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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Man in the Funny Hat" data-source="post: 7651374" data-attributes="member: 32740">My perceptions so far (not too deep into it yet - not yet made 30th and I think level cap is 60(?):I AM having a certain amount of fun.  Playing a rogue will do that since they are the clear DPS champs at the outset and if I weren't so casual and lazy (and bad at hotkeys) I might not have even died once so far.  That's actually a good place to start...The interface.  They seem to have felt the need to re-invent the keyboard/mouse interface and only managed to foul it up good.  It REALLY irritates to not be able to do anything with your mouse but turn and L/R click to activate two of your several abilities.  The HUD is strictly a display - you can't interact with it without hitting the alt key which removes you from being able to interface with the active game world while you interface with the interface.  Words fail at describing this needless frustration.  Things that I could do smoothly by clicking on an interface and using hot-buttons when I NEED to become frustrating when I have to mash my fat fingers in tight, distorted keyboard-only combinations to activate movement special abiltiies like tumbling or blinking.  I am constantly activating powers I don't WANT to activate.One thing I will say in FAVOR of the game is that it is not just a speed-click fest.  Simply activating more powers faster is not all there is to combat in this game.  You even want to PAUSE a bit between taking actions because you'll root your PC in place with certain animations for actions you take when you want to retain the ability to move out of the way of area-effects of the enemy.Money.  It's one thing to base an economy on a silver standard but this seems based on a copper standard.  At low levels nothing you find is WORTH anything - not that it matters though because there's nothing of worth in terms of equipment that you'll want to buy.  Oh you'll want to buy a few potions/scrolls, but you equip your characters using items that you find which are otherwise valueless.  You can customize those items but there'd be no point to it because everything you wear winds up being replaced by something better within a level or two.  Cash money seems all but utterly useless and pointless in this game.Now, outside of hard currency like silver and copper there are gobs of different currencies to be used which can sometimes be traded for each other but generally all have their own separate vendors or markets.  There's Astral Diamonds, Zen, Ardent coins, Celestial coins, Seals, Insignias, Trade Bars, and Glory.  WHAT.  THE.  F...ASCINATING economic mess they have created.  The two important currencies are Astral Diamonds and Zen which can be traded for each other.  Zen is the currency you buy with your REAL WORLD money if you choose to go that route.  Believe it or not, at this point it may well be THIS element - the bizzaro and so far (to me) unfathomable economy of multiple currencies they have, which will drive me away from this game.Crafting/professions.  There is certainly no point in crafting as an attempted means to equip your character with weapons, armor, etc. as it would be in ANY other MMO.  It isn't even the point to earn cash - since as noted you can't buy ANYTHING of much use with cash.  I have found that through the Leadership profession you can "craft" some boxes containing general supplies like a potion or two and other cheap gewgaws, and now I've found you can use it to "craft" small amounts of Astral Diamonds.  Maybe crafting gets better only as it gets maxed out (though I haven't heard any such thing yet).  My guess has been that since this is still "beta" they want the system in place but it won't be useful for anything until the "beta" is over - and maybe not even then.  It'll be there if they WANT to use it but with all the other economic wierdness they have going on it doesn't have a particular position of importance.The game is mercifully free of grinding.  xp is gained by turning in quests not by just walking outside the safe zone and earning xp for every thing you kill as most MMO's would have you do.  So far there have been no particular places/monsters to camp and farm for Teh Phat Lootz.  On the downside the quests are exceptionally linear.  Heck, the currently selected quest leaves a glowing trail to follow leading you from one objective to the next, and those objectives are achievable in a matter of minutes as opposed to needing to grind on creatures or gathering herbs and ores all day.  An occasional boss may defeat you but you can readily just beeline right back there and try again.  Long as you don't go watch TV for an hour everything you've already killed in a dungeon instance will still be dead; only the boss and his minions/mobs will respawn.This also means that the game world is very bounded - it's not an endless, open expanse so for better and worse there is no exploration and discovery.  There's a hint of separate quest lines for different races/classes but pretty much the quests are going to be the same for every PC.As I said I AM having some fun with it despite all the knocks, but I think I'd rather be playing City of Heroes.</blockquote>

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