Age of Conan tradeskills getting badly needed attention

Is this really news? Reporting that completely broken and untested core game systems are "being scrutinized" by developers a month after release? Seems like these things should have been higher on the priority list before they started stealing everyone's money.

They have no QA whatsoever.

Speak with your wallets and cancel AoC to make your voices heard, otherwise developers of future games will follow the same lackluster trend.

I am with you there Lethality. I completely understand the pressure of shipping, but that means finishing your game so it can be shipped. Not shipping an Alpha/Beta-stage game.

And MMO developers want to start making console games?

Crazy.

"acknowledging problems is the first step to fixing them"

yeah right, like they cared to solve it when it was in alpha/beta.

Anyone else get the feeling they launched about 6-9 months early?

Ahhh hell it seems being a MMO developer is choosing either:
A kick in the butt – because you choose to pushed out the release date
or
A kick in the teeth – because you released and need to patch the game to fix stuff (which of you did option one you need to do anyway)

SWG, WoW, EQ2 .. was in launch day for all then and the all had problems and all had folks barking mad about quitting and how they don’t test.

I am in AoC .. swing my sword and having fun right now. I you are not having as much fun as I am; then I feel for you and you need to just stop playing. Stop trying to kick-up a MMO jihad. geese

@ Lethality:

------
Nadril - I can't believe you're being such a sheep. You're giving developers "get out of jail free" cards, and all it's saying to other developers is that it's ok to release total broken crap while people pay for you to try and fix it.
-----

Cute, pulling the "sheep" card. How am I a sheep for supporting a company I like? They ran out of fucking money, it's not like the had an option.

---
MMOs will never be "complete" at launch in terms of content, but there's ABSOLUTELY no reason that they can't be bug-free, at least the core game play systems. AoC didn't have (and still really doesn't) have economy tools... how is that not a problem? Stats not working... also no problem?
---

Spoken like a true person who doesn't even know what's going on.

+ stats work.

+ Economy tools? Oh, you mean like their Auction house system that has been working ever since the second week? There is plenty of an economy going on.

The core gameplay is relatively bug free. Save for some feats not working (Normal in a new game) and a few quests it is very bug free. I don't know where you guys get off the idea that it is a buggy mess, after playing two characters to 57+ the only real bugs I have encounted are a few with quests -- most of which end up getting patched quickly.

----
Come on man, take off the rose colored glasses unless you really do accept everything mediocre in your life.
----

Yawn. I've slammed the game pretty hard elsewhere for not having enough content at the higher levels. However the game is not mediocre in any ways, and I've had more fun with it then I ever did in my time of playing WoW.

-----
Also you have selective memory of the WoW launch, or you weren't there for it. It was objectively MUCH more playable, bug free and filled with content than AoC at launch, by at least an order of magnitude.
-----

Right, having 5 hour long ques, huge server downtime and constant crashes was more playable. Oh, and not to mention having to compete with all other 400 people in the same zone trying to kill the same wolf to make the same goddamned pie, yeah, that is totally playable.

You seem to have forgotten the past easily.


What I find pathetic is those who stand by a game while they continually try and fuck the customer sideways. Hellgate:London I got out of quickly within 2 weeks because it was a buggy piece of shit. Yeah, I had a bit of fun during the "normal" phase but they screwed their customers with horrible support. Within those few weeks I played HG:L they came out with practicly no fixes to help the core game.

Likewise in AoC within the time it has been out they have been pushing out TWO PATCHES A WEEK. Funcom is working extremely hard on getting this game polished, and the thing is they admit it.

Going to the article a bit more crafting is really on the lower tier of things to be worried about. I would rather they work on other things (like content) before worrying about crafting.

But, then again, as I've stated before it's not as if other games (WoW for example) held a huge purpose on crafting. Really for the most part it was pretty useless except at max levels.

Lethality, 2 patches a week are perfectly fine for small bug fixes. The alchemy bug is something that was bad, yes.

And when I say it is not mediocre I mean that the game, under everything the core GAME is not a bad game. It's in fact a very good game. However, that good game has issues.

The thing is is that bugs, content, all of that can be fixed. Having a shitty game and shitty game mechanics is very rarely fixed.


I'm sorry that you do not agree with me, but honestly can't you get the idea someone enjoys something you don't? I'm sure there are tons of people out there who genuinly enjoy WoW PvP, I didn't. I found it a mess and nothing more than a tool to get gear for the PvE grind. More so I found the arena lacked skill and was purely based of of the comp you ran and the gear you ran it with (I had a 1900+ in S1 gear in the S3).

Point being Blizzard can not do much to make their PvP good. Funcom can, and is, doing all they can to fix the bugs and bring in more content.

And that, Lethality, is the difference. Age of Conan can be fixed. Age of Conan IS getting fixed. In fact, I would agree that in it's current state Funcom has made some poor decisions.

However for me the sheer fun of the game has completely destroyed any thought of getting driven out because of some bugs. I love playing my Tempest of Set, and it's the first time in an MMO since playing my Rogue in WoW that I've really enjoyed a class. Combat is downright enjoyable and, for once, I'm interested in the Conan lore.

Yes there are bugs. Yes there are lapses of content. Yes patches do bring in other bugs at times. However all of this can be FIXED. They are bugs, after all, for a reason.

World of Warcrafts problems are all within it's game mechanics and Blizzards decisions. They are going to an "e-sport" game mentality, which is silly considering that WoW is a PvE game. They are toning down their raids which, though a good buisness decision, I don't agree with for their already large raiding crowd.

They are dumbing down the game in so many ways to simply apeal to the casual crowd. Mounts at 30? OK! Oh, you can't afford it? Well here, we'll make it 35g. Christ, I had 90g by level 30 on my Rogue (first character after I came back, with no help).


I know I'm starting to dwell off-topic a bit but I really hope you get my idea. I honestly think that within 4 months Age of Conan will be a great game, and I honestly think it is only going to take 4 (or less) months to straighten out what is wrong about the game.

The major question I do wish to ask you, Lethality, is that bug and content aside what problems do you have with the core mechanics of Age of Conan? I mean, in a world where the game was polished what is your problem with the game?

I'm also curious as to how much you gave the game a shot. I may have asked this in another post, who knows, but I am curious.

Honestly though, I do respect what you're trying to say -- and I'm not ignoring the bugs or faults with the game. I've bitched about one quest not working to several of my guild mates, but in the end it all just comes down to the game is damned fun no matter the problems. And, fuck, if you can't understand that then I don't know how else to put it.