so blizz has sold 25 million copies of WoW? That's a very impressive number.
I don't think it quite works like that in Asia, but in answer to your question- maybe. Remember the last milestone they achieved was 10.7 million active subscribers, units sold would have to be much greater than that if you use your common sense.
yeah I know how it works. You're dogging wow with a madeup number. You have no idea how the retention rate of wow compares to other mmos.
7. UI and chat system is horrible. I would imagine this was forgotten about until a week before release. TERRIBLE EXAGERATION I dunno...I've seen it first hand. Granted, its still perfectly usable. But it almost makes you cringe when you realize that some half-wits who learned basic programming after dropping out of high school have done better in their mods to said UI. Its not going to reach out of the screen and kick your dog or anything...but its kinda sad to see us backpedal on the basics when it comes to game design.
I think you are confusing programming with UI and game design. These are two completely different things, done by different people.
yeah I know how it works. You're dogging wow with a madeup number. You have no idea how the retention rate of wow compares to other mmos.
I wasn't comparing WoWs retention rate with other mmos.
"Remember, WoW has a weak player retention. For every single WoW player right now there are probably 2.5 former ones."
You just made up a number, and how do we know if that's weak or not unless we compare it to other mmo's. by saying it's weak, you imply other mmo's have higher retention rates.
Wow's retention rate could be the best in the industry. no one knows.
Wow is successful and has mass appeal because it's simple enough for anyone to play it, but complex enough to have a lot of depth that keeps players entertained for months and in many cases years. It has brought in people (girls particularly) who haven't really gamed let alone played mmos.
Every single game blizzard makes is a blockbuster, and their next release, starcraft 2 is sure to sell millions of copies (will surely be more successful than warcraft 3).
Just a word of advice for anyone thinking of coming to Hyboria. This game is still in beta, and I would give it a few more months before wasting hard earned cash. Issues that need urgent attention at the moment. 1. Performance & Server issues are causing great consternation for many people with system specs that far outweigh the minimum reqs. LIE Not a lie. There are issues with the servers and instances crashing. A developer even posted over on VN AoC boards apologizing for it. Why? Because peoplewere loosing EXP when the servers would crash. 2. Class balance is non-existent, and has just been made worse by recent stealth nerfs to certain classes, and leaving other overpowered classes untouched. PvP is now broken. TRUE 3. Long server downtimes scheduled for unreasonable hours. LIE Again not a lie. 4 - 5 hour downtimes every day or every other day followed by huge patches. We didn't have these kinds of downtimes in Vanguard even. And Vanguard is still a hunk of fecal matter (the word I wanted to use is censored). 4. Patch notes which don't contain relevant information, and stealth nerfs which cause mistrust and scepticism. OP STUPIDITY Sorry, but once again the OP nialed it. Funcom, does not list all the changes made to the game and over on VN we acutally do list the changes. I have yet to be in a MMO or single player game where there has been a patch where everything and I mean everything has been listed. Nothing new here, move on. 5. All crafting is broken, as are guild cities. TRUE Partially true, but at least all the gathering skills are now working. 6. Combat Arts are broken, as are a lot of the animations. COMBAT ARTS? WTF IS THAT? 7. UI and chat system is horrible. I would imagine this was forgotten about until a week before release. TERRIBLE EXAGERATION Wrong again. There are numerous post reagarding the clunky UI and horribly implemented chat system...in fact they were some of the earliest complaints of players from OB and EA. That maybe why people are scrambling to get their hands on customized UI's from 3rd parties. While I agree that the chat UI looks like shit, it isn't that bad. it still works. I would just options to get rid of the grid square chat background and to be able to customize the colors of my chat text. 8. Post level 50, content is poor and grinding becomes the order of the day. TRUE 9. There are so many GM petitions, that waiting 2-3 days for help is not uncommon. This in itself indicates the amount of problems this game has at the moment. TRUE This are some of the major faults with the game, but there are many others which seem insignificant but are plain annoying. It could be a decent game eventually, but at the moment it flatters to deceive. Funcom have been extremely clever in a couple of respects. They have polished levels 1-20 so the customers' first impressions of the game are favourable. These are usually the only levels that the gaming sites rate the game on as well, because they have other issues and game reviews to move on to. There was a reason why you can't craft before level 40. There was a reason why early access was limited to level 13. There was a reason why the NDA wasn't lifted. There was a reason why the forums are only open to people who have already purchased the game. Did Funcom learn anything from previous games they have made. Yes, they did. They learned how to deceive the public into paying for their merchandise. Grats.
Oh and BTW:
I think the OP nailed it pretty much...to say otherwise means you are wearing rose colored glasses and refuse to acknowledge that the game has flaws, and is broken and needs some major fixing.
Overall, I love AoC. it is a different kind of game and isn't for everyone.
honestly i think that number of "former wow players" is a lot smaller than you might think it is, i wouldn't be surprised it it's less than 0.5 for every current player.
You have to remember the typical player who doesn't like WoW is the "loudest kid in the house", who wants his/her views heard. the numbers are mostly just "burned out" or old tight veterans, who hates WoW only because it's popular, you can easily go around the fact that many don't like to go around in certain things, "just because it's the popular brand".
Just by looking at these forums it's easy to see that's most likely the case.
Don't get me wrong though, since 5 million former players is a lot after all, which also is the reason i think it might actually be lower than that.
Remember that displeased players or ex players often scream so loud it sounds like several. And when several of those fellahs gather together and screams..... yeah, you get the point.
AoC needed 3 months of polish before it would have been ready fore a launch. Compared to certain games like WoW, which actually had content from 1-60, and at least an instance or three and the UBRS, which back then were the "15 man raid/zerg".
The grinding in AoC wouldn't have been a big problem if the respawns were fast and there were plenty of mobs to go by, also having a kill x quest that says "kill 15 of these", while there are only 6 in total, just wrecks with a giant headache.
Biggest problem for upcoming mmorpgs will be/are this:
They don't want to look like a WoW clone, thus they try alter "very well working features" and turn them into crap.
They somehow don't learn from certain other game's early problems and mistakes, in their belief their "new system", will fix that by it self.
They try to make something new out of something that's working perfectly fine already, and it goes haaeway.
Add few others.
My biggest concern for all those mmorpgs that came(or are coming) after WoW is however the following:
Natural and fluid character movement, no other western mmorpg has yet made a mmo, where the movement, both in and out of comba,t were as fluid and natural as WoW's.
I've honestly only seen Asian mmorpgs doing it almost or just as good. What does that tell us? That Blizzard looked at both the asian and western mmorpg market, when they were making their game, while today's western companies still only look at each other, while they should be looking at them all.
Listen to the OP. This game is going down faster than the Titanic. Good luck to Funcom ever trying to make another MMO. It'd be like Brad McQuaid trying to.
LOL your basing this off the couple trolls that frequent forums, the same thing was said about SWG (that pile of dung is still going), eq, eq2, matrix online (that one should have died on arrival but it is still going) and tons of other MMO's.
The fact is AoC is a success whether you believe it or not, the vocal group of people on forums is always a minority base. Most people are in the game having fun. Only the whiners and people that feel like they were slighted post negativity on the forums without constructive advice on how they think it should be fixed.
Here is a challenge for you Baseline, I want you list all of the Triple A MMO's out today that have actually failed and closed shop due to whiners on the forums. My guess is you will be searching for some time.
No actually, the OP is absolutely correct. I have a level 55 guardian on Cimmeria (named Mercius) and everything he said is right on the money. I like the game, ive had fun so far but there are too many bugs. Some other bugs are-
1. Getting hit with a mez shot, and if you dont take any other damage after that you never come out of the mez. You have to relog.
2. Sometimes during combat, my character will just put his weapons away after starting a combo, and then quickly draw them out again. It really gets old after a while.
3. Enemies get bugged very easily. Sometimes when trying to pull a mob, they will take off in the opposite direction, and then come charging back at you 100 miles an hour.
4. Being a guardian, we rely on the charge skill. Well, it misses a lot. If the enemy starts moving after you pressed the charge key, then 9 times out of 10 you will miss them.
5. While riding on a horse, you move more quickly with your weapon drawn then if it's sheathed. Um, why?
6.Too many broken quests. Im sure that anyone here who has gotten into the Pyramid will tell you that the quest "Enter the Pyramid" doesnt work. Neither does the Emerald Eye gem quest in there (I forget what its called.)
I could go on and on but I won't, because I'll probably be labeled a troll anyways. I dont think I will continue playing when my sub runs out, but a lot of people seem to be having fun playing.
The Game had a decent launch, no servers were killed or super major downtimes actually came up. Unlike WoW, it had a pretty fluid server launch. WoW's launch was pretty horrific for the first 2-3 months due to overpopulated servers and some of them having 2+ hour queue times.
If anyone else here has ever played an MMO at release, they should know its going to be buggy as hell. Not one single publisher has ever released an MMO and not have some sort of serious issue or bug arise. So this is pretty much the standard for the industry. Many publishers want there ROI (Return of Investment) from the game, so they release a semi stable version to the public to get the process going.
AoC wasnt overlooked on this point, at launch it had some game breaking flaws right at the start, but they ARE fixing them in a timely manner. The game is still playable, and depending on the playstyle of the person, theyll either love it or hate it at this point in its development. Alot of things need fixing, but overall the game is still in a decently playable condition.
Alot of the bugs in the OP were and still are true, but the developers are fixing them rather quickly imo, but sadly with todays market and children buying games, theyre just too impatient to wait it through and grow with the game. So they go on boards such as these and spam hate messages and dont really give a good glimpse of whats REALLY going on in the game. Potentially ruining it for someone that might enjoy the game in its current state and are willing to grow with it.
Anyways, to end a long ass post:
I bought the game, am i happy with my investment?
Currently not right now.
Will I eventually be?
I am most certain I will be if Funcom continues to put out major updates as fast as they are.
On a rating on 1-10 (10 being highest) what would i rate the game at its current state?
6.5-7 atm. When more fixes get applied im sure that the number will go up.
not to mention Funcom have some of their employees masquerading as regular AoC subscribers on various forums who are paid to write glowingly positive posts about AoC. This was discovered by a certain not-to-be-mentioned games forum site who reported IP traces back to Funcom offices.
That and heavy censorship of posts negative to AoC on the official forums, which only up until recently were subscriber-only as well.
All signs point to Funcom desperation to hold onto subscribers...
Just a word of advice for anyone thinking of coming to Hyboria. This game is still in beta, and I would give it a few more months before wasting hard earned cash. Issues that need urgent attention at the moment. 1. Performance & Server issues are causing great consternation for many people with system specs that far outweigh the minimum reqs. 2. Class balance is non-existent, and has just been made worse by recent stealth nerfs to certain classes, and leaving other overpowered classes untouched. PvP is now broken. 3. Long server downtimes scheduled for unreasonable hours. 4. Patch notes which don't contain relevant information, and stealth nerfs which cause mistrust and scepticism. 5. All crafting is broken, as are guild cities. 6. Combat Arts are broken, as are a lot of the animations. 7. UI and chat system is horrible. I would imagine this was forgotten about until a week before release. 8. Post level 50, content is poor and grinding becomes the order of the day. 9. There are so many GM petitions, that waiting 2-3 days for help is not uncommon. This in itself indicates the amount of problems this game has at the moment. This are some of the major faults with the game, but there are many others which seem insignificant but are plain annoying. It could be a decent game eventually, but at the moment it flatters to deceive. Funcom have been extremely clever in a couple of respects. They have polished levels 1-20 so the customers' first impressions of the game are favourable. These are usually the only levels that the gaming sites rate the game on as well, because they have other issues and game reviews to move on to. There was a reason why you can't craft before level 40. There was a reason why early access was limited to level 13. There was a reason why the NDA wasn't lifted. There was a reason why the forums are only open to people who have already purchased the game. Did Funcom learn anything from previous games they have made. Yes, they did. They learned how to deceive the public into paying for their merchandise. Grats.
You Don't know a shit about the game i see, so BACK OF!!!!!!
LVL 13 lol, i know ppl that hitted 20 first day in EA, so just BACK OFF with your crap.
Whiners, more whiners and so on, they never stop!!
Can't wait to get home from work to make one more day in this Amazing game!
Issue here, try to find out what server adresses are to the game servers, just ping them and if you stay below 200 it's ok to play i think. (have ~70 ms)
Graphics is stunning but we suffer some issue here with almost all ATI card.
Bad FPS and the nvidia 8800 has about 3-4 times better performance
just wait, they will fix it, (remember, vanguard??)
I'm ATI owner and have a HD3870--512 and suffer some or what can i say realy bad performace, but i play the game anyway, it's ok to play at 20-30 fps anyway but i think it will get up to +60 fps if they fix the issue here..
The game is briliant and the PVP is SOOOO good, FFA pvp, gank already at lvl 5 if you whant,
The Tortage is the start town there all newcomers go, after a tutorial at lvl 1, you will rise to lvl 5-6
before you hit Tortage.
The visit the Inn right side at the entrance and swith the game to Night play, Night play is fine, fast lvl'ing,
nice and easy quests and you are alown so you don't get ganked
Before you know you will het lvl 12-15 and then go day mode =PVP
get to white sands and start to gank, team up with someone at you lvl and kill ppl way above your own lvl.
5-9 lvl above your own and you and your friends doing fine
If you get ganked over and over again at spawn area, just swiths the instance and you will get rid of these
gankers...
IMO are the balance just unbalanced
1: Meele class are SOOO over powered, but learn how to deal with them and you will be fine.
2: Casters class, are some wierd characters with buffs and spells that you NOT have seen in any game before. like a necro BAD class /DoT at low lvl but are fun to play IMO.
3: priests/Tempest of Set (tos) etc. are nhhhaa not fun IMO.
Just buy the game, and you will have fun, and don't listen to OP's like above...
ohh i forgot: I don't think you can find any MMO that i NOT have played before and AoC is the TOP MMO ever made for me..
not to mention Funcom have some of their employees masquerading as regular AoC subscribers on various forums who are paid to write glowingly positive posts about AoC. This was discovered by a certain not-to-be-mentioned games forum site who reported IP traces back to Funcom offices.
That and heavy censorship of posts negative to AoC on the official forums, which only up until recently were subscriber-only as well.
and those helicopters you've seen near your house recently? Funcom employees paid to beam microwaves into you home and brainwash you into playing AOC. No, really, I heard it from a not to be mentioned game forum site who followed them from Norway.
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
not to mention Funcom have some of their employees masquerading as regular AoC subscribers on various forums who are paid to write glowingly positive posts about AoC. This was discovered by a certain not-to-be-mentioned games forum site who reported IP traces back to Funcom offices.
That and heavy censorship of posts negative to AoC on the official forums, which only up until recently were subscriber-only as well.
All signs point to Funcom desperation to hold onto subscribers...
And beside you'd be soo lonely in your current MMO if players keep leaving it for AoC as they are right?
Not sure but you might want to check that your tinfoil hat isn't on too tight. In the meantime i'll play my game you play yours. I won't tell you what to play or not play or make up stories about your MMO's companies viral marketing, and you do us all the favor of not trying to tell us aye?
Listen to the OP. This game is going down faster than the Titanic. Good luck to Funcom ever trying to make another MMO. It'd be like Brad McQuaid trying to.
Ah another Drama Queen. So the game sucks and you say it will fail in how long? Really your posts have gotten so funny they are now pathetic. (great arguements with logic and facts)
Its not a bad game. The first 20 levels are amazing. They are thick with plot and story lines, and its does a great job of immersing you into that world. The problems begin slowly after that. While there are plenty of quests and 3 different zones for level 20-40, it drops off after that. From 40-50 there is 1 zone, decent amount of quests, might hit a dry spell in the late 40s but not bad. From 55-80 its just a horribly boring non-stop grind fest, similar to L2. There is only 1 zone for 50-60, 60-70, and 70-80. Also, the game was not ready to be released on May 22nd. It took over a week to get up the banks, mail, and traders, they were taken down during the early access because of a dupe exploit. While server stability has been outstanding, my realm, Set, crashed a few times, along with 2 others I think, but nothing major and they were up quickly, the game is full of bugs. A lot of these bugs were reported in Beta, but not addressed by Funcom. Also class balance is an absolute joke, which since the PvP system isn't even in the game is not a big problem.
In conclusion, AoC is not a bad game, and has a lot of potential. The problem is it feels like you are still playing a Beta. If you don't mind paying for the game while it's still being developed, it's not a bad game. I canceled my subscription, but if Funcom can fix some of the serious problems in the game I will probably give it another try in a few months when it is more complete.
edited for grammer.
Very good well thought out post. This is the exact type of posts I am seeing around from the players that are already at mid-game/end-game. They have an IP on there hands that was quite responsive from the MMO gamers yet they managed to rush it in order to beat WAR to a launch, will this help WAR out we don't know until that is launched as well. Give it time is the verdict but I say this give it time responses need to stop. We need to demand quality from these companies or all we will get is Beta build launches.
Bit off topic here but i'm guessing WAR main concern would be WotLK expansion due to be released about the same time. (last i heard. Overall AoC's launch was good but not perfect, and yes the game would hav been better if they didn't launch yet, but that true of every MMO (and of WAR too I'm sure) Really i think its best for both WAR and AoC that they didn't both launch at the same time, but thats just my opinion.
(the WAr and AoC trolls have been bad enough as it is can you imagine if the 2 both came out at the same time? Hell the poor trolls would die of exhaustion tyoing out long threads about how thier game works and the other sucks. alot like things are now only 20x worse
Its probably a disservice, but yet a truth none the same that the WAR fanbois right now have nothing to do but type threads about how AoC sucks guess in a few months we'll see if they turn on their own.
Gaming is something we do for fun, if you are not having fun in a game, don't play it.
While I realize that AoC is not perfect and that there is plenty of room for tweaks and improvements I am still having a A TON OF FUN. If I was not I would not be playing. I agree with the OP that it will get even better after a few months, but that's really the norm for any new MMO. If you want a polished and completed game don't buy a brand new MMO.
and WoW was not better. i was there (it was about the same as AOC)
anyway i dont play AOC anymore. game just got a little boring for me. so please son dont try and be clever again
1) I care because approaching 300 posts in less than 10 days implies that you are being paid to post.
2) WoW was better, their issues were almost wholly related to hardware.
3) Paid advertisers don't necessarily ever actually have to experience the client/consumer end of the product.
4) I wouldn't advise you call anyone son for a couple of reasons.
Humm that wwould only be some 30 posts a day assuming at about allitle over a min a post, if he's getting paid then i want that job! (Yes make Millions at home working just 30 mins a day! To good to be true, not at all my friend!)
hehe yes it is increable that people can make 80 levels in less then 10 days playing a game they then claim to hate, and is full of bugs, but one could not possibly make 30 posts a day?
Meanwhile you might want to check and make sure your tinfoil hate isn't just alittle too tight. Hum maybe i should check how many posts you've made it the last 10 days you might be one of THEM! Yes THEM!
not to mention Funcom have some of their employees masquerading as regular AoC subscribers on various forums who are paid to write glowingly positive posts about AoC. This was discovered by a certain not-to-be-mentioned games forum site who reported IP traces back to Funcom offices.
That and heavy censorship of posts negative to AoC on the official forums, which only up until recently were subscriber-only as well.
All signs point to Funcom desperation to hold onto subscribers...
And beside you'd be soo lonely in your current MMO if players keep leaving it for AoC as they are right?
the only MMO i play is EVE, because it doesn't assume players are brain-dead. WOW, like AoC, are designed for skill-less brain-dead retards whose idea of fun is mashing the same buttons & the same instances over and over and over.
noone is leaving EVE for AoC, in fact, i bet the opposite is true.
Just a word of advice for anyone thinking of coming to Hyboria. This game is still in beta, and I would give it a few more months before wasting hard earned cash. Issues that need urgent attention at the moment. 1. Performance & Server issues are causing great consternation for many people with system specs that far outweigh the minimum reqs. 2. Class balance is non-existent, and has just been made worse by recent stealth nerfs to certain classes, and leaving other overpowered classes untouched. PvP is now broken. 3. Long server downtimes scheduled for unreasonable hours. 4. Patch notes which don't contain relevant information, and stealth nerfs which cause mistrust and scepticism. 5. All crafting is broken, as are guild cities. 6. Combat Arts are broken, as are a lot of the animations. 7. UI and chat system is horrible. I would imagine this was forgotten about until a week before release. 8. Post level 50, content is poor and grinding becomes the order of the day. 9. There are so many GM petitions, that waiting 2-3 days for help is not uncommon. This in itself indicates the amount of problems this game has at the moment. This are some of the major faults with the game, but there are many others which seem insignificant but are plain annoying. It could be a decent game eventually, but at the moment it flatters to deceive. Funcom have been extremely clever in a couple of respects. They have polished levels 1-20 so the customers' first impressions of the game are favourable. These are usually the only levels that the gaming sites rate the game on as well, because they have other issues and game reviews to move on to. There was a reason why you can't craft before level 40. There was a reason why early access was limited to level 13. There was a reason why the NDA wasn't lifted. There was a reason why the forums are only open to people who have already purchased the game. Did Funcom learn anything from previous games they have made. Yes, they did. They learned how to deceive the public into paying for their merchandise. Grats.
Pretty much everything in this OP is not true and misleading. AoC is a great game.
These were the problems that were in closed beta. I am sorry to hear they still exist. I agree that this game was released too soon and still appears to be in a "beta" phase of commercial release.
I didn't think the game was ready for commercial release and needed at least another year of development. The game has potential, but not yet.
No one has given him the "heads-up" about how you need 500 posts before you are considered a real, thinking, person around here.
I kid, but I had to bring that up against a fan because its ALWAYS used against the haters. I like to think that I bring a little equality to this barren wasteland :P
To address your stances directly, Kram, I would say that the OP isn't retarded...nor is he any combination of the vulgarities used in your post to label him. I do understand that you are having a quite fine time with the game, and can reasonably understand why you would so aggressively defend it. The trouble here is that, while being a tad exaggerated, his points are pretty valid concerns for him. He saw what he saw, and it affected him just as he said. I can also understand that. What you and I have to come around to is the fact that every choice in game design also brings with it a consequence that has bearing on who and what will find your game fun. Simply put, their choices (and the many issues that arise in a launch coupled with them) have put him off. Lastly, I agree with his statement that we should all wait to buy ANY MMO fresh off the presses. But then, I've been doing that for years. WoW was the only one I ever purchased close to its launch...and it will be the only one as well. Frankly, outside of LotR, I doubt any of these game developers take the launch of a game seriously enough. Its good measure to wait until the game is more stable, and the initial rush is past.
I understand.
Sorry my post was so vulgar. Not normally of my nature to be so aggressive. I just read this guys post and have read many other posts where people have a total mis-conception of the game. They may have thought they experienced some things but the OP is either on drugs or has some form of mental retardation.
I say that because the OP states things about the game that are simply not true. He is either play a different game, or making things up.
However, now that its morning, and I've had my first cup of coffee. I can safely say that I do think the OP is not a retard but is not playing the same game as me, or any of my guildmates.
Comments
I don't think it quite works like that in Asia, but in answer to your question- maybe. Remember the last milestone they achieved was 10.7 million active subscribers, units sold would have to be much greater than that if you use your common sense.
yeah I know how it works. You're dogging wow with a madeup number. You have no idea how the retention rate of wow compares to other mmos.
I wasn't comparing WoWs retention rate with other mmos.
___________________
Sadly, I see storm clouds on the horizon. A faint stench of Vanguard is in the air.-Kien
http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2006/12/13/
I think you are confusing programming with UI and game design. These are two completely different things, done by different people.
I wasn't comparing WoWs retention rate with other mmos.
"Remember, WoW has a weak player retention. For every single WoW player right now there are probably 2.5 former ones."
You just made up a number, and how do we know if that's weak or not unless we compare it to other mmo's. by saying it's weak, you imply other mmo's have higher retention rates.
Wow's retention rate could be the best in the industry. no one knows.
Wow is successful and has mass appeal because it's simple enough for anyone to play it, but complex enough to have a lot of depth that keeps players entertained for months and in many cases years. It has brought in people (girls particularly) who haven't really gamed let alone played mmos.
Every single game blizzard makes is a blockbuster, and their next release, starcraft 2 is sure to sell millions of copies (will surely be more successful than warcraft 3).
Oh and BTW:
I think the OP nailed it pretty much...to say otherwise means you are wearing rose colored glasses and refuse to acknowledge that the game has flaws, and is broken and needs some major fixing.
Overall, I love AoC. it is a different kind of game and isn't for everyone.
honestly i think that number of "former wow players" is a lot smaller than you might think it is, i wouldn't be surprised it it's less than 0.5 for every current player.
You have to remember the typical player who doesn't like WoW is the "loudest kid in the house", who wants his/her views heard. the numbers are mostly just "burned out" or old tight veterans, who hates WoW only because it's popular, you can easily go around the fact that many don't like to go around in certain things, "just because it's the popular brand".
Just by looking at these forums it's easy to see that's most likely the case.
Don't get me wrong though, since 5 million former players is a lot after all, which also is the reason i think it might actually be lower than that.
Remember that displeased players or ex players often scream so loud it sounds like several. And when several of those fellahs gather together and screams..... yeah, you get the point.
AoC needed 3 months of polish before it would have been ready fore a launch. Compared to certain games like WoW, which actually had content from 1-60, and at least an instance or three and the UBRS, which back then were the "15 man raid/zerg".
The grinding in AoC wouldn't have been a big problem if the respawns were fast and there were plenty of mobs to go by, also having a kill x quest that says "kill 15 of these", while there are only 6 in total, just wrecks with a giant headache.
Biggest problem for upcoming mmorpgs will be/are this:
They don't want to look like a WoW clone, thus they try alter "very well working features" and turn them into crap.
They somehow don't learn from certain other game's early problems and mistakes, in their belief their "new system", will fix that by it self.
They try to make something new out of something that's working perfectly fine already, and it goes haaeway.
Add few others.
My biggest concern for all those mmorpgs that came(or are coming) after WoW is however the following:
Natural and fluid character movement, no other western mmorpg has yet made a mmo, where the movement, both in and out of comba,t were as fluid and natural as WoW's.
I've honestly only seen Asian mmorpgs doing it almost or just as good. What does that tell us? That Blizzard looked at both the asian and western mmorpg market, when they were making their game, while today's western companies still only look at each other, while they should be looking at them all.
Take the Magic: The Gathering 'What Color Are You?' Quiz.
Listen to the OP. This game is going down faster than the Titanic.
Good luck to Funcom ever trying to make another MMO. It'd be like Brad McQuaid trying to.
The fact is AoC is a success whether you believe it or not, the vocal group of people on forums is always a minority base. Most people are in the game having fun. Only the whiners and people that feel like they were slighted post negativity on the forums without constructive advice on how they think it should be fixed.
Here is a challenge for you Baseline, I want you list all of the Triple A MMO's out today that have actually failed and closed shop due to whiners on the forums. My guess is you will be searching for some time.
No actually, the OP is absolutely correct. I have a level 55 guardian on Cimmeria (named Mercius) and everything he said is right on the money. I like the game, ive had fun so far but there are too many bugs. Some other bugs are-
1. Getting hit with a mez shot, and if you dont take any other damage after that you never come out of the mez. You have to relog.
2. Sometimes during combat, my character will just put his weapons away after starting a combo, and then quickly draw them out again. It really gets old after a while.
3. Enemies get bugged very easily. Sometimes when trying to pull a mob, they will take off in the opposite direction, and then come charging back at you 100 miles an hour.
4. Being a guardian, we rely on the charge skill. Well, it misses a lot. If the enemy starts moving after you pressed the charge key, then 9 times out of 10 you will miss them.
5. While riding on a horse, you move more quickly with your weapon drawn then if it's sheathed. Um, why?
6.Too many broken quests. Im sure that anyone here who has gotten into the Pyramid will tell you that the quest "Enter the Pyramid" doesnt work. Neither does the Emerald Eye gem quest in there (I forget what its called.)
I could go on and on but I won't, because I'll probably be labeled a troll anyways. I dont think I will continue playing when my sub runs out, but a lot of people seem to be having fun playing.
The Game had a decent launch, no servers were killed or super major downtimes actually came up. Unlike WoW, it had a pretty fluid server launch. WoW's launch was pretty horrific for the first 2-3 months due to overpopulated servers and some of them having 2+ hour queue times.
If anyone else here has ever played an MMO at release, they should know its going to be buggy as hell. Not one single publisher has ever released an MMO and not have some sort of serious issue or bug arise. So this is pretty much the standard for the industry. Many publishers want there ROI (Return of Investment) from the game, so they release a semi stable version to the public to get the process going.
AoC wasnt overlooked on this point, at launch it had some game breaking flaws right at the start, but they ARE fixing them in a timely manner. The game is still playable, and depending on the playstyle of the person, theyll either love it or hate it at this point in its development. Alot of things need fixing, but overall the game is still in a decently playable condition.
Alot of the bugs in the OP were and still are true, but the developers are fixing them rather quickly imo, but sadly with todays market and children buying games, theyre just too impatient to wait it through and grow with the game. So they go on boards such as these and spam hate messages and dont really give a good glimpse of whats REALLY going on in the game. Potentially ruining it for someone that might enjoy the game in its current state and are willing to grow with it.
Anyways, to end a long ass post:
I bought the game, am i happy with my investment?
Will I eventually be?
On a rating on 1-10 (10 being highest) what would i rate the game at its current state?
not to mention Funcom have some of their employees masquerading as regular AoC subscribers on various forums who are paid to write glowingly positive posts about AoC. This was discovered by a certain not-to-be-mentioned games forum site who reported IP traces back to Funcom offices.
That and heavy censorship of posts negative to AoC on the official forums, which only up until recently were subscriber-only as well.
All signs point to Funcom desperation to hold onto subscribers...
You Don't know a shit about the game i see, so BACK OF!!!!!!
LVL 13 lol, i know ppl that hitted 20 first day in EA, so just BACK OFF with your crap.
Whiners, more whiners and so on, they never stop!!
Can't wait to get home from work to make one more day in this Amazing game!
Issue here, try to find out what server adresses are to the game servers, just ping them and if you stay below 200 it's ok to play i think. (have ~70 ms)
Graphics is stunning but we suffer some issue here with almost all ATI card.
Bad FPS and the nvidia 8800 has about 3-4 times better performance
just wait, they will fix it, (remember, vanguard??)
I'm ATI owner and have a HD3870--512 and suffer some or what can i say realy bad performace, but i play the game anyway, it's ok to play at 20-30 fps anyway but i think it will get up to +60 fps if they fix the issue here..
The game is briliant and the PVP is SOOOO good, FFA pvp, gank already at lvl 5 if you whant,
The Tortage is the start town there all newcomers go, after a tutorial at lvl 1, you will rise to lvl 5-6
before you hit Tortage.
The visit the Inn right side at the entrance and swith the game to Night play, Night play is fine, fast lvl'ing,
nice and easy quests and you are alown so you don't get ganked
Before you know you will het lvl 12-15 and then go day mode =PVP
get to white sands and start to gank, team up with someone at you lvl and kill ppl way above your own lvl.
5-9 lvl above your own and you and your friends doing fine
If you get ganked over and over again at spawn area, just swiths the instance and you will get rid of these
gankers...
IMO are the balance just unbalanced
1: Meele class are SOOO over powered, but learn how to deal with them and you will be fine.
BAD class /DoT at low lvl but are fun to play IMO.
2: Casters class, are some wierd characters with buffs and spells that you NOT have seen in any game before. like a necro
3: priests/Tempest of Set (tos) etc. are nhhhaa not fun IMO.
Just buy the game, and you will have fun, and don't listen to OP's like above...
ohh i forgot: I don't think you can find any MMO that i NOT have played before and AoC is the TOP MMO ever made for me..
EQ,EQ2,FoM,WoW, Ultima, LOTRO, PE(eu), .....................................................
and those helicopters you've seen near your house recently? Funcom employees paid to beam microwaves into you home and brainwash you into playing AOC. No, really, I heard it from a not to be mentioned game forum site who followed them from Norway.
"True friends stab you in the front." | Oscar Wilde
"I need to finish" - Christian Wolff: The Accountant
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
Not sure but you might want to check that your tinfoil hat isn't on too tight. In the meantime i'll play my game you play yours. I won't tell you what to play or not play or make up stories about your MMO's companies viral marketing, and you do us all the favor of not trying to tell us aye?
Ah another Drama Queen. So the game sucks and you say it will fail in how long? Really your posts have gotten so funny they are now pathetic. (great arguements with logic and facts)
Very good well thought out post. This is the exact type of posts I am seeing around from the players that are already at mid-game/end-game. They have an IP on there hands that was quite responsive from the MMO gamers yet they managed to rush it in order to beat WAR to a launch, will this help WAR out we don't know until that is launched as well. Give it time is the verdict but I say this give it time responses need to stop. We need to demand quality from these companies or all we will get is Beta build launches.
Bit off topic here but i'm guessing WAR main concern would be WotLK expansion due to be released about the same time. (last i heard. Overall AoC's launch was good but not perfect, and yes the game would hav been better if they didn't launch yet, but that true of every MMO (and of WAR too I'm sure) Really i think its best for both WAR and AoC that they didn't both launch at the same time, but thats just my opinion.(the WAr and AoC trolls have been bad enough as it is can you imagine if the 2 both came out at the same time? Hell the poor trolls would die of exhaustion tyoing out long threads about how thier game works and the other sucks. alot like things are now only 20x worse
Its probably a disservice, but yet a truth none the same that the WAR fanbois right now have nothing to do but type threads about how AoC sucks guess in a few months we'll see if they turn on their own.
This stuff really isn't hard people.
Gaming is something we do for fun, if you are not having fun in a game, don't play it.
While I realize that AoC is not perfect and that there is plenty of room for tweaks and improvements I am still having a A TON OF FUN. If I was not I would not be playing. I agree with the OP that it will get even better after a few months, but that's really the norm for any new MMO. If you want a polished and completed game don't buy a brand new MMO.
--Chegg
1) I care because approaching 300 posts in less than 10 days implies that you are being paid to post.
2) WoW was better, their issues were almost wholly related to hardware.
3) Paid advertisers don't necessarily ever actually have to experience the client/consumer end of the product.
Humm that wwould only be some 30 posts a day assuming at about allitle over a min a post, if he's getting paid then i want that job! (Yes make Millions at home working just 30 mins a day! To good to be true, not at all my friend!)4) I wouldn't advise you call anyone son for a couple of reasons.
hehe yes it is increable that people can make 80 levels in less then 10 days playing a game they then claim to hate, and is full of bugs, but one could not possibly make 30 posts a day?
Meanwhile you might want to check and make sure your tinfoil hate isn't just alittle too tight. Hum maybe i should check how many posts you've made it the last 10 days you might be one of THEM! Yes THEM!
WoW was better. DeadlyMage, honestly, I think you are a paid marketer. 200+ posts in less than ten days?
And I think you are the Cymdai guys posting alt. He also claimed everyone being viral marketer.
I'm so broke. I can't even pay attention.
"You have the right not to be killed"
And beside you'd be soo lonely in your current MMO if players keep leaving it for AoC as they are right?the only MMO i play is EVE, because it doesn't assume players are brain-dead. WOW, like AoC, are designed for skill-less brain-dead retards whose idea of fun is mashing the same buttons & the same instances over and over and over.
noone is leaving EVE for AoC, in fact, i bet the opposite is true.
Pretty much everything in this OP is not true and misleading. AoC is a great game.
These were the problems that were in closed beta. I am sorry to hear they still exist. I agree that this game was released too soon and still appears to be in a "beta" phase of commercial release.
I didn't think the game was ready for commercial release and needed at least another year of development. The game has potential, but not yet.
Ok so you're are a viral marketer from what, Blizzard, Mythic, SOE?
I'm so broke. I can't even pay attention.
"You have the right not to be killed"
I understand.
Sorry my post was so vulgar. Not normally of my nature to be so aggressive. I just read this guys post and have read many other posts where people have a total mis-conception of the game. They may have thought they experienced some things but the OP is either on drugs or has some form of mental retardation.
I say that because the OP states things about the game that are simply not true. He is either play a different game, or making things up.
However, now that its morning, and I've had my first cup of coffee. I can safely say that I do think the OP is not a retard but is not playing the same game as me, or any of my guildmates.
And yes, I've played well beyond tortage.