---Wall of text hits you for EXCRUTIATING damge! (999hp)-- /Draccan
Gonna get labeled as a fanboi for this, but I'd like to address some of your concerns...numbers to match your post.
Not a fanboy just a fan! Fanboys flame!
1) Er....or it could be theey had it in, it wasn't working well, and they yanked it at the last minute due to bugs? That does happen you know. 2) You may be right about the niche game thing. Time will tell. It's not a WoW-killer, I'll tell you that. Doesn't stop it from being fun though. 3) They closed them? Uh...I'm on them now. Or did you just mean restricted? Lots of games do that. Lots of games also split the US and EU forums up. What hoorible purpose do you think they'd achieve by that anyway? Other than someone can't gripe at me in German. I edited my post as it was unclear. Even SWG forums can be read by any1 and boy do they have stuff to hide! 4) Lack of communication is always annoying. As to the ring, do you REALLY expect it to do much? Too much of an edge and you'd have people raising Cain about it being unfair to those that couldn't afford CE. I don't even have it equipped. But it is the principle. Really. Why do they HAVE to make it useless? 5) Find me a game where players don't find an exploit after beta, and things have to be pulled. I DARE you to say WoW, so I can laugh. Sure but my point is that those things should have been tested for real in Beta! 6) This is very possible (And no I'm not a FC employee myself, although maybe that's the first thing they'd say...) Of course, I've seen some posts in these AoC forums bashing AoC and lauding VG that I SWEAR are Sony employees. It goes both ways, I someone doubt that - I think SOE gave up a long time ago supporting VG 7) True..but again, it goes both ways. Anyone says anything honestly nice about the game and game and they get flamed. Problem is that the player base could have affected the game if they dared unite sometimes and state what the want. I bet many of the people who flamed my posts on the official forum are now ones attacking it; just like I predicted months ago. 8) Again, hesitate to be labeled an FC employee for this but uh...it's true. Never seen a perfect launch. Hell, you shoulda seen Anarchy Online's! At least in AoC you don't take 15 minutes (literally) to load a zone, just to find out you spawned in a toxic waste river and died five minutes before you even could see. I am sorry but you didn't read my point then. This game has many bugs that could have been found in testing. They didnt care to do that. Sure all mmos have bugs. Problem is this one has too many that shouldnt have been there, regardless what other mmos did. Even mmo gamers can expect the company to finish the game as much as humanly possible (not 100% bug free but as tested is reasonable!) 9) I hear you on the lack of level 40+ quests...annoying. I presume they didn't expect people to level so fast. As to the WoW clone statement...eh...everything's a WoW clone these days, and WoW itself was an clone of EQ, and so on...honestly there is no such thing as an original game. Just hope to put a spin on an old concept, which FC has. More spin than novelty! For sure! 10) Also irritating. Hopefully will be fixed. What about 11 - 12 -13. These are the essential points you know! :-p 14) Yeah, demo is broke. Which is why you have all those red-dressed clones in your pic. Too many people playing the FoTM class. FoTM?
If you were to post this on the official forums a little more positively and assuming that everything you listed is factual, this would be a very nice reference point for the developers to get things on track and producing the game that many people want.
I heard rumours about others getting the ban stick and since I am gonna play at least for a couple of weeks I don't want to be banned..
Wise decission, mods in the forums are real pricks.
I agree with many of your points OP, disagree with some also, and Im wondering why you didn't include the one thats hitting me harder, the fedex feeling Im getting out of this game.
Ive been leveling through the last 6 levels with quests, all I have to do is walk from an extreme of hyboria to the other, just to talk to a NPC, and then go back to get my reward, which, many times, is a bit of copper, just cause the quest window shows 0xp in many quests that really give xp and Im not paying attention to that anymore.
Not saying all the quests are like that, but Im starting to miss Tortage a lot, the game is poorly designed after level 20. If you haven't stepped in those levels, compare the quests with the Redrick tasks in Tortage, mindless walking just to pick up something and go back, for 6 levels already. Plus the storyline has become dull, there are way better ways to explore the map, but being forced to go through 2 zones, 2 instances and then going back all the way to say "Your brother is fine, you shall not worry" and receive 3 copper and 45E, it's killing my experience completely.
Not to talk about the senseless pvp, but I already approached that in another thread.
I'm not posting it because in his final paragraph he ends up liking the game, but because he posted a factual unbiased review, and he didn't give his opinion until the final paragraph. This kind of review will let people read and get what they want from the facts without any negative or positive undertones and let them pull from it what they need to know to decide on if the game is right or not, or to even outline some of the facts that people miss.
appreciate your taking a look at your post and editing it - good to see things like that (and sorry if i came across as condescending or something, i was no trying to be, i am just tired of all the bile hehe).
It would have been a lot easier to read if it was either smaller (more condensed) or used some of the features of these boards, like bold, caps, underlines, lines etc. As for the fanboys bit, this forum is saturated by haters. Any happy thoughts generated by any sort of enthusiast is getting drawned by negativity of all sorts. If you feel good about playing a game you're a. an idiot that has no sense of quality or b. a victim of marketing and hype. Some people just can't seem to be able to grasp that playing an MMO is a balance between the things loved and hated. And when the balance tips towards love, the bad things weight less. They are there of course. But they weight less.
I couldn't agree more with you Xasapis. To the OP: I think you did a good job including facts in your post and I personally do not mind your opinion being interjected throughout. Any competent reader can discern the facts from opinions in your post. You do point out alot of the flaws in the game (albeit you make some out to be worse than they really are imo; for example the itemisation), but in the end this game is pretty fun for alot of us. I hope you find the game you enjoy one day. Thank you for your comments, and Im sure that Funcom will likely address most of these points in their patches.
Cheers!
MMO Vet since AOL Neverwinter Nights circa 1992. My MMO beat up your MMO. =S
I don't play WoW. I responded that way because it was clear that the guy hates the game, and he is trying to back up hatred with facts which only works for similar minded people. Do you see me making a thread where I review the game anywhere? No you don't because I like the game too much right now to make a valid review. I couldn't do it without bringing in my love for the game all over the place thus discrediting my review. Sorry for being so harsh, but it's the truth.
I understand your reasons, but i don't see why a statement like "I am sorry Funcom - raped your family - and -murdered your dog-" is necessary.
I know these forums rarely are civilized and constructive (you have to sift through about 200 posts to find one nugget of goodness), but it is statements like yours (from both the fanboys and the haters) that will get everyone even more aggressive.
Yeah it was out of line. I'll edit it and apologize for that line.
I wish more forum users and developers would show the same level of responsibility for their actions as ProfRed does. Your credibility goes a long way with me after this. Your initial comment put me off, but your ability to see that, edit it out, and apologize says a lot about your character and maturity.
* Grouped players that are apprenticed will now get their kill XP capped to the correct level.
* Characters should now always get zoned back from a PvP game
* Characters should now be able to move away from their spot, without the server thinking that they are hacking
* Using a lower rank ability should not lock up your character anymore
Quests
* Players should no longer lose destiny quests if their quest log is full
* Corrected some typos in various quest texts
* Updated directions in the quest "A Dangerous Challenge"
* The flame on the Torch of Eiglophian will now die after a while in Fields of the Dead.
Playfields
* Fix a lot of graphics lag issues caused by particles in Tarantia Noble, Field of the Dead and Eiglophian Mountains which should result in much lesser lag in those playfields
Player Characters
Necromancer
* Necromancer - you no longer lose the Cannibalism spell when investing the second feat
Guardian
* Guardian - Fixed a problem where the third rank in Counterstrike Stance was not giving you the damage shield while in defensive stance.
Bear Shaman
* Bear Shaman should now correctly recieve Blood Flow (Rank 3), Claws of Stone (Rank 2), and Spirit of the Bear (Rank 2) at level 40. (Note: If you are past level 40, you will gain these spells at level 45, 50, or 55 instead.)
Dark Templar
*Feat - the Dread Shadow pet will successfully spawn again.
NPCs
* Ragall the food and drink merchant has received a fresh stock of merchandise.
* Ranger archetype NPCs will no longer cause issues with the player's HP displayed incorrectly.
Crafting
* Bow/Crossbow now require wood
* More than 50 alchemy items have been added to vendors
City Building
* Requirement checks and consumption of resources when building PVE city buildings should be fixed.
GUI
* Changed the chat colors to be more like what players are used from other games.
* The guild chat text is now green
* Removed the DirectX 10 option from the option panel.
* Removed the 'Remove from Spellbook' functionality
* OOC chat channel should no longer be inactive after teleports.
We are fixing the traders and the banks but some exploits would still be possible with the version we have now. We know how important it is to have traders and banks back in the game but the system must work absolutely correct before we put them live again. The possible exploits that would result when this is not ensured would lead to much bigger issues for all players.
So these patchnotes if anything support what I say. They don't even post these officially creating rumours and troubles in the forum regarding what is changed and what is not.
Furthermore look at demo + necro. They don't fix the fundamental problems of spells not scaling. In fact if you look at the stuff I posted and these UNofficial patch notes there is hardly an overlap.
That said, not all IS bad. I don't hate this game. But I know it has no longevity because there is nothing to fight for, nothing new under the sun, the questing is just running from A to B killing X mobs, there is no endgame, I hate minigames etc etc
But I love the IP / lore , graphics and but I think the gameplay will get old before the free "month" is up!
It would have been a lot easier to read if it was either smaller (more condensed) or used some of the features of these boards, like bold, caps, underlines, lines etc. As for the fanboys bit, this forum is saturated by haters. Any happy thoughts generated by any sort of enthusiast is getting drawned by negativity of all sorts. If you feel good about playing a game you're a. an idiot that has no sense of quality or b. a victim of marketing and hype. Some people just can't seem to be able to grasp that playing an MMO is a balance between the things loved and hated. And when the balance tips towards love, the bad things weight less. They are there of course. But they weight less.
I couldn't agree more with you Xasapis. To the OP: I think you did a good job including facts in your post and I personally do not mind your opinion being interjected throughout. Any competent reader can discern the facts from opinions in your post. You do point out alot of the flaws in the game (albeit you make some out to be worse than they really are imo; for example the itemisation), but in the end this game is pretty fun for alot of us. I hope you find the game you enjoy one day. Thank you for your comments, and Im sure that Funcom will likely address most of these points in their patches.
Cheers!
So you think you will enjoy it a month for now? What will you do at level 80?
good patch for sure, but it still leaves a lot of issues and particularly exploits open. as far as i know there is still a massive influx of gold into the game right now due to players being able to dupe items while selling/trading.
and not having a bank/trader in place a week after US launch is quite bad.
good patch for sure, but it still leaves a lot of issues and particularly exploits open. as far as i know there is still a massive influx of gold into the game right now due to players being able to dupe items while selling/trading.
and not having a bank/trader in place a week after US launch is quite bad.
too little imho but i am sure bugs will be finished..
but it suck to have zero economy due to no traders/banks..
The trader thing sucks and I hope they iron it out soon. A lot of good things are happening as I get higher level but more things are unpolished. Not enough for me to not be having a great time, but I am not sad that I have a two week vacation starting in two days. I'm excited to see what all is fixed and polished in the game. I just had about two straight hours of party vs. party skirmishes throughout the Field of the Dead and I haven't had that much fun PVP'ing since the SWG launch. Although there are things that stick out to me as being poor there are things like this that will keep me hooked for a long time.
The trader thing sucks and I hope they iron it out soon. A lot of good things are happening as I get higher level but more things are unpolished. Not enough for me to not be having a great time, but I am not sad that I have a two week vacation starting in two days. I'm excited to see what all is fixed and polished in the game. I just had about two straight hours of party vs. party skirmishes throughout the Field of the Dead and I haven't had that much fun PVP'ing since the SWG launch. Although there are things that stick out to me as being poor there are things like this that will keep me hooked for a long time.
Traders should be in about now..
Main problem is the design choices with instances, lack of real pvp incentives, endgame, questing that are sub par to most ofher mmos..
bugs can be fixed... design choices are much hard to change after launch..
There are 50 new pages of posts today on the tech forums. I have had a tech support ticket submitted all day since this mornings patch broke the game for me. Still no reply from FC.
One thing I can confirm is that Funcom prior to launch was nearly broke.
I think they may have pushed out AOC a bit early because they had no choice.
I'm not saying they did anything wrong here.
Its tough to make a game like a mmorpg.
But after a few years in development, investors want some return and they do get tired of hearing "its not quite ready yet"
If you look at how funcom has operated lately it starts to make sense.
If the game is bringing in so much revenue that is pure profit, then you can hire lots of folks to man the forums, tech support, do bug squashing, etc.
If your just now starting to break even then it takes time to build all that up.
None of the 9 replies,is a reply to the things this guy mentions...if u cant reply a thread and your respond isn't at all about the things ppl mention no need to answer at all i think..it mostly shows your age/iq balance
Btw this guy here metions around 20+ things about AOC that are rather nasty... i wonder why none of the 9 ppl that 'answered' didnt said anything relative about these rather annoying thingies...
Comments
____________________________
CASUAL CONFESSIONS - Draccan's blog
____________________________
I heard rumours about others getting the ban stick and since I am gonna play at least for a couple of weeks I don't want to be banned..
Wise decission, mods in the forums are real pricks.I agree with many of your points OP, disagree with some also, and Im wondering why you didn't include the one thats hitting me harder, the fedex feeling Im getting out of this game.
Ive been leveling through the last 6 levels with quests, all I have to do is walk from an extreme of hyboria to the other, just to talk to a NPC, and then go back to get my reward, which, many times, is a bit of copper, just cause the quest window shows 0xp in many quests that really give xp and Im not paying attention to that anymore.
Not saying all the quests are like that, but Im starting to miss Tortage a lot, the game is poorly designed after level 20. If you haven't stepped in those levels, compare the quests with the Redrick tasks in Tortage, mindless walking just to pick up something and go back, for 6 levels already. Plus the storyline has become dull, there are way better ways to explore the map, but being forced to go through 2 zones, 2 instances and then going back all the way to say "Your brother is fine, you shall not worry" and receive 3 copper and 45E, it's killing my experience completely.
Not to talk about the senseless pvp, but I already approached that in another thread.
Definitely check out this review: www.mmorpg.com/discussion2.cfm/thread/182459
I'm not posting it because in his final paragraph he ends up liking the game, but because he posted a factual unbiased review, and he didn't give his opinion until the final paragraph. This kind of review will let people read and get what they want from the facts without any negative or positive undertones and let them pull from it what they need to know to decide on if the game is right or not, or to even outline some of the facts that people miss.
appreciate your taking a look at your post and editing it - good to see things like that (and sorry if i came across as condescending or something, i was no trying to be, i am just tired of all the bile hehe).
Cheers!
MMO Vet since AOL Neverwinter Nights circa 1992. My MMO beat up your MMO. =S
So the point of your thread was "Whaaaa!" ?
I understand your reasons, but i don't see why a statement like "I am sorry Funcom - raped your family - and -murdered your dog-" is necessary.
I know these forums rarely are civilized and constructive (you have to sift through about 200 posts to find one nugget of goodness), but it is statements like yours (from both the fanboys and the haters) that will get everyone even more aggressive.
Yeah it was out of line. I'll edit it and apologize for that line.
I wish more forum users and developers would show the same level of responsibility for their actions as ProfRed does. Your credibility goes a long way with me after this. Your initial comment put me off, but your ability to see that, edit it out, and apologize says a lot about your character and maturity.
add a "gh" and you have WAR
____________________________
CASUAL CONFESSIONS - Draccan's blog
____________________________
Things will be good:
patchnotes:
General
* Grouped players that are apprenticed will now get their kill XP capped to the correct level.
* Characters should now always get zoned back from a PvP game
* Characters should now be able to move away from their spot, without the server thinking that they are hacking
* Using a lower rank ability should not lock up your character anymore
Quests
* Players should no longer lose destiny quests if their quest log is full
* Corrected some typos in various quest texts
* Updated directions in the quest "A Dangerous Challenge"
* The flame on the Torch of Eiglophian will now die after a while in Fields of the Dead.
Playfields
* Fix a lot of graphics lag issues caused by particles in Tarantia Noble, Field of the Dead and Eiglophian Mountains which should result in much lesser lag in those playfields
Player Characters
Necromancer
* Necromancer - you no longer lose the Cannibalism spell when investing the second feat
Guardian
* Guardian - Fixed a problem where the third rank in Counterstrike Stance was not giving you the damage shield while in defensive stance.
Bear Shaman
* Bear Shaman should now correctly recieve Blood Flow (Rank 3), Claws of Stone (Rank 2), and Spirit of the Bear (Rank 2) at level 40. (Note: If you are past level 40, you will gain these spells at level 45, 50, or 55 instead.)
Dark Templar
*Feat - the Dread Shadow pet will successfully spawn again.
NPCs
* Ragall the food and drink merchant has received a fresh stock of merchandise.
* Ranger archetype NPCs will no longer cause issues with the player's HP displayed incorrectly.
Crafting
* Bow/Crossbow now require wood
* More than 50 alchemy items have been added to vendors
City Building
* Requirement checks and consumption of resources when building PVE city buildings should be fixed.
GUI
* Changed the chat colors to be more like what players are used from other games.
* The guild chat text is now green
* Removed the DirectX 10 option from the option panel.
* Removed the 'Remove from Spellbook' functionality
* OOC chat channel should no longer be inactive after teleports.
We are fixing the traders and the banks but some exploits would still be possible with the version we have now. We know how important it is to have traders and banks back in the game but the system must work absolutely correct before we put them live again. The possible exploits that would result when this is not ensured would lead to much bigger issues for all players.
Thank you for your understanding.
More patch notes:
Okay, as we all know. Update notes from Funcom aren't always complete.
So please post here what you have seen change apart from what's described in hte Official notes.
---------------------------------
Disclaimer: Havent checked it all. If it's incorrect please say so.
---------------------------------
General
* Various framerate improvements
* HP regen seem to work now
* Crashes and Lag seem better in FoTD and other zones
* No reported crash at exit
* Some reports of shinier avatar textures (NEW)
* Camera "swapping" while turning camera has been improved (NEW)
Classes
* Demonologist
- Cooldowns added to Shockblast, Waves of flame, Living Firestorm, Inferno of Amber and Hellfire stream.
* Necromancer
- Unholy Hands - Only working, scaling spell we have gone from 0 seconds cooldown to 45 seconds - no mention in the notes.
* Tempest of Set
- Quicksand now has a 30 second cooldown
- Idol of set is now working as intented (1 up at a time)
* Ranger
- After executing the Salvo combo, arrows are being shot at a considerably lower speed, thus it's a massive nerf to burst damage.(NEW)
UI changes
* Group members now have a much larger and visible icon (blue potion bottle)
* The select instance button is much bigger and move obvious.
Tradeskills and resources
* Alchemist tier 2 quest unlocked
* Cotton gathered before the may 27'th patch may be unusable, and they wont stack with cotton gathered after the patch (NEW)
Mounts
* Mammoths are faster and better turn
* Speed on horses were scaled down
* Mammoths are now as fast as horses
you guys know what game that patch notes reminds me? DNL!!!
I think I am going to die laughing now..
So these patchnotes if anything support what I say. They don't even post these officially creating rumours and troubles in the forum regarding what is changed and what is not.
Furthermore look at demo + necro. They don't fix the fundamental problems of spells not scaling. In fact if you look at the stuff I posted and these UNofficial patch notes there is hardly an overlap.
That said, not all IS bad. I don't hate this game. But I know it has no longevity because there is nothing to fight for, nothing new under the sun, the questing is just running from A to B killing X mobs, there is no endgame, I hate minigames etc etc
But I love the IP / lore , graphics and but I think the gameplay will get old before the free "month" is up!
____________________________
CASUAL CONFESSIONS - Draccan's blog
____________________________
I couldn't agree more with you Xasapis. To the OP: I think you did a good job including facts in your post and I personally do not mind your opinion being interjected throughout. Any competent reader can discern the facts from opinions in your post. You do point out alot of the flaws in the game (albeit you make some out to be worse than they really are imo; for example the itemisation), but in the end this game is pretty fun for alot of us. I hope you find the game you enjoy one day. Thank you for your comments, and Im sure that Funcom will likely address most of these points in their patches.Cheers!
So you think you will enjoy it a month for now? What will you do at level 80?
Not flaming, just curious...
______________
my signature:
freedom of information
http://www.mmorpg.com/discussion2.cfm/thread/182770
good patch for sure, but it still leaves a lot of issues and particularly exploits open. as far as i know there is still a massive influx of gold into the game right now due to players being able to dupe items while selling/trading.
and not having a bank/trader in place a week after US launch is quite bad.
good review. companies *should* be held to account for releasing beta-quality software and unimplemented and/or broken game mechanics.
too little imho but i am sure bugs will be finished..
but it suck to have zero economy due to no traders/banks..
____________________________
CASUAL CONFESSIONS - Draccan's blog
____________________________
The trader thing sucks and I hope they iron it out soon. A lot of good things are happening as I get higher level but more things are unpolished. Not enough for me to not be having a great time, but I am not sad that I have a two week vacation starting in two days. I'm excited to see what all is fixed and polished in the game. I just had about two straight hours of party vs. party skirmishes throughout the Field of the Dead and I haven't had that much fun PVP'ing since the SWG launch. Although there are things that stick out to me as being poor there are things like this that will keep me hooked for a long time.
Traders should be in about now..
Main problem is the design choices with instances, lack of real pvp incentives, endgame, questing that are sub par to most ofher mmos..
bugs can be fixed... design choices are much hard to change after launch..
____________________________
CASUAL CONFESSIONS - Draccan's blog
____________________________
There are 50 new pages of posts today on the tech forums. I have had a tech support ticket submitted all day since this mornings patch broke the game for me. Still no reply from FC.
I miss DAoC
How did i end up in the Vanguard forum? Oh wait....
One thing I can confirm is that Funcom prior to launch was nearly broke.
I think they may have pushed out AOC a bit early because they had no choice.
I'm not saying they did anything wrong here.
Its tough to make a game like a mmorpg.
But after a few years in development, investors want some return and they do get tired of hearing "its not quite ready yet"
If you look at how funcom has operated lately it starts to make sense.
If the game is bringing in so much revenue that is pure profit, then you can hire lots of folks to man the forums, tech support, do bug squashing, etc.
If your just now starting to break even then it takes time to build all that up.
9 replies to this thread ...9....
None of the 9 replies,is a reply to the things this guy mentions...if u cant reply a thread and your respond isn't at all about the things ppl mention no need to answer at all i think..it mostly shows your age/iq balance
Btw this guy here metions around 20+ things about AOC that are rather nasty... i wonder why none of the 9 ppl that 'answered' didnt said anything relative about these rather annoying thingies...