So what's this game like?

Humphrie

Admittedly, I haven't played an MMO since this spring. It was obvious I'd completely wasted $150 on TOR only a couple of weeks after release, and at that point I decided to hang up MMOs and write a book... you know, before I strangled someone.

 

I'm bored at the moment and considering getting back into the genre, and was giving TSW a look. While I've read a couple of reviews and watched a few videos, I haven't come up with clear-cut answers to nitty-gritty questions. Those are as follows:

 

1) How prevalent are guns in this game? If you find a gun that you really like (say, a Model 1887 shotgun, or whatever), can you stick with/upgrade that, or is it the same-ol' 'level up, swap out weapons/armor' grind? Do you use weapons just for auto-attacks, or are they involved in special attacks, too?

 

2) How long does it take to reach the level cap? I'm an extremely experienced MMOer, and am just looking for an average time here.

 

3) I've seen some information regarding the more 'open-ended' skill system. Are there ability/skill resets? Also, if anyone can be 'anything' (as I've read), what motivation is there (if any) to roll alts?

 

4) What is the standard group size?

 

5) How 'open' is the world? If we were to say that Star Wars: TOR represented the most claustrophobic cluster-**** imaginable at a 1, and something like Star Wars Galaxies was extremely open world oriented (I know that's an older game, but I distinctly remember being able to go pretty much anywhere) at a 10, where on that 1-10 scale would TSW fall?

 

6) Are there any sandboxy elements? If not, is there any sign that there will be some in the future?

 

7) Finally, is all PvP instanced? Is there open world PvP? And, if so, are there RP-PvP servers?

 

Thank you for any and all help.

Dakirn

1.  Lots of guns all over.  I currently use a shotgun/assault rifle combo (there is also pistols).  The skins are pretty varied.. here is a site collecting screenshots of gun skins:

http://tempest-at-tr.guildlaunch.com/gwiki/index.php?page_name=TSW_Ranged&gid=201507

 

That doesn't include the special skins from dungeon guns.  Almost every weapon ins "skinnable" using what's called a Casing kit.  You can take a gun and a casing kit and create a "skin" (destroying the old weapoin in the process) that can be combined in your assembly box with the "skin" you made to give that weapon the look of the other one.  Obviously a rifle for a rifle

 

2.  There isn't really a cap.  QL10 is the highest gear level but you get that about 75% through the current adventure zones.  Once you can wear QL10 gear it's about filling out the Ability Wheel and Weapon/Talisman skills to add diversity to your character (still only 7 active/passive abilities) where you can combine 2 weapons with their 7 actives and almost any Passive from any weapon to create decks.

 

If you do all of the normal adventure zones, dungeons, watch the cut scenes.. probably 120-150 hours of playtime for the average person.  However this is not near all of it.  Once you finish the adventure zones there are Elite versions of the dungeons.  After you complete all of the Elites you run a special fight against the Gatekeeper to unlock access to Nightmare dungeons (which are currently the "end-game dungeons" that require a lot of skill and gear).  You get purple quality drops from Nightmares and Bullions which are used to perchase upgrade kits for those items.  You can upgrade purple Nightmare drops up to 4 times (called Tier 10.1 to Tier 10.4) to increase their stats.

 

You are also working on the 525 abilities and Weapon/Talisman skills during this period making your character more diverse in what they can do.

 

There are also Lairs in each adventure zone.  They are 5-man open world content where you slaughter tons of hard mobs to gather components to make an item to summon a zone boss.  Those bosses drop purple gear and signets, and then there are 3 Regional bosses that can be summoned as well.  Right now it is a huge time sink and only the Goons have done it but they are making a lot of tweaks to it in the near future.

 

The patch tonight adds 9 more missions, 2 more Elite dungeons that weren't ready for release, the cross-dimension auction house and loads of fixes/tweaks.  Upcoming content in the next few months is a raid, monthly content/mission updates, RP stuff, more clothing, additional character creation appearance options, etc.

 

3. There are no skill/ability resets, however the XP/SP gain is constant throughout the game.  This means that the same amount of XP gives you Skill Points and Ability Points no matter how many you have.  The difference is that quests/mobs in later zones give a LOT more XP.  So while in Kingsmouth you may be getting 1-2 AP per Mission, in the last zones you'll be getting 10-15 AP per mission.  The outer wheel costs are quite expensive but a short amount of time in later areas can get you AP/SP very, very quickly.  The lack of a reset is only slightly annoying at the start of the game.. most of the game it's not an issue.

There isn't a huge reason to roll alts unless you want to open the faction specific deck costumes.  Also when you complete Missions you get lore about the mission from your faction headquarters that is different for each faction.  If you really become a faction nut you could play all 3 factions to see the mission conclusion text for each one but I think that's a bit hardcore for me

 

You may want a male/female because their clothing is different but that's a bit hardcore too.

 

Cabals and Fusang are Faction specific, however.  Cabals are the guilds in the game and Fusang is the open PvP zone.

 

4. Group size is 5 and raids aren't currently implemented.

 

5.  TSW zones would be smaller than SWTOR zones, in my opinion.. I can't give a comparison to SWG except SWG dwarfs both of them.. however playing both TOR and the TSW ones, TSW are much better.  It's not just about the space.. like most things in TSW things exist for a purpose.  There is very little space in TSW that is "just there" to make it artifically bigger.  The areas are pretty packed with the actual game itself.

However they are still zones and they can still be small.

There aren't mounts in TSW but there is Anima Boost which is your magical sprint.  The highest current rank runs at twice the normal sprint speed.

 

6. I'm not big into sandbox stuff so I can't answer it much.  Someone else might be able to.  You can't really buy most items so they're found or crafted so once the auction hall goes up in 1.1 there will be a player economy.  They plan to add a lot of RP stuff to the game (such as player ran theaters).  Someone else would have to get more specific about sandbox.

 

7.  There are currently 3 PvP areas (I don't have a lot of experience with any more than Stonehendge).  Stone Hendge (king of the hill) and El Derado (capture the flag) are 5-on-5-on-5 matches (15 total) in an instance.  These are cross-dimension meaning you can get in pretty quickly from my experience.

 

Fusang is dimension specific and it's a huge open persistant 75-on-75-on-75 location control map.  It stays open 24/7 and people currently zerg control points, capture them for XP (the 30-minute cooldown missions) and move on to the next control point.  It's pretty huge so you can spend a lot of time running.

 

I think that PvP needs work overall and the devs have said it's high on their list.  They plan to make holding points in Fusang more important than the current zerg-and-capture that exists now.

 

I'm not a PvP fan but once in a while I'll do Stonehendge and Fusang for some stress release.

 

 

If you're interested in the game at all, there is a FREE 1-month celebration this coming weekend for anyone that wants to try the game (August 3rd to August 6th) you just need to create an account on the main site and follow the directions to participate.

 

As much as anyone can tell you about the game there's nothing better than taking a look for yourself and here is a chance.  I'd recommend trying it because it won't cost you anything to try and you may even like it

Laromuss

isn't their free weekend trial coming up this weekend? 

minttunator

1) It's the same ol' level/swap grind, but you can transfer the looks of a weapon to another weapon - i.e. if you like the appearance of your low-level gun, you can make a higher-level gun look just like it. There are no auto-attacks and you use your weapons (you equip 2 at a time) for pretty much all abilities. 

2) There are no levels and no level cap. It will probably take you months to max all abilities. 

3) There is no respec. Eventually you'll have all abilities unlocked (if you keep playing that long, of course). Having a diverse set of abilities is very important. There is pretty much no motivation to roll alts - only if you want to play a different faction. 

4) Standard group size is 5. 

5) It's fairly linear - theoretically you can travel pretty much everywhere (once you get past a few early roadblocks), but you'll get your butt handed to you in higher-level areas. It's definitely not a sandbox-style open world. 

6) Not really. 

7) All PvP is instanced, there is no open world PvP and no PvP servers. 

If you're looking for a FFA/full-loot hardcore PVP sandbox, then TSW definitely isn't it. What it is, though, is a very solid and cerebral themepark - I haven't had this much fun while questing in any MMO, ever. There is also a free trial weekend coming up, so you'll have the chance to give it a try yourself.

Humphrie

Originally posted by Dakirn 

As much as anyone can tell you about the game there's nothing better than taking a look for yourself and here is a chance.  I'd recommend trying it because it won't cost you anything to try and you may even like it

First, great review, thank you.

 

Second, I'm going to give it a try. I'm about halfway through downloading now and, I must say, this is the slickest downloader I've ever seen. It's been running at a consistent speed for 90 minutes not without a single hiccup -- never seen that before.

 

Do you have any recommendations as per faction? I did some light reading and have probably ruled out Dragon... I'm currently waffling between Illuminati and Templar.

Bhorzo

Originally posted by Humphrie

Originally posted by Dakirn 

As much as anyone can tell you about the game there's nothing better than taking a look for yourself and here is a chance.  I'd recommend trying it because it won't cost you anything to try and you may even like it

First, great review, thank you.

 

Second, I'm going to give it a try. I'm about halfway through downloading now and, I must say, this is the slickest downloader I've ever seen. It's been running at a consistent speed for 90 minutes not without a single hiccup -- never seen that before.

 

Do you have any recommendations as per faction? I did some light reading and have probably ruled out Dragon... I'm currently waffling between Illuminati and Templar.

For PVE purposes, pick the faction that appeals to you. Consider their "mission statements" and their deck outfits. Those are the 2 most important things!

If you are also interested in quality PVP, then its Dragons > Illuminati > Templars. Dragons have the lowest membership - which means their PVP queue times are almost instant. It also means their players have lots of practise, and are the best. It also means they're all geared out in purples already. Templars on the other hand have so many people - many queuing for PVP - that you sometimes have to wait 30min for a 5min battleground/warzone. That means Templars have little experience, and are less likely to be purpled out in the PVP vendor gear. End result --> If you're dragon, your team will likely win. If you're Templar, you'll be losing a lot.

ThemePork

This game is awesome the first  couple weeks (or however long it takes you to reach endgame), then it becomes total garbage like all the other gear grind themeparks out there.

arieste

Originally posted by Humphrie

To answer "what is the game like", the best answer is:

It's like TOR, only with a much better story, more interesting quests, good voice-acting and a more interesting character development system.

 

1) How prevalent are guns in this game? If you find a gun that you really like (say, a Model 1887 shotgun, or whatever), can you stick with/upgrade that, or is it the same-ol' 'level up, swap out weapons/armor' grind? Do you use weapons just for auto-attacks, or are they involved in special attacks, too?

 

There are no auto-attacks, so yes, you use guns for special attacks.  If you find a gun you really like, you can skin your next gun with its skin.  This is somewhat expensive.

 

2) How long does it take to reach the level cap? I'm an extremely experienced MMOer, and am just looking for an average time here.

It can be done in 2 days.  I'm an experienced MMO gamer and I'm about halfway through the game after a month.  There is really no point in hitting the cap quickly since you'll just trivialize the entire game for yourself.

 

3) I've seen some information regarding the more 'open-ended' skill system. Are there ability/skill resets? Also, if anyone can be 'anything' (as I've read), what motivation is there (if any) to roll alts?

There is no point in rolling alts.  The skill system is most similar to EVE Online.  Eventually you will get ALL skills.  The point is in getting versatility.  It's not possible to use only one set of skills or one set of weapons for everything in the game, you need to expand your options horizontally.

 

4) What is the standard group size?

5.

 

5) How 'open' is the world? If we were to say that Star Wars: TOR represented the most claustrophobic cluster-**** imaginable at a 1, and something like Star Wars Galaxies was extremely open world oriented (I know that's an older game, but I distinctly remember being able to go pretty much anywhere) at a 10, where on that 1-10 scale would TSW fall?

It's difficult to compare as a lot of TOR was building interiors and parts of cities, so it made sense for it to be clausterphobic.  TSW feels like it's just the right size given the content.  Your mileage may vary.

 

6) Are there any sandboxy elements? If not, is there any sign that there will be some in the future?

No.  The sandbox elements of TSW are that you can build your character in anyway you want and that after the first couple of zones, you can pretty much explore the world in order you want.  There is also a basic crafting system.  But there is no building of cities or anything like that, nor is there any indication that anything like that is coming.  THis is a themepark game.

 

7) Finally, is all PvP instanced? Is there open world PvP? And, if so, are there RP-PvP servers?

There is instanced PvP and there is open world PvP in one area of the game (Fusang i think).  I don't PvP, so i can't tell you anything about it.  There are no PvP servers.  Look up "TSW single-server architecture" to find out about how all of TSW is effectively one server.

 

Thank you for any and all help.

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