Funcom, Eidos and GameSpot Reveal Unique Age of Conan PvP weekend

[Mrbloodworth]

Linky

Posted: - 09.04.2008

15,000 gamers get exclusive Age of Conan access from April 18th to April 20th

Durham, USA – April 9th, 2008 – Eidos and Funcom is proud to announce a unique Beta partnership with GameSpot.com, one of the world's biggest gaming websites. In a highly exclusive event, 15,000 gamers from across the world can log in and play Age of Conan, non-stop, from Friday April 18th to Sunday April 20th. The unique PvP weekend allows lucky gamers to test a limited part of the PvP functionality of Age of Conan, and the two different PvP mini-games Capture the Skull and Team Annihilation will be available.

To make the weekend even more interesting Eidos and Funcom also includes the engaging Age of Conan character creation system, allowing players to create avatars with strong personalities. All 12 classes in the game, including the barbarian, can be picked and tested, with Funcom transforming each character into a fully specced level 20 death machine. In PvP lobbies players can then chat and socialize, prior to entering PvP matches. Participants are urged to test different classes, and offer any feedback on the forums. There will also be forums on GameSpot.com where people can talk about the event, and Funcom staff will be present to gather feedback.
 
“The battlefields of Hyboria are craving new, fresh blood,” says an enthusiastic Game Director/Producer Gaute Godager at Funcom. “Throwing newcomers into a fully specced level 20 PVP character is naturally a challenge in this most unforgiving of all MMO environments, but I am confident the players will rise to this challenge. We have spent years fine-tuning the combat system in Age of Conan, and allowing GameSpot readers to be the first to get a small glimpse of this is something we really look forward to.”

The unique PvP weekend marks an escalation in the stress testing for Age of Conan, and aspiring barbarians can now sign up on GameSpot’s website. The 15.000 lucky winners will be then contacted by email on Wednesday the 16th of April, and then they can then start downloading the game. The servers open at 1600 EST Friday the 18th of April and close at 1600 EST on Sunday the 20st of April. Funcom would like to point out that the PvP weekend is still a part of the beta testing process, and that it is a part of the planned stress test escalations towards launch. As of such it is not fully representative of the final product, and players are asked to treat it accordingly. Stress traffic issues may therefore occur.

Age of Conan is consistently mentioned as one of the most anticipated PC games in development. It has received more than twentyfive covers on high-profile gaming magazines across the globe and more than fifteen major awards, including numerous "Best MMO of E3" awards and the official "Best Online Game" award at the Games Convention 2007. Age of Conan is a key title in Microsoft's Games for Windows line-up, and a showcase title for nVidia. The game is set to launch in several territories on May 20th, 2008.

For more information on Age of Conan – either in English, German, French or Spanish – visit the official website at www.ageofconan.com where you also can access the respective community websites.
 
To sign up for the unique PvP beta weekend please go here.

To post on the Conan PvP weekend forums please go here.

To see what GameSpot has previously written about Age of Conan please go here.

[HaemishM]

Signup page be fucked.

[Triforcer]

Isn't this supposed to release by May 20th?  A one or two week open beta is a bad sign, imho. 

[Mrbloodworth]

Yeah seems so, there is a thread there about it. It was supposed to be open yesterday.

Isn't this supposed to release by May 20th?  A one or two week open beta is a bad sign, imho. 

This isn't an open beta.

The unique PvP weekend marks an escalation in the stress testing for Age of Conan, and aspiring barbarians can now sign up on GameSpot’s website. The 15.000 lucky winners will be then contacted by email on Wednesday the 16th of April, and then they can then start downloading the game. The servers open at 1600 EST Friday the 18th of April and close at 1600 EST on Sunday the 20st of April. Funcom would like to point out that the PvP weekend is still a part of the beta testing process, and that it is a part of the planned stress test escalations towards launch. As of such it is not fully representative of the final product, and players are asked to treat it accordingly. Stress traffic issues may therefore occur.

I am not sure they are having an "Open beta". Focused testing is always good anyway.

[Triforcer]

All I'm saying is that the conventional wisdom is that no open beta (or a very short one) = something to hide from the critics = bad game. 

[Mrbloodworth]

All I'm saying is that the conventional wisdom is that no open beta (or a very short one) = something to hide from the critics = bad game. 

yeah, well, open beta usually means to most people "Free trail" and they will be bitching anyway. Open betas are not required, and are not a right, they also( debatable) are not even good for testing of any kind, save for network testing, log in testing, and forum bitching capasity, all things that can be tested in a more focused manner anyway.

Also, it seems as if there is NO NDA for this, in fact they give you two places to go and discuss your experience, and have even dedicated funcom developers to monitor the forums on the sites listed.

[Mrbloodworth]

It seems to be unfucked now.

[HaemishM]

Yep, unfucked. Still have to register with Gamespot to sign up (I feel unclean). 

[Triforcer]

Yep, unfucked. Still have to register with Gamespot to sign up (I feel unclean). 

As far as Gamespot knows, I'm Frank Smith of 123 Mockingbird Lane.  problem solved.

[tmp]

“We have spent years fine-tuning the combat system in Age of Conan, and allowing GameSpot readers to be the first to get a small glimpse of this is something we really look forward to.”

Is it just me, or there's epic level of fail lurking in that sentence? Though it's sure good to know that someone other than devs is now actually given a peek at these carefully fine-tuned over years and not seen until now mechanics. If just few weeks before the game launch.

[SnakeCharmer]

Fine tuning = ripping and gutting out the old?

[Nevermore]

This is completely unique!  Utterly unlike all the times Guild Wars did the same thing! 

[Murgos]

Incredibly bad idea to have the first mass public experience of your game be a stress test.  Unless everything works FLAWLESSLY people will come from the experience unimpressed.

Open the beta forums to public view, slowly add testers until polished to a bright shiny hue and then do your public event.

[Mrbloodworth]

Incredibly bad idea to have the first mass public experience of your game be a stress test.  Unless everything works FLAWLESSLY people will come from the experience unimpressed.

Open the beta forums to public view, slowly add testers until polished to a bright shiny hue and then do your public event.

It's not really, there is a technical beta this weekend. =) (as in the 13th) and the forums for this one (The posted article) are open to the public to view ETC.

[Draegan]

I still can't get the game to actually patch.

[Triforcer]

I still can't get the game to actually patch.

Don't fret.  If I remember my AO correctly, the secret magical beta client that fixes all deep structural problems with the game is surely close at hand!

[Hoax]

Incredibly bad idea to have the first mass public experience of your game be a stress test.  Unless everything works FLAWLESSLY people will come from the experience unimpressed.

Open the beta forums to public view, slowly add testers until polished to a bright shiny hue and then do your public event.

Murgos is 100% correct, stress tests are fucking awful places to expose first time users.  Hey guys were testing our game to make it break, this will be your first and only taste before we charge you!  Fucking what is so hard to figure out about word of mouth.  Stop keeping NDA's up until launch while your at it and convincing everyone on the fence that your game is so weak your afraid for people to be able to talk about it.

[Morfiend]

I found some really good reading on AoC right here.

http://forums.f13.net/index.php?topic=11250.0

[Merusk]

I still can't get the game to actually patch.

Don't fret.  If I remember my AO correctly, the secret magical beta client that fixes all deep structural problems with the game is surely close at hand!

BUT: it comes AFTER the patch that wipes everyone's registry and forces an OS reinstall. 

And people laughed at me when I said Funcom hadn't learned anything and it was still going to be an awful experience at launch.  "But they've brought AO to a good place, and have had 7 years of learning from mistakes!"  Ha!   I haven't been proven right yet, but they haven't gone very far to prove me wrong.

[HaemishM]

I found some really good reading on AoC right here.

http://forums.f13.net/index.php?topic=11250.0

You're a bad, bad man.

[Triforcer]

I still can't get the game to actually patch.

Don't fret.  If I remember my AO correctly, the secret magical beta client that fixes all deep structural problems with the game is surely close at hand!

BUT: it comes AFTER the patch that wipes everyone's registry and forces an OS reinstall. 

And people laughed at me when I said Funcom hadn't learned anything and it was still going to be an awful experience at launch.  "But they've brought AO to a good place, and have had 7 years of learning from mistakes!"  Ha!   I haven't been proven right yet, but they haven't gone very far to prove me wrong.

I'm just praying that either WAR or AoC can prove all of us wrong.  If those are both incredible flaming disasters, we are looking at a grim, joyless WoW-only existence for years to come...nothing else on the horizon even remotely interests me. 

[Ratman_tf]

I'm just praying that either WAR or AoC can prove all of us wrong.  If those are both incredible flaming disasters, we are looking at a grim, joyless WoW-only existence for years to come...nothing else on the horizon even remotely interests me. 

I've just accepted it. It's not so bad, really. They let you keep the piece of brain they take out.

[tmp]

Funcom: we put fun in NDA 

There have been questions about if and how there will be an NDA (Non-Disclosure Agreement) for the Gamespot PvP Beta Weekend. The facts are the following:

Yes there will be an NDA in place for the Gamespot PvP Weekend at first. The NDA will be lifted on Saturday, April 19th at 19:00 GMT (which is 15:00 EST and 12:00 California Time). After that time testers will be allowed to talk about their experiences in the PvP Weekend.

However, the NDA will still be in place for the General and Technical Beta of Age of Conan. So testers who are also a part of one or both of these phases of the beta will still be under NDA and will only be allowed to talk about their PvP Weekend experience.

It's important to know that even after the NDA will be lifted, testers will not be allowed to talk about anything that happened PRIOR to lifting the NDA but only about what their experiences are AFTER the NDA has been lifted. This means everything from Saturday, 19:00 GMT until the PvP Weekend ends on Sunday, 20:00 GMT.

[Evildrider]

Funcom: we put fun in NDA 

It's important to know that even after the NDA will be lifted, testers will not be allowed to talk about anything that happened PRIOR to lifting the NDA but only about what their experiences are AFTER the NDA has been lifted. This means everything from Saturday, 19:00 GMT until the PvP Weekend ends on Sunday, 20:00 GMT.

LOL...
Thats one of the lamest things I've ever seen.

[Tale]

I found some really good reading on AoC right here.

http://forums.f13.net/index.php?topic=11250.0

You're a bad, bad man.

Once upon a time ...

P.S. As punishment I'm now going off to learn what Hellgate London is.

...

...

You have 1000+ posts here and you dont know what Hellgate London is?

You have 1000+ posts here and you dont know what Hellgate London is?

Most games are disappointing, so I rarely absorb info about an upcoming game until people who have actually played it start saying good things. That's probably why I'm hanging out on f13.net instead of mmorpg.com.

[Venkman]

I'm just praying that either WAR or AoC can prove all of us wrong.  If those are both incredible flaming disasters, we are looking at a grim, joyless WoW-only existence for years to come...nothing else on the horizon even remotely interests me. 

I actually do think one of those will prove us wrong on some level. This is going to be a good year for MMOs that appeal to veterans. But it might also be the last year to do that. With all of the Neopia's, Disney stuff, and, yeesh, even Gaia getting a persistent graphical world, we may be hoping Blizzard faceplants so their talent goes back and does, like, AC3 or something