Originally posted by openedge1

 

 

Well, I really didn't want to add the last part to be nice. But, since you insist.

AoC will survive without YOU.

Really, the complaints you have lodged here have been laughable. The game changes, and because you do not understand those changes or cannot comprehend, you decide to deride the game. But, all it is doing is making you look silly here...and everyone can see that as well. This is just another wasteful campaign.

I explained why you are having issues, but you are here complaining instead of trying the fixes I described. Your "visual" issue is 100% client side, as I stated. I do not have this problem, so if it IS server side, would I not see the same thing, or the many others who also have posted here?

The final piece in this nail coffin deal is you also make this claim with no proof to back it up. As I said at the beginning, its laughable.

So, I will say it once more for you. AoC will SURVIVE...without you, just as it has every other time you predicted it would fail

Now, if you are done, thanks for playing the forum game!

you know I don't have the faintest idea what you are ranting about here? I mentioned that it does not appear as if the death penalty is working as intended and you go off on a tirade.

As far as a forum game I have not played baseball since college yet I still visit baseball forums and my old alma matter's website as well. MMORPGs are a hobby and this game has been a real soap opera and I am curious as heck to see what the next episode brings.

I did not say anything aboutr a final nail in the coffin, what I was refering to was the server merge, then free trial, now vet retry campaigns to try and get the population up. Only other thing I think they have left would be a expansion, or maybe make it free to play with micro transactions perhaps.

Leaving because it isn't your bag is fine but trying to tout LotRo as the more "hardcore" of the two on your way out is laughable.

They are both great games and both aimed squarely at the casual market. The DP in Lotro doesn't make anyone think twice about "risk vs reward" (and it can be removed).

None of the "WoW" era games have any significant DP. Vanguard attempted an EQ1 type DP system but you couldn't hear the game for the sound of the whining from the "casuals" so it was changed into a fluffy cuddle fest.

Just enjoy whatever it is you are playing and don't worry about what everyone else is doing :)

S

Originally posted by Sharkypal

Leaving because it isn't your bag is fine but trying to tout LotRo as the more "hardcore" of the two on your way out is laughable.

 

I really think it is a bug Sharkey, I know you guys don't want to admit that a bug could ever exist in AoC but seriously I have never played a MMO where I could run straight back into battle with three stacked death penalties and not see the slightest effect. I also know that in the last time I played in February  I would not been able to do that in AoC.

But if the fanboys want to insist that it is the new design then fine, but if it is the game has just entered serious easy mode. Myself I would not want to admit that Flyff was more hardcore than my game of choice but what the heck

Originally posted by Jackdog

Originally posted by Sharkypal

Leaving because it isn't your bag is fine but trying to tout LotRo as the more "hardcore" of the two on your way out is laughable.

 

I really think it is a bug Sharkey, I know you guys don't want to admit that a bug could ever exist in AoC but seriously I have never played a MMO where I could run straight back into battle with three stacked death penalties and not see the slightest effect. I also know that in the last time I played in February  I would not been able to do that in AoC.

But if the fanboys want to insist that it is the new design then fine, but if it is the game has just entered serious easy mode. Myself I would not want to admit that Flyff was more hardcore than my game of choice but what the heck

It does sound like a bug mate.

Originally posted by Jackdog

Originally posted by Sharkypal

Leaving because it isn't your bag is fine but trying to tout LotRo as the more "hardcore" of the two on your way out is laughable.

 

I really think it is a bug Sharkey, I know you guys don't want to admit that a bug could ever exist in AoC but seriously I have never played a MMO where I could run straight back into battle with three stacked death penalties and not see the slightest effect. I also know that in the last time I played in February  I would not been able to do that in AoC.

But if the fanboys want to insist that it is the new design then fine, but if it is the game has just entered serious easy mode. Myself I would not want to admit that Flyff was more hardcore than my game of choice but what the heck

I will agree with you on this Jackdog. There does need to be a reason not to zerg something (not that I know anything about that *whistles innocently*). I personally believe that the current situation is a bug. I will report it later this evening.

I'd simply like to point out that anyone who believes that LOTRO has any real death penalty is a complete flaming loon. I used to off myself in the Trollshaws so I could get free rides around the zone, namely to Rivendell.

AOC's death penalty may be bugged, but so far, I haven't bothered to kill myself so I can teleport around a poorly designed zone (COUGH TROLLSHAWS COUGH). At least AOCs death penalty is irrelant by bug, not design.

This thread just strikes me as complaining for the sake of complaining. No rational LOTRO fan (such as myself) can just turn around and bash AOC for it's lackluster death penalty when LOTRO is guilty of the exact same thing.

Originally posted by Vagrant_Zero

I'd simply like to point out that anyone who believes that LOTRO has any real death penalty is a complete flaming loon. I used to off myself in the Trollshaws so I could get free rides around the zone, namely to Rivendell.

AOC's death penalty may be bugged, but so far, I haven't bothered to kill myself so I can teleport around a poorly designed zone (COUGH TROLLSHAWS COUGH). At least AOCs death penalty is irrelant by bug, not design.

This thread just strikes me as complaining for the sake of complaining. No rational LOTRO fan (such as myself) can just turn around and bash AOC for it's lackluster death penalty when LOTRO is guilty of the exact same thing.

AoC ( when working) 1% stat hit which stacks  can be negated by tagging tombstone or a 30 minute cool down

LoTRO 15 % morale (health) reduction plus 10% reduction on incoming healing for ten minutes which can only be negated by a minstrel skill ( that skill has a 30 minute cool down and cannot be cast on self) plus damage to your armor and items in your pack. Repair bills for equipment are in proportion to the level and quality of the items.These also stack.

Neither one is overly harsh compared to the old school games but it is pretty obvious which has the lightest

but who cares really as long as you enjoy your AoC it really does not matter now does it

Anyway with FC's record on fixing things you will probably be able to just do zerg runs for a couple of weeks, enjoy the bonus

Originally posted by Jackdog

Originally posted by Vagrant_Zero

I'd simply like to point out that anyone who believes that LOTRO has any real death penalty is a complete flaming loon. I used to off myself in the Trollshaws so I could get free rides around the zone, namely to Rivendell.

AOC's death penalty may be bugged, but so far, I haven't bothered to kill myself so I can teleport around a poorly designed zone (COUGH TROLLSHAWS COUGH). At least AOCs death penalty is irrelant by bug, not design.

This thread just strikes me as complaining for the sake of complaining. No rational LOTRO fan (such as myself) can just turn around and bash AOC for it's lackluster death penalty when LOTRO is guilty of the exact same thing.

AoC ( when working) 1% stat hit which stacks  can be negated by tagging tombstone or a 30 minute cool down

LoTRO 15 % morale (health) reduction plus 10% reduction on incoming healing for ten minutes which can only be negated by a minstrel skill which has a 30 minute cool down plus damage to your armor and items in your pack. Repair bills for equipment are in proportion to the level and quality of the items.These also stack.

pretty obvious which has the lightest in my opinion

but who cares really as long as you enjoy your AoC it really does not matter now does it

You also have to take in to account, PVP. AOC follows the new formula of allowing instant re-entry into PVP. Aside from a few seconds of resting of course. Which some games don't even hamper you with that (instanly re-healed) .

Also, yes, it does matter actually, these are finer points of game-play you're talking about. Which is exactly what others want to know about. I see nothing wrong with pointing out what you find frustrating, or even unacceptable. The deeper I'm looking into AOC the more flaws I'm seeing especially in the area of the core classes. As you can see in another thread farther down I pointed out my frustration with necros. The nerfs ranger has received since launch are another gripe I have. I feel HOX is a tad OP'd as well, I must not be alone in this as they also are the current FOTM.

Anyway now that I strayed a little far off topic I'll stop there. I do see the reason behind the shallow penalties in the game, I miss full wounds (black barred) item decay and corpse runs to an extent though. It really boils down to the majority rule though, the casual crowd wants instant action and little down time. Devs are catering to them and abandoning old school mechanics. What more can you do but play or move along if you can't accept that? I wonder sometimes whether I can, however I do have fun pvping in an 'MMO". There's a big difference between that and fps's, however fps's are built for it, these games really aren't. And it's showing these days, maybe long ago it was just that MMO's were new and unique to an extent. Now that that's worn off, so has the rose tinting I've had over my eyes I believe.

Originally posted by Malickie

Originally posted by Jackdog

Originally posted by Vagrant_Zero

I'd simply like to point out that anyone who believes that LOTRO has any real death penalty is a complete flaming loon. I used to off myself in the Trollshaws so I could get free rides around the zone, namely to Rivendell.

AOC's death penalty may be bugged, but so far, I haven't bothered to kill myself so I can teleport around a poorly designed zone (COUGH TROLLSHAWS COUGH). At least AOCs death penalty is irrelant by bug, not design.

This thread just strikes me as complaining for the sake of complaining. No rational LOTRO fan (such as myself) can just turn around and bash AOC for it's lackluster death penalty when LOTRO is guilty of the exact same thing.

AoC ( when working) 1% stat hit which stacks  can be negated by tagging tombstone or a 30 minute cool down

LoTRO 15 % morale (health) reduction plus 10% reduction on incoming healing for ten minutes which can only be negated by a minstrel skill which has a 30 minute cool down plus damage to your armor and items in your pack. Repair bills for equipment are in proportion to the level and quality of the items.These also stack.

pretty obvious which has the lightest in my opinion

but who cares really as long as you enjoy your AoC it really does not matter now does it

 

You also have to take in to account, PVP. AOC follows the new formula of allowing instant re-entry into PVP. Aside from a few seconds of resting of course. Which some games don't even hamper you with that (instanly re-healed) .

Also, yes, it does matter actually, these are finer points of game-play you're talking about. Which is exactly what others want to know about. I see nothing wrong with pointing out what you find frustrating, or even unacceptable. The deeper I'm looking into AOC the more flaws I'm seeing especially in the area of the core classes. As you can see in another thread farther down I pointed out my frustration with necros. The nerfs ranger has received since launch are another gripe I have. I feel HOX is a tad OP'd as well, I must not be alone in this as they also are the current FOTM.

Anyway now that I strayed a little far off topic I'll stop there. I do see the reason behind the shallow penalties in the game, I miss full wounds (black barred) item decay and corpse runs to an extent though. It really boils down to the majority rule though, the casual crowd wants instant action and little down time. Devs are catering to them and abandoning old school mechanics. What more can you do but play or move along if you can't accept that? I wonder sometimes whether I can, however I do have fun pvping in an 'MMO". There's a big difference between that and fps's, however fps's are built for it, these games really aren't. And it's showing these days, maybe long ago it was just that MMO's were new and unique to an extent. Now that that's worn off, so has the rose tinting I've had over my eyes I believe.

I will never ever play a game where I have to do a corpse run....period end of subject.

By the way for the fanbois I never had a problem with AoC's death penalty when it worked so chill a bit. It was only when it went away that I had a problem.

On the PvP that's a good point.  In LoTRO I am pretty sure there is no DP at all in the MPvP. I am not much on the PvP in any MMORPG including LoTRO but I did mess around there a bit an don't remember there being one.

I still don't really think it matters though as long as you enjoy your game of choice then have fun playing it till it no longer becomes fun

My only question is how did you die more than once in the easiest MMO ever made? Aside from suicide there is not another way.

PvP? You can change instances? PvE, the game was  set on easy mode by default, all the harde cores left so NPCs that you can't kill easily would drive away the casuals.

Your findings are probably correct but to the games credit they made it damn hard to die and don't want to penalize anyone for it. I used to travel by suiciding and rezing wherever I wished.

Originally posted by finaticd

My only question is how did you die more than once in the easiest MMO ever made? Aside from suicide there is not another way.

PvP? You can change instances? PvE, the game was  set on easy mode by default, all the harde cores left so NPCs that you can't kill easily would drive away the casuals.

Your findings are probably correct but to the games credit they made it damn hard to die and don't want to penalize anyone for it. I used to travel by suiciding and rezing wherever I wished.

All you have to do to die a few times is leave a dot on someone and rez near a guard, if that person has no criminal status you will be insta-killed until the dot has worn off, you also don't receive the debuff when you're killed by a player. Play much when you were playing your trial :)? Besides how do you change instances when there are none, because even tyranny doesn't have them in the 40+ zones nor tortage. There aren't enough players usually for a new instance to pop up. I'm wondering if you played at all haha.

Originally posted by IKShadow

And yes AoC will survive but on how many subs dunno but we all know once Funcom make something they are willing to run it for years like AO that is considered success with 20K subs so go figure.

I dont mind if AoC have 20K subs just make sure that in that case you have only 2 server and each have 10K of players.

Could care less if any of MMO Iam playing have 50K or 50m players all i need to have is populated server so its not the ghost town ( and aoc had quite few of those before the merges )

AoC will survive for years to come with low subscriber numbers, the difference we the players will see is that the team creating content will be smaller and smaller to match the income it makes. The game will get less content added to it, but as long as there are servers that are active and a community that is active people will still have fun with the game. :)

Lol, interesting that all of a sudden AoC has sunk so low that 10k subscribers are considered a success for the game. Remember the pre-launch hype? "Alternative to WoW"? "The next WoW killer"? So now the conformist fanboys are suddenly satisfied if Funcom not only tries to copy the game according to Blizz's schemata, but also if the playerbase gets reduced to a bare minimum. Yeah, sure, 10k is enough, just don't be surprised if the beloved sieges won't be fixed till the days of Apocalypse.

And to the OP - the death penalty in AoC is a joke, just like it is in all theme-park MMOs. In Lotro you at least have to be really careful not to keep dying because of the astronomical repair bills.

Originally posted by Krewel

Lol, interesting that all of a sudden AoC has sunk so low that 10k subscribers are considered a success for the game. Remember the pre-launch hype? "Alternative to WoW"? "The next WoW killer"? So now the conformist fanboys are suddenly satisfied if Funcom not only tries to copy the game according to Blizz's schemata, but also if the playerbase gets reduced to a bare minimum. Yeah, sure, 10k is enough, just don't be surprised if the beloved sieges won't be fixed till the days of Apocalypse.

 

And to the OP - the death penalty in AoC is a joke, just like it is in all theme-park MMOs. In Lotro you at least have to be really careful not to keep dying because of the astronomical repair bills.

Who has said that AoC is a success with 10k players?

Originally posted by Krewel

Lol, interesting that all of a sudden AoC has sunk so low that 10k subscribers are considered a success for the game. Remember the pre-launch hype? "Alternative to WoW"? "The next WoW killer"? So now the conformist fanboys are suddenly satisfied if Funcom not only tries to copy the game according to Blizz's schemata, but also if the playerbase gets reduced to a bare minimum. Yeah, sure, 10k is enough, just don't be surprised if the beloved sieges won't be fixed till the days of Apocalypse.

 

And to the OP - the death penalty in AoC is a joke, just like it is in all theme-park MMOs. In Lotro you at least have to be really careful not to keep dying because of the astronomical repair bills.

exaggerate much Krewel?

Just did a repair after 1 death on my level 28 Hunter in LoTRO who has a mix of quest drop and crafted equipment. The repair bill was 21 silver. He has a little over 2 gold left ( 2000 + silver) Hardly astronomical but enough to where it would add up if you play really stupid. 100 deaths would bankrupt my hunter right now for example.

Like others have pointed out in this thread, overly harsh death penalties such as naked corpse runs went the way of the dinosaur long ago due to players not willing to put up with that stupid shit. AoC's ( when not bugged) and LoTROs are just enough to give the player a good slap on the wrist and say "don't do that stupid"

I would prefer death have more bite, it would create more of a sence of adventure and danger IMO but. is this guy for real, he spends a huge amount of time to complain about a AoCs death penalty while touting the DP in a game where death is used as a way to get around the map, the debuff in LotRO is so minimal you can go right back and kill the mob that killed you 90% of the time and the coin loss is nothing.

Originally posted by waveslayer

I would prefer death have more bite, it would create more of a sence of adventure and danger IMO but. is this guy for real, he spends a huge amount of time to complain about a AoCs death penalty while touting the DP in a game where death is used as a way to get around the map, the debuff in LotRO is so minimal you can go right back and kill the mob that killed you 90% of the time and the coin loss is nothing.

 

no you have it backwards here in AoC coin loss is nothing, literally nothing...zero ...nada... none, in LoTRO it is minor

also as I pointed out LoTRO -15% health, - 10% incoming healing per death... AoC when it is working of course = 1% stat loss.. do the math

by the way I dunno who in their right mind would use death to traverl in LoTRO, using the horses routes, horses, maps to your bind city, map to your kinship house, map to your personal house, and map to your racial homeland is much much cheaper

pretty obvious you have never played LoTRO at all

Originally posted by Krewel

Lol, interesting that all of a sudden AoC has sunk so low that 10k subscribers are considered a success for the game. Remember the pre-launch hype? "Alternative to WoW"? "The next WoW killer"? So now the conformist fanboys are suddenly satisfied if Funcom not only tries to copy the game according to Blizz's schemata,

Heh Krewel the problem is guys like you aka people that really got bored with WoW started "the next WoW killer" thingy :)
And after they figure out hey but this is nothing like WoW they said fuck it and when back to WoW and ofc to forums to flame how bad AoC is :)

I can still remember days when you bash the WoW ( and me :P couse we were just PvPing and not doing the content .. for those who did not know Krewel is my friend and guild mate and I really like him and I also like to argue with him  ) and praised AoC.
But you got bored and went back to WoW and started to bash AoC :)

Personally I was never WoW fan and I started to play it at 2004 and was stickign with it for around 3 months and started it again in 2007 and got bored with it after less then 2 months.

The WoW was ok as a game but it just did not apeal to me.
I also really liked  LOTRO but no real PvP killed it for me  -> I consider PvE = work and PvP = fun :) .. but iam weired in that regard anyway.

Thank god there is not that much content in AoC so people have more time to do PvP :)

Hey IK

Well, pvp in AoC gets old really quickly and fortunately devs know that and will try to make it more meaningful in 1.6 with the expansion of the border kingdoms. But currently it's just Khesh zerging and farming pvp xp for days on end, which is not fun at all for many people. And how many in Futilez have pvp level 5? That's right, a small minority. Why? Because grinding players for 3+ months deters the majority of people. There is no such grind in WoW for pvp, which may come as a surprise. Seriously, Blizzard recognized that graveyard camping for pvp xp (honor) is seriously wrong and removed such a system 4 years ago (ranking nonsense).

You say pvp is fun? Well, are you level 5 yet? Do you know how much time Ballsofsteel had to spend to get to level 5? And with 1.5 even pvp becomes a job, since you sort of need the gear to actually beat a players wearing lvl 5 stuff. So, enjoy hunting criminals for 3+ months...

And massive pvp? Well, one year and sieges are broken and FC won't even recognize the problem. Why bother? I'm having tons of fun in Wintergrasp which can consist of 200 people bashing each other for a fortress/keep that actually gives you something in return. Of course, there is a lagfest in WG, but we're talking 200-300 people here, AoC sieges consist of 96 people max.

I'm sorry, but at the moment AoC pvp is primitive, to say the least. PvP XP is a lame, boring and unoriginal system which was probably created in a week, but hyped to eternity for years.

Lol your quite wrong Jack ole boy, I have played LotRO for many hours and yes I and many others have used death to get places faster, just becuase you have a hard time making coin dosnt mean others are, but all in all I do agree that AoCs as well as any other major MMoRPG since warcraft has had to light a death penalty. Old school EQ, complete with naked corpse runs and level loss is where I came from, and some of the best gaming times in my memory happened during thoughs naked corpse runs.

Originally posted by waveslayer

Lol your quite wrong Jack ole boy, I have played LotRO for many hours and yes I and many others have used death to get places faster, just becuase you have a hard time making coin dosnt mean others are

who said anything about having trouble making coin, I just said it was a stupid thing to do considering it only takes you to the nearest rez pad which always is just a few seconds from wherever you are fighting. In fact depending on where you are fighting it may take you a few seconds farther away  from town you are trying to get to rather than closer to it. some of the ones in the N Downs for example.  They are also out in the wilderness not in the  cities so you really would not gain anything opposed to riding or even running at the lower levels. Mapping back to the way point of course is the easiest and available from level 1 but  of course you know all that.

 To each their own, this was just the first time I ever heard of using death for travel in LoTRO. Rather inconvenient and not a smart ting to do if you ask me, I certainly would not recommend it.
 

Originally posted by Krewel

Hey IK

Well, pvp in AoC gets old really quickly and fortunately devs know that and will try to make it more meaningful in 1.6 with the expansion of the border kingdoms. But currently it's just Khesh zerging and farming pvp xp for days on end, which is not fun at all for many people. And how many in Futilez have pvp level 5? That's right, a small minority. Why? Because grinding players for 3+ months deters the majority of people. There is no such grind in WoW for pvp, which may come as a surprise. Seriously, Blizzard recognized that graveyard camping for pvp xp (honor) is seriously wrong and removed such a system 4 years ago (ranking nonsense).

What blizzard did was making the grind happen in battlegrounds and Arena, if you look at AoC and WoE and compare the "grind" for PvP XP it's pretty much the same thing. Except in WoW it's called honour. If you want to compete in PvP in WoW you have to do a lot of farming of pvp xp to get the PvP gear, you have no chance tos urviuve or make a difference if you don't have a certain amount of resilience. The arena is no a bad thing, but it is still a grind for many people. When I played wow there was loads of people who did nothing but arean, 2 reasons they weanted the score and they wanted the gear. It's a competition and a well hidden grind, but it is still a grind if you break it down in pieces. And that is what MMO's are about, MMORPG*s aren't designed to be like CS:S where you just buy the gear and get instant action, they are designed to keep people playing for a long time. That's why there is a grind in these games, look at your beloved WoW again and the reputation grinds. They were implemented because people wanted more content. Throw in a few useful reputations and bam people where grinding the reputation like there was no tomorrow.

You say pvp is fun? Well, are you level 5 yet? Do you know how much time Ballsofsteel had to spend to get to level 5? And with 1.5 even pvp becomes a job, since you sort of need the gear to actually beat a players wearing lvl 5 stuff. So, enjoy hunting criminals for 3+ months...

If you ask diferent people what they find fun about PvP you will get different explanations. You obviously don't like the PvP in AoC, but you thbink it is good in WoW. I'm the total opposite, I found WoW PvP to be utterly boring. And it is a way bigger grind there to be able to compete with the rest. That was one of the things that put me off WoW. If I wanted to be able to compete against anyone I had to PvP like it was my second job. And one of the things I really like about AoC is that I don't have to farm my ass to PvP level 5 to be able to compete, I can simply just put on a mixture of gear and head into battle, sure the better gear the better chance I have to win, but I don't have to have a certain specific set of gear to be able to compete. Hence I don't need to play AoC as a second job, I can do what I want to when I want to. And that is what makes AoC a lot better then WoW for me.

And massive pvp? Well, one year and sieges are broken and FC won't even recognize the problem. Why bother? I'm having tons of fun in Wintergrasp which can consist of 200 people bashing each other for a fortress/keep that actually gives you something in return. Of course, there is a lagfest in WG, but we're talking 200-300 people here, AoC sieges consist of 96 people max.

What does these fortresses in winthergrasp give you exactly? And sure you can have 200 players there, but that's because the graphic in WoW makes it possible, just like DFO where they can have huge sieges. The graphic in AoC prevents them from having the same thing and sieges atm are fubar. And they do need to fix them.

I'm sorry, but at the moment AoC pvp is primitive, to say the least. PvP XP is a lame, boring and unoriginal system which was probably created in a week, but hyped to eternity for years.

The PvP xp in AoC is pretty much identical to WoW, the difference is that it's the pvp levels that defines what gear you can use, and not the amount of honour you spend on an item. If AoC had made it so that the PvP xp was used to buy PvP gear, both WoW and AoC would have had the same system. Just diferent names on them. ;)

*Waits for the day jackdog doesn't start a flamewar in AoC forums...*

Originally posted by Mastermartz

*Waits for the day jackdog doesn't start a flamewar in AoC forums...*

I just pointed out what is either a bug or one of the lamest design foobars in history. Fanbois from various games seem to be doing the flame war shit.

Crash, your info is outdated and distorted, to say the least. It takes about a week to grind necessary honor to buy all of the pvp gear that is available for honor, especially with the introduction of Wintergrasp. You are perhaps referring to the vanilla WoW era or TBC era where you literally had to sleep in Warsong Gulch to obtain enough honor to get the gear. Well, no more. You have a wide variety how to obtain honor, and with Wintergrasp it is almost impossible to make it feel like a grind, tbh. And besides, you can actually get the 2nd best gear for pvp just by doing pve alone (via emblems of conquests, for instance). So, definitely a more varied and fun approach to pvp than what AoC offers. Not to mention the fact that you don't need a Russian zerging squad in WoW to actually get somewhere.

And what does Wintegrasp give you? Is that a rhetorical question or question out of ignorance? Well, it gives you access to a Boss that functions as a loot pinata and which can drop the latest pvp gear (so you don't even need to be top arena player to get the best pvp gear), then it gives you access to pvp vendors and it gives you a buff which gives you a special currency used for the said vendors. And again, you don't need to be in some Russian guild to participate in massive pvp.

Arenas are a different matter, ofc. I do not actually participate them 'cuz... well, Counterstrike is lame and I'm more fond of massive pvp any day. But those who do, and I know many, do not play a lot actually and if one is skilled (or has a good setup, hehe), then one can get the high rank (and with this, gear) in a matter of month, more or less. There are a plethora of players this season with a high rank and with the best pvp gear on them. No, it is entirely different from AoC where only a handful of no-lifers get to level 5 by grinding players for months on end. Yes, it is a job, at least that's what I felt like.