Age of Conan

Seamlessly running into a city that does not allow pvp or zoning into one doesn't really make much difference.

Originally posted by Ender4

Which is fine, but not everyone is you is my point.  What will ultimately drive me away from AOC is that the game is poorly designed for world PvP and that is what I want the most out of a game.  If I wanted some eye candy graphics I'd just go play a single player game which does it better than AOC in the first place.  From a purely PvE standpoint it works great as well, it just doesn't work for PvP.

So for some people it is just fine, for me and many other players it is a pretty big issue.  All depends on what you want out of a game. 

NO, you and a HANDFULL of other players.  95% of the player base in EA are thoroughly enjoying the game.  Just because theres a remote few that have to be LOUD and PROUD about not liking it, doesnt make it set in stone for the rest of us.  Thanks for playing though...

Kyle man, wow.  Do you like grinding?  Do you like. . . top down 2d graphics?  How about all the armor looking the same, or crappy sounds. 

These were all parts of great games.  If no one ever complained about them, no one would ever try and find a better way.

Just because someone doesn't like a certain aspect of a game doesn't mean they need to leave.  I mean, I bet FunCom would be pissed if they were reading your threads telling people to shut up and not play. They want that subscription, and that subscription pays for future development.

I want there to be no loading screens, and great graphics.  I think that will come from games like AoC that have loading screens, finding ways to minimise them and make the loading times very small.  And games like WoW (if they ever do start working on graphics), that find better ways to stream the loading content, while making the graphics better.  Somewhere, in the middle, we'll have both worlds.

Originally posted by _Kyle_

I'll shoot the next idiot that calls WOW seamless.

I do game dev work. It's not seamless. It's a classic design trick called tunnel zoneing. You actually zone to the next area half way before hitting the zone wall. It downloads slightly in the background to prepare the files. This is why dated machines will take performance hits while getting near zone lines. You couple the games tunnel zoneing with low requirements and small file sizes.. then you now have trick zoneing. It's easy as hell to do. I've done it in a few test games I made. It's NOT seamless. So stop calling it seamless. You're just being fooled.

I also fail to see how one can even remotely consider it open world as it is not. Each zone is not physically connected to one another. You're being warped to a different cluster on the same server going though generic static portals located a long zone lines. It's dated technology that should be thrown in the garbage by now. It forces you to degrade visual and physical innovation for a poorly designed zone system.

If AoC zone style isn't for you. Then pack your bags and get the hell out. I rather take 10 seconds to zone then stare at pile of crap cartoon artwork for my game time.

Go ahead and shoot.  Laugh.  Attacking design choices  made in one of the most successful game ever released makes me wonder.  Haven't been doing it for long, eh? 

Saying that you've coded a similar effect and therefor can speak with authority is like saying you've visited Asia because you've seen it through photos posted on the web.  Having made a prototype or drawn up pseudocode is nice, but until you actually have the experience of full implementation... it's simply conversation.  The devil is in the details.

It doesn't matter what technology drives the effects.  End user perception is what sells.  "Fooling" the consumer is what efficient programming is all about.  You optimize and find places where you can "cheat" or use near perfect approximation with the code in order to keep processor cycles down.  Count yourself blessed that you enter the industry when cpu and gpu processing power is widely available.

Ever purchase an epic flyer in Wow?  It's truly one of the most spectacular features of the game.  Static and fixed portals when one flies over the mountain, eh?  Right.  Possibly one of the most impressive elements of their "dated" zone handling design is how it permits players to kite and train mobs from one end of the continent to the other, across several zones.  The ability to pass along player data between zone server is a fundamental requirement for the game to work  - being able to pass mob data falls under what I'd call a real neat trick.

I haven't played AoC yet and firmly believe that it should be judged on its own merits.  However, to lash out and tell people to pack their bags because they rightfully dislike a technical design decision made by Funcom's dev team, well, you'd best have a talk with your producer again about what pays your salary.

Originally posted by elderchang

 

 

 

Originally posted by _Kyle_

I'll shoot the next idiot that calls WOW seamless.

I do game dev work. It's not seamless. It's a classic design trick called tunnel zoneing. You actually zone to the next area half way before hitting the zone wall. It downloads slightly in the background to prepare the files. This is why dated machines will take performance hits while getting near zone lines. You couple the games tunnel zoneing with low requirements and small file sizes.. then you now have trick zoneing. It's easy as hell to do. I've done it in a few test games I made. It's NOT seamless. So stop calling it seamless. You're just being fooled.

I also fail to see how one can even remotely consider it open world as it is not. Each zone is not physically connected to one another. You're being warped to a different cluster on the same server going though generic static portals located a long zone lines. It's dated technology that should be thrown in the garbage by now. It forces you to degrade visual and physical innovation for a poorly designed zone system.

If AoC zone style isn't for you. Then pack your bags and get the hell out. I rather take 10 seconds to zone then stare at pile of crap cartoon artwork for my game time.

Go ahead and shoot.  Laugh.  Attacking design choices one of the most successful game ever released makes me wonder.  Haven't been doing it for long, eh? 

It doesn't matter what technology drives the effects.  End user perception is what sells.  "Fooling" the consumer is what efficient programming is all about.  You optimize and find places where you can "cheat" or use near perfect approximation with the code in order to keep processor cycles down.  Count yourself blessed that you enter the industry when cpu and gpu processing power is widely available.

Ever purchase an epic flyer in Wow?  It's truly one of the most spectacular features of the game.  Static and fixed portals when one flies over the mountain, eh?  Right.  Possibly one of the most impressive elements of their "dated" zone handling design is how it permits players to kite and train mobs from one end of the continent to the other, across several zones.  The ability to pass along not only player data between zone server is a fundamental requirement for the game to work  - being able to pass mob data is what I'd call a real neat trick.

I haven't played AoC yet and firmly believe that it should be judged on its own merits.  However, to lash out and tell people to pack their bags because they rightfully dislike a technical design decision made by Funcom's dev team, well, you'd best have a talk with your producer again about what pays your salary.

as along as the pay ing player  thinkl it seamless ,  then company did job right,

I just noticed that his account bio has Kyle listed at 20 years old. 

Come back when you've published a few titles.  I'm sure we'll be able to have a great conversation then.

Originally posted by Adelbert

 ... I left tortage and... O-M-G O_O

 

If you are > level 20 I'm sure you understand the feeling :)

 

Now back to the root thread.

What type of rig do you have Adelbert?  Want to see if I'll be dropping my jaw as well.

Originally posted by _Kyle_

Tunnel zoneing is dated technology because it forces the developers to degrade the game down substantially. Even straight down to core mechanics such as combat.

You're gaining more then just improve graphics. Yes zoneing is some what annoying, but the trade off is a beautiful world to explore and for more innovative game mechanics.

You people seam to have made up your minds on the game. If you can't accept it. Then LEAVE and do us all a favor already by shutting up.

Originally posted by dracomun

I played on palomides and TBh we rarely saw more then 48X48 at one keep unless it was a relic raid, i guess i just have a lot of wishful thinking tho b/c the more mmo's i play the worse they seem to get, early uo was my favorite followed by ac then daoc and nothing worth mentioning since

Yeah ... i played on like 3 servers before any merdges i remeber 100-600 people seiges  (a few were more than this but it hit the servers so bad) , sorry that you played at 5 am eastern.

Tho i will say palomides was a bit under pop'ed , but i had a 50 decked minstrel there.

Originally posted by krackajap
QFT, If AoC was as revolutionary as is claimed, they would have developed a way to create the illusion of a seamless world better than what currently exists.  This was a design choice they made. I will accept it and play despite it, but that doesn't mean I have to like it.  To claim that load screen are better than a "seamless" world is just plain stupid. 

QFT