After trying todownload and install this damn thing since Sunday (and thereby missing the head start period which was the reason I downloaded it in the first place), I finally got into this yesterday and I'm really enjoying it. There's a lot more race and class variety than in WoW, and death actually carries some consequences (lost experience and the need to retrieve your corpse, although you don't draw aggro for a set amount of time after you respawn, so you're not mauled the second you try to get your gear back). And there's a pretty well-thought out story in the three starting areas I've been in so far, and there's a lot of emphasis on character in the quests along the way.
From a technical standpoint, the game is pretty stable a day out from launch -- no crashes, no glitches, and no real lag. Which may be because of the one drawback so far -- there's not a lot of players in the game yet. I picked a server that was listed as medium, and I ran into less than a dozen people in the starting area, which is usually jumping on a lauch day.
It's closer to old-school EQ than WoW, which makes sense given the developers worked on that game as well, and which is just fine by me. It's not a light game by any stretch (levelling looks to be taking some time), but it's got enough good stuff in it to keep me interested, especially the Diplomacy system -- you basically play a variety of cards to simulate the back and forth of a negotiation, with each card capable of moving the overall conversation in your favor or your opponent's, generating points for you or your opponent that let you play more powerful cards, or any combination of the two. You may want to let your opponent temporarily have the upper hand to set yourself up for that blockbuster card that will give you an overwhelming advantage. It really simulates the give and take rather nicely, and it's supposed to play a large part in altering the game world -- successful negotiations with cities can cause that city to grant bonuses to classes and professions visiting that city.
Hopefully this will build a player base and stick around for a while, since it's a really promising beginning.
From a technical standpoint, the game is pretty stable a day out from launch -- no crashes, no glitches, and no real lag. Which may be because of the one drawback so far -- there's not a lot of players in the game yet. I picked a server that was listed as medium, and I ran into less than a dozen people in the starting area, which is usually jumping on a lauch day.
It's closer to old-school EQ than WoW, which makes sense given the developers worked on that game as well, and which is just fine by me. It's not a light game by any stretch (levelling looks to be taking some time), but it's got enough good stuff in it to keep me interested, especially the Diplomacy system -- you basically play a variety of cards to simulate the back and forth of a negotiation, with each card capable of moving the overall conversation in your favor or your opponent's, generating points for you or your opponent that let you play more powerful cards, or any combination of the two. You may want to let your opponent temporarily have the upper hand to set yourself up for that blockbuster card that will give you an overwhelming advantage. It really simulates the give and take rather nicely, and it's supposed to play a large part in altering the game world -- successful negotiations with cities can cause that city to grant bonuses to classes and professions visiting that city.
Hopefully this will build a player base and stick around for a while, since it's a really promising beginning.
