A $12.95 gamers perspective on horizons.
I started playing premerge. The learning curve was tough as nails but I loved it. The hotkeys and all the controls were smooth, functioned well. Starting 6 months after Horizons went gold was a bit surprised on how few were on the shard I choose(probably because they were spread out over 8 shards). Players were friendly and helped me on my way. Choose cleric and started killing zombies and learning as I went. Around level 15 I stumbed upon a Spiritist trainer and never looked back. Loved Spiritist, the class flat out rocked for my play style. Figured out the teched gear and spell system and kept my goodies up to date through ever level. I sometimes had to wait a couple days to find someone to make the gear or gather the comps. Awesome.
Battled my way through Lessor Aradoth, the layout and monster diversity and distribution was perfect. The place was a gamers dreamland. Did a bunch of quest, sold a bunch of goods, made alot of friends. Bought me a plot in Dryart! Was a big shot now.Learned scholar and masonry to build on my plot. Killed critters and found all sorts of techs comps to make coins to fund the rest of the construction of plot. Finished! At that point in time A house had no purpose(no storage) but it looked cool. Had me a beach front property in Dryart.
Some veteran players took me to the far east into the blight. Was pretty cool but wasnt much into getting powerleveled by others. Plus it looked rather boring. Level 100's killing level 60 blights over and over. Around level 55 stumbled upon the Western Deadlands! Man this place rocked! Scarey as hell, tough arse mobs, nature token quest to complete! I would kill 1 then die. Kill 2 then die twice. Until I became an expert at killing the baddies of the Deadlands. Around level 58 I found a crystal! A pulsating stone. Players were in Awe of me. Many that spent all their time killing wolfs and wraiths 30 levels higher than me didnt even know where I found it! They claimed the area was to hard and stuck to wolfs and wraiths(over and over again.) So my new occupation was finding crystals and selling them to suckers that were to chicken to fight tough mobs. Made alot of doe also. And tokens! In a few months time I hit level 100 and focused on learning spellcrafting. Had to kill granite golems because that was the most efficient way back then. All and all was still having a blast.
The crimson scourge arrived and the place was fun. Not as cool as Western Deadlands but close. Main reason was because the loot sucked. But it was challenging and I seen many o gifted bite the dust. Even in large groups. Kept hearing rumors from outside the game, that it was going under. Finally came out that the shards would be combined. I welcomed the merge. More folks more fun!
So I waited.
Horizons Premerge B+
After merge everything just fell apart. I mean everything. Someone completely gutted the whole game. It was sickening. The months following the merge has been one blunder after another. No creativity, no hope, no enjoyment just grey times of lost friends and complete boredom. Changes to the world that are just plain bad and broken. Broken economy, broken features on top of broken features and many many broken promises.
Horizons After merge F-
As a fan of Horizons, would really like the answer to a few questions please.
What happened to Istaria after merge?
Are the same developers that designed the crafting system, the awesome hunting grounds of Western Deadlands, the dynamic world of Lessor Aradoth still working on the game?
What happened to crystals? Why were they taken out of game and replaced by blighted equipment? Regal weapons? Nature token type quests?
How could a game go from a B+ grade to a F- grade?
What happened to the creativity and passion that fueled Horizons at one time?
Should I wait for it to come back?
I am a fan of online gaming. I am a fan of Horizons premerge.
I stay and hope for the powers that be to bring it back.
Present Horizons flat out sucks. The online gaming community has spoken. F-
Do you have the abilities to bring it back to life? f- to c- to b+ to A+
I want to believe that you can, show me something!
NimKhazad