Got questions about it since the beta started (I haven't pre-ordered).
º How is the loot system? Do you have a few chances to find "rare" items from regular mobs (of similar levels of course, levels comparable to yours or to that of the mob I mean)? Or do you only find "trash" stuff from regular mobs and absolutely have to take down "unique" monsters or bosses in groups to find "worthy" items? And finally, if a group is formed and items drop, are the dropped items given to everyone in the group or will only one person get it from the highest roll?
I found a super green rifle off a level 21 horned sheep last night. Like regular animals, this is a non-aggressive that will attack when attacked. Another ATer was with me most of the time last night and can attest to that. (I was level 17 or 18 at that time, and the rifle dropped for level 20).
Btw, this other ATer is now nicknamed "Bambi," due to an earlier incident aggroing a vicious level 24 doe. I shit you not. that fucking murderous doe took both of us out. We were fighting one centaur, then the doe came in. I was able to kight and fight off the centaur after my buddy took a dirt nap, and almost had that doe, until one nasty hoof to the jaw put me down.
º Is the combat system similar to Tera and/or DC Universe Online? If any of you also played either of those please let me know (I've played both Tera and DCUO). By that I mean... do you actually have to aim "at" the mob or do we still have to lock-on one target?
haven't played the others, but it is very much lock-on target and activate skill keys, like most MMO. Though, it is still bit different from other MMOs. the dodge mechanic is integral, so it might feel a bit mroe action-oriented. You aren't going to run in and just mash the same skills over and over based on what you think your role might be, because such classic roles
simply do not exist in this game.
strangely, default for casters is to aim and place ground targeted spells. It takes some getting used to, but for some it is essential--Nec ground spells act more like traps and are triggered when enemies activate them, so you want to place them ahead of time. You can set this to autocast wherever your cursor is, though.
º Is the so called "dynamic" events system similar to or better than that of RIFT's? I've played RIFT for two weeks and I noticed randomized (but very localized) events that I never saw, it seems to be well fleshed-out in RIFT (of course the game has been released for a while now, I'm aware). You guys think it'll work as intended or does it look like it's going to be much more linear and predictable than the devs lead us to believe?
I think it works well, but needs some work. In some places--Char starter area, several of these events are stacked on top of each other in very small areas. each one has about 2 or 3
sequences. While they don't spawn at the same time, they happen concurrently. It's rather difficult to keep track of them. In other cases, like an outpost in the 2nd region for human characters, 2 unrelated events can be timed, or just happen to appear in a rather synergistic way. We were grouping yesterday, one event helping a patrol around the outpost, taking out bandits. Once we were done with that, a trading caravan popped up on the pathway leading from the outpost ready to make its run. You could just run straight from one to the other. Their is a lot of herding in the game, so far. Not sure if that will break when the game grows some legs and players find themselves wanting to go their own way most of the time. However, there is no "questing system." "quests" are tied to helping others and performing tasks for them (yes, like most questing) and events that are tied around those areas. So to enjoy the content, people will likely be sticking to the system as designed. But again, maybe that isn't a big deal, because:
Events scale dynamically, of course, and I have found they do it rather well. My favorite event so far is in a mid-later area of the human starter zone. A fort is overrun by centaurs, and your task is to raid and destroy their weapons. I came into this first event mid-way, and their was a group of maybe 15 or so players working on it, and it was insane--mobs of centaurs, people running around like mad, but actually quite focused by this point, as the players at that stage had become familiar. I show up with a bunch of players down and manage to scatter one mob long enough to begin reviving some people, who then get up and start mass reviving (it's always best to stack revives on players). then we clear out the mob, and the centaurs flee. We collectively chase them as they flee and wipe them out while they are in retreat--highly satisfying.
Then everyone waits. about 3 minutes later, the new event pops up while cleaning up the centaur weapon caches. The centaurs are mounting a counterattack, and you have to fend off 7 waves (as Total Biscuit described in one of his videos--I wish they would jsut get rid of the "how many items/tasks/waves to complete" mechanic). They came back in force, and it was punishing. we fought through the 5th wave, but the 6th came from 3 sides and beat us down. Brutal.
Another time, I was strolling by the area and saw some centaurs rushing through the gate, I'm thinking--"It's one!" I run in and clear out those bunched at the gate and chaos storm (melts mobs) those swarming around the very few people inside. I start rezzing bodies, and am feeling all good about helping players...then realize it's all NPCs. LoL. Well, the centaurs return, and with the 6 NPCs, manage to fend off 4 waves, while 2 or 3 other players show up. We finish off the waves, which if they had spawned with the same group that numbers close to 20, would not have been possible.
º How is the character customization? Are we limited to only a few presets? Or can we change character's polygonal shapes, textures and colors via multiple sliders for the head/body?
There are sliders for individual face features, at the moment, but the rest is rather typical.