Tortage is a good example of how a "starter" zone can grab your attention. Also it is a good example of linear questing.
Best blueprint for a starting zone is Lotro's the Shire. Delivering pies, landmarks, exploring, farming, villages : it had it all. Plus high levels would still visit after they had done all the quests.
Shire is probably my least favorite starting zone in any game. All you did was run around the whole time. High levels visit because they're trying to complete deeds they've been putting off because the zone sucks.
Tortage is a good example of how a "starter" zone can grab your attention. Also it is a good example of linear questing.
Best blueprint for a starting zone is Lotro's the Shire. Delivering pies, landmarks, exploring, farming, villages : it had it all. Plus high levels would still visit after they had done all the quests.
Shire is probably my least favorite starting zone in any game. All you did was run around the whole time. High levels visit because they're trying to complete deeds they've been putting off because the zone sucks.
Any game which has delivering pies as a task isn't for me, I'd rather be killing rats in a cellar.
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
So, I have until their RTS releases? Why not simply leave it as an option forever?
There must be a misunderstaning, I believe it will stay... at least they never said otherwise.
It's for promoting the new game, but nowhere in the notes was a closing date, nor even a hint of it will be temporary.
Since it changes almost nothing with the game, I don't see why would they remove the toggle in the future - especially after turned out you can only claim the rewards one time, so if you want the cosmetics multiple times, you need to level up multiple characters.
Shire is probably my least favorite starting zone in any game. All you did was run around the whole time. High levels visit because they're trying to complete deeds they've been putting off because the zone sucks.
Depends on what you seek. For the lore and for the mood, Shire is the best home zone in LotRO. Sure, if you only seek the mechanics, the speed, and the most optimal route, the elven part of Ered Luin is better for you... for my taste that is too linear and short.
Tortage doesn't exist anymore, a powerful necromancer wburned it to the ground when he introduced pvp ranks and gear to the game. Only a smoldering piles of camel doo doo are left.
To answer the OP , No one should ever look to /uncom for anything mmo-ish , period.
They're certainly good with solo stuff, I don't understand why they keep making multiplayer games. Almost none of their games are remembered due to multiplayer.
i'd blame age for that one, bc those who played it surely remember anarchy online
"I'll never grow up, never grow up, never grow up! Not me!"
My opion of AOC and Funcom is not very good and I would caution others before giving them any money. Ask the Devs in Aoc if there still giving perma bans for asking about " Bar Room Brawling "
" Life Liberty and the Pursuit of Those Who Would Threaten It " MAGA
I don't think it's a good blueprint, first there is a lot of walls from you start to where you can enter the city. So if you just want to start a mule you have to do a lot of stuff. Sure it only takes 5 min, but it gets old. Then you can't leave the place until you're 20 or know the "secret" exit, which allow you to leave at lvl 13 I think.
Tortage is basicly a lot of running back and forth, like a mail man. I like the way they did it in ESO a little better, though it was hard to exit the island too, but today you can basicly start a new char and exit to mainland and play the game the way you want. If you want to go to the bank after 1 min you can.
The only reason Tortage stood out as being so grand to everyone who played AoC is because the rest of the game was completely different.
Tortage was a cool enough area, but there was nothing special about the content or its delivery. It was just a highly polished zone... unlike the rest of the game.
They wasted years, with their tunnel-vision, screwing around with Tortage. So, naturally, it felt very polished, by comparison.
Sure, they might have "finished" the game long after release, but a studio that literally releases a game with empty dungeons, etc., deserves all of those criticisms. AoC's launch was just inexcusable, no matter how much the game improved later.
Anyhow, the thread is about Tortage, which was hardly "unfinished", as it was the only thing they seemed to obsessively work on during development.
I don't think there was anything particularly amazing about Tortage over any other game's starting areas. It had prettier graphics and they poured plenty of time into it, but it didn't actually "do" anything that stood out.
Tortage is a good example of how a "starter" zone can grab your attention. Also it is a good example of linear questing.
Best blueprint for a starting zone is Lotro's the Shire. Delivering pies, landmarks, exploring, farming, villages : it had it all. Plus high levels would still visit after they had done all the quests.
Shire is probably my least favorite starting zone in any game. All you did was run around the whole time. High levels visit because they're trying to complete deeds they've been putting off because the zone sucks.
Any game which has delivering pies as a task isn't for me, I'd rather be killing rats in a cellar.
While I'm cut from the same cloth, I'm glad that it exists in Lord of the Rings Online. It definitely offers a different feel and I like the homey feel to it and what it offers other types of players.
I however, try to do as little in the shire as I can as there are rats to kill.
As far as Tortage is concerned (and to address another poster) , it's not even that there were "some" grouping opportunities (though I soloed the entire thing so don't really remember grouping opportunities) but more that it felt like the entire town was made for the solo player to play out his/her little role and then you are released into the world.
It was SO themepark.
and it wasn't even done very well. Oh, the look was very good. Funcom is exceptional at that part. But I recall the camera doing really odd things during some of the in game cut scenes.
Now, I don't really like theme park games but if I play one I play them proper. I read/listen to the quests and generally try to take the game for what it is. I also usually miss a lot of stuff because I hate quests and end up missing something that is necessary to play the rest of the game.
I'd rather have how Elder Scrolls Online did their instancing at the start than how Tortage had day and night cycles, one solo one not.
It just never did anything for me and it's not because it was a comparison to the rest of the game.
Like Skyrim? Need more content? Try my Skyrim mod "Godfred's Tomb."
Like others, I didn't find anything remarkable about Tortage other than it was complete. As far as a blueprint for other games to follow, I can't agree. The entire Tortage segment was very solo focused. If I remember correctly, it also pressured characters to use stealth, regardless of how well the character could actually do stealth. It presented a world which was very pretty and cleanly implemented, but felt entirely like there was a predetermined 'way' to play that area. It very much encouraged an 'everyone does everything' attitude, which I find very anti-specialist and against playing a role.
Logic, my dear, merely enables one to be wrong with great authority.
When it comes to gaming, I'm not much of a fan of templates.
Borrow from here, and borrow from there sure, but templates are how you end up with completely sub-par to total trash games like WildStar and SWTOR. If those two had copied the template from WoW any goddamn harder, then they would have been thrown out of developer university for cheating.
That being said, Age of Conan does not stop being good after Tortage. I never will understand that argument. The only difference is that the voice acting wasn't continued throughout. So you had to read the quests, big deal. If you bothered to read them, then they were pretty compelling and fun.
The rest of the game was 90% as good as Tortage and better in many places.
Only the Night time one's were mandatory solo and you could / can opt out of doing them. All the Daytime quests could be done solo or group your choice. And unless you've overleveled prior, there's some that you need to group to do on level.
If I remember correctly, it also pressured characters to use stealth, regardless of how well the character could actually do stealth.
AoC broke the classes up into 3 Archtypes; Magic, Soldier and Rogue. The only one's that needed to use stealth during the Night time quests were the Rogue's; Ranger, Barbarian and Assissan. All of them getting the 'Hide' skill early in the game for you to put points into. So as long as you remembered to do that none of those quests were very hard to complete.
That being said, Age of Conan does not stop being good after Tortage. I never will understand that argument. The only difference is that the voice acting wasn't continued throughout. So you had to read the quests, big deal. If you bothered to read them, then they were pretty compelling and fun.
The rest of the game was 90% as good as Tortage and better in many places.
I've never understood that argument either. Yes when it was first launched there weren't enough quests, but that's been fixed.
Some quests are ho-hum, but every game has those. The rest range from good to excellent. Read the write up's and then have fun with your replies to the quest giver and you can have a blast!
I've never played it, never seen it, other than this thread I've never read anything about it. However I am an avid mmorpg player, therefore I am an expert and duly qualified to make intelligent comments about development. So I'm going to say no.
Just because you don't like it doesn't mean it is bad.
That being said, Age of Conan does not stop being good after Tortage. I never will understand that argument. The only difference is that the voice acting wasn't continued throughout. So you had to read the quests, big deal. If you bothered to read them, then they were pretty compelling and fun.
The rest of the game was 90% as good as Tortage and better in many places.
I've never understood that argument either. Yes when it was first launched there weren't enough quests, but that's been fixed.
Some quests are ho-hum, but every game has those. The rest range from good to excellent. Read the write up's and then have fun with your replies to the quest giver and you can have a blast!
Read the quests......I played on a PVP server at launch, taking the time to read the quests was just inviting some stealther to gank to you.
Rather I recall racing into a quest giver / hub and clicking through the windows as rapidly as possible to either get a quest or collect the reward, then dashing off before one could drop you.
I always wanted to go back on a PVE server one day just so I could take the time to read the quests....never did though as rare is a game I've returned to if I set it aside in a short period of time in the initial go around. (I lasted 3 months)
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
You forgot the Priest group(Mitra, Set, Bear). Also, nobody forced you to Stealth. In fact, when I play a Barb, I just run run through those guards and trigger the cutscene, perfectly valid way to play.
I wouldn't say valid, maybe "possible", but a bit of a stretch, isn't it? That mission's purpose is to teach you stealthing, which is a pretty useful (and also important) class mechanic for the rogues. The mission also serves as an introduction/reminder of the skills panel, and to spend your points there - it's the tutorial area afterall... The other classes have a similar mission with climbing.
Last, but not least, what about the story part? They tell you to stay in the shadows, avoid the guards at all costs, and you just barge into them with "trigger the cutscene, perfectly valid way to play" All it takes is raising your skill and you can just as easily sneak past by them...
Read the quests......I played on a PVP server at launch, taking the time to read the quests was just inviting some stealther to gank to you.
That was always one of the main issues with the pvp system. A bit of a shame though, AoC has not only really good writing, but an interesting dialogue system - or more like had, it was made easier after launch, partly for those "I don't read" players.
Rearranging some answers to sate the 1spammers (as in picking the first line always gets you through the dialogue with accepting or giving in the quests) pretty much killed off the more interesting questlines where you actually had to pay attention and choose the correct answers. There were also 2-3 quests with important choices, they neutered those as well (originally the first pick for those wasn't the best possible outcome, needless to say caused lots of yelling and cursing at Funcom)
Nope because it is a single player design that removes the entire game world to become an instance, It is at least a unique idea but not a good MMO idea.My biggest peeve was everything felt like an offline game,even the questing was unlocking homes to open up new quests,the kind of stuff other players will not see,only you,so imo Funcom doesn't know how to build an online game.
I also realized that Funcom started rushing their games even within AOC,there was missing or a lack of content around mid game,then this TSW looked really lame,another online game that was designed like a single player game,then the survival game,another fast cash grab.
Funcom does come up with some nice ideas but seems they just rush through the designs,if they stop and put some effort into them they might actually be good games.
Nope, wrong again.
To the point of the post, no it could have been done better and I would recommend fewer quest markers, and I really dislike being locked into a class. Having said that, Dark Templar was by far the best tank class I have ever played.
But no, starting zones do not appeal to me no matter how well they are done.
I agree with this first statement. And I rarely agree with him.
It was horrible. It was a single player game system. Tortage sucked.
What Funcom should do is make a single player game, different combat, or at least combat that is evolved from what the mmorpg had, and build from Tortage in a more quality way.
But for an mmorpg? Thumbs down.
I agree. I always liked Funcom's single player stuff. The longest Journey and Dreamfall are two of my all-time favorites. I suppose you could credit that to Ragnar Tournquist, but they're still Funcom games. Although I haven't played it yet, Mutant Year Zero looks pretty good too. I've always found Funcom's games to be a little (or a lot sometimes) abstract and pretty well written. I would love to see AoC turned into a full on single player experience with overhauled combat. I'd even take shared world style like Secret World Legends for the dungeons / raids if they limit party size to 3 or so and retune. Just keep the other aspects single player. Ultimately, I think this game is on life support, and has been for some time. Such a shame really. It had some good things going for it. Hopefully their latest Conan ventures will prove profitable enough to warrant revisiting AoC's future.
Bonus points if they could somehow work Conan Exiles' building and crafting into those resource areas.
Tortage doesn't exist anymore, a powerful necromancer wburned it to the ground when he introduced pvp ranks and gear to the game. Only a smoldering piles of camel doo doo are left.
To answer the OP , No one should ever look to /uncom for anything mmo-ish , period.
They're certainly good with solo stuff, I don't understand why they keep making multiplayer games. Almost none of their games are remembered due to multiplayer.
Although I don’t fully disagree AO is one of the most revered older MMORPGs there is. And if there is one company capable of delivering amazing dungeons and raids its Funcom, these are head and shoulders above the competition.
/Cheers, Lahnmir
'the only way he could nail it any better is if he used a cross.'
Kyleran on yours sincerely
'But there are many. You can play them entirely solo, and even offline. Also, you are wrong by default.'
Ikcin in response to yours sincerely debating whether or not single-player offline MMOs exist...
'This does not apply just to ED but SC or any other game. What they will get is Rebirth/X4, likely prettier but equally underwhelming and pointless.
It is incredibly difficult to design some meaningfull leg content that would fit a space ship game - simply because it is not a leg game.
It is just huge resource waste....'
Gdemami absolutely not being an armchair developer
I wasn't even impressed with Tortage...i hit about level 10 and thought "if this is the best this game has to offer there is no reason to continue" and I moved on.
Tortage doesn't exist anymore, a powerful necromancer wburned it to the ground when he introduced pvp ranks and gear to the game. Only a smoldering piles of camel doo doo are left.
To answer the OP , No one should ever look to /uncom for anything mmo-ish , period.
Funcom did 2 things that were great and both came from AO: Implants/symbiants and the mission system.
Comments
"True friends stab you in the front." | Oscar Wilde
"I need to finish" - Christian Wolff: The Accountant
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
"I'll never grow up, never grow up, never grow up! Not me!"
거북이는 목을 내밀 때 안 움직입니다
MAGA
Tortage is basicly a lot of running back and forth, like a mail man. I like the way they did it in ESO a little better, though it was hard to exit the island too, but today you can basicly start a new char and exit to mainland and play the game the way you want. If you want to go to the bank after 1 min you can.
Godfred's Tomb Trailer: https://youtu.be/-nsXGddj_4w
Original Skyrim: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/109547
Serph toze kindly has started a walk-through. https://youtu.be/UIelCK-lldo
Logic, my dear, merely enables one to be wrong with great authority.
Borrow from here, and borrow from there sure, but templates are how you end up with completely sub-par to total trash games like WildStar and SWTOR. If those two had copied the template from WoW any goddamn harder, then they would have been thrown out of developer university for cheating.
That being said, Age of Conan does not stop being good after Tortage. I never will understand that argument. The only difference is that the voice acting wasn't continued throughout. So you had to read the quests, big deal. If you bothered to read them, then they were pretty compelling and fun.
The rest of the game was 90% as good as Tortage and better in many places.
SWG (pre-cu) - AoC (pre-f2p) - PotBS (pre-boarder) - DDO - LotRO (pre-f2p) - STO (pre-f2p) - GnH (beta tester) - SWTOR - Neverwinter
Some quests are ho-hum, but every game has those. The rest range from good to excellent. Read the write up's and then have fun with your replies to the quest giver and you can have a blast!
SWG (pre-cu) - AoC (pre-f2p) - PotBS (pre-boarder) - DDO - LotRO (pre-f2p) - STO (pre-f2p) - GnH (beta tester) - SWTOR - Neverwinter
Rather I recall racing into a quest giver / hub and clicking through the windows as rapidly as possible to either get a quest or collect the reward, then dashing off before one could drop you.
I always wanted to go back on a PVE server one day just so I could take the time to read the quests....never did though as rare is a game I've returned to if I set it aside in a short period of time in the initial go around. (I lasted 3 months)
"True friends stab you in the front." | Oscar Wilde
"I need to finish" - Christian Wolff: The Accountant
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
/Cheers,
Lahnmir
Kyleran on yours sincerely
'But there are many. You can play them entirely solo, and even offline. Also, you are wrong by default.'
Ikcin in response to yours sincerely debating whether or not single-player offline MMOs exist...
'This does not apply just to ED but SC or any other game. What they will get is Rebirth/X4, likely prettier but equally underwhelming and pointless.
It is incredibly difficult to design some meaningfull leg content that would fit a space ship game - simply because it is not a leg game.
It is just huge resource waste....'
Gdemami absolutely not being an armchair developer