It looks like a bunch of FE players are less than stoked about the combat changes in patch 1.9.
The changes to the combat do require more AP focus and role specialization than we saw in any of the previous patches.
These changes standardize FE by bringing it more in tune with what’s commonly found in the KNOW market. They bring the MMO trinity of tank, heals, and DPS into FE where really it hadn’t been a necessity before 1.9.
Many folks argue that the old system turned savvy players into PvP gods. Those kinda guy are always a pain to go up against as a PvP’r.
Thing is though, the flexibility of the 1.8 system allowed for more flexibility in builds and hence in playstle. It removed the need for the standard WoW style cookie cutter builds and gave the player the ability to adapt their playstyle to a given situation as opposed to being forced to swap out players to do the same thing.
To me this does kill what I loved most about FE. I loved the fact that I could build a character that was not forced to group for situations, but could be viable in a group if I chose to be in one.
It was the soloist/survivalist feel to FE that made it unique. That step away from the standard MMO trinity in builds made the FE marketing statement “not your daddy’s MMO”.
FE is still very unique and still has quite a learning curve to it. It still has a fabulous crafting system that allows you to max everything. You can still craft most mounts in the game. And it still has full world PvP (which is optional not forced).
There’s still a lot to love about FE. But perhaps with the latest combat changes, a little bit of FE’s quirky charm was lost.
The question is, with FE going free to play, will the rest of the quirky charm be stripped away to maximize profits? I’m hoping that a balance is found that makes FE easier for new players to adopt that still retains the unique elements of FE that make it the kind of game that the non-traditional MMO player can still dig into.
