1613

Do you guys think it’s the lag of this public beta test or is the game just really unresponsive? Sometimes when I try to fire a bolt it wont do anything, sometimes the animation is jerky, sometimes damage doesn’t seem to register, and it feels like there’s a delay from when I press a key from anything happening (whether in combat or just trying to talk to a npc). Moving around is pretty fluid, which is making me suspicious that it’s just extra lag. I really can’t stand mmos with that ‘floaty’ feeling. In some ways this game does it better with a good first person perspective and meaningful movement in combat, but I don’t know. Guild Wars 2 felt better than this and it was cheaper and not asking for a monthly sub.

1614

So I am in, thanks to KevinC; I’m guessing Bleakrock Island is the infamous “newbie isle” folks are talking about. It’s certainly ok, but a bit underwhelming. I’m only level 3 though.

1615

They haven’t even fixed the simplest things from January, the leap attack I get as Templar systematically places me right PAST the enemy I was targeting. And if there’s even the tiniest obstacle, like a small step, the character stops right in front of it but the attack still does damage even if you’re still far away from the target.

And I got the stuck in dialogue bug while other players were complaining about it in the chat log, so I guess there’s a particular quest that bugs out more frequently.

On the TOS they say explicitly that you CAN’T SHOW anything from past beta phases, but this one is literally identical to the one in mid January. All the bugs and glitches exactly the same.

And it’s not a bug but doing all this introductory content for the second time makes really stand out how crap it is. I’m bored out of my mind. There’s not even a slight amount of actual gameplay. It’s just chasing after quests signposts and clicking endlessly on objects or through drab dialogue.

1616

I actually like the sound of “slower”. MMOs are too fast-levelling these days, too oriented around getting somewhere, around progression. I used to prefer it when getting to level 2 was a big deal in a game. Progression is only one of the pillars of an RPG, but aeons of subscription MMOs have oriented design too much around giving Achievers hamster-wheels they can get addicted to, IMHO.

I want a virtual world feel from my MMOs. GW2 was a step in the right direction for that. I much prefer the TES lore though, so if I can get a nice open world feel from ESO like I got from GW2, but with lore I like better, I could quite happily just wander around pretending I’m a mage for quite long periods of time without necessarily feeling like I have to get somewhere fast about it.

Also, for me, the beginning, starting on the road, is always the best bit anyway, and I prefer if that’s stretched out. It gets boring once I know everything; it’s only exciting on that cusp when one is getting into the saddle but things are still quite mysterious. But then that’s the Explorer in me talking, I suppose :)

1617

And I’m now pretty sure that the engine can’t load more than ONE character with high resolution. Wow.

I’m standing in front of these two guys and if I shift to one it loads the textures, if I shift to the other it loads its textures and reverts the other.

1618

Out of interest, any addons you’d recommend?

1619

That’s because it’s the same build from January, isn’t it?

1620

Patching now, would you like to pet my monkey?

1621

Beta friend code available, please only claim if you will play this weekend!

7FLHLWY4DJMF77WWMRHL

1622

My experience to a “t”. I’m reminded continuously of what I found lacking in Elder Scrolls single player games, while at the same time missing the aspects made them unique and special – e.g. the layered stories and sense of discovery in an interesting and intelligible world.

1623

How far into it have you played?

1624

Not that far. I assume you are implying that it gets better in this regard.

1625

It does, actually. See the last 4-5 pages of me whining about how awful the starting experience is and how glad I am that they’re making the (bold) decision to cut out all the newbie content for each faction, setting it aside as optional content. Honestly, though, you are looking at probably about 4-5 hours of gameplay until you start seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. I’d honestly just wait for the next beta weekend when the latest patch is live so you don’t have to slog through soul-crushing drudgery that is the current newbie experience.

1626

Yea, I tried about an hour. Of the Daggerfall, since that was criticised.

Amazing. Really, amazingly bad. “Find a monkey!”. Okay, there’s one…nope, wrong one.

1627

I have started playing the beta. I got to the part to where you collect the snake/bear/eagle runes to open up a cave …

is this part still considered the newbie zone that they want to get rid of?

I know you shouldn’t judge a game on beta… but this game f^cking sucks.

1628

What do you classify as the newbie content? I’ve left the original area and am running around in a more open world. Still around level 4.

1629

This close to launch you probably should.

1630

The game doesn’t open up until you reach your faction’s main city. It isn’t until then that you get that feeling you had when you first popped out of the cave under Helgen, Vault 13 or Goodsprings – “The world is huge, and I can go any direction I want.” They delayed that bit until well after most ‘professional’ reviewers and casual testers will quit.

Happily, all that content has been universally panned to the point where it’ll be optional in the next build.

1631

There’s Cold Harbor and then you’re placed in a “Newbie Land” area, which will generally take you up to L4-5. After that is when you take a boat or whatever to the “real” world / capital city of your faction, at which point I started to see a glimmer of hope. That’s what they’re cutting out, you will basically do Cold Harbor and then show up on the docks of the capital, as if you just completed the 4-5 levels of Newbie Land.

Once you get to a city and you see a massive map and quests for the Mages Guild, Fighters Guild, Undaunted, etc that’s where I felt like the real game began. At that point, I didn’t quest grind, I just wandered around and did quests as I happened to bump into them. I explored around and found some cool things on my own and the combat became suddenly much, much more challenging. Suddenly I started needing to actually interrupt various attacks and block others, otherwise I’d get my butt kicked (part of that was probably due to me not having a great “build”, since I was just messing around with skills).

At that point, the game went from “Wow, this is seriously the most bland and boring MMO experience I’ve ever encountered” to buying the game. I don’t think it’s revolutionary, I don’t think it’s the greatest thing since sliced bread, but I started to have enough fun to justify the box price and I’m really looking forward to oodles of character builds/customization and AvA, which by all accounts runs great!

1632

I shall keep slogging on in hopes of getting on that boat to freedom, then! :)

'Cause Newbie Island is pretty lackluster indeed. Remember EQII, though? Initially, you started on a newbie island and did generic quests until like level 5, learning basic crafting and stuff, and getting some basic gear. Then you chose Freeport or Qeynos and off you went to begin the real deal. But they ditched that, too, as it was kind of horrifying to have to do for each new character. Warhammer Online started with distinct areas for each race, but then consolidated them eventually. It seems most of these MMOs think “hey, let’s have a distinct newbie experience,” then realize the idea never quite pans out.

What’s odd is that they keep doing it…