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Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures: Most Improved Game of 2009
The editorial staff here at MMORPG.com has made their decisions, and today we start to unveil the winners of the 2009 MMORPG.com awards by naming our Most Improved Game of 2009.
Awards By Jon Wood on January 04, 2010
One of the most unique aspects of MMOs is their ability to continue to grow and change throughout their life cycles through updates, patches, expansions and the like. While this may lead some to believe that the ever growing nature of MMOs provides an excuse to release unfinished games, others believe that the ability to add to what is already there is what gives an MMO its longevity.
Whatever your feelings on MMO growth, it isn't hard to realize that a number of MMORPGs are ending 2009 in much better shape than they began it.
advertisement One game, however, stood out among the rest as the Most Improved MMO of 2009. The nominees were:
- Age of Conan
- Dungeons and Dragons Online
- Lord of the Rings Online
- World of Warcraft.
The Winner: Age of Conan
;)
It wasn’t easy to decide on this year’s Most Improved game. There were a lot of factors to consider, expansion packs, minor updates, major updates, quality of change, and sheer bulk. In the end though, the Most improved prize went to a game that, while viewed by many as a bitter disappointment at its launch, may have hit its stride in 2009, becoming the game that many players would have liked to see back in 2008 when it launched.
For those who may not have guessed, our Most Improved MMO for the 2009 year was Funcom’s Age of Conan. When it launched, back in May of 2008, reviewers and industry insiders praised the game for its deep, polished and engaging early game experience, but cracks quickly appeared in the game as, among other issues, problems with stability and a lack of content and polish beyond the game’s earliest experiences came to light.
In the second half of 2008, the game got a new Director in the form of Craig Morrison, who took over after the September 2008 resignation of Gaute Godager. While some saw the resignation as the final nail in Conan’s coffin, others looked to Morrison to bring new leadership to the flagging game.
While there is no doubt that Morrison is not single handedly responsible for whatever turnarounds or successes that the game has seen since he took over, it is impossible to ignore the correlation. Players had high hopes for Morrison’s Age of Conan in 2009 and in the end, their faith seemed to pay off.
Throughout 2009, the team at Funcom was able to add a great deal of new, higher level content into the game in the form of new areas like the Tarantia Commons introduced in update 1.05, a PvP revamp, a complete overhaul of the game’s itemization system, a new take on the game’s gem crafting system, changes to each of the game’s classes, changes to its RPG system in general and more. In short, it was a big year of growth and development for the Hyborian Adventures.
Age of Conan, arguably 2008’s best example of how not to launch a major MMO, turned out to be 2009’s poster child for how to improve a product post-launch.
Runner Up: Dungeons and Dragons Online
With all due respect to the category's other nominees, the final choice for this award came down to Age of Conan, the ultimate winner of the category and Dungeons and Dragons Online: Unlimited, possibly the biggest surprise of 2009.
When Turbine announced in June that it would be changing the revenue model for its struggling MMO Dungeons and Dragons Online, many people surrounding the MMO industry, journalists and players alike speculated that it was a kind of death rattle for a game that had been seen as struggling almost since its launch. The speculation, it seems, couldn't have been more wrong as indications are that the game has grown positive leaps and bounds since the change, perhaps finally finding its proper niche in 2009.
This is well deserved. They've come a long way.
Nice! It is essentially a different game and what many that play now think this should of been at release.
With Update 1.6 soon to go live follow by the Godslayer Expansion over the next few months things are looking busy.
I only hope all the improved reviews and accolades translate into a larger player base. After leaving Tortage I was hard pressed to find anyone willing to group or even help me.
What an amazing game tho, has lots of potential.
Hahahahaha, really? It's still hardly an MMO.
Yet Darkfall gets two massive expansions and nothing. Of course.
Oh well, I guess the people who took over the train wreck the original folks left it in have stalled the fall, which is a solid improvement.
Well, i sure didnt see this coming.
congrats aoc
Congratz to Funcom! I remeber playing the game when it 1st came out and quit. I returned 4 months ago and having a blast. So many things have improved with this game and with an expansion coming out it'll be even better! Still has some work but its far better than alot of games out there right now.
(AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH raises the double plunger salute to Funcom)
Darkfall was released in 2009, hence no improvement.
Funcom deserves this for the work they have put into the game in the last year. I bought played and quit the game all in about three weeks near this time last year. It may be time for a second look.
That doesn't change the fact that there have been many massive improvements to the game. Funny how a 30 man dev team can make more progress in a year than games like AoC or WoW can in 3 years.
Definitely well deserved. I bought a years subscription and haven't regretted it. Well done, Funcom.
Prax
That doesn't change the fact that there have been many massive improvements to the game. Funny how a 30 man dev team can make more progress in a year than games like AoC or WoW can in 3 years.
As bad as Darkfall is, how hard can it be to improve it?
If only they would remove the silly instanced world ppl might return when the expansion arrives. This game is one of the best ever minus the fact that all zones are instanced. A total gamebreaker for me :(
-in b4 finaticd's rant-
gg FC, now dont rush the TSW release, let it be good :)
That doesn't change the fact that there have been many massive improvements to the game. Funny how a 30 man dev team can make more progress in a year than games like AoC or WoW can in 3 years.
So you don't deny your argument has no base!
You lose! Good day, sir!
Not in my opion and i think several others, Funcom deserves neither support or very little respect.
I assume you're talking about Darkfall, as that certainly doesn't describe AoC.
Congratulations to Funcom, a very well deserved award, it's an incredibly improved game and if you upgrade to a high-end rig it's even more improved.
I have a sneaking hope that Warhammer wins this particular award next year, and I certainly wouldn't rule it out.
As for the disappointment over Darkfall not getting the award this time, I thought it was already the perfect MMO at launch so how could it have qualified?
is just me that go the feeling that this list only took on consideration games that have "issues"
is like looking at a class and only see the improvement for kids that had C D E and not looking at kids that got A or B and try to get a A+
So the utter failure of a mmo at release that has spent maybe the most advertising dollar on mmorpg has won "most improved game?"
./golfclap
DDO for the win baby..
I assume you're talking about Darkfall, as that certainly doesn't describe AoC.
Congratulations to Funcom, a very well deserved award, it's an incredibly improved game and if you upgrade to a high-end rig it's even more improved.
I have a sneaking hope that Warhammer wins this particular award next year, and I certainly wouldn't rule it out.
As for the disappointment over Darkfall not getting the award this time, I thought it was already the perfect MMO at launch so how could it have qualified?
No, he was not talking about Darkfall and I agree with him. Unlike games like WOW and Lord of the Rings Online, that subtle change of landscape that takes place as you run from one zone to another is missing because each zone has doors/instances. and the zones while beautiful don't make you feel as if you are exploring an open and breathing world. That is why I left in the middle of 2009. Though even WOW and LOTRO have instances, the world itself generally speaking is pretty open where you can literally run for miles and miles before you are forced to hit a door. The other issue is that their technical support gives up too easily with things they don't understand..like the sound anomolies I was having while walking (maybe they got better?)
Regardless, I will say that this game had stunning graphics, excellent classes, good UI responsiveness, had a great guild, and was fun for a while, but I just couldn't hang on because i felt disconnected from the story and the instanced zones didnt help. It certainly is a game that everyone should try for themselves.
Gratz FC!
I dont think there is other game that can compete in this category. I still dont like some things about AoC, but devs put a lot of effort into content, features and fixes - so well deserved! These were available for free even if they dont call it "expansion" to look cool, like some other games.
Sounds like you're talking about what I'd call zones then, rather than the usual meaning of instances - which as in Tortage night time would be instanced areas containing only you (and your group). However, most of AoC's world is open to everybody and the zones are large so I don't see how anyone could find them restricting to be honest.
I agree with the nomination, though I think Darkfall should have been a nominee even if it had been I'd personally have picked AoC out as the winner too.
DDO online made many changes with the Unlimited update but as for a straightforward "improvement" I don't think they qualify, though rescuing the game from the abyss is a credit to their ingenuity & surprisingly informed understanding of the free to play market Turbine haven't made huge strides in the way AoC has in actual quality, it was already good & got a bit of a polish.
However with that said, AoC is a long way from where it should be, the 1-20 Tortage quality is undeniable, but that should have been the same for the whole game, & until it is I won't consider it out of beta and worth my money.
Well deserved. The game has shaped up quite nicely, and there´s a lot on the horizon too!
I would hope that other MMO companies take this example that a poor game at launch can be resurrected in quality with some good management (looking at you NCSoft).
Well, this was a surprise. I recently re-subbed and cancelled again after just a month back. The changes I saw were only minor. I'm glad other people are experiencing better results though!
This award makes no sense to me. Very little has improved in Conan since launch. They still haven't gotten a lot of the features they claimed would be in at launch (t3 raiding, tower pvp) and the battlekeep sieges are still buggy and unstable (not to mention the siege gameplay is horrible).
The amount of content they have added is very small and when you look at how many monthly fees you paid since launch for them it's a horrible deal. Funcom has some of the slowest patch cycles of any MMO dev. They also have no idea how to balance casting vs. melee as shown by their recent, laughable attempt (casters can't use sta potions).
Agreed! Cripes you cant even craft til your lvl 40 who thee heck ever heard of that and PvP is still an unbalanced gank fest
Yeah it's called bias. There's way too much of it when it comes to journalism and the video game industry.
I'm with a previous poster. They'd have to remove all of the world instancing to get me even slightly interested in going back.
People who do not see much change in the game probably have not left Tortage or not played end-game. Many bugs have been fixed, system is more fluid, systems have been adjusted to work better and lots of new areas have been added over the last year.
You can not judge if a game has improved from a short time playing.
Congrats to Funcom.
I always heard how 'instanced' AoC was; but once you get out of Tortage it doesn't seem that bad to me. It's a technology mechanic- Whats the big deal?
Erm, honestly: What exactly is instanced in AoC that is open worlded in any other modern title?
Dungeons are instanced (like in WoW, WAR, Aion, you name it...) and overworld zones are open for everyone. Or are you talking about zoning and invisible walls? - That's another issue, but "instancing" is not more apparent than in any other major post-WoW game.
M
Actually I hope other MMO companies see this and not release games in utterly unplayable states (like Funcom has done twice).
Stop encouraging companies like Funcom to release garbage and take an extra 2 years to make the game worth a damn while people pay to be dissappointed.
Congratulations to Funcom-
You have managed to polish this turd to shiny luster, next time try not to make a game that looks smells and feels like a turd.
P.S. - MMORPG has to have the crappiest message editor I have ever seen, it reminds me of DOS based MS Works.
Actually I hope other MMO companies see this and not release games in utterly unplayable states (like Funcom has done twice).
Stop encouraging companies like Funcom to release garbage and take an extra 2 years to make the game worth a damn while people pay to be dissappointed.
Congratulations to Funcom-
You have managed to polish this turd to shiny luster, next time try not to make a game that looks smells and feels like a turd.
P.S. - MMORPG has to have the crappiest message editor I have ever seen, it reminds me of DOS based MS Works.
Just don't buy freshly released games.
I have only ONCE not been disappointed and that was when I bought LotRo 2 weeks after release. Seriously any game I know sucked when it went live, even the three letter game.
Sure, you don't wanna join after 5 years, but waiting 6 months only brings advantages, the game is at 50% of the original price, people have already spread out, you don't run the risk of joining one of those vaporizing newcomer-guilds, ...
M
Sounds like you're talking about what I'd call zones then, rather than the usual meaning of instances - which as in Tortage night time would be instanced areas containing only you (and your group). However, most of AoC's world is open to everybody and the zones are large so I don't see how anyone could find them restricting to be honest.
AoC is heavily zoned, and each zone is heavily instanced. two people can be standing side by side, talking in IM's in the middle of the FoTD for example, yet not see each other because the zone is instanced. Every single part of AoC is instanced. If you haven't seen it, its because the population is so low the instancing isn't being triggered.
AoC is heavily zoned, and each zone is heavily instanced. two people can be standing side by side, talking in IM's in the middle of the FoTD for example, yet not see each other because the zone is instanced. Every single part of AoC is instanced. If you haven't seen it, its because the population is so low the instancing isn't being triggered.
you mean it opens up new instances of one overworld zone if the population gets too heavy? Come on, that's actually a safety mechanism and lots of other games do this, Everquest 2, Aion... so what?
I won't say it is an advantage, but it's nothing that makes AoC more instanced than any other modern game. M
Just don't buy freshly released games.
I have only ONCE not been disappointed and that was when I bought LotRo 2 weeks after release. Seriously any game I know sucked when it went live, even the three letter game.
Sure, you don't wanna join after 5 years, but waiting 6 months only brings advantages, the game is at 50% of the original price, people have already spread out, you don't run the risk of joining one of those vaporizing newcomer-guilds, ...
M
Absolutely. I got LOTRO and AOC 6mo. after launch and had no problems with either.
AoC is heavily zoned, and each zone is heavily instanced. two people can be standing side by side, talking in IM's in the middle of the FoTD for example, yet not see each other because the zone is instanced. Every single part of AoC is instanced. If you haven't seen it, its because the population is so low the instancing isn't being triggered.
you mean it opens up new instances of one overworld zone if the population gets too heavy? Come on, that's actually a safety mechanism and lots of other games do this, Everquest 2, Aion... so what?
I won't say it is an advantage, but it's nothing that makes AoC more instanced than any other modern game.
There is no 'so what'. Someone said there was instancing, someone else said there wasn't, I said there was.
I totally agree, AoC is indeed the Most Improved Game of 2009. Well done funcom.
Congratz to Mr. Mojo Risin Craig Morrison.
Actually I hope other MMO companies see this and not release games in utterly unplayable states (like Funcom has done twice).
Stop encouraging companies like Funcom to release garbage and take an extra 2 years to make the game worth a damn while people pay to be dissappointed.
Congratulations to Funcom-
You have managed to polish this turd to shiny luster, next time try not to make a game that looks smells and feels like a turd.
P.S. - MMORPG has to have the crappiest message editor I have ever seen, it reminds me of DOS based MS Works.
Atleast funcom can actually bring a game back from the coffin I have yet to see any developer go from "worst launched" mmo to "most improved MMO" other than Funcom
Funcom may suck at launching, but they sure as hell know how to fix their mess really well.
Yeah it's called opinion. There's way too much it when it comes to journalism and the real world industry.
If you want to do your part in helping to fight off the opinion invasion you can refrain from posting.
Fight the power, fight it, fight it real good.
Yeah but the argument was more like "AoC is all-instanced, like no other game out there" while it just features a mechanic that saves almost all modern games from a user overload and server instabilities.
The argument "I particularly don't play AoC because the instancing of the overworld zones is a gamebreaker for me" pops the moment you log into practically any other game on the market, even the 2010 Everquest.
M
Edit: Even EvE Online splits clusters if too many ships are in one area, ask the fleet-battles-are-broken-complainers ^^
First Anarchy Online, now Age of Conan, sure seems Funcom knows how to develop a MMO in long term instead of launch =)
Which is good, I admire their ability and their determination to bring success to their customers even in a worse state. A very good model for not even MMO, but all the business oriented people should take as an example. (I shall learn from them too) Hopefully next one "The Secret World" will be GOOD at launch and all the way to bring success to Funcom. You deserve a cookie from me !! :)
Now I am currently not subbing AoC, I will do so in this year!
AoC has improved in their pve content, yet they are still lacking in the pvp department atm.
Most improved game of 2009? Hardly...shouldn't even be a nominee.
We are talking about a game that has lost a lot of subs because of the changes that have been made in the past year.
I like AoC and I am currently playing it but there are other games that have "improved" more so than the winner.
The future looks bright for this game in 2010 but 2009 was just a failure as far as improvements in the game.
you mean it opens up new instances of one overworld zone if the population gets too heavy? Come on, that's actually a safety mechanism and lots of other games do this, Everquest 2, Aion... so what?
I won't say it is an advantage, but it's nothing that makes AoC more instanced than any other modern game. M
.. if the population gets too heavy? LOL, man you have no idea what you are talking about.
The "heavy" you are talking about is 48 players max. YES: 48!
There can be max 48 players in each of AoC's zones and then it instances a copy of itself. Talk about an open world, hahaha.
The only exception is the pvp sieges which can have 96 players max (48 players from each side, 48x2 = 96). A guild can't even have all of its players fighting together. Yes, talk about "heavy" that needs a "safety mechanism" ... .
Why are we playing mmos again... there's the word massive in there, right? Looking at the many normal multiplayer games (not mmos) that are more "massive" than aoc, I'm not even sure AoC can qualify as an mmo... its just an "mo" with a single M, nothing more.
I agree. I've just recently popped back into Hyboria (yes, I switch games a lot) and have to say I'm impressed. Playing a new Conq right now and other than Tortage still being Tortage everything is impressive, I even get good FPS on high DX10 settings now, which used to be impossible.
Great game and only getting better. Very well deserved congrats
Those weren't massive expansions pal they were average content patches. Secondly, AoC came a long long long way from what it was at the start of 09. Fix the sieges and have a very good expansion launch and this game could very well recover to a healthy mmo status.
That doesn't change the fact that there have been many massive improvements to the game. Funny how a 30 man dev team can make more progress in a year than games like AoC or WoW can in 3 years.
The award is for games that came out in 2008. And Darkfall is a lot more, horrificly, bad at launch then AoC was. The "skill system"...it is the same as leveling...people just want to be hardcore. The combat system is very simple and how many more times must I kill a goblin. I resubbed to DF twice and it still needs way more improvement. The irony is you talk about a 30 man dev team...well its because it is 30 that DF fails on so many levels. Don't forget the delays and how it really is, extremely, unfinished. Case in point: fanboys are a joke, you obviously love the game which does not bother me at all because I think in time it -can- be good but....the game really just sucks....right now. And don't even compare it to WoW. I don't play WoW anymore but it has 11+ million, Darkfall doesnt even have 100k. If you're going to argue...argue the right way. And the Kracken video is still really lame. it's a random encounter like other enemies but just 'glossier than most';l it's like a FMV from Final Fantasy.
As bad as Darkfall is, how hard can it be to improve it?
this. i couldnt have said it any better. why not just go back to UO. more contact and it's basically the same, just 2D. And people that play DF say that graphics dont matter so...go back to UO.
Yeah but the argument was more like "AoC is all-instanced, like no other game out there" while it just features a mechanic that saves almost all modern games from a user overload and server instabilities.
The argument "I particularly don't play AoC because the instancing of the overworld zones is a gamebreaker for me" pops the moment you log into practically any other game on the market, even the 2010 Everquest.
M
Edit: Even EvE Online splits clusters if too many ships are in one area, ask the fleet-battles-are-broken-complainers ^^
The argument doesn't pop if you don't play other mmo's that are as heavily instanced. Besides I think when AoC came out, it took zoning and instancing to new heights, encompassing the entire game world, so the comparison may not be as apples-to-oranges as you'd think.
Also, I don't know about the games you're are referring to, but combine the heavy instancing with the loading screen zones and AoC just never made me feel like I was part of anything. Too much of a disconnected incoherent feel than you should have for a land based persistant world environment.
Also, the argument that 'other games are crappy' doesn't lessen the crappiness of AoC (IF you find the heavy instancing and zoning to be crappy).
Regarding the comparison to EvE, the environment and genre make the zoning part of the experience so it adds to the experience as opposed to detracting from it. And the threshold for the triggering of instancing is apparently high-enough or specific enough that it only kicks in for specific situations. In AoC the zoning is immersion breaking and the instancing is way too much (I suspect its a result of the devs attempting to make the game compatible for xbox360, but that's conjecture on my part)
As bad as Darkfall is, how hard can it be to improve it?
this. i couldnt have said it any better. why not just go back to UO. more contact and it's basically the same, just 2D. And people that play DF say that graphics dont matter so...go back to UO.
Literally couldn't have said it better myself. However, for those DF players who accept the game for what it is and don't bash others I salute you. You are a true mmo player not like the others who constantly talk trash.
You're 58, you have posts in the past trolling AoC and you have comments that have fat kids farting. yes....you seem like the right person to turn to.
You're 58, you have posts in the past trolling AoC and you have comments that have fat kids farting. yes....you seem like the right person to turn to.
Ownage just owned you Elsabolts
Ownage just owned you Elsabolts
I believe that post is my masterpiece...I don't think I'll ever come close. ::bows::. what MMOs you play because I really want to paly with you ?
Ownage just owned you Elsabolts
I believe that post is my masterpiece...I don't think I'll ever come close. ::bows::. what MMOs you play because I really want to paly with you ?
Right now just WoW and LOTRO used to play Eve, great game if you like sandboxish games in space
I find it hard to believe that AoC won this award. The graphics in this game are outstanding, I get goosebumps every time I see new screenshots. The latest screens posted here on this site are breathtaking, but every time I go back and try the trial, it is still the same old quest grind routine. If I ever step foot into Tortage again I swear I will pull out what little hair I have left. I know some people enjoy running tasks for every NPC in a city, but I would much rather advance my character by defeating challenging mobs and the PvP system is still quite broken for a game that was advertised as having huge, epic battles.
I believe that post is my masterpiece...I don't think I'll ever come close. ::bows::. what MMOs you play because I really want to paly with you ?
Right now just WoW and LOTRO used to play Eve, great game if you like sandboxish games in space
i started playing Eve three weeks ago (i suscribe) and I just re-subbed, today actually, to LOTRO on Brandywine. I think I might be done with WoW now.
You play Eve and Second Life (not an MMO) so I can understand why you feel that way but Eve has NPCs too, it is more sandbox, of course, but I have to disagree with your opinion, with the exception of Second Life only because it is a game that people wish would replace real life, not hating but that's the best way I can explain it.
Congratulations Funcom!
Ownage just owned you Elsabolts
I believe that post is my masterpiece...I don't think I'll ever come close. ::bows::. what MMOs you play because I really want to paly with you ?
While I agree that that post is probably the highpoint of your creative life, it fails on ownage since it doesn't actually negate what Elsabolts said.
I'm sure AoC PvE is heads and shoulders above the quality of PvE you can find in EVE. People run macros 23/7 farming NPCs for bounties which says alot about the quality. Fortunately, EVE has a wonderful PvP system that normally supports 500vs500 battles (they broke it with the latest expansion) and supports many other varied playstyles.
The type PvE I would like to see in AoC is more along the lines of old EQ and maybe Vanilla WoW. I've pretty much strayed away from PvE in current games out of boredom. I like challenging content, not 5 man content that can easily be completed with 4 players. I'd like to enter a dungeon with a full group not knowing we will clear it out in 20 minutes and be running off to the next one.
I'm really glad to see this game has turned a new leaf. I honestly thought it was doomed from what I've been reading since release. I havn't gotten around to trying it out as I'm not a big fan of instances, but I do like the idea of an mmo with great graphics. The combat and IP interest me as well. Maybe I'll have to give AOC a spin on my new PC sometime.
Congrats Funcom!
Go figure. I was about to give the same response for AoC.
Why even talk about Darkfall in this thread anyways? Weird.
I played AoC for about 3-4 weeks last January.
I resubbed just a few weeks ago and I've really been having a blast. I'm loving my Necro. Right now he is sitting at the 20-25 range because a few folks in my guild have been setting up 20-25 minis that have been absolutely fantastic. I'm having too much fun at this point to really continue on. White Sands is always fun for some duels or fighting off the Tiger/Panther Pict gankers.
I really love Cimmeria. It's a truly amazing server.
In regards to instancing...yah they have it, but it's not too hard to switch between the instances. It's actually kind of helpful when you are trying to avoid gankers.
In regards to the expansion...if you left AoC because you felt the world was disconnected then you might want to come back when the expansion is release. Khitai has loading screens between the zones, but there is not npc that you have to talk to to go to the other zones. Just walk into the zone. You'll encounter a loading screen and you'll be in the next zone.
The Xfire presentation shows off a lot of cool feature coming with the expansion.
I believe that post is my masterpiece...I don't think I'll ever come close. ::bows::. what MMOs you play because I really want to paly with you ?
While I agree that that post is probably the highpoint of your creative life, it fails on ownage since it doesn't actually negate what Elsabolts said.
so you replaced 'post' with 'life'. very clever, very clever indeed. no, what he did say did make sense. thank you for being a douche (yes i will be flagged) but you just said its the highpoint of my creative life. yeah...i said that, i said post you moron. and his post did make sense. it's like saying the same for D&D, for the initial 'turd' they released it should be the same as Funcom. nice to use negate, but that type of word probably does not belong in your vocabulary because you are a troll. respond back. it won't help. i won't respond because...you're a douche, again. he's 58 and posts as a troll about AoC (that NEGATES what he was saying, fyi) and he posts fat kids who farts. but yes...this was my highpoint. dumbass. you're 41 and post in forums to people half your age. might as well talk about Lady GaGa. it's more sad being 41 talking in an MMO forum than 29. I think your response was your highpoint.
So you can dish it out, but you can't take it. Not surprised. That you think Elsabolts is a troll is relevant, but it doesn't negate what he said out of hand.
I was lucky enough to have been brought in to the General Beta several months prior to this game's release. Funny enough I was awarded the beta account by being one of the winners of the 'AoC Beta Prayer' contest with my article on the odds of getting a beta invite (Read it HERE). I guess someone at Funcom has a sense of humor and enjoys irony. But this gave me an opportunity to get the inside of what AoC really has to offer the MMO player.
AoC has great gameplay. First I applaud the fact Funcom went the extra mile and placed collision detection for all players and Mobs. About time, no running through this way and that. There is no /face or /Stick that I could find. Combat is directional, you have to be facing your opponent. There is autoface in PVE,if your fighting more than 1 mob, as soon as you kill one you will automatically turn to the next. In PvP however you will be in trouble if your opponent is more nimble at controlling his characters movements than you.
It is almost as if games that start as a total mess have a real advantage, because there is so much room for improvement and not in a good way. Its hard to tell if it really made the game worthwhile as a result or that some positive improvement is a huge milestone compared to how bad things previously were. I keep thinking that it took funcom almost a year to get item stats to actually work and it makes this award hard to take without a grain of salt.
I'm not familiar with all the changes, so this is just sort of an off the cuff remark. However the changes must have been really big, because just by the looks of it DDO went through some really massive changes. DDO was somewhat in the same situation as conan, but the changes there look to have had a real positive effect on the game.
I agree. This game is much improved and deserves recognition.
The combat system is a little too hardcore for me (I don't seem to have enough fingers for combos and managing my shields at the same time). Other than the personal shields, I love the game in its current state. And I'm a little tired of having to go through Tortage each time I start a new character, but that's only a temporary setback. After Tortage, Cimmeria is loads of fun (the best of the three if you ask me :)
I prefer Stygia but that's just me. Cimmeria is too long (actual distance) takes forever to get back and forth once you get out a ways.
I don't want to call you stupid or anything but the reward is to games that already was launched and got improved in 2009, not games that launched during the year.
As for "massive" expansions, that depends on what you considers massive. They launched the game and patched in stuff that they didn't had the time to include at launch as soon as they could, fine enough. Also DFO should really get a an improved UI to be considered for such an nomination.
AoC and DDO have improved a lot this year and deserves their nominations, you should hope DFO gets it next year instead when it actually enters the competition.
I have nothing against DFO whatsoever, great that not all MMOs are made after the same mold but this year they did not deserve this price.
Lets hope the expansion have a new starting area. One starting area gets boring after a few times, no matter on how well made it is.
I like how Cimmeria looks but Connals valley is too linear to me.
Lets hope the expansion have a new starting area. One starting area gets boring after a few times, no matter on how well made it is.
I like how Cimmeria looks but Connals valley is too linear to me.
Sadly, no. The new race will still go through Tortage (with some twists, they say) and then off to their homeland, just like the rest of us demon-slayers.
Sadly, no. The new race will still go through Tortage (with some twists, they say) and then off to their homeland, just like the rest of us demon-slayers.
Well, on the plus side, use /claim and get a huge XP bonus. It's a veteran reward, not sure if newer players get it. But with the XP bonus, I can get through Tortage in a couple hours. It's nice.
Congrats to funcom an the aoc staf.i did the year sub deal an enjoy aoc when i can play.the upcomeing updates look good as does the expansion.
They already sold a boatload of copies, they just need cancelled players to come back, which I do see fairly often in chat, players coming back to try again.
The prize is most improved game, zorn, what exactly are you again for? Is it so galling to you that another game can have a bit of a spotlight, and a deserved one, other than the one you play? Give it a rest man.
now a days player are so focused on look we often forget one thing playability.often its so riddled with issue its just better to move to another game.i tried it at start and yep it had issue
is aion better ,mm!not really no!good if aoc finally made stuff good .but since the gamer population is a lot lower then at lunch
often the game repair itself (trough attrition)less population mean less pressure on server.
i dont believe we can ever have graphic console have dfor one simple reason ,the game has to go from say la to africa .so
console solo will always have the upper hand even when microsoft donnybrook and dx11 make it into mmo
mmo community will have outgrown those techno to make them crawl just like todays tech make our setting crawl
Seems like a great time to try AoC again.
I remember playing for a week or something at the beginning and then thinking it would go down within a year.
I think Funcom made the mistake of pushing the envelope on graphics too much more than anything. Most gamers have too much pride and won't admit it.
I bought the game at launch and joined an old school guild that had been together for 10 years. Of the 20 members that started at launch only 3 ended up playing regularly. They would all complain about what failure the game was and how it was broken. However when you talked to them, you realized their 5 year old computers were what really failed. I had just bought a top of the line computer specifically for that game, as did the others that continued to play. We had none of the problems the others reported.
While many people consider AoC a failure, financially it was a success. They made a profit and continue to make money off of it.
Wow, you do realise that the games quality at release has NOTHING to do with it being most improved right? actually if anything it helps it.
Congrats to Funcom!
This game was absolutely terrible in Launch.... all my hopes of the new game being as great as all the hype, were dashed, and this inevitably led me to canceling my account after the 2nd week of play, and shelving my copy of AoC:CE with a huge *Sigh* and a heavy heart.
After recently coming back to playing MMO's (one of many of my true passions), I decided to give Aion a good go, and alas, I finally, and conclusively found out that I abhor asian grindfest-botfest-goldspamfest games. The pvp was the same as pretty much every MMO, unbalanced and, concerning big sieges, impossible to play. Needless to say, I didnt even shelf my copy of Aion, I threw that sorry excuse for a true mmo out asap (Also a CE)
So then I found myself looking for SOMETHING to play, as if I needed that next hit of crack to calm the cravings of my newly reaquired crack addiction to MMOs.....
So I downloaded, DDO... Free to play and all? Being as though I had originally bought the game when it launched, I decided to give it a shot... I got a character to level 3.. and noticed hat I was not entertained... you talk about instanced world :P after a couple weeks of trying different character, I decided that DDO will forever be what it is... a failed MMO, with a really REALLY poor community.
Next I decided to beta test Allods Online... if there is ONE type of MMO that beats the "Asianesque Grindfest", its the "Russianesque Grindfest".... A good concept, but im sorry, getting 22 xp for killing a mob the same level as me, and I have to get 8000xp to levell??? at level 7?!?!?!?!? I may be crack addicted to MMO's, but I am not THAT crack addicted to MMo's lol
My buddy then convinced me to run the trial of AoC... and boy was I reluctant.... I wanted to play ANYTHING else rather than Conan... even picked up Dragon Age Origins and tried to occupy my play time with that game (only lasted so long... I am not one for single player games)... so after a few weeks (and losing a bet to DL and play the trial in a best out of 3 1v1 beerpong game against my friend at one of our BP parties) I was forced to download AoC...
...
..........
...............
To my suprise, the game had magically been fixed and the game actually ran smooth!! IN DX10 no less! But truthfully, the real shock of how much the game progressed was after I left Tortage and practically ran my own "Beta test" of the game to see how many of the bugs were fixed, checking out the various dungeons/.instances the game had to offer, etc.
This game, out right and truthful, deserved most improved game of 2009, and with the upcoming expansion, the game will only get THAT much better. I believe FC is on the right track with AoC, and I decided to purchase a 6mo sub, as a testament to the changes they have made, that have made the game so much better!
As far as PvE: The game is solid, the leveling progression is at a perfect pace, and the storys that are provided throughour various territories are immersive. People who complain about an instanced world... probably have only played WoW, which wasn't instanced when it came to its world... however the graphics in WoW, and the graphics in AoC are like night and day .. and to not have instances in a graphically superior game like AoC, would make the game way too laggy.. Look at Aion, the graphics arent EVEN as good as AoC, but its instanced as hell... So please... if you dont like instances, then maybe you should try one of the MMO's that are much less graphically intense :)
As far as PvP: Every MMO has had issues balancing casters and melee... none moreso than AoC.. however one must remember, that PvP in AoC takes the most skill to pull of than ANY MMO out... due to the combo system, you actually have to spend time to learn what is effective and how to survive a fight... much like an FPS, you dont become "Thresh" or "Reptile" over night... you will need to put some serious time and effort into learning how PvP with your specific class is done.... That said, the are still some minor balance issues with PvP, but the progress that has been made so far has been astounding...
Community: is the only place where I see the game lacks.... there are quite a bit of us that are mature, respectful and honorable players... but this game (especially RP-PVP server Cimmeria) attracts what I would call "Closet Criminals"... This is defined as people that act out in the game, what they would do would there be anarchy on earth.. the kill ruthlessly, and with cold blood (IE Gank/Griefers), and you do have a few people who are quite childish... but once again, I havent seen one MMO in which these people havent been a part of community (especially post WoW).
All in all, give the game a shot if your thinking about it... play past tortage... if you roll solo, make sure you learn your character and pvping in Tortage before you leave the island, as you will have to defend yourself. If you decide to join a guild, make sure you join a guild that has your best interests at heart and will help ward off the criminals that, like any civilization in an anarchic state, will be stalking you within the darks and depths of Hyboria....
Your heart will pump with adrenline, your mind will buzz with lore, and your eyes will see a world unique and going through growth.
-Maitrader
I don't think LOTRO even belongs in this category...
Yes, that game is improved by leaps and bounds with each new edition, patch, Book and additions big and small, but it was already awesome to begin with...
So, Conan is the shining example of fixing a broken MMO.
LOTRO just keeps on piling the amazing improvements on a rock-solid, airtight and bulletproof base.
Not the same.
Still, congrats to AoC.
I'll definitely return to my guardian one of these days.
LOL this game only good thing was the marketing to make you buy it
what a crap and boring game
I am not sure why DDO was in the list, from the article only because it changed it's revenue model? I hope that was not the only reason, otherwise it is a poor choice.
I am glad to see AoC is coming along so well, good to see.
Congrats to Funcom and to Craig Morrison. Nice to see all the positive comments in this thread and only very few "haters..." G
I saw this coming when AoC didn't made it to the list of "Top Ten Games of 2012" in your other article.
Guess money talked again...
"Hey, we may have upset Funcom with our 2012 list -let's quickly invent some sort of award to give to AoC on the mainpage to be friends with them again."
I guess it is easy to improve, if you start so low.
Replacing Gaute "Hypemachine" Godager with someone else is not brainer. Gaute did lose all credibility after lying so many times about non-existing features. Fixing game mechanism (part of crafting and itemization) was absolutely necessary. Rebalancing some classes and adding new zone - really is not anything new in MMOs, every sandbox game is doing that to survive.
They have just fixed their game - not really improved it.
In my opinion DDO deserves this title even more. But well, it's a matter of opinion.
I very much agree with this nomination - Age of Conan is a great game for both casual and hardcore players. Be aware the there's an unlimited trial (play as much as you want through Tortage, no 7 day restriction, that's a frigging lot of free MMO fun) available for a limited time on http://www.ageofconan.com/trial/.
Pyramid of the ancients in the Khemi desert (level 28ish) is the most fun I've ever had in a single-player dungeon, ever. Period.
And for people griping about instancing: Go into the level 20+ playfields (any of them). They're huge and the instancing is quickly forgotten (Conall's Valley is a great example).
It seems to me that there's a clear pattern emerging here.
The game being described by those who either never liked the game or else haven't played it recently is not remotely the same game as that being described by those who have either played the game continuously since launch or else liked it's potential but left because of the launch problems but have recently returned.
In short, the differences of opinion being expressed illustrate precisely why Funcom have won this award - it's because the game has been improved substantially since launch, a point lost on those who either never liked the game and/or haven't played it recently!
Sounds like you're talking about what I'd call zones then, rather than the usual meaning of instances - which as in Tortage night time would be instanced areas containing only you (and your group). However, most of AoC's world is open to everybody and the zones are large so I don't see how anyone could find them restricting to be honest.
There migh be to few of you around now to understand what he is talking about shadewalker. Every zone in Aoc is an instance. If to many people enter it at once multipel version will spawn. So you could have 29-50 versions of tortage for example with about 20-49 players in each or less. This was a mayor issue when there where many people playing Aoc, in pvp people just escaped to another instance...
I was a beta tester for 6 months before release, I pointed out all the flaws to Failcom, they dident listen and now their game is dying. If you go to the offical forums there isent mush love for the game... people are still complaining, and quiting. The servers are ghost town. Lets hope the secreat world goes down fast so Failcom can file for bankruptcy. I have no love for people who wont listen and are stuck up and think they are all that.
And to Failcom spyes who lurk on these forums ask your dam devs why they dident listen to their Beta testers... We basicly told them about everything that was wrong with the game pre launch and They still launched it...
hope nobody buys into this crap, Age of conan could have been the next gen game but a fataly flawed engine and bad designer decisions helped to make it go down like a paper in the toilet. Flushed away with all the other crap games of 2008, like WAR for example.
Ps: I dont need to give Failcome anymore money to know that zones are still instanced, pvp is still unblanced, casters are way overpowerd, some even call the game the age of casters. Speed tree look like crap. Zones are small and caustrphobic. Overall Age of conan is a small, heavy instanced and bugy experince and no this hasent changed in 2009 just go read their forums...
Just weighing in on the "award". Played at launch and played agian last month. Melee vs Caster Imbalance and large scale...well PvP in general is still terrible. Even with everything instanced to keep numbers small. Too bad, I originally was drawn in by the Conan theme and adult theme as different from the WoW/HelloKitty land.
DDO should have won this.
Ironically the update didnt only improve the game, it made it from what it should have been, in my view a F2P since the quality of it was so very bad, to something which now is on par with P2P games, the irony is in the fact that it is actually a F2P now. Its literally gone from something you'd scrape off from the bottom of your shoe to something you'd put on a mantle peice.
LOTRO would be my second, this game just gets better and better, again, another astonishing improvment its original incarnation. However the Monster play (still my most favorite mmo thing ever) remains pretty much the same.
AoC may have made vast improvments, but its still essentially the same game. fixing bugs and adding new areas and balancing is all very well, but its still a very linear and boring mmo... its just not 'massive'
Cant comment on Wow since I've never played it.
And DDO is "Massive"? Look, to each their own, but c'mon, DDO is anything but massive.
This is not correct , It has always been 100 players in each zone ubtil another is created, but you will always and with ease be able to meet fellow players ...
Anyone that has trouble with this system is just plain wrong because there is absolutly NO issues with this, part from the player that keeps going on and on about it as if it where an issue..
Most if not all modern games today uses this sytem..
If as a developer u choose NOT to use this system then you will get an undetailed world containing houses that looks like rooms with four walls containing NOTHING in detail, and you have to strip your world from all life and immersiveness, just to get a some sort of flow in gameplay..It's a chice you have to make as a game developer
Ehh they still have little kids running around giving you issues in pvp if you try to lvl up in an 80 zone.
i was a release player and had fun then got bored at endgame. then came back recently and got bored again because its just a glorified WoW. it was boring.
Graphics in this game are amazing and no one can argue BUT i don’t agree with "most Improved Game" title ..
Ask your self this what has changed? the PvP still broken and Raiding well it needs a lot more work. I fear this article was made for wrong reasons.
Is it time for us to go back to AoC and give it a 2nd chance? i don’t believe the hype with AoC anymore, after all they fooled us once,
Can't really argue that AoC got better this year but I would have liked to see EQ2 on the short list. Lots of engine improvements, content and general quality of life changes went live this year.
And we don't hear this often if ever but SOE support is just fantastic where Funcom support is punishing to their player base.
And DDO is "Massive"? Look, to each their own, but c'mon, DDO is anything but massive.
the debate isnt about actual size.. its about size improvment!..
But then, with AoC I dont really mean size I more mean scope.. as in scope of activities. Aoc is just killing stuff, there just isnt much else to do as you'd expect in a typical MMO. DDO's scope is indeed massive in comparison, both in terms of character building and activities. Even combat in DDO is more than just tank n spank, if you've played it you'd know.
While I dont play much of either game, the extend to which DDO has improved over AoC is indeed epic.
I agree, MMORPG seem to have a very narrow focus on only games with a certain amount of users.
If they included EQ2 then they should also include Vanguard who's improvments are mind boggling. let down only by its lack of users and a complete lack of SOE support.
I really like AOC compared to the other MMO's that have released in the past 5 years. I like DDO as well, both games have come along well over the last year. I guess you could say each has become what they had the potential to from the start. Studios really could learn from this, especially those like SOE and NCSOFT. With a little elbow grease any game can become enjoyable. It only takes the ambition to see the changes through.
With 1.6 the next patch in the oven, AOC really is going to be what I like to see in an RPG, there's a lot of depth to this patch in terms of RPG features. The new Arena system they're adding (if used) could be something really fun to be apart of. Keep up the good work FC and Turbine.
I agree, MMORPG seem to have a very narrow focus on only games with a certain amount of users.
If they included EQ2 then they should also include Vanguard who's improvments are mind boggling. let down only by its lack of users and a complete lack of SOE support.
That's the problem in a nutshell. FC and turbine have ambition and want to see their games succeed. SOE on the other had only does the bare minimum to keep a product afloat. One only has to look into the amount of time they put into advertising to see they really don't have faith they can bring in new customers.
Even their flagship title EQ2 gets very little love from the company, only the skeleton crew they have assigned seems to care at all about what the product is they are offering. With SOE their mind is always on big numbers, it's no where it should be. Especially in regard to their customers they currently have.
Most improved maybe, but is it a good game now?
Somehow I doubt it, because when I played the game the core gameplay was poor as it was overinstanced, small zones and poor balance between melee (assassin not included) and ranged combat and in particular the Necro made quick work of most classes. Melees where particulary in a bad spot since they needed to run around and do comboes at the same time, since PvP is very mobile, and as such sucked against the better ranged characters.
What this award really illustrates the most for me is how greatly Funcom shafted the mmo community in the first place, yes this game at launch was so bad that these changes that actually are quite common in mmo's made it the most improved game of the year. My biggest problem again now is how slow these changes are to take effect but it's still good to see any mmo moving in a positive direction congrats not to Funcom who shouldn't have dropped the ball in the first place but to the community who stuck with the game and are probably playing a better more polished product because of it.
Not saying you're wrong at all. However I feel it illustrates that Godager was a horrible lead to have on the project. To explain this stance I really only have to point out his handling of the community post launch. As well as his disregard to what his PR guy was doing to their public image.
To me it seems he knew he wasn't the right guy for the job, however he wanted his name on (what he saw as) that next big thing. Overconfidence and poor management skills destroyed any possiblity of this game becoming that. CM should have been put in charge of this product from the onset, Godager saw the possiblity of glitz and glamour and decided he should be the number one man, the end result is history as they say.
To me an improved game is a game that once I didnt like to play and now its a game I DO like to play.
Whatever, AoC is still not a game I like to play, it may have 'improved' but not to the extent that its now a decent MMO.
Both LOTRO and DDO are games I hated, and now I love... I still Hate AoC, even if MMORPG.com claims its the most improved.
Err some of the same things you gripe about aoc you praise in champions forums as not a big deal.Zone population before a spawn an such.Realy an you call any one who defends the game from acid troll marketers as funcom spies?You complain of bugs in aoc an play champions?Super jump can still kill you?Aoc isnt bug free by far but um are you sure you dont have your games mixed up their?
Trolls get perdictable realy yall wait if thiers a postive thread an till the page count grows then hammer in their at the last few pages .As most people would read but the 1st few pages an last .Still not seen some of the famous mmorpg aoc forum trolls .Could be the award counters the bile they have been spweing?
I agree with those that ddo doenst belong on this list.buying +4 long swords in a item shop isnt improvment its a change of payment model.It went free to play.An id dare say wow may not either. A expansion an takeing warhammers ideas i guess could be improvment./shrug people forget wow had a ruff launch to an came back an kept growing.Tho some funny numbers helped them along for a bit.
Dont forget to they failed to get 1.06 out on time
Im sorry but this award just makes no sense to me. I Was in beta and played since release. After 80 i quit and resubed at least 4 times to see is it any better and its still empty heavy instanced MMO not worth playing. Game was failure from day 1,
Failcom betrayed the trust of their faithful playerbase and sold half aszed product without any remorse. It still is half aszed game and i just dont understand what do all this people talk about on this website (i'm just not sure do we play same game)...
This has nothing to do with whether you like the game or not. It's supposed to be an unbiased view of the most improved MMO's, not whether or not Sadeyx likes the game.
First, DDO is not really a MMO. Same would be said about Guild Wars. Same game, different skin. AoC pushed the boundaries due to instanced zones which I don't believe needs to be instanced. But it is what it is. I actually do agree with the winner. Second, I don't think LotR had much to improve on. It was one of the best launches in MMO history. All they did was fill in the content that wasn't there at launch(end game).
Last. This brings us to WoW. Now, it's easy for someone to give them a high rating. After all, they are pretty much the pioneers of the industry as we see it today. However. Does anyone really agree that WoW has added anything worth mentioning in the past year.? They've added more addons that were created by players already or were in already in other games *cough warhammer*. They've added new dungeons.. oh wow. New monsters and bosses.. wow.. and better gear. OMG phat lootz! Does that really mean it's improved? No. Hell no. It means they just regurgitated the same boring crap and put wrapping paper on it. It's kind of like re-gifting.
I'll admit this, they know what they are doing when it comes to making money. But, to say they've been improving the game is about as bias as you can get. It's like a DF fanboi that's telling you their game is polished. We'd all laugh hysterically. And you know it.
I just do not see it. The amount of fail in this game is still staggering. Sieges still do not work as intended. Some of the changes like the PK penalty system are being reworked and a lot of the additions where buggy as hell and needed to be reworked - OMG how many times do they need to rewrite how class mechanics? I am sorry, I just think AoC is not deserving of this award. I would rather it had gone to DDO or World of Warcraft. WoW had way more additons and more things added that worked right from the day they were added and needed no rework. Look at all the changes WoW went through this last year. We had new raids added. Lots of new quest. The tournament stuff. All kinds of new mounts and achievements and questing helper and weapons and armor and OMG the list is huge and we're talking almost 5 gig of new stuff added to WoW this past year. That makes anything they did in AoC look like childs play. DDO did some big things as well and by them going free to play it actually boosted it and gave people a chance to get in there and experience that game like never before.
DDO and WoW were way more deserving than AoC - sorry.
This has nothing to do with whether you like the game or not. It's supposed to be an unbiased view of the most improved MMO's, not whether or not Sadeyx likes the game.
First, DDO is not really a MMO. Same would be said about Guild Wars. Same game, different skin. AoC pushed the boundaries due to instanced zones which I don't believe needs to be instanced. But it is what it is. I actually do agree with the winner. Second, I don't think LotR had much to improve on. It was one of the best launches in MMO history. All they did was fill in the content that wasn't there at launch(end game).
Last. This brings us to WoW. Now, it's easy for someone to give them a high rating. After all, they are pretty much the pioneers of the industry as we see it today. However. Does anyone really agree that WoW has added anything worth mentioning in the past year.? They've added more addons that were created by players already or were in already in other games *cough warhammer*. They've added new dungeons.. oh wow. New monsters and bosses.. wow.. and better gear. OMG phat lootz! Does that really mean it's improved? No. Hell no. It means they just regurgitated the same boring crap and put wrapping paper on it. It's kind of like re-gifting.
I'll admit this, they know what they are doing when it comes to making money. But, to say they've been improving the game is about as bias as you can get. It's like a DF fanboi that's telling you their game is polished. We'd all laugh hysterically. And you know it.
I'm not really sure that wow added very much in 2009, but in the last 12 months it has added a lot. Phasing technology, cross server dungeons, dual talent system, mounted jousting, vehicle combat, destructable walls, 10/25 raid zones, new graphic shaders, massive changes to class/raid/group mechanics, etc. All very impressive features for a game to add, but that was mostly done in 2008. 2009 has been more traditional updates.
DDO at least made changes that were big enough that it caused enough people to take another look at the game and grow the paying player base a decent size. That makes it a clear winner to me.
I am very skeptical of an award for a company to patches up a very broken game and doesn't achieve results with it.
Is MMORPG.COM gonna be pointing out that about 1 million ppl were cheated out of a real game - Just so that they can call it "most improved" almost two years later ?
AA said it... AOC is not the same game... That actually means that the company that released it used money of ppl that were CHEATED to FIX a broken game.
AOC is still a horendous reminder of how not to do things. And its disturbing that a gaming site like MMORPG.COM is giving out rewards to a company that cheated 1 MILLION ppl out of a real game when it was released.
Shame on you MMORPG.COM. Have you calculated how much money those 1 million ppl payed Funcom ? Compare that to what Runes of Magic did with their game this year and see how stupid you look as a site for true GAMERS...
So... HOW much advertising money did MMORPG.COM get for this? Is that money also part of the millions that Funcom cheated out of their custimors in the first months ?
Ironically the top 3 most improved games of 2009 are the 3 games I see advertising on this site the most.
Advertisement FTW lol
I have played AoC yet - but I still think AO is easily of the best MMOs I've ever played and it also had a poor launch.
It seems Funcom really know how to fix a game and make it shine, but why aren't they dealing with these problems in beta?
Fair decision both on AoC and DDO runnerup
Shouldnt this be award for somthing like best game out of beta after being relseased?
I'm not really sure that wow added very much in 2009, but in the last 12 months it has added a lot. Phasing technology, cross server dungeons, dual talent system, mounted jousting, vehicle combat, destructable walls, 10/25 raid zones, new graphic shaders, massive changes to class/raid/group mechanics, etc. All very impressive features for a game to add, but that was mostly done in 2008. 2009 has been more traditional updates.
DDO at least made changes that were big enough that it caused enough people to take another look at the game and grow the paying player base a decent size. That makes it a clear winner to me.
I am very skeptical of an award for a company to patches up a very broken game and doesn't achieve results with it.
I would agree if it weren't for the fact it became free to play. However it's hard to discern whether it was the changes made to the game or the fact it became free to play that drew in so many new customers, I'd bet on the latter.
I disagree that AOC has not seen results from the work done to it. Maybe not as much as you see with the hordes that came to DDO. Regardless most posts I have seen from newer players have been positive in regard to AOC. The negative is still coming from the normal posters who have always posted negatively about the game. In order for this to be the case the game would have had to significantly improve which IMO it has to an extent. That's not to say more doesn't need to be done. I do belive they have made a decent amount of headway toward offering a worthy product.
I would agree if it weren't for the fact it became free to play. However it's hard to discern whether it was the changes made to the game or the fact it became free to play that drew in so many new customers, I'd bet on the latter.
I disagree that AOC has not seen results from the work done to it. Maybe not as much as you see with the hordes that came to DDO. Regardless most posts I have seen from newer players have been positive in regard to AOC. The negative is still coming from the normal posters who have always posted negatively about the game. In order for this to be the case the game would have had to significantly improve which IMO it has to an extent. That's not to say more doesn't need to be done. I do belive they have made a decent amount of headway toward offering a worthy product.
That is a great point and I do suspect the free to play had a large effect, but turbine claims 40% more subscribers as a result. Though 40% of a subscription based game that mostly failed and had to turn free to play doesn't really impress much. For all we know that could mean going from 10k to 14k, which isn't much. Essentially DDO is a free to play game that took something like 7 years or more to create with the budget of a premium subscription game.
On second thought I don't think turbine/ddo should win this award since they lied to the players about not hiring an RMT manager to revamp any of their current games.
Grats funcom. They didn't learn their lesson about launching games as they claimed they did, but maybe they fix up conan nice and proper like they did anarchy online.
err ... no he can't be talking about Darkfall, it doesn't have any instances whatsoever
this game has more potential than any game on the market, however with the community and the laughable launch, i went back to this game a month ago and i still couldnt get in a group or even a guild that would help someone out to get to a level that would be able to assist with raids. im not sure whats going on with mmmorpg.com
Mostly people tell that this price is right. For me AoC has got is final release now, first was only a payable beta. IMHO there's ot mostòyt impreved game the last year: LOTRO now is more boring, WAR is a disappointing game, WoW is always WoW, GW too, EVE is more hard to play, and so on.
Looks like someone doesn't agree with MMORPG. www.onlinemassivelymultiplayer.com/rants/mmorpg-com-names-aoc-most-improved-of-2009-cause-theyre-a-sponsor/
If this has already been posted then forgive me. I didn't feel like going through all 13 pages of replies.
I definitely agree with this award. Age of Conan has improved by leaps and bounds. It is a great mmorpg and I have recently purchased a mutliple month subscription to it, instead of just paying month to month(not usually something I do). Congratulations to Funcom and Craig Morrison on a good job and for all the hard work they put into AoC.
Joined AoC at launch and rage quit 3 months later, stunned at how a game in such poor condition could have been released, I decided to give it another go a few months later to discover a game that actually worked and had the missing content for level gaps filled! I stayed for another 6 months loving every minute of it, I left when content ran out and the hamster wheel of raiding wore me out.
AoC always has had incredible potential, I'm glad they are moving further towards realizing it, in it's current state the only thing I can truly moan about is it's goddamn awful crafting system. The future looks a lot brighter for AoC, the up coming 1.6 patch does a hell of a lot for guilds and RP as well as adding the much awaited T3 content. They've listened to what the community asked for, maybe for some it's sadly too late but nonetheless things like a token system for raid gear are finally on their way.
Regardless of the advertising revenue this game honestly deserved this award, yes it sucked at launch but maybe the haters could do what I did and take another look with an open mind, it's come a long way.
Yes that site has a recorded history of been overly negative about the game. They have a penchant for saying old news as recent, admittance they haven't even played the game. It all came out on N4G boards. They try and create the most disaster stricken headline to get hits without knowing anything about the game.
If your argument is simply that Funcom advertises here then that is a pretty weak argument in my book. I see that as admittance that the award is justified because the opposing party can not even dispute it with facts. There is no denying the amount of updates and fixes that happened last year. There was a ton. Whether someone likes that or not is ok, everyone is different, but the award is for most improved and not whether you like it or not.
Same here. Other then a nice world and fun combat AoC is an average MMO at best. Happy to see some folks are enjoying it though.
well deserved. Congrats Funcom!
Not saying you're wrong at all. However I feel it illustrates that Godager was a horrible lead to have on the project. To explain this stance I really only have to point out his handling of the community post launch. As well as his disregard to what his PR guy was doing to their public image.
To me it seems he knew he wasn't the right guy for the job, however he wanted his name on (what he saw as) that next big thing. Overconfidence and poor management skills destroyed any possiblity of this game becoming that. CM should have been put in charge of this product from the onset, Godager saw the possiblity of glitz and glamour and decided he should be the number one man, the end result is history as they say.
In other words, Godager repeated his performance as Game Director of Anarchy Online. So it's still FC's fault as a whole, since they already knew what he would do. But then again, I guess it's hard to tell a Funcom founder "No". Oh, wait. They had no trouble forcing him to "resign" after he fucked AoC.
Funcom gets the blame, not Godager. Godager was, and is, an idiot. Anyone who says different is either related to him or an idiot themselves. Funcom knew this. Funcom still put him in charge.
The improvements in AoC have come a long way. While there are many things I would like Funcom to improve (mostly pvp related), the game has come a long, long way.
Note: I have also been playing DDO recently as well. I was pleasantly surprised at how much the improvements there have helped. DDO deserved its nimination as well.
It may sound cruel but what they changed with all these patches minor and major? I bought the game at release . After 12 days and 33 lvl as barbarian i quitted. I found the lvling procedure quite boring Some say that there was a lack of quests and with the patches they addedalot of queses. Who says though that even the quests arent boring enough to lvl 80 times. Ofc the lvling proceedure would be less boring if the combat was less tiring.Every time i logged in aoc i couldnt play more than 1 hour,cause lvling in aoc was a tiring proceedure.It was same boring proceedure like lvling an alt in wow.Normally it shouldnt cause the combat is more complex and u have to be in your toes even when u fight a bear in your lvl but it wasnt fun wierdely enough. Keep in mind im fan of games with manual combat systems,die by the sword,severance,morrorwind,oblivion etc
2 months before now i renew my sub to check aoc progress and improvements.Despice all those new patches minor and major it was the same game. I managed to play 6 days this time got 35 lvl and quited from boredom. Still i had to do 1 million quests to go lvl 80 and still i had to kill 8 gazillion of monsters with the same tiring combat.A player skill based combat system doesnt necessarily requires u to play piano on keyboard in order to works and be good.Yet playing piano on keyboard in order to perform combos after 1 hour is extremely tiring.
The blocking system which sucks they didnt changed/improved it after all those patches .Oblivion manual block/parry system works far better.Hell even mount and blade has better blocking system. So what did they added? More content? More endgame dungeons? For who?Instead of just correcting some bugs and adding endgame dungeoins (which they should) they should also improve/correct the combat system.In a game like aoc the combat MUST BE great.Corrected the bugs? I never encountered any bug at release anwy .Bugs wasnt the problem. Its pity a game like aoc,with such great graficks,the theme,connan's world, wont flourish , and have loads of ppl in this game,and instead loose community and subs.Its really a pity.
It may sounds like grinning but its what i saw after all these patchesAnd all rl friends that we talked about aoc's progress they all agree on that .And i dont think that this is a coincidence..Its greatest problem was the combat system that isnt working as it should .And they didnt improved anything on that.
And something else all this new content they may added maybe be good for the existing player base and fans of ao but a game is going well when the servers are full on population ,so you find easy and fast other ppl for quests,dungeons raids,pve and pvp.If your moves as a dev company targets only the existing player base of aoc and not to further expand the player base by correcting the obvious u ll always have a game with low and mid population and eventually it will go free and vanish as the subs going down and down over time.
I consider this to be a constructive critism and not trolling and staff as it aoc improves id happily give it a 3rd chance.And so would many many others im sure.
The only thing funcom did right was the dam combat, you cant complain about that lol... second someone said that I was getting champions online and this game mixed up. HELLO! champions online is a mostly bug free PVE game, that is just what its said it would be "a super hero game"... No fals marketing or stuck up Norwedgien devs who have their head so far up their ase they dont understand how mush they failed.
AOC could have been great it could even have been the best MMORPG ever made but they screwed it up! They might have worked hard to fix things but what they should have done was look at EVE online and made a skillbased game, with crafting and done away with boring item raid/grinds... Made it so the border kingdoms was a place to fight for not instanced bullshit...
AOC should have been the fantasy version Of EVE ( eve by the way is the best game in the world, but only for hardcore people)
I was part of the SCUM guild for those old vets who got their butts pawned by us in AOC... If the game had been any good I would have stuck with it. Had Gaute Godager got a public beating I would maybe have stayed also...I realy hate Failcome and no amount of Amazing avry's will ever change that. There are alot of other people out there that share this burning hate for a company that lied, cheated and trolled on their custermerbase. Shame on you Failcome if you had told your paying subscribers the truth from the start, you might still have some subscribers left. As it is now your servers are dead... I have looked the times I have gotten a free return. 6 people standing in Old tarantia at peak hours haha I feel a bit sorry for you to be honest. But I predict AOC will be gone in 2 years time.
ps: And please do not make the Secret world we all know you are going to screw it up...
Say that it's impossible for you to think of aoc as a good game; just in a really mature way?
Yes that site has a recorded history of been overly negative about the game. They have a penchant for saying old news as recent, admittance they haven't even played the game. It all came out on N4G boards. They try and create the most disaster stricken headline to get hits without knowing anything about the game.
If your argument is simply that Funcom advertises here then that is a pretty weak argument in my book. I see that as admittance that the award is justified because the opposing party can not even dispute it with facts. There is no denying the amount of updates and fixes that happened last year. There was a ton. Whether someone likes that or not is ok, everyone is different, but the award is for most improved and not whether you like it or not.
I agree with you. I was going to comment about it on that site, but they aren't worth my time.
I agree with you. I was going to comment about it on that site, but they aren't worth my time.
that site shouldnt even been brought up to begin with.
Alas, dont worry AOC, cheer up, you'll get most disappointed mmo award next year, BUT look on the bright side! you'll now get another 365 days of wealthy multi business forum posters ploting your demise! :D
I played DDO in beta and then played it for about a year or so after release. I loved the dungeons in DDO; I think they have some of the best play I've seen in an MMO (at least in the ones I've tried anyway). I've been playing AoC for the last few weeks, and even though the two games are very much different, interestingly I keep thinking of DDO while playing AoC, so there must be some similarities. I'm only playing the trial of AoC, so I haven't been past the starting town (levels 1-22 or so), but just playing through this part of the game using different alts and seeing the same storyline from different perspectives, I've been pretty impressed. I'm trying to think of another MMO I've played that's done this (at least the way I'm seeing it in AoC), and I'm sure they're out there, but I couldn't think of one. Right now I'm on the bubble about whether to buy it, I'd like too, but I've seen the posts saying that once you get out of the starting area that it loses a lot of what makes it's a great game.
I'm (re)installing this game right now. Any class recommendations?
Herald of Xotli can be fun, or even Bear Shaman with melee and heals.
Herald of Xotli can be fun, or even Bear Shaman with melee and heals.
I'm still trying different classes; so far I like Ranger, kind of an assassin with a bow. I also have a Herald of Xotli and a Guardian. The Ranger is definitely more squishy than the others, but nice for long distance DPS and sneaking around. I like this post since it talks about PvP for each class (I play on a PvP server):
http://forums.ageofconan.com/showthread.php?t=71780
This was bought and paid for from advertising anyone who played last year know patch 1.05 was the only big patch last year and it failed. it drove loyalist away and the people who came back for free trials left the population went down do do the game having not much to do. An MMO should have more content than a regular game and AoC does not.
Well this is hilarious. The game crashed at install and there is nothing I can do. It's not listed in the programs list and now the game won't launch even after I deleted the directory and tried to reinstall. My registry is corrupt and Vista now runs very slow.
Following the bought and paid for from advertising logic, shouldn't have EVE gotten the award? I see more advertisements from them than I do AoC. Or better yet LOTRO or DDO between the two of them i see more advertisements for Turbine games than I do AoC, shouldn't Turbine have been able to pick which one of their games would win due to their advertising?
You my friend are so very much negative about AoC that it seems in your case it may be pathologic.
I hate some games too but i only leave them - maybe i post what i think is bad in them one or two times and let it be then.
If there are pople that like the game i dont try to bad mouth it again and again over and over....isnt that boring?
AoC naturally deserves the Award - the changes are big and deep and layed foundation for future improvement.
Patch 1.06 and later the expansion look impressive and AoC is the best bang for a buck right now on the market.
If only the people would play the game instead live out their hate.....
Finatic I am trying so hard to teach you the basics on how to argue and how to support your claims with arguments. And yet you always let me down at the end :)
Well I'm level 45 and I just can't take this game anymore. It feels very "been there, done that". This game just doesn't mesh together and the pvp is worthless.
I can go on for hours nit picking, but the main problem is that I just don't care.
I think you're right about the PvP, it's the one thing FC really need to focus on, there is more currently being tested but I doubt we will see much until after the expansion.
From a PvE perspective though, it may not be ground breaking but the lore and visuals are so nicely done I can't think of any other game that does it so richly. I've rejoined the game for the 3rd time now, playing a new character from scratch and loving every second of it.
Patch 1.6 hit live today, includes a guild renown system and the T3 raids, this game definitely deserved most improved and it's still improving.
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