Doesn't matter if it's free.. it still looks like an old turd. The character graphics are nice, but then you look down and the world looks like you're back in EQ1. Yes, the environment textures are that bad. Plus they're using retarded pando media booster, which I've numerous logs of it sitting in background (even after close, requires termination through console). No thanks..

Just got mine on steam. I paid $50 for the Trilogy + Eye of the North. Seams reasonable to me IMO.

Originally posted by Omali

Originally posted by _Kyle_

Basically the same thing happened to me more or less. I created my trial 2 days before the extended trial was put in affect. I didn't really know that as they made it extremely confusing on their site. I had thought I was getting the new extended trial as they were already advertising it. So I of course used my master account and added Aion to it. Low and behold I got slapped with a little 10 day trial. Ok, I wait for Monday when it goes extended. Nope, no extended. I contact them and am told "previous free trials don't count". I ask why and they tell me that's just how it is basically. It's completely absurd not to upgrade active trials to extended trials, it was just 2 days back! If they'd of not confused the crap out of everyone with their horrible advertisement it would've been fine and I would've waited. Then they tell me to create a new account for the extended trial?!?! So 1 my account name is already taken and 2 my character name is already take due to my previous trial and linking to my master account.

Short story.. this whole free trial nonsense has been nothing but a horrible experience and don't know if I'll even consider coming over for the F2P. After all the environmental graphics were god awful so that's a big enough turn off there... and this on to it and good bye.

Rallying The Troops was announced in the 21st to begin on the 27th, and was plastered on the NCSoft website and numerous MMO news sites. That you didn't wait for two more days to start the unlimited trial and instead chose the 10 day trial is the consequence of your choice and inability to properly research before you sign up.

Their poor advertisement isn't my problem. Why the hell would you hype the trial before it is even released when you've a system in place that already provides trials and they are non-transferrable to the new trial system? They've caused a confusing mess and I'm no where near the only one plagued with that confusion. Their forums are littered with people that experienced the same freaken issue. It was a piss poor way to go about the extended trial system, period. They shouldn't have said a stinking word until it was actually released to avoid the confusion. Otherwise they should've disabled creation of standard 10-day trials when they made the announcement. 2 very simple solutions and they chose to do neither and cause issues like what I and the OP has experienced.

Basically the same thing happened to me more or less. I created my trial 2 days before the extended trial was put in affect. I didn't really know that as they made it extremely confusing on their site. I had thought I was getting the new extended trial as they were already advertising it. So I of course used my master account and added Aion to it. Low and behold I got slapped with a little 10 day trial. Ok, I wait for Monday when it goes extended. Nope, no extended. I contact them and am told "previous free trials don't count". I ask why and they tell me that's just how it is basically. It's completely absurd not to upgrade active trials to extended trials, it was just 2 days back! If they'd of not confused the crap out of everyone with their horrible advertisement it would've been fine and I would've waited. Then they tell me to create a new account for the extended trial?!?! So 1 my account name is already taken and 2 my character name is already take due to my previous trial and linking to my master account.

Short story.. this whole free trial nonsense has been nothing but a horrible experience and don't know if I'll even consider coming over for the F2P. After all the environmental graphics were god awful so that's a big enough turn off there... and this on to it and good bye.

I play Allods and don't understand why some of you think it's cash shop heavy. That USED to be the case, but they've sense overhauled the cash shop. All you can buy now is silly costumes or EXP boost scrolls for example. Hell the charms that keep items from cursing on death are free now. The biggest advantage in the cash shop is a mount because it's a pain to get one from anywhere else. Whether you spend $0 or $1000 in the cash shop won't matter as there's nothing in there that'll cause a problem with balance. Yes, you can buy some stat boost potions but alchemists can craft 1 grade lower then them so it's not much of an advantage.

Glad I live in the middle of the US. Only thing I need to worry about is Tornadoes.

Be safe everyone and thanks for the warning.

With no news of how she passed it's highly likely it was an "untraditional" method of passing.

It sucks to see someone pass. I personally did not know her and don't recall dealing with her when I was banned for awhile.

Her energy has been released from the human form that binds us to this plane. She's in a better place and her energy flows around those close to her at all times.

This is the river of life. Sometimes there's rocks in said river, but life will flow on.

My best of wishes go out to her family, friends, and close others.

Do not get an HP, Dell, Apple, etc. Do not get ANY of that garbage.

You want a laptop with a sager or asus motherboard for a quality system.

Go to xoticpc.com and they have laptops for different price ranges. You'll get the most bang for your buck there. If you're head strong on getting one of those garbage brand names then good luck, but I suggest you take my advice.

Also, just charge it to a credit card and make your monthly payments. Laptops are expensive and it's easier just to pay it off over time.

Why the heck would anyone pay 15 a month on top of the 50 a year (xbox live) to play this crappy game for xbox?

Seriously, I'd MUCH rather play Battlefield Bad Company, Soulcaliber, and rock band then this freaken garbage.

Keep these crummy MMOs off my console please. If it ports to console lets make sure it's actually a GOOD game.

The CEO selling stock is a standard transaction that most CEOs do when they invest in their own company. It isn't the end of the stinking world. You guys need to stop acting like your financial gurus and go play another game already. I hate AoC too, but you're just making your selves look stupid. The company won't die, because there will be someone to buy them out.. so stop freaking out. AoC isn't going anywhere.

I want to try it pretty badly, but I'll wait till after release.

I made the mistake of buying AoC Hype and when I had product in hand I realized it was a flaming bag of poop. Very interesting twist to a purchase, but what can you do? So I giggled in joy at my flaming bag of poop until the poop was no longer flaming. Thus my 1 month of so called fun ended.

Anyway, I'll cut to the chase.. I don't buy hype anymore. I'll wait for first week impressions before I purchase.

All content on the box.. MUST be in at launch. This same situation happened with Vanguard. It IS false advertisement.. hell it's the very definintion of false advertisement.. MANY got refunds for Vanguard.. same can happen for AoC..

The MAJOR false advertisement is DX10 support. WAAAH some of you say to people who point this VALID false advertisement as nothing but crybabys. You don't say "Enhanced with DX10" then not have DX10. That is called FALSE ADVERTISEMENT!

Companies need to be careful what they put on thier products as it is clear grounds for a refund if they fail to deliver said features.

From what I can see that's the only false advertisement on the box, but you only need 1 false advertisement and it's grounds for refund.

Funcom screwed up and if you want your money back.. file a complaint with the BBB and Funcom is -FORCED- to reply or face fines, penalties, and lawsuits. You'll get your refund if the 50 bucks means that much to you.

Just take this as a lesson to -NEVER- buy hype ever again.. main reason I'm not pre-ordering warhammer.. I see it as all hype.

Originally posted by zymurgeist

Way too amny assumptions based on no data. My informal survery shows there are fewer and fewer complaints about AoC. So that must mean AoC is fixed right?

No it means people are complaining less.

Xfire is reporting fewer hours played. That must mean all the other schlock people are throwing out there is true right?

No it means xfire is reporting fewer hours played. The rest is just someone's interpretation of a meaningless statistic garnered from an inadequate sample volume.

You may be right. Then again nothing posted here indicates you are.

 

Really? Nothing? Read every AoC forum or does the vocal populas not count?

Want me to get links of several fansites, forums, etc.. and show you?

The general opinion is the game sucks.. and according to ingame experiences.. the game is losing people.. I've experienced that first hand.

Originally posted by Death1942

Originally posted by Jackdog

Originally posted by AmazingAvery

up one spot from yesterday, and x-fire is just a small portion of the overall user base, now that is a fact.

 I wonder how much of that one spot rise is due to them starting to send out buddy keys?

That small percentage of users are logging about half the hours there were at aunch. From over 95 K just after launch to 48 K yesterday. Lost a third of the hours from the last 2 weekends, June 8th it had 66K hours, June 15th 60K. It is pretty obvious that people are canceling their subs.

And once again these are the more dedicated MMORPGers who live for the PvP and are gear whores.  These are the guys and gals who did not give a damn about grinding the last 30 or 40 levels of content because FC did have time to do a decent questline all the way to 80. These are the people who could give a damn about crafting and RP'ing. If they are quitting in such numbers what about the casual player who will be quicker to hit the cancel button when customer service blows him or her off or runs out of quests and just refuses to grind mobs for 40 levels. What about the casual players who want to be able to craft and enjoy the  RP fluff content?

Bottom line is if AoC cannot hold the hard core players the casuals will be leaving a lot faster.

wrong

the hardcore freaks who reach max lvl in the first 1-3 weeks dont deserve decent endgame.  same thing happened in LOTRO.  we had half my guild get to 50 in the first month and (with no endgame apart from 1 instance) they all chucked a fit and left.  casuals kept going and look at the game now.  its great fun and has a tonne of content.  same thing with AoC and just about every other MMO out there.

 

hardcore always are the first (and in some cases) the last to leave.  casuals are just that...casuals.  they may play a few hours for the next 3 years, or they play a few hours every 6 months.   its completely random with them.

 

Hate to destroy your post, but i've been playing casual.

I'm talking 1-3hrs a day tops.

I've managed to get a 55DT and a 56Necro then a lvl18POM.

Guess what.. the game is dead after 50.. it becomes a snore fest that I walk away to go to the bathroom.. then sit down and watch TV.. I forget I was even playing.. the game has no HOOK.

Endgame is just broken lagfest pvp and broken lagfest raiding, which even the loot is bugged in.

I didn't rush it as you can see.. unless you suggest 30mins a day, eh? I just did 1 quest after another as I love to quest.. then the quests vanished.. and it turned into doing repeatables 3 days in a row, because no groups exist anymore due to the elite mob changes.. no one wants to do instances.. most of the time you'd have 1-2 higher level folks in your group.. all those higher lvls are scared off as the mobs hit them like a freight train. Even level players don't bother, because it's to hard at even level.. you need some advantage above the elites to survive.. they hit to hard, respawn to fast, or just aggro to many.

I'm tired of people making excuses for a company the screwed the heck up.

I'm going to be blund and straight to the point: AoC = Failure

That's all there is to it. People are returning to the old games and that includes me.. AoC doesn't deliver what it promised or what it should. Let me give you an example: Stats (Strength, Wisdom, Etc) didn't work AT ALL until last mondays patch. How did that even survive all throughout development? Seriously.. how.. that's.. I can't even think of a word to describe how poorly handled the testing was and how far behind in game development FC is.

On top of a broken damn game. FC has the nerve to ignore; EVERYONE! Stealth nerfs. NDA TESTER SERVER ON A GAME THAT IS -LIVE-.. etc.. the list goes on..

It's not 1 perticular thing that's driving people anyway.. it's the sum of all AoCs evils.. and that sum is huge.

I compared EQ2 reports to release reports... and xfire is pretty dang spot on.. EQ2 is on the rise from a downfall and it clearly shows that.

While it's OBVIOUSLY not going to be extremely accurate.. it's a pretty good estimate.

My ingame experiences also suggest population is on the downfall.. getting a group compared to release week is an absolutely struggle now.

I'm debating shelfing it for awhile, but I fear I'll probably never come back.. my 4yr old EQ2 account is calling me.. Somehow I -always- go back to eq2.. went to wow.. ran back to eq2.. tabula rasa.. back to eq2.. same situation each time..

My problem is I don't like pvp unless it's exactly like daoc.. and I don't like raiding unless it's 10man at most (I like my groups more personal).. so saddly AoC fails in both those aspects... at level80 there's nothing to do but pvp and raid.. and the pvp is awful.. the raiding loot is extremely buggy.. Maybe in time it'll get better, but I may just stick to EQ2 and play single player games like spore and fallout3 on the side..

Going to finally get into my career in approx a month.. so I really don't care what I play as long as I can have some fun.. and when AoC keeps crashing.. it makes me not want to play.. I find it EXTREMELY easy to walk away from this game and I'm not sure if that's a good or bad thing.

Got 30 bucks? Buy the Rise of Kunark expansion and you get the original game with every expansion as well. Plus 30 days play time. Can't go wrong with that deal tbh.

People bought hype and honestly that's all there was to it. Funcom did an excellent job at marketing their game. Their strategy was well thought and worked flawlessly.

Now that the real numbers are release. Some investors are scared and pulling out, which is why there is a drop. Most likely that drop is from folks who purchases stock at peak price expecting it to rise even further after release, but then seeing the real numbers pulled out to cut their loses.

There's nothing wrong with that. It's normal financial trades that happen on a daily bases.

Does this mean AoC failed? Not by a long shot. The game is actually a booming success almost rivaling WOWs release.

People bought massive amounts of hype. That's all people. There is no underlining cause. That's all it was. Bought. Hype.

This happens basically with EVERY MMO that has enough hype to sell it self without a product in hand. They fed people information that pumped them up and caused many to invest. That's really great marketing and I give my props to Funcom for that, but the question at hand is; "Did they deliver?"

I personally think they DID deliver on all the hype. I LOVE the game. It's an absolute blast. Grouping in NORMAL versions of the zones is an incredible challenge. Just the other day my full group fighting legendary mobs 3 levels below us. We all wiped a total of 18 times due to MINOR errors. We perfected our strategy and then owned the hell out of the place. That kind of gameplay is what I enjoy. Finally an MMO that challenges me and makes you have to THINK before acting.

Anyway, it's a matter of opinion.

I'd love to skip it and be auto 20 and out of tortage with my ALTs though. Not a huge fan of repeat content and I don't need the tutorial "feel" all over again, you know?

So to be able to skip it after doing it once would be an awesome feature to have. I doubt it'd happen, but it'd be very cool.

For a penalty you should only have the gear you start with at the very very beginning, like the intro gear. Then you should also have no money. The idea is to support the character with your primary character. Makes sense to me and seams like it'd work out well.

Originally posted by WiccanCircle

  Interesting...

I gace this an entire evening and nada... zip,,, nothing.

Read through this entire thread.  Aside from INSTANCING which virtually disappears after Tortage, there is not a single point of fact or data to say why this game is beaten by ANY, let alone so many other games.

There are blank, empty references AGAIN to the fact that every game since pong is better than Age of Conan, but they are completely devoid of any explination as to why this might be so, or why the poster isn't lying through their teeth (keyboard)

As was stated by a brilliant poster, of whom I have forgotten who said it, almost every one posting on these fora are speaking as the little tiny whiney population of Tortage NOT the expansive world of Hyboria.  I spent the evening playing a few levels and doing about a dozen and a half missions in the mid 20's 

I zoned/instanced once.  Once.  That is less than an evening in WoW.

I guess we have called the bluff of the people flaming this game.  Is in my favorite?  no.  Asheron's Call is my favorite game as I have said in virtually every post for the last decade... and you can see my long drawn out explinations as to why Asheron's Call is a substantually better game than all the EQ-clones like WoW... but AoC is better than any other game I have played since... including WoW, EQ, EQ2, AC2, AO, TR, LotRO, DAoC, AO, CoV, CoH and likely a few others that were so bad I have forgotten them completely.

I guess the flamers have not a single real tid-bit of fact to back up their baseless, hollow emotional claims.

See you in Hyboria

HEADS WILL ROLL

I don't mind the pet system at all. Just took time to get used to.

I actually get to enjoy the pleasure of having a pet, but also not feeling like my pet is 100 times stronger then me. It made absolutely no sense in other games for me to be able to control a being stronger then my character himself. It's absurd.

This seams like more along the lines of D&D style. They're just supplemental damage. Not meant to tank. They can tank given the right skill, but not forever.

Plus we get an pretty badass aoe fear. Also if you go down Reanimation talents you get an aoe root/snare. So who knows. Just need to formulate new strategies.

At level20 so far and nope my pets don't tank at all. It's disappointing, but eh none of the other mage classes can tank or have a means of stopping the mobs.

They CAN tank ONLY with Frenzy casted.

What I don't get is there is 3 talents devoted to pet defenses. So it makes absolutely no sense. I guess for aoe purposes? I dunno.. they never have died from a mob in my experience.

Maybe later on we get a tanker type.

So far I have corrupter and mutilator, which both basically do the same thing except 1 procs a bleed and 1 procs an unholy DD when they attack. Both only cost 1 point each.