First impressions from a new player

[JDavidC]

Ok, I'm on a free trial account, and I've been trying this game because WoW got messed up for me and this game has dragons as PCs in it. A few things I'd like to mention:

1. After the initial dragon training quests on Skalkaar and New Trismus, there is no direction as to where you should go later on to get more quests for adventuring/crafting. New players really need more direction than this so they can at least get some basic combat abilities and stuff.

2. The difficulty level of the mobs on the island after NT (where Kion and Sslanis are) is just wrong. There is a huge imbalance in power and danger between different mobs of the same level. Giant chickens, for example, are much easier to kill than angry gruoks of the same level. There are also PLENTY of named skeletons (and some unnamed mages) wondering around the roads that can wreak havoc. Those things shouldn't be on roads that are used for travel. Also, trying to do quests is EXTREMELY difficult with the imbalanced mobs, and the fact that different mobs with large level differences are mixed together. It's not fun trying to do a quest to kill the weaker mobs when the stronger ones aggro from miles away and lay the smack down on you. Finally, certain mobs are far too social, i.e. attacking a mob you need to kill brings loads of other ones down on you. It's too early a stage to be doing this to players, especially as they're doing these quests to learn the game and get basic abilities/attacks. The death penalty caused by all the subsequent deaths involved is also too harsh because of this. Getting lots of death points because of overpowered enemies is not fun and just makes it even harder to do stuff. One more thing I'd like to mention is the neverending supply of Sslik skeletons near Sslanis, why do those things respawn forever with no stop at all, and on a road used for travel too?

3. From what I've read, bipeds can (eventually) get loads of different classes (or schools) up to lvl 100, which would effectively make them gods compared to dragons. This doesn't make any sense. Dragons are going to need more classes and abilities to make up for the facts that creatures 1/100 of their size or smaller can pwn them. Also, ancient dragons seem too small when compared to adult dragons, can't you just give them REALLY long legs and a much bigger size so that other players can still see stuff around them?

EDIT - Oh yeah, this is a suggestion forum, the suggestions would be to address the problems above. :P

[imported_Ssilmath]

Well, in answer to your third problem, bipeds can take lots of classes, but it's not as overpowering as some dragons would want you to think. An ancient dragon is now pretty much equivilant as the average multiclassed biped...

[imported_Ssilmath]

Kumu, check your PM's please

[Loacalea]

This is an unfinish game we pay to finace the game contruction.
On dragon they may get more classes think i heard they maybe working on that behind everyone back.
I myself suggested elemental classes for dragons.
If there getting more classes it will take alittle bit time to set up an event for that.
There still plenty of unopen land like to the far east and many land to free.
The times we in now are a story base land thats part of story are told and special event are display for are support.
Even the classes are profe of this there not yeat divine but the best thing from this we have a chance to help them make the righ decison on the creation of the game.
(This not just a game you play but also one you help make)

[JDavidC]

Kumu, I can't agree with your comments about the difficulty. Going from easy mode to hard mode like this isn't right. Putting in 'realism' like you suggested over a gradual increase in difficulty doesn't cut it. A lot of the stuff that goes on should only turn up as you progress through the game, not thrown at you all at once.I find certain enemies at low levels are imbalanced, like I said. I didn't notice WA mages being fragile at all, which seemed strange. Certain enemies are overall more powerful than others, yet still have the same rating. This ISN'T right.

[mbaucco]

I agree, a rating 15 gruok should be about as tough as a rating 15 skeleton, which should be about as tough as a rating 15 chicken, that is the whole point of giving them a rating in the first place. It does not have to be exact, but so far the rating system is misleading and dangerous for low level players.

I also agree that the spawning in some parts of Lesser Aradoth is just nuts. Trying to leave Sslanis is a more or less guaranteed death thanks to endless pops and things spawning right in front of you. My rating 15 can not go anywhere due to large numbers of low level creatures mobbing me. If I try to ignore them, sooner or later it gets me killed due to higher level wanderers, and I simply can not kill them fast enough to ever actually get anywhere.

If HZ wants to attract more players they need to fix the early part of the game, and right now mob balance and spawning is the biggest problem for a starting player after the leave New Trismus.

[Narkano]

I agree with Kumu in certain points.

New Trismus isthe island for tutorial and training when you start the game. There you should be able to earn your first few levels while you learn how to fight and how to use your abilities and spells as well as how to do quests. You can find opponents with aggro and many more without aggro around New Trismus and get your first impressions about aggro range and social behavior.

After fighting different kinds of monsters and a couple of WA undeadyou may feel it's time to leave and see something of the real world. You should at least be around 10th levelwhen you leave for Lesser Aradoth. But Lesser Aradoth as Kumu already said is just that: The real world.

All opponents behave exactly like others of their kind all over the world and you better learn how to deal with them if you haven't done so already.

Since the different kinds of monsters are vastly differentyou'll encounter opponents that you find more easy to defeat and others that prove too much for you depending on your chosen class and equipment. Some can stun you, some use devastating strikes, some cause you to bleed over time, some slow you, some weaken you, some heal themselves, some use hardened shell that your strikes and spells cannot penetrate, some use ethereal strikes or spells that ignore even your strongest armoretc.

Learn how each opponents fights and learn how to counter their abilities with your own - or what kind of mob to avoid for the time being.

There's one point about Lesser Aradoth that's really annoying though -mobs seem to be set to instant respawn and therefore spawn like hell.

Your comment about dragons isn't quite correct - dragons have become very strong to easily be the equal of most multiclassed bipeds.

- Narkano

[mbaucco]

Nonetheless a rating 15 gruok (for example) should not be certain death class x while a rating 15 chicken is cake. It is good that monnsters should be interesting and diverse but that is no reason to make them so diverse that the rating system becomes meaningless.

However, I could probably live with the rating system if the respawn were fixed. If you could actually fight your way through the mobs without the instant respawning I would at least be happier.That way I could actually leave Sslanis without spending an hour wading through level 6 mobs when I am 15.

[JDavidC]

I still don't feel things should suddenly go to hard mode and then not get even harder. Also, at lvl 10, you're still trying to do quests just to GET abilities to help you survive. If anything, that makes this part of the game harder than the rest. It just isn't right that the difficulty suddenly goes up massively and then stays the same for most of the game. The enemies are supposed to be weaker in lower level areas. Diverse enemies are fine, but not when you get mages that still take quite a beating to bring down, or huge differences in power not reflected in rating. There is no way you can say a lvl 15 giant chicken is equal to a lvl 15 gruok when the gruok has vastly superior attack power and hp, without weaknesses the chicken does not have. You can't tell me this is how the game is supposed to be when mobs of one type are vastly superior to mobs of another type and yet have the same rating.

Also, the placement of some enemies means you CAN'T avoid them easily, or you can't do quests without having powerful enemies surprising you and killing you. I disagree with these 'this is the real world' comments when you're still relatively low level and trying to just get basic abilities. The 'real world' should kick in more when you at least HAVE the basic abilities (i.e. the stuff from all the quests up to lvl 20).

[Kulamata]

Another part of the game that is emphasized is the social aspect. You really need to join a good guild for many reasons; knowledge, friendship, and group hunts. The game has very good guild support features. It is notexpected for a level 15 to be able to solo social level 15's.... but a group hunt of 10-20's can have real fun hunting the social NPC's.

With as few players as there are, changing the experience rules a while back seemed to me to be a big mistake, as they were developed to encourage grouping over a wide span of levels. Still, group hunting is good fun, and you should enjoy some joyous revenge.

[Narkano]

Monsters have classes as well as any character does and they gain their abilities with their level - especially the undead of the WA most often have classes similar to player characters and use the same abilities as you do. They use the same version of multistrike, critical strike, power strike, smash for example as you do as well as the same spells. They rise in power as you do and do NOT suddenly start to get much tougher as you stated.

If you find the road blocked by enemies you consider too tough to fight at the time being then leave the road and find a way around them to avoid combat. Sometimes you are required to be stealthy and sneaky to reach your goal - especially if travelling alone - instead of trying to hack your way right through. I made myself a 1st level character to test and experience New Trismus and Lesser Aradoth after the changes were made and you can do all quests and surive on your own. Same for a few friends of mine, that started the game as true newbies.

Mobsshould be roughly asdangerous as indicated by their rating. As I already said you might be better prepared for one kind than for another depending on your own class and especially your equipment. (I do not count those giant chickens since they are some kind of fun mob that do not exist anywhere else).All stats and hitpoints for monsters are calculated having teched equipment and training points in mind, that player charactersare able touse to provide a challenge to well equiped players as well as parties of players. If your equipment is up to date and has some basic techs you should be able to handle things well.

After all its a multiplayer game and if youtry to doeverything on your own and without proper armor, weapons and spells then you tend to have a somewhat rougher time andneed tobetricky moreoften to reach a goal.

- Narkano

[Dhalin]

In reply to Kumu:

Once you are done with New Trismus, no NPCs tell you to go to Gerix in Kion. They need to make Avatarius or Kerian say "go to Kion and talk to Gerix".

In response to everyone else:

I wholeheartedly agree that mob ratings need to be adjusted. Grouks are way way WAY too powerful for their level. Its a freaking PIG. Pigs are Not that strong nor should they be. A rating 15 pig should be just as powerful overall as a rating 15 wolf. Now maybe the Rating 15 pig should have more health, but less damage than the rating 15 wolf which would have more damage, but less health and more agility. But no matter who you are playing, a Lv15 Grouk is a LOT harder than a Lv15, say, Wolf. Mage, Warrior, Dragon, no matter what, its the same. Lv15 Grouk > Lv15 Wolf. Always. The sad part? They give the SAME exp. Ever heard of "More Effort/Danger, More Reward?" That goes right out the window here.

The mob respawn right out of Sslanis is ridiculous. I agree there too. Mobs respawn immediately, you can take a Lv100 character there, blast all of the mobs with an AoE and they are right back 2 seconds later. You can do this all day long. Realistically, they would run out of skeletons to send after you, I'd think. I know they are trying to simulate a world at war, but come now, let's be Somewhat realistic about this, shall we? Skeletons are not born. Skeletons come from corpses. They do not respawn just instantly. Meanwhile, respawn on more sensible mobs, like Ruxus, is so long, that it can take a long time to do a quest requiring them. How about some Balance here?

As far as the Skeleton Nameds that ambush you, I don't see much wrong with that. I always avoided them. I say let them stay there. However, I would suggest increasing their loot tables. Lt. Khar is.... a very hard mob for his level, but yet he drops absolutely nothing most of the time. Again: Harder/Rarer Mob = Better Drops, or at least it Should. I mean, I can walk right down there, kill Hrantoth (Lv12 Garnet Golem Named) and get 5x the drops Khar would ever drop. And he's easier, too. By a longshot.

As far as Social Mobs (I call this "linking mobs"), they should...at least adjust the range of how far away they can link. Wolves are ridiculous for this. You pull a single lone wolf so far that you can't even See the rest of them, and when you half the wolf down halfway, suddenly, 2 or 3 of them run over to you and proceed to kill you. These shouldn't be made impossible to solo. Hard, yes. Impossible? No.

So, in analyzing the OP:

1). I agree that there should be a quest in New Trismus from Avatarius that sends you to Gerix in Kion.

2). Fix the skeleton respawns outside of Sslanis.

3). Balance the mobtypes' levels and ratings. Either nerf Gruoks, or make them appear as, say, 3-5 levels above what they appear to be currently. Make the Lv15 Grouks rated Lv20 instead, and make them give Lv20 exp. Take the Giant Chickens, and bump them down 2-3 levels to match their ease of kills.

4). Adjust the Linking Radius of certain mobs so that they are actually fightable at a reasonable challenge level.

As far as saying you want Group Hunting and such, let's consider the facts:

1). Mob Enmity is very VERY unpredictable in groups. I hate grouping because of this. You want me to group? FIX THIS first. Give tanks better ability to tank. Give dragons more options to tank. Give them a Taunt/Provoke ability that can be used more than once per 5 minutes. Stop making mobs focusing on 1 person just becuase he happens to be a level or two lower.

2). I want to have a sense of accomplishment. As it is I kinda feel bummed at having to have a Lv96 druid solo my Instant Heal II quest becuase they made this quest impossible to solo, and nigh-impossible to duo without High Level help. I can understand the RoP needing a lot of firepower, but a simple ability quest, ESPECIALLY for the one and only instant healing spell we dragons get? Stupid, Highly.

I will have to agree with the OP that this game is NOT friendly towards newbies... its just Not. If TG wants to invite people in here, and keep them past the 14 day trial, then they need to adjust Aradoth so that it doesn't discourage and dishearten newbies. The OP wouldn't be the only Newbie I heard saying "What the!?" when they see some of the unbalanced things going on in the early portions of the game. If you really feel the need for Unbalanced Mobs, start the stuff in the Tier II range....

--Dhalin

[imported_Solanaceae]

Mob ratings in the world are generally meaningless as to how difficult the mob is and rather determines instead what abilities/spells the mob will use. Compare for example level 80 fire ogres to your favorite non-named 80 ore golem in dificulty.


I'll concur that mob aggro for me when there's more than a few mobs is a real pain to hold. As a dragon I have no troubles holding the aggro of a single mob just because I'm putting out significant amounts of damage in short order. Toss in an additional mob or two and I have a real fun time trying to keep their attention focused, for whatever reason my pointblank area spells don't hold aggro as well as melee attacks do. Mind you the groups I'm typically in are "all teeth", I imagine it would be much harder trying to maintain a more traditional tank, healer, mage formation.

Primal Instant Heal II isn't a hard quest, and is quite soloable. I did so as a hatchling at level 23 or so. The trick to this and many of the other dragon ability quests is that you can't just rush in expecting to hack and slash your way to success in 10 minutes. All you'll get for your troubles is a deathpoint and a recall back to the shrine. Most of the quests require the use of your wit as well as your might.

[AmonGwareth]

Once you are done with New Trismus, no NPCs tell you to go to Gerix in Kion. They need to make Avatarius or Kerian say "go to Kion and talk to Gerix".

This has actually been done, but it is currently on blight for testing. It should go live after the new year. Avariatus/Kerian give quests to get you to level 10 and then send you to Gerix.

There are areas of Lesser Aradoth that do need balancing. Rawdge and I are aware of that. Please read his stickied post and we'll add parts to our list to work on.

Thanks again for your feedback!

Amon

[Dhalin]

There's a quest in the words in Blight? Cool!

I'm glad to see you guys are putting your focus where it needs to be right now: The newbie area of the game. I feel that once these areas are fixed, new players will have a much more welcoming environment that will keep them above and beyond their trial periods.

--Dhalin

[Rawdge]

There's a quest in the words in Blight? Cool!

I'm glad to see you guys are putting your focus where it needs to be right now: The newbie area of the game. I feel that once these areas are fixed, new players will have a much more welcoming environment that will keep them above and beyond their trial periods.

--Dhalin

Thats the plan! [:D]


Rawdge

[Cerjar]

This is an unfinish game we pay to finace the game contruction.

no offence, but is there one MMO game that is "finished"? ;)

[Nikodemus]

The basic concept of any mmorpg is to *never* be finished as players will always want to see and need new content.

Be it expansions you have to pay for or just new quests, new mobs, new lands to explore, new events... anything that keeps things going and helps the story to progress.