Stats: I have no idea if my armor is doing anything, nor do I know what my DPS is before and after equipping all sorts of strength enhancing crap. Where are the detailed character stats? Its all good fun to play dress up in stuff I think looks good, but if I don't know what it DOES, its just that, dress up.
Please someone tell me the OP just didn't figure out how to tell or perhaps he was just drunk or something..... Cause if this is true then WHAT"S THE POINT!!!
While I agree that people who signed up yesterday and made 3 posts about how "AoC is teh big sux0r" are definitely not constructive, the OP in this case has written a very concise explanation as to why he doesn't like the game and why he wont be staying. The people in this thread who continually try to tell us that there is very little instancing and who continually try to convince us that the flaws that we see with our own eyes dont actually exist do nothing but make themselves look ignorant.
It may never have occurred to many of you "Fanboi's" that many of the people here, writing objective criticisms of the game (which takes time and thought) actually wanted to like AoC and are actually disappointed that its not for them for whatever reason. This is an open forum and believe it or not, there are people who do not think that AoC is the greatest thing since sliced bread.
They didnt come here to bash the game with stupid one line posts, so do them the courtesy of showing a little respect.
I'll be honest: I skipped the huge chunk of text at the top because it hurt my eyes to look at. 1) Could you explain "lack of useful item drops"? Are you saying you were wishing for magic item drops more often, or things like potions? I've heard many people who like that fewer enhanced items are dropping (pointing to a lack of dependence on magic items), while at the same saying so many standard items drop that their bags fill up too quickly (which is valid). 2) Pointing you to the exact spot for a quest is a... bad thing? 3) DPS works different in AoC than in a standard MMO, and including a "damage per second" stat in a game without autoattack would be very misleading. Since combos (of varying damage) make up a good percentage of the swings, I don't know how that would even be tracked. True DPS would depend more on skill than stats. 4) In most games I've played, people generally follow one path between destinations anyway, so even if the zones were completely linear (which I don't have enough personal experience to comment on), is it that big a deal? Well, if it is for you, then it is for you. We've all got varying degrees of preferences and priorities.
I can answer every single question ,because i am experienced in MANY games and seen many flaws over time.
1 yes useful item drops are what make playing/grinding a little more fun and takes away from ideas like a week of farming just to play your player.This was an extremely huge flaw in my fave game FFXI.Players had to spend countless days to farm enough just so that they could buy the arrows and food to play there ranger...ridiculousconcept for a game to do that.There is MANY reasons people play games and i'll bet farming for a week is not on ANYONE's list anywhere.
2YES a very big yes.It is like saying you are too stupid to figure anything out on your own,so we'll spoon feed you so that you don't have to find your own mouth.There was a very recent game that also did this,and this was EXACTLY what made me quit the game instantly.
3 i am glad you eluded to a point i always elude to..DPS or ANY stat for that matter can be manipulated and usually misleading.Stats should never be considered,true hard math facts yes,and that is of course you know the exact formula a game is using for certain criteria.
4 Yes people follow one path to a destination,but you missed the point all together.The op like myself wants other destinations to follow if he so chooses.He can't even get a quest in a said area unless he takes a warp out of town.I guess he is basically saying that he wants a world that feels alive and not a world that just feels like old days 20x20 grids that are all instanced.IMO this shows that the game engine has extreme flaws,i would expect alot of instances from a console game not a PC game.
The OP sounded like he gave a very believable and fair review.This person who responed as if in disbelief of the OP's review seems more like a PVP'r that cares nothing about the game,but only cares more about getting out there and killing someone.This is just one of the reasons i can't stand PVP,and in this game it's even more a joke because they chose to use very little code setting up a rule set,instead FFA for everyone lol.How simple is that to code into a game ..again lol.PVP belongs in first person shooters AKA unreal tournament/quake ect ect.
Never forget 3 mile Island and never trust a government official or company spokesman.
In VG though when you get to the top and see distant things you can go there!
Yeah and there's a lot to do there. Like take a screenshot of a boring place to post and jerk off over. "I found a house in teh middle of nowhere". Was there anything to do at the house? Hell I can find a house off in the distance in BF 1942. Guess that makes me a hardcore explorer.
What's better?...
1. Seeing a house in the distance you CAN go to if you want to?
OR
2. Seeing a house in the distance that you CANNOT go to even if you want to?
In short anyone that thinks that 2 is acceptable is clueless about what an MMO is all about.
What's better?... 1. Seeing a house in the distance you CAN go to if you want to? OR 2. Seeing a house in the distance that you CANNOT go to even if you want to?
In short anyone that thinks that 2 is acceptable is clueless about what an MMO is all about.
I'm getting the vibe that some people simply looked at the map, looked at the background, and concluded that the zones are massive without trying to explore.
Can someone also confirm that the zones are only capped to 48 players?
I disagree that it's linear. There's roads to take that provide the easiest path to your destination, but you can go off the beaten path and explore a bit. The topography does sort of limit how you can go from point a to point be, but to say you are going down a road all the time is false.
As a single player experience, conan I think is fun. Does it work as an mmo? I don't think anyone knows yet. Funcom should have encouraged grouping a bit more. I think WoW succeeded by having places like Wailing caverns and deadmines in the low levels for people to get their feet wet with grouping. Orgrimmar has an even lower level dungeon.
You don't really get that in AoC til late 30s. Imo there should have been something fairly soon after leaving tortage. It's also confusing when they have dungeons that can be solo'd. It's hard to tell the difference between one of these solo dungeons (with optional epic mode, which supposedly provides little benefit over doing it yourself) and these regular WoW style dungeons with elite trash and bosses.
Style wise the game is good. The combat is fun, if a little easy (as a caster anyway). But it does lack a certain polish and there's some poor design decisions.
Tortage is a great hook, but it's essentially a solo experience. After that, they should have coaxed players into grouping more and loot should have progressed better. I shouldn't have a level 10 green at level 40 because I haven't found anything better yet.
Another complaint is that there isn't a lot of zones. You have 3 20-38 zones for each region, which is pretty good as they are a pretty big size. However after you get to 40 you have the noble district and field of the dead. And your choices get smaller is you level up. This makes no sense.
I understand the game is far from finished, but this is pretty much what happens when you emphasize graphics over gameplay. You spend so much time trying to make your game look pretty that you end up making poor gameplay decisions.
For all you wow bashers who hate the kiddie graphics, it has an excellent art style and direction and their gameplay didn't suffer.
I will say that aoc's launch is smoother than blizzards. But the memory leaks and fps drops are extremely irritating. Just seems like this game is unforgiving to any computer more than a year and a half old (mine's 2 and a half with an upgraded video card. I expected 25-30 fps on low-medium settings and they drop pretty frequently in the big zones).
Originally posted by Anlar Another complaint is that there isn't a lot of zones. You have 3 20-38 zones for each region, which is pretty good as they are a pretty big size. However after you get to 40 you have the noble district and field of the dead. And your choices get smaller is you level up. This makes no sense.
I understand the game is far from finished, but this is pretty much what happens when you emphasize graphics over gameplay. You spend so much time trying to make your game look pretty that you end up making poor gameplay decisions.
For all you wow bashers who hate the kiddie graphics, it has an excellent art style and direction and their gameplay didn't suffer.
I will say that aoc's launch is smoother than blizzards. But the memory leaks and fps drops are extremely irritating. Just seems like this game is unforgiving to any computer more than a year and a half old (mine's 2 and a half with an upgraded video card. I expected 25-30 fps on low-medium settings and they drop pretty frequently in the big zones).
One thing that AoC fans always ignore is that console and single player games can afford to go for extreme graphics in order to "push the technology envelope" because the game is basically done when it's released. You play by yourself without worrying about other players clogging up your system and there's no pressure for the devs to push out further content for the game.
MMOs are completely different and sacrificing gameplay experience for a few more pixels and polygons is like digging your own grave.
I As a single player experience, conan I think is fun. Does it work as an mmo? I don't think anyone knows yet. Funcom should have encouraged grouping a bit more. I think WoW succeeded by having places like Wailing caverns and deadmines in the low levels for people to get their feet wet with grouping. Orgrimmar has an even lower level dungeon.
Sorry to butt in here but personally I think you got it wrong there. WoW is a single player game untill you reach the cap. Very little reason to group and no bonus to doing it. They should bring back Group bonuses to MMO's. I'm not suggesting that it shouldnt be possible to level solo but it should definately be an advantage to group.
From what I've heard so far AoC is looking like another of these Solo Centric MMORPG's.
Anyway apart from the block of text I actually found the OP review helpfull. Along with many other reviews and accounts of gameplay it will help me make up my mind about AoC.
Are all the zones really capped at 48 players? I thought that was just the resource zones?
It cant be 48 players, seen a lot more... 96 would be more believable, if your thinking of numbers from the sieges... 96 is just a guess, but it sure isn't 48.
Ok review, don't agree on everything, particulary the compass... Played EQ2 before and there most players downloaded an extra program or used map sites to find things. Being lost and wandering around could be intresting one time but get old quick. If you don't like the quest-compass, just turn it off.
Personally, I have mixed feeling about Tortage, on one hand is it fun with a bit of roleplaying but it get old fast. Either another starting area thats less linear or the possibility to skip lvl 20 after you done it once (but yull get crappier gear and no cash) would be nice.
I really havn't felt that the areas are too small, some of them are quite huge. I'l stick to the game for 3 months, after that we will see. There is a lot of things that needs fixing but there is also quite a lot things i like about it. The combat system that actually need watching (a certain friend of mine have the habit of wowing while watching tv, hell hate this game) and you cant just push yhe same buttons in the same order in every fight (yes, my EQ2 DPS swashie does that).
But taste differs, If you prefer wow, WAR will probably be more tempting. Tried it a bit, looks nice and is more traditional MMO than AoC.
I'm getting the vibe that some people simply looked at the map, looked at the background, and concluded that the zones are massive without trying to explore.
Can someone also confirm that the zones are only capped to 48 players?
yes it is confirmed. You can email AoC support and ask them this question if you wish. This is what they told me and a Developer of the official AoC forums stated the same as well.
People who have to create conspiracy and hate threads to further a cause lacks in intellectual comprehension of diversity.
Sorry to butt in here but personally I think you got it wrong there. WoW is a single player game untill you reach the cap. Very little reason to group and no bonus to doing it. They should bring back Group bonuses to MMO's. I'm not suggesting that it shouldnt be possible to level solo but it should definately be an advantage to group.
This is a matter of playstyle preferences. People who powerlevel to the cap sees very little reason to group. People who play the game for fun can take advantage of the lower lvl instances. One of the most fun and rewarding experience for me in WoW was 3 manning the entire SFK at lvl22 max with paladin/warlock/hunter. So to conclude WoW is a single player game until the cap is a bit misleading.
Enigma...I think we got your message from the 100s of posts you made (might be a slight exaggeration) with how much you don't like AoC. Stop trolling the forums, it makes you seem less credible. Vendayn I respond to people who make those who have different opinions as a flamer or a griefer or a lier. You're going to have to deal with it if you dont like that. If someone slams someone else for not liking the game (or liking the game) Im going to say something. Also, if you dont like what I have to say then don't read it. Its simple.
And my definition of a troll? Someone who makes 100s of posts every day with how much one doesn't like like it and how bad it is...I've seen two threads saying how much you dislike AoC and how you are going to quit...and many more posts. If you are going to quit, quit already...we got your message about how you dislike AoC. Also, a definition of a troll, Vendayn, is someone who exagerates the amount of posts one makes in a day and then come to conclusions that is not factual. If you look more into my posts (as you apparently have done) you will see I have helped technically with people who cannot get the game up and running). But then again, y ou wish to see only one side of it then so be it.
I did notice that you helped people get the game running, I should have mentioned that...and I apologize. And that goes for AoC AND games in general...no need to make 1000s of posts saying how much it sucks. Again..show me where I have made 1000 posts of saying how much games suck. Nice one, Vendayn Like I said, an exagerated number. I did notice like I said, that you do help. And one game can't please everyone, I do understand that...I apologize for flaming you, I'm just really tired and cranky right now...and I'm having to go to the hospital and I can't sleep for 24 hours, not really a good excuse...but, I'm just more cranky than usual...so, yeah...I do appreciate seeing both GOOD and BAD posts/threads...I have nothing against you or anything, I guess its the bad posts that stick out the most...and the good posts stick out less. Sorry for my previous post. Hope you can accept my apology.
Of course I can as long as you can accept my apology too
People who have to create conspiracy and hate threads to further a cause lacks in intellectual comprehension of diversity.
I As a single player experience, conan I think is fun. Does it work as an mmo? I don't think anyone knows yet. Funcom should have encouraged grouping a bit more. I think WoW succeeded by having places like Wailing caverns and deadmines in the low levels for people to get their feet wet with grouping. Orgrimmar has an even lower level dungeon.
Sorry to butt in here but personally I think you got it wrong there. WoW is a single player game untill you reach the cap. Very little reason to group and no bonus to doing it. They should bring back Group bonuses to MMO's. I'm not suggesting that it shouldnt be possible to level solo but it should definately be an advantage to group.
From what I've heard so far AoC is looking like another of these Solo Centric MMORPG's.
Anyway apart from the block of text I actually found the OP review helpfull. Along with many other reviews and accounts of gameplay it will help me make up my mind about AoC.
I agree that wow is very single player.
However, it did encourage players to group up and do these low level dungeons with some nice drops, good xp, and nice quest rewards. You have to learn how to group in order to succeed in endgame.
What AoC fails at is giving us these pseudo/solo dungeons. The acheronian ruins is ok to have as solo, but Sanctum of the Burning souls should not be the first bona fide dungeon. There should have been a dungeon for levels 23-27, one for 28-32, etc. These solo dungeons are no different than the regular quests. After sanctum of the burning souls, when's the next dungeon. I enjoyed doing that with a group, but what is there after that?
In a new mmo, people enjoyed running the instances the most. You had them to look forward to. In AoC it's not like that at all, which is a shame.
yeah now in WoW people just solo to 70 but it wasn't like that when it came out. On new servers, people try to find groups for Wailing caverns, deadmines, and ragefire all the time because the xp and quest rewards are so good.
I'm getting the vibe that some people simply looked at the map, looked at the background, and concluded that the zones are massive without trying to explore.
Can someone also confirm that the zones are only capped to 48 players?
yes it is confirmed. You can email AoC support and ask them this question if you wish. This is what they told me and a Developer of the official AoC forums stated the same as well.
Wow... if this is true then it is very disappointing.
Smart of Funcom to not publicly announce this or not correct people when they were claiming each zone can hold up to 100 though.
This will probably make #5 of Funcom box-sales milking strategy on my list (not saying it's a bad thing, because they are in this to make money after all).
Originally posted by Shard101 Questing: Terrible. Almost every quest you get shows you EXACTLY where to go on your map. If you are too lazy to even pull up the map screen, it even shows u a little arrow on your radar so you can follow that down the road. At some points I found I wasn't even watching the main screen but following the radar and using my peripheral vision to stay on the road. Kinda takes the "quest" out of the picture and turns it into more of an errand. Next, the quest rewards are stupid. Yeah you get XP but the items are mostly worthless, and the ones that are good, you can't even really measure since theres no way to check your stats(in a sec I'll explain.)
IMHO, this makes it the most "casual friendly" game to date - Even moreso than WoW.
Funcom saw what the 'problem' was that Thottbot and WoWhead solved for WoW players, and fixed it INSIDE the game. If you want "hard mode" go into your Interface Options and turn off your Minimap, since it holds no vital 'gamebreaking' functionality. Problem solved.
Stats: I have no idea if my armor is doing anything, nor do I know what my DPS is before and after equipping all sorts of strength enhancing crap. Where are the detailed character stats? Its all good fun to play dress up in stuff I think looks good, but if I don't know what it DOES, its just that, dress up. The problem here is that the game has been out a week, and you want hardcore theorycrafting - the detailed character and gear stats are sitting RIGHT THERE IN FRONT OF YOU. The Character Stats and what they do are in the Manual (RTFM, people), and EVERY piece of gear lists 1 or more stats, ranging from "+0.1 Defense" to "+5% Sprinting Speed", etc. You KNOW what it does - it says so 'right on the label'. The problem is that the theorycrafters have only had a week to gather empirical data to use to turn those numbers into hard values (a la WoW "Uncrushability") for the minmaxer/poopsocker crowd.
Gameplay/Environment: Ok so this is why I quit. Guild Wars on steroids. Thats all I can really say. Every single zone I found was so stupidly linear that I found myself forced to take the same paths probably 50 times a day. ITs not one big world, its a ton of little worlds that you can teleport in and out of, again, Guild Wars on steroids. The zones aren't even big enough to support the number of people in them so they are all instanced, there could be 300 people there, but you would never know it sine they are spread across X number of instances. That for me, takes the MM out of MMORPG. I disagree. Guild Wars had instances for your little group. Yes, Age of Conan does instance zones, but, unlike Guild Wars, if you don't group with anyone, it's not an entire zone that's locked to "Me, Myself and I". There are other players there, and if it feels 'empty' to you, you might try switching to a different instace - or rolling on a PvP server, where you might be THANKFUL that there isn't anyone else there.
People will tell you that it opens up after level 20. And I think most new MMOs are going to spoon-feed you the objectives for quests now; people just don't have time anymore. I expected combat to get boring for everyone, how long it takes however depends on the person. Good review, thanks for your opinion (I'll say it now before fanbois come in and say "WTF YOU NOOB you can't write a review you didn't get past 20!").
Actually it was a SHIT review in my opinion. Mentions that he got to level 20 and he felt the same. Didnt mention what level he got to or any so called zones. Try the zones from 55 - 70...
Its limited gameplay experience.. Where is the grouping, the city building .. large scale pvp, the names of the large zones later on...
Come on AA it was a review and a decent one. He even said its just HIS opinion. He also explained why he wasnt going to sit through another 30+ levels. Usually you have something good to add but you turned into one of the fanboys you always hated. Didnt take his opinion for what it was.
The fact is he doesnt like the instancing and being pointed to all his quest directives and thats what he didnt like. I dont see how that could be called a shit review. Other than talking down thoes 2 aspects (which I must admit are 2 of the same issues I have) he praised AOC.....alot.
We can always go back to the point that people are tired of the same old bs. AoC does feel diffrent in a good way but for the same reasons he pointed out are the same reasons alot wont like it or give it a chance past 20-25. Sorry you cant except that fact AA.
OP good review. A good review points out both things you dont like and do like dont listne to these people who cant understand that not everyone gets a hardon when they see the loading screen.
AoC is going to be as populated as Vanguard when WAR finally drops because any hardcore PvPer is not going to settle for only killing 48 people at a time whether it's in the instanced world or the lame ass guild siege PvP.
AoC is going to be as populated as Vanguard when WAR finally drops because any hardcore PvPer is not going to settle for only killing 48 people at a time whether it's in the instanced world or the lame ass guild siege PvP.
if this is true AOC is not an mmorpg. i was gonna try it, but now waiting till someone confirm this. because can't even read the official forums! what are funcom hiding?
AoC is going to be as populated as Vanguard when WAR finally drops because any hardcore PvPer is not going to settle for only killing 48 people at a time whether it's in the instanced world or the lame ass guild siege PvP.
AoC is going to be as populated as Vanguard when WAR finally drops because any hardcore PvPer is not going to settle for only killing 48 people at a time whether it's in the instanced world or the lame ass guild siege PvP.
Troll more please.
Not trolling. A couple of people in here said that the cap per instance was at 48 and not 100. I was already annoyed at the fact that it was 100...but 48? For christ sake, wtf is Funcom thinking? If that's true it's basically Guild Wars but with 47 strangers...and that's not a true MMO.
So YOU troll more.
-EDIT-
Oh and please keep your cockholster shut about me "trolling" when you aren't even playing the game yourself Mr. 1g RAM. You don't know the answer yourself so your response is just a troll in itself. So in conclusion...PISS OFF ARSE!
Geez, in my head I already picked my class, race, made a feat build, and watched countless videos of character creation, PvP, and PvE just to make sure that this game was as good as it seemed.
Before I read this thread, I was literally about to go out and order a gaming PC to upgrade the one I'm using now just to play this game.
I *HATED* Guild Wars, and based off of what you guys are saying- this really does seem to be very, very similar to it.. so this game is an obvious "AVOID" for me.
AoC is going to be as populated as Vanguard when WAR finally drops because any hardcore PvPer is not going to settle for only killing 48 people at a time whether it's in the instanced world or the lame ass guild siege PvP.
Troll more please.
Not trolling. A couple of people in here said that the cap per instance was at 48 and not 100. I was already annoyed at the fact that it was 100...but 48? For christ sake, wtf is Funcom thinking? If that's true it's basically Guild Wars but with 47 strangers...and that's not a true MMO.
So YOU troll more.
-EDIT-
Oh and please keep your cockholster shut about me "trolling" when you aren't even playing the game yourself Mr. 1g RAM. You don't know the answer yourself so your response is just a troll in itself. So in conclusion...PISS OFF ARSE!
Calling names now are we? Shows how much of a child you. 27 or not.
-EDIT- I take the words of a WAR Fanboy with a grain of salt. Continue insulting me with childish name calling, it shows your true colors.
Comments
Stats: I have no idea if my armor is doing anything, nor do I know what my DPS is before and after equipping all sorts of strength enhancing crap. Where are the detailed character stats? Its all good fun to play dress up in stuff I think looks good, but if I don't know what it DOES, its just that, dress up.
...................................................................................................................................................
Please someone tell me the OP just didn't figure out how to tell or perhaps he was just drunk or something..... Cause if this is true then WHAT"S THE POINT!!!
While I agree that people who signed up yesterday and made 3 posts about how "AoC is teh big sux0r" are definitely not constructive, the OP in this case has written a very concise explanation as to why he doesn't like the game and why he wont be staying. The people in this thread who continually try to tell us that there is very little instancing and who continually try to convince us that the flaws that we see with our own eyes dont actually exist do nothing but make themselves look ignorant.
It may never have occurred to many of you "Fanboi's" that many of the people here, writing objective criticisms of the game (which takes time and thought) actually wanted to like AoC and are actually disappointed that its not for them for whatever reason. This is an open forum and believe it or not, there are people who do not think that AoC is the greatest thing since sliced bread.
They didnt come here to bash the game with stupid one line posts, so do them the courtesy of showing a little respect.
S
1 yes useful item drops are what make playing/grinding a little more fun and takes away from ideas like a week of farming just to play your player.This was an extremely huge flaw in my fave game FFXI.Players had to spend countless days to farm enough just so that they could buy the arrows and food to play there ranger...ridiculousconcept for a game to do that.There is MANY reasons people play games and i'll bet farming for a week is not on ANYONE's list anywhere.
2YES a very big yes.It is like saying you are too stupid to figure anything out on your own,so we'll spoon feed you so that you don't have to find your own mouth.There was a very recent game that also did this,and this was EXACTLY what made me quit the game instantly.
3 i am glad you eluded to a point i always elude to..DPS or ANY stat for that matter can be manipulated and usually misleading.Stats should never be considered,true hard math facts yes,and that is of course you know the exact formula a game is using for certain criteria.
4 Yes people follow one path to a destination,but you missed the point all together.The op like myself wants other destinations to follow if he so chooses.He can't even get a quest in a said area unless he takes a warp out of town.I guess he is basically saying that he wants a world that feels alive and not a world that just feels like old days 20x20 grids that are all instanced.IMO this shows that the game engine has extreme flaws,i would expect alot of instances from a console game not a PC game.
The OP sounded like he gave a very believable and fair review.This person who responed as if in disbelief of the OP's review seems more like a PVP'r that cares nothing about the game,but only cares more about getting out there and killing someone.This is just one of the reasons i can't stand PVP,and in this game it's even more a joke because they chose to use very little code setting up a rule set,instead FFA for everyone lol.How simple is that to code into a game ..again lol.PVP belongs in first person shooters AKA unreal tournament/quake ect ect.
Never forget 3 mile Island and never trust a government official or company spokesman.
Yeah and there's a lot to do there. Like take a screenshot of a boring place to post and jerk off over. "I found a house in teh middle of nowhere". Was there anything to do at the house? Hell I can find a house off in the distance in BF 1942. Guess that makes me a hardcore explorer.
What's better?...
1. Seeing a house in the distance you CAN go to if you want to?
OR
2. Seeing a house in the distance that you CANNOT go to even if you want to?
In short anyone that thinks that 2 is acceptable is clueless about what an MMO is all about.
Take the Magic: The Gathering 'What Color Are You?' Quiz.
I'm getting the vibe that some people simply looked at the map, looked at the background, and concluded that the zones are massive without trying to explore.
Can someone also confirm that the zones are only capped to 48 players?
I disagree that it's linear. There's roads to take that provide the easiest path to your destination, but you can go off the beaten path and explore a bit. The topography does sort of limit how you can go from point a to point be, but to say you are going down a road all the time is false.
As a single player experience, conan I think is fun. Does it work as an mmo? I don't think anyone knows yet. Funcom should have encouraged grouping a bit more. I think WoW succeeded by having places like Wailing caverns and deadmines in the low levels for people to get their feet wet with grouping. Orgrimmar has an even lower level dungeon.
You don't really get that in AoC til late 30s. Imo there should have been something fairly soon after leaving tortage. It's also confusing when they have dungeons that can be solo'd. It's hard to tell the difference between one of these solo dungeons (with optional epic mode, which supposedly provides little benefit over doing it yourself) and these regular WoW style dungeons with elite trash and bosses.
Style wise the game is good. The combat is fun, if a little easy (as a caster anyway). But it does lack a certain polish and there's some poor design decisions.
Tortage is a great hook, but it's essentially a solo experience. After that, they should have coaxed players into grouping more and loot should have progressed better. I shouldn't have a level 10 green at level 40 because I haven't found anything better yet.
Another complaint is that there isn't a lot of zones. You have 3 20-38 zones for each region, which is pretty good as they are a pretty big size. However after you get to 40 you have the noble district and field of the dead. And your choices get smaller is you level up. This makes no sense.
I understand the game is far from finished, but this is pretty much what happens when you emphasize graphics over gameplay. You spend so much time trying to make your game look pretty that you end up making poor gameplay decisions.
For all you wow bashers who hate the kiddie graphics, it has an excellent art style and direction and their gameplay didn't suffer.
I will say that aoc's launch is smoother than blizzards. But the memory leaks and fps drops are extremely irritating. Just seems like this game is unforgiving to any computer more than a year and a half old (mine's 2 and a half with an upgraded video card. I expected 25-30 fps on low-medium settings and they drop pretty frequently in the big zones).
Are all the zones really capped at 48 players? I thought that was just the resource zones?
MMOs are completely different and sacrificing gameplay experience for a few more pixels and polygons is like digging your own grave.
I don't know, that's what I'm trying to ask because I always thought that zones are capped at 100 players.
From what I've heard so far AoC is looking like another of these Solo Centric MMORPG's.
Anyway apart from the block of text I actually found the OP review helpfull. Along with many other reviews and accounts of gameplay it will help me make up my mind about AoC.
Ok review, don't agree on everything, particulary the compass... Played EQ2 before and there most players downloaded an extra program or used map sites to find things. Being lost and wandering around could be intresting one time but get old quick. If you don't like the quest-compass, just turn it off.
Personally, I have mixed feeling about Tortage, on one hand is it fun with a bit of roleplaying but it get old fast. Either another starting area thats less linear or the possibility to skip lvl 20 after you done it once (but yull get crappier gear and no cash) would be nice.
I really havn't felt that the areas are too small, some of them are quite huge. I'l stick to the game for 3 months, after that we will see. There is a lot of things that needs fixing but there is also quite a lot things i like about it. The combat system that actually need watching (a certain friend of mine have the habit of wowing while watching tv, hell hate this game) and you cant just push yhe same buttons in the same order in every fight (yes, my EQ2 DPS swashie does that).
But taste differs, If you prefer wow, WAR will probably be more tempting. Tried it a bit, looks nice and is more traditional MMO than AoC.
its 48 per zone.
People who have to create conspiracy and hate threads to further a cause lacks in intellectual comprehension of diversity.
yes it is confirmed. You can email AoC support and ask them this question if you wish. This is what they told me and a Developer of the official AoC forums stated the same as well.
People who have to create conspiracy and hate threads to further a cause lacks in intellectual comprehension of diversity.
This is a matter of playstyle preferences. People who powerlevel to the cap sees very little reason to group. People who play the game for fun can take advantage of the lower lvl instances. One of the most fun and rewarding experience for me in WoW was 3 manning the entire SFK at lvl22 max with paladin/warlock/hunter. So to conclude WoW is a single player game until the cap is a bit misleading.
Of course I can as long as you can accept my apology too
People who have to create conspiracy and hate threads to further a cause lacks in intellectual comprehension of diversity.
From what I've heard so far AoC is looking like another of these Solo Centric MMORPG's.
Anyway apart from the block of text I actually found the OP review helpfull. Along with many other reviews and accounts of gameplay it will help me make up my mind about AoC.
I agree that wow is very single player.However, it did encourage players to group up and do these low level dungeons with some nice drops, good xp, and nice quest rewards. You have to learn how to group in order to succeed in endgame.
What AoC fails at is giving us these pseudo/solo dungeons. The acheronian ruins is ok to have as solo, but Sanctum of the Burning souls should not be the first bona fide dungeon. There should have been a dungeon for levels 23-27, one for 28-32, etc. These solo dungeons are no different than the regular quests. After sanctum of the burning souls, when's the next dungeon. I enjoyed doing that with a group, but what is there after that?
In a new mmo, people enjoyed running the instances the most. You had them to look forward to. In AoC it's not like that at all, which is a shame.
yeah now in WoW people just solo to 70 but it wasn't like that when it came out. On new servers, people try to find groups for Wailing caverns, deadmines, and ragefire all the time because the xp and quest rewards are so good.
yes it is confirmed. You can email AoC support and ask them this question if you wish. This is what they told me and a Developer of the official AoC forums stated the same as well.
Wow... if this is true then it is very disappointing.
Smart of Funcom to not publicly announce this or not correct people when they were claiming each zone can hold up to 100 though.
This will probably make #5 of Funcom box-sales milking strategy on my list (not saying it's a bad thing, because they are in this to make money after all).
Just my two cents.
Actually it was a SHIT review in my opinion. Mentions that he got to level 20 and he felt the same. Didnt mention what level he got to or any so called zones. Try the zones from 55 - 70...
Its limited gameplay experience.. Where is the grouping, the city building .. large scale pvp, the names of the large zones later on...
Come on AA it was a review and a decent one. He even said its just HIS opinion. He also explained why he wasnt going to sit through another 30+ levels. Usually you have something good to add but you turned into one of the fanboys you always hated. Didnt take his opinion for what it was.The fact is he doesnt like the instancing and being pointed to all his quest directives and thats what he didnt like. I dont see how that could be called a shit review. Other than talking down thoes 2 aspects (which I must admit are 2 of the same issues I have) he praised AOC.....alot.
We can always go back to the point that people are tired of the same old bs. AoC does feel diffrent in a good way but for the same reasons he pointed out are the same reasons alot wont like it or give it a chance past 20-25. Sorry you cant except that fact AA.
OP good review. A good review points out both things you dont like and do like dont listne to these people who cant understand that not everyone gets a hardon when they see the loading screen.
Wow....so each instance can only hold 48 players?
Wow...just....wow....
AoC is going to be as populated as Vanguard when WAR finally drops because any hardcore PvPer is not going to settle for only killing 48 people at a time whether it's in the instanced world or the lame ass guild siege PvP.
if this is true AOC is not an mmorpg. i was gonna try it, but now waiting till someone confirm this. because can't even read the official forums! what are funcom hiding?
Troll more please.
Troll more please.
Not trolling. A couple of people in here said that the cap per instance was at 48 and not 100. I was already annoyed at the fact that it was 100...but 48? For christ sake, wtf is Funcom thinking? If that's true it's basically Guild Wars but with 47 strangers...and that's not a true MMO.
So YOU troll more.
-EDIT-
Oh and please keep your cockholster shut about me "trolling" when you aren't even playing the game yourself Mr. 1g RAM. You don't know the answer yourself so your response is just a troll in itself. So in conclusion...PISS OFF ARSE!
Geez, in my head I already picked my class, race, made a feat build, and watched countless videos of character creation, PvP, and PvE just to make sure that this game was as good as it seemed.
Before I read this thread, I was literally about to go out and order a gaming PC to upgrade the one I'm using now just to play this game.
I *HATED* Guild Wars, and based off of what you guys are saying- this really does seem to be very, very similar to it.. so this game is an obvious "AVOID" for me.
What a shame.
Troll more please.
Not trolling. A couple of people in here said that the cap per instance was at 48 and not 100. I was already annoyed at the fact that it was 100...but 48? For christ sake, wtf is Funcom thinking? If that's true it's basically Guild Wars but with 47 strangers...and that's not a true MMO.
So YOU troll more.
-EDIT-
Oh and please keep your cockholster shut about me "trolling" when you aren't even playing the game yourself Mr. 1g RAM. You don't know the answer yourself so your response is just a troll in itself. So in conclusion...PISS OFF ARSE!
Calling names now are we? Shows how much of a child you. 27 or not.
-EDIT- I take the words of a WAR Fanboy with a grain of salt. Continue insulting me with childish name calling, it shows your true colors.