Been playing this game off and on casually the past few weeks, and it's been pretty fun. Essentially, it's a game with the mechanics of old school 8 bit RPGs, thrown into an MMO context. The game is surprisingly deep in regards to both its PvP and end game PvE content. For PvP, there are servers with open world PvP (in addition to tournaments), that make ganking and the like very entertaining. For PvE, there's actually some very entertaining and challenging bosses once you get to the end game.
If you were a fan of any old school RPGs, it might be worth your time to check this out.
EDIT - BE SURE YOU CREATE YOUR OWN BYOND KEY AND DO NOT LOG IN AS A GUEST. YOUR CHARACTERS WILL NOT SAVE IF YOU ARE A GUEST.
DOUBLE EDIT - Started a TL guild on Cornelia. Anyone who's a member should be able to invite you in.
The game is free to play. While there is a subscriber option (which is cheap), subscribers do not get benefits which would make their characters more powerful compared to non-subscribers.
If decide to check it out, the server that many competitive oriented people have been playing on is Cornelia, which is an open world PvP server. It's a mid population server, and could likely accomodate any TL people that were interested enough to check it out.
On April 04 2011 17:31 Souma wrote: Wow, thanks for posting this. I've never heard of it before. Seems fun. Gonna check it out!
One thing, be sure you create your own BYOND key and don't login as a guest. If you log in as a guest, you (obviously) won't be able to save your character which sort of defeats the point. Just throwing it out there since I just saw two people login as guests a moment ago.
ZP: Created an account and logged in. I'm trying to get into the sound settings but it's saying I have to be logged in to do so, but it tells me "Souma has logged in." when I boot it up. What should I do? Trying to mute the sound to listen to my own music.
I'll throw out random information as it comes out to me, but for those starting out one of the more useful pieces of information is probably how groups and enemy spawns work.
Aside from killing bosses, you usually either want to be solo or in a group of three. The game only spawns enemies based on group or non-group, and does not take into account whether or not you have 2 or 3 members. So if you go around with a 2 person party instead of a 3 person party, you'll be facing harder battles than you would be if you were solo.
Also, some random bits about the classes you can pick right away
Soldier - Strongest single target physical damage, strongest physical mitigation, able to guard others. Probably the strongest 1v1 class. Highest HP but takes absurd damage from magic.
Wizard - Arguably the most useful class (tied with Cleric) for PvE. Vital buffs/debuffs, and the strongest aoe damage in the game. Basically fits into any party with ease.
Cleric - Best healer in the game, also has invaluable buffs/debuffs. Not too much else to say, except that they're wanted in basically every party (and also great in pvp).
Ranger - Probably the best solo class of the above. Can be built to either be physical or magic based. Kind of a hybrid between all of the above three really. Decent physical, decent magic damage, and surprisingly good heals.
On April 04 2011 17:42 Souma wrote: ZP: Created an account and logged in. I'm trying to get into the sound settings but it's saying I have to be logged in to do so, but it tells me "Souma has logged in." when I boot it up. What should I do? Trying to mute the sound to listen to my own music.
You have to be in-game in order to turn off music. Once you're in game and you're moving your character around, you can toggle the sound/music settings by hitting F4.
On the note of PvE vs PvP. The only PvP on PvE servers is through hosted tournaments and mutually accepted duels.
On PvP, you and your party can attack anyone for any reason so long as they're level 10 or above. If the people you're attacking are within 7 levels of you, you'll gain half the gold they're currently carrying when they die.
The only safe zones on a PvP server are banks and marketplaces.
On April 04 2011 18:06 Souma wrote: lol I'm already stuck on that one Slippery quest... trying to maneuver around the icy cellar to get to the treasure chest. qq
Edit: And right as I posted that I figured it out. Yay. :D
There's an entire dungeon later on that's based almost entirely on that sort of movement/puzzle gameplay.
Even though I'm in a guild already, I think I'll leave temporarily and startup a teamliquid guild. Just so people coming from here can organize and talk to each other in guild chat, etc.
edit:
I started up a TeamLiquid guild on Cornelia. Anyone who's invited to it has the ability to invite others by using the flag icon in the lower middle part of the screen. Should be helpful for everyone to organize and group with each other.
I've also been playing this game casually for a few weeks. The progression is solid, and it's just a whole lot of fun. The community is great, and people are awesome about supporting the game with subscriptions.
On picking classes and blessings: Wizard is great for XP, gold, and even late-game bosses. Pick the Ice blessing if you intend to stick around for a while. Otherwise fire blessing. Soldier is exactly what you'd expect. Obviously pick the physical damage blessing. Cleric is essential for late-game fights, but it's a lot of work to get there. Heal blessing, no brainer. Ranger is decent all-around throughout the game. Often people get physical/electric damage, but healing is ok too.
Good info about the blessings. Forgot to mention that in the run down earlier. In the late, late game you can double your blessing, so it ends up being very important.
Haven't played myself yet but wanted to add some additional info from their homepage cause I found it interesting and felt it is missing here.
As said in the OP the subsciption is cheap, supports the developer and gives you some nice stuff. Here some examples:
-Four Additional Classes
"Vanish into thin air and sneak past NPC guards and other players with the Ninja. Cast dark spells powered by your own Hit Points as a Warlock, and become a wealthy loot hunter as a Merchant. Last but not least, the Conjurer is a pure caster who packs an arsenal of Damage & Heal Over Time spells."
-Fast Travel Routes
"Special subscriber doors scattered throughout the world lead to instant-teleportation travel routes and conveniently placed Inns... and to open those doors you'll need a "Subscriber Key"."
That sounds interesting and quite conveniant to me. Can someone who already subscribed and played the game a bit comment on these (or other features you get)??
I have a subscription to the game, and it definitely gives some nice to have stuff. The travel routes still cost the same amount of money as the non-subscriber alternatives, but are a bit quicker. The extra classes provide some flavor to the game - they're no stronger or weaker than the other four, but a bit more specialized.
Ironically, it's probably the customization part that you get the most use out of for subscribing. Various different character masks/dyes that you can use as a subscriber which are unavailable to non-subscribers. Useful for making your guy stand out cosmetically (even in an 8-bit game).
WCS
