Profile: moxieman117
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• • Is AoC the answer?

  • Well I feel strongly that my opinion shouldn't decide for people when it comes to what they want to pay for. Thats why I encourage them to try it. It was fun for a good 2 1/2 weeks, but afterwards I lost interest very quickly.

  • Posted: 7/05/08 9:25 PM
    Age of Conan
• • Is AoC the answer?

  • Greetings. Before I get started, let me first say that I have played MMO's for 6 years. Every single game has its ups and downs. I'm not here to bash AoC, I'm simply offering the two cents of someone who has experienced many games.

    I'll talk about a few aspects of the game which are normally discussed when talking about the crucial aspects of an MMO. I'll give a rating of Good, Okay, or Poor.

    Community: AoC's community is by far the game's cross to bare. The group of people that play this game make WoW's community look like characters in a child's musical. Most of them are rude, inconsiderate assholes that made me want to punch babies. Getting help in a channel or a group that is competent enough to communicate better than 3 year olds is nearly impossible. In the community's defense, the high-end players are typically very nice and helpful. if you can secure a guild and stick with them up into your 70's you will have a much better time with this issue.

    I played on a PvP server where apparently people equate self-worth in this MMO by how well they can gank you and camp you. In all fairness, I CHOSE to play on this server, this kind of behavior is typical and expected with a decision like this. However, the frequency of this issue along with the mob mentality of "Lets kill anyone for no reason" makes it very frustrating and difficult to progress through the game. 

    Conclusively, the general community is a group of immature asshats with the proud but few kind and helpful folks. Most of them don't want to help you, they don't want to let you enjoy this game. This issue wont stand in your way of appreciating this game too much, but it is still a very large problem.

    Grade: Poor.

    Leveling: I leveled very quickly in this game, at a somewhat of a disappointingly fast rate. The game's leveling system is centered around the annoyingly simple quests and the occasional grind. There is no real difficulty leveling, other than finding a competent group to share quests with. It's VERY easy to reach 80 which makes the process a very boring rat race to the top. This game, though innovative in it's combat system, is terribly simple. This leaves most non-casual MMOers out there probably disappointed with this aspect of the game.

    I worked for almost a year and a half when I played Everquest to accomplish what I did. It wasn't a rat race to 60 back in those days, it was an adventure to explore the magnificent world that had been created. In AoC there is a very large and most of the time exciting world to level in, however each zone is cookie-cut and boring. The formula for leveling was typically simple all the way into the 80s.

    Reach new zone

    Acquire new quests

    kill x amount of something, collect x amount of clickable items, kill boss x for quest item x

    Receive large amount of xp

    Reach higher levels

    Reach new zone

    Group quests become more frequent at higher levels, but they are rare and uneventful at lower levels.

    Grade: Okay/poor

    
     

    Story and Immersion: There is a world of relatively interesting lore in this game. However each character is pushed on a central journey via a Destiny quest which has only a few small variations per each class/race combo that you choose. For the most part, the lore is mildly stimulating and doesn't leave too much room for roleplayers and lore fanatics. This isn't a core feature of the game by any means.

    Many players who have read the Conan books say the in-game storyline conflicts with the books and isn't a great representation of the lore. I personally can't say anything of the subject.

    Grade: Okay

    Groups/Guild: AoC has a pretty solid guild system. There aren't too many guild features at the moment, but there will most-likely be alteration to that in the future.

    One of my biggest beefs with the game was the guild cite system. Most guilds rush to attain the "battlekeeps" type of city, which is pvp and enables the siege aspect of the game, which is another rant. The precursors to the battlekeeps are useless requirements that you have to have in your city that really just occupy space. You can have a guild Trader that is connected to the world market and a Guild merchant who will buy your fodder. That's about it.

    Grade: okay

    Tradeskills: I could write an entire forum post on the flaws and frustrations of AoC's tradeskill system. I hate it.  It's dreadfully bugged and very unrewarding.

    Grade: Poor

    PVP: I actually really enjoy AoC's PVP system. It has is own issues with class balance and ganking and whatnot, but for the most part is seems this is a pretty solid aspect of the game. PVP groups are abundant and there is a large level of skill involved with the system. The combat system is very fun to pvp with and the combo fatalities make pvp brutal and engaging.

    Grade: Good

    Thats my two cents. I strongly encourage people to try the game, it was fun for the most part. However I became quickly bored and lost interest. Personally, I'm returning to EQ2 with hope of finding a better community and a much more solid MMO.

    With time I believe AoC will be a very entertaining game. There is work that needs to be done to make High end content fun and challenging and the storyline immersible.

    
     

     

     

  • Posted: 7/05/08 8:37 PM
    Age of Conan