Truth be told, if I were not playing with good friends, I don't think I'd even enjoy this game at this time. But I lucked out there. Sadly, it's similar to Vanguard in many ways in my eyes. I hope it doesn't go down that road though... I will be sad to see another MMO tank within 3 months
You really should mention this in your review. Any game is more fun when played with friends.
Better yet, for a truly objective review, create a character your friends don't even know about and write the review based on that character's experiences.
Since this is an MMO, a review written by someone who didn't play with friends wouldn't be accurate or representative of someone's experience in the game. It's important that when reviewing an MMO you DO play with friends because that's what most people do.
Maybe if he had made a character on a separate server and "made" friends, but I still think more people start playing with friends than make friends after they start playing.
Point being, it's more accurate of a review this way.
--------------------------------------------- I live to fight, and fight to live.
Thank you for this fair and honest review, Cymdai. So I was wise to wait-and-see before buying AoC. I will give it a few months to cook and then check again to see if it's ready for consumption.
Very good review, but I have had two level 30 characters and over 70hours playtime and have yet to crash for a sound issue? Only crashed once, right after a patch but that was during Beta..
Originally posted by Rhoklaw No discredit to Cymdai, but it's funny how many people jump on the Staff Writer's bandwagon and congradulate him on a great review. Makes me wonder if he had posted this review under a different name and title, if everyone would have had such a pleasant response. Reason I'm even saying this is because while his review was definately complete and covered all areas, from good to bad, truth is, most of his review had been pointed out by either a hater or a fanboi. Before anyone goes into frenzy mode and starts tainting this thread with the exact type of responses we don't need. Just take a moment to understand that while some people tend to use more colorful metaphors in their reviews, doesn't mean what they say isn't spot on. Just some food for thought...
Very well put. I was pondering posting a similar post, but decided that I probably could not put it diplomatically enough, to not derail the subject. However you have succeeded at just that, so thumbs up from here.
The only review i have read to date which is honest and reasonably unbiased. Says something about AoC reviewees in general tbh, but this is the exception.
67% is generous imo, but thats just me.
Expresso gave me a Hearthstone beta key.....I'm so happy
Well i thought the review was great, and very good format and helpful, and that was before i looked at who wrote it, Call me mad but i dont really read WHO is writing, i read what was written because im not here long enough to know people and how or what way they write I seen the disclaimer and was like hmm thats strange then 2nd page seen he was a writer for MMORPG
So i doubt people are sucking up to him and really, why would they? is there some rewards for sucking up to the writers here that i dont know about?
The only review i have read to date which is honest and reasonably unbiased. Says something about AoC reviewees in general tbh, but this is the exception. 67% is generous imo, but thats just me.
So when I say AoC is broken because of A, B and C and get told by fanbois to get bent. Then a staff writer comes along and writes exactly the same thing and get's 100% praise for it, what do you call that? I think that has more to do with reviewers status than their honesty and unbiased statements. But what do I know, I'm not a staff writer.
I can totally understand what you're saying. For me, it was the fact that Cymdai has done something that 99% of us haven't done yet - participated in a siege. So his opinion is extremely valid, and not something that's easy to dismiss. That's probably why no overzealous lovers of the game (i hate saying fanboi) have said anything yet.
No discredit to Cymdai, but it's funny how many people jump on the Staff Writer's bandwagon and congradulate him on a great review.
Has nothing to do with him being a staff writer. A one star first poster could have posted the same thing and it would have been a good review. Also, some people would take a staff writer's review over someone who has an agenda.
Food for thought ;oP
People who have to create conspiracy and hate threads to further a cause lacks in intellectual comprehension of diversity.
I would point out you said it would take about on average of 8 hours to get assistance... that's pretty quick imo..
Blizzard gives you about 1-3 days
SOE upto a week
CCP up to amazing 4 weeks... that's why I quitted EVE... I mean with that slow response time when bugs happens it's amazing people bother to put in a petition... when I started it took 1-3 days, last year my last petition was 27 days almost 4 weeks and CCP ofcourse came with a nice apology but it didn't actually help get my ship back a month later when I needed it preferable within a few days.
This puzzles me a lot since WoW has a much larger player base but we get help pretty fast while EVE has a tiny base in comparison... CCP should hire more people if they're having so much problems attending their customers needs.
I would point out you said it would take about on average of 8 hours to get assistance... that's pretty quick imo..
Blizzard gives you about 1-3 days SOE upto a week CCP up to amazing 4 weeks... that's why I quitted EVE... I mean with that slow response time when bugs happens it's amazing people bother to put in a petition... when I started it took 1-3 days, last year my last petition was 27 days almost 4 weeks and CCP ofcourse came with a nice apology but it didn't actually help get my ship back a month later when I needed it preferable within a few days.
This puzzles me a lot since WoW has a much larger player base but we get help pretty fast while EVE has a tiny base in comparison... CCP should hire more people if they're having so much problems attending their customers needs.
Well, my main issue with Funcom's service is that while it may take 8 hours, that's 8 hours you're going to have to have free. They have this delightful habit of deleting *all* petitions, rather than less severe ones.
For example, I haven't been able to craft in almost week (Trade Skill issues). Now these issues are 100% not going to resolve themselves, so why delete my petition because of the GM's poor response time? I can understand deleting some petitions after a set time period (profanity, for example), but what about the players who can't stay logged in for a full day? Don't they deserve to be helped as well?
However... wow. After a full week, regardless of the game and the time it has been out, would be the maximum time I would wait for a response for a paid game. I give you props for your patience!
Waiting for something fresh to arrive on the MMO scene...
Thank you for your time and effort as well as posting this review.
Several points that stood out was the playing with friends comment. I believe that is true of any online game. It is lonely without pals and gets to be a chore if the community is like some other offerings .
The other part was the fact that you made it past level 20 and saw a taste of end game. By the time casual players make it to that point more bugs and most certainly exploits should be taken care of .
I do think mmorp's are having a harder time attracting new players at this point due to some serious faulty releases and perhaps folks just aren't ready to go through that yet. With seeing a review that states the good with the bad so clearly it might help them to decide to wait a few months and or even a free trial before they sink into and regret the purchase latter.
Great review. I canceled my sub for those reasons, BUT I am going to give it another try in a few months. The game has alot of potential. I just do not believe in paying for a beta.
I didn't know the OP was a Staff Writer before reading it and I couldn't care either way if they were. What really caught me was that it was a review from levels 1-80 when the vast majority of the reviews I have seen have been from 1-30.
I have asked a handfull of people on how they got past level 51 since I ran out of quests around that time. They all said they kill everything on the way to a quest objective and don't avoid mobs. I noticed you, Cymdai, said that you had questing issues from 47-50 and 57-60. From level 49-51 I only had 1-3 new solo quests each time I leveled which clearly wasn't enough for my liking. You had said their was only a little bit of grinding, but I experienced quite the opposite. So I am curious how you leveled whether it be dungeon crawls or grinding. I am always curious to see if I missed a zone or something else.
Seems to me from all the reviews I've been reading, that the only thing AoC did right was picking the release date. In other words they knew the MMO market was there for the taking, everyone seems to be waiting on the next BIG thing.
Lets market all these next gen promises, hook line and sinker, then worry about them when we have your sub. Great practice.
Your review is a sugar-coated, tilted,sales job masquerading as a neutral review. It is the equivalent of the oil companies explaining the sudden,viscious jump in gas prices as having nothing to do with greed. I too have a level 80,have played since Beta. I played on a brand new quad -core,with great memory and a great video card. I have played on both pvp and pve servers.Your experience, regarding the abscence of the horrid level of technical difficulties plaguing this game, is either unique to you alone,totally and intentionally omissive,or a plain lie. I have read many forums about this game...volumes of forums. To disregard,as you do,the level of fury and being let down expressed by previously unseen volumes of players is to bury your head in the sand and be in a abject state of denial. Many are simply crushed that the game they thought would be their new home was a marketing scam. As to the population...it is far worse than most players have ever experieced in any game ,on the pvp servers. Those WoW kids,the ones who drew pictures of cats in chat,and ran through Storm Wind naked hollering,"Hic,I'm drunk." They're there... and far worse. And they have started to destroy the pve servers now.
"I knew John Kennedy,John Kennedy was a friend of mine.You Senator,are no John Kennedy."
fair review, and contrary to the poster above, i dont believe its a suger coated one.
my general summing up of aoc is that if you mostly play in a group with your guildies and/or friends then you will enjoy it lots. if you plan to solo it, it can be the most tedious and frustrating experience you are ever going to have in a game.
the thing i am most let down by is the lack of social tools. the UI is the worst ever design for finding/forming groups - in fact its terrible in all chatting aspects. and the game itself doesnt have a central point to congregate at, and of course the instancing detracts from this.
i read somewhere when it was called mmo-lite - this is my opinion also.
<<Armor sets look great as the game progresses. While I'm not necessarily a fan of wearing a skirt for 90% of the game, I was satisfied with the differences in appearance throughout my playing of the game.>>
I can't stand wearing a skirt. I would rather wear pants or a loincloth. And most (95%+) of the mid-range light armor pieces look virtually identical. The only choices I've had so far (30-60) have been skirt length and, sometimes, in the shade of brown.
And I think it could take more than a month or two to make a big difference. The patches so far have been less than good (I had to re-install the game after one).
Comments
You really should mention this in your review. Any game is more fun when played with friends.
Better yet, for a truly objective review, create a character your friends don't even know about and write the review based on that character's experiences.
Since this is an MMO, a review written by someone who didn't play with friends wouldn't be accurate or representative of someone's experience in the game. It's important that when reviewing an MMO you DO play with friends because that's what most people do.
Maybe if he had made a character on a separate server and "made" friends, but I still think more people start playing with friends than make friends after they start playing.
Point being, it's more accurate of a review this way.
---------------------------------------------
I live to fight, and fight to live.
Thank you for this fair and honest review, Cymdai. So I was wise to wait-and-see before buying AoC. I will give it a few months to cook and then check again to see if it's ready for consumption.
Very good review, but I have had two level 30 characters and over 70hours playtime and have yet to crash for a sound issue? Only crashed once, right after a patch but that was during Beta..
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-Currently playing FFXIV, and BDO.
good review OP. pretty much agree with a lot of your thoughts.
The only review i have read to date which is honest and reasonably unbiased. Says something about AoC reviewees in general tbh, but this is the exception.
67% is generous imo, but thats just me.
Expresso gave me a Hearthstone beta key.....I'm so happy
Not sure if this is the only honest and reasonable. I've read many on these boards that didn't have an advertising dollar attached to them.
It's refreshing to see a person associated with a gaming company advertising site, warning consumers of a product with legitimate data/experience.
If it had been one of us unaffiliated peoples, it would probably be under attack already.
Thanks, Cymdai
I was curious what your view was after the Siege debacle from the other day.
Well i thought the review was great, and very good format and helpful, and that was before i looked at who wrote it, Call me mad but i dont really read WHO is writing, i read what was written because im not here long enough to know people and how or what way they write I seen the disclaimer and was like hmm thats strange then 2nd page seen he was a writer for MMORPG
So i doubt people are sucking up to him and really, why would they? is there some rewards for sucking up to the writers here that i dont know about?
Kudos Cymdai
So when I say AoC is broken because of A, B and C and get told by fanbois to get bent. Then a staff writer comes along and writes exactly the same thing and get's 100% praise for it, what do you call that? I think that has more to do with reviewers status than their honesty and unbiased statements. But what do I know, I'm not a staff writer.
I can totally understand what you're saying. For me, it was the fact that Cymdai has done something that 99% of us haven't done yet - participated in a siege. So his opinion is extremely valid, and not something that's easy to dismiss. That's probably why no overzealous lovers of the game (i hate saying fanboi) have said anything yet.
Now that's a fair and good review, unlike MMORPG's "1-20" review.
Has nothing to do with him being a staff writer. A one star first poster could have posted the same thing and it would have been a good review. Also, some people would take a staff writer's review over someone who has an agenda.
Food for thought ;oP
People who have to create conspiracy and hate threads to further a cause lacks in intellectual comprehension of diversity.
Honest and fair review. Why isn't this an official review? MMORPG should support more kind of this content and level of writing.
nice and balanced review..
I would point out you said it would take about on average of 8 hours to get assistance... that's pretty quick imo..
Blizzard gives you about 1-3 days
SOE upto a week
CCP up to amazing 4 weeks... that's why I quitted EVE... I mean with that slow response time when bugs happens it's amazing people bother to put in a petition... when I started it took 1-3 days, last year my last petition was 27 days almost 4 weeks and CCP ofcourse came with a nice apology but it didn't actually help get my ship back a month later when I needed it preferable within a few days.
This puzzles me a lot since WoW has a much larger player base but we get help pretty fast while EVE has a tiny base in comparison... CCP should hire more people if they're having so much problems attending their customers needs.
Well, my main issue with Funcom's service is that while it may take 8 hours, that's 8 hours you're going to have to have free. They have this delightful habit of deleting *all* petitions, rather than less severe ones.
For example, I haven't been able to craft in almost week (Trade Skill issues). Now these issues are 100% not going to resolve themselves, so why delete my petition because of the GM's poor response time? I can understand deleting some petitions after a set time period (profanity, for example), but what about the players who can't stay logged in for a full day? Don't they deserve to be helped as well?
However... wow. After a full week, regardless of the game and the time it has been out, would be the maximum time I would wait for a response for a paid game. I give you props for your patience!
Waiting for something fresh to arrive on the MMO scene...
Thank you for your time and effort as well as posting this review.
Several points that stood out was the playing with friends comment. I believe that is true of any online game. It is lonely without pals and gets to be a chore if the community is like some other offerings .
The other part was the fact that you made it past level 20 and saw a taste of end game. By the time casual players make it to that point more bugs and most certainly exploits should be taken care of .
I do think mmorp's are having a harder time attracting new players at this point due to some serious faulty releases and perhaps folks just aren't ready to go through that yet. With seeing a review that states the good with the bad so clearly it might help them to decide to wait a few months and or even a free trial before they sink into and regret the purchase latter.
Great review. I canceled my sub for those reasons, BUT I am going to give it another try in a few months. The game has alot of potential. I just do not believe in paying for a beta.
"Freedom is just another name for nothing left to lose" - Janis Joplin
I didn't know the OP was a Staff Writer before reading it and I couldn't care either way if they were. What really caught me was that it was a review from levels 1-80 when the vast majority of the reviews I have seen have been from 1-30.
I have asked a handfull of people on how they got past level 51 since I ran out of quests around that time. They all said they kill everything on the way to a quest objective and don't avoid mobs. I noticed you, Cymdai, said that you had questing issues from 47-50 and 57-60. From level 49-51 I only had 1-3 new solo quests each time I leveled which clearly wasn't enough for my liking. You had said their was only a little bit of grinding, but I experienced quite the opposite. So I am curious how you leveled whether it be dungeon crawls or grinding. I am always curious to see if I missed a zone or something else.
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A work in progress: (Update: 08/09/10)Easily find your favorite type of MMO
Customer support is an embarrassment, true. Very bold review, appreciate the effort.
Finally a review with a fair and accurate score.
Seems to me from all the reviews I've been reading, that the only thing AoC did right was picking the release date. In other words they knew the MMO market was there for the taking, everyone seems to be waiting on the next BIG thing.
Lets market all these next gen promises, hook line and sinker, then worry about them when we have your sub. Great practice.
Do you want to get paid $12/hr as a gm and they will not offer relocation assistance job at funcom usa? Yea i didnt think so.
Your review is a sugar-coated, tilted,sales job masquerading as a neutral review. It is the equivalent of the oil companies explaining the sudden,viscious jump in gas prices as having nothing to do with greed. I too have a level 80,have played since Beta. I played on a brand new quad -core,with great memory and a great video card. I have played on both pvp and pve servers.Your experience, regarding the abscence of the horrid level of technical difficulties plaguing this game, is either unique to you alone,totally and intentionally omissive,or a plain lie. I have read many forums about this game...volumes of forums. To disregard,as you do,the level of fury and being let down expressed by previously unseen volumes of players is to bury your head in the sand and be in a abject state of denial. Many are simply crushed that the game they thought would be their new home was a marketing scam. As to the population...it is far worse than most players have ever experieced in any game ,on the pvp servers. Those WoW kids,the ones who drew pictures of cats in chat,and ran through Storm Wind naked hollering,"Hic,I'm drunk." They're there... and far worse. And they have started to destroy the pve servers now.
"I knew John Kennedy,John Kennedy was a friend of mine.You Senator,are no John Kennedy."
fair review, and contrary to the poster above, i dont believe its a suger coated one.
my general summing up of aoc is that if you mostly play in a group with your guildies and/or friends then you will enjoy it lots. if you plan to solo it, it can be the most tedious and frustrating experience you are ever going to have in a game.
the thing i am most let down by is the lack of social tools. the UI is the worst ever design for finding/forming groups - in fact its terrible in all chatting aspects. and the game itself doesnt have a central point to congregate at, and of course the instancing detracts from this.
i read somewhere when it was called mmo-lite - this is my opinion also.
Only two things I don't agree with:
<<Armor sets look great as the game progresses. While I'm not necessarily a fan of wearing a skirt for 90% of the game, I was satisfied with the differences in appearance throughout my playing of the game.>>
I can't stand wearing a skirt. I would rather wear pants or a loincloth. And most (95%+) of the mid-range light armor pieces look virtually identical. The only choices I've had so far (30-60) have been skirt length and, sometimes, in the shade of brown.
And I think it could take more than a month or two to make a big difference. The patches so far have been less than good (I had to re-install the game after one).
But otherwise I agree with you 100%.