TMC Player Reviews: 3-Kingdoms

(The following review comment is the opinion of the comment's author [Nick] and in no way represents the opinions of this website or its staff).

I tried 3k and spent a bit of time looking at the different guilds. I
think it's one of the better muds still running, but think Ken has it
very wrong when he says it encourages grouping.

It does the opposite, and it was the big turnoff for me.
The many varied and quite interesting classes are well designed
for soloing. Some, and only some, work well in groups.

The problem is all of those classes have different rhythms - some
regen as they play, so they just need to manage their sp/hp
expenditure. Others need to return to their guild, constantly. Some
regen by sitting still or by farming lots of lower level mobs. Etc.
etc.

A changeling, a mage, an elemental and a juggernaut form a team.
After a minute, the elemental says 'wait here, I need to return to
the guild to replenish my energy'.

He returns. After a minute the mage says 'wait here, I need to
return to the guild to glvl'

She returns. After 2 minutes the changeling says 'stop, I'm out of
stamina and need to sit here doing nothing for a few minutes'

The juggernaut quietly went afk 2 seconds after the team was formed
and was never heard from again.

Funny haha, but I was in that team. Minus the juggernaut - I just
added that for an extra laugh (if you've played 3k you'd get it).

The playerbase is very friendly and supportive of new players. The
guilds are amongst the most unique you'll find in any mud today (BIG
strength). Generally speaking, those guilds have been well designed
for solo gameplay, but not for group play.

There are signs that the devs are trying to fix this - adding more
guild powers that only work to benefit others (i.e. can't use on
self) - but they're not there yet.

This game is quite enjoyable and I'd recommend it to anyone. But if
you try it expecting to be playing in teams (at all), you'll probably
be disappointed.

(The following review comment is the opinion of the comment's author [Geoff] and in no way represents the opinions of this website or its staff).

I've been playing 3k for about 10 years on and off and I've played
just about every guild there is. I can honestly say that every single
guild on 3k parties well together, with the exception of elementals at
an early stage in the guild. After a while elementals don't need to
run back to guild all the time and can stay in combat as long as they
want. I am currently playing a juggernaut and I love to group up with
elementals as we can just roam around fighting stuff constantly for
hours.

Sorry to hear that your grouping experience was terrible but I can
assure you that it is far from the normal group experience on 3k. You
just grouped with players that don't really understand partying well.
Mages do not need to glvl, they can just store the gxp and wait till
everyone is ready to go back to town. People constantly going to town
or afk is the players fault not the game design (with the exception of
small elementals) :)

As a juggernaut I am always being asked to group with almost every
class in the game. You get an xp boost for partying and some guilds,
like juggers also get some guild related bonuses for grouping too, so
grouping is encouraged and as you said they're working on ways to
encourage it further.

(The following review comment is the opinion of the comment's author [Thunder] and in no way represents the opinions of this website or its staff).

After 13 years of mudding on 3k I can say without any hesitation that
nick is right, and completely wrong. Let me explain.

When you decide to group at low glevel/level it is at times difficult
to get a good rhythm going. It also makes it difficult if people are
different sizes. Mixing very advanced players with low level players
is at times very difficult for the lower players to keep up. That
said, with enough experience and glevels/Levels under your belt you
can very easily establish a wonderful relationship with many other
players and party together in a profitable situation.

I currently am part of the strongest most active clan on 3k (select
group of players from various guilds who come together). When we group
together we make 3 to 4 times the experience that other people can
make solo....EACH. It didn't come easy and we all had to work for it
but together we can experience content on the mud that most only get
to dream about. By ourselves none of us could handle it. But nothing
worth having comes easy and to really be powerful you must learn how
to play your charector with others....