[Mack Bolan]

Hi all,

I used to some postings on here, and lurk a ton. When the game came out, I was highly disappointed. How is the game now?

Thanks
Mack Bolan

[Loampounder]

Hiya, Mack, I remember you from the Sigilsonline forum. I quit VG in February. It was stable... um, stabler and had a few new features that were nice. Hats and special flying mount quests came this March. This was balanced by the surprise class reorganization (overnight they turned my ranger into a kiter), large teleporting system, removing of much of character customization, and some small ease-of-play issues (chains and reactions could not be interrupted, easier travel, etc.) Sadly also many important features were not developed such as boats and merchants. Their immediate future plans include city mounts such as spiders, ants, cougars, beetles, rhinos, and giant lobsters.

I left because some of the mechanics they were changing made the game less interesting, I did not like SOE's stated and implied direction of the game, and could not bring myself to pay for future promises. If performance drove you away then it's worth another try (it really is a beautiful world) but populations are down and SOE does not have the team or the dedication to grow it properly.

[Dedley]

Hey Mack,

I'm really enjoying the game.

In addition to what was mentioned above, they have added some raid content at the high end as well.

In all honesty, you will get as many varied opinions to your question as there are people. Your best bet is to log back in and try it for yourself.

[Kurron Nye]

It depends on what exactly dssapointed you the first time round.

If it was bugs, stabilty and performance, then yes, VG has moved way past all of that.

However, if you had issue with the content, its quality, and relative challenge, and gameplay in general, then little has changed.

Yes,try it now and see how it feels. Really the only test that matters. (tho I would wait until SOE has another free reactivation offer for it).

[Optim]

Originally Posted by Kurron Nye

However, if you had issue with the content, its quality, and relative challenge, and gameplay in general, then little has changed.

I wouldn't agree with this at all. The game is FAR easier now then it was at launch. This is why I quit (earlier this year), the game got easier and easier and I gave up.

[Loampounder]

Originally Posted by Dedley

In addition to what was mentioned above, they have added some raid content at the high end as well.

Well, one raid area and some wandering mobs they call overland raid targets. I think that barely qualifies as "some".

[Enscheff]

Um, something like 3-4 guilds have completed all of APW, and ONE has defeated Fengrot. So to complain about a lack of raid content is simply retarded.

Raiding is done very well in VG. There is stuff that casual guilds can get in there to kill right away, and everything before I99/X99/CP can be done by almost any guild that is willing to put the time into.

IMO the raid game in VG is by far its best asset. Everything up until APW is very easy content, and caters to the WoWbois very well. The only challenge in VG comes from raid content.

[Seasiu Laitya]

Originally Posted by Enscheff

Everything up until APW is very easy content, and caters to the WoWbois very well. The only challenge in VG comes from raid content.

I heard that raiding content in WoW was not easy at all. In fact some reports I heard stated that WoW's raiding was much more tactical than EQ's raiding.

Second hand info, however, so I don't really have much business in this thread

[rhagz]

WoW raiding is not easy by any stretch. Anyone that says otherwise is lying or ignorant.

[peppy13]

Originally Posted by rhagz

WoW raiding is not easy by any stretch. Anyone that says otherwise is lying or ignorant.

WoW raiding is easier comparative to the original Everquest.

What WoW does though, is make boss/raid encounters more "strategic" and dynamic. And what I mean by that is WoW bosses aren't about just beating on one giant dude with your entire guild like Everquest was. The encounters are a bit more dynamic, you often have to worry about other things than the "boss". I know some of these aren't exactly raid bosses but they are good examples of what I mean by being more dynamic. Gnomeregan. The boss of that place you have to take down while managing all the little bombs in his enviornment. Many bosses also feature waves of bad guys that attack you while fighting. A boss like Onyxia you have to fight on the ground and in the air.

[Kurron Nye]

Originally Posted by peppy13

WoW raiding is easier comparative to the original Everquest.

What WoW does though, is make boss/raid encounters more "strategic" and dynamic. And what I mean by that is WoW bosses aren't about just beating on one giant dude with your entire guild like Everquest was. The encounters are a bit more dynamic, you often have to worry about other things than the "boss". I know some of these aren't exactly raid bosses but they are good examples of what I mean by being more dynamic. Gnomeregan. The boss of that place you have to take down while managing all the little bombs in his enviornment. Many bosses also feature waves of bad guys that attack you while fighting. A boss like Onyxia you have to fight on the ground and in the air.

That description reminds me of a number of EQ raids, such as killing Cazic-Thule. There as quite the art to killing him, with the strategic clearing of the zone, the pulling of the demi-gods, and that random death touch of his (randomly killing a member of the raid instantly, and it was unavoidable due to his immense aggro range.)

Not all EQ raids were zergs..it seemed zerg became more prevalent when Planes of Power came out. Raid zones like Veeshan's Peak, Kael, Skyshrine, Vex Thal, etc. zones required a finesse element to compliment the brute force.


My fav. Eq raid zone was Temple of Veeshan. You encountered so many different types of atacks from the various dragons along the route, andyou had to be really smart about where and when you chose to fight in that place. It felt really damn good when we finally made it to the circle.

[Amsra]

Originally Posted by Kurron Nye

My fav. Eq raid zone was Temple of Veeshan. You encountered so many different types of atacks from the various dragons along the route, andyou had to be really smart about where and when you chose to fight in that place. It felt really damn good when we finally made it to the circle.

Have to agree with you there, ToV was always a fun raid. Even more fun was doing it with a single, really tight group or 2

[Vanguard2112]

Vanguard is better then this:

So some people right recall some previous posts or threads of mine with some small concerns about the game post-Tortage, ranging from world size, quest style, mob diversity, etc. I've constantly told myself I'm sticking through the game, leveling up to see what else is out there. I've just hit level 30, and I've decided that I'm going to lay the game out as I've witnessed it thus far.

For reference, I am playing a demonologist on the pvp server which is where most of my combat-related feedback will come from.

Tortage:

The 'new player' experience for the game. Levels 1-20 all occur in this area, and what you see is what you get. Its very well designed, albeit a bit instance-heavy and linear. The quests are pretty entertaining, and the destiny quests keep you motivated. Most quests link through at least a few other NPCs which is nice, and unexpected. By the time I reached level 20 however, Tortage was feeling tedious and I cannot imagine rolling alts just to have to go through the same exact quests. True, other games only have so many ways to level as well but there are usually at least two or three zones to choose from, or they just don't keep you in the "newbie area" that long.

Leaving Tortage:

After exiting Tortage I came out in Khemi, which seemed very atmosphering from the start. Looking around I was really impressed with the scenery. Those impressions died when I tried to swim to the "larger" part of the city and realized that the Khemi that is actually playable was two docks and a corridor. The trailer of the city on the community web page actually uses footage from a single dock at least 5 or 6 times over from different angles to make a player who hasn't actually been there think that the city has more to offer than this. Khemi is smaller than Silvermoon City, and thats saying something.

I also discovered that my wonderfully entertaining destiny quest came to a grinding halt, and that I couldn't continue until level 30.

I went out to Khopshef Province to continue my adventures and finish out the stretch from 19-20, which didn't take long. Level 20 rewarded me with two new spells, and a bunch of rank two spells. I felt pretty short-handed given how few spells I had received going from 10-20.

Due to these disappointments, I decided to spend less time leveling and more time exploring, I had just taken a look at the world map and noticed that it had 8 "adventure" zones, 3 "crafting/city" zones, and the border kingdoms. At level 23 I journeyed through all 8 of these zones as far as I was able without getting 1-shotted before I could sprint through groups of mobs. They are not as large as everyone might want you to believe, though they are very detailed. I noticed in my questing that there is an illusion of these zones being large due to how cyclical the quests are, and how they have you running back and forth across the zone regularly.

After seeing the "overworld", we'll call it, since I obviously didn't get to go into every instance out there, I went back to the grind, going from 23-30 in a short amount of time. In the entire course of that process I only received spells at level 25 and 30, both of them giving me one unique spell and a few rank 2 upgrades. The two unique spells I received were buffs, and so weren't anything I really noticed. I did gain two feat spells at level 30, but they are both situational (Agonizing Jolts used at the start of a fight, Living Thunderstorm which...was just one big letdown, though I would assume at least the "model" of the storm is a placeholder).

The actual process of leveling from 20-30 was mostly running back and forth doing shopping lists of mundane kill x of y, kill <insert_bounty_target>, or collect random object from camp. When it came time to kill things, I had two options - one, use my single-target lightning nuke and throw in my fast-casting lightning nuke whenever it was up, or spam my lightning AOE. Both resulted in a DPS race between myself and whatever I was fighting. Root was mostly useless because it would break on first damage, though I did notice it also resulted in an unbreakable snare that I would use to kite more difficult enemies around...while still spamming my single target nukes or my AOE.

I was rather disturbed to learn that, in truth, my AOE spells were dealing more damage overall, though they had a -slightly- slower casting time. I would say it would have been more effective to use them in all situations if I wasn't accustomed to single-target nuking in previous games.

PvP was a travesty. It always came down to who jumped who, regardless of level difference. If I jumped someone with a root, I won...after spamming them with lightning 10 times over. If they jumped me with a spell or got me in melee, I went down in 2 or 3 hits. There was little else to it, mostly because there were few alternatives I have available in combat, strategically speaking.

Itemization is, of course, still not in the game. Why, I do not know, but I will leave it to Funcom that they know what they are doing. Maybe itemization will fix the pvp issues? Maybe itemization will make me feel like doing the quests are worthwhile because I will get something other than useless items that don't upgrade or I can't even use, and random potions?

Oh, I should mention the Destiny Quest! Yes, this lovely quest finally continued at level 30. I went back to the appropriate NPC, who sent me out to Khopshef where I quickly ran into a cave, killed off a boss mob, and then returned to receive a reward of a new ring and a permanent boost to my choice of +spellpower, +mana, or +mana regen (which was a nice twist, I will say). The destiny quest then came to a startling halt once more, and does not continue until apparently...level 50. Yes, the wonderful overarching storyline from Tortage is out of the picture for another 20 levels.

So what is my opinion as a player at level 30? I really don't know why I'm levelling. I rarely gain new abilities, the combat mechanics haven't changed for me in 20 levels, the quests and enemies are mundane, I have yet to find -any- need (or incentive) to group, and I'm not really feeling like there is much exploration when I'm being ran around the world on a leash for these quests anyway. The world itself is disjointed and small, and I'm really not satisfied.

To me, AoC falls short of the mark to keep me interested. Yes, its a beta. Yes, Funcom has all sorts of tricks up its sleeves for release (supposedly), but I can't imagine that they have an internal build that is somehow drastically different from this experience of mine. The audience that Age of Conan brings will likely be the hardcore PvP/Siege audience, assuming they can deal with what is currently quick-draw combat. I don't really know why PvE servers are being offered, as the game's PvE falls short of anything I've played before (and I've played just about every MMO to date, betas and releases).

I don't want to be a doomsayer, but it is very apparent as to why the NDA is still in place 10 days from the early access. I will maintain my preorder until the last minute, hoping we see some magical internal build patched to beta, and I will continue to play the game and relay what experiences I have. I do fear for AoC's survivability, and for Funcom's future successes (such as TSW).

Such is my input. Do with it as you will.

[AsheMan]

Originally Posted by Vanguard2112

Vanguard is better then this:

We shall see.

[Lonestryder]

It sounds like Van is trying to play AoC as a single player game. I'm pretty sure it isn't. I personally don't care about the game at all, but I find this review to be singularly focused.

[acrobat]

Originally Posted by Loampounder

stabler and had a few new features that were nice. Hats and special flying mount quests came this March. This was balanced by the surprise class reorganization (overnight they turned my ranger into a kiter), large teleporting system, removing of much of character customization, and some small ease-of-play issues (chains and reactions could not be interrupted, easier travel, etc.) Sadly also many important features were not developed such as boats and merchants. Their immediate future plans include city mounts such as spiders, ants, cougars, beetles, rhinos, and giant lobsters.

Man.. if they had just done that by release day, my friends would never have quit this game, and I would probably still be playing it today. Instead, I only played it for a month.

I crave this game so bad. I've been craving it for a year. But I just can't see any sense in starting in a game that is basically dead. I really liked it and would happily play it, but I would want to see sieges and stuff some day, and that will never happen now

[Arkwyn]

I haven't gotten past 13, but I know that if felt very much like a single player game with the option to form groups. There were just too many single instances to go through, so I can't blame him for sounding like he was trying to play a solo game. Being he is playing on PvP server, I'm pretty sure playing solo is not his intention.

[acrobat]

The solo play aspect is the least of that game's problems anyway.

I got to 21 and I agree with everything that guy said by the way. In fact his post was largely why I've decided to stop playing it.

[Vanguard2112]

Originally Posted by Lonestryder

It sounds like Van is trying to play AoC as a single player game. I'm pretty sure it isn't. I personally don't care about the game at all, but I find this review to be singularly focused.

Its not my review, but I 100% agree with it.

[sjb1]

Originally Posted by acrobat

The solo play aspect is the least of that game's problems anyway.

that doesn't inspire confidence.

so time for my simple "is it ready check". Are the beta testers talking about either of these:

"content patch that is ready to go but being kept inhouse to not spoil the surprise"

"performance issues are caused by the debugging code that will be removed at the last minute"

if either is yes, I think I'll just wait a month post release.