AOC - General Information

[Cerin]

In closed beta now, and I can honestly say the best thing I've done for stability thusfar has been defragmenting the drive with AoC on it.

It may seem incredibly basic (to the point of getting overlooked), but it's also incredibly important for loading times and to eliminate stuttering/freezing. I can't tell you how much of a difference it made for me.

Basically when you download the client, it's not installed as a continginous file on your HD. The closed beta DL for instance was 15 different files, but it doesn't take long for that to get fragmented into a 200+ piece clusterfuck that makes your HD hate you for it.

So, every time you patch, and every few days, defrag the sucker.

Also for the folks with memory questions in Vista. You need 3 gb. I run at 1.6 to 2.2gb used on a consistent basis (game's exe+vista's load on the system). If you don't have that, expect some issues in higher pop areas. You will probably get away with it if you're running a great graphics card and/or XP, but dumping an extra 50 bucks or so for extra ram isn't a bad idea at all. This game is memory hungry.

[ModernDayDruid]

Originally Posted by Gecko

The driver issues are mostly worked out, but according to your sig, you have 3 Gigs of RAM. Really, there is no need to upgrade without 4 Gigs or more of RAM in Vista 64.

I've played the game on Vista 32 and 64 and noticed no difference in performance or reliability.

I have 4 gigs, only 3 recognized by 32bit OS.

[jayrebb]

Originally Posted by Cerin

In closed beta now, and I can honestly say the best thing I've done for stability thusfar has been defragmenting the drive with AoC on it.

It may seem incredibly basic (to the point of getting overlooked), but it's also incredibly important for loading times and to eliminate stuttering/freezing. I can't tell you how much of a difference it made for me.

Like someone said earlier, is it 1996 again?

Time to put all these little tricks for performance back in the 90s.

[Kolle]

yeah no shit. there's needs to be a gaming system of some kind that doesn't require all this extra effort. something where you just insert the game and there's never any extra effort or money required in order to make it run properly.

[TwiNCannoN]

Originally Posted by ModernDayDruid

Play some fucking Viking metal or something!

Haha fuck yes, some Amon Amarth.

I missed the show, you guys gonna have a recording up?

[Greyskye]

Welp, just hit 13 on my Stygian Assassin and it was mostly fun. I like the day/night concept for a change of pace. Kinda like having two games in one. I'm starting to warm up to the combat, but still not sold on it. Game definitely still needs some work. I might check it out later in the summer after I upgrade my video card provided word-of-mouth isn't bashing it too badly at that point.

Also, defraggin HD atm for the first time in months and will see what happens. Those load times are brutal sometimes on my machine though I absolutely didn't expect it to run well on a 1.5 year old mid-range system.
Hopefully that fact won't hurt the game too much.

Oh, and anyone else notice an increase in fatalities recently? I hadn't played since Friday much and I was getting back-to-back ones today. And a noticeable increase on single ones. Might have just been the RNG though

[Inconsiderable]

Originally Posted by Grumpy Old Fart

Having played the Holy Priest in WoW in countless thousands of PvP fights/BGs/etc., the Priest of Mitra in AoC is a massive change. It definitely takes a while to get used to not having any "OH SHIT!" buttons like AE fear, Shield, etc. (or at least, less effective ones, like an insta-AE heal or an AE knockdown with a long-ish cast time).

I got my PoM to 23 in about 2 days of playing and it was a ton of fun. I still haven't gotten the whole group/cone/AE stuff down, and it's certainly weird to run up behind somebody's ass to heal them, rather than click and press the "Greater Heal" button.

Personally, I think it's going to be very entertaining to get good at this new way of healing. And not being an automatic "free HK" for nearly every other class out there (which you are as a Holy Priest in WoW, mostly, other than for the poor Paladins) in PvP is a pleasant change.

As I mainly played ToS so far, I found the game far less entertaining in PvP. While the PvE Part was fine, the PvP was not only frustrating but also plain out unplayable stupid on level 13.
Dont get me wrong, I had good scores and usually highest kills as ranged nuker. But usually it works like this:
1) You run around with your group. Click opponent, hit 1, hit 2, hit 1 and inbetween he dies and you get the kill.
2) You lost your group and kill a single enemy with your sick 5 sec stun and the above mentioned combination. Note that it is pure luck as you spell can deal 50 or 250 damage.
3) A stealther attacks you. You die, usually while still being stunned.

Its by far the worst low level pvp I have ever seen in MMOs. It actually made FURY look fun in comparison. Luckily there are 67 more level that could be more fun.

And healing is stupid. Two party heals and a cone heal (that doesnt show the cone!) is all you have. Party heals are ohsomuch fun. Yawn. I wish more games would look at guild wars when they want to design healing that is fun.

[Bankok]

Originally Posted by Greyskye

Welp, just hit 13 on my Stygian Assassin and it was mostly fun. I like the day/night concept for a change of pace. Kinda like having two games in one. I'm starting to warm up to the combat, but still not sold on it. Game definitely still needs some work. I might check it out later in the summer after I upgrade my video card provided word-of-mouth isn't bashing it too badly at that point.

Also, defraggin HD atm for the first time in months and will see what happens. Those load times are brutal sometimes on my machine though I absolutely didn't expect it to run well on a 1.5 year old mid-range system.
Hopefully that fact won't hurt the game too much.

Oh, and anyone else notice an increase in fatalities recently? I hadn't played since Friday much and I was getting back-to-back ones today. And a noticeable increase on single ones. Might have just been the RNG though

The only time I have a load time of 30 secs to a minute is the first time I go somewhere, other than that it's about 5-10 seconds. Other than update video card drivers, I havent done anything to my system and I'm getting 40+ FPS(occasionally 30ish in city).

The only occasional issue I run into is about once every 2 hours my screen will lockup for like 5 seconds as I'm running along and then it's back to normal.

I like the classes and I'm starting to get the combos and stuff down, being unable to customize the UI much bugs the hell out me though, I dont like where they have a lot of things.

[The Hiram Key]

Originally Posted by Kolle

yeah no shit. there's needs to be a gaming system of some kind that doesn't require all this extra effort. something where you just insert the game and there's never any extra effort or money required in order to make it run properly.

Have you ever heard of video game consoles ?

[Vatoreus]

Originally Posted by The Hiram Key

Have you ever heard of video game consoles ?

----- <--- Sarcasm

O <---- Your head

unless of course you're being sarcastic as well, then you can say that's my head.

[The Bog]

The problem so far, as it stands with AoC, bar all the performance issues that people are going to ignore when talking about it, is that the source material is actually really not that great. It's not like they're going off the Warhammer, or Warcraft, or even the goddamn Lord of the Rings universe here. They're going off of a book from the 50's, a series of like, 5 books. Or the comics. Or something.

The whole thing has been muddied and kind of wittles down to a bizarre mix of anachronistic sexism and really, really terrible accents. It's not engaging lore in the slightest. I'm not excited to see anything, and I've not seen anything so far that makes me drop a deuce and praise Jesus.

[Pyros]

Originally Posted by The Bog

The problem so far, as it stands with AoC, bar all the performance issues that people are going to ignore when talking about it, is that the source material is actually really not that great. It's not like they're going off the Warhammer, or Warcraft, or even the goddamn Lord of the Rings universe here. They're going off of a book from the 50's, a series of like, 5 books. Or the comics. Or something.

The whole thing has been muddied and kind of wittles down to a bizarre mix of anachronistic sexism and really, really terrible accents. It's not engaging lore in the slightest. I'm not excited to see anything, and I've not seen anything so far that makes me drop a deuce and praise Jesus.

Yeah cause like, LoTR isn't off books from the 50s, and warhammer from a tabletopgame from the 80s. If you're gonna bitch about something, don't bitch about the source lore. You can say you don't like it, but saying it sucks cause it's old or something is pretty damn straight retarded.

[Flight]

Originally Posted by The Bog

The problem so far, as it stands with AoC, bar all the performance issues that people are going to ignore when talking about it, is that the source material is actually really not that great. It's not like they're going off the Warhammer, or Warcraft, or even the goddamn Lord of the Rings universe here. They're going off of a book from the 50's, a series of like, 5 books. Or the comics. Or something.

Works by Robert E. Howard

El Borak
Blood of the Gods · The Coming of El Borak · The Country of the Knife · The Daughter of Erlik Khan · Hawk of the Hills · The Lost Valley of Iskander · North of Khyber · Son of the White Wolf · Three-Bladed Doom

Conan
Beyond the Black River · Black Colossus · The Black Stranger · Cimmeria · The Devil in Iron · Drums of Tombalku · The Frost Giant's Daughter · The God in the Bowl · The Hall of the Dead · The Hand of Nergal · The Hour of the Dragon · Iron Shadows in the Moon · Jewels of Gwahlur · The People of the Black Circle · The Phoenix on the Sword · The Pool of the Black One · Queen of the Black Coast · Red Nails · Rogues in the House · The Scarlet Citadel · Shadows in Zamboula · The Snout in the Dark · The Tower of the Elephant · The Vale of Lost Women · A Witch Shall be Born · Wolves Beyond the Border · Xuthal of the Dusk

Sailor Steve Costigan
Alleys of Peril · Blow the Chinks Down! · Breed of Battle · The Bull Dog Breed · Champ of the Forecastle · Circus Fists · Dark Shanghai · Fist and Fang · General Ironfist · Night of Battle · The Pit of the Serpent · Sailor's Grudge · The Sign of the Snake · The Slugger's Game · Sluggers on the Beach · Texas Fists · The TNT Punch · Vikings of the Gloves · Waterfront Fists · Winner Take All
Breckinridge Elkins

The Apache Mountain War · The Conquerin' Hero of the Humbolts · Cupid from Bear Creek · The Curly Wolf of Sawtooth · Educate or Bust · Evil Deeds at Red Cougar · The Feud Buster · The Scalp Hunter · A Gent from Bear Creek · Guns of the Mountain · The Haunted Mountain · High Horse Rampage · Mayhem and Taxes · Meet Cap'n Kidd · Mountain Man · No Cowherders Wanted · The Peaceful Pilgrim · Pilgrims to the Pecos · Pistol Politics · The Riot at Cougar Paw · The Road to Bear Creek · Sharp's Gun Serenade · Striped Shirts and Busted Hearts · War on Bear Creek · When Bear Creek Came to Chawed Ear

Solomon Kane
Blades of the Brotherhood · The Blue Flame of Vengeance · The Footfalls Within · The Hills of the Dead · The Moon of Skulls · The One Black Stain · Rattle of Bones · Red Shadows · The Return of Sir Richard Grenville · The Right Hand of Doom · Skulls in the Stars · Solomon Kane's Homecoming · Wings in the Night

John Kirowan
The Children of the Night · Dagon Manor · Dermod's Bane · Dig Me No Grave · The Dwellers Under the Tombs · The Haunter of the Ring · The Thing on the Roof · Scarlet Tears · The Black Stone

Kull
The Altar and the Scorpion · By This Axe, I Rule · The Black City · The Curse of the Golden Skull · Exile of Atlantis · Delcardes' Cat · Kings of the Night · The Mirrors of Tuzun Thune · The Shadow Kingdom · The Skull of Silence · The Striking of the Gong · Swords of the Purple Kingdom

Bran Mak Morn
Bran Mak Morn · The Children of the Night · The Dark Man · The Drums of Pictdom · Kings of the Night · The Little People · Men of the Shadows · A Song of the Race · Worms of the Earth

Other stories
The Apparition in the Prize Ring · The Iron Man · Pigeons from Hell · The Shadow of the Vulture · The Sowers of the Thunder · Spear and Fang · The Twilight of the Grey Gods · The Valley of the Worm

Other characters
Cormac Fitzgeoffrey · James Allison · Cormac Mac Art · Black Vulmea · Dark Agnes de Chastillon · Steve Harrison · De Montour · Turlogh Dubh O'Brien · Kirby O'Donnell · The Sonora Kid

Also

List of works by Robert E. Howard · The Hyborian Age



etc etc etc




Most of his heros belonged to the same mythical history, which he did background documentation to extensively. He was a close compatriot and big influencer of H P Lovecraft, who was a massive fan of his, and visa versa. The source material and settings are massive. His writing is excellent.

[Icecus]

Here is a good source if you want to read Robert E. Howard Conan's works.

A - M, Project Gutenberg Australia free ebooks ebook etext etexts

[Wilfan]

So, AoC is based on source material that's practically in the OAP demographics? They'd do better if the associated themselves to the Governator's masterpieces - at least some people still remember them.