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Down to 12 classes
Paragus1
Member UncommonPosts: 1,741
http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/21015
Breaking News: Age of Conan Officially Down to Twelve Classes
Posted January 18th, 2008 by Micajah
Discarded Classes Merged into Existing Classes
According to the fine folks at Funcom, the official class list for their upcoming MMORPG, Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures has been reduced to twelve from the previous fourteen classes. The Scion of Set and the Lich are no longer going to be included in the class list, but their abilities are going to be integrated throughout the existing classes already in the game. As of yet, we don't have all the details, so stay tuned for more on this breaking news.
Comments
I was having a hard time choosing a class. They made that a bit easier for me I guess.
Clicky
Yeah, it's been shown in a lot of recent interviews as well as in gaming magazines. Funcom never confirmed or denied it until now. The official page still shows them as selectable classes though.
GG Funcom for actually having detailed class overviews for these two just a few months ago...
After recent rumors this isn't all that much of a surprise really, just a re-confirmation. I'm still sad this had to happen, as I know a lot of people in the community were planning or being either/or of these two classes. I for one was planning on playing a Lich, as I thought the "fusing" or "transforming" whatever you want to call it was interesting. Looking forward to seeing how they spread these abilities, but still kinda disappointed they had to cut two classes. All this makes me think is that they don't want to push back beta yet another time and chose to cut content instead
/
My 2c on what this really means . . .
Funcom is running out of development and testing (HA!) time as the 3/25 release date rockets towards them.
The solution?
Start nuking features.
Seen this before in games that eventually launch badly.
I think I will wait 6 to 8 weeks for the price on this to drop to $30 or so.
Should only take about that long.
And then, will only buy if the people-on-the-street reviews are moderately good.
We shall see.
Thanks for the info!
I dont know if this is good or bad, but, one think comes in to my mind... how many things do they have modified and we dont know? perhaps the games is totally finish and waiting to give a "boom" ?
Finished? No.
Boom? You bet.
Just not the sort you would like.
If this is something that's been in the works for quite some time, then no big deal. But if this decision is recent, I don't see how they could add the skills from these classes to others and properly balance and test everything before March.
Oh well, I'm still playing, since I hadn't decided on what class I wanted yet.
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"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
A few months ago?
You mean 1 year for Scion of Set and 11 months for Lich? I guess if that's how you define a few...
/shrug
I think the bottom line for it meant that Funcom deduced that they were not fun to play, and merging some of those skills with other classes made them worthwile and enjoyable. In the end that's a good thing, but when you remember they originally had 26 classes, you realize how ambitious that really was...and how impossible it would be!
This is a clear sign that they want to finish the game and need to get it out, even if it means cutting features. Thankfully, these two classes are a wise thing to cut, since they are not exactly core elements of the game. If something like sieges was cut from release, then there would be a problem.
Still, this is not encouraging, despite the spin anyone might want to put on it. The fact is, they wanted to make these classes. They put the time in to thinking of them, developing them, and balancing them (presumably). They would not have released public information if they did not want them in or considered them to be sketchy.
They were cut because there is not enough time to finish them. plain and simple. This is exactly what Vanguard did with the Berserker and Inquisitor - they wanted to make them, but just never got to it.
Still, this is not a sign AoC will be at all like Vanguard, and I think it will be a decent game, for sure. However, I cannot help but chuckle when I read fanboys spinning this as a good sign or anything but the fact that Funcom is running out of time and/or money and needs to get the thing out the door.
So long as this is all that is cut, cool. In fact, cutting things you know are not ready for launch is a wise decision, even if the fact the cut had to be made is disappointing. The real concern is leaving unfinished game systems in, which I hope Funcom avoids.
I'm not saying that you are wrong, but it is quite possible that this decision was made quite some time ago due to the fact that the classes were not unique enough to warrant staying in the game.
I'm not saying that you are wrong, but it is quite possible that this decision was made quite some time ago due to the fact that the classes were not unique enough to warrant staying in the game.
True enough, but rumours were abound regarding the Inquisitor and Berserker, too, and we know those were definitely cut due to time. I do not disagree that this is not a last-minute decision, but I also still feel it is one based on time and/or money, not on gameplay. I doubt the motivating factor was solely, "Look, fellas, these two classes just are not cutting it and, for the health fo the game, need to go."
I think it was more like, "We have this much time left to finish and balance the game, and these two classes are the ones furthest from completion - let's cut them." Similar to Sigil, and standard practise in all MMORPGs, it seems, Funcom likely developed classes in some sort of order, not all at once. These two classes got left back until a time came when they had to be cut.
Of course that is just speculation, but I think it is probable speculation.
Why waste even 30$ on something that clearly is crap? I don't see the logic.
"Yeah I got this rotten turnip here. Yesterday it sold for 1000$, but today I only want 500$". Why buy it? It's still just a rotten turnip just like AoC will still be a crappy game - according to you.
You've been telling over several months how bad this game is going to be while at the same time proclaiming you will buy it. It just doesn't make any sense. Just move on instead.
If a class is lacking in distinguishing features that will help distinguish its role and skill set from other classes, then removing them could be justified. A lot of people bitch about EQ2 because the game has 24 or so classes and many of them are very similar. If unviable classes remain in the game, it can lead to balancing problems down the road. Other classes with viable roles might find themselves getting unjustly nerfed in order to try to bring power to a class that has a role that is too loosely defined.
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You're probably right in your reasoning Sornin although it really does make me cringe when you make those comparisons to Vanguard's launch. Perhaps we could look further back and compare Funcom with Funcom and Anarchy Online?
I still have hope that Funcom are going to launch with a playable and fun game which, let's face it, Sigil could not. It's also my belief that Funcom are a lot more professional and have a lot more experience than Sigil ever had. I think your comparisons there are a little unfair. Oh and I hope you're wrong!
The most likely scenario is that they realized they didn't want to have to make a janitor class in an expansion release, so they are holding back some of the classes already mostly developed.
Not all who wander are lost...
To the people saying that if it lacked diversity than it should have been cut, I agree with that. What I don't agree with is that the Lich was selected on the main forums by more people than the Herald of Xotli, so if one had to go, then it should have been the Herald, not the Lich.
That's exactly what I was thinking. I was surprised to see the Lich go and the Herald stay, but we don;t know too much about the Herald yet I guess.
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I don't think they cut for time issues as much as game play issues. I'm not saying everything is peachy and they aren't pressed for time.. just that on this decision; some of the classes had redundancy imo.
Then why did the remove the one that the official forum polls show to be more popular, and keep the less popular Herald? If they are almost the same style, you get rid of the less popular one and merge some of its skills and abilities with the more popular one. That would have been the more intelligent move at least.
They combined the two classes since they are so similar. So one could guess that you could specialize down the lich or demon side of things or combo. As for the scion of set, don't know why they cut that one. I would love to see the assassin pick up more of the healing from the scion side of things. I like playing the rogue/healer class myself.
A rogue with healing abilities . *shiver*
Let's hope the devs give the SoS' poison abilities to the rogue and leave the healing to the priests. In fact it was my interpretation that the SoS and the Priest of Mitra where suppose to be the “main healers” with the Druid and Shamie being secondary healers. Hopefully everyone’s heals will be bumped up so that the entire AoC population isn’t spamming /LF PoM ONLY
A few months ago?
You mean 1 year for Scion of Set and 11 months for Lich? I guess if that's how you define a few...
/shrug
Well, I remember them updating them or something not too long ago. They were in the news section here on MMORPG.COM way way WAY less than a year ago.I think the bottom line for it meant that Funcom deduced that they were not fun to play, and merging some of those skills with other classes made them worthwile and enjoyable. In the end that's a good thing, but when you remember they originally had 26 classes, you realize how ambitious that really was...and how impossible it would be!
Cutting content is never a good sign....I'm still going to give the game a shot though because I think it deserves it.
Am i being a tard cus i don't see this as a bad thing? (it's rhetorical don't bother answering).
I frankly think it’s good that they made the tough decision to do this. It means they’re willing to make the tough calls to make sure the game plays well. Now we have 3 specialties per archetype each with a unique set of powers. Of course the timing could have been a little better I’ll grant everyone that – I’m kinda surprised that they didn’t come to this conclusion earlier. But none the less, by stripping these two classes out they even up all the archetypes and set themselves up for a future release with ‘new’ classes.
Hell, everything they do before release is OK by me as long as it improves the game. Let the speculation on why and how and when and whatever run rampant but the bottom line is Funcom did what they thought was in the best interest of their customers.