I always love starting a new game. The box is laying next to my desk. I've just made my decisions on what race and class to play, and chosen my appearance. My character has appeared in a new world waiting to be explored. My family has been told to leave me in peace for the evening.
Now the question is, what will the first hour be like?
In that hour I will experience the graphics and sound, get a flavor for the game's community, try out the UI and maybe face off against a few monsters. For me, they key is whether the combination of those things and others evoke some emotional desire to see more and want be part of this new world.
So how important is that first hour? Do first impressions really matter? Or do you need to give it days, weeks or months before it's fair to start evaluating?
The first hour is really important. In my opinion not exactly the first hour, just the first impression. That means, for example, if there is a cinematic that helps you get in game. The character creation, it should really help you creating a charcter you feel attached to at first glance. And the first few missions, if something of that fails, a lot of people quit the game, mostly the casual ones.
Not really important. Actually, I tend to get bored in the starting area of most MMOs, but after a couple of days I start to get a feel of the game.
If there's a point I can make an educated guess on whether I'm going to enjoy the game or not, it'd probably be after that first couple of days (during which I'd be out of the newbie zone and really getting into the world and the game mechanics, with some progression under my belt, an acceptably populated skill bar and a list of potential goals.
At this point in my life I have played enough MMOS or single player games, I can usually tell within 15-20 minutes if I am going to enjoy the game or not.
Ther first hour is sort of important to me, since I have tested and played so many. If it is total crap, as the OP said, then I might stop quite fast. Otherwise I do give it 10-20h before I say yay/nay. If there is something that really interests me, say some new innovation, I continue, even if there are things I find bothers me - in that case it seems, without thinking of it, that around 80h is a breakingpoint, where I quit out of boredom.
I realized, and have from many, you need to give an MMO at least 1/4 of the level cap, or 2-4weeks before you judge it. But why does it have to be like tyouhat? There are enough modern MMOs, even if they are clones, that manage to get you into the game fast, so why bother with boredom to get to an interesting point of the game (especially if you want to play because you are bored...)?
The first hour or so decides if I'll continue playing the game. If the first thing I do in a game is go kill spiders for random NPC #31 chances are I'm already bored.
The 1st 60 minutes of any game are the most important of any game, at least from my point of view they should be. This time frame the developer is sending me a message. This message is their vision of what this new world is and means to them. If they think this message is important and worth hearing and seeing, then they will present it to me in that way.
They will have well thought out game mechanics, a storyline that is interesting and worth learning more about, graphics that present this vision acurately, and because of having done these 1st few important things, there will be a community that seems interested in taking the journey into this vision.
If the developer did not take the time to show me their vision, why would I spend my time there?
Just MHO,
Axe
If we fail to change the things of today, they will become the lucid nighmares of tommorrow.
I give a persistent world (MMO) game at least 20 hours of playtime before I make a decision. However, that first hour is probably the most important. If I am not having fun quickly, I lean towards the thinking that the game has long spaces between the fun parts. I do not want to spend too long going from one place to another with dead nothing in between. I do not want to have tedious combat or interminable intros (of course, I think it best to incorporate lore into a game instead of having to tell me at the beginning). I want to feel like I am in the world, and I want to be able to do stuff (read: kill stuff) quickly.
There are exceptions to this. For example, EVE (I cannot stand playing it, personally, but bear with me.) It has a quite steep learning curve. You probably will not be having fun (at least in the same way you would/will later) in the first hour. You are trying to figure out how to move, what you should be doing, what those half-circles on the bottom of the screen mean, etc. But once you get the hang of it, if you like the way it plays, it can be pretty intense, almost whenever you want. That is why you need to give a game time.
"Gamers will no longer buy the argument that every MMO requires a subscription fee to offset server and bandwidth costs. It's not true you know it, and they know it." Jeff Strain, co-founder of ArenaNet, 2007
The first 60 minutes are actually very important and i guess thats why WoW is doing so well. The first 60 minutes are amazing, nice intro , you get into the game quite quickly , etc... I guess thats what is nerfing EvE , the first 60 minutes barely get you anywhere , if you actually really got into the game after 30 days i'd already say you're doing really well lol
Fere libenter homines id quod volunt credunt. Among those who dislike oppression are many who like to oppress.
I always love starting a new game. The box is laying next to my desk. I've just made my decisions on what race and class to play, and chosen my appearance. My character has appeared in a new world waiting to be explored. My family has been told to leave me in peace for the evening.
Now the question is, what will the first hour be like?
In that hour I will experience the graphics and sound, get a flavor for the game's community, try out the UI and maybe face off against a few monsters. For me, they key is whether the combination of those things and others evoke some emotional desire to see more and want be part of this new world.
So how important is that first hour? Do first impressions really matter? Or do you need to give it days, weeks or months before it's fair to start evaluating?
I'd wager a little of both, while to get a good feel for the content I'd say you need at least a few days to a week (and even then you really don't have an idea of what the later or endgame may be like) and the community as well (starter area community has usually been bad imo)- the first hour tell me the core things I have to know- does it play well on my PC and can I stand the UI as well as the feel of the controls.
Those core things are what kept me away from FFXI at NA release even though I adored the rest of the game. I just could not stand all the log-ins, the way my character moved from keyboard input, and the UI/combat menus.
I think the first hour is very important but to really judge a game you have to play atleast 10, by that time you are most likely out of the first zone and have seen what the game has to offer. That being said if the first hour is horrid the next 9 can also be bad and I am not a person who does not accept the whole "It gets better blablabla". I should not have to play 20h for the game to get better...heres looking at you FF13. A few days ago I bought Lineage 2 since I found it really cheap so I can descrbe my first hour with the game. The first hour was spent scouring the internet trying to find a way to speed up the damn patched which is supposedly capped at almost modem speed...The first hour ingame was a miserable time. What I learned in that time: There is little to no immersion in the games world since the tutorial/begining is simply bad. Graphically the game looks fine although every HDR option seems to be broken becouse all of them try to blind me with fire from the skies. Controls are horrible. Mouse controls are pretty bad but managable, the WASD controls are a disaster, clearly an afterthought. For a games like that that plays only with WASD this is a major letdown and an immense surprise. To the game itself its grind from the get go. Grind, grind, grind. The animations arent bad and the battles dont last too long so it is bareable though. But then again a game should not be barable it should be fun and as far as i have heard and read the game gets fun at the top...I will try to play the game for the month I have free but quite frankly the first hour was such a letdown its hard to turn the game on.
I think most people will know in the first hour of playing an mmorpg if they are going to keep playing it or not. Odviously I can't speak for everybody but thats how I look at things.
Originally posted by dannydeuce Nothing quite like that initial feeling. Just reading your post made me happy. This is especially true in a brand new game were everyone is starting from square one on opening day. With that said, it is important for me but I understand problems happen. I will get a good basis of what this game consists of, but I won't judge the server status or other related issues if the game has recently been launched. Will I make presumed assumptions of the game as a whole...probably not. But if the problems with a game do no get fixed in a timely fashion, it will infact make my stay at the given game not quite peachy.
+1 billion. The first day of the first launch of a game is just awesome. Everything is new to everyone... One of the reasons I am against the open beta testing where anyone who preorders essentially plays the game for a few months before the true release.
Sent me an email if you want me to mail you some pizza rolls.
The first hour is only important if I'm aware that I've been playing for an hour. Best indicator to me of a game I'll like is one where time flies by, unnoticed. If I catch myself looking at my watch, or alt-tabbing out in the first stages of a game, I'm probably not having fun.
As others have noted, starter zones generally get the most love in games, if the most poilshed area doesn't grab me, it's unlikely the rest of it will.
After the first play session, if I'm not eager to get back in and play more - something is lacking.
To be honest, unless the game is completely borked, and I left it within or shortly after that first hour, I usually try to give it a fair shake. If I'm on a trial, I'll play to the limits of the trial. If it's a free month, I'll play through the free month. If it's beta, I'll keep playing and keep giving feedback, since that's a different deal.
Most games I've bought, I've levelled up to halfway to cap before deciding whether or not to sub up. If I'm halfway to cap and bored stupid, no sub. If I'm halfway to cap and there's a serious imbalance/mechanic failure somewhere that's frustrating me, no sub either.
I can count on one hand the games that frustrated me so much I dropped them within the hour. There are many more I quit at halfway to cap. Few and far between are the games that grabbed me from minute one and wouldn't let go. Actually, come to think of it...there have only been three of those. Must be pickier than I thought.
Yeah i would agree with the first 60mins being a key decider. Kind of like picking up a magezine, you flip through the pages maybe read an article or two, you get the general 'jist' of that issue, it is then when you decide to buy it, or if you seen it all it has to offer.
I love the fresh start in any game or mmo. I generally will stick it out through the novice zones, to see alittle more of what it has to offer, but after that i will either hang up my wand and cloak or go back to the 'other' game.
Making so much noise you dont know when to listen.
It depends on when i am starting the game, if it is a new release i tend to stick around until population levels out and its not an all out mad rush or competition for quest mobs and zones are not so overpopulated. If it is an established game then i usually give it a few sessions of a few hours to evaluate how everything works.
I always love starting a new game. The box is laying next to my desk. I've just made my decisions on what race and class to play, and chosen my appearance. My character has appeared in a new world waiting to be explored. My family has been told to leave me in peace for the evening.
Now the question is, what will the first hour be like?
In that hour I will experience the graphics and sound, get a flavor for the game's community, try out the UI and maybe face off against a few monsters. For me, they key is whether the combination of those things and others evoke some emotional desire to see more and want be part of this new world.
So how important is that first hour? Do first impressions really matter? Or do you need to give it days, weeks or months before it's fair to start evaluating?
There is no such thing as "fair". There are plenty of games which can grab me within minutes so it is hard for games which need a week to compete.
Honestly, I don't think about any specific length of time. I can't realistically gauge my feelings at the one hour mark, two hour mark, one day mark, one week mark, etc. I only know how I feel before I start playing, during the first bits of content, and after a certain level or other progression milestone.
Usually I get a good idea of how I feel about a game after the first day, but it depends how much I've played. Sometimes it takes a week or even multiple free trials (in EVE's case). If I feel like playing more, that's good, if I feel satisfied but not dying to play it again, that's normal, and if I'd rather play something else, that's bad.
If I can't " get into" a game after 60 minutes it becomes a dust collector. A game shouldn;t have to " grow on you." It should be enjoyable from the start, if it isn't, then what is the point in playing it?
I always love starting a new game. The box is laying next to my desk. I've just made my decisions on what race and class to play, and chosen my appearance. My character has appeared in a new world waiting to be explored. My family has been told to leave me in peace for the evening.
Now the question is, what will the first hour be like?
In that hour I will experience the graphics and sound, get a flavor for the game's community, try out the UI and maybe face off against a few monsters. For me, they key is whether the combination of those things and others evoke some emotional desire to see more and want be part of this new world.
So how important is that first hour? Do first impressions really matter? Or do you need to give it days, weeks or months before it's fair to start evaluating?
On a personal basis, I think the first month will decide if the MMORPG is worthwhile or not. Gives me more opportunity to see more of the game and feel out the mechanics better. This is important for me, especially after 2 of the major MMORPGs that I have tried in the last couple years excited me at first but the flaws really came out once I saw more.
Age of Conan & Warhammer Online
Age of Conan was the worst culprit in recent years. Alot of hype. Tortage, the opening area, was done pretty well and had alot of people excited. Demos of the game, IIRC only allowed up to Lv20 and Tortage, which was the ONLY polished area of the game once you played outside of it. If it wasn't Tortage, it was a nightmare of bugs, technical issues from the game (I still recall those HUGE memory leaks. The devs and Fanbois said it was the players' rigs, not the game, an issue alot of players complained and left about).
The first month lets me see what kind of direction the game is currently at and where it's going. I've also learned to be wary about dev promises of this and that coming down the road if we stick around. I learned to be skeptical about that. No, cynical. I've seen devs before make these grand posts about how this and that will be fixed and how they will implement all these cool things down the road. They talk about it for ages, patch after patch, always promising. Then after like a year, I realize that we got very little but d*mn, they got our money.
There's a term for that. It's called "Stringing People Along."
But if you REALLY want to see where an MMORPG really goes, you have to give it the first 3 months to show what the game and company can really do.
You see where the game is at for release, time is given for devs to do real fixes. You see how the community is treated. You see who really sticks around by the 3rd month. The truly uninterested are gone 1st month. The devs have to show proper action by talking with their community and show RESULTS. By the 3rd month, you get to see if their promises actually resulted in something, or if they're just "Stringing People Along."
Again, Age of Conan and Warhammer Online are the biggest, shiniest examples in recent years. At release there were tons of people, especially with AoC. But within 2-3 months, they have both spectacularly failed. AoC's failure was worse because of the immense hype leading to release and some SERIOUS police / Fanboi action going on on their o-forums. I mean, they tried really, really hard at denying gameplay and technical issues existed.
"It's not the game, it's you and your rig. If you don't like it, leave."
Well, players did leave. In droves. Good game boys! Good game! Way to go in driving people out of your game!
"I have only two out of my company and 20 out of some other company. We need support, but it is almost suicide to try to get it here as we are swept by machine gun fire and a constant barrage is on us. I have no one on my left and only a few on my right. I will hold." (First Lieutenant Clifton B. Cates, US Marine Corps, Soissons, 19 July 1918)
" The first 60 minutes in a new mmo - how important are they?"
VERY!
That's how long it takes me on average to design my toons once I boot the game up!
That's about right for me too. Except it takes me 1 hour to design the toon then 2 hours to find a name that someone hasn't already taken.
I actually cannot think of a single MMO I've played for less than a couple of days. The first hour is important but I'd always give a game more time unless it was completely unplayable. Probably my favourite game ever is FFXI and as a newbie it was really not that great at all until someone took me to the Dunes at level 11. I'd been playing about a week by then.
" The first 60 minutes in a new mmo - how important are they?"
VERY!
That's how long it takes me on average to design my toons once I boot the game up!
That's about right for me too. Except it takes me 1 hour to design the toon then 2 hours to find a name that someone hasn't already taken.
I actually cannot think of a single MMO I've played for less than a couple of days. The first hour is important but I'd always give a game more time unless it was completely unplayable. Probably my favourite game ever is FFXI and as a newbie it was really not that great at all until someone took me to the Dunes at level 11. I'd been playing about a week by then.
You guys seriously spend that much time dressing your toon? HAHAHAHA! I don't even want to know how long it takes you to groom yourself in the morning... GEEZE!.
I fly through the customizing screens like lightning and couldn;t imagine having to spend more than 5 min tops customizing a character.. I mean I just want to see how the game plays, not dress up like princess barbie. It is hard enough having to do all that stuff for real, Hair, nails, makeup, shaving your entire body, blow drying long hair already takes WAYY too long as it is. I couldn;t imagine spending that much time getting a toon ready. That is INSANE!
Comments
The first hour is really important. In my opinion not exactly the first hour, just the first impression. That means, for example, if there is a cinematic that helps you get in game. The character creation, it should really help you creating a charcter you feel attached to at first glance. And the first few missions, if something of that fails, a lot of people quit the game, mostly the casual ones.
Not really important. Actually, I tend to get bored in the starting area of most MMOs, but after a couple of days I start to get a feel of the game.
If there's a point I can make an educated guess on whether I'm going to enjoy the game or not, it'd probably be after that first couple of days (during which I'd be out of the newbie zone and really getting into the world and the game mechanics, with some progression under my belt, an acceptably populated skill bar and a list of potential goals.
Same here.
The firsts 2/3 hours of gameplay tell you 90% of what the game is about.
So ya, very important.
Ther first hour is sort of important to me, since I have tested and played so many. If it is total crap, as the OP said, then I might stop quite fast. Otherwise I do give it 10-20h before I say yay/nay. If there is something that really interests me, say some new innovation, I continue, even if there are things I find bothers me - in that case it seems, without thinking of it, that around 80h is a breakingpoint, where I quit out of boredom.
I realized, and have from many, you need to give an MMO at least 1/4 of the level cap, or 2-4weeks before you judge it. But why does it have to be like tyouhat? There are enough modern MMOs, even if they are clones, that manage to get you into the game fast, so why bother with boredom to get to an interesting point of the game (especially if you want to play because you are bored...)?
The first hour or so decides if I'll continue playing the game. If the first thing I do in a game is go kill spiders for random NPC #31 chances are I'm already bored.
The 1st 60 minutes of any game are the most important of any game, at least from my point of view they should be. This time frame the developer is sending me a message. This message is their vision of what this new world is and means to them. If they think this message is important and worth hearing and seeing, then they will present it to me in that way.
They will have well thought out game mechanics, a storyline that is interesting and worth learning more about, graphics that present this vision acurately, and because of having done these 1st few important things, there will be a community that seems interested in taking the journey into this vision.
If the developer did not take the time to show me their vision, why would I spend my time there?
Just MHO,
Axe
If we fail to change the things of today, they will become the lucid nighmares of tommorrow.
I give a persistent world (MMO) game at least 20 hours of playtime before I make a decision. However, that first hour is probably the most important. If I am not having fun quickly, I lean towards the thinking that the game has long spaces between the fun parts. I do not want to spend too long going from one place to another with dead nothing in between. I do not want to have tedious combat or interminable intros (of course, I think it best to incorporate lore into a game instead of having to tell me at the beginning). I want to feel like I am in the world, and I want to be able to do stuff (read: kill stuff) quickly.
There are exceptions to this. For example, EVE (I cannot stand playing it, personally, but bear with me.) It has a quite steep learning curve. You probably will not be having fun (at least in the same way you would/will later) in the first hour. You are trying to figure out how to move, what you should be doing, what those half-circles on the bottom of the screen mean, etc. But once you get the hang of it, if you like the way it plays, it can be pretty intense, almost whenever you want. That is why you need to give a game time.
"Gamers will no longer buy the argument that every MMO requires a subscription fee to offset server and bandwidth costs. It's not true you know it, and they know it." Jeff Strain, co-founder of ArenaNet, 2007
WTF? No subscription fee?
The first 60 minutes are actually very important and i guess thats why WoW is doing so well. The first 60 minutes are amazing, nice intro , you get into the game quite quickly , etc... I guess thats what is nerfing EvE , the first 60 minutes barely get you anywhere , if you actually really got into the game after 30 days i'd already say you're doing really well lol
Fere libenter homines id quod volunt credunt.
Among those who dislike oppression are many who like to oppress.
I'd wager a little of both, while to get a good feel for the content I'd say you need at least a few days to a week (and even then you really don't have an idea of what the later or endgame may be like) and the community as well (starter area community has usually been bad imo)- the first hour tell me the core things I have to know- does it play well on my PC and can I stand the UI as well as the feel of the controls.
Those core things are what kept me away from FFXI at NA release even though I adored the rest of the game. I just could not stand all the log-ins, the way my character moved from keyboard input, and the UI/combat menus.
Id say the first 1-3 hours are the most important.
I think the first hour is very important but to really judge a game you have to play atleast 10, by that time you are most likely out of the first zone and have seen what the game has to offer. That being said if the first hour is horrid the next 9 can also be bad and I am not a person who does not accept the whole "It gets better blablabla". I should not have to play 20h for the game to get better...heres looking at you FF13. A few days ago I bought Lineage 2 since I found it really cheap so I can descrbe my first hour with the game. The first hour was spent scouring the internet trying to find a way to speed up the damn patched which is supposedly capped at almost modem speed...The first hour ingame was a miserable time. What I learned in that time: There is little to no immersion in the games world since the tutorial/begining is simply bad. Graphically the game looks fine although every HDR option seems to be broken becouse all of them try to blind me with fire from the skies. Controls are horrible. Mouse controls are pretty bad but managable, the WASD controls are a disaster, clearly an afterthought. For a games like that that plays only with WASD this is a major letdown and an immense surprise. To the game itself its grind from the get go. Grind, grind, grind. The animations arent bad and the battles dont last too long so it is bareable though. But then again a game should not be barable it should be fun and as far as i have heard and read the game gets fun at the top...I will try to play the game for the month I have free but quite frankly the first hour was such a letdown its hard to turn the game on.
I think most people will know in the first hour of playing an mmorpg if they are going to keep playing it or not. Odviously I can't speak for everybody but thats how I look at things.
+1 billion. The first day of the first launch of a game is just awesome. Everything is new to everyone... One of the reasons I am against the open beta testing where anyone who preorders essentially plays the game for a few months before the true release.
Sent me an email if you want me to mail you some pizza rolls.
Very interesting question. Had to think about it.
The first hour is only important if I'm aware that I've been playing for an hour. Best indicator to me of a game I'll like is one where time flies by, unnoticed. If I catch myself looking at my watch, or alt-tabbing out in the first stages of a game, I'm probably not having fun.
As others have noted, starter zones generally get the most love in games, if the most poilshed area doesn't grab me, it's unlikely the rest of it will.
After the first play session, if I'm not eager to get back in and play more - something is lacking.
To be honest, unless the game is completely borked, and I left it within or shortly after that first hour, I usually try to give it a fair shake. If I'm on a trial, I'll play to the limits of the trial. If it's a free month, I'll play through the free month. If it's beta, I'll keep playing and keep giving feedback, since that's a different deal.
Most games I've bought, I've levelled up to halfway to cap before deciding whether or not to sub up. If I'm halfway to cap and bored stupid, no sub. If I'm halfway to cap and there's a serious imbalance/mechanic failure somewhere that's frustrating me, no sub either.
I can count on one hand the games that frustrated me so much I dropped them within the hour. There are many more I quit at halfway to cap. Few and far between are the games that grabbed me from minute one and wouldn't let go. Actually, come to think of it...there have only been three of those. Must be pickier than I thought.
Yeah i would agree with the first 60mins being a key decider. Kind of like picking up a magezine, you flip through the pages maybe read an article or two, you get the general 'jist' of that issue, it is then when you decide to buy it, or if you seen it all it has to offer.
I love the fresh start in any game or mmo. I generally will stick it out through the novice zones, to see alittle more of what it has to offer, but after that i will either hang up my wand and cloak or go back to the 'other' game.
Making so much noise you dont know when to listen.
It depends on when i am starting the game, if it is a new release i tend to stick around until population levels out and its not an all out mad rush or competition for quest mobs and zones are not so overpopulated. If it is an established game then i usually give it a few sessions of a few hours to evaluate how everything works.
There is no such thing as "fair". There are plenty of games which can grab me within minutes so it is hard for games which need a week to compete.
Well lets all just put it simple: First Hour = First Impression (game wise).
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Honestly, I don't think about any specific length of time. I can't realistically gauge my feelings at the one hour mark, two hour mark, one day mark, one week mark, etc. I only know how I feel before I start playing, during the first bits of content, and after a certain level or other progression milestone.
Usually I get a good idea of how I feel about a game after the first day, but it depends how much I've played. Sometimes it takes a week or even multiple free trials (in EVE's case). If I feel like playing more, that's good, if I feel satisfied but not dying to play it again, that's normal, and if I'd rather play something else, that's bad.
If I can't " get into" a game after 60 minutes it becomes a dust collector. A game shouldn;t have to " grow on you." It should be enjoyable from the start, if it isn't, then what is the point in playing it?
If it isn't fun why do it?
On a personal basis, I think the first month will decide if the MMORPG is worthwhile or not. Gives me more opportunity to see more of the game and feel out the mechanics better. This is important for me, especially after 2 of the major MMORPGs that I have tried in the last couple years excited me at first but the flaws really came out once I saw more.
Age of Conan & Warhammer Online
Age of Conan was the worst culprit in recent years. Alot of hype. Tortage, the opening area, was done pretty well and had alot of people excited. Demos of the game, IIRC only allowed up to Lv20 and Tortage, which was the ONLY polished area of the game once you played outside of it. If it wasn't Tortage, it was a nightmare of bugs, technical issues from the game (I still recall those HUGE memory leaks. The devs and Fanbois said it was the players' rigs, not the game, an issue alot of players complained and left about).
The first month lets me see what kind of direction the game is currently at and where it's going. I've also learned to be wary about dev promises of this and that coming down the road if we stick around. I learned to be skeptical about that. No, cynical. I've seen devs before make these grand posts about how this and that will be fixed and how they will implement all these cool things down the road. They talk about it for ages, patch after patch, always promising. Then after like a year, I realize that we got very little but d*mn, they got our money.
There's a term for that. It's called "Stringing People Along."
But if you REALLY want to see where an MMORPG really goes, you have to give it the first 3 months to show what the game and company can really do.
You see where the game is at for release, time is given for devs to do real fixes. You see how the community is treated. You see who really sticks around by the 3rd month. The truly uninterested are gone 1st month. The devs have to show proper action by talking with their community and show RESULTS. By the 3rd month, you get to see if their promises actually resulted in something, or if they're just "Stringing People Along."
Again, Age of Conan and Warhammer Online are the biggest, shiniest examples in recent years. At release there were tons of people, especially with AoC. But within 2-3 months, they have both spectacularly failed. AoC's failure was worse because of the immense hype leading to release and some SERIOUS police / Fanboi action going on on their o-forums. I mean, they tried really, really hard at denying gameplay and technical issues existed.
"It's not the game, it's you and your rig. If you don't like it, leave."
Well, players did leave. In droves. Good game boys! Good game! Way to go in driving people out of your game!
"I have only two out of my company and 20 out of some other company. We need support, but it is almost suicide to try to get it here as we are swept by machine gun fire and a constant barrage is on us. I have no one on my left and only a few on my right. I will hold." (First Lieutenant Clifton B. Cates, US Marine Corps, Soissons, 19 July 1918)
" The first 60 minutes in a new mmo - how important are they?"
VERY!
That's how long it takes me on average to design my toons once I boot the game up!
"TO MICHAEL!"
That's about right for me too. Except it takes me 1 hour to design the toon then 2 hours to find a name that someone hasn't already taken.
I actually cannot think of a single MMO I've played for less than a couple of days. The first hour is important but I'd always give a game more time unless it was completely unplayable. Probably my favourite game ever is FFXI and as a newbie it was really not that great at all until someone took me to the Dunes at level 11. I'd been playing about a week by then.
You guys seriously spend that much time dressing your toon? HAHAHAHA! I don't even want to know how long it takes you to groom yourself in the morning... GEEZE!.
I fly through the customizing screens like lightning and couldn;t imagine having to spend more than 5 min tops customizing a character.. I mean I just want to see how the game plays, not dress up like princess barbie. It is hard enough having to do all that stuff for real, Hair, nails, makeup, shaving your entire body, blow drying long hair already takes WAYY too long as it is. I couldn;t imagine spending that much time getting a toon ready. That is INSANE!