With all this negativity, I thought I'd post something to tell KI that while I have my constructive criticisms for Celestia, I like it a lot overall. Getting the criticism out of the way first, I think that the balance of difficulty between bosses and street thugs is off in quite a few places. There are also several parts that are crazy hard if you're trying to solo. That being said... I think that Celestia is what a lot of us were looking for. Its difficult. I think that its good that its difficult. I am really enjoying the challenge and I look forward to that challenge with all of my wizards.
Before I suffer the inevitable put-downs that infer my self esteem is tied up in video games, I must not have a social life, I don't know what I'm talking about, etc... Let me just say that I do almost all of the quests solo. Sure, I help friends out, a couple of the bosses are extremely difficult solo, and if you get a bad run of luck, you can expect to be running back from base camp a lot. However, what is the alternative? Do you know how many bosses in this game are just muscle memory? How many of them make you think and use strategy? Doesn't anyone like to solve problems anymore?
I understand that I may be speaking for a minority (though it has been my experience that people that are happy generally don't say anything) but its not fun (at least to me) if it doesn't get more challenging. I don't understand why anyone would want to keep playing if they weren't interested in any socialization, or if the game didn't keep making you think. I'm not saying I don't get frustrated. Sometimes I do. But I turn it off for a while, go do something else, then come back and try again some other time.
At any rate, I just want KI to know that I think they're doing a great job. They have things to fix, some unintended consequences, and I'd like to see more separation between PvE and PvP, but overall... I am quite happy.
I like Celestia, too. I love all the creativity and artwork and design and various creatures, etc. I agree about the levels of the power of the mobs, they're harder early on and ease up as you get into it. I like that they keep to the school that they are labeled more so than any other worlds. Not too keen on having to transmute all that sandstone. I wish they had just said so up front instead of getting us all frustrated during Test. But now I'm resigned to it, it's okay. I wish they had left the crafted wands at +2 power pips, so that there was SOMETHING gear-wise that was awesome to craft and use in game.
I wish there were more solve-the-puzzle type quests like in the Stellarium, and less of the Collect-This-from-That type quests. Like everyone else, I am finding it difficult to collect the things. I also find myself soloing much of the game due to time constraints, etc., but I simply move on to something else until I can devote the time or find the other players to accomplish the quest.
I really like all the voices of the different characters. Kingsisle does an awesome job with the dialogue and voice-over actors.
I think that Celestia comes as a really big surprise because it's not just more-of-the-same. Everyone had built up expectations for so long while we waited all summer that I think we are now suffering a bit of back-lash.
