Look, it's really quite simple. The mechanics for spending hours and hours of time trying to get the best gear in the game are there already. There are tiered raids, rare drops, you name it... all those mechanics exist. The problem is, that currently the best gear doesn't actually mean much.
With the notable exception of the pvp gear that is bought once you earn enough pvp experience, items really don't seem to do all that much. Sure, we all go through the motions, but really is there much agonizing necessary over whether to use the 0.8% resist against cold gloves, or the 0.9% resist against cold gloves?
What's happened is that someone at Funcom figured out that if you're going to make people work for months to get epic items, that the epic items ought to actually be functionally valuable.
That said, how the changes will work in practice is what's important. For that, we have to wait til they push it to the test server.
I respect Funcom for their original design idea for AoC. They tried to make the original Conan stories into a MMO world, and they tried to compromise as little as possible - thus they retained the brutality, sexuality, and spirit of the original Conan stories. This took a lot of courage. Yes, gear is a main driver for MMORPGs, but in the Conan stories gear played virtually no part. Conan did not have a special sword, a special axe, a special shield, a special armour, or anything of the sort. What is special about Conan is Conan himself, not his belongings.
Conan took whatever gear he could find and used it without fuss. Sometimes this was standard issue equipment from whatever army he happened to be a part of, sometimes it was his own gear. Never at any point in any original Conan story are his possessions of any relevance.
What Funcom did with the combat and the gear system was original and innovative. Unfortunately, they shot themselves in the foot by releasing the game a year or more early, and they do not seem to have compensated for the fact that steep gear progression has become an (unfortunate) industry standard.
Now they are turning away from at least one of their core design ideas. IMO that is never a good idea, particularly for a game that has had such a shaky start and such a poor record. I for one am disappointed that "RPG" increasingly means ""identical characters that can be customized via equipped items".
I've been playing AOC since July '08. And the game has definitely come a long way. Funcom is doing a good job (even if I wish some changes would come along even faster; like Tarantia Commons and The House of Crom.
I think that the changes to the gear system seem balanced ... it's not like suddenly people with blue stuff will be snot-kicking all the green equipped people. I'd like to hear more on some stuff like the social items (They are coming down the pipes, too) and abodes for characters (with some extra storage slots and maybe some kind social perks.)
I also applaud Morrison and co. for not rushing. Yeah, the game was rough at the beginning, but they would've buried it totally if they'd just started being reactionary and scrambling to be all things to all people.
More solo dungeons would be great! It'd be cool if they put some mid (50s) and high level (70s) solo stuff in Tortage or Conall's Valley just to get a neat mix of people in some of the lower level play zones. Give people reasons to return to them, other than to recruit for guilds. It might even encourage some higher level solo-oriented folks to help small groups or raids.
More adult content would be welcome (not lame porno-like stuff mind you: but yeah, sexy armor, naughty quests, and more tavern oriented fun.) I support the coliseum ... stick it in Zelata or Khemi.
If I have a complaint it's that I'm tired of hearing all the negativity from people who don't play it now (or maybe ever), and just want to take a leak on things (like LOTR online, Warhammer Online, and AOC) that weren't exactly WOW from the get go.
Keep on truckin'. I'm looking forward to what '09 and '10 will bring along. Give us the new item system and let us see what it's all about!
Comments
Look, it's really quite simple. The mechanics for spending hours and hours of time trying to get the best gear in the game are there already. There are tiered raids, rare drops, you name it... all those mechanics exist. The problem is, that currently the best gear doesn't actually mean much.
With the notable exception of the pvp gear that is bought once you earn enough pvp experience, items really don't seem to do all that much. Sure, we all go through the motions, but really is there much agonizing necessary over whether to use the 0.8% resist against cold gloves, or the 0.9% resist against cold gloves?
What's happened is that someone at Funcom figured out that if you're going to make people work for months to get epic items, that the epic items ought to actually be functionally valuable.
That said, how the changes will work in practice is what's important. For that, we have to wait til they push it to the test server.
I respect Funcom for their original design idea for AoC. They tried to make the original Conan stories into a MMO world, and they tried to compromise as little as possible - thus they retained the brutality, sexuality, and spirit of the original Conan stories. This took a lot of courage. Yes, gear is a main driver for MMORPGs, but in the Conan stories gear played virtually no part. Conan did not have a special sword, a special axe, a special shield, a special armour, or anything of the sort. What is special about Conan is Conan himself, not his belongings.
Conan took whatever gear he could find and used it without fuss. Sometimes this was standard issue equipment from whatever army he happened to be a part of, sometimes it was his own gear. Never at any point in any original Conan story are his possessions of any relevance.
What Funcom did with the combat and the gear system was original and innovative. Unfortunately, they shot themselves in the foot by releasing the game a year or more early, and they do not seem to have compensated for the fact that steep gear progression has become an (unfortunate) industry standard.
Now they are turning away from at least one of their core design ideas. IMO that is never a good idea, particularly for a game that has had such a shaky start and such a poor record. I for one am disappointed that "RPG" increasingly means ""identical characters that can be customized via equipped items".
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JULIE xx
I've been playing AOC since July '08. And the game has definitely come a long way. Funcom is doing a good job (even if I wish some changes would come along even faster; like Tarantia Commons and The House of Crom.
I think that the changes to the gear system seem balanced ... it's not like suddenly people with blue stuff will be snot-kicking all the green equipped people. I'd like to hear more on some stuff like the social items (They are coming down the pipes, too) and abodes for characters (with some extra storage slots and maybe some kind social perks.)
I also applaud Morrison and co. for not rushing. Yeah, the game was rough at the beginning, but they would've buried it totally if they'd just started being reactionary and scrambling to be all things to all people.
More solo dungeons would be great! It'd be cool if they put some mid (50s) and high level (70s) solo stuff in Tortage or Conall's Valley just to get a neat mix of people in some of the lower level play zones. Give people reasons to return to them, other than to recruit for guilds. It might even encourage some higher level solo-oriented folks to help small groups or raids.
More adult content would be welcome (not lame porno-like stuff mind you: but yeah, sexy armor, naughty quests, and more tavern oriented fun.) I support the coliseum ... stick it in Zelata or Khemi.
If I have a complaint it's that I'm tired of hearing all the negativity from people who don't play it now (or maybe ever), and just want to take a leak on things (like LOTR online, Warhammer Online, and AOC) that weren't exactly WOW from the get go.
Keep on truckin'. I'm looking forward to what '09 and '10 will bring along. Give us the new item system and let us see what it's all about!
IB