What went wrong?

[Ingmar]

This thread is funny with all of its 'omg WoW had this and didn't have this and this and that and the other thing at launch omg'.

The thing is, very little of that matters at all.

When it released, the first time you sat down to play WoW, was it the best MMO you had ever played to that point? For many (most?) people the answer is 'yes'.

How many people are answering that question 'yes' for AoC? If they're not answering 'yes', and they're not crazy multi-subscription people (I suspect most MMO players are not) why wouldn't they go back to whatever game is stopping them from being able to say 'yes' to that question for AoC?

Because ive played that other game for going on four years? It doesn't really matter that one game is better than another, you can't play the same game forever.  I think wow is a great game, much much better than aoc, i simply dont want to play it anymore and im having trouble getting into warhammer because its too similar to wow, even if its also better than aoc. 

You *could* play the same game forever (I still play nethack, after all), but that's why they make expansions. Do you see yourself sticking with AoC when Lich King hits?

[Threash]

This thread is funny with all of its 'omg WoW had this and didn't have this and this and that and the other thing at launch omg'.

The thing is, very little of that matters at all.

When it released, the first time you sat down to play WoW, was it the best MMO you had ever played to that point? For many (most?) people the answer is 'yes'.

How many people are answering that question 'yes' for AoC? If they're not answering 'yes', and they're not crazy multi-subscription people (I suspect most MMO players are not) why wouldn't they go back to whatever game is stopping them from being able to say 'yes' to that question for AoC?

Because ive played that other game for going on four years? It doesn't really matter that one game is better than another, you can't play the same game forever.  I think wow is a great game, much much better than aoc, i simply dont want to play it anymore and im having trouble getting into warhammer because its too similar to wow, even if its also better than aoc. 

You *could* play the same game forever (I still play nethack, after all), but that's why they make expansions. Do you see yourself sticking with AoC when Lich King hits?

I tried playing warhammer which i guess you could call wotlk lite and i simply could not stomach the wow style combat anymore.  AoC has a lot of problems and i dont even know if i will last till witch launches but fighting just feels so much fucking better in a completely visceral level that i dont see myself going back to wow or warhammer.

[Count Nerfedalot]

When does this game hit the graveyard? 

LOL

[Musashi]

When does this game hit the graveyard? 

Might as well be there already, as far as I'm concerned.  I'm just a vulture circling overhead in hopes of harvesting lulz.

[Hound]

I think at this point it's clear aoc has big issues and most likely retention will be it's achilles heel but I'm starting this thread not to be "aoc sux lawl" but more to discuss where exactly they went wrong and to ask what they could have done differently.  imo it was a great idea and could have been a really engaging game but it just fell short.

I keep asking myself WTF happened also. I thought the game was fun as hell for about a week, then all of a sudden for no reason I can put my finger on I lost all urge to login or play and went back to LoTRO where I am leveling alts and griding rep on my main. ~shrug~ maybe WAR will be better but still I am glad I bought a lifetime sub to LoTRO since it is always there for me to fall back on even if the next new shiny turns out to be a gilded turd.

[pxib]

Which makes me glad I didn't buy it. Very shortly the price will drop to about $30, maybe even $20... or the 10 day trial will come out, and I can experience all the game has to offer without paying anything at all. Yay.

[Engels]

The game feels heavy and sluggish to me. Its not simply a matter of mechanics or quests or grind or anything like that, but a more fundamental matter that loading zones takes forever, getting places takes forever, you can't alt-tab without hosing your graphics (on my machine, anyway), and the more than occasional red-ping and crash makes the whole thing go from light-hearted wow-like questage straight to ugh.

[Tale]

What went wrong?

I got cut off from my AoC gaming by life circumstances. I was enjoying myself. Now that I have the chance to go back, I realise it has absolutely no pull whatsoever. I can't think of one thing in AoC that I'm itching to do. I hate WoW and there are things I want to do in WoW.

Meanwhile the hundreds of people in my all-MMOGs-since-1999 guild are on their 8th month of the EQ2 raiding game and still insisting we should all be joining them.

[Lantyssa]

The game feels heavy and sluggish to me. Its not simply a matter of mechanics or quests or grind or anything like that, but a more fundamental matter that loading zones takes forever, getting places takes forever, you can't alt-tab without hosing your graphics (on my machine, anyway), and the more than occasional red-ping and crash makes the whole thing go from light-hearted wow-like questage straight to ugh.

They made horses cheaper and the wagoneers have more places they go now.  You can get directly to the resource zones from the main city hubs and it sounded like the same was possible for further into the adventure zones.

So that's one thing they're addressing at least.

[Engels]

They made horses cheaper and the wagoneers have more places they go now.  You can get directly to the resource zones from the main city hubs and it sounded like the same was possible for further into the adventure zones.

So that's one thing they're addressing at least.

Thanks. They really need to put stuff like this in bold in the patch notes.

[Fordel]

My 'Out of my Ass' opinion about what went wrong with AoC? Nothing! Well, it obviously has technical issues and content issues and those things, but what I am referring too is it's base design.


AoC = Hardcore

It was marketed as a Hardcore game in every regard. You need a hardcore system, it has 'hardcore' action game play, it has HARDcore 'adult themes', blood guts and glory and DARK GRIT DARKYGRITNESS.

It succeeded, people came to be hardcore, realized they weren't and left. Or they didn't realize it yet, but left anyway. Or they tried to be, but were out done by the much smaller actual hardcore segment and were driven away directly or indirectly.

It's a game made for it's target audience, receiving it's target audience.

[Evildrider]

It's a game made for it's target audience, receiving it's target audience.

An audience that likes mediocre games with poor development?

[Lakov_Sanite]

My 'Out of my Ass' opinion about what went wrong with AoC? Nothing! Well, it obviously has technical issues and content issues and those things, but what I am referring too is it's base design.


AoC = Hardcore

It was marketed as a Hardcore game in every regard. You need a hardcore system, it has 'hardcore' action game play, it has HARDcore 'adult themes', blood guts and glory and DARK GRIT DARKYGRITNESS.

It succeeded, people came to be hardcore, realized they weren't and left. Or they didn't realize it yet, but left anyway. Or they tried to be, but were out done by the much smaller actual hardcore segment and were driven away directly or indirectly.

It's a game made for it's target audience, receiving it's target audience.

AoC is getting the audience it deserves.

[Slayerik]

AoC is getting the audience it deserves.

Jesus man, did Gaute piss in your wheaties or something? Did Funcom gangbang your mom?

I stopped playing but FFS man, get a grip over your obsession. The comments you make aren't witty, it's mainly angst-filled bullshit and has been for months. It's not healthy.




And to answer the original post - a similar thing went wrong with some other guys here...I went from having fun to not caring to log in like overnight. It was quite strange. Maybe it was my subconscience telling me 'dude, even if you get to 80 there isn't shit to do and the sieging is completely borked'. I think I'm pretty much done with any non-sandbox MMO, I'm just burnt on Diku in general I suppose. Bummer they claimed a PVP MMO, when in the end it was built a PVE MMO with tacked on PVP.

[Mrbloodworth]

AoC is getting the audience it deserves.

Jesus man, did Gaute piss in your wheaties or something? Did Funcom gangbang your mom?

I stopped playing but FFS man, get a grip over your obsession. The comments you make aren't witty, it's mainly angst-filled bullshit and has been for months. It's not healthy.




And to answer the original post - a similar thing went wrong with some other guys here...I went from having fun to not caring to log in like overnight. It was quite strange. Maybe it was my subconscience telling me 'dude, even if you get to 80 there isn't shit to do and the sieging is completely borked'. I think I'm pretty much done with any non-sandbox MMO, I'm just burnt on Diku in general I suppose. Bummer they claimed a PVP MMO, when in the end it was built a PVE MMO with tacked on PVP.

Basically, the same here on all accounts. There is a lot of hate for the sake of hate, thats odd.

Anyway, my friends and i had a long conversation one evening about what we liked and disliked about the game. All in all they (devs) are making strides to correct things on our list. so i suspect that in about 4-5 months, we may be back. This also gives me time to get a computer up to snuff for my girlfriend to join us, this is a major consideration for me. Currently back to LOTRO for my mmo needs, it really is a fine game deserving of another look to any who enjoyed there time before.

[Engels]

The level 50 Phoenix Medallion quest is broken. This is a central quest that everyone has to do at 50, no if ands or buts, and its seriously bugged. I had to kill Mithrele 4 times to get it to finally work, and the reasons for it not working were entirely random. I talked with players in my guild that reported the same issue.

THAT is the type of thing that saps the enthusiasm for the game out of players. Its a serious, serous WTF.

[Morfiend]

My 'Out of my Ass' opinion about what went wrong with AoC? Nothing! Well, it obviously has technical issues and content issues and those things, but what I am referring too is it's base design.


AoC = Hardcore

It was marketed as a Hardcore game in every regard. You need a hardcore system, it has 'hardcore' action game play, it has HARDcore 'adult themes', blood guts and glory and DARK GRIT DARKYGRITNESS.

It succeeded, people came to be hardcore, realized they weren't and left. Or they didn't realize it yet, but left anyway. Or they tried to be, but were out done by the much smaller actual hardcore segment and were driven away directly or indirectly.

It's a game made for it's target audience, receiving it's target audience.

While this maybe true to a small extent, I do not believe this is the underlying problem with the game that is causing people to leave in droves. I am going to say at this point the things that drove me from the game was the bugs, and Funcom's seeming inability to test even the simplest changes in their patches. They just break one thing after another, over and over again.

I didnt leave because I am not "hardcore" enough, but because of all the bugs and broken crap.

[Lakov_Sanite]

I haven't commented on aoc in weeks, wtf?

Besides my angst is more directed at fordel's ridiculous assesment that if people were just hardcore enough to appreciate such a hardcore Extreme game like AoC with blood and tits and adult stories about sex oh and did I mention there were tits? 

I don't hate the game, just the players and clearly slayerik, since you don't play anymore you just aren't hardcore enough to understand.

[Mrbloodworth]

I enjoyed the game, i disliked the bugs and unfinished state. Hardcore has nothing to do with it. In that respect, i was "hardcore" enough becouse i liked the game, and all the things you listed and more..

[Fordel]

I've never even played AoC. Didn't even consider it, it wasn't built for me. 


My point was people are rarely as hardcore as they like to think they are. Be it ganking, atmosphere, leveling or even just System requirements. It's been shown time and again these hardcore styles of play just eat themselves from the inside till nothing is left. The rampant technical shitcockery just sped the process up for a large chunk of people.

I'm saying they were leaving anyways, they are just leaving faster because of the bugs, but they were going to leave even if AoC was a pristine technical masterpiece.


 

[Morfiend]

I've never even played AoC. Didn't even consider it, it wasn't built for me. 

You're wrong. The game wasn't marketed for you. Really, it isn't that hardcore. Especially if you play on a PVE server. I can say pretty securely that the ratio of people leaving due to bugs and design flaws and lack of content to people who are not "hardcore" is probably around 25:1.

[ffc]

I let my subscription run out because of the following, in order of importance:

1)  Outright lies about content
2)  Unintended patch changes
3)  Intended patch changes
4)  Unbalanced/unfinished PvP

I am looking forward to trying WAR.

Currently back to LOTRO for my mmo needs, it really is a fine game deserving of another look to any who enjoyed there time before.

Were Guardian repair costs ever lowered?

[Mrbloodworth]

I let my subscription run out because of the following, in order of importance:

1)  Outright lies about content
2)  Unintended patch changes
3)  Intended patch changes
4)  Unbalanced/unfinished PvP

I am looking forward to trying WAR.

Currently back to LOTRO for my mmo needs, it really is a fine game deserving of another look to any who enjoyed there time before.

Were Guardian repair costs ever lowered?

I cant speak to that specific, but i do know Guardians have had updates and additions to the class.

[Tarami]

I let my subscription run out because of the following, in order of importance:

1)  Outright lies about content
2)  Unintended patch changes
3)  Intended patch changes
4)  Unbalanced/unfinished PvP

I am looking forward to trying WAR.

Currently back to LOTRO for my mmo needs, it really is a fine game deserving of another look to any who enjoyed there time before.

Were Guardian repair costs ever lowered?

A little - the cost for repairing heavy shields is down to the same level as light shields. Other than that, I do not think anything has changed. At level 47 with some twinking I'm chiming in at ~250 silver per repair. That's given I've waited until I have a few red and some yellow items. Although, it's worth noting that repairs overall are down 20% as repairing in the kinship's homestead is discounted. I have no issues coping with repairs at the moment, in either case.

[Phildo]

There are tits in this game?  Why are you people quitting it?!?

[Count Nerfedalot]

AoC is getting the audience it deserves.

Jesus man, did Gaute piss in your wheaties or something? Did Funcom gangbang your mom?

I stopped playing but FFS man, get a grip over your obsession. The comments you make aren't witty, it's mainly angst-filled bullshit and has been for months. It's not healthy.

Dude, chill.  After the dozens of posts in this and other threads that detail the many ways that Funcom failed to deliver, for someone to claim that everyone who left AoC just wasn't hardcore enough was insulting and absurd.  It sounded like something straight out of the fanboi hymnal, and Lakov's snarky response was downright funny, in a gallows humor sort of way.  You go apeshit every time anyone says anything bad about AoC.  You really need to relax, before you pop a blood vessel or something.


/derail

Currently back to LOTRO for my mmo needs, it really is a fine game deserving of another look to any who enjoyed there time before.

I really wanted to like LoTRO.  And I did, kinda.  But not enough to stick around after my wife gave up in disgust at how they treated crafting.  So have they done anything about each of our main issues with it?

Did they ever make combat seem less like you were fighting underwater? 
Did they eliminate the cockblock quests that prevent crafters from progressing until their adventuring level exceeded their crafting level?

[Slayerik]

AoC is getting the audience it deserves.

Jesus man, did Gaute piss in your wheaties or something? Did Funcom gangbang your mom?

I stopped playing but FFS man, get a grip over your obsession. The comments you make aren't witty, it's mainly angst-filled bullshit and has been for months. It's not healthy.

Dude, chill.  After the dozens of posts in this and other threads that detail the many ways that Funcom failed to deliver, for someone to claim that everyone who left AoC just wasn't hardcore enough was insulting and absurd.  It sounded like something straight out of the fanboi hymnal, and Lakov's snarky response was downright funny, in a gallows humor sort of way.  You go apeshit every time anyone says anything bad about AoC.  You really need to relax, before you pop a blood vessel or something.

You fuckin chill, DUDE. If I wanna tell Lakov to piss off with his usual comments, he doesn't need you to defend him. His comments about AoC are as tiresome as mine were defending it. His comment was shit, almost as shit as yours. If I recall correctly, I can't remember of a game you actually have liked. All I hear out of you is ...everything sucks. You fit in great around here.

The funny part is, you are pretty much right. MMOs suck. Well, Diku sucks anyway.

[Mrbloodworth]

AoC is getting the audience it deserves.

Jesus man, did Gaute piss in your wheaties or something? Did Funcom gangbang your mom?

I stopped playing but FFS man, get a grip over your obsession. The comments you make aren't witty, it's mainly angst-filled bullshit and has been for months. It's not healthy.

Dude, chill.  After the dozens of posts in this and other threads that detail the many ways that Funcom failed to deliver, for someone to claim that everyone who left AoC just wasn't hardcore enough was insulting and absurd.  It sounded like something straight out of the fanboi hymnal, and Lakov's snarky response was downright funny, in a gallows humor sort of way.  You go apeshit every time anyone says anything bad about AoC.  You really need to relax, before you pop a blood vessel or something.


/derail

Currently back to LOTRO for my mmo needs, it really is a fine game deserving of another look to any who enjoyed there time before.

I really wanted to like LoTRO.  And I did, kinda.  But not enough to stick around after my wife gave up in disgust at how they treated crafting.  So have they done anything about each of our main issues with it?

Did they ever make combat seem less like you were fighting underwater? 
Did they eliminate the cockblock quests that prevent crafters from progressing until their adventuring level exceeded their crafting level?

My crafting level has always been higher than my adventure level. Not sure what you are referring to on that one. I never felt the combat system seemed like i was underwater. But i do know they have done multiple animation passes and a number of combat tweaks. It does feel diffrent than when i played before. Instants are more instant. Classes like champion (the tank) have had diffrent stances added to increase utility.

The water comment, i wonder if people who say that didn't get as far as getting the class traits that reduce things like induction times ETC... *shrug* Combat in LOTRO has always been just as fast as in Wow to me. But way more fun IMO.

[Falconeer]

*shrug* Combat in LOTRO has always been just as fast as in Wow to me. But way more fun IMO.

Hey. I hate WoW, but come on.
Actions are delayed. You press a button... and some time after that something happens. How fast is that?

P.S: I hit 50 very fast in Lotro.

[cmlancas]

And here I thought that f13 was losing that nerd-frenzy appeal.

Guess I was just reading the wrong threads.

 

[Mrbloodworth]

*shrug* Combat in LOTRO has always been just as fast as in Wow to me. But way more fun IMO.

Hey. I hate WoW, but come on.
Actions are delayed. You press a button... and some time after that something happens. How fast is that?

P.S: I hit 50 very fast in Lotro.

Whats the question here?

[Sir T]

Whats the question here?

If a Nerd falls in a forest, do the birds laugh?

[HaemishM]

What the hell is that nerd doing in the outdoors?

[Lakov_Sanite]

What the hell is that nerd doing in the outdoors?

He heard there was porn in the woods

[Evildrider]

What the hell is that nerd doing in the outdoors?

He heard there was porn in the woods

Midget clown S&M porn no less.