For people who still play and enjoy the game I'm happy for them.
I sold myself on this game.. When I got in beta I wasn't really impressed. However, I bought the game because I thought I might regret not buying it.
Just to give an insight.. I thought the beta was run in a fairly non professional manner. Very little if any developer interaction/feedback.
As opposed to.. If you ever read any of my posts about Mythic, DAoC, WAR or Mark Jacobs. You know I am not a fan of any of it. However, their beta is being run VERY profesionally... with a lot of interaction. (hopefully saying that doesn't break some "they run it well" NDA clause). I mean I don't intend to buy WAR but this just gives a relative view point..
Anyway I had hit cancel during the first 5 days. Even then I'd normally just leave the game on my hard drive.. but I uninstalled totally. It would take some minor miracle to get me to re-install.
And DX10 this fall? How many screen shots, in game videos and public demonstrations did they give with the DX10 client? (just one of the minor things that I find odd).
Biggest reason I quit..
The game launches and obviously had a ton of issues (they all do). But rather than focusing on fixing, enabling and/or making sure things work correctly.
They start nerfing classes..
How the fark can you nerf classes when things don't work at all, don't work properly or aren't even in the game. When all these things WORK then you can try to screw with balance..
I was playing a necro (on a care bear server) early on. One of the few people at the time who probably enjoyed the class.
(yes this leads into another and final view point).
Sure there was no reason to use higher tier spells (double power cost.. almost no extra dmg).
So they decide to fix power costs (ok cool that's all I wanted).
Then they up damage.. um ok this has to be a bad idea.. (when they fixed power cost they had also basicly fixed dmg increase to next tier). So now I had even more powerful spells than I started with... that all used much less power. I think anyone with a clue can see where the is going..
Next move? give me more pets .. nerf their damage which was laughable to begin with.. nerf my highest spell (I was in the 70's at this point) to the point that the tier 1's I used to use.. had hit harder.
^^ that chain of events.. has no logical path and just shows how randomly they change things and don't even look at the effect.
I'm not mad at funcom or anything like that.
I just wish that people who have no clue about games.. would stop trying to get hired as developers.
Trouble is old Gaulte Gonard has proved himself time and again to be an inveterant liar. I do hope they deliver for those that are still sticking with AoC....just don't hold your breath.
I would trust Charles Manson and Osama Bin Ladin with butcher knives with my back turned before I would believe a word from anyone from Funcom. Funcom are liars...and so...I will not ever trust them again....and I wil never give their company a cent ever again.
Everything is fine. We losing players by thousands each weeks. Our patching system introduce more new bugs then fixing them. Game stability since launch has been constantly decreasing. Everything is fine.
Now if they never had Thousands of players how can they lose them?
Man I wish the shills would get their scripts right.
Do the math. Funcom posted another "Developers' Letter" just a few days before the first players would be coming around for their first subscription renewals. In it, they promised all the stuff that Gaute's now saying he's sorry that they haven't implemented yet. Now, it's coming up on the second month's subscription charges and they're doing it again. And isn't their Test Server on Double-Secret NDA lockdown? So no one really knows what they're working on!
Hope you understanding types like forking over money to Funcom so you can get one of these "we're working on it" letters every month. Remember, though, this charity isn't tax-deductible. Enjoy.
"Soloists and those who prefer small groups should never have to feel like they''re the ones getting the proverbial table scraps, as it were." - Scott Hartsman, Senior Producer, Everquest II "People love groups. Its a fallacy that people want to play solo all the time." - Scott Hartsman, Executive Producer, Rift
This game had a lot of potential. We went into it as a guild and were impressed with the stable launch and early content, but its only gone downhill since then. A lot of what is in the game is very generic or broken, and theres way too much not in the game that should be.
We recruited pretty heavily and almost nobody stayed past the free thirty days and half the people that made it to level 80 stopped playing out of boredom because there really is no end game at all.
AoC can be a very solid game maybe 9 months from now, but I shouldnt have to wait 9 months or pay for it so theres no reason for me to ever go back to playing regardless of how good the game gets down the road. they had their chance and decided to go down something similar to the Vanguard route.
I dont expect any MMO coming out to be perfect. Im pretty patient with bugs and changes after many years of playing MMO's, but AoC was released in a sad state and the patches and comments from Funcom really dont do much to inspire any confidence. All I saw was less people playing and more people quitting the game over time.
Warhammer isnt the holy grail, but if that game can release more polished and finished than AoC, then AoC will be in trouble, if Funcom hasent already found a way to bury themselves by then. Warhammer and the WoW expansion are two big monsters coming that AoC isnt prepared to take on. Only the strongest AoC fans are going to stick it out in the end making AoC a failure or a niche game, and thats only if the game doesnt fall apart completely which is kind of where things are heading now.
I cancelled my account as of yesterday along with most of the guild and I was happy to do so.
I would trust Charles Manson and Osama Bin Ladin with butcher knives with my back turned before I would believe a word from anyone from Funcom. Funcom are liars...and so...I will not ever trust them again....and I wil never give their company a cent ever again.
If things are going better than they ever could have hoped for, they must not have set the bar too high. Like I've said before, Funcom is just an, at best, average game developer. If they truly wanted to be the best studio or release the best product possible, things would be much different now.
Now they are reliving the nightmare that was AO and spending their time formulating letters to apologize to the public. Of course, they could just dust off the letters from AO, change a few terms, and they'd be good to go.
He's trying to do some damage control here, and following the example of Mark Jacobs in trying to be honest. Sad that he didnt mention about what they are going to do with the classes.... By the time they are really ready in fall, it will all be too late....
Originally posted by Ben1778
Feels like a knee-jerk respsonse to Jacobs' release about going with 2 maincities instead of 6 and being honest with the gaming public/fans. Perhaps a better move on FunCom's part would be to quit running their official AoC forums like a police state, instead of these weak press releases.
Came out before Jacobs spin speech. This is like a bi-weekly info Gaute does, keeping current players informed.
AoC will be positioned as a strong game come fall, and will watch other mmo`s come out of the starting blocks like a snail.
There will prob be a big siege video over the summer once things are sorted out.
lets not forget there are 8 battle keeps per server ALL player made, yes with bugs, but there is potential there.
lol......keep telling yourself this /cookie. Wait till AIon and WAR destroy your beloved AoC sales out of the starting block
I've just about lost hope in Age of Casters. I mean, seriously... After extensive research on how Mythic treats their playerbase, I have little doubt they'll do us wrong like Funcom did. Gaute's letter really didn't "do" anything for me, but only wonder if he's just tossing us more bullcrap. I canceled a while ago and said I would go back once the game is ready, but it looks like that won't happen.
I love letters like this. No mention of their horrendous support area. I waited almost a week to get one player unstuck, stupid to have to resubmit the problem every day.
Where are the itemization changes. Worst itemization I have ever seem in a MMO.
This game has so many problems it would take a book to list them all.
I dearly love Conan and was so looking forward to this game.
The game surely has potential, but it will take them at least a year to build up enough content. Not sure they have a year. I think War will roast their weenies soundly.
I love letters like this. No mention of their horrendous support area. I waited almost a week to get one player unstuck, stupid to have to resubmit the problem every day. Where are the itemization changes. Worst itemization I have ever seem in a MMO. This game has so many problems it would take a book to list them all. I dearly love Conan and was so looking forward to this game. The game surely has potential, but it will take them at least a year to build up enough content. Not sure they have a year. I think War will roast their weenies soundly.
I agree with everything you said, and I'll play it as long as it's up and running...yes I like it...DOOOH!! But I think any game that makes big boast should expect to be held under the mircoscope,scrutinized, and sacrificed to find the the fatal flaws in it (and they all make these boast including WARHAMMER, and GW2, and the list goes on...they too will be sacrificed much to the chagrin of their fans). So flail away at AoC, at least until they either prove themselves or the release of the "NEXT" big game. Time, and profits will tell the truth of what's going on, and it may or may not reflect the oppinion of the vocal few that post here...who knows...we shall see, we shall see.
i am really sorry Funcom, but its a little to little and a little to late to ask anything of me. i had a lot of hope for this game and you let me down not only that but you are still charging me for this BROKEN game. this game should still be in beta "CLOSED BETA!" you want to make good on your promise that you will fix this mess then dont charge me for it, give let us play for free until you FIX IT as the game was intended to be
I guess this 'honesty' thing is picking up. However, in my opinion this isn't very efficient damage control. Too little, too late.
In my opinion, to set things right for Conan, what Funcom needs to do is offer free subscription time like Blizzard did, apologize first and foremost and come forward with their game plan for fixing the game in much more detail.
I want to play AoC, I really do, but the game is not worht the monthly fee at the moment, not by a long shot.
let me sum it up for people who dont like reading marketing jumbo...
"fluff, lie, fluff, lie, fluff, and one more lie"
Canceling a MMO subscription and posting about it, is like voting for an American president. It doesn’t mean shit unless > 50% post about it and *actually* cancel.
Originally posted by SignusM Originally posted by shukes33 Great my son has an Xbox...where can i buy it from? Was that meant to be an insult to the game btw?.
Yup. The game is simple, with heavy instancing, and beautiful terrain that you can never get to. Simple 3 button mashing to win at combat. None of the major promises made it to release. That includes spell weaving, drunken brawling, sieging, and even city building and crafting was broken for a while, and no DX10 content. The game is designed to make money off the xbox, its barely an MMO.
so then that must mean that FFXI isnt a MMO either since it started out on the PS2 and PC, and is now also on the 360...hmmmm...didnt know that MMOs were only MMOs if they were on the pc...guess we should rename the genre to MMOPCRPG that way everyone would be able to understand that its only a MMO if its ONLY on a PC
He is saying what they are doing atm and what they see as the big problems. When I am playing AoC I see plenty of ppl, actually it seems like more every day, so I am not really sure that damage control is that much needed.
I actually think Funcom have a nice idea about what is wrong in AoC atm and that is a good thing.
And even though I think that AoC at launch should have been stable, filled with content for all levels and all ready for mighty PvP battles I realise that there is a thing called money that Funcom does not have unlimited amounts of.
Great my son has an Xbox...where can i buy it from?
Was that meant to be an insult to the game btw?.
Yup. The game is simple, with heavy instancing, and beautiful terrain that you can never get to. Simple 3 button mashing to win at combat. None of the major promises made it to release. That includes spell weaving, drunken brawling, sieging, and even city building and crafting was broken for a while, and no DX10 content.
The game is designed to make money off the xbox, its barely an MMO.
so then that must mean that FFXI isnt a MMO either since it started out on the PS2 and PC, and is now also on the 360...hmmmm...didnt know that MMOs were only MMOs if they were on the pc...guess we should rename the genre to MMOPCRPG that way everyone would be able to understand that its only a MMO if its ONLY on a PC
The fact its going to console isnt what he was getting at. Reread the post. Reread it as many times as you need to see the point he was getting across.
i tend to agree funcom needs to appolgise and make it free to play untill they sort out the mess . the game directors words are meaningless unless they are followed by actions . its definatly damage control . personally i think funcom have given up much hope for the pc version being any kind of subscriber success and are just glad to have recouped the prophets in the number of units sold . (not good for those that brough the game in good faith i know ) ,but the question is will we be fooled again by any future mmo launch from funcom .
this pc version of this game is little more than a pay to play beta for the eventual xbox360 release .
The sad thing is, it will probably be a huge success among the console kiddies. It will have months of polish and fixes and be offered to a much larger audience that has little clue just how much diversity and content a true MMO can offer.
I'm very sure the console crowd will thank you for financing the beta for a game built for them. This game was never designed for the PC market.
Any fool can criticize, condemn and complain and most fools do. Benjamin Franklin
I read that post again and again and think i see his point, dont mean hes right though does it
The game is pretty much the standard mmo to me, pretty similar to eq2, vg, wow and lotro, though admittidly with a lot less polish and at the moment less content, but the basics are pretty much the same, other than the button mashing bit...if i do that at 59 against a worthy opponent i get wasted.
So does this men that eq2, vg, wow and lotro are Xbox games too? sorry if i'm missing the point lol.
Comments
For people who still play and enjoy the game I'm happy for them.
I sold myself on this game.. When I got in beta I wasn't really impressed. However, I bought the game because I thought I might regret not buying it.
Just to give an insight.. I thought the beta was run in a fairly non professional manner. Very little if any developer interaction/feedback.
As opposed to.. If you ever read any of my posts about Mythic, DAoC, WAR or Mark Jacobs. You know I am not a fan of any of it. However, their beta is being run VERY profesionally... with a lot of interaction. (hopefully saying that doesn't break some "they run it well" NDA clause). I mean I don't intend to buy WAR but this just gives a relative view point..
Anyway I had hit cancel during the first 5 days. Even then I'd normally just leave the game on my hard drive.. but I uninstalled totally. It would take some minor miracle to get me to re-install.
And DX10 this fall? How many screen shots, in game videos and public demonstrations did they give with the DX10 client? (just one of the minor things that I find odd).
Biggest reason I quit..
The game launches and obviously had a ton of issues (they all do). But rather than focusing on fixing, enabling and/or making sure things work correctly.
They start nerfing classes..
How the fark can you nerf classes when things don't work at all, don't work properly or aren't even in the game. When all these things WORK then you can try to screw with balance..
I was playing a necro (on a care bear server) early on. One of the few people at the time who probably enjoyed the class.
(yes this leads into another and final view point).
Sure there was no reason to use higher tier spells (double power cost.. almost no extra dmg).
So they decide to fix power costs (ok cool that's all I wanted).
Then they up damage.. um ok this has to be a bad idea.. (when they fixed power cost they had also basicly fixed dmg increase to next tier). So now I had even more powerful spells than I started with... that all used much less power. I think anyone with a clue can see where the is going..
Next move? give me more pets .. nerf their damage which was laughable to begin with.. nerf my highest spell (I was in the 70's at this point) to the point that the tier 1's I used to use.. had hit harder.
^^ that chain of events.. has no logical path and just shows how randomly they change things and don't even look at the effect.
I'm not mad at funcom or anything like that.
I just wish that people who have no clue about games.. would stop trying to get hired as developers.
Trouble is old Gaulte Gonard has proved himself time and again to be an inveterant liar. I do hope they deliver for those that are still sticking with AoC....just don't hold your breath.
I'll try again in a year or 18 months maybe.
I would trust Charles Manson and Osama Bin Ladin with butcher knives with my back turned before I would believe a word from anyone from Funcom. Funcom are liars...and so...I will not ever trust them again....and I wil never give their company a cent ever again.
Now if they never had Thousands of players how can they lose them?
Man I wish the shills would get their scripts right.
Do the math. Funcom posted another "Developers' Letter" just a few days before the first players would be coming around for their first subscription renewals. In it, they promised all the stuff that Gaute's now saying he's sorry that they haven't implemented yet. Now, it's coming up on the second month's subscription charges and they're doing it again. And isn't their Test Server on Double-Secret NDA lockdown? So no one really knows what they're working on!
Hope you understanding types like forking over money to Funcom so you can get one of these "we're working on it" letters every month.
Remember, though, this charity isn't tax-deductible. Enjoy.
"Soloists and those who prefer small groups should never have to feel like they''re the ones getting the proverbial table scraps, as it were." - Scott Hartsman, Senior Producer, Everquest II
"People love groups. Its a fallacy that people want to play solo all the time." - Scott Hartsman, Executive Producer, Rift
This game had a lot of potential. We went into it as a guild and were impressed with the stable launch and early content, but its only gone downhill since then. A lot of what is in the game is very generic or broken, and theres way too much not in the game that should be.
We recruited pretty heavily and almost nobody stayed past the free thirty days and half the people that made it to level 80 stopped playing out of boredom because there really is no end game at all.
AoC can be a very solid game maybe 9 months from now, but I shouldnt have to wait 9 months or pay for it so theres no reason for me to ever go back to playing regardless of how good the game gets down the road. they had their chance and decided to go down something similar to the Vanguard route.
I dont expect any MMO coming out to be perfect. Im pretty patient with bugs and changes after many years of playing MMO's, but AoC was released in a sad state and the patches and comments from Funcom really dont do much to inspire any confidence. All I saw was less people playing and more people quitting the game over time.
Warhammer isnt the holy grail, but if that game can release more polished and finished than AoC, then AoC will be in trouble, if Funcom hasent already found a way to bury themselves by then. Warhammer and the WoW expansion are two big monsters coming that AoC isnt prepared to take on. Only the strongest AoC fans are going to stick it out in the end making AoC a failure or a niche game, and thats only if the game doesnt fall apart completely which is kind of where things are heading now.
I cancelled my account as of yesterday along with most of the guild and I was happy to do so.
Lets hope we dont get burned by WAR...
You're not bitter are you???...LOL!!!
If things are going better than they ever could have hoped for, they must not have set the bar too high. Like I've said before, Funcom is just an, at best, average game developer. If they truly wanted to be the best studio or release the best product possible, things would be much different now.
Now they are reliving the nightmare that was AO and spending their time formulating letters to apologize to the public. Of course, they could just dust off the letters from AO, change a few terms, and they'd be good to go.
Came out before Jacobs spin speech. This is like a bi-weekly info Gaute does, keeping current players informed.
AoC will be positioned as a strong game come fall, and will watch other mmo`s come out of the starting blocks like a snail.
There will prob be a big siege video over the summer once things are sorted out.
lets not forget there are 8 battle keeps per server ALL player made, yes with bugs, but there is potential there.
lol......keep telling yourself this /cookie. Wait till AIon and WAR destroy your beloved AoC sales out of the starting block
I've just about lost hope in Age of Casters. I mean, seriously... After extensive research on how Mythic treats their playerbase, I have little doubt they'll do us wrong like Funcom did. Gaute's letter really didn't "do" anything for me, but only wonder if he's just tossing us more bullcrap. I canceled a while ago and said I would go back once the game is ready, but it looks like that won't happen.
You treat this like some sort of sporting event..lol. btw, the sports team you follow "takes" from you too.
When I said i had "time", i meant virtual time, i got no RL "time" for you.
I love letters like this. No mention of their horrendous support area. I waited almost a week to get one player unstuck, stupid to have to resubmit the problem every day.
Where are the itemization changes. Worst itemization I have ever seem in a MMO.
This game has so many problems it would take a book to list them all.
I dearly love Conan and was so looking forward to this game.
The game surely has potential, but it will take them at least a year to build up enough content. Not sure they have a year. I think War will roast their weenies soundly.
I agree with everything you said, and I'll play it as long as it's up and running...yes I like it...DOOOH!! But I think any game that makes big boast should expect to be held under the mircoscope,scrutinized, and sacrificed to find the the fatal flaws in it (and they all make these boast including WARHAMMER, and GW2, and the list goes on...they too will be sacrificed much to the chagrin of their fans). So flail away at AoC, at least until they either prove themselves or the release of the "NEXT" big game. Time, and profits will tell the truth of what's going on, and it may or may not reflect the oppinion of the vocal few that post here...who knows...we shall see, we shall see.
You treat this like some sort of sporting event..lol. btw, the sports team you follow "takes" from you too.
yeah because Avery wasn't doing the same.
i am really sorry Funcom, but its a little to little and a little to late to ask anything of me. i had a lot of hope for this game and you let me down not only that but you are still charging me for this BROKEN game. this game should still be in beta "CLOSED BETA!" you want to make good on your promise that you will fix this mess then dont charge me for it, give let us play for free until you FIX IT as the game was intended to be
I guess this 'honesty' thing is picking up. However, in my opinion this isn't very efficient damage control. Too little, too late.
In my opinion, to set things right for Conan, what Funcom needs to do is offer free subscription time like Blizzard did, apologize first and foremost and come forward with their game plan for fixing the game in much more detail.
I want to play AoC, I really do, but the game is not worht the monthly fee at the moment, not by a long shot.
Thanks for reminding me.
Yup. The game is simple, with heavy instancing, and beautiful terrain that you can never get to. Simple 3 button mashing to win at combat. None of the major promises made it to release. That includes spell weaving, drunken brawling, sieging, and even city building and crafting was broken for a while, and no DX10 content.
The game is designed to make money off the xbox, its barely an MMO.
so then that must mean that FFXI isnt a MMO either since it started out on the PS2 and PC, and is now also on the 360...hmmmm...didnt know that MMOs were only MMOs if they were on the pc...guess we should rename the genre to MMOPCRPG that way everyone would be able to understand that its only a MMO if its ONLY on a PC
I think ppl are expecting too much here.
He is saying what they are doing atm and what they see as the big problems. When I am playing AoC I see plenty of ppl, actually it seems like more every day, so I am not really sure that damage control is that much needed.
I actually think Funcom have a nice idea about what is wrong in AoC atm and that is a good thing.
And even though I think that AoC at launch should have been stable, filled with content for all levels and all ready for mighty PvP battles I realise that there is a thing called money that Funcom does not have unlimited amounts of.
Yup. The game is simple, with heavy instancing, and beautiful terrain that you can never get to. Simple 3 button mashing to win at combat. None of the major promises made it to release. That includes spell weaving, drunken brawling, sieging, and even city building and crafting was broken for a while, and no DX10 content.
The game is designed to make money off the xbox, its barely an MMO.
so then that must mean that FFXI isnt a MMO either since it started out on the PS2 and PC, and is now also on the 360...hmmmm...didnt know that MMOs were only MMOs if they were on the pc...guess we should rename the genre to MMOPCRPG that way everyone would be able to understand that its only a MMO if its ONLY on a PC
The fact its going to console isnt what he was getting at. Reread the post. Reread it as many times as you need to see the point he was getting across.
i tend to agree funcom needs to appolgise and make it free to play untill they sort out the mess . the game directors words are meaningless unless they are followed by actions . its definatly damage control . personally i think funcom have given up much hope for the pc version being any kind of subscriber success and are just glad to have recouped the prophets in the number of units sold . (not good for those that brough the game in good faith i know ) ,but the question is will we be fooled again by any future mmo launch from funcom .
this pc version of this game is little more than a pay to play beta for the eventual xbox360 release .
The sad thing is, it will probably be a huge success among the console kiddies. It will have months of polish and fixes and be offered to a much larger audience that has little clue just how much diversity and content a true MMO can offer.
I'm very sure the console crowd will thank you for financing the beta for a game built for them. This game was never designed for the PC market.
Any fool can criticize, condemn and complain and most fools do.
Benjamin Franklin
I read that post again and again and think i see his point, dont mean hes right though does it
The game is pretty much the standard mmo to me, pretty similar to eq2, vg, wow and lotro, though admittidly with a lot less polish and at the moment less content, but the basics are pretty much the same, other than the button mashing bit...if i do that at 59 against a worthy opponent i get wasted.
So does this men that eq2, vg, wow and lotro are Xbox games too? sorry if i'm missing the point lol.
''That’s it for this time! I hope you all get a healthy dose of vacation this summer, and that you are enjoying Age of Conan. "
Yes, I am enjoying my vacation from AOC this summer. Thank You!