To me, what's interesting is how they have really worked to make a solid game all around, not just focusing on the story and the quests but everything around it making it a massive multiplayer game
You can solve puzzles together, helping each other finding clues and talk about theories you have for solving the puzzles. Some of the easier ones are solvable by individuals, while other are easier in small groups. You will also see puzzles that are very hard to do, just look at what Funcom did with it's ARG's and you know what I am talking about.
You can group up to take down one of the dungeons in the game, there will be 8 or 9 of them at launch, with three difficulties for the ones you see first and two for the ones you get to see last. Here Funcom have left out most of the trash mobs so you spend most of your time on the interesting fights. The hardest difficulty requires you to progress horizontally to get the right gear and abilities for that particular dungeon or boss.
You can do open world group content that consists of multiple lairs spread around the world with hard-ass mobs that drops pieces of a puzzle that you can use to spawn bosses. Again you need to progress horizontally, getting gear and abilities to take down the bosses.
There are also world bosses in every zone, I haven't heard too much about what Funcoms intention with these are, but I think they are just meant as a challenge, not for gearing. Might be wrong here
There are several minigames for those who like those, all of them faction based, which should be interesting, so FvFvF. (I haven't researched this part so much)
There is at launch supposed to be one persistant area which also brings three factions up against each other. The kicker here is that there are several objectives each faction can hold and each of these objectives gives a faction wide buff. It will be interesting to see how being persistant will affect how this one works and how the buff affects the hardest mode for the dungeons.
What I like about this content is that it looks like there is enough different group content that even with the content they have at launch, I probably wouldn't see the same content for over a week. One day I could take a few dungeons, the next I could try to farm pieces to summon my very own boss, get my ass handed to me in Persistant PvP, but helping my faction out or trying to solve one of the hard puzzles.
To me, it looks like TSW will have a very solid "endgame" which to me looks very varied and allows casual and hardcore players to play in the same game due to the horizontal progression. It also looks like content added after launch could be added pretty seamlessly. For instance, you might get additonal puzzle quests or monster lairs in existing zones.
For those of you asking about dodging, you can double tap one of the directional keys to do a short dash to that direction, very similair to GW2. So there is your dodge...
Really? What does it do? Can you twitch-evade this way, does it help with escaping?
I never used that during BWE... didn't really need it, either.
To me, what's interesting is how they have really worked to make a solid game all around, not just focusing on the story and the quests but everything around it making it a massive multiplayer game
Well, that's good to hear. I got a different impression from the outside for some reason. The vids I've seen make it look incomplete/unfinished.
I'm curious about the stuff you are saying, and I kinda want to know how you know of all this, since the BWE's seem pretty limited and the Closed Beta appears to have an NDA on it. Is this from the dev diaries?
If what you're saying is true, TSW can be a very serious competitor to GW2.
To me, what's interesting is how they have really worked to make a solid game all around, not just focusing on the story and the quests but everything around it making it a massive multiplayer game
Well, that's good to hear. I got a different impression from the outside for some reason. The vids I've seen make it look incomplete/unfinished.
I'm curious about the stuff you are saying, and I kinda want to know how you know of all this, since the BWE's seem pretty limited and the Closed Beta appears to have an NDA on it. Is this from the dev diaries?
If what you're saying is true, TSW can be a very serious competitor to GW2.
Everything Blackbrrd has said is true. Everything he listed has been information already released through press and dev presentations.
Sidenote- Blackbrrd can be trusted for reliable information. I assure you.
To me, what's interesting is how they have really worked to make a solid game all around, not just focusing on the story and the quests but everything around it making it a massive multiplayer game
Well, that's good to hear. I got a different impression from the outside for some reason. The vids I've seen make it look incomplete/unfinished.
I'm curious about the stuff you are saying, and I kinda want to know how you know of all this, since the BWE's seem pretty limited and the Closed Beta appears to have an NDA on it. Is this from the dev diaries?
If what you're saying is true, TSW can be a very serious competitor to GW2.
Yeah, mostly from the dev diaries and such, but also had the opportunity to talk to the lead content designer quite a few months back.
As I said in the post above, I think the ideas are really solid. Now I really hope they can deliver all they have promised. I think they can. The game was most likely slated for release in 2011, but they soon discovered that it wouldn't be possible. Then they targeted April 24th internally, Juni 19th and now July 3rd.
The last two week delay was to get a bit more room after the Diablo 3 launch, but the CEO is working very closely with the developers and I am pretty sure they could have gotten a bit more time if they said the needed it. To me it makes it clear that the developers feel ready.
If you look at the development of TSW, it's been done in a bit unusual fashion, mostly in paralell. You can see it by how they showed of one of the way later dungeons already in february while having a completely unfinished character creator in May. To me it's a smart choice, giving the important gameplay features priority, while looks is something you finish last.
Anyway, one can notice that TSW has been designed and have a clear theme to how they do things, unlike AoC which even took a 90 degree turn after launch, adding a much higher degree of itemization. TSW has been built around it instead, topping off the vertical progression in itemization with a broad horizontal progression so that it takes a long time to get it all, but at the same time, you get pieces of it much quicker.
This game has a ton of potential, but I'm worried it will be too much of a standard themepark at the end of the day. Also, this game plays like it's in fairly early beta in my opinion. There are lots of small and medium sized bugs that need fixed, and I don't know if they are going to have time to fix them before launchin July.
By contrast, GW2 feels a lot more polished and ready to go, yet we don't even have a release date yet and it may drag on until Fall so they can get everything polshed further.
I already bought TSW and I am looking forward to jumping in and seeing if an in-game community forms, or if it will be another solo-fest themepark. I'm giving it the benefit of the doubt. I just hope they don't release another buggy game and tank it.
You obviously were part of the Age of Conan release.
I want this game to be good. I want to pre-order. But FunCom is the anti-Blizzard: Release a game, buugy or not, ready or not, just to appease FunCom's CFO and Board, and not when it's polished, balanced, and fun from start to finish.
Keeping fingers crossed that THIS time will be different with FunCom, but honestly not expecting it to be so.
Anyone else think this statement seems kinda funny considering all of the issues Diablo 3 is having ?
Originally posted by jdnyc Originally posted by IrusOriginally posted by BlackbrrdTo me, what's interesting is how they have really worked to make a solid game all around, not just focusing on the story and the quests but everything around it making it a massive multiplayer game Well, that's good to hear. I got a different impression from the outside for some reason. The vids I've seen make it look incomplete/unfinished.
I'm curious about the stuff you are saying, and I kinda want to know how you know of all this, since the BWE's seem pretty limited and the Closed Beta appears to have an NDA on it. Is this from the dev diaries? If what you're saying is true, TSW can be a very serious competitor to GW2.Everything Blackbrrd has said is true. Everything he listed has been information already released through press and dev presentations.
Sidenote- Blackbrrd can be trusted for reliable information. I assure you.
I can get behind this statement. This game is very well put together. I think besides the setting, the thing that draws me most to this game is the synergy of all the game's systems. Everything is relevant and ties in with each other. Story feeds directly into quest design, mob mechanics tie into crafting materials, equipment synergizes with specific builds. All aspects of the game flow into each other very nicely
I sit on a man's back, choking him and making him carry me, and yet assure myself and others that I am very sorry for him and wish to ease his lot by all possible means - except by getting off his back.
I think the largest problem with the combat is that it is diffrent, its off a bit, it throws you off...things dont react in ways you expect.
My first day of combat i could see and feel what people were complaining about, though it wasnt someone that is game breaking for me, and i was looking for it, as im sure now everyone who tries the game will look at the combat as being bad before trying it.
After my first day i was rather enjoying it, it didnt seem "off" . I do agree that some not all of the animations are lackluster...but if i wanted a game with crazy animations and all sorts of colorful crap comming off each swing...i wouldnt be playing a game like this to start with.
I think people were expecting crazy light shows with every swing and over animated animations...this game attempts a slightly realistic go at mmorpgs...i think that flying all over the mobs doing crazy acrobatic melee and having gun animations that were like bazooka shots would make the game feel cheap, given the setting. I know its all opinion here and im not one to jump off the deep end emotionally towards game, and have the ability to enjoy games for what they are, so my opinion is probably null and void to most.
What i would like to see improving combat is a few animation re-do's specifically pistol (which i feel should be fast shooting both guns-ablazing type rather than the current one shot large dmg with ho-hum animations)
I do feel a reaction when fighting enemies and your first taste is during the subway intro, that shotgun when specced knocks thos zombies all over the place, i feel the impact. I think the choice of making mobs...well unescapable,, far faster than you, makes your attacks seem lifeless at first though.
Im actually seeing petty animation problems and just not liking the resource building/spending combat as the largest issue people see. I like the resource/spending combat with finishers, theres a lot of options on how to do it, and the animations fit the game, of course everything could always be better though...no matter the game.
Given the scope of the game, and how this is clearly aimed at a segment of the mmorpg community rather than appealing to all...theres going to be a lot of people turned off by "diffrent" in this game, it has a lot and you dont jump into the game running...took me some time to adjust off the wow-park style...theres going to be a lot of people who just plain hate it since it does throw you off balance at first.
I'd not be at all surprised if Funcom announce a completely open BWE just before launch. At the moment BWE access is only gained by pre-ordering the game, and I suspect they'd like to keep that incentive in place for as long as possible.
I received a BWE invite for the "final" weekend, even though I never registered for beta, but I have an old Funcom account from AoC. Good move by Funcom, because I'd not really paid any attention to TSW until I received the invite. Knowing I'd get a look at the game before launch has made me do some research on the game, and now I'm actually quite excited about TSW
Despite the "exclusive beta" for preorder on the right of my screen they are giving away 100,000s of keys, Nvidia has 40,000 or so and you can pick them up. It is TSW not GW2, I got one from gamespot the first beta weekend after it started so there are more than enough to meet demand.
I wonder if the players who paid for a year of age of conan got beta keys yet, they were raging last month.
I was one of those, and I received a closed beta key a couple months ago. I've seen the game improve by leaps and bounds with each and every patch. If Funcom keeps it up, this will be an excellent game at release.
I was skeptical at first because I was there when AoC launched. TSW already feels more polished in its current state than AoC felt within its first year of release. I think Funcom learned their lesson from AoC, they won't be releasing another unfinished and buggy mess.
This game has a ton of potential, but I'm worried it will be too much of a standard themepark at the end of the day. Also, this game plays like it's in fairly early beta in my opinion. There are lots of small and medium sized bugs that need fixed, and I don't know if they are going to have time to fix them before launchin July.
By contrast, GW2 feels a lot more polished and ready to go, yet we don't even have a release date yet and it may drag on until Fall so they can get everything polshed further.
I already bought TSW and I am looking forward to jumping in and seeing if an in-game community forms, or if it will be another solo-fest themepark. I'm giving it the benefit of the doubt. I just hope they don't release another buggy game and tank it.
You obviously were part of the Age of Conan release.
I want this game to be good. I want to pre-order. But FunCom is the anti-Blizzard: Release a game, buugy or not, ready or not, just to appease FunCom's CFO and Board, and not when it's polished, balanced, and fun from start to finish.
Keeping fingers crossed that THIS time will be different with FunCom, but honestly not expecting it to be so.
Anyone else think this statement seems kinda funny considering all of the issues Diablo 3 is having ?
and wow launch, wow had a bloody awful launch, as bad as AOC.
Just try to remember that this is Ragnar T.....Funcom's "Ace"....he's built quite an incredible game....even in the early parts the puzzles will have you thinking for several minutes if not hours....you'll take smoke breaks and the theories on how to solve certain things will occupy your mind. Give it a try....you might like the new approach to MMO's....rather than the same old concept over and over with different combat types (action or point click) with no real backbone....this game is predicated off its backbone...combat is just another part of it....not the entire reason you play the game.
Just try to remember that this is Ragnar T.....Funcom's "Ace"....he's built quite an incredible game....even in the early parts the puzzles will have you thinking for several minutes if not hours....you'll take smoke breaks and the theories on how to solve certain things will occupy your mind. Give it a try....you might like the new approach to MMO's....rather than the same old concept over and over with different combat types (action or point click) with no real backbone....this game is predicated off its backbone...combat is just another part of it....not the entire reason you play the game.
I think Funcom learned their lesson from AoC, they won't be releasing another unfinished and buggy mess.
I hope you're right. Because I really like what I've seen with this game so far and for once it would be nice to see a game "with a lot of potential" get the opportunity to have the support and retention behind it to watch the game and community flourish over time. Rather than watch another company squander things.
1. For god's sake mmo gamers, enough with the analogies. They're unnecessary and your comparisons are terrible, dissimilar, and illogical.
2. To posters feeling the need to state how f2p really isn't f2p: Players understand the concept. You aren't privy to some secret the rest are missing. You're embarrassing yourself.
3. Yes, Cpt. Obvious, we're not industry experts. Now run along and let the big people use the forums for their purpose.
Comments
That's a really cool vid.
To me, what's interesting is how they have really worked to make a solid game all around, not just focusing on the story and the quests but everything around it making it a massive multiplayer game
You can solve puzzles together, helping each other finding clues and talk about theories you have for solving the puzzles. Some of the easier ones are solvable by individuals, while other are easier in small groups. You will also see puzzles that are very hard to do, just look at what Funcom did with it's ARG's and you know what I am talking about.
You can group up to take down one of the dungeons in the game, there will be 8 or 9 of them at launch, with three difficulties for the ones you see first and two for the ones you get to see last. Here Funcom have left out most of the trash mobs so you spend most of your time on the interesting fights. The hardest difficulty requires you to progress horizontally to get the right gear and abilities for that particular dungeon or boss.
You can do open world group content that consists of multiple lairs spread around the world with hard-ass mobs that drops pieces of a puzzle that you can use to spawn bosses. Again you need to progress horizontally, getting gear and abilities to take down the bosses.
There are also world bosses in every zone, I haven't heard too much about what Funcoms intention with these are, but I think they are just meant as a challenge, not for gearing. Might be wrong here
There are several minigames for those who like those, all of them faction based, which should be interesting, so FvFvF. (I haven't researched this part so much)
There is at launch supposed to be one persistant area which also brings three factions up against each other. The kicker here is that there are several objectives each faction can hold and each of these objectives gives a faction wide buff. It will be interesting to see how being persistant will affect how this one works and how the buff affects the hardest mode for the dungeons.
What I like about this content is that it looks like there is enough different group content that even with the content they have at launch, I probably wouldn't see the same content for over a week. One day I could take a few dungeons, the next I could try to farm pieces to summon my very own boss, get my ass handed to me in Persistant PvP, but helping my faction out or trying to solve one of the hard puzzles.
To me, it looks like TSW will have a very solid "endgame" which to me looks very varied and allows casual and hardcore players to play in the same game due to the horizontal progression. It also looks like content added after launch could be added pretty seamlessly. For instance, you might get additonal puzzle quests or monster lairs in existing zones.
Really? What does it do? Can you twitch-evade this way, does it help with escaping?
I never used that during BWE... didn't really need it, either.
Hype train -> Reality
I'm curious about the stuff you are saying, and I kinda want to know how you know of all this, since the BWE's seem pretty limited and the Closed Beta appears to have an NDA on it. Is this from the dev diaries?
If what you're saying is true, TSW can be a very serious competitor to GW2.
Everything Blackbrrd has said is true. Everything he listed has been information already released through press and dev presentations.
Sidenote- Blackbrrd can be trusted for reliable information. I assure you.
In what way?
Is that a question on my thread title? xD
Yeah, mostly from the dev diaries and such, but also had the opportunity to talk to the lead content designer quite a few months back.
As I said in the post above, I think the ideas are really solid. Now I really hope they can deliver all they have promised. I think they can. The game was most likely slated for release in 2011, but they soon discovered that it wouldn't be possible. Then they targeted April 24th internally, Juni 19th and now July 3rd.
The last two week delay was to get a bit more room after the Diablo 3 launch, but the CEO is working very closely with the developers and I am pretty sure they could have gotten a bit more time if they said the needed it. To me it makes it clear that the developers feel ready.
If you look at the development of TSW, it's been done in a bit unusual fashion, mostly in paralell. You can see it by how they showed of one of the way later dungeons already in february while having a completely unfinished character creator in May. To me it's a smart choice, giving the important gameplay features priority, while looks is something you finish last.
Anyway, one can notice that TSW has been designed and have a clear theme to how they do things, unlike AoC which even took a 90 degree turn after launch, adding a much higher degree of itemization. TSW has been built around it instead, topping off the vertical progression in itemization with a broad horizontal progression so that it takes a long time to get it all, but at the same time, you get pieces of it much quicker.
Anyone else think this statement seems kinda funny considering all of the issues Diablo 3 is having ?
Lolipops !
Hehehe, I like DIII but I thought the same thing, lol
Everything Blackbrrd has said is true. Everything he listed has been information already released through press and dev presentations.
Sidenote- Blackbrrd can be trusted for reliable information. I assure you.
I can get behind this statement. This game is very well put together. I think besides the setting, the thing that draws me most to this game is the synergy of all the game's systems. Everything is relevant and ties in with each other. Story feeds directly into quest design, mob mechanics tie into crafting materials, equipment synergizes with specific builds. All aspects of the game flow into each other very nicely
I sit on a man's back, choking him and making him carry me, and yet assure myself and others that I am very sorry for him and wish to ease his lot by all possible means - except by getting off his back.
I think the largest problem with the combat is that it is diffrent, its off a bit, it throws you off...things dont react in ways you expect.
My first day of combat i could see and feel what people were complaining about, though it wasnt someone that is game breaking for me, and i was looking for it, as im sure now everyone who tries the game will look at the combat as being bad before trying it.
After my first day i was rather enjoying it, it didnt seem "off" . I do agree that some not all of the animations are lackluster...but if i wanted a game with crazy animations and all sorts of colorful crap comming off each swing...i wouldnt be playing a game like this to start with.
I think people were expecting crazy light shows with every swing and over animated animations...this game attempts a slightly realistic go at mmorpgs...i think that flying all over the mobs doing crazy acrobatic melee and having gun animations that were like bazooka shots would make the game feel cheap, given the setting. I know its all opinion here and im not one to jump off the deep end emotionally towards game, and have the ability to enjoy games for what they are, so my opinion is probably null and void to most.
What i would like to see improving combat is a few animation re-do's specifically pistol (which i feel should be fast shooting both guns-ablazing type rather than the current one shot large dmg with ho-hum animations)
I do feel a reaction when fighting enemies and your first taste is during the subway intro, that shotgun when specced knocks thos zombies all over the place, i feel the impact. I think the choice of making mobs...well unescapable,, far faster than you, makes your attacks seem lifeless at first though.
Im actually seeing petty animation problems and just not liking the resource building/spending combat as the largest issue people see. I like the resource/spending combat with finishers, theres a lot of options on how to do it, and the animations fit the game, of course everything could always be better though...no matter the game.
Given the scope of the game, and how this is clearly aimed at a segment of the mmorpg community rather than appealing to all...theres going to be a lot of people turned off by "diffrent" in this game, it has a lot and you dont jump into the game running...took me some time to adjust off the wow-park style...theres going to be a lot of people who just plain hate it since it does throw you off balance at first.
I was one of those, and I received a closed beta key a couple months ago. I've seen the game improve by leaps and bounds with each and every patch. If Funcom keeps it up, this will be an excellent game at release.
I was skeptical at first because I was there when AoC launched. TSW already feels more polished in its current state than AoC felt within its first year of release. I think Funcom learned their lesson from AoC, they won't be releasing another unfinished and buggy mess.
and wow launch, wow had a bloody awful launch, as bad as AOC.
Just try to remember that this is Ragnar T.....Funcom's "Ace"....he's built quite an incredible game....even in the early parts the puzzles will have you thinking for several minutes if not hours....you'll take smoke breaks and the theories on how to solve certain things will occupy your mind. Give it a try....you might like the new approach to MMO's....rather than the same old concept over and over with different combat types (action or point click) with no real backbone....this game is predicated off its backbone...combat is just another part of it....not the entire reason you play the game.
Very well put sir.
I hope you're right. Because I really like what I've seen with this game so far and for once it would be nice to see a game "with a lot of potential" get the opportunity to have the support and retention behind it to watch the game and community flourish over time. Rather than watch another company squander things.
1. For god's sake mmo gamers, enough with the analogies. They're unnecessary and your comparisons are terrible, dissimilar, and illogical.
2. To posters feeling the need to state how f2p really isn't f2p: Players understand the concept. You aren't privy to some secret the rest are missing. You're embarrassing yourself.
3. Yes, Cpt. Obvious, we're not industry experts. Now run along and let the big people use the forums for their purpose.