Age of Conan

What is next gen about this game? honestly? the only thing that seemed new and inovative was the removal of auto-attack, but that feature has been taken out of the game.....

Flame on, but let me remind u:

Siege warfare has been done, mounts have been done, they use the term harvesting nodes ( taken from EQ 2 or from an even older game as far as i know), instances and raids have been done.

From my point of view that leaves only combos which i dont know if they have been done before, but it doesnt justify the next-gen title. And please DONT mention graphics evolution in an mmorpg consists of gameplay not graphics

"Next Gen" - depends on what that means to you. It seems you are equating next gen with "new features".

Most games that are next gen do not change all the concepts they simply improve on them. From what I've read and seen it looks to improve on many areas of the MMO. So - yeah, I'll call it next gen.

Nice Flame attracting title of post anyway.

Originally posted by fantaros

the only thing that seemed new and inovative was the removal of auto-attack, but that feature has been taken out of the game.....

innovative? play mmorpgs much? someone wake me up, please.

Originally posted by fantaros

From my point of view that leaves only combos which i dont know if they have been done before,

oh my...

I do have to agree with the OP.. I might be wrong, and I sincerely do hope that I am, but so far AoC looks pretty standard MMORPG fare to me. Yes, it's got DX10 and boobs on top of the same old "grind levels and then do some end-game raiding" formula but imo DX10 and boobs doth not a next generation make.

We shall see...

Originally posted by fantaros

What is next gen about this game? honestly? the only thing that seemed new and inovative was the removal of auto-attack, but that feature has been taken out of the game.....Where has this feature been taken out? Everything I've read leads me to believe that the auto-attack as known in other MMO's will still not be in AoC.

 

Flame on, but let me remind u:

Siege warfare has been done, mounts have been done, they use the term harvesting nodes ( taken from EQ 2 or from an even older game as far as i know), instances and raids have been done.

Siege Warfare on AoC's scale? Where? Mounts, yes, mounted combat? Where? Using Terminology from other games is hardly a bad thing, is it? And yes, raids and instances have been done, and will be for a long time to come.

 

From my point of view that leaves only combos which i dont know if they have been done before, but it doesnt justify the next-gen title. And please DONT mention graphics evolution in an mmorpg consists of gameplay not graphics

That's what I find from the top of my head...*shrug* I think that's quite OK.

wow who pissed in your corn flakes?

Dude you need grab a beer and sit in a hot tub for about 2 hrs and just relax. All the innovations that are going to be done in MMOs are going to be incremental – the big changes like going from UO to EQ are gone. In fact why don’t you name 3 innovations that would qualify a game for “Innovator of the Year" that are both possible to program and has not been done at some time in some way.  Ohh and it has to have mass appeal, work over modems and keep people interested for years.

Let's see what you got...

Originally posted by singsofdeath

 

Originally posted by fantaros

What is next gen about this game? honestly? the only thing that seemed new and inovative was the removal of auto-attack, but that feature has been taken out of the game.....Where has this feature been taken out? Everything I've read leads me to believe that the auto-attack as known in other MMO's will still not be in AoC.

 

Flame on, but let me remind u:

Siege warfare has been done, mounts have been done, they use the term harvesting nodes ( taken from EQ 2 or from an even older game as far as i know), instances and raids have been done.

Siege Warfare on AoC's scale? Where? Mounts, yes, mounted combat? Where? Using Terminology from other games is hardly a bad thing, is it? And yes, raids and instances have been done, and will be for a long time to come.

 

From my point of view that leaves only combos which i dont know if they have been done before, but it doesnt justify the next-gen title. And please DONT mention graphics evolution in an mmorpg consists of gameplay not graphics

All in all, I think you haven't paid much attention to the news, or misread them maybe? Other features which are still planned for release that have yet to be implemented in any other game would be: Spellweaving (even if it has been altered, it's still there), Killing your own party through said feature (haven#t seen that anywhere else), As stated above, mounted combat, Siege Warfare, yes I know it wasin DAoC, but from what I read and understand, I believe AoC's system is much more advanced than DAoC's, but that remains to be seen.
The Combo-System as you mentioned above is in its form new as I understand it and from what i read of it, as is the way targetting will be handled. The approach to stealth is new and innovative and more importantly, realistic.

 

 

That's what I find from the top of my head...*shrug* I think that's quite OK.

It's all the same crap. The fundamental premise that all the today's MMORPGs are desperate to cling on to is still there - grind levels till you reach the max and then do some end game until you get bored stiiff. Ridiculous. All the nifty "features" cannot disguise that fact.

The very structure of the game needs to change from crappy "do quests for XP so you can advance and then do the same for some loot so you can be "better" then everybody else" is broken for a massively-multiplayer game. I don't know exactly how this should happen or what a true next-gen mmorpg will be like but it is pretty obvious that this model won't go very far since it goes against the very essence of mmorpg genre. AoC's strong emphasis on communal play in the form of guild keeps etc is an incentive in this direction but it is not enough by far - it still has the same old levels, quests and crap. AoC with EVEonline-like world structure and GW level-less advancement would be something, but so far this smells like WoW with DX10, boobs and some fancy combat to me.

GW is level-less? That's a new one...then again, haven't checked that game for a while.

Anyway, on to your other points. Yes, the basic structure of the game remains the same. No one said anything else. Yes, you have levels and you have quests and you have XP.If that is something that you don#t like in a MMO, then well, I think EVE is about the only game out there that would give you an alternative. I hear CCP is developing a WoD MMO and knowing CCP, it might be different as well, but that one's still far off the horizon.

I for one am thankful for the "nifty little" things as you put it. It improves the existing concept, making it more enjoyable (for me), adding variation and adding differences that make a game stand out from others. I don#t think improving on an established system is a bad thing.

On the other hand, I do agree that someone ought to dare create something new, something that is really new from the basics up. I would love to see such innovation in the genre, but judging from what we currently see on the horizon of the MMORPG market, I highly doubt we will see something like that for quite a while to come. Why that is, I cannot say, I am not a game developer. It might be the companies playing it safe by sticking to established standards, or it might be other reasons. I am with you when you say you want a real "next-gen" MMO, meaning a MMO that is truly different from the ones already out there.

However, that won't stop me from playing AoC. As it is, it looks to me like AoC will have the most "advancements" on the basic systems, more features that look promising and as such, I am looking forward to playing and enjoying that game.

Nothing in AoC is really that innovative. The game will be full of instances and zones rather than a seamless world, which to me is pretty unacceptable. If Blizzard could do it in 2004, then Funcom should be able to do it in 2008.

This directional combat system doesn't sound to revolutionary to me either. Looks like a lot of work with little reward. And from what I've seen in leaked beta images, you still have to button mash with combos and with magic spells. That hardly seems revolutionary to me.

According to http://www.curse.com/articles/details/5568/ crafting is even simpler than WoW! I couldn't believe that when I read it. In fact, there is ONE, that's right, ONE zone per nation (meaning 3 total) where players go to harvest resources and advance in their craft. That's not only not innovative, it's a step backwards. Several steps backwards. 

Siege battles might be cool, but who knows? I've heard that sieges and massive PVP hasn't even been implemented in the general beta just two months shy from launch.

It's sad because I really had high hopes for this game to break the typical MMO cycle, but it sounds like this will just be another level based, cookie cutter questing, zone/insanced filled world where players race to the top so they can go build their player cities and siege each other. Frankly, that seems like it would get old pretty fast no matter how much fun it is initially.