Spreading the word since most people aren't even aware of this, heck i was in beta and just found out its been released :P

Anyways as far as the game goes im generally pleased for some strange reason. I like the skill system, but I dislike the whole dodging/click to attack thing, but the combat rank system is very unique and makes combat a little more in depth.

To my amazement this game has harsher death penalties than that of recently released games, that being the loss of a PEP level, which is a refreshing change of pace as it makes dieing actually a bit frustrating.

Anywho, the game's out, I'd recommend anyone who has been looking for a little bit of a harder game these days to give this one a shot. It's different, has a beautifully dark setting, and for me, it brought back just a little bit of the challenge I remember in older mmo's.

To anyone that's tried it, what are your thoughts so far?

P.S. Mod's please don't move!

Grats to them. Lokos like it could be a solid PVE game

Playing on the EU servers. I like the commuity over there.  Best of luck to Acclaim with the US release.

I recently tried the game, It's ok.

I liked the combat system but tbh I don't play MMOs strickly for Combat and I would rather get my FPS gameplay fix from much better combat experiences like CS:S and L4D.

My 2 hour first impressions mostly come to...another average MMO trying some new things.  The graphic style is slightly different but nothing really stands out.  The whacky floating in space thing is a bit different for a MMO, but I've seen it before in RPGs.  Control is OK.  It does the job.  The animation is also mostly average.  Not bad but certainly not great.  The music and sound are basic, nothing memorable.  But the female narrator's voice is nice.  A choice of only 2 races, SUCKS.  I don't know if thats just the trial, but if its the whole game, thats pretty poor.  Character creaion is basic but passable and choosing your gear right off the bat took me by suprise.  The single player tutorial was lame, but I guess necessary. 

What stands out is the whole gear meaning nothing concept.  No stats except for some basic skill attributes.  Very few numbers.  Just descriptions like "moderate damage".   I don't dig it.  It removes the whole RPG feel of the game.  Sure its different but it doesn't add to the game.  It takes away.  I guess it removes the ability to Min/max, but it also makes it feel like a shallow action game.   Finding that cool new weapon or helmet I guess just went out the window.  PvE better have a reason other than, "its fun, play more."

As a Warrior, the combat system is not standard, with the whole ability wheel spinner thing.  I got used to it fairly quickly, so it is intuitive which is good.  It does seem like it limits your options since you only have access to 5 skills per round.  Is it bad?  Nah.  But it doesn't make me go AWESOME.    Being able to circle strafe around enemies hardly getting hit is worrysome, even though there hasn't been any chance of death just standing there either...so far.   Have to play a bit more.  The bow system is lame.   Where the heck is the ammo or even a graphic of the ammo shooting?  Just some odd wave effect.   Is it better than other combat systems?  No.  Different yes.  Hard to say how lag will cause problems.  I can imagine its going to make PvP a ping fest.

Quest system is basic.  Seen it all before.  Nothing special so far.

Nice map.

UI is all there.   Nothing stood out as annoying or groundbreaking.

Just realized I didn't notice any sort of energy/attack bar.  Just HPs.

The graphics seem WOW equivilent, tech/poly wise.  Should run on a host of machines.  Pleasing overall.

No US server.

Thats it for now.  As a first impression, nothing told me I had to plunk down a monthly fee immediately, which probably means the trial is as far as I'll go.  Is it an RPG?  Is it an online action game?  Hard to tell.  Have to play more in the next 2 weeks.

Would be aceptable for a free game, no way this game worth money to spend on.

I like the game's attitude toward customization, gear and numbers.  But other than that nothing to write home about.

I actually found the combat system to be just meh, the twitch part  is really basic but the stupid skill deck thing annoys me, other than that the game is crazy easy now because of twitch based combat, just pick rogue and use bows, kite and you win, don't know about PvP but PvE is a sinch.

The art style too annoys me, I mean I like how I have choices of body types, I think all games should offer that, but they are all some kind of comical extreme, you have skinny, really skinny, really fat and crazy muscular and nothing in between so no matter what you pick you are going to look stupid.

Oh and I do like the FPS style control scheme, it is more intuitive than typical MMO controls.

I hear a lot of people in the tiral area for the game complaining about the combat not having depth. And because it's the starter area, they're right. Once you get into the late teens, and especially once you reach Ringfell, the importance of your stat bars (physique/morale/concentration) really comes into play and the difficulty jumps up a notch.

I was pretty much sold on the game once I realized the true depth and complexity of the combat system, and how careful management of my abilities, stats, and sheer skill could turn my character into something immensely powerful. The story of the game is also quite good, even if the NPCs are a little chatty. Some quest lines that I thought petered out into nothingness actually pick up again and span through several levels, zones, and even Houses.(Houses being the games 5 factions)

The game certainly has its flaws. For one, the starter area utterly overstays its welcome and there's only one starting location. It's still not as monotonous and lengthy as Tortage, though. There's also a lot of running back and forth, though the reward of experience, good storylines, and intermittent mob ambushes keep things from becoming too grindy. Also, the part of the game that's completely free doesn't really give players an idea of what the game can be at its best. Most of the great storylines and combat complexity comes beyond the free play level cap.

At any rate, I've had a lot of fun with it so far. Between the great customization, fun storyline, and often challenging combat (even though its not really tough until Ringfell) I think I've got more than my $18 worth. Oh, and you don't have to pay for a copy of the game to play. Just pay for the first month and you get full access. I thought that was neat.

Originally posted by Josher

My 2 hour first impressions mostly come to...another average MMO trying some new things.  The graphic style is slightly different but nothing really stands out.  The whacky floating in space thing is a bit different for a MMO, but I've seen it before in RPGs.  Control is OK.  It does the job.  The animation is also mostly average.  Not bad but certainly not great.  The music and sound are basic, nothing memorable.  But the female narrator's voice is nice.  A choice of only 2 races, SUCKS.  I don't know if thats just the trial, but if its the whole game, thats pretty poor.  Character creaion is basic but passable and choosing your gear right off the bat took me by suprise.  The single player tutorial was lame, but I guess necessary. 

What stands out is the whole gear meaning nothing concept.  No stats except for some basic skill attributes.  Very few numbers.  Just descriptions like "moderate damage".   I don't dig it.  It removes the whole RPG feel of the game.  Sure its different but it doesn't add to the game.  It takes away.  I guess it removes the ability to Min/max, but it also makes it feel like a shallow action game.   Finding that cool new weapon or helmet I guess just went out the window.  PvE better have a reason other than, "its fun, play more."

As a Warrior, the combat system is not standard, with the whole ability wheel spinner thing.  I got used to it fairly quickly, so it is intuitive which is good.  It does seem like it limits your options since you only have access to 5 skills per round.  Is it bad?  Nah.  But it doesn't make me go AWESOME.    Being able to circle strafe around enemies hardly getting hit is worrysome, even though there hasn't been any chance of death just standing there either...so far.   Have to play a bit more.  The bow system is lame.   Where the heck is the ammo or even a graphic of the ammo shooting?  Just some odd wave effect.   Is it better than other combat systems?  No.  Different yes.  Hard to say how lag will cause problems.  I can imagine its going to make PvP a ping fest.

Quest system is basic.  Seen it all before.  Nothing special so far.

Nice map.

UI is all there.   Nothing stood out as annoying or groundbreaking.

Just realized I didn't notice any sort of energy/attack bar.  Just HPs.

The graphics seem WOW equivilent, tech/poly wise.  Should run on a host of machines.  Pleasing overall.

No US server.

Thats it for now.  As a first impression, nothing told me I had to plunk down a monthly fee immediately, which probably means the trial is as far as I'll go.  Is it an RPG?  Is it an online action game?  Hard to tell.  Have to play more in the next 2 weeks.

 

I felt alot like you during my first 2 hours, but after 1 week the game TRUELY shines. At higher levels, the quest lines become real interesting, the PVP combat is intense, and the skill deck is truely something to be respected: easy to learn but HARD to master. Ive spent time just PVPing to fine tune my skill choices. Combining the right combos means all the world, and the difference between life & death. I applaud their combat system, though I was a bit bummed out about standing still archery and the lack of archery animations, but the spell graphics were nice and after quite a few mid to large scale PVP battles the client performed exceptionally well.

I still hate the lack of racial choices, I didn't dig the artistic style the game took, but the gameplay made me forget all about that after the first 3 days.

I'm more into realistic lookin games, but I do applaud the developers for a job well done. I wish them success.

Interesting comments. I might have to take a look at this game. I'm surprised no one said anything before this thread about CoS's release! Seems like this site has devolved into paying attention to DF and that's it. I'm being a bit harsh, but I'm pretty sick of all of the DF articles.

Does each level up raise your strenght and defense?

Originally posted by Pinkerl

Does each level up raise your strenght and defense?

Damage increase a little each level. Defense is purely manual, you only defend if you as a player avoid an attack manually.

I am loving this game right now, after a month of playing, although I admit I am pretty casual. The fact that they ahve just given me the next 2 weeks for free is an extra bonus!! And I thought not having to pay for the client was good... Go Acclaim!!

Originally posted by CactusmanX

I like the game's attitude toward customization, gear and numbers.  But other than that nothing to write home about.

I actually found the combat system to be just meh, the twitch part  is really basic but the stupid skill deck thing annoys me, other than that the game is crazy easy now because of twitch based combat, just pick rogue and use bows, kite and you win, don't know about PvP but PvE is a sinch.

The art style too annoys me, I mean I like how I have choices of body types, I think all games should offer that, but they are all some kind of comical extreme, you have skinny, really skinny, really fat and crazy muscular and nothing in between so no matter what you pick you are going to look stupid.

Oh and I do like the FPS style control scheme, it is more intuitive than typical MMO controls.

You wont really be able to kite much past the first zones. Dunno if that makes you feel any better :D

You have a physique bar (the orange one) which will be getting drained to 0 a lot of the time, meaning youre moving at a snails pace and are taking more damage from all attacks that use physique as their modifier. Also, mages will debuff your morale from range making you do very little damage as well as having reflect range skills and actual castable dots and snares.

Rogues use concentration as their main status, so other rogues will be reducing your concentration to 0 meaning your attacks will take much longer to fire and your deck will scroll slower. they also use a lot of bow attacks which can dot or cause damage based on concentration.

You can also get debuffs on you such as:(remembering physique=movement speed, morale=damage, concentration=attack speed)

paralyse (lose up to 5 physique on movement)

cripple (lose -3 physique which is about 30% movement speed)

haunt (lose health and morale on movement)

daze (lose up to 5 concentration on movement)

hamstring (lose health on movement-lots of rogues have this)

venom/burn/bleed dots

blind (ranged skills cannot be used)

frozen (greatly reduces movement speed)

Kiting becomes tough and redundant depending on who youre fighting. Also some classes such as tricksters, wrathguards, adepts and ancestral mages get teleport skills that can either pull you toward them or teleport them right next to you and deal some heavy damage.

The same goes for mobs in pve, packs of humans are particularly handy at debuffing you to 0 in physique and conc. they also use tactics such as getting in your line of sight to their healers.Lots of animals debuff physique and morale too. Ringfell is probably the worst zone to get to for any kind of kiting, not only will you be debuffed to 0 most of the time, but mobs fight in packs and are literally 5 feet apart from each other.

Doesn't run when the "Play" button is clicked, and it isn't a F2P, so that's been slung in the trash.

I ,too, am a casual player. This game is pretty fun to play.  One question...i must have missed this info...what do PeP levels do?

Pep = Speed

spellborn.acclaim.com/personal_experience_points_pep_system.html

This also just in...U.S.A. to adopt into the fold...Alaska and Hawaii.

Making a nice even 50 states to make the stars on the flag more symetrical.

Stay tuned to MMORPG.com for all the latest and greatest breaking headlines.

Now back to your regularly scheduled forums.

Originally posted by jimsmith08

Originally posted by CactusmanX

I like the game's attitude toward customization, gear and numbers.  But other than that nothing to write home about.

I actually found the combat system to be just meh, the twitch part  is really basic but the stupid skill deck thing annoys me, other than that the game is crazy easy now because of twitch based combat, just pick rogue and use bows, kite and you win, don't know about PvP but PvE is a sinch.

The art style too annoys me, I mean I like how I have choices of body types, I think all games should offer that, but they are all some kind of comical extreme, you have skinny, really skinny, really fat and crazy muscular and nothing in between so no matter what you pick you are going to look stupid.

Oh and I do like the FPS style control scheme, it is more intuitive than typical MMO controls.

 

You wont really be able to kite much past the first zones. Dunno if that makes you feel any better :D

You have a physique bar (the orange one) which will be getting drained to 0 a lot of the time, meaning youre moving at a snails pace and are taking more damage from all attacks that use physique as their modifier. Also, mages will debuff your morale from range making you do very little damage as well as having reflect range skills and actual castable dots and snares.

Rogues use concentration as their main status, so other rogues will be reducing your concentration to 0 meaning your attacks will take much longer to fire and your deck will scroll slower. they also use a lot of bow attacks which can dot or cause damage based on concentration.

You can also get debuffs on you such as:(remembering physique=movement speed, morale=damage, concentration=attack speed)

paralyse (lose up to 5 physique on movement)

cripple (lose -3 physique which is about 30% movement speed)

haunt (lose health and morale on movement)

daze (lose up to 5 concentration on movement)

hamstring (lose health on movement-lots of rogues have this)

venom/burn/bleed dots

blind (ranged skills cannot be used)

frozen (greatly reduces movement speed)

Kiting becomes tough and redundant depending on who youre fighting. Also some classes such as tricksters, wrathguards, adepts and ancestral mages get teleport skills that can either pull you toward them or teleport them right next to you and deal some heavy damage.

The same goes for mobs in pve, packs of humans are particularly handy at debuffing you to 0 in physique and conc. they also use tactics such as getting in your line of sight to their healers.Lots of animals debuff physique and morale too. Ringfell is probably the worst zone to get to for any kind of kiting, not only will you be debuffed to 0 most of the time, but mobs fight in packs and are literally 5 feet apart from each other.

You just made me realize how badly I want factional PvP warfare among the houses possible.. The depth and strategy involved is mind blowing. All the factors that will be at play for every single character involved in a massive battle.. People say the combat lacks depth, but in truth it can be very complicated against an opponent not based on scripts (Human pvp) who understands his status bars as well and knows what to do in order to buff himself while debuffing you..

Originally posted by Cablespider

Pep = Speed

spellborn.acclaim.com/personal_experience_points_pep_system.html

Thanks for the link...that is actually a pretty cool feature. They should also add reasonable modifiers based on Fame levels too...coupled with a reasonable increase in difficulty to recover lost PeP levels based on Fame..That way there is even more value placed on PeP (and its loss per death) based on how high your fame has become. IMO..this would produce an even more meaningful death penalty ...that ..with skill and intent (as opposed to recklessness) ...may be avoided...or , at least pose a fair challenge from which to recover.