Age of Conan

AoC runs near flawlessly on my computer. i joined a motivated guild that is fun, smart, adult and helping.

but... i just cant get myself to want to play and its been puzzling me as to why--especially considering the good community i was surrounded by. i didnt even play once during the last week of my free month.

true there were, and still are, many things lacking at launch--broken feats, broken quests, unfullfilled promises. but i could overlook them (temporarily) and vaguely enjoy the basic gameplay while getting my HoX to 61. but that overwhelming sensation--that driving urge to play, to immerse yourself in a virtual world--is just lacking in AoC... 

i think it comes down to the fact that AoC feels so much like Guild Wars--cramped and artificial; im constantly reminded of my lack of freedom. the world is so small and the instances divide any sense of commonality into a fractional,  near worthless sense of community. and more importantly, a bigger picture or common goal is nowhere in sight. i play on a PVP server but seriously the world pvp is so "meh" that the semi-implemented seiges even seem to direct most players to arena or quick-play pvp. i hate arenas and i hate BG's and i thought AoC would offer an alternative but its actually pushed me closer to what i hate... all this meanwhile my only alternative are the PVE instances which really seem to be extremely uninspired and bland.

ok well i dont need to continue rambling and i honestly dont know i felt the need to post this. maybe its just my little warning to other gamers since its to them, us, you, that i feel loyalty towards.

Simple it promises alot, and delivers even less.  There is no addictive factor,  and the gameplay is even more linear and boring than every single other mmo.  Only redeeming factor about aoc is the fatalaties, game was blatantly designed to be a console mmo. Imo this pc release is just a beta test for their xbox release and nothing more than that.  While you pay them for beta they just refine it more for xbox.    Whats even more puzzling is that they have experience with developing mmos, and yet they produce this crap. 

Originally posted by Martie

Simple it promises alot, and delivers even less.  There is no addictive factor,  and the gameplay is even more linear and boring than every single other mmo.  Only redeeming factor about aoc is the fatalaties, game was blatantly designed to be a console mmo. Imo this pc release is just a beta test for their xbox release and nothing more than that.  While you pay them for beta they just refine it more for xbox.    Whats even more puzzling is that they have experience with developing mmos, and yet they produce this crap. 

Not sure how this game is linear compared to any other MMO.  You play WoW you start in Newbie Zone A, move to Lowbie Zone B, etc.   Tortage is a pretty good tutorial area, lots to do there and can get you to low-to-mid 20's before you leave (if that's your choice).  From there you move to a Lowbie Area based off your race.  Of course you're not stuck there, you can freely move to another zone if you want.  Though I wouldn't recommend that on a pvp server....

Addictive factor?  Not sure I understand that, since addiction is a mental condition.  Warcrack is addictive to some, others (like myself) quit rather easily.  I still play CoH, yet I don't think I'm "addicted" to it since I can go days without playing it and not bother me.

Fatalities were a strong sell point I will agree on that.  Though I don't agree this is a console MMO beta test.  If anything, they are trying to see if a console and PC can coop on the same game.  Typically a PC is vastly superior in an MMO type game.  With console's increased power, they can now market the game to more than just PC users.

Not sure but I think that some are upset that the game wasn't perfect at launch.  Yes, I know dern Funcom not having a 100% bug free game.  All sarcasm aside, I'm pleased with the game and the rate they are squashing bugs.  As of right now, I paid for another month.

I have found there is next to no immersion in this game. I don't feel like I am a cimmerian bear shaman running through Hyboria, I feel like I am a guy trying to hit 80 as fast as possible. Im not quite sure why this is but, I think some of the factors are loading screens and poor performance and questing. Questing at higher levels is non existent, forcing you to grind all the way to 80 from a bout 55 or so, which is incredibly tedious and boring. Also, say you start getting in to the game, but then all of a sudden you must sit through a loading screen to cross through some zones. These loading screens really make you not want to explore, and exploring is  a large component of MMOs.

I'll come back several months later.  I did the same thing with LotRO and enjoyed it when everything was ironed out.

I think axe_hero has an interesting point.

The loading screens are something many players haven't seen in a while.  Old EQ1 had them all the time.  EQ2 has them too, although the zones are bigger.  WoW doesn't have many of them, so people got used to it.  Now you have a game with more content to load. 

 I have a good PC so my load times are usually about 5 secs so doesn't bother me.

Drownoble, linear means they make you follow a path.  In AOC you cant go anywhere freely, you are forced to a very narrow path, if you leave the path, you get stopped by all kind of stuff, rocks, tree, montains, etc.

In a standard sandbox mmo, you see a montain in the distance, you can run there, nothing will stop you.   If you have a quest NW of your position, nothing will stop you for going directly there, in AOC they will force you on to a path.

That's what linear is.

Originally posted by observer

I'll come back several months later.  I did the same thing with LotRO and enjoyed it when everything was ironed out.

i know Funcom will eventually add more gameworld and bugs will get "ironed out". but honestly its the fundamental design of the game which i just feel lacks so much.  2 years from now its still going to be an overwhelmingly instanced, arena style pvp game with a limp attempt at world pvp and with mediocre PVE instances as the alternative... albeit a very graphically pleasing and sonically pleasing mediocrity. there might have been a time in my gaming life that i would accept that much.. but not anymore. not from what i think a mature MMORPG generation should be.