I think most people can agree that the subscriber numbers are low, now if they are 50k or 200k doesnt really matter as for a game that uses the hugely famous IP of Conan it is rather bad specially considering that they have steadily lost numbers since release. Most successful MMORPGs actually either gained or kept the sub. numbers steady from an initial high (look at the estimates of how sub numbers of Lotr, WoW, Eve, EQ, Lineage etc have developed over time at http://www.mmogchart.com)

Regardless, I think the question one needs to ask is why the game has been such a disaster and what, if anything, can be done?

I for one believe the reasons are the following:

1. Terrible launch with missing features (meaningful PvP mainly but also DX 10) and many game breaking bugs and exploits.

2. Insanely fast leveling with little or no end content.

3. Instancing. Many people I talked to said the game was so instanced that it didnt feel like an MMORPG. This coupled with the fact that the server numbers are getting increasingly lower makes the game feel like a single player game. Thats the impression I got as well for the limited time I spent in the game.

4. Funcoms inability to use the Conan IP to promote the game. Ive seen several ads for the game and none of them has showed Conan. Instead they have used some unknown female fighter that is, from what I can tell, not from the Conan IP. If they atleast used Red Sonja they could maybe get away with it but this? Dumb misstake.

So what can they do? Im a big Conan fan and really wanted this game to be succesful but can it ever be?

Maybe if they fix the game breaking bugs and exploits, wipe the servers, introduce some meaningful PvP, significantly decrease the leveling pace and add some more content. Also I think it is crucial to reduce the instancing in this game by allowing more people in each instance but this may be impossible with their technology.

What do you guys think. Can AoC ever be succesful?
 

Originally posted by Yamota

I think most people can agree that the subscriber numbers are low, now if they are 50k or 200k doesnt really matter as for a game that uses the hugely famous IP of Conan it is rather bad specially considering that they have steadily lost numbers since release. Most successful MMORPGs actually either gained or kept the sub. numbers steady from an initial high (look at the estimates of how sub numbers of Lotr, WoW, Eve, EQ, Lineage etc have developed over time at http://www.mmogchart.com)

Regardless, I think the question one needs to ask is why the game has been such a disaster and what, if anything, can be done?

I for one believe the reasons are the following:

1. Terrible launch with missing features (meaningful PvP mainly but also DX 10) and many game breaking bugs and exploits.

2. Insanely fast leveling with little or no end content.

3. Instancing. Many people I talked to said the game was so instanced that it didnt feel like an MMORPG. This coupled with the fact that the server numbers are getting increasingly lower makes the game feel like a single player game. Thats the impression I got as well for the limited time I spent in the game.

4. Funcoms inability to use the Conan IP to promote the game. Ive seen several ads for the game and none of them has showed Conan. Instead they have used some unknown female fighter that is, from what I can tell, not from the Conan IP. If they atleast used Red Sonja they could maybe get away with it but this? Dumb misstake.

So what can they do? Im a big Conan fan and really wanted this game to be succesful but can it ever be?

Maybe if they fix the game breaking bugs and exploits, wipe the servers, introduce some meaningful PvP, significantly decrease the leveling pace and add some more content. Also I think it is crucial to reduce the instancing in this game by allowing more people in each instance but this may be impossible with their technology.

What do you guys think. Can AoC ever be succesful?
 

While I think the new GD was a good move, I really feel like this game needs a 'back to the drawing board' approach.  They need to enlarge the travelable areas within each zone, remove any all world instancing and link the zones via land bridges not warp npcs or zone gates. I mean nothing pulls you out of the game faster than zones or warp npcs.  Well other than the fact that someone in the OOC channel in your zone is actually in another ' instance ' .

I think that those would most appropriately describe why you feel, IN YOUR OPINION, the game was a failure.

All of those things are opinion except the missing features part. Other than that...what you said was personal opinion.

Clearly the problem is one of corporate think. Everything you've described was the result of corporate think.

Instead of being inspired to make a great game that would make them money, they were inspired to make a lot of money by making a great game. Those two ideas may sound like they'd end up with the same result but truly all the mistakes we've seen FC make were driven by the desire to make money over the desire to make a great game. The early release. The hype. The lies. Even things like the the instancing were driven with thoughts of how many players could they get into the game, would it work on xbox360. 

Make a great game, because you're inspired to make a great game, you'll make money. Try to make a great game because you're inspired to make money and you'll have problems.

Originally posted by Jackthecat

I think that those would most appropriately describe why you feel, IN YOUR OPINION, the game was a failure.

 

All of those things are opinion except the missing features part. Other than that...what you said was personal opinion.

I think there are at least 700k + people that share his OPINION which doesnt speak well for your retort.

The reasons for failure IMO are:

1. Terrible combat system - Hitting a hotkey and then 3-5 directional arrows goes beyond simply being tedious in that it limits options and thought in combat and turns combat into follow the arrows. The combat system lacks options. While one waits 10 seconds to finish a combo one could do so many other things as one does in MMOs with more complex combat. It is a simplistic system made for those that want to play games without thinking. It works well in levels 1-20 and solo. But the combat system shows its flaws in grouping and raiding. Its a system that does not function well in groups and raids. If they could admit their flaws they could simply let people macro out the directional attacks and increase the combos speed up the ones that take 3-5 directional keys and suddenly there would be time to do a lot more in combat. But even with drastic changes like I have suggested it will never be able to compete with games with more complex combat systems.

2. Dishonesty and Greed - More than the lack of content Funcom's dishonesty and greed has killed this game. People will forgive poor and missing content but they cannot forgive greed and lies. Limiting open beta to level 13, hiding the lack of content, lying about the state of the game, paying people like Avery spread their lies and propaganda on message boards like this and hyping the game to maximize short term sales left a very bad taste in players minds.

3. Bad reputation - Games can recover from bad reps. But what Funcom did here was similar in terms of its rep as to what SOE did in NGE. Gamers may forget but it will be a long time. AoC and Funcom are saddled with their rep. They recieved a ton of income selling close to a million boxes but they have effectively killed any long term future this game may have had.

4. Community - Hands down the worst community to ever play a MMO. Bty appealing to peoples worst instincts and marketing the game on sex, nudity, gore and decapitations they targeted the 15-25 year old kiddie audience which converged on AoC as their savior. The problem is this audience quickly drives off other players and they have no patience or attention span and they quickly leave themselves for the next new thing.

5. Easy Mode - This game was made for the simplistic 15-25 year old ADD kiddie audience. To do this the game was made simple with no depth, skill or work needed. Just lots of flash and eye candy but no substance. This game made WoW look super hard, complex and diificult.

6. The game should be free to play - Essentially AoC is a simplistic single player game with some MMO aspects. I cannot see why someone would play AoC over a good singleplayer game. It does not have the content or depth to justify a fee. It would simply be better to play a singleplayer game with some MMO aspects and no monthly fee. Even a game like Guild Wars not only has more content but much better design.

Most of all what has essentially killed and doomed AoC is its dishonesty, greed and now awful reputation. Without the lies motivated by greed this game would still have a future and people would be willing to give it chance. Now AoC and Funcom are universally hated. Even the biggest AoC fanboy would have a hard time arguing that this game will be able to retain more than 1 in 10 people that play it longer than a month or two.

Its a shame as AoC is not a bad game for what it is a simple game for people who do not want to think while playing a MMO.

The problem is that AoC's content requires DirectX10, and you must have a Vista-capable PC in order to have DirectX10+. For those who only have DirectX9, such as XP users, and wish to play AoC requires your XP PC to be modified with additional memory so it would have Vista installed, with DirectX10+ and you can play AoC without any problems.

Those are ALL just symptoms.The disease causing MMOs to fail so bad is inept dev teams.

We can only hope that Gaute truly did move out of the industry, and further that more of the current devs will follow suit.

Originally posted by SailorCallie

The problem is that AoC's content requires DirectX10, and you must have a Vista-capable PC in order to have DirectX10+. For those who only have DirectX9, such as XP users, and wish to play AoC requires your XP PC to be modified with additional memory so it would have Vista installed, with DirectX10+ and you can play AoC without any problems.

This game doesn't require DirectX10.

Originally posted by lumache

Originally posted by Jackthecat

I think that those would most appropriately describe why you feel, IN YOUR OPINION, the game was a failure.

 

All of those things are opinion except the missing features part. Other than that...what you said was personal opinion.

 

I think there are at least 700k + people that share his OPINION which doesnt speak well for your retort.

there are still 100k + people that say this game didn't fail. Opinion is opinion is opinion. The game isn't dead yet. When it shuts down because of lack of players...then it has failed.

Originally posted by Jackthecat

Originally posted by lumache

Originally posted by Jackthecat

I think that those would most appropriately describe why you feel, IN YOUR OPINION, the game was a failure.

 

All of those things are opinion except the missing features part. Other than that...what you said was personal opinion.

 

I think there are at least 700k + people that share his OPINION which doesnt speak well for your retort.

 

there are still 100k + people that say this game didn't fail. Opinion is opinion is opinion. The game isn't dead yet. When it shuts down because of lack of players...then it has failed.

Will you be here to admit it when that happens? I consider failure to be 100k from 800k after only four real months up.  56 million and 5 years later this is what they managed to accomplish? Guate or what his name is had to leave the entire industry to boot, but if you are going to cling to 100k Ill throw ya that bone!

 I actually loved AoC. The combat system was cool.

 What killed it for me was the lag and the sieges. And the linear type of play. No real exploring away from designated travel areas.

 Other than that, I loved it. I don't know if they can fix that or even if they want to. If they did, I'd be back in a heartbeat.