My first impressions of Freedom.

I deliberately did not participate in beta testing this time around, so I could have a fresh perspective on the new stuff (well, as fresh as a 6 year vet can have at least).

So far, I like what I've seen.

Time Manipulation seems to be a good set, fairly well balanced and fun to play. It seems to me that it may be the new go to set for AV and GM fights, what with stackable -regen in a couple different powers.

I like the new tutorial, I just wish it were a little longer. With the destruction of Galaxy City, I really hope we'll be going back there sometime soon. Please, please, please don't do a Boomtown/Dark Astoria with it.

So far I've only done part of the new hero side content in Atlas Park. It is MUCH improved over the old contacts, and actually has a cohesive story to it. I kind of like some of the new mission ideas being used as well. Controlling the reporter with the camcorder reticle was a neat touch. I am, however, a little concerned that the transition from the new AP content to the old Kings Row/Steel Canyon/Skyway City content will be a little jarring, just because it is so different. A good move, in my opinion, would be to update those 3 zones next (and Port Oakes/Cap on redside as well).

I like the Atlas makeover. It looks and feels like it should be called Atlas "Park" now. Everything is pretty much in the same place it was before, it just looks better now, even on minimum graphics settings (my computer sucks).

Not too sure about the Paragon Market yet. So far it seems reasonably easy to use, and I like the fact that I can get single costume pieces instead of having to shell out for a full set I'll never use (the only thing from the Animal pack I'm even a little interested in is the Minotaur head). There is some other interesting looking stuff in there, but I'm trying to save points for Street Justice, so I won't be spending a whole lot just yet.

Haven't tried Beam Rifle yet, not sure if I'm going to. But, from seeing other people using it, it seems like a neat set.

I have created, so far, a Time/Fire defender, an Illusion/Time controller (I think I may have rolled a future GM soloer in that one), a Dark/Mental blaster, and a Spines/Energy scrapper (not sold on the scrapper yet).

Overall, I'm impressed with what I've seen of Freedom thus far. It's got some flaws (most notably the low level content being very linear), but for the most part they did a good job on it. It gets a thumbs up from me. We'll have to see what the free and returning players think of it (though the returning players probably won't see the new lowbie content right away)

I'll be running the First Ward stuff in the near future, and I'll share my impressions on that as well. I also need to run the new lowbie sewer trial, didn't want to dive into it while I was getting ready for work.

Anyone else have thoughts on it, good or bad?

The market interface is more or less what I expected from our UI designers. That's not a compliment. Churning through the jacket pieces for sale was a trial, and the whole thing feels clunky, slow and user unfriendly.


The Sewers Trial was fun though. Loved having a trainer on every level. Didn't get to try the rest of the lowbie content since I'm level 11 now.


Time is a very fun set. Love the PBAOE toggle, it meant my Ice/Time Corruptor found herself in melee range far more often than I normally would. Time seems nicely paced as well with goodies all the way to 38.


My level 36 Earth/Fire Domi was delighted to be able to respec Snipe out in order to get Rain of Fire, and the fact I could take a Travel power at 6 without needing a precursor power meant I could give him Hasten and TP which suits him much better.

The new look Atlas Park is great. Bit strange seeing City Hall on two levels from the outside, but one level from inside. It doesn't effect the look of the zone much, but it would have been nice if they'd made it a two level building inside and put some more stuff in it. The rest of the zone looks great.

The new sewer trial is fun. I ran it about ten times in a row last night, and didn't get bored in the slightest.

I like Paragon Market. It is a bit slow, but that's fine by me. While I'm dancing in Atlas Park, it gives me something to do. It's like sitting at home and flicking through an Argos Book. You don't particularly want to buy anything, but it's a good time waster. I purchased an Enhancement Booster, which did naff all but was easy to buy.

I haven't tried any of the new Atlas Park content or new powersets, so can't comment on them.

Contact me in-game: @CheeseSlicer

If I end up with any disposable income in the near future, I plan on purchasing some of the attuned set enhancements.

When Street Justice comes out I plan on rolling a SJ/Invuln brute. I will be purchasing some of the attuned Reactive Armor to slot in his resistance powers. I'm kind of looking forward to enhancements that will level with me. So, I don't have any personal experience with them yet, but my initial impression is that they sound cool. There's not much in the store that I need or want, so most of my excess points will probably end up spent on stuff like that.

Oh, and the /auctionhouse command is AWESOME. I put a token in that slot immediately, and it is just too convenient to be able to sell off salvage while I'm inside a mission.

/vault still works inside mishs which could be a convenient salvage dump

I agree the store interface is rather sluggish. I have a rather beefy system and was actually surprised at how long it takes the store to come up and the noticeable drag on my system when opening it.

I haven't played through all of Atlas yet, but Mercy is fantastic. I went through the extended tutorial arc and found it to be quite amusing. My only quibble with both the new Atlas and Mercy zones is that the mob respawn rate seems awfully high. Many times I would kill a spawn and pull the next, only to find the first spawn reappear right as the second one dropped. I imagine this was done in anticipation of a large influx of players when the game goes fully F2P, but it was still surprising.

THIS is my new favorite bird!! He resides in PD, perched on a truck. (And his movements are amazing!)
Are you a tank who hates when a teammate hits you with SB while you are trying to do your job? Would you like to automatically accept the Mysic Fortunes that others send your way? Null the Gull can fix those things. Whoever came up with this has a huge tip of the the hat and a basket of gratitude from all my toons!

Well, not to be the dark cloud, but there are a few things I have found that I am NOT happy with.

I was (for various reasons) unable to take part in the beta testing. Because of that, last night was my first encounter with the new system.

The character creation screens are pretty good. No real problem with finding anything and I do like the option of being able to look at costume pieces I do not "own" yet and the option of going right to the store to unlock those if I wish to. Soon enough, this will be costing me some Paragon Points

The tutorial, sadly, I do not like. It's not the storyline that bothers me but the whole look and feel of it. It has too much of a resemblance to the tutorial of another (not to be named) super hero MMO. I don't think that the voiceovers were necessary. I do like the option to make your morality choice right at the beginning so that you have the option of starting a 'villain' archetype as a hero.

I like the storyline behind the Atlas Park and Mercy mission chains. they compliment each other well. Unfortunately, this is where my two biggest complaints come in.

1. Before these changes, NPC's would not respawn in your line of sight. This gave the feeling of actually having accomplished something. Now, they respawn right on top of you within seconds of you defeating the last one. This may appeal to some players who like a more frantic playstyle but, for players like myself, who like a bit of time to stop and read the next mission text, or reset our ehnacements, or what have you, this is just frustrating. It almost seemed that the respawn rate was insanely fast even in areas where it did not need to be. Which leads to...

2. Open Instances. I cannot describe (without resorting to profanity) how much I despise open instances. I am fortunate to be working for a living and, as such, I do not have all day to devote to an MMO. Nor do I always have the option to 'try again at a different time.'
It is a major dissatisfier to have to waste time standing around waiting for an objective to respawn knowing that there are 30 other players standing around waiting for the same thing and that I have no guarantee that one of them will not take that out from under me causing me an even longer wait. At one point last night this caused me to walk away from the game in anger (something that has never happened before with CoX.)
I much prefer the door system that has worked so well for us all of these years. This allows me to proceed at my own pace without interfering with someone else's game. Yes, I do understand that this is the first few days and that EVERYBODY is trying out the new toys and that it should calm down after a while, but what will happen when the new F2P players show up?

Overall, I give the new system about an 80-85% yes vote.

"Before these changes, NPC's would not respawn in your line of sight. This gave the feeling of actually having accomplished something. Now, they respawn right on top of you within seconds of you defeating the last one."

THIS and the revolving head-hover coins are my least favorite thungs, but can live with them.

th instant respawn only happens in mecy and atlas, if you are in neither zone a majority of time then it wont be very noticeable lol

[QUOTE=Healix;3877328
THIS and the revolving head-hover coins are my least favorite thungs, but can live with them.[/QUOTE]


Oh yeah, I forgot about the coins. Why should this game look like all of the others? We had a system that worked. It did not need changing. I count this as an annoyance but I can work with it.

My first impression: AWESOME with a side dish of veteran disdain.

I love the new character creator, and am pleased with the market. I found the Rewards tiers and screen very confusing, until someone in a global explained what to do.

Atlas Park is awesome, even if they did move almost every single badge and history plaque. Seeing the rush of new characters reminded me of the early days.

I immediately disliked the the new Brawl and Sands of Mu sound effects, but I'll get used to them.

I really hated the "just like the other hero MMOs" open instances. Ugh, blech, yuck. As someone described above, waiting around for respawns with other people waiting around for respawns... well, I guess, welcome to every other MMO out there. Newbies should feel right at home.

I really liked the new lowbie arcs, even though I felt there were an overabundance of hunt missions. Flambeaux had me literally laughing out loud!

I'm also enjoying my new Time Manipulation/Beam Rifle and Thermal/Fire Blast defenders.

First Ward is really amazing. I mean, really. And more day jobs? Curse you, Paragon, for locking down my badger yet again!

But one thing REALLY annoys me. I've unlocked a lot of costume options from the iTrials and Ouroboros iMerit vendors. However, I can't access them when I create a new character. Not until I actually enter the game and then claim them from in-game email. After which, I can make a trip to any now-plentiful tailor to update the character. A rather nerdrage-y wrinkle in the current process.

But, all in all, I21 is a big hit. Can't wait to see what happens when they open the floodgates to the outside world.

--NT