Jusk

Its not even close to an MMO unless you consider DOTA an MMO. Which it is not. There is nothing massive about it, just like League of Legends or Heroes of Newerth.

This game is a Third Person Shooter Defense of the Ancients style game.

Modern Warfare 2 is more of an MMO.

I like the guildleve system, and the mp regen system.

The reason guildleves wont change is because they want to give you an option to solo, but they want you to group too. There is already way too little grouping going on.

MP regen works pretty well, thanks to a nice free basic attack that does good damage, and a TP attack that does good damage and gives you about 5% of the damage done as MP ( about 10 MP when you get it). You also have a major MP gaining ability that takes a full stam bar (so not great in combat) but gives you a huge chunk of MP, on a 30 min cooldown.

In the teens I can go out and grind through 2 levels and run out of mana, using shock spikes, stoneskin, and cure mainly.

The UI is the main issue. The controls are slightly worse than FFXI, which was pretty bad to begin with. However, I knew going in what it was going to be like, so it doesnt bother me too much. Im used to them and therefore its not an issue. However the menu lag is unbearable. Hopefully some of the navigation will be moved client side, and there is also some guaranteed improvement when the server is no longer in diagnostic mode. I expect this to be fixed by launch. It has to be unless SE is just suicidal. They shouldnt have an issue though, it was a problem in FFXI beta, and the menu system is very similar, so I think they know what they are doing (even if i dont agree).

Its hard to judge combat pace. Its already faster than FFXI (which i liked combat in), but the UI lag makes things inconsistent.

Mob density is really only bad at the beginning, before you learn the lay of the land. Distance from base isnt the primary determining factor for mob levels and placement. You have to explore. Plus there arent really too many set static spawns. The spawns move around alot so someone cant dominate one spawn. On my first char, it took me forever to find mobs to grind on. On my second, I never had an issue.

FFXIV is basically an updated FFXI. If you hated FFXI, you will hate FFXIV. If you didnt play FFXI, then you have some culture shock to overcome before you can see the merits of the game.

As for content, its almost all blocked off for beta, so noone can really judge it. I will say that the first few story missions ( like in FFXI) were well done.

My only problem with the downtime is that they are holding up turning on US servers so that EU servers can launch first, and for no other apparent reason.

plz to hav

wants!

In before 2000

No whammy!

So was I the only one who saw that they said it was a brand new IP at BlizzCon?

This isnt true, at least not for me. According to recap, my white hits have hit for a max of 678(not crit, just hit), and WF has hit for a max of 998( not crit) recently. Thats not possible without WF working. The tooltip is all that is messed up.

Ive spent some time healing as holy at lvl 80 in Naxx, as well as soloing as holy on lvl 80 mobs and some mid-high 70s elites.

Holy is fine in mana efficiency and healing output. A ret paladin cant compete with beacon of light and sacred shield. However, I do think ret paladins are far more efficient than any other hybrid healing as an offspec. I see another Judgement of the Wise nerf incoming.

I almost always have a +50% crit rate to FoL buff up, popping off 5k heals quickly and cheaply. If more than 1 person is taking damage ( any time there is an offtank in a raid or AOE damage), you double your output. Also, FoL casts rediculously fast if you are judging every now and then.

Mana efficiency was not a problem at all in pvp gear, even with tanks that had no tanking gear at all in Naxx.

Soloing on lvl 80 mobs was cake. SoV, then spam holy shock, shield of righteousness, and judgment of wisdom. You kill most stuff in ~10 seconds, and never have any downtim at all thanks to Divine Plea and Sacred Shield.

That really means nothing. If they have only started in the past year, they may have not even decided on a subject for the MMO. Seems to me that the next-gen MMO is all about being prepared to get back on top of things when WoW is well past its hayday, rather than a concrete project with a clear outcome.