Tree of Savior Forum

Is TOS just another linear themepark mmo?

General Discussion
#1

Hi everybody, were you hyped for this game like i was, but now is utterly disappointed by the linear progression in this game?

There is so much to like about this game already. Visuals, class system, combat, pvp, all exceeded my already high expectations.
But the leveling crushed my hopes for this game. Hard! Linear quest progression, and very boring quests at that. Mobs are level locked by only getting exp from doing damage to mobs close to your level. Leaving only a fraction of the world map viable for leveling. And most areas inaccessible before doing a boring quest line. 600 levels locked in a narrow hallway. Areas may be crowded right now, but you will feel very lonely at higher levels.

Do not get me wrong, i actually like grinding. And with the amazing combat and class progression system it is very satisfying. But i want to find my own grinding spots. Build my character a certain way and find the best leveling spot for that spec. I hate to bring up the RO comparison, since this game certainly is not RO, but it is difficult to think of another game, where you could by “clever use of game mechanics” boost your leveling speed, even for very niche builds, just by finding the right mobs to grind. What made the grinding in RO not suck, was that your character became viable before hitting level cap. You actually could participate in high level PVE and PVP without hitting cap, and with some builds you never even bothered to hit cap.

Anyway…I’m ranting. What are you opinions. Are you disappointed? I would hate to see this game go down as just another themepark mmo, that is popular for a few month and then dies a slow death.

But maybe i am wrong? I have not made it to higher levels yet, please tell me i am wrong!

Rickert

10 Likes
#2

So far my highest character is around 85 and for the most part during the lower levels its linear, at later levels you have options on where you can go to level up etc. at level 85 I would be able to farm in 2 or 3 areas for experience.but yeah this game seems fairly linear early on.

#3

Yes, I agree.
More branching on maps so at least let the player feels as if he could be truly “free” would be great.

2 Likes
#4

The only problem I have is FPS. I agree that the leveling is quite linear, but it doesn’t bother me at all, I just wish for more PvP specially GvG.

#5

I feel like quests should be more a choice rather than something you have to do or miss out on exp. Perhaps introducing a range where, if you’re outside that level range, you no longer get exp from the mobs, but buffed exp from mobs in general instead, to force players to move on, but give them the option to just not have pick up every single quest.

Not that you can’t do that now, it’s just a whoooollleee lot slower if you grind.

#6

The biggest problem I think really is level locking.
No matter what, reaching 600 will take a long! time. And not only is progression linear, stat progression is linear too. There is no way cap one stat early, dealing with the disadvantages of not getting the other stats, but becoming viable in higher level parties.

Image you want to level with a group of friends. If you fall behind once, you are out. No way to catch up alone, and you are completely useless when in a party with them.
That is one of the reasons IMC is in no hurry to implement guilds, I think. When your guild mates are spread out over 600 levels and you can only play together close to the same level, there is no way you will ever do stuff together as a guild.

Another thing, there is so much effort put into damage boni against certain armor types, elements, and size. How are you supposed to use that to your advantage if you are limited to a small choice of monsters at a time.
I tried archer for example, which only does piercing damage. All bosses are highly resistance against piercing damage. To play the class efficient i’d have to find other mobs that are not. But…i cannot. I have to to all these quests to progress, many include bosses. Checkmate.

Rickert

2 Likes
#7

I’m only level 37 but i dont feel like i have many options at all for grinding. but i imagine its because everyone else around me is also trying to grind so naturally everywhere is crowded. my main complaint is the lack of areas to go to. instanced dungeons would be a nice place you can go.

#8

Yeah I feel that way too.
I’m tired of doing boring quests.

Honestly, I’d rather grind.
The kind of grinding I really enjoy is the one where I carefully approach monsters that could easily kill me if I don’t play carefully, and for that I wanna get rewarded with a decent amount of experience in return.

So far all the enemies I’ve encountered more or less just walked at me to autoattack me

I’d love to simply kill monsters that are a higher level than me but take more time to kill, but the way the system works you get less reward for killing enemies way over your level.

Why do we need to see an enemies level anyways?
I’d rather not know

1 Like
#9

It would be cool if you can choose between two paths at the beginning…perhaps West hard route and east easier route…BTW I’m just suggesting.

Now about the disappointing things. The economy feels dry, what I want is actual people selling things thru vend. I know this kind of system is common in memo nowadays but think about it…its like computers going back to command prompt.

#10

Yeah, completely agree. But this game is already set up as themepark mmo, so I dont think that anything will change. Its enough to look at world map here: http://www.tosbase.com/game/world-map/

If you take your time, you can simply see the path which devs decided for you, with some little branching.
If you think about it, what would happen if this level zones were randomly mixed? If there wasnt any one path, but many. And add there dynamic spawns. Like every day in week different spawns for those zones. Maybe its crazy idea, I actually didnt think about it much, but if it was like that, wouldnt it be great cornerstone for non-themepark mmo?

If people would think about it, I think there should be some way how this could be done… and maybe it could even work. But sadly, there isnt any mmorpg like this. Instanced mmos are closest to this idea… but these are little different.

Sorry, @Rickert made me think… maybe its nonsense. :smiley:

#11

Not sure what the solution is actually. Removing the Level Locking, or severely lighten it. Increase party share range and removing most of the entrance quests for simple zones, would be one thing. But players would skip content like crazy, so IMC would need to completly rebalance hp/dmg/dmg taken. Rework a lot of skills and mob Ai.

And still it would reduce the size of their content and drastically. The reason most mmo do level locking is because it is easy to balance, and progression speed, therefore total playtime is also easy to adjust. Convincing investors to make such drastic changes so late in development would be an impossible task for any company.

Also for players there would be the dreaded consequence of powerleveling, overcrowded leveling spots, deserted maps and pay for leech to only name a few.

But yes like fecono said, at the moment we are punished for taking on harder content. Which makes no sense whatsoever game design wise.

1 Like
#12

only issue i have with quests is the enormous level jumps. you go up to crystal mines. everything is fine then JUMP to 40 quests. and im unsure if my quest is bugged or not for Activate the obelisk or if im too low level to do it. i dont mind grinding if there were instanced areas to do so. where theres not 100s of others there

#13

I also feel like the enemy experience gain at like 70+ kind of drops like a brick, currently 75, and with the enemy pack sizes ive seen it would take a 3 or 4 days to get out of mid 70s and into the 100s, which is kind of rediculous scince this is only half of the levels we have access to. In short, I feel like the enemy pack sizes need to be like Tenet chapel 1st floor, near those shrines for the quests, normally the room has like 5 meters of free space.

#14

yeah i think so too its too linear, but all these problems i read here in the forums, can be solved quite easily to make this game really awesome, it has a solid, good basis.
imagine what amazing things you can do with this game in the future!

1 Like
#15

I fail to understand… You want a Sandbox? Why don’t you go play minecraft or saints row. Thing is RO was/is Linear… WOW is linear, they all are… I can’t think of an MMO that isn’t…Ah…wait… EVE… Where you can pay a subscription and take that month to learn ONE skill (You broke my heart EVE… you did…). What TOS lacks is multiple linear paths:

  • PVP(?)
  • Repeatable Quests/Grinding
  • Dungeons(the first Dungeon I’ve seen is level 50… there needs to be more…starting at like level 10-20)
  • Alternate Story routs

and the interchangeability without punishment. I feel that the Linearity is more… a fantasy genre thing. You need to be in to the game not just for how well it plays… but the story as well. Which right now needs someone to prof read…but isnt that bad

#16

TOS will not became non-linear. Case closed.
Its shame, but it was developed from the start as linear MMORPG, so it cant change. At least not from linear to true non-linear.

Im actually enjoying one non-linear MMORPG, so I dont need another one. Its instanced MMORPG, but it was developed as non-linear in mind, so every player character/weapon/armor is unique and everyone questing/leveling/progressing/hunting is different… even main storyline is approached by “parts”, so it can be for everyone little different. I havent played EVE, so I cant compare.

But I think, this is the way how should non-linear MMORPG look. - You can go to max level, and even not touch main story line (and there really are players who do that), and still be able to fight all enemies even the first one which you meet in the game, and they still can be challenging even if you are max level.

Lets just be happy, that there is RO successor, its enough.

#17

I was under the impression mobs were not level locked the higher level the mob is. If you are 80 and you kill a 100 mob, you would get more exp if you killed a level 80 mob. Is this wrong?

#18

Assuming this is correct;

http://toswiki.treeofsaviorgame.com/mechanic/experience

There’s no bonus for fighting monsters that are higher leveled than you. Personally I did the Owl Burial Quest on my first char last week at around level 85 or so and could kill other mobs in the area albeit it just took long so it wasn’t efficient for mobbing.

#19

i agree with u, i really dont like this armour damage bonus, elemental is ok, but not armour

#20

I have to confess. I was so hyped for this game, finally got my beta key but after reaching 25 yesterday i got bored and idk if i want to keep playing.

Idk if this game will succeed in this form. Theres almost nothing besides grinding. Crafting should be redone and made the most impostant aspect in the game. No more item drops from monsters/bosses. There should be gathering in this game to create more options to players. Mining, Fishing, Cooking, Harvesting, Lumbering.

Experience should be increased so we get to reach max level in 2-3 months and be able to have multiple classes played to the max.

1 Like