The game simply doesn't work for me, from core performance issues, to core gameplay issues. Itemization that absolutely sucks and makes no difference what so ever. Random loot table stats that were obviously never QA'ed. Feats that don't work. Classes that are still broken/borked. No polished content beyond Tortage, and Tortage being repetitive garbage because EVERYBODY does the SAME EXACT ****, and the night time bull crap garbage makes this game nothing more than a pay to play single player with an AOL chatroom on the screen. A completely linear and non-explorable world, made even more linear and non explorable by the recent "invisible walls".
I lasted for 2 months until I was bored senseless. Add to the above a support staff that isn't capable of tying their shoes. Am I a hater? Yes, I hate the fact that FunCom is so ****ed up that they released such a half baked product.
Look it's not just about missing content, but poor coding and optimization. Their QA is laughable, their support is equally amusing, and don't get me started on their borked loot tables or broken dungeons for end content.
Massive sieges? More than 20 players and the instance laggs to hell and people are frozen booted/reconnected from the zone continuously. Massive my a**. I don't think they could have made this much worse if they had tried.
This looks like a product with good intentions but poor execution due to a company being disorganized and not holding people accountable. This is the second game I have watched them make a mess of. Gaute screwed the pooch on this one and wasted a chance to capture a big portion of the market.
Yes again, I am pissed about it. This had the potential to be greatness, but they ruined it. Baah, sorry guys. Wasting my breath here I am sure. But I just needed to vent after I uninstalled the game tonight.
AOC has way too many issues to count ;(..... So much potential wasted........
It's not the issues, bugs, or even the lack of content that bother me so much. It is the company attitude towards the customers and the Conan license. In their eyes Funcom > Customers and Funcom > REH.
Niether approach is healthy for business, and frankly, the people who are not pissed off about this are either a little submissive, or a little naive.
Error: 37. Signature not found. Please connect to my server for signature access.
Originally posted by dougmysticey And for those who say it is like WOW, quit smokin the dope kids. It is NOT like WOW other than the fact it has elements that are common to almost ALL MMOs to date, INCLUDING many games that came BEFORE WOW was a sparkle in Blizzards eye. These things have just become staples of the standard MMO genre (fantasy anyway) and are not unique to WOW at all. If that makes it similar to WOW or a clone of WOW then 90% of the games out there are, even EQ, AC, and DAOC (Not sure how Blizzard time traveled to work that out but hey-go figure).
Ok, let's hear it smart ass. Let's hear why AOC is worth playing seeing as we are all so drugged up that we dont know what we are talking about. What's different about AOC? Im just dying to know what these differences are. And does it really need to be explained to people every couple of posts that people are not saying that WoW is the innovator? What people are saying, if you had bothered to read or comprehend it, is that WoW has set the benchmarks in quality for all fantasy MMOS to be compared to.
If new MMOs are released and cannot at least even match the quality of the existing MMOs on the market, especially the one that is currently dominating the market, why would anyone even play the new game in the first place? Pardon me from being old fashioned about these concepts, but new games are supposed to offer something NEW or at the very very least give us improvements on existing concepts that justify the price of the box and subscription. When a new game comes on the market and just provides the same old nonsense that is already out there, albeit in a more badly designed and overall less functional package, is anyone surprised that people try it and say 'thanks, but no thanks' and consign it to the bin?
If you want an idea about how a company should at least aspire to innovate and improve on the common elements that have been there for a while, then have a look at some of the WAR concepts as outlined in the videos that are widely available on youtube. Just to take one small example, WAR will seemingly improve on the tired quest idea of 'Kill 50 goats' to succeed in the quest, as the server will count kills before you even touch the quest. So you can complete the quest before you have even had the quest. Now executing these innovations are a different matter from simply talking about them and only time will tell as to whether WAR gets it right, but what is certain, is that if the WAR customer service sucks, has terrible chat, party and guild interfaces and the core elements of the game are borked like they are in AOC, the game will fail anyway.
As has been said a million times before, we all expect new MMOs to have lots of bugs. This is not unique to AOC. What is specific to this game however is that the aspects of the game that were supposed to improve the genre are terrible or not even implemented yet, so we are basically left with a standard fare fantasy MMO that fails to meet the standards of the existing competition. It seems that the people that are sticking around with it are the masochists who dont mind doing kill and gathering quests for the billionth time as long as the scenery is a little different. Those of us who expect new products to offer improved levels of quality and interesting new ideas have all jumped ship and are waiting to see if WAR delivers on its promise.
So, if anyone needs to stop smoking dope, its those who are so cringingly supine about their gaming experiences that they will accept and pay for any old crap as long as it looks different and has a few stupid gimmicks thrown in to make it seem different from the existing material.
The post you are replying to by Lelob, posted on 7/29/08 3:36:09 AM
Originally posted by dougmysticey And for those who say it is like WOW, quit smokin the dope kids. It is NOT like WOW other than the fact it has elements that are common to almost ALL MMOs to date, INCLUDING many games that came BEFORE WOW was a sparkle in Blizzards eye. These things have just become staples of the standard MMO genre (fantasy anyway) and are not unique to WOW at all. If that makes it similar to WOW or a clone of WOW then 90% of the games out there are, even EQ, AC, and DAOC (Not sure how Blizzard time traveled to work that out but hey-go figure).
Looking forward to responding:
Ok, let's hear it smart ass. Let's hear why AOC is worth playing seeing as we are all so drugged up that we dont know what we are talking about. What's different about AOC? Im just dying to know what these differences are. And does it really need to be explained to people every couple of posts that people are not saying that WoW is the innovator? What people are saying, if you had bothered to read or comprehend it, is that WoW has set the benchmarks in quality for all fantasy MMOS to be compared to.
Never said you would find AOC worth playing. I responded specifically to a post that AOC is JUST LIKE WOW. it is not. I actually agree with you in this and if you search my posts you will see. Blizzard is not an innovator, they were just good at polishing up common MMO elements. However, you are mistaken in saying people are not claiming WOW is an innovator, if that were true no one would use the term "wow clone" would they? That simple statement says that WOW was the product that produced the common methodology. It was games like M59 and EQ that did that and Blizzard did a GREAT job at tightening them up.
If new MMOs are released and cannot at least even match the quality of the existing MMOs on the market, especially the one that is currently dominating the market, why would anyone even play the new game in the first place? Pardon me from being old fashioned about these concepts, but new games are supposed to offer something NEW or at the very very least give us improvements on existing concepts that justify the price of the box and subscription. When a new game comes on the market and just provides the same old nonsense that is already out there, albeit in a more badly designed and overall less functional package, is anyone surprised that people try it and say 'thanks, but no thanks' and consign it to the bin?
AOC was released early and not ready for prime time, like almost all MMOs, including WOW. Man do I recall the bitching about WOW PVP and Raids, and then when implemented about a half a year later or so you had to wait in massive queues to get into the raid locations. It took many more months to fix that. Just one example. I played WOW from late Beta to about 3 years in.
AOC combat is innovative and works well. You cannot button mash at highler levels and do need some strategy. I think this combat system can and will be improved upon (maybe even by Blizzard as they are good at that). I have not experienced nearly the level of "bugs" that many others have and have done plenty of awesome quests in AOC that I enjoyed. Good, solid stories like the quests in the Sanctum your epic/ story quests, plus many in the Tarantia Noble district and the Villa's. Loads of fun.
I think the MOB mentality on some sites has made AOC out to be far worse off than it is but that is my opinion. It is not yet in the best shape (Neither was WOW when in launched) but AOC is also not VG which was FAR worse off at launch and for long after.
If you want an idea about how a company should at least aspire to innovate and improve on the common elements that have been there for a while, then have a look at some of the WAR concepts as outlined in the videos that are widely available on youtube. Just to take one small example, WAR will seemingly improve on the tired quest idea of 'Kill 50 goats' to succeed in the quest, as the server will count kills before you even touch the quest. So you can complete the quest before you have even had the quest. Now executing these innovations are a different matter from simply talking about them and only time will tell as to whether WAR gets it right, but what is certain, is that if the WAR customer service sucks, has terrible chat, party and guild interfaces and the core elements of the game are borked like they are in AOC, the game will fail anyway.
I really hope that WAR, like AOC should have, lives up to the hype. It appears innovative in many ways but graphically which simply seem "on par". I am looking forward to WAR but we shall see. However, I myself have had to explain to people that Wahammer was around loooooong before WOW and the original Blizzard universe took many elements from Warhammer Fantasy. Still, it is referred to as a WOW clone. So I so disagree with you on this. Lots of people, perhaps hundreds of thousands, played WOW as their first MMO and everthing that has quest lines and quest givers and has an ability hot bar with hit point and stamina bars is "WoW like". They CLEARLY think that blizzard innovated these things. Glad to hear you know better.
As has been said a million times before, we all expect new MMOs to have lots of bugs. This is not unique to AOC. What is specific to this game however is that the aspects of the game that were supposed to improve the genre are terrible or not even implemented yet, so we are basically left with a standard fare fantasy MMO that fails to meet the standards of the existing competition. It seems that the people that are sticking around with it are the masochists who dont mind doing kill and gathering quests for the billionth time as long as the scenery is a little different. Those of us who expect new products to offer improved levels of quality and interesting new ideas have all jumped ship and are waiting to see if WAR delivers on its promise.
We will have to see if WAR delivers. My guess is they will remove a few more things before launch and we, the early adopters, will help fix the bugs on release. Now, don't get me wrong, I am a DAOC fan and think WAR will be a good game but I think, like AOC, and others it will launch with less than promised (as they are already pairing back) and will have content gaps and bugs on release.
So, if anyone needs to stop smoking dope, its those who are so cringingly supine about their gaming experiences that they will accept and pay for any old crap as long as it looks different and has a few stupid gimmicks thrown in to make it seem different from the existing material.
I happen to be a fan of the Conan universe and Robert Howard as well as some of the writers who penned books after him for the setting. The game feels like that world and I, for one, am actually enjoying it. I agree that the game will not be for everyone. Neither is WAR or LOTRO, or EVE or any other MMO. But the post launch improvements have been significant. lag is all but gone and meaningful conent is being added. I will probably end up playing this AND WAR for a whle as I am also a Wahammer fan. So I am not "cringingly supine" nor a "smart ass" in my statments and stand by the fact that, while you might know the difference, many DO think WOW innovated the common MMO features.
The hate for this game is over the top, as in seriously hysterical and kinda weird. It's a typical mmo with some bugs and ace graphics. Typical in that you do quests and shit. It does feel a little more "console-ish" than usual mmo's, but it's a good, enjoyable game overall - at least for me, the casual working gamer. It needs some love with drops though, I am a bit of a dandy at heart and dont like the grim/drab looking shit they make you wear. If your thing is posing while pvping, then maybe wow. If your thing is crafting, then definitely the new-improved vanguard. But if you have got used to gaming with Mass Effect, Oblivion, Crysis et al then AOC seems a logical choice in terms of "look" and play. If you can afford 2 games - then I would have AOC for the cool graphics and combat, backed up by a more traditonal mmo like wow, eve, vanguard, cov etc. The haters are rabid for the holy grail - anything less gets flamed to a crisp. Damn, I feel like flamin myself sometimes, but I'd rather just read cool comics if the games bore me. Anyway, if nothing pleases, then you should try old-school dice and pencil rpgs, that shit is the real deal immersion. Nothing beats it if you got the time and mates. I got neither these days . Regards
melmoth
Actually, it's the hate for Funcom more than a hate of AoC. Funcom has been really poor in the customer support department, and really terrible in the bug-fxing department. Plus, they have no excuse. This is *not* Funcom's first MMO. They've been in this ballpark before and should *know the playing field*.
Gameplay itself is fun. But the game is buggy like early SWG and the endgame is bad and boring.
Funcom also designed the game so if you are not in a guild with 60 to 120+ active players then you have little to do at lvl 80 and even then the endgame is not very exiting and extremely bugged.
And you do feel boxed in. We just calculated how big the gameworld is on the official boards. 42 square km! And that is the size of all the zones. Add in that in many zones you can only move around in 30 to 50% of the zone and you end up with a gameworld that is 5 to 10 times smaller than WoW at launch.
"You are the hero our legends have foretold will save our tribe, therefore please go kill 10 pigs."
Well i play AoC since january - and I loved evry minute of it! Is full of bugs - check It needs balancing and tweaks (not class vs class - that was never thei aim of the game) - check Is NOTHING like WoW - check It dose not have itemisation (a full epic player is better than a green player by 2-5% at most) - check A player lvl 40 can kill a lvl 60 - AS INTENDED - check Has BattleKeep fights (48 vs 48) (bugged as hell atm) - been in 2 of them - and OMG did i Love it - check It has PLENTY of 'features' that favor to build a community/guild (need of ppl to work together for a common goal) - check It has RAID instances - bugged - not balanced - but due to the way close combat/healing/LineOfSight works - is alot more fun (for a healer) than WoW style All in all is a matter of taste - but imo for an old scool mmo gamer - is far more atractive than what the market offers atm. Prometeu - Bear Shaman - Wildsoul server
Sounds like it can be a pretty decent game in time... its like Vanguard all over again.
I have pretty much been trashing this game since a week after launch, I was pretty pissed I bought the game (still am).
However, if they...
added about 5x the current content (quests and big zones)
put in some serious work on boss encounters (does every fight have to be the exact same crap?)
fixed up the raiding
fixed the seige play
got the basic stats such as Wis, Int, Str etc... working, or just get rid of them (it was just the +mana +hps that did anything)
got the feats working
got the skills working or meaningul at least (runspeed perception etc..)
hired alot more GMs and got rid of the fanboi moderators on the forums
changed their whole company attitude towards the customers
had meaningful PvP with consequence and reward
not force vets to go through that GD PoS Tortage island everytime they make a new character (15 times is enough thanks)
fixed the low res textures that pop up on walls and roads and screw up the scenery
Then this game just might be worth playing someday!
Of course it will take them at least 2 years or so to add enough content to make it worthwhile IMO. And that would be a few expansions worth of content probably. Who the heck would pay them another 80-100 bucks just to get enough content for the game to be decent?
"I have only two out of my company and 20 out of some other company. We need support, but it is almost suicide to try to get it here as we are swept by machine gun fire and a constant barrage is on us. I have no one on my left and only a few on my right. I will hold." (First Lieutenant Clifton B. Cates, US Marine Corps, Soissons, 19 July 1918)
Yes its that bad, only good thing is graphics, if you want good you should play Guild Wars.
Is this on topic enough for you dear moderators?
Oh and btw. your inbox script is crashing my browsers (FF3 and IE7)
Played or Playing: Anarchy Online, Guild Wars, Age of Conan, Everquest II, City of Heroes, City of Villains, ArchLord, Dungeon Runners, Silkroad Online and loads of not worth mentioning F2P mmos ]
I am enjoying it, my wife is enjoying and three friends are enjoying it. I fully admit there are huge problems and small ones but I enjoy playing it, when I don't I won't.
I can honestly say as a veteran of 10 years of MMORPG that AOC is the worst one I've played though it is close compared with CoH.
So in 10 years, you think this is the worse? How many have you played? 2?
...
Are you trying to derail the discussion into trying to figure out what is the worst game out of all the bad games?
Something being slightly better than the worst, does not suddenly make it good. It's like kicking yourself in a groin, so that you don't feel your headache anymore.
I've never looked into AoC to be honest, i knew WAR was coming and set my heart on it. Months ago it was known that both AoC and WAR will be released close together and the community here at mmorpg.com were 50/50 on which to go and play as their main mmo. Now, all i see is threads and posts about this game saying how bad it is, how it has failed and that even some people want their money back??? Is it really that bad? or did most people just expect to much from the game? A friend of mine plays the game and he says its not bad, but will continue with Lineage II. I'd just like some more reasons why not to try this game out encase WAR doesn't deliver.
This line right here makes no sense to me "I'd just like some more reasons why notto try this game out encase WAR doesn't deliver."
Why in the heck would you want people to give you reasons why you shouldn't play, it tells me that you want to hear others comments that bash the game. Why not say you want to hear pros and cons. Im not gonna call you a hater or a troll even though that line is typical of both.
I just don't think that line made any sense at all.
I can honestly say as a veteran of 10 years of MMORPG that AOC is the worst one I've played though it is close compared with CoH.
So in 10 years, you think this is the worse? How many have you played? 2?
...
Are you trying to derail the discussion into trying to figure out what is the worst game out of all the bad games?
Something being slightly better than the worst, does not suddenly make it good. It's like kicking yourself in a groin, so that you don't feel your headache anymore.
People are talking about this game like it's worse then that red headed step child, or that stray cat you took in last winter.
There really are tons of MMORPGs leaps and bounds worse. AoC really isn't that bad.
Just pony up the money and get a good computer. If you're playing it on your grandma's DELL from 1999, maybe that why it sucks.
Also I've heard just as many GOOD things are bad. Yes it was released with issues, but what MMORPG hasn't done this 100 times already? So why the horrible treatment?
It's like the hate people still have for SOE for SWG even when it was Lucas Arts who pushed SOE to make it retard proof and dumbed done... so people need to chill the **** out and understand you got a lemon and it's slowy being turned into lemon aid.
Stop being bitter, if you don't like it... STFU, stop crying, build a bridge and get over it. Don't play it and go back to World of Warcrap.
I can honestly say as a veteran of 10 years of MMORPG that AOC is the worst one I've played though it is close compared with CoH.
So in 10 years, you think this is the worse? How many have you played? 2?
...
Are you trying to derail the discussion into trying to figure out what is the worst game out of all the bad games?
Something being slightly better than the worst, does not suddenly make it good. It's like kicking yourself in a groin, so that you don't feel your headache anymore.
People are talking about this game like it's worse then that red headed step child, or that stray cat you took in last winter.
There really are tons of MMORPGs leaps and bounds worse. AoC really isn't that bad.
Just pony up the money and get a good computer. If you're playing it on your grandma's DELL from 1999, maybe that why it sucks.
Also I've heard just as many GOOD things are bad. Yes it was released with issues, but what MMORPG hasn't done this 100 times already? So why the horrible treatment?
It's like the hate people still have for SOE for SWG even when it was Lucas Arts who pushed SOE to make it retard proof and dumbed done... so people need to chill the **** out and understand you got a lemon and it's slowy being turned into lemon aid.
Stop being bitter, if you don't like it... STFU, stop crying, build a bridge and get over it. Don't play it and go back to World of Warcrap.
I didn't play SWG and wasn't there for the AO release. I think AOC is right smack in the middle of games from an overall standpoint. It doesn't have a lot of potential to be good though because they designed it to be a low challenge console game instead of a real MMORPG.
I can honestly say as a veteran of 10 years of MMORPG that AOC is the worst one I've played though it is close compared with CoH.
So in 10 years, you think this is the worse? How many have you played? 2?
...
Are you trying to derail the discussion into trying to figure out what is the worst game out of all the bad games?
Something being slightly better than the worst, does not suddenly make it good. It's like kicking yourself in a groin, so that you don't feel your headache anymore.
People are talking about this game like it's worse then that red headed step child, or that stray cat you took in last winter.
There really are tons of MMORPGs leaps and bounds worse. AoC really isn't that bad.
Just pony up the money and get a good computer. If you're playing it on your grandma's DELL from 1999, maybe that why it sucks.
Also I've heard just as many GOOD things are bad. Yes it was released with issues, but what MMORPG hasn't done this 100 times already? So why the horrible treatment?
It's like the hate people still have for SOE for SWG even when it was Lucas Arts who pushed SOE to make it retard proof and dumbed done... so people need to chill the **** out and understand you got a lemon and it's slowy being turned into lemon aid.
Stop being bitter, if you don't like it... STFU, stop crying, build a bridge and get over it. Don't play it and go back to World of Warcrap.
Meh, maybe a lemon tart but it will never be lemon aid.
"Censorship is never over for those who have experienced it. It is a brand on the imagination that affects the individual who has suffered it, forever." - Noam Chomsky
I'm glad i started this thread, many different opinions that really help make anyone who is considering this game think twice or go for it. I'll say it again though, it really does sound like this is another Vanguard, a game that COULD be the next big thing, just needs time to finish. Its one to watch i guess.
It will never be the next big thing. You got to nail the landing right from the start to have any shot at that. You can't go back and release it again for the first time. The damage is done. The best they can hope is a fair percentage (1/3) will try it out 6-12 months from now and like it then, as they wait for the next great mmo, that most likely won't happen because mmo's are built imo to disapoint.
AoC is in BETA. But not because of the usual reason.
Let's take a look at FunComs future plans, they are going to port AoC to XBOX360. The game is not even near any decent MMORPG considering few things:
1. Hitting lvl cap on your first toon takes you 2 weeks. Thats too short time to even give you the feeling MMORPG is supposed to give, you are the character.
2. UI is terrible and almost non configurable. it's made to accomodate few quickslots at a time and the rest are chosen by scrolling to another hotbar.
3. Crafting and economy are nonexistense. That might also be that they just don't know how to do that.
4. Fighting is based on hitting 5 odd keys + few combo/spell keys. Shield manipulating and active blocking are absolutely impossible to do when in fight, using keyboard+mouse. Pad, anyone?
5. Stats do nothing, at least nothing that makes any difference if you have them or not. Feature trees are simple and linear.
6. The game is HEAVILY instanced. I repeat, HEAVILY instanced. There's no immersion of a world, just the feeling of small pieces of maps.
Conclusion: They released to the biggest possible audience an unfinished game, and labeled it to MMORPG. You know, no matter how much they suck people will pay to play them because "They are freshborn infants, and will get better in the future." PC-players are beta testing while funding FunCom and the finalized product will be released on XBOX360. On console you can't release unfinished ****.
AoC is in BETA. But not because of the usual reason. Let's take a look at FunComs future plans, they are going to port AoC to XBOX360. The game is not even near any decent MMORPG considering few things: 1. Hitting lvl cap on your first toon takes you 2 weeks. Thats too short time to even give you the feeling MMORPG is supposed to give, you are the character. 2. UI is terrible and almost non configurable. it's made to accomodate few quickslots at a time and the rest are chosen by scrolling to another hotbar. 3. Crafting and economy are nonexistense. That might also be that they just don't know how to do that. 4. Fighting is based on hitting 5 odd keys + few combo/spell keys. Shield manipulating and active blocking are absolutely impossible to do when in fight, using keyboard+mouse. Pad, anyone? 5. Stats do nothing, at least nothing that makes any difference if you have them or not. Feature trees are simple and linear. 6. The game is HEAVILY instanced. I repeat, HEAVILY instanced. There's no immersion of a world, just the feeling of small pieces of maps. Conclusion: They released to the biggest possible audience an unfinished game, and labeled it to MMORPG. You know, no matter how much they suck people will pay to play them because "They are freshborn infants, and will get better in the future." PC-players are beta testing while funding FunCom and the finalized product will be released on XBOX360. On console you can't release unfinished ****.
AoC has a lot of faults and can become boring if you rush through the game but most of your points are simply not true...sorry.
1: 2 weeks to get to 80..yes for people who take it as a challenge to level as fast as poss. but no chance for your average player.
2:UI is bad but you can open 4 bars which is easily enough to accomodate all your skills and more.
3: Crafting has gotten a lot better over the last few months and economy seems to be actually levelling out now and as a crafter i can actually make money now.
4:arent all games like that? i actually as a Ranger use around 10 skills. And i definately take advantage of my opponents shielding, it makes up to 100% difference in my dps.
5:Stats i agree! skill tree's linear? yes you can't choose whatever you want but there needs to be some kind of order there.
6: Yes there are a lot of instances but for players like me that dont just rush from one area to another..for instance if i do a dungeon, i do it from start to finish nit just to kill a quest mob. then the instancing doesn't effect me that much....that ones purely opinion though and i understand it bothers a lot of people.
So come on lets be fair and criticise it for it's failings. i mean i dont give a monkey if it comes onto Xbox, how will that hurt me?
Comments
AOC has way too many issues to count ;(..... So much potential wasted........
Played : WOW, LOTRO, COH/COV, EQ2, SWG, and WAR.
Playing EVE Online and AOC.
Wtg for SW:TOR and WOD
The game simply doesn't work for me, from core performance issues, to core gameplay issues. Itemization that absolutely sucks and makes no difference what so ever. Random loot table stats that were obviously never QA'ed. Feats that don't work. Classes that are still broken/borked. No polished content beyond Tortage, and Tortage being repetitive garbage because EVERYBODY does the SAME EXACT ****, and the night time bull crap garbage makes this game nothing more than a pay to play single player with an AOL chatroom on the screen. A completely linear and non-explorable world, made even more linear and non explorable by the recent "invisible walls".
I lasted for 2 months until I was bored senseless. Add to the above a support staff that isn't capable of tying their shoes. Am I a hater? Yes, I hate the fact that FunCom is so ****ed up that they released such a half baked product.
Look it's not just about missing content, but poor coding and optimization. Their QA is laughable, their support is equally amusing, and don't get me started on their borked loot tables or broken dungeons for end content.
Massive sieges? More than 20 players and the instance laggs to hell and people are frozen booted/reconnected from the zone continuously. Massive my a**. I don't think they could have made this much worse if they had tried.
This looks like a product with good intentions but poor execution due to a company being disorganized and not holding people accountable. This is the second game I have watched them make a mess of. Gaute screwed the pooch on this one and wasted a chance to capture a big portion of the market.
Yes again, I am pissed about it. This had the potential to be greatness, but they ruined it. Baah, sorry guys. Wasting my breath here I am sure. But I just needed to vent after I uninstalled the game tonight.
CrazyRay
It's not the issues, bugs, or even the lack of content that bother me so much. It is the company attitude towards the customers and the Conan license. In their eyes Funcom > Customers and Funcom > REH.
Niether approach is healthy for business, and frankly, the people who are not pissed off about this are either a little submissive, or a little naive.
Error: 37. Signature not found. Please connect to my server for signature access.
I can honestly say as a veteran of 10 years of MMORPG that AOC is the worst one I've played though it is close compared with CoH.
AoC isn't bad .. just need more stuff to make it appealing.
Everything seem awesome, but I can't keep from getting bored in the game
Ok, let's hear it smart ass. Let's hear why AOC is worth playing seeing as we are all so drugged up that we dont know what we are talking about. What's different about AOC? Im just dying to know what these differences are. And does it really need to be explained to people every couple of posts that people are not saying that WoW is the innovator? What people are saying, if you had bothered to read or comprehend it, is that WoW has set the benchmarks in quality for all fantasy MMOS to be compared to.
If new MMOs are released and cannot at least even match the quality of the existing MMOs on the market, especially the one that is currently dominating the market, why would anyone even play the new game in the first place? Pardon me from being old fashioned about these concepts, but new games are supposed to offer something NEW or at the very very least give us improvements on existing concepts that justify the price of the box and subscription. When a new game comes on the market and just provides the same old nonsense that is already out there, albeit in a more badly designed and overall less functional package, is anyone surprised that people try it and say 'thanks, but no thanks' and consign it to the bin?
If you want an idea about how a company should at least aspire to innovate and improve on the common elements that have been there for a while, then have a look at some of the WAR concepts as outlined in the videos that are widely available on youtube. Just to take one small example, WAR will seemingly improve on the tired quest idea of 'Kill 50 goats' to succeed in the quest, as the server will count kills before you even touch the quest. So you can complete the quest before you have even had the quest. Now executing these innovations are a different matter from simply talking about them and only time will tell as to whether WAR gets it right, but what is certain, is that if the WAR customer service sucks, has terrible chat, party and guild interfaces and the core elements of the game are borked like they are in AOC, the game will fail anyway.
As has been said a million times before, we all expect new MMOs to have lots of bugs. This is not unique to AOC. What is specific to this game however is that the aspects of the game that were supposed to improve the genre are terrible or not even implemented yet, so we are basically left with a standard fare fantasy MMO that fails to meet the standards of the existing competition. It seems that the people that are sticking around with it are the masochists who dont mind doing kill and gathering quests for the billionth time as long as the scenery is a little different. Those of us who expect new products to offer improved levels of quality and interesting new ideas have all jumped ship and are waiting to see if WAR delivers on its promise.
So, if anyone needs to stop smoking dope, its those who are so cringingly supine about their gaming experiences that they will accept and pay for any old crap as long as it looks different and has a few stupid gimmicks thrown in to make it seem different from the existing material.
Looking forward to responding:
Ok, let's hear it smart ass. Let's hear why AOC is worth playing seeing as we are all so drugged up that we dont know what we are talking about. What's different about AOC? Im just dying to know what these differences are. And does it really need to be explained to people every couple of posts that people are not saying that WoW is the innovator? What people are saying, if you had bothered to read or comprehend it, is that WoW has set the benchmarks in quality for all fantasy MMOS to be compared to.
Never said you would find AOC worth playing. I responded specifically to a post that AOC is JUST LIKE WOW. it is not. I actually agree with you in this and if you search my posts you will see. Blizzard is not an innovator, they were just good at polishing up common MMO elements. However, you are mistaken in saying people are not claiming WOW is an innovator, if that were true no one would use the term "wow clone" would they? That simple statement says that WOW was the product that produced the common methodology. It was games like M59 and EQ that did that and Blizzard did a GREAT job at tightening them up.
If new MMOs are released and cannot at least even match the quality of the existing MMOs on the market, especially the one that is currently dominating the market, why would anyone even play the new game in the first place? Pardon me from being old fashioned about these concepts, but new games are supposed to offer something NEW or at the very very least give us improvements on existing concepts that justify the price of the box and subscription. When a new game comes on the market and just provides the same old nonsense that is already out there, albeit in a more badly designed and overall less functional package, is anyone surprised that people try it and say 'thanks, but no thanks' and consign it to the bin?
AOC was released early and not ready for prime time, like almost all MMOs, including WOW. Man do I recall the bitching about WOW PVP and Raids, and then when implemented about a half a year later or so you had to wait in massive queues to get into the raid locations. It took many more months to fix that. Just one example. I played WOW from late Beta to about 3 years in.
AOC combat is innovative and works well. You cannot button mash at highler levels and do need some strategy. I think this combat system can and will be improved upon (maybe even by Blizzard as they are good at that). I have not experienced nearly the level of "bugs" that many others have and have done plenty of awesome quests in AOC that I enjoyed. Good, solid stories like the quests in the Sanctum your epic/ story quests, plus many in the Tarantia Noble district and the Villa's. Loads of fun.
I think the MOB mentality on some sites has made AOC out to be far worse off than it is but that is my opinion. It is not yet in the best shape (Neither was WOW when in launched) but AOC is also not VG which was FAR worse off at launch and for long after.
If you want an idea about how a company should at least aspire to innovate and improve on the common elements that have been there for a while, then have a look at some of the WAR concepts as outlined in the videos that are widely available on youtube. Just to take one small example, WAR will seemingly improve on the tired quest idea of 'Kill 50 goats' to succeed in the quest, as the server will count kills before you even touch the quest. So you can complete the quest before you have even had the quest. Now executing these innovations are a different matter from simply talking about them and only time will tell as to whether WAR gets it right, but what is certain, is that if the WAR customer service sucks, has terrible chat, party and guild interfaces and the core elements of the game are borked like they are in AOC, the game will fail anyway.
I really hope that WAR, like AOC should have, lives up to the hype. It appears innovative in many ways but graphically which simply seem "on par". I am looking forward to WAR but we shall see. However, I myself have had to explain to people that Wahammer was around loooooong before WOW and the original Blizzard universe took many elements from Warhammer Fantasy. Still, it is referred to as a WOW clone. So I so disagree with you on this. Lots of people, perhaps hundreds of thousands, played WOW as their first MMO and everthing that has quest lines and quest givers and has an ability hot bar with hit point and stamina bars is "WoW like". They CLEARLY think that blizzard innovated these things. Glad to hear you know better.
As has been said a million times before, we all expect new MMOs to have lots of bugs. This is not unique to AOC. What is specific to this game however is that the aspects of the game that were supposed to improve the genre are terrible or not even implemented yet, so we are basically left with a standard fare fantasy MMO that fails to meet the standards of the existing competition. It seems that the people that are sticking around with it are the masochists who dont mind doing kill and gathering quests for the billionth time as long as the scenery is a little different. Those of us who expect new products to offer improved levels of quality and interesting new ideas have all jumped ship and are waiting to see if WAR delivers on its promise.
We will have to see if WAR delivers. My guess is they will remove a few more things before launch and we, the early adopters, will help fix the bugs on release. Now, don't get me wrong, I am a DAOC fan and think WAR will be a good game but I think, like AOC, and others it will launch with less than promised (as they are already pairing back) and will have content gaps and bugs on release.
So, if anyone needs to stop smoking dope, its those who are so cringingly supine about their gaming experiences that they will accept and pay for any old crap as long as it looks different and has a few stupid gimmicks thrown in to make it seem different from the existing material.
I happen to be a fan of the Conan universe and Robert Howard as well as some of the writers who penned books after him for the setting. The game feels like that world and I, for one, am actually enjoying it. I agree that the game will not be for everyone. Neither is WAR or LOTRO, or EVE or any other MMO. But the post launch improvements have been significant. lag is all but gone and meaningful conent is being added. I will probably end up playing this AND WAR for a whle as I am also a Wahammer fan. So I am not "cringingly supine" nor a "smart ass" in my statments and stand by the fact that, while you might know the difference, many DO think WOW innovated the common MMO features.
Actually, it's the hate for Funcom more than a hate of AoC. Funcom has been really poor in the customer support department, and really terrible in the bug-fxing department. Plus, they have no excuse. This is *not* Funcom's first MMO. They've been in this ballpark before and should *know the playing field*.
"I am handicapped...I'm psychotic."
Gameplay itself is fun. But the game is buggy like early SWG and the endgame is bad and boring.
Funcom also designed the game so if you are not in a guild with 60 to 120+ active players then you have little to do at lvl 80 and even then the endgame is not very exiting and extremely bugged.
And you do feel boxed in. We just calculated how big the gameworld is on the official boards. 42 square km! And that is the size of all the zones. Add in that in many zones you can only move around in 30 to 50% of the zone and you end up with a gameworld that is 5 to 10 times smaller than WoW at launch.
"You are the hero our legends have foretold will save our tribe, therefore please go kill 10 pigs."
Sounds like it can be a pretty decent game in time... its like Vanguard all over again.
I have pretty much been trashing this game since a week after launch, I was pretty pissed I bought the game (still am).
However, if they...
Then this game just might be worth playing someday!
Of course it will take them at least 2 years or so to add enough content to make it worthwhile IMO. And that would be a few expansions worth of content probably. Who the heck would pay them another 80-100 bucks just to get enough content for the game to be decent?
The Bar Brawls in Age of Conan are great though.
Oh wait, they're not included in the game yet!
"I have only two out of my company and 20 out of some other company. We need support, but it is almost suicide to try to get it here as we are swept by machine gun fire and a constant barrage is on us. I have no one on my left and only a few on my right. I will hold." (First Lieutenant Clifton B. Cates, US Marine Corps, Soissons, 19 July 1918)
Yes its that bad, only good thing is graphics, if you want good you should play Guild Wars.
Is this on topic enough for you dear moderators?
Oh and btw. your inbox script is crashing my browsers (FF3 and IE7)
Played or Playing: Anarchy Online, Guild Wars, Age of Conan, Everquest II, City of Heroes, City of Villains, ArchLord, Dungeon Runners, Silkroad Online and loads of not worth mentioning F2P mmos ]
Just my opinion...
No its not.
I am enjoying it, my wife is enjoying and three friends are enjoying it. I fully admit there are huge problems and small ones but I enjoy playing it, when I don't I won't.
Yup I agree with you, but hwat I like most is the dx10 graphics and the competent english speaking GMs. Or maybe the game stability/ perfomances.
I'm not a no life that sits in front of his computer all day long, I'm an intern that sits in front of his computer all day long.
So in 10 years, you think this is the worse? How many have you played? 2?
In my 13 years as a veteran, I can say this is better then A LOT of the crap I've played. But different folks, different strokes I suppose.
Do you think World of Warcraft is good?
i think AOC could be a great game, but right now it seems like it's in a beta stage still.
So in 10 years, you think this is the worse? How many have you played? 2?
...Are you trying to derail the discussion into trying to figure out what is the worst game out of all the bad games?
Something being slightly better than the worst, does not suddenly make it good. It's like kicking yourself in a groin, so that you don't feel your headache anymore.
This line right here makes no sense to me "I'd just like some more reasons why not to try this game out encase WAR doesn't deliver."
Why in the heck would you want people to give you reasons why you shouldn't play, it tells me that you want to hear others comments that bash the game. Why not say you want to hear pros and cons. Im not gonna call you a hater or a troll even though that line is typical of both.
I just don't think that line made any sense at all.
So in 10 years, you think this is the worse? How many have you played? 2?
...Are you trying to derail the discussion into trying to figure out what is the worst game out of all the bad games?
Something being slightly better than the worst, does not suddenly make it good. It's like kicking yourself in a groin, so that you don't feel your headache anymore.
People are talking about this game like it's worse then that red headed step child, or that stray cat you took in last winter.
There really are tons of MMORPGs leaps and bounds worse. AoC really isn't that bad.
Just pony up the money and get a good computer. If you're playing it on your grandma's DELL from 1999, maybe that why it sucks.
Also I've heard just as many GOOD things are bad. Yes it was released with issues, but what MMORPG hasn't done this 100 times already? So why the horrible treatment?
It's like the hate people still have for SOE for SWG even when it was Lucas Arts who pushed SOE to make it retard proof and dumbed done... so people need to chill the **** out and understand you got a lemon and it's slowy being turned into lemon aid.
Stop being bitter, if you don't like it... STFU, stop crying, build a bridge and get over it. Don't play it and go back to World of Warcrap.
- There really are tons of MMORPGs leaps and bounds worse. AoC really isn't that bad.
- Just pony up the money and get a good computer.
- Yes it was released with issues, but what MMORPG hasn't done this 100 times already?
- STFU, stop crying
- Don't play it and go back to World of Warcrap.
And there you have the standard responses summed up from the official boards.
So in 10 years, you think this is the worse? How many have you played? 2?
...Are you trying to derail the discussion into trying to figure out what is the worst game out of all the bad games?
Something being slightly better than the worst, does not suddenly make it good. It's like kicking yourself in a groin, so that you don't feel your headache anymore.
People are talking about this game like it's worse then that red headed step child, or that stray cat you took in last winter.
There really are tons of MMORPGs leaps and bounds worse. AoC really isn't that bad.
Just pony up the money and get a good computer. If you're playing it on your grandma's DELL from 1999, maybe that why it sucks.
Also I've heard just as many GOOD things are bad. Yes it was released with issues, but what MMORPG hasn't done this 100 times already? So why the horrible treatment?
It's like the hate people still have for SOE for SWG even when it was Lucas Arts who pushed SOE to make it retard proof and dumbed done... so people need to chill the **** out and understand you got a lemon and it's slowy being turned into lemon aid.
Stop being bitter, if you don't like it... STFU, stop crying, build a bridge and get over it. Don't play it and go back to World of Warcrap.
I didn't play SWG and wasn't there for the AO release. I think AOC is right smack in the middle of games from an overall standpoint. It doesn't have a lot of potential to be good though because they designed it to be a low challenge console game instead of a real MMORPG.
So in 10 years, you think this is the worse? How many have you played? 2?
...Are you trying to derail the discussion into trying to figure out what is the worst game out of all the bad games?
Something being slightly better than the worst, does not suddenly make it good. It's like kicking yourself in a groin, so that you don't feel your headache anymore.
People are talking about this game like it's worse then that red headed step child, or that stray cat you took in last winter.
There really are tons of MMORPGs leaps and bounds worse. AoC really isn't that bad.
Just pony up the money and get a good computer. If you're playing it on your grandma's DELL from 1999, maybe that why it sucks.
Also I've heard just as many GOOD things are bad. Yes it was released with issues, but what MMORPG hasn't done this 100 times already? So why the horrible treatment?
It's like the hate people still have for SOE for SWG even when it was Lucas Arts who pushed SOE to make it retard proof and dumbed done... so people need to chill the **** out and understand you got a lemon and it's slowy being turned into lemon aid.
Stop being bitter, if you don't like it... STFU, stop crying, build a bridge and get over it. Don't play it and go back to World of Warcrap.
Meh, maybe a lemon tart but it will never be lemon aid.
"Censorship is never over for those who have experienced it. It is a brand on the imagination that affects the individual who has suffered it, forever." - Noam Chomsky
It will never be the next big thing. You got to nail the landing right from the start to have any shot at that. You can't go back and release it again for the first time. The damage is done. The best they can hope is a fair percentage (1/3) will try it out 6-12 months from now and like it then, as they wait for the next great mmo, that most likely won't happen because mmo's are built imo to disapoint.
AoC is in BETA. But not because of the usual reason.
Let's take a look at FunComs future plans, they are going to port AoC to XBOX360. The game is not even near any decent MMORPG considering few things:
1. Hitting lvl cap on your first toon takes you 2 weeks. Thats too short time to even give you the feeling MMORPG is supposed to give, you are the character.
2. UI is terrible and almost non configurable. it's made to accomodate few quickslots at a time and the rest are chosen by scrolling to another hotbar.
3. Crafting and economy are nonexistense. That might also be that they just don't know how to do that.
4. Fighting is based on hitting 5 odd keys + few combo/spell keys. Shield manipulating and active blocking are absolutely impossible to do when in fight, using keyboard+mouse. Pad, anyone?
5. Stats do nothing, at least nothing that makes any difference if you have them or not. Feature trees are simple and linear.
6. The game is HEAVILY instanced. I repeat, HEAVILY instanced. There's no immersion of a world, just the feeling of small pieces of maps.
Conclusion: They released to the biggest possible audience an unfinished game, and labeled it to MMORPG. You know, no matter how much they suck people will pay to play them because "They are freshborn infants, and will get better in the future." PC-players are beta testing while funding FunCom and the finalized product will be released on XBOX360. On console you can't release unfinished ****.
AoC has a lot of faults and can become boring if you rush through the game but most of your points are simply not true...sorry.
1: 2 weeks to get to 80..yes for people who take it as a challenge to level as fast as poss. but no chance for your average player.
2:UI is bad but you can open 4 bars which is easily enough to accomodate all your skills and more.
3: Crafting has gotten a lot better over the last few months and economy seems to be actually levelling out now and as a crafter i can actually make money now.
4:arent all games like that? i actually as a Ranger use around 10 skills. And i definately take advantage of my opponents shielding, it makes up to 100% difference in my dps.
5:Stats i agree! skill tree's linear? yes you can't choose whatever you want but there needs to be some kind of order there.
6: Yes there are a lot of instances but for players like me that dont just rush from one area to another..for instance if i do a dungeon, i do it from start to finish nit just to kill a quest mob. then the instancing doesn't effect me that much....that ones purely opinion though and i understand it bothers a lot of people.
So come on lets be fair and criticise it for it's failings. i mean i dont give a monkey if it comes onto Xbox, how will that hurt me?