Game having 'potential' as a reason is void. It either has features or lacks them, potential is meaningless.
On the other hand, if Funcom is getting their act together with AoC, good for the players. Even better if they can overcome the history and carve a niche for themselves.
My problems with AoC are deeper than the launch problems, and even the missing content. The design of the game world sucks. When you explore it, you feel like you are in a linear, 'on rails' fps shooter from back in 2001. There are too many places you can't explore, too many invisible walls, and the whole thing feels claustrophobic. What difference does it make if a game has the best graphics on the market when most of what you see was not designed to be explored, used or enjoyed?
Zoning and instancing is ludicrous. It doesn't take much foot/mount travel before you have to zone to a new area, and it really robs one of the immersive aspect of gaming in an MMO. The less I am aware of the game engine's mechanics, the more immersed in the world I am. AoC is horrible in this aspect, and when you combine this with multiple instances of each zone to control population and lag, you have a real problem. Some people can see past this, but I cannot. As much as I loved playing Guild Wars, I *hated* having to figure out what instance of a zone my friends were in before I could meet up with them, then deal with a control on the GUI to zone there. It was a constant reminder that I was in a video game.
Now before you fanboys make fun of that last sentence, try to remember one of the biggest aspects of these games is supposed to be immersion or suspension of disbelief. While it may not matter to some people, it's absolutely key to others. When I have to pick an instance or zone out of an area constantly, I am thinking about how the game engine works, and it takes me out of the game world. In my opinion, the fewer loading screens in a game, the better. The equivelant to this would be watching movies for the first time at the movie theater, while having the director and actors comment on each scene, or explaining the CGI to you. This may be ok as a bonus feature on a Blu-Ray disk after you have seen the movie the first time, but I don't want it when I'm trying to be swept away by the initial movie experience. (i'm actually not a fan of bonus features on disks at all)
Immersion problems aside, crafting, resource gathering, social and other non-combat aspects of AoC are weak to say the least. Like it or not, this turns off a great many players who like to do other things besides combat in their MMO's.
A sure sign that you are in an old, dying paradigm/mindset, is when you are scared of new ideas and new technology. Don't feel bad. The world is moving on without you, and you are welcome to yell "Get Off My Lawn!" all you want while it happens. You cannot, however, stop an idea whose time has come.
To OP Uh did i missed some point or you just said that AoC is the best MMO right now because of music graphic and potential and well lore because of disrespect of names but anyway you can think he moved from japan to china in my country(Czech Republic if you are curious ) there are living guys from vietnam too..... and not only vietnam! And what i clearly dont understand how can you become more confident of funcom after the latest patches ( Tbh not counting hotfixes that came there was one patch in this year ) Especially considering 1.4 gave me a pain not only with getting my chars through Thunder River but terrible lag spikes and discs and a whole day of downtime and peoples reporting other problems Hey that's just wierd you are saying that young cant be taken seriously...
That is quite funny part considering community of AoC are you really playing this game?!
The community is the worst part about Age of Conan i found at all.... And what did FunCom so great?They only saved you from a mindless grind( anyway you will grind 74-80) gave you most basic pvp system (flawless) notoriety system with solo dungeon 5man dungeon few raid bosses and pvp resources and fixed most terrible bugs now what's in workshop? I'm optimistic human but i cant feel optimistic when Funcom is revamping WHOLE statistics system and I dont give funcom much chance making bug-free patch and also as FunCom patching speed goes I cant just see it coming not sooner than 3 months. Also I lost all the lore feeling in the instanced and limited world and even when you will listen to the same song for 100 you will not really feel much impressed and in the end put music off.
****sweet, maybe the guy moved from Japan to China ! maybe he moved from Morocco to Norway! who knows? lets just give NPCs random imaginary names and every time someone asks why? we will just come up with scenario that could fit...
****i become more confident of Funcom, because:
-they are firing people and yet are making huge content patches
-they are fixing bugs
-they transformed AoC from a bag of bugs into a stable application WHILE loosing subs
-they are NOW getting people feedback very seriously and you can see that on their official forum
****
yes im playing AoC intensely and the community is very mature, unless you are ona PvP server where people are there to beat the crap out of each other 24/7
and no, the community is not the worst part, its actually the best part, people are really hesitationg to talk to each other, but when in a group they really care about helping out.
****
as for grind or not, all mmos have grind time at some point. from lvl 1 to 40 AoC have ZERO grinding ! which is far better than most other mmos.
and please dont make me say what i didnt, i never claimed that AoC music is Mozzart 9th symphony, i said it is great, and it is themic and fidel to the geography. do you have any song that you listen too ALWAYS?
my point was that AoC music is superior to other games music because its REAL music, in other games, you turn off music after 30 mn...
My problems with AoC are deeper than the launch problems, and even the missing content. The design of the game world sucks. When you explore it, you feel like you are in a linear, 'on rails' fps shooter from back in 2001. There are too many places you can't explore, too many invisible walls, and the whole thing feels claustrophobic. What difference does it make if a game has the best graphics on the market when most of what you see was not designed to be explored, used or enjoyed? Zoning and instancing is ludicrous. It doesn't take much foot/mount travel before you have to zone to a new area, and it really robs one of the immersive aspect of gaming in an MMO. The less I am aware of the game engine's mechanics, the more immersed in the world I am. AoC is horrible in this aspect, and when you combine this with multiple instances of each zone to control population and lag, you have a real problem. Some people can see past this, but I cannot. As much as I loved playing Guild Wars, I *hated* having to figure out what instance of a zone my friends were in before I could meet up with them, then deal with a control on the GUI to zone there. It was a constant reminder that I was in a video game. Now before you fanboys make fun of that last sentence, try to remember one of the biggest aspects of these games is supposed to be immersion or suspension of disbelief. While it may not matter to some people, it's absolutely key to others. When I have to pick an instance or zone out of an area constantly, I am thinking about how the game engine works, and it takes me out of the game world. In my opinion, the fewer loading screens in a game, the better. The equivelant to this would be watching movies for the first time at the movie theater, while having the director and actors comment on each scene, or explaining the CGI to you. This may be ok as a bonus feature on a Blu-Ray disk after you have seen the movie the first time, but I don't want it when I'm trying to be swept away by the initial movie experience. (i'm actually not a fan of bonus features on disks at all) Immersion problems aside, crafting, resource gathering, social and other non-combat aspects of AoC are weak to say the least. Like it or not, this turns off a great many players who like to do other things besides combat in their MMO's.
first, if 5000m line of sight is claustrophobic, i dont knoww what is not !
no seriously, i want to take this argument seriously but i cant.
as for instances, i totally agree, im not a big fan of em neither. i would love to see as less instances as possible.
and just so you know, there are no istances for crowd control, the only instances type in AoC are places instances and dungeons instances. so no instanced cities etc...
some people argue that they love not to have to walk or ride for 20 mn to go from a to b, others including myself love the free open world, i say let everyone have what they want. leave the teleportation there, and leave the roads open, instead of invisible imbreacheable walls, put loading screens (because of gfx content heaviness)
The design of the game world sucks. When you explore it, you feel like you are in a linear, 'on rails' fps shooter from back in 2001.
Did you even make it out of tortage? Because it sure doesn't sound like it. It isn't the marvelous non instanced wonder that is WoW, but it's definitively not a "linear on rails fps shooter from 2001".
This is a really old picture taken with a geforce 9600, so I hadn't maxed out view distance.
****i become more confident of Funcom, because: -they are firing people and yet are making huge content patches Indeed and when they will be bug free i will be very happy customer! -they are fixing bugs Yet adding new -they transformed AoC from a bag of bugs into a stable application WHILE loosing subs Yes I must agree into this that funcom made incredibly good work stabilizing and getting rid of the worst bug from launch -they are NOW getting people feedback very seriously and you can see that on their official forum Yes agree too but what for the feedback is when all take so long and patches are not bug-free? **** yes im playing AoC intensely and the community is very mature, unless you are ona PvP server where people are there to beat the crap out of each other 24/7 Ah so you are saying that most of PvP community are behaving like animals.... nice and no, the community is not the worst part, its actually the best part, people are really hesitationg to talk to each other, but when in a group they really care about helping out. Give me your server now!!111
**** as for grind or not, all mmos have grind time at some point. from lvl 1 to 40 AoC have ZERO grinding ! which is far better than most other mmos. Right but is really grind for a game that is P2P and was in work so long necessary? and please dont make me say what i didnt, i never claimed that AoC music is Mozzart 9th symphony, i said it is great, and it is themic and fidel to the geography. do you have any song that you listen too ALWAYS? my point was that AoC music is superior to other games music because its REAL music, in other games, you turn off music after 30 mn... ???I have never said that AoC music is somethign like mozzarth ALL I SAID was that even though music very nice and obviously as you are saying REAL but even then you will get tired of it and that's all my point really.
The design of the game world sucks. When you explore it, you feel like you are in a linear, 'on rails' fps shooter from back in 2001.
Did you even make it out of tortage? Because it sure doesn't sound like it. It isn't the marvelous non instanced wonder that is WoW, but it's definitively not a "linear on rails fps shooter from 2001".
This is a really old picture taken with a geforce 9600, so I hadn't maxed out view distance.
Compared to any other MMO I played AoC is linear, it get's even worse when you want to travel now that they removed rez pad teleporting.
@OP I stated gear maters and it does, people play MMOs to achieve and advance their char....in this game after level cap there is no way to do that. Other games allow chars to progress with getting new gear...so less there be a better option that is it.
Also, even though AoC does not factor in gear it is still very poorly balanced and the game mechanics like DPS Vs. player HPs are bad and the stunlocks, etc.
In any game I played once most players got geared they disapeared in AoC I imagine most of those types of players disapeared as soon as they hit 80 because they "beat the game" forever in RPGMMO's there should be no way to beat the game forever. In other MMOs players just beat the game until the next instance was released.
****i become more confident of Funcom, because: -they are firing people and yet are making huge content patches Indeed and when they will be bug free i will be very happy customer! -they are fixing bugs Yet adding new -they transformed AoC from a bag of bugs into a stable application WHILE loosing subs Yes I must agree into this that funcom made incredibly good work stabilizing and getting rid of the worst bug from launch -they are NOW getting people feedback very seriously and you can see that on their official forum Yes agree too but what for the feedback is when all take so long and patches are not bug-free? **** yes im playing AoC intensely and the community is very mature, unless you are ona PvP server where people are there to beat the crap out of each other 24/7 Ah so you are saying that most of PvP community are behaving like animals.... nice and no, the community is not the worst part, its actually the best part, people are really hesitationg to talk to each other, but when in a group they really care about helping out. Give me your server now!!111
**** as for grind or not, all mmos have grind time at some point. from lvl 1 to 40 AoC have ZERO grinding ! which is far better than most other mmos. Right but is really grind for a game that is P2P and was in work so long necessary? and please dont make me say what i didnt, i never claimed that AoC music is Mozzart 9th symphony, i said it is great, and it is themic and fidel to the geography. do you have any song that you listen too ALWAYS? my point was that AoC music is superior to other games music because its REAL music, in other games, you turn off music after 30 mn... ???I have never said that AoC music is somethign like mozzarth ALL I SAID was that even though music very nice and obviously as you are saying REAL but even then you will get tired of it and that's all my point really.
i cant argue with you.
you want a bug free software ! which means you will never be satisfied.
Originally posted by clearSam i cant argue with you. you want a bug free software ! which means you will never be satisfied. doesnt exist yet ! sorry
yea isent there a scientific principle that states, in a complex system it is impossible to avoide "failures"/bugs. think it has something to do with quantum physics, with the infinent posiblities. I cant remember what it is called dough. I also agree that AoC is the best mmo right now, i am keeping a strong eye on earthrise and Global Agenda dough..
The design of the game world sucks. When you explore it, you feel like you are in a linear, 'on rails' fps shooter from back in 2001.
Did you even make it out of tortage? Because it sure doesn't sound like it. It isn't the marvelous non instanced wonder that is WoW, but it's definitively not a "linear on rails fps shooter from 2001".
This is a really old picture taken with a geforce 9600, so I hadn't maxed out view distance.
Compared to any other MMO I played AoC is linear, it get's even worse when you want to travel now that they removed rez pad teleporting.
@OP I stated gear maters and it does, people play MMOs to achieve and advance their char....in this game after level cap there is no way to do that. Other games allow chars to progress with getting new gear...so less there be a better option that is it.
Also, even though AoC does not factor in gear it is still very poorly balanced and the game mechanics like DPS Vs. player HPs are bad and the stunlocks, etc.
In any game I played once most players got geared they disapeared in AoC I imagine most of those types of players disapeared as soon as they hit 80 because they "beat the game" forever in RPGMMO's there should be no way to beat the game forever. In other MMOs players just beat the game until the next instance was released.
yes gear matter, a lot actually, thats my point of view too.
AoC still lacks gear veriety and relevance to gameplay. Funcom knows that and they are working on it. hopefully itl be fixed soon.
i never said otherwise. but that doesnt mean the game sucks or doese it limit its future potential.
yes many people (not the guys on this thread im sure) talk based on no experience or very limited in game xp... i really dont know why someone would lie about a game?
yes many people (not the guys on this thread im sure) talk based on no experience or very limited in game xp... i really dont know why someone would lie about a game? how about that? or that? how claustophobic is this one? maybe this one will clear things up?
You had to walk / ride on 'tracks' to take everyone of those SS. Yes the 'curtain' around the world makes it look large, but you can't travel anywhere near most it, the games actual zones are small if measured by M2 that you can physically travel on. That is what people mean when they are saying 'claustrophobic'. It kills the immersion, instead of riding threw a mountain pass and 'zoning' you travel on a path to talk to an NPC and prompt dialog to start a loading screen.
FunCom managed to handle the illusion of zoning much better in Anarchy Online, 'motion picture style' freeze frame and zoning music while the loading new play field, Why they went so backward and chose to go with a screen showing the cliche Window 3.0 loading bar and a tip of the day message is bizzare, nothing pulls you out of an imaginary world as qwick as having to watch the digital gears grinding away ala Playstation loading page.
Im not gonna even argue about those, cause the music of AoC is outstanding by general consensus. its one of the few games where you hesitate to turn off the music or even to lower it down... its original, straight to the point, full of context and REAL music not amateur engineered compositions.
Graphics
If there is something that even flamers agree on, is that AoC have the best looking graphics ever to be found in an mmo up to date. some will say, oh but the gfx are not that important, and I say: YES, ITS FREAKING SOOO IMPORTANT, especially in a fantasy mmo where "fantasy" stuff is supposed to happen ! and where you, as a charcter, are supposed to explore and enjoy a world full of odd lore. so yes again: GRAPHYCS ARE VERY IMPORTANT. and as someone already said on another thread: in an MMO, content can be and supposed to be added regularly and eventually, but how affen do you see mmos remake their gfx engine? bugs can be fixed, content can be added, but gfx can NOT be enhanced.
Lore
I think the free world was in real need of something other than Elfs VS Humans VS Orcs VS Gobblins VS Dwarfs... so it was about time someone gets creative again. it is very clear that the game respects the geographical properties especial in human NPCs, names for instance are carefully chosen with respect to the culture. in most other games especially the ones directed for European/ NA audiences, those smaller details are left to developement hazard... i, personally dont like being taken for an idiot, so if an M rated game have a Chineese NPC called Yamato which is purely Japanese, ill be very pissed.... cause that totally kills the buzz.
Potential
As a whole, AoC is the game with most potential on the market, while some people argue that other fantasy mmos have more potential, i see AoC as the only one that have a REAL potential of being an EPIC mmo not just another mmo, without going into details, we know that WoW have nowhere to go but down! LOTRO, and with all my respect to the (LoR franchise) is useless, WAR is well... just another ok MMO with nothing else but PvP 24/7... WoW and LoTRO have the most arrogant companies behid them, which makes any positive feedback from users quasi impossible, and even more, the user base is indeed very young, and therfore not to be taken seriously... AoC in the other hand, have Funcom, which used to be called Failcom, simply because they failed to deliver a playable varsion of AoC at launch, so now, after they are done with the internal cleansing, Funcom have no other choice but make AoC an AAA game, deliver its promises and win AoC fans back. I, myself was very sceptical a couple of months ago, but after the latest patches and the public announcements that Funcom made, it is clear from a neutral point of view that they are doing a good job so far both in adding new content and getting players feed back from the official forum.
Graphics are spectacular. But in such a highly instanced and zoned environment that doesn't really grant a whole lot of freedom of movement, it doesn't add up to as much as it should. Instead of appreciating it, it leaves you wishing there was more.
The lore. Well, other than names for things it seems pretty underwhelming.
I just have one question what do you have against LotrO? I mean really LotrO? :S Turbine is a great company in my experience far more reliable then Funcom. Back when I played regularly they always listened to the players so I'm not sure what you're talking about there. It's great that you want to talk about the good things in Conan but you lose me as soon as you put down other games to do it.
-pre-last gen graphics
-pitiful sound, and i dont even recall the music...
-taking the best fantasy movie EVER and squeezing a blemished, cold, full of nothingness mmo out of it.
LoTRO is the typical commercial product based only on the success of the franchise.
like Doom 3, Doom the movie etc...
so yes, i have a strong opinion against any company who thinks they can make money out of fanboys without working hard for it.
and if you like numbers: 10 million know WoW and there are 4 Billion who know Lord of the Rings as a franchise
so where are the numbers?
if LoTRO is the MMO you think it is, then it should be on the TOP of everything else.
I'm sorry those are your opinions only and many, many would vehemently disagree with you.
-Music: LotrO's score is very compelling.
-Pre last gen graphics? Pardon? LotrO has some of the best environmental graphics of the genre regardless that it's engine isn't as beefed as Conan's. It's artistry is just awesome and you can say that of DDO too though it's older. The character models though that's another issue.
-Cold, full of nothingness? I don't think you've played the game at all.
Numbers? It certainly has a higher player base then AoC, it can't beat WoW no one can, but it is still one of the most played MMOs and with reason. It is a solid game with missions with you follow and many side quests, good crafting system, many avenues for RP, beautiful sweeping landscapes ect...
I'm sorry but I believe in giving credit where credit is due. While I prefer Conan over LotrO I'm not going to be a doofus and actually lie about the game. O.o
OH! And speaking of franchises you are seriously off your rocker faulting LotrO for being based on Tolkien when Age of CONAN is based on Robert E Howard's Conan books. Which has movies already and is getting another one, not to mention the comics....
Im not gonna even argue about those, cause the music of AoC is outstanding by general consensus. its one of the few games where you hesitate to turn off the music or even to lower it down... its original, straight to the point, full of context and REAL music not amateur engineered compositions.
Graphics
If there is something that even flamers agree on, is that AoC have the best looking graphics ever to be found in an mmo up to date. some will say, oh but the gfx are not that important, and I say: YES, ITS FREAKING SOOO IMPORTANT, especially in a fantasy mmo where "fantasy" stuff is supposed to happen ! and where you, as a charcter, are supposed to explore and enjoy a world full of odd lore. so yes again: GRAPHYCS ARE VERY IMPORTANT. and as someone already said on another thread: in an MMO, content can be and supposed to be added regularly and eventually, but how affen do you see mmos remake their gfx engine? bugs can be fixed, content can be added, but gfx can NOT be enhanced.
Lore
I think the free world was in real need of something other than Elfs VS Humans VS Orcs VS Gobblins VS Dwarfs... so it was about time someone gets creative again. it is very clear that the game respects the geographical properties especial in human NPCs, names for instance are carefully chosen with respect to the culture. in most other games especially the ones directed for European/ NA audiences, those smaller details are left to developement hazard... i, personally dont like being taken for an idiot, so if an M rated game have a Chineese NPC called Yamato which is purely Japanese, ill be very pissed.... cause that totally kills the buzz.
Potential
As a whole, AoC is the game with most potential on the market, while some people argue that other fantasy mmos have more potential, i see AoC as the only one that have a REAL potential of being an EPIC mmo not just another mmo, without going into details, we know that WoW have nowhere to go but down! LOTRO, and with all my respect to the (LoR franchise) is useless, WAR is well... just another ok MMO with nothing else but PvP 24/7... WoW and LoTRO have the most arrogant companies behid them, which makes any positive feedback from users quasi impossible, and even more, the user base is indeed very young, and therfore not to be taken seriously... AoC in the other hand, have Funcom, which used to be called Failcom, simply because they failed to deliver a playable varsion of AoC at launch, so now, after they are done with the internal cleansing, Funcom have no other choice but make AoC an AAA game, deliver its promises and win AoC fans back. I, myself was very sceptical a couple of months ago, but after the latest patches and the public announcements that Funcom made, it is clear from a neutral point of view that they are doing a good job so far both in adding new content and getting players feed back from the official forum.
While i agree WOW is plagued with children i found LOTRO to have a very mature playerbase. As for AOC i played it also until i left Tortage and the game died. As for arrogance, i find Turbine to be one of the best MMO devs. Look at all the free content they added until just recently releasing an xpac, which by the way has been applauded by the gaming community. Funcom had there chance and blew it. Conan is a great property and could have been a contender in the market, instead they decided, as so many have lately, to release a half finished game and expect people to hang around until its finished. If you like the game then play the game. For myself, they had their chance.
-Wont make me disconnect every 10 minutes -Wont Make me lag spike every 2 minutes
That problem was just fixed for me with the latest patch, don't ask me why, I've no clue. lol Tried many things to fix it myself without any change and then BOOM it's all good. The game now runs smooth as butter just like before the humongous 1.04 patch.
You forgot fun. Most people dont play games for their potential.
NASA come close to making bug free software. 99.9% error free for the Shuttle software, and it only costs them $35 million a year. Not something that most gaming companies could afford to do though. http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/06/writestuff.html
That problem was just fixed for me with the latest patch, don't ask me why, I've no clue. lol But the game runs smooth as butter just like before the humongous 1.04 patch.
I'm afraid you misunderstood me i didnt said ANYWHERE the problem is right now I just didnt said that!
All i said that this problem was after the miracle super huge content savior of AoC 1.4 though it is fixed now it wont change a damn thing i couldn't play for 5 days without getting disconnect or killed by a super mob in lag.
That problem was just fixed for me with the latest patch, don't ask me why, I've no clue. lol But the game runs smooth as butter just like before the humongous 1.04 patch.
I'm afraid you misunderstood me i didnt said ANYWHERE the problem is right now I just didnt said that!
All i said that this problem was after the miracle super huge content savior of AoC 1.4 though it is fixed now it wont change a damn thing i couldn't play for 5 days without getting disconnect or killed by a super mob in lag.
Yes I know that's what happened to me as well, but there was another patch some days ago, and it's great now...... I'm not trying to convince just informing you.
Although there's another update tomorrow so who knows how that will go.. lol
Yes I know that's what happened to me as well, but there was another patch some days ago, and it's great now...... I'm not trying to convince just informing you. Although there's another update tomorrow so who knows how that will go.. lol
Yep game is running fine now it's good to see FunCom can solve it's problems quickly but also sad to see they still cant avoid them.
Though i cant still see this game The best MMO as of now i still can see it a good chance to go upwards if FunCom wont shoot themselves in foot once again with 1.5 .
I just have one question what do you have against LotrO? I mean really LotrO? :S Turbine is a great company in my experience far more reliable then Funcom. Back when I played regularly they always listened to the players so I'm not sure what you're talking about there. It's great that you want to talk about the good things in Conan but you lose me as soon as you put down other games to do it.
-pre-last gen graphics
-pitiful sound, and i dont even recall the music...
-taking the best fantasy movie EVER and squeezing a blemished, cold, full of nothingness mmo out of it.
LoTRO is the typical commercial product based only on the success of the franchise.
like Doom 3, Doom the movie etc...
so yes, i have a strong opinion against any company who thinks they can make money out of fanboys without working hard for it.
and if you like numbers: 10 million know WoW and there are 4 Billion who know Lord of the Rings as a franchise
so where are the numbers?
if LoTRO is the MMO you think it is, then it should be on the TOP of everything else.
I'm sorry those are your opinions only and many, many would vehemently disagree with you.
-Music: LotrO's score is very compelling.
-Pre last gen graphics? Pardon? LotrO has some of the best environmental graphics of the genre regardless that it's engine isn't as beefed as Conan's. It's artistry is just awesome and you can say that of DDO too though it's older. The character models though that's another issue.
-Cold, full of nothingness? I don't think you've played the game at all.
Numbers? It certainly has a higher player base then AoC, it can't beat WoW no one can, but it is still one of the most played MMOs and with reason. It is a solid game with missions with you follow and many side quests, good crafting system, many avenues for RP, beautiful sweeping landscapes ect...
I'm sorry but I believe in giving credit where credit is due. While I prefer Conan over LotrO I'm not going to be a doofus and actually lie about the game. O.o
OH! And speaking of franchises you are seriously off your rocker faulting LotrO for being based on Tolkien when Age of CONAN is based on Robert E Howard's Conan books. Which has movies already and is getting another one, not to mention the comics....
Don't make stuff up man.
if im lying and actually never played LoTRO and just making up stuff, then the game is a great success and is at its full cruising speed, which could only means that the LoR franchise is not that hot which is not true.
LoR lore is 100x better described, docummented and known than anything else on any other mmo ever, WoW and AoC included, LoR is a global popular culture, if anything had a shot at PWI in terms of number of players and at WoW in terms of revenue it was LoTRO.
now clearly LoTRO is doing... hmmm just ok. which means it is not a great success, and since we agree that the franchise is outstanding that could only mean that its development and production were massive failures.
************
and i think you misunderstood me when i talked about LoR franchise, i didnt say that LoTRO is bad because its based on a franchise, i said that : IF you give a company a BIG FAT franchise title like LoR (the biggest and fattest) and they make out of it an "ok" game then IT is a failure.
Graphics are spectacular. But in such a highly instanced and zoned environment that doesn't really grant a whole lot of freedom of movement, it doesn't add up to as much as it should. Instead of appreciating it, it leaves you wishing there was more.
yes it doese, the maps are pretty big for such a detailed world, as for instancing, i agree, im not a fan of zones neither, they should accomodate both cultures: rapid transite points for those in a hurry and open world for those who love free exploring (like myself).
how? leave the system as is and instead of invisible walls they could throw the loading screen for those who want to walk it 30 mn.
however, forcing people to do it one way or the other will always be unfair towards one side.
****
as far as Lore, well, you left me with nothing to say:
"The lore. Well, other than names for things it seems pretty underwhelming."
Let me get this straight. AoC is the best game because it has great graphics, good sounds, and potential? Did I miss you talking about the actual important parts of a game, like the actual game play, the game world, and the content? All of which AoC severely underachieves on?
No, your right this is the best game.
Tried: LotR, CoH, AoC, WAR, Jumpgate Classic Played: SWG, Guild Wars, WoW Playing: Eve Online, Counter-strike Loved: Star Wars Galaxies Waiting for: Earthrise, Guild Wars 2, anything sandbox.
Let me get this straight. AoC is the best game because it has great graphics, good sounds, and potential? Did I miss you talking about the actual important parts of a game, like the actual game play, the game world, and the content? All of which AoC severely underachieves on? No, your right this is the best game.
no you didnt miss, you actually skipped everything i said.
Comments
Game having 'potential' as a reason is void. It either has features or lacks them, potential is meaningless.
On the other hand, if Funcom is getting their act together with AoC, good for the players. Even better if they can overcome the history and carve a niche for themselves.
Playing: AC2
Played: UO, DaoC, Horizons, Ryzom, WAR, LotRO, Eve, VG...
My problems with AoC are deeper than the launch problems, and even the missing content. The design of the game world sucks. When you explore it, you feel like you are in a linear, 'on rails' fps shooter from back in 2001. There are too many places you can't explore, too many invisible walls, and the whole thing feels claustrophobic. What difference does it make if a game has the best graphics on the market when most of what you see was not designed to be explored, used or enjoyed?
Zoning and instancing is ludicrous. It doesn't take much foot/mount travel before you have to zone to a new area, and it really robs one of the immersive aspect of gaming in an MMO. The less I am aware of the game engine's mechanics, the more immersed in the world I am. AoC is horrible in this aspect, and when you combine this with multiple instances of each zone to control population and lag, you have a real problem. Some people can see past this, but I cannot. As much as I loved playing Guild Wars, I *hated* having to figure out what instance of a zone my friends were in before I could meet up with them, then deal with a control on the GUI to zone there. It was a constant reminder that I was in a video game.
Now before you fanboys make fun of that last sentence, try to remember one of the biggest aspects of these games is supposed to be immersion or suspension of disbelief. While it may not matter to some people, it's absolutely key to others. When I have to pick an instance or zone out of an area constantly, I am thinking about how the game engine works, and it takes me out of the game world. In my opinion, the fewer loading screens in a game, the better. The equivelant to this would be watching movies for the first time at the movie theater, while having the director and actors comment on each scene, or explaining the CGI to you. This may be ok as a bonus feature on a Blu-Ray disk after you have seen the movie the first time, but I don't want it when I'm trying to be swept away by the initial movie experience. (i'm actually not a fan of bonus features on disks at all)
Immersion problems aside, crafting, resource gathering, social and other non-combat aspects of AoC are weak to say the least. Like it or not, this turns off a great many players who like to do other things besides combat in their MMO's.
A sure sign that you are in an old, dying paradigm/mindset, is when you are scared of new ideas and new technology. Don't feel bad. The world is moving on without you, and you are welcome to yell "Get Off My Lawn!" all you want while it happens. You cannot, however, stop an idea whose time has come.
****sweet, maybe the guy moved from Japan to China ! maybe he moved from Morocco to Norway! who knows? lets just give NPCs random imaginary names and every time someone asks why? we will just come up with scenario that could fit...
****i become more confident of Funcom, because:
-they are firing people and yet are making huge content patches
-they are fixing bugs
-they transformed AoC from a bag of bugs into a stable application WHILE loosing subs
-they are NOW getting people feedback very seriously and you can see that on their official forum
****
yes im playing AoC intensely and the community is very mature, unless you are ona PvP server where people are there to beat the crap out of each other 24/7
and no, the community is not the worst part, its actually the best part, people are really hesitationg to talk to each other, but when in a group they really care about helping out.
****
as for grind or not, all mmos have grind time at some point. from lvl 1 to 40 AoC have ZERO grinding ! which is far better than most other mmos.
and please dont make me say what i didnt, i never claimed that AoC music is Mozzart 9th symphony, i said it is great, and it is themic and fidel to the geography. do you have any song that you listen too ALWAYS?
my point was that AoC music is superior to other games music because its REAL music, in other games, you turn off music after 30 mn...
first, if 5000m line of sight is claustrophobic, i dont knoww what is not !
no seriously, i want to take this argument seriously but i cant.
as for instances, i totally agree, im not a big fan of em neither. i would love to see as less instances as possible.
and just so you know, there are no istances for crowd control, the only instances type in AoC are places instances and dungeons instances. so no instanced cities etc...
some people argue that they love not to have to walk or ride for 20 mn to go from a to b, others including myself love the free open world, i say let everyone have what they want. leave the teleportation there, and leave the roads open, instead of invisible imbreacheable walls, put loading screens (because of gfx content heaviness)
Did you even make it out of tortage? Because it sure doesn't sound like it. It isn't the marvelous non instanced wonder that is WoW, but it's definitively not a "linear on rails fps shooter from 2001".
This is a really old picture taken with a geforce 9600, so I hadn't maxed out view distance.
It is preferable not to travel with a dead man.
Did you even make it out of tortage? Because it sure doesn't sound like it. It isn't the marvelous non instanced wonder that is WoW, but it's definitively not a "linear on rails fps shooter from 2001".
This is a really old picture taken with a geforce 9600, so I hadn't maxed out view distance.
Compared to any other MMO I played AoC is linear, it get's even worse when you want to travel now that they removed rez pad teleporting.
@OP I stated gear maters and it does, people play MMOs to achieve and advance their char....in this game after level cap there is no way to do that. Other games allow chars to progress with getting new gear...so less there be a better option that is it.
Also, even though AoC does not factor in gear it is still very poorly balanced and the game mechanics like DPS Vs. player HPs are bad and the stunlocks, etc.
In any game I played once most players got geared they disapeared in AoC I imagine most of those types of players disapeared as soon as they hit 80 because they "beat the game" forever in RPGMMO's there should be no way to beat the game forever. In other MMOs players just beat the game until the next instance was released.
Funcom has reviewed all of its assets relevant for
impairment testing. This process has led to
recognition of an impairment loss of around
3,1 MUSD for Age of Conan due to a decrease in
numbers of subscribers for the game. Funcom Q4 10 report.
http://forums.ageofconan.com/showpost.php?p=2926123&postcount=7 500 mains/alts on Tyranny in past 30 days - instead of merge servers let's open a new PvP server, again! http://forums-eu.ageofconan.com/showthread.php?t=106427
i cant argue with you.
you want a bug free software ! which means you will never be satisfied.
doesnt exist yet ! sorry
I also agree that AoC is the best mmo right now, i am keeping a strong eye on earthrise and Global Agenda dough..
Did you even make it out of tortage? Because it sure doesn't sound like it. It isn't the marvelous non instanced wonder that is WoW, but it's definitively not a "linear on rails fps shooter from 2001".
This is a really old picture taken with a geforce 9600, so I hadn't maxed out view distance.
Compared to any other MMO I played AoC is linear, it get's even worse when you want to travel now that they removed rez pad teleporting.
@OP I stated gear maters and it does, people play MMOs to achieve and advance their char....in this game after level cap there is no way to do that. Other games allow chars to progress with getting new gear...so less there be a better option that is it.
Also, even though AoC does not factor in gear it is still very poorly balanced and the game mechanics like DPS Vs. player HPs are bad and the stunlocks, etc.
In any game I played once most players got geared they disapeared in AoC I imagine most of those types of players disapeared as soon as they hit 80 because they "beat the game" forever in RPGMMO's there should be no way to beat the game forever. In other MMOs players just beat the game until the next instance was released.
yes gear matter, a lot actually, thats my point of view too.
AoC still lacks gear veriety and relevance to gameplay. Funcom knows that and they are working on it. hopefully itl be fixed soon.
i never said otherwise. but that doesnt mean the game sucks or doese it limit its future potential.
thats all i wanted to point out.
@Deadman87
yes many people (not the guys on this thread im sure) talk based on no experience or very limited in game xp... i really dont know why someone would lie about a game?
You had to walk / ride on 'tracks' to take everyone of those SS. Yes the 'curtain' around the world makes it look large, but you can't travel anywhere near most it, the games actual zones are small if measured by M2 that you can physically travel on. That is what people mean when they are saying 'claustrophobic'. It kills the immersion, instead of riding threw a mountain pass and 'zoning' you travel on a path to talk to an NPC and prompt dialog to start a loading screen.
FunCom managed to handle the illusion of zoning much better in Anarchy Online, 'motion picture style' freeze frame and zoning music while the loading new play field, Why they went so backward and chose to go with a screen showing the cliche Window 3.0 loading bar and a tip of the day message is bizzare, nothing pulls you out of an imaginary world as qwick as having to watch the digital gears grinding away ala Playstation loading page.
Graphics are spectacular. But in such a highly instanced and zoned environment that doesn't really grant a whole lot of freedom of movement, it doesn't add up to as much as it should. Instead of appreciating it, it leaves you wishing there was more.
The lore. Well, other than names for things it seems pretty underwhelming.
-pre-last gen graphics
-pitiful sound, and i dont even recall the music...
-taking the best fantasy movie EVER and squeezing a blemished, cold, full of nothingness mmo out of it.
LoTRO is the typical commercial product based only on the success of the franchise.
like Doom 3, Doom the movie etc...
so yes, i have a strong opinion against any company who thinks they can make money out of fanboys without working hard for it.
and if you like numbers: 10 million know WoW and there are 4 Billion who know Lord of the Rings as a franchise
so where are the numbers?
if LoTRO is the MMO you think it is, then it should be on the TOP of everything else.
I'm sorry those are your opinions only and many, many would vehemently disagree with you.
-Music: LotrO's score is very compelling.
-Pre last gen graphics? Pardon? LotrO has some of the best environmental graphics of the genre regardless that it's engine isn't as beefed as Conan's. It's artistry is just awesome and you can say that of DDO too though it's older. The character models though that's another issue.
-Cold, full of nothingness? I don't think you've played the game at all.
Numbers? It certainly has a higher player base then AoC, it can't beat WoW no one can, but it is still one of the most played MMOs and with reason. It is a solid game with missions with you follow and many side quests, good crafting system, many avenues for RP, beautiful sweeping landscapes ect...
I'm sorry but I believe in giving credit where credit is due. While I prefer Conan over LotrO I'm not going to be a doofus and actually lie about the game. O.o
OH! And speaking of franchises you are seriously off your rocker faulting LotrO for being based on Tolkien when Age of CONAN is based on Robert E Howard's Conan books. Which has movies already and is getting another one, not to mention the comics....
Don't make stuff up man.
(,,,)=^__^=(,,,)
While i agree WOW is plagued with children i found LOTRO to have a very mature playerbase. As for AOC i played it also until i left Tortage and the game died. As for arrogance, i find Turbine to be one of the best MMO devs. Look at all the free content they added until just recently releasing an xpac, which by the way has been applauded by the gaming community. Funcom had there chance and blew it. Conan is a great property and could have been a contender in the market, instead they decided, as so many have lately, to release a half finished game and expect people to hang around until its finished. If you like the game then play the game. For myself, they had their chance.
Oh really and where did i stated that?
If you would bother stop pulling things from your *** and read what I'm saying maybe we could get somewhere.
All i want is a patch that
-Wont make me disconnect every 10 minutes
-Wont Make me lag spike every 2 minutes
All in all i want a game that is playable... something game wasn't after patch as it wans't at launch
Oh and tell me of that server of yours I'm really hooked in!
That problem was just fixed for me with the latest patch, don't ask me why, I've no clue. lol Tried many things to fix it myself without any change and then BOOM it's all good. The game now runs smooth as butter just like before the humongous 1.04 patch.
(,,,)=^__^=(,,,)
You forgot fun. Most people dont play games for their potential.
NASA come close to making bug free software. 99.9% error free for the Shuttle software, and it only costs them $35 million a year. Not something that most gaming companies could afford to do though. http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/06/writestuff.html
I'm afraid you misunderstood me i didnt said ANYWHERE the problem is right now I just didnt said that!
All i said that this problem was after the miracle super huge content savior of AoC 1.4 though it is fixed now it wont change a damn thing i couldn't play for 5 days without getting disconnect or killed by a super mob in lag.
I'm afraid you misunderstood me i didnt said ANYWHERE the problem is right now I just didnt said that!
All i said that this problem was after the miracle super huge content savior of AoC 1.4 though it is fixed now it wont change a damn thing i couldn't play for 5 days without getting disconnect or killed by a super mob in lag.
Yes I know that's what happened to me as well, but there was another patch some days ago, and it's great now...... I'm not trying to convince just informing you.
Although there's another update tomorrow so who knows how that will go.. lol
(,,,)=^__^=(,,,)
Yep game is running fine now it's good to see FunCom can solve it's problems quickly but also sad to see they still cant avoid them.
Though i cant still see this game The best MMO as of now i still can see it a good chance to go upwards if FunCom wont shoot themselves in foot once again with 1.5 .
-pre-last gen graphics
-pitiful sound, and i dont even recall the music...
-taking the best fantasy movie EVER and squeezing a blemished, cold, full of nothingness mmo out of it.
LoTRO is the typical commercial product based only on the success of the franchise.
like Doom 3, Doom the movie etc...
so yes, i have a strong opinion against any company who thinks they can make money out of fanboys without working hard for it.
and if you like numbers: 10 million know WoW and there are 4 Billion who know Lord of the Rings as a franchise
so where are the numbers?
if LoTRO is the MMO you think it is, then it should be on the TOP of everything else.
I'm sorry those are your opinions only and many, many would vehemently disagree with you.
-Music: LotrO's score is very compelling.
-Pre last gen graphics? Pardon? LotrO has some of the best environmental graphics of the genre regardless that it's engine isn't as beefed as Conan's. It's artistry is just awesome and you can say that of DDO too though it's older. The character models though that's another issue.
-Cold, full of nothingness? I don't think you've played the game at all.
Numbers? It certainly has a higher player base then AoC, it can't beat WoW no one can, but it is still one of the most played MMOs and with reason. It is a solid game with missions with you follow and many side quests, good crafting system, many avenues for RP, beautiful sweeping landscapes ect...
I'm sorry but I believe in giving credit where credit is due. While I prefer Conan over LotrO I'm not going to be a doofus and actually lie about the game. O.o
OH! And speaking of franchises you are seriously off your rocker faulting LotrO for being based on Tolkien when Age of CONAN is based on Robert E Howard's Conan books. Which has movies already and is getting another one, not to mention the comics....
Don't make stuff up man.
if im lying and actually never played LoTRO and just making up stuff, then the game is a great success and is at its full cruising speed, which could only means that the LoR franchise is not that hot which is not true.
LoR lore is 100x better described, docummented and known than anything else on any other mmo ever, WoW and AoC included, LoR is a global popular culture, if anything had a shot at PWI in terms of number of players and at WoW in terms of revenue it was LoTRO.
now clearly LoTRO is doing... hmmm just ok. which means it is not a great success, and since we agree that the franchise is outstanding that could only mean that its development and production were massive failures.
************
and i think you misunderstood me when i talked about LoR franchise, i didnt say that LoTRO is bad because its based on a franchise, i said that : IF you give a company a BIG FAT franchise title like LoR (the biggest and fattest) and they make out of it an "ok" game then IT is a failure.
Oh really and where did i stated that?
If you would bother stop pulling things from your *** and read what I'm saying maybe we could get somewhere.
All i want is a patch that
-Wont make me disconnect every 10 minutes
-Wont Make me lag spike every 2 minutes
All in all i want a game that is playable... something game wasn't after patch as it wans't at launch
Oh and tell me of that server of yours I'm really hooked in!
if you dont like the way i talk or simply dont like me then thats fine, its not really relevant to the subject,
but i cant picture all the players getting spikes every 2mn and disconnection every 10mn.
no seriously, did that happen to you or youre just making that up?
cause if thats true then im the only one not having spikes and disconnections o_0
Graphics are spectacular. But in such a highly instanced and zoned environment that doesn't really grant a whole lot of freedom of movement, it doesn't add up to as much as it should. Instead of appreciating it, it leaves you wishing there was more.
yes it doese, the maps are pretty big for such a detailed world, as for instancing, i agree, im not a fan of zones neither, they should accomodate both cultures: rapid transite points for those in a hurry and open world for those who love free exploring (like myself).
how? leave the system as is and instead of invisible walls they could throw the loading screen for those who want to walk it 30 mn.
however, forcing people to do it one way or the other will always be unfair towards one side.
****
as far as Lore, well, you left me with nothing to say:
"The lore. Well, other than names for things it seems pretty underwhelming."
what you want me to say here?
Let me get this straight. AoC is the best game because it has great graphics, good sounds, and potential? Did I miss you talking about the actual important parts of a game, like the actual game play, the game world, and the content? All of which AoC severely underachieves on?
No, your right this is the best game.
Tried: LotR, CoH, AoC, WAR, Jumpgate Classic
Played: SWG, Guild Wars, WoW
Playing: Eve Online, Counter-strike
Loved: Star Wars Galaxies
Waiting for: Earthrise, Guild Wars 2, anything sandbox.
no you didnt miss, you actually skipped everything i said.