After reading an article on Massively about a game called Dawntide which I had never heard of. I decided to take a look. Looking up in Massively's game registry I found it is not even listed. I came to the early conclusion that this is a B title game at best being its in open beta yet no support from an MMO community giant like Massively.
This does not mean I write a game off at this point. It just puts it in prospective. So I start doing some digging in the search field of Massively. There has been quite a few articles on Massively about the game, mainly about delays which is usually expected from an indie company. But I found one article that basically spells out the game for me. And then two words stopped me in my tracks... "Skill Based". You see this is my kryptonite. My first mmorpg was Ultima Online and I don't know if anyone else but that virginal, first time nostalgic feeling for that first mmo they ever played, But I sure do. The way you always think back about that beautiful game when she and you were still young and innocent. Not corrupted by anything but pure enjoyment and all you wanted to do was explore a new world. Never knowing the words of DPS meters, Raids, or Min/Maxing. Oh how I wish I could get that feeling back. And to me that feeling has always nested its self in the word Skill Based.
For those unfamiliar with a skill based game system, I am not referring to "L2P" or "I have better Skillz then you" kind of skill. I'm referring to the character stats of skills rather then the players ability to play their character.
A skill based system is one that has no Levels or Classes. It is a system just built on what skills you have picked. And you can combine them in any way you like. You want to cast Fireballs but still swing a sword? you can do that. Now in the more advanced skill based systems they usually have secondary skills that aid you primary skills.
In Ultima Online for instance you have a Sword skill, but then there is a skill called Tactics which helps you miss less and be missed more in weapon combat. If player A took up full sword skill and then other none weapon based skills like magery(casts spells) and player B took up full sword skill along with full tactic skill, A would not hit B as often but could still cast fireballs to the face. Yet B would hit A every time with his sword. And there were tons more ways which you could pick what you wanted to do.
Each skill is on a scale of 0 - 100, where 0 means you have no skill, and 100 means you are "Grand Master"GM* of that skill. The limit to the system is that only 700 points could be used. So you could GM* 7 skills or you could say GM*5 skills then split the remaining 200 points and be just so so in 4 other skills at 50 points each for them.
It all really was how you wanted to build your character. And there really were so many secondary skills that there was not the best ever. There were certainly popular ones of course. But I think I've talked enough about Skill Based to give you the idea, if you need more info on the system check out the UO Stratics website. The shame of it all is there is not many skill based games out there. After UO with its skill based system came along Everquest with its class based system and it seems the world of MMO's really have never looked back as its more of a take on DnD then a skill based system.
So now I have established what a skill based system is and that I love them because of Ultima Online. Lets get back on topic about Dawntide. They said the magic words so now I'm looking into it. As mentioned they are in open beta. So I click on the download game link thinking, I'll download it while I research the game. And what pops up but my AVG alert that there is a trojan trying to eat my computer. I vault it log into safemode and start a sweep. After finishing I try one more time.. and bam no sooner then I click on save file do I get another alert.
So I go to their forums to see what the excuse is for this and find Nothing on their tech support forum matching the search for AVG, virus, or trojan. Which starts me on a downward spiral because I know I'm not the only person in the free world that uses AVG and this certainly had to have came up before. But given my desire for Skill Based goodness can not be matched I decide to register for their forums to make a post about it to see if a dev or someone can reassure me that perhaps its just a system that have in place to determine my computer specs or something for their beta testing... but my registering for the forums is in vain as I get the following message
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"There are some issues with our account mangement system and user authentication. Users are still able to create accounts via this link, however new accounts will not be able to login to the forums, or the other parts of the update website immediately after creation.
New accounts will be updated periodically over the next few days to allow login to the forums. Game logins should will still work."
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Two red flags in the span of half an hour... I'm going to pass on this one, a shame, I love UO and always looking for a new skill based game. Should I ever find an answer to the trojan I'll post in the comments below, other wise this game is a pass. Also its worth mentioning all the comments in the current Dawntide article today on massively state the game is highly buggy right now, hence a push back in their release... and I fear Rift's dev team may have jaded me forever on how a dev team should respond to bugs. I.E. almost instantly.
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