Fury

[Wyrm]

They are going to announce the business model in August, according to the PR people, one of whom is Alex Weekes. Go figure.

[Frag]

For the moment I'm going to make things as broad as possible so I don't stomp all over the NDA:

It's fun.

My system can't handle it.

You're going to want a guild to play with.

The better you are (skill = twitch+knowlege*) the more you'll progress. That's right, the more "leet" you are, the faster you level.

Dedication is rewarded which is quite gratifying.

*Knowledge isn't the easiest to come by as there is a very steep learning curve and even little bits of knowledge (like where to run when you're being ff'd) make the whole experience so much richer.

Cheers,
~Frag B)

[Wyrm]

Game will be free to play with enhanced gameplay options available to subscribers. What that means, I don't know. I would assume at least part of it is access to better looking armor (i.e. the 15k sets from GW), but aesthetics alone does not a subscription make. Here's hoping they let the gameplay be balanced so non-subscribers can still compete against subscribers.

[Frag]

No combat advantage will be given to subscribers, that's straight from one of the devs. They're tossing about exactly what it'll entail which is why it wasn't said.

Cheers,
~Frag B)

[Wyrm]

For the moment I'm going to make things as broad as possible so I don't stomp all over the NDA:

The NDA has been lifted. The only restriction that (as far as I know) still exists is that if you took screen shots from before it was lifted, you still can't post them.

You're going to want a guild to play with.

And there we have the big crux of the game. The way it seems now, people are migrating over to this from other MMOs, which means they already have their groups, so if you're like me and are from a GW guild that, aside from one other person, isn't interested in the game, you're pretty much out of luck.

I'm in the beta for this weekend and after a couple Bloodbath matches I have to say I'm not as impressed as the hype suggested I would be. Gameplay/control seem awkward (if I try to use a melee skill from range it says "target not in range" rather than just moving me over to them like GW does) and (especially in towns) laggy, kind of like I'm playing GW with a 500+ ping. What's worse is I don't really have a clue what I'm doing. The rather pitiful tutorial didn't really tell me anything I didn't already know from playing GW aside from how charges work, which I could have figured out just by looking at skill descriptions. A lot of the disappointment I'm feeling might be because I'm stuck in this game's version of random arenas since I don't have a clue what I'm doing (I'm pretty sure that had I only seen Random Arenas (or, as it was called way back when... the Competative Arena) I would never have bothered with the game).

I wanted to play a healer (my primary GW vocation is monk), but since your introduction to the game is Bloodbath matches... well, I wound up as whatever the nature melee is called, thinking buffs would be an easy starting point. Unfortunately, since it's a PvP only game there's no PvE content for me to get used to control and skill usage (aka I have no idea what my buffs are doing since I get killed with or without them), I'm basically getting owned in Bloodbath, although the last time I played I did manage to score a few kills (though I have no idea how I did it).

[Frag]

I'm playing this weekend, char name is Frag and the procedure for whispering is: /tell Frag, <message>.

Look me up I'll be happy to explain how things work, and I started off as a healer as well - the beginning build is a serious issue as you get tossed into Bloodbath essentially helpless. The build that's being run right now is a 2 month old alpha, un-optimized build. The betatest moves to the version they've been doing inhouse for 3 months on Monday.

Cheers,
~Frag

[Merlinios]

'Fraid I kind of dropped Fury for the moment. My GW guild actually started doing things. Unfortunately, we still seem to be short a person or two, so there's a lot of waiting while friend lists are plumbed. In any case, I appreciate the input coming from you other folks. Good to know someone is keeping an eye on it.

I might get in on the beta later if our current activity stops, though.

--me

[Wyrm]

Well, weekend is over and I ground my way up to Adept, so theoretically I should be in the regular beta now.

I spent most of my time levelling warden abilities and then wondered why none of my damage (was doing ranged) abilities were getting any levels, then I noticed that I need to see Oracle trainers for those. Noticed that one a bit too late for it to make a difference. Ah well.

My only real big complaint about the game is that it's still too... slow, as in it takes the game too long to react to what I do.

Didn't get to try out Vortex or really do any networking on forums and such, I'll definitely be looking for a clan/guild sometime soon. As for Bloodbath... well... they need to have zones where you're matched up based on rank. Quite often it would happen that a Grand Master or other high rank would be in the zone and, well, I got to practice running away, not that it really did much good. Kill thieving was also a pretty big issue with the higher ranked players taking kills away from the lower ranked ones and then finishing them off. Against evenly matched opponents (at least, I think they were) I usually found a way to come out the victor and could finish in the top 5 of a Bloodbath, assuming there weren't too many high levels.

One thing I haven't been able to figure out... what does LWE mean? I had a few skills at the end there that I would liked to have tried out but never got the chance because of that.

As for GW... I think I've just about had it with that game. I've been in a largely PvE guild (yeah yeah yeah, I know, a PvP player in a PvE guild) for the entire run of the game so I don't have the PvP titles that the top GvG guilds want and, let's be honest, it's too late in the game to start scrounging for the table scraps to get them. If Fury has some sort of GvG equivalent then I'll definitely be making the switch. Hopefully I'll think a bit more about my skill quest selections the next time around instead of just "ooh, exlamation point, lemme get his quests!"

Oh yeah, my 8800 runs the game fine. Ok, so it's the GTS 320, but it's still an 8800.

[Merlinios]

As for GW... I think I've just about had it with that game. I've been in a largely PvE guild (yeah yeah yeah, I know, a PvP player in a PvE guild) for the entire run of the game so I don't have the PvP titles that the top GvG guilds want and, let's be honest, it's too late in the game to start scrounging for the table scraps to get them.

You're welcome to at least come give mine a shot. Not that we're high-ranked. I think we could be rank ~500 if we could get a core consistently online*, but as is, we keep having to guest 2-3 scrubblies every time we want to play and our rating shows it. I can't guarentee you a slot, though. We need people who are at least able to learn to play well. Bonus points if you can be consistently on when most of us are (I have yet to figure out when that is). That invitation is open to anyone else as well.

*We botched what should have been a win to a rank ~400 guild the other day, and go to VoD and beyond against ~800, generally losing to something stupid we don't repeat (IE, 25 minute lord gank, guesting a flagger who apparently doesn't understand how the flagstand works), 'cause none of us really have much experience.

Ah, and we play offensive "balanced" exclusively (currently 2 Mo/x, 1 R/Mo, 2 W/x, 1 Me/Mo, 1 E/x, flag runner who varies nightly)

IGN: Vick Gets In There

--me

Edit: If I don't answer, I'm AFK and forgot to set away status. Try again later.