Profile: neuronomad
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• • General: D&D 4th Edition - Learning from MMOs

  • Originally posted by Hexxeity
    

    One thing a lot of people are forgetting as they rush to make snarky criticisms of the new edition -- these are  just the core rulebooks.

    These books are meant only as a foundation, the bare basics you need in order to be able to play the game.  If you tried to play D&D using ONLY the core rulebooks of any previous edition, you might be surprised at how shallow the game would feel.

    Yes, there's no question that some things have been left out of the 4E core rulebooks that were considered "basic" in previous editions, but I would argue that maybe the previous editions tried to cover a bit too much in their PH and DMG.  I can think of a lot of things in there that are NOT needed and that my groups never used.

    In particular, a lot of the complaints about role-playing and flavor seem silly to me.  These things are best covered by house rules anyway.  If you absolutely cannot wait for a supplement to cover the rules you need, just use the old rules you already know and love.  Why is that so hard?

    If your group is inclined to roleplay, then roleplay is going to happen.  If your players are the kind who like to create elaborate character histories, then that is what they are going to do.  No amount of text included in (or left out of) a rulebook can change any of that.

     

    QFT.   I think there is just the right amount of roleplaying information that should have been added to the manuals.  I chuckle everything I read people freaking out because they excepted the book to spend chapter after chapter telling you how to use your imagination.    Not rocket science here you know.  Personally I like the 4E rules and have enjoyed reading over them since I picked up on release day.  

    And to those that cry about the game being geared too much towards minutures or using the D&D Insider deal, get a life, these are just tools to make your life easier.  And if you don't want to buy the official minitures use coins or whatever.   After all the game is about imagination right?

    Are there MMO elements with D&D 4e that were not there in prior editions including the 3.5 reboot?  Sure.  Is this a bad thing if the product will start appealing to a wider audience?   I

  • Posted: 6/20/08 1:35 PM
    General Discussion
• • It's good to be back

  • After what I considered a boring release of AOC I was already thinking about going back to EQ2.   Got to say the Living Legacy free time is a great way for SOE to snag players like me that had played in the past and were thinking about coming back.

    I have played EQ2 off and on in between spurts of playing WoW and various other MMOs.

    I mentioned in the AoC forums that the best thing about AoC was that it prompted SOE to do the living legacy deal.

    It's good to be back and I for the life of me can't figure why I ever leave Norrath. ;)

  • Posted: 6/04/08 11:36 PM
    Everquest II
• • Best thing to come out of AoC release...

  • The best thing to come out of AoC's release (to me) is the fact that SOE is doing the Living Legacy in response to it.

    After leveling a few characters to the mid twenties in AoC I like so many others have a complete lack of interest in the game.  I am not having any performance issues with AoC now, but the game just feels like it is missing something.

    I decided a month ago to completely dump my 3 70s on WoW and vowed never to go back to the game.  I had been considering going back to EQ2 but was waiting to see how AoC was.   And just when I had 110% decided that AoC was too lackluster to continue with low and behold SOE announced the two months free for returning players to EQ and EQ2.

    Tonight I decided to try out the new expansion content and all I can say is THANK YOU FUNCOM FOR PROMPTING SOE TO GIVE FREE GAME TIME!!!!!

     

  • Posted: 6/04/08 11:29 PM
    Age of Conan
• • Age of Conan: Q&A With Jorgen Tharaldsen

  • Originally posted by impulsebooks
    

     

    
    

    ....we estimate that load will go down in the future...

     

     

    I think this might be prophetic.

    I love that!!!

  • Posted: 6/02/08 5:40 PM
    General Discussion
• • lvl 40+ review

  • My overall issues with the game are:
    
    1) Even with specs in the middle between Required and Recommended many people are still getting very choppy performance.  I have heard many, many others with systems even better than mine that say that they have a hard time getting over 25fps even on lowest settings.

    2) Way too much zoning.   Yeah I know most games zone but a lot of them hide it far better.    Some zoning takes upwards of two or more minutes.   That is crazy and truly breaks game immersion.

    3) While the classes are fairly balanced they also do not break themselves out very well.   Pretty much you are spending more time worrying about hitting the correct key strokes for a combo than actually watching the game.  

    4) Grouping and Chatting are too bland.   The Chat box is terrible.  Of course this will be fixed but honestly it is something that should have been 100% better at launch.   Grouping is also very strange and counter-intutive when compared against other games.

    5) Lack of  content after mid to late 20s.

    6) Too much instant travel.  

    7) Was killing typical MMO mobs by level 25.  Why oh why must I have to keep killing boars, spiders and wolves in every MMO that I play?

    8) Mob AI is very lacking.   As mentioned prior some mobs don't even aggro until you start beating on them, while others aggro half the zone on you.    Also some mobs will follow you clear across a zone.

    9) For a FFA PVP game Funcom is already banning people for PK'ing.   Alright I know that they are spawn camping but that is the price that players pay when your game has constant zoning.

    10) Personally I wish there would have been some type of Realm Vs. Realm warfare.

    11) Even after leveling one of each archetype you still have to go thru Tortage for every new character you create.   This gets old very fast.  Heck they could have had at least a starting zone for each race instead of just one starting zone.

    12) Very limited bag space.   LOTRO had bag space just right.  The only saving grace with AoC is that they give you seperate bag space for Resources and Quest Items.

    13) Invisible Walls.  I don't just mean mountains blocking your path but actual invisible walls just to lead you along.

    14) Way too linear.

    15)  No real connection to the world. 

     

  • Posted: 5/28/08 1:55 PM
    Age of Conan