AOC - General Information

[Vehn]

yeah definitely do not do the compact resources thing. I tried it and had to redownload 2gb worth of things, then when i try loading the game up it stays on the loading screen forever. then I hit verify resources and it says it fixed 160,000 errors... So I load the game up again and now I have to redownload another 3gb patch >.>

[Elerion]

Originally Posted by Tolanin

I dont see how you can say grouping is punished, oo you dont get as much xp per kill but you do quests way faster with 0 risk of dieing and quest xp is most of your level anyway.

That's key point 1. Since mob xp is split among players, every "Kill 150 Pedobears" quest ends up giving you less xp by the time of completion. It might be slightly faster to complete, but you'll run out of quests because the whole process of completing a quest is less xp when grouping. At best this means you do more grinding to make up for the lost xp, which is boring.

Point 2 is that kill speed doesn't usually increase proportional to the group size. Lack of available spawns, increased movement time relative to fight time, reduced efficiency since fights are so quick, and some people just not adding meaningful dps (There's no need to bring a healer when fighting soloable mobs in a group, for instance).

Point 3 is the obvious ease of soloing versus grouping. Finding a group takes time, getting everyone to move in the same direction takes time, making sure everyone gets all the bear asses they need takes time, etc. Soloing is easy, quick, casual and carefree. Grouping is not.

I'm definitely on the "Soloing opportunities are great but groups should reward more in every way" bandwagon. WoW failed utterly in that regard.

[Tolanin]

err do you even have a CB account? Because there were many elite quests i skipped for lack of a group and a lot of time i wasted trying to solo some of the 'solo' quests that have you carefully trying to pull 2 or less mobs so you dont get raped. AOC is not wow where you can just run around and all the pulls are easy singles and you barely even have to think about it, the mobs come in groups and playing in a duo makes lots of quests infinitely easier since you dont have to worry about getting 4-5 mobs or running away constantly.

No the game isnt gonna really encourage you to run around with a full group but interacting is definitly rewarded. Asking a game company to make a game where groups are clearly better at everything while leveling is not gonna happen again, its just not popular.. its like asking for pvp looting and xp lose on pvp death, shit is just gonna annoy more people than it pleases.

[TwiNCannoN]

Originally Posted by Tolanin

shadowbane did that, all that ended up happening was you could fill the group, half of the group would go afk and the others would sit and grind xp, the afks rotated in and out as time went on.. in general it was pretty dumb, but pve in that game was retarded anyway.

I dont see how you can say grouping is punished, oo you dont get as much xp per kill but you do quests way faster with 0 risk of dieing and quest xp is most of your level anyway.

Yeah that is a good point I guess. Still, afks would just slow shit down (unless the group was killing at maximum speed anyway) and a "good group" would just boot them I'd imagine... I dunno, maybe I'm just too nostalgic of the "perfect group" back in EQ that killed shit so fast.

but I do say it's hurting grouping because it just means classes that can solo better just will. And again that's not a terrible thing, I'm all for being able to solo, but since these games are for the most part - at their core - social experiments, I really don't see the point in not fully embracing grouping.

I do think a duo would probably be the way to go in AoC though. And as has been said, grouping on a pvp server is basically life insurance which is a neat concept.

[Kato Danzo]

Originally Posted by Vehn

yeah definitely do not do the compact resources thing. I tried it and had to redownload 2gb worth of things, then when i try loading the game up it stays on the loading screen forever. then I hit verify resources and it says it fixed 160,000 errors... So I load the game up again and now I have to redownload another 3gb patch >.>

Hmmm.. the compacting thing worked fine for me and helped shore up some hard drive space.

[Elerion]

Originally Posted by Tolanin

err do you even have a CB account?

Yes I do, and I agree that a tight knit duo or trio is ideal for leveling, just like in several other of the newer generation games.

My comments were mostly with regards to the genre in general and how grouping just doesn't increase rewards enough to make people want to meet up with strangers. It's not about making stuff harder, it's just about making the group content highly rewarding gold and xp wise, to balance the fact that you had to spend time finding someone to play with and probably have to put up with their less than perfect play.

[tikkus]

Just wanted to concur that this patch fixed damn near all my performance issues.

[Grumpy Old Fart]

You "no need to bring a healer along" people really have no idea what the fuck you're talking about. I find it hard to believe that you're really in AoC Closed Beta and you've certainly never played one of the "healer" classes.

I've played my Priest of Mitra through 26 levels side-by-side with every other class in the game, and I can guarantee you my soloing experience is vastly superior to theirs. Not only can I kill mobs just as fast as any other class my level, I *NEVER EVER* fucking die. In fact, with the +mana-when-hit talents I have now, I can solo three level 29 mobs and end the fight with full health and full mana.

As for grouping, I can not only heal when that bad pull happens - and save your ass from a five minute corpse run - I'm also doing damn near as much DPS as you, Mister Uber DPS E-peen-waver (and probably more than you if you're a Soldier class).

So, I'll keep laughing my ass off as you do those corpse/gravestone runs and don't feel the need to "bring a healer along". As to your other comments about grouping not being necessary and/or even worth bothering with, you're 100% correct.

[Twobit Whore]

PoM is also one of the first classes I expect to see whacked with the nerf bat. Also, it's bugged. Do you have the damage buff from healing feat?

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[Tolanin]

Originally Posted by Twobit Whore

PoM is also one of the first classes I expect to see whacked with the nerf bat. Also, it's bugged. Do you have the damage buff from healing feat?

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ya POM is pretty close to broken, they got fixed a little this patch but still the class is prolly as good as nuker as demonologist still... before yesterdays patch PoM was just completely OP in the higher levels, 4k nukes aoes even without the bug.

[Draegan]

PoM's are definitely OPd.

Played an Assassin tonight up to 14 (Game crashed on my because I kept alttabbing). I don't see where they're gimped. Sneak up, get a nice crit, and you put out a lot of damage. Interesting class, kinda spammy, a lot of combos.

[Tred]

Originally Posted by nyx

If you want the game to work, don't follow this advice.

I wasn't giving advice. I was just answering the question he asked.

I saw someone mention having to remember where combos hit. If you look at the abilities icon you see arrow/notches on the icon. That tells you what direction to follow up with. After noticing that it made combat much quicker and easier for me.

[Lonin]

Originally Posted by Grumpy Old Fart

I can guarantee you my soloing experience is vastly superior to theirs. Not only can I kill mobs just as fast as any other class my level, I *NEVER EVER* fucking die. In fact, with the +mana-when-hit talents I have now, I can solo three level 29 mobs and end the fight with full health and full mana.

As for grouping, I can not only heal when that bad pull happens - and save your ass from a five minute corpse run - I'm also doing damn near as much DPS as you...

Originally Posted by Grumpy Old Fart

Mister Uber DPS E-peen-waver...

...

[Draegan]

OoOoO! u gotz pwnd! kklol!hai

[Gilgamel]

So I'm going to play this I think, probably with another person I duo with a lot. Is there going to be a FoH guild sprouting up? Every other person I know who is still playing MMOs is fucking addicted to WoW still.