Originally posted by arieste

Question to the CB folks:

 

1.  In general - from what you've seen - can ANY two weapons in the game be successfully comboed into a good build?  (assuming you pick the right abilities)

Each weapon/spell skill has two facets (DPS and Support).  Note, Support can be anything from tanking, healing, cc...  I imagine each weapon/spell skill combo can work but some combos may feature a more variety of builds than others due to a number of factors.  Funcom has provided preset decks and each combo is featured (even AR/Chaos).

2.  I've been both playing and theorycrafting on AR / Chaos and will probably go with those as much first combination.  Have you either tried or met people who ran AR/Chaos builds in later game?   What role did they usually play?  (From what i've seen in terms of abilities if seems like you can go heals or dps with AR and tanking or DPS with chaos, so i'm curious as to what people have been successful with.)

 My first character was AR/Chaos and it was.... difficult.  More than doable but I just couldn't make this build work well early on.  Note, the combat system has been improved much since then so things may have changed.  I also didn't make it far into either of the skill lines. 

When looked at the AR/Chaos deck provided by Funcom, all the abilities were deep in both skill lines.  I took that as a sign that this combo may not synergize well until more of the top tier abilities were unlocked.

I realize these questions are rather specific, so If you don't feel equipped to answer, no worries :)

Originally posted by jdnyc

Originally posted by udon

 

And it is totaly a gear grind game.

First this

http://www.mmorpg.com/gamelist.cfm/game/404/feature/6496/Dungeon-Preview-The-Facility.html

Actually read the article about how it tells you that you need to figure things out.

Second Polaris has a code that you can try to figure out in a locked chest.  There's more, but two is sufficient to prove my point on the dungeon front being only about mobs.

But I want to address the comment above specifically.  You can craft anything in the game from Consumables, Talismans, Weapons and glyphs.  How is that a gear grind?  Seriously.  Gear Grind means you keep running the same thing over and over again for that one specific item because you have to have that item.  Aion and Fire Temple with the Kromede set back in the day is a perfect example of a gear grind.

In TSW you gain enough items and mats from loot that you can disassemble these to make an item of acceptable QL quality to continue doing content.  If you do not craft, then yes - the game could be a gear grind.  But that's your choice to do so, not concrete mechanic in the game that you find in other MMOs.  You have a choice.

You edited out the part where I said "If you run a dungeon with people who have done it before a lot of the mystery disapears just like any other MMO."

And how do you get those Consumables, Talismans, Weapons, and Glyphs?  You kill mobs over and over and over and over again to earn them.  You can either grind away on higher level mobs to earn higher tier mats or your can grind 10X longer on lower tier mobs for mats to upgrade.

And a key part of being a gear grind is a game where gear matters more than personal skill.  I can't see how (I'm sure some will though) anyone could argue TSW isn't that.

Originally posted by udon

And a key part of being a gear grind is a game where gear matters more than personal skill.  I can't see how (I'm sure some will though) anyone could argue TSW isn't that.

To some extent it's certainly that. You absolutely need gear. 

But your character also gets significantly better based on what abilities you're able to use efficiently and synergies you discover. You can create builds where you literally spam one or two attacks and of course these will also improve with better gear. But you can also create builds that are much harder to play. It's entirely up to you. And you will reach a point where you have perfect gear and can still improve by figuring stuff out.

Originally posted by udon

 

You edited out the part where I said "If you run a dungeon with people who have done it before a lot of the mystery disapears just like any other MMO."

And how do you get those Consumables, Talismans, Weapons, and Glyphs?  You kill mobs over and over and over and over again to earn them.  You can either grind away on higher level mobs to earn higher tier mats or your can grind 10X longer on lower tier mobs for mats to upgrade.

And a key part of being a gear grind is a game where gear matters more than personal skill.  I can't see how (I'm sure some will though) anyone could argue TSW isn't that.

Okay your first point.  Yes.  Once you get a dungeon on farm status the mystery does go away.  The challenge there or fun I guess is that you like the encounters and talking with your friends.  That's true for any MMO, including GW2.

Second point.  I have not had to grind any mobs to craft to get items, I just get them through mission rewards or by random loot from doing missions.  I have yet to look at a point of doing missions where I said - I have no more missions to do in this area and I don't have enough mats to make higher end items.

Third point.  You're completely wrong about this as the game progresses.  It switches from vertical progression into a more horizontal one.  This means that your gear becomes less important and the abilities with synergy you use becomes more important.  2/3 of the game is more about utility based on your certain situation.  Gear gates you in certain areas up through the first part of egypt.  After that it turns more into an AA system mentioned by someone before.

You don't see how anyone could argue otherwise because you haven't experienced it for yourself.

Originally posted by arieste

Question to the CB folks:

 

1.  In general - from what you've seen - can ANY two weapons in the game be successfully comboed into a good build?  (assuming you pick the right abilities)

2.  I've been both playing and theorycrafting on AR / Chaos and will probably go with those as much first combination.  Have you either tried or met people who ran AR/Chaos builds in later game?   What role did they usually play?  (From what i've seen in terms of abilities if seems like you can go heals or dps with AR and tanking or DPS with chaos, so i'm curious as to what people have been successful with.)

 

I realize these questions are rather specific, so If you don't feel equipped to answer, no worries :)

1. Yes. This is where the wheel differs from RIFTs talent trees.

2. I can't speak to the role because I stayed in pvp a lot, but I can tell you yes you can make it workj just fine. As a quick burst pure dps guy, or a heavy armor tankish guy with self healing. Withen whatever two weapons you pick, there a many different ways to play them depending on passives and itemization. 

Work with it you will be fine 

Originally posted by udon

Originally posted by jdnyc

Originally posted by udon

 

And it is totaly a gear grind game.

First this

http://www.mmorpg.com/gamelist.cfm/game/404/feature/6496/Dungeon-Preview-The-Facility.html

Actually read the article about how it tells you that you need to figure things out.

Second Polaris has a code that you can try to figure out in a locked chest.  There's more, but two is sufficient to prove my point on the dungeon front being only about mobs.

But I want to address the comment above specifically.  You can craft anything in the game from Consumables, Talismans, Weapons and glyphs.  How is that a gear grind?  Seriously.  Gear Grind means you keep running the same thing over and over again for that one specific item because you have to have that item.  Aion and Fire Temple with the Kromede set back in the day is a perfect example of a gear grind.

In TSW you gain enough items and mats from loot that you can disassemble these to make an item of acceptable QL quality to continue doing content.  If you do not craft, then yes - the game could be a gear grind.  But that's your choice to do so, not concrete mechanic in the game that you find in other MMOs.  You have a choice.

You edited out the part where I said "If you run a dungeon with people who have done it before a lot of the mystery disapears just like any other MMO."

And how do you get those Consumables, Talismans, Weapons, and Glyphs?  You kill mobs over and over and over and over again to earn them.  You can either grind away on higher level mobs to earn higher tier mats or your can grind 10X longer on lower tier mobs for mats to upgrade.

And a key part of being a gear grind is a game where gear matters more than personal skill.  I can't see how (I'm sure some will though) anyone could argue TSW isn't that.

I'll show you how. You don't have to "grind" one mob to get what you need. Buy your kits from the AH. gg grind. If you think gear matters more than skill you are sorely mistaken. Think outside the traditional mmo box.

I was in ql4 gear fighting and testing with friends in the London fight club they were ql10 blue. My build and years of competitive pvp were more than enough to lock them down on several occasions. Did I have to play smart? You bet I did, but I did it.

If I had to say I think it's kinda like this 

40% build

30% Skill

30% Gear

It's very even, and buildung a deck is a skill don't be fooled.

Originally posted by jdnyc

Originally posted by udon

 

You edited out the part where I said "If you run a dungeon with people who have done it before a lot of the mystery disapears just like any other MMO."

And how do you get those Consumables, Talismans, Weapons, and Glyphs?  You kill mobs over and over and over and over again to earn them.  You can either grind away on higher level mobs to earn higher tier mats or your can grind 10X longer on lower tier mobs for mats to upgrade.

And a key part of being a gear grind is a game where gear matters more than personal skill.  I can't see how (I'm sure some will though) anyone could argue TSW isn't that.

 

Second point.  I have not had to grind any mobs to craft to get items, I just get them through mission rewards or by random loot from doing missions.  I have yet to look at a point of doing missions where I said - I have no more missions to do in this area and I don't have enough mats to make higher end items.

Third point.  You're completely wrong about this as the game progresses.  It switches from vertical progression into a more horizontal one.  This means that your gear becomes less important and the abilities with synergy you use becomes more important.  2/3 of the game is more about utility based on your certain situation.  Gear gates you in certain areas up through the first part of egypt.  After that it turns more into an AA system mentioned by someone before.

You don't see how anyone could argue otherwise because you haven't experienced it for yourself.

 

In reality you are grinding mobs, most of the missions get you to kill mobs... Also you said " I have yet to look at a point of doing missions where I said - I have no more missions to do in this area", thats because you can repeat the missions everyday so again.....You Are Grinding

I didn't make it to egypt but I find it hard to believe that they will not add more tiers to the QL levels in the future. As you "level" you are gaining Quality Levels with your gear, every other game that has a gear progression will keep adding more, i.e. carot on the stick endgame.

I have 3 questions.

1- Using asembly, is it easy to change to any QL gear, so that i can "control" my own "level", to make it even more challenging. For example, i'm QL10, but i craft QL5 gear and go to lower areas, so i "scale" myself, or i can even use QL2 on hiher areas to make it even more challenging. Does crafting allow multyple ways?

2- How is Fusang? By that i mean, is there controll points and resources. I remember the video where you had to use anima charges to open the gate. I also posted a map that was under NDA of the area, and the gate had a turret. Is there resource uses, gate defenses, etc?

3- Did you feel the sabotage and investigation missions got harder and harder in later areas. Also, sis actual sabotage missions involve lots "stealth" gameplay?

Originally posted by Diemos

 

In reality you are grinding mobs, most of the missions get you to kill mobs... Also you said " I have yet to look at a point of doing missions where I said - I have no more missions to do in this area", thats because you can repeat the missions everyday so again.....You Are Grinding

I didn't make it to egypt but I find it hard to believe that they will not add more tiers to the QL levels in the future. As you "level" you are gaining Quality Levels with your gear, every other game that has a gear progression will keep adding more, i.e. carot on the stick endgame.

Repeatables won't be on 24 hrs.  They're not meant as dailies.  And I have yet to do a repeatable.  So your point is moot from my experience.

As far as raising the QL?  Who knows what they plan for that, but considering you will have 4 more zones to do with QL 9-10 gear - I don't see your point or how you find it 'hard to believe'

Originally posted by FredomSekerZ

I have 3 questions.

1- Using asembly, is it easy to change to any QL gear, so that i can "control" my own "level", to make it even more challenging. For example, i'm QL10, but i craft QL5 gear and go to lower areas, so i "scale" myself, or i can even use QL2 on hiher areas to make it even more challenging. Does crafting allow multyple ways?

2- How is Fusang? By that i mean, is there controll points and resources. I remember the video where you had to use anima charges to open the gate. I also posted a map that was under NDA of the area, and the gate had a turret. Is there resource uses, gate defenses, etc?

3- Did you feel the sabotage and investigation missions got harder and harder in later areas. Also, sis actual sabotage missions involve lots "stealth" gameplay?

1 - Yes I think if I understand your question correctly.  Crafting allows multiple ways through the use of Toolkits that are set for a certain level ie - QL 10 kit, QL 5 kit, QL 2 kit.  All use different grades of mats, but the same mats.  These mats can be combined (5 a pop) to make one level of a higher grade.  You can also disassemble higher mats to make lower ones at a loss of 1 mat.  IE - a normal metal can be disassembled to make 4 imperfect metals.

2- don't know

3- Yes.  It depends on what you mean by stealth.  There's no stealth ability. If you mean stealth as more of a Metal Gear kind of way?  Then yes.

1. I found the combat after Kingsmouth (the Amusement Park are) in Open Beta VERY difficult and a tad too strenous. Are there possible builts which are "easier"? (Which?) That remains my gripe #1 tbh, because I just felt like constantly standing on my toes, so to speak.

2. What bugged me also was, that in the Open Beta what faction you were played NO ROLE at all. Does the closed beta game have faction related quests? If yes, when, how many, how often? I felt the unimportance of your faction identity in quests really let me down, if I compare it to (for example) WOW where the 2 factions have totally different quests.

Originally posted by Elikal

1. I found the combat after Kingsmouth (the Amusement Park are) in Open Beta VERY difficult and a tad too strenous. Are there possible builts which are "easier"? (Which?) That remains my gripe #1 tbh, because I just felt like constantly standing on my toes, so to speak.

2. What bugged me also was, that in the Open Beta what faction you were played NO ROLE at all. Does the closed beta game have faction related quests? If yes, when, how many, how often? I felt the unimportance of your faction identity in quests really let me down, if I compare it to (for example) WOW where the 2 factions have totally different quests.

1 - it might be your build.  what did you use?  Savage Coast is more difficult and go by the lighthouse.  the game doesn't tier challenge based on where you enter the zone like other MMOs.  The area by Overlook Motel is actually more difficult than by the lighthouse in my opinion.

2- Faction Missions apparently do this along with PvP.  I don't have enough information on this.  They just got added and not all of it anyways.  They're holding a lot of that back from launch so we don't spoil anything for those that aren't in closed.

Originally posted by jdnyc

Originally posted by FredomSekerZ

I have 3 questions.

1- Using asembly, is it easy to change to any QL gear, so that i can "control" my own "level", to make it even more challenging. For example, i'm QL10, but i craft QL5 gear and go to lower areas, so i "scale" myself, or i can even use QL2 on hiher areas to make it even more challenging. Does crafting allow multyple ways?

2- How is Fusang? By that i mean, is there controll points and resources. I remember the video where you had to use anima charges to open the gate. I also posted a map that was under NDA of the area, and the gate had a turret. Is there resource uses, gate defenses, etc?

3- Did you feel the sabotage and investigation missions got harder and harder in later areas. Also, sis actual sabotage missions involve lots "stealth" gameplay?

1 - Yes I think if I understand your question correctly.  Crafting allows multiple ways through the use of Toolkits that are set for a certain level ie - QL 10 kit, QL 5 kit, QL 2 kit.  All use different grades of mats, but the same mats.  These mats can be combined (5 a pop) to make one level of a higher grade.  You can also disassemble higher mats to make lower ones at a loss of 1 mat.  IE - a normal metal can be disassembled to make 4 imperfect metals.

2- don't know

3- Yes.  It depends on what you mean by stealth.  There's no stealth ability. If you mean stealth as more of a Metal Gear kind of way?  Then yes.

 

I know there's no stealth. The sabotage missions are suppose to be about avoiding detection, like the very first one in Kingsmouth with that light room. Does it get more complicated in later areas. Sorry, if you didn't understand

Originally posted by jdnyc

Originally posted by FredomSekerZ

I have 3 questions.

1- Using asembly, is it easy to change to any QL gear, so that i can "control" my own "level", to make it even more challenging. For example, i'm QL10, but i craft QL5 gear and go to lower areas, so i "scale" myself, or i can even use QL2 on hiher areas to make it even more challenging. Does crafting allow multyple ways?

2- How is Fusang? By that i mean, is there controll points and resources. I remember the video where you had to use anima charges to open the gate. I also posted a map that was under NDA of the area, and the gate had a turret. Is there resource uses, gate defenses, etc?

3- Did you feel the sabotage and investigation missions got harder and harder in later areas. Also, sis actual sabotage missions involve lots "stealth" gameplay?

1 - Yes I think if I understand your question correctly.  Crafting allows multiple ways through the use of Toolkits that are set for a certain level ie - QL 10 kit, QL 5 kit, QL 2 kit.  All use different grades of mats, but the same mats.  These mats can be combined (5 a pop) to make one level of a higher grade.  You can also disassemble higher mats to make lower ones at a loss of 1 mat.  IE - a normal metal can be disassembled to make 4 imperfect metals.

2- don't know

3- Yes.  It depends on what you mean by stealth.  There's no stealth ability. If you mean stealth as more of a Metal Gear kind of way?  Then yes.

 

There are no anima charges to blow open a gate. I think this was removed a while back. I think the turrets replaced the wall. I assume to avoid "wall wars." 

I'm sure I've already spent days time played in there... You get xp for missions on a CD timer. 

1. Capture wells - smallest amout of AP

2. Kill 10 - Mid amount

3. Capture Facility - Large amount. Outer facilites are gaurded by a hard hitting gun that will need to be takend and healed though. Once you kill the gun you go for the boss. The boss doesn't hit as hard, but it takes a lot longer to kill him.

The meta game is controling the wells so that you can mount an attack on a facility. Wells are points were you can res. So if your faction has no center wells you'll have a tough time taking center facility unless you have overwhelming force. Enough to kill the boss and enough to hold off the attacking factions. If you die without center wells you'll have to run a lot further to get back to the fight.

The nice thing about fusang is that it can be played so many ways. You could be an outer ring capper or an outer  ring hunter. Or you can be a center zerger, or a mid sneak capper etc. Find a style you enjoy and go with it.

"And it is totaly a gear grind game."

I dont know of any game that is not a gear grind. EQ1 and 2 were all about better weapons and gear. In eve its better skills, ships and mods. anything to give an edge. In fact I dont know of any game that is not a grind of some sort. In eq 1 I grinded mobs that would give me the most exp, over and over. In eve I grinded c6 sleepers to get the best isk, over and over. I do not think the grind is escapable unless you choose not to play these types of games.

In closed beta i have done kingsmouth enough times to memorize all the damn missions. While its getting boring now, i have yet to feel like i am grinding for exp or drops.

my biggest complaints in the game so far are the following:

1. Character customization: I felt they did not put enough resources into making this a great product. Its not a deal breaker for me as i am not one to spend hours tweaking my look. I can say that the CC for eve beats this by miles even though the eve CC is just used in the captains quarters so far.  I expect that they will improve it over time just like any other game.

2. I thought the pvp was awful: between lag, lack of coordination and my crappy build, it was not enjoyable for me at all. again, i expect that they will work on that over time.

3. poor drop rate: I liked crafting, had no trouble figuring it out but i found that i never really had enough materials to make more then just a few items. In later areas i really needed healing potions and stuff that i just didnt have. even with maxed out weapons and skill i had a hard time soloing certain areas like the city of the sungod.

Things i liked.

I liked the atmosphere of the game.

I liked the wheel system.

I liked the classless choice.

My hope is that the got to get to level 80 in one day type of people stay away from this game. I hope it stays small and cozy.

Originally posted by FredomSekerZ

 

Does it get more complicated in later areas.

I don't know.  I wouldn't say what I experienced was more complicated.  I would say it was on the level of horror show.  Apparently many of those missions (along with investigation) aren't enabled yet.  We'll have to wait and see come launch if that's true.

Originally posted by bcbully

I'll show you how. You don't have to "grind" one mob to get what you need. Buy your kits from the AH. gg grind. If you think gear matters more than skill you are sorely mistaken. Think outside the traditional mmo box.

 

I was in ql4 gear fighting and testing with friends in the London fight club they were ql10 blue. My build and years of competitive pvp were more than enough to lock them down on several occasions. Did I have to play smart? You bet I did, but I did it.

 

If I had to say I think it's kinda like this 

40% build

30% Skill

30% Gear

It's very even, and buildung a deck is a skill don't be fooled.

Maybe PVP normalizes gear to some extent but I know a QL4 doesn't stand a chance against a QL10 mob.  You can't do near enough damage or heal near enough to kill it before it kills you.  On the oppisite side a QL10 player can kill a QL4 mob by just looking at it hard.

Your numbers are way off in my experiences.  The game is 60% gear 25% build, and 15% skill from what I have seen.  I don't count dodging big circles drawen on the floor as skill btw I put it under basic UI use.  You can make a build that makes killing thing near impossible so I guess if you want to use that as build it might be a bit higher but I prefer to consider the difference between a decent build and a optimized one which 20% seems right.

Originally posted by bcbully

I've spent 30+ hours a week for the past 2 months. Most of my time was spent in Fusang. I have ran atlest half the dungeons on hard and nightmare. For the most part if I wasn't pvp'n I was building, rethinking, and  rebuilding. 

 

Feel free to ask the fluff, and the hard questions. I'll do my best to answer how I've seen it. I'm sure others will fill in the gaps.

 

gogogo!

Originally posted by DanitaKusor

Quoting from the official forums,

"Please note that the non-disclosure agreement is still in place for any previous versions of the Closed Beta that has existed prior to June 21st. Please also note that any posts on the Closed Beta forum may not be shared with anyone outside of that forum, such as comments from both testers and developers. This includes previous, current and future posts on that forum."

 

I want to thank you both for your time in posting great information. I myself have decided to talk very little as I tend to attrack GW2 trolling ;P anyways you guys going temp, lumies, or dragoz?

Originally posted by udon

I don't count dodging big circles drawen on the floor as skill btw I put it under basic UI use. 
 

Of course you don't.  But before you knew it was coming for TSW, I'm sure it was a feature people talked about for GW2 - amirite?

"2. What bugged me also was, that in the Open Beta what faction you were played NO ROLE at all. Does the closed beta game have faction related quests? If yes, when, how many, how often? I felt the unimportance of your faction identity in quests really let me down, if I compare it to (for example) WOW where the 2 factions have totally different quests."

This is a question i posted in the beta forums. it seemed that the missions versus other factions were missing or not fully realized. There is a lot of exciting content that could be added to make that choice relavant. Right now, i did not see any major difference between the three.

I do know they are starting to input some of that in, as once i made level 3 dragon i got a cell phone call to go to new york. once i got there i got another call thanking me for going there and i was told more would be revealed later on. so even being in beta does not mean i have seen the full picture. as has been stated here already, funcom has held back somethings so that there will be some surprises.