Gambit7

Thanks for that. I was holding off on making it registered until we were sure we wanted to play it. Too many dang empty TS channels right now if you asked me.

I would definitely say it's more "complex" then planetside... but, Planetside did have some pretty nice tactical combat. Granted, that's basically all it was... not even an RPG really... just a big multiplayer map.

Maybe this weekend we can test the instanced group wargames in TR. ClanWars is not an option right now in beta (it's not enabled - the TG-TR Clan IS PvP though). I'm not entirely sure the instanced wargames are enabled either (checking on that right now).

One thing I'm afraid of with TR is British listening to all the whiners and further dumbing down the game. Many people are crying about ammo costs and forced grouping. Along with a myriad of other things. It almost seems like high-level tactical gameplayers are in the minority here and most people just want a casual RPG-shooter. hmmmm

Next week we'll get a look at high lvl stuff and the current end-game, that's where it matters most.

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blackmain

1) Wargames... YES!

2) British listens to all those whines and I lose all respect for this game and him. Whatever happened to something that was difficult and fun? This game seems to have that mix at the moment.

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The hungry, ignorant man immediately grasps that he is handed a fish, but is bewildered when handed a net. The man who shivers in the cold thinks happily of the man who invites him to sit by his fire, and somewhat poorly of the man who loans him an axe, flint and steel.

Sarcoma

I like to think it will only matter on the low level stuff, noob zones and such. As for ammo costs as of the last time we all got together I had over 50K in my chars bank and that is with my purchasing all my armor/weapon upgrades as soon as I was able to use them. Money for the Specialist class tree is not a problem IMO.

As far as grouping goes I think the game is easy to solo and there is only need to form 2 groups for those wilderness quests.

We will see soon enough.

Sarcoma

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Sarcoma.

Gambit7

SERVERS ARE NOW 24/7 UNTIL RELEASE!!!
And tomorrow is a pretty big patch, so cross your fingers.

GAME ON!

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WaffleHousChef

I've been steadily curtailing my play time on the Beta with the release less then a month away. I don't want to progress too far into the game and burn out on the quests early. Once you hit 15, you're going to be doing the post-15 quests 4 times, once for each of your clones so I'm in no hurry to burn up content. I'll certainly check out what the patch has to offer though.

Gambit7

Yah, I'm starting to think along the same lines... although I WOULD like to see a new planet. I'd originally wanted to get high enough for lvl 30+ content, but I'd like to avoid burnout myself.

I rolled a melee oriented clone on the EU server just to try out the guardian tree. Goal is just to test each class to get a feel for how they work. This way, it's easier to build squads, etc. for big instances and PvP.

Hopefully, they'll put us all at lvl 30+ automatically, just before release and cut us loose.

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SmokingTarpan

Hmm... Well, I tried it out a bit over the weekend. Maybe it needs a bit more time, but it doesn't feel quite like my MMO. Granted, I'm used to WoW and such.

Things I like so far:
- Feels like I've been dumped into a big battle
- Interesting character advance system
- Stuff happens on its own, moreso than any of your standard MMO's
- Can switch between "shards" at will to deal with lag

Things I don't like:
- No real sense of team at this point
- Character doesn't feel very unique (everyone is running and gunning all the same)
- No true "tactical feel" that's above other MMO's (can get stuff done running into a mob like a crazy man just as easy as trying to think it out)
- Not quite FPS enough, not quite RPG enough
- Character feels invincible except for extreme circumstances (group of 6 mobs my level or slightly higher? No prob!)

It's definitely a different game, but I'm not so sure about it at this point.

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[squadl]
"I am the prettiest african-american, vietnamese..cong..person." -SugarNCamo

Sarcoma

Im with SmokingTarapan on this one. he got all the points I would have made. They better put the challange back into this game.

Sarcoma

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Sarcoma.

Gambit7

I'm in absolute agreement with both of you. But, I have the knowledge that they'll be upping the ante (difficulty) in this game very soon... hopefully before release, maybe even in the next patch (tomorrow).

Once everything is in place it should be a much more entertaining game... right now it IS entertaining, it's just not up to its tactical potential. They've dumbed it down for this phase of beta.

End-game is my main concern with this game. It levels quick enough (right now) that how you get to lvl 50 is almost inconsequential. So Clan PvP and end-game content are the most important things IMO, then the crafting system (which should be in by release). When they raise the difficulty bar the grind to 50 will be more challenging, but it also may be slower unless you group. This in turn raises the tactics lvl and makes crafting/economy more robust.

We shall see... that's why I love this beta - it's free basically

If this patch doesnt convince us, I figure the Oct 12th patch is our drop-dead date where the game either turns us on or it doesnt.

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Ainselie

I'm in general agreement with what has been said above. The game is too easy. The points where the game attempts to differentiate itself are nice ideas however not implemented to its fullest potential. The standard MMORPG elements that are in the game such as questing, lore, mob variety, etc., I believe WoW does better. As Gambit has said, I am more interested in end-game and willing to overlook the level grinding aspects. I will try to keep an open mind and hope to see some areas of improvement; I will play through the beta, however if it does not improve I will most likely not continue post launch.

Damonte

Damonte finds the game entertaining to say the least.

Last night he couldn't help but laugh at all the public anouncements at the Forean Base in the Divide.

"Tonight's movie will be a holdover from last week and will be played after dinner, which is also a holdover from last week."

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Damonte

9/25 Patch Notes (excerpts):

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Gambit7

Word on the street is the net-gun got nerfed, nearly half dmg now - along with the DOT taking much more time to play out... i dont have one so I cant test it. I see a lot of people bitching about it, but to me it's a good move. The netgun isnt a primary weapon. Matter of fact, there ARE no primary weapons. You should be switching to match the situation. For us Specialists who spit corrosion, we usually throw that DOT out (and it takes a LONG time to develop) then use our injectors, which are also DOTs.. shifting between injector types. At least now with the netgun it's not the same thing over and over.

They've gotten rid of the 6x multiplier unfortunately, I've voiced my disgust at this move. They've basically erased a major advertising point for the game and made grinding clones all the more slower. NOW, it's some crappy % gain. Would've been better to simply make the mobs more difficult.

I dont like the fancy new XP system either. They're trying to appease too many people and didnt really have to. It was kinda unecessary. Granted, it does help temper the 6x nerf, albeit very little. And it combats kill-steals. But I'm not real sure on how this relates to getting CREDIT for a kill. I need to test it.

On that note, some are saying mobs ARE more difficult now, but I've only heard of this in one higher lvl area. Still need to test.

A lot of bugs are supposed to have been fixed, but as far as the noticeable stuff there's not much aside from the endless balancing they keep fooling with. The biggest one IMO is the Control Points.

Revamped crafting didnt make it into this patch, will be in the next one.

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Val

Thanks for the updates guys.
I'm glad the net-gun got a nerf, I was embarrassed to use it with its crazy high damage.
The new % xp sounds pretty good too, although it was nice to have the x6 to help shorten grinding to push you up enough to level so you could move into a new area if you were close.
They say that mobs are easier, to allow for quick advancement in the beginging maps. The mobs in the next area (can't remember its name) are some harder, their damage by-passes armor, a bit harder to kill and such. Still not as hard as I think they should be.
Still this is beta, things are going to get pushed one way then the other I would think. Even WoW was still "balancing" classes, adding functionality, two years after release.

Gambit7

Servers were up and down today after the patch, they should have a hotfix ready by tomorrow. We had about 55 minutes between restarts to test things out.

Mobs are definitely harder, but mainly due to armor regen. For a specialist this matters not, because most of our attacks ignore armor ('specially pumped to 5). The Soldier tier seems to be suffering in this regard. Especially with the netgun and RPG nerf (both which were needed). So far so good with the balancing, but they COULD make it more difficult- I think mobs just need to do more dmg.

Granted, most of us are overleveled for the area we're fighting in, simply because our toons are pre-patch generated. In order to get a clear opinion we'd have to reroll and start anew. With the lvling slowdown and increased mob difficulty I'm willing to say balance is even better.

Control Points seem to be the big highlight as they're all active. Some are more wyld then others, but everyone seems to enjoy them... especially with the increased difficulty.

Also, the 2nd planet (Arieki) is now fully explorable and all wormholes are active. I tooled around the newer areas and some are interesting. One particular base reminds me of "Zion" from the Matrix. As I said earlier though, much of the terrain is pretty bland and cookie-cutterish, but there are certain areas that stick out well... the beauty generally (as usual) is in the fauna. As for the higher lvl bases... they are HUGE with large amounts of wasted space. In the back of my mind I think they have plans for all this gaming area, because it serves no function. I mean, you have to walk quite a ways to get to certain locations even within a base... so I'd expect more in the future to be done here (housing, mounts, big PvP battles, something). It's actually a very good indication of eventual expansion.

There were a LOT of bugfixes not listed in the patch notes. Many quests are fixed, performance of the game has improved, the UI is streamlined (specifically the chatbox), some of the crafting has improved, and more. Too much to list really. I tell ya what is slick about the chatbox, they made it so the tab actually BLINKS when someone enters something into chat. If you're in another channel then at least you'll know someone is talking in one of the others. This is a BIG problem in other games, easily solved with this neat function.

In a nutshell, it definitely feels like the balancing is working towards more group oriented action with each class becoming more beholdin to their particular function, outside of the tier 1 weapons (rifle, pistol, shotgun). You cant just use one weapon to do everything anymore. Netgunners and RPGers now need to switch like everyone else. This is MUCH better for end-game and squad-lvl action as we can assign specific roles as they were meant to be. Even the Leech gun now steals Armor like it's supposed to.

I fooled with crafting a bit more by making some Medical Grade Micromechs for my Bio-Augmentation skill. It was EXPENSIVE, but I actually saw quite a bit of depth to the system. It's a multi-tiered crafting system where each mat usually has mats of it own to make it, and so on and so on. You can buy the mat straight up, or make it for cheaper... obviously, the more you make yourself the cheaper it gets. I was able to craft 2/3 of the Micromechs myself and had to buy the last 3rd from an NPC vendor. Nevertheless, it still came out cheaper then if I'd bought the Micromechs direct from a vendor. Vendor bought is like 15,000. Self-made is between 10,000 and 12,500. So there's room for capitalistic gain there.

Sneaky thing is the recipes are one-shotters, so you have to farm or find them. And usually, it seems, ONE of the recipes is hard to find. I'm sure the same will apply to mats down the road as some only seem to drop from mobs and many are only gotten via disassembly of certain items.

I foresee a pretty interesting crafting system honestly.

Once PvP and end-game are in place then I think this game will be plenty of fun for a long time. Beyond that, who knows what they'll throw at us. Dont count this game out quite yet.

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