Voice chat is nice, but there are already voice spammers in SOL screaming about where to get the cheapest platinum (yes...not latinum) on the internet in local voice, so adjust your setting appropriately.

Right this minute...APB is a hacker/exploiter den. Plain and simple. There are so many hacks and exploits that you HAVE TO laugh. Playing less than week ago there was a gent flying around above the world in his car, shooting rockets and randomly disappearing...you cannot take a game seriously that has that happening in it. A flying rocket shooting car that teleports? Didn't they shut Auto Assault down already?

I cannot wait to level up my Critter Criter!

The game is very far from dead. Many of the game's detractors seem to think that because they left the game ceased to be. Contrary to be certain. It is interesting. I have noted the number of full zones in the middle of the week and it surprised me, and I am a fan.

The latest content revisions and the constant tweaks have made the game a really good one in my mind and the minds of the players logging in. It started off really rocky, but has steadily gotten much much better.

There are still issues, but with updates coming like the one posted and what has been done so far I am happy I stuck it out and got that lifetime sub to begin with.

Originally posted by Jpizzle

 

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Originally posted by MikeB
No word on whether this adventure pack will be free or for-pay, either.

 

They have stated now that Adventure Packs will mostly be free and EXPANSIONS will mostly be paid. Lets hope they stick with that.

 My opinion of the game varies from day to day since the release of open beta. The noob areas are just a hellish nightmare. It is part of the reason that I haven't really explored more than 1 class right now. I loath to start over again and re-experience the preteens of the game. The game really thins out around 11 or 12 and there aren't constant screens of gold spam and flame shouting anymore. Also less competition for resources at that point too. I mean it is still there, but less so.

I am currently level 25 with my main, a warden. I like to explore, but you encounter the "fall through the world and die" bug a lot if you do. It seems like the world needs some work where ever there is complex terrain or where 2 types of terrain meet. Just avoid it. Stay on main paths. The world is pretty nice looking as a whole. WoWesque, but better. Hard to explain. I really like the look of things as a whole. They did really well there. The environments are really well done from an artistic point of view if you like Blizzard-like cartoony looking styles, like I do. I find it a treat in that regard. The lack of a mount starts to slow you down really bad, but not paying for the game makes you appreciate the free world more. I would suspect that if I were paying a subscription this would start chaffing my backside somewhat, but for free I just walk and smell the roses. lol

I play mostly as a league hunter/shaman *ahem*, I mean warden, and the "my pet killed something and I got no credit for it" bug is really irksome. I hear it also effects summoners, but as I am not playing one I cannot say for sure. What I CAN say for sure is that it sucks to kill something like a quest boss and get no credit for it and have to try it again. This frustration is compounded by the rush for resources. I have had people fire off tirades at me because I just killed something only to have to try again due to this very bug. It can be infuriating and especially disheartening knowing that the developers have been aware of this since closed beta. I do like this class a lot though. It is like a WoW shaman had a baby with a WoW hunter. They really made this class fun otherwise. I do hope that in the future they consider offering permanent pet upgrades and rare pet type skins in the pay shop. I would buy them for sure!

One thing I like a lot about the game is the quests and the map. While a minimap would really help, I can do without it. I love that the quests are clearly marked and the world is simple, yet detailed enough in the overview. I have been really liking that aspect of this game and other games need to embrace this sort of simplicity.

The inventory system is just insane. I have felt the need for more bag slots from-the-get-go and that makes me worry. I have not dedicated myself to crafting in this game, as I am not much of a crafter in most MMOs, but I can really feel for the pain of those that are going to venture into the crafting system only to be hit with a bag slot wall at some point. To make matters worse the bank system is pathetically/maniacally small to boot.

The class/leveling system as whole in this game a little confusing at first, but really neat once you understand it. I like it a lot now. When I first started playing in closed beta I had no idea what my choices did really. I learned quickly though and that has helped me a lot. I love the attribute and skill point based system as it stands. Very customizable. I like customization..

That brings me to the lack of cosmetic customization options in this game. If they want this game to really shine they are going to have to start considering cosmetic options for the pay shop. I come from a "City of Heroes/Villains" and "Champions Online" background, so I really like making my character my own. I don't know how many other people are afflicted with customizationitis, but for me it is a chronic disease and one I would gladly throw some cash at...if it was offered.

The game post 20 becomes a soloists nightmare. Unless you reconcile with the fact that you are going to get ganked if you are alone, then avoid this game like the plague...at least the game after 21ish. At this point the game becomes a futile exercise in avoidance and grinding the gap of quests that can flag you. Just consider yourself warned. If you love PvP then this is the time when you will enjoy the game most. If you hate it...welll...you get the blood soaked picture.

Those are my current thoughts. These thoughts are as the game stands right now. They may change and with the new patch information saying that the mobs will be more difficult I am concerned. I hope it is not an attempt to try to wrestle cash from us through perfumes from the cash shop because we will be dying from mobs more often. It might be, but they had better think long and hard about those perfume prices first.

 I think the main problem with Star Gate Worlds is that it looks almost NOTHING like Star Gate. It really doesn't. It has almost none of the feeling that the shows (or movie for that matter) seem to evoke. They LOOKED like they were going in a good directions, but over the past year the game has slowly started looking less and less like Star Gate and more and more like Halo the MMO. It seems like a once stunning ice sculpture floating in the pacific ocean slowly melting and morphing into a hideous blob.

Switching gears and working on Resistance? That is just a clear sign that the team has lost focus. I have seen it before. If they can recoup and refocus then more power to them, but if they cannot get their acts together then they need to hand the reigns over to someone else. Someone more invested in the IP and in getting the product done.

That said, I really hope that Star Gate can get a game made that really sows together all the many great elements that make the show worthwhile.

 Things that will breath new life into this great game:

- Random missions that are generated by theme. This means that each zone have a contact that will generate random missions based on YOUR selected tastes. YES THIS IS LIKE COH. It works. So long as it is truly randomly generated from some basic core and doesn't repeat then it will aid in furthering the life of the game. Attach meanginful accolades to this and you probably have something people will love.

- The ability to TRIGGER your nemesis by doing something will help a lot. People don't feel super and that could go a little ways to doing so. Say there are street contacts that you can go to (like the same one for random content, but they also have a "Nemesis" tab. Basically you do some mission that the contact has for you and this triggers your nemesis. OR more drops from common mobs that lead to connections between your nemesis and the baddie groups of the game. Immerse us!

- Dress up the animations some. Make more animations for the current powers. More dynamic looking animations. Set them to randomly activate with the power on click. This is a minor tweak, but could make a difference.

- We need to feel as heroes that our actions are effecting the world. Right now there isn't enough of that. Make it so that random citizens come scream for help and then if we accept there is some big even going on that we (and our team) are told to go to. This would not be an open event, instead you HAVE TO be randomly invited to it by an NPC citizen that is freaking out about it. Fires, monster attacks and all out faction wars. These could have NPCs randomly spawned locations. Other heroes could see the event, but not join in. It is random. YOU (and your team) have saved the day. Not everyone else. You.

These are little things and I am sure that the developers have more in mind, but these are some examples. We need something to spice it up. Right now there is too much forced repetitions. You cannot level almost without just doing the missions in a pretty linear fashion and that hurts.

I am really looking forward to this title. I hope that they get a lot of killer feedback and squish them bugs that inevitably rear their ugly heads. Man I wish I was testing. I signed up as soon as the offered the chance to. This is a must have title if they do what they have set out to do with this game. I cannot wait until open beta!

But not by much I must content. ^___^

Originally posted by mz3r2t

For me, it comes down to either Champions Online or DC Universe and who has the most tolerable mt's.

DC Universe looks better to me, but if Champion's mt's are more subtle, then I"m going for that.

I thought mt's were supposed to be for free to play games. Free to play, expensive to enjoy...

Same for me, buddy. It is like ALL the games are MT based now. Even CoX is MT to some degree now days with its' expansions+content update model. Sad, but it is odd that way. So far ChampO has a light model they are talking about. Nothing world shattering, but time will tell. DCUO may be offering whole powersets as MT exclusive content and that is painful. You know you are going to want to play those powersets too. Ouch. If both go that route I will be really unhappy. I'd rather buy expansions. Stuff I can pass on and not feel ripped off.

This thread is full of really interesting stuff. I learned a lot actually.

I will be super honest. I have so little faith in Sony Online Entertainment that until this comes out and I have at least 5 friends, close ones, playing and loving it that I would rather just steer clear of it all together. That is how burned I am on SOE. Besides that it looks interesting, but I want to hear more about their F2P+Cash shop architecture before I even hazard a guess. They could offer scads and scads of pay content that forces you to have to pay for simple things. Also the rumor that you will only get 2 character slots, generic costume options (unless you pay) and limited powers sets (again...unless you sell out the cash) has me worried. All this is speculation.

With Champions, you have it sitting there. You know what it is about. There isn't a lot to worry about coming down the pipe or mysterious features/costs that still loom. It is all laid out for you. CO has serious content issues, that is for sure. The PvE aspect of the game is limited. Scary limited. You play the missions though a linear progression and God forbid you do anything else. All the missions are practically essential to power/level up. Essential. There is a good chance you will have to grind in the higher levels since the content (XP and mob difficulties) have been adjusted and you will have missions handed to you that you will be too weak to take on for a little while.

I love CO even with all the faults in PvE.
I WANT to love DCUO, but HATE SOE.

At the end of the day we will all be sitting around with bated breath waiting to see what DCUO becomes. Right now there is too little concrete to say anything intelligent other than what we can glean from our past experiences...

I must be crazy because I am enjoying my butt off. I like this game. I really do. I like that it is more challenging now. I like that a lot of people exploited their butts off and are nerfed now. I feel fine. My builds are solid. I am functioning well and getting through content solo and in a small team when I feel like it. Nothing is world shatteringly broken. You just can't roll certain builds and plow through the game. What is wrong with that?

What I do not like is what happened to some of the people like the poor person above me. Completely losing your powers? WTH!>?!?!

I had heard that they just awarded you the base set and sent you on your merry way to have to pay a respec fee with you left the tutorial, but it appears they didn't. That is messed up. Have you posted on the official forums? Also if you were in the tutorial did you save you costume? I save every one before entering the game. That way you could delete the character and hope right in. Also they have a unique naming system that attaches a unique tag to your username. (IE there can be 15 bulverines because they are bulverine@someguy and bulverine@someotherguy to prevent just that from happening!) Did you try to reroll? That is messed up.

Life subber here. Got it since launch. Got it for the IP and the history. Have lots of RP buddies. The game is fun if you have the right friends. There is a serious brick wall though.

I bet like 5 more people take advantage of the offer. Seriously, most of the folks that COULD have gotten a lifetime or 6 moth sub HAVE gotten one already. Bottom line is this is just people screaming foul to make themselves feel better before moving on the next big thing pretty much.

Either that or pretty much ALL the interested parties will get the subs and then we can look forwards to billions of microtransaction based expansions to the game to even out the costs.

ALSO

Why does everyone forget that ATARI is running the subs and publication for this game? Cryptic don't really own the servers or so I was led to believe. Is this not the case?

ATARI is low. Look into what they have done time and again and I cannot believe anyone does business with them. I mean look at the Champions Online lifetime/6 month subscription deal debacle. Cryptic is taking all the slack on this one when ATARI is primarily to blame. They are the ones that also handled that game's preorder deals.

In the past ATARI has kept this shady tripe relegated to low profile projects, but it even spilled over into the popular UNREAL TOURNAMENT series in the late 90's and the "Do something UNREAL" contest prize stuff. They really are a sour bunch over there. I mean, what happened to them?

Anyways I really like DDO, but it feels so restricted for some reason. Also there isn't enough content. Repeating quests over and over is far from enjoyable. There is a lot of that (I mean bucketloads) repeat stuff. I mean was DDO even doing OK prior to this? Not really. LotRO is Turbine's real cash cow I think. (I could be wrong there.) Still DDO seemed so second fiddle it isn't even funny. I would almost like to see another more respectfully done version of D&D as an MMO using the 4.0 rules set, but I doubt it will be much more playable unless they don't go the route of DDO and make you repeat the crap out of things. I would love a random level based quest system along with the main story stuff. THAT would be great.

I just don't know with this one. I don't feel obliged to "side" with either party really. I despise ATARI for what they have steadily become and I don't really know enough about Turbine other than they made a grindfest of a D&D game and a decent (if not down right fun) LotR MMO. I just don't know. heh.

With a possible MCG reboot of this francise/IP there could be renewed interest. I for one think that the title sorely needs a reboot. A lot has been done to tarnish this fantastic IP that could be reversed if it is skillfully and thoughtfully rebooted for a new audience. The original had some fantastic themes in it. After that the movies flopped around really badly. Kind of sad that the best thing to happen since the original was the barely stomachable series. No afront to Adrian Paul, but the stories in that were so repetitive!

I just really hope they fix a lot of the graphical bugs, institute some social spines into the game (dance clubs, churches, superbases, hideouts, caves and mansions would be nice to hang out in!) and add some emotes mighty  quick. I loves me some emotes. *ahem*

Seriously with today's announcement of the cessasion of the lifetime/6 month offer ATARI/Cryptic have a lot of cheesed off costumers ranting. How they react to his outcry will color people's views me thinks...

I welcome the author of this article to come play either CoX, Champions Online or DDO with me and my merry band of losers. We might be able to turn you to the darkside. Come on Dana...you know you wanna!

I could hope that were not the case, but I think that they just might.

With their competition working making their games more "sandboxish" , less about XP and more about acclaim, the grind mentality could kill CO. That would be a shame. Still it would be foolish to think that if 10 months from now they have a couple of other competitors, are watching fans leave and their microtransaction failing because the game was grindy that  they wouldn't at least consider speeding leveling back up. If they are too stubborn to see that will not work then they deserve to flounder.

I am just glad I basically paid a year and a half's worth of subscriptions for "forever" login rights and a bunch of swag like 8 more character slots. It is just that possibility that they will wiggle in higher and higher leveling reqs along with some messed up Micro-T scheme that worries me.

PS - Sorry for all the spelling and grammar errors. I am really tired. Just wanted to pop in and share my 2 cents. Thanks.