I think its a good idea to go freemium, but you cant gimp the F2P guys too much.  The chat restriction is going to be crazy.  Chat is a basic game function, and you shouldnt have to pay to do it.  That would be liek having to pay to jump or to turn your character  left and right.  Whats next, 10 cents everytime you wanna use a hot key? 

The goal here should be to lure new players in, not piss them off and scare them away forever.  AOC has some good things going for it, even though the game is a failure for an IP with such high brand recognition. 

Originally posted by Lateris

Wiccanna!

 Great PVE server.

Originally posted by Sevenwind

Originally posted by Lateris

Wiccanna!

 Great PVE server.

That's where I moved to a while ago. Have main guys on Wicc and Cimmeria :)

Ah well .... it's nice to play it again for a week ... maybe 2.

Awesome, I've been waiting for this game to go free so I could try it again.

I played it at launch for two or three months and like many others got burnt by Funcom's lies and incompetence. But I did love the graphics and combat.

Here's hoping that this will bring in a lot of new players.  Because launch was so bad AoC hasn't been able to recover it's player base, so hopefully this will make a difference.  Anything that brings in more players is a plus in my book.

Originally posted by Gravarg

All games should be subscriptionless. if Arena.net can do it with Guild Wars, anyone can!

Guild Wars wasn't a full featured, persistant world MMORPG, so it remains to see whether their 2nd, more fully featured  offering will be successful under the B2P model.

I have no issues with subscription fees by the way, and I do think this is a smart move by Funcom.  If the game has really improved over the years then it will breath new life into a flagging title.

If not, probably nothing lost regardless.

Funcom has lost all credit in my eyes. First with almost year long delay of AoC launch, not fixing stuff that needed fixing in beta, lying left and right about things they'll do.

Tbh I think that Funcom with its incompetence will screw even F2P model. Never again will I pay for Crapcom's game (maybe gonna try free trials)

I'll probably give the game another chance.  It sucked so bad at launch in PvP that I just couldn't stand it.  Maybe things are better now, and I can try again without spending money.

I played this in closed beta and in many ways it is a genuinely good game. Recently I played the trial and noticed quite a few small but positive changes as far as Tortage (the starter area) goes. The trial does not let you passed that point.

In the trial there was a noticeable lack of population which, to me, said that the main world would either be dead or high end characters only. That completely put me off paying for a month just to see if the main game world had improved.

Back during the closed beta I strongly felt and stated that AoC was, for me at least, simply not an MMO since there was zero incentive to group. Apart from there being really no great need to group, the chat interface in the game at that point of time was horrendously crude and almost obstructive to enjoying the game.

The actual game world, though, is really attractive. The graphics were good if not excellent, though maybe a little stylised in a way that some people may not find visually appealing. The gameplay, ie combat mechanics etc, was actually more or less what they had aimed for, dynamic and exciting.

Returning during the trial, I did get a chance to group with one of the few players I met and that was, to my surprise, a very fun experience with the atmosphere of fast paced action, bloody mayhem and immersive involvement in what was going on being very high compared to many, and maybe all, other games I have played. Its more like watching live film action with dynamically moving characters than the more static, carton like movements of player characters in other games.

In spite of being fun, engrossing and highly immersive, the specifically solo part of Tortage (Night Time) probably starts players off in a way that predisposes us far to much to perceive the game from the outset as more of a solo thing than a group thing and, noting the last paragraph, that is actually highly destructive to what would otherwise be a a wonderful grouping environment. IE, players spend so much time soloing in the starter area that by the time they get to the main continents they dont have any inherent motivation to group.

When AoC goes freemium then you can bet that I will be going back for at least long enough to see if the post-Tortage world has improved as far as incentive to group goes because this game really rocks when it comes to group oriented action.

I think this is a wise and constructive move on Funcom's part since all that ever really detracted from AoC were things that they appear to have fixed and the non-existent player base. Fully populated this game should be at least as exciting to play as any other game out there at the moment.

To other players out there considering spending time on AoC, I'd say, give it a shot, its a good game in all the areas you want it to be good in, but make a specific point of grouping with others because its the most exciting aspect of the game.

Aaaaah the memories...

...fun times when our end-game raiding guild got our officers banned for weeks lenght just because we pool'ed the cash to be the 1st Tier 5 (max?) player city... or when we put the T5 (?) crafter gear (that only our guild could make at the time) in AH would get us banned for getting too much gold (either for few stuff at HIGH prices or selling many at small prices)

...good old days of being banned for 1 to 2 weeks for having too much gold and thus being automaticly a Gold Farmer without being checked in a timelly manner by a GM or whatever...

Guess this is some kind of good news... being able to re-visit the place without paying more than the now useless Collector Box... we'll see...

Originally posted by Gravarg

All games should be subscriptionless. if Arena.net can do it with Guild Wars, anyone can!

 Some people live in a cardboard box, that doesn't make it a house nor should other homes cost the same.  It's a business model. 

Ah.. Funcom and Age of Conan.. the game that was advertised as having dx 10 at launch and only got a dx 10 client 2 years after, all the bugs and nazi forum moderation banning anyone who dared to point out the several bugs and bad designs options.

Now the free to play model, soon 1 server and then hopefully someone will shutdown one of the most disgraceful markting operations in the online gaming industry ever.

Almost forgot.. the 'inovative' carpal inducing keyboard pressing fighting system. That was famous in a sense back in the day.. together with the buy the game so you can try the starting island that has nothing to do with the real game thingy.

A good, well designed and supported MMO doesn't need a freemium model to attract and hold players. AoC sadly fails on these accounts.



The various game systems feel poorly integrated into a coherent whole. To me it feels like it was designed by the marketing department writing a check list of things that the developers needed to add but without stepping back and making sure all the systems actually meshed into a complete product.



The buggy state it has been for much of its lifetime hasn't helped one bit. I've been back now and then and had fun at times but ultimately it couldn't hold my interest due to the points I raised above.

Originally posted by EduardoASG

 

Now the free to play model, soon 1 server and then hopefully someone will shutdown one of the most disgraceful markting operations in the online gaming industry ever.

Almost forgot.. the 'inovative' carpal inducing keyboard pressing fighting system. That was famous in a sense back in the day.. together with the buy the game so you can try the starting island that has nothing to do with the real game thingy.

Heh, I'm predicting a very long wait for you, I don't see AoC shutting down the next few years, but keep hoping

As for the combat, tastes differ: some like auto attack, others prefer a more engaged and interesting combat system as AoC has.

Originally posted by EveJunkie

A good, well designed and supported MMO doesn't need a freemium model to attract and hold players. AoC sadly fails on these accounts.



The various game systems feel poorly integrated into a coherent whole. To me it feels like it was designed by the marketing department writing a check list of things that the developers needed to add but without stepping back and making sure all the systems actually meshed into a complete product.



The buggy state it has been for much of its lifetime hasn't helped one bit. I've been back now and then and had fun at times but ultimately it couldn't hold my interest due to the points I raised above.

Yes & no. if AoC had gone freemium some time ago a lot less paying subscribers who were primarily raiders and interested in doing godlsayer mode six man instances in khitai (for gear of course) would have left. Now at least those who stuck it out running raids and so forth might actually have a new wave of fresh faces who will eventually hit 80 and either join the raiding crowd or quit.

AoC's biggest problem of course is and always has been beyond raiding there was nothing to do at endgame. Then came Khitai a whole expansion almost entirely made up of endgame content, except it was just a grind fest for tokens to buy new gear and some 6 man instances (which are fun the first few times, especially in godslayer mode) to grind for new gear and lets not forget an instance for Tier 4 raiding...... to grind for (you guessed it) new gear. With basically nothing at andgame for the non raider who didnt want to mindlessly grind faction points AoC was always going to have a shrinking population.

Its a shame because I loved the world they created and I love the lore of Conan but you just cant fight that feeling of endgame boredom.

AoC is the best mmo out there atm by so far, we didnt even know there were other games till some idiot dropped it in global chat.

I'm with a few other posters in the fact that AOC hasn't really changed that much and I mean with the the core game it is still a solo to cap and then raid game similar to Rift but with better quests and a more immersive world. The performance is still spotty, the crafting and siege systems are broken still and therefore making nothing to do at endgame for a non-raider other than grind faction for gear in Khitai. 

For me this Fremium model is going to give the game a shot in the arm in the short term but as with the RotGS xpac after initial enthusiasm the players will see the game for what it really is and that is still an uncomplete game witrh many features missing or broken. I go back to AOC everytime they throw a comeback event because there is lots to like there but I always end up with the same feelings that I have expressed in this post, it really is a shame as the Conan world is such a great place to stage an MMORPG.

Cal. 

Originally posted by EveJunkie

A good, well designed and supported MMO doesn't need a freemium model to attract and hold players. AoC sadly fails on these accounts.


 

LotRO was, and still is, a good, well designed and supported MMO.  It didn't need a freemium model, but clearly after the success of DDO Turbine saw the benefits of a new payment model.

Well this is good news ....

last time i activated my old account , the world was pretty much empty , other then a few wing calls , nothing , dead silent...

I might activate my account again if this happens since playing alone is no fun...