A look at Rohan beta, from start to end
Oct 16, 2012 12:11:05 GMT -5
Post by ioreth on Oct 16, 2012 12:11:05 GMT -5
My hubby and I are on an extremely fixed income. Add that to me being disabled and that amounts to a lot of empty time with nothing on my hands to do. I saved up to get the Rohan expansion (the middle size, it had a few more things and was only a little more money) Imagine my surprise when I get a beta invite. Very fun, thinks me. I haven't done beta since EQII and an open beta. In the close we got to have a leveler and the open we brought who we were.
So, I sign up for beta - from the start. That means about 2 months of exploring Rohan. I loved it. I find out Turbine spoils their beta testers. Where to start? I learn all types of goodies to use that my former guild on Firefoot never mentioned. And off I go to the frontier.
If you have ever done beta with Turbine before you know that they SPOIL their beta testers. Auto level, 100g, endless TP, endless marks and such, never ending crafting supplies. Bits and pieces of scrolls, things to add stats to weapons, all types of goodies to take apart for legendary improvement. Master crafting. First thing you do is create a weapon smith and make your 1st age gear. All cozy in the armor of your choice and away you go.
The thing I discover right away is that the developers of LOTRO actually expect INPUT!!!! EQII wants you to play it and they watch to see where the problems are. These guys want input. Is the NPC jerky or in the sky - /bug it. Does the text of a quest lead to no-where instead of the next series - /bug it. And so on. Some of the major things like Langhold and warsteeds they must have spend long nights reading the forms. In the end was a working product. Realistically it should have had another month. But this always happens with beta.
Another thing I discovered about beta - what you did this time is not what you'll do next time is not what the finished product will do at all. If you are the time to get frustrated... anyway.
We basically walked into out horses the first time out. Go kill some salamanders and we were done basically. Easier said than accomplished. I am a solo player because I don't play well enough that anyone wants to group with me. So, solo salys I go. I learned some things about traits, skills, and adjuncts. Just to kill those salys. Each time we started a new phase there was those salys again and each time I got better with my hunter, RK, and cappy. The last time I had to run them I wasn't afraid of them anymore. I could share some tricks at running them except you probably have more experience with that time of monster and handle them fine.
Horsey, horsey, horsey. Great fun these horses. I ran into wall, I bounced off of fences, I ran through buildings because I couldn't stop and ended up on the roof. I got stuck in the weirdest places more that once (I didn't use the /stuck command because I was too stubborn, instead I spent a horrible amount of time un-stucking myself. 20 minutes one time)
The difficulty steering and stopping they put a check mark (way to the bottom of the combat section of the UI) that helped the horse to stop when the forward key (mouse) was let up. They also put a "gear shift" on the horse. Poke the INSERT key repeatedly and it cycles through WALK-TROT-CANTER-GALLOP. Brilliant. My in-town gait became trot and my outside gait became canter unless needed otherwise. Much more control and more leisurely. One key poke and I was at full, but most of those silly mobs could be dealt with at canter. I discovered that if I maxed out run and turn in the traits I could do a slip-turn and come back on a mob. I learned that points in agility and power helped maintain power - which is 100% essential. I learned that standing in the center on or off the horse I could just shoot at them as they run by me.
Pushing the stop key (S) allowed for some glorious turns and I was nearly happy. Give me horse clothes (tack) and color and the fun was complete. The first beta the news was given that the "class" horses (68% speed/250 life) would share their clothes with the big guy, I think I bought them all.
Then comes the quests. My favorite was the epic although I didn't run it until nearly the end. How they tied all in the fun and craziness became apparent and the sessions and ending made me cry. Probably won't moisten anyone else's eyes, but their loss. Another that I followed I called the "four amigos", these guys kept showing up everywhere you went as you progressed. I couldn't get a quest for them past Cliving, but I would have liked to. Speaking of Cliving, it was the first place on the second beta that I noticed the horses kept changing patterns and colors. You'd go one way and on your way back their colors were different. Let me know if they still do that. A lot of the rest of the quests were the usual "go help such-and-such" and "you need to ride to the next town" which signified you were done with the first.
Environs. The first time I saw the lake below the statues (forgive me Varda, you know I don't remember words) it was so smooth and clear and the reflection of the clouds was something else. I stood admiring the movement in the sky reflected in the water that I didn't notice the Urikai that snuck up on me. I got to know the lake a little better as I did my high-diving imitation to the water below. I had something else happen that I had not seen before, a mob jump in after me and swim and fire his weapon. I was half way across the river I was on before he left and swam back. Probably already in the game, but it startled me. There was so many little bits that stood out. There was one little town to the far south east of Suttcroft (starts with a W) that i just liked. It had a waterfall, water wheel, minimal services, home stone, horse. Everything a person could want. Water-bags on the bridge. It was one of those "stay forever" places to me, reminded me of some of the places around Mt. Hood in my home state.
In all, after six weeks or so of being level 75+ I miss it. I've gotten a few levels on my hunter, but I've a long way to go. I'm happy to explore and realize lore more than ever, but as always totally afraid to fight. Rohan was a great place for me. I don't know why. I died as much maybe more, but it's easier to die in a beautiful place with mobs that show some decent AI than in a place where things just aren't as polished. I hope the high-power players have as much fun as I did. I understand that some instances and raids are on their way to hang on if you don't.
So, I sign up for beta - from the start. That means about 2 months of exploring Rohan. I loved it. I find out Turbine spoils their beta testers. Where to start? I learn all types of goodies to use that my former guild on Firefoot never mentioned. And off I go to the frontier.
If you have ever done beta with Turbine before you know that they SPOIL their beta testers. Auto level, 100g, endless TP, endless marks and such, never ending crafting supplies. Bits and pieces of scrolls, things to add stats to weapons, all types of goodies to take apart for legendary improvement. Master crafting. First thing you do is create a weapon smith and make your 1st age gear. All cozy in the armor of your choice and away you go.
The thing I discover right away is that the developers of LOTRO actually expect INPUT!!!! EQII wants you to play it and they watch to see where the problems are. These guys want input. Is the NPC jerky or in the sky - /bug it. Does the text of a quest lead to no-where instead of the next series - /bug it. And so on. Some of the major things like Langhold and warsteeds they must have spend long nights reading the forms. In the end was a working product. Realistically it should have had another month. But this always happens with beta.
Another thing I discovered about beta - what you did this time is not what you'll do next time is not what the finished product will do at all. If you are the time to get frustrated... anyway.
We basically walked into out horses the first time out. Go kill some salamanders and we were done basically. Easier said than accomplished. I am a solo player because I don't play well enough that anyone wants to group with me. So, solo salys I go. I learned some things about traits, skills, and adjuncts. Just to kill those salys. Each time we started a new phase there was those salys again and each time I got better with my hunter, RK, and cappy. The last time I had to run them I wasn't afraid of them anymore. I could share some tricks at running them except you probably have more experience with that time of monster and handle them fine.
Horsey, horsey, horsey. Great fun these horses. I ran into wall, I bounced off of fences, I ran through buildings because I couldn't stop and ended up on the roof. I got stuck in the weirdest places more that once (I didn't use the /stuck command because I was too stubborn, instead I spent a horrible amount of time un-stucking myself. 20 minutes one time)
The difficulty steering and stopping they put a check mark (way to the bottom of the combat section of the UI) that helped the horse to stop when the forward key (mouse) was let up. They also put a "gear shift" on the horse. Poke the INSERT key repeatedly and it cycles through WALK-TROT-CANTER-GALLOP. Brilliant. My in-town gait became trot and my outside gait became canter unless needed otherwise. Much more control and more leisurely. One key poke and I was at full, but most of those silly mobs could be dealt with at canter. I discovered that if I maxed out run and turn in the traits I could do a slip-turn and come back on a mob. I learned that points in agility and power helped maintain power - which is 100% essential. I learned that standing in the center on or off the horse I could just shoot at them as they run by me.
Pushing the stop key (S) allowed for some glorious turns and I was nearly happy. Give me horse clothes (tack) and color and the fun was complete. The first beta the news was given that the "class" horses (68% speed/250 life) would share their clothes with the big guy, I think I bought them all.
Then comes the quests. My favorite was the epic although I didn't run it until nearly the end. How they tied all in the fun and craziness became apparent and the sessions and ending made me cry. Probably won't moisten anyone else's eyes, but their loss. Another that I followed I called the "four amigos", these guys kept showing up everywhere you went as you progressed. I couldn't get a quest for them past Cliving, but I would have liked to. Speaking of Cliving, it was the first place on the second beta that I noticed the horses kept changing patterns and colors. You'd go one way and on your way back their colors were different. Let me know if they still do that. A lot of the rest of the quests were the usual "go help such-and-such" and "you need to ride to the next town" which signified you were done with the first.
Environs. The first time I saw the lake below the statues (forgive me Varda, you know I don't remember words) it was so smooth and clear and the reflection of the clouds was something else. I stood admiring the movement in the sky reflected in the water that I didn't notice the Urikai that snuck up on me. I got to know the lake a little better as I did my high-diving imitation to the water below. I had something else happen that I had not seen before, a mob jump in after me and swim and fire his weapon. I was half way across the river I was on before he left and swam back. Probably already in the game, but it startled me. There was so many little bits that stood out. There was one little town to the far south east of Suttcroft (starts with a W) that i just liked. It had a waterfall, water wheel, minimal services, home stone, horse. Everything a person could want. Water-bags on the bridge. It was one of those "stay forever" places to me, reminded me of some of the places around Mt. Hood in my home state.
In all, after six weeks or so of being level 75+ I miss it. I've gotten a few levels on my hunter, but I've a long way to go. I'm happy to explore and realize lore more than ever, but as always totally afraid to fight. Rohan was a great place for me. I don't know why. I died as much maybe more, but it's easier to die in a beautiful place with mobs that show some decent AI than in a place where things just aren't as polished. I hope the high-power players have as much fun as I did. I understand that some instances and raids are on their way to hang on if you don't.