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Who ate the polishing compound?
Deewe
Member UncommonPosts: 1,980
Unless you haven't been playing MMO for the last 5+ years you can't really say AoC compares to games like WoW, LotRo, COH, EvE, Aion, WAR and such.
While the graphics are nice, the combat mechanics interesting, and quest lines entertaining, the utter lack of polishing is killing the game.
More than polishing the game inconsistency in all domains is seriously hindering it.
Let's take a few examples:
Graphics: the environments are gorgeous, most equipment textures like leather are great, but god the clothes ones 
The color choices are nice... till you bump on the smuggler in Tortage with the bright green peas bandana as hat. Not to say all female NPC having over sized breasts with tinner hips than Barbie up to the awful Hortensia character *puke*. Almost forgot the medusa bust spell graphics, without nipples and also the succubus, upon invocation, saying "brb got to grab a g-string"
Combat: the actual system feels more like a password activated skill system than a visceral (console?) combo. Top of that the casters and melee aren't playing with the same rules.
Quests: great lines but awful camera settings that too often makes you look either at the feet of the NPC or set the camera in really weird angles and perspectives.
PvP: nice murder system... that's abused by lowbies groups ganking higher characters or characters with aera debuffs activated. And there's the really interesting: [please gank me while I'm stuck talking to an NPC] feature.
UI: a really sleek and beautifully designed UI, great art. Until you actually uses it and can't rebind very important keys, can't scale it, can't manage hot bars efficiently. There's also some of the customized UI settings that don't survive through a log off.
Items: great design on most items but weapons hooks that makes them sits 2 feet away from your back when moving or making shields move like if they where tied with elastics.
All in all AoC is a rough game but sadly at the expanse of the player. I would not be surprised would it win next year most improved game award once again.
Comments
Delivering polished content at launch is not a Funcom trademark. They get it out the door and fix it up later.
"True friends stab you in the front." | Oscar Wilde
"I need to finish" - Christian Wolff: The Accountant
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
Combat is just horrid..good that its the only mmo having it...they should just kept the normal mmo combat as every other mmo on earth..instead they wanted to innovate..bringing a very very bad combat system..and instead of changing it they keep it...
Loading screens in every zone, door, boat...and terrible fps and even server crash when theres more then 20 people in the same screen...
The combat is loved and hated by many people, personally if AoC had WoW type of combat I would not have been playing it. The combat system in AoC is far from perfect, but imo it is also way better then press one button watch it execute then press the next. playing melee in AoC means you do have to pay some attention to the combat and also how you place yourself to hit several opponents at the same time.
I am loving my return to AoC!
I appreciate the non-WoW combat system since I actually have to look and think about what I am doing for a change. Most folks in WoW now have all of their spells/abilities consolidated into 1 or 2 macros and spam them. And, my fps has been consistantly good without any crashes. Some people need to look at a system upgrade instead of crying about crashes and fps. Is the game perfect? No. But, it is as good as anything out there right now imho.
Deewe...I do agree with your UI statement completely. But, I found that "Dark UI" is a really good addon alternative .
The melee combat is the best of any mmo period.
I agree
I agree with you Wharg0ul...
And, I wonder if some people have actually tried the game? By the looks of some of these posts you see concerning AoC, you wonder if people have even been in game...or at least recently.
Agree 100%
AoC is much improved since launch - of that there is no doubt. But that said, it is stunning how unpolished the game still is and it very much detracts from the enjoyment of the game.
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Achiever 60.00%, Socializer 53.00%, Killer 47.00%, Explorer 40.00%
Intel Core i7 Quad, Intel X58 SLi, 6G Corsair XMS DDR3, Intel X-25 SSD, 3 WD Velociraptor SATA SuperTrak SAS EX8650 Array, OCZ 1250W PS, GTX 295, xFi, 32" 1080p LCD
I must be playing a different game, although I SWEAR I downloaded AoC.
I stopped reading at "the horrible combat system"... I mean - really? Tell me what IS a good combat system, as I would like to know what you are comparing this to.
As for crashes... very few and far between. Occassionally it happens on exit or a loading screen but its very minor. I played the entire weekend and had maybe ... 2 - 3 crashes, tops. That was with about 20 hours of game play...
You're post is full of exaggeration and whine. Im still new to AoC so I can't comment on much of the high level "issues" but your post is just crazy in my opinion (read the last 3 words very carefully).... Don't mean to be rude or anything, if you don't like AoC, that's fine but I question why your posting here on it here but I guess that's another matter....
Time for an upgraded PC IMO... you may find it "fixes" a lot of your crashing issues...
I'm afraid I largely agree with the OP.
I decided to re-sub and play from scratch rather than with my level 58 Barb I had given up on almost 2 years ago.
For me the problem with the combat is that it combines two systems. I actually like the avoid the guarded region aspect to the combat but don't like the way combos are laced into this.
I'm very disappointed to see some old problems still not remedied - like the daft brindled leather quest etc.
I won't hang around on this forum moaning as people have their own reasons to like this game, and I myself will be back playing Aion which is also far from perfect. Still, the point i want to make is that the game has really NOT undergone a revolution. If you didn't like it two years ago there is still every chance you'll feel the same way again in a matter of days.
QFT tbh.
Some of the bugs have been there for 2 years. They have simply given up on them, like the red latency spikes every few seconds. Not all the people have them, but for those who do the game is unplayable thus they quit. They have never fixed it, I don't know of anyone who used to have them and then stopped having them.
You get the impression they're simply holding onto the players who don't have such issues instead of fixing them for the others. As Miner said, the game is still basically the same, albeit with less bugs and more PvE content. The UI, PvP, crafting, zoning/instancing, old bugs, those things didn't change at all and are still terribly executed (zoning/instancing is opinionated I admit).
I completely agree with you. If you don't like a game back then, you won't like the game today (aside from if you left due to bugs etc). Its a very unique combat system, and I can understand why people don't like it. That being said, personally, I think its very well done but Im still very new to AoC so I don't really know much
That said, some of the OP's complaints are valid (see UI section) - but a lot of it is honestly senseless whine and why? To get people who like and play the game pissed off? Honestly, there's nothing really constructive which was my problem when I posted originally (See above)
Senseless flaming is still senseless flaming, no matter how well its disguised (or lack of).
Anyways - I dont think AoC is any revelation either and I can pick out a ton of issues (crafting for example), but there's really not much point to bitch and moan about it unless it's on the official suggestions forums with some reasonable criticism.
Edit: I love Aion as well - but unfortunately my new video card gives me about 12 frames per second and until I get support from NCSoft or they fix it, I pretty much refuse to play. Not paying for a slide show... I get about 50-80 FPS in AoC - I can't for the life of me figure out why the performance in Aion for ATI cards is so terrible... even on the lowest settings.
First, thanks for the comments.
Let's start with any good console system : DOA, Mortal Kombat, Tekken... up to the Alternate Combo System
Then as you skipped most of the OP
I invite you to read it carefully. It's far from a senseless whine contrary to what you are stating below
And for the record it seems not only I'm not the only one thinking this but most of the people answering here are far from FunCom haters.
Right Dark UI is nice! But I went to StoneRune. That does not removes the fact that we, yet, can't rebind many keys or scale the UI, among other things.
You are correct - I re-read your post and it isn't all senseless. You make some really great points. I made another comment about it after mentioning that some of your concerns are very valid and people who didn't like it at launch still won't like it now.
That being said, I still feel the things you're arguing are
a) Just a matter of choice/preference
b) Very minor things that can be fixed (IE: UI problem is COMPLETELY valid, but you can always download something like Kings.)
c) Things that are very highly exaggerated (IE: Consistant crashes/problems)
So, Im just curious why you are making a completely negative post on a game you have no intention of playing and seem to really dislike? Ya ya ya, I know... *Waits for "Forums, its freedom of speech get over it buddy"...
WAR? Really?
Anyway nothing you listed is polish. Its personal preference. Polish is the clothes are present and work. The titties have nippled, check. Combat system defense position checks and combo queue works, check. Err so ya its polished... now.
That you don't like it is another story.
See WoW is king polish but I could say everything you did and swap in WoW. I think the clothes and lowbie gear doesn't match the later gear. I think the toons are too apish in proportion. I think the combat system of waiting on a global to queue is poor. Displayed weapons routinely slice into my torso...
See how easy that was =P
a) not really; the lack of polishing is really visible in the whole inconsistency
b) UI does not allow you to rebind mouse buttons, alt, or disable shift (=run) + click on a hotkey = display tooltip
c) I Never mentioned consitent crashes
And I'm actually playing AoC, and thanks for taking the time to read my post
WAR UI is one of the best default one around. There are some over powered classes but all the classes shares the same rules. Graphics are consistent, weapon hooks well done. There's no weird camera settings for the dialogs. The PvP system isn't designed to help griefing. I don't see any basic weird UI commands, etc etc.
Let's just focus on AoC graphics:
Polish means the graphical chart is respected through the whole game and feels logic for the player. It also means the all textures share the same quality, be it low or high. It goes through clothes that does not hide part of shields, nor weapons hooks tied +one feed away from the character. It makes characters hands neatly set on the ladders while climbing, not two feet away in the air. Polish also means the bloom is correctly adjusted; it does not makes you half blind when speaking to characters wearing white clothes, or at least, it provides a slider to adjust it on the client side. Polish means the distant mountains are either visible or not: not visible only when they are on the edge of the screen. It creates grass physics that don't make your character feel like a chopper about to take off.
And for the fun one of the best bug:
Polish prevents your character to incarnate a salmon and swim upstream in the waterfalls.
yes the game is good but there is no polish. polish is taking your time and getting it beautiful. Many of the kitaian mobs become un-hit-able(is this a word?), your horse when called doesnt show up and u travel by floating etc.
I for one, love the combat system.
the closest thing i got as an official answer for the polish was at some time sil saying "they are being dealt in order of importance". seeing the problems the game has, i would say dont expect polish in near future.
I need more vespene gas.
-Letting Derek Smart work on your game is like letting Osama bin Laden work in the White House. Something will burn.-
-And on the 8th day, man created God.-
These polish problems that OP and several other refers should be regarded as a matter of taste. Sure there are people who react to these issues and its probably gamebreaking from some as well.
You can argue that WOW is the most polished MMO of them all. It is simply not possible to have more resources to polish a game than what Blizzard has with WOW. Still I would never go back to WOW. Other things are simply more important to me in a game, polish is not enough. .
AoC had tons of problems when it launched and Funcom has been fixing one issue at the time. (you can call it polishing if you want). OP probably disagrees with Funcoms priorities on what should have been fixed and is entitled to that. His points are more or less valid.
I am sorry that he only focuses on what he dislikes in the game and not so much on what he really enjoys and thinks Funcom does better than others. Onesided posts doesnt do them game any good.
Originally posted by BishopB:
Are a lot of the trolls just angry kids with old gaming hardware?
There's nothing wrong with a one-sided post focusing on negatives when others are able to come along and disagree, it's called discussion and that's what this forum is for.
I AoC at launch, then got bored/fed up around 40th level with the lack of content and pressure to group, i went back a couple of times, levelled two more characters to 40ish, but again hit a brick wall where 40+ characters seem to have very little to do. Recently i've come back with the expansion, found more things to do with my 40+ characters and have started a new Kaitan Assassin in Tortage (always a great experience).
I've never agreed with the usual complaints about AoC, crashes, bugs etc... that hampered the launch, because i never experienced any of those things. Things i loved were the world setting, so unlike anything that has gone before and the immersive quality of the game, especially the ambient sound and feel of every different area. I also enjoyed the combat system and never got bored of watching my HoX take down several opponents. Quest strings were as good as anything in LotRO (the king of quests in my opinion).
My problems have always been the clunky, difficult to personalise, UI and now i'm finding that i'm spending more time watching the combo buttons than the action in the fight on the screen. I'm concentrating so much on pressing the right buttons i miss the action. It's great to have a complex combat system but not one that means you miss the combat.
Change the UI Funcom, put in far more mid-level content and this game will be the best around in my opinion.
This issue was brought to the game a couple of patches before expansion and is related to the performance of fatalities related to certain types of combos. The dual wielding conq combo whirlwind being one of them. When this combo fatalizes one of the mobs, the others in melee range gets frozen. Luckily there is way to kill them though as they will succumb to the use of a fire weave banner. Just a tip while we wait for a fix for this.
Please read above.
Meh, I had little sleep and bit of hangover and coffee and red bull not helping, and some subjects and threads on frontpage are making me sleepy too, so I start clicking here and there, and here I see more threads, from all sort of games!
So I see this one thread... what is this?? So much whine, no cheese, why are these people playing games?! They do not like to play. So, I''ll add post too, I think. First trying to find out how devilish invention of mmorpg.com editor works, then add post.
[1] Eh? Not compare with the other MMO's? AoC is worse, OP means?? Thats a strange thought, I played other MMORPG's too, but not my thought. But everyone's thought is different.
[2] Hey!! Dont insult the NPC women! There are lots of non-Barbies running around, just as butt ugly NPC's with fat asses and bodies. But yes, breasts cannot be shrunk in character creation to size petite or until it looks like a boy. I dont mind, every game has its own things: I think WOW and LOTRO characters have stepped out of comic channel and are all butt ugly by nature and Aion male characters stepped out from a gay scene, and Fallen Earth... Fallen Earth has only 1 race to choose from and that is trolls. They say they are human characters, but they are trolls in camouflage. Very bad camouflage.
[3] Why is OP playing this game?? Combat is some of the best around in a game. Don't like it? Theres enough other MMORPGs with click-button-1-click-button-2-yawn-click-button-1-follow news on tv-click-button-2-etc combat.
[4]... I gave up commenting. OP is clearly playing another game than I, maybe AOC-from-alternate-universe, I dunno. But last comment I say this: I disagree, very much! Launch ROTGS was waaaayy better than launch AoC 2 years ago. Stabler, far less bugs, Khitan is very nice to explore (go explore, everywhere! And do dungeons! Really, very good tip!). Say, AoC launch 2 years ago, 90% had problems w bugs+crashes+etc and 10% of players not, now ROTGS 10% have problems w bugs+crashes+etc and 90% is happy exploring and fighting in Khitan. Far better!
So, yes. I read the thread and thought 'those people, many of them dont really like playing AOC? Why are they still doing it, this is not their game. Now 2 years later characters didnt grow wings and started flying, NPCs didnt magically shrunk their breasts, and graphics in AoC still is without little ponies and rainbow colors. Combat is also not click1-click2-click3 combat. If people didnt like it then, why do they think it magically changed now?? Core AOC is still core AOC, no cartoons, no wings, no elves. I also think, 'Maybe OP had a bad day, I do not see why he/she is still playing, OP only wants to see strange bad things, not good things of AOC'.
But then I see other threads and other posts, and I like balance, so I copied other post from OP too to react on (not easy, copying quotes in mmorpg.com)
[A] Yes! I liked that too. Good thinking!
[B] True. Fatalities, moving around, great combat with close combat characters (sorry, casters). I agree!
[C] Eh, que? Sure, different classes.... that special? ... No problem, as long as you have fun with them
[D] Yes, quests are not like in many other games, UI is very rigid, alas, but it works for me. Else there are few UI mods for those who want.
Now this I liked better! One post with all the whines however personal taste and preference is mixed in it, other post with things person likes in AOC, also personal taste mixed in. Balance, good stuff-bad stuff, nice!
+1
(PS: still too little sleep, post is some bit stranger than normal, sorry)