Wolcen Hype Release!

I cant wait for Wolcen to release thursday.

I have grown very tired of the same POE and this last couple leagues were not good imho, I played each about a week and moved on.

Save my loot hungry self Wolcen :)

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WarriorX10 wrote:

I cant wait for Wolcen to release thursday.

I have grown very tired of the same POE and this last couple leagues were not good imho, I played each about a week and moved on.

Save my loot hungry self Wolcen :)

Have a fun weekend. See you back here on Monday! ;)

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Exile009 wrote:

Wolcen was always the best looking game. That was never people's problem with it. The real question is - how much actual (and interesting) content are you getting for your money? Amazing graphics isn't even what the ARPG genre itself is known for - that's the preserve of first and third person shooters (like, well, the Crysis games), RPGs and action-adventure games instead.

How many hours justifies a game purchase, in your opinion? For me personally, the bare minimum is $1 per 1hr of time played, some people say more than that, but almost nobody expects 200-300hrs+ out of a $40-$60 game....

You're guaranteed to get over 100hrs out of Wolcen.

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MrSmiley21 wrote:

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Exile009 wrote:

Wolcen was always the best looking game. That was never people's problem with it. The real question is - how much actual (and interesting) content are you getting for your money? Amazing graphics isn't even what the ARPG genre itself is known for - that's the preserve of first and third person shooters (like, well, the Crysis games), RPGs and action-adventure games instead.

How many hours justifies a game purchase, in your opinion? For me personally, the bare minimum is $1 per 1hr of time played, some people say more than that, but almost nobody expects 200-300hrs+ out of a $40-$60 game....

You're guaranteed to get over 100hrs out of Wolcen.

I do. I've got 1000's of hours out of PoE. Ditto Skyrim or Witcher. Ditto Age of Empires 2. Etc. I tend to prefer having a few high value for money games than a huge library of lesser options. That said, that doesn't have to be your criteria. If you feel Wolcen is worth the price, go ahead. Just so long as you're going in with appropriate expectations (such as your 100 hours). But when evaluating and comparing games, as some here would like to do between PoE and each of its competitors, it's less about whether a game is worth its price but rather which one ends up delivering more value (even if the value proposition of both is worth the price of entry).

However, I'll point out that I also made mention of the issue of 'interesting' content. The amount of content is only one variable, how effective that content is at delivering whatever experience you're seeking also matters. And in that regard, Wolcen's graphical beauty (what the original guy spoke of) is pretty irrelevant (unless pretty pictures is what you're looking for, in which case I'd wonder why you chose the ARPG genre in the first place).

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Exile009 wrote:

I do. I've got 1000's of hours out of PoE. Ditto Skyrim or Witcher. Ditto Age of Empires 2. Etc. I tend to prefer having a few high value for money games than a huge library of lesser options. That said, that doesn't have to be your criteria. If you feel Wolcen is worth the price, go ahead. Just so long as you're going in with appropriate expectations (such as your 100 hours). But when evaluating and comparing games, as some here would like to do between PoE and each of its competitors, it's less about whether a game is worth its price but rather which one ends up delivering more value (even if the value proposition of both is worth the price of entry).

Everyone who likes ARPGs has already played PoE. PoE isn't good enough for a lot of people to "play forever", even if they keep shifting the meta every league, and dropping new content. Even diehard PoE fans are going to take a league or 2 off, to play something else, so why not a game like Wolcen?

That's part of the problem I got with PoE, is the game is designed to constantly provide a challenge to a core following, and nobody else matters. I haven't played in 5-6 leagues, if I was to come back now, I'd pretty much have to relearn the game. I don't like having to "relearn" games. I like getting familiar with a game, and getting comfortable. That's the "end of the road", the "light at the end of the tunnel" as the reward for your efforts. There is no such thing in PoE, which kinda defeats the whole purpose of playing, because there is no end, and there never will be an end. The constant meta shifting makes players have to run new builds, and play differently, and that's totally and completely contrary to how I like approaching games. I'm capable of adapting, but I don't like "constantly being forced to adapt" being central to the game. That's needlessly tiresome, which leads to me getting bored quicker, ironically.

Those high value games, at least for me, are 200hrs + games. If I get 200hrs out of a $60 game, I'm happy with the purchase. Or Monster Hunter World, I got 1300hrs in that one. Before the DLC even dropped. However, I found the Iceborne content to be neither interesting, or challenging for that matter, and I'm kinda burnt. Not even Tempered Rajang was a challenge. Within 2hrs of the update dropping, I had all the new tempered versions of monsters spanked several times, and was like dafuq dat it? That's the reward for my time invested and experience gained in this game. I'm going to be able to trivialize everything they could possibly throw at me from here on out. It took awhile, but I got there, and it feels rewarding. If they were to completely shake the game up, and force me out of a comfort zone that I worked very hard, and put many hours in to earn, i'd probably not touch the game again.

To me, even Diablo 3 is a high value game. I got close to 1000hrs in that, with $60 invested in the initial purchase + the DLC cost. Still greater than 10hrs per dollar invested.

ARPGs in general offer above average value, even some of the smaller ones.

I bought Wolcen when it was in Alpha, and only paid $15 for it, and already got 180hrs in it over a 2 year period. So, I already got greater than 10hrs per dollar out of the game, and the game is getting ready to release. I'd call that pretty amazing, value wise.

I got less than $60 in Grim Dawn and all the DLC, and I've got 850hrs in that game, which is also greater than 10hrs per dollar value.

I got Sacred 2 for $5, and got 80 something hours in that game. Also a greater than 10hrs per dollar value.

Van Helsing trilogy, I got that on sale for $15, and got around 200hrs in it, greater than 10hrs per dollar value on that one, too.

And then there is Code Vein, AKA weeb-souls. $60 purchase, only got 58hrs in the game, which was enough time to run through the story 3x with 1 character. Have no desire to touch the game again. I call that poor value, with zero potential for future replay value.

To each their own, when it comes to value per dollar. But IMO, pretty much any halfway decent ARPG is going to have enormous value per dollar. I've gotten greater than 10hrs per dollar on most of them.

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However, I'll point out that I also made mention of the issue of 'interesting' content. The amount of content is only one variable, how effective that content is at delivering whatever experience you're seeking also matters. And in that regard, Wolcen's graphical beauty (what the original guy spoke of) is pretty irrelevant (unless pretty pictures is what you're looking for, in which case I'd wonder why you chose the ARPG genre in the first place).

Unlike some people, if the game is no longer interesting, I'll stop playing it. I never tell myself "I have to keep playing this just to get value out of it".

A lot of people knock D3 on here, but it did a few things right.

#1 - instanced looting. I love it. And honestly refuse to MP at all for loot drops in any ARPG game that does not have instanced looting. Utterly refuse to.

#2 - The visceral feel of the combat. The sounds, animations, and effects all come together very well, unlike in PoE which leaves much to be desired in this regard. Wolcen is closer to D3 in this regard, which is a good thing. They nailed the visceral feel of the combat, and this contributes to the fun factor of the game.

#3 - The end game. IMO, Paragon levels and greater rifts are better than PoE's end game. More accessible as well. And this is why I got more time logged in D3 than in PoE in recent years. Although total hours, I think I got more total in PoE. Which game am I more likely to go back to? D3, definitely.

Wolcen got a lot of things right. It's not perfect, and some people knocked the developers for not delivering on what was originally promised, but they didn't have the resources to deliver on that, and had to scale their project back to deliver on something that they could pull off, and I think many people will be pleasantly surprised how good the game is, once they play it.

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MrSmiley21 wrote:

#1 - instanced looting. I love it. And honestly refuse to MP at all for loot drops in any ARPG game that does not have instanced looting. Utterly refuse to.

This was something I loved when playing with my wife. Don't have to fight for loot, and also increases chances of one of us finding an upgrade for one another. Just trade if you find something interesting for the other and move on, makes the loot enjoyable.

https://youtu.be/mreqjgIJVxA

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https://youtu.be/mreqjgIJVxA

I have really mixed feelings about how it looks. They're clearly trying to make it an isometric Lords of the Fallen in every way. I could never form a solid opinion about that game. Literally every part of it was equally entertaining and off-putting.

https://steamcommunity.com/app/424370/eventcomments/1740015418084616403

Full Brief release patch notes.

K, done breaking my word re posting. Find me on steam if you're looking. It's not hard. ^_^

I'm happy your happy Charan.

Was just watching some reviews of it today, looks solid so far. Might purchase it tomorrow or wait for a couple of days to see some initial opinions after its release before doing so.

Sort of hard to find balanced opinions on it, only found reviews of it from people ready to go :), understandable i guess given the wait.

Peace,

-Boem-