AOC - General Discussion II

[Sythrak]

Originally Posted by Jehryn

I think you just proved his point. A majority of the people who are already lvl 80 are experiencing the lack of content and the increased number of bugs at the endgame. Those people (like the ones in your guild) might be thinking about leaving or coming back in a few months. But they only represents a small hardcore portion of the population base. If they can fix a good amount of bugs and add some decent content by the time the majority of the player base is reaching lvl 80, there won't be a big problem in terms of population.

And concerning the "fly through the content shit plz", i'm a Beta tester who started with the early acces in europe, i know the game fairly well and have been playing a decent amount of time. At the moment i'm lvl 52 and am still having fun. If you play AoC calmly and try to experience the lore, questlines, crafting etc.. instead of maximizing your lvling speed, it will take 1-3 months to reach max level. The fact that have already "beaten" the game is a personnel preference, to each his own, but no MMO developer is pacing its schedule around the bleeding edge crowd, nor should they. (It took Blizz 9 months to go from BT to SW, but as far as i know the game ain't dead yet)

You're really about to hit the brick wall content wise. This level range is the critical point where you see the line between people that enjoy the game and then the ones that don't. I ended up grinding out 6 levels in cannibal caves around there just because there is barely any quests that level.

When just sitting in a group mindlessly grinding normal mobs for exp as opposed to doing dungeons is more enjoyable, somethings wrong. People are going to hit that wall of discontent much sooner than 80. I'd love to sit there and enjoy AoC calmly with all the lore, quests, and crafting......if they existed.

[Senen]

Originally Posted by Grumpy Old Fart

Oh, come on; that's a bunch of bullshit and you know it. There are easy indicators of population in these games and AoC isn't that hard to figure out. You can do player searches by zone, and if there are 30% of the number of players around this week as compared to last week (before the big cancellation wave after the first free month), then you know they have real, huge problems.

This is beside the personal evidence of the large number of posters here that have/had AoC accounts. When my guild's forums are full of "Bye" posts in General, I know there's a huge problem (and they're leaving the game, not the guild). When 90%+ of the 40-50 ex-WoW guildies and friends/associates who tried out AoC are canceled and back in WoW (and I'm sure many people here have similar experiences), it certainly isn't "average hot air".

The only people posting positively about AoC like you are those that haven't reached the massive wall of fun-stoppage that happens when you hit level 80 and/or are actually trying to enjoy the stupidly bugged-out "end game" encounters and PvP.

This game was great fun until level 80 (which you can do casually in a month, so stuff that "fly through the content" shit, please), and it might be real fun again in 8-12 months when they add some content. But for now, FunCom really screwed the pooch and deserves all the hate and cancellations they are getting.

And see this is the hot air shit I'm talking about your pulling numbers out of thin air. If theres such a massive out flux of people then why are there new players everyday. The guild I'm in on Set just added another bunch of complete newbs last night and more today. I decided to start a 3rd alt today running thru the newbie area there were tons of people that had zero clue about general game mechanics. Meaning they can't possibly be transplants from PVP servers which I've seen several of because of the lack of gameplay there. I myself have an 80 ToS, 45 BS, and a few other alts, I'm not seeing the wall of content blockage you speak off are you saying your char is fully pimped out in T3 raid gear? Your guilds cleared Vistrix,Thot Amon, and the Citadel. The top guild on our server has yet to clear T2, I know on Set people get together and do the pvp battlegrounds daily, or the Battle Keep defense stuff.

Ya some of this shits buggy, but that doesn't mean its not there and people aren't working on it atleast not the people that whine and cry about every little thing that happens. Bottom line is your expecting yet another game company to keep content delivered at a rate that no company not even the coveted Blizzard IP can deliver. I believe in playing what you like, but bitching about shit that happens in every game. Then comparing content from a game thats 3 or 4 years post release to a game thats just come out lacks basic common sense.

[Twobit Whore]

Originally Posted by Senen

And see this is the hot air shit I'm talking about your pulling numbers out of thin air. If theres such a massive out flux of people then why are there new players everyday.

By the same token, if so many players are coming in why are server loads dropping while more copies are being sold?

They haven't opened a new server since launch. The high pop EA servers have settled to medium with no queues and most of the post-EA servers are seeing shit like 400 players on during prime time.

I have no doubt new people are picking up the game. Obviously 200k bought it during the whole month of June, but if the income was greater than the outflow then we would see more crowded (or just plain more) servers.

[Inconsiderable]

Another Grp PvP Movie as ToS if someone cares here or here. Footage captured 16-20th June.

[TwiNCannoN]

Well just did some kylliky's, I definitely overestimated the spellguards, just run away from them and ranged dps them down heh. Although it seems they made the purple death blast much shorter range, it used to be 30m. I dunno what they did to honorguard but the guy doesn't even do anything now.

[Golbez]

Originally Posted by TwiNCannoN

Well just did some kylliky's, I definitely overestimated the spellguards, just run away from them and ranged dps them down heh. Although it seems they made the purple death blast much shorter range, it used to be 30m. I dunno what they did to honorguard but the guy doesn't even do anything now.

Hes still somewhat challenging. Hes only easy because most guilds that kill him, still kite him around the pillar

[painbringer]

If someone missed it from the devs.

Females ARE hitting a ton slower than males: The Male vs Female attack-speed issue - Age of Conan Europe Forums

Aka. yes, we did a bubu and yes we did not realize that we should have used timers n stuff for animations.

Expect a fix in a month or two, till then, bend over and enjoy some quality in the tailpipe.

[Jehryn]

Originally Posted by Tropics

If your subscription rate in a MMORPG is going down instead of up 1-2 months after release you are in trouble. Most good MMORPG's gain subscription rates slowly in the beginning or at least hold parity, not go plummetting down in double digit percentages like AOC is doing atm. The game is in deep deep trouble. The reality is it was poorly designed with regards to the instanced zoned up world and their recent patches and changes are making alot of people feel pretty good about hitting the cancel button.

Seriously, do you actually pull those numbers from your ass? As of now AoC has 700k players, which is pretty damn good after two months. There is really no sign of a declining population except for the standard "10 people from my guild are leaving==> 10.000.000 people must be leaving" crap. Since FC expected a population of around 250k things are looking really well for them.

[Jehryn]

Originally Posted by Sythrak

You're really about to hit the brick wall content wise. This level range is the critical point where you see the line between people that enjoy the game and then the ones that don't. I ended up grinding out 6 levels in cannibal caves around there just because there is barely any quests that level.

When just sitting in a group mindlessly grinding normal mobs for exp as opposed to doing dungeons is more enjoyable, somethings wrong. People are going to hit that wall of discontent much sooner than 80. I'd love to sit there and enjoy AoC calmly with all the lore, quests, and crafting......if they existed.

Yeah you're right. Thats the reason i'm gonna hold of leveling until they implement that new zone they we're talking about. So currently i'm having fun leveling some alts, way to many interesting classes to play to get bored.
Bottomline, if something gets boring, stop doing it to avoid a burnout

[Wanand]

The top guild on our server has yet to clear T2

That would be because you are not aloud in the zone yet, unless your name is Nightmare Asylum and GM's let you in. Even they don't do it anymore due to sever politics

[Schatze]

Yep Vistrix teeth are a purposeful cockblock.

That is if it isn't sheer incompetence.

[Elerion]

Originally Posted by Twobit Whore

The high pop EA servers have settled to medium with no queues

Expected. At launch, everyone wants to play at the exact same time (which is all the time).

and most of the post-EA servers are seeing shit like 400 players on during prime time.

Where are you getting these numbers?

I have no doubt new people are picking up the game. Obviously 200k bought it during the whole month of June, but if the income was greater than the outflow then we would see more crowded (or just plain more) servers.

Not really. Play patterns change massively from the first week to the fifth. Even those that still love the game probably have one half the playtime or less now than they had the first week. Even in WoW we had a reduction from 3 hour queues during launch week to 10 minute queues a month later.

I cancelled due to lack of interest at 80, and expect tons of people to do the same. They may very well be losing customers. I'm just not buying your back-of-the-envelope calculations for why the subscription base is obviously collapsing.


EDIT: For a relevant comparison for WoW, see Timeline of the creation of US realms - WoWWiki - Your guide to the World of Warcraft
The first additional servers were added 2.5 months after launch. The first 6 months of the game's existance, 9 servers were added to the original 88. That's a 10% increase in server capacity in 6 months for the fastest growing MMO in history. During the same period you still saw queues diminishing.

[Draegan]

PLease stop backing up your argument with facts. It's ruining everyone's fun.

[Twobit Whore]

Originally Posted by Elerion

I cancelled due to lack of interest at 80, and expect tons of people to do the same. They may very well be losing customers. I'm just not buying your back-of-the-envelope calculations for why the subscription base is obviously collapsing.

Back of the envelope?

They announced 500k sales on June 2nd. They announced 700k on June 30th.

That's 700k - 500k = 200k in a month.

I'm sure that basic math is pretty difficult for you but for us who completed 3rd grade it's no problem.

As to where I got those numbers for the servers it's not difficult. Log in, search players and count. Again, 3rd grade may be required. You were able to compose a reply on the internet so I am positive you have the mental faculties to perform these tasks. Try doing so.

P.S. WoW launched with ~40servers. They didn't increase to 88 until the 2nd or third day. But you have wowwiki! How can anyone argue you with that? I guess with an official statment from Blizzard: WoW -> Old News -> 2004

It's really not hard to see a decline. Just look at the poll here. almost 1300 responses and 60% have cancelled. Check out this graph, that's a pretty obvious trend. The game is buggy, unpolished and incomplete. It was not release ready and its obvious. Luckily enough people have figured it out and cancelled. I honestly don't care what people do but let's not turn this place into some official forum rah-rah shithole like the AoC forums were. The game is not growing under any stretch of the imagination.

Originally Posted by Jehryn

Seriously, do you actually pull those numbers from your ass? As of now AoC has 700k players, which is pretty damn good after two months. There is really no sign of a declining population except for the standard "10 people from my guild are leaving==> 10.000.000 people must be leaving" crap. Since FC expected a population of around 250k things are looking really well for them.

Sigh I swear you want this place to be the AoC forums. They sold 700k copies. They don't have 700k active subs. If you honestly think the player population is higher now than it was at launch despite no new servers then it doesn't matter what I say. Enjoy breaking the 1 million mark!

[Darvain]

They have just a few months to completely reverse course and completely get their shit together. Evidence from this board alone suggests people are quitting in droves ... likely to resubscribe WOW.

If WoTLK or WAR were to release during this time of Funcom incompetence, it would be the nail in the coffin for AoC.

The one thing I think that shocked everyone watching the AoC launch is the amount of demand for it. Theres alot of people tired of WOW and hungry for something new.