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Let me tell you about AOC from an ex fan POV
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I hear what you're saying, but I don't feel bad for you. You're probably one of the people that called me a loser because I didn't have a top of the line, hardcore gamer system just to run the game. Though I agree with you 100% that you shouldn't be baned for stating your opinion or issues.
A tiny mind is a tidy mind...
Everyone has to be burned once by those unfinished, so called, MMO, to know that you dont buy a game the fisrt few months. I got burned on Fury, other have on AOC.
All the complaints are correct and untill someone takes one of those companies to cort, forcing them to refund each and every copy that proclaimes features that are not implemented and are buggy, so you are not able to play them, they will continue to release unfinished games.
Hhussk the only person who needs to know that information at this point is Funcom and my BBB report should make that one pretty clear.
I pre-ordered the game online to get my Mammoth and all that good stuff. Did not order soon enough to get in the early access before all the keys were gone. Had a buddy who ordered the collectors before me and got his early access. He said the game was refreshing but the fact he never got over level 30ish due to making alts and trying different things. The game also has been said to have worked better prior to the retail release and in beta before the retail patches were applied.
At first my old P4 could not play the game without lagging like hell. So it was about time to upgrade anyway and i spent a good bit to build a good machine. Well that took me near three weeks of planning then waiting on shipping from Newegg and having to RMA a bad board. During this time there was a patch that basically made my old machine almost unable to play at all. The FPS got so bad the game would lock up for a few seconds every couple mins which my machine was under spec it was to be expected.
New machine was able to play great and i was back in business. Few more levels on my HOX and the class got old so i made a bear shaman. Was not very fond of getting my ass handed to me by TOS so it was time to roll my own TOS. I almost never crashed and the game seemed to be running great. Then finally getting to the high level areas things started to change. Not only that even going back to Tortage was now starting to cause those dreaded memory leaks.
Moving on it was my hope that things would improve so i held in there but played a bit less. Started trying to help others on the forums who could barely play the game. In the process and due to the sheer number of people having problems it was just to much. I started playing again had mount at level 43 due to a 5 hours session of grinding resources to sell. So now im trying out this whole mount thing and it sucked for anything but traveling open roads or low level areas. Forget trying to run past a field of mobs they just knock you on your butt. Mounted combat forget about that too because you cant use all your abilities which killed that for me. I can tell you the Mammoth for PVE is pretty pointless and the slow speed was not what was really expected.
I stuck it out and played a bit more again hoping to see positive change. Next patch came it fixed nothing though it was said the patch would improve client performance. It was another lie my client was crashing even more then it was before and in pretty much every zone. I held back for a long time endured lots of crap but refuse to stand behind a developer who sells me snake oil and then offers to make it all better by selling me lube. Either way they have lost as i've stated in my BBB report if they wont reimburse me then chargebacks will be forthcoming.
Had they admitted failing and offered a month of compensation it may have made up for many of the wrongs. Instead they make a very bold statement in an interview about WOW being McDonald's and AOC being Steak. I would have to disagree and all the food hype in the world on forums wont change a damn thing at this point. They owe compensation of some type a month of extra time or maybe even a free Happy Meal as a show of good faith. Instead they are busy handing out forum bans to unsatisfied customers as a way of saying thank you for the support.
I am not here to ask anyone to feel sorry for me. Again they will be giving me back every cent i paid and im 100% sure of that. But others need to know and im not going to let AOC-Protus or some other jerk spread more lies about how perfect the game is. It was in fact his posts that provoked me to come here and say what i felt needs to be said.
This thread seem to fit this post very much:
forums-eu.ageofconan.com/showthread.php
Cry me a river...
I just quit age of conan and went back to lotro.
buying the aoc CE - 80 bucks
hating a game - priceless
MMOs currently playing: -
About to play: Lord of the Rings Online
Played: Anarchy Online (alltime favorite) and lots of f2p titles (honorable mentions: 9Dragons, Martial Heroes, Dekaron, Atlantica Online)
you know you sound exactly like "AOC - Tester" that used to do nothing else but bash the game all day long . funny huh.
Hmmm... Between those who love the game and hate the game I can only wonder what class they chose to play
Or the people who are loving the game---Isn't it great that the character you wanted to play wound up to be so powerful? Ohhh, that's a lot of fun...
See what I'm getting at? Class imbalance can totally break a game into 1000s of pieces.
I think the ones doing a piss poor job at trolling me are missing the point.
Endorsing a site that supports gold selling was the same as pissing in my bowl of cheerios. It was the straw that finally managed to break the camels back. It's one thing to sell me a game that becomes more broken the longer you play it. I played Neocron for years and anyone who has played that game would know it takes a special kind of person to appreciate it.
They banned me for putting an end to their little side venture. You can post all kinds of crap they will lock your posts might give you an infraction. But when they ban you for questioning them about supporting a site advertising gold and hacks that's another story. I know there are exploits as do most of the players who have played past level 30. Obviously they want the gold adverts in game or else they could have filtered the domains of these sites. Sure they ban those accounts being used to advertise gold after a week has gone by. I obviously sang the wrong tune at the wrong time and they wanted me silenced quickly.
Anyone who has played Lineage 2 knows what harboring gold farmers does to an MMO. All the keeps are run by those who have access to daddy's credit card when the taxes are coming up short. If you want to see AOC go down that same path where the only ones who get to own battle keeps are gold buyers then feel free to enjoy your undercooked steak.
I am not here to ask anyone to feel sorry for me. Again they will be giving me back every cent i paid and im 100% sure of that. But others need to know and im not going to let AOC-Protus or some other jerk spread more lies about how perfect the game is. It was in fact his posts that provoked me to come here and say what i felt needs to be said.
I'm willing to bet that you don't get a single cent back, and if you go to court youll end up thousands of dollars in the red. Just because you did not like the game and feel let down and abused, does not entitle you to a refund. Your posts on the forums were probably against the ToS. The only thing Funcom will give you is a bunch of pre-written e-mail apologies.
I'm no AoC fanboy here either, in fact I think the game is pile of steaming crap. Just because YOU made the stupid move of buying a controversial game, upgrading your PC and devoting yourself to the game does not make you any kind of martyr. Get over yourself. You won't get back a dime. I bet you are one of those people that goes to see a movie and asks for a refund because you didn't like it.
I love the style of the game, but the game is broken and terribly incomplete. You'll probably find that the most vocal critics love some aspects of the game, which just makes them more ticked off that Funcom ruined the game by launching way too early.
Even if it's "fixed" in a year, it will never win back the vast majority of those who left in disgust. This game could have easily been a million+ active subscriber (and growing) title, if they had delayed release by another 6 to 12 months and made good use of that time.
Want to know more about GW2 and why there is so much buzz? Start here: Guild Wars 2 Mass Info for the Uninitiated
Let me clue you in on how getting refunds for unsatisfactory products and services work in the real world.
Consumer Protection Law of the Internet?
Federal and state laws in the United States protect credit cardholders against liability for unauthorized transactions, against failure to receive goods or services, and in certain instances where poor quality or defective goods and services have been delivered by a merchant. Debit card holders are protected against unauthorized transactions under federal and state laws and the rules of the payment card associations.
Visa Payment System Chargeback Rights
Rules and procedures have been carefully developed by Visa and its Members to handle disputes arising out of international transactions. The primary means of handling any dispute in the Visa payment system is through the "chargeback" mechanism which is incorporated in the Visa Operating Regulations.
A chargeback is the return of a transaction from the issuer of the card used by a consumer to the financial institution that "purchased" the transaction from the merchant. Chargebacks are permitted under Visa's rules for many reasons, including certain disputes between the cardholder/consumer and a merchant.
The Visa Operating Regulations permit chargebacks in cases where a cardholder does not receive purchased services or goods, where goods delivered are not as described, or where the goods delivered are defective.
http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/icpw/comments/visa.htm
Responding to chargebacks
http://usa.visa.com/merchants/operations/chargebacks_dispute_resolution/chargeback_cycle.html
Mastercard has a similar policy that is defined based on federal consumer protection laws. I purchased this game in the US and therefore the laws of their country have no merit. Also for the subscription fee it falls under the digital goods rule where no signature = no liability. Lots of companies will tell you an IP or clicking accept is considered the same as a digital signature but its totally untrue. I know my legal rights and they have the option to return my money in good faith or they can eat the chargeback fees.
Let me clue you in on how getting refunds for unsatisfactory products and services work in the real world.
Consumer Protection Law of the Internet?
Federal and state laws in the United States protect credit cardholders against liability for unauthorized transactions, against failure to receive goods or services, and in certain instances where poor quality or defective goods and services have been delivered by a merchant. Debit card holders are protected against unauthorized transactions under federal and state laws and the rules of the payment card associations.
Visa Payment System Chargeback Rights
Rules and procedures have been carefully developed by Visa and its Members to handle disputes arising out of international transactions. The primary means of handling any dispute in the Visa payment system is through the "chargeback" mechanism which is incorporated in the Visa Operating Regulations.
A chargeback is the return of a transaction from the issuer of the card used by a consumer to the financial institution that "purchased" the transaction from the merchant. Chargebacks are permitted under Visa's rules for many reasons, including certain disputes between the cardholder/consumer and a merchant.
The Visa Operating Regulations permit chargebacks in cases where a cardholder does not receive purchased services or goods, where goods delivered are not as described, or where the goods delivered are defective.
http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/icpw/comments/visa.htm
Responding to chargebacks
http://usa.visa.com/merchants/operations/chargebacks_dispute_resolution/chargeback_cycle.html
Mastercard has a similar policy that is defined based on federal consumer protection laws. I purchased this game in the US and therefore the laws of their country have no merit. Also for the subscription fee it falls under the digital goods rule where no signature = no liability. Lots of companies will tell you an IP or clicking accept is considered the same as a digital signature but its totally untrue. I know my legal rights and they have the option to return my money in good faith or they can eat the chargeback fees.
I am willing to bet that this scenario is not an applicable situation for a chargeback or for a court case either.
Lol aren't people not allowed to take a company to court after pressing that "I agree" button?
<Mod edit> Funcom stock is still up over 100% over the last 3 years.
Know WTF stock speculation is all about before you start econimically blatehring in here.
Was there a lot of hype? yes. Did the game live up to the hype, no. Are we in a unstable economic situation? yes.
<Mod edit>
Pretty much. On top of this, AoC is entertainment media, so it isn't as if the OP has been served a faulty hamburger at McDonalds. The grounds for filing a lawsuit are minimal as entertainment value is a matter of opinion. The same thing goes for chargeback. Not like you can request a chargeback after findinfg out the new Michael Jackson album is bad and that he looks hideous on the cover.
<Mod edit>
There is no court case the BBB simply contacts Funcom to mediate a despite resolution. They can ignore the BBB if they want but it hurts them when they are seeking new investment capitol. No major capitol funding source will touch Funcom with their current F rating and tanking stock anyway. It just adds another mark on their record which will help ensure that my chargeback request is granted. If the company gets to many chargebacks they can lose their merchant account or be fined hundreds of thousands of dollars. I assure you the Banks care much more about US consumer confidence over some merchant in some country that could fall off the map and no one would notice.
Vote with your wallet and cancel your subscription...you tell them everything you need to tell them with that. As far as them scamming you...I dunno. I haven't heard of a true MMO that was PERFECT on release (this includes having everything it's supposed to have) or close to perfect 2 months. WoW took a good 3 to work out some bugs and issues and most people I know agree that WoW wasn't really a good product until 6 months (an patches) had passed. Who am I to argue if you feel cheated, battle it out with them but I am sure that somewhere in the terms of agreement (that most of us scroll to the bottom of and hit "I agree" without reading a word of it) states that all features on the box may not be present at release and the company will work on implementing them as soon as possible, if you file a claim they will ask the company to show them that they are working on it, and when the dev team does they will say..hey read the the terms of agreement.
I am not argueing that you shouldn't be upset, thats a personal choice for you to make based on your experiences. However a little look at MMO history and its pretty clear that there have been very few (I doubt any) mmo's that have had no bugs and every feature talked about present at release...or 7 weeks after release. WoW didn't...most of the people I talk to agree WoW wasn't the product that was promised until about 6 months after release...I wasn't playing until 8 months after release so I couldn't tell you but this is what I have heard from several people who were playing right after release. AoC is the first mmo I have played since release and I am having a pretty good time. I am a casual player who cares little for PvP. For those who love PvP I truely understand their gripes because this was heralded as a PvP game...I however believe they are going to introduce it asap...if they don't they will lose a lot of people to WAR that will have PvP (or at least they claim...lol wouldn't that be something if they had problems with it at release too...who knows we will have to see).
The other thing you have to consider is the cost of going after this company for $50 - $80....lol look at the prices of lawyers. If you are in America you will have to figure out how to go about doing that since they are a European company based overseas. Is it worth it? You decide....you can affect them by not renewing your sub (which I assume you've done). Good luck to you with this, I hope it works out the way you want it to.
Currently Playing: FFXIV:ARR
Looking Forward to: Wildstar
Seriously guys stop with the EULA crap it has no bearing here. I have posted the damn Visa merchant rules and Federal Commerce Regulations that govern such transactions. You can argue till you are blue in the face and Funcom can refuse all they want it makes no difference. The merchant bank that processes their transactions holds a portion of their money as a security deposit to cover chargebacks. I get my money from my bank who then gets reimbursed from their bank regardless if they refuse or not.