Worth coming back? Played way back in release

[Vendayn]

I made a thread awhile ago, but my hardrive busted and I cant see it. So anyways...

I played at release for2 weeks, quit mostly because of lag, got kinda bored...combat wasn't my style and no loot

a few questions

1. How is the playerbase? Is it growing? Or is it slowly going down, or staying the same? After the mass SWG quitings did horizons pop grow any?

2. Is there still events?
a. Do players still defend a bridge/mine from monsters attacking? Or was this taken out?

3. Can players still unlock stuff?

4. How is combat? Is it the same has release? If changed, whats different?

5. Can players still make player cities?
a. What kind of buildings can you build? Or are they useless?

6. Is the world static?

and my biggest thing...

the blight, supposed to be not static. Is there any point to this yet? Or is it the same? This was biggest selling point of game for me. But I'll still play horizons if other stuff is better.

thanks :)

[Vendayn]

oh also since it won't let me edit posts.

7. Are dragons overplayed? Or what is the "in" class/race right now?

[Tribunal]

1. It was growing when I played 1 1/2 months ago, I can't imagine it slowing down.

2. They still attack towns.

3. Players did un-lock a new quest just recently.

4. Depends on your fighting preferences, want to play a dragon? well you're SOL [;)], bi-ped wise, if you want power, you're going to go with a casting class, don't like casting classes?... well uh... errm.. you can go melee but it doesn't really stack up. Even Berserkers are wimpified compared to casting.

5. Its your plot, its all storage. Unless you want to build a gambling ben.... *twitch*

6. you can always make believe stuff is happening.7. Dragons are the most played race, if thats what you mean.

if you want to slim the list alittle and make it dragon (1 class)and bi-ped (8?). Then Bi-peds are played more.

the "in" class...

8.depends on how much multiclassing you want to do.

(this was 1 1/2 months ago but givin the past progression of the game I doubt its changed alot)

[Vendayn]

thanks, any others?

[Vizharan]

There are many threads like this, if you go back in forum pages you may find your answers. However, I'll give it a shot as well.

1. Player base is increasing. It's not a largely noticable increase, however I have seen a lot of new players on Blight(the test server) over the past month or so.

2. Big events recently were dragon related, lairs and ARoP to be exact. However, the current Winter Festival effects everybody. I heard mention from DB that racial quests are going in for each race/tier, imagining that there will be events for those as well.

3. Unlock stuff.... If your referring to the races(Satyr, Dryad), I don't belive there are any current plans for events such as those. However, we have seen a new race pop up and about...what were they...can't remember. Check the main page, might have to go through the history a bit, but it's there.

4. This is a hard subject to address. In some ways it's the same(you attack an enemey, they attack you). It's not any faster paced than it used to be, although some abilities got looked at/revamped/nerfed along the way.

5. There are still many prospering player cities out there(on Chaos at least), with many plots still available. Structure purpose ranges from storage to machines. Although that is about it. Storage silo's carry one stack, but large bulks(T1 silo is 20k, or 2500 bars/bricks/etc). Houses are more like 60 stack, don't recall bulks. There is a table on the main page if you cycle through a bit more. Also beginner/j-man/expert processing shops, which give 25, 50, and 75 skill in the craft used for each shop, respectivly.

6. I don't understand this one....

Blight doesn't encroach upon regular land, nothing has changed there. The WA does attack cities on occasion, though I haven't heard of them actually holding a city for any length of time.

Afterthoughts, they signed up Peter Beagle to do storyline and quests and such a month or two ago. Have yet to see anything from him, but I think he might be the driving force behind some of the racial quests. Thats just my own speculation.

All in all, best way to see if you'll like it, is try the 14 day free trial, as Kumu suggested. It's free, and will give you a decent perspective on the overall gameplay.

edit: woops, forgot the dragons.

Dragons are the most popular race right now...even most bipeds tend to have a Dragon pet for fun. They're weak to start off(hatchling), but get more powerful as time goes on. Much more powerful. Dragons have a new tutorial, lots of quests to start off with, and ability quests every 10 levels. Several of them.....

Again, free trial = )

[Goriax]

I made a thread awhile ago, but my hardrive busted and I cant see it. So anyways...

I played at release for2 weeks, quit mostly because of lag, got kinda bored...combat wasn't my style and no loot

a few questions

1. How is the playerbase? Is it growing? Or is it slowly going down, or staying the same? After the mass SWG quitings did horizons pop grow any?

Growing last I heard. I heard one person say 10% per month but probably not that fast. There ARE a lot of new and returning faces. If you came back you wouldn't be the only one.

2. Is there still events?

Yes. Right now they're running a holiday event -- monsters drop ornaments which you can turn in for presents.

a. Do players still defend a bridge/mine from monsters attacking? Or was this taken out?

I can't think of any attacks on bridges or mines but there are attacks on towns off and on. I just helped defend Chiconis a few nights ago.

3. Can players still unlock stuff?

I can't think of anything offhand going on right now but there may be something. There haven't been any more races unlocked since the Dryads. There seems to be a monumental lack of interest among players for any more races.

4. How is combat? Is it the same has release? If changed, whats different?

Lets see. Your entire experience is from the first 2 weeks after releaes. Ummm YES it's changed.The really bad lag spikes from right after release have been gone for a long time. Same with the stuck buttons. That's ancient history and I wouldn't be surprised if many people now playing won't even remember them. Some people complain the combat is still laggy but I don't think it's noticably worse then EQ2 combat although on rare occasions there may be a lag spike; however that's just my experience and if you have a crappy Internet connection your mileage will differ. There has been no redoing combat from scratch like they did in EQ2 but there has been lots of tweaks to various classes.

5. Can players still make player cities?

As you could right after release, you can buy a plot in one of many player communities.They've refined it a lot, added a few features, made many more plots so that anyone can buy a plotnowadays, but the basic mechanism hasn't changed. Dragons can now build on lair plots. Actually, more like under. Dragon lairs are under ground.

a. What kind of buildings can you build? Or are they useless?

All maner of crafting stations, various things in which you can store stuff, you can bind at guild housees, taverns will soon be VERY useful, you can also get your own pawn broker or consigner. Probably other stuff too.

6. Is the world static?

and my biggest thing...

the blight, supposed to be not static. Is there any point to this yet? Or is it the same? This was biggest selling point of game for me. But I'll still play horizons if other stuff is better.

thanks [img]/Web/emoticons/emotion-1.gif[/img]

If your'e referring to the dynamic blight rollback they were talking about before beta that isn't in. The closest thing is the blight anchors. Blight anchors often come with an attack on a city and until they're destroyed stuff will keep spawning. For awhile they would also make resources in the influence blighted and in general make the whole area sort of a temporary mini-blighted area but at least the blighting of resources nodes seems to have beentaken out. Probably because crafters complained. They seem to be periodically tweaking the blight anchors, presumably to find something both workable and which people find fun. You probably won't see blight anchors every week.

7. Are dragons overplayed?

I guess perhaps 25% of characters online are dragons. I play a dragon. They're fun. They're no longer as gimped as they used to be and now have draconic options comparable to biped options now that lairs are in and buildable. Heh, they've been flying for the past year and a half and as of a few months ago could progress to ancient status. If that bothers you as I infer from your wording then you may not like it. Playable dragons are a part of HZ and they aren't going away. Heh,aLOTof the newcomers are playing dragons.

But if your entire experience with HZ is two weaks after release when the game was at it's absolutely technical worst that it's ever been then I have to agree with Kumu on one point. A lot has changed and the only way you can really understand the way it is now is to take advantage of the 14 day free trial.

In fact, if this isn't enough information for you, just get the free trial.

[Solitaire]

Another recomendation to go for the trial. One thing that I would suggest though. If you are carrying around any old "baggage" from those two weeks that you played, throw it away and come at the game with an open mind. I've seen a couple of former players return and ruin what should have been a good experience for them because they came back expecting to be disapointed, focused on percieved negatives then got discouraged and left before they even gave it a chance to be fun. HZ is past the point that it should have been at launch now. Some issues still remain. But it is a good solid experience and only looks to get better. Good luck.

[Fireclaw]

Lots of stuff has changed since the first 2 weeks after release:
1. the playerbase now is smaller than it was right after release (the playerbase took a nosedive shortly after release, but has been steadily building back up. Its still smaller than right after release hough.

2. An in-game mapwindow was added. Makes navigation much easier.

3. Monster spawns across the map were redone. Now the general rule is lower level monsters to the west and they get progressively harder as you go east. Many dozens of new monsters were added. Most of these are recolorings of existing monsters, but some involve completely new models.

4. The terrain across the map was redone incorporating many more plots. This was good in that more plots are available, but bad in that it butchered some of the prettiest areas of the map.

5. Combat lag that existed at release is gone. However, a new limitation in-game now is that mobs do not spawn unless a player character stays at a location for 30 seconds or so. Basically what this means is you can run across the world and see no monsters at all. But if you stop in one location, 10 monsters might spawn in a dense pack all around you and immediately kill you.

6. Many more new landmasses and teleport destinations were added.

7. Many dozens of new structures were added. Players can make guildhalls, gambling dens, libraries, workshops, storage silos, consigners, etc. All these new buildings serve some function.

8. Dragons can now grow into flying adult dragons by completing an epic quest. The adult dragons can then complete an epic quest to become slightly bigger and more powerful flying ancient dragons. Flight is unlimited in that it allows a dragon to fly over almost all terrain in the game. A dragon can also stay airborne indefinitely. Dragons have also gained many new attacks, including some that hit extremely hard. Dragon hoard leak has been removed. Dragon armor has been buffed. Dragons are one of the strongest character classes for combat against a single target, but lack the AOE or healing of biped multiclasses. Dragon carrying capacity has been increased. Dragons can now craft dragon lairs underground. Dragons now have multiple breath weapons they can use.

9. Its now much easier to reach high levels as monsters go up to level 120, with some bosses even higher. This is a big improvement from release where the highest level monsters were just level 80.

10. More techs have been added. Also tier V items are in the game. Some rare epic items are also in the game.

11. The blight is still static. Occasionally there will be an invasion where blighted forces will attack a city, but these are few and far between and only occur when manually controlled by a world manager.

[Goriax]

I experience the same thing. There's a brief period after they spawn and are visible when they do not agro. Just stay alert.

After you play awhile you know what areas do and don't have monsters so it's easy to be on your guard. If you just arrived at an area you know usually has monsters and it doesn't then expect some shortly. In my experience that's really not a big deal most of the time.