AOC - General Discussion II

[Tolanin]

really im sure alot of us left wow/eq2 etc end game raiding to play aoc for endgame pvp.. the fact that all aoc has is endgame pve and not even good endgame pve does not bode well for its future.

Plus the game is way way way to easy to hack, it really kills the enjoyment of minigames and shit when the other team is magic and takes no dmg no matter what you do.

The game isnt dead yet but it is dying, they just didnt focus on what they needed to focus on and their GM support/QA is terrible and its gonna be seen in the number of hacks available and the sheer audacity of the people using the hacks because they know there are no GMs to do anything about it.

[ajiatus]

Well, I'll put my five cents in from a casual player point of view. Earlier on I made a comment that was misinterpreted by some but that generated some good replies. When I see players using exploits to play, it shows that deep down the game is flawed, otherwise players would simply play it as designed. Inconsiderable put it plainly when he said that he needed to use the exploits in order to be able to do what he wanted (PvP) instead of wasting his time in excruciatingly long and not very interesting grinding. That is one of the problems of AoC, meaningless grinding. For example, how many are thrilled at the prospect of playing in "epic" mode or facing "epic" mobs in AoC? There is nothing very exciting about fighting with a mob that requires two minutes of button mashing instead of simply 20 secs of the same button mashing. Large waves of minions are more exciting than a single stubborn mob, at least they make you feel powerful when you obliterate them, and require some positioning skills. Furthermore, for a game that oozes of ambience like AoC does, the dungeons are remarkably uninspired, with no scripted movie like events. But the fatal flaw of AoC in my opinion is the fact that while it succeeds in being solo friendly it is one of the MMOs that I have played where it is incredibly hard to get even simply a PuG going. I can't pinpoint the reasons for this (bad LFG tools, no LFG channel, no incentives, etc), but you can count casual groups on the tip of your fingers. I am not an advocate of forced grouping, on the contrary, but compare AoC with CoH/V or other games where people are constantly asking for groups and constantly forming them -- AoC is a very lonely experience. That in my opinion is its sinle greatest flaw, and frankly I don't know why or how it could be fixed so that both playstyles (solo and grouped) would be equally present for those who wish to pursue them.

[Kiroy]

Originally Posted by Oblio

Well said ... the majority of my guild falls under "A"

In fact we have been so bored with AoC's End Game that we have taken advantage of the free play available in EQ2 until 7/31. It has been a really fun way to keep our guild connected/active with each other. We still raid twice a week in AoC and should unlock T2 tonight since Funcom reportedly fixed Vistrix and his teeth. Hopefully T2 will renew our interest but I am not holding my breath because I (like many others) picked up AoC for the end game PvP and well um yeah ...

So true - the biggest irony though is if you read the server forums - pvp servers are all up in arms arguing about plowing through t1/t2 pve content and the lameness of the pve game. Pve servers are all going crazy about the lack of end game pvp and crappy siege mechanics. Kinda funny.

[Skurd]

So I reached lvl 40 and got to explore the Sanctum a few times.
I actually like it, it's not as long or technical as BC but it has a certain charm to it and is a pretty enjoyable fast instance.

Next step, Temple !

[Tyen]

Broken Z-Axis
Necro
Rock
????
Profit

[Mazim]

You could probably go down to the 3 bar version, if not the 2 bar version.

[Inconsiderable]

Originally Posted by ajiatus

Inconsiderable put it plainly [...]

I wouldnt say it is an exploit. It is bad game mechanics or design error being abused, but I wouldnt call it an exploit.
They put in explosive urns that deal damage when they explode depending on the damage dealt to the urns. I bet this is really cool and all, someone just didnt think about level 80s running throu level 50 instances and dealing extreme amounts of damage to those urns. It is still more "WAI" than an exploit...

There is a difference to real exploiting (example: running up the hills in oasis and solo bosses because they do not evade and you phased over that invisible wall so they cannot hit you).

[Bristlebane]

Originally Posted by Tyen

Broken Z-Axis
Necro
Rock
????
Profit

Yeah, I said this a week or so ago in the thread, it's rather amusing that a game in this day and age doesn't have a Z-axis check, or some kind of summoning, or instant mob pathing.

It's what all the AoC cheat programs are based off of. The game apparently has ZERO cheat detection. Not even for simple speedhacks. Completely elementary to detect.

With one of the hack programs you can attack a mob, and press a hotkey that makes you jump and stick in the air, which stops the mob from attacking you, but doesn't make it reset, letting you kill any mob / group of mobs with no possible harm with ranged attacks / spells.

[Grumpy Old Fart]

Even though I don't play AoC any more, I still visit the forums occasionally for that good old schadenfreude of watching an incompetent developer in action. I also don't give a shit about getting banned from Closed Beta (AKA, "Test" server) forums, so here ya go:

Part the First, July 10 Patch Notes (posted by FunCom mod today):

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

*These notes to not necessarily reflect the final version that will be deployed on Live*

Preliminary Update Notes – 10th of July

CLASSES

Mage (General)
* Dark Meditation is now a self-only channeled spell and will no longer stun the user.
* Dark Meditation now has new effects associated with it.

Rogue (General)
* Mountaineer will now reduce duration of the effects of Bruised Body by 50%/100% and Broken Bones by 25%/50% per respective rank.

Soldiers (General)
*Surging Health will now increase in power with more feat points invested.

Assassin
* Golden Lotus Extract now has a new particle effect.

Barbarian
* Clickable abilities - Unstable Mind, Reaver Stance, Blood Rage Stance, Haste, Dance of Death, Armageddon Falls, Impale, and Adrenaline Rush now have spell effects.
* Fearsome Agility will now proc more consistently at all ranks, rather than reducing in rate for rank 4.
* Fearsome Agility will now trigger off any melee hits, not just hits that land
* The bonus granted by Fearsome Agility has been increased from 5% to 10% evade chance at max rank, and stack.

Dark Templar
* The variance on damage dealt by unholy-based Soul Covenants has been reduced to make the damage more consistent. Average damage was not modified by this change.
* Covenant of Arms should now have the correct base damage across all levels
* Covenant of Arms should no longer disappear from the player's spell book or fail to appear after training multiple ranks
* Covenant of Putrescence should now have the correct base damage across all levels
* Covenant of Putrescence now deals unholy damage instead of poison damage Unholy-based
* Soul Covenants now gain a significant percentage of the Dark Templar's unholy or magical damage.
* Malacodor's Blight, Sadistic Soul, Blighted Touch, Blighted Soul, Touch of Death, and Curse of Gwahlur now gain a minor amount of the Dark Templar's unholy or magical damage
* Talisman Mastery now applies a visible buff next to the Dark Templar's stance in the debuff window when active
* Talisman Mastery has been improved to additionally grant a moderate amount of +unholy magical damage when active
* Talisman Mastery has been modified to be a percentage increase of the modified damage of a Soul Covenant instead of the base damage
* Pact of Malacodor will now cost 1% of health every 2 seconds over the duration of the effect. This reduces the health cost to 15% over 30 seconds instead of 25%.
* Reaper of Malacodor will now cost 2% of health every 2 seconds over the duration of the effect. This reduces the health cost to 30% over 30 seconds instead of 50%.
* Fixed an issue which caused Reaper of Malacodor to not always proc on secondary targets.

Herald of Xotli
* Desecrating Essence should now scale more consistently across all levels. Additionally, the variance between minimum and maximum damage has been decreased to be more consistent.
* Burn to Death now receives a substantial portion of the Herald's bonus magical damage on its damage over time effect.
* Burn to Death now applies a separate debuff for all Herald of Xotli players.
* Spreading Flames will now always tick 5 times, instead of occasionally only ticking 4 times.
* Inferno, Tongue of Xotli, and Phoenix Cloak's gain from bonus magical damage has been increased.
* The area of effect damage from Inferno has been renamed to Inferno instead of Lash Field.
* Phoenix Cloak and Burning Skull have had their base damage slightly increased.
* The following abilities now properly scale with the Herald's bonus magical damage: -Avatar of Xotli -Bonds of Anguish -Burning Hex -Burning Skull -Burning Words (Word of Command) -Chains of Anguish -Desecrating Essence -Fiery Weapons -Flame Cleave -Hatred of the Living -Hellstep -Improved Burning Skull -Knowledge of the Underworld -Searing Curse -Searing Hatred -Spitfire

Necromancer
* Frozen Hatred pulsing AoE is now an AoE proc with a 100% chance instead of a passive effect.
* Frozen Hatred pets will now benefit from the Unholy Power feat.
* Parasitic Souls will now benefit from the Unholy Power feat.
* Flesh of the Wight now has an animation associated with it.
* Void now has a persistent effect on the pet while the buff is running.
* Melee pets will now do splashdamage.
* Scythe Shield now lasts 1 hour instead of 30 minutes
* Scythe Shield's casting time has been reduced from 3 seconds to 1.5 seconds
* Quell the Ether's casting time has been reduced from 3 seconds to 1.5 seconds
* The casting time of Set's Ruin, Set's Cold Hatred, and Blasphemy have been reduced from 4 seconds to 2 seconds
* One with Death now lasts 1 hour instead of 15 minutes
* One with Death has been changed to debuff invulnerability ratings by 50% per stack instead of health
* The Unholy Power feat will now increase the magical damage dealt by the Undead Minion: Corruptor and Undead Minion: Necrotic Bomb
* Siphon Unlife's damage component should now scale better relative to the heath of undead minions across all levels. This solves some issues with Siphon Unlife dealing inconsistent damage to the minion in some level ranges.
* Siphon Unlife and Frenzy will now avoid selecting undead minions which have been recently affected by Siphon Unlife or Frenzy. This should solve issues with the same pet being targeted shortly after Siphon Unlife or Frenzy expiring, instead of targeting pets with higher health.
* The core buffs placed on all Necromancer pets are now visible in the pet's buff GUI. This should allow Necromancers to better see the impact of their pet-oriented feats, as they are not displayed on the player.
* Deathless Acolyte: Arcanist will now gain the correct bonus from Unnatural Dexterity ranks 2 and 3

Priest of Mitra
*Blessing of Mitra now has an effect and animation.

Ranger
* Using your bow/crossbow while not in combat mode will not block you from moving for the length of that animation anymore. Instead, your attack will now be aborted.
* Linebreaker should now have a knockback effect.
* Piercing Shot combo line should scale properly
* Shield Bash now has an animation.
* Epic armor is now available with a new look for each tier.

Part the Second:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

CHARACTER
* Female characters should now properly display dodge, parry and block animations again.
* Female characters using a weapon-combination consisting of either a One-Handed Blunt weapon or a One-Handed Edged weapon in their right hand, and a Dagger in their left hand, should no longer swing the Dagger as if it was a One-Handed Edged weapon.
* Neither Male nor Female characters should have animation issues causing their legs to slide around without animation when fighting with a weapon combination consisting of a One-Handed Blunt weapon equipped in their right hand and a Dagger equipped in their left hand or no weapon in their right hand and a Dagger in their left hand.
* Thrown weapons have had their range increased: Light throwing weapons now have a range of 15 meters, up from 12. Heavy throwing weapons now have a range of 18 meters, up from 16.


MASSIVE PVP
* Border Kingdoms - Several World Design and collision tweaks here.
* Thieves' Guild building now has an icon.
* Siege weapons should now work properly, and will display a message if your target is out of range.
* You should now learn the proper resurrection points in massive siege battlefields.
* You will receive notification when you are about to be teleported out of a siege battle zone during a battle you are not involved in.
* Players should no longer be teleported out of a Massive PvP battle if they log back in directly after they lost connection.


PVP
* If your pet does the most damage to a target for a minigame, you will now get credited for the kill instead of the pet.


PLAYFIELDS
* Fixed some collision issues in Kyilliki's Crypt.
* Many collision fixes in Oasis of Zaara.


NPC / MOBS
* Raid bosses and Group bosses will now die in a dignified way, and refuse to be fatalitied anymore.
* NPC combo "Rupture" is now named "Breach" and will now use the appropriate icon.
* Tiggle Knucklebone has been removed from Lacheish Plains.
* Yakhmar will now spawn minions at a correct interval. These minions are also weaker than before.
* The Half Giant in Conall's Valley will no longer slide around.
* It is now possible to spawn the Dark Beast boss in Sanctum of the Burning Souls just by interacting with the Sacrificial Altar while holding a Ritual Chalice. The specific quest requirement has been removed.
* The camera movement has been toned down when moving around on a War Mammoth at walk-speed.


TRADESKILLS
* Larozzo should now show that he has a tradeskill quest for players.
* The correct message should now be displayed when mining Aurichalcum.
* Stonecutter: Players should be able to hand in Basalt and Adamant again.


QUESTS
* Walkthrough tips for the Tortage Beach tutorial are now more visible.
* Minor visual adjustments to the cutscene played in Mithrelle's Mansion during the Rogue Destiny quest Awakening II - "Mansion of the Wizard"
* Eiglophian Mountains - "Cannibal Commotion": The goal marker for Attadeus now points directly to Attadeus rather than the entrance of his cave.
* Khopshef Province - "Stygian Superstitions": Quest marker moved closer to quest objective.
* Khopshef Province - "Troubles of Thuthmekri": Derekhar should now agro when attacked.
* Khopshef Province - "Lusts of the Flesh": You will now get a cask of Tainted Ale to give to Tuthmekri. Players who want to finish this quest will unfortunately have to delete it from their quest journal and get it again.
* Poitain - "Order Silks in Poitain": Completed quest now has a description.
* Tarantia Noble District - "The Chef": This quest will now complete properly. If you picked up the recipe, you can ask Juan about it. If you've not picked up the recipe, Juan will not ask for it at all.
* Tarantia Noble District - "The Love of a Countess": Goal markers have been modified for simplicity.
* Tarantia Noble District - "The Love of a Countess": Player should have an easier time talking to this NPC, without her getting too upset.
* Tarantia Noble District - "Paetus & the Nemedian Crown III": This quest now has coordinates to get to Pallantides.
* Tarantia Noble District - "Patterns in Insanity": The Junk Seller will not give you a pattern if you already have one.
* Tarantia Noble District - "Obtaining the Noble Arena Key" now works. Aquilus will now duel the player, and complete the quest. The goal text has been modified as well.
* Tortage - "Tarisha's Sacrifice": Changed goalmarker for the Pirate's Gold Earring to an X instead of the small radius so it will be easier to locate now.
* Tortage - "Tarisha's Sacrifice": Collecting a Cannibal's Tooth waypoint has been altered to cover the entire area of the Cannibals.


ITEMS
* Long robes and dresses should appear with less graphical errors when the player is wearing one and running or attacking.
* When an item gives invulnerability bonus for several different reasons, the bonuses will now be summed up and not shown individually in the tooltip.


GUI
* The pet GUI now show the correct icon to the left of each pet name.
* The control mapping GUI should no longer falsely report a key as reserved any more.
* Members of the group is now informed if the group leader change the loot options.
* Fixed an issue causing the cooldown timer to sometimes appear out of sync on items/spells/abilities that was displayed multiple places.
* A list of recent messages are now stored per chat channel so that when subscribing or unsubscribing chat channels to a chat window the content in the window will be instantly updated to display the history for the new set of susbscribed channels. When enabling or disabling timestamps on chat messages the entire scrollback buffer for the affected chat window is updated to show or hide timestamps.
* The tooltip for "Cold Nerves" now shows up as intended, in green color and with a percent sign. Other feats affecting stats with percent values should also show up correctly.
* A new tab named "Nametags" has been introduced in the Interface options. All nametag related options were moved there.
* The options "Show target's target" and "Show team buffs" were moved to the "HUD Options" tab.
* The option "Show quest effects" was moved to basic interface options.
* The dropdown "Show vicinity tag" was removed.
* The options "Enable target highlighting" and "Enable target decals" were moved to the Targeting section of the interface options.
* Resolved an issue which was causing players to recieve a message stating that a spell was on cooldown and be unable to cast even though the cooldown had finished in the GUI.


GENERAL
* The client should now disconnect from the chat server after camping.
* The chat server interface queue will now clear when the client logs in.
* The Crouch ability should now properly indicate when it is on cooldown.
* Made the attributes give their correct modifications (lower) so skills like fasthealing needs more than 1 point to work properly.
* If you move while sitting down, you will automaticly abort the sit down animation
* 'Shield of the Risen' tooltip should now show the correct time remaining
* Castingbar will not be stuck anymore if you move right as the spell finishes.
* Fixed several minor server memory leaks and one major leak. This should improve the server stability.
* Solo players will now have their kill XP proportionally reduced if other players damage their mobs (this was already happening for groups).
* Pets will now have a lower chance of breaking crowd-control effects, in most cases.
* Option to block team invites should now work again
* If attacked while dancing and autodraw weapon option is off, you will go to idle instead of combat.
* Heal spells are no more generating a small amount of hate when they ticked, even when not actually healing anything.

You're welcome.

[simeon]

Assassin
* Golden Lotus Extract now has a new particle effect.

Why hello Mr. Slap-In-The-Face.

[Falmer]

* Castingbar will not be stuck anymore if you move right as the spell finishes.

Mother of God, can't believe they actually fixed something that really needed fixing (apart from the HoX and DT scaling).

Also, according to the retarded EU forum mod, the patch notes are under NDA, however, the testlive forums where they were posted are not... makes perfect sense.

[Tyen]

I like the necro fixes. A lot of small stuff that drove me nuts.

[Lalala]

Absolutely no Bear-shaman fixes, yeah, those patch notes seems real.

EDIT: yeah, bear-shaman don't need much fix, but there are some annoying things like disapearing buffs, etc, from day 1.

[Bristlebane]

Hilarious:

Weapon dps doesn't matter... and armor doesn't make that much difference - Age of Conan Forums

Guy points out that weapons and armor don't make a signifigant difference (sounds a lot like early EQ2. I'm not saying it's true or not, I only got up to level 38 in AoC.)

Then some people tell him to, paraphrasing here, "Go back to WoW if you want a game where you can get better gear and be better than other people, everyone should be equal."

[Lalala]

You want to see more hilarious, read all the posts made by #1 AoC fanboy: All Posts by Protus-AOC - MMORPG.com Forums

example:

You have to be crazy to believe that Funcom has not only just made the first game ever to run Blizzard out of business but they also have way better developers and programmers then Blizzard could ever dream of having. This is just more loud talk from all the wow and warhammer fanboys worried that their game is gonna be on the bottom of the charts.

Its ok you can just play AOC and then you can be on the winning team