Not much of a reimpression, but I'll throw my .02 in here;
Played it a bit after launch, seemed buggy, didn't actually *dislike* the game, just wasn't something I felt was worth a subscription at that time. Retrying it now...vastly, vastly improved.
However...
Absolutely the worst goddamn community I have ever seen in an MMO, any game, ever. It's almost like they are tripping over themselves to drive people *away* from this game. Like a pack of down-syndrome hyenas with a scent of blood, they trounce on anything they can. If anything drives me away, it'll be the people playing, not the game itself.
Katsma is Lithuanian for 'he who drinks used douche fluid'.
Absolutely the worst goddamn community I have ever seen in an MMO, any game, ever. It's almost like they are tripping over themselves to drive people *away* from this game. Like a pack of down-syndrome hyenas with a scent of blood, they trounce on anything they can. If anything drives me away, it'll be the people playing, not the game itself.
Amen, I guess some of these people never heard that the first impression is the most important one. if I had wanted to wait a week I would have titled the thread, my reimpression after a weeks play.
Jack you just lose all credibility in this thread (at least for me). I am not talking about first post, it can happend, but your next responses here are one of your worst (and you have made a lot of missteps before).
You seemed like rational hater so far, but thats over. You dont like AoC, its not your cup of tea, we get it, but this is starting to be cheap... really.
_____________________________ Mundus vult decipi, ergo decipiatur.
well just went from lvl 6 to lvl 10 in about a half hour, still no deaths, still just random clicking the icons. High point of the session was seeing a female character with the name Jiggletits running around topless. hell of a community you got here, just oozes role play
well just went from lvl 6 to lvl 10 in about a half hour, still no deaths, still just random clicking the icons. High point of the session was seeing a female character with the name Jiggletits running around topless. hell of a community you got here, just oozes role play
Not really a secret that this game has very little roleplaying going on. Not to say it is not there, just not as much as you see else where.
For every minute you are angry , you lose 60 seconds of happiness."-Emerson
You might have had more fun if you rerolled a character, but everything you say is pretty much true.
The thing that killed it for me was the PVP system. I had kept a rerolled twink guardian at level 25; trudged through the swarms of low level guilds and even joined one myself... FINALLY got to PVP level 1; highlight my PVP bar and discover the grind to PVP level 2 is ridiculously long.
Please developers, stop adding exp bars. Adding an EXP bar isn't a solution to every damn problem the game has.
I had some fun with my level 25 guardian. Outsmarting the swarms in underhalls, killing people in white sands... Then suddenly the swarm got twice as big; and the pvp degenerated into either exploiting the loading times between doors, or running to the guards / exit when your hp got low. Furthermore, there is still significant input lag during group PVP. Combos would run flawlessly for very small group combat and PVE, but once you got into the group vs group stuff; the abilities and combos lagged like no end. Mind you; this is on a machine that easily runs the game at max, all whilst mantaining a ping of 9-30.
In short, if you like MMORPGs you owe it to yourself to give this a shot. The great way they approach the PVE instances, the combat, and streamlined quest stacking make it a good PVE game. PVP is still, unfortunately flawed. FUN, don't get me wrong; it's very fun, but there are just too many problems for me to overlook. My suggestions...
- PLEASE add an option to skip the introduction tutorial. Fighting through picts with an ore is only fun for the first two times.
- People are staying level 18-20 to grind PVP levels. They just toss themselves into the giant fray and walk out for 0:3 KDRs and mounds of PVPXP. People should WANT to move forward in the game. PVP XP needs to be completely revamped if not removed.
- There are people who exploit loading times to easily win fights. For example, a lower level can goad you into a fight, and quickly click a zone door. He zones out and you attempt to follow him. As you're loading, you're being damaged by your attacker.
Personally, when I found myself grinding for hours on end making a new barbarian just to PVP in underhalls / white sands. I closed the game, uninstalled and canceled. I don't like being a victim of the giant swarm guilds, and I don't like being a part of them. Having tried both; this is an annoying custom I could really do without. I guess MMORPGs just aren't my thing anymore.
well just went from lvl 6 to lvl 10 in about a half hour, still no deaths, still just random clicking the icons. High point of the session was seeing a female character with the name Jiggletits running around topless. hell of a community you got here, just oozes role play
No wonder you're not having a good time, you're a CLICKER. hahahaha
I am simply amazed that JackDog is PLAYING EvE Online. If I had given Eve 30 mins or 2 hours or even 2 days of gameplay and based the game on that I would have quit playing. You keep following this ideal that the first 1/3 of the game better be damn good or the rest will suck.
TBH. I recently left AOC after over a year of daily play. (I got tired of the Tyranny Community) I have now picked up EvE Online and hitting the 2mil SP level. If you know anything about EvE you know that isnt much of a peak at the game. There is SO much more to come later on. But I only KNOW thi9s becuase I listen to others who have gotten there instead of making judgments like yours after really what equates to no more then 1 hour of game play in AOC.
well the combat does get a bit harder at around level 12, I died a couple of times now but saw no decrease in my stats or anything. I did collect the tombstone but saw no change in anything one way or the other in my characters stats. I thought there was supposed to be a debuff applied but if there is I have not seen it. Is it only at higher levels or something?
Anyway I am at 14.5 now and have to pay attention to the combos if I want to take on 2 or 3 even levels and survive. Latest impression is there is a hell of a lot of quests, more than enough to level and get equipment. Game still feels like it is in easy mode however. I did discover how to turn off the quest indicators on the mini map which helps make it feel more like a real game rather than follow the dots. LoTRO added that feature a while back also and I turn it off there also.
So far I still have not seen anything to make me want to pull out my charge card, but on the other hand the game is not terrible either. I did encounter 1 bug that I remember from launch. Once when my HoX used his hell breath the visual kept on and on till I zoned. Speaking of zones. Wicanna server White Sands on a Friday night 9 pm EST had 2. At launch there would have been ten or more. Still I have seen a number of players in and around Tortage, mostly Necros it seems but one or two were melee classes.
this will be my last up date on this thread till I leave Tortage.
i have been a observer of this site for sometime w/o joining or posting. i come here alot to get reveiws on games i been wanting to play. i get lots of good advice/reviews for you guys and gals. so w/ that being said...
i usually let a game make some sort of impact after launch b4 jumping into it. i have to say AoC was one i anticipated b4 launch and after was highly disappointed w/ the immeidate reviews. so it was on to a new game.
a month or so ago i for whatever reason decided to look back into it to see if any changes had been made. i have to say that the reviews i am reading now have given me a glimmer of hope for the new AoC. i am D/Ling the free trial right now as i type!
i do have a couple of questions b4 i jump in:
which server to play on? not looking for a PvP server to start w/, want a populated one though.
whats a good class for starting w/ to get the feel of the game?
thanks in advance...
lastly, i will try to give a good honest review when my free trial is over, just so i dont jump the gun. im hoping to get in good playing time this weekend
Games played:Warhammer, Atlantica, Vanguard, Tabula Rasa, Guild Wars, DDO, City of Heroes/Villians, Aion, and Global Agenda... Games playing: Age of Conan & EVE Games waiting for: SWTOR
- combat - slow as hell, even in LoTRO a minstrel is faster. However I never felt the slightest bit of danger or challenge. So far up to lvl 6 I have just randomly clicked buttons and managed to take down mobs two and three and sometimes four at a time even lvl. ~yawn~
You lost all credibility right there. There is NO class in any MMO EVER that is slower or more boring than a Lotro Minstrel.
to make it short and simple - combat - slow as hell, even in LoTRO a minstrel is faster. However I never felt the slightest bit of danger or challenge. So far up to lvl 6 I have just randomly clicked buttons and managed to take down mobs two and three and sometimes four at a time even lvl. ~yawn~ You lost all credibility right there. There is NO class in any MMO EVER that is slower or more boring than a Lotro Minstrel.
Actually... that used to be the case with the LOTRO minstrel but a few patches back they turned him into a lightning fast DPS-er!
FC-FamineFuncom Community ManagerMemberUncommonPosts: 278
Originally posted by wheelman73 lastly, i will try to give a good honest review when my free trial is over, just so i dont jump the gun. im hoping to get in good playing time this weekend
Can you PM me the link when you do? Would love to read as well.
Glen ''Famine'' Swan Senior Assistant Community Manager - Funcom
to make it short and simple - combat - slow as hell, even in LoTRO a minstrel is faster. However I never felt the slightest bit of danger or challenge. So far up to lvl 6 I have just randomly clicked buttons and managed to take down mobs two and three and sometimes four at a time even lvl. ~yawn~ You lost all credibility right there. There is NO class in any MMO EVER that is slower or more boring than a Lotro Minstrel.
Speaking of a lack of credibility, that was spoken like someone who never played a Minstrel after October 2007. In book 12 Minnies got a lot of love. From then till Moria they were actually a bit, or a lot depending on your view of things, really overpowered. A well played Minnie with good crafted armor could solo mobs that would stomp a similarly equipped and leveled classes into the ground. Even prior to Book 12 one had to at least pay attention to the combat and use the proper skills from level 1 on. But I digress, this is not about any other game it is about AoC in it's present state.
In response to the poster who just cares about the endgame. I have to have the desire to want to get to endgame before I will ever experience the endgame. For me it is more about the journey than the destination. Who would want to ride in the back of a donkey cart for a month to get to Vegas?
Back to topic. Is it just me or does the death penalty seem a bit on the light side?
edit- upon firing up the game crashed upon launch this morning. Ran verify database. Now it is doing a one hour plus re-patch at 700 KB/s download. Problems like this were what ruined the launch experience for me. Before some ass jumps in and tries to blame my hardware, I have not had any issues with any other software including 2 other MMOs and three or four single player games.
to make it short and simple - combat - slow as hell, even in LoTRO a minstrel is faster. However I never felt the slightest bit of danger or challenge. So far up to lvl 6 I have just randomly clicked buttons and managed to take down mobs two and three and sometimes four at a time even lvl. ~yawn~ You lost all credibility right there. There is NO class in any MMO EVER that is slower or more boring than a Lotro Minstrel.
Speaking of a lack of credibility, that was spoken like someone who never played a Minstrel after October 2007. In book 12 Minnies got a lot of love. From then till Moria they were actually a bit, or a lot depending on your view of things, really overpowered. A well played Minnie with good crafted armor could solo mobs that would stomp a similarly equipped and leveled classes into the ground. Even prior to Book 12 one had to at least pay attention to the combat and use the proper skills from level 1 on. But I digress, this is not about any other game it is about AoC in it's present state.
In response to the poster who just cares about the endgame. I have to have the desire to want to get to endgame before I will ever experience the endgame. For me it is more about the journey than the destination. Who would want to ride in the back of a donkey cart for a month to get to Vegas?
Back to topic. Is it just me or does the death penalty seem a bit on the light side?
edit- upon firing up the game crashed upon launch this morning. Ran verify database. Now it is doing a one hour plus re-patch at 700 KB/s download. Problems like this were what ruined the launch experience for me. Before some ass jumps in and tries to blame my hardware, I have not had any issues with any other software including 2 other MMOs and three or four single player games.
Yes death penalty is weak compared to a lot of games. See there is no time sink added, so to speak, with death.
Now, when you do die, you will notice ontop of your healthbars on the bottom a debuff (30) per death. These stack unless you get your tombstone back.
from like 35+ i started to die a whole lot, half from mobs and the other half from making risky moves on high cliffs and falling to my death. Especially choosing a squishy, as i am, or a hox, you will die an aweful lot, as aggro gets a bit crazy due to the sheer amount of mobs. You will be glad theres no xp deduction, and getting killed, even with a tombstone that can be reached easily, will start to be something you really try to avoid....however its not so drastic as to thwart you from taking risks and exploring.
but yeah death penalty is light compared to most games.
As far as the crash and redownload....never happend to me, but i gotta ask....did it prompt you with a option to reverify the database? If it did you probably could have kept playing without redownloading. Some people have more problems than others with mmo's and their hardware, not sure what ive done right to avoid such issues.
as far as the review goes, i cant wait to see what straw breaks your back so to speak....you seem on edge, looking for something to warrent a ragequit/forum rant. i wonder what it will be? At least youll be seeing the game in its prime if you stay for levels 25-50 (easily doable in the 2week trial with casual gameplay)
also i gotta ask....did you join a guild? wiccana has some solid "maturer" guilds as well as winning the prize of the unofficial RP server. Not sure if any advertise in trial chat though.
also...you do a little exploring yet? theres 3 maps to choose from leaving tortage, while they point you toward your races "home" map, i found it nice to bounce around the all. This will help you level quick as well, as you can easily knock out the starter quests per each map, and youll get a pretty good feel for the game as a whole.
I have played mmorpgs for almost 10 years and many of the games i ended up playing for at least a year was not extremely exciting for the first 5-10 levels. in most mmorpgs these levels are designed to get you accustomed to moving and the controls. Also, keep in mind you are playing an mmorpg, not a console game- they will not give you all the cool, max level skills right off the bat, and most likely you will be getting the most basic skills available.
I am disappointed with your review. It brings up valid points from the perspective of a mainstream player fairly new to the mmorpg genre, but lacks the insight of someone who really knows how mmorpgs work. Anyone who has played at least 5 mmorpgs can tell you that playing 1 hour into the game will not even scratch the surface of the real experience the game has to offer. Whenever i visit the aoc forums i see you troll here all the time. I thought that if you had the audacity to trash the game and prevent other people from playing, you would have at least know how to properly review an mmorpg.
Most memorable games: AoC(Tryanny PvP), RIFT, GW, GW2, Ragnarok Online, Aion, FFXI, FFXIV, Secret World, League of Legends (Silver II rank)
once again I guess I need to point out for the reading impaired this is not a review of the game, just a journal of my impressions as I start once aging in a game that failed to grab me a year ago.
Also yes it did offer me a chance to reverify the database, after reverification it started DL'ed 4 of 4. Upon restart same issue came up, so I reverified again and just now the game still refuses to start. I am now on my 3rd reverify.
once again I guess I need to point out for the reading impaired this is not a review of the game, just a journal of my impressions as I start once aging in a game that failed to grab me a year ago.
Also yes it did offer me a chance to reverify the database, after reverification it started DL'ed 4 of 4. Upon restart same issue came up, so I reverified again and just now the game still refuses to start. I am now on my 3rd reverify.
And I am glad it is causing issues. Here is my problem with your OP.
1. You have played twice before, you have hated on the game twice before, and from that second time you tried the game, have found all positive threads in this forum and have made negative comments about the game over and over. The "from a year ago" tact does not work when it was just a few months ago you were in the game last.
2. You have made it quite clear time and again that you think LOTRO is the best game, thus any comment you make is already skewed in its favor. For example, I think LOTRO is the worst game I have played (with Vanguard a very close second and WAR third)...thus any comparison I make is clouded by these views. I see no need to continue to discuss LOTRO, WAR or Vanguard...so, why do YOU continue to review this game?
3. You start from Tortage expecting the most static part of the game to make a difference to you, when it will not. Tortage has NOT changed, and will not. But, people can go and review the fact that everyone is of the concensus that Tortage is a polished starter zone, and considered an EXCELLENT starter zone. But, guess what...play it 4 or 5 times, it gets old...thus your review is old.
4. Loot is a snooze fest in all games at low level (yes, even the Precious LOTRO...unless it is from quest givers...guess what? same in AoC), Combat is simple and basic button presses in EVERY MMO. Basically you have illegetimized all pretense to a new impression by reiterating the same things you have reiterated before, and that everyone knows about every MMO. Just to give an idea, as you level, the loot changes considerably. Note my lower level vs higher levels of my character.
I fail to see the reasoning to continue to do this "reimpression" when it is a well know fact of how you feel about the game. All anyone needs to do is go over your forum posting history.
Until you play the game fully and experience the full game, I would like to suggest that you hold off on these "basic impressions" Everyone knows these stories, so time for a new record, as this particular song is getting old
once again I guess I need to point out for the reading impaired this is not a review of the game, just a journal of my impressions as I start once aging in a game that failed to grab me a year ago.
Also yes it did offer me a chance to reverify the database, after reverification it started DL'ed 4 of 4. Upon restart same issue came up, so I reverified again and just now the game still refuses to start. I am now on my 3rd reverify.
And I am glad it is causing issues. Here is my problem with your OP.
1. You have played twice before, you have hated on the game twice before, and from that second time you tried the game, have found all positive threads in this forum and have made negative comments about the game over and over. The "from a year ago" tact does not work when it was just a few months ago you were in the game last.
and here I thought 1.05 was a game changing patch and this veteran trial was for those of us who had bought and played the game before and did not care for it.
Also since I am seeing the exact same bugs and problems I saw at launch I have to really question how much it really has changed or if thet is all BS. So far I have seen some pretty drastic changes in performance, but that is about all.
2. You have made it quite clear time and again that you think LOTRO is the best game, thus any comment you make is already skewed in its favor. For example, I think LOTRO is the worst game I have played (with Vanguard a very close second and WAR third)...thus any comparison I make is clouded by these views. I see no need to continue to discuss LOTRO, WAR or Vanguard...so, why do YOU continue to review this game?
LoTRO is my favorite fantasy based MMORPG right now, and EvE is my favorite Sci Fi. Before LoTRO EQII was my favorite and through the years DAoC, SWG, and UO spent many many months on my hard drive. This wqas Funcom and AoC's chance to get me to spend money once again on it.
3. You start from Tortage expecting the most static part of the game to make a difference to you, when it will not. Tortage has NOT changed, and will not. But, people can go and review the fact that everyone is of the concensus that Tortage is a polished starter zone, and considered an EXCELLENT starter zone. But, guess what...play it 4 or 5 times, it gets old...thus your review is old.
I started in Tortage all over again for a couple of reasons. First of all it has been months since I played. If the game indeed does get challenging at higher levels then I would expect that a mid 20's HoX would be a lot harder to setp back into than redoing and relearning from scratch.
I also wanted to see what the game would seem like to a new player just starting off, someone doing the trial for example.
As you said though, after redoing Tortage 4 or 5 times it does get old. I realize that FC does give vets one insta 50. But that is just one
4. Loot is a snooze fest in all games at low level (yes, even the Precious LOTRO...unless it is from quest givers...guess what? same in AoC), Combat is simple and basic button presses in EVERY MMO. Basically you have illegetimized all form of "review" this may be by reiterating the same things you have reiterated before, and that everyone knows about every MMO. Just to give an idea, as you level, the loot changes considerably. Note my lower level vs higher levels of my character.
I fail to see the reasoning to continue to do this "reimpression" when it is a well know fact of how you feel about the game. All anyone needs to do is go over your forum posting history.
Until you play the game fully and experience the full game, I would like to suggest that you hold off on these "basic impressions" Everyone knows these stories, so time for a new record, as the song is getting old
Thanks
If the game cannot win me over in the two weeks or 30 days it will never win me over. bad part is that I was almost starting to enjoy the game a bit by the time I logged off last night, and this morning is deja vu of launch all over again. between that and the constant personal attacks in this thread by the so called community have really got me to wondering if it is really worth the bother of trying to fix it.
By the way I do have a mid 20's HoX also so if the game ever gets to where I can restart it I may log him in to check out post Tortage AoC. But then if the game only gets better post 25, post 30, or post 50 it is no wonder the population is in the toilet.
Oh and once again the reason for this reimpression is to let Funcom know exactly what I as a returning player ythink about the game since all of the "changes" If they don't get honest opinions the game will be destined for Horizons, vanguard territory before long.
edit- upon firing up the game crashed upon launch this morning. Ran verify database. Now it is doing a one hour plus re-patch at 700 KB/s download. Problems like this were what ruined the launch experience for me. Before some ass jumps in and tries to blame my hardware, I have not had any issues with any other software including 2 other MMOs and three or four single player games.
I never have such issues, but its lucky that such issues have mostly people who dont want to play anyway...
_____________________________ Mundus vult decipi, ergo decipiatur.
edit- upon firing up the game crashed upon launch this morning. Ran verify database. Now it is doing a one hour plus re-patch at 700 KB/s download. Problems like this were what ruined the launch experience for me. Before some ass jumps in and tries to blame my hardware, I have not had any issues with any other software including 2 other MMOs and three or four single player games.
I never have such issues, but its lucky that such issues have mostly people who dont want to play anyway...
the real question is if you did have such issues would you still want to play? I really want to give the game a chance. How many people who did have such problems stuck with the game. At launch I went as far as reformatting my hard drive to get the game running again. I think I really wanted to play.
edit 3 reverifies/redownloads of file 4 of 4 now with no luck. Feedback sent to Funcom, guess this is a chance to test the customer service
I found Tortage to be the most enjoyable part of the game. :S I think the quality & conherence of the questing aspect of the game falls apart after you leave Tortage.
notice the title of the thread fanboys and girls--- First reimpressions. key word there is first ...not a review, just a initial reaction to what the first ten levels are like , This was what the first hour was like for me. Now if the first hour gives me this impression why in the hell should I invest another hour or five or ten in the frigging hope that it will get better. Replies like this thread has gotten so far is why this game went down the toilet after selling a million or so copies.
No offense OP,
Really.. First impressions? Inital reaction? And you're getting pissy?
This is the problem with everyone thinking they need to inform the world what they think about, I dunno, dryer fuzz?
Tons of people write these first impression things one after another, after another. All of them pretty much tell you nothing. They write a tl;dr and treat it like it's something revolutionary and sophisticated.
Guess what? All MMO's first 10 levels are basically boring and everybody just wants to get through them.
The first response you recieved was entirely correct.
Comments
Not much of a reimpression, but I'll throw my .02 in here;
Played it a bit after launch, seemed buggy, didn't actually *dislike* the game, just wasn't something I felt was worth a subscription at that time. Retrying it now...vastly, vastly improved.
However...
Absolutely the worst goddamn community I have ever seen in an MMO, any game, ever. It's almost like they are tripping over themselves to drive people *away* from this game. Like a pack of down-syndrome hyenas with a scent of blood, they trounce on anything they can. If anything drives me away, it'll be the people playing, not the game itself.
Katsma is Lithuanian for 'he who drinks used douche fluid'.
Amen, I guess some of these people never heard that the first impression is the most important one. if I had wanted to wait a week I would have titled the thread, my reimpression after a weeks play.
I miss DAoC
Jack you just lose all credibility in this thread (at least for me). I am not talking about first post, it can happend, but your next responses here are one of your worst (and you have made a lot of missteps before).
You seemed like rational hater so far, but thats over. You dont like AoC, its not your cup of tea, we get it, but this is starting to be cheap... really.
_____________________________
Mundus vult decipi, ergo decipiatur.
well just went from lvl 6 to lvl 10 in about a half hour, still no deaths, still just random clicking the icons. High point of the session was seeing a female character with the name Jiggletits running around topless. hell of a community you got here, just oozes role play
I miss DAoC
Not really a secret that this game has very little roleplaying going on. Not to say it is not there, just not as much as you see else where.
For every minute you are angry , you lose 60 seconds of happiness."-Emerson
"Freedom is just another name for nothing left to lose" - Janis Joplin
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You might have had more fun if you rerolled a character, but everything you say is pretty much true.
The thing that killed it for me was the PVP system. I had kept a rerolled twink guardian at level 25; trudged through the swarms of low level guilds and even joined one myself... FINALLY got to PVP level 1; highlight my PVP bar and discover the grind to PVP level 2 is ridiculously long.
Please developers, stop adding exp bars. Adding an EXP bar isn't a solution to every damn problem the game has.
I had some fun with my level 25 guardian. Outsmarting the swarms in underhalls, killing people in white sands... Then suddenly the swarm got twice as big; and the pvp degenerated into either exploiting the loading times between doors, or running to the guards / exit when your hp got low. Furthermore, there is still significant input lag during group PVP. Combos would run flawlessly for very small group combat and PVE, but once you got into the group vs group stuff; the abilities and combos lagged like no end. Mind you; this is on a machine that easily runs the game at max, all whilst mantaining a ping of 9-30.
In short, if you like MMORPGs you owe it to yourself to give this a shot. The great way they approach the PVE instances, the combat, and streamlined quest stacking make it a good PVE game. PVP is still, unfortunately flawed. FUN, don't get me wrong; it's very fun, but there are just too many problems for me to overlook. My suggestions...
- PLEASE add an option to skip the introduction tutorial. Fighting through picts with an ore is only fun for the first two times.
- People are staying level 18-20 to grind PVP levels. They just toss themselves into the giant fray and walk out for 0:3 KDRs and mounds of PVPXP. People should WANT to move forward in the game. PVP XP needs to be completely revamped if not removed.
- There are people who exploit loading times to easily win fights. For example, a lower level can goad you into a fight, and quickly click a zone door. He zones out and you attempt to follow him. As you're loading, you're being damaged by your attacker.
Personally, when I found myself grinding for hours on end making a new barbarian just to PVP in underhalls / white sands. I closed the game, uninstalled and canceled. I don't like being a victim of the giant swarm guilds, and I don't like being a part of them. Having tried both; this is an annoying custom I could really do without. I guess MMORPGs just aren't my thing anymore.
No wonder you're not having a good time, you're a CLICKER. hahahaha
I am simply amazed that JackDog is PLAYING EvE Online. If I had given Eve 30 mins or 2 hours or even 2 days of gameplay and based the game on that I would have quit playing. You keep following this ideal that the first 1/3 of the game better be damn good or the rest will suck.
TBH. I recently left AOC after over a year of daily play. (I got tired of the Tyranny Community) I have now picked up EvE Online and hitting the 2mil SP level. If you know anything about EvE you know that isnt much of a peak at the game. There is SO much more to come later on. But I only KNOW thi9s becuase I listen to others who have gotten there instead of making judgments like yours after really what equates to no more then 1 hour of game play in AOC.
[Mod Edit]
Wizhk
well the combat does get a bit harder at around level 12, I died a couple of times now but saw no decrease in my stats or anything. I did collect the tombstone but saw no change in anything one way or the other in my characters stats. I thought there was supposed to be a debuff applied but if there is I have not seen it. Is it only at higher levels or something?
Anyway I am at 14.5 now and have to pay attention to the combos if I want to take on 2 or 3 even levels and survive. Latest impression is there is a hell of a lot of quests, more than enough to level and get equipment. Game still feels like it is in easy mode however. I did discover how to turn off the quest indicators on the mini map which helps make it feel more like a real game rather than follow the dots. LoTRO added that feature a while back also and I turn it off there also.
So far I still have not seen anything to make me want to pull out my charge card, but on the other hand the game is not terrible either. I did encounter 1 bug that I remember from launch. Once when my HoX used his hell breath the visual kept on and on till I zoned. Speaking of zones. Wicanna server White Sands on a Friday night 9 pm EST had 2. At launch there would have been ten or more. Still I have seen a number of players in and around Tortage, mostly Necros it seems but one or two were melee classes.
this will be my last up date on this thread till I leave Tortage.
I miss DAoC
i have been a observer of this site for sometime w/o joining or posting. i come here alot to get reveiws on games i been wanting to play. i get lots of good advice/reviews for you guys and gals. so w/ that being said...
i usually let a game make some sort of impact after launch b4 jumping into it. i have to say AoC was one i anticipated b4 launch and after was highly disappointed w/ the immeidate reviews. so it was on to a new game.
a month or so ago i for whatever reason decided to look back into it to see if any changes had been made. i have to say that the reviews i am reading now have given me a glimmer of hope for the new AoC. i am D/Ling the free trial right now as i type!
i do have a couple of questions b4 i jump in:
which server to play on? not looking for a PvP server to start w/, want a populated one though.
whats a good class for starting w/ to get the feel of the game?
thanks in advance...
lastly, i will try to give a good honest review when my free trial is over, just so i dont jump the gun. im hoping to get in good playing time this weekend
Games played:Warhammer, Atlantica, Vanguard, Tabula Rasa, Guild Wars, DDO, City of Heroes/Villians, Aion, and Global Agenda...
Games playing: Age of Conan & EVE
Games waiting for: SWTOR
Actually... that used to be the case with the LOTRO minstrel but a few patches back they turned him into a lightning fast DPS-er!
Can you PM me the link when you do? Would love to read as well.
Glen ''Famine'' Swan
Senior Assistant Community Manager - Funcom
Speaking of a lack of credibility, that was spoken like someone who never played a Minstrel after October 2007. In book 12 Minnies got a lot of love. From then till Moria they were actually a bit, or a lot depending on your view of things, really overpowered. A well played Minnie with good crafted armor could solo mobs that would stomp a similarly equipped and leveled classes into the ground. Even prior to Book 12 one had to at least pay attention to the combat and use the proper skills from level 1 on. But I digress, this is not about any other game it is about AoC in it's present state.
In response to the poster who just cares about the endgame. I have to have the desire to want to get to endgame before I will ever experience the endgame. For me it is more about the journey than the destination. Who would want to ride in the back of a donkey cart for a month to get to Vegas?
Back to topic. Is it just me or does the death penalty seem a bit on the light side?
edit- upon firing up the game crashed upon launch this morning. Ran verify database. Now it is doing a one hour plus re-patch at 700 KB/s download. Problems like this were what ruined the launch experience for me. Before some ass jumps in and tries to blame my hardware, I have not had any issues with any other software including 2 other MMOs and three or four single player games.
I miss DAoC
Speaking of a lack of credibility, that was spoken like someone who never played a Minstrel after October 2007. In book 12 Minnies got a lot of love. From then till Moria they were actually a bit, or a lot depending on your view of things, really overpowered. A well played Minnie with good crafted armor could solo mobs that would stomp a similarly equipped and leveled classes into the ground. Even prior to Book 12 one had to at least pay attention to the combat and use the proper skills from level 1 on. But I digress, this is not about any other game it is about AoC in it's present state.
In response to the poster who just cares about the endgame. I have to have the desire to want to get to endgame before I will ever experience the endgame. For me it is more about the journey than the destination. Who would want to ride in the back of a donkey cart for a month to get to Vegas?
Back to topic. Is it just me or does the death penalty seem a bit on the light side?
edit- upon firing up the game crashed upon launch this morning. Ran verify database. Now it is doing a one hour plus re-patch at 700 KB/s download. Problems like this were what ruined the launch experience for me. Before some ass jumps in and tries to blame my hardware, I have not had any issues with any other software including 2 other MMOs and three or four single player games.
Yes death penalty is weak compared to a lot of games. See there is no time sink added, so to speak, with death.
Now, when you do die, you will notice ontop of your healthbars on the bottom a debuff (30) per death. These stack unless you get your tombstone back.
from like 35+ i started to die a whole lot, half from mobs and the other half from making risky moves on high cliffs and falling to my death. Especially choosing a squishy, as i am, or a hox, you will die an aweful lot, as aggro gets a bit crazy due to the sheer amount of mobs. You will be glad theres no xp deduction, and getting killed, even with a tombstone that can be reached easily, will start to be something you really try to avoid....however its not so drastic as to thwart you from taking risks and exploring.
but yeah death penalty is light compared to most games.
As far as the crash and redownload....never happend to me, but i gotta ask....did it prompt you with a option to reverify the database? If it did you probably could have kept playing without redownloading. Some people have more problems than others with mmo's and their hardware, not sure what ive done right to avoid such issues.
as far as the review goes, i cant wait to see what straw breaks your back so to speak....you seem on edge, looking for something to warrent a ragequit/forum rant. i wonder what it will be? At least youll be seeing the game in its prime if you stay for levels 25-50 (easily doable in the 2week trial with casual gameplay)
also i gotta ask....did you join a guild? wiccana has some solid "maturer" guilds as well as winning the prize of the unofficial RP server. Not sure if any advertise in trial chat though.
also...you do a little exploring yet? theres 3 maps to choose from leaving tortage, while they point you toward your races "home" map, i found it nice to bounce around the all. This will help you level quick as well, as you can easily knock out the starter quests per each map, and youll get a pretty good feel for the game as a whole.
I have played mmorpgs for almost 10 years and many of the games i ended up playing for at least a year was not extremely exciting for the first 5-10 levels. in most mmorpgs these levels are designed to get you accustomed to moving and the controls. Also, keep in mind you are playing an mmorpg, not a console game- they will not give you all the cool, max level skills right off the bat, and most likely you will be getting the most basic skills available.
I am disappointed with your review. It brings up valid points from the perspective of a mainstream player fairly new to the mmorpg genre, but lacks the insight of someone who really knows how mmorpgs work. Anyone who has played at least 5 mmorpgs can tell you that playing 1 hour into the game will not even scratch the surface of the real experience the game has to offer. Whenever i visit the aoc forums i see you troll here all the time. I thought that if you had the audacity to trash the game and prevent other people from playing, you would have at least know how to properly review an mmorpg.
Most memorable games: AoC(Tryanny PvP), RIFT, GW, GW2, Ragnarok Online, Aion, FFXI, FFXIV, Secret World, League of Legends (Silver II rank)
What a dumb review. That's like playing to level 10 in WoW and saying the game is too easy.
once again I guess I need to point out for the reading impaired this is not a review of the game, just a journal of my impressions as I start once aging in a game that failed to grab me a year ago.
Also yes it did offer me a chance to reverify the database, after reverification it started DL'ed 4 of 4. Upon restart same issue came up, so I reverified again and just now the game still refuses to start. I am now on my 3rd reverify.
I miss DAoC
And I am glad it is causing issues. Here is my problem with your OP.
1. You have played twice before, you have hated on the game twice before, and from that second time you tried the game, have found all positive threads in this forum and have made negative comments about the game over and over. The "from a year ago" tact does not work when it was just a few months ago you were in the game last.
2. You have made it quite clear time and again that you think LOTRO is the best game, thus any comment you make is already skewed in its favor. For example, I think LOTRO is the worst game I have played (with Vanguard a very close second and WAR third)...thus any comparison I make is clouded by these views. I see no need to continue to discuss LOTRO, WAR or Vanguard...so, why do YOU continue to review this game?
3. You start from Tortage expecting the most static part of the game to make a difference to you, when it will not. Tortage has NOT changed, and will not. But, people can go and review the fact that everyone is of the concensus that Tortage is a polished starter zone, and considered an EXCELLENT starter zone. But, guess what...play it 4 or 5 times, it gets old...thus your review is old.
4. Loot is a snooze fest in all games at low level (yes, even the Precious LOTRO...unless it is from quest givers...guess what? same in AoC), Combat is simple and basic button presses in EVERY MMO. Basically you have illegetimized all pretense to a new impression by reiterating the same things you have reiterated before, and that everyone knows about every MMO. Just to give an idea, as you level, the loot changes considerably. Note my lower level vs higher levels of my character.
60's - http://picasaweb.google.com/openedge1/AoCTestServer#5321280281594405906
70's - http://picasaweb.google.com/openedge1/AoCTestServer#5321280350510610466
80's - http://picasaweb.google.com/openedge1/Screenshots02#5353094559456455954
I fail to see the reasoning to continue to do this "reimpression" when it is a well know fact of how you feel about the game. All anyone needs to do is go over your forum posting history.
Until you play the game fully and experience the full game, I would like to suggest that you hold off on these "basic impressions" Everyone knows these stories, so time for a new record, as this particular song is getting old
Thanks
And I am glad it is causing issues. Here is my problem with your OP.
1. You have played twice before, you have hated on the game twice before, and from that second time you tried the game, have found all positive threads in this forum and have made negative comments about the game over and over. The "from a year ago" tact does not work when it was just a few months ago you were in the game last.
and here I thought 1.05 was a game changing patch and this veteran trial was for those of us who had bought and played the game before and did not care for it.
Also since I am seeing the exact same bugs and problems I saw at launch I have to really question how much it really has changed or if thet is all BS. So far I have seen some pretty drastic changes in performance, but that is about all.
2. You have made it quite clear time and again that you think LOTRO is the best game, thus any comment you make is already skewed in its favor. For example, I think LOTRO is the worst game I have played (with Vanguard a very close second and WAR third)...thus any comparison I make is clouded by these views. I see no need to continue to discuss LOTRO, WAR or Vanguard...so, why do YOU continue to review this game?
LoTRO is my favorite fantasy based MMORPG right now, and EvE is my favorite Sci Fi. Before LoTRO EQII was my favorite and through the years DAoC, SWG, and UO spent many many months on my hard drive. This wqas Funcom and AoC's chance to get me to spend money once again on it.
3. You start from Tortage expecting the most static part of the game to make a difference to you, when it will not. Tortage has NOT changed, and will not. But, people can go and review the fact that everyone is of the concensus that Tortage is a polished starter zone, and considered an EXCELLENT starter zone. But, guess what...play it 4 or 5 times, it gets old...thus your review is old.
I started in Tortage all over again for a couple of reasons. First of all it has been months since I played. If the game indeed does get challenging at higher levels then I would expect that a mid 20's HoX would be a lot harder to setp back into than redoing and relearning from scratch.
I also wanted to see what the game would seem like to a new player just starting off, someone doing the trial for example.
As you said though, after redoing Tortage 4 or 5 times it does get old. I realize that FC does give vets one insta 50. But that is just one
4. Loot is a snooze fest in all games at low level (yes, even the Precious LOTRO...unless it is from quest givers...guess what? same in AoC), Combat is simple and basic button presses in EVERY MMO. Basically you have illegetimized all form of "review" this may be by reiterating the same things you have reiterated before, and that everyone knows about every MMO. Just to give an idea, as you level, the loot changes considerably. Note my lower level vs higher levels of my character.
60's - http://picasaweb.google.com/openedge1/AoCTestServer#5321280281594405906
70's - http://picasaweb.google.com/openedge1/AoCTestServer#5321280350510610466
80's - http://picasaweb.google.com/openedge1/Screenshots02#5353094559456455954
I fail to see the reasoning to continue to do this "reimpression" when it is a well know fact of how you feel about the game. All anyone needs to do is go over your forum posting history.
Until you play the game fully and experience the full game, I would like to suggest that you hold off on these "basic impressions" Everyone knows these stories, so time for a new record, as the song is getting old
Thanks
If the game cannot win me over in the two weeks or 30 days it will never win me over. bad part is that I was almost starting to enjoy the game a bit by the time I logged off last night, and this morning is deja vu of launch all over again. between that and the constant personal attacks in this thread by the so called community have really got me to wondering if it is really worth the bother of trying to fix it.
By the way I do have a mid 20's HoX also so if the game ever gets to where I can restart it I may log him in to check out post Tortage AoC. But then if the game only gets better post 25, post 30, or post 50 it is no wonder the population is in the toilet.
Oh and once again the reason for this reimpression is to let Funcom know exactly what I as a returning player ythink about the game since all of the "changes" If they don't get honest opinions the game will be destined for Horizons, vanguard territory before long.
I miss DAoC
I never have such issues, but its lucky that such issues have mostly people who dont want to play anyway...
_____________________________
Mundus vult decipi, ergo decipiatur.
I never have such issues, but its lucky that such issues have mostly people who dont want to play anyway...
the real question is if you did have such issues would you still want to play? I really want to give the game a chance. How many people who did have such problems stuck with the game. At launch I went as far as reformatting my hard drive to get the game running again. I think I really wanted to play.
edit 3 reverifies/redownloads of file 4 of 4 now with no luck. Feedback sent to Funcom, guess this is a chance to test the customer service
I miss DAoC
I found Tortage to be the most enjoyable part of the game. :S I think the quality & conherence of the questing aspect of the game falls apart after you leave Tortage.
No offense OP,
Really.. First impressions? Inital reaction? And you're getting pissy?
This is the problem with everyone thinking they need to inform the world what they think about, I dunno, dryer fuzz?
Tons of people write these first impression things one after another, after another. All of them pretty much tell you nothing. They write a tl;dr and treat it like it's something revolutionary and sophisticated.
Guess what? All MMO's first 10 levels are basically boring and everybody just wants to get through them.
The first response you recieved was entirely correct.