Originally posted by wheelman73 

lastly, i will try to give a good honest review when my free trial is over, just so i dont jump the gun.  im hoping to get in good playing time this weekend

 

Can you PM me the link when you do? Would love to read as well. :)

Originally posted by Surfheart

Originally posted by Jackdog

to make it short and simple

- combat - slow as hell, even in LoTRO a minstrel is faster. However I never felt the slightest bit of danger or challenge. So far up to lvl 6 I have just randomly clicked buttons and managed to take down mobs two and three and sometimes four at a time even lvl. ~yawn~

You lost all credibility right there.  There is NO class in any MMO EVER that is slower or more boring than a Lotro Minstrel.

 

Speaking of a lack of credibility, that was spoken like someone who never played a Minstrel after October 2007.  In book 12 Minnies got a lot of love. From then till Moria they were actually a bit, or a lot depending on your view of things, really overpowered. A well played Minnie with good crafted armor could solo mobs that would stomp a similarly equipped and leveled classes into the ground. Even prior to Book 12 one had to at least pay attention to the combat and use the proper skills from level 1 on. But I digress, this is not about any other game it is about AoC in it's present state.

In response to the poster who just cares about the endgame. I have to have the desire to want to get to endgame before I will ever experience the endgame. For me it is more about the journey than the destination. Who would want to ride in the back of a donkey cart for a month to get to Vegas?

Back to topic. Is it just me or does the death penalty seem a bit on the light side?

edit- upon firing up the game crashed upon launch this morning. Ran verify database. Now it is doing a one hour plus re-patch at 700 KB/s download. Problems like this were what ruined the launch experience for me. Before some ass jumps in and tries to blame my hardware, I have not had any issues with any other software including 2 other MMOs and three or four single player games.

Originally posted by Jackdog

Originally posted by Surfheart

Originally posted by Jackdog

to make it short and simple

- combat - slow as hell, even in LoTRO a minstrel is faster. However I never felt the slightest bit of danger or challenge. So far up to lvl 6 I have just randomly clicked buttons and managed to take down mobs two and three and sometimes four at a time even lvl. ~yawn~

You lost all credibility right there.  There is NO class in any MMO EVER that is slower or more boring than a Lotro Minstrel.

 

 

Speaking of a lack of credibility, that was spoken like someone who never played a Minstrel after October 2007.  In book 12 Minnies got a lot of love. From then till Moria they were actually a bit, or a lot depending on your view of things, really overpowered. A well played Minnie with good crafted armor could solo mobs that would stomp a similarly equipped and leveled classes into the ground. Even prior to Book 12 one had to at least pay attention to the combat and use the proper skills from level 1 on. But I digress, this is not about any other game it is about AoC in it's present state.

In response to the poster who just cares about the endgame. I have to have the desire to want to get to endgame before I will ever experience the endgame. For me it is more about the journey than the destination. Who would want to ride in the back of a donkey cart for a month to get to Vegas?

Back to topic. Is it just me or does the death penalty seem a bit on the light side?

edit- upon firing up the game crashed upon launch this morning. Ran verify database. Now it is doing a one hour plus re-patch at 700 KB/s download. Problems like this were what ruined the launch experience for me. Before some ass jumps in and tries to blame my hardware, I have not had any issues with any other software including 2 other MMOs and three or four single player games.

Yes death penalty is weak compared to a lot of games.  See there is no time sink added, so to speak, with death.

Now, when you do die, you will notice ontop of your healthbars on the bottom a debuff (30) per death.  These stack unless you get your tombstone back.

from like 35+ i started to die a whole lot, half from mobs and the other half from making risky moves on high cliffs and falling to my death.  Especially choosing a squishy, as i am, or a hox, you will die an aweful lot, as aggro gets a bit crazy due to the sheer amount of mobs.  You will be glad theres no xp deduction, and getting killed, even with a tombstone that can be reached easily, will start to be something you really try to avoid....however its not so drastic as to thwart you from taking risks and exploring.

but yeah death penalty is light compared to most games.

As far as the crash and redownload....never happend to me, but i gotta ask....did it prompt you with a option to reverify the database?  If it did you probably could have kept playing without redownloading.  Some people have more problems than others with mmo's and their hardware, not sure what ive done right to avoid such issues.

as far as the review goes, i cant wait to see what straw breaks your back so to speak....you seem on edge, looking for something to warrent a ragequit/forum rant.  i wonder what it will be?  At least youll be seeing the game in its prime if you stay for levels 25-50 (easily doable in the 2week trial with casual gameplay)

also i gotta ask....did you join a guild?  wiccana has some solid "maturer" guilds as well as winning the prize of the unofficial RP server.  Not sure if any advertise in trial chat though.

also...you do a little exploring yet?  theres 3 maps to choose from leaving tortage, while they point you toward your races "home" map, i found it nice to bounce around the all.  This will help you level quick as well, as you can easily knock out the starter quests per each map, and youll get a pretty good feel for the game as a whole.

I have played mmorpgs for almost 10 years and many of the games i ended up playing for at least a year was not extremely exciting for the first 5-10 levels. in most mmorpgs these levels are designed to get you accustomed to moving and the controls. Also, keep in mind you are playing an mmorpg, not a console game- they will not give you all the cool, max level skills right off the bat, and most likely you will be getting the most basic skills available.

I am disappointed with your review. It brings up valid points from the perspective of a mainstream player fairly new to the mmorpg genre, but lacks the insight of someone who really knows how mmorpgs work. Anyone who has played at least 5 mmorpgs can tell you that playing 1 hour into the game will not even scratch the surface of the real experience the game has to offer. Whenever i visit the aoc forums i see you troll here all the time. I thought that if you had the audacity to trash the game and prevent other people from playing, you would have at least know how to properly review an mmorpg.

What a dumb review. That's like playing to level 10 in WoW and saying the game is too easy.

once again I guess I need to point out for the reading impaired this is not a review of the game, just a journal of my impressions as I start once aging in a game that failed to grab me a year ago.

Also yes it did offer me a chance to reverify the database, after reverification it started DL'ed 4 of 4. Upon restart same issue came up, so I reverified again and just now the game still refuses to start. I am now on my 3rd reverify.

Originally posted by Jackdog

once again I guess I need to point out for the reading impaired this is not a review of the game, just a journal of my impressions as I start once aging in a game that failed to grab me a year ago.

 

Also yes it did offer me a chance to reverify the database, after reverification it started DL'ed 4 of 4. Upon restart same issue came up, so I reverified again and just now the game still refuses to start. I am now on my 3rd reverify.

And I am glad it is causing issues. Here is my problem with your OP.

1. You have played twice before, you have hated on the game twice before, and from that second time you tried the game, have found all positive threads in this forum and have made negative comments about the game over and over. The "from a year ago" tact does not work when it was just a few months ago you were in the game last.

2. You have made it quite clear time and again that you think LOTRO is the best game, thus any comment you make is already skewed in its favor. For example, I think LOTRO is the worst game I have played (with Vanguard a very close second and WAR third)...thus any comparison I make is clouded by these views. I see no need to continue to discuss LOTRO, WAR or Vanguard...so, why do YOU continue to review this game?

3. You start from Tortage expecting the most static part of the game to make a difference to you, when it will not. Tortage has NOT changed, and will not. But, people can go and review the fact that everyone is of the concensus that Tortage is a polished starter zone, and considered an EXCELLENT starter zone. But, guess what...play it 4 or 5 times, it gets old...thus your review is old.

4. Loot is a snooze fest in all games at low level (yes, even the Precious LOTRO...unless it is from quest givers...guess what? same in AoC), Combat is simple and basic button presses in EVERY MMO. Basically you have illegetimized all pretense to a new impression by reiterating the same things you have reiterated before, and that everyone knows about every MMO. Just to give an idea, as you level, the loot changes considerably. Note my lower level vs higher levels of my character.

60's - http://picasaweb.google.com/openedge1/AoCTestServer#5321280281594405906

70's - http://picasaweb.google.com/openedge1/AoCTestServer#5321280350510610466

80's - http://picasaweb.google.com/openedge1/Screenshots02#5353094559456455954

I fail to see the reasoning to continue to do this "reimpression" when it is a well know fact of how you feel about the game. All anyone needs to do is go over your forum posting history.

Until you play the game fully and experience the full game, I would like to suggest that you hold off on these "basic impressions" Everyone knows these stories, so time for a new record, as this particular song is getting old

Thanks

Originally posted by openedge1

Originally posted by Jackdog

once again I guess I need to point out for the reading impaired this is not a review of the game, just a journal of my impressions as I start once aging in a game that failed to grab me a year ago.

 

Also yes it did offer me a chance to reverify the database, after reverification it started DL'ed 4 of 4. Upon restart same issue came up, so I reverified again and just now the game still refuses to start. I am now on my 3rd reverify.

And I am glad it is causing issues. Here is my problem with your OP.

1. You have played twice before, you have hated on the game twice before, and from that second time you tried the game, have found all positive threads in this forum and have made negative comments about the game over and over. The "from a year ago" tact does not work when it was just a few months ago you were in the game last.

and here I thought 1.05 was a game changing patch and this veteran trial was for those of us who had bought and played the game before and did not care for it.

Also since I am seeing the exact same bugs and problems I saw at launch I have to really question how much it really has changed or if thet is all BS. So far I have seen some pretty drastic changes in performance, but that is about all.

2. You have made it quite clear time and again that you think LOTRO is the best game, thus any comment you make is already skewed in its favor. For example, I think LOTRO is the worst game I have played (with Vanguard a very close second and WAR third)...thus any comparison I make is clouded by these views. I see no need to continue to discuss LOTRO, WAR or Vanguard...so, why do YOU continue to review this game?

LoTRO is my favorite fantasy based MMORPG right now, and EvE is my favorite Sci Fi. Before LoTRO EQII was my favorite and through the years DAoC, SWG, and UO spent many many months on my hard drive. This wqas Funcom and AoC's chance to get me to spend money once again on it.

3. You start from Tortage expecting the most static part of the game to make a difference to you, when it will not. Tortage has NOT changed, and will not. But, people can go and review the fact that everyone is of the concensus that Tortage is a polished starter zone, and considered an EXCELLENT starter zone. But, guess what...play it 4 or 5 times, it gets old...thus your review is old.

I started in Tortage all over again for a couple of reasons. First of all it has been months since I played. If the game indeed does get challenging at higher levels then I would expect that a mid 20's HoX would  be a lot harder to setp back into than redoing and relearning from scratch.

I also wanted to see what the game would seem like to a new player just starting off, someone doing the trial for example.

As you said though, after redoing Tortage 4 or 5 times it does get old. I realize that FC does give vets one insta 50. But that is just one

4. Loot is a snooze fest in all games at low level (yes, even the Precious LOTRO...unless it is from quest givers...guess what? same in AoC), Combat is simple and basic button presses in EVERY MMO. Basically you have illegetimized all form of "review" this may be by reiterating the same things you have reiterated before, and that everyone knows about every MMO. Just to give an idea, as you level, the loot changes considerably. Note my lower level vs higher levels of my character.

60's - http://picasaweb.google.com/openedge1/AoCTestServer#5321280281594405906

70's - http://picasaweb.google.com/openedge1/AoCTestServer#5321280350510610466

80's - http://picasaweb.google.com/openedge1/Screenshots02#5353094559456455954

I fail to see the reasoning to continue to do this "reimpression" when it is a well know fact of how you feel about the game. All anyone needs to do is go over your forum posting history.

Until you play the game fully and experience the full game, I would like to suggest that you hold off on these "basic impressions" Everyone knows these stories, so time for a new record, as the song is getting old

Thanks

If the game cannot win me over in the two weeks or 30 days it will never win me over. bad part is that I was almost starting to enjoy the game a bit by the time I logged off last night, and this morning is deja vu of launch all over again. between that and the constant personal attacks in this thread by the so called community have really got me to wondering if it is really worth the bother of trying to fix it.

By the way I do have a mid 20's HoX also so if the game ever gets to where I can restart it I may log him in to check out post Tortage AoC.  But then if the game only gets better post 25, post 30, or post 50 it is no wonder the population is in the toilet.

Oh and once again the reason for this reimpression is to let Funcom know exactly what I as a returning player ythink about the game since all of the "changes" If they don't get honest opinions the game will be destined for Horizons, vanguard territory before long.

Originally posted by Jackdog

edit- upon firing up the game crashed upon launch this morning. Ran verify database. Now it is doing a one hour plus re-patch at 700 KB/s download. Problems like this were what ruined the launch experience for me. Before some ass jumps in and tries to blame my hardware, I have not had any issues with any other software including 2 other MMOs and three or four single player games.

I never have such issues, but its lucky that such issues have mostly people who dont want to play anyway...

Originally posted by Spellshaper

Originally posted by Jackdog

edit- upon firing up the game crashed upon launch this morning. Ran verify database. Now it is doing a one hour plus re-patch at 700 KB/s download. Problems like this were what ruined the launch experience for me. Before some ass jumps in and tries to blame my hardware, I have not had any issues with any other software including 2 other MMOs and three or four single player games.

I never have such issues, but its lucky that such issues have mostly people who dont want to play anyway...

the real question is if you did have such issues would you still want to play? I really  want to give the game a chance. How many people who did have such problems stuck with the game. At launch I went as far as reformatting my hard drive to get the game running again. I think I really wanted to play.

edit 3 reverifies/redownloads of file 4 of 4 now with no luck. Feedback sent to Funcom, guess this is a chance to test the customer service

I found Tortage to be the most enjoyable part of the game. :S I think the quality & conherence of the questing aspect of the game falls apart after you leave Tortage.

Originally posted by Jackdog

notice the title of the thread fanboys and girls--- First reimpressions. key word there is first ...not a review, just a initial reaction to what the first ten levels are like , This was what the first hour was like for me. Now if the first hour gives me this impression why in the hell should I invest another hour or five or ten in the frigging hope that it will get better.

Replies like this thread has gotten so far is why this game went down the toilet after selling a million or so copies.

No offense OP,

Really..  First impressions?  Inital reaction? And you're getting pissy?

This is the problem with everyone thinking they need to inform the world what they think about, I dunno, dryer fuzz?  

Tons of people write these first impression things one after another, after another.  All of them pretty much tell you nothing. They write a tl;dr and treat it like it's something revolutionary and sophisticated.

Guess what? All MMO's first 10 levels are basically boring and everybody just wants to get through them.

The first response you recieved was entirely correct.

Originally posted by FC-Famine

Originally posted by wheelman73 

lastly, i will try to give a good honest review when my free trial is over, just so i dont jump the gun.  im hoping to get in good playing time this weekend

 

 

Can you PM me the link when you do? Would love to read as well. :)

sure will...

Originally posted by ab29x

Originally posted by Jackdog

notice the title of the thread fanboys and girls--- First reimpressions. key word there is first ...not a review, just a initial reaction to what the first ten levels are like , This was what the first hour was like for me. Now if the first hour gives me this impression why in the hell should I invest another hour or five or ten in the frigging hope that it will get better.

Replies like this thread has gotten so far is why this game went down the toilet after selling a million or so copies.

 

No offense OP,

Really..  First impressions?  Inital reaction? And you're getting pissy?

This is the problem with everyone thinking they need to inform the world what they think about, I dunno, dryer fuzz?  

Tons of people write these first impression things one after another, after another.  All of them pretty much tell you nothing. They write a tl;dr and treat it like it's something revolutionary and sophisticated.

Guess what? All MMO's first 10 levels are basically boring and everybody just wants to get through them.

The first response you recieved was entirely correct.

 

 

 

 

so whats trhe difference between my thread and all of the ones titled "just bout the game and it is wonderful " threads. other than most of thise are made by people who have ten posts or less that is.

maybe if you don't want to read people opinions you should just avoid forums altogether, because last time I looked that is what forums are for.

By the way you probably won't have to read any more of my opinions on the gameplay since the client refuse to run now and I will be damned if I will reformat my drive like I had to do at launch. Easier just to fire up LoTRO or Eve , neither of which have ever gave a single issue client wise.

Originally posted by Jackdog

to make it short and simple

- graphics still amazing, but if you enable volumetric lighting in DX 10 FPS will drop fom mid 50's to low 20's instantly. I like the DX9 graphics just as well as the DX10 and they run much better. Animations are great, music is terrific, voiceovers are nice but the Arnold accent on all the males gets old fast. The story quest line is good, can't say much beyond Tortage because the game bores me into uninstalling before I can get much beyond it.

- combat - slow as hell, even in LoTRO a minstrel is faster. However I never felt the slightest bit of danger or challenge. So far up to lvl 6 I have just randomly clicked buttons and managed to take down mobs two and three and sometimes four at a time even lvl. ~yawn~

- loot is still a snooze fest at the low levels. It may or may not get better at the higher lvls but so far I am having to force myself to log in and usually after 30 minutes I log off and fire up LoTRO or Eve so I doubt if I will ever find out. My rule of thumb is if the first ten lvls or 3 hours of game play suck the rest of the game probably sucks even more

- having to redo Tortage every time gets real old the 3rd and 4th time through. I have done that area like 4 or 5  times now trying to find a class I enjoy, This game is just too linear, connect the dots and poof you are lvl 80. Problem is I get bored real weasy connecting the same dots over and over and over

Summary - it would make a good free to play game, but I can't see me spending money on it. Not even ten USD a month.

all I can say is everyone should do the free retry,  just don't commit to sending money till you are sure you will like it. The game just bores me to tears but there are some that enjoy it. If you like really easy gameplay that does not require a lot of thought this game is probably the right one for you.

 

 

 

A lot of DX10 frame loss also depends on what card you're using and if you have Shadows enabled.

I currently run AoC @ 1680x1050 AAx4 all settings high, max view ranges, DX10 with NO shadows and I get ~40-70 frames depending on what happens.

The only thing I turn off in sieges is Particle effects and I can keep the frame rates up over 30fps with 96 players nuking.

You actually have some valid points for once which is absolutely amazing!

If you are familiar with the game or are a long time veteran Tortage can be very monotonous and boring.

The most excitement in the early stages is all the PvP action from Underhalls and of course White Sands.

You can literally level to PvP5 in white sands without any problem on Tyranny or Cimmeria.

There are guilds dedicated to White Sands PvP and/or ganking.

A few things I disagree with you on however - PvE the combat is fast as hell especially at lower levels.

You can one or two  shot almost all the mobs level 2-5 regardless of what class you are in the game.

Some classes are more forgiving then others and certainly early on require far less skill and/or strategy when pulling a group of Mobs.

Group PvP is still very fast especially if you have one of the seven heavy DPS classes on you (Ranger, ToS, PoM, Necro, HoX, Demo, Polearm Guardian)

1.05.3 really makes PoMs and Lotus Sins very overpowered. Sins need a nerf on their Lotus Overload for sure. It is actually providing 95% immunity procs to all spells even when their own teammates get crit not just themselves.

1v1 PvP *can* be fast but like every MMO certain classes that fight each other can take forever.

The fact that your analysis didn't cover any PvP including White Sands makes it rather inaccurate even if you have some good beefs.

You're renown for your negative biased view on AoC as much as you claim others are for their fanboy status.

I am not surprised with this review although I agree with some of the flaws you pointed out.

You also have to consider though that to a new player AoC is simply going to blow them away in terms of not being bored.

If you have never gone through Tortage before it can be a very fun and eventful experience in both PvE and PvP.

The most important thing right now is picking a good server.

Tyranny for PvP

Wiccanna or Set for PvE.

I would not recommend a PvE server for anyone that is even slightly interested in PvP however.

The PvE servers restrict 100% of the world PvP to minigames, sieges, and the border kingdoms.

If you're looking for PvP on a PvE server you will get bored and disgruntled.

Join Tyranny or if you can't stand the typical smack talking PvP player and don't mind a slightly lower population server go with Cimmeria-RP PvP.

Note that both Cimmeria and Tyranny have PvE Raids everyday especially if you're one of the larger guilds.

I recommend joining a well established guild quickly if you plan on playing in either Tyranny or Cimmeria.

They can provide protection, groups, and more importantly loot!

AoC is an absolutely blast on the high pop PvP servers.

I would recommend not going to White Sands unless you have a big party.

Just level up in the Ruins and during your night time quests and get to your first starting zones outside of Tortage asap.

The PvP you have while leveling up in places like EG Mountains, Wildlands, and Field of the Dead is nothing short of awesome.

It's not something you're going to experience these days in a game like LoTR (which I found very boring), WoW, CoX, SWG, DFO, or even Warhammer.

Funcom's next step should be to provide us with some solid end game world PvP content @level 80 and cross realm minigames.

I know for fact that both are in development according to Craig Morrison the lead game designer.

We should see new developments in open world PvP content @ level 80 endgame in the next few patches.

ahh Ninja where to begin..once again this not a review of the game, I do wish you guys could get that through your heads somehow. it is merely observations of my retrial, and done from the perspective of a reroll. Also seeing if I can tell a difference between launch and where the game is a year later. 

Also I think I have been one of the more positive people here. I tried the game at launch, gave it another shot at the server merge and now am trying it a third time . Yeah I do like other games. You see I look at a game as ..well a game. I don't marry them and I can and do play more than one at the same time. I have a hard time understanding why some people over here threat a game as anytrhing other than just a game. These things arn't till death do you part you know. It is perfectly all right to play more than one. right now there are three MMORPGs on my drive, well 2 and a half. AoC  isn't feeling well at the moment and I am doing a reinstall to see if I can get it to run again.

On the PvP , If I want PvP I will get it on a FPS where skill counts. Skill in MMORPG is more gankage than anything. Sometimes you will see 2 even lvled characters dueling, but mostly in MMORPG PvP is just finding someone lower lvl  or weakened from fighting mobs, or groups of 4 or 5 gankers roaming around looking for solo players.

At any rate I have now uninstalled and doing a fresh reinstall to see if I can get the game to run. Sent in a trouble ticket 8 hours ago and still no help from Funcom. I guess the tech support doesn't work on weekends. maybe they need to take some people from marketing, Lord knows they work 24 and 7

well hi... i been playing age of conan on and off for like hmmm since release now... i got like 3 lvl 80's and i only stay there atm bc nothing better is out on the market... aoc is boring as hell, and only fun i got is running around in low lvl areas with me 80's and killing lowbies untill they log there high lvl and hunt me.... well sad life yes i know but atleast its killing my spare time so who cares.... but when a new good game comes out i am first to drop this... and YES game is very boring and only the pvp keeps it alive... cheers

Well - I agree with OP about being very linear and combat is also pretty simplistic - thought higher level barbarians need some skills to survive. For barbarians fights are pretty fast - over in couple secods - either you are dead or enemy is dead. But still even for barbarian you basically repeating same combos and same buttons time after time in combat. Path to level 80 is linear quest-dungeon-path and most of time you are guided though amusement park without real choices. Itemization is also limited - you really have only few good choices to made.

Playing once through amusement park to level 80 imight be enjoyable - but forcing yourself to do same quests with another character is just torture - unless you are enjoying from min-maxing.

I would recommend playing character around lvl 30 if possible - or at least out from Tortuga to see how things are bit hitger level, before deciding your class. 

Edit - sorry about all spelling mistakes - too tired to fight them tonight :)

 and to point out why  "no1 understands this is not a review" is cause first impressions are in fact you judging a game, and i find it funny how vigorously u defend your hate to aoc, and your love to lotro, like in every other thread :)

i too played the aoc trial, but you dont see me making a thread crying on how much it sucks... cause yes, i got bored of it pretty fast.

and reporting my posts, heh :)

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

upsetting Jackdog since 2009

i played on a pve server too at launch, tried pvp opening day on tyranny...bad bad idea, just a gank fest couldn't even make it off the boat in white sands io would be dead before i even zoned in. so went pve , and the game was very boring on a pve server. eventually things died down and was able to play on the pvp server as the thrill of ganking lowbies died off OR after most people left there just wasn't enough people to gank in the lowbie zone for them to stay there and be low lifes.

but the community of tyranny was the worst i have EVER seen in any mmo, seriously its just horrible. racist jokes in chat, bunch of lil kids swearing at each other. ask a question the answer was the tried and true "your mom"...ect ect you name it, it was the norm on that server...stuck it out awhile there because the only other popular server was cimmeria wich was an rp/pvp server. and i ran into Sol there, when he says pvp on his lowbie ranger he actually means he camps the lil boat there and ganks you once you're far enough away from it. and if you attack him, he runs for the boat like a little girl at the first sign of a challenge.

i eventually tried out cimmeria dispite it being an rp/pvp server and was pleasently surprized. very surprized actually, the community was very helpful, had alot of fun there.honestly every pvp game i've played the community is worse than a pve just becase of teh nature of the game, but cimmeria community felt more like a good pve community(if that makes sense?) while i'm not playing it anymore i did last ALOT longer there than i did on the pve and the sphincter of the mmo universe Tyranny. my HoX made it to 46 i think, he hit a wall for some reason. after the new patch i tried to play again, but didn't play it at all after i paid for it.  i think the account may still be open for week or so not sure. i would like to try it again but i've been playing Aion on the chinese retail, and got into a good guild of english speakers. but i'm sure i'll try it once i get a chance, HoX was alot of fun.