AION is going to fall flat on it's face. 200K subs tops in the west after 3 months. I haven't played a more wattered down and generic MMO in a long while now.
Absolutely agree. I played on the Chinese servers for a month before I got bored and this was with the English patch and and English speaking guild. The game is boring. Polished, but boring.
I'm in the same boat. Played in Region 2 Central China for a bit over a month with the english patch and an english guild (Death and Taxes) and the vast majority of us didn't survive much longer than a month.
AION is going to fall flat on it's face. 200K subs tops in the west after 3 months. I haven't played a more wattered down and generic MMO in a long while now.
you know aion allready have about 3 million subscribers right?
You know he's talking about the 'west' right? Not east (Asia etc)
Yes, I'm aware of that. However Aion won't fall flat on it's face. Even if it isn't a great hit in the west it will be a mayor success in the worlds of MMO's.
The only way Aion can be considered a failure is if they don't attract more then 100K subscribers after the first 6 months in the west alone. 200k subscribers is actually quite a decent number in the world of MMO's, not many Western based MMO's have managed to attract much more subscribers then between 200-500K subscribers.
* Eve online is around 500K subscribers
* Lotro has about 350K or so last I heard
* WAR last official statement was around 300K (even tho that number is most likely way off these days)
WoW is the only western MMO that has broken all previous records, and there is no western MMO that can match it. But from these 11,5 million subscribers wow is supposed to have we know a huge amount is located in asia, so how many subscribers in the west alone will be nothing but a finger in the air and guess. One rumor mention when Blizzard got shut down in china that there was around a couple of millions that would be affected, other said as many of 6 millions players could loose their access.
Well it was true WoRld of warcraft CHINA got shut down.....so Blizzard right there LOST 6million Subs, Leaving them with 5million left. But as i heard in another forums WOW china is back up and blizzard will probley be getting there subcribers back
AION is going to fall flat on it's face. 200K subs tops in the west after 3 months. I haven't played a more wattered down and generic MMO in a long while now.
you know aion allready have about 3 million subscribers right?
You know he's talking about the 'west' right? Not east (Asia etc)
Yes, I'm aware of that. However Aion won't fall flat on it's face. Even if it isn't a great hit in the west it will be a mayor success in the worlds of MMO's.
The only way Aion can be considered a failure is if they don't attract more then 100K subscribers after the first 6 months in the west alone. 200k subscribers is actually quite a decent number in the world of MMO's, not many Western based MMO's have managed to attract much more subscribers then between 200-500K subscribers.
* Eve online is around 500K subscribers
* Lotro has about 350K or so last I heard
* WAR last official statement was around 300K (even tho that number is most likely way off these days)
WoW is the only western MMO that has broken all previous records, and there is no western MMO that can match it. But from these 11,5 million subscribers wow is supposed to have we know a huge amount is located in asia, so how many subscribers in the west alone will be nothing but a finger in the air and guess. One rumor mention when Blizzard got shut down in china that there was around a couple of millions that would be affected, other said as many of 6 millions players could loose their access.
Well it was true WoRld of warcraft CHINA got shut down.....so Blizzard right there LOST 6million Subs, Leaving them with 5million left. But as i heard in another forums WOW china is back up and blizzard will probley be getting there subcribers back
Aye the fact they was closed is a well known truth, I have just been hearing different amounts of people being affected by it. If it indeed was 6 millions alone in China that was affected I wonder how many remaining of those 5 millions are playing from EU/US. I would assume Japan, Korea, Taiwan also have a solid amount of WoW players and not just China.
Playing: Battlefield - Bad company (Xbox360) Arma2, DFO (PC) On my radar: TSW, MO MMO's played: SWG (pre cu/cu), WoW, AoC, WAR, DFO, Planetside MMO's that I have tested: Lotro, L2, Aion, Ryzom
Lazy developer team - and fans (few) that support those lazy developers = niche game. Three races? C'mon. FFA pvp so we don't have to think too hard or make anything well defined or epic like in Dark Age of Camelot - can't even do two factions like in Aion/WoW/Pvm in LOTRO/EQ/EQ2/ etc etc...
Not one server dedicated to anything organized. Now - if they had wanted a modern Shadowbane - again they have failed because the pve is a grind slop (unlike SB) and they don't have anything near the race/class options of SB..
Bleh.
In a nutshell Age of Conan is:
Negative:
Tammy's Cimmerian, Stygian, Aquilonian guild vs Bob's Stygian, Aquilonian, Cimmerian guild - when they get together in battle it looks like the same army commiting suicide. In an age where multiple mmorpgs have offered so many more options with class and race - these guys have ZERO excuses for their lackluster investment into their own product. If this were a car - it would have a nice look to it - and almost no options. No thanks.
Positive/Negative:
Combat system is unique - whether you like it or not. I enjoyed that part immensely. However - each class has so much CC that it gets rather drull - oops that's a negative.
Graphics and music are epic - Game is a fantasy version of gang style combat. For those who enjoy RTS games - and importantly - games like Rome Total War - this is just too small minded. So cool how Conan bangs his fist in the video and makes you feel like this is empire v empire - when sadly it's just random PUG pvp in the same darn zones from day 1.
Asian grinder with 3 million subs in Asia! No wai! lol c'mon - very typical of a "latest and greatest" asian grinder.
dont really a asian grinder i didnt see any grind when i played it...i bet u didnt even try it
AION 1.0 defintely was grindy. Both in the fact that I ran out of quests around lvl 23 and had to grind to 25 (Abyss, opened up more quests) but for me AIONs biggest grind itself was the battle system. It's just slow. Painfully slow.
Asian grinder with 3 million subs in Asia! No wai! lol c'mon - very typical of a "latest and greatest" asian grinder.
dont really a asian grinder i didnt see any grind when i played it...i bet u didnt even try it
AION 1.0 defintely was grindy. Both in the fact that I ran out of quests around lvl 23 and had to grind to 25 (Abyss, opened up more quests) but for me AIONs biggest grind itself was the battle system. It's just slow. Painfully slow.
Slow like WAR's system?
Playing: Battlefield - Bad company (Xbox360) Arma2, DFO (PC) On my radar: TSW, MO MMO's played: SWG (pre cu/cu), WoW, AoC, WAR, DFO, Planetside MMO's that I have tested: Lotro, L2, Aion, Ryzom
Asian grinder with 3 million subs in Asia! No wai! lol c'mon - very typical of a "latest and greatest" asian grinder.
dont really a asian grinder i didnt see any grind when i played it...i bet u didnt even try it
AION 1.0 defintely was grindy. Both in the fact that I ran out of quests around lvl 23 and had to grind to 25 (Abyss, opened up more quests) but for me AIONs biggest grind itself was the battle system. It's just slow. Painfully slow.
Asian grinder with 3 million subs in Asia! No wai! lol c'mon - very typical of a "latest and greatest" asian grinder.
dont really a asian grinder i didnt see any grind when i played it...i bet u didnt even try it
AION 1.0 defintely was grindy. Both in the fact that I ran out of quests around lvl 23 and had to grind to 25 (Abyss, opened up more quests) but for me AIONs biggest grind itself was the battle system. It's just slow. Painfully slow.
Slow like WAR's system?
yes i think war would be an accurate comparison
WAR was slow? I was able to kill same lvl mobs in under 10 seconds with my Wrath Warrior Priest. Aion with my Gladiator was around a 20-30 second fight. My Assasin was a tad faster but the assasin's problem was if I got jumped by a second mob it was either run or die.
I guess it's relative. I found AION to be noticeably slower than WAR.
Asian grinder with 3 million subs in Asia! No wai! lol c'mon - very typical of a "latest and greatest" asian grinder.
dont really a asian grinder i didnt see any grind when i played it...i bet u didnt even try it
AION 1.0 defintely was grindy. Both in the fact that I ran out of quests around lvl 23 and had to grind to 25 (Abyss, opened up more quests) but for me AIONs biggest grind itself was the battle system. It's just slow. Painfully slow.
Slow like WAR's system?
yes i think war would be an accurate comparison
WAR was slow? I was able to kill same lvl mobs in under 10 seconds with my Wrath Warrior Priest. Aion with my Gladiator was around a 20-30 second fight. My Assasin was a tad faster but the assasin's problem was if I got jumped by a second mob it was either run or die.
I guess it's relative. I found AION to be noticeably slower than WAR.
yes aion may be slower than war, i only got to see a limited amount of aion though.
i think in the end aion will bew about a boring 50 levels followed by some really fun endgame. im just waiting to see how fun this endgame is exactly.
compared to aoc, both war and aions combat system feels sluggish and boring.
compared to aoc, both war and aions combat system feels sluggish and boring.
just goes to show you how opinions vary, I felt AoC's hit a skill then hit the arrows keys as they light up to be the most boring combat in any MMO I have ever played. It was like a player piano or paint by numbers, no thought or skill required
I missed the 14 day thingy by ONE day...ugh. Does anyone know there are any reactivation thingies happening now? I wanna try it out again!
AmazingAveryAge of Conan AdvocateMemberUncommonPosts: 7,188
Originally posted by dhayes68
So... FC release any info on the number of subs along with their claims that servers are booming? Goes to figure that any claims by FC about activity without sub info that they could provide if they wanted to should be taken with a grain of salt. "Activity" =/= subscriptions. And its subscriptions that AoC desperately needs.
With the premise of official sub numbers aside for a moment:
"The real question is can Age of Conan hang on to these people again from the updates that have made it into the game and those that will be coming in over the next couple of months? Will Patch 1.06 detailed out a bit in the recent community letter (looking at October release "ish") be enough coupled with Expansion details late August to keep people paying to play?"
In a month though, we should know more with the quarterly report.
[WTF with the Evony AD the chicks top getting lower?]
AmazingAveryAge of Conan AdvocateMemberUncommonPosts: 7,188
Originally posted by Feudalism
I missed the 14 day thingy by ONE day...ugh. Does anyone know there are any reactivation thingies happening now? I wanna try it out again!
compared to aoc, both war and aions combat system feels sluggish and boring.
just goes to show you how opinions vary, I felt AoC's hit a skill then hit the arrows keys as they light up to be the most boring combat in any MMO I have ever played. It was like a player piano or paint by numbers, no thought or skill required
Yeah it's funny how some people think button smashing in AoC is same as doing combos. Combat system in AoC was much better in early beta but then they decited to make it easier and they broke it.
Never played AoC beta but I keep hearing everyone refering to the beta system as being pretty good. What was the diference from the combo system we have today?
Playing: Battlefield - Bad company (Xbox360) Arma2, DFO (PC) On my radar: TSW, MO MMO's played: SWG (pre cu/cu), WoW, AoC, WAR, DFO, Planetside MMO's that I have tested: Lotro, L2, Aion, Ryzom
In a month though, we should know more with the quarterly report.
the next quarterly financial report will only be based on the numbers from from April 01 to June 30 so it will not show anything to do with either 1.06 or the veteran return promotion since they happened in July. 3rd quarter report will the one to watch to see the effects of those, then the 4th quarter report will show what impact, if any ,that Aion's release will have had.
So... FC release any info on the number of subs along with their claims that servers are booming? Goes to figure that any claims by FC about activity without sub info that they could provide if they wanted to should be taken with a grain of salt. "Activity" =/= subscriptions. And its subscriptions that AoC desperately needs.
With the premise of official sub numbers aside for a moment:
"The real question is can Age of Conan hang on to these people again from the updates that have made it into the game and those that will be coming in over the next couple of months? Will Patch 1.06 detailed out a bit in the recent community letter (looking at October release "ish") be enough coupled with Expansion details late August to keep people paying to play?"
In a month though, we should know more with the quarterly report.
[WTF with the Evony AD the chicks top getting lower?]
yes, yes, there is always hope
In July it was " just wait for the pvp patch"
In September it was " just wait for the server mergers"
in January it was " Just wait for the free trials"
and now it is " just wait for the comback trials".
The best Funcom has done is saw a decrease in the rate of people quitting.
If the servers are booming, where are the new servers? Where are the queues? Of course it is temporary because everyone is playing on free accounts. As others have said, most things are exactly the same as they were in June of last year when everyone was quitting. They've added some content, and fixed some bugs, but endgame is still very boring compared to the competition out there.
AmazingAveryAge of Conan AdvocateMemberUncommonPosts: 7,188
Originally posted by badboybill
Originally posted by Alandora
Originally posted by AmazingAvery
...
....
yes, yes, there is always hope
In July it was " just wait for the pvp patch"
In September it was " just wait for the server mergers"
in January it was " Just wait for the free trials"
and now it is " just wait for the comback trials".
The best Funcom has done is saw a decrease in the rate of people quitting.
If the servers are booming, where are the new servers? Where are the queues? Of course it is temporary because everyone is playing on free accounts. As others have said, most things are exactly the same as they were in June of last year when everyone was quitting. They've added some content, and fixed some bugs, but endgame is still very boring compared to the competition out there.
Good post.
Yes, it seems there's always that next "magic patch" just around the corner. That next "magic patch" that will solve all your problems and make the game fun! Then when the "magic patch" comes, it doesn't do much.. but wait! There's a NEW "magic patch" coming! And it's coming soon!!!!!
It is not about a 'magical patch' at all. The fact is there are plenty of people playing who continue to enjoy and appreciate the updates. Some people just naturally come to the end of their time in game like yourself a while ago.
There is no point in trying to kid anyone that the list is not extensive for updates since launch. Tentonhamer have 3 hrs of videos showing the changes since launch. There is more than enough information out there that pertains to that that can be found.
This thread is asking that since the servers are 'alive' can the retention hold these people until the next patch and so on. To me that is kinda typical for an mmorpg. There is no end. It is just up to the user to decide when the ride is over. Everyone is different.
So the fact is that both you guys left, you decided that the ride was over, nothing wrong with that. I have gotten off the ride on many other games too. So no now what? still obviously interested and waiting in the queue. Most move on the next one at the mmorpg theme park. Or do you remain in the queue out of sheer desperation to tell all the hundreds of folks waiting 'don't bother'.
I mean when you weigh it up those people that are retrying it since they last did around launch have a wealth of new things to do, see and try out. Those that left 6 months after launch can still come back and see new things.
Personally I think that all those things that have been well documented of late are enough in content to keep those particular demographic ticking over for a few months, until the next cycle comes. You need to change your mindset that there is no finish patch.
Then we have those that have been playing for a longer period of time. For these time is critcial. As they may of experienced most things in game and look forward to the next update. All the updates this year have had high level content added.
That groundwork in fixing the core of the system has taken place now. So moving forward it is all about new content.
I for one will continue to subcribe. The guild renown system is something most interesting, and until then I have plenty of things to do in game. I am not at the point where I feel it is a chore.
Originally posted by AmazingAvery It is not about a 'magical patch' at all.
AoC has ALWAYS been about the 'magical patch', it even started back in the beta.
When the beta came close to it's end, the client was missing a ton of features, bug ridden up and down and the testers were concerned that a release a few weeks after would need a magical patch to safe the game.
Very true. The "Miracle Patch" which was released a week or so before Launch actually made the game worse and barely playable. 6 months of beta testing AOC was interesting but at least I was able to run the game. That last beta patch totally FUBAR'ed the game and it is just recently getting back in shape.
AmazingAveryAge of Conan AdvocateMemberUncommonPosts: 7,188
Originally posted by Vespers
Very true. The "Miracle Patch" which was released a week or so before Launch actually made the game worse and barely playable. 6 months of beta testing AOC was interesting but at least I was able to run the game. That last beta patch totally FUBAR'ed the game and it is just recently getting back in shape.
Thats funny as I remember many a people saying it was a miracle patch at the time because it improved so many things. It made the final client post gold one, a better one. Not saying it was perfect far from it. Due to NDA issues I wouldn't mind sharing some of those many hundreds comments about it but can't.
Then again here we are. In the "Here And Now". What was done was done either way. And now the servers are pretty busy (well the ones I play on anyway) and lots of folks enjoying themselves and not having those technical, mechanical types of issues associated at launch. So what happened then doesn't really hold any weight anymore in this context because those people coming back are not seeing the same things then, and the game is nothing like it right now.
Of course it's all about the magic patch, that was the story with Anarchy Online for years and years. Why would FC even bother coming up with something new when their playerbase has bought into the same line of BS over and over again?
With that said, and although I think AoC is an absolutely terrible game, it *is* playable in the present condition despite the warts. Much like say Anarchy Online was at the 12-18month mark. FunCom is clearly making enough money to keep the servers limping along and the lights on in Norway while they prepare the next round of slick marketing to sucker investors and players into their next piece of trash.
AoC will *never* even come close to the numbers it had at launch again, sub numbers (with some temporary and minor ups and downs) will either limp along roughly constant or slowly slide towards oblivion as FC strings the game out for the next 10yrs+ with a few more paid expansions that will get "rave" reviews from the diehard Howard fanatics and fanbois still playing...along with glowing critical commentary from some eggheads on sites like this who barely play anything.
Comments
Absolutely agree. I played on the Chinese servers for a month before I got bored and this was with the English patch and and English speaking guild. The game is boring. Polished, but boring.
I'm in the same boat. Played in Region 2 Central China for a bit over a month with the english patch and an english guild (Death and Taxes) and the vast majority of us didn't survive much longer than a month.
Alltern8 Blog | Star Wars Space Combat and The Old Republic | Cryptic Studios - A Pre Post-Mortem | Klingon Preview, STO's Monster Play
you know aion allready have about 3 million subscribers right?
You know he's talking about the 'west' right? Not east (Asia etc)
Yes, I'm aware of that. However Aion won't fall flat on it's face. Even if it isn't a great hit in the west it will be a mayor success in the worlds of MMO's.
The only way Aion can be considered a failure is if they don't attract more then 100K subscribers after the first 6 months in the west alone. 200k subscribers is actually quite a decent number in the world of MMO's, not many Western based MMO's have managed to attract much more subscribers then between 200-500K subscribers.
* Eve online is around 500K subscribers
* Lotro has about 350K or so last I heard
* WAR last official statement was around 300K (even tho that number is most likely way off these days)
WoW is the only western MMO that has broken all previous records, and there is no western MMO that can match it. But from these 11,5 million subscribers wow is supposed to have we know a huge amount is located in asia, so how many subscribers in the west alone will be nothing but a finger in the air and guess. One rumor mention when Blizzard got shut down in china that there was around a couple of millions that would be affected, other said as many of 6 millions players could loose their access.
Well it was true WoRld of warcraft CHINA got shut down.....so Blizzard right there LOST 6million Subs, Leaving them with 5million left. But as i heard in another forums WOW china is back up and blizzard will probley be getting there subcribers back
you know aion allready have about 3 million subscribers right?
You know he's talking about the 'west' right? Not east (Asia etc)
Yes, I'm aware of that. However Aion won't fall flat on it's face. Even if it isn't a great hit in the west it will be a mayor success in the worlds of MMO's.
The only way Aion can be considered a failure is if they don't attract more then 100K subscribers after the first 6 months in the west alone. 200k subscribers is actually quite a decent number in the world of MMO's, not many Western based MMO's have managed to attract much more subscribers then between 200-500K subscribers.
* Eve online is around 500K subscribers
* Lotro has about 350K or so last I heard
* WAR last official statement was around 300K (even tho that number is most likely way off these days)
WoW is the only western MMO that has broken all previous records, and there is no western MMO that can match it. But from these 11,5 million subscribers wow is supposed to have we know a huge amount is located in asia, so how many subscribers in the west alone will be nothing but a finger in the air and guess. One rumor mention when Blizzard got shut down in china that there was around a couple of millions that would be affected, other said as many of 6 millions players could loose their access.
Well it was true WoRld of warcraft CHINA got shut down.....so Blizzard right there LOST 6million Subs, Leaving them with 5million left. But as i heard in another forums WOW china is back up and blizzard will probley be getting there subcribers back
Aye the fact they was closed is a well known truth, I have just been hearing different amounts of people being affected by it. If it indeed was 6 millions alone in China that was affected I wonder how many remaining of those 5 millions are playing from EU/US. I would assume Japan, Korea, Taiwan also have a solid amount of WoW players and not just China.
Playing: Battlefield - Bad company (Xbox360) Arma2, DFO (PC)
On my radar: TSW, MO
MMO's played: SWG (pre cu/cu), WoW, AoC, WAR, DFO, Planetside
MMO's that I have tested: Lotro, L2, Aion, Ryzom
Lazy developer team - and fans (few) that support those lazy developers = niche game. Three races? C'mon. FFA pvp so we don't have to think too hard or make anything well defined or epic like in Dark Age of Camelot - can't even do two factions like in Aion/WoW/Pvm in LOTRO/EQ/EQ2/ etc etc...
Not one server dedicated to anything organized. Now - if they had wanted a modern Shadowbane - again they have failed because the pve is a grind slop (unlike SB) and they don't have anything near the race/class options of SB..
Bleh.
In a nutshell Age of Conan is:
Negative:
Tammy's Cimmerian, Stygian, Aquilonian guild vs Bob's Stygian, Aquilonian, Cimmerian guild - when they get together in battle it looks like the same army commiting suicide. In an age where multiple mmorpgs have offered so many more options with class and race - these guys have ZERO excuses for their lackluster investment into their own product. If this were a car - it would have a nice look to it - and almost no options. No thanks.
Positive/Negative:
Combat system is unique - whether you like it or not. I enjoyed that part immensely. However - each class has so much CC that it gets rather drull - oops that's a negative.
Graphics and music are epic - Game is a fantasy version of gang style combat. For those who enjoy RTS games - and importantly - games like Rome Total War - this is just too small minded. So cool how Conan bangs his fist in the video and makes you feel like this is empire v empire - when sadly it's just random PUG pvp in the same darn zones from day 1.
Asian grinder with 3 million subs in Asia! No wai! lol c'mon - very typical of a "latest and greatest" asian grinder.
Wait.. it has gone from crap all the way around to being crap again?
I'm so confused.
dont really a asian grinder i didnt see any grind when i played it...i bet u didnt even try it
dont really a asian grinder i didnt see any grind when i played it...i bet u didnt even try it
AION 1.0 defintely was grindy. Both in the fact that I ran out of quests around lvl 23 and had to grind to 25 (Abyss, opened up more quests) but for me AIONs biggest grind itself was the battle system. It's just slow. Painfully slow.
Alltern8 Blog | Star Wars Space Combat and The Old Republic | Cryptic Studios - A Pre Post-Mortem | Klingon Preview, STO's Monster Play
dont really a asian grinder i didnt see any grind when i played it...i bet u didnt even try it
AION 1.0 defintely was grindy. Both in the fact that I ran out of quests around lvl 23 and had to grind to 25 (Abyss, opened up more quests) but for me AIONs biggest grind itself was the battle system. It's just slow. Painfully slow.
Slow like WAR's system?
Playing: Battlefield - Bad company (Xbox360) Arma2, DFO (PC)
On my radar: TSW, MO
MMO's played: SWG (pre cu/cu), WoW, AoC, WAR, DFO, Planetside
MMO's that I have tested: Lotro, L2, Aion, Ryzom
dont really a asian grinder i didnt see any grind when i played it...i bet u didnt even try it
AION 1.0 defintely was grindy. Both in the fact that I ran out of quests around lvl 23 and had to grind to 25 (Abyss, opened up more quests) but for me AIONs biggest grind itself was the battle system. It's just slow. Painfully slow.
Slow like WAR's system?
yes i think war would be an accurate comparison
dont really a asian grinder i didnt see any grind when i played it...i bet u didnt even try it
AION 1.0 defintely was grindy. Both in the fact that I ran out of quests around lvl 23 and had to grind to 25 (Abyss, opened up more quests) but for me AIONs biggest grind itself was the battle system. It's just slow. Painfully slow.
Slow like WAR's system?
yes i think war would be an accurate comparison
WAR was slow? I was able to kill same lvl mobs in under 10 seconds with my Wrath Warrior Priest. Aion with my Gladiator was around a 20-30 second fight. My Assasin was a tad faster but the assasin's problem was if I got jumped by a second mob it was either run or die.
I guess it's relative. I found AION to be noticeably slower than WAR.
Alltern8 Blog | Star Wars Space Combat and The Old Republic | Cryptic Studios - A Pre Post-Mortem | Klingon Preview, STO's Monster Play
dont really a asian grinder i didnt see any grind when i played it...i bet u didnt even try it
AION 1.0 defintely was grindy. Both in the fact that I ran out of quests around lvl 23 and had to grind to 25 (Abyss, opened up more quests) but for me AIONs biggest grind itself was the battle system. It's just slow. Painfully slow.
Slow like WAR's system?
yes i think war would be an accurate comparison
WAR was slow? I was able to kill same lvl mobs in under 10 seconds with my Wrath Warrior Priest. Aion with my Gladiator was around a 20-30 second fight. My Assasin was a tad faster but the assasin's problem was if I got jumped by a second mob it was either run or die.
I guess it's relative. I found AION to be noticeably slower than WAR.
yes aion may be slower than war, i only got to see a limited amount of aion though.
i think in the end aion will bew about a boring 50 levels followed by some really fun endgame. im just waiting to see how fun this endgame is exactly.
compared to aoc, both war and aions combat system feels sluggish and boring.
just goes to show you how opinions vary, I felt AoC's hit a skill then hit the arrows keys as they light up to be the most boring combat in any MMO I have ever played. It was like a player piano or paint by numbers, no thought or skill required
I miss DAoC
So... FC release any info on the number of subs along with their claims that servers are booming?
Goes to figure that any claims by FC about activity without sub info that they could provide if they wanted to should be taken with a grain of salt.
"Activity" =/= subscriptions. And its subscriptions that AoC desperately needs.
I missed the 14 day thingy by ONE day...ugh. Does anyone know there are any reactivation thingies happening now? I wanna try it out again!
With the premise of official sub numbers aside for a moment:
"The real question is can Age of Conan hang on to these people again from the updates that have made it into the game and those that will be coming in over the next couple of months? Will Patch 1.06 detailed out a bit in the recent community letter (looking at October release "ish") be enough coupled with Expansion details late August to keep people paying to play?"
In a month though, we should know more with the quarterly report.
[WTF with the Evony AD the chicks top getting lower?]
Yea still up! http://www.mmorpg.com/discussion2.cfm/thread/244932/ReEvaluation-Offer-Extended.html
just goes to show you how opinions vary, I felt AoC's hit a skill then hit the arrows keys as they light up to be the most boring combat in any MMO I have ever played. It was like a player piano or paint by numbers, no thought or skill required
Yeah it's funny how some people think button smashing in AoC is same as doing combos. Combat system in AoC was much better in early beta but then they decited to make it easier and they broke it.
Never played AoC beta but I keep hearing everyone refering to the beta system as being pretty good. What was the diference from the combo system we have today?
Playing: Battlefield - Bad company (Xbox360) Arma2, DFO (PC)
On my radar: TSW, MO
MMO's played: SWG (pre cu/cu), WoW, AoC, WAR, DFO, Planetside
MMO's that I have tested: Lotro, L2, Aion, Ryzom
the next quarterly financial report will only be based on the numbers from from April 01 to June 30 so it will not show anything to do with either 1.06 or the veteran return promotion since they happened in July. 3rd quarter report will the one to watch to see the effects of those, then the 4th quarter report will show what impact, if any ,that Aion's release will have had.
I miss DAoC
With the premise of official sub numbers aside for a moment:
"The real question is can Age of Conan hang on to these people again from the updates that have made it into the game and those that will be coming in over the next couple of months? Will Patch 1.06 detailed out a bit in the recent community letter (looking at October release "ish") be enough coupled with Expansion details late August to keep people paying to play?"
In a month though, we should know more with the quarterly report.
[WTF with the Evony AD the chicks top getting lower?]
yes, yes, there is always hope
In July it was " just wait for the pvp patch"
In September it was " just wait for the server mergers"
in January it was " Just wait for the free trials"
and now it is " just wait for the comback trials".
The best Funcom has done is saw a decrease in the rate of people quitting.
If the servers are booming, where are the new servers? Where are the queues? Of course it is temporary because everyone is playing on free accounts. As others have said, most things are exactly the same as they were in June of last year when everyone was quitting. They've added some content, and fixed some bugs, but endgame is still very boring compared to the competition out there.
yes, yes, there is always hope
In July it was " just wait for the pvp patch"
In September it was " just wait for the server mergers"
in January it was " Just wait for the free trials"
and now it is " just wait for the comback trials".
The best Funcom has done is saw a decrease in the rate of people quitting.
If the servers are booming, where are the new servers? Where are the queues? Of course it is temporary because everyone is playing on free accounts. As others have said, most things are exactly the same as they were in June of last year when everyone was quitting. They've added some content, and fixed some bugs, but endgame is still very boring compared to the competition out there.
Good post.
Yes, it seems there's always that next "magic patch" just around the corner. That next "magic patch" that will solve all your problems and make the game fun! Then when the "magic patch" comes, it doesn't do much.. but wait! There's a NEW "magic patch" coming! And it's coming soon!!!!!
It is not about a 'magical patch' at all. The fact is there are plenty of people playing who continue to enjoy and appreciate the updates. Some people just naturally come to the end of their time in game like yourself a while ago.
There is no point in trying to kid anyone that the list is not extensive for updates since launch. Tentonhamer have 3 hrs of videos showing the changes since launch. There is more than enough information out there that pertains to that that can be found.
This thread is asking that since the servers are 'alive' can the retention hold these people until the next patch and so on. To me that is kinda typical for an mmorpg. There is no end. It is just up to the user to decide when the ride is over. Everyone is different.
So the fact is that both you guys left, you decided that the ride was over, nothing wrong with that. I have gotten off the ride on many other games too. So no now what? still obviously interested and waiting in the queue. Most move on the next one at the mmorpg theme park. Or do you remain in the queue out of sheer desperation to tell all the hundreds of folks waiting 'don't bother'.
I mean when you weigh it up those people that are retrying it since they last did around launch have a wealth of new things to do, see and try out. Those that left 6 months after launch can still come back and see new things.
Personally I think that all those things that have been well documented of late are enough in content to keep those particular demographic ticking over for a few months, until the next cycle comes. You need to change your mindset that there is no finish patch.
Then we have those that have been playing for a longer period of time. For these time is critcial. As they may of experienced most things in game and look forward to the next update. All the updates this year have had high level content added.
That groundwork in fixing the core of the system has taken place now. So moving forward it is all about new content.
Short term future is about having 2 more minor updates to 1.5 which have been confirmed.
1.6 implementation is being considered to be delivered in batches
I for one will continue to subcribe. The guild renown system is something most interesting, and until then I have plenty of things to do in game. I am not at the point where I feel it is a chore.
There is a whole improvements video here too thats neat: www.gametrailers.com/video/improvements-interview-age-of-conan/52537
AoC has ALWAYS been about the 'magical patch', it even started back in the beta.
When the beta came close to it's end, the client was missing a ton of features, bug ridden up and down and the testers were concerned that a release a few weeks after would need a magical patch to safe the game.
Very true. The "Miracle Patch" which was released a week or so before Launch actually made the game worse and barely playable. 6 months of beta testing AOC was interesting but at least I was able to run the game. That last beta patch totally FUBAR'ed the game and it is just recently getting back in shape.
Thats funny as I remember many a people saying it was a miracle patch at the time because it improved so many things. It made the final client post gold one, a better one. Not saying it was perfect far from it. Due to NDA issues I wouldn't mind sharing some of those many hundreds comments about it but can't.
Then again here we are. In the "Here And Now". What was done was done either way. And now the servers are pretty busy (well the ones I play on anyway) and lots of folks enjoying themselves and not having those technical, mechanical types of issues associated at launch. So what happened then doesn't really hold any weight anymore in this context because those people coming back are not seeing the same things then, and the game is nothing like it right now.
Of course it's all about the magic patch, that was the story with Anarchy Online for years and years. Why would FC even bother coming up with something new when their playerbase has bought into the same line of BS over and over again?
With that said, and although I think AoC is an absolutely terrible game, it *is* playable in the present condition despite the warts. Much like say Anarchy Online was at the 12-18month mark. FunCom is clearly making enough money to keep the servers limping along and the lights on in Norway while they prepare the next round of slick marketing to sucker investors and players into their next piece of trash.
AoC will *never* even come close to the numbers it had at launch again, sub numbers (with some temporary and minor ups and downs) will either limp along roughly constant or slowly slide towards oblivion as FC strings the game out for the next 10yrs+ with a few more paid expansions that will get "rave" reviews from the diehard Howard fanatics and fanbois still playing...along with glowing critical commentary from some eggheads on sites like this who barely play anything.