Comments for Ciderhelm http://ciderhelm.com Endgame PVE, Tanking, & Warriors Sat, 03 Dec 2011 17:59:20 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 Comment on Star Wars: First Impressions by Kentor http://ciderhelm.com/?p=1141#comment-1700 Kentor Sat, 03 Dec 2011 17:59:20 +0000 http://ciderhelm.com/?p=1141#comment-1700 it's all about style and how fulfilling the end game will be for me. WOW (beside firelands which finally broke me) end game tended to be simple minded with heroics just giving random AoE damage and harder hits with few rare gems which I loved. Rift, to be honest only did 3 raid zones, but I found it lacking, a game which shine on zone events and "rifts" having very MMO-mainstream raids zones. so, now I'm gonna try this and hope tanking is fun and oparations are intresting. P.S 5 man content tanking in Rift was just plain horrible, you had to take 6 points in WL and every half decent player could basicly tank any amount of mobs he could hold, atleast that's how it felt to me. it’s all about style and how fulfilling the end game will be for me.
WOW (beside firelands which finally broke me) end game tended to be simple minded with heroics just giving random AoE damage and harder hits with few rare gems which I loved.
Rift, to be honest only did 3 raid zones, but I found it lacking, a game which shine on zone events and “rifts” having very MMO-mainstream raids zones.

so, now I’m gonna try this and hope tanking is fun and oparations are intresting.

P.S
5 man content tanking in Rift was just plain horrible, you had to take 6 points in WL and every half decent player could basicly tank any amount of mobs he could hold, atleast that’s how it felt to me.

]]> Comment on Rift Updates for 1.6 Not Likely by KB http://ciderhelm.com/?p=1154#comment-1698 KB Sat, 03 Dec 2011 16:32:43 +0000 http://ciderhelm.com/?p=1154#comment-1698 Doing anything for Rift is just not worth it. The game is seriously flawed, almost critically flawed. If you are still playing Rift, don't get your hopes up for anything worthwhile. They will be chasing the FOTM from now until they turn off support. Rift is in a serious downward death-spiral. I am sure their next step is merging servers. Doing anything for Rift is just not worth it. The game is seriously flawed, almost critically flawed. If you are still playing Rift, don’t get your hopes up for anything worthwhile. They will be chasing the FOTM from now until they turn off support. Rift is in a serious downward death-spiral. I am sure their next step is merging servers.

]]> Comment on Rift Updates for 1.6 Not Likely by Kanzer http://ciderhelm.com/?p=1154#comment-1696 Kanzer Thu, 01 Dec 2011 20:42:54 +0000 http://ciderhelm.com/?p=1154#comment-1696 gosh, always gettin my hopes up...I HATE YOU! gosh, always gettin my hopes up…I HATE YOU!

]]> Comment on Rift, SWTOR, Guild Wars 2, League of Legends, Streaming, etc.! by Copenhagun http://ciderhelm.com/?p=1133#comment-1695 Copenhagun Tue, 29 Nov 2011 22:02:17 +0000 http://ciderhelm.com/?p=1133#comment-1695 Grats Cider. It's not selling out. It's using your knowledge and skills to provide for your family and yourself. Grats Cider. It’s not selling out. It’s using your knowledge and skills to provide for your family and yourself.

]]> Comment on Star Wars: First Impressions by Wapner http://ciderhelm.com/?p=1141#comment-1693 Wapner Wed, 23 Nov 2011 18:42:07 +0000 http://ciderhelm.com/?p=1141#comment-1693 I do like the graphics in Rift (not a fan of the art style, but the graphics and shaders are done well). But, if a game wants a wider audience this is something they need to be conscious of. One of the reasons that WoW does have such a huge audience is that their low-end settings will run in a 6 or 7 year old computer. By comparison my SLI GTX 580's and i7 2600k running @ 5Ghz has slowdowns in some areas of Rift. Not many but they are there. I have several friends who can't play Rift at any sort of competetive level. They can start up the game but 20 FPS is like watching a slide show and it makes PvP and even PvE difficult to keep up with -- The point being that having really good graphics locks out a lot of the potential customer base. I do like the graphics in Rift (not a fan of the art style, but the graphics and shaders are done well). But, if a game wants a wider audience this is something they need to be conscious of. One of the reasons that WoW does have such a huge audience is that their low-end settings will run in a 6 or 7 year old computer. By comparison my SLI GTX 580′s and i7 2600k running @ 5Ghz has slowdowns in some areas of Rift. Not many but they are there.

I have several friends who can’t play Rift at any sort of competetive level. They can start up the game but 20 FPS is like watching a slide show and it makes PvP and even PvE difficult to keep up with — The point being that having really good graphics locks out a lot of the potential customer base.

]]> Comment on Star Wars: First Impressions by Wapner http://ciderhelm.com/?p=1141#comment-1692 Wapner Wed, 23 Nov 2011 18:35:03 +0000 http://ciderhelm.com/?p=1141#comment-1692 I was actually going with Sith Warrior, and have spent a lot of time on one in the beta. To be honest, after awhile I kind of started liking the Jedi Knight more. They are basically the exact same class, but the story and choices presented to me felt more in line with what I was expecting. For example: Sith Warrior quest that has you interacting with a prisoner -- Your Dark Side choice is to just outright kill him. Your Light Side choice is to let him fight you for his life (which he obviously has to lose to complete the quest). Jedi Knight quest that has you talking to a "bad guy" who wants to fight you -- Your Dark Side choice is to fight and kill him. Your Light Side choice is to use the Jedi mind trick to get him to just leave you alone. For my semi-RP purposes, I like having the range of choices presented by the JK storyline a bit more. Also, like you said, the aesthetics of the JK starting area is much more appealing than the Durotar-esque SW starting area. I'm still torn between Sith and Republic though. :P Hopefully I can make up my mind in this weekend beta coming up. One thing I found interesting on the graphics side of things (that I honestly didn't know and don't see talked about much), is that your dark and light side choices actually affect your appearance. You will start to actually look evil (glowing red eyes, etc.) if you choose a lot of dark side options, and the opposite will happen if you go purely light side. I thought that was neat. :P I was actually going with Sith Warrior, and have spent a lot of time on one in the beta. To be honest, after awhile I kind of started liking the Jedi Knight more. They are basically the exact same class, but the story and choices presented to me felt more in line with what I was expecting. For example:

Sith Warrior quest that has you interacting with a prisoner — Your Dark Side choice is to just outright kill him. Your Light Side choice is to let him fight you for his life (which he obviously has to lose to complete the quest).

Jedi Knight quest that has you talking to a “bad guy” who wants to fight you — Your Dark Side choice is to fight and kill him. Your Light Side choice is to use the Jedi mind trick to get him to just leave you alone.

For my semi-RP purposes, I like having the range of choices presented by the JK storyline a bit more. Also, like you said, the aesthetics of the JK starting area is much more appealing than the Durotar-esque SW starting area. I’m still torn between Sith and Republic though. :P Hopefully I can make up my mind in this weekend beta coming up.

One thing I found interesting on the graphics side of things (that I honestly didn’t know and don’t see talked about much), is that your dark and light side choices actually affect your appearance. You will start to actually look evil (glowing red eyes, etc.) if you choose a lot of dark side options, and the opposite will happen if you go purely light side. I thought that was neat. :P

]]> Comment on Star Wars: First Impressions by Vatec http://ciderhelm.com/?p=1141#comment-1691 Vatec Wed, 23 Nov 2011 15:17:24 +0000 http://ciderhelm.com/?p=1141#comment-1691 Wow. Someone else who feels the same way about SWTOR as I do. I did one weekend beta event, got a Sith Warrior up to level 17. I am moderately intrigued to see where his story goes from there, but certainly not intrigued enough to buy the game (which is overpriced by MMO standards). Age of Conan did voiced cutscenes. This is not something new. In fact, expanding the voice acting to cover all the sidequests is probably a big =minus= in my opinion. It's wasted effort; I'm just going to be hitting the spacebar through those. They're sidequests; people who don't read quest text (and according to some studies done by WoW, that's most players) certainly aren't going to sit around and =listen= to it. To their credit, they did provide more "meaningful" character customization than most MMOs. Most MMOs just give you a slider that lets you range from Chuck Norris to Arnold Schwarzenegger. Being able to be skinny or fat is a nice touch. But either you like the art style or you don't. And I don't. It's certainly not as good as Mass Effect or Mass Effect 2; more on par with KOTOR and KOTOR 2. But those games are =old= and achieving the same level of graphical wizardry nowadays is still two or three steps behind the current cutting edge. The UI is multiple steps back to the "we know what a UI should look like and you don't, so you don't get to customize it" days of yore. Except, as a twelve year veteran of MMOs, I =do= know what =my= UI should look like. And the one they provide simply doesn't even come close to what I want. Character Panel, Bank Panel, and Inventory Panel; choose two out of three just doesn't cut it, for example.... I'll take one more look at it when my next beta invitation kicks in, but I'm not expecting much. Wow. Someone else who feels the same way about SWTOR as I do. I did one weekend beta event, got a Sith Warrior up to level 17. I am moderately intrigued to see where his story goes from there, but certainly not intrigued enough to buy the game (which is overpriced by MMO standards).

Age of Conan did voiced cutscenes. This is not something new. In fact, expanding the voice acting to cover all the sidequests is probably a big =minus= in my opinion. It’s wasted effort; I’m just going to be hitting the spacebar through those. They’re sidequests; people who don’t read quest text (and according to some studies done by WoW, that’s most players) certainly aren’t going to sit around and =listen= to it.

To their credit, they did provide more “meaningful” character customization than most MMOs. Most MMOs just give you a slider that lets you range from Chuck Norris to Arnold Schwarzenegger. Being able to be skinny or fat is a nice touch. But either you like the art style or you don’t. And I don’t. It’s certainly not as good as Mass Effect or Mass Effect 2; more on par with KOTOR and KOTOR 2. But those games are =old= and achieving the same level of graphical wizardry nowadays is still two or three steps behind the current cutting edge.

The UI is multiple steps back to the “we know what a UI should look like and you don’t, so you don’t get to customize it” days of yore. Except, as a twelve year veteran of MMOs, I =do= know what =my= UI should look like. And the one they provide simply doesn’t even come close to what I want. Character Panel, Bank Panel, and Inventory Panel; choose two out of three just doesn’t cut it, for example….

I’ll take one more look at it when my next beta invitation kicks in, but I’m not expecting much.

]]> Comment on Star Wars: First Impressions by Ciderhelm http://ciderhelm.com/?p=1141#comment-1689 Ciderhelm Wed, 23 Nov 2011 02:14:12 +0000 http://ciderhelm.com/?p=1141#comment-1689 My settings are maxed (at least I believe they are). If they get better at launch, that's great. If they get better in later zones, that's good for me as I keep playing, but I don't feel it's healthy for the game; I was genuinely turned off at Durotar (Sith) and a little less turned off at the Jedi zone (despite the grainy Naruto style mountains in the distance). Sith Warrior is the direction I'm going atm so I'll get a chance to see what you're talking about at level 10+. The game is no doubt better than WoW, in character creation and many other areas. I agree. At least I'm actually paying attention to the dialogue in this game. My settings are maxed (at least I believe they are). If they get better at launch, that’s great. If they get better in later zones, that’s good for me as I keep playing, but I don’t feel it’s healthy for the game; I was genuinely turned off at Durotar (Sith) and a little less turned off at the Jedi zone (despite the grainy Naruto style mountains in the distance).

Sith Warrior is the direction I’m going atm so I’ll get a chance to see what you’re talking about at level 10+.

The game is no doubt better than WoW, in character creation and many other areas. I agree. At least I’m actually paying attention to the dialogue in this game.

]]> Comment on Star Wars: First Impressions by Ciderhelm http://ciderhelm.com/?p=1141#comment-1688 Ciderhelm Wed, 23 Nov 2011 02:03:10 +0000 http://ciderhelm.com/?p=1141#comment-1688 I played much more than 15 minutes. That said, what constitutes a 'first impression?' I will judge this game over the course of it, and I intend to play through it all, but I won't shy away from criticizing it where I feel it is fair to do so. In this case I was so disappointed by what I saw that I felt a post was warranted. I played much more than 15 minutes. That said, what constitutes a ‘first impression?’ I will judge this game over the course of it, and I intend to play through it all, but I won’t shy away from criticizing it where I feel it is fair to do so. In this case I was so disappointed by what I saw that I felt a post was warranted.

]]> Comment on Star Wars: First Impressions by Solkaris http://ciderhelm.com/?p=1141#comment-1687 Solkaris Tue, 22 Nov 2011 23:43:42 +0000 http://ciderhelm.com/?p=1141#comment-1687 Voqar where did Cider say he only spent 15 minutes playing it? Besides that how long does it really take to decide you don't like the graphics or UI of a game? Voqar where did Cider say he only spent 15 minutes playing it? Besides that how long does it really take to decide you don’t like the graphics or UI of a game?

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