All Posts by Kartuhn

Instances give everyone a chance. Simple as that. They can prevent high level players from completely dominating areas and items. They speed up the questing process and individualize the experience for smaller groups of players. Persistant worlds tend to have item farmers and hoards of gankers covering the most sought after mobs/areas who, by sheer might or level, prevent or severely hamper the progress of other lower players and drive markets to insane prices where the farmers are the only beneficiary. Add all the other benefits mentioned already in previous posts and I'll take an instanced dungeon in an otherwise persistant world any time.

What I don't understand is why a simple question always turns into such intense arguements over different games and people start shouting about "Facts" and "Opinions"? WOW is WOW and AOC is AOC. Good, bad or ugly they offer all they contain and either you play them or don't. Like them or hate them. It's your choice. It's all been said and done so many times in these and every other gaming forum that the arguements are mundane and meaningless and no amount of bickering and fanboi-ism/trolling is going to amount to squat when it's all about "Opinions" at it's very heart. If a game is terminally borked for you and you can't stand it because of instances or the lack of them then leave it alone. The developers and every other up and coming game manufacturer out there will see what works and what doesn't by the simple numbers of those who stick around and play the games. Coming into any forum and shouting down at each other from the lofty perches where you keep your own opinions makes you sound like you're only angry because you wanted to love the game and feel somehow betrayed that it didn't live up to your expectations and you're taking it out on anyone who's opinion differs from your own.

So what. Who cares. Move on. You're right. You win. Instances suck. Instances ROCK! Whatever. I play what I like and don't play what I don't like... same as you and everyone else and that IS a FACT!

I admit that I haven't played EVERY game that's ever come out, console or online MMO, but I have played a very large amount of them both western and Asian, p2p and f2p. I can't think of a single one that doesn't have some level of grindage, repeated themes, same old gameplay or major disappointments whether they be Western or Asian. The biggest difference for me is always the Cash Shop/Item Mall when differentiating between the two hemispheres of origination.

It's been said a thousand times in these forums and in every other website related to online gaming that Cash Shop/Item Mall games create an unfair advantage for those who spend the big bucks and it's been argued that you can just buy those same items from other players if you want them badly enough. Somehow that's supposed to "balance" everything out and make it fair for everyone so there can be no room for complaint, but, they forget how much extra time has to be spent grinding away to come up with so much more in-game coin to buy those items. Meanwhile, the CS/IM buyers are way ahead and well equipped and free to PK those toiling in the fields or dungeons without remorse.

I'm not arguing for either side here. I'm not condeming anyone or whining the same old whine so don't troll me too bad, lol. It's simply that we take the term "F2P" far to literally in the west and most Asian games love to go that route since it's lucrative as hell in the EU/US markets. We all flock to play the latest game with our wallets wide open from the first day ready to pay whatever it takes to save ourselves the major grindage and have a real shot at major Uberdom if we just learn/play/spend fast enough. All the while the poorer or more restrained and literal believers in the "F2P" definition grind away until their eyes bleed and ultimately quit the game due to complete frustration and boredom attempting to compete with their wealthier and less restrained counterparts.

Before cash shops and item malls it was all about time, dedication and intelligence in choices and perhaps some skill at button mashing. Now it's all about who has the capital and who has to work in the mines and buy the day old bread... too much like real life social status and it can be pretty depressing to mine all day knowing it will take a looooong, looooong time to get the same armor that the guy (who started 6 months AFTER you did) just bought after selling a ton of CS/IM goodies to the people who started 6 months BEFORE you did!

So there you have my reason for ("hating" is such a strong word) not being overly enthused with Asian games...CS/IM advantages. It's not wrong to make money from a game. That is, after all is said and done, why they exist in the first place. I can equate item malls to car racing though... one guy takes his free time, hard work and saved up cash to build a nice rod for the street and another guy just goes and has one built by a pro-shop and destroys the first guy when they meet on the strip. Who deserved to win? Who would you rather be? How much pride is there for either side of that race? And how much defeat can the first guy take before he realizes he just can't beat the rich kid without an act of God and then heads to the nearest gaming forum to complain about why Asian games suck?

Yeah I hate 'em. Love 'em too. It's all about the fun anyway, right? Have fun while you can and when it stops being fun... dig the fork out your eye and go play something else! Nobody says you HAVE to play what sucks to you! (*thanks whatever power controls the universe!*)

I'm impressed so far. Enjoying the gameplay, the UI, the general pace of the game and the community as well. PW has nice graphics and even the music is tolerable if not enjoyable. The game has it's own particular flavor and is clearly intended to bring people together to achieve their goals yet offers plenty to do solo.

There is a certain grind element, but, it doesn't feel like an interminable, unrewarding time waster that makes a career out of a simple game. I love the fact that I CAN'T do anything successfully while AFK! Unlike games such as Voyage Century Online where you can literally go from noob to top rank with no more effort than what it takes to buy scrolls and passes from the IM (only the smallest of exaggeration) Perfect World is a "hands-on" game that actually requires my input and attention to play. As far as there being no "nearest target button"... I don't care! The game is quite nice to play despite the lack of a few little conveniences and after a short time playing you won't even miss them.

I'll be there for OB and no doubt for the full release as well. It's been awhile since an FTP game has come out and actually put a smile on my face.

I am absolutely SHOCKED to see that this pathetic, limping, lifeless game is STILL trying to get up from mortuary slab! Give it up SNAIL! It's DEAD! Time to erect a headstone and let it rest in peace.

Whenever I visit the AOA forum here I feel like a gawker passing throught the midst of a terrible accident and I can't seem to tear my eyes away despite the revulsion I feel. I feel sad that it didn't develop into what it had the chance to become but I don't feel sorry that it's dead. If I were as torn and battered and so badly dismembered as this game has become...oh please...PLEASE! Back up the bus and hit me again!  

God knows I gave it a good shot through open beta but the OP is dead on. I tried to like it... I really did. I even went so far as to write a few positive posts about the game's potential yet the sheer grind and the prickish community drove me out. Too bad Snail deigned to depend on a few arrogant egomaniac players to dictate how the "western world" would like to play. I got a real kick out of recieving an e-mail in regards to some VIP Key. I wouldn't come back to that game if they paid me a salary!

An update of my opinions on AOA:

After the initial shock of the cash shop item pricing wore off and a major update to the games content having been added, I can say with confidence that AOA is on it's way to becoming a worthwhile game to play. Players are beginning to get a glimpse of what the developers have in mind as their vision of the game in greater detail as new content has been added in a recent update which offers a new instance and a few new beneficial quests. The Seige system has been modified to afford a better balance in battling for control of cities and areas and it is now possible to actually accomplish the goal without being mercilessly spawn-camped. There are still some rough spots in the games playability at this point in regards to balance and nearly unbearable grinding for levels, but, I can see hope for the games future.

The character creation segment of the game has been greatly improved yet still lacks any truly meaningful tutorials on how to proceed in your choice of profession and although the armor creation system is fairly straigtforward many new players are perplexed as to how to assemble their first "earned" armor. Most of this can be quickly remedied in chat by asking for help but this tends to wear extremely thin on the existing player base. The best thing to do as a new player is to head directly to the games forums via the link on the games "start-up" interface and read what you can find in the guides and refer back to them as you discover slotted cores and control cabins in the very early stages of the game.

One of the great secrets of AOA (which really isn't a secret at all but is simply not apparent at the outset) is that your success in the game depends not upon leveling rapidly, rather, it is critical to how well you manage your "build". At first glance there appears to be very little diversity in what choices there are in selecting your profession yet be assured that there are many challenging ways to combine armor attributes with weapon choices to achieve a wide variety of methods aimed at surviveability and/or pure power. I would go into greater detail here but this post would begin to appear as a short novel if I made any effort to list the possibilities that exist. Be assured that you will need to study and learn all you can on armor attributes and how to best combine them as you progress. It can seem tedious but it's well worth the effort.

Rule of Thumb! Don't take ANY item you may come across in the game at face value and discard or sell them without first finding out their values to later gameplay! Low level armor parts with seemingly useless stats may be a truly sought after piece of valuable equipment that can be reconfigured into an UBER build! Also... don't rush off to the local shop npc and dump those crystals for a few coins if you pocket is light at the moment. Certain crystals that are found on mobs and from mines can be turned in as quest items for substantially greater sums or for experience points depending upon your level and what you desire.

All in all I think AOA is getting there. It's truly becoming an enjoyable game to play despite it's few shortcomings at this time. If you're looking for a challenging game and enjoy hardcore personal development of your characters where a great amount of thought must go into achievement of your goals, then AOA is right up your alley! This game isn't about the graphics. It isn't about eye candy. It's about you and what you put into it. It's challenging to the extreme and all of it's greatest strengths lie in the finest of it's details surrounding what choices you make and how well you understand your character and it's performance. It takes serious planning and a commitment to succeed if you expect to do well in the game. Of course you will do some grinding and sometimes it can feel terminally excessive but Snail is progressing the game nicely. Hopefully we'll see Chapter Two soon and the next big evolution will commence!

A last note: MARS NEEDS YOU! Due to personal politics and a few very poor attitudes, the Martians appear to be falling apart. The game is in it's infancy and it appears that so are many players who have recently left the game over losing (for the FIRST TIME!) a seige. Poor Corps management and prima donna attitudes have just about broken the back of the Mars faction. The Earth side has vowed to assist the Mars faction in rebuilding it's ranks and a few are creating Martian characters to assist new and old players in understanding the games mechanics, how to make effective builds and how to properly seige against Earth. We are committing ourselves to the GAME at this point and are working hard to return the balance to the factions so the game will continue to be enjoyable and grow to it's full potential. Join Mars now! Come and play AOA. Give it your best shot and see if you have what it takes... the game won't disappoint you if you take it seriously!

Hey! Great job everyone! Some of you actually offered help to the OP and the rest turned his quest for info and statement of frustration into a witch hunt. Nice to see that a post can still turn into a psych review from rabidly self-important pillars of dignity and self-appointed judges of the hallmarks of what it is to be a "bum". If this is the only place you can find that allows you the opportunity to shred people who are down on their luck or having serious problems emotionally... let me suggest heading to your local soup kitchen, halfway house, or orphanage to increase the probabilities for entertainment. Ya make me sick.

This entire thread is absolutely priceless! I haven't laughed this much over a rant in quite a while! The strangest bit of all of this hilarity is that I now MUST download and attempt to play this game just to experience the mindbending, sanity ripping horror that has been described!

ps: If I start seeing duckbilled scorpions duct taped to sticks crawling around my head trying to sting me in the ears as a result of playing this... I'm definitely gonna go for the nice blue pills that were recommended

Thanks for the laughs! See ya's in the funny farm

I decided to give this one a look-see and traveled the link to the website. It was like walking into a ghosttown. No news on the site since June... broken forum link... Who is answering the posts here as of November on this site? Is Rod Serling going to pop up and give some odd commentary?

The game looks good... I hope it hasn't gone the way of the Dodo

well... The game does have lots of potential and I truly hope it begins to appear soon. I've played since open beta started and I've enjoyed it for the most part yet it quickly becomes apparent that there is little to do beyond the quests despite Seige and the newly opened Space Battle Planet. The quests are fun up to a point at around level 30 and they suddenly become a mindless grind of long travels of 10 to 15 minutes just to kill 15 of this and 20 of that only to return and have to do the same thing over and over again with little variety... very little variety! And you can forget about mob hunting for exp... it's utterly pointless to rely on exp from mobs alone though you may think so in your first few levels. The quests are an absolute requirement since the mob exp is miniscule and does not keep pace with their difficulty or your needs.

AOA has it's fair share of bugs but it plays smoothly by comparison to many other beta's I've played. The players are fun and helpful and what there is of the game can be enjoyed so long as you don't make any serious mistakes with your armor after level 15 as "Reset Pills" are rare as lips on a chicken or nearly so.

Be warned though! It is a major grinder to get yourself up in level once you reach 30.

Perhaps someday, if the player base doesn't evaporate due to unending grinding and sheer boredom at this point, AOA may prove to be a worthwhile game. As it stands now with it's lack of item catalogues that would help a player better understand the armor system and anything remotely helpful in curbing the grinding as a distraction, I'm going to absent myself from it until the content improves as I don't wish to give up on it entirely quite yet. As I said... there is potential here and the gameplay is worth an effort... I just hope they don't completely blow it by continuing to rely on time-sinks in lieu of content.

Just my opinion... try it for yourself and see what you think. You may have a ball (or not).

Originally posted by JohnnyCache

are you serious !?

 

this is the most exciting game on MMORPG.COM !  There isn't a sim game out there that has this much drama !  Hell, somoene should make an MMO about making an MMO.  You have to do quests to build a team of developers and artists, slay the evil epic copywrite infringement lawyers, cross open lands of unkown code, and battle the never ending army of forum flamers to finally get your game into the bargin bin at the dollar store !

Agreed as well!

I loved the game for a couple of months and got a bit bored with the FTP so I bought the expansions and went P2P. The content is amazing. The depth of the game is phenomenal. Unfortunately it all boiled down to having to fully Twink my characters and figure out a way to grind out a few billion in creds to purchase all of the buffing items and armors to accomplish the task. That fact coupled with the the need to have a fully Twinked toon to accomplish the tasks to have a Twinked toon in the first place left me exasperated and frustrated so I dumped my toons, fully equipped and with all of my credits, into the oblivion of deletion and uninstalled the game.

Finding a team to work on the same quests is next to impossible since the player base has dwindled from it's heyday. Finding a good org that isn't full of annoying egos and know-it-all preachers of the definitions of n00bishness or wracked into complete chaos because of politics and scammers is nearly impossible as well. PVP is pointless if you don't have every possible twinking done at any level and the player based economy makes it impossible to aquire those sought after items unless you're willing to work the game as a secondary career and spend a few years doing it.

AO is a great game... or rather WAS a great game. It's still a fine way to have a bit of fun so long as you don't go into it thinking you'll ever develop a toon to it's potential maximums in your lifetime. My experience may not be typical, but, I did spend nearly a full year working very hard and studying every available bit of info on twinking and character generation and putting it all to work in the game only to find myself always lacking a major necessity and the means to accomplish it.

One other note here... The player based economy has been completely corrupted by item and credit farmers who sell their work and accounts on E-Bay and other sites. Good luck getting ahead in the game without finding yourself constantly being ODed by 200/20 farmers for any item or quest you need to do!

Sony... I should have known better than to buy a Sony game. Worse than EA! Nothing nice to say AT ALL! Hate 'em with a passion and I'm gonna kick myself twice daily until the sub runs out so I never forget again.

WOW! What a huge waste of time that turned out to be 3.5 hours to download the free trial and 3.5 more to finally find out I hated it. Not that it's a bad game... just not my style at all and far from anything I had hoped it would be. Mediocre graphics at best and lame user interface. The f2p Korean games have better appeal from the outset and I can find no correlation what-so-ever to the original stories outside of the maps and races. It's now uninstalled and I'll be saving the 15 bucks per month fee for something with a bit more depth and potential when I find it. Ahhh go ahead and flame away at me... then go try to play it and tell me how well it holds YOUR intrest.  

What were they thinking!? I've been a fan of Lord Of  The Rings since I was a kid and the movies were an absolute riot and brought the books to life... this game may just kill them. Nothing new at all... Nothing grand or innovative in concept as I hoped to find. Just the same old rehashed gameplay on a new map... Depressing. Just my opinion and I'm sticking to it.

hehehehehehehe! I haven't laughed this hard over a forum post in a good long while! Runescape is a GOOD game????! Pardon me but laughter is preventing me from continuing this reply...

One recommendation for anyone attempting to play AO for the first time is to wait until you have at least one relatively high level toon developed before diving into the expansions! The learning curve is very steep and the content is phenomenal even with the basic F2P account. If you wait until you understand the game and the mechanics of your chosen profession you'll enjoy the expansions even more. It can be extraordinarily frustrating at first so just give it some time and be patient with how your character(s) grow.