Yep, one can solo the bosses in the dead forest at 80.

As to the reason, well, the BoP items they drop have some nice skins, so if one wants to get a nice looking piece of armour, one can do that.  They also drop a couple of silver each (can't recall how much, been an age since I went there in epic), although I believe that this was toned down by FC to prevent farming for money.

Lastly, I know that one of the L50 or so characters in our guild had our L80 Bear Shaman run him through there to get some of the interesting-looking gear...and at L50, the stats on the blues are still OK.

Yes, in essence, they did.

I (demo) can happily solo the main system before the Lich-Lord boss, but that's only because he's  a caster rather than a melee mob. 

One of the main areas where problems arose was the main system, but that area is no longer a public dungeon, but a private instance.

If  you're hoping to solo L70 (or so) bosses at L80, you'll need some good tactics at least, even if it is possible.

You can still solo-farm the Fields of theDead in epic, and some classes can do some of the Eiglophean mountains bosses solo on epic, I'm told.   Personally,  I haven't even tried due to the lack of rewards, as I have gear with a good look (& better stats) already.

Well, I enjoy this game, so I hope you're wrong, but...

1 FC have tested the technical aspects of the merge with the merger of Hyperborea and Bloodspire.  Technically, I've heard few complaints, although I've heard plenty about the planning (merging Rp-PvP into PvP).  As for the population....well, one can try one's best but dissatisfaction with what one has is endemic...human nature perhaps?

2 Yep, it's a symptom.  Broken?  Seems strong to me, but I could go with "lack of content".  Personally, I don't want better stats for decent items....just more varied appearances.  Oh, and more content would be good (Did I mention that btw? ).  The problem here for AoC might be its demanding graphics, I think, as it probably requires more programming effort than less technically demanding games.  Correct me if I'm wrong on that last point, btw, as I'm no tech guru.

3 Well....DX10 is now live on testlive.  Seems ok ( & stable) so far, unless errors previously eliminated  by an earlier patch rear their fugly heads.  Not everything is set up for DX10, but the patch notes do tell us what to expect in advance i.e. they are at least telling us not to expect DX10 to be truly complete for this patch.  IMO, it's good to see some honesty.

4 Seems like a good basis.  My real worry is whether or not FC has enough capital to develop the potential that this game has.  At the moment, I just don't know.  I think that, even if FC doesn't have enough cash to keep going, that AoC represents a reasonable prospect for a company with a decent amount of cash and an optimistic attitude.

5  Maybe, although I hope you're wrong.  To me, the over-zealous seem as irrational as the overly-pessimistic, but that's just my take.  As an aside, Worgpest doesn't seem to be the most irrational at the moment...there are others far scarier on both sides of the divide.

Not to steal anyone's thunder but, speaking from the Hyrkanian (RP-PvE) perspective, we are seeing some increase in population.  Not drastic, but we now have 2 raiding crews going, and may (I hope) be able to support a 3rd soon.

I've also noticed that guilds here are starting to advertise for new members again....something unheard of over the last couple of months of low (& declining?) population.  The mood, if anything, is mildly positive, I reckon, although RP seems to have dwindled a touch.  There are some doubts about whether or not Hyrk should have remained solo or merged with Crom, but I am (for a short while at least) heartened by what seems to be a resurgence of both population and enthusiasm.

No doubt some of the bug fixes helped....although gem and class/feat balance both need tweaks IMO.

Originally posted by Elsabolts

Avery is that you    " points above " game is the worst dissapointment  of any game this year

Heh  - no, I'm not Avery.

I note you don't address the points, but just launch a quick ad hominem.  Still, never mind.

Honestly, I can really understand why people who are keen on PvP might be disappointed, especially given the hype and the high expectations that were around around AoCs launch.  Peoples' expectations were too high, but FC did release an unfinished, buggy product, and then managed community relations very poorly IMO.  Heck, if my expectations were as high as those of some people and then believed I'd been deceived by FC, I'd have been upset too!

But all the same, I enjoy it, and it wasn't a disappointment to me.  Clearly it was a huge disappointment for you, as it was for many people.  But even though it's been disappointing for many, it doesn't necessarily mean that it's a bad game as it is now.  And furthermore, even if it is true that AoC managed to disappoint more people than any other game this year, it doesn't mean that the OPs reasons for finding it so are fair appraisals of the situation.  I think there are some good additional reasons for being disappointed, amongst which we need to include the huge amount of pre-launch hype and poor (maybe even dishonest?) community management.

My expectations weren't that high though, and I frankly never bought into the hype in the way in which some people seem to have done.  I still enjoy AoC - in particular for its immersive world (yep, for me it is!), realistic style of art, and darkish take on the world.  Instancing is not an issue for me as I played GW for several years, so don't find that the way the playfields are linked to be an issue for me.

I still think that they need to have acted (and be acting) faster in several areas, namely items and stats (and the way they allowed gems to be OP for so long was awful IMO), and the long-announced server merges.  More L80 content would be nice too...or at least some way of encouraging players to create their own activities at L80;  I guess that this was what sieges were intended to be, but it hasn't really turned out that way.  This is also what War are trying to do, of course, getting the players to create their own content at high levels.  War are doing better than AoC at this given their higher population, but still not brilliantly from the things that I'm reading.

Originally posted by Greyhooff

It was hyped as the best PVP mmo, with lots of adult content and a fresh and action packed engine

What we got was a buggy, laggy, underdeveloped mess

True, but the first time through Tortage, even back then, was really good fun for me.

Here is what got fixed since the old head developer was fired in disgrace:

Fwiw, it was  the game director that was fired - he wasn't in such a technical role...more a managerial one as I understand it

- less constant crashing

- less grey map, zoning crashes etc

- less lag

- less bugs (but still more than any other mmo)

It seems fairly bug free to me now, or at least as bug free as any other MMO I've played.  Sure, not all the bugs are gone,  but progress has been good there, I'd say

 

but at its core

- the game still has nothing in it

Nothing in it?  A very strong statement!  Personally, I find it quite fun at the moment.  The game has PvP, PvE, and other things in it, whatever you may think of them....and that's not "nothing".

- the pvp is childish, boring and full of griefers compared to real PVP games like Warhammer

What part of the PvP is childish?  The combat mechanics seem pretty good,  barring a couple of imbalances.  The FFA structure of PvP does lead to the potential for many problems, such as the potential for griefing and ganking.  More reason and meaning to PvP would be a good thing.

And saying that War's PvP is good?  Well, it does seem to do the group thing well, but it looks too sluggish and simple.  FWIW, I haven't played War, but have watched a friend play it, and am basing it on what I've seen and what he says, so my experience here is rather limited.  I guess we'll find out if War can count as a "real" PvP game when Darkfall comes out (assuming it does).

- the pve is stil just terrible

Balderdash!  I've had very little grinding to do, and the quests seem quite fun,  and to be based around some interesting mini-stories.  For me, the PvE is good, and some of the boss encounters are very well-designed.  Onyx Chambers and some of the raids need work, mind.  PvE content is a bit thin when levelling at higher levels, though.  That does need work, but hardly warrants the description of PvE as "terrible".

- itemisation is still terrible

Two aspects to this I guess - the look of clothes/armours and their stats.  Re stats, I prefer to have item stats play a lesser role than in some games (e.g. WoW), but do like to feel like they are making some difference.  There needs to be some rebalancing here, for sure, but hope that FC don't make items overly important.  As regards the looks, yes, there should be more variety.  The designs are good, but AoC does need more choices for looks, and this is something that I'm keen to see FC address.

- character stats still do nothing

True, but as the inherent stat values are auto assigned based on archetype, I'm not sure I want the base values to have much effect.  The values contributed by equipment, on the other hand, ought to do something, and this is lacking.

- there is no reason to play at all

Maybe not for you, but some people do find reasons to play.  FC do really need to address the lack of endgame content, as the game seems to be most fun whilst levelling at the moment.

- no crafting or market at the AH

The crafting system is really pretty poor, I'll agree, and I also dislike the way  that the new recipes are acquired by adventuring, thus making it very difficult (or even impossible) to focus on crafting instead of adventuring.  There also needs to be some way of distinguishing one suit of crafted armour at a given level from others....not sure what, but it makes buying an item from one crafter as good as buying it from any other.  Also, gaining levels in the crafts (except architect and, to a lesser extent, armoursmithing) is too easy, meaning that almost everyone can be a crafter.

As for market, well, that depends on the server one's on.  My server's market is pretty dead, but I had a look at Crom PvE the other day, and it doesn't look too bad there, with some of the newer crafted items being offered there.

- class balance is still terrible

Terrible?  There are some imbalances, such as spellweaving necros and ToS's spike & passive additional damage and the low damage of some soldiers in PvP, but I would say it's getting more balanced over time.  Needs work?  Yes, but "terrible"? No

- exploits and bugs still rule the day

Which ones?  Haven't seen too many of these myself of late.  Can you be more specific?

- no one even plays this dead game any more

Population did take a hard hit, and isn't good, I'll agree, but your statement is way overstating it, and is bordering on trolling.

Good things:

- the graphics are good (although not varied and not very fantasy-like)

Graphics are AoC's strong suit, as is the music, I'd say.  I agree re the variety, but please, if you mean that you want more spikey shoulders and glowey bits, then no thanks.  I prefer the realistic style of AoC to the high fantasy style of WoW, personally.