Wonderful. Haven't spent much time in it yet; but the fixes to the ability score gating alone is a much welcomed correction. Add to that the FULL MAP! Woot!
Goblin Squad Member
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I've been in, just ran the installer as usual, permitted the program to make changes, and it downloaded and launched without any issues. There were some reports of lag but I didn't experience any. From TK I headed south. The only issue is that it appears the minimap terrain isn't there yet, but resource nodes and hostiles do show up against the dark umber background as they normally do.
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Goblin Squad Member
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Yes, we deployed a change that caused problems with XP. This is an Alpha problem and not something that we would allow to remain in Early Enrollment. If we accidentally affect character's XP in Early Enrollment, we'll fix it.
So if we have saved XP waiting for Alpha 9 should we stay out of game waiting a fix ?
... or is it a case of login and see what you get ?
EDIT: seems all previous XP was wiped ? If so that is a big setback for characters that were saving several days XP in order to get the XP needed for a next role or craft level ?
The "one character gets XP only" change is reasonable though this will advanatage the people in server that sent themselves 3 or 4 invites.
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Goblin Squad Member
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*. Tower structures in settlements can be walked through.
*. There is a long delay, even after weapon swapping, before new weapon's attacks hit.
*. Melee animations are still non existent, most of the time.
*. Settlements don't have a tavern by default??
*. Can Keep be an open space (like tavern) if taverns are not standard.
*. We could use the camera view of first person, perhaps not for combat but for screen shots or video capture.
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Goblin Squad Member
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Thanks for clarifying, Ryan, but ow. My second and third characters, who've only been sitting and saving XP since Alpha 8 went live, are now deletable.
No testing alternate Roles for me until Destiny's Twin, I guess.
Unless Ryan has objections to multiple accounts per person - you could still start one by sending yourself a second invite.
boo at exp. I was hoping to save one char's exp until they fixed ability scores.
Otherwise, looks pretty nice.
When will be lootbags? It has been said that pvp is non-essential to alpha, but I disagreeeeeeeee...
Crazy Wolf Lady is still in Phoenix Pass.
What yall get rid of her from the towns, could you have her as a random spawn in the wilds? That would be awesome. Maybe give her some more tattered looking armor.
^^^ Update: The wolves are still there; but maybe the respawn point is gone? If you come across one, do a public service and kill it! Then lets see if they come back.
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Goblin Squad Member
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The new map is huge. I sprinted from Thornkeep to Tavernhold (far NW corner of the map), stopping occasionally to type a sentence in General Chat, but never to fight or gather materials. The trip took just over 30 minutes.
Note: To avoid any trouble in Guardheim, I ran NW from Thornkeep to Ozem's Vigil, then due W to Tavernhold. That might have added a couple of minutes.
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Goblin Squad Member
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Visited most of the Everbloom cities (will get to Riverbank tonight I hope). The SE is every bit as geographically awesome as the map suggested it would be from Keeper's Pass staring off a 2 elevation dropoff to flooded Hammerfall.
My thoughts on build 9:
1. Terrain. Tons of bugs including Keeper's pass having all of it's buildings floating the air! But I was giddy with the beauty of that SE corner. The mountain passes and the swamps are flat out amazing. The SE was devoid of "shiny rocks" though, even in the mountains so I hope there is some work to be done, but overall I am very happy.
2. Optimization. I was running the game on "good" quality with no problems for first time. Went all the way up to beautiful and could walk around comfortably. Had more crashes than I'd had since build 7 though.
3. Icons. The new Icons are sweet. They look great on your paper doll! They are too big for in the feat screen but GW said they know that.
The game gets closer and closer. 1 more month of Alpha sounds right to me. This game is going to be pretty darn good in a month. I am extremely excited.
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Goblin Squad Member
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XP that was banked has been removed. It's a less than great situation but the cost to try and fix it would have been too steep.With the wipe coming, I'd say a statue that hands out 100k exp is a 'fix' :D
I disagree. They need to wean us gently to the point that we are getting exactly what we'll be getting in EE, otherwise there's a greater risk of the power-crash driving a bunch of people off when they suddenly realize they have to work harder.
People entering when they throw the Alpha doors open should be getting something very close to (if less stable than) what they should expect at start of play. Hence the "only one character gaining XP"
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Goblin Squad Member
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Adding my impressions
Download - 3GB. That did hurt as I lost my broadband and I'm on borrowed bandwidth. Seems another bottle of wine for the neighbour is called for.
The map - this is great. It took me likely 1 1/2 hours to get my main and a second character down to Emerald Lodge. Must have started with the first character close to Ozem's Vigil. Did pass by Iron Gauntlet. The second one started in the mountain region west of Thornkeep and passed by Mystic Awakening and Golgotha. I did even notice an inn on the way that I was unaware off before.
I did notice that traveling in the mountain region can be a pain. You often have to do larger detours because of minor cliffs in the way.
Not much done in Emerald Lodge yet.
Surrounding of Emerald Lodge - seems not too exiting what is found in all hexes directly ajacent to Emerald Lodge in regard to monsters and raw materials found. But you have the standard - mainly bandits, some goblins, wolfs, Ogres and I even found one grave with skeletons.
I passed by the Emerald Spire hex. Nothing to be seen there. Not that I expected anything - but was worthwhile to see if there would be any signs where the Spire will be.
The XP loss was a pain as I wasn't online 3 days and before always used up everything. But such is life. After all this is alpha. But it changes what I will do for the rest of the test.
Issues:
There are raw material nodes in all settlement hexes - including settlements - and you can't collect from these. They need removing.
The number of desynx is very high again. Fighting is close to impossible as I seem to drop out in 50% of cases.
But I'm no longer on a cable.
Funny bit:
I got trapped in a larger recess in the forrest floor - nearly a tiny valley. There was a way out - but that was too close to an Ogre Stronghold. So I triggered an encounter while in there and had nowhere (far enough) to run away. Played rabbit for a while but ended up dead in the end as Ogres had no problem coming down as well as staying up and hurl boulders.
Edit: I should add I'm impressed by the speed which I see that new stuff gets implemented and old stuff improved. Yes - it needs more work. But I hope it is close to playable for most people as long as connection issues / desync can be solved. This is the only true downer for me.
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Oh yeah. Blinking. Not exactly sure when this got in, seems to have been ninja'd in during a build 8 update. But thank you Goblinworks from the bottom of my heart for that detail. I know that I will forever remember the first time I saw this and my PFO character became a PFO character.
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Goblin Squad Member
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Now that we have to choose only one PC to gain XP, how is that going to effect peoples playing options and all the "boatloads" of crafters that seem to be everywhere? :)
Yeah crafting comes to a grinding halt! When you consider all the moving pieces required to craft I really hope GW's next order of biz is to figure out how to take our money and have multiple chars rolling.
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Goblin Squad Member
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It is going to make me more valuable, Giorgo. ;) Thanks for asking.
@Avari: Moving pieces are what friends are for.
My worry is that this economy requires the presence of LOTS of dedicated crafters. Not just the "side of mashed potatoes" types. With a low population spread thin across a big map, it's not hard to see we need alts and need them quickly.
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Goblin Squad Member
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I just found my first yellow. I knew you could find it once the whole map would be there
Potent Buckthorn Berries - wonder what the price in TK would be
edit: Oh - and Potent Neversleep Sap for Weak Adhesive - but that I found already this morning and you had alternatives - albeit only as salvage not from nodes
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My worry is that this economy requires the presence of LOTS of dedicated crafters. Not just the "side of mashed potatoes" types. With a low population spread thin across a big map, it's not hard to see we need alts and need them quickly.It is going to make me more valuable, Giorgo. ;) Thanks for asking.
@Avari: Moving pieces are what friends are for.
It might just mean that the crafters in associated/allied towns like *cough*Phaeros, Keepers Pass, and Brighthaven*cough* need to be talking and trading to make sure the adventurers in every town can get equipped. The templated towns are going to push us that way - in Brighthaven, for example, we cannot craft spellbooks. We will be working with other towns, if only to use their facilities.
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Goblin Squad Member
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I would love to be able craft for you. The problem I am having is that my craftier Diella is unable to craft anything of interest since she can only craft white tier one no + type gear because she does not have any recipes. I do have an alt who does gathering and refining but alas She is not finding any recipes since I tend to avoid any of the monster who are not single and white, whichso far do not seem to be droping any plus recipes.
So if any one wants to help out a down and out craftier who would gladly pay you Tuesday for a recipe today. I will make anything you want if you can supply me with the paperwork [recipe].
I do not know how it will work in ee but right now I feel very alone in alpha.
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Goblin Squad Member
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I would love to be able craft for you. The problem I am having is that my craftier Diella is unable to craft anything of interest since she can only craft white tier one no + type gear because she does not have any recipes. I do have an alt who does gathering and refining but alas She is not finding any recipes since I tend to avoid any of the monster who are not single and white, whichso far do not seem to be droping any plus recipes.
So if any one wants to help out a down and out craftier who would gladly pay you Tuesday for a recipe today. I will make anything you want if you can supply me with the paperwork [recipe].
I do not know how it will work in ee but right now I feel very alone in alpha.
I'll sing out when I see you in Alpha next. No serious crafter should have to go thru Alpha without experimenting/experiencing recipes.
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Thank you to all the kind folk who went out of their way to help this simple crafter, especially Apothos from Ozem's Vigil,Urman, Hunter from t7v, Miski and Aylana.
:wipes a tear from her eye with a newly woven cloth: You have made me a very happy gnome. You have proven what a great community we are building here.