I really wanted to like this game, but one thing that I find absolutely poor about the game is the lack of it following its own rules.  When you provide a turn listing upon use of a skill, I find it completely assinine to then suddenly, for no explicable reason, have the turn listing suddenly go in a completely different way (like when you are trying to figure out if you want to cast a spell).  It makes the strategic use of magic power in the game almost pointless in some of the staged battles.  What point is there to a strategy game when it becomes simply luck-based? 

It's a very odd game, because it seems like the only reason I'm playing it is due to may hatred and frustration with the game engine.  The fact that I want "vengence" over the game by beating it.    Something tells me that's not really why I should be playing...but what can you do.

Thanks for the info.  I guess I do need to go back and do all of the Atlas Park and Galaxy City contact quests that I have to get the KR contacts, although I'm around level 8 now.  We tried the bank robbery quest last night but it seemed broken as we couldn't seem to find all the robbers and it never completed.  My goal is to get superspeed, but have an enhanced hover handy for flying up to tall buildings or to stay out of melee range.  I might get hurdle eventually also.  This is a blaster by the way.

Hey Destructor,

How does getting super speed and using enhanced hover for those obstacles sound for travel?

I got in a group doing some missions in KR last night and that was kind of fun.  It seems like most zones have contacts you can go right to without introduction?  Are there any low level missions you'd recommend doing on the Heroes side?

Well, I played around a bit last night.  It seems like the only things people are grouping for are the sewer runs at lower levels.  Does anyone group for missions?  I'm wondering how leveling up in the sewers will affect completing the missions as well - I guess the instances level up with you?

Finally got everything updated.  Any suggestions on which side to take - Heroes or Villains?  I'm guessing the Heroes side is more popular due to the new update of dual blades (and I still have characters there from the year I played it after launch), but I haven't tried the Villains side at all.  However, I want to group if possible.

I got a key for the 14 day free trial on my account, but I had to reinstall all the software.  The COH updater is taking forever.  Hopefully it will be finished in anohter 24 hours, but it is very slow.  I hope it installs both CoH and CoV as it states in the free trial.

Can you actually start new characters in CoX and actually find people to group with?

Yes, EQ2 actually does a good bit at resolving a few of these issues.  They allow for mentoring down, which allows higher level characters to group with lower level ones.  And, they do have epic quests starting in the teens which give you nice quest rewards. 

One problem with these kinds of games is that it is starting to seem like the market is saturated.  I really only enjoy them if it is easy to find groups, and that seems to be fairly difficult in most of them these days.  Maybe Tabula Rasa is still new enough to have easy pick-up groups, but most of the older games are spread fairly thin these days.

Any idea if they have fixed some of these Xbox 360 issues in the new Elite console?  I'm considering getting one right now, but I'm not sure if the newer systems would avoid these issues.

Thanks.  That's what I was hoping - that the optical cable was capable of transmitting 5.1 audio, but it wasn't clear from the Xbox 360 website and manuals.

I feel kind of silly, but I've been reading up on the XBox 360 Elite as much as possible to see if I wanted to get one (for games AND for HD discs), yet I still don't have the answer.  Here goes:  I just bought a 50" HDTV, so I can use the HDMI output on the Elite Xbox 360 to connect to the TV.  However, my receiver does not have HDMI inputs or outputs.  So, I would like to connect the HDMI directly to my TV from the XBox, and then somehow connect the surround sound audio up to my receiver.  I've only seen stereo audio outputs from the Xbox 360, so how what would I use to get surround sound?  Does the digital audio connection from the Xbox 360 transmit 5.1 audio?  Typically, I've just connected a digitial coaxial cable from my DVD player to my receiver.  Thanks.

I haven't gotten to MoTB yet, so I haven't had to worry about the spirit meter yet.  I'm having a lot more fun in the original campaign since downloading and installing the AI improvements.  All of the sudden my warlock character actually casts Eldritch Chain instead of the generic blast.  It was getting very annoying having to control the warlock just to make sure he cast the chain, among other things.  The NPCs also perform much better.  I'll have to see what happens when I get to MoTB.

The thugs and such can be difficult early on if they swarm. Definitely make sure you are using all the magic you can to buff your characters, and I always made sure to use AoE spells to take them down.  It's weird, but due to the interface it makes you feel like you are not playing as "strategic" a game as, say, Baldur's Gate 1 or 2, but essentially that's what it is.  I've started playing more and more in the "strategic" camera angle, and using that I feel more like I'm playing BG2 again (and I feel more like controlling the spellcasters on a round-by-round basis).  Micromanagement is not always fun, but against big groups of, say, thugs, it's fun to pause and switch to your spellcaster (Qara) and let loose with some damage.  And, if she can't let loose with a fireball at that level (I can't remember what she starts at), you can use Elanee to call some lightning (3rd level spell) which chews them up pretty bad. 

It's also useful to position Khelgar in big groups of enemies so that his "Great Cleave" can trigger.  I typically have him in the lead in those areas where traps are not a concern.

I'd also recommend you take a look at some of those AI scripts mentioned earlier in this thread.  They really help!

How much variety is there in the character creation options?  I'm guessing not as much as Oblivion?

A guy at Armchair Arcade is going to "blog" his way through Wizard's Crown (much like the Blogging Ultima guy has been doing this year).  Check it out -

http://armchairarcade.com/neo/taxonomy/term/1180

Wow...that's awesome!  Seeing the scan of the entire manual reminded me of how I poured over it back in the day.  That was a great game!  I can't wait to see how he progresses.

I don't post that much, but this thread brought back memories.  Anyone remember Wizard's Crown?  It was a great SSI RPG that predated the later D&D stuff (if I remember correctly).  I'm pretty sure it was the first RPG I actually played all the way through.  Really neat tactical combat, where you control the party on a tactical map representing the environment you are fighting in, including walls and other obstacles.

http://www.mobygames.com/game/dos/wizards-crown

Yeah, I could see how due to the bugs at launch the game could get 3/10.  I think the game is improving over time, but not quite at the rate I'd like.  And, sadly, the servers seem to be getting emptier and emptier.  It's sad because the game had a lot of promise.  But it just doesn't stack up well against a much more polished game like LOTRO.  The performance issues may never be ironed out because the design and coding was rather poor, in my opinion.  Then when you all the basic bugs regarding abilities not being applied correctly, quest bugs, etc., it's not hard to see why it would get a good review.

However, I do think it has a chance to come back strong IF they get things fixed and add in flying mounts that actually WORK.  Little things like that are good advertising points to get people back into the game, but the performance better have improved. 

At the moment I am still playing both Vanguard and LOTRO casually.  I kind of miss in LOTRO the variety of classes that Vanguard has, and especially the fact that no spellcasting classes are present in the LOTRO world.  So, I kind of bounce back and forth.

I'm interested to see what direction this goes in.  I'm one of the players who left WoW and came back to EQ2 following the recent Echoes of Faydwer expansion which I have been enjoying immensely.  Seems like the number of EQ2 subscribers skyrocketed after that expansion came out.  I just found WoW to be too simplistic, and EQ2 seems to be enough of a challenge to keep me entertained.  Also, I kind of like the fact that EQ2 does get consistent updates and expansions.  In contrast, WoW is only looking at it's first major expansion.

Edited by KS-

No warez talk please.

Yeah, I found it be fun as well.  To keep up the interest I make sure to do every quest rather than just focusing on the big exp-netting ones all the time.  The game still needs a little bit of work and is going to be largely dependent on the continuous addition of modules/adventures.  The good thing about the game is it is fun to create and design different characters and not too difficult to get them up and feeling useful in groups.

What would you say has been the average level progression vs. time played so far? Excluding the power gaming individuals, I'm curious to see if the "average" player can play on a regular basis without constantly hitting the same content.

Most definitely, you can level rather quickly in the game.  But, this depends on whether you fall prey to what many in the game do, which is to constantly repeat the same high-exp and reward netting quests.  If you make a point to explore other quests, you should avoid that dreaded cycle.  There are plenty of short quests andlong quests, so if you play like an hour or two every other day you'd be able to get through a number of quests.  The longest quests may take 2-3 hours at the most.

I agree with the other poster that finding a good group can sometimes be difficult.  You have to make sure you find people looking to really enjoy a dungeon and not just blast through.  Many groups get together to do the long quests as quickly as possible just to get the reward at the end.  So you have to look out for those.  If they made it so you only got the reward once, I think some of that type of conduct would end.  The game is a great dungeon simulator, and hopefully they'll work a bit more on the mechanics and keep adding new content.  I believe in the end (assuming it lasts long enough) they will probably add some sort of random dungeon/adventure generator which would have a lot of promise, and make the adventuring portion more enjoyable as people won't know where traps and such are.

In the meantime, it is certainly worth playing for a month or two as it's a lot of fun.  Whether it has long term appeal will be directly based on whether they address some mechanics issues (mostly rewards on quests, quest exp, some leveling things, but NOT the quests themselves) and keep adding new content.  At the moment I sort of see it as a game you play for a month or two and then stop, coming back to play every few months as new modules/adventures are released and additional content is added.

Yeah, I found it be fun as well.  To keep up the interest I make sure to do every quest rather than just focusing on the big exp-netting ones all the time.  The game still needs a little bit of work and is going to be largely dependent on the continuous addition of modules/adventures.  The good thing about the game is it is fun to create and design different characters and not too difficult to get them up and feeling useful in groups.

Well, I've enjoyed DDO so far.  It's almost impossible to compare to other MMORPGs because it is so fundamentally different.  And, unlike some of the other posters here, I'd argue that it is also fundamentally different than Guild Wars (although this does not mean necessarily that it should be charging for online time when Guild Wars does not).

The key difference is that DDO is much more "set-in-stone" in terms of adventuring when compared to other games like WOW, EQ2 and even Guild Wars.  Thus, when you form a party you are forming it to do specific quests.  Thus, for better or worse, you are only entering a dungoen to do that quest, you do not have open-ended adventuring.  For this reason, I'd call DDO more of a dungeon adventuring simulator as each dungeon is instanced for your group to encounter alone.

Thus, in DDO you won't have the things that bore me often in other MMORPGs, such as the constant worries over "respawns" or "popping", the lack of static traps (I'd say there is no other MMORPG that fully so supports the rogue character as a necessary class having its intended skills), go fetch-type quests that have no real point except to help with grinding boredom, seeing other high-level characters run through your zone and ignore everything you're fighting (or, worse, killing the things you need to finish off old quests), and just the overall feeling of getting through a dungeon one step at a time.  What you do miss in DDO is the sheer breadth of the worlds in other games, and the open-ended adventuring that you find in those games.

How does this compare to Guild Wars?  Well, Guild Wars has instances, but inside those instances you may find a multitude of quests.  In DDO, the quest you enter a dungeon for is always the main quest, although there are always optional quests available if you find secret doors and such.  Also, in Guild Wars you will not find traps and puzzles of the sort in DDO dungeons.  There simply isn't that feeling of, "Crap, a rogue would have been really useful here," or "Hey, Merlin, did you memorize the fire resist spell, we'll need it for those traps up there."  Guild Wars is not as complex, but lends itself better to the PvP you do there.

So, in brief, I'd say that people who enjoy the open-ended exploring and always seeing new lands to explore would enjoy something like EQ2 or WOW better (and those kinds of games).  If you more enjoy the strategy of coordinating a dungeon expedition that is tailored just for yur grup then DDO might be the ticket.

All that being said too, I think DDO has some ways to go.  It definitely will need new content on a monthly basis, and the level cap is fairly easy to hit if you are a power-gamer.  You also need to adventure in a group that isn't only interested in increasing their exp, because those groups will tend to keep repeating the same high-experience netting quests rather than try out all the other content that's there.  That being said, I don't mind repeating quests too much as it's different to some extent each time as you have different people operating in the group (playing the roles).  It also still has a few bugs to work out, and the leveling up enhancement mechanism seems to be a bit silly at times.  But, there are also some nice things they could eventually do with the framework they've put together, such as randomizing the dungeons in some way so that you always have new dungeons to adventure in.  We'll see where it goes.

Too bad Heroes 3 seems to be the irreplaceable pinnacle of the franchise.  If Heroes V is as bad as the demo seems to be, I don't think it will be fixable by the end of March.

The biggest problem I have with it is that there is not a good way to get groups together to do quests.  People just shout around randomly and it's hard to even find them initially after you join a group.  What this game really needs is some way to put it out there that you are LOOKING for a group and then have an additional spot whereby you can check off what quests you are looking to do.  There needs to be a better mechanism for getting people together in the game.  I find it's harder to find groups in GW than it is in EQ2!

I'm trying to understand a bit more about HDTV.  Specifically, I'm trying to figure out whether my TV, a Sony KV-36XBR450 WEGA XBR Hi-Scan TV, is capable of receiving the HDTV signals from the XBox without purchasing some sort of interface between the TV and the XBox.  In otherwords, I'd like to know how to best connect the XBox to the TV.  I know that the TV specifications say it is HDTV-ready, but I know that for HDTV based programming it requires an interface.   I've reprinted the basic specs for my TV below.  Any advice?  Thanks!

The Sony KV-36XBR450 WEGA XBR Hi-Scan TV is an HDTV-ready TV with 2 HD-compatible component video inputs.

The XBR450 accepts 1080i, 720p, 480p through its two HD-compatible inputs, so you can connect the optional HDTV decoder  and enjoy HDTV programming.

The TV also can upconvert 480i signal to progressive-scan 480p and has 2:3 pulldown conversion for the 24 fps film-based DVDs.

The picture is sharp and clear, even in the corners of the screen, where TVs usually have difficulties focusing. You can also control the velocity scan modulation (Off/Low/High) and adjust the color temperature.

The TV has high-tech looks with its silver cabinet, flat screen and side-mounted speakers. Looking at it directly, it seems that the TV is flat (like plasma TVs).

The TV has 2 HD component video inputs (accept 1080i, 480p and 480i resolution), 2 S-Video inputs on the rear panel and another one in front, 3 composite video inputs in back and one in front, 2 RF inputs, fixed and variable audio stereo outs, monitor output and S-Link interface out.

This TV features vertical aperture compensation, to improve viewing of the widescreen 16:9 sources, so no scan lines are wasted. You can manually (or automatically) switch to 16:9 Enhanced viewing when watching anamorphic DVDs and HDTV.

You get two-tuner picture-in-picture. The Video Label feature shows you the device name instead of the input number, saving you from mistakes. The TV has a MID (Multi-Image Driver) feature, which internally converts TV signal to VGA resolution and allows features like Free Layout PIP, Flexible Twin Picture and Freeze mode. The TV also has auto white balance, vertical aperture compensation and tilt correction.

Audio features include simulated surround sound, stereo speakers (four drivers, 7.5 W each) with bass and treble control, stereo reception, MTS decoder with DBX noise reduction and SAP, close captioning and 181-channel tuner with auto tuning, universal remote control.

Thanks.  The Alienware Area 51m 7700 (didn't see an Area 55) seems like a good deal and you can get 3.0 GHz machines and up from them.  Is 2 GB of DDR2 RAM a requirement to play EQ2 with quality graphics?  I also noticed that they have 2 display choices - a 1680 x 1050 screen and a cheaper 1440 x 900 display.  Not sure if that makes a big difference.  Any suggestions?  As for the other specs, I'd probably stick with the 3.4 GHz model (and the 6800 card) as it seems to be the best deal.

Thanks for the responses so far.  For the most part, I play RPGs and strategy games (which is why I haven't considered one of the handhelds before), but I do play sports games as well, generally only on consoles.  I generally don't play games during my daily life of running to and from locations, but as I'll be away for a relatively significant amount of time over the next few months, I'll have long airline flights to play games and hotel room internet access at my disposal.  I was thinking EQ2 would be a game I could play when stuck at the hotel.

Yeah, I play a bit of EQ2 which is why I'm thinking it might have to be pretty top-end.  But the 9600 can with over 1 GB RAM should handle it.

Well, I have to do quite a bit of traveling over the next few months, so I am looking into getting either a top-flight laptop or some other portable gaming system.  The bonus with the top-flight laptop would be that I could hook up to my MMORPG's while I am staying at all these hotels, but a small portable less expensive system like the PSP might be an option.  What does everyone think?

"Master of Magic" here!

Although, I also have soft spots for "The Wizard's Crown" and "Autoduel".

All noobs use wasd, but in most mmorpgs you can use the mouse to move forward and change camera views, with just one hand, which means you can use the other hand to use hotbuttons. This comes in extremely handy for pvp.

Press the right mouse button, and then the left, and your character will move forward. While you are doing that, move the mouse forward or backwards to look up or down. This allows you to run through zig zagging tunnels, just as smoothly as running on flat ground, all the while keeping your view perfectly level. If you were using wasd, the twisting corridor would require you to constantly alter your camera view. This is especially beneficial to anyone in first person.

Trick number two. While auto running, press on your ctrl key, and then use your mouse to look around, while your character continues to move forward. This allows your character to move one direction, while your camera view is pointing another direction.

EQ allows this, and so does WOW, and I'm pretty sure you can do it in SWG.

If memory serves, AC and AO both allow mouse movement, as well.

Well, I'm happy to be a noob then, because I hate holding both mouse buttons down at the same time to run.  I'd turn on autorun first.  But, I think you're right, I don't remember being able to set that up in CoH.  But, you shouldn't be a noob yourself and learn to adapt!   :wink:

This has nothing to do with what I think of CoH, but I'm wondering out of curiousity - what games have you played recently that did not principally use "wasd" as controls for movement.  I can't even think of one.  Certainly every recent online game I've played whether WoW, EQ II, Guild Wars and some non-online games like KOTOR 1 and 2, Vampire: Bloodlines all use it for movement.  I know some of non-3d games might be able to rely on the mouse exclusively (like the older Bioware games), but I can't think of too many recent ones.

Many thanks as well!

I would like one as well, if anyone has a spare one.  I just can't let a MMORPG go by without at least trying it.  Much thanks in advance if anyone has one.

That's really a shame.  With such nice graphics you'd hope they'd have a game to play.  I guess it hasn't improved at all the year its been out?  That's presumably the reason why they still don't have a demo for it after all this time.  They can't figure out a way to make the experience fun for people.  All you need is a situation like that and you'll be turned off really quickly.

Yeah, apparently everyone in Lineage 2 is going to run around looking like a supermodel no matter what race they pick.  I guess they already knew, unlike Blizzard, that apparently people don't like playing "ugly" races generally.

By the way, what makes Lineage 2 so bad besides the grind and dying.  I mean, to some extent that's in all of these types of games.  (I've never played Lineage 2, so I'm asking from that vantage point).

Holy crap Fez!  By using alternating blue and white text your whole post looks 3D to me.  Trippy! :o

  It was my plan to mesmerize the lot of you.  Anyway, I think CoH was a ton of fun the first month or two and then it became incredible repetitive at higher levels (and not particularly deep).  I think that it is well worth the purchase for the month or two of fun you'll get out of it.  Absolutely no crafting system however.  It's basically a superhero combat simulator.

Looks like it might be fun, but I read the service agreement and they maintain the right to download certain files and cookies to your compute to gather system information and other information about your system.  Anyone running the beta client notice anything?

It seems like EQ2 wouldn't be a bad one to try.  I've played both and have high level characters in both.  At the moment I've switched back to EQ2 because it seems more challenging to me.  The extra challenge to some extent gets rid of the grinding feeling I felt in WoW in the 40's and 50's. I do like WoW as well, and even switched full-time to WoW for a few months after a month of playing EQ2.  However, now I'm back full-time into EQ2.  My answers are below:

To Jumangi:  No, they don't - not at level 60.  Let's take them one by one.

1. A game that takes longer to level. I don't mind it taking a while. As long as there's not a ton of "grinding" to do it. Mission-based exp is fine.

I've leveled 2 characters to 60 inside of 5 months and averaged about 2.5 hours per day doing it.  It's too easy to level in WoW.  I like the missions and exp.  I don't like how I can level up from level 34 to 35 in under 2.5 hours.  They should probably double the exp necessary per level in the game.

A good choice for slower leveling would be EQ2 if your equipment can handle it.  The environments aren't quite as fantastic as WoW, but the graphics have a more pseudo-realistic quality to them.  


2. A game where there's easy-to-find groups all the time and short (but rewarding) missions.

During the endgame, the instances are horribly long and it takes literally hours to get a group assembled.  Even with guild raids, it takes a long time.  And many of these raids are scheduled to start at 8-9 EST - meaning they're not over until midnight.  I can't stay up that late.  I like grouping - I just hate the waiting for groups at level 60.  And since I've been a part of no less than 4 guilds across my 3 characters, this is the same everywhere no matter which guild you join.

Again I've played EQ2 and one thing I liked about it was that you could find groups a lot faster than in WoW.  I find that in WoW I always had to rely on guildmates to group.  However, EQ2 is becoming more solo friendly over time, so this might change a bit.  Some quests are very long, but most ALL of them can be done in steps, so you can focus on one step at a time.  


3. A player base (as much as possible) that's not comprised of screaming 12 year olds.

WoW has more of their fair share of screaming 12 year olds.  Perhaps a game that's not the "MMORPG flavor of the month" may be in order.

EQ2 has a pretty good player population that seems much more mature than the WoW player base generally.

4. A game with a rewarding crafting system.

WoW's crafting system isn't very rewarding.  You're far better off financially gathering raw materials and NOT crafting.  Crafted goods aren't very necessary and don't sell very well.  Crafting in UO was awesome.  Crafting here is a waste of time.  The major issue is that high-level goods don't take even some low-level items.  The crafting system would be MUCH more rewarding if high-level goods actually had a use and took some lower level components to make - like a sword taking iron, mithril AND arcanite.

EQ2's crafting system is still being tinkered with, but it does provide much more of a challenge than the WoW game system.  One thing that I have to add generally about EQ2 is that it seems like there is more room for the game to grow than in WoW.  WoW in some ways was more polished than EQ2 initially, but with that I have more of a what-you-see-is-what-you-get feeling.  Unlike WoW, EQ2 always has updates with additional content.  Not always the best thing, but developers are dedicated at least.

5. A game in which you can solo if you want with little trouble.

This describes WoW and it is my favorite part of the game.  The ability to log on, grab a solo mission and go hunting is wonderful.  Unfortunately, at level 60, this part of the game completely vanishes.  There are no soloable quests at level 60.  It it took longer to get to 60, that would make up for it.

This is the area EQ2 has made quite a bit of progress in.  Most of the creatures out in Antonica have now been designated as soloable.  Dungeons are typically the one area where most of the creatures are group oriented.  I think this will only improve further over time.

Lastly, I should add that I don't know any MMORPG that will not have some sort of grind quality to it.  And I find that each game does get tiring after a while.  The trick is to enjoy them for a few months or so and see if you form a good group of guildmates.

Well, back to the mechanics of what's being instituted.  My biggest concern is relating to how it will affect the online trading market if people start taking more of their items to the offline auction houses.  This also goes for those "campers" who used to sell the items they got online for gold.  Now they may leave those servers where they used to have a big impact on the online market in order to have an opportunity to earn real world money for their items.  We'll have to see how it shakes down, but I'm guessing those new servers will be an interesting place.