Most Improved: I would vote for Conan here. Haven't tested myself, but from what I've read the game has seen huge improvement in how it's being handled by its staff
Pretty typical for a PR campaing to see a person vote for a game as most improved - even when they havn't tried it.
AOC is the same crap it was at launch in many regards. THe main diffrence now is that the 80 K ppl playing it are still there cause they liked the orginal concept of the game. They dont care if the dx10 (yes I know dx 11 has launched) is still in beta and they are fine about beeing lied to again and again and again. The fact is that million ppl left the game - the company is creating so called "expansion" while they are also firing alot of their devs and moving the bulk of the payroll to countries with cheap labor.
Improved ? ? lol - get real.
Can you go over again how someone who actually has second hand information to support his assertion that the game has improved has an opinion less valid than someone who cites things that are external to the game to claim that the game hasn't improved? If you haven't played it, how exactly do you know it hasn't improved? Obviously if a game doesn't use DX10 it cannot have improved. That makes sense.
Actually... there is a free 10 days comback campaign going on right now and there was another one back in last fall. SO... ppl that claim the game has not improved actually know it has not improved cause ... yes.... they have played it.
DX 10 is one of many features that were not in at launch and are still not in (beta was an exuse to leave it haning for years). Other features I could mention is for example mounted combat and ofc the famous "massive" this and "massive" that.
AOC was in 54- 57th spot on Xfire in the first week of January this year. It is now in 58 - 71 this week so pretty much nothing has changed for a whole year. Its still the same players PRing this game up. Its true that AOC is not the least improved game of the year... (WAR is taking that one hands down) but it has not improved to even reach the launch features Funcom was talking about 2 years ago.
I point out the fact that you didn't use any logic making your original post, and you refute that by making a second post containing no logic. What do you think "improved" means? Your first post said that it means implementing DX10 and your second post (while repeating the ridiculous notion that a game cannot improve unless it release DX10) now says that the game hasn't improved because it hasn't climbed the XFire rankings.
Does AoC crash as often as it did at the start of 2009? Are there the same number of bugs? Have the statistics been re-worked to be more clear? Has any additional content been added? Has game play balance been refined? Has existing content been changed to make it more enjoyable? All of those things can be considered improvements.
It's obvious that you'll never like anything about AoC until they add a Troll race.
You totally fail to see the point - all MMO games out there for the last year have fixed bugs, added content, balanced clased, changed content. Hell - even WAR did that ... I do not see AOC have done any more than what other MMO games in this regards. Well, being that you haven't actually played it, why do people not find it surprising that you haven't seen the improvements? And even if the game did- then it was based on the fact it launched so buggy - so lacking content - features and stability that it should not have been released in the first place. Well, that is something nearly everyone is in agreement on. However, being released in a bad state doesn't disqualify it from improving. It may lower the bar a bit. Say two companies both make a new car. Company A's car comes out and it is functioning fine. Company B's car comes out and they forgot to put on the fourth wheel. Both companies do a recall for their automobiles, and Company A adds an AM dial to their car. Company B adds a fourth wheel. Which car is more improved?
Xfire stats were put in to show you that this "improvement" in the game has not been supported by increased playerbase. Thus players that already were playing the game anyway and were hyping the game up before - are mostly the ppl talking about how much the game has improved. Heaven forbid we listen to people who are actually playing the game, when we have people who don't and are complaining about things from 18 months ago to rely upon. 10 loudmouths like that can get a story going that its a new game... but its not. There's definetly anecdotal evidence here about how the game was not improved based on one self confessed ignorant loud mouth.
Finally - if this reward was based on free content added to a game - RUnes of magic would win this hands down. It's not a 'reward', it's a nomination for an award - according to the editors it was one of the top five games that improved the most over the course of 2009. It released a huge addition to the game that strengthen the playerbased - added new features - classes and stabitlity to the game. I promise you that the expansion added there for free will be bigger than what Funcom is adding to the game with their "expansion". I suspect that games released in 2009 weren't eligible for "most improved" which, even if your ascertions were true, and I and any reasonable person would doubt that based on the validity of your knowledge about AOC, still doesn't preclude AoC from being a Most Improved nomination, as you would have to prove that five games were more improved, not just one.
Read up on AO expansions. When they get nominated for this award, I suspect I may. Funcom has through the years been doing extra job on hyping "expansions" that then added nothing more than what free content patches of games like WOW were sending out. In other words... You pay extra for pretty much nothing. Of course, this has nothing to do with the nomination for 2009, but isn't AoC adding a new player race? WoW has been out for 6 years and has added 1 player race over two paid for expansions, so are you lying or just stupid?
Just a highlight of interesting quotes:
Players playing the game... are the people talking about how much the game has improved.
Being playing AOC since its appearance. Have to say that it is, without the smallest doubt, the best improved game of the year!! You can see that the creative team behind, love what they are doing and are totally into it! I wish that other games had this level of dedication to the storyline, the atnosphere and serious RPGing.
I agree with you 100%! Age of Conan is by far the most improved game of the year, and anyone who says otherwise hasn't played it since launch. It doesn't even look like the same game! For example:
the bugs have been fixed
the game engine has been optimized
DirectX 10 has been added
more content has been added
more quests have been given voice overs
the gear system has been revamped
when the expansion and patch 1.6 hit, it will add new areas to explore and more depth to guilds and PVP
The amazing thing is that this list is only scratching the surface of the new features brought to Age of Conan! The employees at Funcom are extremely dedicated and stuck by Age of Conan during its worst months, and now their hard work is clearly seen in the TREMENDOUS improvements in the game. The improvements range from huge areas of added content to the fixing of the smallest, most unseen bugs. Age of Coan is, without question, the most improved game of 2009.
Most improved game: Age of Conan AoC has come a long way from the failures at launch. Adding lots of quests, instances, and areas to explore has helped tremendously. The game is alot more fun to play now. Funcom still has a way to go but they have created a fun, casual MMO.
Best Free to play: DDO DDO successful relaunch has added alot of new fans. Turbine has shown that it is possible to be free to play and still be a solid, fun game. I know quite a few people trying out DDO as their first MMO.
Most Anticipated game: Star Wars The Old Republic. This one has the capability to be a monster hit. Bioware strengths in story telling will be tested to see if they can make the transition from great single player games (Mass effect, Kotor, Dragon Age) to a story driven MMO.
Game of the Year: World of Warcraft Blizzard continues to show mastery of providing for hard core gamers (arena / hard modes) to very casual gamers ( LFG system, Argent Tournament, Crafting recipes boe).
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
I think Most Improved should also take into account profits. Sure AoC fixed bugs but its subs are still small compared to its launch. DDO on the other hand seems to have gone from a small game no one talked about to a very profitable game with it's F2P change over and all the additions that came with it. So DDO for sure.
The Most Anticipated section made me literally go "Wow 2010 is going to be a sad year for new MMOs", seems 2010 will be the year of existing MMOs.
Very cool stuff indeed!! Best Game of 2009: Aion hands down, IMO Most Improved: Well since you didn't have COH there (they have added lots of new features and great issues in 2009) I would say DDO! Most Anticipated: 2010 is going to be SOME KIND OF YEAR for MMOs! 2009 may have been a let down but 2010! Wooooo... just having Guild Wars 2, STO and TOR (and yes I fully expect TOR to come out in 2010) taking up all our free time??? Could be one for the record books! Can't wait!!!
I would have put CoH in the "Most Improved" category as well. But the editors here at MMORPG.com seem to forget that game exists.
I agree with this guy. Anyone who would not include CoH/CoV as Most Improved is not firing on all cilenders. Is a few exp short of a level. It just ain't right, sonny-boys, it just ain't right.
Comments
Aye, AION in deed. Gets my vote for new game of the year.
That's right....this is an award for "Best NEW Game" . EVe has been out for some time now.
Pretty typical for a PR campaing to see a person vote for a game as most improved - even when they havn't tried it.
AOC is the same crap it was at launch in many regards. THe main diffrence now is that the 80 K ppl playing it are still there cause they liked the orginal concept of the game. They dont care if the dx10 (yes I know dx 11 has launched) is still in beta and they are fine about beeing lied to again and again and again. The fact is that million ppl left the game - the company is creating so called "expansion" while they are also firing alot of their devs and moving the bulk of the payroll to countries with cheap labor.
Improved ? ? lol - get real.
Can you go over again how someone who actually has second hand information to support his assertion that the game has improved has an opinion less valid than someone who cites things that are external to the game to claim that the game hasn't improved? If you haven't played it, how exactly do you know it hasn't improved? Obviously if a game doesn't use DX10 it cannot have improved. That makes sense.
Actually... there is a free 10 days comback campaign going on right now and there was another one back in last fall. SO... ppl that claim the game has not improved actually know it has not improved cause ... yes.... they have played it.
DX 10 is one of many features that were not in at launch and are still not in (beta was an exuse to leave it haning for years). Other features I could mention is for example mounted combat and ofc the famous "massive" this and "massive" that.
AOC was in 54- 57th spot on Xfire in the first week of January this year. It is now in 58 - 71 this week so pretty much nothing has changed for a whole year. Its still the same players PRing this game up. Its true that AOC is not the least improved game of the year... (WAR is taking that one hands down) but it has not improved to even reach the launch features Funcom was talking about 2 years ago.
I point out the fact that you didn't use any logic making your original post, and you refute that by making a second post containing no logic. What do you think "improved" means? Your first post said that it means implementing DX10 and your second post (while repeating the ridiculous notion that a game cannot improve unless it release DX10) now says that the game hasn't improved because it hasn't climbed the XFire rankings.
Does AoC crash as often as it did at the start of 2009? Are there the same number of bugs? Have the statistics been re-worked to be more clear? Has any additional content been added? Has game play balance been refined? Has existing content been changed to make it more enjoyable? All of those things can be considered improvements.
It's obvious that you'll never like anything about AoC until they add a Troll race.
You totally fail to see the point - all MMO games out there for the last year have fixed bugs, added content, balanced clased, changed content. Hell - even WAR did that ... I do not see AOC have done any more than what other MMO games in this regards. Well, being that you haven't actually played it, why do people not find it surprising that you haven't seen the improvements? And even if the game did- then it was based on the fact it launched so buggy - so lacking content - features and stability that it should not have been released in the first place. Well, that is something nearly everyone is in agreement on. However, being released in a bad state doesn't disqualify it from improving. It may lower the bar a bit. Say two companies both make a new car. Company A's car comes out and it is functioning fine. Company B's car comes out and they forgot to put on the fourth wheel. Both companies do a recall for their automobiles, and Company A adds an AM dial to their car. Company B adds a fourth wheel. Which car is more improved?
Xfire stats were put in to show you that this "improvement" in the game has not been supported by increased playerbase. Thus players that already were playing the game anyway and were hyping the game up before - are mostly the ppl talking about how much the game has improved. Heaven forbid we listen to people who are actually playing the game, when we have people who don't and are complaining about things from 18 months ago to rely upon. 10 loudmouths like that can get a story going that its a new game... but its not. There's definetly anecdotal evidence here about how the game was not improved based on one self confessed ignorant loud mouth.
Finally - if this reward was based on free content added to a game - RUnes of magic would win this hands down. It's not a 'reward', it's a nomination for an award - according to the editors it was one of the top five games that improved the most over the course of 2009. It released a huge addition to the game that strengthen the playerbased - added new features - classes and stabitlity to the game. I promise you that the expansion added there for free will be bigger than what Funcom is adding to the game with their "expansion". I suspect that games released in 2009 weren't eligible for "most improved" which, even if your ascertions were true, and I and any reasonable person would doubt that based on the validity of your knowledge about AOC, still doesn't preclude AoC from being a Most Improved nomination, as you would have to prove that five games were more improved, not just one.
Read up on AO expansions. When they get nominated for this award, I suspect I may. Funcom has through the years been doing extra job on hyping "expansions" that then added nothing more than what free content patches of games like WOW were sending out. In other words... You pay extra for pretty much nothing. Of course, this has nothing to do with the nomination for 2009, but isn't AoC adding a new player race? WoW has been out for 6 years and has added 1 player race over two paid for expansions, so are you lying or just stupid?
Just a highlight of interesting quotes:
Players playing the game... are the people talking about how much the game has improved.
I agree with you 100%! Age of Conan is by far the most improved game of the year, and anyone who says otherwise hasn't played it since launch. It doesn't even look like the same game! For example:
The amazing thing is that this list is only scratching the surface of the new features brought to Age of Conan! The employees at Funcom are extremely dedicated and stuck by Age of Conan during its worst months, and now their hard work is clearly seen in the TREMENDOUS improvements in the game. The improvements range from huge areas of added content to the fixing of the smallest, most unseen bugs. Age of Coan is, without question, the most improved game of 2009.
Best new game of 2009...
Do we really have to choose from a list of 2009 releases? Because it really and truly has been an awful year for new MMO's.
best new game - champions online
F2P - Atlantica online
kids game - Wizard 101
most anticipated - The Old republic
best Game - Wizard 101
Most Improved: AoC
Best New Game: Aion
Best F2P: DDO
Best Kids Game: Club Penguin
Most Anticipated: FFXIV
Game of the Year: LoTRO
Most improved game: Age of Conan AoC has come a long way from the failures at launch. Adding lots of quests, instances, and areas to explore has helped tremendously. The game is alot more fun to play now. Funcom still has a way to go but they have created a fun, casual MMO.
Best Free to play: DDO DDO successful relaunch has added alot of new fans. Turbine has shown that it is possible to be free to play and still be a solid, fun game. I know quite a few people trying out DDO as their first MMO.
Most Anticipated game: Star Wars The Old Republic. This one has the capability to be a monster hit. Bioware strengths in story telling will be tested to see if they can make the transition from great single player games (Mass effect, Kotor, Dragon Age) to a story driven MMO.
Game of the Year: World of Warcraft Blizzard continues to show mastery of providing for hard core gamers (arena / hard modes) to very casual gamers ( LFG system, Argent Tournament, Crafting recipes boe).
Most Improved: Can't really say.
Best New Game: Aion - Better than many people say.
Best F2P: ROM - Good game for what you have to pay.
Best Kids Game: Didn't play any
Most Anticipated: FFXIV as perhaps the only group based game on the horizon, everything else looks to be geared for the single player.
Game of the Year: EVE - Sticking with the home team.
"True friends stab you in the front." | Oscar Wilde
"I need to finish" - Christian Wolff: The Accountant
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
Darkfall isn't up for game of the year?
Lol... no wonder why people don't take reviews on this site seriously.
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I think Most Improved should also take into account profits. Sure AoC fixed bugs but its subs are still small compared to its launch. DDO on the other hand seems to have gone from a small game no one talked about to a very profitable game with it's F2P change over and all the additions that came with it. So DDO for sure.
The Most Anticipated section made me literally go "Wow 2010 is going to be a sad year for new MMOs", seems 2010 will be the year of existing MMOs.
"It's worse than that, it's dead Jim, dead Jim, dead Jim"... :P
Won't see that anymore, anywhere, anyhow... you missed the news prolly... :P
BTW Eve HAS to be the GOTY 2009... it's pretty much the only one growing instead of losing subs!
And "best new game", I suppose it means "best *working* new game", not "best early alpha sold for money", so, sorry, no Darkfall...
I know that Stargate world will not come anytime soon but ill still wait for it no matter what.
hahaha indeed Darkfall seems a bit.... beta.. and its a bit annoing for my taste but its something fresh and new
I would have put CoH in the "Most Improved" category as well. But the editors here at MMORPG.com seem to forget that game exists.
I agree with this guy. Anyone who would not include CoH/CoV as Most Improved is not firing on all cilenders. Is a few exp short of a level. It just ain't right, sonny-boys, it just ain't right.
what's the criterion for win ? and whos voted ?