My excitement towards the genre is growing more and more. I see more titles trying to come out with original features and content now instead of trying to rehash the same concepts over and over. This should be an interesting few years.

Originally posted by Sortis

So if I wanna be the best hero i should play the best dps class so i can deal more dps and then get more recognition? How lame is that?! The job system is gonna be gimp as hell unless they somehow avoid the almighty Ninja crutch that FFXI had. Meaning for those who havent played FFXI. Having a subjob system was a pain in the ass considering if you just wanted to play a Black Mage(wizard) then sorry to bad in order to be the best black mage you can be you have to play a White Mage(healer) which is a class you may want to play or absolutly dread! When most anyone gets into an MMO they decide upon a class they want to play like a Rogue and then take off. When they hit level 16 they dont want to have to feel the need to go do a subjob quest and then level a class they have no interest in just to keep from being what the game considers gimp. Ok guys lets go level our warrior and experience the same exact content all over again now so we can get that increase to power. Not to mention eventually some classes in that game actually required a multitude of sub jobs aka Monk. What a joke. So in short if they make it like FFXI's job system then I honestly wont give it a second look, same thing goes for FF14. To those who dont understand I apologize. You have to go truely experience this monster of a problem for yourself before you can truely be this disgruntled. Not to say that everyone hated this system, but for those who dont have alt-idis it is a nightmare!

I think you may be misunderstanding how it works... Either that or I (along with a lot of other people) misunderstands it...

From how I understand it, you're not "merging" the 4 classes when you level each of them up... They're independant entities... You aren't a Warrior with some healer abilities on the side, you're just a Warrior, unless you go to town and switch to the Healer, then you're just a Healer. Basically it's the same thing as logging your Warrior toon out and logging your Healer alt in. Different skills/abilities, different armor/weapons, etc. And also from what I can tell, it's completely optional, if you only want to level up the one class, then fine.

Interesting, I have put this game on my watch list now.

This interview definitely cranked up my interest in this game by a rather large amount, the idea of having a quest system, the game world & NPC's being dynamic enough to be able to give the illusion of you playing a part in changing the world around you by your actions is a pipe-dream for many, this might be just a very rudimentary step or they may have a fairly advanced system that runs this, how effective & engaging it actually turns out to be will pave the way for more innovation in this direction.

I hope the game realises some of the potential that this kind of system could open up.

Nice article. I loved reading it!

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-Matt Graham

Originally posted by Kunou

Originally posted by Sortis

So if I wanna be the best hero i should play the best dps class so i can deal more dps and then get more recognition? How lame is that?! The job system is gonna be gimp as hell unless they somehow avoid the almighty Ninja crutch that FFXI had. Meaning for those who havent played FFXI. Having a subjob system was a pain in the ass considering if you just wanted to play a Black Mage(wizard) then sorry to bad in order to be the best black mage you can be you have to play a White Mage(healer) which is a class you may want to play or absolutly dread! When most anyone gets into an MMO they decide upon a class they want to play like a Rogue and then take off. When they hit level 16 they dont want to have to feel the need to go do a subjob quest and then level a class they have no interest in just to keep from being what the game considers gimp. Ok guys lets go level our warrior and experience the same exact content all over again now so we can get that increase to power. Not to mention eventually some classes in that game actually required a multitude of sub jobs aka Monk. What a joke. So in short if they make it like FFXI's job system then I honestly wont give it a second look, same thing goes for FF14. To those who dont understand I apologize. You have to go truely experience this monster of a problem for yourself before you can truely be this disgruntled. Not to say that everyone hated this system, but for those who dont have alt-idis it is a nightmare!

 

I think you may be misunderstanding how it works... Either that or I (along with a lot of other people) misunderstands it...

From how I understand it, you're not "merging" the 4 classes when you level each of them up... They're independant entities... You aren't a Warrior with some healer abilities on the side, you're just a Warrior, unless you go to town and switch to the Healer, then you're just a Healer. Basically it's the same thing as logging your Warrior toon out and logging your Healer alt in. Different skills/abilities, different armor/weapons, etc. And also from what I can tell, it's completely optional, if you only want to level up the one class, then fine.

Okay, but it still looks like that, just as in EVERY other "bigtime" MMO out there it is focused on combat and to get the "hero" recognition you have to do the most damage to a foe. So, what it's looking like is a funnel to the majority of the players playing a DPS class in hopes of getting "1 more point of damage" than the next guy.

If they put in an equal amount of these "heroic quests/events" that take into consideration the talents of the non-damage dealing classes, well, then the system does sound interesting. But, I have a real good feeling they won't as the combat/DPS route is easiest, I suppose.

It looks like a decent game,with decent graphics,but a couple core ideas,will never land it in my favour.

One player fighting hordes,means group play will be of little use and the majority will not group,so it pretty much means a single player game right out of the gate.

The other thing that i know many like,i do not like one bit and that is the jack of all trades player.By giving everyone the ability to have every single skill,again forges it into a single player game and gives every player in the game ZERO identity,nothing but a bunch of clones.This also means players will have no use for other players as the individuality of other classes wlll not be present and no player will lack anything another player could offer.

This is not even going into the rest of the games detail,but these two factors alone,ruin the game and make it a totally single player game,that should not be listed as a MMO.Too bad i am sure they put some decent effort into this game and a sub class system i do favour,but the core design is a bad one.

Hmm I love how people jump to a million different conclusions about the game based on a single interview. In any case lots of games out there so if it doesnt sound like something you want to play then dont...simple as that.

I like the sound of this one and like the direction a couple of the new ones are taking or trying to take. The dynamic world concept is one I would really like to see implemented successfully and so far this one and Citadel of Sorcery are two that are trying to do that. It can be a monumental task to get anything worthwhile but luckily the technology is starting to catch up to make it possible.

I also like the idea of not having to make alts to play different classes and the subclass thing sounds interesting.

I just hope the difficulty factor is not gimped aka WoW and EQII. That is one thing that turns me off to a game faster than anything else. This is ultimately what is behind the Hardcore vrs Casual debate in any case. It is also good to see other MMO's taking the idea of public quests and expanding on those too. There is a lot of potential in that area if someone can do it correctly.

As for hero title being based on damage, there has to be a metric to try to figure out who deserves it. They will probably figure out in beta testing pure damage as a metric isnt going to cut it as they even hinted at in the interview and they will have to come up with some sort of system that takes other things into account. I will say though that no game has been able to get this type of thing right so far. There is always a loophole that people exploit to screw others over. Here is to hoping they can figure a good way to handle it before release.

While I like the idea of cities which can be destroyed and that anyone depending on his/her skills can do something to help - I don't need another fighting mmorpg where I kill mobs to kill more mobs and so on and on and crafting is just a grind with mostly useless stuff and housing if existing at all a way to show off things.

What I miss in all that stuff is something truly cooperative not just in combat as it was used in Horizons (now Istaria) where crafter were necessary to make things because you had no good loot or could just improve equippment with loot and where it was necessary to build bridges, buildings, tunnels or repair them. Anything about this in HoT (heh, nice acronym!) going? Unfortunatelly levelling crafting and harvesting in Horizons was a hell of a grind too and far from being fun, the same as it is in EQ2 for crafting levelling or Vanguard - and those are still the best. I would be very happy if someone could adopt the Free Realms harvesting and crafting minigames into a "real" mmorpg so it wouldn't feel as much as a grind but be fun to do those things, levelling as a side effect.

So how about for HoT some crafting/harvesting minigames and the chance to rebuild the cities when they are destroyed or repair the buildings instead of plain "Woohoo you defended the city, all the fires are gone and now it is back to perfect shape!".

And some meaninful housing with harvesting nodes (plants, animals) in the yard?

Gotta say when i first looked at this game i wasn't too impressed, just seemed like another go at fantasy mmo's. But the whole idea of having dynamic quests certainly has my attention. I will wait for some actual gameplay evidence before making any assumptions wether it will work or not though.

There are some things im not liking though, the graphics are good but not great...and the styling isn't exactly original. The world also seem a bit lackluster...nothing is really setting it apart from other games imo. Other than that it's just too early too really say much more without actually seeing gameplay footage.

Yes, I have to say I am very intrigued by this new title, although...if they hope to releasei n 2010, they have alot of competition in Final Fantasy 14. Still, I'll give it a shot, I am really glad they are using the one character all jobs aspect that FFXI introduced, been waiting for a game to finally realize the benefit of this system.

I like the take on subjob cards too, sounds interesting, and I like the graphic representation the trailer showed. I'm on board on this one.

Dynamic content that allows you're actions (or lack of) to change the game world?! Oh my god! This is the kind of thing I have waited for years to see in mmos. Finally an mmo is on its way which actually takes real advantage of the fact that it is online instead of just playing like a static single player game in co-op mode like all the other piles of crap which have been spawned over the years. Awesome!

I'm not very keen on the idea of swapping classes on the fly though. That just sounds like a rather stupid idea and doesnt make much sense. Oh well I can tolerate bad ideas like this considering that this game is potentially offering a gaming experience that (if done well) will push the genre forward in a massive way. Who the hell is gonna bother playing some shitty static mmo where your actions dont mean anything when you can play a game in which you can shape the game world?

Oh and the graphics look fantastic too.

It sounds nice and I'll surely check it out.

I don't understand why some people are getting so excited about the public quest they described. Its no more dynamic than a public quest. Its no more world changing than a public quest. What they described is pretty much exactly what was already done in WAR. I mean, that is great, but its not really anything new.

So all we know right now is that they are taking the job system from FFXI (but it sounds more like Free Realms), taking the public quests from WAR, adding a twist on the subclass system similar to Runes of Magic, and using the old tired auto-attack combat system of WoW/EQ. I'll try it for sure, but I'm not all that excited yet. Had they tried to make a new combat system then I would be a LOT more excited. I'm really really tired of the whole auto-attack hotbar whack-a-mole combat system.

Sounds interesting, eager to see if they can pull this off and what it will play like.

The game  looks like  it has a promise ,well worth watching

The concept of quests changing the world is not new ,both Citadel of Sorcery and Mortal Online offer  similar experiences ..of course none of these games have been released so we have to see which game gets it right :)

Originally posted by Aganazer

It sounds nice and I'll surely check it out.

I don't understand why some people are getting so excited about the public quest they described. Its no more dynamic than a public quest. Its no more world changing than a public quest. What they described is pretty much exactly what was already done in WAR. I mean, that is great, but its not really anything new.

So all we know right now is that they are taking the job system from FFXI (but it sounds more like Free Realms), taking the public quests from WAR, adding a twist on the subclass system similar to Runes of Magic, and using the old tired auto-attack combat system of WoW/EQ. I'll try it for sure, but I'm not all that excited yet. Had they tried to make a new combat system then I would be a LOT more excited. I'm really really tired of the whole auto-attack hotbar whack-a-mole combat system.

There is a subtle diffrence between what HoT is trying to do and Wars's PQ system. in war pq system imps atttack the city and u either save the day or dont. in 5 minutes imps attack the city no matter what the outcome was before hand.

HoT is suggesting that imps attack the city if u fail the city is burned to the ground and u get quests prob ably to repair the city. If u succeded maybe tommrow a dragon will attack the city. Least this is how i interpedt the interview in the video section.

Originally posted by hook87

There is a subtle diffrence between what HoT is trying to do and Wars's PQ system. in war pq system imps atttack the city and u either save the day or dont. in 5 minutes imps attack the city no matter what the outcome was before hand.

HoT is suggesting that imps attack the city if u fail the city is burned to the ground and u get quests prob ably to repair the city. If u succeded maybe tommrow a dragon will attack the city. Least this is how i interpedt the interview in the video section.

Its just a matter of perspective and correct me if I'm wrong because I didn't play WAR for very long. A WAR style PQ is just a series of phases starting from the idle phase. The idle phase is just what happens when no one is around to start the other phases.

Now imagine the idle phase in HoT being a burned city. That is what happens if nobody does anything. From the idle phase you do the steps needed to restore the city. Then the last phase is another attack. I guess the big difference is that the last phase can repeat if the attack fails to destroy the city.

There is no doubt that its a good idea. The PQ system from WAR had plenty of room for improvement. I hope that the HoT system expands it a whole lot. I would like to see them effect everything both big and small. Instead of phases with simple objectives, have quests and entire quest chains that trigger phases. Let the phases of one PQ effect the phase of a larger PQ. Its on the right track for what I think people are wanting, but it still depends a lot on how HoT implements it.

I hate the idea of contribution points and some arcade-style high score reward system. It cheapens the experience. I would prefer a more subtle reward system.

Originally posted by heerobya

OMG SHUT UP about Hardcore versus Casual.

 

 

 

Wait for the wowkiller, vaporware and fail. ;)

Another game to play. Seems to be nice.

Originally posted by Aganazer

Originally posted by hook87

There is a subtle diffrence between what HoT is trying to do and Wars's PQ system. in war pq system imps atttack the city and u either save the day or dont. in 5 minutes imps attack the city no matter what the outcome was before hand.

HoT is suggesting that imps attack the city if u fail the city is burned to the ground and u get quests prob ably to repair the city. If u succeded maybe tommrow a dragon will attack the city. Least this is how i interpedt the interview in the video section.

 

Its just a matter of perspective and correct me if I'm wrong because I didn't play WAR for very long. A WAR style PQ is just a series of phases starting from the idle phase. The idle phase is just what happens when no one is around to start the other phases.

Now imagine the idle phase in HoT being a burned city. That is what happens if nobody does anything. From the idle phase you do the steps needed to restore the city. Then the last phase is another attack. I guess the big difference is that the last phase can repeat if the attack fails to destroy the city.

There is no doubt that its a good idea. The PQ system from WAR had plenty of room for improvement. I hope that the HoT system expands it a whole lot. I would like to see them effect everything both big and small. Instead of phases with simple objectives, have quests and entire quest chains that trigger phases. Let the phases of one PQ effect the phase of a larger PQ. Its on the right track for what I think people are wanting, but it still depends a lot on how HoT implements it.

I hate the idea of contribution points and some arcade-style high score reward system. It cheapens the experience. I would prefer a more subtle reward system.

I did play War and in essence you got thier pq system correct. There are 3 to 4 stages in each pq and players can do things on any pq at anytime and the pq will stay wherever the players left off on it. Most of the later stages are timed though and so if no one does anything on them it resets to stage 1 thus completing an infinite unchanging loop.

While the example in the interview is simple the idea behind it and what the devs are saying they wish to achieve is the fact that the game world can change on a permanent basis according to what players do and do not do on these public quests. Maybe the town burns down and dissapears forever. Perhaps later a new town springs up nearby based on player actions or maybe no town reemerges. There is no guarentee of the infinite loop in this game. Some parts of the game world will be basic MMO stuff with repeating infinite loops to cater to the people who just dont want to get involved on any particular day, however, if the devs get what they wish the majority of the world will be everchanging based on what the players do and dont do.

So the real question is: Can they pull this off? or will they end up with more infinite loops to cover the content gaps that might still occur? I am betting the will fall somewhere in the middle, not nearly dynamic as most people imagine it will be or what they want it to be, yet not so static in the infinite loop sense that current MMO's are known for.  Thus hoping they can make some sort of system that can be copied by future MMO companies and made even better until we truly get a dynamic non instanced world.

Originally posted by Sortis

So if I wanna be the best hero i should play the best dps class so i can deal more dps and then get more recognition? How lame is that?! The job system is gonna be gimp as hell unless they somehow avoid the almighty Ninja crutch that FFXI had. Meaning for those who havent played FFXI. Having a subjob system was a pain in the ass considering if you just wanted to play a Black Mage(wizard) then sorry to bad in order to be the best black mage you can be you have to play a White Mage(healer) which is a class you may want to play or absolutly dread! When most anyone gets into an MMO they decide upon a class they want to play like a Rogue and then take off. When they hit level 16 they dont want to have to feel the need to go do a subjob quest and then level a class they have no interest in just to keep from being what the game considers gimp. Ok guys lets go level our warrior and experience the same exact content all over again now so we can get that increase to power. Not to mention eventually some classes in that game actually required a multitude of sub jobs aka Monk. What a joke. So in short if they make it like FFXI's job system then I honestly wont give it a second look, same thing goes for FF14. To those who dont understand I apologize. You have to go truely experience this monster of a problem for yourself before you can truely be this disgruntled. Not to say that everyone hated this system, but for those who dont have alt-idis it is a nightmare!

I do understand what you are saying ,i am sort of a FF expert ...lol

I can feel your pain,if you are shunned because you are not playing the stereotypical setup others want you to play but..............

If you open your mind to understand the over all concept,you realize the sub job system is miles the best.Think of it this way,if you wanted to play a BLM as you stated,would you not want your blm to be the best it can be?ignore the fact there is sub jobs,just think of the facts,you would want it to be the best it can.

There is NEVER a set subjob other than say PLD/war.Certain situations offer better setups than others.What this does  allow for is versatility,witch is always a good thing.You also have to remember why you have chosen the said job/class.if it does not offer what you want out of a game,then you should be playing something different.

I will relate to your blm query once again.Imagine you have a group but no healer,a blm/whm can work as a healer especially if it is a Taru,so you would have a working party instead of no party at all,so you see why the system is a much better one.

The sub job system opens up many options ,not only in party situations but solo or nm hunting or duoing,it gives the game a FULL appeal,WITHOUT ruining the mechanics with a jack of all trades system.

I may have misunderstood this game as i thought they were going to implement a jack of al ltrades system,witch really dumbs a game down into a solo/single player game not a MMO.I think what they are saying is that you are open to all the spells /skills in the game through the sub class system,at least i hope that is what they mean.

There is another aspect that "IS" VERY important ,especially when playing a well developed game with unique mechanics.That one thing is "UNDERSTAND" the other class/job roles in the game.there is no better way to understand them,than to play them.I have seen thousands of times ,players do not function well or understand a game propelry ,solely on the fact ,they do not understand the other jobs/classes.A VERY simple example,you do not understand a thiefs SATA and use your TP ability in between the sata turning the mob and ruining it.You could argue,well don't make a game so complicated,i do not think it is over complicated,i think it offers unique game play and not the same old ho hum over and over.