Conan's Second Coming

By Rob Fahey Published 2 April, 2009

Funcom bridges the content gap.

Funcom launches free trials for its fantasy MMO Age of Conan today. You can pick up one of 20,000 exclusive free trial keys here at Eurogamer - just head on over to the giveaway pages for European servers or North American servers as appropriate. There are 10,000 keys available for each, and anyone can play on any server. Each trial key unlocks seven days of free play, and three exclusive in-game items.

But why should you give Age of Conan a second chance after its launch disappointed so many last year? Funcom has made many claims for fixing the game's flaws and flooding it with new content, but do they stand up? We sent our long-suffering Hyborian correspondent Rob Fahey back into the game to find out.

An hour into my latest adventure in Age of Conan's Hyboria, I'm discovering that playing a long-abandoned MMORPG character is absolutely nothing like riding a bike.

Unaccustomed to the pace of the game, my chubby digits mash helplessly at the number keys like a chimpanzee trying to play Chopin. My combos fail, my buffs don't shine and my health bar falters perilously as I struggle to relearn the input sequences.

I'd forgotten how intense and tightly sequenced Age of Conan's battles are. Accustomed to World of Warcraft, where the global cooldown on abilities seems glacial by comparison, I'm taken aback all over again by how much direct input Conan wants from me. As my fingers slowly recall the patterns they need and I start being able to string together hits, I'm recalling something else, too. Conan's combat is damned good fun. I wonder if the rest of the game is finally living up to that?

A little context: you can track my tempestuous relationship with Age of Conan through its review and re-review here on Eurogamer. I was cautiously but enthusiastically optimistic about the game at launch. Half a year later, I was crestfallen and cynical. Promises hadn't been kept, content hadn't arrived and the game had been "polished" with all the efficacy of a tramp cleaning your car window with a mouthful of spit and yesterday's newspaper.

I'd manfully struggled through the game to deliver one character to the level cap, but my two others remained stranded. My Guardian was sitting at level 37, dumped unceremoniously in a corner of the Wild Lands of Zelata. I had ground to a halt with him - literally. I simply couldn't face another round of bugged quests and sparse content.

'Conan's Second Coming' Screenshot 1

Funcom staff manning the Content Improvement Machine.

Yet, all these months later, Age of Conan is making all the right noises again. From those still playing, the news has been glowing - almost suspiciously so. The engine is fixed! The content is polished! New zones and dungeons have been added! From shortly after the arrival of new game director Craig Morrison, it seems, Funcom has taken to keeping its promises and Age of Conan has been turning into the game I'd hoped it could be from the outset. I'm dubious - but it's worth a look, right?

Thus, I rejoin my noble Guardian. He's got a log full of quests I don't remember, bags full of stuff I don't recognise and an action bar filled with abilities whose purpose I can't fathom. It's going to be a slow start.

As I push my way through a handful of the quests in my log, I put the game engine through its paces. A lot has changed. For a start, Age of Conan is now running smoothly and consistently at 60 frames per second. Aside from the occasional glitch with texture loading, the game's graphics are now pretty much perfect, barely stressing my mid-range PC even at high settings. Best of all, across the entire three weeks spent playing the game for this feature, I didn't experience a single crash. The technical issues which dogged Age of Conan after launch have, it seems, completely disappeared.

In the last few days, Funcom has even managed to put to rest one of the biggest criticisms levelled at the game, the lack of the heralded DirectX 10 support. It has finally rolled out, albeit in a "test" form which needs to be switched on by the user. It's not perfect, but it does look pretty - the most notable changes are to foliage in the game, with trees and lush grass swaying gently in the wind, but other additions like "god rays" (sunbeams piercing the clouds) and enhanced underwater lighting are also very nice to look at.

Technologically at least, Age of Conan now works - but as frustrating as the game's hitches were, they weren't the reason I dropped my Guardian. To tempt me back, the game's content is going to have to have improved - a lot.

I began my rapprochement by hauling my heavy-armour-clad backside back to Old Tarantia, the game's central and most impressive city, which boasts a fairly large outdoor quest area and a handful of dungeons. It's a good stepping stone to haul me up into the early forties, whereupon I can head off to the Field of the Dead, a huge zone in the mountainous north where should bring me right up to level 50.

I'm a little concerned about this part of the journey. Funcom's headline addition to the content comes later in the game, with the Ymir's Pass zone, which is aimed at levels 55 to 65. If I have to spend 17 levels grinding through weak content to get there, I suspect that I'll be abandoning my Guardian again in a hurry.

A day later, I'm level 42 and I'm wondering what on earth has happened. I've blasted through the Tarantia Noble District, delved into the Outflow Tunnels solo dungeon, and travelled around a little to hand in various quests. In the process I've picked up five levels and, more importantly, I've had a huge amount of fun.

The same pattern repeats itself in the next couple of days, as I edge my way up to the low fifties. The gaping chasm in content which faced players in Age of Conan only a few months ago has been filled - but not by a single new zone or dungeon. It's hard to put my finger on what has made the difference. Certainly, there have been new quest lines and objectives added to many of the areas, giving much more density of content to work through. The game has also sprouted a variety of parallel objectives.

'Conan's Second Coming' Screenshot 3

"I call this one the PVP Class Balance."

There are more subtle changes here too, though. Content which was already in the game has become easier to find, with more NPCs and quests which point you in the right direction. Moreover, lengthy quest chains seem to have been broken up into distinct pieces, so missing out on a starting quest at level 35 isn't preventing you from accessing a major chain at level 45 any more. They're minor changes, but their effect on the game experience is anything but. I gain 15 levels without ever once having to go off and mindlessly kill monsters for the next ding, or stare at an empty quest log.

And then I hit Ymir's Pass. This icy, frozen wasteland, the home of the Frost Giants, shows Funcom's creativity firing on all cylinders. Perhaps the team knew how much was going to be measured by the quality of this new zone; the pressure was on, and you can almost sense that from the intensity of the zone's design. Ymir's Pass is a stricken, violent and war-torn zone, dripping with atmosphere and Conan lore. It's one of the most visually stunning areas in the game - and it's hopefully an indication of where Funcom is going to set the bar for quality in future updates.

It's hard to avoid comparisons with WOW's new Wrath of the Lich King zones when you play through Ymir's Pass. Here, too, is a northern wasteland, scarred with battle and filled with lore-heavy races and locations - Frost Giants, forces of Atzel burning and looting their way into Cimmeria, and various dodgy black magic types. Ymir's Pass sees Age of Conan wearing its "mature content" badge with pride again - not just in the form of naked breasts for the teenage contingent, but also by being downright nasty in a way most MMOs just don't do. There's screaming, blood, pain and unpleasantness, but there's also a solid narrative supported by a number of key, well-composed quest chains which put the nastiness in context.

Between Ymir's Pass, a little more work on my Destiny Quests (a character-specific quest chain which runs from the start of the game the whole way to level 80) and a handful of trips into group dungeons, I made 70 in no time: clean across the former content gap. Moreover, the whole journey was incredibly good fun - the best fun I've had in an MMORPG since I first got to rampage through the Death Knight's starting zone in WOW. But in Conan's case, the enjoyment lasted for a couple of weeks rather than a couple of hours.

Yes, I just compared Age of Conan to WOW, and favourably. Don't misunderstand - Conan still has issues with content and polish which WOW worked past years ago. The forthcoming changes to the game's itemisation are desperately needed, with Conan's armour and weapon systems still being utterly dull and uninspired. It's not the realistic models that are the problem, it's the fact that upgrades are largely meaningless - you find yourself discarding level 60 items because they're no better than the gear you first wore at level 40, which simply shouldn't be happening.

Moreover, Conan's endgame still needs work, even if it's getting there. Resurrecting my level 80 character, I managed to blag my way into a quick run around one of the new endgame raids, Xibaluku. I say "quick" - it actually turned out to be quite a time-sink, filled with boss encounters which turned out to be taxing even for a pretty decent six-man team. It's clear that Funcom is toying with ideas for evolving its endgame PVE encounters; several of Xibaluku's bosses came with mechanisms that had to be puzzled out, rather than being straightforward tank-and-spank fights. It's a step in the right direction, as are the technical fixes to the endgame PVP sieges, which are pretty much in working order now. The game is moving towards having enough to entertain its level 80 population.

'Conan's Second Coming' Screenshot 4

Now all we need is some players.

On the downside, finding a group to enjoy all of this content with can be a little tricky. Age of Conan is, for the most part, extremely friendly to solo players. But even after the server mergers, it seems that the populations aren't high enough to make finding a group easy, and as ever, there's a chronic shortage of tanks and healers. Other MMOs solve this by diversifying those roles to make them available to other classes, a trick which Funcom could certainly do with learning. However, the community itself, after the mass exodus of the first few months, is for the most part friendly, helpful and mature.

The final test of Conan's newfound quality (and quantity) was the toughest. Having brought my Guardian up to 70 (he'll make 80 in no time, I'm sure), my eyes fell on another character on my login screen - a Tempest of Set, abandoned at level 30 but now apparently one of the best characters to play in PVP. Could I face going through the levelling curve all over again, so soon?

My cursor hovered uncertainly over the Tempest's character panel for a moment - but really, there was little doubt in my mind. Age of Conan isn't perfect yet, by any means, but the game is finally living up to its early promise. It's intense, entertaining and rewarding to play - and bringing a third character up to the level cap is looking like a pleasure rather than a chore. If it can sustain this rate of improvement - and that is a big "if" - it won't be long before Funcom has one of the best MMOs in the world on its hands.

Picture of Rob.

About Rob Fahey

Rob Fahey is a former editor of GamesIndustry.biz who spent several years living in Japan and probably still has a mint condition Dreamcast Samba de Amigo set.

Read more articles from Rob by visiting the Rob Fahey archive page.

You may also like...

Comments (93) Latest comment 3 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Dizzy #1 3 years ago

    I will probably return to this if I ever get bored of the other MMOs. But LOTRO, WAR and Champions (soon) are keeping me really busy and satisfied.

  • mukki #2 3 years ago

    Hehe!

    what is up with sexual innuendo in the title?

    and

    ya

    first!

    dang correction 2nd!
    Edited by 1 at 02/04/09 @ 10:07

  • Squire #3 3 years ago

    Can't help but think it's too late.

  • stepneg #4 3 years ago

    Do you have to create a new trial account with these keys or can they be used to activate an old account for seven days?

  • Evolution #5 3 years ago

    @Dizzy

    How much free time do you have to be able to play 3 mmos?!

  • Skurmedel #6 3 years ago

    This is the only MMO that I've ever been fully interested in, besides EvE, but alas Conan seemed to suck at launch. Maybe it's better now; I guess I'll have to try.

  • Pirotic #7 3 years ago

    the free items ploy makes this smell a bit desperate. I'm in no rush, I doubt 20k keys are going anywhere soon.

  • TitusCrow #8 3 years ago

    cant help but think what might have happend if it had been released this july with said item overhaul and all the stuff now in it, rather than vomited out last summer with only 20 lvls of the game finished. "ponders"

  • Rirekon #9 3 years ago

    Have they fixed the god-awful GUI yet though?

  • Bartacus #10 3 years ago

    Thanks for the trial key, never played a game of this type.

    Cant see me paying monthly for it though I hate wasting the meagre money I have; cant even justify xboxlive gold at the minute.

    I have friends who pay £8.00 a month on that WOW game it would have to be damn good for me to pay that.

  • berelain #11 3 years ago

    Shocking stuff!

    Actually, Im pleased to read this. I enjoyed Age of Conan, but stopped playing because it was just too empty and riddled with bugs, and returned to the still-incredible Lord of the Rings Online. But I'll give AoC another go, and see how it fares these days.

    @Bartacus: I used to think that way, but then, with the amount of content in a game like this, and the amount of time you can play it for, I don't really mind so much. A normal game lasts what, 6-12 hours these days? You could go through several normal games a month, and even if you just rented them, that would cost more than the £8 for an MMO subscription.

    Its not really an exact comparison but thats the way I chose to look at it. You could of course argue that buying / renting new games each month would be a different experience each time, but you could argue the same of an MMO with different character classes and regions...

  • anomagnus #12 3 years ago

    Played so many mmo's, and i dont know why i ever join them before at least a year passes

    The first six months on AO were hellish

    The first six months on planetisde were terrible (then it got better, then worse, then better, etc, etc)

    WoW, despite what the fanboys would have you believe, was piss poor in the first year (great now though)

    WAR is the same, in at early lunch, gone after two months

    As i said many times, Conan will improve, and if Funcom are smart in their marketing, they can start clawing back subscribers. They don't need 10 million, but if they can target everyone that left, and find a way to bring them back in, they're on to a winner

  • Shinji #13 3 years ago

    @TitusCrow - Indeed. If Conan was launched in the state it's in today, rather than effectively having players beta-test it through a tortuous year of fixes and updates, it would be a massive hit. Now it's starting from a position where it's got a really negative image for most players. I don't know if it'll be able to overcome that - but based on my experiences in the last three weeks, the game IS good right now, and improving rapidly. It's worth a shot if you've got some free time to plug into it, definitely.

  • Dizzy #14 3 years ago

    >How much free time do you have to be able to play 3 mmos?!

    I do not sleep :)

    It is all about planning....

  • Roamer #15 3 years ago

    One thing that favours Funcom versus other mmo-developers is their stamina - I think their dedication to improve their game shows that they're in this for the long run. Clearly, that's the sort of thing that brings in the discriminating mmo-types. I think little Conan will be just fine. Slow, but expansive growth over a few years and then it'll be among the top mmos.

  • Gurgeh #16 3 years ago

    "It's worth a shot if you've got some free time to plug into it, definitely."

    As Harry Hill would say, no it isn't.

    It's exasperating how this site tries to dig up MMOs that have died and been buried (Vanguard, Tabula Rasa, Conan), never mind how it reviews them (usually along the lines of "early days but shows promise", which is probably what Hitler's parents said when he was born).

    Folks, don't waste your time or money. These games had their chance and fluffed it, and especially in Funcom's case they don't deserve another. Wait for one of the new MMOs that are coming out which at least have a chance of being popular.

  • munki83 #17 3 years ago

    I'm going to try the trial its a huge download but im going to use my unis connection to make it less painless

  • Slabbathepave #18 3 years ago

    @Gurgeh

    So many things wrong with that paragraph that i barely know where to start...

    Quiet time Gurgeh.

  • iokthemonkey #19 3 years ago

    Yeah, that's one piece of advice I would give - before ANYBODY considers subscribing to AoC, make sure you've completed the Tortage quests (and are above level 20) as the the tutorial segment of AoC sets a high standard from which it crashes spectacularly. So before you part with your subs, make sure you're out of that zone and that the game is still "fun," otherwise you'll be severely disappointed when you reach the "real world" and have to pay for it.

  • Shinji #20 3 years ago

    By Gurgeh's logic, WoW should have been dismissed out of hand because of the huge problems it had in the first six months. Although that's conveniently forgotten by revisionist gamers these days, for the most part :)

  • iokthemonkey #21 3 years ago

    By Gurgeh's logic, WoW should have been dismissed out of hand because of the huge problems it had in the first six months. Although that's conveniently forgotten by revisionist gamers these days, for the most part :)

    ----

    I'm by no means a WoW fanboy, but Wow's launch compared to AoC was a walk in the park. Indeed, aside from the registration screwing up and the -bizarre - "use Firefox" workaround, I didn't encounter any issues with WoW on launch day. AoC on the other hand was still screwing up 2 months after I started playing and the balance issues were still present when I quit after about 3 months.

    More power to anybody wanting to play it, but I don't think this "revisionist" attitude is limited to those criticising AoC.

  • Silvervein #22 3 years ago

    @shinji
    Sometimes I can't help but wonder if wow shouldn't have been dismissed. It imposed its gameplay style on mmos as such, and it's one taken straight from korean grinders which, personally, I think are epitome of boring. Nowadays any mmo at works seems to be aiming to emulate wow and does so by copying its worst parts. Hard to find something different on the market. Rare titles that escape this mad circle, like EVE or darkfall, are few and far in between.
    Edited by 1 at 02/04/09 @ 12:05

  • Chris Gardiner #23 3 years ago

    What massive problems did WoW have? A particularly reputable game site gave it a very positive review, including comments like "This is the greatest fantasy MMO in existence, the absolute state of the art in orc-bashing." and mentioned only "incredibly minor problems".

    [link url=http://www .eurogamer.net/articles/r_wow_pc
    ]http://www .eurogamer.net/articles/r_wow_pc
    [/link]

    I remember everyone and their dog playing it, which meant maddening server queues. But it was accessible, there was no dearth of content - you could get all the way through without questless grinding, and it was very stable.

    I don't think Conan is compared unfavourably to WoW as it is now. Well, maybe it is - but I think it's also compared unfavourably with WoW at launch, and fairly so.

    I've played a fair bit of WoW, and a month of AoC (don't play either anymore). I thought AoC was quite fun, especially the flavour and combat, but still essentially not different enough from WoW to keep my interest.

    I dunno. I think that saying WoW had "massive problems in the first six months" can be more fairly accused of revisionism. Especially when AoC's what it's being compared to. AoC was still a bit of a mess when I played it a couple of months ago, and I understand it was worse on launch.

    For full disclosure I should mention my PC wasn't really up to AoC. I may not have been seeing it at its best.

  • polaris70 #24 3 years ago

    Does this game have PvP anywhere, anytime like Mortal Online will have?

  • sneetch #25 3 years ago

    @iokthemonkey
    I'm by no means a WoW fanboy, but Wow's launch compared to AoC was a walk in the park. Indeed, aside from the registration screwing up and the -bizarre - "use Firefox" workaround, I didn't encounter any issues with WoW on launch day. AoC on the other hand was still screwing up 2 months after I started playing and the balance issues were still present when I quit after about 3 months.

    More power to anybody wanting to play it, but I don't think this "revisionist" attitude is limited to those criticising AoC.

    No-one is saying AOC doesn't have it's problems but none the less, WoW did have serious problems with the reliability of their login, billing and world servers for months after launch (due mainly to the huge influx of players), then huge problems with loot lag and other issues. I'm not commenting on AOC as I only played the beta/demo and that was enough for me but it doesn't change the fact that WoW had serious reliability and performance problems for the first year or so, those are now (perhaps rightfully) forgotten by a lot of people who point at it as having had a fantastic launch. It was frustrating as hell a lot of the time but was a good enough game that people were more than willing to put up with it; one of the main reasons I think was that, unlike AOC, it had content all the way to the level cap.

  • iokthemonkey #26 3 years ago

    I can only speak for my experiences, but - as I say - the only issue I ever experienced with WoW on launch day was that I couldn't register it until I tried using Firefox.

    The rest of the experience was smooth as a smooth thing that's just had a waxing.

    AoC on the other hand...

  • Miths #27 3 years ago

    I just started playing AoC a few days ago, and while I'm just a level 18 Guardian still stuck on the starter island, it's definitely looking very promising so far (I'm a casual solo player in MMOs).
    I love the very active combo based combat system for melee characters, and the graphics are pretty damn impressive with everything cranked up to max (the new DX10 engine definitely needs some optimization before they remove the "test" label though, even with several features disabled, I typically get 20-40 fps on the DX10 client and an overall less than smooth experience, even when there are no obvious DX10 effects in sight, while I'm between 40 and 80+ fps most of the time with the DX9 client on my GTX 260).

  • Benno #28 3 years ago

    Conan is now pretty good. CONFIRMED.

  • dirtysteve #29 3 years ago

    EG does seem to give AoC more coverage than it deserves.

  • Lemming81 #30 3 years ago

    Tbh, I saw this coming from EG. Call me paranoid and cynical but they've been giving Funcom some inexplicably 'benefit-of-the-doubt' bordering on favourable interviews leading up to this.

    This is one of those rare times I'd rather wait for an alternative independent gaming site to re-review the game.

  • Azazel #31 3 years ago

    In the words of Clint Eastwood - deserves aint got nuthin to do with it.

  • HMAN #32 3 years ago

    Unfortunately Miths Tortage is awesome (first time at least) but heart breakingly its all downhill from there.

  • Notez #33 3 years ago

    "as the the tutorial segment of AoC sets a high standard"

    --------

    I laughed at that (no offence). Oh boy, was it ever a horrible chore to play even to level 12. Also for the reviewer, best fun since starting a Death Knight? Even Elwynn forest in WoW is superior to that tired joke.

    It's going to take a bit more than this to make an MMO appealing and since WoW got Nintendoed with the newest expansion it'll probably be a good while before I'll be touching another MMO.

    Bring on Diablo 3.

  • Gaol #34 3 years ago

    More sponsored bullshit from EG on an utter failure of a game. I thought they had learned their lesson with the rereview, after overrating the original release and allowing Funcom to sell loads of the boxes despite the fact the game was an abhorration. Apparently not.

    This reads like an advertising feature and the amount of press they've given this pish is unprecedented. AoC cannot be fixed, it has several fundamental flaws. Let's just forget about it.
    Edited by 1 at 02/04/09 @ 13:30

  • Miths #35 3 years ago

    "It's going to take a bit more than this to make an MMO appealing and since WoW got Nintendoed with the newest expansion it'll probably be a good while before I'll be touching another MMO.

    Bring on Diablo 3."

    Yes, but first bring on Jumpgate Evolution :). While I'm enjoying AoC right now, I've really been longing for a good sci-fi MMO (hoping JE will in fact be good :p), and though I've tried a few times I just can't seem to get hooked on Eve Online again.

  • Spekingur #36 3 years ago

    I'll give AoC a go in a few months when end content has been improved and itemisation has been fixed.

    It's also obvious that some people here are just plain haters. Did you know that today it is lame to hate?
    Edited by 1 at 02/04/09 @ 13:33

  • Benno #37 3 years ago

    WoWs launch was amazing. I didn't have one single problem with it at all. Like none at all.

  • Spekingur #38 3 years ago

    I don't remember having problems in WoW either. Nor in AoC except the first week I played. Perhaps I'm so used to buggy releases that I have stopped noticing them or they stopped bothering me X)
    Many others obviously have had problems with both games so, yeah, I'm not going to dismiss that.

  • JammyPez #39 3 years ago

    "But why should you give Age of Conan a second chance after its launch disappointed so many last year?"
    Because people paid on the basis of...well it was a bunch of lies.
    Direct X 10 on the box at launch, it's fully working now right? ;)

    "Age of Conan isn't perfect yet, by any means, but the game is finally living up to its early promise."
    Buy again, now! It's almost as good as we told you it was going to be! But not quite.

  • Plewt #40 3 years ago

    That this abomination is still alive yet again proves there's no hope for humanity.

  • curtlikesmeat #41 3 years ago

    I never tried AoC but I remember being in Anarchy Online at launch and it was absolutely dire - despite saying they'd learned from their mistakes they didn't, which I don't mind too much, it's evidently not childsplay to get one of these out with all the pressures involved. I've just got one of those keys now so I'll give it a go.

    I still have a character mid way through the 70s in WoW though so most likely I'll stick with that. I don't have time to play two MMOs, and even if I did I can't afford over £15 a month in game subscription fees.

    Edit:
    32gb and then a 3gb patch
    Oh. Nevermind then.
    Edited by 1 at 02/04/09 @ 14:01

  • iokthemonkey #42 3 years ago

    People don't seem to remember the poor launch WoW had, possibly because people tend to remember the games as they were when they left them (or are now if you're still playing). Well that and then the simple fact that more than half of WoW's players didn't buy the game before the release of TBC.

    ----

    Again, I can only speak from personal experience, but aside from the registration issue - which I was able to resolve by installing Firefox about an hour after trying to register using IE - I experienced no problems playing WoW on the day of launch. That's not true at all of my experience of AoC, which actually started badly and was no better after 3 months, at which point I cancelled my account.

  • Turrican #43 3 years ago

    I tried to get into Conan I really did, but it was Dark Age of Camelot all over again. It just feels so backwards...

    I agree with the poster above who said that MMOs have stuck too closely to WoW's template. Hopefully some of the sci-fi MMOs coming up will change more than just the setting.

  • Plewt #44 3 years ago

    You'd think developers would strive for something more than making their games equal to WoW launch by now, and then how a lot of players can settle for that is nothing short of pathetic.



    Edited by 1 at 02/04/09 @ 14:45

  • Jockie #45 3 years ago

    I re-subbed to conan a few weeks ago, then quickly re-unsubbed.

    The combat is great, fast paced and entertaining, i didn't have any issues with content gaps or tech difficulties. My issues mainly came from the server i transferred to was filled with horrible horrible people. The changes to pvp have lead to a mass ganking invasion whereby virtually every respawn pad has an all out chaotic war going on around it. It was fun for a while and as i was with a group of friends most of the time we gave good account of ourselves, but it began to wear me down. Half the time your fighting mobs in a populated zone you end up looking over your shoulder, get into a difficult battle with a few mobs and a ranger will pop out of stealth and root you, before his assassin buddy comes and stick his daggers up your rear-end and your dead before you can move.

    The itemization is still godawful, both in looks and utility and that has always been a major sticking point for me with conan.

    But yeah my advice to anyone considering a trial/resubbing is don't roll on the fury PVP server, roll on either aquilonia rp-pvp (which the SCUM guild aside are nicer people and a bit less likely to kill you before the map has finished loading in) or the PVE server, which means you will miss out on pvp until level 80, which is a shame because if there was a bit of rhyme and reason to the pvp it would be great.

  • Slabbathepave #46 3 years ago

    @jockie

    Indeed. A shame Funcom didnt consider the 'cunt factor' when designing a free for all brutal kill fest. In theory it sounds great but in practice its just a game where ganking is encouraged. The whole thing needs to be mastrfully done in order to work.

  • Miths #47 3 years ago

    "Ive got a Collectors Edition sitting on my shelf (chalk that one down to getting over-excited on launch day..groan)...its been long uninstalled from my PC. How many gigabytes of patch am I looking at, if I do a reinstall for the trial?"

    I bought the boxed version last week, if I recall correctly the patches amounted to a little over 1.2 GB. Fortunately the servers were fairly fast (I was getting 1-1.5 MB/s most of the time, though it did slow down a bit on the last 20% or so), so I was playing less than an hour of initial installation.

    I just checked the size of my AoC folder - 27.8 GB. That's quite a whopper :).

  • Miths #48 3 years ago

    @Slabbathepave

    Not all servers have free-for-all PvP. I knew I would quickly become fed up with getting ganked constantly, so I chose a PvE server. As previously mentioned I'm still on the starter island (should be leaving today with my main character), but I believe even the PvE servers have PvP areas?

  • Krelle #49 3 years ago

    Too late, just give up already.

  • Hypercube #50 3 years ago

    There were parts of AoC that I really liked. That island off the coast of the starter area had some interesting areas, and playing my Tempest was involved enough to be busy all the time. Once I'd finished the starter area it got old quickly.

    If they've really fixed it, I see no reason for all this hate for it - most people who have played MMOs before know the ropes. I do agree that it may be too little, too late. Since WAR has come out, I can't imagine having enough time to play both games, and I'm still enjoying WAR enough to keep on with that particular time sink.

  • StarchildHypocrethes #51 3 years ago

    Hmmm, might give one of these keys a go.

    Bought it when it launched, but after having so many issues getting a servicable frame rate I just gave up. If they've fixed this then I may well have a proper go at it.

  • sneetch #52 3 years ago

    @Benno
    WoWs launch was amazing. I didn't have one single problem with it at all. Like none at all.

    Depends on what you mean by "WoW's launch" really, if you're referring to the day it launched then yeah, it was fine for me too. I logged in about 10am, created my account and started playing. My house-mate had some problems creating his account and patching his client when he got home from work and a bit of trouble logging in and a little wait due to queues but I'd been playing since that morning solidly (and compulsively) without problems.

    If by launch you're referring to the weeks and months afterwards then there were severe technical issues: out of curiosity I checked my WoW account and I got 14 days of exemptions in the first year playing WoW, in case anyone doesn't know Blizzard gave these days as compensation whenever the service was down or otherwise unplayable a lot over a period of several days (if the server was just down for an evening then you got nothing). Now perhaps you were lucky with when you were playing and on which server but my servers Dragonblight and Bladefist were down one or two evenings a week for months. The authentication servers also frequently failed due to overloading so even if the servers were up you often couldn't log in. For a time it was 50-50 whether or not you'd be able to log in on the evenings and you'd often drop and then get the unable to authenticate message while you tried to log in. The auction house and mail systems also had problems (empty auction houses or delayed mails).

    These problems were, basically, due to overloading so things improved hugely when they improved their back-end and especially when they opened new data-centres but for a long time it was flaky as hell.

    Maybe some people were lucky with all this and through sheer coincidence just happened to not want to play when it was down but my friends, guildmates and I have different memories of the early months.

  • iokthemonkey #53 3 years ago

    I've got to say Sneetch, I'd hate to be on a plane with you, as you sound like a real Jonah... :)

  • Slabbathepave #54 3 years ago

    I am disapointed to have found that i cannot use this 7 day trial offer with my old account.

    So...

    I either start another character and play a section of AoC that i already thought very highly of and abandon my existing lvl 80 character, complete with items/gold/standing and ability to see for myself if they have made enough headway with the section of the game that actually counts....

    or...

    I pay another sub.

    So i can only assume this is not an effort to bring ex-subscribers back into the fold but only to attract fresh meat. Which kind of renders the whole article associated with this offer a little pointless and makes EG's nose smell a little bit like its been up Funcoms arsehole.

  • iokthemonkey #55 3 years ago

    No, you pay your original account sub again and lose all the progress and - more importantly - the bonus items this trial gives you.

  • Orange #56 3 years ago

    Rob sounds like all he did was pve.

    The only bit of conan that really caught my interest was the pvp, thats where all the potential was and a shame they seem to have focussed so much only on the pve side.

  • zecker #57 3 years ago

    how much patching is there now like 4gb??

  • Plewt #58 3 years ago

    how much lipstick is there now like 4kg??

    fixed


  • AOFanboi #59 3 years ago

    STOP COMPARING AOC LAUNCH TO WOW LAUNCH!

    Dammit, AoC was NOT competing against "WoW at launch" it was competing against WoW THEN, X years after launch. It does not matter how WoW was at launch that was almost ANCIENT HISTORY! You fail @ marketing.

    If the argument is that we should give AoC the same time to mature as WoW has had, then I do not think Funcom would like us to not play for those X years - that is after all why they have this campaign now; they want us to play now. And in X years WoW will have improved even more, maybe even dumbing down to AoC's "X marks the spot" quest indicators...
    Edited by 1 at 02/04/09 @ 22:17

  • iokthemonkey #60 3 years ago

    MOAR EXCLAMAPTION PONTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

  • JediMasterMalik #61 3 years ago

    I'll give it a go with this trial, but I'll probably stick with WAR for this year at least. (gonna start with that in a couple of months)

  • Spekingur #62 3 years ago

    Yes. No other MMO matters. Only WoW matters. All others are horse dung. Yes, let us drone this over and over again because that will make it true. Yes.

    ...

  • Plewt #63 3 years ago

    Yes. No other MMO matters. Only WoW matters. All others are horse dung. Yes, let us drone this over and over again because that will make it true. Yes.

    ...

    We don't have to make it true, it already is, and we won't see any game change that until possibly Bioware's The Old Republic or Blizzards unannounced mmo.

  • Darkjinxter #64 3 years ago

    I resubbed back in January (gave up on LotRO's constant HM grinds) and went back to me ol' lvl71 barbarian. Aside from a drought at lvl 78 I found loads to do solo, grouped and in wee raids.
    I know regularly run in 24 man raids on the phatlewt trail, but not as often as most people playing the game.

    DX10 'test' went live last week and it looks lovely, but you take a framerate hit and it's not advisable running the DX10 client if you're going into groups or raids.

    All in all AoC is falling into a semblance of shape now. I see it getting better when FC finally get round to the 1.05 update which will move the game wow-wards with phatter lewt for the dedicated to chase after.

    The 5-day trial FC are offering may blow up in FC's faces though as it will take most new players most of that to complete Tortage, so in the last day or so of their trial they'll be left wondering why the chatty NPCs in Tortage have been replaced with txt'rs, they'll also be left wondering where they're going to get any gear for their lvl 21-25 characters. The truly adventerous will realise that although they can gather crafting materials, they're not allowed to use them until lvl40..Impossible in 5 days.

    I look forward to the trial'ers spamming the already uber-spammed global chat with daft questions.

    Aye, It's a hard life in Hyboria!!

  • Miths #65 3 years ago

    "The 5-day trial FC are offering may blow up in FC's faces though as it will take most new players most of that to complete Tortage, so in the last day or so of their trial they'll be left wondering why the chatty NPCs in Tortage have been replaced with txt'rs, they'll also be left wondering where they're going to get any gear for their lvl 21-25 characters..."

    On the other hand, if they are running the game at high settings, they may just be so wowed by the visuals when they arrive on the mainland, that that's enough to make them stick around for more :).
    Well, I can't speak for the Cimmerian and Stygian cities yet, but I just arrived in Tarantia last night after a few days on the starter island, and I was blown away by how the sight - and even more when I switched to DX10 (where I oddly enough didn't seem to take quite as hard a framerate hit as I did on Tortage).

    But it looks like you're right about the gear - I arrived as a level 19 Guardian and it seemed like non of the NPC vendors I could find were even selling armor, weapons etc. below level 30. The trade (auction) house did help though, as I were able to buy some green level 22 items at extremely low cost, but I'm obviously still three levels away from being able to use those.

  • iokthemonkey #66 3 years ago

    Miths -

    Gear in AoC is actually useless. You may as well run around naked for all the good your items do you.

    And no, I'm not being a smart-arse there. It's a known fact - which has been recognised by the developers - that gear is useless. They're addressing it at "some point in the future" but for now, don't worry about your gear. Just pick out gear that doesn't make you look like everybody else - s probably the most Epic Quest in AoC right now...

  • iokthemonkey #67 3 years ago

    But Anduz - one of the big problems in playing AoC is that you get no sense of advancement or achievement. There's no "ooh, I must get THAT" to drive you forward or any excitement when you loot a corpse or whatever. It's all "great, more brown armour that does nowt. Yay."

    All it does is make the game more "focused" (i.e. narrow) on your level and the XP grind, as there's not much else to actually DO or be rewarded with. Other titles have XP-focus, too, but there's also that "Ooh, if I complete this quest I'll get X" or "If I can sell this item, I can afford that new armour/weapon/item" etc.

    AoC lacks that and it makes for a very shallow experience.

  • 1simen1 #68 3 years ago

    Monkeychild:

    You keep at it i see lol.
    Problem is you are running out of arguments. All things have been fixed that you had problems with , performance, bugs ,lack of content, balance, raids, siegeing and more. Now confirmed fixed even by eurogamer.

    2 things/problems remain:

    1: DX10 on live now but only a test version, the player choses if he or she wants it activated or not.
    2: Items not meaning anything. This will be fixed in the next patch.

    So basically all you will have left against this game in a month or two is the fact that it's an instanced game, and some players like yourself might not like that.

    You can off course continue to be pissed at Funcoms poor launch, content and performance wise, but thats living in the past.

    About time you start liveing in 2009 together with the rest of us instead of rambeling on about how bad this game was 6 months ago, when you QUIT PLAYING AGE OF CONAN.

    Grow up and move on will ya!!

  • Plewt #69 3 years ago

    DX10 is so 2007.

  • Slabbathepave #70 3 years ago

    Damn MONKEYCHILD!!!!!!

    *shakes fist*

  • iokthemonkey #71 3 years ago

    Well here you go, 1semen1, here's your perfect opportunity to actually PLAY AOC FOR YOURSELF! Gasp!

    Go on - grab one of the keys, download it and give it a go. Go on.

    I find it amazing how you criticise ME for not playing the game for 6 months, yet you YOURSELF HAVE NEVER PLAYED IT AT ALL.

    Go on, download it right now. There are PLENTY of trial keys still available.

    But no, that's a silly idea, isn't it?

    And again, funny how everybody here agrees with me, yet you're singling me out AGAIN for your "special attention..." I've told you, I'm spoken for, so you'll have to find yourself somebody else...

  • 1simen1 #72 3 years ago

    Monkeyrude, already told you, i'm not into gorillaz.........

    Most people that "agree" with you seem to have quit before or around the same time you did.
    Meaning BEFORE all the changes to the better had started.

    Those that have tried it in 2009 will most of the time agree with Eurogamers findings.

    True i haven't played it, i work to much to play MMO'S at the moment. But i still follow interesting games out of habbit. I read the official forums and the players reactions. You know the people that are actually playing the game....

    I usually trust existing players for the pros and cons over mokeys that quit long time ago.....

    Oh and i don't critizise you, i critizise your EVERLASTING BITCHING AND PERSONAL VENDETTA against a game you didn't like in every....and i mean every news story made about AOC on Eurogamer and other websites.

    Seriously, you should consider getting help, this is getting pathetic!

  • iokthemonkey #73 3 years ago

    I knew you wouldn't give it a try.

    You see, here's your chance to experience the game FOR YOUR SELF FOR FREE, yet you won't do it. I don't know about you, but if I was so excited about a game and so keen to see it as you are, I'd jump at the chance to give it a try.

    Yet you won't. I wonder why that is?

    Oh, that's right - you don't "have the time." Funny, you find enough time to log onto this site every day looking for MY comments to jump on, yet you don't have time to try out a game. You know, if AoC was so great, you'd be able to jump-in, play for 20 minutes and think, "hey, that was fun." So why won't you give it a try? The "I don't have time" comment is clearly a lie, as you have plenty of time to troll these forums. Or rather, post comments directed at ME, considering that's all you actually DO post here...

    And regarding the "others agree" comment, I'm talking about the other posts in this comments section. You know, the ones made by other posters here? Or are you so enamoured with me that you can only see MY posts? Yeah, I figured as much...

    But go on, right now. Download it and give it a try. Until you do, NOBODY here will take you seriously, because to be presented with the opportunity to try the game and refuse makes it obvious you're a fool, a Funcom employee or a troll.

    Or posssibly all three.

  • 1simen1 #74 3 years ago

    Monkeyrant:

    There you go calling me a liar again. I guess the guy from Eurogamer is a liar to then, cause he sure don't agree with you either...

    Great arguing tactic by the way. If someone don't agree with you he is clearly a liar.
    Or a fool, or a Funcom employee, or a troll. You calling someone else a troll just made my day lol.

    I say it again. Pathetic!!

  • iokthemonkey #75 3 years ago

    Well then why not download the trial version and prove me wrong, hmm?

    Go on, there are a load of trial keys left. It's easy. Just get one, download the trial, install it and then have a play of it.

    Then you could form your OWN OPINIONS about the game, rather than continue making yourself look like a Funcom shill/troll/idiot by just repeating the opinions/experiences of somebody else.

    You see, that's the difference - Rob has played it FOR HIMSELF and come to his conclusions (even if, IMO, he's being very kind and missed the fact that grey mobs will still kill you, the world design is linear, the instances make it feel fractured and there are still a number of badly-conceived quests and general progression mechanics.) You on the other hand are continuing with your "it's great" ranting with no actual experience of it to back that up.

    So yeah, until you actually form an opinon of your own BY PLAYING THE GAME you're either a Funcom employee, a troll or an idiot.

    Take your pick.
    Edited by 1 at 06/04/09 @ 17:40

  • 1simen1 #76 3 years ago

    Monkeytroll:

    Rob played NOW, he did't quit in august like you did.

    So what you are saying is that you know better because you have played the game six months ago.
    While Rob who just played it, as the game stands today after all the improvements, seems to differ quite a lot opinionwise compeared to you.

    Guess he must be a troll, idiot or Funcom employee to.

    Talk about shooting yuourself in the foot............

  • iokthemonkey #77 3 years ago

    I'm saying I know better than YOU as I've played AoC and you haven't, nor it seems, do you want to.

    You're criticising ME for not playing in 6 months and claim I can't make a comment. So where does that leave you with your... sorry, how many months did you play AoC? Oh that's right, you didn't. Ever.

    And even now, when you're presented with a no-risk, no-charge chance to play this game you've spent so much time hyping and getting excited about, you suddenly "don't have time."

    So, what logical conclusion can we come to?

    Troll? Shill? Or just plain idiot?

  • 1simen1 #78 3 years ago

    Monkeyinfant:

    Sure you can comment about how your game experience was when you played.

    The problem i have with you is that you comment on the game as it stands today 6 months later as if nothing has happend to it.

    The game has evolved, you havn't.

    I have have never told anyone here that i find AOC to be brilliant. I have presented what existing players have been saying in the official forums and some info regarding patches( after reading patch notes and the players reactions to those), basically because you have been, in my opinion, spreading misinformation.

    I want players to find out for themselves if they like the game or not. You don't. That my friend is the difference between you and me.

    That and the fact that i'm more polite and better looking.....lol



  • iokthemonkey #79 3 years ago

    And still you dodge the real issue: YOU haven't played the game.

    I HAVE.

    YOU have no experience of AoC's shitty use of instances, its poor level design, its imbalanced combat and generally poor level of implementation. These things haven't changed. FACT.

    You glean your information from fanboys. FACT.

    So which of us is spreading "misinformation?" The person giving actual prove-able criticisms of a game THEY ACTUALLY PLAYED and of elements THEY WITNESSED that are STILL PRESENT or somebody taking all of their information from other sources and repeating it without actually validating and verifying if what they're saying is correct?

    But seeing as you're incapable of forming your own opinions, I'll give you something else to chew on. Check out the other comments thread about the AoC giveaway to see how "great" this game is. Or re-read Rob's article and you'll see where he points out that the game STILL has serious issues.

    Or better yet PLAY IT FOR YOURSELF.

    Go on.

    PLAY THE GAME YOURSELF.

    It's free, there's no risk and hey, you might even enjoy it.

    See? There's me ENCOURAGING somebody to play the game for themselves and form an opinion. And you're not the only person. Look up at the first page of this thread. My opening comment:

    Yeah, that's one piece of advice I would give - before ANYBODY considers subscribing to AoC, make sure you've completed the Tortage quests (and are above level 20) as the the tutorial segment of AoC sets a high standard from which it crashes spectacularly. So before you part with your subs, make sure you're out of that zone and that the game is still "fun," otherwise you'll be severely disappointed when you reach the "real world" and have to pay for it.

    Where did I say not to play this game?

    That's not true at all of my experience of AoC, which actually started badly and was no better after 3 months, at which point I cancelled my account.

    Again, please show me where I said not to play AoC.

    Now, from the thread about the trial keys give away:

    :)

    Give it a try. I won't be, but hey, you might like it.

    Just be ready for a step-back in time with a lot of aspects of the game design though.

    There's me ENCOURAGING people to try it for themselves.

    Yet you seem bent on doing everything you can to AVOID playing it. Why is that? What message does that say about encouraging people to try it when YOU YOURSELF won't even give it a go? You, the most ardent supporter of your fellow Norwegians and their products, won't take the time to try it for yourself? Come on, Semen. Give it a go. It's there, waiting for you to download right now and play. Go on. Download it and try it for yourself.

    Because as I've stated before, until you do, you're nothing more that a troll, an idiot or a Funcom shill and nothing you can say here will change that.

  • 1simen1 #80 3 years ago

    Monkeylol:

    You are making yourself look worse evertime you write now.

    You want people to try AOC? Those of us that have read your posts about this game for the last 8 months will find that statement mildly amuseing.

    Instancing and level design, sure you can critizise that. Does that game design choise make the game good or bad? That is a matter of taste. Some like it others don't.

    Balancing. You haven't played the game since August. There are few balancing issues left now in april 2009. Was an issue when you played, isn't an issue now. That was confirmed already in Eurogamers rereview a few months ago.

    You are beginning to clatch at straws.

    Anyone that thas followed the official forums for information will find that comments made there are both good and bad. If people don't like something they will let the devs now. That is commen knowlage for any MMO that you do your best to ignore.

    Any change made by the devs will create positive and negative threads. in these discussions about wheter it was a good change or not will emerge. These discussions are good information. Much better than what i and you have to say.

    Better than me beacuse i never played the game.
    Better than you because you quit 7 months ago before the good changes started to drip in.

    They are much more valid than us informationwise because those discussing in the official forums are existing players playing the game as it stand today.

    They know what they are talking about good and bad, we don't.

  • iokthemonkey #81 3 years ago

    Again, your old "I'm more informed because I go off the experiences of others" argument.

    Why are you so opposed to playing AoC?

    Again, here's your chance to prove everybody wrong.

    So answer me this question - and please, no bullshit about "I don't have time" - why haven't you downloaded the AoC trial version and PLAYED IT FOR YOURSELF?

    You can dance around it all you want but the crux of the matter is you have ZERO experience of this game. I have.

    So troll/Funcom shill/idiot - choose whichever title you want. Or play the game FOR YOURSELF because until you do, your opinions are meaningless.

  • 1simen1 #82 3 years ago

    Monkeycrap:

    I'm not claiming to be more informed. I'm stating the obvious. The opinions of many are more imprtant than the opinons of the few, meaning me and you.

    The opinons of existing players are more important than the opinons of players that quit in August or never played at all.

    And i DO NOT HAVE TIME FOR MMO'S i work to much. A consept you seem to have a hard time with....

    Oh and i don't have a personal opinion of the game. I haven't played it remember.

  • iokthemonkey #83 3 years ago

    Yet you have enough time to come here and whore yourself for Funcom/troll the forums/make yourself appear an idiot...

    Go play AoC. Until you do, you cannot contribute anything to the discussion.

  • 1simen1 #84 3 years ago

    Monkeydude:

    Watching you making a fool of yourself is much more fun and entertaining than any game at the moment.
    Oh and less time consuming to.....;-)

  • ahac #85 3 years ago

    The ganking is just crazy.
    I chose a PvP server because I like PvP and I don't mind getting ganked from time to time... but here... there is no way I can even do quests. I get killed by some higher lvls almost immediately after I respawn.

  • Blacknimbus #86 3 years ago

    I picked up one of the keys from Eurogamer, because I hadn't tried AoC. The combat is interesting for a chronic clicker like myself, because you really have to use the keys. The graphics are very good and the avatars and combat animations look great. I'm guessing the richness of the quest interactions doesn't last past the starter island, but if you haven't tried this game and enjoy MMO's, you really should give it a go.

    I played CoH for about 6 months and enjoyed it...even though I knew it lacked the depth to keep my interest for long. And I have no idea if I'll play AoC for very long either. But I usually burn through single player games in a week, so any fun I get out of a game that lasts longer than that is a good thing.

  • Nasty #87 3 years ago

    I was in AoC beta and played it at launch And I agree, for a good while the game was fundamentally broken. Constant ctd's, basic functionality missing and a major lack of 'stuff do to' after being let loose on the wild world. Lets just say my initial hopes for the game turned into dissapointment then gradually to complete bemusement as the game actually got worse over time.

    I resubbed a fortnight ago with view of not letting my past experience get in the way. I've started from scratch and let's just say it is now a very solid and enjoyable mmo. It has plenty to do, it looks great, it plays nice.

    Yes itemisation needs to be and is being fixed but I think a lot of people need to realise it is being simplified to make items easier to use/sell and understand. The 1.05 patch is not about new stuff or moar epix, its about replacing the rediculous item stats like + 0.01 hate modifier with a simpler +1 Strength/+1 Wisdom approach which will have all of these miniscule calculations included in it.

    Overall, I'm happy playing it just now. Over WAR and WoW its a nicer place to be and is a more enjoyable game at the moment.

    (Playing PvE by the way. PvP servers are definitely gankfests just now. Surprisingly not the lowbie ganking but groups of 30-40s ganking 80s and them not liking it :D:D:D)

  • iokthemonkey #88 3 years ago

    Watching you making a fool of yourself is much more fun and entertaining than any game at the moment.

    ---

    I know I'm great and all but seriously, you'd rather read my comments than play the game you hail as being the saviour of the MMO genre? That shows the game is either utter shit or that your obsession with me has reached the point of no return. Or both.

    Go play AoC and then we'll talk, 1semen1.

  • iokthemonkey #89 3 years ago

    Still plenty of keys available 1semen1. Why not go grab one and give AoC a try for yourself?

    Yes, I see you checking-in every day and lurking around and I know you're reading this post.

    So go right ahead - give it a RISK-FREE TRIAL and then we'll talk, okay?

  • Lexphoto #90 3 years ago

    While the article was enjoyable and glowing to read about Conan, the failures of the game seem to not be adressed, other than making leveling faster.
    The author not once spoke of the failed crafting system. I was an armor crafter when the game released, i mined nodes, did all the gatherer quests (bugged as they were, and yes i even used an obvious exploit of pulling a gathered item out of the bank and stacking it in my bag to get the gathered quest update. Was i bad? Yes i was but after petitioning GMs often in hopes of them fixing my quests and getting a standared reply of" its a known issue and will be addressed in the next patch" (only it never was, and i stuck with the game 4 months with no fix). My original female guardian was horribly quest bugged and even my newly made characters had fewer bugs.
    Anyway we all know Conan has awesome graphics, i will never forget the waters of White Sands Beach! But the game istelf no matter how you sugar coat the speed leveling now, seems no reviewer actually plays the game enough to speak honestly about crafting, bugs, raid exploit bugs and so on. Although i admit this author did conceede that armor stats and graphics have not been improved and has little reason to change from "level 40 to 60 gear". This does not bode well for the armor crafters or other crafters does it?
    Also the author not once speaks of what to do with your character once reaching Max level? Making alts to be a healer is grand, but is the fate of a max level character to be simply "shelved" to go on the leveling grind over and over? Where is the depth in that? Hate WoW all you want, but at least at end game there really IS a GAME!

  • Lexphoto #91 3 years ago

    I just want to add, i really do hope Conan continues to evolve and fix bugs, i would LOVE to come back to this game in a couple more years to discover that it finally is able to live up to its release promises. WoW is already 5 years old, ive played it since the 3 day stress test, and if a MMO really steps up and shines im right there to give it a shot, but no longer will blindly buy any MMO without BETAing the game, because thats truely where you see a games dedication or lack of to fix their bugs and make it a great game or a failure.

  • Mr_Gallows #92 3 years ago

    Oh noes... an internet post battle. Get married ffs and leave it at home.

    The game is much better today compared to release. I have an open subscription and played the game a few hours ago. So much have been fixed. The game has gone from broken to a very solid MMO. There are still some issues though. Some are game design choices and others something that can still be fixed.

    - Instancing with only 100 players in one place at a time feels lame for a MMo. This won't change, and while I'd prefer an open world style, it may be the best way to run the game, considering the combat style.

    - The world seems fake. Dots on a map. You can't really travel the world. It feels more like going from one shooter level to the other. On top of that the design of some world areas is bad. Feels like a shooter level with narrow paths that you have to travel.

    - PvP is still rather pointless apart from the fact that it can actually be fun in itself. But there is no great reason to fight.

    - The setup of PvP on FFA servers is silly. It would be simple to change things so ganking wasn't so great a way to gain points.

    They may keep improving the game and if they manage to stay focused they may very well turn AoC into the best current MMO. But they are not there yet... not at all.

  • Mr_Gallows #93 3 years ago

    [link url=http://www.age ofconan.com/updates/#/uk
    ]http://www.age ofconan.com/updates/#/uk
    [/link]

    Look at that!

    "it won't be long before Funcom has one of the best MMOs in the world on its hands."

    That's what it says on the FC page.

    But eurogamer wrote:

    If it can sustain this rate of improvement - and that is a big "if" - it won't be long before Funcom has one of the best MMOs in the world on its hands.

    that is a BIG "if"

    FC is just back hyping the game with lies just like prior to launch.

    Fools.

    They should just fix the core gameplay and class balance instead of all their BS.