Review of AOC from a returning player

ethion

I played AoC at release for a couple months and ultimately left.  The key reasons I left were the following;

1. After tortage the game became dramatically different and it is kinda a shock.  Goes from being a 10 with interesting story, great interaction, voice overs, very engaging.  After tortage becomes mostly like any MMO.  Standard quests, little real epic story, no voice overs, etc.

2. Itemization after tortage sucks.  In tortage you got a lot several different equipment models going from rages, rusty beat up weapons to at 20 getting some unique cool looking items.

3. Worst of all quests were not adequate to level up so around lvl 45-50 or so you ended up grinding villa's and pushing into quests that were too hard to complete resulting in lots of death.  Even after the patch that was supposed to add quests it was still far to little.

4. The combat system sucked.  The combos were like 3-4 keys at lvl 55 or so and the keys had like 1 key queue and the game would lag.  This made doing your 3-4 combo problamatic, if you got any lag you couldn't tell what key it last read and you would blow your combos.  Playing an assassin many times a missed combo or two and you were dead.  So this became an exercise in frustration.  

5. Crafting was broken and not fully implemented resulting in it feeling like a waste of time.

So after playing a week here is what I see thats changed and what hasn't.

1. No change here.  Everything is still the same.  The new area gateway to khitan (sp?) is improved but the original area's are pretty much identical.  So this isn't a killer but it still is a bit of a letdown.  Ugh oh and I forgot to mention all the zoning.  Most games today have gone away from zoning so it was really a stand out negative to go back to a game where every door or zone has a long zoning period.

2. Itemization still sucks.  Maybe at level 80 it is better but at lower levels past tortage it still seems to suck.  I took my bear shaman to the trader and looking at gear upto lvl 60 I see nothing but leather looking tunics and skirts.  Tan and brown.  Skirts are shorter or longer but thats about it.  There are a few blue items every 10 levels that give a couple unique graphics but still it is way to little.  So playing from 20 - 60 expect to have very little appearance options.  With the new appearance tab I was hoping to see some social clothing but there is only a few sets in the game store which really isn't something I wanted.  Initially in Khitan I was thinking itemization would be better cause from like 21-26 or so I got a couple blue drops.  However going to the market I saw these same items like 10+ for sale and nothing much else.  So disappointment set in.  Hoping for maybe some bop or quest items I levels more and while I'm only 29 I'm not seeing anything to get excited about.

3. For levels 20-40 there is even more questing to do.  However talking to people in game I'm still seeing people talking about villas grinding and saying I should save my offline levels in points for the level 70-80 range so I don't have to endlessly grind.  Looking at the map for Khitan areas hoping for some new zones in the 40+ range all I saw was a couple dungeons that scale from 40-80... No new zones with quests.  So I'm concerned.

4. Combat system seems improved.  Logging into my assassin I was happy to see that my combos are all 1-2 keys and things seem to work great.  I still got a little lag but had no problem doing my combos.  Not sure how it is at 80 but I'm hoping it stays good.  Clearly it is way better then the mess it was before.

5. I haven't really gotten to far into crafting but I get the impression that it is now acceptable and usable.  Harvesting I've done and it seems better, but maybe thats because there aren't as many people interested in it at lower levels?  Or maybe resources build faster or are deeper.  In any event I'm not having issues finding nodes with resources and having them on the map is very nice.

So overall I'm disappointed, I was really hoping to see a lot more changes especially for itemization and quests.  I'm kinda surprised that this hasn't been fixed.  I've upgraded to premium and plan to give it some more time and really see how things are in the mid range levels.  I'm still hoping there are a log more bop items and I'm just not seeing stuff in the market.  

The game doesn't seem fundamentally broken like it was at launch.  So on a scale from 1-10 looking at post tortage I considered it a fail before with maybe a 3-4 rating, today I'd say it is ok with maybe a 6.  Really a lot depends on how things look as I play more of the midgame.

Anyway I'll update this with a followup later as I play more.

ethion

saving for a followup

Onigod

if this game had a higher budget and all its locations and gameplay would be like tortage this would be one hell of a game

Sevenwind

You're going to have to dungeon crawls if you want unique looking blue gear or get it crafted. Black Castle, Sanctum and Amp 20-60. Not to mention Cats and Main System in there that no one wants to do because they are long. If you like a piece of armor on a person inspect them, get the name of the item and look it up on aoc.yg.com. That's what I do. The white hand boss drops a full set of social gear. I saw it on a person and went and farmed the mob till I got a full set.

I haven't Villa grained in a long long time. You don't have to do it anymore. If you want the AA exp books and tokens then you need to grind The Breach, Forgotten City and Refuge of the Apostate daily. Leveling 1-80 there isn't a need to villa grind. I leveled a few alts up and never had to.  Personally my own opinion I wouldn't do Villas anymore because they don't drop AA exp books.

Destiny2010

Most of the bigger changes in the game pre expansion is lvl 35+ and armor drops from about that area also. (Exception should be Black Castle) Playing this game you should also be aware of that armor is not gonna be glowing in this game, its quite "normal" looking. So yeah, alot looks the same, but it gives better stats. And with the Vanity tab its quite complete!

Questing should not be a problem, I have more then enough myself, even before expansion, so with it I don`t see any shortage in the quests anymore.

No need for items pre 40 if you ask me (really not before much later also..), it goes by so fast anyway, and I just keep blues and swap with better greens when the time comes.

New zones; prepare to be amazed at how much content there is somewhere! Ymir`s Pass & Tarantia Commons have quite alot of it!