as an 'elder' player of horizons, i can tell you that it has x factor.  that certain something that can't be explained or described.

for  me, its a combo of the players and the play.  horizons looks like home, and it feels like home.  no home is perfect and neither is istaria.  but its comfortable, its friendly (sometimes more than others, of course! lol), and its deceptively simple.

its the only game you can play a dragon in, you are not limited to one or two skewls, either crafting or adventuring (i am currently using my second plot construction as a reason to shoot for my 'master builder' emblem!), and i have never ever found another game with more friendly and helpful peeps.  in istaria, we are firm believers in the concept of 'pay it forward'.......

so come give us a try.  you got nothing to lose, after all - try it for 14 days - if you like it, try a f2p account.  if you really like it, i recommend a gifted account - having a plot or lair gives you something to always be doing!

choose a shard - order for roleplayers, blight for peeps who like to test and do the most current content (and are the kewlest beans, of course! ;-} ), and chaos for more 'normal' players.....and make sure you get on the forums too.  an excellent place for knowledge and networking.....

but beware - its a sneaky game......you might think you don't like it and move on, but you will find yourself thinking about it, comparing it to other games.......then one day, BAM! you find yourself back home, and wondering how it happened!  and you will be welcomed back with open arms and joyful hearts!

only really doing it to join the upcoming holiday fun, but i have decided to create an alt on the live shards.

will be very strange not being uber or mostly uber.......

so look for me on either shard within the next few days - i always make my presence known, and i know a lot of good places to do things at.......

hi tried!

nice to see you came back and gave us another try!!  most welcome home, and we love having you as long as you care to stay!

yeah, crafting grind is still the same.  i always try to have a nice stack of (currently, 30 year old MADs) magazines and/or something kewl on the boobtoob will grinding.  it helps, specially if you are a wuss like me and don't care to play with the nasties while crafting.

the professions change all the time - it might help to remember that until virtrium came along, horizons had been owned by some pretty nasty peeps.  vi is trying to get things strait and flying right.  personally, i am still peeved about them taking nadia away, but what can you do, eh?  gods will be gods, after all.

well, i kinda like the falling gols......makes em easier to target or to run past.  and if you are at the sandstone quarry in parsinia, the bronze gols start walking around in a circle together, and when they start falling down, it looks like a game of ring around the rosey.....

i encourage everyone who might be interested in a slower paced, community committed, pve game where there are no leets or pressure to check out the free to play option.....you got nothing to lose, after all!!!

Originally posted by PhelimReagh

OK, I'll be the bad guy in the love-fest here....

 

While I understand that this is basically an Istaria promotional effort (which I have no problem with), are you going to offer any sort of criticism of the community? Or is it just perfect?

 

I for one will at least offer this, from the time I gave the trial a whirl on the RP server, Order: there's no one there. I don't think there were ever 100 people on whenever I tried playing.

 

And with a small community comes other types of problems. If you dont' get along with a couple of the established people, word spreads to, well, everyone on the server and there's really not much room for you if somehow you don't quite fit in with the long-established clique(s).

 

Now, granted, this did not happen to me but reading the forums there seemed to be a tremendous amount of inter-personal drama that seemed to impact everyone.

 

I love the idea of Istaria, and I hope somehow it figures out a way to let all the PvE loving folks out there know it exists and they crash a server or two from population overload. But I just wanted to add a little, well, balance here.

 

A game all about community does present certain problems. It is not quite heaven on earth as we'd be led to believe.

i believe i would qualify as one of those 'established' players.  here is my 2 cp.....

yes, a small population has all of the probs above.  i myself am very guilty of jumping on newbies that strike me a being a boor.  yeap, i am considered a horizons 'fanboi' - i proudly admit that.

i have flamed, i have knowingly (and unknowingly, rarely) trolled hoping to start a flame war.  i have been rude and crude and a pain in the azz.

because i love istaria.  its my home.  i get very passionate about it.

and because i am part of a family, my siblings have admonished me, and punished me, and kept me in my place (as much as they can, of course).

the very very best thing about horizons is that as soon as you join us, you are part of a family.  good and bad, better or worse - you are stuck with us and we are stuck with you.  to paraphrase chief o'brien, you can pick your friends and you can pick your enemies, but your family - that's in the stars of istaria.

there are no leetists in istaria.  you will never be pwned (you might be owned in the arena, but that is by choice!!!  i will never forget the beatdowns abbie gave me!!), you will be given the respect and interest you give back. 

and like any family, there is decension, and conflict, and hard words between us.   we talk things out, we apologise and explain our position, we come to some sort of middle ground, and for the most part, we move on,

we are not perfect - reading the forums on any given day will show that too well to try to put a 'happy' face on - but we are together.

come try us out and judge for yourself.  most welcome home!