Rise of the Godslayer expansion launches May 11th

[Pennilenko]

Are there enough people giving it a romp on wiccanna for me to use up a character slot to try out that server?

[Cadaverine]

Normally I play on Set, but I've been wanting to play a tank for shits and giggles for a while now, so Wiccanna it is.

[Redgiant]

Sigh, guess I may reactivate after ... well I have no clue other than it's been at least 12 months.

My 80 PoM on Wiccana is still squatting in Noble's I think.

Someday, a new MMO will come along that I don't have to unsub for 6-12 months to forget enough about it to want to play it again. I just know it will.

[Draegan]

Make sure you /claim the xp pots.  I thought about saving these for later levels but I discovered on Saturday that they last for 12 hours.  I could of saved myself a ton of time.  They are soooo good.  And you get 10 of them.  Use them as soon as you get to Tortage and begin questing.

Playing up quests in Khitai is tough though.  There are many wholes in quests there.  But there are some cool repeatable quests that are quick and easy.  I'm just worried I won't have enough money for a mount and pots if I'm leveling quickly.  Luckily my Bear Shaman doesn't need them as much as I remember my assassin/demo needed them.

[Ollie]

Yep, the need for pots and downtime is minimal compared to some classes. The Bear Shaman is a bit of a late bloomer, though, or at least was when I was levelling mine back at launch. The early levels were actually the hardest, as the class was still hurting from the lack of core skills and feats. After hitting thirty or so, things became a lot easier.
 
I've been dabbling with a Guardian and a Barbarian this past week, but the Shammy is still my favourite. Relatively weak CC aside, the BS has the widest toolset in the game.  In a way, playing a BS reminds me of LotRO's Lore-master, even though their group roles are different. There's never a dull moment and you always have a skill for any given situation, which makes group play a hoot.

[Draegan]

I hit 27 on my BS.  However at 25 it's where things became easier with the new blood flow rank.  It's still relatively simple though.  You've got your blood flow heals along with the procing heal thingy skill.  Then your Manifest and they your regular melee combos.  Nothing very interesting... yet.

[Ollie]

So, I've been exploring the expansion zones and getting acquainted with the AA sytem as well as the new PvP levels and gear, which didn't exist back in the day. Looking at the amount of grinding I would have to do to get any semblance of progression out of the faction system, I can safely say that this expansion offers precious little to someone with my limited playtime. Were I the cynical type, I'd say Funcom turned the whole game into one gigantic resource grind. Even Shrines of Bori pretty much requires a guild group, at least on Crom EU.

Going into this, I knew Funcom focused their lateral progression more around dedicated group content, so I can't say I'm exactly disappointed. I guess I'm just surprised how little there is on offer for the casual solo player. So, two weeks in and yawning already.

[Morfiend]

Looking at the amount of grinding I would have to do to get any semblance of progression out of the faction system, I can safely say that this expansion offers precious little to someone with my limited playtime.

I was looking in to the expansion, and this was a complaint I heard from a lot of people. Kind of a bummer. I hate grinding, so I guess I wont be resubbing to try it.

[Pennilenko]

All my characters are on cimmeria, with all the pvp I have been doing I haven't even noticed a grind. I also have yet to step into any expansion content. I came back for the expansion and haven't even see it yet. LOL

[Brogarn]

All my characters are on cimmeria, with all the pvp I have been doing I haven't even noticed a grind.

x2

Cimmeria is fun. World PvP is fun if you have the patience for it. The added inter-guild and ganker drama can turn your standard kill/collect quest into a real heart thumping fight or stealth mission. If you're just interested in getting your quests done so you can get that next level or loot item, then really, you're not going to have any fun on a PvP server. For me, though, the PvE stuff is redundant, repetitive and boring without the danger of being jumped. It's not always the one-sided gankfest that people say it is. Plus having a guild helps a lot. When things are getting one-sided, you get your friends and clear out the jerks. Good stuff all around.

Oh and I'm still having a blast with the game. Dungeons are actually challenging which is great. Close to original EQ toughness without the corpse runs. And like I said, PvP makes it all come together.

[Pennilenko]

All my characters are on cimmeria, with all the pvp I have been doing I haven't even noticed a grind.

x2

Cimmeria is fun. World PvP is fun if you have the patience for it. The added inter-guild and ganker drama can turn your standard kill/collect quest into a real heart thumping fight or stealth mission. If you're just interested in getting your quests done so you can get that next level or loot item, then really, you're not going to have any fun on a PvP server. For me, though, the PvE stuff is redundant, repetitive and boring without the danger of being jumped. It's not always the one-sided gankfest that people say it is. Plus having a guild helps a lot. When things are getting one-sided, you get your friends and clear out the jerks. Good stuff all around.

Oh and I'm still having a blast with the game. Dungeons are actually challenging which is great. Close to original EQ toughness without the corpse runs. And like I said, PvP makes it all come together.

I got wrapped up in a crappy guild at first but recently I was rescued by Brotherhood of Darkness. Wow what a difference when you get into a guild that is heavy into pvp and is full of amazing RPers.

I tried to hop on wicanna when i first reactivated. I couldn't take it it was pretty horrible without the chance to get face stomped to keep the heartbeat up.

P.S. Fuck assassins. Kill em if you see em.

[Azazel]

I saw "Rise of the Godslayer" in the most-recent-post section of the board, and immediately thought of Grunk. How disappointed I am to see it's unrelated. 

[Brogarn]

Still playing. Still having a good time. Having a raiding guild also helps. Plus, the Khitan dungeons are pretty damn fun. Actually, there isn't a dungeon in AoC that I've really disliked so far. AoC's PvE is pretty top notch.

PvP could use a lot of work, though. There's only 4 mini scenarios, which can get extremely repetitive and Cimmerian End which is just silly with its resource gathering and sacrificing. Frankly, and I never thought I'd say this: WAR has better PvP. Even with all of it's flaws, it was far more interesting than banging on rocks. Even taking empty keeps in RvE fashion in WAR was far more fun than banging on rocks. What a goddamned ridiculous system this game has for large scale PvP.

[Nebu]

Having a raiding guild also helps.

I've come to believe that this is a mandate for being able to enjoy all that an MMO has to offer.  Beyond that you can appreciate the solo game and a few pugs, but that's rarely where the heart of any MMO lies.

[Brogarn]

After having been sieged last night, I can now say that I've seen every aspect of AoC's PvP. My verdict is that outside of the combat itself, it's complete and utter shit.

World PvP is hindered by Mega Super Guards. A better system would have been to put quest givers in safe zones so that you have time to read the quests and get a feel for the zone. Instead, you get asshats attacking you while you're fighting mobs, then running to the guards when you have the upper hand. What happens then is if you've got a bleed or DoT or anything on that asshat, the guard kills you. It's a bullshit ridiculous system.

Mini games are hindered by a mix of OP classes, unbalanced groups, high PvP ranking pre-mades, the same 4 maps over and over from your very first mini to your last, and a stupid 19 level discrepancy in the lower brackets.

Zone PvP (kind of like RvR lakes in WAR, but it's own zone) consists of farming resource nodes and sacrificing them on an altar for PvP like I mentioned above. Instead of fighting other players over objectives, you try to avoid other players. It's just dumb and not in the least bit fun. They've made some changes and more PvP happens here, but the core design is still completely flawed.

Sieging is hindered by lag, exploits, poorly designed keeps that make it more fun to be an attacker than a defender, and this odd sign up system that I can't really explain. It's just odd to me. You can't have your window to be attacked aligned with anyone else's. You can have your window in the middle of the night to try to avoid people even attacking in the first place. I don't know ... it's just an odd set up. I don't know of a good alternative, but I do know I don't care for this system. My biggest complaint, though, is that defense of your keep sucks. You have everything to lose, but aren't given the tools you'd really need to defend with.

Finally, for a game that should have been PvP first, the lack of being able to level up and gearing up by doing it, is just embarrassing. I have better gear from PvE raiding than I do from PvP levels. FOR PVP! That's asinine.

Beyond PvP, the expansion is nothing more than a massive grind fest. Good dungeons, but the rest of it is boring as shit and because of faction rewards being class and preference based, splits up your guild into farming different factions, making it more effective to solo. That being the opposite thing you'd want in an MMO.

Anyways, I'm pretty sure this is more rant than informative. I'm just highly annoyed, in the mood for an MMO, but don't see anything that's going to be what I'm looking for: A good mix of PvP and PvE with large scale PvP battles and interesting classes. WAR is so close, but they've always been there and I don't think they'll ever make it over the hurdle into awesome. If I were to try WoW, I'd want to wait until Cataclysm. Fallen Earth just has too many issues and I don't trust the game to be around long. Plus, I'm not big on crafting and that's the drawing point of that game. The list goes on and I'm being rambly so I'll just stop there.

[Nebu]

If I were to try WoW, I'd want to wait until Cataclysm.

If you're interested in trying WoW, you'd want to start leveling and gearing up now.  Then you'd be close to where you want to be by the time that Cataclysm releases.  That is unless you already have characters at cap.

Thanks for the AoC rant.  You confirmed many of my initial feelings and saved me the pain of giving the game another try. 

[ghost]

My verdict is that outside of the combat itself, it's complete and utter shit.

The combat is a bit of shit, too, unless you play ranged or caster.  Having to chase someone around and go through a sequence of 3 or more button pushes to do a combo while doing PvP is hardly fun.  I think there are two reasons people like playing a "rouge" on WoW:  1.  It's fun to spell it rouge and piss people off, and 2. You only have to mash a few buttons. 

[Falconeer]

The combat is a bit of shit, too, unless you play ranged or caster.  Having to chase someone around and go through a sequence of 3 or more button pushes to do a combo while doing PvP is hardly fun.

Sigh. No combo is more than 3 buttons since more than a year ago. You are doing too many things wrong to be able to find fun.

[Chinchilla]

Wow, reading all that makes me go "stay away"!  The weird thing is I decided to download and install this as I was just wanting a little break from Darkfall.  I love Darkfall for how open ended it is, but sometimes I just want to be lead instead of me deciding.  So I figured I'd try it.  So far it isn't too bad, but then again I'm still in the newbie area.  I just made it to my first town where I will start those quests and see a few other people running around.

[Nebu]

Wow, reading all that makes me go "stay away"!  The weird thing is I decided to download and install this as I was just wanting a little break from Darkfall.  I love Darkfall for how open ended it is, but sometimes I just want to be lead instead of me deciding.  So I figured I'd try it.  So far it isn't too bad, but then again I'm still in the newbie area.  I just made it to my first town where I will start those quests and see a few other people running around.

Tortage is a wonderful gaming experience.  I'm interested in hearing your opinion once you get past level 25. 

[Chinchilla]

Wow, reading all that makes me go "stay away"!  The weird thing is I decided to download and install this as I was just wanting a little break from Darkfall.  I love Darkfall for how open ended it is, but sometimes I just want to be lead instead of me deciding.  So I figured I'd try it.  So far it isn't too bad, but then again I'm still in the newbie area.  I just made it to my first town where I will start those quests and see a few other people running around.

Tortage is a wonderful gaming experience.  I'm interested in hearing your opinion once you get past level 25. 

After 20 is when u have to subscribe right?

[ghost]

Tortage is a wonderful gaming experience.  I'm interested in hearing your opinion once you get past level 25.  

Read what I said above-  the PvP is clunky if you're not a caster, no matter what Falconeer says.  Three button combos still suck ass in PvP.  There's just no need for it.  They've improved the post Tortage experience significantly from launch, but it's still a bit of a bog down after level 40 or so.  Open world PvP is what you'd expect-  lot's of ganking which can be fun at times.  

[Chinchilla]

What do u suffer if u die in PVP?  Damage to ur gear from death?  Do u lose any gear?

[Xuri]

Bruised ego.

[Lantyssa]

Mockery for not being able to spell 'you'.

[Chinchilla]

Mockery for not being able to spell 'you'.

Typing on my cellphone do kinda lazy to be hitting every letter.