Forsaken World: A Month In

Life In A Half Dressed World 

So I've been playing Forsaken World now for a month.  In that time I have leveled three characters to just over 70, and another to 62 as well as a bunch of little baby "check-in" characters.  I have learned a great deal about both the game and it's community.  While some of the luster has come off from the first few days, life in Erydia is good.  Osiris is still going strong, and I'm still happily a member.  While I don't necessarily fit the "mold" of the guild, in that I am not one to do the heavy flirting and goofing around that goes on in Guild Chat, I am an accepted and welcome member, and they have made me feel both useful and valuable to the guild.  And to be perfectly honest, what more could one ask?  

So what are my impressions of the first month of game play? Well to be honest, it's a very interesting game in many aspects.  Of course, since it is a PWE game, it's heavy on the Zen Market (ie Cash Shop).  However, if you have the time to put into the game, you can get by without cash shopping, though you are at a serious disadvantage if you do in pvp (or so I am told as those that know me know how much I pvp).  It is important to note that PVP is actually a fairly large part of the game, and I have been asked on numerous occasions to try it out. I may cave, and at least give it a look.

Past the ability to buff yourself for end game and end game pvp in the cash shop, you can get a lot of outfits or "Fashion" as they are called in game.  The rest are pets and mounts, which are a big drain in currency.  The other big drain is bag/bank slot expansions.  So there is a tendency to shop heavily amongst the clientele from what I have noticed. 

Moving on to game play.  The game is essentially in three different phases.  The first phase is leveling, and has a hefty xp buff as I mentioned in my original post.  Level 1-60 can honestly be done in a couple of days easily enough.  The next ten levels are a little slower, but not too bad still.  After level 70, however, he big 300% xp buff for quests goes away and you slow down. The other item that slows you down after you hit 60 is the soul power and scroll unlocking tasks.

Essentially, once you get to level sixty you start acquiring Soul Power which is used to buy Vice or Virtue levels to unlock skill buffs.  The various classes and trees have different needs in this regard, while one type of warrior for example may go vice for maximum buffs, another build may go virtue.  As you gain Vice/Vitue levels, you reach plateaus or gates, which require quests to unlock.  This is a very grind intensive time, with kill quests that require 240 of a specific monster to be killed to gain soul power.  Fortunately, the game allows you to combat bot.  So you can essentially afk for an hour or two and kill what you need to and come back to turn in your quest.

Another aspect of the game that is unique to other mmo's I have played is the gemming/fortification system.  No gear starts with gem sockets, but most gear can have up to either 3 or 4 sockets unlocked. However, to unlock it takes a variety of different materials which can either be purchased from the cash shop, or gained in other manners in a more hit and miss manner.  This can be a pricy process in either real money or game currency.  To unlock ones "wings" takes 100 chroma, which are obtained from the number of gems and the types of gems in your gear.  Wings make your character stronger.

Thus far, I have not gotten wings yet, but we'll get there.

This makes the game interesting for me, as there is a bit of a twist on the leveling/gearing policy.  Which is a nice change from simply grinding dungeons over and over and over again. Don't get me wrong... There is a lot of that still. Both for gaining scrolls to unlock skills as well as for some of the massive xp amounts needed to level.   

The one downside to the system as I see it currently is the lack of an archer class. While there is the Marksman, it is not the traditional archer character most every game seems to have.  Though the Marksman is fun, having to be a dwarf is less so for me personally.  Add that the male dwarf sneezes constantly and is a bit on the gross side, it lead me to make Procyona, the dwarfette.

Along with her blunderbuss and trusty Whirlwind Puppet, Setnaris

 

Thus far, I have found the marksman to be fun for me. I am, after all, a hunter at heart.  I do also enjoy most of the other classes I've played. The Vampire seems a bit overpowered to me, at least the blood spec does.  Bard is tricky, but that makes it fun.  The Mage is a blaster, go figure why I might like that one.  Assassin, or Sin as they are called in game, are more pvp based, but fun still pve other than threat issues.  Warriors are fun, lots of dps and have the ability to tank if a protector isn't around.  That's essentially all I've played so far. While I have a priest, that character hasnt really done much, so hard to get a feel for the class as yet.