Ok, I herd about SotNW but I'm curious to try it out now that its all updated with a "sequel" can anyone give me the down and dirty for this game. How bad is the grind? I know its click to play, but is it still fast paced? Is there enough going on that the game feels like it has active combat, or am I going to get bored with it? I've played to many Action-RPG  MMOs and can't go back to auto attack. Tips for newbie? Macroing guides? ETc

Thanks a bunch. 

This game is certainly different from the typical 3rd person view MMO.

It's click to play because there is no other way to control the movements of your team with the keyboard.  The row of keys starting with Q controls the skills of the first character, the row starting with A controls the 2nd char, and the row starting with Z controls the 3rd char.  Even all the F keys on the top are used.

When moving, chances are that you'll use 2 types of movements.  One is to move without attacking anything and the other is to attack everything on the way to the destination.  Once at the destination, you'll probably press Spacebar to set everyone to auto defend mode and then actively use skills.  The more advanced players can set the control to individual mode and control each character individually but that'll require quick fingers and practice.  Those tend to be the better PvP players too for obvious reasons.

Yes, the game can be very fast paced depending on the map.  On some of the more active maps, literally more than a half dozen new mobs can attack you at every second.  Unless you can one shot those mobs, they will pile up and soon there will be a pile of mobs crushing you.  Shotgun and AOE spells FTW!

The grind has been reduced for the level range from 1 to 80.  When actively playing, you can take up missions that give experience cards as rewards.  I'm not entirely sure if the grind has been modified between 80 and 100 for free players.

Players who spend real money on cash shop items have access to the few maps that have the highest concentration of mobs.  This is where more than a dozen mobs come at you every second.  With more mobs killed per second, the experience gained per second is more than the standard maps.

I almost always place actively in the game so I see alot of active combat.  However, a great majority of the higher level players use the AFK feature as their goal is to gain levels.  Fortunately there are many daily events involving instance battles that require active participation.

Note that normal combat is auto attack but unlike the normal MMO where you tab+auto attack, in this one you combine the basic auto attack with movement and skill usage.  An example of a battle involves auto attack running in the background with the player quicker moving with the mouse and pressing various skill keys depending on the situation at the moment.

One thing of note is that there are no macros but there really isn't a need compared to the other games out there.

The control scheme is different enough in this game that it turns off people used to the traditional controls schemes (such as WASD).

My comparison of a traditional MMO map battle versus this one:

Traditional:

1) Select a single mob or a small group of mobs (< 3).

2) Cast spell / use skill

3) Auto attack while waiting for spell to cool down.

4) Go to step 2 until mob is defeated.

5) Go to step 1

Sword2 / Sotnw

1) Control + Click on a geographic spot on the map that offers a tactical advantage.  Control+Click means to attack all mobs on the way to the destination.  A geographic spot may be a spot against a wall, a narrow pass, a empty field, etc depending on the map and the number of mobs per map.

2) Once at the spot, hit Spacebar to go into auto defend mode and watch as your team attacks all hostiles.

3) When a map boss or if there is a particularily tough or large clump of mobs wanders by,   Prepare to move your team or start using your skills.  In a traditional starter team of tank/healer/dps

3a) Have the tank use Provoke to draw the attention of the mobs away from the other members.

3b) Have the dps user skills/spells to attack the mobs clustered around the tank.

4) Watch as your team play itself.  Some people go AFK at this point as the team can fight by itself.  More active people seek out another clump of mobs or the map boss after they've defeated the clumps in the current area.

As far as a Free 2 play quality game this one is quite good. Expect to pay an average of $15-$25 a month once you reach the Expert levels though. (level 120/130) before that its not to bad to level up on your own without spending more than a few dollars here and there. I was able to get to level 110 without spending any money before the game became unrealistically slow to progress. At which point I spent about $15 a month or so on it. 

That being said there are better ways to spend your $15/mo than this game. I realized that and quit this game at about level 116. 

The biggest drawback I see to the game is the PvP. 

Its based on who has the best gear almost entirely and quite extensively. 

Let me put it to you this way.

A level 120 who spends $25 a month and upgrades his gear to +7-+8 can usually one or two shot a  level 120 who doesn't spend money and can only get his gear to around +5. 

There is a huge advantage for those who use the cash shop in high level PvP and some dungeons to obtain some of this really good high level gear require you to spend the money in items in order to participate in the dungeons *depending on your Clan but largely common in high level clans*

Not a single person who reached level 120 in my clan of 62 players (28 reached the level) actually managed to do it without spending money.

Those who don't spend money are seen as fodder to those who do.

So goodluck if you can spend the money and you really wanna AFK while you level which is this game's main selling point then you should probably give it a shot. 

The music and graphics are great even though the game came out in 2007 in the US and 2005 in Korea the graphics still look phenomenal for a Free game. It's got a decent storyline and the AFK game play will keep you happy right up until it asks you to open up your wallet....but consider this.

Most F2P mmos now days take at least $25-30 a month to compete even if you spend a large amount of time playing them.

In this game you can AFK the majority of the time spend about $15-$25/mo and progress extremely well.

So its your choice really.

If you absolutely MUST get screwed by a F2P company and pay more for a sub-standard product I suppose this game isn't a very bad choice. 

If you play rather casually and avoid the PvP Sword2 can be a pretty decent game for the money invested. In total I spent $100 for 3 years of game play and still made level 120 and have a couple pieces of +7 gear.

U can get pretty far without using the Cash Shop, I can say that, because around 80% of the stuff I bougth on Cash Shop, was after Master, and it was mostly cosmetic stuff, and with the lastest Expansion, things get even easier to live without Cash Shop. so you DONT need to pay $15-$25 per Month, Unless you got Zero Time, and no Patience to do things slowly.

skip this one...

. its still awful , player base is small ,unfriendly , elitest and rude .

and theres still no lvl cap on monster drops , so if a lvl 120 wants the drops in a area your trying to quest in , your just done .

skip the game save your money and time .

sorry didnt notice dead post

Just to Assist a Misinformed User, There is a Limit on levels in the Drops, its 16 Lvls down, after this amount of levels, you only get Basic Drops, or if you are in a map below Level 100 Shiny Crystals(what are a great way to get Money), and about the community, I can't speak for the other 2 servers, but if you need assist and is on Orpesia, PM Sarennar, and I will be more then happy to help you, and just before I finish, Many Players don't talk in Chat, because they Might Be AFK

Before You bash a Game, Learn a bit about it, saves you a Lot of Confusion and Anger.