AOC - General Information

[Rayne]

Apparently, an updated FAQ was recently posted as well. Looks good. Lets just hope it all works out.

[jayrebb]

Originally Posted by ModernDayDruid

Official System Reqs out today:

Required
OS: Windows Vista/XP
Processor: 3GHz Pentium IV
RAM: 1GB RAM
Video Card: Shader Model 2.0 and 128MB RAM: NVIDIA GeForce 5800 or ATI 9800

Don't try this at home kids.

lol on second thought, I think this could make for a lawsuit of some sort. Im quite sure you wouldn't have any hardware left. This happened in Vanguard to some people, I had to get a new RAM stick from leaving my computer on unattended overnight after playing the memory leak-filled game. A computer that ran perfect pre-Vanguard, now wouldn't even boot because it destroyed 1 stick. Lucky the warranty bailed me out. I never would have thought Id be worrying about an MMO destroying my computer until after that incident.

edit: cant find the old beta review while arguing with Hatorade, might not be safe to post NDA breaking info anymore.

[Vehn]

wb!

[Rayne]

Originally Posted by jayrebb

A computer that ran perfect pre-Vanguard, now wouldn't even boot because it destroyed 1 stick. Lucky the warranty bailed me out.

Or it was a shitty stick to begin with? By the way, you played AoC last..... when? Don't shit up another thread man. Post relevant current info or GTFO.

[UnchainedAcolyte]

The topic of the thread is AoC. Not Savvis, not AO.

Tuco, if Jay decides he wants to go off-topic on this thread, instead of rickshawing it, cut his posts out and put them in their own little rickshaw thread (like you did with the Clinton/Obama thread and Khorum's involvement) and let the rest of us who want to stay on topic about the game do so.

Thanks.

On Topic:

Interesting information about quests and questing and "details" of the game -

PC Previews: Age of Conan, Hyborean Adventures

Six months ago, Conan looked to be in a spot of bother. The beta began, and the players let out a unified "Erk". The problem? The combat. In trying to move away from the standard MMO fare, Conan's esoteric approach to online fighting left many players bemused.

Now, only about four months from the delayed release date, it's that element of the game that's seen the most work.

The good news is that it's still different enough from every other MMO to be interesting. The better news is that it's very easy to play. Perhaps even too easy. Every enemy in the Robert E Howard-inspired game has three points where they can be attacked: left, right and above.

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These are shown by semi-circles floating about them when targeted. If you hit them on the left, they'll defend that side, maybe leaving the right exposed. Exploit this, and take advantage of your ever-increasing set of skills and the combo system, and you'll be employing a degree of tactics not seen before in MMO battling.

We're a bit concerned that combat might now be too simple at the start, but we're reassured by Funcom's promise that it will get more involved by the time the game launches, with combos present from the very beginning.

The story gets equal standing with the combat as the focus of development. Taking the lore from the Howard books, rather than any iteration of the comics or the unbearable Arnie movie, Funcom are placing the narrative firmly at the centre of things.

Along with two dedicated full-time writers, there's a team of eight people solely writing quests, and another responsible for managing the lore. There'll be 800 quests ready at launch, and surprisingly few of them appear to be timesink "kill 30 rabbits" nonsense.

In fact, some genuinely inspired ideas are being touted, including solving murder mysteries, and stealth quests requiring you to sneak over rooftops and eavesdrop on NPC conversations. The large team is there to ensure quests have meaning in the game, linking them to the story, giving you the motivation to complete tasks.

This becomes even more detailed with the Destiny Quests available to you at night time. These focus on learning more about your character's mysterious background, and should create a far greater sense of your presence within the world, with a history going back before you created your character.

This idea of there being reason behind actions is prevalent throughout. NPCs are having their heads filled with big old lumps of behaviour, so rather than standing stupidly waiting for you to clonk their heads in, they'll be getting on with busy-work. Guards will have extensive patrol routes, relieve each other from duty, even gain a sense of ambition until they're willing to go exploring, and naturally get drunk and then go for a pee up against a wall.

All this can be used to your tactical advantage, as you and your buddies tackle enemy camps however you see fit.

While Funcom's previous MMO, Anarchy Online, might not have won a giant audience, it does seem to have taught them the value of details. Conversations, for instance, are far more involved than in previous MMO offerings.

Rather than clicking through the cutscene, or choosing "yes" or "no" to a quest, in Conan you'll have BioWare-style conversation options, so you can choose the attitude with which you approach situations. In fact, be rude enough and you can talk your way out of a quest.

It won't dramatically change the progression of the game, and there's no shifting between 'dark' and 'light' or anything similar, but it's a nice touch that lets you feel far more involved in proceedings.

Guilds look to be getting a decent chunk of attention too. Once you've reached level 40 (of 80) you'll be able to start doing some serious crafting. But rather than just churning out attractive hats, this will allow you and your guildmates to establish a large, instanced base for celebrating your glory, with as many as 150 players sharing the space.

It's an amusing goal to aim for, and there's a small tactical advantage too, as the area offers opportunities for resource gathering, which will come in useful for PvP action.

Then dozens more details present themselves. Over 100 voice actors have been used for the NPCs, and from our brief play, they're pretty decent. It's a hefty relief to hear a Scottish accent in a game performed by an actor who's at least visited the country, even more so one who can offer an authoritative and impressive brogue.

There's a day/night cycle, which affects the behaviour of the NPCs. There are 2,500 animations for male and female characters, with hundreds of emotes to match (including getting drunk and the subsequent peeing).

What remains to be seen is whether the many years of effort will connect into a coherent and engrossing MMO. The combat, while much improved, will still provide an obstacle to new players merely by dint of being different from World of Warcraft.

We'd really like to see Conan succeed - hell, we'd really like to see any MMO different enough from WoW succeed. The open beta starts any moment now.

[Kuro]

"The open beta starts any moment now."

Well, if they're right on this, we'll soon have a wealth of information.

Unless you have to pre-order the special collectors super ninja widget edition to get into beta.

[Lowk]

Originally Posted by Kuro

"The open beta starts any moment now."

Nothing irks me more than vague comments referencing time concerning something that I would look forward to.

[Pyros]

Well that's pretty sad, not surprised, but seems the game will release in a pretty unfinished state. Doubt the game gets more subs than vanguard. Not making a parallel quality wise, it's much more polished than vanguard was, but it's definitely not good enough to retain any decent subcription base to make it a niche game. The best example would be hellgate london. Finished game, but not many people bothered.

[Rayne]

Originally Posted by Pyros

it's definitely not good enough to retain any decent subcription base

Can you elaborate?

[Pyros]

Originally Posted by Rayne

Can you elaborate?

I believe you can find my posts in the other thread, inbetween jayreb's crap. If not, they've been removed and it's pointless for me to repost nda breaks. For the sum up though, I'd say, pvp is not functional(besides the bg crap), classes are not balanced, lots of stuff is still straight up broken(skills talents AI quests world).

It's not bad bad, but it's definitely not good if you log in thinking you're going to play a retail game, and not an extended paying beta. It's at least new, which some people should appreciate, and it has some very nice innovative mechanics(melee combat is fucking awesome for example, imo).

[Rayne]

Originally Posted by Pyros

I believe you can find my posts in the other thread, inbetween jayreb's crap. If not, they've been removed and it's pointless for me to repost nda breaks. For the sum up though, I'd say, pvp is not functional(besides the bg crap), classes are not balanced, lots of stuff is still straight up broken(skills talents AI quests world).

It's not bad bad, but it's definitely not good if you log in thinking you're going to play a retail game, and not an extended paying beta. It's at least new, which some people should appreciate, and it has some very nice innovative mechanics(melee combat is fucking awesome for example, imo).

Let me put it this way then....

do you think the remaining issues are something FunCom can hammer out after release, or are they so gamebreaking as to cause a severe loss of interest well before the necessary fixes can be implemented?

[Tual]

Originally Posted by Rayne

Let me put it this way then....

do you think the remaining issues are something FunCom can hammer out after release, or are they so gamebreaking as to cause a severe loss of interest well before the necessary fixes can be implemented?

IMO the first for sure. I assume *cough*.

[Pyros]

Originally Posted by Rayne

Let me put it this way then....

do you think the remaining issues are something FunCom can hammer out after release, or are they so gamebreaking as to cause a severe loss of interest well before the necessary fixes can be implemented?

Hard to tell before we're really closer to release(like a week before) and by then you should be able to tell by yourself through open beta. However in the current state, considering the point of the game is pvp, and that's one of the least tested mechanic(the pvp server popped like 2weeks ago, or was it 3, and since then there's been no patch but crash/memory leaks fixes), I'd say it might fail too bad at release for the intended audience, pvpers. Next patch might make this much better though, since they haven't patched since pvp server opened, I guess it's cause they're making a lot of pvp related changes for next.

I just don't bother with definite opinions until a game is near release, you never know how it can turn out in the last few weeks. Well usually it doesn't change, but I'm still a kid at heart, I need dreams and hopes. Or something like that, truth is I don't really care.

[Rayne]

Originally Posted by Pyros

Hard to tell before we're really closer to release(like a week before) and by then you should be able to tell by yourself through open beta. However in the current state, considering the point of the game is pvp, and that's one of the least tested mechanic(the pvp server popped like 2weeks ago, or was it 3, and since then there's been no patch but crash/memory leaks fixes), I'd say it might fail too bad at release for the intended audience, pvpers. Next patch might make this much better though, since they haven't patched since pvp server opened, I guess it's cause they're making a lot of pvp related changes for next.

I just don't bother with definite opinions until a game is near release, you never know how it can turn out in the last few weeks. Well usually it doesn't change, but I'm still a kid at heart, I need dreams and hopes. Or something like that, truth is I don't really care.

Thats cool. I appreciate your impressions though. Lets just hope they put the time they have left to constructive use. Its seems they might, given the happenings of the last few weeks. I guess if the fun can account for anything broken/unimplemented long enough until they get it taken care of, it should do alright.

[Darph]

Need beta accounts foos.