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If there is one thing I love(d) about this game...
Consuetudo
Member UncommonPosts: 191
It's its potential to be a world.
And I mean that when I say its potential, because I don't entirely feel it's there yet. I remember the first time that I saw TARANTIA -- that's one of the most beautiful places in any MMO I've ever played. And yet despite being such a beautiful city, I feel in some ways that it's still rather underpopulated.
As I'm maturing as a person, my interests in MMOs are shifting respectively. I'm not so much interested in the typical MMO element anymore (combat, bosses, etc) but I'm much more interested in worlds, worlds in comparison to arcades. And I could never figure out just what AoC is trying to go after.. whether a world, or an arcade. They've certainly created the potential for there to be a beautiful world, though I feel far too much politics surrounds the game itself for that inner world to be much appreciated.
So tell me: is there much RP value in AoC? Can this game be treated as a world, in comparison to a game? I know that it doesn't have player housing, but I remember there is some concept of guild cities, isn't there?
I'm pleased that this game is f2p. I only ever leveled someone to about 50 I think, my friends all having stopped long before that. I consistently read that AoC is on the up and improving itself, and since the game is free now I figure why not, I'll go back to it.
I only hope that the game can succeed in feeling like a world to me, in comparison to the arcade (either a sandbox arcade [a tough game that is annoying], or a themepark arcade [an annoying game that is predictable]).
Comments
Nice post, especially the "I'm not so much interested in the typical MMO element anymore (combat, bosses, etc) but I'm much more interested in worlds" line, I'm playing rpg's this way since the Ultima series
So, rp value in AoC: I guess it's fairly good, there are rp-focusing guilds, a nice set of emotes to express yourself through the character, you can hold player-events in your city, racing at OT, etc. Guild cities are not exactly like housing, more like a guild achievment stuff (aka time-sink
) which needs lots of effort and crafting. It's fun to build one, if you're into crafting. The world is nicely done with day and night and weather changes, you can explore the heck out of it if you want. I thought OT is fine population-wise, but now that you mention it, maybe it is a bit underpopulated. (I mean in the light of the recent Bree 'revamp' in LotRO, it was nice too originally, but after they remaked it, now Bree feels like a crowded, vivid city like in the books).
I admit the "politics surrounds the game" part is a bit beyond me
but to the "feeling like a world" part I can only say the world is pretty static if that's what you mean under arcade feel. You can't change anything except some destructable objects which then respawn after a few minutes. Guild city is instanced as well. Gathering resources are fixed and not random, so you will cut down the same tree all the time while the rest of the forest survives 
But even with that the world looks awesome and it feels great just to wandering in it around.
The fluid and silksoft animations make more of a difference in my world. But each to his own.
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