i agree with his post i been looking forward to aoc for so long .now that i can play. just cant be botherd . this is the one thing i hated about hellgate . being in instance with 30 people sucks what happends if you have 30 players in a guild all wanting to meet up . cant do it unless you go to you city plot . im giveing this game till the end of the month by then need to release some thing else . at moment all i do is grind gather quest . bringing the wow in to it . i can do all that on wow and more . as much as i hate wow now . i feel that the only game that is going to give choice in things to do . have i got to now wait months for war . begining to think the people who make these games dont play much . i rather have open space than full on grathics . nice grathic wont keep this game going it the content sucks how many of you are playing less now than when you first got the game i can play for more that 4 hrs now with out wanting to take a break
AoC instances contain alot more then 30 players, how well your computer handles this is another issue though.
From what i hear it sounds like alot of people can't have fun unless several hundred other people are force to be in the same instance with them. Weither this is so the player can show his great wit with world chat Chuck Norris jokes or simply to show off their gear while dancing AFK on top of a mail box. (All things that make WoW GREAT!)
Ok so some might want to Zerg, Its the "you can't take the castle without another hundred people behind you," mentallity This is especially true for the Mages that love to run ahead and be front line troops (after all someones gotta res and heal their sorry butts)
Me I'm having fun. Not having any real trouble getting a group together, and when we are we see several other groups running around the area as well, so its not like the worlds empty or its hard to group. I'd go as far to say though that I think many (not all) complaining about not having more people forced to instance with them are the ones with no guild or friends in game that think more players will equal more people wanting to group with them. this is somewhat true, but overall if you know how to play your class and you help others with their quests as well yours you will be wanted in groups. On the other hand every game has their share of unwanteds though no matter how many people are forced in the insatnce. You know the type, healers that refuse to heal, mages that run ahead getting agro because they have a group to heal/rez them, players that join a group to get their quest done and will do everything in thier power to get it done before others in the group, and when they do they up and leave, without doing anything to help others get the quest finished. etc etc etc.
Well, I can't speak for the original poster but the shine is off for me. I like the game. The graphics are ok, the combat system is fun, the crafting aspects suck, and the instancing doesn't really bother me. I am a PVE player. Never cared for PVP. Don't care if I kill you or you kill me. But I just find the game boring. It's fun for an hour, maybe two then I"m off to play something else. I'll keep my subscription going until I go a week without loggin in then I'll cancel it.
i agree with his post i been looking forward to aoc for so long .now that i can play. just cant be botherd . this is the one thing i hated about hellgate . being in instance with 30 people sucks what happends if you have 30 players in a guild all wanting to meet up . cant do it unless you go to you city plot . im giveing this game till the end of the month by then need to release some thing else . at moment all i do is grind gather quest . bringing the wow in to it . i can do all that on wow and more . as much as i hate wow now . i feel that the only game that is going to give choice in things to do . have i got to now wait months for war . begining to think the people who make these games dont play much . i rather have open space than full on grathics . nice grathic wont keep this game going it the content sucks how many of you are playing less now than when you first got the game i cant play for more that 4 hrs now with out wanting to take a break
Failure. I group constantly, and don't have an issue with not being able to find other members in my zone. We also have had a guild meeting...no problems at all.
You can right-click anyone in your group and summon them to your instance. But most of the time that's not even needed, since when you enter a zone, you are placed in the same instance as your group members.
Now, I find it Ironic that this post, bitching about zone replication, is on the same page as a post bitching about performance.
No zone duplication would = slideshow for all.
Dynamic content loading?? Go in-game and turn your distance sliders all the way down. Now run around a bit. Notice the chop? This is your machine struggling to load things as they come into view. The graphics of AoC are simply too intensive to dynamically load everything.
people will argue that other games can do it...but none of those games have the advanced graphics of AoC. No, not even LoTRO.
Now, you can deal with the replicating zones, or go play a game with simplified graphics that allow seamless worlds. But really, creating thread after thread bitching about instancing when half of you don't even know how it works accomplishes nothing but making you sound like a whiney child who wants things "my way NOW".
Not only do none of the other current MMOs have the kind of graphics that AoC has, but none of them have the massive amounts of players per server that everyone seems to think they have. In WoW, the limit per server is not thousands, but HUNDREDS. And instead of instancing, what does WoW do? They don't let you log in, and have you wait in a queue for however long it takes until a slot frees up on the server. Would you rather be in the game playing with others (though not 100+ per zone), or would you rather sit at the login screen looking at your place in line?
I'm curious to know what kind of server numbers and overall population numbers AoC has, because even with their instancing available, they needed to open 9 new servers in the first week to accomodate players. Is it the "WoW killer"? No, it's not. And why not? Because it's not anything like WoW, and many of the kids who play it aren't going to like AoC. And they're not going to be happy until they find WoW2. Sure, some of the adults who played that game might come over to AoC in favor of its gameplay an community. And some of the "harcore" PvP players might come to AoC for a new place to "gank some newbs".
But people have too many misconceptions about this game (apparently they can't or won't read about it), and serious misconceptions about MMO's, game design, and playing video games in general.
Some people are so caught up believing that AOC would be the WOW killer it has blinded them to the hard facts and truth about this game.
I will go back on my origional statement about AOC, being that i was in closed beta. FC dropped the ball big time when they decided to go for high tech graphics and instanced zones.
Let's get real, the game is margional at best and they bet the house with blood, tits and ass. These things get old real fast if there's not alot of substance to go along with it.
I like many want to become immersed in the game world, be it Hyboria or whatever. Not have to share a loaded zone with a few from that server at any given time.
If they would have made AOC a seemless world with medium grade graphics, it could have possibly been the WOW killer so many were looking for. As it stands now, the game will be just another run of the mill mmo that had a great IP, that was given to a dev company that made a wrong decision.
Honestly ... The instancing thing doesn't break the game.
You can join up with your guild or random pugs in the same instance with one click ("Summon to Instance"). Furthermore, it avoids the problems associated with tons of people standing in one area, giving all but the best of computers a serious lag headache.
Not perfect ... but definitely doesn't take as much away from this beautiful game as the OP might lead you to believe.
------ Played - UO, FFXI, WAR, WoW, EVE Currently - Bored.
i have to agree with the OP. the instancing turned me off from buying this game. obviously it seems to be doing very well and many people dont seem to mind it but i prefer an mmo that causes people through design to run into each other. i always considered an MMO, at its core, a game that through mechanics brings players together, not forces them together but brings them together.
I need at least one more thing to do in a MMORPG other than combat, and that one thing (also) has to be done very well. And I just don't see AoC having anything else whatsoever - except perhaps eye candy. Which doesn't count for much in my book.
But I'm failing to understand the level of hostility over instancing alone. It's certainly not a desirable feature, but if I thought there really was a game under AoC's hood I'd probably put up with it.
I do not understand what you are talking about. I am not that big on my computer knowledge. It is not a big deal when i play i see other players around me and if i feel like grouping ill just ask them. Maybe it is not everyone who is playing the game but who cares. The loading screens are not that big of a deal just calm down.
this time I will not adress the main topic since I just find it as a matter of taste for each game.. play something you like instead of whining about it..
another thing which has been commented here was a guy said people with low postings is trolls and have low credability...
I mostly agree with that because in most case too much postings makes you sound like you have a serious problem... on the other hand to few or 3 postings sounds like you just got your main account banned or deleted for bad postings or just creates new accounts just to troll so the amount of postings is really relevant for the credability of a person.
At first the zoning issue was a huge thing for me too, coming from LOTRO where it was just one world with everyone in it. Now I'm used to it though and it isn't that big a deal. You can still talk to everyone on the server via chat, and when looking for a group it quickly becomes second nature to switch to their instance. The crappy part is zoning onto a spawn point and having to run to your goal (possibly for the second time, if you requested the group once you got there.)
Let me preface this review by stating the following:
1. I was really looking forward to Age of Conan
2. I am desperate to find a "WoW" killer
3. I have been to a certain degree a fanboi of this release
4. I was not in any BETA but did launch with EA
5. I have leveled two characters to level 44 and 35 so I have not maxed
That being said I am sad to say that the more I play this game, the more I am let down and disappointed by some of the core mechanics of this game and am not sure this is really even an MMO (at least not in the typical MMO vein).
The Review
First the good:
Environment - The games "setting" and "environment" is about spot on to what I would consider my "ideal" environment. The mature rating allows for a more adult oriented game, some violence and gore and some sick animations. 9/10
Combat - Probably the best aspect of the game, grinding is still grinding but the "no auto attack" combat certainly keeps you interested and the aforementioned animations are very well done. 9/10
Graphics - I guess this is a love it or hate it aspect of the game, some will say they are dull, but I believe that was a design decision to go with the realistic environment. I personally like the graphics and they are a 180 from the crayon colored cartoon grahics from World of Warcraft. 8/10
Character Creation - AoC comes in second (albeit a distant second) to the character creation system of City of Heroes/Villains. I like the options that are available and coming from AC/AC2 and Wow this is a nice feature. 7/10
Now the Bad:
Now with all the nice things said above, one might wonder how just one negative aspect of a game can take this game down so far in this reviewers opinion. But the one problem I have with this game is a big one and not one that can be fixed with a patch as it was a core design decision.
And that is...
AoC uses a "guild wars" type of instancing system... so much so that one can argue that this game is not in fact a true MMO. So you have picked a server that say supports 2-3000 players (estimated). Now unlike WoW or CoH/V or most MMOs if 1000 players go to any one city you are all not in fact in that city together, you are in one of upwards of 15-20 "instances" of that city or quest area even though you are all on the same server.
What this means is that you are really only playing with 5-10% of the actual server at any one time. This obviously completely ruins PvP. Want to get revenge for a gank? Too Bad! The ganker can switch instances and you are left with A) doing nothing or spending the next 30 minutes instance hopping just hoping to catch the offender.
This is completely unacceptable and it baffles me why this decision was made. Performance? Perhaps in 1998, but in 2008 this could not have been a performance issue when all other mainstream MMOs can and do handle > 2500 players per server without this type and level of server instancing.
This decision is very disappointing and really limits the appeal of the game to many who are used to playing with more than a handful of players.
There are other small quibbles (stats make no sense, armor does not seem varied enough, et al) but all of these are fixable. The instancing decisions are core to the game and for many will ruin the experience and any longevity.
If you like Guild Wars then I can completely recommend this game. It has a lot of nice features even some level of innovation, but if you are looking for or are used to a game where all players of a server are available to you, then this game falls woefully short.
3 posts = your credibility is -1 ,now go reroll another account here and post the same whine again mr. no life kid.
i agree with his post i been looking forward to aoc for so long .now that i can play. just cant be botherd . this is the one thing i hated about hellgate . being in instance with 30 people sucks what happends if you have 30 players in a guild all wanting to meet up . cant do it unless you go to you city plot . im giveing this game till the end of the month by then need to release some thing else . at moment all i do is grind gather quest . bringing the wow in to it . i can do all that on wow and more . as much as i hate wow now . i feel that the only game that is going to give choice in things to do . have i got to now wait months for war . begining to think the people who make these games dont play much . i rather have open space than full on grathics . nice grathic wont keep this game going it the content sucks how many of you are playing less now than when you first got the game i cant play for more that 4 hrs now with out wanting to take a break
Failure. I group constantly, and don't have an issue with not being able to find other members in my zone. We also have had a guild meeting...no problems at all.
You can right-click anyone in your group and summon them to your instance. But most of the time that's not even needed, since when you enter a zone, you are placed in the same instance as your group members.
Now, I find it Ironic that this post, bitching about zone replication, is on the same page as a post bitching about performance.
No zone duplication would = slideshow for all.
Dynamic content loading?? Go in-game and turn your distance sliders all the way down. Now run around a bit. Notice the chop? This is your machine struggling to load things as they come into view. The graphics of AoC are simply too intensive to dynamically load everything.
people will argue that other games can do it...but none of those games have the advanced graphics of AoC. No, not even LoTRO.
Now, you can deal with the replicating zones, or go play a game with simplified graphics that allow seamless worlds. But really, creating thread after thread bitching about instancing when half of you don't even know how it works accomplishes nothing but making you sound like a whiney child who wants things "my way NOW".
you seem a bit angry homeboy. so many of your posts are filled with adolescent angst. take a chill pill or go smoke a joint or something. OP was not whining but stating his feeling of the game mechanics. its a public forum....thats why they were created in case you forgot.
if enough people voice their displeasure with a particular aspect of the game maybe future developer decisions will reflect popular preference. if not then things will go on as they have. the diologue is healthy and appropriate. if you have a problem with others disagreeing with you preferences (apparently we are all stupid as you tone suggests your advanced gaming knowledge is so far greater than us little people) maybe you need to stop whining about how their opinions dont matter.
LOTRO's graphics are pretty damn nice too. I wonder why they can pull of a seamless world but AoC can't .
Yeah I was thinking that too. I think because Funcom's graphics engine isn't new, it's an upgraded one which they used in AO a long time ago. Probably not as optimized and streamlined as LoTRO's, thus the old geezer has a new skin but it'll take some time before Funcom can start making the game less instanced. As long as people keep presenting it as a flaw though, they'll work on it. So to all the people complaining about the complainers, stop complaining.
-------------------------------------- A human and an Elf get captured by Skaven. The rat-men are getting ready to shoot the first hostage with Dwarf-made guns when he yells, "Earthquake!" The naturally nervous Skaven run and hide from the imaginary threat. He escapes. The Skaven regroup and bring out the Elf. Being very smart, the Elf has figured out what to do. When the Skaven get ready to shoot, the Elf, in order to scare them, yells, "Fire!"
I also agree with the OP, and I don't understand why his post, which praised the game quite highly, enticed all the fanbois out of their holes.
I honestly hate the way mmorpgs are going with all this heavy instancing, it's simply not necessary. But I guess it's more economic to do it. Personally I would rather see way smaller caps on population per server, and just more of them..of course, this wouldn't work with AoC anyway, because the world is far too small and linear, you would have to have a cap of 600-800 people I reckon (yep, it's that small).
Something else I don't understand, why are people saying 'loading screens aren't so bad' ? When did the OP even mention this was a problem? He said the instancing was a big issue for him, nothing about the amount of zoning/loading screens, that's a totally seperate issue..To be honest, the zones don't bother me at all, they are fairly large areas (most of them) and loading screens don't take too long to be annoying.
Besides it being released prematurely and "unfinished" I believe AoC is the way it is (talking about the core game) because it is being ported to X-Box 360.
The most important aspect of MMO design is providing an illusion for players.
Even if your world is NOT seamless, it is critical that you give players the ILLUSION of a seamless world. As long as it feels seamless, it doesn't matter if it's not.
Same goes for just about everything. If you were to post in the patch notes that "Class X" now gains 2% more damage with melee attacks, but in reality you DO NOT change it, you will STILL get complaints from people claiming the difference is clear, and the class is too powerful now.
A lot of MMO design is in your mind. If everyone feels like they are the most powerful class, you have a winning balance.
Let me preface this review by stating the following:
1. I was really looking forward to Age of Conan
2. I am desperate to find a "WoW" killer
3. I have been to a certain degree a fanboi of this release
4. I was not in any BETA but did launch with EA
5. I have leveled two characters to level 44 and 35 so I have not maxed
That being said I am sad to say that the more I play this game, the more I am let down and disappointed by some of the core mechanics of this game and am not sure this is really even an MMO (at least not in the typical MMO vein).
The Review
First the good:
Environment - The games "setting" and "environment" is about spot on to what I would consider my "ideal" environment. The mature rating allows for a more adult oriented game, some violence and gore and some sick animations. 9/10
Combat - Probably the best aspect of the game, grinding is still grinding but the "no auto attack" combat certainly keeps you interested and the aforementioned animations are very well done. 9/10
Graphics - I guess this is a love it or hate it aspect of the game, some will say they are dull, but I believe that was a design decision to go with the realistic environment. I personally like the graphics and they are a 180 from the crayon colored cartoon grahics from World of Warcraft. 8/10
Character Creation - AoC comes in second (albeit a distant second) to the character creation system of City of Heroes/Villains. I like the options that are available and coming from AC/AC2 and Wow this is a nice feature. 7/10
Now the Bad:
Now with all the nice things said above, one might wonder how just one negative aspect of a game can take this game down so far in this reviewers opinion. But the one problem I have with this game is a big one and not one that can be fixed with a patch as it was a core design decision.
And that is...
AoC uses a "guild wars" type of instancing system... so much so that one can argue that this game is not in fact a true MMO. So you have picked a server that say supports 2-3000 players (estimated). Now unlike WoW or CoH/V or most MMOs if 1000 players go to any one city you are all not in fact in that city together, you are in one of upwards of 15-20 "instances" of that city or quest area even though you are all on the same server.
What this means is that you are really only playing with 5-10% of the actual server at any one time. This obviously completely ruins PvP. Want to get revenge for a gank? Too Bad! The ganker can switch instances and you are left with A) doing nothing or spending the next 30 minutes instance hopping just hoping to catch the offender.
This is completely unacceptable and it baffles me why this decision was made. Performance? Perhaps in 1998, but in 2008 this could not have been a performance issue when all other mainstream MMOs can and do handle > 2500 players per server without this type and level of server instancing.
This decision is very disappointing and really limits the appeal of the game to many who are used to playing with more than a handful of players.
There are other small quibbles (stats make no sense, armor does not seem varied enough, et al) but all of these are fixable. The instancing decisions are core to the game and for many will ruin the experience and any longevity.
If you like Guild Wars then I can completely recommend this game. It has a lot of nice features even some level of innovation, but if you are looking for or are used to a game where all players of a server are available to you, then this game falls woefully short.
3 posts = your credibility is -1 ,now go reroll another account here and post the same whine again mr. no life kid.
Yes, just 3 posts.....it totally destroys all their credibility:
In some elaborate rouse, he/she joined in 2004, just to come back in 2008 and post a review about how he/she doesn't like age of conan
OR
Maybe, just maybe, her/his posts got wiped a few days ago like mine....crazy isn't it?
And I bet he/she is just boggled with a comback to "Mr. No LIfe Kid"....of course my instinctive comeback would be to call you a major douchebag.
I mostly agree with this OP except the instancing is NOT the same as guildwars, i do think its bad but its not the same as guildwars its the same as eq 2.
I think pherhaps you haven't played guildwars much.
Comments
From what i hear it sounds like alot of people can't have fun unless several hundred other people are force to be in the same instance with them. Weither this is so the player can show his great wit with world chat Chuck Norris jokes or simply to show off their gear while dancing AFK on top of a mail box. (All things that make WoW GREAT!)
Ok so some might want to Zerg, Its the "you can't take the castle without another hundred people behind you," mentallity This is especially true for the Mages that love to run ahead and be front line troops (after all someones gotta res and heal their sorry butts)
Me I'm having fun. Not having any real trouble getting a group together, and when we are we see several other groups running around the area as well, so its not like the worlds empty or its hard to group. I'd go as far to say though that I think many (not all) complaining about not having more people forced to instance with them are the ones with no guild or friends in game that think more players will equal more people wanting to group with them. this is somewhat true, but overall if you know how to play your class and you help others with their quests as well yours you will be wanted in groups. On the other hand every game has their share of unwanteds though no matter how many people are forced in the insatnce. You know the type, healers that refuse to heal, mages that run ahead getting agro because they have a group to heal/rez them, players that join a group to get their quest done and will do everything in thier power to get it done before others in the group, and when they do they up and leave, without doing anything to help others get the quest finished. etc etc etc.
Well, I can't speak for the original poster but the shine is off for me. I like the game. The graphics are ok, the combat system is fun, the crafting aspects suck, and the instancing doesn't really bother me. I am a PVE player. Never cared for PVP. Don't care if I kill you or you kill me. But I just find the game boring. It's fun for an hour, maybe two then I"m off to play something else. I'll keep my subscription going until I go a week without loggin in then I'll cancel it.
You can right-click anyone in your group and summon them to your instance. But most of the time that's not even needed, since when you enter a zone, you are placed in the same instance as your group members.
Now, I find it Ironic that this post, bitching about zone replication, is on the same page as a post bitching about performance.
No zone duplication would = slideshow for all.
Dynamic content loading?? Go in-game and turn your distance sliders all the way down. Now run around a bit. Notice the chop? This is your machine struggling to load things as they come into view. The graphics of AoC are simply too intensive to dynamically load everything.
people will argue that other games can do it...but none of those games have the advanced graphics of AoC. No, not even LoTRO.
Now, you can deal with the replicating zones, or go play a game with simplified graphics that allow seamless worlds. But really, creating thread after thread bitching about instancing when half of you don't even know how it works accomplishes nothing but making you sound like a whiney child who wants things "my way NOW".
Not only do none of the other current MMOs have the kind of graphics that AoC has, but none of them have the massive amounts of players per server that everyone seems to think they have. In WoW, the limit per server is not thousands, but HUNDREDS. And instead of instancing, what does WoW do? They don't let you log in, and have you wait in a queue for however long it takes until a slot frees up on the server. Would you rather be in the game playing with others (though not 100+ per zone), or would you rather sit at the login screen looking at your place in line?
I'm curious to know what kind of server numbers and overall population numbers AoC has, because even with their instancing available, they needed to open 9 new servers in the first week to accomodate players. Is it the "WoW killer"? No, it's not. And why not? Because it's not anything like WoW, and many of the kids who play it aren't going to like AoC. And they're not going to be happy until they find WoW2. Sure, some of the adults who played that game might come over to AoC in favor of its gameplay an community. And some of the "harcore" PvP players might come to AoC for a new place to "gank some newbs".
But people have too many misconceptions about this game (apparently they can't or won't read about it), and serious misconceptions about MMO's, game design, and playing video games in general.
Some people are so caught up believing that AOC would be the WOW killer it has blinded them to the hard facts and truth about this game.
I will go back on my origional statement about AOC, being that i was in closed beta. FC dropped the ball big time when they decided to go for high tech graphics and instanced zones.
Let's get real, the game is margional at best and they bet the house with blood, tits and ass. These things get old real fast if there's not alot of substance to go along with it.
I like many want to become immersed in the game world, be it Hyboria or whatever. Not have to share a loaded zone with a few from that server at any given time.
If they would have made AOC a seemless world with medium grade graphics, it could have possibly been the WOW killer so many were looking for. As it stands now, the game will be just another run of the mill mmo that had a great IP, that was given to a dev company that made a wrong decision.
it will be cool when the game is finished and is released properly.. might be waiting a while.
Take a gander at when his account was made. He's been here a lot longer than you have.
Just cause we don't troll the forums doesn't mean we can't contribute our experiences with AoC.
I hardly have any posts yet I've faithfully read MMORPG for a few years, back before the hordes of people started registering.
Take a gander at when his account was made. He's been here a lot longer than you have.
Just cause we don't troll the forums doesn't mean we can't contribute our experiences with AoC.
I hardly have any posts yet I've faithfully read MMORPG for a few years, back before the hordes of people started registering.
nah, our opinions don't matter because we didn't level our post count enough.
Take a gander at when his account was made. He's been here a lot longer than you have.
Just cause we don't troll the forums doesn't mean we can't contribute our experiences with AoC.
I hardly have any posts yet I've faithfully read MMORPG for a few years, back before the hordes of people started registering.
nah, our opinions don't matter because we didn't level our post count enough.
It's called grinding, snap to it!
Always change your signature.
Honestly ... The instancing thing doesn't break the game.
You can join up with your guild or random pugs in the same instance with one click ("Summon to Instance"). Furthermore, it avoids the problems associated with tons of people standing in one area, giving all but the best of computers a serious lag headache.
Not perfect ... but definitely doesn't take as much away from this beautiful game as the OP might lead you to believe.
------
Played - UO, FFXI, WAR, WoW, EVE
Currently - Bored.
i have to agree with the OP. the instancing turned me off from buying this game. obviously it seems to be doing very well and many people dont seem to mind it but i prefer an mmo that causes people through design to run into each other. i always considered an MMO, at its core, a game that through mechanics brings players together, not forces them together but brings them together.
I need at least one more thing to do in a MMORPG other than combat, and that one thing (also) has to be done very well. And I just don't see AoC having anything else whatsoever - except perhaps eye candy. Which doesn't count for much in my book.
But I'm failing to understand the level of hostility over instancing alone. It's certainly not a desirable feature, but if I thought there really was a game under AoC's hood I'd probably put up with it.
I do not understand what you are talking about. I am not that big on my computer knowledge. It is not a big deal when i play i see other players around me and if i feel like grouping ill just ask them. Maybe it is not everyone who is playing the game but who cares. The loading screens are not that big of a deal just calm down.
this time I will not adress the main topic since I just find it as a matter of taste for each game.. play something you like instead of whining about it..
another thing which has been commented here was a guy said people with low postings is trolls and have low credability...
I mostly agree with that because in most case too much postings makes you sound like you have a serious problem... on the other hand to few or 3 postings sounds like you just got your main account banned or deleted for bad postings or just creates new accounts just to troll so the amount of postings is really relevant for the credability of a person.
At first the zoning issue was a huge thing for me too, coming from LOTRO where it was just one world with everyone in it. Now I'm used to it though and it isn't that big a deal. You can still talk to everyone on the server via chat, and when looking for a group it quickly becomes second nature to switch to their instance. The crappy part is zoning onto a spawn point and having to run to your goal (possibly for the second time, if you requested the group once you got there.)
3 posts = your credibility is -1 ,now go reroll another account here and post the same whine again mr. no life kid.
7/13/04 - Chargerrich's Join Date
7/5/07 - Your Join Date
STOP WHINING!
Failure. I group constantly, and don't have an issue with not being able to find other members in my zone. We also have had a guild meeting...no problems at all.You can right-click anyone in your group and summon them to your instance. But most of the time that's not even needed, since when you enter a zone, you are placed in the same instance as your group members.
Now, I find it Ironic that this post, bitching about zone replication, is on the same page as a post bitching about performance.
No zone duplication would = slideshow for all.
Dynamic content loading?? Go in-game and turn your distance sliders all the way down. Now run around a bit. Notice the chop? This is your machine struggling to load things as they come into view. The graphics of AoC are simply too intensive to dynamically load everything.
people will argue that other games can do it...but none of those games have the advanced graphics of AoC. No, not even LoTRO.
Now, you can deal with the replicating zones, or go play a game with simplified graphics that allow seamless worlds. But really, creating thread after thread bitching about instancing when half of you don't even know how it works accomplishes nothing but making you sound like a whiney child who wants things "my way NOW".
you seem a bit angry homeboy. so many of your posts are filled with adolescent angst. take a chill pill or go smoke a joint or something. OP was not whining but stating his feeling of the game mechanics. its a public forum....thats why they were created in case you forgot.
if enough people voice their displeasure with a particular aspect of the game maybe future developer decisions will reflect popular preference. if not then things will go on as they have. the diologue is healthy and appropriate. if you have a problem with others disagreeing with you preferences (apparently we are all stupid as you tone suggests your advanced gaming knowledge is so far greater than us little people) maybe you need to stop whining about how their opinions dont matter.
LOTRO's graphics are pretty damn nice too. I wonder why they can pull of a seamless world but AoC can't .
Yeah I was thinking that too. I think because Funcom's graphics engine isn't new, it's an upgraded one which they used in AO a long time ago. Probably not as optimized and streamlined as LoTRO's, thus the old geezer has a new skin but it'll take some time before Funcom can start making the game less instanced. As long as people keep presenting it as a flaw though, they'll work on it. So to all the people complaining about the complainers, stop complaining.
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A human and an Elf get captured by Skaven. The rat-men are getting ready to shoot the first hostage with Dwarf-made guns when he yells, "Earthquake!" The naturally nervous Skaven run and hide from the imaginary threat. He escapes. The Skaven regroup and bring out the Elf. Being very smart, the Elf has figured out what to do. When the Skaven get ready to shoot, the Elf, in order to scare them, yells, "Fire!"
Order of the White Border.
I also agree with the OP, and I don't understand why his post, which praised the game quite highly, enticed all the fanbois out of their holes.
I honestly hate the way mmorpgs are going with all this heavy instancing, it's simply not necessary. But I guess it's more economic to do it. Personally I would rather see way smaller caps on population per server, and just more of them..of course, this wouldn't work with AoC anyway, because the world is far too small and linear, you would have to have a cap of 600-800 people I reckon (yep, it's that small).
Something else I don't understand, why are people saying 'loading screens aren't so bad' ? When did the OP even mention this was a problem? He said the instancing was a big issue for him, nothing about the amount of zoning/loading screens, that's a totally seperate issue..To be honest, the zones don't bother me at all, they are fairly large areas (most of them) and loading screens don't take too long to be annoying.
Besides it being released prematurely and "unfinished" I believe AoC is the way it is (talking about the core game) because it is being ported to X-Box 360.
Do you really not understand? ANYTHING will entice fanbois out of their holes. Same goes for trolls. It just happens.
Also, I've got to say something here.
The most important aspect of MMO design is providing an illusion for players.
Even if your world is NOT seamless, it is critical that you give players the ILLUSION of a seamless world. As long as it feels seamless, it doesn't matter if it's not.
Same goes for just about everything. If you were to post in the patch notes that "Class X" now gains 2% more damage with melee attacks, but in reality you DO NOT change it, you will STILL get complaints from people claiming the difference is clear, and the class is too powerful now.
A lot of MMO design is in your mind. If everyone feels like they are the most powerful class, you have a winning balance.
The 'feel' is so important.
3 posts = your credibility is -1 ,now go reroll another account here and post the same whine again mr. no life kid.
Yes, just 3 posts.....it totally destroys all their credibility:
In some elaborate rouse, he/she joined in 2004, just to come back in 2008 and post a review about how he/she doesn't like age of conan
OR
Maybe, just maybe, her/his posts got wiped a few days ago like mine....crazy isn't it?
And I bet he/she is just boggled with a comback to "Mr. No LIfe Kid"....of course my instinctive comeback would be to call you a major douchebag.
I mostly agree with this OP except the instancing is NOT the same as guildwars, i do think its bad but its not the same as guildwars its the same as eq 2.
I think pherhaps you haven't played guildwars much.
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