Thinking of coming back-help

DeadlyByDez · January 2009

So have been away since the first month of launch. After being disenchanted with the game because of left out features I left it to give it a chance. So how is the game looking now? Is the server pop here (I was on aquilonia) or would I have to re roll on another server? I would also like to lead a life of sin…ie be a bastard and kill/rob in discriminately. Can I do that now? Is the punishment system severe? Do you think that the game will eventually die and a resub might be a bit pointless?

Aceundor · January 2009

Oh, man! You are going to get a lot of fans and haters replying to your request. Lots of feelings in here regarding AoC. (im with the fanbois)

In general there are many players returning these days and more people playing. The feedback is mostly positive. I say give it a try. Use your buddy invite if you want a free trial first.

As to if the game will die or not, the answer is definatley no, Funcom still has money and will to continue with the game. Sr Managers just awarded themselves a bunch of shares so they would like to sell these at a higher price in a couple of years. The only way the shareprice is going to rize is if they fix AoC and get players back.

xpiher · January 2009

You can be a murder if you want and the punishment is painful if you chose to never work it off with grind, its gets expensive to travel around and buy pots at a higher price. However, there isn't any loss of loot, exp, or pvp points for dying.

In the next patch AoC is implementing a partial loot system with PvP resouces and giving PvP a little more meaning due to the introduction of these resouces (finite number at any time, and building BKs is going to be harder) but its not going to hurt anyone to die still. If you are looking for a UO or EvE style of FFA PvP you'll probably never be happy with what FC gives us in AoC.

The only thing that will cause the game to die is if FC closes their doors, and while every points to stock prices FC is still setting on a pretty big lump of cash caused by the box sales and they have to survive as a company. I'd expect the game to have at least an expansion or two before the doors get shut, but given FC track record with AO they'll probably keep this game profitable for years.

Tjommis · January 2009

I do not play on Aquilonia myself, but it is generally regarded as one of the servers with best population, so you are lucky with that one.

Asbo · January 2009

I am not a fanboi, nor a troll but I gave Funcom two chances and as far as I am concered they are now out...I beta tested both their games and both times they failed to listen to their testers. We told them on both occasions that niehter of their games were ready but they must of been under preassure both times as they just went ahead and have paid the price for that.

AO was a total flop on release beyond everyone worse nightmare, okay they managed to get a smooth AoC but soon after the holes started to show and when your paying public don't re-sub after the 30 days then you will always have problems bringing people back and they have lost my trust for sure.

In todays market place companies need to stand up and be counted and I for one will not support any of them who can not get their game to do what it says on the box. So I will never re-sub or buy another funcom product no matter how many people say they have improved la la laa 100%...

So tilt game over for me personally.

xpiher · January 2009

Publishing companies have a lot of cloute because they put up the capital to get the game on to CDs, and finished. The only way that any game will ever be released pretty much smoothly and bug free is if the production comapny and the publishing company are one in the same (Billzard EA with some games) or if the publishing company is new to the market (hopefully DF will prove this on the 22nd). If you expect a game to be launched without bug and nither of these apply, you are expecting to much.

Bureyku · January 2009

I recently resubbed to check it out. This MMO held a huge amount of potential for me. The game is a bit more optimized, but all of the problems that made me cancel the first time are still there.

- Itemization is horrible. I've never looked worse in an MMO than I do as a level 70 in Age of Conan. It is the only game where you will look worse the higher up you get.

- Community used to be pretty cool, but now 99% of what I came across were elitists. I asked for help on a quest I had taken long ago and couldn't remember I got flooded with replies like, 'Easy quest is easy.' Actually I had 6 different players slam me, and not one put any effort in to help across three zones.

- Now areas across the world seem entirely dead.

Honestly it is much worse for me this time around. Although I thoroughly enjoyed level 1-69 at launch. I had a great guild to play with and we dominated our server for the first couple months. It's sad really. It could have been something great.

silkworm · January 2009

Originally posted by xpiher

Publishing companies have a lot of cloute because they put up the capital to get the game on to CDs, and finished. The only way that any game will ever be released pretty much smoothly and bug free is if the production comapny and the publishing company are one in the same (Billzard EA with some games) or if the publishing company is new to the market (hopefully DF will prove this on the 22nd). If you expect a game to be launched without bug and nither of these apply, you are expecting to much.

I fail to see how a) unfinished equals the opposite of smoothly released and bugfree, cause AOC was and still is unfinished, aka with left out features, b) what kind of argument this sentence is supposed to be: "games can't be smoothly released and bug free, unless the development and publishing company are the same, or publishing company is new to the market". In my opinion, that's not an argument, that's nonsene.

As for the last sentence, I have to answer that if companies want to be rejected by the vast majority of their customers they are free to continue releasing unfinished products.

birdbone · January 2009

I re-subbed last week, logged in 3 char ranging from 42-70- ran around the cities/areas they were in and saw not a single soul. Rerolled out of boredom, crossed maybe 2 peeps while leveling 1-19. Bloodspire server. I feel the "re-sub" craze is a bunch of bs. I would not recommend it

Sovrath · January 2009

Oh I don't know, I resubbed just to play it casually for a bit. I had actually subbed when the game came out and did not have the performance issues that some players had. However, I was never really interested in the game, just wanted to see it.

In any case, I'm having a blast on "Set" server. I can't speak for the other areas but I do see many new players/alts in Tortage and have even helped a few with quests when needed. However, I'm mostly a solo player so not getting into a group is never a big deal for me.

I think it depends on what you want from the game. I just rolled a Herald of Xotli and I really like it which came as a bit of a surprise.

In any case, I'm always a believer that you can ask other's opinions but in the end you have to see for yourself.

xpiher · January 2009

Originally posted by birdbone
I re-subbed last week, logged in 3 char ranging from 42-70- ran around the cities/areas they were in and saw not a single soul. Rerolled out of boredom, crossed maybe 2 peeps while leveling 1-19. Bloodspire server. I feel the "re-sub" craze is a bunch of bs. I would not recommend it

You didn't reroll on a recommended server like the new people that have came to game did. Yes there are actually new people that came to the game, but people were mislead by others rerolling from dead servers.

Originally posted by silkworm
Originally posted by xpiher
Publishing companies have a lot of cloute because they put up the capital to get the game on to CDs, and finished. The only way that any game will ever be released pretty much smoothly and bug free is if the production comapny and the publishing company are one in the same (Billzard EA with some games) or if the publishing company is new to the market (hopefully DF will prove this on the 22nd). If you expect a game to be launched without bug and nither of these apply, you are expecting to much.

I fail to see how a) unfinished equals the opposite of smoothly released and bugfree, cause AOC was and still is unfinished, aka with left out features, b) what kind of argument this sentence is supposed to be: "games can't be smoothly released and bug free, unless the development and publishing company are the same, or publishing company is new to the market". In my opinion, that's not an argument, that's nonsene.
As for the last sentence, I have to answer that if companies want to be rejected by the vast majority of their customers they are free to continue releasing unfinished products.

My point was that the publisher basically determins when the game is launched, not the developer. The only time the developer has say is 1) They are publishing their own game like Blizzard does with WoW, ow 2) When the publishers is trying to break into the market with a successful launch like what DF hopefully will be. Its not rocket science.

Publisher make their money by getting as many boxes sold as possible, not off of long sub times. When a company has to rely on a publisher to launch their game they have to listen to their demands. This is what happened with WAR, AoC, and Vanguard. The publisher saw the most opportune time to make money, in AoC's case it was launching a "PvP game" before WAR, in WARs case it was launching before WotLK.

I'll say it again. If you want a game to have a bug free launch (smooth) and have everything they promised in the game prior to beta (complete) then only follow games that meet those two criteria. Or you'll be disappointed every time.

openedge1 · January 2009

Originally posted by xpiher

I'll say it again. If you want a game to have a bug free launch (smooth) and have everything they promised in the game prior to beta (complete) then only follow games that meet those two criteria. Or you'll be disappointed every time.

Agreed. Your best bet is Darkfall in that regards...coming your way sometime in the NEAR future...

(Will we still be playing MMO's in 2020?)

xpiher · January 2009

Originally posted by openedge1

Originally posted by xpiher

I'll say it again. If you want a game to have a bug free launch (smooth) and have everything they promised in the game prior to beta (complete) then only follow games that meet those two criteria. Or you'll be disappointed every time.

Agreed. Your best bet is Darkfall in that regards...coming your way sometime in the NEAR future...

(Will we still be playing MMO's in 2020?)

I did say hopefully dark fall will be the second type. FFXI had a great launch and Aion supposed is having a great launch as well and there are part of the first type (deve and publisher are the same people) so its not impossible, just rare.

Loke666 · January 2009

Originally posted by openedge1

Originally posted by xpihe

I'll say it again. If you want a game to have a bug free launch (smooth) and have everything they promised in the game prior to beta (complete) then only follow games that meet those two criteria. Or you'll be disappointed every time.

Agreed. Your best bet is Darkfall in that regards...coming your way sometime in the NEAR future...

(Will we still be playing MMO's in 2020?)

Eh, what? You best bet for that is Guildwars 2, the first games have fewer buggs in the beta than any other games had at launch, counting LOTRO.

Nothing I read from Beta leaks seems to say that DF will be any different from other MMOs in buggs, even though the US version might be quite bugg free whenever it will launch. It is far from vaporware as some trolls say but bugg free?

TOR will probably be quit bugg free also, Bioware don't release stuff too early.

And hopefully we finally will be playing some kind of VR games in 2020, the computers should be good enough for those around 2015 if things continue as now. But it depends on how harddrives will develop, those games needs a lot of memory.

DaveTT · January 2009

Originally posted by DeadlyByDez

So have been away since the first month of launch. After being disenchanted with the game because of left out features I left it to give it a chance. So how is the game looking now? Is the server pop here (I was on aquilonia) or would I have to re roll on another server? I would also like to lead a life of sin…ie be a bastard and kill/rob in discriminately. Can I do that now? Is the punishment system severe? Do you think that the game will eventually die and a resub might be a bit pointless?

Yes, i definitely recommend you to resub The game is much much better now, they have added and fixed ALOT of stuff.

Aquilonia has a pretty good pop, so you dont need to reroll. Anyway they are merging servers now so the pop will probably be even higher in a few weeks.

Yes you can live a life in sin, you can become a murderer ! you will be a outcast from the normal society ( the good guys ), you will not be abel to enter citys for example, ( guards will attack you )you will have your own murder camps were all the murderers hang out.

I personally really like to hunt murderers its always fun to kill them, and you get doubel xp for killing does B.......s hehe

Unfinished · January 2009

Originally posted by xpiher

Publishing companies have a lot of cloute because they put up the capital to get the game on to CDs, and finished. The only way that any game will ever be released pretty much smoothly and bug free is if the production comapny and the publishing company are one in the same (Billzard EA with some games) or if the publishing company is new to the market (hopefully DF will prove this on the 22nd). If you expect a game to be launched without bug and nither of these apply, you are expecting to much.

Pure speculation on your part, publishing deals vary greatly, sometimes investment and financing partnerships are part of the package, but more often a Publishing House only burn the discs, package them and distribute to retail (i.e. publish the title) and sometimes handle a portion of the advertising

The Publisher has been used as a scapegoat way too often lately in recent game failures, the real blame rests on the development company at the very least for not organizing a financing deal that gives them control over when a game launches and what state its in.

Most publishers have little to lose or gain if a game flops or goes platinum, they arent gettin the sub money, they get a good chunk of box sales, all they need is a launch.

Orphes · January 2009

Originally posted by Unfinished

Most publishers have little to lose or gain if a game flops or goes platinum, they arent gettin the sub money, they get a good chunk of box sales, all they need is a launch.

They can get positive reputation.

OriginalForm · January 2009

Originally posted by birdbone

I re-subbed last week, logged in 3 char ranging from 42-70- ran around the cities/areas they were in and saw not a single soul. Rerolled out of boredom, crossed maybe 2 peeps while leveling 1-19. Bloodspire server. I feel the "re-sub" craze is a bunch of bs. I would not recommend it

If you pick one of the higher populated servers, you would find that this is not the case. There are a lot of people who have resubbed and plenty of newcomers as well.

xpiher · January 2009

Originally posted by Unfinished

Originally posted by xpiher

Publishing companies have a lot of cloute because they put up the capital to get the game on to CDs, and finished. The only way that any game will ever be released pretty much smoothly and bug free is if the production comapny and the publishing company are one in the same (Billzard EA with some games) or if the publishing company is new to the market (hopefully DF will prove this on the 22nd). If you expect a game to be launched without bug and nither of these apply, you are expecting to much.

Pure speculation on your part, publishing deals vary greatly, sometimes investment and financing partnerships are part of the package, but more often a Publishing House only burn the discs, package them and distribute to retail (i.e. publish the title) and sometimes handle a portion of the advertising

The Publisher has been used as a scapegoat way too often lately in recent game failures, the real blame rests on the development company at the very least for not organizing a financing deal that gives them control over when a game launches and what state its in.

Most publishers have little to lose or gain if a game flops or goes platinum, they arent gettin the sub money, they get a good chunk of box sales, all they need is a launch.

Which is my point. Once the contract is signed its up to the publisher whether or not a push back or a delay can happen, and most publishers won't allow it.

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