Matrix Online Quick Look

So I let some friends of mine convice me to try out Matrix Online. *sigh* I wish I liked it more.
I have spent about ten of my precious “game time” hours so far on it and have compiled a list of quick likes and dislikes.

Misses:

Not being able to keep your target selected when doing things in combat
One character per server. This idea really should die. I do not care how flexible your character design is, I might want to start a seperate character on the same server that I already have a character.
Having to fight things 3 and 4 levels below me to feel strong
Camera that is fairly terrible. (slugglish, does not avoid objects well)
Movement in the world feels sloshy, not tight.
Terrible chat interface ( no /r command, not able to have more than the two chat areas, limited filtering
Semi turn-based combat does not match the fast pace I would expect from matrix
Animations are fair to bad (the characters feel very stiff)
I have not felt compelled, the cell phone contacts are handy but do not relate me to the world. The content / quests feel as distilled as SWG
To follow up on the above: I find there is very little for me to do. I can grind missions, grind nearby mob for collectors, or randomly grind mobs, or stand around an duel. Now I think limited activities can be fun for a short period of time if they are well done (ala CoH) but I find this boring in MXO.
The leveling pace is a bit to slow. I have played 10+ hours and am still level 7. My suggested pacing in notes below.
Jumping mechanic is counter intuitive
Communication from quest NPCs is handled in two places making it easy to miss something.
You can not pan around the map.
City setting gets old fast. I know there where very few settings shown off in the movies, but surely the matrix is simulates more than just a city. This could have been a good carrot to hang in front of players; access to the beach, the mountains, ancient ruins. Heck anything, its the Matrix!!
Enemy types are uninspired. How many differnt types of voiceless humans can I fight. Again, I know the movies did not show off a large variety of baddies, but its all a simulation. Give the players a bit more variety.
Enemies are just randomly placed in the world. Again most games do this, but at least some of them now try to give the off at least the illusion that the enemies are there for a reason.
Lack of NPCs to interact with. So far all I have seen are vendors, information NPCs (those that just give out the same basic game info) and 1 local contact (I assume there are more).
No offline messaging system
Some UI elements can not be moved.
No first person mode, though you can zoom in and admire your hair.
No item linking (dragging items to chat bar)
In game music volume option does not save between game sessions
Lack of an obivious mentoring system.

Hits:

Some two person emotes
Textures and models look good
Most UI elements can be moved.
The class/skills/ability system works in the setting. I really like this system. I think it work even better if the enemies were balanced to let me fight multiples of them at my level, and if the level pacing was much faster. I want to be able to be able to experience different ability combinations, and at this pace it is just not possible.
‘seemless’ city, feels large.
character creation draws you into the world
Chat system integrates with external chat system (to bad its AIM)
Variety of clothing options
Crafting system is nicely flushed out, and item decay will keep the economy rolling
As Jythri states below, there is mass transit, allowing players to move across the map with relative ease.
Mission customization. Players can select the mission type, length, and difficulty
Ability to sit on some objects.

Other notes:

Blizzard’s rest system, imo, is a feature that should be a stable in all future games, and MXO could benifit greatly from this sort of feature.

I would suggested a level pace something like this:
Levels 1 – 10 avg. 1 level an hour
Levels 11 – 15 avg. 1 level every two hours
Levels 16 – 20 avg. 1 level every 4 hours
Levels 21 – 25 avg. 1 level every 6 hours
Levels 26 – 30 avg. 1 level every 8 hours
Levels 31 – 40 avg. 1 level every 10 hours
Levels 41 – 50 avg. 1 level every 12 hours

As you can see I have a whole lot more misses than its; which is not a good sign. I will probably give it one or two more game sessions but I do not see this replacing WoW anytime soon.

***Movie Stars***
I watched a show onn E where they followed Matthew McConaughey on his around the country RV tour promoting his movie “Saraha”. Now I am sure much of it was staged, but he came off being a really nice down to earth guy, enough so that I want to see the movie now. I am a sucker.

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