Anyone who knows me on these boards knows my personal stance on this. I believe and have believed in this game more than anything else on the market for years, and have heavily invested my time both into one of the largest and most stable AoC guilds in existence as one of its senior officers, and into multiple other AoC/Funcom forum communities.
That being said, this game is NOT a "WoW killer". If any game title in the next few years achieves that particular developer's wet dream, it is likely to be WAR, although I wouldn't bet my money on that either. The by far majority of players I have personally seen coming to AoC are exactly the kind of people to whom WoW simply does not appeal for whatever reason. Most likely, its core of players will be coming from various other games, for instance I wouldn't be surprised if it gives ShadowBane that last little nudge over the cliff.
Concerning the gameplay, unless technical issues intercede, I see no problems whatsoever here. The combat, the AI, the sieges, all look to work out into what can and will be an extremely fun experience for those able and willing to keep on their toes and use their head.
Concerning the background, storyline, quests, dialogue, etc. Funcom has a reputation in this aspect of its games, and the reviews have always been very positive both from critics and gamers at large. Thus far, I have been given no reason whatsoever that they will not live up to this in AoC.
Playability, this is the one potenial "Achilles' Heel" that I see. Bugs and related technical issues all but destroyed Anarchy Online, even after it was fixed. They have more experience, a much bigger budget, and more time to avoid that same issue here, but it is still cause for concern. Just as problematic are its requirements. The average home computer will not be able to run it reliably, and any significant amount of lag could be devastating in conjuction with the combat system.
No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee. Hemingway
Originally posted by Aelfinn Anyone who knows me on these boards knows my personal stance on this. I believe and have believed in this game more than anything else on the market for years, and have heavily invested my time both into one of the largest and most stable AoC guilds in existence as one of its senior officers, and into multiple other AoC/Funcom forum communities. That being said, this game is NOT a "WoW killer". If any game title in the next few years achieves that particular developer's wet dream, it is likely to be WAR, although I wouldn't bet my money on that either. The by far majority of players I have personally seen coming to AoC are exactly the kind of people to whom WoW simply does not appeal for whatever reason. Most likely, its core of players will be coming from various other games, for instance I wouldn't be surprised if it gives ShadowBane that last little nudge over the cliff. Concerning the gameplay, unless technical issues intercede, I see no problems whatsoever here. The combat, the AI, the sieges, all look to work out into what can and will be an extremely fun experience for those able and willing to keep on their toes and use their head. Concerning the background, storyline, quests, dialogue, etc. Funcom has a reputation in this aspect of its games, and the reviews have always been very positive both from critics and gamers at large. Thus far, I have been given no reason whatsoever that they will not live up to this in AoC. Playability, this is the one potenial "Achilles' Heel" that I see. Bugs and related technical issues all but destroyed Anarchy Online, even after it was fixed. They have more experience, a much bigger budget, and more time to avoid that same issue here, but it is still cause for concern. Just as problematic are its requirements. The average home computer will not be able to run it reliably, and any significant amount of lag could be devastating in conjuction with the combat system.
You, sir, are one of the few Age of Conan fans I have seen speak so rationally and in a manner I can read from the beginning to end while agreeing with all of it. You are certainly the only one from your guild I have ever seen post that comes off as reasonable, as opposed to a frothing fanboy more concerned with proving how great AoC is and how great everything else is not.
Not once was the gameplay of other MMORPGs belittled. Not once were the features of AoC built to Herculean proportions. Most importantly, not once were the fans of other MMORPGs mocked as "simplistic" or wanting "carebear" gameplay.
Thank you for the excellent post. I hope you do enjoy Age of Conan when it releases.
It'll end up like all the others but i'll still give it a go.
-----------------------------
SWG - PrePub9 Jedi mastered all professions - June 26th 2003 > Nov 15th 2005 EVE Online - 24 million SP - May 6th 2003 > Early 2005 PlanetSide - BR20 CR5 - May 23rd 2003 > Sept 2003
It has some pretty good graphics. Wow gave us a good atmosphere with pretty crappy graphics. AoC have a little less atmosphere but much better graphics.
Funcom is one of the only companies in the world with the experience to pull this hyped thing off and why would they not try to do just that. They learned a LOT from their impressively buggy early launch of Anarchy Online, which is actually a pretty good game today with a new graphical engine coming up.
Will it be innovative, a serious new take on the genre. No. We are still too early for that to happen, you must wait 5-6 years before you see a change in the gameplay. But wow did open some investor doors, so we can only hope.
In competition with what else we have on the market, AoC will be a top game. They postponed the launch, probably thanks to them being able to secure more investment money last year, im sure this is experience talking to them not to make this an early launch. Im expecting a highly playable game, but due to the size of it, there will be bugs ofcourse.
But remember, this is not a first off. They ahve had 7 years to do this, since the launch of AO.
Playability, this is the one potenial "Achilles' Heel" that I see. Bugs and related technical issues all but destroyed Anarchy Online, even after it was fixed. They have more experience, a much bigger budget, and more time to avoid that same issue here, but it is still cause for concern. Just as problematic are its requirements. The average home computer will not be able to run it reliably, and any significant amount of lag could be devastating in conjuction with the combat system.
Being from the release of AO so many years ago, I personally experienced this catastrophe. It was the single worst launch that I have encountered to date. It being the potential "achilles heel" is very true.
Other than that you have a wonderful IP and alot of great concepts to support gameplay.
Time will be the WoW killer. If you can even say that. The only ones that died are the ones that no longer exist ( R.I.P. AC2 and E&B) and that will never happen to WoW unless the human race stops to exist.
It'll end up like all the others but i'll still give it a go.
I most definitely agree. All the others (ie not WoW or complete flops such as Auto Assault) have experienced a moderate fanbase. Even Star Wars Galaxies and Vanguard keep a certain level of subscribers.
Nobody expects another Warcraft (at least not while WoW is going strong.) I think the game will see the 100k subscriber mark with no problems, and probably higher. I think the only restricting things on the gameplay will be the maturity level of the content, the time investment required, and hardware requirements.
AoC does look like the real deal. The only problem is, they are limited because it is based on Conan and that storyline, unlike WoW, which could add absolutely anything. It is limited in the way LotRO is.
i'd play it if it had auto attack and auto targeting
Um... what?
No offense to your personal preferences, but the combat system asis is after all one of the key features that make the game what it is.
No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee. Hemingway
This game shows nothing innovative to me. They claim it to be heavily on PvP and warfare but I have read a lot of it and it seems the combat is instanced or only in certain parts of the world. That doesn't seem so hardcore PvP to me.
With no open beta there's not much to go on, except hype and conjecture.
I think it might be another Tabula Rasa, but I got no way to know for sure.
It's getting depressing seeing so many new MMORPGs that are either mediocre, like LotRO, or just plain bad like Vanguard was on release.
At this point, I'd be happy to see a well done EQ or WoW clone. We all hope for something new and a bit innovative, but devs aren't even turning out good clones at the moment, much less anything innovative.
i'd play it if it had auto attack and auto targeting
Um... what?
No offense to your personal preferences, but the combat system asis is after all one of the key features that make the game what it is.
none taken, it's just not my personal preference so I'm not going to play it. It seems like you don't like auto-attack and auto-target, I do, and there is nothing wrong with either opinion.
- Poor PR from their staff - No REAL video of the game, just the manicured imagefest video put out by AOC - No open beta - Crappy AOC forums (good luck finding substantive answers to detailed questions.)
I'm skeptical. But I hope I'm wrong and it turns out great.
Phos
AAH! A troll fire! Quick, pour some Kool-Aid on it!!!
AoC have by far best dev <-> community communication, but i agree they do avoid some stuff and
its understandable. I'm skeptical. But I hope I'm wrong and it turns out great. Phos
I think AoC is over hyped and I also hope it will turn out to be great game, but over hype is most of the times very bad. Dont think AoC will be next main stream game and especially not WoW killer, I hope they will get decent subscriber base and at the end of the year it will be 3rd most subscribers MMO on the marker.
I Hope AoC goes well, although i do think it has been over hyped to an extent i do not tink the games is going to be a total flop. I hope AoC does well as its go some unique features, and if it does do well it will be an important step in breaking the 'WoW trend' of mmo's
I've kind of adopted a wait and see approach. Unfortunately I've not gotten a chance to Beta test the game so I'll have to wait and see what people are saying once the NDA is lifted. Naturally any company is going to want to promote their product so this idea that the game is over hyped really translates into a game that is simply being marketed aggressively.
Any game no matter how 'hyped' can easily be played down so this hype versus results is relative to perception. Though it does have an interesting combat system that's the only thing I can see that differentiates it from some of the more recent MMO's.
Graphics do add a nice ambiance to the game but graphics alone isn't going to make a game substantive, have depth or makes it fun to play.
The Old Timers Guild Laid back, not so serious, no drama. All about the fun!
www.oldtimersguild.com An opinion should be the result of thought, not a substitute for it. - Jef Mallett
I am absolutely shocked at how many people are complaining about there being no open beta. To such a degree, in fact, that I suspect all these recent posts to that effect to be little more than a campaign to try and embarass Funcom into opening it up for a public beta out of little more than impatience and a collective and over-developed sense of entitlement by the MMO community at-large. Maybe it's not a conspiracy involving everyone who posts in a given thread about AoC open beta (or the lack thereof), but the OPs probably harbor some secret hope that Funcom will react with a 180 to save face.
I hope they don't. Open betas have ruined the last two games I played. I tore through all the content in DDO before it launched - ditto Vanguard. I hated both by the time they went live and cancelled each a couple of months in. I wonder how many others have done the same - obviously publishers can track that sort of thing and I wouldn't be surprised to see more devs follow in Funcom's footsteps in the future, keeping their games under wraps until they cost money to play. That would do two things: keep everyone on the edge of their seat, boosting "opening day" sales of the title (which will insure a lot of press, even outside of the MMO circuit) and increase the likihood that high-level content (always the least operational portion of the world in a new MMO) will be patched and added before most players have access to it, thus cutting down on the "this game sux" threads started by bored, min-maxing, powertrolls.
Ditto BUZZWEAVER.Hopefull...but I want hard player info before I decide.No open beta makes me suspicious.
When was the last time you got to open beta test something for a console?
Open Betas are a rare oddity and really shouldn't be expected. It's unreasonable and childish to threaten not to buy something because you weren't given a free sample. Sure, it happens from time to time, but I defy you to find me an industry with a SRP of under $50 that allows open trials before release, 100% of the time.
Obviously they will have a 7-day or 14-day trial. Or possibly a demo of the single-player portion available through fileplanet. That is a normal part of a multiplayer game's life cycle these days. Wtf is all the fuss about?
Ditto BUZZWEAVER.Hopefull...but I want hard player info before I decide.No open beta makes me suspicious.
When was the last time you got to open beta test something for a console?
Open Betas are a rare oddity and really shouldn't be expected. It's unreasonable and childish to threaten not to buy something because you weren't given a free sample. Sure, it happens from time to time, but I defy you to find me an industry with a SRP of under $50 that allows open trials before release, 100% of the time.
Obviously they will have a 7-day or 14-day trial. Or possibly a demo of the single-player portion available through fileplanet. That is a normal part of a multiplayer game's life cycle these days. Wtf is all the fuss about?
? Every P/C game worth its salt from the 90's foward has had an open beta. The facts are that every game has buggs and the only way to find the most common problems are to have every poor sap come and try to exploit your game. I am willing to bet 2 months after release the devs will wish they had a open beta, well unless this game is crap and they should be happy allot of newbs ran to the store to buy a untested product. I wish AoC well.
Ditto BUZZWEAVER.Hopefull...but I want hard player info before I decide.No open beta makes me suspicious.
When was the last time you got to open beta test something for a console?
Open Betas are a rare oddity and really shouldn't be expected. It's unreasonable and childish to threaten not to buy something because you weren't given a free sample. Sure, it happens from time to time, but I defy you to find me an industry with a SRP of under $50 that allows open trials before release, 100% of the time.
Obviously they will have a 7-day or 14-day trial. Or possibly a demo of the single-player portion available through fileplanet. That is a normal part of a multiplayer game's life cycle these days. Wtf is all the fuss about?
? Every P/C game worth its salt from the 90's foward has had an open beta. The facts are that every game has buggs and the only way to find the most common problems are to have every poor sap come and try to exploit your game. I am willing to bet 2 months after release the devs will wish they had a open beta, well unless this game is crap and they should be happy allot of newbs ran to the store to buy a untested product. I wish AoC well.
AGAIN: all you freeloaders - the game will be tested. They have 100,000 people to accept into closed beta. You are just mad because you can't freeload (test) the game. Hats off to the intelligence of Funcom for seeing through this quagmire that MMO's can't win and changing the status quo.
I am absolutely shocked at how many people are complaining about there being no open beta. To such a degree, in fact, that I suspect all these recent posts to that effect to be little more than a campaign to try and embarass Funcom into opening it up for a public beta out of little more than impatience and a collective and over-developed sense of entitlement by the MMO community at-large. Maybe it's not a conspiracy involving everyone who posts in a given thread about AoC open beta (or the lack thereof), but the OPs probably harbor some secret hope that Funcom will react with a 180 to save face. I hope they don't. Open betas have ruined the last two games I played. I tore through all the content in DDO before it launched - ditto Vanguard. I hated both by the time they went live and cancelled each a couple of months in. I wonder how many others have done the same - obviously publishers can track that sort of thing and I wouldn't be surprised to see more devs follow in Funcom's footsteps in the future, keeping their games under wraps until they cost money to play. That would do two things: keep everyone on the edge of their seat, boosting "opening day" sales of the title (which will insure a lot of press, even outside of the MMO circuit) and increase the likihood that high-level content (always the least operational portion of the world in a new MMO) will be patched and added before most players have access to it, thus cutting down on the "this game sux" threads started by bored, min-maxing, powertrolls.
LoL 100k testers? I doubt that but lets say you are correct, the type of people that test games and the type that find exploites to earm money are two diffrent types. To be honest i wouldn't even test AoC if it was open beta.
praising Funcom for not releasing a beta is just retarded. Why would you want players to buy a game they don't like? I can understand Funcoms reasons. But it sounds to me like all the people who dont want a beta have been hurt by other failed games. In the end only time will tell if AoC is solid or another lame ass game.
LoL 100k testers? I doubt that but lets say you are correct, the type of people that test games and the type that find exploites to earm money are two diffrent types. To be honest i wouldn't even test AoC if it was open beta. praising Funcom for not releasing a beta is just retarded. Why would you want players to buy a game they don't like? I can understand Funcoms reasons. But it sounds to me like all the people who dont want a beta have been hurt by other failed games. In the end only time will tell if AoC is solid or another lame ass game.
Thank you for exposing my point so well. You are acting like Beta testing and a trial of the game are one and the same. I hope AoC has a trial at launch or close to it - that's what you are really asking for. Read your post and you will see. The problem with Betas is that the game isnt done yet and it is not nor should it be used as a trial.
100,000 (as evidenced on their website for all to see) will be plenty to stress the servers and break mechanics for testing.
(Read the Dev Log on this site about the AoC progress report to see the Beta test numbers)
Comments
Anyone who knows me on these boards knows my personal stance on this. I believe and have believed in this game more than anything else on the market for years, and have heavily invested my time both into one of the largest and most stable AoC guilds in existence as one of its senior officers, and into multiple other AoC/Funcom forum communities.
That being said, this game is NOT a "WoW killer". If any game title in the next few years achieves that particular developer's wet dream, it is likely to be WAR, although I wouldn't bet my money on that either. The by far majority of players I have personally seen coming to AoC are exactly the kind of people to whom WoW simply does not appeal for whatever reason. Most likely, its core of players will be coming from various other games, for instance I wouldn't be surprised if it gives ShadowBane that last little nudge over the cliff.
Concerning the gameplay, unless technical issues intercede, I see no problems whatsoever here. The combat, the AI, the sieges, all look to work out into what can and will be an extremely fun experience for those able and willing to keep on their toes and use their head.
Concerning the background, storyline, quests, dialogue, etc. Funcom has a reputation in this aspect of its games, and the reviews have always been very positive both from critics and gamers at large. Thus far, I have been given no reason whatsoever that they will not live up to this in AoC.
Playability, this is the one potenial "Achilles' Heel" that I see. Bugs and related technical issues all but destroyed Anarchy Online, even after it was fixed. They have more experience, a much bigger budget, and more time to avoid that same issue here, but it is still cause for concern. Just as problematic are its requirements. The average home computer will not be able to run it reliably, and any significant amount of lag could be devastating in conjuction with the combat system.
No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.
Hemingway
You, sir, are one of the few Age of Conan fans I have seen speak so rationally and in a manner I can read from the beginning to end while agreeing with all of it. You are certainly the only one from your guild I have ever seen post that comes off as reasonable, as opposed to a frothing fanboy more concerned with proving how great AoC is and how great everything else is not.
Not once was the gameplay of other MMORPGs belittled. Not once were the features of AoC built to Herculean proportions. Most importantly, not once were the fans of other MMORPGs mocked as "simplistic" or wanting "carebear" gameplay.
Thank you for the excellent post. I hope you do enjoy Age of Conan when it releases.
It'll end up like all the others but i'll still give it a go.
-----------------------------
SWG - PrePub9 Jedi mastered all professions - June 26th 2003 > Nov 15th 2005
EVE Online - 24 million SP - May 6th 2003 > Early 2005
PlanetSide - BR20 CR5 - May 23rd 2003 > Sept 2003
I have actually seen Age of Conan.
It has some pretty good graphics. Wow gave us a good atmosphere with pretty crappy graphics. AoC have a little less atmosphere but much better graphics.
Funcom is one of the only companies in the world with the experience to pull this hyped thing off and why would they not try to do just that. They learned a LOT from their impressively buggy early launch of Anarchy Online, which is actually a pretty good game today with a new graphical engine coming up.
Will it be innovative, a serious new take on the genre. No. We are still too early for that to happen, you must wait 5-6 years before you see a change in the gameplay. But wow did open some investor doors, so we can only hope.
In competition with what else we have on the market, AoC will be a top game. They postponed the launch, probably thanks to them being able to secure more investment money last year, im sure this is experience talking to them not to make this an early launch. Im expecting a highly playable game, but due to the size of it, there will be bugs ofcourse.
But remember, this is not a first off. They ahve had 7 years to do this, since the launch of AO.
Other than that you have a wonderful IP and alot of great concepts to support gameplay.
Time will be the WoW killer. If you can even say that. The only ones that died are the ones that no longer exist ( R.I.P. AC2 and E&B) and that will never happen to WoW unless the human race stops to exist.
Nobody expects another Warcraft (at least not while WoW is going strong.) I think the game will see the 100k subscriber mark with no problems, and probably higher. I think the only restricting things on the gameplay will be the maturity level of the content, the time investment required, and hardware requirements.
AoC does look like the real deal. The only problem is, they are limited because it is based on Conan and that storyline, unlike WoW, which could add absolutely anything. It is limited in the way LotRO is.
i'd play it if it had auto attack and auto targeting
No offense to your personal preferences, but the combat system asis is after all one of the key features that make the game what it is.
No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.
Hemingway
This game shows nothing innovative to me. They claim it to be heavily on PvP and warfare but I have read a lot of it and it seems the combat is instanced or only in certain parts of the world. That doesn't seem so hardcore PvP to me.
~Greatness~
Currently Playing:
Nothing
With no open beta there's not much to go on, except hype and conjecture.
I think it might be another Tabula Rasa, but I got no way to know for sure.
It's getting depressing seeing so many new MMORPGs that are either mediocre, like LotRO, or just plain bad like Vanguard was on release.
At this point, I'd be happy to see a well done EQ or WoW clone. We all hope for something new and a bit innovative, but devs aren't even turning out good clones at the moment, much less anything innovative.
MMORPG Maker
No offense to your personal preferences, but the combat system asis is after all one of the key features that make the game what it is.
none taken, it's just not my personal preference so I'm not going to play it. It seems like you don't like auto-attack and auto-target, I do, and there is nothing wrong with either opinion.
super hyped up let down.
- Poor PR from their staff
- No REAL video of the game, just the manicured imagefest video put out by AOC
- No open beta
- Crappy AOC forums (good luck finding substantive answers to detailed questions.)
I'm skeptical. But I hope I'm wrong and it turns out great.
Phos
I think AoC is over hyped and I also hope it will turn out to be great game, but over hype is most of the times very bad. Dont think AoC will be next main stream game and especially not WoW killer, I hope they will get decent subscriber base and at the end of the year it will be 3rd most subscribers MMO on the marker.
( Assuming 1. WoW, 2. WAR, 3. AoC )
Futilez[Do You Have What It Takes ?]
hmmm real deal....hopefully....not a wow killer though...cos of the age certificate....probably 500k-+ subs by the end of the year if all goes well
I Hope AoC goes well, although i do think it has been over hyped to an extent i do not tink the games is going to be a total flop. I hope AoC does well as its go some unique features, and if it does do well it will be an important step in breaking the 'WoW trend' of mmo's
I've kind of adopted a wait and see approach. Unfortunately I've not gotten a chance to Beta test the game so I'll have to wait and see what people are saying once the NDA is lifted. Naturally any company is going to want to promote their product so this idea that the game is over hyped really translates into a game that is simply being marketed aggressively.
Any game no matter how 'hyped' can easily be played down so this hype versus results is relative to perception. Though it does have an interesting combat system that's the only thing I can see that differentiates it from some of the more recent MMO's.
Graphics do add a nice ambiance to the game but graphics alone isn't going to make a game substantive, have depth or makes it fun to play.
The Old Timers Guild
Laid back, not so serious, no drama.
All about the fun!
www.oldtimersguild.com
An opinion should be the result of thought, not a substitute for it. - Jef Mallett
Ditto BUZZWEAVER.Hopefull...but I want hard player info before I decide.No open beta makes me suspicious.
I am absolutely shocked at how many people are complaining about there being no open beta. To such a degree, in fact, that I suspect all these recent posts to that effect to be little more than a campaign to try and embarass Funcom into opening it up for a public beta out of little more than impatience and a collective and over-developed sense of entitlement by the MMO community at-large. Maybe it's not a conspiracy involving everyone who posts in a given thread about AoC open beta (or the lack thereof), but the OPs probably harbor some secret hope that Funcom will react with a 180 to save face.
I hope they don't. Open betas have ruined the last two games I played. I tore through all the content in DDO before it launched - ditto Vanguard. I hated both by the time they went live and cancelled each a couple of months in. I wonder how many others have done the same - obviously publishers can track that sort of thing and I wouldn't be surprised to see more devs follow in Funcom's footsteps in the future, keeping their games under wraps until they cost money to play. That would do two things: keep everyone on the edge of their seat, boosting "opening day" sales of the title (which will insure a lot of press, even outside of the MMO circuit) and increase the likihood that high-level content (always the least operational portion of the world in a new MMO) will be patched and added before most players have access to it, thus cutting down on the "this game sux" threads started by bored, min-maxing, powertrolls.
When was the last time you got to open beta test something for a console?
Open Betas are a rare oddity and really shouldn't be expected. It's unreasonable and childish to threaten not to buy something because you weren't given a free sample. Sure, it happens from time to time, but I defy you to find me an industry with a SRP of under $50 that allows open trials before release, 100% of the time.
Obviously they will have a 7-day or 14-day trial. Or possibly a demo of the single-player portion available through fileplanet. That is a normal part of a multiplayer game's life cycle these days. Wtf is all the fuss about?
When was the last time you got to open beta test something for a console?
Open Betas are a rare oddity and really shouldn't be expected. It's unreasonable and childish to threaten not to buy something because you weren't given a free sample. Sure, it happens from time to time, but I defy you to find me an industry with a SRP of under $50 that allows open trials before release, 100% of the time.
Obviously they will have a 7-day or 14-day trial. Or possibly a demo of the single-player portion available through fileplanet. That is a normal part of a multiplayer game's life cycle these days. Wtf is all the fuss about?
? Every P/C game worth its salt from the 90's foward has had an open beta. The facts are that every game has buggs and the only way to find the most common problems are to have every poor sap come and try to exploit your game. I am willing to bet 2 months after release the devs will wish they had a open beta, well unless this game is crap and they should be happy allot of newbs ran to the store to buy a untested product. I wish AoC well.
When was the last time you got to open beta test something for a console?
Open Betas are a rare oddity and really shouldn't be expected. It's unreasonable and childish to threaten not to buy something because you weren't given a free sample. Sure, it happens from time to time, but I defy you to find me an industry with a SRP of under $50 that allows open trials before release, 100% of the time.
Obviously they will have a 7-day or 14-day trial. Or possibly a demo of the single-player portion available through fileplanet. That is a normal part of a multiplayer game's life cycle these days. Wtf is all the fuss about?
? Every P/C game worth its salt from the 90's foward has had an open beta. The facts are that every game has buggs and the only way to find the most common problems are to have every poor sap come and try to exploit your game. I am willing to bet 2 months after release the devs will wish they had a open beta, well unless this game is crap and they should be happy allot of newbs ran to the store to buy a untested product. I wish AoC well.
AGAIN: all you freeloaders - the game will be tested. They have 100,000 people to accept into closed beta. You are just mad because you can't freeload (test) the game. Hats off to the intelligence of Funcom for seeing through this quagmire that MMO's can't win and changing the status quo.
QFT
LoL 100k testers? I doubt that but lets say you are correct, the type of people that test games and the type that find exploites to earm money are two diffrent types. To be honest i wouldn't even test AoC if it was open beta.
praising Funcom for not releasing a beta is just retarded. Why would you want players to buy a game they don't like? I can understand Funcoms reasons. But it sounds to me like all the people who dont want a beta have been hurt by other failed games. In the end only time will tell if AoC is solid or another lame ass game.
Thank you for exposing my point so well. You are acting like Beta testing and a trial of the game are one and the same. I hope AoC has a trial at launch or close to it - that's what you are really asking for. Read your post and you will see. The problem with Betas is that the game isnt done yet and it is not nor should it be used as a trial.
100,000 (as evidenced on their website for all to see) will be plenty to stress the servers and break mechanics for testing.
(Read the Dev Log on this site about the AoC progress report to see the Beta test numbers)