Post by rick on Jan 22, 2009 19:30:46 GMT -5
My review after one day of playing (Last night for a few hours):
One thing that really stands out to me is how the environment is designed to really immerse the player in the game. The world is absolutely beautiful. The ambient sounds, quest-chains, and overall general look of the game are incredible.
Funny, after playing WoW for pretty much as long as it's been on the market...you can see just how many things are similar between the two games. Hearthstone - Book of Binding. Epic items are purple. Start getting whatever they are calling Talent Points at level 11. Max level is 40. Stuff like that.
Really great things about the game I've noticed:
The Public Quests are really cool. Simply entering an area where a Public Quest exists, immediately, you can see the progress. So, if a Public Quest has 3 stages, you can see what stage it is in and what needs to be accomplished...then go out and do what is necessary. At the end of the Public Quest, the server determines who it thinks had the most influence on the outcome and award them a bonus of +500 to their die roll on the chest (reward). The 1st 2 Public Quests I joined, I was the 2nd highest in influence and it gave me a +350 bonus to my die roll (1-1000). My die rolls were both fairly high, giving me enough to claim 1st place and have my choice of 1 item FIRST, out of the entire loot. Cool.
Next, at times when you travel between zones, it will automatically show you if there are any groups partied-up. Sometimes, you can auto-join groups that allow it. Thought that was cool, even though I never tried it.
I played one RvR (PVP) battle and found it to be pretty fun. Battles seem to last longer. Nobody is dying in one or two hits...and nobody is locked up having zero control over the character. At least, not yet....
I created a Goblin Shaman. I am Level 6 now and have gathered many items to enhance my stats. However, I can already tell that the items gained aren't having as much effect as it did in WoW...which I like. I particularly enjoy more strategy and skill than having the best weapons/armor in the game and knowing I can obliterate someone with limited effort.
Another thing I like is when targetting an enemy, I can also click once on a friendly target...and use my offensive spells on the enemy and my healing spells on my friendly target. So, basically, I have 2 things targetted at the same time. Really cool feature.
I'll post more...maybe add some pics later.
One more thing: They have RvR servers..which is PVP in designated areas of each Zone. AND...they have ORvR..which if OPEN PVP...except the starting area of the first zone...So, basically, city sieges and Open PVP is everywhere on these servers...except the very first area you start.
Sounds like fun.
One thing that really stands out to me is how the environment is designed to really immerse the player in the game. The world is absolutely beautiful. The ambient sounds, quest-chains, and overall general look of the game are incredible.
Funny, after playing WoW for pretty much as long as it's been on the market...you can see just how many things are similar between the two games. Hearthstone - Book of Binding. Epic items are purple. Start getting whatever they are calling Talent Points at level 11. Max level is 40. Stuff like that.
Really great things about the game I've noticed:
The Public Quests are really cool. Simply entering an area where a Public Quest exists, immediately, you can see the progress. So, if a Public Quest has 3 stages, you can see what stage it is in and what needs to be accomplished...then go out and do what is necessary. At the end of the Public Quest, the server determines who it thinks had the most influence on the outcome and award them a bonus of +500 to their die roll on the chest (reward). The 1st 2 Public Quests I joined, I was the 2nd highest in influence and it gave me a +350 bonus to my die roll (1-1000). My die rolls were both fairly high, giving me enough to claim 1st place and have my choice of 1 item FIRST, out of the entire loot. Cool.
Next, at times when you travel between zones, it will automatically show you if there are any groups partied-up. Sometimes, you can auto-join groups that allow it. Thought that was cool, even though I never tried it.
I played one RvR (PVP) battle and found it to be pretty fun. Battles seem to last longer. Nobody is dying in one or two hits...and nobody is locked up having zero control over the character. At least, not yet....
I created a Goblin Shaman. I am Level 6 now and have gathered many items to enhance my stats. However, I can already tell that the items gained aren't having as much effect as it did in WoW...which I like. I particularly enjoy more strategy and skill than having the best weapons/armor in the game and knowing I can obliterate someone with limited effort.
Another thing I like is when targetting an enemy, I can also click once on a friendly target...and use my offensive spells on the enemy and my healing spells on my friendly target. So, basically, I have 2 things targetted at the same time. Really cool feature.
I'll post more...maybe add some pics later.
One more thing: They have RvR servers..which is PVP in designated areas of each Zone. AND...they have ORvR..which if OPEN PVP...except the starting area of the first zone...So, basically, city sieges and Open PVP is everywhere on these servers...except the very first area you start.
Sounds like fun.
