2011 player review

this forum hasnt seen much action lately so i thought i would post an update from a player pov.

 

before i start, let me state, i play the game, i have some amount of fun with it, so any negative comments are not trolling, flaming, sour grapes. they are just my observations.

 

- english speaking is a myth.

      the game has a persistant in game banner asking everyone to speak english. now i know they opened a USA server recently, but all my gear and characters are not there and no character transfer is offered, so i gotta suck it up. i play on helicon and the polis chat, ie your faction chat, is 99% tagalog. there is 1, only 1 guild on that server that enforces a english only rule in guild chat. im in that one. i dont hate other languages, i speak 2, but tag is not one of them, so im in the dark about everything that is said.

 

if you have played games with asian/philipino people in the majority, then you know what to expect. excessive spamming, attempts at taking advantage of english speaking players during trades, hiding behind a language barrier when u know damn well they speak english better than you do. i am not hating on the asian play style, it is what it is. but i wish i could block it out more effectively. the blacklist option has a small limit and no keyword blocking so the end result is i never open the polis chat channel.

 

- the game client is silly

 

    from igg, if you are having trouble with the browser version of the game, you can now play your account using the client version, download now!!

LOL, here is the thing, the client is a @250mb lead wieght on your computer. it is a launcher and version updater for the kalaydo software which launches your browser, ends up directing you to facebook logon, and then you have to enter and play the game through your browser anyway. there is no benefit to using the client at all, period.

 

the game is crash prone, though not nearly as much since the release of major browser updates this past week. firefox 3.6 used to be just awful, ie8 unplayable, chrome good in short term but freezes after 1 hour. firefox 4 has made it not nearly so aggravating with better resource management. it stays at 100mb-200mb ram usage where before it would spike to over 1 gig. the game still crashes inexplicably when changing chat channels or porting to different zones but its not every time anymore.

 

- bring your credit card

 

     the game can be played for free and igg does a fabulous job in providing ways for non-cash shoppers to obtain currency from events to simply logging in sometimes. however, this is a pay to win game. if your equipment is not way above the curve, then you will not be pvp'ing at all. before i whipped out my credit card to buy extremely overpriced in game currency to augment what i was able to make for free in game, i would be 1-2 shot by people 10+ levels below me. this is not an exaggeration. we have all cried in the past about the disparity between cash shoppers and free players, but in no game i have ever played has the gap been so huge. if you dont buy gold, youre nothing in this game.

 

that being said, you can, like many other pay to win games, crawl along for a long time, saving the table scraps the game gives you, and eventually be able to upgrade your gear to a competative level. set aside a year or 2 for this to happen for you.

 

- bottleneck bosses

 

     not only are bosses needed for quests, but they drop the good stuff. as a free player you really want to be boss hunting as much as possible. here is the thing. they all spawn on a schedule that is posted all over the web. say hello to camping. this is the worst aspect of the game in a game filled with small irritations. also, if you are competing for the boss with the multitudes of others with the same idea, if you dont get the first hit, you might as well leave. the only chance you have is if the person who got first hit dies, which never happens bcz difficulty of mobs and bosses is easily overcome even with trash equipment you can afford as a free player.

 

- afk ftw

 

       this is a mixed blessing. you can afk your toon to obtain exp while you're at work. as long as you stock him up on pet food and health/mana pots, he can last indefinately without you in the same country as your computer. this is very cool. however the best mobs to afk with are in open pvp zones and you CAN and WILL be killed by opposing faction, usually within minutes of getting up from your chair. there is a high level zone that opposing faction cant enter, but mobs there are not as dense, meaning you wont obtain as much exp.

 

but with every good, there is a bad. why bother to level up quickly when every 10 levels to 100, then every 5 levels therafter, you need to pay outrageous prices to update your gear. and there is no garuantee in upgrading, you fail more often than not, even with high success percentages ( which will cost you more to obtain the items needed to increase the percentage ).

 

so my point is, you only need to level as quickly as your finances permit. the game offers so many ways to boost exp, and you all know why. level quick means youre back at the cash shop buying upgrading stuff. its no secret these games are cash cows so im not telling you guys anything you dont know already. i dont hate the business aspect, though i do wish it wasnt so transparent.

 

- multiple accounts

 

     if you are a free player, your best bet is to use multiple accounts, which does not break the tos of the game ( afaik at the time of me starting game, tho tbh i have not read the t&c since then ). however it does break the tos of facebook. i recently had a facebook account be placed into suspension until i proved i was a real person. thankfully i have multiple tn#'s to use to verify each account.

 

multiple accounts gives you the benefit of more event freebies, no worries about making parties for instances, more storage, which is at a premium and costs your left arm to expand, and the ability to have access to all the crafting professions. the tradeoff is it costs you double, triple, quadrupal, however many accounts you have, to obtain and upgrade equipment and skill books and pets.

 

- great to play if.....

 

    if you love to game, but no longer have the luxery of sitting in front of your computer hours at a time due to family, work, school, all of the above, then this is for you. you can play for 10 minutes, walk away, do homework, whatever, and come back to a completed quest. good times. its like a mini-me of the mmpog's that you can play without ventrillo nerds who need to verbalize every action including biologicals. really? actually, the games controls are not really meant for fast paced gaming with lots of action. i very rarely have to make manual attacks. even when im actively playing i use the afk attacks.  instances are not complicated or challenging to need verbal hand holding either. so due to no vent needed, and no need to be actively playing, this games rates as a great option for work, and a busy home life.

 

- last notes

graphics are a bit on the childish/cartoonish side and wont win any awards, but perfectly acceptable. im gotten used to most games ugly pixels so im kind of immune. i save my graphics snobbery for when both my vid cards are burning hot playing some fps or another.

 

pvp needs an overhaul bcz atm, it is a matter of the have versus the have-nots. no skill needed. better gear wins, everytime. but if you are looking for a pvp heavy game, you really need to be looking at the games you have to throw your life into, not this little afk'r

 

game community is active and many resources on the web for help, character building, ect...but if you have played one of these type games, you know the drill.