Age Of Conan

DAoC is probably the only MMO this side of EverQuest that I haven't played at or near launch. And I never said WoW was worse than any other MMO launch, but you claimed it was 10 times better than the rest, and I strongly disagree with that. It was reasonably better than most, but definitely not ten times. In fact, Age of Conan has only had one problem since launch that affected me, and that is the game not being able to start in full screen mode for some reason. But I can start it windowed and switch to full screen once I get in the game, so it hasn't prevented me from playing it.

And yes, if you can get past the fact that WC3 is an RTS and WoW is a single character MMO, they are quite similar. Particularly the artwork, but also the spells, abilities, and items. If you scroll your camera out and look at most small settlements in WoW from an isometric point of view, you can very easily see the RTS influence in the world design, just on a larger scale. I'm not criticizing them for not being unique, it makes sense to maintain a consistent world across titles, but it definitely gave them a leg up as far as not having to start development from scratch.

 

No, but it does usually take time to figure out how to structure your spell and ability system, class options and design, racial history, etc. Basically they got to speed through what is normally a very long and important part of the (pre-production) development process, which allowed them to save a lot of time and money that they focused on polishing up the game before launch. Most companies do not have that luxury (although Asheron's Call 2 did, and it failed miserably, which makes it that much more surprising that LotRO isn't a complete turd).

 

How spells, talent trees, and abilities work is radically different from WC3. I don't know how you're drawing this conclusion at all. Having played over a thousand hours of both (and multiple thousands of WoW) I see only an art and story line similarity. A MMO takes a completely different thinking path from an RTS, every mechanic in WoW had to be designed for WoW and not borrowed from WC3.

 

I never said WoW had a good release! (I was in the WoW betas and played the first 1½ year) AoCs launch is way better in almost every way, except content. (Though AoC has some weird class issues and balance issues I can't imagine why wasn't changed under beta)
My point is that you can't launch a MMO in that state any more and succeed. Peoples perception of how a MMO should run has changed with the success of WoW. Just launched or not.

 

All I can say is this was a horrible launch. I bought the cc and though this would be good but it became a nightmare about 3 weeks after launch. First off I was charged twice for 1 month of play (which should have been free) and then I had a hold for $15 on my account. Funcom wouldn't fix it and I had to go to my bank and have them fix it for me. On top of that the Demonologist was horribly broken and was not fun to play at all.

UO was not crap at launch. There were connection issues for many users , but not everyone. I actually had a great time with that game and I beta tested it and continued to play it for 8 years. I would also say that city of heroes launch was much better than Age of Conan's. I think though that after 11 years of playing mmorpgs I'm done with them for a long time. I might check out DC online or perhaps champions but the thrill is gone , to many devs have put out sub par products .

 

Except there's no way to get past that is that ocean of gameplay difference. You may as well compare to pong.

 

k i let my WoW account lapse this week (2 60 day cards). i'll probably start conan this weekend.

my question is this:

i want an EZPZ ranged character (get fiting over with, without much fuss). does the game still have balance issues? and if so, what is the most wickedly overpowered character/class/profession whatever.

i'd prefer a bow/archer dude over a spell slinger if that's reasonable, since i don't like running around in robes.

chop chop...give me 2 diablo burgers and a large dr pepper, and make if fast, im in a goddamned hurry!.

 

Overpowered = Tempest of Set

It's a hybrid offensive caster/healer/touch of melee think WoW shaman, no robes but medium armor.

 

The AOC archer is very powerful in PVP, namely due to its useful CC. Never rolled one personally, but was certainly ganked by many *shakes fist*

 

Very powerful in PvE but near worthless in PVP. Character gets ran over by a decent melee opponent.

 

I have a lvl 80 Ranger on a PvE server. The class is more toward the challenging side to play because you are for the most part constantly trying to manage aggro in one way or another.

It is a high DPS class with only medium armor, so you need to moderate your DPS in order avoid pulling mobs off the tanks in group PvE. Not really challenging, but somthing you have to constantly be aware of.

Also because of the lighter armor, lower hit points, and single target focus of most of the abilities it has you are often going to have to avoid pulling multiple mobs which can be tricky sometimes.

There are easier classes to play, especially on the caster side, that might be a better starting class. You can always roll a Ranger later if the game hooks you and you'll then have the benefit of having mastered the game systems so you can focus on just learning the class

It's certainly a viable option (after all I did it and I'm still playing). It may just not be the best one.

 

thanks! for teh hep. im a level 4 ranger now.

i have 23 pearls (still in beginning area)...there's and exploit in the first level (i I I discovered for myself) where if u exit the game the chests respawn without the NME NPCs.)

im still fiting nekkid with an oar. tho im level 4

so im hoping ( i heard drops suck here) pearls will give me an advantage on my first city visit?

or not?

 

i have 30 pearls now. im a capatilist

 

and why is this chick following me around like some subserviant douchebag?

edit: im not a chick...im a misanthrope.

 

Well this game is a mixed bag isn't it? leaning towards disappointment. loadzones (for a bar?) in too many places. TRASHES my desktop when i exit. Sound is WAY out of wack with my normal settings (have to turn it way up (on my speakers) then it's SCREAMING loud when i quit...can't really get the balance between ambient, conversation, music where i'd like it, and some (1 so far) NPC is WAY loud, most others you can barely hear), when i hit loadzones, NPCS take forever to load.

lol that exploit, i stayed in the starter area till i had 53 pearls. good deal since you can't get back there after you leave it.

combat is okay. good even. respawn is STUPID. i hate infinite spawn. and sometimes it's within seconds.

do you lose money when you die? i could have sworn i had more money.

instructions are where? (i haven't figured out how to use a bow yet (yes i can equip it, but says no ammo, yet can't equip arrows so far)

hmm. maybe i'll wait a few years like i did with WoW. let the game shape up or die.

 

sounds like you need more ram. 2gb isn't enough on my system either. Not sure what to say about ur sound problems, I haven't had any at all.

 

The latest patches did something in terms of performance for me. I get easily 60 fps outdoors and out of the cities of'course with 4x AA.
But I do get the out of memory bug more frequently (once every 2-3 hours).
Never had any sound problems though...

 

I haven't had any sound problems either and I can't remember reading about that either in their EU forums at least.