I figured I’d give my thoughts on my time in the iCBT. I was only able to play about half the time so I was unable to surmount the first big XP wall.
Level 36 Ranger 11
General Gameplay Experience
Leveling up until 30 was incredibly smooth. Not fast, but smooth. If you found all the quests and hidden mini-bosses, there was minimal grinding required to progress. The mines were a nice difficulty spike, and grouping up for the various bosses inside was very appealing. I’m sure some classes could solo it easily, but certainly not me.
Once you hit 30 however grinding quickly became the ONLY way to progress. The reason for this is because you are constantly being propelled through zones with recommended levels 10+ higher than your own. Normally this wouldn’t be so much of an issue, you just grind up little to pass more difficult content, but the main quest line is actually gated behind a minimum character level. I was ready to tackle Chapel 3 at Lv. 36 but I would have had to grind up to Lv. 38 before it would even let me accept the quest, despite me being able to kill the mobs there just fine. Given our lower XP rates, I think it would be fine if players could skill their way through content instead of being held back.
Something I had looked forward to, but was unable to experience were world bosses. From what I gleaned they needed a full party to spawn, but other than that I had no idea how to go about finding them. I know some parties were doing it evidenced by all the Cafrisun gear in the AH. It seemed a little too exclusive. Unless your whole party knew how/where to summon bosses and you all wanted to hunt them, you simply aren’t going to find them during normal play, which is a disappointment.
One thing I got real tired of was people kill stealing. If you get the last hit, you get the loot. This means any chungus head can walk through and pick off mobs you’ve been attacking and take your stuff. Sure, you still get some XP, but you get the minor share and they get the loot. Screw that noise. Loot should drop for whoever did the largest share of damage or whoever tagged it, at least on normal mobs.
I’ll add my opinion on skills later.