by DeepSixed » Wed Feb 12, 2014 5:22 am
SWTOR went over-board with the video quests...
Wow was like... a quick quest description or a long one like you were reading a reply. Swtor had the video version and if you opted for video which was cool you had to wait out the whole dialogue to proceed. TES... you can skip through it quickly if you want and still get credit for having heard it all. And you can go back later and get the text version if you forget, or just don't want to bother with video at the time.
There is no mini-map. Instead, you get a compass that's not immediately practical. Took me a while to figure it out. Thing is- checking out your map leaves you open to attack... bad enough in PvE... in PvP... likely fatal- so having a battle awareness of where you are and where you are going is paramount at all times.
Guildwars 2 had a dynamic 'discovery' type crafting system, but it cost boatloads of game currency to enjoy all of them and/or **** loads of grinding. TES- you can pursue all at once; but the grind is the same. Instead they made storage slightly more expensive both bank and backpack and require toons to spend skill points (the same points that possibly improve game play a lot) to improve your chances to create 'great' things. One of the first items you can spend points on is making salvage or collectable items more 'visual' in game when you are close by. Not required and frankly not really necessary... but that's 1 of 6 similar craft type skills that you can ""Buy"". There's a skill that allows you to acquire a 'hireling' to find mats for you when you are offline (SWTOR anyone?).
The quick slots are simliar to GW2 as well; but TES limits it to 5-7 slots... enough for one hand... vs GW2's or Rifts 10 slots or Wow's 20+... which is pushing your luck when 99% of the folks playing likely use mouse and keyboard... not just keyboard alone. 5 main abilities... one inventory item and one legendary item.
When you earn enough experience with an 'action' item you can spend a 'skill point' to morph it into something closer to your play style.
I had an ability that allowed me to pull enemies to me at a distance... after using it constantly for a while I had a choice. Leave it as is...(spending no points) or If I spent a point I could: extend the range or pull them closer and deal more damage with my next attack. Any action morph costs a skill point (typically earned through leveling your toon, collecting 3 skill-shards, or a quest reward [usually main quests]). Each Class has 3 trees, 6-7 weapons (Healing staff was considered a weapon)... each of which has 5 'main' abilities and a legendary...and at least one passive skill... and all can be morphed with 'enough' use... all cost a skill point to learn or change. The possibilities seem endless... they aren't; but it's more than a single account can discover... or cover alone in a finite time limit.
And there were also racial abilities, general class abilities, dual wield ability, soul charge ability (charging soul gems allows you to rez yourself or another or boost weapon damage), etc, etc... everything cost skill points to improve. How you spend your points... makes the toon.
And then there were Class Points with each level... improving your health, magic, or stamina by +10. Health is self-explanatory, magic... cast more spells, stamina was melee 'special' abilities, dodge (double key tap), and run distance. (GW2 reminiscent)
There is an achievement system in place that's very reminiscent of Rift; and subsequent rewards there of.
List goes on.
IDK- I haven't played a game like this since I abandoned Rift over a year ago. LOTRO doesn't really count. I have a lifetime membership there. (I log in once a month to earn my points and don't have to play otherwise.)
Sure- "I've done it once and moved on"; but so have I gone stag to a dance or gone hunting for a one-night stand and come up empty (or gotten laid [seriously who looks just once when you get lucky?])...or gotten totally wasted. (maybe not the best example for me) Still.. one time is often not enough...
It's worth a second look. Nothing else worthwhile that I have seen that's coming out in the next few months. Might be worthwhile to let the Salemites destroy each other for a month or three before joining the fray.
Let the short-timers get killed off; let Darworth and others scratch their itch on newbs, let Jorb tweak his new design to make it better... good arguments either way.
