It was my pleasure. Your Team made a believer out of me. Your passion for the genre and attention to the REH stories, and attempts to evolve the world as such, has been a distinct pleasure. I look forward to discovering many other Easter Eggs throughout the game that have been left for those familiar with the lore. Well Done!!!
You're not accepting Worshippers huh?
Famine was talking to the OP--NOT TO YOU! (Hard to believe I'll bet)
Anyways...you were saying?
ThorgrimmAge of Conan CorrespondentMemberPosts: 274
Originally posted by Blackwell99
Originally posted by Thorgrimm
Originally posted by FC-Famine
Thanks for taking time to review the game.
It was my pleasure. Your Team made a believer out of me. Your passion for the genre and attention to the REH stories, and attempts to evolve the world as such, has been a distinct pleasure. I look forward to discovering many other Easter Eggs throughout the game that have been left for those familiar with the lore. Well Done!!!
You're not accepting Worshippers huh?
Famine was talking to the OP--NOT TO YOU! (Hard to believe I'll bet)
Anyways...you were saying
You are probably right. The OP was very good in his review. Later detractions aside, there were many good and true points made by many of the other posters.
You are probably right. The OP was very good in his review. Later detractions aside, there were many good and true points made by many of the other posters.
You spent at least as much time analyzing the eurogamer reviews as I did writing the original post, for the same purpose: to defend the game we like from the raging mob of forum bashers.
Thanks for the review - much appreciated. I've been waiting for my client to finish updating content 4/4. Been at it since 12am and it's almost 3:30am, yay! :P Hope the game has improved greatly since I had this game at launch. /crosses fingers.
Any suggestions on good, populated servers for this chick on trial??
Choose a PvE server during trial, and get used to the combat system. If you want, you can reroll on a PvP server later, but as of now, unless you REALLY love pvp, wait a little bit.
For maximum experience, choose a melee class, as the main caster classes does not have the full combat system. I think its Wiccana or Set that suit you best during Trial. (Not a US player myself)
Any other questions, just ask. I`m sure there is plenty of helpful people here.
kind of weird that if the game is half as wonderful as the OP makes it out to be that the game is still steadily losing customers every week. Each to their own I guess, even the ugliest person can find a mate as they say so it stands to reason that even the most flawed game can find a fan or two.
kind of weird that if the game is half as wonderful as the OP makes it out to be that the game is still steadily losing customers every week. Each to their own I guess, even the ugliest person can find a mate as they say so it stands to reason that even the most flawed game can find a fan or two.
Weird I know, people liking different things and all. However I do not think I would call aoc the most flawed game on the market. That would be SWG IMO, which has far more flaws in the first 10 minutes of game-play than AOC has from the ground up. Believe me there are worse games out there than AOC.
For every minute you are angry , you lose 60 seconds of happiness."-Emerson
Anything that Thillian says on this site, cannot even be taken seriously, he will say every single game on this site is great and wounderful, but no matter what will never have a good word to say about wow. His so called reviews and comments are 95% of the time always biased. This is the person who agrees with Woody on virtually every single thread regarding the destruction and anhilation of blizzard and wow. Sure thing Bud AOC A-. Try pulling the other leg.
This so called review is like Woody giving it himself, If Aoc gets an A-, than wow must get A++++++++, right Thillian? Oh yeah sorry only games that are hyped as wow killers, then fail miserably at launch and months and months later,are considered true mmo's in Thillians eyes.
Anything that Thillian says on this site, cannot even be taken seriously, he will say every single game on this site is great and wounderful, but no matter what will never have a good word to say about wow. His so called reviews and comments are 95% of the time always biased. This is the person who agrees with Woody on virtually every single thread regarding the destruction and anhilation of blizzard and wow. Sure thing Bud AOC A-. Try pulling the other leg. This so called review is like Woody giving it himself, If Aoc gets an A-, than wow must get A++++++++, right Thillian? Oh yeah sorry only games that are hyped as wow killers, then fail miserably at launch and months and months later,are considered true mmo's in Thillians eyes.
I never have much good to say about WOW tbh. I guess that is what happens when you dislike a game. Granted I do not discuss WOW very often either.
For every minute you are angry , you lose 60 seconds of happiness."-Emerson
ThorgrimmAge of Conan CorrespondentMemberPosts: 274
Originally posted by wh0astar
Thanks for the review - much appreciated. I've been waiting for my client to finish updating content 4/4. Been at it since 12am and it's almost 3:30am, yay! :P Hope the game has improved greatly since I had this game at launch. /crosses fingers.
Any suggestions on good, populated servers for this chick on trial??
Cimmeria Server (RP-PVP), SENTINELS Guild is a Real Winner!!!
Set (NonPVP-Normal) is good server as well.
Wiccana is supposed to be the unOfiicial (RP Server)
To give this game an A minus at this point in time (I can barely say it with a straight face) Is the equivalent of entering those ugliest people into a beauty pageant---and them Winning.
And no matter how much you sqeem and squirm in your chair that he gave it an A- it will be, and always will be, his opinion and the same it will always be your opinion. There's no facts involved other than it is two different opinions.
I'm sorry it makes you so upset that he gave it an A-. He doesn't seem to be going off the handle that you dislike the game so much. Get over it, it's an opinion. Free trials are that way for the curious people that want to make an opinion about the game themselves.
Anything that Thillian says on this site, cannot even be taken seriously, he will say every single game on this site is great and wounderful, but no matter what will never have a good word to say about wow. His so called reviews and comments are 95% of the time always biased.
I gave Fallen Earth in my previous impression thread C- about 3 weeks ago.
I agree my opinion is biased and subjective. I have a strong tendency to like atmospheric games so I guess my impressions are always a bit favorable towards games with a great mood.
Yes, I also agree that I was a bit overly negative about WoW in the past, but I did try to avoid wow-section here for some time now.
This thread did try to show people that not all AoC subscribers are forum-bashers that keep whining about balance, but also people playing the game that fully enjoy it.
edit: I never called this a review, it's called impressions for a reason.
If you give this game an "-A" What do you give games that really do deserve this mark? Like: AoC A Aion C+ FE? D WoW? B+ LOTRO A- or EvE B- Ya thats about right.
I don't agree the game deserves an A in a scale compared to every other game on the market. However that doesn't seem to be how the OP has graded AOC. Take into account he's basing that on what he has seen personally compared to his own expectations. Much like a teacher grades a paper, you aren't compared to the rest of the class, just in how you handled the work load assigned.
For every minute you are angry , you lose 60 seconds of happiness."-Emerson
kind of weird that if the game is half as wonderful as the OP makes it out to be that the game is still steadily losing customers every week. Each to their own I guess, even the ugliest person can find a mate as they say so it stands to reason that even the most flawed game can find a fan or two.
Even great games bleed subs, nature of the beast. I played WoW but don't now, is WoW terrible? But I've also played AoC and then didn't, but now do. Guess as long there is flow Funcom has achieved success, though not at a WoW level.
Have to remember the bulk of the complaints for AoC were content gaps, performance/bugs and end game. All have been resolved, so how is the game flawed?
ThorgrimmAge of Conan CorrespondentMemberPosts: 274
Originally posted by Jackdog
kind of weird that if the game is half as wonderful as the OP makes it out to be that the game is still steadily losing customers every week. Each to their own I guess, even the ugliest person can find a mate as they say so it stands to reason that even the most flawed game can find a fan or two.
It goes to show the Real Hidden Quality of a game, when people who do not play it go to such extreme lengths to belittle it and attempt to chase potential players away. The sheer number of hours that several Haters on these boards dedicate every week to reading the Age of Conan forums, which they are not allowed to post to, since they are not paying subscribers, only demonstrates their extreme FEAR that Age of Conan is turning around, or has turned around, and will likely improve to the point that it could surpass other more established game systems. Obviously, their games of choice are not of a sufficient quality to keep them adequately entertained, since they have so much available time to TROLL and TOPIC HIJACK these forums on a daily basis. Their continual GAME ATTACKS and OFF TOPIC Posting to detract from the value of the game is really sad. I honestly pitty them.
The other option is that a competitor is rewardng these jokers to constantly spew lies and focus on weaknesses that are soon patched.
In either case, it is obvious that several characters in these threads blatantly disregard the RULES of CONDUCT and are daily trying to BAIT many of us to sinking to their childish level.
ThorgrimmAge of Conan CorrespondentMemberPosts: 274
Originally posted by Blackwell99
It is weird. But what people need to know is this: -Viral Marketing is a big part of FC's marketing program (as stated in their last quarterly). Lies under the shroud of placing doubt....Lets see how that turns out.
I have to hand it to you. I am finding that you are hilarious to read. You are so far out in left field that it is amazing that you actually believe what you are posting. "The sky is falling, the sky is falling." "Funcom is out to get you." "Funcom is employing people to write reviews that bash their own game and point a finger at every flaw that pops out." This is grand comedy in a slapstick kind of way.
Your statement about Viral Marketing is likely true. I believe that all MMORPGs and game companies from PC to console are actually employing this concept. It is a legitamate advertising concept and tool now. Advertisers likes to coin new phrases all the time, and, if a tactic works, they use it and they use it a lot. You see this from Star Wars to WoW to Diapers to Pepsi Cola to Sony Plastation. They use every medium available.
The buzzwords viral marketing and viral advertising refer to marketing techniques that use pre-existing social networks to produce increases in brand awareness or to achieve other marketing objectives (such as product sales) through self-replicating viral processes, analogous to the spread of pathological and computer viruses. It can be word-of-mouth delivered or enhanced by the network effects of the Internet.[1] Viral promotions may take the form of video clips, interactive Flash games, advergames, ebooks, brandable software, images, or even text messages. The basic form of viral marketing is not infinitely sustainable.
"The goal of marketers interested in creating successful viral marketing programs is to identify individuals with high Social Networking Potential (SNP) and create Viral Messages that appeal to this segment of the population and have a high probability of being taken by another competitor.
The term "viral marketing" has also been used pejoratively to refer to stealth marketing campaigns—the unscrupulous use of astroturfing on-line combined with undermarket advertising in shopping centers to create the impression of spontaneous word of mouth enthusiasm.[2]
Of course, you and your friends (or your login alts) have their own personal agenda here too. You are employing your own viral marketing, mixing half-truths, expired truths, and outright lies to cloud people's personal judgment and talk people out of giving AoC a second chance.
And then there are those of us who ACTUALLY PLAY THE GAME. We see it at night or on the weekends, and we may run into hiccups from time to time, but we honestly enjoy and appreciate this game. We would like to see other like-minded individuals come back so we can run quests with them again. My GUILD has over 600 members. They have regular events. We have enemies and allies. We have an active social community that contributes to the game in many ways. Whenever I log on, I see other players that are members of my guild family and perfect strangers that I have never met before who want to share in a quest or an event. It sounds like a healthy game to me. I am there. I can say that. I log hours every week. This gives I and others the right to say good or bad about the game. If people do not play a game or are not OLD ENOUGH to play an adult/mature game, then they really do not have any right to bad-mouth said game. So, when was the last time you played Age of Conan? I thought so... Go back to playing your console games and leave this Age of Conan community to the grown-ups.
kind of weird that if the game is half as wonderful as the OP makes it out to be that the game is still steadily losing customers every week. Each to their own I guess, even the ugliest person can find a mate as they say so it stands to reason that even the most flawed game can find a fan or two.
Weird I know, people liking different things and all. However I do not think I would call aoc the most flawed game on the market. That would be SWG IMO, which has far more flaws in the first 10 minutes of game-play than AOC has from the ground up. Believe me there are worse games out there than AOC.
well generally people vote with their wallets and AoC has had free trials, veteran comeback trials some major changes in the last 4 months and yet the population is still decreasing steadily. I think that people have decided AoC has major issues still subjective, objective, whatever. Whether other games suck worse or not, this game was probably the biggest failure in the history of MMOs just by where it started population wise and where it is now.
Weird I know, people liking different things and all. However I do not think I would call aoc the most flawed game on the market. That would be SWG IMO, which has far more flaws in the first 10 minutes of game-play than AOC has from the ground up. Believe me there are worse games out there than AOC.
well generally people vote with their wallets and AoC has had free trials, veteran comeback trials some major changes in the last 4 months and yet the population is still decreasing steadily. I think that people have decided AoC has major issues still subjective, objective, whatever. Whether other games suck worse or not, this game was probably the biggest failure in the history of MMOs just by where it started population wise and where it is now.
That I agree with for the most part. Though I am not sure the exact peak of AOC's sales, compared to say WARs. You don't have to remind me that it's hard to stick with the game, I've had trouble myself. Never subbed after my return trial either or since I first purchased the game and 90 days.
I still do not agree it is as bad a game as it is generally perceived. But you see this with so many titles today, which is an indicator that the market is saturated IMO. Look at every game released since wow, to some extent they have all received some level of dissatisfaction. As well as a lot of bad mouthing they really didn't deserve. As an example LOTRO, and turbine get a lot of undeserved flak.
Why?
The main problem is players have played it all before, nothing seems new, because for the most part it is not. Does that mean these are bad games? No not really it just means when you play a game for over a year. Be it WOW, EQ/2, SWG, DAOC, etc... You want something new, the problem is most games just feel like a total conversion mod, the main difference is in visual representation and not much else. This doesn't fly in other genre's, and it obviously doesn't in MMO's. If the next line of mmo's fail to shake things up, the outcry will be far greater than the destruction of alderan shot through the force. Yes I am looking at you TOR.
For every minute you are angry , you lose 60 seconds of happiness."-Emerson
kind of weird that if the game is half as wonderful as the OP makes it out to be that the game is still steadily losing customers every week. Each to their own I guess, even the ugliest person can find a mate as they say so it stands to reason that even the most flawed game can find a fan or two.
Weird I know, people liking different things and all. However I do not think I would call aoc the most flawed game on the market. That would be SWG IMO, which has far more flaws in the first 10 minutes of game-play than AOC has from the ground up. Believe me there are worse games out there than AOC.
well generally people vote with their wallets and AoC has had free trials, veteran comeback trials some major changes in the last 4 months and yet the population is still decreasing steadily. I think that people have decided AoC has major issues still subjective, objective, whatever. Whether other games suck worse or not, this game was probably the biggest failure in the history of MMOs just by where it started population wise and where it is now.
It all depends on how you define the word "failure".
Age of Conan has lost more subscribers in the least time than any other MMO before or after. In this sense it has clearly been the biggest failure in MMO history.
But servers are still open so in that sense it's not the biggest failure.
Well - thats always up for debate, I think AoC did bad but its not the worst. Here are two other examples.
Tabula Rasa - Although it didnt sell as much it was hyped by one of the fathers of MMO Richard Gareth (forgive spelling, if wrong). Also it was produced by the same company that gave you Aion and GuildWars (NCSoft). Despite of this the game is now closed.
WAR - Sold more copies than AoC and according to WAR forums here (i know, flawed source of info) There are still serious issues with the game that wont be fixed. The RvR dosent work with only two realms, etc. Basic design issue means that it will continue to loose subs?
As far as I can understand, compared to these two AoC isnt doing half bad... AoC at least has a potential future.
Originally posted by BishopB:
Are a lot of the trolls just angry kids with old gaming hardware?
As far as I can understand, compared to these two AoC isnt doing half bad... AoC at least has a potential future.
yeah it is setting the world on fire...I am sure the fans and shills of Vanguard say the same, but all either seem to do is go down steadily in population. For AoC 1.05 and the vet return campaign was their last big opportunity to get people back...from here on out it's just a steady bleed out
yeah it is setting the world on fire...I am sure the fans and shills of Vanguard say the same, but all either seem to do is go down steadily in population. For AoC 1.05 and the vet return campaign was their last big opportunity to get people back...from here on out it's just a steady bleed out
Expansion will be a huge attempt to get people back.
People should stop talking about popularity. I did enjoy Asheron's Call 1 and 2, Tabula Rasa, Vanguard, Fallen Earth, AoC. Most of them are dead now or not very commercially successful. But who cares. Tabula Rasa was fun while it lasted, I never regretted a single minute spent in there, because I had fun. I have fun in Vanguard eventho it might die very soon, and I do like Age of Conan. I don't care how popular it is, the dev studio is adding a lof of free content (2 large zones, lots of dungeons and raids, lots of tweaks to the engine, graphics... much more than to what I was used to in Lotro or VG) and are working on full paid expansion.
For me this is not some kind of a time investition from me into the game like some people might say. For me, this is spending my time to have fun. And Age of Conan is fun.
Expansions have never been effective in getting masses of people back. With MMO's you only get one chance and Funcom blew it. Best change of revitalizing a game is trials and veteran comeback programs (both of which weren't successful). Problem with expansion is that you have to buy it. Or do you honestly think that people who hated AoC and quit, are now suddenly going to pay money for a chance to play it (and hate it) again?
But you've got to understand. I'm not like you. I don't care if my neightborough will play Age of Conan or there will be TV advs. I do not care if those who disliked the game will return or not. I have fun playing Age of Conan. I like the amount of content updates being added to the game regularly, and I like there's gonna be a paid expansions with even more new content.
I am not gonna replace Funcom's marketing specialist and speculate how to bring the people back.
As far as I can understand, compared to these two AoC isnt doing half bad... AoC at least has a potential future.
yeah it is setting the world on fire...I am sure the fans and shills of Vanguard say the same, but all either seem to do is go down steadily in population. For AoC 1.05 and the vet return campaign was their last big opportunity to get people back...from here on out it's just a steady bleed out
no jack, it wasnt the last big opportunity. They still have the expansion card, which by itself wont change much imho. They will ultimately, after the expansion, will make the non-expansion part f2p which will boost the population to healthy levels across all servers.
Comments
It was my pleasure. Your Team made a believer out of me. Your passion for the genre and attention to the REH stories, and attempts to evolve the world as such, has been a distinct pleasure. I look forward to discovering many other Easter Eggs throughout the game that have been left for those familiar with the lore. Well Done!!!
You're not accepting Worshippers huh?
Famine was talking to the OP--NOT TO YOU! (Hard to believe I'll bet)
Anyways...you were saying?
It was my pleasure. Your Team made a believer out of me. Your passion for the genre and attention to the REH stories, and attempts to evolve the world as such, has been a distinct pleasure. I look forward to discovering many other Easter Eggs throughout the game that have been left for those familiar with the lore. Well Done!!!
You're not accepting Worshippers huh?
Famine was talking to the OP--NOT TO YOU! (Hard to believe I'll bet)
Anyways...you were saying
You are probably right. The OP was very good in his review. Later detractions aside, there were many good and true points made by many of the other posters.
You spent at least as much time analyzing the eurogamer reviews as I did writing the original post, for the same purpose: to defend the game we like from the raging mob of forum bashers.
REALITY CHECK
Thanks for the review - much appreciated. I've been waiting for my client to finish updating content 4/4. Been at it since 12am and it's almost 3:30am, yay! :P Hope the game has improved greatly since I had this game at launch. /crosses fingers.
Any suggestions on good, populated servers for this chick on trial??
Choose a PvE server during trial, and get used to the combat system. If you want, you can reroll on a PvP server later, but as of now, unless you REALLY love pvp, wait a little bit.
For maximum experience, choose a melee class, as the main caster classes does not have the full combat system. I think its Wiccana or Set that suit you best during Trial. (Not a US player myself)
Any other questions, just ask. I`m sure there is plenty of helpful people here.
Enjoy your trial!
kind of weird that if the game is half as wonderful as the OP makes it out to be that the game is still steadily losing customers every week. Each to their own I guess, even the ugliest person can find a mate as they say so it stands to reason that even the most flawed game can find a fan or two.
I miss DAoC
Weird I know, people liking different things and all. However I do not think I would call aoc the most flawed game on the market. That would be SWG IMO, which has far more flaws in the first 10 minutes of game-play than AOC has from the ground up. Believe me there are worse games out there than AOC.
For every minute you are angry , you lose 60 seconds of happiness."-Emerson
Anything that Thillian says on this site, cannot even be taken seriously, he will say every single game on this site is great and wounderful, but no matter what will never have a good word to say about wow. His so called reviews and comments are 95% of the time always biased. This is the person who agrees with Woody on virtually every single thread regarding the destruction and anhilation of blizzard and wow. Sure thing Bud AOC A-. Try pulling the other leg.
This so called review is like Woody giving it himself, If Aoc gets an A-, than wow must get A++++++++, right Thillian? Oh yeah sorry only games that are hyped as wow killers, then fail miserably at launch and months and months later,are considered true mmo's in Thillians eyes.
I never have much good to say about WOW tbh. I guess that is what happens when you dislike a game. Granted I do not discuss WOW very often either.
For every minute you are angry , you lose 60 seconds of happiness."-Emerson
Cimmeria Server (RP-PVP), SENTINELS Guild is a Real Winner!!!
Set (NonPVP-Normal) is good server as well.
Wiccana is supposed to be the unOfiicial (RP Server)
And no matter how much you sqeem and squirm in your chair that he gave it an A- it will be, and always will be, his opinion and the same it will always be your opinion. There's no facts involved other than it is two different opinions.
I'm sorry it makes you so upset that he gave it an A-. He doesn't seem to be going off the handle that you dislike the game so much. Get over it, it's an opinion. Free trials are that way for the curious people that want to make an opinion about the game themselves.
.. .... .- - . - .-. --- .-.. .-.. ... .-- .... --- .-. . .--. --- .-. - .-.-.-
--------------------------------------------------------
Promote what you love instead of bashing what you hate.
I gave Fallen Earth in my previous impression thread C- about 3 weeks ago.
I agree my opinion is biased and subjective. I have a strong tendency to like atmospheric games so I guess my impressions are always a bit favorable towards games with a great mood.
Yes, I also agree that I was a bit overly negative about WoW in the past, but I did try to avoid wow-section here for some time now.
This thread did try to show people that not all AoC subscribers are forum-bashers that keep whining about balance, but also people playing the game that fully enjoy it.
edit: I never called this a review, it's called impressions for a reason.
REALITY CHECK
Edit-
I don't agree the game deserves an A in a scale compared to every other game on the market. However that doesn't seem to be how the OP has graded AOC. Take into account he's basing that on what he has seen personally compared to his own expectations. Much like a teacher grades a paper, you aren't compared to the rest of the class, just in how you handled the work load assigned.
For every minute you are angry , you lose 60 seconds of happiness."-Emerson
Even great games bleed subs, nature of the beast. I played WoW but don't now, is WoW terrible? But I've also played AoC and then didn't, but now do. Guess as long there is flow Funcom has achieved success, though not at a WoW level.
Have to remember the bulk of the complaints for AoC were content gaps, performance/bugs and end game. All have been resolved, so how is the game flawed?
It goes to show the Real Hidden Quality of a game, when people who do not play it go to such extreme lengths to belittle it and attempt to chase potential players away. The sheer number of hours that several Haters on these boards dedicate every week to reading the Age of Conan forums, which they are not allowed to post to, since they are not paying subscribers, only demonstrates their extreme FEAR that Age of Conan is turning around, or has turned around, and will likely improve to the point that it could surpass other more established game systems. Obviously, their games of choice are not of a sufficient quality to keep them adequately entertained, since they have so much available time to TROLL and TOPIC HIJACK these forums on a daily basis. Their continual GAME ATTACKS and OFF TOPIC Posting to detract from the value of the game is really sad. I honestly pitty them.
The other option is that a competitor is rewardng these jokers to constantly spew lies and focus on weaknesses that are soon patched.
In either case, it is obvious that several characters in these threads blatantly disregard the RULES of CONDUCT and are daily trying to BAIT many of us to sinking to their childish level.
I have to hand it to you. I am finding that you are hilarious to read. You are so far out in left field that it is amazing that you actually believe what you are posting. "The sky is falling, the sky is falling." "Funcom is out to get you." "Funcom is employing people to write reviews that bash their own game and point a finger at every flaw that pops out." This is grand comedy in a slapstick kind of way.
Your statement about Viral Marketing is likely true. I believe that all MMORPGs and game companies from PC to console are actually employing this concept. It is a legitamate advertising concept and tool now. Advertisers likes to coin new phrases all the time, and, if a tactic works, they use it and they use it a lot. You see this from Star Wars to WoW to Diapers to Pepsi Cola to Sony Plastation. They use every medium available.
The buzzwords viral marketing and viral advertising refer to marketing techniques that use pre-existing social networks to produce increases in brand awareness or to achieve other marketing objectives (such as product sales) through self-replicating viral processes, analogous to the spread of pathological and computer viruses. It can be word-of-mouth delivered or enhanced by the network effects of the Internet.[1] Viral promotions may take the form of video clips, interactive Flash games, advergames, ebooks, brandable software, images, or even text messages. The basic form of viral marketing is not infinitely sustainable.
"The goal of marketers interested in creating successful viral marketing programs is to identify individuals with high Social Networking Potential (SNP) and create Viral Messages that appeal to this segment of the population and have a high probability of being taken by another competitor.
The term "viral marketing" has also been used pejoratively to refer to stealth marketing campaigns—the unscrupulous use of astroturfing on-line combined with undermarket advertising in shopping centers to create the impression of spontaneous word of mouth enthusiasm.[2]
Quoted from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viral_marketing
Of course, you and your friends (or your login alts) have their own personal agenda here too. You are employing your own viral marketing, mixing half-truths, expired truths, and outright lies to cloud people's personal judgment and talk people out of giving AoC a second chance.
And then there are those of us who ACTUALLY PLAY THE GAME. We see it at night or on the weekends, and we may run into hiccups from time to time, but we honestly enjoy and appreciate this game. We would like to see other like-minded individuals come back so we can run quests with them again. My GUILD has over 600 members. They have regular events. We have enemies and allies. We have an active social community that contributes to the game in many ways. Whenever I log on, I see other players that are members of my guild family and perfect strangers that I have never met before who want to share in a quest or an event. It sounds like a healthy game to me. I am there. I can say that. I log hours every week. This gives I and others the right to say good or bad about the game. If people do not play a game or are not OLD ENOUGH to play an adult/mature game, then they really do not have any right to bad-mouth said game. So, when was the last time you played Age of Conan? I thought so... Go back to playing your console games and leave this Age of Conan community to the grown-ups.
Weird I know, people liking different things and all. However I do not think I would call aoc the most flawed game on the market. That would be SWG IMO, which has far more flaws in the first 10 minutes of game-play than AOC has from the ground up. Believe me there are worse games out there than AOC.
well generally people vote with their wallets and AoC has had free trials, veteran comeback trials some major changes in the last 4 months and yet the population is still decreasing steadily. I think that people have decided AoC has major issues still subjective, objective, whatever. Whether other games suck worse or not, this game was probably the biggest failure in the history of MMOs just by where it started population wise and where it is now.
I miss DAoC
Weird I know, people liking different things and all. However I do not think I would call aoc the most flawed game on the market. That would be SWG IMO, which has far more flaws in the first 10 minutes of game-play than AOC has from the ground up. Believe me there are worse games out there than AOC.
well generally people vote with their wallets and AoC has had free trials, veteran comeback trials some major changes in the last 4 months and yet the population is still decreasing steadily. I think that people have decided AoC has major issues still subjective, objective, whatever. Whether other games suck worse or not, this game was probably the biggest failure in the history of MMOs just by where it started population wise and where it is now.
That I agree with for the most part. Though I am not sure the exact peak of AOC's sales, compared to say WARs. You don't have to remind me that it's hard to stick with the game, I've had trouble myself. Never subbed after my return trial either or since I first purchased the game and 90 days.
I still do not agree it is as bad a game as it is generally perceived. But you see this with so many titles today, which is an indicator that the market is saturated IMO. Look at every game released since wow, to some extent they have all received some level of dissatisfaction. As well as a lot of bad mouthing they really didn't deserve. As an example LOTRO, and turbine get a lot of undeserved flak.
Why?
The main problem is players have played it all before, nothing seems new, because for the most part it is not. Does that mean these are bad games? No not really it just means when you play a game for over a year. Be it WOW, EQ/2, SWG, DAOC, etc... You want something new, the problem is most games just feel like a total conversion mod, the main difference is in visual representation and not much else. This doesn't fly in other genre's, and it obviously doesn't in MMO's. If the next line of mmo's fail to shake things up, the outcry will be far greater than the destruction of alderan shot through the force. Yes I am looking at you TOR.
For every minute you are angry , you lose 60 seconds of happiness."-Emerson
Weird I know, people liking different things and all. However I do not think I would call aoc the most flawed game on the market. That would be SWG IMO, which has far more flaws in the first 10 minutes of game-play than AOC has from the ground up. Believe me there are worse games out there than AOC.
well generally people vote with their wallets and AoC has had free trials, veteran comeback trials some major changes in the last 4 months and yet the population is still decreasing steadily. I think that people have decided AoC has major issues still subjective, objective, whatever. Whether other games suck worse or not, this game was probably the biggest failure in the history of MMOs just by where it started population wise and where it is now.
It all depends on how you define the word "failure".
Age of Conan has lost more subscribers in the least time than any other MMO before or after. In this sense it has clearly been the biggest failure in MMO history.
But servers are still open so in that sense it's not the biggest failure.
Well - thats always up for debate, I think AoC did bad but its not the worst. Here are two other examples.
Tabula Rasa - Although it didnt sell as much it was hyped by one of the fathers of MMO Richard Gareth (forgive spelling, if wrong). Also it was produced by the same company that gave you Aion and GuildWars (NCSoft). Despite of this the game is now closed.
WAR - Sold more copies than AoC and according to WAR forums here (i know, flawed source of info) There are still serious issues with the game that wont be fixed. The RvR dosent work with only two realms, etc. Basic design issue means that it will continue to loose subs?
As far as I can understand, compared to these two AoC isnt doing half bad...
AoC at least has a potential future.
Originally posted by BishopB:
Are a lot of the trolls just angry kids with old gaming hardware?
yeah it is setting the world on fire...I am sure the fans and shills of Vanguard say the same, but all either seem to do is go down steadily in population. For AoC 1.05 and the vet return campaign was their last big opportunity to get people back...from here on out it's just a steady bleed out
I miss DAoC
Expansion will be a huge attempt to get people back.
People should stop talking about popularity. I did enjoy Asheron's Call 1 and 2, Tabula Rasa, Vanguard, Fallen Earth, AoC. Most of them are dead now or not very commercially successful. But who cares. Tabula Rasa was fun while it lasted, I never regretted a single minute spent in there, because I had fun. I have fun in Vanguard eventho it might die very soon, and I do like Age of Conan. I don't care how popular it is, the dev studio is adding a lof of free content (2 large zones, lots of dungeons and raids, lots of tweaks to the engine, graphics... much more than to what I was used to in Lotro or VG) and are working on full paid expansion.
REALITY CHECK
For me this is not some kind of a time investition from me into the game like some people might say. For me, this is spending my time to have fun. And Age of Conan is fun.
REALITY CHECK
But you've got to understand. I'm not like you. I don't care if my neightborough will play Age of Conan or there will be TV advs. I do not care if those who disliked the game will return or not. I have fun playing Age of Conan. I like the amount of content updates being added to the game regularly, and I like there's gonna be a paid expansions with even more new content.
I am not gonna replace Funcom's marketing specialist and speculate how to bring the people back.
REALITY CHECK
yeah it is setting the world on fire...I am sure the fans and shills of Vanguard say the same, but all either seem to do is go down steadily in population. For AoC 1.05 and the vet return campaign was their last big opportunity to get people back...from here on out it's just a steady bleed out
no jack, it wasnt the last big opportunity. They still have the expansion card, which by itself wont change much imho. They will ultimately, after the expansion, will make the non-expansion part f2p which will boost the population to healthy levels across all servers.
I need more vespene gas.