Well, this is extremely special. 
When you start off, you get a little bit of a loading screen blurb on where to give your feedback and a little thank you for participating in the alpha, then you're pushed into character creation. You can choose 3 classes with their own special abilities, but I went for Warlock.
You're moved straight into the middle of a mission. There's no explanation on controls or anything, so you're left to figure this out for yourself.
So far so Halo. Gunplay feels very similar to the Halo series as you'd expect it to. You're given objectives, go through this area and kill this guy. That's your main mission. You also start off at level 3.
You can carry with you 3 weapons. A 'Standard' weapon such as an assault rifle, a 'Special' weapon such as a shotgun, sniper rifle, fusion rifle etc, and a 'Heavy' weapon such as a huge rocket launcher. Each one has its own ammunition drops, etc.
The very moment you hit the options button though, you're immediately moved from Halo to an MMO. Full MMO style gearing system with stat comparisons and graded loot (Common, Uncommon, etc), and different skills to upgrade when you level up. That's pretty cool!
Going through your storyline missions you see a couple of random people in your area that you can start going alongside. You can choose to create a fireteam with these guys or just work alongside them as they are, and they'll disappear as soon as you transition into the next area.
Once you've finished the beginning mission, the game's structure starts to reveal itself a little bit more. At this point you return to the town area, where you have your mailbox, you can see a TON of other players all being sociable, and you've got your gear NPCs and individual class vendors. A few more things start to become apparent at this stage - You can trade in boss drops for items and weaponry, armour, etc, and the Vanguard system makes an appearance. You can complete specific challenge objectives (such as completing a Strike mission in one life, without dying, or getting 20 double kills with fusion rifles).
These Vanguard points are the equivalent to something like Tombstones in FFXIV or Justice/Valor in WoW, which can be put towards Vanguard only armour and equipment. There's a big MMO structure there.
The PvE missions you get at the start are your single storyline mission, a 'Strike' mission (Equivalent of a Dungeon in an MMO) and Free Roam (Equivalent of Adventure Mode from Diablo 3). Free roaming is REALLY nice, as you get randomly generated quests in different areas much like the bounties in Diablo 3 that you can just run for fun and level up from, getting rewards along the way.
You are also likely to encounter random missions and public quests like FATEs from FFXIV. We had a gigantic metal crawler crab like robot thing appear from the sky in the middle of nowhere and everyone teamed up to try and figure out how to take it down.
I've played approximately 2 hours of it and if it weren't for work tomorrow, I'd be hammering it all through the morning. The social aspect is REALLY well done, especially with seeing players around you randomly helping you out regardless of what you're doing, the social hub and shop area, the gunplay, the gameplay structure...
And just for me, the loot hoarding... The first time I picked up an unidentified item, got it identified in town as a Green grade Rocket Launcher, I just grinned.
There's also the 'Crucible', your PvP arena. I've not touched this at all, so more on this tomorrow...
I'm pretty sure there's tons of stuff I've missed (I've not gone into detail with each character's super charged special moves etc!), but it's Halo gunplay with ARPG and MMO game structure and Diablo style looting. What an absolutely sublime combination.
I streamed my entire session tonight, so while there'll be some dull bits in there, you can check out the recording at http://www.twitch.tv/infinitypig/b/537870923
When you start off, you get a little bit of a loading screen blurb on where to give your feedback and a little thank you for participating in the alpha, then you're pushed into character creation. You can choose 3 classes with their own special abilities, but I went for Warlock.
You're moved straight into the middle of a mission. There's no explanation on controls or anything, so you're left to figure this out for yourself.
So far so Halo. Gunplay feels very similar to the Halo series as you'd expect it to. You're given objectives, go through this area and kill this guy. That's your main mission. You also start off at level 3.
You can carry with you 3 weapons. A 'Standard' weapon such as an assault rifle, a 'Special' weapon such as a shotgun, sniper rifle, fusion rifle etc, and a 'Heavy' weapon such as a huge rocket launcher. Each one has its own ammunition drops, etc.
The very moment you hit the options button though, you're immediately moved from Halo to an MMO. Full MMO style gearing system with stat comparisons and graded loot (Common, Uncommon, etc), and different skills to upgrade when you level up. That's pretty cool!
Going through your storyline missions you see a couple of random people in your area that you can start going alongside. You can choose to create a fireteam with these guys or just work alongside them as they are, and they'll disappear as soon as you transition into the next area.
Once you've finished the beginning mission, the game's structure starts to reveal itself a little bit more. At this point you return to the town area, where you have your mailbox, you can see a TON of other players all being sociable, and you've got your gear NPCs and individual class vendors. A few more things start to become apparent at this stage - You can trade in boss drops for items and weaponry, armour, etc, and the Vanguard system makes an appearance. You can complete specific challenge objectives (such as completing a Strike mission in one life, without dying, or getting 20 double kills with fusion rifles).
These Vanguard points are the equivalent to something like Tombstones in FFXIV or Justice/Valor in WoW, which can be put towards Vanguard only armour and equipment. There's a big MMO structure there.
The PvE missions you get at the start are your single storyline mission, a 'Strike' mission (Equivalent of a Dungeon in an MMO) and Free Roam (Equivalent of Adventure Mode from Diablo 3). Free roaming is REALLY nice, as you get randomly generated quests in different areas much like the bounties in Diablo 3 that you can just run for fun and level up from, getting rewards along the way.
You are also likely to encounter random missions and public quests like FATEs from FFXIV. We had a gigantic metal crawler crab like robot thing appear from the sky in the middle of nowhere and everyone teamed up to try and figure out how to take it down.
I've played approximately 2 hours of it and if it weren't for work tomorrow, I'd be hammering it all through the morning. The social aspect is REALLY well done, especially with seeing players around you randomly helping you out regardless of what you're doing, the social hub and shop area, the gunplay, the gameplay structure...
And just for me, the loot hoarding... The first time I picked up an unidentified item, got it identified in town as a Green grade Rocket Launcher, I just grinned.
There's also the 'Crucible', your PvP arena. I've not touched this at all, so more on this tomorrow...
I'm pretty sure there's tons of stuff I've missed (I've not gone into detail with each character's super charged special moves etc!), but it's Halo gunplay with ARPG and MMO game structure and Diablo style looting. What an absolutely sublime combination.
I streamed my entire session tonight, so while there'll be some dull bits in there, you can check out the recording at http://www.twitch.tv/infinitypig/b/537870923
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