Lost Ark Online

Cybsled said:

The biggest hurdle for me is the ARPG isometic view and mouse move. I want to like it, but I really really dislike that style of game.

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See, I'm a massive ARPG addict and I'm having trouble for the opposite reasons. The combat is just kinda... there. It isn't obvious anywhere I can see how and why I should be using different skills when, why they have different timers, and what difference it makes. The graphics and animations are great, but it's just "blow shit up" in six different visual flavors without a compelling difference in mechanics.

Captain Suave said:

See, I'm a massive ARPG addict and I'm having trouble for the opposite reasons. The combat is just kinda... there. It isn't obvious anywhere I can see how and why I should be using different skills when, why they have different timers, and what difference it makes. The graphics and animations are great, but it's just "blow shit up" in six different visual flavors without a compelling difference in mechanics.

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I cant comment on other classes but for my Berserker I have combos that fit together, knock ups into knock downs with finishers, some attacks have bonuses based on what side of an NPC you're on, head attacks, back attacks and other nuances. Some abilities have shields that should be used in openers to get initial knock downs or other mechanics.

At the surface it seems spammy but the mechanics are there, you just havent hit the content yet that it matters.

Zog said:

for my Berserker I have combos that fit togetherr.. you just havent hit the content yet that it matters.

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Entirely possible. I was playing Soulfist and am not seeing much connection between the skills in the first hour or so.

It definitely feels more like an MMO than an ARPG, to be sure. I was hoping for an ARPG with MMO elements, but to me it is more an MMO with ARPG aesthetics. As soon as I did the first rounds of combat, opened the first chests, saw all the currencies and systems, I was immediately turned off.

I am trying to refund it in Steam, not sure if it is going to take. If it doesn't I guess I will go deeper, but I would prefer my pre-order monies back at this point.

They already did cut out nearly half the side quests, lol. And, about a month or so from launch, those leveling dungeons will be ghost towns, that you have to do (solo) on every alt, longer would just mean more time and trash mobs (many of which you don't even have to kill, unless the progress quest says to).

Some of the skill effects, like control/debuff stuff is only useful in PVP, bosses are immune to most of it, and trash mobs it hardly matters. The skills they start you with (IMO) are terrible, I usually don't get a good rotation til around level 40 or so. And, yes the varying CD length on skills seems really arbitrary. CD on dash, too, by class.

You basically have 3 skill sets. One for AOE for trash (Chaos Dungeon), one for bosses (want stuff that causes fatigue and usually one or two "movement" abilties) and one for pvp.

Captain Suave said:

Entirely possible. I was playing Soulfist and am not seeing much connection between the skills in the first hour or so.

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From a general standpoint, most classes have certain flows / mechanics that simply require a fair amount of knowledge in the game (e.g. until you've played a bit, it's not super obvious). From a Soulfist perspective, you should start by spending 4 points into Pulverizing Palm to unlock Excellent Mobility, which you'll use in conjunction with your dash. The idea is to use it to travel / skip across mobs as they share the same reuse CD timer and you're interrupting the final part of the animation with your dash; this will make speeding through the first few dungeons quicker (there is limited exp for killing mobs, so you should mostly focus on completing dungeons fast for efficiency). There are also certain NPCs / packs that will 'trigger' things to open up, so when you familiarize yourself with that while leveling, you're effectively going through things and targeting certain packs to push through faster.

The additional synergy you start off with as a Soulfist would be Magnetic Palm (this will knock NPCs up) followed by Deadly Finger (which will get a bonus to damage for using on knocked up enemies. The remainder of your abilities should be verified to understand where you need to position yourself and how to best use them (Example: Bolting Crash will be used to 'break parts' of bosses and provides super armor + a bonus for a frontal hit, where as Venemous Fist (which will be dropped first) gets a bonus only from back attacks. You'll then quickly unlock Heavenly Squash, which is your first main AE clear (Soulfist excels at this while leveling) and should be the focus of all of your points. Flash Step is taken immediately as well, however it's an energy hog (but 3x extra dashes for moving around is the best there is in the game).

Later on, you'll be using Force Orb to trigger an additional knock up with the goal of always positioning Merciless Pummel from behind (this skill wrecks). Energy Blast / Crippling Barrier are then used independently based on your preference for mob clear and achieve different playstyles: Cripping Barrier will pull things in and stagger, so if you're looking for more of a melee build this will position things well for you where as Energy Blast is used to keep things at a distance. Your last main synergy will be Energy Release with your ultimate, as Soulfist benefits from the highest damage ultimate in the game by a large margin, so you'll want to be using your level 3 hype, Energy Release for the damage bonus, and your ult to basically one shot anything that doesn't have 6-7 health bars. If you crit with the ult, you're basically guaranteeing a one shot of anything even without using hype albeit, the build up time can make landing it more challenging.

Captain Suave said:

Maybe it's just me and age-induced ADHD, but I'm having a surprisingly hard time getting into this. It just feels flat somehow. Maybe I'm MMO'd out for a lifetime.

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I'm level 34? The story and presentation get waaaaay better! So does the combat.

Once you get the points into certain skills things flow much better with the combat. At least on Gunlancer. The obvious DPS boost isn't always the best choice IMO, if it screws up combat flow.

I really dislike the early game and find that it makes jumping into the game rather challenging. They've reworked the tutorials a bunch but really, there's only so much that you can do without access to a maxxed out tripod or two and the more core skills which unlock later on. With that being said, once you hit Morai Ruins the game quickly begins to be more enjoyable -- the dungeon itself is spectacular, it's followed up shortly by the siege of Luterra which still holds up as being one of the most interesting MMO cinematic experiences, followed by the general siege & Arman as pretty cool events in the context of an MMO. You also unlock sailling and the world expands quite a bit around that time. With that being said, it's still an MMO - so if you're burned out of the genre then there's not much to be done.

Looked into this a bit more and it is rife with all the same shit I hate retail WoW for

Weeklies
Dailies
Item Level locked dungeons

Garbage game and I hope people stop flocking to games with all these time gate and other bullshit mechanics just because they want something to play.

Say no to this game FoH.

If you want to play the game, you can get a free beta key by watching a twitch streamer for 30 minutes with drops enabled.

I originally purchased it for $15 on steam but did a return when i found this out and just watched quin for 30 minutes and did it that way.

Figured everyone who wanted in would have a key by now. But, if that's not the case I have like 6 extra keys if anyone needs one. (Dumbass Amazon sent me 3 for my silver pack pre-order, lol)

I have an extra as well. PM if needed.

Started out as shadowhunter, which looks and plays really nice, but seems like that might be the class everyone rolls for NA. Tried everything else and clicked the most with sharpshooter, it just feels the best at least with the starting skills, and watching high level builds it still looks fun.

Surprisingly paladin is really cool too, I've never liked the paladin archetype in other games but the skill visuals and the character design are doing it for me here.

Slaanesh69 said:

It definitely feels more like an MMO than an ARPG, to be sure. I was hoping for an ARPG with MMO elements, but to me it is more an MMO with ARPG aesthetics. As soon as I did the first rounds of combat, opened the first chests, saw all the currencies and systems, I was immediately turned off.

I am trying to refund it in Steam, not sure if it is going to take. If it doesn't I guess I will go deeper, but I would prefer my pre-order monies back at this point.

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It was said in here, multiple times before it was a MMO that plays like a ARPG(view and combat). Not sure why you were hoping for an ARPG with mmo elements.

Janx said:

Not worth it =P

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Right. Some games Quinn plays I can watch while other I cannot bear to. I usually watch Datmodz and Saintone. Datmodz did an event last night where everyone sailed to a location where an island spawns and everyone landed on it. I think it’s called chicken island or something like that. It is inhabited by chickens you have to kill along with giant various different colored giant chickens. You couldn’t imagine all the cock jokes in Datmodz chat. The game has a lot of content to do. Way enough for me as a filthy casual.

I am so glad I got a beta key and didn't spend money on this.