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Dragon*Con 2007 Day 1 Fan Impressions - new info inside!
AmazingAvery
Age of Conan AdvocateMember UncommonPosts: 7,188
Taken from here:
http://forums.ageofconan.com/showthread.php?t=38589
Emberens Impressions and questions asked as follows:
I saw a lot of really cool stuff at Dragon*Con today (Friday), both at their booth and at the Funcom evening meet and greet. Please don't flame me (and I hope I remember everything) but here are my impressions of AoC. There are answers to the questions asked tonight, as well as some of my impressions about the gameplay.
Gameplay - First, I will say that I do not come from a heavy FPS/PvP background, so anyone watching me probably thought I was a retarded gnat for the first few minutes. There is a learning curve to the controls, but there are a few ways to do the same thing. For example, you could hold the SHIFT button and W to run forward, or you could press and hold both the mouse buttons for the same effect. This made it a bit easier for me to do things comfortably with multiple controls for the same effect. We were doing a 2 vs 2 battlefield (designed for 6 on 6, so it felt big), and I played the Herald of Xotli. Transforming into a demon was cool, and he had lots of buff spells to reduce damage and to put on a flame shield that dealt damage to melee enemies. His swings seemed slower, though, so the Assassin usually got me before I got him. The Flamestrike combo had a nice animation though. I think if you take the time to learn the system (which might take me longer than some), the combat system can be a powerful tool. Skill will be a big factor in PvP in my opinion.
QUESTIONS
Real Sex In Game - "Cannot confirm or deny" due to different country ratings.
Female Characters - We will get to see them Sunday (and topless too)! As Athelan and other devs have said before, there are so many animations that it took a while to do, especially for all the battle animations. They want the females to look strong and sexy, but when they tried to make a burly, giantess-type, she turned out looking very manly. The goal to have them look like Valeria from the movie plus a little bit "wenchy."
PvP - "This is the epitome ... of wartorn Hyboria." Clan of Conan community members will get a sweet PvP item that gives a bonus to drunken brawling. (Better watch out, I'm a mean drunk!) PvP will be convenient, with a menu that you can access even when questing. So then you'll teleport to the battleground, hack some players out, then return to the zone you were in to resume your questing. Also sounded like you could do it solo or with your quest group together.
Mercenaries - "No merc guilds allowed at lauch" (Please don't shoot the messenger)
Leveling - Wanted it to be accessable to the casual gamer, so it will be relatively fast. Athelon said that getting to AoC lvl 80 = 9 days played, compared to the first time playing to WoW (no twink economy) lvl 60 = 15 days played.
Beta - Yes, there will be a open beta. No, they don't know when it is. Beta progression is in milestones. They have finished (I think) technical beta, and have moved to general/closed beta. As the stages progress, they will invite more players. The goal of beta testing for FC is to ensure the high quality of the game at launch. It is not a marketing tool.
Storyline - Single-player destiny storyline for all 80 levels, regional storylines, and NPC quest storylines (often related to regional storylines, but with "self-interest")
Voiceacting - More than 100 actors contributed to the voiceacting (more than for Dreamfall)
Magic in AoC - They want to keep it true to REH, but they felt it was necessary to keep magic animations "interesting rather than boring"
User Interface - Players will be able to reskin, resize, drag, etc. many parts of the game display (At least, I think that is what they said. When the acronyms start flying, I tend to lose stuff in the translation.)
Herald of Xotli - The demonform will be customizable with different heads, horns, tentacles, skins, colors, etc. to create a unique melee mage character.
Money Sinks - They weren't so sure on this point, everyone being more focused on gameplay right now, but consumables and player villages were mentioned. This is currently being balanced.
Formations - For the players that wanted to play the prestige class that uses formations, don't worry, formations are still in the game. They will not limit where players can go, but if players are in the right area, they will receive a buff of some type.
Naval Combat - Will not be a feature at release, but later, maybe...
Drunken Brawling - The devs really love this idea. Your stats are based on the cocktail of alcohol that your character imbibes. You fight until you are knocked out, then you sober up and need to start drinking again. And the visual effects while drunk... "We can do wonderful things with DX10."
If I can get some time to play again tomorrow, I'd like to try out the Bear Shaman or Barbarian or Assassin or Guardian - all the guys I fought against today. Wish me luck!
Gameplay - First, I will say that I do not come from a heavy FPS/PvP background, so anyone watching me probably thought I was a retarded gnat for the first few minutes. There is a learning curve to the controls, but there are a few ways to do the same thing. For example, you could hold the SHIFT button and W to run forward, or you could press and hold both the mouse buttons for the same effect. This made it a bit easier for me to do things comfortably with multiple controls for the same effect. We were doing a 2 vs 2 battlefield (designed for 6 on 6, so it felt big), and I played the Herald of Xotli. Transforming into a demon was cool, and he had lots of buff spells to reduce damage and to put on a flame shield that dealt damage to melee enemies. His swings seemed slower, though, so the Assassin usually got me before I got him. The Flamestrike combo had a nice animation though. I think if you take the time to learn the system (which might take me longer than some), the combat system can be a powerful tool. Skill will be a big factor in PvP in my opinion.
QUESTIONS
Real Sex In Game - "Cannot confirm or deny" due to different country ratings.
Female Characters - We will get to see them Sunday (and topless too)! As Athelan and other devs have said before, there are so many animations that it took a while to do, especially for all the battle animations. They want the females to look strong and sexy, but when they tried to make a burly, giantess-type, she turned out looking very manly. The goal to have them look like Valeria from the movie plus a little bit "wenchy."
PvP - "This is the epitome ... of wartorn Hyboria." Clan of Conan community members will get a sweet PvP item that gives a bonus to drunken brawling. (Better watch out, I'm a mean drunk!) PvP will be convenient, with a menu that you can access even when questing. So then you'll teleport to the battleground, hack some players out, then return to the zone you were in to resume your questing. Also sounded like you could do it solo or with your quest group together.
Mercenaries - "No merc guilds allowed at lauch" (Please don't shoot the messenger)
Leveling - Wanted it to be accessable to the casual gamer, so it will be relatively fast. Athelon said that getting to AoC lvl 80 = 9 days played, compared to the first time playing to WoW (no twink economy) lvl 60 = 15 days played.
Beta - Yes, there will be a open beta. No, they don't know when it is. Beta progression is in milestones. They have finished (I think) technical beta, and have moved to general/closed beta. As the stages progress, they will invite more players. The goal of beta testing for FC is to ensure the high quality of the game at launch. It is not a marketing tool.
Storyline - Single-player destiny storyline for all 80 levels, regional storylines, and NPC quest storylines (often related to regional storylines, but with "self-interest")
Voiceacting - More than 100 actors contributed to the voiceacting (more than for Dreamfall)
Magic in AoC - They want to keep it true to REH, but they felt it was necessary to keep magic animations "interesting rather than boring"
User Interface - Players will be able to reskin, resize, drag, etc. many parts of the game display (At least, I think that is what they said. When the acronyms start flying, I tend to lose stuff in the translation.)
Herald of Xotli - The demonform will be customizable with different heads, horns, tentacles, skins, colors, etc. to create a unique melee mage character.
Money Sinks - They weren't so sure on this point, everyone being more focused on gameplay right now, but consumables and player villages were mentioned. This is currently being balanced.
Formations - For the players that wanted to play the prestige class that uses formations, don't worry, formations are still in the game. They will not limit where players can go, but if players are in the right area, they will receive a buff of some type.
Naval Combat - Will not be a feature at release, but later, maybe...
Drunken Brawling - The devs really love this idea. Your stats are based on the cocktail of alcohol that your character imbibes. You fight until you are knocked out, then you sober up and need to start drinking again. And the visual effects while drunk... "We can do wonderful things with DX10."
If I can get some time to play again tomorrow, I'd like to try out the Bear Shaman or Barbarian or Assassin or Guardian - all the guys I fought against today. Wish me luck!
__________________
Scion of Set
Achiever 53.33%, Explorer 80.00%, Killer 33.33%, Socializer 60.00%
.........................................................................
Give the link to the original thread a read offers more insight!
Comments
Great new INFO. Games starting to sound more polished.
Nobody is forcing you to play it like a power gamer. Stop for a bit and craft, maybe role play, or take part in the many varieties of PvP. Go to a bar and do some Drunken Brawling. Craft some items for you and your guild, go adventure around the huge zones. Also, he was referring to PVE levels. Do not forget that there are also 20 PvP levels which are supposedly harder to gain than the PVE levels. This will add to the amount of time required to reach max level.
Personally, Id rather have faster PvE levels considering I find PvE on the boring side. No complaints in removing part of the grind. The PvP levels will be much harder to attain so Im happy with that
And nice touch on Herald of Xolti! Seems like Funcom is really getting their game together, nice report.
The landscape will be massive, you can adventure. The people that hit top level fastest, hit it, because they WANT TO HIT top level fast. Maybe they want bragging rights. I did that in WOW when Gorefiend opened up, I played nonstop for 3 days, because I didn't waht to /who and see anyone higher level then me, and I learned something.... THIS MADE THE GAME SUCK!!! I won't be doing that in AoC. I want to be the same level as my friends, and learn with them, and play as a team, explore new landscapes, Hell I MIGHT even roleplay. (ehhhh, maybe not the last one.)
I like how the devs in this game are really concentrating less on the achievement factor and more on the fun factor of the game, and thats where AoC gets my support. Its not fun to do an instance "just" for the drops, the devs seem to want you to sit back and enjoy the scenery, the atmosphere and to just get immersed in the world of Conan which gives them a big A+ from me.
I agree that this is more of an endgame MMO, however Funcom is smart and wants to make the ride there enjoyable, unlike DAOC which had a pretty nasty grind, in fact I never made it to 50 in DAOC (my highest character was like 47) due to the fact that I could not stand being in group day after day just to get half a bubble bar. Actually, I never complained about WoW's leveling speed, and if theres actually one thing I enjoyed about that game, its just that. I think the leveling speed in WoW is great cause it allows me to play multiple characters at high levels. Plus I would be able to get to endgame quick to PvP.
Okay, enough of buffing up AOC, i need to find something to complain about
I like how the devs in this game are really concentrating less on the achievement factor and more on the fun factor of the game, and thats where AoC gets my support. Its not fun to do an instance "just" for the drops, the devs seem to want you to sit back and enjoy the scenery, the atmosphere and to just get immersed in the world of Conan which gives them a big A+ from me.
I agree that this is more of an endgame MMO, however Funcom is smart and wants to make the ride there enjoyable, unlike DAOC which had a pretty nasty grind, in fact I never made it to 50 in DAOC (my highest character was like 47) due to the fact that I could not stand being in group day after day just to get half a bubble bar. Actually, I never complained about WoW's leveling speed, and if theres actually one thing I enjoyed about that game, its just that. I think the leveling speed in WoW is great cause it allows me to play multiple characters at high levels. Plus I would be able to get to endgame quick to PvP.
Okay, enough of buffing up AOC, i need to find something to complain about
I think that also what's got me so excited about AoC too.I spent a couple days grinding faction in WoW, and seriously wanted to chew on razors for it.
This is also probably why I'm replused by some of the stuff I'm reading about Warhammer. More filler, less fun. I'm all for content, but seriously please don't try to sell me on something as trival as a Tome of Knowledge, because its only a slightly more elaborate way of faction grinding.
Telling a good story is everything in my opinion:
"Storyline - Single-player destiny storyline for all 80 levels, regional storylines, and NPC quest storylines (often related to regional storylines, but with "self-interest")
Destiny Quests are sounding my favourite part of pve so far.
Sounds like lotro to me.
1) Siege
2) Drunken Brawling
3) Team Death Match
4) Capture The Flag
5) World PvP
6) Defend your PvE city
7) Craft
8) Role Play
9) Practice mounted combat
10) Practice spell weaving
11) Master your combos
12) Master formation
13) Fight over resources in the Border Kingdoms that do not involve having a keep
Just to name a few
1) Siege
2) Drunken Brawling
3) Team Death Match
4) Capture The Flag
5) World PvP
6) Defend your PvE city
7) Craft
8) Role Play
9) Practice mounted combat
10) Practice spell weaving
11) Master your combos
12) Master formation
13) Fight over resources in the Border Kingdoms that do not involve having a keep
Just to name a few
Whats sad is going down that list, every game has done this stuff already... well except drunken brawling, I guess thats the selling point.
1) Siege
2) Drunken Brawling
3) Team Death Match
4) Capture The Flag
5) World PvP
6) Defend your PvE city
7) Craft
8) Role Play
9) Practice mounted combat
10) Practice spell weaving
11) Master your combos
12) Master formation
13) Fight over resources in the Border Kingdoms that do not involve having a keep
Just to name a few
Whats sad is going down that list, every game has done this stuff already... well except drunken brawling, I guess thats the selling point.
That was a list of things to do.
Actually Spellweaving is new, as well as formation mounted combat in an mmorpg and also the type of combat it offers in an mmorpg.
The twist thats put forward is that these things amongst others havent been done in such away before
Imo havent been done as good or as well with whats been put forward here. Taking into account failed areas of previously done before and the scope of whats been offered now and with the way the whole thing looks and the environment it takes place in. Each class is very different and not the same old Orc, Dwarf etc seen before, notice how there aren't any creature comparisons floating around.
Ever seen a mounted Mammoth or War Rhino that looks the same before in an mmo?
Ever seen half the weapons/ armour and creatures seen before in an mmo?
No more targeting - in melee for eg., when you swing your weapon, you can hit many enemies in one blow if your close enough
The first mmo game to use DirectX 10 if you want it (supports Dx 9 too), also dedicated support for a 64-bit version of the client.
Ever seen a Conan Lore based MMO before??
Funcom also says:
The most detailed character creation system ever seen in an MMO. Alter the looks of your character down to one structure and aging of the skin.
Age of Conan is also the first MMO ever to feature a mature rating, which gives us the freedom to create truly brutal battles, and thus staying true to the Conan lore.
In ranged combat you will actually have to string your bow and aim manually from a first-person or over-the-shoulder viewpoint to strike your enemies. This is a first for any MMO.
Just to mention a few if you want selling points