So, finished Tokyo, and started New Dawn (actually, have just started the Wrath of the Dawn quest).
Question #1 - not sure of the other factions, but mine has shifted focus and some Yakuza pyscho is my new handler. Do we ever get a chance to clear house in our faction? Please tell me we do.
Question #2 - this one is about classes and weapon choices. Not sure how to make enough in game currency to open a new Weapon class. Anyone have any tips? Short of buying Arum (spelling?).
Question #3 - This game has turned out to be very grindy, gear-wise. Or am I just getting frustrated as I watch one player two shot bosses from the Shipping Containers and it takes me several minutes?
#1 - not so far, no. Though given that the Dragon have just “cleared house” as you put it, it’s unlikely to happen again too soon.
#2 - Completing challenges (shift+J to see your daily challenge journal,) will give you Marks of Favour (MoF), which can be used to unlock new weapons. The more weapons you unlock, the more MoF the next unlock will cost. The first one’s only 5k though, so you can earn that in a day. If you’ve made it all the way through to SA then you should (hopefully) have a fair stash of MoF to unlock new pages with.
#3 - Yup, the end game gear grind is very grindy. Group activities (dungeons, lairs, scenarios and raids) are your best bet to get distillates for upgrading your gear - if you’re only using green drops to do so then it’ll take a really long time. There are some solo missions which give good distillates as rewards too - they can be found on the Paragon boards floating in Agartha. I think the first one unlocks at 250 IP though, so it’s not immediately available.
On the upside, as you unlock more weapons and buy the passives for each of them, your stats will improve quite a lot. That alone will help you glance less; crit more; have more hp and better self heals; and generally hit harder.
It won’t get you to the point of two shotting container mobs without gear upgrades, but it will help.
You know, this is the first MMO I’ve ever played in which I completed everything and never once…never…spoke/chatted/grouped with another player. So, unless I can solo lairs (I have soloed some dungeons) then I guess I’m a-looking for the next game. Path of Exiles maybe??
Yup, you can complete the story content solo - though tbh that’s not really remarkable in an MMO. The dungeons you’ve soloed are likely to have been the story versions, which are great for getting to see the instances without needing much gear.
I’m a little confused though - you’ve been soloing, and unless there’s more that you can solo you’re going to go find a different game? I’m unsure why you’re looking for MMOs if that’s what you’re wanting tbh.
I didn’t say I wanted to solo, just that the grouping up/joining guilds (I guess they are called Cabals here) never came up. At no point, unlike WoW or GW2 or Rift or many other MMOs I’ve played, I’ve rarely seen other players. I’ve “helped” a couple, by jumping on a boss or something they were fighting, and had that reciprocated once or twice, but never a word was chatted
So, it’s been, in my experience, less like WoW or GW2, and more like a total single-player game.
I mean, you can’t go 10 ft in GW2, for example, if you are guild-less without getting an invite. Here…it was the opposite. I would love to group into a dungeon, lair, or raid. But, like I said, it never came up. I went to the Activity panel, created a LFG for a dungeon and played for 2 hours and no one joined. Maybe lower population? Not sure of the reasons.
The main one would be that under level 50 the population is tiny.
And of them, most don’t know about the activity window or other group features yet since the game never introduces them.
It only takes a couple weeks to get to 50 taking your time, and the game’s not particularly attracting new players at the moment (it doesn’t advertise)
Well, SWL is a “shared-world action RPG”, not an MMO. At least that’s the marketing bovine excrements. Don’t ask me how that lines up with the reality of the very MMO hub shopping mall and dance floor carved into the super secret hollow world tree. Still wwaiting for a good answwer myself.
Anyways, for the shared-world action RPG, playfield instances have very low player caps, specifically so you won’t constantly be running into other players. Which actually does make sense from an RP immersion pov, because c’mon, who’s scared of a little zombie apocalypse if there’s always four dozen supernatural super-soldiers in town?
PUG grouping for dungeons is… iffy.
For story mode, you’re completely dependent on enough players being at the same stage of the story, which would be a non-issue in an MMO with a large perceived player base. When it looks like nobody else is running Kingsmouth anyways (and aside from the first couple of days after launch, due to the low player cap per instances it pretty much always looked that way), that probably doesn’t exactly encourage people to queue up and try their luck with Polaris.
Beyond story mode, splitting players among 10 elite tiers of dungeons probably wouldn’t even be the best of ideas with WoW’s player numbers, and SWL isn’t anywhere close to those. The game being alt-unfriendly probably isn’t helping, either. Compared to many MMOs, there’s bound to be a lot fewer experienced players reaching endgame on a new alt. An alt-friendlier SWL would almost certainly mean a more active E1, which would be quite nice for new players.
Anyways…
Have you ever subscribed to chat channels like, most specifically, #Sanctuary? That really helps meet people.
Squatting in Agartha for a bit is the best way to run into people. Way higher player cap per instance than playfields.
Find a cabal. Some of them really are about getting newer players involved in endgame activities. Both #Sanctuary and squatting in Agartha should come in handy in trying to find a cabal that’s right for you.
I had no idea about subscribing to channels. Is that something that is advertised in-game at all? Once I read what you wrote I googled Sanctuary and wow. Would have been nice to know while levelling up.
Thanks again. Will try that when I get online next.
Sanctuary is a player initiative rather than something which Funcom provides, so whilst it does get advertised in Agartha chat, it’s not something you’re explicitly told by the game.
A lot comes down to how much time you spend hanging around in Agartha - if you spend all your time out in the playfields then there’s not really much chatter which goes on unless someone asks for help.
Having that autojoin script for #Sanctuary (and other channels you feel you’re interested in) is highly recommended.
Unlike playfield zone chats, custom channels like #Sanctuary are server-wide, so you’ll see chatter no matter where you’re lone wolfing through content.
