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Author Topic: Trials?  (Read 23731 times)
LK
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on: July 02, 2007, 12:54:33 PM

So, I have been trying out a bunch of different MMOs lately.  I was looking at the options available to me for Everquest II and it seemed really confusing since they seem to be doing something unique (but not better) to the rest of the industry.  From what I can tell there are two separate trials, each which are separate experiences.  When I was reading through them I got the impression they were like the original tutorial for Everquest, where you would play in this offline, single player experience that masked how conditions were on the real servers, except it looks like it's now like Star Wars: Galaxies in that you're playing in this online, instanced experience that masks how conditions are on the real servers.

Is there some free trial that takes place in the game environment I'm missing? For instance, I saw the difference in Star Wars: Galaxies when they isolated (though temporarily, but enough to get me to stop playing) the trial accounts to the tutorial station.  I found that to be a horrible practice.

What's wrong with having a trial take place in the game world? Show me how things are actually going to be.  Put in the appropriate fail-safes spammers aren't taking advantage of them.  Honestly I'm more concerned about playing your game.  Galaxies took some appropriate measures (after taking inappropriate ones) as well as WoW to make Trial Accounts more for customers playing the game then advertisers using it as a free advertisement channel.  Aside from those concerns, I imagine Everquest II takes up a significant amount of hard drive space that would make it difficult to download, thus preventing a full trial.

Slightly better but pretty bad was Lineage II's "Fileplanet Subscribers get a free trial." Wonderful.  Not only is the client not hosted on your network, but you're keeping a free trial out of the public domain so people can have to go through backwards channels to try your game.

"Then there's the double-barreled shotgun from Doom 2 - no-one within your entire household could be of any doubt that it's been fired because it sounds like God slamming a door on his fingers." - Yahtzee Croshaw
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Reply #1 on: July 02, 2007, 01:01:57 PM

What you wrote confused me. Play the Fae is in the real world but you're just capped at level 10 or 15 and can't do a few things.
LK
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Reply #2 on: July 02, 2007, 01:13:59 PM

And you have to play the Fae, right?  If "Play the Fae" is a real trial, they really need to name it something clear, like, "Everquest II Trial".
« Last Edit: July 02, 2007, 01:18:17 PM by Lorekeep »

"Then there's the double-barreled shotgun from Doom 2 - no-one within your entire household could be of any doubt that it's been fired because it sounds like God slamming a door on his fingers." - Yahtzee Croshaw
Murgos
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Reply #3 on: July 02, 2007, 03:40:59 PM

And you have to play the Fae, right?  If "Play the Fae" is a real trial, they really need to name it something clear, like, "Everquest II Trial".

I think that maybe you are just really, really stupid.

Play the Fae is a trial to, get this, play the Fae.

If you want the regular Everquest II trial go download the one called "Everquest II trial".

"You have all recieved youre last warning. I am in the process of currently tracking all of youre ips and pinging your home adressess. you should not have commencemed a war with me" - Aaron Rayburn
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Reply #4 on: July 02, 2007, 04:58:12 PM

Yes, you do have to play as the Fae, but as Murgos pointed out that isn't the only trial. The other trial just puts you on the newbie island and lets you mess around with that. It's not much, but there are other players, quests, collections..etc. Everything you'd get from the outside world as it were.
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Reply #5 on: July 02, 2007, 05:01:56 PM

You don't have to play the Fae.  You DO have to make at least one Fae/ Evil Fae character and log them in.  After that you don't have to do diddly with them, and can make any race.  I did my trial as a Half-Elf, for example.

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LK
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Reply #6 on: July 02, 2007, 05:27:05 PM

To illustrate a point:

http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/burningcrusade/trial/index.html?referrer=WORLDOFWARCRAFT
http://starwarsgalaxies.station.sony.com/
http://www.tryrfonline.com/landing.php
https://secure.eve-online.com/ft/?aid=102321&nogreet=1
https://secure.plaync.com/cgi-bin/free_trial.pl?partner=10

All of these trial programs take you directly into the game.  There are no separate game environments a player would occupy.  You do not have character restrictions or have to engage in special steps to enter the main game world.  There is only one trial (with the exception of WoW, but WoW is *explicit* about what the two trials represent and the type of audience they are for), and they do not have silly code names.  All of them are "Try our X-day Free Trial!", can't get any clearer than that.  Launching this game is exactly as if you bought the game and launched it for the first time.  Galaxies has exceptions to some of these, but it is an SOE product, so similarities exist between it and EQ2's design, if I understand EQ2's trial accounts correctly.

This isn't really meant to grief; it's to point out an area of improvement for EQ2's trial program.  They can simplify the process, get people into the game faster, ditch the silly code names.  But I can understand the approach of wanting to keep trial accounts out of the main player pool because of how it can be taken advantage of.  But I got a bad taste in my mouth when I tried to make heads or tails of what it was I was downloading.

"Then there's the double-barreled shotgun from Doom 2 - no-one within your entire household could be of any doubt that it's been fired because it sounds like God slamming a door on his fingers." - Yahtzee Croshaw
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Reply #7 on: July 02, 2007, 05:58:48 PM

SWG puts you back into the game now?  I thought trial players were still trapped in the Station.

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LK
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Reply #8 on: July 02, 2007, 06:00:14 PM

Either they just fixed it or they will fix it.  I got into my trial period literally the day before they made that change and was able to run around a bit on Tatooine.  Seeing the change they made and being forced back to Tarsis Station was an insult and I stopped playing.

"Then there's the double-barreled shotgun from Doom 2 - no-one within your entire household could be of any doubt that it's been fired because it sounds like God slamming a door on his fingers." - Yahtzee Croshaw
UD_Delt
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Reply #9 on: July 03, 2007, 05:05:20 AM

To illustrate a point:

http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/burningcrusade/trial/index.html?referrer=WORLDOFWARCRAFT
http://starwarsgalaxies.station.sony.com/
http://www.tryrfonline.com/landing.php
https://secure.eve-online.com/ft/?aid=102321&nogreet=1
https://secure.plaync.com/cgi-bin/free_trial.pl?partner=10

All of these trial programs take you directly into the game.  There are no separate game environments a player would occupy.  You do not have character restrictions or have to engage in special steps to enter the main game world.  There is only one trial (with the exception of WoW, but WoW is *explicit* about what the two trials represent and the type of audience they are for), and they do not have silly code names.  All of them are "Try our X-day Free Trial!", can't get any clearer than that.  Launching this game is exactly as if you bought the game and launched it for the first time.  Galaxies has exceptions to some of these, but it is an SOE product, so similarities exist between it and EQ2's design, if I understand EQ2's trial accounts correctly.

This isn't really meant to grief; it's to point out an area of improvement for EQ2's trial program.  They can simplify the process, get people into the game faster, ditch the silly code names.  But I can understand the approach of wanting to keep trial accounts out of the main player pool because of how it can be taken advantage of.  But I got a bad taste in my mouth when I tried to make heads or tails of what it was I was downloading.


You're right... Because to me at least, hearing the word trial, I think "Access to the entire game with no restrictions." I mean when they say "Play the Fae" what do they mean, that I play the Fae or something? What do they expect, that I have a basic grasp of the English language or something?



......


Am I supposed to put that in green for the sarcasm impaired?
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Reply #10 on: July 03, 2007, 07:07:16 AM

 shocked
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Reply #11 on: July 03, 2007, 09:43:11 AM

The WoW trial is more limited than the EQ2 one as an effort to combat spammers.
The SWG one won't even let you off the station anymore, and I don't forsee that changing any time soon - again thank the spammers.
EvE doesn't need to limit you, because if you spam someone will just blow the fuck out of you in a disposable T1 frigate, since all you'll have is a Noobship.
AA won't limit you because.. well who the fuck cares, they're closing down in a month.
RFonline I can't speak about, but hey it's a KRPG. RMT is probably company-sponsored so spammers avoid it.

As mentioned, the 'play the fae' puts you IN the gameworld and you can make a character of any race/ class after you create the one fae character.  I don't know for certain if you're limited on where you can start, however, as I picked it up only so I could check-out the Good Fae area, and then another trial for Neriak.   I didn't want to start in the other horrible, crappy original EQ2 zones.  :-D

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LK
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Reply #12 on: July 03, 2007, 09:45:57 AM

You're right... Because to me at least, hearing the word trial, I think "Access to the entire game with no restrictions." I mean when they say "Play the Fae" what do they mean, that I play the Fae or something? What do they expect, that I have a basic grasp of the English language or something?

Quote from: Lorekeep
Put in the appropriate fail-safes spammers aren't taking advantage of them.

...


You do not have character restrictions or have to engage in special steps to enter the main game world.

Granted, grammatical error, but please take the sand out of your vagina.  Why would a new character give two shits about playing a Fae? What would a new player know about a Fae anyway? If someone hasn't played your game at all before, why are you going to make the process of trying your game a complicated one by having different flavors of a trial?  You guys must play the game because the things I'm pointing out seem so obvious to you but aren't clear to someone who has never played the game before.

Take a *very close look* at the first link I provided for World of Warcraft's trial.  Right there in the ad, "Are you a new player?" or "Are you a former or current player?".  It is *that* simple.  Once you select the trial page for WoW (not BC), there aren't any fancy flash advertisements to get to the trial.  Just a download link.

Quote from: Lorekeep
This isn't really meant to grief; it's to point out an area of improvement for EQ2's trial program.

If you can't at the very least acknowledge that there is room for improvement in their Trial program, then provide a good counter-point instead of going "Bluh? Yarg! OP is stupid!".

"Then there's the double-barreled shotgun from Doom 2 - no-one within your entire household could be of any doubt that it's been fired because it sounds like God slamming a door on his fingers." - Yahtzee Croshaw
LK
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Reply #13 on: July 03, 2007, 09:47:37 AM

The WoW trial is more limited than the EQ2 one as an effort to combat spammers.
The SWG one won't even let you off the station anymore, and I don't forsee that changing any time soon - again thank the spammers.
EvE doesn't need to limit you, because if you spam someone will just blow the fuck out of you in a disposable T1 frigate, since all you'll have is a Noobship.
AA won't limit you because.. well who the fuck cares, they're closing down in a month.
RFonline I can't speak about, but hey it's a KRPG. RMT is probably company-sponsored so spammers avoid it.

As mentioned, the 'play the fae' puts you IN the gameworld and you can make a character of any race/ class after you create the one fae character.  I don't know for certain if you're limited on where you can start, however, as I picked it up only so I could check-out the Good Fae area, and then another trial for Neriak.   I didn't want to start in the other horrible, crappy original EQ2 zones.  :-D

But they all start from a very basic premise: start the trial like you were playing the game for real.

If Play the Fae is like that, then OK, but what I'm reading is you're limited in the character you can choose and it makes it sound like some separate experience from the game world.

"Then there's the double-barreled shotgun from Doom 2 - no-one within your entire household could be of any doubt that it's been fired because it sounds like God slamming a door on his fingers." - Yahtzee Croshaw
shiznitz
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Reply #14 on: July 03, 2007, 09:52:31 AM

"sand in your vagina" is one of the top ten all time best euphemisms.

I have never played WoW.
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Reply #15 on: July 03, 2007, 10:26:05 AM

If Play the Fae is like that, then OK, but what I'm reading is you're limited in the character you can choose and it makes it sound like some separate experience from the game world.

Here's a bright idea.  PLAY IT.  It will be very clear to you then.

Play the Fae is the FULL ENTIRE GAME WORLD on a 7 day free trial where the EQ2 team has asked that first you play a Fae because they want you to experience their newest content not the 3 year old content.  Once you have created a Fae you may then play the entire game, every single nuance available, with any character you want from any starting location.

That's all.  It's not some conspiracy to get you to go fuck yourself.

"You have all recieved youre last warning. I am in the process of currently tracking all of youre ips and pinging your home adressess. you should not have commencemed a war with me" - Aaron Rayburn
LK
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Reply #16 on: July 03, 2007, 10:30:12 AM

Well there's clear philosophical differences that I'm going to give up on attempting to expose.

"Then there's the double-barreled shotgun from Doom 2 - no-one within your entire household could be of any doubt that it's been fired because it sounds like God slamming a door on his fingers." - Yahtzee Croshaw
Murgos
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Reply #17 on: July 03, 2007, 10:35:58 AM

Well there's clear philosophical differences that I'm going to give up on attempting to expose.

Or, possibly, you are just really, really stupid.

"You have all recieved youre last warning. I am in the process of currently tracking all of youre ips and pinging your home adressess. you should not have commencemed a war with me" - Aaron Rayburn
LK
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Reply #18 on: July 03, 2007, 10:57:05 AM

And you seem to like to reinforce the point.  That's, what, three posts calling me an idiot now?

"Then there's the double-barreled shotgun from Doom 2 - no-one within your entire household could be of any doubt that it's been fired because it sounds like God slamming a door on his fingers." - Yahtzee Croshaw
Sky
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Reply #19 on: July 03, 2007, 11:19:02 AM

We could all chime in and call you a moron if it'll make the point more evident. EQ2 has one of the better newbie experiences. The Trial on the Isle was the very best new user experience EVAR, though it's not quite as good now that they've changed it.
"sand in your vagina" is one of the top ten all time best euphemisms.
And hilariously ironic in this case.
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Reply #20 on: July 03, 2007, 12:05:49 PM

Take a *very close look* at the first link I provided for World of Warcraft's trial.  Right there in the ad, "Are you a new player?" or "Are you a former or current player?".  It is *that* simple.  Once you select the trial page for WoW (not BC), there aren't any fancy flash advertisements to get to the trial.  Just a download link.

Is that what you're all in a bunch about? That seems more convoluted than the EQ2 trial(s) that ANYONE can play at ANY time. What the fuck? EQ2 gives you two choices that anyone can use and WoW makes you take a fucking interview first before choosing and EQ2 needs improvement?

Are you really so daft that you downloaded a trial called Play the Fae and when you got to the character select everything was grayed out except for a race called Fae and one called Arasai (that looked the same) and you couldn't figure out what to do? Did you really stop and think, "Hmmm... I downloaded an expansion called "Play the Fae" but the only race I can play is Fae... I don't get it! I give up!"
LK
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Reply #21 on: July 03, 2007, 12:13:37 PM

Like I said, I've given up.  I'm instead passing my time laughing at your guy's rebuttals and shaking my head.

"Then there's the double-barreled shotgun from Doom 2 - no-one within your entire household could be of any doubt that it's been fired because it sounds like God slamming a door on his fingers." - Yahtzee Croshaw
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Reply #22 on: July 03, 2007, 01:16:38 PM

The only problem I had with the EQ2 Newbie Island was that they had not managed to squish all of the bugs in that insular, self-contained area and that pretty much tainted my opinion of the game from that point forward.

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Reply #23 on: July 03, 2007, 08:43:24 PM

This thread made my day Heart
pants
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Reply #24 on: July 04, 2007, 04:23:09 AM

If Play the Fae is like that, then OK, but what I'm reading is you're limited in the character you can choose and it makes it sound like some separate experience from the game world.

Here's a bright idea.  PLAY IT.  It will be very clear to you then.

Play the Fae is the FULL ENTIRE GAME WORLD on a 7 day free trial

No its not.  I played Play the Fae about 6-8 weeks ago - you can only choose a Fae as a race, and you can't leave the Greater Feydark area.  I wanted to go check out the updated Butcherblock Mountains and the Chessboard - but it wouldn't let you zone out of GFay.  So while you are in a real server with real people etc, you are constrained in your race and zone choices.  Of course, that also means the download isn't about 20 Gigs or whatever a full EQ2 install is these days...
Murgos
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Reply #25 on: July 04, 2007, 06:49:58 AM

Once you have created a fae you can play any race you want.  IT"S CALLED "PLAY THE FAE"!  There is a whole other trial if you want to do the normal newb starting areas.

Dunno about zoning out of GFay, I never tried it.  But the point was that it is the REAL game world.  The newbie isles are really where newbies start for Freeport or Qeynos and The Fae newbie areas are really where they start in the full game.  You may be level limited and limited to a subset of the available content but.  But, um, yah?

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Reply #26 on: July 04, 2007, 08:45:01 AM

I did it to try out the evil fae.  I was able to zone into Neriak, but didn't try to go anywhere else as you're capped at level 10.

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Reply #27 on: July 05, 2007, 06:53:17 AM

You really wouldn't want to travel around much if you're capped at ten. You'd lose a bunch of AA levels.

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LK
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Reply #28 on: July 05, 2007, 08:43:33 AM

Hey! I get to rule something!  :-D

"Then there's the double-barreled shotgun from Doom 2 - no-one within your entire household could be of any doubt that it's been fired because it sounds like God slamming a door on his fingers." - Yahtzee Croshaw
Hellinar
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Reply #29 on: July 08, 2007, 10:05:17 AM

This thread has prompted me to try the Play the Fae, after trying the original trial way back when the game came out. Its much improved. The graphics in the new zone are more to my taste. That may be because my computer is now much more powerful, so I don’t have to run on the lowers settings.

I’m liking the quest writing in the new zone, some nice touches. There does seem a ton of stuff to do, so I am tempted to subscribe for a bit. Maybe I have been infected by that other thread, but there does seem way too much button pushing. They seem to have “speeded up” combat by making you push the same button three times instead of once. That says “carpal tunnel” to me more than “fun”.

Anyone here played a troubadour? Seems like people complain it doesn’t include enough button pushing, so it might suit me.
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Reply #30 on: July 08, 2007, 11:07:02 AM

Of course, that also means the download isn't about 20 Gigs or whatever a full EQ2 install is these days...

Full install is under 10. I recall it being around 7-8 Gigs.
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Reply #31 on: July 09, 2007, 04:12:13 AM


Anyone here played a troubadour? Seems like people complain it doesn’t include enough button pushing, so it might suit me.


Don't play any of the melee classes if you don't like button pushing. Any of the "rogue" classes (Swash, Assassin, Brigand, etc...) all usually chain together 6-7 different combat arts per solo fight. I've never played dirge or troub but I imagine they will be mostly the same. Fighter classes are similar in style but you're chaining taunts and combat arts instead of just pure combat arts.

For least button mashing a Inquisitor or Templar is probably the best choice. You'll mostly auto-attack, heal yourself and throw an occiasonal damage spell.

Alternately, a Necro or Conjuror mainly relies on their pet. So you can just send in the pet add a DoT or two and you're done.

But any way you look at it to be really effective with a class takes pushing a number of buttons during a solo fight to really see the full potential.
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Reply #32 on: July 10, 2007, 07:35:50 AM


Alternately, a Necro or Conjuror mainly relies on their pet. So you can just send in the pet add a DoT or two and you're done.


Thanks for the feedback. Yep, pet classes do suit my style. But I have played them so often in MMORPGs that I am looking to branch out a bit. I'll give the game a try and see what happens.
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Reply #33 on: July 10, 2007, 12:07:53 PM

You could try a wizard or warlock. They usually only take a few casts to kill something. I think Warlock is probably the better bet as they have longer casting time but more powerful spells it seems.

Or even Ranger might not be a bad solo choice if you don't mind a little bow kiting. They do significant auto-attack damage with just the bow. Or if you duo then you can easily stay at range.
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Reply #34 on: July 10, 2007, 12:09:25 PM

I've enjoyed playing my brigand.  To get the most out of the class you need to move around a lot while chaining stuns and positionals.  Unfortunately, it's not terribly solo friendly unless you are willing to do many missions when they green out.  Numbers are the greatest enemy.

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