One of my posts was deleted because of trolling. However, my statement I made was not trolling. There are going to be people that absolutely love the game and there are going to be people that absolutely hate the game. I believe that's what a forum is about. My post I made was not trolling in anyway and I point shame in the mods direction for labeling it as 'Troll'
Again, there are going to be people on both sides of the board expressing their opinion and because a mod here feels like he's overstepping his boundaries and feels threatened by a post and labels it "trolling" when in fact the post wasn't anywhere near trolling. This is a forum, where people discuss things. If i'm not able to "ney say", then what use are these forums?
Hey that's ok..
I had a post deleted because I said I resubscribed to AoC.
The reason was I was thread hi-jacking.
I wrote to them of course with no response.
You speak of "ney say" well.. how exactly is saying you resubscribed to a game in a thread about THAT GAME getting a new game director... Thread Hi Jacking.
I do not question moderation.. as its not allowed.
What I do question is how the above can be considered thread hi jacking. As I would like to see an explination on how discussing resubscribing to a game with a new director is not on topic... (not the actual moderation act). However, obviously one ties to the other.. but one cannot be expected to "not hi jack a thread" when it would seem logical to discuss returning to a game that has a new game director.
Thus the confusion.
*note*
I'd also like to think that the reasoning wasn't due to my signature.. because I'm not going to modify it for every thread.
Sorry, But I have to correct you on this... On Bloodspire there are quite a few brand new players coming through on their first toon...I know this cause they tell me...also its quite obvious when they start asking directions lol.
It was meant in the most possible of cynicism. But honestly, Funcom should just shut their doors and admit they messed up. I and quite a few of the AoC launch people are saddened and griefed by Funcom's demise. AoC could have been something new and revolutionary, but in turn we get the usual "It's your fault for buying it" routine. Funcom deserves every cynical response they can get and i'm not stopping until they fess up that they messed up royally. I want an apology, a formal apology. Not some washed up, gleaned over response from Erling. I want the faces we know from Funcom to formally apologize to EVERYONE for their mistakes. But until then, they will get nothing.
Well, Gaute resigned, Erling HAS apologized and he's the voice of the company... I'm not sure what else you want. You want to be angry, that's cool. You have every right to be, but that just seems like an odd request.
Perhaps you could provide a link to this apology. The only thing ive seen from Erling is PC double speak about how he "understands" how or why the base feels a certain way. Nothing close to an apology or even an acknowledgment they lied, misrepresented, or in any way shape or form did anything wrong.
Some interesting stuff in the interview, but hopefully some more new stuff will come in the next part. What he said in this interview was more or less known for anyone following the game. I'd love to get some info about what new content they have in mind for the endgame (third wing of T2 raiding, T3 raiding, PvP stuff, etc) in the next one.
Some interesting stuff in the interview, but hopefully some more new stuff will come in the next part. What he said in this interview was more or less known for anyone following the game. I'd love to get some info about what new content they have in mind for the endgame (third wing of T2 raiding, T3 raiding, PvP stuff, etc) in the next one.
the problem with this is imho that he probably isnt in a position to say
"hey lets hire another 20 devs" or "hey lets spend $100k on outsourcing" to really improve the game fast.
i think what he can do is find little tweaks that are easy to implement and bring new live into the game (like i.e. a ladder and special prices for minigames) but he cant miraclously double the content overnight or have the code that messed up loot, gems and raiding streamlined in a few weeks.
seeing a game like ddo do such huge progress with a small subscription base i hope (in contrast to many funcom haters) that fc has the stamina to survive and stabilce growing aoc slowly into the game many people fell in love with but were broken hearded.
if your bored, visit my blog at: http://craylon.wordpress.com/ dealing with the look of mmos with the nvidia 3d vision glasses
the problem with this is imho that he probably isnt in a position to say "hey lets hire another 20 devs" or "hey lets spend $100k on outsourcing" to really improve the game fast.
i think what he can do is find little tweaks that are easy to implement and bring new live into the game (like i.e. a ladder and special prices for minigames) but he cant miraclously double the content overnight or have the code that messed up loot, gems and raiding streamlined in a few weeks.
Yea, I know they have their focus elsewhere at the moment, but new content is what people need in the long run. So I still would like the interviewer to ask what Craig's (and the team's) thoughts are for new endgame content.
Also remember that FC is a rather large company. As far as I know they got at four MMO teams at the moment: AO, AoC, TSW and an unannounced game. With AoC of course having the most devs at the moment, they are in a position where they can pull devs from the teams of the two games they are developing. They also got a team for the new Dreamfall game, and if needed they can pull people away from that as well if necessary.
Originally posted by craynlon seeing a game like ddo do such huge progress with a small subscription base i hope (in contrast to many funcom haters) that fc has the stamina to survive and stabilce growing aoc slowly into the game many people fell in love with but were broken hearded.
It's very likely that FC will continue to develop AoC. They are in a healthy economical situation (just take a look at their Q2 numbers), and AO is providing a steady income even if we do not know if AoC is doing that at the moment. My guess is that even with all the heat AoC has received, it still got more players than AO ever had and will provide FC with income for many years. So yea, they will develop AoC, and we can just hope that they will develop it into a very good game (that remains to be seen though:)
Well - lets put it this way. Im now in a WAR guild that left AOC (about 50 ppl) cause the game was not what they were lookig for (the game they had in mind playing). And I know of alot more big guilds that have large numbers of players that gave up on AOC.
That does not make WAR a perfect game. But it is more of a game that players are looking for. And the most important part. It is WORKING. Mythic made sure that the important factors of the game were working. Basic MMO features like grouping (witch was broken in CB 90% of the time in AOC) RVR and scenarios. Items are tested and have a value (but not all you will need) and the class abilities are tested and resonably balanced (ofc not perfect).
All these features of AOC were broken at launch. AOC Players have been paying for a game now that has been fixing these BASIC features of a MMO. Thats not acceptable. And since they can not actully drasticly change the things that NEED drastic changes (only minor tweaks like new GD said) there is simply no way this game can ever be anything major in terms of MMO.
Lets not forget that at this point in time - while the whole banking system is struggling - games like AOC that obviously are struggling will not have ANY guranty to even be online in 6-12 months time. This is just a fact and I hope players will understand this and pick their MMO game based on this. MMOs are after all a long term journey.
There are those who say that this is all too little, too late for Age of Conan. Can you speak to that?
Craig Morrison:
There will always be the merchants of doom!..."
erm, how about you answer the bloody question you were asked rather than wax lyrical about your dream MMO. Personally I feel insulted that you lay at my feet, the responsibility for this game not measuring up to its promise, with my unfeasibly high expections.
Dont know about the rest of you... but I expected it to do exactly what it said on the box. Was that too much to ask? Am I a merchant of Doom when I say that Funcom has a massive Credibility deficit to recover before I will ever cross their palms with my silver again?
It was meant in the most possible of cynicism. But honestly, Funcom should just shut their doors and admit they messed up. I and quite a few of the AoC launch people are saddened and griefed by Funcom's demise. AoC could have been something new and revolutionary, but in turn we get the usual "It's your fault for buying it" routine. Funcom deserves every cynical response they can get and i'm not stopping until they fess up that they messed up royally. I want an apology, a formal apology. Not some washed up, gleaned over response from Erling. I want the faces we know from Funcom to formally apologize to EVERYONE for their mistakes. But until then, they will get nothing.
Well, Gaute resigned, Erling HAS apologized and he's the voice of the company... I'm not sure what else you want. You want to be angry, that's cool. You have every right to be, but that just seems like an odd request.
I agree with Stradden
They have fixed a good chunk of the launch issues, the game is still really young, so there is ALWAYS going to be issues to work through. People expect the game to come out flawlessly and BE that way 4 months after launch? That doesn't make any sense, and isn't a realistic request with a game like Age of Conan. I understand the disappointment, I understand the frustration, I understand people wanting more, but let's be honest. Look at everything they have done over the past few months, a short time in a MMO's life, to fix as many issues as possible, while adding in features people want to see. Nobody is giving them a fair break, once they fix a handful, people want two handfuls, once they do that, people want 3 handfuls, so look at it from their perspective. Look how short a time it has taken them to fix the bugs, to fix the performance, to add the new content in comparison to other games which can take a year, or even two years to fix and add half of what Funcom has. (Not going to mention which title I'm speaking of).
The way I see it, if you were once really looking forward to Age of Conan, wait a couple of big updates, than try it out again. If you're one of the people who's going to naysay everything, please do it to your own group of friends, or try it out again, too and see if it changes your mind at all.
I pity all these poor, naive people who jumped to purchase / pre-order Age of Conan but who were not aware of, or did not understand, from actually researching things beyond FunCom's hype, that AoC's release in May 2008 was 'way too early and obviously the epitome of a train wreck waiting to happen.
Age of Conan's May 20, 2008 release, with the game far from ready for release, was rushed to obtain a much needed influx of cash. Age of Conan released as an early closed beta product and, nearly five months after release, AoC remains a closed beta product.
The glass is half full, or half empty -- depends on how you look at it -- but even now, your Age of Conan MMO product is still half of what it should be, although I will agree that some progress has been made in improving the game since release.
Stradden, you need to understand what "release quality" means. While it's true that a number of other MMOs, including WoW, experienced considerable birthing problems getting from closed beta to release quality, the extremely obvious fact of life to be learned here is that the MMO community *requires* that an MMO, on the date available for purchase, is a "release quality" product.
Cutting through the hype and BS, the correct label for an MMO that is *NOT* release quality is called *CLOSED BETA.*
Is there any wonder that people, even those who like AoC and see the games potential, are reacting adversely to paying to play a closed beta product?
An MMO doesn't have to be "finished." In fact, all but the most naive among us knows that any decent MMO is actually never finished. But each box must be put on the shelves for purchase by potential customers as a release quality game.
If anyone still has trouble wrapping their mind around this concept, examples of release quality MMOs that went live as release quality games include Warhammer On Line, Lord of the Rings Online, Dark Age of Camelot, Lineage II, and Guild Wars. Examples of release quality failures include Age of Conan (of course), Star Wars Galaxy, and Vanguard: Saga of Heros. Of course, there are a lot more successes and more release quality failures as well. As I said, I could place World of Warcraft of the release quality failure list, as I was there at release day when Blizzard was panicking, scrambling to hire hundreds of CSRs & GMs and the log in queues were hours long for months on end and even when you got im game, a plethora of issues plagued the player. Took about 6 months for Blizzard to "shake out" the game to release quality.
I, for one, tire of people serving us their whine with their cheese about "FailCom." You know what? We've heard it all before -- hundreds if not thousands of times. Here's a Kleenex. Move on.
I for one did the entire closed beta for Age of Conan until a month after the game's retail release (yes, closed beta continued after release until the TestLive server went up). When the Q&A Lead annouced closed beta was ending and thanked us, stating we could purchase the game, start a retail subscription and continue to test the game on the TestLive server, I, like most of my fellow beta testers, refused to pay FunCom to continue to test their closed beta product.
I have friends who still play AoC. I keep up on the pulse of the industry, including FunCom and AoC. I have every confidence that Age of Conan will eventually reach release quality. Craig Morrison is an excellent, proven leader who will get the game to greatness.
I purchased a box for $10 from one of the folks who left Age of Conan in disgust so I'm ready to come back when Age of Conan reaches release quality!
It was meant in the most possible of cynicism. But honestly, Funcom should just shut their doors and admit they messed up. I and quite a few of the AoC launch people are saddened and griefed by Funcom's demise. AoC could have been something new and revolutionary, but in turn we get the usual "It's your fault for buying it" routine. Funcom deserves every cynical response they can get and i'm not stopping until they fess up that they messed up royally. I want an apology, a formal apology. Not some washed up, gleaned over response from Erling. I want the faces we know from Funcom to formally apologize to EVERYONE for their mistakes. But until then, they will get nothing.
Well, Gaute resigned, Erling HAS apologized and he's the voice of the company... I'm not sure what else you want. You want to be angry, that's cool. You have every right to be, but that just seems like an odd request.
Agreed...
I mean, look at SWG, Vanguard and SOE, or LOTRO, DDO and Turbine..
I have yet to get an apology OR my money back for that wasted hard drive space..
But, I did learn my lesson and just said "No" to WAR!
Sad thing is, aside from LOTRO, WAR had very nice launch. What stinks is that AoC has made lots of people *gun-shy* so to speak in that we're/they're afraid of being done the same way by *any* new MMO. My wife and I both swore that we would wait at least a year before trying *any* new MMO based on how wrong we were done by Funcom and their disastrous AoC. But, we were able to make it into the WAR open-beta and have to admit that it was a refreshing, fun experience. We've still decided to wait, mind you, before switching to WAR. But, WAR is definitely a sound prospect for future gaming...at least for us.
My point is this: I think you may have said *no* to the wrong MMO. Good luck and have fun in whatever game you do choose :P.
Stradden, you need to understand what "release quality" means. While it's true that a number of other MMOs, including WoW, experienced considerable birthing problems getting from closed beta to release quality, the extremely obvious fact of life to be learned here is that the MMO community *requires* that an MMO, on the date available for purchase, is a "release quality" product.
Do I? I'm sorry, but I can't actually rtecall commenting on the quality of the release one way or the other. All I said was that by way of visible apology, you have an apology from Erling and Gaute's resignation. That's what I said.
Now that you've schooled me on what "release quality" means, I'll be sure to get it right when I don't mention it in other posts.
It was meant in the most possible of cynicism. But honestly, Funcom should just shut their doors and admit they messed up. I and quite a few of the AoC launch people are saddened and griefed by Funcom's demise. AoC could have been something new and revolutionary, but in turn we get the usual "It's your fault for buying it" routine. Funcom deserves every cynical response they can get and i'm not stopping until they fess up that they messed up royally. I want an apology, a formal apology. Not some washed up, gleaned over response from Erling. I want the faces we know from Funcom to formally apologize to EVERYONE for their mistakes. But until then, they will get nothing.
Well, Gaute resigned, Erling HAS apologized and he's the voice of the company... I'm not sure what else you want. You want to be angry, that's cool. You have every right to be, but that just seems like an odd request.
I'm sorry if I seem obtuse, but when did erling apologize for the mistakes made in the game?
I try to keep up with AoC, since I do like the IP, but I must have missed Erling's apology.
I'm not saying that I trust mr. "steak and wine" but it would be nice to see a little bit of honesty from Funcom for a change.
Funcom lied, cheated and riped off so many. That will be with them forever. No matter what changes they will be known for that.
And to sit here and ack like THIS new guy had NO PART in any of AoC before he took over.
So whats changed? ..... Nothing. They still dont talk to the public. Oh you get that DEV that says.. "I guess I should post there here too (US servers) since I posted it on the EU side"" OM*G Still no promises nothing has changed. Everyone STILL looks the same. Nothing to do when your lvl 80. You still lvl super fast..
In the last part he talks about what we had in our head that AOC would be. Well Mr. Director, if was not in our heads it was on your box, so stop with the same old AOC bullshit.
It was meant in the most possible of cynicism. But honestly, Funcom should just shut their doors and admit they messed up. I and quite a few of the AoC launch people are saddened and griefed by Funcom's demise. AoC could have been something new and revolutionary, but in turn we get the usual "It's your fault for buying it" routine. Funcom deserves every cynical response they can get and i'm not stopping until they fess up that they messed up royally. I want an apology, a formal apology. Not some washed up, gleaned over response from Erling. I want the faces we know from Funcom to formally apologize to EVERYONE for their mistakes. But until then, they will get nothing.
Well, Gaute resigned, Erling HAS apologized and he's the voice of the company... I'm not sure what else you want. You want to be angry, that's cool. You have every right to be, but that just seems like an odd request.
Agreed...
I mean, look at SWG, Vanguard and SOE, or LOTRO, DDO and Turbine..
I have yet to get an apology OR my money back for that wasted hard drive space..
But, I did learn my lesson and just said "No" to WAR!
Sad thing is, aside from LOTRO, WAR had very nice launch. What stinks is that AoC has made lots of people *gun-shy* so to speak in that we're/they're afraid of being done the same way by *any* new MMO. My wife and I both swore that we would wait at least a year before trying *any* new MMO based on how wrong we were done by Funcom and their disastrous AoC. But, we were able to make it into the WAR open-beta and have to admit that it was a refreshing, fun experience. We've still decided to wait, mind you, before switching to WAR. But, WAR is definitely a sound prospect for future gaming...at least for us.
My point is this: I think you may have said *no* to the wrong MMO. Good luck and have fun in whatever game you do choose :P.
Peace.
Actually I did not pick the wrong MMO. I tried WAR, and was thoroughly unimpressed with it's backwards looking engine and old school mechanics with a different skin.
I am looking forward and want my game to try something new for a change. No matter what you call it..PQ's, Tomes, etc...they all equal the same game we have already played in the past.
This is why I have more hope that AoC will turn around. The engine is future proofed, the mechanics change it up a little, and there seems to be a story, compared to WAR which is about...War!.
I think I will stick out AoC, as the setting fits my tastes, and the game at least pushed to move the genre forward...no matter how badly Funcom mucked it up..
Stradden, you need to understand what "release quality" means. While it's true that a number of other MMOs, including WoW, experienced considerable birthing problems getting from closed beta to release quality, the extremely obvious fact of life to be learned here is that the MMO community *requires* that an MMO, on the date available for purchase, is a "release quality" product.
Do I? I'm sorry, but I can't actually rtecall commenting on the quality of the release one way or the other. All I said was that by way of visible apology, you have an apology from Erling and Gaute's resignation. That's what I said.
Now that you've schooled me on what "release quality" means, I'll be sure to get it right when I don't mention it in other posts.
You appear to have chosen to avoid the core of the issue.
It's veritably implied that most players (the few who posted this demand here by exception) don't "demand an apology from anyone, really.
On a positive note, it's nice to see you understand what the cruz of the problem with Age of Conan is. WTG, dude.
Stradden, you need to understand what "release quality" means. While it's true that a number of other MMOs, including WoW, experienced considerable birthing problems getting from closed beta to release quality, the extremely obvious fact of life to be learned here is that the MMO community *requires* that an MMO, on the date available for purchase, is a "release quality" product.
Do I? I'm sorry, but I can't actually rtecall commenting on the quality of the release one way or the other. All I said was that by way of visible apology, you have an apology from Erling and Gaute's resignation. That's what I said.
Now that you've schooled me on what "release quality" means, I'll be sure to get it right when I don't mention it in other posts.
Please provide a link to said apology,only thing in concrete is Gaute's resignation.
im afraid its too late for aoc and the damage has already been done and substantially at that
next time read the interview before saying such non-argumented things
I think he did read the interview. Fixing the faults now is not going to win back the hearts of the launch. You think we want a free month? You think we want something for nothing? We already got nothing for something. Again, and I think I speak for everyone that bought AoC and is no longer playing it, We don't care about a free month. We're just not going back to it.
I can 100% confirm that you don't speak for everyone.
im afraid its too late for aoc and the damage has already been done and substantially at that
next time read the interview before saying such non-argumented things
I think he did read the interview. Fixing the faults now is not going to win back the hearts of the launch. You think we want a free month? You think we want something for nothing? We already got nothing for something. Again, and I think I speak for everyone that bought AoC and is no longer playing it, We don't care about a free month. We're just not going back to it.
I can 100% confirm that you don't speak for everyone.
I concur, I shall be back and would bring friends also.
But I don't care for a free month, I'd rather them use that $$$ to improve the game.
I respect the view of the new editor... but its his job to put a positive spin on the product he supports... anyone who has worked in a corporation before knows that in most cases the person who tows the company line best, usually get the management jobs...
I dont blame him, I blame Funcom for spitting out a very rough product... now that they are seeing how repulsed the community was by what they offered, they are doing the right thing and trying to retool... pretty much what every MMO producer does when they squeeze a lemon... so no surprise there...
For me, the damage has been done...they took my 50 bucks, and for how high the hype bar was set, disapointed me completely... I was REALLY torqued at the outset... now it has settled to "oh well, live and learn" attitude... I won't go back, and thats Funcoms lesson as well. So I hope its the same end attitude they and other MMO's take from it...... and learn
I really, really, really wanted to like AoC, but the PvP was just pointless.
From what I read now, PvP is just a gankfest as people try to farm for PvP gear. Where are the mercenaries? Where are the epic seige fights? (Yes, I participated in seige fights, and they were bugged and far from epic). Where is blood money?
Sigh, all this AoC could have been...
Now, WAR has PvE and PvP fully implemented at launch. It may not be the best game graphically, but it provided the content it was promissed and the PvP is fun enough.
I hope the new game director can make AoC shine, but I doubt I'll come back. Perhaps a free month once all the bugs are worked out and the game has a fully functional PvP system in place, I might try it again.
AoC is leaps and bounds a better game now from where it was at launch. The improvements to the game in the last 3 weeks alone have 100% re-instilled my faith in the game. Gone are the technical issues that plagued the game. Sieges are working in all of their glory. The new PvP system is finally partially live, with the second phase coming within weeks. Crafting is being overhauled, a huge new zone for 50+ almost here, which will be one of the best zones in the game.
AoC is within inches of being the game people wanted at launch. I suspect by early 2009 a lot more people will be looking at, or coming back to AoC.
AoC is leaps and bounds a better game now from where it was at launch. The improvements to the game in the last 3 weeks alone have 100% re-instilled my faith in the game. Gone are the technical issues that plagued the game. Sieges are working in all of their glory. The new PvP system is finally partially live, with the second phase coming within weeks. Crafting is being overhauled, a huge new zone for 50+ almost here, which will be one of the best zones in the game. AoC is within inches of being the game people wanted at launch. I suspect by early 2009 a lot more people will be looking at, or coming back to AoC.
I hope you are right. I never had a huge problem with the game -- I didn't like FC as a company. We'll see if they can change that in the near future with their new leadership. I'm still waiting until the promised stuff actually happens before I even consider giving it another try. FC made too many promises about this or that coming soon and it never happened (as of today anyway).
I'm sure Craig will do a great job since he did for AO a game i still play and enjoy even after the crap launch it had back in 2001, and while it has a small playerbase funcon still supports it and is making updates.
So i'm sure AoC will improve and for us that don't race to lvl max level in 2 days the lacking end game content is a moot point and while people have the right to play that way my guess is that end game content is not the most important part at launch.
As for not getting the moneys worth out of a game that is not exactly uncommon be it in an mmo or a singleplayer game, take assassins creed, i bought it played for 20 minutes then haven't started it again should i be able to get a refund?
Comments
Hey that's ok..
I had a post deleted because I said I resubscribed to AoC.
The reason was I was thread hi-jacking.
I wrote to them of course with no response.
You speak of "ney say" well.. how exactly is saying you resubscribed to a game in a thread about THAT GAME getting a new game director... Thread Hi Jacking.
I do not question moderation.. as its not allowed.
What I do question is how the above can be considered thread hi jacking. As I would like to see an explination on how discussing resubscribing to a game with a new director is not on topic... (not the actual moderation act). However, obviously one ties to the other.. but one cannot be expected to "not hi jack a thread" when it would seem logical to discuss returning to a game that has a new game director.
Thus the confusion.
*note*
I'd also like to think that the reasoning wasn't due to my signature.. because I'm not going to modify it for every thread.
*end edit*
Sorry, But I have to correct you on this... On Bloodspire there are quite a few brand new players coming through on their first toon...I know this cause they tell me...also its quite obvious when they start asking directions lol.
Well, Gaute resigned, Erling HAS apologized and he's the voice of the company... I'm not sure what else you want. You want to be angry, that's cool. You have every right to be, but that just seems like an odd request.
Perhaps you could provide a link to this apology. The only thing ive seen from Erling is PC double speak about how he "understands" how or why the base feels a certain way. Nothing close to an apology or even an acknowledgment they lied, misrepresented, or in any way shape or form did anything wrong.
Some interesting stuff in the interview, but hopefully some more new stuff will come in the next part. What he said in this interview was more or less known for anyone following the game. I'd love to get some info about what new content they have in mind for the endgame (third wing of T2 raiding, T3 raiding, PvP stuff, etc) in the next one.
the problem with this is imho that he probably isnt in a position to say
"hey lets hire another 20 devs" or "hey lets spend $100k on outsourcing" to really improve the game fast.
i think what he can do is find little tweaks that are easy to implement and bring new live into the game (like i.e. a ladder and special prices for minigames) but he cant miraclously double the content overnight or have the code that messed up loot, gems and raiding streamlined in a few weeks.
seeing a game like ddo do such huge progress with a small subscription base i hope (in contrast to many funcom haters) that fc has the stamina to survive and stabilce growing aoc slowly into the game many people fell in love with but were broken hearded.
if your bored, visit my blog at:
http://craylon.wordpress.com/ dealing with the look of mmos with the nvidia 3d vision glasses
Also remember that FC is a rather large company. As far as I know they got at four MMO teams at the moment: AO, AoC, TSW and an unannounced game. With AoC of course having the most devs at the moment, they are in a position where they can pull devs from the teams of the two games they are developing. They also got a team for the new Dreamfall game, and if needed they can pull people away from that as well if necessary.
It's very likely that FC will continue to develop AoC. They are in a healthy economical situation (just take a look at their Q2 numbers), and AO is providing a steady income even if we do not know if AoC is doing that at the moment. My guess is that even with all the heat AoC has received, it still got more players than AO ever had and will provide FC with income for many years. So yea, they will develop AoC, and we can just hope that they will develop it into a very good game (that remains to be seen though:)Well - lets put it this way. Im now in a WAR guild that left AOC (about 50 ppl) cause the game was not what they were lookig for (the game they had in mind playing). And I know of alot more big guilds that have large numbers of players that gave up on AOC.
That does not make WAR a perfect game. But it is more of a game that players are looking for. And the most important part. It is WORKING. Mythic made sure that the important factors of the game were working. Basic MMO features like grouping (witch was broken in CB 90% of the time in AOC) RVR and scenarios. Items are tested and have a value (but not all you will need) and the class abilities are tested and resonably balanced (ofc not perfect).
All these features of AOC were broken at launch. AOC Players have been paying for a game now that has been fixing these BASIC features of a MMO. Thats not acceptable. And since they can not actully drasticly change the things that NEED drastic changes (only minor tweaks like new GD said) there is simply no way this game can ever be anything major in terms of MMO.
Lets not forget that at this point in time - while the whole banking system is struggling - games like AOC that obviously are struggling will not have ANY guranty to even be online in 6-12 months time. This is just a fact and I hope players will understand this and pick their MMO game based on this. MMOs are after all a long term journey.
"MMORPG.com:
There are those who say that this is all too little, too late for Age of Conan. Can you speak to that?
Craig Morrison:
There will always be the merchants of doom!..."
erm, how about you answer the bloody question you were asked rather than wax lyrical about your dream MMO. Personally I feel insulted that you lay at my feet, the responsibility for this game not measuring up to its promise, with my unfeasibly high expections.
Dont know about the rest of you... but I expected it to do exactly what it said on the box. Was that too much to ask? Am I a merchant of Doom when I say that Funcom has a massive Credibility deficit to recover before I will ever cross their palms with my silver again?
fair enough...
DOOM! DOOM!
GET YOUR DOOM RIGHT HERE!!
WTS DOOM GOING CHEAP PST!!
Well, Gaute resigned, Erling HAS apologized and he's the voice of the company... I'm not sure what else you want. You want to be angry, that's cool. You have every right to be, but that just seems like an odd request.
I agree with Stradden
They have fixed a good chunk of the launch issues, the game is still really young, so there is ALWAYS going to be issues to work through. People expect the game to come out flawlessly and BE that way 4 months after launch? That doesn't make any sense, and isn't a realistic request with a game like Age of Conan. I understand the disappointment, I understand the frustration, I understand people wanting more, but let's be honest. Look at everything they have done over the past few months, a short time in a MMO's life, to fix as many issues as possible, while adding in features people want to see. Nobody is giving them a fair break, once they fix a handful, people want two handfuls, once they do that, people want 3 handfuls, so look at it from their perspective. Look how short a time it has taken them to fix the bugs, to fix the performance, to add the new content in comparison to other games which can take a year, or even two years to fix and add half of what Funcom has. (Not going to mention which title I'm speaking of).
The way I see it, if you were once really looking forward to Age of Conan, wait a couple of big updates, than try it out again. If you're one of the people who's going to naysay everything, please do it to your own group of friends, or try it out again, too and see if it changes your mind at all.
I pity all these poor, naive people who jumped to purchase / pre-order Age of Conan but who were not aware of, or did not understand, from actually researching things beyond FunCom's hype, that AoC's release in May 2008 was 'way too early and obviously the epitome of a train wreck waiting to happen.
Age of Conan's May 20, 2008 release, with the game far from ready for release, was rushed to obtain a much needed influx of cash. Age of Conan released as an early closed beta product and, nearly five months after release, AoC remains a closed beta product.
The glass is half full, or half empty -- depends on how you look at it -- but even now, your Age of Conan MMO product is still half of what it should be, although I will agree that some progress has been made in improving the game since release.
Stradden, you need to understand what "release quality" means. While it's true that a number of other MMOs, including WoW, experienced considerable birthing problems getting from closed beta to release quality, the extremely obvious fact of life to be learned here is that the MMO community *requires* that an MMO, on the date available for purchase, is a "release quality" product.
Cutting through the hype and BS, the correct label for an MMO that is *NOT* release quality is called *CLOSED BETA.*
Is there any wonder that people, even those who like AoC and see the games potential, are reacting adversely to paying to play a closed beta product?
An MMO doesn't have to be "finished." In fact, all but the most naive among us knows that any decent MMO is actually never finished. But each box must be put on the shelves for purchase by potential customers as a release quality game.
If anyone still has trouble wrapping their mind around this concept, examples of release quality MMOs that went live as release quality games include Warhammer On Line, Lord of the Rings Online, Dark Age of Camelot, Lineage II, and Guild Wars. Examples of release quality failures include Age of Conan (of course), Star Wars Galaxy, and Vanguard: Saga of Heros. Of course, there are a lot more successes and more release quality failures as well. As I said, I could place World of Warcraft of the release quality failure list, as I was there at release day when Blizzard was panicking, scrambling to hire hundreds of CSRs & GMs and the log in queues were hours long for months on end and even when you got im game, a plethora of issues plagued the player. Took about 6 months for Blizzard to "shake out" the game to release quality.
I, for one, tire of people serving us their whine with their cheese about "FailCom." You know what? We've heard it all before -- hundreds if not thousands of times. Here's a Kleenex. Move on.
I for one did the entire closed beta for Age of Conan until a month after the game's retail release (yes, closed beta continued after release until the TestLive server went up). When the Q&A Lead annouced closed beta was ending and thanked us, stating we could purchase the game, start a retail subscription and continue to test the game on the TestLive server, I, like most of my fellow beta testers, refused to pay FunCom to continue to test their closed beta product.
I have friends who still play AoC. I keep up on the pulse of the industry, including FunCom and AoC. I have every confidence that Age of Conan will eventually reach release quality. Craig Morrison is an excellent, proven leader who will get the game to greatness.
I purchased a box for $10 from one of the folks who left Age of Conan in disgust so I'm ready to come back when Age of Conan reaches release quality!
Well, Gaute resigned, Erling HAS apologized and he's the voice of the company... I'm not sure what else you want. You want to be angry, that's cool. You have every right to be, but that just seems like an odd request.
Agreed...
I mean, look at SWG, Vanguard and SOE, or LOTRO, DDO and Turbine..
I have yet to get an apology OR my money back for that wasted hard drive space..
But, I did learn my lesson and just said "No" to WAR!
Sad thing is, aside from LOTRO, WAR had very nice launch. What stinks is that AoC has made lots of people *gun-shy* so to speak in that we're/they're afraid of being done the same way by *any* new MMO. My wife and I both swore that we would wait at least a year before trying *any* new MMO based on how wrong we were done by Funcom and their disastrous AoC. But, we were able to make it into the WAR open-beta and have to admit that it was a refreshing, fun experience. We've still decided to wait, mind you, before switching to WAR. But, WAR is definitely a sound prospect for future gaming...at least for us.
My point is this: I think you may have said *no* to the wrong MMO. Good luck and have fun in whatever game you do choose :P.
Peace.
"I am handicapped...I'm psychotic."
Do I? I'm sorry, but I can't actually rtecall commenting on the quality of the release one way or the other. All I said was that by way of visible apology, you have an apology from Erling and Gaute's resignation. That's what I said.
Now that you've schooled me on what "release quality" means, I'll be sure to get it right when I don't mention it in other posts.
Cheers,
Jon Wood
Managing Editor
MMORPG.com
Well, Gaute resigned, Erling HAS apologized and he's the voice of the company... I'm not sure what else you want. You want to be angry, that's cool. You have every right to be, but that just seems like an odd request.
I'm sorry if I seem obtuse, but when did erling apologize for the mistakes made in the game?
I try to keep up with AoC, since I do like the IP, but I must have missed Erling's apology.
I'm not saying that I trust mr. "steak and wine" but it would be nice to see a little bit of honesty from Funcom for a change.
Funcom lied, cheated and riped off so many. That will be with them forever. No matter what changes they will be known for that.
And to sit here and ack like THIS new guy had NO PART in any of AoC before he took over.
So whats changed? ..... Nothing. They still dont talk to the public. Oh you get that DEV that says.. "I guess I should post there here too (US servers) since I posted it on the EU side"" OM*G Still no promises nothing has changed. Everyone STILL looks the same. Nothing to do when your lvl 80. You still lvl super fast..
In the last part he talks about what we had in our head that AOC would be. Well Mr. Director, if was not in our heads it was on your box, so stop with the same old AOC bullshit.
Well, Gaute resigned, Erling HAS apologized and he's the voice of the company... I'm not sure what else you want. You want to be angry, that's cool. You have every right to be, but that just seems like an odd request.
Agreed...
I mean, look at SWG, Vanguard and SOE, or LOTRO, DDO and Turbine..
I have yet to get an apology OR my money back for that wasted hard drive space..
But, I did learn my lesson and just said "No" to WAR!
Sad thing is, aside from LOTRO, WAR had very nice launch. What stinks is that AoC has made lots of people *gun-shy* so to speak in that we're/they're afraid of being done the same way by *any* new MMO. My wife and I both swore that we would wait at least a year before trying *any* new MMO based on how wrong we were done by Funcom and their disastrous AoC. But, we were able to make it into the WAR open-beta and have to admit that it was a refreshing, fun experience. We've still decided to wait, mind you, before switching to WAR. But, WAR is definitely a sound prospect for future gaming...at least for us.
My point is this: I think you may have said *no* to the wrong MMO. Good luck and have fun in whatever game you do choose :P.
Peace.
Actually I did not pick the wrong MMO. I tried WAR, and was thoroughly unimpressed with it's backwards looking engine and old school mechanics with a different skin.
I am looking forward and want my game to try something new for a change. No matter what you call it..PQ's, Tomes, etc...they all equal the same game we have already played in the past.
This is why I have more hope that AoC will turn around. The engine is future proofed, the mechanics change it up a little, and there seems to be a story, compared to WAR which is about...War!.
I think I will stick out AoC, as the setting fits my tastes, and the game at least pushed to move the genre forward...no matter how badly Funcom mucked it up..
Do I? I'm sorry, but I can't actually rtecall commenting on the quality of the release one way or the other. All I said was that by way of visible apology, you have an apology from Erling and Gaute's resignation. That's what I said.
Now that you've schooled me on what "release quality" means, I'll be sure to get it right when I don't mention it in other posts.
You appear to have chosen to avoid the core of the issue.
It's veritably implied that most players (the few who posted this demand here by exception) don't "demand an apology from anyone, really.
On a positive note, it's nice to see you understand what the cruz of the problem with Age of Conan is. WTG, dude.
Do I? I'm sorry, but I can't actually rtecall commenting on the quality of the release one way or the other. All I said was that by way of visible apology, you have an apology from Erling and Gaute's resignation. That's what I said.
Now that you've schooled me on what "release quality" means, I'll be sure to get it right when I don't mention it in other posts.
Please provide a link to said apology,only thing in concrete is Gaute's resignation.
next time read the interview before saying such non-argumented things
I think he did read the interview. Fixing the faults now is not going to win back the hearts of the launch. You think we want a free month? You think we want something for nothing? We already got nothing for something. Again, and I think I speak for everyone that bought AoC and is no longer playing it, We don't care about a free month. We're just not going back to it.
I can 100% confirm that you don't speak for everyone.
next time read the interview before saying such non-argumented things
I think he did read the interview. Fixing the faults now is not going to win back the hearts of the launch. You think we want a free month? You think we want something for nothing? We already got nothing for something. Again, and I think I speak for everyone that bought AoC and is no longer playing it, We don't care about a free month. We're just not going back to it.
I can 100% confirm that you don't speak for everyone.
I concur, I shall be back and would bring friends also.
But I don't care for a free month, I'd rather them use that $$$ to improve the game.
I respect the view of the new editor... but its his job to put a positive spin on the product he supports... anyone who has worked in a corporation before knows that in most cases the person who tows the company line best, usually get the management jobs...
I dont blame him, I blame Funcom for spitting out a very rough product... now that they are seeing how repulsed the community was by what they offered, they are doing the right thing and trying to retool... pretty much what every MMO producer does when they squeeze a lemon... so no surprise there...
For me, the damage has been done...they took my 50 bucks, and for how high the hype bar was set, disapointed me completely... I was REALLY torqued at the outset... now it has settled to "oh well, live and learn" attitude... I won't go back, and thats Funcoms lesson as well. So I hope its the same end attitude they and other MMO's take from it...... and learn
Peace...
I really, really, really wanted to like AoC, but the PvP was just pointless.
From what I read now, PvP is just a gankfest as people try to farm for PvP gear. Where are the mercenaries? Where are the epic seige fights? (Yes, I participated in seige fights, and they were bugged and far from epic). Where is blood money?
Sigh, all this AoC could have been...
Now, WAR has PvE and PvP fully implemented at launch. It may not be the best game graphically, but it provided the content it was promissed and the PvP is fun enough.
I hope the new game director can make AoC shine, but I doubt I'll come back. Perhaps a free month once all the bugs are worked out and the game has a fully functional PvP system in place, I might try it again.
AoC is leaps and bounds a better game now from where it was at launch. The improvements to the game in the last 3 weeks alone have 100% re-instilled my faith in the game. Gone are the technical issues that plagued the game. Sieges are working in all of their glory. The new PvP system is finally partially live, with the second phase coming within weeks. Crafting is being overhauled, a huge new zone for 50+ almost here, which will be one of the best zones in the game.
AoC is within inches of being the game people wanted at launch. I suspect by early 2009 a lot more people will be looking at, or coming back to AoC.
I hope you are right. I never had a huge problem with the game -- I didn't like FC as a company. We'll see if they can change that in the near future with their new leadership. I'm still waiting until the promised stuff actually happens before I even consider giving it another try. FC made too many promises about this or that coming soon and it never happened (as of today anyway).
I started a general thread/poll to get a feel for where folks might go after a questionable launch...
http://www.mmorpg.com/discussion2.cfm/thread/207333
I'm sure Craig will do a great job since he did for AO a game i still play and enjoy even after the crap launch it had back in 2001, and while it has a small playerbase funcon still supports it and is making updates.
So i'm sure AoC will improve and for us that don't race to lvl max level in 2 days the lacking end game content is a moot point and while people have the right to play that way my guess is that end game content is not the most important part at launch.
As for not getting the moneys worth out of a game that is not exactly uncommon be it in an mmo or a singleplayer game, take assassins creed, i bought it played for 20 minutes then haven't started it again should i be able to get a refund?