Early impressions of WotG?

[Fhqwghads]

I haven't been able to pick up the expansion yet, so I'm curious what the overall impression is. From conversations I've had with some people the past seems to be a PITA to get around even at 75 with everything being EP or higher. Are there XP/Merit zones? Are they better than ToAH areas? Bonuses ala ToAH? Is Campaign interesting/fun? I'd like to get people's opinions so far, even if it is a bit early.

[Asrun]

It feels more incomplete than ToAU did at release, which is bumming a lot of people out.

I'm actually enjoying myself quite a bit. Campaign is pretty cool when it works right and you can get xp/merits casually.

Yeah, plan on spending a good 6 to 8 hours walking around to get to all the areas, but after that you can warp to and from areas easily by spending a few Allied Notes.

[Araius]

It would be pretty good overall if it weren't for gnoles. They bring it down to being total phailure.

New jobs are hot, new areas are hot, most new mobs are hot, new missions are hot.

Gnoles blow.

[Teakwood]

I think your initial reaction to WotG so far will depend on what kind of a player of the game you are. If you're the type to judge an expansion solely on the merit of what gear it gives and where you can go to get quick XP, you'll probably be disappointed, at least so far. If you like exploration and storyline and weird new battle systems then you'll probably like what's released so far. It does seem 'incomplete', so far, at least compared with ToAU, but then again the thing ToAU added that affected me the most was Salvage and that wasn't added until decently late in, so in retrospect for me ToAU was really incomplete at launch. XD

I personally had more fun getting from Jeuno to the 3 starting cities, unlocking the maws, etc., than I've had in this game for I don't even KNOW how long. I flipped out when I saw certain NPCs in cutscenes, I'm having a lot of fun in Campaign even though it confuses me, I am really kind of dissapointed by the fact that there are only three missions so far, I was hoping for more, but the missions (and nation quests) that they've added so far are truly excellent. Some people in my LS are really dissapointed by the expansion but even if you don't like it you pretty much have to admit that it's probably going to lay the groundwork for some really amazingly epic shit.

As far as XP camps, I'm not really sure, I wanna try messing around in Ronfaure or something, I think there's potential for low-man EXP spots, I really don't have an eye for such things. A lot of people also might say the +12 percent movement speed enchantment boots are worth the 30 dollars you pay for the expansion, they are pretty awesome, sort of like the Walahra Turban of this expansion I'd say.

In the end though at least so far it comes down to whether or not you like exploring and stuff. I was the first person in my LS to get 9/9 Cavernous Maws and stuff, I was one of the three first to actually get the expansion (thank you BG) so I wound up getting really into it so I could write a guide for the rest of my LS, because I'm an explore-ey kind of person. I love the expansion, your mileage may vary XD

Also yes, Gnoles suck. But Pixies fucking own.

[Kaylia]

Music: Sweet in starting area, and good enough in other zone. Campaign music get old fucking fast and play 70% of the time

Campaign: If it follow the same pattern as besieged, it's going to be awesome. At the moment, it's kinda glitchy and some stuff are annoying. No one want to wait 1h before the mobs pop in one zone. Point distribution is uneven and some mobs squadron are just a huge bulldozer disguised in beastman.

Area: The 3 news area are great, but kinda useless for now. Some old/new map are decent (best one is garlaige imo), but its lacking originality in some place

Campaign op: Boring as hell so far

[Lordshin]

Concerning the expansion itself:
I love it. Just that whole first CS when you arrive in the past... that was well made a gj SE ^^
The zones are nice... i mean getting lost in a zone you thought you knew is pretty exciting lol, makes me feel like im back in the days when i walked to jeuno
Mobs are awesome but i kinda wish they reskinned the wivres and colibri ; ;

Concerning EXP in old areas :
I hate it ; ; the Astral Candesence is gone and i dont think it will be back anytime soon... guess i'll just take my DRK and do campaign >< with /WHM of course. but this should change after everyone has had their fill of the past

[Avé]

Depends completely on your play style. I enjoy it because: nice music, spiffed up old areas, Campaign, interesting/fun cutscenes. It was worth my $30 just for the fact that it made me feel like a little nub in a huge new world again. Before WoTG, the last time I said to myself "I wonder what Windurst is like" was two weeks after I started playing four years ago.

[Kaisha]

Aside from the massive time-sink which is collecting the 9 maws so you can actually transport about the expansion easily (which is really an unneeded pain in the ass), I'm just having a fucking blast with campaign battles...

[Stromgarde]

Truth be told you only really need 2 or 3 maws... one that isn't Sauromuge near Jeuno, and the one near your hometown, all other zones are easily accessable via OP warps.

As for myself, I'm enjoying Campaign quite a bit. It's frustrating not knowing what's going on where however, and waiting 20 minutes for a 5 minute battle, stuff like that. Needs tweaking, but I like what I see so far.

[Demosthenes11]

Campaign is lacking imo because half the time you have nfc whats going on (more than half the time). Getting warped to a zone as rdm/blm that has campaign going on is like putting a blind man in a room to find a blinking light. You have absolutely no idea where in the zone the mobs are, how many, how much longer it's going on (sometimes you warp somewhere right as it ends and waste notes). It's terrible to target these mobs as a mage too because F8 doesnt work (targets your sides npc). I really don't understand how people getting all these merits out of it but w/e.

The storylines are great though, loving those. Jobs are good (only good because sch is kinda useless). I want to do campaign ops but can only do one a day, and it takes like 5 minutes.

[Tarage]

The one thing I'm extra disapointed at, beyond SE's bumbling of just about everything release wise, is the fact that in order to activly follow the Campaign fights, you have to spend a rediculous amount of Allied Notes to simply GET to the fight. And sometimes, it ends right as you get there, and you have to then spend points just to get BACK! I've been activly fighting these things, and I'm spending just as many points to get to them as I am earning. Maybe its because I'm a SMN, and everyone knows SE hates SMN or WHM, because we always get the short end of the stick in Beseeged...

The other complaint I have with Campaign is the long time sitting waiting for something to happen. If your nation has control, you end up sitting waiting for the beastmen to litterly crawl to you so you can fight them. Most times, people get so impatent they run out to where they are and completly ignore the NPCs. If you are attacking, you really can't tell easly where the beastmen are, much less where your NPC backup is. And trust me, if you try to pull one mob away from the defending group, more often than not they will all come and gank you. Not very fun...

[Eaglestrike]

I like it simply because it has a whole lot of potential. There's a lot of tweaking that must be done, but once the tweaks come campaign will be wonderful, travel will be decent (chocobo NPC's are around, just not accessible yet since they want people to explore) and we all know the story will be amazing.

I think the reason the ops and missions are so short right now is so people can get into campaign and see how it works. I think they really want people to play with it so they can get to patching it and hopefully fix it quicker than they did besieged, but they realize they won't be able to patch it until they see us do it and what we complain about.

Overall, I'm happy with it.

[Kidzukai]

My favorite thing so far besides exploring was Campaign. My only gripes about it is that NPCs don't have hate, and it screws up some questing and stuff. It's kind of random too, but when you have a good group and people watching your back you kind of ignore all that stuff and have fun.

[Charismatic]

I've been enjoying campaign so far, although I've mostly only been hitting the campaign battles on time due to luck and occasionally I'll get tells letting me know which areas I should head to etc... but I do hate all the waiting around for the mobs to pop etc.

I prefer the zones that are under beastman control because you don't have to put up with that bullshit and you can just take the fight to them right from the start.

[Ligro]

I can already tell that I'm going to like this expansion more than ToAU. Campaign has been fun so far, the past world is awesome looking with great music and just alot of potential. DNC and SCH both have been really fun to lvl so far and look like they will both shine in some way soon!

over all im loving it

[Soraan]

After reading some that "disappointing" thread in the so-called Advanced section, I had my doubts before picking the expansion up. I love exploring new areas and missions, but I was worried because it just looked like all the same areas I've been playing in for 3+ years. But as it turns out, I'm really enjoying the past zones. And I loveeeeee campaign.

Sure, Campaign is a little weird right now... Few glitches here and there, lots of confusion sometimes. And yes, the wait when you are defending the base is rather irritating & sometimes the NPCs are too powerful when you are defending, but it's still fun overall. I've found myself wanting to get outta Dragon's Aery asap and go Campaign even though the rewards for doing it are rather unknown atm or not even released yet. It's just fun. Beseiged was always a lag-fest that I never enjoyed and was always wanting to get it over with asap or not even take part in it.

And yeah, Sprinter's shoes are really cool; I've already used up my pair and have had to buy another one, lol. I have roughly 9,000 allied notes, so it wasn't a big deal to buy a pair on the spot.

Like someone else said, you'll enjoy the expansion if you love stories, exploring, new battle systems (Campaign), but if you're after quick XP spots and awesome new gear, look elsewhere. But I'm sure the later ranks will have better items, and I'm pretty sure SE will release some HNMs soon that drop something meaningful. I haven't even unlocked the new jobs as I'm not THAT interested in them, but there's that too.

[Pun]

I love the new expansion. Although getting Maws is a pain, the scenery makes up for it; Vunkerl Inlet is beautiful. The only gripe I have is the cities are kinda boring...
Campaign I really enjoy, but like stated earlier, you kinda don't know what's going on if you arrive late. To get used to it, just attend some of the Campaign battles outside the cities; East Ronfaure was great practice for me. Garlaige Citadel needs more than the few NPCs, though it looks really neat. SE making the enchantment on Sprinter's Boots last an hour is win, especially stacking them with my Trotters - makes travel a lot faster. Exploring the zones as a fresh off the block adventurer again is a ton of fun.

All I can say is buy a shit ton of sneak/invis, or sub /whm.

[Kaisha]

All I can say is buy a shit ton of sneak/invis, or sub /whm.

I'd kill for some Ex items I can purchase with AN that does sneak/invis in one go...
(well, SE gave DNC a dance that does that, can't see why there can't be an enchanted item that grants the same)

As far as early impressions still go, loving the shit out of campaign, albeit the campaign map is pissing me off, as it's always way off as far as the battles goes. SE needs to make the bugger either update more often, or update right when you go to view it.

[EDIT] If there's one thing I have to really say, is that I like how WoG brings the whole 3-nations thing back onto the table, Conquest means jack shit to any 75s unless you're rich and can afford to blow away gil to solo-claim an OP. Campaign allows us to take over areas more offensively which hopefully brings up a good buff for the most powerful nation come that tally....thinger.
(that and the seperate storylines)

[Cadence]

I really love it, the new jobs rock, but I've not really gotten into the missions yet.

[Dense]

The whole storyline of the past, including the sporadic nature of campaign battles, is fantastic. The ideas and the way the system works are well-thought-out and really fun with which to participate. The small criticisms would be the ones already mentioned: the campaign map doesn't show active status of the battles (or the NPCs and/or beastmen don't always pop on the fortification when defending) , resulting in standing around for up to 1hour waiting for a battle to begin, or to figure out where the action is. On top of that, there is no real way to gauge the strength of the battle, as sometimes you have an attacking force of 20 beastmen, while other times you have an attacking force of 40-50 and more than one NM. There is, at large, and air of confusion during Campaign Battles, but that does not remove the amount of fun the event holds, it just requires us to perhaps learn the inner workings more.

The current Capaign Ops are also rather drab and boring, as well as being quite confusing in their own right. I accepted a defending Op, for which I was to join an Campaign Battle whereby San Dória was defending a zone, I warped to a fight, but was unable to get into any action before it finished (literally landed in the zone as the fighting stopped). I checked back with the NPC to get further instructions (as I was confused), and he counted that as a failed mission.

I think they did a marvelous job with the implementation of the Sprinter's Shoes. They had to find a way to allow us to move around faster (let's face it moving around between the past and present, and all the zones is a bit daunting) without compromising the uniqueness of Gaiters, w.Legs, Nin Boots, etc. Allowing the enchantment to continue through gear swaps and zoning is fantastic, and ending the effect upon attacks means that those movement items retain their effectiveness for kiting, etc.

The seeds of the expansion have been planted for an intense storyline already, and the parts of the expansion that we can already use and enjoy have been created in a very unique and exciting way. I'm quite excited for the updates.