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At last ...decision made...resubbed...it's Ace
Bukkerz
Member UncommonPosts: 177
After much time and deliberation, having downloaded and tried out many Mmo free trial clients after reading many coments and points of view on varying forums (this easily being the most comprehensive and ultimately interesting), I have resubbed to Age of Conan. I'm only early on in but this game is utterly Ace...slicker than a baby oiled racing pidgeon and more picturesque than Phileas Fogg's photo album. It also seems to have a healthy population and I'm on the early levels, which mean it's either attracting new players or everyone's Alt crazy.
I had tried to give MMO's a break after playing Wow on and off since it's launch, in between playing War, Lotro...which I had resubbed and even though it is good to look at the character movements compared to AOC do seem incredibly limited.....Everquest 2....Allods Online..Comic book style WoW copy really. Played and moved well but I feel it is a mixing pot of concepts, merging historical influences with Sci fi and fantasy together in a seemingly confused mess...but it's free-ish. Was going to try Pirates of the Burning Sea....but I thought to hell with it and got the key code for AOC off Ebay for a snip and was in hyboria within minutes having already downloaded all large profile MMO's....I am that sad.
Recently I had been playing Left 4 Dead 2 trying a differnet avenue of gaming to see wether I just grown tired of the MMO genre, but even though it was a brilliant game in it's own right once you have been bitten by an online free roaming world experience your scuppered. I have been playing games online since the mid-ninties with titles like Diablo, Starcraft (which should be a new MMO), cossacks, Enemy Territory, Unreal tournement etc, but WoW dictated for me the way in which an online game could jump to another level of immersion even though it has got flaws.....certainly the Deathknight quests were ridiculously over simplistic as were some of the graphical mechanics...the game though is undoubtably good.
It does seem that Age Of Conan has sorted out many of it's early release issues and indeed to be fair I do think that many users PC specs have now caught up with the graphical demands that this game requires to get the most out of it. I definately urge anybody sitting on the fence between MMO's to give it a go, I personally can't wait to continue leveling up and bludgeon to death without mercy all that stand before me.....I am playing Cimmarion Conqueror which is the more hack and slash class...leaving the magic and healling classes to those more able than I to administor tactics and self discipline...I'm also the more casual gamer than many....
anyway these are just my thoughts but I do think AOC is a way better game than it is often reagarded.....of course we all have our own opinions....
Comments
come back and tell us how you feel when you leave Tortage
Whats the deal after Tortage? I'm level 15 and still there atm. Does it suck after that? The wierd thing about AOC is I found myself enjoying the Tortage stuff but a large portion of it (night and instance) is single player. It didnt feel MMO like. But what happens after Tortage?
I got back into AoC about a year ago and played till about level 30ish I think. I played a Demonologist and had a ball. I really enjoyed the graphics and settings in the game. I can't remember the names of the zones, but that temple place just off the path outside of Tortage. It was HUGE and SO detailed. Beautiful game.
My problem was I rolled on a pvp server. I thought it would be fun and exciting. But later learned that Demo's absolutely suck at pvp lol. One hit from a two-hander and it was over. I'm also just not that good at pvp. So it eventually killed it for me.
At that time I just didn't have it in me to re-roll. But I planned to do it again one day.
Right now I'm in the market for a new PC, and AoC will definately be on the list for installs. I'd love to be able to play using DX10 settings and it run super smooth.
As for after Tortage, well it opens up like your usual mmo. Get tons of quests from quest hubs, go out and start knocking them out. The cutscene, story appeal, and voiceovers fall off drastically however. But the freedom sets in, letting you choose where you want to go. It's love or hate thing at this point.
You, perhaps unwittingly, stumbled upon the 2 biggest issues with the game.
Very little difference in class/race experiences in the beginning levels. Most games, at the very least, have several different starting areas. AoC has Tortage and that's it. Sure, the night quests are sometimes different for each class, but everything else is the same.
Secondly, the "freedom" is only relevent from level 20 to around 35, where there is separate content for each race. After that, everyone gets funneled into the same areas for the remaining 45 levels. Freedom with only one feasible path isn't really freedom, IMO.
If they're still giving out double XP pots, these things may not be as much an issue as they once were. You may actually be able to skip quests and still advance. When I was playing, this wasn't the case; as even doing all the quests left many leveling gaps that had to be grinded(ground?).
With the upcoming expansion, this all might change. But my understanding is, people will STILL have to go through Tortage. From what I've read, it sounds like they've taken the games criticisms seriously and have made the expansion more "open".
OP, I hope the game is everything you want it to be. But consider yourself warned. I thought it was the beez kneez to, for about 3 months. Don't spend too much on the box and you'll get your moneys worth. It's certainly worth playing, but there's not much to commit to.
OP, I recommend Crom for you (if you're on EU), you'll at least be able to experience ALL dungeons while levelling and missing out on those is missing half of AoC content. Stay away from Fury
The problem isn't the experience after Tortage, but at endgame. You'll find very little to do if you're not in an organized guild. But if you don't fret about that, I'm sure the experience is nice while levelling. I mean, it should be, they've focused 2 years on that!
The only thing that changes after Tortage is about half the quests are not voiced anymore and a little immersion is lost. Most certainly not all of it, and a lack of voice acting shouldn't be a deal-breaker (WoW has no actual quests that are voiced besides maybe 2, and about 98% of MMOs have no voice acting at all, Guild Wars and AoC being the exceptions). In my opinion the areas get more fun, besides The Eiglophian Mountains, they drive me nuts. The game does get a tad linear towards the end, your options for leveling after 50 are Quests in certain areas or Villas. Really though your first and second times through are still fun though, it's that third character that becomes a trudge. Honestly though this was my experience in WoW as well though, because even though there were a lot of areas, about 3/4 areas that are available to you at each level are absoltuely useless, and all the zones after 58 are linear as well (Hellfire leading to Zangar leading to Terrokar leading to Nagrand etc.) Everyone likes to boast about the "variety" of WoW, but much of that "variety" is useless content and you end up questing in the exact same areas you quested before. I only refer to WoW cause that is the common game AoC is related to and it is probably one of the top MMOs out, despite a lot of flaws of it's own (Repeatedly copying ideas from other MMOs and doing them worse than the original idea just to say they have it too, an example being the achievements box from Warhammer). Really this game is a great game, a few bugs which have become quite rare but still exist, and is definitely worth a shot.
I am indeed on Crom and killing with a Conqueror, though at one point I was considering the ranger liking the idea of distance kills.........Still haven't claimed my Snow Mammoth or Surprise item ...making sure I choose the right class. Plan on playing this game through though..I know I'm early on in but I think the game mechanics really are brilliant especially with it's adult nature ..which of I derfinately am, so I don't want to wear a sci fi -esque new york cops uniform on an Orc...Allods...
I also recently returned for the unlimited 1-20 trial. I am really enjoying the game again. It is so much smoother and more polished than it was at release. I just wish there was full loot PVP!
Hey, thanks for writing down your impression, figured you for an English guy with the Phileas Fogg comment got me smiling. Crom is a good choice of server for the friendly and populated community.
One thing I wanted to point out is that if you are a casual player as you pointed out then rest assured there is enough end game content for you to experience prior to the expansion release. With the expansion, Godslayer, promised to deliver 4 new large playfields each with 3/4 new dungeons so quite a bit extra is being worked on for high levels. This should be confidence enough to know that despite current groans a hell of a lot more is on the way. Also it promises not to be as easy as a Telford slapper too
Still think it's great four days or so on............I do think anyone sitting on the fence twiddling thumbs should'nt hesitate and just play. The game can push out many levels of graphics and will only improve as PC specs get better. I have an 18 month old 512mb ati 4850 and a 8500 core duo on windows XP and it looks great, however I already considering Windows 7 and maybe a newer card or crossfiring this one to take advantage of dx10. I also think that any proper expansion (retail) is a sign of confidence and a definate sign that the game can flourish. I also think the game demands more from the player than many other MMo's i have played, specifially with the extremely cool combat system which does allow your chosen character class to actually move as you would expect...... relying less on your imagination to pretend it would, which is so often the case elsewhere.
Can't wait to go further and get mounted up....was considering a ranger at this point having the ability to fight/fire from the saddle.........and if that saddle is on a mammoth or rhino looking like the ones I've seen advertised.....how cool would that be I say to myself.....