Nice thread here from a basher who has "seen the light " ;-)

http://forums.ageofconan.com/showthread.php?t=192164 

OP text for the lazy one:

Impressed (from one that bashed the game)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Go to paragraph 4 for my actual impressions of the game and not my past on why I am just now trying AoC (I was a hater without even trying it is the short version)

First I will say I was one of thoes that bashed FC and AoC, mostly on mmorpg.com while hyping up WAR. I vowed never to play AoC based on some marketing ploys by FC before launch and thus what happened at launch shortly after. Yes I was one of thoes who talked about how horrible the game was/would be without trying it and before it was even released.

Then WAR came out and while I really enjoyed Tier1 the rest of the game was crap imo. So I did what any sheep would do and went back to WoW. I must admit I did enjoy WoTLK at first but after getting 2 toons to 80 again I remembered why I left in the first place. So there my choices where Vanguard, WAR (I usually give games a chance after the initial launch), LOTRO's expansion, or AoC. Well I wasnt going to play AoC, it was a shitty game right? So long story short back to LOTRO I went. Got to 50, got my raid gear, Lothlorien came out and I was so disapointed I left. Tried vanguard thought blah, went back to WAR. Had alot of fun in T1 again, T4 was a total mess so that left me with....AoC.

I figured hell with it, whats it hurt to try the trial right? FC isnt getting my money and I'm bored. So grumbling to myself that I was actually going to waste time DL'ing the AoC trial and even more grumbling about the size of the DL I decided "Hell with it, screw MMO's untill something remotly decent comes out." The trial DL sat on my comp for 3 days while I played some FPS's and then I decided to go ahead and give it a shot.

WOW am I impressed. 4 days into the trial I ordered my copy (gogamer had the CE on sale for less than the regular copy at the time). So here goes on my impressions and why I'm impressed.

Graphics- Of course I'm impressed. Its by far the best graphics in an MMO to date. At least dx9. See DX10 in my complaint area.

Music- Another great aspect of the game. Rivals LOTRO soundtrack imo. By far 2 of the best to date.

Combat mechanics- Melee is an absolute blast. I can see why you either love or hate it and I love it. Casting I cant really say yet. My demo doesnt have spellweaving just yet but I am not expecting much after reading the forums. Casting is fun though imo just nothing out of the ordinary. The bear shaman is what the "melee healers" in WAR should have been and I LOVE it.

Quests- They get both a thumbs up and a thumbs down from me. Some quests are amazingly written and fun. Some are extreemly lame and bland. I am talking after tortage. Tortage is just plain amazing.

Dx10- I'm glad FC puts beta right on it because its junk right now. Soaks up to much system resources and doesnt really add much imo. Right now in my opinion Dx10 looks worse than dx9. However I get the feeling with time FC can make dx10 look amazing.

Overall this game is just FUN and yes, I do feel like a moron for trashing this game so much. I'm verry impressed at what I herd about launch to what I am experiancing now!

Would you be kind enough to come back and post after a month of playing please?

yeah there are generaly three or four of those threads a week on any forum dealing with AoC, usualy by posters with less than 10 posts to their name. Almost read like advertising copy don't they? If I were suspicious I would think that they were done by a FC employee.

Is it just me or do there seem to be alot of I've just decided to try out Funcom's AOC who are from Norway? Would Funcom really stoop to having fanbois come and post here. Naaa surley they have more important things to work on.

Originally posted by Elsabolts

Is it just me or do there seem to be alot of I've just decided to try out Funcom's AOC who are from Norway? Would Funcom really stoop to having fanbois come and post here. Naaa surley they have more important things to work on.

If you check the link he refers to a post on the US forum. So I doubt he is refering to himself, but ofc if he bought a US version of the game it might be himself. who know's  :)

Originally posted by Aceundor

Nice thread here from a basher who has "seen the light " ;-)

http://forums.ageofconan.com/showthread.php?t=192164 

 

OP text for the lazy one:

Impressed (from one that bashed the game)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Go to paragraph 4 for my actual impressions of the game and not my past on why I am just now trying AoC (I was a hater without even trying it is the short version)

First I will say I was one of thoes that bashed FC and AoC, mostly on mmorpg.com while hyping up WAR. I vowed never to play AoC based on some marketing ploys by FC before launch and thus what happened at launch shortly after. Yes I was one of thoes who talked about how horrible the game was/would be without trying it and before it was even released.

Then WAR came out and while I really enjoyed Tier1 the rest of the game was crap imo. So I did what any sheep would do and went back to WoW. I must admit I did enjoy WoTLK at first but after getting 2 toons to 80 again I remembered why I left in the first place. So there my choices where Vanguard, WAR (I usually give games a chance after the initial launch), LOTRO's expansion, or AoC. Well I wasnt going to play AoC, it was a shitty game right? So long story short back to LOTRO I went. Got to 50, got my raid gear, Lothlorien came out and I was so disapointed I left. Tried vanguard thought blah, went back to WAR. Had alot of fun in T1 again, T4 was a total mess so that left me with....AoC.

I figured hell with it, whats it hurt to try the trial right? FC isnt getting my money and I'm bored. So grumbling to myself that I was actually going to waste time DL'ing the AoC trial and even more grumbling about the size of the DL I decided "Hell with it, screw MMO's untill something remotly decent comes out." The trial DL sat on my comp for 3 days while I played some FPS's and then I decided to go ahead and give it a shot.

WOW am I impressed. 4 days into the trial I ordered my copy (gogamer had the CE on sale for less than the regular copy at the time). So here goes on my impressions and why I'm impressed.

Graphics- Of course I'm impressed. Its by far the best graphics in an MMO to date. At least dx9. See DX10 in my complaint area.

Music- Another great aspect of the game. Rivals LOTRO soundtrack imo. By far 2 of the best to date.

Combat mechanics- Melee is an absolute blast. I can see why you either love or hate it and I love it. Casting I cant really say yet. My demo doesnt have spellweaving just yet but I am not expecting much after reading the forums. Casting is fun though imo just nothing out of the ordinary. The bear shaman is what the "melee healers" in WAR should have been and I LOVE it.

Quests- They get both a thumbs up and a thumbs down from me. Some quests are amazingly written and fun. Some are extreemly lame and bland. I am talking after tortage. Tortage is just plain amazing.

Dx10- I'm glad FC puts beta right on it because its junk right now. Soaks up to much system resources and doesnt really add much imo. Right now in my opinion Dx10 looks worse than dx9. However I get the feeling with time FC can make dx10 look amazing.

Overall this game is just FUN and yes, I do feel like a moron for trashing this game so much. I'm verry impressed at what I herd about launch to what I am experiancing now!

YAY, AoC MADE A COMEBACK!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I hated AoC at launch but now it is my favorite MMO.  (And no I am not a Funcom employee, I'm only 12.)

Originally posted by Crashloop

Originally posted by Elsabolts

Is it just me or do there seem to be alot of I've just decided to try out Funcom's AOC who are from Norway? Would Funcom really stoop to having fanbois come and post here. Naaa surley they have more important things to work on.

 

If you check the link he refers to a post on the US forum. So I doubt he is refering to himself, but ofc if he bought a US version of the game it might be himself. who know's  :)

Thanks Crash. And for the curious i played on Aquilonia RP-PVP which is an EU server.

Elsa, since you checked my origin, why dont you read my posting history and my sig. It clearly states that I dont play anything atm.

This is a post I found on the US forum from a US player. Now, the paranoid would suggest that its a Funcom employee. I cant prove them wrong. Neither can I prove that all the postive post about AoC are made by Funcom employees and that all the negative ones are made by serious and objective players.

Originally posted by Jackdog

yeah there are generaly three or four of those threads a week on any forum dealing with AoC, usualy by posters with less than 10 posts to their name. Almost read like advertising copy don't they? If I were suspicious I would think that they were done by a FC employee.

You are a cynice, a hater, or both.

This game has improved beyond recognition in a number of cases.  Patch 1.05 will help ittemisation and end game content.

To not have noticed what has, and what will be addressed, you have only convinced me that you have several impairments - blindness is one..

I would have to agree, AoC is sooo much better now than it was at launch and months after.  I tried it for awhile a few weeks ago.  The game is still not for me,, just not quite what I am looking for, although I am very impressed with all of the things they have added.  Too bad they didn't get all that in before release, think of how much greater their success would have been!  All in all though,, AoC is a pretty decent game now!! and the graphics are still superb,, especially with DX10 now,, and i think the gameplay and content has finally caught up with them!!

Originally posted by Spaceweed10

Originally posted by Jackdog

yeah there are generaly three or four of those threads a week on any forum dealing with AoC, usualy by posters with less than 10 posts to their name. Almost read like advertising copy don't they? If I were suspicious I would think that they were done by a FC employee.

 

You are a cynice, a hater, or both.

Chalk me up as a cynic. Over the years I have noticed there is a direct proportion between the number ofohmygawd this game is soooo awesome posts made by posters with less than 100 posts and how badly a game is doing subscription wise.

I sure as heck don't hate the game or the company. I find it very interesting to observe. AoC's major problem is WoW, WAR and LoTRO and it cannot hope to compete. WoW and LoTROs have theajor share of the PvE and WAR seems to have nailed the PvP fans.

So a guy who had never played the game before but continually bashed it decided to try it and likes it? That's not news, that guy is just stupid. Why would you bash a released game that you have never even tried?

So post count = reliability? Nonsense.

I've played every major MMO that's come out quite extensively, even some that aren't around anymore. However, to date I've never posted on the AoC boards. If I were to post a review you would dismiss it since I have a low post count? That's pretty ignorant of you.

Than again, reviews aren't for people like you, you've obviously had your mind made up for you by some The-Company-Posted-This conspiracy.

I do have to agree with the linked review, AoC gets high marks for what it's become. It's not the same game as release, then again no MMO ever is. Naysayers really should give it another shot. :)

Originally posted by chrisrobhay2

YAY, AoC MADE A COMEBACK!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I hated AoC at launch but now it is my favorite MMO.  (And no I am not a Funcom employee, I'm only 12.)

12 and playing an M for Mature title? Naughty,naughty.

Why does your profile say you are 40?

AoC is indeed pretty good now.

I'm playing the trial with some buddies. We're still evaluating our experience, but the general consensus at the moment is that we'll be picking up the game at the end of the trial.

I can post in this thread again in a month with an update on how we're doing, if you like.

Right now we're playing on Tyranny PvP. Lots of fun, so long as you don't mind getting killed a lot (I don't, and it helps to have friends to back you up :) ). We did Black Castle, which is a lower level instance in Khopshef Province, and it was a blast, albeit a bit long. We spent around four hours on it. It was suitably challenging at our level (average group level was around 32 when we started, 34 when we ended). I'm sure if we did it again it wouldn't take nearly as much time because we would know how to do it, haha. The leveling, PvP, and the one instance we've done so far have all been very fun, surprisingly.

Complaints I have with the game are some oddities in class balance (Rangers and Barbarians are far too strong at lower levels, and a bit weak at higher levels, for instance) and the poor effect gear has upon a character (very little). It looks like a major patch is coming up that will in part address some of these issues, so they may not be relevant in time.

I'll try to post again if I remember if we do buy the game.

He lost all credibility with me when I got to the point in his post where he said he bashed the game without even trying it. I ignored the rest of his mindless drivel. I've bashed AoC since it's release, but not before at least trying it. A pointless thread that says nothing of AoC or anything else for that matter.

Originally posted by Aceundor

Nice thread here from a basher who has "seen the light " ;-)

<snip>

I find this post no different than creating a "Bash"  post on AoC.

Whether you realize it or not, I feel you do a great deal of damage to not only your credibilty, but also do a disservice to the AoC community by doing the following things:

• Using sensationalist titles as a means to drive your message home. That you refer to negative points of views from some as form of "sin", and alluding to religious "confessions" as seeing the light as you put it; really does more to illustrate that you have no intention of having an actual conversation. You wished only to make a statement.

• You isolated and located a single post directly aimed at two groups. One, the group that speaks negatively about the title; as a form of "see..not everyone is like you" statement; and the other group is the prospective player. The latter you think would benefit from your sort of forum "balance". Neither is particularly effective as demonstrated by the posters who called the lack of depth in the content of the post; with the topic stalling as a result. Again, there is no real framework for discussion when a person (hater or fan) posts like this.

So what has this post accomplished?

• Created a near duplicate post of this one "Hater turns Fan", posted just a few days ago.
• Served to potentially alienate and polarize the existing community.
• Informed the same community that for whatever legitimate reason; you do not or can not invest any more time or money into this or any other title.
  • This in turn makes every subsequent post from you less relevant over time; as your experience and familiarity with the title no longer comes from direct experience. You're now one of the "I used to play" folks; and while those opinions are valued; they don't have the same kind of weight that person clearly invested in their hobby does. 

This goes both ways mind you; as people who just repeat the same funcom sucks mantra from a year ago don't hold much weight either; and neither will pro aoc people either over time). The responses in this post have shown that this is exactly the case as people begin to question the "why" and "theme" of repeated themes or topics from key people who no longer play; no matter if they're for or against the title.

I think what you're not seeing Acuendor is that persceptions are swayed by real experience and standing within the peer group you're speaking to.  There are at least five people I can name on both sides of the fence when it comes AoC; who will consistently and articulately convey their points.  While I don't agree with what they say at times, I respect the hell out of those people and value their experience. They don't speak in platitudes, they don't link to pro or hate topics.

Instead, they take the gloves off and do the forum equivalent of an XMA sports match. They're tough, smart and fully capable of fighting for and representing their point of view.  They win the respect of their community and peers; and I look forward to reading these forums every day in the hopes that a new match has begun in earnest.

The prize for doing so?

A better game through constructive dialogue, and a better community to support or advocate change for their game.

Originally posted by SinReaper

Wow SinReaper. That was profound and I actually agree with you, but I might be less strict in my interpretations of forum behaviour than you. I am impressed that you took the time to write it and you deserve an anwser.

Firstly I have to say that I do not plan on investing a large ammount of time on these forums writing everything that comes to mind and everything I know and dont know about the game. So I will not live up to your standards and be one of those 5/10 you respect. This is my choice, if one reads my posts its simply something one should be aware of. I dont mind if people dont belevie me or respect me on these forums. They are anonymous.

Secondly I beleive that linking to a thread that is more or less invormative and has a discussion that I find interresting is something that might be of interrest to others. That there are other threads "hater turns fan" tells me that one should be aware of this aspect happening to AoC at the moment. There seems to be several posts about this on different forums. These threads could be consolidated, yes, but then again the information would dissapear.

Thirdly, using sensationalist headings is not very attractive but it works. Its why sensationalist newspapers sell so well. We dont respect them, but we read them and form an opinion on the topic they are writing about. Thats why I use it.

Finally, why do I bother follow this game if I dont play it? Well its quite simple, I follow the stock. That is my main motivation and why i have an oppinion of the game. My oppinion has changed several times, but I have never been blind to Funcom and AoC pros and cons like so many haters or fans. (Beleive it or not :) )

Originally posted by Jackdog

Originally posted by Spaceweed10

Originally posted by Jackdog

yeah there are generaly three or four of those threads a week on any forum dealing with AoC, usualy by posters with less than 10 posts to their name. Almost read like advertising copy don't they? If I were suspicious I would think that they were done by a FC employee.

 

You are a cynice, a hater, or both.

Chalk me up as a cynic. Over the years I have noticed there is a direct proportion between the number ofohmygawd this game is soooo awesome posts made by posters with less than 100 posts and how badly a game is doing subscription wise.

 

I sure as heck don't hate the game or the company. I find it very interesting to observe. AoC's major problem is WoW, WAR and LoTRO and it cannot hope to compete. WoW and LoTROs have theajor share of the PvE and WAR seems to have nailed the PvP fans.

 

When it comes to PVE. I agree with you that LOTRO and WoW are better. In quests and dungeons that is. Altho Funcom did quite a good job revamping a lot of the troubling dungeons.

AoC combat system is superior. Always after having played AoC for a while I had a really hard time adopting to the boring auto attack combat like in WoW and LOTRO.

And when it comes to PVP. In what way did WAR hit the nail with PVP fans?

Just before I threw the towel in the ring back in January, most of the EU servers were desolated and only a handful had an actual population.

Up till today people are complaining their asses off in WAR about the whole PVP aka RvR and how bugged and lagging it is.

So give me a break! I have been playing WAR for months and was Guild Master of a good sized guild since Early Access and saw it going down in flames due to people mass quiting!

I am not saying that Age of Conan's PVP is any better. As when it comes to mass PVP and class IMbalance... it's the same crap.

But today I really challenge WAR's subscription numbers. They keep them scarily secret and Mark Jacobs went total silent about it after the EA Q3 announcement reveiling a 60% drop in players within the first month!

I don't think that WAR is that far off with their subscriptions numbers compaired to Age of Conan today.

I believe they still have more subs then AoC, but really not that much more.

Cheers

Originally posted by Guillermo197

Originally posted by Jackdog

Originally posted by Spaceweed10

Originally posted by Jackdog

yeah there are generaly three or four of those threads a week on any forum dealing with AoC, usualy by posters with less than 10 posts to their name. Almost read like advertising copy don't they? If I were suspicious I would think that they were done by a FC employee.

 

You are a cynice, a hater, or both.

Chalk me up as a cynic. Over the years I have noticed there is a direct proportion between the number ofohmygawd this game is soooo awesome posts made by posters with less than 100 posts and how badly a game is doing subscription wise.

 

I sure as heck don't hate the game or the company. I find it very interesting to observe. AoC's major problem is WoW, WAR and LoTRO and it cannot hope to compete. WoW and LoTROs have theajor share of the PvE and WAR seems to have nailed the PvP fans.

 

 

When it comes to PVE. I agree with you that LOTRO and WoW are better. In quests and dungeons that is. Altho Funcom did quite a good job revamping a lot of the troubling dungeons.

AoC combat system is superior. Always after having played AoC for a while I had a really hard time adopting to the boring auto attack combat like in WoW and LOTRO.

Heh heh  if I try and use you so called auto attack in LoTRO I would be lucky to kill a green mob. Not only do I haver to plan my attacks but I have to vary them by the type mob.

AoCs combat system is the SOSDD. SAme as LoTRO's tiered system, hit key A then B before you can use ability C

And when it comes to PVP. In what way did WAR hit the nail with PVP fans?

Seems as if War Is stil a hell of a lot more popular than AoC. I am not a PvP fan myself, unless ytyou count FPS's, just saying WAR seems to be maintaining a healthier population than AoC

Just before I threw the towel in the ring back in January, most of the EU servers were desolated and only a handful had an actual population.

yet it is still maintaining in the high teens and low 20's on XFire whereas once AoCs XFire contest was finished it has started it's slide back toward the 40's

Up till today people are complaining their asses off in WAR about the whole PVP aka RvR and how bugged and lagging it is.

So give me a break! I have been playing WAR for months and was Guild Master of a good sized guild since Early Access and saw it going down in flames due to people mass quiting!

Like I said I don't play the game, tried it for an hour or so during the open beta and did not care for it but as a outside observer there seems to be a hell of a lot more people playing it than is playing AoC

I am not saying that Age of Conan's PVP is any better. As when it comes to mass PVP and class IMbalance... it's the same crap.

That is where AoC really screwed the pooch, tried to be both a PvE and PvP game . impossible to balance the two

But today I really challenge WAR's subscription numbers. They keep them scarily secret and Mark Jacobs went total silent about it after the EA Q3 announcement reveiling a 60% drop in players within the first month!

What company besides WoW doesn't keep the numbers close to chest. FC being publicy traded and all we can come up with some close numbers for. We can watch the web traffic to see which sites get the most which is a good indicator also as far as population trends, but I would not try and extrapolate exact numbers from it.

heres a quantcast link try comparing LoTRO, WAR and AOC and you will see both WAR and LOTRO's numbers in web traffic is double what  AoC's is. Does not seem to be much interest in AoC these dyas, even here the posts per day is trivial compared to wht theyt were even 2 months ago.

www.quantcast.com/warhammeronline.com#traffic

 

I don't think that WAR is that far off with their subscriptions numbers compaired to Age of Conan today.

I believe they still have more subs then AoC, but really not that much more.

Anyway back to topic seems as if there is average of one or two threads  a week of these "I just tried AoC for the first time or I just came back to AoC and it is now soooo awesome" by low post count posters, just makes one wonder.

Cheers

And here we go again.

1. You didn't play WAR and yet you claim to say WAR is doing much better then AoC.

2. And again XFire is used as some viable and reliable messurement. While it's only the kiddies (mostly who are involved in FPS games) that use it.

3. And again some web browsing trends are used, while they are unreliable as hell too. Everyone knows that who pays most to Google ends up in the top traffic list.

It's all a bunch of poo and guesses. And yet people keep presenting them as facts! While they clearly aren't.

Let's throw it the other way around shall we:

AoC has roughly 20 or so servers. All decently to well populated.

WAR has double the amount of servers. About 80% of them desolated.

Even if WAR has still 200k subs and AoC has only 100k subs (hypothetically speaking), then I experience a healthier population on the servers of AoC, then on the servers of WAR (except the 2 and basically only 2 high pop servers Phoenix Throne and Karak Eight Peaks).

And all this is based on my OWN ACTUAL experience in both WAR and AOC!  Not some vague unreliable mombo jombo from the internet.

Oh and for the record. Mythic is part of EA and thus also Publicly Traded. Hence the numbers shown in the Q3 2008 report. Wich weren't good.

Cheers