All Posts by Xasapis

My eyes ... (sorry OP but your message is the definition of a wall of text)

And no, I didn't read a word.

At the original WoW, my first character was a holy priest (yes, I levelled him all the way as holy). I managed to collect enough money to purchase my first mount at level 56. I don't see much of a difference, or a problem, in this case.

Doesn't mean much if they don't bring the game on truck asap.

It is a personal opinion. You don't have to share it with me, if you so wish ;)

I think you'll have to wait for WAR to launch, since these games share a similar artistic background. By the way, I never disputed the artistic style or how the characters blend with the world. In fact, that was the thing that drew me most into the game, when I made the choice between that and EQ2 (back when the two games launched).

WoW needs a revamp. The developers know it and have plans for it. Unfortunately they placed that revamp in the expansion after the Lich King (so it will take a couple of years to see the light). Since the developers have plans for a revamp, I don't see the reason people being defensive about it. It is planned and it will come. It'll just be one expansion too late (for me).

LOTRO when it first launched did not manage to immerse me in the world. Part of it was due to the bland directX9 graphics. The later update to directX 10 turned the game around and gave much credit to the world of middle earth, as presented in the game.

EVE directX 9 and directX 10 clients are night and day in difference. The game has been out for a while now and the update infused some well needed fresh air into it. Unfortunately for me, the lack of avatar was my greatest immersion break (totally personal point of view, ships are the equivalent of armor while the players are represented by the pod pill).

WoW is totally outdated. Not as outdated as AO, but still so old that they break my immersion in the world (Blizzard violating the lore in any way imaginable is another issue of course).

This is the 2008 so the games that want my subscription money better look like they were made with today's technologies. Arcades were fun when I was young, but you would need to pay me to play them now.

I agree with the required polishing. They still have a long way to go before they establish themselves in the "succesful over time" side of the MMO field.

So far they've been very fast with problem solving, which makes the game developer's letter more believable than it would otherwise had been. (I probably messed up my English there, my apologies)

To the OP:

• The amount of people each zone can hold is currently unknown. It is certain that it is not 50, but a lot more (double that number). The exact numbers elude everyone, since each zone apparently has a different capacity before it creates another instance of itself. A good indication that somebody does not know much about the game beyond what is posted on these forums is when you hear them repeat the number a)48 or b)50.
  
  In any case, the number of people inside each zone is not as important as the number of people each one of us interact with. In that sense, the occlusion settings that Funcom chose making people disappear in a few paces away from the player is more immersion breaking than the amount of people in any zone.
  
  I'm talking about the main world, by the way.

• When you talked about teleporting, I was confused, because I thought you were talking about the ability to teleport a group member near your team. Instead you are talking about the connection between the zones. Since I understand that most of the zones are not physically connected in the world map, the instant travel is not an immersion break for me. It would however help if the loading screen you get in-between traveling implied the actual traveling from one spot of the world to the other. It's not as big a deal, depending on your previous MMO experience.
  
  Instancing of zones however is another ball game and it is indeed very immersion breaking. I'm curious to see how this will pan out when the server population matures and everyone will be crammed in the 70+ areas.
  
  In my opinion the zones themselves are pretty big, on par with any other game out there. The lack of a seamless connection is what makes them seem small (it has the opposite effect of what some people are claiming).
  
  The world itself is indeed pretty small, compared to other more established MMOs. Then again, LOTRO started small and matured pretty nicely. I'm optimistic and will expect the world to grow as the game matures.

• I'm not yet in the 50+ range in the released game, so I can't really comment on the lack of quests. However, since I was part of the beta and was able to level up to 75+ with normal quest completing, while the game hasn't slowed down on the part I'm playing, I can only assume one thing. That after a certain point Funcom raised the exp requirements in such a level that all these quests lost the coverage they had. I refuse to believe that they were removed from the game just to be added later with a miracle patch, that's just too far stretched.
  
  So, once my busy life allows me to level a bit more, I'll have a first hand experience of what's happening in the mid to upper levels.

• I don't care about stat caps, although I liked AO system better. In fact and to be honest, if AO had today's graphics I would probably be playing that. I'm that thirsty for sci-fi (non-fantasy) MMO at this point.

• PvP is too young. People just need experience with it to know how to be more effective. Expect people to become better, the more the game matures. For now, I'm surprised that healers are that well received, their healing powers are hardly on par with what you experience in other games.

• Bugs ... are plenty, but minor (in my opinion of course). Nothing game breaking and game stopping (for me) so far. Servers have also been rock solid, I don't believe I've read of a server crash so far.

• Crafting needs tons of love still.

• The infamous PvP consequence system is also something that is much needed.

Overall I'm optimistic. Both because I've been more than 6 months in the beta, so I've seen how much the game has and is improving over time. And because I'm a casual player that has not reached the point where the "lack of content" is supposed to be.

The only negative thing I can think of (and it's totally subjective) is that it's yet another fantasy title. Hopefully the game will live up to the expectations of the people that are waiting for it.

As for the number of servers, it doesn't matter. All it matters is one full server with a decent community. That's all it matters for a gamer to have fun.

Now, that's something hard to believe. Where can you return opened MMO boxes?

Useless thread but ...

You people should pay more attention when reading the developer's announcements. You'll realise that he doesn't say what you're saying.

Sink? No, I don't think so. You just described an MMO targetted towards young children, not a bad thing.

I'm nitpicking but this is the wrong forum for this thread.

To the OP:

Does it really matter that much? OOC is just that. They could be discussing anything. Could have been GTA4.

I have variations of your proposals in mind, but this is not the AoC forum.

To Draccan:

So why exactly are you quoting me when the bottom line is that you say the exact same thing?

It is questionable on whether they will manage to keep the 500.000+ boxes sold and activated in the first 3 weeks of the game. The fact that they sold that many boxes is a financial success (for them).

Lets just hope for Stargate's sake that people don't think that the world will be seamless (it's travel through portals after all).

To the OP:

Age of Conan had a successful launch, probably the most successful launch after WoW launched. I don't think anyone can dispute that with a straight face (although some people wish it wasn't so so much, they convinced themselves it isn't so). Having said that, AoC will have a very hard time retaining their initial momentum, due to various issues. My impression is that they are aware of this and working towards that direction.

As far as Stargate is concerned, I sure hope they develop their own project as best as they can. It's been a while since I've played what I consider a good sci-fi MMO and I'm awaiting their final product.

Smart gamers would not ask for WoW killers. There are just too many compromises involved.

The money are enough to make a brand new game.

How can one reason with blind faith?

Hehe, this thread made me laugh. Not very political correct, is it?

To the OP:

It depends on the person really. Some will treat it as any other form of entertainment and move on (when was the last time you stalked the forums of a movie you didn't like?). Others will treat it as an unsutisfying good purchased (thus file a report to the company regarding the malfunction). A minority will visit these forums to vent frustration (whether this frustration is justified or not is totally irrelevant).

Which brings us to the point in question: Are they justified to vent this frustration in the way presented?

Hard to tell. Forums such as these were created to facilitate diversity among the opinions of each poster. It's only natural to get positive and negative opinions. It's also natural to get extreme opinions. As long as everyone, including the posters, realise that it's just that, opinions, then no harm is done by sharing them. It also helps when people are open to criticism, no matter what the topic is.

Bottom line, you can't help it having people on these forums posting mostly negative views of any given situation. It also makes the situation worse trying to refute negative opinions. Even when sometimes they are untrue or grossly exagerated. Usually the people who try to confront such opinions, end up making grossly exagerated claims of the opposite direction. End result is that neither side is objective and the truth is not served.

No matter what the lovers or haters say on these forums, it doesn't matter on the grander scale of things. What matters is what the player base is voting with their wallet in the end of each gaming month. What also matters is that the game is fun for the people that play it. It's both a curse and a blessing that we don't like the same things. Or that we can't tolerate the same problems. That's why the gender needs diversity. Diversity and realistic expectations.

In any case, have fun with whatever you're playing and please respect those who play the games you don't like. Having different tastes in things is what makes us human.