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A few questions about AoC before I commit myself to it

Aelius28Aelius28 Member Posts: 12
in Age of Conan: Unchained

All right, so I've been playing the AoC trial for a couple days now but I have a few questions that remain unanswered, so let me fire them off. First let me say that I play on the PvP server.

1) Are there fatalities against players when you kill them, or only against NPCs?

2) How common is it to come across someone in your travels (outside of the major cities)? Like, if I'm just adventuring around the wilderness, am I likely to ever meet a fellow player?

3) As I understand it, all players can use the hide skill. How effective is it most of the time? Like, if there's a random 1v1 PvP world encounter between two players and one player feels outmatched, does the confrontation pretty much amount to the lesser player hiding and that's it?

4) What's the point of the directional shield system? Does anyone use it? It seems to me that in the haste and chaos of combat it's simply impossible to press Ctrl+1 (double tap) before the enemy lands his attack. Unless I'm not understanding it? Is its purpose not to quickly block a directional attack before it lands?

5) Does anyone use the dodging mechanism in PvP? The double-tap A,S,D.

6) I'm on a night schedule in real life, would I be able to find many people to PvP with (whether in the minigames or world PvP) during the early morning? Like, from midnight to noon? Or is it a ghosttown at such hours?

7) Is there much organized world PvP, like raids against other guilds' fortresses?

8) Is there much strategy involved in the directional attack system, or is it pretty much all just trying to fire off the correct combo followup attacks to successfully land the combo? It seems to me that the Age of Conan combat system is little different than, say, the WoW combat system except that you need to "unlock" an ability by pressing a certain two or three buttons in the correct order.

Thanks in advance. That's all I can think of, but yeah these are critical questions for me that need answering. I'm kind of discouraged by the combat system, I'm afraid at higher levels it will pretty much be WoW except with the magic key code (1, 2, 3, Q, E, in a certain order) to unlock the combo, or I'm afraid it'll be ridiculously complicated, requiring godlike reflexes to quickly swap your directional shield in preparation for the opponent's combo.

Comments

  • ReizlaReizla Member RarePosts: 4,092

    1. Dunno, but my guess is that you can also "score" a fatality against players ;)

    2. I thikn it depends on server, time and stuff like that. I'm mew (level 27 now) on Crom (EU) and come across a lot of players. Both veteran players (60+) traveling through the region, as well as large numbers around my own level (good partying for elite mob area's).

    3. Hide is more than just press H and be gone. Yes, the higher the skill, the less likely you'll be seen, but you also need to keep track of time of day, shadow and stuff like that. The more you're in the dark/shadow, the less likely it is that you're seen. For NPC's no tto see you, you need 150 points in hiding though...

    4. I have the same issues with it. But you might know that some classes use certain directional attacks more than others. If you're against one of them then, youc an use it. But my guess is that the shields are mostly unused by the majority of the players.

    5. Still too low to PvP a lot (I hate the mini games, but I should start to play them), but it's not really easy to get that working, so I guess in PvP it's even harder :s

    6. I'm home for sickleave and am online at some irregular times. On my server there are enough players around whenever I logon.

    7. dunno yet since I'm way too low for it :(

    8. There certainly is some strategy there. In PvE, the shields are actively used by the NPCs so you need to adjust your attacks against their weak, unprotected parts. If shields are used in PvP as well (which I doubt, see point 4), it'd work the same way. However if in PvP the shields are not used, it's just bash the heaviest skills...

    He he.. It's a bit like you say I'm afraid. You need very good reflexes is you work your shields as it's intended. If you leave them in their default situation (like I do, but as healer I don't give a F88k about shields :p), then it's you only have to keep track of your opponents shields.

  • u18bu2sa0ku18bu2sa0k Member Posts: 144

    Originally posted by Aelius28

    All right, so I've been playing the AoC trial for a couple days now but I have a few questions that remain unanswered, so let me fire them off. First let me say that I play on the PvP server.

    1) Are there fatalities against players when you kill them, or only against NPCs?

    Yes.Against players to.

    2) How common is it to come across someone in your travels (outside of the major cities)? Like, if I'm just adventuring around the wilderness, am I likely to ever meet a fellow player?

    Very common,Yes.

    3) As I understand it, all players can use the hide skill. How effective is it most of the time? Like, if there's a random 1v1 PvP world encounter between two players and one player feels outmatched, does the confrontation pretty much amount to the lesser player hiding and that's it?

    Hiding skill of non-rouge archtypes suck it drains stamina rapidly especialy in heavy plate armor.

    In wolrd encounters its obvious that the one who started the ambush is in advantage,playes cannot hide in combat and mobs have high detection(you have to sneak,a lot).

    4) What's the point of the directional shield system? Does anyone use it? It seems to me that in the haste and chaos of combat it's simply impossible to press Ctrl+1 (double tap) before the enemy lands his attack. Unless I'm not understanding it? Is its purpose not to quickly block a directional attack before it lands?

    its reduces the incoming damage from that side,It doesnt have much use in PvE,however in PvP you can set them before combat to match your oponents high damage combo finishing directions (reducing DPS spikes).

    In i combat you have other things to do + with the rotation of shields (for further info search the pvp forums) its hard to constantly change them.

    5) Does anyone use the dodging mechanism in PvP? The double-tap A,S,D.

    Yes and No,when you double tap a movement key you receive a short buff on top of dodging (double W +stun chance,double D and  A defense buff,double S evasion buff).

    These buff are inferior to most calss/feated buffs and over lap them if they add the same effect,but none the less they are often used in PvP depending on the class you paly again.

    6) I'm on a night schedule in real life, would I be able to find many people to PvP with (whether in the minigames or world PvP) during the early morning? Like, from midnight to noon? Or is it a ghosttown at such hours?

    Yes there are always players.but not as many as afternoon/night.

    7) Is there much organized world PvP, like raids against other guilds' fortresses?

    Yes.This is the endgame pretty much.

    8) Is there much strategy involved in the directional attack system, or is it pretty much all just trying to fire off the correct combo followup attacks to successfully land the combo? It seems to me that the Age of Conan combat system is little different than, say, the WoW combat system except that you need to "unlock" an ability by pressing a certain two or three buttons in the correct order.

    Not much strategy,its rather Reflex and Timing.

    Thanks in advance. That's all I can think of, but yeah these are critical questions for me that need answering. I'm kind of discouraged by the combat system, I'm afraid at higher levels it will pretty much be WoW except with the magic key code (1, 2, 3, Q, E, in a certain order) to unlock the combo, or I'm afraid it'll be ridiculously complicated, requiring godlike reflexes to quickly swap your directional shield in preparation for the opponent's combo.

    the combat later on is much more complex for macros to work efficiently,interupts/movements/dodgeing you can also have pauses between combo ticks and move around while a macro using player will missfire the combo and suck.

    EDIT:  correction to my last answer (i didnt read your question properly):

    its not as hectic as i sounded but it does require your attention (you cant roll your head on the keyboard and win) but the learning curve is very well done you will get new skills/combos in proper dose and will get into your muscle memory before you know it.

  • Aelius28Aelius28 Member Posts: 12

    Sweet, I'm sold :P Thanks for the help.

  • JakdstripperJakdstripper Member RarePosts: 2,410

    1) yes you can fatality a player....and it's awesome!

    2) with the new expansion there are quite a few players playing nd wile it's not super crowded you will find players questing in most zones. the new ones will obviously be more frequented.

    3) only the rogue classes (ranger, sin, barb) can hide and move arround without loosing stamina. every other class can also hide but if they move they will quickly loose stamina, they also move very slowly. all players have a "search" ability which has a very good chance to un-stealth anyone close to them (can't remember the exact range). you can't move wile searching and it has a cooldown.  rangers have a "track" ability which lets them track on their mini map 1 player of their choice every 2 minutes, so yea can't really hide from a ranger.  stealth is also a bit buggy and can't be relied on all that much. NPC will un-stealth you almost every time especially if you are not a rogue class. the little black diamond at the bottom of your mini map will show you how easily you will be un-stealth by those close to you. black is hard, gray is medium, white is easy.

    4) yea most players just set it at the beginning of the fight to reduce the big hitter combo of the opposition.

    5) yes you can but it requires a lot of timing. most people just use it wile slowed to get out of LOS.

    6) probably less during the day.

    7) yes and wile sieges are laggy they are frequent granted that you are in a guild that participates in them. it's all about having the right guild for sieges.

    8) most of the time you will be trying to land a combo. directional attacks are only for when you are totaly out of stamina :(. AoC combat is A LOT different an more complicated then most mmos. it requires a lot of practice especially with mele characters. casters are easy mode. wile you do not need to have "FPS" like reflexes it mostly is all about timing, movement and understanding the opposition's abilities. i highly reccomend a logitech gaming pad for this game. it will improve your pvp experiance 10 folds.

  • Aelius28Aelius28 Member Posts: 12

    Hmm, I do have a Logitech gaming pad, though I'm not sure what to use it for exactly. I mean, my hands will both be occupied with the keyboard/mouse, so I'm not sure what kind of combat utility it could provide. Any specific suggestions?

  • VxarVxar Member Posts: 58

    Originally posted by Aelius28

    Hmm, I do have a Logitech gaming pad, though I'm not sure what to use it for exactly. I mean, my hands will both be occupied with the keyboard/mouse, so I'm not sure what kind of combat utility it could provide. Any specific suggestions?

    I have a Nostromos Pad and I use the D-pad on the thumb for the directional swings.  I bind the WASD keys in the center of the number pad and then map combo's around the WASD keys so everything is all bound to the gamepad.  The only time I switch is to type on the keyboard, an even then, you get used to it and don't even think twice about switching back and forth.

  • JakdstripperJakdstripper Member RarePosts: 2,410

    yes, do not use a regula keyboard for this game. because they dont allow in game macros in this game in order to be any decent at pvp you must keybind everything. gaming pads ( like the logitec G13) are just increadible for AoC. you will seriously amaze yourself at how much easier it is to play this game with a proper gaming pad. most of those gaming pads also let you macro right on the pad itself instead of in game. this lets you crate 1 button combo chains and 1 button full buffing, 1 button action bar+weappon swapping....the possibilites are just insane.  it just takes a litte bit to get used to the gaming pad but once you do you'll never go back. garanteed.

  • RaveGodXRaveGodX Member Posts: 17

     Take it from a guy who has come and gone from the game, in the games state as it is now is just wow .....

    It is a big difference and much more fun than launch, I think you will have a very good time playing.

    Enjoy it! LoL good luck on the pvp servers i xfered to pve and love the game 100 times better now (and i am not a carebear love pvp)

  • u18bu2sa0ku18bu2sa0k Member Posts: 144

    Originally posted by Jakdstripper

    yes, do not use a regula keyboard for this game. because they dont allow in game macros in this game in order to be any decent at pvp you must keybind everything. gaming pads ( like the logitec G13) are just increadible for AoC. you will seriously amaze yourself at how much easier it is to play this game with a proper gaming pad. most of those gaming pads also let you macro right on the pad itself instead of in game. this lets you crate 1 button combo chains and 1 button full buffing, 1 button action bar+weappon swapping....the possibilites are just insane.  it just takes a litte bit to get used to the gaming pad but once you do you'll never go back. garanteed.

     


    Originally posted by u18bu2sa0k

    the combat later on is much more complex for macros to work efficiently,interupts/movements/dodgeing you can also have pauses between combo ticks and move around while a macro using player will missfire the combo and suck.
  • Wharg0ulWharg0ul Member Posts: 4,183

    I use a Razer Naga mouse myself...and although I don't macro my combos ( that would be a serious tactical disadvantage), I use the buttons for directional swings, the actual combo starters,  and for spells, when I'm playing my casters.

    This frees up my hand for WASD without having to even touch my number keys.

    I don't recommend this for everyone, but since I'm so used to the Naga, it works very well for me.

    image

  • nathanvandynnathanvandyn Member Posts: 98

    you can also use something like xpadder and map to a 360 controller or something similar >=)

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