Hold out for the next big patch, the Tower PVP system might be interesting
If you read what they actually said, that's 2-3 patches from now. Which will be too late. It really needed to be done already to be honest. AoC is in shape for a release - not a year in. Anyone who wants PvP combat based around claiming something such as towers will already have moved on to the new game coming out which has an endgame designed around that. Plus, it's something new which makes it appealing.
Aion is the new hype now, and from the people I know who have played it in high levels, they say it's rightfully so - many people are saying it's nothing new, which may be true to a point... the beta was only low levels so you cant really expect much aside from some leveling up, but it was pretty polished which is all you could really ask.
But all reports I got from the few ppl I know that have played it on the Korean server say that the end-game PvP system is actually working - something that has been lacking in all the games as of recent. Assuming that is actually true, that's what the big deal is about.
That's where the recent games dropped the ball. They have been buggy in the low levels, and unfinished in the end game. So here is hoping that the reports I got are true. All I want is a new RvR game that is actually designed for PvP combat with a working endgame. (I wouldnt mind a good new FFA PvP game.. but we all know how those have went recently...)
Warhammer is ironically (finally) patching in their fixed city sieging on the 18th. 2 days before the Aion pre-release. Only a year too late... and who releases a big patch 2 days before a competing game releases? lol
It is a shame that AOC launched so badly because it is now a very, very fun game. I have just let my sub lapse with AOC (played since launch) as I have been trying many new games (Aion, Champions, Fallen Earth, Crime Craft, Huxley, etc) and have settled on Champions for sure (very fun game) and am debating about AIon, or resubbing to Conan. AOC lore, visuals, combat, and classes, are more appealing to me than Aion's but Aion is a solid and good game. I am not a huge fan of Anime style games though and there are a TON of grind out X kills quests in it. It gets fun after 20th level when you start to get into PVPVE stuff. Anyway, AOC is a solid game now and deserves better than it is getting from the MMO gaming community.
I have been playing AoC for less than a month. I figure for $20 how can I go wrong until Aion comes out?
I was surprised by the graphic quality (in a good way) but the constant load screens just completely turned me off. Enter a tavern: loadscreen. Enter a new area: Load Screen. Pick you nose: load screen.
After WoW introduced players to the open world concept, AoC having load screen after load screen just does not cut it. Very amateurish.
I'm very glad I played AoC, it is nice filler. Nothing I would pay a monthly sub for. The Fedex quests are the most annoying I've ever found in any MMORPG.
It's too difficult to make a game friendly and it's too easy to make the game unfriendly. A friendly design makes everything easy because of their expert programming. A terrible interface provides you a lot of choices to fine tune by yourself as if how to get the right interface selection were part of the game contents as well. For example, how to setup your camera so you can see better.
AOC has better interface design than FFXI with much less complication. But I still can't figure out how to not show my avartar information pop on screen every other second in AOC. When you are playing, your mouse pointer always place at the center of the screen, right? The problem in AOC is that whenever your mouse hovering over your avartar then you will see your own charcter information window pop on the screen.
If you selected to delay the mouse hover feature then you will delay everything included your armor, stuffs in your bag. I think AOC should make a QUICK BAR to switch such delay from 0 second to another 5 seconds to use it like a interface skill.
It's too difficult to make a game friendly and it's too easy to make the game unfriendly. A friendly design makes everything easy because of their expert programming. A terrible interface provides you a lot of choices to fine tune by yourself as if how to get the right interface selection were part of the game contents as well. For example, how to setup your camera so you can see better. AOC has better interface design than FFXI with much less complication. But I still can't figure out how to not show my avartar information pop on screen every other second in AOC. When you are playing, your mouse pointer always place at the center of the screen, right? The problem in AOC is that whenever your mouse hovering over your avartar then you will see your own charcter information window pop on the screen. If you selected to delay the mouse hover feature then you will delay everything included your armor, stuffs in your bag. I think AOC should make a QUICK BAR to switch such delay from 0 second to another 5 seconds to use it like a interface skill.
Kind of hard to read posts by someone that was caught red handed lying in the post where it's claimed that there's hardly any raiding on Crom. Well, some people don't get embarassed when caught lying obviously. That's even scarier in a way.
Pre-ordered AoC and enjoyed it thoroughly. I was just one of those lucky people who had zero technical difficulties. Of course, I had just sunk a serious chunk of change into my new four-year computer build. I did unsubscribe for about three or four months because I just didn't have the time to play (work was consuming my life) but I recently re-subscribed.
The classes were and are interesting, and the graphics are superb. The various areas are moderately sized, certainly not huge, but not tiny as well. Funcom made an excellent effort to incorporate the lore from the novels (although I'm a little disappointed in the upcoming Khitan expansion; I really, really wanted Zamora, just to see what they would do with Shadizar the Wicked).
Instancing just never bothered me; I've played too many games with large amounts of instancing (CoX, for example) so it simply isn't a huge issue.
The only thing that still bothers me is class balance issues. Ranged classes still pretty much own melee, unless you spend most of your time stealthed (at least in the early levels). I play on Tyranny, a PvP server, so that can be problematic.
Just got my first character to 40, and have about five characters. So in my opinion, as a now-casual player, it's a great game.
Abbatoir / Abbatoir Cinq Adnihilo Beorn Judge's Edge Somnulus Perfect Black ---------------------- Asheron's Call / Asheron's Call 2 Everquest / Everquest 2 Anarchy Online Shadowbane Dark Age of Camelot Star Wars Galaxies Matrix Online World of Warcraft Guild Wars City of Heroes
Hmmm, just watched the gameplay on Youtube www.youtube.com/watch Another pointy - clicky I got bored with in WO and LotR. They might have better PvP events but the game play ain't my cup of tea. Nice music though
To be fair, gameplay vids of ANY mmo look the same and look like crap. You cant really tell how an MMO plays until you have played a character in high levels and experienced all the different things the games have to offer. This holds true for whatever your MMO of choice is - be it WoW, Warhammer, AoC, EVE, CoX, AC, EQ, even Darkfall (shudder). None of those look remotely entertaining unless you have played them before and know what is going on in them.
When I first started playing MMO's, all my friends thought they looked boring. That's until they actually tried playing themselves. If someone who never played MMO's watches me play one to this day, the same thing happens.
Kind of hard to read posts by someone that was caught red handed lying in the post where it's claimed that there's hardly any raiding on Crom. Well, some people don't get embarassed when caught lying obviously. That's even scarier in a way.
So you maybe the one also don't believe AOC has many bugs as well. For example, quest is one major contents in AOC and it shouldn't have any bugs over a year now.
Yesterday, I found another quest bug in Atzel Approach, quest name: Trapping and Torture. The quest is a chain quest probably have 5 other quests to follow up but bugged at the first one. The reward is a nice Necklace, exp around 51k.
The quest is simple enough to set fire on the wood fence but it didn't work, I though there might be some tricks behind the quest because AOC so enjoyed to fool around playerthen after tried several times and even woke up early in one morning while no one online then I finally believe the quest is just bugged.
Kind of hard to read posts by someone that was caught red handed lying in the post where it's claimed that there's hardly any raiding on Crom. Well, some people don't get embarassed when caught lying obviously. That's even scarier in a way.
So you maybe the one also don't believe AOC has many bugs as well. For example, quest is one major contents in AOC and it shouldn't have any bugs over a year now.
Yesterday, I found another quest bug in Atzel Approach, quest name: Trapping and Torture. The quest is a chain quest probably have 5 other quests to follow up but bugged at the first one. The reward is a nice Necklace, exp around 51k.
The quest is simple enough to set fire on the wood fence but it didn't work, I though there might be some tricks behind the quest because AOC so enjoyed to fool around playerthen after tried several times and even woke up early in one morning while no one online then I finally believe the quest is just bugged.
It's just waste time to find out such thing.
Way to go off topic from the person you quoted. haha How's that hunt for a raiding guild going for ya? I mean several people gave you links to all kinds of guilds that raid. Oh well, you can only do so much....
Way to go off topic from the person you quoted. haha How's that hunt for a raiding guild going for ya? I mean several people gave you links to all kinds of guilds that raid. Oh well, you can only do so much....
So you maybe the one also don't believe AOC has many bugs as well. For example, quest is one major contents in AOC and it shouldn't have any bugs over a year now.
What are you saying here, that after a year Aoc should not have any bugs in it?
Do you use software at all. Ever heard of Windows XP? Microsoft are still patching that and it still has bugs in it, do you know how long it has been out for? More than a year i can tell you that!
FFS in WoW has bugs in it!
I am well aware of the bug you mention, about burning a fence, so what if it is bugged, delete the quest and go do another one. Is that the end of the world?!? Well I guess coming from someone who assumes that there should be no bugs in AoC after a year it may well be.
So you maybe the one also don't believe AOC has many bugs as well. For example, quest is one major contents in AOC and it shouldn't have any bugs over a year now.
What are you saying here, that after a year Aoc should not have any bugs in it?
Do you use software at all. Ever heard of Windows XP? Microsoft are still patching that and it still has bugs in it, do you know how long it has been out for? More than a year i can tell you that!
FFS in WoW has bugs in it!
I am well aware of the bug you mention, about burning a fence, so what if it is bugged, delete the quest and go do another one. Is that the end of the world?!? Well I guess coming from someone who assumes that there should be no bugs in AoC after a year it may well be.
Bugs are not the real issue with AoC, although there are some very obvious ones. Or should I say, some SHOULD be considered bugs, but just arent. Some of them are just horrible game design decisions. Example - There are quite a few boss fights where if you pull far enough, the add's reset, but NOT the bosses (Aztel's anyone?) - this is just bad game design, seriously... who made the decision for that one? The fights are decently difficult doing it the normal way, but nearly every group just pulls em far enough so that it is not an issue. This is just one of many examples of "bugs" in the game - if you want to be friendly enough to call it a bug and not bad design.
The real problem - average PvE content in very limited amounts, horrid PvP implementation, horrid balance (Casters still dominate most classes, "paper-rock-scissor" gone way too far where your class owns certain classes and completely gets decimated by others - example Possession HoX's decimate every class without breaking a sweat except Necros completely own them), basic class spec options with usually only 2 decent specs per class (this should be fixed in expansion), basic gear implementation with very few progression optioins (the devs said themselves, the new gear system is a "groundwork for better gear in the future " - that means its very basic now) , and just a very difficult time to actually find something "fun" to do at level 80.
The majority of time I spent at 80 was running 5man instnaces I did not need, over and over, just to help a guildie get a couple rare recipe.
I would also like to clarify, it IS possible to find raiding guilds. But there are only maybe 2 on the server (Tyranny, one of the top 2 most populated) that have enough players for regular 24mans. All the other guilds typically try to keep it in house but only get half a raid, then have other guilds they ally with to fill 'em up. Usually have to pug a few as well... But things are not all peachy, many times its just not possible to find an adequate tank or mix of healers (assuming you can find 24 people that actually have to go).
The raids are fun sometimes - as I said AoC has average PvE. Problem comes in that, unless your in to collecting full sets for the hell of it, most items are not actual "upgrades". Plus, the majority of the time people are outside of raid - at which point the only thing 90% of the players do is reroll, reroll, reroll. Log in to your guilds in daytime and watch how only a small fraction of players are actually on their 80. That right there should be the sign of a very large problem - players simply have nothing to do that is entertaining or offers any form of progression.
They just dont have their own "Niche" they are good at. Their best focus is PvE and that is just average and has minimal amounts of content for level 80's - even after all the patches there is very little to do at all, and less WORTH doing... and even less that is actually FUN.
Aion = Korean rehash anime garbage CO = Fun until the character creation is over AoC = Still in beta
Aion -> I'm not a big fan of anime myself but from what I've heard, Aion is a pretty solid PvP game. Those wings that I first thought would be a disaster apparently add a new fun element to PvP. I'm giving Aion the benefit of a doubt and will try it to see for myself.
CO -> Can't really say anything about CO since I know almost nothing about it
AoC -> Yeah. Still in beta.
I'm not a big fan of anime either, but I actually liked the look of Aion. Reminded me of a mix between Final Fantasy and Soul Calibur - 2 games known for good graphics. Hoping the endgame PvP is as good as others say! Plus, since the server population has not severely dropped after being released for 1 year, that is a VERY good sign in the MMO world.
CO - I'd like to try but i'm not going to dish out money, especially with Roper on the team, and how they are doing the "lifetime subscription" thing. Being there as the Flagship went down in HG:L has scarred me, and what they are doing with CO reminds me of it.
AoC - eh, not in beta, but a "newly released" western PvE MMO (as of their last patch) lol.
Aion = Korean rehash anime garbage CO = Fun until the character creation is over AoC = Still in beta
Aion -> I'm not a big fan of anime myself but from what I've heard, Aion is a pretty solid PvP game. Those wings that I first thought would be a disaster apparently add a new fun element to PvP. I'm giving Aion the benefit of a doubt and will try it to see for myself.
CO -> Can't really say anything about CO since I know almost nothing about it
AoC -> Yeah. Still in beta.
I'm not a big fan of anime either, but I actually liked the look of Aion. Reminded me of a mix between Final Fantasy and Soul Calibur - 2 games known for good graphics. Hoping the endgame PvP is as good as others say! Plus, since the server population has not severely dropped after being released for 1 year, that is a VERY good sign in the MMO world.
CO - I'd like to try but i'm not going to dish out money, especially with Roper on the team, and how they are doing the "lifetime subscription" thing. Being there as the Flagship went down in HG:L has scarred me, and what they are doing with CO reminds me of it.
AoC - eh, not in beta, but a "newly released" western PvE MMO (as of their last patch) lol.
"I'm not a big fan of anime either, but I actually liked the look of Aion. Reminded me of a mix between Final Fantasy and Soul Calibur."
Both of those games are anime, sounds like you ARE a big fan. hehe. No offence to Anime I love it - ON TV. Not in my video games. I won't rush to judgement on something I have not played, however, Asian based games have never been my cup o' tea. I hope I am wrong but from what I have heard Aion is a theme park with very few rides. Granted the rides are really pretty but behind the glamour and glitz I fear there will be a hollow linear gameplay experience. No offence to the Korean market but their generalized concept of good gaming makes me nauseous. No offence Aion hopefulls, no offence.
Aion = Korean rehash anime garbage CO = Fun until the character creation is over AoC = Still in beta
Aion -> I'm not a big fan of anime myself but from what I've heard, Aion is a pretty solid PvP game. Those wings that I first thought would be a disaster apparently add a new fun element to PvP. I'm giving Aion the benefit of a doubt and will try it to see for myself.
CO -> Can't really say anything about CO since I know almost nothing about it
AoC -> Yeah. Still in beta.
I'm not a big fan of anime either, but I actually liked the look of Aion. Reminded me of a mix between Final Fantasy and Soul Calibur - 2 games known for good graphics. Hoping the endgame PvP is as good as others say! Plus, since the server population has not severely dropped after being released for 1 year, that is a VERY good sign in the MMO world.
CO - I'd like to try but i'm not going to dish out money, especially with Roper on the team, and how they are doing the "lifetime subscription" thing. Being there as the Flagship went down in HG:L has scarred me, and what they are doing with CO reminds me of it.
AoC - eh, not in beta, but a "newly released" western PvE MMO (as of their last patch) lol.
"I'm not a big fan of anime either, but I actually liked the look of Aion. Reminded me of a mix between Final Fantasy and Soul Calibur."
Both of those games are anime, sounds like you ARE a big fan. hehe. No offence to Anime I love it - ON TV. Not in my video games. I won't rush to judgement on something I have not played, however, Asian based games have never been my cup o' tea. I hope I am wrong but from what I have heard Aion is a theme park with very few rides. Granted the rides are really pretty but behind the glamour and glitz I fear there will be a hollow linear gameplay experience. No offence to the Korean market but their generalized concept of good gaming makes me nauseous. No offence Aion hopefulls, no offence.
Well, if you are going by just it originating in Japan, you would be right, but I feel your being a bit too broad in your definition of Anime. By those terms, any old-school gamer over the last 20+ years is an anime fan. Atari, Sega, NES, SNES, all those originated in Japan, and were heavily in a japanese art style, but you dont see anyone calling those games anime. Even modern console games.
Unless you are a strict PC gamer who only plays a select few games, I'm pretty sure you have enjoyed at least some of the games on those systems over the years as well, so if you want to get overly technical, you would most likely be an anime fan by your definition as well =p.
Anyway, back to the point - from the little that I've played in NA betas of Aion, the leveling up portion is definately based after a traditional theme park MMO. But I really did not expect much else from early-game, 90% of MMO's are the same way while you are a new player leveling up. So I would not go in to it expecting much else - from leveling up at least.
The end-game is based upon PvP though, so it seems the theme park aspect will stop there. I dont know if you have read the article on this site about the end-game Abyss, but if you havent, it's a good read. Basically as it is described in it, each fortress that players raid has their own raid boss linked to it. Both factions battle to take them over, and your guilds (different term in game) can claim them - upon claiming them you get access to special dungeons unique to each one. Does not sound like a very linear progression to me, and I love that you have to PvP in order to access the best PvE - that is something Warhammer promised but did not deliver successfully. As long as that endgame works properly it gives a reason to PvP, and an adequate reward for winning, it sounds fun to me.
There also seems to be quite a large amount of content in the 1.5 patch we're going to be getting. The surveys said something like, 14 new dungeons, new char customization options, new pvp systems, hundreds of new items, recipes, etc. 14 dungeons itself is a huge addition - thats approx as much as WoTLK had - so if they patched in that much in under a year, I'll be impressed.
I also like the sound of losing ranking points for dying in PvP. At first, it sounds like that may suck - but when you think about how it would alter mechanics, it would lead to much more intense battles, as both sides would actually be trying to survive - something you rarely see in MMO's that dont offer full looting. Considering you are supposed to get more points for killing experienced groups, and lose less for dying to an experienced group, I like the fact that it makes grinding day and night less of an issue as long as you are skilled.
Assuming everything I heard from friends is true, my only worry is that everything does not turn in to zerg-fests where skill does not matter - but huge battles could be quite fun if done correctly where skill actually does matter and a smaller group could defeat a larger enemy when using the right tactics.
the amount of freshly created accounts in this thread is pure gold, ppl actually go as far as to dump their free time into bashing a game they no longer play (but wasted money on thats for sure)
MMOs currently playing: - About to play: Lord of the Rings Online Played: Anarchy Online (alltime favorite) and lots of f2p titles (honorable mentions: 9Dragons, Martial Heroes, Dekaron, Atlantica Online)
the amount of freshly created accounts in this thread is pure gold, ppl actually go as far as to dump their free time into bashing a game they no longer play (but wasted money on thats for sure)
I definately feel like I spent more money on the game then I should have, but I hope them the best and that they use it wisely.
I wont lie about the things that bothered me about the game though. I spent more time then most with it, and really gave it a fair chance and actually WANTED to enjoy it.
I hope they improve things, but I worry that it is too late for most of it. Hopefully it will all be a lesson learned towards Secret World. I feel that would be a much better setting for an MMO anyway - Conan's Hyboria is pretty limiting to be honest. If they try to stay true to lore (although they have strayed a bit already) they will be missing out on many things that would otherwise be best for the game.
Secret World, being based on both sci-fi and modern fantasy, has pretty much unlimited options.
I know it's only been a day, but so far AoC doesn't seem to be taking much of a hit from CO, at least according to Xfire chart...only a two spot drop to 51 yesterday from Monday.
I know it's only been a day, but so far AoC doesn't seem to be taking much of a hit from CO, at least according to Xfire chart...only a two spot drop to 51 yesterday from Monday. Edit: CO was #32. Hardly impressive.
I do not expect CO to make that much of an impact. I'm sure it will have subs, but it has not been very hyped.
I'm curious as it claims to have a unique combat system, and of course good char customization, but Roper scares me these days with his claims. Such as months ago his claims that the game was "ready for release but they just wanted it to be as polished as possible" yet the beta did not even begin yet at that time...
Champions Online is at #32 on Xfire with 1,436 daily users, while Age of Conan is at #51 with 866 daily users. So already CO has twice the players AoC has, lol. Of course some of them will quit after one month and others will join so it's too early to say anything. I watched YouTube videos and CO does look "cartooney" to me, but it does have a unique targeting system and some cool skills so it might be a good idea to play it until Aion comes out.
You have to take into account a brand new MMO from a fairly big developer will have a higher percentage of people playing on launch day than people playing AoC, even a niche genre that already has a fairly successful MMO to compete against. I doubt CO will sell near what AoC did or have more than low 100k sub numbers after three months.
I fully expect Aion to give AoC along with every other MMO a kick in the teeth on launch day. I just don't think CO will hurt AoC much.
Champions Online is at #32 on Xfire with 1,436 daily users, while Age of Conan is at #51 with 866 daily users. So already CO has twice the players AoC has, lol. Of course some of them will quit after one month and others will join so it's too early to say anything. I watched YouTube videos and CO does look "cartooney" to me, but it does have a unique targeting system and some cool skills so it might be a good idea to play it until Aion comes out.
You have to take into account a brand new MMO from a fairly big developer will have a higher percentage of people playing on launch day than people playing AoC, even a niche genre that already has a fairly successful MMO to compete against. I doubt CO will sell near what AoC did or have more than low 100k sub numbers after three months.
I fully expect Aion to give AoC along with every other MMO a kick in the teeth on launch day. I just don't think CO will hurt AoC much.
I have no doubt that the fact Aion, Fallen Earth, Champions Online and soon Jumpgate are coming out and Blizzard is churning out a new expansion and other big AAA mmos are announced etc. will have a big impact on AoC. However I think that all the mmos out now and who will get out soon will suffer from an over-saturated market incl. Aion.
The number of mmo players are rising, but the number of games out there (incl. dissappointments) is quite big. And it is getting bigger. I think Lotro must be starting to hurt too with all these games coming out. Also WoW. So this may (or may not) be good for gamers, mostly good I suppose. But the industry is hurting itself by launching so many games dependent on a subscription model and yet they are spewing out games with content for 2-7 days og game play. This might have worked in the EverQuest era, but not any more.
These days players are much more unforgiving, so they just don't jump onwards to the next big thing leaving games and huge IPs like WAR and AoC realing from the damage done due to incomplete games at launch. We DON*T want to sit around and wait for the developers to finish it on our monthly fee.
The only real hope for better mmos and a better balance is when technology becomes so much better and easier that mmo development will be less costly and require less manpower and ressources.
Aion to me - by the way - just looks bad. I know it is probably polished and the pvp might not be okay, but it looks like anime WoW to me and I can't shake it. I have been close to a purchase online many times, but nahh.. I returned to AoC instead. I want a mature, brutal, dark world with more realistic graphics and a more captivating IP and atmosphere.
Comments
Hold out for the next big patch, the Tower PVP system might be interesting
If you read what they actually said, that's 2-3 patches from now. Which will be too late. It really needed to be done already to be honest. AoC is in shape for a release - not a year in. Anyone who wants PvP combat based around claiming something such as towers will already have moved on to the new game coming out which has an endgame designed around that. Plus, it's something new which makes it appealing.
Aion is the new hype now, and from the people I know who have played it in high levels, they say it's rightfully so - many people are saying it's nothing new, which may be true to a point... the beta was only low levels so you cant really expect much aside from some leveling up, but it was pretty polished which is all you could really ask.
But all reports I got from the few ppl I know that have played it on the Korean server say that the end-game PvP system is actually working - something that has been lacking in all the games as of recent. Assuming that is actually true, that's what the big deal is about.
That's where the recent games dropped the ball. They have been buggy in the low levels, and unfinished in the end game. So here is hoping that the reports I got are true. All I want is a new RvR game that is actually designed for PvP combat with a working endgame. (I wouldnt mind a good new FFA PvP game.. but we all know how those have went recently...)
Warhammer is ironically (finally) patching in their fixed city sieging on the 18th. 2 days before the Aion pre-release. Only a year too late... and who releases a big patch 2 days before a competing game releases? lol
Hmmm, just watched the gameplay on Youtube
www.youtube.com/watch
Another pointy - clicky I got bored with in WO and LotR.
They might have better PvP events but the game play ain't my cup of tea.
Nice music though
I have been playing AoC for less than a month. I figure for $20 how can I go wrong until Aion comes out?
I was surprised by the graphic quality (in a good way) but the constant load screens just completely turned me off. Enter a tavern: loadscreen. Enter a new area: Load Screen. Pick you nose: load screen.
After WoW introduced players to the open world concept, AoC having load screen after load screen just does not cut it. Very amateurish.
I'm very glad I played AoC, it is nice filler. Nothing I would pay a monthly sub for. The Fedex quests are the most annoying I've ever found in any MMORPG.
It's too difficult to make a game friendly and it's too easy to make the game unfriendly. A friendly design makes everything easy because of their expert programming. A terrible interface provides you a lot of choices to fine tune by yourself as if how to get the right interface selection were part of the game contents as well. For example, how to setup your camera so you can see better.
AOC has better interface design than FFXI with much less complication. But I still can't figure out how to not show my avartar information pop on screen every other second in AOC. When you are playing, your mouse pointer always place at the center of the screen, right? The problem in AOC is that whenever your mouse hovering over your avartar then you will see your own charcter information window pop on the screen.
If you selected to delay the mouse hover feature then you will delay everything included your armor, stuffs in your bag. I think AOC should make a QUICK BAR to switch such delay from 0 second to another 5 seconds to use it like a interface skill.
Kind of hard to read posts by someone that was caught red handed lying in the post where it's claimed that there's hardly any raiding on Crom. Well, some people don't get embarassed when caught lying obviously. That's even scarier in a way.
link to post
"nerf rock, paper is working as intended."
- Scissors.
Head Chop
Pre-ordered AoC and enjoyed it thoroughly. I was just one of those lucky people who had zero technical difficulties. Of course, I had just sunk a serious chunk of change into my new four-year computer build. I did unsubscribe for about three or four months because I just didn't have the time to play (work was consuming my life) but I recently re-subscribed.
The classes were and are interesting, and the graphics are superb. The various areas are moderately sized, certainly not huge, but not tiny as well. Funcom made an excellent effort to incorporate the lore from the novels (although I'm a little disappointed in the upcoming Khitan expansion; I really, really wanted Zamora, just to see what they would do with Shadizar the Wicked).
Instancing just never bothered me; I've played too many games with large amounts of instancing (CoX, for example) so it simply isn't a huge issue.
The only thing that still bothers me is class balance issues. Ranged classes still pretty much own melee, unless you spend most of your time stealthed (at least in the early levels). I play on Tyranny, a PvP server, so that can be problematic.
Just got my first character to 40, and have about five characters. So in my opinion, as a now-casual player, it's a great game.
Abbatoir / Abbatoir Cinq
Adnihilo
Beorn Judge's Edge
Somnulus
Perfect Black
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Asheron's Call / Asheron's Call 2
Everquest / Everquest 2
Anarchy Online
Shadowbane
Dark Age of Camelot
Star Wars Galaxies
Matrix Online
World of Warcraft
Guild Wars
City of Heroes
To be fair, gameplay vids of ANY mmo look the same and look like crap. You cant really tell how an MMO plays until you have played a character in high levels and experienced all the different things the games have to offer. This holds true for whatever your MMO of choice is - be it WoW, Warhammer, AoC, EVE, CoX, AC, EQ, even Darkfall (shudder). None of those look remotely entertaining unless you have played them before and know what is going on in them.
When I first started playing MMO's, all my friends thought they looked boring. That's until they actually tried playing themselves. If someone who never played MMO's watches me play one to this day, the same thing happens.
So you maybe the one also don't believe AOC has many bugs as well. For example, quest is one major contents in AOC and it shouldn't have any bugs over a year now.
Yesterday, I found another quest bug in Atzel Approach, quest name: Trapping and Torture. The quest is a chain quest probably have 5 other quests to follow up but bugged at the first one. The reward is a nice Necklace, exp around 51k.
The quest is simple enough to set fire on the wood fence but it didn't work, I though there might be some tricks behind the quest because AOC so enjoyed to fool around playerthen after tried several times and even woke up early in one morning while no one online then I finally believe the quest is just bugged.
It's just waste time to find out such thing.
So you maybe the one also don't believe AOC has many bugs as well. For example, quest is one major contents in AOC and it shouldn't have any bugs over a year now.
Yesterday, I found another quest bug in Atzel Approach, quest name: Trapping and Torture. The quest is a chain quest probably have 5 other quests to follow up but bugged at the first one. The reward is a nice Necklace, exp around 51k.
The quest is simple enough to set fire on the wood fence but it didn't work, I though there might be some tricks behind the quest because AOC so enjoyed to fool around playerthen after tried several times and even woke up early in one morning while no one online then I finally believe the quest is just bugged.
It's just waste time to find out such thing.
Way to go off topic from the person you quoted. haha How's that hunt for a raiding guild going for ya? I mean several people gave you links to all kinds of guilds that raid. Oh well, you can only do so much....
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Promote what you love instead of bashing what you hate.
You really believe that, do you?
What are you saying here, that after a year Aoc should not have any bugs in it?
Do you use software at all. Ever heard of Windows XP? Microsoft are still patching that and it still has bugs in it, do you know how long it has been out for? More than a year i can tell you that!
FFS in WoW has bugs in it!
I am well aware of the bug you mention, about burning a fence, so what if it is bugged, delete the quest and go do another one. Is that the end of the world?!? Well I guess coming from someone who assumes that there should be no bugs in AoC after a year it may well be.
just my 2 cents...
Aion = Korean rehash anime garbage
CO = Fun until the character creation is over
AoC = Still in beta
What are you saying here, that after a year Aoc should not have any bugs in it?
Do you use software at all. Ever heard of Windows XP? Microsoft are still patching that and it still has bugs in it, do you know how long it has been out for? More than a year i can tell you that!
FFS in WoW has bugs in it!
I am well aware of the bug you mention, about burning a fence, so what if it is bugged, delete the quest and go do another one. Is that the end of the world?!? Well I guess coming from someone who assumes that there should be no bugs in AoC after a year it may well be.
Bugs are not the real issue with AoC, although there are some very obvious ones. Or should I say, some SHOULD be considered bugs, but just arent. Some of them are just horrible game design decisions. Example - There are quite a few boss fights where if you pull far enough, the add's reset, but NOT the bosses (Aztel's anyone?) - this is just bad game design, seriously... who made the decision for that one? The fights are decently difficult doing it the normal way, but nearly every group just pulls em far enough so that it is not an issue. This is just one of many examples of "bugs" in the game - if you want to be friendly enough to call it a bug and not bad design.
The real problem - average PvE content in very limited amounts, horrid PvP implementation, horrid balance (Casters still dominate most classes, "paper-rock-scissor" gone way too far where your class owns certain classes and completely gets decimated by others - example Possession HoX's decimate every class without breaking a sweat except Necros completely own them), basic class spec options with usually only 2 decent specs per class (this should be fixed in expansion), basic gear implementation with very few progression optioins (the devs said themselves, the new gear system is a "groundwork for better gear in the future " - that means its very basic now) , and just a very difficult time to actually find something "fun" to do at level 80.
The majority of time I spent at 80 was running 5man instnaces I did not need, over and over, just to help a guildie get a couple rare recipe.
I would also like to clarify, it IS possible to find raiding guilds. But there are only maybe 2 on the server (Tyranny, one of the top 2 most populated) that have enough players for regular 24mans. All the other guilds typically try to keep it in house but only get half a raid, then have other guilds they ally with to fill 'em up. Usually have to pug a few as well... But things are not all peachy, many times its just not possible to find an adequate tank or mix of healers (assuming you can find 24 people that actually have to go).
The raids are fun sometimes - as I said AoC has average PvE. Problem comes in that, unless your in to collecting full sets for the hell of it, most items are not actual "upgrades". Plus, the majority of the time people are outside of raid - at which point the only thing 90% of the players do is reroll, reroll, reroll. Log in to your guilds in daytime and watch how only a small fraction of players are actually on their 80. That right there should be the sign of a very large problem - players simply have nothing to do that is entertaining or offers any form of progression.
They just dont have their own "Niche" they are good at. Their best focus is PvE and that is just average and has minimal amounts of content for level 80's - even after all the patches there is very little to do at all, and less WORTH doing... and even less that is actually FUN.
Aion -> I'm not a big fan of anime myself but from what I've heard, Aion is a pretty solid PvP game. Those wings that I first thought would be a disaster apparently add a new fun element to PvP. I'm giving Aion the benefit of a doubt and will try it to see for myself.
CO -> Can't really say anything about CO since I know almost nothing about it
AoC -> Yeah. Still in beta.
I'm not a big fan of anime either, but I actually liked the look of Aion. Reminded me of a mix between Final Fantasy and Soul Calibur - 2 games known for good graphics. Hoping the endgame PvP is as good as others say! Plus, since the server population has not severely dropped after being released for 1 year, that is a VERY good sign in the MMO world.
CO - I'd like to try but i'm not going to dish out money, especially with Roper on the team, and how they are doing the "lifetime subscription" thing. Being there as the Flagship went down in HG:L has scarred me, and what they are doing with CO reminds me of it.
AoC - eh, not in beta, but a "newly released" western PvE MMO (as of their last patch) lol.
Aion -> I'm not a big fan of anime myself but from what I've heard, Aion is a pretty solid PvP game. Those wings that I first thought would be a disaster apparently add a new fun element to PvP. I'm giving Aion the benefit of a doubt and will try it to see for myself.
CO -> Can't really say anything about CO since I know almost nothing about it
AoC -> Yeah. Still in beta.
I'm not a big fan of anime either, but I actually liked the look of Aion. Reminded me of a mix between Final Fantasy and Soul Calibur - 2 games known for good graphics. Hoping the endgame PvP is as good as others say! Plus, since the server population has not severely dropped after being released for 1 year, that is a VERY good sign in the MMO world.
CO - I'd like to try but i'm not going to dish out money, especially with Roper on the team, and how they are doing the "lifetime subscription" thing. Being there as the Flagship went down in HG:L has scarred me, and what they are doing with CO reminds me of it.
AoC - eh, not in beta, but a "newly released" western PvE MMO (as of their last patch) lol.
"I'm not a big fan of anime either, but I actually liked the look of Aion. Reminded me of a mix between Final Fantasy and Soul Calibur."
Both of those games are anime, sounds like you ARE a big fan. hehe. No offence to Anime I love it - ON TV. Not in my video games. I won't rush to judgement on something I have not played, however, Asian based games have never been my cup o' tea. I hope I am wrong but from what I have heard Aion is a theme park with very few rides. Granted the rides are really pretty but behind the glamour and glitz I fear there will be a hollow linear gameplay experience. No offence to the Korean market but their generalized concept of good gaming makes me nauseous. No offence Aion hopefulls, no offence.
Aion -> I'm not a big fan of anime myself but from what I've heard, Aion is a pretty solid PvP game. Those wings that I first thought would be a disaster apparently add a new fun element to PvP. I'm giving Aion the benefit of a doubt and will try it to see for myself.
CO -> Can't really say anything about CO since I know almost nothing about it
AoC -> Yeah. Still in beta.
I'm not a big fan of anime either, but I actually liked the look of Aion. Reminded me of a mix between Final Fantasy and Soul Calibur - 2 games known for good graphics. Hoping the endgame PvP is as good as others say! Plus, since the server population has not severely dropped after being released for 1 year, that is a VERY good sign in the MMO world.
CO - I'd like to try but i'm not going to dish out money, especially with Roper on the team, and how they are doing the "lifetime subscription" thing. Being there as the Flagship went down in HG:L has scarred me, and what they are doing with CO reminds me of it.
AoC - eh, not in beta, but a "newly released" western PvE MMO (as of their last patch) lol.
"I'm not a big fan of anime either, but I actually liked the look of Aion. Reminded me of a mix between Final Fantasy and Soul Calibur."
Both of those games are anime, sounds like you ARE a big fan. hehe. No offence to Anime I love it - ON TV. Not in my video games. I won't rush to judgement on something I have not played, however, Asian based games have never been my cup o' tea. I hope I am wrong but from what I have heard Aion is a theme park with very few rides. Granted the rides are really pretty but behind the glamour and glitz I fear there will be a hollow linear gameplay experience. No offence to the Korean market but their generalized concept of good gaming makes me nauseous. No offence Aion hopefulls, no offence.
Well, if you are going by just it originating in Japan, you would be right, but I feel your being a bit too broad in your definition of Anime. By those terms, any old-school gamer over the last 20+ years is an anime fan. Atari, Sega, NES, SNES, all those originated in Japan, and were heavily in a japanese art style, but you dont see anyone calling those games anime. Even modern console games.
Unless you are a strict PC gamer who only plays a select few games, I'm pretty sure you have enjoyed at least some of the games on those systems over the years as well, so if you want to get overly technical, you would most likely be an anime fan by your definition as well =p.
Anyway, back to the point - from the little that I've played in NA betas of Aion, the leveling up portion is definately based after a traditional theme park MMO. But I really did not expect much else from early-game, 90% of MMO's are the same way while you are a new player leveling up. So I would not go in to it expecting much else - from leveling up at least.
The end-game is based upon PvP though, so it seems the theme park aspect will stop there. I dont know if you have read the article on this site about the end-game Abyss, but if you havent, it's a good read. Basically as it is described in it, each fortress that players raid has their own raid boss linked to it. Both factions battle to take them over, and your guilds (different term in game) can claim them - upon claiming them you get access to special dungeons unique to each one. Does not sound like a very linear progression to me, and I love that you have to PvP in order to access the best PvE - that is something Warhammer promised but did not deliver successfully. As long as that endgame works properly it gives a reason to PvP, and an adequate reward for winning, it sounds fun to me.
There also seems to be quite a large amount of content in the 1.5 patch we're going to be getting. The surveys said something like, 14 new dungeons, new char customization options, new pvp systems, hundreds of new items, recipes, etc. 14 dungeons itself is a huge addition - thats approx as much as WoTLK had - so if they patched in that much in under a year, I'll be impressed.
I also like the sound of losing ranking points for dying in PvP. At first, it sounds like that may suck - but when you think about how it would alter mechanics, it would lead to much more intense battles, as both sides would actually be trying to survive - something you rarely see in MMO's that dont offer full looting. Considering you are supposed to get more points for killing experienced groups, and lose less for dying to an experienced group, I like the fact that it makes grinding day and night less of an issue as long as you are skilled.
Assuming everything I heard from friends is true, my only worry is that everything does not turn in to zerg-fests where skill does not matter - but huge battles could be quite fun if done correctly where skill actually does matter and a smaller group could defeat a larger enemy when using the right tactics.
the amount of freshly created accounts in this thread is pure gold, ppl actually go as far as to dump their free time into bashing a game they no longer play (but wasted money on thats for sure)
MMOs currently playing: -
About to play: Lord of the Rings Online
Played: Anarchy Online (alltime favorite) and lots of f2p titles (honorable mentions: 9Dragons, Martial Heroes, Dekaron, Atlantica Online)
I definately feel like I spent more money on the game then I should have, but I hope them the best and that they use it wisely.
I wont lie about the things that bothered me about the game though. I spent more time then most with it, and really gave it a fair chance and actually WANTED to enjoy it.
I hope they improve things, but I worry that it is too late for most of it. Hopefully it will all be a lesson learned towards Secret World. I feel that would be a much better setting for an MMO anyway - Conan's Hyboria is pretty limiting to be honest. If they try to stay true to lore (although they have strayed a bit already) they will be missing out on many things that would otherwise be best for the game.
Secret World, being based on both sci-fi and modern fantasy, has pretty much unlimited options.
I know it's only been a day, but so far AoC doesn't seem to be taking much of a hit from CO, at least according to Xfire chart...only a two spot drop to 51 yesterday from Monday.
Edit: CO was #32. Hardly impressive.
I do not expect CO to make that much of an impact. I'm sure it will have subs, but it has not been very hyped.
I'm curious as it claims to have a unique combat system, and of course good char customization, but Roper scares me these days with his claims. Such as months ago his claims that the game was "ready for release but they just wanted it to be as polished as possible" yet the beta did not even begin yet at that time...
I'll wait until there is a free trial...
You have to take into account a brand new MMO from a fairly big developer will have a higher percentage of people playing on launch day than people playing AoC, even a niche genre that already has a fairly successful MMO to compete against. I doubt CO will sell near what AoC did or have more than low 100k sub numbers after three months.
I fully expect Aion to give AoC along with every other MMO a kick in the teeth on launch day. I just don't think CO will hurt AoC much.
You have to take into account a brand new MMO from a fairly big developer will have a higher percentage of people playing on launch day than people playing AoC, even a niche genre that already has a fairly successful MMO to compete against. I doubt CO will sell near what AoC did or have more than low 100k sub numbers after three months.
I fully expect Aion to give AoC along with every other MMO a kick in the teeth on launch day. I just don't think CO will hurt AoC much.
I have no doubt that the fact Aion, Fallen Earth, Champions Online and soon Jumpgate are coming out and Blizzard is churning out a new expansion and other big AAA mmos are announced etc. will have a big impact on AoC. However I think that all the mmos out now and who will get out soon will suffer from an over-saturated market incl. Aion.
The number of mmo players are rising, but the number of games out there (incl. dissappointments) is quite big. And it is getting bigger. I think Lotro must be starting to hurt too with all these games coming out. Also WoW. So this may (or may not) be good for gamers, mostly good I suppose. But the industry is hurting itself by launching so many games dependent on a subscription model and yet they are spewing out games with content for 2-7 days og game play. This might have worked in the EverQuest era, but not any more.
These days players are much more unforgiving, so they just don't jump onwards to the next big thing leaving games and huge IPs like WAR and AoC realing from the damage done due to incomplete games at launch. We DON*T want to sit around and wait for the developers to finish it on our monthly fee.
The only real hope for better mmos and a better balance is when technology becomes so much better and easier that mmo development will be less costly and require less manpower and ressources.
Aion to me - by the way - just looks bad. I know it is probably polished and the pvp might not be okay, but it looks like anime WoW to me and I can't shake it. I have been close to a purchase online many times, but nahh.. I returned to AoC instead. I want a mature, brutal, dark world with more realistic graphics and a more captivating IP and atmosphere.
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CASUAL CONFESSIONS - Draccan's blog
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