I am not gonna replace Funcom's marketing specialist and speculate how to bring the people back.
Maybe you should. Although you seem pretty clueless on how MMO business works, I'm pretty sure you would do a better job than the current Funcom marketing "specialist" aka the janitor.
Why would you need to insult me on a personal level? I am clueless because I do not want to speculate about it and derail the thread?
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.
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?
Quotes from a valid source please. Seriously, the month just begun and I am already tempted to take Blackwell title and give it to you. How can a troll be so stupid?
In my opinion, as an AoC veteran, since pre-release. The game is still suffering from the aftershock of a less than stellar launch. Even though many of the annoying, and indeed game breaking bugs have been fixed. The stark reality is that there are an awful lot of very vocal ex-customers out there who resent the fact that they were lied to by Funcom.
Not little lies, but great big whale sized whoppers. They resented the fact that much of the game was incredibly broken. Even such simple things as setting up a raid. Meanwhile Mr Ellingson was doing the rounds telling us all how fantastic the launch was and how, "the billing system worked perfectly."
It felt very much like a smash and grab raid. We have your money now, so who cares.
I love the game, I'm still playing. Even though for the moment there is absolutely nothing to do at level 80 for pure pvp'ers like myself. Except mindnumbingly grind pvpexp. Do you really think it was an oversight on the part of Funcom to have much of the T2 gear better than pvp gear ? I don't think so. I think it was a quick fix to get people to pve for gear, and in doing so give them some goal to achieve.
The pvp crowd are waiting patiently for introduction of new meaningful pvp content. Funcom really has to deliver or I fear many will abandon ship never to return. And in doing so add to the already large mass of Funcom haters out there.
They would also do well to note that deleting threads and banning people from their forums who have the gall to criticise the company ultimately has negative results. Many people will simply choose a larger arena (such as this one) and continue to criticise.
Should people give AoC a chance and give it a trial run. I would definitely say yes. Should they put their hand in their pocket and cough up for a subscription. I would say "maybe" if you intend to take your time and not rush to 80. Because when you get there you will be in the same boat as the rest of us. Waiting on "that" patch which will make us all happy little subscribers again.
But make no mistake. On my server (Fury [EU] ) AoC is haemorrhaging customers at an alarming rate. I get the feeling that this is Funcom's last best chance to retain many of their veterans.
In my opinion, as an AoC veteran, since pre-release. The game is still suffering from the aftershock of a less than stellar launch. Even though many of the annoying, and indeed game breaking bugs have been fixed. The stark reality is that there are an awful lot of very vocal ex-customers out there who resent the fact that they were lied to by Funcom. Not little lies, but great big whale sized whoppers. They resented the fact that much of the game was incredibly broken. Even such simple things as setting up a raid. Meanwhile Mr Ellingson was doing the rounds telling us all how fantastic the launch was and how, "the billing system worked perfectly." It felt very much like a smash and grab raid. We have your money now, so who cares. I love the game, I'm still playing. Even though for the moment there is absolutely nothing to do at level 80 for pure pvp'ers like myself. Except mindnumbingly grind pvpexp. Do you really think it was an oversight on the part of Funcom to have much of the T2 gear better than pvp gear ? I don't think so. I think it was a quick fix to get people to pve for gear, and in doing so give them some goal to achieve. The pvp crowd are waiting patiently for introduction of new meaningful pvp content. Funcom really has to deliver or I fear many will abandon ship never to return. And in doing so add to the already large mass of Funcom haters out there. They would also do well to note that deleting threads and banning people from their forums who have the gall to criticise the company ultimately has negative results. Many people will simply choose a larger arena (such as this one) and continue to criticise. Should people give AoC a chance and give it a trial run. I would definitely say yes. Should they put their hand in their pocket and cough up for a subscription. I would say "maybe" if you intend to take your time and not rush to 80. Because when you get there you will be in the same boat as the rest of us. Waiting on "that" patch which will make us all happy little subscribers again. But make no mistake. On my server (Fury [EU] ) AoC is haemorrhaging customers at an alarming rate. I get the feeling that this is Funcom's last best chance to retain many of their veterans.
Catriona.
If that is true, why did AoC lose a great deal of players after free trials when it should have gained some? I agree with many of your points but this game is failing on its own merits today. The only issue that the release has today is that fewer players will retry it but most players won't even retry a game they liked. Funcom even abandoned AoC as seen in the slow development cycles. IDK what they were thinking but they put all resources into this expansion that is likely to be to far off to bring the players it lose and the many players it will lose before the expansion is released.
It is pretty sad how unstable the AoC community has become but there really isn't that much in the game that requires a dedicated force....everything can be PuGed for the most part.
... Funcom even abandoned AoC as seen in the slow development cycles. IDK what they were thinking but they put all resources into this expansion that is likely to be to far off to bring the players it lose and the many players it will lose before the expansion is released....
I'm sorry what?
Funcon released two full sized zones with hundreds of new quests, 2 raid dungeons and lots of smaller dungeons. And are working on paid expansion at the same time?
Want me to compare it with Lotro content updates during the last year? Because there wasn't even half of that.
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.
This is all that pretty much matters Thillian, who cares what anyone else thinks, they ain't paying your sub so f*ck'em
Originally posted by Thillian Originally posted by finaticd ... Funcom even abandoned AoC as seen in the slow development cycles. IDK what they were thinking but they put all resources into this expansion that is likely to be to far off to bring the players it lose and the many players it will lose before the expansion is released....
I'm sorry what? Funcon released two full sized zones with hundreds of new quests, 2 raid dungeons and lots of smaller dungeons. And are working on paid expansion at the same time? Want me to compare it with Lotro content updates during the last year? Because there wasn't even half of that.
You just hit on the main problem for pvp'ers. Everything is being fed to the pve crowd, while we sit and twiddle our thumbs. I came to this game under the impression that it would be a pvpcentric world. Funcom are slowly turning their open world pvp servers into virtual ghost towns of wandering groups of npc bashers.
It is very frustrating when people find that to upgrade their pvp gear that they worked hard to achieve, they are being forced to pve.
... Funcom even abandoned AoC as seen in the slow development cycles. IDK what they were thinking but they put all resources into this expansion that is likely to be to far off to bring the players it lose and the many players it will lose before the expansion is released....
I'm sorry what?
Funcon released two full sized zones with hundreds of new quests, 2 raid dungeons and lots of smaller dungeons. And are working on paid expansion at the same time?
Want me to compare it with Lotro content updates during the last year? Because there wasn't even half of that.
You just hit on the main problem for pvp'ers. Everything is being fed to the pve crowd, while we sit and twiddle our thumbs. I came to this game under the impression that it would be a pvpcentric world. Funcom are slowly turning their open world pvp servers into virtual ghost towns of wandering groups of npc bashers.
It is very frustrating when people find that to upgrade their pvp gear that they worked hard to achieve, they are being forced to pve.
wow Catriona, im suprised you guys at Ruscorp are still playing AoC. I was allied with you guys with Anathema guild on Fury. But our whole guild quit after three months like the majority of respectable mmo guilds did.
Really suprised you guys stuck it out as i know you were pretty PvP orientated guild and not too bad at the PvE either =]
ThorgrimmAge of Conan CorrespondentMemberPosts: 274
Originally posted by Catriona85
In my opinion, as an AoC veteran, since pre-release. The game is still suffering from the aftershock of a less than stellar launch. Even though many of the annoying, and indeed game breaking bugs have been fixed. The stark reality is that there are an awful lot of very vocal ex-customers out there who resent the fact that they were lied to by Funcom. Not little lies, but great big whale sized whoppers. They resented the fact that much of the game was incredibly broken. Even such simple things as setting up a raid. Meanwhile Mr Ellingson was doing the rounds telling us all how fantastic the launch was and how, "the billing system worked perfectly." It felt very much like a smash and grab raid. We have your money now, so who cares. I love the game, I'm still playing. Even though for the moment there is absolutely nothing to do at level 80 for pure pvp'ers like myself. Except mindnumbingly grind pvpexp. Do you really think it was an oversight on the part of Funcom to have much of the T2 gear better than pvp gear ? I don't think so. I think it was a quick fix to get people to pve for gear, and in doing so give them some goal to achieve. The pvp crowd are waiting patiently for introduction of new meaningful pvp content. Funcom really has to deliver or I fear many will abandon ship never to return. And in doing so add to the already large mass of Funcom haters out there. They would also do well to note that deleting threads and banning people from their forums who have the gall to criticise the company ultimately has negative results. Many people will simply choose a larger arena (such as this one) and continue to criticise. Should people give AoC a chance and give it a trial run. I would definitely say yes. Should they put their hand in their pocket and cough up for a subscription. I would say "maybe" if you intend to take your time and not rush to 80. Because when you get there you will be in the same boat as the rest of us. Waiting on "that" patch which will make us all happy little subscribers again. But make no mistake. On my server (Fury [EU] ) AoC is haemorrhaging customers at an alarming rate. I get the feeling that this is Funcom's last best chance to retain many of their veterans.
Catriona.
You have a pretty legitimate gripe there. I respect that. Thanks for your post. I am pretty weak at PvP, and I tend to do more PvE. I have not really seen your issues, but then again, I have not been exposed to them. I look forward to hearing more of what you have to say. Good Journey!!! And thanks again for your well-thought-out post.
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.
Sorry but it amuses me when someone uses the word potential in a product that is currently being charged for. Tell me about the potential for unreleased games sucj as Secret World and I wil pay attention all day, but for games that have have hit the market I am only interested in what is available for my money.
Anyway on the expansion , going by FC's present and past performance on releases, expansions, and patches don't expect much. So if the expansion ever makes it to market I will re evaluate AoC.
If you give this game an "-A" What do you give games that really do deserve this mark? Like: Aion FE? WoW? LOTRO or EvE Hard to take this review seriously.
Aion has as many problems now that Conan had at launch. In fact, Aion is taking the piss. Anyone who says different is a fanboi. I have monitored the game from the beginning, and having run a guild, I can see the people bleeding out. If you don't believe me, go to the general discussion on the forums. 90% of posts are people fed up with bots, no one in the US working on this game, bots, broken sieges, ah problems, mail problems, bag space, no customer support, gold spam (which has tamed down), etc.
I had high hopes for Aion, but it is, alas, another asian grinder with no US support. Period. What kind of damn game opens and has been out a month and a half and has not ONE single GM?!?! When you try to file a petition it tells you that you've used your 5 for the day, when you haven't filed one, and that is during the day. Try to file one at night and it states GMs aren't on at night. And then you try to go their site and there's nowhere to file one. The game is literally Anarchy or the Wild West. It's all people named niqqa, mrneggro, mommysex, etc and the LFG channel makes Barrens chat look like Catholic School. I've played over 15 MMOs, and Aion is hands down the worst community I've ever seen, but I blame NCSoft for this, by having no GMs and letting everything go.
So yes, Aion is pretty. Yes, it got some things right no other MMOs could since wow. But fact is, it's wow with harder mobs and a shitty community and a company that only wants your money. Anyone who tells you different until a miracle patch comes along is a fanboi or is blowing Jaeho Lee.
Originally posted by Iplaytoomuch Originally posted by chaosngn So yes, Aion is pretty. Yes, it got some things right no other MMOs could since wow. But fact is, it's wow with harder mobs and a shitty community and a company that only wants your money. Anyone who tells you different until a miracle patch comes along is a fanboi or is blowing Jaeho Lee.
What? A company that only wants money? They truly are evil.
I have no doubt that when FC released AoC in the abysmal state it was in at launch it was due to corporate pressure on the developers stemming directly from investors. They hyped it incredibly, sucked up all the cash they could in box sales. Safe in the knowledge that Tortage was very polished and working as intended.
Share prices took a substantial hike, and then people started ditching their stock. More joined the exodus as the true story of an unfinished game began to hit the web and general media.
Perhaps it's not evil. But it reeks of an uncaring company who is willing to pilfer from it's customers. I'm not sure if there are laws to govern this sort of sharp practice. But there bloody well should be.
If you give this game an "-A" What do you give games that really do deserve this mark? Like: Aion FE? WoW? LOTRO or EvE Hard to take this review seriously.
He gave his opinion.
Either deal with it and provide a logical, coherent counter argument or /troll off.
All you've done is state your opinion (that there other other games which are better) without any reasoning behind it.
Total fail.
Playing: Ableton Live 8 ~ ragequitcancelsubdeletegamesmashcomputerkillself ~
Originally posted by Iplaytoomuch Originally posted by Aryas Originally posted by Blackwell99 If you give this game an "-A" What do you give games that really do deserve this mark? Like: Aion FE? WoW? LOTRO or EvE Hard to take this review seriously.
He gave his opinion.
Either deal with it and provide a logical, coherent counter argument or /troll off.
All you've done is state your opinion (that there other other games which are better) without any reasoning behind it.
Total fail.
If someone says AoC is A- you don't need a logical counter argument because clearly that person is delusional. Everyone knows AoC is not even close to A-. Not even the biggest fanbois on this forum rate AoC so high.
Dude, what the hell does this say about you then, that you spend the time to comment on something you believe to be delusional and beneath contempt? Without every actually saying anything that amounts to more than 'lol ur idiot'. 6 day post history..I imagine this is a shill account made simply to bash. Sad. Why not find an MMO you do like and go play it?
Yeah, discussing what the game was at launch is a waste of time. It is like complaining about seeing a bad movie two years after you saw it in the movie theater, not relevant at all to what the game is today. For example, I hated the three hours I spent watching Titanic, but I have not spent the last decade on message boards bashing the movie. If people love the game, then great. If people hate the game, fine too, just move on with life. It is just a game, and it won't please all. If pleasing all were the determining factor for being a great game, then WOW is the best game ever made.
It's called a discussion. I am not allowed to post here because I don't share your views on AoC? I simply pointed out that no serious reviewer would ever give AoC an A-. In fact most people would probably give AoC a C or C- due to the fact that below those flashy graphics and digital boobs is an average MMO with linear quests, instances and an endgame that is seriously lacking. How could you possibly give A- to that? I already found a game I like. Fallen Earth.
I suspect in a month or less, you will be on their forums talking about how badly the game sucks. It's the same with you game haters. A game can and will change. It can change for the better. You're just a doom sayer, who is looking for attention saying otherwise. Many have failed, many many MMO's have failed. The problem with humans is that they think they know everything.
You see, based on your logic, and your life experiences, you KNOW AoC sucks, and every sane person would think so right? The problem is, people come from varying backgrounds, with many different likes and dislikes. A bug which is crucial to you, might not be as crucial to another.
You could be convinced the world is ending in 2012. You truely believe it, because all your logic is pointing in that way. That does not make it true. Logic works differently from person to person. 1 + 1 does equal 2. But when you get into opinions and gray areas, where not everything is defined, you start seeing a fractal of differing views of the logical way to view it. I'm deviating I'm sorry.
The point is, it's not wrong to think AoC is good, or bad. It's wrong to say everyone should think it's good or everyone should think it is bad. Both sides of that table are equally guilty.
It's called a discussion. I am not allowed to post here because I don't share your views on AoC? I simply pointed out that no serious reviewer would ever give AoC an A-. In fact most people would probably give AoC a C or C- due to the fact that below those flashy graphics and digital boobs is an average MMO with linear quests, instances and an endgame that is seriously lacking. How could you possibly give A- to that? I already found a game I like. Fallen Earth.
(((())))
The point is, it's not wrong to think AoC is good, or bad. It's wrong to say everyone should think it's good or everyone should think it is bad. Both sides of that table are equally guilty.
Hi Gauge, I entirely agree with you.
There is however an additional thing, (which I am not sure about concerning this game but which some suspect) is that most of the fanboys are either from the company itself, or related in some way to the company, and are simply trying to promote the game through word of mouth forum propaganda.
Before you start yelling and stuff, let me tell you that many companies do this and not only in the game industry. My company does this all the time, we get someone to write an article about how good they think our product is and publish it in a magazine as if it was an article.
Since a huge portion of public opinion of a video game, especially a MMORPG is through word of mouth, community feedback and forums, this is a critical method of communication.
Civilized men are more discourteous than savages because they know they can be impolite without having their skulls split, as a general thing.
Originally posted by SirPaco Originally posted by gauge2k3 Originally posted by Iplaytoomuch It's called a discussion. I am not allowed to post here because I don't share your views on AoC? I simply pointed out that no serious reviewer would ever give AoC an A-. In fact most people would probably give AoC a C or C- due to the fact that below those flashy graphics and digital boobs is an average MMO with linear quests, instances and an endgame that is seriously lacking. How could you possibly give A- to that? I already found a game I like. Fallen Earth.
(((())))
The point is, it's not wrong to think AoC is good, or bad. It's wrong to say everyone should think it's good or everyone should think it is bad. Both sides of that table are equally guilty.
Hi Gauge, I entirely agree with you. There is however an additional thing, (which I am not sure about concerning this game but which some suspect) is that most of the fanboys are either from the company itself, or related in some way to the company, and are simply trying to promote the game through word of mouth forum propaganda. Before you start yelling and stuff, let me tell you that many companies do this and not only in the game industry. My company does this all the time, we get someone to write an article about how good they think our product is and publish it in a magazine as if it was an article. Since a huge portion of public opinion of a video game, especially a MMORPG is through word of mouth, community feedback and forums, this is a critical method of communication.
You mean like Tahitoa did on the forums. Posting about how good she thought the game was, and tut-tutting at all the naysayers. Except that nobody knew it was Tahitoa, because she was posting under her in game character name. And then quite bizarrely responding to her own posts wearing her moderators moniker.
I tend to view every fanboy post with some skepticism. By fanboy I don't mean a subscriber who just happens to like the game. I mean those oily,treacly,"please like me",smarm smarm,ingratiate type posts. Which then go on to describe in thinly veiled marketing hype how fantastic the game is, and what super value for money.
Conversely at the other end of the pendulum arc, the rabid haters are just as easy to spot. And ignore.
Answer me this: If they remastered Titanic with a better sound and some added scenes and digital effects, would you go watch it again? Of course not. You hated it the first time, and you would hate it again the second time. This is how it is with AoC - even if Funcom adds new content, the game itself is still the same and will never change. Players who hated AoC the first time are not going to magically love it the second time.
Please, read it at least five times next time what you wrote something before you click "post message" button.
You are not making any sense.
Players who hated AoC? Are you talking about yourself? I don't hate a game when I don't like it.Are you applying your hatred and your experience with the game on everyone else? Everyone who quit the game hate it and never returns, and everyone who likes it are funcom employees. Is that your logic?
And how on earth does added content relate to better sounds for the titanic analogy?
Yeah, discussing what the game was at launch is a waste of time. It is like complaining about seeing a bad movie two years after you saw it in the movie theater, not relevant at all to what the game is today. For example, I hated the three hours I spent watching Titanic, but I have not spent the last decade on message boards bashing the movie. If people love the game, then great. If people hate the game, fine too, just move on with life. It is just a game, and it won't please all. If pleasing all were the determining factor for being a great game, then WOW is the best game ever made.
Answer me this: If they remastered Titanic with a better sound and some added scenes and digital effects, would you go watch it again?
Of course not. You hated it the first time, and you would hate it again the second time.
This is how it is with AoC - even if Funcom adds new content, the game itself is still the same and will never change. Players who hated AoC the first time are not going to magically love it the second time.
If they were to release Titanic with better sound and added scenes, I tell you what I would not do:
I would not waste hours posting hundreds of meaningless posts to various forums to show how much I hated the original movie.
What would I do? Well, I would be happy on behalf of the people who enjoyed the original movie. But mostly I would not care.
However, a game is not like a movie. A game continues to develop, it evolves. Just like a restaurant may suck on its opening day, a couple of years later it may be a completely different establishment - with new staff and ambiance. However, if you originally hated the kind of food they served, say Thai food, no reason to try it again.
It's called a discussion. I am not allowed to post here because I don't share your views on AoC? I simply pointed out that no serious reviewer would ever give AoC an A-.
What in the name of god and all that is saint are you talking about? Serious reviewer? I didnt claim to be one. I didnt even call this thread a review - I called it my own impressions. Additionally, just go out to metacritic, and gamerankings. There was majority of websites (i'd say like 90%) which gave AoC 80% and more which relates to the score A- (A+ 95-100, A 85-94), A- (80-84). Are these the serious reviewers, or serious are only those that gave AoC below 80?
What are you like, 15 years old? Is your view limited so much that you apply your thinking to everything around?
I do tend to avoid certain games at first because of their hype, weird advs and launch video interviews with overuse of words "cool, awesome, incredible, gamebreaking". I do tend to think that games targetted on mass market segment usually bring no innovation whatsoever and will probably fade away once the hype goes away. This would all be true about AoC, and probably is, yet the game is so charming that it kept me hooked for over 500 hours now (3 months real time).
I am not currently playing the game, the info i provide is a bit old (3-4 months). Correct me where i'm wrong please. I am a player that usually like open worlds with no barriers whatsoever (Ryzom, Vanguard, AC1) but at the same time I don't like FFA PvP, ganking, banding, corpse camping. From this description it might seem I should avoid AoC at all costs. But I didn't and here's why I picked the game 3 months ago:
Funcom managed to create one of the best adventure games (Longest Journey) Conan world setting is brilliant. Soundtrack which I happened to hear was really touching. Last time I hear such a wonderful video game music was I think in Icewind Dale 1 made by Jeremy Soule.
If i'm not mistaken Jeremy Soule also did Guildwars soundtrack. Age of Conan has very good soundtrack but ingame sounds overall is not that good. I dont know maybe its just me, my hardware but in FotD i usually had 1-2 sec rain sounds and stepping on water sounds on bridges. Graphics A+ A
There is no doubt that Age of Conan offers wonderful graphics for a mmorpg. There are two modes dx9 and dx10. On my 2 years old computer with a new GPU (Vista 64, GTX 275, overclocked E6400 CPU, 4GB ram) the game works like charm in both modes in high settings. Dx9 gives me 60+ FPS in regular zones and 30-50 in full towns. Dx10 gives me 40 FPS in zones and 15-25 in full towns. The game engine behaves much better and smoother than any other game I played before which is a little miracle in combination with the beatiful graphics and quite high view distance. Age of Conan has the uncomparably best mood and atmosphere among all the MMORPG's currently on the market. Soundtrack together with the graphics makes the most immersive and atmospheric gameworld I could ever imagine. It's not rare that I just stop anytime anywhere, look around, make screenshots and just enjoy the fluid camera movement in this beatiful landscape. Last time i checked they had tongue and eyeballs un-fading when rest of the body did (ie. when you become invisible or very near to a wall etc.) in dx10. Also near walls camera was starting to shake which was disturbing.
Game World B C
There was a lot of criticism about the instances and zoning. As I already mentioned I am a fan mostly of open worlds with no instances whatsoever. On, one hand I like realism in games and open space, on the other hand I hate the unbelievable scaled down representations of a gameworld. I absolutely can not understand people who say that running 5 minutes from one town to another, which are supposed to be 100 miles far away from each other is more immersive, than a loading screen. I believe every game which tries to follow certain lore - Conan, Middle Earth should use instances with loading screens unless they want to use the ridiculous scaled down representation. I can not imagine running 10 minutes from Khemi to old Tarantia (or even 20 minutes in that matter). That would break my immersion more than anything else. Additionally, people have to realize that the dreamed way is usually the impossible way (technically). You couldn't have an open world with huge view and draw distance with such a beatiful graphics and maintain 40-50 FPS. Funcom decided to go the way they went and there's nothing wrong about it. I dont mind instances but do we still need to change zones, face load screens when we are trying to enter a tavern in city (why do we have to change zone just to get a few quests?) Have they finally connected every zone by some npc? Since they've gone so deep at this road why not make it like guildwars (this was a sarcastic remark, i dont want every zone connected, but it seems they are going that way) Classes & Customization & Combat B B
Age of Conan offers 12 classes separated into 4 archetypes. While the classes start pretty slowly first 10 levels, most of them usually shares the abilities with other classes of the same archetype, the things get more interesting later on. All classes are pretty much special and unique and making alts is a lot of fun if you can stand running tortage first 20 levels for 8th time. Combat is a a selling point, I can't say anything wrong about it. I enjoy all melee combat, ranged combat and spells as well. Further class customization is made with talent trees - diablo and warcraft comes probably first on my mind that undoubtedly inspired this. I am not a fan of talent trees, which is reflected in the B rating and that's the only thing I could criticise in this category. Talent trees are usually there not really to give you more options gameplay-wise, but rather limits you from certain content (you need certain builds in order to do raids for instance), which to some extent is true for Age of Conan. Do we still have ladder skills (skills we have no use for but have to take to get what we want) Is there any customization through gear? How useful is mounted combat?
Population & Company Dedication B+ B
Sure, there was probably a lot of mess first months of AoC release, I have no idea. I didnt really follow the game much during release. Population now is average. There are some dead servers, and there are some well populated ones. Populated means, there's always at least 15-20 players of any level range (let's say you're level 40, your level range is 37-43) even during the EU early mornings - Crom PvE server. If you'll need to find group you pretty much are dependant on asking them specifically if they are interested or not. Dedication of the team behind and Funcom to improve AoC is in my opinion pretty high. They keep promoting the game with advs, they are developing full paid expansion, they plan to launch in Korea. Funcom seems much more dedicated to improve and support AoC that most of the other games currently on market (War, Vanguard, Lotro, SW:G...). AoC is unique in more aspects and there's always gonna be a certain drag for players to try AoC - combat, graphics, lore. Additionally, Funcom is a company situated in Norway. Norway has a strong socialist government, which make a lot of interfereces to the economy. In fact, it wouldn't surprise me if Funcom would start getting grands and additional government funding if things go bad for them financially. Will the dedicated team do anything about dead servers, have they said anything on the matter? Overall A- B-
Youl havent talked about crafting, UI, quest/boss diversity, mob ai,pvp/siege, server status, patch frequency, ingame support, forum support/policy. Nontheless the game is not that bad and quaranteed to give 6 months of fun to a casual player, if he/she is willing to look past the issues it has. With the current offers/price drops even i am tempted.
I was pleasantly surprised by the game. I didn't expect a whole lot, and it managed to keep my attention for 3 months now already. I'm gonna keep it playing along with Fallen Earth and Vanguard. There's a lot to like in here (combat, classes, lore) and things even to love (graphics & music and overall mood)
edit: corrected a few typos
Overall i cant say this is a good review simply for the fact that it is incomplete. Other than that, the layout was neat, nicely structured and for the parts he covered he gave sound reasoning.
Overall i cant say this is a good review simply for the fact that it is incomplete. Other than that, the layout was neat, nicely structured and for the parts he covered he gave sound reasoning.
Simply because it is not a review. I did not pretend to be objective. I explained the reasons why I enjoy the game for 3 months now. You still might think the reasons why I enjoyed it are not good enough like you did. I am not a professional writer and my writing style along with grammar is surely lacking. My intention was not to start a heated thread where people would insult other people's opinions.
My intention was to show that there are players in AoC that fully enjoy it and are not just forum-bashers moaning about class balance.
Overall i cant say this is a good review simply for the fact that it is incomplete. Other than that, the layout was neat, nicely structured and for the parts he covered he gave sound reasoning.
Simply because it is not a review. I did not pretend to be objective. I explained the reasons why I enjoy the game for 3 months now.
No need to get defensive.
edit. mixed identities. my bad. change review to writeup, i guess
Comments
Maybe you should. Although you seem pretty clueless on how MMO business works, I'm pretty sure you would do a better job than the current Funcom marketing "specialist" aka the janitor.
Why would you need to insult me on a personal level? I am clueless because I do not want to speculate about it and derail the thread?
REALITY CHECK
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.
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?
Quotes from a valid source please. Seriously, the month just begun and I am already tempted to take Blackwell title and give it to you. How can a troll be so stupid?
In my opinion, as an AoC veteran, since pre-release. The game is still suffering from the aftershock of a less than stellar launch. Even though many of the annoying, and indeed game breaking bugs have been fixed. The stark reality is that there are an awful lot of very vocal ex-customers out there who resent the fact that they were lied to by Funcom.
Not little lies, but great big whale sized whoppers. They resented the fact that much of the game was incredibly broken. Even such simple things as setting up a raid. Meanwhile Mr Ellingson was doing the rounds telling us all how fantastic the launch was and how, "the billing system worked perfectly."
It felt very much like a smash and grab raid. We have your money now, so who cares.
I love the game, I'm still playing. Even though for the moment there is absolutely nothing to do at level 80 for pure pvp'ers like myself. Except mindnumbingly grind pvpexp. Do you really think it was an oversight on the part of Funcom to have much of the T2 gear better than pvp gear ? I don't think so. I think it was a quick fix to get people to pve for gear, and in doing so give them some goal to achieve.
The pvp crowd are waiting patiently for introduction of new meaningful pvp content. Funcom really has to deliver or I fear many will abandon ship never to return. And in doing so add to the already large mass of Funcom haters out there.
They would also do well to note that deleting threads and banning people from their forums who have the gall to criticise the company ultimately has negative results. Many people will simply choose a larger arena (such as this one) and continue to criticise.
Should people give AoC a chance and give it a trial run. I would definitely say yes. Should they put their hand in their pocket and cough up for a subscription. I would say "maybe" if you intend to take your time and not rush to 80. Because when you get there you will be in the same boat as the rest of us. Waiting on "that" patch which will make us all happy little subscribers again.
But make no mistake. On my server (Fury [EU] ) AoC is haemorrhaging customers at an alarming rate. I get the feeling that this is Funcom's last best chance to retain many of their veterans.
Catriona.
Tranca [RUS corp]
If that is true, why did AoC lose a great deal of players after free trials when it should have gained some? I agree with many of your points but this game is failing on its own merits today. The only issue that the release has today is that fewer players will retry it but most players won't even retry a game they liked. Funcom even abandoned AoC as seen in the slow development cycles. IDK what they were thinking but they put all resources into this expansion that is likely to be to far off to bring the players it lose and the many players it will lose before the expansion is released.
It is pretty sad how unstable the AoC community has become but there really isn't that much in the game that requires a dedicated force....everything can be PuGed for the most part.
Funcom has reviewed all of its assets relevant for
impairment testing. This process has led to
recognition of an impairment loss of around
3,1 MUSD for Age of Conan due to a decrease in
numbers of subscribers for the game. Funcom Q4 10 report.
http://forums.ageofconan.com/showpost.php?p=2926123&postcount=7 500 mains/alts on Tyranny in past 30 days - instead of merge servers let's open a new PvP server, again! http://forums-eu.ageofconan.com/showthread.php?t=106427
I'm sorry what?
Funcon released two full sized zones with hundreds of new quests, 2 raid dungeons and lots of smaller dungeons. And are working on paid expansion at the same time?
Want me to compare it with Lotro content updates during the last year? Because there wasn't even half of that.
REALITY CHECK
This is all that pretty much matters Thillian, who cares what anyone else thinks, they ain't paying your sub so f*ck'em
I'm sorry what?
Funcon released two full sized zones with hundreds of new quests, 2 raid dungeons and lots of smaller dungeons. And are working on paid expansion at the same time?
Want me to compare it with Lotro content updates during the last year? Because there wasn't even half of that.
You just hit on the main problem for pvp'ers. Everything is being fed to the pve crowd, while we sit and twiddle our thumbs. I came to this game under the impression that it would be a pvpcentric world. Funcom are slowly turning their open world pvp servers into virtual ghost towns of wandering groups of npc bashers.
It is very frustrating when people find that to upgrade their pvp gear that they worked hard to achieve, they are being forced to pve.
Tranca [RUS corp]
I'm sorry what?
Funcon released two full sized zones with hundreds of new quests, 2 raid dungeons and lots of smaller dungeons. And are working on paid expansion at the same time?
Want me to compare it with Lotro content updates during the last year? Because there wasn't even half of that.
You just hit on the main problem for pvp'ers. Everything is being fed to the pve crowd, while we sit and twiddle our thumbs. I came to this game under the impression that it would be a pvpcentric world. Funcom are slowly turning their open world pvp servers into virtual ghost towns of wandering groups of npc bashers.
It is very frustrating when people find that to upgrade their pvp gear that they worked hard to achieve, they are being forced to pve.
wow Catriona, im suprised you guys at Ruscorp are still playing AoC. I was allied with you guys with Anathema guild on Fury. But our whole guild quit after three months like the majority of respectable mmo guilds did.
Really suprised you guys stuck it out as i know you were pretty PvP orientated guild and not too bad at the PvE either =]
You have a pretty legitimate gripe there. I respect that. Thanks for your post. I am pretty weak at PvP, and I tend to do more PvE. I have not really seen your issues, but then again, I have not been exposed to them. I look forward to hearing more of what you have to say. Good Journey!!! And thanks again for your well-thought-out post.
Expansion will be a huge attempt to get people back.
Sorry but it amuses me when someone uses the word potential in a product that is currently being charged for. Tell me about the potential for unreleased games sucj as Secret World and I wil pay attention all day, but for games that have have hit the market I am only interested in what is available for my money.
Anyway on the expansion , going by FC's present and past performance on releases, expansions, and patches don't expect much. So if the expansion ever makes it to market I will re evaluate AoC.
I miss DAoC
Aion has as many problems now that Conan had at launch. In fact, Aion is taking the piss. Anyone who says different is a fanboi. I have monitored the game from the beginning, and having run a guild, I can see the people bleeding out. If you don't believe me, go to the general discussion on the forums. 90% of posts are people fed up with bots, no one in the US working on this game, bots, broken sieges, ah problems, mail problems, bag space, no customer support, gold spam (which has tamed down), etc.
I had high hopes for Aion, but it is, alas, another asian grinder with no US support. Period. What kind of damn game opens and has been out a month and a half and has not ONE single GM?!?! When you try to file a petition it tells you that you've used your 5 for the day, when you haven't filed one, and that is during the day. Try to file one at night and it states GMs aren't on at night. And then you try to go their site and there's nowhere to file one. The game is literally Anarchy or the Wild West. It's all people named niqqa, mrneggro, mommysex, etc and the LFG channel makes Barrens chat look like Catholic School. I've played over 15 MMOs, and Aion is hands down the worst community I've ever seen, but I blame NCSoft for this, by having no GMs and letting everything go.
So yes, Aion is pretty. Yes, it got some things right no other MMOs could since wow. But fact is, it's wow with harder mobs and a shitty community and a company that only wants your money. Anyone who tells you different until a miracle patch comes along is a fanboi or is blowing Jaeho Lee.
What? A company that only wants money? They truly are evil.
I have no doubt that when FC released AoC in the abysmal state it was in at launch it was due to corporate pressure on the developers stemming directly from investors. They hyped it incredibly, sucked up all the cash they could in box sales. Safe in the knowledge that Tortage was very polished and working as intended.
Share prices took a substantial hike, and then people started ditching their stock. More joined the exodus as the true story of an unfinished game began to hit the web and general media.
Perhaps it's not evil. But it reeks of an uncaring company who is willing to pilfer from it's customers. I'm not sure if there are laws to govern this sort of sharp practice. But there bloody well should be.
Catriona
Tranca [RUS corp]
He gave his opinion.
Either deal with it and provide a logical, coherent counter argument or /troll off.
All you've done is state your opinion (that there other other games which are better) without any reasoning behind it.
Total fail.
Playing: Ableton Live 8
~ ragequitcancelsubdeletegamesmashcomputerkillself ~
He gave his opinion.
Either deal with it and provide a logical, coherent counter argument or /troll off.
All you've done is state your opinion (that there other other games which are better) without any reasoning behind it.
Total fail.
If someone says AoC is A- you don't need a logical counter argument because clearly that person is delusional. Everyone knows AoC is not even close to A-. Not even the biggest fanbois on this forum rate AoC so high.
Dude, what the hell does this say about you then, that you spend the time to comment on something you believe to be delusional and beneath contempt? Without every actually saying anything that amounts to more than 'lol ur idiot'. 6 day post history..I imagine this is a shill account made simply to bash. Sad. Why not find an MMO you do like and go play it?
Yeah, discussing what the game was at launch is a waste of time. It is like complaining about seeing a bad movie two years after you saw it in the movie theater, not relevant at all to what the game is today. For example, I hated the three hours I spent watching Titanic, but I have not spent the last decade on message boards bashing the movie. If people love the game, then great. If people hate the game, fine too, just move on with life. It is just a game, and it won't please all. If pleasing all were the determining factor for being a great game, then WOW is the best game ever made.
I suspect in a month or less, you will be on their forums talking about how badly the game sucks. It's the same with you game haters. A game can and will change. It can change for the better. You're just a doom sayer, who is looking for attention saying otherwise. Many have failed, many many MMO's have failed. The problem with humans is that they think they know everything.
You see, based on your logic, and your life experiences, you KNOW AoC sucks, and every sane person would think so right? The problem is, people come from varying backgrounds, with many different likes and dislikes. A bug which is crucial to you, might not be as crucial to another.
You could be convinced the world is ending in 2012. You truely believe it, because all your logic is pointing in that way. That does not make it true. Logic works differently from person to person. 1 + 1 does equal 2. But when you get into opinions and gray areas, where not everything is defined, you start seeing a fractal of differing views of the logical way to view it. I'm deviating I'm sorry.
The point is, it's not wrong to think AoC is good, or bad. It's wrong to say everyone should think it's good or everyone should think it is bad. Both sides of that table are equally guilty.
(((())))The point is, it's not wrong to think AoC is good, or bad. It's wrong to say everyone should think it's good or everyone should think it is bad. Both sides of that table are equally guilty.
Hi Gauge, I entirely agree with you.
There is however an additional thing, (which I am not sure about concerning this game but which some suspect) is that most of the fanboys are either from the company itself, or related in some way to the company, and are simply trying to promote the game through word of mouth forum propaganda.
Before you start yelling and stuff, let me tell you that many companies do this and not only in the game industry. My company does this all the time, we get someone to write an article about how good they think our product is and publish it in a magazine as if it was an article.
Since a huge portion of public opinion of a video game, especially a MMORPG is through word of mouth, community feedback and forums, this is a critical method of communication.
Civilized men are more discourteous than savages because they know they can be impolite without having their skulls split, as a general thing.
(((())))
The point is, it's not wrong to think AoC is good, or bad. It's wrong to say everyone should think it's good or everyone should think it is bad. Both sides of that table are equally guilty.
Hi Gauge, I entirely agree with you.
There is however an additional thing, (which I am not sure about concerning this game but which some suspect) is that most of the fanboys are either from the company itself, or related in some way to the company, and are simply trying to promote the game through word of mouth forum propaganda.
Before you start yelling and stuff, let me tell you that many companies do this and not only in the game industry. My company does this all the time, we get someone to write an article about how good they think our product is and publish it in a magazine as if it was an article.
Since a huge portion of public opinion of a video game, especially a MMORPG is through word of mouth, community feedback and forums, this is a critical method of communication.
You mean like Tahitoa did on the forums. Posting about how good she thought the game was, and tut-tutting at all the naysayers. Except that nobody knew it was Tahitoa, because she was posting under her in game character name. And then quite bizarrely responding to her own posts wearing her moderators moniker.
I tend to view every fanboy post with some skepticism. By fanboy I don't mean a subscriber who just happens to like the game. I mean those oily,treacly,"please like me",smarm smarm,ingratiate type posts. Which then go on to describe in thinly veiled marketing hype how fantastic the game is, and what super value for money.
Conversely at the other end of the pendulum arc, the rabid haters are just as easy to spot. And ignore.
Tranca [RUS corp]
did she actually work for Funcom though? or was she volonteer player?
I can't remember... I think she worked for Funcom
Civilized men are more discourteous than savages because they know they can be impolite without having their skulls split, as a general thing.
Please, read it at least five times next time what you wrote something before you click "post message" button.
You are not making any sense.
Players who hated AoC? Are you talking about yourself? I don't hate a game when I don't like it.Are you applying your hatred and your experience with the game on everyone else? Everyone who quit the game hate it and never returns, and everyone who likes it are funcom employees. Is that your logic?
And how on earth does added content relate to better sounds for the titanic analogy?
REALITY CHECK
Answer me this: If they remastered Titanic with a better sound and some added scenes and digital effects, would you go watch it again?
Of course not. You hated it the first time, and you would hate it again the second time.
This is how it is with AoC - even if Funcom adds new content, the game itself is still the same and will never change. Players who hated AoC the first time are not going to magically love it the second time.
If they were to release Titanic with better sound and added scenes, I tell you what I would not do:
I would not waste hours posting hundreds of meaningless posts to various forums to show how much I hated the original movie.
What would I do? Well, I would be happy on behalf of the people who enjoyed the original movie. But mostly I would not care.
However, a game is not like a movie. A game continues to develop, it evolves. Just like a restaurant may suck on its opening day, a couple of years later it may be a completely different establishment - with new staff and ambiance. However, if you originally hated the kind of food they served, say Thai food, no reason to try it again.
What in the name of god and all that is saint are you talking about? Serious reviewer? I didnt claim to be one. I didnt even call this thread a review - I called it my own impressions. Additionally, just go out to metacritic, and gamerankings. There was majority of websites (i'd say like 90%) which gave AoC 80% and more which relates to the score A- (A+ 95-100, A 85-94), A- (80-84). Are these the serious reviewers, or serious are only those that gave AoC below 80?
What are you like, 15 years old? Is your view limited so much that you apply your thinking to everything around?
REALITY CHECK
Overall i cant say this is a good review simply for the fact that it is incomplete. Other than that, the layout was neat, nicely structured and for the parts he covered he gave sound reasoning.
I need more vespene gas.
Simply because it is not a review. I did not pretend to be objective. I explained the reasons why I enjoy the game for 3 months now. You still might think the reasons why I enjoyed it are not good enough like you did. I am not a professional writer and my writing style along with grammar is surely lacking. My intention was not to start a heated thread where people would insult other people's opinions.
My intention was to show that there are players in AoC that fully enjoy it and are not just forum-bashers moaning about class balance.
REALITY CHECK
No need to get defensive.
edit. mixed identities. my bad. change review to writeup, i guess
I need more vespene gas.