Age of Conan

[Acera]

With all the seeming MMORPG hate out there nowadays (not speaking of this forum), what do you think about Age of Conan?

Personally I pre-ordered it and waiting sleepless (well almost) for it to come out. I've been a hardcore MMORPG player for years and after quitting WoW this seems like a huge improvement.
Siege attacks? Sweet!
Finally a refreshing combat system which might (note: might) actually allow players with some 'skills' and/or experience to actually show what they got. The only downside i'm seeing is the computer requirements, althought it isn't a problem for my, none of my friends can play it.

If you've never heard about Age of Conan, you can find everything you need (info, movies, you name it)here

So, what do you guys think about it?

~Acera

 

[rexxzecutioner]

Pretty terrible. I did the closed beta. It's a rather shallow game that masquerades as PvP-heavy, when in fact the mechanics are only slightly better than your average EQ/WoW clone.

 

[Prexus]

And judging games based on their closed beta has always been an accurate portrayal of their release quality.

AoC has sold out entirely of Collector's Edition pre-orders (globally) and over-reserved their Early Release program for pre-orders. It's first review was a 9/10, which is completely subjective as any MMOG review is, but is still fairly impressive.

From what I've read, between the closed and open betas, lots of stuff was improved on, specifically the PvP system which was never properly refined in the closed beta. Also, after unlocking all of the player tradeskills (fortress building, specifically), the focus on Siege-based PvP shifted and is one of the central focuses for end-game players. While I am almost positive that Warhammer Online's PvP will be better (Mythic *drool*.) It surpasses WoW's PvP system tenfold, which is currently the genre's marshmallow standard.

I've pre-ordered it, and am kind of annoyed that it's Victoria Day in Canada so all the stores are closed so I can't pick it up for midnight release. Not because I am in any rush to play the game, but primarily because it will probably take all night to install (30GB Client in Open Beta.)

 

[handsome lamb]

It surpasses WoW's PvP system tenfold, which is currently the genre's marshmallow standard.

Only because most people are too stupid to give Guild Wars (EWWW 8 SKILL SKILLBAR IT MUST BE SO EASY...) a chance. Guild Wars has wayyyyyy better PvP than WoW + AoC combined, that's for sure. AoC is better than WoW yes, but that's not saying much.

As long as these games keep such things as "Open World PvP", limitless skillbars, forced class roles, no shared skill types, crappy generic healing systems, and such, they will never ever come close to the standard that I feel Guild Wars has set and kept for the longest time. Nothing compares. Fury was the only thing that could of come close, but unfortunately it turned out to be terrible thanks to a bankrupt company and many changes.

 

[rexxzecutioner]

GW PvP is easy mode. Hardly the standard I'd set.

 

[rexxzecutioner]

And judging games based on their closed beta has always been an accurate portrayal of their release quality.

I'm in open beta as well, which is exactly how the game will be when it's released barring a few minor edits. Unless you're daft enough to think they will overhaul the entire engine for the commercial release.

 

[Prexus]

"After the stress test I said I was reserving judgment until the retail client was out and live, because it's silly to judge a game based on a beta client. Especially a stress test beta client. And so I expected some improvement with the retail client, but this... this is like night and day almost. There is such a level of polish here." - http://www.ctrlaltdel-online.com/#1628

stress test being one of the two open beta servers that Funcom offered.

 

[handsome lamb]

GW PvP is easy mode. Hardly the standard I'd set.

uh...no?

Care to explain, good sir?

edit:
also AoC is running quite nicely now...sooooo

 

[rexxzecutioner]

Class based with static and minimal skill sets and a non interactive combat system scream "boring and lame" to me.

 

[handsome lamb]

Class based with static and minimal skill sets and a non interactive combat system scream "boring and lame" to me.

Classes that aren't forced into one role (there's tons of a ways to play a warrior, tons of ways to play a ritualist, etc...that all bring something different in an 8v8 GvG), tons of balanced skills, etc. Maybe its boring to you, I guess, but it's still the best thing out there.

 

[rexxzecutioner]

Balanced as it may be, but it is class based nontheless and quite restrictive. I understand there is variety in the skills, but on a fundamental level, the combat is far too detached from player interaction for my taste. I come from a pretty oldschool background when it comes to MMOs, and what I value in these games (not just PvP, but that is by far the most important to me) are far different than what most of them out represent now.

 

[bayonet]

Age of Conan looks interesting, and i wouldn't mind giving it a go to look at it, but i'm much more interested in the stargate mmo. From what i've heard, from people who have played the beta(Conan), is that it has alot of problems, sure i know beta is only a half made game; but if you don't have the basics right you'll end up like fury >_>.
I don't see any of these two games beating WoW but, it has too strong of a strangle hold on the market, and even if something better did come along people would play WoW just because its WoW. It needs something really big to shake the market up again

 

[rexxzecutioner]

bayonet, there has been a different game every few years to have a "stranglehold" on the market. WoW will fade.

 

[Prexus]

Average life-span of an MMORPG is 5 years, WoW is at three now, and the dated graphics and poor quality experience are really showing through the fanbase already. Games like Conan and Warhammer will replace WoW probably by the end of two years.

Also since you guys like QUOTEZ

"“Everyone in Funcom is delighted and humbled with the historical pre-order numbers for Age of Conan. If the information we have is correct, they represent the highest pre-order number for any global launch of an original PC game, ever, including the original World of Warcraft launch,â€

 

[rexxzecutioner]

Yeah. It's a shame such success is wasted on such a mediocre game.

 

[tensuke]

lol
My brother's roomate was crazy about this game. If you mentioned it, he would go on for hours, literally, talking about it. When it finally came out he got it, and he likes it I guess. I'm not much for MMO's, and since you have to pay monthly, I won't be getting it. I've seen a LOT of hype for it, so if it was just a one-time fee, I might get it, but it's not so meh.

 

[arcthemonkey]

Average life-span of an MMORPG is 5 years, WoW is at three now, and the dated graphics and poor quality experience are really showing through the fanbase already. Games like Conan and Warhammer will replace WoW probably by the end of two years.

Also since you guys like QUOTEZ

"“Everyone in Funcom is delighted and humbled with the historical pre-order numbers for Age of Conan. If the information we have is correct, they represent the highest pre-order number for any global launch of an original PC game, ever, including the original World of Warcraft launch,â€

 

[Prexus]

Wrong.

They said that when planning both of the expansions and any future expansion, discussion about revamping the graphics comes up, but ultimately they want the game playable on the majority of machines. The reason being that EverQuest and Ultima Online both updated their graphics, and neither were accepted properly, in that people would prefer the older clients/models or down-tune them to increase performance. In addition, they said that in Wrath of the Lich King there are going to be visual effects that some PCs will need to shut off without an up to date videocard, and that they are sure that discussion about the graphics will come up with the next expansion.

 

[arcthemonkey]

 

[Prexus]

Since I looked so hard for it and couldn't find it, then randomly stumbled upon it today, here is the blue post regarding the graphical update:

Do you think WOW is ever going to need a complete overhaul of the engine?
That's actually something we talk about every expansion. It's interesting, two games have really tried that before, Ultima Online tried it and EverQuest tried it as well, and in each case it was only somewhat successful. In each case a lot of people continued to play with the original client, because it was faster, or they preferred it, or were just used to it or whatever. And so for me as a game developer, the idea that we would spend so much time and energy on something and have people go, "meh, that's not really for me," that's not very exciting. So I don't think there's really a clear model as to how to do that successfully. The model we have with Wrath of the Lich King allows people with high-end machines some additional graphical effects, and then we'll have some kind of fallback for the people who don't. Will we need a graphical update from the ground up at some point? Yep, probably. And I'm positive we'll talk about it next expansion.