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Age of conan f2p changes

Doug_BDoug_B Member UncommonPosts: 153
"

MEMBERSHIP NOT REQUIRED

Experience true freedom to play Age of Conan!  We’ve listened to your feedback and made a huge change to the way the game works:  Membership is no longer required to enter any area!  That’s right--you may now access any area you own, regardless of your membership status.  You no longer need to keep buying access passes or membership in order to enter Raids, Unchained Dungeons, or playfields from expansions you already bought.  Please remember that you still need to own the appropriate pack (such as Rise of the Godslayer) in order to access these areas.  Dragon’s Spine has become its own pack that is sold separately, but if you’ve ever spent money through us on Age of Conan before this update, we’ve given you the pack for free!


"


They also revamped the membership , new raid queue and login rewards/


This is a big step for funcom and they  for the first time I think ever, have listened to the players.


Bachelor's in Web Design and Multimedia
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Comments

  • FrodoFraginsFrodoFragins Member EpicPosts: 5,898
    Too little too late.  I quit while leveling once I realized how much was locked to free players.  IMO all leveling areas and quests should be available to everyone in a F2P game.  You can't really determine value until you hit endgame really.
  • Doug_BDoug_B Member UncommonPosts: 153
    Too little too late.  I quit while leveling once I realized how much was locked to free players.  IMO all leveling areas and quests should be available to everyone in a F2P game.  You can't really determine value until you hit endgame really.
    that what they have done making godslayer a buy to play, and making age of conan essentially buy to play now. THis is a huge step in the right direction for a veteran  developer to take. 
    Bachelor's in Web Design and Multimedia
  • LaterisLateris Member UncommonPosts: 1,830
     Doug_B said:
    Too little too late.  I quit while leveling once I realized how much was locked to free players.  IMO all leveling areas and quests should be available to everyone in a F2P game.  You can't really determine value until you hit endgame really.
    that what they have done making godslayer a buy to play, and making age of conan essentially buy to play now. THis is a huge step in the right direction for a veteran  developer to take. 
    Does that mean I can play all the godslayer content since I bought that expansion years ago? 
  • exile01exile01 Member RarePosts: 1,089
    Lateris said:
     Doug_B said:
    Too little too late.  I quit while leveling once I realized how much was locked to free players.  IMO all leveling areas and quests should be available to everyone in a F2P game.  You can't really determine value until you hit endgame really.
    that what they have done making godslayer a buy to play, and making age of conan essentially buy to play now. THis is a huge step in the right direction for a veteran  developer to take. 
    Does that mean I can play all the godslayer content since I bought that expansion years ago? 
    How can you NOT understand this?
  • rpmcmurphyrpmcmurphy Member EpicPosts: 3,502
    Rhoklaw said:
    Is there still a gold cap for nonpaying players? I think it was like 2 gold, which is simply stupid. You and SWTOR can go F yourselves with that nonsense, lol.

    The F2P gold cap has been bumped to 10g iirc.
  • H0urg1assH0urg1ass Member EpicPosts: 2,380
    Rhoklaw said:
    Is there still a gold cap for nonpaying players? I think it was like 2 gold, which is simply stupid. You and SWTOR can go F yourselves with that nonsense, lol.

    The F2P gold cap has been bumped to 10g iirc.
    10g? lol, I have thousands of gold.  10g is damned useless.  Can't even buy decent starter culture gear with that kind of cap.  But then again, you can farm K6 blues now without a subscription so maybe it doesn't matter.

    About a month after the game came out they did an update on the drop rate of BoE epics that randomly drop around the game world.  However, the guy punching in the numbers fucked up and made the drop rate for bat demons something like 75% and there were a ton of bat demons in one tiny spot in Poitan.  I found this out by accident and farmed the shit out of them for hours, creating new toons just to hold all the weapons.

    Then I quit the game for about a year.  When I came back they had removed world drop weapons from the game, and none were on the trader, so I started selling them one at a time for like 300 gold each and I made so much gold in one month that I've never needed to farm it again.
  • Po_ggPo_gg Member EpicPosts: 5,749
    Oh boy, you miss a couple days and AoC / LotRO threads appears left and right :lol:  

    Doug: it was already covered at the launch. http://www.mmorpg.com/gamelist.cfm/game/191/view/news/read/40398/Age-of-Conan-Raid-Finder-Membership-Updates-Loyalty-Program-More.html

    Frodo, all the leveling part is available for the f2p folks since years (except a few dungeons), and now it just got better (those dungeons are now included too :wink: ). The issue never was the leveling, but the endgame, and unfortunately no changes in that department, because (see H0urg1ass below)

    Lateris, yes, you can now play in Khitai if you have the expansion, without a sub. But, (see H0urg1ass below)

    Rhoklaw (and mcmurphy), the gold limit is 10 gold since the second f2p revamp years ago. Sadly it remained at 10 gold after this last change as well, which is bad news to f2p players because (see H0urg1ass below)

    H0urg1ass said:
    10g? lol, I have thousands of gold.  10g is damned useless.  Can't even buy decent starter culture gear with that kind of cap.  But then again, you can farm K6 blues now without a subscription so maybe it doesn't matter.
    This. While on paper changes sound good, it was told to Funcom countless times, the 10 gold limit really puts the proverbial arrow to the knee of the whole "sub is not mandatory anymore" change. Still, they went on with it.
    (Some suggested maybe a cap raise to 50 gold, that is still a restrictive cap, but at least gives some elbow room for f2p players at the endgame. Not much, just check H0urg1ass's post about 1 item on sale for 300 gold, years ago :wink: )

    Sure, f2p players now can access and play those endgame content without a sub. But with the 10 gold limit they won't be able to do much... prices there are huge, lots of items are above 10 gold, income is fast and they barely can spend it on anything so most of those gold will go straight to the escrow... and no way to reach their escrow gold, except through sub.

    I've been testing the changes the last couple days, and my initial thoughts are still the same which I estimated right after the launch in the other thread: This membership revamp is aimed for the new players, or the new leveling alt characters.

    Playing through the game to the cap as f2p was a decent ride so far too, now it's even better with the access to the AA system. (though the 10 gold limit starts to become an issue around level 60 and above, as it was planned years ago, as an incentive to sub for the endgame. Yep, now you don't need to sub. Then why keep the incentive? Funcom logic :lol: )
    Leveling as a subscriber is now simply a breeze with all the bonuses. Not to mention new subscribers have equal footing since the Loyalty system "resetted" the counter, a new player with 3 months sub will be on the same page as a veteran with 3 months sub, regardless of the 8 years of sub behind its back... (and that's just the smallest wound veteran players received with this change)


    So, the leveling part is better now, for both payment options. Endgame, however, is still sub-only. Ok, sure, now that f2p can access the content without a sub, it isn't mandatory by the letter.... But in reality, playing the endgame as a free player is quite annoying... (and if you have multiple characters, it's simply pointless to play without a sub: buying all the character slots, the inventory, the Trader slots to all characters would cost such a sum which is enough for continuously subbing several years - and don't forget the 10 gold limit which is still there if you play for free).


    To be honest, personally my regular AoC schedule won't change by this revamp, except some bitter taste in the mouth due to the price increase in the Store, and the remove of the stipend. I still will subscribe when I'm in the AoC mood, since f2p is too restrictive if you have a lot of alts and want to play at the end.

    If not the end, just the leveling, that is fine as f2p, but that's not a news, it already is since years. I leveled a f2p ToS last year to 70ish, but then had to hop back to LotRO - festival started :wink:
  • Doug_BDoug_B Member UncommonPosts: 153
    Lateris said:
     Doug_B said:
    Too little too late.  I quit while leveling once I realized how much was locked to free players.  IMO all leveling areas and quests should be available to everyone in a F2P game.  You can't really determine value until you hit endgame really.
    that what they have done making godslayer a buy to play, and making age of conan essentially buy to play now. THis is a huge step in the right direction for a veteran  developer to take. 
    Does that mean I can play all the godslayer content since I bought that expansion years ago? 
    Yes.
    Bachelor's in Web Design and Multimedia
  • H0urg1assH0urg1ass Member EpicPosts: 2,380
    I'm totally and completely done with this game until they can deliver on a lot of things.  This game needs class revamps in a huge way.  Dark Templars are ridiculously overpowered as a class in both PVE and PVP and other classes need buffs, and total revamps.  Many classes really need some big tweaks on their skill trees such as the necromancer where about 75% of their skills are completely useless.  Other classes need a full revamp to make them remotely interesting to play such as the Ranger which is, no shit, a two combo class.

    There have been bugs in the game for a good half a decade now that they simply refuse to address.

    The crafting revamp which has been promised for half a decade was essentially dropped off of the development schedule completely after Bylos bailed on the game.

    They made Tier 3, 3.5 and 4 much easier to complete by the majority of guilds, but then they didn't reduce the difficulty level of any K6 dungeons, so those are practically useless now as everyone hits 80 and jumps right into T4 with shit greens.  K6 token prices need to be halved and some of their difficulty levels need to be dropped so that everyone can do them rather than just the 4 that everyone does and other 10 ignored completely.

    To be honest, what this game needs is Gaute Godager back in charge.  His vision is what created the phenomenal base game that Craig and Bylos and company have done jack squat to improve.  Gaute may have overpromised, but he only under delivered because of corporate getting in the way.  I think he would have eventually righted the ship if they hadn't made him walk the plank.
  • MyrdynnMyrdynn Member RarePosts: 2,479
    what about AA's

  • H0urg1assH0urg1ass Member EpicPosts: 2,380
    Myrdynn said:
    what about AA's

    AA's were AoC's attempt to be EVE Online.  They're a welcome addition to the game except for two key factors.

    1)  Most players have them maxxed out now.  All of your veteran AoC's have full points in every AA and hundreds of unspent points.  The disparity in DPS output between someone with full AA's and a brand new level 80 is pretty high.  Some classes are worse about this than others such as the Bear Shaman, Dark Templar, Herald of Xotli, and Ranger which become exponentially more powerful with the correct AA's.

    2)  Many AA's are so game changing for a class that bringing them to a raid before you have them is completely pointless.  If your Dark Templar doesn't have Void of Madness AA, then don't even group with him until you do.  The same for several other key AA's for key classes.
  • Po_ggPo_gg Member EpicPosts: 5,749
    edited July 2016
    I think the question was more about the changes :wink:  (but yep, like most changes, AA too means very little to veteran players)
    Myrdynn said:
    what about AA's
    AAs now available for everybody, you don't even need to own the Godslayer expansion for it (before the change you only got AA points as a subscribed Godslayer owner)

    So, free players can pour the xp onto AA by default.
    Sub players gets more xp (faster AA gain), can use the time training from level 20, and gets bonus points during leveling. (and yep, veterans at 80 gets nothing from the latter two, since they're already at the cap :wink: )

    edit: the majority of the daily login chart is also a simple chunk of Mastery xp, for AA. Basically even as a starter, free character, you will reach level 80 with plenty of AA perks already unlocked. As said above, the new model is more aimed for the leveling characters, to smoothly carry them to the endgame...
  • LaterisLateris Member UncommonPosts: 1,830
    exile01 said:
    Lateris said:
     Doug_B said:
    Too little too late.  I quit while leveling once I realized how much was locked to free players.  IMO all leveling areas and quests should be available to everyone in a F2P game.  You can't really determine value until you hit endgame really.
    that what they have done making godslayer a buy to play, and making age of conan essentially buy to play now. THis is a huge step in the right direction for a veteran  developer to take. 
    Does that mean I can play all the godslayer content since I bought that expansion years ago? 
    How can you NOT understand this?
    Sing the accident it has been hard. 
  • MyrdynnMyrdynn Member RarePosts: 2,479
    Po_gg said:
    I think the question was more about the changes :wink:  (but yep, like most changes, AA too means very little to veteran players)
    Myrdynn said:
    what about AA's
    AAs now available for everybody, you don't even need to own the Godslayer expansion for it (before the change you only got AA points as a subscribed Godslayer owner)

    So, free players can pour the xp onto AA by default.
    Sub players gets more xp (faster AA gain), can use the time training from level 20, and gets bonus points during leveling. (and yep, veterans at 80 gets nothing from the latter two, since they're already at the cap :wink: )

    edit: the majority of the daily login chart is also a simple chunk of Mastery xp, for AA. Basically even as a starter, free character, you will reach level 80 with plenty of AA perks already unlocked. As said above, the new model is more aimed for the leveling characters, to smoothly carry them to the endgame...

    ok cool, I have all the expansions, but it always bothered my everytime I played I had to sub just to advance my character.  Good to know I can play and earn AA's now without sub, thats why I quit again originally

  • DKLondDKLond Member RarePosts: 2,273
    Maybe they should have done this while the game still had a chance of going places.
  • MyrdynnMyrdynn Member RarePosts: 2,479
    also, did they ever re-do the crafting and guild system for building?

  • k61977k61977 Member EpicPosts: 1,500
    Too little too late.  I quit while leveling once I realized how much was locked to free players.  IMO all leveling areas and quests should be available to everyone in a F2P game.  You can't really determine value until you hit endgame really.
    I agree with everything except the last line.  I could care less about endgame for any game, for me it is the journey I play games for.  So if the quest and leveling are horrible I don't care how great the endgame is suppose to be it is a horrible game for players like me. 

    This game had good ideas but the follow thru was horrible on the developers parts.  It has limped along now for years on the backs of the people that actually wanted this IP to be a success. 
  • klatuuklatuu Member UncommonPosts: 4
    still only 3 character slots. when game first came out i spent over £80 on it played 5-6 characters to top lvl. then free to play came out which spoiled the game. now i only can use 3 of my characters as ftp (unless i fork more cash out ). in my opinion that just not right after paying all that money in the first place.
  • Doug_BDoug_B Member UncommonPosts: 153
    Reguardless of opinion of funcom as company, AoC is still one of the greatest mmo's post WoW.  I'm glad Funcom made these changes, and would not be offended if the do even more.

    Bachelor's in Web Design and Multimedia
  • scorpex-xscorpex-x Member RarePosts: 1,030
    Too little too late.  I quit while leveling once I realized how much was locked to free players.  IMO all leveling areas and quests should be available to everyone in a F2P game.  You can't really determine value until you hit endgame really.
    Too little too late?  I don't know if you noticed but nobody is making any more mmorpg titles anymore.

    AoC is as current as it ever was with these changes
  • Doug_BDoug_B Member UncommonPosts: 153
    I have 7 level 80's, the end game is what you make of it.  Playing ona pvp server also make s ahuge difference in end game.
    Bachelor's in Web Design and Multimedia
  • Octagon7711Octagon7711 Member LegendaryPosts: 9,000
    When will they learn.  Free to play restrictions compared to games that don't have them will make players go elsewhere.  Too much confidence that Conan alone theme will bring people in.  

    "We all do the best we can based on life experience, point of view, and our ability to believe in ourselves." - Naropa      "We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are."  SR Covey

  • DrunkWolfDrunkWolf Member RarePosts: 1,701
    all 50 people left playing are happy
  • RawizRawiz Member UncommonPosts: 584
    H0urg1ass said: SNIP
    To be honest, what this game needs is Gaute Godager back in charge.  His vision is what created the phenomenal base game that Craig and Bylos and company have done jack squat to improve.  Gaute may have overpromised, but he only under delivered because of corporate getting in the way.  I think he would have eventually righted the ship if they hadn't made him walk the plank.
    Yeah, that guy is now a teacher, but he actually had a vision. The "world" wasn't ready for it at the time, but now it is. Too bad for FC.
  • Daneus84Daneus84 Member UncommonPosts: 13
    Underrated game, with graphics that still holds up today, The only MMORPG with nudity and brutal dismembering of enemies. 
    Now with the recent revamp of the F2P model, I can only encourage old players to return, if you own the content you can play it as a F2P member.

    I have personal screamed for changes and many others too, at last they did something about it.
    http://forums.ageofconan.com/showthread.php?192380-Please-revamp-the-F2P-Model

    Official forum name (Daneus2212) Hope to see you ingame lets go crack some skulls (Crom)
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