I was about to come back

[AquanoxSerpire]

But it seems everyone is leaving. If anyone is still here from beta times, I was the cleric black and blue dragon, aquanox serpire. I stopped playing primarily for school but also because I live in Hong Kong.

I have heard rumors that people from asia can play now so i hopped on back to see how things are going. Seems a bit bleak... :(

I'm going to check back on the forum and see how people respond. I do miss the game, but if all my buddies have left and THEN some I may reconsider coming back...

[IndyMan]

I keep peeking in to see about returning, but it looks bleak. Promises for things to happen in December and January keep me checking, but until they happen it is a no go for me.

[AquanoxSerpire]

well i'm still downloading the 1Gig file but I will check to see how things go...

[Aquarius]

no idea when you stoped playing, but why not try the free trial to see if you still like the game.

The game is far from perfect but its still alot of fun.. and if u liked it when you used to play chances are you still like it now.

Just give it a try.

[Lucia]

Like many others, i lurk here from time to time and wait to see the changes. Someday i hope to see the changes that will make me want to come back, as this is now and always has been a great game...



:)

[Crissa]

Well, if there's anything that'll keep me coming back, it's Horizons.

Nothing is as relaxing as it.

I was just playing World of Warcraft and frustrated by the lack of customizability of the interface, the lack of help in the game... Today I had monsters I couldn't target because they were 'out of range' mashing on me to death while others were dead or not, it was getting hard to tell.

And heck, at least in Istaria there's always someone to console you or talk to.

Still the prettiest chat client, if you don't like the game.

-Crissa

[IndyMan]

Today I had monsters I couldn't target because they were 'out of range' mashing on me to death while others were dead or not, it was getting hard to tell.

I have yet to have this happen /shrug

[CeroBostwick]

I get smacked around by out of range mobs at least once a night; that is when I return to the gorgeous chat client Crissa spoke of.. *chuckles*

[Vahrokh]

The out of range smacking is due to "lag", that is it's a thing that is in all online games.

Sometimes it gets worse (many the causes of it) and the mobs you just distanced by sprinting out on the server are still in range;those you saw well out of range instead, on the server side walked to you already and are beating on you.

These two cases are present in Horizons and are more or less the cause of those last "free hit(s)" you get by mobs you just escaped from or those first "free hit(s)" the mobs give you when you see them still at a safe distance.

Being hit for many times until you die instead is a game bug or a debuff (WA monsters can cast you spells so you cannot hit themwith ranged attackswhile they of course do - unless you cast primal flash teched spells but this is another story).

[CeroBostwick]

Umm...

Although I am acutely aware of lag and the issues it causes, I am afraid that is not the case here. For instance, the other night I saw a marble golem; I fired an arrow, hit it, it came towards me..then as it slowly pounded me, I got messages saying it was getting further and further away..

I have experienced the Blighted Vision debuff, and thus am aware of it's limitations as well. I fear it is just a bug I seem to contract now and then..however, do be aware it does not happen all the time, and I wouldn't let it be a reason not to check out Horizons again.

[AA0]

Order seems to be a bit bugged at the moment, although I have to give props to AE as the servers have been incredibly stable the last month or so.

[Tryagain]

considering wow doesn't have those issues....

anyway yes the chat client is rather pretty and well the CTmod I am using in WoW has alleivated most of my this isn't like HZ's UI woes. But I am far to busy to notice anyway. See the first content addition coming in January for UI improvements and other goodies.

Back to topic

Horizons has some nice concepts and yes people are leaving and people are also joining. I noticed you said Cleric Dragon please note that classes for Dragons have been removed ( before release ) so its pretty much dragon adventurer and crafter. A challenge to play none the less.

It is worth the download and trial time and possibily $12.95 for the first month to see if its the game for you. AE has made it pretty easy to try it.

[AquanoxSerpire]

no more healing magic for us dragons huh? Well, then I'm not sure if I'd enjoy the game as much as I used to. I have heard dragons were severely gimped. That and I heard the billing system double charges......

I'll hang around but I probably won't enter my credit card yet. I'll probably save up for warcraft first. And while it is a pretty chat engine, I prefer using a chat program for chat. :)

[Tryagain]

I don't like what they did with dragons. But to be fair to AE had they not removed dragon classes everyone would have simply been a dragon and there would hardly be any bipeds ;) .

Dragons on a whole are pretty weak. They get a boost from Adult Right of passage which grants you flight and hopefully soon Ancient ROP within the next 6 months.

A current Dragon could better address these issues and I believe there is a dragon board on these forums. Might want to check there.

[Jayle Artwright]

I really like the game and it will be getting better as it has since the merger. Jump on and give it a chance it grows on ya

[Malaficeint]

Dragons suck...they are harder to level and get abilities, which would be a great plus for them....if the abilities brought them up to speed with biped classes...which they dont.


Though, I will say...Hz is the best 12.95 a month instant messenger program I have seen.(that is probably because the other ones are all FREE!!!)

But you will get plenty of chances to use the chat program while you wait in an area for 5 minutes plus for something to spawn before you can start fighting.

Enjoy!!

[AquanoxSerpire]

This post may sound unappreciative but it's not a flame as I will not come back here if I wanted to flame the game.

I've beta-tested before and the problems that I've encountered (lack of listening to the users, the experimental changes that we all simply didn't like) made me feel it was frustrating to stay in game let alone play. I told myself I will wait until either players come back when WoW makes its debut.

Wow is now here and I would like a game that's worth it's money, fun to play, and has a lot of players. In it's height in beta, horizons was literally a blast. I couldn't keep my hands off it, and my most memorable moment was hunting Ruxus and company by the beachside. But after my absolute funnest moment, the game deteriorated. There were all these changes I couldn't stomach. I've come back here because there was a moment in horizons that was simply amazing. I was hoping AE would bring that moment back to us, so I could relive the experience. But if it's deteriorated to a point this game is reduced to being compared with instant messenger I will pass. I'm paying 13 a month not for a chat program but for a game. And indeed if this game needed more funding for additions that made it significantly better I would pay more.

Lastly will someone comment on double charging? I have heard many make that claim but there was no official statement from AE about it.

[Vahrokh]

You cannot believe what you read here, you have to download a trial and see.

Else the rabid addict will sell you the best game ever, the jaded retiredbie will talk you smack about it.

My humble idea of Hz today is that if you like killing stuff that bites back you could have at least a nice month or 3.

If you liked farming dumb sheep there are some spots like fyakkis, spiders and treants that will suit the weak of hearth but not many.

Overall the adventuring part became harder, the craft part more expensive, the bugs less annoying.

[gopher65]

Double Billing:

As I understand it this was an issue with people that had multiple CD keys or accountsand hadcancelled one or more some time in the past. When AE transferred to IPAY from that nasty IBILL company Ipay accidently double or even triple charged certain accounts do to outdated info.

To my knowledge this was a one time issue. Anyone know anything different? I personally have had 0 problems with AE's billing.

Spawn Issues:

AE has stated that they are having a problem with memory allocation on their servers. They are attempting a software workaround and attempting to purchase upgrades for the hardware. Until either (or both) of these happen spawns will not work entirely as they are supposed to.

Annoying Bugs:

CTD's were rampant right after merger for everyone. Now they have tapered off to almost nothing (as they should:P). Most major bugs have been fixed, or will be fixed in the next 2 updates according to AE's patch notes. There are still a some minor bugs, but the dev team has been actively asking players in the Suggestions and Game Bugs forums for "missing content" and "little bugs" that they either don't know about or forgot about due to bigger issues. Over all this game is no longer annoying to play; with the single issue of the Spawn problem mentioned above.

New Content:

There is some great new content coming in the next few weeks (1 month at the most) for Dragons. Content for everyone (invasion code for AI led invasions of player towns, rather than dev controlled ones like in the past, school progression to lvl 120, furniture for housing, racial housing, racial quests, school specific quests, new racial abilities, new vault quests) is coming in Feb-April 2005. About 3-4 months from now. Short term, the Blighted Weapons/Armor/Jewelry/Scales are almost done:). These are drop only items which should make adventuring much more fun. Devs say the first small batch of these should be out before the new year (ie inside 2 weeks).

All in all the game is far far better than it was 6 months ago. There is much to look forward to in the short term.

[AquanoxSerp]

Thank you both for the summation.

I've already started playing WoW and it's a great game but to be honest, while the addiction is there the draw it had was not as great as horizons in her prime during beta. I've tried a bit of the new horizons on a friend's machine. Better graphics, less bugs but it's truly just a gorgeous chat engine now. The draw to play it is no longer there. Where are all the players? Dragons are indeed limited and too "realistic". And frankly I miss the old game play.

I'm going back to wow since it is a great game to solo in, can run smooth as silk on my machine, and it has a VERY enjoyable craft system. But compared to the community on horizons, the old one, I honestly feel nothing could beat it because nothing could stop me from logging on.

You must understand why some of us "old timers" feel compelled to come back to ********** and moan about the changes in beta. It's because at it's height we'd sit through ctds patiently just to get through the load music and into the game. The gameplay was addicting despite how we hated the changes the staff made to the game. We told them it was perfect but that's not good enough for them. When they made too many changes to the game, worrying about it's perfection they lost us. Despite how dragons are now a truly different class, I hate the way they play now.

Beta HZ was and still is my favorite game and even if the rewards for leveling were minimal and playing a dragon was similar to playing a biped I wouldn't have mind as much, and neither would the other players who really just enjoyed horizons the most just the way it was. Nothing, not even WoW beats that experience of being a tank cleric with a tail and neat looking dragon exterior, and I know quite a few other people who agree.

So I've decided to leave this game as one of the best mmorpg memories I have to date and that I will not venture back unless it's back to its old glory.

The only reason why I have posted is that I hope more of the old players come back to say something in a respectful tone of voice or manner.

And to horizons staff, I hope that you listen to the new community now, full of loyal HZ players. I'm sure that you're more geared to cater to them, and actually I hope you do rather than those who left right after beta. Of course if it ever was a possibility to move back to an old beta like horizons, you have my vote I'd pay for it.

Otherwise, I hope you all have fun.