Xelvaza
Mr Zircon Is Coming To KILL You
hehe
hehe
RIP
Iconic, probably where a great deal of my taste in music comes from honestly!
I quite like this game, however it isn't what I would traditionally expect from an MMO.
The game plays more like a singleplayer game for the vast majority of the Main Story Quest (MSQ), and honestly that is alright. I can still party with my friends for it especially at certain moments (ie. dungeons) which is nice.
The quality of the MSQ is quite good. The characters are deep, dynamic, and varied, and leave you caring about their stories quite a bit. The storytelling also only gets better and better the further along you get with the game, really motivating you to continue.
My only criticism of it in this regard is that sometimes... it feels a bit slow. Especially earlier on. Honestly, if I didn't have a friend playing this game with me, I don't think I would have been able to continue on until I got to the good bits at times, but I am glad I did.
In terms of MMO elements, the PVE is alright, but I feel it suffers a lot from a narrow meta and a lack of diversity between playstyles (no talents, skill customization, etc) but each class generally speaking does feel quite good to play and the game always feels well balanced apart from some specific instances.
Dungeons tie into the story exceptionally well, and I like that there is level scaling so that you can always play with your friends. Trials can be particularly tough and present a good challenge for the type of player looking for that.
In terms of PVP, it's definitely not the focus of the game. It could be called enjoyable, but if you are a dedicated PVP player then it is really not for you.
Now where I could really spend a lot of time in this game, is honestly the fashion and the player housing. The devs have recognized that players like these parts of the game just as much as the others, and have given them the care and attention they deserve.
In terms of fashion, this seems to only get better with each expansion. You can let your character appear to wear anything you want (as long as it is equippable by your class in most cases, which honestly I wish they would lift this restriction). There are some gender-locked appearances especially from the older expansions which I am really not a fan of, but the newer expansions seem to reduce the amount of gender-locking on appearances now and even ungender-lock some older appearances (maid outfit I'm looking at you 0.0)
The player-housing is awesome, but unfortunately I've been limited more so to going to other player's houses than making my own, because the real estate market always seems to be borked. To get a house, sometimes you have to wait at a spot for 24+ hours with an autoclicker. Not the best. But the devs are aware of the issue and are trying to fix it through a multitude of ways (like owning your own island)!
Overall I quite enjoy this game. Honestly, I enjoy it more for the story and the fashion than for the gameplay, but that makes the game all the more unique in my opinion. I don't feel pressured to log in every day, and that makes me appreciate it even more. Would highly recommned!
The game plays more like a singleplayer game for the vast majority of the Main Story Quest (MSQ), and honestly that is alright. I can still party with my friends for it especially at certain moments (ie. dungeons) which is nice.
The quality of the MSQ is quite good. The characters are deep, dynamic, and varied, and leave you caring about their stories quite a bit. The storytelling also only gets better and better the further along you get with the game, really motivating you to continue.
My only criticism of it in this regard is that sometimes... it feels a bit slow. Especially earlier on. Honestly, if I didn't have a friend playing this game with me, I don't think I would have been able to continue on until I got to the good bits at times, but I am glad I did.
In terms of MMO elements, the PVE is alright, but I feel it suffers a lot from a narrow meta and a lack of diversity between playstyles (no talents, skill customization, etc) but each class generally speaking does feel quite good to play and the game always feels well balanced apart from some specific instances.
Dungeons tie into the story exceptionally well, and I like that there is level scaling so that you can always play with your friends. Trials can be particularly tough and present a good challenge for the type of player looking for that.
In terms of PVP, it's definitely not the focus of the game. It could be called enjoyable, but if you are a dedicated PVP player then it is really not for you.
Now where I could really spend a lot of time in this game, is honestly the fashion and the player housing. The devs have recognized that players like these parts of the game just as much as the others, and have given them the care and attention they deserve.
In terms of fashion, this seems to only get better with each expansion. You can let your character appear to wear anything you want (as long as it is equippable by your class in most cases, which honestly I wish they would lift this restriction). There are some gender-locked appearances especially from the older expansions which I am really not a fan of, but the newer expansions seem to reduce the amount of gender-locking on appearances now and even ungender-lock some older appearances (maid outfit I'm looking at you 0.0)
The player-housing is awesome, but unfortunately I've been limited more so to going to other player's houses than making my own, because the real estate market always seems to be borked. To get a house, sometimes you have to wait at a spot for 24+ hours with an autoclicker. Not the best. But the devs are aware of the issue and are trying to fix it through a multitude of ways (like owning your own island)!
Overall I quite enjoy this game. Honestly, I enjoy it more for the story and the fashion than for the gameplay, but that makes the game all the more unique in my opinion. I don't feel pressured to log in every day, and that makes me appreciate it even more. Would highly recommned!
2004
This game... I have mixed feelings about.
I started playing at the end of Vanilla and the beginning of Burning Crusade (after moving on from Lineage II). I was like, 3 years old I think but my parents were heavily into MMOs so I joined them the best I could.
The memories are amazing, and the world is probably the most unique and deeply layered that I have seen out of any game, and coupled with the fact that it is an MMO where you can play with people from all over the world just really breathes life into it and makes you invested in this fantasy world.
The expansions of Vanilla, Burning Crusade, and Wrath of the Lich King (WotLK) were probably the best, which is likely why Blizzard is returning them to players in the form of classic servers.
Unfortunately, the underlying reason behind why these classic servers are so popular has to do with the current state of the game. Rather, it seems that for the last couple of expansions, Blizzard has been regressing the game rather than improving upon it.
I could forgive Blizzard if it was just poor gameplay, but the core issue is that they took the amazing story and world building they had and then twisted and warped it into something that feels short-term, cheap, and uninspired.
The game's lore was like a multitude of threads all with the possibility of going so many directions at any given moment, but with the latest expansions, it seems like Blizzard has tied a knot on all of those, thrown them away, and given the story a new thread which no one really asked for.
Their latest expansion, Dragonflight, seems to want to return to some of the old lore, and I hold out hope that it doesn't end up messing it all up.
This isn't to say that I think expanding and adding to old lore is bad, but the way Blizzard has done it feels particularly forced and uninspired as it throws out many of the complexities that made it so engaging.
I could go on forever about this, but overall this game more likely than not will remain as a good memory for me, and while I keep an eye out for its new developments, I doubt I will ever return to it because I don't want to spoil that memory.
I started playing at the end of Vanilla and the beginning of Burning Crusade (after moving on from Lineage II). I was like, 3 years old I think but my parents were heavily into MMOs so I joined them the best I could.
The memories are amazing, and the world is probably the most unique and deeply layered that I have seen out of any game, and coupled with the fact that it is an MMO where you can play with people from all over the world just really breathes life into it and makes you invested in this fantasy world.
The expansions of Vanilla, Burning Crusade, and Wrath of the Lich King (WotLK) were probably the best, which is likely why Blizzard is returning them to players in the form of classic servers.
Unfortunately, the underlying reason behind why these classic servers are so popular has to do with the current state of the game. Rather, it seems that for the last couple of expansions, Blizzard has been regressing the game rather than improving upon it.
I could forgive Blizzard if it was just poor gameplay, but the core issue is that they took the amazing story and world building they had and then twisted and warped it into something that feels short-term, cheap, and uninspired.
The game's lore was like a multitude of threads all with the possibility of going so many directions at any given moment, but with the latest expansions, it seems like Blizzard has tied a knot on all of those, thrown them away, and given the story a new thread which no one really asked for.
Their latest expansion, Dragonflight, seems to want to return to some of the old lore, and I hold out hope that it doesn't end up messing it all up.
This isn't to say that I think expanding and adding to old lore is bad, but the way Blizzard has done it feels particularly forced and uninspired as it throws out many of the complexities that made it so engaging.
I could go on forever about this, but overall this game more likely than not will remain as a good memory for me, and while I keep an eye out for its new developments, I doubt I will ever return to it because I don't want to spoil that memory.