Things you don't like.

[Falconeer]

Tips for Fusang: do not even consider entering unless you can sport 6000 HP, minimum.

To be fair, you can still enter and join the zerg and get an anima well and the facility for a whopping 200k XP in about five minutes, but do not expect to have fun.


Long story short: Fusang has a lot of potential, but at the moment is a huge disappointment. Not SWTOR's Ilum levels of disappointment, but definitely another wasted opportunity so far.

[Ingmar]

Starting to feel like I am running out of steam in Blue Mountain. The quests are getting less interesting, and the ones that are interesting (like the haunted house with the 3 time periods) get bogged down in endless combat slogs.

[caladein]

On Leviathan, Fusang is almost always empty enough that I can easily hop in and grab a well and zone out without incident.  Only gotten in at the same time as there was a decent sized Templar group once and had a blast.  But, we had pretty serious numbers on the Illumanti group that was in there and there were only a smattering of Dragons.

[Zetor]

I tried Fusang 3 times (Arcadia), Dragon was hopelessly outnumbered every time. Still managed to get a facility or two while the two zergs took a timeout to stomp on each other instead of us, though.

But yea, pvp is really not this game's strong point imo. (then again - one month until GW2)

[Miasma]

I'm Templar. On Arcadia, it seems like every time I zone into Fusang, we have the majority of anima wells and facilities already sewn up.

And then I get one-shotted.

If you are Templar all you have to do is run with the zerg and stay at range.  Also realize that a lot of people in fusang will be in ql10 gear and there is no scaling or anything if you are still in ql3.

I'm dragon and yesterday was the first time I ever managed to capture a facility.  We of course lost it soon after.  It really bothers me that Templar on my server get an 18% xp buff along with all the other buffs.  That's crazy.  If they ever introduce raiding you will have trouble getting groups if you aren't templar due to all the extra hit, crit etc.

[Sjofn]

Depends on what server you're from! On Leviathan, my Templar will occassionally have a buff because we own Stonehenge, and that's it. Most of the time, I got nothin'. My Dragon had everything when I was dinking around on him last night, although as far as I can tell, the Illuminati usually have the bulk of stuff.

[Ingmar]

Not the last few days (unless the buff display is broken.)

[Sjofn]

Well, the Templars certainly haven't had it, so I guess the Dragons have gone to hell with themselves or something.

[palmer_eldritch]

double post . . .

[palmer_eldritch]

The thing about power scaling is that it's not your skills that you need to work on it's your gear that determines almost everything about how much damage/healing you do. If you concentrate on dps then your healing will suck no matter how good the skills you are using. If you're using greens then you will feel very underpowered compared to using blues.

This probably won't change your opinion of the game but if you run some dungeons and get blue gear you would likely be amazed at how much more powerful you feel.

Equipment matters a lot.

However, skills also matter a lot. The complication is that just getting the "better" skills, ie the ones higher up the skill tree which need more AP, doesn't necessarily help. What matters is creating a deck with skills that complement each other, and it's not until you've been playing a while and have enough skills to experiment and try different combinations that you realise what's possible.

I thought my character was pretty much finished as far as soloing/DPS was concerned some time ago. I had skills, including an elite passive and elite active, and seemed to be doing fine. Then I realised I'd just scratched the surface and I've been experimenting with new things every day, changing a passive here or an active there, slowly building a better character.

[Nebu]

However, skills also matter a lot. The complication is that just getting the "better" skills, ie the ones higher up the skill tree which need more AP, doesn't necessarily help. What matters is creating a deck with skills that complement each other, and it's not until you've been playing a while and have enough skills to experiment and try different combinations that you realise what's possible.

They do a shit shit shitty job of helping the player discover this in game.  I played 3 toons to QL6 gear before I realized that higher AP costs didn't mean better and I'm a veteran of every MMO to date. 

The game is more like GW/MtG than your standard MMO and not enough is done to highlight this.     

[Typhon]

About the "active dodge" argument Typhon makes, that is used mostly in dungeons, and used a lot in PvP. For solo/normal playing they didn't want to alienate all those players who are still moaning about the lack of a /face function and got pretty scared when they heard they, god forbid, might have to actively dodge.

I don't understand what point you're trying to make here.  I think the active dodge is a decent design idea.  I think the timer on the dodge makes sense.  I use dodge.  I'm annoyed that my use of dodge is not 99.9% consistent.

To be clear:
I want to use active dodge frequently in solo/normal.  The bugs lay down that "I'm gonna charge you!" pattern every 10 seconds.  My problem isn't in knowing when to use it, or reacting in time to use it.  My problem is that the game engine drops keystrokes due to the engine not being responsive enough and the dodge doesn't trigger - UI hiccup or server-side lag shouldn't make me miss my dodge. 

Yes, I realize that it has a cooldown, I'm not talking about when dodge is on a cooldown.  The UI very nicely shows how long you have to wait till you can use the active dodge again - no problem with that either.

Said another way; I can hit the keys just fine, and at the appropriate time, but the engine itself is too busy choking on something else when I hit the keys and drops the keystrokes.

I'd accept that maybe it was me that sucked, if other people in different posts didn't mention they had the same issues.

[Ingmar]

Not to be annoying but why would you use active dodge for the bug charge? All you need to do on that is side step it. Active dodge really only seems handy for the circle and wedge AEs where you have trouble getting out of the area in time without it.

[Nebu]

Not to be annoying but why would you use active dodge for the bug charge? All you need to do on that is side step it. Active dodge really only seems handy for the circle and wedge AEs where you have trouble getting out of the area in time without it.

Because it's fun?  I love doing the jump flips and use it even when I don't have to!

It's a game, damnit! 

[Falconeer]

The point I was trying to make is:

if active dodge was more "needed" in standard solo play a vast amount of usual-mmo players would hate it cause oh my god this game is too hard. So they decided to implement it but to limit its importance to the "slightly harder" parts of the game.

Not a defense of Funcom, just an explanation of why it isn't really used in normal/solo zones. They could simply make the AOE timers a bit quicker to make the dodges more meaningful, but that would enrage the MMO veterans with goofy hands and little coordination.

[Ingmar]

Uh, not liking active dodge type mechanics is nothing to do with difficulty.

[Tyrnan]

To be clear:
I want to use active dodge frequently in solo/normal.  The bugs lay down that "I'm gonna charge you!" pattern every 10 seconds.  My problem isn't in knowing when to use it, or reacting in time to use it.  My problem is that the game engine drops keystrokes due to the engine not being responsive enough and the dodge doesn't trigger - UI hiccup or server-side lag shouldn't make me miss my dodge. 

Are you using the double-tap to dodge or have you bound it to a key? I have it bound to one of the thumb buttons on my mouse and have never encountered any issues with it not working. I actually disabled the double-tap functionality since I found myself accidentally dodging when I didn't want to.

Starting to feel like I am running out of steam in Blue Mountain. The quests are getting less interesting, and the ones that are interesting (like the haunted house with the 3 time periods) get bogged down in endless combat slogs.

I was feeling much the same towards the end of BM. Egypt was like a breath of fresh air when I finally got there. Even if every second mob seems to have "spite" 

[Sjofn]

Active dodge doesn't bother me, personally, but it does when I am trying to double tap and the game is all "derp." Most of the time I just walk out of the AE instead because it's more consistent (and doesn't interrupt my focus pistol dump, which I am inevitably casting right when they do one of their you-should-dodge-this abilities  ). I also don't like when I DO get out of the area of effect but the game doesn't think I did.  

[Typhon]

Preach it brother!  That is exactly the reason - because I want to.  But because I can't count on it to fire properly, I step out of the way instead.

Circle and wedge AEs - mobs that lay these down I'd say that I have less problem with because I'm constantly circle/spiral strafing.  Dodge not working isn't getting me killed, dodge not working consistently is annoying as fuck, to me (and I recognize that I'm not 'everyone', 'most people', or 'calm and rational in regards to this issue')

[Falconeer]

I am not talking specifically about you. Sure one can dislike it and adapt to it cause it's not a gamebreaking "dislike".
Then there are those who die a lot because of it SO you hate it and unsubscribe. If players die too much they unsubscribe. Funcom had to make sure that the new (for the genre) mechanics were harmless to the average MMORPG player or it would have costed them money.

Regardless if it feels harder or not to me and you, lots of players on the beta boards were complaining about the game being too boring (!) and hard because it forced you to move around mobs.

Consider it an advanced move for PvP and dungeons.

[Rasix]

Active dodge is especially awesome when you're trying to tip toe forward and instead forward roll into the giant flesh golem you didn't want to be in melee range of.    Then you have to backpedal nonchalantly so everyone knows you meant to do that and totally weren't milliseconds away from wiping the encounter.

The game, at least in my hours of getting out of the fire last night, seems to be pretty accurate when you are and aren't successful in getting out of the way.   I really haven't had a problem in thinking I've gotten out and instead getting hit except when I think I can dodge the cone/dash by standing right next to the mob.  They seem to have a small radius around them where you probably shouldn't be.

Ingmarr, you need to do Inferno.  Have fun dodging those instadeath red crosshairs you can barely see. Muahaha.

[Typhon]

To be clear:
I want to use active dodge frequently in solo/normal.  The bugs lay down that "I'm gonna charge you!" pattern every 10 seconds.  My problem isn't in knowing when to use it, or reacting in time to use it.  My problem is that the game engine drops keystrokes due to the engine not being responsive enough and the dodge doesn't trigger - UI hiccup or server-side lag shouldn't make me miss my dodge. 

Are you using the double-tap to dodge or have you bound it to a key? I have it bound to one of the thumb buttons on my mouse and have never encountered any issues with it not working. I actually disabled the double-tap functionality since I found myself accidentally dodging when I didn't want to.

I have a nostromo n52 and it has this thumb-thingee that I use to control my fwd/back/strafe (like a digital game controller pad).  To your point, I find it accidentally fires a fair amount, but I know that is me switching from fwd/strafe/fwd/strafe too fast.  I'll try what you suggested, thanks!

[Ingmar]

Active dodge is especially awesome when you're trying to tip toe forward and instead forward roll into the giant flesh golem you didn't want to be in melee range of.    Then you have to backpedal nonchalantly so everyone knows you meant to do that and totally weren't milliseconds away from wiping the encounter.

The game, at least in my hours of getting out of the fire last night, seems to be pretty accurate when you are and aren't successful in getting out of the way.   I really haven't had a problem in thinking I've gotten out and instead getting hit except when I think I can dodge the cone/dash by standing right next to the mob.  They seem to have a small radius around them where you probably shouldn't be.

Ingmarr, you need to do Inferno.  Have fun dodging those instadeath red crosshairs you can barely see. Muahaha.

Why, why do they hate us?

On the 'getting hit when I'm outside the zone' so far it has only happened to me on moths that have significantly larger models than regular moths, it happens consistently every time with those. Otherwise I haven't seen an issue with that.

[Rasix]

Ingmarr, you need to do Inferno.  Have fun dodging those instadeath red crosshairs you can barely see. Muahaha.

Why, why do they hate us?

No idea, but they hate us pretty hard. You're dodging red on black/grey/brown/red background.  The final boss in Inferno is a massive middle finger.    

At least in some other dungeons, you're dodging blue.  I can dodge blue just fine.

[Ingmar]

Probably doing it while you follow a red blood trail on green/brown ground too.

[Sjofn]

I am basically Ingmar's seeing-eye-Sjofn on the "follow the blood trail!" missions. Although to be honest, they can be a little hard to see even if you AREN'T a sub-human colorblind derphead.

[Ard]

Probably doing it while you follow a red blood trail on green/brown ground too.

I couldn't even do that one, and I'm not color blind.

[trias_e]

Dodge:  Even using double-tap dodge, I've never had a problem with dodge not working when I want it to.  Lift off the movement keys entirely for a half second and then cleanly double tap.  I have 100% dodge success rate as long as I don't fuck it up.  I do accidentally dodge now and then when I didn't want to, which is a bit annoying but rare enough that I don't really care.  And yeah, if the double-tap doesn't work for you, rebind!

Blue Mountain:  Blue Mountain kind of sucks.  It has good missions, but interspersed with bad ones along with areas that are just sadistic in mob type/placement/density.  If you get burnt out on it I would suggest blitzing through the main quest and the mansion and going to Egypt.  Egypt is just a better zone overall and IMO easier, or at least less frustrating.  The individual mobs are slightly harder in Egypt but the spawn density is in general more spread out and reasonable.

Combat:  I love the combat in this game and honestly don't really get the problems people have with it, other than the slow pace.  It does take longer to kill the average mob than in other MMOs which may be a big deal for some people.  I don't mind the slower pace combat, but I may be out of the ordinary in that regard.  The feel of combat though is great for me though.  I find the controls to be tight.  My character does exactly what I want it to, so I find those complaints to be really opposite of my experience.  Maybe it's melee that feels bad?  Never tried that.  But with my ranged (mid ranged) builds, combat is definitely satisfying to me.  That part may be somewhat a matter of builds.  I've really enjoyed my builds and they keep things satisfying and pretty fresh.  I've got a hinder-based Shotgun/Pistol build that is entirely focused on me staggering my hinders which I enjoy.  Plus Shake and Bake is an awesome skill.  Then I've got a shotgun/blood penetration/impair/shield build which is also quite satisfying to use.  It could be I got lucky with the builds I picked being more fun than others, or I just like the combat and others don't.  Hard to know. 

PvP:  Pretty bad.  Not much point in going out until you come up with a legit PvP build, which is honestly not on the list of my priorities at the moment.  At least you can just zerg fusang, but that's not fun.  It wasn't fun in DAOC unless it was a relic raid, and it's not fun here.  They should give out the misc-PvP abilities for free.  Then I'd consider it.

[Sky]

I have to admit I was waiting to see what kind of non-standard peripheral wasn't being blamed for 'the engine's' dropping keystrokes.

 

[Typhon]

didn't have a problem in CO or Amular   

[Venkman]

The point I was trying to make is:

if active dodge was more "needed" in standard solo play a vast amount of usual-mmo players would hate it cause oh my god this game is too hard. So they decided to implement it but to limit its importance to the "slightly harder" parts of the game.

I dunno man. There's almost nothing "easy" about this game if one's background is WoW and maybe you've heard of that RvR thing. The most off-putting thing is the decks themselves. It harkens back to the wft-do-I-do-now days before people just went to UO.stratics for the fotm 7xGM build. Then replace everyone's understanding of normal "heal" with only absorb HoTs, make levels some unpredictable Rank/QL/level-like thing, and ensure all advanced abilities don't show any on-paper improvement over the basic ones.  

In other words, anyone looking for a normal diku is going to need to power through a whole bunch of not-WoW things before getting off-put by a functioning dodge.

Having said that, it seems like Dodge does something even in solo. I haven't run the numbers, nor looked it up, and maybe it's just wishful thinking. But it seems like it adds to Evade.

[Rasix]

Having to RMA my 470 GTX. I think my weekend marathon playing (family was outta town) was too much for a card what was already down a fan.   Back to the 8800 GT.  Runs the game fine (frame rate aint bad in DX9 and doesn't look too bad), but the fan makes an unholy racket.   Even cranking down all the graphics options, the sucker spins like it's trying to take flight.  

Finished Cost of Magic.  FUCK YOU, QUEST.  Luckily two of the parts were pretty easy (ghoul pond and the land mine/tripwire/deadfalls) and the jumping puzzle was shorter than I expected.  I did leave that piece of lore sitting around, because, fuck it, I wanted to be done.  I missed the very last jump 4 times. 

[Falconeer]

Outside of active dodge, this is interesting: Devs stated multiple times that circle strafing mobs forces an animation on them, hurting their dps against you. I circle strafe all the time cause it's a PvP habit and breaks the monotony of fighting the AI, and it helps me in better placement and awareness of my surrounding (patrols, etc), but I have no idea if their statement holds true or not.

[Venkman]

Hehe that is good to know, since I the same. It's kind of a poor-man's kiting in my book, particularly when there's nearby ads.

Fastedit: moved newb question to newb question thread.

[Sjofn]

So like. On the one hand, it's nice that the game acknowledges that hey! There may be ladies who are totally into ladies! On the other, I do not like that the game is convinced I am one of them. And I do not like that this probably never happens to dude characters (feel free to correct me if I'm wrong there!).

Really, it's just bound up in the "I have absolutely no agency whatsoever, being a slackjawed mute" thing I dislike. But it still is something I do not like. So here it is.