AoC wont ever get me to check it out again without a free 30 day invite back.  After the broken promises they can at least to that.  I think they will if they ever get it right, no email with an invitation tells me its still broke.

Originally posted by Channce

AoC wont ever get me to check it out again without a free 30 day invite back.  After the broken promises they can at least to that.  I think they will if they ever get it right, no email with an invitation tells me its still broke.

Isn't it a bit cheap to only play free trials, Betas, F2P, etc. ? Sometimes you just have to treat yourself a nice game. 15 $ is not that much. See you in game bud.

Honestly, I would not mind at all trying AoC out again. I got it in June for my birthday and was quite disappointed. Mainly because of performance issues. Sometimes the game would run very smooth on the highest settings, then after a patch it would run awful on low settings. This was going on for so long, it drove me insane and I absolutely hated the game. It always did have some qualitites I liked however, and the fact that it is 'Conan' with barbarians and sorcery always gets me axcited and wanting to play again. Oh well I will have a think about it. Thanks for sharing your thought OP and others. :)

 I just started back up today.  The game was fun, and I really never felt that there was anything game breaking or missing.  Vanguard was a lot worse than AoC.

I'm glad I came back.

Originally posted by Gigget

 I just started back up today.  The game was fun, and I really never felt that there was anything game breaking or missing.  Vanguard was a lot worse than AoC.

I'm glad I came back.

That's good to hear. Did you get to level 80 first time around? or been to Ymir's yet?

 Stability wasn't the issue with the game. 

It was all the features that aren't missing, and the fact that its a heavily overinstanced WoW clone. 

Originally posted by SignusM

 Stability wasn't the issue with the game. 

 

It was all the features that aren't missing, and the fact that its a heavily overinstanced WoW clone. 

Hmmm.. Some people belive AoC lost half of its player mass over the first weeks just due to low FPS and horrid memory leaks. I am very exited to hear their feedback when they come back.

It is a good game. I've never had performance issues on it...It'll be interesting to see what happens in the next couple of months.

*Edit*

Looking at their market report last month, it shows they still have a lot more subscribers than most other mmorpg's out do, except for World of Warcraft, and LOTRO which just recently spiked in sub-rates.

Originally posted by BearShammy

Originally posted by SignusM

 Stability wasn't the issue with the game. 

 

It was all the features that aren't missing, and the fact that its a heavily overinstanced WoW clone. 

 

Hmmm.. Some people belive AoC lost half of its player mass over the first weeks just due to low FPS and horrid memory leaks. I am very exited to hear their feedback when they come back.

Others believe that it was the bad, boring gameplay, and lack of features, that caused more than half the playerbase to quit within the first three months.  The bugs and crashes were just piled on top.

Personally, I think a lot of people will play through bugs and tech issues, if the game itself is fun and looks like it is worth playing over the long term.  People know that bugs will eventually be fixed, but bad game design rarely is.

That's why I think most left AoC.  In looking past the bugs and OOM crashes, they didn't like what they saw.

Originally posted by Rohn

Originally posted by BearShammy

Originally posted by SignusM

 Stability wasn't the issue with the game. 

 

It was all the features that aren't missing, and the fact that its a heavily overinstanced WoW clone. 

 

Hmmm.. Some people belive AoC lost half of its player mass over the first weeks just due to low FPS and horrid memory leaks. I am very exited to hear their feedback when they come back.

 

Others believe that it was the bad, boring gameplay, and lack of features, that caused more than half the playerbase to quit within the first three months.  The bugs and crashes were just piled on top.

Personally, I think a lot of people will play through bugs and tech issues, if the game itself is fun and looks like it is worth playing over the long term.  People know that bugs will eventually be fixed, but bad game design rarely is.

That's why I think most left AoC.  In looking past the bugs and OOM crashes, they didn't like what they saw.

Well, knowing your opinions about AoC, I think you just say that because there is few OOM and performance issues to bitch about. Frankly, also number of bugs are getting thin, so of course you now just have to say that you don't like the game just because.

{ Mod Edit }

Or you are just a nitpicking fanboy and this game isn't as great as some or many are lead to believe.

On the other hand I never thought the game was terrible. I just never played it much with most of my friends  which is kinda the reason I play MMOs in the first place...

I'm more inclined to side with the sane crowd and say that while the game isn't outstanding in the sense that the way some things were with the done game play are kind of counter intuitive and some what hampering/limiting, it isn't the absolute crapfest that some rant about.

Nor is this game great or amazing. It's a game. It fulfills it's developers designs and those that like said choices will enjoy it for the most part while those that don't, well, won't.

Get over it.

Originally posted by CobraSolidus

Originally posted by Rohn

Originally posted by BearShammy

 

Others believe that it was the bad, boring gameplay, and lack of features, that caused more than half the playerbase to quit within the first three months.  The bugs and crashes were just piled on top.

Personally, I think a lot of people will play through bugs and tech issues, if the game itself is fun and looks like it is worth playing over the long term.  People know that bugs will eventually be fixed, but bad game design rarely is.

That's why I think most left AoC.  In looking past the bugs and OOM crashes, they didn't like what they saw.

Well, knowing your opinions of AoC I think you just say that because there is no more OOM and performance issues to bitch about. Frankly, also number of bugs are now getting thin, so of course you are now just have to say that you don't like the game.

{ Mod Edit }

I agree with Rohn. Technical issues were not the reason why people quit. Everyone that I talked to in my guild and who quit, said that they just felt the game was boring and sucked. Technical issues were icing on the cake but not the real reason.

If tech issues were the reason I'm sure most of them would have come back already. But they didn't come back and now Funcom needs to merge servers to survive with low population.

Originally posted by GiveMePvP

Originally posted by CobraSolidus

Originally posted by Rohn

Originally posted by BearShammy

 

Others believe that it was the bad, boring gameplay, and lack of features, that caused more than half the playerbase to quit within the first three months.  The bugs and crashes were just piled on top.

Personally, I think a lot of people will play through bugs and tech issues, if the game itself is fun and looks like it is worth playing over the long term.  People know that bugs will eventually be fixed, but bad game design rarely is.

That's why I think most left AoC.  In looking past the bugs and OOM crashes, they didn't like what they saw.

Well, knowing your opinions of AoC I think you just say that because there is no more OOM and performance issues to bitch about. Frankly, also number of bugs are now getting thin, so of course you are now just have to say that you don't like the game.

{ Mod Edit }

 

I agree with Rohn. Technical issues were not the reason why people quit. Everyone that I talked to in my guild and who quit, said that they just felt the game was boring and sucked. Technical issues were icing on the cake but not the real reason.

If tech issues were the reason I'm sure most of them would have come back already. But they didn't come back and now Funcom needs to merge servers to survive with low population.

What guild was you a part of was it by any chance Lumaches Guild? What server was that guild on again? lol...

Originally posted by CobraSolidus

Originally posted by GiveMePvP

Originally posted by CobraSolidus

Originally posted by Rohn

Originally posted by BearShammy

 

Others believe that it was the bad, boring gameplay, and lack of features, that caused more than half the playerbase to quit within the first three months.  The bugs and crashes were just piled on top.

Personally, I think a lot of people will play through bugs and tech issues, if the game itself is fun and looks like it is worth playing over the long term.  People know that bugs will eventually be fixed, but bad game design rarely is.

That's why I think most left AoC.  In looking past the bugs and OOM crashes, they didn't like what they saw.

Well, knowing your opinions of AoC I think you just say that because there is no more OOM and performance issues to bitch about. Frankly, also number of bugs are now getting thin, so of course you are now just have to say that you don't like the game.

{ Mod Edit }

 

I agree with Rohn. Technical issues were not the reason why people quit. Everyone that I talked to in my guild and who quit, said that they just felt the game was boring and sucked. Technical issues were icing on the cake but not the real reason.

If tech issues were the reason I'm sure most of them would have come back already. But they didn't come back and now Funcom needs to merge servers to survive with low population.

What guild was you a part of was it by any chance Lumaches Guild? What server was that guild on again? lol...

The Black Sun on Aquilonia (EU). We had a website, vent and 400+members at some point. Now it's almost complitely dead. And no, it wasn't "Lumaches Guild".

Originally posted by Rohn

Personally, I think a lot of people will play through bugs and tech issues, if the game itself is fun and looks like it is worth playing over the long term.  People know that bugs will eventually be fixed, but bad game design rarely is.

Thats probably the reason why a lot of players stayed with the game. By a lot I mean same numbers that play Lotro online, Eve Online and other games that are not WoW.

When masses joins the game the fact is they look something WoW like when they dont get it they leave, just watch for that trend in all upcoming games. This year we saw it in AoC and WaR next year there will be some new games with same problem.

Personally I hope AoC will never become mainstream MMO with more then a milion players as then you need to make imo dumb decisions game mechanic wise to keep them entertained aka game should be more wowish.  ( dont get me wrong nothing wrong with WoW if you like that kind of games )

I for one know that even when i quit playing AoC I wont go for auto attack boring same old same old combat system ...

Well things are changing slowly and more and more developers will try to provide alternatives how combat should work ( like Chronicles of Spellborn, Mortal Online, Darkfall .. well if its not ..., Earth rise etc... )

Originally posted by IKShadow

Originally posted by Rohn

Personally, I think a lot of people will play through bugs and tech issues, if the game itself is fun and looks like it is worth playing over the long term.  People know that bugs will eventually be fixed, but bad game design rarely is.

 

Thats probably the reason why a lot of players stayed with the game. By a lot I mean same numbers that play Lotro online, Eve Online and other games that are not WoW.

When masses joins the game the fact is they look something WoW like when they dont get it they leave, just watch for that trend in all upcoming games. This year we saw it in AoC and WaR next year there will be some new games with same problem.

 

Personally I hope AoC will never become mainstream MMO with more then a milion players as then you need to make imo dumb decisions game mechanic wise to keep them entertained aka game should be more wowish.  ( dont get me wrong nothing wrong with WoW if you like that kind of games )

I for one know that even when i quit playing AoC I wont go for auto attack boring same old same old combat system ...

Well things are changing slowly and more and more developers will try to provide alternatives how combat should work ( like Chronicles of Spellborn, Mortal Online, Darkfall .. well if its not ..., Earth rise etc... )

 

 

That's the point. It seems to be very hard to fathom for a lot of the posters here, that a lot of of players are still playing AoC and is having a blast at it. That wont go away, as the core mechanic and feel of AoC is something entirely different from mainstream MMO. So be it that it wont make 1 million players. I would much rather have the community we have now, than the one we had at launch.

Originally posted by IKShadow

Originally posted by Rohn

Personally, I think a lot of people will play through bugs and tech issues, if the game itself is fun and looks like it is worth playing over the long term.  People know that bugs will eventually be fixed, but bad game design rarely is.

 

Thats probably the reason why a lot of players stayed with the game. By a lot I mean same numbers that play Lotro online, Eve Online and other games that are not WoW.

When masses joins the game the fact is they look something WoW like when they dont get it they leave, just watch for that trend in all upcoming games. This year we saw it in AoC and WaR next year there will be some new games with same problem.

 

Personally I hope AoC will never become mainstream MMO with more then a milion players as then you need to make imo dumb decisions game mechanic wise to keep them entertained aka game should be more wowish.  ( dont get me wrong nothing wrong with WoW if you like that kind of games )

I for one know that even when i quit playing AoC I wont go for auto attack boring same old same old combat system ...

Well things are changing slowly and more and more developers will try to provide alternatives how combat should work ( like Chronicles of Spellborn, Mortal Online, Darkfall .. well if its not ..., Earth rise etc... )

 

 

That's the main problem of today's market,whenever a new game hits the market,the mass is expecting to play another WoW and if it's not the case they just spit their hatred out in forums.It looks that the new gen of MMO players have been formatted to play only one style...The WoW way.

I refer to my prior post.

I also add that making games is a catch 22.

Either you make the game different, knowing the majority is not going to be interested and gambleon the hopes that you can get a smaller yet loyal group of players.

Or you can makea clone game and hope to revise things in a way that makes it easier for people to access the game and just run with it, hoping that you can pullenough people away from their current games with a product that might easily get labeled a 'half-assed clone'.

The great failure of AOC was that FC had within its grasp almost the entire serious guild based MMO market. The population was there, the guilds were there... and they blew it. Not for lack of content, bugs, performance, lag, but by unintelligent design. Serious guilds with lots of members on vent see things like the following and hit the exits fast:

1. A mindless resource gathering system for city advancement, which all crafting in AOC hinges on. The game is supposed to be a game of combat and plunder. I wonder how many copies a Conan novel would have sold in which the main plotline involved Conan fending off hostiles while trying to whack an oak tree 10,000 times to build a keep? The remedy would have been to make resource gathering plunder based and add in siege/pvp based UPKEEP to easily built structures.

2. A linear sieging system requiring too many players online at once. Even 6 y.o. Shadowbane lets players plant siege engines where they want to and structure attacks how they want to. AOC sieging should have been smaller structures attackable by smaller groups of players in various ways, not mega huge battlekeeps with linear siege engine placement. 48 man sieges was great for marketing, but never played out. Even ahead of the curve machines could not handle that much.

3. Nose picking, completely linear dungeon raids. Serious players are tired of having half their abilities disabled or worse against super boss mobs at the end of the same ole tunnel and having to figure out the proper completely linear single way to learn to farm the mob. The EQ gear grind model served its purpose, but it is PLAYED OUT.

4. Weak, uncreative arena system. Instead of the bland, paltry few maps they put into the minigames, they should have put in a GW style random/small team arena from the start. By the time they eventually got the pvp patch out, the people who did play the minis were sick of the thoroughly unimaginative maps.

5. Cataclysmic gameworld changes. The totally fubar way they implemented the gem system and deimplemented it, without which the crafting system becomes meaningless was the most boneheaded move I've ever seen in a game. You don't set out a goal for players, watch them grind for the goal, then totally remove it. This screams bad faith and rewards the casual scrub players who are still hanging on in AOC. All the good players are gone with the wind after being treated like idiots.

6. Gear grind. After swearing up and down that the game would not be a gear grind, they did exactly that with the pvp patch. I calculated that based on my server pop (Set) and participation in minigames, that it would take 800 hours of pvp to get the LEVEL FIVE gear of a ten level progression. Absurd. They should have let people get the gear easily and then grind for small customizations in either marginal modifications or custom appearance ala GW. Ironically, this will keep LOTS of people from resubbing,as the Pvp gear is demonstrably better than anything elsewhere for pvp, and gives a very significant advantage. What gamer in their right mind would resub to a game for pvp and try to compete with already geared out toons for eons to get just the basic pvp gear? Either a scrub or someone not too bright.

Eh that's enough, but I could go on and on and on. None of the above has changed in AOC and it is most certainly not "freakin awesome now" for anyone other than a noobie gamer...

Originally posted by sanskrit

 What gamer in their right mind would resub to a game for pvp and try to compete with already geared out toons for eons to get just the basic pvp gear? Either a scrub or someone not too bright.

 

If I follow your logic on this statement,does it mean that it's useless for a new player to try the game as he will be too noob equipped to fight? So games such as EvE Online should shut down because  new players won`t be able to fight  vets?