So what's Mass Market Again? Conan hits 1M (shipped).

[El Gallo]

I don't know.  PvE only, no choice for any sort of PvP, not even duels or BGs?  I can see that sort of MMORPG being mostly phased out in favour of those with a choice. 

Did that kind of MMORPG ever exist? EQ1 had duels and flagging, AC1 had reversible flagging, I'm not thinking of a MMO where you couldn't PvP someone if you both wanted to.

[Falconeer]

Digital Download sold out?

I don't get it. Is this just good PR again? This sounds odd to me, are they trying to keep people away from Conan to have them wanting it more and more? Maybe Iain knows this, is this some sort of marketing? And will it work?

[Lakov_Sanite]

Yeah! How can AoC be different when WoW invented PvP?]

I said the same as wow, not invented it. sheesh.

Compare aoc to doac, those are two very different pvp systems RvR vs open/battlegrounds. Then compare aoc to wow and you'll see beyond the combat istelf, the ruleset and design is essentially the same.  now correct me if im wrong but aoc doesnt even have player dueling available? wtf? that's one of the first steps IN pvp.

 

[Slayerik]

My guess is that popularity of AoC due to two things:

1) Promised PvP -lots of WoW first-timers devolving into PvPers and wanting more

 

How do you devolve from fighting AI to the real thing?

 

[Nevermore]

Digital Download sold out?

I don't get it. Is this just good PR again? This sounds odd to me, are they trying to keep people away from Conan to have them wanting it more and more? Maybe Iain knows this, is this some sort of marketing? And will it work?

They ran out of bits.  They have to make more but there's a global shortage of 1s and 0s right now so it could be a while.

[Numtini]

EQ1 had duels and flagging,

Actually all EQ1 servers were full PK ready. I remember all the PK trolls before launch explaining to us useless clueless carebears that only 5 or 10% of the players would ever go non-PK and we would mostly be laughed at.

[Falconeer]

Official stuff. Massive amounts of content incoming, and PvP in June (now).

Funcom and Eidos announce massive evolution plans for Age of Conan

Massive PvP update in June – New areas and dungeons – Powerpoints and Guild Alliance warfare to come

Durham, USA – June 13, 2008 – After the incredible initial success for Age of Conan, a whole world of MMO players are eagerly anticipating the future plans for one of the most popular online games ever released. While Age of Conan has already evolved massively since launch, numerous expansive additions are yet to come. Funcom and Eidos are therefore proud to lift the veil on Age of Conan’s promising future, and today the two companies reveal selected features which are now in production.

"While we have enjoyed the initial success for Age of Conan, we know that a solid launch is but the start when it comes to the MMO genre,” said Gaute Godager, Game Director on Age of Conan. ”As we look ahead we are preparing a huge amount of new content, and what we are presenting today will evolve Age of Conan even further. It’s naturally an incredibly ambitious update plan for a live MMO game, but we are certain our players would want nothing less.”

Without further ado, here are some of the cool things to expect in the months to come:

PvP evolved – To the Death

The great combat system in Age of Conan has taken MMO fighting to a new level of fun, and Player versus Player combat plays a major part in this. As a result, a massive new PvP update is planned for late June. Aptly called To the death, this update brings more consequence and rewards to PvP, and an important part of it is the Fugitive system. The more lower level players you kill, the easier it is for others to hunt you down. In addition, ten PvP levels with additional ranks will be introduced, as well as specific gear and weapons for PvP.

Guild Alliance Warfare

Preproduction has started on a MASSIVE free update which will come later this year. Currently titled "Kingship!”, large clusters of guilds will be able to form alliances, and rule and conquer on a massive scale. Everyone in a guild alliance will play a part in this system, and together they can even erect unique looking alliance Battlekeeps. The alliances can also fight over, and build, culture-specific "wonders of the world”, with a direct link to higher powers! As part of the system Funcom will also facilitate larger amounts of players in massive battles.

Powerpoints

This fall, a unique reward and character evolution system called Powerpoints will be introduced. This rewards active in-game behavior, and allows for gathering points through numerous methods, including owning a Battlekeep, playing the end-game at level 80, winning PvP matches, or simply being an active guild member or subscribing to the game. There will be many ways to obtain Powerpoints, and numerous rewards, ranging from exclusive Powerfeats to weapons, armor and potions. Powerpoints may even allow you to level faster!

New areas and dungeons

You won’t need to wait for an expansion pack to explore exciting new areas. In the next period, Funcom will include several new areas, as well as evolving already existing areas. This includes a brand new dungeon in Aquilonia, reshaping three dungeons in Stygia, and an entire mountain range in Cimmeria!

Improved player-made villages and Battlekeep systems

While the guild alliance system brings a whole new level to the game, Funcom will continue to expand the existing player-made areas and the systems running them. A focus on evolving the massive elements of the game even further continues, ranging from placing NPC’s in the cities to more choices and benefits.

Social updates

An MMO is nothing without a good social scene. While Conan is all about crushing your enemies, social enhancements are also getting some love. A fun example is the combo-based dancing system which is now coming to the game, and it’s entirely motion captured by professional dance artists.

More adventures

Age of Conan has received tremendous praise for immersion and the great voice-over quests. This is but the start of the adventure, and numerous new quests are coming into the game, spread across the entire world and across the level ranges. Soon 60 additional quests will also get full voice acting, further improving immersion.

Embracing community feedback Since launch several enhancements and fixes have been implemented to Age of Conan, and Funcom has continuously staffed up the service departments to improve customer satisfaction. This has already resulted in a better game experience, but the work will continue. At the heart of all of this stands the Age of Conan community. A lot of the upcoming improvements to the game will be based directly on community feedback, and the wishes and concerns players have when it comes to the future of the game will always be taken into account.

By reading the community websites, official forums and the monthly Clan of Conan newsletter you can expect additional information about upcoming features and released updates, as well as an arena to give your feedback. A new Clan of Conan newsletter is also going live today, with more detail on the upcoming features. http://funcom.cachefly.net/WebFiles/Newsletter/Issue17/

[Xerapis]

The Digital Download offer is currently down for maintenance.
The offer will be available again soon.

~sigh~

[El Gallo]

EQ1 had duels and flagging,

Actually all EQ1 servers were full PK ready. I remember all the PK trolls before launch explaining to us useless clueless carebears that only 5 or 10% of the players would ever go non-PK and we would mostly be laughed at.

That's what I meant by flagging (turning in your book to the Priest of Discord).

[Falconeer]

Updates, the future, amibiotn, blah!

Is it just me or this is the signal they finally finished counting the revenues of that million boxes?

[tmp]

Social updates

An MMO is nothing without a good social scene. While Conan is all about crushing your enemies, social enhancements are also getting some love. A fun example is the combo-based dancing system which is now coming to the game, and it’s entirely motion captured by professional dance artists.

Oh gods, if they clone Audition there i might be actually tempted to play...

[Numtini]

Oh gods, if they clone Audition there i might be actually tempted to play...

*snark* More seriously, the club scene in AO was a huge part of the game and there was a defacto interacting dance thing where a new emote would interrupt an executing emote and let you do all kinds of neat stuff. I look forward to the mica dance floor at the Scorpion's Retreat. (Well except for the me and my entire guild having cancelled the game thing.)

I'm obviously cynical about Conan, but I'm not sure how much here is really a new announcement as much as it is them recasting finishing the game as a big investment in the future and hoping to keep up the first months retention. Look for an announcement of a subscribed new player total on the 18th before the first monthers expire.

[Slayerik]

So you and your boyfriend cancelled Numtini? Bummer for Funcom! 

[Lakov_Sanite]

*useless post*

[Brogarn]

O.o

I seriously thought Numtini was a girl. The joke here being that it was only her and her boyfriend in the guild.

If I'm wrong, please feel free to correct me and I'll be properly embarrassed, extend apologies, and all that.

[Lum]

The posts above are wrong in several mutually independently spiralling out of control ways.

[Falconeer]

Lakov is developing a serious condition with Conan, a rare syndrom that compels him/her to stay online all the time to get every single chance to badmouth it, even tangentially (as in the above example).
I didn't see anything like this since HRose and his Mark Jacobs/Mythic days. And apparently a cure for such diseases has yet to be found.

[Trippy]

No, Numtini is a woman but that's not the part(s) that's wrong

[lamaros]

This thread is beyond the  . I've think we've done  too.  is appropriate.

[Lakov_Sanite]

I'm very bored at work, it's my only explanation. Besides that I'm not sure slayer knew numtini was a girl.

As to conan vs lakov? what can i say, it had great potential to be something different but in the end it turned out to be a a very buggy and very hastily made EQ/wow clone with nice graphics and a more interactive combat system. That amount of wasted potential really ticks me off in ways that utter failure of a game couldnot. You're supposed to learn from mistakes and move forward, new games are supposed to be bigger and better while this was simply, shinier.

[Numtini]

oh, right..you were seriously making a gay joke

But I'm a cheerleader lesbian. *shrug*

Most of the core raiders in my EQ2 guild moved over to AOC. None of us are sticking with it, though we all saw a lot that we liked. Unfortunately for me and my desire to see the T3 ROK raids, they're not coming back to EQ2 either as far as I can tell.

On the press release, part of my cynicism is having been an AO player and watched the Shadowlands, Alien Invasion, and New Eden expansions PR vs. reality for AO. Funcom often announces things that are far different and more ambitious from the end product. For specifics about the AOC release. The PVP update in June was supposed to be in the game at release afaik. The new dungeons and areas were already announced and while they fill some pretty large gaps, probably most people will have outlevelled them by the time they're out. The guild and siege stuff sounds very vague--particularly for a game promising massive battles pre-release, but delivered limited to is it 48 people? And is 48 48x48 or 24x24--I've seen both numbers quoted. The PP (wow, unfortunately acronym) could be good or bad, but at least it addresses the issue that people are hitting the max level extremely fast.

I hope the thing comes together. If they can get that gameplay working with a more together game behind it, it'll be great. Fighting is insanely fun, I just got ground down by a load of bugs and what I see as some serious failings.

[tmp]

You're supposed to learn from mistakes and move forward, new games are supposed to be bigger and better while this was simply, shinier.

It just needs to leverage the social dynamics knowhow and combine it with cutting edge AAA gameplay.

[Hutch]

You're supposed to learn from mistakes and move forward, new games are supposed to be bigger and better while this was simply, shinier.

It just needs to leverage the social dynamics knowhow and combine it with cutting edge AAA gameplay.

Om nom nom.

[Slayerik]

I was raging on guild size, cause she stated her guild stopped subscribing and I claimed her guild = her and her boyfriend

Yeah, I know... I fail.

[Margalis]

You're supposed to learn from mistakes and move forward, new games are supposed to be bigger and better while this was simply, shinier.

WOW wasn't bigger than it's predecessors, in fact it stripped out many features.

[Oban]

WOW wasn't bigger than it's predecessors, in fact it stripped out many features.

Suck is a feature?

[Venkman]

You're supposed to learn from mistakes and move forward, new games are supposed to be bigger and better while this was simply, shinier.

WOW wasn't bigger than it's predecessors, in fact it stripped out many features.

Bigger is the wrong word here. But I think Lakov was using the "bigger and better" express just because it's an expression, not a statement of fact.

[Surlyboi]

WOW wasn't bigger than it's predecessors, in fact it stripped out many features.

Suck is a feature?

If it is, WoW certainly didn't strip it out.

[Margalis]

It's an important distinction because part of what made WOW better was that it was smaller in some ways. Smaller things are easier to polish. Bigger and better are usually at odds, the only way to do both bigger and better is to spend more money or come up with more efficient development methods.

[Venkman]

WoW was smaller than EQ1 of the day. Was it smaller than pre-Kunark EQ1 though? I dunno but I suspect you could fit all of Eastern Kingdoms into Western Karana

The point is that size does not matter any more than any single other feature. WoW got it right by doing what they could and doing it right. They didn't bite off some totally innovative new way of doing combat. They didn't invent some fundamental new method of player interaction. They didn't have space flight. They didn't have player housing. They didn't have a crafting system of any real import. They didn't have a complex system of gathering, protection, land ownership, sieges, and political dimensions. They did what they also do: assess a genre worth entering, find what works, polish the hell out of it, launch, moneyhats.

That's all the did. It cost them a shitload of time and cash to do it, so the effort shouldn't be understated. But this wasn't about creating art, furthering the genre in some esoteric way, hoping the players would catch on, and merely giving them some half-functioning tools to try it. It is a market success first, a critical one second.

That still leaves a whole hell of a lot room open for innovation and invention. I give props to any game that can do that and be moderately successful. Eve, AoC, ATiTD in its own way, CoX too, games that tried something not entirely expected and gave it their all.

This genre is not done as long as people can still find ways to get their non-standard ideas funded.

[Margalis]

Yeah by smaller I mean feature set, not land mass.

[Count Nerfedalot]

And do females really do a quarter less damage?!

Edit: Wow I guess they do. And it's supposed to be fixed in the patch tomorrow. That's a pretty big bug.

Did this actually get fixed yet?

And something that sounded cool but I haven't heard a whisper about since release - what ever happened to bar fights?  Are they in game?  Are they any fun?

[UnSub]

My guess is that popularity of AoC due to two things:

1) Promised PvP -lots of WoW first-timers devolving into PvPers and wanting more

 

How do you devolve from fighting AI to the real thing?

 

"Mature" is the wrong word for 'focusing on PvP gameplay'.

Also:  at 'real thing' with reference to online e-peen activities.

[sinij]

My guess is that popularity of AoC due to two things:

1) Promised PvP -lots of WoW first-timers maturing into PvPers and wanting more

You are such a fucking one trick pony.

At least I am consistent in my views while rest of you have to adjust them to account for what happening with the industry. Just few years back lots of people here believed that there is no way any PvP will be ever included in any mainstream mmorpg, then that there is no way PvP will be dominant feature... in a few years you will be trying to explain how it is possible that there are mainstream mmorpgs that are all about PvP.

Prophecy: In 10 years *all* mainstream mmorpgs will support PvP and majority will have it as main attraction.

[sinij]

I don't know.  PvE only, no choice for any sort of PvP, not even duels or BGs?  I can see that sort of MMORPG being mostly phased out in favour of those with a choice. 

Did that kind of MMORPG ever exist? EQ1 had duels and flagging, AC1 had reversible flagging, I'm not thinking of a MMO where you couldn't PvP someone if you both wanted to.

Ahaha. PvP in EQ1? AC outside of PvP servers? Yes, with exception of golden-era UO mmorpgs up to SB were pure undiluted PvE crap.