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Basicloser
Member Posts: 11
A Friend of mine and myself used to be big AC players so imagine our excitment when we found out they were comming out with AC2...which to me was a major let down hopefully Turbine will do a better job on D&D it sure looks good. Anyhow we are thinking of going back to AC1 I was just wondering if there has been any major updates or anything of that sort that might have made the game less desirable to play?
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Depends how long ago you stopped playing. There have been countless changes throughout the years. Some good, some bad, and some awful.
Check out some of the other threads, as they cover what bad changes have been made. Some of them are "The Funeral of AC" "Buff bots" "AC1 subscription chart" "Quests" "I love AC but I hate the community" There are a few other too. Just remember, people only tend to complain about the bad. Not many people talk a lot about the good. It's not as fun to say what is right, as opposed to what is wrong. heh.
The biggest drawback I see to it is it is 12.95 USD per month. It's right ip there in price with WoW and EQ2 and many other newer online games. But it is still a good game, minus the drawbacks mentioned in the above other threads.
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I just made the mistake of coming back and I am letting my sub lapse after the 1 month I paid for. I really can't beleive what turbine can do to a game anymore.
- Fadeus Hawkwood
- Scaris
"What happened to you, Star Wars Galaxies? You used to look like Leia. Not quite gold bikini Leia (more like bad-British-accent-and-cinnamon-bun-hair Leia), but still Leia nonetheless. Now you look like Chewbacca." - Computer Gaming World
Go back in about 2-3 months, AC is coming out with an expansion with updated graphics and also new servers.......AC is very fun for me. If you go back and dont like normal servers try DT, pvp is very fun.
Fadeus, I have no idea what you are complaining about. In recent months they came out with 4 epic blackmire quests, and a bunch more burun king quests. They are all epic and rewarding.
This game has more large, epic quests than any MMORPG on the market.
The game doesn't feel new anymore because it is old. It shouldn't be any suprise. If you depend on other players so much for your own enjoyment, go to one of the other games that force grouping.
Oh, and 3rd party apps make certain tasks less boring. Try making 100 trade health elixers by hand and you know what I mean. They haven't harmed anything.
AC whas a good game until Microsoft destroid it
I playd it sense beta (total 5 years playing)... I my case i think thay destroid it... and most of my friends has quit it....
I still have my acconts.. but its no fun to play it.. I know thay have a big pack on way but dont think it will help them much.... maybe use AC 2 grafic and other skill sys and make AC 3 it will probely help
When someone says a game is destroyed, I think they should explain. It has changed a lot over the years, but it is in no way destroyed.
The game is huge, and it can take time to find the quests and dungeons that are fun, but it's a lot of fun when you know where to go.
In particular, when you reach a high level in the game, there is almost nothing to do but grind hunting. The quests are either too easy, or too hard. There is not enough of a community left in the game to get large enough fellows to do things like the Queen quest or other bery high level quests.
The game is over run with bots and macros. The economy is over-inflated, as there is no controls over the amount of money and other items in-game. The monthly fee is as much as, if not more than a lot of new MMOGs that are available. Quests are about 80-90% useless, as you get items that nobody needs or wants, because you have much more powerful things.
I could go on, but this is just a brief list. The higher level you get, the more boring the game becomes, as the content exponentially drops off.
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Interesting perception Cold, as the most complained about aspect especially with the new expansion is that is it and has been geared towards the higher level players
this coming from Turbines official forums, that is.
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I am hoping that they add a lot more content, not just for higher levels. You either have to get the community back up to the point where you can get the huge fellows going again for the big quests (ie Olthoi Queen etc) or make quests that smaller groups (ie 1-4 or so) people can handle.
The biggest problem I've noted about AC is that they focus on one type of level range so much that other ranges get left out. This last little while had a lot of mid-level content, and super high level content (I'm a level 93 life mage, and have no chance of surviving the Burun quests and such alone).
I have even made a new lower level character, and a lot of the content (especially in quests) gives you very little in the way of value from getting the quest items. Most of the items (ie Atlans, bone crown, singularity weapons, drudge fight belt, overlord's sword and the list goes on and on) are more or less worthless to the average player; low, medium, or high level. The items you can tinker are the ones of real value, which doesn't make it much worthwhile to do those quests, as you A) can't sell it (how many people want an AL150 helm with level 5 buffs? for example) or
it's too weak to bother wearing. I have yet to find any sort of quest item, that really benefits my mage. He can cast 7's so I don't need level 7 item/weapon/armor buffs. The only benefits are the major/minors, of which they are so bloody expensive to buy (I've never found an appropriate major/minor on an item I could use myself). The only items I find are useless to me such as: Minor Focus on a shield, or minor war on a weapon, etc. etc..
I don't want to seem totally for high-level content, it's just I have all but one high level character so that is all I really see. I am more campaigning for the fact that all level quests and quest items need to be worthwhile to get or the quests are boring and no-fun anymore. Who wants to spend an hour or more on a quest for something they know they can't use, and most likely no other character would want? To me that is just boring and a waste of my time. If there is next to no community left (at least on my server) you have to have something to keep the people. And for me, worthless quests are a big reason not to. I get bored very quickly of just solo level grinding. At least if the old community was around, you could socialize while grinding. But it's hard to find many players that aren't bots or macroing something.
I want to see all level content added, but not where you are almost required to fellow because they are so hard. They have to adapt and scale the game to the much smaller community that is left behind.
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[quote]There is not enough of a community left in the game to get large enough fellows to do things like the Queen quest or other bery high level quests.[/quote]
You probably just need a better monarchy. There are still tons of people doing high level quests. Some of those Burun kings I took part in had around 30 people. That was less than a month ago.
[quote]The game is over run with bots and macros.[/quote]
Oh please. The only place you see a lot of bots are trade bots in the marketplace. Turbine has really cracked down on the combat macros, so you hardly see them. I haven't seen one combat macro in over 3 months.
[quote]The economy is over-inflated, as there is no controls over the amount of money and other items in-game.[/quote]
Yes, but that's the fault of the players. Sings are useless, and until people start just not accepting them, they will continue the idiotic cycle. I don't accept them in trades, but I'm only one man.
[quote]The monthly fee is as much as, if not more than a lot of new MMOGs that are available.[/quote]
Oh please again. There are very few MMORPGs charging less than $12.95 a month.
[quote]Quests are about 80-90% useless, as you get items that nobody needs or wants, because you have much more powerful things.[/quote]
I see you haven't played in some time. In the last 6 months, there have been incredibly useful quest items.
[quote]The higher level you get, the more boring the game becomes, as the content exponentially drops off.[/quote]
That's completely wrong. There are more super high level quests than any other level. Let me list them. Blackmire 1-4, Burun kings 1-4, Olthoi Queen, Aerlinthe, Tusks, Pincers, Gaerlan, Bobo, Weeping weapons, noble armor, virindi amulet, and orphanage. And those are just quests off the top of my head. The content at high level in this game blows any other MMORPG away.
Some people on this thread have some serious researching to do. Try reading up at www.thejackcat.com .
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There are still enough active people that you can join an active monarchy. My monarchy still runs a couple of quests a week. The game is great for soloing, so it shouldn't be much of a problem when the population goes down.
Not everyone buffs. I am one school, and a ring with 3 level VI spells is very valuable to me. The differences between level VI and VII spells is very small. You can still make a strong character without buffs. I agree that buff bots haven't been good, but they haven't hurt much either. I see tons of people in the blackmire armor, and that's quest armor right there.
On the leafcull server, almost all the buff bots are in mansions. There are about 2 in marketplace, and 1 in cragstone, and that's all. Crafting macros, even 24/7 aren't nearly as effective as hunting a couple hours a week. Turbine nerfed many crafting macros, including applesauce, but you don't like to say things good about the game right? You are making it out to be way worse than it is. Some dungeons have lots of players. The 80+ matron hive is almost always full of people, even in off hours.
They are working on it, so give them a break. Most of the quests you listed were there since release. It's true that there are many useful quest items from quests released in the last 6 months. It's getting better, not worse.
I think it's nice to be able to move majors to different characters. That soulbound garbage in WoW just limits the players. People should not be punished for stockpiling items of value. It only makes it better for you if you find an item that someone will pay a king's ransom for. Inflation in the trade market just isn't a problem.
15 people is not that hard to gather up if you are in an active monarchy. I do it every week. Aside from that, both BoBo and Aerlinthe have been soloed. I've done all the blackmire quests with groups of 5. It's very hard, you have to pace yourself and stick together, but it can be done. I've done Burun kings with 8 people.
If I have to waste my time searching for more of your posts to understand you, then that means this post just wasn't clear enough. You are making this game way worse than it is. After 5 years of monthly content updates, it's better than ever. If you find yourself grinding in a leveling dungeon, then you just aren't exploring enough. Look up AC Explorer and maggie's for new places to explore and new quests to try. There are tons of them. Also, join a good monarchy and you'll be having lots of fun.
Have you been to VT by chance? Because they are already "bragging" for lack of a better word of the lvl 180+ chars there and I am talking as recent as yesterday.
Oh I stand corrected, they were congratulating themselves on that Eltank says they have reached the level of 187! (and we who play AC know what the third party El Tank is, yes?)
What Turbine writes and does in reference to their CoC on UCM's is a far cry from what is actually happening.
This coming from a player who does still play.
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I can promise you that level 187 didn't do it all alone. What people do is swear 12 people to one person. Then everyone grinds as hard as they can to passup tons of xp to the patron. In some ways, it's easier to level a single character this way than the old chain setup. The difference is that only one player benefits from the experience.
People made it to 60 in WoW in less than 3 weeks. There are people like that in every game.
UCM is a lot better now than it was 2 years ago. Turbine has been doing the best they can, and lots of people have been banned. The world is just big, and some people still slip through the cracks. Personally, I explore a lot of dungeons and haven't seen one UCM in over a month.
When people say the game is full of mostly macros, that's way exaggerating. Aside from bots that aren't breaking the rules, there are very few combat macros out there. There were tons of them back a long time ago, but not many now.
LOL Like minotaur did? Had everyone swear, had them ucm him to the top then break them all? I think that was the 18 day wonder of VT.
18 days till a first complete 126 hit the world. Which by the way for those that don't know is still the current max level.
So you are correct, it wasn't done alone
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There are still enough active people that you can join an active monarchy. My monarchy still runs a couple of quests a week. The game is great for soloing, so it shouldn't be much of a problem when the population goes down.
How many times can I do the few super-high level quests? You do them once, get the items, then why do them again and again? Just to get more of the same items? How many olthoi armor suits do you need? How many times can I do the Burun quest before it gets boring? As a level 93 life mage I don't need a lot of the super-high-level stuff, as it mostly applies to meleers.
Not everyone buffs. I am one school, and a ring with 3 level VI spells is very valuable to me. The differences between level VI and VII spells is very small. You can still make a strong character without buffs. I agree that buff bots haven't been good, but they haven't hurt much either. I see tons of people in the blackmire armor, and that's quest armor right there.
I have a level 93 life mage as my main char. I write my personal opinions and experiences. To me those items are totally useless. So why do something I won't benefit from?
On the leafcull server, almost all the buff bots are in mansions. There are about 2 in marketplace, and 1 in cragstone, and that's all. Crafting macros, even 24/7 aren't nearly as effective as hunting a couple hours a week. Turbine nerfed many crafting macros, including applesauce, but you don't like to say things good about the game right? You are making it out to be way worse than it is. Some dungeons have lots of players. The 80+ matron hive is almost always full of people, even in off hours.
Again, I only write from my experience. I don't play on leafcull. I play on harvestgain. I can't tell how full other worlds are. All I know is that HG servers are very quiet in off hours.
They are working on it, so give them a break. Most of the quests you listed were there since release. It's true that there are many useful quest items from quests released in the last 6 months. It's getting better, not worse.
Sure they are old. But that is a large portion of the active quests. Of which, as I mentioned 2 times above, next to nothing applies to a high level life mage. Which, again, is all I can write about... what I know/see.
I think it's nice to be able to move majors to different characters. That soulbound garbage in WoW just limits the players. People should not be punished for stockpiling items of value. It only makes it better for you if you find an item that someone will pay a king's ransom for. Inflation in the trade market just isn't a problem.
Stockpiling items of value is what causes inflation, as players get richer they can pay more and more for things that younger and/or poorer players can't pay. And it sure is a problem. When what is of value changes regularly and people hoard the valuable things to sell for a "king's ransom" it keeps a majority of the casual players excluded. I play fairly regularly, and still cannot afford most of what is sold in the marketplace.
15 people is not that hard to gather up if you are in an active monarchy. I do it every week. Aside from that, both BoBo and Aerlinthe have been soloed. I've done all the blackmire quests with groups of 5. It's very hard, you have to pace yourself and stick together, but it can be done. I've done Burun kings with 8 people.
Sure there are a lot of inactive monarchies, but like I said, you seem to play on a different server. Different servers work differently. HG tends to be very quiet in off hours, and that makes it hard to form groups. I'm not going to run around all over Dereth just to find a group that wants to do a quest I was hoping to do.
If I have to waste my time searching for more of your posts to understand you, then that means this post just wasn't clear enough. You are making this game way worse than it is. After 5 years of monthly content updates, it's better than ever. If you find yourself grinding in a leveling dungeon, then you just aren't exploring enough. Look up AC Explorer and maggie's for new places to explore and new quests to try. There are tons of them. Also, join a good monarchy and you'll be having lots of fun.
If you had read the other posts, you would have realized that I run a level 93 life mage. I don't broadcast that in every post I make. I can only write from my experiences and what I have seen. I am not going to guess what goes on when I'm not online, or what worlds are better. I will only call what I see. Your opinion is different, and that is great. I don't want everyone to have my opinion. However, there are ways to express differences, good and bad.
Most melee items/armor in-game are useless to a mage. And a big chunk of the high level stuff is for meleers, or those who can't cast level 7s. I have burden issues, and very limited weapon/defense skills so I can't use a lot of the armor and weapons (he has staff combat skill). Why am I going to take an hour or more to get an item I can't use, and most likely won't be able to sell. And most high level meleers already seem to have the super-high-level quest items, so why do they want to buy another one? From experience I've tried it, and found very few interested buyers. Most trade bots already sell what few things I am able to get.
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Not much left to say, Cool. About your questing problem. Trying to run around searching for people isn't an effective way of gathering a quest group. I suggest talking to your monarchy about it. Try to work out a good time where everyone can get on. My monarchy does quests on various times and days to accomodate people who play off hours, like yourself.
The economy has some disposable items that you can take advantage of in order to get some good trade stockpiles together. Writs and chorizite are two big ones that come to mind. I know someone on leafcull who runs chorizite powder on 5 characters and makes good money on trading them. I even buy from him.
As for quest items, I could probably suggest a few. Your close to a level for soloing VoD. You should make sure to have olthoi slayer and virindi slayer wands. There are also lots of jewelry items with spells that stack ontop of buffs you should get. The virindi amulet and refulgent bracelet come to mind. There's also that necklace on Nuhmudira's fate. The fellowship spells from the blackmire quests are highly useful and highly tradable.
The low population is the only big problem the game has right now. It has so much going for it, and so much done right. I'm trying to suggest things to help you enjoy the game more, because I think it has a lot to offer you or anyone who plays it.
I do agree with you for the most part. It is a great game overall. There are just some things I think need to be worked on a bit that is all. I don't want to give the impression that it isn't a great game, I mean how many games are still popular after 5+ years? Not many. Even the totally free MMOGs don't last that long.
I'm not saying to just dump everything either. Just have to re-work some of the quest items to make them more desirable. Retire some of the current items, and bring out more updated items. Upgrade the bone crown to include level 6s or 7s for example. Give it some decent prots, bump up the AL a bit, and voila you've got an item people will want again. You don't even have to have majors or minors on it, just some good basic spells. And none of the "Major crafting expertise" on a shield or weapon. Practical spells on appropriate equipment. I have a bone crown, and it's one of many items I've got on a mule that could be tinkered with a bit. That is even easier than creating a slew of new quests. If you have a great product, just buff it up a bit and it will shine all the brighter.
And I am pretty sure HG is one of the quieter servers in AC. If I didn't have all my main chars on it I'd have switched to a more active one.
I haven't even heard of the slayer stuff. I'll have to go see if Maggie has anything about it on her site; wasn't something I noticed last visit I made. Thanks for the tip. I used to play around VoD a lot, but when they tinkered with the war magic making it more powerful, and it made monsters more powerful, I died a lot more. heh.
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I almost forgot one thing. The blackmire armor is great for VoD. It has 440 armor on all pieces, so it's a great alternative to tinkered armor. I think noble armor is close to that with some cantrip spells on it. Both of these armors are pretty easy to trade, along with most blackmire rewards.
The nuhmudira necklace that gives +15 magic defense is highly recommended, along with the refulgent bracelet. Those are great mage items. I love the burun king quests because you sometimes get a 10 workmanship full bag of salvage.
For all it's shortcomings, and they frustrate me to no end, it is a game worth playing still
However, I am beginning to wonder if the Expansion pack is going to make its 1st Quarter debut, seeing how only art work and lore information available.
AC2 announced their expansion in October of '04 and already has screen shots and a tentative release date.
AC1 announced expansion over a year ago and still no information
Infact players asking and still no answer from AC1 developers.
Are you still going to hit a 1st qtr release
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A year ago? No. There may have been rumors of an expansion pack a year ago, but it was announced about 4 months ago.
I'll have to see if I can get a fellow together to do some of those. I remember reading about the blackmire one. Looked a little hard for just me.
Also just found out about the lvl 100+ fellow buffs. I have the lower level ones, but there are ones for 100+ as well. Got a ways to go for that though. The fellow buffs are great, buff the entire fellow at once. Just a few spells right now though. Maybe they'll make more.
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Letter from Live Dev Team and Press Release on Expansion and buy back of Franchise, December 17, 2003
A bit over a year if I am doing my math correct. The expansion announced back then.
December 19, 2003 Developer Chat confirming expansion pack
April 2004, Turbine officially announces xp pack and spring release
May 2004, Turbine Officially opens Throne of Destiny forums
And on these forums the only thing posted about expansion is Lore and a few artwork renderings. Notice the word renderings. Is Turbine going to hit a 1st quarter release
However, on the other hand, AC2 announced four months ago their expansion and already have a tentative release date AND Screenshots, not just artwork.
So yes, it has been over a year and AC players patience is getting thin, especially since no answers forthcoming.
For the record, been playing this since Solclaim servers opened.
edit: those yellow words are links confirming what I said, not just highlighted words to make a point
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Personally I'd be very surprised if the expansion pack was released on time. There has been such a small amount of information coming from Turbine about it, that it makes me think they are still in the early workings of it.
They have announced things they intend to do, but no word about if it's been implemented, or any new concepts/items/races/monsters being added. If all they are doing is mostly what was in their slide show, I'm going to be very disappointed. It's not going to benefit anyone raising the cap without a lot of new things to do. I mean having a new race might be cool, but what about the content to go with the new races and the new ultra-super-high level players. Not much from Turbine about anything really. It's understandable to be a bit tight-lipped, but not so the players don't really know what's going on.
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exactly Cold, I agree, however the lore they posted is very interesting to say the least
You may want to check out TOD forums.
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