Over 7 years ago the MMO industry was changed for the worse

octa · July 2015

This past May marked the 7th year from the atrocious launch of this MMO. The industry was forever changed; seeming to mark the downward decent of the MMO genre into mediocrity and eventual free to play marketing. I posit that Age of Conan was the catalyst for this shift. A multi million boondogle that served to rob us of our cash on the promise of features that would never see the light of day simply for the short term gain of box purchases.

I learned that year:

Erling Ellingsen is a liar.
MMOs are released blatantly unfinished with no apologies to that fact
Little is learned at Funcom when they repeat their launch failures two games in a row.
History tends to repeat itself when bad management is involved.
Beta tests are a marketing tool and have little to do with balancing and finding issues.

Tortage was excellent once the major bugs were squashed but the player base quickly realized there was a hollow shell of a game beyond those borders.

Funcom continues to be a malignant tumor in the industry, more concerned with its bottom line than the quality of their effort. They wasted and disused our trust and they boldly challenged us to do something about it.

I hope the current state of Age of Conan is a lesson learned for any others wishing to sell us their snake oil.

I will never forget. I will never forgive.

Scorchien · July 2015

Really not a bad game (AoC), i enjoyed my time there.. and really had a great time in AO for years ... And enjoyed the few times ive made a run in TSW ...

As far as Funcom goes .. i have made so much money off there stocks it would make your head spin

goboygo · July 2015

Huh? AOC marked the downward spiral of all MMO's to come?

I'm not sure what this game did to hurt you so bad, but its not the anti Christ of MMO's.

Celcius · July 2015

Funcom was never that big of a company; so I hardly would say it affected anything. It certainly did not herald the Western F2P model. That was Dungeons and Dragons Online. Not that it is a bad thing. The F2P model has been used for good and bad, just like the B2P model.

Viper482 · July 2015

This is the most ludicrous thread I have seen in a while. AoC was overhyped and ended up not being as good as people wanted it to be, but it still was a very solid MMO in the end, much better than the crap coming out today. Either way, if you are going to blame a game for turning the genre upside down, you might want to pick one that had a little more influence. WoW was the beginning of the end for MMO's. To give AoC that title gives it more credit than it ever deserved lol. I mean seriously, how many subs was the max it could have had? Hardly a genre changer.

If anything Funcom's second effort, The Secret World, attemped to change the genre. Is is touted at one of the most unique MMO experiences you can have today. Still....did not change a thing in the genre.

[Deleted User] · July 2015

The user and all related content has been deleted.

Jakdstripper · July 2015

personally i absolutely loved my time in AoC.

it had the best graphics of it's time. It was huge, and hard to mast the combat. it was gritty, bloody, and beautiful. i still get the itch every once in a while to load onto my bear shaman and swing a hammer around, or log onto my ranger and track people for no reason.....lol.

learn to accept instead of expect, and you will greatly reduce your disappointments.......this works in RL too.

Po_gg · July 2015

Originally posted by octa
This past May marked the 7th year from the atrocious launch of this MMO.

[.....]

I will never forget. I will never forgive.

Yay, the annual octa post is up it's that time already? seems an another year passed... that was quick. Time flies when you have good games to spend the time with them.

See ya next year, I bet you won't forget to post (since I think this malignant tumor in the industry will still be here)

edit:

Originally posted by Viper482
This is the most ludicrous thread I have seen in a while.

It's a long-running show now, every year he pops up and posts the same (with a +1 in the year section of course, to make it up-to-date). It's odd, but somewhere deep it's also funny.

Azaron_Nightblade · July 2015

Originally posted by Deekins

LOL, how fitting.

FuryV · July 2015

So f*cking over the top, jeez.

reeereee · July 2015

I wish I had appreciated how great AoC was back when it actually had a decent population.

Jagwar_Fang · July 2015

Originally posted by Viper482
This is the most ludicrous thread I have seen in a while. AoC was overhyped and ended up not being as good as people wanted it to be, but it still was a very solid MMO in the end, much better than the crap coming out today. Either way, if you are going to blame a game for turning the genre upside down, you might want to pick one that had a little more influence. WoW was the beginning of the end for MMO's. To give AoC that title gives it more credit than it ever deserved lol. I mean seriously, how many subs was the max it could have had? Hardly a genre changer.

If anything Funcom's second effort, The Secret World, attemped to change the genre. Is is touted at one of the most unique MMO experiences you can have today. Still....did not change a thing in the genre.

I agree. WoW has done more to destroy the genre as it once was than AOC ever could have. The features that most now consider to be a must came with WoW and it was the original dumbed down MMO clone.

Wizardry · July 2015

I know what the complaints were i was there when the game released.

I thought the game was pretty good until so many left it became a ghost town.

Yes there was some bad side to the developer but also to the players.Everyone jumped in like they were playing WOW,thinking it is some super race to get levels,VERY few were actually enjoying the game,just some race.

So then when they raced along they became bitter "Where are all my quests" so i can keep speed leveling.

I obviously can't remember every little detail,been a long time but there were some flaws and some broken promises.I did not think the gear was well done and i did not like how quests felt like a linear single player game rather than a mmo.Houses locked out until you did said quest then some light comes on,is not a MMO game design.

To me that was the main and real only blemish was the game felt like a single player game and not a MMO.Oh and i don't like dungeons that copy that old EQ design of tight corridors with mobs littered everywhere.I like some free movement and if i want to stop and take a break i can without having mobs all around me at every inch of the map.

I still found a lot of the game enjoyable however i remember the graphics looking far better than they do now a days,i think the game was toned down to support f2p.

Phry · July 2015

Originally posted by Azaron_Nightblade
Originally posted by Deekins

LOL, how fitting.

Couldn't agree more, though i have to wonder, given the whole semi nudity thing, was AoC responsible for Scarlet Blade

Darkcrystal · January 2016

octa said:

This past May marked the 7th year from the atrocious launch of this MMO. The industry was forever changed; seeming to mark the downward decent of the MMO genre into mediocrity and eventual free to play marketing. I posit that Age of Conan was the catalyst for this shift. A multi million boondogle that served to rob us of our cash on the promise of features that would never see the light of day simply for the short term gain of box purchases.
I learned that year:

Erling Ellingsen is a liar.

MMOs are released blatantly unfinished with no apologies to that fact

Little is learned at Funcom when they repeat their launch failures two games in a row.

History tends to repeat itself when bad management is involved.

Beta tests are a marketing tool and have little to do with balancing and finding issues.
Tortage was excellent once the major bugs were squashed but the player base quickly realized there was a hollow shell of a game beyond those borders.
Funcom continues to be a malignant tumor in the industry, more concerned with its bottom line than the quality of their effort. They wasted and disused our trust and they boldly challenged us to do something about it.
I hope the current state of Age of Conan is a lesson learned for any others wishing to sell us their snake oil.
I will never forget. I will never forgive.

MMO's are never finished...... This is why you see less MMO's made, people think that they are easy and cheap to make when they are not...

Most companys have left and went to Phone and tablet games which is smart... Piss on the rest of the whining MMO players... Candy Crush sold for billions.... and others are following suit.... You only have yourself to blame..

Darkcrystal · January 2016

DMKano said:

Umm so blaming a dev studio for stuff they had no part in?
Yep that makes total sense.
/facepalm

Typical, people always blame the devs, and they wonder why devs aren't making MMO's anymore... We are seeing less and less..Some indies but they will wise up also...

Not worth the hassle now a days to make MMO's...and I love MMO's but once I worked for a company that made them and see the emails by people it made me sick to my stomach...

CrazKanuk · January 2016

Ok, let's play a quick game of "Tell me which game I'm NOT talking about":

I learned that year:

<insert Marketing Person for the Game> is a liar.
MMOs are released blatantly unfinished with no apologies to that fact
Little is learned at <insert game company> when they repeat their launch failures <# of games> games in a row.
History tends to repeat itself when bad management is involved.
Beta tests are a marketing tool and have little to do with balancing and finding issues.

This... pretty much captures the majority of games and gaming companies out there. Anyone willing to take a stab at finding a company not matching the description is more than welcome.

lahnmir · January 2016

Great post OP, too bad you only post this once a year. Isn't it possible to post this daily? Like "7 years and 1 day ago...." to "7 years and 2 days ago..." and so on and so forth? I mean, you will NEVER forgive and NEVER forget, you might want to put a bit more effort in showing people how disgruntled you are because Funcom basically destroyed life as we knew it with AoC. I was there on the faithful day it released, I know man, I know.

But really, less drama and more reality please, what utter nonsense, not to mention a lack of taste by comparing Funcom to a malignant tumor. So sad it is almost funny, but not quite. Just to counter this I think I am going to reinstall the game and blow some money in the Cashshop

.

/Cheers,
Lahnmir

carotid · January 2016

My bad. Sorry

AnnaTS · January 2016

If Age of Conan hadn't released i might not of found MMORPGS, I only came across them when i say that episode of the big bang theory when Penny gets addicted to an online game sheldon was playing and it was Age of Conan.

scorpex-x · January 2016

This thread is terrible, I want to fire it out of a cannon and walk a thousand cows over whatever remains.

Nebless · January 2016

Wizardry said:

I remember the graphics looking far better than they do now a days,i think the game was toned down to support f2p.

Something got cleaned up as I can play it alot better now than before with the same computer!

And for that I'm glad. In fact I played it yesterday and today and am still finding quest's I hadn't done before and enjoyable NPC dialogue. Nothing like getting told off by a rude NPC. You don't get that kind of fun in other games

Rawiz · January 2016

Erling Ellingsen truly could and can spin shit at high level. It always amazed me how he could just lie and lie constantly.

Still seems to be a Funcom employee, so not much has changed.

Gestankfaust · January 2016

AoC was awesome. Still ranks high as an MMO as any now. Stop trolling.....

Messiah78 · May 2016

Age of Conan is/was a No Korean RNG/bs mmorpg. Good Dungeons, Great Raids, Amazing Classes, and the Music. Played for 3+ years from launch.
Can we have Age of Conan 2 - cheers.

Muke · May 2016

octa said:

This past May marked the 7th year from the atrocious launch of this MMO. The industry was forever changed; seeming to mark the downward decent of the MMO genre into mediocrity and eventual free to play marketing. I posit that Age of Conan was the catalyst for this shift. A multi million boondogle that served to rob us of our cash on the promise of features that would never see the light of day simply for the short term gain of box purchases.
I learned that year:
Erling Ellingsen is a liar.
MMOs are released blatantly unfinished with no apologies to that fact
Little is learned at Funcom when they repeat their launch failures two games in a row.
History tends to repeat itself when bad management is involved.
Beta tests are a marketing tool and have little to do with balancing and finding issues.
Tortage was excellent once the major bugs were squashed but the player base quickly realized there was a hollow shell of a game beyond those borders.
Funcom continues to be a malignant tumor in the industry, more concerned with its bottom line than the quality of their effort. They wasted and disused our trust and they boldly challenged us to do something about it.
I hope the current state of Age of Conan is a lesson learned for any others wishing to sell us their snake oil.
I will never forget. I will never forgive.

You give waaaaay too much credit to AOC like they were ever important.

I know enough MMO players since UO that have even never heard of something called Age of Conan/Funcom.

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Over 7 years ago the MMO industry was changed for the worse

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