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Whats so bad about Age of Conan?
John.A.Zoid
Member Posts: 1,531
I got a buddy key and started playing and have gotten to level 14 so far and I can't see why the game gets all the hate so far. The issues I have with the game are ones that will stop me from playing after the free trial ends because I don't like all the loading screens and I'm not interested in the setting or lore. However if you are into the setting of the game then I really can't see whats sooo bad about the game, as long as you can get past all the zoning.
I installed the game on two of my rigs, one is using a 3870 and the other a 4870X2, both are on XP though so no DX10, though from what i've seen of that from Crysis it makes no difference. I'm getting around 38FPS maxed out on my 3870 with no stuttering at all and have had no crashes on it and my 4870X2 held the game at my refresh rate of 75 perfectly and no crashes so far too. The loading between zones is annoying because it's constant in and out of zones so far but they all load up in seconds. Also the only sound issues I've had with the game have been sometimes missing sound effects that you notice. So no performance issues here..... I dunno what it was like at launch but now it seems fine.
What I didn't like about WAR is how it does nothing new and just feels like a WOW clone with a hint of DAOC. I didn't like how boring the PVE was and how broken the PVP was and I didn't like how dull the world was or how crap the combat system was, I couldn't even find a class I liked. So basically for me I just thought "I played WOW and it's better than WAR, I don't need to play a bad clone instead" and so I never bothered with the game again.
However even though I don't like the setting of the game, which is done to personal preference, I find myself saying "atleast Age of Conan is trying something different". I really like the starting tutorial, though I wish there was an option to skip it and I like the dialogue system which reminds me of Kotor and all of them games, though so far theres lots of options but you can only really agree or say bye. I think the combat system is fun for PVE atleast because I havn't tried PVP yet and it is very immersive and even though I'm not sure if I like my class yet, atleast I'm having fun smashing people to death with a club and it feeling engaging. I mean the combat more than most mmorpgs I played gives me great feedback and instead of the boring auto attack, I feel like I'm hitting them myself and thats sooo kool compared to just sitting there watching the computer do it for me.
I also think the UI is great but the only downside is I wish it showed the items in 3D like SWG did, however I can't complain about that seeing as no other mmorpgs I know do this. The character creation was a breath of fresh air too, I was expecting some crap thing like WAR has where you all look the same but this was more in depth than what any mmorpg has to offer, including SWG and EQ2. My only complaint here was you can only play as humans which is boring, however that's probably the Conan lore.... I dunno. I spent ages making my character and it was soooo much fun to do so, I hope they add the ability to do this in game.
I thought all the quests were really great for my first 14 levels because they wern't all your usual quests. I was doing alot of things I've never done in a mmorpg before because it feels more like a single player RPG like KOTOR or Oblivion but placed in a mmorpg and even in zones with other players too.
I think Age of Conan is great and a very well polished mmorpg with lots of depth and has some really nice changes and mini innovations for the genre, unlike most WOW clones that come out these days. My only problem with the game so far is all the loading screens which put me off because I wish the game was seemless, it's a shame because I can't feel like i'm in a online world. My other problem isn't really a problem with the game but the playerbase because I feel very alone in the game seeing as I only ever see a couple people around at any one time so far and it's a shame. I find it a shame that everyones forgotten about Age of conan and it feels weird because with WOW there was new people joining that game for years after release.
Comments
My credentials: A level 80 Conquerer on a PvP server.
-Lack of people which means no raiding, no sieging, no anything on a large scale.
-At level 65 or so you run of out quests and the game becomes a super slow grind.
-Almost no loot variety. Most classes share the same armor look and you only change its appearance like twice in the WHOLE game. It gets really depressing.. That sounds funny when I say it but it is really the final nail in the coffin.
-Crafting is pointless.. No really, there is zero point. They broke the important crafting skill by uber nerfing gems. Yes there were massively overpowered, but they went about fixing it the wrong way.
-The level 70+ zone called Kheshatta is a nightmare on a PvP server. It is the one and only place to level and the level 80s are bored with nothing to do so they grief you. I could handle it but a lot of people couldn't.
-Even if you pug enough people for a raid... you will be decimated. The bosses don't joke around and you need tactics and preperation.
-Epic items do not drop almost ever. If I had to put a percentage on it.. it would be .05% chance to get one. My friends and I all played the game and none of us saw an epic item until after 80. That will not motivate you to keep playing. Yeah they are supposed to be rare, but come on!!!
On the flip side
-The graphics are very pretty.
-Levels 1-20 are really good for an MMO and 21-64(or so) are filled with quests to keep you busy.
-The combat system is really top notch fun. Playing DDR to execute combos is fun if you ask me. It feels more like an action game than MMO combat.
-The community was pretty good on my server. Yes there was griefers but you understand them when you hit 80 and stick your hands in your pockets.
-Cool instances.
-Fast transportation.
Fact is, the bad very much outweighs the good because the bad are much more critical factors for fun. You can give the game a shot, but don't say I didn't tell you so when you want to stab yourself in the ear later on because you are so friggen bored.
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Darkfall: December or vaporware!
Sounds to me that this mmorpg suffers from what all level/class based mmorpgs do and that's nothing to do in the end game. Lucky me that I'll be quiting in 6 days so I'll never get to find that out. If it was seamless with player housing and all that then I'd stay because I'm really into the whole UO or SWG thing.
I totally agree. Non-instanced player housing is just win.
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Darkfall: December or vaporware!
nah its a good game it needed more time in the oven but really who cares.
MMO players are a odd bunch, instead of playing games after they are nice and polished they rather sit on the side lines waiting for the *next* big thing that never comes.
these games last 4-5 years sometimes 10 !...but they are all judged in the first month? wtf thats insane and stupid.
that new thing? Star WaR's MMO ...ill be playing AoC, WaR,WoW in the meantime while you guys dream of the perfect MMO that wont happen
QFT
Although I do hope Darkfall turns out well. It would be a nice alternative to WoW for me. My roots are in Runescape and I've been looking for a game similar to it.
Played: Runescape, World of Warcraft, Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning
Heh - well one of the major problems right now is that quite a few (some 80-90%) 'cared' and left the game...
BTW OP and others... Why is it that every positive comment or praise of AoC has to be followed by bashing nn or nnn game? It does not emphasize your point/praise - It merely pollutes your post with 'phorum-noise'
(No - Never played WoW and neither do I play WAR)
We dont need casuals in our games!!! Errm... Well we DO need casuals to fund and populate our games - But the games should be all about "hardcore" because: We dont need casuals in our games!!!
(repeat ad infinitum)
Heh - well one of the major problems right now is that quite a few (some 80-90%) 'cared' and left the game...
BTW OP and others... Why is it that every positive comment or praise of AoC has to be followed by bashing nn or nnn game? It does not emphasize your point/praise - It merely pollutes your post with 'phorum-noise'
(No - Never played WoW and neither do I play WAR)
80-90%. Where do you get thins number from? Please give reference, because I already think that smells like BullSheit.
For the game, I very much agree with OP. This game is great, then again, if you don't like the setting, the style or whatever that is something else.
Heh - well one of the major problems right now is that quite a few (some 80-90%) 'cared' and left the game...
BTW OP and others... Why is it that every positive comment or praise of AoC has to be followed by bashing nn or nnn game? It does not emphasize your point/praise - It merely pollutes your post with 'phorum-noise'
(No - Never played WoW and neither do I play WAR)
You have to compare it to other mmorpgs.
My subscription runs out for WAR in a few days and I wont be renewing it because of the bordom factor and the same reasons the OP had for leaving it. However it did keep me entertained for a few weeks and considering I only paid £20 for it then I'm not too bothered.
Actually to be honest I never really expect much long term entertainment from mmos any more. I remember when I played my first mmo bloody donkeys years ago which was EQ1. Back then the mmo experience was new and exciting. I think I played the game a hell of a lot for about a year. Then DAoC came along and that claimed my soul for another year. Since then I have never played an mmo for longer than 3 months although I have resubbed to a few for maybe a month or two.
For this reason I am never really bothered about lack of end game content because I never actually get there. I just cant stay interested for long enough and I am amazed that people can play a single mmo for years on end.
Now I'm done with WAR I'm gonna give Age of Conan a go because it does seem to me that it has more to offer than all the others and I also love nice and shiny graphics. Lets face it most mmos have incredibly repetitive gameplay so if its nice to look at, sounds good and creates plenty of atmosphere then it will probably get a thumbs up from me. I played EVE for the same reason.
The loading issues arent a problem for me as they allow for a better quality game than a big wide open game world can allow for. I really cant understand how people can find loading screens immersion breaking. Do you seriously feel immersed in a static game world that you cannot have any effect on which is populated by fixed mobs with no AI that can only see you if you walk within a few meters of them and reappear a minute after you kill them and npcs that give out the same quests to thousands of people who are all immortal? There are all of these GIANT immersion breaking game mechanics in mmo and yet people complain about loading screens? WTF?!
Of course AoC had a bad start but that was then and this is now so I'm up for giving it a bash. At the very least it will keep me amused for a month or two
Heh - well one of the major problems right now is that quite a few (some 80-90%) 'cared' and left the game...
BTW OP and others... Why is it that every positive comment or praise of AoC has to be followed by bashing nn or nnn game? It does not emphasize your point/praise - It merely pollutes your post with 'phorum-noise'
(No - Never played WoW and neither do I play WAR)
You have to compare it to other mmorpgs.
Exactly
You are not the only one of that opinion
forums.ageofconan.com/showthread.php
AoC gets constant love from it's current subbase after patch 2.0 was introduced.
Expect the game to get better after patch 3.0 and 4.0 (3.5 or whatever they call it) More end game content and enough mid game content that lvl 80s can do for good reward and a new style (faction gang fighting in OT commons area with PvP also serving as a focal point), crafting re-hall (bad to say it that way, but essentially that's what it is), and a stat re-hall (for instance 1 con adds 4.4hp now it'll probably add 10) will make the game more enjoyable.
FCs main problem is they over estimated the amount of subs from hardcore PvPers. These people tend to like a games where gear and stats don't matter make much of a difference and its all about skill. Sadly, MMOs don't really attract those player type away from games that already have that. Even in games that have the hardcore player who only play against other hardcore players in the best gear don't make up a substantial number of the player base. Sad really, but true.
Now that FC has realized this they are fixing the problems people pointed out, but still catering to their base by not making gear mean too much. Hopefully, when all is said and done, both bases will be happy with the game and it will offer a truly unique experience like UO, DAoC, SWG, and Vanguard did. Sadly; just like these games, the player base will never reach the level it should be at.
Games:
Currently playing:Nothing
Will play: Darkfall: Unholy Wars
Past games:
Guild Wars 2 - Xpiher Duminous
Xpiher's GW2
GW 1 - Xpiher Duminous
Darkfall - Xpiher Duminous (NA) retired
AoC - Xpiher (Tyranny) retired
Warhammer - Xpiher
Well, basicly the problem is that AoC got released way to early. It is a lot better now but it do still miss a lot of content for level 70+.
It is not a bad game (neither is WAR for that matter, but lets talk about that in another thread) but it do needs some more work to be able to compete with the big games.
Still, I play it and are having a good time, it will be very intresting to see how the game are in a year.
Don't you just hate when these Tortage lowbies come here thinking they know all about AoC and say we all are wrong and the game is awesome?
I've said this before, most people like Tortage but quit once they reached level 70+. What does that tell you? Yes, game gets boring and endgame sucks. Is this so difficult to understand?
Of course you can talk about what you want but we really don't need anymore of these lowbie reviews. Get to level 80 and then we'll talk, ok?
Don't you just hate when these Tortage lowbies come here thinking they know all about AoC and say we all are wrong and the game is awesome?
I've said this before, most people like Tortage but quit once they reached level 70+. What does that tell you? Yes, game gets boring and endgame sucks. Is this so difficult to understand?
Of course you can talk about what you want but we really don't need anymore of these lowbie reviews. Get to level 80 and then we'll talk, ok?
How is the OP supposed to know what the End game is like when he has not got there yet?
Is that so difficult to understand?
Um.. that's my point, Sherlock. He doesn't know. He's whole experience with AoC is based on the first 14 levels. Yet he's in here saying: "OMG how can you hate this game?! It's awesome!". You don't see a problem with that?
Did you get my point now?
i find Age of Conan a good mmorpg.
For me personally, it was because of how heavily instanced, and zones mostly this long narrow just about linear paths through them. The second thing I got tired of, was the 1, 2 ,3 direction combat system, it just started to feel a chore after awhile, the shield direction on top of that just made the whole thing a bit to clumsy for me.
Heh - well one of the major problems right now is that quite a few (some 80-90%) 'cared' and left the game...
BTW OP and others... Why is it that every positive comment or praise of AoC has to be followed by bashing nn or nnn game? It does not emphasize your point/praise - It merely pollutes your post with 'phorum-noise'
(No - Never played WoW and neither do I play WAR)
80-90%. Where do you get thins number from? Please give reference, because I already think that smells like BullSheit.
For the game, I very much agree with OP. This game is great, then again, if you don't like the setting, the style or whatever that is something else.
Of course you dont like the 80-90%. Reality isnt a VM strong point but guess what.....hes probably pretty damn close. Maybe since you have a bullshit sniffer you might understand why people are put off by and you and your buddies over the top campaign as of late.
And to the OP and as discussed above, evaluating the game at level 14 is about at the same level as downloading the game, watching the intro trailer and coming here and talking about what a great game it is. You have maybe , what, 3-5 hours invested in an area that the vast majority said was NOT the issue with the game.
While I hope you continue to have fun it just doesnt say much when you are that low.
Feel free to call my guess whatever you like - It IS just a guess since Funcom is the only ones who knows the exact number.
Comparing AoC to itself on xfire it went from 18000+ players pr. day in the first month (750k accounts created) to 1200-1400 players pr. day 5 months later. Even with people playing less 5 months in, passive subscriptions and all that I still feel fairly convinced that 80-90% drop is a reasonable guess.
If new players feel AoC is a great game after playing a trial (just like the OP) then it would be natural to assume that AoC could start gaining new subscribers. Currently new players can pick up AoC for around $15 in NA and a little more in Europe - This could also raise the population. In the end we could very well see xfire numbers for AoC increase. (For some strange reason xfire-numbers are more 'valid' when they show an increase
)
We dont need casuals in our games!!! Errm... Well we DO need casuals to fund and populate our games - But the games should be all about "hardcore" because: We dont need casuals in our games!!!
(repeat ad infinitum)
It is much easier to list what is good about the game than list what is wrong.
Good points- pretty graphics.
Bad points - everything else including performance, content, customer service, game play and population.
I miss DAoC
Just as a heads up, these three aren't as bad off as they were in may. Two of them were eliminated (as problems) mostly anyway. Especially performance, unless of course you suffer from lag spikes, which honestly I didn't even after 2.0. C.S on the other hand is decent now. During a launch everyone's having one problem or another. Keeping C.S. rather busy, and creating long waits for a response. Now that A: the overall population is much lower and B: the game has less overall problems. That wait has significantly been cut down.
Content still needs work, yet they are making progress.
As for what's wrong with AOC, gaps in content (soon to be filled in a bit more), populations are low. PVP system isn't entirely in yet, crafting still needs overhauled, both of which should be happening soon. Some of the zones feel claustrophobic and uninspiring. Voice acting still needs to be added in large part through the entire after tortage experience (not necessary but I would welcome it). Penalties for the griefer are not in place, some abilities still need work, some classes still need balancing. General everyday mmo problems, broken npc's etc...
I could go on and on if I wanted to, however these are general issues. That is no excuse sure, but at the same time no game's ever going to be perfect. Most games have something that's been planned yet hasn't been implemented, even those that are years old. Every game has some sort of balancing issue etc...
To answer the question, the same things that are so bad about any MMO, that's why they all have constant fixes and tweaks being introduced.
For every minute you are angry , you lose 60 seconds of happiness."-Emerson
Yep, lack of content is the main problem right now and it was the main reason why I left the game. I can deal with lag, bugs and sexual predator GM's but if there's nothing interesting to do, I see little point in playing AoC.
Sadly they are not bringing any good new endgame content any time soon. And when/if they do, GW2 is probably out already and then I'm never going back to Conan.
Just as a heads up, these three aren't as bad off as they were in may. Two of them were eliminated (as problems) mostly anyway. Especially performance, unless of course you suffer from lag spikes, which honestly I didn't even after 2.0. C.S on the other hand is decent now. During a launch everyone's having one problem or another. Keeping C.S. rather busy, and creating long waits for a response. Now that A: the overall population is much lower and B: the game has less overall problems. That wait has significantly been cut down.
Content still needs work, yet they are making progress.
As for what's wrong with AOC, gaps in content (soon to be filled in a bit more), populations are low. PVP system isn't entirely in yet, crafting still needs overhauled, both of which should be happening soon. Some of the zones feel claustrophobic and uninspiring. Voice acting still needs to be added in large part through the entire after tortage experience (not necessary but I would welcome it). Penalties for the griefer are not in place, some abilities still need work, some classes still need balancing. General everyday mmo problems, broken npc's etc...
I could go on and on if I wanted to, however these are general issues. That is no excuse sure, but at the same time no game's ever going to be perfect. Most games have something that's been planned yet hasn't been implemented, even those that are years old. Every game has some sort of balancing issue etc...
To answer the question, the same things that are so bad about any MMO, that's why they all have constant fixes and tweaks being introduced.
Ugh you made me remember AoC's fatal flaw... memory leaks. I crashed after zoning like 3 times..every time! And the gray map of death... wow... too annoying!
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Darkfall: December or vaporware!
Quite frankly the end game is the worst part of the game. And to be honest it was a great game, there really wasn't much wrong, it's like Tabula Rasa, we need a game with large amounts of end game.