I just checked out the first 20-30 minutes or so of the game and it's quite impressive.
Graphically and mechanically it feels very modern, I really like the whole directional combat deal the game has going on.
How come it didn't do so well financially?
The first 20 levels in Tortage were fantastic.
Then it got really dry after that, all the voice acting stops (NPCs don't even move their lips any longer), and quests got repetitive, and in the mid-30s the quests just dried up.
Thankfully thy have remedied a lot of that, no you wont be seeing fully voice acted quests everywhere like you did in Tortage but there are plenty of quests. Some major NPCs tend to still have voice work as well.
I just checked out the first 20-30 minutes or so of the game and it's quite impressive.
Graphically and mechanically it feels very modern, I really like the whole directional combat deal the game has going on.
How come it didn't do so well financially?
The first 20 levels in Tortage were fantastic.
Then it got really dry after that, all the voice acting stops (NPCs don't even move their lips any longer), and quests got repetitive, and in the mid-30s the quests just dried up.
This in a game with max level 80.
It actually did do very well in sales.
Everyone just unsubbed when they realised it was grinding mobs for the last 50 levels.
I'd love to focus discussion more on what the game is now, rather than what it used to be. Maybe have a mod change the title of the thread as well to reflect the game changes and it going F2P.
I just checked out the first 20-30 minutes or so of the game and it's quite impressive.
Graphically and mechanically it feels very modern, I really like the whole directional combat deal the game has going on.
How come it didn't do so well financially?
Well, first of all the game suffered from a lot of bugs in the first one and a half years of its life. Huge, crippling bugs and performance issues. Long lasting bugs like female characters doing a flat 25% damage less than that of males.
The 1-20 zone was also the best part of the game and it took a huge dive afterwards when the voice acting and general content stopped. You had 80 levels to get through but maybe 40-50 levels worth of (broken, buggy) content. So you had to grind random mobs. A lot. Then there was basically no endgame at all after that slog.
You had about 4-5 different types of repeating armor and about as many weapons to wear through the entire game and the stats on armor didn't actually work for almost the entire first year!
Then there were balance issues, too. Anyone who played at the start should remember the Tempest of Set class, which was a class that got a shield, light armor (not cloth), and huge AoE's with better damage than any other single target damage dealer could deal and powerful heals and the best crowd control abilities. At one point in the game there was literally no reason to play any other class because this one class could somehow do it all.
The combat system works well in PvE but is incredibly wonky in PvP and at the start where all combos took at the minimum of 5 directional keystrokes (instead of the 2-3 nowadays) it was basically just a clusterfuck to play as melee in PvP in the game. A meleer would have to press 5-6 buttons to get one attack off (and then get locked down in place while a very long animation played) while a caster only had to press one button. Then the balance kept going up and down and for every patch they released they kept breaking more content than they fixed.
Age of Conan was an incredibly bad game for that first year
I think the one thing funcom have shown over theyears is , they release a crappy game and then as time goes by impvrove it dramaticly to the point its not even the same game. I am enjoying the heck out of the combat and quests so far.
Morskitter wrote "Spikes, choppas, tentacles, magic? Can't hold a candle to Sergeant Pimp here."
So we get stiff once in a while. So we have a little fun. What’s wrong with that? This is a free country, isn’t it? I can take my panda any place I want to. And if I wanna buy it a drink, that’s my business.
There still is a point about armor variety now still, but with the vanity tab that's not so much an issue. Plus usually the Rare quality armor tends to be more unique looking. My Heavy Armour on Hjorn resembles something like half-plate rather than a chainmail shirt.
I think the one thing funcom have shown over theyears is , they release a crappy game and then as time goes by impvrove it dramaticly to the point its not even the same game. I am enjoying the heck out of the combat and quests so far.
This seems to be about the best possible summary for Funcom.
The problem with this particular way of making games is that, by the time they've actually got it reasonably balanced, stable, and fun... no one is playing it anymore. All the good will that players showed Funcom because they were actually releasing a Conan game that sounded awesome ran dry and is now extremely difficult to get back despite all the improvements which have been made.
So we get stiff once in a while. So we have a little fun. What’s wrong with that? This is a free country, isn’t it? I can take my panda any place I want to. And if I wanna buy it a drink, that’s my business.
Okay I'm sorry, but I just had to comment that I got a good laugh out of the info that Funcom was responsible for Age of Conan.
Know what other MMO they released that was an early MMO example of how not to release a game? Anarchy Online.
In the early 2000s any time a new MMO would come out people would ask "is it worse than Anarchy Online?" etc...
I can't believe that they would completely fail with AO and then apparently not learn ANYTHING about releasing a game a year early, crippled with bugs, and lacking any content. Despite FF14's epic failure of a release -- at least SE was successful with FF11...
Yeah, I think most people on this board are familiar with the AO launch. I was there. I try and repress the memory in the back of my mind as you would with something traumatic that happened during childhood but every time I see that Funcom name I get a brief flash of it and shudder.
Tofu wrote: Here be Littleboots, destroyer of threads and master of drunkposting.
So we get stiff once in a while. So we have a little fun. What’s wrong with that? This is a free country, isn’t it? I can take my panda any place I want to. And if I wanna buy it a drink, that’s my business.
Okay I'm sorry, but I just had to comment that I got a good laugh out of the info that Funcom was responsible for Age of Conan.
Know what other MMO they released that was an early MMO example of how not to release a game? Anarchy Online.
In the early 2000s any time a new MMO would come out people would ask "is it worse than Anarchy Online?" etc...
I can't believe that they would completely fail with AO and then apparently not learn ANYTHING about releasing a game a year early, crippled with bugs, and lacking any content. Despite FF14's epic failure of a release -- at least SE was successful with FF11...
Yeah I bought Anarchy Online at release, so when I heard about AoC coming down the pike, I was excited to hear about a Conan MMO!!! Then I heard it was from Funcom. Much indecision followed, but I finally caved and decided to give it a try based on early hype and the fact that it was a Conan game. Unfortunately said praise that initially came all had to do with Tortuga, which as most anyone knows nowadays is a big fake that lures you into a false sense of security before dumping you into the vast wasteland that is Not Tortuga.
Funcom is doing it again, of course. Will people fall for it a third time? Of course they will.
ArchonexNo hard feelings, right?Registered Userregular
edited July 2011
You shouldn't assume malice where incompetence is all the more likely.
AoC had a guy leading the team who was the master of hype. It showed. Secret World, by contrast, is lead by a guy who has made some stunning games, and it's long been known that SW was Funcom's real baby. They've put alot more work into it then AoC.
Also, people who are knocking on AO must never have played Shadowlands when it came out. By that point, it really was a fantastic game. It still is, but it's age is really showing, graphically, and mechanically, now.
I am not so cynical as to believe there is actual malice behind the failures of Funcom... I am in fact absolutely certain that they wanted each of their games to succeed. Ultimately though, their lofty dreams collapsed under the weight of their ineptitude, and while there is clearly some good talent at Funcom, they are clearly not directing it properly.
If Secret World turns out to be a good game (it won't), I will gladly put down money and play it. I'd love to believe that Funcom has finally learned its lesson and will put proper talent, funds, and development time into a game before releasing (they won't). Time will tell (don't waste your money) when the game is finally released to (inflicted upon) the public.
So we get stiff once in a while. So we have a little fun. What’s wrong with that? This is a free country, isn’t it? I can take my panda any place I want to. And if I wanna buy it a drink, that’s my business.
I am not so cynical as to believe there is actual malice behind the failures of Funcom... I am in fact absolutely certain that they wanted each of their games to succeed. Ultimately though, their lofty dreams collapsed under the weight of their ineptitude, and while there is clearly some good talent at Funcom, they are clearly not directing it properly.
If Secret World turns out to be a good game (it won't), I will gladly put down money and play it. I'd love to believe that Funcom has finally learned its lesson and will put proper talent, funds, and development time into a game before releasing (they won't). Time will tell (don't waste your money) when the game is finally released to (inflicted upon) the public.
*Whaps Toxic with a fish* Anyway... it's not like how you described in AoC anymore. SURE you don't get voice acting all the time, every time everywhere but the gameplay and amount of leveling content is solid. I didn't go Premium until I was a little while out of Tortage, about 30-32ish or so. By then I'd decided it would be worth subscribing to.
Mind you I DID subscribe with a 12.99 60-day time card.
I kid! Mostly anyways. I'm glad to hear that the game is much improved, and I am genuinely interested in giving it another go. My new computer will be here before the weekend, so depending on how long it takes me to build it and get software installed, I may be in-game soon! Or I might end up engrossed in one of many other games I crave to see at ultra-high settings, but I'll get around to it.
I only wish I could get the Directx 10 Client for it to work, I get some HORRID laggy shit on everything without needing to even log in when I try to use it.
No endgame content, buggy, typical MMO mistakes. All that's been fixed now. It only ran well on higher-end machines. It's been 3 years and they optimized the engine so that's no longer an issue. Also, it's kind of a niche game. It caters to more skilled players and the melee combat system isn't easy to master.
Quick, quiet, confident
Comfortable, permanent
Undisputed, every tense
Not a trace of what went left
More equal than the best
Unparalleled success
Everybody, V-impressed
I wouldn't say it's very niche at all really, nothing terribly complicated about the combo system. It is however, fun. Playing a game with auto-attack feels awfully... I dunno, dull to me nowadays. Which is why I've been playing the shit out of AoC and CoX.
So we get stiff once in a while. So we have a little fun. What’s wrong with that? This is a free country, isn’t it? I can take my panda any place I want to. And if I wanna buy it a drink, that’s my business.
So we get stiff once in a while. So we have a little fun. What’s wrong with that? This is a free country, isn’t it? I can take my panda any place I want to. And if I wanna buy it a drink, that’s my business.
0
drunkenpandarenSlapping all the goblin hamIn the top laneRegistered Userregular
The Villas are still there though there isn't really a need for them, at least none that I've seen so far. How about coming back and playing a bit instead of talking about how the game used to be barren and empty?
The Villas are still there though there isn't really a need for them, at least none that I've seen so far. How about coming back and playing a bit instead of talking about how the game used to be barren and empty?
So defensive. :P
I remember the weeks of villas. My best memory of the game, on the other hand, was of standing around in the noobie zones with a friend, menacing low levels with our war mammoths.
Hard to blame me when people have the chance to check it out for nothing now. There are restrictions, but you wouldn't really notice them even up to my current level.
Speaking of, you guys can find me either on my 51 Conqueror Hjorn, or my 55 Assassin Sadubo on Wicanna.
Hard to blame me when people have the chance to check it out for nothing now. There are restrictions, but you wouldn't really notice them even up to my current level.
Speaking of, you guys can find me either on my 51 Conqueror Hjorn, or my 55 Assassin Sadubo on Wicanna.
Yeah, but I'd have to go through all the effort to download the game.
What is this I don't even.
0
KadokenGiving Ends to my Friends and it Feels StupendousRegistered Userregular
edited July 2011
I want to play this game now that I watched the Swarzenegger Conan movie. I really liked that movie. Until that clip, I thought the new one looked dumb, mostly Conan. His voice sounds like a 13 year old making a deep voice, and he looks like they picked some random body builder to play him. I might see this movie now.
I dont doubt that the new movie will bring more players to the game, so that's one good thing about it.
unfortunately the movie is guaranteed garbage every single movie the director has made has a less than 15% on rotten tomatoes. not to mention every single of them a reboot/remake, which is what has been killing movies for the past few years.
it sucks though, conan is such a cool IP. I wish they could have given it to someone competent
then again, if you're like the masses and thought transformers was a GREAT movie (horrible taste/low standards), then you should probably love this new conan :P
I think you're being overly harsh in your assumption, honestly it looks to stick to the real Conan far better than the ones with Arnold. Whom made an excellent, awesome Barbarian. But a Conan he was in name only.
Posts
The first 20 levels in Tortage were fantastic.
Then it got really dry after that, all the voice acting stops (NPCs don't even move their lips any longer), and quests got repetitive, and in the mid-30s the quests just dried up.
This in a game with max level 80.
It actually did do very well in sales.
Everyone just unsubbed when they realised it was grinding mobs for the last 50 levels.
Well, first of all the game suffered from a lot of bugs in the first one and a half years of its life. Huge, crippling bugs and performance issues. Long lasting bugs like female characters doing a flat 25% damage less than that of males.
The 1-20 zone was also the best part of the game and it took a huge dive afterwards when the voice acting and general content stopped. You had 80 levels to get through but maybe 40-50 levels worth of (broken, buggy) content. So you had to grind random mobs. A lot. Then there was basically no endgame at all after that slog.
You had about 4-5 different types of repeating armor and about as many weapons to wear through the entire game and the stats on armor didn't actually work for almost the entire first year!
Then there were balance issues, too. Anyone who played at the start should remember the Tempest of Set class, which was a class that got a shield, light armor (not cloth), and huge AoE's with better damage than any other single target damage dealer could deal and powerful heals and the best crowd control abilities. At one point in the game there was literally no reason to play any other class because this one class could somehow do it all.
The combat system works well in PvE but is incredibly wonky in PvP and at the start where all combos took at the minimum of 5 directional keystrokes (instead of the 2-3 nowadays) it was basically just a clusterfuck to play as melee in PvP in the game. A meleer would have to press 5-6 buttons to get one attack off (and then get locked down in place while a very long animation played) while a caster only had to press one button. Then the balance kept going up and down and for every patch they released they kept breaking more content than they fixed.
Age of Conan was an incredibly bad game for that first year
Maybe I will re download this. It would be interesting to see how the game is now, and I could put my 4 level 80s to work doing... something I guess.
http://i55.tinypic.com/k99fzt.png
http://i52.tinypic.com/ezpyk1.png
Edit: These were /image tags originally in a spoiler, but jesus christ the forums don't even have an H-scroll to break!
This seems to be about the best possible summary for Funcom.
The problem with this particular way of making games is that, by the time they've actually got it reasonably balanced, stable, and fun... no one is playing it anymore. All the good will that players showed Funcom because they were actually releasing a Conan game that sounded awesome ran dry and is now extremely difficult to get back despite all the improvements which have been made.
Love it.
So if anyone wants to group I currently have:
80- PoM
80- Sin
80- Demo
79- Conq
32- Guard
I may make a Ranger too, but first I have to go thru all my current toons and figure out who has what and which one has all my gold lol.
Also, how do I delete a character? It doesn't seem set up like it was back in the day.
Know what other MMO they released that was an early MMO example of how not to release a game? Anarchy Online.
In the early 2000s any time a new MMO would come out people would ask "is it worse than Anarchy Online?" etc...
I can't believe that they would completely fail with AO and then apparently not learn ANYTHING about releasing a game a year early, crippled with bugs, and lacking any content. Despite FF14's epic failure of a release -- at least SE was successful with FF11...
Tofu wrote: Here be Littleboots, destroyer of threads and master of drunkposting.
There should be a little button to the left of the character name on the selection screen.
Yeah I bought Anarchy Online at release, so when I heard about AoC coming down the pike, I was excited to hear about a Conan MMO!!! Then I heard it was from Funcom. Much indecision followed, but I finally caved and decided to give it a try based on early hype and the fact that it was a Conan game. Unfortunately said praise that initially came all had to do with Tortuga, which as most anyone knows nowadays is a big fake that lures you into a false sense of security before dumping you into the vast wasteland that is Not Tortuga.
Funcom is doing it again, of course. Will people fall for it a third time? Of course they will.
AoC had a guy leading the team who was the master of hype. It showed. Secret World, by contrast, is lead by a guy who has made some stunning games, and it's long been known that SW was Funcom's real baby. They've put alot more work into it then AoC.
Also, people who are knocking on AO must never have played Shadowlands when it came out. By that point, it really was a fantastic game. It still is, but it's age is really showing, graphically, and mechanically, now.
If Secret World turns out to be a good game (it won't), I will gladly put down money and play it. I'd love to believe that Funcom has finally learned its lesson and will put proper talent, funds, and development time into a game before releasing (they won't). Time will tell (don't waste your money) when the game is finally released to (inflicted upon) the public.
80- PoM
80- Sin
80- Demo
80- Conq
65- Barb
5- Ranger
So if anyone wants to level with my Barb or Ranger, let me know.
Barb = Kety
Ranger = Lainii
*Whaps Toxic with a fish* Anyway... it's not like how you described in AoC anymore. SURE you don't get voice acting all the time, every time everywhere but the gameplay and amount of leveling content is solid. I didn't go Premium until I was a little while out of Tortage, about 30-32ish or so. By then I'd decided it would be worth subscribing to.
Mind you I DID subscribe with a 12.99 60-day time card.
No endgame content, buggy, typical MMO mistakes. All that's been fixed now. It only ran well on higher-end machines. It's been 3 years and they optimized the engine so that's no longer an issue. Also, it's kind of a niche game. It caters to more skilled players and the melee combat system isn't easy to master.
Comfortable, permanent
Undisputed, every tense
Not a trace of what went left
More equal than the best
Unparalleled success
Everybody, V-impressed
And because I just stumbled upon this... uhh... COMPLETELY NSFW:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXniszN2SWQ
That was p much the most awesome thing ever.
Where's the lime. WHERE'S THE LIME?!
So yeah, I'm seeing that.
Here is the LIME!!
Steam: pandas_gota_gun
Steam: pandas_gota_gun
I wasn't sure about this movie
I am now entirely certain about this movie
So defensive. :P
I remember the weeks of villas. My best memory of the game, on the other hand, was of standing around in the noobie zones with a friend, menacing low levels with our war mammoths.
Speaking of, you guys can find me either on my 51 Conqueror Hjorn, or my 55 Assassin Sadubo on Wicanna.
Yeah, but I'd have to go through all the effort to download the game.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RAnfqbIbwfE
unfortunately the movie is guaranteed garbage every single movie the director has made has a less than 15% on rotten tomatoes. not to mention every single of them a reboot/remake, which is what has been killing movies for the past few years.
it sucks though, conan is such a cool IP. I wish they could have given it to someone competent
then again, if you're like the masses and thought transformers was a GREAT movie (horrible taste/low standards), then you should probably love this new conan :P
I think you're being overly harsh in your assumption, honestly it looks to stick to the real Conan far better than the ones with Arnold. Whom made an excellent, awesome Barbarian. But a Conan he was in name only.