03-24-2004, 08:46 AM
Well today's the first day I actually was free to sit down and try this out. I've been avoiding the "content" sections of this forum and most of the WoW site lately so that I could start fresh. Well, from my experience so far, that might not have been the best choice!
First of all, I think I'm not terribly good at starting new games in general, mostly because I'm stubborn enough that I prefer to learn by screwing up first, and asking why later. So, keep that in mind as you read this.
I only got to play for a few hours, but most of it was dealing with Interface Hell. I assume that will get much easier as I get used to the controls. I started as a night elf priest. For some reason, starting online, with people milling about, I felt awkward sitting down and reading through everything/clicking every possible button to see what it does like I usually do in a single player game. So, I figured out how to walk, walked over to the town guy, and got a "kill X of monster X" quest. Fine. Well, in Diablo that's the equivalent of quill rats, so I figured I'd just go try to do that.
Unfortunately, my default gamma adjustment was really bad (odd, because it looks fine out of game), and I couldn't see very well. Also, it took me way too long to figure out how to adjust the camera. Now, that's *completely* my fault, not the game's, but I'm mentioning that to help you get the picture of a blind Night Elf trying to kill a baby boar. It wasn't pretty. So, I could zoom in and out, but was stuck in the "top down" camera angle for a very long time.
In "top down", you can't see where you are going at all. I kept walking into walls (well, big trees, forest scenery, etc). They were pretty walls, of course, but still annoying when I was looking at Point A on my minimap and could not figure out how to get there. This was quite a bit easier once I could actually see in front of me, but I still wish that graphically there was a little more variation between "places you can walk" and "edges". I bet I'll get the hang of that quickly though. Oh, when you scroll in close enough, there are nice flowers, though! Those were fun.
So I killed a few of the first wimpy monsters with my mace, and got myself killed by a level 3 grell. Embarrassing, I know, but I hadn't tried anything but melee, and hadn't figured out that you heal over time, either. Like I said, I learn the hard way, and didn't mind checking out what dying was like. Well, I went on a World Tour looking for my corpse. It was only 20 exp to get it back, but I wanted to try finding it. But, I couldn't even remember what area I'd been in, and still was looking at the ground wherever I went. In any case, I probably spent at least half an hour looking for it, because I didn't see it on the minimap at first and couldn't figure out how to get there (remember, bad camera angle) once I did. I managed to take the path through several different areas before I ended up back in the right one.
I did have fun as a ghost, though, because I could move quickly and check out a lot of stuff. I went out on the branch of a gigantic tree, and jumped off. If I'd been alive, it would certainly have killed me (there were lots of corpses at the bottom). But, I was a ghost! I didn't care. The view of the fall was kind of cool, and every now and then I'd land on a branch and jump off again. I finally landed in the water, and proceeded to head out to sea. Well, a little ways. Then, I remembered I needed my corpse. But, it was really hard to find a way back onto land that wasn't blocked by the giant trees! By that point I knew where I wanted to go, but I had to go around a lot of things to be able to get there.
Finally, I was back on land, had my corpse, and was even getting pretty good at killing the baby monsters. I could cast spells, heal myself, and use a mace. Woohoo! But, I still spent far too much time getting lost looking for the right monsters that I was supposed to kill. When you find the right spot, they're literally everywhere, but until then, it's hard to even tell what direction to go in. I suppose that this will get better once you know the area. But, if I was more than 5 feet from the guy who gave me the quest, I could not find him! I had to wander around randomly until I stumbled across him again. Aargh.
I'm guessing there's a way to mark spots on your map so that you can get back to important places? I tried clicking on the map, but honestly haven't looked into it any further.
Oh, the chat. Most of the chat was from people who either seemed very familiar with the game, and were discussing trading items, "banks", and "ATM's", or people who were lost looking for something or other. I'm hoping as we become more familiar with things there will be less of the "lost" chat, but I do hope it doesn't turn into all "itamz" talk instead.
So, that's my first night of play. I know I made a lot of silly mistakes, but hey, that's what being a newbie is all about, right? The ground was quite literally covered with corpses, so I know that I wasn't the first person having a hard time at the start. Maybe once I figure this interface out, and become a world traveler, I can look up some of the other players and have an actual multiplayer experience!
For the mean time, though, I'll just have to sign this "clueless newbie". I'm hoping the learning curve levels off a bit after tonight!
-Griselda
First of all, I think I'm not terribly good at starting new games in general, mostly because I'm stubborn enough that I prefer to learn by screwing up first, and asking why later. So, keep that in mind as you read this.
I only got to play for a few hours, but most of it was dealing with Interface Hell. I assume that will get much easier as I get used to the controls. I started as a night elf priest. For some reason, starting online, with people milling about, I felt awkward sitting down and reading through everything/clicking every possible button to see what it does like I usually do in a single player game. So, I figured out how to walk, walked over to the town guy, and got a "kill X of monster X" quest. Fine. Well, in Diablo that's the equivalent of quill rats, so I figured I'd just go try to do that.
Unfortunately, my default gamma adjustment was really bad (odd, because it looks fine out of game), and I couldn't see very well. Also, it took me way too long to figure out how to adjust the camera. Now, that's *completely* my fault, not the game's, but I'm mentioning that to help you get the picture of a blind Night Elf trying to kill a baby boar. It wasn't pretty. So, I could zoom in and out, but was stuck in the "top down" camera angle for a very long time.
In "top down", you can't see where you are going at all. I kept walking into walls (well, big trees, forest scenery, etc). They were pretty walls, of course, but still annoying when I was looking at Point A on my minimap and could not figure out how to get there. This was quite a bit easier once I could actually see in front of me, but I still wish that graphically there was a little more variation between "places you can walk" and "edges". I bet I'll get the hang of that quickly though. Oh, when you scroll in close enough, there are nice flowers, though! Those were fun.
So I killed a few of the first wimpy monsters with my mace, and got myself killed by a level 3 grell. Embarrassing, I know, but I hadn't tried anything but melee, and hadn't figured out that you heal over time, either. Like I said, I learn the hard way, and didn't mind checking out what dying was like. Well, I went on a World Tour looking for my corpse. It was only 20 exp to get it back, but I wanted to try finding it. But, I couldn't even remember what area I'd been in, and still was looking at the ground wherever I went. In any case, I probably spent at least half an hour looking for it, because I didn't see it on the minimap at first and couldn't figure out how to get there (remember, bad camera angle) once I did. I managed to take the path through several different areas before I ended up back in the right one.
I did have fun as a ghost, though, because I could move quickly and check out a lot of stuff. I went out on the branch of a gigantic tree, and jumped off. If I'd been alive, it would certainly have killed me (there were lots of corpses at the bottom). But, I was a ghost! I didn't care. The view of the fall was kind of cool, and every now and then I'd land on a branch and jump off again. I finally landed in the water, and proceeded to head out to sea. Well, a little ways. Then, I remembered I needed my corpse. But, it was really hard to find a way back onto land that wasn't blocked by the giant trees! By that point I knew where I wanted to go, but I had to go around a lot of things to be able to get there.
Finally, I was back on land, had my corpse, and was even getting pretty good at killing the baby monsters. I could cast spells, heal myself, and use a mace. Woohoo! But, I still spent far too much time getting lost looking for the right monsters that I was supposed to kill. When you find the right spot, they're literally everywhere, but until then, it's hard to even tell what direction to go in. I suppose that this will get better once you know the area. But, if I was more than 5 feet from the guy who gave me the quest, I could not find him! I had to wander around randomly until I stumbled across him again. Aargh.
I'm guessing there's a way to mark spots on your map so that you can get back to important places? I tried clicking on the map, but honestly haven't looked into it any further.
Oh, the chat. Most of the chat was from people who either seemed very familiar with the game, and were discussing trading items, "banks", and "ATM's", or people who were lost looking for something or other. I'm hoping as we become more familiar with things there will be less of the "lost" chat, but I do hope it doesn't turn into all "itamz" talk instead.
So, that's my first night of play. I know I made a lot of silly mistakes, but hey, that's what being a newbie is all about, right? The ground was quite literally covered with corpses, so I know that I wasn't the first person having a hard time at the start. Maybe once I figure this interface out, and become a world traveler, I can look up some of the other players and have an actual multiplayer experience!
For the mean time, though, I'll just have to sign this "clueless newbie". I'm hoping the learning curve levels off a bit after tonight!
-Griselda
Why can't we all just get along
--Pete
--Pete