I’m thinking I’ll just try out the $10 per month thing…though honestly I can’t see myself playing this online with anyone. I just don’t know that it would be a lot more fun than playing this particular game single player.
I may have too break down and just get Tabula Rasa instead to get my online fix while I’m waiting for Warhammer to come out. Curse the luck that I don’t know anyone at Mythic anymore so I couldn’t get into the beta early…
-XT
The more I consider it, I think I’ll just sign up for paid membership for a month or two at a time when there’s a major content push that interests me enough to pay. I’d have to stay interested in the game for at least a two year period for that to cost more than paying up front. The only thing that worries me in that thinking is that I still bring out Diablo II and play it a few days each month, and that was released in June 2000.
My brother was in the beta for Tabula Rasa and said that it was awful (even for a beta).
He didn’t like the way you have to get sigils and things for your spells, I can’t remember the full details of his complaints unfortunately, but you may want to wait for a trial on it.
I basically paid the $150 upfront just so I wouldn’t be tempted to leave it charging my card ad infinitum like I’ve done previously, I stopped playing UO after 7 years and only cancelled the account on the 9th anniversery on the off chance I’d play again.
I also wasn’t sure that you’d be able to get previously released content pushes if you leave the account inactive between them.
That does worry me. Would I get a firehose of all previous content if I sign on to pay for a later patch/expansion, or will I lose out on earlier pay content?
Similarly, what if I pay for content for a while, have my (hypothetical class) Boomeranger up to lvl 20, then stop for a while, lose access to him, then decide to come back. Will I have my boomeranger waiting for me, or will any progress I make on characters not available to a free player be erased?
Unless these guys do something different than every other MMORPG type game I’ve played, he’ll still be waiting for you when you decide to pay again. The other day, just for fun, I went on UO’s website and looked up my old account (they have a special thing to get us old players back playing again)…and sure enough, my account is STILL there and the characters still on it. I’m guessing things like my castle and towers have long since rotted away…and gods know what items I might still have. But if I were crazy enough to start paying them again my characters would still be there.
I’m reasonably sure this will work exactly the same.
-XT
I’m going to bump this with some further thoughts after rolling a new character and playing online for a few hours. Blizzard, take note!
The online version is too instanced. Anarchy was dated and repetitive, but outside of instanced dungeons you could find massive gatherings of players at some of the outposts. It encouraged a lot more interaction. Hellgate would benefit from the addition of a few areas that were really MMO.
I have Optimum Boost, a gigabit router and network card, and still had a high ping / high lag. I don’t think the problem is on my end.
Levels are said to be random, but not nearly random enough! Every outside, sewer, or hallway environment is essentially the same. The most maddening of all are the ‘exploreable’ buildings in the outside levels. Run in, jump down to the basement where there will be a shelf, a couple boxes, a footlocker, and maybe a gas canister. Up the stairs to level two to find one or two boxes. One or two more boxes on the roof and maybe another footlocker. Every… damned… time. Design some new textures and level configurations or people are going to get very bored.
I like the grappling hook, but I wouldn’t use it regularly without some key bindings. Yes, I know there are sets in F1-F3, but I’d want to switch automatically after releasing the grappling hook’s trigger.
There is no sense of physics between the player and the environment. You run through the level like you are on rails. It should be opened up to more random exploration (without the repetition mentioned above) and if I jump off of a building I get hurt, if I jump off a cliff I’m a tombstone, and if it looks like I can go somewhere, I can.
If it’s too late for the levels, or dungeons, how about adding some wide open exploreable wilderness with random encounters? Non-quest related dungeons, PvP encounters, and lots of the things that make MMO fun could be added to the wilderness.
I know it’s supposed to be an action RPG and not an FPS, but since it plays more like an FPS how about online death matches, capture the flag, or assault? If diverse levels are the obstacle, require everyone to have a ‘standard’ archetype character for team games.
I hope Blizzard’s commitment to keeping the content coming goes beyond just some goofy holiday specific items. If they address even a few of these issues it would be a big improvement.
A “wilderness” area is coming next month in the form of Stonehenge. No word on what this will entail, though.
Oh, and I believe PvP encounters are already in. You have to flag yourself as PvP to get them.
The UI designer for this game was asleep at the wheel, though. There’s
…and on and on.
I haven’t had any trouble modifing equipped items as long as they’re active (e.g.: not trying to modify an F2 item while currently on F1).
I haven’t tried it, but I think you have to initiate a challenge and then fight in an arena of some sort. I was thinking of something more random and with more than two players.
Oh, and I do have another gripe:
I was a pre-order and had thought about the one time payment for a lifetime subscription. Only, I don’t have it as an option. I write customer service, who asks some questions, which I answer, and then they tell me they’ll get back to me. The next I hear from them, they are tell me they are closing out my case because I haven’t responded. Very swift.
I meant with the machines, not by inserting fuel/battery/relic/etc. The machine augment “Drag item here” interfaces don’t give you a way to get to your equipped items.
And while we’re on it, why do you have to drag the necessary components out of your inventory for the component-requiring machines? That’s just irritating: it knows exactly what you need and how many of them, it should put them there itself (or better, just use them out of inventory).
The whole interface is full of dumb stuff like this: user interface 101 violations. It’s a fun enough game, and I’m enjoying it, but it takes WAY more clicks and drags to do the tedious stuff than it should – making it more tedious still.
Then why did you include “modify”?
Yeah, this confused me at first too. Essentially, your 45 will stat is a pool of will, and each item you equip takes away from that pool. So if you’ve got a sword requiring 40 will to equip and a helmet requiring 4, you won’t be able to equip the boots requiring 2 will because you’re already using 44 of your 45 pool of will.
They termed the system the “feed” system, which is not an intuitive name at all IMO. Also, as far as I can remember, they didn’t explain dick about it in the manual. But I actually like the system – if I’ve got a heavy-ass suit of armor that requires 44 strength, a heavy-ass shield that requires 44 strength, why should having 45 strength allow me to equip both, as in most (all?) games previous to Hellgate? They just explained the concept very, very poorly.
Agree with almost everything else posted here. The levels are repetitive, you have to click too much to do simple tasks, the game is becoming stale, but I’ll probably plow through it because I’m like that.
I don’t understand the question. There are several ways of modifying things, and the machines are most of them.
He’s going on a technicality. Adding the little doohickeys is “modifying.” Using one of the other machines (the Augmentrix that you just have to put in cash and choose the rarity of the stat boost) is “augmenting.” Using another (the Nano Forge, in which you need to put salvaged bits) is “forging.”
And the only use of the term that I’m familiar with in the game.
I’ve been playing HGL off and on for a while now. I was playing it quite a bit for a while there- I’ve got a level 12 Evoker.
I’ve been playing the beta. When they turn off the beta access, I don’t imagine I’m going to pay. There’s just not enough of a game there for me. I’m tired of seeing the same damn corridors over and over, and the same damn monsters, over and over. I must admit, though, I really liked the mission where you’ve got to set up the turrets to stop the huge walkers. That’s not enough to keep me around, though.