Age of Conan

Preview of WOTLK just out

BUt that was kinda expected to take the bite out of games like AOC and WAR.  TBH nothing of what I heard or saw intrested me.   It seems like DK will be the death of WoW as a MMO game.  Kinda sad to have played a game for 3 years, developing a character that then is switched out by a new class....

Anyway - I dont think this will affect AOC at all.  Most players here have had enough of WoW anyway and now we are hoping some Devs can show abit more respect to players that are looking for longterm game developing a character. 

Originally posted by Alan0n

Preview of WOTLK just out

BUt that was kinda expected to take the bite out of games like AOC and WAR.  TBH nothing of what I heard or saw intrested me.   It seems like DK will be the death of WoW as a MMO game.  Kinda sad to have played a game for 3 years, developing a character that then is switched out by a new class....

Anyway - I dont think this will affect AOC at all.  Most players here have had enough of WoW anyway and now we are hoping some Devs can show abit more respect to players that are looking for longterm game developing a character. 

 

Yeah I read it and while it seems wonderful and great at first, the phrase "more of the same ole, same ole" keeps going through my head. Now granted, I love WOW and have played it since release so I am not trying to criticize Blizzard or WOW; I just think the same isn't going to keep people around. I do hope the Death Knight's and PVP areas (and maybe the change to raiding) will be enough but until I see it, I can't be sure.

WOW vs. AOC is a non-existant battle in my opinion. The games are too different and I think many people who criticize AOC are expecting it to be like WOW and it isn't really (mainly thinking about combat, design, etc...). For instance, people talk about AOC's character faces being ugly - well yeah but it fits with the COnan lore - it was a harsh realm and very rough. Also, there probably won't be any RP-PVE realms because it doesn't fit with the lore (if you RP in Conan's world, you are beating the hell out of stuff). This is just a guess too. I could be wrong but its my thinking on it.

I think the big dog-fight will be between WOW and WAR. The two are very similar in design and I think WAR promises a lot of what WOW lacks - mainly world pvp. Again just a  guess.

I expect all three games will see population increases at launch and then after a while the population will level off and then drop when the new game launches. Aion and Chronicles of Spellborn can also figure into this. I personally think Spellborn will be a sleeper hit. In the end I think the big three (AOC, WOW and WAR) will all have stong and healthy populations and be good games for a while to come.

Wait till they announce there Starcraft MMO.

WoW will still do well for one main reason: Blizzard has put in a lot of time and effort to make the game playable for casual gamers. Endgame is still an issue for casual gamers, but an update like WotLK will peak the interest of this exact demographic giving them a lot of game play for a small price.

AoC isn't targeted at casual gamers based on the specs for the type of computer required. Here can be the rub though and something Blizzard has figured out: Power Gamers play a new game and blow through it in about 3-6 months then move on to the next game. Casual gamers play for much longer, not game hours obviously, and pay for years versus months for the same content.

This isn't necessarily good or bad, just different mindsets and customer demographics. It's somewhat similar to roleplayers versus power gamers. Roleplayers level much slower and enjoy many more aspects of the game as they go than power gamers. Power gamers blow through content, find the fastest way to level and figure out the best strategies to defeat the mobs before anyone. A lot of the roleplayers and casual gamers benefit from the work of the power gamers. The problem is that it can take years to create content and mere months for a power gamer blow through it.

The endgame content is targeted at power gamers, not casual gamers, and is constantly lamented by power gamers because it slows them down. However, if MMOs didn't do that, they would lose their power gamer base as well, so power gamers are their own worst enemy here. Still, much of the endgame content won't be experienced by most of the casual or roleplay gamers whereas the power gamers will get to see most of it if not all of it.

Still, you have the other problem of having old endgame content lie dormant when the next expansion comes out. Even Blizzard is dealing with this issue and while they plan on making some of it retuned for the next expansion, they aren't planning to do too much. There's only so much time and new content will get priority over the old.

I'm somewhat in the middle myself. I'm not a power gamer although I play the same type of hours. I prefer to roleplay but am willing to put in the time to do endgame. I'm also finally bored with WoW. I've leveled nine characters to 70 or close to it and still have problems finding a guild that can do endgame content without being jerks about it.

So, I'm hoping AoC will be a fresh start so to speak. I'll probably still peak at WotLK when the beta arrives since I went to BlizzCon '07 and we all got free beta keys, but once the beta is over, I doubt I'll rejoin WoW. It's time to do something different for me.

Ok first off WOW is not "casual player friendly" no lvl based game is. Not my opinion just fact. Any game that forces you to lvl is not casual player friendly. It has to many variables. The leveling curve makes it so they miss a ton of content, guilds are hard to manage or become a member in etc...

Secondly, I think you were referring more to "ppl with low end systems". Maybe the 2 can be grouped together in some instances.

DK is only the begining of wow, whit 10+ mil subs its not going anywere the next 10 years... even if it will have 500k subs at some point in a decay its still very good and profitable...

Actually, WoW is casual friendly. Just because you level doesn't mean that it is or is not friendly to casual players. I know quite a few casual players that love the fact that they can log in to WoW at any time and pick right up where they left off. They aren't forced to group up at any particular level, you can solo pretty much up to max. Even at that point, you can PvP via battlegrounds without worrying about having to put in X amount of time every day.

That makes it casual friendly.

agreed!

~i also have seen the new videos/info etc...and tbh i see the SAME exact mob models / landscapes / and visuals... nothing new at all here as far as that goes sadly ;/

~as for the DK yeah it will end up replacing tanks for some jobs but bc everyone can make one that starts at level 55 you will end up with a game where you have 3 DK's in a 5 man group for the first couple months of the launch lol....yay? i dont think so .. that will probly spark the end of the glory days of wow like many have stated...

~as for the new flying combat / all 25 man dungeons are now able to do 10 man etc...

~ok the 25 man dungeon to 10 man thing is a very good step in the right direction but the problem is that blizz waited toO late to do this - and it was such an obvious mistake they had made - only allowing 2% of ALL the players to actually play in the high end raid dungeons - they will possibly gain back a few customers over this..

~as for the flying combat - its just daily flying mission with a few tweaks - lame

~you now have more hairstyles to make your toon look different.. um yay? 5 yrs too late and by far too little? the character creation process has to be the most bland out of any successful MMO out there andd this little change is not going to make people forget/overlook that...

OVERALL OPINION

- will please the customers that have no choice for other games due to relationships or their computer

-will fail badly at bringing in the new customer bc all this crap is OLD and the games coming out this year are all innovative on one small way or another - PEOPLE WANT CHANGE

Originally posted by Alan0n

Preview of WOTLK just out

BUt that was kinda expected to take the bite out of games like AOC and WAR.  TBH nothing of what I heard or saw intrested me.&nb