afocks

Back at ya Klaw and everyone. Brill.

Yep, it was disappointing that they did not enable quests after the intro levels. Bad move for the first CB I think. Next time they are enabling a lot of quest lines, both class based and story line. This time round though they wanted to test in particular the dungeon system and PvP which is why the content was highly limited. So roll on November 30th.

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To reiterate what has already been said - the game setting is industrial age fantasy heavily based on the New Epoch RPG.

Anyway, the first CB has just ended. Next CB on 30th November with a new race and plenty of quests will be implemented for testing. Plenty of CB keys still available.

On my first look this weekend I have to say that I am totally impressed with what I saw. The game play is brilliant, almost as good as CoH and much smoother. Chrome is recommended for best result in my experience to get max settings at smooth FPS (50 max for this CB). It seems you can choose from 3 power sets per archetype (class) and the stats of your race give much diversity to those. Choose from 1 set at first and as you level up you get to choose from the others too, or you can specialise in just the 1. There are dungeons-a-plenty with various daily challenges where you can win stuff to wear, break down, mod up and tokens for the chance to win high value game features like the steam bike (mount) and combat active pet. The class I played reminded me of the MM here. A pet came as a class power plus the combat active one which spawns outside of dungeons.

For crafters there is a plethora of items to change up and/or break down into other items for mods, plus choosing the mods for your equipment along with the system to learn how to craft, which was confusing at first. With the massive amount of items the storage seemed way too small at 100 items per character (materials are stack-able but many, many items are not). I'm hoping the inventory increases at least 100% before the OB goes live. The market (auction house) only allowed 10 items but I have a feeling that will increase.

What I was most impressed with was the combat. After a little experience it becomes as intuitive as CoH. I can't really say that I was disappointed with anything, including all the limitations put on the GUI, the lack of quests and all the missing text and stats as the experience as a whole was quite refreshing.

IMO the game is "recommended" but, it isn't for everybody and that is fine.
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I logged on, wallet in hand. Then I discovered that I had to pay for sprint and quickbars. Then I logged off.

CS is always a factor for me in deciding whether to support a game or not. With that in mind I have found that my dealings with the CS team at City of Steam comparable to CoH CS even at this stage of Closed Beta.

The Moderator team needs a little work though as they are a young team without open minds and are quick to judge without understanding cultural differences. I don't hold it against them if they learn from it.

Incidentally, if you may be interested in CoS - there are still Closed Beta keys available HERE (CB starts in 34 hours)



EDIT: Also SWTOR goes F2P today in 2.5 hours.

Thousands of free CB keys just went up at ...

http://www.mmobomb.com/giveaway/city-of-steam-beta-keys

Any creatives out there?

A 48 hour competition just opened to win a key ...

http://forum.cityofsteam.com/index.p...cseen#msg20891

... get writing.

Ooh, nothing wrong with a bit of hostility. It may be defence of the game confused with hostility. This thread is just a heads up, if you wish to know about CoS just go to the site and read the info there. If anybody is feeling got at or um-bridged just calm down and play nice. If it isn't your cup of tea that's fine, move on.

I have just found this official response on the CoS site :-

"PayPal acts as the intermediary payment service, but you should be able to finalise a purchase without having to create an account with them if you use your credit card.

Be sure you use a valid email though, it's needed to confirm and validate the purchase."

source : http://forum.cityofsteam.com/index.p...19836#msg19836

That's fine, it's not for everybody.

If you think you may have some constructive feedback to offer then their forums are the place to do it especially as it is in CB right now. It is built by gamers who take on board what current players are saying. Your description is quite uninformed, the setting is industrial based fantasy. What races would you suggest?

Heads up - City of Steam - one week to go till CB.



Keys are still available. Sign up to the newsletter for the chance to win one.

http://forum.cityofsteam.com/

LOTRO is a fantastic game. It can be both sedate and frantic. It has the most content of any game I have known. Also you can earn game cash to buy game stuff without laying out real world money. If you are new to it, it is worth reading the quests before accepting them. If you have read and enjoyed the books you are sure to find yourself appreciating this game. Like any game there is a learning curve to get used to it and you soon find ways to make much fun. Highly recommended.

I have read many reviews and comparisons on trusted and authoritative sites. What I have gathered is that you will see significant performance gains upgrading from Vista to Windows 8. I won't be upgrading from Windows 7 due to the minimal performance gain and loss of interface I am happy with. There is also a slight and almost unnoticeable performance loss with windows 8 on a few aspects I prefer not to lose. So from Vista to Win8 yes. From Win7 to Win 8, for me an emphatic no.

No need to worry Tech and Toast, that aspect of the game has been covered - and so has the female flesh. The pic I think you may be referring to was an early Alpha pic and that dress style is no longer the case. All characters will have a minimum attire of course but it is not now in the usual game teenage kitsch, thankfully. Also there is not a female option in every race (down to lore).

Don't forget - if you are interested in playing this - the Devs are taking everything the current player base says and are acting on it. They are extremely communicative with the players and all forum users. Your input is heard should you have a point to make.