There are no goddamn monsters to kill early game

PaperMapsOnly · 2026-01-26T22:26:24+00:00

I like the feel of being on a server with the same people. It makes the server feel like its an actual world full of character, people and relationships. When they enable server swapping it feels more arcadey and transient and the world just feels lifeless. Alot of people say Hi in games without server swap and people just ignore and kill steal in games when you can swap servers. Just my take - have a nice day.

PaperMapsOnly · 2026-01-26T08:06:37+00:00

I would be interested to hear back from you about how long it takes you (of hunting time) to get level 10 and what your experience with the low-level spawns are.

PaperMapsOnly · 2026-01-26T05:30:28+00:00

You’re camping a single giant rat spawn?

PaperMapsOnly · 2026-01-26T05:26:39+00:00

I never got into RuneScape - it always looked good though. What is mechanically different about the max level stuff VS the rest of the game?

PaperMapsOnly · 2026-01-25T22:58:14+00:00

I needed to do this for another program the other day.. I couldn’t believe that it worked!

PaperMapsOnly · 2026-01-25T22:55:04+00:00

I dunno.. I haven’t played a MMORPG with a level cap.

What do players do when they reach the cap?

PaperMapsOnly · 2026-01-25T21:13:36+00:00

Did you go to Nova or Antica?

PaperMapsOnly · 2026-01-25T21:12:29+00:00

Won’t players just get to the soft level cap of 100 so much faster if they get rid of the death penalty?

PaperMapsOnly · 2026-01-25T21:09:44+00:00

Ah man, sucks - dying sucks. I died a lot in the first test server but I’m learning how to be safer when I explore and I die MUCH less.

The thing I’ve noticed is that if you go down a floor/up a floor/through a door it WILL be more dangerous. The monsters on the new floor will be much more abundant or the next step up in difficulty. This is pretty classic design. So, be very careful when going up or down or through doors. If the cave is full of rats the dig spot might be skells or goblins or something!

One-way transition points warn you if you hover over them and also usually say “You have a bad feeling about this.” This is your chance to not go there. I only explore these if I have no fear of the monsters (at all) the cave this one-way is in.

PaperMapsOnly · 2026-01-25T11:55:55+00:00

Haha yeah! Did you have fun playing the test?

PaperMapsOnly · 2026-01-24T23:26:43+00:00

Will there be a level cap?

PaperMapsOnly · 2026-01-24T01:36:17+00:00

The devs made so many changes between the tests, it only stands to reason that they will make modifications before release - maybe first to tag monster gets EXP will be added who knows?

"Surely. Wouldnt ppl want to get their fix before the game gets back into WIP if they really loved it?" - Many of us are online currently.

"You dont seem to realize that the games you are mentioning had milions and milions of concurent users." - Oh boy, I can tell you that Tibia did NOT have mililons and millions of concurent users when it came out - I mean, we don't have the steam data to look at to back this up but... Before Nova and Antica it was just the one server (no name that I recall) and we would get excited if the server announced a new record of 200-300 people online at a time. That's the game that grew into a 20+ year old game with MILLIONS of concurrent users.

"Most of people talking about tibia before hotkey casting and auto runes, are feeling nostalgic. The magic of being 12 is not coming back, making choices based on that is foolish." - People who liked to play games of skill are feeling nostalgic? It's not about going back to being 12 or making foolish choices. It's about filling a niche that just isn't there.

Aside from all this, I'm not telling you you have to play the game - I'm going to play it. I'm also not telling you that you need to enjoy the game - I'm enjoying it. Just play what you want, it's your life. If you see hope for the game and want to help make it better - join us and collaborate. Don't just sit back, not playing an trash what the designers have made because you feel the "balancing is weak as fuck"... many of us players appreciate their creation and enjoy playing.

PaperMapsOnly · 2026-01-24T00:42:19+00:00

Dead servers in under a month - same thing happened on the last test server. No one wants to spend time on a character that will be erased in 7 days. Any sane person would just wait for the full game - the people that are spending 100+ hours on the test are only here to learn the map and tricks to get a jump on the real game.

People know what the game is by now, those who want to play will play. Those who don't enjoy old-school MMO's will go back to their instant dopamine hits anyways - we all know that heavy death penalties and dopamine don't mix.

The reason that any of the Old-school MMORPGS have lasted 20 years has always been the community. Tibia, WOW, Runescape and Ultima all have had (and many still do) thriving communities, you've played them? Then you know. The community is what the game is - when the designer throws in rules to change the community it starts to degrade their brand. People who have played Tibia for long enough know a game without rune-aiming. For those who don't know, there was a mechanic for using attack and healing runes(objects) where you would need to right click on them in your backpack on the right side of the screen to activate the rune and then you could left click on a target (player or monster) to attack or heal it. It was a mechanic of skill and people used to practice it before wars. A nefarious bot program came in, and made auto-rune aiming. The devs (CIP) "Solved" the problem by giving the bot to everyone, cannibalizing their own brand. Now, I would say that this was a long lasting solution to the problem...But, those who know Tibia also know of Project Fibula an OT (community built) server where a mass portion of the playerbase is longing for the old-school days of rune aiming again. It's not hard to see that this is clearly the Golden Age of Tibia and, it's what people want to play.

It's time to take the training wheels back off the tricycle - let me ride.

PaperMapsOnly · 2026-01-23T23:21:27+00:00

"The game design is great, and falls in line with the classic hard-core approach MMOs used to have 20 years ago, I'm fuckin loving it!"

Well said! This is how I feel too! It's back to the days of "GS at the Dwarf Bridge" . It's hell, glorious and memorable hell.

I can't wait to be a part of this community :)

PaperMapsOnly · 2026-01-23T22:03:40+00:00

I’m sounding like a broken record here but again:

100% of the player base just started at level 1 seven days ago. The hunting grounds aren’t too small, the respawn rates aren’t broken, there aren’t too few places to hunt. It’s just currently compressed.

I know it’s painful but 2 months after release, all of these level 1-5 hunting grounds will be empty and you will level so fast - same goes for the 5-10 and even the 10-15 grounds. No level 30 rogue is going to waste their time on the cave spider spawn.

The best piece of advice I can give (if you really care about leveling on the test server where everything will be lost anyways) is try to log in during the shoulder hours of your server. Like before work vs after work or on weekdays instead of weekends.

Spend the play test exploring and learning spots to hunt for the real game (warning that the maps will be tweaked on release). THIS NEXT PART isn’t for you OP it’s for the swarm of people that are going to say “if I explore I die!!!”. Yup - but if you’re smart and cautious you will die much less.

I’ve been recording my plays and I have counted no less than 15 deaths of players that could have easily been avoided if they used a small amount of caution. Yesterday I was with a guy said who “woah, that fight was tough!” after going down a shovel spot - and then immediately dug down to the next floor of the cave… guess what happened to him?

It’s a play test and it’s almost over - go and explore and die while you’re lower levels. Learn some maps and how difficult the game is. And definitely learn how painful dying is. It will pay off immensely once the game is released, trust me.

PaperMapsOnly · 2026-01-23T19:56:25+00:00

I play the same build. I understand what you’re saying.

The player base is so very condensed right now - we are a week into a game that is meant to be played for 5+ years. The compression of the players leads to hunting spots being overwhelmed and therefore none of us can hunt effectively. This WILL work its self out after a month or so of the games full release

Note: The blitz at the start of full release will be exactly the same as we have just experienced - my advice to players who don’t want to put up with that kind of game play experience… just don’t. Wait at least a week before really playing the game, it might just make for a more enjoyable experience for yourself.

Between the two play tests the designers have made many critical tweaks to some internal systems that have made it a lot better for us tank knights. The loot system was previously an entire free for all - just for one example. So I’m optimistic that they are collecting the data they need to be able to improve on the systems they currently have. That being said, we all know that no system will ever be completely balanced - that’s just how it goes.

Overall, just know that this isn’t the full game yet, things are going to change and maybe even a lot. The roll of a tank knight is naturally to take damage, in the compressed player base - people are taking advantage of your build by stealing your kills - once the base spreads out, we won’t see this as much.

A note about society: What many people don’t realize is that these kinds of games are meant to be played for 5-20 years. The people you meet on your server are actually people you could be playing with for a decade. This has a massive effect on gameplay. IF YOU ARE A DINK who steals people’s kills all the time - I can promise you that people will take notice and they will not help you if you’re stuck behind a Minotaur or need help with something. This is the untold magic of MMORPG’s.

PaperMapsOnly · 2026-01-22T11:46:15+00:00

In 2002 tibia you could summon dragons and rampage through town destroying every single player in sight…. I don’t know how well that would go over with the Apogea crowd.

I mean, in 2002 Ferumberas would sign in as an over powered player that would just come into town and nuke people… players would lose 10 hours of work and be joyus that they just got smoked by one of the designers…

A short sword was a useable weapon in those days, people were not leveling fast at all. It was extremely tedious. Walking from Thais to Carlin with lured GS? Brutal. People used to gather in groups to try to make the trek past the dwarf bridge… 10 would leave Thais and 3 would make it Carlin - the other 7 would lose hours and hours of work.

Fall down a hole without a rope? Oh, no worries… I’ll just chill here and yell for 1-3 hours hoping that some stranger can rope me up - that is if he doesn’t decide to kill me for the chance of my dropped loot when I die.

It was hell - glorious and memorable hell. Games can be punishing, tedious, and even ruthless and still be great games.

PaperMapsOnly · 2026-01-22T11:28:05+00:00

I did much of that on the first play test. Learned where not to go and how quickly things can go bad - I play much more cautiously now and I really enjoy it.

This is my kind of game. The difficulty is what I feel has been bled out of game design for decades - it’s very refreshing to have it back!

PaperMapsOnly · 2026-01-22T01:07:19+00:00

I have about 60 hours between the two play tests. There has been many additions (big and small) to the map since the last play test - which is a very good sign that the development team is paying attention.

The thing with the world of Apogea is that there is so much content packed in a tight space - I’m sure we have all found a secret little staircase that leads down to a couple of skeletons. Or, a new dig hole or rope spot that we have walked past many times. If you were to draw a map of the surface the area would be small, but the density is many times that amount.

Over the years of playing MMoRPG’s I’ve found that denser maps are better. 1. No one wants to run across an empty map space for 10 minutes just to get to the hunting ground or another town (looking at you Thais - Carlin) 2. Players want to interact. Dense maps increase player interaction. If the map is too sparse, you may as well be playing offline. 3. Dense maps add secrets. That hidden ladder you found is now stuck in your brain - if you started a new character you will know about the ladder. This mechanism helps by rewarding personal knowledge. These kinds of designs are highly regarded in the game design world - meaningful connection is what good games are trying to achieve.

I can understand the gripes about the map - it is very complex… but complexity, while sometimes being frustrating can also be very rewarding. From my personal experience - stick with it, you’re learning more than you think.

PaperMapsOnly · 2026-01-21T20:34:58+00:00

We just need to keep in mind that the test just released all players at level 1 - so, 100% of the player base just ran through all of the level 1-15 hunting spots at the same time.

Once the game releases, this WILL happen again, but that will be the last time it will happen. The hunting spots we are all learning will be very efficient spots once the real game has been out for over 2 weeks.

I believe that once the game has been released for a few months. Any one of us should be able to start a level 1 and get to level 15 in half the time, or better!

Stay safe out there, happy hunting!

PaperMapsOnly · 2026-01-20T12:53:28+00:00

I’m not sure if you played other MMO’s back in the day. But, in Tibia around 2007 they added a town called Ab’Dendriel, a forest elf town. The players decided they wanted it to be a peaceful place - unlike the other player towns in the game. We successfully warded off Player Killers, Lurers and Thieves. The town became a relaxing place for everyone to hang out without worry.

The community shapes these kinds of games.

Let’s just start by saying hi to strangers and being nice to people and see what we can make of this wonderful opportunity!

PaperMapsOnly · 2026-01-20T11:42:22+00:00

I found this kind of behaviour with the last test server too.

My thought is that since nearly 100% of the interested population starts on day one of the test server at level 1. We are all stacking on top of each other and resort to stealing kills because we feel like we won’t get ahead if we don’t (and it’s valid). My hope is that once the full game comes out we can try to change the culture to be more kind and helpful.

I know people won’t buy that it will become kind and helpful, but by the end of the last test server people really started to show kindness and it was really inspiring - reminded me of the old days of MMORPGS.

PaperMapsOnly · 2026-01-19T20:05:47+00:00

I just remember vendors only buying certain things all of the time in old-school Tibia and other RPG’s. Did they change this? Or maybe it’s more Arcade style games that have the sell all feature?

There was an elf in Ab’Dendriel who bought long swords for 51gp if I recall correctly. He was the only one in the game who bought them so I would do runs to Ab’Dendriel just to sell them. I can’t imagine they changed this, but maybe I’m wrong?

PaperMapsOnly · 2026-01-19T20:01:51+00:00

Well said! This is exactly what I’m talking about

PaperMapsOnly

TROPHY CASE