I think most people can agree that the subscriber numbers are low, now if they are 50k or 200k doesnt really matter as for a game that uses the hugely famous IP of Conan it is rather bad specially considering that they have steadily lost numbers since release. Most successful MMORPGs actually either gained or kept the sub. numbers steady from an initial high (look at the estimates of how sub numbers of Lotr, WoW, Eve, EQ, Lineage etc have developed over time at http://www.mmogchart.com)

Regardless, I think the question one needs to ask is why the game has been such a disaster and what, if anything, can be done?

I for one believe the reasons are the following:

1. Terrible launch with missing features (meaningful PvP mainly but also DX 10) and many game breaking bugs and exploits.

2. Insanely fast leveling with little or no end content.

3. Instancing. Many people I talked to said the game was so instanced that it didnt feel like an MMORPG. This coupled with the fact that the server numbers are getting increasingly lower makes the game feel like a single player game. Thats the impression I got as well for the limited time I spent in the game.

4. Funcoms inability to use the Conan IP to promote the game. Ive seen several ads for the game and none of them has showed Conan. Instead they have used some unknown female fighter that is, from what I can tell, not from the Conan IP. If they atleast used Red Sonja they could maybe get away with it but this? Dumb misstake.

So what can they do? Im a big Conan fan and really wanted this game to be succesful but can it ever be?

Maybe if they fix the game breaking bugs and exploits, wipe the servers, introduce some meaningful PvP, significantly decrease the leveling pace and add some more content. Also I think it is crucial to reduce the instancing in this game by allowing more people in each instance but this may be impossible with their technology.

What do you guys think. Can AoC ever be succesful?
 

Originally posted by Yamota

I think most people can agree that the subscriber numbers are low, now if they are 50k or 200k doesnt really matter as for a game that uses the hugely famous IP of Conan it is rather bad specially considering that they have steadily lost numbers since release. Most successful MMORPGs actually either gained or kept the sub. numbers steady from an initial high (look at the estimates of how sub numbers of Lotr, WoW, Eve, EQ, Lineage etc have developed over time at http://www.mmogchart.com)

Regardless, I think the question one needs to ask is why the game has been such a disaster and what, if anything, can be done?

I for one believe the reasons are the following:

1. Terrible launch with missing features (meaningful PvP mainly but also DX 10) and many game breaking bugs and exploits.

2. Insanely fast leveling with little or no end content.

3. Instancing. Many people I talked to said the game was so instanced that it didnt feel like an MMORPG. This coupled with the fact that the server numbers are getting increasingly lower makes the game feel like a single player game. Thats the impression I got as well for the limited time I spent in the game.

4. Funcoms inability to use the Conan IP to promote the game. Ive seen several ads for the game and none of them has showed Conan. Instead they have used some unknown female fighter that is, from what I can tell, not from the Conan IP. If they atleast used Red Sonja they could maybe get away with it but this? Dumb misstake.

So what can they do? Im a big Conan fan and really wanted this game to be succesful but can it ever be?

Maybe if they fix the game breaking bugs and exploits, wipe the servers, introduce some meaningful PvP, significantly decrease the leveling pace and add some more content. Also I think it is crucial to reduce the instancing in this game by allowing more people in each instance but this may be impossible with their technology.

What do you guys think. Can AoC ever be succesful?
 

While I think the new GD was a good move, I really feel like this game needs a 'back to the drawing board' approach.  They need to enlarge the travelable areas within each zone, remove any all world instancing and link the zones via land bridges not warp npcs or zone gates. I mean nothing pulls you out of the game faster than zones or warp npcs.  Well other than the fact that someone in the OOC channel in your zone is actually in another ' instance ' .

I think that those would most appropriately describe why you feel, IN YOUR OPINION, the game was a failure.

All of those things are opinion except the missing features part. Other than that...what you said was personal opinion.

Clearly the problem is one of corporate think. Everything you've described was the result of corporate think.

Instead of being inspired to make a great game that would make them money, they were inspired to make a lot of money by making a great game. Those two ideas may sound like they'd end up with the same result but truly all the mistakes we've seen FC make were driven by the desire to make money over the desire to make a great game. The early release. The hype. The lies. Even things like the the instancing were driven with thoughts of how many players could they get into the game, would it work on xbox360. 

Make a great game, because you're inspired to make a great game, you'll make money. Try to make a great game because you're inspired to make money and you'll have problems.

Originally posted by Jackthecat

I think that those would most appropriately describe why you feel, IN YOUR OPINION, the game was a failure.

 

All of those things are opinion except the missing features part. Other than that...what you said was personal opinion.

I think there are at least 700k + people that share his OPINION which doesnt speak well for your retort.

The reasons for failure IMO are:

1. Terrible combat system - Hitting a hotkey and then 3-5 directional arrows goes beyond simply being tedious in that it limits options and thought in combat and turns combat into follow the arrows. The combat system lacks options. While one waits 10 seconds to finish a combo one could do so many other things as one does in MMOs with more complex combat. It is a simplistic system made for those that want to play games without thinking. It works well in levels 1-20 and solo. But the combat system shows its flaws in grouping and raiding. Its a system that does not function well in groups and raids. If they could admit their flaws they could simply let people macro out the directional attacks and increase the combos speed up the ones that take 3-5 directional keys and suddenly there would be time to do a lot more in combat. But even with drastic changes like I have suggested it will never be able to compete with games with more complex combat systems.

2. Dishonesty and Greed - More than the lack of content Funcom's dishonesty and greed has killed this game. People will forgive poor and missing content but they cannot forgive greed and lies. Limiting open beta to level 13, hiding the lack of content, lying about the state of the game, paying people like Avery spread their lies and propaganda on message boards like this and hyping the game to maximize short term sales left a very bad taste in players minds.

3. Bad reputation - Games can recover from bad reps. But what Funcom did here was similar in terms of its rep as to what SOE did in NGE. Gamers may forget but it will be a long time. AoC and Funcom are saddled with their rep. They recieved a ton of income selling close to a million boxes but they have effectively killed any long term future this game may have had.

4. Community - Hands down the worst community to ever play a MMO. Bty appealing to peoples worst instincts and marketing the game on sex, nudity, gore and decapitations they targeted the 15-25 year old kiddie audience which converged on AoC as their savior. The problem is this audience quickly drives off other players and they have no patience or attention span and they quickly leave themselves for the next new thing.

5. Easy Mode - This game was made for the simplistic 15-25 year old ADD kiddie audience. To do this the game was made simple with no depth, skill or work needed. Just lots of flash and eye candy but no substance. This game made WoW look super hard, complex and diificult.

6. The game should be free to play - Essentially AoC is a simplistic single player game with some MMO aspects. I cannot see why someone would play AoC over a good singleplayer game. It does not have the content or depth to justify a fee. It would simply be better to play a singleplayer game with some MMO aspects and no monthly fee. Even a game like Guild Wars not only has more content but much better design.

Most of all what has essentially killed and doomed AoC is its dishonesty, greed and now awful reputation. Without the lies motivated by greed this game would still have a future and people would be willing to give it chance. Now AoC and Funcom are universally hated. Even the biggest AoC fanboy would have a hard time arguing that this game will be able to retain more than 1 in 10 people that play it longer than a month or two.

Its a shame as AoC is not a bad game for what it is a simple game for people who do not want to think while playing a MMO.

The problem is that AoC's content requires DirectX10, and you must have a Vista-capable PC in order to have DirectX10+. For those who only have DirectX9, such as XP users, and wish to play AoC requires your XP PC to be modified with additional memory so it would have Vista installed, with DirectX10+ and you can play AoC without any problems.

Those are ALL just symptoms.The disease causing MMOs to fail so bad is inept dev teams.

We can only hope that Gaute truly did move out of the industry, and further that more of the current devs will follow suit.

Originally posted by SailorCallie

The problem is that AoC's content requires DirectX10, and you must have a Vista-capable PC in order to have DirectX10+. For those who only have DirectX9, such as XP users, and wish to play AoC requires your XP PC to be modified with additional memory so it would have Vista installed, with DirectX10+ and you can play AoC without any problems.

This game doesn't require DirectX10.

Originally posted by lumache

Originally posted by Jackthecat

I think that those would most appropriately describe why you feel, IN YOUR OPINION, the game was a failure.

 

All of those things are opinion except the missing features part. Other than that...what you said was personal opinion.

 

I think there are at least 700k + people that share his OPINION which doesnt speak well for your retort.

there are still 100k + people that say this game didn't fail. Opinion is opinion is opinion. The game isn't dead yet. When it shuts down because of lack of players...then it has failed.

Originally posted by Jackthecat

Originally posted by lumache

Originally posted by Jackthecat

I think that those would most appropriately describe why you feel, IN YOUR OPINION, the game was a failure.

 

All of those things are opinion except the missing features part. Other than that...what you said was personal opinion.

 

I think there are at least 700k + people that share his OPINION which doesnt speak well for your retort.

 

there are still 100k + people that say this game didn't fail. Opinion is opinion is opinion. The game isn't dead yet. When it shuts down because of lack of players...then it has failed.

Will you be here to admit it when that happens? I consider failure to be 100k from 800k after only four real months up.  56 million and 5 years later this is what they managed to accomplish? Guate or what his name is had to leave the entire industry to boot, but if you are going to cling to 100k Ill throw ya that bone!

 I actually loved AoC. The combat system was cool.

 What killed it for me was the lag and the sieges. And the linear type of play. No real exploring away from designated travel areas.

 Other than that, I loved it. I don't know if they can fix that or even if they want to. If they did, I'd be back in a heartbeat.

Originally posted by Decadentia

Originally posted by SailorCallie

The problem is that AoC's content requires DirectX10, and you must have a Vista-capable PC in order to have DirectX10+. For those who only have DirectX9, such as XP users, and wish to play AoC requires your XP PC to be modified with additional memory so it would have Vista installed, with DirectX10+ and you can play AoC without any problems.

 

This game doesn't require DirectX10.

And it plays just fine on XP32 with DX9, Vista not needed.

Just play WoW and you know why AoC failed. When you release a game in 2008, expect it to have great dynamic both character wise and world wise.

The only thing I really loved about AoC was the music. Most other elements was felt sticky and static. This is why I think I got boored of the game.

If that was not enough, the customer support was worse than the worst rat hole you could get into. Lies lies and more lies and even more lies. They are even using random unprofessional GM's that does not even work for Funcom. This is just the red thread you see go through the company Funcom is. The management is really weird.

To be sucessful in making a MMORPG's these days, you have to know what makes people get addicted to the game. And for me it is not enought for the game graphics to look good, it have to be dynamically integrated with the gameplay aswell.

Originally posted by S1GNAL

Just play WoW and you know why AoC failed. When you release a game in 2008, expect it to have great dynamic both character wise and world wise.

The only thing I really loved about AoC was the music. Most other elements was felt sticky and static. This is why I think I got boored of the game.

If that was not enough, the customer support was worse than the worst rat hole you could get into. Lies lies and more lies and even more lies. They are even using random unprofessional GM's that does not even work for Funcom. This is just the red thread you see go through the company Funcom is. The management is really weird.

To be sucessful in making a MMORPG's these days, you have to know what makes people get addicted to the game. And for me it is not enought for the game graphics to look good, it have to be dynamically integrated with the gameplay aswell.

 

 

Realitycheck. You sound pretty much like this guy before knowing what's going on.

forums.ageofconan.com/showthread.php

This game has a serious lack of end game content, and what it does have has bugged timers, bugged boss battles, and the rewards arent even worth it.

And if someone is about to say 'You have no idea what you're talking about'. Yes, I do. I played it from May 20th until August 20th, and I have a level 80 Priest of Mitra. Once I hit 80, I was pretty much bored and didnt log on much.

I just can't understand how after 5 years, and a closed beta, some of these bugs can possibly even exist. I mean, I understand these games are complicated, but for the love of god, the amount of bugs in this game are just phenomenal. It's like every single time I went to do something that seemed like it might be fun, it had some bug stopping me from doing it. And they were usually introduced in patches.

Honestly, I think the reason it failed, and most people cancelled, are the lies we were fed, and the lack of content. The lies probably would have been forgiveable if there was anything to do in end game, but there isn't. So, it's like, hey, I log on, and theres all these annoying bugs, on top of the fact that theres nothing to do. So, despite the fact this game has massive potential, there really isn't any value out of giving them 15 dollars, especially when they had 5 years and a closed beta to make this game not suck.

Originally posted by Bodeus

LOL, "I just spoke to Erling" lol.

On a serious note I would come back to AoC if- They get rid of the bugs, further improve performance, add more pvp content in the form of guild controllable objects (pvp towers, forts w/e), they reworked the way lag and side straffing effected pvp fights, they made it possible to walk from one end of the world to another with out talking to an NPC (this is possibly my biggest gripe with this game) via bridging zones, additional zones, the remove all instancing and add 2 new zone for every ten levels starting at 30 that are at least 2x as big the current zones. Oh yeah and they need to double their tech support teams size and increase there response time.

They game was cool, at least as far as themepark mmos go, but it had alot of issues that made the game hard for me to enjoy, if they fixed them I would play it at least until Dark fall or earthrise came out.

ROFL!!! Very Funny

They released the game 6 months too early

They upped the graphics too much which caused a lot of technical issues and really limited their potential player base.  It also caused them to have to do the whole 'instance' thing which ruined immersion.

But really, it was just rushed from every standpoint.  The client wasn't stable enough and endgame content wasn't working (or present).

Here are some things why I think AoC failed. Now I played the first 3 months so Im sure some of these things have been fixed but for the most part this is my opinion.

Stats didnt work.

banning people with too much gold a week in with no proof of exploiting.

voice overs were only in at lvls 1-20

some pieces of armor had better stats at 20 than they did at 70.

gear...all gear looks pretty much the same.

many buged quests

nerfs, nerfs, and more nerfs. They even nerfed mounts!

class imbalance.

cities broken

poor crafting

very poor customer service.

banning or suspending accounts with legitimate questions on the forums (me included).

not enough quests

no quests between 50-60

horrible pvp system

awfull combat system

lies and deciept to its paying customers about an unfinished product.

end game dungeons lacking skill (all tank and spank) to complete with no real difference in gear compared to gear being able to be looted outside of dungeons.

NO END GAME CONTENT.

Im sure I missed a few but here a few things right off the top of my head why I think people quit in droves and why the game will most likely be shut down sometime in the next year.

First, performance.  Hard to get beyond that.  Don't underestimate how discouraging 7 fps can be in a major city.  There were some posts in the tech forums that went over 1000 posts.  The problem was widespread, especially for ati users.

Second, flawed game design.  People like good loot, but crap drops and stats were broken or so insignificant they did not matter.  Then there was the instancing.  Zoning with load screen is bad enough, but instancing is bad, very bad. I was in one instance that had 23 copies. 

After that, incomplete launch and very buggy.  A lack of customer support, disrepectful, dismissive and eerily silent customer service.  GM's that cyber with players.  Spin doctors telling us everything is rosey. 

game for me and wife duoing diff char combos was:

* Great graphics

* Very lonely, we seldom saw other players, hard to find groups.

* Not groupfriendly, many quests only one person could loot and so on, had to do it over and over til all got their stuff

* Poor assistance with problems, they tried usually but most common answer: We are aware of the problem.

Sad but true, was fun tho

Originally posted by Kerebo

game for me and wife duoing diff char combos was:

 

* Great graphics

* Very lonely, we seldom saw other players, hard to find groups.

* Not groupfriendly, many quests only one person could loot and so on, had to do it over and over til all got their stuff

* Poor assistance with problems, they tried usually but most common answer: We are aware of the problem.

 

Sad but true, was fun tho

Point 1 - I agree

Point 2 - Mostly due with the foundation of the game being mostly Instanced.

Point 3 - Largely due to heavily Instanced game with poorly thought out quest mechanics.

Point 4 - Poorly trained Customer Assistance.

Alright well the number one reason, in my eyes at least........

Was the fact that whatever little community there was,

had been extremely immature,

or just all around bad.