I’ve been playing this game for about two weeks now, and currently have a level 11 rogue. (I wanted to play Berserker when I heard about this game while it was in beta, but that won’t be out until the first expansion).
Two things stand out about this game: 1) it’s gorgeous, and 2) it’s buggy.
I’ve visited about three of the starting areas so far, and traveled a bit across the islands and continents. The world is huge and beautiful. Zones are seamless, though there is a slight pause when you enter a new area. Because of the incredible size of the world, it can take a long, long time to travel from major town to town (which is probably the reason mounts are available at level 10). My SO and I probably spent about two hours last night traveling to and exploring two starting areas, and we didn’t see all of the sections of them.
The art style is a very natural-looking one, and so far none of the design elements are repetitive-- trees look different in different areas, geographies vary between mountainous and flat, barren and lush, dead and corrupted and thriving and natural. The transitions between each region are natural, too; there aren’t abrupt shifts in landscapes.
Each town has design themes, so they feel unique. The Wood Elf starting area, for instance, is a town whose buildings are built inside of tall trees, with long, sloping pathways connecting each tree. Impractical from a navigation point of view, but striking when first seen. Another area resembles feudal Japan; another, medieval Europe.
Quests are fairly standard so far: kill (number) (mob type), go find (NPC name), gather (number) of (item) from (mob). Dungeons are non-instanced, so there is competition for mobs. The game does not operate in real time, unlike WoW; each full day lasts around an hour. Mob aggro, however, works like WoW, in that mobs don’t ever stop being willing to attack you; only their aggro radius shrinks and their ability to detect you are reduced as the level disparity between you and them grows.
The bugs are inescapable, and serious. The most annoying one so far is the occasional disappearing act mobs perform during battle. Taking a few steps back makes them reappear, but this is inconvenient (for me at least, as a melee fighter) because it renders me unable to deal damage but still able to take damage. There is also an issue with memory leakage, which in my understanding necessitated the implementation of a /flush command to clear the memory cache. The game will crash if you change areas frequently and don’t clear the cache. I also have experienced problems establishing and remaining connected to the social server (which handles all in-game communication between players) and have had to log out to get them fixed.
Other random bugs include death when you attempt to use the boat that travels between continents (they implemented a temporary teleporting NPC as a workaround) and a summoned quest mob that didn’t despawn after it killed a player, and was left to aggro any other player who got close. Because this was a summoned mob, no other player was allowed to target it or do damage to it, so all you could do was run away from it.
This game is slightly more challenging than WoW. NPC quest targets do not appear as yellow dots on your minimap, although they do have color-coded shield symbols above their heads that indicate whether you can obtain a quest, are in the middle of a quest they gave you, or can complete a quest with them. Tradeskill resources such as trees and mineral nodes also do not appear on the minimap. Quest item drop rates so far are identical to WoW’s, if not a tad looser; generally, if I don’t get a quest item off the first mob I kill, I generally have it by the second or third.
NPC interaction isn’t as helpful as it could be (“Want to find the bank? Okay! I’ll mark it in your journal.” Me: Where’s my journal?), and because the game is new and few know it well and there are no manuals or Bradygames-esque guides available, there’s not much you can do if you’re lost or stuck on a quest other than /yell for help and pray another player can help you out.
There is an auction house system, though I haven’t used it yet, and there are general and regional vendors. Mobs drop your typical vendor-trash items for some money, and quest rewards often include silver, but overall, money does not come very easily in this game. At level 11, I had 26 silver before I bought my mount, and I’ve been as frugal as reasonably possible. By comparison, I had several gold in WoW by 11 Rogue. For the most part, I have done quite well without having a lot of money, but money will surely be important later. I was told that player housing land plots can cost 5 platinum, which is equal to 5000 gold.
I have not yet explored the crafting and diplomacy spheres of this game. Crafting in this game is far, far more complex than 1) learn recipe, 2) gather item materials, and 3) mass produce; it allows for unexpected failures and high-quality results. I’m looking forward to learning more about this.
Despite the bugs, I’m enjoying this game quite a bit. It has incredible potential. I really hope in the next few months they’re able to iron out all of the problems. It’s not a WoW-killer, but I think it can satisfy the players who want something deeper and more challenging than WoW.
