There are way better combat systems out there already. Funcom is not starting to listen to the very people who funded their company via buying their games and subscriptions. The grafics are outdated. The only thing left is obviously the artstyle, which is unique in like every game tho.
So, there you have it.
This, basically.
Soundtrack is great too and gives the game a convincing atmosphere.
I understand you guys love AoC but telling the OP it's the best mmo on the market is quite far fetched. Coming from Rift, he's in for a huge disappointment.
nobody is telling the OP that AoC is the best mmo on the market. AoC is far from the best, but one thing is certain, AoC has the best character animations and most unique combat of all traditional mmorpgs. There are a few mmorpg with the best graphic visuals (not talking about realism, talking about quality), and AoC is one of them.
There are several mmorpgs out there that can be more fun than AoC but the character animations and the combat itself are far inferior than the ones in AoC.
This pretty much even tho I think i like the combat more in GW2, Tera and TSW more myself, but the combat it does have beats Rift and the like without a doubt.
Name ONE MMO which offers more than AoC, you won´t find one!
Not one combined, but that's the point to have multiple favourite ones namely LotRO and TSW besides AoC (and maybe STO) for me. Following your checklist
Graphics - TSW is better if you've maxed out everything (true, it's a different genre with the modern day setting)
Stories (and lore) - both LotRO and TSW are matching up in writing, even some Foundry missions in STO (and parts of the Seasons are nice too)
Music - Knut is awesome but Chance Thomas is great as well
Content - I don't play wow but I heard it's pretty big and if you ride down from Thorin's Gate to the entrance of Moria in LotRO you can see it's much bigger than Hyboria (without any loading screen inbetween), and there are the 3 expansions after that... with day/night cycle and weather, swimming, etc. True, no diving. As an explorer I love that in AoC, especially when I got to Thunder River for the first time... Swam all over the place
Combat - I don't mind any combat if it doesn't break the game, what's more important for me is that AoC has great classes with fun mechanics. In most games (at least for me) combat is a dull, boring chore, in AoC it's unique and fun. The closest was when I first started a warden in LotRO with its gambit system.
City building is part fun, part a chore - just like Hytbold or Fleet starbases.
Craft - I love crafting so all 4 game's methods are fine to me, but I can't wait AoC's crafting revamp.
I'm only saying with these, while AoC is not the best game ('cos I think there's no such thing), it's definitely among the best games
Having to put in combos after your skills was something I loved at first.. but after a while the effect wore off, in a bad way. It started to feel liked a tacked on and unnecessary task that's sole purpose was to try and differentiate the combat system. The result though.. is the same thing as every other tab target skills based MMO.. except this time round, you have to press about 2-6 more buttons for almost EVERY skill.. if you play melee.
Some seem to like it.. I eventually hated it. But, it's ftp.. make up your own mind about it.
If that combo system wasn't in the game, I'd probably be playing it right now.
I don't suffer from insanity, I enjoy every minute of it.
Having to put in combos after your skills was something I loved at first.. but after a while the effect wore off, in a bad way. It started to feel liked a tacked on and unnecessary task that's sole purpose was to try and differentiate the combat system. The result though.. is the same thing as every other tab target skills based MMO.. except this time round, you have to press about 2-6 more buttons for almost EVERY skill.. if you play melee.
Some seem to like it.. I eventually hated it. But, it's ftp.. make up your own mind about it.
If that combo system wasn't in the game, I'd probably be playing it right now.
There are no combos with more then 3 steps (I know it was different in the past). For me the combo system adds even more "impact" to the overall fighting feedback and opens some nice possibilitys to maximise your performance (preloaded combos).
In addition to the points already mentioned I would like to point out that there is still challenging content in AoC be it dungeons (I love Tianan district), raids or solo pve (questing in Paikang or KaraKorum can be quite hard^^).
And of course melee combat system is quite unique but playing a caster isn't boring. Actually I really love playing a necromance ( who can summon more pets than players are allowed in a SWtoR raid ) or a demo because you have no global cd and the spellweaving feature.
There is actually no reason not to try AoC. It is f2p till "endgame", looks great and plays unique. I tried 4 or 5 MMOs in the last 3 years but in the end I always come back to Hyboria.
AoC is a great game and has a very healthy population on Crom (PvE) server due to the game being F2P now. To check it out will not cost anything and you may love it just like I do.
Also, you can get it on Steam which will give you a nice cosmetic cloak plus you can also buy the Tortage Survival pack which gives you a large bag (inventory slots), Mammouth Mount for when you reach the appropriate level to use it, starter weapons with good bonus stats, Starter Ring and 10 x 100% Experience Potions (which last 12 hours ingame time) and these will be available for all future characters too.
Wow, I feel ancient: I thought Age of Conan WAS a modern MMORPG!
To me, World of Warcraft is the epoch that separates modern and old MMORPGs. That is also about the halfway mark in my MMORPG career (1996, Meridian 59)!
Anyway, I think Age of Conan holds up pretty well. It is one of the few games I think got better with age, as they fixed a lot of problems and smoothed out the gameplay. Unfortunately most abandoned it after a few months so it lost its chance to become something more.
I still look back grimly on 2008 - I had high hopes for WAR and AoC, and both could have been a lot better had they spent another 6+ months in beta. Oh well.
Actually I really love playing a necromance ( who can summon more pets than players are allowed in a SWtoR raid )
Awesome line, you should forward it to FC marketing dept.
damn I miss my reanim necro, after the first nerf I switched to nightfall but even that was years ago... maybe I start one and check whether pets got some love recently or not. (To be honest I haven't read the dev letters lately, last time I heard they 'merged' Frozen Hatred so you can have only one now.)
Actually I really love playing a necromance ( who can summon more pets than players are allowed in a SWtoR raid )
Awesome line, you should forward it to FC marketing dept.
damn I miss my reanim necro, after the first nerf I switched to nightfall but even that was years ago... maybe I start one and check whether pets got some love recently or not. (To be honest I haven't read the dev letters lately, last time I heard they 'merged' Frozen Hatred so you can have only one now.)
Necromancer revamp isn't done yet and most people play pet-necro in pve (afaik nightfall is great in pvp but hard to master). I prefer melee-pets (mutilators) but for some encounters caster-pets are just better and since you can have two builds for free you can switch to meet the requirements.
Before multispec I had a build on my nec where I was able to switch from melee-pets to nightfall (skilled despiol the soul) which was fun in T2 where I was able to shame all barbs and sins on single-target damage with pets and for the massive adds encounter (Seruha or Sabazios) I switched to "nightfall".
Edit: And yes, you can only have one Frozen Hatred
I'm currently playing Tera and loving it, although I'm at that levelling stage (46) where it starts to get a little bit tedious, but I know it'll be great again in a few more levels. My first mmo love is Rift, love that game sooo much, but Trion messing around with class's to much made me quit.
I have heard about Conan mmo, but never gave it much thought.
How does it hold up in 2013? Graphic wise as well as if it has passed it's sell by date.
Is it a constant grind?
What is level cap?
What mmo would you say it is most like, to compare with?
Is there dungeons and raids?
What is "end game" content like?
How is f2p compared to p2p?
Do you have class's such as tank, dps etc?
How does the guild system work? Do you level it up and get perks like rift?
Thanks in advance to anyone who can help me out.
I'll just add an opinion - lots of folks gave a nice synopsis.
Graphics: Still uncomparable in my opinion. A lot of genious work here. Characters look extraordinary without any silly anime' art going on.
Combat: Most realistic looking combat to date - the critical effects are stunning - but sometimes they get old because of lack of variety.
PvP: pretty darn awesome if you include the building coolness of being able to build structures out of the ground while you all stand and watch it come to life. The pvp itself is kind of like a dark age of camelot thing meets shadowbane, minus any variety among classes and races (you kill your own race and class here which makes it nothing like dark age or the faction server in shadowbane).
Lore: This for me is important, if not for you then you will do fine here. You can run with your demons or undead pets through Cimmeria - which would never happen in the books - they'd cut yourhead off. Priests of Mitra can slay each other and group with priests of Set - again, a lore breaker and proving to me that races were just a cosmetic touch.
We had a factional server (culture server) for a short while, but the developers didn't want to invest time into something that you are going to see as a norm soon enough (TSW, ESO, CU, etc)...so they prefer to let Cimmerians, Aquilonians and whatnot fight Aquilonians and Cimmerians. No concept of culture in this game at all which means everyone on the battlefield looks pretty much the same. Which is lame - but again, if you don't mind broken lore and no variety between pvp classes then go for it.
It still is a very impressive game, and I am only picky because I know that developers can (and should) do better.
Seriously Farmville? Yeah I think it's great. In a World where half our population is dying of hunger the more fortunate half is spending their time harvesting food that doesn't exist.
I played from Early Access up to 2012. Had a blast. I didn't leave because I got bored with the game, I left because I played 4 years and wanted to try something new. Once in awhile I will log in and ride my horse for awhile.
I do not regret a single minute playing this game.
"I don't give a sh*t what other people say. I play what I like and I'll pay to do it too!" - SerialMMOist
Lore: This for me is important, if not for you then you will do fine here. You can run with your demons or undead pets through Cimmeria - which would never happen in the books - they'd cut yourhead off. Priests of Mitra can slay each other and group with priests of Set - again, a lore breaker and proving to me that races were just a cosmetic touch.
I never had problems with the lore - true, I never pvp either (except some rare occasions when a good friend needed an extra healer in the Border Kingdoms)
I agree, you can't find magic-users running around with their pets in the books, simply because sorcerers are rare and powerful people in Hyboria so when they seldom move they're escorted with many servants and soldiers. But the game is helping you keep the lore, with every zoning it removes your pets if you were negligent and left them invoked around common folks
Priests are mostly wise people, so it's not unlikely they're joining forces when facing a common danger. (pve ofc) They can even take the opportunity for some theological dispute
In pvp those things would be valid, but that only shows 2 things, 1- don't pvp 2-it's a bad idea to forcing daoc onto other lores... (yep, looking at you too, TESO). See, there wasn't any realm or religion-based massive war in Hyboria between the playable kingdoms. True, aquilonians aren't very fond of Stygia, but even Thoth-Amon's planned war in the game is his own, and not backed up by the entire kingdom of Stygia. Every major war happened against kingdoms that aren't in the game or just in as non-playing mobs (like the nemedians, the pictish tribes, or the hyperboreans)
I only try to say, you can leave the daoc-ish 'faction lock' and 'faction pride' and stuff outside the lore
AoC gave me the most funny moments than any other game I have ever played. Back when the game launched, on a FFA PvP server (I played on Wildsoul) you could hit other players with your mounts kick ability, and I saw a video on youtube showing a guy doing this to players in the Cimmerian area on a high bridge. In the end most of our guild would be doing it.
I had the funniest hate tells from many many players as they were kicked of the bridge to their deaths on the rocks below, they would run back and try again only to die another hilarious death. Just another example of how good AoC was but alas I don't think you can do this anymore as I think Funcom had too many complaints from angry players, and that I play on a PvE server now which wouldn't allow it anyway.
By the way, I'm trying to install AoC and for some reason my pc is just not letting me get past the patching screen. This was happening on Steam so I uninstalled and tried installing the non-Steam (US) version. It closes the patcher with no sign that anything else is being processed. Does anyone know a guaranteed fix for this?
Strange... There was a maintenance today, but only here on Eu side (US will be tomorrow). I just checked, servers are online. Contacted the tech support dudes?
Bah, for some reason my antivirus had pegged the patcher as "dangerous". I turned it off temporarily until I can install the game. Someone probably neglected to index it in the database of safe processes. Now I have to download all 25 gigs again. lol
Comments
This pretty much even tho I think i like the combat more in GW2, Tera and TSW more myself, but the combat it does have beats Rift and the like without a doubt.
Not one combined, but that's the point to have multiple favourite ones
namely LotRO and TSW besides AoC (and maybe STO) for me. Following your checklist
Graphics - TSW is better if you've maxed out everything (true, it's a different genre with the modern day setting)
Stories (and lore) - both LotRO and TSW are matching up in writing, even some Foundry missions in STO (and parts of the Seasons are nice too)
Music - Knut is awesome but Chance Thomas is great as well
Content - I don't play wow but I heard it's pretty big
and if you ride down from Thorin's Gate to the entrance of Moria in LotRO you can see it's much bigger than Hyboria (without any loading screen inbetween), and there are the 3 expansions after that... with day/night cycle and weather, swimming, etc. True, no diving. As an explorer I love that in AoC, especially when I got to Thunder River for the first time... Swam all over the place 
Combat - I don't mind any combat if it doesn't break the game, what's more important for me is that AoC has great classes with fun mechanics. In most games (at least for me) combat is a dull, boring chore, in AoC it's unique and fun. The closest was when I first started a warden in LotRO with its gambit system.
City building is part fun, part a chore - just like Hytbold or Fleet starbases.
Craft - I love crafting so all 4 game's methods are fine to me, but I can't wait AoC's crafting revamp.
I'm only saying with these, while AoC is not the best game ('cos I think there's no such thing), it's definitely among the best games
Having to put in combos after your skills was something I loved at first.. but after a while the effect wore off, in a bad way. It started to feel liked a tacked on and unnecessary task that's sole purpose was to try and differentiate the combat system. The result though.. is the same thing as every other tab target skills based MMO.. except this time round, you have to press about 2-6 more buttons for almost EVERY skill.. if you play melee.
Some seem to like it.. I eventually hated it. But, it's ftp.. make up your own mind about it.
If that combo system wasn't in the game, I'd probably be playing it right now.
There are no combos with more then 3 steps (I know it was different in the past). For me the combo system adds even more "impact" to the overall fighting feedback and opens some nice possibilitys to maximise your performance (preloaded combos).
In addition to the points already mentioned I would like to point out that there is still challenging content in AoC be it dungeons (I love Tianan district), raids or solo pve (questing in Paikang or KaraKorum can be quite hard^^).
And of course melee combat system is quite unique but playing a caster isn't boring. Actually I really love playing a necromance ( who can summon more pets than players are allowed in a SWtoR raid
) or a demo because you have no global cd and the spellweaving feature.
There is actually no reason not to try AoC. It is f2p till "endgame", looks great and plays unique. I tried 4 or 5 MMOs in the last 3 years but in the end I always come back to Hyboria.
AoC is a great game and has a very healthy population on Crom (PvE) server due to the game being F2P now. To check it out will not cost anything and you may love it just like I do.
Also, you can get it on Steam which will give you a nice cosmetic cloak plus you can also buy the Tortage Survival pack which gives you a large bag (inventory slots), Mammouth Mount for when you reach the appropriate level to use it, starter weapons with good bonus stats, Starter Ring and 10 x 100% Experience Potions (which last 12 hours ingame time) and these will be available for all future characters too.
Wow, I feel ancient: I thought Age of Conan WAS a modern MMORPG!
To me, World of Warcraft is the epoch that separates modern and old MMORPGs. That is also about the halfway mark in my MMORPG career (1996, Meridian 59)!
Anyway, I think Age of Conan holds up pretty well. It is one of the few games I think got better with age, as they fixed a lot of problems and smoothed out the gameplay. Unfortunately most abandoned it after a few months so it lost its chance to become something more.
I still look back grimly on 2008 - I had high hopes for WAR and AoC, and both could have been a lot better had they spent another 6+ months in beta. Oh well.
AOC is probally one of the best themepark mmos on the market..
Not much comes close... especially in the graphics department..
well worth giving it a go as it wont cost you anything.
Awesome line, you should forward it to FC marketing dept.
damn I miss my reanim necro, after the first nerf I switched to nightfall but even that was years ago... maybe I start one and check whether pets got some love recently or not. (To be honest I haven't read the dev letters lately, last time I heard they 'merged' Frozen Hatred so you can have only one now.)
Necromancer revamp isn't done yet and most people play pet-necro in pve (afaik nightfall is great in pvp but hard to master). I prefer melee-pets (mutilators) but for some encounters caster-pets are just better and since you can have two builds for free you can switch to meet the requirements.
Before multispec I had a build on my nec where I was able to switch from melee-pets to nightfall (skilled despiol the soul) which was fun in T2 where I was able to shame all barbs and sins on single-target damage with pets and for the massive adds encounter (Seruha or Sabazios) I switched to "nightfall".
Edit: And yes, you can only have one Frozen Hatred
I'll just add an opinion - lots of folks gave a nice synopsis.
Graphics: Still uncomparable in my opinion. A lot of genious work here. Characters look extraordinary without any silly anime' art going on.
Combat: Most realistic looking combat to date - the critical effects are stunning - but sometimes they get old because of lack of variety.
PvP: pretty darn awesome if you include the building coolness of being able to build structures out of the ground while you all stand and watch it come to life. The pvp itself is kind of like a dark age of camelot thing meets shadowbane, minus any variety among classes and races (you kill your own race and class here which makes it nothing like dark age or the faction server in shadowbane).
Lore: This for me is important, if not for you then you will do fine here. You can run with your demons or undead pets through Cimmeria - which would never happen in the books - they'd cut yourhead off. Priests of Mitra can slay each other and group with priests of Set - again, a lore breaker and proving to me that races were just a cosmetic touch.
We had a factional server (culture server) for a short while, but the developers didn't want to invest time into something that you are going to see as a norm soon enough (TSW, ESO, CU, etc)...so they prefer to let Cimmerians, Aquilonians and whatnot fight Aquilonians and Cimmerians. No concept of culture in this game at all which means everyone on the battlefield looks pretty much the same. Which is lame - but again, if you don't mind broken lore and no variety between pvp classes then go for it.
It still is a very impressive game, and I am only picky because I know that developers can (and should) do better.
Here is a nice community made video that shows some of the entertaining fatalities in AOC:
(Starts around 4:40)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LOSchJvJERs
Good stuff :-)
Hell... That was well made!!! haha..
The Ultimate Breakdown
I played from Early Access up to 2012. Had a blast. I didn't leave because I got bored with the game, I left because I played 4 years and wanted to try something new. Once in awhile I will log in and ride my horse for awhile.
I do not regret a single minute playing this game.
"I don't give a sh*t what other people say. I play what I like and I'll pay to do it too!" - SerialMMOist
I never had problems with the lore - true, I never pvp either
(except some rare occasions when a good friend needed an extra healer in the Border Kingdoms)
I agree, you can't find magic-users running around with their pets in the books, simply because sorcerers are rare and powerful people in Hyboria so when they seldom move they're escorted with many servants and soldiers. But the game is helping you keep the lore, with every zoning it removes your pets if you were negligent and left them invoked around common folks
Priests are mostly wise people, so it's not unlikely they're joining forces when facing a common danger. (pve ofc) They can even take the opportunity for some theological dispute
In pvp those things would be valid, but that only shows 2 things, 1- don't pvp
2-it's a bad idea to forcing daoc onto other lores... (yep, looking at you too, TESO). See, there wasn't any realm or religion-based massive war in Hyboria between the playable kingdoms. True, aquilonians aren't very fond of Stygia, but even Thoth-Amon's planned war in the game is his own, and not backed up by the entire kingdom of Stygia. Every major war happened against kingdoms that aren't in the game or just in as non-playing mobs (like the nemedians, the pictish tribes, or the hyperboreans)
I only try to say, you can leave the daoc-ish 'faction lock' and 'faction pride' and stuff outside the lore
Oh boy... it indeed was fatal
(but at least not Rick Astley, hehe)
LMAO
Here is a fatality video for the purists :-)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2X_SbZCHpc
I wish I was still playing....
AoC gave me the most funny moments than any other game I have ever played. Back when the game launched, on a FFA PvP server (I played on Wildsoul) you could hit other players with your mounts kick ability, and I saw a video on youtube showing a guy doing this to players in the Cimmerian area on a high bridge. In the end most of our guild would be doing it.
I had the funniest hate tells from many many players as they were kicked of the bridge to their deaths on the rocks below, they would run back and try again only to die another hilarious death. Just another example of how good AoC was but alas I don't think you can do this anymore as I think Funcom had too many complaints from angry players, and that I play on a PvE server now which wouldn't allow it anyway.
Check out this vid of another guy doing it http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4OXgP7LyWDI enjoy
That was great. ^
By the way, I'm trying to install AoC and for some reason my pc is just not letting me get past the patching screen. This was happening on Steam so I uninstalled and tried installing the non-Steam (US) version. It closes the patcher with no sign that anything else is being processed. Does anyone know a guaranteed fix for this?
Strange... There was a maintenance today, but only here on Eu side (US will be tomorrow). I just checked, servers are online. Contacted the tech support dudes?
Hehe... This ws like 3 years back in AoC. How many games can do this today?
Pretty awesome eyefinity view.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4iFjbhPaEJw
The Ultimate Breakdown