Created by: Grinding Gear Games, Est. 2006
Public Beta Start: January, 2013
Release Date: Estimated September 2013
Version Reviewed: 0.10.7
Game Type: Action RPG (Isometric Hack and Slash)
Custom Features: Passive Skill System, Item Slot Links & Skill Crystals, Leagues & Events
Strengths: In-depth customization, Great Graphics & Combat, Item Crafting System
Weaknesses: Repetition, Death Penalty, Limited Content, Beta Bugs
Notes: A fantastic game which I believe will become the dominant Action RPG

 Sections: Content, Economy, Mechanics, Gameplay, Community, Technical, Support, Conclusion, Resources

For links to guides and builds, please check out the Resources section at the end of this review!

Writing such an in-depth review of a game that is in Public Beta is something I have never done before, however Path of Exile (PoE) is such a fantastic creation I felt it warranted sharing the details of this fine product with gamers abroad. Started by a handful of developers in New Zealand roughly six years ago, their creation and company has grown since then, resulting in a game which I believe will become the most successful Action RPG (ARPG) ever made; and I do not make this statement lightly, especially with the behemoth of Diablo 3 currently shadowing the ARPG genre.

While PoE is currently in public beta, it is fully playable, has the refinement of many commercially released products, and allows participants to keep their characters after the official launch of the game, which is slated to take place later this year. While there are bugs in the BETA, they aren’t any more severe than numerous other released games.

Let’s first talk a little about the history of ARPGs and the games on which PoE is based. Released in June of 2000, Diablo 2 is held as the finest ARPG created, holding a special place in the hearts of all. Not just because of gameplay, but the community aspect of it – namely the chat lobby and ladder system which brought players together. After Diablo 2, we have Titan Quest, which is held as the second best ARPG. Other fun ARPGs have come since then including Dungeon Siege 1 & 2, Sacred 1 & 2, and Torchlight 1 & 2. Let’s take a quick look at this timeline. The Diablo 2 expansion, Lord of Destruction, was released in June of 2001; just a year after Diablo 2 was launched. Dungeon Siege 1 was released in 2002, then for roughly two years we had no activity. Sacred 1 was released in 2004, Dungeon Siege 2 in 2005, Titan Quest in 2006, Sacred 2 in November 2008, Torchlight 1 in October of 2009, Diablo 3 in May of 2012, and Torchlight 2 in September of 2012. While this may seem like a lot of games, it’s really not. Sacred, Dungeon Siege and Titan Quest (while good games) failed to capture the community aspect of Diablo 2. Torchlight 1 was a single-player only game, and Torchlight 2, while allowing multi-player, didn’t really “bring players together”. It wasn’t until Diablo 3 was released with its Battle.net support that the “community was back” for the ARPG genre, but there were also problems with Diablo 3. They dropped the chat lobby and ladder systems (which people are still upset about today), and injected a real money auction house which had adverse affects on the game the developers are still trying to address to this day. While Diablo 3 is a good game, and Torchlight 2′s addition of multiplayer paired with its customization and “fun factor” earn both products proper credibility, none of these products “brought the players together” like Diablo 2 did; until now.

Welcome to the Forest Encampment Hub!

PoE is an evolved mixture of Diablo 2, Dungeon Siege, Sacred, Titan Quest, Torchlignt and Diablo 3. Take the best from all of these games, wrap them into a new game designed by an independent group of passionate developers and you have this fantastic product.

There are also a number of key features in PoE which set it apart from the other games: (1) they have a slotted and linked action skill gem system; (2) they feature a truly innovative (and massive) character customization & progression system; (3) they have dropped the traditional gold economy and replace it with an item economy; (4) the game is designed so any level character is capable of finding items that could be beneficial to any other level character; and (5) the game supports unique events and leagues which offer fun races and gameplay styles beyond the traditional softcore and hardcore modes.

As mentioned, one of the important mechanics is the fact any level character can find items beneficial to any level character. This is very important. No longer do new characters grind to get to the “good stuff” nor do high level characters find items completely useless to alts nowhere near their level.

PoE is not an easy game; as a matter of fact, it is rather complex and can be very challenging. It is quite possible for a player to choose a set of passive skills that makes it near impossible to play on the higher difficulties of the game, thus resulting in a character that must be rebuilt. I’ve had to do this a few times as I experiment with different builds, however part of the fun is in trying new builds in this immersive game.

Because it is a complex game, this Path of Exile Review can also serve as a guide. I hope there is information in here that both new and experienced players can benefit from.

Content

Story & Lore, Classes & Passive Skill Tree, Quests, Hubs, Environment & Ambiance, NPCs & Enemies, Treasure, Maps | No Tutorial

PoE takes place in the dark fantasy world of Wraeclast where you are an exile who was aboard a ship that sank. The Story and Lore begin here. You swim to shore and begin your adventure. There are currently 3 Acts to the game. The first takes you up the shore through the prison and into the lair of Merveil, the Siren. Act 2 takes the player through the monkey-infested Forest and into the mainland to deal with undead, bandits, and finally the Vaal Oversoul, which is inside the top of a pyramid you must climb. Act 3 takes the player through the city of Sarn, overrun by numerous nasties, and then through a terrible palace with horrific torture and mutilation in its depths. The final confrontation is with the antagonist named Piety. While the storyline isn’t as extensive as say, Diablo 3, the voice acting and quests which bring it together are well done, also leaving the game ripe for the release of Act 4 which is supposed to come later this year.

Six classes sharing three primary attributes.

Character Creation is very simple. You pick a starting class and name it. There are six classes to choose from: (1) The Marauder, (2) The Ranger, (3) The Witch, (4) The Duelist, (5) The Templar, and (6) The Shadow. These classes either focus on or are a mix of melee, ranged, and magic, and do so by defining your beginning stats and starting point in the Passive Skill System Matrix (covered below). The choice of class also defines the sex and voice of your character as you play the game, but because of the Skill Matrix and Skill Gem system for all actions which the player can execute within the game (such as fireball, cleave strike, etc), a player can turn any class into pretty much whatever they want. For example while a Witch traditionally goes the route of Magic, the player can create a melee tank Witch, or a spell-casting Marauder. As such, there are no class-specific actions, skills, or abilities.

The Passive Skill System is the most unique feature of the game, allowing for unprecedented character and class customization more in-depth than any other ARPG. The depth of this system is so extensive some even refer to it as esoteric. While other class-based ARPG games (including MMOGs) define a preset template for their classes (of skills, abilities, traits, etc), the starting class of PoE only defines the starting point within the massive Passive Skill System Tree. This means a player can plan out more than 100 points to spend in this comprehensive skill matrix of 1,350 nodes, and if planned properly, can blend together benefits revolving around different classes. While the nodes around the starting points are related to the particular class (e.g. a ranger has dex and ranged-related notes), the player can quickly break out of their surrounding class nodes and shoot into support structures wholly unrelated to their core class. This ensures all nodes can be accessed, but must be chosen with thought and planning. When a player starts PoE for the first time and sees the passive skill matrix, they are often overwhelmed, but each starting location can only branch out in two directions, simplifying the initial exploration into the system for the new player. This is how players raise their stats and obtain everything ranging from increased attack speed to additional mana and life. Characters can also acquire special abilities such as “curses never expire”. While a player acquires “refund points” as they progress through the quests (and through Orbs of Regret) which can be spent to “take back” a spent point, because of the depth of this matrix and the difficulty of the game later on (level 50+) many players choose to rebuild new characters rather than reverting their current one as they better understand the Skill Matrix and nodes that are very important (such as stats to support item use, and life & resistances to support survivability at higher levels). But this isn’t a bad thing; the game is so immersive, players enjoy creating new characters and “doing better’ each time around. It is nearly impossible for a new player to plan out a solid skill build that will be viable at the highest levels and difficulty of the game (70-95) without having spent days playing the game, getting a feeling for it, and understanding the mechanics and veritable threats that exist through the game world. When looking at the Passive Skill Matrix, you will notice three types of nodes: Normal, Notable and Keystone. Normal nodes are the standard looking circles (usually stats, life, etc), notable are the circles with the flashy gold border (usually bonus stats and modifiers), and keystone nodes are the ones with the big thick borders. Keystone nodes are the most unique and powerful nodes in the game, offering game-changing modifiers to the character. You can see a list of the nodes and their bonuses here.

This is just one section of the Passive Skill Tree, showing the Marauder starting point branching out and up into elemental damage nodes.

To provide some guidance for newcomers, there is a website that has numerous builds a player can follow from the start in order to create end-game viable characters. ExilePro is the place to go. Players can study these builds and decide what suits them best. But be warned; many builds require skills that must be acquired to make the builds viable – this is why a “starter” character is always a good idea – so the player can get a feel for the the game, find skill gem drops that may be necessary for following a template, and thus gather the necessary items to make the next build viable. New players – be patient! After a few days of play the Passive Skill Tree won’t seem nearly as intimidating, and you’ll have a great time creating your own builds. Once you are ready, you can build out your own Passive Skill Tree here. As you build it you’ll notice it changes the URL; when you’re done, simply save the URL and you can now share the tree with anyone by giving them the URL. Characters gain one Passive Skill Point point per level, and also gain additional points by completing quests. The total amount of points a character can currently achieve is 120, but it’s more realistic to plan around 100-110 since the last 10 levels take a monumental amount of time to achieve.

Note: the Passive Skill System is how you raise your character’s stats, giving you total control over how high your attributes go!

The Quests in PoE are pretty simple and straight forward, yet well-done. There aren’t a lot of them (the game really is about exploring, fighting, and finding treasure), but they are designed to guide the player through the world. Act I has 9 quests, Act II has 7, and Act III has 7 as well. The quest/travel map provided within the game makes it easy for players to see where they need to go and how they need to get there. While most quests involve killing boss mobs, there are some which require the player to secure items, open passage, and make choices (such as the Bandit quest). You can see a list of the quests here.

Tip: There is a quest called “The Way Forward” that you complete in Act 2 but need to go back to Bestel in Act 1 to get the Skill Book. Don’t forget to pick it up!

Each Act has its own Town Hub that serves as the point of operation. Within these hubs are the quest givers, merchants, stash access, and notice boards. When players are in a Hub they will see other players running around, which is a nice touch and gives the feeling of a living breathing world. Note however once you leave the hub, unless you are in a league that shares areas (covered below under Gameplay), you will only encounter other players you are grouped with.

The Environment & Ambiance of each area is very well done and contains a fantastic combination of visual and audio components all based on the area’s theme. While the game doesn’t have destructible objects to the extent of Diablo 3, each zone is refined, the colors are vibrant (especially in the City of Sarn), and lighting/time of day is a big factor in the game, adding an extra solid feeling to each area the player explores. Shadows are also very well done in PoE, adding an extra level of depth and overall immersion to the game. The overall “feel” is of such quality you do not think you are playing a BETA, but a commercial product. The forests in PoE feel like forests (especially when monkeys swing off the trees down on top of you), and there seems to be more variation to the random layout of the zones compared to other ARPGs, most of which are very large. When you run through a nasty wet cave or the ruins of an ancient city, there is no doubt the developers put meticulous love into the refinement of the overall look and feel of the areas.

Note: Chamber of Sins Level 3 is when the game begins to get difficult. Once you start encountering difficulties, it’s a good idea to open a portal as you enter a new area/level, that way if you die, you can quickly and easily return.

Smiting the local enemies. Armor shall not protect thee!

NPCs in PoE are pretty standard for ARPGs. Most of the NPCs are in town and act as quest givers and merchants. There are also a number of nasty creatures in the game, all of them Enemies, and out to kill you. There are four difficulty types monsters: (1) the normal (white) mobs, which are the most common; (2) magic (blue) mobs which have basic affixes in their name (such as deadly for more damage, or hexproof if they resist curses) and are usually identified by their darker texture (which often shifts and moves) and size; (3) champion (yellow) mobs which have a number of modifiers including auras, and usually glow; and (4) unique (gold) mobs which are essentially bosses with special and often unique abilities (there are currently 37 Unique Bosses in the game). If the game feels too easy at the beinning, don’t you worry, the enemies get very nasty later on in higher difficulties. I’ve found groups of blues to be the most dangerous because of their enhancements paired with the fact you can encounter substantial groups of them. One thing I like about this game is the behavior of the monsters. The animations and actions tied to their special abilities (such as charging or jumping or laying eggs) is very well done, and it’s quite satisfying to shatter cold enemies, destroy those pesky octopus creatures which seem to cover the ground, and crumble the living statutes . You will quickly learn what different monsters can do, which includes learning how to avoid their nasty abilities. One of the first nasty attacks agile players are exposed to is Puncture which causes you to bleed/lose hits profusely if you move around while afflicted. Monsters can also carry with them inherit resistances which can make them challenging for certain builds. There’s nothing worse than specializing in lightning magic and running into a room of lightning resistant monsters that do high damage and are blue (thus enhanced). But that’s part of the fun of the game. The other thing I really like is the bodies (or what’s left of your victims) stay; all of them. They don’t disappear until you load a new version of the zone (covered below). Be wary of Necromancers and other monsters that can raise the dead; there’s no limit to the number they can bring back! Another thing I like about PoE is the wander radius of monsters. More often than not, right in the middle of combat, another group of creatures will come out of nowhere, as if they’re drawn to the sounds of combat. One must also be very careful leaving an unattended character as PoE has mobs which like to wander. If you think you’re safe because you cleared the mobs out around your area and get up to get a drink, by the time you return, you might be dead. It’s also important to point out monsters will use the very same skills you do. They will curse you, frost pulse, shock, fireball, and cleave you and anyone who fights with you. It’s fun!

Note: If you’re playing on Cursed or Merciless difficulty, it’s important to port back to town if you’re going AFK because wandering mobs may kill your character!

Of course Treasure is one reason we play the game, and while I will cover rewards under Gameplay, the world is littered with chests; and I mean a lot of them. More than I’ve seen in any other ARPG. Not only can you encounter small and medium chests, you can also occasionally find the rare Large Chest which will spurt out a good 10-15 items, some of which may be very good. The game also has boulders, bodies and other objects that are often hidden which can cough up valuable orbs and items.

Tip: you can open portals during boss fights to return to town and recharge!

Maps are end-game item drops which add new content to conquer and explore for those who have beaten and grown too powerful for the core content (which at this time is Act 3 on Merciless difficulty).  When a character has completed the final quest on the Merciless difficulty level, they gain access to the Eternal Laboratory. When the player wants to run a map, they throw it into the Map Device and six portals are created. Each portal can only be used once, which means only six trips back and forth can be taken. This also ensures players cannot engage in the “recharge” runs back to town if they are too weak to handle the bosses of the map. Maps start at Level 66, go to Level 77 and are custom drops which can only be found in the highest difficulty of the game. All initial map drops are only within 2 levels of the current area you are in. The only exception is to initial 66 map drops which can drop in areas under level 64. This means locations like the Docks can drop level 66 maps (even though it’s a 62 area). In order to find higher level maps, they must drop within the map runs. Normal mobs drop within their level, magic mobs drop within a +1 range and rare/boss mobs drop within a +2 range. This means a rare mob in a level 66 map can drop a level 68 map. Within the 68 map another rare could drop a level 70 map. This is how players progress into the more difficult maps. Just like items, players can find and manipulate maps to be magic, rare and unique quality levels. Maps can feature up to six modifiers which define the overall item drop quantity bonus. The harder the map, the more loot, and the additional chance even more maps will drop. Most high-level players prefer to do maps with a group because there’s more drops (covered in party benefits below) and it’s just more fun. Check this thread for the ultimate map guide.

At this time, there is no Tutorial for PoE, but the game is pretty easy to dive into and figure out.

Economy

No Gold, Items (Sockets, Item Level and Links, Quality), Item Idenfitifation, Inventory & Stash, Crafting (Orbs, Merchants & Vendor Recipes), Marketplace, Trading | No Auction House

There is No Gold in PoE. The economy revolves solely around items, namely Orbs, which come in 15 different variations (I am counting the chisel and prism as orbs). These orbs can do everything including re-rolling the colors of the slots on an item, upgrading a white item to a unique, provide Passive Skill Point refunds, and even give the player a chance to roll a unique (or “legenday”) item. The orbs also serve as the root of the crafting system (which is covered below). Orbs can drop in anywhere in the game, so this means a level 1 character in the starter area can overturn a stone and get one of the most valuable orbs in the game. This economy works because all of the orbs are valuable and can be used in one way or another to enhance, prepare, or upgrade an item (which is also covered below). You can see the latest trade rates here at ExileStats. This system also creates a form of haggle-based bartering among players, who must determine how many orbs a unique item is worth.

What can I say, I like to organize my Skill Gems!

As with most ARPGs, Items are everything in PoE, especially due to the fact that action skills come from gems which are either item drops or quest rewards. The “gear” for PoE includes: Armor (head, chest, gloves, boots), Jewelery (Amulet, and 2 rings), Weapons (1H, 2H, Shield), Quivers, and Flasks (Mana, Health, Resistances, bonus Armor, etc). Sockets are a big deal in PoE as they are required for the skill gems to function, and come in three colors: Red for Strength, Green for Dexterity, and Blue for Intelligence. Head, Chest, Glove, Boot and Weapons/Shield items can have sockets. Jewelry, Quivers and Flasks can not. The Max number of sockets for items is: (4) for Head/Gloves/Shoes, (3) for one-handed weapons, and (6) for chest, bows and 2H weapons. Items are one of four levels of quality: Normal (white), Magical (blue), Rare (yellow), and Unique (Orange). Most items have level and stat requirements, but some do not (quality items without level or stat requirements are highly coveted as a starting character can use them and benefit greatly). Rare items are the most commonly sought item type as they can have up to 6 properties. Unique items (or Legendary, if you’re a Diablo 3 player) can have enhanced/unique properties which give Passive Skills. Blue items are generally disregarded except for selling to the Vendors or “scouring” to take advantage of a socket/link configuration (covered below). All items have an inherit Item Level which is different from the required level. The Item Level is what defines the values of the item properties and how many sockets it can have. Item Levels of 1-14 can have 2 sockets, 15-27 can have 3, 28-34 can have 4, 35-49 can have 5, and 50 and above can have 6 sockets. The interesting part about this is a player can find items with a high item level (and thus better properties, sockets, etc) yet with a low level requirement. This is one of the great features of PoE; no matter what level character you are running, you have the potential of finding something useful to any other character you already have or plan on creating. Item Quality is also a factor. Weapons, Armor, Skill Gems and Flask can have no (0%) quality or up to 20% quality. The higher the quality, the better the properties of the item. Blacksmith’s Whetstones are used to improve Quality on Weapons, Armourer’s Scraps are used to improve quality on Armor, Gemcutters Prisms (very rare and valuable) are used to improve Quality on Skill Gems, and Glassblowers Baubles are used to improve the quality of Flasks. Skill gems are the most difficult and costly to upgrade, and 20% skill gems are some of the most coveted items in the game.

Tip! Here’s an important note on Quality! It’s always better to bump Weapons or Armor to 20% quality before you use an Orb of Alchemy on them; you get 5% per use vs. 1% once it’s rare. Remember! Quality before upgrade!

Magic, Rare and Unique item drops are unidentified until a Scroll of Wisdom is used for Item Identification. Items cannot be equipped or manipulated via crafting until they are identified. Scrolls of Wisdom drop throughout the world and can be acquired by selling items to the vendors. Also, a player will not gain the benefits of an item’s properties when selling to a vendor when the item is unidentified. In other words, if you’re going to sell an item to a vendor, make sure you identify it first, as it may have properties which the vendor provides some great rewards for! (covered in more detail below under Vendor Recipes)

Note: There is no binding of items on use, so you can transfer/trade any and all items anytime you want!

A 5 Socket, 4 Linked (5S 4L) Chest Armor Piece

Socket Links serve as a core mechanic for PoE which allows for dynamic customization of spells and abilities. This system is fantastic, innovative, and allows for a grand level of customization. Sockets can be stand alone or linked. You can tell if they are linked by the line between them which is also represented when you look at items on the ground. If you want to cast a spell like fireball, you throw a Fireball gem in a blue socket (since it’s INT based) and you can now queue that action to cast/fire with your mouse buttons or by loading it into one of the five QWERT slots (the game will auto-load the action in the first free action slot). Want to enhance your fireball? Find an item (let’s use a Helmet, for example) that has 2 blue slots linked together and throw in a Chance to Ignite support gem which causes your target to ignite when you hit it with your fireball. Let’s take it one step further, say you have a helmet with 3 blue linked slots (or 3L as people refer to it). Now throw in a Faster Casting support gem. Your fireballs now cast faster and ignite their targets. Now imagine having a chest piece with 6 linked slots (6L). You could have Fireball+Ignite+Faster Casting+Life Leech+Mana Leech+Stun (for example). I am going to cover the skill gems in more detail below under Mechanics, but this gives you an idea of what is possible and why the Socket Link system of PoE is fantastic and fun.

Inventory & Stash is similar to other ARPGs. It is cell based (character inventory is 12 x 5 in size, or 60 cells), and each item you find takes up a certain number of cells. Amulets, Rings, Orbs, Skill Gems, and such all take up one slot, and many items are stackable (some to 20, some to 40). Bows take six or eight, Quivers take six, 1H items can take three or six, 2H items take eight, chest armor take 6, gloves/boots take 4, and Flasks take 2. The starting Stash has 4 tabs with 12×12 (144) slots available for storage, shared between all characters.

Note: you can purchase additional stash tabs through the PoE Marketplace.

And now we get into one of the coolest parts of PoE, yet another unique feature that sets it above and apart from the competition, the Crafting system. Players don’t actually create items, they manipulate them. Firstly, all items in the game (regardless of quality) are based on core item types. This part is not really any different from other ARPGs (I’ll get to the unique part shortly). Thicket Bows, Gut Rippers, Poignards, Tribal Clubs, Vile Staffs, Spiked Mauls; these are examples of weapons in the game. Each weapon has a range of values for its damage, attacks per second, DPS, and requirements. These core items are what become the awesome rare and unique items people are constantly searching for. You can learn what core items exist by checking out the Weapons, Armor, and Jewelry Lists. The next step is to review the unique items list and look at the core item name which is listed under the unique item name. The reason this is important is because you can create a unique item with an Orb of Chance; but it must be used on the proper core item. While the percentage chance of getting a Unique from an Orb of chance is not known, some players have gotten the exact unique they’re looking for after just a few tries while others have never gotten what they are looking for.

As mentioned before, the economy revolves around Orbs. These orbs are all designed to manipulate items and can do a myriad of things including upgrade an item from a normal white drop to a rare, add properties, sockets, links, and more. The Orbs are capable of creating every item in the game, giving players the ability to actively pursue obtaining the best item for their character. This system also addresses the “junk white item” drop problem. This is because a white item with a linked socket combination a player has been looking for can drop. The player can then take these orbs and upgrade/manipulate the item. For example, Orbs of Alchemy are very valuable because they take any white item and convert it into a rare item. Here’s an example of how a player can use Orbs to get what they want. Say a level 28 character wants a new bow and they are using Rain of Arrows, Blood Magic, and Faster Attacks (2G + 1R, 3L = 2 Green Skills + 1 Red Skill with all 3 Linked together). A Royal Bow is perfect since it’s Level 28. So, a white one drops with 4 sockets, two of them linked. But the sockets are RGBB. The player wants RRGG with the RRG being linked (3L) because he wants to link RoA+BM+FA together and also throw in a support Aura gem (G) which doesn’t need to be linked (it operates independently). He runs back to town and first bumps the bow to 20% quality by using 4 Blacksmith’s Whetstones. He then uses an Orb of Alchemy. Unfortunately he doesn’t get the properties he wants, so he uses an Orb of Scouring to strip the item back to White without affecting the slots or links. He uses another Orb of Alchemy and this time gets the properties he wants. Now it’s time to get the Slots taken care of. He uses a few Chromatic Orbs to randomly roll different socket colors and finally gets RRGG. Now it’s time to get the links. He uses a number of Orbs of Fusing which re-link the sockets and finally gets the RRG linked. He now has the item he wants! This is just one example of how the Orb/Crafting system works in the game. If you want a more in-depth explanation on how many orbs you might need to get what you want, read this forum posting. 6L items are the most difficult to create/find and valuable in the game, and often take more than 1,000 Orbs of Fusing to achieve! But imagine taking a 5L action setup that does massive damage and boosting it with a 6th support action that affects all 5 other gems.

Players can also obtain Shards of orbs which automatically stack and translate into a complete orb when the number of shards required (usually 20) is achieved.

Note: Chromatic Orbs have a higher chance of procuring sockets based on the core stats of an item. For example, a piece of Armor that requires both Int and Str will more often roll blue and red than green whereas an item that only requires Dex will often result in green. Of course this means a RGB+ combo is one of the most difficult to achieve given items only carry one or two stats, but never three.

Everything was going just fine until my character attempted to touch the statues of the naked ladies!

Merchants also play a very important part in the game as they serve as the “conversion” base for items to orbs (or Scrolls of Wisdom for identification). When you sell items to Merchants, they reward you based on the type of item and the combination of items you are selling. This is where Vendor Recipes come into play, allowing the player to focus on gathering very specific items in order to acquire the Orbs they are looking for. For example, if you are looking to get your hands on Chromatic Orbs, pick up every 3L RGB item you see. When it comes to acquiring items based on vendor recipes tied to properties (such as attribute or resistance mods), you must first identify the item to get credit for the properties (whites of course do not need to be identified). Players who are actively looking for any and all orbs they can get their hands on will often pick up all blue items and identify them in the hopes they can acquire the orbs they are looking for. As you can see the recipes a player can pursue are very extensive.You can also create Rings, Amulets and random Magic/Rare items, and decrease Skill Gem levels and increase the level of a Map by selling a combination of items to the Vendor.

The Marketplace for PoE currently sells Pets, Skill Effects, Item Effects, Animations, and Account Features. Players can purchase Marketplace Currency for the following rates: $5 = 46, $10 = 96, $20 = 200, $50 = 516, $100 = 1065, $250 = 2850. There is a Custom Content section that has one entry, the ability to design a Unique item for $1,000, but that’s the only thing currently available in that section. The boons within the marketplace are neat and seeing others in the town hubs with these effects and pets is cool. I found the extra stash tabs to be fantastic, and am more than happy to spend a bit of cash to support the great team of developers who have made this game. I recommend everyone who enjoys PoE make some sort of purchase; let the developers know you appreciate what they’ve done!

Because there is no Auction House, Trading between players is very common and easy in PoE. You simply form a party with another player, meet in the same location (usually the hub town of a particular act), and right-click on their name in the party window and initiate the Trade. It is a common and secure “accept” interface, but one interesting part is the game requires you to mouse over the items you are receiving in order to ensure they are what was agreed. This is a nice little enforced check to support honest trading between players. There is also a public Trade Channel which is extremely active (covered below under Community).

Mechanics

Attributes, Elements & Charges, Level, Experience & Skill Gems, Auras & Curses, Resistances, Companions (Minions & Totems), Pets, Regeneration & Consumables (Flasks), Travel  and Death (Hardcore) | No Achievements, No Item Repair
There are three core Attributes in PoE: Strength (Red), Dexterity (Green), and Intelligence (Blue). As mentioned above, these attributes support the Socket and Skill Gem system, as well as define requirements for items (e.g. a bow can require 156 dexterity to use). Starting attributes are defined by your class, and raised through the Passive Skill System and item stat bonuses. Unlike other ARPGs where the stats directly affect nearly all sub-attributes (such as armor and DPS), the stats in PoE have the following affects: Strength (every 2 points = +1 life, and every 5 points = +1% Melee Physical Damage), Dexterity (every 1 point = +2 Accuracy, every 5 points = +1 Evasion), and Intelligence (every 2 points = +1 Mana, every 5 points = +1% Energy Shield). As you can see, the stats don’t affect Armor, Block, Resistances or other sub-attributes. The sub-attributes are broken down into four categories: Offense, Defense, Charges, and Misc. Offense includes the DPS, Chance to Hit, Critical Chance & Multiplier, Attacks Per Second, Weapon Damage, and support damage such as Life on hit, or Stun. Defense includes Armor, Evasion, Resistances, Block and Movement Speed. Misc includes flask recovery rates and magic find. Critical Strike chance is based on the core weapon’s crit chance paired with the character’s increased crit chance. If a weapon has a 5% critical strike chance and the character has a 50% increased chance to strike, the critical strike chance will be 7.5%. Crit damage multiplier is pretty basic: a multiplier of 150% means a critical strike will do 150% more damage than normal. For example if you have a 250% multiplier, a Critical Strike attack that normally does 100 physical damage and 10 fire damage will instead do 250 physical damage and 25 fire damage.

Note: your movement speed will decrease the more armor you put on! A “tank” in plate with a big shield will find themselves plodding along much more slowly whereas a wizard or shadow in light armor will incur little to no movement penalties.

Armor, Evasion and Energy Shield are the three primary forms of defense for characters, and all pieces of armor have one or two of these values. Armor is for physical damage mitigation, but it doesn’t affect elemental damage (which is resistance related, covered below). Evasion (not to be confused with Dodge) defines a character’s ability to avoid being struck by attacks, but it’s countered by the enemies accuracy. Dodge is treated as a separate roll from Evasion, but ends in the same place – did the attack hit you? And finally, we have Energy Shield. This acts as an additional buffer of hit points on top of a character’s base hits, and is usually found on casters. Players will notice monsters can also have an Energy Shield, represented as a blue border around their hits. A character (or monster) won’t take damage until their shield is knocked down. Energy shields recharge if no damage is taken for a few seconds. If a character has an energy shield up when they are struck, there is an automatic 50% chance to avoid being stunned. All of the defensive attributes have numerous Passive Skill Nodes that enhance and manipulate how they work. One most common Passive Skill is Iron Reflexes, which converts all Evasion to armor, but removes all Evasion, leaving the 5% minimum chance. This gives a huge boost to physical damage mitigation if the player has outfitted their character with a combination of Armor+Evasion equipment.

The Defensive properties and values for Lightning Strike on my level 35 Marauder.

There are three main Elements in PoE: Fire, Ice, and Electricity. Weapons can have bonus damage on them tied to these elements, increasing the damage by quite a bit. Pair that with specific Passive Skills that increase elemental damage (some give bonus damage to all elements while others give bonus damage to specific elements), and weapons which do both physical and elemental damage are highly useful, especially when one is fighting monsters that have vulnerabilities or resistances to specific elements.

Charges are a big part of the game; they are essentially temporary amplification of abilities. Endurance Charges are associated with Strength, Frenzy Charges are associated with Dexterity, and Power Charges are associated with Intelligence. Endurance Charges grant +5% Physical Damage and +5% Elemental Resistance per charge. Frenzy Charges grant +5% Attack Speed and +5% Cast Speed per charge. Power Charges grant 50% increased critical strike chance per charge. Charges are accumulated by the use of certain skills and equipment, and last only ten seconds; but gaining another charge within that timeframe both stacks and resets the timer, allowing characters to build charges and keep them up during combat.

PoE follows the traditional model of killing monsters to gain experience. Once enough experience is gained, the character will gain a new Level which also provides a passive skill point. When a new character starts the game, the levels come quickly. This is exciting and rewarding because the player can start building out their Passive Skill Points at a steady pace. The amount of experience a character receives is based on the difficulty of the monster and whether or not there is any penalty (from a character running an area either too high or too low). For example, a level 24 character receives 100% experience from monsters level 20-28, but would receive 95% for monsters 5 levels above or below, and 52.5% for monsters 7 levels above or below. You can see the death, penalty and party play experience details here. The maximum character level in PoE is 100, and after more than four months of a public open BETA with no character wipes, the highest level character (at the time of writing this) is HvR, a level 97 Ranger with 3,401,359,286 experience. The following 9 characters from the top list range from level 93 to 95. This shows how much time and experience it takes to reach the higher levels. I personally found leveling to really start slowing down around level 60. For reference, my level 64 BowRauder has 215M experience with 64 hours of play time. This means HvR has roughly16x more experience than my BowRauder and has possibly spent over a thousand hours leveling to 97. For comparison purposes, my Diablo 3 Level 60 (Paragon Level 53) Barbarian (that runs MP10) has 213 hours played. In other words, PoE is designed for extended gameplay. Examining the experience graph on the PoE Wiki, it appears level 100 can be achieved with roughly 4.25 billion experience.

Skill Gems are the center of all action within PoE and they come in two types: Active and Support. Want to cleave a group of monsters, curse them, cast a fireball, shoot explosive arrows or explode a frost nova? Those are all active skills. Want to leech life or mana, catch your enemies on fire, blind them, or increase the speed of your attacks? Those are support skills. Link life leech to your fireball and now you’ll gain life for the damage you do with that fireball. This allows players to build their own action skills complete with specific benefits. Support skills must be linked to an action skill in order for them to work with that skill, and you can link multiple support gems to your action gem. There is a limitation that prohibits using duplicate support gems (e.g. 2 fire damage support gems). While you could link two of the same kind of support gem to an action, you will only receive the benefits from one. Skill Gems are acquired either as drops in the world or are provided as quest rewards. Like a character, slotted Skill Gems level up based on acquiring experience (which is 10% of the amount received by killing monsters). When a gem is approaching a new level or is ready to level up, it will appear in the upper right side of the interface. Once a + appears, you can click that and level the gem. Don’t put off leveling a gem (unless you specifically don’t want to) as once a gem has enough experience to raise in level, it will stop receiving experience. All slotted gems receive experience from kills equally. The reason gems don’t automatically level up is to give the player a chance to decide if they want to accept the extra costs of using the ability provided by the gem, which could throw off the build of a character. For example, the mana cost of an Aura may be at a level that is perfectly balanced for the character’s current status, and leveling up the gem by just one level could throw off that balance. If leveling up a gem would result in requirements that exceed the character’s current attributes, the gem will grey out and leveling up will not be permitted. Skill Gems also have level and stat requirements which raise as they do. This means one character can’t take a Level 1 Skill Gem (like Cleave), level it up to 10, and then give that to another starting character. While a number of skill gems only require level 1 and starting stats (and can thus be used by any new character), a number of gems require higher levels with the current maximum “starting level” of certain gems being 31 (for auras such as Haste and Grace). This means a skill such as Cleave which has a starting requirement of level 1 will level quicker than a skill such as Haste which has a starting requirement of level 31. Leveled skill gems retain their properties when taken from their slots and traded with others. The maximum level for a skill gem is 20.

Auras and Curses are a big part of PoE. Auras are beneficial buffs and Curses are harmful debuffs, and not only do characters have access to these spells, so do monsters. Many characters run Auras (Haste is one of the most popular, raising attack and cast speeds) which also benefit other party members, and can change the outcome of any battle. Curses are also a huge benefit for characters to take advantage of as they start running more difficult content. For example, a character that deals fire damage may come across a boss or champion that has fire resistance paired with life regeneration, and as a result may not be able to do enough damage to kill it. Hit that monster with either Elemental Weakness or Flammability and it could tip the balance enough to allow the character to kill its target. Curses are all AoE (area of effect) spells which grow in the size of effective coverage as they level.

Note: only one curse can be active on a target at once unless a character can support multiple curses either through unique items or passive skill points. This includes being in a party, so be careful you don’t override your other party member’s curse!

Resistances are another key factor in the game since elemental damage is such an important part of combat and cover four types: (1) Fire; (2) Cold; (3) Electricity, and; (4) Chaos. As with any ARPG it’s always beneficial to have the highest resistances possible, but also with a focus on what type of monsters you are fighting. Resistances play a part in preventing afflictions such as burning, freezing and shocking. This is why players like to use resistance-related curses and why they also try to get numerous +% all resistance nodes in the Passive Skill Tree. While there are no penalties in normal difficulty, Cruel has a -20% all resistance penalty and Merciless has a -60% all resistances penalty. As you play the game you will find certain monsters are deadly due to their elemental attacks, and others are very difficult to kill based on their resistances. Not only are there curses which lower the resistances of the monsters, there are also support skills which penetrate certain resistances. An example of this is a ranger using electricity-related actions and plugging in a Lightning Penetration support gem to ensure if a lightning-resistant mob is encountered that some of the lightning resistance is ignored by the supported attack. Chaos is a unique damage and resistance type which ignores any energy shield. As you may guess, monsters that do Chaos damage can be very dangerous to characters who use their shield as a buffer for damage. Players can do Chaos damage as well through certain skills and even link a Chaos Damage support gem to their action skills.

Apparently the antagonist Piety is trying to 1-up Diablo on carnage!

All Companions in the game must be summoned (or created) by action skills and come in two categories: minions and totems. Minions include Zombies, Skeletons, Specters and Dominated creatures. All minions (except for Dominated) must be summoned with a spell (or totem) and have their own damage/actions separate from the character that summoned them. There are numerous passive skills that affect minion damage, health, and even the number which can be summoned at a time. Dominated creatures are “created” by using the Dominating Blow action skill, and it’s quite a sight to see a player turn a gaggle of monsters into their own personal army. Witches are the commonly used class for a minion build. Totems are summoned structures that come in seven variations: Decoy, Devouring, Flame, Rejuvenation, Shockwave, Ranged Attack and Spell. Some of these totems cause damage while others provide auras which benefit their summoner. One of my favorite totem combinations is a Spell Totem with Skeleton Minions. It drops a totem that continually casts summon Skeleton; this is an excellent distraction for any monsters that are trying to chew off your arm!

There are Pets in the game that can be acquired through the Marketplace, but they are only aesthetic and provide no combat support.

Regeneration is key to survival in PoE, and to address this there are three sources of Health and Mana regeneration: (1) passive skill points that increase the regeneration rate; (2) item attributes which also increase the rate, and; (3) the most important – Flasks. While other ARPGs follow the traditional small/medium/large/huge, etc. potion structure, PoE has taken this a step further and instead of forcing the player to forage for potion drops and eat charges which ultimately run out, Flasks constantly refill their charges when you kill monsters and can have enhancing attributes. There are four types of Flasks: Life, Mana, Hybrid, and Utility. Utility Flasks can do a number of things including giving 40% movement for 5 seconds to adding +4000 armor for 4 seconds. For Life, Mana and Hybrid, there are multiple sizes of flasks which have level restrictions, and the size defines the amount of life & mana restored when used. Flasks generally have between 21 and 32 charges, but the amount can be changed based on magical attributes. Killing a normal (white) monster will give one charge, a magic (blue) will grant 3, a rare (yellow) will grant 6, and a unique (orange) will grant 11. Note the charges are spread across all flasks, so if you have 5 flasks equipped and kill an orange, all 5 flasks will receive 11 charges. This system works fantastically as it automatically resolves whether or not your character can handle the monsters it’s fighting. If you can survive but run out of flasks (using all 5) and can’t recharge them, that means you’re probably in over your head, even though you may still be alive (i.e. it’s costing you more resources than you have). One technique players use when fighting bosses is to port back to town in the middle of the battle (which refills all flasks) and then immediately return to continue the battle. Orbs of Alteration are the most commonly found Orb in the game, and while most players think they are useless (they reroll properties for magic items), they are the primary source for rolling solid flasks with great properties.

Note: Flasks restore life and mana over a period of time. While some can provide instant restoration through modifiers, for tough battles many players “queue” up multiple flask uses which “feed” health or mana during combat!

You can track quests and travel at the same time!

Travel is managed the traditional way, through waypoints the player must discover as they explore, but PoE also allows players to travel across difficulties (e.g. you can go from Act I in Normal to Act III in Merciless if it’s available). The player can also open a portal to go back to the hub town for the act they are in, and then return to the spot where they opened the portal from (which closes it). However, PoE does something more than the other ARPGs when it comes to travel. The game allows you to reset the areas you are waypointing or walking to. Simply hold down CTRL as you either click on the waypoint destination or the portal entry point and you will be prompted to either create a new instance or enter an existing one. This is a great feature that allows players to run the same areas again and again (with a reset each time, if they desire) and makes it so they don’t have to exit to the main menu and restart a game instance (as Diablo 3 requires).

When it comes to Death, the game has two modes which define what happens. Softcore (the default mode) and Hardcore mode. Unlike other ARPGs (such as Diablo 3) when a Hardcore character dies in PoE, the character is converted to a Softcore character so you can keep playing. This is very cool and ensures all if your efforts in Hardcore aren’t completely lost; you just won’t be able to use that character in Hardcore anymore. In Softcore mode, death is just an inconvenience in Normal difficulty, and can require the player to do quite a bit of running if they died far away from a waypoint. There is no durability or item loss, however once you enter Cruel and Merciless difficulties you will lose 7.5% and 15% experience per death. This can be quite problematic once a character has gotten to level 75+ as 15% of a level is often hours of gameplay. I personally think the death penalty is a mistake and will drive players away as expectations have changed over the past decade and gamers don’t want to see their efforts taken away from them. While the handful of purists will support the penalty, the simple fact is a death penalty in the form of removing experience has been long removed from character building games (namely MMOGs) for a reason – it’s unnecessary and old school thinking that just angers players. I hope the developers address this by either removing the death penalty entirely from Softcore or create a new league without any death penalty regardless of difficulty. After all, it takes hundreds if not over a thousand hours to get a character to level 100 and the game is designed to entice the creation of numerous characters; what are they worried about? The only good news is a character will never lose a level from the penalty.

At this point there are no Achievements.

Gameplay

Combat & Weapon Swapping, PvE, PvP, Rewards, Learning Curve, Difficulty, Progression, End Game, Replayability, Leagues, Events & Races

When playing PoE we need to remember it’s still in Beta. Latency, bugs and server de-synchronization are an issue, but don’t judge the game too harshly; these problems will be fixed, and while we wait for them to get fixed, the game really does play great.

Having said that, Combat is fun, involved, and intense. Normal difficulty is more like training than anything else because once you enter Cruel and Merciless, the game takes on a whole new dynamic, requiring strategy, planning and quick thinking on your feet, regardless of the build you run. When it comes to merciless difficulty, there really is no “faceroll” build for everything. Every build has its strengths and weaknesses, and the combat system takes advantage of that. Stun is a big factor in combat and will interrupt any action you or your target is engaging in. The default “stun length” is 350ms (or .35 seconds). While this may not sound like much, if you get stunned multiple times in a row by multiple mobs, it can often kill you as it prevents you from reacting. Learning which monsters can stun and how to avoid the stuns is critical, especially on higher difficulties. Players are first introduced to stun by the charging monsters outside of the Act 1 town. The champions and their properties can also make for very engaging combat, especially when they boost the surrounding monsters with fury, endurance and energy charges, amplify their damage, or even prevent them from dying. When you get 2-3 champions together, it can be quite a mess, but it sure is fun.

Monkeys! For the love of god, flesh eating Monkeys! RUN!

A character can equip two sets of weapons and swap between them by pressing X. What’s nice is the player has instant access to Weapon Swapping and doesn’t need to train any skill or level up to use it. This is very useful when a melee character comes across a very dangerous high damage melee monster that can be kited and killed with a ranged attack, allowing the melee character to switch to a ranged weapon to take the mob out.

The game is currently PvE by default, but there is the option to engage in PvP through Greust in Act 2. When you enter this option, you are presented with a list of PvP matches; generally 1v1 or 3v3. As long as you meet the level cap (which is based on the difficulty you are in), once enough players have joined the queue, the fun begins! At this time very few people seem to participate in the PvP matches available through Greust and instead focus on the PvP events when they come up. There’s no question PvP is going to evolve substantially over the next few months as things get balanced out and the different Leagues (covered below) go live, which will include entire leagues dedicated to open world PvP.

Rewards are why we play these games, and PoE is no lack luster experience in this department. Making levels, spending Passive Skill Points, finding awesome items with numerous properties including the right socket or link combination, crafting your own items with orbs, stumbling across the very rare large chest that spits forth a dozen or more items, slaying that nasty group of critters only to see a unique gold item drop, watching dozens of monsters fry, shock and freeze shatter as you destroy them with weapons and spells, and running custom maps to get some of the best drops in the game — there’s plenty to reward your playing experience. There’s even a reward structure set up for those who participate in league events and races, and with the upcoming Leagues (covered below), there is no doubt PoE is planning on creating extended gameplay experiences with extensive rewards that appeal to a much broader group of gamers; much more than any ARPGs that has come before.

As mentioned at the start of this review, PoE is a fairly complex game and has a substantial Learning Curve due to the Passive Skill System, Skill Gems and Socket Links. Learning how all of the action and support gems interact with each other can take quite a bit of time. While the core gameplay is easy enough to understand, the Difficulty increases dramatically as the player enters Cruel (which starts at monster level 33) and Merciless (which starts at monster level 52). If the player has chosen a build that does not support survivability, they quite often have to start a new character, or spend a lot on purchasing Orbs of Regret to do a substantial respec.

The Progression in the game is very well done; not just with leveling but with monster difficulty, item drops, quests and overall exploration. By the time the game begins to get difficult for new players (which is towards the end of Act I on normal difficulty), there is still a good sense of advancement and accomplishment due to the rate of character and skill gem leveling. Things do begin to slow down after a character gets into their 50′s and 60′s. This brings us to the End Game, which really revolves around running Maps and collecting the best gear possible. Because PoE is in BETA the end-game is still evolving, but I do not think the max level and overall experience system will be changing between now and launch. The Map system does add a high level of Replayability to the game, but so does the overall economy; as previously mentioned, a high level character can receive item drops that a much lower (or even starter) character could use, thus enticing players to create muliple characters and try out different builds. Add the massive 1,350 node Passive Skill matrix to the mix with 85 action skill gems that can be augmented by 72 support gems and you have the most extensive customized action system of any ARPG ever made.

The results of a 45-minute race.

Another unique feature PoE brings to the ARPG space is that of Leagues, Events and Races. This is very cool stuff, and represents yet another reason why PoE is going to dominate the ARPG market when it’s finished. Right now there are only two parent Leagues available to players; that of Softcore and Hardcore. During BETA, different child leagues open up based on the Events that take place, and participants can receive Season Reward Points which provide fantastic items they can use on their other characters. There are Events planned almost every day, and sometimes multiple events in a day. The Event Calendar shows what is planned for the “Season” (which is currently a month), and upcoming events are broadcast in the game so players can prepare if they want to participate. When the Event has been announced and is ready to start, players can create characters in the temporary league for the event and either wait in-game, or run the character after the event has started. If the character is run before the event starts, the character cannot move until the event starts, and a countdown is provided informing the player when the event is starting. Right now, all events are Races to see who can achieve the highest level. Some focus on groups, others on melee, and some on pvp. Each event has a timeframe. Today (the day I am writing this) there are two events: (1) a 45 minute Turbo Solo event to see how far players can get in 45 minutes from the start while mobs move, attack and cast 60% faster, and; (2) a 12-minute Solo BLAMT which defines the mods available to characters (in this case Blood Magic, Letha, Ancestral, Multiprojectiles, and Turbo). The longest event I’ve seen is an 8-hour party event.

Tip: Remember, if you participate in an event, you have access to the “parent stash” (depending on hardcore or softcore), so it’s often beneficial to run straight to town (killing Hillock) and loading up on top notch gear so you can proceed at an accelerated pace!

Over the coming months, PoE will make additional Leagues available, such as: (1) IronMan – players are unable to trade with vendors or refill their flasks in town, and mana is disables; (2) Cutthroat – all world areas are public with full PvP enabled by details, and slain characters drop all their items upon death (memories of Ultima Online anyone?); and (3) Attrition – A short duration league that starts with a fixed number of players and eliminates the player with the lowest amount of experience at periodic intervals. PoE also has Competition and Paid Leagues (which can be private) planned. One interesting note is when a character is “ejected” from or “completes” an event, they are reverted to their parent league so the character isn’t lost. Very cool indeed!

Community

Parties & Friends, Party Item Drops, In-game Chat (Global & Trade), Help, Population, Forums, Spam, and Quality

Forming Parties with other players provides great bonuses for the game. For example, each additional player gives a +50% item quality modifier on drops. Item Rarity and Quantity modifiers are only counted from the player who lands the killing blow. Experience is split between all members in the party with the amount you get depending on your level relative to party members and monsters. Only the character landing the killing blow on an enemy will gain Flask charges. The same goes for all +Life and +Mana gained on killing blow. Flasks have a +75% charge recovery bonus for each party member. Not only can you form private parties, you can also form public parties, and when you access the Social window (by pressing S), you can see your Friends list, create your own public Party, and view/join public parties. To create a private party, just right-click on another player’s name either in chat or on the Friends tab and select the popup menu option. The Noticeboard found in town is just a list of the public parties which is also available through the social panel, but it serves as a good reminder public parties are available and can easily be joined.

Party Item Drops function a bit differently from other ARPGs. While Diablo 3 guarantees your own drops that cannot be taken by other players and other ARPGs have been free for all (such as Diablo 2), PoE is a hybrid system where drops are a mix of shared and personal, but the personal drops only apply to rare or higher items, and only give a 3-second window to pick them up. You will notice this when you first party with people and faded-out items drop (allowing you to see the item but not pick it up). If the player the item belongs to doesn’t pick it up in the 3-second window, any other player can pick it up. This is an interesting approach which was designed to allow all party members to see what has dropped, but also gives an opportunity for the “item owner” to grab it before anyone else. I’m undecided about this approach to the loot system, but I’m leaning in a negative direction as I’ve participated in parties where I had no chance to pick up an item in the 3-second window and another player grabbed it. However, I think this system could work if the window was extended (to perhaps 30 seconds). Then again the short duration was probably added so friends who were helping their buddies out and aren’t interested in item drops could quickly have all drops available for pickup by their buddy. Perhaps another option is to allow a person who creates a party to define the time window and then show that re: public parties.

The Trade Channel is always bustling with fantastic items to buy!

The Chat system of PoE is well done, allowing players to define the chat type with the leading character. # goes to Global, % goes to Party, $ goes to Trade, and %<name> whispers to a character. Without a chat prefix, the default is Local. Global and Trade chat are busy as can be, creating a lively community combination of fun, helpful, annoying and rude people. As with everything that is the Internet, you get it all. The good news is you can easily toggle the Global and Trade chat on or off via the Chat UI or via the options. Trade chat is disabled by default because it is slammed with a nonstop stream of postings. The good news is when you’re ready to trade, it’s easy to hook up with other players and get that amazing item you just agreed to buy for 4 orbs of (whatever). There is also a comprehensive right-click menu for characters in chat, allowing for whisper, party invite, trade, friend, report and ignore.

The global chat can be quite useful for providing Help to new players as long as one ignores the trolls. Since PoE is a complex game, new players are always asking questions, especially as it relates to skills and how they interact with each other. I found many helpful people in the game and overall had a good experience in global chat asking questions. However the undeniable best source of information is the Path of Exile Wiki. You’ll find answers to nearly every question you have except related to builds; but don’t worry, as already covered herein and at the end of this review, Exilepro is the place to go for that.

Looking for a public party to join? Pick one!

The Population of the game is very large and growing each day. The chat channels are never quiet and you see many players in the hub towns. In March, it was announced that more than 2 million PoE accounts have been created. While that doesn’t represent the “active” amount, just 10% of that is 200,000 players, which is substantial. The Forums also show a highly active community usually only seen with large commercial product releases. At the time of writing this review, there are nearly 3 million posts with more than 610,000 posts in the General Discussion forum alone.  The Forums are a great source of information and are active not only with the community, but with updates from the developers. Discussions about bugs, issues, events, and patches are posted regularly, and there’s a nice feature on the PoE website: when a patch is being deployed, it notifies you through the UI of the countdown to server reset.

Because the population is so large and the game is so popular, Spam is an issue. While reporting has been built into the chat interface (just right-click a name and report) due to the Free to Play (FTP) nature of PoE, junk accounts are being created like crazy. But it’s not so bad it drives people away, it’s more of an annoyance, and one can disable global chat if they’re tired of seeing the spam posts. My understanding is the PoE team has already nailed a ton of the spammers, and I have confidence they will do everything they can to eradicate the spam over the next few months.

The Quality of the community is a mix. Because the game is free to play there are plenty of obnoxious people who engage in mindless banter and insults when they have the opportunity, but on the other hand, the game is of such quality and sufficient complexity that it attracts plenty of quality players. I’ve met some very nice people through Global chat, and it’s easy to put the obnoxious folks on /ignore. I think the quality of the community will always be a mix, but the tools exist within the game to build a solid friends list and play only with those you trust and enjoy the company of; and when you’re ready to be social and adventuring, public parties are waiting!

Technical

Graphics, Sound, Interface, Connectivity & Downtime, Security, Patches and Bugs

The Graphics of PoE are very well done; this includes all visuals, ambient lighting, shadows and physics. While there’s definitely room for performance improvements, the core look of the game is solid and only enhances as you play through the acts. The Graphic Options are fairly basic, revolving around Shadows, Anti-aliasing and Textures. Make sure Screen Shake is turned on as it’s great to get that shake when you score multiple critical strikes! I am running the game on a 460 GTX and only occasionally have a frame rate drop below 30.  All settings are on max except for Anti-aliasing which I have set to 4. The game looks great.

Tip: you can press F1 to toggle the stats UI on/off, which will show your frame rate and network latency!

I think AoE has the best Sound representation I’ve heard in an ARPG. Not only are numerous sounds perfectly synchronized with the animations, the developers have gone the extra mile by adding those little enhancements that make a difference, such as being able to hear monsters that are off screen (and what direction they are) as they move around, playing a tone when your charges wear out, and providing ambient sounds that correspond with the area. Hearing the screams of torture and anguish in Piety’s dungeon is eerie and terrifying. While the music isn’t as unique and memorable as that of Diablo and Diablo 2, it is well done and also adds to the overall feel of the different areas.

The Interface is simple, intuitive and very easy to use. By default, keys 1-5 are for flasks, left, middle and right mouse buttons are for actions, and QWERT are for 5 additional actions (you can remap the bindings in the Options->Input screen). If an action has support skills, small letters will appear in the upper corners of the action icon. Items that drop on the ground show their slot color and (if applicable) their link association, making it very easy to see 4L and above. Hold down Shift to attack while standing in place, TAB toggles the minimap display, and you can access the following interfaces: Options (O), Character (C), Social (S), Inventory (I), World/Travel/Quest (U), Passive Skills (P), and Microtransaction Stash (M). You can also take a screenshot by pressing F8 (default directory for screenshots is \Documents\My Games\Path of Exile\Screenshots). At this time there is no way to toggle the UI on and off. As mentioned above, F1 will toggle the stats display. To socket gems, simply drop them in open sockets, or right-click a socket to pull a gem out. Mousing over actions will give you all the details you need.

Tip: Press Z to toggle the automatic display of all items on the ground!

The underground areas of the game are dark, immersive and dangerous.

Connectivity for me is great; I have 45-60ms ping from San Diego and have only lost connection twice. The servers are hosted by Softlayer in Dallas, TX . The only connectivity issues I’ve heard of are from people in other parts of the world, namely Australia and South America; they often ping at 250 or higher, and experience a lot of synchronization issues. But even with a good ping, I often have synchronization issues (which are server based, not connectivity based). On average the game transfers and receives roughly 2,000 bytes per second. This is fairly standard. I have not seen any Downtime since I started playing.

Since the game is in Public Beta, there isn’t a great focus on Security beyond username and password. As such, there is currently no external authenticator support – however due to the nature and popularity of the game, I hope the developers add authentication sooner rather than later as a lot of time, energy and effort can be lost through hacked accounts. The good news is I’m not hearing about hacked accounts through Global chat, so I think it’s a rare event. Given the competence of the development team, I an confident they will implement a 3rd party authentication system on or before the official launch.

The developers generally provide Patches on a weekly basis and are very good at notifying the community with patch note updates before the patch goes live. Patch deployment is nearly seamless with a 30-minute warning (with countdown) that’s conveyed both in-game and through the website. The PoE team has done a top notch job with planning, executing and managing patches and updates.

It’s easy to forget the game is in BETA, but it does still have Bugs. The biggest problem right now is the desynch issue where the client becomes desynchronized with the server. It comes in waves; sometimes there’s no issue at all, and other times it gets out of synch with nearly every round of combat. Note it’s not so bad the game is unplayable, it’s just problematic for certain builds, and when you’re melee in merciless with a party and a desynch happens, look out. Desynch results in monsters hitting you when you can’t see them, or you trying to hit monsters that aren’t there. It’s a #1 priority for the devs and I know they are adamantly working on it. Given the fantastic product they have built, I’m confident they will resolve this issue very soon. I’ve encountered a few other hiccups in gameplay and damage, mainly relative to doorways and blocking objects, but it’s not that big of an issue, just an occasional annoyance. Simply put, save the desynch issue and the occasional crash, PoE is just as solid as most commercial games.

One of the most useful and unknown commands currently in the game is /oos. Type this in chat when you’re out of synch and it will reset your synchronization!

Support

Forums, Moderators, Bug Reporting, Wiki

The Forums are a great place for support, offering subsections for classes, discussion, bug reports and trading. While Moderators do occasionally show up in chat to make announcements, they really aren’t available to interact with. Bug reporting is a weakness; right now, the only way to report bugs is via the Forums. When you do a /bug, it asks you to take a screenshot and includes a reference number. This doesn’t make much sense because if a reference number with stats and data is generated and sent to the team, why does the user need to take a screenshot and post it on the forum? This is one weak area of the game that should be enhanced during the Beta process and automated with an in-game bug reporting window.

The PoE Wiki is fantastic, providing almost every bit of information a player could ask for. All new players should definitely check it out.

Choosing the proper name for your character is a very serious undertaking!

Conclusion

If you like Action RPGs, play this game. You won’t be disappointed. But be patient; it is much more complex than its predecessors given the Skill Gem and Passive Skill Point system; systems which are still being refined.

PoE is top quality work of art and passion by a group of gamer developers who want to make the game they want to play. This is when the best results are achieved. While there are synchronization issues and the game is still being touched up (and everyone is eagerly awaiting Act IV), the core is as solid and fully playable as any commercially released ARPG that came before. And even though the game is in public BETA, you don’t have to worry about a character wipe, so all of your efforts will not be lost.

May the developers keep up the great work, and may PoE become the new standard for future ARPGs to come.

Resources

Path of Exile Beginner’s Guide

Diablo Player’s Guide to Path of Exile

A list of all Orb and their effects

Great Reddit thread talking about why people like PoE

ExileStats Latest Trade Rates

How many Orbs will you need to get what you want?

Experience Chart (how to guarantee 100% experience for your level)

Ranger Immortal Lightning Build

Shadow Freeze Pulse Tank Build

Ethereal Knives Witch Tank Build

Release Date: October 26, 2012
Version Used: Professional
Strengths: Performance, Security, Stability, Virtual Machine Support
Weaknesses: Mobile (Modern) UI
Note: A solid operating system once you learn to work around the Modern UI

Sections: Under the Hood, Dealing with the User Interface, Conclusion, References

After using Windows 8 for a number of weeks, I felt it was time to write a review not only sharing my personal experience with the Operating System, but also the experience of others.

This is how most people react to the Modern UI

To say Windows 8 has received bad press is an understatement. The Operating System has been deemed a failure by most with sales figures showing fewer sales than Vista. It’s common knowledge that Microsoft made a monumental mistake by forcing the new “mobile” UI upon desktop users. But what people do not understand is underneath the hood, Windows 8 is one of the most solid Operating Systems Microsoft has released. Make no mistake, Windows 8 is superior to Windows 7 in almost every way. It’s faster, features superior security, is the first Microsoft Client OS to support virtualization (e.g. you can install and run other operating systems within Windows 8), has enhanced multi-monitor support, and features a next generation Kernel which is shared with Windows Server 2012 (which is receiving rave reviews). Tossing the mobile/tablet UI aside for Desktop users, it is a technological feat.

The problem is the integrated mobile UI (it was codenamed Metro during development, and is now called Modern) drives the majority of potential users away, and rightly so – it’s abysmal on a PC and just gets in the way. The good news is you can work around it and toss it to the side, allowing you to capitalize on the speed, power and new features of the OS. This is in part what I am going to focus on. In addition to reviewing the OS, I will show you how to properly use Windows 8 as a Desktop Operating System and circumvent the terrible new Modern UI while embracing new and powerful features. Once you familiarize yourself with these workarounds, I believe you will come to the same conclusion that I have and upgrade to this solid operating system. Just be prepared to learn a few new features and techniques, and most importantly: how to shove the Modern UI aside and use Windows 8 just as efficiently (if not more) than Windows 7.

Under the Hood

As mentioned above, Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012 share the same kernel, and Windows Server 2012 is receiving excellent reviews. This reaffirms the solid nature of the underlying technology which drives Windows 8. Having said that, let’s focus on the good: why is Windows 8 is the next evolution in Operating Systems and why you should seriously consider upgrading. Here’s a list of reasons.

Speed

There have been numerous benchmarking tests pitting Windows 8 vs. Windows 7, and the general consensus is Windows 8 is faster than Windows 7 in many areas, namely: startup, shutdown, compression and decompression of files, reading files from USB devices, encoding movies & video rendering, Geekbench tests, PCMark, Sunspider, and Google V8. The only areas where it appears Win8 lags a bit is in large file group movements, and large single file movement. This may be related to the new history/recursive system built into the OS (which is covered below). The tests which shows Windows 7 are faster than Windows 8 in certain areas (such as rendering one video game vs. another) are trivial (e.g. 1% or less difference). I can say from personal experience that Windows 8 “feels” faster throughout, and I have noticed absolutely no degradation of performance anywhere; only enhancements. For reference, I felt the Kotaku performance review was one of the most accurate.

File History

While a similar feature was included in Windows 7, File History is refined in Windows 8. This feature allows the user to define an external drive to automatically track and back up all file revisions to a remote drive (which can be a USB drive or a remote network share, such as a JungleDisk drive). The system monitors any changes in defined files, and when changes are detected, it copies those changes to the remote location. The nice thing about this feature is you don’t just have an option to restore the file, you can restore specific iterations (or versions) of the file. The system will also give you the option to share the “backup drive” with other members of your homegroup, thus enticing data integrity for all users of your network. The default timeframe for checking and backing up files is every hour.

Techrepublic wrote an excellent walkthrough showing exactly how to use and configure the File History system.

Task Manager

The new task manager is slick, reports more information than its Windows 7 predecessor and allows you to show a “summary view” which monitors your CPU, Memory, Disks and Network Connection. You can also easily manage startup programs from here, and are told what sort of impact the programs have on booting the OS. The Task Manager for Windows 8 also defaults to processes; not applications as Windows 7 did. You can also monitor services, the old processes tab , the users, and “App History” which relates only to Modern/Win8 specific applications.

Security

Windows 8 features numerous security enhancements, with the first critical one being Secure Boot. This is a security process which ensures all applications executed during the boot process are pre-signed with a valid digital certificate. This is huge. For example, if some boot loader has infected your computer and attempts to start its own process up during the boot process, Secure Boot will shut it down. This adds an extra layer of protection that is simply unavailable in Windows 7.

Windows Defender is now a full anti-virus/malware suite and can be configured through the control panel. Windows 8 also makes sure whatever anti-malware software you install (if you choose to use something other than defender) is loaded first. This is handled by the Early Launch Anti-Malware (ELAM) system, which ensures the first driver loaded into the OS is that from the anti-malware suite (Defender  by default, or a chosen 3rd party tool). In Windows 7 and before, it was possible for malware to load prior to loading the anti-virus systems. No more!

SmartScreen is now a part of the Operating System. This feature monitors any file downloaded through any browser and determines if the file has a risk factor. This is done by checking a rating for the file based on its popularity and whether it is considered malicious. When users try to download a file with a low rating or considered malicious, they will be prompted with a screen that informs them of the risk, allowing the download to be avoided.

Picture Passwords have also been implemented into Windows 8, allowing a user to log into the Operating System by executing a combination of circles, lines and taps (using either touch or mouse). Users can also select PIN-based authentication.

AppContainer is another feature which forces a controlled sandbox environment for all Windows 8 specific apps. While this feature will hardly apply to PC users who avoid the Windows Store and Modern UI, it gives us a vision of what is to come and provides a mechanism of security for apps that are downloaded from the Microsoft Store.

Windows 8 also allows the user to optionally sign in using their Microsoft Account. This allows syncing of files and access to additional features, which includes store purchases.

Overall, the security enhancements to Windows 8 are awesome, and probably some of the best features of the Operating System.

Virtual Operating Systems (Hyper-V)

Windows 8 allows the installation of Hyper-V, thus enabling the ability to install multiple VMs (Virtual Machines). VMs allow the user to install, manage and run additional operating systems (such as XP, Windows 7, Linux) in a window within Windows 8. How cool is that? With this ability, users can create app sandboxes, run a “test machine”, and even launch a virtual hard drive (VHD) all on the same machine within their core Windows 8 installation. Note Hyper-V is not installed by default in Windows 8; you must turn it on in Windows Features. A detailed overview on how to do this can be found here.

Multi-monitor support

Windows 8 multi-monitor support (when not using anything that’s Modern UI) is excellent; they’ve finally allowed for custom taskbar management per monitor without the use of a 3rd party program (before, with Windows 7, you had to use something like Ultramon). You can also put different backgrounds on different monitors. And while I stay away from the Modern UI, Windows 8 does allow one to define screen splits between the Desktop and Modern applications (such as running a Weather sidebar). You can configure the Multiple Display settings by right-clicking on your taskbar and selecting properties. The new section is at the bottom of the dialog under Multiple Displays.

Note: there is a bug here. When you run multiple monitors and have a Modern sidebar application (such as Skype or Weather) on a monitor other than your central monitor, bringing up the Modern UI (for search, etc) pops the sidebar from another monitor to your center monitor, making the feature utterly useless!

Welcome to the Windows 8 Modern UI Start Screen!

SkyDrive

Microsoft’s answer to Google Documents and Dropbox, SkyDrive is a cloud-based file storage and sharing system which is now integrated into the Operating System. Once you log into your Microsoft Account, you can access and synch to your SkyDrive. You can also share files with others through the Skydrive web or OS UI. If you haven’t tried Skydrive yet, I recommend giving it a run. I now prefer it over other cloud-based file systems such as Google Documents and Dropbox.

Refresh your PC

With this feature, Microsoft finally acknowledges that a “fresh OS install” is often necessary in order to clean things up; and Windows 8 delivers. This feature allows the user to reinstall the OS from scratch (or a fresh start) but also backs up and restores all of your data, settings and applications! All you need is a recovery drive, and the OS takes care of the rest. A detailed walkthrough can be found here.

Tickless Kernel

While this may not be too interesting to non-power users, the simple fact is the Tickless Kernel is a big deal. Windows 7 fired a kernel tick every 15.6ms to handle its “idle multitasking”. This means even when a processor was idle, it would still tick (generating a liability). This was a primitive approach to multi-tasking which has been fixed in Windows 8. Instead of indiscriminately making the ticker fire every few ms, the kernel makes a discriminate accounting of the outstanding events and adjusts the timer accordingly. This may sound trivial, but it lowers the burden on the CPU, handles timed events more efficiently, and adds that “little adjustment” that changes the speed at which most everything runs on the system.

Narrator

This feature is nearly unknown to the public, yet is very powerful. It can read any text on the screen from any application, and it works very well; however, it takes some time to learn the controls and master. To bring Windows 8 Narrator up, press Windows Button + Enter. Once it’s up and running, you can press Caps Lock + F1 to see the full set of commands.

Dealing with the User Interface

Welcome to the Windows 8 Architecture. Solid at its foundation, terrible at its topmost layer! Good thing you can pull the top off!

The new Windows 8 user interface is called Modern (it was codenamed Metro during development). Modern was supposedly developed to allow cross-platform usability between numerous devices (e.g. computers<->mobile phones<->tablets). In other words, it was to set a standard for the future as Microsoft supposedly acts to bring all forms of devices under one method of use. What’s interesting is the Surface (Tablet) Operating system (Windows RT) is a completely different OS that can’t even run non-windows 8 applications! This means Microsoft could have simply omitted Modern from Windows 8 altogether.

Unfortunately, Modern is here to stay. Microsoft is working to try and bring this “new user experience” to the populace through multiple means, including the upcoming Windows Blue release, which is expected later this year. There is also rumor Microsoft is going to be releasing new versions of its Operating System on a yearly basis instead of every three years. You can lean more about Blue here.

Unless Microsoft suddenly goes out of business or loses their grip on the OS market, people will need to learn the new Modern UI. If users skip Windows 8, you can bet an evolved version will be a part of Windows 9. Taking the Modern UI in small bites isn’t too bad, and even though Microsoft’s forcing Modern on the public is like pushing a marshmallow through a pinhole, it’s easy to learn the basics and work around the bad parts in Windows 8. Let me show you how.

The Windows 8 Start Screen

The Windows 8 Start Screen (which is what Windows 8 boots to as default) really isn’t that bad, I just don’t find it useful or productive at all. The big bulky icons take up too much space, it’s disorganized and hard to visually categorize groups of icons, and the sliding nature (left to right) to compensate for the bulky icons shows it was not designed for PC users. Even though you can Ctrl-Mousewheel to adjust the “size” of the icons, it’s still cumbersome. Fear not. In the lower left corner is the “Desktop” button. Click that (or press +D) and you’re back in normal desktop mode. There is a way to adjust the operating system to auto-boot to desktop mode and avoid the Windows 8 start screen entirely, but it takes numerous adjustments and to be honest, all one needs to do is simply click the Desktop button or press the Desktop keys and they’re back into an environment which is usable on the PC.

Corners, Charms & Shortcuts

Once we’ve escaped the Modern Start Screen, we’re now in familiar territory; however, this isn’t Windows 7. There is no start button! So how do we get links on the screen, get access to the control panel, and engage in other actions we’re accustomed to? I’ll cover all of that here.

First, one must understand the Windows 8 Corners system. Move the mouse to the lower left corner of your screen and the Windows 8 Modern Start icon pops up, allowing you to bring the Modern Start UI up. Move it to the upper left and you’ll get an icon for all the Windows 8 Applications which are currently running. Move the mouse to the upper or lower right side, and the Charms bar comes up, which has 5 key options: Search, Share, Start, Devices and Settings. Once you get these movements down, it all comes together. One final action is moving your mouse to the top center of the screen. When it turns into a hand, drag it. This brings up the Modern UI and allows you to dock a non-windows application on any screen (for multiple screen systems) via the Modern UI system. Personally, I find this useless with a desktop system, but on a tablet, I can see it being useful.

Below is a list of the key shortcuts which make navigating Windows 8 a whole lot easier:

1. +D: Shows the traditional desktop. Press again to minimize all desktop windows.
2. +Q: Search. This opens the search charm, set to whichever app you’re currently using. You can quickly switch to a files search with Windows+F, or settings with Windows+W.
3. +C: Open the Charms bar
4. +H: Share charm
5. +I: Settings charm
6. +Z: Displays the app bar. This gives contextual options in each app.
7. +X: opens the admin menu, which appears where the Start menu used to be.
8. +L: Locks your computer and displays the Lock screen.
9. +F: Search, default to Files Category

Memorize these shortcuts and you’ll be good to go. For a complete list of shortcuts, look here.

Desktop Icons (My Computer, etc)

One of the first things I do when installing a new OS is to put the “My Computer” and other important icons on my desktop. This is very easy to do in Windows 8.

1. Right-click the desktop background (press +D first if you’re in a Modern UI)
2. Select Personalize
3. In the upper Left Corner of the dialogue box, select “Change Desktop Icons”
4. Select the icons you want to display and press OK.

Searching

While searching in Windows 8 must be conducted through the Modern UI, it is fast, efficient, and works well. Hit Ctrl-ESC and start typing. You can then click on either Apps, Files or Settings in the upper right to refine where you want your search to take you. Use +F to default to a “file search”.

Press ESC to exit the Search window and return to the Desktop.

Windows 8 search works very well.

Creating Desktop Icons

One of the most frustrating things in Windows 8 is figuring out how to place application icons on your desktop. Installing Visual Studio 2012? It won’t place an icon on your desktop by default; you have to use the Windows 8 search feature to access it. But fear not, here’s the steps to place any application shortcut on your desktop:

1. Press +C
2. Click Search
3. Find your application, and right-click on it – select “pin to taskbar”
4. Press ESC
5. Find the icon in your taskbar, and while holding down SHIFT select “Send to Desktop”
6. Un-pin it from the task bar (only if you want to clean the taskbar up)

Windows Updates

When you install Windows 8 and run it for the first time you will want to install all available updates. Once the OS is updated, you will then want to install all of your applications and run it again to have the applications updated (such as Microsoft Office, Visual Studio, etc). How do you get to the Windows Updates section?

1. Press +C
2. Select Settings from the Charms Bar
3. At the bottom of the panel, select “Change your PC Settings”
4. Windows Update is at the bottom of the screen
5. Note: ESC does not exit this screen! You must either press +D or click on the lower left corner Start->Desktop to return to the desktop

Staying Away from Windows 8 Specific Applications

I hate to say this, but I recommend all PC users of Windows 8 stay away from Windows 8 specific applications, especially Skype. They’re just terrible and should not exist on any medium other than a mobile device or tablet.

Conclusion

Don’t let the Modern UI drive you away from Windows 8. Yes, it’s cumbersome and in my opinion mainly useless for Desktop users, but as you can see in here, it’s the only bad thing about Windows 8 and it can easily be avoided.

After using Windows 8 and learning how to avoid its pitfalls while embracing its strengths, I recommend people upgrade. The security enhancements alone are worth it, especially with all the malware saturating the internet and constantly blasting Windows 7 which has fundamental design flaws that Windows 8 does not. The speed boosts are also quite noticeable.

Once you learn how to navigate around the Modern UI and embrace the core of Windows 8, you’ll find it’s it’s a fast, solid, robust, reliable, and more advanced Operating System than Windows 7.

References

PCAdvisor’s Windows 8 Review

Windows 8 Under the Hood

Windows 8 Security Review

Windows 8 Virtualization Overview

Windows 8: Six Awesome Tools Nobody Knows About

Windows 8 Under the Hood, Why users should Upgrade

Windows RT Explained

Windows 8 Adoption Report

Windows 8 Keyboard Shortcuts

Windows 7 vs. Windows 8 Speed Tests

Windows 7 vs. Windows 8 Speed Tests: Win 8 winner!

Windows 7 vs. Windows 8 Speed Tests: Start your benches!

Kotaku Windows 8 Speed Tests

How to make Windows 8 boot to Desktop

Windows RT in Trouble

Using Windows 8 File History

Enabling Windows 8 File History

Windows 8 Security taken to the next level

How to Dock and Undock Apps in Windows 8

Windows 8 Security – What’s new?

Windows 8 Refresh PC Tool in action

Using Windows 8 Narrator

Using Windows 8 Search

Many people are unaware of the origins of modern day online gaming. We’re talking about a time prior to The Sierra Network, Meridian 59, and even MUDs. A private multi-user graphical environment which had thousands of users as far back as the late 1970′s. This system was called PLATO, which stood for Programmed Logic for Automated Teaching Operations.

The core of PLATO was based on education and learning; but what happens when you take what could arguably be the most advanced network system in the world and put it in the hands of innovative students and teachers?

These are possibly the only PLATO Journey screenshots in existence

Games. Lots and lots of games. And not just simplistic games, but the opportunity to create (for the first time) truly in-depth multi-user games which encapsulated planning, strategy, and graphics which were (at that time) light years beyond anything else.

PLATO featured hundreds of games ranging from Airfight to Solitaire. When I was only eight years old, I was exposed to version IV of this system by my father who worked for Control Data Corporation (CDC). He would take me to work with him during the weekends and put me in the PLATO room which featured numerous terminals and printers and leave me be for hours. It was nirvana for me; a warm enclosed room with soft lighting, the slight hum of the terminals and the occasional dot matrix sound of the printers going off. During the weekend, there was usually nobody else there. I had it all to myself, and it was wonderful.

Space combat and planetary conquering awaits you!

My father would often bring the terminal home with him on weekends as well, using the built-in 300 baud modem to connect through the phone line. I remember the sheer joy of the shiny silver Hayes 1200 baud modem when they came out, completely removing the latency we had at home with the 300 baud modem.

Moria was my first exposure to a real dungeon crawl, resulting in dozens of pages of mapped levels on graph paper with a mechanical pencil. The step-based “see ahead 1 square” graphics were standard for all 3D dungeon games on Plato. In addition to Moria, I was playing a number of other games such as Wilderness, Empire, Seawar and Drygulch. I would even play Moria with my father (it had basic grouping). That ended when I ran off on my own during a “group outing” to Forest Level 6. My father’s Character got killed, and in Moria death was permanent. Even to this day, he reminds me of “killing his Moria character”. Besides Moria, I remember him playing a game called Labyrinth; another dungeon crawler. I did play it a bit, but never got into it like he did – it was his favorite. While Moria was fun, my first real love became a dungeon romp called Journey.

Empire served as the basis for future space-based games including Space War and other cult classics like Star Trek (the original space combat game). Remember Rogue, the text-based 2d dungeon exploration game? Well, it was based on PLATO’s Orthanc. How about Wizardry? It was based on PLATO games, namely Oubliette. My games – Mordor and Demise, were based on my experience with Avatar and Journey. Wizardry is the perfect example of a game franchise that helped define a generation having roots that come from PLATO. And what about MUDs? The concept for them was alive and well on PLATO (in graphical form no less) long before they became popular on Apple and PC computers. The influence of PLATO is indeed far reaching.

This was state of the art graphics in 1979

To play games on PLATO you had to think, plan, strategize, and most importantly; imagine. The education I received from playing games couldn’t compare with what I was learning in school. For example, in Empire – the space based war game, you had to fly a ship in real time, set course, fire phasers and torpedoes all using an angular and velocity-based system. As a 10 year old, I quickly learned how to shoot photon torpedoes traveling at warp 8 at an enemy off my port bow using proper real-time adjustments of angles and trajectories. While it was fun, little did I know this was priming my brain for logic and problem solving. Another factor was the handling of money. The main game I will cover herein (Avatar) dealt with currency in the billions; and I had to learn early on how to plan the use of money, ensure I didn’t run out, and multiply in denominations of hundreds of thousands and millions. This also educated me in a way school did not. All of these experiences served as the foundation for my career in computers to come; all instigated by simple graphical games where you actually had to think, research, plan, manage and problem solve to play them properly.

That is what led me to one of the finest dungeon crawlers ever made; a game which set the standard for many games to come…

Avatar

Dungeon Romping Awaits you!

This is hands down the most in-depth re-playable old-school dungeon crawler ever made. To this day, it is still played by many die-hard gamers, and just as enjoyable as it was nearly thirty years ago.

Don’t let the simple graphics fool you. Avatar is a highly complex and in-depth gaming experience that rivals even today’s games in “complexity under the hood”. Featuring multiple races, guilds and dynamics relative to spells, usable items, alignments, and management of resources to ensure survival, Avatar undoubtedly set the standard for all fantasy-based dungeon games to come and probably influenced in some capacity every fantasy-based dungeon or even MMOG game today – even if they don’t know it.

This write-up of Avatar simply cannot do it justice. You really have to play it to understand how amazing it was and still is.

One thing that makes Avatar a difficult game is there is no natural regeneration. When you enter the dungeon, you’d better have potions and spells to heal and remove poisons, etc. or you will die. And when you die, only another player can rescue/resurrect you. This ensures players plan ahead and are very, very careful. New characters stay VERY close to the city as opening a poisoned or diseased chest can end in your demise.

Creating your Character is the first thing you do. There are 10 races to choose from with numerous attributes, and these races have different stat ranges, can only join certain guilds, and have numerous attributes that define the maximum age, how fast they acquire experience, how “lucky” they are, what resistances they have and other unique features including the ability to “breathe water”. All characters are a member of the Nomad guild upon creation, and while it’s normal to run a character to a level 30 nomad before switching to another guild, it’s important to research the guilds prior to building a character to make sure you have the proper stats, and both your race and alignment are accepted.

Study the races, guilds and attributes before you create!

Age is a big factor in Avatar because every time you enter town to heal; you age. There are monsters in the dungeon that can age you when they hit you. And if you’re a Human (which has the lowest age range), once you hit 100, you will regularly die of natural causes. While Humans level up very fast compared to the “older races” the age problem is a serious problem as the only items in the gaming world which lower your age are either ultra expensive or very, very rare (Potion of Youth and Dragon’s Blood). This is not to say a player cannot manage a human character; it just takes a lot more effort.

Players can have multiple characters by transferring them to fake holding accounts. Players can also transfer items between these characters, which allows for bank characters and easy transfer of items and gold. Each character has 56 item slots.

The City is the central hub of Avatar. Here you can find the Bank, Store, Guilds, Morgue, and review your Spells. The Store is the central place for commerce, and as Avatar is multi-player, the contents of the store can change regularly. Items come in 4 flavors – aligned (Good, Neutral or Evil) or unaligned. This creates some solid diversity when you find high level and important items. You can have a Good character who finds an uber sword that’s evil. Either pony up the gold to realign the sword, sell it, or trade it to somebody. If a Good character equips an Evil item, it acts as cursed and has negative effects. But there’s much more to items; when you find them in chests, they are unidentified and classified based on your character’s intelligence. So a really dumb character may find a “Weapon” they have to pay the store to Identify it into a “Dagger” which is further identified into a “Steel Dagger” which is finally identified as a “Steel Dagger (e)”. This can be quite costly and requires learned knowledge on where to spend your money as some items are ultra expensive to identify then end up selling for 1 gold because they are cursed. Some items can also have charges if they cast spells. Potions and such disappear when the charges are gone while weapons and armor can be “recharged” for a fee at the store. Players can also combine and de-combine items in the store. Have two potions with 3 charges each? Turn them into one potion of six charges! This saves item slots. Have a potion with 200 combined charges and want to break out 5 of those charges for use? Not a problem!

The Bank is very important as it is the only way to ensure the protection of gold and items from being stolen or destroyed in the dungeon. Players also use the Bank to also store root items with numerous charges for “breaking into” smaller charges for dungeon runs. For example, an Elven Potion casts resist magic and is used for nearly every dungeon run by the majority of characters (resist magic lowers the chance of being turned to stone or destroyed . Players will often stockpile  a “master” Elven Potion with say 150 charges in their bank. They will then break off 5 charges at a time to keep in their inventory for use. Imagine what would happen if a player lost their master Elven Potion of 150 charges to a slime monster!

It’s important to note that you can only permanently raise your stats by finding certain items, namely tomes and potions. Certain monsters can drain your stats as well, which means players need to “upkeep” their drained stats after a long journey in the dungeon!

The Morgue is used to resurrect dead players and companions (covered below) for a… nominal fee. Guilds are a key part of the game and define the Class which the character represents. All characters start out as a Nomad, and while they can join multiple guilds, age becomes a factor as each guild you join ages you 10-15 years (training is hard!). For this reason, character generally level up to 30 as a Nomad and then switch to their “main guild”. You can only level up in the city and at your guild… for a nominal fee. Quests can also be assigned by your guild – to kill a monster or return with an item. This can pose quite a challenge when a rare monster or item is assigned. And in the ultra rare instance, an item can be assigned (much later in the game) that is so difficult to find, players might have to abandon the character for another until it’s found. The Maximum level in Avatar is 999 and it takes on average 400-500 hours to reach max level. Also, when you’re gaining experience for your next level you can “pin” which means you have 1 experience point less than being able to make two levels and cannot gain any additional experience until you level up. This forces players to “go up for air” when they’ve maxed out the experience they can earn before they level up. This is how players can get stuck; by receiving quests for monsters that are very hard to find, resulting in “pinning” and not obtaining any experience while looking for the monster.

Monkeymen are like candy to a growing low level character; high in experience and low in risk! Rare to run into, but delicious when found!

There are numerous spells in the game, and what is available depends on your guild. Damage, healing, teleporting, resurrection, chest unlocking; there is a lot for the player to choose from. Players can also load spells into buffers so all they need to do is hit Shift-# in order to cast the spell. As a player levels up, the cost of casting spells goes down, and spells become a centerpiece for strategic fighting, even for non-spell based characters. For example, Warriors have no offensive spells, but they end up finding and using items which cast spells; and depending on the target monster, how many groups there are and the threat level, one must choose very carefully. It’s important to remember players have a finite number of spell points, and once they’re gone; they’re gone until the player either returns to the city or uses an item which can give spell points (usually in emergency circumstances). Magic users must plan the use of every spell and make sure they don’t run out of points while deep in the dungeon or they’ll be in big trouble!

The Dungeon is where the magic happens. Avatar is a grid-based maze system with 16 levels that are 30×30 in size. Within this dungeon are a number of serious dangers including chutes which drop you levels, pits, darkness squares, illusion squares, water, quicksand, stud rooms (tougher monsters) and more. You can see all of the mapped levels at this website. Think having a complete map is going to save you? Wait until you accidentally open a Teleporter chest or make a mistake and step on the wrong square. It will happen, and you will get lost. One thing that differentiated Avatar from the other dungeon crawlers that came before it was the player could move (or run) while in combat. This added a different dynamic to the strategy allowing for evasive maneuvering of hostile monsters, or easy walking through peaceful monsters. Other games locked you in combat until you or the monsters were dead.

Welcome to Level 1 of Avatar! Stay close to town!

Since there is no regeneration, trips into the dungeon can become quite the excursion, especially at the higher levels. You’d better have sufficient healing, curing and teleporting capabilities, or you can find yourself in big trouble. Most higher level characters teleport vs. running to the depths because of the amount of time it takes; but for those who do run to the bottom, there are distinct paths of transport they follow, taking advantage of static teleporters and chutes.

Planning also includes ensuring you are prepared for the well known nasties that begin starting on level 3 where monsters can paralyze, drain, and stone you. As such, players who are familiar with the game do not venture onto the 3rd level without magic resistance, draining resistance and paralysis resistance. While potions can offer these resistances, there are common items (such as a White Cloak) which players look to acquire before they set foot on level 3 because of the risk.

Within the dungeon, certain monsters appear in certain areas, and over time the player learns what spawns where. This is critically important when quests are assigned by your guild.

Players can form parties together, but most players run two accounts at once to ensure survival (if one character dies, the other can resurrect or carry the body back to town). With the cyberserv.org system being so easy to access with two 512×512 windows, having two accounts is common. Some players even run four accounts at once (which is discussed below).

Monster Hunting becomes a very common event when one player gets a quest to kill a hard to find creature. Soon, numerous adventurers can be scouring an entire level looking for that “necessary kill” to level up. When another player finds the monster they’ll yell “Found it! X,Y,Z! Hurry!” This creates a fun dynamic where players rush from point to point in the dungeon in the hopes they can get to the creature before the room “repopulates” with something different.

Uh oh. Something went very wrong here…

Monsters & Combat are at the center of gameplay for Avatar. Combat is turned based, with each turn taking roughly 3 seconds. During this time you can fight, run or cast spells/use items. There are numerous monsters of different types; undead, water-based, elementals, giants, etc. and these types can affect how useful your weapon is, if your spells will work, and your overall ability to defeat them. And the monsters get nasty. They can steal your unequipped items and gold, turn you to stone (insta-killing you), drain your stats, paralyze you, age you, and even slime any item in your inventory (including an equipped item!). What can I say; old school is nasty. Be prepared to die. A lot.

There can be up to four groups of monsters, and if I recall a total of 12 in each group, although most monsters come in just one group of 2-3 and when there are multiple groups there’s usually 2-3 in each group. Occasionally the player will encounter “Named” monsters, so instead of running into “1 Poltergeist” they will encounter “Poltergeist” defining it as a special monster. Special monsters almost always have followers (multiple groups). Based on the followers and group 1 monster, the player may choose to kill the other groups before the first group, giving the option of “switching groups” and then taking combat action.

Weapon swings are a big deal in Avatar. When you start out, you can equip your hands, which can give you two swings (and the ability to kill two monsters at once), or use a one swing weapon (such as an iron dagger) which may hit harder, but will never do the second strike. Most players use their hands until they can get a strong 2 swing weapon like a Steel Dagger.

Spells are also critical, and ultimately kill the most monsters in a single round (save a Ninja with Hands of Destruction; but Word of Death can still outperform it).

Certain monsters require more powerful weapons to kill. For example, the player may run into a level 2 monster in a level 1 stud room which requires Iron to hit, so hands have “no effect”. The same goes for deeper monsters; soon, a Steel Dagger won’t have any effect on some creatures from level 4 or below, requiring an upgrade.

Spawning is an important issue as well. Depending on how many people are playing and going through the area, a dungeon that’s empty on the way down can be full on the way up…

Dungeon Levels 1-2 are pretty easy; most players focus on finding “Monkeymen” groups to level up as quick as possible, but it still takes days just to reach level 40. Level 3 is where the real challenge begins. This is where a player will first encounter monsters that can turn you to stone (Filaries), monsters that can drain your stats (Ximyuti) and teleporter chest traps. Common rule of thumb is don’t hit Level 3 until you have a White Cloak, which gives drain resistance. Level 4 brings Giant Leeches; massive groups of nasty critters that can lay a character down in just 1-2 rounds (unless a magic class that blast them first), and Pelagons, nasty fire breathing dragons that do a ton of damage. And Level 5 brings on the Sorcerers; monsters that are capable of “Destroying” you in a single shot (better have your Magic Resistance on!). All of these dangers require very specific preparation, resistances and planning. And that’s just the first 5 levels! The dangers compound as you venture further down…

Companions are another key part of Avatar. Players can use spells (through their guild or from items) to “charm” creatures to help them fight in combat, and as players venture deeper, companions can save your life by taking sneak attacks by 1-hit monsters. Companions can also decide to leave you, so that uber monster you charmed with a scroll a few hours ago may suddenly decide to leave your side right before a critical battle. Be careful! A character can have four companions, but can only carry one dead one, so if all four die, only one can be carried back to the city to be resurrected at the Morgue. If you pick up a dead player, the companion is dropped.

Waiting for a Guild Wars 2 Event in the background while Playing Avatar. New meets Old!

Chests & Treasure serve as the driving force for adventure. While the player can occasionally find an item drop from a non-chest monster, 99% of the time, items are found in chests. The problem is chests are often trapped, and if a character lacks the proper skills, the traps can kill you instantly. The Chest side of Avatar is a big part of things as some chests are Magically Locked. The only way to open them is with a Charm of Opening Spell, which can only be cast by four guilds: Nomad, Thief, Scavenger and Villain. There is a Ring of Opening players can find which can be recharged; it’s expensive, making sure use of the spell is for monster groups likely to have stronger treasure drops. Chests show behind monsters, and can often be identified during combat, but sometimes, if the monsters are rough and the skill isn’t high enough, a player cannot access a chest until the monsters are dead; however classes such as Thieves are adept at opening (or stealing) chests under a monster’s nose and running away with the contents. Two marks appear for a chest, what trap you think it is and what you think your chances of disarming it are; and of course I’m talking about Traps, which are really nasty. They include poison gas, disease, slime (destroys contents of chest), age, teleporter, stone, and a few others I can’t recall. Fate is an interesting one as it can adjust your hit and spell points; this can be good or bad depending on whether or not you are low on hits and spells!

Death is not pretty in Avatar. Remember, this is an old school hardcore game. Granted death is not permanent, when you die, the only way to live again is to have a player rescue you and either resurrect you or take you to the Morgue. If you are resurrected in the Morgue or died from being turned to stone, you always lose a point of constitution. Most player resurrects are 98% chance of success. That 2% failure is the most feared aspect of the game. Complications can ravage and destroy a character. You lose 5 points on Constitution and 3 points from all other stats points from each of your character’s statistics. The character also ages 15 years and loses “max” hit points. The amount of hits lost depends on the guild, but the core equation is 20% * Level * Guild HP Gain. So a level 200 character will probably use around 80 hit points. A character can recover, but if the character ages too much or loses too many hits, the character is usually abandoned.

It’s not uncommon to die after becoming lost. This creates yet another problem for players to solve. As such, another character needs to locate your body using either a spell or an item that casts the locate spell. Remember how I talked about teleporting earlier? Well, some squares of the dungeon are rock. If you put in the wrong coordinates, you can teleport into the rock. There is only one class with one spell which can “fetch essence” to pull you out and a resurrection from rock guarantees complications.

Dominator: a Warrior’s Wet Dream – yours for the bargain price of $119M!

Economy & Balance are two of the key qualities that make Avatar such an amazing game for its time. First, the economy is based on a finite amount of gold. There is a base value that all found gold is taken from and there will never be more gold in the world than the base value defines. While one may think that could allow players to hoard gold and items over time to “kill” the economy this has never happened because of the numerous gold and item “taking” methods built into the game ranging from stealing monsters to slime traps, identification of items (including cursed items which have no sell value) and the “leveling up” gold sink. This model was light years ahead of its time and while new players were blown away to see items selling for $15M to $500M or more in the store, when they found that first “uber item” they couldn’t really afford to identify but still sold for $8M they are able to build their cash reserves quickly. But drains can happen ultra quick and high level characters can find themselves running out of money due to recharging items which are very expensive but necessary to wander the depths of the game. The Alignment aspect of Avatar is a big factor too; if you’re an evil character and find an amazing item which isn’t for sale in the store (because it’s rare) and it’s good; you have to pay a ton of cash to realign it. This happens quite often.

There’s a magical balance to Avatar that can only be experienced through gameplay. And I’m not talking about just economy; I mean the game as a whole. While there are harsh consequences built into the game such as permanent item destruction (even equipped items) and death complications, these “systems” work out well. Even aging, which ultimately becomes an issue sooner or later, guarantee at one point (unless you can continually find anti-aging means) your character will be too old to play anymore. This is part of the grand design.

There are three Versions of Avatar on the cyberserv.org PLATO network. The original (old) version of Avatar is called 2Avatar. That’s what I grew up playing. Nobody really plays it and it’s said to be “broken” in a few areas. The most popular version is zAvatar. This is the persistent ”normal” difficulty game which almost always has people in it. Then we have vAvatar which is reset once a year and is much harder in difficulty, allowing for monsters from up to three levels below to appear. Many players run four characters (and accounts) at once on vAvatar because it’s necessary to survive. When vAvatar is reset, it is slammed with people trying to “lead the pack” on character development and item finds.

Conclusion

Avatar and numerous other games from PLATO had a monumental impact on modern gaming; the extent of which will never be known.  But more importantly, we can learn a lot from what was built back in the days of true innovation and leading edge passion and design. I’ve found it is often a good thing to pause and take a look back at where we came from; to once again revisit our roots to see if they provide some form of inspiration that we do not receive today.

The good news is we don’t just have to remember or research; we can experience these fantastic games today on the Cyber1 system. Visit this site, watch the videos, and then click on Get a Signon. I recommend selecting the izprog group (say unknown for system), and make sure you put something in the feedback stating you are creating an account to try out Avatar and other legacy games. When you get to the AUTHOR MODE page, simply type “zavatar” and hit F9. I highly recommend reading the entire helplesson before you create a character; and capture the screens with the racial and guild data so you can plan. Enjoy, and if you do have fun playing Avatar, be sure to Donate to the Cyber 1 system and the folks who run it. Also, you can find maps for zAvatar here.

Television & Entertainment System, Computer System, Computer Games, Mobile Phone, Tea Maker, Rice Cooker, Headphones, Movie Set (Blu-ray), Shoes & Socks, Auto Detail Kit, Water Filter System, Book Set, Cables

Television & Entertainment System

Finding the best buy on a complete quality Entertainment System can be challenging since many of the “packaged systems” are lower quality, lack features, or are last years’ specials (Costco is notorious for selling things that are a good 6-12+ months old or discontinued). Fear not! Below is a direct link to the best “bang for buck” components money can buy for a complete HDTV Blu-Ray 7.1 Home Theater system!

LG 60PM6700 60-Inch 1080p 600Hz Active 3D Plasma HDTV (Amazon $1,164)

With Wi-fi and 3D Processing, I believe this TV is the best bang for the buck on the market. While LCDs do have lower power consumption and are held as being a bit more “vibrant” for brightly colored movies (such as animated, etc), Plasmas are still king of “dark movies” such as Lord of the Rings or Star Wars. Additionally, a comparable LCD will generally be more than twice the price.

Onkyo HT-S9400THX 7.1 Surround System (NewEgg $729)

This is hands down the best “complete” 7.1 system on the market.  The only problem is the system does not come with speaker stands or mounts. Don’t worry; they’re listed below! One very important thing to consider; the receiver is 7″ high. This means it will not fit in many TV stands (their shelves don’t have the clearance). This is why I recommend the below stand; the receiver fits in it perfectly. If you choose another stand, make sure it has 7″ of clearance for the receiver!

Tech-Craft Bernini Series Black 60″ Metal Frame LCD/Plasma TV Stand (Cymax Stores $258.98)

This stand is high quality, beautiful, and perfectly fits the Onkyo receiver and anything else you need to put in it; including the center speaker for the Onkyo system (which I put in the top shelf).

Sanus Basic 31″ Wood Speaker Stands (BF-31B) (Amazon $39.99/pair - Get 3 pairs!)

As mentioned, the Onkyo system doesn’t come with its own mounts or stands. These speaker stands look great and are perfect for the system. Don’t forget to order 3 pairs!

Sony Playstation 3 160GB Black (NewEgg $249)

The most powerful blu-ray player on the market for the money. If you don’t have a blu-ray player, or want to “upgrade”, get yourself a PS3.

Total Entertainment System Price: $2,520.95 + shipping

Computer System

While prebuilt systems are easy to order and are generally plug and play, I’m a firm believer that having the best bang for the buck really requires one to buy all of the components individually and build the system yourself. Not only is it fun, but you know exactly what’s in your system and more importantly; that you can safely overclock it to 4.5GHz or higher! Both buildouts below include every item you need to get up and running with a new gaming computer system. While these configurations include Windows 8, you can replace Windows 8 with Windows 7; it’s all a matter of preference – just make sure you select the 64-bit version.

Overclocking these systems is cake; you can easily do it through the BIOS. I recommend shooting for at least 4.5GHz, and with the Hyper 212 EVO heat sink you should easily be able to hit 4.8 and keep the CPU under 70C. While the CPU is built to sustain temperatures under 90C, I recommend making sure it never spikes above 80C.

Ultimate Gaming System (NewEgg $2,775)

This monster 3rd generation i7 system features 3x 28″ monitors (for a total desktop size of 5760 x 1080), a 4GB 680GTX series nVidia video card, and a 5.1 Surround Sound. It’s everything a gamer/hardcore user needs. This system also features two SSD (Solid State Drives). One for boot (C:) and one for gaming (E:). The Hard Drive is the D drive (data storage, etc). If you get this system, install Steam and any other games on the E: drive to run them from the SSD. I recommend configuring C: as SSD 1, D: as HDD 1, and E: as SSD 2.

One of the nice things about the latest video cards is you no longer need two of them to run 3 monitors. You can run 3 from a single card; but you need to make sure you have a good 4GB of vRAM rather than 2GB to prevent bottlenecking. Here’s how you configure 3 monitors with a 600 series video card.

Excellent Gaming System (Newegg $1,875)

Featuring the same “guts” as the Ultimate Gaming System, this configuration only has one monitor, a 560 series video card, one SSD (for your C: boot drive), and uses the G930 headset vs. the 5.1 surround system.

Computer Games

2012 was a fantastic year for computer games, and there are many more choices than what I list below, but I can personally endorse the below games as absolutely fantastic and worth every penny.

Guild Wars 2 (ArenaNet $59.99)

I believe this is the best MMOG currently on the market. It’s subscription free (e.g. a 1 time purchase), is visually beautiful, and an outright work of art. You can read my review on this game here.

Borderlands 2 (Steam Store $44.95)

Nominated as Game of the Year for 2012, if you want something that’s a bit more gritty and fun in a “crazy” way, Borderlands 2 delivers. Unless you’re giving it to a timid housewife who thinks nickelodeon has violent programming, you can’t really go wrong with this game.

Mobile Phone

Many people are unaware of Amazon Wireless; possibly the best way to purchase a mobile phone. Order a phone and have it on your front porch two days later, ready for a single call-in activation. That, and their pricing is better than any store.

Samsung Galaxy S3 (Amazon Wireless $79 with Contract)

I used both the Galaxy S3 and iPhone 5 prior to deciding to purchase a Galaxy S3. I prefer the Android Operating system and the overall “feel” of the phone. You can’t go wrong with this awesome piece of technology.

Tea Maker

I cannot express to you how absolutely awesome the below tea maker is. We’ve been using ours multiple times a day for years; it is hands down the best brewer money can buy.

Breville BTM800XL One-Touch Tea Maker (Amazon $249)

If you drink loose leaf tea, you must buy this maker. When you get it, you will wonder how you ever made tea without it. Featuring perfect automated brewing times and temperatures, this is a must-have for anyone who drinks tea regularly.

Rice Cooker

Don’t laugh. While there are a ton of cheap rice cookers on the market that work, all of them are carcinogen-generating cheap units that aren’t worth your time and money. A real rice cooker that a family can safely use regularly must be stainless steel to ensure the nasty chemicals don’t get baked into the food every time it’s used.

Stainless Steel Rice Cooker by Miracle Exclusives (Amazon $63.99)

Eat rice? Buy this. We’ve had ours for years. It’s ultra easy to clean and doesn’t have any carcinogenic coating. It’s the best home rice cooker money can buy.

Headphones

My wife is thrilled I finally got headphones. Now she doesn’t have to sit behind me listening to my blasting of crazy targets in Borderlands or listen to music from my collection that she “does not like”. But more importantly; they’re wireless!

Logitech G930 USB Connector Circumaural Wireless Gaming Headset (NewEgg $104.99)

It’s hard to believe you can get 7.1 surround sound in a wireless headset, but Logitech has pulled it off. This headset is a must-have for any gamer who needs to turn their volume down (or off) due to complaints by roommates, annoyed spouses, or irritable neighbors. Additionally  you will have a better “sound experience” with these as you play immersive games that support 5.1 or 7.1 sound. This headset is the best bang for the buck, features a good 8+ hours of wireless 7.1 surround between charges, and easily charges through a micro-USB connector.

Movie Set (Blu-Ray)

Getting the best bang for the buck is important, especially when it comes to HDTV and Blu-ray purchases, which are often overly expensive. Don’t worry – I’ve got a fantastic pick for you this year!

Harry Potter: The Complete 8 Film Collection [Blu-ray] (Amazon $66.69)

No kidding. All 8 movies in High Definition Blu-Ray for under $70. It doesn’t get any better than that. This makes an excellent gift for anyone who wants a fantastic movie series to add to their collection. Jump on it!

Shoes & Socks

It’s Christmas time. This means millions of people throughout the world will receive the yearly regiment of Shoes and Socks. Why not mix it up a little?

Vibram FiveFingers KSO Multisport Shoes (REI Overstock $49.93)

I’ve been wearing these for years and recommend them to anyone who wants to try something different. They’re simply fantastic. You can tromp through the desert, wear them as you put on your snorkeling fins, and use them for any and all daily activities! The only catch is they use a different sizing system. Fear not, it’s easy to determine through the Vibram Online Sizing Tool!

Injinji Performance Original Weight Crew Toesocks (Amazon $12.00/pair)

If you get your hands on some Vibram FiveFingers, you’ll need new toed socks. Injinji makes the best. I recommend having two or three pairs for your new “monkey shoes”!

Auto Detail Kit

I began to do my own auto detailing when I got my first sports car back in the late 90′s: a 1993 Twin Turbo Supra. After that, I owned NSXs and then went to Corvettes. My latest babies were a Lexus LS430 and Toyota Highlander. While they aren’t sports cars, they definitely deserve some detail love. I spent years going through all of the car waxes, washes and numerous detail Kits. Zaino, Zymol, McGuires; you name it – I’ve used it. My current personal favorite is Adam’s.

Adam’s Basic Car Wash & Wax Kit (Adam’s Website $99.95)

A great starter kit for somebody who wants to take care of their car and make it beautiful. Wax on … Wax off!

Adam’s Essentials Detail Kit (Adam’s Website $174.95)

This kit is perfect for anyone who wants to begin their journey down the road of becoming a true detailer. Not only will you make your car beautiful, you will learn the intricate details of taking care of paint and interior. If the water doesn’t bead, it’s time to get to work!

Water Filtration System

I’ve made sure every house I’ve lived in since the 90′s has some sort of under the sink water filtration system installed. You know these things make a huge difference not only by the taste of the water, but also by what the filters look like six months after you start using the kit. After you see what they catch, you won’t drink tap water again.

iSpring 75GPD 5-Stage Reverse Osmosis Water Filter System (Amazon $169.99)

This kit is fantastic and currently the best bang for the buck. If you don’t have an under the sink filtration system, get this. It makes all the difference; not just for drinking, but your coffee and tea will taste better, too!

Book Set

There is one book set to which there is no comparison. A must have for any family or individual that wishes to ensure proper reading is always available to anyone with both brains and a sense of humor.

Gary Larson: The Complete Far Side (Amazon $110.25)

I purchased this two-book hardcover collection a few years ago and never looked back. This is the ultimate gift, coffee table completion, and bathroom treatise. A must have for… everyone. Be warned though. Placing these books in your bathroom may result in extended use.

Cables

How much do people spend on HDMI, DVI and CAT6 Ethernet cables? Let’s explore. Want a 25′ HDMI Cable? Best Buy will gouge you for $149. This is simply insane. How about an optical cable for your Audio Connection? Try picking that up at Radio Shack and it’ll cost you $29.99. How about CAT-6 Ethernet cables for your LAN? Another $25 at Best Buy or Target. The costs quickly add up and waste your money. Time to put a stop to that. You can order these cables directly from the manufacturer for a fraction of the price… and when I say fraction… I mean 1/10th the price or less.

PI Manufacturing Corp (Assorted Cables at 10% the cost or less!)

This company is simply amazing, and once I started ordering from them, I never looked back. Remember that $149 25′ HDMI cable from Best Buy? $9.95 from PI Manufacturing. That’s 6.7% the cost of what Best Buy Charges. But it doesn’t stop there. What about a 10′ Cat6 Ethernet cable? $1.70 from PI. And the quality is just as good, if not better, than what you would find at retail stores.

There is no better place to buy cables or converters. Period.

First lets look at the general costs. You can host up to 10 websites for free on Azure. Want a Virtual Machine? It costs $0.013/hr ($9.36/mo) for an Extra Small (1GHz 768MB RAM) VM or $0.16/hr ($115.20/mo) for a Medium (2 x 1.6GHz CPU, 3.5GB RAM) VM. Want 100GB of Geo Redundant Storage? $12.50/mo. How about a 5GB of SQL Database storage? A mere $25.98/mo. 10GB of Bandwidth? $0.60/mo. You can check out the full price calculator here.

These are very competitive prices, and Azure provides a great easy to access and manage infrastructure.

Microsoft wants you to join on up! Use their services! Store your Data on their reliable, powerful and great priced servers, and it’s not just for big businesses either; it’s for everyone – including single developers, mom and pop shops, and small companies.

Now for the catch. Microsoft charges by the hour to host a SQL Reporting Service (SSRS) report. This means if you want to build a SQL Report (which is a free download) and host it on Azure to generate a report, it’s going to cost you roughly $650/mo to have that single report up and running 24/7, and everyone who uses SSRS knows once a report is “published” for use/view, it stays live for 24/7, often weeks, months, or even longer.

Microsoft is charging per hour just to host a single report, regardless of whether or not it’s even used! This approach guarantees any SQL Report, regardless of its use is charged simply for existing. Apparently the folks at Microsoft believe hosting a report is like hosting a Virtual Machine. The only problem is a SQL Report doesn’t use any resources unless its actually used. For all intensive purposes, a SQL Report is no different than a website… which Azure hosts 10 of for free.

Microsoft’s pricing model for Azure SQL Reporting is a sham. Most users won’t know about the charges until it’s too late because charging by the hour to host a report is so irrational and ridiculous, most people who use the service won’t believe they are using this pricing model, especially as they have been “pulled in” by the logical “great pricing” of the other key systems.

So they entice you to host your data with them, but if you want to generate reports relative to the data, look out. They nail you.

I found out about this the hard way. I published a single report on our Azure infrastructure (for testing) and a week later saw our bill had skyrocketed. When I called their support, I was handed from one person to another until I finally got to a manager who did not know Microsoft was using this sort of pricing model. They admitted it was ridiculous and made no sense and they would “look into it”. That was roughly a month ago.

The Solution: the good news is it’s easy to get SQL Reporting Services for less than 1/10th the cost Microsoft is forcing on its users, and you can directly access your Azure SQL Data with these alternative report hosting solutions. You can build your Report and configure it to access your Azure SQL Database and then host that report on an outside Virtual Server hosting SQL 2012 and SSRS. Just one example is SQL Server Mart. You can host with them for $39.99/mo. There are many other SQL hosting solutions out there as well, but you get the idea.

Until Microsoft fixes their sham pricing for SQL Reporting, use an alternative host. It works just fine. Don’t get me wrong; Azure works. It’s solid, cost effective, fast and reliable. Just stay away from its SQL Reporting.

Release Date: August 28, 2012 (Headstart August 25, 2012)
Game Type: MMORPG (Fantasy)
Custom Features: Level Down System, Crafting Discovery, Interactive combat, Underwater system, Dynamic Events, Lage-scale World vs. World (WvW)
Strengths: Combat, Environments & Underwater, Events, Graphics, Crafting
Weaknesses: Social System, lack of Trading, Market Downtime
Notes: A leading edge next generation fantasy MMOG which has set standards for future MMOGs
Billing Style: Initial Purchase, Free to Play with Marketplace

Sections: Content, Economy, Mechanics, Gameplay, Community & Support, Technical, Conclusion, Resources

The original Guild Wars captured the hearts of gamers by selling more than 6,000,000 units after it was released in April of 2005. It presented a new type of fantasy-based online gaming with a focus on PvP and group combat. Ever since ArenaNet announced the next version of their established and popular and successful franchise, Guild Wars 2 has captured the interest of gamers throughout the world; and rightly so. Guild Wars 2 delivers on nearly every front the MMOG community has been hungry for. It is a refined product offering engaging combat, beautiful environments (both above water and underwater), enjoyable storylines, a living world with players and dynamic events, and a challenging economy and crafting system which rewards players for their efforts. Sporting a wide breath of PvE and PvP content, Guild Wars 2 is a “next generation” MMOG; primarily due to the “Dynamic Events” and “Level Down” system which opens all of the game’s content to every character, no matter the level. One thing is certain; when you play GW2 you always feel like you’re accomplishing something. In less than one month, GW2 has sold more than 2,000,000 units.

GW2 focused on addressing numerous traditional MMOG issues including the “class role” dilemma so prevalent in MMOGs. Their initial method of changing the way players worked together was to remove a healer class altogether; instead they gave healing abilities to every class. This changed the dynamic of players adopting the traditional “LF1M Healer for <raid>”.

The beauty of Greyhoof Meadows

Another powerful dynamic of GW2 is players are driven to help each other. This is because players cannot “take” from one another (i.e. resources are instanced for each character, there’s no kill stealing, and loot is shared); there is an underlying drive to simply help out. This is very apparent as players work together to clear enemies from resource nodes and support each other on a regular basis. In other MMOGs a player out on their own fighting a losing battle may often see other higher level characters running by, ignoring their plight. GW2 entices players to help everyone they see because it’s always rewarding.

GW2 has an excellent story-telling part of the game for each race, and it is is very well done. Players are presented with multiple choices they can make which branch off  into different sub-stories, allowing for a distinct variation. The unique storytelling artistic style flows very well and rolls into the game through the UI and environments. While the Social “communication” side of Guild Wars 2 is lacking in a number of areas, the overall “fun factor” makes up for this deficiency.

The game is fast-paced and designed to always have something going on within range of your character. Constant events, well-spaced outposts, towns, enemy and resource spawn points make for a delightful balance of content the player can experience.

But make no mistake; regardless of the fact GW2 is truly a “next generation” MMOG, the game is all about combat; and they did a fantastic job making combat more advanced than any other fantasy MMOG I’m aware of, which includes it being smooth, fun and very engaging.

GW2 is a very large game, and this is probably the most in-depth review I have written. Not only will I cover the game features, I will also provide game-related information many players may not even be aware of. So sit down, buckle up, and let’s dive into this new MMOG!

Welcome to The Vigil, one of the three orders a character can join.

Content

Races, Professions, Creation & Customization, Lore, Quests (My Story), World, Events & Tasks, Towns & Cities, Dungeons, Ambiance, NPCs & Enemies, and Tutorial

The content of GW2 is simply fantastic. Players will have fun customizing the look of their characters, learning the lore of the world, engaging in the storyline quests and exploring the vast and beautiful world. Numerous challenging dynamic events paired with fun-filled tasks will lead a player between a number of towns, cities and dangerous dungeons. This stunning living world is filled with numerous friends and enemies.

The game features 5 playable races (Asura, Charr, Human, Norm and Sylvari). Each race is unique in its own way with the Asura and Charr having the most differing visual representation. The race a player chooses does more than defines the look; it also defines the storyline a player will experience and the starting region as well.

There are 8 professions (in GW2 classes are called professions) derived from 3 categories: Soldier (Guardian and Warrior), Adventurer (Engineer, Ranger and Thief), and Scholar (Elementalist, Mesmer and Necromancer). Each profession has a different set of skills and traits which can be selected as a character advances, allowing for specific types of play within a profession. For example, while a Ranger is traditionally a bow/ranged based class, the variation in profession skills and traits allows for the player to build a melee version of the ranger, a hybrid melee/ranged, or even a “pet ravager” build where the Ranger focuses on enforcing and maintaining its pet’s power against its target. Each profession has a number of different trait combinations the player can build out (covered later on), which will dramatically change the play-style of the character. Ultimately, each profession has very different play styles, and in the end all of them are just plain fun.

Note: The game gives you five character slots to start out with; the concept behind this is to allow a player to create one character of each race; but to expand the number of characters, a player must purchase additional slots through the Marketplace (covered under Economy).

Creating a Charr Engineer

Creation and Customization is a fun and engaging process as the visual diversity in characters is fantastic; some of the best I’ve seen in a MMOG. Players first select their race, sex, and profession. Once those core selections are made, they can can engage defining a wide variety of adjustments including body features, head options, face details and even dye colors. A player will also select the background of their character by answering a number of personality and race-based questions which helps define the starting equipment, history, and the overall arc of the personal storyline for the character. There is also a lot of flexibility in naming a new character as spaces and capital letters are allowed within the 19-letter limit. This results in some very interesting name combinations.

The Lore of GW2 is well written, strongly integrated into the world, and directly connects to a Character’s personal Storyline (or “My Story”). The storyline includes numerous sequential quests a character is sent on as they advance through levels, but the player can also “choose your own adventure” which branches off into different options based on what a character decides.

The World is very large (to get an idea you can check out GW2 Cartographers) with numerous outposts, towns and a number of cities, one of which is outright massive (the largest I’ve seen in a MMOG). The environments are broken into zones, which are very diverse and include grasslands, forests, caves, dungeons, snow-capped mountains, barren wastelands and swamps. Another unique aspect of GW2 is all of the underwater areas are living, breathing and fully exploratory. This truly makes the entire map discoverable and adds a different dimension to the game as underwater exploration and combat were not an afterthought as they are in so many other MMOGs. There are numerous regions on the world map which are not available at launch, such as the Crystal Desert, Elon River, Scavenger’s Causeway, and many others. Players can probably expect these new zones in future expansions. The world also contains numerous “jumping puzzles” for players to solve, which often awards an achievement and/or treasure chest. (Skill Challenges and Vistas are covered below under Gameplay:Exploration)

Note: if a player needs help with a a boss or event, they can shift-click the closest waypoint to link it in chat, directing others to their location!

The Bloodtide Coast

Events are a key feature of GW2 and done in a fashion which is much more dynamic than any other MMOG. While RIFT was the first fantasy-based MMOG to really focus on “zone events” that bring people together, ArenaNet took that idea a step further and worked to define multiple events within a zone which could take place at the same time and dynamically adjust the experience of the player. Regardless of where you are, if you’re running around in the world, chances are you’ll encounter an event within running range you can participate in. In addition to loot drops from the event creatures, they reward Experience, Karma and Gold. Reward levels (awarded based on your participation compared to others) are Bronze, Silver and Gold. Events also scale up based on player count (which can include tougher mobs, more of them, and even adjust the skills the mobs have). If you’re by yourself, you can probably do an event, but it may be tough. If there’s a big group with you, expect some serious resistance. One issue with Events is players will “harvest” them, especially those events which are on a frequent timer. I do think events needs to be more dynamic and unpredictable to prevent players from camping and taking advantage of them.

Another unique aspect to GW2 is that of Tasks. These are area based quests spread throughout the world that any character can participate in (referenced on the map by a little heart). When the player enters a region where an uncompleted task is located, it appears in the upper right corner of their map, and gives instructions on what they can do to participate. As the player engages in acts of participation (such as kill mobs or harvest items), a progress bar grows until it reaches 100%. Once the task is complete, the character is mailed some reward money and the task giver turns into a karma vendor where players can purchase karma items. This is how GW2 handles quests (separate from the storyline and events), and each zone has a certain number of available tasks. The reward scales based on your unadjusted level, so many players wait until level 80 before they go back and complete all tasks (which makes them more money).

The Gates of Arah Event in Cursed Shore

Towns and outposts are spread throughout the world of GW2, and each race has their own major city. In addition, there are hub cities such as Lion’s Arch and and the massive Divinity’s Reach (the largest city in a MMOG I’ve ever seen; and it is truly majestic). Outposts and small Towns generally contain merchants and repair NPCs while larger towns can feature trainers and crafting stations. One interesting dynamic with GW2 is you never feel like you are operating from a “hub town”. You are constantly moving and advancing. This is both good and bad. Gone are the nostalgic memories from MMOGs which pointed you from town to town, resulting in your working numerous quests from that location. During a player’s first run through to level 80, the world of GW2 becomes more of a blur than established memory; but a great blur which leaves you wanting to go back and experience it again with another character and profession.

There are eight Dungeons available in GW2 at launch, and each dungeon has a “Story Mode” which must be experienced before the dungeon can be unlocked for “Explorable Mode”. In story mode, the player is guided through the dungeon in linear storyline fashion. One explorable mode is unlocked, the dungeon is reopened to the player who can then run it with a group of others who vote on the direction their “run” takes. Explorable mode is where the true difficulty is, and GW2 is notorious for having extremely difficult dungeons. You will die. A lot. One nice feature of GW2 dungeons is creatures do not respawn, and characters can join or rejoin a party in progress at any time. Even if a player has not completed the story mode of a dungeon, they can still join a party that has. Completing a dungeon in explorer mode rewards the player with tokens which are used to buy gear at a dungeon vendor. Because of the “level down” feature, dungeons are never soloable regardless of your character’s level and power. All of them will require a group for adventure.

The Ambiance of GW2 is warm and inviting. Day and night cycles adjust the visual experience of the world, and the mixture of weather effects (rain, snow and fog) also affect the player’s experience. Players can see others engaging in combat from distance and the sound of the world and surrounding events taking place bring it all together. GW2 is a beautiful game.

The Swamps of Caldeon Forest are very dangerous…

There are a diverse number of NPCs and enemies. While GW2 does follow the traditional approach of like enemies/creatures (i.e. a field of boars or ettin), many of them have special attacks the player has to deal with differently based on their profession and configuration. As the characters have a vastly diverse set of visual configurations, so do the NPCs, where no two really look alike (but animals such as wolves and boars do look the same). Enemies come in three flavors of difficulty: normal, veteran and champion. A veteran version of the “same” normal mob will often have additional special attacks and abilities, making the enemy more dangerous not just due to hits and damage, but its capability to “do more”.

There really is no tutorial for GW2 and it is not an “entry MMOG” for new players. It is a complex game which takes time to learn (it’s not EVE Online, but for a fantasy MMOG there are dynamics which are new to the genre). While there is a walkthrough for PvP found in the Heart of the Mists, most players have to simply figure out how the world works.

Sadly, there are no mounts.

Economy

Currency, Inventory (Collections), Item Slots, Items (Dyes, Runes, Repair & Salvage), Tradeskills (Crafting, Discovery, Upgrades, Mystic Forge & Gathering), Merchants, Trading (Mail and Marketplace),  Marketplace

The overall economy of GW2 is solid and has all indications of great value and longevity, especially with the busiest marketplace I’ve seen in a FTP game. The numerous items a player can find and craft paired with the ability to customize the colorization with dyes found throughout the game is both fun and addicting.

Currency comes in many flavors. We have the traditional Gold, Silver and Copper for in-game “money”, but also have other forms of currency including Karma for completing events, and Gems for the Marketplace. Karma is used to purchase items from “Karma Vendors” (such as racial armor sets, etc) and Gems are purchased either for real money or with gold. Only Gems can purchase items on the marketplace (not to be confused with the Auction House). There are also variations of Tokens which are awarded for things such as completing Dungeons in explorer mode or killing players in WvW. The game also has Glory, which is awarded for PvP (which is covered under Gameplay). There are custom vendors for both Tokens and Glory.

Bags of Stuff!

Inventory is managed through the traditional approach of bags, a bank vault and a guild vault. When the player starts out they begin with a 20-slot bag and 5 additional “bag slots” (the last one which must be purchased through the marketplace). Managing inventory is difficult at the beginning (i.e. it fills up very quickly) until a player gets four 10+ slot bags. Another issue is the bank vault is very small (only 30 slots) and you must purchase additional slots with gems. However, one very cool and unique feature to GW2 is that of Collections. It’s a storage system for all crafting materials (and a few other item types, like mini pets). Characters can click on the “tools” icon of their inventory and select “Deposit all Collectibles” which will take any crafting materials in their inventory and throw it in this storage system. Characters can then access these items from any crafting station, and Collection items are shared between all characters. This greatly frees up inventory space. The max “stack” for each item in the collection is 250.

All characters have 12 Item Slots they can equip “armor” items in: Hear, Shoulder, Chest, Hands, Legs, Feet, Back, Amulet, 2x Accessories, and 2x Rings. A character also has 2 sets of weapon slots, one for above water and one for underwater. Characters can also dual wield items. This does not include the 3 slots for harvesting items (sickle, axe, and pick). A character can also show “town clothes” which includes slots for: headgear, shirt, gloves, leggings, boots and a “toy”. A player can switch between showing their town clothes and armor in the Equipment panel, but cannot show town clothes during combat.

Note: at this time, the only way to find “back” item slots is through the storyline quests or by purchasing a guild backpack from a guild armorer (accessible via upgrade).

Items follow the traditional fantasy genre and include Light, Medium and Heavy armor types. There are staffs, swords, bows, tridents, spear guns, shields, and more. GW2 allows players to dye their armor based on dyes they discover throughout the game. There are eight classifications of items. Junk (Grey), Basic (White), Fine (Blue), Masterwork (Green), Rare (Yellow), Exotic (Orange), Legendary (Red), and Mythical (Purple). Dyes can be changed at any time, giving players control over exactly how their character looks, and giving great value to certain hard to find dyes. One feature all items have is an “upgrade” slot where players can insert runes. Runes can do numerous things ranging from life steal to absorb damage. Exotic runes are highly sought after and very expensive as end-game characters are seeking to maximize the effects of their weapons and armor. Runes are also what define an “item set”, which means a player can convert any group of items into a “set” of items simply by applying the proper number of set runes to the items. Characters can insert new runes over existing runes at any time, thus destroying the old rune. Items do take durability damage, but this value is not shown. A player must visit a repair NPC to repair the items to full durability, but since we don’t know what percentage the durability is it, players don’t exactly know what they’re repairing. This is a money sink, but not a very large one. A player can also Salvage items using a salvage kit (which is key to harvesting many materials). This breaks the item into raw crafting materials and depending on the salvage kit has the chance of recovering the rune within the item. This can be advantageous when a player finds an item with a highly sought after rune, but wishes to extract the rune for use in another item or to sell to other players.

Crafting & Discovery

There are 8 tradeskills in GW2: Armorsmith (Heavy Armor, Inventory Boxes), Artificer (Potions, Magical Weapons like Foci, Staves, Scepters and Tridents), Chef (Foods & Dyes), Huntsman (Bows, Pistols, Rifles, Torches, Harpoon Guns and Warhorns), Jeweler (Earrings, Necklaces and Rings), Leatherworker (Medium armor, Leather Bags), Tailor (Light Armor & Cloth Bags) and Weaponsmith (Axes, Daggers, Greatswords, Hammers, Maces, Shields, Spears and Swords). Players can take all tradeskills, but only two can be active at a time. This allows one character to master all tradeskills if they wish, but they must pay a master craftsman 10c per level in the target profession to switch. The Crafting system of GW2 is very well done and probably one of the more refined fantasy MMOG crafting systems out there. Not only is crafting a challenge, players can gain a ton of experience and even level up from crafting (the first L80 character in GW2 was a crafter). While a traditional MMOG crafting system allows players to make a large number of the same item to increase their skill level, in GW2 you cannot do this; you must use the Discovery system which not only gives the greatest experience reward, but also empowers players to make the most powerful items in the game by combining item components. The caveat is discovering new items takes special components called “fine materials” which generally drop off of monsters and are costly.

Note: A crafter can bring up a little-known dropdown by clicking on the down arrow next to the crafting window Search box which effectively filters the craftable items based on a number of options!

A crafter will quickly find out how difficult it is to raise crafting due to the volume of fine materials which are required; but this isn’t a bad thing. In my opinion, it’s very balanced and brings value to the profession. The standard crafting approach is to build the “modifier” for an item (for a Huntsman, it’s called an inscription) which defines the properties you want the item to have. You then merge the components (for a bow the two components would be a stave and string) with the modifier, and voila! A newly discovered weapon. You can purchase new inscriptions (or modifiers) from your crafting trainer. These allow you to make rare (yellow) and exotic (orange) items. At this time the majority of discovered items only take three components, but there are potions and “boxes of armor” which take four. Players can also discover upgrades for their items. For example, a Huntsman can discover Sigils (which are runes only usable on weapons). These items take rare components and are costly to create, but make quite a difference in adjusting the behavior and power of a character’s equipment. There are three categories of upgrades: runes, sigils and jewels (with the lesser version being a gemstone). Runes are for armor, Sigils are for weapons, and Jewels are for both. Jewels can also be used as crafting components where runes and sigils cannot.

Note: Make sure you are not in an Overflow instance when crafting, or you won’t get the World vs. World bonus!

The Storyline Quests are well-done, complete with voice acting.

The Mystic Forge is the only place a player can currently craft legendary items, and it is a massive undertaking. Not only can players craft legendaries, they can also use the forge to have an almost “Horadric Cube” effect by combining items. At this time, the combinations are still being explored and players are posting newly discovered results. In addition to other expensive and numerous high-level components, legendary items require a component purchase which costs 200 skill points; this entices Level 80 characters to ‘continue playing’ to acquire additional skill points. You can read more about it here.

Gathering is fun and rewarding in GW2 as each “node” is instanced for your character. This means no other player can steal the node you’re fighting your way to. The nodes in the game come in 3 categories: Food, Wood, and Mineral. The player must have the appropriate level harvesting tool in order to access the node, which gives experience for each item harvested. If you try to access a node with a tool that’s too low, you will get “ruined” materials from the node. Players can also get Fine Materials and random loot bags when harvesting nodes, although they are rare. The tools aren’t too expensive, but the player needs to keep an eye on the charges (which are 50 for the food, 100 for the others) of their items so they don’t run out while on a harvesting run.

Note: IGN has written a great GW2 crafting guide which covers the system in detail for new players, and GW2DB has a detailed database of recipes and items.

Merchants are spread throughout the world and sell a variety of merchandise with the most common being harvesting items and salvage kits. All merchants will buy your items (with a “sell junk” option which auto-sells grey items). Karma merchants sell items for karma points and are usually related to the particular race, location and overall storyline relative to the area. There are also merchants which sell cultural (racial) armor and weapons. These items can cost either gold or karma points, and are very expensive. There are also merchants which sell “chests” and “item tokens” for Glory points, which is acquired through engaging in PvP (and covered below under PvP). One comment I have is there are weapon and armor merchants throughout the world who sell white items, but nobody uses them. ArenaNet should have made the merchants carry dynamically changing inventory so players could find green, yellow and occasional orange item deals. There are also karma merchants that sell sets of items with very powerful runes, but are very expensive (i.e. 42,000 karma for 1 item).

Trading is actually a very weak point in GW2 as there is no secure way to trade with players outside of the marketplace. You cannot trade with players and you cannot send mail COD. Additionally, you are limited to sending only 10 Mail items a day and there is no sent box. The lack of a trading window with other players and no COD on mail forces players to use the Marketplace, and while it could be argued it also creates a more controlled funnel for trade between players, it does remove the personal interaction of engaging in 1 on 1 trade with skilled craftsmen who can build what you’re looking for.

The Marketplace, complete with top items!

The Marketplace is the central hub for all trade within GW2 which revolves around two forms of currency: gold for players and gems for items offered by ArenaNet. The marketplace is game-wide, so players exchange goods between all servers, not just the server they are on. The first tab is the Gem Store where players can purchase items from ArenaNet using Gems, which are acquired either through real money or by exchanging gold for gems. Common gem items include visual slot items (such as glasses and hats), buffs (xp bonus, etc.) and keys for the locked black lion chests. The Currency Exchange (which allows trading gold for gems and gems for gold) shows the history of “value” between gold and gems including the average price, five day low and five day high. The Trading Post is where players buy items posted by other players. On this tab, the player is greeted with a list of Top Valued Items, Top Supplied Items, Top Demanded Items, and Top Traded Items. Not only can a player buy items from this area, they can also post custom buy orders for crafters to fulfill. You know the game is popular when the top supplied item has more than 5,000,000 listings! Also located on the Trading Post tab is the Filter option which allows players to look up items based on category, subcategory, rarity and level range. Players can sell their items through the Sell on Trading Post tab, but the most common method is to right-clicking on an item in their inventory and using the popup menu. There’s also a tab for My Transactions which allows the player to review: Items they’ve sold, bought, and items they are selling or buying (for custom buy orders). While a player can sell an item on the market from anywhere in the game, when a player purchases an item through the marketplace (or makes money by selling), they must go to an actual merchant NPC to “pick up” the profits and items. Unfortunately, players receive no notification when a posted item sells.

Mechanics

Level, Attributes,  Weapon & Slot Skills, Traits, Regeneration, Boons & Conditions, Magic Find, Consumables, Combo Fields, Travel, Instances, Pets  & Mini Pets, and Death

GW2 has created a fairly simplistic yet solid underlying system of mechanics to support one common goal: fun and enjoyment. Providing players with the option of traveling instantly throughout the world and giving every character a fighting chance even after being defeated adds an additional layer of play and strategy to the overall experience.

GW2 is a level-based game with a max level cap of 80, but then an incremental leveling system which awards additional skill points (which can be used to purchase legendary item components, as discussed earlier). Experience is acquired through a number of ways, the most common being combat, crafting and exploration. There are four Attributes which serve as the foundation of your character’s ability to fight and survive. They are: Power (increases Attack), Precision (increases Crit chance), Toughness (increases defense) and Vitality (increases max health). There are four derived stats: Attack (which is derived from Power, Weapon Damage and Condition Damage), Critical Chance (which includes Critical Damage), Armor (Toughness and Defense) & Health (includes Healing Power). While there are other unlisted modifiers (such as Magic Find) I have a feeling ArenaNet is going to add the unlisted modifiers to the UI in future patches.

Note: Condition Damage is essentially a modifier to DoT (Damage over Time).

The User Interface, showing attributes, slots and contacts.

The way Weapon and Skill Slots are handled in GW2 is truly unique. The first 5 actions available to a character (to the left side of the life/power meter in the bottom middle of the screen) reflect the actions which are available and are based on the equipped weapon(s). Note this varies based on profession, so a Guardian wielding a great sword will have different skills than a Ranger wielding the same weapon. If a player dual wields, the first 3 skills are from the mainhand while the last 2 are from the offhand. This allows the mixing and matching of skills. Going up against undead? Throw a sword in your mainhand and use a torch for AoE burning effects in your offhand! Players can also equip two sets of weapons and quickly switch between the two by hitting the tilde key (~). This “fast switch” ability allows players to configure a set of ranged weapons and then close quarter weapons. The same dual configuration is available for underwater combat as well. Nothing like that Spear and Harpoon Gun combination! The profession “Slot Skills” are the other 5 skills you can equip and are taken from three categories: Healing, Utility and Elite. You gain points which can be spent on the slot skills by leveling up and completing skill challenges throughout the game. When you spend enough points in one tier, a second tier will open. These skills are one reason players are driven to complete all of the Skill Challenges they come across (discussed below under Exploration).

Note: there are also numerous “world items” which the player can pick up and use as well, allowing for specialized skills (for example, a Mortar Bomb which the player can hurl at targets for big AoE damage).

A Ranger’s Traits

Traits are how you customize your character’s strengths. You gain access to traits at level 11 by purchasing a book which allows spending up to 10 points in each trait line. You need to purchase another book at level 40 to spend 20 points in each line, and again at 60 to spend 30 points in each line. The trait lines raise a combination of primary and secondary abilities, and open “Major” and “Minor” trait modifiers, which can be set after you’ve spent the points (for example, as a Ranger, when you put 10 points in Marksmanship, you can set that “slot” to activate “increase damage by 10% when endurance is full”. You can mix and match the “opened slots” at any time to customize the benefits your character gains from the trait lines.

Regeneration of health is a big part of GW2 as every class has their own method of healing, and it becomes a critical part of combat when the player goes up against multiple foes. There are a number of healing options the player can configure ranging from instant heal to heal over time (HoT). Boons are positive effects with a limited duration (such as swiftness or strength), and the counterparts are Conditions, which are negative effects with a limited duration (such as bleeding or feared). Acting as a key component to give Boons to players are consumables, such as food; probably one of the most overlooked parts of the game (kudos to the Chef tradeskills!). With food, players can buff their experience gain, increase regeneration, and even increase their chance to find magic items. My favorite is Omnomberry Bars, which give 30% additional Magic Find, 40% more gold from monsters, and +10 experience from kills. Each one lasts for 30 minutes.

As mentioned above, an important value which exists but is not shown anywhere is that of Magic Find, which can be found on items and runes. At this time, a player must keep track of this value on their own, and it affects the chance you will obtain higher rarity items (e.g. yellows vs. blues). You can read more about it here.

Combo Fields are another unique part of GW2, allowing for players to strategically use area of affect modifiers to “piggyback” benefits on their attacks. For example, shooting arrows through a poison field will add a poison modifier to those arrows which will ultimately poison the target; but the skill must be defined as a “combo finisher” (which will show when you mouseover the particular skill). If multiple combo fields are laid down on the battlefield, a skill will pick up modifiers from each combo, making it possible to have a poisoned icy flaming arrow of light. This adds a dynamic method of enhancing players’ abilities to control the battlefield and cause not only extra damage, but add boons such as regeneration and cure condition. This use of combo fields becomes very important for very tough Dungeon runs as teams must work together to enhance their damage and regeneration, not just strategically, but with the proper position in relation to the direction and type of combat (it’s no use putting a Combo Field behind a ranger who is shooting at a boss).

The vast underwater realms of GW2 are beautiful and dangerous.

As mentioned, there are no mounts in GW2. Instead Travel is done either by running, portal, or waypoint. Portal travel is free, but the character is limited to where they can go. A character can instantly travel to any discovered waypoint in the world (while not in combat) by paying a fee, which can become quite expensive (because it’s so convenient). The waypoint system does make it easy to “teleport” to your friends, or join other players in your zone who are battling a boss or participating in an event, but it can quickly become one of the biggest money sinks in the game.

One of the more interesting mechanics of GW2 is that of zone instances. When a player enters a zone that has too many other players, they are placed in an “overflow queue” which is a duplicate copy of the zone, along with other players who are in the overflow queue. While this is technically understandable and a good solution for this type of problem (when you have a world designed to hold only 5,000 people at a time and 25,000 people are tying to access it, the last thing you want to do is prevent them from playing), it has generated frustration among players who want to play with their friends as one person will be in the “non-instanced” version of a zone and another will be in an instanced queue. As such they cannot meet up. There was supposed to be a party synchronization mechanism put into place to address this, but last time I checked, it didn’t work.

The Pet Management UI

Pets are a key part of the game for Ranger and Necromancer professions. Rangers can charm juvenile versions of pets throughout the world by simply interacting with them. Once a pet is charmed, it becomes part of the Ranger’s pet collection and is immediately available. Rangers can swap between two pets when fighting on land or in water. Pets can be either land based (e.g. a eagle), able to operate on both land and in water (i.e. a crocodile) or sea based (e.g. a shark). There is strategic consideration when choosing a pet; for example, if a player is fighting a PvE boss mob, they may want a pet with very high health (like a Bear) whereas in PvP, they want to stop other players from running away, so a spider (which has a skill attack to web/freeze its targets) may be in order. One tactical advantage rangers have is the ability to swap their pet in the heat of battle after their first pet dies. Ranger pets have 4 skills each, 3 of which are automatically executed by the pet during battle. Each pet class also has its own unique special attack, which can be executed by pressing F2. By pressing K the Ranger can manage their pets and even name them. Unfortunately, Necromancer pets are only reactionary and will only attack once their master has initiated attack (i.e. there is no commanding a necromancers pets… yet).

Note: for a complete list of pets and where to find them, be sure to check out the GW2 Wiki Pet page.

Mini Pets are collectible non-combat pets a character can summon to follow them throughout the world. At launch, there are 54 mini-pets to “collect” and the only current way to acquire them is to buy them with Gems. Players can buy a 3-pack of minis (2 common and 1 uncommon) for 300 gems; or with today’s average price of gold to gems, 78 silver.

GW2 handles Death differently from any other MMOG I’ve seen. Instead of dying when they reach zero health, characters fall in combat and enter a “fight to survive” mode. During this fight time, they have 4 actions they can execute, with the most common (and in some regards comical) being “throw rocks at your target”. Believe it or not, this does a fair amount of damage, and if you down your target while in survive mode, you will “rally” back to ~15% health. While in survive mode, you can also blind your target and those around them, command your pet to “lick your wounds” (at least for Ranger) and enter a cyclic “fight to survive” mode which will revive you if you’re not receiving any damage. If you do not “recover” from your fight to survive (or are “finished” in PvP, which is discussed below), you will be prompted to revive at a waypoint of your choice. This new system works beautifully, and you can be revived at any time, including the heat of battle; even if you fail to survive (i.e. you can hold at the “revive at waypoint” option and another player can still revive you).

The Zone Loading screens share beautiful artwork with the player.

Gameplay

Combat, Movement and Targeting, PvE, PvP (Conquest, Glory, Ranks, PvP Mystic Forge, PvP Locker and Tournaments), WvW (Objectives, Defenses, Siege Weapons, Supplies, Orbs of Power, Guild Captures and Bonuses), Exploration, Progression & Achievements, Rewards, Learning Curve, Difficulty, End Game and Replayability

The gameplay of GW2 is the most refined of any fantasy MMO to date. Blending a reaction-based system that is not overly complex or cumbersome with the strongest collaborative fantasy-based PvP available on the market, players are drawn to not only participate in World vs. World combat, but also explore every corner of the lands as they are rewarded for their efforts. By the time a player reaches max level, they realize it doesn’t mean “end game” but a beginning of another set of experiences leading to some of the best replayability available. Simply put, playing GW2 is a very rewarding experience, no matter what profession or level your character is.

Combat is fluid and not only allows players to dodge and engage in combination attacks, it also takes obstructions and line of sight into account as well. If you are using a bow to attack a ranged target and some pour soul walks in between you and your super heated razor arrow of death, it will strike them and not your target (unless it is a penetrating arrow; in that case you can line up targets and shoot through multiple enemies). Of course this can cause repercussions as you engage in heated battle and accidentally hit a poor neutral target which ends up tipping the balance of the fight and ultimately results in your death. Another key aspect to combat is that it’s animation based. This means you can dodge and react based on the animations of your targets/attackers. As such, Movement is a key part of combat as many of a characters skills can be executed while moving, and dodging is as simple as double tapping the appropriate keys. This works great not only in PvE, but PvP as well, especially for characters who gain advantages for flanking and backstabbing. ArenaNet created a very nice balance of allowing extra movement to strategically affect combat without making the game feel “twitchy”. A GW2 player created a video which compares combat in GW2 to World of Warcraft. I highly recommend watching it as it shows the vast improvement in overall combat from a traditional MMOG approach.

Note: all combat rewards are shared! All you need to do is hit a monster once and you’ll get full experience and loot. The only thing which has a “degree” of involvement is an event. The rest is all or nothing, and it works very well.

Sadly, the Targeting of GW2 is just as bad as other MMOGs. Pressing the TAB key while an enemy is right in front of you often selects the neutral creature to your right which you are now shooting at and drawing aggro from. It’s unfortunate the GW2 doesn’t have a better interpretive algorithm to more intelligently determine what a player is trying to select, especially in the heat of battle.

PvE is not only solid, but a lot of fun in GW2. While the game has addressed a number of common “issues” by creating next generation solutions (e.g. instanced resource nodes, sharing of loot and experience, focusing on collaboration and not allowing any “stealing” of reward by other players), one of the most common legacy problems with MMOGs is how monsters in the world spawn. Unfortunately, GW2 did not address the “spawn on top of you” problem. The result is characters are regularly jumped  during combat by monsters on short spawn timers.

Taking a Keep in World vs. World

GW2 is all about PvP, and with the animation-based combat system it more than delivers, probably making it the best PvP (for a fantasy MMOG) on the market. There are two different types of PvP. First, we’ll cover Conquest PvP or “Structured PvP” (sPvP). Players enter sPvP through the Heart of the Mists, which is accessed via the PvP tab (hitting H and clicking on the bottom left tab, look for a button “Enter the Mists”). Once a player enters this region, they have access to the Glory Vendor, the PvP Browser and the Tournament Master. There is also a set of PvP instructors the player can interact with to learn the basics of PvP. The PvP Browser is the most commonly used method of engaging in PvP; a large list of games show up, allowing players to select specific games, or to simply “play now” within any available game. There are five maps at launch: Battle of Khylo, Forest of Niflhel, Legacy of the Forefire, and Raid on the Capricorn. All characters are automatically set to level 80 when participating in PvP, and earn glory by killing other players, reviving team mates, and winning games. Players also receive rank points as they receive glory points; both are similar whereas glory points are used to buy items and rank points simply add up to increase your rank. As you raise in rank, you gain access to new chests and tokens. The tokens represent components you can blend together to create PvP gear at the PvP Mystic Forge, which is next to the Tournament Master (it’s the big glowing fountain). To create PvP items, you need an Item Token, a PvP rank token (glory or tournament), and Arcane Token (Orb, Crystal or Sliver), and 5 powders. You get the Item tokens from the Glory Merchants, the Rank Tokens, Arcane Tokens and Powders from salvaging PvP gear. Throw it all in the Mystic forge, and BAM! New item! This brings us to our next component, the PvP Locker; this is where you can store all of your PvP items, and is available to your character on the southern end of the Mists. There are 1,919 item slots in this collection (including crafting materials), so there are a LOT of items you can craft, collect and swap between. One additional unique feature of PvP in GW2 is that of “finishing off” your opponent. Since GW2 has the revive system vs. instant death, targets in PvP can throw rocks at you and try to “survive” your assault after you drain their health to zero. To end their misery, you can execute a finishing move, which brings the hammer down on them and ensures they cannot revive. It can be both fun and frustrating depending on the profession of the player you are trying to down, and I have seen the balance of a game changed based on experienced players working together to revive each other in the heat of battle while the downed players cause just enough mayhem to survive long enough for revival.

Note: Players are matched in PvP based on their rank.

My first Tournament was a painful one…

Next we have Tournaments, which are similar to structured PvP except they pit eight teams of 5v5 against each other. Rewards from tournaments are greater than those of structure pvp and include tournament chests. There are free tournaments and paid tournaments (which require an entry ticket for each player). The rewards from paid tournaments go to all participants and are greater than those of free tournaments, whereas free tournaments only reward the top 4 teams. Solo players can join a “roster” of other players to complete the team, or groups of players can enter together.

Note: when you switch to PvP, you switch to a different set of PvP gear which you can build out separately from PvE gear. Your “experience bar” also swtiches to a rank bar.

World vs. World(WvW) is the “king kahuna” of GW2, especially when it comes to mixing the best parts of PvE and PvP. There’s a reason it can take hours to get into a WvW game; simply put, people love it and have a great time (even those who are not heavily into PvP). The main reason is it accommodates both PvE and PvP play styles by implementing a huge map with an estimated 2,000 players active within the world spread evenly between your server and two others which are “at war”. Each server fights the others for control of the map and its strategic points. As with PvP, all characters that participate in WvW are automatically set to level 80, so even a new level 1 character can jump into WvW, level up and experience the bloody mix of both PvE and PvP. Some players level their character all the way to 80 doing nothing but WvW as there are numerous events, skill challenges, item drops, and other constantly shifting fun experiences to participate in. Also, unlike sPvP, WvW uses your PvE gear. My only complaint (along with everyone else) is the fact you often have to run quite the distance once you die to get back to where you were. Here’s a great video which explains WvW very well.

Note: There is a WvW Instructor available as soon as you enter the WvW map. He’ll walk you through the basics.

WvW Bonuses make all the difference!

WvW revolves around four different type of objectives: Resource Camps, Towers, Keeps and Stonemist Castle. Each objective gives points based on the objective type, and holding the objectives awards more points for obtaining the overall bonus (defined below). Objectives have Sentries which spawn to help protect the particular objective. There are also Mercenary Camps which can be recruited to your side by engaging in dynamic events. Each objective has defenses which must be overcome. These include: Guards, Warrs/Door, A “lord” and Inner Walls. Once the defenses are overrun, the attackers can capture the objective as their own. In addition to standard loot, players also receive badges of honor for killing other players in WvW. These badges can be used to purchase items such as Siege Weapons (as discussed below).

Note: WvW is fairly complex for a new player. As such, I highly recommend players read the WvW Wiki Page.

Siege Weapons are a critical part to claiming objectives. Feel like manning a cannon or trebuchet only to blast groups of invaders to pieces? Siege weapons deliver! There are nine different siege weapons available which can be built by players. Six of them are offensive (Arrow Cart, Ballista, Catapult, Flame Ram, Siege Golem and Trebchet) three are defensive (Cannons, Mortars and Boiling pots of Oil). All siege weapons are stationary where they are built and the only one which can move is the Siege Golem. They are built by purchasing blueprints from merchants either for gold or badges of honor (which you can get by killing other players) and require supplies in order to build. Some siege weapons (such as cannons) require ammunition to be loaded. This is difficult with one person, so it’s helpful to have multiple people at a weapon to keep it loaded while the person shooting the weapon doesn’t run out of ammo. Once a siege weapon is available, any player can activate it (only one at a time) and begin using it. Siege weapons have similar controls, allowing movement and distance shooting. Players can learn how to use Siege Weapons either through the storyline quests or by instructors located in the Mists. Supplies are necessary to build siege weapons, repair structures, and for the purchase of defense upgrades from a quartermaster. Each tower, keep and castle has a stockpile of supplies, and they are replenished through supply caravans moving between these objectives. Players can intercept the caravans and “cut off supplies” to an objective under siege, preventing the defenders from repairing or building any new structures. A player can only carry 10 supplies at a time, so building siege weapons is almost always a group effort unless the player wants to run back and forth carrying supplies from the closest depot to the construction area.

Each borderland has an Orb of Power which is defended by a boss NPC called the “Keeper of the Orb”. If the keeper is defeated, the orb can be taken and placed on an altar of power, which gives bonuses (as discussed below) to the entire server. Each captured orb represents a 5% bonus to the server.

Note: want to see where the action is? Check out your map and follow the crossed swords; that’s where combat is taking place!

When you’re killed in PvP, the game gives you this nice breakdown…

When a objective is captured, the guild with the most participating members will have the option of claiming the objective, which displays the banner of the guild. This is referred to as a Guild Capture, and allows the use of Guild-based “Art of War” upgrades which can provide numerous benefits to everyone engaging the defense of a guild-captured objective. Guilds are covered in more detail under Community.

Note: in WvW, loot “bags” of your slain victims automatically appear at your feet so you don’t have to run up to a fallen foe and loot the body!

Bonuses are what WvW is all about, and the bonuses affect the whole server. This means when a player engages in WvW, they work together with other members of their server and represent their server. This also drives players to participate in WvW so they can improve the bonus and overall “standing” of their server. I’m fortunate to play on a very solid WvW server that always has majority control of objectives, so we get excellent bonuses. The server-wide bonus is called “Power of the Mists” and can give a number of very valuable benefits, including: crafting critical success, defense, endurance, gathering, healing, health, bonus coin and bonus experience. There are three tiers of bonuses, and each tier cycles through the respective bonuses which are based on the overall score over a two week period. A player can see what bonuses their server currently has by pressing B.

Note: Ready to leave WvW? Simply take the Lion’s Arch Asura Gate from the main keep.

Even with a substantial amount of gameplay, I have explored less than 40% of the world!

As mentioned above, the World of GW2 is huge, making Exploration a key part of the game. But it’s more than just going to somewhere new and uncovering an unknown section of the map. When you go somewhere new there are five distinct interactive points to explore. First we have Waypoints, which allows players to instantly teleport around the map. Next, we have Points of Interest, which are simply that. Never been to Kyesjard in Shiverpeak Mountains? Come take a gander! There are tons of points of interests which signify important places revolving around events, enemies and storyline. Next we have Vistas, a little bit of icing on the cake of discovery. Many vistas require a “jumping puzzle” to reach them, resulting in a quick detached camera “longshot” for the player to enjoy. Next we have Skill Challenges which are little mini events (e.g. fighting a boss, receiving a consumable item, or simply meditating) which award the player with a skill point. And finally we have Scouts who tell you about the area and what’s going on. All exploratory points award experience except for scouts. While all characters share a “total world discovery” value, each character must go through their own discovery process to unveil all of the things which can be explored.

Character Progression comes in a variety of flavors. First is the most common; gaining experience to level up. This is done through seven methods: events, personal storyline (quests), harvesting & crafting, killing monsters, reviving fallen players/NPCs, exploring, and playing mini-games. The second method of progression is that of upgrading gear and equipping better items. As covered above in the Items section, this doesn’t mean just crafting, discovering and finding drops; players can also upgrade their gear with runes which can create set items; and at end-game (level 80), it can be a very costly goal to pursue. The third method of progression is that of increasing a character’s traits, allowing the player to define what kind of play style they want to support (traits can be reset, but at a cost). The forth method of progression is that of Achievements, which have multiple tiers to accomplish. This includes  recurring daily and monthly achievements which reward the player for doing everything from harvesting resources to killing different varieties of creatures. Points are awarded when achievements are given, and multiple tiers (usually up to 4) means players can continue acquiring points as they continue to play and engage in actions such as killing more creatures and salvaging more items. There are 13 categories for achievements: Daily, Monthly, Slayer, Hero, PvP Conqueror, Tradesman, Explorer, Fashion, Weapon Master, Community, Hall of Monuments, Activities and World vs World. A player can choose unlocked titles through the achievements interface as well. Achievements are account-based, so they are based on a player’s total efforts, not a specific character. I’m still receiving regular achievements (without even focusing on obtaining them), which is a great way to keep rewarding players.

The beautiful lake town of Wizard’s Fief.

Rewards represent one of the core reasons why we play a game like GW2, and there are a number of different ways the game rewards its players. Many rewards are covered through progression and achievements, but beyond that there is the underlying machine of cause and effect which is what defines the longevity of a MMOG. For example, events are a big part of rewarding players; not just in PvE, but in WvW as well. Seeing that Bronze, Silver or Gold medallion pop up is always a great thing. Another rewarding part tied more to exploration and combat is that of finding treasure chests, which are often hidden or require some serious fighting. When you go to a new location that’s packed with monsters, keep an eye open as you can often find a hidden chest in the corner, and the loot you get from it can be very good. Ultimately, GW2 does a great job of balancing effort and reward, even at end-game (which is covered below).

As mentioned at the beginning of this review, GW2 doesn’t do a very good job of teaching people how to play. It is a complex game, and has quite the Learning Curve. as the majority of the game’s features are not explained, the player has to figure them out. This can be frustrating and overwhelming for both newcomers and experienced gamers since GW2 is truly a unique MMOG and redefines many conventional approaches we have all become accustomed to. As such, part of the learning curve is in understanding these new systems (such as tasks, the level down system, crafting discovery, etc).

While GW2 can be challenging, the overall difficulty really depends on what the player wants to do. The game is designed so the player can choose what they want to experience, and rarely is the player “forced” into a situation where they have severe difficulty in handling an experience. Dungeons are notorious for being the most difficult aspect of the game and require experienced players who work closely together to complete, but they are voluntary, and not necessary to obtain the best gear in the game. While there are some storyline arcs that are difficult (I had to help a guild mate complete a level 50 portion of his story, and the both of us died numerous times), I solo’d my storyline without much difficulty at all (until near 80). Ultimately, players can choose how difficult they want their experience to be, and this is a good thing. When you reach end-game content, even the most experienced player with great equipment must be watchful of where they go as it can be a very dangerous world, even if they are running through low-level content (due to the level down system).

Wendon Steps at night

But what makes a MMOG truly successful is the End Game & Replayability. This ties into a number of core game systems and features including: economy, equipment upgrades, challenges and rewards. As mentioned above under character progression, even after reaching level 80, a player still makes experience and gains skill points for every “max level” made (254,000 experience is required per level). At this time, additional skill points are used to purchase legendary item crafting components; however there is little doubt ArenaNet will add additional acquisitions for these points, ensuring the resulting skill points from the experience a character gains after level 80 do not go unrewarded. The constant events, level down system, dungeon exploration, sPvP, and WvW systems ensures there is plenty to do once a player reaches level 80; but the real test of longevity takes time. Three months from now, we’ll know how solid the end-game of GW2 is for the majority of players; right now, even though it looks “very good”, only time can tell. In playing multiple professions including my level 80, I have experienced the majority of the “features” GW2 has to offer, and I can say the end game and replayability looks solid; much more than any MMOG I’ve seen at launch.

Note: GuildWars2 Hub released an interesting “80 things to do at level 80” article, showing the volume of activity players can engage in at level 80.

Community & Support

Guilds (Upgrades, Influence), Chat, Parties & Squads, Population, Spam, Botting, Quality, Forums, GMs & Bug Reporting, Support Sites & Wiki

While the guild system could use enhancements with a focus on communicating activities and accomplishments between players, the collaborative nature of GW2 brings people together both within the game and through external support sites.

Guilds are a key part of GW2, featuring the unique ability to join multiple guilds, but only represent one at a time. However, I think the Guild system is one of the weakest features in the game. There are no notifications, and the system as a whole seems to be implemented as an afterthought with a focus solely on upgrades rather than community and communication. There are traditional guild control systems of rank, but there is also the nasty “bug” of accidentally being able to set another character as a leader and not being able to revoke the setting.

Note: When a player accepts membership into a guild, even if it is their first, they must manually “turn on” representing the guild. This is a terrible design decision by ArenaNet and needs to be fixed as new players have no idea they must activate their guild representation in order to communicate with other members!

Guild Upgrades are a key part of the guild system, allowing players to earn influence through quests, etc. The leader(s) of the guild can then purchase upgrades which take time to build and are placed in a build queue. There are four categories of upgrades: Politics, Art of War, Economy and Architecture. These upgrades buff members who utilize them, or provide enhancements and access to systems such as a Guild Vault, or a customized emblem. There are also bugs with the guild system as well including one where the letters of the guild will often not show behind a character’s name, and another where a guildmate won’t visually show up as being a member. There is also no way to communicate (via the Guild) with members who are ‘representing’ another guild, which ultimately defeats the purpose of being a guild member. While the multi-guild feature sounds cool, it really is an empty feature which causes more problems than it solves. Ultimately, ArenaNet could learn a lot from the best fantasy MMO guild system on the market: Everquest 2.

Note: Few members, but money to burn? Characters can purchase influence with gold from a Guild Promoter.

A list of our current Guild upgrades.

The Chat system is pretty traditional and includes: guild, say, map, party, squad, team, and whisper.  You can also create chat tabs with filters including “messages” from NPCs, combat, emotes and game messages. Most people use the Map chat (/map) as the “public” chat; this sends messages to everyone in your zone. Players can paste links to items, skills and waypoints in Chat by shift-clicking on the respective source object. A ctrl-click will instantly send that link into the currently selected chat without any “waiting”.

Note: In GW2 you respond to a whisper by pressing the Backspace key, not “r”!

Parties and Squads (raid groups) are pretty standard. The exception is only squad commanders can form squads, and to become a squad commander a character must purchase a book for 100g, which is very expensive.

The population is very large for a new MMOG. As mentioned during the introduction, ArenaNet has sold more than 2,000,000 copies of GW2 in less than a month. Major cities are almost always in holding queues, the market is outright crazy, and the world is teeming with people everywhere. While some events draw a LOT of people (sometimes too many), the overall world population distribution seems fairly balanced, especially with the level down system. The game will need a few months to “solidify”, but given the near daily patches, I’m confident ArenaNet will adjust the events and content during the growth of the game to properly balance population distribution.

Spam really isn’t much of a problem. I’ve seen a few gold sellers, but nothing compared to other MMOGs, which is rather unusual given that Botting is a problem in GW2. Sadly, the GMs do not seem to address this issue very well, especially as I have seen botters go unchecked for days even though numerous people have reported them.

Welcome to the Mire Sea!

The overall quality of the community seems good. As with any MMOG, there are griefers, loudmouths and rude people, but for the most part, I’ve found the players in GW2 to be pleasant and helpful. Since the game doesn’t allow “stealing” from other players and focuses on teamwork, there are very few reasons to get angry or upset with others. GW2 has truly done a fantastic job of bringing people together and focusing on the positive outcome of players working together.

I like the GW2 forums. The visual presentation is solid and easy to read, and there is plenty of content for players to browse. Since they don’t show the time stamp of posts, it’s hard to tell how how much content is being posted, but the forums are definitely busy. The ArenaNet forum moderators seem active as well, responding to numerous posts by players. The only enhancement I would make to the forum is to add a character image to the player tag.

Unfortunately there do not appear to be any GMs (Game Masters) who are online and available (at least to the players or through some user interface). The Bug Reporting interface is accessed by typing /bug, and the initial screen that comes up gives the player an option of going to the forums, reporting a bug, or going to the GW2 support site. When a player chooses to enter a bug report, they select the primary category of the bug (titled area) and then the subcategory. There are two checkboxes; one for “blocking progress” and another for “exploitable issue”. Players can then enter a title, the description, and have the option of taking a screenshot and submitting the bug. Once the bug is submitted, that’s it. There is no tracking or “ticketing” system. It’s pretty much fire and forget. I personally don’t like this system and think it’s rather weak since there’s no way for a player to receive feedback on any reported issue. This creates a detachment between the players and in-game support staff.

There are numerous Support Sites which are listed below under references. If you need a map, crafting details, or want to browse items or compare skills and abilities; there’s a site out there which can do it. The Wiki site for GW2 is excellent and is linked numerous times within this review.

Creating their first character, the player is immediately immersed in the stunning graphics of GW2.

Technical

Graphics, Sound & Music, Interface & Addons, Connectivity & Downtime, Security, Patching and Bugs

The technology behind GW2 is state of the art and a monumental achievement of technology. ArenaNet has done a fantastic job of refining this game prior to launch, resulting in a stable and reliable experience. Once they fix the Marketplace downtime, the game will be rock solid.

The Graphics of GW2 are stunning, and probably the best of any fantasy MMOG on the market. The GW2 rendering engine handles large battles beautifully, and the blending of distance rendering with numerous objects paired with smoothing it all together using day and night environmental settings is a thing of beauty. The engine also handles large battles very well, although when there are a lot of players at events, monsters are often ‘drown out’ and don’t appear in time to see them before they die. I rarely have any lag, and the particle FX look great. I believe the GW2 engine has given us the most complex distance rendering system of any MMOG, which is very apparent when looking at the massively complex city of  Divinity’s Reach. Kudos to their developers, as the graphical capabilities of GW2 are truly a monumental achievement.

Divinity’s Reach is a marvel in MMOG 3D Engine Technology

The sound relative to environment, creatures and combat is very well done, but I find the music rather lacking. Unlike other games which have used unique musical scores to truly define a memorable “feel” to the game, the GW2 soundtrack just isn’t very memorable.

The Interface of GW2 does have a unique “artistic” feel to it and doesn’t quite confirm to the MMO standard; but this is OK. Once you get the hang of it, the interface is pretty easy to navigate. Unfortunately the GW2 devs have made it clear they do not plan on adding any support for interface addons.

The only connectivity issues I experienced with GW2 were within the first day or two of headstart. Since then I haven’t had any problems or disconnects. While the game doesn’t experience any real downtime (we do get patches almost every night at midnight PST), the marketplace has been a huge problem since head start, and even now as I write this section, it’s down again. This is a big problem as the marketplace is the core hub of trading between players and there is no other viable option for trading which doesn’t involve substantial risk.

The Security of GW2 is very poor. There is no outside authentication (i.e. like the Battle.net authenticator) and there are major issues with hackers using stolen information from other sites (not run by ArenaNet, such as 3rd party game sites or forums) to access accounts which use the same EMail and password. ArenaNet published an article which gives Tips for Keeping Your Guild Wars 2 Account Secure. I recommend everyone read it. The key points are: Always use a strong password unique to your GW2 account, set up GW2 EMail authentication, and only check your e-mails from a trusted device.

ArenaNet is patching GW2 nearly every night and is doing a fantastic job of addressing problems. Current bugs primarily revolve around the marketplace being down, broken events and skill challenges, but I am seeing them getting fixed pretty quick. While I do think they’re dragging their feet a bit on nailing botters, the overall “core” problems seem to be dealt with rather quickly – except for the marketplace downtime. Hopefully the marketplace issues will soon become a bittersweet memory. Then again, look at the problems Blizzard had with the Diablo 3 auction house, and now it’s up and running fine. Even the ‘big boys’ have technical troubles; we just need to be patient. They’ll get it fixed and working.

Welcome to the Cursed Shore!

Conclusion

Guild Wars 2 is a fantastic game worth every penny, and is undoubtedly one of the strongest MMOG launches in history. It has a bright future of free expansions and a very well balanced RMT (real money trading) and in-game economy. There is a ton of content and new gameplay styles to experiences with each character and profession. Once a character achieves max level, the player can continue to acquire points which are currently used to craft legendary items and will probably expand into other future purchases. There is always something interesting and exciting to experience, whether it’s PvE, PvP or WvW, and every player benefits from the their server’s WvW accomplishments. GW2 features the most advanced combat for a fantasy MMOG, focuses on bringing players together to successfully complete collaborative tasks, and takes a unique approach to handling the traditional quest-based experience. Players are constantly rewarded for their accomplishments, and the game supports the balance of reward and value through a busy public marketplace. It doesn’t get much better than that.

All in all, GW2 is a fresh new refined product and qualifies as a next generation MMOG. If you haven’t already bought this game, get it. You won’t be disappointed as  the fantastically vibrant, fun and interesting world of Tyria immerses you for months, and possibly years to come.

Additional Resources

• Introductionary Guide to Guild Wars 2
• World Map
• Legendary Crafting Guide
• Cultural Weapons and Armor guide
• Combat Combos Explained
• Excellent GW2 Database
• An interesting survey of races and classes
• The Guild Wars 2 Player Manual/guide
• An excellent overview of Crafting in GW2
• Crafting Legendaries
• 80 things to do at level 80
• Video comparing GW2 combat to WoW
• All my knowledge – GW2 Warrior Compendium
• Guild Wars 2 – World vs. World Explained (Video)
• World vs. World Statistics

Release Date: May 15, 2012
Version Reviewed: 1.0.3
Game Type: Action RPG (Isometric Hack and Slash)
Custom Features: Global Economy, Auction House, Leading ARPG on Market
Strengths: Vibrant Graphics, Action-packed Combat & Fun, Easy Multiplayer
Weaknesses: Repetition, Poor rewards for Achievements
Notes: Possibly the best PC release of 2012

 Sections: Content, Economy, Mechanics, Gameplay, Community, Technical, Support, Conclusion, Resources

The Diablo series made its debut on December 1, 1996, setting the standard for isometric hack and slash RPGs for well over a decade. Diablo 2 released on June 29, 2000, evolving the product to become a continued cult classic on which numerous other games were based. Nearly twelve years later, Blizzard finally released Diablo 3, and the game is nothing short of a work of art. Once again, Blizzard delivers a top-notch polished product which is guaranteed to break sales records and endure for years to come. Simply put, Diablo 3 is one of the finest games ever released for the PC. It’s a beautiful, fun, ultra-easy to jump in and play, and ultimately everything a game should be. Granted there are some issues with certain features and inferno-level difficulty can be frustrating; weighing in all of the content, features, playability and overall breadth of what this game has to offer, Diablo 3 is a must-have for anyone who plays games on their PC.

Diablo 3 was designed to be a never-ending hack and slash RPG with a replayable linear storyline, providing multiple difficulty levels, an item system which creates a nearly unlimited number of combinations, and a random boss encounter system that’s guaranteed to keep you on your feet. For those who are new to the Diablo series, just jump in and enjoy. However for those of you who played Diablo 1 and 2, there are a number of substantial changes which are a refreshing welcome for those of us who have enjoyed the series.

This starting scene of gore sets the stage for what is to come….

When you take a step back from the beautiful visuals and really look at what the graphics represent, Diablo 3 is a very disturbing game full of gore, torture, blood, guts, and horror which are only read about in history books or told in dark fairy tales. You will find torture chambers full of disemboweled bodies, bear witness to murdered townsfolks, free the dead bodies of impaled angels, and observe giant demons being mutilated and tortured. After you play the game through a few times, you will begin to notice a number of things you may have missed the first go-around, and it’s quite disturbing. The good news is you are the hero who is fighting the darkness and working to stop the evil that has invaded the land. Once again, you are to face and destroy Diablo and his minions, and the journey is both harsh and spectacular.

While Diablo 2 had three difficulties, Diablo 3 features four by adding the new end-game “inferno” difficulty. Normal is easy (or training), Nightmare is challenging, Hell is difficult, and Inferno is outright insane, but it’s also designed to be the end-game difficulty that can be played near indefinitely where the best items in the game are found.

Sit down, strap in and get ready for a ride; Diablo 3 delivers, and I will cover the game features in detail.

Content

Character Creation, Classes, Story & Lore, Quests, World & Hubs, Environment & Ambiance, NPCs & Enemies, Treasure, and Tutorial

Creation of Female Demon Hunter

Character creation is simple; you select a class, the sex of your character, and give it a name. That’s it. No stats, customization, or colorization. While this may seem simplistic to hardcore gamers, this was intentionally designed to allow players to immediately jump into the game while focusing on what play style they want to embrace. A player can choose to make their character hardcore, which means once the character dies, it is dead forever. However the majority of players will probably never choose this option, especially once they see how often they die in the higher difficulties. Hardcore is truly only reserved for the most hardcore of gamers.

There are five classes: Barbarian, Demon Hunter, Monk, Witch Doctor and Wizard. Each class is unique in its own way and plays very differently. Barbarians are all about brute force, tanking, and sending their enemies flying in all directions in little pieces. Demon Hunters are ranged damage characters who are very lethal and agile, but are susceptible to damage at close range. Monks are a hybrid class which focus on melee attacks, but also have heals and other party-enhancing abilities. Witch Doctors are the pet class which focus on AoE damage, confusion, necromancy, poisons and other fun methods of using strange magic to kill. Wizards are pure magical bliss with a number of element-based spells which decimate their enemies. Each class plays differently and has been custom tailored to support an individual play style, but all classes share one thing in common: they are all fun to play and are capable of decimating the enemy in numerous visually stunning ways. One important thing to mention is even though Diablo 3 has class-specific items, there is very little limitation on the actual items you can throw on your character. For example, you can equip an axe and shield on your Wizard if you want to go with a melee build, or you can throw a 2-handed mace on your monk. This is a cool aspect of the game which allows more fun a diversity with each class.

While many are already familiar with the lore of the Diablo series, players players advance through a linear set of well-told stories through the eyes of their character as they progress through the world. The basic overview of Diablo 3 is that the demon Diablo has returned; and he’s brought a number of nasty demons with him, all of which the player must battle through in order to meet Diablo. As you venture throughout the world, you will acquire new lore-related notifications when you kill a new type of creature or come across materials which tell a story (such as books and scrolls). These materials are presented through voice acting and are extremely well done. This includes Deckard Cain narrating newly discovered creatures, cultists leaving notes about how they plan to dominate the world, finding intercepted messages from the enemy, sad letters home from soldiers, and even missives from the crazed lord of goats. There is actually quite a bit of lore spread throughout the game; some of it even comes through your companions, who will comment on the environment (such as telling you the history of the flayed demons).

While the quests of Diablo 3 are primarily linear in nature and required to move between acts, you will come across numerous subquests or “events” throughout the world depending on what areas are generated. The main quest is enjoyable and involves numerous NPCs, voice overs, cut scenes, and boss fights. The subquests or events are also rather fun, and are focused on handling a single event ranging from killing an onslaught of monsters to finding a soldier’s lost friend.

The world consist of four Acts which really represent four realms. Act I is a collection of above ground plains and light forests paired with underground caves, castles, and nasty torture arenas. Act II is desert, spanning sandy tombs, a lush oasis, and other barren areas. Act III takes place in the snowy mountains and leads the player through a battlefield and into the lava-torn hell fire of the earth. Act IV takes place in the realm of the angels, or “heaven”; unfortunately this is only after Diablo has infiltrated the domain, forcing the player to battle through a demon-invested angelic realm. During your progress throughout the game, some of the Demons’ Lords will talk to you, mocking you and commenting on your progress. You will battle on ramparts as you watch soldiers being carried away by flying horrors, you will venture into the depths of hellfire where molten lava and giant bound demons writhe around you, find random instances such as mass graves and sand worm dens, and watch as monstrous creatures spew forth demons who have just one thing on their mind: your death. Each of the acts has their own hub town except Act IV which shares the same hub as Act III.

The beautiful background of the Act II Hidden Camp

The environment and overall ambiance of Diablo 3 is a thing a beauty. The intricate detail that went into the design of every realm, cave, castle, dungeon, domain and town is unprecedented for this type of game. The world is a living and breathing place which has weather, running streams complete with rainbows and amazing backdrops which blend seamlessly into the gameplay world. The environments also feature nearly fully destructible objects which get blasted into little pieces as you engage in combat with your foes. Indeed, you can run into a beautiful library room complete with books, tables, shelves, barrels, and candle holders, only to get rushed by an angry group of creatures which results in the complete destruction of nearly every object in the room. This includes wonderful physics where bodies fly throughout the screen, pieces of tables and other objects smash and react accordingly, and splatters of blood leave a vengeful trail of gore in your wake. World objects can also be used; you can drop boulders, trip traps, drop logs, burning pitch and other nasties to kill your enemies in many different ways. The colors and overall artworks blends beautifully with the progression of areas, some of which include distant scenes of beauty, the first of which is seen as you enter the Act II town.

NPCs come in three flavors: merchants, general chatty folk, and storyline event/quest givers. As you progress through the game, a number of NPCs will persist through each act with you, carrying you through the quests. You will also encounter random NPCs throughout the world who you can interact with. Companions for hire can be rather entertaining as well as they will actively interact with your “party members” based on their personality and the personality of your character and other party members. As you play through the game for the first time, some of these NPCs become companions for hire, which join your party and fight for you (covered below). While Diablo focuses much more on combat, what little NPC interaction that exists is well-done.

And stay dead!

The enemies of Diablo serve as the foundation of gameplay. When you begin, the enemies encapsulate simplistic undead, animals, and even goat-men. They are fun to kill, and depending on your class and how you kill them, they die in a myriad of ways – hacked, burned, acid melted, frozen and shattered, electrified. You name it. On normal mode it’s simply a massive attackfest of carnage – kill everything you can in sight with little danger. However the diversity of creatures does create the basis of necessary strategy to combat them, especially on harder difficulties. By the time you reach inferno, knowing each type of enemy’s capabilities is critical – how fast they can move, how they hit, what abilities they have, etc. Slice a zombie in half and its upper section may come after you. Kill one of the fat undead nasties and ugly little creatures explode forth from its body. Some of the enemies have tongues that lash you from a far distance while others thrust their arms into the earth only to reach up from underneath to tear you to pieces. You will quickly see many enemies qualify as annoying, fierce, tankish, deadly and just plain silly. Enemies come in five flavors: Normal, Elites (Blue), Bosses (Yellow), Named Bosses (Purple), and Minions (White in service of bosses). The majority of the world consists of normal mobs. Elites generally come in packs of three and are blue. Elites and Bosses have unique abilities based on the level of difficulty. In Normal they just have one. By the time you reach Infero, they can have a combination of 4 abilities, including: jailor, mortar, molten, freezing, invulnerable, shielded, teleporter, illusionist, arcane, desecration, horde, avenger and a myriad of other effects which change the nature of combat. Bosses (which are yellow) like Elites have special abilities; but they only come one at a time. Named Bosses are purples and are generally more related to the storyline. Minions come only with Bosses and posses the same abilities as their leaders. A trio of blue Elites or a Boss with a gang of  minions can be absolutely devastating, especially on higher difficulty levels. But don’t worry; the loot is usually worth it!

Treasure is why we play, and Diablo has no shortage. Gold and items serve as the foundation of reward for the bloody carnage feast Diablo has to offer for adventurers. Gold and items drop from your enemies and can also be found in numerous chests and searchable objects (such as bodies, loose flooring, vases, etc) spread throughout the world. You can also receive rewards through quests, but it’s only in the form of experience, gold or treasure (never an item). One extremely fun feature is that of the ever elusive Treasure Goblins. Running around with large packs of treasure on their back and dropping gold while they flee, nailing one of these little giggling goons can net you a nice set of item drops, but be warned! Chasing these little guys through uncharted dungeons can result in a mob attack which leaves you staring at your grave as the little guy giggles and disappears through his portal.

Welcome to the fantastical secret level of Whimsyshire!

While there isn’t a tutorial per se for Diablo, there is an ongoing help system built into the game which is very well done. New players will be told through popup windows what to do, and when they level, what new skills and/or runes are available, ensuring the player looks at them before deciding to either use them or pass. The game is pretty simple for anyone to jump right into and figure out, and Diablo’s simplistic skill and rune system makes it so players are never overwhelmed with new choices.

Economy

Currency, Inventory & Stash, Items & Gems, Tradeskills (Materials, Salvaging, Recipes and Crafting), Merchants, Trading, Auction House

Gold is the king currency in Diablo, especially with the auction house (covered below). There are also crafting support items required to build items, but those are a secondary item type which can also be purchased with gold. It is important to note all currency is shared between all characters on an account. This is very convenient when you switch from one character to another and need gold to buy something; it comes from your global stash. The only caveat is hardcore and non-hardcore characters do not share gold or stash; the two are separate.

Inventory is pretty basic. Every character has 60 “slots” and every item you find takes up either one or two slots (depending on the size). An amulet takes 1. A long sword two. Inventory fills up pretty quick, so you’ll need to visit merchants often or drop items you accidentally picked up (which happens often in battle). The player also has a stash which is account wide, so all characters share it. When you begin, there are 28 open slots in the stash, and you purchase 14 slots at a time for 10,000 gold (there are 70 slots per stash page). You can purchase two addition stash pages. The first is 100,000 gold and the 2nd is 200,000 gold. When you buy a new stash page it has 14 open slots you still must spend 10,000 gold per 14 slots to unlock.  Yes, it’s expensive to open the entire stash (420,000 gold), but it’s open for all characters and permanent. I do think the Stash is too small and Blizzard needs to add two more tabs for us to purchase.

This is my Stash. There are many like it, but this one is mine…

Items come in six flavors of quality: grey (broken), white (normal), blue (magical), yellow (rare), orange (legendary), and green (set item), and are one of three core categories: Armor, Weapons, or Other (which is consumable, crafting, or miscellaneous) . Weapons and Armor will often contain slots where you can place gems, which are are augments which can be used to give specific enhancements to an item; for example, you can add a topaz gem to a helmet (which has a slot) and raise the helmet’s magic find. Or you can put another gem in and get 19% more experience per kill. The number of augments items can have is extensive. Magic items usually have 2-3 augmented properties (such as stat bonuses or extra damage), rares often have 3-5 properties, and legendary/set items can have most any range (it really depends on the item). But when an orange, green, or crafting recipe drops, it’s like candy to a child. The diversity in items is what brings the replayability factor to Diablo. No two games or characters are alike, no matter how you play the game – there’s just too many permutations. And items make all the difference. You can upgrade just your weapon and double or triple your damage, which changes everything. As you progress through the game and play in Hell and Inferno difficulties, resists and other properties which weren’t nearly as important before are now required in order to survive. In playing one of my characters to level 60 with an average magic find of 55%, I found 1 legendary item. That gives you an idea of how rare they are. Surprisingly, yellows drop fairly often – mainly from bosses. However, due to the endless combination of properties, many of them end up being salvaged or sold as junk. Companion-specific items also drop as well, and can make quite a difference when you’re running solo. One thing Blizzard should do is to change the color of gems (which are currently white) when they drop so they don’t blend in with all of the other normal quality items. Items also have something called an item level, which is different from the required level of an item (which defines the level your character needs to be to use it). For example, when you reach end-game where the max character level is 60, you may get a drop that’s item level 63 (which is currently highest in the game and only found in inferno) but required level 60. This allows for multiple tiers of quality within a required level range. When a player is running inferno, their goal is to find as many quality item level 63 drops as possible.

Note: One great thing about 1.0.3 is you can now find Item Level 63 drops in Act I inferno giving all starting inferno players a chance of finding the best items in the game!

Crafting made easy!

Tradeskills are new to Diablo 3, giving the game an extra layer of fun and longevity. While Diablo 2 featured the Horadric Cube to combine items for a chance at quality runes (which were a form of gem) and the barter system (pay gold to get a random item), Diablo 3 has a Blacksmith and Jewelcrafter the player can use to craft items and train to level up as they progress. Jewelcrafters can also remove socketed gems from items for a fee. You gain access to the Blacksmith in Act I and the Jewelcrafter in Act II. Once acquired, even if you start playing again on another difficulty level, they are globally available and shared with all characters. Each one has 10 levels. The Blacksmith has multiple sub-levels with each sub-level giving access to new crafting recipes. The Jewelcrafter doesn’t have any sub-levels. You raise the level of your crafters by using gold and Pages of Training, which drop throughout the world as you adventure and vary based on the difficulty you are in. Materials are acquired by salvaging blue, yellow and orange items, and as with pages, vary depending on what difficulty level the item dropped in. Recipes are automatically acquired through leveling up your crafting stations, or through ultra rare drops in the game. World Drop recipes can teach rare, legendary and even set items, which is why they are so difficult to find. Crafting is just point and click; you select the recipe you want to craft (which is broken down by category), and as long as you have the materials, pages of training (if necessary) and gold, the crafter creates the item in just a few seconds. But remember, you have no control over the properties of an item, so as you craft rares (yellows), you may find yourself creating multiples of the same item until you get a good combination of item properties for your character. As you begin to craft higher level items, it becomes costly, but if you craft an item with strong stats, you can sell it for quite a profit on the Auction House. While the beginning and mid-ranged yellow craftables will often give 3-4 properties, the most advanced world drop recipes can teach a player how to craft end-game item level 63 gear with 6 properties.

Merchants are generally located within the towns of each act and sell weapons, armor, potions and dyes. They also salvage items and will buy the items you find throughout your adventure, some of which will sell yellow items which may be useful to a growing character. Those who are pursuing a life of crafting will generally salvage all of the blues and yellows they find but don’t need; and those who are solely looking to acquire gold will simply sell for profit.

Secure trading can be done in-game between characters and works well for those who see another player they don’t know advertising an item for sale in the trade or general channel, however the majority of trading is done through the Auction House. Unfortunately Diablo does not support a mail system which would allow additional trading options for players.

You will spend a lot of time on the Auction House… guaranteed!

And finally we arrive at the Auction House, which is not only one of the biggest controversies of Diablo 3, but apparently a huge problem for Blizzard due to the constant bugs, crashes and issues which persisted for more than a month. Response times were slow, and some of the sorting and search tools are simply useless due to the sheer volume of content listed (there are, after all, millions of people using and listing items on the auction house). While gold is king with the AH, it is also slated to be Blizzard’s first real money transaction (RMT) system. Not only can players buy and sell items with gold, they can use real money instead of in-game gold to buy and sell not only items, but characters as well. But this comes at quite a cost. The average Auction House Fee is 15% of the final sale price, and RMT carries a $1.00 USD transaction fee per item. Players can only have a maximum of 10 items active at any given time, and once the 5 minute posting time has expired, auctions cannot be cancelled; only the time can run out (2 days). I think this was a good idea and is necessary to control volume and useless auction posting. It makes players think before they post and ensures most postings are solid and not garbage. The good news is you can acquire some excellent items through the auction house (which make all the difference when playing) and make a ton of gold if you “play it right”. The bad news is sifting through the massive volume of items can be overwhelming and tedious, especially when you need to match criteria of more than 3 properties. Add the problem of being unable to define properties while looking for set items or legendaries and you have an interface which definitely needs improvement. I think Blizzard will need to add a total of 5 Preferred Stat search boxes and allow those settings to affect results for all items before the Auction House will allow for easier searching. Blizzard also needs to add a feature which allows a player to easily look up the value of an item they are thinking about selling. A simple right-click which fills out the properties and executed a search would do wonders as the player currently has to manually look up each item to get any idea of its value.

Auction house Tip: To remove all of the N/A buyouts put all 9′s in the Max Buyout field!

Despite its issues, there’s no question the Auction House is a necessary foundation for the game and overall fun factor of the random item system. If you want a glimpse into how things are at end-game, check out the level 60 items. While the prices and overall economy of the game hasn’t quite been established and Blizzard hasn’t activated the selling of gold just yet, gold farmers are currently offering 100,000 gold for around USD $4. Until Blizzard activates the selling of gold through the Auction House, it’s hard to say when we will begin to see things stabilize with the game and the overall economy. Players are spending hundreds of dollars to purchase items for their characters, but the question is how many are doing this, and how much are players willing spend? How does the RMAH affect the Gold Auction House? These are questions which can only be answered over time. One thing is for sure, the Auction House is a key component to Diablo, and when you find that incredible deal and nab an item before anyone else, or buy that shiny new weapon which doubles your DPS; the game glows with enjoyment. I certainly hope Blizzard takes the time to refine the interface and make determining the value of an item a much less cumbersome process than it currently is.

Remember! when you buy or sell something, it gets queued in the completed tab which you can then claim and move to your stash. Many people forget this process and wonder where their newly purchased shiny sword went!

Mechanics

Level, Attributes, Skills & Runes, Buffs, Companions, Environment, Identification & Repair, Regeneration & Consumables (Health Globes), Travel, Achievements,  and Death (Hardcore)

Attributes and details

Diablo uses a standard experience-based level system similar to most RPGs. Your character’s level defines what skills you learn, what equipment you can use, and what your base stats are. Experience is acquired through killing creatures, destroying objects, and completing quests. You can find equipment which gives bonus experience for each monster killed, allowing players to outfit their characters with gear which can increase rate at which experience is gained. It appears the average amount of gameplay to reach level 60 is around 70 hours, or more to the point: twice the speed of reaching max level in an average MMOG. You can also engage in “massacres” of large groups of monsters (or objects!) to receive experience bonuses. Another nice thing about the leveling system of Diablo 3 is you always get something new with every level. This makes leveling up a treat, especially if you’re playing a new class for the first time.

There are six core Attributes at the heart of your character. Four stats (Strength, Dexterity, Intelligence and Vitality), Armor and Damage. The game revolves around these six values, however there is much more under the hood as you look at the details of your character. These details include Offense (crit chance, damage, etc), Defense (block, dodge, resistances, thorns, etc), Life (health, globe bonus, life steal, etc), Resource (mana and regen), and Adventure (movement speed, magic find, bonus exp, etc) properties.

Skills broken down to their most basic level

Each character can have a total of six skills equipped, and each skill is categorized either as primary (left mouse), secondary (right mouse), or key buffer (1-4).  All skills are class based. As you progress new skills become available, and each skill has a total of 6 runes which can be learned and applied. Runes are essentially augments which affect the behavior off the core skill, and while this may seem simplistic, there is actually quite a bit of thought that went into this design. Players can change their skills and runes at any time, which allows for mob-specific configuration. For example, a Witch Doctor may configure Pet/AoE damage skills/runes when running solo in Hell difficulty, but when joining a group which has a tank in Inferno difficulty, they may change to a set of focused damage skills and runes since they don’t have to rely on pets anymore and face harder foes. I think it would be great if Blizzard adds a preset rune /skill configuration to the game which allow a player to set up a group of skills and runes, name them, and swap between them with the click of a button rather than having to manually do this. The good news is one doesn’t need to change skills or runes all too often. Each class also has 19 passive skills, three of which are progressively unlocked and can be equipped at any time. As with skills and runes, selecting a different combination of passive skills (which have no runes) can completely change the way a class plays.

Note for advanced players! A feature very few are aware of under Options->Gameplay is something called Elective Mode. Turning this on allows you to set any skill to any slot. This means the skills you could only previous choose from one “group” are now available, and you can have two or more primary skills equipped! Give it a shot. This will really open things up! Be warned though; having Elective mode on will allow your buffers to be dragged around on the main UI; this can get in the way of kiting mobs as you may accidentally drag and click a skill, resulting in the loss of your nephalem valor. To disable this issue, simply turn elective mode off.

Buffs are a critical part of the game and come from a variety of sources. Some classes have buffs which last only seconds while others last substantially longer. One of the most important buffs in the game is the Nephalim Valor buff which all level 60 characters get when they kill an elite mob. It stacks up to 5 times and increases gold and magic find by 15% per stack. It lasts for 30 minutes and will reset each time you kill an elite, giving players good reason to keep playing once they’ve stacked it to full capacity. Another oldie but goodie are the shrines which give timed buffs for things like protection, magic find, and attack speed.

Equip your companion and select their skills

Diablo 3 introduces you to three classes of companions who are available for hire to adventure with you when playing solo. They are the Templar, Scoundrel and Enchantress. Each companion levels up with you (even if you don’t use them) and can be equipped with weapons/shield, an amulet, two rings, and a companion-specific item. You can also choose four sets of skills, one every five levels until level 20. You can respec these chosen skills any type by using the right-click menu of your companion’s portrait. Beyond the advantage of having another body helping you fight the forces of evil, your companion will actively talk to and interact with you, giving the game a more lively feel than adventuring with some mindless gun for hire. Blizzard did a good job with the voice acting and overall interaction based on class and sex. Many of the interactions can actually be quite entertaining. However once you reach Inferno difficulty, I must admit my companion doesn’t really act as anything more than another target, and rarely does he hold aggro. I hope Blizzard makes them more effective and useful in the future in the hardest difficulty level of the game.

While the environment was discussed in the Content section, it is part of the core game mechanics due to the traps which can be used in order to damage and destroy your enemies. You can drop rock walls, fling sling traps, open burning coals and even dump flaming hot oil on your enemies; and it can do quite a bit of damage.

Rare, legendary and set items are always unidentified. To identify them you simply right-click and wait a few seconds to reveal the magical juicyness of what is hopefully your next great find. Repair is also a part of the money sink of the game as every item has durability, and once you reach inferno, you are regularly spending tens of thousands of gold to repair your beat up gear (which takes damage during combat, and a 10% hit for every death). The game will notify you when any of your gear is approaching 0 durability by displaying a broken yellow armor icon in the upper right portion of the screen. Blizzard raised the cost of item repair by roughly 5x with the 1.0.3 patch, and it is currently one of the most heated issues regarding the latest version. I do believe the repair costs are too high and dissuade people from running Act II and beyond in Inferno. I hope Blizzard addresses this issue to better balance the cost of dying vs. the enticement of challenging players to try out harder acts. Right now I do know of players who won’t touch Act II or beyond because the repair costs are just too frustrating.

Health and mana regeneration are a key part of the game which can be improved through items. There are no mana potions, but health potions are the prime consumable and have a 30 second cooldown, so make them count! The good news is many monsters will drop health globes when they die, and all you need to do is run over them to restore your health, but this isn’t quite as easy as it sounds in the heat of combat, which may require some strategic planning based on the enemy you are fighting, your potion cooldown, and what globes are available on the field of battle. Proper timing in difficult combat situations is critical. A number of classes have passive skills which allow a player to strategically use health globes during combat to not only restore health, but hatred, mana, etc. I personally use this feature on my Demon Hunter; vaulting through an inferno elite to grab the health orb behind him to attach with renewed hatred is actually quite fun and challenging!

Portal travel made easy!

Travel is done through a portal spell (which is free, can be cast anytime out of combat, and takes you back to town) and waypoint pads which are discovered as you progress throughout the world. While Diablo 2 allowed you to move between acts through the pads, you cannot do this in Diablo 3; you are restricted to the waypoints within the act you are currently in. If you want to travel to another act,  you must select Change Quest from the character menu; but be warned, you will lose any checkpoint progress in your current highest quest and will have to revert back to the actual storyline quest itself if you wish to return. You can join others in a difficulty you have access to that’s beyond your current point of progress, and once you do, you’ll have access at any time to that portion of the game. Checkpoints are also important as they save the location you will return to when you either die or leave the game and resume. A very nice addition to Diablo 3 are the end-dungeon recall stones. No longer do you have to run back out the way you came in; just use the stone and it teleports you back to the entrance of the area.

Achievements are a big part of Diablo 3 and there are a lot of them. All fall within 8 core categories: General, Campaign, Cooperative, Hardcore, Classes, Challenges, Crafting and Feat of Strength. Achievements range from killing 1,000 elites to picking up 10,000,000 gold to surviving a boss encounter without being hit by its special attack. I’ve found the achievements satisfy both the power gamer and the casual gamer; especially as my wife has become obsessed with every little exploratory and “fun” accomplishment while others I know focus on crafting and cooperative achievements. Now for the downside. The reward for all of these achievements are… banners. Blizzard really dropped the ball on this one. Players want something more tangible than visuals on their banner. Granted the achievements system is broad enough to give much more, the initial reward for achievements is seriously lacking. Diablo could have easily provided pets, buffs, titles or augments which simply have visual effects. I hope they put some thought into enhancing the rewards between now and the expansion as banner graphics just don’t cut it.

Ready… Set… Achieve!

Death is a 10% durability hit where the cost is handled through repairs (as discussed above). The Death state is resolved either through another character resurrecting you (by clicking on your tombstone) or selecting checkpoint revive. Each time you die, the time to revive increases by 5 seconds. If you keep dying and nobody is there to revive you, pretty soon it’ll take a bit of time before you can revive. This is trivial until Hell and Inferno, and not because it costs any more, but because the delay in revival time allows your targets to regenerate, and there’s nothing worse than working hard on bosses on Inferno only to watch them fully regenerate as they dance around your corpse. Once this happens, you often have to simply move on and skip the elites or boss you were fighting.

Death comes to all of those who play Diablo…

Gameplay

Combat, PvE, PvP, Reward, Learning Curve, Difficulty, Progression, End Game and Replayability

The combat of Diablo is smooth, fun, and simply fantastic. Severed limbs, decapitations, exploding bodies, gigantic creatures, blood fountains, burning flesh, shattered freezing pieces of enemies, acid melted flesh, and sheer mayhem are part of the daily routine in the world of Diablo. Point and click and execute skills either through your character or using the location of the mouse. While this method of interaction is simple, it allows for complex, fun and strategic fighting which can mean the difference between life and death.

A lot of thought, time and effort went into making Diablo 3 the best PvE experience possible. This includes the overall layout of the world, location and number of spawned creatures, ratio of elites and bosses, behavior of enemies, special abilities, and more. Class skills are also centered around killing creatures from the environment in a myriad of ways. While Diablo 3 doesn’t feel as “random” in environmental generation as Diablo 2 did, it has many more random locations to explore with each game. You can get an idea of how many locations exist per Act by viewing the Exploration achievements. Even now, after 100 hours of play, I am missing many areas and constantly see achievements for these areas pop up through my friends. In other words, even though I am on Inferno, there’s still a lot of content to see and experience. After playing Diablo for more than a month and taking multiple characters to level 60, I still encounter new content in the game.

There are many bad things happening here…

Diablo 3 was supposed to include PvP at launch, but in March 2012 Blizzard announced it would be excluded from the initial release and added at a later time. PvP is expected to add multiple arena maps with themed locations, PvP-centric achievements, a matchmaking system, and a personal progression system. There are a number of class skills which are undoubtedly PvP focused; this is apparent in their overall useless application to PvE, but when you begin thinking about PvP combat, it begins to makes sense.

The foremost reward for playing Diablo is just plain fun. It doesn’t matter what difficulty you’re on, if you’re running solo, with a group, or helping out friends. The beautiful visuals are the starting point for your time, energy and effort in smiting evil from the world. Underneath the blood blasting gorefest of creature decimation are the juicy items, chests and other loot-bearing objects which can be manipulated to spit out gold and glory. One thing is almost always certain; when you enter a dungeon of any kind with more than one level, there’s usually a gigantic glowing resplendent chest waiting for you to come and liberate its valuable contents.

Diablo is one of the easiest games to learn to play, so the learning curve is virtually non-existent. If you can point and click, you can play; especially on Normal (or as I call it: training) mode. The built in tutorial-like notifications and tooltips inform you of any new skills, when your inventory is full, how to purchase stash space, and even equip items when you have empty slots. Blizzard did a good job of making the game cake for anyone to jump into and enjoy, regardless of whether it’s hardcore joe gamer or grandma.

Watch your step! Zombie goo!

There are four difficulty settings for Diablo 3: Normal, Nightmare, Hell and Inferno. Normal is easy, Nightmare is challenging, Hell is Difficult, and Inferno is simply insane. And when I say insane, I mean it. Even with 40,000 life and 40,000 base damage, you can have difficulty with Act I bosses and still die. While the pre 1.0.3 patch threw players into a “brick wall” with Act II, Blizzard did smooth out the transition and made Act II-III easier for players in inferno, however changes to the Enrage timer for mobs in Inferno (i.e. if you don’t kill a boss/elite in a certain amount of time it goes into enrage mode and will most certainly kill you) make a number of elites and bosses much more difficult. Prior to 1.0.3 most players focused on boss runs (i.e. Siegebreaker in Act III), but now the adjustments to loot drops and bosses compel players to play through the acts. I personally believe this is a good thing.

Note: If you want to experience a personal challenge, play Diablo 3 and build your character to level 60 without using the auction house at all! You’ll see what a huge difference not being able to upgrade your items will make!

Progression is linear in nature, but can be enhanced and sped up by experience enhanced items and shrines. Also, established players with a lot of gold can ensure their characters always have the best gear in the game, which makes a huge difference. As the game takes you through the four acts, the norm seems to be completing Normal difficulty around level 28-32, Nightmare around 50, and Hell around 58-60. I don’t personally know anyone who has completed Inferno, but it’s all about gear, so there’s no real timeline other than when somebody acquires the proper gear to survive the next quest (or act), which can either be found, or purchased through the Auction House.

This takes us to the End Game for Diablo 3, which is the Inferno difficulty setting. Once you reach level  60, it’s all about items, and more importantly DPS, armor and resistances. If you venture into Act I of Inferno without the right gear, the first group of zombies which jump you will kill you in just a few hits. The general rule is don’t start Inferno with less than 30,000 hits, 40% resists across the board, and over 10,000 base DPS; and even with that, the bosses will eat you alive. Another thing with Inferno is it scales up internally at a greater rate than the other difficulties going from region to region within the same act. While you may be able to handle the Weeping Hollow or the Crypts, moving into the Drowned Temple may be the end of you. The good news is great items can drop and I found my first level 60 legendary in the Fallen Den, just outside of Tristram. The bad news is many of the boss encounters can end with more frustration than fun as many of the ability combinations paired with the insane damage will not only guarantee multiple deaths to kill, but can often result in your need to simply skip the boss because you cannot defeat them. Ultimately it’s a mixture of pleasure and pain, but once you cross the core threshhold and you’re able to make multiple runs of Act I areas, you’ll begin to bring in the gold and find item drops that allow you to pocket some pretty good profit on the Auction House and buy the gear you need; and it can be fun, especially as the rewards for playing Inferno are the best in the game.

From frost-covered mountains to molten depths…

Diablo 3 does cater to the gamer who wants to play the game again and again, yet ensures just enough differences to make each game slightly different yet challenging and fun. If the average character takes 70 hours to reach level 60, in order to play all classes to level 60, it would take roughly 350 hours. That’s a lot of gameplay for the $60 price tag, and that’s just to reach max level; after that it’s an uphill climb for gold and gear. So when you get your first character to 60, if you don’t want to jump into Inferno, you can either do Hell runs or start another class; this time with additional financial support and familiarity with the game. By the time you’re building up the last class, you’ll be pretty well established and will probably be ready for some real challenges. The online and community aspect of Diablo 3 (covered below) is also a lot of fun. Jumping into public games can be quite enjoyable, and Hell difficulty with four players is very challenging. And if you think soloing Inferno is a challenge, try it with three other players where elite fights can take up to 10 minutes to down (and sometimes longer). Ultimately, Diablo 3 offers the near-perfect replayability experience for a PC game. Gold is valuable, the best items in the game are exceptionally difficult to obtain (or costly if you plan on paying with gold or real money), and the overall design leaves all players longing to play again and again in the hopes of acquiring enough gold to purchase the next step up to their items, or find that ultra rare and valuable legendary or set drop.

Community

Battle.net & Friends, Chat & Help, Party, Population, Gold Spam, Quality and Forums

Blizzard did an excellent job integrating the Battle.net community structure with Diablo 3. It’s easy to add and manage friends, the interface is simple to use and understand, and playing with your friends is just a few clicks away through either the Quick Join interface on the Character Select screen, or through the Social Window. You can add friends through either their EMail or the battle.net tag. If you meet somebody in-game you want to friend, simply right-click on their name and add them as such. You can also send a friend private tells, view their hero, profile and achievements, and invite them to play with you or join their game. The only thing which is missing from the social overview is the difficulty level which another person is currently playing in (but it shows in the quick join panel). One nice feature is the game tracks who you’ve played with in public games, so if you had a good experience with somebody but have to take off, don’t worry – their name will be in your “recently played” list and you can communicate with them in the future without a hitch.

When you log in you automatically join the last channel you previously joined. If you are playing for the first time, the game will automatically place you in the General chat channel. While this ensures some sort of interaction from the getgo, the general channel can be full of spammers and general riff raff; the channels can also have good folks in them who are fun to interact with. Ultimately it’s hit or miss. Luckily, if you want to leave the channel, all you do is click on the little widget icon and select leave channel. There are a number of channels to choose from (general, class, trade, etc) which have up to 99 people in them at any given time (showing there are numerous General channels a player is assigned to with the limit of 99 enforced to ensure the chat is not overwhelming). While General is the most talkative of the channels, it is also constantly spammed. Luckily you can right-click report and block these spammers to remove their continued barrage of garbage. Strangely enough, most of the class channels have very few players in them (often 2 or 3). This shows people don’t really use those channels, nor the trade channel (which also only has a few people in it at any given time – instead people use General). Getting help through the general channel is hit or miss; it really depends on who is in the channel. Unfortunately when you report a player for spam, it doesn’t auto-block like it should so you will keep seeing their spam until you mark them as blocked.

Playing in a party with other players is easy; you can either join a public game, start your own game and open it to the public, invite friends, or join friends’ games. When other players join the monster hits and damage increase accordingly, making them much more difficult to kill and survive; but they drop better items and more gold. Plus it’s more fun to play with other people, and if you haven’t seen the other classes in action, it can be a treat.

The angels of heaven call upon you to smite evil!

Given the numbers of units sold (3.5M within the first 24 hours) the population is packed with the most obvious sign of a busy game being the volume of items on the Auction House (and unfortunately the number of bugs and issues).

Gold spam is out of control, and I must admit I do not see Blizzard taking much in the way of action to curb it. While you can right-click on somebody’s name and report them, I’ve seen reported spammers continuing their barrage of spam more than a week after I first saw them.

The quality of the community varies; I’ve seen the typical child-based banter in general chat, but also met some intelligent gamers who are great to play with. It’s a bag of mixed nuts.

Just as it is with World of Warcraft, the forums are packed full of a never-ending sea of posts and content. Sometimes you find what you need, other times there’s just too much content to wade through. I recommend using the General chat channel first for any questions you may have, and then the forums as a backup. However, if you are looking for class information or details on game features, the forums are the place to go.

Unfortunately there are no guilds in Diablo 3, but I’ve heard rumor of a future clan mechanism. One key feature which I really think Diablo 3 needs is that of mail, similar to what MMOGs offer. The ability to send gold and items to friends and even COD as part of a trade is something that is simply necessary. I hope they integrate this feature before the first expansion so we don’t have to wait two years for it.

Technical

Graphics, Sound, Interface, Connectivity & Downtime, Security, Patches and Bugs

The graphics of Diablo 3 are beautiful and smooth, and the 3D engine does an excellent job of handling a screen full of animated objects, detailed terrain, particles, physics, cloth, collisions and fluids. While there are some occlusion issues with archways which prevent you from seeing the enemy, there really do not appear to be any real graphical defects in the game or engine. The game is a terrifically polished product.

The sound is top notch; ranging from screams of anguish to properly themed music, the only thing I recommend players do is adjust their default volume settings to amplify the fantastic core music of the game with the following settings: Master (100), Effects (25), Music (100), Voice (80), and Ambient (50).

Huggybear is feared by all evil…

The interface is simple to use and intuitive. Drag and drop work great for items and shift-clicking an item will link it in chat so you can share your latest find with other players or try to sell an item in general or trade chat. You can also use the alt key to cycle compares for an item you’re currently looking at. The only interfaces which could use a bit of work are the Crafting UI (it needs better sorting for items you can craft) and the Auction House UI (there’s no easy way to research the potential price of an item you want to sell without manually putting the details in). It would also be nice to see buffs or debuffs on mobs; especially bosses. Not their special abilities, but any active modifiers beyond their core abilities. There are a number of options the player can toggle through the Options menu; be sure to check out the options under Gameplay, especially Elective Mode (covered above).

One neat little feature many may not be aware of is the ability to ctrl-mouseover an item that’s on the ground; it’ll actually tell you what the stats are and compare it to what you currently have equipped!

Apart from the notorious connectivity issues at launch, the game’s latency hasn’t really been a problem. While my ping will sometimes shoot above 500, the average seems around 120 (from Seattle) and there have been no hiccups. Aside from the launch issues (which really lasted only 48 hours after launch) the only constant downtime for the game has been related to the Auction House, althought the Tuesday May 29, 2012 patch did see some hiccups with Battle.net and the return of Error 37, but they have been resolved.

I highly recommend everyone use an authenticator for their Battle.net accounts as hacking is a regular security issue and I’ve heard of a number of Diablo 3 accounts already being looted, and with the RMT version of the Auction House, hackers are working overtime to put out key logging viruses to capture people’s logins so they can steal the gold and items on accounts to sell for real money. Once again. USE AN AUTHENTICATOR TO PROTECT YOUR BATTLE.NET ACCOUNT.

While there have been a few minor patches applied to the game, there were very few bugs outside of the Auction House. While the Auction House was a royal mess, it now seems much more stable and is rarely down anymore. I have occasionally encountered rubber-banding where your character will jump (almost as if it lost connection for a moment) but the connection bar is still in the green. It happens only once every few hours, but if you’re in the middle of an inferno boss fight and it happens, you often die as a result. Other than that, I’ve had absolutely no issues at all.

So, this is disturbing… Just don’t pull the lever on the… OH GOD!

Support

Forums, GMs, Bug Reporting & Knowledge Base, Wiki

The Diablo 3 forums are teeming with content and act as a good source of information. If you cannot get questions answers within the General chat, the forums are probably the next best place to go. There are no GMs in the game and the bug reporting and knowledge base systems are combined in the Battle.net ticketing system. You can access this through the ESC main menu “customer service” option which will kick you to a website where you can try to find a solution to your problem or create a ticket for a Blizzard representative to address.

There are plenty of support sites for Diablo 3 with www.diablowiki.com being the main wiki site. Blizzard has also published its own version of a Diablo 3 information site which breaks down things in a very clear an concise fashion. You can also monitor the Server Status of the game for America, Europe and Asia.

Conclusion

As mentioned in the beginning of this review, Diablo 3 is one of the finest PC games ever created; however to truly appreciate the game you really must play it through multiple times and try the different classes. After a period of time you’ll start realizing the sheer volume of content and overall gameplay refinement which was required to bring this product to life. While the game can have its frustrating moments fighting bosses and such, the fun far outweighs the frustration. If you haven’t purchased Diablo 3, buy it. If you have purchased it but haven’t really played it, make time. Join up with your friends, or even better, get your significant other addicted. It works wonders for duo play. Also, for you hardcore gamers; inferno awaits, and it will have you crying for more as you get slapped around like a ragdoll yet find items which bring sheer glee to your life.

While there are issues with the Auction House, and the economy is still evolving, rest assured; Diablo 3 is here to stay, and all gamers should make time to be a part of this fine product.

Why yes, Mr. Diablo. I do think I am going to beat you to a pulp with my glowy mace…

Resources

Diablo 3 Game Map

Auction House Guides

Drizoid’s Wizard Guide and Streaming Video

Inferno Monk Guide to beating Inferno

Patch 1.0.3 overview.

Want to get to the secret unicorn level? Start here!

Diablo 3 Effective Hits Calculator.

Direct Link

Original Release Date: September 22, 2009
Version Reviewed: 2.38 (March 11, 2012)
Game Type: MMORPG (Post Apocalyptic)
Custom Features: Combat, Seamless World, Crafting, Progress Towns
Strengths: Graphics, Crafting, Single Server, Versatility in Character Appearance
Weaknesses: Learning Curve, Bugs, lack of Alternative Advancement
Notes: One of the best FTP MMOGs on the Market; has grown into a strong and solid product
Billing Style: Free to Play with Paid Subscription, Marketplace

Fallen Earth was originally released on September 22, 2009 as a labor of love from the independent game development company Icarus Studios. Taking place in the future post-apocalyptic southwest, since its release the game has grown by leaps and bounds. It converted from its original paid subscription model to a combination free to play and paid subscription model complete with marketplace. Since then, it has attracted a large player base which is keeping the game alive and well. Lovers of games such as Fallout 3 and the gritty post apocalyptic genre are finding a warm welcome in the world of Fallen Earth.

Besides the unique target-based combat system which allows snipers to headshot their victims from a distance and challenge one to control their aim, Fallen Earth also features a truly seamless massive world. I don’t know of any other MMOG on the market which has accomplished what FE has in the terms of size, scope, and AI-controlled NPCs; all on the same server and without any “zones”. While there are instanced underground bunkers/structures, those are also handled seamlessly. In addition to a seamless world which is always crawling with players, this affects features such as the Auction House as a player doesn’t have to worry about “poor server population”. There’s more than enough people playing the game and constantly bartering items.

New Flagstaff at Sunset

The game has no classes. Instead players spend points in specific areas which allow them to focus on particular strengths. Want to be good at pistols, rifles, and add fire damage to your attacks through a mutation? No problem! But don’t spread your points around too much or you will be good at everything yet master of none.

Another impressive thing about FE is how no two characters look alike. The versatility in appearances is exceptional; even with the NPCs. If you’ve never been attacked by a crazed woman with spiked hair wearing a crazy blood-covered hockey mask coming at you with a bloody machete and suddenly see her body fling back as she is shot in the head, only to turn around to see a female character on a hill in a wedding dress standing next to her motorcycle with a .50 caliber pink bunny sniper rifle waving at you; well, let’s just say… this sort of thing happens in FE, and it is fantastic. I won’t even begin to mention the cowboys with clown face paint.

Vehicles are a big part of the game as they can act as storage, are required for traveling long distances and can even be enhanced to engage in vehicular combat. Factions are critical in FE as well. Learn about them and choose wisely as once you join a faction and put the effort into building the faction points, there’s really no going back unless you want to use a one-time full reset.

But it’s not for the faint of heart. It’s different enough from other MMOGs where there is a substantial learning curve. Be patient and plan on taking a few days just to get the basics down. But once you do, you’ll find yourself having a great time. There is also PvP at the heart of the game, so be prepared to do battle with other players and factions. And be prepared to die. A lot.

Tradeskills are a core part of this game as nearly every item you can find or use is craftable. Resources are so abundant you cannot venture into the world without stumbling upon them. If you like to scavenge and build, this game is for you. If you like to snipe, slice with a machete, duel-pistol blast, or even utilize strange mutations to maim and kill your opponents, this game is for you. If you like a gritty, living and breathing post-apocalyptic world with fun content, great graphics and a solid level of depth, this game is definitely for you.

Content

Creation & Customization, Classes, Story, Missions, World & Sectors, Towns, Ambiance, Mounts & Vehicles, NPCs & Enemies, and Tutorial

Character Creation fun!

You begin the game by creating and customizing your human character. There are quite a few customization options including height, build, hair, tattoos, scars, jewelry, color and more. While the theme is very post-apocalyptic, there’s enough variance to both create a fun, goofy-looking character, or a serious wasteland traveler.

There are no classes in Fallen Earth, but specific areas of focus where you will put your skill points. I will cover this in detail below under Mechanics for stats, skills, AP and mutations.

The story begins with an introduction to LifeNet which you learn through the “Escape from hoover dam” starter tutorial and movie. You are a clone; that’s how you are able to come back to life after dying one of many different ways in the wasteland. Of course this story grows as you play the game and engage in quests, quickly branching out into many different conflicts, conspiracies and issues which require deadly force to resolve. This is experienced through the missions of the game. As with most MMOGs, there are many kill, delivery, group, and reward quests; but FE seems to have more stage-based missions than other MMOGs. When you start one mission, be prepared for it to take you from place to place and require numerous steps to complete. Missions come in four colors to show how difficult they are. From easiest to must difficult the colors are green, white, yellow and orange. In my opinion the first set of difficult missions begins with the Kingman Prison, but as you play the game, you will find many missions marked as group and higher level than you are easily soloable; part of this is due to the tactical aspect of the combat, which is covered below.  A player can have a maximum of 20 missions at any given time, but can only show one as “active” on the UI. At first, I found this to be annoying as I was accustomed to seeing multiple missions shown at once from other MMOGs, but as you get into the game and start playing without expectations set by other games, you find yourself not missing the multi-mission system at all. Additionally, nearly every quest in the game shows you on the world map exactly where to go and it’s easy to switch between quests which are in the same vicinity.

The world of Fallen Earth is huge, and in order to truly appreciate what has been built you really need to experience the game in full and explore every location you are sent to. While FE is a truly seamless world, it is broken down into sector maps. The entire world is known as the “Grand Canyon Province” which contains 7 sub sectors. These sectors are: Sector 1 – Plateau (for characters level 1-20), Sector 2 – Northfields (21-30), Secctor 3 – Kaibab Forest (31-40), Deadfall (40-50), Terminal Woods & Alpha County (50-55), and Territory Control. Territory Control is a purely faction-based PvP area and has different rules and features from the other sectors (which will be covered below). The gradual progression from sector to sector is very well done, and while there are “empty” portions of the sectors, they are more the exception than the rule.

There are a lot of towns in Fallen Earth. Some are Neutral and others are Faction. If you’re friendly with the faction, you can enter. If not, you will be shot on sight by the guards. Each sector has one major town. I believe the largest town in the game is New Flagstaff, which is in Sector 2. Every major town has all vault types and serves as a central hub for that particular sector. You’ll always encounter plenty of player variance when you visit the hub towns. As I will cover below, the game also features Player-built progress towns.

The ambiance of FE is very engrossing. The colors, environmental sounds, lighting, shadows, structures, foliage and terrain all create an enveloping world which is very well done and detailed. The view distance for the terrain is the furthest I’ve seen in a MMOG; you can truly see a long distance, and it adds to the overall feeling of depth to the game world you are playing in. When you start out in Sector 1, the world seems like a barren wasteland. It’s not all like this; as you progress out of Sector 1 and into Sector 2 and then Sector 3, etc. you will notice a gradual change in terrain from wasteland to plains to heavy forest, and you will also begin to notice structural differences in towns based on factions, storyline and location. Day and night cycles last four hours each, and when it’s night it gets very dark. When day comes around, you welcome it.

Mounts and vehicles are key to getting around in FE, but they represent more than just transportation as they can also be used for combat and storage. There is quite a variation in mounts and vehicles. Players can ride on horses while shooting their targets, jump on ATVs and fly through the hills, acquire “interceptors” which are dirty muscle cars (which you can mount guns on), purchase a fat prairie chicken to bound around on, or even fly down the roads in a custom painted chopper. The variation in vehicles allows one to pursue a method of transportation which matches their character and play-style. While I introduce vehicles under content, I will discuss the actual use and management of vehicles below under mechanics and travel.

Horses are very popular in the early sectors

The tutorial (which is about escaping hoover dam) takes a new player through the basics of the game. I recommend every new player completes the tutorial as it does a good job of introducing the game, features and different play/combat style. Once you complete (or skip) the tutorial, you get to choose your starter town from a list of of seven (Clinton F.A.R.M, Mumford, Boneclaw, Zanesville, Terance, Midway, South Burb). Each town tells you the population and has a “focus” of Support, Pistol, Combat, Rifle, or Crafting. As Fallen Earth has grown in popularity most of the towns are at “full” population, but that’s not a problem; simply choose the town which looks best for what you want to focus on and enjoy!

Economy

Currency (Death Toll), Inventory & Items, Tradeskills (Resources & Gathering, Crafting, Harvesters & Salvage), Trading (Bank, Mail and Auction),  Subscriptions & Marketplace

The currency of FE revolves around chips, crafting components and the auction house. Chips come in four flavors: white, blue, red, and yellow. The lingo of the game is “for sale! 15r!” which is 150000 chips (100 white= 1 blue, etc). Merchants sell items for chips and you can sell items to merchants for chips. You can also buy and sell items for chips through the Auction House, which is very active due to the single-server natuer of the game. You can also acquire Death Toll by killing players. This can be spent at Death Toll merchants to buy PvP equipment. Yellow chips are the end-all, be-all, and the max currency of the game is 10y. You can also acquire “defense tokens” from the Citadel quest in Deadfall to buy end-game crafting components from a defense token-specific merchant.

Inventory is managed through storage on your character, through vaults, and storage on your vehicles. Vaults serve as the “banking system” for your character and come in four flavors: Sector, Barter, Utility and VIP. This is very confusing to new players as they are led to believe the different vaults represent different methods of storage which may include membership or even trading; this is not the case. Sector vaults are generally found in every town. Barter vaults are found in all major towns, and some towns contain utility and VIP vaults. All are connected and all are owned by you, so technically, a player has three sets of bank vaults they can use. The difference is utility and VIP vaults are only found in a limited number of towns. So if you’re in a smaller town, you may not have access to some of your vaults, so you generally only want to put things in the utility/VIP vault you rarely have to access (until you’re going somewhere like Los Alamos on a regular basis). Barter vaults are the middle ground; for example I put weapons and armor in my barter vault and use my Sector vault (which is found pretty much everywhere) to store all of my raw resources. Vehicle storage becomes important as you venture off into the wasteland. This storage is useful for extra ammunition. Your character inventory is based on slots and weight. You always have 64 slots and can carry a specific amount of weight based on your stats. When I started the game my max weight was around 30. At level 50 I could carry over 80 and I didn’t focus on strength.

I finally discovered what brought about the apocalypse!

Items come in a number of core categories: Weapon, Armor, Ammunition, Consumable, Tradeskill, Mission and “other”. Weapons are either ranged or melee and can be equipped in the following slots: BACK, BELT, and LEG. You can have 2x of each, so you will often see a player running around with guns, knives, and even “glow sticks”.  There is a very wide variety of armor with a number of slots: EYES, MOUTH, HEAD, EAR, BACK, CHEST, SHOULDERS, ARMS, WRISTS, HANDS, WAIST, LEGS, THIGHS, BOOTS, and STORAGE. Something which may not be quite intuitive is your Chest is your “shirt” and your Back is your “torso armor”. There are also wardrobe slots identical to armor slots where you can define the custom look for your character, and I must say the visual diversity in characters is exceptional; it’s almost impossible to find two characters who look exactly alike. There are a number of single items which will take up multiple slots. For example, you can wear a Helmet that just takes the HEAD slot, or a full face-covering helmet which takes EYES, MOUTH, HEAD and EAR. You can also find “suits” of armor which take up nearly every body-based slot; these armor suits start at level 45. Items such as weapons and armor have two degradation properties: condition and fatigue. Condition is durability and fatigue is the overall repair reserves for the item. When your item reaches a condition of 0 you must repair it in order to use it again, and higher level items require expensive repair kits. When you repair an item it loses a point of fatigue. If an item reaches a condition of 0 and fatigue of 0 it’s not repairable. However you can replenish the fatigue of an item by merging it with another of the same kind. Don’t worry; fatigue doesn’t become an issue until end-game, and it was designed to ensure a continued use of materials to craft and repair items. While items can have character level restrictions, each item in the game has an “item level” which is a different tier than character level. This allows the developers to define items of low and high quality in a specific character level range (or usage range). For example, a level 45 common and cheap helm may be item level 52, but the “best quality” helm for a level 45 character may be item level 64. You can also dye items (and vehicles) which allows the player to define their unique look. Surprisingly, very few items in the game bind to you; most can be repaired and resold.

Tradeskills are at the heart of Fallen Earth and probably serve as the most important set of features in support of the economy; even more than the chips because of the consumable nature of things. Resources from Gathering come in 3 core categories: Geology, Nature, and Scavenge. Geology encapsulates mining nodes, nature all types of nature-based resources such as wood, wheat, cactus water, etc. and scavenge is everything else: junk, which can procure everything ranging from pharmaceuticals to computer chips and salvaged metals. Scavenge can also return the same resources you find through geology in the form of metals. And there are a TON of crafting materials in this game. More than any other game I’ve seen.

Crafting skills are as follows: Armorcraft, Ballistics, Construction, Cooking, Geology, Medicine, Mutagenics, Nature, Scavenging, Science and Weaponry. And believe me when I say there is a monumental amount of things to craft in this game. Guns, Armor, Clothing, Food, Item Repair Kits, Healing Pharmaceuticals, Item and Vehicle Dye, Horse Feed and Fuel, Blades, Hammers, Tents and Campfires, Vehicles, and even guns to mount on your vehicles; you name it and you can craft it. While most of the crafting skills are self-explanatory (i.e. ballistics is guns, armorcraft is… armor) the one which people scratch their head on is Mutagenics, which is support for mutations. I will cover this in more detail below under skills. You must have a kit on your character in order to craft; if you’re crafting for multiple skills, this can take up a number of slots; of course there’s a single kit that does everything which you can purchase from the Marketplace, but you have to pay for it. Another important support feature for gathering are Harvesters; physical objects you can set up in the Territory Control zone (PvP) which harvest specific materials. Short on Scrap Steel or Lead? Set up a harvester! But there is risk as you can only set them up in PvP areas and players can both destroy and steal from them. And very importantly: Crafting is queued and done even when you’re offline. You can set up to 20 individual items to be crafted in your queue at once; and as you get into the higher level items, it can take hours and even days to craft complex items. Using construction skills, Players can also build camps wherever they like which can include mail, vaults, and merchants, and provide a nice buff to those who are around it. There are also crafting stations in towns which lower the time to craft if your character is in proximity. This can be helpful if you queue a lot of items to craft and want to shave off 10-20% of the time it would normally take.

A great example of the well-done long-distance terrain rendering

As mentioned above the Bank system of FE is the Vault system. Mail is pretty standard compared to other MMOGs; you can send, receive and COD items. The Auction House is very active as there is only one server and you can find an AH in nearly every town. It is common for popular item posts at good deals to be snatched up almost immediately, and you can almost always find what you need if you have the chips. My only gripe with the AH is the fact it is not apparent you can search items based on character level, but only item level. You can fix this by selecting “player level” under the required attribute dropdown. The UI of the auction house can be a bit cumbersome, but once you dive into it using the AH is pretty easy and a player can make quite a bit of money by selling the resources they find and items they craft.

Fallen Earth is a Free to Play game which offers paid Subscription and a Market. The base Free to Play account has limitations on many things such as the the number of characters a player can have, how many chips a character can have, experience gain rate, a limitation in crafting/harvesting speed, and how much time a player can spend crafting, etc. Of course the paid subscriptions address all of this by removing limitations and even enhancing them. There are three paid subscriptions available: Survivalist ($9.99/mo), Wastelander ($14.99/mo) and Commander ($29.99/mo). I personally recommend Wastelander; it’s the same as a paid subscription to any non-F2P MMO and works well. Subscriptions also give monthly Reward Points (thus rewarding those who continue to subscrive) which can be used to purchase in-game items; but if you don’t want to wait, you can buy some G1Credits and buy lockbox keys, equipment, mounts, slot expansions, enhancements and other marketplace items.

My Recommendation if you plan on really playing FE: Purchase the Wastelander Subscription and the Badland Rider motorcycle.

Welcome to the Northern Forest!

Mechanics

Level & AP, Stats,  Skills, Actions & Mutations, Factions, Modifiers, Regeneration & Consumables, Travel, Instances, Player Towns, Achievements,  Pets, and Death

Fallen Earth has a level cap of 55, and it does take some time to get there unless you’re an experienced player who knows exactly where to grind and uses XP boosters. However there is so much to do in the game I highly recommend completing every quest you can if it’s your first time through, especially as the world is massive and the quests will send you to bases and other important locations which you will want to be aware of if you choose to help out friends or level alts.

As you progress through levels you are awarded APs (advancement points). This is the bread and butter of character customization. What’s nice is you will receive APs as you progress through a level so you can enhance your character between levels and not have to wait until you “level up”. While leveling will increase your root stats, it does not increase your skills or mutations (except Alpha). You must spend points to increase those. Each stat point costs 5 skill points and everything else costs one point. Another reason it is important to do quests is because many of them reward AP points, so if you simply grind to level 55 without doing any quests, you could find yourself fewer AP at max level than you would have received through questing. Max usable AP is currently 1960, but you can acquire more than that through quests after you’ve reached level cap. My guess is this is for future expansions which raise the level cap, allowing players who continue to “collect” AP to store it for expansion.

There are eight stats: Charisma, Coordination, Dexterity,  Endurance, Intelligence, Perception, Strength and Willpower. Each stat serves as the foundation for all skills, mutations and tradeskills. You can see which stats affect which skills by looking to the right of the skill/mutation/tradeskill in the UI. For example, the skill Armor Use is based 25% on Coordination and 75% on Endurance while the Armorcraft tradeskill is based 75% on Intelligence and 25% on perception. This means you need to plan in advance what stats you will raise to support the skills you want to pursue. I recommend doing some research on character build templates before starting your character; that way you can get an idea of what to shoot for. I decided to go with the Rifle/Crafter template for starters, but instead of First Aid and Group Tactics, I went with the Empathy Mutation and Dodge. All characters also have health, stamina and gamma. Health is the traditional “if you reach 0 you’re dead” value. Stamina is consumed by actions and gamma is consumed by mutations. Each stat has a regeneration value which can be enhanced through consumable items, as discussed below.

There are 13 skills in the game: Armor Use, Dirty Tricks, Dodge, Escape Artist, First Aid, Group Tactics, Heavy Weapons, Melee, Pistol, Power, Precision, Rifle, and Social. Most of the skills are self explanatory, but a few are not. Dirty Tricks is mainly for melee support, and Social supports bartering and other interesting features such as being able to walk around enemy towns, reduce aggro, etc. Each skill has a set of action books which are necessary to open access to the actual actions which is what you can place in your slots and activate/use. For example, the Rifle skill has an action called Bull’s Eye which causes the next shot to do extra damage. Each book/action comes in multiple levels and you must acquire each level of the book to access that level of the skill. For example level 4 of Bull’s Eye required Rifle 156. Most books are sold by merchants or can be crafted, and some can be found.

For those of you who are more familiar with fantasy-based MMOGs, Mutations are the equivalent of “magic classes” in Fallen Earth and encapsulate a number of actions based on a theme. There are a total of eleven: Alpha Mutation, Empathic, Enhancement, Illumination, Nano-Manipulation, Patho-Transmission, Primal, Sonic Influence, Suppression, Telekinesis, and Thermal Control. All characters have Alpha Mutation and it’s automatically maxed based on the level of the character. This ensures every character has access to the most basic mutation actions available (simple heals, etc). Mutation actions can do everything from acting as support buffs and debuffs while others cause damage over time to your attacks, heal you, remove disease, etc.

Factions are a key part of Fallen Earth and define the overall play style and attraction for each character. While most games have a static faction system, Fallen Earth has created a faction wheel which creates a balance between multiple factions. There are six factions total: Techs, Enforcers, Lightbearers, Vistas, CHOTA, and Travelers. Each faction has its own theme, custom armor and gear sets, and attracts a certain type of player. For example Enforcers are very military while Vistas as more “wild west” and love running around on their horses doing mounted combat. The interesting part of this is when you gain faction, you also gain faction for the nearby factions and lose on the opposite side of the wheel. This means gaining Enforcer faction also gains Tech and Lightbearer faction, but at a lesser rate. This causes the CHOTA faction to take the biggest hit (2x negative to the opposite gain) and the factions next to the opposite to take a lesser hit. What makes this interesting is you may want access to faction vendors that aren’t your primary faction (i.e. an Enforcer may want to go to a Tech town to buy something from a Tech faction merchant). While you can take Tech quests, you now gain faction with Techs, Travelers and Enforcers; but lose with Lightbearers Vistas and CHOTA. So you need to keep an eye on your wheel to make sure you don’t turn a nearby faction to your main opposite faction by engaging in quests of a faction other than your main. This creates “faction friends” and absolute enemies which show up different on the minimap; however, the next big patch is going to change this so all PvP is either primary faction or enemy. This tells me they may be foregoing the faction wheel as it doesn’t appear to add anything from a PvP perspective, but can enhance the game from a PvE perspective. Your faction level also allows you to choose your faction title.

There are many modifiers which can be both beneficial and detrimental. Buffs are positive modifiers which can enhance your stats, armor, etc. and debuffs are poisons, diseases, and other harmful effects which can be used against you by NPCs and other players. Consumables are critical to timely regeneration, especially when it comes to ongoing combat. You can eat food (health regeneration), drink yummy beverages (stamina regeneration), and obtain other food and boosters for gamma regeneration. You can even find boosters which take from one stat to enhance another (i.e. take health and add gamma). This can be very important for characters that utilize mutations and are in large combat groups.

Travel is either by foot, mount or vehicle, or lifenet fast travel. The lifenet fast travel is critically important due to the size of the world. It costs chips and instantly transports you to key hubs where you have registered your clone. It’s important when you travel from one location to another to always register yourself at the closest lifenet fast travel hub so you don’t have to hop on your bike or horse and spend five minutes traveling from point A to point B. Lifenet hubs are shown on the minimap with little blue icons. One thing to keep in mind is the fuel needed for your vehicles. When your horse runs out of stamina, it will only trot at running speed. Same with your vehicle. Always keep an eye on stamina and make sure you have extra feed and fuel if it’s getting low. Also, your vehicle/mount can be “killed” by NPCs, other players, and through damage (yes, driving or jumping off the cliff on your bike or horse will hurt/kill/destroy it). For this reason it’s always a good idea to keep vehicle repair or veterinarian kits on you in order to “restore” your vehicle/mount.

Welcome to Kingman. Make sure you’re armed!

Fallen Earth features a number of instances, but they are done in a seamless fashion. Most instances are “bunkers” and other underground or structure-based areas. When you enter an instance, a custom UI comes up informing you of the instance, and presenting a button that allows you to reset the instance any time you would like. While the instances are fun and can be challenging, I have encountered a number of bugs which I hope the next patch addresses.

One unique feature in FE is the ability for characters to use their construction skill to build Progress Towns. These are player built and controlled towns which can rise and fall based on PvE incursion. One of the most active and notorious of the three Progress Towns in game is the Citadel; a player controlled town which comes under massive siege every 70 minutes and requires a raid party to defend. And when I say massive, I mean it. When you see the wave of attackers for the first time, you’ll be blown away. If the party fails, the town is razed and overrun by the NPCs which must then be defeated in order to take it back and rebuild the merchants, quest givers, etc. The other two towns are Progress Town in Sector 2 (Northfields), and Stronghold in Sector 3 (Kaibab Forest). If you want a break from quests or to get great experience with a group of people, head on over and check these towns out. They can always use an extra hand either defending the town or retaking it.

Fallen Earth has numerous Achievements, but they really don’t provide anything at this time other than a list of goals a player can work toward. My guess is the developers will evolve the Achievement system to give rewards and possibly access to items based on the total achievement score, but they have yet to announce such plans.

There are a number of fun Pets in the game, and some even offer storage, but none provide any actual combat support.

You’re in a post-apocalyptic world where most everything wants to kill you. Luckily, you’re a clone! Death is merely inconvenient . When you die, you  re-appear at the closest regen chamber with some condition wear on your equipment. Most regen chambers also have garages next to them so you can pull your mount or vehicle back to you and be on your way once again. There is also a debuff which lowers your experience for a few minutes. Don’t worry, there’s no running back to your body or losing gear.

Gameplay

Combat, PvE, PvP (Blood Sports, Conflict Towns and Territory Control), Reward, Progression, Learning Curve, End Game, Difficulty and Replayability

Much like a solid golf swing, there’s a certain bliss experienced with a clean headshot

Combat comes in four flavors: Ranged, Melee, Mutation, and Vehicular. Sadly, when I say Vehicular I don’t mean that you can run over your enemies (quick flashback of glee to Borderlands). Instead you can engage in combat while on/in a combat-ready mount/vehicle. Some mounts and vehicles allow combat while others do not (read the description of a mount/vehicle to determine if it’s combat capable). One of the unique features of combat is the aiming capabilities which are most apparent when you’re engaging in a 80 meter sniper shot of your target’s head. You can damage a target in two locations; body and head, and a head shot does much more damage than the body. The targets will weave around, duck, and move, making even the most basic up close combat scenario a challenge to score headshots. But if you can, you’ll drop your target much quicker, regardless of the combat being PvE or PvP. This adds an extra level of satisfaction to every fight and adds a hint of “tweak damage” to the game, which takes it one step above other traditional MMOGs where you simply click on your target and execute action X. Another interesting feature related to combat is how a player can be zerged by numerous targets. It’s entertaining to fight your way through an encampment only to see somebody fly past you on their motorcycle and watching them get caught on an object and suddenly swarmed and pummeled to death by the 30 angry NPCs they accidentally aggro’d on their way in. This happens a lot. All in all, combat is fun. Add ragdoll physics to the mix and you have bodies flying around with great knockbacks from those .50 caliber sniper shots or monster hammer hits. Another level of strategy the game adds is line of sight shots. If you’re in a highly dangerous area, you do not want your bullet sailing past your target and striking the boss behind it. This aspect of the game requires the player to pay more attention to what angle they’re shooting at and what is behind their target. It can be very entertaining to see new players flailing their shots around and pulling in groups of mobs from behind their target, only to have their ragdoll body slammed through the air and pummeled to the ground. Some mobs are also ranged, and more than once I have pulled into a camp of snipers and thought I had plenty of space to forego aggro only to have a group of NPCs from all around me shooting from afar. One rarely survives such a situation, so depending on the type of camp you’re approaching, a player must exercise caution before entering.

Fallen Earth supports both PvE and PvP play. PvE is plenty fun and there is tons content for those who do not want to engage in PvP. There are hundreds of quests, numerous encampments, underground facilities, hostile towns and raids will keep all players busy for quite some time; and the continual need for crafted items keeps the economy going even at end-game. But make no mistake, Fallen Earth also has a very focused PvP side to it for those who want to participate. The core of PvP revolves around three means of participation: Blood Sports, Conflict Towns and the Territory Control sector (the only total PvP sector in the game). Everything except for Blood Sports revolves around Factions, and as mentioned above, the game is about to be patched to make it so “friendly” factions don’t exist anymore; it’s either your faction (friends) or enemies; even for support factions which are in the green. Blood Sports are queued PvP in custom maps with different goals and themes. The four maps are Deathmatch, Capture the Flag, Survival and Assault. By participating in Blood Sports you gain Death Toll currency and rank. Conflict Towns are found throughout the game and offer open PvP in a designated area where the players can complete quests to take control of the town (which opens up merchants). Territory Control has keeps which factions fight over. You can upgrade the keeps and when you control a keep, place harvesters for resources. Territory Control is probably the busiest location of organized PvP groups which move from keep to keep, resulting in some juicy battles. But make no mistake, PvP in Fallen Earth can be frustrating and brutal. If you’re a L45-50 character and come up against a L55 PvPer, you’re probably toast. The only hope is that you have more people with you (or that they aren’t very good). Be warned, there’s friendly fire! This can result in some very heated battles, especially if somebody in your faction decides to shoot their own for fun. This can result in characters who are on a faction “blacklist” and shot on sight by their own faction members in Territory Control.

Watchtower at Sunset

Rewards are obtained through harvesting resources, looting NPCs, receiving Death Toll through PvP, participating in progress town quests (defense tokens) and Quests. NPCs do not drop any chips at all; loot is all item based. Also, most NPCs do not drop anything more than components and ammo. Some bosses can drop weapons, armor and vanity pieces, but only the bosses. You can occasionally get lockboxes and books from NPCs, but that’s the most variation I’ve seen from the norm of component drops. I will admit the quest rewards are fairly lacking in the area of items (only because they are generally lower level than what you can easily craft or acquire through the auction house), but you can get reasonable chips out of them and are shown great places where you can gather materials and gain reasonable experience. The second time you play the game through you’ll know where to go and what to farm, and the overall experience will be much more familiar.

Progression comes through experience, leveling and distributions of advancement points. A character gains experience through combat, gathering, harvesting and quests. It’s actually possible for a character in this game to reach max level without ever using a weapon, although I would not advise it. Some of the more costly and complex crafting recipes can yield quite a bit of experience as well.

There is a Learning Curve to Fallen Earth; more than other MMOGs because of the way combat works (it takes some time to get accustomed to switching in and out of aim mode with TAB) and the process of understanding the depth of crafting and how factions/towns/PvP all work. The game is unique; there isn’t really another MMO like it. The UI is custom and also takes a bit of time to learn as well. The help channel is always flooded with questions and answers and is available to new players, but it can be hard to sift through the public “romper room” nature of it. There is a great FAQ resource which can help any new player, and I highly recommend if you are playing FE for the first time to check it out.

Welcome to Blaine! You will only try to go up the hill once…

End-Game really consists of PvE in Deadfall/Terminal Woods/Alpha sector, PvP, harvesting, crafting, gearing and alts. I do admit the lack of alternate advancement is a bit disappointing (and I think they really need to add it), but the really “high level” weapons and armor take quite a bit of time, resources and money to complete, and leveling your character also takes a good amount of time unless you specifically grind for experience with boosters. There really isn’t any raid-based end-game content that isn’t tied to public events such as the Citadel. The most pursued thing for level 55 characters seems to be Impure Volatile Chemicals and Salvaged Pre-Fall Tech. Both are required to craft some of the most powerful weapons and armor in the game.

Red bodies and lots of flies represents a successful battle!

Fallen Earth ranges in difficulty based on what you are doing. Running around and harvesting is pretty easy, as are the wandering mobs in the plains. But come upon a well-fortified compound with ranged NPCs or in an active PvP area, and look out. I did find most group quests to be soloable and fairly easy, but some of them do require a bit of help to handle. The first real set of quests a player needs help with in Sector 1 are in the Kingman Prison. Based on play style, melee can be much more challenging than ranged, and depending on a character’s build, wandering into an enemy camp can be a monumental task of strategy and luck vs. simple well-placed headshots from a distance. Making money can be a bit challenging depending on play style, but I have run into players who have achieved the maximum amount of currency in the game (10 yellow) and are still playing. I have also encountered many level 55 players who seem to always be broke. As with the real world, it simply depends on how you manage your funds, plan, and how much effort you’re willing to put into building your own ammo, items, consumables, etc. While playing Fallen Earth, I’ve run into casual women gamers who love crafting and stay away from PvP, and others who are hardcore PvP tweakers. Fallen Earth appeals to all kinds.

When it comes to replayability there is plenty to do in Fallen Earth. Even if you max all of your tradeskills (which takes quite some time since it is still time based even if you have all the resources to make it happen), there’s always more to gather, craft, sell, barter and explore. While there is a deficiency in the lack of alternative advancement, Fallen Earth features some of the best crafting I’ve seen, and the combat is much more fun and involved than other MMOGs. Level 55 characters are constantly running through Territory Control, planting harvesters and engaging in group and solo combat while gathering materials to build that next great weapon or piece of armor. Also, when a progress town falls, players with the proper construction skills have to team together to rebuild the town. This can be costly, yet the players work together, spend their own resources and take action to benefit and protect everyone from the next impending assault.

Community

Help  & Global, Clans & Clan Wars, Events, Groups & Raids, Population, Quality and Forums

Need a job done? These ladies deliver!

It is very obvious Fallen Earth is a Free to Play game when a new player first begins to read the default Help channel. Many prefer to turn it off, but new players can find useful discussions and receive responses to any questions which they have. GMs do a reasonable job to keeping the really bad talk controlled, but it is a never-ending sea of communications. The good news is there are helpful people in both the Help and Global channels (note you get access to Global when you subscribe). As you begin to play the game, you will also learn which players are helpful and which ones you should put on /ignore.

The FE equivalent of guilds are clans, which have the traditional shared chat system, rank-based structure and clan vaults. There is a Clan Wars feature in the game where clans can declare war against each other and engage in battle, but I have not seen or heard about anyone using this feature and have not seen a listing for a battle, and when I asked about it, I was told nobody really uses it as there are plenty of other avenues to engage in PvP. I do think the developers could evolve the clans to include some sort of advancement and collaborative reward system, but I haven’t heard any mention of this. I will say joining a good clan does make the game much more enjoyable, especially when you get with a group of fun and mature players. It certainly makes asking questions much easier, and if the clan is sizable, you’ll always have people you can play with and call on for help when it’s needed.

There are a number of events in Fallen Earth. The most common are incursions on progress towns and sector events. Sector events are defined on a sector map with a little nuclear hazard symbol. Most of the sector events take place outside of towns. You can mouse over these events to see what they are, and race on over to participate. The progress town events (as covered above) occur every 70 minutes and if there are not enough players present, the progress town is overrun, destroyed and taken over. Most events require at least one group of people to complete, and some require full raid groups. There are also “resource events” where areas in a sector are given extra resources to harvest for a period of time. These areas are marked by a hammer on the map and very much worth visiting if you want to do some serious gathering.

Groups are teams of 8 and Raids are 4 groups for a total of 32 players. There are numerous buffs (and constructed structures, etc) which affect the entire raid. Raiding is popular for Territory Control, farming in popular areas, to participate in world events, to drop the occasional world boss, or participate in progress town incursions.

The Citadel is full of action every 70 minutes

Since the population of FE is on a single server, there are always a ton of people on. While I do not know the exact number of players, I would say the player base is well over 100,000 strong and growing.

Since it is Free to Play, the quality of the community varies. I have met some great people in-game; some through help channels, others through running across them in-world, and others through my clan. The help channel can be a mix of useful dialogue and romper room, and while Global is only available to subscribers, the channel can also be hit or miss – but the GMs do their best to keep things under control. A large clan of good folks is the best way to go. So far I’ve met a number of very helpful and mature players in-game. I have also met some really nasty folks who receive a /ignore, but I will say the majority of the players I’ve met seem to be good folks rather than not.

The forums of Fallen Earth are a great source of discussion and information. One of the best sections is the New Player FAQ and Guide section. I highly recommend every new player goes to this forum and reads not only the posts, but the Ultimate Guide to Fallen Earth.

Technical

Graphics, Sound, Interface & Addons, Connectivity & Downtime, Patching and Bugs

The Graphics of FE are very well done. The assets tie very well together, there is a great level of detail in many of the environments and structures, and the overall feel of the game is vast, open, and alive. While there really isn’t much in the way of music, the Sound is well-done with good environmental FX which represent the time of day and overall “feel” of the game’s theme and landscape. The sound is also very good for notifying you of combat and where it is taking place. It’s quite common to be roaming the wastelands and not see another person for a long period of time only to hear the faint crack of gunshots in the distance, drawing you to investigate a massive gunfight which is taking place. It’s actually very cool.

Fallen Earth UI everywhere!

The Interface takes some getting used to, but it works. You can resize most windows vertically, but not horizontally. The Map resizes in full, but that’s the only window which does. You can have multiple windows open at once (which is often necessary) and you can loot bodies with shift-click. When I pick up a bunch of quests in a new town, I bring up the mission window and the map window and with both side by side, click through the missions to see where the most red X’s are clustered and then head in that direction. The game is very right-click based for inventory and you can easily split items with a shift-click. You can add friends by left-clicking on somebody’s name in the chat window. The game handles overflow and lack of inventory very well by tagging “complete” buttons on quests which have been completed but you didn’t have room in your inventory to accept the reward; either that or the item is mailed to you. There is no addon support.

In memory of Fattywangs. The aspiring kid’s party clown who was killed during his first show.

Connectivity has been a problem for me even though I’m on 30MBit cable modem and have had no issues with other online games. However I’ve spoken with others in-game who state they have no connectivity issues whatsoever. I’m located in the Seattle area. As there is only one server, when it goes down, nobody can play. This seems to happen every once and awhile, but not too often. The game does have weekly maintenance which lasts one to two hours. I would say FE has more downtime than other MMOGs, but that’s only due to the single-server nature of the game. On the flip side, I’ve been involved in large-scale group combat at Citadel without a single hiccup of lag or latency; this is very impressive given the sheer volume of action which is taking place.

Fallen Earth has a sporadic patch history. Sometimes they will patch every few weeks, and other times every few months. The latest patch was 2.38, released on March 13, 2012. The upcoming patch is supposed to have some pretty big changes including Global Territory Control. This Patch is anticipated to go live sometime in April or May 2012, but given the scope of this patch, I think it’s safe to say it will be available when it’s ready.

While Fallen Earth is a great and fun game, it has more bugs than any other recent MMOG I’ve played. I get constant disconnects, have encountered numerous UI issues and other strange behavior. This includes problems with instances improperly resetting (and booting you out), quest completes not showing, rubber banding of mobs, getting stuck on surfaces (including doorways and steps which one should not get stuck on), having chat channels “die”, gaining achievements but not properly showing them (or allowing you to even find out what achievement you just got), abilities getting “stuck”, and not being able to equip a weapon. The good news is logging out and back in usually fixes these problems. However I cannot be too harsh on the developers as I believe FE’s seamless world has more active AI NPCs and connected clusters than any other MMOG currently on the market. This is not easy technology to master.

Support

Forums, GMs, Bug Reporting & Knowledge Base, Wiki

While the forums provide great support, the help and global channels are the most used venue when it comes to asking questions or discussing problems. However on the rare circumstance a player runs into a serious issue, the game almost always has at least one GM online at any given time. You can directly message the GM by bringing up the social window, clicking on the GM tab, right-clicking on their name and sending them a private message. While it can take time, I’ve always received a response.

There is a bug report ticket system built into the Fallen Earth website where you can log into your account and submit a ticket. There is also a knowledge base where players can browse articles and recent questions related to certain topics.

Los Alamos… or what’s left of it.

There is a Fallen Earth wiki, but I’ve found it to be rather hit or miss as it is lacking a lot of information related to quests, sector maps, and other aspects of the game. There is another site called GlobalTech which features a planner, atlas and database.

Despite the romper room aspect of the help channel, there are actually quite a few helpful folks who will answer direct questions. That’s always the best place to start as you can quite often get an answer to your question in 30 seconds or less.

Conclusion

Fallen Earth is the only real post-apocalyptic MMOG on the market. It’s a fun and engrossing game that has been out for years, stands on its own, and is unique in the industry; catering to those who want something different from the traditional fantasy model. More importantly,  it’s fun. There’s always something to do, and as you wander the wasteland you constantly come across new areas and creatures. The game will also appeal to those who played and loved the Fallout series (especially Fallout 3). In the end, I give a hats off to this fun and engrossing game that has survived the trials of a unique MMOG. Jump in and enjoy!

Additional Resources

Newbie FAQ (a must read for new players, also answers numerous questions regarding crafting, finding items, etc)

The Ultimate Guide to Fallen Earth

Globaltech Atlas

Fallen Earth Wiki

Assault Crafter’s Character Template (recommended)

Hybrid Crafter’s Character Template

Release Date: November 17, 2011
Game Type: RTS / City Building
Custom Features: World Events, Voting, Underwater Building, Trade Infrastructure, Research
Strengths: Graphics, Fun Factor, Complexity, Multiplayer, Unique Persistence
Weaknesses: Learning Curve, Complexity, Useless DRM
Notes: The best RTS / City Building Sim created to date
Play Style: Single-Player and Multi-Player with persistent hook-in to the “online community”

Anno 2070 is a Masterpiece. The beauty, flow, scale, scope and replayability factor of this game is unprecedented. Not only is it a RTS/City Building hybrid, the player can actually grow and evolve their ARK (which is the base ship each player has) from game to game, thus building a base of operations that grows with the player’s research and accomplishments and can be carried into the next game. Pair that growth with the numerous achievements, enhancements and multi-player capabilities of the game, and what you have is not just a RTS / CB game, you have what is the next great step in this genre.

The core goal of Anno 2070 is to rebuild the game worlds you participate in. This includes growing your ARK (your mothership) and building up your underlying profile with achievements and upgrades which you can carry from game to game. This allows you to take on greater challenges while creating more complex and rewarding worlds, either by yourself or with other players.

But don’t be misled. This game is not for the faint of heart. It is very complex, in-depth, and will require your complete and total focus to properly play. You don’t just build cities and command units, you run and manage them in a living breathing beautiful sandbox which offers quests, trade routes, disasters, diplomacy, research, wars and more. Even if you build the “perfect” infrastructure, it cannot sustain itself without your support and management. By creating a living environment you can share and grow in with others that carries persistent values from one game to another, the team behind the development of the game (Related Studios in Germany) has done a fantastic job.

The Beautiful World under the Sea

Anno is not a single or multi-player game; it’s equally both, but it requires an online connection to play. This creates a persistent online presence regardless of a player taking on only NPCs vs. other people. This is nice because it makes you feel like you are part of something even greater than just the current game you’re playing; and you are, as I will cover in more detail as I review the content, features, gameplay and overall mechanics of the game.

Content

Factions, Storyline, Game Types, World, Resources, Production, Structures, Vehicles, NPCs & Enemies,  Tutorial, DLC, Mail

Anno 2070 features three factions: Tycoon, Eco and Tech. The Tycoons represent the “Global Trust”. They like to exploit resources quickly, but as such they cause more ecological problems. The Ecos represent the “Eden Initiative”. They rely on green tech and while eco-friendly, their cities are not nearly as efficient and prosperous as the Tycoons. And finally, we have the Tech faction, represented by the “S.A.A.T” (or Scientific Academy for Advanced Technologies). They are the supreme inventors and masters of the underwater world. They designed the ARK and the EVE computer system (the in-game advisor). They build advanced units such as aircraft, underwater ships and missiles.

The Storyline tells us it is the year 2070. Global Warming has melted the Arctic ice cap, which has raised the sea level so high that it’s changed the face of the planet. You are the controller of an ARK, or a “mothership” which represents your society. It’s up to you to rebuild and control your upcoming empire.

There are four different game types available for play: Continuous Games, Campaigns, World Events and Single Missions. Continuous Missions are the most common with three difficulties: easy, normal and difficult. Continuous missions are also the core multiplayer games as well. Single missions can also be played as multiplayer (some actually require it), but Campaigns and World Events cannot. However all of them count for your overall gaming progression. Completing Campaigns, World Events and Single Missions may be more rewarding based on what you are trying to achieve vs. simply creating sandbox worlds in the Continuous game type.

The World revolves around multiple islands and underwater plateaus where the player can build and expand. The world is vibrant, alive, and absolutely beautiful. Deer wander the woods, seagulls fly around your fisheries, and whales call to each other underwater while scuba divers check the integrity of your domes.

Resources serve as the core of everything in Anno and come in different forms based on whether they are on land or at sea. Both islands and underwater plateaus have something called fertilities. These are the base attributes that tell you what can grow there such as coffee, rice, wheat, fruit, algae, etc. Plateaus have fewer fertilities than islands, but are far more exotic. Next we have raw materials; this defines the core materials available in the island or plateau. Many common resources are copper, oil, coal, etc. The resources are accessed through either Mineral Resource nodes (such as a riverbed slot) or Mines. Players can also tap into resources with structures, such as a Rotary Excavator which pulls coal from the island (but only at a rate that’s 50% that of a mine). The resources in Anno are all measured in tons, so a new island may have 10,000t of coal which can be extracted, but once it’s gone; it’s gone. That is unless you have the technology to replenish the resources – and yes, it’s possible to keep replenishing resources to play a game world indefinitely (and some people do this and use it for their “research center”). There are two common resources which never quite disappear: Fish and Trees. Although you’ll need a tree farm to keep the trees coming in an area you harvest them from. Note the different factions each have needs that require different resources. While you start as either Ecos or Tycoon (tech is acquired later), as you expand to support all three factions (which you can), managing the resources becomes a monumental task.

A massive sprawling metropolis… with fire!

Resources are gathered for one core purpose: production. The most basic and common produced item is a Building Module. This comes from a smelter which takes granules from a basalt crusher. Later on, you can produce things like Heavy Weapons, which take Copper and Coal and Uranium which must be refined into Iron and Detonators before being produced into the actual weapons themselves. This production “tree” can get fairly complex and requires skill to manage, but the game does a good job of starting things off slowly and introducing the more complex solutions as you grow. The real bread and butter produced items of the game are building modules and tools; these are required to build all the starter structures, so the first thing a player generally focuses on is producing energy to build modules which build houses which allow for growth to the next tier which allows the building of tools, bigger houses, more people, more structures, and more production which can lead to battleships, aircraft and even nuclear weapons.

The sheer number of structures can be overwhelming to new players, but they unlock based on your management of resources and growth. The structures come in multiple tiers which focus on infrastructure, production, public, harbor, emergency services and special. Most structures can be upgraded multiple levels. The core structure for every island and underwater plateau is a warehouse; this is the first thing that must be built. After the warehouse, the Depot serves as the cornerstone structure, which serves as the trade center for the region in which it’s built. For example if you build a coal mine all by its lonesome, you can hook it up to a trade depot to make sure the mined coal is entered into the island’s warehouse to be distributed anywhere on the island. If you build a mine without a trade depot, you’ll never see the coal even though the mine will produce. Don’t worry, the game lets you know if this happens so you can fix it. Every structure that produces anything must have access to a structure which consumes the produced item, the warehouse or a trade depot. Roads serve as the main means of transporting goods, but as the trade depots and warehouses are upgraded, they feature air-based transport units which can remove the need for roads altogether. City Centers serve as the core of your cities and establish a build radius for houses. You then build houses and other support structures which give the residents of the houses what they need to “upgrade” to the next level. The needs of the residents can be in the form of both structures and produced goods. Because of the structure need and influence radius, planning is very important in Anno, especially if you’re shooting for a big city and infrastructure. Defining the layout of your casino (which is required to upgrade tycoon residents to level 2) to ensure it influences the maximum number of houses is very important. The same rule applies to production centers. For example, defining the layout for oil extraction and refineries before you begin to build them can make a huge difference in efficiency and overall productivity. Later in the game you can build highways which double the speed of the transports that move between production facilities and trade depots.

Vehicles come in three flavors: ships, underwater ships (submarines) and aircraft. There are no land vehicles. This actually works out very well and I never found myself missing the land-based death machines. While Anno is mainly a city-building game, the vehicles allow for the production of small armies which can make or break a faction’s grasp in the world. Destroying the local pirates, or that oil tycoon who has been harassing you is rather satisfying. And hitting an enemy city with a nuke is a visual spectacle of utter destruction.

Combat Ship Reporting for Duty, Sir!

There are a number of static NPCs & Enemies in Anno. When you come across Vadim Sokow the oil tycoon, you know what he represents. Same with Yana Rodriguez, the eco-savant who never combs her hair. Hector is the local pirate leader who will harass you throughout the game unless you either impress him, pay him off or take him out. They all have different personalities and can be rather entertaining, and with the online nature of Anno, I’m sure the developers will add new NPCs in future versions and DLC.

The game doesn’t really have a tutorial per se. Instead it has a campaign which is designed to walk you progressively through the features; but it’s not always easy to understand and takes time. There are systems built into the UI to help you find what the quests are asking you to do and EVE (the computer advisor) helps explain things, but it’s still quite a learning curve.

Anno 2070 was built with DLC in mind, and the first set was released on February 13, 2012. This included the Keeper Package, The Development Package and the Eden Series Package, which included new features like portraits, missions and structures. There are also in-game “progression” rewards you can purchased by obtaining certain achievements, etc.

You will also receive in-game Mail from time to time, informing you of events, voting results, and other opportunities available to you in the game.

Mechanics

Economy, ARK, Upgrade Slots & Inventory, Research, Career Progression, Building & Layout, Transport, Trade & Strategic Map, Quests, ALSU, Achievements, Diplomacy, World Events, Voting, Disasters, and Statistics

The Economy of Anno is solid, and as defined above, revolves around resources, productivity and goods; but there is cash on top of that which is made through taxes, trading and quests. Well-run cities generate millions in cash which is nearly impossible to burn through without a massive catastrophe, war and negative cash flow. Another form of currency in the game is that of licenses, which are required to purchase high-tech goods and conduct advanced research. Licenses can be acquired through completing quests, diplomacy, and research. At this time there isn’t much of a money sink in the game, so once you pass a certain point (i.e. $10M in currency) there’s really no chance of running out of money; or anything to spend it on. Money is not persistent though, so once you enter a new game world, you have to financially begin from scratch.

This is your Ark. There are many like it, but this one is yours!

The ARK serves as your base of operations and acts as your persistent storage and upgrade unit which is carried from game to game. This becomes more and more important as you play more complex games and jump into multiplayer with other players who have high level upgrades; they will smoke you in building and expansion if you can’t keep up, and many of them have ARKs with upgrades from hundreds of hours of gameplay. You can also activate Political “boosts” from your ARK which effect all of your islands and plateaus. The available actions depend on your career progression, voting and overall progress.

Note: you can move your Ark by clicking on the waypoint icon in the upper right corner of the Ark selected window!

Upgrade Slots are key in Anno and can be found not only in your ARK, but on Vehicles and in Warehouses. The upgrades in your ARK affect everything on the map, the upgrades in your warehouses affect the island or underwater plateau, and the upgrade on a vehicle affects that vehicle. Inventory is managed on your ARK, through the Warehouse Storage of an island or plateau, and the “hold” of vehicles (such as transport ships). Inventory items on your ARK carry from one game to another, allowing the player to set up raw materials to be used for an accelerated start at their next map.

This brings us to Research, which is how you obtain the items to load into your upgrade slots. There are two level of research, both through the Tech faction; one is a Research center, and the other is an Academy. The Research Center offers vehicle and warehouse upgrades as well as upgrade “components” which the Academy requires. Once you build your first Academy, you will see the volume and complexity of the items you can research, which come in three tiers (defined by the number of stars). Some of the simple 1-star component items only take 5-15 minutes to make while some of the 3-star items can take hours and require other items which can take hours, making researching top notch upgrades a challenging but rewarding endeavor. You can even research items to unlock items for research. Once you research a few critical ARK upgrades, you are often drawn to try them out in a new fresh game world. So, when you do start over and rebuild again in another world, your ARK will now offer upgraded boosts which enhance the experience and perhaps allow you to increase the level of difficulty.

Some research requires a certain level of Career Progression, which is a core mechanic of Anno where you gain progress with one of the three companies by completing the campaigns (both main and the monthly company specific event), performing daily missions (known as Current events), and voting in the senate. As you gain company progress you obtain bonuses and even access to different ARKs which you can custom configure. This is another component to the persistent growth a player experiences as they play the game.

Building and Layout is of critical importance in Anno as you must plan ahead as to what you want to accomplish before you start throwing structures down. How big is the island or plateau? What are the resources? Where are you going to house your population vs. production? Are you focusing on eco vs techs vs tycoons? What resources will need to be traded between islands? Anno makes you think, which is very good – and important. Templates for Housing Layouts and Production Layouts (Eco for this example) are available via the Anno 2070 wiki, which help a great deal. Be patient. Learning the core building techniques will take some time, and in the end there’s no “perfect way” to do things; it’s whatever works for you. That’s one of the great things about Anno – you don’t have to build everything to be ultra efficient; you can beautify your settlement and create trade routes between production structures which are much more aesthetically pleasing than simply bunching them together for efficiency; and it can all come together beautifully.

Vladim’s Oil Transport Fleet with Escorts

Transport of goods is of critical importance as your world grows, especially as no one island or plateau has everything you need to reach the final tier for any faction. As discussed above, you must connect production structures to consumption structures, trade depots or warehouses in order to register the productions; this is done on islands through roads and underwater through pipes (unless you’ve upgraded the depots and warehouses to allow flying transport). However the automated mechanism of transporting your goods is done through the Strategic Map, which allows you to assign ships to transport goods between islands and plateaus. The interface is dynamic, flexible and easy to use after you get the basics down. Once you get your trade routes up and running, your empire can flourish; but be warned – enemies will often target your transports, and the single sinking of a key transport can have devastating effects on production which can lead to population and money issues. This is one of the very cool and in-depth aspects of the game; ensuring the flow of goods and more importantly, protecting them. As you play the game you will see NPCs and other players assigning battleships and areal vehicles to protect their more critical transport vessels. There is also the manual mechanism of transporting goods from one location to another (outside of the trade route automated system). You do this by taking a sea vessel to a warehouse or ARK and either picking up or buying the merchandise and manually transporting it to another warehouse. This manual transporting method is always taking place as it’s the only way to expand onto other islands and underwater.

The Strategic Map controls your Trade Routes

While the Strategic Map allows for creation of trade routes, one can also engage in Trade by selling items at their warehouses. This allows NPCs and other players to come to your island warehouses and buy goods which you have in surplus; you can also buy their surplus as well as NPCs allow you to buy goods from their ARKs and warehouses, which is very important at the beginning of a game as you can purchase a good 40 tons of tools to help you build the structures which… build tools! You can also buy and sell with other players, and actively trade specific items with other players by dropping items overboard, which they can then pick up with their ships.

You will receive numerous Quests throughout the game. Some are random, others are tied to events or campaigns, and some can even be triggered by other players. Some are simple and others are very difficult and/or require some strategic planning. Most of the time they are very rewarding and worth doing, but the important part is the quests in the game keep things very interesting and progressive. The balance is just right so the player rarely finds themselves in an idle mode waiting for something to happen. There’s always something to do.

ALSU stands for Air, Land, Sea and Underwater and each “level” is of critical importance in the game. The player can move the camera between above the sea and below the sea with ease, flying around and looking at both their land bases and underwater bases. Submarines can surface and dive upon command. Aircraft are either parked at the airport or flying around (and can escort ships, etc). The ability to manage any object at any level of the ALSU is a key mechanic to the game and excellently done. It’s seamless and easy.

There are 209 Achievements at the time of writing this review. It may not sound like a lot compared to a MMO, but this is certainly no MMO, and obtaining achievements is much more difficult. Also, some Achievements have multiple levels to them. Many Achievements simply reward the “yay!” factor while others unlock content, award titles, and UPlay points, which can be used to purchase items. You can also configure the game to publish achievements to your Facebook account.

Time to do some Diplomacy!

When you interact with NPCs through the diplomacy screen, they will treat you differently based on your influence with them, which is adjusted through quests, war, etc. The green fanatics will get angry if you throw the eco-balance of your island out of whack too much, while Hector the pirate will like you if you defeat others in combat. Diplomacy is a very important part as it allows you to do things like request quests, take out loans, summon fleets, declare war, make demands, trade licenses, and accomplish other goals and tasks; all based on your influence with the particular NPC.

World events are an important part of the ongoing storyline of the game and are dynamically updated by the developers. They encapsulate a set of campaigns which need to be completed and are hosted by one of the three factions. Completing these campaigns gives you Career Progression points for the hosting faction, so they are good to participate in. This is a form of free dynamic content offered to the players which allows for continued participation in the growth of the game and overall statistics.

Voting allows the players to support a particular faction in a global vote. Support of a faction also gives the political benefits covered above, so if you want to switch from one faction’s benefits to another, simply change your vote. There are two flavors of voting: World Counsel (which is what gives the political benefits), and the Senate. The Senate Vote is based on proposed benefits offered by the three factions. The factions which receive the most votes have their global bonus enacted. For example, as I write this review, the current vote is at 65% in support of the Ecos which gives a bonus to all ozone generators. The interactive nature of Voting is a lot of fun and even for a player who wants to play alone and not with others as it allows them to participate in the “world decisions” which positively affects gameplay.

Disasters can change everything as it relates to your empire. One nasty tornado and you can find shipping lanes and entire production centers completely destroyed, or one of your oil rigs next to your fishing docks for your population can catch fire and release a massive oil spill which halts fish production. Events such as this can have cascading repercussions which reach your population and cause people to move away, thus lowering your tax income and generating a deficit which can ultimately destroy your infrastructure. Disasters include: Oil Spills, Nuclear Accidents, Research Accidents, Acid Rain, Acid Soil, Respiratory Ailment, Civil Unrest/Rioting, and a Tornado. Some disasters, such as Oil Spills, require researched (or purchased) technologies to clean up.

A devastating tornado heads out to sea…

Anno also features a global statistics system which tells you worldwide what all of the players combined have accomplished. It’s broken into five categories of: Population, Politics, Ecology, Energy and Production. This includes total world population (3.7B as I write this), the distribution of votes, global goods production (49.5B tons as I write this), the most effective ecobalance buildings, and total global energy production (839M as I write this). This is very cool as it shares what the players are building and doing within the Anno game worlds.

Gameplay

Combat, Strategy, Events, Multiplayer (PvP, Co-op), Reward, Progression, Learning Curve, Replayability, End Game and Difficulty

The Combat in Anno is similar to other RTS games where you command vehicles to attack other vehicles or structures, or support each other. Each unit has DPS (land/sea/air) and hits, and can be upgraded by slotting items. This means when you fight opponents, you never know what upgrades their ships may have, especially if they have researched a lot of advanced technologies; and the slotted items can make all the difference with things like 20% more DPS or 30% more speed. Some units can even engage cloaking devices and surprise attack you. A Nuclear Missile is the end-all combat tool which is absolutely devastating. One must pay attention to the ALSU factors of vehicles when it comes to combat as not all ships can attack aircraft or submarines. Repair facilities and defensive turrets play a key part in keeping your vehicles battle-ready and your structures safe.

The Strategy of Anno revolves around Building, Production, Management, Research, Combat and Diplomacy. The emphasis can change from game to game as one world may be peaceful and fun and another a terrifying ordeal of nonstop war between all players and NPCs. As such, production focus would change accordingly as building weapons becomes much more important in wartime than soft drinks to support your researchers to better program their mobile devices.

Events in Anno are all tracked on the left side of the screen through a collection of icons. Those above the filter are events which have taken place (notifications) and those below are open quests. When you mouseover an event, it will give you the details (such as your ship was destroyed or you have discovered a new island). When you mouseover a quest it will mark on the map the location for the quest. In order to remove events, simply right-click on the icon.

Prepare to Research!

The Multiplayer feature of Anno is brilliant. The developers have managed to create a connection to a persistant gaming “world” through statistics, events and voting while allowing players to either play by themselves, with friends, or complete strangers. When you play games with complete strangers, you never know what the outcome will be as some are friendly and helpful while others will build up and destroy you. But remember, they can’t take from you – they can never destroy your ARK or your already achieved accomplishments; they can only wipe your city from the map in the world they are currently in. This can be fun, but it doesn’t force the player into a position of being griefed, so the PvP is a form of consensual PvP. I enjoy creating public open multiplayer games because I’ve met a lot of fun intelligent people and the experience is always different.

The co-op multiplayer aspect of Anno is fantastic. You can can invite other Anno 2070 players to help run your empire. You can then save their map and it’s now yours to play at any time. This allows you to inherit worlds built by other people. Once again, I can’t stress how cool this is; allowing people to work together to run a huge empire. Take it one step further. In Anno, you can play multiplayer co-op games against other players. Register that for a moment. With the depth and scope of this game, you can have a friend help you build your world as you compete against other factions which are run by other people for a total of 4 teams of 4 (16 people). I don’t know of any other game which allows such in-depth co-op play and competition. Anyone for a team tournament?

Rewards come in many forms. First, there are rewards which translate into persistent rewards which apply to your account/profile. Those are achievements and items/upgrades which you can keep within or register with your ARK, obtained through research and purchase. The second set of rewards are currency, licenses, and items. You can obtain “loot” by destroying enemy vehicles and structures which result in flotsam crates you can pick up with your vehicle. When you sink submarines, only another submarine can pick up the crates at the bottom of the ocean. Quests also provide a wide range of rewards and can often be challenging.

If Anno does one thing, it always gives you a sense of Progression. Whether it’s through building a new world or gaining achievements, the entire game is based on progression which can also include persistant progression which is attached to your account and carried from game to game. This ensures players always have something to strive for, even when they start fresh with a new world. In other words, there’s always a reason to play the game.

The Learning Curve of Anno is steep, but in my opinion, unavoidable given the scope and breadth of the game. Give it a few days, play a few multiplayer games, make friends who can answer questions, and you’ll be on your way to learning everything you need to know. Be patient.

The replayability of Anno is really infinite. It is a building game after all, and rebuilding is both challenging and fun; especially when you choose a higher difficulty level or decide to play with or against other players.

Somtimes it’s just good to take a step back and look at your creation…

There really isn’t an end-game with Anno. Technically one could state that researching all technologies would result in the end-game, but then again one would have to acquire all the ARKs and upgrade them to the max, have all achievements that unlock resources, and reach max level with all factions; and even then, the player could go head to head with others who have similar or identical achievements, thus making the game about skill. Regardless, I don’t see a player being able to achieve “everything” anytime soon, so there’s always more to strive for; and if the devs keep enhancing the game not only with DLC but free updates which include content, they should always stay ahead of even the most hardcore player who is looking to “do it all”.

When it comes to difficulty, Anno is quite complex, especially if you compare it to other strategic games. You have to think, plan, execute, manage and strategize as you play the game. I would take it a step further to say that Anno can even qualify as a teaching tool. To built a prosperous and successful high tech world, you must have a certain level of intelligence and skill. Not everyone can do this. Every player I’ve met in-game so far who is very good at playing the game also has another quality – they are smart. You can tell in the way they talk and communicate. That says something overall about the game and community.

Technical

Graphics, Sound, Interface, DRM, Connectivity, Patching, Account, and Bugs

The Graphics of Anno are top notch and the Music is beautiful. The Sound FX are excellent as well, especially when you zoom into an area and the ambiance sounds like what you would expect, whether it’s a busy city or a docile forest.

The Interface is crisp and once you get past the initial learning curve, easy to understand and use.

Anno uses a copy protection system (or also know as DRM – Digital Rights Management) called Solidshield Tages SAS. This makes it so the purchaser can only activate Anno 2070 on 3 machines. This makes absolutely no sense as the game requires a unique account and constant connectivity to play. My guess is some idiot at Ubisoft required this and the devs didn’t want to waste time fighting them about it. After all, their passion is creating games.

I haven’t had any connectivity issues at all and have played a number of games with people from all over the world. Patching is seamless and account management is handled through the Ubisoft Play system. I have yet to encounter a single bug in this game.

Just one example of an efficient farm layout

Support

There is no built-in support system for Anno; only Forums which are hosted by the the European branch of Ubisoft. While there is an English forum, there is still some German mixed in with the forum terms. The forums are active, but the best support really comes from other players in-game which you meet by joining random multiplayer games. However since this game is very heavy on the European side, it can sometimes be a challenge to find English speaking players.

Conclusion

I already wrapped up the core conclusion of this review in the introduction by calling Anno 2070 a masterpiece, which it is. If you’ve read this review in full and you don’t have this game, get it. I recommend purchasing it via Steam. Anno 2070 is the most advanced RTS/City Building game ever made. It’s simply fantastic. If you appreciate a beautiful world, seamless multiplayer and continuous gameplay with a polished leading edge product which you can play for months and even years to come, Anno 2070 is the right choice for you.

Additional Resources

Given the complexity of the game, I want to share some great resources for players. I highly recommend new players watch the Beginners Guides seen below as they’re very well done.

Wiki Resources

Anno 2070 Wiki Page

Anno 2070 Housing and Production Layouts

Video Resources

Note these videos are HD and best viewed full screen. A big thanks to Nanosuitninja for putting these together!

Anno 2070 Beginners Guide Part 1

 Anno 2070 Beginners Guide Part 2

Anno 2070 Beginners Guide Part 3 (Big Cities)

Anno 2070 Beginners Guide Part 4 (Big Cities)

Anno 2070 Beginners Guide Part 5 (Tycoon)