Originally posted by xposeidon

I've been bored these days, and while waiting on Guild Wars 2 I need something to pass the time with. I've been looking around for MMOs but few grab my attention, this is one of them.

I've been looking for something different, tired of the WoW cartoon feel, I also want to try my new rig on this game to see how well it does.

The huge download puts me off a little, and also the F2P model, it seems like it has many restrictions, If the game is good though I'll probably be willing to dish out the 35 bucks for the 3month subscription, hopefully GW2 will be out by then.

Guess what I want to know is, how good is it combat wise and lasting appeal. Does it have a good long lasting value? I tried WoW for about 4 hours and got bored then because of the same old quest system and the combat wasn't any entertaining either, it would be dissapointing to try this game for the same time and get bored of it.

The combat here is supposed to be more dynamic, not your standing around casting spells or swinging a sword, how true does this hold on? How is the PvP in this game, balanced or imbalanced? Will I be smashing skills until I kill my target or is moving around rewarded?

Are the quests entertaining? is this more of a group game than solo? Open world PvP or how does it work?

At last if you don't think it's worth it, is there another game that you would recommend? For example I tried skyrim but it didn't hook me, maybe because I feel lonely in the world, I mean the game is nice and pretty but I couldn't hang on it for too long, after it took me an hour or so to do 2-3 quests which were okay in terms of entertaining me. 

Anyways leave a small review if you can, I'll be sure to check them out tomorrow while at work, would be a nice read ;)

 I did like AOC,but I have not played since it brcame F2P,anyway as game was when I played it was fun for avile so sure give it a try since it is free to play.

the dungeons are really really good - probably the best dungeons in any game - Funcom could make superb RPGs with coop to compete with the best.

the combat is fun at first, but after a while becomes no more fun than standard combat

leveling is a bit meh

PVP is very meh (used to be fairly good but thats a long time a go)

Originally posted by gostly

Originally posted by Kanester

It's worth trying just for Tortach. Great starting area, If only the whole game was the same.

It's Tortage* and I never understood people that said this "if only the whole game was the same"...i hate tortage, every single time i did it, i couldn't wait to get out of that place.

It's the best part of the game thats why.

The quests had a story and actually meant something to the town around you.

Originally posted by Kanester

Originally posted by gostly

Originally posted by Kanester

It's worth trying just for Tortach. Great starting area, If only the whole game was the same.

It's Tortage* and I never understood people that said this "if only the whole game was the same"...i hate tortage, every single time i did it, i couldn't wait to get out of that place.

It's the best part of the game thats why.

The quests had a story and actually meant something to the town around you.

If you like Tortage, you'll love SWTOR... pretty much the same.

Don't get me wrong, Tortage is very well done but I just don't want that singleplayer feeling for the whole game

Graphics is great

Combat system is top notch

Dungeons are well made, but suffer from a too low population on some servers

Balance is reasonable

Endgame is very hard, but from what I've been able to do- really well made.

Music and artwork the best I've seen

Crafting is getting redone, jury is still out on that one

Terrible, terrible forum. Stay away, only trolls there.

To sum up: Don't be fooled by it's release date, this game looks nothing like a 2008 game. Much better graphics than new releases in my opinion. Low fantasy mature MMO. I'm a fan.

Important: F2P works like an extended trial version, you can play it for a while to get the feel for the game. I cannot see anyone playing this game for long though, unless they sub. It's def worth it. Hope this helps.

Originally posted by Bjelar

Graphics is great

Combat system is top notch

Dungeons are well made, but suffer from a too low population on some servers

Balance is reasonable

Endgame is very hard, but from what I've been able to do- really well made.

Music and artwork the best I've seen

Crafting is getting redone, jury is still out on that one

Terrible, terrible forum. Stay away, only trolls there.

To sum up: Don't be fooled by it's release date, this game looks nothing like a 2008 game. Much better graphics than new releases in my opinion. Low fantasy mature MMO. I'm a fan.

 

Important: F2P works like an extended trial version, you can play it for a while to get the feel for the game. I cannot see anyone playing this game for long though, unless they sub. It's def worth it. Hope this helps.

Ok.  So lets assume combat is top notch.. dungeons are well made.   music and art are top!!  Balance is decent.

Where are the players?

1M people bought the box the first month.   Another 600K  downloaded it when it went free2play.    That means probably 2M people or MORE have tried this game.

If all those things you say are true.. why is there only 3 servers with any population?  Here is the thing, this is not an indie game that is amazing that people just haven´t found..  this is a game that huge numbers of people have played....and yet.. this game with what you seem to think is nearly the best of anything is probably not even in the top 20 of MMORPGs anymore despite being free2play.

Obviously those 2M players who tried the game don´t agree with your assessment of ´ quality´..  Again.. DDO has 8 full servers. LOTRO even more.  EQ2 more..  all of these other games are doing much better as far as populations...

But yeah, it is all because of the forum trolls...  people were playing the game and absolutely loving it, then came here and read my negative comment and immediately uninstalled it.   If you want to say anything, you can say that trolls might keep people from playing to begin with, but that still doesn´t explain those 1M boxes sold and 3 servers left.....

Originally posted by Azrile

Originally posted by Bjelar

Graphics is great

Combat system is top notch

Dungeons are well made, but suffer from a too low population on some servers

Balance is reasonable

Endgame is very hard, but from what I've been able to do- really well made.

Music and artwork the best I've seen

Crafting is getting redone, jury is still out on that one

Terrible, terrible forum. Stay away, only trolls there.

To sum up: Don't be fooled by it's release date, this game looks nothing like a 2008 game. Much better graphics than new releases in my opinion. Low fantasy mature MMO. I'm a fan.

 

Important: F2P works like an extended trial version, you can play it for a while to get the feel for the game. I cannot see anyone playing this game for long though, unless they sub. It's def worth it. Hope this helps.

Ok.  So lets assume combat is top notch.. dungeons are well made.   music and art are top!!  Balance is decent.

Where are the players?

1M people bought the box the first month.   Another 600K  downloaded it when it went free2play.    That means probably 2M people or MORE have tried this game.

If all those things you say are true.. why is there only 3 servers with any population?  Here is the thing, this is not an indie game that is amazing that people just haven´t found..  this is a game that huge numbers of people have played....and yet.. this game with what you seem to think is nearly the best of anything is probably not even in the top 20 of MMORPGs anymore despite being free2play.

Obviously those 2M players who tried the game don´t agree with your assessment of ´ quality´..  Again.. DDO has 8 full servers. LOTRO even more.  EQ2 more..  all of these other games are doing much better as far as populations...

But yeah, it is all because of the forum trolls...  people were playing the game and absolutely loving it, then came here and read my negative comment and immediately uninstalled it.   If you want to say anything, you can say that trolls might keep people from playing to begin with, but that still doesn´t explain those 1M boxes sold and 3 servers left.....

Well one thing is for sure you would not know the answer to that. You have not played the game since launch and your WoW recruiting agenda prevents you to have a gamerobjective view on any other MMO.

If you want a guess from a 3 year veteran in AoC, the majority of players left first year due to many instability issues with the game. It simply demanded too much of PC hardware and bandwidth. This was a particular disasterous problem since the game on top of that was fairly buggy at launch. Since AoC unchained (F2P) started in July 2011 the game has grown. I would guess that there are probably over 150 k unique players this moment and it's growing. This positiv trend was much stronger before the new server system and dreamworld engine was introduced around christmas time. No exuces for Funcom on that. The game was quite glitchy for about 2 months after that major upgrade, which naturally damped the progression of things.... The game is now however back on track and picking up new players every day. Be not surprised if AoC keeps growing very vigerously from this point of and on... This is particularly a possibility with the new crafting system incomming.

So yes I agree with the poster that you critizise, all those things he mentions are great in AoC. Other things are not so great, but that is also the case for your dear dear WoW my friend. Each has his own taste, it's just that you can't understand it.

Originally posted by Kanester

Originally posted by gostly

Originally posted by Kanester

It's worth trying just for Tortach. Great starting area, If only the whole game was the same.

It's Tortage* and I never understood people that said this "if only the whole game was the same"...i hate tortage, every single time i did it, i couldn't wait to get out of that place.

It's the best part of the game thats why.

The quests had a story and actually meant something to the town around you.

Well, if Tortage was the best that this game has to offer, I think that may explain where the population went.

Originally posted by Azrile

Originally posted by Bjelar

Graphics is great

Combat system is top notch

Dungeons are well made, but suffer from a too low population on some servers

Balance is reasonable

Endgame is very hard, but from what I've been able to do- really well made.

Music and artwork the best I've seen

Crafting is getting redone, jury is still out on that one

Terrible, terrible forum. Stay away, only trolls there.

To sum up: Don't be fooled by it's release date, this game looks nothing like a 2008 game. Much better graphics than new releases in my opinion. Low fantasy mature MMO. I'm a fan.

 

Important: F2P works like an extended trial version, you can play it for a while to get the feel for the game. I cannot see anyone playing this game for long though, unless they sub. It's def worth it. Hope this helps.

Ok.  So lets assume combat is top notch.. dungeons are well made.   music and art are top!!  Balance is decent.

Where are the players?

1M people bought the box the first month.   Another 600K  downloaded it when it went free2play.    That means probably 2M people or MORE have tried this game.

If all those things you say are true.. why is there only 3 servers with any population?  Here is the thing, this is not an indie game that is amazing that people just haven´t found..  this is a game that huge numbers of people have played....and yet.. this game with what you seem to think is nearly the best of anything is probably not even in the top 20 of MMORPGs anymore despite being free2play.

Obviously those 2M players who tried the game don´t agree with your assessment of ´ quality´..  Again.. DDO has 8 full servers. LOTRO even more.  EQ2 more..  all of these other games are doing much better as far as populations...

But yeah, it is all because of the forum trolls...  people were playing the game and absolutely loving it, then came here and read my negative comment and immediately uninstalled it.   If you want to say anything, you can say that trolls might keep people from playing to begin with, but that still doesn´t explain those 1M boxes sold and 3 servers left.....

 Let me answer that question for you, AOC has a low population because many of those  that quit AoC a few month after release has made it their mission in life to discredit this game again and again and year after year, yet without even playing since the release of the game

It has a serious bad reputation, but if you look trough this thread you will see that a majority will tell you how wrong YOU are.

So..You are part of the reason that AoC still has a low population..Doesnt that feel wonderful ?

Another obvious reason is that, today we have a mass influx of new games. New releases left and right. The players needs to go somewhere..And It's a far to small market for games to maintain 500k players on each game.

And yes you mention a few games that are as old and even older than AoC that has bigger populations, and I think it's just that, they have a very loyal fanbase built up over the years, and a slight better romour about itself than AoC,

But as a game , and quality in gameplay , and beuty in graphics..AoC can hold up against ANY of these games..

Your analogy with "less population = poor game" is unfortunatly very flawed, Natuarally not every one liked AoC , but as I recall upon release, most players liked the game, unfortunatly It was not enough to hold players for a longer period of time(me included). And that is what seems to happen to most or all the games beiing released nowadays aswell.

Originally posted by Azrile

Originally posted by Bjelar

Graphics is great

Combat system is top notch

Dungeons are well made, but suffer from a too low population on some servers

Balance is reasonable

Endgame is very hard, but from what I've been able to do- really well made.

Music and artwork the best I've seen

Crafting is getting redone, jury is still out on that one

Terrible, terrible forum. Stay away, only trolls there.

To sum up: Don't be fooled by it's release date, this game looks nothing like a 2008 game. Much better graphics than new releases in my opinion. Low fantasy mature MMO. I'm a fan.

 

Important: F2P works like an extended trial version, you can play it for a while to get the feel for the game. I cannot see anyone playing this game for long though, unless they sub. It's def worth it. Hope this helps.

Ok.  So lets assume combat is top notch.. dungeons are well made.   music and art are top!!  Balance is decent.

Where are the players?

1M people bought the box the first month.   Another 600K  downloaded it when it went free2play.    That means probably 2M people or MORE have tried this game.

If all those things you say are true.. why is there only 3 servers with any population?  Here is the thing, this is not an indie game that is amazing that people just haven´t found..  this is a game that huge numbers of people have played....and yet.. this game with what you seem to think is nearly the best of anything is probably not even in the top 20 of MMORPGs anymore despite being free2play.

Obviously those 2M players who tried the game don´t agree with your assessment of ´ quality´..  Again.. DDO has 8 full servers. LOTRO even more.  EQ2 more..  all of these other games are doing much better as far as populations...

But yeah, it is all because of the forum trolls...  people were playing the game and absolutely loving it, then came here and read my negative comment and immediately uninstalled it.   If you want to say anything, you can say that trolls might keep people from playing to begin with, but that still doesn´t explain those 1M boxes sold and 3 servers left.....

Valid questions, and easy enough to answer.

MMOs mature. AOC is just like Vanguard among the very best MMOs on the marked just now. Possibly the two best. Problem is they weren't when millions played them. It takes time for some (all?) MMOs to become good, unfortunately people have shorter attention span than kids on sugarrush in Disneyland. Always the latest and greatest. Off to the next beta-hype. Or they stick to WoW, and don't want another game to spend 1000s of hours on. 

"Not even in top 20" on a list containing what, 600+ titles, isn't necessarily so bad. It's 4 years old and still going strong. I predict most of the top 20 on that list will not be there in 2015, but AoC might. They promise to add lots of stuff this year too. I'll be quite happy playing AOC five years from now, even if it still isn't "even top 20".

AoC is more demanding than the other games you compared it to, it has for instance got graphics. You need a high end computer to play it. It also cost quite a bit since it isn't ment for children.

Forum trolls is a huge problem. I've been trying to find a new game to play for a while, but reading various forums made me turn back to chess. MMOs and forums just don't go well together. I wish we had a working educational system, so people could learn how to argue (like you did) instead of .... well, you know.

Originally posted by Bjelar

Originally posted by Azrile

Originally posted by Bjelar

Graphics is great

Combat system is top notch

Dungeons are well made, but suffer from a too low population on some servers

Balance is reasonable

Endgame is very hard, but from what I've been able to do- really well made.

Music and artwork the best I've seen

Crafting is getting redone, jury is still out on that one

Terrible, terrible forum. Stay away, only trolls there.

To sum up: Don't be fooled by it's release date, this game looks nothing like a 2008 game. Much better graphics than new releases in my opinion. Low fantasy mature MMO. I'm a fan.

 

Important: F2P works like an extended trial version, you can play it for a while to get the feel for the game. I cannot see anyone playing this game for long though, unless they sub. It's def worth it. Hope this helps.

Ok.  So lets assume combat is top notch.. dungeons are well made.   music and art are top!!  Balance is decent.

Where are the players?

1M people bought the box the first month.   Another 600K  downloaded it when it went free2play.    That means probably 2M people or MORE have tried this game.

If all those things you say are true.. why is there only 3 servers with any population?  Here is the thing, this is not an indie game that is amazing that people just haven´t found..  this is a game that huge numbers of people have played....and yet.. this game with what you seem to think is nearly the best of anything is probably not even in the top 20 of MMORPGs anymore despite being free2play.

Obviously those 2M players who tried the game don´t agree with your assessment of ´ quality´..  Again.. DDO has 8 full servers. LOTRO even more.  EQ2 more..  all of these other games are doing much better as far as populations...

But yeah, it is all because of the forum trolls...  people were playing the game and absolutely loving it, then came here and read my negative comment and immediately uninstalled it.   If you want to say anything, you can say that trolls might keep people from playing to begin with, but that still doesn´t explain those 1M boxes sold and 3 servers left.....

Valid questions, and easy enough to answer.

MMOs mature. AOC is just like Vanguard among the very best MMOs on the marked just now. Possibly the two best. Problem is they weren't when millions played them. It takes time for some (all?) MMOs to become good, unfortunately people have shorter attention span than kids on sugarrush in Disneyland. Always the latest and greatest. Off to the next beta-hype. Or they stick to WoW, and don't want another game to spend 1000s of hours on. 

"Not even in top 20" on a list containing what, 600+ titles, isn't necessarily so bad. It's 4 years old and still going strong. I predict most of the top 20 on that list will not be there in 2015, but AoC might. They promise to add lots of stuff this year too. I'll be quite happy playing AOC five years from now, even if it still isn't "even top 20".

AoC is more demanding than the other games you compared it to, it has for instance got graphics. You need a high end computer to play it. It also cost quite a bit since it isn't ment for children.

Forum trolls is a huge problem. I've been trying to find a new game to play for a while, but reading various forums made me turn back to chess. MMOs and forums just don't go well together. I wish we had a working educational system, so people could learn how to argue (like you did) instead of .... well, you know.

ok, first AoC became a decent game - true.   You mentioned that it takes time for "some(all?)" MMO's to become good. Not sure I agree with that, I loved LOTRO when it launched - since then it has gone downhill and lately, in my opinion, dropped off a cliff.  Not all MMO's start rocky and become good. Some start reasonable and then lose all reason trying to attract players that should not be playing the game(people who hate a challenge for example).   I think corporate greed can and does ruin a game that is good.  Now I am sure the people who are making money off of LOTRO are very happy, and did not notice or care that some long time players have left the game because of what they have done to it.  Sorry - end rant.

AOC IMO worth not only the try but at least 1-2 months from your time.

  AOC does have one of the best combat systems if you are a melee player. it is in a class with Tera and much better than wow or other tab targeting, I dont know if they have improved their crafting but it was one of the worst crafting systems I ever saw and you could not even strat til lvl 40!   Tortage is fantastic and because of that the rest seems kind of blah but actually is not to bad , the real dissapointment comes in the lack of cut scenes, voice overs, production value that were so excellent in Tortage that you almost feel like you are playing another game.     PvP was fun but of course it had gank fest problems especially in Tortage, but I believe you cannot PvP anymore in Tortage, so world PvP starts after lvl 20.  Of course you have the Hardcore PvP but if you are a noob I dont see how you can survive that.          One of the worst things Funcom did was go to F2p, because it is implemented so poorly, best to just spend 15 and be able to play the way you want to, if you want to see good F2P system than play Fallen Earth or Aion unfortunately you than acutally have to play Aion LOL.     Again if you want to enjoy the great combat you must play a melee character have fun