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So - invisible walls; what is the final determination?
markyturnip
Member UncommonPosts: 837
I see two basic versions of this:
a) Invisible walls were a beta testing tool, and will not be in for release. The devs wanted an exploration friendly game and will deliver one.
b) Invisible walls were a necessary evil to allow the good graphics to run on low-end systems, and will remain - meaning the zones are all effectively very small, and further restricted by vast amounts of mobs blocking your every move. Exploration is limited, GW style.
Which is the more accurate position?
Thanks.
Comments
I follow the maxim of "If someone makes a claim it's thier job to prove it by providing evidence, rather than my responsibility to disprove it". As of yet I've not seen anything to prove the "OMG itz GuildWarz!!!!" theory, so I'll just have to wait like everyone else until release to come to a conclusion.
"Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience"
CS Lewis
If they haven't confirmed it either way, then we'll have to wait till NDA comes down (or release) before we'll know the answer.
"True friends stab you in the front." | Oscar Wilde
"I need to finish" - Christian Wolff: The Accountant
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"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
I've played some recent RPG's where the graphics are great, but small zones, so this has me very very worried........ All because everyone neads great graphics
What's the matter with just great content, I like to turn my computer off and say " man that was fun "
There will be an open beta, with some way of verifying age (or at least attempt to). At that point everyone will have a pretty good picture on how the game plays and if they like the concept or not. Before that, and it's just trash talk about work in progress.
The NDA is not there to protect a bad game but to protect work in progress and ideas leaking to other games (especially other games with tons more resources). Bashing an unfinished product is the easiest thing in the world, but also most unfair. It's like bashing a car engine before it receives any optimisation. Of course it will suck. Testing the optimised engine however and finding issues with it is another ball game.
If you're unsure about this game and whether you like the concept, don't pre-order. Pre-orders are for those that are certain and for those who can afford and don't mind experimenting. Once in a while I will buy a game I won't like, it happened and it'll happen, it's not the end of the world.
We're about a month from being able to see for ourselves. No need to believe second hand opinions, when we can have first hand knowledge.
It's only linear in the solo player experience, not the mmo part. It's not that bad really. People posting garbage have no taste about gaming imo. Look at thier post history as well, it is all crap, never ever once have they made serious articulated positive post. They will slander everything till the day they die.
Do you have any idea if the Open Beta will work with invites or will anyone 18 years or older be able to simply register and download the Client?
From Funcom AoC forums:
Pharamond
We are planning to have an open beta for the game as we get closer to launch, however, it will be through specific partners and require an application/registration process, much like most of the other betas for most other games.
We will be limiting the number of keys we release to a manageable number at any given time, rather than subjecting people to queues and loading screens and so on. By "a manageable number," we mean tens of thousands, not just a handful.
We’re also ramping up some of our tech test betas, and, of course, we’ll be doing key giveaways, inviting forum veterans, and inviting more people to the current, closed stage of beta as we ramp up for launch.
So, yes, there will be a wider-scale open beta, but it will require an application/registration process and won’t be as simple as “press button, get key,” which is what we wanted to say.
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Buy the game and find out for yourself, simple
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Thank you! That's all the information I wanted. But I'm still not getting my hopes up too high. It said "tens of thousands" so me, who is always unlucky, might miss the boat on this one. Even though I'm 22, got a nice rig and live in Europe. Maybe I should start praying!
What strikes me is I have seen both versions of the invisible wall saga expressed with absolute certainty. I mean, total, utter conviction that both version a and version b are correct.
Perhaps there is an element of taste as to what constitutes an open world, but this does not make sense. Someone is not telling the truth. Either there will be invisible walls all over the place, or there will not.
The difference is clear. GW is a game with walls. Wow is a game without (and yes, you may say mountains between zones constitute walls, but the overwhelming feel is of open gameplay). And DDO was a game with effectively no open world at all, save a city which led to various instance entrances - but which was still pretty entertaining for a while.
I am not sure why this is such a great secret to be honest. Will it be invisibly walled or not? Simple question, I would have thought it would have a simple answer.
I think you're confusing invisible walls with natural world borders.
Look at my post history for the answer you need
It is hard to put finger on it. Speculating as we all are.
But i seen people write how AOC uses "pathing" to make zones appear larger.
If i understand it corectly , it is something like NWN2 or GW2
NWN2 for example - NWN2 maps are very small due to code limitations. If player would run straight from point A to point B , he would do it in 20 seconds. But NWN2 (original campaign) uses clever pathing. Lot of obstacles , and yes even some invisible walls , prevent you from walking straight. You are forced into snakelike paths. And the maps now take up to 2-3 minutes to cross instead 20 seconds.
Same technique is used by GW
Judging from all the talk on this forum, i suspect AOC is using very same technique to make maps appear larger.
Also keep in mind that starting zones are generally smaller walled in areas then the rest of the game. Most naysayers are not testers that have played through hours of content but have perhaps taken a small look and decide to proclaim it as fact because it causes board gossip and panic.
Truth be told, the zone issue is far less pressing for me. While it would be nice to have the sense that you can traverse a vast seamless land, I can understand that there are technological limitations to that in every mmo... they just use different tools to disguise the fact, some more effectively than others. All I hope is that AoC does something to allow me to suspend disbelief, and pretend I actually am crossing a vast land.
The invisible walls issue is more pressing, however, as it affects core gameplay, including open world FFA PVP. I am convinced that there will be great demand for open PVP by the Conan playerbase, and with WAR heading our way, its success may well the determining factor in the long-term success of this game.
Bah... either way I will try AoC. Am just yakking because I am tired of the wait.
But one can always hope that if a community expresses itself forcefully enough in favour of no invisible walls, Funcom might wrack its brains to see if it can mitigate the issue.
a conan universe would have worked better in a sandbox mmo.
well, i guess conan is pretty linear minded.
Conan: To crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentation of the women.
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USER WAS BANNED FOR THIS POST
Age of Conan will not be a game for people that score high on "Exploration" in the Bartle test.
I'll keep it at that, as I'm not sure if I'm allowed to say more. I haven't signed any NDA myself, but perhaps second-hand information is frowned upon on this forum as well.
So heartbreaking. It really is so so heartbreaking. But what can ya do...
So heartbreaking. It really is so so heartbreaking. But what can ya do...
Well, like many have said, the only way to really find out is to try the game yourself. There could be a lot of stuff compensating for the lack of free-roaming...the lack of free-roaming might have even been adressed somewhat.
So heartbreaking. It really is so so heartbreaking. But what can ya do...
Well, like many have said, the only way to really find out is to try the game yourself. There could be a lot of stuff compensating for the lack of free-roaming...the lack of free-roaming might have even been adressed somewhat.
Indeed, and I shall, and I hope so.
I'm sure we've all played the telephone game in grade school. What exactly did that little exercise teach us?
I'm sure we've all played the telephone game in grade school. What exactly did that little exercise teach us?
True, true. Like I said, I'm really going to try this game out myself. But, by now it is safe to say the game is not for people who like to explore vast, seamless worlds.
aoc.wikia.com/wiki/Game_World
Is the game world seamless or is it based on zones?
It is based on zones, but these zones can be quite big in size – often up to several kilometers in both length and width. We're using zones because we want to create such a detailed world that it would be technologically unfeasible to do it seamlessly. This, however, will in no way detract from the feeling of being in a massive, persistent game world. Age of Conan is, after all, an MMO.
Invisible walls may be immersion spoilers in PvE but killers in PVP. Zoning and invisibility across zoneboarders are just a few of the problems that may occur.
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And when we got more women on the team, it was like No, no, no. We need puppies and horses in there.
John Smedley, SOE
Afetr watching some of the more "linear zone" videos on youtube, I'm not that worried about this anymore. Likely the only inv walls will be zone borders and in citys. I think the more linear (smaller zones) will be about the size of felwood in WoW.