Now that I’ve been running around the game for a couple of days, here are some very early impressions. I WISH I could run the game on maximum graphic settings. Lush virtual worlds are a key element of pleasure for me in MMOs. The first evening I saw the game I wasn’t so impressed. On Low settings it looked like a minor upgrade to the Asheron’s Call 2 graphics. However, with my new graphics card and my dialed down High settings, there is a huge difference. I’ve taken a peak here and there with everything on HIGH and wish I could play the game that way. But alas and alack, I cannot.
I’ve read about the User Interface being clunky. Eh, the UI isn't the worst I’ve seen. It has a few things that I like such as the maps that aren’t full screen so you can’t see where the heck you’re going with them up unless you download a mod. /Cough Blizzard. The maps stack like cards and you can move them anywhere on the screen. They also zoom in and out with the scroll button which is very convenient. Similar to what I recall from the PotBS BETA they have markers on the map directing you to quest objectives. Maybe that was GW and not Pirates that does that, hmm. Anyway, it’s convenient even if the so-called hardcore players think it’s noobsauce.
I prefer the Buy/Sell window they’ve implemented which is ala EverQuest and Lord of the Rings Online. Things you want to buy are on one tab and things in your inventory on another. Although I haven’t tried it, it appears that you can buy-back an item if you sold it by mistake which is cool.
I don’t like the chat or the Quest Tracker, neither of which I can read very well with the high level of transparency that I haven’t found a way to adjust. Beyond that the only other concern with the UI right now is that the number of buttons on the hotbar doesn’t seem adequate. You can scroll threw them – a combat style that was required in AC2. However, doing that in a game where combat in and of itself is more intricate, leaves a lot of room for error.
The character creation screen is more in depth than many MMOs. However, if you’re brave enough to admit you’ve played The Sims, then you’ve certainly seen better. In the end does it really matter in games where you’re likely to be covered head to toe in armor? I think not so much but I sense that people do enjoy the versatility. What I would personally have preferred more than being able to tweak the length of my nose or the size of my boobs, was not to look like a ragamuffin. If you thought your character’s gear looked thrown together in LOTRO you ain’t seen nothin’ yet. To date, AOC and LOTRO are the only games that I’ve played where I looked like mixed-match mess.
I appreciate the circumstance of a recently escaped/freed slave. I understand they don’t plan on making the game as gear dependent as others. However, do I really have to look that bad? Or am I that vain??? I found myself looking through the multiple tops, pants and shoes in my bag trying to find something that at least seemed like it went together. The stats were all the same but the styles, colors and textures didn’t jive. I looked a hot mess. It was slightly similar to AC2 in that, there was a lot of variety in the same piece of armor so you can be in a red robe that has +1 Defense and I can be in a black one if I prefer and that’s without dying your items. However, AC2 made the stuff even at the lower levels look decent and you could easily match your items. Hopefully, I’ll get to look better at some point.
AOC has a nice variety of classes within the four archetypes of Soldier, Priest, Mage and Assassin. Only certain classes can be played by certain races, which is a common implementation. However, in AOC whole archetypes are exclusive to certain races. For example, if you want to be a Mage of any kind, then you must be Stygian. On the PVE and PVP servers so what, but I wonder how this plays out on the Culture PVP servers where a race is completely locked out of an archetype?
Even though AOC has the usual suspects for classes, not all of them are the typical fare. Priests and Mages are battle versions of those classes. Everyone gets to have decent offensive skills and from what I’ve read so far, it appears that HOT and AOE healing spells are more prevalent than the “heal one” scenario. I think this might make playing a healer more pleasurable. If you can heal many more often with a single action, you’ll have more opportunity to actual watch the battle – see the instances and bosses.
One of the Mage’s has melee as its primary DPS, as does at least one of the Priests. It’s little twists like these that add a bit of freshness into the game. I’ll discuss the classes in more detail after I’ve finished testing my would-be mains.
Lastly, the combat system which is VERY different from any MMO I’ve ever played. At least in terms of PVE, it’s not giving me nearly the trouble I expected. I never did well on the console games and don’t consider myself adept at FPS style combat but so far, so good. The inclusion of combos which deal more damage when successfully executed is interesting. I do wish that I could move where they displayed. For some reason focusing left side of the screen doesn’t work as well for me, as it would if I could place it right side or better yet, closer to my character. I want to watch the combat but with the combos slightly off to the left, my eye is focused there. Oh well, definitely not a huge deal. It would just be nice to be able to move it to match my preferred field of view.
That’s where I’m at for now. It’s pretty, different, combat feels fresh, UI could be better but no deal breaker. I’m on a PVE server at the moment. I’m going to do a Bear Shaman on a PVP or Cultural PVP server at some point. The only pitfall I can foresee at the moment is if I MUST quest. Forced questing for leveling is why I’m not playing LOTRO or EQ2. Grinding XP is a play-style and as much as some people hate it, others enjoy and actually prefer it. I don’t mind questing in moderation but when I’m not in the mood, I really do need the freedom to just go whack stuff and still level at a decent rate. This philosophy is one of the major reasons I’m excited about Warhammer Online.
Interesting remarks. Your experience and opinions mirror mine pretty closely. I too am a grinder, and the many short quests became quite annoying to me early on. Later, it seems that grinding becomes a viable alternative as the levels get longer and the quests sparser. I'm currently grinding out levels 52-55 in the Cannibal Caves. We grindy types were not left behind, though I was beginning to despair early on.
Posted by: Jack Ratched | May 30, 2008 at 03:00 AM
Though I'm not planning on getting AoC for the foreseeable future, I find these posts informative. Seems like a neat game in a number of ways but I'm not sure I'd be interested.
I'm one of those folks that likes questing for xp - I don't much care for grinding. Though if I'm questing for xp, I'd still want to be able to complete several quests at once rather than do one, turn in, do another on the other side of the map, turn in, go back to the first place to do another, etc. Give me a bunch of stuff to do at the same time in a given area and I'm a happy camper.
Posted by: Khan | May 30, 2008 at 09:58 AM
I didn't get into all the hype about the game, and wasn't planning to purchase it based on the negativity I heard from the beta test. But one of my guild members posted an honest but nice review of it, and I started to hear some good things about it, so I bought two copies for my wife and myself. We've been having a blast playing so far, and I should hit 40 tonight. It still has the same types of quests that all MMO's have, but at least they did make the dialogue on them interesting. Overall its a fun game and I think it will keep me entertained for a good bit.
Posted by: Brad | May 30, 2008 at 10:35 AM
If you like grinding there are some nice solo instances in the early levels which are set up like a dungeon but meant for one person to do.
Both Burshur House and Black Castle in the Stygian starting area are set up this way and easy to solo on normal. Every boss in the Burbshur House drops a green chest as do the two bosses on the third floor of the Black Castle. There are other instances in the early levels which are decent for grinding but they tend to have bosses with no loot.
Posted by: Relmstein | June 03, 2008 at 10:56 AM