As I watch AoC fall apart....

[stumben32]

Made it to level 80 in AoC.....and its very apparent to me......the game has some great great things totally overshadowed by HUGE gaping flaws. Long story short.. time to cancel my sub. Check back on the game in a few months - but I am not optimistic. had fun for a month at least.

Now what? Try Eve again? Expansion sounds nice...tons of cool things in EVE but I could never get myself really into it. Every time I try EVE Its the same experience

*Fires up EVE for 7th time*. Its a breath of fresh air, I appreciate the sandbox-in-space feeling....the community is so much better. I get a bit overwhelmed with the story plot, the factions and the whole pvp politics. So feeling a bit intimidated to do anything with other players, I just grab my ship and run missions. Last I did I was flying a Gallente Myrmidion doing the low quality level III missions I think. Decent challenge and your always making progress. But then after 6 days it just feels empty.

I have tried running around 0.0 and pvped. Had some really amazingly fun fights, lost a couple, won a couple...then had a bunch of getting swarmed by groups of players.....I got podded before I really knew what was happening.

I Have been in 2 corps..neither were good. Upstart corps that just didnt seem all that active and when something was going on I didnt really understand what was going on.

Yet.... here I am again considering re-activating for the 8th time.....WHY?


Other than that-done with MMOS for a while.

Looking forward to left4dead...but that along with everything else...seems a ways off.

Dont know what do play! anyone else in similar boat?

 

[Miklebud]

Yeah! I just unsub'd from AoC this weekend myself. I was sick of the bugs and the fact that my level 40 Barbarian couldnt defeat one level 27 Yrimish Sorcerer on SEVERAL occasions. I immediately logged of on the last attempt and unsubed. It's got some F'd up mechanics. Maybe in a few months I'll try it again, but until then, NO THANK YOU.

I just bought Diablo 2 last night, almost done with Mass Effect on PC... There are better things going than AoC.

 

[Rhaze]

I've been in this position even since I grew tired of WoW. Around March.

I tried PlanetSide again.. but.. eh.. too dead. FFXI is horseshit. EQ2 was/is dying/dead and generally too confusing without motivating factors to entice me to learn. So.. now I'm playing KoTOR I and II, Mass Effect, and a bit of CS:S for when I'm good and trashed.

I wish I had a good answer for you. L4D and Huxley... and I guess Diablo 3... feel like a billion years away. I'm running out of SP games that are engaging enough to help me forget they are indeed SP.

 

[Modeps]

Jesus christ... OP made it to level 80 in a little over a month, indicating you either have no life, or have no life...
other user was "so sick of the bugs" in a little over a month...

I'm so glad I'm not into MMOs anymore.

 

[ivan2]

im lvl 47 and also cancelling this month. It's not just the bug that sucks, it's the whole game mechanic and the balance. Adding that 3 combos are all I need use (or in pvp, knock down + 3 combos), it's getting annoying...

edit: thank god there's pyro update in TF2 =)

 

[Elcs]

Im loving every minute of my Ranger (lvl 52) in AoC. Yeah there are some flaws but the combat is just so much fun!!!

I guess you could call me a little kid when I smile when my Ranger shoots some guy in the chest, he falls to his knees and paints the ground crimson in front of him.

I am having more fun with AoC than I have for a long time on any format.

Best thing about AoC is the 18 rating.... very few immature people who spoil/annoy. You can hold a good conversation with most of them and they have hand eye coordination... something you lack when you play alongside people who could be 10-16.

 

[QueBert]

Originally posted by: Elcs
Im loving every minute of my Ranger (lvl 52) in AoC. Yeah there are some flaws but the combat is just so much fun!!!

I guess you could call me a little kid when I smile when my Ranger shoots some guy in the chest, he falls to his knees and paints the ground crimson in front of him.

I am having more fun with AoC than I have for a long time on any format.

Best thing about AoC is the 18 rating.... very few immature people who spoil/annoy. You can hold a good conversation with most of them and they have hand eye coordination... something you lack when you play alongside people who could be 10-16.

You telling me because of a rating there are no kiddies on it? Hell if I was 14 and saw an MMO that was rated 18+ I would RUN out to play that one first. Kids gravitate towards the more violent games so AOC should be a haven for them.

 

[MarcVenice]

Quebert, the lack of kiddies in AoC is really noticable. In europe at least there aren't any game cards to be bought, or at least in Holland you can't, so how are kids going to upgrade their subscription? Honestly, I've yet to come across a single person acting as immature as I've seen happen in WoW so many times.

 

[Scrimmy]

Yep, sad to say I just canceled my AoC subscription, too. Got my bear shaman to 80 on a PvP server and there's pretty much nothing to do but do the same handful of zones for drops or run around and gank/be ganked.

Crafting's barely begun, let alone finished, and there are just gaping holes in content. Even apart from that, though, it's the melee/caster balance that really gets me. Funcom came up with a really fun, innovative melee system that's a blast against other melees. Unfortunately, there's nothing comparable for casters (spellweaving is something different entirely) so they can just stand there and cast to do ridiculous amounts of damage while the melees have to worry about running and chaining combos.

I think the final straw, though, was probably just getting sick and tired of combo rollback; if you were in the middle of a combo (some of them will take 5 seconds or so to complete at 80), all the damage you've done is reset and your combo acts like it was never used, except for the cooldowns you used It was even possible to kill a mob in the middle of your combo, have another mob stun you or knock you back, then have the mob you killed pop back to life to beat on you. Frustrating, to say the least.

Toss in the fact that one-shotting is quite common in PvP and it's just not that much fun anymore.

It's really a shame, because AoC had amazing potential and I had a great time leveling up for the most part. The world is beautiful, the zones have a lot of personality, and there are some really cool and intersting quests. the Destiny Quests in particular were a great idea; a quest line that follows you through your whole growth in power and gives you some really nice quest rewards along the way. I'm sure they'll get it fixed sooner or later, but I don't think it'll happen before another game that's still in development is able to incorporate some of the good ideas from AoC into their own game.

 

[Genx87]

I unsubbed from AoC within a week hehe. I suggest just leaving MMORPGs alone for about 6 months. I did that and feel refreshed. Gives me time to play other genre's of games that are fun.

 

[ayabe]

Get a girlfriend, and then move in together.

I can guarantee you won't have the free time required to play an MMO.

Problem solved.

 

[stumben32]

Originally posted by: Modeps
Jesus christ... OP made it to level 80 in a little over a month, indicating you either have no life, or have no life...
other user was "so sick of the bugs" in a little over a month...

I'm so glad I'm not into MMOs anymore.

I do not really get offended by this, but I should point out that

1. I was in Beta so I really flew through the first 30 levels.

2. Leveling in AoC is amazingly easy especially 1-50. Unless your one of those guys who sits and reads every piece of text flying your way, and runs to do every single quests... you can get 1 level per hour seriously.

As for the other poster Enjoying his Ranger, I am a Ranger too and thats ALSO why I got to 80 so quick...I was also having a blast.

Here is the kicker: The Combat system is Brilliantly fun, but it has glaring problems that become evident as you get higher in level and PVP. ( If your in this game for PVE then......I will just scratch my head ).

The combat system...unfortunately is really completely different for the following:

PVE - In PVE the shield system actually has meaning and purpose but only as a means to attack the weak spot of Mobs. At least makes it interesting.

Shields are totally useless and not used in PVP. Funcom just somehow how totally did not understand what real pvp is like when they put this feature in. Adjusting your shields just says "Attack me here to 1 shot me ".

PVP Solder types: If your a Soldier you get to use the COMBO combat system. This is a problem because landing combos in PVP is more of a fluke than skill. Players bunny hop all around forcing soldiers to fight endlessly......rarely landing combos.

PVP CASTERS: Easy mode. There are no combos. Theres no dmg mitigation. and if your a priest you can heal!!! So if you are a TOS or a POM you are insanely OP, unchecked and no skill required!

PVP Ranger: Now your REALLLLLLLLLLY screwed. You have to land combos, and you have to stand still like a caster. And the combos are bugged so like another person in this thread eluded to.... half the time you go through the motions of a combo and it does absolutely NOTHING! You are now dead.

They tried something different with AoC Combat and I applaud them for trying. The amount of work associated in re-vamping an MMO ..........it just doesn't happen. So instead they are left trying to put duct-tape on a broken system...which they are also apparently having manpower issues with.

So our patches consist of

1. Fixing quest descriptions
2. Un documented nerfs
3. Un documented buffs to already op classes.
3. Tool tip fixes!

*sigh*

Bye AOC.

But back to my original point..... can anyone convince me to play eve? Or maybe something else on the PC thats coming up?

 

[stumben32]

Originally posted by: ayabe
Get a girlfriend, and then move in together.

I can guarantee you won't have the free time required to play an MMO.

Problem solved.

33, happily married for 10 years. Great Job that pays alot, yet I do not have to put in alot of time.

So, been there done that. Life has come full circle.

Got time for MMOS.

And I have a house and money. Booya Grandma!

 

[HumblePie]

I made it to level 71 myself. Played a bunch the initial release, since I had a few days off anyhow, but then I only played thursday night for about 3 hours, and the weekends for about 20 hours total a week for 3 weeks before unsubbing. I Unsubbed On the Sunday following the Thursday "grey patch" that ruined the game for me.

Been playing a lot of single player games since then. Beating Mass Effect for the second time and about to start digging into a ton of other games I have after that. I have a back log of single player games I picked up, most of them during that last March clearance Circuit City had of games going for $2 to $5 each. Picked up a ton and haven't played many.

Like you, AoC failed to live up to expectations after they killed the game with screwed up introductions of new mechanics. I just LOVE how levels means absolutely nothing in that game. Great at level 71, I still get my ass handed to me by level 20ish mobs. Woohoo! Fun! ........not.

Maybe in a couple months when they get their head out of their asses at funcom, maybe. But usually, once I quit, I don't go back. So for now, I'm not doing any MMO's because they all lack and suck right now.

 

[ayabe]

Originally posted by: stumben32

Originally posted by: ayabe
Get a girlfriend, and then move in together.

I can guarantee you won't have the free time required to play an MMO.

Problem solved.

33, happily married for 10 years. Great Job that pays alot, yet I do not have to put in alot of time.

So, been there done that. Life has come full circle.

Got time for MMOS.

And I have a house and money. Booya Grandma!

Ok well then get a console, Booya Grandpa!

 

[stumben32]

Originally posted by: ayabe

Originally posted by: stumben32

Originally posted by: ayabe
Get a girlfriend, and then move in together.

I can guarantee you won't have the free time required to play an MMO.

Problem solved.

33, happily married for 10 years. Great Job that pays alot, yet I do not have to put in alot of time.

So, been there done that. Life has come full circle.

Got time for MMOS.

And I have a house and money. Booya Grandma!

Ok well then get a console, Booya Grandpa!

Haha.

Got a xbox 360. That is a Story in itself. What an excersise in frustration. cd read arrors GALOR on Mass Effect. RROD.. got it fixed. Seems to be working ok again but holding my breath a bit.

I play console for the sports games, my mood comes and goes for it.

 

[Modeps]

Originally posted by: stumben32
[I do not really get offended by this, but I should point out that

1. I was in Beta so I really flew through the first 30 levels.

2. Leveling in AoC is amazingly easy especially 1-50. Unless your one of those guys who sits and reads every piece of text flying your way, and runs to do every single quests... you can get 1 level per hour seriously.

It wasn't intended to be offensive, I just can't believe that people can power level so quickly though an MMO... but if what you said is true 1lvl/hr, then I guess it makes more sense.

 

[tHa ShIzNiT]

AoC was a pretty good game for a while. But the thin-ness of its content becomes more obvious every day as people advance. I haven't unsubbed yet but am teetering on the edge. I have never really enjoyed the game that much, I really only come back to chop people's heads off, and that doesn't happen in pvp often enough so all I do is chop off some NPC heads until I'm satisfied and then I go play something else. Anyways, that isn't cool. So I'm waiting for Warhammer now. Someone told me it's gonna be a bunch of Alterac Valley-like instanced pvp, and I freakin LOVED AV in warcraft. That was pretty much all I did in warcraft, and that was just one shitty instance that wasnt even that big. So hopefully Warhammer will provide. Until then, I will probably fire up Conan to chop of a head now and then, or I will unsubscribe and forget about the game.

 

[stumben32]

Originally posted by: Modeps

Originally posted by: stumben32
[I do not really get offended by this, but I should point out that

1. I was in Beta so I really flew through the first 30 levels.

2. Leveling in AoC is amazingly easy especially 1-50. Unless your one of those guys who sits and reads every piece of text flying your way, and runs to do every single quests... you can get 1 level per hour seriously.

It wasn't intended to be offensive, I just can't believe that people can power level so quickly though an MMO... but if what you said is true 1lvl/hr, then I guess it makes more sense.

Its cool.

I am a bit of a power-grinder though. I do not sit and play 10 hours a day but when I do play I make it count. I kind of get sick enjoyement of seeing just how fast I can plow through mobs with yields awesome xp. Ranger was good at tearing through mobs in PVE.

AoC isn't all bad, it was good enough for me to max my level, which I cant say for many other MMOS I have played.

But.. man...its end-game pvp is not what I was hoping for.

 

[wart]

I quit at the 2nd week mark of AoC. By then I had hit 55 and was faced with having to grind in the Eigolophian Mountains... To hell if I was going to waste my time grinding in a supposedly next gen MMO. Honestly, by the time you get a good feel for the game its just not that great. Even getting to 55 I started feeling bored with the combat system. All combos are are a simple way to make an old style of button smashing look new.

Anyway, before launch reading the AoC forums I was already a bit ticked at all the fanboys screaming how great AoC was going to be and how much WAR would tank. Now I get some enjoyment seeing at how badly AoC has done. For now I can just wait a few more months until WAR, it really isn't a carbon copy of WoW as so many people say, if you look and read about it in depth.

For titles to keep you busy I have no idea since I am struggling with boredom myself :/

 

[brandonb]

I think I have to chime in.

People have complained that classes are inbalanced. That can be fixed, but lets face it, should a healer really be withstand an attack by an archer? No.

People have complained there is "grinding" in an MMORPG. Isn't that the idea? I mean, any level based system requires grinding to lvl to max level. How many kill 10 mobs, deliver this package, escort some NPC around can you expect? Like in WoW, every NPC gave you a stupid quest or was involved with some stupid quest. It almost seemed like every townsfolk was incompetent. So you have to kill a few mobs without a quest, big deal. I can't stand grinding quests, thats boring to me after a day.

People have complained about levels meaning something. So you are sick of grinding but also say that levels don't mean something. Then don't grind... You obviously don't need to grind.

It is what it is... Its a timesink for the weekend. Don't crunch numbers so much and just enjoy the game for what it is. You run around with swords, spells and arrows. Shoot things, players or mobs, don't matter. I don't care about who I get ganked by, or how many times I die in PVP, or do I even care about having to kill a few bears to lvl. I just do it, and enjoy it. You get out of it what you put into it.

I have fun playing it and I'm lvl 25 and I bought it at release. Because I don't grind, I run around and attack people lvl 50 at 25... I die 98% of the time with my bear shaman, but I have fun trying to whack them. I got the lvl 57 guy with a horse to half health once. I even fought a lvl 80 necro, he put a dot on me and ran away... I sat there trying to outheal it for the 1 minute duration of the dot, and then when I was low health and almost out of mana (when the spell wore off) and some 38 lvl archer PK'd me in the back. I giggled. I don't get mad.

Anyways. AOC seems fun to me still. Maybe its me being lvl 25, I don't know. Other games like WoW bored the heck out of me at lvl 25, and I sat and played it until lvl 62 and I could not load the game anymore due to quest grinding. You couldn't even grind mobs because they were horrible EXP. I'd rather do that at lvl 62 than the stupid quests which annoyed the piss out of me. I don't have that problem in AOC... Yet.

The game almost reminds me of Asheron's Call Darktide, but in Asheron's Call you didn't have a lvl (you did but not technically level based) it was skill based and got exp in your skills vs your lvl bar. So a guy at lvl 100 could have had huge sword skill but absolutely no magic defense and another lvl 100 guy could have had huge magic defense but no sword skill, and some lvl 100's with medium in both... It always made the game interesting. AOC is like that, but the lvls just mean feats. What feat points did the player put their points in, the lvl means little. I think its cool two lvl 25's can kill a lvl 50 player.

 

[Tremulant]

I've been wanting to unsub, but my little brother has been playing using my account (even though he only plays when he's really bored).

 

[ViviTheMage]

I know what you mean stumben32....I got 4 charas up to 40-50ish and I just lost interest in the game, I was in a great guild, but the game seems 'off'.

so now, I am playing WoW, very nonchalant....going to take it slow with my hunter and just screw around.

 

[Scrimmy]

Originally posted by: ViviTheMage
I know what you mean stumben32....I got 4 charas up to 40-50ish and I just lost interest in the game, I was in a great guild, but the game seems 'off'.

so now, I am playing WoW, very nonchalant....going to take it slow with my hunter and just screw around.

Yeah, I went up to 80 because I was enjoying it and having fun playing with my guild, but the content really does start to wear thin once you hit the mid 50's and do the Eiglophian Mountains --> Atzel's Approach --> Kheshatta routine. Pretty much just a whole bunch of kill quests in three zones, two of which are more or less indistinguishable.

I plan to check out Warhammer Online but unfortunately, it's not something I have particularly high expectations on based on the opinions of some friends and guildies who've been in the WAR beta for a while now. I have to confess that the high fantasy setting is starting to grate on me after WoW, as well, so the low fantasy of AoC was a nice change. I'm not sure how many more orcs and elves I can kill in a game and maintain some semblance of sanity.

If WAR turns out to be mediocre I'll probably just hold out for the Bioware MMO (KOTOR III, presumably) or the only game in the foreseeable future I'm at all excited about, the unnamed MMO from Carbine Studios, a dev team made up of some of the original Black Isle Studios crowd and some of the original WoW devs. Looks like a mixed sci-fi/fantasy type of setting based on some of the art.

 

[DangerAardvark]

Originally posted by: stumben32

Originally posted by: Modeps
Jesus christ... OP made it to level 80 in a little over a month, indicating you either have no life, or have no life...
other user was "so sick of the bugs" in a little over a month...

I'm so glad I'm not into MMOs anymore.

I do not really get offended by this, but I should point out that

1. I was in Beta so I really flew through the first 30 levels.

2. Leveling in AoC is amazingly easy especially 1-50. Unless your one of those guys who sits and reads every piece of text flying your way, and runs to do every single quests... you can get 1 level per hour seriously.

As for the other poster Enjoying his Ranger, I am a Ranger too and thats ALSO why I got to 80 so quick...I was also having a blast.

Here is the kicker: The Combat system is Brilliantly fun, but it has glaring problems that become evident as you get higher in level and PVP. ( If your in this game for PVE then......I will just scratch my head ).

The combat system...unfortunately is really completely different for the following:

PVE - In PVE the shield system actually has meaning and purpose but only as a means to attack the weak spot of Mobs. At least makes it interesting.

Shields are totally useless and not used in PVP. Funcom just somehow how totally did not understand what real pvp is like when they put this feature in. Adjusting your shields just says "Attack me here to 1 shot me ".

PVP Solder types: If your a Soldier you get to use the COMBO combat system. This is a problem because landing combos in PVP is more of a fluke than skill. Players bunny hop all around forcing soldiers to fight endlessly......rarely landing combos.

PVP CASTERS: Easy mode. There are no combos. Theres no dmg mitigation. and if your a priest you can heal!!! So if you are a TOS or a POM you are insanely OP, unchecked and no skill required!

PVP Ranger: Now your REALLLLLLLLLLY screwed. You have to land combos, and you have to stand still like a caster. And the combos are bugged so like another person in this thread eluded to.... half the time you go through the motions of a combo and it does absolutely NOTHING! You are now dead.

They tried something different with AoC Combat and I applaud them for trying. The amount of work associated in re-vamping an MMO ..........it just doesn't happen. So instead they are left trying to put duct-tape on a broken system...which they are also apparently having manpower issues with.

So our patches consist of

1. Fixing quest descriptions
2. Un documented nerfs
3. Un documented buffs to already op classes.
3. Tool tip fixes!

*sigh*

Bye AOC.

But back to my original point..... can anyone convince me to play eve? Or maybe something else on the PC thats coming up?

Well there's your problem, you played a character to 80 before realizing that the melee combos are just a gimmick and that casters do equivalent damage without the retardation of meaningless extra button presses. I played a Ranger to 25 and went "wait a minute, why the hell am I doing this?" Then I made a TOS.