In this video interview preview, MMORPG.com Managing Editor Jon Wood discusses some of the information given at a recent Leipzig presentation on Age of Conan. The article includes information on content,DX 10 and a just-announced upcoming expansion.

Here in Leipzig, MMORPG.com has captured some great video interviews and presentations that will be hitting the site over the next week. That's not going to stop us, however, from bringing you the important information right up front, at least until you can hear it from the horse's mouth.

Today, MMORPG.com attended a presentation by the team from Funcom's Age of Conan. A number of interesting points were made that are worth sharing with everyone as soon as we could:

Read more here.

Im not a fanboi or anything but I almost feel sorry for them. Its like watching a retard get the sh*t kicked outta him. Good Luck FunCom

Just a few things that make me go

"players wanted more variation and more challenge in the game's dungeons"

Is this something Funcom didn't realize people wanted? Did they have to be told this before they went "oh? Players like to be challenged in a game and have some variety?"

"World of Warcraft was an inspiration for the new boss encounter design as they seem to have engaging battles that require players to create a strategy to defeat"

Another head-scratcher. Last I checked, players find tank-and-spank bosses pretty boring. This is pretty well known...

Originally posted by streea

Just a few things that make me go

"players wanted more variation and more challenge in the game's dungeons"

Is this something Funcom didn't realize people wanted? Did they have to be told this before they went "oh? Players like to be challenged in a game and have some variety?"

"World of Warcraft was an inspiration for the new boss encounter design as they seem to have engaging battles that require players to create a strategy to defeat"

Another head-scratcher. Last I checked, players find tank-and-spank bosses pretty boring. This is pretty well known...

I can't believe they didn't do their research and figure out just what it is that WOW has which has attracted so many players.  How could they not have known from day one of planning that customers like challenging instances/raids?  I am flabbergasted.

Posted elsewhere by me, but applies here too:

I already watched the FunCom video. If it wasn't so comical it would be totally sad.

These guys continue to sing the same song and they dance the same dance, actually oblivious to the clear fact and/or refuse to understand that no one wants to hear or see it anymore.

FunCom needs to stop the continued alienation of MMO gamers by losing the hype once and for all.  FunCom needs -- must -- provide a lot less talk and a lot more action on actually delivering on at least *some* of their promises for this game we're still waiting to see.

Being still in closed beta and at least 3 months away from release quality, now more than three months after the game's May 2008 release is totally inexcusable.

I also see by some posts I read regarding this video that a lot of players are also starting to realize that FunCom really doesn't have a grasp on an actual, fleshed-out "vision" for this game -- this video confirms this (hence the lack of specifics from FunCom) -- Age of Conan is still a bunch of brilliant, even amazing parts thrown in a bag labeled Age of Conan.

The clock ticks.  By Christmas, will the MMO hobby see that FunCom has actually delivered on their promises? Or will the AoC game servers be empty with the Age of Conan game boxes relegated to the bargain bin at GameStop?   The clock ticks!

also, the unbeatable snake will kick your butt if you're not careful

OH NOES...even the snakes can one shot you now!

Poor Failcom...

I tried to like this game..but it was like trying to like a sword stuck in your back...

Funcom now gets to feel the wrath of WAR and WoW's new expansion.. Have fun with that Erling..your snake won't save you

Bah, too little and much too late. They still wont address the major bugs in the game like the frequent d/c's and latency issues. Nothing like red lining in the middle of a fight and coming back and your dead. Too much concentration on razzle and dazzle and not enough actually fixing the mess. Instead looks like they are just adding to it. History repeats itself as Anarchy Online is also quite buggy and free.

Expansion.........really?

Age of Conan: Gameplay

Ret: $29.99

Pre-order now and we can prolly even keep the servers open long enough to release it.

This game is crumbling the more they open their mouth. I mean wth, an expansion? I know game's usually like to announce expansions well before hand. But usually they fix there dam game before they do so. Setting a team aside to work on an expansion when you have super KNOWN exploits in a game sounds plain stupid. How bout you set a team aside to fuckin help you fix the game first. People will clown me and say shits working as intended, but it was never intended to be able to dupe this easily in a game. ANd the fact that it's not hotfixed or removed until further notice only means they don't care. 

Here's still a list of major issues with the game:

1.Gem duping/exploiting

2.Red bar's

3.Retarded stat system using decimal's

4.The unknown amount of crashes that plague this game along with texture anomolies

5.Population

Now 3 is pretty much my opinion, but the rest are pretty clear facts. It only takes a fourth grader to search the tech forums to see the super amount of problems. And please don't give me the "minority" only read the forums crap. This game is falling fast, and I'm literally shocked that they would even talk about such nonsense at GC and get away with it. If you go back to the very first interviews after lanch, these same dam things were being talked about. It's been 3 months and yet you guys are still talking about it. This zone will not come anytime soon, and definatly not before the pvp patch which is still another month away.

That means at the earliest, and by Funcom time, 5 months at minimum. That's after they cry to people because not enough are on the TestLive servers. That is the saddest shit I ever saw, when they basically blamed the community for not testing their product. I got one for ya, hire some Q&A that knows what they are doing. This game is not fun. Fun was removed once this game launched. If you value money, move on. If your waiting on hopes and promises, this is the game for you. The only thing wrong, is thier delivery. Oh and let's not mention the non-existent phone number for Customer Support. Since when did we become archaic? Even people in Zimbabwe have cellphones! :(

An expansion?  Perhaps they fix what they have, and deliver the promised features before moving on. 

They have lost too many paying customers.  They need to sell an expansion to help keep their developers employed.  How else can they justify dangling the planned fixes like a nice juicy carrot that might tempt us to return? 

Good MMORPG. Good Launch. Could be Great. I'm looking forward to the next steps to decide if I'll re-subscribe.

If what they have done so far to "fix" performance is considered the Full Force of there development team(s), then the game is much worse off than I ever considered it to be.

Considering the outcry for transfers, etc.. this comes as no real surprise.

Originally posted by Laserwolf

Good MMORPG. Good Launch. Could be Great.

Are you describing AoC? because that sure isn't the game I've played since beta.

Poor launch, stability issues and crashes are abundant to this day, latency spiking through the roof, billing errors and funds being taken after cancellation has already gone through, etc..

I certainly don't agree with it being a good mmorpg, nor stable in the least, and my system is freshly built (not a walmart special).

Originally posted by CreepingDoom

Originally posted by Laserwolf

Good MMORPG. Good Launch. Could be Great.

Are you describing AoC? because that sure isn't the game I've played since beta.

Poor launch, stability issues and crashes are abundant to this day, latency spiking through the roof, billing errors and funds being taken after cancellation has already gone through, etc..

I certainly don't agree with it being a good mmorpg, nor stable in the least, and my system is freshly built (not a walmart special).

i have the same view as lazerwolf. I tried it the first month and didnt find as many problems with it as others, and my computer ran it very smoothly. I have a feeling this will be a MMORPG Gem just like AO is later on in its life.

Originally posted by CreepingDoom

Originally posted by Laserwolf

Good MMORPG. Good Launch. Could be Great.

Are you describing AoC? because that sure isn't the game I've played since beta.

Poor launch, stability issues and crashes are abundant to this day, latency spiking through the roof, billing errors and funds being taken after cancellation has already gone through, etc..

I certainly don't agree with it being a good mmorpg, nor stable in the least, and my system is freshly built (not a walmart special).

Then I suggest you return your new system (or maybe learn how to build one properly?). Because my system is 1 year old (c2d 6400 2.13ghz, geforce 8800gt, 4gb ram) and I have no stability issues, no crashes, no latency spikes and no billing errors.

AoC runs very well on my system, even MUCH better than the 4 years old EQ2 at max settings. EQ2 is 4 years old and still runs like a dog with all of the settings maxed (but its of course playable). AoC's game engine is much better, it delivers better graphics with better framerates. Compared to EQ2 (at max settings) which was tweaked and improved during 4 years, AoC feels smooth and fast.

And I'm no AoC fanboi either. I'm not playing anymore since end of June (haven't subscribed after my 30 days) as I'm waiting for the promised features (dx10, new pvp system and high level content) to resubscribe.

Originally posted by tvalentine

 

i have the same view as lazerwolf. I tried it the first month and didnt find as many problems with it as others, and my computer ran it very smoothly. I have a feeling this will be a MMORPG Gem just like AO is later on in its life.

Conan is like AO ... NOW.. because Conan use a upgrade version of the AO engine. 

That seems a bad thing, because the way has been upgrade mean code that Funcom can't control, is too complex and buggy.  And as anything old, Conan suffers from some problems that new stuff don't have.

Is a risk you have to take. Most people (like Valve) just upgrade a old engine. But seems here the result is very good to make screenshots, but really expensive to debug.  

What you are seeing is a game dying. Conan engine is  like 10 years old.  

Originally posted by Teiman

Conan engine is  like 10 years old.  

Actually it's one of the best mmorpg engines out there.  (.... well, yes, the zoning is still an open question...)

Compared to many other games, it runs smoother and faster with much more features on the screen. I have already spoken about EQ2 above, now look at Vanguard. Vanguard doesn't even have proper shadows (yes objects have no shadow in VG), water reflections, fog, rain drops on the ground etc.. etc...

With AoC there is only 1 game that has a comparable quality engine: Lotro (and only the dx10 version, not the dx9). That's it. It just amazes me how much AoC draws on the screen with such a speed and smoothness.

So if Aoc is 10 years old, 99% of the other mmorpgs are 20 years old or more?

And it already has dx10 inside (even if it's not fully working yet). How many games have this?

AoC is a complicated engine because it tries to do much more with dx9 than the other games do. They have built some awesome shadows on top of dx9, no other mmorpg has this (even lotro doesn't have object shadows reflecting on other objects in dx9, they use the dx10 hadware to do this).

Yes AoC does much more with its engine than the other mmorpgs do. So you complain that it's more complicated to debug? How suprising.

WTH an expansion already...   That is fail.

That means at the earliest, and by Funcom time, 5 months at minimum. That's after they cry to people because not enough are on the TestLive servers. That is the saddest shit I ever saw, when they basically blamed the community for not testing their product. I got one for ya, hire some Q&A that knows what they are doing. This game is not fun. Fun was removed once this game launched. If you value money, move on. If your waiting on hopes and promises, this is the game for you. The only thing wrong, is thier delivery. Oh and let's not mention the non-existent phone number for Customer Support. Since when did we become archaic? Even people in Zimbabwe have cellphones! :(

It's even more silly than that.

FunCom QA basically threw the baby out with the bath water when they shut down closed beta about 5-6 weeks after release. 

FunCom, in essence, thanked the closed beta testers for their hard work and said, in essence, closed beta was over.  Testing would continue with TestLive  - a test server in the live game.  Beta testers were all encouraged to buy the game (retail box for $50) and establish a FunCom Age of Conan game account ($15) and yes, we'd now have to *PAY* FunCom to continue to test their beta product.

Most of us walked, telling FunCom politely (some said it not so politely) where the cat pooped in the buckwheat and where they could put their TestLive server.  Any surprise it's not quite "working as intended?"

Not to worry said FunCom QA, "we're hiring a bunch more QA employees - want a job?  Of course you'd have to work in Norway...."   Now wait a minute?  FunCom won't continue the much needed Closed Beta where they were getting their closed beta product tested for FREE, but they are hiring (and paying) lots more employees to test their game when lack of money forced FunCiom to release Age of Conan 'way too early in the first place?   Whoa...

It's this pretzel logic that has permeated @ FunCom.  If they don't get it right and get it fixed and soon, it's (quite literally) game over.

Originally posted by paulscott

WTH an expansion already...   That is fail.

Yeah, well, whatever they do, people won't be satisfied.

If they wouldn't talk about an expansion others would say the game has no future.

Anyway, for now I just want the promised features (dx10, new pvp system, high level content).

Too bad most of us don't care any longer Funcom.

I never understood why people could hate a company so much, when I read all the anti-SoE threads and posts.

After playing Age of Conan, I can completely understand.

Boycott failcom!

I really got a laugh out of this statement: "deficiency in the game's higher level content".   Now that is the understatement of the year.

Just to enlighten the Funcom folks, Turbine put the bolder rolling down the dungeon stairs trick in AC1 about 5 years ago.

As always too little too late.