Age of Conan

The developers are trying to squeeze out 2 patches a week now.  I am highly impressed.  Solid launch (for a high end graphics game) and a solid game. 

Why do I think this is a solid game?  I upgraded to a new system, thinking I was stable because I had everything right, I started playing AOC.  I crashed once every 1 or 2 hours of gameplay.  I started getting mad and blaming the game.  Then, decided to install UT2k4 to play because I was aggravated at AoC.  Patched it, and tried to play.  Crashed within 2 min.  Installed Prime95, failed on the first test.  So, with 1 bad memory timing causing my whole system to be unstable, AoC lasted longer than ANY other application, even Firefox started crashing on launch. 

Now everything is fine and AoC plays great.  Also, I had played AoC on my old system ( Rad x800 XT, AMD 64 3000 overclocked, 2 gigs of ram) with pretty horrible framerates.  Switching to this new system was like playing a new game, again.

New system 3DMark06 = 11944

Old system 3DMark06 = ~4000

Now the balance issues and broken spells/skills, thats another story.  With 2 patches a week, I am sure they will get the balance issues and broken spells/skills fixed.  Every game has issues like this at startup, I remember the DAoC launch, it was a solid launch, with little endgame and "archers" one shotting people.  Shadowbane launch... I won't go there...

A solid game doesnt need 2 patches a week..a really incomplete buggy one needs...

So the game's solid when promised content and key content isn't in yet? That's one way to define solid I guess.. Well at least they promised they'll fix everything, just keep paying a month or two more :).

Originally posted by paladinum

A solid game doesnt need 2 patches a week..a really incomplete buggy one needs...

QFT. Fortunately for FC there is a legion of idiot kids out there willing to pay FC to literally finish off the 6 months of beta the game needed to become release quality.

not to mention they have been losing subscribers hand over fist so they are really desperate to try to regain some credibility atm.

Originally posted by paladinum

A solid game doesnt need 2 patches a week..a really incomplete buggy one needs...

A solid company will patch as many time as it needs to. To ensure a smooth game and a happy populace. You may not like the fact that they are patching 2 times a week, I however, am impressed that they will go the extra yard to do so

Originally posted by boodis

So the game's solid when promised content and key content isn't in yet? That's one way to define solid I guess.. Well at least they promised they'll fix everything, just keep paying a month or two more :).

I am angry about this too, but you honestly couldn't expect everything to be in if you've ever been around for more than a couple launches. Almost every AAA MMORPG that has come out in the past 2 years has done this, if not to a worse extent. Even LOTRO was similar in the fact that they promised things that weren't in release, but is still considered one of the smoothest launches around, and the content was eventually added. AoC has a lot of things that it did promise at launch that are not there, but so did a large arsenal of other game releases, so it's somewhat unfair to judge the game by that scenario. It's like calling a baby stupid in it's first month when it still doesn't know how to walk or talk when the parents claim it to be Mozart. You'll think the parents are a little self-indulgent but it's not fair to call the baby an idiot when you can't properly analyze it... well, close, anyway, sort of hard to compare a game to a baby. You get what I'm trying to say, I hope.

Still, it isn't a good thing. Like I said, it pisses me off too. MMORPG companies have been somehow thinking lately it is alright to give us half-finished games. Granted, the consuming gaming populas has let this slide for a while now, but it's getting more and more repugnant and more drastic. I'll defend Funcom in the fact that with this case they didn't have much of a choice. Right now they're in competition with WAR, in a sense. They would have been doomed if they released it at the same time. It is not that WAR will be a better game, all people have different tastes, but in the fact that WAR is a much more system friendly game. AoC would be judged unfairly because it would undoubtedly have a much smaller population of players and a much smaller gaming population than it can make now with an early release. In all honesty, AoC is doomed either way. People will compare this with WARs release. Many will not take into account that WAR gained 6 extra months to produce and fix errors, and simply look at statistics. WAR will overwin the gaming community, unless AoC fixes everything they promised and more before it's release (and that's hopeful wishing).

Still, they'll hopefully be able to keep a large enough community (the final player numbers will probably be next to if not slightly higher than LOTRO's) to have the game be enjoyable... but I wouldn't be surprised if WAR steals the bait with at least half a mil.

Oh this game is definitely improving by leaps and bounds with each patch. I didnt see one blue drop from random mobs the whole first week.. now? About every hour or so something blue suprises me in a chest and they just added purple rares this patch. Stats now work as intended, and they just continue to amaze me with how swiftly they take action.

I agree we are not getting our money or time worth from these game makers.....i really think we should regulate it.....really if you buy a new car it comes with 4 tires and a working motor.....we dont have to take it back to the dealer every month for a "patch"........anyway we need a UL type outfit  or something......i get tired of getting ripped....

Originally posted by -Zeno-

The developers are trying to squeeze out 2 patches a week now.  I am highly impressed.  Solid launch (for a high end graphics game) and a solid game. 

Why do I think this is a solid game?  I upgraded to a new system, thinking I was stable because I had everything right, I started playing AOC.  I crashed once every 1 or 2 hours of gameplay.  I started getting mad and blaming the game.  Then, decided to install UT2k4 to play because I was aggravated at AoC.  Patched it, and tried to play.  Crashed within 2 min.  Installed Prime95, failed on the first test.  So, with 1 bad memory timing causing my whole system to be unstable, AoC lasted longer than ANY other application, even Firefox started crashing on launch. 

Now everything is fine and AoC plays great.  Also, I had played AoC on my old system ( Rad x800 XT, AMD 64 3000 overclocked, 2 gigs of ram) with pretty horrible framerates.  Switching to this new system was like playing a new game, again.

New system 3DMark06 = 11944

Old system 3DMark06 = ~4000

Now the balance issues and broken spells/skills, thats another story.  With 2 patches a week, I am sure they will get the balance issues and broken spells/skills fixed.  Every game has issues like this at startup, I remember the DAoC launch, it was a solid launch, with little endgame and "archers" one shotting people.  Shadowbane launch... I won't go there...

Solid doesn't mean incomplete or broken.  Below is a screenshot I took last night.  For some reason textures were missing from the landscape, items all around the map were flashing off and on, and my face disappeared so that you could only see the back of my head.  Here is a pic of missing textures of this very solid game.