Is PWI worth playing?

Glaciaire - Heavens Tear

Hi all, just a few questions to ask. I would appreciate any feedback, if at all.

My general concern when I first started playing PW today was: It is not beginner friendly. The graphics, although clear, were hard to get used to compared to other MMORPGs. The "help guide" offered some advice and help, but thoroughly confused me even though I tried to understand what it was trying to say.

The quests have too many colours - gold, silver, green (just the ones I've come across in my few levels). The text in the quests are also too... I don't know... I had to squint to look at the greyish words..

The map is unhelpful and confusing as well. The specks of dots showing the monsters did little to tell me where to hunt a particular monster, even though I had the tracker. The dense amount of yellow dots of NPCs were too closely packed for me to even figure out where to find my master to learn skills.

To do the apothecary quest, I had to buy a pick-axe. The quest-giver did not tell me where to find one, nor give me a hint as to how to get it, only telling me that I have to have a pick-axe before I can start hunting for herbs. So my hunt for a particular yellow dot begins. The only problem? Who sells the pick-axe? My first thought was to try the Blacksmith, because the Tailor and Seamstress would seem appropriate, and a Merchant, well, sells jewels and gems and stuff, right? Wrong! I had to run in circles to get to the Blacksmith, to realise he did not sell what I wanted. In the end, I had to google to find where to get that pesky pick-axe.

I am only level 6 and if I have to start surfing the forums for every quest I take on in PWI, then I'd like to ask, is it worth the effort to stay in PWI?

I have played quite a few MMORPGs and all of them make the effort to help beginners like us. In most of the games I played, I usually just surf the forums for builds on the class I am going for. For this game, I had to come to the forums to read a guide on Genies, where to buy a pick-axe, where to learn my skills, how to find an NPC in the midst of all those yellow dots.

I'm not trying to say PWI is lousy. All I wanna know is, does the gameplay in the later levels makes all this hassle worth it in the long run?

Side note, another thing I noticed is the lack of players in the town. I'm a cleric and I would like to be in a game where finding parties or squads are relatively easy. Maybe it's just because I am in a lower level village? Can someone confirm this for me please?

LenieClarke - Heavens Tear

the reason you're not seeing any other players is that you're in a low-level town. there are very, very few new players joining this old game anymore. oldbies who create alternate characters powerlevel them up too fast to see the starter towns much.

the UI being unfriendly has to do with (1) the game design being many years old and (2) the game company never being particularly interested in customer service anyway. perhaps it's a culture clash between the designers (located in China) and us roundeyed western gamers, idunno. anyway, it's unlikely to change; you'll pick up skills and tricks for working with it over time if you decide to keep playing --- but although i've seen the UI be changed during my tenure here, i've not really seen it be changed for greater ease of use, only for fancier looks.

is it worth playing? ultimately that's a subjective judgment you'll have to make for yourself. however, i would say that unless you already have friends here you want to play with --- find another game. this one is nearing the end of its life, is pretty much in final maintenance mode, the developers are plainly unfamiliar with its old creaky code base, it only seldom receives any bug fixes even for years-old well known issues, improvements it DOES receive tend to create catastrophic new bugs on a routine basis, and the game company has never much cared for the user experience even to begin with. i myself stay only for my online friends' sake.

benefits to this game? well, once you get familiar with it there's a pretty decent user community here. the friends i've made and the peer support i've received has been amazing. but as for official support channels? i don't even bother trying.

Ikarium - Dreamweaver

To be honest, this forum is not a place to ask that. You will get many answers like the previous stated one. People who have been claiming the game has been dying for years, while it still endures.

Honestly.....I wouldn't take much to heart about that. I could tell you its still fun and someone else tell you to go elsewhere. Play it a while and make your own call. The game is what you make it. Some people make it a daily chore, others make it daily fun.

in reply to finding squads tho...yes that is directly related to your low level location. As a cleric, you would find it relatively easy to find squads at later levels.

Glaciaire - Heavens Tear

Ahh... thank you for your quick reply. Ironically, I'm an asian and I think their UI sucks/is outdated.

I was really hoping to be a Demon Cleric after reading up on those guides and skills... but that all went poof when I started playing PW for real. I guess I'll be saying bye to this game, then.

Would you mind pming me a few recommendations of games you have in mind? I love being a supporter and PW had such potential. Now I have to look for other games like this ><

Glaciaire - Heavens Tear

Ikarium - Dreamweaver wrote: »

To be honest, this forum is not a place to ask that. You will get many answers like the previous stated one. People who have been claiming the game has been dying for years, while it still endures.

Honestly.....I wouldn't take much to heart about that. I could tell you its still fun and someone else tell you to go elsewhere. Play it a while and make your own call. The game is what you make it. Some people make it a daily chore, others make it daily fun.

in reply to finding squads tho...yes that is directly related to your low level location. As a cleric, you would find it relatively easy to find squads at later levels.

I'll take your word for it that it is fun, and based on the stuff I read on forums, it does sound fun although expensive to play a cleric. However, the harsh and beginner unfriendly UI spoils the experience for me. My quest tab is messy, they're all over the place. The text makes for hard reading (although I guess that's just me). I'll try it out for a few more days though...if I can ever autopath my way to those mobs and NPCs and finish them, that is.

LenieClarke - Heavens Tear

Ikarium - Dreamweaver wrote: »

To be honest, this forum is not a place to ask that. You will get many answers like the previous stated one. People who have been claiming the game has been dying for years, while it still endures.

it comes down to what you think "dying" or "dead" means for an online game. the servers will almost certainly be around for many more years to come --- think of any of the famous early MMORPGs from years ago; most of them are still around and accepting new players, even though they've not been "interesting games to join" for a long time now.

PWI is "dying" in the sense that it's not likely to receive any more major content additions or game engine improvements; it's becoming static, stopping its growth. what changes are happening tend to be neutral or deleterious, as the maintenance-mode programmers still working on it don't seem to understand it well and apparently do not get assigned enough resources, time, and money to learn to understand it well. i'd bet a fair bit of in-game coin that genesis was the last major world map expansion / race-and-class addition we'll see for years, possibly ever. we might still be able to play it and open new accounts on it ten years from now, but it likely won't look very different then than it does now.

it'll likely have much the same player base too, less whoever leaves it in the meantime. we can already see there's no longer any real influx of genuinely new players, the starter towns are dead more often than not. changing that would require changing the game to make it more appealing, especially to people starting out cold --- and i don't see that happening. in fact, with the secret passage disaster, i see the opposite happening; catering to high-level and bought-their-level oldbies at the expense of lower level just-starteds. that's not the sign of a healthy, growing game.

Decus - Dreamweaver

Glaciaire - Heavens Tear wrote: »

I'll take your word for it that it is fun, and based on the stuff I read on forums, it does sound fun although expensive to play a cleric. However, the harsh and beginner unfriendly UI spoils the experience for me. My quest tab is messy, they're all over the place. The text makes for hard reading (although I guess that's just me). I'll try it out for a few more days though...if I can ever autopath my way to those mobs and NPCs and finish them, that is.

Take my word for it. Being a cleric is not as expensive as one would think, especially now versus when I started as one. If anything, playing an elf to start is much better than other classes due to the ability to fly being available at the first level.

Regardless, there are other games available to you that you may enjoy more if you are into playing MMOs.

paradox666

PWI perfectly fine aslong as you dont spend a single dime on it that way when the devs herp derp all over you or the customer support closes your tickets without a "sorry we couldnt help you some way" ya wont get angry for investing in their payroll but as a totaly free to play game ya sure kills time just remember dont spend a single cent and everything will be fine

Ikarium - Dreamweaver

LenieClarke - Heavens Tear wrote: »

it comes down to what you think "dying" or "dead" means for an online game. the servers will almost certainly be around for many more years to come --- think of any of the famous early MMORPGs from years ago; most of them are still around and accepting new players, even though they've not been "interesting games to join" for a long time now.

PWI is "dying" in the sense that it's not likely to receive any more major content additions or game engine improvements; it's becoming static, stopping its growth. what changes are happening tend to be neutral or deleterious, as the maintenance-mode programmers still working on it don't seem to understand it well and apparently do not get assigned enough resources, time, and money to learn to understand it well. i'd bet a fair bit of in-game coin that genesis was the last major world map expansion / race-and-class addition we'll see for years, possibly ever. we might still be able to play it and open new accounts on it ten years from now, but it likely won't look very different then than it does now.

it'll likely have much the same player base too, less whoever leaves it in the meantime. we can already see there's no longer any real influx of genuinely new players, the starter towns are dead more often than not. changing that would require changing the game to make it more appealing, especially to people starting out cold --- and i don't see that happening. in fact, with the secret passage disaster, i see the opposite happening; catering to high-level and bought-their-level oldbies at the expense of lower level just-starteds. that's not the sign of a healthy, growing game.

I know what you are saying.......but to someone new its ALL new content. Someone new could start the game right now and enjoy it for quite some time before deciding to move on.
Someone new could play the classes, do the quests, culti's, and have fun for a while. The servers are far from empty, so they'd have many to interact with as well.
I'm not saying there's lots of new content, or if there will be. Just that someone new to it, could enjoy it a while. You make it sound like the servers are empty and dead, and then tell someone new this, scare them off and then say there's no new players? :P

Dr_Jeckyl - Heavens Tear

Glaciaire - Heavens Tear wrote: »

I am only level 6 and if I have to start surfing the forums for every quest I take on in PWI, then I'd like to ask, is it worth the effort to stay in PWI?

I have played quite a few MMORPGs and all of them make the effort to help beginners like us. In most of the games I played, I usually just surf the forums for builds on the class I am going for. For this game, I had to come to the forums to read a guide on Genies, where to buy a pick-axe, where to learn my skills, how to find an NPC in the midst of all those yellow dots.

I'm not trying to say PWI is lousy. All I wanna know is, does the gameplay in the later levels makes all this hassle worth it in the long run?

Side note, another thing I noticed is the lack of players in the town. I'm a cleric and I would like to be in a game where finding parties or squads are relatively easy. Maybe it's just because I am in a lower level village? Can someone confirm this for me please?

I have played several MMOs and I still like this game the best. You have the ability to fly, great character customization, a seamless map ie: no Zoning (except for instances) and despite what everyone says they have improved the user experience quite a bit over the years.

I've actually been playing since 2009 but this is the first Cleric Char I leveled up. I can tell you that when I first played the game I started a Cleric and found it hard going. When I switched to a Veno it was much more fun. The starting village City of the Lost (untamed classes) is much more beginner friendly. (once you know how to play and can transfer money from a higher level Char it is different, I leveled this Cleric to 29 in one day)

The new Earthguard healer Class of Mystic is also easier to play and the Quests less grindy although the layout of the City isn't as friendly as that of the Untamed classes.

Once you get to level 20 you go to Archosaur and that is when it gets a little more fun. But it only really gets truly addictive once you get to the 40s and start doing BHs. Dungeon runs in squads.

So my advice is to stick it out a bit longer, perhaps try a different class such as a Veno or Mystic and look for a newbie faction (guild), you might have to jump around factions at first until you find one that you like. Most of the established factions have level requirements.

JanusZeal - Heavens Tear

Run now while you can.

People nowadays who start out tend to charge zen and powerlevel themselves. It's not a bad idea for me because I make quite a bit of money powerleveling people like this. However, for people like you, it's a bad idea, if you want to squad with others like was done a few years back. Too few people anymore in towns except for Lost City which seems to be a chat box for people too lazy to level enough to make it to Archosaur.

If you were to play a F2P game the best time to start is as close to it's release as possible when players get the most content, more of it gets explored, and there's more activity spread about. This one is a bit over the hill.

cobalt1

PWI has a sister game called Forsaken World thats alot easier on new players, i leveled to 40 in about a week and a half of casual playing, just seemed like it was more user friendly.

Renza - Raging Tide

Yea you're definitely best off quiting the game now before you bother to try get into it, this game is so basic it's unreal, along with the "fish" race being OP'd, this game never has any real content updates, the "content" we do get is very mediocre at best and laughable for most of it, bugs are never fixed either as already mentioned.

The PvE on this game is very...blah, the questing is tedious as usual, speak to xxx, kill xxx amount of mobs or gather xxx item from xxx mob then report back to xxx, or simply kill xxx boss and report back, no real thought put into them, the game is getting very out dated, simply because the devs can't be bothered to re-vamp the game in terms of graphics and the engine, instead they dump cash shop items, sales with packs, packs and more packs for the addicted gamblers out there to waste thousands upon thousands on without barely realising it, this game is only alive, because there isn't much of any good games out as of yet that is worth switching to, late 2011 to Q1/Q2 2012, I reckon the term "game is dead" will start to slowly come true with the major MMO releases coming out.

Jeremied - Sanctuary

I find it worth playing To be honest, I started playing right after christmas of '08, took a break for a few years because of school, and couldn't help coming back to start my second cleric. I do agree, the game takes a LOT of time to get used to, and find out where's this npc and where's this mob can be daunting.

Dr_Jeckyl is correct in saying that City of the Lost is a much more beginner friendly town. It's much easier to get around in and find things. Plume is actually one of the hardest original towns, in my opinion, with all the ncps spread out over large areas. (The new city of Tellus is the hardest now, what with their 30 meter walls separating you from the npcs)

=( If you were on Sanctuary, I'd offer to invite you to our helpful starter faction, where people in game can help you by answering questions, giving you coordinate points, and helping you kill harder monsters.

Only getting to level 7 doesn't give you any idea what the game is like. After joining a friendly faction, the game tends to get a LOT more fun.

Ikarium - Dreamweaver

Jeremied - Sanctuary wrote: »

Dr_Jeckyl is correct in saying that City of the Lost is a much more beginner friendly town. It's much easier to get around in and find things. Plume is actually one of the hardest original towns, in my opinion, with all the ncps spread out over large areas. (The new city of Tellus is the hardest now, what with their 30 meter walls separating you from the npcs)

Etherblade actually isn't too bad either, and usually see quite a few people there when I passing through.

Raging Tides can be real bad. It serves as an exit point and vendor zone for the level 100+ Nirvana instance. Which can lead to a lot of lag for some people, and high level people loitering around and crowding the city (like I am right now <.<)

Ois - Lost City

I do not recommend this game to anyone. It has gone downhill a lot and is so broken it's not even funny. It had potential to be a good game but the devs made horrible decisions and made it almost obnoxious to play rather than enjoyable.

Why do I play? I've invested so much time that I am not willing to start a new game. If I quit PWI I quit games all together basically.

Dr_Jeckyl - Heavens Tear

Jeremied - Sanctuary wrote: »

Dr_Jeckyl is correct in saying that City of the Lost is a much more beginner friendly town. It's much easier to get around in and find things. Plume is actually one of the hardest original towns, in my opinion, with all the ncps spread out over large areas. (The new city of Tellus is the hardest now, what with their 30 meter walls separating you from the npcs)

Only getting to level 7 doesn't give you any idea what the game is like. After joining a friendly faction, the game tends to get a LOT more fun.

Agreed. Plume is probably the most difficult and/or annoying starting towns since you have to fly ridiculously long distances for quests and the city has so many obstaces that you can't autopath even when flying.

Try City of the Lost if only to get a better starting experience and learn the ropes.

cobalt1 wrote: »

PWI has a sister game called Forsaken World thats alot easier on new players, i leveled to 40 in about a week and a half of casual playing, just seemed like it was more user friendly.

I tried FW and although it was easier, it was boring. I ended up coming back to PW in the end.

Sometimes having things too easy makes the game not worth playing long term.

Could the UI be improved? Most certainly, but you might find that some of the things like font size and filters for the chat window are already customizable.

One thing I would definitely like to have is multiple chat windows like in EQ2, but I'm pretty sure that is impossible for them to code.

aclucius318

Yes, it is worth playing. Everyone in here is telling you to run while you can, its a horrible game, but it is not. What's worse is that Ikarium is right, the forums are the worst place to find out the answer to your question. The majority of the forums are filled with people who do nothing but complain all the time, and that is not to say they do not (sometimes) have good reason for it. This game though is not nearly as bad as people will make it out to be on here.

I'll give you a hint onto something we all know, but none of us ever say frequently enough. You will never have more fun with a game than while you are a beginner. You are a beginner on this game, and opposed to dealing with what I had to deal with (3 years of updates, expansions, etc.), you get to experience it all right from the start. When I started playing, I got to experience a Blademaster and Cleric as my first two characters, I got to experience Territory Wars during their more glorious days (but they can still be fun when two equal factions are fighting), I got to experience my first Twilight Temple run, my first dungeon that I had to do with players the same level as me, taking a few hours to complete when it takes about five minutes to now with higher level help.

After the expansions came out though, I just adjusted. I never got to go through that same experience again because I already knew what to do, and we all know how that takes away the fun.

Play the game and don't stop playing before level 40+ unless you are really bored with it. If you make it to 40+ and are still entertained by it, keep going. It really does not take that long to reach 40. If you want, switch over to the Archosaur server and I'd be happy to help you with anything I can while I am on.

This game is still fun, and it can be confusing when you first start out (I built my first Cleric to use a spear!), but it can still be very fun.

MoonUsagi - Heavens Tear

Dr_Jeckyl - Heavens Tear wrote: »

I tried FW and although it was easier, it was boring. I ended up coming back to PW in the end.

+ 1
Dailly, daily, daily, daily...
Quest, quest, quest, quest...
As lv goes up, instances force your character to use certain build...
Accept quest, walk around, receive prize, accept quest, walk around, receive prize...
Pew pew, pew pew, eat food, pew pew, pew pew, eat food, pew pew, pew pew, eat food...

Glaciaire - Heavens Tear

Thanks all, for the... two kinds of replies I get

I did try out FW before coming to PW, because it was really too boring.

I'll really consider staying or not because the cleric class in this game had so much more potential here than the other MMOs I've tried to find.

@Jeremied - I'll take you up on your offer if I ever re-create my char on sanctuary! Although I read on forums that sanctuary is filled with botters and whatnots?

@Renza - I would have gone to other MMOs if their healing classes could have at least half the potential as the clerics here... or is it just that I can't find good MMOs out there? ><

Again, thank you all for your insights, I'll take them into consideration

Kanetsidohi - Archosaur

I just want to add, this game could have bad things but, so far, I haven't other I enjoyed most.

7 levels are not enough IMO to decide but, if you're not having fun there's not reason to stay. However, yesterday I joined my first TT with my lvl 49 veno! It was fun, even if we died a lot. b:laugh

If they fix the mess with Secret Passage, I'll be a happy camper again because I really love this game. b:cute

Fip - Dreamweaver

pwi is not worth playing.

Glaciaire - Heavens Tear

Kanetsidohi - Archosaur wrote: »

I just want to add, this game could have bad things but, so far, I haven't other I enjoyed most.

7 levels are not enough IMO to decide but, if you're not having fun there's not reason to stay. However, yesterday I joined my first TT with my lvl 49 veno! It was fun, even if we died a lot. b:laugh

If they fix the mess with Secret Passage, I'll be a happy camper again because I really love this game. b:cute

Aha... I'm at page 17 of the SP QQ thread and I'm already 3/4 decided on leaving this game. I have never liked PK unless I voluntarily enter an arena myself. Since my main will be a cleric, even more so I cannot handle those powerful GoldDiggers / Enragers in Heaven's Tear.

Maybe I should join the PK servers, they seem really nice there.

Fip - Dreamweaver

Make a BM as your first character, they are needed everywhere and you can experience everything this game has to offer with a BM class. Other classes do not get invited in groups often. BM class is needed everywhere.

Koolaid - Heavens Tear

This game is nice. I've been here for a long time

Once you find a questing buddy that can carry you everywhere, it will be much more fun. Well at least I like carrying my buddy You will start group stuff when you reach your level 50s maybe, or late 40s. Everyone loves clerics, you will always find people to party with


Don't worry about the Secret Passage stuff, I'm sure they will change it back to normal soon. Too many people hate it, they can't ignore it when it gets this bad


ignore Fip, he is a liar troll

Glaciaire - Heavens Tear

Fip - Dreamweaver wrote: »

Make a BM as your first character, they are needed everywhere and you can experience everything this game has to offer with a BM class. Other classes do not get invited in groups often. BM class is needed everywhere.

Quick question: What's a BM? I'm still not used to the abbreviations...there's way too many of them here, even for a mmo.

@Koolaid - That would be great. I'll try finding a...carrying buddy. Just need to get use to this game to even level up to 30+ or 40+, where the fun really happens.

Edit: Lol alright xD

MoonUsagi - Heavens Tear

Koolaid - Heavens Tear wrote: »

Once you find a questing buddy

I am not sure about this... b:shutup

Anyway.. if Glaciaire interested to pvp server, try LC. b:sin

sadhawksfan

I just came back to the game after YEARS and i started over. I say that i like the game even though it can be damn confusing at times as far as what to do and what is needed to make certain thing etc etc. I do feel like a newb again but thats ok, i dont mind re-learning the game.

Glaciaire - Heavens Tear

MoonUsagi - Heavens Tear wrote: »

I am not sure about this... b:shutup

Anyway.. if Glaciaire interested to pvp server, try LC. b:sin

Why, what's wrong with the questing buddy? o.O

Maybe I'll try LC... but your evil grin is kinda scaring me lol.

Decus - Dreamweaver

It really comes down to what you like to do in squad settings, or if you even like squad reliance.

If you enjoy solely doing damage, there are classes that cater to that.

If you enjoy solo play, there are classes that cater to that.

If you enjoy a fairly complex support role, then you picked the right class.

Still, I am oversimplifying it quite a bit. Clerics can do lots in the game and are fairly versatile. I would say that, if you can handle the role, you'd be sorely needed as a competent cleric seems to be fairly rare and you'd not have any issues finding a squad.

I think you should give it a shot for a bit before making any decisions on continuing the game. If you take the plunge and graduate from Plume with you M.D. degree in heals and metal magery, but still require class-specific assistance, then there's an entire subforum (with which you are already acquainted) dedicated to assisting you.

Good luck with your decision and happy gaming, regardless. b:victory

Glaciaire - Heavens Tear

Decus - Dreamweaver wrote: »

It really comes down to what you like to do in squad settings, or if you even like squad reliance.

If you enjoy solely doing damage, there are classes that cater to that.

If you enjoy solo play, there are classes that cater to that.

If you enjoy a fairly complex support role, then you picked the right class.

Still, I am oversimplifying it quite a bit. Clerics can do lots in the game and are fairly versatile. I would say that, if you can handle the role, you'd be sorely needed as a competent cleric seems to be fairly rare and you'd not have any issues finding a squad.

I think you should give it a shot for a bit before making any decisions on continuing the game. If you take the plunge and graduate from Plume with you M.D. degree in heals and metal magery, but still require class-specific assistance, then there's an entire subforum (with which you are already acquainted) dedicated to assisting you.

Good luck with your decision and happy gaming, regardless. b:victory

I love supporting classes, and I'm one of the top few full-supporters in the previous game I played (although the gameplay was vastly different).

I'd definitely try levelling up to 30-40+ and find a reliable squad to do quests with and maybe try out the dreaded SP.

Thanks for your input