Age of Conan certainly isn't the worst game ever made. That's not why people are so angry. I'll just explain why, to me, Age of Conan was the biggest disappointment I've ever really had when it comes to games.
The fact is is that even in the beginning Conan was touted as something Incredible. It won award after award at E3, tons of PC game magazines praised it for the mature take and all of the unique features. I caught word of the game early on and waited for it's release, absorbing all the information about the game I could. I had enjoyed Anarchy Online, and felt they'd do something amazing.
Well, then the first delay came. Delay after delay came, and soon I kind of just lost intrest. However go back maybe... a year? and I'm checking it out again and starting to get excited. They have a definite release date and, well, after waiting 5 fucking years for this game it's bound to be smooth. Right?
I remember I managed to snag a spot into the gamespot open PvP beta, and I was estatic. Me and my roomate played it and the game felt quite solid. I had no crashing issues, the game ran ok ( I was on a 7900GS at the time ) and the PvP minigames were pretty fun. It made me even more excited for the game that was coming.
Well, the game came out and I ate it up. It may have just been the newness of it all but Tortage was a new fun experience and I did enjoy that. However, I noticed that as the levels went by the quests available started dimming, instead of increasing! By level 52 on my Conq I had ran out of all quests, and had to grind the Cannibal caves.
Short story short, I ended up getting a Tempest of Set to 80 and even a Herald of Xolti to 78 because, in my mind, Funcom was "working" on the issues. I rationalized a lot of stuff and figured that, well, fuck it's a new game.
The problem is that each patch started making the issues worse for me. Instance servers would crash or just hang for moments on end, and having to deal with a PUG with all the crashing and errors was unbearable. The only leveling content from 60-80 aside from some quests that might get you a few levels was grinding on the same, tired, boring mobs.
I was riding on the idea that when the PvP Patch came out it'd be a lot more fun. I was waiting for it, patiently, hoping that funcom would deliver. However patch after patch no mention of it came by, just a bunch of shitty bug fixes or Funcom announcing they made some new character nude.
SO, finally, I gave up. All the crashes, missing content, empty promises and the fact that the PR speak is still up on maximum made me realize that Age of Conan is not the game I dreamed it to be.
But, really, what is it people hate? It's the fact that Funcom knows there game is buggy as fuck. They know its missing content. They KNOW all of this shit, yet continue to say "we are doing really well" "people really enjoy the game" "700k people bought it". They falsely advertise (DX10 enabled? Still not in!) and are generally sneaky about things. Patches always have hidden stuff in it, often times nerfs (while sometimes needed) that they are too afraid of unleashing on the community.
The beta was almost a waste of time for Conan. They had the NDA gripped so tightly around the players balls that no real info could get out. A lot of players were restricted from getting past level 20 or so (read: the actual fairly decent area in the game) and only the fanboys were unleashed to the rest of the game.
I will be going over to WAR when it comes out now, despite attacking it in the past. The fact is is that after watching their podcasts and listening to interviews I can tell these guys care about bringing out a good prodcut. Unlike Funcom where half the interview is PR the WAR guys talk about the game and are really fucking excited.
Plus Mythic already has won me over just because they had the fucking balls to say that there were some cuts. Funcom would have waited for the last moment or, most likely, not had said a thing until people actually got the game. I know that I expected PvP levels at launch and just found out they wern't working.
Sorry for the long post, but THIS is why people hate this game. It isn't as bad as some (Dark and Light) but is probably the biggest letdown in the game industry in a long time. It gets even worse because most reviewers only review the first 20 levels, which make the game seem like its shaping up to be unique and good, but it isn't.
I'm one of those that would truly like my money refunded, at least partially. I feel that what was offered was a partial product, one which had (and has) client stability issues severe enough to appropriately label the product as "beta". For example, I have two very powerful computers I use to game, one runs Vista 64-bit and has an AMD Phenom CPU and thus was subject to one bug. The other system runs XP Pro 32-bit and has a high end ATI card, which was subject to another set of bugs. Aside from the bugs related to those architectures/what have you, are the nagging memory leaks.
A refund in the form of a few free months of play would nice, if nothing else. That way I would be able to see if Funcom's constant updating is bringing the product to a satisfactory level.
AoC lacks content at higher lvls, nothing much out of the norm for a newly released MMO game.
Besides that it was hyped by Funcom and a lot of people fell for the hype, see posts above, for examples of people who expected an all singing all dancing game.
Will you enjoy it? Depends what you want to take out of it and your style of play.
If you lvl to 80 within a week then unfor you may find the content lacking.
Also the better your PC the smoother the game will run for you, which may or may not be of improtance for you.
The game is not perfect but by no means as bad as some peeps make out.
The AOC Hate frenzy is getting pretty pathetic IMO. The lack of end game content criticism thats thrown at a2 month old game, I mean WTF? WoW at this stage had UBRS and that was it. LoTRO had nothing then they introduced Thorog or whatever it was killed which we killed in a PUG in less than an hour.
This is all just classic I want it all and I want it now brat generation wrecking something thats barely started. Its a real shame.
I see lots of potential in AoC and whilst its not perfect I am still enjoying playing it.
What a pathetic load of crap. How can people even think things like that let alone write them down for others to laugh at them? what a stupid, ignorant comment to make!
The AOC Hate frenzy is getting pretty pathetic IMO. The lack of end game content criticism thats thrown at a2 month old game, I mean WTF? WoW at this stage had UBRS and that was it. LoTRO had nothing then they introduced Thorog or whatever it was killed which we killed in a PUG in less than an hour. This is all just classic I want it all and I want it now brat generation wrecking something thats barely started. Its a real shame. I see lots of potential in AoC and whilst its not perfect I am still enjoying playing it.
Another person comparing Blizz's first mmo to Funcoms second.
Name one thing in AoC that is solid and polished.
Just one.
People used to say Dark and Light had "potential".
Age of Conan certainly isn't the worst game ever made. That's not why people are so angry. I'll just explain why, to me, Age of Conan was the biggest disappointment I've ever really had when it comes to games.
Your post pretty much sums up my feelings with AoC too.
I think people are being so vocal in their hatred of AoC because they are so disappointed. Funcom's hype built up AoC in their minds to such an extent that they could never deliver. People don't like being mislead, and when their vision of AoC met the cold light of reality love turns to hate very quickly.
That and Funcom seem to have the most useless and disconnected PR in all of MMO history.
Age of Conan certainly isn't the worst game ever made. That's not why people are so angry. I'll just explain why, to me, Age of Conan was the biggest disappointment I've ever really had when it comes to games.
Your post pretty much sums up my feelings with AoC too.
I think people are being so vocal in their hatred of AoC because they are so disappointed. Funcom's hype built up AoC in their minds to such an extent that they could never deliver. People don't like being mislead, and when their vision of AoC met the cold light of reality love turns to hate very quickly.
That and Funcom seem to have the most useless and disconnected PR in all of MMO history.
Hehe, for real. The apocolypse could be a day away, and their pr guys would be saying, "Everything is fine. We have 700k registered users!"
The AOC Hate frenzy is getting pretty pathetic IMO. The lack of end game content criticism thats thrown at a2 month old game, I mean WTF? WoW at this stage had UBRS and that was it. LoTRO had nothing then they introduced Thorog or whatever it was killed which we killed in a PUG in less than an hour. This is all just classic I want it all and I want it now brat generation wrecking something thats barely started. Its a real shame. I see lots of potential in AoC and whilst its not perfect I am still enjoying playing it.
Another person comparing Blizz's first mmo to Funcoms second.
Name one thing in AoC that is solid and polished.
Just one.
People used to say Dark and Light had "potential".
LOTRO is a second MMO from its producers... i guess you ignored that huh.
And only saw Wow in his post. Having said that WoW launched worse than Aoc, even with all there financial clot and they may have not released a MMO before but they have a lot of exp in MO games.
AoC had a good release, if you have a good machine then you get good graphics, the Combat system is new and different, As i said in a previous post there is basic content lacking, by that i mean quests and things to do before you get to lvl cap.
But if you fell for the hype then you should have a bit more aware of how games release in this genre.
Simply put. AoC in it's current state only has one thing that is better than WOW.
1. Graphics. And this comes at the cost of greatly reducing the people that can play the game, and how well they can play it.
Now lets look at all the things WOW does better
1. Endgame dungeons. More of them, they are complete and the bosses are unique. In AoC... most of the dungeons are bugged beyond playability.. and if you get lucky enough to get to a boss (and bypass bugs).. the bosses are all exactly the same. (spank and tank).
2. Endgame PvP. WoW has some fine tuned battlegrounds.. classes are fairly well balanced, although if you end up 1-vs-1 sometimes you can be mismatched.. but in general.. 10 v 10 or 15v15, every class will be useful. There is clear gear upgrades that can be obtained from pvp alone. In AoC, there is nothing similar to endgame pvp, endgame pvp in AoC consists of ganking low level players. There is no way to get gear.
3. Gear upgrades. Very very fine tuned in wow. Stats matter, gear is upgraded as you level and the effect of gaining stats is very noticable. In AoC.. you can basically keep your gear from lvl 20 and never upgrade, and your player will be almost as powerful as someone who is doing 'endgame' raiding.
4. Questing. The mechanics are very similar in both games (go here and collect 20 heads). However the proof is in the details. Wow has probably 3x the number of quests (per faction) that you need to completely level up. In other words, a player could potentially level up 6 character and never do the same quest twice. In AoC from lvl 20-80, you basically have to just grind mobs for 50% of your experience.. there aren't enough quests to level up even once. That means that any alts you make will have to do ALL the same quests. Gear also comes into play... in WOW, you can keep yourself up to date with gear just by questing.. quests provide clear upgrades. In AOC.. the quest rewards are worthless.
AoC is a wow clone, but besides graphics, it does everything significantly worse. Dungeons are far worse, gear is far worse, pvp is far worse, questing is slightly worse, client stability is far worse, chat system is far worse, the company behind the product is far worse.
The AOC Hate frenzy is getting pretty pathetic IMO. The lack of end game content criticism thats thrown at a2 month old game, I mean WTF? WoW at this stage had UBRS and that was it. LoTRO had nothing then they introduced Thorog or whatever it was killed which we killed in a PUG in less than an hour. This is all just classic I want it all and I want it now brat generation wrecking something thats barely started. Its a real shame. I see lots of potential in AoC and whilst its not perfect I am still enjoying playing it.
Another person comparing Blizz's first mmo to Funcoms second.
Name one thing in AoC that is solid and polished.
Just one.
People used to say Dark and Light had "potential".
LOTRO is a second MMO from its producers... i guess you ignored that huh.
And only saw Wow in his post. Having said that WoW launched worse than Aoc, even with all there financial clot and they may have not released a MMO before but they have a lot of exp in MO games.
AoC had a good release, if you have a good machine then you get good graphics, the Combat system is new and different, As i said in a previous post there is basic content lacking, by that i mean quests and things to do before you get to lvl cap.
But if you fell for the hype then you should have a bit more aware of how games release in this genre.
Thats why I didn't say anything about LotR skippy.
The core of this game is complete garbage. PvP, PvE, Economy, Crafting, Itemization, skills etc..
The only thing AoC fans can say to defend this game is. "The graphics are good, and the combat is different." You guys sound like broken records. Oh, and I forgot, "All games are like this at launch".
P.S. WoW's launch was worse than AoC's? Seriously, lol.....
im up early so i will add to this... WoW did not have a bad launch.... WoW had server stress issues and the bugs MMOs all have
the statement of "AoC's combat is different" is still very laughable to me
sure you can pick the direction of your attack but ok guys who are playing the game...ARE you telling me that you are not using the same combos over and over again...you guys use what combos work the best on the mobs....aside from the botton mashing the combat is not very "New and Different" all it is...is just more work then the normal MMO which elmiates the directional attack (directional is differnt from posistional)
omg you guys have killing blows.....NOW where did i see that first.....ohh yeah on Fury....and look what will happen to that game in about ohhh 30 hours from now.
AoC should not be treated any different then any other MMO it release with broken and missing content, as well as game breaking bugs.....It is hard to recover from a bad launch
but AoC has my respect as an MMO and i treat it fairly even though i do not like it...Good Luck.....
(i can respect an MMO but not a dev team...they lied and put boxes in the store that advertised content that was not in the game..that was a poor move)
And the only "real time combat" is the directional white attacks. Combos and spells are on cooldowns, and all mmo's have instant attacks so that doesn't count. But this combat is revolutionary because you click arrow keys like Dance Dance Revolution right? Alrighty then....
And the only "real time combat" is the directional white attacks. Combos and spells are on cooldowns, and all mmo's have instant attacks so that doesn't count. But this combat is revolutionary because you click arrow keys like Dance Dance Revolution right? Alrighty then....
DDO is more realtime than AoC and has been out for years.
Originally posted by Thoth-Amon The AOC Hate frenzy is getting pretty pathetic IMO. The lack of end game content criticism thats thrown at a2 month old game, I mean WTF? WoW at this stage had UBRS and that was it. LoTRO had nothing then they introduced Thorog or whatever it was killed which we killed in a PUG in less than an hour. This is all just classic I want it all and I want it now brat generation wrecking something thats barely started. Its a real shame. I see lots of potential in AoC and whilst its not perfect I am still enjoying playing it.
It's not a "hate frenzy", it's an ever increasing amount of customer dissatisfaction and negative feedback. The kind of "us versus them" mentality that goes back and forth between certain groups of proponents and detractors is part of the ugly discussion surrounding this game (I.E. discouraged customers and ex-customers labeling others as fanboys, and likewise customers still enjoying the game labeling those that are unhappy with the product as "haters" and "whiners"). But I digress.
Why every discussion about this game needs to segue into a comparison with WoW, I just don't understand. Natural given the landscape of the current MMO market? I suppose.
But, since you brought it up, WoW was clearly a finished product with content for all when it launched. The "end game" as raiders define the term may have been minuscule, but it was at there and it worked. It was a solid game, full of content and designed progression, from level 1 right on through level 60. Furthermore, Blizzard did an amazing job with adding more content rapidly, all while nipping whatever minor performance and balance issues that existed pre Honor System (after that, yes, it was the Wild West of amazing class imbalances for a while). AoC, on the other hand, has long standing stability and gameplay issues that directly affect all customer types, and not just the hard core "race to the finish" type players.
And, as others have noted, this is Funcom's sophomore effort in the MMO market and was five years in the making. They had the exemplary example of WoW to emulate, at that. WoW was Blizzard's first dive into this foray. I could go on and on on this subject, but suffice to say comparing the launch and initial offerings of WoW to AoC only makes AoC look worse, despite how you choose to spin it.
Originally posted by Opticaleye IMHO no it is not that bad. The game launched with fewer features than promised but most mmo's do.This game is no better or worse than anything on the market at this moment. The funny thing about it is when WAR launches im going to bet ya that the same amount of complaining starts over on that forum.
Well, I'm no grizzled MMO vet by any stretch of the imagination, but what other MMO launched that lacked so many of the promised features? Features loudly declared upon the packaging, no less.
I played Earth and Beyond at launch, it had what it promised (as far as I know). Same with DAoC. WoW too - though the level of organized PvP they promised is debatable, they didn't promise any specifics that were left out, that I am aware of, and not to any level that caused people (or themselves) to twist semantics to justify.
Comparing the WOW launch with the AOC launch is mis-leading and is effectively trying to create a straw man.
Sure WOW had server issues at launch, but who cares? Its not a competition to see who can be most stable at launch. It is however a competition to make a really good game to see who can keep its customers the longest. The AOC servers were and are relatively stable sure, but who gives a shit when the game sucks and the fundamentals dont exist or dont work?
When I hear Funcom PR or twittering AOC masochists talk about a successful launch, it makes me cringe. If we regard server stability as the only deciding factor in a 'successful launch', then I could buy a server today, bang down a bit of code, release my 'game', and as long as the server doesnt stop working, I could, by the definition Funcom are using, describe my little project as having a successful launch.
Unfortunately for Funcom lauches arent about simply 'keeping the servers up'. Launches are about making the game playable and improving on its playability and appeal quickly, in order to maintain customer loyalty, aswell as keeping the game up when its supposed to be up. If you cant manage the former, then what use is the latter?
The AOC Hate frenzy is getting pretty pathetic IMO. The lack of end game content criticism thats thrown at a2 month old game, I mean WTF? WoW at this stage had UBRS and that was it. LoTRO had nothing then they introduced Thorog or whatever it was killed which we killed in a PUG in less than an hour. This is all just classic I want it all and I want it now brat generation wrecking something thats barely started. Its a real shame. I see lots of potential in AoC and whilst its not perfect I am still enjoying playing it.
Another person comparing Blizz's first mmo to Funcoms second.
Name one thing in AoC that is solid and polished.
Just one.
People used to say Dark and Light had "potential".
LOTRO is a second MMO from its producers... i guess you ignored that huh.
And only saw Wow in his post. Having said that WoW launched worse than Aoc, even with all there financial clot and they may have not released a MMO before but they have a lot of exp in MO games.
AoC had a good release, if you have a good machine then you get good graphics, the Combat system is new and different, As i said in a previous post there is basic content lacking, by that i mean quests and things to do before you get to lvl cap.
But if you fell for the hype then you should have a bit more aware of how games release in this genre.
Thats why I didn't say anything about LotR skippy.
The core of this game is complete garbage. PvP, PvE, Economy, Crafting, Itemization, skills etc..
The only thing AoC fans can say to defend this game is. "The graphics are good, and the combat is different." You guys sound like broken records. Oh, and I forgot, "All games are like this at launch".
P.S. WoW's launch was worse than AoC's? Seriously, lol.....
Yes seriously................... if you dont know then what can i say.
LOL... @ how you put you arguments across.......
Another person comparing Blizz's first mmo to Funcoms second.
Yet he also compares it to Turbine's 4th !!! Do you actually read people's post or just wait to reply?
You cannot choose bits of people sentences and ignore other parts skip-less!
What game do you actually play to say that all the core of AoC is garbage? Then we know what you are comparing it against.
I think AoC is pretty good. For a new MMO anyway. But honestly, I think I'm better off playing an older one, purely because of content reasons. I never expected AoC to have massive content at launch, but I didn't expect it to keep me entertained for longer than a month either. I was right on both.
Comparing the WOW launch with the AOC launch is mis-leading and is effectively trying to create a straw man. Sure WOW had server issues at launch, but who cares?People who could not long to WoW servers for hours on end care ! Its not a competition to see who can be most stable at launch. No it is not, neither is it a competition to see who can launch with more content or polish.It is however a competition to make a really good game to see who can keep its customers the longest. The AOC servers were and are relatively stable sure, but who gives a shit when the game sucks and the fundamentals dont exist or dont work? When I hear Funcom PR or twittering AOC masochists talk about a successful launch, it makes me cringe. If we regard server stability as the only deciding factor in a 'successful launch', then I could buy a server today, bang down a bit of code, release my 'game', and as long as the server doesnt stop working, I could, by the definition Funcom are using, describe my little project as having a successful launch. Do you know what the word "launch" actually means? Unfortunately for Funcom lauches arent about simply 'keeping the servers up'. Launches are about making the game playable and improving on its playability and appeal quickly, in order to maintain customer loyalty, aswell as keeping the game up when its supposed to be up. If you cant manage the former, then what use is the latter?
IT is we the public that entertain the thought that AoC had a bad launch, from Funcom's point of view it was an awesome launch pulling in 2 or 3 times the number of people they thought they would, they knew what they were launching on the day, we didnt, lack of content does not make for a bad launch, neither does the buggyness of the software, as these are not launch issues.
The AOC Hate frenzy is getting pretty pathetic IMO. The lack of end game content criticism thats thrown at a2 month old game, I mean WTF? WoW at this stage had UBRS and that was it. LoTRO had nothing then they introduced Thorog or whatever it was killed which we killed in a PUG in less than an hour. This is all just classic I want it all and I want it now brat generation wrecking something thats barely started. Its a real shame. I see lots of potential in AoC and whilst its not perfect I am still enjoying playing it.
Another person comparing Blizz's first mmo to Funcoms second.
Name one thing in AoC that is solid and polished.
Just one.
People used to say Dark and Light had "potential".
LOTRO is a second MMO from its producers... i guess you ignored that huh.
And only saw Wow in his post. Having said that WoW launched worse than Aoc, even with all there financial clot and they may have not released a MMO before but they have a lot of exp in MO games.
AoC had a good release, if you have a good machine then you get good graphics, the Combat system is new and different, As i said in a previous post there is basic content lacking, by that i mean quests and things to do before you get to lvl cap.
But if you fell for the hype then you should have a bit more aware of how games release in this genre.
Thats why I didn't say anything about LotR skippy.
The core of this game is complete garbage. PvP, PvE, Economy, Crafting, Itemization, skills etc..
The only thing AoC fans can say to defend this game is. "The graphics are good, and the combat is different." You guys sound like broken records. Oh, and I forgot, "All games are like this at launch".
P.S. WoW's launch was worse than AoC's? Seriously, lol.....
Yes seriously................... if you dont know then what can i say.
LOL... @ how you put you arguments across.......
Another person comparing Blizz's first mmo to Funcoms second.
Yet he also compares it to Turbine's 4th !!! Do you actually read people's post or just wait to reply?
You cannot choose bits of people sentences and ignore other parts skip-less!
What game do you actually play to say that all the core of AoC is garbage? Then we know what you are comparing it against.
I used his WoW statement because I knew Turbine has put out other mmo's, is that hard to comprehend?
You ask me to name other mmo's I've played to prove I know why AoC is garbage, yet you don't list any reasons why you think I'm wrong.
Comments
First 20 lvls are fun single player.
Went back to DDO myself to what I find to be good.
Age of Conan certainly isn't the worst game ever made. That's not why people are so angry. I'll just explain why, to me, Age of Conan was the biggest disappointment I've ever really had when it comes to games.
The fact is is that even in the beginning Conan was touted as something Incredible. It won award after award at E3, tons of PC game magazines praised it for the mature take and all of the unique features. I caught word of the game early on and waited for it's release, absorbing all the information about the game I could. I had enjoyed Anarchy Online, and felt they'd do something amazing.
Well, then the first delay came. Delay after delay came, and soon I kind of just lost intrest. However go back maybe... a year? and I'm checking it out again and starting to get excited. They have a definite release date and, well, after waiting 5 fucking years for this game it's bound to be smooth. Right?
I remember I managed to snag a spot into the gamespot open PvP beta, and I was estatic. Me and my roomate played it and the game felt quite solid. I had no crashing issues, the game ran ok ( I was on a 7900GS at the time ) and the PvP minigames were pretty fun. It made me even more excited for the game that was coming.
Well, the game came out and I ate it up. It may have just been the newness of it all but Tortage was a new fun experience and I did enjoy that. However, I noticed that as the levels went by the quests available started dimming, instead of increasing! By level 52 on my Conq I had ran out of all quests, and had to grind the Cannibal caves.
Short story short, I ended up getting a Tempest of Set to 80 and even a Herald of Xolti to 78 because, in my mind, Funcom was "working" on the issues. I rationalized a lot of stuff and figured that, well, fuck it's a new game.
The problem is that each patch started making the issues worse for me. Instance servers would crash or just hang for moments on end, and having to deal with a PUG with all the crashing and errors was unbearable. The only leveling content from 60-80 aside from some quests that might get you a few levels was grinding on the same, tired, boring mobs.
I was riding on the idea that when the PvP Patch came out it'd be a lot more fun. I was waiting for it, patiently, hoping that funcom would deliver. However patch after patch no mention of it came by, just a bunch of shitty bug fixes or Funcom announcing they made some new character nude.
SO, finally, I gave up. All the crashes, missing content, empty promises and the fact that the PR speak is still up on maximum made me realize that Age of Conan is not the game I dreamed it to be.
But, really, what is it people hate? It's the fact that Funcom knows there game is buggy as fuck. They know its missing content. They KNOW all of this shit, yet continue to say "we are doing really well" "people really enjoy the game" "700k people bought it". They falsely advertise (DX10 enabled? Still not in!) and are generally sneaky about things. Patches always have hidden stuff in it, often times nerfs (while sometimes needed) that they are too afraid of unleashing on the community.
The beta was almost a waste of time for Conan. They had the NDA gripped so tightly around the players balls that no real info could get out. A lot of players were restricted from getting past level 20 or so (read: the actual fairly decent area in the game) and only the fanboys were unleashed to the rest of the game.
I will be going over to WAR when it comes out now, despite attacking it in the past. The fact is is that after watching their podcasts and listening to interviews I can tell these guys care about bringing out a good prodcut. Unlike Funcom where half the interview is PR the WAR guys talk about the game and are really fucking excited.
Plus Mythic already has won me over just because they had the fucking balls to say that there were some cuts. Funcom would have waited for the last moment or, most likely, not had said a thing until people actually got the game. I know that I expected PvP levels at launch and just found out they wern't working.
Sorry for the long post, but THIS is why people hate this game. It isn't as bad as some (Dark and Light) but is probably the biggest letdown in the game industry in a long time. It gets even worse because most reviewers only review the first 20 levels, which make the game seem like its shaping up to be unique and good, but it isn't.
I'm one of those that would truly like my money refunded, at least partially. I feel that what was offered was a partial product, one which had (and has) client stability issues severe enough to appropriately label the product as "beta". For example, I have two very powerful computers I use to game, one runs Vista 64-bit and has an AMD Phenom CPU and thus was subject to one bug. The other system runs XP Pro 32-bit and has a high end ATI card, which was subject to another set of bugs. Aside from the bugs related to those architectures/what have you, are the nagging memory leaks.
A refund in the form of a few free months of play would nice, if nothing else. That way I would be able to see if Funcom's constant updating is bringing the product to a satisfactory level.
AoC lacks content at higher lvls, nothing much out of the norm for a newly released MMO game.
Besides that it was hyped by Funcom and a lot of people fell for the hype, see posts above, for examples of people who expected an all singing all dancing game.
Will you enjoy it? Depends what you want to take out of it and your style of play.
If you lvl to 80 within a week then unfor you may find the content lacking.
Also the better your PC the smoother the game will run for you, which may or may not be of improtance for you.
The game is not perfect but by no means as bad as some peeps make out.
The AOC Hate frenzy is getting pretty pathetic IMO. The lack of end game content criticism thats thrown at a2 month old game, I mean WTF? WoW at this stage had UBRS and that was it. LoTRO had nothing then they introduced Thorog or whatever it was killed which we killed in a PUG in less than an hour.
This is all just classic I want it all and I want it now brat generation wrecking something thats barely started. Its a real shame.
I see lots of potential in AoC and whilst its not perfect I am still enjoying playing it.
This game is pretty bad
What a pathetic load of crap. How can people even think things like that let alone write them down for others to laugh at them? what a stupid, ignorant comment to make!
Another person comparing Blizz's first mmo to Funcoms second.
Name one thing in AoC that is solid and polished.
Just one.
People used to say Dark and Light had "potential".
Gamer Plus+
Tortage?
Your post pretty much sums up my feelings with AoC too.
I think people are being so vocal in their hatred of AoC because they are so disappointed. Funcom's hype built up AoC in their minds to such an extent that they could never deliver. People don't like being mislead, and when their vision of AoC met the cold light of reality love turns to hate very quickly.
That and Funcom seem to have the most useless and disconnected PR in all of MMO history.
Your post pretty much sums up my feelings with AoC too.
I think people are being so vocal in their hatred of AoC because they are so disappointed. Funcom's hype built up AoC in their minds to such an extent that they could never deliver. People don't like being mislead, and when their vision of AoC met the cold light of reality love turns to hate very quickly.
That and Funcom seem to have the most useless and disconnected PR in all of MMO history.
Hehe, for real. The apocolypse could be a day away, and their pr guys would be saying, "Everything is fine. We have 700k registered users!"
Gamer Plus+
Another person comparing Blizz's first mmo to Funcoms second.
Name one thing in AoC that is solid and polished.
Just one.
People used to say Dark and Light had "potential".
LOTRO is a second MMO from its producers... i guess you ignored that huh.
And only saw Wow in his post. Having said that WoW launched worse than Aoc, even with all there financial clot and they may have not released a MMO before but they have a lot of exp in MO games.
AoC had a good release, if you have a good machine then you get good graphics, the Combat system is new and different, As i said in a previous post there is basic content lacking, by that i mean quests and things to do before you get to lvl cap.
But if you fell for the hype then you should have a bit more aware of how games release in this genre.
Simply put. AoC in it's current state only has one thing that is better than WOW.
1. Graphics. And this comes at the cost of greatly reducing the people that can play the game, and how well they can play it.
Now lets look at all the things WOW does better
1. Endgame dungeons. More of them, they are complete and the bosses are unique. In AoC... most of the dungeons are bugged beyond playability.. and if you get lucky enough to get to a boss (and bypass bugs).. the bosses are all exactly the same. (spank and tank).
2. Endgame PvP. WoW has some fine tuned battlegrounds.. classes are fairly well balanced, although if you end up 1-vs-1 sometimes you can be mismatched.. but in general.. 10 v 10 or 15v15, every class will be useful. There is clear gear upgrades that can be obtained from pvp alone. In AoC, there is nothing similar to endgame pvp, endgame pvp in AoC consists of ganking low level players. There is no way to get gear.
3. Gear upgrades. Very very fine tuned in wow. Stats matter, gear is upgraded as you level and the effect of gaining stats is very noticable. In AoC.. you can basically keep your gear from lvl 20 and never upgrade, and your player will be almost as powerful as someone who is doing 'endgame' raiding.
4. Questing. The mechanics are very similar in both games (go here and collect 20 heads). However the proof is in the details. Wow has probably 3x the number of quests (per faction) that you need to completely level up. In other words, a player could potentially level up 6 character and never do the same quest twice. In AoC from lvl 20-80, you basically have to just grind mobs for 50% of your experience.. there aren't enough quests to level up even once. That means that any alts you make will have to do ALL the same quests. Gear also comes into play... in WOW, you can keep yourself up to date with gear just by questing.. quests provide clear upgrades. In AOC.. the quest rewards are worthless.
AoC is a wow clone, but besides graphics, it does everything significantly worse. Dungeons are far worse, gear is far worse, pvp is far worse, questing is slightly worse, client stability is far worse, chat system is far worse, the company behind the product is far worse.
Another person comparing Blizz's first mmo to Funcoms second.
Name one thing in AoC that is solid and polished.
Just one.
People used to say Dark and Light had "potential".
LOTRO is a second MMO from its producers... i guess you ignored that huh.
And only saw Wow in his post. Having said that WoW launched worse than Aoc, even with all there financial clot and they may have not released a MMO before but they have a lot of exp in MO games.
AoC had a good release, if you have a good machine then you get good graphics, the Combat system is new and different, As i said in a previous post there is basic content lacking, by that i mean quests and things to do before you get to lvl cap.
But if you fell for the hype then you should have a bit more aware of how games release in this genre.
Thats why I didn't say anything about LotR skippy.
The core of this game is complete garbage. PvP, PvE, Economy, Crafting, Itemization, skills etc..
The only thing AoC fans can say to defend this game is. "The graphics are good, and the combat is different." You guys sound like broken records. Oh, and I forgot, "All games are like this at launch".
P.S. WoW's launch was worse than AoC's? Seriously, lol.....
Gamer Plus+
im up early so i will add to this... WoW did not have a bad launch.... WoW had server stress issues and the bugs MMOs all have
the statement of "AoC's combat is different" is still very laughable to me
sure you can pick the direction of your attack but ok guys who are playing the game...ARE you telling me that you are not using the same combos over and over again...you guys use what combos work the best on the mobs....aside from the botton mashing the combat is not very "New and Different" all it is...is just more work then the normal MMO which elmiates the directional attack (directional is differnt from posistional)
omg you guys have killing blows.....NOW where did i see that first.....ohh yeah on Fury....and look what will happen to that game in about ohhh 30 hours from now.
AoC should not be treated any different then any other MMO it release with broken and missing content, as well as game breaking bugs.....It is hard to recover from a bad launch
but AoC has my respect as an MMO and i treat it fairly even though i do not like it...Good Luck.....
(i can respect an MMO but not a dev team...they lied and put boxes in the store that advertised content that was not in the game..that was a poor move)
And the only "real time combat" is the directional white attacks. Combos and spells are on cooldowns, and all mmo's have instant attacks so that doesn't count. But this combat is revolutionary because you click arrow keys like Dance Dance Revolution right? Alrighty then....
Gamer Plus+
DDO is more realtime than AoC and has been out for years.
It's not a "hate frenzy", it's an ever increasing amount of customer dissatisfaction and negative feedback. The kind of "us versus them" mentality that goes back and forth between certain groups of proponents and detractors is part of the ugly discussion surrounding this game (I.E. discouraged customers and ex-customers labeling others as fanboys, and likewise customers still enjoying the game labeling those that are unhappy with the product as "haters" and "whiners"). But I digress.
Why every discussion about this game needs to segue into a comparison with WoW, I just don't understand. Natural given the landscape of the current MMO market? I suppose.
But, since you brought it up, WoW was clearly a finished product with content for all when it launched. The "end game" as raiders define the term may have been minuscule, but it was at there and it worked. It was a solid game, full of content and designed progression, from level 1 right on through level 60. Furthermore, Blizzard did an amazing job with adding more content rapidly, all while nipping whatever minor performance and balance issues that existed pre Honor System (after that, yes, it was the Wild West of amazing class imbalances for a while). AoC, on the other hand, has long standing stability and gameplay issues that directly affect all customer types, and not just the hard core "race to the finish" type players.
And, as others have noted, this is Funcom's sophomore effort in the MMO market and was five years in the making. They had the exemplary example of WoW to emulate, at that. WoW was Blizzard's first dive into this foray. I could go on and on on this subject, but suffice to say comparing the launch and initial offerings of WoW to AoC only makes AoC look worse, despite how you choose to spin it.
IMHO no it is not that bad.
The game launched with fewer features than promised but most mmo's do.This game is no better or worse than anything on the market at this moment.
The funny thing about it is when WAR launches im going to bet ya that the same amount of complaining starts over on that forum.
What is your physical limit?
Well, I'm no grizzled MMO vet by any stretch of the imagination, but what other MMO launched that lacked so many of the promised features? Features loudly declared upon the packaging, no less.
I played Earth and Beyond at launch, it had what it promised (as far as I know). Same with DAoC. WoW too - though the level of organized PvP they promised is debatable, they didn't promise any specifics that were left out, that I am aware of, and not to any level that caused people (or themselves) to twist semantics to justify.
Not being aggressive at all, just wondering bro.
Comparing the WOW launch with the AOC launch is mis-leading and is effectively trying to create a straw man.
Sure WOW had server issues at launch, but who cares? Its not a competition to see who can be most stable at launch. It is however a competition to make a really good game to see who can keep its customers the longest. The AOC servers were and are relatively stable sure, but who gives a shit when the game sucks and the fundamentals dont exist or dont work?
When I hear Funcom PR or twittering AOC masochists talk about a successful launch, it makes me cringe. If we regard server stability as the only deciding factor in a 'successful launch', then I could buy a server today, bang down a bit of code, release my 'game', and as long as the server doesnt stop working, I could, by the definition Funcom are using, describe my little project as having a successful launch.
Unfortunately for Funcom lauches arent about simply 'keeping the servers up'. Launches are about making the game playable and improving on its playability and appeal quickly, in order to maintain customer loyalty, aswell as keeping the game up when its supposed to be up. If you cant manage the former, then what use is the latter?
Another person comparing Blizz's first mmo to Funcoms second.
Name one thing in AoC that is solid and polished.
Just one.
People used to say Dark and Light had "potential".
LOTRO is a second MMO from its producers... i guess you ignored that huh.
And only saw Wow in his post. Having said that WoW launched worse than Aoc, even with all there financial clot and they may have not released a MMO before but they have a lot of exp in MO games.
AoC had a good release, if you have a good machine then you get good graphics, the Combat system is new and different, As i said in a previous post there is basic content lacking, by that i mean quests and things to do before you get to lvl cap.
But if you fell for the hype then you should have a bit more aware of how games release in this genre.
Thats why I didn't say anything about LotR skippy.
The core of this game is complete garbage. PvP, PvE, Economy, Crafting, Itemization, skills etc..
The only thing AoC fans can say to defend this game is. "The graphics are good, and the combat is different." You guys sound like broken records. Oh, and I forgot, "All games are like this at launch".
P.S. WoW's launch was worse than AoC's? Seriously, lol.....
Yes seriously................... if you dont know then what can i say.
LOL... @ how you put you arguments across.......
Another person comparing Blizz's first mmo to Funcoms second.
Yet he also compares it to Turbine's 4th !!! Do you actually read people's post or just wait to reply?
You cannot choose bits of people sentences and ignore other parts skip-less!
What game do you actually play to say that all the core of AoC is garbage? Then we know what you are comparing it against.
I think AoC is pretty good. For a new MMO anyway. But honestly, I think I'm better off playing an older one, purely because of content reasons. I never expected AoC to have massive content at launch, but I didn't expect it to keep me entertained for longer than a month either. I was right on both.
IT is we the public that entertain the thought that AoC had a bad launch, from Funcom's point of view it was an awesome launch pulling in 2 or 3 times the number of people they thought they would, they knew what they were launching on the day, we didnt, lack of content does not make for a bad launch, neither does the buggyness of the software, as these are not launch issues.
Another person comparing Blizz's first mmo to Funcoms second.
Name one thing in AoC that is solid and polished.
Just one.
People used to say Dark and Light had "potential".
LOTRO is a second MMO from its producers... i guess you ignored that huh.
And only saw Wow in his post. Having said that WoW launched worse than Aoc, even with all there financial clot and they may have not released a MMO before but they have a lot of exp in MO games.
AoC had a good release, if you have a good machine then you get good graphics, the Combat system is new and different, As i said in a previous post there is basic content lacking, by that i mean quests and things to do before you get to lvl cap.
But if you fell for the hype then you should have a bit more aware of how games release in this genre.
Thats why I didn't say anything about LotR skippy.
The core of this game is complete garbage. PvP, PvE, Economy, Crafting, Itemization, skills etc..
The only thing AoC fans can say to defend this game is. "The graphics are good, and the combat is different." You guys sound like broken records. Oh, and I forgot, "All games are like this at launch".
P.S. WoW's launch was worse than AoC's? Seriously, lol.....
Yes seriously................... if you dont know then what can i say.
LOL... @ how you put you arguments across.......
Another person comparing Blizz's first mmo to Funcoms second.
Yet he also compares it to Turbine's 4th !!! Do you actually read people's post or just wait to reply?
You cannot choose bits of people sentences and ignore other parts skip-less!
What game do you actually play to say that all the core of AoC is garbage? Then we know what you are comparing it against.
I used his WoW statement because I knew Turbine has put out other mmo's, is that hard to comprehend?
You ask me to name other mmo's I've played to prove I know why AoC is garbage, yet you don't list any reasons why you think I'm wrong.
Game, set, match
Gamer Plus+