Anyone who ever cared to read my posts in the past knows I have been (and remain) a huge critic of Funcom and the way they launched AoC. I cried foul on many things months before launch. I was in the beta too. God know's I was pissed of at Funcom. Also my computer crashed quite frequently at launch and it doesn't now when I have just returned.

While I have never made it to endgame, only to the middle part, I have to say this game is worth checking out. Funcom acted bad in not just telling the community about the game as it is (why claim it supports DX10 when it didn't - I doubt it sold them more boxes).. Game as it is is beautiful enough.

Anyways long story short, I think Tortage alone is worth a visit. More than a year after there still is no game that can rivel the graphics of AoC. There is no game out with such a "lush and brutal" (to use Funcom's own description) world.

This game might not be for hardcore guilds who spend two nights a week raiding - but for the casual gamer it offers an experience unlike anything else out there. Also the atmosphere of the game world is more mature than any out there. I don't care a tiny bit of boobies in a videogame, but the graphics is just amazing. The game world really instills this experience of a violent, dangerous work with many hidden secrets and treasures.

Come on in and try for yourself. I have just created this post, where I offer five three buddy keys for free. Mind you that you have to pay 2.99$ from fileplanet to download the client if you can't find a free torrent or borrow the game cd's somewhere.

With the games on the horizon I still find AGE OF CONAN the only interesting pvp game in existance - despite all its short comings. Unfortunately Funcom has dug a big hole for themselves so many people would be scared of from trying it again..

I for one will spend some months now in Age of Conan and I have to applaud Funcom for making a new expansion that does not add more classes or levels. Brave and cool move. New classes are not needed when they have some of the best classes in any mmo (for a class system anyways). And more levels are not needed when some content is needed for existing ones.

Won the free version of the game over a month ago. Game was horrid then and I doubt  1 1/2 months have made a difference.  Glad I did not have to pay for it because it would have been a waste of money.

MLM?

Originally posted by banecrow

Won the free version of the game over a month ago. Game was horrid then and I doubt  1 1/2 months have made a difference.  Glad I did not have to pay for it because it would have been a waste of money.

I really wonder what you found horrid in such a short time. I know once you get more than half way through the game some content used to be missing, a lot of grinding, but they have solved this with updates incl. Ymir's Pass.

Also it surely can't be the character creator, the graphics or music. The combat system is quite cool in my opinion. While the combo system isn't perfect it still rivals most other out there for an mmo.

So what was so horrid and how far did you go?

A lot of people did just come back over the last three months, there were over 100,000 free trials downloaded plus all the old players got free trials and instead of a rise in population Age of Conan lost 20% of its player base after free trials so unless they fix the game trying to sell it to new players is a fruitless endeavour. 

Also you mention PvP, the PvP players were the majority and now it seems they are a minority.  There are two reasonably populated PvP servers and 4 reasonably populated PvP servers worldwide...forums.ageofconan.com/showthread.php

One of the reasons is because AoC PvP is mediocre at best, it is dry pointless, 5 PvP levels are pretty boring then the PvP penalty systems. If AoC had great PvP people would have stayed after the free trials and the game would start growing.

AoC is very devoid of stuff to do today, it is linear, and there is very little content that has come out since release and unless if Tier 3 has 30 bosses or so there will be little to do untill the expansion for endgamers. Having said that once the expansion comes out it will be more bugs and there will be little added once again starting the cycle over.

EDIT: One service I aplaud AoC for doing is it keeps all the players interested in only graphics (blood and female pixilated nudity) and the ability to talk 2nd grade bathroom humor in global in one game while the people who enjoy gameplay can play other games that are just better made.

I'd have to agree with you.

I've played pretty much all of the big MMOs out (AoC...WAR...WoW...LOTRO..EQ2..). For the gamers who enjoy a brutal open pvp world, AoC is unmatched at the moment imo. Of course this is on the open-pvp servers (ive never played on closed servers).

Just last night I re-subbed to play with my g/f since she can't seem to put it down. She loves the combat and the finds the world beutifull. AoCs combat system is truely like no other MMO out, which is a huge draw compared to the bland / boring combat in some the MMOs out now....LOTRO comes to mind LOL

The only issue I have now is that Aion is out soon, which is very polished and has an intersting pvp concept. Its going to be hard to not cancel my AoC account and move onto a new/fresh MMO with pvp as their focus.

I truely do wish AoC the best. Its probly the most fun and unique MMO thats come out in a long time in my opition. And the fact that Funcom has taken the time and energy to make AoC as polished as it is now puts them high in my books. I salute them for all the hard work and dedication they put towards the game.

Originally posted by finaticd

A lot of people did just come back over the last three months, there were over 100,000 free trials downloaded plus all the old players got free trials and instead of a rise in population Age of Conan lost 20% of its playerbase after free trials so unless they fix the game trying to sell it to new players is a fruitless endever.

Also you mention PvP, the PvP players were the majority and now it seems they are a minority.  There are two reasonably populated PvP servers and 4 reasonably populated PvP servers worldwide...forums.ageofconan.com/showthread.php

One of the reasons is because AoC PvP is mediocre at best, it is dry pointless, 5 PvP levels are pretty boring then the PvP penalty systems. If AoC had great PvP people would have stayed after the free trials and the game would start growing.

AoC is very devoid of stuff to do today, it is linear, and there is very little content that has come out since release and unless if Tier 3 has 30 bosses or so there will be little to do untill the expansion for endgamers. Having said that once the expansion comes out it will be more bugs and there will be little added once again starting the cycle over.

I really think people should try it out for themselves. Anyone playing casually as I do, might find the content more than satisfying. In fact I think Tortage alone is worth trying the game for. 2.99$ or a free trial is definitely worth it.

The whole 20% drop is something you read out of the quarterly report. Working for a major financial institution I can tell you that subscription numbers can not be so simply analyzed from the info Funcom has given us. So don't state it as a fact please.

Also I would love to know which game out there incl. those released in September that is better than AoC?

I for one can't see any other game on the horizon that can beat AoC. It might be a rough gem, but it is still a gem. 

try it for free..only 2.99$ lol

Same crap...the game to work had to be done all over..no over instancing...no crap combat system, free to roam bigger zones, less graphics and textures so the game doesnt need to load everywhere we go....more class balance and gear intemization...

 

Also I would love to know which game out there incl. those released in September that is better than AoC?

I think the answer to that would be any of them.

Well forum traffic to AoC.com and gamespot along with X fire allow it to be triangulated so it is pretty accurate.  And it is pretty easy to deduce because they announce all additional sources of revenue.  IE Norway socialism gave them around 500,000 usd and selling the game outright to asia gave them over a million usd. Europe pays a few dollars more and USA pays a few dollars less so 15 USD avg for 1-1yr sub will give a very small margin of error.

Oh hello there Draccan!  Don't let finaticd with his false info take you off course. Being a critic is totally fine, being someone who admits spreading false info is another thing.

As for the population:

Craig Morrison. game director for Age of Conan had this to say:

"I think we are comfortable that the majority of the servers have good healthy populations. There are a few though are possibly a little below where we would prefer, but were retained for specific reasons (as with the Oceanic flagged server)

I don't think that we would consider any major merges at this stage. The server populations are very stable, and are certainly not dropping in any significant way. Of course those servers that were originally lower are still at the levels they always have been.

The trials and re-evaluation period obviously brought more players onto the servers and now those periods have ended there will naturally be less players online than there was during the trial periods.

The overall levels on the quieter servers aren't any lower than they were originally though so it may be that we consider some merges down the line but it isn't something we feel is necessary just at the moment."

Bit different to what some people will have you say that everything is barren eh.

Trying the game is out is the right thing to do, so is doing a bit of homework to fall on the right server. And no there are not 3 or 6 servers in the game only finaticd so don't even bother coming back with anything.

The game is very appealing visually and many of the bugs have been taken care of to a point.

My problems the game are: (My opinion only.)

1. Little to nothing to do except raiding. I dont sign on much anymore except to raid.

2. Money IMO is pointless after a while. Nothing to spend it on or even to bother  trying aquiring it. I dont like the mounts in the game so I dont bother.

3. The Loot drop from bosses is horrid.....either that or Ive been very unlucky. i rarely see any Demo drops. Ive seen way too many occasions where two of the same raid loot items drop. Ive been rading for 2 months every week in BRC, Kilikki, yakmahr, and Vistrix , unf i only have 3 pieces to show for it. Im not asking for my drops all the time but comon throw me a bone here.

4. I have rarly seen or aquired any "reciepes" for my profession. Ive maxed out what I could in alchemy and gemcrafting.

5. PVP IS. HORRID!!!!! Majority of the time minigames are so lopsided it isnt even fun. Its rare that you see a "close" match.  People rarely pvp on non pvp servers.  The PVP on the pvp servers is ok, but mostly a gankfest and rez pad campers. Theres really no incentive for people to pvp.

This is jusy my opinion only ....from my experiences only. Im on the brink of no longer subbing to the game after 4 more weeks. If it wasnt for the great people in my guild i'd already have left AOC again and never to look back.

Originally posted by AmazingAvery

Oh hello there Draccan!  Don't let finaticd with his false info take you off course. Being a critic is totally fine, being someone who admits spreading false info is another thing.

As for the population:

Craig Morrison. game director for Age of Conan had this to say:

"I think we are comfortable that the majority of the servers have good healthy populations. There are a few though are possibly a little below where we would prefer, but were retained for specific reasons (as with the Oceanic flagged server)

I don't think that we would consider any major merges at this stage. The server populations are very stable, and are certainly not dropping in any significant way. Of course those servers that were originally lower are still at the levels they always have been.

The trials and re-evaluation period obviously brought more players onto the servers and now those periods have ended there will naturally be less players online than there was during the trial periods.

The overall levels on the quieter servers aren't any lower than they were originally though so it may be that we consider some merges down the line but it isn't something we feel is necessary just at the moment."

Bit different to what some people will have you say that everything is barren eh.

Trying the game is out is the right thing to do, so is doing a bit of homework to fall on the right server. And no there are not 3 or 6 servers in the game only finaticd so don't even bother coming back with anything.

 You really want to play a game from a company that has reps just posting junk like that?

WTF the only people spreading false information is Funcom and it seems Amazing Avery just did the same thing by reposting it.

Funcom lies to gain new people it is a very deceptive company, AA seems to be in accord with Funcom. You just posted a bunch of spin there are 6 half full servers and the rest are ghost towns, anyone who followed this game would know that so you are reposting a deceptive quote from Funcom. Funcom doesn't like merging servers it looks bad and costs them money and the consider 150 players on a server such as the new PvP server to be "below what we would prefer".!

Here are players of your game lauging at your developer quote forums.ageofconan.com/showthread.php and notice it got locked!

Now I'm pretty offended it seems you stooped pretty low AA. I'm pissed at your lies and attack on my character, that is way over the line! I don't lie I post what ois most likely the truth, while Funcom posts what most likely will make their game and company look good aside from the numbers which are pretty much always bad.

Also the servers are just going to continue to have fewer and fewer players unless the expansion with no date on the horizon brings them back.  Remember Funcom has no problem leaving players on empty servers they did it at release for many months and are doing it again now.

Originally posted by Ethian

I'd have to agree with you.

I've played pretty much all of the big MMOs out (AoC...WAR...WoW...LOTRO..EQ2..). For the gamers who enjoy a brutal open pvp world, AoC is unmatched at the moment imo. Of course this is on the open-pvp servers (ive never played on closed servers).

Just last night I re-subbed to play with my g/f since she can't seem to put it down. She loves the combat and the finds the world beutifull. AoCs combat system is truely like no other MMO out, which is a huge draw compared to the bland / boring combat in some the MMOs out now....LOTRO comes to mind LOL

The only issue I have now is that Aion is out soon, which is very polished and has an intersting pvp concept. Its going to be hard to not cancel my AoC account and move onto a new/fresh MMO with pvp as their focus.

I truely do wish AoC the best. Its probly the most fun and unique MMO thats come out in a long time in my opition. And the fact that Funcom has taken the time and energy to make AoC as polished as it is now puts them high in my books. I salute them for all the hard work and dedication they put towards the game.

Aye, nothing I've seen beats AoC in terms of MMORPG-PvP.

It is the most interesting of all mmo's out atm, and definitely worth a try.

I especially like the low-fantasy setting w/o the glowing neon cartoon armor.

I left, like so many others, after the botched launch, and returned earlier this year. At first I hated the ganking (playing on a PvP-server), but still I didn't want  to go all PvE. I was about to quit again, but stayed for the remainer of my prepaid time. During that time I learnt how to avoid some gankers, and how the beat others. In the end I found that the added threat from roaming gankers gave the PvE part of the game added excitement. I decided to renew my sub and stayed on. I have not regretted that decission.

And these days it's just getting better. I see more and more players join up / come back to my server, and the game is better than ever. Add the incoming patches and expansions to that, and I know this will be my mmo-home for the forseable future.

Yeah, I was very frustrated at first with the White Sands PvP and what not, but honestly later in the game PvP gets very fun.. at first I hated the hostile Counter-Strike server attitude that alot of game seemed to have but soon you start to get grudges against players start hunting other players, looking for duels and fights, using the environment to your advantage.. it becomes a lot of fun.

"Aion is coming out soon. It's new and fresh and from what I hear, has some pretty good PvP. Should everyone try that? I don't know.. but I seems a more logical choice to me than to try just another "failed" MMO like AoC."

This may be true, but alot of people are also saying Aion adds Nothing new and nothing fresh at all. It has an interesting PvP idea with the abyss and what not but for all you know three months down the road when everyone's "OMG NEW MMO It"S GOING TO SAVE US FROM THE SHITTY FAILED GAMES" phase is over, it could leave you in the same situation, it's not going to be a godsend unless it's pretty much flawless.

Originally posted by eureka105

Why do everyone always insist that people should try the game for themselves? There are thousands of games out there and dozens of MMO's, nobody has the time to try them all. And why should they?

I see AoC as another mediocre MMO that "could have been..". Should you try it? Maybe if you are a Conan fan. Should everyone try it? Absolutely not.

Aion is coming out soon. It's new and fresh and from what I hear, has some pretty good PvP. Should everyone try that? I don't know.. but I seems a more logical choice to me than to try just another "failed" MMO like AoC.

lol, why? because I can tell you that sushi tastes like chicken, will you take my word for it?

i did nt like it at release but i played for three months earlier this year and found it to be a decent game . will return for a couple of months next year to get my tos to 80 before the xpacs out . its well worth a few months play at least .

As a fellow "critic", I don't agree with you on all of this. First of all there's plenty of posts that urge people to try AoC, so you might have as well posted on one of those? So you're not having computer problems anymore, great, more power to you.. that doesn't mean you should just blindly jump in, if you were one of those who had these problems.

As you probably realize the middle part of any MMO is mostly about getting to the top level so you can fully see what the game is about. I know from first-hand experience that mid-game at the moment is a lot better than it was when I first played last summer.. there's enough content there to go through. However the main problem with AoC for me at least, is the severe lack of endgame content and fully functional sieging. Now before any bloke who reads this and goes on how it endgame will expand in the next patch, I already know this and it's about god damn time!

Are you seriously implying that 2 nights a week is hardcore raiding? I mean Jesus Christ, you can't be serious right? As for the graphics I don't care at all about those myself, all I care about is how the game works and how ideas are implemented so that they make sense and function well.

As for the expansion.. well I have some mixed feelings about that one. For example there's a topic on this board how AoC expanded to the wrong direction (Asia), when Cimmeria or Aquilonia would've made more sense to me at least. Other thing is that I don't know how much longer especially raiders wish to remain on the same level only to get some new items on their characters. Last but not least there's the tiger issue, but to be honest that's been covered everywhere since the release of expansion info, so I will just skip that one.

PvP in the game has imbalances, just like every other MMO there is really. I'd still like to see border kingdoms finished and sieges working even if it meant cutting the current amount on participants allowed in them. It would be a lot better to have 20v20 sieges than lagging out in the current ones. Cross-server minigames would be a huge improvement also and even though FC says they take a lot of planning and work, in my opinion this should recieve plenty of man-power to implement, because it would especially help people stranded on a less popular servers.

I would agree that AoC is a good game for a casual person. I'd even say that 2 raids a week is very casual in MMO scale and that makes it even better for people who don't want to spend too much time in a game. However I wouldn't recommend AoC to anyone who really likes to spend their time to work on their character.

Damn, that's my longest post on this site ever.

 Sounds like somebody never made it off of "Tortuga" :)

Had to say it, sorry.

Originally posted by twiggy550

 Sounds like somebody never made it off of "Tortuga" :)

Had to say it, sorry.

Had to quote it , sorry.

Btw its Tortage.