First Impressions

[Bolty]

I have not read Jarulf's report that he posted here already. I shall read that after posting here and compare... :)


I've been playing the WoW beta since Friday afternoon, and spent a good chunk of a weekend playing a Gnome Mage named (surprise) Bolty. BTW, if there are any Lurkers on the game, please get in touch with me! I've hit level 12 and have visited, oh, I'd say maybe 5% of the game's geographical area, including 2 of the major cities, Ironforge and Stormhall.

There are plenty of great reviews, thoughts, and previews out there to read. Some by beta testers such as myself, and others by alpha testers who have been playing the game for months now. There are hundreds of screenshots available on the Net (go here for some). I feel no need to supply more, and instead want to limit my description of the game to the basis of my viewpoint - someone who, as previously mentioned, doesn't see the point of MMORPGs and is used to games more like Diablo and Diablo II (what hardcore MMORPG'ers like to call "RPG-lite" games).

First off, WoW is NOT Diablo, which isn't much of a shock. I wouldn't expect it to be. It's also not the "click on monster, go get a drink, or in fact just eat dinner" game that Everquest is (or so I've heard). In Diablo, you encounter packs of monsters and plunge headlong into battle with them, laying devastation all around. You do this in any MMORPG and your posterior will quickly wind up in a sling, to use the vernacular. It's not the click-fest that Diablo is, but then again perhaps we could all use a little less carpal tunnel syndrome. Battle consists of pressing your number keys (or whatever you assign them as) when a monster is selected and watching the activity take place. For example, press 1 for a standard attack and your character will commence beating skulls. As long as you stay near the monster, your character will keep attacking (this becomes a factor only when the monster tries to run away - then you need to keep up with it). Press 5 and you will cast that spell once and return to the aformentioned cranial bashing.

The game world is gargantuan, but not impossible to fully explore, given time (weeks/months). It's wonderfully seamless. "Area" transitions are handled via the use of long hallways that, while you're walking through, apparently have your machine loading up the graphics and other necessary functions for the next area. You won't see a loading screen unless you're entering an instanced area, or when you first enter the game. How big is an area? Well, think of Diablo II's Act 1. All of it. Take the monsters out and just run from the Rogue Encampment to Andariel's lair straight through with a level 1 character (no increased running speed). That's about how big these areas are. It's inconsequential anyway, since load times are out.

Gameplay so far consists of running quests for experience. The quests tend to be the "go out and kill x" sort of thing, with occasional quests that have you just run to a new area. This gets you out and about and takes you down a general path that's designed to give you the ol' learning curve. Since there's no "Acts" and no way to really stop you from travelling 100 miles from "home," the game enforces your development cycle via the quests, which will require you to stick around certain areas until you're ready to move on. If you don't, you'll find yourself dead quite often.

Speaking of death, the penalties for such are rather small. You're forced to either wait for a resurrection by another player, or else respawn at a graveyard site some distance (sometimes long, sometimes short) away. You come back as a ghost. You then can either choose to take an experience hit to become mortal right then and there, or else run to your body and pop back into it to become alive. Sometimes you'll be forced to take that experience hit if you're down deep in a dungeon and will never be able to fight back out.

The game's still buggy, not that I'm complaining. It's a beta test; that's the point. I've had a few "run through walls" experiences already. Once, after a death in an instanced dungeon I had no business being in whatsoever, my ghost could not get back into the instance. So I wound up running right through the instance transition and into the void. The game also crashes from time to time still, and I run pretty standard PC hardware. This is Blizzard we're talking about here, and I know they'll get these fixed long before the game goes final.

The game's been pretty boring for me so far. I'm waiting for it to get interesting. Last night I had a quest to collect 3 items from 3 different monsters (each), obtainable by going out and killing them. Well, to get those 3 items, myself and the party of three I was with wound up killing mobs for about 75 minutes. This was because the items we needed only appeared for loot on the corpses about 15% of the time. At one point I stated in party chat "This is FUN?" and the others agreed with me that it was kind of ridiculous. The drop rate of the quest items was so painfully low that we spent almost an hour and a half in a small area just killing the same three monster types over and over. Imagine playing the Den of Evil for an hour and a half. Exciting!

Adding to that, I'm playing a mage right now. Mages are very weak in the survivability department, due to their lack of hit points and armor. Mages can dish it out, but they can't take it. Now, I know MMORPGs are supposed to be about community. Soloing is supposed to be "possible," but not encouraged. But if I'm playing alone, my gameplay consists of:

1) running out of town to confront an enemy.
2) killing it as soon as I can, because otherwise it wails on me harshly.
3) if possible, kill a second enemy in the same fashion.
4) return to a safe spot town and heal, OR
5) try to heal in that spot.

If 5 is chosen, I generally get killed, because the monster(s) I killed in the early steps come back before I can make much headway with other monsters. This is not fun. See, you can't just drink a potion and get healed quickly. While there are health and mana potions, they're not available much this early on; instead, I conjure bread and water to use. These slowly restore your health and mana (talking about 30-45 seconds a pop here). During that time, the monster respawn timer is ticking down...

I simply can't take on 2 monsters at once because I can't get any spells off - when I'm hit, it interrupts/slows down my spellcasting. Spells take between 1 and 2 seconds to cast, or else cast immediately but have "cool down" periods before I can cast them again. So if I get 2 monsters attacking me, I'm screwed, and I die. It's that simple.

If I join a party, I can do just fine. Other characters will "tank" and I can hide behind them. So I go from being a complete wuss to a major damage dealer, and there's little in between.

Yes, I suck at playing MMORPGs, as this is my first character in my first MMORPG ever. But I'm just not having much fun with it at the moment, and players like me (first-timers) are a major target audience for Blizzard. I hope they're paying attention. Studies show that, except for the die-hard crowd, most people tend to stick to the MMORPG they play first, at least for a number of years. That's a crucial thing here, and Blizzard needs to be a little more newbie-friendly in this game.

What the game lacks is personality, which of course is what all MMORPGs lack. There are quests, and a storyline of course, but ultimately what makes MMORPGs successful is the player interaction. You have very little impact on the world, so the interest level has to come from your interaction with the world's inhabitants. I'm getting the impression that if I had a small group of players with me from the very beginning and we went adventuring together, it would be a BLAST to play. But when you're starting out and you don't really know anyone on the server, it's dull, you die a lot, and it starts getting a little frustrating.

So, this game isn't kind to the newbies (IMHO). Longtime MMORPG players will not have troubles with it at all, but I AM a newbie and I have not enjoyed that experience (unlike the Diablo games, which are so kind to newbies that practically anyone can get hooked). I will be checking in with updates as the beta progresses to let you know if my current attitude about the game changes. I bet it will, although that won't change the fact that if you're new to MMORPGs, there's going to be some adjustment necessary.

Zoid keeps telling me that the mages are "broken" at the moment, and I've heard that starting out as a warrior is a lot easier, mostly because they don't have the troubles I'm having (low hit points, being attacked constantly interrupting MY attack, etc). But I am amazed at the sheer NUMBER of dead bodies I see ALL over the place. I mean, WOW. You go to some areas and the bodies are just everywhere, so I know it's not just me and it's not just mages. There's not that many people playing, either, compared to a live version! I get the impression that the learning curve is rather brutal.

If Blizzard reduces the difficulty level early on, then they will alienate the expert MMORPG players who would probably find all the early stuff I'm going through way too simple. But I'm just calling it how *I* see it.

Further updates as I continue playing. Feel free to comment and ask questions.

-Bolty

[Thecla]

Thanks for the report. :)

I remember a quote a long time ago from Bill Roper that people didn't want to start out in a MMORPG killing rats, and they wanted to make WoW different But, somehow, what you're describing as your starting experience does sound a bit on the rat-killing end of things. I realize MMORPGs aren't the same as Diablo, but one thing the original Diablo did so well was give you the feeling of danger and excitement from very the first moment you set foot in the Church, and not just make you feel "well I have to kill a whole bunch of skeleton's beforel I lvl up enough to get to the interesting bits."

[bschultz]

Thank you for your very well written beta report :) I know your a busy person so its apreicated that you took the time to write it up for us. I look foward to the next one!

[Bolty]

Another night of play, another 20 or so deaths, and only gained 1/4th a level.

This is not very fun...

-Bolty

[Jim]

There are plenty of great reviews, thoughts, and previews out there to read. Some by beta testers such as myself, and others by alpha testers who have been playing the game for months now. There are hundreds of screen shots available on the Net. I feel no need to supply more, and instead want to limit my description of the game to the basis of my viewpoint - someone who, as previously mentioned, doesn't see the point of MMORPGs and is used to games more like Diablo and Diablo II (what hardcore MMORPG'ers like to call "RPG-lite" games).

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hi Bolty

Yes, I suck at playing MMORPGs, as this is my first character in my first MMORPG ever.

Killing in a SP or MP or MMORPG is all the Same...>Do you remember the First time you played Diablo 1, you died on level 1 of the church did you NOT, until you learned that a Mace is best @ killing Skels or how to use a doorway or later you learned a Bolty trick...>Tel-a-Kill [sp?]
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

What the game lacks is personality, which of course is what all MMORPGs lack.

hmmmm this being your third day & "First" MMORPG, I don't understand why/how you can say this...each MMORPG has it's Own Personality, If you compare the most popular ones like EQ, DAoC, UO, AO & AC1 each one is different in one way or another...Play any of the MMORPG's that offer a FREE Trial & you will see their personality first hand.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

While there are health and mana potions, they're not available much this early on; instead, I conjure bread and water to use. These slowly restore your health and mana (talking about 30-45 seconds a pop here). During that time, the monster respawn timer is ticking down...

This is the BIGGEST Complaint I had with EQ, you spend 1/2 your time healing. In Asheron's Call 1 you can buy potions at level 1 or you can have a "Healing" Skill that allows you to heal yourself with healing kits with 20 or 50 heals per kit...No Time lost EVER!
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The game's been pretty boring for me so far. I'm waiting for it to get interesting. Last night I had a quest to collect 3 items from 3 different monsters (each), obtainable by going out and killing them. Well, to get those 3 items, myself and the party of three I was with wound up killing mobs for about 75 minutes. This was because the items we needed only appeared for loot on the corpses about 15% of the time.

OUCH !!! Sounds LIKE Magic Find Runs in D2...Your what, a level 12 in a BETA Newbie zone learning the game & a new interface...this how you learn most games...wait till you get to a quest that takes 1 or 2 days to complete & requires 5 to 10 different items, then it becomes Interesting & the Rewards get MUCH Better !!! Quests are optional, if you don't like them, just go out and Kill, kill, kill...Hack & Slash is what players who don't like RPG's call them.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Please don't take Offense to this follow-up...We are All Entitled to our Opinion...It's just that your "BOLTY" not just anyone, your Opinion will be a factor for some, Not to buy the game, at least be Fair to the Game and give it more time ;)

[Jarulf]

OK, I can see were Bolty is comming at. I play a rogue, which is actually a good killing machine, at least I have that experience. I stand up well toe to toe with monsters. SUre, I died some at the start, but not THAT much. I can imagine though if you play solo mage (for example) and can't take a beating. When you attack a monster, it typically comes running directly at you. And most monsters you can't outrun. Some that are stationed close to some place, will break of after a short while if you get to far away, but wild animals might not. On top of that, even as a "warrior" style, I did have problmes to fight more than one at a time (and one typically want to fight in areas were one can kill as high as possible level, and that mean were you just handle it 1 on 1).

This means that in my opinion, it has not been bad, and I see this as a problem for balancing the characters better for solo play (which can break parties though). A mage, can dish out nice damage. Partied with Bolty a short while yesterday and if I go melee and have to stand there dishing out say, 4-5 attacks, one spell simply drops the monster (after some initial damage by me). I can see the problem if the mage only gets of one attack before the monsters jumps him.

I can't count the number of kills yesterday, probably a few (perhaps even20) but I played for almost 9 hours on and off and one tend to be more reckless if you figght close to were you restart (as oposed to other side of map).

As for healing, there are various sort of foods. Typically they heal you up completely but takes 21 second when you have to sit down. One typically go a bit away and do it. Good after a fight. For instant healing, one need potions and other such items. ONe can find them (I have not looted more than perhaps one), one can have people make them (I got a few from some that used them from either herbs or some other way (I really don't keep track), or one can buy (one quest reward was 3 healing potions). Such a potions with, say, 100 points instant healing can really help. Since I have not played pure spell casters I can't comment more than this, but I can see the problems. They are not as severe or existing as fighitng class though.

By the way, one of the more fun experiences yesterday was when me and another guy (also rogue) had to climb a clif and kill some troll spell casters (and also get a bunch of weeds, mostly from containers in their camp but occationally on corpse). As a rogue, you have stealth and can basically sneak arround more easilly until you get detected (stay away some). We skirted the permiiters of the camp, taking them off, one by one, working inwards towards the containers. It was VERY fun. The trolls respawn pretty fast in the area and a cave had them pour ot of there often. Sure, I died 4-5 times, but it was quite close to home and I think with more skill, I could have avoided it. After fights we usually sneaked away to the edge of the cliffs under some trees and to eat food (for 21 seconds although one can go into stealth if needed although the time doesn't count then). So yes, one do heal some and one do die, but I have not found it THAT much a problem so far. It is also about how reckless one are. ANd yes, partying helps a LOT although it can also make one go over brave and run into hopless situations. Luckilly one can always resurrect body at healer instead of running back for body when it is deep inside a dungeon :)

EDIT: Yes, there are various healing skills too, like making bandages afterwards (even some camp fire stuff, but no idea). Then we have healer classes like Priests that are good to a party in that they can heal you during fights.

And yes, I am more and more getting the feeling that MMORPGs are really meant to be played in parties and with others, or a solo, you will have to play at a much slower pace and much easier areas and it takes much longer to raise in levels and such, perhaps it gets to slow (copared to normal games) after a while. I still think it ispossible though to play solo, perhaps one just need to be more carefull in class selection.

[Cryptic]

What I’ve taken from this thread is not that the game isn’t fun, but rather, that mages are currently underpowered (solo-wise) compared to other classes.

This issue is being discussed at length in the Blizzard Beta forums here:
http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.aspx...unt=26#post2084

Some comments of note:

>> Mages may SEEM underpowered now, and they are a bit. However, this is because they are still being tuned. their two major spell lines from the first pushes were chains of ice and polymorph, which were so overpowered that a mage could kill things that were 5-10 levels higher then them. These spells were removed for tuning, and when they figure out a way to work them properly, they will probably be back.

>> One solution for a mage is to go miner/engineer and make explosives. These are instant AoE explosions that can help clear out clusters of monsters around you. You can also make practice dummies that draw the attention of monsters.

>> Mages (and shamans...) are currently the two weakest classes in WoW. While I think warrior and priest are the two strongest, I tend to not care so much that a warrior is stronger than my rogue. But mages need help; they really DO need to be the ultimate damage dealers, since they don't have much else besides that to recommend them.

[Walkiry]

Killing in a SP or MP or MMORPG is all the Same...>Do you remember the First time you played Diablo 1, you died on level 1 of the church did you NOT, until you learned that a Mace is best @ killing Skels or how to use a doorway or later you learned a Bolty trick...>Tel-a-Kill [sp?]

Hello Jim,

Although I'm not too involved in this forum, seing that MMOGs do not appeal much to me, I have to point that IMO this is an incorrect assumption. In my case the first time I played Diablo was in a Games convention about 20 minutes before they closed for the day, and with my trusty Rogue reached level 3 without much trouble at all, without even knowing that the shift key would let me fire standing still or that I was supposed to put on the stuff I was picking up. Most of my Diablo friends reported similar results when talking about how they started playing Diablo, a couple of minutes and they were clicking monsters away with impunity, although with the "it got harder fast" closing remark in most cases.

That is to say, Killing 1-2 early, normal monsters before running away waving your arms in the air hoping you won't be caught by other monsters should not be an issue when you're not playing Nethack ;)

[bschultz]

Hey bolty if the mage is having a really hard time maybe it would be best to start over as a different character? From what I have been reading the mage is needing an overhaul right now. So why not pick a different class like a warrior or a priest or something? and then go back to the mage when that class is fixed? It just seems kinda harsh to make judgements on a game when you are playing a bugged /nerfed/whatever character. besided a bolty guide to being a warrior would go along nicely with another warrior guide i know :)

[Tal]

Do you have frost nova yet Bolty? I understand one of the best ways of dealing with more than one monster is to hit the first monster as much as possible and when they get close to you to frostnova and retreat.

[Bolty]

Hey Jim, thanks for the input.

Do you remember the First time you played Diablo 1, you died on level 1 of the church did you NOT, until you learned that a Mace is best @ killing Skels or how to use a doorway or later you learned a Bolty trick...>Tel-a-Kill [sp?]

Actually, no, I died on my first game where pretty much everyone did if they got the quest on their first game - the Butcher. He's a learning curve :)

wait till you get to a quest that takes 1 or 2 days to complete & requires 5 to 10 different items, then it becomes Interesting & the Rewards get MUCH Better !!!

Um, quests that take 1 or 2 days to complete? I'm already there. I can't complete the quest because I can't kill ONE of the monsters myself. Been on a Skullthumper killing quest for 2 1/2 days now.

at least be Fair to the Game and give it more time ;)

I'm being quite fair - I'm just calling it how I see it *right now*, that's all. I'd be happy to come back in a week or two and report that things get much better. I will keep playing so that I can let you all know one way or the other. I know I'd be pretty annoyed if I weren't a beta tester and I had to listen to some jerk say how he played ONE character to level 12, got fed up, and quit. :) Trudging onward...

-Bolty

[Bolty]

What I’ve taken from this thread is not that the game isn’t fun, but rather, that mages are currently underpowered (solo-wise) compared to other classes.

This issue is being discussed at length in the Blizzard Beta forums here:
http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.aspx...unt=26#post2084

Ah ha! Yes, all that the original poster said is quite true. If I can't kill a monster quickly, I'm reamed, and I have zero crowd control. If I have two monsters attacking me at once, I can't even get off a hit.

People tell me to "play a different character," but that's skirting the issue. I'm beta-testing playing a mage, and reporting what I find. I'm not handing down a "I've played this game for 20 hours and have deemed it suckage forever" sentence. I'm just saying that *so far*, I've had a less than enjoyable experience, and hopefully things will improve.

-Bolty

[Thecla]

I guess no hunters in the beta yet? I worry that ranged archer types may run into similar problems to the mage (unless they have really durable pets, I suppose).

[Bolty]

Do you have frost nova yet Bolty? I understand one of the best ways of dealing with more than one monster is to hit the first monster as much as possible and when they get close to you to frostnova and retreat.

I do have frost nova, yes. It doesn't do much damage, though (20 points average compared to Fireball's 75 average). It helps to chill the monsters, but consider this scenario: a ranged attacker and a melee attacker hitting me at the same time. I can Frost Nova the melee guy, but the combination of the slow melee'ers attacks and the full-speed ranged attacks prevent me from getting off a spell. I have to stand still to cast. What do I do?

I run. I die, because the monsters run faster than me. Respawn. Repeat. :) And, keep in mind, this is in a GROUP! Groups don't help, because the monsters are smarter than the Diablo fodder we all know and love. Just because a character is tanking doesn't mean that I can cast spells with impunity ala D2 style. No, in this game, when a tank is fighting a monster and I cast a spell on them, 50% of the time they'll break off and come after me. While I admire such AI (it's nice to see smart monsters realize that they can pound the weak mage fast and get back to the melee guy later), it sure doesn't help me live.

Most of the time, when I group, I die first. I simply have less hit points and can't take the damage...I've seen group members say "oh boy, a mage! Any bets on how long he lasts?" when I join parties! Heh!

I shall valiantly keep plugging away, though!

-Bolty

[Thenryb]

" Just because a character is tanking doesn't mean that I can cast spells with impunity ala D2 style. No, in this game, when a tank is fighting a monster and I cast a spell on them, 50% of the time they'll break off and come after me. While I admire such AI (it's nice to see smart monsters realize that they can pound the weak mage fast and get back to the melee guy later), it sure doesn't help me live."

I hope your tanks have the ability to taunt and are doing so regularly. I can recall during my brief EQ experience(ugh), I had taunt keyed. If you clicked "taunt" the "box" would turn gray and when it resumed its normal color you could click again and the tank, hopefully, would taunt as often as he could in order to keep the monsters off the spellcasters and clerics. If they did not do so, the spellcasters and clerics were toast. This tactic is so basic, I almost feel silly posting it.

In any event, I hope you keep posting your candid impressions of the game as you go along. Not even Blizzard wants beta testers who are nothing but shills.

[Thenryb]

"

Just because a character is tanking doesn't mean that I can cast spells with impunity ala D2 style. No, in this game, when a tank is fighting a monster and I cast a spell on them, 50% of the time they'll break off and come after me. While I admire such AI (it's nice to see smart monsters realize that they can pound the weak mage fast and get back to the melee guy later), it sure doesn't help me live."

I hope your tanks have the ability to taunt and are doing so regularly. I can recall during my brief EQ experience(ugh), I had taunt keyed. If you clicked "taunt" the "box" would turn gray and when it resumed its normal color you could click again and the tank, hopefully, would taunt as often as he could in order to keep the monsters off the spellcasters and clerics. If they did not do so, the spellcasters and clerics were toast. This tactic is so basic, I almost feel silly posting it.

In any event, I hope you keep posting your candid impressions of the game as you go along. Not even Blizzard wants beta testers who are nothing but shills.

[Griselda]

Well today's the first day I actually was free to sit down and try this out. I've been avoiding the "content" sections of this forum and most of the WoW site lately so that I could start fresh. Well, from my experience so far, that might not have been the best choice!

First of all, I think I'm not terribly good at starting new games in general, mostly because I'm stubborn enough that I prefer to learn by screwing up first, and asking why later. So, keep that in mind as you read this.

I only got to play for a few hours, but most of it was dealing with Interface Hell. I assume that will get much easier as I get used to the controls. I started as a night elf priest. For some reason, starting online, with people milling about, I felt awkward sitting down and reading through everything/clicking every possible button to see what it does like I usually do in a single player game. So, I figured out how to walk, walked over to the town guy, and got a "kill X of monster X" quest. Fine. Well, in Diablo that's the equivalent of quill rats, so I figured I'd just go try to do that.

Unfortunately, my default gamma adjustment was really bad (odd, because it looks fine out of game), and I couldn't see very well. Also, it took me way too long to figure out how to adjust the camera. Now, that's *completely* my fault, not the game's, but I'm mentioning that to help you get the picture of a blind Night Elf trying to kill a baby boar. It wasn't pretty. So, I could zoom in and out, but was stuck in the "top down" camera angle for a very long time.

In "top down", you can't see where you are going at all. I kept walking into walls (well, big trees, forest scenery, etc). They were pretty walls, of course, but still annoying when I was looking at Point A on my minimap and could not figure out how to get there. This was quite a bit easier once I could actually see in front of me, but I still wish that graphically there was a little more variation between "places you can walk" and "edges". I bet I'll get the hang of that quickly though. Oh, when you scroll in close enough, there are nice flowers, though! Those were fun.

So I killed a few of the first wimpy monsters with my mace, and got myself killed by a level 3 grell. Embarrassing, I know, but I hadn't tried anything but melee, and hadn't figured out that you heal over time, either. Like I said, I learn the hard way, and didn't mind checking out what dying was like. Well, I went on a World Tour looking for my corpse. It was only 20 exp to get it back, but I wanted to try finding it. But, I couldn't even remember what area I'd been in, and still was looking at the ground wherever I went. In any case, I probably spent at least half an hour looking for it, because I didn't see it on the minimap at first and couldn't figure out how to get there (remember, bad camera angle) once I did. I managed to take the path through several different areas before I ended up back in the right one.

I did have fun as a ghost, though, because I could move quickly and check out a lot of stuff. I went out on the branch of a gigantic tree, and jumped off. If I'd been alive, it would certainly have killed me (there were lots of corpses at the bottom). But, I was a ghost! I didn't care. The view of the fall was kind of cool, and every now and then I'd land on a branch and jump off again. I finally landed in the water, and proceeded to head out to sea. Well, a little ways. Then, I remembered I needed my corpse. But, it was really hard to find a way back onto land that wasn't blocked by the giant trees! By that point I knew where I wanted to go, but I had to go around a lot of things to be able to get there.

Finally, I was back on land, had my corpse, and was even getting pretty good at killing the baby monsters. I could cast spells, heal myself, and use a mace. Woohoo! But, I still spent far too much time getting lost looking for the right monsters that I was supposed to kill. When you find the right spot, they're literally everywhere, but until then, it's hard to even tell what direction to go in. I suppose that this will get better once you know the area. But, if I was more than 5 feet from the guy who gave me the quest, I could not find him! I had to wander around randomly until I stumbled across him again. Aargh.

I'm guessing there's a way to mark spots on your map so that you can get back to important places? I tried clicking on the map, but honestly haven't looked into it any further.

Oh, the chat. Most of the chat was from people who either seemed very familiar with the game, and were discussing trading items, "banks", and "ATM's", or people who were lost looking for something or other. I'm hoping as we become more familiar with things there will be less of the "lost" chat, but I do hope it doesn't turn into all "itamz" talk instead.

So, that's my first night of play. I know I made a lot of silly mistakes, but hey, that's what being a newbie is all about, right? The ground was quite literally covered with corpses, so I know that I wasn't the first person having a hard time at the start. Maybe once I figure this interface out, and become a world traveler, I can look up some of the other players and have an actual multiplayer experience!

For the mean time, though, I'll just have to sign this "clueless newbie". I'm hoping the learning curve levels off a bit after tonight!

-Griselda

[Thecla]

For some reason, starting online, with people milling about, I felt awkward sitting down and reading through everything/clicking every possible button to see what it does like I usually do in a single player game.

I have to say that this is the kind of thing I don't like about MMORPGs either.

So, that's my first night of play. I know I made a lot of silly mistakes, but hey, that's what being a newbie is all about, right? The ground was quite literally covered with corpses, so I know that I wasn't the first person having a hard time at the start.

My impression is there are still plenty of corpses at higher levels too, even if we discount all of Bolty's.

[Jarulf]

"

I hope your tanks have the ability to taunt and are doing so regularly. I can recall during my brief EQ experience(ugh), I had taunt keyed. If you clicked "taunt" the "box" would turn gray and when it resumed its normal color you could click again and the tank, hopefully, would taunt as often as he could in order to keep the monsters off the spellcasters and clerics. If they did not do so, the spellcasters and clerics were toast. This tactic is so basic, I almost feel silly posting it.

In any event, I hope you keep posting your candid impressions of the game as you go along. Not even Blizzard wants beta testers who are nothing but shills.

I don't know of any specific taunt option (there are several "commands" but I don't know if they are for actual battle use (there are lots of cool dance, wave, salute, sit and so on options, but that is more for style :) ).

Anyway, a monster will pick and switch targets as it is attacked. As a rogue I try to get up behind a monster to do a backstab attack. This works great if someone else (in the party for example) is fighting. Many times the monster will turn arround for me as target though, but not always. I think there are more into target selecting than actually who attacked last but I can be wrong.

One thing that doesn't work is if you are geting beaten up, you can't simply run back and past others to have the monster switch to them, it will continue charging you right through others. You need to have them actually attack the monster, at least in most cases I have experienced.

Even so, the case I recall when Bolty and I fought a relatively tough monster, the monster did turn to Bolty and atatcked him for a while despite me actually attacking and hitting it for damage. After a few of them, it did turn arround and started to attack me though.

What is great having are potions, they are instant healing, food and such requires calm and, for example 20+ seconds to take effect when you just sit down. Not at all usefull for fights. However, I can see buying potions for healing as a very expensive solution if you need to take them every fight. I only use them for special fights against really tough monsters that I would otherwise not handle. Monsters heal often faster than youself if you break away for a heal.


As for corpses, I would say they stay even after you get back and "ressurect" from ghost to person. It is thus more an indication of were people have actually died. No idea for how long they stay and if one can have lots of coprses in different places.


By the way, didn't play at all yesterday, but will try to get in some hours tonight, say, form 18 EST to midnight with a possible break or two for food and other stuff if I can. I am in the dwarf area (can't recall its name) but might travell to the human town/area since I am searching form someone to teach me the tradeskill to do leather wear. Might even do the Westlife explot telepeort if I get the time :) I think Westlife is more along my level now than it was when I was there last time, I was at most level 9 then I think, now I am almost 13 with better gear.

[Tal]

Hehe - I can see how that would be frustrating. I teamed up with an "okay" group of testers on Monday night that included two mages. We finally hit upon the following strategy that allowed the mages to live and me to tank. As a paladin I drew the monster to me and hit it with my best shot. The two mages would then target the beastie and let loose. This usually was all it took to kill a single monster. When engaging more than one we followed the above but the two mages would run like mad after getting off their shot and I would try to draw the second to me by chasing it down and attacking it. This was while the other two members of our party beat the snot out of the third critter. ;) The problems quickly became much as you had if we got to close to a spawn point and had fresh critters spawn while I was healing the others. (Our priest tended to drain his mana in battle and therefore couldn't heal anyone afterwards).

I'd love to hook up with any lurkers who got into the Beta. Feel free to whisper Eron on account Tal if you want to party. :)