Age of Conan

Hi folks,

I got a few questions about this game.

a) I hear it combines instances and open world. Anarchy Online did that and it kinda worked. Is this well done  that you feel in a world or is it too small and limiting?

b) Is there an underlying interesting lore for the quests  or is it just fetch x,y,z or kill xxx only?

c) Do the classess feel unique or do they suffer from imbalance that leads to some being more desirable than others?

d) Is there enough social elements and complexity like AO or is it aimed at 'easy mode'?

e) I keep hearing people are quitting due to unfinished products and bugs (it is Funcom!!!), but is there enough people to play with or will I be soloing most of the game?

f) Finally, if you enjoyed playing EQ, AO,  Vanguard, and LOTRO would you recommend this or is it a stay away type game?

I would download a demo and try it, but they are not offering one yet...

Thanks in advance for all of you who take the time to answer any of my questions.

Originally posted by damkar

Hi folks,

I got a few questions about this game.

 

a) I hear it combines instances and open world. Anarchy Online did that and it kinda worked. Is this well done  that you feel in a world or is it too small and limiting?

It's more like eq2 with smaller zones.

b) Is there an underlying interesting lore for the quests  or is it just fetch x,y,z or kill xxx only?

Quests are pretty well done in AOC, most of the gaps have been filled in from what I understand. With more to come soon.

c) Do the classess feel unique or do they suffer from imbalance that leads to some being more desirable than others?

They are still working on balancing, overall in my opinion there's nothing wrong with their class structure. You will definitely find others who disagree.

d) Is there enough social elements and complexity like AO or is it aimed at 'easy mode'?

Depends on what you mean, I never really played AO, only took a trial "one time" long ago.

e) I keep hearing people are quitting due to unfinished products and bugs (it is Funcom!!!), but is there enough people to play with or will I be soloing most of the game?

Gotta pick a decent server, I hear cimmeria is doing good, PVP rp server.

f) Finally, if you enjoyed playing EQ, AO,  Vanguard, and LOTRO would you recommend this or is it a stay away type game?

I enjoyed both Vanguard and AOC, just bought lotro yesterday actually for a change in pace. Will continue to subscribe to both. Just got a dx-10 capable pc :)

I would download a demo and try it, but they are not offering one yet...

Thanks in advance for all of you who take the time to answer any of my questions.

 

 

 

 

 

With all that said, do more research than my replys. I don't want to encourage you to play, the games still got problems, and gaps to be filled in. Don't believe anyone who tells you otherwise. The new patch did some good but also broke a few things in endgame like t1 raiding. As a new player you won't expereince any of those issues though. In all honesty I'd give it another month or two. See if anything's changed and go from there.

Overall most people seen to find it boring, restrictive and the patches are terrible. I wouldnt have wasted my time on it if I had known in advance what AoC is like.

My opinion = complete waste of time and money.

Originally posted by damkar

Hi folks,

I got a few questions about this game.

 

a) I hear it combines instances and open world. Anarchy Online did that and it kinda worked. Is this well done  that you feel in a world or is it too small and limiting?

World is instanced (there's a player cap and it duplicates itself when that cap is reached) and zoned (loading screen between each zone and another)

b) Is there an underlying interesting lore for the quests  or is it just fetch x,y,z or kill xxx only?

Quests in the first 20lvls are great with voice overs and are interesting. After lvl20 no more voice overs, and most of the quests become boring (on-par with any pve mmo)

c) Do the classess feel unique or do they suffer from imbalance that leads to some being more desirable than others?

Some classes need love more than others, but all are playable.

d) Is there enough social elements and complexity like AO or is it aimed at 'easy mode'?

No social elements, you barely talk with players. I found it to be a grind from lvl20 onwards.

Nothing complex here. It's easier than WoW.

e) I keep hearing people are quitting due to unfinished products and bugs (it is Funcom!!!), but is there enough people to play with or will I be soloing most of the game?

I think there are players, though whatever the number you won't be noticing them because you don't need them in anything

f) Finally, if you enjoyed playing EQ, AO,  Vanguard, and LOTRO would you recommend this or is it a stay away type game?

No.

I would download a demo and try it, but they are not offering one yet...

Thanks in advance for all of you who take the time to answer any of my questions.

 

 I'll probably come across as a troll to you but you can check my post history. I was one of the defenders of the game and hoped it would be the next big thing. Funny what Hype can do to a game.

 

 

 

Originally posted by damkar

Hi folks,

I got a few questions about this game.

 

a) I hear it combines instances and open world. Anarchy Online did that and it kinda worked. Is this well done  that you feel in a world or is it too small and limiting?

This game has small square territories that are ALL instanced.  The chat system doesnt always work making communication ANNOYING. It also does not allow for any exploration, I.E. inside each territory are invisible walls preventing ANY feeling of exploration. You know that feeling like, Ill bet only a few people have ever bothered coming up here, you had in WoW or even LOTRO?

b) Is there an underlying interesting lore for the quests  or is it just fetch x,y,z or kill xxx only?

Its basically just that, go here kill that, except you have to select the right response to get that quest, which is really just annoying and not immersive at all. Secondly you are sucked into a chat eliminating little 3d zoom up EVERYTIME to interact with quest mobs. So if you level and get a ton of grats, you cant see them or rerspond to them while you are still interacting with the quest mob.

c) Do the classess feel unique or do they suffer from imbalance that leads to some being more desirable than others?

Well I can tell you that there are too many subclasses and most of the PVP is a one shot fest.

d) Is there enough social elements and complexity like AO or is it aimed at 'easy mode'?

The games combat system requires you to press a series of buttons to carry out attacks in a predefined order which will result in a COMBO, increasing the damage on the final attack. Mostly its just more keypressing and more annoying as you progress.

e) I keep hearing people are quitting due to unfinished products and bugs (it is Funcom!!!), but is there enough people to play with or will I be soloing most of the game?

I am going to reinstall the game when I get home tonight and check this out for myself, but from reading the forums both here and on funcoms website, it does not look good. There are many calls for server merges and with the recent firing of Guate the game director, it looks like this might actually happen.  Secondly, they finally have character copy to the test server. I dont understand why they couldnt slap together a character copy to another server with limitations for pvp and rp and all that jazz.

f) Finally, if you enjoyed playing EQ, AO,  Vanguard, and LOTRO would you recommend this or is it a stay away type game?

Im gonna go out on a limb and say its a stay away.  Having played EQ in the original development and phase closed testing, this game does NOT draw you in the way that game EQ did.  I beta tested lotro for almost one year and then played that game for a year, with AoC I was done in 2+ months.

I would download a demo and try it, but they are not offering one yet...

They have buddy keys, but it costs to download the client and they require the player you got it from to have an account in good standing.  Now weather that means CURRENTLY active or NOT CANCELLED, I do not know really. I think this forum has a sticky on buddy keys.

Thanks in advance for all of you who take the time to answer any of my questions.

 

 

 

 

 

Originally posted by arkady09

Originally posted by damkar

Hi folks,

I got a few questions about this game.

 

a) I hear it combines instances and open world. Anarchy Online did that and it kinda worked. Is this well done  that you feel in a world or is it too small and limiting?

This game has small square territories that are ALL instanced.  The chat system doesnt always work making communication ANNOYING. It also does not allow for any exploration, I.E. inside each territory are invisible walls preventing ANY feeling of exploration. You know that feeling like, Ill bet only a few people have ever bothered coming up here, you had in WoW or even LOTRO?

I find the areas more than big enough.. I mean it take like 10 min RL time to run from one side to the other on the big maps... Each region however is not in one big continent like in WOW... You travel from zone by zone by use of wagon men or traveler NPC's. I find this perfectly ok (cuts down on that mindless character running in the middle of nowheretime), while other don't like it.. You have to see for yourself

b) Is there an underlying interesting lore for the quests  or is it just fetch x,y,z or kill xxx only?

Its basically just that, go here kill that, except you have to select the right response to get that quest, which is really just annoying and not immersive at all. Secondly you are sucked into a chat eliminating little 3d zoom up EVERYTIME to interact with quest mobs. So if you level and get a ton of grats, you cant see them or rerspond to them while you are still interacting with the quest mob.

The Quests and the atmosphere of AoC is one of the games strongest points. It builds on R. E. Howards fantasy literature about Conan. I dig it as I know others do.. This ads to the atmosphere point above. 

c) Do the classess feel unique or do they suffer from imbalance that leads to some being more desirable than others?

Well I can tell you that there are too many subclasses and most of the PVP is a one shot fest.

Whar Arkady mean here is that before patch 2.0 they had a gem system in AoC where you could craft and mount special gems on your equipment. There were also +dmg gems and people stacking it all with +dmg gems could deal tremendous amounts of dmg... In latest patch though all gems has been nerfed in various ways to eliminate oneshotting (+dmg gems reduced from +8.6% to about 1% I think :))

d) Is there enough social elements and complexity like AO or is it aimed at 'easy mode'?

The games combat system requires you to press a series of buttons to carry out attacks in a predefined order which will result in a COMBO, increasing the damage on the final attack. Mostly its just more keypressing and more annoying as you progress.

The combatsystem is the second thing I love about AoC... You can fire off combos, swing your guard from left to right and dodge.. Also of course not to forget.. you have fatalities in this game which. For social elements I think the game also is good as the guild is a group of people/friends getting together and build themselves a city... They work hard together and once done they need to defend it together. It gives a bit more sunstance to the guild play that just raiding together.

e) I keep hearing people are quitting due to unfinished products and bugs (it is Funcom!!!), but is there enough people to play with or will I be soloing most of the game?

I am going to reinstall the game when I get home tonight and check this out for myself, but from reading the forums both here and on funcoms website, it does not look good. There are many calls for server merges and with the recent firing of Guate the game director, it looks like this might actually happen.  Secondly, they finally have character copy to the test server. I dont understand why they couldnt slap together a character copy to another server with limitations for pvp and rp and all that jazz.

A lot of memory leaks was haunting this game before patch 2.0.. A lot of that has been cleared out now... There are still lot of other stuff to deal with, but it is now at a nongamebraking level. lets hear Arkadys verdict after testing. Choose an active server like Cimmeria, Tyrrany, Deathwisper, Wiccana or others (I am on Set)

f) Finally, if you enjoyed playing EQ, AO,  Vanguard, and LOTRO would you recommend this or is it a stay away type game?

Im gonna go out on a limb and say its a stay away.  Having played EQ in the original development and phase closed testing, this game does NOT draw you in the way that game EQ did.  I beta tested lotro for almost one year and then played that game for a year, with AoC I was done in 2+ months.

I would say this is one of the more promisng MMO games on the market. I also like WoW in fact... but I love AoC cause this is one of the few games where the developer rather tried to develop novel content instead of taking the well threaded path to the easy Dollar.

I would download a demo and try it, but they are not offering one yet...

They have buddy keys, but it costs to download the client and they require the player you got it from to have an account in good standing.  Now weather that means CURRENTLY active or NOT CANCELLED, I do not know really. I think this forum has a sticky on buddy keys.

Ohh I did not know that

Thanks in advance for all of you who take the time to answer any of my questions.

Arkady let us know what you think after test...

 

 

 

 

 

I play the game after patch 2.0 and there is a substantial difference between game before and after the patch... I recommend the game big time as is one of the most complete RP experiences I have had. Also the game can give you the wildest PvP clashes through Sieging (48vs48) where you fight over the wall to a guild. In this context make sure you get on a server with high population.. Cimmeria, Deathwisper, Tyranny, etc etc....(read other posts).. I also make some comments on Arkadys text above as some of his impressions are pre el grande patch 2.0

Originally posted by OrionMan

Originally posted by arkady09

Originally posted by