Wrain

@Nikko My bad Nikko, totally misread your post. Wrain

@Banky Honestly I wont or don't believe in pointing fingers as everyone has creative ideas and that's the beauty of being an artist or creator...But I will say one of my original reviews years back was on the "crafting". There was TOO much of a focus on this and its just reached a point of crazy. Banging on a tree and limited resources spamming out of it..and dont get me started on having to RE-ROLL for a new body...ugh...this is a game, NOT A JOB/SIMULATOR. POINTS: 1. Simplify the UI and trim all this fat on NON-PVP-COMBAT-GUILD-WORLD issues. Give us a clean system with powerful disciplines, runes, stats, armor/weapon upgrades/drops and random vendors. (hell go back to SB's random vendor timers inside our keeps and let us roll-with-resources!!! 2. Trim the crafting. Make its SIMPLE and straight-forward. Let the crafters and pve'rs have their roll by SUPPORTING the pvpers/guild/combat members without making them become rocket scientists...this is an MMO..not a crafting simulator. 3. Remove the STAT CAPS, ALLOW players to create "frankenstein" builds and rolls that are unique, interesting, and FUN. This is not supposed to feel like a line production job. The majority of us players who signed up for this are ADULTS/OLD/FAMILIES now. Parking a druid and random people going AFK to level in shadowbane was just FUN/mindless. We kicked people, had people looting...people hiding in trees/invis to see how long they could go afk without getting kicked. FUN=healthy population, clean simplified UI, powerful/interesting NO-HAND-HOLDING BUILDS, and get us SOME lore behind the faction..Make the SUN=desert..Earth=forest/winter, Earth=wasteland..or someway we can feel APART of a lore/faction that's at least somewhat different from our counters. (btw, to the folks who are worried about "removing stat caps"...You need to understand it actually makes things FAIR. If stat caps are removed..and someone goes full tilt glass, you have others who are doing the EXACT OPPOSITE. It all equals out to some VERY crazy builds/wars..but most of all it allows the player to feel "unique". In ALL of my mmo's since Text-based muds...my favorite characters were the ones where I HAD FULL CONTROL OF MY BUILD. I WAS AN INDIVIDUAL. Wrain

Exactly @APE What alot of newer players here don't understand is this game was "heavily" sold on what once was. Were not asking for Shadowbane 2.0...were just asking for the "depth" we had...this 1v1 balancing is KILLING mmo's. If every class is balanced for 1v1, what do I need "YOU" for??? Bring back grouping, bring back fitted-roles. I don't need to be a "god", Perhaps I just want to run around with super speed and be able to just scout/harass with throwing weapons. Perhaps be able to have a 30 sec stam drain "fly" into an enemy keep and take out a guard or 2 and fly out. Or maybe I just want to be a walking steel plate tank that does zero damage but it sure is fun having 5 people take 3 minutes to kill me while i run around laughing...All of this stuff is missing. This feels so much like what World of Warcraft did when they pruned out all of our "talent" trees and forced our hands so many many years ago. And even then we didn't have much..but it WAS something to let us do what the player chose to do. (even if it meant we were beyond gimp in pvp OR pve) I cant stomach even touching all of these new mmos. Its as if the dev's feel the need to MAKE the BUILDS for us. Let the PLAYERS make the adventure/content. To be quite honest the dev's only roll should be giving us a bunch of tools/toys/weapons and letting the PLAYERS "make" the character. My fear is the WoW cash cow rush in 2004-2005 is what started this..and now its just like watching a bunch of rabid dogs trying to recreate something that just wont happen again. That era will never exist again. And I really appreciate the feedback negative or positive. The goal is to PROMOTE the game and HELP it..lets keep all the conversations civil. The more players we have in the end the better! Wrain

Thanks guys, I'm not trying to bash the game and tear it down...I REALLY care and want this game to succeed...I appreciate your commentary and feedback. I feel somehow/somewhere along the lines the "devs" wanted to REVAMP something that wasn't broken in the first place. The ENGINE is what failed SB...nothing else. And yes MadEmperor..the foundation IS there.. I'm hoping they read thru some of this stuff and realize that pulling a "Robert Garriott" from Ultima Online to Shrouded Isles...or the fiasco of "Camelot Unchained" from DAOC, (dont get me started)..WILL NOT WORK!!! (don't believe me? Go take a look at those "projects" and their #'s and commentary) Stick with nostalgia..keep the player base you once had who ORIGINALLY supported this project..Alot of us have kids...If us old people play..the kids will begin to pay interest..and thus we have a giant incoming population...But veering sooo far from this original plan IMO is just missing the mark by a mile. Wrain

Well its been roughly another year and decided to post another review on the games shortcomings and direction. This is of course my opinion and I want to thank the Dev's for ALLOWING feedback vs just erasing posts they disagree with. I'm gonna keep this one short and to the point. As usual, this game is a BUSINESS and its primary goal is to make INCOME. As I stated on my previous reviews in the past year(s), without money, you have NO game. Where to start. This game is still a mess. I'll say it again and again. This game should have NEVER left its Shadowbane roots. And before all the naysayers jump in with the typical "ITS NOT SHADOWBANE". Feel free to type in kickstarter crowfall. Take a look at the ORIGINAL vision of this game and layout. Hell, even the STARTING rune selection WAS SHADOWBANE. We have classes that are bland, boring, and to be quite honest some of the skills are just copy/paste from other game(s) mmo's. (even some of the skill NAMES!) 1. Why do ALL the classes feel mundane. No flashy "wow!" skills, no real sense of growth...just "+ att power this, +con this, reduction on this..I feel no "joy" at reaching 30 because honestly..its the same "feeling" I had at lvl 10. There's nothing in the tree's that make me really THINK about where to go with my build. 2. Disciplines runes....BORING. Bland, lifeless. They are SOOOO minor...and the "few" that actually are good are just OP to the point where people HAVE to have it on their toon. There is NOTHING wrong with having some "class breaking" mechanics/runes in a game. Shadowbane did great at this!!! I remember my buddy going full Barbarian and if he ran into a flying class...he RAN..He couldn't do an thing! (but man did he tear it up melee/sieges) 3. Most of the class choices are flat...Why is a champion unable to use a 2h sword??? Why not give that to a "barbarian" tree to "specialize" and make him unique..Why is the templar no matter what tree he goes down..still feels like a PALADIN!!! Wheres the burning dots! Where the FIRE effects...why is he a PALADIN!!! Fixes: 1. Lets us BREAK our characters!!! That was 90% of the fun in Shadowbane was FAST leveling allowing us to make hybrid builds, pure builds, groups of us all speccing into just WEIRD crap and pulling off nutty stuff....This game feels like a bland World of Warcraft with NO lore...:( REMOVE STAT CAPS!!! Why do you feel the need to prevent us from doing what WE want too??? 2. Continue the NO MORE FOCUS on crafting...We have ENOUGH! Get the UI straightened out, get the game "smooth" and go back to crafting 2 years or so...I have ZERO friends now interested in this game and they all played Shadowbane...They are done, they wont even touch this. 3. Give the trees some serious flexibility...put in a "CD" Game-changer ULT at the end of EACH tree line that really REALLY makes that choice ground-breaking...I just feel like i'm running around playing a bland bland action combat mmo......for instance..try some new stuff thinking way outside the box...If thats too much work right now...then please just make GOOD STRONG INTERESTING DISCIPLINES!!! All the crazy stuff that used to go on in Shadowbane...this is just a "shell" of what once was...I still have my big strategy guide of Shadowbane just listing sooo many runes..builds..stats..lore...it was ahead of its time...its just such a shame the publisher forced their hand into pushing it out too soon...(sb.exe error anyone???) J. Todd Coleman will always be in my top 3 of designers...the work he did with his team and the memories he gave me are for life. I'm just saddened that this "project" is so far off what once was. I know this will "never" be Shadowbane...but the groundwork" IS there...it just needs to be really opened up. I've gone ahead and listed some things below...ideas..thoughts, changes. I hope with all my heart this game comes to fruition. For us its a game, for the developers its their "career". I want this game to flourish...but simply logging into a game with these #'s...its saddening. I see old shadowbane guilds running around...But when you have a "alpha/beta" game about to be opening up..and the reviews are nothing great throughout youtube and gaming sites..its really bothers me. I believe in the team...I just hope its not too late. Wrain 1. Revamp Disciplines...if the classes are going to be just "base-line"..MAKE the disciplines create the "players choice" class. 2. You are allowing the lil "rat" to wear plate and knight it up..but a human cannot be a champion??? no 2h swords on a champion?? huh??? cmon...this is just weird. Race/class changes moved around a bit. 3. Have DEDICATED timers with discipline drops like you did in SB. Announce in world chat and have us go "fight" and camp for them again..THATS PVP with reason!!! 4. Marketplace, marketplace, marketplace....You really gotta open this up for people and make it EZ for shopping/selling. Alot of players dont pvp..they are into economy/crafting. 5. Better END-game ults/passives/class defining abilities... For instance..Champion: Barbarian tree...allow him to use a 2h sword...Racials? Allow FLYING for a limited time for our flyer(s) now/future. Have other classes have to disclpine for grounding/rangers for grounding..FORCE BUILDS AND ROCK/PAPER/SCISSORS. This balancing for 1v1 is what causes NO-GROUPING AND NO TEAMWORK! ;( That's my rant...I'll do another in the next 3-6 months. I'll continue trying to get players to take a look at this games direction and end game goals.. I wish nothing but the best for Crowfall...but Its needs some MAJOR changes and I "still" believe in this project/art. (I don't have a single class yet that feels "unique" or good to me yet...they just feel like "so-so"s from all the other mmo's i've played since 1990. P.S...And the compass...MOVE IT!!! You have a GREAT seasonal UI in the bottom right corner...move the compass OVER it in a curved/arc fashion..will fit beautifully!!!

McTan good points and always good to see someone with "common sense". Anyhow, game needs a TON of work or yea..this wont work. Wrain

Been saying this since the start. You have a "CRAFT-SIMULATOR" that has absolutely ZERO fun involved. Stop and think about what brought MMO's to top tier AAA status... 1. LORE. It united you and your guild/faction of players to a common cause. It was interesting, unique, and you carried a sense of pride behind playing there. This game has a fragment of that. You walk around in places named some ridiculous name because someone "purchased" the right to do so. 2. The classes are dry, stale, cookie-cutter builds that basically let you "fail-safe" your character. What caused WoW to lose its playerbase of die-hards??? Welcome to the pruning and dumb-downed removal of talent tree's. (aka character creation/personal design). UO had it, Shadowbane had it, DAOC had it..but nope, not this game. 3. GRIND!!! Grind grind grind grind grind for what? To hit your lvl cap, then rinse, repeat, and do it again on another body/vessel. Sorry, but I said this was dumb ages ago and it still sits the same. You want war and engaging players? FORCE IT! Put up mob camps with rare drops, runes, weapons/armor etc so people go there and fight over it. 4. No sense of character attachment whatsoever. I have no connection with my toons and can really care-less about them. In the end i know its a throw-away and i'll just have to build a new body thats a "prettier color, green, blue etc" so who cares. DAOC kept players because each RR mattered...this is just another wasted crafting simulator experience. Noted Improvements so far: 1. The music/atmosphere has gotten alot "darker". This is a good thing, noticed this right away after running around for 2 minutes. 2 big thumbs up for bringing this over...Hoping to hear more. (especially if you bring back the desert lands...that music was top-notch!) I'm sorry for being harsh, my friends and I had VERY high hopes for this; but its NOT nor is it even in the same tier of Shadowbane. I'll never understand how this even happened. The majority of pre-backers in this game wanted nostalgia back. I still have my old Shadowbane lore/strategy guide I flip thru time to time...was so deep in complexity with builds, races, stats etc... Feel free to browse my old posts. Either this. dev team DROPS all this ridiculous grinding/crafting or you have yourself a busted farm simulator. Wrain

Oh boy... Seeing that makes me "cringe". THAT is EXACTLY what I thought this game was going to be. Instead its getting turned into a WoW talent tree clone. Sigh....i'm losing more and more faith in this. Wrain

Whats the state of the game? Here, i'll give you a quick honest gritty break-down. 1. You will do more "survival" work than any other MMO in existence. The idea of "FUN" right now apparently is everything and anything that has to do OUTSIDE of combat. Whats that, you wish you would have been a lumberjack or maybe work at a rock quarry in real-life??? Well you are gonna LOVE this game. 2. Whats that, you wanted "character attachment" and a sense of an "MMO persona" like WoW, UO, DAOC, or even Shadowbane??? Nope, You get to do mindless leveling on your "body/vessel" just to eventually GRIND to do the whole thing over. 3. Want to actually go farm mobs and get gear drops like every other COMBAT mmo? Nope, not gonna happen, go back to smashing more trees/rocks and mouse clicking for hours on end. 4. Character customization/skills/stats your thing? Wrong game right now. The trees are becoming more and more simplified and eventually having a unique/broken character that you at LEAST DESIGNED ON YOUR OWN will never even be a possibility. A few Pro's: 1. Devs are actually beginning to implement "rewards" for testing/playing this game/work-simulator. 2. Devs are putting monthly questions/answers monthly on Twitch. There's hope PvP'ers/nostalgia players are making a "dent" in the direction of this current game plan. I admit it, i'm jaded but being honest. I don't feel this game was advertised as ANY of this at launch and its really unfortunate. I know this is alpha but notice I'm not complaining about BUGS, Graphics, lag, hitching..nope, just 100% core direction/dynamics. On the bright side the dev(s) are from Shadowbane..sooooooo well see. But right now I just cant "work", I mean play. Wrain

Its boring. Been saying this since the patch released. The "game" is "work" right now. Non stop harvest and craft. No direction, no lore, no REASON to pvp. Just more and more crafting/farming. Shrink the map(s), give CONTINUING "rewards" that carry onto the NEXT campaign, and populate MORE mob camps (with marks on the map of locations/tier) AND HAVE THEM DROP RANDOM WEAPONS/ITEMS/MATS. YES, CHANCE TO DROP ACTUAL WEAPONS OR VESSELS!!! Right now this game is just a work simulator, and I cant even log in anymore. Wrain

Ding ding ding ding!!! We have a winner!!! And this is why this game is not gaining traction fast enough. This isn't pvp, this is work/aka boring.

Squarl you are absolutely correct. But you posting on here is just going to get you flamed by 90% of the left-overs. You see, these people still playing ARE crafters or fabois. You are right to be worried about the #'s as you should be. (I know the devs are, they are running a BUSINESS) When you have STEAM releasing ALPHA games that have MORE players than this game does....there's an issue. The game has non-stop potential, unfortunately the direction its been heading is WAAAAAYYY off mark from the nostalgia backers who originally purchased this game/dream. If you notice its the SAME few defenders on these forums trying everything they can to make you feel like "YOU" are the issue. Its not, its the game. In business you look at #'s. period. This game is already released all over youtube and its not looking promising to the vast majority of PvPers. IMO to fix this... 1. Run the test server as a giant tool-box and let players run around maxing their characters instantly, throw in a battle-royal 24/7 with a tight map with toys/weapons lying everywhere. Populate mobs and constantly just have exploits and break everything. Let players come up with insane character builds racially/stat/discipline wise. Balance from here. 2. STOP THE CRAFTING. It needs to be stopped and full swing needs to be pushed towards combat/sieges/maps/npc/mobs. This game already has the most insane farming/crafting simulation out of any MMO since MUDS. Enough is enough for now. 3. Constant wipes are killing the player-base. The vessels are just another hash-re-hash way of forcing more grinding/leveling. Complete a campaign..give the player a REASON to keep playing. This isn't working. Let us keep our characters with REWARDS on them so we keep going. I loved Shadowbane. I loved DAOC. I loved UO...but right now this is not what me, my friends, or the MAJORITY of backers thought they were buying into. my 2 cents, watch yourself on here...the fanbois will eat you alive. Lifting my glass to the devs/Todd in hoping he turns this game into the masterpiece it could be. Wrain

Original poster is EXACTLY right. Without some form or realm differences or unique structures etc...Its absolutely pointless. Its a broken system to somehow try to 'control' random ganking. As it stands right now you just stare at the emblem, click one and hope its on the "balanced' side of things number wise. I'm gonna say it again and again and hope the devs are listening. Right now we have a crafting simulator that in no way shape or form gives reason to war. You have areas being named after "people" that completely remove any type of LORE which is desperately needed. Race/classes that have nothing unique. Pads we stand on to somehow 'capture' and thats supposed to be fun. NOTHING NEW SO FAR IS IN CROWFALL, -NOTHING. As for you being scared to post anything "negative" about the game, I cant blame you. I'm not scared of the devs as I feel they WANT open feedback. (heck its on the log-out screen everytime you log out of the game) But I do see your fear as 70% of these remaining testers are either fanboi's or CRAFTERS. I've got my fingers crossed and Todd is my favorite Dev/creator of all time. But this game needs to make some serious serious hard right turns if its truely going to capture us old PvPers.

Crush what..more trees and rocks??? He's a new player and doing EXACTLY what the problem is with this game so far. FARM-SIMULATOR. Leaves new players with a completely different idea of what this game WAS supposed to be. Welcome to CRAFT-ALL.

That doesn't answer the question. The game is FOCUSED SO HEAVILY on crafting its NOT FUN for people who WANT TO spend 24/7 Pving/PvPing. Crowfall in its current state is like wanting to go to a STEAK house for dinner and they bring out a giant main-course of vegetables (aka crafting/work). So you ask the waiter, "Where's the steak?". waiter responds..."ohhhhhh its that little side-dish there..enjoy!"