I really do make a concerted effort to be as unbiased as I possibly can when it comes to criticizing New World. I'm certainly not going to just slime Amazon's effort, even as I take issue with their execution. But I'm not relentlessly negative as so many on the Steam Discussion Forum are.
I'm enjoying my character in this Company, though I find that I wish I had done some things differently. Amazon allows you to respec your Weaponry skills for a modest price, but that does not do all that much to change your gameplay because chances are that your Stats are fairly rigidly aligned with certain Weapons. I wish that Amazon would allow you to spend some form of in-game currency to reset your Stat Allocation Points so that you could go from a Great Hammer-wielding Nordic Berzerker to a Master of the Arcane Arts Ice Wizard. With Nich, I decided at mid-game to use a Void Gauntlet, and to make it even marginally effective, I had to stop putting points into STR and CON and spend some in INT. You really do not get enough Stat points to work more than two Attributes (nor should you- gotta make those compromises somewhere, right?). I also made an absolute hash of my Tradeskills, and playing catchup is not the most exciting facet of the game. Oh...and I could have done a MUCH better job with Town Reputation, too.
So I decided to create a new character over on the Valhalla server. I think it's one of only two or three Medium population servers left in NA East. It does sort of remind me of the first couple of weeks after release, as the Towns seem to be full of characters. It is rare that I find myself totally alone when out in the Wilderness: in fact, I've been bailed out of a couple of bad pulls by random players hunting in the same area as I am. There seems to be a steady influz of new players to provide a market for the lower-level Loot I obtain or the items I craft.
However, with the good comes the bad.
For one thing, there is no replacing the Gaiscioch Community/Family. I just hit level 22 and I have not received a single Company invitation (side note: that's another area that could be improved: applying to a Company. Right now, at least so far as I know, all you can do is see a list of Companies, their Faction and perhaps the name of a Leader. It would be nice to see a brief description of what the Company's policies, goals, focus and such are so that a prospective member might be able to see if the Company has the same playstyle as he or she does. Nothing like being a PvE-er in a PvP-centric Company).
With the higher population comes competition for Resource Nodes. I've actually seen two other players approach the same Nodes as I am at the same time. However, it seems that most players are at least somewhat lazy; they won't tread too far off the beaten path to gather materials, so, if you are willing to go a bit further afield, you'll have no problem gathering mats.
And yes, Marauders are dominating. Purple controls one region (Syndicate, is it? That's the one I joined just to be different). Orange controls either one or two. Green controls all the others that can be controlled. I guess some things just do not change.
But I think what has struck me as the worst of the bad is that players charge other players to join their groups when doing late-game Expeditions. If it involves an Orb, the player making said Orb feels justified in charging players who want/need to run the Expedition thousands- not kidding- of Gold to join! Yes, I get that the materials to make an Orb aren't easily obtained, and, yes, I get that players spent a great amount of Gold to raise their Tradeskills sufficient to craft the Orbs. But does not the player gain something from running the Expedition? I've never seen this on Falias and I hope never to do so.
I appreciate the opportunity to vent/explain. I'll be back Home soon.
