General Discussion

Still when I run on lowest of low settings or max settings with shadows disabled the difference in performance is negligible.  This is the only game I've had where this happens.  Sure....what's on screen changes, but my fps hovers around 5 to 20.  Something is terribly wrong with this game, and unfortunately they failed to patch in a fix before my sub runs out, which is tomorrow.

It's too bad too.  There are certain aspects to the game I really like.  Maybe if they fix whatever is broken and give free trials I'll check it out.  Maybe not though.

A fair review.

I really enjoyed the rant about customer service. I may have stuck with the game longer but a bad experience with the poor CS really left me with a bad taste for the game so I canceled before the end of the first week. I may log back on once more before my free 30 runs out just to take another look but the chances of me subbing are slim at best.

Like Terranah there are aspects I liked but overall there are better games and better developers for me to spend my money and time on.

not a bad game though i heard this game for quite a while but haven't seen some screenies..

Originally posted by jessian

Originally posted by Stradden

MMORPG.com Managing Editor Jon Wood has been playing the first twenty levels of Funcom's Age of Conan. Today, he presents this review of the game to this point, telling us what worked in the game and what didn't.

A great game that has some issues to work out. That’s how I would describe my experiences so far in Funcom’s Age of Conan.

When getting ready to write this review of the game’s first 20 levels, I had some trouble getting my thoughts into an order that would sound and look good on paper (or on your screen, as the case may be). On the one hand, from a personal point of view, these first twenty levels were some of the most fun that I have had playing an MMORPG title. On the other hand, I did run into a number of problems and customer support, at the time that I used it, was a bit of a mess. In the end, my fellow MMORPGers, I hope to address both the good and the not-so-good elements of the game.

Read the whole reivew here.

 

 

Dear  Jon

Quote from the Technical issue,

"I should start by saying (as I will say again in the graphics section of the review) that Age of Conan is one of the most visually appealing MMOs available. The developers placed a clear focus on having high-end graphics to bring the world of Howard’s Hyboria to life. While graphically this is a huge boon for the game, it has left players with lower end machines to either play on the lowest possible settings or, in some cases, not at all."

After reading your review on AoC i found most of it spot on. then i came to one issue you didnt highlight that is impacting a lot more players than you realise.

The Frames Per Second issue has now offically become a living legend of a joke amongst ATI card users.

Take this thread,

http://forums.ageofconan.com/showthread.php?t=23864&page=61

Quote: Originally Posted by SalvoSalvoSalvo Famine said in the patch post that theyre working on a fix and that its been tricky to fix, so at least theyre working on it. However, I'm afraid that if my 3850 performed any better it would outperform nvidia cards 2-3x more expensive :P Yeah, I got some more info on what I sent out a few days ago. This is true but I'm currently waiting on more info. So it's a sign things are being worked on with this report. As many have mentioned already this has to due a lot with a lot technical aspects with ATI itself but we are working on it. Sorry for the delay, wanted to post this in the morning.

__________________

And then this thread,

http://forums-eu.ageofconan.com/showthread.php?t=25454

Originally Funcom didnt even bother to let the Player base KNOW of these issues, myself came to the conclussion that this game (and funcom) were paid a TRUCK load of cash to give ATI users very poor and terrible FPS.

This in my view has been proved, as this GM has now basically said the issue is ATI and not funcom. Now stop me here, isnt the game supposed to run on all available cards as possible??? or is there more to this conspiracy theory??

So i would basically say to anyone thinking of trying Age of Conan, First get your PC specs checked out, if you have an ATI video card, i would recommend staying away from this game until you see an offical (and judging by their lack of customer service) post regarding a solution to this serious issue. If you want to waste £25 quid on buying it, then please by all means go for it...

After all i did, and got a nice coaster.

 

You know what's funny? For  7 years, ATI users have had the short end of the stick in Anarchy Online also. Funnily enough, the GMs and even the game director have always said it was issues on the end of ATI, not Funcom. See the pattern? Either ATI hates Funcom and purposely makes all of their cards, new and old, incompatible with Funcoms' games; or Funcom has some serious programming issues. Of course, it couldn't be Funcom.....................

I just wish I could have played Night all the way to 80!

This is what made 1-20 so great IMHO.

Just me 2c

graphics: I have what AOC would consider a marginal system and I have been fighting and tweeking the settings (taking away from my enjoyment of the game) one thing of note  I actually got better performance  starting with the HIGH setting and adjusting from there than from the low,, I ended up with a better graphic image and even a bit of improved FPS  that being said I rarely break 30 fps  and many times much lower to me the graqphics requirements are needlessly high and leave many people with  older but still strong systems sitting outside.

friend list:  this gets even worse when you join a guild as the friend list and guild list are merged!!! and there is no note section!

sorting tools: when looking at the venders and auction house it seems to have been cut and pasted in the game at the last minute  the few tools there are, are quirky   for instance if you sort by price  the prices have been out of order   300 before 4 ect  and if you go to buy something the list snaps back to its default order  which switches what you had selected for purchass easily buying the new item instead of intended. and the auction house has almost no sort filters making it clumsy.

customer service:  I think they have NPCs running their CS as if you get anything its robotic,, ive have a petition in since day 2 about an account issue.

quests and voiceovers   I love that they have voiceovers but it seems that they shot their wad in the 1-20 which seemed that the code they used for the dialog was overly cumbersome (and i thought the talking was too long)  as for the quests I was sadly dissapointed with the same old quest fare  and that developers couldnt have used much better encounter tools. basicly gameplay has devolved to quest/grinding

as for the mature rating I actually think they needed to get more rough and raw,, you start as a "slave" but you have no bruses or injuries,, you actually start out life in luxury  there is no struggle   for instance the game could have you scavanging for food behind an inn or getting the snot kicked out of you by a guard for trying to steal fruit    no bar room brawls  to me game play is shallow and rigid  I was expecting more from AOC.

*************

final observations

not all ladders are climbable

long run times to get to the higher zones from town  no /follow   this makes difficult grouping when you might be in another part of the world  unless you prefer DEATH PORTING

the storyline is still soft and fluffy,, the quests assume your goodygoody,, quests send you to retrieve items from a house vault or shop but you cant steal anything else but the quest item??? they should factor in a few "optional" theft items.

clothing is un inspired and  stat dependant   occasionaly see clones,, no secondary costume clothing

crafting is all but broken  I spent a full day trying to get "rares" so I can level my resource gathering and didnt aquire one of the several I need. 

inventory is a bit clumsy with pages  and too few of them given what players are required to carry  they need a private bag as well as a loot bag so that you dont allways have to sort through your stuff everythime you sell or at least a "hide" option

UI the ui is fairly crude  like it was built with a crayon  not a pen  UI could use an overhaul

the AI  the NPC brain is the same brain developers have been using since EQ1  PLEASE make some more smarter NPCs than  perceive,,advance,,attack    and your dungeons arnt better just because you pack in more monsters or add more hitpoints to them  game locations need to be far more diverse and dynamic with complex climbable terrain and climb points   I have actually fallen asleep in the catacombs during yet another swarm of  NPCs  I think it was spiders (its amazing how oblivious NPCs can be when I chop off their buddies head!)   try some trilpwire encounters  or hotplate encounters.

I sugested that in the resource areas that they have NPC forts of differing level that players can raid for resources,  lets say you want level 40 resources you get a group together and enter the "playground that restricts the level  you go attack the outpost and if your sucessfull you can raid their cotton field or ash trees or their copper mine,, their might be an option for a rogue to sneek in and pilfer some resources maby from a warehouse,  I wouldnt have full nodes  but a crop of 20 cotton plants with 1-3 per plant would be cool and alot of fun.

Accurate review, however I think the value score should of been lower, also I'm interested how Funcom fixed your lag problem when the tech forum has a 1600 post thread on the problem and no reply from Funcom.

I will also add I have a CE copy and have since cancelled my account, Funcom won't be getting another cent out of me. Already got $100 from me for me to play a game still clearly in beta.

Originally posted by Stradden

Actually, with the unique nature of the 1-20 campaign, a review on that aspect of the game is appropriate.

You are absolutely right. And I think your review is of value for everyone who plans on playing only levels 1-20.