Teh Conanz

I went out and bought Age of Conan on a complete whim. I bought the CE so I could do the early start, of course. Nothing like maximizing a whim.

Overall, it's a pretty decent game. Almost every quest has a moral choice. You can be a complete ass 100% of the time or not. The graphics are pretty decent, possibly a bit better than LoTRO. It definitely benefits from DX10, which means you need Vista.

It has a Mature rating. There is nudity, there is blood and everyone cusses. There is also the option to turn all that off...tho, I have done a couple different fatality moves and they were awesome to see in all the bloody glory. Make no mistake...just like the books, just like the movies, Conan is about killing stuff all the time.

Character creation is pretty cool...nothing on the scale of CoH (I don't think any game is going to give you that many options), but definitely more choices than Tabula Rasa or LoTRO.

It is still pretty buggy at the moment. AH and respecs are not working, the level 20 zone may or may not eat your character, and they are having logon server issues.

LoTRO will still be my main play... much like TR, Conan looks really good coming out of the gates but time will tell. LoTRO is easily the most developed and thought out game in the market (in my opinion). Tho, with the new development team, CoH is looking very very good with the last three expansions.

Cage out.

I hate it - hate hate hate it

I have a copy I am trying to get rid of - never opened, pre-order code never used.

hate it? I think its pretty unique. I am enjoying it quite a bit.

So I take it you played in the beta, Phigh? I didn't get in (first one I missed in a very long time) but I've seen Cage play it a few times and I admit it looks pretty cool. I have a few issues with it, though.

The primary issue is that I already have too many gaming commitments at the moment. Lotro is, and will continue to be for a long while, my number one game. I'd love to play another MMO, but I've tried playing more than one before, and all it does is spread me too thin. Along with Lotro, I have regular Rock Band nights and also have been playing a mixture of other Xbox 360 games, most recently the new Penny Arcade game which is unfathomably addictive.

The issues I have with Conan are mostly related to its "newness." Things like the launch not going smoothly, the servers being crowded, and content still being sorted. I'm also concerned with balance issues and how they will be addressed. One of the greatest things about Lotro (which I eventually compare all MMOs to) is that I've felt very little "nerfing" going on. Almost every patch, they've done their best to improve gameplay and balance without imposing artificial limits. It's not perfect, but it's better than any fantasy MMO I've played in terms of overall balance and well-roundedness - and I've tried nearly all of them.

I suppose my concerns can eventually be addressed by time. Before I jump on the "shiny-new-MMO" bandwagon, I want to see that it will be around for awhile, and treated as a work in progress, constantly improving and adding content. I don't want to fall prey to what I've dubbed "TR Syndrome" - a few of you will understand what that means. Since AoC is marketed largely at the PvP crowd, it's important to see how they handle balance issues as well. Far too often, patches that cater to the PvP crowd end up ruining some of the fun of the PvE crowd.

Hang on to that copy for a little longer, Phigh; there's a chance, albeit minor, that your opinion may change. And once I get my new machine in and see how Conan is being received by the player community, I may buy it from you.

I played the Beta, yes. Admittedly I only got to level 13.

I hated the graphics (DirectX 9); the targetting system; the loot system; the lack of anything new to the genre; combat system; the chat system; the search system; and the patching system.

I liked the idea of the siege end game, but hated the fact that you have to do all the mini-games a ton to get to it.

In the beta the PvP griefers (mostly those that were a good 6+ levels above you) were in abundance, camping zoning points and respawn (death) points and following you around and force a PvE death.

The PvP griefing is actually excellent news to me, in a devious sense. Cage and I have a good friend that is super stoked about Conan. I find this odd since the game is marketed heavily on its PvP merits, and this person pretty much despises PvP. But he thinks that, since they have separated servers for PvP and PvE, he'll be ok.

If the griefing is bad in PvE, he's going to be so angry with this game. I love it.

I started on a PvE server. Even being on a PvE server, I have no idea how you would attack somone before lvl20. Tortage is a complete noobie zone setup to introduce you to the game. Perhaps this has changed? I have also found combos to be very different than described in the beta writeups I read...the game has been patched continously since release. Many things have changed. The interface has had a rehaul in the week I have been playing.

I don't know, dude...not trying to be argumentative or anything, but I think its alright. Combat is very unique, loot is same 'ole, they have redone the chat twice already and I have already remapped all my targetting...but I do that in every game.

Were you in early beta?

I beta'd it for about 5 weeks. I stopped the week before release - the 3-4 hour patches pretty much ended it for me. In fact the patching meant that I didn't get to test it anywhere near as much as I wanted to. Some of the earlier graphics glitches were funny.

How can you play this game in PvE? Doesn't that go against the whole concept of the game? There was only PvP when I started.

The PvE servers still offer PvP zones and the end game stuff. A lot of my friends don't dig PvP so I went PvE first. I will create on both types servers eventually.

There are over 20 servers up now. If anyone else starts playing, we really need to coordinate. All my PvE stuff is on Thog.

I'm not suggesting - and I don't think Cage was either - that we move to Age of Conan. I have no problem with people checking out other MMOs, however. I am well aware that new and exciting concepts are coming out for gamers all the time, particularly in the MMO genre. I don't think Conan has the chops right now, maybe not ever, to entice many of our members to it permanently.

That said, if a new game does become popular with our members, I would love Unlimited to have a presence there, in whatever passes for a kinship.

Indeed, it's 'chops' are lacking and it shouldn't be allowed to fly.

Eadwyn wrote:I'm not suggesting - and I don't think Cage was either - that we move to Age of Conan.

Nah, not at all. It would have to be a well established game. Conan is too new and we have to see the crafting, guilding, end game and whatnot. LoTRO is established, a great game, and has serious end game. I think Warhammer will be the game to watch for. Consider this.....


LoTRO is holding steady with 300k active accounts. It has never topped 400k accounts.
CoH is actually moving up and may have broke 200k accounts. CoH peaked at 250k subs for one month.
AoC is nearing 500k subs in the first week. They had about that many beta apps.
Warhammer Online has about 700k beta apps. They expect it to break 1mil subs in the first month.
Stargate Worlds only has 100k beta apps in a little over two months (I wanted to see this MMO get a good start)
Eve online has about 50k subs. EQ2 around 200k. TR is at 150k and sinking like a stone. (they need Mechs!!)
WoW has anywhere from 3mil to 5mil on a given month.

**note** some of these numbers came from Jan2008. I tried to get them as accurate and up to date as google search would let me

AND...Phigh, stop the hate!! I think the game must have changed quite a bit since you played...since I am an excellent judge of cool and Conanz is cool worthy. Oh yeah, and I will buy your preorder code...I want the War Mammoth!!

Cage

Phigh wrote:I hate it - hate hate hate it

I have a copy I am trying to get rid of - never opened, pre-order code never used.

Dang, I missed out on the pre-order code thingy...how much you want for just the pre-order code Phigh???

I got the game already...haven't played all that much of it yet...some good luck on our part though Cage...I also have my character on Thog...name is Zorric...

LOTRO is still my bread and butter...Turbine is the best MMO company out there in my opinion

I think I'd be more tempted by AoC in the future if they offered a Lifetime option much like Lotro does. The same goes for Warhammer, though I know that game will likely do well based on fan-base alone. To my knowledge, Turbine is the only MMO company to offer such a deal.

The other pay model I like is, unfortunately, through Sony. They have a "station pass" that costs a little more each month, but allows you to play all of their MMOs. It's too bad that the vast majority of those games suck.

Just to let you know, I've returned my pre-order copy. But, the pre-order code should still work for the Mammoth - sent it to Cage as he asked first - sorry Suhrenitee.

Phigh wrote:Just to let you know, I've returned my pre-order copy. But, the pre-order code should still work for the Mammoth - sent it to Cage as he asked first - sorry Suhrenitee.

No sweat Phigh