Originally posted by Onarix
Not really all that engaging, I just joined a school then exited the game. Should I explore it further or is that the deepness of the game?

Don't know if this might help but:

1) I installed the game, started playing, said loud "WTF is this shit!!" and logged off

2) tried again at least other 2 times but just couldn't go past the "FLYFF" feeling

3) read some forums to try to see what I was missing on and decided to give it another go

4) quite enjoying it on a new character, after the initial cultural shock there is a lot to discover

In short: it's probably not for you but you not gonna find out with a couple of hours playtime

Originally posted by SisterSpite
I got to the point where I was forced to create a party to complete a main story quest. Since that day I haven't logged in..

Your not even forced to do the main story quests

Anyhow I did not had any problem with this. Plenty of people looking to play these missions you needed to join. 

To the op. I am on the edge. Not sure if I like this game, but not sure if I want to write it off yet. It almost the same feeling I have with EvE, like that I am the one missing something. 

Originally posted by SisterSpite
I got to the point where I was forced to create a party to complete a main story quest. Since that day I haven't logged in..

You can create a party without inviting others, if you wish to solo group quests:

Hit O  >  click "Create Team"  >  close team window

yeah the game is a hit or miss with me too

-I like the skill system because I like Eve as well, but the battles seem somehow unsatisfying. 

-It has this weird PWI style interface with constant gifts and other random crap that encourages you to stay online too, which si not fun at all in my book

-subscription players have a big advantage in terms of gaining skills offline and benefiting from other things that help them gain skills faster. subscription players that are willing to use a cash shop have a huge advantage

-it has nice graphics, but the actual gameplay feels like a reall old chinese game from early 2000s

-somehow I actually wish there was some grind because it seems like I don't have to do anything other than stay online in order to progress, which means there'll be a lot of botting and sticky key type of cheating everywhere

+i love the fact that your character does stuff in the game while you're logged off. I got kidnapped once and couldnt use certain things for 6 hours because of it. you can also make money apparently and gain lots of xp, even as a free player

+the variety of kungfu seems quite interesting, at least initially

+a lot better than 9dragons, using the same premise of kung fu schools

+open pvp is always welcome in my book

-/+ ganking will probably become a problem since a lot of paying players will be impossible to beat on a free account because you can never catch up to them unless you pay

-/+ it's a sandbox, but at the same time lack of a storyline or any kind of a progression in this sort of a game issomehow disappointing

This party quest part I've not even seen yet and I've played the full 10 hours and 5-6 one hour sessions.  I got to a point where the quest tracker was empty without ever seeing an instance.   Everything in this game is incredibly confusing.  From the translation to the combat to the UI it's all odd.  

I'm going to try and stick with it though as it does offer some things that the typical shallow themepark do not.

Originally posted by LadyEuphei
Right now it looks like its going to be setup to be pay to win as well. We will have to see if it will even be worth it.

Ive been keeping a close eye on this game as well. The more I talk to my friends playing (I almost refuse to do betas on any game because I don't want to spoil anything at release dates) they are saying the same thing. I don't mind a cash shop, but P2W it a complete turn off.

surprise surprise i could use a left handed mouse which has been a problem with games from "overseas"

problem was i couldn't get the settings to take for camera movement with the mouse - even though there are settings for this in a couple places it never worked - game over

Originally posted by lalartu

yeah the game is a hit or miss with me too

-I like the skill system because I like Eve as well, but the battles seem somehow unsatisfying. 

-It has this weird PWI style interface with constant gifts and other random crap that encourages you to stay online too, which si not fun at all in my book

-subscription players have a big advantage in terms of gaining skills offline and benefiting from other things that help them gain skills faster. subscription players that are willing to use a cash shop have a huge advantage

-it has nice graphics, but the actual gameplay feels like a reall old chinese game from early 2000s

-somehow I actually wish there was some grind because it seems like I don't have to do anything other than stay online in order to progress, which means there'll be a lot of botting and sticky key type of cheating everywhere

+i love the fact that your character does stuff in the game while you're logged off. I got kidnapped once and couldnt use certain things for 6 hours because of it. you can also make money apparently and gain lots of xp, even as a free player

+the variety of kungfu seems quite interesting, at least initially

+a lot better than 9dragons, using the same premise of kung fu schools

+open pvp is always welcome in my book

-/+ ganking will probably become a problem since a lot of paying players will be impossible to beat on a free account because you can never catch up to them unless you pay

-/+ it's a sandbox, but at the same time lack of a storyline or any kind of a progression in this sort of a game issomehow disappointing

Not trying to correct your opinion, just 3 points of conjecture.

Progression - I thought that as well. Just stay online and you will progress. That's until the bonus cultivation pills they gave wore off. The progression system works like this-

Doing things (not all) gives you XP --->XP is converted to cultivation points over time.---->Cultivation points progress your skills. 

Without doing a variety of things daily you XP will run out, and your progression will come to a screeching halt. Me being a criminal, I'm constantly looking for an XP meal. Something like guild carts to rob. Questing on avg. gives you 1xp/quest. 1xp will last you all of about 3 minutes, and be good for about 1/50 of what you need to progress at lower skill levels. A full guild cart will give me 50xp.

Ganking - It will never be a problem in this game. Pointless killing will ecentually cost you time, silver and reputation. No man is an island in this game. You need those people you are killing to make it.

Storylines - There are storylines. A shit ton of them. From personal to school to gossip. I rate those storylines just a tad above GW2 and RIFT. Remember this is more historical fiction, than fantasy. 

The entire game is about progression in some way shape or form. You have to find your way of doing it. The tools and options are there in abundance. 

-Downloaded the game

-Installed

-Played for an hour or two

-Quit

-Uninstalled

Not my world of "RPG".

Originally posted by Elevenb4

Originally posted by LadyEuphei
Right now it looks like its going to be setup to be pay to win as well. We will have to see if it will even be worth it.

Ive been keeping a close eye on this game as well. The more I talk to my friends playing (I almost refuse to do betas on any game because I don't want to spoil anything at release dates) they are saying the same thing. I don't mind a cash shop, but P2W it a complete turn off.

You're in luck then because it is not pay to win.

It's free to play with a sub option and a cash shop.

People paying money will get advantages such as faster leveling, but then again why shouldn't they? Like in any ftp game the money's gotta come from somewhere, and it's the natural order of things that paying customers get better service than freeloaders.

Of course we can never know whether things will remain like this (in China AoW is definitely pay to win), but given the very common aversion towards ptw among Western MMO gamers, Snail will probably think twice before trying it. But as I said, we can't know what will happen in the future - the bigger reason to try the game now while it's still NOT pay to win.

The really annoying part of this game's payment model is how it pokes you with its CS stuff at every corner, even during the tutorial. "Oh, you've got to click on this function now, but it's not available for non-subscribers! Now click on this button and by the way, you've got to pay some $ to use it!" I understand they want people to sub and that's ok, but even a sub won't rid you of all the CS nonsense.

This is why B2P is better than F2P. When everyone has to pay a little, the devs don't need to be as greedy.

Originally posted by Scalpless

The really annoying part of this game's payment model is how it pokes you with its CS stuff at every corner, even during the tutorial. "Oh, you've got to click on this function now, but it's not available for non-subscribers! Now click on this button and by the way, you've got to pay some $ to use it!" I understand they want people to sub and that's ok, but even a sub won't rid you of all the CS nonsense.

This is why B2P is better than F2P. When everyone has to pay a little, the devs don't need to be as greedy.

I didn't like my experience with B2P. I was keep broke in game by ridiculous system gold grabs. From travel to repairs to needed equipment. I couldn't afford anything IN game unless I payed cash. 

Not the same thing here. The game doesn't stop you from making gold so that you have to buy it.

Tried the game.

Not my cup of tea. While I do like the systems they have in place, I really have no liking to it. Not saying it's a bad game, but overall, I do not enjoy it.

And I'm a PvPer 1st. It's just not that engaging. While the systems are good, and should really be looked into by other devs, overall, the game isn't that fun in the sense that I have from the likes of GW2. Not saying GW2 is better, but I just prefer the overall feel of a game like Gw2, than I do with AoW.

You know, I just think it's due to the setting of the game. As much as I like the Asian Culture, being asian myself, I just can't get into a setting like that. Ah wellz. Good luck AoW.

Originally posted by bcbully

Originally posted by Scalpless

The really annoying part of this game's payment model is how it pokes you with its CS stuff at every corner, even during the tutorial. "Oh, you've got to click on this function now, but it's not available for non-subscribers! Now click on this button and by the way, you've got to pay some $ to use it!" I understand they want people to sub and that's ok, but even a sub won't rid you of all the CS nonsense.

This is why B2P is better than F2P. When everyone has to pay a little, the devs don't need to be as greedy.

I didn't like my experience with B2P. I was keep broke in game by ridiculous system gold grabs. From travel to repairs to needed equipment. I couldn't afford anything IN game unless I payed cash. 

 

Not the same thing here. The game doesn't stop you from making gold so that you have to buy it.

B2P vs. F2P isn't the main point. I love paying for good entertainment, but I don't like feeling nickel-and-dimed to death and that's exactly what playing AoW has felt like so far. It feels cheap and icky. Like a used cars salesman. A shame, because clearly the game itself is quite good.

Tangent: After 300 hours of GW2, I could afford having two fully-exotic lvl 80 chars and a set of T3 cultural armor without buying any gold in the CS. I guess you could lose money by dieing repeatedly or spending a lot in WvW, but I always get around half a gold per hour even without farming. Around 1.5 gold per hour if I'm running dungeons with a good group. GW1 and TSW don't have any noticeable cash grabs, either.

Its going to be one of those games where Xenophobia will play a part in detracting people from a game that can be pretty good. Its quite difficult in terms of the MMo genre as both sides tend to do  this (western games tend to have difficulty in the Eastern market and vice versa. Aion for instance died pretty quickly in the west yet was huge in the east being the top game for quite a long period of time)

If you can get past your xenophobia, you can often times find great enjoyment in games, its just about getting past that natural bias we all tend to have.