I just started playing yesterday and am only at level 4 right now, but wanted to give a few impressions of the game so far. At least for me.
I should tell you folks that this is only the second game of this type I’ve ever played, with the first being Asheron’s Call 2 which I only played for a couple of months. The only reason I left that game was because of a low population and there weren’t enough new players around to do quests etc., with at my level. Other than that I really enjoyed the game. So take my opinions with a grain of salt and please don‘t bash that game. Now on to my early impressions.
First the good;
No monthly fees, I need say no more on this one. Great idea!
Absolutely gorgeous graphics, better than a lot of single player games
The ease to get playing. I got this game online and while I wish I had an actual manual, the TOTAL time it took me to download the client and get playing couldn’t have been more than 10 min. on a cable connection. This streaming stuff is a great innovative idea.
The interface so far seems really simple and well laid out.
Now the bad;
The very first thing to greet me when I got to an area with a lot of people milling about was, “Wanna join our Guild?, you can, but you hafta be into “gangbangin” chicks!” OK, err… ummm. Didn’t leave a good impression on me. Now I may be an old coot, but this kind of thing gives me the idea that there’s a lot of 12 and 13 yr old kids playing the game. Now don’t get me wrong. I have nothing against kids, most of em are great. I have a 13 yr. old daughter myself, but this kind of stuff left a bad taste in my mouth. And it’s not like I’m this religious rigid crotchety old fart. One of my favorite jokes is from the old TV show “Leave it to Beaver” if any of you guys remember that. “Ward, you were a little rough on the Beaver last night!”. Now that’s funny! Just my opinion.
Another thing was that people just weren’t very friendly, as least to me. I must have asked for help at least 5 or 6 times and got absolutely no response. I mean none! Every time I saw people around in the different areas I would ask a question, (after a while just to see if I would get an answer), and after playing for over 2 hrs, not one person answered me. Strange. Guess you have to be persistent. I’ll keep trying though. I have to at least get my 50 bucks worth before I give up on this puppy.
The only other gripe I have at this point is I don’t know what things to keep and what to get rid of. I keep killing all these creatures dropping all kinds of funky stuff, but what’s good to keep and what’s not? For a game that’s supposed to be so newbie friendly, it seems like there might be some sort of in-game help system explaining some of these things. Course it could be because I’m not the sharpest knife in the drawer either, but when people don’t answer you’re questions, it makes it tough.
All that being said however, the solo experience has been a lot of fun for me so far, and I think I probably will get into it a lot more once I meet up with some other players who think more like myself. So if you’re an old coot like myself, (BTW, my in-game name is Ol Geezer), send me a message. Maybe we could start a guild for the “over 30” crowd who like “sick” jokes!
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But luckily, I found somebody who actually replied to my "help me" messages and solved some of my confusions (like I have zero skills so far!).