And even ignoring questions of game balance, I understand that that sort of thing caused graphics problems and even server problems ( due to things like rounding up vast numbers of Rikti Monkeys in Peregrine ). Clearly they had to put in some limits.
True. Then again, IMHO it’s a bit different to add that to an established game that already has a LOT of costume parts, and one that you know isn’t likely to be shut down anytime soon. Spend extra money on Champion for costume parts, and you’re out of luck if it crashes and burns.
Right, but that’s years after release. They didn’t hold back content already developed for a content- light game to sell it to you later. I wouldn’t mind paying for extra stuff later, i do it all the time with expansions in other games but it clearly feels like extra content not stuff they simply felt like charging me more for at release.
Fair enough point, certainly.
I’ve only played a few hours so far but it really does seem like Freedom Force gone first/third MMO, down to the wieldable objects. Right next to the spawn point for the tutorial is a police barricade that can be picked up and tossed at mobs! I’d like to see the lamppost swing be changed from single target to at least an arc, if not a complete circle, the thinking being that these things are so long they should hit melee-range mobs both in front and behind.
The tutorial is similar to those in games like Guild Wars, serving both as an introduction to the game and a way for toons to reach level 5 before entering the main game. This also means toons have access to travel powers right out of the tutorial, the player just has to stop in the local Powerhouse and choose. They can even test out the powers before making a decision; powers aren’t locked in until exiting the Powerhouse.
Unlike CoX, mobs will spawn even if a toon is atop the spawn point, then will attack said toon. Given that several mobs can often be found within short distances of each other, the tiny aggro radius is actually a benefit.
One of the Devs on the official forum says that FilePlanet will start handing out beta codes today for free. Client is free but codes still require a subscription so far.
Yeah, noticed that this morning (the subscription thing). Wasn’t really willing to shell out bucks to be a game tester for… What? A week? If it goes wholy free, I’ll jump and see how the video card handles it.
Hmm, I’m downloading the beta as we speak… would anyone care to clue me in about the overpowered powersets that I should be considering? If it’s an issue, I’d hate to make something that sounds fun only to find myself helpless as a kitten after investing 1-3 hours into it.
Also, is teleportation as sucky as it is in City of Heroes?
Teleportation is a lot better than CoH, but it still has some issues. Rather than point & click, hitting the teleport hotkey once phases you out and lets you run around, invisible, at a vastly increased speed. Several seconds later you phase back in, and can either re-teleport or stay unphased.
The only issue is that it’s absolutely useless for escaping. I’m currently having a ball with the swinging power, even if it’s kinda crappy for travel.
Actually, the swinging power is the fastest travel power of all. And Teleportation is handy for escaping: the trick is to go around corners.
Okay, tried it this morning. Love the customization, but that’s hardly a surprise. Unfortunately, even at ‘minimums’, the animation is choppy enough that directional control becomes an issue; low frame rate. Now, it’s fully possible that this is just due to there being like a hundred billion people in the starting area, and I’m hoping that’s all it is. Otherwise, looks like it could be a fun game.
The game is heavily instanced, there aren’t more than 30 or so people in the starting areas.
Hey, now. Teleportation is the best long-range travel power in the game as long as you make use of a ctrl+click bind and six-slot it. Though even three-slotting for range or end will make it perfectly viable.
Any power that you need to make a special keybind -and- slot it specificially to make it work without seriously inconveniencing / injuring you is -not- a great power. I love teleport… I just don’t think it was very well thought-out, mechanically-speaking.
I don’t know. I always bound my travel powers to something for convenience irregardless of what they were.
I’ve been sampling the beta and I like the fast action but I’ve got concerned about it getting married to some uglier MMO stuff that I don’t like (equipment collection, crafting). City of Heroes was the Action-RPG of MMO’s and that worked really well for a superhero game. I need to get deeper into this but I’m concerned that it’s going to be more clunky instead of streamlined.
I’m also holding back for the actual release. I don’t want to get too deep into the beta only to have my characters wiped and start over. I’m just sampling the system for now trying to get my head around it before I do things “for real” when the game starts next week.
It was an amusing diversion for a couple of hours, but I really wish that they’d taken a cue from City of Heroes and instanced all of the non-hunting missions: every single mission had a crudload of heroes doing it at once, and I found myself frequently hanging around taking half-hearted potshots at nearby foes and waiting for the villain genocide to wind down so I could sneak in and snatch up whatever I wa supposed to gather.
One thing that’s surprising me as I play a little now is just how few missions there appear to be–I’ve rarely had much of a chance to have more than 2 or 3 missions open at once, so there’s been a lot of “get to location, wait in line while the half-dozen other people all are going after the same world mobs, then go back to base.” And even with that, it seems like I’m done with the zone (or at least this manifestation of it, I see much higher level mobs past the edges I’ve been in) in a very, very short time.
Tunneling is fun but too many objects get in the way. I wish they’d make it so tunneling goes under all objects unless the object is considered to be a load-bearing wall.