So I've gotten my Priest of Mitra up to 22 now, with my barbarian friend at 22 as well. We've done literally everything together so far aside from a few solo things at the very beginning. We mutually decided wrecking stuff together was way more fun so we skipped the rest of the single player quest.
So far I'm finding things interesting every fight. Positioning and spell selection are varied and require some fast thinking. Jump back, run a little circle around the Barbarian to group up everything, Wave of Life to get a HoT on us and activate my feat that gives me bonus damage for the next few spells, Cleansing Fire, Smite the one at highest health, Rebuke that straggler, Cleansing Fire again, Repulse if things are getting crazy, Radiance if we're getting hurt too badly...
I'm still deeply in love with the healing system. Primary heals are HoTs, and you have a single direct heal that's on a 30 second timer, and a 60 second debuff gets placed on anyone hit by it that won't let them get it again until a minute passes. It turns direct heals into true "oh crap" buttons, and makes healing more a study of keeping HoTs up while nuking in between. There are no targetted heals. Health bars are therefore merely an indication of in what direction the next heal should go rather than something to click on. The difference sounds subtle on paper, but in practice it makes the game SO much more immersive as you're running around using your AoE cone heal on people that need it rather than scanning through health bars and clicking Flash Heal.
As for the rest of the game, the difference between the Release version and the Beta version is rather drastic. Release runs much, much smoother, with hideously fast load times. A lot of stuff has been polished up. Icons have been redone in some places to stand out better, animations for everything are in (the rest animation is just classy, you bend over a bit with your hands on your knees and pant for breath), and my frame rate has gotten even smoother.
With 16x AA, everything set to max, and a solid draw distance, I'm staying above 30 easy in nearly all situations, and the game looks drop dead gorgeous. VERY detailed textures, spell effects that each are unique and flashy in their own way (without being overdone), volumetric lighting coming down through the trees, bump maps... I can't really describe how beautiful the game is.
Now, a lot of people would say "Gameplay > graphics", and I agree with that. However, solid graphics like these add an amazing sense of immersion that gameplay alone cannot. Gameplay PLUS graphics > gameplay alone. :D
I could ramble on and on about the game, so I'll ask this instead. What do you guys want to hear about it specifically? I'd love to answer questions or discuss various topics, but I don't want to be talking to myself here. :)
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wildshoeWell I have a lvl 23 ranger and a lvl 70 Demonologist.
The game is a gankfest at least if you play on a PvP server, which you should.
But anyways, the forums are worse than WoW's atm everyone is whining and qqing about their class and about the game, but overall it's a good game, smooth release compared to WoW's.
I'll respond to the comments since I don't think evertras will soon, he's prolly leveling up like I should be =P
Siberias; I AGREE EVERTRAS NEVER DELETE THE MAGE PAGE!!!!!!
Shinja: The damage casters, there's 3 of them, demonologists(most like a spell spamming mage w/ CC if you spec right), necros (dots, minions, curses, cc, support), heralds of xotli (cloth wearing melee chars who have the highest dps in the game if they can get their pbaoe off supposedly, and not die)
Sage: Yeah, unfortunately the forums are pretty much just people QQing about their class right now, Evertras would show them all how to play =P But seriously, you're pretty much on your own, I would strongly reccomend grouping for everything in the game, especially if you aren't an OP class when it levels, because you will be ganked - ALOT.
My lvl 23 ranger? HE RIPS, and supposedly is really OP until about lvl 40...I developed a policy with him where if ppl QQ, i run to nearest shrine and camp them, I've been having alot of fun raging kids this way.
http://i31.tinypic.com/27zxdmh.jpg << LOL
My 70 Demonologist, it's been a long run, let me tell you, the QQrs on teh forums are somewhat right the class doesn't achieve it's goals, it takes 6 spells at certain levels to get people to half hp and by then even healers can kill you(healers have some crazy dps in this game i hope it gets nerfed). But after 60 I've found that I can wreck most people w/ my demonologist, and supposedly at 80 we are gods, but only a few ppl have confirmed this. The rest are lvl 40 and qq all day on the forums.
The balance is nonexistent, and people can cry all they want but there's simply not enough end game evidence out there to suggest one class is better than another imo. I will admit some classes probably have a hard time leveling, and that was only made worse by all the ganking, but seriously, qqing on forums won't help, especially in your classes forums, take it to the game discussion forums where the admins actually care to read things...
EVERTRAS YOU ARE MY HERO I NEED TO GET SOME MAGE LESSONS FROM YOU SOMEDAY =P