Interesting Age of Conan Player Poll Results

[waylander]

The player community has been busy sort of polling itself over 10 months, and they polled for both the PVP and NON PVP players.

Link to all surveys

Gender/ Age Breakdown

Male: 96%
Female: 4%

PVE: 24-34 main age bracket
PVP: 20-24 main age bracket
RP PVP: 20-34 main age bracket

Server Choices

PVE: 31%
PVP: 37%
RP PVP: 32%

Looting

Blood Money: 37%
Partial Item+Blood Money: 38%

I know we talk about looting here. In Age of Conan they plan to use blood money as rewards for kills, and then that can be used to purchase PVP resources.

Stealing From Other Players - Reminds me of UO

In PVP Zones: 53%

Item Decay

Through Useage: 68%

Average Guild Size Breakdown - Of Guilds planning to play

0-25: 20%
26-50 players: 22%
51-75: 14%

Players Currently In A Guild Planning To Play AOC

Yes: 42%
No: 58%

Almost half the respondents belong to a pre-existing guild, which is why I continue to bitch about making games more guild friendly.

Show Previous Guild Affiliations - would be nice to know to detect moochers

Yes: 62%
No: 38%

Will you upgrade for the game?

Yes: 52%
No: 27%
Undecided: 20%

What Games (Top 5) Are You Leaving To Play AOC?

World of Warcraft: 62%
Vanguard: 14%
Guildwars: 13%
LoTR: 12%
EVE: 10

[schild]

Any player community that exists before they get into a beta consists of Hardcore, guildy types that would generally skew any survey to be completely useless. They are completely misrepresentative of the genre and no one should be wasting time with such statistics.

Let's see:
14% are playing Vanguard.
62% were previously in guilds.
52% would upgrade.
68% want item decay.

I don't even want to go further, all I've got is:



Basically, if the CRM at Funcom listens to a word these "fans" have to say, it's insta-fail time for Conan.

[waylander]

I'm not so sure. I skimmed over the game specific type stuff because I agree that there's no way they can really decide some of those things.

But out of the items I did list, I pretty much think that anyone who's played an MMORPG before could easily make a choice based on the information currently available. Last year not many people were willing to upgrade for DX10 games, but that's slowly beginning to change.

[schild]

Look at the questions though. This is the type of survey where you can judge an entire existing fanbase and know to stay the hell away from them. How many people were surveyed if you can find that out.

I refuse to click the link. I don't want to be infected by.... that.

[Ratman_tf]

Who gives a fuck what the community wants? Communities are schizophrenic rabid cats. What kind of game are the devs interested in making? What are they going to contribute to the genere? Those are general questions for me, because I'm not so hyped about AOC. I mean, after the shiny of pretending to be a mostly naked Arnold shaking a sword at a grimy witch doctor wears off, what's going to be left for gameplay?

[shiznitz]

That survey is so clearly skewed the wrong way it isn't funny. Item decay fucks the casual guy hard. And who the hell claims they are going to upgrade hardware for a game that is barely in beta? The hardcore, that's who.  Interesting that there are no CoX or EQ2 players represented.

[waylander]

There were 9,091  individual respondents to the survey that I can tell. Again I agree with you about the game specific type of questions and that's why I didn't list those.  But most people who have played at least 1 MMORPG before could probably make a reasonably informed decision about the things I did list.

The only real thing I got out of this as a guildmaster was just a basic snapshot of the community I could potentially be a part of, where people are likely to be, the age ranges I will be recruiting from, and how much of the population is already in some sort of guild.

As a community rep I'm sure they could data mine better info from their forums about ages, etc. But at least they could see a small snapshot of the type of community they are dealing with.

[schild]

Who gives a fuck what the community wants?

lol

The only real thing I got out of this as a guildmaster was just a basic snapshot of the community I could potentially be a part of, where people are likely to be, the age ranges I will be recruiting from, and how much of the population is already in some sort of guild.

No, you got no such snapshot. What is at the AOC site now is not the community. It's just the freaks and geeks.

Basically, you're missing my point. This isn't "the community." Unless, you know, you think Outliers represent the community.

[Righ]

Looting, stealing, item decay. Interesting focus. I'm surprised that they didn't ask players whether they wanted to be kicked in the nuts repeatedly. Where are the results of the survey asking if players wanted a shallow level curve or that wanted PvP that doesn't require many more hours of PvE to maintain it? It sounds to me that they're going down the path of Shadowbane - catering to enthusiastic and hungry wolves that want a system that punishes losers even more than it rewards victors. That way lies the discovery that there are a fairly small number of such wolves, and that the sheep don't want to play with them. Oh yeah, and that the wolves don't want to be each others' sheep either and quit after the sheep have gone.

[waylander]

Yeah a lot of their PVP game does seem to incorporate Shadowbane concepts, but at this point no one truly knows the extent of the PVE grind or resource gathering grind.

DAOC, CoX, etc were mentioned as games people were planning to leave but they weren't the top 5 in number of responses.

[Slayerik]

God knows it is hard to give any validation to opinions that differ from your own.

Righ, who touched you the wrong way in UO/SB ? How are they catering to the 'hungry wolves' anyways? Isn't this an unofficial survey? Take a deep breath. It will be ok, just don't play it. Please.

Who gives a fuck what the community wants?

lol

The only real thing I got out of this as a guildmaster was just a basic snapshot of the community I could potentially be a part of, where people are likely to be, the age ranges I will be recruiting from, and how much of the population is already in some sort of guild.

No, you got no such snapshot. What is at the AOC site now is not the community. It's just the freaks and geeks.

Basically, you're missing my point. This isn't "the community." Unless, you know, you think Outliers represent the community.

Oh come on, if you dont think a good percentage of the player base of this game haven't been following it I think you are way off base. You think it will be people that see it in EB games, and go SWEET!? Wow burnouts are becoming more and more prevelant, and they are looking for their next shiny. The genre is larger now, and more people than just the hardcores have signed up for beta. Schild calling anybody 'the freaks and geeks' is pretty laughable anyways.

[shiznitz]

If Funcom is expecting to only draw subscribers from people following the game at this stage, they are screwed. AoC never comes up in guild or forum discussions that I see other than here at f13. That is more than 50 active MMOG players who either don't know or don't care about AoC.  None of them are PvP people so that might explain it, but that is also a major problem for Funcom.  The lack of mainstream buzz on this game surprises me. I heard more people talking about Vanguard pre-release than I do about AoC.

[Hoax]

Slayer, I'm with you on the "oh look the wolves shit again, how passe" but your just wrong wrong wrong if you don't see that unlike with the wii, Schild is right this time.

This survey was filled out by raging mmo fanboi tards.  Who early adopt a game when all that exists is a coming soon .jpg and a forum.  They want in on the ground level so they can maximize what they seem to perceive as their influence on the game in its incubation stages.  They will on average will play all of 6 weeks before they quit to the next big thing.  Listening to your "community" before your game hits OB is fucking retarded.  This survey proves that either Funcom doesn't get it or this is just some community rep giving these dickwads something to do & nobody is going to even show these numbers to anyone who makes actual game design decisions.

[Merusk]

Given the slow pace at which AoC has released ANYTHING resembling information, I'd go with the "This is just info to get the forum jacktards talking again."

Fuck, here it is nearly a year after the head-chopping video, and we still know shit about the game itself.  Hell, I just had to google to find out more info, because the infrequent mailing list updates haven't told me squat.

All said, their marketing is crap right now, they need to kick it up if they're anywhere near release.  Like shiz said, I don't know anyone outside of this fanatical group that knows about AoC.  That's a good 75 people I come into contact on a regular basis, some noobs some old MMO vets.  You'd think at least a few of them would have heard about it.   Then again, they don't know shit about WAR, either.

[bhodi]

Well, the fact the NDA is still up doesn't help.

[Merusk]

If the NDA's up, the onus is on the company itself to spread information.  Something I'm just not seeing any real effort being put into by Funcom.  Are the AOC newsletters even monthly?  I seem to recall them being quarterly, but my mail's on the other computer and it's defragging right now so I can't check.  That's really not frequent enough, imo. WAR finds enough info to release each month, no reason AOC shouldn't either if the game's going to have the depth they're talking about.

[Rendakor]

If the NDA's up, the onus is on the company itself to spread information.  Something I'm just not seeing any real effort being put into by Funcom.  Are the AOC newsletters even monthly?  I seem to recall them being quarterly, but my mail's on the other computer and it's defragging right now so I can't check.  That's really not frequent enough, imo. WAR finds enough info to release each month, no reason AOC shouldn't either if the game's going to have the depth they're talking about.

QFT. Even a monthly, "Hey, we're still working on this game we want you to buy. Here's some shiny.jpg. Enjoy!" would be better than this. Is the game awful? Horribly ugly? Never coming out? Why the even from official channels?

[Montague]

If the NDA's up, the onus is on the company itself to spread information.  Something I'm just not seeing any real effort being put into by Funcom.  Are the AOC newsletters even monthly?  I seem to recall them being quarterly, but my mail's on the other computer and it's defragging right now so I can't check.  That's really not frequent enough, imo. WAR finds enough info to release each month, no reason AOC shouldn't either if the game's going to have the depth they're talking about.

QFT. Even a monthly, "Hey, we're still working on this game we want you to buy. Here's some shiny.jpg. Enjoy!" would be better than this. Is the game awful? Horribly ugly? Never coming out? Why the even from official channels?

This is one area where EA Mythic is kicking Funcom's ass, IMO. Mythic has a marketing plan and it shows. Funcom is more like "Hey, it's been three months. Do we have any shit that ain't broke that we can show those idiots?"

[waylander]

November 30th Mounted Combat

Dec 14th Gamespy Preview Update

Gamespot Dec 07 Preview Update

Voodoo Extreme Dec 07 Update

# Levels 1-20: Single player game, around the City of Tortage.
# Levels 20-40: Beginning MMO levels, players start in one of three starting cities depending on the race they've chosen.
# Levels 40-60: The game's focus will shift towards PVP.
# Levels 60-80:These are the levels of what Funcom calls "The Social Game", that will include raids and city-building siege PVP

IGN Dec 07 Preview

1UP Dec 07 Review

Basically they are doing their information releases every month, keeping their beta pool small, and polishing the game.  What we are told is that in January they are going to start letting the masses in, and start doing more info dumps.

Considering that many games have let too many people in when the game was crap maybe keeping it small until shortly before release is not such a bad idea.

[Merusk]

See, that's great if you go to Gamespot, Gamewhore, I'magamemaggivemeadvertisingdollars.com or any of the other fucking commercalized whoring spots on a regular basis.  I don't.  I sign-up to the company's mailing list so they can point me there, and that's failing.  Hard.

They're restricting themselves to the hardcore fanboys from the start, as they're the ones who seek out the information. If the company doesn't give enough of a damn to send me updates, I'm not going to take time out of my day to go looking because I've got other shit to do.  Like play games.

[Draegan]

See, that's great if you go to Gamespot, Gamewhore, I'magamemaggivemeadvertisingdollars.com or any of the other fucking commercalized whoring spots on a regular basis.  I don't.  I sign-up to the company's mailing list so they can point me there, and that's failing.  Hard.

They're restricting themselves to the hardcore fanboys from the start, as they're the ones who seek out the information. If the company doesn't give enough of a damn to send me updates, I'm not going to take time out of my day to go looking because I've got other shit to do.  Like play games.

Wah Wah Wah.  You want them to make you a sandwich too?

[schild]

Is that a joke?

Seriously, I can't tell.

Merusk is asking for a good community manager. AOC is already in beta. They should be doing, at the very least, bi-weekly newsletters. It's just that simple.

[Montague]

Is that a joke?

Seriously, I can't tell.

Merusk is asking for a good community manager. AOC is already in beta. They should be doing, at the very least, bi-weekly newsletters. It's just that simple.

Not to mention why would you basically outsource your marketing to the gamemags? That might be fine for games like Dreamfall and The Longest Journey but this is the big leagues now. Managing perception of the game at this stage is critical and leaving that in the hands of a bunch of gaming rag flunkies doesn't seem very smart to me.

[waylander]

I'm not defending their community relations by any means, I'm just pointing out that regular information is being released and isn't hard to find if you are following this game.

I am not an AOC Fanb0i yet, but I do feel that this game has the potential to give us the siege warfare experience that Shadowbane couldn't.  I also like Warhammer but I dislike DAOC's current version of how keeps are captured and slip away in no time flat, so I'm watching to see how they shape up as well.

But a company who sends out a monthly newsletter full of fluff can fail to live up to expectations as well as a company that doesn't. The proof for me is when the NDA lifts, I get into a beta, or get suckered into playing a retail version.  All the reviews or newsletters in the world won't matter once I get beyond the PR hype.

[Ratman_tf]

# Levels 1-20: Single player game, around the City of Tortage.
# Levels 20-40: Beginning MMO levels, players start in one of three starting cities depending on the race they've chosen.
# Levels 40-60: The game's focus will shift towards PVP.
# Levels 60-80:These are the levels of what Funcom calls "The Social Game", that will include raids and city-building siege PVP

Man fucking what? Another game where I have to wait 40-60 levels before I can have fun?

Maybe it's better that they don't advertise it.

P.S. I have the "potential" to get laid by a supermodel. Until it actually happens, it's also known as "bullshit".

[BigBlack]

If those first 40-60 levels play as interesting as a single-player game, more along the lines of DDO-style dungeon crawls and interesting content rather than WoW-style "kill ten rats" crap, I'm down.

[Rendakor]

I'm guessing only the first 40 levels are implemented, and that's why the lack of buzz. Agreed with not wanting to grind to the fun. 20 levels of single player bullshit ftl.

[schild]

I bet those 20 levels of single player are the only ones with a worthwhile story and cohesive leveling curve + skill gain.

[Rendakor]

Conan and decent story don't go together. I want lamentations dammit.

[DarkSign]

The Case Against Item Loot On FFA Servers In AoC by Axamander...worth a read but not really dispositive.

[waylander]

Those level breakdowns are for a normal server.  They are still working on the ruleset for the RP-PVP and PVP servers, and the last I checked the PVP servers were going to be PVP everywhere or nearly everywhere as soon as you got out of the new player 20 level stuff.

[Rendakor]

Including PVE games in his LootPVP vs NonlootPVP argument makes his numbers irrelevant. It also makes him look stupid.

Two of the original developers in the MMO market, Richard Garriott of UO and Microsoft of AC, originally started out including item loot as a feature in their games. However on subsequent projects, Tabula Rasa and AC2 respectively, the developers decided against player loot as a feature.

Since we all know TR and AC2 are more successful than UO and AC1.

[schild]

The Case Against Item Loot On FFA Servers In AoC by Axamander...worth a read but not really dispositive.

Edit. Misread something.

Wait a minute. Why was that even written? Any game that has the ability to steal off of someone after they get killed is just headed for crap city. Writing an essay on it is such....

such....

OK, it's just stupid. That's not a slight against you DarkSign. I mean, having that as a function in a game is just so unbelievably stupid.

I am all for - however, the game randomly giving you an item based on a kill. But that would be rife with grinding. People would just make high level toons and kill eachother all the time.

Anyway, bad idea. Essay unnecessary.

[driph]

What was the topic about, again?

Those stats are really good to have, but they aren't in any way a picture of "who will be playing AoC," but rather a snapshot of the sort of player who commits to a beta. Nice reminder to any potential MMO developer that your beta audience might not be the same folks making the bulk of your retail sales. Although with a (probably) niche game like Conan, who knows.

I'd like to see a repeat of the same polls a year from now. That would be interesting.

[stray]

I like Conan. I like Shadowbane.

But this game will still be crap, no matter who they cater to.

So says the crystal ball.