There are a couple of things i've done on my system that will remove a majority of the frameskips pretty much anywhere i'm at.

I hope it helps.

1. Bloom - OFF

2. Shader - 2.x or 2.0

3. Shadows - Low / Disabled

4. Water Reflections - None

Those 4 things with sliders in medium-high and texture options on medium-high and AAx2 and ASFx1 got me from 15fps in city to around 35fps in the city

One thing to remember, or atleast possibly consider. Theres a chance that some or all of the AoC clients dont hold some graphic settings between zones or client restarts. For example, when I restart AoC, half the time water reflections are turned back on to 'everything' and shader is set at 3.0, so i am constantly changing them back, find your settings, and keep an eye on them occassionally, if you login and you've got the original cpu lag, check your settings and see if something changed.

I hope this stuff helps people get some quicker framerates.

People that support other games, generally don't want to give their rival games any unique view credit, posting in AoC forums gives aoc 1 extra unique visit per click from the war/darkfall/tcos fans

Attacking player cities makes it just that much more fun.

Why should a guild have permanent rights to the best resources and building spots just because they got there on day 5? They should have it as long as they can hold it.

When it comes to the ganking and open world pvp.. i dont see the problem, we're on day what? first off, the people whose attention span is as long as you keep respawning or complaining, will probably be gone after the first 3 months when they get grounded lol. second, it takes games a while for the community to build, this isnt just guilds and public chat, it's PvP standards aswell.

If you want a community-caused issue to go away, give the community some time to mature. It's in it's infant stages LITERALLY. The community just started, the game mechanics for AoC when it comes to ganking are no different than pvp servers on other games, so how can it be funcom's fault? Let the player-base grow up a little, and let the younger players settle in, things will start to smooth over. Not to say spawn camping will go away, but it definately will be much farthur and fewer inbetween.

Originally posted by Deathstiny

Alright so I've been a WAR fanboi for quite some time and I've been bashing AoC on numerous occasions on these boards (see my posting history if you have any doubts). I didn't bash AoC because I knew anything bad about it (I was not in BETA). I simply wanted MY game (WAR) to "win". I know that is not a mature reason but I'm sure many here can relate and I wanted everybody to understand from what perspective I'm writing this. Further info: I am currently in WAR Beta but won't compare AoC to WAR as I'm respecting the NDA.

My computer: Dell XPS 630 - Quad core 6600 - 4gigs DDR2 - Gforce 8800 GT 512mb - Windows Vista Premium 32bit. That system currently retails for about $1200 to $1400 depending on some options.

Alright, so Funcom huh? Ouch I was there for Anarchy Online Launch so I was prepared for uglyness. But I was bored and since I pretty much buy every single MMO that comes out I figured meh! May as well give the competition a try so I can "bash with experience".

I was not prepared for this. First of all the game looked absolutely amazing. And I don't mean just "good". I mean generations ahead of its time. And the fact that my system runs it anywhere between 40-80fps (city vs. outdoor) on MAX settings is a blessing.

Alright, so I didn't hate the graphics. Big deal, the servers will probably crash every few minutes and there will be hours upon hours of downtime right? WRONG! The servers have been up almost permanently (one 5 hour downtime exception that bothered me). For a release that is quite a feat. Of course I may just be lucky and servers are only up when I'm playing but considering I'm playing a lot I can safely say it's been a smooth lauch (as smooth as launches go).

Alright, so the game looks great and is stable. Surely there must be tons of broken quests. Wrong again! I've done dozens of quests and they are working just fine. Plus many of them are actually quite entertaining and tell a great story.

But the community is full of tards right? "Sadly" no. OOC is the new barrens chat but other than that I have met lots of great people already. The player base is defintely more mature than WoW and that's great news all around.

How about the classes? All crap right? I've tried 9 out of the 12 classes so far and besides the Dark Templar I like em all. WoW a priest that nukes so he can heal better? What a great concept. You mean I'm no longer forced to spam 1 button and play healbot? Who would have thunk? Seriously the classes are great. Sure some balancing is required but honestly WoW has been out for what 3 years and classes need balancing. Or hey! Ask an EQ1 wizzy (9 years game life) how their class balance is compared to zerker and rogue dps on raids. Yeah, Funcom is doing alright ....ack can't believe I said that. BLASPHEMY!

Alright, well combat must really suck then right? Well, you probably have guessed by now how this review is going. Sorry! I will NEVER EVER play and autoattack MMO again. Combat rocks! After level 10 a whole new world opens up and boy oh boy I can't believe we played MMOs the way we have all these years.

Okay, I'm not going to bore you much longer. I just need to say a couple mroe things. First of all a big sorry to my previous attitude towards the game. A big congratulations to Funcom. AoC will be my MMO for years to come. THQs WH40K is the only thing on the horizon right now and that's at least 3-4 years away.

As for WAR. I won't be playing it. I'll keep testing it here and there and fullfill my duties as a beta tester and I do hope it will do well as I like the license but my home is now Hyboria.

I can't believe I'm about to say the following but ... THANK YOU FUNCOM !!!

 

Hey what server do you play? I dont really go out of my way to find groups or talk to people but I would like to be able to just walk up to some people and listen, or be in a zone with massive OOC chat lol, I generally avoid cities just cause i enjoy the wierd ass *MATURE MATURE MATURE ie. S3Xule A55alt (sorry, dont wanna get banned LOL!) and other really bad things* quests, I find that the stranger or the more graphic or tear-jerking or.. in this recent case... .. .. i'll use the quest quote.. "while they had their fun with my, my husband broke free from his chains and they killed him" i messed a few words but the first part is 100% quoted from a woman, oh.. then theres this part.. "I'm pregnant but I don't know if it's my husbands or the nemedians" ... wow, lets see WoW say that!!

Originally posted by Unfinished

 

 

This isnt Funcom's 1st MMO, Anarchy Online Vets can tell you exactly how  FC handles customer service..  We are seeing it repeated in Age of Conan. How they deal with game issues will make you feel like they really don't care about there customers.

No game's customer service has ever made me feel welcomed, muchless appreciated lol. Infact, almost every encounter with a GM has left me feeling unsatisfied and displeased, although I am usually nice to them. And dealing with a game company by phone or email is almost like torture.

Originally posted by MikeMB

I gave it a 3.

It would have been at a good 8 or 9 about 3 days ago however the game is just unplayable for me now. So far tonight I've been able to play AoC for about 45 minutes after getting home. Yeah 45 damn minutes of game play out of trying to play for about 4 hours now.

So far the game has dropped me 3 times tonight, has red lined me with a ping of 9913, know what? No more, I'm not giving Funcom any of my money for the state that this game is in.

The Player Base I have to say is down right awful as well. So far I've been on an RP Server and the most I've RP'ed is with a few friends and that's about it. I guess the idea of RP on AoC is the mindless insults from the Players who act like they are about 13 years old after they gank someone.

Dare I say I have lost most of my respect for MMO's and MMO Players thanks to AoC. And I am starting to think I'm not going to touch another MMORPG if not give up gaming as a whole.

 

as far as i've seen, besides 1998-2001, RP is usually done inside of guilds or with friends, or randomly in cities, the city part will take a while, i've been seeing more and more people in every little town/village, give it some time.

If you don't want your account, clear the info and kick it down, i've got friends itching for my buddy keys when they release them, maybe one of them can use it.

Dare I say they will gain respect for MMO's and MMO players?

Not everything is for everyone, atleast you didn't fly off the handle lol.

Time, Time, Time. Some more time, then when you've given it too much time, give it more time. As far as the problems in AoC, It's pretty much on par with the big 5 population MMOs. I'd say in the same time it took them to get things straight, it will take AoC. Atleast it isn't 100+ fixes per Patch from day 2 through day .. today, like vanguard lol. If they fixed even 25 things a day 3 days in a row, i'd either expect them to say they've been working on it for 3 months solid, or i'm going to get my head checked if i didn't notice the bugs lol.

Originally posted by Bristolian

As an outsider looking in I have to say that the detailed discussion is very helpful. I only recently picked up the scent of AoC and have been looking for reasons to buy it but refuse to do so until I am satisfied that I will not be wasting my money.

Like others have stated here, I expect a mmo released in 2008 to be eclipsing previous mmo's for it to earn my money. From what I have read I will be keeping the wallet closed for a month or two and then re-evaluating it, but some 'features' do sound permanent enough (fixed pathing for example) to put me off for good. I hope that FC make good on their claims for the game content and that end-game content in particular is worthwhile.

In the meantime, I look forward to reading more 'discussion'

i've yet to be anywhere but a specific mountain pass where i couldnt go any direction i wanted rofl, or do whatever i wanted rofl, roads are wide open, theres fields, no fake walls lol, thats no joke. Maybe there are zones out there that are set paths,, like carved into a mountain or something but every game has them every so often (WoW - Deadwind Pass)

Originally posted by Zorndorf

I would give it a 4/10.

Not for the technical issues (I am already used to the 10 FPS hit I have in the city) or for the lack of certain fundamental MMORPG techniques like a decent Auction House available on launch.

The 4 is because Conan is NOT the way future MMORPG's should handle the worlds.

MMORPG's are OPEN to be explored, they are played to LIVE in.

MMORPG's are NOT boxes in which you hop in from closed box to box and do some lineair quests.

MMORPG's do need seamless worlds (or at least give the impression). In 2008 MMORPG's don't use 2D rocks and trees to block your path.

They should be about exploring, NOT by following a rather narrow path between 2D borders.

MMORPG's don't need talking NPC's, because the talking of the players is all that's needed ! In game videos in an MMORPG are futile. They are needed in off line RPG, but in on line games they are useless

Talking with other players you meet ON screen should be as easy as clicking on that player's avatar.

It's the PLAYERS who make the worlds in MMORPG's, not the ingame video of NPC's and standard quests.

ROFL tell that to DDO.

oh, and where do YOU see 2d antything? hmm? I've seen real 3d trees, i havent seen anything resembling a wall besides a MOUNTAIN rofl

and no im not joking or being an idiot, i seriously havent seen solid walls with 2d tree textures on them, you know where i HAVE seen everything you complain about? DDO. Maybe youve been playing a turbine game.

I think some people are confusing the question.

Imagine a game is perfect in content, mechanics, and customer service rofl, the perfect game, if it was up to you, AND YOU HAD TO CHOOSE, would you pick cartoony graphics or realistic graphics?

I chose realistic graphics. I'm a PC gamer, always will be. Video settings are permanently embedded in  my brain.

Originally posted by RedwoodSap

Ganking players is lame but it's not the gankers fault for playing FFA PVP the way it's designed. It's the developers fault for not having the common sense to create mechanics to prevent respawn ganking, like a safe timer so the player who is respawning has a reasonable time limit to recoup, regroup, or flee from the PVP area.

Also any developer that allows FFA PVP without level/skill limits to prevent higher level or more powerful skilled players to gank lowbies who are too weak to defend themselves, is stupid and asking for a failed PVP system.

WoW.

It takes a game a while for the players to come to a silent understanding for the most part. Spawn camping will always continue but at a much lower rate. As the game matures into it's full self, whether with fixes, added content, etc. I think so does the player-base. Things start to become common sense, other things get slammed by everybody. A world has a way of working itself out.

Originally posted by Ylikone

I got banned from AoC as well... for asking if it's ok to sell the game.

 

Here is what my screen says when I go there...

 

You have been banned due to infractions.

Date the ban will be lifted: November 20th, 2008, 02:02 PM

 

LOL.

 

If theres 700k people, and 10 a day say something that could lead their customers elsewhere, why not ban them? hell it's only $150 a month you lose. well.. per day that you ban 10 that is lol

Originally posted by Vortigon

After Vanguard fiasco, I think hat many companies have seriously reconsidered their release quality and schedules.

I am amazed that Funcom seem to be one of the few to ignore the new 'expected standards' in MMO releases.

Either they are hoping to get away with it or they just don't care about their customers, either way they are living in the past.

Funcom was scheduled to release a Long time ago, they waited, and as a result, they have one of the most 'functioning' Release-MMO's on the market. I've never played a release MMO that didnt have issues that someone somewhere turned into the dinosaur comet or the godly apocalypse.

So the game has problems, did you EVER play an MMO on release? Not joking, seriously, have you? I have played a Lot of MMO's on release, and I can't ever remember seeing a problem that even made me consider quitting, muchless to complain about.

As far as MMO release standards go, AoC took the high road, i'm sure everyone has their own opinion to this but the facts Really are hard to ignore... count how much % of clients crash, freeze, bluescreen, count how many client's encounter specific bugs, and I'm sure in terms of %, there would be a lot less than the last 5 years of Paid U.S. MMO releases.

Oh, and for the record? When I played Vanguard on release, I used the same comp I have now and I couldnt get more than 10fps Anywhere on Any settings, but in AoC I can have 100+ fps with everything low/disabled except the sliders, around 20-30fps with certain things turned up or down, lol on the same comp!

Also, in Vanguard, I fell through the floor, I lost UI parts, and a whole suit of other issues I had.

I've yet to experience any bad issues in AoC.. maybe i'm lucky? or maybe the 5% of the population that feels the hurt, is crying in pain? who knows

All i know is, when someone doesnt have an issue, they dont come to the forums and express themselves in new threads.

So it's safe to assume that a higher % of the people experiencing issues are in forums, as opposed to a lower % of people experience no issues that are in the forums.

Those with a cause, always speak the loudest. Unfortunately, they're often the first to throw the tomato and attempt to proclaim that 'the rest of the country feels the same way as we do' which i often guess is most untrue.

I bought the game for $50, tossed it after 5 days...... but thats me, i'll say the 3 things in the OP's 'bad points' that determine whether i enjoy myself or not in an MMO generally.

"Not much exploration outside of towns"

"Barely saw any other players"

"The world is too small"

Those are 3 of i'd say 5-6 reasons that I didn't continue playing this game....

And I was REALLY looking forward to it too...

Originally posted by Battlekruse

Originally posted by dirtknap69

http://img140.imageshack.us/img140/9085/gmszq7.jpg
http://img140.imageshack.us/img140/2425/gms1xv7.jpg

So this is AoC's idea of PVP? Threats of bans from a GM (with bad grammar) for killing players?

 

hmm...

 

 

This is very interesting, thank you for sharing this.

Ultima Online for example, considered griefing also to include if you opened a gate/portal and told someone it was to another town, they enter, find out it's to a demon room and die, then they'd complain, a gm would show up and grill you for griefing other players, and mark your account.

Corpse Camping is considered griefing in most pve/pvp mix games, even in open pvp areas on pvp servers, corpse camping is enough to make someone quit, and anything that directly will lead someone down the path of considering quitting, is enough to get a GM involved.

It's standard rules, if it makes someone cry, be sure a GM will come knocking. Nothing new here.

I didn't realize release-pvp was expected to be anything other than garbage?

I didn't realize we're all princes princesses kings and queens, I didn't realize we get everything perfect upon request.

What I'm saying is, every mmo I've ever played around release time, has sucked something fierce in all of the 'later' game stages, including PVP.

I say 'later' game stages because most games Release with PVP focus at later levels, as in... WoW didn't start doing super-low level pvp untill how far into it's life? No I don't mean open random 'i jacked you' pvp.

And if you're talking about open PVP at lower-mid levels, the game is ... how old? And it takes a game about how long for the players to start creating their own pseudo-structures involving pvp? Let's give AoC roughly the same amount of time. Then we'll start throwing flaming bags of doggy-biscuits.

My subscription is still very active. I personally am enjoying this game enough to pay for it.

I don't forsee cancelling my subscription anytime in the near future.

Originally posted by StinkyPits

I'm sorry - but all the hype about the graphics in this game are complete crap.  Some things look good, but many things look bad.  Watch a crocodile run towards you when you take the rowboat to the island.  It looks like it's sliding and trying to run at the same time.  Doesn't look natural or good at all.  The physics are kind of crappy, but the motion capture of the characters is OK.  Except the fact that every time my guy jumps, it looks like he's trying out for the olympic hurdle team.

That's specific to your computer, I run AoC on low/disabled settings with AAx2 ASFx1 shader 2.x, I've never seen happen what you're talking about, my buddy has a powerhouse machine and runs it on 1600 resolution with everythnig maxed, and he also never sees what you are describing

Originally posted by Enigma

1. severe multiplayer limitations (only 48 people per zone)

2. Bad Community

3. Bad implementation of PvP without rewards and punishments

4. little armor customization

5. smaller than average zones with non functinal backgrounds

6. Some classes are in dire need of repair (taunt is next to useless for tanks)

7. Exploitable system (traders turned off because two days before official release a guild figured out how to dupe money on the system...not a good sign)

8. UI is very poor. Huge icons, clumsy hotbars, small hotbars, huge windows (this has been fixed by 3rd party UI Modders)

9. Chat system is very poor

10. Guild operations very poor. Currently you cannot promote anyone. Its easy to get kicked out of a Guild (there is a chance if you crash, you get kicked from the guild. If this happens to the leader then the guild is screwed since there isnt a promotion system in the guild or an automatic promotion whenever the leader leaves)

11. Starting area restricts you to a very linear approach to questing for the first 25% of your total character progression.

12. Fatalities is flawed. If you are fighting multiple mobs and you do a fatality on the first person, the other mobs will get free swings at you because you are doing a cinematic move.

13. Limited harvest areas for those who harvests things post lvl 20

14. Having to wait until lvl 40 to craft.

15. Siege warfare is flawed when you can only have 48 people in a zone.

When your favorite MMO of all time was released, did it have everything it has today? And your favorite MMO of all time Did infact announce those late-added features pre-release, right? ...

If your favorite MMO was in the same or worse state as AoC, in the release days, why aren't you there talking about how bad it was when it came out?

Oh.. and.. you CAN promote people in guilds, hell, half the stuff you posted isnt true, is misconceived, or is just completely twisted and turned.

Untill you've experienced it FIRST-HAND, as in YOUR OWN ACCOUNT, YOUR OWN CHARACTER, YOUR OWN HAND, YOUR OWN MOUSE, YOUR OWN COMPUTER, seeing it WITH YOUR OWN EYES.. don't believe what people tell you.

I've experienced a lot of those things you posted, first-hand. And I can say, from First-Hand experience, that out of the things you posted as facts, that I've experienced myself, are all untrue or are only partly true.