Saturday, May 24, 2008

CABAL's shortfalls? A seasoned player's take.(2/3)

As promised, an in-depth analysis of the game for the first 90 levels (for your info, I'm a level 8X Force Archer on the server.)

Basically, the first good points of the game are that the quests and leveling are paced together very well. The quests you will receive will, for the first run-through, gradually give you a feeling of being an undefeatable Mary Sue (who, like in all MMORPGs, will revive anyway) in a long-running story.
I imagine this might actually entice the seasoned gamer more, since players who have been in contact with RPGs for a long time would generally like a running story to go along with a usually static gameworld. The good can sometimes be a bit too good, with the game seeing many level 100s in the space of just 4 weeks because of what I perceive to be "nannying" the player.

Not that I'm complaining, honest injun, just that it becomes a bit too quick and then you're going to have lots of players at the upper tier instead of the lower tier (with lower-level characters mainly installed as merchants for the mains)

Then here comes the biggie. On every server, half of the channels are available for PK. Goodness, that can encourage a lot of fighting, and a lot of childish spats can occur. Bleh. Currently, the guilds at higher levels are generally more or less well-behaved, although guilds are a constantly changing variable and can be subject to ups and downs. I'd be worried, because if a few guilds decide to go rogue and PK the innocent, then it would be up to the other guilds to stop these rogues, but often it's a heck-care situation (unless a nosey parker like me tries to go in, and ends up getting a bleeding nose). Good thinking on arranging for non-PK channels, but then it also excaberates the problem of controlling bots. (I personally would deal with bots the PK way, lulz.)

Remember I mentioned that there could be a potential situation whereby lots of high levels could occur? This is a very major catalyst for so-called alz sellers, and already many cases of hack-and-ban has been reported to AS because desperate players, in a bit to go for the stronger equipments, often risk their passwords and ID by visiting these dangerous sites. The regulation of such sites are almost impossible since they're only damaging company policy (i.e. no alz selling), not breaking a criminal law (and thereby falling away from the radar of the police). Already it is too late to fix the situation because there are too many alz sellers (and multiple IDs) and too little GMs to police the game 24/7.

Next time, I'll post more on a current, upsetting balance in-game that would turn players more to certain professions.

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