though I am not sure if it restores HP and energy faster.

I guess I should mention there are e-motes with sound. Never been a big emote fan, but there is enough to satisfy anyone. On aside, I think devs put way too much emphasis on emotes like dance. Sure it's fun, but perhaps work on a more important part of the game. I think they see all the great videos of WoW using their emote and think "it's free publicity if people make cool videos with our game and emotes." But really, just make a good game (i.e. I would have much rather them fix all the bugs in AoC rather than have all those amazing emotes).

GAME WORLD: 8/10

It's huge. I mean I don't have stats and graphs, etc but it's huge. It's based off of the real Lake Tahoe (like Fallen Earth with the Grand Canyon). One of my first rolled characters was missing a crafting item and I had to run 2-3 units to get it. It took me about 40 minutes (a little of getting my bearings straight, a little fighting off a bear with my fishing rod). So if that was 2-3 units the world is sizeable. Here is a map and the units with starting point locations:





The reaons I gave it an 8 is because there are lots of things that aren't in the game right now. Maybe they are and I just haven't seen it. This is one of the things that makes Xsyon unique. The dev will not tell you when they add something into the game (unless it's a fix or something really essential). It's there for you to discover or not discover!

SOUND: 7/10

Sound is ok. Basic, and nothing engrossing. There was a bug where it snowed, then rained, and snowed and the rain sound effect was still going.

Some of the background music is of bad quality. Not bad design, but it actually is really distorted. Maybe it's on my end, since I don't think anyone has reported it.

Sound is sound to me, it has the environment sound and action sounds, so it's really enough for me.

COMBAT: 4/10

Combat is basic at best. There is a lot of room for improvement, and it's something that will get a major overhaul according to the dev, but it will be down the road. It isn't a click and target, so aiming your swing (and later bow, magic?) will be necessary.

You can equip anything to use, including nothing and using your fists. Currently, there are no stats on equipment, no on really knows how strong or how much damage something does.

Dying mechanics aren't in yet, so if you die to for example a bear, you will die, appear as a ghost, and then respawn with all your stuff.

Come release, or whenever the devs decide to turn it on, it will be a full-loot system on death, as is the standard for sandbox games. It has it's roots back to D&D and trying to mimic reality, which gives another element to the game. Don't worry about losing your +384387123 Sword of Ultra Uberness, which took you 3 months of grinding in the Cave of Upper Uberness, because that shit isn't in the game.

CRAFTING: 9/10

It has a full comprehensive crafting system, and it will tickle anyone that likes crafting or even just crafts a bit. It is the sandbox model of you can craft everything. Everything. You start out with practically nil and you need to amass your uberness, which will start with crafting. I would give it a 10/10, but the starting mechanic of crafting is really frustrating. If you choose say, leathworking as a craft you could or could not get the actual tools to do leatherworking. So you could be a leatherworker who can't do any leatherworking. It's really frustrating, and hopefully it gets fixed, hence why I traveled 2-3 units in my beginning blurb. I needed a needle.

People are currently making a character, making a basket, putting their tools in it, deleting their character, creating a character, going to the basket, putting their tools in it, deleting their character, ad infinitum ad nausum till they get all the tools. Really. We really shouldn't have to do this! Oh and FYI only one character per account. But that is all you need, since this is a skill based game with leveling also in it. The leveling works to a degree because you only get 10 points to spend on your skill. For every 10 skill points in a skill it will require 1 more point. So having a skill of 10 and wanting it to go to 11 would require you to spend 2 points, 21 spend 3 points, and so on. Maybe you get more skill points the higher the level you go, so not sure about this one (I am only level 2, almost 3 :P).

Also, the starting recipes you get are also random. You don't just get it in the craft you choose, but in all the areas. You could have leatherworking but only start with the basic crafting list (5?) but then have 20 in tailoring. It's suppose to reflect a real life situation where some people might like a certain area of crafting, but their skills and knowledge are really in another area.

Skilling up is a lot of grinding of items till you learn new recipes and gain skills. You can fail, and you will lose the mats (materials), though not the tools that you used to make them. Choosing a craft at character creation will give you 25 points (out of ?) while all the other crafts you will start with 5 points. 5 points will make you fail a lot.

About every 5 or so items you will learn a new craft (auto learn), gained in skill points takes longer and is slower. There is a soft cap (harder to gain points) for each of the categories like crafting, combat, etc. Apparently, there is also an anti-macro system in place so people can't just macro grind shit (a la DFO and hello under the world macro-ing overnight).

Also, energy plays a big part in the game. Everything takes energy from crafting, combat, moving, any action. Hence, that is also another anti-macro system. When your energy hits zero you will be winded and take like 10s do anything else. Keeping well fed with food and keeping your thirst bar full will help with energy regen (regeneration).

I guess I should add that you can also make buildings and walls, and you can terraform the land. Yes, you can change the land! I think buildings and some walls are bugged or not completely in yet. I think one wall that is stone requires 80 stone of one type, but the stacks only goes to 50, and you can't click on 2 stacks (or mix and match, but that goes for all crafts) to meet the requirements...anyways, back to terraforming. You can make motes around your base, raise land, or level it. It's quite amazing and people have done some pretty interesting things with it.

Physics work, so digging by a river and making a mote will make the water go into it. You can watch the YouTube video of the tribe Apache doing it.

GATHERING: 9/10

The basic see something pick it up, etc. There a little more to this which I don't want to get into. I suggest watching saintbob's tutorials on YouTube. I think his username is saintbob001.

The types of resources are plentiful, and as I write this I want to give this a 9...hell, let's give it a 9. I bumped it up, because resources are in places where they should be. Misc is in junk piles, limestone by water, branches and twigs by trees, etc. It all makes sense.

GUILD/TRIBE: 7/10

The system itself is great and that would get a 9-10; however, the Tribe interface is just...well appalling, and this is coming from someone that has never actually written the word "appalling" before.

It gives you the basic who is in your tribe, but it doesn't tell you who is on-line, off-line. You can't invite someone to tribe unless they are standing next to the totem (hmm...not so bad, really), no idea when people in your tribe comes online or offline. It's really non-social. The only merit is it has a tribe chat...that's it. lol. But that is on the social part. The actual control of the tribe using the totem is really indepth. You can create ranks and assign different roles and rights to the specific rank. It might sound simple, but the options are quite vast and I am impressed with the level of detail involved.

Also, the quest system in done with the totem, and you can give quests out to other players to fulfill, as well as, give the reward. I think it also gives experience out, which I think is dumb. Apparently, completing quests from other tribes gives more xp, then from your current tribe. However, what is really stopping two friendly tribes to give the simplest quest and just farm xp that way. The reward system is good enough, since the person making the quest has to have the reward to give (it doesn't come from the game...I mean the game doesn't provide it automatically out of thin air).

I don't think trade is in the game yet (besides personal trade one-on-one); however, I think tribal trade will also be in via the totem system which will be cool (i.e. people outside your tribe can come and use your totem to do trades...I guess that's if they don't get attacked). However, since it's not in the game, it can't attribute to the rating for this category.

The tribe area is interesting and you start out with a set size. It will grow as you gain more members and shrink accordingly. You can build and put stuff in your tribal area and for now till after Prelude (more about this later, but it will last 6 months AFAIK), you are completely safe in your tribal area.

You can only build or terraform in your tribal area, but it's quite big. Currently, there is a bug where if someone deletes their char it says they leave the tribe but doesn't? Something like that. It happened a few times to us when people rerolled their chars to rejoin us and having ghosts. The ghosts do make a difference, and we tested by kicking one and our land claim shrank a bit.

Agriculture and husbandry are on the list as well. So it will be cool...for all your farmville players out there. I know you are out there, admit it (though not me...seriously).

CHAT: 3/10

It always surprises me how little development MMO devs put into the chat feature. I mean MMOs are known to be social games. One would think that making the social feature a high priority on the To Do list. Regardless, there is just one window for chat. Everything goes there. Thank "a dios" that it's color coded. You can't move the chat window, change it's size, scroll (arrow keys are slow, and when you go up and more chat happens it moves it down as well...grrr), change the background color (hard to see sometimes) nor make new windows.

The only saving grace is that there is a local chat (1 unit in every direction). Yes, that is a saving grace. I guess mainly cause we know the limit of the local chat and it's not so limiting that only people in the same unit will hear you. It does make for some odd conversations where one person is talking to someone one unit away, but someone a unit away in the opposite side hears you just talking to yourself. There is also a global chat currently, but it will be turned off come release which is a good thing.

I guess I should also put that names only appear when you are really close to someone. So hiding and still talking is possible. I think something is being worked on where local won't revel the name unless you MouseOver the person or you already have that person on your Friends List...not sure.

CURRENT STATE: 7/10

It's hard to rate, since so much is missing. The FPS is low (for me anyways), I still get ping spikes where I run at 16-32ms and then spike up to 300+. There isn't really much to do currently other than build up your skills, crafts, and your tribe.

The thing is, that is a large part of the game atm. I mean crafting has a lot to offer and usually requires other mats from other crafters. You have to work together, along with other projects like wall building and terraforming.

The bare bones of it really feels like starting out with nothing...well because you do. I usually solo in all MMOs or at least have a small core group of players. This game works well with that, and even though I am mainly a soloer, the game really encourages at least small group play.

So far I am enjoying the crafting and the craft and skill leveling.

GAME POTENTIAL: 8-10/10

Hah, what can I say any sandbox game really has the potential to hit 10, while "Theme Park" games have a harder time because of their inherent design. The devs are really involved with the community. A dev comes on often and asks if there are any concerns. They are also very interactive with the forums. The FAQ seems far out, but why not. Where is the ceiling when it's just a small group of devs making their dream game? Lots promised, but who knows what will actually be delivered and to what degree of quality. Though, great things have been done based on a promise...like finding a faster route to India by sea.

I like two major things about the mindset of the main devs, and it is important to have the same mindset. It means that the game won't change so drastically that you will end up in /ragequit. I mean I can't promise that, but look at Eve. People have been whining for years about the harshness of it and the full loot pvp, etc, etc. The devs have always stuck by their guns and people who love that aspect of Eve will continue to play because they know the devs are not going to change the basic gameplay of the game to a few whiners. Even with the suicide killers in Empire....but I digress.

The devs see the game as it is. Trying to be as realistic as possible with some poetic licensing. They have stated that there will be stages to the game, mainly so some people don't play this game out. What I mean by that is look at WoW. People hit max level cap in...5 hours? Xsyon will not have that problem, because the devs will not release the cap outright, but in stages. Prelude is the first stage and it will be 6 months. When they add things they will not tell us and we will have to discover it ourselves. Maybe no one ever well? Maybe someone will 2 stages later, and be like oh look! I like that, but that is the nature of a sandbox game. Gamers who do not want to be hand holded and spoonfed. It's a double-edge sword, but...I want to help out the dev and their team, so $40 isn't the end of the world.

Cheers.

Rift Planes of Telara Beta 3 Review: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (long)

First of all, thank you Trion for letting me into your CB 3. So here is my contribution.

I only played Beta 3 and I only played the Defiant side, as well as, only the mage archtype from 1-20.

INTERFACE: 10/10

Essentially the standard benchmark of what the interface/gui is for MMOs, although really nothing out of the ordinary here. However, I did like the layout editor, all the windows were movable, and that almost all the ("WoW") addons were already part of the default interface with quest tracking, etc.

I tried to change the keybindings of my action bar numerous times, and kept facing a roadblock. It took me a while to figure out that I had to mouseOnOver the action keys and then click the key I wanted. I kept just trying to find it in the list of keybindings. I think a tooltip should pop up to inform the player to "mouseOnOver" the action bar key to rebind it. Perhaps it's already there, and I just turned off the tutorial part by then. Regardless, that has to be more apparent. I kept seeing people asking how to rebind action bar keys in General Chat many times throughout Beta.

GRAPHICS: 9/10

I like the graphics in the game. They do remind me of WaR/Aion, but in a good way. I thought the world looks great, the rifts when they come out of the sky are amazingly good, good mob skins, and clothing textures.

However, there are some graphic glitches throughout the game and I kept seeing "breaks" while zoomed out and moving around in the world. It was annoying, since it happened way too often, but it wasn't "game breaking." It's Beta so I am hoping they are addressing this.

COMBAT: 6-7/10

It's the WoW/WaR/Aion-ish combat system. I really can't comment too much on it; however, it does seem a bit slow/sluggish. The targeting system itself is great with focus, target of target, etc in place; however, occasionally I find that when I hit an action bar ability it doesn't go off. I am not sure if it's due to the GCD or if it just didn't register; however, sometimes things do register even if I do it during the GCD. So, either some abilities are more forgiving during the GCD or perhaps I activated them closer to the end of the GCD or...not sure. I think the interface should have an option for "button queue" just like in EQ2, which can be turned off or on. I am guessing it's on (?) right now, but that it is really short like 0.2s so that sometimes abilities are "queued" and sometimes they are not. I am really not sure, but it's frustrating.

Another issue is the whole GCD thing. Ofc GCDs are necessary, however, I think the devs need to really sit down and think how to implement it to ability specific spells/combos rather than a blanket across the board implementation. I mean I played a lock/necro combo soul build and it was really slow/frustrating to put up all my DoTs, because it took so bloody long. By the time I put them up, the first ones were like already needing to be refreshed. I want to play a lock/necro not micro manage DoTs as 100% of my gameplay (ofc managing DoTs is what my class does, but not to this extent).

Overall, I thought the combat vs mobs was pretty freaking easy. I mean when I first started playing I was literally yawning from boredom. I know it was levels 1-5, but it was so easy, so I was like "ok, maybe it will get better." Yes, it did, but really not that much. The world mobs are way too easy. Ofc if you pull a few at a time it sucks, but 1v1 I could have been reading a newspaper and playing the game. Rift mobs same...I'll talk about rifts next.

RIFTS: 8/10

Ok, Rifts are a cool idea and well what this game is called. Ok, so I can see the marketing team and perhaps the production manager going, "Hey, we need lots of Rifts!" Well...yes, and no. I think Rifts should be what this game is about, but not to the point where they feel like spilled milk in the aisle of the supermarket and we are the cleaners. I know there is going to be a range of opinions of what rifts should be and how they should be implemented into Rift, but currently I think they are not succeeding to the level that they could be.

Currently, rifts are many and stupidly easy. During beta, I think they were everywhere, probably two every 5-10 minutes? You go there, if more then 3-4 people show up it's going to be closed and then you move on. There were just soooo many, I felt like a janitor cleaning up messes in the world. Then there were the drops where you collect things to "purchase" gear. I saw that, and I was "oh no." I mean, I don't see a better way to do it, so that is ok, it was just the fact that it was "Hello, you will need to grind this" just slapped me in the face. But it isn't that bad, and not really a concern. It's the rifts themselves that need work.

They are just too damn many and easy. I mean real easy. I can see there being some easy rifts, because hey we want the noobies to feel like they just did something, but really what did they do. The rift was a joke to begin with. So my suggestion is to have fewer, but tougher rifts. I mean rifts (and the idea of this game???) was so a rift would appear and potentially change the world if left unattended. It was to make the game world dynamic and different. A changing world! How great! Except, that rarely happens, because they get closed way too fast, because there are so damn easy. Also, they show up on your map, which I feel is a bad thing. Have them appear but not on the map so players don't know where they are, so they can grow, make them tougher, and send out raiding parties (not always elites) to try to conquer nearby things or try to place territory holders; however, the actual rift should be tough and will take a party of high levels to kill, or just a bloody lot of noobies. I mean seriously these mobs open a rift go into another world, what do they do give a roll call out to the most wimpiest of monsters..."Let's see here, is that you Henry? Yeah, ok, well you suck as a water elemental so let's send you. I mean we made all this effort to open a rift into another world, but our goal is not to conquer it. It's to send our most pathetic fellow monsters...and...well we don't know why. I guess we just enjoy getting our *** kicked."

Basically rifts need like a 200% boost, while having like 60% of them a 50% boost, but will still fall into the category of easy (because of right now, they are house of cards), but still doable and somewhat of a challange. Perhaps, this is just me. Perhaps, I don't want them to just be "dynamic PQs" reminiscentof WaR, but something that will actually change the game world, and perhaps even be a part of the world because they are just so damn hard to kill.

DUNGEON - IRON TOMB: 9/10

Ok, I guess I had my doubts when I first went into my first dungeon. I am not sure why, but I just felt that I would be disappointed to some degree; however, to my surprised it was really well done. I mean I was impressed! The dungeon looks great graphics wise, and the mobs are interesting. My only suggestion again, is to make the mobs 10-20% harder and the boss mobs harder as well. I mean sure my parties still wiped while doing the dungeons, but it was usually due to a bad pull or something, we never died on a boss. I think a challenge is what makes it fun. It almost...almost reminded me of vanilla WoW and BFD and SFK. I am not sure how many readers actually played vanilla WoW and did those instances, but they were hard back then and damn fun.

I am looking forward to seeing more dungeons.

CRAFTING: 3-4/10

Honestly, perhaps I would give a lower score, higher score? It's hard to say, since I didn't really get that far into crafting. I think I have crafted in all MMOs I have played, so I have seen and crafted a lot of shizznizzle in my day. The crafting system itself reminds me a lot of Aion rather than WoW, but essentially the same. It's slow, it's boring, it's uncreative, but it is what it is. It works. You can queue a bunch of stuff, go get a coffee and move on to the next item. Ok, so it doesn't have the amazing EQ2/Vanguard crafting system, but eh it works.

That isn't really what bothers me. It's the fact that the stuff I made just suck. Ok, I never got past cotton (the tailor type crafter...whatever it's called...not important, it's just semantics). However, I would craft something and then a quest reward was on par or better. I was like what! I just spent all that material and time (!!) leveling up this stupid profession to have it worthless. Ok, so I can make bags, but really...make it worth while.

I mean, I was a max tailor in WoW on my mage, and man did tailoring suck. I mean it sucked bad. I spent hours and tons of gold leveling it up...for essentially bags. Make crafting useful, Trion!! Make it better than any other item (and on par with raid gear). I mean look at EQ2. Whoever thought of their crafting system was the man. I mean the system was amazing, but not only that, but the best of gear of that gear was crafted (ok, not best, but it was very, very viable).

I know there is the augment thing...which I failed a few times, but really it isn't enough. But then again, I didn't craft that much so perhaps I am missing something huge. I would suggest a "crit" to crafting that gives you a chance to "crit" it to make the next tier up (green->blue, etc a la Aion). I am not sure. And perhaps it was just for the "tailoring" profession, but really it's utterly useless (at least in lower tiers). Or perhaps there was rare recipe drops that I just missed...regardless the greens for that level (first and second tier) just suck. Normal quest rewards should be at the bottom, not crafted gear...*sigh*

QUESTING: 7/10

It's the same o' s.... as always. Nothing can really be said. It's run of the mill so it gets a 7. However, I never thought I was doing too much running around back and forth to the same 2 people who want this and that done. So I give Trion props for that. Nor did a see a lot of "send x to y" unless it was to lead you to the next quest hub, so that is good too. I mean I remember in AoC where I think I had to go to the same place and then back to another place again about 6 times in a row. Rift doesn't have that, so they are well done in that respect.

I have heard that Rift quest system seems linear, and perhaps it is, but it isn't too terrible. Also, it's only 1-20 so not sure. Regardless, to me it's not too big of a deal if it is or not. There were plenty of rifts that give pretty decent xp to do if you want to stray from the norm.

Personally, I think the questing system is fine the way it is, and would have no qualms if it was this way throughout the game.

PvP: N/A-8/10

Hard to rate this, since I only did a bit. And the bit I did was me being exposed to the opposing faction raiding our area. Regardless, I love open world PvP and that is what I live for. Essentially, that is why I play MMOs and the only reason, so I am biased.

I liked that there was open world PvP and that people were going to each others area. I saw, but never used the port-thingy that you can use to port to the opposing factions area. Like I said, I never used it so I can't comment, but I hope it's fun. I always had tons of fun doing it in Aion and using rifts.

The whole PvP flag system works like the PvP servers in WoW, which I think is a good design.

I guess the whole thing I will say is I really hope that Warfronts (or whatever they are called) never enter into the game. I have seen it before...and I swear I will see it again, the whole BG style kills open world PvP. We all saw it in vanilla WoW...when will devs learn. Arg, it's frustrating...so frustrating, but it will continue to survive, because it draws subscribers...initially, but overall it ruins the game and kills it. But whatever, I said my peace.

GAMEPLAY: 8/10

The game was very stable, and as everyone has said before it was very polished. There were a few graphical bugs throughout my beta testing; as well as, a few times that the mobs got bugged in Iron Tomb. However, I think WoW had that mob bug all the way into TBC, so I really can't put too much stress on it other than I hope it gets fixed.

The game world is immersive enough; however, a bit linear. Although, I am only guessing it's due to the 1-20 thing and essentially "tunneling" everyone to end up at the main city. I am hoping the rest of the world is rather quite open. I can understand guiding new players into the game, but once 20+ let them go where they please and if they get lost...that's half the fun! I guess I am optimist, but if the rest of the game is that linear I don't think I could continue. I am hoping open world means open world.

Another thing I would like to address is hp/mana regen. I think it's way too fast. I understand the need to lessen downtime, but I never had to drink once as a mage in all 20 levels (including instancing 3 times). I mean, I practically heal full in a few seconds. This will be very, very, very bad in PvP when people "break" combat and then regen. Or I just hope PvP combat lasts 30s after last attack otherwise people will just cc, wait till they are out of combat, regen (currently like super regen) and then be ok.

OVERALL: 7-8/10

Hard to really give a fair assessment, since I didn't see a lot of the game. I only got to level 20 because of the extended 4 hours of Beta so I experienced a little bit of 20, and riding a mount and perhaps actually making a difference in PvP.

It was unfortunate that I didn't hit 20 sooner, since I would have loved to raid Silverwood, so I can't comment on that.

It's funny I guess because I went through a few different phases while playing this game. Overall, I am kind of sick and tired of "these" types of games, let's call them Theme Park. I played WoW for years, EQ2, and preordered AoC, WaR, and Aion, but I wanted to keep an open mind and give this game a chance.

Initially, ofc I was bored. My hp/mana regen was ridiculously fast, as were the mobs ridiculously easy. I figured since it's early levels it was the devs way of keeping noobs in the game. OK, I grinding out the quest system and did rifts along the way. By the time I got to around level 15, I was sure I was done with the game. I got to a point where I really couldn't be bothered to log into the game world, there just wasn't any depth for me to continue playing.

Regardless, I logged back on grinded out a few more quests and got to level 17 and went on my first instance into Iron Tomb. That is when the game got interesting/fun. I was also at a point where I could help out in PvP here and there.

1-5: snorefest
6-11: meh, quest/rift grind. Was indifferent to the game and just chugging along doing the things I had to do
12-16: bored with the game
17-20: had fun, and now might consider continuing with it post-launch (it all depends on how PvP is done!!! seriously).

It wasn't Iron Tomb specifically that started my interest, but I guess it was the fact that finally this "MMO" gave an "MMO" experience. I mean, I actually "had" to party with someone to play the game. I can understand solo game play, but to the point where the mobs practically kill themselves? So I guess, I became interested because the game got semi-challenging (Iron Tomb) and that I had to party with some people.

I was also a part of PvP and could contribute and possibly raid the opposing faction's area (though I ran out of time). Also, since I was a higher level I could put more points into my souls and contribute and earn more in rift "PQs." The game seem to open up around 20, so that is what interests me...the possibility of hope, hope that the game continues to get better 20+.


Parting thoughts:

Essentially what perked my interest towards the end of my play and what bored me to tears during the middle area of my gameplay was the gameplay it self. The world as it is currently does not pose or brings any sort of challenge, though when it did it finally got interesting.

And even though rifts are a major part of this game, the game world doesn't draw me into it enough for me to care about defending it from these meaningless rifts that keep popping up like weeds. What I am saying is if the rifts were more difficult and actually posing a threat then yes, let me help destroy, but currently it's "oh another rift big deal...by the time I get there 3 people will have showed up and closed it already." They never posed a threat, a serious threat besides DM events.


Specific thoughts:

Mage class: necro/lock/dom build.

As I was playing this class combo, I saw myself going more and more necro. I found DoTs in general were lackluster and again with the GCDs it made it really annoying. I mean if I have 1000+ hp with crap gear and as a mage at level 20, and my DoTs do like 15 damage per tick, and some fighter in pvp has like 2000+ hp what am I really doing? Furthermore, I have to deal with the stupid GCD with each DoT cast...it so reminds me of the Magus class in WaR and the weaksauce of their DoTs.

I temporarily switched to a pyro/ele build and I had an insta cast that did like 78 fire damage, which is what one of my DoT casts do in 16s...

Regardless, I switched back to my original build, because well I like necro/lock class (every MMO I have played a mage/pet class all the way back in UO times...I was a mage/tamer).

DoTs need to scale better with spell power, need a boost in power, and some need to negate GCD. Also, DoTs being able to crit individually and not on cast would be a bonus, but that isn't a biggie at all.

Also, pet aggro needs to be fixed. When my pet was on follow it would keep getting aggro from mobs that I was going around. This is a problem, and would be a serious one in instances. Do you really want pet classes to have to dismiss and resummon their pets? It's just really annoying. I suggest making the pet non-aggro while on follow unless carrying out a command (i.e. attacking), or at the very least lessening pet aggro in general

Peace.

MMO: Innovation and Design...and First Starting Out.

Well it's been a fantastically long time since I wrote my last blog post. I don't advertise or even link my blog with any others. TBH (to be honest) I am not really into that whole "Internet" circle. Even my facebook account only has people included that have requested being my friend. I don't send them out, because frankly I don't really use it.

Nonetheless, I read an interesting article on www.mmorpg.com today titled, The Adventures of Jeannie . It is basically a mmorpg journalist (?) who felt that the new MMO STO (Star Trek Online)'s tutorial section is very bad and if he didn't have previous MMO experience he would have been quite lost. He took this a step further to test this issue with WoW (World of Warcraft) and a person who has never played an MMO before. Was WoW's success due to having a great tutorial and starting area and hand-holding a complete noob to MMO knowledge? Do they have the Holy Grail of starter areas? I thought it was an really interesting read and I really liked how he wrote and presented the article.

I am a great lover of MMOs, but I also interested in the human psyche and human behavior. It's rare to get into the mind and be able to observe people in a world...be it in the natural world or a virtual one. This is not to say that I am a big fan of the Big Brother tv show. Hell, I have never watched that show or have any desire too, but it and the others like it are very popular. Watching people is interesting.

How does this all apply to MMOs? Well, like I stated above the article, "The Adventures of Jeannie" reminded me of a time when I helped design and DM/GM (Dungeon/Game Master) for one of the most successful PvP servers in NeverWinter Nights 1. The server was later named to Badlands and was designed and programmed by Leaf Stone; however, many of the ideas and the reason the server got off to such a great start was because of my input and creative design into the world/game. This isn't to blow off my own horn, but to be truthful in the fact. After I stopped playing NWN, Leaf Stone even built a monument (Condotierri) of me in the starter area to honor my contribution to his world. And I only know about it, cause he told me about it when we spoke on MSN months later.

Anyways, it remembers me of the first days of entering his world and...well completely changing it for the better. I only loosely knew him before since we all used to play on the #1 NWN PvP server back then DeX (www.dungeoneternal.com). It was a good server, but the problem was the module wasn't getting worked on as it should have been. Basically the server had 3 main factions/guilds the good (Order), the bad (Legion), and the neutral (Sole). They were long standing guilds in the game, and they even had special castles and "abilities" for their members. Now other guilds came and went, but never really were that big or had influence on the server to merit the Dev's attention...this all changed when the guild Fallen Angels (FA) was created. Some of the Legion PvPers broke off from Legion and with it took some other really good PvPers, and also recruited some from the other guilds and formed this great PvP guild called The Fallen Angels (FA). We were relatively short lived (a month or two?); however, we absolutely ruled the server like no other guild before it, to the point that there were server wide messages if even like 2 or 3 of us logged into the server (the player base had about 50-60 active players on at a time). We dominated the server so bad that the oldest rivalries of Order vs Legion put off their differences if FA was there. This also extended to Sole (who took the "neutral" stance, but were more Order friendly than Legion). So it was the 3 major long standing guilds with KS (kill on sight) to any FA members. We held our own.

However, the problem FA faced was we didn't have any of the membership privileges that the other members of those 3 guilds had. We were fustrated and the Devs didn't do anything about it. They didn't encourage other guilds to thrive in their world and we looked elsewhere. This is when pre-Badlands came in. Leaf Stone was an ex-Legion member and decided to create his own server (he might have been in FA too, but regardless left pretty much around the time of the formation of FA). He contacted some of his old Legion friends who were now in FA (i.e. Jeet, etc), and a few of us decided to check out his server. Back then the server was just starting out, unnamed, and it was basically just the 3-4 of us. Leaf Stone, Jeet, a few other FA members, and myself.

The world was brand new, and even though it looked nice and had some nice things (i.e. the same customized modifications for armor and weapons as DeX), it really lacked playability. It was utterly atrocious. For example, initially you started out in this sort of desert oasis with a few buildings. One of the buildings was the main one which had all the shops inside it. It was a fucking hassle to enter the building run around the narrow passage ways (sometimes waiting for others to pass by) to get to these stores. I immediately started to message Leaf Stone about my concerns, and even if I never met the guy before, he took my advice to heart. Over the next few days we worked together on improving the server world. For instance, upon my suggestion to move all the stores to an outside market, and out of that horrible mess of a building he did so. That made it more accessible and easier for people to find weapons and armor. I mean let's face it. When someone initially enters a D&D type world, they want to pick up their weapon, put on their armor and kill things. The easier that transaction is for them, the easier and sooner you will get them hooked into your world.

Since I knew how to build my character into an uber monster (remember I played on DeX for probably over a year), I ran through his world and found many bugs and issues. I killed "boss" monsters he created, which he planned for a party to kill. Leaf Stone was really cool and accepting of my suggestions and we became pretty good friends. He gave me DM access (I was the first DM) to his server (I ran under the name DM Python), and we started to go through his amazing world that he designed and worked out the kinks. One of the things that we did initially when the server population was bare was the thing that reminded me of that article that I linked above.

As a DM in the game you could be invisible so players in the game couldn't see you. Everytime a new player joined the server (he/she being the only player on the server at that time), we would follow that person invisible and see what he or she would do. We would see how easily they would find the armor and weapon smith. Where that person would go to find the mobs he/she needed to hunt, and how he did it. Working through this model we basically perfected the first 10 levels of gameplay. This is not to boost, but we made it really good. We even put guild territory control (my idea!), and the server quickly became equal or on par with DeX as the #1 PvP NWN server...which eventually was named Badlands.

It just goes to show that if companies would put in the time to fucking QA!!! (i.e. test) their game properly, they would do so much better than how the current MMO game market is doing right now. I mean it only took 2 of us to make a game/module one of the best in it's genre...it's just fustrating.

Anyways, I think I might write up some of my thoughts and experiences of the past MMOs I have played...and...just perhaps I will also give out some of my innovative ideas...but who knows...

Cheers.

About MMOs in General...and Their Failure

Hmm...I guess it's time to make a blurb about MMOs in general. I tried to stay away from the political aspects of this genre, but really it is an almost impossible task. It's ok to try to be ignorant and continue to be blissful playing one's game once in a while, but the hard, cold reality is that one can not forever.

It seems that I am not alone, and the old school MMOers are feeling this empty satisfaction that we believe MMO games should give us. Is this a delusion? Of course not. We are paying customers, not just on the inital purchase, but continuing paying customers...the question is for how long? Most and perhaps all companies say customer service is their top priority. Well how about making a product that you are proud of being a top priority! We have seen the marketing and the administration department rule MMO companies long enough and look at what it has gotten us. Mostly utter junk.

Gone are the days of innovation, and the want of making a good game. Hello to the days of making the most or quickest profit for your investors/shareholders. We have seen how that has gotten us with Vanguard, and AoC. We have seen companies like SOE completely ignoring their player base and do any changes they feel are necessary, which created their image of a bastard company and created a huge exodus of their SWG game. Combined with making tons of updates/expansions to maximize their dollar (i.e. EQ2), I too have shunned them as a company.

I can't blame MMO companies on a whole. They see the massive profits and playerbase of WoW and want a piece of the action. What gaming company would not! I can almost hear the administration leading these companies shouting, "We need an MMO!" when they heard about WoW's numbers. It distictly reminds me of the .com days when Linux companies hit the stock exchange and made stunning turnovers in profits. I remember my CEO of the .com starter company I was working for coming to me at my desk and saying, "I want 200 Linux programmers." I can see these same luntic CEOs and heads of companies ranting the same expressions wanting a piece of the pie.

However, like the .com boom collapse of empty .com companies with no product or idea, but all market hype, buzz words, and the sole idea to sell their companies to a bigger company; the MMO companies are facing the same plight. The community of MMO players (for the most part) have woken up to what is going on. No longer do many believe in MMO games by pure hype alone. We want hard, cold evidence of the game being good. All the buzz words of "epic battles," "pvp," "end game," "player run economy" are done for. Show us! What that means is bring back Free Open Beta and lift the NDA at least a week before release. If the company believes their game is great and is ready for release, then what is the fear of lifting the NDA for CBTs to talk about the game? If the game is so great and ready for release, then what is the fear of letting people tryout the game themselves?

The short answer is that so many MMOs have failed because they were not ready, and in some cases not even close to being ready for release. Currently, there are tons of MMOs being made for the market, and the playerbase is surprisingly growing, rather than strinking to all the upsets of the past few years; however, these companies need to learn that MMOers are not putting up with the shit for much longer. I for one am almost done. I have been playing MMOs since UO's time, which is close to 10 years. Back in the good ol' days, sure things weren't perfect, but it worked because it was new, and the level of competition was not there. Furthermore, companies needed to make a good game otherwise people would stop playing it, which isn't the case now. Moreover, those people of the good ol' days were teenages. Now, 10 years later these "boys" are in college, out in the work force, or married with kids. They expect and require way more detailed thought in gameplay, and innovation than what is currently out there.

We saw Vanguard fail due to utter fail tactics of hardly any QA. How could the company believe they had a solid winner if no one tested the game! It utterly baffels the mind. It's like trying to make a world famous restaurant which will serve hundreds of thousands of people, but not once trying the food on the menu.

We saw AoC fail due the utter crap game design and again QA. The release of their product was so buggy it was unplayable for the majority of the player base. People with even moderate video cards were getting 5-7 FPS. Furthermore, their live patch fixes were wrong or buggy; as well as, some of their decisions on the "correct" fixes (which is the main reason why I left. If the devs add to the problems they believe is a fix, it means they are hopeless and have no clue what they are doing). So again, it comes down to QA!

WAR is failing because it tried to basically be an improved WoW. "They say" ("they" being that guy and the other guy) "that imitation is the best form of flattery," but wait a minute. Why would a logical person leave WoW to play another type of WoW game? Especially, one that is new and buggy, and not as streamlined as the game they are used to. I believe that one of the guy's who worked at Blizzard stated that 80% of the people that left for WAR has returned to WoW. Stop with the cloning already!

We want innovation, thought, and an all around good game that YOU the developers will play and love. And even though there are many great looking MMOs on the horizon, I personally will not preoder another MMO again (I did it for AoC, WAR, and DFO); unless they lift the NDA at least a week before release, and give the players a free Open Beta. Well at least there is one less sucker in the MMO mix...I hope others will follow suit.


I got inspired from this recent MMORPG.com post:

http://www.mmorpg.com/discussion2.cfm/thread/232526/page/1


P.S.

Even though I no longer play Eve, everything that has been stated so far does not apply to the company CCP and Eve. They are by far the most amazing company I have seen to date for their playerbase. The length and depth they go through...well I wish other companies would take a page from their book. They give a good time for a trial, all their expansions are FREE, and they pump out expansions on a regular bases. They have created a player elected voice for the community. The company then flies these members to the company in Iceland to meet with the developers to discuss changes to the game. They have hired an actual economist to monitor their player run economy, and they did EveTV (CCP paid for all the bandwidth).

Update and Suggestion

Well, sorry for taking so long to update this blog. I had big ambitions to make this a daily thing, but in my heart I knew I would never be able to pull it off. However, I do love writing, and it is a nice place to keep some well keep memories.

Last I wrote we were doing the bank heist. We haven't done it in ages, and I think it's because people have caught on or...to be honest, I am not sure why we haven't. I guess we have better things to do these days, like going around and killing people. The only problem with the bank heist trick is that we first have to find a buyer/seller that has enough of something to make it worth while, then the person also has to agree to travel to that particular city. Sometimes, it can take like 30-45 minutes of traveling. So finding a buyer then the added traveling time, we sometimes wait doing nothing for over an hour. So basically, in that time frame we could have a wandering group of guys PKing people and taking their gear and items, which is more fun and perhaps equal on loot. Oh well, it was absolutely hilarious when we were doing it. We were all laughing our asses off on vent (a program where people can talk over the internet with mics).

One of the members of the guild made a few videos. His selection of music is questionable (recommended to watch with the sound off):







Anyways, since those videos were made, other things have been going on. I'll just write about one incident.

Hmm...let's see, so yeah, we are just basically a small little guild of about 30 people. We have like 8-12 people on at times, so we can't do too much, but what we lack in number we make up in skill and tactics. So for example, a group of us were riding around on our mounts looking to pk people. We then heard that two alliances were going to fight over a hamlet (a very small town in the game) in about 2 hours. So we got the location of the hamlet and headed there. It was in the middle of a forest and we noticed there were giant trees surrounding the hamlet. Most of the guild members had a spell called "launch" which effectively launches you up in the air. We launched ourselves up into the tree tops and waited for the chaos.

We waited for about 45 minutes and then the fun began. The defenders came first, which were about 50 or so and we told them we would help them out. Then the time for the siege started and the attackers arrived, which numbered about 80-100. We got out our bows and staffs (to use magic) and rained down our terror on them. A few of them also had the spell launch, but we were so high up (we did a few launches to get to our spots) that they couldn't reach us. Unfortunately, the defenders got destroyed amazingly fast and we were left all alone (about 8 of us) to defend off about 80 people. Eventually, they surrounded the tree and started attacking us on all sides with arrows and magic. Also, a few of them found their ways up on a tree branch next to our tree so they could attack us on an even level. We called the fight and jumped off and ran into the water. Unfortunately, since my graphics card basically sucks (Nvidia 8700) and my ping is already god awful, I was one of the two guys that died to a hail of their arrows and magic.

Hmm...there were some other interesting fights, but this blog is already too long. Anyways, so far I haven't had a chance to play for a week or so because of personal issues of trying to find a new job and moving, so it's doubtful I will have any news of Darkfall for a few weeks.

So far the game is ok. I think it has massive potential, as I always thought; however, there are some issues that I am unsure if the devs will address. The world is utterly stunning, and streamless. However...well I don't want to get into all the details of it's issues, but I guess one glaring one is the problem of zerging, and how the world is basically changing into 3 big alliances ruling the game world. It reminds me of some of the servers on Shadowbane where it was basically 2 alliances...so in that regard DFO fails.

Oh the Fun to Be Had

Well, things have been interesting as of late. For example, as usual the guild and I are on mounts looking to cause trouble and kill whoever we come across. Well for some reason, one guy in the game has a live video stream of him playing Darkfall.

I guess he is trying to be nice and to show the world Darkfall. It's an ok concept, and with the world of the Internet as it is, there are a lot weirder things out there. So ok, nice little project buddy; however, there is just one problem...when you play the game most people have the minimap on their screen. So, we had one guy in our guild watching his video stream and telling us where he was going and with who. It took about half an hour to pin point their location and we set up an ambush for them. They saw us and ran for a friendly race city. The guy with the camera just barely made it alive into this one player city that was guarded with guard towers, but I guess he accidently hit another fellow race and he turned rogue. Then one of his own race players decided to kill and loot him. Apparently he wasn't happy, and the guy that was watching his live stream was telling us how he went emo and wrote some rant on the forums about something or other. haha, gg, buddy. Now, I guess he has smartened up and has his minimap covered in the video or something. I am not sure, since I was never bored enough to actually visit his site.

And of course, as usual we roll through the guilds that have war decc-ed cause...well we like to pk and grief. It's the reason we waited so long to play this game!

Ok, so another major and hilarious grief that we have been doing is well...kind of secretative, but I am guessing it will get fixed soon. In town you are relatively safe, because if someone attacks you the guard towers will shoot you until you are not rogue anymore (10s). However, the range is limited outside of the city walls. Well there is this one city where the bank is at the top of some tree and it's just a platform. Hence, there are no walls around the city to protect it, because it's just a huge platform way up in the sky. The problem with this is that there is an ability in the game called "knockback" where you can knock people back. So what our guild has been doing is asking the public chat to buy or sell lots of expensive things, then when the guy comes and takes it out of the bank we have one guy knock them off the platform, have them fall and take falling damage (about half their life), and we have about 4-6 guys down below out of guard tower range and just kill them and take their loot.

We have gotten quite a bit from this, and when we were doing it, it was just one of the most hilarious things that we have done in a long time...god, I love this game.

Also, since last time a few more guilds have war decc-ed us. Perhaps friends with other guilds or just because we have griefed their members. We rolled through about 4-5 player towns today and just went in and caused serious havoc.

Our first fight we had a pretty decent size group of about 13 of us. We rolled into their town and started killing all their macros. Then they all came out to try to kill us. We backed up into a cave with an elevator that goes to the top of their town. We basically held the back and front of the cave killing many guys. More and more started to come, so we backed off and mounted and ran off. I am not sure how many we killed, but at the end we were quite outnumbered, but none of us died. A GM or two also appeared to watch the fight. The good thing is, I don't have the best PC or video card in the world (8600 GT), and I had zero lag. It was so great.

We also had a pretty decent fight when we were griefing below that one town, so far our guild seems to able to hold it's own vs some of the bigger and well known PvP guilds on the server. I just wish my ping rate wasn't always between 350-400 ms, while most people have their ping at like 50-120 ms...currently, I can not PvP 1v1 very well, just because I lag 3x more than the person I am fighting, which is a lot in a game like this...basically, like a FPS.

Anyways, that's all for now.

Darkfall or Darkfail?....Darkfall!

Sorry, for the late update, but I have been busy playing!

So the last time I wrote, my experience was mixed. I saw tons of potential in this game, but only if they could fix the sync issues with the server. It took them about a day or two, but the devs (developers) finally fixed the problem and the server went up. Yay! So how has the game changed?

I am loving it right now. Like I wrote before, I have been waiting for this game for over 3 years. Why?

- PvP anywhere, anytime
- Full loot
- No levels
- No classes
- No instances
- Many, many more reasons

Such a world brings back the UO (Ultima Online) feelings and sensations. The game world is a scary place, and dying actually means something besides being sent back to where you bound last. If you have good gear or items/gold on you, you are very cautious in the world. It's full loot, so whatever you have at the time of death you will lose. Many times, my heart has been racing as I run for my puny life with the gear and gold I have worked hard to get as a guy is chasing me shooting arrows and magic; as well as, being on the otherside and chasing a guy because I think he/she is rich and so I want their stuff!

Last night, on my quest for riches a guild member and I went around to some of the hot spots for farming gear from monsters. Unfortunately, we have been killed a few times so far now, since there are only two of us, and we always leave town naked (we don't want to lose anything). This time it seemed like it would be no different. We do our usual run to this one area hoping that it was free for our pillaging, but there were about 3 people farming this area. They were just sitting there resting and we almost didn't see them, but I saw them at the last minute and told my other guildmate to hide behind a tree. It was too late, they saw us and did the same and hid behind a tree.

They looked geared, since they have probably been here a while, and we were naked so we decided to leave for a bit. After a few minutes walk, we decided we should try to check it out again. Perhaps, we might be able to kill a few of them if they are low on hp and stam (health and stamina) from killing monsters and then we would have the place to ourselves. Unfortunately, when we got back they had a fourth member to their party. I decided that I wanted a bit more action, so I ran into the area to get a better assessment of the situation. Lo and behold, I hear a bow being strung and whack, an arrow hits me. Then the rest of the guys start to chase us with swords, and axes ready to slice. We decide to fight them for a bit, but obviously out numbered and outgeared we retreat. They try to chase us for a bit, but then leave us alone.

We stumble to another area where we can kill things, but the loot here is pretty bismal. We quickly get bored/greedy and want the good loot that those other guys were getting. We decide to go back there yet again. They see us and are standing around; however, one of them thinks they are being sneaky and tries to flank us running from bush to tree to tree. We pretend like we don't notice and wait for him to get close and then my guildmate and I both attack him. He beat the guy down pretty bad, but his other 3 friends have already started towards us. We again have to retreat and run away. I later find out that they were trying to message me telling me that we could join them and kill the monsters there. After a bit of talking, my guildmate and I decide, "What the hey, let's join them. If we die, we die."

So we go back to the place fully expecting to be jumped and killed, but actually they keep their word and we farm the area for a while. They finally leave after about an hour and my guildmate and I farm the area for about another hour or so. By the end, we have ok gear, which will come in handy the next day.


The Next Day

The next day, a few of the guildmates decide to make a PvP party. So we gear up, take food and potions and take our mounts. There are about 8-9 of us ready for action. Our first point of attack is a guild that has declared war on us. They declared war on us, because a few of the members in the guild I am in have killed their members who have been macro-harvesting and then taking all the things that they have harvested. I guess they had enough and wanted revenge. Unfortunately for them, we don't have a town, and we are kind of a small guild, so it's hard to really hit us in a place that hurts. For them, they own a town, so we decided to roll through it and say, "hello."

So we get there, and dismount with our bows ready. We roll in catching a few of them off guard and quickly kill them. The alarm was sounded, and as we approached the center of their town they came out in full force with about 15 or so. We shot each other with magic and arrows for a bit, but we were outnumbered, so we started to fall back and got on our mounts and left. We accomplished our mission. To say, "hello" and to kill a few and take their loot :)

Next, we rolled through another race's area. We visited some of the hot spots for killing monsters and ran through there with our mounts and weapons drawn chopping at any of them that got in our way. We then got braver and raided an area closer to a starter town (with tower guards). We quickly killed everyone that was farming there and looted them as fast as we could. A message was posted in Public Chat to all come out and attack us, so about 15 or so came out of the starter town and started to chase us. We easily mounted up and rode off in a hail of magic and arrows that were aimed towards us. Nothing too threatening, but nothing really to loot from noob starter characters either. We decided to look for better places with better people-loot; however, by this time I had to log, but feeling good that the PvP game that I have yearned for so long has finally arrived.

And So It Begins...My First Day in Darkfall

Well, finally after about a day or so the server finally came up.

My initial want was to be an Alfar, but the majority of this PvP (Player vs Player) guild I joined were going Mirdain, so I decided to roll Mirdain as well. It was my first time being in Darkfall, so as what most people said it was a bit confusing. It's a good thing that I watched videos of previous game play; as well as, read up on how to use the interface, so the learning curve wasn't that bad. Actually, I kind of like it in a Vi-sort of way. It will take some time getting used to it, but it's not a bad way to do things at all. So yeah the learning curve was there, but I think after a few hours I got the hang of the interface and combat.

When I first logged into the game I went and got the two quests for killing goblins. I checked the mini-map and it told me where the goblin camps were. I headed there with high hopes, but also expecting to see tons of people camping a few goblin spawns since everyone was at the same skill level as me. And sure enough it was very crowded. Noobs were going gray here and there chopping at the goblins and fellow Mirdains. Initially, I just went from tombstone to tombstone to see if I got lucky and could find some unlooted ones. I did, and I was "noob-" rich. However, the place was way too crowded for me, so I moved onto the next goblin camp further from town.

Here, it was pretty busy too, and a bit farther from town meant a few more people going rogue. I actually, saw a red there, but I doubt he meant to go red. This was all a new experience for most of us. The rogue system in place so far is good. Since friendly fire is on, if you damage another Mirdain you are flagged as a rogue for only 10s. So if you do not engage for 10s you will be blue again. This helps people who accidently hurt others, and not be completely outcasted from the start.

The second goblin camp was ok, but I wanted more loot and a better chance of killing goblins for the quest, so I moved onto the third goblin camp even further away from the town. Here, it was ok spawns and people. There was a huge tree there, which you could climb, and a GM was there watching the action. I guess I should mention that by the third goblin camp I really noticed that perhaps it wasn't the amount of people that was causing me to not be able to hit goblins, but there was a sync problem with the server. The devs have acknowledged this and currently the servers are down to hopefully solve this problem. So yes, there I was swinging my starter sword at thin air, when on my client screen the goblins were right in front of me. It was very frustrating to say the least. However, I saw that some people had staffs and were firing away magic missiles. I decided that I may as well level my magic skill while I wait for them to fix this bug.

I went on a looting mission, and held back till a goblin was almost dead. I would unsheathe and run up to the dead body as fast as I could and loot it. At the end, I ended up with about 21g ,and I went back to town to switch starter weapons which cost 20g. I am much happier now with my staff and casting noobie magic missiles. There is an AoE (Area of Effect) to the spell, so it is very easy to go rogue. However, I didn't really care about killing goblins, but more on leveling my skill by using it. I decided to be an ass for an hour or more, so I just shot whole groups who were pounding on a goblin or standing around a tomb to loot. I would go rogue, then run around for 10s and then go back to normal. I decided it might be too dangerous doing this right in the middle of everyone, so I climbed a big hill at the first goblin camp and practiced being an ass as well as my aim. It was pretty fun actually to stand on top of this hill and shoot huge crowds of people in an AoE fashion. I really missing the griefing that other games lack...this brings back memories.

A few people saw where the magic missiles were coming from and climbed up the mountain to see who was causing this ruckus; however, they never engaged me. I think it was intimidating, since I had full health and stam (stamina), and I only used my mana to be a douch. Also, I was completely naked with nothing but my starter weapon (which can't be looted or lost), so I wasn't worried at all. Also, I never hit again within the 10s timer, so the person would know I would be blue any second. A few people from down below got tired of me fucking around and shot some magic missiles back at me. This helped me practice dodging them, which is really, really easy from that distance. Actually, even with the AoE it was still hard to hit people unless they were right in my crosshairs.

So I played around with this other magic user for about 10 minutes. Of course, I had the advantage cause of the elevation. He hid behind some trees, and such, but if he had to engage a goblin, then he was free game for me to target him and cause a bit o' havoc :)

Anyways, I eventually got bored of this, and came down the mountain to my fellow Mirdains. I was missing a lot up on that huge hill, so here I would be able to hit more people more often. I held back, and AoE-d people who were in big groups beating up on one goblin. A few of course went gray from friendly fire, so I made sure that I punished them as long as I could. While I was doing that for about 20 mins, I guess a guy realized I was being a dick and decided to try his luck against me. He had ok gear on, some goblin drop chest and a better sword. His name was Baron A...something. He stood behind me, ready to hit me, and when I blasted a group of people and went rogue, he was sure to give me a few whacks. I ran around a bit, etc, but I had full stam and HP (Hit Points, i.e. life), plus I have a self heal spell so I was never in any danger. We cat and moused it a bit, and I made sure that when he decided he got bored and went to hunt goblins I would AoE him or his group as much as I could. He chased me a few times, but since I only had a 10s timer of being a rogue, sometimes he would hit me when it expired and he would then go gray (i.e. rogue). Then, I would start casting magic missiles at him and he would run away so far away that I couldn't see him anymore.

A few times, he tried to fight goblins and I made sure to shoot him...just to lessen his life so perhaps the goblins would kill him. I made him run away so much that he eventually left the area. lol.

Anyways, so far the game is interesting. The sync issues are really, really bad to the point that the game is unplayable for me. Hopefully, they will fix that. There are some other minor issues as well, but hopefully overtime things will work itself out.

Ok, until next time.

The Trials and Tribulations of a New Released MMO (DFO)

So here I am still waiting for Darkfall to be released. I was one of the lucky ones who hammered the web site long enough till I got a preorder of the game. At first, it was pretty bad. The web site was overloaded with connections timing out and giving internal server errors. Then, after about an hour or so into trying to get a preorder, I got the message "Temporarily Sold Out." I was like WTF! I was crushed and started to go emo; however, I just didn't believe this message.

So I went to the forums, and I heard people were getting the same error too, but also some people who said they got it too but kept trying and finally got a preorder copy of the game. So I tried for another hour or so and finally got through.

In the meantime, I have been playing this F2P (Free to Play) MMO called Atlantica Online (http://atlantica.ndoorsgames.com/center/default.asp). I have been playing it for a few months now. It's actually quite a good F2P MMO, and it reminds me of playing Final Fantasy (the single player version), but in an MMO format. I actually recommend this game to play, if you don't have much time or don't feel like paying for an MMO. It's worth it to play.

Anyways, back to DFO. Currently, I am doing their second over 120 meg patch...not sure what would entail about 250 megs of untested patching before putting the servers live. I guess we will have to see how that goes...

Hmm...well an update was posted as I was writing this blog. Apparently, a bug was found during the final testing of beta, and they said the ETA (Estimated Time of Arrival) would be 2 hours...so I am thinking more like 5 hours. Oh well, better that they caught and fixed the bug now then post-release. I have waited for this game for over 3 years, so a few more hours isn't going to kill me...I don't think.

It's Been a While

Well the title says it all, "It's Been a While." Actually, it applies to so many things, but let me just touch on a few of them.

First, yes it has been a while since I contributed to this "blog" of sorts. It actually wasn't supposed to be a daily blog per se, but a review for my then WoW buddies. I have known some of them for over the 2+ years I played WoW...and now probably closer to 4 years, since I still keep in contact with some of them out of the game.

I wanted to give a review of WAR for the few of them that were interested. Well, of course my opinion of WAR has changed since my open beta review. Please remember, it was all new and I only had a few days of playing it. Also, since it was all new there were lots of people around and they were all my level (all starting out noobs). As the game play developed and I leveled, it started to feel like the classic elements of "the grind." Questing and trying to get renown points.

It was all kind of fruitless; as well as, the bugs in the game and the eventual pitiful showing of the later PQs wasn't fun for me to play. And then, I eventually just did what I did in WoW. I logged in, did some scenarios (BGs), tried to see if anyone was in any PQs my level (the answer was 'no'), and then logged off.

I did some keep battles, but they weren't very fun either. I think I got to level 28 or something on my magus with the same renown and that was about it. I stopped playing about a month or so after the game went live. Even though I played on the most populated Open RvR server, and got into a pretty big and decent guild, the pvp/rvr was very minimal and the keep fighting wasn't particularly fun. It was more all about the zerg more than anything. I think I had another month left on my subscription but I just let it fade away.

The only fun parts were rerolling and playing up to level 10 in the beginning scenarios, but that wasn't worth paying $15/month for.

But finally...the wait is over. Dark Fall Online is suppose to be released in just 2 days!! Let me tell you something, I have seriously waited for this game for over 3 years. Yes, I logged back into my forum account on their web site and I joined in sept of 2005. I have been waiting and watching this game at least every few weeks to see updates and whatever was released on it...and finally it seems it will be released.

So...I have decided that I will try to do a daily blog of my game play of Dark Fall Online. Let's see how that goes, but I am hoping for the best.

Warhammer Online Review (Open Beta)

Well it has been 4 days now since Open Beta (OB) started for Warhammer Online (WAR). I was never part of closed beta, nor the preview weekends, so this was my first look at the game. I saw some videos on youtube, on their official site (www.warhammeronline.com), and read reviews where I could. Most were positive, game play looked ok, but that really didn't mean much. I think I spent the same amount of time researching Age of Conan (AoC), before I was quite disappointed on so many levels...which I won't get into. Although, very much unlike AoC, the NDA (Non-Disclosure Agreement) was lifted by EA-Mythic days before OB, while I believe AoC never lifted their NDA, so that was a positive going into OB.

At first, I wasn't too impressed; and the look and feel seemed like World of Warcraft (WoW) with quests, rewards, items, etc. I have been telling everyone it's WoW 2.0 from what I have researched prior to the game, and although that might be the quickest and easiest way to explain to someone the initial look and feel of the game, it does not do it justice.

Let me first start off by saying, WAR is actually a good game. Currently, I would rate it 7.5-8/10 and I would rate WoW 5.5/10. My views are quite different because my likes are going to be quite different from many other people. First off, I really dislike doing quests. As my "About Me" page states, I started with UO which had no quests. I have been playing Eve for over 1.5 years, and though it has quests (missions), I haven't done one in about 1 year. I just hate running around looking for some creature or thing to do, finish it, and then go running back saying it's done like some errand boy. Sure some of the quests are fun and interesting, but for the most part I dislike 80% of the quests I have ever done.

I don't grind for pure xp (experience points) either. Though, I sometimes don't mind grinding for a purpose, be it drops or rep (reputation) as long as it's not ridiculous amounts all the time (i.e. farmcraft/warcraft). I mean I think I grinded from level 67-69 on my mage in WoW just to get netherweave cloth. Mindless killing while chatting away with your friends in game can be relaxing in a sort of demented way. Another thing about me, I am not a fan of huge guilds or farming big raids. I just can't stand 20-40 man raids every week for like 5+ hours just to maybe get something, and furthermore to wait for people who go afk, need to handle rl (real life), or in any way slows down my gameplay. And since I don't like being a part of such big raiding guilds, my chances for experiencing such raid loot is almost null. If I ever do raid it is a huge pain to organize a PUG (pick up group), which could take hours, only to endure PUG raiding. So I basically logged into WoW for the latter half of how long I played the game to PvP, that's it.

How does this all fit into WAR, well surprisingly very well. I am actually amazed at how well they took those lacking aspects of WoW and made positives out of them.

First, I will address the issue of raiding, organizing PUGs for raiding, and raid loot. Well, I am sure big raids exist in the game; however, I have not been a part of any nor how could I at level 12. Although, I have been a part of many Public Quests (PQ). I heard a lot of talk about PQs before OB and I wasn't sure what the big deal was. Well they are an amazing idea that have actually been implemented very well. As you enter a PQ area, which exist throughout the game world, you will receive a message that you entered the PQ area. Right away you can contribute to the PQ by killing the required monsters in order to unlock the next stage, which will bring tougher monsters, etc, until the last stage of the PQ. WAR also has a great open party system, where a person can start a party and leave it open for whoever wants to join. Usually, there are many PQ parties that exist as it just makes sense to team up together for the PQ (the final stages require a group of people, although you don't actually have to be in a group. i.e. there are boss-type monsters at the final stages).

While killing in the PQ to get to the next stage, you will also receive influence points which will build up as you contribute to the PQ. When enough influence points are achieved you can get rewards based on your influence. Also, after the PQ is over (i.e. the boss is dead), there is a random 1000 roll on loot at the end. Added to this roll is a bonus amount to whoever contributed the most to least. The top scorers, usually around 4-6, will receive a loot bag which has a list of items to choose from. All in all, a great way to encourage grouping, have a raid-like experience right away, and get good loot in the process.

Next I will talk about the PvP (player vs player), or as EA-Mythic likes to call it RvR (realm vs realm). This aspect is also well done from what I have seen. Again, I have only created 2 characters up to level 12 with about 8 other characters to about level 6. I have leveled almost exclusively on all my characters through PQs and RvR, as well as equipped them with PQ, influence, and RvR gear.

There are a few different types of RvR:

1) Scenarios: These are like BGs (battlegrounds) of WoW; however, a player can just request to join one and when it pops you can enter it from anywhere and after it is done it will send you back to where you were. Also, you get xp from both killing players, as well as, for finishing the scenario. Furthermore, there are quests for RvR, like kill x amount enemy players or finish x scenario. A player can actually level from 1 to 6 quite fast just through RvR. And even though he or she might only be level 1, the system will buff your stats/level for the particular tier of RvR a player enters. So at tier 1 (levels 1-11) the player will be buffed to level 8 stats (i.e. hit points, etc).

2) RvR in non-RvR areas: Along my travels as a greenskin, I encountered an interesting PQ. At chapter 3 there is a PQ for both sides at the same place. It seems it is a race to see which side can kill enough of their assigned mobs (movable objects = usually refers to monsters/npcs) of stage 1 to get to the next stage of the PQ. It's not RvR in the sense that it is not an RvR designated area, so you are not flagged unless you attack another player, which case you will be flagged for RvR...although, how can you resist? I spent hours fighting back and forth at this PQ quest area. Sometimes caring about the PQ, but mostly just to PvP.

3) RvR in RvR areas. These are designated RvR areas where upon entering you will be flagged to be attacked. I haven't had much experience at these places yet, since they are not that populated. By which I mean I think I have seen perhaps a total of 10 people in the times I have looked around these areas. I expect it to be much more populated come launch, since there is not much point to capture keeps, etc in OB. Although, one time there was a large group (perhaps 12) that came and attacked the battlekeep in Barak Varr. I was the only one around in that area, so I had my first example of trying to defend the keep.

Overall, EA-Mythic is doing a good job with WAR. They have a solid game foundation to work from (unlike AoC), and I see improvements to the game every day I play. They also seem to be listening to the community (they do not have a forum on their website but www.warhammeralliance.com is as official as they come (the devs post there)). There is already a great database of information at www.wardb.com for the game, as well as, add-ons already being created found on war.curse.com.

I see a good future for WAR and I plan to continue to play it come launch.