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[GDJustin]

http://www.gamedaily.com/mmoguide/article.asp?aID=385

A special focus was put on taking pictures that had genuine aesthetic quality, instead of just showing off the landscape. In the same sense that you could take pictures of real life locations, but some will turn out much more beautiful than others. All HUD stuff was turned off in an effort to sorta enhance the illusion of these shots being "photos" taken of the environment, rather than screencaps.

I really, really like the peice, anyway. It'd be pretty horrible if I didn't considering the disporportionate amount of time that was spent on it.

Much has already been shown of that snowy area (although I do feel there's lots of new material in there), so if you'd rather see something you might not have seen before, check out part 1 as well:

http://www.gamedaily.com/mmoguide/article.asp?aID=357

Anyway, to keep things interesting, for those of you who are, AND aren't in the beta, what's your hype level like for the final retail product?

 

[Badabing]

As with any game, I have my doubts. I'm not going to get worked up on a game based on a genre I'm unfamiliar with (MMORPG), especially since it's a Warcraft game that's NOT Real Time Strategy.

 

[golem]

if you like mmo's this is the game to get this winter.

 

[SiegfriedFM]

A little disillusioned right now. I've spent about 400 hours on this game and now they introduce a new patch that makes all my characters boring to play...

 

[Badabing]

A little disillusioned right now. I've spent about 400 hours on this game and now they introduce a new patch that makes all my characters boring to play...

What did the patch do??

 

[SiegfriedFM]

Make everyone weaker compared to enemies, make it impossible to even hit higher level opponents (and thus making it impossible to solo quests slightly above your level, no matter the effort you put into it), introduce hunters who are fun and have potential, but are still nowhere near playable because of massive bugs, removed trading outside cities, lots of crashing (at least now in the first days)...

 

[Sinatar]

Basically they cranked the difficulty to where it should be, it was WAY too easy to burn through the game prior to this.

 

[SiegfriedFM]

Like I said, it has taken roughly 400 hours over five months to get 2 characters to lvl 39 and 42. It might not be much by EQ standards but if it had taken much longer, I would have quit long ago. I have literally hundreds of other games to play and only the sense of progress and the feeling that in a few more sessions I could move on to yet another exciting area to explore was what kept me going.
Suddenly it feels like I will HAVE to grind to get anywhere, and that is simply no fun. At all.

 

[ElyrionX]

I am quite keen to play this game once its released. However, I honestly do fear the loss of my social and academic life......

 

[MrCheez]

Sooooooo..... is there still going to be an open beta? @_@

 

[Flynn]

As with any game, I have my doubts. I'm not going to get worked up on a game based on a genre I'm unfamiliar with (MMORPG), especially since it's a Warcraft game that's NOT Real Time Strategy.

The fact that it's not an RTS is the main reason I'm interested.

 

[hiryu]

I'm in the beta and I love it. I can't wait for the full game to come out so I can play with my friends and maybe my EQ guild will move to it. The last patch did introduce some bugs and that may be why people find it tougher. Like elite mobs are ignoring AC and spirit is working right atm. Anyways, the game seems even easier for my rogue since he got talents.

 

[CrimsonSkies]

If the game is fun to play and the level grind isn't too bad then I'll play it for a long time. However if they decide that I somehow want to spend my time playing with 5 people everytime I log in to advance. Or that somehow is fun to take a week to progress a level. Well screw them. They can keep it. Those that enjoy that type of game have at it. I play games for fun, not work. I want a MMORPG I can solo and group play in and still advance. Until that MMORPG comes out then they can shove them.

 

[JackFrost2012]

I just put about 5 hrs into a Hunter and the patch seems fine ... a bit different and maybe slightly slower but the game is still very solo-friendly; some quests will be better with groups but others are designed for a single-person.

Levelling in general have been 2-5 hrs per level (it's faster at the lower levels, of course.) I dunno how much you intend to play but that seems a bit better than "a level a week."

 

[Claus]

Next MMORPG I'll get into is either WoW, MEO, or go back to AC when Turbine releases the graphics update expansion.

 

[GDJustin]

I've found WoW's quests to be a perfect mixture of solo and groups. The first couple in a chain you can solo, but then a group is needed to kill the named baddie at the end...

 

[SiegfriedFM]

Well, today my lvl 16 mage had an awesome time striking down lvl 12 mobs with her magic, sometimes even two at a time (using polymorph to turn one of them into a sheep)! After two or three, it was healing/eating/drinking time.

Something is wrong I tell you.

 

[Great Wasabi Man]

Make everyone weaker compared to enemies, make it impossible to even hit higher level opponents (and thus making it impossible to solo quests slightly above your level, no matter the effort you put into it), introduce hunters who are fun and have potential, but are still nowhere near playable because of massive bugs, removed trading outside cities, lots of crashing (at least now in the first days)...

They didi that with CoH...the boards started with the "RabbelRabbelRabbelRabbel" and they fixed it.

 

[firex]

I don't find it too different on my Shaman, or on my Priest. Although on my Priest it's honestly because he just got Talents, so he has new spells/enhanced old spells. Mages just aren't the "solo elites your level" class anymore like they were previous to this patch (which I was more than able to do on my mage at least). Hunters seem a little disappointing to me, but they don't have all the skills pets can learn yet, and there are some definite bugs with the patch. Mages got overnerfed a little bit, but that's probably because they were superior in almost every way to every other class in the game for about 4 months. They aren't nearly as bad as they were in the first phase of beta (where they were THE WORST CLASS). Rogues on the other hand moved back up a few notches in terms of usefulness. Warriors seem to have hit some bugs at higher levels with armor not working right there. But the game on the whole is still fun. I'm just assuming once they fix some of these bugs it'll be a lot better.

Edit: That said, if they make soloing harder or less rewarding, I won't be playing the game when it goes retail. I won't have time to group much (maybe on weekends) and I just don't want to play another garbage "group or die" MMO.