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One month review
jaysins
Member UncommonPosts: 107
One month review time. So I've been playing for a month now since I originally quit the game several months back. Am I going to renew for another month would be the question. The answer is a huge YES. I am having more fun than ever and here is my follow up review.
Most important thing is fun. And I'm having a lot of it. From fighting huge dragons to other players I am having a blast. I started a new toon primarily for pvp and am having a great time. I love how vetern players can almost always beat me, even if I'm a few levels higher or have better gear. I'm new to melee characters in this game and I like the fact that skill plays such an important role in duels. It's also a lot of fun to notice how I'm getting better and the impact it has on my winning or loosing a duel. Raiding is a blast and I'm able to do so several nights a week and have been on 24 man raids. Most memorable is vistrix where playing as individual groups and as a whole raid team is very important. Having to buff up your team and help out others and manage the mobs is very challenging and very fun. Onyx chambers is hard and requires the group to think on their feet as bad pulls are pretty much a given and it is the teams ability to respond to these bad, sometimes horrible pulls, that decides whether you live or die. Aztles fortress is fun and well layed out and overall I'm having a lot of fun raiding and looking forward to even more of it once patch 1.04 goes live.
Stability and performance is great and I've only had one decent lag spike since my last review. It was in vistrix's liar of all places and caused us to wipe but it was the only one of it's kind and I have logged many many hours in 24 man raids. Other than that the game has been running very smoothly once I turned down my overclock on my gpu (only game that gave it problems but certainly not funcoms fault) and I have yet to reach any points of frusteration like I did in the past with AOC. 24 man raids, besides the one instance above, have been running great and lag free.
Content. This is one of two places where AOC does need some work. Dueling and raiding is still fun for me but I can definitely see needing more variety in a few months. However this issue will be addressed as a lot of new content is on the way . The highest level raid has only been accomplishd by one guild I believe which is a testament to how hard it is. What is here is good but a little lacking in terms of quantity but for now I am very content and it's not a problem. I'm leveling an alt and really enjoying seeing and doing everything all over again. A few more levels in the pvp mini games would be nice as well but what is there is of very high quality. Just started sieges and being able to take over other guilds battle keeps is fun and it's nice ot have an appreciable reward or punishment for not performing well. Battles are intense.
Finally community. I really like the community on my server and I have a great guild (time for shameless plug) soldiers of the black sun. As far as my guild goes there are a lot really cool players who just play and enjoy the game and don't piss and moan. Last night we fought another guild over grinding spots and several battles ensued. We ended up winning and everyone was a good sport about it. Many times when I'm killed by another player who got the jump on me they will commend me if I did well and tell me that they will leave me alone if I don't feel like dueling. There are evil and good guilds and battles and skirmishes break out quite often and it creates a very interesting relationship with other players and guilds with alliances and forming and breaking constantly. I'm on a mercenary guild so I get to play with a lot of other guilds and in terms of style there is so much to choose from. Ganking guilds, guilds who sole purpose is to hunt said guilds, raiding guilds, pvp guilds etc it is very easy to find a guild that suits your play style and how you want to playt the game. Whether that be warring on other guilds, being the bad or good guy or mercenary for hire.
All said I am really happy I resubbed to this game. I'm happier now than I was in my last repost. It keeps getting better and better for me. I am having more fun than I ever did with this game now. Of course this game isn't for everyone and some people were burnt in the past and I respect your opinion to not come back and to not have faith in this game or funcom. They really do seem like a different company since the new developer took over and they seem much more active and honest. I haven't had a whole lot of contact with them thogh so it is entirely possible my perception is skewed, however, before I was frusterated and now I have no issues with them and am quite amazed at the turnaround. For me I couldn't be too much happier for the time being. Though I'l still likely try darkfall I don't think another game will get me anytime soon unless Mortal Online is amazing (Love open worlds and am someone who got a pioneer account on dark and light 
). Due to some lack of content and a few issues with class balancing I'm going to give this game an 8.75/10. With the addons mentioned coming up I have no doubt that the score will go higher. I haven't played left 4 dead or TF2 in a couple weeks because of AOC. No game is for everyone and I've tried to be as constructive and honest as I could with this review. This game is for me though. Good luck to anyone that subs/resubs and look me up if your in crimmeria.
Comments
Nice post Jay, glad you're enjoying it again...
Very nice post and I also want to second that: Age of Conan has progressed leaps and bounds from launch and is really worthwhile to pick up!
Yeah I resubbed a week ago and im glad i did. I cant wait till the serveres are merged 2morrow so my server will have lots of players
Good feedback OP. I am sure the hounds will be in soon.
I am confident that the majority of people who stopped playing half a year back are missing out on good times. Such a shame.
No, not likely. It's been 12+ hours and there has been a lot of activity by our regulars in the threads below, so I don't think it's a matter of pouncing on anything that remotely sounds positive.
While there is the occasional quip from the peanut gallery, I've yet to see a constructive and honest review of an individual's first or revisited impressions become the center of attention for some of the more ardent naysayers. There are one or two caveats to that statement, and I recognize them.
Does it help to be a little bit snarky when that understanding has seemingly been reached in this thread; and thus potentially bringing on those negative responses through no fault of the OP? I say no, and better let sleeping dogs lie when there is relatively decent level headedness on display.
To the OP:
Glad you are having a good time Jaysins, keep us posted as you continue to progress!
No, not likely. It's been 12+ hours and there has been a lot of activity by our regulars in the threads below, so I don't think it's a matter of pouncing on anything that remotely sounds positive.
While there is the occasional quip from the peanut gallery, I've yet to see a constructive and honest review of an individual's first or revisited impressions become the center of attention for some of the more ardent naysayers. There are one or two caveats to that statement, and I recognize them.
Does it help to be a little bit snarky when that understanding has seemingly been reached in this thread; and thus potentially bringing on those negative responses through no fault of the OP? I say no, and better let sleeping dogs lie when there is relatively decent level headedness on display.
To the OP:
Glad you are having a good time Jaysins, keep us posted as you continue to progress!
Wasn't mean't as to be snarky, was more of a genuine "heads up"
as a matter of time judging from past experiences. There is noting to positive for some.
I am thinking about doing a re-review I think once this patch has gone live and we can see how it works out with the high end content being implemented - which is not on test server yet.. (Sure it will be once the merges are complete)
Anyways, on a different note, how are you getting along Mr Reaper? Will you be trying the DX10 when it comes?
No, not likely. It's been 12+ hours and there has been a lot of activity by our regulars in the threads below, so I don't think it's a matter of pouncing on anything that remotely sounds positive.
While there is the occasional quip from the peanut gallery, I've yet to see a constructive and honest review of an individual's first or revisited impressions become the center of attention for some of the more ardent naysayers. There are one or two caveats to that statement, and I recognize them.
Does it help to be a little bit snarky when that understanding has seemingly been reached in this thread; and thus potentially bringing on those negative responses through no fault of the OP? I say no, and better let sleeping dogs lie when there is relatively decent level headedness on display.
To the OP:
Glad you are having a good time Jaysins, keep us posted as you continue to progress!
Wasn't mean't as to be snarky, was more of a genuine "heads up"
as a matter of time judging from past experiences. There is noting to positive for some.
I am thinking about doing a re-review I think once this patch has gone live and we can see how it works out with the high end content being implemented - which is not on test server yet.. (Sure it will be once the merges are complete)
Anyways, on a different note, how are you getting along Mr Reaper? Will you be trying the DX10 when it comes?
I'll most certainly fiddle around with it; I'm easy when it comes to anything that will push my rig and hopefully provide some excuse to go out and buy something I really don't need.
In the interim, I'm on a small break from AoC through the end of January while I take a look back at some titles I picked up but didn't fully explore. I'm resubbed to LOTRO currently and really enjoying it; and also putting some time into DDO as I had a few builds I've been meaning to try out.
Speaking of LOTRO, I like what they did with DX10. Subtle and fits well with the overall art direction and visual elements within the game. No where near comparable to what is in store for AoC; but it works in the same way I think AoC's implementation of DX10 will work for AoC in adding more chutzpah to the world of Hyboria.
In regards to your re-review: I don't know how it works with Jon, but I'd like to see a comprehensive re-review covering the game as it was, what's changed, why it's significant; and a part of it dedicated to looking at the AoC community and how it's taking shape in 8th month.
Whether it comes as a "Second Opinion" to the recent re-review; or a more traditional article looking at the past 6 months and what's in store for the next 6 months. More specifically, I'd like to see a Q&A with Famine and/or Craig within that article or as the second of a two part piece.
This is a great opportunity for MMORPG.COM to get some face time with some key people within Funcom on their current view of their progress, talk a little bit more of what's in store and what they've learned looking back on the last 8 months.
The timing is right if you ask me; and will plant the right kind of seed for the upcoming new and winback campaign(s).
Well just to see what the game is like now I'll post what I did today as my girlfriend was away so I got to spend the whole night playing when I got home.
Server mergers just happened and my server was absolutely packed. Started playing when I got home today around 7 and managed to get in a 24 man raid and down vistrix and got into another raid and did half of kyliki's tomb ( and ended up with some very nice t1 boots I may add). After that I went to check out the higher level pvp grounds in kesh and it was ridiculously packed. Duels, lightning, fire and shit flying everywhere. It actually was too packed for my liking as you couldn't really go anywhere without fighting someone, which is great for a pvp server but at one point it looked like several raid parties going at it but was quite the site to behold. Apparently the biggest guild on the server held a march around the noble district to show off their might and it seems factions are starting to form with the bigger guilds turning hostile on one another.
After that I jumped on my alt and did two runs of a low level dungeon (burning sanctum) and ended up getting some nice drops off of that. There was some lag but I actually think my video card was the fault and had again lower my overclock. After that things were going great. Smooth and nice though in with so many people in kesh I may have to turn down the settings a bit. I was ok hovering around 25-30fps with what honestly seemed like at least 80 people and a firework show to behold with my settings on max w/ no AA. My guild has two sieges scheduled for the weekend on Friday and Saturday and I believe they are suppose to be 48 man sieges.
I'm really having a good time. No game is for everyone but I'm convinced there is a good game here regardless if it doesn't suit some or even many persons personal taste. In regards to if they should offer a free trial period I wouldn't be suprised if they did this as I think they have nothing to lose and everything to gain by letting people have a free visit. I think it will be after patch 1.04 goes live and it is made sure everything went smoothly as that will add a good deal of content to the game and I think make it the game that was promised at launch and what people were hoping it would be. Funcom gave everyone an extra day on their subscription because of a 24 hour downtime required for server merges and I had to contact a gm the other day about an issue I was having with loot and it was resolved in about twenty minutes as well as a guy on the raid team was telling us how quickly a gm got to him and resolved the issue. I think it was to do with a naming problem as there have been some things turning up with charactors with the same name on the merged servers but I'm not completely sure on that. If you want to ask any questions by all means and I will give an honest and open answer. This game isn't perfect and honestly I wish it was less instanced and such but I knew this going in and have had to sacrifice a few things from what my ideal MMO would be but so far it has been worth it for me.
Thats a good point
(OP) Jay
Very nice post !
Everyone thinking of buying or resubing AOC should read this post
Edit : FC are working on a Free trial, will probably come in about 2 months.
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Bear Grylls : I need to get out of this frozen hellhole!
Bear Grylls : (Holds a beetle in his hand) 4 times more protein then Beef
Iv'e been playing since release and AoC is a much better game than it was when i first played.
It's a shame realy that so many left, but FC have only got thereself's to blame.
I hope that other companies take this on board before they wanner release half a game.
With the server merge this should revamp the game, low population = lonely gameplay, i don't wanner be lonely.
My only real complaint is the lack of dungeon's for me, after you raided Vistrix 40 times it does start to get boring.
I'm currently raiding wing 1&2 which is fine, i just hope that there's more coming soon.
I would like to see more effort put into the PvP system, iv'e played the game for 8months and have never took part in a seige battle, the mini games needs looking at, the only mini game that peeps play on my server is ATO which does get boring after 8months.
The other 2 maps on the minigames are pretty cool but none ever play's on um because you don't get enough PvP xp.
Please fix PvP mini games & can i have a PvP min game 12v12
oh & fix the Assassin's Hide ( it suck's in every possible way )
Apart from a maoan here and there i'm having fun, hope it stay's that way.
Jaysins, this was a very nice post. I agree with you, AoC is doing fantastic now and runs like butterfly. So smooth and swift with fantastic graphics. I love it and every bit of the game except for a couple of things that really does not hold same quality level as the rest of the game. But apparently FC works on that so a few months down the line I have to go back and upgrade my review of AoC from 8.8 to even higher.
Well look me up if your ever on crimmeria. And if anyone has any questions they want answered I'll do my best to do so.
Some good comments there. The moment Sieges are more accesible to even non guildies. AoC will be a place of a lot of happy players.
Glad you like it Jay.
"AoC is the most kick ass MMO ever made", Nack Gurtelrose.
Some good comments there. The moment Sieges are more accesible to even non guildies. AoC will be a place of a lot of happy players.
Sieges are accessible to nonguilded members but your going to have to have a good amount of friends and be a good player to get an invite. My medium sized mercenary guild has been in four sieges from friday to monday. One a day because we have a good rep on the server and people needed help.