By the way, I never disputed the artistic style or how the characters blend with the world. In fact, that was the thing that drew me most into the game, when I made the choice between that and EQ2 (back when the two games launched). WoW needs a revamp. The developers know it and have plans for it.
I'm going to have agree with Xasapis. Some of you are confusing Art Style with graphics ENGINE.
Huge difference.
AoC's Graphics Engine is far superior to WoW's outdated one, but the Art Style is totally subjective.
Personally i like WoW's, but AoC's is great too, the art style i mean.
The AoC engine is the same engine they used in AO (slighly updated) named Dream World. They claim its one of the most advanced MMO engines in the market today (which i dont really see how).
As for art style, AoC's art direction fits well within the context of the Conan world, where WoWs art style fits well within its world. If you tried to make a Conan game with the same style as WoW, ugh... You would end up with a game that looks more like Avatar the last air bender...
You cant really say that WoWs engine is out dated seeing as it is newer than the Dream World engine (which was created in around 1996). WoWs engine is just a bit more simpler than AoC's engine, not outdated.
There are 3 types of people in the world. 1.) Those who make things happen 2.) Those who watch things happen 3.) And those who wonder "What the %#*& just happened?!"
What you obviously don't realize is the reason why they had to release it before it was ready: THEY RAN OUT OF MONEY. It was either release it and continue finishing up the game, or just flat out cancel it. Hm, let's see what the better route would have been... Honestly, do you think FC would have done this if it had been preventable? Look at the amount of people who are quitting because they want everything NOW, NOW, NOW! They're not stupid, they would have gladly extended the release date if they had been able to. Finished game > unfinished game. Not a very hard concept to grasp.
Investors/Publishers waited 5+ years for this game to come out. You're damn right they had to release, but in all those years, was this all they could come up with? Why did they promise so much that they couldn't deliver? It was very deceptive of them, and reflects badly on their company. Consumers feel cheated by Funcom and in the future and it will hurt them in the long run. Don't believe me? Just look at SOE.
Less subscribers is bad news for AoC too, it will severely damage it's growth and refinement. Just look what happened to Matrix Online, Vanguard, SWG, EQ2, etc.... Why a company would strive to be the next SOE is beyond me.
What you obviously don't realize is the reason why they had to release it before it was ready: THEY RAN OUT OF MONEY. It was either release it and continue finishing up the game, or just flat out cancel it. Hm, let's see what the better route would have been... Honestly, do you think FC would have done this if it had been preventable? Look at the amount of people who are quitting because they want everything NOW, NOW, NOW! They're not stupid, they would have gladly extended the release date if they had been able to. Finished game > unfinished game. Not a very hard concept to grasp.
Quite frankly I don't care about Funcoms problems. They are a business and if they can't conduct "Business" in a business like manner, perhaps they shouldn't be in "Business." Please feel free to share with me another business that would release an unfinished product and expect the consumer to pay for it.
I just simply don't buy the "Ran out of money" thing. Any investor would know the disastrous result of releasing a product that was unfinished. You fork over some more money to protect the money you already have invested. I know, with all the hype smothering this game, they could have come up with more money. They simply made yet another "BAD" decision concerning this game.
In time I'm sure it will be straighten out. But to expect a consumer to act as an investor so they can finish their game, with no hope of a return I might add, is wrong.
Not a very hard concept to grasp.......
~Hairysun~
Hmm ok lets think of examples...Microsoft/sigil to name just a few in this industry face it when talking about this type of buisness you rather dropped the ball there friend..id say 75% of compnays release their products unfinished and patch/update later.
And any decent buisness would rather release early generate income and finish the product rather than throw all that spent cash away...Any average buisness mind could see that .
It's almost funny how badly some of you people want this game to fail... do you honestly have nothing better to do with your life than to come here and complain about a game that you have decided you will not like no matter what? Go away, trolls. The patches this month will make this great game even better.
Hi Pucks, thanks for the post and the info about what Funcom is focusing on re: updates / patches.
From your title, you said AoC is being updated this month and all (or most of) its problems will be solved. In reading the letter from the game director that you posted, I didn't see any kind of timeline for their proposed changes / patches (except for their plan to get the PvP changes out in June).
Is there any other evidence / correspondence from Funcom about a timeline for these changes (or anything to imply that the changes will be made this month)?
What you obviously don't realize is the reason why they had to release it before it was ready: THEY RAN OUT OF MONEY. It was either release it and continue finishing up the game, or just flat out cancel it. Hm, let's see what the better route would have been... Honestly, do you think FC would have done this if it had been preventable? Look at the amount of people who are quitting because they want everything NOW, NOW, NOW! They're not stupid, they would have gladly extended the release date if they had been able to. Finished game > unfinished game. Not a very hard concept to grasp.
Well, they could have been honest about the state of the game instead of holding the NDA up till launch, keeping the main forums closed to the public for about a week and then deleting posts that reflect dissatisfied customers feelings. Instead of gaining the trust of customers they sold them a box and only later acknowledged that they didnt get to add this, fix that, etc.
Thats like Ford selling you a new truck and then telling you it will be in a driveable condition in a few months after you handed over the $30k.
I'm just not understanding your reason for complaining...what's done is done.
Maybe I just didn't come into this with extremely high expectations like the rest of you.
Nah, I had no expectations for this game what so ever. When they ignored issues we reported in beta (and I mean like back in the first stage of beta) I knew what the game was going to end up being like. They pulled the same thing in AO beta. We told them about issues and they turned a deaf ear. When several of us spent 3-5 days stuck under the city of Rome having a dev tell us there wasnt much the could do and we would have to delete and start a new toon it was annoying. Being told it was fixed and then having it happen again was bad enough. Then when the game released and after 2 you try to zone and end up under the world again, yeah....
Thing is the whole "Whats done is done" attitude is basically letting devs think that its OK to keep releasing buggy games missing half the content they promised for launch. It has gotten so common that now we are seeing it in console games where the release now, patch later concept is becoming standard practice.
If you are unhappy with the state of a game you should let it be known, even if you love the game, that its not ok to promise now and deliver later.
There are 3 types of people in the world. 1.) Those who make things happen 2.) Those who watch things happen 3.) And those who wonder "What the %#*& just happened?!"
The AoC engine is the same engine they used in AO (slighly updated) named Dream World. They claim its one of the most advanced MMO engines in the market today (which i dont really see how).
You cant really say that WoWs engine is out dated seeing as it is newer than the Dream World engine (which was created in around 1996). WoWs engine is just a bit more simpler than AoC's engine, not outdated.
Not really the same since then, it's been updated in an evolutionary way, as most engines are.
Funcom began to retool their engine with the overall design, pipeline and implementation process was taken into account. In light of these changes, the DreamWorld engine has been rebuilt for Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures with new features, special effects and optimizations.[29]
"new behavior control center has been designed from scratch for Conan. The system pulls in all control data and links it with character actions (combat, animations, emotes, formations etc.)"
"As such, we decided to focus on the further evolution of our proprietary Dreamworld engine,"
"Not only would this give us a needed edge, (and something different, assuming we would reach our goals), but it would also mean we could build an engine where the overall design, pipeline and implementation process was taken into account. There is naturally more to our technology than just the engine; you probably wouldn't believe how much stuff is being put into it. "
"We have developed a brand new particle effects system for Conan that makes it easy to create stunning looking particle effects."
"Our shader-oriented proprietary render engine re-written from scratch with a phong per pixel lighting system. This engine allows for stunning graphics and ambience, like you can see in the screenshots and videos from the game."
I don't base my monetary decisions on hopes, dreams, what-ifs, coulda woulda shoulda beens. I base things on how they are at the current point in time. If these issues are ever fixed, I may possible take another look at it. But if its currently in a poor state, thats what decision's should be based on.
I don't really care at all what some random fan read in their magical crystal ball that can see in the future. Hearsay has no place in logic based decisions. I'm not some starstruck teenybopper at a boyband concert.
Waiting for: A skill-based MMO with Freedom and Consequence. Woe to thee, the pierce-ed.
11.1 What graphics engine is Age of Conan running?
Age of Conan is based on Funcom’s proprietary DreamWorld engine, which we’ve been working on since our MMO Anarchy Online, which started production in 1996. Today, it is one of the most advanced MMO graphics engines in the industry and renders locations, characters, and effects in a way that pushes the boundries of what was previously possible in an MMO.
Thats from FC themselves. And yes, its been updated and such, but the same could be said for WoWs engine. They could release thier new MMO using an updated version of the engine and it could be just as good.
Thing is they wanted to keep the game looking like warcraft 3 because it fits their world (and they knew it could pretty much run on anything). Problem is that most of the low end PCs today can handle alot more texture/shading/mapping than low end PCs from 4 years ago. So yeah, the engine needs to be and can be updated now without pissing off half thier players (except those who have refused to upgrade that circa 2001 PC....)
There are 3 types of people in the world. 1.) Those who make things happen 2.) Those who watch things happen 3.) And those who wonder "What the %#*& just happened?!"
The AOC diehards, I will refrain from using fanboi for the moment, claimed there was a miracle patch right at the end of beta. However it wasn't a "miracle patch" as every bug (except the newly reintroduced one's in the latest patch) have been present for months now. Also, the letter from funcom gives a rather long term guidemap for how they are going to be updating. Nothing about "this month" as a matter of fact it specifically states "this summer and fall". Pretty much everything in that letter should have been in the release sans the voice over work. I can care less if npc's talk when all they want you to do is to go and kill x of y or bring back x amount of y substance that can only be gotten by killing z amounts of various standing around bags of xp/loot/quest items. Let's look at his letter point by point: We will add content, specifically in mid-late thirties and mid-late fifties and make the leveling speed smoother in those areas, reducing the need to grind. Should have been there from the get go. there has been a huge gap as far as quests go for months upon months. The only reason why they said it would take 250 hours to reach max level is because grinding is EXTRAORDINARILY slow in this game and actual /played of level 80 characters at present are showing about 120 hours to reach max level. We will have an overhaul of the PvP system – adding consequence and a host of small things. Again something that should of been addressed during beta. Fine tuned after release is one thing but, when a game has pvp as such an integral part of the gameplay then wouldn't that be something you wanted to make sure was polished as well as could be expected prior to release? We are fixing bugs you reported through all channels we can get information from. As I have stated before in this thread and in others EVERY bug has been present since beta (except the newly introduced ones with the latest patch) yet for months funcom has been slow to act on these, why should anyone expect or trust in the words of a person that hasn't exactly been forthright and honest up to this point? We are staffing up Customer Service, Quality Assurance and Community departments! Any sort of project manager should of had the CS and QA departments up trained and running long before release. The atrocious customer service isn't entirely due to an understaffed CS department but rather the buggy and broken state that the game was released in. I fthey miraculously fix everything then fantastic. However, it is only because of people like the op, the diehards, and the fanbois that games like this are released in the absolute mess that they are. Act like a bunch of crack addicts that will turn around and start picking through the fibers of their carpet because of that magic rock that they just remembered that they had dropped.
You say summer like it is that far away. It's June 06th and between the op's letter and this one (http://www.mmorpg.com/discussion2.cfm/thread/183784/page/1), they're talking about patching up the pvp content as well as releasing several areas that they felt didn't make the cut by release in June and July. This wouldn't be the first company to have held back later level content from release to be polished. Of course, FunCom has a track record but they really weren't expecting people to have bolted through everything in half the time expected either.
*shrug* It's good to be critical but it seems like some people have gone over the deep end. All I can say is, when the free 30 days end, hold off before subscribing and see what happens with the patching.
Ultimately Vanguard failed because the "miracle patch" didn't exist, so the game went live in a terrible state. Much to my surprise, there really was a miracle patch (well, several, actually) for AoC, so it was playable at launch. I still have my doubts about its long term future as a PC game, but it's impressive for an Xbox MMO, which is where I can see the lng term subscriptions coming from.
It's almost funny how badly some of you people want this game to fail... do you honestly have nothing better to do with your life than to come here and complain about a game that you have decided you will not like no matter what? Go away, trolls. The patches this month will make this great game even better.
Making a post with an idiotic title like that is not going to do you any favors. Never, in the HISTORY of MMOs has one patch fixed even 50% of the problems. You are the troll for starting a thread that was quite obviously contrived to get a reaction. Guess what, the reaction isn't going to be even 50% positive because most people with even a modicum of common sense know that "miracle patches" do not exist.
The AoC engine is the same engine they used in AO (slighly updated) named Dream World. They claim its one of the most advanced MMO engines in the market today (which i dont really see how).
You cant really say that WoWs engine is out dated seeing as it is newer than the Dream World engine (which was created in around 1996). WoWs engine is just a bit more simpler than AoC's engine, not outdated.
Not really the same since then, it's been updated in an evolutionary way, as most engines are.
Funcom began to retool their engine with the overall design, pipeline and implementation process was taken into account. In light of these changes, the DreamWorld engine has been rebuilt for Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures with new features, special effects and optimizations.[29]
"new behavior control center has been designed from scratch for Conan. The system pulls in all control data and links it with character actions (combat, animations, emotes, formations etc.)"
"As such, we decided to focus on the further evolution of our proprietary Dreamworld engine,"
"Not only would this give us a needed edge, (and something different, assuming we would reach our goals), but it would also mean we could build an engine where the overall design, pipeline and implementation process was taken into account. There is naturally more to our technology than just the engine; you probably wouldn't believe how much stuff is being put into it. "
"We have developed a brand new particle effects system for Conan that makes it easy to create stunning looking particle effects."
"Our shader-oriented proprietary render engine re-written from scratch with a phong per pixel lighting system. This engine allows for stunning graphics and ambience, like you can see in the screenshots and videos from the game."
I think i see a similarity about VG and AoC here. Correct me if im wrong. but they are facing problem is because both of them RE-DO their graphic engine which they already have.
Vanguard when they have the Unreal engine, break it down a perfectly good engine and start from scratch.
And from the post above, FC do the same to their Dreamworld engine.
Thus i think most of the time have been spend in putting back up the engine rather than on the game itself.
What you obviously don't realize is the reason why they had to release it before it was ready: THEY RAN OUT OF MONEY. It was either release it and continue finishing up the game, or just flat out cancel it. Hm, let's see what the better route would have been... Honestly, do you think FC would have done this if it had been preventable? Look at the amount of people who are quitting because they want everything NOW, NOW, NOW! They're not stupid, they would have gladly extended the release date if they had been able to. Finished game > unfinished game. Not a very hard concept to grasp.
Quite frankly I don't care about Funcoms problems. They are a business and if they can't conduct "Business" in a business like manner, perhaps they shouldn't be in "Business."Please feel free to share with me another business that would release an unfinished product and expect the consumer to pay for it.
I just simply don't buy the "Ran out of money" thing. Any investor would know the disastrous result of releasing a product that was unfinished. You fork over some more money to protect the money you already have invested. I know, with all the hype smothering this game, they could have come up with more money. They simply made yet another "BAD" decision concerning this game.
In time I'm sure it will be straighten out. But to expect a consumer to act as an investor so they can finish their game, with no hope of a return I might add, is wrong.
Not a very hard concept to grasp.......
~Hairysun~
Well, let's just see, what other companies would possibly release an unfinished product due too running out of money. Hmm... what other games out there could have possibly suffered from financial problems..
Well, let's make a list!
World of Warcraft
Vanguard
Lord of The Rings Online
Everquest 2
Dark and light
That's only 5 that I can think of that were released too early. Or, had major content/bug issues upon release. If you want too count that as being released early. There are many more games other than those 5... but that's just a taste.
Since you obviously don't know anything about business at all. You probably shouldn't be questioning the way Funcom does their business. Their game was finished enough for players too get at least 1-2months of play out of it. At which time I'm sure Funcom had the plans too had a lot more content within the first two months. They had run out of money and needed too release it too get money too continue finishing the game. Blizzard did the same thing with WoW, as did SOE with Vanguard and so forth. All companies due this.
You obviously have no idea how much money it takes too make an MMO. But just for example, Blizzard spent roughly 60million on making WoW, and when released it wasn't even finished.
Hi Pucks, thanks for the post and the info about what Funcom is focusing on re: updates / patches.
From your title, you said AoC is being updated this month and all (or most of) its problems will be solved. In reading the letter from the game director that you posted, I didn't see any kind of timeline for their proposed changes / patches (except for their plan to get the PvP changes out in June). Is there any other evidence / correspondence from Funcom about a timeline for these changes (or anything to imply that the changes will be made this month)?
I saw time lines -- for the next 6 months
More information about the exciting summer and fall Roadmap will come the end of the next week!
new large outdoor region in the 55-60 range this summer
PVP changes only: we plan to get these out sometimes in June
Hi Pucks, thanks for the post and the info about what Funcom is focusing on re: updates / patches.
From your title, you said AoC is being updated this month and all (or most of) its problems will be solved. In reading the letter from the game director that you posted, I didn't see any kind of timeline for their proposed changes / patches (except for their plan to get the PvP changes out in June). Is there any other evidence / correspondence from Funcom about a timeline for these changes (or anything to imply that the changes will be made this month)?
I saw time lines -- for the next 6 months
More information about the exciting summer and fall Roadmap will come the end of the next week!
new large outdoor region in the 55-60 range this summer
PVP changes only: we plan to get these out sometimes in June
What you obviously don't realize is the reason why they had to release it before it was ready: THEY RAN OUT OF MONEY. It was either release it and continue finishing up the game, or just flat out cancel it. Hm, let's see what the better route would have been... Honestly, do you think FC would have done this if it had been preventable? Look at the amount of people who are quitting because they want everything NOW, NOW, NOW! They're not stupid, they would have gladly extended the release date if they had been able to. Finished game > unfinished game. Not a very hard concept to grasp.
Quite frankly I don't care about Funcoms problems. They are a business and if they can't conduct "Business" in a business like manner, perhaps they shouldn't be in "Business."Please feel free to share with me another business that would release an unfinished product and expect the consumer to pay for it.
I just simply don't buy the "Ran out of money" thing. Any investor would know the disastrous result of releasing a product that was unfinished. You fork over some more money to protect the money you already have invested. I know, with all the hype smothering this game, they could have come up with more money. They simply made yet another "BAD" decision concerning this game.
In time I'm sure it will be straighten out. But to expect a consumer to act as an investor so they can finish their game, with no hope of a return I might add, is wrong.
Not a very hard concept to grasp.......
~Hairysun~
Well, let's just see, what other companies would possibly release an unfinished product due too running out of money. Hmm... what other games out there could have possibly suffered from financial problems..
Well, let's make a list!
World of Warcraft
Vanguard
Lord of The Rings Online
Everquest 2
Dark and light
That's only 5 that I can think of that were released too early. Or, had major content/bug issues upon release. If you want too count that as being released early. There are many more games other than those 5... but that's just a taste.
Since you obviously don't know anything about business at all. You probably shouldn't be questioning the way Funcom does their business. Their game was finished enough for players too get at least 1-2months of play out of it. At which time I'm sure Funcom had the plans too had a lot more content within the first two months. They had run out of money and needed too release it too get money too continue finishing the game. Blizzard did the same thing with WoW, as did SOE with Vanguard and so forth. All companies due this.
You obviously have no idea how much money it takes too make an MMO. But just for example, Blizzard spent roughly 60million on making WoW, and when released it wasn't even finished.
Sigh ........ no shit. My point exactly. Perhaps I should be a little clearer next time. Lets try again ...... Please feel free to share with me another business (Besides an MMORPG gaming company) that would release an unfinished product and expect the consumer to pay for it. Another poster mentioned Microsoft and other software companies ...... tell me how many people bought "Vista" on release and felt like they had been completely ripped-off because it would not work. Granted, now it seems they have ironed out a lot of the problems but to release that shit is both dishonest and deceitful.
The fact that people put up with these deceitful companies perpetuates the problem. As a matter of fact it seems all the MMO companies are doing this. You say Funcom needed to release the game to get money to finish the game. That is ass backwards .... it is dishonest. Actually Funcom now needs the money to hire more "Support" employees to handle all the pissed off people that bought it and can't play or have some other in game problem.
Your attitude on this perplexes me. I know enough about business to run one and if I treated my customers the way Funcom treated theirs it wouldn't be long before I had no customers. At release of an MMO I expect bugs, problems with users rigs running the game, content that will grow as time goes on but Funcom has set a new standard on all of the above. The game should have never been released ..... period.
Funcom was broke........ pffft ...... let's sit back and see how quickly they straighten this game out now that they are rolling in your money. If done in a timely manner I will be the first one to eat crow. I just can't help but feel this is Anarchy Online all over again. Just wait till they put promised features/content in an expansion and charge you $20 for it. Funcom is a shady company that is not to be trusted ...... simple.
~Hairysun~
P.S. I'm fully aware of the kind of both time and money that goes into making an MMO. To a company that is able to pull it off though 100k is like chump change ..... it's all relative.
Comments
I'm going to have agree with Xasapis. Some of you are confusing Art Style with graphics ENGINE.
Huge difference.
AoC's Graphics Engine is far superior to WoW's outdated one, but the Art Style is totally subjective.
Personally i like WoW's, but AoC's is great too, the art style i mean.
The AoC engine is the same engine they used in AO (slighly updated) named Dream World. They claim its one of the most advanced MMO engines in the market today (which i dont really see how).
As for art style, AoC's art direction fits well within the context of the Conan world, where WoWs art style fits well within its world. If you tried to make a Conan game with the same style as WoW, ugh... You would end up with a game that looks more like Avatar the last air bender...
You cant really say that WoWs engine is out dated seeing as it is newer than the Dream World engine (which was created in around 1996). WoWs engine is just a bit more simpler than AoC's engine, not outdated.
There are 3 types of people in the world.
1.) Those who make things happen
2.) Those who watch things happen
3.) And those who wonder "What the %#*& just happened?!"
Less subscribers is bad news for AoC too, it will severely damage it's growth and refinement. Just look what happened to Matrix Online, Vanguard, SWG, EQ2, etc.... Why a company would strive to be the next SOE is beyond me.
I just simply don't buy the "Ran out of money" thing. Any investor would know the disastrous result of releasing a product that was unfinished. You fork over some more money to protect the money you already have invested. I know, with all the hype smothering this game, they could have come up with more money. They simply made yet another "BAD" decision concerning this game.
In time I'm sure it will be straighten out. But to expect a consumer to act as an investor so they can finish their game, with no hope of a return I might add, is wrong.
Not a very hard concept to grasp.......
~Hairysun~
Hmm ok lets think of examples...Microsoft/sigil to name just a few in this industry
face it when talking about this type of buisness you rather dropped the ball there friend..id say 75% of compnays release their products unfinished and patch/update later.
And any decent buisness would rather release early generate income and finish the product rather than throw all that spent cash away...Any average buisness mind could see that
.
From your title, you said AoC is being updated this month and all (or most of) its problems will be solved. In reading the letter from the game director that you posted, I didn't see any kind of timeline for their proposed changes / patches (except for their plan to get the PvP changes out in June).
Is there any other evidence / correspondence from Funcom about a timeline for these changes (or anything to imply that the changes will be made this month)?
Thats like Ford selling you a new truck and then telling you it will be in a driveable condition in a few months after you handed over the $30k.
I'm just not understanding your reason for complaining...what's done is done.
Maybe I just didn't come into this with extremely high expectations like the rest of you.
Nah, I had no expectations for this game what so ever. When they ignored issues we reported in beta (and I mean like back in the first stage of beta) I knew what the game was going to end up being like. They pulled the same thing in AO beta. We told them about issues and they turned a deaf ear. When several of us spent 3-5 days stuck under the city of Rome having a dev tell us there wasnt much the could do and we would have to delete and start a new toon it was annoying. Being told it was fixed and then having it happen again was bad enough. Then when the game released and after 2 you try to zone and end up under the world again, yeah....Thing is the whole "Whats done is done" attitude is basically letting devs think that its OK to keep releasing buggy games missing half the content they promised for launch. It has gotten so common that now we are seeing it in console games where the release now, patch later concept is becoming standard practice.
If you are unhappy with the state of a game you should let it be known, even if you love the game, that its not ok to promise now and deliver later.
There are 3 types of people in the world.
1.) Those who make things happen
2.) Those who watch things happen
3.) And those who wonder "What the %#*& just happened?!"
Problems I have with most mmorps still aint fixed years later, infact they make them worse like world PVP in WOW.
Not really the same since then, it's been updated in an evolutionary way, as most engines are.
....and more explanations in that link.
So to say WoW's is newer than AoC's is not entirely accurate.
I don't base my monetary decisions on hopes, dreams, what-ifs, coulda woulda shoulda beens. I base things on how they are at the current point in time. If these issues are ever fixed, I may possible take another look at it. But if its currently in a poor state, thats what decision's should be based on.
I don't really care at all what some random fan read in their magical crystal ball that can see in the future. Hearsay has no place in logic based decisions. I'm not some starstruck teenybopper at a boyband concert.
Waiting for: A skill-based MMO with Freedom and Consequence.
Woe to thee, the pierce-ed.
11.1 What graphics engine is Age of Conan running?
Age of Conan is based on Funcom’s proprietary DreamWorld engine, which we’ve been working on since our MMO Anarchy Online, which started production in 1996. Today, it is one of the most advanced MMO graphics engines in the industry and renders locations, characters, and effects in a way that pushes the boundries of what was previously possible in an MMO.
community.ageofconan.com/wsp/conan/frontend.cgi
Thats from FC themselves. And yes, its been updated and such, but the same could be said for WoWs engine. They could release thier new MMO using an updated version of the engine and it could be just as good.
Thing is they wanted to keep the game looking like warcraft 3 because it fits their world (and they knew it could pretty much run on anything). Problem is that most of the low end PCs today can handle alot more texture/shading/mapping than low end PCs from 4 years ago. So yeah, the engine needs to be and can be updated now without pissing off half thier players (except those who have refused to upgrade that circa 2001 PC....)
There are 3 types of people in the world.
1.) Those who make things happen
2.) Those who watch things happen
3.) And those who wonder "What the %#*& just happened?!"
You say summer like it is that far away. It's June 06th and between the op's letter and this one (http://www.mmorpg.com/discussion2.cfm/thread/183784/page/1), they're talking about patching up the pvp content as well as releasing several areas that they felt didn't make the cut by release in June and July. This wouldn't be the first company to have held back later level content from release to be polished. Of course, FunCom has a track record but they really weren't expecting people to have bolted through everything in half the time expected either.
*shrug* It's good to be critical but it seems like some people have gone over the deep end. All I can say is, when the free 30 days end, hold off before subscribing and see what happens with the patching.
Ultimately Vanguard failed because the "miracle patch" didn't exist, so the game went live in a terrible state. Much to my surprise, there really was a miracle patch (well, several, actually) for AoC, so it was playable at launch. I still have my doubts about its long term future as a PC game, but it's impressive for an Xbox MMO, which is where I can see the lng term subscriptions coming from.
S
Not really the same since then, it's been updated in an evolutionary way, as most engines are.
I think i see a similarity about VG and AoC here. Correct me if im wrong. but they are facing problem is because both of them RE-DO their graphic engine which they already have.
Vanguard when they have the Unreal engine, break it down a perfectly good engine and start from scratch.
And from the post above, FC do the same to their Dreamworld engine.
Thus i think most of the time have been spend in putting back up the engine rather than on the game itself.
RIP Orc Choppa
Quite frankly I don't care about Funcoms problems. They are a business and if they can't conduct "Business" in a business like manner, perhaps they shouldn't be in "Business." Please feel free to share with me another business that would release an unfinished product and expect the consumer to pay for it.I just simply don't buy the "Ran out of money" thing. Any investor would know the disastrous result of releasing a product that was unfinished. You fork over some more money to protect the money you already have invested. I know, with all the hype smothering this game, they could have come up with more money. They simply made yet another "BAD" decision concerning this game.
In time I'm sure it will be straighten out. But to expect a consumer to act as an investor so they can finish their game, with no hope of a return I might add, is wrong.
Not a very hard concept to grasp.......
~Hairysun~
Well, let's just see, what other companies would possibly release an unfinished product due too running out of money. Hmm... what other games out there could have possibly suffered from financial problems..
Well, let's make a list!
World of Warcraft
Vanguard
Lord of The Rings Online
Everquest 2
Dark and light
That's only 5 that I can think of that were released too early. Or, had major content/bug issues upon release. If you want too count that as being released early. There are many more games other than those 5... but that's just a taste.
Since you obviously don't know anything about business at all. You probably shouldn't be questioning the way Funcom does their business. Their game was finished enough for players too get at least 1-2months of play out of it. At which time I'm sure Funcom had the plans too had a lot more content within the first two months. They had run out of money and needed too release it too get money too continue finishing the game. Blizzard did the same thing with WoW, as did SOE with Vanguard and so forth. All companies due this.
You obviously have no idea how much money it takes too make an MMO. But just for example, Blizzard spent roughly 60million on making WoW, and when released it wasn't even finished.
Playing: WoW,
Played: Aion, AoC, Eve, EQ, EQ2, LOTRO, Runescape, Guild Wars, DAoC, Planetside, SWG, WAR, Darkfall
Wanting to try: DCU Online
Waiting For: Star Wars The Old Republic, Guild Wars 2.
More information about the exciting summer and fall Roadmap will come the end of the next week!
new large outdoor region in the 55-60 range this summer
PVP changes only: we plan to get these out sometimes in June
EQ2 fan sites
More information about the exciting summer and fall Roadmap will come the end of the next week!
new large outdoor region in the 55-60 range this summer
PVP changes only: we plan to get these out sometimes in June
Ah - I missed that. Thanks.
I just simply don't buy the "Ran out of money" thing. Any investor would know the disastrous result of releasing a product that was unfinished. You fork over some more money to protect the money you already have invested. I know, with all the hype smothering this game, they could have come up with more money. They simply made yet another "BAD" decision concerning this game.
In time I'm sure it will be straighten out. But to expect a consumer to act as an investor so they can finish their game, with no hope of a return I might add, is wrong.
Not a very hard concept to grasp.......
~Hairysun~
Well, let's just see, what other companies would possibly release an unfinished product due too running out of money. Hmm... what other games out there could have possibly suffered from financial problems..
Well, let's make a list!
World of Warcraft
Vanguard
Lord of The Rings Online
Everquest 2
Dark and light
That's only 5 that I can think of that were released too early. Or, had major content/bug issues upon release. If you want too count that as being released early. There are many more games other than those 5... but that's just a taste.
Since you obviously don't know anything about business at all. You probably shouldn't be questioning the way Funcom does their business. Their game was finished enough for players too get at least 1-2months of play out of it. At which time I'm sure Funcom had the plans too had a lot more content within the first two months. They had run out of money and needed too release it too get money too continue finishing the game. Blizzard did the same thing with WoW, as did SOE with Vanguard and so forth. All companies due this.
You obviously have no idea how much money it takes too make an MMO. But just for example, Blizzard spent roughly 60million on making WoW, and when released it wasn't even finished.
Sigh ........ no shit. My point exactly. Perhaps I should be a little clearer next time. Lets try again ...... Please feel free to share with me another business (Besides an MMORPG gaming company) that would release an unfinished product and expect the consumer to pay for it. Another poster mentioned Microsoft and other software companies ...... tell me how many people bought "Vista" on release and felt like they had been completely ripped-off because it would not work. Granted, now it seems they have ironed out a lot of the problems but to release that shit is both dishonest and deceitful.The fact that people put up with these deceitful companies perpetuates the problem. As a matter of fact it seems all the MMO companies are doing this. You say Funcom needed to release the game to get money to finish the game. That is ass backwards .... it is dishonest. Actually Funcom now needs the money to hire more "Support" employees to handle all the pissed off people that bought it and can't play or have some other in game problem.
Your attitude on this perplexes me. I know enough about business to run one and if I treated my customers the way Funcom treated theirs it wouldn't be long before I had no customers. At release of an MMO I expect bugs, problems with users rigs running the game, content that will grow as time goes on but Funcom has set a new standard on all of the above. The game should have never been released ..... period.
Funcom was broke........ pffft ...... let's sit back and see how quickly they straighten this game out now that they are rolling in your money. If done in a timely manner I will be the first one to eat crow. I just can't help but feel this is Anarchy Online all over again. Just wait till they put promised features/content in an expansion and charge you $20 for it. Funcom is a shady company that is not to be trusted ...... simple.
~Hairysun~
P.S. I'm fully aware of the kind of both time and money that goes into making an MMO. To a company that is able to pull it off though 100k is like chump change ..... it's all relative.
http://www.straightdope.com/