Ok. I didn't even realize it was availible for purchase yet. I was thinking later this year.
There are three pre-purchase options ranging from $20, $60, and $200. I "think" it's free to play after you buy the game and you can buy whatever the currency is for the micro-transaction house. If you got one of the two more expensive options you get access to the beta weekends and early access at launch. $200 is too much for me, but I was planning on it costing $60 anyway so I jumped in. What can I say I'm a sucker for D&D.
I've been trying to get some screenshots of the beta, but they are not posting into paint. Maybe if I had FRAPs installed...
It's more along the lines of a traditional MMO. Go here kill this, gather that, and come back so far. But the game is very well done and the combat is pretty damned fun. I love the tactical combat of DDO and this has some of that but it's more like LotR. I've got through tomorrow for the first beta weekend still, but so far I think this one is going to be a winner.
The one really awesome feature is the foundry, which allows players to build dungeons.
Anyway here's the link to read more.
http://nw.perfectworld.com/about
*EDIT* It is free to play after you purchase the game.
I'm vaguely interested, I guess. That $200 pack is a silly price, but it does let you play the rogue dark elf class, which is damn cool if it's not generally available to the playerbase. That's going to tempt a few people!
I just heard about it recently, and it's piqued my interest.
But I'm not shelling out early to get into an occasional Beta weekend. Those things drive me nuts. Either run a steady beta in the long term or I won't bother. :P
I'm in the Beta.
A founder as well (Hero of the North level no less :P).
Seems interesting.
And yeah, they have the foundry, just like in Star Trek Online. Except this time it actually gives experience&rewards making it a worthwhile thing.
Wow. Do you really think it's that good? You're gonna have to tell us more!
So right now it is in Beta with beta weekends, but you can purchase? Hmm.... I do love the character progression of D&D more than any other RPG and I have been hankering for a new MMORPG. I need to research this, because I'm the type of numbskull that gets enticed by stuff like that $59.99 tier.
Quote from: son_of_montfort on February 10, 2013, 02:48:16 PM
So right now it is in Beta with beta weekends, but you can purchase? Hmm.... I do love the character progression of D&D more than any other RPG and I have been hankering for a new MMORPG. I need to research this, because I'm the type of numbskull that gets enticed by stuff like that $59.99 tier.
It's not exactly a real adaptation of the tabletop rules, especially not the 3rd edition ones with which I am most familiar (never tried anything but AD&D2 and the 3rd/3.5 edition).
I have been down the MMO road a few too many times. Until some of those developer bone heads truly create something different, I think I am done with these type of games. I will probably read a review, but I am extremely skeptical about this game.
Quote from: Swatter on February 10, 2013, 04:25:47 PM
I have been down the MMO road a few too many times. Until some of those developer bone heads truly create something different, I think I am done with these type of games. I will probably read a review, but I am extremely skeptical about this game.
Dungeons & Dragons Online was a truly different MMO approach. But it fizzled since you
must group up for each 'quest' and the game world wasn't very expansive at all (mostly a bunch of little dungeon entrances scattered throughout a city). They eventually added the NPC hirelings so you could essentially solo with bots helping you, but that was after the free-to-play model and I think some people were soured about having to purchase bundles of them for currency. I'm also not sure how effective they could be, either.
Thanks for the heads up. I went ahead and signed up with the $60 tier and put in a few hours tonight. Had fun so far but not sure of few things. Will have to do some studying before the next beta weekend.
Quote from: Nefaro on February 10, 2013, 06:36:08 PM
Quote from: Swatter on February 10, 2013, 04:25:47 PM
I have been down the MMO road a few too many times. Until some of those developer bone heads truly create something different, I think I am done with these type of games. I will probably read a review, but I am extremely skeptical about this game.
Dungeons & Dragons Online was a truly different MMO approach. But it fizzled since you must group up for each 'quest' and the game world wasn't very expansive at all (mostly a bunch of little dungeon entrances scattered throughout a city). They eventually added the NPC hirelings so you could essentially solo with bots helping you, but that was after the free-to-play model and I think some people were soured about having to purchase bundles of them for currency. I'm also not sure how effective they could be, either.
Worse thing, is that they are limited time items.
The one thing that really attracts me to this game is the idea of the Foundry. I could see myself having more fun creating adventures than actually playing the game.
Quote from: son_of_montfort on February 12, 2013, 03:18:22 PM
The one thing that really attracts me to this game is the idea of the Foundry. I could see myself having more fun creating adventures than actually playing the game.
TBH, though I tried many player-made missions/quests in Star Trek Online, I never actually tried to create one myself :P
But maybe I will with this one.
The Foundry looks really cool and easy to use. No coding needed. It will be time consuming, but certainly has a lot of potential for fun creation. I'm trying to get some other friends into the game, so we can basically play D&D together!
The action-based system is a little strange (seems more like Diablo than D&D) and RPS said the character-level progression was a tad boring in the beta (maybe they will spruce that up a bit). Otherwise, however, the game has a huge amount of draw for me!
Have they announced an actual release date yet?
^Not to my knowledge.
They are also still at closed beta anyway.
Quote from: Nefaro on February 13, 2013, 01:51:32 AM
Have they announced an actual release date yet?
Looks like the target is late March or early April (given the Beta schedule).
So.. did you guys notice anything exceptional in your brief time with it?
With the game being officially launched to the general public in a day or so. Who is going to get in? :)
I've already got 5 toons there (spread across the 3 main servers) right now since I'm a founder. :P
What's your take on it so far? I gather you must be enjoying it at least reasonably well, but any specific thoughts?
It's pretty kick ass.
Quote from: Bison on April 29, 2013, 01:23:17 PM
It's pretty kick ass.
Hrmm.
I'll have to check it out! After the first couple days of inevitable server overload. ;)
Quote from: Bison on April 29, 2013, 01:23:17 PM
It's pretty kick ass.
Who are you in the game?
My main toon is Avaddon, a 27 level Guardian Fighter :)
If anyone else is downloading this today, I suggest getting it from Gamershell or one of the other two direct download sites. The torrent is swamped with downloaders.
After looking at the classes on the wiki, I see that the class abilities are named after those in the tile-based D&D board games. ???
Now my curiosity is piqued. The wiki also says that Open Beta starts on April 30th (tomorrow) so I'm guessing there'll be a character wipe at some point in the future?
EDIT:
Nevermind... found the announcement here: http://nw-forum.perfectworld.com/showthread.php?117801-Neverwinter-Open-Beta-begins-April-30-2013!
No more wipes after April 25th.
Think I may buy into the cheaper founder's pack if it has extra bag & character slots, etc.
My time in beta was a little "meh," but I think it has potential for being a great action and casual MMORPG. I'm also very interested in the Foundry!
Well it's not issue free. There are some annoying bugs like one of the party required dungeons not giving out loot upon completion. There is also an annoying graphics glitch on my powers screen that makes it hard to read and click on three of the powers. However it's actually one of the smoother releases of an MMO. Hopefully that holds true when the servers are slammed on the first day open to the non-preordering public. I'm a little pissed that the Hero and starter packs get a bag of holding but the guardian pack didn't get one. Talk about f'n lame. Also there are no bag drops in game, so you are forced to buying one off of the zen market if you want more than 2 bags. But all that being said I'm really having a good time.
Pretty action-y.
Dunno how deep everything can get, however.
edit: I'm playing on the Mindflayer server. Anyone else?
My MMO guild is on Dragon.
Quote from: son_of_montfort on February 12, 2013, 03:18:22 PM
The one thing that really attracts me to this game is the idea of the Foundry. I could see myself having more fun creating adventures than actually playing the game.
This is what's tempting me to shell out the $60. Its something that would keep me occupied when I get tired of the MMO grind and the other players. I prefer to DM than be a player most times, anyway. I almost bought it this weekend, but bought two other games, and my wife will waterboard me if I go too far overboard.
Quote from: panzerde on April 29, 2013, 07:25:47 PM
Quote from: son_of_montfort on February 12, 2013, 03:18:22 PM
The one thing that really attracts me to this game is the idea of the Foundry. I could see myself having more fun creating adventures than actually playing the game.
This is what's tempting me to shell out the $60. Its something that would keep me occupied when I get tired of the MMO grind and the other players. I prefer to DM than be a player most times, anyway. I almost bought it this weekend, but bought two other games, and my wife will waterboard me if I go too far overboard.
That has been in Cryptic's
Star Trek Online game for awhile now. I dunno how successful it's been but last I checked there was quite a few user-created scenarios in that one so it bodes well. They're obviously using the same engine.
I've been having some issues with the camera bumping into walls when I turn my character. Instead of clipping through them (and cutting them out behind the character while doing so), the camera will repeatedly 'zoom' in & out when you turn your view with walls & such behind your character. It started giving me a damn headache last night. Mix that with not being able to zoom the cam to my own preference in the first place, and it may be a bigger problem for me in the future. Being more action-y, with the game in mouselook mode by default, it happens a lot.
The mechanics of Neverwinter seem pretty thin and it may easily get stale from what I've seen thus far. I hope it doesn't, but I guess there's always DDO if this fails to hold my attention.
Quote from: Bison on April 29, 2013, 07:13:12 PM
My MMO guild is on Dragon.
I'll to the Dragon Server just in case.
Quote from: Nefaro on April 30, 2013, 09:54:41 AM
Quote from: Bison on April 29, 2013, 07:13:12 PM
My MMO guild is on Dragon.
I'll to the Dragon Server just in case.
Most of my toons (including my main) are there too :P
I'm playing a control Mage which is pretty fun. I started with a greater weapon fighter which I didn't find overly exciting.
Quote from: Bison on April 30, 2013, 10:22:28 AM
I'm playing a control Mage which is pretty fun. I started with a greater weapon fighter which I didn't find overly exciting.
Actually the GWF improves as the game goes by.
The Cleric on the other hand starts pretty darn awesome but becomes a bit of a dull later on.
Wow are the servers being slammed today. I'm 6,278 in cue and that's down from 8,345. Woot!
I also started to mess around a bit with Star Trek Online which is actually pretty interesting.
The queue was over 63,000 earlier...
Man, you guys are nerds. :o
Quote from: Bison on April 30, 2013, 06:50:52 PM
Wow are the servers being slammed today. I'm 6,278 in cue and that's down from 8,345. Woot!
I also started to mess around a bit with Star Trek Online which is actually pretty interesting.
It's the first day of Open Beta. So the masses have swarmed in.
To be expected. ;)
Nah I knew it was coming too. It's all good. I was able to get on and run a few quests and have a nice evening so it all worked out just fine.
Quote from: Bison on April 30, 2013, 10:45:58 PM
Nah I knew it was coming too. It's all good. I was able to get on and run a few quests and have a nice evening so it all worked out just fine.
So, does it play more like a D&D game or more like WoW?
Quote from: Swatter on May 01, 2013, 01:03:57 AM
Quote from: Bison on April 30, 2013, 10:45:58 PM
Nah I knew it was coming too. It's all good. I was able to get on and run a few quests and have a nice evening so it all worked out just fine.
So, does it play more like a D&D game or more like WoW?
More like Guild Wars 2 than either, really.
Could not get into the game tonight. I am tempted to grab the Guardian pack, but it does not help you with queues (like the outrageously priced Hero pack does). I'm curious about this one, but I could be curious and spend no money...
Yeah, after the official launch it was impossible to get into the game yesterday. Hopefully it will be better today.
Quote from: Tpek on May 01, 2013, 11:18:55 AM
Yeah, after the official launch it was impossible to get into the game yesterday. Hopefully it will be better today.
As with any recent MMO launch, I'd expect them to have population problems for at least a couple days, and quite possibly longer.
Quote from: son_of_montfort on May 01, 2013, 01:05:49 AM
More like Guild Wars 2 than either, really.
Could not get into the game tonight. I am tempted to grab the Guardian pack, but it does not help you with queues (like the outrageously priced Hero pack does). I'm curious about this one, but I could be curious and spend no money...
Yeah, I'm kinda lukewarm to it too. I'm still interested because it's based in the Forgotten Realms setting but it's not a D&D style RPG. It kinda makes me wanna go back and play more DDO, despite my dislike of the Eberron setting in that one.
DDO is moving away from Eberron and toward Forgotten Realms. It started with the last expansion pack and appears to be the trend going forward.
Neverwinter from what I understand is based loosely on 4th Ed. rules. I've never read those rules editons so I'm not sure how well they follow them. You certainly get more freedom of character building in DDO, but that might change with the new enhancement pass that is supposed to come out sometime this year.
Quote from: Swatter on May 01, 2013, 01:03:57 AM
Quote from: Bison on April 30, 2013, 10:45:58 PM
So, does it play more like a D&D game or more like WoW?
More like Guild Wars 2 than either, really.
My experience with Guild Wars 2 is my brother playing it for a week or two. At first he said its interesting, followed by good, alright, its still kinda fun, and he quit soon after. It seems he had a similar Diablo 3 experience, he was done playing that in less than two weeks also. My take is that there is very little to no true innovation in either games, your basically playing the same old games as before with a little different wrapping.
I am going to have to read several stellar reviews and watch you tube playthroughs before I even consider this title. If everyone did that, maybe the developers would be forced to elevate their game and innovate a bit. Instead we have markets filled with clones that are only interesting for a week or two. I hope Im wrong about NW, but I doubt it.
Quote from: Nefaro on May 01, 2013, 11:53:03 AM
As with any recent MMO launch, I'd expect them to have population problems for at least a couple days, and quite possibly longer.
Actually, this has been the smoothest MMO launch I've seen in years.
Quote from: Bison on May 01, 2013, 12:29:07 PM
Neverwinter from what I understand is based loosely on 4th Ed. rules. I've never read those rules editons so I'm not sure how well they follow them. You certainly get more freedom of character building in DDO, but that might change with the new enhancement pass that is supposed to come out sometime this year.
The 4th edition rules are a lot like a tactical minis game, actually, where you get "abilities" that can be used over and over as attacks (even the basic attacks do *something* special, like give a +1 to allies nearby), in addition to some "once per encounter" abilities (that refresh after combat) and once per day mega-abilities. I see the comparison, although the abilities do not seem to be exactly the same as the PnP version.
I always thought 4th Edition played a little like a PnP MMORPG, actually, so it makes sense.
Neverwinter (1 & 2) were good RPG's back in their day but, how will it translate to a MMO? What was the last good D&D computer game? Guild Wars 2 as spoiled me from other MMO's.
Well I've played a handful of the foundry quests and I think this feature alone will keep this game on my HD for quite some time. To be fair a couple were not so good, but I've played 3 that compare and 1 that is better then the provided content. I think that in time some folks will produce some really great quests and adapt some of the best printed modules to the game.
I did breakdown and pay for a bag slot which to be honest sort of pisses me off, but I guess some of this is to be expected when a games revenue stream comes from the micro transaction store.
Only up to level 5 but so far thumbs up, well made and might have to take it more seriously; just wish there were more hours in the day!!!
Would love to try this out except I can't sign up. Every display name I try seems to be taken. I get a blue outline on the field showing its open and by the time I click register its already gone.
If you are attempting to do this right now, you will not be able to do so. All of Perfect Worlds servers are down.
Quote from: Bison on May 02, 2013, 09:34:15 PM
If you are attempting to do this right now, you will not be able to do so. All of Perfect Worlds servers are down.
Peak time capacity evidentally went kaput. :-[
It sure did to the point that even Star Trek and Champions are also off line.
Quote from: Bison on May 02, 2013, 09:34:15 PM
If you are attempting to do this right now, you will not be able to do so. All of Perfect Worlds servers are down.
Well that would explain it :-\
^Hope they didn't get hacked.
So, anyone here playing it other than myself? :)
I've already got my main toon to level 32.
And all my other 4 alts to level 20 :D
i like the fact that there is always lots to do; have not gone full on with it yet so still only level 22 but enjoying it. The pull to buy zen coins is quite heavy so be wary.
I had 1 character to level 5. Didn't want to get to far in until I found out what shard everyone was on.
Does anyone know if there is a hunter/ranger class in the game? I didn't see one.
Quote from: Kushan on May 05, 2013, 04:42:42 PM
Does anyone know if there is a hunter/ranger class in the game? I didn't see one.
Nope.
The camera being blocked by walls behind your character has been giving me some motion sickness after a time. Ya know.. when you are turning your view (it's mouselook by default) and nearby walls or fluff makes your camera zoom in & out while turning. :( That happens way too much.
So now you guys have played this for a while, do you think the game is actually a game with DnD gameplay, or is it just a casual rpg which happens to feature DnD / Forgotten Realms?
Nothing I have seen gameplay wise makes me think this resembles DnD in its pen and paper form even for only just a tiny bit at all. Granted, I have not played myself and are suggestion this based on interviews and gameplay videos as well as being a player of Champions Online where the gameplay is only loosly based on the CO PnP game.
Quote from: Yskonyn on May 06, 2013, 04:42:28 AM
So now you guys have played this for a while, do you think the game is actually a game with DnD gameplay, or is it just a casual rpg which happens to feature DnD / Forgotten Realms?
Nothing I have seen gameplay wise makes me think this resembles DnD in its pen and paper form even for only just a tiny bit at all. Granted, I have not played myself and are suggestion this based on interviews and gameplay videos as well as being a player of Champions Online where the gameplay is only loosly based on the CO PnP game.
It's a casual/action rpg.
Quote from: Yskonyn on May 06, 2013, 04:42:28 AM
So now you guys have played this for a while, do you think the game is actually a game with DnD gameplay, or is it just a casual rpg which happens to feature DnD / Forgotten Realms?
Nothing I have seen gameplay wise makes me think this resembles DnD in its pen and paper form even for only just a tiny bit at all. Granted, I have not played myself and are suggestion this based on interviews and gameplay videos as well as being a player of Champions Online where the gameplay is only loosly based on the CO PnP game.
It's a fun game, though not exactly true to the D&D ruleset. Not to mention it's based off the 4th Edition ruleset rather than the much better 3/3.5.
Is there a grogheads guild for Neverwinter?
Quote from: eyebiter on May 06, 2013, 07:28:55 AM
Is there a grogheads guild for Neverwinter?
Not yet :P
I really love this game. I hit lvl 11 and it really opened up for me. This looks like a viable game to play until I get more information about the upcoming MMORPG Wildstar!
I did pony up for the Guardian pack (just not crazy enough for the Hero level). The included weapon and Dire Wolf companion are very nice for early leveling.
Quote from: son_of_montfort on May 06, 2013, 12:15:09 PM
I really love this game. I hit lvl 11 and it really opened up for me. This looks like a viable game to play until I get more information about the upcoming MMORPG Wildstar!
I did pony up for the Guardian pack (just not crazy enough for the Hero level). The included weapon and Dire Wolf companion are very nice for early leveling.
The Graycloack Legacy weapon is awesome.
It will remain with you until you hit level 20 or so, only at which point will you start finding comparable or better weapons.
The wolf is pretty neat as well (better than the Panther IMHO), and don't forget the Armored War-Horse you will receive at level 20. Giving you instant free epic level mount.
Yeah, the armored horse was 90% of why I bought the pack. Like Bison, however, I wish they would have thrown in a bag of holding. Also, I was pleasantly surprised that, by becoming a Founder, I could get into the Foundry before the level 15 requirement.
Quote from: son_of_montfort on May 06, 2013, 01:14:35 PM
Yeah, the armored horse was 90% of why I bought the pack. Like Bison, however, I wish they would have thrown in a bag of holding. Also, I was pleasantly surprised that, by becoming a Founder, I could get into the Foundry before the level 15 requirement.
Didn't you get the 12 slot extra bag?
It will really help.
Especially since you receive about 2 additional 24 slot bags along the way. The first one you will get in the Blacklake district quest line and pretty early on. (You'd probably be between levels 7 and 9 by then)
I'm interested in this but I've read that it's heavily instanced - is that right?
Quote from: Huw the Poo on May 06, 2013, 03:20:53 PM
I'm interested in this but I've read that it's heavily instanced - is that right?
Yes. Not exclusively, but most of the quests are. If you ever played City of Heroes, it is about like that.
Heh, I didn't. :)
Heavy instancing doesn't sound good to me unfortunately; I can't commit to dungeons with my sporadic gaming schedule, which is also why I never do raids in any MMO. Ah well.
Neverwinter reminds me of Divinity 2 with a Forgotten Realms MMO setting.
The action-y gameplay certainly seems like the latter. Another example would be Kingdoms of Amalur, I suppose.
We should create a Guild. I think it requires a full 'party' to do so but I'm not sure what the party limit is. Five??
This has integrated voice for parties, right? I recall seeing a couple settings but don't think it was recognizing my headset. :-\
Well Huw, the instancing doesn't mean the whole game is about dungeons or raids, but I might misunderstand you.
If it's anything the same as STO and CO then the zones are just all small 'pockets of users', if you will. Each zone has a rather low user cap and therefore the game creates more instances of the same zone.
You can switch freely between instances to be able to play with friends.
Then, each zone is an instance too. Zo changing a map (or entering a building) loads a new map, instead of it being a seamless world.
But this all is seperate from dungeons/raids.
Oh I see - the misunderstanding was mine then. Hmmm...perhaps I'll give it a go after all! Thanks Ysk.
Quote from: Huw the Poo on May 07, 2013, 02:12:45 AM
Oh I see - the misunderstanding was mine then. Hmmm...perhaps I'll give it a go after all! Thanks Ysk.
It's free, so the cost of trying is pretty good! ;)
@Huw, those instances are private sections of gameplay, like missions in Guild Wars 2.
They're actually great as they are mostly designed for solo-ing and have no queue-ing system.
OK OK, I'm convinced! Gonna boot into Windows and download it now. :)
Well I spent a good 15 minutes or so painstakingly creating my first character, was on the final step - choosing a name - and I lost my connection to the server. HULK SMASH! >:(
Of course I can't even log back in now.
15 minutes?!
EDIT:
You should probably check this out if you're having some AP problems when deciding class/race combo:
http://neverwinter.gamepedia.com/Neverwinter_Wiki
Thanks Tpek, but I had no problem at all setting attributes and stuff - most of my time was spent customising the look of my character. :)
I just couldn't log back in no matter how often I tried. I guess I'll try again tomorrow.
Quote from: Yskonyn on May 07, 2013, 01:54:48 AM
Well Huw, the instancing doesn't mean the whole game is about dungeons or raids, but I might misunderstand you.
If it's anything the same as STO and CO then the zones are just all small 'pockets of users', if you will. Each zone has a rather low user cap and therefore the game creates more instances of the same zone.
You can switch freely between instances to be able to play with friends.
Then, each zone is an instance too. Zo changing a map (or entering a building) loads a new map, instead of it being a seamless world.
But this all is seperate from dungeons/raids.
Yes, it's exactly like those - many instances of the same location.
So if you are looking to meet up with a buddy, you have to manually switch to the same instance number.
Free to play or paid to win, how free to play game can cost you more!
A very interesting overview of NWN.
http://www.reddit.com/r/Neverwinter/comments/1dry0g/neverwinters_f2p_model_what_you_need_to_know/
I'm sticking with Guild Wars 2, which continues to add new free content and has cost me nothing beyond my initial purchase.
Quote from: Bison on May 01, 2013, 12:26:17 PM
DDO is moving away from Eberron and toward Forgotten Realms. It started with the last expansion pack and appears to be the trend going forward.
Good. IMHO Forgotten Realms is a much better setting. I understand the desire to keep things fresh, but Eberron never seemed as much fun to me.
Quote from: SgtRock on May 08, 2013, 09:15:34 AM
Free to play or paid to win, how free to play game can cost you more!
A very interesting overview of NWN.
http://www.reddit.com/r/Neverwinter/comments/1dry0g/neverwinters_f2p_model_what_you_need_to_know/
I'm sticking with Guild Wars 2, which continues to add new free content and has cost me nothing beyond my initial purchase.
This MMO isn't "NWN" - just "Neverwinter". The NWN games are older & quite different.
But, yes, the micro-transactions in Neverwinter is definitely a con. The monetary systems are too many and too murky - even moreso than other FtP games. It makes me think that they were intentionally done that way so as to further mask just how much they're charging for quite a wide range of stuff. Their exchange and currency systems look to be the most complicated mechanics about the game. ::)
I can see myself enjoying this for some casual light MMO fun on occasion, but it looks like everything is in the cash shop and pretty pricey relative to some others.
So what do you NEED microtransactions for? I have only found opening purple item boxes so far, and that's kind of something I can live with.
^Indeed.
I can't really find anything that isn't cosmetic that you really need real money for. Everything else is obtainable without paying a dime.
And even keys can be traded between players and auctioned.
Quote from: Tpek on May 08, 2013, 02:55:28 PM
^Indeed.
I can't really find anything that isn't cosmetic that you really need real money for. Everything else is obtainable without paying a dime.
And even keys can be traded between players and auctioned.
Well.. perhaps I'm reading too much out of their cash shop.
I thought you also had to pay for things like mount training for limited periods of time, starting at around level 20. Or is that just primarily cosmetic? Since the mount info lists varying amounts of damage you can take before being de-horsed, I'm guessing you can use them in combat?? I'm not really sure how much stuff unlocks at later levels that may be required purchases in order to stay competitive or allow you to continue being able to solo content. The whole late game Rune success thing, mentioned in the previous link, is an example of this or what some would call "pay-to-win".
When FtP cash shops get too scattered and filled with too many necessary micro-transactions, I begin thinking that a flat monthly fee for having full use of all features is the better option. That's the point I was trying to convey. I like this game but some of these cash shop "pay-to-win" options are pretty rough.
I cannot know, I am not far enough into the game yet.
However, I think they have made a splendid job with what I have seen so far, so I am not too concerned if they actually get paid for it.
And at this early stage I am having trouble trying to worry about "pay to win" since I have decided to keep this as a PVE experience. Can't see where the PVP appeal is, personally.
So far I find a lot of those runes/enhancements all the day without paying for them at all.
Also, most stuff that is semi-premium is bought with the Astral Diamonds currency, which is obtainable without paying real money.
They are starting to tweak the economy. Now it's three daily missions to get astrals where it was one at launch.
To remove the lock boxes from inventory, sell them to a vendor. You are no longer allowed to throw them away from inventory.
A new massive update was just released, Module 2: Shadowmantle.
It introduces a brand new class, the Hunter Ranger (uses a bow and 2 melee weapons).
Thanks for the headsup. This is probably enough for me to dive back in for a while.