How, specifically, has AoC improved since launch?

highborn · February 2009

I was very excited about AoC before it launched, and purchased the game and played it for about 45 days. I was dissapointed and canceled my subscription. I am hoping someone that still plays the game can answer some specific questions before I decide to renew/reinstall.

Here are my issues:

1. The world seemed rather disjointed. There were large zones, but no "in between zones". You would simply "port" accross the world from zone to zone, which kind of pulled me out of the game immersion.

2. All the armor was plane and brown. Don't get me wrong, I was not looking for crazy "WoW" armor with tractor tires for shoulder pads, I know its Age of Conan, *but* I was looking for more diversity. I just didn't really feel my character's status was improving much.

3. The stat system for items in the game made no system, and seemed a bit pointless.

4. Once I hit level 30, the storyline and quests seemed to hit a dead end. I went to other level 20-30 zones, but I was doing lower level quests, and nothing really seemed tied togther, and I had heard that it was even worse at level 50-55.

Can anyone playing the game help me out with issues? Are they fixed or improved at all?

Clada · February 2009

1) World remains the same. I don't really see your point, if you travel to a desert area the places available to you are all loacted within the desert theme. They have added some new zones which may help you out here. All the zones are very detailed, it's rare to find to same amount of detail in any other mmo to date for a specific zone.

2) Skills improve as you level. Diversity comes at lvl 80 when you farm for your armor drops. They have added some new "cool" armor sets which you can pick up in one of the new instances/zones.

3) Still the same being changed in the next major patch.

4) You have plenty of quests all the way up to about 76. They have added a slew of new quests, however, even before you really should never have ran out.

highborn · February 2009

Originally posted by Clada

1) World remains the same. I don't really see your point, if you travel to a desert area the places available to you are all loacted within the desert theme. They have added some new zones which may help you out here. All the zones are very detailed, it's rare to find to same amount of detail in any other mmo to date for a specific zone.
2) Skills improve as you level. Diversity comes at lvl 80 when you farm for your armor drops. They have added some new "cool" armor sets which you can pick up in one of the new instances/zones.
3) Still the same being changed in the next major patch.
4) You have plenty of quests all the way up to about 76. They have added a slew of new quests, however, even before you really should never have ran out.

1. I was not trying to make a "point". We all have opinions, I am not trying to convince anyone of anything, it just bothered me that there were no "inbetween zones".

2. I guess this is better, but it sounds like you basically look the same all the way to the top, then you have diverse armor sets? Is there any diversity throughout the leveling up process at all?

3. OK.

4. That's really great news, do the quests link together: ie. the NPC quest givers tell you to go to a new contact that starts a new quest line, or are you still just kind of randomly hopping around after level 30 or so?

Crashloop · February 2009

Originally posted by highborn

Originally posted by Clada

1) World remains the same. I don't really see your point, if you travel to a desert area the places available to you are all loacted within the desert theme. They have added some new zones which may help you out here. All the zones are very detailed, it's rare to find to same amount of detail in any other mmo to date for a specific zone.
2) Skills improve as you level. Diversity comes at lvl 80 when you farm for your armor drops. They have added some new "cool" armor sets which you can pick up in one of the new instances/zones.
3) Still the same being changed in the next major patch.
4) You have plenty of quests all the way up to about 76. They have added a slew of new quests, however, even before you really should never have ran out.

1. I was not trying to make a "point". We all have opinions, I am not trying to convince anyone of anything, it just bothered me that there were no "inbetween zones".

Instances is here to stay in AoC, to rewrite the game to remove instances and make it a seamless world like WoW would quite possibly mean a rewrite of the entire game.

2. I guess this is better, but it sounds like you basically look the same all the way to the top, then you have diverse armor sets? Is there any diversity throughout the leveling up process at all?

I never had any problem changing my appearance when I leveled my characters, Sure a lot of the common armors are similar, but the stuff you get from group instances can make you change the look totally, also the different "faction" gear like nemedian, vanir, darfari etc is fully possible to buy/grind and that way change the way you look.

3. OK.

4. That's really great news, do the quests link together: ie. the NPC quest givers tell you to go to a new contact that starts a new quest line, or are you still just kind of randomly hopping around after level 30 or so?

20-40 is found in Kopshef, wild lands of zelata and conall's valley,

41-50 is Field of the dead and Noble district in Tarantia

51-60 is Eiglophian mountains

61-80 is Atzel's approach, thunder river and Keshetta, Keshetta starts at 70, the 2 other is 60+ zones but also quests up to 80 when you look at the group instances that can be found there.

From what I recall, there are questgivers directing you to the next zone to go to, some quests are follow's up, other is simply go to this person in that zone and help them. When I leveled my characters I was going back and forth to the different zones, and doing a few Villa's when I had dry periods of quests or just wanted lots of mobs in one place. They have sorted the lack of quests, but there are some times you still find yourself "grinding" but that I have experienced in other MMOæs too and the grind isn't a huge grind.

openedge1 · February 2009

Originally posted by highborn

I was very excited about AoC before it launched, and purchased the game and played it for about 45 days. I was dissapointed and canceled my subscription. I am hoping someone that still plays the game can answer some specific questions before I decide to renew/reinstall.
Here are my issues:
1. The world seemed rather disjointed. There were large zones, but no "in between zones". You would simply "port" accross the world from zone to zone, which kind of pulled me out of the game immersion.
This will be a personal preference. I enjoyed Guild Wars like no tomorrow, so instancing worked there. It works here as well. Yes, it would be cool to see myself riding a wagon or boat in a cinematic to get to my destination. But, I am actually quite happy with the variation of the world settings.
2. All the armor was plane and brown. Don't get me wrong, I was not looking for crazy "WoW" armor with tractor tires for shoulder pads, I know its Age of Conan, *but* I was looking for more diversity. I just didn't really feel my character's status was improving much.
Still being worked on. More variation has started to appear, but you do need to work for it. Whether through PvP, or instance dungeons, etc. Overall it has been much better than it was, and the next patch will introduce more.
3. The stat system for items in the game made no system, and seemed a bit pointless.
Wait for patch 1.05. Read the Game Directors letter post to glean more data about this. Total overhaul.
4. Once I hit level 30, the storyline and quests seemed to hit a dead end. I went to other level 20-30 zones, but I was doing lower level quests, and nothing really seemed tied togther, and I had heard that it was even worse at level 50-55.
There is more progression now, but you need to be watchful and keep an eye out. Quests in your zone will eventually throw you to another zone, and you have a reason to go. Then once there, start to talk to someone else, and you garner a new story. I have yet to worry about questing past 30+...especially with Black Castle, then Sanctum at 35+. But, again this takes perseverance and commitment. If you feel lost, you may need to put in more effort. 50+ is now taken over by the new Ymir pass and E Mtn, then on to Thunder River at 60...
Can anyone playing the game help me out with issues? Are they fixed or improved at all?

Hope that helps. Hard to say how you will feel, and how much you wish to put into the game...it has payed off for me...and I am quite fickle (ask my LOTRO buddies here at MMORPG)

Good luck

dhayes68 · March 2009

Most of what you asked about is the same or not much different. There is some more armor, not a lot, no social clothing.

The questing is such that if you've never played before, you'll have plenty to do for your first char. Once you start making alts you'll start repeating a lot of quests. This is more due to the world being (imo) small. One zone from 1 to 20, 3 zones from 20-40, etc...

If you've already leveled a toon to 80, not going to be much difference for you i think.

openedge1 · March 2009

Originally posted by dhayes68

Most of what you asked about is the same or not much different. There is some more armor, not a lot, no social clothing.
Since AoC is not gear reliant, the amount of armors did not matter, plus you were not stuck having to wear a new piece if your old piece looked better. Luckily more is being added as time progresses. As to social clothing, it took LOTRO a year to create a system for social clothing, EQ2 almost 3 years, so this is nothing new in the MMO industry.
The questing is such that if you've never played before, you'll have plenty to do for your first char. Once you start making alts you'll start repeating a lot of quests. This is more due to the world being (imo) small. One zone from 1 to 20, 3 zones from 20-40, etc...
As he said, 3 zones for 20-40, which makes starting alts quite a bit of fun. You can experience alternate quests in each zone for Stygian, Aquilonian and Cimmerian. This is the reason I am running 3 seperate characters and classes at the same time...variety is cool doing it that way. Of course if you left last year, there is the new Ymir zone in the 50's and they are reworking the Tarantia Commons to accomodate the 70's...in so many words, all zones will be filled to the brim.
But, lets not forget, it is an MMO, thus, it will ALWAYS be the same starting alts for any game.There is nothing unique about AoC and starting over. Like all MMO's, if you have played through the game once, you eventually will hit the same quests as you level.
If you've already leveled a toon to 80, not going to be much difference for you i think.
As I said above, this is for ALL MMO's, not just AoC. So, if you went through once, and have a level 80, start playing around with the new endgame resource wars. Check out the new raids, and the addition to BRC. And if you want to start from scratch, start another race or class to experience the alternate storylines and regions..
And as always....Have FUN!

Vhaln · March 2009

Originally posted by openedge1

Originally posted by dhayes68

Since AoC is not gear reliant, the amount of armors did not matter, plus you were not stuck having to wear a new piece if your old piece looked better. Luckily more is being added as time progresses.

This is true to a point, but my leg armor's looked the same for 20 levels. The last nice piece I got, 20+ levels ago, does eventually become inadequate. I get so sick of the damn burlap-sack-like "tassets" they use for legs. Even just an option to wear pants would be nice. But, every 10 levels, the texture changes a little, but it's the same damn thing.

openedge1 · March 2009

Originally posted by Vhaln

Originally posted by openedge1

Originally posted by dhayes68

Since AoC is not gear reliant, the amount of armors did not matter, plus you were not stuck having to wear a new piece if your old piece looked better. Luckily more is being added as time progresses.

This is true to a point, but my leg armor's looked the same for 20 levels. The last nice piece I got, 20+ levels ago, does eventually become inadequate. I get so sick of the damn burlap-sack-like "tassets" they use for legs. Even just an option to wear pants would be nice. But, every 10 levels, the texture changes a little, but it's the same damn thing.

I totally agree that the variety is not so good. I would prefer more. I also would love an appearance tab personally. There was so much cool stuff from Tortage that I kept in the bank due to the fact it looked awesome.

If they would just let me pick WHAT I would like to wear, then I do not care how many changes vs levels they would do...

Cheers

dhayes68 · March 2009

Originally posted by openedge1

Originally posted by Vhaln

Originally posted by openedge1

Originally posted by dhayes68

Since AoC is not gear reliant, the amount of armors did not matter, plus you were not stuck having to wear a new piece if your old piece looked better. Luckily more is being added as time progresses.

This is true to a point, but my leg armor's looked the same for 20 levels. The last nice piece I got, 20+ levels ago, does eventually become inadequate. I get so sick of the damn burlap-sack-like "tassets" they use for legs. Even just an option to wear pants would be nice. But, every 10 levels, the texture changes a little, but it's the same damn thing.

I totally agree that the variety is not so good. I would prefer more. I also would love an appearance tab personally. There was so much cool stuff from Tortage that I kept in the bank due to the fact it looked awesome.

If they would just let me pick WHAT I would like to wear, then I do not care how many changes vs levels they would do...

Cheers

sorry, I was specifically referring to looks. there is not a lot of variety. though its a little better than it was at launch. It is actually nice that I don't need to drive myself nuts worrying about getting uber gear.

dhayes68 · March 2009

Originally posted by openedge1 As he said, 3 zones for 20-40, which makes starting alts quite a bit of fun. But, lets not forget, it is an MMO, thus, it will ALWAYS be the same starting alts for any game.There is nothing unique about AoC and starting over. Like all MMO's, if you have played through the game once, you eventually will hit the same quests as you level. As I said above, this is for ALL MMO's, not just AoC. So, if you went through once, and have a level 80, start playing around with the new endgame resource wars. Check out the new raids, and the addition to BRC. And if you want to start from scratch, start another race or class to experience the alternate storylines and regions..

Obviously its a matter of opinion but I know a lot of people found the 1 zone, followed by 3 zones, followed by different 1 at a time zones from there on out to be extremely limiting in terms of variety of play.

Other MMO's have started me in the same place for each alt, not all, but some, but none have forced me to stay in that place for at least 15 levels doing the same quests.

openedge1 · March 2009

Originally posted by dhayes68

Originally posted by openedge1 As he said, 3 zones for 20-40, which makes starting alts quite a bit of fun. But, lets not forget, it is an MMO, thus, it will ALWAYS be the same starting alts for any game.There is nothing unique about AoC and starting over. Like all MMO's, if you have played through the game once, you eventually will hit the same quests as you level. As I said above, this is for ALL MMO's, not just AoC. So, if you went through once, and have a level 80, start playing around with the new endgame resource wars. Check out the new raids, and the addition to BRC. And if you want to start from scratch, start another race or class to experience the alternate storylines and regions..

Obviously its a matter of opinion but I know a lot of people found the 1 zone, followed by 3 zones, followed by different 1 at a time zones from there on out to be extremely limiting in terms of variety of play.

Other MMO's have started me in the same place for each alt, not all, but some, but none have forced me to stay in that place for at least 15 levels doing the same quests.

Then I take it you have not played LOTRO? EQ2?

Here is a good idea of what LOTRO offers...154 QUESTS IN ONE ZONE...lol

http://www.thebrasse.com/display/quests/lotro/by-zone-203/sortasc3/page1

Or how about 156 in the North Downs?

http://www.thebrasse.com/display/quests/lotro/by-zone-205/sortasc0/page1

In EQ2 to get from 71-80, you are forced to do 192 quests...lol

http://www.thebrasse.com/display/quests/eq2/by-level-71-80/sortasc3/page1

And the above are just "partial" listings...not the whole kit and kaboodle.

So, in other words, I 100% disagree with your comment. I believe there are a LOT of games that offer this same style of play. WoW is the only game I feel offers more variety...yet has had 5 years and 2 expansions to help. Try a few more different MMO's and then say the same thing...I do not think you will.

Cheers

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