People who have played, how is it?

fs23otm · December 2015

The game has potential, however it has some flaws.

Basically... it is pick a weapon and use that weapon type forever. Sure you can get to T4 on most weapons pretty easy... but unless you stick with a weapon you are going to behind the curve.

I get that idea for crafting works... but for wanting the ability to switch how you play... it is garbage.

I don't know how full loot will be overall...

Zyerne · December 2015

To really have a good game they need to round out the game more so there is just more to do. You can't call a game a sandbox and only give gathering, crafting and fighting as the only options. Where's the sailing, treasure hunting, lock picking, trap removing, bards, thieves, etc, etc, etc. Comparing it to like UO, even at UO's release, makes AO look extremely bad. Everything the game does, UO did better, all AO really did was make me miss early UO that much more.

Though I suppose when you really get down to it they used the unity engine, crappy models, crappy animations, reused zones, reused dungeon, 3 mob types and just palette swap armor/weapon for most progression.

Considering that, I guess it was never really meant to be a big hit. Just toss lots of simple stuff together with a big grind and throw it on as many platforms as possible. Then by making the endgame guild based pvp with a few predetermined areas to take over, they've put all the responsibility of content creation on the players for entertaining themselves. Throwing a 'sandbox' label on it made it that much easier, even if there is no actual sand.

SomeHuman · December 2015

Dauntis said:

HighestHand said:

Dropping 60 for the alpha?!?!? You have to pay 60 dollars to play the ALPHA?!

The $60 is for the ticket on the time machine to take you back to when these graphics and gameplay style were great. Yes, yes MOBAS and some shittier mmorpgs use isometric and point to click, hardly a damn excuse.

What is shitty to some is shiny to others. And it is $30 to play. And it is in Closed Beta at the moment. I like the concept, developers, genre, etc., so I supported it. If you are really not sure about it, go to Twitch.tv and talk to some of the streamers while they play it.

GunnJD · December 2015

Lobotomist said:

This one entry point to a zone pretty much kills game for me.

It will just be ganker camping spot. Even if there are gauards around the entry points ( how terribly immersion breaking) they can simply camp little bit further.

This means that you will not be able to go around alone, no matter how stealthy you are. And that very high lvl kids will no life will simply be there and make the game unplayable.

Gank heaven.

If they only at least made 5-10 entry points to each zone (dont see why not). Or make the whole zone line be entry point (as I assumed they would do).Than this would not be a problem.

Maybe they are trying to promote ganking gameplay ?

Business wise its a suicide bullet.

There isn't just one entry point per zone. There is usually at least 3 and sometimes more depending on the zone.

I've never zoned into a zone and found a gank on the other side.

As the game is now, groups are very much encouraged to move from zone to zone. There isn't a lot of static camping going on right now. That could change with further developments, but we'll see.

There are anti zerg mechanics in the game that also do a lot to combat "ganking".

Ikeda said:

Just curious about how forced the PvP is. I'm not a fan of it personally, but I've been reading up on this and every other aspect of the game intrigues me.

I wouldn't say you "have" to PVP. There are some players that just love crafting or gathering, and the game certainly allows you to focus down that path. Your guild mates will LOVE that.

The developers are doing a good job introducing PVP to those that aren't familiar with it, or may have a negative mental picture of it. If you imagine a circle where you start in the center, PVP becomes more prominent as you expand outward. Green zones, to yellow zones, to red zones, to black zones. Yellow people flag up and PVP if they want, but the penalties of dying to a player are basically nonexistent. Of course it is a game built on a player driven economy and guild interactions. PVP just comes with the territory. As I said though, there are plenty of things you can do that don't involve grouping to go out fighting other players.

Allein · December 2015

Zyerne said:

To really have a good game they need to round out the game more so there is just more to do. You can't call a game a sandbox and only give gathering, crafting and fighting as the only options. Where's the sailing, treasure hunting, lock picking, trap removing, bards, thieves, etc, etc, etc. Comparing it to like UO, even at UO's release, makes AO look extremely bad. Everything the game does, UO did better, all AO really did was make me miss early UO that much more.

Though I suppose when you really get down to it they used the unity engine, crappy models, crappy animations, reused zones, reused dungeon, 3 mob types and just palette swap armor/weapon for most progression.

Considering that, I guess it was never really meant to be a big hit. Just toss lots of simple stuff together with a big grind and throw it on as many platforms as possible. Then by making the endgame guild based pvp with a few predetermined areas to take over, they've put all the responsibility of content creation on the players for entertaining themselves. Throwing a 'sandbox' label on it made it that much easier, even if there is no actual sand.

Agreed that they need more to do, but it's early on and hopefully they have the foresight to plan ahead.

Sandbox doesn't really mean anything, certainly doesn't mean a game needs bards. However, the social aspect of games like UO and EQ are probably why they are still around in some form.

Currently AO is just about racing down whatever path, partly due to it being beta and people trying to figure out how to be efficient at launch, but they need to add some social only features (taverns are on their to do list) to keep people in towns and just hanging out wasting even more time in the game. Games are essentially time sinks and socializing is huge.

It is too bad that they couldn't go with better art, but I attribute that to mobile and mobile is going to probably keep this game going a long time. Mob and other things will be added down the line hopefully.

tom_gore · December 2015

I don't mind the art. After all, you'll be looking at it at max zoom out 90% of the time and at that level it looks pretty cool, albeit in a very cartoony way.

It's true that at the moment the gameplay favour large guilds and groups to the point that small guilds and soloing is not really viable past T4, maybe T5. I guess they could make the system so that the territory and buildings one guild can hold is very limited. That would mean that the larger guilds would take holdings in the black zones and the smaller guilds would then have the red/yellow zones as their playground. Of course it would ebb and flow so that guilds that are getting bigger would seek to go further up the tier ladder, and guilds in decline would eventually fall down.

What they do need to do is to lessen the grind a bit. UO didn't need a huge grind, maxing a 7xGM mage or crafter took maybe a year of active gameplay at launch, and much less later when they introduced guaranteed gains.

They also need a lot more sand in the box. Fishing, ships and taverns are on the to-do list. Hopefully they'll also add things like treasure maps, open world monster camps (with chests and lockpicking), etc.

mark2123 · December 2015

Just like the many, many games bigged up by the fanboys before it, the neutrals who are there to be won over and swayed find out that it's another game, just like any other, with a massive grindfest to make it feel like there is plenty to do, when it actually gets old fast.

The fact that you can only go from zone to zone in one place is a joke and surely that is only lazy programming because in a pvp game, it will be like gate camping in EVE.

Someone wake me up when a really decent MMO is on the cards because for now, it's XBox One games for me. Even the local Game shop that used to be predominently PC games now just gives them a little shelf whilst surrounded by consoles.

GunnJD · December 2015

It is going to be free to play guys. When it comes out, download it and just give it a try.

I think you'll be surprised. I don't think it is the best MMO I've ever played (AC Darktide plz), but it really does have a lot of potential. By the time release rolls around I think it'll be in a really nice place.

Psychos1s · December 2015

I decided to plonk down a legendary founders pack after a mate of mine got me inteterested in the game.
So here's my opinion (take that for what you will).

This game is so far for me at least a lot of fun, it promotes grouping with people as opposed to how mmo's have been going lately (see glorified lobbies). Yes you can do things solo but it really is much harder than being in a guild.

I joined a guild with my mate and am having a blast, we have guys who like gethering go out gather materials for the guild who in turn give them to guys who love crafting and playing markets that craft everything the guild needs from tools to weapons and armour.

The PvP guys go out and take over areas that are profitable for the guild and also do dungeons to help with silver and if the need arises we go and help the guys gathering if they get attacked.

Everyone in the guild is in someway reliant on the other guys and it creates a good atmosphere, when was the last time you had a game like that? All the games i've seen lately have pretty much been instances everywhere and outside of some raids most of it can either be done solo or in Dungeon Finder groups where noone speaks as you blast a dungeon in 5 minutes.

People say about the controls being out dated I don't see how they are with games like LoL, DotA and HotS
all being some of the most popular games in the world.

Other people say "but you can get ganked and lose your gear", this is correct but if you use your brain you can limit the ammount it happens and even if you do lose gear this isn't WoW where it takes you months of grinding the same raid over and over to get that weapon you so desperately need.

All in all despite calls of out dated model I find it somewhat refreshing and the whole WoW, GW2, SWTOR, ESO and all the rest of the PvE scripted grinders stale and boring.

tom_gore · December 2015

mark2123 said:

Even the local Game shop that used to be predominently PC games now just gives them a little shelf whilst surrounded by consoles.

That's because no one playing on the PC buys boxed games anymore, lol

mark2123 · December 2015

tom_gore said:

mark2123 said:

Even the local Game shop that used to be predominently PC games now just gives them a little shelf whilst surrounded by consoles.

That's because no one playing on the PC buys boxed games anymore, lol

Why?

jitter77 · December 2015

mark2123 said:

tom_gore said:

mark2123 said:

Even the local Game shop that used to be predominently PC games now just gives them a little shelf whilst surrounded by consoles.

That's because no one playing on the PC buys boxed games anymore, lol

Why?

I bought black ops III for PC on disk and started to install it. It was taking forever so I pulled out the disk and DLed it through steam and it was like 2-3x faster.

ZigZags · December 2015

I take that back

Sentime · December 2015

It's no sandbox.

Game might be ok for tablets and some casual mindless play to people that enjoy themeparks and linear progression, but if they want to meet their origina vision, they have a loooooooooooooooong way to go.

butchogrande · December 2015

The Potential is big, and sometiomes grinding can be kind of relaxing. The biggest Issues are currently:

The Combat is pretty Flat from a Solo Perspective. Dynamic and Skill is only present in group fights. If they Manage to get the Combat somewhere near a MOBA e.g. HOTS it would be awsome
The UI feels off, really . The UI is one of the badest PC UIs I've ever seen. And since they are promotiong the game as "True Crossplatform Game" - i dont think they will get this done they right way because of too much compromises. If they are a little clever the dropp everything beside PC. This would also solve the Usability Issues with Tooltips, right clicks, e.g
Graphics - as a result of tablet optimization - are character wise very poor. The Textures look like placeholder textures nothing more, nothing less. Not very appealing nowadays

If they would fix these major issues i would rate it 9/10 - but in its current state more like a 3/10

SpottyGekko · December 2015

Whenever I see "the game has potential" in half a dozen posts, it raises a huge red flag.

Over the years, 90% of the games that "showed great potential" never got past that point.

I'll give Albion a miss. Maybe in a year or two, it will have realised some of that "potential"...

Spiider · December 2015

ZigZags said:

This game is not ready at all. It is definitely not worth dropping any money on at this stage. I have put in over 18 hours in the last 3 days. Here is my review:

The game is shallow, there is no lore, music, or story of any kind.
Not a sandbox. The game is a series of boxed and walled zones with 2-4 zone in points. They are all extremely similar looking and feel more like giant Clash of Clan maps.
Dungeons are too easy and even the upper tier 5+ ones can be done in 5-10 minutes with a full group.
You cannot really be a Crafter only. You need to farm or buy, gather materials from higher tier zones. Either you fight your way (with gear that you need to rank of for) or you tag a long with a guild who is willing to wait for you to gather (none of them)
Every Town looks exactly the same
Housing is instanced on an island, only guilds will have housing in the "sandbox" (see above)
The Destiny Table/Tree is a total disaster and mess. It looks like my drunk 8 year old nephew who just woke from a 7 year coma made it.
You cannot really be or make whatever class you want or you will be gimped. Healers use staffs and wear cloth just like in every other game. Tanks use shields and wear plate, just like in every other game, DPS mainly wear leather and use daggers and bows....or are mages wearing cloth....just like in every other game.

I was about to write a review for this thread then I saw this. It's pretty much how I feel. The grind is real, the game is shallow. It feels like a skeleton of a game rather than a game that deserves all this hype. I kind of feel sorry for paying for it. At least it was the basic package only.

ZigZags · December 2015

After 3 more days of game time...I've changed my opinion. Im in. But im trying not to get too crazy with Beta since it will wipe probably sometime around Feb

kavalan157 · December 2015

Chris_Swain said:

I have been in since this morning. Literally played from 8am until 7pm. It's a pretty solid game. Even in alpha it plays nice. There have been a few server reboots but other than that not too bad at all. As far as longevity the player based economy makes everything tick and it appears to be delivering as planned. I can't get enough of it. Very deep game with so much to do and work towards - very good for groups/guilds as well.

so hows the graphics? I saw some videos of the game and it looks like the environment and or characters are somewhat similar to arcane legends from spacetime studios.

butchogrande · December 2015

Environment is OK
Spell Effects are at most "Decent"
Charater Graphics are very Decent - more like plaeholder Graphics - i think due to Tablet support

I hope this will change next year, when they will bring a PC optimized Version

Dawgdoc · December 2015

Legendary Foundhere here. I played in all the alphas as well as the currently beta.

How is the game?

In short, and IMO...its overly grindy and its boring as well.

Ill play at release but...its not really holding my attention. Needs ALOT more development and something to spice it up to make it fun.

MightyUnclean · December 2015

Does this game have large PvP maps and keep sieges like DAoC had 15 years ago? I loved RvR in DAoC, currently waiting on Camelot Unchained.

tom_gore · December 2015

MightyUnclean said:

Does this game have large PvP maps and keep sieges like DAoC had 15 years ago? I loved RvR in DAoC, currently waiting on Camelot Unchained.

The maps are small, square zones linked at each other in the cardinal directions. You won't have large-scale sieging as the GvG is 5v5.

stio89 · December 2015

It's horribly optimized, very few graphic options, If you have a beast rig you should be fine, if you don't expect a lot of horrible stuttering as you move around, I have a gaming laptop and I bought it thinking the game would be optimized because its on tablets etc but then I found out the game runs like poop (10 - 150fps) also heard that people with expensive high end tablets get like 10fps on the lowest settings. The devs need to do a ton of work to make the game solid imo But the sad thing is the devs have said they have already did optimization and that the game is perfectly optmized which is a blatant lie, It basically means that what we have is what we will most likely get in that regard.

Apart from the poor optimization the game feels pretty generic, very grindy and just overall feels like a cheaply made indie f2p mmo. It does have some good ideas but the devs have mountains to climb before the game is any good in my view.

Also keep in mind if you buy a founders pack, no refunds.

goboygo · December 2015

butchogrande said:

The Potential is big, and sometiomes grinding can be kind of relaxing. The biggest Issues are currently:
The Combat is pretty Flat from a Solo Perspective. Dynamic and Skill is only present in group fights. If they Manage to get the Combat somewhere near a MOBA e.g. HOTS it would be awsome
The UI feels off, really . The UI is one of the badest PC UIs I've ever seen. And since they are promotiong the game as "True Crossplatform Game" - i dont think they will get this done they right way because of too much compromises. If they are a little clever the dropp everything beside PC. This would also solve the Usability Issues with Tooltips, right clicks, e.g
Graphics - as a result of tablet optimization - are character wise very poor. The Textures look like placeholder textures nothing more, nothing less. Not very appealing nowadays

If they would fix these major issues i would rate it 9/10 - but in its current state more like a 3/10

Don't kid yourself, this isn't a cross platform game, its a game design for tablets, that happens to run on a PC because PC's can run anything, but the UI, the graphics, the combat, everything was designed for a tablet. Why? Because it has to be.

There are better games for PC, there is no benefit to PC users for this to be cross platform, it only hurts it.

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