Many Questions

Milky

I can't register for the offical AoC forums for some reason, do I have to be accepted to beta to post there?

Anyway I have a large number of questions about this game if anyone could help me without breaking any NDA of course.  I understand I have a lot of questions and some probably can't be answered at this time.

Are there any other non-combat activitys besides crafting and harvesting, and building a guildhall?  VG had a good idea with a diplomacy system but it was executed horribly.  I am afraid I would become bored quickly if there are not "other" things to do.  Killing mobs and other players over and over again, crafting items, and harvesting, are standard fare for any MMORPG these days.  Will we see non-combat activities and somthing new to the table?  I know citybuilding is a feature, but it still revolves around combat (defending your city or guildhall buildings) and harvesting/crafting which all has been done before.



How social is the game?  Are there many social emotes that promote player interactivty?  Are there social hubs, and  non combat professions/classes/skills to play with that isnt just crafting related?  I also want to know if player interactivyt, cooperation and teamwork are going to be required.

Will there be indivdual player housing?

How deep is the character customization?  I have read that we will have many choices on character creation with tons of sliders and ways we can change and manipulate character appearance, age, hair, tattoos, scars, ect.  I'm very skeptical coming from VG about this. VG promised the same thing and did not deliver.  They in fact are continually taking away customization, not increasing it.  Also when I mean customization I don't mean just body tweaks.  What about clothing/armor appearance customization?  Will there be a huge variety of clothing/armor options to choose from or are we going to see the same robe model reused over and over like EQ2?  Will there also be more than 2 pieces of social clothing or any social clothing at all?  Also what are the age ranges on the sliders?  Will we be able to create a character as young as a teenager and as old as a senile old fart?  Will we be able to have a variety of characters the likes of Atreyu in the Never ending story to old and decrepit dying Kings?

Sexuality.  I have to bring this up.  I do not intend for a flamewar over this I know many people, especially in the U.S. are very sensitive to this.  Which to me is ironic since violence is so widely accepted in games.  If you can't take it then don't read further.  Sexuality is part of the lore and world of Conan.  Get over it already.  Personally speaking I find it interesting how sexuality will be incorporated into the game.  I know they have said they won't put anything in so graphic that they would need to change the rating to AO.  However, I have heard that sexuality plays a part in the story driven parts of the game?  Will there be cases where sex is implied like in God of War?  Will I be able to play a topless female character?  Will sexuality have some kind of role in combat skills or player abilities?  Will sexuality play a role in player interaction?  WIll there be in game social systems for things like marriage which are more common among asian MMORPGS?   



Will there be some sort of political or diplomatic system involved with the game?

Will there be any player created content in the game?

TurnX

Originally posted by Milky


I can't register for the offical AoC forums for some reason, do I have to be accepted to beta to post there?

Anyway I have a large number of questions about this game if anyone could help me without breaking any NDA of course.  I understand I have a lot of questions and some probably can't be answered at this time.
Are there any other non-combat activitys besides crafting and harvesting, and building a guildhall?  VG had a good idea with a diplomacy system but it was executed horribly.  I am afraid I would become bored quickly if there are not "other" things to do.  Killing mobs and other players over and over again, crafting items, and harvesting, are standard fare for any MMORPG these days.  Will we see non-combat activities and somthing new to the table?  I know citybuilding is a feature, but it still revolves around combat (defending your city or guildhall buildings) and harvesting/crafting which all has been done before.
 

- As far as the information they have released so far everything is combat based. Honestly it makes the most sense lore wise, you really don't hear about guys in robes running around trying to convince each other with their words, its all done with a swing of the sword.



How social is the game?  Are there many social emotes that promote player interactivty?  Are there social hubs, and  non combat professions/classes/skills to play with that isnt just crafting related?  I also want to know if player interactivyt, cooperation and teamwork are going to be required.
 
- The game appears very social. In one of the videos posted just yesterday we got a small look at the list of emotes in the game, and its a huge list. I personally never play around with emotes but from my experience its one of the biggest emotes lists I have seen. Players seem to interact like any other MMO, there are large cities where people will gather to sell and buy things, accept quests, etc. There are also bars where people can hang out, which leads into the drunken bar brawl mini-game.
Will there be indivdual player housing?
 
- At release no there won't be. I believe they have said that its on the chopping block for a future patch, but I think it depended on what the users wanted.
How deep is the character customization?  I have read that we will have many choices on character creation with tons of sliders and ways we can change and manipulate character appearance, age, hair, tattoos, scars, ect.  I'm very skeptical coming from VG about this. VG promised the same thing and did not deliver.  They in fact are continually taking away customization, not increasing it.  Also when I mean customization I don't mean just body tweaks.  What about clothing/armor appearance customization?  Will there be a huge variety of clothing/armor options to choose from or are we going to see the same robe model reused over and over like EQ2?  Will there also be more than 2 pieces of social clothing or any social clothing at all?  Also what are the age ranges on the sliders?  Will we be able to create a character as young as a teenager and as old as a senile old fart?  Will we be able to have a variety of characters the likes of Atreyu in the Never ending story to old and decrepit dying Kings?
 
- From what I have seen, through the limited videos on the subject, character customization seems to be pretty involved. It seems like you'll be able to customize everything, taking what Vanguard did and making it better.
Sexuality.  I have to bring this up.  I do not intend for a flamewar over this I know many people, especially in the U.S. are very sensitive to this.  Which to me is ironic since violence is so widely accepted in games.  If you can't take it then don't read further.  Sexuality is part of the lore and world of Conan.  Get over it already.  Personally speaking I find it interesting how sexuality will be incorporated into the game.  I know they have said they won't put anything in so graphic that they would need to change the rating to AO.  However, I have heard that sexuality plays a part in the story driven parts of the game?  Will there be cases where sex is implied like in God of War?  Will I be able to play a topless female character?  Will sexuality have some kind of role in combat skills or player abilities?  Will sexuality play a role in player interaction?  WIll there be in game social systems for things like marriage which are more common among asian MMORPGS?   
 

- There was some talk a long time about about a possible sex buff, but they took that out. Howver I do believe its still on the table for a future patch. I doubt you will be able to play a topless female character, however it looks like females will be scantaly clad.



Will there be some sort of political or diplomatic system involved with the game?
 
- They haven't said anything about one, and since the game is just under 1 month shy of release, I don't think there will be.
Will there be any player created content in the game?
 
- Well the guild Battlekeeps are player made, and since each one is different that may be what your looking for.
 
- It seems to me like you are looking for a very RP oriented game. While AoC will cater to those who wise to RP, it is not exactly going to be full on RP ala LOTRO. Granted there will be many things that will allow a RPer to get fully imersed into the game, keep in mind that the majority of players, and thus the game itself, doesn't neccessarily cater to it.

 

ProfRed

Char customization is really deep.  It looks a lot like Oblivion in that you can edit most of the facial structure from something like cheek bone to how broken your nose is.

 

Xasapis

These weeks they were reconstructing the forums to accommodate the new testers & normal player crowd. I guess you got caught in the transition phase as far as forums are concerned.

The main focus is the struggle between the players, I'm not aware of non-combat activities in the same sense that Vanguard is using the Diplomacy. Unless we can consider drunken brawl a non-combat activity hehe. The other strong point of the game is the storytelling, through quests.

All PvP oriented games are social (or anti-social, depending on how you see things) by nature. You will need others, not to survive from the world, but to survive from the random player. There is a rather big list of active emotes (with character animation) to play around. I'm not aware of non-combat professions that are not crafting related. Cooperation & teamwork is game enhancing but is not enforced, in other words, you don't have to group to experience the game. However, that means that you miss some pretty cool aspects of it.

Guild made cities and Keeps are among the features expected for release. Individual player housing is not.

Character customization it top notch. Maybe a bit over the top with all the sliders changing facial and body aspects, adding scars, freckles, tattoos, moles etc. Only gripe is that you need the max quality textures to understand how much detail was put on the character customization system. Medium and lower textures are blurring the characteristics. You can't make fat characters but you can make heavy ones.

There is no sex buff (should be a sex debuff actually). Some quests take note of your sex and some NPCs alter their reaction according to it, or you can alter the response according to your sex. You can play a topless female, nipples and all. Bottom part is covered with a string, so no total nudity, would probably get rated AO with that. No idea about a marriage system.

There will be tons of politics and drama deriving from PvP and Keep (castle) sieging, keeping, revenge taken vs guilds that attacked at the siege date, backstabbing between guild members, spying of opposing guilds etc. Politics usually play a major role in these kind of games. No Vanguard-like diplomacy professions though that I'm aware of.

Battlekeeps are basically cities in the border kingdom with various structures having different uses and 2 layers of outside walls protecting them. Players with the architect profession will be able to craft buildings and probably give the blueprints to other players interested in erecting buildings themselves. There are also different profession for other stuff (crafted gear are supposed to be the best PvP ones), but the whole crafting system is supposed to be easy to use.

I expect plenty of RP events etc, this is after all the game that was made by the AO guys. How much the in-game system will promote PR however is something that remains to be seen when the game goes retail.

Elsabolts

Depending on the question you ask my experiance has been being threatend by dev's or gm's a warnning and post removal. Be very careful of what you ask.

Xasapis

Here is a glass of water. It is filled to 50% capacity.

Some will say that it's half full.
Some will say that it's half empty.

Those who are thirsty will drink it.
Those who are not will pass.

No game is made to accommodate everyone's tastes and desires.

ProfRed

Here is a char customization video to check out -

Milky

While the first half of the character customization question i posed has been answered wonderfully, I am equally curious about the second half of it, clothing/armor appearance choices and the amount/variety or lack of amount/variety that will be available in the game at launch.  Can anyone expand?  Will we see a large variety of styles and choices, or will we see the one robe wonder that gets reused 100 times?

Joshyray

Does it really matter if you cant change your clothes every ten secs? I dont remeber wondering if the ninja turtles could wear something on there backs besides shells? its funny everytime I play shinning force, no matter how hard I try I cant get the main guy to look like me....... /sigh, might as well stop playing a game I love becouse I cant customize it the way I want. When did gamers get so damn picky? My advice to anyone who it bothers that much. Go get the funding and make your own game.

singsofdeath

Originally posted by Milky


While the first half of the character customization question i posed has been answered wonderfully, I am equally curious about the second half of it, clothing/armor appearance choices and the amount/variety or lack of amount/variety that will be available in the game at launch.  Can anyone expand?  Will we see a large variety of styles and choices, or will we see the one robe wonder that gets reused 100 times?

It has been stated that at launch there will be roughly 1500 sets of Armor/Clothing in the game. That means -sets- not individual items. YOu can freely combine between the sets of course (depending on what class and armor you try).

 

So there, hope that answers that. XD

Milky

Originally posted by singsofdeath


 
Originally posted by Milky


While the first half of the character customization question i posed has been answered wonderfully, I am equally curious about the second half of it, clothing/armor appearance choices and the amount/variety or lack of amount/variety that will be available in the game at launch.  Can anyone expand?  Will we see a large variety of styles and choices, or will we see the one robe wonder that gets reused 100 times?

It has been stated that at launch there will be roughly 1500 sets of Armor/Clothing in the game. That means -sets- not individual items. YOu can freely combine between the sets of course (depending on what class and armor you try).

 

 

So there, hope that answers that. XD

Will these 1500 sets use the same clothing/armor model 100 times simply recolored or retextured?  Or are these 1500 unique sets?

singsofdeath

Originally posted by Milky

Originally posted by singsofdeath


 
Originally posted by Milky


While the first half of the character customization question i posed has been answered wonderfully, I am equally curious about the second half of it, clothing/armor appearance choices and the amount/variety or lack of amount/variety that will be available in the game at launch.  Can anyone expand?  Will we see a large variety of styles and choices, or will we see the one robe wonder that gets reused 100 times?

It has been stated that at launch there will be roughly 1500 sets of Armor/Clothing in the game. That means -sets- not individual items. YOu can freely combine between the sets of course (depending on what class and armor you try).

 

 

So there, hope that answers that. XD

Will these 1500 sets use the same clothing/armor model 100 times simply recolored or retextured?  Or are these 1500 unique sets?

Obviously, I can't tell you that for certain. However, there was a video where you saw a huge selection of these Sets demonstrated and they did look quite different from each other.

 

That said, I am almost certain there will be some sets that look similar to each other, or have just alternate colors/textures.  But as I said, I do not know.

forty4plus2

Does anyone know if there is a place to type in your characters biography (like in EQ2) for Role Playing purposes?