All Posts by Illyrian

 Happy birthday and many more like this!

Originally posted by eugam

 

Originally posted by Illyrian

@ eugam

Yes, I understand the sentiment of leaving online gaming, AoC just strikes me as pulling things in the way of SP just another notch.

I ll give it a chance. Just because a buddy of old times sent me an email two days ago. He wants to duo up and i wont say no yet. We probably gonna rule the server LOL j/k

 

If i see gems comming out of raids every PvPer is drooling about or if i see other mechnics that activly support the piling up of in-game currency and generating massive needs, then i am out.

Fair enough, my subjective impression is precisely that is the path they are taking.

Endgame - PvP raids and PvE raids. I cannot really imagine endgame based on that without the rat race for shinies.

We will see, I am also one of those that will give it a shot but my expectations are rather low at this time.

AoC seems to allow single playing mode all the way to the level cap. If I understood things correctly the single player mode, after sleeping at an inn, also means no interaction whatsoever with other players as you get your own "instanced" zone. I am not sure abotu this though as information was a bit muddled.

The funny thing is that end game seems to consist of large group raids and large group pvp. So after soloing 80 levels you have to join big guilds or whatnot or simply sit and do nothing. Crafting is iffy and there is no free roaming. Replay value also seems rather low due to rather small selection of races (just human in fact), small number of classes, limited zones and linear questing.

Or did I miss something?

PS

@ eugam

Yes, I understand the sentiment of leaving online gaming, AoC just strikes me as pulling things in the way of SP just another notch.

Originally posted by olddaddy

You're not the only one that believes SOE had an influence in the game design.....

Tom Chick and Bruce Geryk of the now defunct Games for Windows magazine stated in the April-May 2008 issue that:

"....I'm thinking about that meeting where someone from Sony told the developers to make the game more like World of Warcraft. But when Pirates isn't trying to be more like WOW - in other words, when it's itself - it plays like Sid Meier's Pirates meets Microsoft Excel...."

 

Yes, that would really be horrible if it played like Sid Meier's Pirates meeting Excel. I mean what a horror if it wasn't current pseudo WoW in sailing ships. What were they thinking?!

And yes, that was sarcasm, I was one of those that preordered the game expecting something related to SM Pirates + Excel.

SWG sank when they tried to make it more like WoW, oddly enough I don't want game like WoW because if I do I would go and play (you guessed it) WoW.

My base game is LOTRO and no I don't care to discuss its relative merits or lack of the same. I am a casual player with one active char and I want another MMO that I can rotate with my base interest. In three months I will know if AoC will be decent enough or will POTBS manage to get in the working order. If not, I will just wait for the next crop of MMO's to come out.

And I don't think I am an isolated case.

Good info, thank you.

Fair enough, this is solid stuff and 3 months seem reasonable although the game is bound to be heavily hit by AoC release. Judging on their previous record I doubt they will deliver and even if they do it is still no excuse for the shoddy goods they did release as a finished product.

But let us wait and see, 3 months it is.

RP mixed with PvP? Talk about the white crow.

Last thing I checked the devs stated is they will adopt "hands off" approach of in game regulating.

Without heavy handed conduct it will not work and even then it is iffy.

It looks good as advertisement though - two types of PvP servers althoguh I suspect that initial difference will vanish quickly. Anyone remembers WoW RP-PvP servers?

Originally posted by Oriphus

Here is a quote from the official websit which i think you will agree is absolutly of no use whatsoever in answering this question for you.

"Just last week 475.000 unique visitors went to the official Age of Conan websites, and the pre-order numbers in some important retail chains track as among the highest for any MMO launched."

Advertisement is a wonderful thing, people rushed to buy the ticket for unsinkable Titanic.

The game has enough hype to be a financial success so I would say up to 500k initial sales.

By the info I gathered from multiple sources I suspect game will end up with 100 - 200k, if it is as linear as suspected probably less.

Originally posted by safwd

Will there be boobs, yes.

Will this game be Second Life, no.

We hope, but I am not going to bet my money on that.

Ok, to be short, SWG vet community is active and I am an outsider that appreciates it.

After recently enjoying some of the stellar new hits like TR and POTBS I am glad that displeased customers are not taking it while sitting down and being spoon-fed spin and advertisement.

I prefer grumblers to cheerleaders, if for no other reason that cheerleaders are little more then viral advertisement that tows the party line.

In today's world consumer has to yell loud if there is a reason. If nobody complains then the standards will go down even faster and in ten years we will pay $100 a month to play tetris online.

That much for my morning brain fart, thank you for reading it.

Originally posted by seabass2003

Isn't 7 euros about 20 US dollars now anyways?

It is about $ 11 US, actually seems reasonable a year after the release and with expansion comming out.

I think that the store in question has a good deal, in my nick of woods it is still $75 for box and the price is pretty uniform for all the former YU countries.

Oh, just for kicks LOTRO sells in Croatia for 399 Croatian kunas, AoC (when it hit the stoers) will be priced at 349 Croatian kunas = P

PS

I am now waiting for openedge1& co to come in and serve the usual tirade of EQ II is roxxorz while LOTRO is suxxorz.

Originally posted by WhiteknightI

I'd love to try this game out, but haven't found a free trial version yet.  Very disappointing.

Ask for a buddy key (can be awarded by anyone with active subscription) at the official forum at www.potbs.com, hope that helps.

It is a bit different if you try to play a FT, or focus on economy, outside of decent sized socieities. I am just going to tell you it isn't fun and the whole unbalanced PvP and brain dead PvE doesn't help either.

Personally I think econ and PvE are now nothing but additions to PvP, and yet POTBS is very badly suited to be PvP only game. I was under the impression, based on marketing and available info, that the game will rest on three more or less equal segments. That is not the case.

Then again I cannot see how the things would have eveloved differently having in mind that FLS listens to input mostly from flunkies like Jack Simple and Gabard. That is one of the reasons why majority of players left, there are only so many suggestions you can post before quitting for receiving no reply.

De facto server mergers were unavoidable for only brain dead could claim there was no population problems. Unfortunately that also means quick and easy fix - big servers = concentrated population = more red circles. It doesn't address the problems of imbalance, flaws, ganking etc. This is pretty much the square one and where they should have been at launch.

Business wise it is hillarious - POTBS is a niche game, by appealing to PvPers you are making it even nichier, by appealing to those PvPers who want to PvE and dabble in econ it was made even more nichier. Niche, as of now, is so narrow that it is reasonable to think it is not enough to sustain the game. 

Originally posted by Vetarnias

I don't think you can get rid of the economy in this game.  It's not working, true (though I'm still making money...), but you still need it nonetheless.

As for PvE... also required to finance all that PvP.

Oh, I didn't say it was a good idea. The OP was talking about the loss of focus and my post was aimed at that. The thing I suggested at the bottom are the only ones I see as reasonably quick fixes having in mind the proven shortcommings of FLS staff.

The segments don't interact well and it doesn't seem they will interact well any time soon, if at all. I was arguing why FLS, as a matter of necessity, chose to cut economy and PvE. The trend will most likely continue in favour of PvP because they really have nothing to prop up economy and PvE.

And I disagree about not getting rid of the economy, exchange shops shows the path. It is not a good thing but that is where I think they are going.

Bad taste - maybe but that can be disputed, still an amusing comparison neverthless.

FLS made a poor product and if people lose job over it I am not going to be sorry or shocked. If I did as poorly on my job as FLS did on theirs, I would lose the job for the simple reason I am not delivering what I was paid for. So yes, if it means less software garbage in the future I am all for FLS tanking and all of their employees losing their jobs. I don't get my kicks from possbile problems that might pose for FLS employees but that is one of the pitfalls of free market, a principle that doesn't originate from my nick of woods. 

History is full of disasters but I am not a fan of weltschmerz, past cannot be changed. The surrent issues are another matter entierly.

Originally posted by smg77

Originally posted by Illyrian

To be honest I think economy is on the backburner and focus of the game, such as it is, switched away from it. I beleive that also means the game steers away from sandbox mode ala SWG.

 

I have a feeling, argumented in another thread, that FLS is aiming its developemnt to PvP while pushing economy and PvE to the back seat. Now, I don't think it will work and I do beleive the game is broken beyond repair. The current development ads tweak and cosmetic touches but doesn't deal with issues that has been there from the start.

 

The alternative is possible, at least in theory, but judging by FLS past performance I suspect they will stay the course until the bitter end.

I agree 100%. They have tunnel vision when it comes to how the poor PvP system is ruining their game. Oh well...they can always sell out to SOE.

That brings me to another point - I beleive they will. FLS has business connections with SOE and SOE has a busienss plan to stock station pass with a large number of mediocre to poor games but you can pay and play them in bulk.

I beelive that SOE will take over the game at some point and beelive that it will survive on station pass with little to no development. Rather poor trend from consumer's perspective.

Originally posted by Xasapis

As I have stated in the past, Funcom made some choices regarding their product that they knew would have an impact on the popularity of their game. The first of their choices was the M rating. The second was the hardware requirements needed to play the game. There were others but lets concentrate on those two.

If we look at them individually, they both have a negative impact on the subscription base. Putting them together however and the impact is somewhat minimised. They are still taking a hit by focusing their game on a specific target audience, but at least this audience has for the most part the financial ability to play the game. Adults have more money to spend in their hobbies than children.

Personally, I'm glad that someone is making a leap in graphics technology. Pretty much everyone else is watering down their graphics engine to cater to the minimum denominator. Graphics is not everything, but I would expect that developers would at least attempt to use the extra tricks given to them, instead of serving the old boring soup over and over again. Thinking about it, there is no wonder games look so similar these days.

M rating doesn't mean players who are of age. and even if they are they could be young adults in school and whatnot so I disagree that M rating = adults = more spendable money. The maturity is also something that has been discussed, I hope the game flies despite the obviously large group who will join for looped off heads and topless NPC's.

Leap in graphic technology I cannot discuss as I lack technical knowledge of the matter but AoC graphics, judging by available materials, is comparable to LOTRO and the later requires weaker engine.

Strictly speaking the well performing game with simpelr graphics will be better in the long run then a poorly performign game with great graphics. As far as I can say for now AoC have good graphics (but not that amazing, althoguh that is subjective) providing you have a strong computer.

I am not SWG vet and I only played NGE trial version trice, it was so buggy that it was crashing once per hour on average on my three months old computer. I will say that I loved the space combat that was suprisingly bug free.

Now, I would actually pay to try the game due to word of mouth and reviews I was reading of old pre CU SWG. Yes, I would even pay for the outdated game enging, bugs etc.

The reason is that game seems unique, I am SW fan, and some of the recently released games are complete garbage right down to poor game mechanism.

So I would give it a shot and play it for the heck of it.

To be honest I think economy is on the backburner and focus of the game, such as it is, switched away from it. I beleive that also means the game steers away from sandbox mode ala SWG.

I have a feeling, argumented in another thread, that FLS is aiming its developemnt to PvP while pushing economy and PvE to the back seat. Now, I don't think it will work and I do beleive the game is broken beyond repair. The current development ads tweak and cosmetic touches but doesn't deal with issues that has been there from the start.

The alternative is possible, at least in theory, but judging by FLS past performance I suspect they will stay the course until the bitter end.

Originally posted by korvix

The reason This game failed in my eyes and why I never picked it up....Open World sailing was nothing more than a interactive map....welcome to 1994.

What a let down.

Well, it killed MMO feel to be sure, it also hampered RvR design etc. The concept is outdated and even the old Sid Meier's Pirates! (I am talking abotu 80s and C64 version) offered more interaction with the environment.

Half of me hopes you got the idea behind that line but I suspect you didn't.

POTBS forum, stay on topic please.