Age of conan, Open beta: May 1st 2008.

[Evildrider]

There's a huuuuuuuuuge difference between a ATI 2400 and a NV 8800GTS. Huuuuuuuuuuuge.

Haha ya.   

[Threash]

I guess thats bad news for me lol.

[Evildrider]

I guess thats bad news for me lol.

You really only have to update your vid card, which at least is cheaper now that the new 9800's have come out.  There are some good deals right now if you look around. 

[sam, an eggplant]

My friend got a 8800GT 256MB for $125 from newegg last week. This shit is cheap as chips.

[Venkman]

4realz?!

Quick question for y'all:

Would two 8800GTs with 256mb in SLI run significantly faster than one 8800GTS with 640mb?

[Evildrider]

4realz?!

Quick question for y'all:

Would two 8800GTs with 256mb in SLI run significantly faster than one 8800GTS with 640mb?

I'd go for the one card personally.  SLI is really for those FPS fanatics out there, you don't need that for MMO's or hell for most gameplay.

[sam, an eggplant]

Would two 8800GTs with 256mb in SLI run significantly faster than one 8800GTS with 640mb?

Sure. But you don't need SLI unless you've got a 30" monitor at 2560x1600 (or you're playing Crysis). A single 8800GTS 512MB or 8800GT 512MB will handle 1900x1200 (most 22" and 24" monitors) just fine. The 8800GT or GTS 256MB should work OK at 1900x1200 too but will require some compromises on graphics features. I probably wouldn't go for the 9600GT unless you're running 1600x1200 (most 20" monitors).

To put it bluntly, unless you're at 2560x1600 don't buy SLI. It's a waste of money, requires a huge power supply, generates a ton of heat, and just unnecessary.

[Venkman]

Ah sweet, good to know. I'm at 21" with no intentions of going bigger anytime soon anyway.

[Evildrider]

Ah sweet, good to know. I'm at 21" with no intentions of going bigger anytime soon anyway.

I have a 22" CRT playing at 1600x1200 and with that 8800GTS I really have no problems.  Its good stuff.

[Tarami]

They simply ran out of money to do the graphic.

And they aren't Turbine whose only skill is to convince idiots to dump money on them failure after failure.

No, dumping money into the company that released AO is clearly a better bet than into a company that has been running three successful (two somewhat niche, one less so) games for years and years. In Turbine's track record, AC2 was an anomaly. Atleast their shit works.

Edit;
Had already been mentioned by Hutch I noticed, but I'm leaving it.

[Stormwaltz]

It seems the AoC registration system will allow me to log in with my ancient AO trial subscription, and allows me to add AoC to that account, but after I actually enter the beta code, it insists I can't use my user name, because it's already taken.

[Triforcer]

It seems the AoC registration system will allow me to log in with my ancient AO trial subscription, and allows me to add AoC to that account, but after I actually enter the beta code, it insists I can't use my user name, because it's already taken.

   If only a porn company did the billing, the circle of life would be complete. 

[Zetor]

Something for the PvP fans - you lose at least three times more pvp xp on a pvp death than you gain from a pvp kill. So you need to have a greater than 3:1 K:D ratio (!!!) to progress.


 

Man, I just noticed this gem... I can't remember ever getting over 2:1 K:D in any sort of FPS... and those were my finest moments. I know I'm a scrub and need to l2p, but geez, are they TRYING to dissuade people (especially in groups smaller than 10, otherwise you'll just get rolled by roving_honor_farm_team and lose all your pvp xp) from pvping altogether? :P

Not to mention the   factor of playing a healing or tank class in a pug battleground. So you support your team, get focus fired and die? Tough stuff, enjoy your xp loss while random_hunter_or_rogue_891 rakes in the kills! And that's above the normal   you get from playing in a pug battleground, hoping that the enemy team has more idjits than yours...


-- Z.

[Trippy]

Would two 8800GTs with 256mb in SLI run significantly faster than one 8800GTS with 640mb?

Sure. But you don't need SLI unless you've got a 30" monitor at 2560x1600 (or you're playing Crysis). A single 8800GTS 512MB or 8800GT 512MB will handle 1900x1200 (most 22" and 24" monitors) just fine. The 8800GT or GTS 256MB should work OK at 1900x1200 too but will require some compromises on graphics features. I probably wouldn't go for the 9600GT unless you're running 1600x1200 (most 20" monitors).

To put it bluntly, unless you're at 2560x1600 don't buy SLI. It's a waste of money, requires a huge power supply, generates a ton of heat, and just unnecessary.

No that's not true. At all. At 1920 x 1200 SLI can make a *huge* difference (like close to 2x FPS) depending on the game and settings. It can even make a substantial difference at 1600 x 1200 and lower resolutions, and depending on the game and settings.

[Venkman]

What's the qualifications for the game? Is it mostly genre-wide (like, it matters more in FPS than MMORPG?) Or is it all about the developer and the engine?

[sam, an eggplant]

No that's not true. At all. At 1920 x 1200 SLI can make a *huge* difference (like close to 2x FPS) depending on the game and settings. It can even make a substantial difference at 1600 x 1200 and lower resolutions, and depending on the game and settings.

Depends on the title, but generally speaking you don't need SLI to play most games at 1900x1200.

[Cadaverine]

It seems the AoC registration system will allow me to log in with my ancient AO trial subscription, and allows me to add AoC to that account, but after I actually enter the beta code, it insists I can't use my user name, because it's already taken.

Same here.  So much for my hopes that The Secret World would be worth a damn.

[Merusk]

I always make new account names.. I'm freakish like that.

The tutorial was much fun. I've got some WoW play to do right now, but the game isn't punishing my ancient 7300LE too badly.. yet.  Load times are a nightmare, though... I didn't miss these and recall how fucking lame they were in EQ1 now.

[Signe]

I made a new account name and everything went spledifiously. 

[Numtini]

None of Turbine's games have been abject failures, but pump 40 million in venture into the company?

[tmp]

Would two 8800GTs with 256mb in SLI run significantly faster than one 8800GTS with 640mb?

Not in AoC at least, apparently SLI does dick all in terms of extra performance with it.

Second hand knowledge though, ymmv etc.

[Aez]

None of Turbine's games have been abject failures, but pump 40 million in venture into the company?

[tmp]

Man, I just noticed this gem... I can't remember ever getting over 2:1 K:D in any sort of FPS... and those were my finest moments. I know I'm a scrub and need to l2p, but geez, are they TRYING to dissuade people (especially in groups smaller than 10, otherwise you'll just get rolled by roving_honor_farm_team and lose all your pvp xp) from pvping altogether? :P

Not to mention the   factor of playing a healing or tank class in a pug battleground. So you support your team, get focus fired and die? Tough stuff, enjoy your xp loss while random_hunter_or_rogue_891 rakes in the kills! And that's above the normal   you get from playing in a pug battleground, hoping that the enemy team has more idjits than yours...

It really depends how they calculate the kills. E.g. LotRO PvM uses system where each kill made by anyone from your group counts for you as well. This allows the healers to keep up with the damage dealers in terms of PvP xp gains, and results in typically high kill : death ratio for anyone but most suicidal cannon fodder people.

If AoC is similar in this regard, the 3:1 ratio would be fairly trivial ... depending on average group size, of course.

[stray]

my ancient 7300LE

Just wondering... Is that better or worse than a 7300gt? How much vram do you have btw? And what res do you play in?

[Merusk]

Worse, if I understand the geForce series and this chartright. It's supposed to have 512mb of vram but I can't confirm that in the control panel.  I've often thought it had less, as it doesn't perform near as well as I think it should.

As for Conan, knowing my card was a piece of shit I turned it down to low settings and really low res.  My screen's native res is 1680 x 1050 but I bumped it down to 1280X or 1040X in Conan.

[stray]

Sheesh. I thought it was a decent enough card.

Fucking high ass reqs. What a stupid thing to do for an mmo. Especially this one.

[Merusk]

Sheesh. I thought it was a decent enough card.

Fucking high ass reqs. What a stupid thing to do for an mmo. Especially this one.

That's what folks have been saying for the last 2 pages. 

I agree. The 7300LE came with my machine 18 months ago, when I bought it.  I understand that's "ancient" for the hardware warriors but I wasn't dumping $400ish on an 8-series back then when they were 'new.'  Particularly when the most taxing game I was playing at the time was WoW.

[tmp]

And now for something completely different: excerpt from new interview about PvP details:

( http://pc.gamespy.com/pc/age-of-conan-hyborian-adventures/870785p1.html )

(on PvP servers)
GameSpy: What are the death penalties?

Godager: We have been playing with various versions of PvP penalties because we know, from a hardcore point of view, what they want to do is not to kill, but to punish their opponent. But at the moment, we're not planning on having any of that for beta. Basically, I'll be honest and say that I'm afraid of the PvP balance being in such a way that if that penalty was too harsh, people would be aggravated about it. So I'd rather have a live open product for some weeks, and then apply the penalty. We're getting invaluable info from our beta, but still there is a difference between that and hundreds of thousands of players.

[Soukyan]

None of Turbine's games have been abject failures, but pump 40 million in venture into the company?

Fuck all the naysayers. It was a fun damn game. As a matter of fact, most of the systems in LotRO are direct rips from AC2. Even the experience gain for just killing mobs is the same. And I would call LotRO a success thus far. It's all about the IP and the marketing. AC1 players didn't want a different game. They wanted a graphics update. Hell, it's arguable whether they even wanted that. Everyone else couldn't get into the world of Dereth. Because, you know, anything that strays too far from "normal" fantasy fare is HARD to sell. I think I had some other points, but I am tired and rambling. So yeah, AC2 was awesome. There's at least one other person here who agrees with me. 

But to get back on-topic, gonna test a Lenovo Thinkpad with an ATi card to see what happens. Just finished downloading the 12 gig monster and am installing. Watching as it chews up an expanded 12 GB+.  We shall see if I can lop some heads off by tomorrow afternoon. Virtually, that is.

[Margalis]

You may have found AC2 fun but "abject failure" is a pretty good description. Not popular, not well-reviewed, plagued by technical problems. The fucking chat didn't even work. Chat!

[Soukyan]

You may have found AC2 fun but "abject failure" is a pretty good description. Not popular, not well-reviewed, plagued by technical problems. The fucking chat didn't even work. Chat!

I think that was the lone huge technical problem really. And once Microsoft gave it all over to Turbine, the problem was fixed right quick. Not that there weren't other problems, but none that were necessarily unique to MMOGs. Hell, even AO still managed to stay running after the technical problems it had early on. Just sayin'.

[Rasix]

Rubber band lag from hell.
Giant fucking dragons getting stuck on a few pixels.
Quests that could be completed by lowbies not even on the quest and grant them 10-20+ levels in one shot. 
Toons entirely leveled by perching retarded AI. 

Some of the great Turbine staple bugs that AC2 manged to refine.  And yes, that doesn't touch upon the standard MMO gaffes that they managed to compound everything else with.  Broken chat was just icing on the turd sannich.  I won't even touch upon the aggravation that was their account management.

Quit playing white knight for a game that wasn't worth the media it was printed on.

[Nerf]

Dude, they fixed perching in AC2, don't you remember the "We'll just give EVERYTHING a ranged attack, the SAME ranged attack!   " fix?

[Margalis]

An MMO without working chat is not excusable, period.

Also the game *design* sucked ass. No NPCs, no towns and no buildings to enter. Yeah. That screams "the first second-generation MMORPG" to me.

[Venkman]

Add to all of that the actual lack of tradeable currency and the less than one dimensional combat.

The lack of towns didn't bother me at first, but mostly due to the theory. Servers were supposed to "discover" a decimated world. The only thing wrong with it was, ya know, the actual execution of the entire game.

The music system was fun though. LoTRO is AC2_2.0.