Originally posted by Crashloop

Originally posted by Vagrant_Zero

Originally posted by timmy12

Originally posted by Kalefen

Asian grinder with 3 million subs in Asia! No wai! lol c'mon - very typical of a "latest and greatest" asian grinder.

 

dont really a asian grinder i didnt see any grind when i played it...i bet u didnt even try it

 

AION 1.0 defintely was grindy. Both in the fact that I ran out of quests around lvl 23 and had to grind to 25 (Abyss, opened up more quests) but for me AIONs biggest grind itself was the battle system. It's just slow. Painfully slow.

Slow like WAR's system?

yes i think war would be an accurate comparison

Originally posted by crunchyblack

Originally posted by Crashloop

Originally posted by Vagrant_Zero

Originally posted by timmy12

Originally posted by Kalefen

Asian grinder with 3 million subs in Asia! No wai! lol c'mon - very typical of a "latest and greatest" asian grinder.

 

dont really a asian grinder i didnt see any grind when i played it...i bet u didnt even try it

 

AION 1.0 defintely was grindy. Both in the fact that I ran out of quests around lvl 23 and had to grind to 25 (Abyss, opened up more quests) but for me AIONs biggest grind itself was the battle system. It's just slow. Painfully slow.

Slow like WAR's system?

 

yes i think war would be an accurate comparison

WAR was slow? I was able to kill same lvl mobs in under 10 seconds with my Wrath Warrior Priest. Aion with my Gladiator was around a 20-30 second fight. My Assasin was a tad faster but the assasin's problem was if I got jumped by a second mob it was either run or die.

I guess it's relative. I found AION to be noticeably slower than WAR.

Originally posted by Vagrant_Zero

Originally posted by crunchyblack

Originally posted by Crashloop

Originally posted by Vagrant_Zero

Originally posted by timmy12

Originally posted by Kalefen

Asian grinder with 3 million subs in Asia! No wai! lol c'mon - very typical of a "latest and greatest" asian grinder.

 

dont really a asian grinder i didnt see any grind when i played it...i bet u didnt even try it

 

AION 1.0 defintely was grindy. Both in the fact that I ran out of quests around lvl 23 and had to grind to 25 (Abyss, opened up more quests) but for me AIONs biggest grind itself was the battle system. It's just slow. Painfully slow.

Slow like WAR's system?

 

yes i think war would be an accurate comparison

 

WAR was slow? I was able to kill same lvl mobs in under 10 seconds with my Wrath Warrior Priest. Aion with my Gladiator was around a 20-30 second fight. My Assasin was a tad faster but the assasin's problem was if I got jumped by a second mob it was either run or die.

I guess it's relative. I found AION to be noticeably slower than WAR.

yes aion may be slower than war, i only got to see a limited amount of aion though.

i think in the end aion will bew about a boring 50 levels followed by some really fun endgame. im just waiting to see how fun this endgame is exactly.

compared to aoc, both war and aions combat system feels sluggish and boring.

Originally posted by crunchyblack

 

compared to aoc, both war and aions combat system feels sluggish and boring.

just goes to show you how opinions vary, I felt AoC's hit a skill then hit the arrows keys as they light up to be the most boring combat in any MMO I have ever played. It was like a player piano or paint by numbers, no thought or skill required

So... FC release any info on the number of subs along with their claims that servers are booming? 

Goes to figure that any claims by FC about activity without sub info that they could provide if they wanted to should be taken with a grain of salt.

"Activity" =/= subscriptions. And its subscriptions that AoC desperately needs.

I missed the 14 day thingy by ONE day...ugh. Does anyone know there are any reactivation thingies happening now? I wanna try it out again!

Originally posted by dhayes68

So... FC release any info on the number of subs along with their claims that servers are booming? 

Goes to figure that any claims by FC about activity without sub info that they could provide if they wanted to should be taken with a grain of salt.

"Activity" =/= subscriptions. And its subscriptions that AoC desperately needs.

With the premise of official sub numbers aside for a moment:

"The real question is can Age of Conan hang on to these people again from the updates that have made it into the game and those that will be coming in over the next couple of months? Will Patch 1.06 detailed out a bit in the recent community letter (looking at October release "ish") be enough coupled with Expansion details late August to keep people paying to play?"

In a month though, we should know more with the quarterly report.

[WTF with the Evony AD the chicks top getting lower?]

Originally posted by Feudalism

I missed the 14 day thingy by ONE day...ugh. Does anyone know there are any reactivation thingies happening now? I wanna try it out again!

Yea still up!   http://www.mmorpg.com/discussion2.cfm/thread/244932/ReEvaluation-Offer-Extended.html

Originally posted by badboybill

Originally posted by Jackdog

Originally posted by crunchyblack

 

compared to aoc, both war and aions combat system feels sluggish and boring.

just goes to show you how opinions vary, I felt AoC's hit a skill then hit the arrows keys as they light up to be the most boring combat in any MMO I have ever played. It was like a player piano or paint by numbers, no thought or skill required

 

Yeah it's funny how some people think button smashing in AoC is same as doing combos. Combat system in AoC was much better in early beta but then they decited to make it easier and they broke it.

Never played AoC beta but I keep hearing everyone refering to the beta system as being pretty good. What was the diference from the combo system we have today?

Originally posted by AmazingAvery

In a month though, we should know more with the quarterly report.

 

the next quarterly financial report will only be based on the numbers from from April 01 to June 30 so it will not show anything to do with either 1.06 or the veteran return promotion since they happened  in July. 3rd quarter report will the one to watch to see the effects of those, then the 4th quarter report will show what impact, if any ,that Aion's release will have had.

Originally posted by AmazingAvery

Originally posted by dhayes68

So... FC release any info on the number of subs along with their claims that servers are booming? 

Goes to figure that any claims by FC about activity without sub info that they could provide if they wanted to should be taken with a grain of salt.

"Activity" =/= subscriptions. And its subscriptions that AoC desperately needs.

 

With the premise of official sub numbers aside for a moment:

"The real question is can Age of Conan hang on to these people again from the updates that have made it into the game and those that will be coming in over the next couple of months? Will Patch 1.06 detailed out a bit in the recent community letter (looking at October release "ish") be enough coupled with Expansion details late August to keep people paying to play?"

In a month though, we should know more with the quarterly report.

 

 

[WTF with the Evony AD the chicks top getting lower?]

 

 

yes, yes, there is always hope

In July it was " just wait for the pvp patch"
In September it was " just wait for the server mergers"
in January it was " Just wait for the free trials"

and now it is " just wait for the comback trials".

The best Funcom has done is saw a decrease in the rate of people quitting.

If the servers are booming, where are the new servers?  Where are the queues?   Of course it is temporary because everyone is playing on free accounts.  As others have said,  most things are exactly the same as they were in June of last year when everyone was quitting.  They've added some content, and fixed some bugs, but endgame is still very boring compared to the competition out there.

Originally posted by badboybill

Originally posted by Alandora

Originally posted by AmazingAvery

...

....

 

yes, yes, there is always hope

In July it was " just wait for the pvp patch"
In September it was " just wait for the server mergers"
in January it was " Just wait for the free trials"

and now it is " just wait for the comback trials".

The best Funcom has done is saw a decrease in the rate of people quitting.

If the servers are booming, where are the new servers?  Where are the queues?   Of course it is temporary because everyone is playing on free accounts.  As others have said,  most things are exactly the same as they were in June of last year when everyone was quitting.  They've added some content, and fixed some bugs, but endgame is still very boring compared to the competition out there.

 

Good post.

Yes, it seems there's always that next "magic patch" just around the corner. That next "magic patch" that will solve all your problems and make the game fun! Then when the "magic patch" comes, it doesn't do much.. but wait! There's a NEW "magic patch" coming! And it's coming soon!!!!!

It is not about a 'magical patch' at all. The fact is there are plenty of people playing who continue to enjoy and appreciate the updates. Some people just naturally come to the end of their time in game like yourself a while ago.

There is no point in trying to kid anyone that the list is not extensive for updates since launch. Tentonhamer have 3 hrs of videos showing the changes since launch. There is more than enough information out there that pertains to that that can be found.

This thread is asking that since the servers are 'alive' can the retention hold these people until the next patch and so on. To me that is kinda typical for an mmorpg. There is no end. It is just up to the user to decide when the ride is over. Everyone is different.

So the fact is that both you guys left, you decided that the ride was over, nothing wrong with that. I have gotten off the ride on many other games too. So no now what? still obviously interested and waiting in the queue. Most move on the next one at the mmorpg theme park. Or do you remain in the queue out of sheer desperation to tell all the hundreds of folks waiting 'don't bother'.

I mean when you weigh it up those people that are retrying it since they last did around launch have a wealth of new things to do, see and try out. Those that left 6 months after launch can still come back and see new things.

Personally I think that all those things that have been well documented of late are enough in content to keep those particular demographic ticking over for a few months, until the next cycle comes. You need to change your mindset that there is no finish patch.

Then we have those that have been playing for a longer period of time. For these time is critcial. As they may of experienced most things in game and look forward to the next update. All the updates this year have had high level content added.

That groundwork in fixing the core of the system has taken place now. So moving forward it is all about new content.

Short term future is about having 2 more minor updates to 1.5 which have been confirmed.

1.6 implementation is being considered to be delivered in batches
 

I for one will continue to subcribe. The guild renown system is something most interesting, and until then I have plenty of things to do in game. I am not at the point where I feel it is a chore.

There is a whole improvements video here too thats neat:  www.gametrailers.com/video/improvements-interview-age-of-conan/52537

Originally posted by AmazingAvery

It is not about a 'magical patch' at all.

AoC has ALWAYS been about the 'magical patch', it even started back in the beta.

When the beta came close to it's end, the client was missing a ton of features, bug ridden up and down and the testers were concerned that a release a few weeks after would need a magical patch to safe the game.

Very true. The "Miracle Patch" which was released a week or so before Launch actually made the game worse and barely playable. 6 months of beta testing AOC was interesting but at least I was able to run the game. That last beta patch totally FUBAR'ed the game and it is just recently getting back in shape.

Originally posted by Vespers

Very true. The "Miracle Patch" which was released a week or so before Launch actually made the game worse and barely playable. 6 months of beta testing AOC was interesting but at least I was able to run the game. That last beta patch totally FUBAR'ed the game and it is just recently getting back in shape.

Thats funny as I remember many a people saying it was a miracle patch at the time because it improved so many things. It made the final client post gold one, a better one. Not saying it was perfect far from it. Due to NDA issues I wouldn't mind sharing some of those many hundreds comments about it but can't.

Then again here we are. In the "Here And Now". What was done was done either way. And now the servers are pretty busy (well the ones I play on anyway) and lots of folks enjoying themselves and not having those technical, mechanical types of issues associated at launch. So what happened then doesn't really hold any weight anymore in this context because those people coming back are not seeing the same things then, and the game is nothing like it right now.

Of course it's all about the magic patch, that was the story with Anarchy Online for years and years. Why would FC even bother coming up with something new when their playerbase has bought into the same line of BS over and over again?

With that said, and although I think AoC is an absolutely terrible game, it *is* playable in the present condition despite the warts. Much like say Anarchy Online was at the 12-18month mark. FunCom is clearly making enough money to keep the servers limping along and the lights on in Norway while they prepare the next round of slick marketing to sucker investors and players into their next piece of trash.

AoC will *never* even come close to the numbers it had at launch again, sub numbers (with some temporary and minor ups and downs) will either limp along roughly constant or slowly slide towards oblivion as FC strings the game out for the next 10yrs+ with a few more paid expansions that will get "rave" reviews from the diehard Howard fanatics and fanbois still playing...along with glowing critical commentary from some eggheads on sites like this who barely play anything.

Originally posted by AmazingAvery

Originally posted by Vespers

Very true. The "Miracle Patch" which was released a week or so before Launch actually made the game worse and barely playable. 6 months of beta testing AOC was interesting but at least I was able to run the game. That last beta patch totally FUBAR'ed the game and it is just recently getting back in shape.

Thats funny as I remember many a people saying it was a miracle patch at the time because it improved so many things. It made the final client post gold one, a better one. Not saying it was perfect far from it. Due to NDA issues I wouldn't mind sharing some of those many hundreds comments about it but can't.

Then again here we are. In the "Here And Now". What was done was done either way. And now the servers are pretty busy (well the ones I play on anyway) and lots of folks enjoying themselves and not having those technical, mechanical types of issues associated at launch. So what happened then doesn't really hold any weight anymore in this context because those people coming back are not seeing the same things then, and the game is nothing like it right now.

I agree with Avery, the client was a lot more unstable before that patch. It wasn't enough of course, they should have waited 6 more months with the release as I and many others said in the beta forum but the pach was a lot more then I hoped for at the time.

As for if the servers are booming or not is a question about relativety, if you compare with SWG it surely is but not compared to many Wow servers. And it doesn't really matters either becuase the number of servers matters also. AoC seems to be rather steady on the subs number, enough to keep the game running but not to make Funcom rich on it.

The problem with AoC however is not stability or something like thatbut the fact that the content is rather small compared to other MMOs and you have to do "#¤%& Tortage with every toon you make, and you also hav either to grind monsters for a really long time or do the same quests or Villas you done with all your other toons again.

The game needs at least one expansion to reach it's potential. That is why AoC have comparible few subs to many other MMOs.

AoC failed, only die hards will keep playing game that is doomed, finshed game over. simple, i played the game for age's and iv never been so bored with pvp in my life.  Aion will get people looking to try a new game, who cares what graphics are like, its all about the game play. Fail at game play ur game fail's. AoC did just that failed..

Originally posted by Alexander26

Aion shouldn't have much of an impact on AoCs population.

If any game would attract the same type of players who enjoy AoC it would be Mortal Online imo but those in the beta haven't been saying many good things about it.

Originally posted by Vespers

Very true. The "Miracle Patch" which was released a week or so before Launch actually made the game worse and barely playable. 6 months of beta testing AOC was interesting but at least I was able to run the game. That last beta patch totally FUBAR'ed the game and it is just recently getting back in shape.

Interesting the "magic" patch made the game playable for me. Before that it really was unplayable in most of the game areas.

Originally posted by afoaa

Originally posted by Vespers

Very true. The "Miracle Patch" which was released a week or so before Launch actually made the game worse and barely playable. 6 months of beta testing AOC was interesting but at least I was able to run the game. That last beta patch totally FUBAR'ed the game and it is just recently getting back in shape.

Interesting the "magic" patch made the game playable for me. Before that it really was unplayable in most of the game areas.

Yeah, I had the same experience as afoaa and Loke on this. The "miracle patch" really improved game performance a lot.