AOC - General Discussion II

[dub]

Originally Posted by Elerion

Truth.


Not truth.

There's approximately as much group content as launch WoW, it's just that the first 24 hours you're playing the game has basically none of it. There's quite a bit of it from your mid-thirties onwards.

Think back at how many times you grouped pre-60 for WoW at launch. For me, that's deadmines, gnomeregan, scarlet monastery (this gets two points for being so big) zul'farrak, BRD. I think that's ~6 times I grouped during wow leveling. I guess you could include RFK and RFD, but I never did those because they were placed horribly for a leveling alliance character.

In AoC up to level 67 I've done 4 group dungeons (SotBS, Sewers/Main System, Tomb, Catacombs). I've also done the end quests of Conall's, FotD and EM. They are grouping required and take a couple of hours each, and are basically dungeon crawls outside (or they were when I did them, they might be overfarmed and look desolate in the middle of the pack). I'm sure I'll do some more before I hit 80.

Now if you were complaining about polish and scripting, I'd be all on board. Most of the dungeons are absolute shit. But the amount is easily comparable to WoW, it's just that you play for a long time before you see any of it.

You're 67? The following is a genuine, curious, innocent question:
What will you do when you hit 80?

[Elerion]

All the RL shit that I have been putting off for a week, because I'd rather level like a madman now than be stuck in the middle of the pack fighting over every spawn and hiding from high level gankers. In short I'll go back to semi-casual playtimes.

As for in game:
I'll work on upgrading our current full tier 1 city to tier 3 and getting a battlekeep.
I'll work on getting my weaponsmithing and gathering maxed.
I'll run the 5-man instances to get some gear.
I'll do duels to figure out how PvP really works at max level.
I'll probably gank a bitch.

Then in a few weeks as more people catch up, I'll start seeing the first raid instances, and some sieges. That's assuming sieges are actually in game like Funcom has promised. They promised a lot just before retail, and 90% of it has come true, so I simply assume the same is true for sieges.

[Hachima]

Originally Posted by gnomad

So genius what is the FPS of a movie?? Do you see the flicker when you go to the theatre?

You are also guilty of posting random bullshit and I would be much more likely to believe a peer reviewed paper then some wanker on a forum board.

Hint: movie=24FPS and no perceptible flicker

I can tell the difference between 60 FPS and 24 FPS and once it gets to 20FPS its very obvious.

Here is a test game I whipped up to let people test for themselves. Its just a rotating asteroid. The game starts at 60 FPS. The game controls are

Up arrow: 60 FPS

Right arrow: 24 FPS
Down arrow: 20 FPS
Left arrow: 16 FPS

the R key will set the FPS to 60 and then in 2-4 seconds it will set the fps to 24. Try to see if you can tell when it changes. I think its semi hard with just the model. but use the arrow keys to go from 60 to 24 and then back to 60. I can tell the difference.

Edit: Requires XNA framework from MS Download details: Microsoft XNA Framework Redistributable 2.0

[Ziggurat]

ok, no. we aren't having the "OMG UR EYE CAN ONLY SEE 24 FPS" arguement here. it's been done to death on every video game related forum. no.

[Hachima]

Originally Posted by Ziggurat

ok, no. we aren't having the "OMG UR EYE CAN ONLY SEE 24 FPS" arguement here. it's been done to death on every video game related forum. no.

Sounds like you lost the argument on every other video game related forum, seeing how upset it makes you.

[Cybsled]

On a side note, what tradeskill would be good for a HoX to undertake in terms of making shit for themselves?

[Twobit Whore]

Originally Posted by Hachima

I can tell the difference between 60 FPS and 24 FPS and once it gets to 20FPS its very obvious.

Here is a test game I whipped up to let people test for themselves. Its just a rotating asteroid. The game starts at 60 FPS. The game controls are

Up arrow: 60 FPS

Right arrow: 24 FPS
Down arrow: 20 FPS
Left arrow: 16 FPS

the R key will set the FPS to 60 and then in 2-4 seconds it will set the fps to 24. Try to see if you can tell when it changes. I think its semi hard with just the model. but use the arrow keys to go from 60 to 24 and then back to 60. I can tell the difference.

Doesn't work in Vista 64.

[Ziggurat]

Originally Posted by Hachima

Sounds like you lost the argument on every other video game related forum, seeing how upset it makes you.

I am actually on your side here but didn't write it in my post as not to draw out even more arguement. Nice dick reply though.

[Surlok TP]

After leaving Toratage I ended up in the newbie Cimmerian Village, or do all characters start here? I dunno ,anyway. Ran around got a couple quests and ended up in the City that Conan rules over, that is easily 4 times the size of Stormwind. I immediately hated it. The city itself was remarkable in appearance,just too damn big and I ran around for an hour completing exploration quests getting fuck all for XP and not enjoying the game at all.


So I said fuck it and went back to newbie town and selected an adjacent zone for which I only had 3 quests for,prior to this I had been trying to amass a quantity of quests for one area so that I could spend some time killing shit. I entered Conal I think and by the time I got to the second town just moving through the zone along the road,I had gained two levels and picked up 15 or so quests, all laid out through the zone in an excellent linear fashion allowing me to go knock off 5 or 6, come back turn in get a level and head back out. Ran into a ton of people and grouped for a few named creatures, still in the zone with a ton of Quests, and seeing a ton of quests grey out. It's an awesome zone, like highlands type long grass up to my characters waist and huge lumbering Mountains covered in snow all around. There is a ton of wildlife; moose,deer,badgers rabbits etc that the animals hunt and you can watch them kill the animal then slowly feed on it. Like I watched two wolves kill a moose then when I wandered over closer they were both faces buried in it's ripped open carcass . It was fucking cool . Then I killed them.


There is so much ambiance in this game,the sound is incredible. I am just having a blast with it now that I have found a good solid zone full of quests and shit to kill. Plus my abilities are starting to become familiar and I can handle 3 or 4 mobs now without worrying about dying anymore which makes combat much more entertaining to watch. This is just a really solid game, really solid. There are a variety of bugs but the combat and the Quests for the most part are fine which is the meat of any MMO in the lower levels so I can't complain. I wish every developer would play this a bit just to see how a world should be built.


P.S. Against my better judgment I re-did all my drivers even though earlier I said I wouldn't, didn't make a difference. Gameplay is smooth and fine but it doesn't perform nearly as well as I think it should.Also why the fuck can't I bind my thumb and middle mouse buttons? I have an MX518 which is one of the most popular Logi mice there is and the game doesn't seem to recognize it? wtf? where are the fucking traders?

[Kaige]

If you don't like instancing, expect to be annoyed come time when they enable the traders and half your server is standing around them.

The most annoying thing other than the fact that people with a weaker system are getting a way better framerate than me, is the fact that a lot of the named mobs you have to kill are on a retardedly long respawn timer. A lot of the quests I had in Cimmeria in the late 20's to early 30's were named kills. The mobs are already on a long respawn, but camps of them will respawn 2 or 3 times before the boss tied in with them finally does.


I like AoC but I don't think I'll play it for the long run. Its a good game for killing time until Wrath of the Lich King comes out for WoW, though.

The chat interface definitely needs some help, though. They've been working on this game for 5 years, they should've at least had something acceptable.

[Dumar]

you know, it's very refreshing to play a mmo with content created for adults. and not homogenized for the masses just to generate more sales. it adds so much more immersion and depth to the game just because of the mature themes involved. no, i'm not talking about just blood. i can't tell you how much better it is saving a whore from savages instead of escorting a GOD DAMNED ORPHAN to the FUCKING DARK PORTAL.

fuck you blizzard for selling out the warcraft franchise. AoC's lore and atmosphere is so much better.

[Zarcath]

Originally Posted by Dumar

you know, it's very refreshing to play a mmo with content created for adults. and not homogenized for the masses just to generate more sales. it adds so much more immersion and depth to the game just because of the mature themes involved. no, i'm not talking about just blood. i can't tell you how much better it is saving a whore from savages instead of escorting a GOD DAMNED ORPHAN to the FUCKING DARK PORTAL.

fuck you blizzard for selling out the warcraft franchise. AoC's lore and atmosphere is so much better.

two words.

Cock Handler

[Pyros]

There's a few jokes and stuff, but they're usually very subtle, and not too intrusive. I actually liked the whole wow thing with characters named like real world celebrities or inspired from other chars(I LOVED the linken quest), but many people hate them or argue that it detracts from immersion.

AoC does give a nice vibe, and while zones diversity is erm... realistic? Like mountains everywhere, but Stygia which is brown and more brown. Still, feels pretty nice, very detailed. A bit too linear, but well that's fine with me.

I wish they launched with more zones though. I can deal with tortage, but wish after 40 there were more zones for each level range. Noble district is pretty damn small and it's just old tarantia with mobs in it, so field of the dead is the only "real" zone at 40, then only eglyphs mountains at 50, then only thunder river at 60, and they're rather small, and lacking about 100quests each to avoid grinding. Leveling feels very linear, and if the spots are camped, it's pretty damn terrible to get quests done. And they lack quests too.

Oh well, we'll see how fast they release new content. And I hope it won't be lowbie new content, there's plenty of content up to 45, it's the whole game after 45 until cap that fucking blows. Oh and traders/bankers, and mounted combat, and pvp levels. Those are some pretty important missing features.

[Menion]

Mounted combat isn't in the game? They were demoing that shit months ago.

[Spontaneous Cumbustion]

Originally Posted by Chaotic

I've asked twice already so far, including what servers people are playing on and it just gets skipped over because people love to argue.

I'm on scourge a pvp server, which I don't think many people here are on.

As for whether it's a good game..and whether you should wait...what are you after?

I mean first 22 levels i've had a good time, run into no major bugs, and some very minor ganking on a FFA PvP server.

It runs on my athlon xp 4800 laptop, with 2 gigs of RAM and a 7800 gtx GO well enough. Nothing amazing but i get 20 fps.

If you are looking to level hardcore to 80 immediately and experience high end pvp and PVE...I'd say wait. No game has that immediately, EQ didn't, WoW didn't, and neither will AoC.

I will say as a top end WoW raider, it's a very nice change of pace and a lot more fun then leveling a new character in WoW which I know like the back of my hand. Aside from reading boards to learn how to spec and play I would stay away from spoilers and just enjoy the trip.

Combat is definitely a lot more interactive for me as a barbarian and i find it enjoyable.

If you are going to take a couple months to get 80, and enjoy leveling multiple characters, this game imo shows a lot of promise.