Guest Passes

[Salamok]

They've said they are going to let the current population "settle in" before turning on the guest program so who knows when the keys will be made available.

ah crap I guess I may have to go buy it.  Feeling a bit dicey as my system is a mix of older stuff that has been heavily upgraded.  Anyone have some thoughts on playability with this set up:

pentium 4 2.8 (the weakest link)
1 gig of ram (I may get another gig if it made AoC magically playable)
primary drive 75gig WD raptor SATA
secondary 750gig barracuda SATA
Geforce 7800 AGP (pretty sure it's the 256mb version not at home to check)
Primary monitor - Dell 2407WFP
Secondary monitor - Dell 2005WFP
Win XP Pro.

Vangaurd early beta 3 was playable on this rig and was getting around 25-30 fps in most areas.

So what are the odds that AoC will be playable at 1920x1200 on this box?

Upgrading the mobo/cpu/ram and video card won't happen for at least another 6 months as I just don't have a spare $750+ laying around atm.

[schild]

If you don't mind playing on the lowest settings....

[Mrbloodworth]

Get more ram. At the very least.

[MuffinMan]

I've got a rig not far off from Salamok's I think. Athlon 64 3200, 2gb ram, 256mb 7800GT. Don't think I've tried to play a new PC game in more than 6 months.

[Signe]

You have EXACTLY what I had until I got this 8800 video card yesterday, Muffin.  I could run AoC okay, not great, and I had a bit of trouble sometimes when there was a lot of action around me.  In fact, I died a few times due to my character freezing.  I don't think I would have been able to take part in sieging with that card.  Who knows?  The new card might not be enough for a siege, either.  We'll see.

[stray]

Bleh. The Xbox version can't come soon enough. Fuck upgrading... I'm done with that madness.

[Signe]

I don't like upgrading, either.  I get used to my stuff.  Plus, new computer = huge pain in the arse because then I have to do stuff.  I don't like to do stuff.  I wouldn't have got this card but Righ snuck it in.  He wants to put in other junk but I don't want it.  If I'm still playing this game, and the 360 motivates me, I'll switch over, too.  Maybe.  Doubtful I'll still be playing the same game for that many months though!

[schild]

Bleh. The Xbox version can't come soon enough. Fuck upgrading... I'm done with that madness.

Don't be such an impatient yutz. Also, madness? Not really. Try finagling with the settings. Yutz.

[stray]

I have an imac. I have no settings to finagle. 

PC gaming is madness though... Which is why I went back to apple and depend on consoles and handhelds for gaming now (didn't think there'd be a PC game I wanted up until this point though...so that's my fault).

Anywho, a working-out-of-the-box Xbox version playing on my pretty little tv would be quite nice indeed.

[schild]

What the fuck?

Stray, don't take this the wrong way:

You have an iMac, you never, ever, ever get to complain. Ever.

[stray]

To top it off, I gave away my PC to some alcoholic psycho chick.

But I'll still complain all the same. 

[dannyBstyle]

They've said they are going to let the current population "settle in" before turning on the guest program so who knows when the keys will be made available.

ah crap I guess I may have to go buy it.  Feeling a bit dicey as my system is a mix of older stuff that has been heavily upgraded.  Anyone have some thoughts on playability with this set up:

pentium 4 2.8 (the weakest link)
1 gig of ram (I may get another gig if it made AoC magically playable)
primary drive 75gig WD raptor SATA
secondary 750gig barracuda SATA
Geforce 7800 AGP (pretty sure it's the 256mb version not at home to check)
Primary monitor - Dell 2407WFP
Secondary monitor - Dell 2005WFP
Win XP Pro.

Vangaurd early beta 3 was playable on this rig and was getting around 25-30 fps in most areas.

So what are the odds that AoC will be playable at 1920x1200 on this box?

Upgrading the mobo/cpu/ram and video card won't happen for at least another 6 months as I just don't have a spare $750+ laying around atm.

I have virtually the same system, but a slower HD. 2.8 GHz Pentium D, GeForce 7800 (Pci-E). Game runs fine, decent settings. No crazy shadows, but I have specular, 1680X1050, 4x AF to clean it up a bit, and the draw distance is decent. a little bit of "grey formless blob of background" in the distance. but it still looks great,  ask schild. runs a solid 30 fps or so, which is happy sauce for any MMO. Even this one. I'd say try it. Low-medium looks really good, high seems to be a Crysis-style "hey what's this gonna look like running on HAL 9000" business. This shit's gonna look even better down the line.

luv danny B

[stray]

Anyways, when are the guest passes implemented? This game is officially live now right?

[Signe]

My box isn't going to be here until the 27th, so it seems.  I don't know when they're going to activate those buddy keys, either.  I'll check with people again when I get them. 

[Vinadil]

To those wondering if they can run the game... I would suggest http://www.systemrequirementslab.com/referrer/srtest.

I thought that my machine was waaaay below minimum specs, but I passed the test and can run the game smoothly.

[stray]

I pass the sysreqs too, but my monitor skews things. After the server gets back up, I'm gonna try to adjust my res as if this was a 17" widescreen monitor (or basically close to the res of a 720p tv). It might work better than running in windowed mode.

[schild]

Take a screenshot of your advanced graphics settings. I want to see what you think is "reasonable."

[stray]

Right now, it looks like dogshit (can't show you atm, but I'll get to that later). I have to first set everything at low, and then further tweak things (shadows, distance, etc). Ends up looking pretty bad.

What I said above might just be the best workaround though.

[Signe]

I canceled my Amazon order.  The guy I talked to didn't seem entirely sure about getting them in at all.  I'll buy a regular one in the shops.  Sorry about the buddy keys.  Oh well.  I'm sure enough people have ordered them for most people here to get a buddy key.  The CE is buggered up anyway.  No hard cover book, no wooden box... All I give up is the bow and I never play rangers, anyway.

[Miasma]

I remember them threatening to take away the preorder items if you cancel your order though.  I don't know if that will actually happen but considering all the other blunders in account management I wouldn't put it past them.

[Vanifae]

I remember them threatening to take away the preorder items if you cancel your order though.  I don't know if that will actually happen but considering all the other blunders in account management I wouldn't put it past them.

I canceled mine and still got my Mammoth even though I ended up buying the game in the store... but it was a normal edition either way.

My account is still banned on the forums though 

[Engels]

I canceled my Amazon order.  The guy I talked to didn't seem entirely sure about getting them in at all.  I'll buy a regular one in the shops.  Sorry about the buddy keys.  Oh well.  I'm sure enough people have ordered them for most people here to get a buddy key.  The CE is buggered up anyway.  No hard cover book, no wooden box... All I give up is the bow and I never play rangers, anyway.

WTF?!

How did they get away with that shite!? Srsly, can I have source ifnoz? And if you cancel your Pre does your account get banned till you put in the new retail code?

[Signe]

I don't know, Engels.   After telling me on the phone this afternoon that I could cancel my order because it's their fault they didn't order enough, they sent us an email saying we couldn't cancel.  I already bought a new copy.  The guy I spoke to on the phone first apologised and said that they know the late shipping isn't right and they were working on making sure it didn't happen in the future.  Gee, thanks.  I put in my retail code and everything seems okay.  It hasn't taken away the bow yet, but I don't really care about that.  They also said that I could refuse the shipment and they would eventually refund my money when they got it back but, unfortunately, I have a drive by UPS man.  He tosses the package at the door, which counts as a knock, and runs like hell.  I have never seen him, regardless of how quickly I get to the door.  I've only ever bought two games from Amazon and I've had problems with both orders.

My source info is all over the official site and other sites about the cheapening of the CE goodies.  God, I can't dig in that hell hole for posts!

Update:  We just got another email from Amazon saying that they've shipped the CE tonight and it'll be here tomorrow.  Of course, I had already entered my retail key from the box I bought this afternoon.  So... they seem to have them, Engels.  Bitch at them enough and maybe they'll ship it tonight?

[Engels]

Thanks for the update Signe. Since I live in Seattle, that means I have to drive in traffic to some rotten mall somewhere to pick up a retail box. At this stage, I think I'm just gonna wait it out.

What confuses me is that I thought you needed the retail box code to do the /claim command to get your bow or whatever. Seems you got to do /claim by entering the code in the Amazon.com 'my media' section? Maybe I should try that in game now, since it didn't work during EA.

[Der Helm]

EU-Client downloaded, now all I need is a guest pass. 
(I'll let it patch overnight, by the look of it.)

[photek]

EU-Client downloaded, now all I need is a guest pass. 
(I'll let it patch overnight, by the look of it.)

You were first to respond to me, tomorrow when I pick up my CE, I'll PM it to you.

[Engels]

Well, tried the /claim again, but no dice. Doesn't even acknowledge that I entered the command. Odd

[Signe]

I just did the /claim thing and got my stuff.  Even the bow which doesn't have anything to do with the retail code that I entered.  Evidently, any retail code will do.  Unfortunately, the mammoth and bow are above my level and there doesn't seem to be a bank for storage so I get to lug them around.  Yay me.

[UnSub]

I'd like to get a guest pass to the US version of AoC if possible. I won't be activating it until June though - I'm on holiday away from my gaming rig.

[Der Helm]

You were first to respond to me, tomorrow when I pick up my CE, I'll PM it to you.

[schild]

Guest passes won't even be available tomorrow. Unless it's by some fluke.

[Ratman_tf]

To those wondering if they can run the game... I would suggest http://www.systemrequirementslab.com/referrer/srtest.

I thought that my machine was waaaay below minimum specs, but I passed the test and can run the game smoothly.

Hey, that is a neat site. TY.

And then for fun I check my system to see if I could play AoC...

 CPU
Minimum: Pentium 4/Athlon XP or better
You Have: AMD Athlon(tm) 64 Processor 3200+  PASS   
 CPU Speed
Minimum: 3 GHz
You Have: 2.00 GHz Performance Rated at 3.20 GHz  PASS

WTF? Do I have a 2.0 GHz processor or a 3.20 GHz processor? I'm so confuzzled...

[Trippy]

Hey, that is a neat site. TY.

And then for fun I check my system to see if I could play AoC...

 CPU
Minimum: Pentium 4/Athlon XP or better
You Have: AMD Athlon(tm) 64 Processor 3200+  PASS   
 CPU Speed
Minimum: 3 GHz
You Have: 2.00 GHz Performance Rated at 3.20 GHz  PASS

WTF? Do I have a 2.0 GHz processor or a 3.20 GHz processor? I'm so confuzzled...

AMD's marketing people have failed at their jobs. For a long time now AMD processors have been numbered in relation to the "equivalent" Intel CPU, in this case a Pentium 4. I.e. your A64 running at 2 GHz is roughly equivalent in performance to a 3.2 GHz P4.

[Ratman_tf]

Hey, that is a neat site. TY.

And then for fun I check my system to see if I could play AoC...

 CPU
Minimum: Pentium 4/Athlon XP or better
You Have: AMD Athlon(tm) 64 Processor 3200+  PASS   
 CPU Speed
Minimum: 3 GHz
You Have: 2.00 GHz Performance Rated at 3.20 GHz  PASS

WTF? Do I have a 2.0 GHz processor or a 3.20 GHz processor? I'm so confuzzled...

AMD's marketing people have failed at their jobs. For a long time now AMD processors have been numbered in relation to the "equivalent" Intel CPU, in this case a Pentium 4. I.e. your A64 running at 2 GHz is roughly equivalent in performance to a 3.2 GHz P4.

AhSo. Neat... I think? 

[Mrbloodworth]

I just did the /claim thing and got my stuff.  Even the bow which doesn't have anything to do with the retail code that I entered.  Evidently, any retail code will do.  Unfortunately, the mammoth and bow are above my level and there doesn't seem to be a bank for storage so I get to lug them around.  Yay me.

You should have gotten a bag with that stuff, place it in the little bag icon in the INV, then you have another page with 8 slots. And there is banks, at least in every MAJOR cty.