6/22/08 Taking A Break.
I'm stopping playing AoC just as my free month ends. Why?
1) Annoying disconnects from the game that seem to be increasing- it takes a while to get back in. 3 disconnects in 10 minutes yesterday morning was the turning point. This is partially an issue with my ISP, but I played LOTRO immediately afterward and did fine- unfortunately AoC disconnects easily.
2) Alt burnout- I know I shouldn't have made so many alts! I had all 8 slots filled >.< Note to self, don't do this. Limit your characters.
The final verdict on AoC as of now:
Great combat system, decent lore, good-looking game. I actually played on a PvP server for a change. Unfortunately released too early (aren't they all these days) and needs a good amount of work- unfinished systems & higher level content, a substandard UI, a good supply of bugs. Has potential. Funcom, make it shine!
I'll try it again later!
6/20/08 Guild Spamming.
How annoying is this? Being spammed with guild invites by people who don't bother to talk to you beforehand. COmmunity is slipping even further if that's possible!
6/8/08 Horse Griefing.
PvP server fun, it is rather funny.
6/8/08 Delia Loses Her Head.
From the official boards, a great screenshot of a dramatic fatality:
Couldn't happen to a nicer NPC!
5/24/08 Humorous quest.
In Cimmeria, there is a pretty maiden who wants you to take a parcel to a warrior she admires. You take it to him and it turns out that it is a cap made of human scalps that the warrior has taken! He says that he 'has no time for hair-pulling or jumping around' with women. Cimmerians are rather focused on fighting ;-)
5/24/08 Cimmeria is a gritty place!
I had a quest to 'slaughter 6 wounded Vanir'. Thankfully they jumped up and fought back so I didn't feel like a PvE ganker!
5/24/08 Good and bad.
The game has good points:
Great graphics, dynamic combat system, the fatality system, interesting quest lines, collision detection.
Bad points:
The substandard UI, instancing of all zones (this can be a positive if you don't mind instancing), not a lot of armor variations, some stats and attributes don't seem to work, some things not in game that Funcom talked up before release.
The world is a focused one, not a wide-open exploration type- some see this as bad. You can mostly solo (at least the first half of the game), which can be a good or a bad thing depending on your preferences.
5/24/08 Nice visuals.
The scenery reminds me of Vanguard in a way. Very well-done.
5/20/08 Day One of Official Release.
After some delays the night before, release day went off well. No major problems.
I finished up the Tortage destiny quest sequence- quite good, cinematic even.
Lots of good scenery in the game. The underground dungeon below Tortage reminded me of Unreal. The textures remind me of Vanguard occasionally. The game runs quite well.
A fun game!
5/18/08 Early Release.
Apart for some down time, the 3-day early release went well. I was expecting a mess after the open beta issues that lots of people had, but performance was very good- just some lag pockets here and there, and the game crashed when I quit. The game looks quite good, has nifty quest cutscenes with good voice acting, the combat system is engaging without being too hard. A good amount of polish. Lots of positives!
Negatives include a UI that needs lots of work, and running into small little obsstacles that stop you dead in your tracks. The death penalty is very light. Still figuring out the skill point system. The FFA PvP ruleset mechanics has some people up in arms (loading screen & res point ganking being common apparently). There are rumors of Hyboria being a smaller game world than many would like, and unfinished higher-level play.
Some exploiters made it to 80 on day 2; the servers went down for 7 hours in prime time (wouldn;t be surprised if these occurences were related).
Overall I am impressed so far. Funcom shipped 700,000 game boxes and sold out of 111,000 collectors editions. Tomorrow is opening day, we will see how it goes.
Good tip!
5/16/08 Waiting.
5/16/08 Mature theme.
Arms and heads fly in the cinematic trailer
The 'Mature' checkbox is rather lurid!
There is a lot of buzz about the 'mature' theme. Why am I getting the feeling that the a good portion of the audience isn't?
5/16/08 Age of Conan.
I've seen all of the hype before (Vanguard anyone!) and I take a more balanced wait-and-see approach with MMOs now. That doesn't mean I'm not hoping to find it a pleasing game, but, well, I doubt if I'll ever be a fanboy again!
The PvP servers have FFA rules. That's a rough ruleset for many (fans of that style are very vocal about it). I'm going to try an RP PvP server (Cimmeria) and see how it goes. My main server will be the unofficial RP PvE server of Wiccana. Funcom made the odd decision to support only PvP servers as RP.
The active combat mechanics (no auto-targetting), scheduled guild vs. guild PvP sieges, guild PvE towns to build, mounted combat and collision detection are new features that are also attracting mention.
Apparently there is a lot more interest in AoC then Funcom anticipated- this release should be, um, interesting. Just don't pull an AO on us again please!
It's good to be a Conan dev!