While at the Leipzig Games Convention Jon Wood had the opportunity to sit down under a tree and follow up on the conversation he had with Erling Ellingsen at ComicCon, where they discuss DirectX 10, forum censorship, and Age of Conan's issues after launch.

Watch the interview here

Hi Jon,

Ze link! It does not work! Ze link!

Please told me you asked him why he said "PVP was not an intended featured at launch" during your last interview?

But hey, I can't complain, you ask more hard hitting questions than most others in the industry.

Great interview.  Learned a lot. 

Seems like the folks at FC have learned a lesson as well; no more promising dates of content and major repairs to their badly battered game.

The real clue they missed was to make sure their product is closer to being as advertised. 

What a joke...  I'm sorry too Erling, sorry that we tried to make AoC work for our guild.  Hope you are happy with the ~10k you soaked us for.

Good luck trying to win us, or anyone else back to any FC product in the future.

Funny this smacks of desparation to me.  But when you lose 2/3 of your original subscribers then maybe desparation is a good thing.

In no way could they pull out another Steak/Hamburger statement.  As for the forum moderation, it was drastic.  Basically this is the last stage of damage control.  Sticking your head in the sand didn't work.  PR spinning out the wahzoo didn't work. Out right lying didn't work.  Forum Nazism didn't work. So let's try the truth.

http://forums.ageofconan.com/showthread.php?t=93936 Is a list of bugs still in the game after 3 months.  So much for your smooth release.

Nice one Jon, a good follow up with good  community questions. funcom must think these boards are important to give you the chance to do that interview.

lol, he is sorry for everything....

I am sorry too...

I won't come back to AoC, it could be a great game, fights are cool, but looks like they don't know how to do a great game and how to keep players in it

Its funny, everyone wants them to own up,  And when they do... more bitching. This also isnt the first time he has said most of this info, yet people will continue to cry about DX10 (even if they cant use it).

All of his responses seemed completely reasonable to me.

Well I wish funcom the best, they have a long road to hoe to get this game to a satisfactory level, I just hope they have the time and funds to do so.

Good stuff Jon, asked alot of great questions.

Although EE did admit the odd flaw in the game existed, and that is definitely refreshing to finally hear them say, I still feel he seemed to be backpedaling alot for comments he had made in previous interviews.

Half truthes are just that. Theres a distinct difference between admitting there is a problem, and admitting that you denied the existence of the problems to begin with, until it was deemed acceptable by the powers that be to tell the entire truth on the matter.

I'm gonna give them another 6 months, and then perhaps I will check the game out again and put my CE to some use.

Originally posted by Mrbloodworth

Its funny, everyone wants them to own up,  And when they do... more bitching. This also isnt the first time he has said most of this info, yet people will continue to cry about DX10 (even if they cant use it).

All of his responses seemed completely reasonable to me.

I agree.People should be bitching about the developers that tell you nothing..cough Blizzard ..cough,make you buy there products with no clue if your getting all the content or not.Then they will sell you an expansion pack that was probably suppose to be the old content they didn't give you ..lol.Another thing players should be bitching about is lack of updates after the game has been launched for awhile.I mean players pay out there monthly fees for a game that is already completed..cough Blizzard ..cough,they better start seeing updates to the game that EQUALS the amount of money the game is raping the players for.I mean if a developer is scraping by that is one thing,cut them some slack,but if a game is raping players for millions ..cough Blizzard..cough,you better darn well start seeing some MAJOR updates.

I think FUNCOM has been using there initial cash flow to try and update there game steadily,i would say they are giving it an effort.They still have servers to pay for a staff to pay wages too and it's not like they are making millions anymore.Funcom could have taken that early cash and ran,but i truly believe they are giving an effort to make there game last.

I think you would have to ask the players that are still playing if they are satisfied with the games direction now and if they feel satified the game is making strides.I mean keep things in perspective,are these guys putting out an effort equal to some of the bigger giants in the industry?Are they at least communicating with there player base?If all are true,then cut them some slack,there is much bigger fish to fry..cough Blizzard..cough.

Lame game is lame.

Sorry Funcom, but it's over.

WAR here I come ^^

Originally posted by Mrbloodworth

Its funny, everyone wants them to own up,  And when they do... more bitching. This also isnt the first time he has said most of this info, yet people will continue to cry about DX10 (even if they cant use it).

All of his responses seemed completely reasonable to me.

It takes time to build trust. And just because Funcom guy extends the olive branch does not mean everyone will accept Funcom/AoC back as the prodigal son. If they are serious about this then they will continue to own up to mistakes and make good on promises. Eventually the bithcing would die down (although some will never let it go). But frankly I doubt his sincerity and I dont think anything will change. This is just PR.

Originally posted by Wizardry

Originally posted by Mrbloodworth

Its funny, everyone wants them to own up,  And when they do... more bitching. This also isnt the first time he has said most of this info, yet people will continue to cry about DX10 (even if they cant use it).

All of his responses seemed completely reasonable to me.

I agree.People should be bitching about the developers that tell you nothing..cough Blizzard ..cough,make you buy there products with no clue if your getting all the content or not.Then they will sell you an expansion pack that was probably suppose to be the old content they didn't give you ..lol.Another thing players should be bitching about is lack of updates after the game has been launched for awhile.I mean players pay out there monthly fees for a game that is already completed..cough Blizzard ..cough,they better start seeing updates to the game that EQUALS the amount of money the game is raping the players for.I mean if a developer is scraping by that is one thing,cut them some slack,but if a game is raping players for millions ..cough Blizzard..cough,you better darn well start seeing some MAJOR updates.

I think FUNCOM has been using there initial cash flow to try and update there game steadily,i would say they are giving it an effort.They still have servers to pay for a staff to pay wages too and it's not like they are making millions anymore.Funcom could have taken that early cash and ran,but i truly believe they are giving an effort to make there game last.

I think you would have to ask the players that are still playing if they are satisfied with the games direction now and if they feel satified the game is making strides.I mean keep things in perspective,are these guys putting out an effort equal to some of the bigger giants in the industry?Are they at least communicating with there player base?If all are true,then cut them some slack,there is much bigger fish to fry..cough Blizzard..cough.

  Are you being serious? Alot of us warned you guys that funcom was crooks who lied to there customer base and released buggy stuff way before AoC went to retail alot of us had played AO for years and years and are VERY aware of what a dishonest  lying company Funcom is its the same crooks,same lies,same I am sorry if you believe this guys for one second you deserve to be ripped off by em

Evidently you never played the game Mr Bloodworth, that, or you simply wearing oddly co.ored sunglasses.

You seemingly have a problem with Blizzard.  At least they fixed their product which is significantly more than falicom has managed to do with AoC. 

The primary problem with AoC was it was horribly out of sync with what it was advertised to have.  Couple that with poor communication practices, and faulty patching, and you have a recipe for disaster, ergo Age of Conman.

No one was raped by playing WoW.   They made a fun, working product, which is infinitely more than FC is able to do with AoC.

Cut them slack?  I dont think so.  You cut them some and continue to pay for that broken pos.

Well, what shall I say. When I started to play AoC I knew right away it would not be a long term game for me, and I guess some of my reasons apply to others as well.

First off, I didnt see the launched AoC version as so totally borked or what people claim. It had shortcomings and lacking things, but more or less in the same scope than almost every other MMO ever had at launch, including the infamous other one, which-must-not-be-named. ;)

But what they did wrong... or maybe not wrong, but did not really think through are three aspects, in which IMVPO AoC is lacking, so people won't stay longer.

(1) AoC's entire focus is very narrow. Sure, the combat is great, the world looks great asf, but you have barbarians and oh look more barbarians. I mean, sure you have many classes ("kloosess" as Gaute would say) but overall you dont get real diversity in roles. All are more or less copy cats in the way what kind of character you play. If you play WOW, or EQ2 or the like, you have many ways to shape a character and design your characters role and feelings. In AoC all are basically gritty, barbaric stone age wildmen and wild-women, end of the story. It just gives much less variations to what you can be in this world. If I take EQ2, which I played the longest by far, you can be so many things. A noble Paladin, a witty Swashbuckler Woodelf, a sneaky Ratonga Assasin, a bruitsh Orge berzerker... asf. You can be so many types of characters, and those in AoC all feel very similar to me, as do the places and the only three human races. Added to this, the world itself is narrow. Not only in design - all are stoneage/bronze age settings - but relatively small zones and a relatively small world. All the bad instancing makes it feel even smaller.

(2) While some of the quests tell great and nice stories, I never had the feeling to really have many of them. I feel there is something very wrong with the overall approach of quests and zones. In most other MMOs I played there were many zones and quests to every level range, and in AoC its mostly one or two quest hubs and thats it. And while many qusts are ok, there is no great diversity. Its all rather grim and dark, and little comical relief or variation. I must admit despite the fact the quests themselves were made ok, I felt less and less compelled to make them, since they all felt very much the same to me.

(3) Finally, the entire game was made as a Fast Food Burger. The same time people make 3 characters to level 80 it takes a player to make ONE character to 30 or 40 in Vanguard. Ok, thats the other extreme, but also taking EQ2 - at least once - it took considerable time to level, and it wasnt like work in EQ2, because there are so many places, so many quests, so many things to do and see, I never feel the need to rush through in EQ2 because of it. But AoC fell into the same trap as LOTRO. You play a while and "whoopsydaisy", after a very short time you realize that you levelled through 90% of the game without really getting a grip of the game world. I always was sceptical with too fast levelling. Not that slow levelling is a value per se, but rushing through a game world devalues the world and the experience. It makes your journey like Fast Food, like a snack. It was the reason I quit LOTRO and also AoC. I just dont like that fast levelling gameplay. Every time in LOTRO and AoC I was away a week, EVERYONE I had known had outlevelled me by at least 10 or even more levels, even with normal gameplay, and that means people burn out in a game pretty fast. LOTRO compensated this by adding many new things fast, tho I wonder how long they can keep this up. But Funcom just failed to keep a decent pace of adding new stuff. With such a rush through, the apparent lack of endgame became the neck breaking problem of AoC.

Above all, the great predicament of AoC is the timing. One year ago or maybe in one year it would have been different. But now WAR is coming, and three big expansions are coming around November, for WOW, EQ2 and LOTRO, and I guess while AoC would deserve better, with that competition on the horizon there will be little left of the Kingdom of Conan by the end of the year.

A guy said this earlier. Leveled to fast. As a barbarian I could just about one shot any mob I came up to except for elites just to easy and the samethign for pvp.

Lets not forget about server lag which is to me is a huge limpfest for me. Even now they still have lots of it. AoC looked good and if they had balanced out the game play a lil better it would have been a good game. Only 2 games I ever went back to after quiting was eq1 and eq2 when pvp was introduced I will not be back to AoC.

Oh yes I would like a refund for paying to play a beta game since it wasnt ready for launch

LOLCOM

He can say sorry and apologize all he wants, Erl and Failcom still lied and whatever he says will not change what I think about Failcom or their creation, Arse of Conan.  You know what would make me stop coming to these boards and writing about them?  The return of my $50, that's all.  Until then Erl and the Failcom can go sit and spin.

/rant off

For the love of god not this guy again. Haven't we heard enough lies dribble from him. We don't know when he is even speaking the truth anymore or spinning Funcom lies.

Originally posted by Grimtuth

Evidently you never played the game Mr Bloodworth, that, or you simply wearing oddly co.ored sunglasses.

You seemingly have a problem with Blizzard.  At least they fixed their product which is significantly more than falicom has managed to do with AoC. 

The primary problem with AoC was it was horribly out of sync with what it was advertised to have.  Couple that with poor communication practices, and faulty patching, and you have a recipe for disaster, ergo Age of Conman.

No one was raped by playing WoW.   They made a fun, working product, which is infinitely more than FC is able to do with AoC.

Cut them slack?  I dont think so.  You cut them some and continue to pay for that broken pos.

You just reiterated EXACTLY what Blizzard does but again i see the same Things.Lets cut up funcom and there NEW game but cut Blizzard some slack.

How do you know you wern't raped by wow?What if they took out failed content ,you would never know because they don't like to communicate with the public at all.You say they fixed WOW ,therefore you cut them slack?Well FUNCOM is attempting to fix there issues,yet you  don't give them the same time frame.In case you didn't read the interview on Bizweekly,Blizzard after 5 years stil lemploys a lot of people to work on there updates/patches,witch means there system is stil lfailing or not?

The other problem is when people use VAGUE statements like "WOW is a FUN product"it is? lol it is EXACTLY the same thing as ALL other MMORPG's,But wiuth inferior graphics/textures/models.How do you figure killing mobs is any more fun in WOW than ANY other game?geesh ,it really shows how  the term "Fanbois" came abou,they deserve to be raped by BLizzard .In case you havn't followed RPG's for oh say the last 20 years......you engage in melee or magic,that's it,you use your best spells/armour/weapons and kill the mob,there is nothing more to it.ONLY FFXI actually offers a unique combat system that can actually be fun ,especially for a newer player,it wil lget old after many years.Since we are on the AOC topic,they actually tried to incorporate a unique combat system as well,WOW offrs NOTHING to combat uniqeness at all,so saying it is more fun >>>>RFLMAO.