i call it quits whenever i have to look for groups to enjoy content/quests.

hence, i only last 2 or 3 months in any game, which is fine, i only play 1 mmo a year if i'm (un)lucky.

guild wars 2 will be an exception if they do it right.

age of conan WAS doing it right, but they decided to change, so i told them to F off.

I have SOME hope for the star wars mmo by bioware, but not sure yet, they haven't spoken on it too much, i'll wait for feedback before deciding to try or not.

i still would love to be able to play LOTRO, but i know there's too much content i'd have to sacrifice being a solo player, so not even going to bother with that one either.

to me, it never has anything to do with anything you wrote.   it always boils down to an mmo forcing me to group to continue playing.

when i have to become a sheep to keep progressing, i quit and move on to different games.

THAT'S when MMO's suck, to me.

funny read.  taking this site in particular, it does seem to be riddled more often than not with bosom heavy ladies, but then again i also seem to recall way too many underage little girls of the japanese anime style as well.

while it may all be a nice distraction for a second or two, any mature brain worth its weight in water will automatically know that the makers of those games are usually doing nothing more than overcompensating.

in all my years surfing on this site, i personally have yet to join/buy any game i have seen advertised here, boobs or not.  well, ok, i did buy age of conan, but that was honestly in anticipation of being able to hack and slash in conan style, not because of some tart.

and just for the record, the EQ chick is ugly, flubbery boobs and all.

dunno, but i personally have never cared about any stats on any mmo, its either fun or it isn't to me.  am i supposed to care that wow has a bazillion users if i think the game sucks?  is that number supposed to make me change my mind or something? 

if the premise/mechanics/graphics/story of a game get me interested, then i'm in, anything else matters only tot he bean counters.... well, and the sheep i suppose.

as with everything else in china, this is short for "officials will now require industry standard bribes to grant official exemptions to regulations".

i left because at my particular point in the game it seemed most of the quests i was getting were for groups, i wanted to keep enjoying solo stuff.  also the change/fix/whatever that elites, even gray ones from a dozen levels past, could still kick your ass was just laughable, so I left.

was a fun game while it lasted though, i think that was 2 or 3 months for me.  still loved the combat more than in any other mmo before.

i'm not seeing anything new here.  but then again i'm not into sci-fi mmos, so wouldn't matter anyway.

i too ran into the CE delay issue (amazon), fortunately my copy arrived a few days after they extended the cut off date.  I don't blame funcom for amazon's issue however.

gameplay wise i've been having a blast, short of a couple strange quest bugs that seems to always get resoled sooner than later.  i'm 42 on my main (and only) character and still have a ton of quests to go through.  combat is a blast for me.  i prefer this combat system to any other i have ever experienced in past mmos.

stealth patching i have a problem with however, if you've fixed something in a patch, let us know, its not that difficult.

meh, to each their own per their own preferences.  i haven't played too many mmos (EQ/AC/DAoC/WoW/LoTRO(beta)/AoC), but PERSONALLY, the amount of fun/enjoyment/interest i've had in AoC in the last 2 weeks of playing has overshadowed anything else i've experienced in any of the other games i've mentioned.  whether just taking the same time frame into the equation (i.e. the first 2 weeks of playing the game) or just taking the 2 weeks in AoC against my whole time in any of the other ones.

I personally don't care what anyone else thinks of any MMO, you'd be an idiot to do so quite frankly, since they're not the ones that are going to be playing it for you.

If you love UO or EQ then by god that's the best MMO out there, for you.  If you get wood over AC or LoTRO, then by god either of THOSE are the best MMO's out there, for you. 

Great! go and enjoy whatever you enjoy, and stop pretending you can speak for anyone else's tastes/preferences.

Originally posted by Lanthir

 No offense ,as i am sure you meant none to the people pointing out the client instability in the aoc OB,  however even Funcom staff adimit that the client in unstable .  I would point out that one  AOC staff member has been having the same issues that most of  us have been having  and has pointed that out in the IGN tech forums. 

 Today after they brought the servers back up was teh first time  I was able to play for hours without any issue and I even bumped it ip to med settings.  Now I made no changes to my rig.  That same Funcom staffer also mentioned how his game improved dramatically after the servers came back up today.  I am sure that since you build your own rigs you are more knowlegeble on getting the most performance possible out of your machines  than most of us.  However,  that does not mean  that becasue it runs smooth  on your rigs that the client does not have issues.  I am hopiful with the progress the client made in stability today  that all will be well at launch.

you're right, i didn't meant any offense to anyone, nor was i implying that their (or anyone else's) clients/engines are perfect.  I just think that people assume that as soon as people start having problem, then EVERYONE is having problems and therefore the client is ALWAYS to blame and the game will undoubtedly fail because every client problem automatically takes 6 months to figure out.

as a programmer (albeit not of the game variety), i can also say that it only take one tiny little 'oops' in many cases to throw everything out of whack and make it appear the whole thing is just garbage code.  but that doesn't mean an intelligent programmer (or in the case of aoc - 150 of them) can't figure out what the issue is very quickly and resolve it without requiring months of brain scratching.  they're there because they have skills, not because funcom picked 150 random poeple off the street to come up with a game.

Originally posted by Gorilla

You must have only played LoTRO and DAoC. Either that or are not very observant when it comes to problems. Trying to think what else....nope can't off hand

or, *GASP* i didn't HAVE any problems.

Granted, i haven't played that many, EQ, AC, DAoC, WoW, AO(briefly), Lotro(beta only), AoC.

Originally posted by damian7
not to jump on the cool guy bandwagon; but i'm curious about something -- how many games gave players a craptastic experience in the OPEN beta (which more often than not is ONLY a combination stress test + free demo, rather than playtesting for bugs) and then turned around and had a GREAT experience in the actual retail game?

 

seriously, how many, and what were they?  cuz none come to mind, at all.

 

i say this, because i'm sick and tired of reading about

how gods -n- heroes is a great game,

and how vanguard was having a so/so beta but would be great on release,

about how great potbs was going to be on release

and on and on and on,

and i think the only game that actually has had a GOOD release, was LOTRO.  did they have a hellacious OPEN beta?

 everyone sitting here talking up games that haven't been released -- historical data shows you're wrong.  every post i'm reading here, i've already read a bazillion times while waiting for potbs, vanguard, hellgate:london and countless other games.  and they were all WRONG.

 i could care less if someone is talking like they work for/worked for whatever gaming company.  let them be the queen of france online, for all i care.  as long as they give me good information on games.

i don't care one whit for what anyone "believes" a game will magically transform into from open beta (not closed beta, not alpha, but OPEN BETA) to retail-- it's not going to happen.  maybe there will be one exception that proves the rule; but so far, hasn't really happened.   by the time open beta hits, the only real work left before release is tweaking the server load and hoping it can handle all the people they anticipate on opening day.

 

a craptastic play experience during OPEN BETA normally (read -- every time) means craptastic for the first few months of retail as gullible players, essentially,  proceed to pay to play a beta game.

 

this post wasn't directed at anyone in particular (not even the quoted people); but, lose the fanboi glasses, lose the hater shades.  there's no "us vs. them" in the player community.  there's only players looking for a good game to play. 

 

if you're a fanboi that can't objectively deal with criticism -- go tell mommy, cuz no one else cares.  not even your dog.

if you're a blind hater (read - blind hater, not a hater that has actual facts backing up their complaints) - you're not doing anyone any good either. 

if you're someone that's just tired of hearing people complain, people who have LEGITIMATE complaints -- again, go whine to mommy, cuz there's no one else that wants to hear you complaining about people complaining.  no one. not ever. not even after you're dead.

 

if the game sucks in open beta, it'll suck on release, UNLESS it gets pushed back another 6 months, in which case, it wasn't REALLY an open beta, now was it? 

the answer is "no. it wasn't."

 so give me a good game, give me information on a good game, or warn me away from bug-filled launches, because i'm done shelling out $50-$200 for new games that are as fun as wallowing in a septic tank.

i'm not sure if i got the point of your post, other than that you need to take some calgon (sp?) ;)  as for the open beta experience in aoc, you seem to think that because the vocal minority is spewing doom&gloom then that speaks exclusively on the state of the client.  which is a joke, the ones that aren't having problem are buys enjoying the game and not dry humping the forums and bitching.

by your logic, if i had issues with my aoc client, then i should just assume that aoc sucks crap for me and everyone under the sun and will bomb as soon as it gets released?

then by the same logic, since my aoc client is running smooths as butter and i'm having a blast, then aoc will have a brilliant launch and is the second coming.

or maybe i'm just not getting what you're talking about at all.

 either way, there's no such thing as a bug free game release.  especially with mmo's.  some people will have issues, some people won't.

funny thing is that i've always been building my own computers, and i've NEVER had a single problem with any mmo i've ever played, and i've always played the clients from opening day, when there would be an abundance of issues.  but by the same token i'm sure there's people out there that have had nothing BUT problems on every client.  can't put all the blame on the software all the time, there's plenty of people that are either stupid and don't know what they're doing with their computers, or have overlooked something accientally and either don't want to look for it or don't know TO look for it and just assume it's not their problem.

Originally posted by ZeGerman1942

 

Well exactly. To each their own. Some people prefer looks over actual gameplay and thats fair enough. Other people are all about gameplay and don't care much about looks. 

I personaly would think i am in the middle. I'd rather not have the highest end graphic settings, but actually a fun and enjoyable game that captivates me with other things than stunning looking.

i probably wasn't clear in my reply, i just thought it was funny that the post was all doom&gloom because he personally didn't like the game.

Originally posted by zelpher

Most of these answers to these questions were straight up lies!!! They are trying to sell a game that runs like vanguard did at release......vanguard is finally running decent now ,but guess what it's too late and they pissed off to many people for most to even try it again. The answer about graphics is nobody cares about graphics ex. diablo 2 still high sales numbers and world of warcraft, lol i can't even imagine a big pvp battle with the crap job of programming this game has...Turn down the graphics make it a seamless world a load screen here and there no biggie...And guess what nobody is gonna say AWWWW man these graphics suck i am not gonna play this game.  Well enough ranting good luck funcom sorry your game is gonna fail and you wasted your funds. Well there is still Warhammer and Mythic will deliver hopefully.

to each their own, i completely disagree with you.

I don't know how vanguard went at launch, since i wasn't interested in EQ3, but i can tell you my rig is running AoC as smooth as butter with everything cranked up.

I DO care about graphics, I DO think WoW looks like shit, and I DID hate Diablo2 for the crappy graphics (last i touched it was the year it came out when they allowed max of 800x600, pixelated as hell on a 21" monitor).  However, i thought the original Diable was one of the most brilliant games i have ever played in my life.  Diablo2 didn't even get close to matching its predecessor in quality (as far as I'm concerned).

And I DEFINITELY DO say very frequently "AWWWWW man these graphics suck, i'm not going to play this game."

Exactly why I'll never touch WoW and Warhammer.

Don't confuse your lack of a good gaming rig with the sentiments of every other gamer out there.

Getting back on topic though, i've spent a total of about 4 hours in the AoC beta (in the last 2 days since i got in) and i can unequivocally say the game is fun as heck (for me), looks damn good (to me, on my rig) and i wouldn't change anything about it (other than making the mob fonts more readable for color blind nerds like me).  My CE is still on preorder, and i'll be having a blast next weekend.

If you prefer some other game, all the more power to you, stay there and enjoy it, nobody said every game has to be like every other game, that'd be pretty boring.

i've been gaming since late 80's, so i can't be called a graphics whore by any stretch of the imagination, i prefer story first and foremost, but it just so happens that AoC has both, graphics AND a story.  most other MMO's don't have both, or in some cases, have neither.

Originally posted by Miklos

I'm commenting on the poor code and choices of design in regards to having non-seamless zone traversal.

It's poor design - regardless if you like/dislike/love/hate the game, it's still poor design.

it's poor design to those who don't like the zoning aspect of the game.  from what i've read, it was done to provide better visuals/graphics for the game, rather than having to 'dilute' the visuals so that things are generic enough that less loading of textures is necessary and seamless zoning is viable.

you prefer seamless to eye candy, i prefer extra eye candy to seamless, ANY DAY.

TO ME, the poor design would have been "yet another mmo with lackluster graphics".  

just because YOU as a programmer like one thing over another, DOESN'T mean 100% of your audience agrees with you.  Last i checked you're a person like everyone else, your likes are your own, not anyone else's.

my rig: e6600/2.4ghz/8800gts512/1600x900/2AA/bloom/all sliders maxed/everything checked.

2gb ram, have another 2 sticks waiting to be installed tonight for when i reinstall vista64.  i'm running the latest nvidia beta drivers.

performance = extremely good.

i have a weird issue though when the sun is shining on my back (which is more often than not) the back of my char has weird jaggies on it that i haven't been able to get rid of no matter what i toggle, haven't exhausted the options, but not putting much effort into it at the moment since i'll be running the retail in vista64 (for the dx10).  whereas right now i'm using my XP side.  maybe its the beta drivers, maybe its the beta code, i'll find out in a week i guess.

thanks wharg, i hear the NDA is being lifted this weekend, so hopefully the beans are spilled and people will  be OMGBBQWTF!@'ing instead of saying its the suckage.

speaking of toilet paper, i'm curious if anyone has run into any NDA leaked info about age of conan?  i'm consider buying the game, but not sure if it'll be more of the same again...  i heard someone leaked that its like vanguard, which is a step in the wrong direction if vanguard's lack of mass appeal is of any idication...

Originally posted by UsualSuspect

 

Originally posted by araczynski

it seems like devs are still stuck on making the next everquest, even when that formula (aside from the first time) has failed over and over again in terms of reaching critical mass appeal.

games like WoW are popular exactly BECAUSE they're not another everquest wannabe.

I'm more of the assumption that developers can't figure out what made EverQuest such a success. They try to replicate it but always miss out on a key point that they can't quite put their finger on.

 

I've seen on these boards people telling the bads of EQ1, the good of EQ1, but nobody can really say for sure what made the game so addictive and enjoyable to the point where it could be transferred into another model.

i always thought it was simple, it was a completely new experience.  first 3D mmo (i believe), brought the ultima online feeling to 'life' if you will.  plus there was no other choice outside of ultima online.

the 'new experience' part of any modern mmorpg can now only be said by those that have never played an MMORPG before, to everyone else, its old hat.  as for 3D, well, that's pretty old hat as well.  so they need to get past both of these points and actually put some serious effort into mass appeal.  since gamers are pretty much swimming in 'choice' right now.

just because you bleach recycled toilet paper isn't going to make it a funner experience...

Originally posted by webopinions

The developers know that they are out of touch.  They are activily seeking input to make their games better.  They want to give the players what they want.

I know this because the company I work for is doing a study to find out what the player wants.

They have just started collecting basic information from players in order to form a panel to give the developer feedback.  Once the panel is in place, future studies will be conducted  for your opinions on more specific things.

Anyway - if you want a chance to tell them what you think - sign up -

http://www.webopinions.org/studies/c59/80234/default.asp

This is just the qualifier for more things to come.

this survey misses the main point of getting input, its eliminating people who currently DON'T play any of the listed titles.  Those are the people you DO want to hear from, as in WHY they're not paying/playing for any games.  That's a lot more valuable to fixing the issues than listening to people who are more or less content enough with the system the way it is to actually pay the monthly fees.

instead of focusing on the players that ARE paying and trying to 'steal' them into something new, why not focus on the completely untapped base that is vastly larger.