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Hello everyone! I was recently asked to create a thread where some of the people visiting these fine MMORPG.com forums have a place to get clear and accurate answers about the current state of Age of Conan. You may be thinking.....well who the hell is this guy and why does he know so much? Well, my in game name is Hieru and Hiezu and I am the leader of the Acolytes. We are based on the Cimmeria server which is an RP-PVP server. We are one of 5 guilds in all servers based in North America that currently have every killable PVE boss on farm status and we are a dominating force in PVP as well. We have held a PVP battlekeep since launch and have been involved in whatever there is PVP related in game. Some of you may be thinking.....blah the PVP must suck on a RP-PVP server. Well, just a few weeks ago we had one of our very own guild members be the first out of all North American servers to reach PVP level 5, so I can assure there is as much PVP happening here as on any other server.
Enough about me......please feel free to ask any question you have! |
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12/23/08 10:00:23 PM#2
Would you recommend AoC to someone NOT in to PvP? How does strategy play in to the grouping dynamic or is it just a button mashing zergfest? |
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Originally posted by Bodeus
Would you recommend AoC to someone NOT in to PvP? To be honest AoC is very PVP oriented. There are a couple PVE servers where the only PVP that happens is within the PVP border kingdom's where the 8 battlekeep's are held, which is 3 zones. On the PVP servers PVP is allowed anywhere within the world except within the 3 major cities. If you have absolutely no interest what so ever in PVP then I would definately not join one of the PVP servers. If you think that you would like to give PVP a try then I would definately give AoC a chance on one of the PVP servers. I do not have any characters on the PVE servers, but from what I hear the population is very low. The patch at the end of October was the one where they introduced a murder system to try and deter the higher level players from attacking and killing lower level players. If you want to read a couple of the details it can be found here http://forums.ageofconan.com/showpost.php?p=2065607&postcount=7 . One other function they added that is not mentioned in that link is when you are on the rez pad you keep your Shield of the Risen (basically a buff that prevents you from being attacked) until you run a good distance away from the rez pad. Before they implemented that people would just stand at the rez pad and continuously kill someone over and over again, that is no longer possible.
How does strategy play in to the grouping dynamic or is it just a button mashing zergfest? Strategy is key when you are involved in PVE and PVP. I personally think the PVE bosses in Age of Conan are done pretty well and they definately make you think about how they can be taken down. One of the PVE bosses actually requires that you have finished a quest for an item that will unstun your tanks after the boss stuns them. The PVE bosses here in AoC are more then just your typical tank and spank. So not only group, but raid balance is needed for the PVE bosses. On the PVP side of things group balance comes into play as well. Each class has their own positives and negatives. An example of this would be if the Tempest of Set you were grouped with uses their spell called Quicksand which snares all the enemies within a certain area range while the Demonologist in your group uses his spell named Let Them Burn which is a DoT that hits not only the person you have targeted, but everyone else in his group at the same time as long as they are somewhat close together. So you can see where the combination of snaring and AoE'ing can be a deadly combination. That is just a very generic example of the group dynamics that can happen with PVP in AoC. So to answer your question, sure people can mash buttons if they want, but the more organized group that knows how to play their classes together will beat those that don't know and are just mashing various buttons.
Hopefully I answered your questions, if not, let me know and I will expand if need be. |
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12/23/08 10:38:47 PM#4
I really...really...REALLY want to try this game...i'm willing to pay Funcom 2.99 for the client but the thing is, I intend to play on cimmeria or whatever. My question is:
How is the CURRENT population for that server?
And please, don't tell me to wait for server merges, or that it will get better with server merges. I know those are both coming, and no I am not being sarcastic or flaming anyone or any dev or any game. I want an honest opinion on server population that is unbiased because I would be playing LOTRO right now if it wasn't for how unwilling people are to group and how dead it is. Thank you.
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Originally posted by Dark-Asylum
How is the CURRENT population for that server (Cimmeria)? Cimmeria is one of the most populated servers right now. The top two right now for sure are Cimmeria and Tyranny. I have no reason to be biased towards the server I am on as you will see the same within the official forums with Cimmeria and Tyranny as the current top populated servers from similar questions. There has been no "official" released list of which servers are getting merged with which except for the very first merge which will be Hyperborea and Bloodspire. If you notice within the official forums people from Hyperborea are not too happy with that merge and there will be people transferring to Cimmeria when they get the chance to. If you logged into Cimmeria tonight, tomorrow, or whenever you will not be dissappointed with the server population at all. That population will only increase after server merges as well some time late January possibly early February. |
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12/23/08 11:06:47 PM#6
thank you
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12/23/08 11:17:58 PM#7
What is the best PVE server? I am looking for one and Wiccana is my last resort (since I do not RP). |
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12/23/08 11:31:11 PM#8
Thanks for your help first of all! :D 1. Where can I buy a trial of this game? 2. How is the PvP in this game and does the PvP reward you in anyway? 3. How is the Mage class in this game or the highest ranged DPS class? Agian, thanks! :D |
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Originally posted by templarga
What is the best PVE server? I am looking for one and Wiccana is my last resort (since I do not RP). I do not feel comfortable giving you a firm answer on this as I do not have any characters on any of the PVE servers, if someone here does please feel free to chime in. From word of mouth though, Set and Wiccana seem to be the most populated PVE servers. Even on those my guess is that they are not hugely populated as I believe Funcom's plan was to have one PVE server after all of the merges are done. If you are mildly interested in pvp then I would definately reccommend one of the PVP servers just merely on the basis of the population increase they would have over the seperated PVE servers at this time. On a side note, after all of the server merges are done and over with, Funcom is giving you a free transfer to whatever server you wish with each one of your created characters. |
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12/23/08 11:44:06 PM#10
Originally posted by templarga
I play on Wiccana and enjoy it a great deal. It may never be as populated as the PvP servers, but I have not had any real trouble in finding groups for certain quests. I play mostly central time at night. You also got to remember it is the holidays, there does not seem to be a lot of players on during this time in my opinion. There is plenty of good guilds I see a lot running around at various levels. A look on the official forums in the guild section and inquring on active guilds should land you a few good results hopefully.
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Originally posted by maddi123
1. Where can I buy a trial of this game? There is no free open downloadable trial as of yet. But, it seems they do let current subscribers invite a friend for 7 days if they already have the DVD's or 10 days after paying $3 to download the client. "This buddy program lets you invite friends to join you in Hyboria for free for seven days. Simple select what server you play on, your Nickname and then write a personal message if you so desire. When done, enter the e-mail address of your buddy and then click "Buddy Invite". We recommend that you lend your install DVDs to your buddy to get him or her ready to play as fast as possible. Alternatively your buddy will be offered a $2,99/€2,99 client download with 3 additional days of playtime to cover the download time. " I have never tried this buddy system before, but I am more then willing to try it out if you PM me your email address here on the mmorpg.com forums or you can email me at redruum@gmail.com . My guess is there is some sort of limit they impose on each subscriber on the amount of guest passes they can email out. Let me know if you are intersted in trying this out because I also would like to know how well this works. 2. How is the PvP in this game and does the PvP reward you in anyway? I personally find the PVP in this game to be very entertaining. There are multiple ways to participate in PVP. If you join a PVP designated server then there is open PVP in every zone except the 3 major cities. There is a murder system in place to try and prevent higher level players harrassing the lower level players throughout the world pvp. There are also mini games that you can sign up for within the game menu that are groups of 6 vs 6 in either capture the skull or team annihilation on about 4 different maps. In update 4 which is slated for early January they are putting forth improvements on the search function for these mini games to try and speed up the time it takes to find and join a mini game. Then the last form is Siege PVP. Siege PVP takes place in the Border Kingdoms which are 3 zones and there are a total of 8 PVP battlekeeps per server that guilds can take and defend. These battles are 48 vs 48. The game has made tremedouse strides with diminishing the lag that was a huge problem at and after launch. There is XP that is gained through PVP'ing. It scales if you are fighting solo or with a group. So if you were to kill a person one on one then you would get 100 PVP XP, if you killed that same person in a group you would only get say 50 PVP XP. Their is diminishing returns on PVP XP. Which means the more you kill the same person the less and less PVP XP you get until you are all the way down to 1 PVP XP each time you kill that person. They implemented that to try and encourage people to fight other people and to also probably try and prevent people from abusing the PVP XP system. There are currently 10 PVP levels. The higher you get in the PVP levels you are given the option to purchase PVP gear that helps your invul's in PVP. With Update 4 probably coming early January hopefully they are adding in resources that only drop during PVP and these resources are the only resources that will be able to build and/or repair your PVP battlekeeps. Update 4 is going to be a very good update and you can see what all is coming here http://cdn.funcom.com/aoc/newsletter/issue20/ The PVP specific changes are here http://community.ageofconan.com/wsp/conan/frontend.cgi?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=online&utm_campaign=Clan_of_Conan&utm_content=issue20&func=publish.show&template=content&func_id=2751&table=CONTENT
3. How is the Mage class in this game or the highest ranged DPS class? I personally think the Mages are very good in AoC. While they're all able to do magical damage, their primary method of dealing damage varies. The Herald of Xotli does primarly melee damage. The Necromancer animates the dead to provide powerful pets. Then lastely there is the Demonologist wielding the power of hell and earth and capable of conjuring pillars of flame or titanic storms of electricity. From my experience all three of these classes can definately hold their own in PVP solo and the necro and Demo probably get the most benefit being in groups as they can sit in the back and cast their group spells and AoE's from afar. This is a good location too see some feat calculators and explanations of the classes http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/35415
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12/24/08 12:44:33 AM#12
If i signup for AoC can I join your guild and can we be BFFs and you can teach me how to gank and stuff! Really can I? Im serious. |
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12/24/08 6:16:47 AM#13
Originally posted by jblah
Hm....don't take the bate.
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Originally posted by Bodeus
I am trying to keep this thread for people that have questions about coming back to the game or trying it for the first time. If you are interested in the Acolytes feel free to follow the links in my thread.
Thanks! |
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12/24/08 8:44:21 AM#15
Awesome! I've been watching the Cimmeria server forums for a few months now so I know who you guys are =)
I'm hoping to enter the world of Hyboria tomorrow on Cimmeria =D
So anyway...to my questions...There have been a lot of people around here saying a lot of bad stuff about AoC. What are some of the problems that the game is facing right now? What are some of the points that really shine for AoC?
Just want to clear up some stuff. This is a good time for the AoC skeptics (Unfinished, Scaredgirl, Hamr, Elsa) to ask questions too!
Yes I called you four out! ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
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Originally posted by jblah
1. Does the game have bar brawling or DX-10 yet? 2. Can I be anything besides a human in the game? 3. Does my Collectors edition get me anything normal players dont have? These are valid questions. 1. The game does not have drunken brawling and there is no ETA on when/if that will ever make it in game. DX-10 has just recently been put on the Test Live server. The test live server can be accessed by any current subscriber of the game. Once things make it onto the Test Live server that means it is not long before it will make it to the live portion of the game. If you are interested in learning more about the Test Live Server here is a link http://forums-tl.ageofconan.com/showthread.php?t=37960 2. Currently the only race is humans. Funcom's plan was to break away from the typical high fantasy of elves and dwarves. The story content that Funcom has at their fingertips for the Conan lore is huge so who knows what they may choose to do in the future in regards to playable characters. 3. Depending on where you purchased your collector's edition determines which mount you recieved. It would either be the Wooly Mammoth, Rhino, or an Amazon bow. There is also a +XP% ring that works for the first 40 levels. If you purchase Age of Conan now during the holiday season they are including the brand new Snow Mammoth which if you were to buy it in game right now is 100gold, which is alot, so you would definately be one of the few that has a Snow Mammoth if you were to purchase the game this holiday season. Here is a link if anyone is interested in the special offer. www.ageofconan.com/order_US.html |
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12/24/08 9:17:53 AM#17
Would anyone be able to send me a buddy key? darkbladed@gmail.com
Also what happens when you die in PVP and PVE? XP loss Item Repair Drop a corpse/items on death?
Also how much xp etc is lost on death in both pvp and pve? |
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Originally posted by Capn23
Awesome! Welcome to Cimmeria! I do encourage the people you mentioned and anyone else to feel free to ask any questions you want about the current state of AoC. People that know me know that I tell it how it is and very straight forward on what I think about things. What are some of the problems that the game is facing right now? I would have to say the biggest problem right now is that there are too many servers and not enough player base to adequately cover all of those servers. With any MMO population of a server is one of the most important things to make your game play enjoyable. There are still some random lag spikes here and there, but the performance is WAY better then it was at and near launch. Your map turning grey and then crashing a couple minutes later is long gone. Even the performance on the sieges have gotten way better, it still needs to be tweaked to be flawless, but sieges are no longer slide shows. If anyone is looking to build a new machine for AoC then I would definately recommend Vista 64bit. For some reason the game run's very well on that platform. I have been running that since launch and I have never experienced the old memory leaks or random crashes that other's experienced. If people left the game due to the game's instability, they will be happy to know that those are a thing of the past. Funcom is looking to solve the server issue with server merges that are slated to begin somewhere in January. Another complaint people have is that there is no real incentive to PVP currently in game. There is PVP XP and you can purchase PVP gear based on what PVP level you are, but after a while it becomes just another grind. Kheshatta has always kind of been the zone for high level PVP, but with the addition of guards that actually do damage with the criminal/murder system and the fact you can only rez at the nearest rez pad now, PVP gets pretty boring after a while in Khesh. What Funcom needs to do is somehow encourage PVP in multiple other zones besides just Khesh. They are trying to accomplish this I believe with some of the PVP changes in Update 4. They are going to implement resources that are dropped off of players when they die in PVP. These resources are the only resources you can use to repair or build your PVP battlekeeps. The border kingdom zone Cimmeria's End will have nodes that can be harvested for these resources as well as drop off of players when killed throughout Hyboria. So, my hopes is that Cimmeria's End will become a new zone where mass PVP will happen without the worry of guards interferring.
What are some of the points that really shine for AoC? I think the biggest thing that shines is how Funcom continues to fix current issue's and at the same time put forth new content for everyone to enjoy. Not to long ago Funcom appointed a new Game Director in Craig 'Silirrion' Morrison. That in itself shows that Funcom was not happy with the direction AoC was going and agreed they need change and a new person to lead that change. Not sure if there are any old Anarchy Online players here, but if so you will recognize Craig's handle. He started out as just a normal player of Anarchy Online, he ran a fan site, he then started working for Funcom as a GM and has worked his way all the way up to Game Director of Anarchy Online and now Age of Conan. So, if there is anyone out there that understands the people that play MMO's it would be him. Those that would always say there is no content within AoC is going to get their wish granted with Update 4. Funcom has already released Ymir's pass to the live servers which is a mid level zone and I do have to say it is VERY well done. With Update 4 comes a new level 80 group zone and a level 80 solo zone along with many changes to pvp. I believe the first expansion pack is set to launch sometime in late 2009 as well. Needless to say there is plenty to do in AoC from level 1 all the way through 80 and if people are even remotely of thinking of trying AoC or giving it another shot I definately think it would be worth it!
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12/24/08 9:52:30 AM#19
Thanks for the info! ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
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Originally posted by darkbladed
Also what happens when you die in PVP and PVE? When you die in PVE you leave a tombstone behind. It is up to you if you wish to go retrieve that tombstone or not. Basically if you do not retrieve your tombstone you will recieve a debuff for 30 minutes. If after 30 minutes you have not retrieved your tombstone the debuff will just go away. You can only have up to 3 tombstones at one time which is a max of 3 debuffs. You do not lose XP when you die in PVE. Currently in PVP you do not drop any items if you are killed. With Update 4 they are going to add building resources that will drop when you kill someone in PVP. From PVP levels 1-5 you do not lose PVP XP when you are killed. From PVP levels 5-10 you are suppose to lose PVP XP when people kill you, but you cannot drop down a level. So if you are PVP level 6 and you die so much you are back down to 0 PVP XP for level 6 it will not drop you down to PVP level 5. There is no item decay in the game, so there is no need to repair any items, weapons or armor that you wear. You will spend money on health, stamina, and mana pots if you PVP or solo PVE alot. |
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