AOC - General Information

[Guzrog]

Fortunately I'm not one of the people with "world crippling" levels of performance.

I ran the game on high, every setting maxed out, 1680x1050. My system isn't new but its not slow.

Athlon x2 @ 2.9ghz (5200 + OC)
4gb Corsair XMS (only 3gb functional - thanks xp32)
bfg 8800 gtx oc 768mb
xfi sound card

I hit 25 FPS on the low end in the lobbies. Fighting in mini games I went between 25 and 60ish FPS depending on what was going on. I had a couple CTD, the yellow texture thing from AA, but changing the video settings from high to med then back to high again fixed it and I didn't have to restart the client.

For me, the game ran fantastic, there wasn't a single point where I felt like the client was running poorly or unacceptable.

[Jabberwhacky]

How do those talent trees work, are points given per level like WoW or what?

[Grumpy Old Fart]

Originally Posted by Guzrog

Fortunately I'm not one of the people with "world crippling" levels of performance.

I ran the game on high, every setting maxed out, 1680x1050. My system isn't new but its not slow.

Athlon x2 @ 2.9ghz (5200 + OC)
4gb Corsair XMS (only 3gb functional - thanks xp32)
bfg 8800 gtx oc 768mb
xfi sound card

I hit 25 FPS on the low end in the lobbies. Fighting in mini games I went between 25 and 60ish FPS depending on what was going on. I had a couple CTD, the yellow texture thing from AA, but changing the video settings from high to med then back to high again fixed it and I didn't have to restart the client.

For me, the game ran fantastic, there wasn't a single point where I felt like the client was running poorly or unacceptable.

It sounds like the graphics card is the real limiter so far. I've had an 8800 GTX for over a year now, and have yet to run into any situation in any game where the FPS drops below a V-synch'd 60 FPS - even Oblivion with huge textures and everything totally maxed out. That card is awesome, and still highly recommended even after being out so long.

[Twobit Whore]

Anything less than an 8800 is apparently a real nightmare for most people.

[ModernDayDruid]

Originally Posted by Manseed

You're right, everything I said was subjective. But, the issues that I brought up are the ones that I feel will stop this game from holding a decent subscriber base. Vanguard has shown that these problems will cause most of the playerbase to quit.

My point is that the small number of people willing to "stick it out" are not enough to sustain the game. Like other games, it will be a landslide effect of not having enough money to make the proper improvements, and losing more subscribers because of it.

My initial post may have come across stronger than I intended. More than anything my intention was to give another perspective and possibly clarify some things.

In re to your above statement, no argument there. The future of the game is in Funcom's hands. How will they address the performance issues that many people are reporting? How will they handle class balance, that should be most of the way figured out at this stage of the game? Nothing pisses PvPers off more than big nerfs in the months after launch. Hit this class, hit that class, now we have to re-look at the first class we nerfed again.

The cynics don't see these issues being addressed. The hopefuls think the two main issues (in my opinion) of performance and class balance will be taken care of if not by launch then soon after. And there are those in between who will put up with issues because there is enough there for them to like. Time will tell who is right. My opinion is that the core of a great game is here. I love the game visually. I really like the classes that are offered. I'm still on the fence, but more on the side of gambling my $50.00 to see how it goes. Open beta is almost here. The experiences of 50k people May 1st will possibly solidify the decision to buy or not to buy in a lot of people's minds.

One last note. AoC isn't an open world MMORPG like WoW and DAoC and I think that is really turning a lot of people off. I would have loved to have seen a Vanguard (gasp!) size, non-instanced open world for this game. Rumor is that in the later levels there are large zones that take 30+ minutes to get from one side to the next. Not sure if that is true or not but it would give me some satisfaction. But I think that is a big deal killer for a lot of MMORPG players and why many won't even place AoC in the MMORPG genre.

[Kato Danzo]

Originally Posted by Jabberwhacky

How do those talent trees work, are points given per level like WoW or what?

There are 79 feat points (1 per level over 10 + 1 extra per 10 levels.)

Originally Posted by Twobit Whore

Anything less than an 8800 is apparently a real nightmare for most people.

I'm running on an ati X1800XT 256 Meg and I ran between 25-35 FPS.

[jayrebb]

Originally Posted by ModernDayDruid

The cynics don't see these issues being addressed.

I see them being addressed. I just believe they will be addressed in Funcom's historical fashion. Funcom's staff are naturally oblivious. Whereas SOE will make decisions based on calculations and stubborn malice, Funcom is well-intentioned but mildly retarded.

I believe they are in money trouble again, so the quality of the post-launch game largely depends on how many "donations" and "suckers" they can get.

If it does 300k, I think the game could turn into a hit. If it doesn't break 200k, I won't be checking it out.

They are too far in debt (like Vanguard) to be messing around with numbers in the 100,000s range.
If launch gets Funcom into the green, it will have my full interest again.

[Duppin]

You don't know jack shit about Funcom's history, sorry.

Why you are still allowed to post is a mystery to me.

[TwiNCannoN]

Originally Posted by jayrebb

Is the collision rounded, or square (EQ1, ogres, trolls, etc)? If its square, then I could see walling being a viable strat.

It's circular, but a lot bigger than EQ's was, you can't clip into another person's model at all really.

Also you can apparently go through people when hidden, probably half for strategy's sake and half to not let people block shit.

[jayrebb]

Originally Posted by TwiNCannoN

It's circular, but a lot bigger than EQ's was, you can't clip into another person's model at all really.

Also you can apparently go through people when hidden, probably half for strategy's sake and half to not let people block shit.

Any physics system for combat abilities? Shield bash, etc.

Would be cool to see defensive lines and line-breaking abilities become fully realized in the game.

Even just a little bit of realization would go a long way to adding the next gen combat that AoC originally was shooting for.

[Hachima]

Originally Posted by ModernDayDruid

AoC will cost you $50.00, not the $15,000+ car sale example you give. If you play and blow through all the content in a month, it's cheaper than going to 10 hours of entertainment at the movie theater. Lastly, some people (gasp) are actually enjoying the game, class imbalance and all.

As long as we are explaining why examples are inaccurate, here is my two cents.

We are talking about home entertainment and not going out to a million dollar movie setup at a theater. Redbox dvd rentals are only $1. So for $50 you can easily get 100 hours of movie entertainment . So you better get 100 hours of content out of AoC. I think you can max level in just 2 days played? If that is the case, the money value you get out of the game is less than your movie example.

[ModernDayDruid]

Originally Posted by Hachima

As long as we are explaining why examples are inaccurate, here is my two cents.

We are talking about home entertainment and not going out to a million dollar movie setup at a theater. Redbox dvd rentals are only $1. So for $50 you can easily get 100 hours of movie entertainment . So you better get 100 hours of content out of AoC. I think you can max level in just 2 days played? If that is the case, the money value you get out of the game is less than your movie example.

You're assuming that the movie is two hours long. The average motion picture runs 90 minutes. You know, the more showings the more money you make thing...

I can only use data that's been put out there, but according to Gencon: "Stone estimates that it will take around nine solid days (over 200 hours) to reach the maximum level of 80."

Also, I'm not a hardcore gamer. I don't power level myself through content as fast as possible. I don't think the average player does either. This game will cost me two hours at work. I guess for me it's not that big of a loss if it tanks. I honestly believe the game has it's merits and can be a niche success (with more work from Funcom). -Cheers

[Pyros]

It definitely doesn't take 200hours to reach 80. It takes 60 at most, unless they heavily nerfed xp gains since last time I played, and then you'd have to grind for hours and hours cause in some levels there were just barely enough quests to move to the next zone. Leveling in conan is faster and probably just as easy as wow.

[Wanand]

I find it funny how people are moaning about class balancing at level 20, I don't know to many games that are greatly classes balanced at level 20. Alot of the classes that people are moaning about being overpowered are not that over powered at level 80.

[Flight]

Originally Posted by Pyros

It definitely doesn't take 200hours to reach 80. It takes 60 at most, unless they heavily nerfed xp gains since last time I played, and then you'd have to grind for hours and hours cause in some levels there were just barely enough quests to move to the next zone. Leveling in conan is faster and probably just as easy as wow.

XP is boosted in beta.

As an aside, they recently added Epic Instance options. You can enter just about any zone, with tougher difficulty, better loot and better xp.