Nice review, but what is with the constant jabs at the player base? I mean, no disrespect, but it could be you, not them, that’s the problem. I mean, shall we start including opinions on the player base of all games in official MMORPG.com Reviews? They would just about all read the same way. Do the writers here know about this thing called the internet? Its almost a pointless thing to include, as every single person will have a different experience. 9 times out of 10, most people that say "This community sucks", walked in and started pissing on the drapes.
The observations on the player base are just that, my observations. Some will agree, some won't, but reviews are, by nature, opinion pieces, and I don't have any interest in watering down my perceptions to make them more palatable for folks that have thin skin.
I agree with you, its one of the reasons I left the game. As for some of the responses youve had here Jef, most of these people like to sit on the sidelines attacking posters and never making much of a stand on anything. Theres some sort of pleasure iin being the middle of the road guy that can attack every poster while claiming not to play the game but then attacking those that dont play any longer.
This isn't politics.
---------- "Anyone posting on this forum is not an average user, and there for any opinions about the game are going to be overly critical compared to an average users opinions." - Me
"Hello person posting on a site specifically for MMO's in a thread on a sub forum specifically for a particular game talking about meta features and making comparisons to other titles in the genre, and their meta features.
Well in my opinion this review is a joke as almost all reviews made in every magazine and on every major website last 5-6 years. All it does, is trying to appeal the majority of the people here, that felt to AoC hype before release, so it gets favourable feedback from the community. This review is just the reflection of the state of the AoC-forums on this website. It's a coward article hiding behind the community.
Seriously? Did someone just accuse us of writing a review to appease our community? REALLY? I mean seriously, it really doesn't matter what we write in our reviews, I guess we're just ALWAYS going to get this kind of statement. More often than not, it's "you're trying to sppease sdvertisers" now it "you're trying to appease your community". Ya know what? Reviews are just one person's opinion of a game. That's it. There's no freaking hidden agenda. Seriously. Deal with it. That seem like something I'm saying to get favorable feedback?
There's no cowardice here, friend. I hate to break it to you.
Nice review, but what is with the constant jabs at the player base? I mean, no disrespect, but it could be you, not them, that’s the problem. I mean, shall we start including opinions on the player base of all games in official MMORPG.com Reviews? They would just about all read the same way. Do the writers here know about this thing called the internet? Its almost a pointless thing to include, as every single person will have a different experience. 9 times out of 10, most people that say "This community sucks", walked in and started pissing on the drapes.
The observations on the player base are just that, my observations. Some will agree, some won't, but reviews are, by nature, opinion pieces, and I don't have any interest in watering down my perceptions to make them more palatable for folks that have thin skin.
I don't think it's necessarily an issue of having thin skin, it's more about professionalism. I'm not really used to being called a neanderthal in a review given by a legitimate site. It's quite uncommon to be attacked in a review period actually.
Personally I agree there are bad apples, but that's true of every community. I didn't notice much difference in AOC compared to other games I've played.
He didn't name anyone personally; he was talking about his experience with the community in general. It's a subjective call and he made it.
I've paid for gamer mags that had horrible, crappy reviews. And in many of the reviews they mention the community. And I paid money for those reviews! This review was free. And good writing.
I didn't say he called me out personally, I was referring to his bullet point of calling a whole community "neanderthal". After that I didn't even bother reading the review, though I do agree with the final score given.
If he had shown more tact and simply said the community element was weak, I wouldn't have made such an observation or overlooked his writing.
For every minute you are angry , you lose 60 seconds of happiness."-Emerson
Typical MMORPG.COM review here. How can you expect a fair and honest review when in one hand you get money from them and on the other review their game.
Fact is, this game blows major. The only good thing is the 1-20 game period. How can you get a passable rate (6/10) when the game is nothing but a grind past 20.
Well in my opinion this review is a joke as almost all reviews made in every magazine and on every major website last 5-6 years. All it does, is trying to appeal the majority of the people here, that felt to AoC hype before release, so it gets favourable feedback from the community. This review is just the reflection of the state of the AoC-forums on this website. It's a coward article hiding behind the community.
Seriously? Did someone just accuse us of writing a review to appease our community? REALLY? I mean seriously, it really doesn't matter what we write in our reviews, I guess we're just ALWAYS going to get this kind of statement. More often than not, it's "you're trying to sppease sdvertisers" now it "you're trying to appease your community". Ya know what? Reviews are just one person's opinion of a game. That's it. There's no freaking hidden agenda. Seriously. Deal with it. That seem like something I'm saying to get favorable feedback?
There's no cowardice here, friend. I hate to break it to you.
Your article pretends to be an objective review. It doesn't state "in my opinion, the interface is clunky and the community full of idiots..." It says let me paraphrase: the interface is clunky and the community full of idiots. Most of the things you criticise can be criticized in almost every game, depends on what approach you have towards the game. I'm not saying AoC is a good game, the game has great atmosphere for me and otherwise it's an overhyped mess. But the reasons why I dislike it differ from yours and most of the things you dislike I actually enjoy. Review should be informative. I don't want to read your personal opinions, I want information.
Well in my opinion this review is a joke as almost all reviews made in every magazine and on every major website last 5-6 years. All it does, is trying to appeal the majority of the people here, that felt to AoC hype before release, so it gets favourable feedback from the community. This review is just the reflection of the state of the AoC-forums on this website. It's a coward article hiding behind the community.
Seriously? Did someone just accuse us of writing a review to appease our community? REALLY? I mean seriously, it really doesn't matter what we write in our reviews, I guess we're just ALWAYS going to get this kind of statement. More often than not, it's "you're trying to sppease sdvertisers" now it "you're trying to appease your community". Ya know what? Reviews are just one person's opinion of a game. That's it. There's no freaking hidden agenda. Seriously. Deal with it. That seem like something I'm saying to get favorable feedback?
There's no cowardice here, friend. I hate to break it to you.
Your article pretends to be an objective review. It doesn't state "in my opinion, the interface is clunky and the community full of idiots..." It says let me paraphrase: the interface is clunky and the community full of idiots. Most of the things you criticise can be criticized in almost every game, depends on what approach you have towards the game. I'm not saying AoC is a good game, the game has great atmosphere for me and otherwise it's an overhyped mess. But the reasons why I dislike it differ from yours and most of the things you dislike I actually enjoy. Review should be informative. I don't want to read your personal opinions, I want information.
After the neanderthal reference I didn't even read that far. That made it past the editor, wtf ?
For every minute you are angry , you lose 60 seconds of happiness."-Emerson
sorry but his assessment is correct. The community is horrible and willing to jump down anyones throats compared to any other mmo. Look how YOU guys are reacting to his comment, and it is waht, only 3 or 4 of you? Now multiply that by a thousand fold and it is a fair representation of the games community. I have 2 toons, a level 24 Assassin on cimmeria and a level 32 HoX on Wiccana. PVP servers the community is atrocious, ooc every 5 mins "wtF ! XXX is an ass, just killed me at a spawn point" or wiccanna "Where the F*** is the pvp at? cmon gues queu up for a mini game you ***sy!" I am playing solo atm, giving the game a try 3 months after i cancelled, but while the graphics and music are truly awe inspiring, the 4k spike and community make it next to impossible to enjoy.
Having played both PVE and PVP servers, the community is just bad, slightly better on PVE, but still bad. I played SWG, EQ2, LOTRO, VANGUARD, and WAR in the last year, the ONLY game with a worse community is a wow pvp server. I never experienced such a vile and hateful bunch in any of the previous games mentioned.
Last night in Wiccana i had asked how to reset skill points, wanted to put some more into climbing for a quest to get a yeti pelt, and i was basically mocked for a good 10 minutes.
Originally posted by Aguitha Typical MMORPG.COM review here. How can you expect a fair and honest review when in one hand you get money from them and on the other review their game. Fact is, this game blows major. The only good thing is the 1-20 game period. How can you get a passable rate (6/10) when the game is nothing but a grind past 20.
Seriously why do you bother anymore to come here and even waste your precious time to post?
So you think in 2 passable sentences your are doing a better job jan the reviewer? Be my guest write a full article on the game, post it here and let the community be your judge.
For now you are just a lame troll in the body of a sick gnome, not impressive at all.
sorry but his assessment is correct. The community is horrible and willing to jump down anyones throats compared to any other mmo. Look how YOU guys are reacting to his comment, and it is waht, only 3 or 4 of you? Now multiply that by a thousand fold and it is a fair representation of the games community. I have 2 toons, a level 24 Assassin on cimmeria and a level 32 HoX on Wiccana. PVP servers the community is atrocious, ooc every 5 mins "wtF ! XXX is an ass, just killed me at a spawn point" or wiccanna "Where the F*** is the pvp at? cmon gues queu up for a mini game you ***sy!" I am playing solo atm, giving the game a try 3 months after i cancelled, but while the graphics and music are truly awe inspiring, the 4k spike and community make it next to impossible to enjoy.
Having played both PVE and PVP servers, the community is just bad, slightly better on PVE, but still bad. I played SWG, EQ2, LOTRO, VANGUARD, and WAR in the last year, the ONLY game with a worse community is a wow pvp server. I never experienced such a vile and hateful bunch in any of the previous games mentioned. Last night in Wiccana i had asked how to reset skill points, wanted to put some more into climbing for a quest to get a yeti pelt, and i was basically mocked for a good 10 minutes.
a review, by definition, is based on a personal opinion, that's the nature of a review. How many times has a movie review said this movie sucked or was good, and you found the exact opposite to be true. hell i think the movie Hudson Hawk was pure genious and it got half a star from most critics! :P
re⋅view
/r??vyu/ Show Spelled Pronunciation [ri-vyoo] Show IPA Pronunciation
–noun
1. a critical article or report, as in a periodical, on a book, play, recital, or the like; critique; evaluation.
2. the process of going over a subject again in study or recitation in order to fix it in the memory or summarize the facts.
3. an exercise designed or intended for study of this kind.
4. a general survey of something, esp. in words; a report or account of something.
5. an inspection or examination by viewing, esp. a formal inspection of any military or naval force, parade, or the like.
6. a periodical publication containing articles on current events or affairs, books, art, etc.: a literary review.
7. a judicial reexamination, as by a higher court, of the decision or proceedings in a case.
8. a second or repeated view of something.
9. a viewing of the past; contemplation or consideration of past events, circumstances, or facts.
10. Bridge. a recapitulation of the bids made by all players.
11. Theater. revue.
–verb (used with object)
12. to go over (lessons, studies, work, etc.) in review.
13. to view, look at, or look over again.
14. to inspect, esp. formally or officially: to review the troops.
15. to survey mentally; take a survey of: to review the situation.
16. to discuss (a book, play, etc.) in a critical review; write a critical report upon.
17. to look back upon; view retrospectively.
18. to present a survey of in speech or writing.
19. Law. to reexamine judicially: a decision to review the case.
20. Bridge. to repeat and summarize (all bids made by the players).
–verb (used without object)
21. to write reviews; review books, movies, etc., as for a newspaper or periodical: He reviews for some small-town newspaper.
Origin:
1555–65; < MF revue, n. use of fem. ptp. of revoir to see again ? L revid?re, equiv. to re- re- + vid?re to see; see view
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source
sorry but his assessment is correct. The community is horrible and willing to jump down anyones throats compared to any other mmo. Look how YOU guys are reacting to his comment, and it is waht, only 3 or 4 of you? Now multiply that by a thousand fold and it is a fair representation of the games community. I have 2 toons, a level 24 Assassin on cimmeria and a level 32 HoX on Wiccana. PVP servers the community is atrocious, ooc every 5 mins "wtF ! XXX is an ass, just killed me at a spawn point" or wiccanna "Where the F*** is the pvp at? cmon gues queu up for a mini game you ***sy!" I am playing solo atm, giving the game a try 3 months after i cancelled, but while the graphics and music are truly awe inspiring, the 4k spike and community make it next to impossible to enjoy.
Having played both PVE and PVP servers, the community is just bad, slightly better on PVE, but still bad. I played SWG, EQ2, LOTRO, VANGUARD, and WAR in the last year, the ONLY game with a worse community is a wow pvp server. I never experienced such a vile and hateful bunch in any of the previous games mentioned. Last night in Wiccana i had asked how to reset skill points, wanted to put some more into climbing for a quest to get a yeti pelt, and i was basically mocked for a good 10 minutes.
Yeah, but it's the writers fault right?
Right make a negative comment about war on it's forum...
I'm talking about the fact that I was just basically called an idiot and a neanderthal in an official review ( I played AOC, which makes me a part of the community). There's better ways to say the community has problems than resorting to the same level of asshatery you're complaining about. As I said the community has it's bad apples, I didn't experience anymore than I did on bloodfin in SWG. There's not much difference anywhere else from my experience ( I always pick pvp servers).
There's always those asshats who berate new players for asking simple questions, you see it in just about any ooc channel. I honestly never ran into someone in AOC who acted that way to me, as mr.Bloodworth pointed out the community you meet, is the one you experience. This differ's from server to server, guild to guild area to area....
I've never read a review here that had such inflamatory statements in it. Which I felt like commenting on, I'll use Straddens words here "Deal with it".
For every minute you are angry , you lose 60 seconds of happiness."-Emerson
Well in my opinion this review is a joke as almost all reviews made in every magazine and on every major website last 5-6 years. All it does, is trying to appeal the majority of the people here, that felt to AoC hype before release, so it gets favourable feedback from the community. This review is just the reflection of the state of the AoC-forums on this website. It's a coward article hiding behind the community.
Seriously? Did someone just accuse us of writing a review to appease our community? REALLY? I mean seriously, it really doesn't matter what we write in our reviews, I guess we're just ALWAYS going to get this kind of statement. More often than not, it's "you're trying to sppease sdvertisers" now it "you're trying to appease your community". Ya know what? Reviews are just one person's opinion of a game. That's it. There's no freaking hidden agenda. Seriously. Deal with it. That seem like something I'm saying to get favorable feedback?
There's no cowardice here, friend. I hate to break it to you.
Your article pretends to be an objective review. It doesn't state "in my opinion, the interface is clunky and the community full of idiots..." It says let me paraphrase: the interface is clunky and the community full of idiots. Most of the things you criticise can be criticized in almost every game, depends on what approach you have towards the game. I'm not saying AoC is a good game, the game has great atmosphere for me and otherwise it's an overhyped mess. But the reasons why I dislike it differ from yours and most of the things you dislike I actually enjoy. Review should be informative. I don't want to read your personal opinions, I want information.
Sorry, but any time you read a review, 'in my opinion' is logically, and quite obviously, implied. That's what a review is, information presented from a certain point of view. If you want a straight listing of facts, I'd direct you to the product info page at Gamestop.com or something similar. If you read a review by myself or any other writer, expect to get their personal opinions interspersed with the facts. Its really not rocket science.
Funcom does have experience in righting the ship and building a successful product following a less-than-stellar launch.
Or in other words:
"Because Funcom released AO in 2001 in a bug-ridden, early-beta state but did manage to turn it into a playable game we can expect them to do the same thing for AoC eventually."
But this is not acceptable to me as a "game development philosophy". I refuse to support Funcom for expecting its customers to be paying beta testers. Funcom should fail in this industry if it means tolerating this kind of game release strategy for any future games they develope.
really? i can find a ton of reviews and editorials in major publications (NY Times, Daily News, etc) in NY which totally destroy whatever they are talking about. Reviews and Editorials are based on personal insight, and what they think of it. If it was a technical review, based strictly on factual numbers such as hardware, costs, etc, then yes, making up this data would not be cool. But this is a review of a game, which takes alot of intangibles into affect. what one person may think is horrible (say huge numbers of quests for examples, which i hate in mmos) may be ideal for someone else.
Well in my opinion this review is a joke as almost all reviews made in every magazine and on every major website last 5-6 years. All it does, is trying to appeal the majority of the people here, that felt to AoC hype before release, so it gets favourable feedback from the community. This review is just the reflection of the state of the AoC-forums on this website. It's a coward article hiding behind the community.
Seriously? Did someone just accuse us of writing a review to appease our community? REALLY? I mean seriously, it really doesn't matter what we write in our reviews, I guess we're just ALWAYS going to get this kind of statement. More often than not, it's "you're trying to sppease sdvertisers" now it "you're trying to appease your community". Ya know what? Reviews are just one person's opinion of a game. That's it. There's no freaking hidden agenda. Seriously. Deal with it. That seem like something I'm saying to get favorable feedback?
There's no cowardice here, friend. I hate to break it to you.
Your article pretends to be an objective review. It doesn't state "in my opinion, the interface is clunky and the community full of idiots..." It says let me paraphrase: the interface is clunky and the community full of idiots. Most of the things you criticise can be criticized in almost every game, depends on what approach you have towards the game. I'm not saying AoC is a good game, the game has great atmosphere for me and otherwise it's an overhyped mess. But the reasons why I dislike it differ from yours and most of the things you dislike I actually enjoy. Review should be informative. I don't want to read your personal opinions, I want information.
Sorry, but any time you read a review, 'in my opinion' is logically, and quite obviously, implied. That's what a review is, information presented from a certain point of view. If you want a straight listing of facts, I'd direct you to the product info page at Gamestop.com or something similar. If you read a review by myself or any other writer, expect to get their personal opinions interspersed with the facts. Its really not rocket science.
exactly, reviews are BASED on ones experiences, likes, and dislikes. This is not a technical paper he is writing which can be scrutinized for factual content. A Review is an opinion, and each person has their own.
Funcom does have experience in righting the ship and building a successful product following a less-than-stellar launch.
Or in other words:
"Because Funcom released AO in 2001 in a bug-ridden, early-beta state but did manage to turn it into a playable game we can expect them to do the same thing for AoC eventually."
But this is not acceptable to me as a "game development philosophy". I refuse to support Funcom for expecting its customers to be paying beta testers. Funcom should fail in this industry if it means tolerating this kind of game release strategy for any future games they develope.
Its not acceptable to me either, which is why I spent a good portion of the review bashing the game. That said, the potential for a fun game is there, and I wouldn't be surprised if it ends up being a good game down the road. Their recent promotion of Craig Morrison has already begun to bear fruit, in my opinion.
Typical MMORPG.COM review here. How can you expect a fair and honest review when in one hand you get money from them and on the other review their game.
Fact is, this game blows major. The only good thing is the 1-20 game period. How can you get a passable rate (6/10) when the game is nothing but a grind past 20.
Seriously why do you bother anymore to come here and even waste your precious time to post?
So you think in 2 passable sentences your are doing a better job jan the reviewer? Be my guest write a full article on the game, post it here and let the community be your judge.
For now you are just a lame troll in the body of a sick gnome, not impressive at all.
I come here to read what's new about the mmo's community. But when i read review that are obviously biased, i can't help but comment on it. And last time i checked, that's what a forum is about.
really? i can find a ton of reviews and editorials in major publications (NY Times, Daily News, etc) in NY which totally destroy whatever they are talking about. Reviews and Editorials are based on personal insight, and what they think of it. If it was a technical review, based strictly on factual numbers such as hardware, costs, etc, then yes, making up this data would not be cool. But this is a review of a game, which takes alot of intangibles into affect. what one person may think is horrible (say huge numbers of quests for examples, which i hate in mmos) may be ideal for someone else.
Destroying the product is fine, insulting a community because of a personal experience isn't IMO.
For every minute you are angry , you lose 60 seconds of happiness."-Emerson
the problem is the community in online mmorpgs is the byproduct of a game.And in mmorpgs, where community is vital since you are dependant on the community, yes, it is valid to critique.
Your article pretends to be an objective review. It doesn't state "in my opinion, the interface is clunky and the community full of idiots..." It says let me paraphrase: the interface is clunky and the community full of idiots. Most of the things you criticise can be criticized in almost every game, depends on what approach you have towards the game. I'm not saying AoC is a good game, the game has great atmosphere for me and otherwise it's an overhyped mess. But the reasons why I dislike it differ from yours and most of the things you dislike I actually enjoy. Review should be informative. I don't want to read your personal opinions, I want information.
I don't know where you got that Steelrose, but I don't think you read the same article I did. Never did it say the community were full of 'idiots', I read and found it fair and subjective. Yes, subjective, as all reviews are.
Do you expect robots to review games instead, without emotion for any part of the game? Even the bugs are emotionally felt as annoying, otherwise ppl wouldn't care about them, they'd simply overlook them and play on for lack of anything better to do since they don't get emotionally involved in anything anyway, right?!
Even the technical problems wouldn't be accurate since not everyone has the same rigs and wouldn't experience the same issues. A totally objective review, would inherently be a boring read, since it would just be a list of things that work and don't work.
I enjoyed it and thought it mirrored my feelings toward AoC, it won't be be agreed upon with everyone here, and that's just fine. Expecting something other, in a review, than the writer's personal opinion is unrealisitc and somewhat naive. We simply had to read it and accept it as his/her experiences and compare it to ours (if we have them).
Being 'offended' by anything it is childish and immaterial, since it hasn't affected anything toward the liking or disliking of the game, maybe simply bruising an ego that happens to be on the other side of the writer's opinion. Such is life.
really? i can find a ton of reviews and editorials in major publications (NY Times, Daily News, etc) in NY which totally destroy whatever they are talking about. Reviews and Editorials are based on personal insight, and what they think of it. If it was a technical review, based strictly on factual numbers such as hardware, costs, etc, then yes, making up this data would not be cool. But this is a review of a game, which takes alot of intangibles into affect. what one person may think is horrible (say huge numbers of quests for examples, which i hate in mmos) may be ideal for someone else.
Destroying the product is fine, insulting a community because of a personal experience isn't IMO.
and you mean to tell me you were never asked by a friend or guildmate "hey how is this guild?" or "how is the community in this game?" or have never grouped up and found a couple of complete jerks in a group or raid group? Now when these numbers are lower percentages, you can shrug it off to the occasional "asshat", but as the % increase, it very much makes an impact upon a game.
Well in my opinion this review is a joke as almost all reviews made in every magazine and on every major website last 5-6 years. All it does, is trying to appeal the majority of the people here, that felt to AoC hype before release, so it gets favourable feedback from the community. This review is just the reflection of the state of the AoC-forums on this website. It's a coward article hiding behind the community.
Seriously? Did someone just accuse us of writing a review to appease our community? REALLY? I mean seriously, it really doesn't matter what we write in our reviews, I guess we're just ALWAYS going to get this kind of statement. More often than not, it's "you're trying to sppease sdvertisers" now it "you're trying to appease your community". Ya know what? Reviews are just one person's opinion of a game. That's it. There's no freaking hidden agenda. Seriously. Deal with it. That seem like something I'm saying to get favorable feedback?
There's no cowardice here, friend. I hate to break it to you.
Your article pretends to be an objective review. It doesn't state "in my opinion, the interface is clunky and the community full of idiots..." It says let me paraphrase: the interface is clunky and the community full of idiots. Most of the things you criticise can be criticized in almost every game, depends on what approach you have towards the game. I'm not saying AoC is a good game, the game has great atmosphere for me and otherwise it's an overhyped mess. But the reasons why I dislike it differ from yours and most of the things you dislike I actually enjoy. Review should be informative. I don't want to read your personal opinions, I want information.
Sorry, but any time you read a review, 'in my opinion' is logically, and quite obviously, implied. That's what a review is, information presented from a certain point of view. If you want a straight listing of facts, I'd direct you to the product info page at Gamestop.com or something similar. If you read a review by myself or any other writer, expect to get their personal opinions interspersed with the facts. Its really not rocket science.
Simply not true. I guess that's a difference between a good review and a bad review. Good review should have no personal opinions. It should be informative and contain facts only. For exmaple it should inform me about the interface (whether it can be resized, how many bars, how is the respond-rate etc).
Who the hell cares about his personal opinion? That's what forums are about NOT REVIEWS on a website like this. Just because you and your comrades are bastardized by the maganizes that write video game reviews that includes more personal opinions than an actual facts, doesn't mean a review should have personal opinions. You indeed can critize the interface if the respond-rate is extremly slow, it can't be resized etc, but you can't say the people that play the game are neandertals. That's stupid, childish and the writer should get whipped and an instant kick off from his volunteer unpaid job position. But I guess that's what I'm gonna get very soon.
Comments
The observations on the player base are just that, my observations. Some will agree, some won't, but reviews are, by nature, opinion pieces, and I don't have any interest in watering down my perceptions to make them more palatable for folks that have thin skin.
I agree with you, its one of the reasons I left the game. As for some of the responses youve had here Jef, most of these people like to sit on the sidelines attacking posters and never making much of a stand on anything. Theres some sort of pleasure iin being the middle of the road guy that can attack every poster while claiming not to play the game but then attacking those that dont play any longer.
This isn't politics.
----------
"Anyone posting on this forum is not an average user, and there for any opinions about the game are going to be overly critical compared to an average users opinions." - Me
"No, your wrong.." - Random user #123
"Hello person posting on a site specifically for MMO's in a thread on a sub forum specifically for a particular game talking about meta features and making comparisons to other titles in the genre, and their meta features.
How are you?" -Me
Seriously? Did someone just accuse us of writing a review to appease our community? REALLY? I mean seriously, it really doesn't matter what we write in our reviews, I guess we're just ALWAYS going to get this kind of statement. More often than not, it's "you're trying to sppease sdvertisers" now it "you're trying to appease your community". Ya know what? Reviews are just one person's opinion of a game. That's it. There's no freaking hidden agenda. Seriously. Deal with it. That seem like something I'm saying to get favorable feedback?
There's no cowardice here, friend. I hate to break it to you.
Cheers,
Jon Wood
Managing Editor
MMORPG.com
The observations on the player base are just that, my observations. Some will agree, some won't, but reviews are, by nature, opinion pieces, and I don't have any interest in watering down my perceptions to make them more palatable for folks that have thin skin.
I don't think it's necessarily an issue of having thin skin, it's more about professionalism. I'm not really used to being called a neanderthal in a review given by a legitimate site. It's quite uncommon to be attacked in a review period actually.
Personally I agree there are bad apples, but that's true of every community. I didn't notice much difference in AOC compared to other games I've played.
He didn't name anyone personally; he was talking about his experience with the community in general. It's a subjective call and he made it.
I've paid for gamer mags that had horrible, crappy reviews. And in many of the reviews they mention the community. And I paid money for those reviews! This review was free. And good writing.
I didn't say he called me out personally, I was referring to his bullet point of calling a whole community "neanderthal". After that I didn't even bother reading the review, though I do agree with the final score given.
If he had shown more tact and simply said the community element was weak, I wouldn't have made such an observation or overlooked his writing.
For every minute you are angry , you lose 60 seconds of happiness."-Emerson
A good review and accurate opinion for most of the AOC community
The only aspect of the article I disagree with is the score ,I would give it 5/10
"after the time of dice came the day of mice "
Typical MMORPG.COM review here. How can you expect a fair and honest review when in one hand you get money from them and on the other review their game.
Fact is, this game blows major. The only good thing is the 1-20 game period. How can you get a passable rate (6/10) when the game is nothing but a grind past 20.
Seriously? Did someone just accuse us of writing a review to appease our community? REALLY? I mean seriously, it really doesn't matter what we write in our reviews, I guess we're just ALWAYS going to get this kind of statement. More often than not, it's "you're trying to sppease sdvertisers" now it "you're trying to appease your community". Ya know what? Reviews are just one person's opinion of a game. That's it. There's no freaking hidden agenda. Seriously. Deal with it. That seem like something I'm saying to get favorable feedback?
There's no cowardice here, friend. I hate to break it to you.
Your article pretends to be an objective review. It doesn't state "in my opinion, the interface is clunky and the community full of idiots..." It says let me paraphrase: the interface is clunky and the community full of idiots. Most of the things you criticise can be criticized in almost every game, depends on what approach you have towards the game. I'm not saying AoC is a good game, the game has great atmosphere for me and otherwise it's an overhyped mess. But the reasons why I dislike it differ from yours and most of the things you dislike I actually enjoy. Review should be informative. I don't want to read your personal opinions, I want information.
"Freedom is just another name for nothing left to lose" - Janis Joplin
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"Freedom is just another name for nothing left to lose" - Janis Joplin
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Seriously? Did someone just accuse us of writing a review to appease our community? REALLY? I mean seriously, it really doesn't matter what we write in our reviews, I guess we're just ALWAYS going to get this kind of statement. More often than not, it's "you're trying to sppease sdvertisers" now it "you're trying to appease your community". Ya know what? Reviews are just one person's opinion of a game. That's it. There's no freaking hidden agenda. Seriously. Deal with it. That seem like something I'm saying to get favorable feedback?
There's no cowardice here, friend. I hate to break it to you.
Your article pretends to be an objective review. It doesn't state "in my opinion, the interface is clunky and the community full of idiots..." It says let me paraphrase: the interface is clunky and the community full of idiots. Most of the things you criticise can be criticized in almost every game, depends on what approach you have towards the game. I'm not saying AoC is a good game, the game has great atmosphere for me and otherwise it's an overhyped mess. But the reasons why I dislike it differ from yours and most of the things you dislike I actually enjoy. Review should be informative. I don't want to read your personal opinions, I want information.
After the neanderthal reference I didn't even read that far. That made it past the editor, wtf ?
For every minute you are angry , you lose 60 seconds of happiness."-Emerson
sorry but his assessment is correct. The community is horrible and willing to jump down anyones throats compared to any other mmo. Look how YOU guys are reacting to his comment, and it is waht, only 3 or 4 of you? Now multiply that by a thousand fold and it is a fair representation of the games community. I have 2 toons, a level 24 Assassin on cimmeria and a level 32 HoX on Wiccana. PVP servers the community is atrocious, ooc every 5 mins "wtF ! XXX is an ass, just killed me at a spawn point" or wiccanna "Where the F*** is the pvp at? cmon gues queu up for a mini game you ***sy!" I am playing solo atm, giving the game a try 3 months after i cancelled, but while the graphics and music are truly awe inspiring, the 4k spike and community make it next to impossible to enjoy.
Having played both PVE and PVP servers, the community is just bad, slightly better on PVE, but still bad. I played SWG, EQ2, LOTRO, VANGUARD, and WAR in the last year, the ONLY game with a worse community is a wow pvp server. I never experienced such a vile and hateful bunch in any of the previous games mentioned.
Last night in Wiccana i had asked how to reset skill points, wanted to put some more into climbing for a quest to get a yeti pelt, and i was basically mocked for a good 10 minutes.
Yeah, but it's the writers fault right?
Seriously why do you bother anymore to come here and even waste your precious time to post?
So you think in 2 passable sentences your are doing a better job jan the reviewer? Be my guest write a full article on the game, post it here and let the community be your judge.
For now you are just a lame troll in the body of a sick gnome, not impressive at all.
Does your stereotype suppose to convince me?
a review, by definition, is based on a personal opinion, that's the nature of a review. How many times has a movie review said this movie sucked or was good, and you found the exact opposite to be true. hell i think the movie Hudson Hawk was pure genious and it got half a star from most critics! :P
re⋅view
/r??vyu/ Show Spelled Pronunciation [ri-vyoo] Show IPA Pronunciation
–noun
1. a critical article or report, as in a periodical, on a book, play, recital, or the like; critique; evaluation.
2. the process of going over a subject again in study or recitation in order to fix it in the memory or summarize the facts.
3. an exercise designed or intended for study of this kind.
4. a general survey of something, esp. in words; a report or account of something.
5. an inspection or examination by viewing, esp. a formal inspection of any military or naval force, parade, or the like.
6. a periodical publication containing articles on current events or affairs, books, art, etc.: a literary review.
7. a judicial reexamination, as by a higher court, of the decision or proceedings in a case.
8. a second or repeated view of something.
9. a viewing of the past; contemplation or consideration of past events, circumstances, or facts.
10. Bridge. a recapitulation of the bids made by all players.
11. Theater. revue.
–verb (used with object)
12. to go over (lessons, studies, work, etc.) in review.
13. to view, look at, or look over again.
14. to inspect, esp. formally or officially: to review the troops.
15. to survey mentally; take a survey of: to review the situation.
16. to discuss (a book, play, etc.) in a critical review; write a critical report upon.
17. to look back upon; view retrospectively.
18. to present a survey of in speech or writing.
19. Law. to reexamine judicially: a decision to review the case.
20. Bridge. to repeat and summarize (all bids made by the players).
–verb (used without object)
21. to write reviews; review books, movies, etc., as for a newspaper or periodical: He reviews for some small-town newspaper.
Origin:
1555–65; < MF revue, n. use of fem. ptp. of revoir to see again ? L revid?re, equiv. to re- re- + vid?re to see; see view
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.
Right make a negative comment about war on it's forum...
I'm talking about the fact that I was just basically called an idiot and a neanderthal in an official review ( I played AOC, which makes me a part of the community). There's better ways to say the community has problems than resorting to the same level of asshatery you're complaining about. As I said the community has it's bad apples, I didn't experience anymore than I did on bloodfin in SWG. There's not much difference anywhere else from my experience ( I always pick pvp servers).
There's always those asshats who berate new players for asking simple questions, you see it in just about any ooc channel. I honestly never ran into someone in AOC who acted that way to me, as mr.Bloodworth pointed out the community you meet, is the one you experience. This differ's from server to server, guild to guild area to area....
I've never read a review here that had such inflamatory statements in it. Which I felt like commenting on, I'll use Straddens words here "Deal with it".
For every minute you are angry , you lose 60 seconds of happiness."-Emerson
Seriously? Did someone just accuse us of writing a review to appease our community? REALLY? I mean seriously, it really doesn't matter what we write in our reviews, I guess we're just ALWAYS going to get this kind of statement. More often than not, it's "you're trying to sppease sdvertisers" now it "you're trying to appease your community". Ya know what? Reviews are just one person's opinion of a game. That's it. There's no freaking hidden agenda. Seriously. Deal with it. That seem like something I'm saying to get favorable feedback?
There's no cowardice here, friend. I hate to break it to you.
Your article pretends to be an objective review. It doesn't state "in my opinion, the interface is clunky and the community full of idiots..." It says let me paraphrase: the interface is clunky and the community full of idiots. Most of the things you criticise can be criticized in almost every game, depends on what approach you have towards the game. I'm not saying AoC is a good game, the game has great atmosphere for me and otherwise it's an overhyped mess. But the reasons why I dislike it differ from yours and most of the things you dislike I actually enjoy. Review should be informative. I don't want to read your personal opinions, I want information.
Sorry, but any time you read a review, 'in my opinion' is logically, and quite obviously, implied. That's what a review is, information presented from a certain point of view. If you want a straight listing of facts, I'd direct you to the product info page at Gamestop.com or something similar. If you read a review by myself or any other writer, expect to get their personal opinions interspersed with the facts. Its really not rocket science.
Or in other words:
"Because Funcom released AO in 2001 in a bug-ridden, early-beta state but did manage to turn it into a playable game we can expect them to do the same thing for AoC eventually."
But this is not acceptable to me as a "game development philosophy". I refuse to support Funcom for expecting its customers to be paying beta testers. Funcom should fail in this industry if it means tolerating this kind of game release strategy for any future games they develope.
really? i can find a ton of reviews and editorials in major publications (NY Times, Daily News, etc) in NY which totally destroy whatever they are talking about. Reviews and Editorials are based on personal insight, and what they think of it. If it was a technical review, based strictly on factual numbers such as hardware, costs, etc, then yes, making up this data would not be cool. But this is a review of a game, which takes alot of intangibles into affect. what one person may think is horrible (say huge numbers of quests for examples, which i hate in mmos) may be ideal for someone else.
Seriously? Did someone just accuse us of writing a review to appease our community? REALLY? I mean seriously, it really doesn't matter what we write in our reviews, I guess we're just ALWAYS going to get this kind of statement. More often than not, it's "you're trying to sppease sdvertisers" now it "you're trying to appease your community". Ya know what? Reviews are just one person's opinion of a game. That's it. There's no freaking hidden agenda. Seriously. Deal with it. That seem like something I'm saying to get favorable feedback?
There's no cowardice here, friend. I hate to break it to you.
Your article pretends to be an objective review. It doesn't state "in my opinion, the interface is clunky and the community full of idiots..." It says let me paraphrase: the interface is clunky and the community full of idiots. Most of the things you criticise can be criticized in almost every game, depends on what approach you have towards the game. I'm not saying AoC is a good game, the game has great atmosphere for me and otherwise it's an overhyped mess. But the reasons why I dislike it differ from yours and most of the things you dislike I actually enjoy. Review should be informative. I don't want to read your personal opinions, I want information.
Sorry, but any time you read a review, 'in my opinion' is logically, and quite obviously, implied. That's what a review is, information presented from a certain point of view. If you want a straight listing of facts, I'd direct you to the product info page at Gamestop.com or something similar. If you read a review by myself or any other writer, expect to get their personal opinions interspersed with the facts. Its really not rocket science.
exactly, reviews are BASED on ones experiences, likes, and dislikes. This is not a technical paper he is writing which can be scrutinized for factual content. A Review is an opinion, and each person has their own.
Or in other words:
"Because Funcom released AO in 2001 in a bug-ridden, early-beta state but did manage to turn it into a playable game we can expect them to do the same thing for AoC eventually."
But this is not acceptable to me as a "game development philosophy". I refuse to support Funcom for expecting its customers to be paying beta testers. Funcom should fail in this industry if it means tolerating this kind of game release strategy for any future games they develope.
Its not acceptable to me either, which is why I spent a good portion of the review bashing the game. That said, the potential for a fun game is there, and I wouldn't be surprised if it ends up being a good game down the road. Their recent promotion of Craig Morrison has already begun to bear fruit, in my opinion.
Seriously why do you bother anymore to come here and even waste your precious time to post?
So you think in 2 passable sentences your are doing a better job jan the reviewer? Be my guest write a full article on the game, post it here and let the community be your judge.
For now you are just a lame troll in the body of a sick gnome, not impressive at all.
I come here to read what's new about the mmo's community. But when i read review that are obviously biased, i can't help but comment on it. And last time i checked, that's what a forum is about.
Destroying the product is fine, insulting a community because of a personal experience isn't IMO.
For every minute you are angry , you lose 60 seconds of happiness."-Emerson
the problem is the community in online mmorpgs is the byproduct of a game.And in mmorpgs, where community is vital since you are dependant on the community, yes, it is valid to critique.
Your article pretends to be an objective review. It doesn't state "in my opinion, the interface is clunky and the community full of idiots..." It says let me paraphrase: the interface is clunky and the community full of idiots. Most of the things you criticise can be criticized in almost every game, depends on what approach you have towards the game. I'm not saying AoC is a good game, the game has great atmosphere for me and otherwise it's an overhyped mess. But the reasons why I dislike it differ from yours and most of the things you dislike I actually enjoy. Review should be informative. I don't want to read your personal opinions, I want information.
I don't know where you got that Steelrose, but I don't think you read the same article I did. Never did it say the community were full of 'idiots', I read and found it fair and subjective. Yes, subjective, as all reviews are.
Do you expect robots to review games instead, without emotion for any part of the game? Even the bugs are emotionally felt as annoying, otherwise ppl wouldn't care about them, they'd simply overlook them and play on for lack of anything better to do since they don't get emotionally involved in anything anyway, right?!
Even the technical problems wouldn't be accurate since not everyone has the same rigs and wouldn't experience the same issues. A totally objective review, would inherently be a boring read, since it would just be a list of things that work and don't work.
I enjoyed it and thought it mirrored my feelings toward AoC, it won't be be agreed upon with everyone here, and that's just fine. Expecting something other, in a review, than the writer's personal opinion is unrealisitc and somewhat naive. We simply had to read it and accept it as his/her experiences and compare it to ours (if we have them).
Being 'offended' by anything it is childish and immaterial, since it hasn't affected anything toward the liking or disliking of the game, maybe simply bruising an ego that happens to be on the other side of the writer's opinion. Such is life.
Destroying the product is fine, insulting a community because of a personal experience isn't IMO.
and you mean to tell me you were never asked by a friend or guildmate "hey how is this guild?" or "how is the community in this game?" or have never grouped up and found a couple of complete jerks in a group or raid group? Now when these numbers are lower percentages, you can shrug it off to the occasional "asshat", but as the % increase, it very much makes an impact upon a game.
Seriously? Did someone just accuse us of writing a review to appease our community? REALLY? I mean seriously, it really doesn't matter what we write in our reviews, I guess we're just ALWAYS going to get this kind of statement. More often than not, it's "you're trying to sppease sdvertisers" now it "you're trying to appease your community". Ya know what? Reviews are just one person's opinion of a game. That's it. There's no freaking hidden agenda. Seriously. Deal with it. That seem like something I'm saying to get favorable feedback?
There's no cowardice here, friend. I hate to break it to you.
Your article pretends to be an objective review. It doesn't state "in my opinion, the interface is clunky and the community full of idiots..." It says let me paraphrase: the interface is clunky and the community full of idiots. Most of the things you criticise can be criticized in almost every game, depends on what approach you have towards the game. I'm not saying AoC is a good game, the game has great atmosphere for me and otherwise it's an overhyped mess. But the reasons why I dislike it differ from yours and most of the things you dislike I actually enjoy. Review should be informative. I don't want to read your personal opinions, I want information.
Sorry, but any time you read a review, 'in my opinion' is logically, and quite obviously, implied. That's what a review is, information presented from a certain point of view. If you want a straight listing of facts, I'd direct you to the product info page at Gamestop.com or something similar. If you read a review by myself or any other writer, expect to get their personal opinions interspersed with the facts. Its really not rocket science.
Simply not true. I guess that's a difference between a good review and a bad review. Good review should have no personal opinions. It should be informative and contain facts only. For exmaple it should inform me about the interface (whether it can be resized, how many bars, how is the respond-rate etc).
Who the hell cares about his personal opinion? That's what forums are about NOT REVIEWS on a website like this. Just because you and your comrades are bastardized by the maganizes that write video game reviews that includes more personal opinions than an actual facts, doesn't mean a review should have personal opinions. You indeed can critize the interface if the respond-rate is extremly slow, it can't be resized etc, but you can't say the people that play the game are neandertals. That's stupid, childish and the writer should get whipped and an instant kick off from his volunteer unpaid job position. But I guess that's what I'm gonna get very soon.