Age of Conan Week: The Verdict Comments by Oli Welsh

^ Customer service have always been masively overloaded at MMO launches.

"Davisorle", thank you for your feedback:-)
I'll get this game later in the year when the golf season is over and i have bought a new gameing rig.

Still abit annoyed about the previewers choice of system when previewing this game.
Age of Conan have instances and is texture heavy. On a lesser older system you will get long load times ,choppy framerates and probably lag aswell.

Still can't believe a respected site like Eurogamer did a preview of arguably the biggest MMORPG releace of the year on an old pc, forcing the reviewer to use minimum settings.

I would really like to hear what eurogamer has to say about this game based upon an up to date high end pc. This is an 18+ game. We the grown ups who will buy this game have the funds to buy a killer rig if we want to.

I want to know how the game looks and plays with this in mind. Not how it looks and plays on my current pc which would struggle hard, and not keep up forcing me to play on minimum just like Oli the previewer..........

Come on Eurogamer provide your staff with hardware that can do justice to the pc games you preview/review.

Compared to WoW now (years and years after release) it might not hold up yet, but compared to WoW at release, i'm pretty damn happy with it and expecting good things. The combat is certainly a step up imo. Knockbacks, splash damage, shields and combos add a lot of spice.

"I would really like to hear what eurogamer has to say about this game based upon an up to date high end pc. This is an 18+ game. We the grown ups who will buy this game have the funds to buy a killer rig if we want to. "

Is that so?

Well your a very lucky grown up then aren't you...

Not everyone over 18 has the funds to go out and buy a top notch PC for the latest games you know. While I understand there is a need to review the game to it's highest standards, they also need to speak to gamers who don't have the best machines possible.

1simen1:

while what you say is true, (and I agree, it should have been "reviewed" on an up to date rig) the tech is not the most important thing in an mmo. Sure, the lag becomes an issue, but there is far more important issues, especially during the lvl-phase.

What I want to say is that i doubt Oli would enjoy Conan more, or "score" it higher, even if he had played it on NASAs combined computers linked together to form some powerhouse-rig. The game is what it is at this state. It may become better or worse as the game develops, but the technical POW (as in good vs bad rig) aint what makes/breaks Conan.

"Krelle", i don't know about you but after playing games since the comodore 64 days, there is one thing i'm getting more and more allergic to. That is long load times.

For me that is almost gamebraking and annoying as hell.

Now if Oli had used a high end pc his load times would have been alot shorter. Irritating long brakes when entering an instance or building for that matter would be gone, and he could enjoy the hard work put into the graphics to "pull" him further into the gaming world.

I have no problem with what he writes about gameplay mechanics and what not. However when he complains about loading and instances and states that he played on minimium, that tell me that he can not enjoy the game fully the way it was meant to be played.

With a high end pc the load times are minimal, framerate smooth and lag almost nonexisting. I remember playing SWG before and after upgrading my pc. Huuuuge difference to the better. Went from kind a cool to awsome. That is until CU hit though ;-)

@1simen1
np man. I di try the game also in 2 more rigs. The one had the minimum requirements actually. My opinion? Don't even try it. At first you are happy it works and even from what you see with the realy low details at minimum ofc. Yet once you enter the first town you will freak out. It's even painfull and since ur mostly my kind of a gamer you really shouldnt get it for your current rig imo. It's so lagging with the minimum requirements that you will just get frustrated and pissed off like hell. I even did even if I wasnt the one to stick with it. I installed played a bit, was sutisfied at first but then a huge "CRAP" flashed in my mind and i would even see as low as 3,2 fps in the town. Just dont forget to keep in mind the bugs. Those are a lot like i said but nothing to worry about or unexpected. Like Emth said, nothing new since also in a game which is almost perfect atm after ofc 5 whole years was nothing better at first than this. On an Average rig which was with a Dual Core CPU ( not sure which model though so i rather not say ) 2GB ram and a 7800GTS ( Still not putting my life on it :p ) was running smoothly with the medium details running on it. If I knew the info would have been usefull here id have made sure I knew more about the rig. Though even me personally i only had to go and try it out for the reason I wanted to know how and if it could run smoothly on it. Maybe a reader who has an average rig could be more helpfull telling us. On my rig with 8800GTX 768MB and vista on it and 2GB DDR3 its running as smooth as possible. Though the extra 2 ram i want were needed but i guess the VGA helps it out a lot.
BTW if you're going to buy a new rig don't go do it now. Wait cause the next chipsets are about to come out. Just a tip in case you didnt know already.

@M83J01P97
You are right on both what you said. The only thing is that since its also a new step graphically speaking in the MMO genre its only normal for most of us to be intrested on the max outcome of this game.

( Dont mind me and no paragraphs etc but rushing here )

1simen1:
fair enough dude, I understand what you mean, really.
i probably just dont care about tech as much as you. The game aint good enough "in itself" for me to be overly interested anyway, so the lag and similar issues aint dealbreaking for me.

Very nice "pre-review", Oli, and very accurate.

To be honest, I don't think that the graphics won't make the game any better. It lacks polishing, it lacks a good UI, it lacks quests, zones and interest once you're out of Tortage and the combat gameplay, although interesting at first, becomes quite boring and repetitive over time.

Playing on an Athlon 4200+, 2 Gb RAM and Geforce 9600. Everything apart from the characters looks nice (nothing amazing, though, and some very poor textures/effects -omg, the lava) but the heavy instancing is killing me. Even WoW has very few instances, DAoC didn't have any when it came out and don't get me started on SWG. It purely kills the immersion for me. To enter any house, you have to click on the door and go through a loading. New zone, loading, new indoor quest, loading, etc.

In the end, the game feels like an unpolished and bugged Guild Wars with a 10£ monthly subscription. Not to mention all the ganking issues in PvP. Makes me wonder if Funcom have a QA department, or if the beta was of any use to them.

"Davisorle", Thanks again for good constructive feedback! :-)

I know of the new chip sets and it will probably be oktober before i end my golfing season, and will get ready for Conan.
Hopefully they will be out by then.

From what i read if you only have 2 gigs of ram get 2 more. Especially if you are running vista. I believe 4 gigs is mandatory when using vista.

And to some of the people complaining about bugs, interface issues and what not. You are aware of the genre of game Age of Conan is?

So far this is the smoothest release ever of an MMORPG. Atleast that seems to be the consensus all over the net. Give it a week or 3 and i suspect many of these issues will be ironed out.

Right now i almost wish that i could quit work , say no to my golf buds, and go hunting in Hyboria lol.

But then again summer time goes by fast and i'll probably meet some of you in game in oktober.
Please don't kill me then , i'll be a noob he he:-)

I remember really hating wow when it was first released because of play balance, questing issues, underdeveloped group options, boring fighting/grind. I revisited the game a year later and it was hugely improved. When it comes to MMOs, there is really no rush to get involved. Wait a few months, let the bugs get resolved, let the launch month traffic get resolved, save up for a new rig if you don't already have one and you will probably have a very satisfying experience unless the game really blows.

@1simen1

Since all my pcs since the 1st Pentium CPU was released I have been making my rigs piece by piece with specific models of everything i have inside of it... So Either I'd have to be stupid either know what I'm doing. So i can assure you that it's been moded enough to be able to run Crysis without any chopping in frames still with Vistax64 and the only 2GB ram on it :) and I'm talking about running it on max details. ;)

So yeah The game is great. Not boring from first lvls which is TOO IMPORTANT! in wow its just fast to make a new char, ok i agree, YET BORING. Conan you have to agree with me it isnt simply cause the combat system and the great graphics are amazing. Also for those who don't know yet the curently version is DX10 dissabled. They said they wanted some time to perfect the DX10 system of their engine or something which wasnt heard till a couple of days before release.. :S Yet Its amazing to look :P so the game wil both get improved visually and functionally speaking :p

"davisorle", had a feeling you knew what you were doing :-)

Just read in forums that quite a few struggled with 2 gigs of RAM when using vista, and recommended 4 or higher. When increasing their RAM their improvments was big.
No offence just giving a heads up incase you needed it....and you obviously didn't lol :-)

And yes, will be interesting to see what it will look like come August when dx10 will be implemented.
Can't wait. Gameplay is always the most important, but eye candy, fast loading and smooth framerates sure help the experience...

My views so far. Been playing since friday morning.

+The combats new and fun.
+Game arts nice

-Need a decent rig to play this. Dont even think of buying this unless you have a better computer than me (7800gs, 3500 athlon 64, 1 gig of ram) I run it on low with everything pretty much turned off. It still stutters. There's no way I'll be able to play the siege battles against other characters. My reccomended min specs to enjoy the game, without cursing at the stuttering, would be an 8000 series card and 2 gigs of ram. Remember this is semi real time. If your stuttering all over the joint you'll die fast against another player.
-1 out of 2 times the game crashes for me when loading from character selection. My monitor starts to flicker on and off and I have to restart windows, because it screws up everything. It's keyboard punching annoying. I'm currently having a break from trying to get back in the game just now.
-can't access the forums for some odd reason
-range charcters are almost useless
-Instances here, instances there, instances everywhere. It's one step removed from guildwars in that respect. The taverns are instanced. I went into a dungeon walked 10 steps then had to go into another instance. I was in that instance for a minute then had to go into the next room which was in another instance. It ruins the immersion. WOW has the right balance on instances. The've went instanced mad! It makes me wonder why I should pay a sub for it.

The only reason this was a smooth launch is because the shitload of instances. Underneath the skin it feels a bit of a one trick pony game. I'll see how it goes if I ever manage to log back on without crashing or smashing up my computer.

@gmmonkey
Man, my tip, just get another Gb ram the least and still you will se a huge impovement. You might even be able to play really smooth on better than low. That extra GB ram for the king of PC you got atm will make a huge difference in this game since the weakest point for you atm is the Ram. Its cheap atm so it will be worth really and you'll be able to enjoy the game that way.

@1simen1
Well I also have it installed on a Raptor HD so that helps as well in the loading times as well with the DDR3 ( not gong to promote the brand etc ). And yes Im a sucker for eye candy as well. Ive been into that shit for quiet a few years now. ( Comodore -atari age etc ) I mean whenever a better VGA card than mine comes out for example I feel bumped. lol. 3Dmark etc :p Funny thing is if we were talking not just about a 360 game but the 360 version of conan if it was out I would have to deal with PS3 morons who would start saying shit like I just say things to support MS and shit which I find too stupid. Some ppl know what they are talking about and the rest should stick with their personal feel of the games instead of judging what they are not capable. Same way like someone told me that Warhammer wil be much better than Conan. How the hell can you be so stupid to say that when you have no clue since you havent played neither? Conan looks and feels amazing. I hope there is enough juice for the end gamer like in WoW. What about golfing and conan? lol :p You really gotta see that :p And no i wont gang you if you get in my guild :D lol!

@ davisorle

I'd get another stick of ram if my comp could take. I've got a shuttle comp which has 2 slots. I broke one of the slots a while ago, so it only takes one stick. :/ Anyway, I had another setback. The clients decided to redownload that 632mb patch. I'm calling it a day. My comp appears to be not good enough and I've spent more time trying to get the game to work than play it. >_

@gmmonkey

Well you'r only option if not buy a whole new pc since you apparently need it :p is to get rid of the 1dimm of 1Gb and get a single 2GB ram stick itself. Just a thought. Well it;s really up to you. Goign to sleep now since im buzzing it :S Good luck with it!

I actually tried out the game for like 4 hours today at a friend's. it wasn't what I expected. I experience like 2 crash during the 4 hour session, no biggy. there are no pure magic classes. alot of hybrids. character customization is just like oblivion, really indepth + detailed. I like the first 2 hours of the game, but I lost interest in it very fast. there is nothing revolutionary about the combat :( don't get what all the hoopla was about, you have to play it to get what I mean. the collision mentioned in the article is nice. player forts + siege won't happen till high lvls though, wish I could experience that. in the end, this game feel like it is just another mmo, which I got tired of since wow. I played wow for like 1.5 years when it launched, have tried lotr, ddo, now AOC. I am hoping warhammer won't disappoint with it's RvR.

People keep saying this is having a 'smooth' launch. But a quick read through the official forums this morning suggests otherwise.

Servers going down with no warning or explanation given... quests simply not working for some people just because they have done things in a certain order... people who are running the game on systems that are more than capable or running the game having big problems with what should be minor things.

I really don't see myself paying to play this after the 30 days. While it is a nice change to the other MMO's out there, especially with the combat and classes available, the instancing is just a big downer for me. It really does feel like they built a single player RPG then stuck a couple of MMO elements on top of that, at least for PvE.

Personally, I'd like to come back to this in a couple of months time and see how things have changed, it has potential, but like a lot of MMO's at launch... it's hard to tell if the game will reach that potential...

Having played 15 or so hours of it since Friday I'd give it a 7/10.

I played WoW up to 60 and also masses of Guild Wars. To me, AoC is a hybrid of both of those games (OK so that's stating the bl**dy obvious).

What I like:
+ graphically very nice;
+ innovative combat system that feels genuinely different;
+ seems lag-free (so far)
+ interesting character classes
+ fairly decent avatar customization

What I dislike:
- no real immersion - too much instancing;
- no proper emotes (reminiscent of what I disliked in GW)
- graphically very intensive (I have 7900GT oc'd) though runs mostly OK
- cut scenes reminiscent of GW
- lacks the social and 'addictive secret ingredient' that WoW had
- I dislike the GUI overall, not up to WoW
- tutorial at beginning not clear enough about combat, combos, etc.

If it sounds like I'm a WoW fanboi, I'm not. I played up to 60 and then quit (several years ago). However, at that time I thought it was the most addictive, incredibly well conceived and deeply enjoyable game I'd ever played. Some slagged it off as not being 'skill based' (good point) but that didn't stop me enjoying it.

I played GW from earliest beta right through to the second (or third) add-on. I quit that about 2 years ago now. I quite liked the PvP but didn't like the instancing / lack of a persistent world. I lost interest.

I guess it's horses for courses. If you're expecting something that will step-change the MMO industry and throw things like WoW to the dogs, you'll likely be disappointed.

I'm currently doing the single-player Tortage Night campaign (and at lvl 10) but don't find myself particularly 'addicted' or wanting to play it rather than do other things. As it currently stands, I don't plan to play beyond the 30 days that come with the game.

@Oracle
First of the emotion issues will be over with very soon. I thought it was something you could understand for yourself but trust me they mught be all the emotions ( since a lot are even moved out for the time being ) will be properly fixxed over time and hopefully within the month.
The heavy load on the VGA, well I've played also all MMOs most likely and for example Lotro wouldnt even start on a crapy ass laptop I had before and after a few months that was fixxed through patches too and runs more smooth than WoW ( and Im serious on this which is sad when you come to think that Lotro has amazing graphs when compared to any previews MMO and specially WoW ) so those are things that will be fixxed with all the feedback and lets better call them complains. We did our best in the beta to let them know what was wrong but if they waited to fix everything that buggs you up before release then you would have to wait the least another year.
The tutorials personally at first I didnt even need them. I only checked them afterwards cause they were bugging since they became a huge list on the side. BTW I have never seen a better tutorial system in a game since it almost like a huge search engine on the side and also leads you to similar troubleshooting while checking something else with trigered buttons on the tut popups.
And in case you think im nerfing WoW, no i even turned my last char ( Shadow Priest ) 70 fully pvp geared a few days before i start Conan.

@M83J01P97
Well according to what you say then yes I'll suggest to stop laying for now and come back in a few months and play when the rest of us enjoy the game and give feedback to have it completely fixxed for ppl like you when you come back. The thing is that most have to realise that for a game of the kind it's our effort as well to make it get to perfection and by dropping it it wont really. Still noone can change ur mind so you can go ahead and quit AoC. I rather know later on that since Beta I was with the ppl that helped make this game better like others did with wow etc and remember the laggy crapy AoC it was at first. I really don't rather start bitching though. Nothing personal. im just telling you how I see it. Specially since it's a work that we should apriciate if we want something to move on from WoW. Like i hate the fact there are still ppl playing L2! :p

@miiiguel

Still not covinced. I know some of the people that work there. If they are making a 360 port like they state in the article it wont be out for a long long time and by the time its done its too late. So why even bother making it. Dont get me wrong i would love a Norvegian 360 game so i hope they are making it and that its out soon. I just dont believe it.

the review only mentioned WoW, what 3 or four times, almost a record for this site

i hate WoW, i hate the way any reviewer can't look at an MMO without mentioning it. I hate the fact that anything different to it, is now a problem.

Let me be blunt, WoW will never be toppled from its throne. Its marketing team are level 80 marketing gods, with full talent trees.

But mmos like Conan and WAR arent trying to topple WoW, they're hunting their won demographic and doing it their way.

Quite frankly, having a game filled with over 18's is lure enough.

Cant wait to get it. If it doesn't work out, they have years to fix it.

@muscleblade

Well Microsoft have bought the rights for AoC to come out on the 360... so it is coming out at some point in time, whether or not it is a year from now is another question though.

@anomagnus

How much of a difference will 18+ really make? Sure there are a lot of kids that are immensely immature in WoW, but in my experience the only games that really have polite, considerate communities are ones that don't appeal so much to the mainstream (EVE and so on). Certainly blaming the 15-18 year olds for halo 3's notorious community seems rather harsh.

@anomagnus:
oh shi--your allowed to play Conan? I thought you were one of those teenagers making life a hell in Wow.

Oh well, seems like the "only grown ups and so-called mature people will play Conan"-concept failed miserably.

Yeah, I've not played Conan an awful lot, but from what I have seen, there are plenty of the annoying teenage MMO stereotypes present in the game. Fourtunatly, the slightly rubbish chat system means you can easily ignore all of that.

I would think Conan would actually attract a lot more 'immature' gamers actually considering the fact it is filled with blood and tits.

People need to realize that the difference in behavior between 14 and 18/19 aint that big. People turn 18, thinks "woo! im mature! Look at me being mature!" and instead ends up back at the teenage-state.
This seems to drop off gradually when people reach the lvl..i mean age of 23-ish.

Hmm, I think ill just make it a rule of thumb from today on that ill never talk to anyone below the age of 22. Should spare me both time and..well, mostly a whole lot of time!

Also, dickshits will always be dickshits, especially in an mmo. It doesnt make em any less annoying if they happen to be 35 rather than 15.

(I may very well be a dickshit myself when it comes to MMOs. Its just a sweet thing to piss people of now and then.)

I think referencing WoW is entirely appropriate, as after playing Conan it is clearly heaving inspired by WoW, everything from the quests and quest givers, the talent trees, the zones, and the pvp mini games. The only different bits are guild cities and battlekeeps, which appear to be in a very rough state at the moment.

Seems that they've set themselves up to be WoW-like but with a higher age rating and content and hoping to attract players by that and by an improved combat system. Problem is this is ruined by the bugs, the ropey UI, the lack of post-40 content, the system requirements and the lack of working economy.

Over time it should become a decent game, but it needed to be something either revolutionary or a lot more polished to be genuinely successful and noteworthy. Instead it's just WoW after a few pints and a fight.

@davisorle

Cheers, and I agree, if my laptop had the necessary specs to support the game I would take the PC version anyday, but as I'm not able to afford upgrading I'd have to play on the xbox instead.

Just went and re-read the Vanguard review and re-review and will be very interesting to see if Eurogamer only gives this a seven after a thorough play-through.

just want to add my 2p here.
like may have said already, Im having a blast.
I upgraded my rig in anticipation of AoC's launch, I use it for CAD / 3D art work too though so it wasn't just another games splurge :)

I have an intel quad core 2.4ghz chip, nvidia 9800 GTX card and 4 BG ram.
Im running at high settings, with a few boxes unchecked just to improve frame rate.
the game is gorgeous in the start areas... but when I left Tortage and got to 'Conall's Valley' in Cimmeria...
I nearly shat myself O.o
this zone is a huge valley with steep sloping sides and lush with vegetation and wild life - and i could see almost all of it standing at the starting hub.
'Attention to detail' in this game is phenomenal and will give leave you with a pleasant tingley feeling on the back of your scrotum. ;)
One 'holy-shit' moment came when i was passing a small series of waterfalls... and realised there were salmon jumping upstream trying to scale it. awesome.

Pre-launch i promised myself I wouldnt start a Barbarian in AoC. figuring it would turn into something like the Nightelf Hunter of WoW. that was a mistake tbh, after trying the assassin, herald of Xotli and conqueror I have finally and unashamedly settled down as a Barbie hehe. Just such a fun class to play.

Im level 46 now, while group play at the start was a frantic mess of spamming abilities randomly with no appreciation of tactics... even random groups i join these days show that as time passes we are slowly but surely finding our rhythm and getting a hang of the class dynamics.

My guild is starting to gather the resources needed for our guild city - various structures you build here directly benefit all your members by buffing their stats etc just for existing. others grant access to higher profession teirs - the alchemists tower etc.

there are quite a few issues atm in the game.
lag spikes and some glitches are to be expected this early in a launch, but haven't been that frequent.
The bank / mail / auction house / guild bank system is all rolled into one - and was broken until recently.
now that its fixed, its proving to be quite handy - you can flag stuff as 'for sale' from your bank.

zoning was rather annoying at the start, but i've kind of accepted it now. i can see its benefits as well as its faults.
it allows the game to look this good consistently and not be a lagfest the likes of the city of 'Ironforge' in WoW back in the early days. I missed the opening of the gates of An Quiraj when i played WoW due to the server crashing constantly with the whole population gathered in one place lol.
Im playing on a PVP server, as expected there a more than a few wankers who level up, then return to low areas to gank people respawning at a graveyard...
with the multiple instancing of zones - you can just switch instance and avoid the arseholes. quite handy.

one major flaw is the grouping interface, and how this works with the instancing.
when grouping up you have to make sure everyone is in the same instance of the zone or you'll miss each other.
this could be far better designed and more user friendly than it is now, but its early days.
They have already patched in some ui / chat improvements - colors and the ability to right click names in chat etc.
I expect more to follow, and for things to smooth out more as time goes by.

orange do world a favour and unplug your internet connection NAO!
AoC is = to wow as much as Pamela Anderson is = to your fatty mom