Originally posted by TangentPoint

 

Good points.

I wasn't aware of the scenario you described above. But then, I've been away from the game for well over a year.

Though in my case, it was purely a guild-mate trying to help me through some content. I honestly expected it to be more of a challenge than what it was. I barely had time to unsheathe my weapon before everything was dead.

It makes me really doubt the sincerity of people I see asking for a mentoring system merely so they can group up with their lower level friends.

That is unless by "helping lower level players", SOE and other companies explicitly mean "power leveling lower level players".

 

Well to be honest I do not like level games at all for various reasons.   Well MMO's that is.. I don't really care in the RPG world.

You can help new friends or friends that come into a game.

It just regardless of level based or skill based...  in UO a 7x GM  (early uo) was going to be much better at combat or should be.. then a new guy with the starting gear and points.   Then again in UO if you wanted to raise a skill we could just fight each other and then you could level up your bandaging if you were using it etc... you didn't even have to fight mobs.

In a level game without mentoring I have to start a new toon... which I might do for a very good friend.   I'm not going to start a new character for every new person.

I mean at some point almost all games get top heavy and if you have a guild it may not have a lot of low level.   I do think its tough for new people if they can never group with their guild and usually nobody wants to help new people after a while.

So the systems can be good in many ways... if you watch 1-9 in eq2 especially on Antonia Bayle.. it will not take long to see what I was talking about.   There are people who use the system as intended.. but no .. you won't see the challenge in group content with someone mentoring.   Especially if they are say a Shadow Knight.. if they are raid geared and high AA they could probably pull most instances they are mentored down to.. in one pull and kill it all.   Just depends on how far down they are mentored... at some point that changes of course.

Originally posted by cinos

For me the fact that there is so little information out about this game with less than 2 months to go till launch is setting off major alarm bells. By information, I don't mean lofty paper promises either. I mean substantial gameplay footage showing the mechanics at work that isn't nearly 2 years old.

Yes the press NDA lifts on the 21st, but honestly I have seen enough of this lack of information followed by floodgates opening scenario (regarding MMO's in the past) to know to stay the hell away at launch and for at least a few months there after.

Of course there is always the other reason to stay away at launch, Funcom, but then everyone has said that one already. :p

That's almost how I feel.

I don't really need a lot of "in" game information or hype.

The reason I have alarm bells going off is because they stated there is to be an open beta... 2 months out.. no word.. nothing...

There are no retailers taking orders for the game.   You cannot find it on gamestop.... amazon.. etc etc etc

Every other MMO is up for order the moment it is announced even if officially you can't order it until 3 years later...

^^  That to me is a HUGE alarm bell... because pricing etc should all be set now.   So every retailer out there should be taking orders even IF the game is delayed they should have an order page up for it...

If the game is going to be delayed that's fine...

Either way you should be able to pre-order it now.   If the game is not being delayed then seriously... what the hell?

Originally posted by brody71

Originally posted by NBlitz

If you can stomach the guy. Watch him play here: http://www.twitch.tv/devolore/b/308304316

You can skip minutes of course. 

My favorite part was at around 5:39:00.

LOL, you just made my day. :)

 

95% percent of the people were soloing that, and he had a healer.  Starting to think he doesnt like it cause it's too hard for him.

I couldn't really take watching him play... personally if i was him I would not be showing videos.   

Before he goes into the last instance he's losing half his health to a rather simple mob because he just stands there toe to toe with it... eventually he finally rolls and after  taking more abuse moves to the side.

Warrior is not that complicated... if you are having mana issues then you can simply roll and use the chain off that .. which you do your roll early because its pretty easy to time the mobs first attack.   Then you simply use either A or D to strafe around the mob while using your basic attack... he would be destroying the mobs and taking pretty much 0 damage.

Of the 5 or so classes that I played through that last instance... Warrior took the least damage (basicly none)... in fact I've never died in there and I don't have much for game skillz... but this guy has to be brain dead.   Tho to be honest I see a LOT of people playing Warrior just like that and its my favorite melee class in the game.

Originally posted by Zlayer77

Originally posted by TruthXHurts

I'm sure it will still be a major factor, but if I can dodge the attacks of some fat troll who lacks the hand eye coordination to keep up with me  then I have a better chance then I do in WoW right?

From what i seen this far.. yes you can dodge out of the way.. making it much more about skill.. as he cant have you targeted.. Looks like you can even miss with Ranged in this game... so if it playes like that I will for one try it out..

There are at least a few ranged attacks that lock on target.   Sorcs for example have a multi target root... Archers get a multi target "lock on" early in their career.   I am not sure you can dodge those... I would assume a Zerker could axe block them if facing the right way.

The majority of attacks.. yes you can dodge them.   Along with the fact that the general range of "ranged" is pretty short... players with skill (lol don't look at me.. I'm skill challenged) can pretty easily toast a ranged class played by what I generally term a lemming.

Then again you can be standing almost on top of a caster and if they are good at moving... you aren't going to hit them either without some form of stun or area melee attack.

My only real gripe with the game is... I am beyond sick of seeing "You have been playing an hour OMG you should log out"... 

that is the only thing that really annoys me in the game.  

Originally posted by TangentPoint

The mentoring system in EQ2 feels rather broken to me.

A fellow guildmember ran me through a couple low level dungeons on the Freeport side, Wailing Caves and Fallen Gate to be exact, and it was ridiculous how he was shrugging off attacks from groups of enemies where an individual one would have dropped me in 2 hits.

He was barely taking damage at all.

I don't know what SOE's real intention was for mentoring, but I would doubt it has anything to do with allowing higher level players to group up with lower level players in order to help with challenging content. For as easily as the mentor blasts through the content, they may as well have been at their normal level, because any sense of challenge is obliterated. The only difference I see is between the mentee getting xp or not getting xp.

Well this to me goes to any "mentoring" system really.   In fact its kind of the same in a level-less game simply due to the fact you'd have someone with a complete skill set with you.

Could a buddy that just started SWG play with me?  sure... heck our on PA had a few people early in rifleman that always asked for groups.   Depending on your skill set they might not even get a shot off before the mobs were dead.. and in that game they had to do some damage to get the xp they were looking for.

So its the same relative thing... it does allow you to help someone but its not about "challenge" at all.

I'll tell you exactly how Mentoring is generally used in EQ2...

Level 90:   Will powerlevel for XX plat per hour.

Guy goes and buys either a SC card or and this may not be done anymore a box of cards (digital).   They then find someone in game who will play plat for one or the other... and then trade the plat for power leveling.

The 90 is simply doing it for plat or AA because they get a boost to xp for mentoring and all xp is going to AA...

or at least that is a common scenario in EQ2.. and I really like EQ2 but I'm not blind to what goes on there.

Oddly...

This is not a game I would have normally even tried.   I started off as an Archer... then deleted that and split my time (by server due to 1 toon) between a Sorc and a Warrior.   I really enjoy Warrior becuase you can't just stand there like most MMO's facerolling keys... well you can but the health related issues would lead you to laying down more than standing still.

I switched the Archer to Sorc because... the vast majority of ranged characters I saw were Archers or Priests.   Tho I did play a Mystic for a bit.   With the Sorc I enjoy aggroing a crap load of mobs then kiting them all over.

What I enjoy even more are the mob specials... one of them the mob curls up into a ball and rolls over anything in its path.   I like that because if you time it right another player is riding by on their horse just then and the mob smashes them into the ground.. which makes me laugh.

Active targeting is fun... I didn't think it would be.

No faction by default pvp... I might decide to try it.   I hate factions because then people who seem ot irritate me are my faction... tho since I can't loot them like in UO and such.. I may not be happy still.

I doubt I will play this game very much.... but it does humor me at the moment.   Oh and I only played to level 20 so far out of the 22 levels you can hit this weekend.

I'll also throw in I would have played nothing but the warrior... there just happens to be a ton of people playing those as well.   Not as many .. compared to lancers but too many.   I think they will end up in the "Huntard" category ... because there will be so many bad Warriors... your chances outside of having a guild.. to get groups may be slim.

Seriously?   North Brit Graveyard...  (ultima online for those that didn't play).

*you have gone link dead*

"stupid dial up when can I get cable in this swamp.."   *log back in*

*you have been murdered*

Originally posted by gexz7

Some times I think they SONY or someone at SONY tried to kill VG  for Eq2

A lot of people feel that way or felt that way.

To be honest if Sony had wanted to kill VG all they had to do was not front the money to reaquire the rights to the game from Microsoft... then it would have gone to the same grave as all those other MMO's they cancelled.   Like Mythica... I believe was one of them that they dropped after Mythic filed a lawsuit.

Originally posted by Nadia

Originally posted by Qazaam

Actually the subscriber loss isn't as bad as I thought it would be.  Plus a million annual passes sold.  The ship isn't sinking quite as fast as I was lead to believe.

should be noted

a million annual passes does not mean that players payed for a year in advance

 

the annual pass is a declaration of "intent to pay for a year"

players can pay monthly and be part of the annual pass  -- and the player can drop out from the agreement anytime

 

 I agree, WOW is doing OK

The one line of this I would bring up is:

"players can pay monthly and be part of the annual pass -- and the player can drop out from the agreement anytime"

Actually if you sign up for the pass the cancel option is greyed out on your account.   Mousing over it will say you cannot cancel until (and I forget the exact wording) but its 12 months from when you signed up for the pass.

Obviously you can go to your credit card company and decline the charges... however, you will then have your account permanently banned as well.

So yes you can drop out anytime... if you don't plan on ever playing that account* again.  (edited to add "that account" )

Some people may choose to do that...

I just thought it should be clear that while you could "opt out" there is no way to go into account management and do it.   Or in other words... There is no Blizzard approved way to simply drop out.

Originally posted by Jimmy562

Strange, no patch for me.

Just checked and I had no patch either.   I even pressed play just to see the two offline servers ...

Originally posted by DaSpack

Originally posted by Antarious

The only "news" I'm really interested in....

 

If release is coming in April... how about some pre-order details?

 

Along with any information about variations in game package.   Will there only be one version... or a collector's version or will it be like the God Slayer expansion that had about 10 different versions (or seemed to at least the digital version that is).

 

It just seems like we should be getting that kind of news at this point in time...

 

*edit* or *news* that they are delaying release to polish.... 

 

 

24th of April is launchdate. Some magazine just leaked that yesterday. Funcom when asked about this said that their official announcement on this would be out any moment now. So the leaked date is the 24th of April.

They "officially" responded to that yesterday very shortly after the ... leak..

http://massively.joystiq.com/2012/02/08/funcom-debunks-the-secret-world-launch-date-rumor/

You can see the "official" statement there.. since the thread was deleted from the official TSW forums.

"Funcom has previously announced the launch month for the game to be April 2012 and wants to stress that there is currently no change or update on the expected time for commercial launch of The Secret World. The company will announce the release date at a later stage through a stock notice and a formal press release when the date has been set"

I don't care much about the release date to be honest.   I just find it strange you can't pre-order the game anywhere.   Almost all retailers take pre-orders long before there is an official pre-order or... a release date.

Originally posted by theniffrig

I said it before and I'll say it again. TSW's lack of information suits the game's theme entirely. I hope the devs continue to play their cards close to their chests and very slowly release information about the game, instead of opening the flood gates.

True enough... maybe being able to pre-order the game will be a super secret puzzle or something.   Like if you find the holy grail in real life.. under it is directions to a vault that is supposed to have pre-order information.

Except when you get there... all you find is Geraldo Rivera...

This thread is a pretty good example of what is wrong with forums and general chat.

The start of this thread was one person giving information about a game they apparantly enjoy.   It would seem their purpose was to try to get people to actually try the game.   Then if they didn't like it fine... but at least try it. 

Most of it turned into some discussion of TOR and eventually circled back around to the tried and true WoW clone comments.

None of which had anything to do with the subject of the thread.  

I like discussion and debate and I take part in enough of those threads.   This thread was obviously not intended to be one of those... to be honest its pretty sad that this is how we behave here.

I wasn't really following the game but decided to pre-order it.   This isn't really a game *I* would normally play.. that said..

I don't find the combat clunky.   Its a bit different than I am used to.   However, I have been playing Kingdoms of Amalur which is a bit different for me as well.  

So last night during the dress rehersal the Warrior felt really familiar.   With the more "active" combat and rolling etc.. *edit* (this was why I mentioned KoA).  *end edit*

The only "odd" thing I find at least having never played is how ranged classes are.   It just feels like you have to be really close and to me that's counter-intuitive to what I think of when I think of ranged.  I really enjoyed playing an Archer even tho it was somewhat different for me.   That first multi target ability you get at I think level 3?  was fun.

At least it seems that you have to be at 19 to 20 meters... I think it was 19 but right around there.  

I'm not saying its bad...   I mean *cough* I just remember the days in DAoC before they changed archery and being on top of a level 10 tower your range was ... LOL... 

The only "news" I'm really interested in....

If release is coming in April... how about some pre-order details?

Along with any information about variations in game package.   Will there only be one version... or a collector's version or will it be like the God Slayer expansion that had about 10 different versions (or seemed to at least the digital version that is).

It just seems like we should be getting that kind of news at this point in time...

*edit* or *news* that they are delaying release to polish.... 

Originally posted by Cthulhu23

Originally posted by Thodra

Originally posted by DaRoamer

Well without testing, according to THIS thread on the forums you can transfer the item but the appearance changes depending on the faction, which is why you don't see that mask on a republic character.  Even if he's wearing it it'll look different.

That's sad....  Dunno whats going on with BW. 

Yeah, it's CLEARLY  a major flaw in the game that you can't have Jedis running around with Sith Warrior Hannibal Lechter masks.  

You serious, guy?  Sorry, at some point, someone had to step in and say "You know what?  You'd never see this kind of thing in the Star Wars universe, so you won't see it in our game, either."  Jedis should look like Jedis, and Sith should look like Sith.  It's pretty simple, really.

 

 

Its not just an item that looks Sith... being reskinned.

After the first few weeks I decided to reroll to the light side if you will.   The only Empire characters I kept were my crafters until I could replace them.   So I used the GTN to get some gear to my new characters.

One of my friends was playing a Sentinel and she wanted a certain look.   So I made some armor I'd seen a Marauder wearing in other words skimpy....   She puts the gear on her Sentinel ... definitely not the appearance she was looking for.  

On the other hand... while i was still playing some of the crafted heavy armor I made for one guy..  looked much better on that side than when I had it on my Powertech.

*deletes wall of text*

If I was going to complain about anything in this game... lack of "recount" is not one of them.   I don't care if that type of function is in the game or any game.   This is as always... just my opinion.

Originally posted by colonnelli71

Hey guys, I just built a new computer and I am experiencing some hiccups. I had an old system Dual core pentium with 3 gigs of ram. I was having tons of problems trying to play Rift and Star Wars, especially in pvp. Now this new system I got the Asus Maximus IV Extreme P67 motherboard with a i7 2600k processor and Corsair Vengence 16 GBs of DD3 1600 ram. I am using my same graphics card ATI Radeon 5770. Now of course I notice a huge improvement playing, almost no lag at all with everything turned up. However after hours of playing I get a blue screen for physical memory and it dumps and resets the computer. I am using Windows 7 Premium and checked and it does in fact show 16 gbs of ram. Do I have something set improper? Is there a way to have the computer clear the physical memory while your playing to avoid these crashes? Also I was thinking about buying the new Radeon 7970 cards, any thoughts?

At least in the past most blue screens were actually related to driver issues (or software issues).

You say this happens after hours of playing... Is that the only time it happens?   Is this with only a paticular game or more than one?   If you leave the system on for hours not playing the game(s) that cause this it functions ok?   It could actually be a problem with the game you are playing... if its only a certain game.   Which is why I ask this... if its only one game you are playing you may find information on its forums or with a google search.   If its any game you play.... *read on*

Did you download the newest drivers from AMD for your video card?   Install all your motherboard drivers etc?

Sometimes certain SSD drives can cause blue screens as well.   You could check for an updated firmware.   Just be alert to the fact that some firmware updates will wipe all data on the SSD.   So you may end up doing a reinstall of Windows 7 if there is an update.

Your Asus motherboard should also have some utilities.. it would be called something like:  AI Suite.   One of the options in there is "monitor" and then you'd pick sensor.   As you game you can watch your various temps to see if maybe you have a heat problem.   Tho honestly it shouldn't take hours ... if that is the case.   It would ramp up very quickly... not over hours.

*edited to add*

When you say after it resets whatever you were doing starts up....  what exactly do you mean?    Is the computer actually totally restarting.. coming up to the splash screen and then things start to open... or do you mean the screen goes blue.. then black and *poof* you see what you were doing before?    (that's kind of important to know exactly... like if you're playing a game and your computer actually resets the game won't still be running... if it is what you are seeing is a video driver crash/recovery).

I didn't answer this but with Windows 7 you shouldn't need anything to clear the memory.   Win7 is very good about that.

As to the 7970... I would not worry about that until you figure out what is causing this issue.   I have two 7970's and I like the cards.   It comes down to having 550'ish US $$  that you are willing to spend... if you can wait until Kepler hits the market... you will get some price drops (kepler is nvidias next chip but no idea when it will come to market beyond this year...).

Originally posted by Adalwulff

I'll never understand why players are so crazy about soloing an MMO, many of them want to solo the entire game. It makes no sense to me, and I have heard all of the arguements over the years.

I've come to one conclusion, those players are SELFISH!!

None of thier arguements make any sense, they call them MMO's for a reason, otherwise they would be MSO's. These selfish players love to ruin games for personal reasons, I have seen them on forums complaining so much that devs cave in, only to have the same players leave anyway, becaues the game was too hard, and they couldnt get finish the whole game without help.

If you try to direct them to some awsome single player games out there, and there are LOTS of good ones, they scream and cry, not caring at all about other players.

Soloers are the scourge of MMO's and I cant stand them. Its no coincidence that most of these soloers are the same hardcore pvp crowd looking for ffa full loot, the rest of them are loners who like to grind pve mobs all by themselves... all day long.

I wish they would go away!!!

That's some serious logic there.

Earth has over 4 billion people living on it.   That's pretty massive don't you think?   Do you think people do things on their own in real life?   Or do you think they form raids to use the bathroom?   One to hold the toilet paper... one to turn on the fan.. another support class to turn on the light... at least two to hold the newspaper and turn the pages...

Why exactly do you think MMO means anything about grouping?

I solo time to time.   I've never wanted to be able to solo everything.   I mean heck just because dragon slayers in folk lore pretty much were always solo.. and one of them was even a child... I don't think I should be able to solo dragons in a fantasy game where I am supposedly more heroic than in real life.   Yet I don't really want to be in a group of 6 to 8 people... just to kill oh I dunno... rats or something else that is obviously dangerous... its not like a rabbit with giant fangs.. I could see grouping for that or at least a hand grenade of the holy type.

Even without my crystal ball I know I wouldn't group with you... just to be clear.

Originally posted by AdamTM

Originally posted by Antarious

Originally posted by Sylvarii

I see a pattern unfolding here,the people who think KOA deserves it's overrated score seem to share the same signatures for that other game that IGN gave an over bloated score to.

I have Skyrim and to be honest i though the game was not worth the high score it got because of the bugs and the bad PC port.But KOA is imo a sad excuse for a RPG that really is more akin to fabled/Dungeon Siege 3 with worst graphics.The only thing the game has going for it is perhaps the combat system but that has it's faults as well.

No way IMO does this game deserve a 9.

They gave The Witcher 2 a 9,are people telling me that KOA is on par with The Witcher 2 ,no freaking way.

 

 

 

Well I'm pretty sure I don't hype that "other game" IGN gave a bloated score to.  Well I assume you are talking about a paticular MMO but maybe I'm wrong.

 

That said... I thought Witcher 2 was crap and yet I really enjoyed the KOA demo....  My personal opinion is also that Skyrim is a far better game than Witcher 2 even thought of being let alone... what it was.

 

So I would have given Witcher 2 a score of 5 to be honest... maybe 7 if I was in a really good mood that day.  I would have given KOA an 8, but not a 9.  I would have given Skyrim an 8 as well for reference.   Nobody is paying me off... I'm expressing my personal opinion and of course that is why I don't write reviews.

 

At the same time I'm saying... your opinion is the opposite because we like different things.   That doesn't make you right and me wrong... we just don't happen to share the same opinion on subjective material.

 

The problem as I kind of referred to it is... that a reviewer has to be objective or should be.   So maybe they are.... and we aren't because we don't like a paticular title or titles.

 

All I'm saying is... we as people don't like certain things and that is our reality.   The main thing is... our reality isn't universal truth.    Well not when it comes to subjective material anyway.

Or maybe they aren't and we are. Maybe you are and im not. Maybe i am and you aren't.

See the problem?

 

But this problem is usually easily circumvented by reading the review.

Does it provide an -ANALYSIS- of the game -> objective critique

Does it provide opinion (usually in the form of "This feature is really cool and I liked doing X") -> opinion

 

If you read most reviews from gaming sites, they are mostly opinion, with a few technicalities thrown in ("the textures could be better...etc")

If you want to read an analysis of a game, go to Gamasutra, those people don't fuck about with opinion. If you want to read mushy media garbage, go to Kotaku or IGN.

The entire point of my post was to try and present a semi nice way of telling someone... Their opinion of a game doesn't make it crap for me.   Nor does the fact I think the game they liked is crap... make it a bad game for them.   To be honest if they had simply said "in my opinion" instead of trying to build a logical arguement about how their subjective opinion was fact... I wouldn't have even posted in this thread.

It wasn't about analysis or objective critique.   I only even mentioned that perhaps the reviews were somewhat objective... because all of the games in the post and my reply were given high scores.   As opposed to say replying in the standard fashion on the forums here... and simply bashing the crap out of their opinions.

I honestly don't care about "reviews".   I buy games that interest me and beyond that I read the forums here and take part in the madness.   If they never had any staff articles or reviews here.. it wouldn't bother me because they don't interest me.   If I want to read a review or article... I'd be on anandtech reading about hardware...

*edit*

As to some of the other thread discussion.   I knew about the issues related to the demo because they'd already made a statement in regards to the ATI/AMD video issue.   Some cards had to turn off post processing or they simply got a black screen for cut scenes and the actual game.   Some of the text from that was in the apology about the demo.