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Critical take on Age of Conan PVP weekend.
jokuvaan
Member Posts: 43
Well, i got to try AoC pvp weekend a bit, with several different characters, first one i tried was necromancer, starting with character creation, lots of options and it was generally awesome looking.
When i was done game asked if i wanted to run though tutorial? area so i hit yes and i found my character lying on the shore and i was given few tasks by npcs there, kill the slaver, get through the door and to the city, it was well done, ran pretty smooth after it was done loading (For my computer, that game loads a LOT. Likely because its still beta). Graphics were good at medium and i didnt run to many glitches on my time. I expected much worse remembering how horrible Anarchy Online launch used to be, but i was pleasantly surprised they didn't repeat their mistakes and game was playable just fine.
After i finally reached the city, game ported me to pvp area and the loading got worse, likely because so many people there. For PvP at the moment there were two choises.. capture the flag and team annihilation, nothing you hadn't seen in FPS games for years, but entertaining still. What came to necro i had few gripes about pvp, pets seemed to walk too slow and sometimes they would get lost, and squishies... well they're dead if anything swinging big sword came your way. And then i died...and died a lot, few times because game started loading middle of fight but as the game progressed those came rarer and rarer, until you barely got any of them. Besides loading issues game had very few issues, except the usual, rangers being overpowered (even mentioned at their notes) and few other balance problems, but nothing serious. Nice touch to game was that every class had different looks due their armor and you could easily tell which was which after little learning, not sure if this will stay in the final game tho.
Another thing i liked is that you can't just walk through other characters like you can in so many other mmos, like WoW, instead big ugly fighters can actually block corridors with their simple mass, preventing enemies from reaching other side while theyre still alive, and keeping weak squishies alive a little longer.
For those who were worried about herald of xotli demon transformation skill only lasting for 25 seconds, you shoudn't worry so much, that character is FAR from being useless when not in demon form and can take hits from enemy fighters somewhat well and can hit back just fine, hitting them with couple melee combos and close range spells.
So my overall impression about PvP weekend was the following:
The Good:
+ Graphics
+ The "Feel"
+ Classes
+ Much smoother than i expected
The Bad:
- Loading middle of game
- Few minor gripes and glitches
So my final thoughts are:
If rest of game works as well as the PvP weekend game definately does have potential and worth to buy if it fills its promises. Only time will tell, but i would definately keep eye on this game.
Comments
Another well done constructive review, and very well said. It's nice to see something of substance being posted with actual experience behind it. Can't wait for the open beta so I can test my rig and get a feel for what still needs work and what doesn't.
I started out the PVP weekend Friday attempting to play the game with my Pentium 4 CPU 3.06GHz with 1gb ram and a GeForce 6200 256mb. This was an exercise in frustration as it was a slideshow, a slow moving one at that. Even in the tutorial with all the settings at it's lowest I managed .4 fps. It was ugly.
Then my new computer came in, went and picked it up and instaled the PVP client on it. I am now running an Intel Core 2 Quad Q9300 in Dx10 through Vista 64bit with 4gb of ram and a Geoforce 8800. The game is the most beautiful mmorpg I have ever seen, and I have played them all. I spent most of my time doing the tutorial first with several different characters and it was gorgeous. I have only spent a few sessions doing the PVP so far, but I found it fun and without lag.
This tells me that older machines will not run it very well, but for those who are lucky enough to have a higher end computer are in for a treat for their senses that no mmorpg can compare with. I can barely contain myself until the game goes live, I pre-ordered.
I agree with the OP. Don't bother buying the game if you have the minimum requirements. My cpu is ok enough for the game so I'm just upping my vid card. But if your cpu is at the bare minimum and your graphics card is ok, then you are not gonna enjoy the game until you upgrade your comp.
Actually you don't need geforce 8000+ series card to run it, i had 7600 gtx and it ran just fine. 6xxx line is too old tho, and yeah i'd definately recommend having 2 GB ram.
Yep, I run it just fine with my EVGA 7950 GT KO 512mb card. Also, the DX 10 client is not available in this weekends' preview unless they changed it late Saturday, which I didn't see. That said, it still looks awesome, even on the LOW setting.
"Many nights, my friend... Many nights I've put a blade to your throat while you were sleeping. Glad I never killed you, Steve. You're alright..."
Chavez y Chavez
I ran it 'respectabily' on a AMD 3100 Sempron + 1.5g ram + ATI 1300 and got 10+ fps at the worst of times and saw rates in the 30s when the number of people on the screen were minimal. I figure getting a x1650 or a 7600GS will be more than enough for me to enjoy this game as I don't care if I'm running at low settings.
My wife was able to run it on an AGP ATI 1650 512, Pent D 3.6 and 2 gigs of ram. By no means was it maxed out but we had here on equivalent to medlow/med. We will be upgrading her computer soon but if you are worried about AGP then this should set your mind at ease somwhat.
I think my favorite part about the game so far is the grappix and the citys. Everything is made to be barbaric, not cartoony and fantasy (not that i am against fantasy). It is definatly somthing different.
My only rabble was the ice-skating attacks and how the walking and running around was kinda slippery too.
I can see, however, one wide barb butthole blocking the entrance, door or cave of needed areas just to be an ass...