General Discussion

dang late 2009 for xbox edition? i read as mid 2010 lol.  kotor mmo might be out for xbox too in that timeframe. ill play the one thats more fun.

I'm so happy for them that the game beat their expectations.  apparently their expectations wern't to high.

I just want to my pets to be able to attack! The last patch made my pets useless (17 July). Forget the new content, just fix the game!!

Originally posted by scabzy

personnaly i dont like games with casuals community, hardcore gamers and competition come hand in hand....reminds me of vanguard.

Actually, the best 'hardcore' games were co-op games, so what you you gotta say about that?

Your reference to VG is pointless and desperate.

Originally posted by Lizante

OMG just *look* and who she (Carolyn Koh) spoke with!  She was @ E3 and spoke with *cough* the FunCom AoC Product Manager and the *cough* Eidos' marketing guy!

These two  are very likely the guys who were most responsible for most, if not all that sizzle in AoC's pre-release hype -- tons of broken promises and when they did deliver the game there was very little steak -- AoC went live with a Closed Beta product, which even today, in it's third month after the game went live, we still have not seen a release quality product.

Mr. Erling tell Ms. Koh that AoC "probably has the largest live team around at this time as the entire team is still working on the game"... I said "*HELL YOU'D BETTER BE!  THE GAME IS STILL BETA QUALITY!*" ... but then later on in the article, they tell Ms. Koh they are breaking some people away from AoC to work on the Expansion -- Expansion?!!?  Focus on the beta game you have now please -- get it to release quality ASAP, and only then pull people out ok? LOL!

I'll give FunCom credit for one thing these guys mentioned -- bravo to FunCom on tghe CSAs -- Customer Service has improved tremendously and are closing the gap/almost up to par with Turbine. 

 

All thta Liz said, but also... add some frikin content!

What EQ2 achieved in the same technical space at time of release made this game just embarrasing.

AoC is a case study of style over substance. Avoid at all costs.

i'd rather get a lump of coal

This thread is 99% negative. While I agree with many points, I find most are overstated. If there are 700k people still playing, most likely less by now, they must be trying to enjoy the game. For some, it's something to do until Fall when more games are released.

“Players constantly surprise us,” said Rick.  “We found that they were doing things in their 40s that we didn't expect them to tackle until their 50s, hence we have a need to concentrate development in the 55 – 60 content right now.”

Haha, wtf is he thinking? You can level from 1-80 in 2 weeks! Oh and don't say funcom have those promises and will fix things soon, they develop this game for 5 years and is still POS beta broken game.

Originally posted by Brynn

This thread is 99% negative. While I agree with many points, I find most are overstated. If there are 700k people still playing, most likely less by now, they must be trying to enjoy the game. For some, it's something to do until Fall when more games are released.

Where do you get the idea that they have 700K still playing?  They've only ever announced that 700K copies activated their accounts.  Funcom has never released any figures about how many players continued their subscription past the first free month.  Nor have they stated how many people canceled before this week's billing (like I did).

My guild is the largest and most active on our server.  We were the first to put up a battlekeep.  We're progressing well through the raid content.  Yet less than 50% of the member count has logged into the game in the last seven days.  Xfire statistics also show about a 50% drop in player activity since the game launched.

Yes, 700K copies were sold.  But that does not equal 700K current subscribers.  350K is a more reasonable figure, which is still a good number.  Only six years ago, anything over 100K was considered a "hit" game.  But AoC has already seen its best days.  They have a long road ahead of them with tons of fixes and new content to put out before they're going to have even a chance of winning old players back or new subscribers over.   Given that there are several major releases coming up in the next few months from other companies (Wrath of the Lich King, Stargate Worlds, Warhammer, etc.), it's very unlikely that AoC will ever see that 700K mark again. 

Their marketing wizards are most likely going to continue to spout "copies sold" numbers and spin that as continued growth of the game.  Don't be fooled.  As I said, "copies sold" is always larger than "current subscribers".  It's the latter figure that really matters; if the figure is growing, the game is doing well.  If the figure is shrinking, the game is hurting.  For AoC, the figure is currently shrinking.

And by the way... if a thread about the state of the game is "99% negative" as you say on a forum that is not in any way affiliated with Funcom, doesn't that tell you something about the way that the general public views the game?  For that matter, look at AoC's ratings here at MMORPG.com.  They start out shining, but have steadily declined since the game launched.  Now they are every bit as negative as this thread.

Yes, some people still love the game.  Others see its potential and hope it'll be reached.  Others (like me) see its potential, but doubt it'll ever be realized thanks to the holes that Funcom has dug for itself by foisting a beta off on the paying public.  And yes, some hate the game.  Most really wanted to like it, but found themselves disenchanted for one reason or other.

Did you notice I said IF, and MOST LIKELY LESS BY NOW.  I have no idea how many are playing now.

Also, I said much was overstated, perhaps with good reason for the indiviuals who were disappointed.  I see the game as enjoyable to a certain extent, perhaps it will even improve to the point of being an enjoyable game overall. There are  some good plans. I just see no reason to be 100% negative. I do agree Conan was released before finished. We in the beta told them so.

Btw, I'm on the Testserver now.