I'm jumping on the AoC beta thoughts bandwagon!
This is just my thoughts on my experiences in the Fileplanet open beta thus far. There is no NDA for it, so I am free to dicuss.
Keep in mind that this is NOT a review, this is just an update to any who are interesting in reading it on my personal experience with the AoC open beta thus far.
This is only from a few hours last night playing (trying to play).
I have not yet decided my view on AoC.
So far the Open Beta has been not nearly as stable and performed as well as the PvP Weekend. This is a concern.
Lots of time loading. The loading screens aren't too bad once they become cached, but the fact that they are used so frequently is disapointing. If this was a single player console game I could forgive it, but after experiencing the free roaming fun and scale of Grand Theft Auto IV the loading screens in AoC really do bug me.
The combat is good, it was fun in the PvP weekend, but so far I have found no use for the active dodging or blocking. Spamming attacks and special moves seems to be more effective then trying to play with tactics, using the evasion buff from double tapping S or the knockdown bonus for double tapping W etc. So far, I have had no reason for those, and the active blocking is too slow to "catch" any incoming attacks. It's either attack mode or block mode, the few seconds it takes to switch between makes it unuable to me thus far.
The story is good though standard fantasy so far, the dialogue and voice acting is exceptional.
I'm just not sure there is enough "draw" to really keep me entertained yet. It's all pretty standard post-WoW era MMO stuff, the combat is a new twist but not implemented in a way that makes it truely "action packed" and dynamic to me.
When I think action packed and dynamic combat I think of stuff like the Zelda games or Ninja Gaiden etc. Even Mass Effect was more engaging and "active" then I feel the AoC combat is. I think it's going to work great for a console game, but I'm not too sure about for PC.
The "end-game" stuff does look interesting, mounted combat and sieges and dungeons / raids etc. But I honestly think that other games are going to do all of the above better. RvR ala WAR is > PvP no matter who does the PvP. WoW does raids / dungeons better then anyone.
I dunno. We'll see.
I'm going to play the SHIZBAM out of AoC in the next few weeks and make my decision when the release comes.
User Comments
EA knows that WAR is their last shot at saving their reputation as a company making MMOs. If you think they are going to pull the plug on WAR for something else considering the buzz and hype behind the game, than that is just laughable and you must not have been following WAR closely enough to make a good evaluation of where it is at.
Wow that's a totally irrational and bombed out arguement. I've never heard that one before...
Too bad EA is doing nothing but shoving money down Mythic's throat so they can release a game that's going to be worth the investment.
Mythic is still in total creative control, they still follow any restriction set on them by Gamesworkshop, and EA is still just the financer. That's it.
Besides, this blog is about AoC. I used WAR as a slight offhand comment in order to say that I REALLY doubt that anyone is going to be able to do sieging and pvp / RvR better then Mythic, the guys who invented RvR.
Thanks for the update. I appreciate the widnow into the game. I'm interested in RvR/PvP/GvG so let us outsiders know if you hear anything.
I really like AoC but I'm not eager to start leveling treadmill you know. I mean, I've hit level cap in so many MMOs now. I wish themn the best it looks very good graphically. I hope they pull in a bunch of new players to the genre.
I agree with Heero WoW has perfected raiding to next level. you not going to top them going directly after them
But to be fair no one has hit level cap yet in AoC so we dont know anything about endgame.
I wish we could be nubs again eh Heero? Then we would be in love. knowledge is indeed a gateway to becoming a 'god' and knowing too much
"Besides, this blog is about AoC. I used WAR as a slight offhand comment in order to say that I REALLY doubt that anyone is going to be able to do sieging and pvp / RvR better then Mythic, the guys who invented RvR."
what makes RvR exciting is that it integrates entire community and gives them non-selfish goals to achieve. Hopefully AoC will have this on GvG level so dont be so quick to dismiss them til you hit endgame
unfortunately, we cant really comment on a game til we play and compare. And it requires hitting endgame in both. Because content is so heavily gated I estimate will take many months for good solid opinoons to form.
But we can only guess for now so that counts for something
Exactly.
Right now, I'm just commenting on what I see and what I feel about the game.
I don't pretend to be a bearer of all things truth, you shouldn't follow me into the light and expect salvation lol.
We have no idea how anything above level 13 is, all we can do is speculate.
So, right now I speculate based off of what I have seen in the first 13 levels and what they (Funcom) have said about the game, that I don't think it's going to hold a candle to the what WAR is going to bring to the table.
But again, this is purely speculative because I haven't even played WAR yet.
I do sometimes wish I could go back to being a MMO noob and just have a good time all over again discovering new and exciting things, meeting new people etc.
But at the same time, going back and trying to relive the past is a good way to ruin the great memories that we have about it.
one thing I wish AoC was ability to level from PVP. That is the main draw WAR has going for it. They never announced that feature but that would help pvpers get to max lvl and enjoy their rich PVP content
Right now WAR really appeals for the promise I can level from all PVP.
AoC appeals for the freeform features
They sort of deadlock for me... Depends on server types they go with which will help me decide. I will probably preorder since my friend seems anxious to try. But I dunno I'm pretty happy with GTA 4 these days
Yeah dude, GTA IV is frigg'n awesome.
But yeah, I know with WAR that I can PvP at any time, no matter what level I am and because of the safeguards they have in place I won't have to worry about some max level kid with self confidence problems come in and 1-shot me.
Yeah being camped by a higher ;level isnt fun. I'm getting older now and my time to play is getting thiner and thiner. If I'm being pwned byu a higher level sure I can call in a guildy. Maybe they will come help. But there goes my 30-minute window i had to play
So I can definetly see why casual PVP games are more marketable. That's why I love GTA 4 and its ilk- just hop in for 10-15 minutes and just like OWN (well get owned because im not as good as I believe myself too be)
Heerobya,
I like how you give credit where credit is due. I am on the anti-WoW bandwagon like many others, but thats only because I put 1400 hours into the damn game (gg bliz for holding my ADHD attention that long! You made the great point that WoW does raids and dungeons better than everyone else.
Your points are so right on to how I think that it eliminates my need to post about it. Thanks for saving me the effort! :)
Thanks for the review, I knew the "action packed" combat was not gonna be well implemented for some reason; though it will still probably be better than WAR with little to no interaction.
whats the same thing all ppl do in all mmo's? combat ..in order to lvl..ir order to find better gear,or go to dungeons,or go to a raid ,or pvp ...combat..
Aoc seems so far the only mmorpg that uses manual combat system ,that tries to make the combat even with a single mob in the outdoors ,non-boring wow-like automated combat system,and i think i ll disagree with Heerobya that manual dodge or block doesnt offering anything ..
i think that could be shown when a well organised guild battles another,skilled players vs less skilled e.t.c.
I would like to see though a small penalty for death ,money or xp or both,dont know about if others agree,so each time someone battles player or mob to worrie a little bit more ,get athrill of agony and excitment also ..not sure if such thing exists or if Funcom plans to create any kinda harcore server..
My feelings are similar. I worry for AoC because its not really pushing any envelopes. I mean, they have PvP...but its gated heavily for endgame. They have raids, but we all know that the kingpin owns this field already because they HIRED everyone that knew anything about it lol.
WAR offers a unique draw...a fluid PvP integration that allows for all levels to participate and assist in the endgame goal. Leveling from PvP also goes a long way. The point here is that they designed their game to appeal from day ONE to their market. AoC does not appear to be doing that...as all I keep hearing from the AoC crowd is that we should wait until endgame to judge it. That isn't fair, and nobody should have to 'wait' a few months to enjoy a game or formulate an opinion of it.
I really think that AoC is gonna fail out...simply because they had a wonderful IP, but chose to NOT focus the energy of the MMO in what makes the IP great. Yes, going a little more heavily and a little more early into PvP would put it into direct competition with WAR...but thats a FAR better option that going nose to nose with WoW in the content department. They are CERTAIN to lose that battle. Its the entire premise behind why WAR chose to go its direction...to get away from that battle.
Some good points by all, thanks for the discussion.
WAR will have just as much interaction as WoW, LOTRO, EQ2, etc. etc. etc. NOBODY does "sandwhich" combat anymore. All autoattack etc. etc.
The real interactive element of combat in WAR is going to be the prep before combat + morale. Choosing Tactics before the battles, assigning Standard bearers... etc. Then through in morale abilities and it adds another layer to combat.
Now, AoC does have very interactive and involved combat. Kind of. For those who have played it, as I have and am doing now (well not RIGHT now, the game froze when I tried to load into a new area) you'll notice that it is not as active and action packed as the hype builds it up to be.
If anything, I MISS autoattack because it seems in AoC all I am doing is having to spam more buttons. The only really "interactive" part of it is seeing how the enemie's shields are distributed before mashing either the 1, 2, or 3 key. Besides that it really isn't all too different at all.
I think the active blocking and dodging is done very poorly. AoC is a game about gear first and foremost, gear and spec and class vs. class balance. They had the potential with the active dodging and blocking + more interactive combat of really creating something new and innovative and epic, but I think they failed.
I find it almost more a burden then a blessing.
The only thing that really "saves" it for me is that the animations are incredible. Very life like.
Beyond that it's simply choose an ability on the hotbar, click it, spam 1,2,3, for the combo in the right order, rinse and repeat.
I have tried in great length to utilize the active dodging and blocking in both the PvE and PvP combat, and I've honestly found that simply spamming attacks and trying to out DPS your opponent is FAR more effective.
Maybe it's just me... but I was underwhelmed by the PvP weekend test and now am even further underwhelmed by the open beta.
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