Mythos Beta Invites

[Malakar]

This Thursday, Mythos beta testers were given two invites to hand out to friends. If any of you guys have been unable to get into the Mythos beta, and would like an invite, I have two available to give out. Just throw me a PM.

Anyone else who has available invites can of course post on this thread as well.

[oldmandennis]

I have a couple as well. The game is pretty bad though.

[Munkay]

I have a couple as well. The game is pretty bad though.

Bad as in 'it's still beta and there are a lot of kinks to work out', or bad as in 'this game is doomed to be terrible'?

If you or Malakar (or any other lounger) had a few words about the actual gameplay, that'd be great.

As for the invites, thanks for offering them up to the lounge members. Even though I have some interest in the game, I'm too swamped with work to get sucked into another beta round right now:)

Cheers,

Munk

[roguebanshee]

Mythos is a fairly standard hack'n'slash, with a decent amount of polish. The NDA was lifted somewhen back in the alpha.

There was/is a problem with single core CPUs getting bad fps and generaly choppy gameplay, FSS is of course working on that. You can play it on a low-end gaming computer by todays standards, but don't expect it to run on that 7 year old laptop you hid in the closet.

If you, by chance, have played any of Diablo, Diablo 2, Diablo 2: Lord of Destruction (what would be the odds of that on this site:o) and/or Fate you should have a decent idea of how basic gameplay is. The skill system is closer to Titan Quest, however, with a skill bar you spend points on to unlock later tiers. You get the actual skill you expect to use for most of your career early on and then later on add synergy/enhancement skills which improve that skill.

Monster density tends to be on the low side, with some notable exceptions like Carnivorous Canyon (intended for a full party of 5) and the Road to Zivia's Lair.

The game is currently a lot like Guild Wars in the setup, with shared towns and instanced adventure areas. They're looking to mix that up though, with travel areas becoming semi-shared if you allow it. Basic travel starts with going to a "Travel Elsewhere" sign and then chosing your destination on a map, if the destination is a hub/town you have visited before you get a choice between warping there or walking, otherwise you have to walk.

The three classes may initially seem like they're split up as melee (Bloodletter), mage (Pyromancer) and ranged (Gadgeteer), but they all have at least one skill tree dedicated to another role. Bloodletters can summon minions and use corpses and blood to cast spells in addition to their focus on bladed melee weaponry. Pyromancers can play a couple of effective melee builds on top of their more standard spell slinging and summoning. Gadgeteers can focus on rifles, traps or widgets (summonable minions with varied effects).

There are currently only 2 zones, zone 3 (an ice zone) is being worked on and hopefully ready before Q2. The non-random content runs out around level 20 (of 50) at the moment.

[TheDragoon]

Bad as in 'it's still beta and there are a lot of kinks to work out', or bad as in 'this game is doomed to be terrible'?

If you or Malakar (or any other lounger) had a few words about the actual gameplay, that'd be great.

As for the invites, thanks for offering them up to the lounge members. Even though I have some interest in the game, I'm too swamped with work to get sucked into another beta round right now:)

Cheers,

Munk

It's basically a fairly straightforward 3D version of Diablo 2, using the HG:L game engines, from my experience. I enjoy it when I'm just looking to mindlessly slaughter things. I can't really comment on end-game sorts of things, however, since I haven't made it past level 12, yet. :)

[Jarulf]

Yay, I had not played this since last spring and it turns out I have 12 invites currently:)

Perhaps I should get some time and play it again!

[oldmandennis]

My impression was that it was a hastily thrown togeather version of Diablo. It seemed like the game could have been made 12 years ago.

[Merlinios]

I can't really comment on end-game sorts of things, however, since I haven't made it past level 12, yet. :)

There isn't any end-game yet. Quests end at level ~20. After that you can pretty much start over or grind epic maps for hours on end.

Yay, I had not played this since last spring and it turns out I have 12 invites currently

Perhaps I should get some time and play it again!

A lot has changed since alpha. They've fixed several bugs and memory leaks (although I understand at least one major memory leak is still there). Balance is a bit more in line than it was then. There is a lot more content and polish in general, but it still feels a little lacking in areas (to be expected--it's beta).

Like Jarulf, I've been involved since Alpha, so I have a fistful of invites. Let me know if you want one.

My impression was that it was a hastily thrown togeather version of Diablo. It seemed like the game could have been made 12 years ago.

When did you last play? The game started out as basically a hastily thrown-together Diablo. As I understand, the initial function was merely to test the servers for the upcoming release of Hellgate. Since then, Flagship and Ping0 have decreed that it shall be its own game, and added oodles of stuff. Most of the population involved in the beta says it's superior to Hellgate. I can't comment here, as I didn't think Hellgate was worth buying, but it WAS superior to Hellgate beta, right before release.



All in all, it's a pretty solid little timewaster. It's obviously lacking a few things, but once again, it's in beta, so I think they'll fix those. I do like the artistic style. It's kind of cartoony, but in a very deliberate tongue-in-cheek fashion instead of something that looks more accidental like the recent Warcraft games, or even Diablo II.

--me

Edit: Perhaps of interest to those of you who gave up are the newly added elite and hardcore modes. Now I have to look at the screen sometimes instead of making a sandwich whilst watching TV.

[Lissa]

Like Jarulf, I've been involved since Alpha, so I have a fistful of invites. Let me know if you want one.
When did you last play? The game started out as basically a hastily thrown-together Diablo. As I understand, the initial function was merely to test the servers for the upcoming release of Hellgate. Since then, Flagship and Ping0 have decreed that it shall be its own game, and added oodles of stuff. Most of the population involved in the beta says it's superior to Hellgate. I can't comment here, as I didn't think Hellgate was worth buying, but it WAS superior to Hellgate beta, right before release.
All in all, it's a pretty solid little timewaster. It's obviously lacking a few things, but once again, it's in beta, so I think they'll fix those. I do like the artistic style. It's kind of cartoony, but in a very deliberate tongue-in-cheek fashion instead of something that looks more accidental like the recent Warcraft games, or even Diablo II.

--me

Just as a side thread, I think HG:L is mostly dead at this point. HG:L should have been held back longer and worked on more before releasing. There were so many game breaking bugs in the game that weren't fixed until the last month or so and there are still a lot of problems that need fixing. The crew of FSS broke their own rule, "it will not ship till ready," and now they're paying the price of it (it would be interesting to see just how many subscribers they have now and how many of the founders accounts actually were purchased). To me, HG:L was just a more pretty Diablo without the thing that made Diablo fun. From accounts I have read (I haven't gotten past level 30ish normal) that the game at the end is nigh impossible in nightmare unless you have a perfect group (tank and two high end damage dealers with someone able to bring about some healing for the tank, be it a Guardian, Summoners with lots of Earth Elementals, or an Engineer with a big Drone).

[Tris]

I'm not sure what to think of Mythos. I started the Beta yesterday and found some observations.

1) Causes some interesting Crash 'n' burns. One BSoD, one total video scramble. System = AMD 4200x2; 2GB DDR400 RAM, 7600GT video.

2) Walking into the fortifited start town is a bit like walking into Shatt.

3) I was thinking on my first quest that this game = a thinly disguised knock off of D2 ... that thought continued.

4) The 3D effects aren't particularly thrilling ... maybe I'm experiencing problems, but I feel like I'm staring at a 2D background.

5) I love the fire spell effects ... particularly the inferno like spell.

6) The game creators have a passion for creating monsters that ressurect other mobs. I found it annoying to have a constant stream of ressurected opponents when fighting some bosses (Rufus, the large shammy boss, and another one that I can't remember). Esp Rufus who teleports so he wanders all over raising stuff.

7) Doors/walls aren't solid. Discovered in a cathedral that even a solid wood door is no opposition for a skeletal archer's arrows:P

[oldmandennis]

Just as a side thread, I think HG:L is mostly dead at this point. HG:L should have been held back longer and worked on more before releasing.

Any actual evidence or signs of panic there? I've stopped following what's happening.

[Lissa]

Any actual evidence or signs of panic there? I've stopped following what's happening.

Seems a lot of people are cancelling their subscriptions and there's a lot of anomosity right now towards FSS. They may learn from it with Mythos, but right now, HG:L is in pretty bad shape (the fact that they have a single server for each area of the world after the game being live for 2 1/2 months is telling).

[oldmandennis]

Yeah, HG:L had promise, but they needed to rethink it. They tried making it 1/2 D2 style b.net multiplayer, and 1/2 MMO and ended up with nothing. They seemed to have a vague vision that catered to everybody, and did a good job of making an engine and weapons.... and then lost their way. I canceled my sub after the first month.

The fact is that WoW is such a titan and you have execute your engine, content, story, leveling experience, and have a plan for the endgame.... and then you have to come up with compelling difference from WoW in order to convince somebody to pay another 15$ per month. HG:L had many of those things, but lacked content and a plan for the end game.

[Treesh]

Monster density tends to be on the low side, with some notable exceptions like Carnivorous Canyon (intended for a full party of 5) and the Road to Zivia's Lair.

Did you play any elite characters? They definitely ramped up the monster density with elite mode. The road to Zivia's Lair just scares me on hardcore elite. It's going to be quite a while before I decide to take my baby HCE there. She'll just have to wait for her puzzle box.;)

BTW, there are still quite a few features that are on the to-do lists of the devs - crafting, pvp (although right now, their plans for PvP are really making me shake my head), new zones, at least one more class added in. The progress between the first build that I played under and then this build has shown remarkable improvement, but it's definitely still just a beta at this point. It's also still just a simple hack-n-slash, but after years of raiding in WoW, I'm definitely ready for just grab folks and murder things. No "Need a tank. Need a healer. Can't do X dungeon without Y group composition. We don't have enough people to raid here tonight." It's a nice change to not have to worry about organization of so many people just to get better gear.

[Iolair]

Long time Lurker here, but not a big poster. Is there a chance I could get one of those beta invites, even if I'm unknown? I fully respect if you don't want to give away a key to someone you don't know.
I figured it couldn't hurt to ask:)

[oldmandennis]

PM me your email address and I'll invite you.

[LinuxNooB]

I have a couple as well. The game is pretty bad though.

This is a shot in the dark, but do you still happen to have any invites? I've been trying to get in for a while now, but the invites are like ninjas and always elude me.:ph34r:

[oldmandennis]

PM me your email and I'll invite you.

[Merlinios]

Did you play any elite characters? They definitely ramped up the monster density with elite mode. The road to Zivia's Lair just scares me on hardcore elite. It's going to be quite a while before I decide to take my baby HCE there. She'll just have to wait for her puzzle box.;)

I didn't find it particularly hard, even in HCE, though the build I took there the first time (Blood Sleet + Blood Phase) was somewhat overpowered. I had no problems on Cinderblade, either. However, I'd not advise tackling Zivia herself unless you have someone with good AoE damage to get rid of the eggs.

...pvp (although right now, their plans for PvP are really making me shake my head)

The devs actually have some really solid ideas here. Instead of putting in only the traditional 1v1 arena-style or dueling PvP, they are (at least talking about) expanding it to other modes, creating a sort of PvE-PvP hybrid that the game mechanics will actually support instead of having to juggle seemingly-innocuous skills (like, say, Charge, Smite, or Guided Arrow in Diablo II) against other players. I don't know many of the specifics on what will actually happen, but I did try to plant the idea of Ironman tournaments.

And of course 1v1/dueling will most likely be available for those who are nostalgic and/or like greatly imbalanced PvP.

--me

[Treesh]

I didn't find it particularly hard, even in HCE, though the build I took there the first time (Blood Sleet + Blood Phase) was somewhat overpowered. I had no problems on Cinderblade, either. However, I'd not advise tackling Zivia herself unless you have someone with good AoE damage to get rid of the eggs.

Eh. I've taken my gal with next to no AoE in there and it was fine. I just do not like the road leading to the place at all.