@project343 said:
@Karkarov said:
Guild Wars 2 is about as innovative as WoW by comparison.
I don't know if I would say that. Conceptually, there are a lot of monumental high-level design concepts at play within Guild Wars 2 that are so far ahead of everything else in the genre. Sometimes these design concepts do not manifest themselves in meaningful ways for the player to appreciate, but they are underlying experience and are certainly 'forward thinking' (their lack of trinity being a big 'buzz' one). And both games also share a lot of the same core forward-thinking philosophies (removing a lot of the vertical progression, the whole game as the 'end game').
The big difference between the two, for me, is that Guild Wars 2 severely lacks combat/skill customization... but it's actually a ton of fun to engage in combat. TSW is the exact opposite: such a breadth of skill/combat customization, but it feels and plays like shit.
I suppose, but it's certainly not the first game to opt of out the trinity style gameplay. Take Asheron's Call, for example. I've played Mabinogi (released in 2003 in Korea, 2008 in NA) on and off since 2009 and it too has a classless leveling system. You level up, earn AP (ability points, which can also be found via exploration) and you decide what skills you wish to rank. Same system applies to life skills, of which there are many. Want to walk around in a swimsuit, wielding a bow with a great sword on your back as your secondary and dabble in herbalism? Go for it. Weapons, skills, clothing and armor aren't tied to classes (though, there are race/gender specific items) which opens up a large avenue for customization. If you go into the main town, everyone looks unique. The level cap is also more or less "infinite." Because of that, it's possible to level up every skill in the game to Rank 1, but that would take forever. Last time I played, I was around level 1,100. That's not that bad, but the higher skilled players in NA are at around 3-6k. There's also a lot less emphasis on end-game, at least in the traditional sense. I hate the feeling of being shuttled from one zone to the next.
It's a nice change of pace. You're not rushing through zone after zone in order to get to the "good stuff." There are quite a few ways to level, and not everything is about combat, combat and more combat. Too many modern MMOs focus entirely on action and not the other interesting aspects of a virtual world. There's also a rebirth system. Every week you can rebirth (if you pay) and it resets your current level to zero. Your total level never changes. This way, you can gain 50 levels in a matter of hours once you're higher level. Your character ages every Saturday in real time. The cool thing about that is, if you choose rebirth to level 10, you'll actually have the physique of a child. You'll continue to grow until you reach age 20. It's possible to alter your appearance via food and drink. If you eat a lot of meat, you'll get muscular and top heavy. If you scarf down a bunch of berries, you'll lose weight. The combat system is also not your typical MMO affair. It's more skill based in most, in that you can avoid getting hit and you're able to mitigate damage with quick thinking. It's more in line with rock, paper, scissors. For example: The Counter skill will counter Smash, but break through Defense. Windmill will break Counter, but not Defense. Anyway, I've barely touched on all of its unique mechanics and features, but I'll refrain. I'd be here for awhile. This is the sort of freedom and flexibility I crave for when it comes to this genre and most MMOs just don't do it for me. /digression
Mabinogi was the first MMO that had me hooked and remains my favorite MMORPG to this day. Unfortunately for me, there aren't many MMOs that share a similar design philosophy, and it bums me out. That's why I'm interested in The Secret World as it does away with levels/classes and appears to offer a lot of skill, appearance and weapon customization. From what I played of the CBT, the story, setting and atmosphere seemed very solid. The scientist bit in the hidden Illuminati HQ was great! Is the story the game's only strength, or do its mechanics stand on their own two feet? Hopefully the latter.
@Karkarov said:
TSW not only removed the class system, but it got rid of leveling too. It has the most interesting questing of any mmo on the market, period. It is second only to a small FTP mmo none of you are likely to have heard of on character appearance customization. It's story and delivery are also top notch with only SWToR really being in the same league.
Speaking of Mabinogi (there's a reason why a lot of people refer to it as, Fashinogi), is that the game you're referring to? If not, what is it? I'm very curious.
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