Hi,
I was looking on forums and google for information about possible trial accounts and didn't find anything.(I have to admit I didn't try too hard).
I am definately not subscribing anything I can't try out first and also not going to ask for buddy key on every forum I run into...

Does anyone know if regular trials are planned?

There's no trial atm, and I'm not sure when there will be one. I'm sure there will be one eventually though.

As for a cd key, I'm sure that one of the good people here can give you one. I gave mine to someone already or I would hook you up. Be aware though that there is a charge to download the game, unless you know someone who has the game cds. (Which you probably don't or you wuold have a cd key already.)

I don't remember what the fee to download it is, either 1.99 or 2.99.

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Originally posted by Slythe

There's no trial atm, and I'm not sure when there will be one. I'm sure there will be one eventually though.
As for a cd key, I'm sure that one of the good people here can give you one. I gave mine to someone already or I would hook you up. Be aware though that there is a charge to download the game, unless you know someone who has the game cds. (Which you probably don't or you wuold have a cd key already.)
I don't remember what the fee to download it is, either 1.99 or 2.99.

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I understand the need of buddy keys to protect servers from too much load but hey, subscriber numbers dropped by half now. It would be the best time to open game for trial accounts.

Unfortunately you can't even ask on AoC forums unless you purchase the game :-/

I have no issue with paying small fee, just spending my time on looking for trial key is not going well with my nature, I rather wait or just forget about the game.

If you would rather just forget about the game, then I would suggest you do that. I think pretty much everyone here will agree that its not worth the effort right now. It might be worth a look someday when there is an actual trial and the game has been fixed. But that day obviously is not today.

Originally posted by Gdemami

 

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Originally posted by Slythe

 

There's no trial atm, and I'm not sure when there will be one. I'm sure there will be one eventually though.
As for a cd key, I'm sure that one of the good people here can give you one. I gave mine to someone already or I would hook you up. Be aware though that there is a charge to download the game, unless you know someone who has the game cds. (Which you probably don't or you wuold have a cd key already.)
I don't remember what the fee to download it is, either 1.99 or 2.99.

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I understand the need of buddy keys to protect servers from too much load but hey, subscriber numbers dropped by half now. It would be the best time to open game for trial accounts.

Unfortunately you can't even ask on AoC forums unless you purchase the game :-/

I have no issue with paying small fee, just spending my time on looking for trial key is not going well with my nature, I rather wait or just forget about the game.

Man...  You made me spit coffee on my monitor.
 

Uhh server load isn't the issue my friend.  Even at launch there were plenty of servers and now that the majority of servers are empty.  Well lets just say load isn't the issue.

They don't offer a free trial because they know anyone who tries the trial will never subscribe.  Once they see the empty servers, broken stats, broken this or that.  They want you to buy the game or charge a download fee so they at least make something off you.

People who bought the game were suppose to get X amount of buddy keys.  They even scammed us on that.  You have to have an active account to give one away and then they hit your buddy with a 3$ fee.

Shady operation,

Be wary of giving your credit card info too because they notoriously will charge people for extra months or whatever they feel like.

credit card?! i was once cheated on that payment. its not worth it.

My humble recommendation for you is to wait some months when something is working in AoC. Also would like to tell you that your credit card info can be scammed by Funcom (reported alot of times previously). Wait until the day comes where there is a free trail to try it. Best luck.

I think I might try out Perfect World, its free to play, dont know how it plays. Just mention it if you are looking for an MMO.

Thank you all for your replies.
I think the reason for major disappointment is your high expectations - justified or not.
I do not suffer that issue since I divide MMO market in two categories - EVE and grind fest. This is just a personal oppinion based on attributes I value, not saying other games are bad or anything, it is just that to me they are all pretty much the same and unattractive.

What really matters to me is some sort of uniqueness that has to be present in the game.
There are 2 games that impressed me so far even though they fall under second categopry in my MMO resolution:
LOTRO - perfect world design and art work making you feel like living in Tolkien's universe. Very unfortunate to me is the fact that only form of PvP is monster play which is quite fun but...still, not much appealing to me.
Guild Wars - the ability to define your character with unique skill set is killed with fully instanced world.

I think AoC might be in between of those two, even though I am a bit suspicious there is no room for character oneness :(