Originally posted by DMKano

Originally posted by Styles755

I'm curious to see what "changes" in the game will happen when the TV show rolls out. They say the game will change with what happens in the show, this is what really interested me since I am a big SciFI fan and I plan on watching the show as well.

I have played the beta, really enjoyed it actually. Yea it's repetitive but the gameplay is fun and smooth, the servers were stable (at least in Beta) on my end. I'm going to stick with it for awhile and see how it goes.

Apparently the first content update happens on the 15th when the show launches. Trion has 5 DLCs planned during the first season of Defiance and other updates, its a  pretty aggressive update schedule.

And the DLC's unlocks on the 5th according to Steam.

I have been in alpha for about 5 months. Minus the UI that everyone complains about, I really enjoyed what I have seen so far. Cant wait to get my hands on the live release after work today.

I also agree with Suzie. I love mages or wizard classes in mmos, but I felt a bit on the weak side  with the CW.  Not that I died allot, I really didnt. I guess I am just use to having an arsenal of good AoE and CC spells. AoE was set to some of the daily skills with very minimal effect. The CC was basicly the frost beam that took a good 6 seconds or so to freeze one mob in place. But when frozen in place it only lasted 2 seconds. Just like Suzie, I found my self playing in melee range more than at range.

I have been beta testing games, mostly mmo's, for almost 10 years. And in the last 3 to 5 years the true testing is done in the alpha betas in which the developers learn and listen to the testers.

Once you hit closed beta its more of the developer testing hardware and server capabilities on there end and the testers are just there to have a population to help stress the server. On occasion if enough people run into that game breaking bug that was missed in alpha, it gets looked into.

Open beta today is just a way for them to help hype the game through community advertising and get those last minute pre-orders as NDA is usually lifted at that point.

Dont get me wrong, not all developers follow the formula above. But more and more as time goes on look for that quick buck in which usually the game suffers because of it. But then there is also the Publishers who are to blame since they hold the funding for the developers in there hand. But thats another story.

Originally posted by taziar

The game seems like a MMO version of borderlands, only less fun and diverse.  There are no classes, and only 4 abilities total.  You get to choose 1 to be active at a time.  All those other little square are just enhancements.  How that is better than classes with diverse skill trees, is beyond me.  Stealth, overcharge, run fast (based on the picture), these aren't even exciting skills when that is all you get.  For PVP they are at least okay, but PVE?  Shoot. Shoot.  Shoot.  Throw Grenade.  Shoot.  Go invisible.  Shoot. Shoot.  They need to delay the game and rethink their skill system and add some diversity, unless they are relying on PVP to support the game.  

Borderlands was fun because of story and progression, with little filler content.  MMOs are mostly filler.  This is true of nearly all MMOs, so mechanics and sense of character advancement becomes far more important.  Doing 10% more damage isn't a sense of advanvcement, not when enemies are scaled with the player.  Also a sense of identy.  ALL the players will have 1 of the same 4 abilities?  Characters should start with 1 active and progress to 3-4, and there should be a dozen or so to pick from.  THAT is a sense of personalization and customization.

 

I like Trion and the concept they have with this game, but this game is destined to dine with Tabula Rasa, unless changes are made to mechanics.  

Remember,  this is a MMO that runs along side the SyFy Channel  TV series that is coming this April. Both the show and the MMO cant be to far apart. They cant simply add a bunch of stuff in game thats not in the TV series. The two are going to intertwine you might say.

I specificly love how the tv series is going to interact with the game community. For instance an example given by Trion is that in the show which takes place in St. Louis for the most part, the people there will need a cure for some type of nano infection. The doctor they know that may have the cure is in San Francisco. Guess where the game takes place? out skirts and inside San Francisco. A quest line will be added to the game after the show with something to do with finding the doctor and getting the cure but will be complex and involve the entire game community. The gaming communnity has up to the next episode to complete the task. Depending on the outcome of the story line the gaming community has created, will be reflected somehow in the next episode.

So theres more then just "Shoot. Shoot.  Shoot.  Throw Grenade.  Shoot.  Go invisible.  Shoot. Shoot" enemies and complete every day normal quests. The game continues to evolve with the TV series. Who knows what other abilities the Ark Hunters in the TV show will get further in the season or seasons. They certainly can be added in game at that time.

If they pull this off, this is going to be a blast.

Originally posted by Crunchy222

 

Oh and no D3 doesnt have pirated software since you have to play online...just like you cant pirate and download for free any other mmorpg and play it for free....still going to ask you to log in with your account and if your not paying your not getting in.

 

 

Negative. There was pirated PC versions that was able to get around the authentication process by the hackers manipulating files. Blizzard took action and banned those accounts, thank goodness.

Originally posted by Quizzical

Originally posted by Falcomith

Originally posted by wizyy

Best SSDs For The Money: January 2013

Thanks. Think I am shooting for       

Mushkin Enhanced Chronos Deluxe MKNSSDCR240GB-DX 2.5" 240GB SATA III MLC

If I can get that same price elswhere or just wait until they replenish there stock in a few days.

Tom's Hardware's "best SSDs for the money" guides are worthless.  Their "best video cards for the money" guides have some merit, and their "best CPUs for the money" have considerably less, but "best SSDs for the money" is completely useless.  Prices bounce around too much, and priorities of the end user have a considerable effect on what makes sense.

Anyway, the SSD you should buy is this one:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=20-148-443

That's $153 with the promo code, which is practically stealing for that capacity in a good quality, thoroughly tested SSD.

Thank you all who gave input.

Thank you Quizzical. That one from newegg you linked I just ordered.

Originally posted by wizyy

Best SSDs For The Money: January 2013

Thanks. Think I am shooting for       

Mushkin Enhanced Chronos Deluxe MKNSSDCR240GB-DX 2.5" 240GB SATA III MLC

If I can get that same price elswhere or just wait until they replenish there stock in a few days.

Originally posted by Quizzical

Basically, you want a SATA 3 (SATA 6 Gb/s) SSD with a Marvell, SandForce, Samsung, LAMD, or Indilinx controller.  In particular, you do not want a Phison or JMicron controller.  After that, it's really just looking at prices and capacities and guessing about reliability.

You should generally regard 120 GB as being basically the same as 128 GB, and 240 GB as being basically the same as 250 GB or 256 GB.  Those slightly different capacity points all have the same amount of physical NAND flash on board, and only differ in how much spare area they force you to set aside.  Even if an SSD lets you fill up more of the spare area, you don't want to do so.

There are some SSDs at intermediate capacities like 180 GB, but that's not what the controllers are designed for, so I'd generally avoid them unless for your purposes, 180 GB is a lot better than 120 GB but not that much worse than 240 GB.

Thanks Quizzical. That gives me a better idea of what to look for. How about IOPS? Any particular range I should be in, or does it really matter?

Hello Geeks, Nerds, PC Enthusists, and Quizzicals.

I am looking to put an SSD in my current PC. It will be setup as a second drive with nothing but games stored on it. Assuming I will get faster loading times using it in that fashion and with $150 budget, what should I look for spec wise in SSD's? Hoping to get one in a 250 Gb range, but for that budget price might have to settle for less.

If it helps, my current setup is as follows.

Asus board with SATA III (at work so I dont know model of board)

AMD 965 x4 3.2 Ghrz black edition CPU

8 gig ram

Nvidia GTX 660 TI 2GB graphics

1TB WD hard drive 5200 rpms :(

Originally posted by Aerowyn

Originally posted by jdnyc

Why wouldn't people spend 10 bucks on a class?  They do it all the time in LoL.  

The game is free.  It's a AAA title.  Analyst don't know crap.  And it's been proven over and over and over again.

/thread.

yea if the game is fun i'd happily pay $10 to unlock a new class in a game that cost me nothing to download and play

This!

I have done that with DDO. I bought a race and a class. Guild Wars 2, I bought 2 extra slots so that I can have a character slot for each class. If done right, PW and Cryptic can be successful if they set up the store properly without putting a burden on its customers. I dont care what the analysts say. Most of the crap they come up with is more opinionated than factual.

Originally posted by Kilrain
This is what I was hoping for and wish more game companies would do the same. The only thing I have to say is, I want to play a Drow without paying cash. Hey, he said I could do anything without paying, right?

 

You might have missed this...

"And please note that last sentence -- you can get everything you want by playing. Everything. This includes mounts, costumes, etc. Why? How? Because you can put your Astral Diamonds up on an auction house and sell them for micro-transactable points. Then you can purchase anything you'd like in our micro-transaction store. "

It looks like we might be able to purchase the Drow using that method. Assuming the Drow will be in the store eventually. I hope so.

Originally posted by Nadia

Originally posted by jdnyc
 This last weekend I hit level 30 with my Rogue and put in over 19 hours of game time.  I didn't even push myself.  I wanted to play.  Here's the big take-away for me with Neverwinter.  THE GAME IS FUN.

thanks for your impressions

 

I dont know how many levels are in the game .. is it 60 levels?

30 levels in 19 hours seems fast for Dungeons and Dragons inspired mmo

Yes, there is 60 levels when it releases. For the last beta, they allowed up to 30. I was to surprised how fast I got to level 28 on my rogue. I did it in about 12 hours. There is still time for them to tweak the xp gain. 

I have been in other betas where the xp was purposely tweaked high so that higher level content and skills could be tested. Was this the reason of the high xp gain, I dont know. 

Even if you level fast, I think the player created content is what would keep me going.

Originally posted by Metanol

 

 

Puzzles & Traps & Secrets

Of course we have not seen much, but the few puzzles and traps what have been shown in Closed Beta gameplay videos, look just terrible. Where's the secret or the exploration, if it's an empty cavern, with one bookshelf at the end (with a Shining book glowing in the middle like a road flare)

DDO's path might have been a bit too hardcore. They brought in the skills from 3rd edition. Anyone who had enough Search / Spot / Listen skill could find secret doors and spot traps.

 

Conclusion

While Neverwinter will probably be a larger commercial success than DDO, it has no right what-so-ever to be called a "DDO2". The gameplay is completely different, as is the company which made it. The whole theme and the idea is different.

Just want to mention about the the traps as I have played in the past beta weekend. Traps are more noticable when playing a rogue. They sparkle. Rogues can disarm them.

I went back into the same area with my Cleric, and I totally forgot about the traps and got nailed by just about everyone of them. 

As far as the secret book case with the skull, that can only be opened by the warrior as they use a dungeonering skill. Or if playing another class you can use the dungeonerring item, which can drop or be purchased, that allows you to open as many as you want in 3 mins. But by the time you find the next one, if there is one, your 3 min period is up.

NVW wont be for everyone. I'd say any hardcore D&D people will probably like DDO better. But what will keep NVW goinf will be the player created content.

Originally posted by Gorwe

It actually was. Because they started to get flame ready and I stepped in to explain things. It all happened because random guy used my acronym(you'll hear about that acronym soon enough :D) and didn't explain what it actually stood for. Plus if people get offended at stuff like Fool/Plonker/Wallie/Nitwit-it's their fault and not mine. It's my way of speaking so get used to it(and not only mine!)...

Anyhow, use EXTREMELY polite expressions if you wind up there. Behave Like you are at Pope's Palace...

I think the reason they do draw a line is, typed words cant necessarily translate if you are kidding or really mean it in a hurtful way all the time. I use some of those same words you mentioned in person to person conversations jokingly, but try not to online to prevent misinterpetation. So I guess in order to keep things from being blown out of proportion there sometimes have to have strict rules to help prevent these things.