Seems like a great time to try AoC again.

I remember playing for a week or something at the beginning and then thinking it would go down within a year. 

Originally posted by Zorndorf

Interesting.

The price doesn't mean much in the real world of mmorpg's succes, but it is interesting that I did a little research around the shops here in the Benelux at Xmas.

In most shops you don't find any copies of Conan since months and the few who had copies were on sale for 5 Euro in the baskets together with games like AoE 2, the usual adventures and other stuff of 3 year old long gone glory.

I hope it's a lesson to the makers of mmorpg's. You exactly have ONE shot at the market and if that one shot isn't in the center of what was promised... the game is done.

MMO's never come back. Oh the usual few hundred copies will be sold through upgrades per country but it is meaningless for the players (empty servers) and for its financial drive.

It is even dangerous for the developpers since new techniques - if they ever were implemented - can be copied by the competition and smoothed out to backfire on their own new developments.

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It is far better to put such "failed" mmo's on auto-pilot and invest in something new. But I guess MMO makers are not the most intelligent game makers after all.

As always the price to me goes to Blizzard: with ONE mechanic  they reactivated all dozens of leveling dungeons in a 5 year old game. SHOW me another paid sub game with massively played leveling dungeons 6 months after launch ...

But like most makers the mmorpg.com editors don't  understand this.

Well until the moment arrives these editors wake up, the articles are well placed to put back in a few hundred players in a dead road anyway.

Not with my money, tx.

The big red CE box of Conan stairs at me in my attic and it is even too big to be used as a press paper. But I let it there as a reminder of that fanatastic year of 2008 of failed promisses.

I think Funcom made the mistake of pushing the envelope on graphics too much more than anything. Most gamers have too much pride and won't admit it.

I bought the game at launch and joined  an old school guild that had been together for 10 years. Of the 20 members that started at launch only 3 ended up playing regularly. They would all complain about what failure the game was and how it was broken. However when you talked to them, you realized their 5 year old computers were what really failed. I had just bought a top of the line computer specifically for that game, as did the others that continued to play. We had none of the problems the others reported.

While many people consider AoC a failure, financially it was a success. They made  a profit and continue to make money off of it.

Originally posted by Vaedur

So the utter failure of a mmo at release that has spent maybe the most advertising dollar on mmorpg has won "most improved game?"

 

./golfclap

 

DDO for the win baby..

Wow, you do realise that the games quality at release has NOTHING to do with it being most improved right? actually if anything it helps it.

Congrats to Funcom!

This game was absolutely terrible in Launch.... all my hopes of the new game being as great as all the hype, were dashed, and this inevitably led me to canceling my account after the 2nd week of play, and shelving my copy of AoC:CE with a huge *Sigh* and a heavy heart.

After recently coming back to playing MMO's (one of many of my true passions), I decided to give Aion a good go, and alas, I finally, and conclusively found out that I abhor asian grindfest-botfest-goldspamfest games. The pvp was the same as pretty much every MMO, unbalanced and, concerning big sieges, impossible to play. Needless to say, I didnt even shelf my copy of Aion, I threw that sorry excuse for a true mmo out asap (Also a CE)

So then I found myself looking for SOMETHING to play, as if I needed that next hit of crack to calm the cravings of my newly reaquired crack addiction to MMOs.....

So I downloaded, DDO... Free to play and all? Being as though I had originally bought the game when it launched, I decided to give it a shot... I got a character to level 3.. and noticed hat I was not entertained... you talk about instanced world :P after a couple weeks of trying different character, I decided that DDO will forever be what it is... a failed MMO, with a really REALLY poor community.

Next I decided to beta test Allods Online... if there is ONE type of MMO that beats the "Asianesque Grindfest", its the "Russianesque Grindfest".... A good concept, but im sorry, getting 22 xp for killing a mob the same level as me, and I have to get 8000xp to levell??? at level 7?!?!?!?!? I may be crack addicted to MMO's, but I am not THAT crack addicted to MMo's lol

My buddy then convinced me to run the trial of AoC... and boy was I reluctant.... I wanted to play ANYTHING else rather than Conan...  even picked up Dragon Age Origins and tried to occupy my play time with that game (only lasted so long... I am not one for single player games)... so after a few weeks (and losing a bet to DL and play the trial in a best out of 3 1v1 beerpong game against my friend at one of our BP parties) I was forced to download AoC...

...

..........

...............

To my suprise, the game had magically been fixed and the game actually ran smooth!! IN DX10 no less! But truthfully, the real shock of how much the game progressed was after I left Tortage and practically ran my own "Beta test" of the game to see how many of the bugs were fixed, checking out the various dungeons/.instances the game had to offer, etc.

This game, out right and truthful, deserved most improved game of 2009, and with the upcoming expansion, the game will only get THAT much better. I believe FC is on the right track with AoC, and I decided to purchase a 6mo sub, as a testament to the changes they have made, that have made the game so much better!

As far as PvE: The game is solid, the leveling progression is at a perfect pace, and the storys that are provided throughour various territories are immersive. People who complain about an instanced world... probably have only played WoW, which wasn't instanced when it came to its world... however the graphics in WoW, and the graphics in AoC are like night and day .. and to not have instances in a graphically superior game like AoC, would make the game way too laggy.. Look at Aion, the graphics arent EVEN as good as AoC, but its instanced as hell... So please... if you dont like instances, then maybe you should try one of the MMO's that are much less graphically intense :) 

As far as PvP: Every MMO has had issues balancing casters and melee... none moreso than AoC.. however one must remember, that PvP in AoC takes the most skill to pull of than ANY MMO out... due to the combo system, you actually have to spend time to learn what is effective and how to survive a fight... much like an FPS, you dont become "Thresh" or "Reptile" over night... you will need to put some serious time and effort into learning how PvP with your specific class is done.... That said, the are still some minor balance issues with PvP, but the progress that has been made so far has been astounding...

Community: is the only place where I see the game lacks.... there are quite a bit of us that are mature, respectful and honorable players... but this game (especially RP-PVP server Cimmeria) attracts what I would call "Closet Criminals"... This is defined as people that act out in the game, what they would do would there be anarchy on earth.. the kill ruthlessly, and with cold blood (IE Gank/Griefers), and you do have a few people who are quite childish... but  once again, I havent seen one MMO in which these people havent been a part of community (especially post WoW).

All in all, give the game a shot if your thinking about it... play past tortage... if you roll solo, make sure you learn your character and pvping in Tortage before you leave the island, as you will have to defend yourself. If you decide to join a guild, make sure you join a guild that has your best interests at heart and will help ward off the criminals that, like any civilization in an anarchic state, will be stalking you within the darks and depths of Hyboria....

Your heart will pump with adrenline, your mind will buzz with lore, and your eyes will see a world unique and going through growth.

-Maitrader

I don't think LOTRO even belongs in this category...

Yes, that game is improved by leaps and bounds with each new edition, patch, Book and additions big and small, but it was already awesome to begin with...

So, Conan is the shining example of fixing a broken MMO.

LOTRO just keeps on piling the amazing improvements on a rock-solid, airtight and bulletproof base.

Not the same.

Still, congrats to AoC.

I'll definitely return to my guardian one of these days.   

LOL this game only good thing was the marketing to make you buy it

what a crap and boring game

I am not sure why DDO was in the list, from the article only because it changed it's revenue model? I hope that was not the only reason, otherwise it is a poor choice.

I am glad to see AoC is coming along so well, good to see.

 Congrats to Funcom and to Craig Morrison. Nice to see all the positive comments in this thread and only very few "haters..." G

I saw this coming when AoC didn't made it to the list of "Top Ten Games of 2012" in your other article.

Guess money talked again...

"Hey, we may have upset Funcom with our 2012 list -let's quickly invent some sort of award to give to AoC on the mainpage to be friends with them again."

I guess it is easy to improve, if you start so low.

Replacing Gaute "Hypemachine" Godager with someone else is not brainer. Gaute did lose all credibility after lying so many times about non-existing features. Fixing game mechanism (part of crafting and itemization) was absolutely necessary. Rebalancing some classes and adding new zone - really is not anything new in MMOs, every sandbox game is doing that to survive.

They have just fixed their game - not really improved it.

In my opinion DDO deserves this title even more. But well, it's a matter of opinion.

 I very much agree with this nomination - Age of Conan is a great game for both casual and hardcore players. Be aware the there's an unlimited trial (play as much as you want through Tortage, no 7 day restriction, that's a frigging lot of free MMO fun) available for a limited time on http://www.ageofconan.com/trial/. 

Pyramid of the ancients in the Khemi desert (level 28ish) is the most fun I've ever had in a single-player dungeon, ever. Period.

And for people griping about instancing: Go into the level 20+ playfields (any of them). They're huge and the instancing is quickly forgotten (Conall's Valley is a great example).

It seems to me that there's a clear pattern emerging here.

The game being described by those who either never liked the game or else haven't played it recently is not remotely the same game as that being described by those who have either played the game continuously since launch or else liked it's potential but left because of the launch problems but have recently returned.

In short, the differences of opinion being expressed illustrate precisely why Funcom have won this award - it's because the game has been improved substantially since launch, a point lost on those who either never liked the game and/or haven't played it recently!

Originally posted by Shadewalker

Originally posted by keithianw

No, he was not talking about Darkfall and I agree with him. Unlike games like WOW and Lord of the Rings Online, that subtle change of landscape that takes place as you run from one zone to another is missing because each zone has doors/instances. and the zones while beautiful don't make you feel as if you are exploring an open and breathing world. That is why I left in the middle of 2009. Though even WOW and LOTRO have instances, the world itself generally speaking is pretty open where you can literally run for miles and miles before you are forced to hit a door. The other issue is that their technical support gives up too easily with things they don't understand..like the sound anomolies I was having while walking (maybe they got better?)

Regardless, I will say that this game had stunning graphics, excellent classes, good UI responsiveness, had a great guild, and was  fun for a while, but I just couldn't hang on because i felt disconnected from the story and the instanced zones didnt help. It certainly is a game that everyone should try for themselves.

 

 

Sounds like you're talking about what I'd call zones then, rather than the usual meaning of instances - which as in Tortage night time would be instanced areas containing only you (and your group). However, most of AoC's world is open to everybody and the zones are large so I don't see how anyone could find them restricting to be honest.

There migh be to few of you around now to understand what he is talking about shadewalker. Every zone in Aoc is an instance. If to many people enter it at once multipel version will spawn. So you could have 29-50 versions of tortage for example with about 20-49 players in each or less. This was a mayor issue when there where many people playing Aoc, in pvp people just escaped to another instance...
I was a beta tester for 6 months before release, I pointed out all the flaws to Failcom, they dident listen and now their game is dying. If you go to the offical forums there isent mush love for the game... people are still complaining, and quiting. The servers are ghost town. Lets hope the secreat world goes down fast so Failcom can file for bankruptcy. I have no love for people who wont listen and are stuck up and think they are all that.

And to Failcom spyes who lurk on these forums ask your dam devs why they dident listen to their Beta testers... We basicly told them about everything that was wrong with the game pre launch and They still launched it...

hope nobody buys into this crap, Age of conan could have been the next gen game but a fataly flawed engine and bad designer decisions helped to make it go down like a paper in the toilet. Flushed away with all the other crap games of 2008, like WAR for example.

Ps: I dont need to give Failcome anymore money to know that zones are still instanced, pvp is still unblanced, casters are way overpowerd, some even call the game the age of casters. Speed tree look like crap. Zones are small and caustrphobic. Overall Age of conan is a small, heavy instanced and bugy experince and no this hasent changed in 2009 just go read their forums...

Just weighing in on the "award". Played at launch and played agian last month. Melee vs Caster Imbalance and large scale...well PvP in general is still terrible. Even with everything instanced to keep numbers small. Too bad, I originally was drawn in by the Conan theme and adult theme as different from the WoW/HelloKitty land.

DDO should have won this.

Ironically the update didnt only improve the game, it made it from what it should have been, in my view a F2P since the quality of it was so very bad, to something which now is on par with P2P games,  the irony is in the fact that it is actually a F2P now.  Its literally gone from something you'd scrape off from the bottom of your shoe to something you'd put on a mantle peice.

LOTRO would be my second, this game just gets better and better, again, another astonishing improvment its original incarnation.  However the Monster play (still my most favorite mmo thing ever) remains pretty much the same.

AoC may have made vast improvments, but its still essentially the same game.  fixing bugs and adding new areas and balancing is all very well, but its still a very linear and boring mmo... its just not 'massive'

Cant comment on Wow since I've never played it.

Originally posted by sadeyx

AoC may have made vast improvments, but its still essentially the same game.  fixing bugs and adding new areas and balancing is all very well, but its still a very linear and boring mmo... its just not 'massive'

And DDO is "Massive"? Look, to each their own, but c'mon, DDO is anything but massive.

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Originally posted by BigMango

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Originally posted by Meridion

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Originally posted by dhayes68

AoC is heavily zoned, and each zone is heavily instanced. two people can be standing side by side, talking in IM's in the middle of the FoTD for example, yet not see each other because the zone is instanced. Every single part of AoC is instanced. If you haven't seen it, its because the population is so low the instancing isn't being triggered.

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you mean it opens up new instances of one overworld zone if the population gets too heavy? Come on, that's actually a safety mechanism and lots of other games do this, Everquest 2, Aion... so what?
 
I won't say it is an advantage, but it's nothing that makes AoC more instanced than any other modern game. M

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.. if the population gets too heavy? LOL, man you have no idea what you are talking about.
The "heavy" you are talking about is 48 players max. YES: 48!
There can be max 48 players in each of AoC's zones and then it instances a copy of itself. Talk about an open world, hahaha.
The only exception is the pvp sieges which can have 96 players max (48 players from each side, 48x2 = 96). A guild can't even have all of its players fighting together. Yes, talk about "heavy" that needs a "safety mechanism" ... .
Why are we playing mmos again... there's the word massive in there, right? Looking at the many normal multiplayer games (not mmos) that are more "massive" than aoc, I'm not even sure AoC can qualify as an mmo...   its just an "mo" with a single M, nothing more.
 
 
 

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Anyone that has trouble with this system is just plain wrong because there is absolutly NO issues with this, part from the player that keeps going on and on about it as if it where an issue..

Most if not all modern games today uses this sytem..

If as a developer u choose NOT to use this system then you will get an undetailed world containing houses that looks like rooms with four walls containing NOTHING in detail, and you have to strip your world from all life and immersiveness, just to get a some sort of flow in gameplay..It's a chice you have to make as a game developer

Ehh they still have little kids running around giving you issues in pvp if you try to lvl up in an 80 zone.

i was a release player and had fun then got bored at endgame. then came back recently and got bored again because its just a glorified WoW. it was boring.

Graphics in this game are amazing and no one can argue BUT i don’t agree with "most Improved Game" title ..

Ask your self this what has changed? the PvP still broken and Raiding well it needs a lot more work. I fear this article was made for wrong reasons.

Is it time for us to go back to AoC and give it a 2nd chance? i don’t believe the hype with AoC anymore, after all they fooled us once,