Those who have played know that the game tends to sort instances with friends/team/super team members in it near the top of the selection screen. Maybe what we need is a 4th level.

Just spit-balling here, but perhaps an "acquaintance" level. This will automatically track people you've grouped with, or had some sort of interaction with and will sort instances containing those types of people to the top.

This will perhaps bring a bit more community as you start to see the same people more frequently.

3 hour queues is a joke. Unfortunately (for me, and no fault of NCSoft's), I have been part of a large guild for a long time. Any server we choose will be a high-population server.

So I have yet to actually play. I dutifully logged in on Friday with my account and my two sons' accounts and created characters on the server where dozens of my friends will be playing. Sunday, the queue time was nearly 5 hours... throughout the day.

Monday, same story. Ridiculously long queue times.

Basically the queue times are so long that even if I log in to play on the server with my friends (granted, I wouldn't really play until after bedtime, so this *could* work), I would miss all opportunity to play with my kids.

So regardless of whatever excuse they use, there are two kids here who saved up their allowance to play with our very large group of friends and are disappointed beyond understanding. The youngest near tears.

Paint it however you want, this is putting a very foul taste in our mouths. I really had high hopes for this game. I truly hope they fix it quickly, because if our pre-order pre-subbed free month runs out and we still haven't gotten a decent taste of the game, they'll never see another dime.  I just wish we had purchased retail boxes so we could resell the keys without using them.

Either that or we play the game without any of the friends we've made over the years.

Caveat Emptor

This is slated as an MMO, not a single player game. By definition it must be played online.

You contradict yourself first by saying: "Cryptic Studios thought it would be a good idea to dump major, far-reaching changes onto the game in a launch day patch with absolutely no feedback from players."
But then in the very next paragraph you state: "Champions' launch day patch was not put out to 'screw' the player, but was put out in response to player feedback that the game was in fact, way too easy."

So first you say the changes have "...absolutely no feedback from players", then you state that they were "...in response to player feedback". I find this contradicting, particularly because the first part sets the premise for a negative article. But not two sentences after you set this alleged tone, you completely blow up your entire premise.

While your article raises a few good points, it strikes me as a lot of whining without fully checking facts. There have been a series of patches adjusting things slightly in different ways to alleviate many of the problems you mention. Not all are entirely fixed, but that may be because they require a bit more time to code properly.

I don't know about you, but this game is meant to have a long lifetime (as MMOs by definitely do). It would seem to me a more significant challenge would be a good thing. Comparing that with a single player limited story platformer such as Arkham Asylum is about like comparing Warcraft III with World of Warcraft.

I do normally enjoy reading articles on MMORPG, but this one just smacked of sensationalism.

Wedge

And, you can apply the retail key to the same account you applied the beta key to. Even if they wipe, you will still technically be using the same account for retail.

The account will not magically turn into a full retail account, however.  You will still have to purchase the full product (and the retail key that comes with it) in order to activate the full game upon release.

If you're itching for the Tribes experience, visit http://instantaction.com and give Fallen Empire: Legions a try.

Funny that you say "so much for innovation" when Wow got the whole idea of Battlegrounds from Mythic's DAoC.

DOH!

MORIA! Finally!

'nuff said

Originally posted by vipjerry

 

... i dont like this attitude "we want do it cos book says this or that" comon its just silly.

 

 

I must argue against that. Being a very long time Tolkien fan, I feel that they NEED to stick with the books and the lore.  They should regard it as holy writ and waiver not at all if they are able.

Mistreating the Tolkien license would be a far more grave mistake.  A more righteous and rabid group of fans you will not find. Peter Jackson treated it with great respect and only strayed where he absolutely must. Even as little as he did (and it was only a little, though the importance of his transgressions are widely debated), he found how vocal the fan base could be.

We can all compare the game with <insert game you've played the most>... and find it wanting. It is the lot of the entire MMOG industry to constantly be compared with other platforms and other "visions".

Personally I choose to accept it for what it is.  A good game with decent mechanics in a beautifully rendered game world with lore to rival any game.  Warcraft has a lot of lore, but nowhere near what LOTR has.  Warhammer may be the next greatest lore-supported game on our hands. Mechanics-wise, I enjoyed DAoC more than anything I've mentioned so far. But I try not to focus on the little things and step back to view the entire fresco.

The story is immense and wonderful to immerse yourself in.  The PVP leaves a lot to be desired (fighting back and forth across a bridge is not terribly fun after the first 10 minutes). Sure it's a level grind, I challenge anyone to name a level or skill based MMOG that can not be called a grind.  Even EvE is a grind of sorts, though it's a grind of real-time.

Thus is the nature of our hobby. All the implementations are merely differing flavors and all of us have differing tastes.

With this particular license, they need to stay true to the lore. Mess with the game mechanics, argue about the game mechanics, debate the finer intricacies of the implementation of the game mechanics as compared with your preferred game...

But stray not from the lore.