Let me start off by saying that I played at launch. I was a casual player and only got to level 43, so I never really experienced whatever they had offered for endgame. I also quite enjoyed the game, but quit probably because I was worried about all the people quitting at once. I was one of the sheeple at the time. I have returned and am having a hell of a time. I have a level 24 Assassin and am loving it. So overall, what is wrong with the game anyways?

What I find good:

• Amazing graphics
• Beautiful music
• Great setting
• The most satisfying combat system I've ever played
• Awesome animations and fatalities
• Assassin is the coolest class I've ever played in any MMO. The look, the style, the animations, the fatalities... all awesome. eg http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_rhLUUDSbg
• Fun PVP. Free for all can be a pain sometimes but when you team up its a lot of fun

Overall I'm having a lot of fun and want to know what people find to be the biggest problems with the game? I play on Tyranny server and don't have any population issues. I know you may recognize me from the Vanguard thread, I guess I have a soft spot for underdogs. I still play Vanguard, but am interested in AoC because it seems to have a company behind it that hasn't completely given up on it. I mean the constant Ads, injecting it into TV shows, the expansion etc.

So what is really the problem with AoC. I'm genuinely curious because I'm having a lot of fun with it right now. Have you even played it since release?

Some pics for you:

One thing I'd like to say, if you quit at launch and never played since... perhaps its time to try it again?

I disliked that you had to reach a pretty mid-range level before you could start any crafting.  I've always been more of a crafter or businessman so to put off that aspect for so long and leave me only combat questing was too much for me.

 Moved to the correct section.
Thanks.

 i played at launch - fail 

i came back a year later, i thought the game had come a long way. But in my minds  had one major flaw which was the combat system. This was especially apparent in pvp. I played a conq and really hated that i had to pull of 3 chain moves while chasing someone. 

I just want to say some great screen shots. I like that alternate reality zone you go to in Tortage. I wish there was something more like that in the game.

Originally posted by DiSpLiFF

 i played at launch - fail 

 

i came back a year later, i thought the game had come a long way. But in my minds  had one major flaw which was the combat system. This was especially apparent in pvp. I played a conq and really hated that i had to pull of 3 chain moves while chasing someone. 

Wierd, I thought the combat system was the best part of the game.

the games great now the main problem is that its very very very hard to recover from the kinda launch this game has had.

The game had so much potential, but was borked so badly at launch and the arrogance and some outright lies of the developers at the time of launch left a taste so foul in my mouth that I am 99.99% sure that I will never even try another Funcom game of any type, regardless of how well the community regards it.

Funcom is dead to me.

 Sony recovered from the EQ2 launch very well.

I recently just did the trial of AoC and after 3 days purchased the game and 6 months game time. This game is simply awesome. It deserves another shot from people that played from launch and from new players alike!

I was hyped about this game for about 2 days.  I like open pvp games and this was at the moment (about 2-3 months before release) looked to be pvp similar to my #1 pvp game of all time, Shadowbane.

In any case, after reading up on some stuff about the AoC, on my 2nd or 3rd day I read the article that says that the game can be played via xbox 360 controller, and when I asked on forums, I found out that the game is to be released on 360 some time after the PC release.

Maybe I should have given AoC a try, but somehow I'm glad they never got a single dollar from me.

Needless to say that was a game killer for me.  I own every console, but I hate when PC games are being developed for consoles as well.  I never preorder any games that are released for PC+consoles at the same time, and I usually wait for lots of reviews to see if they are worth buying.  It's a kb/mouse vs joystick thing.

On a side note...(rant)

I loved Modern Warfare and I was excited to get Modern Warfare 2 thats coming out on the 10th of this month.  Was planning on getting it through Steam, but fucking game is worth $60 ... I KNOW that consolers pay $60 because Microsoft/Sony pocket $10 off every purchase, but why the fuck is it the $60 for PC?   I dont get a CD, I dont get manual, I dont get a box, I dont get SHIT but have to download it and I still have to pay $10 over regular price? ... So now I'm going to wait before getting MW2 cause I'd rather buy myself some beer and wings at the next UFC fight night in BWW, rather than give it to some douchebag in Infinity Ward.

/rant off

Originally posted by GPrestige

Let me start off by saying that I played at launch. I was a casual player and only got to level 43, so I never really experienced whatever they had offered for endgame. I also quite enjoyed the game, but quit probably because I was worried about all the people quitting at once. I was one of the sheeple at the time. I have returned and am having a hell of a time. I have a level 24 Assassin and am loving it. So overall, what is wrong with the game anyways? 

Not worth playing at 80.

Not worth rerolling.

They just got a bad start, but as far as I know, they are getting back on track, hopefully they can start advertising again and get some subs back.

 Based on what I have read on various forums I think there are 3 major reasons for people dislinking AoC as it is today

1) Combat system. Its a taste thing, some people simply dont like it. 

2) Instancing. Funcom overdid it in AoC and you have to accept the load screens. Its the price you have to pay for the amazing graphics

3) FFA PVP - Some people simply cant take it. "Roll on a PVE" everybody says, but by then the experienced is ruind for many people and they refer to the "childish" community, all the ganking, class balance, age of casters, etc. It boils down to that they loose in competition with other players, this agrevates them and they leave. 

Then there is a ton of people who didnt like the launch and are still bitter about it, also there are lots of people who simply prefer high fantasy universes. Just look at all the people joining Aion lately, I cant really understand it, thats not for me, nevermind content or gameplay. Cant take the pink glossy setting. I beleive some have the same reaction to AoC, and its dark gritty low fantasy setting. . 

I don't think there is anything particularly wrong with the game, but I'm not captivated by it, I'm not compelled to login every chance I get. Personally, I would like to have more large scale story/quest arcs. As a fan of all the various books and authors that have worked with Conan, I think Funcom has done a good job of capturing the essence of the universe. What's missing though, is the narration; at least after the Tortage sequence.

Originally posted by arenasb

Originally posted by DiSpLiFF

 i played at launch - fail 

 

i came back a year later, i thought the game had come a long way. But in my minds  had one major flaw which was the combat system. This was especially apparent in pvp. I played a conq and really hated that i had to pull of 3 chain moves while chasing someone. 

 

Wierd, I thought the combat system was the best part of the game.

The game mechanics are not well made,,,combine that with the mediocre PvP and PvE settings and you have a lackluster title.

I resent the fact that people blame AoC being empty, player wise, today do to release.....many players just retried it a few months ago and AoC is missing something or something is driving thos players who retried it along with verterans away in droves.

Between a slow development cycle, lack of content, broken game mechanics that never got overhauled...and many more reasons there is a lot wrong with AoC, otherwise it would be doing well instead of being one of if not the biggest MMO disaster in history.

EDIT: If AoC had a great combat system as you suggest...imo people would have stayed...Aion for example is hard and when you die you lose time and the game can be a mess.  People are playing AIon still do to the combat system being good and it is after the 1st month.

Originally posted by Jadar

I don't think there is anything particularly wrong with the game, but I'm not captivated by it, I'm not compelled to login every chance I get. Personally, I would like to have more large scale story/quest arcs. As a fan of all the various books and authors that have worked with Conan, I think Funcom has done a good job of capturing the essence of the universe. What's missing though, is the narration; at least after the Tortage sequence.

I thought that FC started adding narration after Tortage in a recent patch. I completely agree though, I liked Tortage from an RPG standpoint and looked forward to fully narrated quests, but they didn't. Gave me a false tutorial experience. But, on the flip side, there are people that say that they hate narration. Isn't there a checkbox to disable it if someone doesn't like it?

I think people these days just want to scream and bitch - just for the sake of screaming and bitching. I laughed my ass off when people threw temper tantrums because FC decided to cut drukin brawling from the game. People were shouting, "Liars! It's right here on the f**king box!" Seriously, people are going to cry and whine about fluff!?

Other people have posted that the combat system is a personal preference. Too many people here are in the mindset of "Omg! I hate this... the game sucks! I hope it will die! I hope that FC looses their shirts in the stock market! I hope that the devs become sterile so they can't breed to create the next generation of horrible devs!" Seriously, people need to get over themselves. The argument of having trouble getting chains off is usually because people are also coming from games that allow them to be a one-man-solo-pwn-mobile and run around as a lone wolf. AoC combat system really shines in groups when your mates allow you to pull off your styles. Very simular to DAoC (except without the hib base line 9 second insta stuns.... bitches).

Unfortunately, I already have another game I play and still have a life (i.e. choose to remember what a vagina looks like) - so I had to make the choice and left the game because of time reasons. But, seriously, it is a nice game and has has a long time to be polished up.

It has only a single starting area. I personally love to try out different chars and whatnot, and playing through exactly the same content every time until like lvl 20? BAH!

Also I had constly the feeling of beeing restricted in the game. Like there are some meadows, I went to check out what's behind them,but there is a fence I can't get over or around. I mean I'm a fricking hero, why can a stupid fence stop me? I mean, isn't it a 3D game? I mean I can't really move up and down since I'm always standing on the landscape. And half of the time I can't move left or right either, since there are barries I can't get around, be it mountains / fences / ocean or whatnot. It's just far too restricting.

 When I first read about the game I thought about vast landscapes I can travel in any direction, continents to explore, and if I want to, I can team up with friends and start building our city at any place. The result was sooooo disappointing.

Of course, the graphics are nice, I like the setting and I love the music. But the stuff mentioned just kills any fun. Especially the starting area thing.

The entire game design and the CS for me it just completely missed the mark. I only played to mid 20's but found the drops to be very bland. The gane was too easy, last time I played was at 1.05 and when I died, there was no real death penalty. None at all. Stats were supposed to take a hit, but I checked and none did. No risk ...no reward goes against every rule of game design. I also felt like a rat in a maze, I have seen FPS's that gave me more leeway to explore than AoC did. The customer service was as bad if not worse than SOE's.

For me at least the question is not what was wrong with AoC but rather what was right about it.

Originally posted by finaticd

Originally posted by arenasb

Originally posted by DiSpLiFF

 i played at launch - fail 

 

i came back a year later, i thought the game had come a long way. But in my minds  had one major flaw which was the combat system. This was especially apparent in pvp. I played a conq and really hated that i had to pull of 3 chain moves while chasing someone. 

 

Wierd, I thought the combat system was the best part of the game.

 

The game mechanics are not well made,,,combine that with the mediocre PvP and PvE settings and you have a lackluster title.

I resent the fact that people blame AoC being empty, player wise, today do to release.....many players just retried it a few months ago and AoC is missing something or something is driving thos players who retried it along with verterans away in droves.

Between a slow development cycle, lack of content, broken game mechanics that never got overhauled...and many more reasons there is a lot wrong with AoC, otherwise it would be doing well instead of being one of if not the biggest MMO disaster in history.

 

EDIT: If AoC had a great combat system as you suggest...imo people would have stayed...Aion for example is hard and when you die you lose time and the game can be a mess.  People are playing AIon still do to the combat system being good and it is after the 1st month.

 

 

Well that is purely an opinion on your part. I much prefer AoC's combat to Aion. I rate AoC's combat as the best I've played in an mmo, Aion is maybe 5th or 6th. Also I quite like the setting that it is in, much grittier than some pansy elf game.