Go back to your old school Final Fantasy and enjoy your Asian like grind...for me, I wish to lop off heads, spear my opponents and hammer smash their skulls into pulp...so much fun! By Mitra!
Don't ditch something that you know nothing about. Let me remind you Final Fantasy XI has the subscription level rank 2nd right after WoW in the western market, rank 3rd if you count Runescape.
It is one of very few MMORPG still rank way up there without trying to copy or follow WoW foot step. It's still has the old school quest system where you have to actually go and talk to people and think about your quest instead of following the "yellow exclamation mark" . It has the in game movie cut scene system which despite being release for so long still light year ahead of what you have in AoC. Its job system is still what I consider the best in a class based game. Its renkei system is still the most complex and well designed way to create coordinated strikes in a party. Its crafting system is still one of the most rewarding crafting system in any MMORPG today. Majority of high-end equipments are from crafting and not boss drop.
Let me tell you it has so many things done right that despite being describe as "grindy" it is still one of the most successful MMORPG out there right now. If you look at its growth chart, you can see WoW release and expansion release has virtually no impact on its population while other MMORPG makers cry their eyes out losing players to WoW. After 6 years in the market with all WoW, LOTRO, EQ2,... release its can till keep the sub level at 500k without any big drop.
If in 6 years, AoC could still hanging at about half of that, the designer at Funcom would have cry their eyes out too.
Comments
Don't ditch something that you know nothing about. Let me remind you Final Fantasy XI has the subscription level rank 2nd right after WoW in the western market, rank 3rd if you count Runescape.
It is one of very few MMORPG still rank way up there without trying to copy or follow WoW foot step. It's still has the old school quest system where you have to actually go and talk to people and think about your quest instead of following the "yellow exclamation mark" . It has the in game movie cut scene system which despite being release for so long still light year ahead of what you have in AoC. Its job system is still what I consider the best in a class based game. Its renkei system is still the most complex and well designed way to create coordinated strikes in a party. Its crafting system is still one of the most rewarding crafting system in any MMORPG today. Majority of high-end equipments are from crafting and not boss drop.
Let me tell you it has so many things done right that despite being describe as "grindy" it is still one of the most successful MMORPG out there right now. If you look at its growth chart, you can see WoW release and expansion release has virtually no impact on its population while other MMORPG makers cry their eyes out losing players to WoW. After 6 years in the market with all WoW, LOTRO, EQ2,... release its can till keep the sub level at 500k without any big drop.
If in 6 years, AoC could still hanging at about half of that, the designer at Funcom would have cry their eyes out too.