Maybe those from Russia? I heard some of them had some kind of trial, but the Europeans did not, the game was "you buy it you play it as much you like". Later on they did add the membership. In the meanwhile they changed all the accounts who did not have a memeberhip into free accounts, despiste we bought the game that was NEVER when it was released a FtP game. Regards.
/scratches head...
That's totally mixed up. I'm in the EU by the way.
We either played totally different games, or one of us has a weirdly obfuscated memory, presenting the past in random order...
Based on your mention of "trial", and "one year later", I believe I know where's the source of the confusion though.
Here's how I remember on the events:
2008, the game launches (after delays, and with some issues, lacking high-level content, but with extra bugs in return) as a subscription-based game, like almost all games at that time.
Offered an array of sub plans, plus gamecards for those who have burnt themselves already with Funcom's billing system during AO, and didn't want to trust their credit card data on Funcom.
I still have all six gamecards, because (as the leaflet says in the box) "6 different, exclusively designed game cards to collect" - they really look great.
There was also a guest key programme, you could invite friends to try out the game for 7 days.
At the end of 2009, introduced the unlimited trial.
(I'm pretty sure this is where your memory had a small hiccup)
Basically what Wow has now, anyone could create an account for free, without any payment details given, and play Tortage without a time limit.
At the same time they've cancelled the guest key programme, which caused some heated discussions (the whole game for 7 days, vs. Tortage-only, plus other restrictions, but "forever". Some found the guest key as a better option for a trial).
Then on the summer of 2011, the f2p.
Was controversial (or just typical Funcom), since the f2p model had more restrictions than the unlimited trial - but hey, on the flipside, you could finally leave Tortage for free, without a subscription
FC clearly said in the 2008 they sold 1.4 million copier, therefor the was no FtP. The FtP started in the 2011, 3 years after the release.
Age
of conan was same as CS, you buy it then you play as much you want. The
membership was added one year later but it only gave some veteran
tokers, later replaced by points when the game went FtP with in game
payements.
When i
came back i felt scammed because my account became a free to play
account when i actually bought the game and there were no restrictions
meant for those who bought it, so the stuffs i have been payed for were
deleted, such as the slots who were originally there but locked because
the FtP they have added made a restrinction also for the payed customers.
You are from south korea, annyeong haseyo? If you read my previous post you can read that i do not know if russians had a trial, but in the European market there was no trial or anything.
Just like the game CS, you buy it you play as long it is there, no membership, no trial or anything. This was this game when it was released on the European Market.
I screen and here i show that actually i joined this game in the year 2008, furthermore you can read the link where it clearly said this game began FtP 3 years later.
Has the European players been scammed? Indeed, we have bought a game that was supposed to be bought once and no mermberhip or restrinction was meant to be there.
This was a pure scam, if you talk about it on FC forum you get banned and the post will be deleted, the game did not even exist back in the days in steam, but it was under this forum under the voice "buy to play" and not "free to play".
FC policy, is about selling copies and turning them into free to play regardles the E.U.L.A. and T.O.S. they believe to change anytime they want. This kind of rules does not apply to all the EU members.
Have a good kimchi, not making fun of you i really had it, great food. Regards.
As many already said, great game, run by low class company. How they are winning bids for other IP's to run into the dirt, like Dune, is beyond my comprehension .
And as my first post said, great game expecially in PvE, did not like the PvP, but ran by a company of amateurs. Regards.
Let's be real. It's not. They have two servers and it's steam charts numbers are abysmal. Almost nobody is playing this.
I have zero desire to play it again and it's painfully obvious I'm not alone.
Actually even with the two servers left the PVP one is empty anyway so it's really just the PVE one.
Good MMORPGs in my book don't end up ghost towns in maintenance mode. This is what a game looks like on it's death bed when it's been abandoned by the players and devs alike.
Props to FUNCOM for keeping the lights on if this was NCSoft it would have been dead a long time ago.
I would also be really, really surprised if the person who said this is still a good game was actually playing it.
"You CAN'T buy ships for RL money." - MaxBacon
"classification of games into MMOs is not by rational reasoning" - nariusseldon
Age
of conan was same as CS, you buy it then you play as much you want. The
membership was added one year later but it only gave some veteran
tokers, later replaced by points when the game went FtP with in game
payements.
I honestly don't know what to say to this...
I've played it with subscription and with gamecards (for the collection purpose) since launch. Just as everyone I know of did. Surely we were all just scammed.
Funcom's all MMOs were sub-based at launch. (The 3 big ones, let's skip Lego, etc.)
AO and AoC went f2p over the time, TSW switched to b2p. Before that (end of 2012) Funcom never touched b2p.
Since you say game launched with only the box price, and they added the subscription a year later... seems like a good advice. I'll just leave you be. Regards.
Good MMORPGs in my book don't end up ghost towns in maintenance mode. This is what a game looks like on it's death bed when it's been abandoned by the players and devs alike..
That's just partially true, since quality ain't the only factor, especially not when it's Funcom. AoC is (practically) in maintenance mode since the launch of TSW. Doesn't matter how good your game is, when its own developers don't give a damn on it for years.
Loyalty can get you going for a few years, but the lack of content will take its toll eventually.
The question is(this goes for SWTOR and some others as well):
Is there a real reason why AoC is an MMORPG and not just RPG? Besides the WoW craze that was roaring and sweeping back then.
Well, since AoC is like WoW (I don't like the term wow-clone), if you consider WoW an MMORPG, so is AoC. I'd say even more so, thanks to the NPC conversation mechanics and the narration.
The only difference between the two is the lack of seamless world.
I always wonder are there enough people to run dungeons with if I start playing ?
It depends on where you start, when, and from scratch or as a returning player.
If you start on Fury, most likely not. (the pvp server) Choose Crom
If you start from scratch, but during a Saga event, when a lot of players make alts, you will have more than enough players around.
If you start by picking up your level 80 and continue to play, definitely. Endgame is fairly active.
However, if you never played AoC and start a new character right now (the last leveling rush, with the unconquered, ended maybe a month ago), you probably will have issues with finding a level appropriate group for the dungeons between level 30 and 70. You can find assisting high level players though.
The question is(this goes for SWTOR and some others as well):
Is there a real reason why AoC is an MMORPG and not just RPG? Besides the WoW craze that was roaring and sweeping back then.
Well, since AoC is like WoW (I don't like the term wow-clone), if you consider WoW an MMORPG, so is AoC. I'd say even more so, thanks to the NPC conversation mechanics and the narration.
The only difference between the two is the lack of seamless world.
I always wonder are there enough people to run dungeons with if I start playing ?
It depends on where you start, when, and from scratch or as a returning player.
If you start on Fury, most likely not. (the pvp server) Choose Crom
If you start from scratch, but during a Saga event, when a lot of players make alts, you will have more than enough players around.
If you start by picking up your level 80 and continue to play, definitely. Endgame is fairly active.
However, if you never played AoC and start a new character right now (the last leveling rush, with the unconquered, ended maybe a month ago), you probably will have issues with finding a level appropriate group for the dungeons between level 30 and 70. You can find assisting high level players though.
I have some old characters 40's or 50's I think. Cannot recall sorry so very long time ago.I played from launch and then I stopped playing so really long time ago.
In that case you might need to skip a few on the way (Toirdealbach, the Cistern in Noble District, and Karutonia) or running them with higher level players, if that's ok. Can be a challenge to find 5 other players on that level range who want dungeons and not just leveling alts en route to a fast-track 80...
From around level 70 and up, it will be less of a problem, those dungeons are fine (and not over-easy) even with 80s in the group. Unless they're fully geared.
Good MMORPGs in my book don't end up ghost towns in maintenance mode. This is what a game looks like on it's death bed when it's been abandoned by the players and devs alike..
That's just partially true, since quality ain't the only factor, especially not when it's Funcom. AoC is (practically) in maintenance mode since the launch of TSW. Doesn't matter how good your game is, when its own developers don't give a damn on it for years.
Loyalty can get you going for a few years, but the lack of content will take its toll eventually.
Dude, the "subscription" was nothing than a plus, in easy words if you pay 10 euros per months you will get some veteran tokens and nothing more, the game still remains "buy to play".
In the 2011 they made it "free to play", replaced the veteran tokens with the points you now buy for real cash and added the real subscription we have now, they totally converted all the accounts, regardless those who have bought the game, as FtP accounts with in game restrictions.
I have bought this game for real cash and now i result as someone who plays it for free and i must pay a monthly subscription unless i want in game renscrictions.
Good MMORPGs in my book don't end up ghost towns in maintenance mode. This is what a game looks like on it's death bed when it's been abandoned by the players and devs alike..
That's just partially true, since quality ain't the only factor, especially not when it's Funcom. AoC is (practically) in maintenance mode since the launch of TSW. Doesn't matter how good your game is, when its own developers don't give a damn on it for years.
Loyalty can get you going for a few years, but the lack of content will take its toll eventually.
Dude, the "subscription" was nothing than a plus, in easy words if you pay 10 euros per months you will get some veteran tokens and nothing more, the game still remains "buy to play".
In the 2011 they made it "free to play", replaced the veteran tokens with the points you now buy for real cash and added the real subscription we have now, they totally converted all the accounts, regardless those who have bought the game, as FtP accounts with in game restrictions.
I have bought this game for real cash and now i result as someone who plays it for free and i must pay a monthly subscription unless i want in game renscrictions.
That's why they are scammers.
There is also an article above so stop arguing.
Regards.
For the first three years, you HAD to pay a subscription or you could not play. That is a fact (at least in the U.S.) You can say stop arguing all you want, that does not make you correct. I played the game at launch and until F2P, and I know for a fact I paid a subscription. I have only been back a couple of times here and there, so I have no real idea of what is going on in the game at this point, but I know in the beginning you had to pay a subscription to play. Fact.
If you want a new idea, go read an old book.
In order to be insulted, I must first value your opinion.
I revisited this game a year or 2 ago & felt like one of the most dated MMO's out there. NOT to be confused with CONAN EXILES which is a fantastic survivial/MMO Lite Age of Conan is terrible.
You are totally wrong. The game didn't even have a trial time, you buy it period. The memberships was added almost one year later.
Well since Funcom's a EU country I find it hard to believe the US and EU versions were different, and there are others arguing you're wrong on how you've seen the EU version, or was it the Russian version you played as I'm sure that's a totally different set up from the rest of the EU (were they even allowed to have Credit Cards back at the start?)?
No matter; I played the US version right from the start. Nr. 1 there WAS a trial for the game, it was 7 days long and if you open and look at all the chat channels you can listen to in game you'll see right at the bottom 'Trial' as a channel option. Now this trial was outside the Guest Pass codes for 7 days that came with the game boxes. This trial had restrictions the biggest being you could only use the Trail chat channel, but you could go through Tortage and get to the mainland. I think there was a separate download for 'trial accounts' on the main Age of Conan page.
The Guest Pass number you could pass to others let you try the game without some of the restrictions the straight Trial version did.
Now I started playing in 2008 and still have my 'Age of Conan' Hyborian Adventures Box and it states on the front '30 days of free play included' see back of box for details and on the back '30 days of free play included. *Internet connection required. This game can only be played online. REQUIRES APPROVED ELECTRONIC PAYMENT OR TIME CARD. i.e. a subscription.
Here's a pre-release article from a 3rd party and while not everything showed up it's clearly says at the bottom. 'Sub required'.
FC clearly said in the 2008 they sold 1.4 million copier, therefor the was no FtP. The FtP started in the 2011, 3 years after the release.
Age
of conan was same as CS, you buy it then you play as much you want. The
membership was added one year later but it only gave some veteran
tokers, later replaced by points when the game went FtP with in game
payements.
When i
came back i felt scammed because my account became a free to play
account when i actually bought the game and there were no restrictions
meant for those who bought it, so the stuffs i have been payed for were
deleted, such as the slots who were originally there but locked because
the FtP they have added made a restrinction also for the payed customers.
All companies boast box number sales when a game comes out to show how 'successful' it is and later if it's still going good (like WoW) they'll boast about how many subscribers they still have. Trying to claim box sales = no F2p is just silly.
I've NEVER heard of a game going from F2p to a Subscription based models. From a Sub to B2p yes. From a Sub to F2p yes, but never F2p to a Sub and enough people have pointed out from the boxes they still have from game launch, after the 30 day free play was up you had to sub to keep playing. Once again the only thing you 'bought' was the game box and disks inside. You (like every other game out at the time) had to sub if you wanted to keep playing. All you did was rent play time on the server.
Now I'll give you that alot of us felt cheated as we didn't get alot of perks from having once been subscribers and were now F2p as AoC was one of the few that didn't break out accounts into 3 separate categories; F2p, PREMIUM (for previous suber's) and VIP (have a current sub). The way Funcom handled RotGS after the first switch to F2p was totally wrong, but it did get corrected and those that originally had subs prior to the first move to F2p didn't the majority of their character slots locked like they do now. Back then you went down to 3 and now it's down to 1 once you stop a sub (base comment ignoring the extra slots the games given to us over the last few years).
Let's be real. It's not. They have two servers and it's steam charts numbers are abysmal. Almost nobody is playing this.
I have zero desire to play it again and it's painfully obvious I'm not alone.
Actually even with the two servers left the PVP one is empty anyway so it's really just the PVE one.
No if, and's or but's the pop IS disgustingly down, but for a game that didn't move to Steam until it was already out, you can't use the Steam numbers at all to gauge numbers. Most just download and play straight from the Funcom launcher as there's no benefits to launching via Steam.
On a average day, sure it's probably only hanging around 100 - 150 online at a time - more during EU prime times, but during World Boss, First day of the Raid Finder week or special events like the Saga servers or festivals you'll get a lot more. It's still more of a solo game now, but others are out there and dungeons can be done if you're willing to wait for the groups to fill for the not so popular ones. I'll see Black Castle take forever if ever to fill, but see Vistrix, Crow's Nest and the group one in Tant that's contected to the Khitiai expansion - kill the Khitai assassins in that park fill very fast each and every time someone starts a group for them.
Fury (Pvp) has been dead for a loooonnnnngggg time so yes Crom (PvE) is really the only viable server.
AoC at launch was subscription only after the 30 days included in the purchase of the game had passed in the EU. I was there day one, I live in the EU, I BETA tested the thing for well over 6 months. Rubbish.
/Cheers, Lahnmir
'the only way he could nail it any better is if he used a cross.'
Kyleran on yours sincerely
'But there are many. You can play them entirely solo, and even offline. Also, you are wrong by default.'
Ikcin in response to yours sincerely debating whether or not single-player offline MMOs exist...
'This does not apply just to ED but SC or any other game. What they will get is Rebirth/X4, likely prettier but equally underwhelming and pointless.
It is incredibly difficult to design some meaningfull leg content that would fit a space ship game - simply because it is not a leg game.
It is just huge resource waste....'
Gdemami absolutely not being an armchair developer
Dude the beta testing is not the official launch of the game and only some players can play it, lol what amateurs. As article reported AoC turnder into FtP, this means before it was not FtP, and FC TOO REPORTS THEY HAVE SOLD COPIES OF THE GAME, SO YOU HAD TO BUY THE GAME. DAM IT CAN YOU READ SOME NEWS UP THERE? Regards.
By the way who cares about arguing with trolls. AoC community always sucked, the FC is a bounch of idiots good only at failing, and this game is OVER, FINISHED LONG TIME AGO. It means most of those who joined it left, thefor the game overall was bad. Regards.
Game was great for its time, underrated as hell. Games like AoC and Warhammer Online had rocky starts and all the simpletons judge them by the first months of release. Both went on to become great MMORPG's in my opinion.
Back to just AoC was beautiful and the writing and atmosphere was superb. Haven't played in years so can't speak to it now.
Dude the beta testing is not the official launch of the game and only some players can play it, lol what amateurs. As article reported AoC turnder into FtP, this means before it was not FtP, and FC TOO REPORTS THEY HAVE SOLD COPIES OF THE GAME, SO YOU HAD TO BUY THE GAME. DAM IT CAN YOU READ SOME NEWS UP THERE? Regards.
From the beta article I guess you didn't read: - Will the game be subscription based like MMOs or free like online FPS or RTS?
The game will be subscription based, and you will need to pay a monthly fee to play the game.
Right from the (pre) start they were telling everyone it was a sub based game PERIOD.
And of course you had to buy the game, you had to buy every darn game that came out back then AND pay a sub to keep playing.
Tell you what. All you have to do to put this to rest is link a picture of a Age of Conan box that you bought / like the one that you bought, that shows it was BUY TO PLAY ONLY.
Finding one for the US version is pretty easy and someone linked a EU one and both those show the same 'with 30 days free play' tag on them.
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"classification of games into MMOs is not by rational reasoning" - nariusseldon
Love Minecraft. And check out my Youtube channel OhCanadaGamer
Try a MUD today at http://www.mudconnect.com/If you want a new idea, go read an old book.
In order to be insulted, I must first value your opinion.
Aloha Mr Hand !
No matter; I played the US version right from the start. Nr. 1 there WAS a trial for the game, it was 7 days long and if you open and look at all the chat channels you can listen to in game you'll see right at the bottom 'Trial' as a channel option. Now this trial was outside the Guest Pass codes for 7 days that came with the game boxes. This trial had restrictions the biggest being you could only use the Trail chat channel, but you could go through Tortage and get to the mainland. I think there was a separate download for 'trial accounts' on the main Age of Conan page.
The Guest Pass number you could pass to others let you try the game without some of the restrictions the straight Trial version did.
Now I started playing in 2008 and still have my 'Age of Conan' Hyborian Adventures Box and it states on the front '30 days of free play included' see back of box for details and on the back '30 days of free play included. *Internet connection required. This game can only be played online. REQUIRES APPROVED ELECTRONIC PAYMENT OR TIME CARD. i.e. a subscription.
Here's a pre-release article from a 3rd party and while not everything showed up it's clearly says at the bottom. 'Sub required'.
https://www.ign.com/faqs/2006/age-of-conan-hyborian-adventures-general-faq-betapre-release-739104
SWG (pre-cu) - AoC (pre-f2p) - PotBS (pre-boarder) - DDO - LotRO (pre-f2p) - STO (pre-f2p) - GnH (beta tester) - SWTOR - Neverwinter
I've NEVER heard of a game going from F2p to a Subscription based models. From a Sub to B2p yes. From a Sub to F2p yes, but never F2p to a Sub and enough people have pointed out from the boxes they still have from game launch, after the 30 day free play was up you had to sub to keep playing. Once again the only thing you 'bought' was the game box and disks inside. You (like every other game out at the time) had to sub if you wanted to keep playing. All you did was rent play time on the server.
Now I'll give you that alot of us felt cheated as we didn't get alot of perks from having once been subscribers and were now F2p as AoC was one of the few that didn't break out accounts into 3 separate categories; F2p, PREMIUM (for previous suber's) and VIP (have a current sub). The way Funcom handled RotGS after the first switch to F2p was totally wrong, but it did get corrected and those that originally had subs prior to the first move to F2p didn't the majority of their character slots locked like they do now. Back then you went down to 3 and now it's down to 1 once you stop a sub (base comment ignoring the extra slots the games given to us over the last few years).
SWG (pre-cu) - AoC (pre-f2p) - PotBS (pre-boarder) - DDO - LotRO (pre-f2p) - STO (pre-f2p) - GnH (beta tester) - SWTOR - Neverwinter
On a average day, sure it's probably only hanging around 100 - 150 online at a time - more during EU prime times, but during World Boss, First day of the Raid Finder week or special events like the Saga servers or festivals you'll get a lot more. It's still more of a solo game now, but others are out there and dungeons can be done if you're willing to wait for the groups to fill for the not so popular ones. I'll see Black Castle take forever if ever to fill, but see Vistrix, Crow's Nest and the group one in Tant that's contected to the Khitiai expansion - kill the Khitai assassins in that park fill very fast each and every time someone starts a group for them.
Fury (Pvp) has been dead for a loooonnnnngggg time so yes Crom (PvE) is really the only viable server.
SWG (pre-cu) - AoC (pre-f2p) - PotBS (pre-boarder) - DDO - LotRO (pre-f2p) - STO (pre-f2p) - GnH (beta tester) - SWTOR - Neverwinter
/Cheers,
Lahnmir
Kyleran on yours sincerely
'But there are many. You can play them entirely solo, and even offline. Also, you are wrong by default.'
Ikcin in response to yours sincerely debating whether or not single-player offline MMOs exist...
'This does not apply just to ED but SC or any other game. What they will get is Rebirth/X4, likely prettier but equally underwhelming and pointless.
It is incredibly difficult to design some meaningfull leg content that would fit a space ship game - simply because it is not a leg game.
It is just huge resource waste....'
Gdemami absolutely not being an armchair developer
Back to just AoC was beautiful and the writing and atmosphere was superb. Haven't played in years so can't speak to it now.
The game will be subscription based, and you will need to pay a monthly fee to play the game.
Right from the (pre) start they were telling everyone it was a sub based game PERIOD.
And of course you had to buy the game, you had to buy every darn game that came out back then AND pay a sub to keep playing.
Tell you what. All you have to do to put this to rest is link a picture of a Age of Conan box that you bought / like the one that you bought, that shows it was BUY TO PLAY ONLY.
Finding one for the US version is pretty easy and someone linked a EU one and both those show the same 'with 30 days free play' tag on them.
Prove your claim, either put up or shut up.
SWG (pre-cu) - AoC (pre-f2p) - PotBS (pre-boarder) - DDO - LotRO (pre-f2p) - STO (pre-f2p) - GnH (beta tester) - SWTOR - Neverwinter