Hi,
I thought I should just write up my first impressions of this game. I did not participate in the alpha although I was once asked about but in the end could not, so I have only played this weekend with the current beta. Also, I have not read almost anything about the game prior to playing. I have played through WC3 so I am somewhat familiar with the WC universe. Sorry if all info here is basic one and already known to everyone. If you are like me and know nothing, it might be of some interest. I will tell things based on my point of view and how I like to play.
I had initially written it as a sort of ongoing report or story, but I think that got boring, so instead it will be shorter sections about different aspects.
The download of the beta went smooth. I am a bit reluctant to the distribution system though but I have not thought much about it. Apparently there will be alternatives for people that for example pay for their bandwidth and thus would have to pay not only for downloading but also extra uploading. I basically downloaded it all in under 5 hours in two âsittingsâ while I was doing other stuff on the computer (or just leaving it on). Installation was even smoother and off I was. The whole menu system was easy and nice looking and I created my first character, Zporl, the gnome rogue. Clicked to log in and found myself in the world, ready to play. I had seen pictures before, but I still think it is a quite impressive look and feel. Of course, I have not played other such games so I canât compare with other 3D worlds, I mostly play old games :)
What happens when you start is that you are placed in a small secluded area (based on your race). Think of it as a low level nursery. You will only find low level âmonstersâ and they donât attack you on sight, so no real danger running around. Here you find your first quests (for gnomes you have to run out in the wilderness to find some, for night elves and humans you get them all pretty much were you start). If one generalise it, they mostly revolve around killing various low level monsters to gain experience and levels. The quest are actually decent and can easily compare with normal rpg games, at least so far. But if one start a few different characters, one DO feel the similarity of the different areas.
I really have no idea how one do PvP stuff and such, but at least so far, I have seen none and one canât attack others. People can attack same monsters and such though. It seems that whoever do the most damage (and perhaps who first attacked) will be the one to loot the corpse. So no real problem there either. Basically, I minded my own business but took help of others close by (didnât party until later though). Close by are also various buildings, shops, trainers and such. I had no idea how the whole character system works, I didnât do much, except buying things that I would then immediately find better similar ones.
When you feel ready to meat the world, one can leave this little kindergarten. For gnomes, one do it by going through a small cave (there are usually one or more low level caves in the starting are as well). It seems that most areas (which are pretty huge though) are still somewhat isolated, either by impassable mountains or in other ways. So at this point I got the feeling the whole game was various isolated areas with monsters of specific levels and difficulties. I have had to revise that view some, the world is more open but still, each area is somewhat set for a specific difficulty. So far I have not seen real high level areas close to the low level ones I am currently playing in. Might not always be the case though.
Travelling along roads is usually relatively safe, but I like going out in the wilderness. The fun thing is, that when you least expect it, you find some nice little place with inhabitants, a small cave or some monster camp to spice it up and to give you quests. Not bad. Scattered around the maps are also larger âvillagesâ and they feel safe from monsters and such, at least so far. I got a quest about switching beer cags and went to town to find the rivalling bar. It was not horribly complicated but I had to buy some ale to get the guard going away so I could switch barrels. Not that complicated, but a break from killing monsters and collecting ribs or meat. I still had horrible problems with some monsters, probably in part since I never improved my skills or abilities since I was unsure what to go for. After a while I went to the big Ironforge city of the dwarves. Highly confusing area and the minimap doesnât help at all (Much better in Stormwind city (or whatever it is called), but then that town doesnât have multiple levels on top of each other. I took a Gryphonflight here to the human area of the world. Very different style and mood (and the night elf one is different as well as is many other areas I presume), which felt very good, definitely makes the game fun. The quests here also felt different in type somewhat, perhaps just me though. Here I was running around farmland helping out the peasants, making a young couple whose families are in a feud to meat (quite a nice quest with a few different twists) and so on. The other type of quests I got so far was more of a, investigate mines and boarder hostilities. That is basically were I am now, since my level is not high enough to move on. I also went up and did the human beginning quest area. It was of course a peace of cake and not really rewarding either for me, but I wanted to try it out anyway.
So, what do one do in the game generally? Well, so far I have ran around killing stuff mostly (and doing some non combat quests). More or less fun. I feel the rogue type of fighting, as well as other too, requires relatively lot of micromanagement, or quick fingers and a good customized keyboard to maximize the use of skills. I have not done that yet but rely on simple âclick the mouse on attack skill iconsâ and hardly character stand relatively still. Works but probably doesnât use the potential at all. Also, handling multiple targets at once unless they are much lower level is not that easy. My armour class is coming up though and I feel that is why I do better now, I think it reduced damage versus me.
I have also finally started to get myself some skills and abilities. I went for skinning (I might also go for actually making leather gear as well) and am now taking all opportunities of skinning animals (bears seems to be the ones I can do for now that I have found). Donât have to kill the bears myself though. These skills improve upon use, so the more I skin, the better I am slowly becoming. The same goes for stealth (sneaking around) and other such skills. So I have started to do a lot of sneaking around hoping it goes up (neglected it for a while before). I have also got myself some abilities related to the class such as backstab and some other rogue style abilities I canât remember. I have not got myself any stats yet though, but one can buy that too (plus such things as defence and armour class). Basically one get 10 points per level to buy such things for. The abilities such as skinning, sword fighting and so on are bought by money plus skill points (One get 1 per level I think and many cost 2 or 3 on basic levels and can then be upgraded). I really am not good enough to explain the details of the system. Seems funny and interesting enough for me. One can unlearn skills too it seems, so everything is not lose, perhaps a career change is possible :) I think it will allow for a lot of customization if they can manage to make it all useful and fun to have.
Since I donât read much about these thing, I really have no idea what is good and not and so on. Took me quite some time to realize that rogues will probably never wear mail and thus I could sell all those items. Investing 10 points for 1 extra points of strength (which are in the 20 ies) seems lowish compared to some new other ability or combat move, so have not done that yet. I think one would need a more thorough explanation of how things work to be able to judge and decide what one want to buy. Apparently I will be able to double wield when I hit level 10, so I am hoping for using a dagger and a sword.
What more? Well, That is my first impressions really. Perhaps not much information about the game, and perhaps not really much what I think, but I am a bit impressed, or rather pleasantly surprised. My only experience with this type of game comes from playing UO back when it was released, and I feel I have a lot more fun and interesting things to do here. Not just mindlessly running around. I have not yet found a good view point I like to use, it varies quite a bit with situation. One want to view enough ahead of you to spot problems or monsters, but also want some side views or even behind you (especially since monsters might spawn literally on top of you in some areas), and it is not fun getting hit by something behind you having no idea what it is. I also find it much easier to find with a more âoverheadâ view. Apparently one can set a few default views and quickly switch between them. I think that is the solution.
I donât know how random the quest system is. It seems to me the quests sort of is always there and for everyone to do. Everyone get their own quest so you canât really âstealâ it although if it involve killing specific monsters one might have to wait a while for it to spawn again. So far the map is not crowded with people though although some areas are more busy than others. No idea what they target for population is. Also, when I started, the higher level areas was less crowded, I think more people are levelling up now and also playing so there is more people over all. I can imagine real high level areas being more empty so far for example. ON top of that, I play when perhaps many Americans were asleep, so that can be the reason why there were more people later in the evening (my evening).
I have not really tried any interaction with other people, except partying in a cave once (seems one share exp for example), so I have no idea how trading and such works. If one drop items, they are destroyed though, so no putting them on ground (have yet to see items on the ground at all) and picking them up with your other character (logging out and then back on). So I think trading items between your own characters might be hard unless there is a more simple way, which is a pity I think. Perhaps I have just not figured it out though. I think there are many âsurprisesâ in the game.
Since I have yet to play any magical type of character, I really canât comment on such things. I am more of a warrior type :) But many run around with minions, which seems fun. There are animal trainers all over as well, so that seems like a possibility, but one need to catch them first I guess :)
That is it, my gnome is now level 9 and happily moving around killing snow leopards and bears (for quests and skinning). Will try to scout out a few new areas in the snow lands of the Dwarfs later tonight when I get back on.
I would say it really seems promising, canât compare to other similar games, but there is a nice feeling and the world seems quite living, canât wait to explore new areas. Hope this was of SOME fun or use to someone :)
I thought I should just write up my first impressions of this game. I did not participate in the alpha although I was once asked about but in the end could not, so I have only played this weekend with the current beta. Also, I have not read almost anything about the game prior to playing. I have played through WC3 so I am somewhat familiar with the WC universe. Sorry if all info here is basic one and already known to everyone. If you are like me and know nothing, it might be of some interest. I will tell things based on my point of view and how I like to play.
I had initially written it as a sort of ongoing report or story, but I think that got boring, so instead it will be shorter sections about different aspects.
The download of the beta went smooth. I am a bit reluctant to the distribution system though but I have not thought much about it. Apparently there will be alternatives for people that for example pay for their bandwidth and thus would have to pay not only for downloading but also extra uploading. I basically downloaded it all in under 5 hours in two âsittingsâ while I was doing other stuff on the computer (or just leaving it on). Installation was even smoother and off I was. The whole menu system was easy and nice looking and I created my first character, Zporl, the gnome rogue. Clicked to log in and found myself in the world, ready to play. I had seen pictures before, but I still think it is a quite impressive look and feel. Of course, I have not played other such games so I canât compare with other 3D worlds, I mostly play old games :)
What happens when you start is that you are placed in a small secluded area (based on your race). Think of it as a low level nursery. You will only find low level âmonstersâ and they donât attack you on sight, so no real danger running around. Here you find your first quests (for gnomes you have to run out in the wilderness to find some, for night elves and humans you get them all pretty much were you start). If one generalise it, they mostly revolve around killing various low level monsters to gain experience and levels. The quest are actually decent and can easily compare with normal rpg games, at least so far. But if one start a few different characters, one DO feel the similarity of the different areas.
I really have no idea how one do PvP stuff and such, but at least so far, I have seen none and one canât attack others. People can attack same monsters and such though. It seems that whoever do the most damage (and perhaps who first attacked) will be the one to loot the corpse. So no real problem there either. Basically, I minded my own business but took help of others close by (didnât party until later though). Close by are also various buildings, shops, trainers and such. I had no idea how the whole character system works, I didnât do much, except buying things that I would then immediately find better similar ones.
When you feel ready to meat the world, one can leave this little kindergarten. For gnomes, one do it by going through a small cave (there are usually one or more low level caves in the starting are as well). It seems that most areas (which are pretty huge though) are still somewhat isolated, either by impassable mountains or in other ways. So at this point I got the feeling the whole game was various isolated areas with monsters of specific levels and difficulties. I have had to revise that view some, the world is more open but still, each area is somewhat set for a specific difficulty. So far I have not seen real high level areas close to the low level ones I am currently playing in. Might not always be the case though.
Travelling along roads is usually relatively safe, but I like going out in the wilderness. The fun thing is, that when you least expect it, you find some nice little place with inhabitants, a small cave or some monster camp to spice it up and to give you quests. Not bad. Scattered around the maps are also larger âvillagesâ and they feel safe from monsters and such, at least so far. I got a quest about switching beer cags and went to town to find the rivalling bar. It was not horribly complicated but I had to buy some ale to get the guard going away so I could switch barrels. Not that complicated, but a break from killing monsters and collecting ribs or meat. I still had horrible problems with some monsters, probably in part since I never improved my skills or abilities since I was unsure what to go for. After a while I went to the big Ironforge city of the dwarves. Highly confusing area and the minimap doesnât help at all (Much better in Stormwind city (or whatever it is called), but then that town doesnât have multiple levels on top of each other. I took a Gryphonflight here to the human area of the world. Very different style and mood (and the night elf one is different as well as is many other areas I presume), which felt very good, definitely makes the game fun. The quests here also felt different in type somewhat, perhaps just me though. Here I was running around farmland helping out the peasants, making a young couple whose families are in a feud to meat (quite a nice quest with a few different twists) and so on. The other type of quests I got so far was more of a, investigate mines and boarder hostilities. That is basically were I am now, since my level is not high enough to move on. I also went up and did the human beginning quest area. It was of course a peace of cake and not really rewarding either for me, but I wanted to try it out anyway.
So, what do one do in the game generally? Well, so far I have ran around killing stuff mostly (and doing some non combat quests). More or less fun. I feel the rogue type of fighting, as well as other too, requires relatively lot of micromanagement, or quick fingers and a good customized keyboard to maximize the use of skills. I have not done that yet but rely on simple âclick the mouse on attack skill iconsâ and hardly character stand relatively still. Works but probably doesnât use the potential at all. Also, handling multiple targets at once unless they are much lower level is not that easy. My armour class is coming up though and I feel that is why I do better now, I think it reduced damage versus me.
I have also finally started to get myself some skills and abilities. I went for skinning (I might also go for actually making leather gear as well) and am now taking all opportunities of skinning animals (bears seems to be the ones I can do for now that I have found). Donât have to kill the bears myself though. These skills improve upon use, so the more I skin, the better I am slowly becoming. The same goes for stealth (sneaking around) and other such skills. So I have started to do a lot of sneaking around hoping it goes up (neglected it for a while before). I have also got myself some abilities related to the class such as backstab and some other rogue style abilities I canât remember. I have not got myself any stats yet though, but one can buy that too (plus such things as defence and armour class). Basically one get 10 points per level to buy such things for. The abilities such as skinning, sword fighting and so on are bought by money plus skill points (One get 1 per level I think and many cost 2 or 3 on basic levels and can then be upgraded). I really am not good enough to explain the details of the system. Seems funny and interesting enough for me. One can unlearn skills too it seems, so everything is not lose, perhaps a career change is possible :) I think it will allow for a lot of customization if they can manage to make it all useful and fun to have.
Since I donât read much about these thing, I really have no idea what is good and not and so on. Took me quite some time to realize that rogues will probably never wear mail and thus I could sell all those items. Investing 10 points for 1 extra points of strength (which are in the 20 ies) seems lowish compared to some new other ability or combat move, so have not done that yet. I think one would need a more thorough explanation of how things work to be able to judge and decide what one want to buy. Apparently I will be able to double wield when I hit level 10, so I am hoping for using a dagger and a sword.
What more? Well, That is my first impressions really. Perhaps not much information about the game, and perhaps not really much what I think, but I am a bit impressed, or rather pleasantly surprised. My only experience with this type of game comes from playing UO back when it was released, and I feel I have a lot more fun and interesting things to do here. Not just mindlessly running around. I have not yet found a good view point I like to use, it varies quite a bit with situation. One want to view enough ahead of you to spot problems or monsters, but also want some side views or even behind you (especially since monsters might spawn literally on top of you in some areas), and it is not fun getting hit by something behind you having no idea what it is. I also find it much easier to find with a more âoverheadâ view. Apparently one can set a few default views and quickly switch between them. I think that is the solution.
I donât know how random the quest system is. It seems to me the quests sort of is always there and for everyone to do. Everyone get their own quest so you canât really âstealâ it although if it involve killing specific monsters one might have to wait a while for it to spawn again. So far the map is not crowded with people though although some areas are more busy than others. No idea what they target for population is. Also, when I started, the higher level areas was less crowded, I think more people are levelling up now and also playing so there is more people over all. I can imagine real high level areas being more empty so far for example. ON top of that, I play when perhaps many Americans were asleep, so that can be the reason why there were more people later in the evening (my evening).
I have not really tried any interaction with other people, except partying in a cave once (seems one share exp for example), so I have no idea how trading and such works. If one drop items, they are destroyed though, so no putting them on ground (have yet to see items on the ground at all) and picking them up with your other character (logging out and then back on). So I think trading items between your own characters might be hard unless there is a more simple way, which is a pity I think. Perhaps I have just not figured it out though. I think there are many âsurprisesâ in the game.
Since I have yet to play any magical type of character, I really canât comment on such things. I am more of a warrior type :) But many run around with minions, which seems fun. There are animal trainers all over as well, so that seems like a possibility, but one need to catch them first I guess :)
That is it, my gnome is now level 9 and happily moving around killing snow leopards and bears (for quests and skinning). Will try to scout out a few new areas in the snow lands of the Dwarfs later tonight when I get back on.
I would say it really seems promising, canât compare to other similar games, but there is a nice feeling and the world seems quite living, canât wait to explore new areas. Hope this was of SOME fun or use to someone :)
There are three types of people in the world. Those who can count and those who can't.
