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Correspondent - Exploration in AoC
MMORPG.com Age of Conan Correspondent Jean Francois Doyon writes this article about his disappointment with the exploration factor in Funcom's MMO.
Who hasn't dreamed of running through far reaches of sand and stones, humid forests and windy plains wearing only a loincloth and the necessary belt to hold it and your trusty, ridiculously badass-looking sword in place?
Okay, maybe not that many people, but in the vast and rough world of Conan, these are the kind of images that my mind would have expected, along with the scantily-clad women tied to a nearby pole as if we were meant to cross the desert to come across her... Happy was I to find the scantily-clad woman tied to a pole within the first five minutes of Age of Conan, and the rest of the world was lush and lively (for the most part), as I hoped. A pity it was nowhere as vast, however.
In the Conan literature, Hyboria is a huge land. Over twenty years before Frodo, Sam and friends had crossed the vast and largely empty Middle-Earth in the 1950s, Conan, in Howard's small stories, had already crossed much of Hyboria, a vast continent inspired by ancient Europe and very similar in its inspiration and design to Middle-Earth.
Cimmeria to the north is a mountainous and harsh land of cold winds, icy nights, scattered resources and dangerous creatures. Its people, the belligerent Cimmerians (of which Conan himself is a proud member) are similar to the Celts of the Roman age, with their blue war painting and barbaric raid parties.
Stygia, on the other hand, is a land covered by endless deserts, punctured with pyramids, ancient temples and tombs ridden with curses and dark magic, directly inspired by Ancient Egypt and its largely spiritual and superstitious people.
Then there is Aquilonia, a nice foot to the balance holding the other two plates, a civilized kingdom with a rich culture of political intrigues and scholarly pursuits, relative religious and social freedom and a powerful and organized army, obviously inspired by Ancient Rome or Greece.
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Even though the three aforementioned lands are the only ones used by Funcom so far, the rest of the continent is covered with different lands and people, to the point where the works of Robert E. Howard look like a raking job of the planet where all of the oldest peoples and civilizations ended up in a single pile in the middle of the world map, and many of these lands (if not all) were visited by Conan at one point or another in the books.
Now Conan is old and King, so it's up to the player to walk in his footsteps (at a distance - I'm sure the old panther isn't too fond of being followed by stray dogs).
At any rate, I was excited at the idea of exploring this vast and brutal land myself, spending hours wandering in the desert or the virgin forest only to stumble upon a forgotten cave or temple only to get out of it with some old king's sword (Hey, Conan did, why not I?).
I was disappointed to find out that I couldn't simply head straight into the forest until I found the edge of it. The game starts on an island, so I would have fallen into the sea at best if I had done that, but even that misfortune wasn't allowed. Instead, the forest was mostly impassable, save for a single path that was clearly put there so we may follow it to the next point in the game. Now, this was only the starting area, so I was ready to forgive that lack of freedom in exchange for a solid start in the game.
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Tortage itself wasn't so bad, but the island felt small, and once again the only way to go was where we were expected to. The White Sands Isle was slightly better, some stretches of it being open to exploration, but once again there were many paths that were designed so that we had to use them.
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From here on, that was how most of the world would be. No hidden areas, no random caves or temples to explore, no far stretches of empty land on which to build a lonely shack. Old Tarantia, the gleaming capital of Aquilonia ruled by King Conan himself, seemed somewhat unfinished. Most of its doors closed, and surrounded by palisades once you left the safety of its walls, its outskirts and surrounding lands inaccessible for exploration. No running along the road to get from one land to the other, avoiding or fighting off any nasties preying on poor travelers either. Instead, there were coaches ready for me minutes away from the city to carry me effortlessly to my destination, loading times being the only indication I could possibly have of the distance I had travelled.
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The Stygian Capital of Khemi was similar; only a small island in the center of the city (even though you can still see the buildings across the water) may be visited. The remainder of the city is blocked by invisible walls in the water, so the rest of the city is little more than a wallpaper behind the part of the city that I was allowed to explore. In comparison, Conarch Village in Cimmeria, the "capital" of the rough land, was more interesting despite its smaller size, due to its uneven terrain and the number of paths I had to find and take to get anywhere.
The more hazardous lands such as the Wild Lands of Zelata or Conall's Valley seemed large enough when looking at the map, but still had too many cliffs and roads that made sure I knew where I was supposed to go, and I quickly found myself at the end of the region, with a "that's it?" thought in the back of my head. Open area regions such as Poitan and the Lotus Swamps, where a guild may build its city, didn't have much in the form of paths - which is great - but still didn't have much space, and I quickly found myself at the edge of the map once more.
Another interesting part is that in the Lotus Swamps, Poitan, and others "uncharted" lands, mobs will appear and attack you as you travel, or even jump you as you harvest resources, which makes things more interesting, and binds resource gathering and adventuring together.
To counter the unavoidable overpopulation of these small zones, there are instances. You may not choose first hand in which instance you will end up, and even though you can usually switch instance easily enough by running to a respawn point, joining friends, unless you're grouped with them, is somewhat difficult since there are usually at least a dozen instances to scroll through when you're looking for someone.
The good part is that despite its small size and lack of content, the land is lush and lively. Even with DirectX 9, the vegetation and scenery are among the richest I have ever seen in an MMORPG and the sheer beauty of the scenery, even when you can't actually get to it, is worth taking the look - which makes it even more sad that it there is so little exploration to do. Many locations have "landmarks" that while they don't add anything in particular in the form of content, bring a lot of spirit to the locations. A lone pond surrounded by ruins in the Lotus Swamp comes to my mind as an example.
Content is rather easy to find (when available), since the size of the zones make it easy to guess where NPCs are located, and they are often all crammed into one area. Thus filling up your quest journal and emptying it in one killing (and leveling) spree is very feasible. The other good news is that many areas are suggesting future content, such as an annoyingly teasing closed gate along the path out of Old Tarantia. We can only hope that the land will finally be open to us in all its beauty and immensity before long.
Bottom line: Hyboria for now has little to make the explorer and wanderer happy, and sometimes Age of Conan feels like Dungeon Siege with prettier graphics, but whoever likes to get from point A to point B quickly and likes to get quests done without having to travel for hours will be happy.
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Sadly Age of conan is pretty bland in the area of exploration, but most games nowadays are just as bad. Warhammer has the feeling of a small world also. Hopefully Some of the future MMO's put more depth into their games.
Edit: also wanted to chime in on this bit:
To counter the unavoidable overpopulation of these small zones, there are instances. You may not choose first hand in which instance you will end up, and even though you can usually switch instance easily enough by running to a respawn point, joining friends, unless you're grouped with them, is somewhat difficult since there are usually at least a dozen instances to scroll through when you're looking for someone. "
On my server(Scourge-USPVP), There has not been any duplicated zones(instances) for about a month. At most there are only 10-15 people in Kheshatta, mostly all powerleveling at certain spots on the map. Every single zone, including capital cities are empty, even during primetime. I guess I got my wish for not wanting to deal with duplicated zones.
/sigh
The exact size of the entire AoC world is 42 Km2. But that is the size of the maps. The real land you can explore is about 50% to 60% of the mapped area giving it about 10 square miles of area for the entire world.
WoWs base world before BC were 8 to 9 times bigger.
DaoC is 11 times bigger if you count the TOA regions only once since they are reused in each realm.
Glad to see he played the game for 30 minutes, became an expert on it, and successfully missed 90 percent of the content. Gratz.
One thing I loved about Vanguard was the ability to explore wherever I saw. If you see a mountain; you can climb it. If you want to swim to an island, go right ahead! There was nothing stopping you, the whole world could be explored.
AoC world comparing in size with EQ2 or WOW expolorable areas could fit under microscope and even then you only have one linnear option of moving ...pretty much there is no exploring in AOC. This game suffers from seriously retarded design. It does look pretty if that is all you expect from MMO but fails in every other aspect.
Yep the reviewer nailed it, the game is exactly Dungeon Siege with better graphics. So for all the hype we got a game where you are sheparded throughout. Sorry that is NOT a MMO in my opinion. Exploration has to be part of the game, without it, it is a second rate FPS.
Sorry Funcom you just blew it!
I agree with the article 100%. One of the things that kept me interested in EQI despite the horrible downtime and timesinks, punishment for leveling and painful death experience was the feeling that I was living in a huge, complex world. Exploring it was a good portion of the fun for me. As games developed this feeling sort of started to wear off, but never have I felt so much NOT a part of a living, breathing world as in AoC.
Follow the preset paths... port from one zone to another... nothing feels connected, invisible walls everywhere.. and even without the walls, there just isn't that much space to explore. The zone maps are small compared to even WoW at release, and that game was smaller than others of its time. I got to about lvl 50 in Conan before giving up just because I couldn't get into the game world.
True, tt was as pretty as a single player RPG, but that's exactly what it felt like to me- a single player RPG that happened to have a chat room built in where everyone talked about WoW.
You know I have seen the 800k with only 415k still active (yea you missed 15k people) thrown about as the demise of AoC for a week or so now. It is utter crap, AoC is not floundering nor can it be considered a failure, yet.
Notice the yet at the end of the above sentence.
Here is what those numbers do tell us;
1. AoC had a lot of hype.
2. A lot of people bought into said hype.
3. Funcom FAILED to deliver on hype.
4. AoC is still a successful MMO (14.99 x 415k = $6,204,250.00 a year - off just subscription fees / 49.99 x 800k = 39,992,000.00)
5. The true tell tale signs will be in November when pre-paid subs start to run out and we see how many are renewing.
So take the boxed sales + a year of service at the 415k mark and we get 46,196,250.00 in the first year (this doesn't include CE sales, just the pricing at 49.99 for every box sale, actual amount from boxed sales will be higher).
If you consier nearly 50 millions dollars of revunue in the first year a failure, well enjoy the tin foil hat chicken little.
Once again, all the numbers tell us is that somewhere between 40-50% of the AoC population came into the game expecting way more then they got. This isn't surprising when you look at the pedistol they AoC was put on, it was suppose to be the second comming of the MMO messiah and instead you got a decent title that needs some work.
Oh for the love of all the myths man embraces, someone PLEASE explain to the above poster how box sales work ................
Exploration is one of the aspects I love most about mmo's, and it was one of my favorite components of SWG. Exploring all the planets kept me rivited to my computer screen for hours upon hours upon hours.
As I recall, the first planet I visited after scraping together the coin was Endor. I was a low level character and it was really expensive for a new character. I explored for hours, skirting around mobs and sometimes running for my life. I got a few cute pictures of some kittens though :)
Replying to Sinkael's post:
Regardless of the financials; everything in my initial post stands. FunCom is a mis-managed company, mislead the gaming community, stockholders and ultimately abused its players/customers.
Its nice to know there are emoployees of FunCom using these forums and spoofing themselves to the rest of us.
FACT: the number of CONAN players on XFIRE have dropped continually and significantly over the past 3 months. Hmm - wonder why.
FACT: FUNCOM's stock price has TANKED to a all time low over the past two years, only 3 months after the release of CONAN. The stockholders know why - LOSS, LOSS, LOSS. To be at $51 a share in the end of May 2008 and a record low in the past two years of $13.65 as of a few days ago, tells much.
FACT: at the end of the day - it does not matter how many initial copies the game sold - what matter is the individual experience each one of those customers have/had with the game. The clear truth is that players have quit the game, uninstalled the game from their computers, cancelled their subscriptions, and it is VERY EVIDENT in the game!!! Gwahlur is EMPTY, DEAD, GHOST TOWN! And I am reading the same for all the other servers as well.
WHERE is the full-disclosure regarding the client crashes?
WHERE is the directx-10 that is clearly labeled on the retail box?
WHERE is the PVP system labeled on the retail box?
WHEN will we see fixes, WHEN will we see directx-10, WHEN will we see PVP?
Continue your SPIN MACHINE, FUNCOM - its just more of the same from you - and you have people in these forums serving us exactly that.
well said, A world made up of eye candy and little more.
What a coincidence - so did the developers!
Glad to see there are some correspondents out there willing to tell it like it is, and not just treat the position as an opportunity to advertise the game more.
So what happened to Avery? Couldn't think of any more ways to spin it and gave up being the correspondent?
I hardly think this game is in need of more than one correspondent, and so far Jean is the only truthful one.
Thanks for the article! I experienced similar feeling of the game -- nice graphics, decent quests, but one is forced to the particular path and it feels artificial. I WoW my druid char swam from Auberdine to Feathermoon Stromghold, just for the sake of it (and to get the flight point :)). In AoC I just could not immerse myself into the game after level 20, everything is instanced and walled in :( Even taverns in a city are instanced!
But, on a positive note, I should say that my AoC game client have not crashed even once (new PC with Vista 64bit). Not that I care, as I quit two weeks ago.
Why would you pick a topic that the game is clearly not about?
He is trying to be positive and not get folks upset.
Angry much?
I want to address a few of your points.
As for you saying I work for Funcom, I wish, I could afford my truck payment then. The initial sale of the game is a very important factor, it means they can pay back much of the capital they got to build the game and keep developing.
After reading your post, I wonder if you even read my response or if you simply saw someone respond and not spit vitriol at Funcom and assume I was a fanboy. Quite the contrary, I don't really enjoy AoC all that much and I knew I wouldn't from the get go, the only reason I play is because it's a different flavor candy, I have had all the WoW I can stand need something to kill time until WAR releases (I am a Mythic fanboy). Like I said in my previous post, we can't claim doom and gloom until November when the prepaid time starts running out, this will tell us how many are renewing.
I agree that aoc zones are too smalla nd restricting but comparing them to wow is stupid. wows lands are all flat with no features PERIOD. plop me in conan and I know where I am, every inch is unique.
they need to remove invisible walls and make the entire maps explorable. but I dont want them to make vast empty wow-eqse landscapes.
Okay... there are problems with Conan... yes.. big problems. Most of which, in my opinion, have to do with the people who bum-rushed the game, immediately declared it a failure, and now have spent more hours than they did in the game gnashing their teeth about it in forums around the net.
However, besides the HORROR of having to log and clear memory once every 5 or 6 hours to avoid a crash, there isn't much to the whole "crash" complaint.
As to exploration, yes, the level 1-5 intro run is linear. It's also solo, and pretty much designed to introduce you to things like talking to npcs, clubbing things over the head, and picking up loot bags. As for exploring the rest of the world, yes, there are closed doors in the cities, and places you can't go. Then again, I don't know of an mmo where every single door in a city has something worthwhile inside it.
Once you're out in the real Conan world, there are plenty of little hidden things, canyons off the beaten path, camps and locations that you can visit which are off the edges of the map you can look at, even. I'm just not sure this is a really valid complaint about the game.
Try and run back and forth from Old Tarantia to the Eiglophean Mountains, without using the coaches, a few times. Then you'll see just how 'adventurous' travel in AoC can be.
Exact reason why I left AoC, felt like a studio apartment, compared to the 20,000 sq ft mansion that is Vanguard.
Went back to VG and am very happy. I hope to see AoC reach its potential, and maybe come back but, with no where to go, forget it.
Angry much?
I want to address a few of your points.
As for you saying I work for Funcom, I wish, I could afford my truck payment then. The initial sale of the game is a very important factor, it means they can pay back much of the capital they got to build the game and keep developing.
After reading your post, I wonder if you even read my response or if you simply saw someone respond and not spit vitriol at Funcom and assume I was a fanboy. Quite the contrary, I don't really enjoy AoC all that much and I knew I wouldn't from the get go, the only reason I play is because it's a different flavor candy, I have had all the WoW I can stand need something to kill time until WAR releases (I am a Mythic fanboy). Like I said in my previous post, we can't claim doom and gloom until November when the prepaid time starts running out, this will tell us how many are renewing.
Well, let me answer a few points here:
a) I am actually a fan of the game. I am still playing it - hence I am subscribed. I run a large guild on Gwahlur.
b) I love the game. I love the graphics and the music.
c) I get barraged, daily, with my guild's frustrations with the game. I hear it all - I experience it all - I feel it all. I see our members dropping. I see guilds shrinking and consolidating on the server. I have witnessed the now "ghost-town" result of lack of players on the server.
d) I am frustrated. I want my voice heard - I want the game to succeed. But change will not be brought about by not voicing concerns and frustrations.
e) My comments truly reflect the state of the game. The PvP system of which I speak is NOT enabled in the game. While it is on the test-live server, it is NOT in the game. Yes, there are servers where players can gank each other - I am on a PvE server awaiting the PvP instance module for playing. This is what is NOT in the game in production. Forums galore are filled with players voices frustrated regarding lack of this content/module/component/functionality. In truth - a large number are leaving Conan for Warhammer. I know - I lead a mult-gaming community of 2,500 adults. I dont need to read the forums to understand the frustrations my members (and myself) are experiencing with Conan.
f) I am not openly attacking you. I have read your comments and feedback in detail. I agree with the supposed number listed on sales of the game, but that does not equate into anything relative to how the game is performing, how FunCom is addressing performance, development, customer support, etc.. This is where the true issue lies. Sales of the game mean nothing at the moment.
g) XFire is the ONLY means available to cross-check any information provided by FunCom in regards to active players vs. subscriptions. I agree, it is not the best to use as it requires players to actually run XFire in order for the tracking of Conan Game Play - but it is the best available. And per XFire's own historical tracking - the loss of players (or lack of game play) has been significantly declining in the past 3 months. So in reality; it matches what we are reading in the forums - and reflects to a large degree the sharp decline in FunCom's stocks.
h) In regards to FunCom's stock performance; if you have been up to speed with the history of what was shared with stockholders; the bet the bank on this game - convincing stockholders of a multitude of information - some of it false - to increase the stock's value. They gambled - and they lost. The averaged 30 per share in 2007, 20 per share in 2006. In May they reached 54 and three months later they are at an all-time low just recovering from bottoming at $13.65 per share. That is over 60% market value in 90 days. OUCH. Why? Because they know what I know - the game is deeply in trouble and there is no confidence in FunCom's ability to fix it. Such is the nature of the stock market.
i) Retail sales of the game are not %100 pocketed. Distrubition, retail, marketing all receive their percentages before any is banekd by FunCom. The markets are very wary of FunCom's ability to provide honest informartion regarding CONAN - again - a reality seen in the plummeting share price of the company in the past 90 days.
It is what it is. I do love the game - I just want them to fix all that is broken (and so much is truly broken). Everyone I speak with agrees... this game is still in Beta and we are simply paying to test the game for FunCom. I agree with that assessment fully. It was released entirely too soon; most likely an epic failure of the beta program and the management of such. The quality control is not in the game - clearly - so one can easily determine that it was sorely lacking (albeit missing) in Beta.
I will most likely be one of the last to leave the game if problems are not addressed, major bugs are not fixed - PvP is not enabled - and most importantly, if I cannot continue to retain our own members because of their decision to leave the game like the thousands before them who already have.
Oh, look. Another "It's the customers fault, not Funcoms!" post. How very original. When you come up for air, say hi to Gaute for us.
hmm...
i dont mind the aoc zonce concept that much.
as for exploring there are zones that absolutely stunned me the first time i ventured there (thunder river for example). the zones arent big but in themselves beautifull.
i think that people also have to see that aoc is a story/quest driven game and not a sandbox.
agreeably there is to little story in it to justify lets say more then 100h of gameplay but conan is not a grinder where you venture into the woods, look for a place where wolves spawn and kill them for the next 20h to gain a level.
by showing only hotspots/points of interests they do what every other form of entertainment would do showing you only the temple and the nazi hideout in an indiana jones moie but not the 20h of continental flight.
to me the outsides zones make sense, especially the fact that you take wagoneers/caravans to venture to another spot. if you look at it from a realism perspective everything else wouldnt have made sense.
in lineage2 (and probably in wow and war as well) i can venture on foot thrue 5 different clima zones visiting 4 capitol cities in one game day from icy mountains to hot deserts.
in aoc you venture to an area to play out your story there. for me it would have been a clear break with the conan world if i would exit tarantia on horseback to end up in keshata in a few game-hours ride.
as for exploration, yes there hopefully will be more and bigger zones to discover/explore in the future but i dont see how a seamingless world that spans all the landmass of the conan universe could work
Should he have picked PvP for his article? Oh, wait. That's mostly either broken or not even implemented yet.
PvE? Oh, wait. That's mostly bugged or lacking in content.
So tell us, Mrbloodworth. What was he supposed to write his article about in your opinion?
"You know I have seen the 800k with only 415k still active (yea you missed 15k people) thrown about as the demise of AoC for a week or so now. It is utter crap, AoC is not floundering nor can it be considered a failure, yet."
What a load of nonsense. Those figures were of June 30, NOT August. Conservative opinion posts current playerbase at under 200k and falling. Next time read the fine print that came along with the numbers.
No matter what Funcom adds to the game, it won't be enough. War and Wow will just remove a good portion of their remaining playerbase this fall. Big server merges will be announced at the first of the year.
I am just very saddened by their extremely poor implementation of such a legendary genre. Looking pretty is just not enough, it has to be combined with good gameplay.
Yep, those numbers are second quarter (1 April - 30 June 2008). While in Leipzig this month, FunCom mentioned these same numbers and labeled them as "current" as of mid-August. Incredibly, many fan sites, media and MMO hobbyists believed it. But remember, we're talking about FunCom -- the masters of hype, the seigneurs of spin, the PR ... well, I think you get my drift, RE: FunCom credibility.
So yes, it's quite naive for anyone to actually believe FunCom's definition of "current" numbers. As of today, more accurate estimates place the subscription base (total active subscriptions, much lower for active players) at 200-250K and dropping.
FunCom can save this game by actually delivering on their promises. But obviously, time is running out. The effective range of any more of FunCom excuses for not getting this game to release quality *NOW* -- well into the Fourth Month after release, is zero meters.
There is no doubt that Age of Conan has the potential for being a truly great MMO. But as of today, AoC is hemmoraging active players at a disturbing rate (a true bane for guilds/guild leaders who are still trying to play the game) and many have left AoC and won't be back. Many others, like myself, continue to play the game casually, hoping FunCom actually gets this game to release quality.
Age of Conan, where do I start? For one, if you read any of the previous posts i've made regarding Age of Conan, I was hooked before AoC came out. I was one of the ones drawn into the game, world and adventure only to find out what a complete failure it is. What they need to do is wrap AoC up, rehash Anarchy Online with DX10, update AO's content, add another expansion for AO and move on. Maybe they can get back above 20 per share.
When I heard news of an expansion for AoC, I really laughed. I thought to myself, could this be true? They haven't even fixed the release yet. Doesn't make good business sense to release news of an expansion when DX10 on release was supposed to happen and never did. Back in the first week when they disabled DX10, they CLEARLY stated that DX10 will be out first part of August. Guess what, it's almost September.
FunCom better shape up, and quick. Microsoft needs to pull the AoC title off their list, and FunCom needs to take a day off (for real) and honestly look at the game and ask themselves is AoC "Gold" or still in beta.
Note to FunCom: I think it's time to give it up, refund everyone's money, and take a loss. That would be the admirable thing to do.
Yep, those numbers are second quarter (1 April - 30 June 2008). While in Leipzig this month, FunCom mentioned these same numbers and labeled them as "current" as of mid-August. Incredibly, many fan sites, media and MMO hobbyists believed it. But remember, we're talking about FunCom -- the masters of hype, the seigneurs of spin, the PR ... well, I think you get my drift, RE: FunCom credibility.
So yes, it's quite naive for anyone to actually believe FunCom's definition of "current" numbers. As of today, more accurate estimates place the subscription base (total active subscriptions, much lower for active players) at 200-250K and dropping.
FunCom can save this game by actually delivering on their promises. But obviously, time is running out. The effective range of any more of FunCom excuses for not getting this game to release quality *NOW* -- well into the Fourth Month after release, is zero meters.
There is no doubt that Age of Conan has the potential for being a truly great MMO. But as of today, AoC is hemmoraging active players at a disturbing rate (a true bane for guilds/guild leaders who are still trying to play the game) and many have left AoC and won't be back. Many others, like myself, continue to play the game casually, hoping FunCom actually gets this game to release quality.
You are being WAY too nice with FunCom. The fact of the matter is, the game is done. It has been done with ever since the free subscription was up on the retail boxes. I subscribed for another month thinking DX10 was gonna roll through. I login and no one is on my server (Deathwhisper). The gathering instances are dead, Old Tarantia is dead. AoC is dead. FunCom needs to realize it. Realize they made a mistake and refund money. (period) I'm upset with FunCom, sure they messed up with AO initially but they made good in the end by offering people free months and items. Doesn't seem they are offering ANYTHING this time around.
Should he have picked PvP for his article? Oh, wait. That's mostly either broken or not even implemented yet.
PvE? Oh, wait. That's mostly bugged or lacking in content.
So tell us, Mrbloodworth. What was he supposed to write his article about in your opinion?
Realize MrBloodworth can't meaningfully answer that question as he - by his own say-so in another thread - isn't even subscribed to the game.
He's one of the game's and FC's more vocal defenders, going after anyone who criticizes the game, or FC. As his comment here demonstrates, he even goes after those actually playing the game. Yet... for all his fervor in defending it, he stops short of putting his money where his mouth is.
I think they call that... sanctimony?
Overall... the comparison to Dungeon Siege is actually very good, heh. I never thought of it that way.
An Opinion from a run of the mill Gamer, I bought AoC on the promises on the box, on the reviews, and on the promise of a great MMO....
What I have is a Game I am paying for, that is stunning graphics, has the basis of a great amazing game! That crashes every few hours, that I get that stunning unique AoC Mod of grey screening, that I get to read and see all the updates being brought out, that none of address the basic problems of the game, I want to play this game, I really enjoy this game, but how can I when I crash at least once every two hours possibly more, that simple things like the promised Direct X 10 is not there, that the simple game content that was promised is not there.
Simple, they Panicked and released before the game was ready, and as a gamer all I want is to read or hear from the game director "Hey we are sorry, we know we have problems, and we are doing our best to fix them" instead all I get to read is all the new updates and changes to a game that the very basics are flawed.
From the business side, you do not loose $40 dollars off your stock price and call it leveling out, that is called stock holders going oh crap this is not a good thing I am taking my money elsewhere.
I have Pre ordered Warhammer, and I believe I will not be renewing my subscription, unless something happens and FunCom decide to come clean and fix the broken windows in their house.
Just the Thoughts of an everyday gamer.
Exploration in AoC? Blah, it's a big set of outdoor hallways, like Guild Wars.
This game is a George W. Bush size failure.
What AoC gives you to explore is Funcom's error screens and crash reports. OK that's harsh (but true) - what you really can explore in AoC is how you got suckered and what you might do differently when the next over-hyped game comes around.
His review was of the exploration factor of the game not a full on review o the content or lack thereof.
Angry much?
I want to address a few of your points.
As for you saying I work for Funcom, I wish, I could afford my truck payment then. The initial sale of the game is a very important factor, it means they can pay back much of the capital they got to build the game and keep developing.
After reading your post, I wonder if you even read my response or if you simply saw someone respond and not spit vitriol at Funcom and assume I was a fanboy. Quite the contrary, I don't really enjoy AoC all that much and I knew I wouldn't from the get go, the only reason I play is because it's a different flavor candy, I have had all the WoW I can stand need something to kill time until WAR releases (I am a Mythic fanboy). Like I said in my previous post, we can't claim doom and gloom until November when the prepaid time starts running out, this will tell us how many are renewing.
Using the math you used in your othr post though I don't think they in fact have gotten back all the capital they borrowed to make this game.
"Try and run back and forth from Old Tarantia to the Eiglophean Mountains, without using the coaches, a few times. Then you'll see just how 'adventurous' travel in AoC can be."
I think the post is about exploration of places not running back and forth down the same linear path a few times no less.
Now just hang on a minute, I might be a little late to the party, but accusing Age of Conan of not offering much for explorers is a little mind-boggling.
We won't cover all the -other- faults of AoC, of which there are plenty, and mostly to do with unfulfilled promises, lack of trust-building communication or confidence that the people in charge of the game know what the heck they're doing.
But Age of Conan has quite a few nice crannies to offer for exploration: it's just that a) they don't have a massive uninstanced world to run across and make one feel like you've covered a great distance, and b) these small touches don't link to any significant -content- that rewards the exploration.
They also killed the point of exploring and waypointing resource nodes in a later patch by turning them all into well-marked objectives - see above reference to knowing what the heck they're doing.
Here's a random list of things to "explore":
1) Have you found the Tortage poster that offers a quest to find the Tortage Smuggler?
2) Found Zelata?
3) Found the Corpse of the Adventurer in the Wild Lands?
4) Found Crunchy's Collar?
5) Found a Note by another vulture-attacked adventurer's corpse in Khopshef?
6) Found another Note down a dead end in Khemi?
7) The first rule of Fight Club is...
8) Two kill-mob, get-item-that-opens-new-quest chains in Conall's Valley and Old Tarantia=>Eg Mountains.
9) There's a Darkwalker by a sacrificial altar in Thunder River, way down southeast.
10) Ever climbed up the back end of Atzel's Fortress and looked down at the rest of the snow-covered pallisades? Bonus points if you got jumped by something undead...
There are neat touches. Especially those linked with climbing. Old Tarantia had a chest with some Electric Boogie potions that created an electric aura at one point. Couldn't find it again when I looked though, so don't know if a later patch stripped it bare.
And there's the final failure of AoC. Couldn't quite decide what it wanted to do, added a little bit of something for everyone, didn't quite get it all playable, tried to fix one thing, broke something else, all while already launched and supposedly out of beta. Not that many players will pay continuously and wait. We'll stop paying, and wait to see if things improve. Or not.
There are little "candies" here and there, that is true. But the number and reward of those exploration candies are insignificant at best. As already said, there are no reward whatsoever (or almost) for finding these, besides starting a quest chain and things like that.
There is some running around. But regardless of what zone you are in, it takes at most 5 minutes to run from one end of it to the other, which I beleive is mighty short.
If you compare to a game like LotRO, where running from the Ered Luin to Rivendell can take at least half an hour if all goes well - if you follow the road, which you don't have to, as opposed to in AoC-, where you can leave the road and wander randomly about the world and find nice places to take a screenshot of, a ruin or a pack of mobs to hunt down, and to features like the exploration deeds in LotRO(and other deeds) and the badges in CoH, you will see that AoC's game world has the size of a sandbox in comparaison. And that there is virtually nothing to explore if you don't have a quest to let you do so.
And all these features were there at launch in LotRO, so there is no reason why they shouldn't be in AoC. Both are inspired by a great literary work with tons of content, so there was no shortage of material in either. But still, we ended up with a bucket on one side, compared to an olympic swimming pool on the other.
And even LotRO could have done better - much of those ruins were useless, and it would have been great if these ruins had an underground dungeon in them, which you can explore to find some random artifact, etc.
There is so much that could be done when you build a fictionnal world, but it seems like gaming companies insist on doing only the minimum to give the game a ground to walk on.