Coming from JD and other PWE games

bluestuffzzz wrote: »

Let's see if I can answer all your questions.

Level cap: 105 (most people are stuck around 101-103, as the exp needed to get to 105 is insane)

Ascension: No idea, but I don't believe so.

Cash shopping: One can buy exp runs using real life money transfered into coins. One can reach level 100, where most end-game gear/dungeons are. One can buy the gear and skills with real life money. Most that do this can't play their class well, but some can. Either way, gear and levels are obtainable in-game without real money, but it requires a lot of time in real life.

Biggest selling point: Large number of classes, shiny mounts, fashion, and gear. Teamwork & bosses, PvP, etc. In comparison to other games, the graphical style that the Angelica engine produces is unique (similar to JD/Ether Sage, etc).Beautiful landscapes await...

Is it worth it? It's based on your opinion. No one can tell you truthfully, because everyone will get a different sense of enjoyment (or lack-thereof), from playing. I find questing & grinding enjoyable, but many people would rather hyper level to level 100 quickly, etc. Each to his own.

Longknife - Harshlands wrote: »

Before you start reading answers, remember that F2P MMORPG forums are notoriously negative. When you ask "is CSing really important," you're going to get nothing but "OMG IT'S RIDICULOUS THIS IS THE MOST GREEDY GAME EVER" as a response.


Personally?

I played initially when PWI was released, quit because I hit level ~63 and leveling slowed drastically and I didn't have time for that grinding ****. About 2 years later, after playing Fallout I thought "man, I wish MMOs would adopt the perk system to help create more character uniqueness and diversity!" and happened across info on the genie update. Genies sounded like they had potential to do this (alongside the sage or demon choice), so I gave it another shot.
Nowadays anyone can hit level 100 with absolute ease. Some people QQ about how this means a lot of idiots reach 100, but I say this is great as it means people with busy schedules can still play and enjoy the game. This is the first perk that had me sticking around. If you wanted, you could cash shop maybe....10-20$ and hit level 100 within a week, simply by paying other players for Frostcovered City runs.
Secondly, while I'm sure people disagree, I consider this game pretty well "balanced." At least, far better balanced than most other MMOs I've experienced. There's 10 classes, each class has two classes they're strong against and two they're weak against, and while the strengths and weaknesses are drastic enough that winning 1v1 against a weakness can be damned near impossible if your opponent knows their class (very possible if they're dumb), they're not super-crippling in team scenarios.

The two blemishes on the balancing are:

1) Psys can be cash-shopped to full +12 gear, making them impossible for anyone that isn't equally cash-shopped up. Psys ARE balanced vs. other characters with similar refines though, it's simply their damage reflect vs. lower-refined characters makes beating them basically impossible. You WILL meet at least one or two Psys that are full +12 (fairly expensive; doable but either expensive or time-consuming) and exploit this to kill anyone with lower refines. Fortunately, on Harshlands at least, there's really not that many rich kids hiding behind this ridiculous advantage, probably because the class is one of the squishiest and therefore rather difficult to adapt to if you previously played another class. Likewise, as a Psy myself, I can tell you that the CS Psy babies typically suck *** and therefore get shot down by other +12 classes pretty quick, OR alternatively they dry-hump a skill that gives them immense defense but balls-awful offense, which combined with their lack of knowledge on how to properly play the class, essentially makes the Psy bloody useless within the fight.

2) Sins are DESIGNED to be superior in 1v1 fights. Whereas other classes have two classes they're strong against and two they're weak against? Sins basically have 8 they're strong against and two they're equal against. While this can be extremely annoying in open-world PK as they'll kill you before you can react (make a Seeker or a Psy to avoid this AND kill them, though a Barb or Mystic might be able to avoid them at the very least), this game is VERY heavy on teamplay, and sins are absolutely horrendous at it. The result is that while you may have a bunch of ego-driven little kiddos acting like they're the bomb because they can attack you 5 times before they even pop out of stealth, they suddenly show up in all of the PVP instances that actually matter. Territory War and Nation war are two weekly PVP instances where you compete on a large-scale (80v80 and 20v20 respectively), and sins suck *** in both. I won't go into detail as to why, but basically sins are both designed to get a GUARENTEE kill once every ~3-5 minutes (absolutely worthless when we're talking 80v80 battles) and both instances activate a skill called "bramble" that venomancers have, which makes melee'ers take 60% of the damage they deal. This eats sins alive, as they have low health and defense to begin with.



As for the significance of CSing...

End-game gear is Nirvana 3rd cast or R9 3rd cast. Nirvana is basically for the "common folk" whereas r9 is for cash shoppers. R9 3rd is superior to Nirvana, but not significantly enough that a nirvana-user won't be able to kill a r9 user. The main benefit of r9 over nirvana is slightly better stats and a unique ability on the weapon. For example, caster classes receive an ability on the 3rd recast r9 weapon that gives them a chance to remove ailments and receive a brief anti-stun when attacked, nirvana users do NOT. The result is that obviously a r9 user might be able to escape a hopeless situation (8v1 or the like) whereas a nirvana user will not. Their damage and defenses though, while different, are similar enough that nirvana users can still kill r9 users.
I don't CS, but I have r9. Admittedly, I ONLY have it because I was lucky enough to predict a massive change to the economy as well as a 50% off sale, so I was prepared and had traded my coin for gold (CS currency) in advance. However, one nice thing about this game is that you can essentially farm all your gear. You can get nirvana 3rd cast without ever making a trade with anyone. If you choose to go r9, you simply have to figure out how to get it initially (which IS expensive, can be well over $720 iirc), and then the 2nd and 3rd recast of it is completely farmable; no coin or trade neccesary.

Another thing I like is that the majority of farming is done on the weekends in Nation war; this isn't a game where you're forced to slave away and farm for hours on end throughout the week. You CAN play this game on weekends only and do fairly well.

Lastly, I've played the majority of the game with sub-par gear. Despite this, I could always kill people with better gear. This is more community-dependent than game mechanic-dependent, but the fact of the matter is? Our communities are dumb as hell. If you have a brain, you can outwit and outplay a lot of players within your gear "range" (for example if you're +5 or +7, you may be able to beat +10 players, though not +12 without great difficulty) simply because they dunno wtf they're doing. Sad but true, and quite entertaining.




So overall, I guess what I like is that this MMO is relaxed with farming and grinding, the PVP is decently balanced (better than most), and the PVP is typically team-orientated, and no matter how much people may tell you cash shopping is everything, no; teamwork and coordination is everything. Trust me, I've made a career on my server out of beating "legit" Territory war factions with a bunch of random, poorly-geared alts. We win because we know wtf we're doing, depsite the massive gap in gear/level.