There’s all this hype about this game apparently it is a great game which could overtake WoW as one of the best and well know games in the world. Well firstly let me say AoC will never be as good as WoW, it will never have a south park episode. Why? Because half of the bloody mmorpg geeks and fans don’t have computers which can handle the game.
When I saw the graphics of AoC I knew that this was going to be something which will only be playable on great systems the rest of us would have to put up with the computer lagging and presenting us with a nicely displayed power point presentation of us dyeing every 3 hours or having the setting so low that text takes up the whole screen due to the resolution.
Now I have no complaints about graphics but when making an mmorpg generally you go for the tried and tested when making a mmorpg not trying to go ultra high making it more of a multiplayer game with the full extent of the game only being played by the rich kids who get their daddies to buy them a $4000 rig. Well isn’t that great they AoC have already kicked themselves into a hole a niche market and until powerful computer become cheaper the massive after the hype has passed will turn into a game which has a few little kids boasting how super awesome their computer is.
Secondly I’d like to point out this is an mmorpg its not a gene where you go from single player to multiplayer and vice versa. Why the hell would I pay a monthly fee in order to get to level 20 when its practically all single player, that really is a rip off who ever managed to sneak that passed the playerbase should become George Bush’s PR manager. We are paying a monthly fee and your playing a single player game till level 20 its completely ridiculous it’s like playing half life 2 and being charged to play each month when you’re not even on the server. Now I don’t know if you have to play the monthly fee but even so they call it a mmorpg not after level 20 you’ll get to try our mmorpg.
The fact of the matter is this game has something new in that it tries to make it easy and fun for solo antisocial players who rather play by themselves than play with others. Under features it should state that half the bloody game is going to be like staying on a deserted island in other words being by yourself. Like I said in my last blog entry people leave the game if its crap at the start I am not going to hang around if I find out I am in a mmorpg which is filled with me and mindless npc’s I will leave.
Instances causes a further problem it makes it even more like a single player game with a bit of multiplayer on the side. The whole point of an mmorpg is that the world is full of people all around not just in certain areas this makes it more like battlefield you have a chat room (a city) and then maps with groups on them (instances) what is the point of this is completely pointless and I rather go play Guild Wars.
That brings me to my next point it’s a copycat of several games instances, single player map section sounds like a guild war copycat again. The mmorpg developers strike again it seems that their brains have been cut in half the creative part gone and the copy one of the top 10 mmorpg side expanded. Even so it does not explain how guild wars manages to pay all its fees with a pay for the cd but not anything after while AoC seems to think that they need to charge $14 I call that a rip off like many companies they know they can get away with it if guild wars can do it with practically the same system of instances why do the developers and publishers of AoC seem to think that their server costs, cost double.
Finally the fact that its rated mature is going making the market even more niche now I know many parents will allow their children to play mature games but I know for certain that atleast 40% of parents (especially in the uk after all the news on game ratings on tv) will defiantly not allow their teenagers to play the game. I mean the latest GTA was rated m and look at the fuss bbc made about that. Another stupid flaw by a company which seems more like mindless chickens when it comes to research they should know that half the market will be teenagers and by that they should make sure that they make sure that the rating would accommodate that.
Now I’ll be honest I don’t play this game because of the above reasons and also I am quite happy with my duo core 2.33 ghz, geforce 8600, 2gb ram computer and when playing a mmorpg on a computer like that I expect a decent performance after all its quite a new computer why should I have to accommodate computer games made in the same year as my computer they should accommodate peoples computers not expect people to upgrade their computers.
AoC has sunk into a niche market and after the hype around it has gone, after a while it will sink down the list below World of Warcraft and eve online, and that’s the true test of whether a game is successful or not in the mmorpg world. If it can’t stay at the top I’ll consider it vapourware if it by some miracle stays there then I’ll take my hat off to eat and announce I was wrong. I am sure it’s a good game but to me it just has too many negatives to even consider this game to me it truly is like the title another mmorpg like the others just better graphics yawn.
I paid 49 € and became level 20 in 7 hours, that's almost as much time as Crysis lasted to me.
Mon May 26 2008 10:41AMRequired
OS: Windows Vista/XP
Processor: 3GHz Pentium IV
RAM: 1GB RAM
Video Card: Shader Model 2.0 and 128MB RAM: NVIDIA GeForce 5800 or ATI 9800
Recommended
Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo 2.4 GHz (E6600) or better
Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce 7950GX2 or better
RAM: 2GB or more
Its really not THAT bad. Its not a $4000 computer.
If your really complaining about not being able to play.. then start a small savings and get like $1000 and learn to build it yourself. Trust me its much cheaper and you have more options.
Mon May 26 2008 12:57PMYes that may allow you to play but I'd like to see the recommended system coping with pvp when there are 50+ players fighting each other with those types of graphics and after a certain amount of playing pvp becomes something which will feature in ones time online. Also several people have pointed that the system requirements are too low for actual playability.
Mon May 26 2008 1:36PMTo be fair all computer parts are cheap, defo if you have a job, not ' rich kids who get their daddies to buy them a $4000 rig.' 4k rig, where are you buying it from Alienware?
Plus, for a quick, 'how to run a game faster' run the res at a normal res(1024x768) not, 10000000x10000000 etc. Or update your computer, I did it 6 months ago and only cost about £500(about $1000) and it runs crysis smoothly at max.
Mon May 26 2008 1:41PMwow...they give you 30 days free when you buy the game, if you cant reach 20 in 30 days...something is wrong, considering most people i have talked to have done it in 7-10 hours...so technically, you dont start paying till after 30 days, that means you get past the singleplayer part.....30 days to see if you like it, then if you do, past 20, you start paying after the month, and continue =D
Mon May 26 2008 1:43PMSo because you get 30 days included in the box it is free? You pay for it when buying the game and is standard in the industry, World Of Warcraft etc. Secondly one has to think of how much of an achivement it is when you are at level 20 within 7 hours! As for computers I may of exagerated a little but the point still stands that you will need a great computer to play pvp, and in the end that what 70% atleast will be looking at.
Mon May 26 2008 2:20PMAoC doesnt have to sink below WoW. It will never make it past WoW in subscrptions, It will never have better gameplay than WoW, it will never have the depth that WoW has, not that WoW has much to start with. The only reason why it is rated higher on, this site only, is because its new and has bewbs.
Mon May 26 2008 4:59PMyour also forgetting that THIS mmo will be on the 360 too. Which means yes they are closing themselves off by making it M and graphics heavy, they also have a HUGE amount of extra players that will be able to play. Also, I have a computer that can play AoC just fine that is 3 years old, and cost less then $2000 then. Meaning you can get a rig MUCH cheaper now. Second, if you get 30 days free paly time, you are getting the same from your $50-60 buying AoC and palying for a month then you are buying some single player game and beating it in less then a month You cant complain about having to pay a monthly fee and palying by yourself, because your getting the solo play at the beginning which takes care fo the game cost. THEN if you want to keep palying (which means you like the game) you pay extra. Its how every mmo works and your not getting ripped off AT ALL. All of your complaints are based on your being REALLY cheap, not having a comp that can handle the game, or just overall you like to flame anything you can. SO, based on all the above, your whole rant about the flaws in the game are proved to be relevant only to a person who likes to cry about everything and make stuff look bad when all it really boils down to is you want attention.
Mon May 26 2008 5:08PMUm I don't really care for attention I am just pointing out my perception of the game. If I really wanted to gain attention I would of tried harder to flaw every part of the game. I agree that it’s a good game in some respects but my point is its a niche market. It's not really cheap the fact of the matter is I am not prepared to spend that money on a new computer for a game I will only play for 30 days and I am sure many others will agree.
Coming back to your point of me crying about everything let me point out that I did say "I am sure it’s a good game" now if I want to flame it I would of by no means added that. Secondly my posts is justified by several forum posts it does not take a genius to go into mmorpg's AoC forum section and see threads such as "AoC didn’t deliver", "Starting to Sour" and “Cancelled on 3rd day”. So are all these people all wanting attention or maybe it’s just you trying to defend a game from fair points which are brought across from a neutral observer such as myself intending to show my perception not to create attention.
As for your computer being 3 years old may I direct you to the forum post “Performance video on average computer”. So let me sum this up I am not the one crying over spilt milk on the contrary it’s you JRock7485 who seems to perpetuated on AoC and in such a one dimensional thought of mind that you can’t take any criticism of this so called mighty game and whenever someone does you instantly go into a defensive mode thinking that a person pointing out facts must be wrong.The fact that your only post in the forum posts shows you being more like a fanatic follower of AoC proves the one dimensional thought pattern when you looked at this article.
Mon May 26 2008 6:05PMSummary: "My computer can't play this game so it sucks and this is why..."
Here's an idea. Get a job, make some money, and build a better computer.
Mon May 26 2008 6:48PMRight so the computer I brought in december needs to be thrown out the window and I must spend another $2000 buying a new computer seems like a good plan. Its not going to happen the people who have posted in particular in the "cancelled on 3rd day"thread have voiced their displeasure at having to upgrade and constantly look at hardware in order to do something which should be lesure.
Mon May 26 2008 6:58PMI'm not a rich kid, I have a job. My computer costed me about 1 1/2 weeks pay, not that much. Since AoC is for players over 18, quite a lot of them will actually have jobs and therefore afford an descent rigg. The rest of you have to play something older or wait for the 360 version.
Mon May 26 2008 7:17PM1 and 1/2 weeks pay? Look man...even without buying the overpriced, "top of the line" hardware you're looking at a minimum of 1.2-2K easy to pay for a PC which can run this monster flawlessly in PvP. That would mean you score a thousand dollars a week.....
That IS pretty rich, the kentucky medium is no where near that mark. Maybe if you lived in a bigger city...it would be more akin to a median pay scale, but then you wouldn't have the money to spend since rent in those places is, like...1500 just for apartments.
Tue May 27 2008 1:27AMGishgeron my point exactly and even with pvp I belive the best computers are gonna lag badly too since a lot of them are getting 20-30 fps in cities just imagine when big pvp battles happen eeek.
Tue May 27 2008 3:03AMBought new computer year ago for aproximatly 870 pounds, set graphics to 1600x1200 medium to high details, no problems for me, not one crash, fps around 35-50, sometimes 20, if very heavy action on screen. But i use Windows XP. My colegue tried on Windows Vista, he said, game crashed at least one time and had not so good performance. When he tried on XP, it went smooth too. Its a goddamn Vista problem, it uses too much ram and most rigs have only 2 gigs ram. If u want to play games on Vista, u need at least 4 gigs ram.
As for the game, i just have to remember all the bugs WoW had after launch, the horrible Ironforge lag, the bugged quests and bugged enviroment, all the exploits and whet not. Seems, that ppl have very short memory, when they slander AoC, wich is only 2 weeks online now.
Realy, if u dont like this game, STFU and go back to WoW, where u can grind your daily quests and raids happpily ever after.
Tue May 27 2008 5:13AMBut the recommended requirements say “OS: Windows Vista/XP “and the recommended is “RAM: 2GB or more “ So are you telling me that my 2 gb ram on vista will not have good experience well isn't that fantastic another company spreading lies about the exact specifications well I can see lots of people are going to experience terrible performance since most bloody computers come with 2gb vista expecting it to work like a charm with 2gb as recommended.
As for World Of Warcraft I don't play it so I am not going to scoot over there. WoW did market research they saw what people wanted and made it. They made sure it worked on most of the then computer systems instead of expecting everyone to buy brand new computers, it's actually an mmorpg unlike AoC with all these instances and go look at forum there are lots complaining about that.
This shows another AoC user who thinks its his way or the highway just because you think its great does not mean others do and you can't stop people from expressing their opinions about a game.
Tue May 27 2008 5:43AMWell, as a IT proffesional i can tell, Windows Vista will use at least 1,5-2 gigs ram juat for itself, then add antivirus, firewall and something else. If u want to play ANY graphics heavygame without freezes and crashes on Vista, get 4 gigs of ram. Or - just play the games on Windows XP.
And as for WoW - ppl had old computers too, when WoW came out, and it was hard to run on high setting too without lagging like hell. Now its same story with AoC. WoW is old now, engine is like from year 2004, thats why "everyone" can play it.
Im not stopping You from expressing Your opinion, im just stating my.
Tue May 27 2008 6:17AMI agree great deal with original post. I have few months old computer, it is "clean", used only for gaming, .... Dual core, 2 GB ram, ati radeon 2400 PRO with 256mb RAM... 10mbit fiber internet .... AoC's fps is a disaster.
While I can play wow at highest possible settings (ok, there is difference in type of graphics, but anyway) level completely smooth .... I must set in AoC to very LOW (and manually still set many other options to even lowest) to have somehow acceptable performance. If I set to high I get around 3 (three!!!) FPS. Also no problem playing i.e. LOTRO, GW, ... on same computer.
Ok, I can not exclude there is some specific conflict with AoC client with my hardware ... but fact is on my computer AoC it is unplayable unless I accept to play in low settings.
AoC have a lot of strong points and things I like a lot... but there are also many negatives (hopefully some will be fixed while others unfortunately are »by design«):
- Funcom does not guarantee alts will be preserved if player discontinue subscription and renew after some time? Are they kidding??? So, if will happen after few months I will lose interest and will want to wait i.e. few next months to some upgrade (like I'm now waiting WOW's Lich King)... I will have to PAY all that time if I want guarantee my characters will be still there when I continue to play? Even if they reach multiplied number wow base of players, this should not be problem from perspective of space on server, backing up data, … so this is cheap way to suck more money from players even after they will stop to play for some time (or more likely for ever).
- Only 8 possible alts!? I like to experiment with all classes ... here I can try only part of combinations (or delete some which is not an option as is not to purchase another copy of game!)
- all races have same(!) line of quests (very boring)
- program do not have logoff(!); one must quit or wait 30 secs for camping ... and still has then to enter password
- When selling to NPC’s player must explicitly click sell button! No double-click! No button “sell all”, lock items, ....
- no option for automatically loot all (always must click confirmation button after clicking with mouse for loot; holding shift is not eq one-click loot)
Tue May 27 2008 7:06AMPre_mar you'd think with a computer like that you'd be fine I mean that's what an average computer these days is like. Your computer is living proof of how the average player unless upgrading is barred from playing the game. If its true that they delete your alts when you end your subscription it shows a company forgetting customers and ethics of preserving an account which someone worked hard on regardless of alts they spent months being loyal customers and by doing that Funcom have shown what they care about and what they don't.
AS for 2 gb being worthless Adrianor I play lots of games with 2gb ram on vista and have never had any problems in fact I am listening to music, on firefox, running a virus scanner and I have a downloading manager running all taking about 1 gb of ram. So I would hope that 1.2 gb would be enough for any game. Lets add to the fact that most computers which people get (atleast 60% still buy pre made computers) have only 2 gb ram. Now should a company makking a computer game make the game based on the current days computer systems norms? Instead of jumping into the future?
Tue May 27 2008 7:39AMkirk3
you got me wrong ... I did not write they say they will delete (this would really be to much!), only, that "despite best effort ..:" and blah blah blah .... "they can not guarantee" that characters will be preserved in case of cancellation of subscription. They speak only about this "possibility". Essentialy one can read "better you pay for ever, just in case something not "happen" to your alts.
Tue May 27 2008 12:43PMI have just replaced that trash of Ati Radeon 2400 HD (256MB) with Bliss 9600GT PCX (essentially nVidia 9600GT) and .... wow ... what a difference! Where before at top res I was getting only 3 to 4 FPS(!), now I have around 30 to 40(!) FPS!!! Ok, this one is higher level ... but my old still sells around half price of new one. So for double bucks I have received 10 times speed!
Now I can really enjoy AoC. Actually it is good game (which will for sure not dethrone wow), however my complains from before still holds. At top having only 8 alts, no guarantee alts will be preserved in case of closing subscription, no logoff, ... etc.
Wed May 28 2008 9:01AMMMORPG.com writes:
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