Age of Conan

Before i start this, i will state that i have not played this game although i have been watching the development with interest.

I have just read through the interview on this site with regard to the reported issues with the game and i got a worrying feeling about the devs attitude to their market and customers.

The general tone of the interview was that because they decided that graphics were the most important part of the game the players will be more than happy to sit through loading screens and patchy performance because at least it will look good. So basically it seems that they were not just happy to alienate a massive part of the market by ramping up the basic specs, but even if you do meet the specs you will just have to be happy with the performance they are willing to give you!

I have been playing games for 28 years now and time after time i have seen low graphic, high playability games take title after title over glossy 'look good' games, so do you think they have got it wrong with this development attitude or are they pioneering a new approach to MMO's?

Most people who are crying about why they can't play has low end comp's...my old comp right now is playing it fine. but im going to build  a new one anyways. time is changing and people needs to upgrade.

"Thats Like saying,Oh Man My Xbox won't play a Xbox360 game"

                                                        Time to Upgrade

Pong has fantastic gameplay, excelent performance but lacks in graphics....

I think your trying to be to simplistic, people don't really want this order of importance...people need to see progress to keep them interested and see something new. Its a decent balance of all 3 and more  in a progressive inovative gamming experience that people crave, its only when they start to lack in one of the crucial departments that people start to point fingers when they have been exposed to a beter balance else where.

Like in AoC's case we have lots of people using two or year old computers while they still think they'r running the game with high end computer.  Funny, especially since we all know how fast technology evolves.

Yes, Funcom has gotten it right in regards to how they are doing their game. The only people who can't shell out the $700 to build a bad mofo comp to run this game are mostly the WoW kids who are playing WoW with a beat up old hammy-down comp.

The game is based upon a graphic novel from the 40s. To portray this genre you NEED hardcore realistic graphics (just as you would with a StarCraft MMO, doing it like WoW would absolutely ruin the StarCraft genre). However, my computer I built in febuarary of 07 that cost me $640 (price has gone down a LOT on the components since then) runs this game on absolute HIGH at 20fps. This with the open beta servers massively crammed and their client in an uncompiled state.

You have ZERO room to complain if your computer blows and can't run AoC on medium.....nuff said.

No they didn t get it right, MMOs are a business. Smart business means you need a wider audience. No more need to be said. And yes i have a very good comp. Still in a business standpoint no it s not smart.

a game must first be fun (playability)

then it must perform well to have that fun

the absolute least important is graphics.  Now sure, they enhance the fun factor, but without core fun and well designed programming... all the shiny graphics can leave you with just a polished turd.

AoC puts graphics first.  (see above about the polished turd)

Originally posted by Leucent

No they didn t get it right, MMOs are a business. Smart business means you need a wider audience. No more need to be said. And yes i have a very good comp. Still in a business standpoint no it s not smart.

Simple and short, they did in fact get it right :).

Originally posted by DeadDingo

a game must first be fun (playability)

then it must perform well to have that fun

the absolute least important is graphics.  Now sure, they enhance the fun factor, but without core fun and well designed programming... all the shiny graphics can leave you with just a polished turd.

AoC puts graphics first.  (see above about the polished turd)

Oh look, another WoW Fanboi, you probably put down WAR too. Considering both have a stake at killing WoW, and both have a very good chance of doing so :).

I have never played WoW.

You don't like what I say because it is the truth.  So you call me a fanboi.  There is a rule about that I believe.

If AoC is looking for a sub base under 200k, then yes, they may have gotten it 'right'.

If they want more than that, they got it wrong.

But again, when you put shiny baubles in front of people and they like it, I find that those types are easily amused.

You really do need to go back to business school for criticizing others on their business skills, because the other poster was right.  AoC got it wrong and that will be proven shortly. 

Graphics do not make up for playability and performance and those are going to be two very big issues to the subscribers (or should I say lack of subscribers).