Age of Conan - So, how's the launch?

[Phades]

I didn't get into Early Access even though I preordered months ago (stupid Gamestop not giving me my key until I picked up the game). So I'm just curious how it's going so far? I really enjoyed the bit of the beta that I played and am curious how the launch is going so far. I'm wondering if I should hold off registering my retail key a week or two for them to smooth out some of the launch issues. Impressions from those in EA?

[Devilturnip]

It's going very well so far as I have seen.

[Pirate Of Doom]

Very smooth, altough the servers are down for 2 hours at the moment for some reason.
But the game runs just fine. No disconnects, lag or any other annoying things that ruin the gameplay ( so far that is ).

[SilentScreams]

Funcom would have had to be extremely dumb to not learn from the AO launch. So far it sounds like they learned from it.

One concern I have about the game, and a lot of comments I've heard have echoed it, is that casters may be a little dull in comparison to the melee fighters.
Anyone playing a caster who would like to confirm this or set me straight?

[Devilturnip]

I haven't gotten into the straight casters yet, but the healers are interesting. I'm playing a bear shaman, and a lot of the heals seem to work in conjunction with melee attacks. For example, the first one heals the entire party during the next successful attack. I'm not sure if that's good or bad yet, just different.

[Lind]

I have to say the full client runs alot better than the beta one ever did. I load faster, have more fps and everything. Love it.

Now I did run into one problem that alot of ppl on the same server as me has run into (EU-Bori). Upon zoning into an instance my main got kicked from the server and I have been unable to log him in since than, I hope this 2h downtime fixes this.

For those not affected by this get kicked zoning and cant log back on bug its been smooth sailing.

[Felonous]

The servers just went down for 2 hours, no word on why other than it was due to needed maintenance. My guess is that there must of been a serious exploit that needed to be plugged.

Other than that, game is playing much like the end of beta. I have leveled my character to 18 and I already ran into a bug in the destiny quest line that has blocked me from further progression (same bug I ran into in beta weeks ago and that a GM had to force the quest line to advance, at the time I joked that I would run into the bug at launch and he said it would be fixed by then...).

Graphical glitches are common. I will sometimes have my movement blocked by objects that never render in the game. It isn't uncommon to see NPC enemies stuck halfway in walls or floors. Loot bags at times will not open.

Pets have a good number of issues too. Pets will not zone with you correctly at times, sometimes they do zero damage, and pets will get stuck on pathing and will disappear.

Pretty much it is a typical MMO launch with plenty of bugs that should have been addressed prior to launch but the developers had to launch despite the bugs in order to get the cash flowing back into the company. I would rate the game as a C+ to B- in playability. Graphics wise, it's gorgeous when there aren't any glitching happening on the screen, definitely rate the graphics as A- in this dept.

Infrastructure wise, no issue so far, so that is a good thing. I have had no issues logging into the servers. Only once did I experience any lag in the game, and that may have been my ISP. Compared to the beta servers this was an improvement, in beta I would routinely have periods of lag where everything would stop on the screen (my character wouldn't perform any combat moves and the NPCs would freeze) to only have them suddenly execute all the movements just moments later.

I would put this launch somewhere between SWG (tons of bugs) and WoW (not so many bugs but infrastructure kept you out of the game), but definately much better than the clusterfuck that Funcom did in the Anarchy Online launch.

[Suicidal ShiZuru]

Well it runs, so how does it play.

[Micasa]

I would put this launch somewhere between SWG (tons of bugs) and WoW (not so many bugs but infrastructure kept you out of the game), but definately much better than the clusterfuck that Funcom did in the Anarchy Online launch.

I'd hold off on rating the launch until the actual launch - this is more like a last minute round of testing, with a strictly controlled number of possible connections.

[Zurik]

I've been enjoying it all weekend. Not really any major bugs that have bothered me, but I am playing a melee class, so no pet issues. I like the combat, its a bit frantic. Think closer to City of Heroes than WoW. The only worry I have is if the game servers can handle the retail launch crowd. They already put up two extra servers on saturday because of the mass amounts of people.

[SilentScreams]

I think I'll probably still steer clear at launch. Not just to avoid server issues, but also to miss the huge wave of people all doing the same quests at the same time.
Spawn camping is not fun in any game, much less MMOs.

Also, my current PC will most likely not run the game even with everything turned right down.

[tayaya]

I played and enjoyed the beta quite a bit (the open one, not the closed one). My only problem with the game is that it ran like ass on my laptop (MacBook Pro 2.5GHz Core2Duo, 2GB RAM, GeForce 8600M 512MB) when I turned on DX10 and set the quality to high. On medium it was about 20fps, which is more choppy than I'd like but playable for an MMO (better than EQ2 for sure!). The game itself was very fun for the 9-10 hours I played. I didn't want to get into it too much though since I knew I'd be starting over if I bought it.

I pre-ordered it but was screwed out of Early Access like so many other gamers were. My friends got in and said the final build (well, current patch, as you know there will be more) runs a lot more smoothly than the open beta and even the last closed beta patch did. My friend says he's running everything on max and it's still running very well. He was having more performance issues than me on his machine so I'm eager to see how it runs on Tuesday.

By the way, the game on my mac defaulted to lot for everything and I still thought it looked good for an MMO and ran like butter, so even those with lower-end machines may wanna check it out for the gameplay alone, which I really enjoyed.

[Deadend]

I didn't even know it ran on a mac, I thought it was a Windows only game.

[Micasa]

Probably running it in Windows environment on the Mac. I don't think Funcom's ever made a Mac-compatible game.

[Kryopsis]

He probably uses Bootcamp to dual-boot Windows XP and Leopard.

[GrinR]

I didn't even know it ran on a mac, I thought it was a Windows only game.

It's a MacBOOK, not a mac. He's running it on Windows.

[Phades]

Sounds good, glad to hear it's not the cluster I was half expecting. I'll probably still hold off a day or two, but I'm looking forward to playing.

[tayaya]

I didn't even know it ran on a mac, I thought it was a Windows only game.

Yeah sorry for the delay there. Running Vista Ultimate via Bootcamp on a separate partition on the MacBook Pro. I just kinda assumed that everyone would know that for some reason, even though every day there are people in my own office that come by my desk and ask how I got that cool Vista skin for MacOS.... :rolleyes:

[Deadend]

Yeah sorry for the delay there. Running Vista Ultimate via Bootcamp on a separate partition on the MacBook Pro. I just kinda assumed that everyone would know that for some reason, even though every day there are people in my own office that come by my desk and ask how I got that cool Vista skin for MacOS.... :rolleyes:

I was suddenly excited that I could get a few of my Mac ONLY friends into it, if the game turns out to rock. They are the guys who won't even bootcamp.

[tayaya]

It's a MacBOOK, not a mac. He's running it on Windows.

It's a MacBook PRO, damnit! I wouldn't want to think about running Age of Conan on an Intel integrated graphics chip. Though for the brief period that I owned a black MacBook it did run Guild Wars and Half Life 2 somewhat well. Back then they used the Intel 945 I think.... these days they use the GMA X3100. The newer 45nm MacBook PRO, however, uses a GeForce 8600M, in either 256MB or 512MB discreet size (opposed to shared RAM on the MacBook), depending on which model you go with.

[AversionFX]

if the game turns out to rock.

I've been listening to a friend and his girlfriend on Ventrilo all day playing it. As an ex-hardcore WoW raider, my friend is having an incredible amount of fun with it. Hung out with him, and he showed me character creation, and then proceeded through a few of the introduction quests in the newbie zone. Everything he's told me about it, and what I've seen, has been really great. Can't wait to pick up my copy on tuesday.

[tayaya]

I was suddenly excited that I could get a few of my Mac ONLY friends into it, if the game turns out to rock. They are the guys who won't even bootcamp.

Psh.... those guys are missing out. If you have an Intel based Mac and enough disk space, I see no reason NOT to Bootcamp that sucker for the purpose of gaming.

Sure, I'm aware there's a Mac gaming industry and it's actually growing very well now that Apple uses Intel architecture, but... games still run better on Windows, and I honestly think they always will. On my MacBook 80GB of the 250GB disk goes to Windows, and the only applications installed on that partition are games, and a few things I use for work and to test things for clients/customers.

I love MacOS a lot, and use it for everything else I do on the computer. Having Macs that run Windows is great... it allowed me to sell off or toss out a bunch of PCs from my home, since I can now have one system doing the jobs that I once relied on separate platforms for. I would say I don't even own a non-Apple computer anymore, but I just ordered one of those HP artist edition notebooks like EvAv just got today.

But yeah as I was saying, your friends should seriously toss some Windows action up in there if they can. Then they have no excuse not to play games with you!

[SilentScreams]

The more I read about the game, the more I lean towards going back on what I said and picking it up at launch.
I'm 90% sure my PC won't run it, but it's worth a shot. :D
Graphics are meaningless to me, especially in an MMO, so I don't mind turning everything right down. I'm just not sure how much it can scale down.

If it doesn't run, I can add it to "the pile" (a pile of games that dont run on my PC but I am saving for when I get a new one).

Edit: Tim "nice but dim" Buckley has some pretty decent impressions up on his front page if anyone cares. There's also a pretty decent comic, and as usual with his few decent comics, it doesn't involve any of his characters.

Linkage. (http://www.ctrlaltdel-online.com/)

[Grimgrock]

on the off chance someone reads this in the next hour, I am wondering if the issue I'm experiencing is just me or normal. The error is "Fatal Error: Failed to download patch information file".

The server message clearly says that the NA servers are down for a while but what it doesn't explicitly say is that this downtime includes the patch servers.

Anyone know the answer? The server message says the NA servers are down starting at 9pm GMT and lasting for "about five hours". That means around 11:00 pm something should happen. I just wish I knew what that 'something' was. The game doesn't launch until tomorrow.

[Sophism]

on the off chance someone reads this in the next hour, I am wondering if the issue I'm experiencing is just me or normal. The error is "Fatal Error: Failed to download patch information file".

The server message clearly says that the NA servers are down for a while but what it doesn't explicitly say is that this downtime includes the patch servers.

Anyone know the answer? The server message says the NA servers are down starting at 9pm GMT and lasting for "about five hours". That means around 11:00 pm something should happen. I just wish I knew what that 'something' was. The game doesn't launch until tomorrow.
Patching doesn't happen when the server is down. No one can patch right now. The downtime tonight is so that they DON'T have to have downtime after the actual launch.

[Zurik]

Well I've been checking to see if I could play today, but its been down since I got home from work, and looks like it'll stay that way until I go to bed. People that didn't get into the 3-day early access shouldn't feel so bad, because anyone that did had maybe one of those days where the servers were actually up the whole time. I hope this is a good sign that they're preparing for tomorrow and it won't be down all day again.

[Felonous]

Yea, early access was supposed to give us 3 days head start, but it actually was only about 1.8 days. I was able to get my char to level 24 before the servers went down. They should be online shortly.

*edit: hehe, they extended the downtime by another hour. So lets see, it was first 5 hours, then added 2 hours, then added 1 hour, and now yet again they added 1 hour. We are at 9+ hours now, almost double their original estimate of the downtime. I'm sure the AoC forums are a fun place to read about now with all the hysterics of pissed off customers not being able to start playing.

[Kryopsis]

So what are your impressions, people? Is it really a revolutionary new direction for MMOs? Also, I am having trouble understanding how melee combat works in that game. Would anybody care to explain?

[AversionFX]

Also, I am having trouble understanding how melee combat works in that game. Would anybody care to explain?

Melee combat (combat in general, actually) is very active - You don't auto attack. For melee combat, you have 3 directional attacks. Left, Straight, and Right. Your (AI) enemy will change his guard based on the way you attack. Combos (which many of your specials are) are activated, and then you are prompted to use the corresponding attack direction to continue the sequence, ultimately ending in using said ability.

Defense is kind of similar, except that it's not active. You have three "shields" that you distribute over your front, left, and right sections. The more guard you have on one side, the less damage you'll take from attacks from that direction. However, increasing you guard on one side, lowers your guard from another (you only have 3 guards). The game starts you in a balanced guard, having 1 guard for each side.

[GrinR]

Yea, early access was supposed to give us 3 days head start, but it actually was only about 1.8 days. I was able to get my char to level 24 before the servers went down. They should be online shortly.

*edit: hehe, they extended the downtime by another hour. So lets see, it was first 5 hours, then added 2 hours, then added 1 hour, and now yet again they added 1 hour. We are at 9+ hours now, almost double their original estimate of the downtime. I'm sure the AoC forums are a fun place to read about now with all the hysterics of pissed off customers not being able to start playing.

Just like the pre-order people who didn't get the headstart, whoops oh well I guess I'm glad I paid for something I didn't get but a sorry should be good enough right? Just like when my credit card doesn't have enough to pay for something when I say sorry it's enough.

oh wait.

[Savok]

Normally I'd be with you, special gold plated pitchfork and all but come on, it's a MMOG, these things never work for about the first month.

What you're really paying for is getting your character names reserved and a slight headstart with the 20 minutes of gameplay between bouts of downtime.

[SilentScreams]

Just like the pre-order people who didn't get the headstart, whoops oh well I guess I'm glad I paid for something I didn't get but a sorry should be good enough right? Just like when my credit card doesn't have enough to pay for something when I say sorry it's enough.

oh wait.

As far as I understand it, you didn't pay for it.
Pre-ordering just gave you the option to pay for it. The actual pre-order was not paying for the early access. All that was bought with the pre-order was the game and the special mount. Early access was an extra $5.

[digitalblue]

So the combat sounds really involved. Is it easy to pick up or is it something that you will have to learn timing and more like a fighting game IE mortal combat with the combos?

[Kem0sabe]

My experience so far:

The Bad


1. No directx10 client, tho it was promised to be present at launch. Worse, they didn’t even say it to the community, they just casually mentioned it at the bottom of a press release. :rolleyes:

2. Bugs, Bugs, Bugs, especially graphics. Countless times i had to revert the gfx settings because my screen was completely black except for the U.I

3. 10k Ping lag spikes, that force you to quit the game and relog.

4. Chat system, its archaic, you cant even choose the chat colors, or click peoples names to interact with them, like inviting to group, etc. Plus the chat windows are bugged, so if you create a need window for OOC chat, it will keep unsubscribing from the chat channels.

5. Mages, you only get Spellweaving at level 50, and even then, from my experience, you can only use it in groups and with a tank, not viable for solo pve or pvp. Mages become extremely boring to play, you have limited spells, no reactionary mechanics, just spam your aoe spells and that’s it. The exception to this rule is the HoX, it kicks ass, cloth wearer with 2H Sword? Hell yeah.

6. PVP servers, its constant spawn camping and griefing, i have seen people starting to flock to the pve server due to the amount of fucking idiots that make life hell for other players.

7. Completely unbalanced classes, be ready to be completely owned by certain classes in pvp, no matter how skilled you are.

8. Macros, Exploits, teleporting, speedhacks, they abound and we have no news yet about what Funcom is doing about this.

9. Instancing, its everywhere, much more so than WoW or LotRO. You get several instances of the same zone, depending on zone population, just like guild wars does. The problem is further aggravated by the geographic separation of every zone in the game, the zones are not connected in the game world, so you have to teleport to every zone, with artificial barriers everywhere.

10. Tortage Island, you cant believe how boring it is to play trough that place every time you want to create a character.

11. Itemization, only about 1500 armor pieces ingame, dividing that for classes and different body parts, that’s a miniscule amount, so far every character within a class is looking almost the same. I think they should have gone with more variety instead of more polygons.

The Good

1. Its fun to play melee, but be ready to grow 3 extra fingers to be able to do everything without macros.

2. Quests, i have done some excellent quests, there’s one where i had to find a criminal by interrogating the suspects, there’s another i had to debate against a Stygian Priest of Set about the merits and faults of Aquilonian Society. Tho the quest text can be somewhat hard to read, and the only spoken dialog is in Tortage Island and on your destiny quests.

3. Lore, the world seems like Howard's world, the game is steeped in it.

4. Healers, healers in this game have a more active role, there are no large direct heal spells to deal with burst damage, you have several hot's, aoe heals and cone shaped directional heals. Healer classes in the game also depend on their own damage to augment their healing spells, so they end up doing a lot of dps. And lets not forget about the Priest of Mitra's Repulse spell, that has to be the best spell in game, aoe knock back with significant damage and works in an unlimited number of targets, with a fast cool down when specced. Amazing.

5. Graphics, even tho they are not directx 10, the game looks amazing.

[Grey]

So the combat sounds really involved. Is it easy to pick up or is it something that you will have to learn timing and more like a fighting game IE mortal combat with the combos?

It is rather boring then challenging over the time. Combos are not very complex.


I've to agree pretty much with Kem0sabe - though after the weekend I had no extreme graphic glitches, besides the constant popping of textures and models (512+MB videocard needed I guess) and therefore the game looks better as Gothic 3 for example. I'd even say it looks better as Two Worlds or at least equal.

Though I did not play PvP since I am not a fan of it. PvE is fun so far, especialy since they fixed the graphics last weekend.

[Squidbot]

11. Itemization, only about 1500 armor pieces ingame, dividing that for classes and different body parts, that’s a miniscule amount, so far every character within a class is looking almost the same. I think they should have gone with more variety instead of more polygons.

That's disappointing.

[Savok]

2. Bugs, Bugs, Bugs, especially graphics. Countless times i had to revert the gfx settings because my screen was completely black except for the U.I
That's the first problem I've heard with graphics. Maybe your system has a magical configuration it just hates (not by any means your fault, just that perhaps you've been unlucky)

4. Chat system, its archaic, you cant even choose the chat colors, or click peoples names to interact with them, like inviting to group, etc. Plus the chat windows are bugged, so if you create a need window for OOC chat, it will keep unsubscribing from the chat channels.
Fuck me, still?

5. Mages, you only get Spellweaving at level 50, and even then, from my experience, you can only use it in groups and with a tank, not viable for solo pve or pvp. Mages become extremely boring to play, you have limited spells, no reactionary mechanics, just spam your aoe spells and that’s it. The exception to this rule is the HoX, it kicks ass, cloth wearer with 2H Sword? Hell yeah.
No wonder it wasn't in beta... jesus.

6. PVP servers, its constant spawn camping and griefing, i have seen people starting to flock to the pve server due to the amount of fucking idiots that make life hell for other players.
Everyday PvP server then.

7. Completely unbalanced classes, be ready to be completely owned by certain classes in pvp, no matter how skilled you are.
It's supposed to be like that as I recall.

8. Macros, Exploits, teleporting, speedhacks, they abound and we have no news yet about what Funcom is doing about this.
I will never for the life of me understand how a client can have so much power over what happens on a server.

9. Instancing, its everywhere, much more so than WoW or LotRO. You get several instances of the same zone, depending on zone population, just like guild wars does. The problem is further aggravated by the geographic separation of every zone in the game, the zones are not connected in the game world, so you have to teleport to every zone, with artificial barriers everywhere.
I knew about the instanced zones (honestly I prefer it, allows more detail and doesn't bring down the whole fucking continent if something goes wrong) but are you saying it's like Fable/Zelda/whatever or like you step on teleport pads to get sent to another one to go anywhere?

3. Lore, the world seems like Howard's world, the game is steeped in it.
Like WoW, this is all I really wanted. When Blizzard started pissing on their lore things really soured for me and the horrible design became obvious.[/QUOTE]

[Savok]

That's disappointing.
Easily patched.

Fuck all Blizzard does these days is dump instances and items into the world, there's too fucking many now.

[Illuminus]

I have not experienced any graphical issues or 10k lag spikes, so those were no issues for me. Instances is not a problem for me either, but that is personal opinion. What is actually good about the way zones works in AoC is that Funcom can easily expand existing areas in the future... while games like WoW have limited space to expand.

Only things i do agree with Kesomabe (bleh :p) is that the DX 10 client was a big feature of AoC.. and it is now missing at release. I believe most Beta Players can agree that Tortage is rather frustrating to go through.. AGAIN (mostly our own fault for beta testing). At least you can skip the Destiny quests if you really want to.

[Grey]

At least you can skip the Destiny quests if you really want to.

Uhm how does that work? I mean you need them if you want to leave boring-Tortage

[Kem0sabe]

That's the first problem I've heard with graphics. Maybe your system has a magical configuration it just hates (not by any means your fault, just that perhaps you've been unlucky)

Possibly, i think i narrowed it down to the AA seetings, 2xAA seems to be fix the black screen problem.


It's supposed to be like that as I recall.

Yeah, it sucks not being able to compete just because you chose the "wrong" class.


I knew about the instanced zones (honestly I prefer it, allows more detail and doesn't bring down the whole fucking continent if something goes wrong) but are you saying it's like Fable/Zelda/whatever or like you step on teleport pads to get sent to another one to go anywhere?

You talk with Caravan masters, that end up being little more than glorified teleport pads. I think this is what dissapointed me most about the game, the entire game world just feels disconected.



So far im enjoying the game, i think i will end up buying it. But Funcom has a lot of work ahead of it, mainly polish.

[SilentScreams]

Wait, imbalanced PvP is an intended feature?
Or do you mean it's very much a rock/paper/scissors type thing?

[Goronmon]

Or do you mean it's very much a rock/paper/scissors type thing?That's what I assumed he meant.

[Savok]

Wait, imbalanced PvP is an intended feature?
Or do you mean it's very much a rock/paper/scissors type thing?
Rock/paper/scissors thing.

PvP in this game is meant to be done in groups going after specific targets like Keeps.

Doesn't stop paper being frustrating when you're rock though.

You talk with Caravan masters, that end up being little more than glorified teleport pads. I think this is what dissapointed me most about the game, the entire game world just feels disconected.
Ok, ew.

I get why they did it (WoW as a whole world seems fucking tiny) but.... those zones better be awesome.

[SilentScreams]

Rock/paper/scissors thing.

PvP in this game is meant to be done in groups going after specific targets like Keeps.

Doesn't stop paper being frustrating when you're rock though.

Yeah I can see how that would be the case. I hate the feeling of hopelessness when you just know that no matter what you do, you're going to die.

I think it's better when any class can beat any other, but that's much harder to balance. WoW has been trying for years.

[Kem0sabe]

Wait, imbalanced PvP is an intended feature?
Or do you mean it's very much a rock/paper/scissors type thing?

Classes are not designed to counteract other classes. The problem comes simply from the overpowering abilities that certain classes posses.

Just last night, i was grinding crocs in white sands island, for this stupid "get 40 croc skins" quest, when i was jumped by 2 assassins.

As a Priest of Mitra, i proceeded to kick the crap out of them with never brekaing a sweat, im not a pvp ace or anything like it, but they simply didnt stand a chance agaisnt a class with an aoe cc spell, almost instant heals, an instant invulnerability spell and massive dps spells.

Maybe they were just bad, or were high on something who knows *shrug*

[Savok]

And two Assassins jumping a pet class means it's fucked.

They'll probably end up patching it so everyone is equal eventually, but right now, so people you don't go near.

[jpublic]

How's the soloing? It it more WoW, where you can solo to end-game, but you miss a lot of content and even then, all there is to do is raid, or is it more CoH/GW where you can play the vast majority of the content solo?

[Kem0sabe]

How's the soloing? It it more WoW, where you can solo to end-game, but you miss a lot of content and even then, all there is to do is raid, or is it more CoH/GW where you can play the vast majority of the content solo?

Mostly i have been soloing.

In certain zones, before the zone loads, you have the option to choose "Normal" or "epic" versions of the zones, the diference is in the HP of the mobs and in the loot that mobs drop, tho loot wise, i didnt find it worth it, its mostly for the xp. These zones are unlike WoW dungeons, they are normal world zones that you quest in, in case anyone is wondering.

From what i have seen, theres a significant gap quest wise from level 30 to level 40. That means that there will be some grinding involved unless Funcom is planning to patch the lack of quests, with some aditional content.

In terms of the % of groups in relation to solo quests, so far it has been 80% solo, 20% group. The problem with group quests is that you wont get credit for quest objectives that your group members complete. For example, you have a group quest to burn down some tents in a camp, you go there with your group and burn them, but only the person who actualy burned the tents gets the credit... and they dont respawn, so you have to exit and reeenter the instance 6 times, so that everyone completes the quest, its absurd and something that shuold have never goten past QA.

[Cyndair]

How excessive is the language / gore / nudity? I was thinking about giving this game a whirl but I know the world of Conan is a bit... well... barbaric. I just don't want my wife to come over and be like wtf?

[SilentScreams]

In terms of the % of groups in relation to solo quests, so far it has been 80% solo, 20% group. The problem with group quests is that you wont get credit for quest objectives that your group members complete. For example, you have a group quest to burn down some tents in a camp, you go there with your group and burn them, but only the person who actualy burned the tents gets the credit... and they dont respawn, so you have to exit and reeenter the instance 6 times, so that everyone completes the quest, its absurd and something that shuold have never goten past QA.

That's awful.
They should be encouraging people to group, but this will do the opposite.

[Telefrog]

The problem with group quests is that you wont get credit for quest objectives that your group members complete. For example, you have a group quest to burn down some tents in a camp, you go there with your group and burn them, but only the person who actualy burned the tents gets the credit... and they dont respawn, so you have to exit and reeenter the instance 6 times, so that everyone completes the quest, its absurd and something that shuold have never goten past QA.

That is some seriously bad MMO game design right there.

[Savok]

In terms of the % of groups in relation to solo quests, so far it has been 80% solo, 20% group. The problem with group quests is that you wont get credit for quest objectives that your group members complete. For example, you have a group quest to burn down some tents in a camp, you go there with your group and burn them, but only the person who actualy burned the tents gets the credit... and they dont respawn, so you have to exit and reeenter the instance 6 times, so that everyone completes the quest, its absurd and something that shuold have never goten past QA.
Now this is something I heard about from beta players. Between the fucked group chat and shit like that, grouping was basically impossible.

[Grey]

he problem with group quests is that you wont get credit for quest objectives that your group members complete. For example, you have a group quest to burn down some tents in a camp, you go there with your group and burn them, but only the person who actualy burned the tents gets the credit... and they dont respawn, so you have to exit and reeenter the instance 6 times, so that everyone completes the quest, its absurd and something that shuold have never goten past QA.


What the hell? I dont know what version you played, but thats so far the only real reason to group anyway.

I grouped so many times *only* for the reason that everyone gets the quest done instead of waiting 20 minutes for the boss respawn or else.

What you described NEVER happend to me.

[Grey]

How excessive is the language / gore / nudity? I was thinking about giving this game a whirl but I know the world of Conan is a bit... well... barbaric. I just don't want my wife to come over and be like wtf?


Nothing is realy excessive. Blood is vanishing between all the other effects (at least with my mage char), language is on a normal level and nudity is pretty weak (only lowpoly tits).

[court12b]

I was just watching some gameplay footage and was starting to think it might be worth giving it a shot but I've just reached a conclusion. In this day and age in-game voice chat is not difficult to implement by any standard.

I've decided I'm not getting into any MMO again until they support in-game voice chat right out of the box(and do it well). Voice chat makes life sooo much better any time your interacting with other players. It helps you filter out the kiddos (too shy to chat) and from my experience makes players behave with more accountability.

Just Imagine, what if, when running into another player out in the field you could actually just say "Hi!" out loud and know that he can hear you instead of having to type it up and hope he reads local chat?

[Deadend]

In game voice would be nice, considering the NPCs all have voice overs.
Even if the game just allowed you to use Ventrillo or something as a plugin to access it ingame.

[Kem0sabe]

What the hell? I dont know what version you played, but thats so far the only real reason to group anyway.

I grouped so many times *only* for the reason that everyone gets the quest done instead of waiting 20 minutes for the boss respawn or else.

What you described NEVER happend to me.

Well, it has hapenned to my in cimeria. *shrug*

If you have objectives that require you to interact with the enviroment, maybe that was/is the problem, maybe the quest itself was bugged? anyways, i reported it as a bug.

How excessive is the language / gore / nudity? I was thinking about giving this game a whirl but I know the world of Conan is a bit... well... barbaric. I just don't want my wife to come over and be like wtf?

Its nothing serious, the characters are not constantly saying nasty words, but there is some gore, especialy fatalities. I did get a chuckle out of a nudity situation tho, one of the professions trainer in the the lotus swamp in stygia, was a topless female with some large and graphic breasts. :)

[Grey]

Well, it has hapenned to my in cimeria. *shrug*

If you have objectives that require you to interact with the enviroment, maybe that was/is the problem, maybe the quest itself was bugged? anyways, i reported it as a bug.

Thats why almost every Item Quest has more as the required amount of items at the quest location. Also they respawn a lot faster as enemys.

I don't tried that with quest were you have to use objects, but I did at least 15 quest in groups so far were it came to grinding or collecting... not a single one was bugged.

As I said, often I just encounter other people on the quest location which are obviously on the same quest. Quick group, kill, ungroup - everybody happy :)

[sprankton]

I played and enjoyed the beta quite a bit (the open one, not the closed one). My only problem with the game is that it ran like ass on my laptop (MacBook Pro 2.5GHz Core2Duo, 2GB RAM, GeForce 8600M 512MB) when I turned on DX10 and set the quality to high. On medium it was about 20fps, which is more choppy than I'd like but playable for an MMO (better than EQ2 for sure!). The game itself was very fun for the 9-10 hours I played. I didn't want to get into it too much though since I knew I'd be starting over if I bought it.




There is an Nvidia driver update to fix it. The 8000 series is nto liked by Conan. Last night everyone was hard crashing after a patch that took 8 hours to get out.

Hopefully they fixed it, because a bluescreen from a game is silly.

[Zawath]

I was just watching some gameplay footage and was starting to think it might be worth giving it a shot but I've just reached a conclusion. In this day and age in-game voice chat is not difficult to implement by any standard.

I've decided I'm not getting into any MMO again until they support in-game voice chat right out of the box(and do it well). Voice chat makes life sooo much better any time your interacting with other players. It helps you filter out the kiddos (too shy to chat) and from my experience makes players behave with more accountability.

Just Imagine, what if, when running into another player out in the field you could actually just say "Hi!" out loud and know that he can hear you instead of having to type it up and hope he reads local chat?

It would make roleplaying much harder and also female players would get harassed all the time.

[tacitus]

only the person who actualy burned the tents gets the credit... and they dont respawn, so you have to exit and reeenter the instance 6 times, so that everyone completes the quest, its absurd and something that shuold have never goten past QA.
I have not been doing that much grouping either - but the one quest I grouped with was the pain in the butt escort hortensia quest and the associated slaughter the boss and associates quest and they were updating just fine, when others killed them.

[51|RandoM]

One concern I have about the game, and a lot of comments I've heard have echoed it, is that casters may be a little dull in comparison to the melee fighters.

Good, I say, good!

Mages are misbegotten whoresons who lack the hair on their stones to put their faith where it belongs, in strength of arms and honor of their liege-men. Instead they meddle with powers best left sleeping, pretending to a control they do not and will never have, only to complicate situations best handled with cold steel and hot blood.

Depend you not on the hocus pocus of craven mages, lest you seek to lose your honor, your life, and perhaps even your soul.

[Kryopsis]

Voice chat makes life sooo much better any time your interacting with other players. It helps you filter out the kiddos (too shy to chat) and from my experience makes players behave with more accountability.

I doubt you've ever played on Xbox Live...

[Shifter]

Good, I say, good!

Mages are misbegotten whoresons who lack the hair on their stones to put their faith where it belongs, in strength of arms and honor of their liege-men. Instead they meddle with powers best left sleeping, pretending to a control they do not and will never have, only to complicate situations best handled with cold steel and hot blood.

Depend you not on the hocus pocus of craven mages, lest you seek to lose your honor, your life, and perhaps even your soul.



NERD ALERT!!

[Grifter]

Good, I say, good!

Mages are misbegotten whoresons who lack the hair on their stones to put their faith where it belongs, in strength of arms and honor of their liege-men. Instead they meddle with powers best left sleeping, pretending to a control they do not and will never have, only to complicate situations best handled with cold steel and hot blood.

Depend you not on the hocus pocus of craven mages, lest you seek to lose your honor, your life, and perhaps even your soul.

Wow! My geek cred shot up 9000pts just for reading that...I feel kind of dirty now.

[Goronmon]

It helps you filter out the kiddos (too shy to chat) and from my experience makes players behave with more accountability.There is no way that you are serious...

[GrinR]

Good, I say, good!

Mages are misbegotten whoresons who lack the hair on their stones to put their faith where it belongs, in strength of arms and honor of their liege-men. Instead they meddle with powers best left sleeping, pretending to a control they do not and will never have, only to complicate situations best handled with cold steel and hot blood.

Depend you not on the hocus pocus of craven mages, lest you seek to lose your honor, your life, and perhaps even your soul.

I pounded my ale and smashed the tankard to pieces when I read this.

[Felonous]

In game voice would be nice, considering the NPCs all have voice overs.
Even if the game just allowed you to use Ventrillo or something as a plugin to access it ingame.

Only the NPCs from the starter town of Tortage have voice overs, all of the ones that I have talked to since leaving that town are text only (though they do emote like animations that include noises like grunts, yells and crying).

[jeffool]

Random just summed up Conan in one post. This is all the WoWheads' last chance to grow hair on their stones.

[SilentScreams]

Good, I say, good!

Mages are misbegotten whoresons who lack the hair on their stones to put their faith where it belongs, in strength of arms and honor of their liege-men. Instead they meddle with powers best left sleeping, pretending to a control they do not and will never have, only to complicate situations best handled with cold steel and hot blood.

Depend you not on the hocus pocus of craven mages, lest you seek to lose your honor, your life, and perhaps even your soul.

This is the single best reply I've ever gotten to one of my comments.
Bravo.

[Mantooth]

Launch not so hot for me. Against my better judgement, I picked up a copy earlier today. Damn you Circuit City and your $39.99 sale price! Had to pricematch it at Best Buy since the wankers at Circuit City were having trouble "processing their shipment". I don't see how that ghost town stays in business.

Anyway, I am stuck on the content download. It gets to around 35MB of the 600MB and stops. Even more annoying, the contentloader.exe or whatever it is called uses 100% of resources while it is setting there doing nothing.

[Saladin]

The problem with group quests is that you wont get credit for quest objectives that your group members complete. For example, you have a group quest to burn down some tents in a camp, you go there with your group and burn them, but only the person who actualy burned the tents gets the credit... and they dont respawn, so you have to exit and reeenter the instance 6 times, so that everyone completes the quest, its absurd and something that shuold have never goten past QA.

That's a bug with just that one quest as far as I've experienced. Every other quest we did in there group members properly received credit, like destroying the standing stones and burning the bodies.

Oh, and the tents do respawn, quite quickly when my group did it (in epic mode).

[Savok]

Launch not so hot for me. Against my better judgement, I picked up a copy earlier today. Damn you Circuit City and your $39.99 sale price! Had to pricematch it at Best Buy since the wankers at Circuit City were having trouble "processing their shipment". I don't see how that ghost town stays in business.

Anyway, I am stuck on the content download. It gets to around 35MB of the 600MB and stops. Even more annoying, the contentloader.exe or whatever it is called uses 100% of resources while it is setting there doing nothing.
If the servers are down, patching won't work (yeah I know, great system there).

[AversionFX]

Am playing an assassin. The PVP is immensely satisfying. Caster classes target one of my friends, and I backstab them for just about all their HP. Mmm.

[GrinR]

So far? Love it. Love the whores. Love the drunks. Love the blood and guts. BY CROM!

[SilentScreams]

I'd forgotten about the drunken bar fights until this very moment. Anyone messed about with those yet?
Is it actually fun, or just a pointless distraction that you try once then don't bother with again?

[zrikz]

Got to play a couple hours last night and messed around with a few classes. Pretty entertaining and a very, very solid release. I never crashed once and I'm running at max settings with np.

Taking some getting used to for the UI and controls but its overall enjoyable.

[Kem0sabe]

I was thnking about buying the Belkin Speedpad (http://www.n52te.com/) for playing AoC, amongst other games. Anyone have one of these things, and can atest if they are a good purchase?

[tacitus]

Launch not so hot for me. Against my better judgement, I picked up a copy earlier today. Damn you Circuit City and your $39.99 sale price! Had to pricematch it at Best Buy since the wankers at Circuit City were having trouble "processing their shipment". I don't see how that ghost town stays in business.
Yep - I don't even bother with the Circuity City anymore - they are totally worthless (except for the occassional price match). Last time (and maybe last time forever) it was because I had a $25 gift card because they screwed up a previous order. Its sad I remember when they didn't suck.

[zrikz]

I have the normal N52 non glowing. You can program a million keys for it and it works quite well. I never got the full use out of it but I think its a pretty good purchase if you plan on actually using it.

[tacitus]

Well, preorder and launch went fine for me so far. (knock on wood) I have been having a good time on Cimmeria, with only being ganked occassionally and sometimes I even successfully fought back.

[Lind]

Um lol I see a Age of Conan Gold Seller Ad on the left... That didnt take long.

[grandepolloloco]

I must say I am actually enjoying the game. As a wow addict it has a familiar and comfortable feeling. What makes it so nice is the feeling of an actual story unlike instant quest text in wow. If you enjoy playing wow at all give this a try it has a ton of potential. No issues with launch for me either.

[Kem0sabe]

Just wish they would fix this bloody UI as fast as possible.

The guild amangement screens, the first time isaw them, i thought i was delusional... the guild members are in your friends window? wtf.

Also, the group member window is realy realy poor.

Funcom should fire their UI designers if this is the best they could come with after 5 years.

Edit: I would rank the UI as my biggest complaint, im acutaly enjoying the game and quests, and planning to keep subscribed for the near future, but realy, the UI, horrible.

[SilentScreams]

Ugh, I hated the AO interface. Doesn't sound like AoC is any better.

[51|RandoM]

Well I picked up the game today on my lunch break.

[zrikz]

I'm with Kemo.. the UI is not very intuitive or nice in any respect and downright confusing. Guild management blows, the friends window sucks and I hate that you cant easily search to see if people are online through a text command /who all name. You have to use some GUI box and It doesnt work, or I cant figure it out in under 5 minutes /shrug.

Other than that I like the game.

Took me a good 5 lvls to figure out combo's and recognizing that you have to hit the corresponding direction that the combo says. But that was just me rushing to try and jump into the game and check it out =/


Oh and btw, Priest of Mithra class is sick, I can wipe out too many mobs at once. Compared to my assassin.. eesh.

[Savok]

They're releasing a UI toolset down the line. Hopefully someone will make a proper one then (need I remind you all how lacking WoW's was on launch day).

[Mantooth]

:mad: Still having the issue with the patch download. I have removed my router, turned off firewall, antivirus, and any other programs running in the background and still it crawls. It will download a bit and then stop for long periods of time. No internet connection issues, it is running like a champ. Needless to say, I have not been close to playing yet. Close to cutting my losses and putting this coaster on Ebay.

Nice of Funcom to lock their forums to only allow people with registered accounts to post. Since I haven't been able to register yet, I can't post there to try to resolve it. I e-mailed their support, but you know that will take forever long and probably be a helpful reply to try everything that I have already tried.

[Phades]

As lacking as WoW's UI was at launch, it blew away AoC's. I agree with others here that the UI is really my only major complaint. I'm really enjoying the game, but geez does the UI suck.

[GrinR]

:mad: Still having the issue with the patch download. I have removed my router, turned off firewall, antivirus, and any other programs running in the background and still it crawls. It will download a bit and then stop for long periods of time. No internet connection issues, it is running like a champ. Needless to say, I have not been close to playing yet. Close to cutting my losses and putting this coaster on Ebay.

Nice of Funcom to lock their forums to only allow people with registered accounts to post. Since I haven't been able to register yet, I can't post there to try to resolve it. I e-mailed their support, but you know that will take forever long and probably be a helpful reply to try everything that I have already tried.

Why can't you register? You have a code already - just activate it.

[Phades]

Why can't you register? You have a code already - just activate it.

Yeah, it's pretty easy actually. Getting into the game itself has nothing to do with getting into the forums (other than having to have registered it).

[Mantooth]

Why can't you register? You have a code already - just activate it.

Why would I register something that doesn't work? I want to at least be able to recoup some of my expense if I can't resolve this issue.

[GrinR]

Why would I register something that doesn't work? I want to at least be able to recoup some of my expense if I can't resolve this issue.

Um, because regardless of your using the key to register, you can either return it or not? Do you think when you return a MOG they simply trust that you didn't write the code down?

[roboninja]

So has there been a consensus on a server yet? Amazon is taking its' sweet time getting me the game, so I might not be on for a couple of days yet, but it would be good to know.

[GrinR]

So has there been a consensus on a server yet? Amazon is taking its' sweet time getting me the game, so I might not be on for a couple of days yet, but it would be good to know.

http://www.evilavatar.com/forums/showthread.php?t=51684

[Mantooth]

Um, because regardless of your using the key to register, you can either return it or not? Do you think when you return a MOG they simply trust that you didn't write the code down?

I won't be returning it as I can't. Best Buy and every other retailer I know of will only exchange open software for the same item, no refunds. So, the only way to not just flush the $42 and change would be to sell it to someone.

[Mashidar]

Well picked it up today, will see how it runs on my system on med. settings. Post some thoughts later tonight.

[51|RandoM]

http://img234.imageshack.us/img234/3216/conanltrv5.jpg

They're not kidding, lol.

30 minute install from DVD

download and install 93.4 MB patch
download 13.3 MB of db hashes
download 621 MB resource database patch (on this now, 350-1000KB/sec download speeds)

[GrinR]

I won't be returning it as I can't. Best Buy and every other retailer I know of will only exchange open software for the same item, no refunds. So, the only way to not just flush the $42 and change would be to sell it to someone.

Well don't be a monkey then. Use the code and sell it if you find that you can't get help.

[GrinR]

Launch not so hot for me. Against my better judgement, I picked up a copy earlier today. Damn you Circuit City and your $39.99 sale price! Had to pricematch it at Best Buy since the wankers at Circuit City were having trouble "processing their shipment". I don't see how that ghost town stays in business.

Anyway, I am stuck on the content download. It gets to around 35MB of the 600MB and stops. Even more annoying, the contentloader.exe or whatever it is called uses 100% of resources while it is setting there doing nothing.

I'm scanning the forums for you and maybe this might help?

Patcher continually downloads the same 17.4 MB file over and over again.

Solution- Open up your Windows Task Manager and kill the Ageofconan.exe or ConanPatcher.exe process.

Solution- Restart your computer. After the restart run ConanPatcher.exe.

and

My patcher suddenly wants to download 14+GB?!

Solution:

1) Run SimpleConfig.exe (found in your install directory)
2) Click Verify / Repair ...
3) Check Verify Data Integrity
4) Click OK
5) Run ConanPatcher.exe

[GrinR]

Also:

If you still have issues in the FAQ section i followed this and it fixed everything. Those corrupt DAT files were playing hell with my system.

Fixing using the Patcher
Some are reporting that running the Verify/Repair option in the SimpleConfig program (C:\Program Files\Funcom\Age of Conan\SimpleConfig.exe by default), then running the patcher by launching Age of Conan from the desktop or Start Menu icon will make the patcher download any corrupt files from the patch server. This is probably the easiest solution for the less technically-inclined among us.

New Info from Solid State Networks
This update from the Funcom Downloader help page at Solid State Networks may be a much easier alternative to my original solution, although I am unable to test it:
I would like to do a full file check, how do is this done?
Perform the following steps:
1. Delete all files located at:
Windows XP: C:\Documents and Settings\USER_NAME\Local Settings\Temp\SolidCache
Windows Vista: C:\Users\USER_NAME\AppData\Local\Temp\SolidCache
This process will delete any "SHA1_OF_METAFILE.kick" files.
2. Launch the downloader and select the directory where the files are located.
The downloader will now perform a full file check.

Fixing using the Downloader
This method worked great for me, your mileage may vary. If you wish to fix the files using the downloader you first need to find out which files are corrupt.

If you are familiar with using MD5 you will likely find it convenient for finding the corrupted files using that method. See the post by lmollea on page 3 of this thread. Note that your .exe files will not have the same MD5 as those posted if you have the US client.

Otherwise, there are two ways to find out which files are corrupt:
A) Pay attention to what files have errors when installing.
B) If you already installed and can't remember which files had errors:
Open the RDB folder under where you installed Age of Conan, and change to Details view.
Under the Size column:
Each *.rdbdata file should be exactly "1,048,576 KB".
le.idx file should be exactly "22,760 KB".
RDBHashIndex.bin should be exactly "13,541 KB".
If any of these sizes don't match then that file is probably corrupt.

In the "Age of Conan" folder created by the downloader, delete the corresponding .dat file:
00.rdbdata: 1.dat (note that the numbers are off by 1)
01.rdbdata: 2.dat
02.rdbdata: 3.dat
03.rdbdata: 4.dat
04.rdbdata: 5.dat
05.rdbdata: 6.dat
06.rdbdata: 7.dat
07.rdbdata: 8.dat
08.rdbdata: 9.dat
09.rdbdata: 10.dat
10.rdbdata: 11.dat
11.rdbdata: 12.dat
12.rdbdata: 13.dat
13.rdbdata: 14.dat
14.rdbdata: 15.dat
15.rdbdata: 16.dat
16.rdbdata: 17.dat
17.rdbdata: 18.dat
18.rdbdata: 19.dat
19.rdbdata: 20.dat
20.rdbdata: 21.dat
21.rdbdata: 22.dat
22.rdbdata: 23.dat
le.idx: 24.dat
RDBHashIndex.bin: 25.dat

Now launch the downloader application again and choose the same directory as the first time you launched the downloader.
You will get a warning saying some files might be overwritten, this is OK.
It will scan through all the files and then only download the ones which you deleted, saving you much time.
Uninstall and reinstall the game and hope you have no/less errors.
Repeat as necessary. Good luck!

Other Errors
If you got an error in the install before it gets to the resource database files then it may be because the downloaded data-xx.exe for your language is corrupt (en for English, fr for French, etc). Try deleting the appropriate data-xx.exe and redownloading it using the method above.

[51|RandoM]

Made 15th level without any real bugs. Did have a looping sound bug during the very opening movie but that was it.

Whomever thought it was a good idea to make people harvest 40 alligator skins in a spot that only spawns 8 or so alligators needs their damned head examined. I switched instances 6 times till I found one where those gators weren't completely camped out.

[Mantooth]

I'm scanning the forums for you and maybe this might help?

Thanks for the effort. I just waited it out and it finally completed the download. Good thing that it wasn't restarting each time. No problems once I was able to actually start playing. Just made it to Tortage and I am calling it a night.

[SilentScreams]

So...anybody managing to run this on a low-end PC?
I'm planning to wait until I get my new PC before I buy this, but I'm just curious as to whether I could get away with it now on the lowest settings.

[zrikz]

Hit 15 on a priest of mitra and 13 on an assassin. Random if you swim like 100 yards north from there.. I think. There is another small beach of gators that no one really seems to know about.

[tacitus]

Hit 15 on a priest of mitra and 13 on an assassin. Random if you swim like 100 yards north from there.. I think. There is another small beach of gators that no one really seems to know about.
Also, a recent patch also caused other crocks to drop their skins as well.

[Mantooth]

So...anybody managing to run this on a low-end PC?
I'm planning to wait until I get my new PC before I buy this, but I'm just curious as to whether I could get away with it now on the lowest settings.

I am running on a P4 3Ghz, 1.5 GB RAM, ATI X1950 Pro 256 MB system at 1024x768 with low graphic settings. Framerate was ~30 fps until I got to the city of Tortage. 15-30 fps in the city. Still looks good and is playable to me. That may change when I get to bigger and more congested areas.

[Grey]

I am running on a P4 3Ghz, 1.5 GB RAM, ATI X1950 Pro 256 MB system at 1024x768 with low graphic settings. Framerate was ~30 fps until I got to the city of Tortage. 15-30 fps in the city. Still looks good and is playable to me. That may change when I get to bigger and more congested areas.

I'd say it probably won't get worse... the 2 other cities I encountered after tortage were a lot bigger but did not deliver worse framerates as in Tortage.


I run it at 1280x1024/max. Details, 4xAA and got about 6-12FPS, sometimes ~15. Turning off some details and I would get also ~30 FPS. All at a X² 3800+ (2x 2Ghz), 7800GT and 2GB Ram.

[51|RandoM]

fx-55 with 2GB and an 8800GTX, running most things maxed at 1920x1200, averaging 30-45 FPS.

Hit 20th before going to work today, still have 3-4 quests left in Tortage. Going to do all of them before moving on. I hope bags get cheaper in the rest of the world or money gets more plentiful. Don't think I'll have 2 silver by the time I finish up Tortage yet there is a 10silver bag on the vendor.

[Stoke_Ydral]

So...anybody managing to run this on a low-end PC?
I'm planning to wait until I get my new PC before I buy this, but I'm just curious as to whether I could get away with it now on the lowest settings.
I'm on a FX-55, 2GB RAM, X800XT and I can run it on low settings with an acceptable frame rate. I do dip down into single digits now and then but it's a MMO not an FPS so I'm fine with it.

[Grey]

fx-55 with 2GB and an 8800GTX, running most things maxed at 1920x1200, averaging 30-45 FPS.


Nice Low-End Machine :D

[Virtual Machine]

Ok - so i'm planning on snagging a copy today - yet i'm thinking it may not be worth my time:

Celeron D 3.06 processor
ATI Radeon x1600 512 mb card
768 mb of ram

yes? no?

[roboninja]

So, my copy is listed as "Delivered" on Canada Post's tracking page, but I still do not have it. I am hoping this is simply a timing thing, and I will receive the game later today. If not, some heads might have to roll.

[Mashidar]

P4 3ghz Processor
3 gig Ram
7600 GT 256meg
------------------
Tweaking things as I play, right now I have the low settings and my framerate tends to go from 15-30 depending on things.

It's a shame that alot of games put the focus on upgrades because odds are my subscription would of went longer than a month or two if I could run the game. Guess it's a reason why I do enjoy wow is I can play that game at max settings.

But my question is would the rez your monitor is at effect your framerate? Right now I'm running 1920x1200.

[GrinR]

I'm playing on the powerhouse C2D 8400 Wolfdale + 8800GT 512 + 4 gigs RAM, running the game at 1920x1200 with max details v3 shaders Dx10, etc.

It's perfectly smooth for me. I don't know framerate but definitely above 30FPS.

[Virtual Machine]

Just found a special edition at a local wal mart - so the deal is sealed. I'll spend an hour or two installing tonight, then learn my machine can't run it for shit, and spend the next few weeks staring at the packaging and playing FFXI until i can afford an upgrade.

[51|RandoM]

But my question is would the rez your monitor is at effect your framerate? Right now I'm running 1920x1200.

Yes, very much so. That is the problem with relatively large LCD panels when it comes to gaming. You need some serious horsepower to drive a 1920x1200 native resolution in a game with modern graphics.

Pick a lower 16:10 resolution and your framerate will go up, probably by quite a bit and the interpolation won't look too bad. If you have to pick a non-16:10 resolution then you probably want to run with bars otherwise the interpolation will make it look like crap, particularly for things like text windows. Some monitors do a better job than others, though, so YMMV.

[Mashidar]

Yes, very much so. That is the problem with relatively large LCD panels when it comes to gaming. You need some serious horsepower to drive a 1920x1200 native resolution in a game with modern graphics.

Pick a lower 16:10 resolution and your framerate will go up, probably by quite a bit and the interpolation won't look too bad. If you have to pick a non-16:10 resolution then you probably want to run with bars otherwise the interpolation will make it look like crap, particularly for things like text windows. Some monitors do a better job than others, though, so YMMV.

Ah i'll give that a shot and see if it helps.

[Deadend]

I am going to see if Meijers has it in stock, if I see a CE of it, I will buy it maybe. Otherwise I will just order the $40 Circuit City copy... maybe, I am still very much on the fence as I am 10 levels away from Outland in WoW.

[Returner]

I can't run the game at home. When I go to make a character it just hangs on generating content. Anybody else have this issue? I have a weak machine so that's probably the problem.
P4 3gig
1gig ram
can't remeber my vid card but it does have 512 but its AGP
windows XP pro

[Grey]

Ok - so i'm planning on snagging a copy today - yet i'm thinking it may not be worth my time:

Celeron D 3.06 processor
ATI Radeon x1600 512 mb card
768 mb of ram

yes? no?

Mhm hard to say. Your CPU/GPU might handle it but the lack of RAM may become a bottleneck.

[Deadend]

Drop the settings to lowest, make sure you got latest drivers, defrag your drive.

In the beta, the first time it did Generating content it took a loong time.

[51|RandoM]

I can't run the game at home. When I go to make a character it just hangs on generating content. Anybody else have this issue? I have a weak machine so that's probably the problem.
P4 3gig
1gig ram
can't remeber my vid card but it does have 512 but its AGP
windows XP pro

It might not be hung. Generating content can take a looooong time.

[Returner]

Drop the settings to lowest, make sure you got latest drivers, defrag your drive.

In the beta, the first time it did Generating content it took a loong time.

I have it set to the lowest with resolution set to 1024, I'll double check my drivers and defrag the drive. I left the generating content on close to an hour but this time I'll just let it sit.

Thanks for the info.

[51|RandoM]

I have it set to the lowest with resolution set to 1024, I'll double check my drivers and defrag the drive. I left the generating content on close to an hour but this time I'll just let it sit.

Thanks for the info.

Pull up the task manager and see if the process is "not responding" or if it is responding... and chewing up 75-100% of your CPU. :)

You might see lzma.exe featured prominently.

[Deadend]

I have it set to the lowest with resolution set to 1024, I'll double check my drivers and defrag the drive. I left the generating content on close to an hour but this time I'll just let it sit.

Thanks for the info.

I am just hoping it's a one time process. As I have not heard too many other complaints. I'd say if anything it is your RAM being a bottleneck. Close everything you can, Antivirus stuff for sure, as if Conan is blowing through 10,000 files and your AV makes it stop to scan each one. But you can probably cut it down to 30 processes going on at once to make sure.

[51|RandoM]

The generating content thing is one-time---for each area you enter. Presumably the big one at the beginning is taking care of the hubs. I haven't had one take more than a minute or two after that first big one.

[Savok]

Guys it's 1Gb of RAM, the stuff is probably 10 years old and moves at the speed of molasses.

[SilentScreams]

Hehe, going on these responses it sounds like I have no chance.
The people running it on low settings still have better PCs than me :D

For reference, mine is:
Athlon XP 2800+
1.5gb RAM
Radeon X1650 Pro 512mb

[Kem0sabe]

Hehe, going on these responses it sounds like I have no chance.
The people running it on low settings still have better PCs than me :D

For reference, mine is:
Athlon XP 2800+
1.5gb RAM
Radeon X1650 Pro 512mb

My Current System:

Core2Duo 1.8
3GB DDR2
Nvidia 8800GT
WD Raptor 10k.

I can run the game at the highest settings with no AA, Shadows disabled, and Trillenar Filtering instead of Aniso.

Still the game lags somewhat fps wise, going down to 20fps in some parts, so now im messing with the settings to find the ideal combination. Problem is that is you mess with shadows and lighting, a lot of the trees in the game will look outn of place from the surrounding enviroment, a lot of the object shadows become messed up and cover the objects completly.

I think once they fix all the gfx bugs in the game, possibly with the future directx 10 build, then performance will improve. At least i hope so.

[Grey]

Drop the settings to lowest, make sure you got latest drivers, defrag your drive.

In the beta, the first time it did Generating content it took a loong time.

That was a bug though. It took up to 10 minutes (!) to load the map... now its all pretty fast under one minute, even for complete new areas.

[roboninja]

Sweet, my CE copy was waiting for me on my desk when I got to work. Now I just have to stare at it all day....

[Mashidar]

Well my impressions so far are that I really enjoy the game so far. Right now i'm a level 14 Barbarian and I've enjoyed the story so far for the Rogue class. It's nice to see that each class, not job but class, has it's own tale and trainer. Combat is enjoyable although I do feel limited to my options, then again I'm only level 14 out of 80. Feats are almost overwhelming to me in terms of what to pick, and now that things are tweeked just right I tend to get a steady 20-30fps when running around and watch it drop down to about 15 in heavy combat situations.

[zrikz]

Hit 18 last night and a group of 6 of us in a guild went and slaughtered the Archaic (spelling) ruins in epic mode. We had 3 healers, a guardian, barbarian and a demonologist. Absolutely owned the place. Good exp, lots of quests completed and good times.

BTW if you did not know. Epic mobs of a freaking ton of hps. 3 of us tried it and it took us like 3 mins to kill a mob. With 6 we were taking out a group of 4-5 in a minute. Then again, we were 18 and the mobs were around 14-15

[SilentScreams]

Well, I went and picked the game up despite my crappy PC. It's not like it's going to go anywhere while I save for my new computer.
Anyway, I installed and it was running pretty well until I got to the area outside Tortage where you have to collect bricks for the guy building a dam. It hung twice there, and twice more when I got into Tortage.
I don't know whether it's just because it's launch day here in the UK, or if it's just my computer tapping out.

[Banlauk]

If I pick a different race than my friend, can we still hang out after the first tutorial city or are we sent to distant lands

[Virtual Machine]

Yeah, so it turns out my putter has 1 gig of RAM, and the game actually runs pretty damn well until i hit a populated area. The first bit of Tortage i was averaging 20-30 fps, once i hit the city proper it dipped as low as 3fps. ouch. It seems to stabalize as stuff loads in, and high average if i just wait in the street for a minute or 2 seems to be around 19fps. The single player stuff seems to run fine, but i'm curious as to how things are going to get if i start partying up.

Aside: The game is amazing. Love the way combat is set up.

[zrikz]

If I pick a different race than my friend, can we still hang out after the first tutorial city or are we sent to distant lands

All races start at the exact same place so no worries.

[Micasa]

I won't be returning it as I can't. Best Buy and every other retailer I know of will only exchange open software for the same item, no refunds. So, the only way to not just flush the $42 and change would be to sell it to someone.

*shrug*

I'd take it back and get an exchange, don't open the exchange copy and bring it back later.

[Cyndair]

Picked up AoC yesterday and got a priest of mithra up to 15. I have to say that I'm very impressed with the game so far. I can't believe it only launched 3 days ago. It's playing better than WoW did after a few months of being out.

[tayaya]

Game is running fan-fucking-tastically on my MacBook Pro 2.5GHz Penryn/8600M 512MB/2GB RAM machine, but I'm also working on trying to get it running well on my HP Artist Edition 1.83GHz/8400M 128MB (plus shared)/3GB RAM system as well.

The Mac is a beast but a little weak in the GPU dept so I'm running it on Medium in 1440x900 and it averages in the high 20's for framerate which is OK for an MMO. In areas like the caves on newbie island it's a consistent 50-60 and I love that.

The HP I'm trying to run on Low but was still getting a lot of framerate problems, particularly in Tortage by the harbor. I discovered that the "shared system memory" slider defaults to 0. Since my card shares video RAM with system RAM, I moved that all the way over to 384, and things actually got a LOT better. I'm still tweaking a lot of things to get that perfect blend of performance and detail. If I can find a nice config for lower-spec systems I'll post it here.

[51|RandoM]

Level 33, kind of bored.

Game looks great, has good quests... but it is still just another take object a to point b, kill x numbers of creature y type of game.

Encounters aren't getting any more complex either. When they flag something as a "group encounter" all that means is you will face creatures that have HP regen greater than the DPS an equivalent level player can dish out, and of course they hit harder than one person will survive without some really healing or the ability to bounce aggro between players. Exactly the same 1-4 mob encounters, just they take longer and require more people to complete.

Particularly disappointing is the itemization. 33 levels and every item I am wearing came from a quest. I've only bought one thing that entire time too, an 8-slot sack. Between the lack of interesting loot and the relatively tiny inventory space that is why you see loot bags littering every populated battlefield.

Once I'm done exploring I'll most likely be finished with this game.

[51|RandoM]

Anyway, I installed and it was running pretty well until I got to the area outside Tortage where you have to collect bricks for the guy building a dam.

Running water is a framerate killer, make sure you've got reflections turned off and view distances shortened. There is a waterfall/river going right through where that smith is.

[Mashidar]

Well at the moment I'll stick with the game for at least another month for the PC. Low framerate just kills the game overall for me and I can only fear what will happen in bigger cities.

Now I might either look into a New PC or just wait for the 360 version next year to come out, but by then we will know if it's a hit or not if it keeps the same number of folks this time next year. Also with the WoW Expansion and Warhammer game to be released by the end of this year, Conan might just end up a memory.

[Shifter]

I'm having issues with my G15 now for some reason. The game runs fine, then as soon as I hit one of the G keys, the game (but not the system) locks up. I worked fine until last night... odd.

[Virtual Machine]

Yeah, my framerate has taken a nosedive. Averaging 9-15 fps. Have a pile of upgrades coming to me in the mail. Hoping that helps.

[Savok]

Motherfucking thing won't patch, it refuses to dl the last 3.79Mb.

[Kem0sabe]

Big problem i have found now that i started doing dungeons, the itemization in this game is fucking horrible.

A level 50 character looks the same as a level 5 one, the armour, the weapons, the items, everything looks the same and there's no motivation to acquire new items.

Apart from the visual aspect, the drops from mobs themselves in dungeons are crap stat wise, for example the first "true" dungeon you do is the Sanctum of the Burning Souls, if your a character that use light or cloth armour, your fucked as mostly its dropping heavier armour pieces, even then the upgrades are basic.

Funcom needs to fix this fast, else the game is going to gain a reputation as Age of Clones, instead of Age of Conan.

[Savok]

7 hours on, I still can't stop the patch from freezing.

I've opened ports, turned off A/Vs and firewalls, even started in Safemode.

Now the servers are down for 4 hours or some shit.

[51|RandoM]

Big problem i have found now that i started doing dungeons, the itemization in this game is fucking horrible.

A level 50 character looks the same as a level 5 one, the armour, the weapons, the items, everything looks the same and there's no motivation to acquire new items.

Indeed, it is terrible.

I've got a Level 45 Priest of Mitra and I decided to check out my gear. I'm still wearing stuff that is level 10-20 because I've never found anything better.

You can buy higher level armor/weapons from the vendors, but the vendor stuff is "bare", it has no extra stats/abilities, which makes it the worst junk in the game.

At level 45 I've probably seen 4 blue drops in 45 levels, two of which I could use, 1 of which was better than what I already had from quests.

1 drop worth actually using in 45 levels of gameplay? Pretty sad, IMHO.

[GrinR]

My general impression is that Age of Conan is that it's an excellent infant. Everything I've seen tells me that in a year or so it will be a tough call between WoW and AoC when it comes to MOG decisions.

Right now, it's just finding its legs. The core gameplay seems to me to be as solid as any other MOG, with plenty of room for expansion.

[Savok]

Well the game I'm currently playing "respond as quickly as possible to the automated support email" is awesome.

Two questions for folks here, first can anyone access the god damn forums?

Secondly can anyone get their god damn preorder code to work?

[pheriannath]

Itemization is among the worst of any MMO I've played, but the core game is so damn fun I don't think it'll be an issue with me until I start nearing the level cap.

I'm taking it slow though, so time will tell. This is pretty much a stopgap game until Warhammer for me.

[Stoke_Ydral]

Two questions for folks here, first can anyone access the god damn forums?

Secondly can anyone get their god damn preorder code to work? I can read and post on their forums just fine. Have you registered your code AND created a forum account? I couldn't get on at first since I just registered my in game account name and expected it to work on the forums as well, but you have to do it separately.

I didn't preorder though so I can't say on that.

[Phades]

Well the game I'm currently playing "respond as quickly as possible to the automated support email" is awesome.

Two questions for folks here, first can anyone access the god damn forums?

Secondly can anyone get their god damn preorder code to work?

Yes and yes. It took me a bit to get it working the first day, but once they posted that link on the front registration page to fix banned preorder accounts, it worked fine.

[Shifter]

Hmm poor high level itemization might make my choice of Guardian a bad one...

[Savok]

I can read and post on their forums just fine. Have you registered your code AND created a forum account? I couldn't get on at first since I just registered my in game account name and expected it to work on the forums as well, but you have to do it separately.

I didn't preorder though so I can't say on that.
I have, gave it 30 minutes, then another 30, and another... been like 8 hours now.

Yes and yes. It took me a bit to get it working the first day, but once they posted that link on the front registration page to fix banned preorder accounts, it worked fine.
It's like the page doesn't fully load, a sentence just cuts off, driving me mad.

[BlackPete]

Well the game I'm currently playing "respond as quickly as possible to the automated support email" is awesome.

Two questions for folks here, first can anyone access the god damn forums?

Secondly can anyone get their god damn preorder code to work?

Forums - not yet. Been 4 hours now and still counting. I even changed the login name to try to prompt it to well... do something. Anything. Still no luck.

I got the preorder code to work. Yay... except that I'm having video issues with my Geforce Go 7900 GS, where I can't see the character bodies and the ground. Just walking hair and mustaches. It's actually pretty amusing to be fighting a floating mustache (except I can't see or even tell what weapon I have).

I've been trying to get on the forums to see if anyone else suffered the same issues, but well...

So I'll ask here: Does this video problem sound familiar? I've already tried turning everything down to the lowest settings, using DX9, Shader 2.0, Grass turned off, water reflections turned off, etc. Doesn't help.

[Stoke_Ydral]

BlackPete, there is a thread about this in the forums right now. So far the only advice is to do this:
1) Run SimpleConfig.exe (found in your install directory)
2) Click Verify / Repair ...
3) Check Verify Data Integrity
4) Click OK

Also for what it's worth, they also have that video card.

Edit: also found this -

Make sure the version of Direct X in your settings matches the one you're actualy using.

[BlackPete]

BlackPete, there is a thread about this in the forums right now. So far the only advice is to do this:
1) Run SimpleConfig.exe (found in your install directory)
2) Click Verify / Repair ...
3) Check Verify Data Integrity
4) Click OK

Also for what it's worth, they also have that video card.

Aha, thanks! I'll give that a shot when I get home tonight. I'm hoping that'll at least go quicker than the install/patching process :o

[AversionFX]

Game looks great, has good quests... but it is still just another take object a to point b, kill x numbers of creature y type of game.

Welcome to MMOs, take a number.

Encounters aren't getting any more complex either. When they flag something as a "group encounter" all that means is you will face creatures that have HP regen greater than the DPS an equivalent level player can dish out, and of course they hit harder than one person will survive without some really healing or the ability to bounce aggro between players. Exactly the same 1-4 mob encounters, just they take longer and require more people to complete.

I'm guessing you haven't played much of the group content. And since you're obviously not level 40, you haven't learned your new directional attacks, adding more variety to your combos and overall combat flow.

Particularly disappointing is the itemization. 33 levels and every item I am wearing came from a quest. I've only bought one thing that entire time too, an 8-slot sack. Between the lack of interesting loot and the relatively tiny inventory space that is why you see loot bags littering every populated battlefield.

Considering the player market isn't up, the only gear you're going to get is going to be from quests (since tradeskill components are bought from the market NPCs, which, again, aren't available). Store-bought armor? Who does that? Nobody. I've got mostly blue gear from quests, and then I cleared Sanctum of Burning Souls last night, got myself an awesome dagger, not from a quest.

It's an MMO - you get the best gear from group dungeons and quests. When it becomes available, you can also either make it or buy it from other players. No MMO launches with the amount of gear that WoW currently has, don't expect it to. The reason you see loot bags anywhere is because not everyone collects every canvas armband or steel greatsword that drops.

Once I'm done exploring I'll most likely be finished with this game.

Which won't be til 80 when you've done every dungeon. Yet again, welcome to MMOs, I fail to see the basis for your complaints on a game that's been live for 7 days.

[51|RandoM]

Welcome to MMOs, take a number.


You mean welcome to MMORPG 1.0. The genre can and will advance. There are some advances in Conan, just not in the quest area at all.


I'm guessing you haven't played much of the group content. And since you're obviously not level 40, you haven't learned your new directional attacks, adding more variety to your combos and overall combat flow.

I am 45.
I am a healer(so who do you think gets invited on all of the group quests?)
I know my directional attacks just fine, my character has no combos. The complexity in the Priest of Mitra class comes from positioning and knowing how and when to wield your spells since many of them are both heals and damage simultaneously.

Considering the player market isn't up, the only gear you're going to get is going to be from quests (since tradeskill components are bought from the market NPCs, which, again, aren't available). Store-bought armor? Who does that? Nobody. I've got mostly blue gear from quests, and then I cleared Sanctum of Burning Souls last night, got myself an awesome dagger, not from a quest.

I've got almost entirely quest gear, most of which is green. 45 levels and only one item worth using? Lame. Make excuses all you want but it is lame.

It's an MMO - you get the best gear from group dungeons and quests. When it becomes available, you can also either make it or buy it from other players. No MMO launches with the amount of gear that WoW currently has, don't expect it to. The reason you see loot bags anywhere is because not everyone collects every canvas armband or steel greatsword that drops.

Which won't be til 80 when you've done every dungeon. Yet again, welcome to MMOs, I fail to see the basis for your complaints on a game that's been live for 7 days.

Guess what? How much do you pay for this game today, and how much is the monthly fee today? Same as you will in the future if and when it ultimately is comparable to WoW. Releasing a MMORPG and then promising the fun to be added at a later date just isn't going to cut it anymore.

Just because MMORPGs are usually released that way doesn't mean they should be released that way. One of the reasons WoW did so well is because they did not do that to their userbase. There were cool items, cool quests, and cool drops from day one.

So while you fail to see the basis for my complaints, I fail to see why I should listen to any of your excuses, particularly when you couch most of them as me not knowing what to expect, or as me not experiencing all of the content in the game.

Having 5% great encounters placed at high levels doesn't make up for 95% of the game being mind-numbingly boring.

I want more from a MMORPG and eventually somebody will deliver it. They won't do it because of people like you who are content to suck down the same weak shit that has been done many times before, they'll do it for people like me who want more from the genre.

[GrinR]

You mean welcome to MMORPG 1.0. The genre can and will advance. There are some advances in Conan, just not in the quest area at all.

I'm a supernoob, so what do I know, but I can tell you the fully cut-scened, voice-acted, DIALOG TREE havin' quests in Tortage (starter zone) is something I've never seen before in any MOG. The game feels like The Witcher to me, and that's a very very good thing.

No advances in the quest area? That's certainly not my experience.

[AversionFX]

You mean welcome to MMORPG 1.0. The genre can and will advance. There are some advances in Conan, just not in the quest area at all.

MMO quests will never move beyond fetch, kill, or relay quests. There's nothing else there that I can think of beyond those. Every quest will revolve around you killing something, finding and returning something, etc.

I am 45.
I am a healer(so who do you think gets invited on all of the group quests?)
I know my directional attacks just fine, my character has no combos. The complexity in the Priest of Mitra class comes from positioning and knowing how and when to wield your spells since many of them are both heals and damage simultaneously.

Okay, so the challenge of your class is knowing how to play your class, which not everyone does.

I've got almost entirely quest gear, most of which is green. 45 levels and only one item worth using? Lame. Make excuses all you want but it is lame.

I've replaced plenty of gear. So, yet again, your gripe boils down to "This game doesn't have as much gear selection as an MMO that's been out for 4 years!" Big deal.

Guess what? How much do you pay for this game today, and how much is the monthly fee today? Same as you will in the future if and when it ultimately is comparable to WoW. Releasing a MMORPG and then promising the fun to be added at a later date just isn't going to cut it anymore.

If you really think a freshly launched MMO should have the same amount of itemization as an MMO that's been out for 4 years, gone through countless massive content patches and an expansion, you're leaving "naivety" and entering "stupidity". I'm having a lot more fun playing this game than I ever did playing WoW.

Just because MMORPGs are usually released that way doesn't mean they should be released that way.

Oh, okay, because keeping a game in development for another 3 years to be on the same level as WoW is a great idea. Seriously, are you thinking about what you're typing?

One of the reasons WoW did so well is because they did not do that to their userbase. There were cool items, cool quests, and cool drops from day one.

The quest I did last night that involved chasing down the sarcophagus of an ancient queen from what is now a ghost ship, to a city's sewer, to a temple of evil says you're a retarded fanboy. The awesome dagger I got, the ball mace and one-handed sword a friend got, and the ornate chest piece another friend got also say you're naive.

So while you fail to see the basis for my complaints, I fail to see why I should listen to any of your excuses, particularly when you couch most of them as me not knowing what to expect, or as me not experiencing all of the content in the game.

You're saying a game is bad because it just launched, whereas an MMO that's been out for 4 years is awesome because... it's been out for 4 years!

Having 5% great encounters placed at high levels doesn't make up for 95% of the game being mind-numbingly boring.

And you say WoW is better. That's hilarious. Last I heard, less than 1% of the people playing WoW have killed Illidan. And you have the balls to say something stupid like that? You're too much.

I want more from a MMORPG and eventually somebody will deliver it. They won't do it because of people like you who are content to suck down the same weak shit that has been done many times before, they'll do it for people like me who want more from the genre.

Let's hear your awesome idea about how quests in an MMO should be done. Because apparently killing monsters and finding stuff for people is low-form and should be avoided.

[Saladin]

I've got almost entirely quest gear, most of which is green. 45 levels and only one item worth using? Lame. Make excuses all you want but it is lame.

How is this any different from WoW? At the same stage of leveling, around lvl 30 there, how many items will you have that aren't quest related? Maybe a couple if you've done VC or Gnomer or something, but it's the same in AoC, if you want the good drops you do dungeons or hope you get lucky with world drops. A guildy of mine around the same level has had two blue world drops that he's using, which is pretty good going.

[Savok]

Well tech support is slow and their patcher licks a hairy nut (tell me what the 3.79Mb file is and I'll get it myself you assholes).

Also I'm not the only one with forum trouble it seems. I wouldn't care only I can't read the fucking thing without a forum account, paranoid shits.

[revelation]

Well tech support is slow and their patcher licks a hairy nut (tell me what the 3.79Mb file is and I'll get it myself you assholes).

Also I'm not the only one with forum trouble it seems. I wouldn't care only I can't read the fucking thing without a forum account, paranoid shits.

Hmm. Interesting, Savok.

I'm having problems with both the forum and the pre-order code too. As is my dad.

I wonder if it's an Australian problem? Two guys in our guild from Australia are also having trouble with both.

[Savok]

Hmm. Interesting, Savok.

I'm having problems with both the forum and the pre-order code too. As is my dad.

I wonder if it's an Australian problem? Two guys in our guild from Australia are also having trouble with both.
Ask them these questions.

Is the rating on their box 18+ with a PEGI URL under it?

Is their box full of leaflets with shit in Euros?

On the preorder code subject, when you put in the code does it seem like the page doesn't finish loading?

[BlackPete]

Hmm. Interesting, Savok.

I'm having problems with both the forum and the pre-order code too. As is my dad.

I wonder if it's an Australian problem? Two guys in our guild from Australia are also having trouble with both.

I'm a Canuck, and I still can't access the forums. Still trying to sort out the video problem, and the above mentioned tip didn't work... it reported 0 corrupted resources, so there was nothing to fix.

Time to juggle beta video drivers it seems... yay.... :(

[Deadend]

Sigh, Circuit City just informed me my copy will be her on the 10th of june, when it was ordered on May 24th. I should have just driven the 40 fucking miles to save the $10.

[Savok]

Just finished a reinstall, went right back to being stuck on the 3.79Mb file.

[BlackPete]

Video driver juggling didn't work either, so I'm basically stuck. I even went through the config XML file and turned off everything relevant I could find to no avail.

However when I'm in the game, upon closer inspection, it looks like they have the near and far planes reversed for some reason. At least the type of graphical glitches I'm seeing are pretty consistent like that, which would explain the missing ground/bodies/etc unless I'm right up against them (so they'd be on the inside of the near plane).

If that's really the case, that's kind of a weird bug to have...

[GrinR]

Sigh, Circuit City just informed me my copy will be her on the 10th of june, when it was ordered on May 24th. I should have just driven the 40 fucking miles to save the $10.

www.playyet.com sells for I think $54 flat. Emailed a registration key and bang you're in.

The manual is USE-USE-USE-USE

LESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS


Whoops, they're sold out - only timecards for sale now.

[AversionFX]

Just finished a reinstall, went right back to being stuck on the 3.79Mb file.

I feel your pain. That's a long damn install. Did you at least fetch a soda or make a sandwich while you waited? :o

[Kem0sabe]

How is this any different from WoW? At the same stage of leveling, around lvl 30 there, how many items will you have that aren't quest related? Maybe a couple if you've done VC or Gnomer or something, but it's the same in AoC, if you want the good drops you do dungeons or hope you get lucky with world drops. A guildy of mine around the same level has had two blue world drops that he's using, which is pretty good going.

Good luck with getting gear from dungeons. The last boss of the Pyramid is known to only drop a stamina potion... on heroic difficulty. :rolleyes:

The games itemization sucks, no matter how one spins it.

[Suicidal ShiZuru]

I guess I should drive until I find an open store selling this, sounds like people love it!!!...

[revelation]

Ask them these questions.

Is the rating on their box 18+ with a PEGI URL under it?

Is their box full of leaflets with shit in Euros?

On the preorder code subject, when you put in the code does it seem like the page doesn't finish loading?

Dunno about them and won't have time to hop on, but ours has the M 17+ rating.

Full of little leaflet tie-ins, but no Euro pricing.

And definitely with the preorder. It says, 'YOU CAN' and it just cuts off.

[GrinR]

There's plenty to complain about, but boy I sure love chopping heads off and talking to large breasted whores.

[Savok]

I feel your pain. That's a long damn install. Did you at least fetch a soda or make a sandwich while you waited? :o
First time I went through the CE stuff, second I just sat thinking about how Robert E. Howard took 8 hours to die after shooting himself and what a miserable world it is.

Dunno about them and won't have time to hop on, but ours has the M 17+ rating.

Full of little leaflet tie-ins, but no Euro pricing.

And definitely with the preorder. It says, 'YOU CAN' and it just cuts off.
That's what my manual and game discs say, rest is European. I hope I didn't get boned on the region, I'm going to be really pissed off otherwise.

That "You Can"? EXACTLY what I have, it just stops there, apparently it's supposed to have an "Upgrade Subscription" button confirming that you want the code on that account. Fuck yeah, not just me.

[Savok]

Behold, my pain in picture form.

http://www.savok.pcis-studios.com/nopatch.jpg

http://www.savok.pcis-studios.com/youcan.jpg

[AversionFX]

There's plenty to complain about, but boy I sure love chopping heads off and talking to large breasted whores.

My assassin (female) recently got a fatality where she stabs an enemy in the back of the leg, and when they lurch forward, she slashes their throat. Doing that fatality topless is the most hilarious and awesome thing ever.

[51|RandoM]

How is this any different from WoW? At the same stage of leveling, around lvl 30 there, how many items will you have that aren't quest related? Maybe a couple if you've done VC or Gnomer or something, but it's the same in AoC, if you want the good drops you do dungeons or hope you get lucky with world drops. A guildy of mine around the same level has had two blue world drops that he's using, which is pretty good going.

You can find interesting drops in just about every level range in WoW. At lower levels the bonuses will be lower but you'll still find items now and then that are worth using.

If you think the itemization in AoC is even remotely as well done as it is in WoW you really need to think again, because it isn't.

...and at the end of the day, all you are really saying is that in your opinion the itemization sucks in both games, not the AoC is "ok" just because WoW isn't any better.

I swear you guys are so used to getting dumped on for so long when it comes to MMORPGs that you take it for granted.

[Katslover]

I agree that there aren't really any "phat lootz" in AoC, but luckily it's game play is fun, so I don't have that big of a problem with it...yet.

[Crowe]

Blizzard rock at fat loot. With WOW there is almost always something better out there for you to get. They did have practice with D2 though haha.

I'm sure AOC will eventually bring out the fat loot. Won't they? I would have assumed that loot would be one of the easier things. But I guess balance has to be thought of.

How much did the loot in WOW change? When it was first released did Wailing Caverns and Deadmines have some nice early lvl loot like they do now?

[Crowe]

Quest rewards - Green Drops and some Blue Drops from Lvling Mobs- PVP Rewards - Dungeon Rewards. Rinse and Repeat.

Thats pretty much how it goes. Ive only ever played WOW (And a little EVE) but I know with WOW that as you unlock dungeons you always know that they are going to have some fat loot in there for nearly every class.

[Deadend]

Someone should check their patch directory of conan for a 3.79 MB file to send to Savok.

[Cyndair]

How much did the loot in WOW change? When it was first released did Wailing Caverns and Deadmines have some nice early lvl loot like they do now?

Yes, WoW had excellent itemization from day one. I remember running Deadmines in the beta and seeing awesome blues drop.

I'm having a great deal of fun with AoC so far but the itemization is indeed weak from what I've seen so far. Granted I'm only level 30 and have yet to do a group dungeon.

I will not agree with, however, the claims that the gameplay is boring. I am loving the quests and having more fun leveling my character and gaining exp than I ever did in WoW.

[Savok]

Good thing items are about the easiest thing in the world to patch in then.

[Crowe]

Good thing items are about the easiest thing in the world to patch in then.

Yeah that true. Although the same could be said about putting more weapons in from the start and then tweaking and adding them in patches to come. I can't wait to give this game a crack though.

[Felonous]

If you would like to chat about AoC, I created a IRC chat channel on the coldfront server, the channel name is #EvilAvatar-AoC. You can use the mibbit web IRC client to connect: www.mibbit.com.

This way we can chat between servers or while not actually in AoC.

[NSFW]

I hate not having a computer to run games im interested in. I'm excited for this game so I thought I would jump on the chat 2 see what you guys are saying but there is no one there.

[Kem0sabe]

So, problem with billing today.

I was in the early access until last night, when the 10 day period ended, as i'm yet to receive my retail copy of the game from Amazon, my account was frozen until i introduce the retail box cd-key, all good, i was expecting that.

What i wasnt expecting was that while i was checking my CC transactions today at work, i noticed that i was billed the monthly fee by funcom, even tho i dont even have a valid game account and even if i had, i would still have the 30 free days that come with the box.

I sent an email to CS, no answer till now, i checked the forums, there are several threads with multiple posts about other people having the same problem.

I experienced similar billing problems in AO with overcharging, i don't know why its so hard for Funcom to implement functioning a billing system, especially in a mmorpg where you have to plan for that from the start. I'm giving them a few more days, if this isnt resolved by then, im not even going to add the retail key and just return the copy back to Amazon.

[BlackPete]

OK this is getting ridiculous... I *still* can't access the forums and it's been almost 48 hours since I created the forum account. What's more, I still have yet to receive any response to my support emails (aside from one automated reply with a ticket number).

You'd think they'd at least give read-only access to the tech support forums at the very least... !

[Felonous]

I hate not having a computer to run games im interested in. I'm excited for this game so I thought I would jump on the chat 2 see what you guys are saying but there is no one there.

I am there, did you connect to the coldfront server? I never saw you enter/exit the chat room.

[NSFW]

Oh yeah I was on the wrong server i guess. I stopped by there just now and I saw u on autoaway. no one was there. I'll check back.

[Felonous]

Yea, was out to lunch, back now.

[NSFW]

O ok well I'll stop by in a bit gotta play some wow first.

[Wyrm]

I'm having a hard time sympathizing with anyone who bought this on the day it came out. I feel your pain, having bought Anarchy Online when it came out, but this shouldn't be surprising. It's FunCom. It took them almost two years to get AO into a stable state where it was actually playable and fun. You're helping them play test it right now.

I mean, no one can blame you for not knowing, but I'd venture a guess that some of you knew and bought it anyway.

[Katslover]

Have a hard time sympathizing all you want, I'm having fun RIGHT now.

[Suicidal ShiZuru]

Is it just me or are AoC fanboys appearing out of everywhere?

[51|RandoM]

Is it just me or are AoC fanboys appearing out of everywhere?

Games are polarizing, particularly games with a large time investment like MMORPGs.

People who are having a great time---and expending a lot of time doing so---do not want to hear that they are actually wasting it(I'm not interested in the all games are a waste of time debate at the moment, btw).

The ones in that situation who become overly defensive are probably already having some doubts of their own, if not about the game itself then about their own judgment.

AoC is just another example of MMORPG 1.0. If that is all you want, you'll like AoC... for awhile. The problem is that like many addictive drugs, it loses its effectiveness after awhile, requiring larger doses to generate the high you are used to. I'm practically immune to the charms of AoC at this point in my gaming addiction. :)

[GrinR]

Games are polarizing, particularly games with a large time investment like MMORPGs.

People who are having a great time---and expending a lot of time doing so---do not want to hear that they are actually wasting it(I'm not interested in the all games are a waste of time debate at the moment, btw).

The ones in that situation who become overly defensive are probably already having some doubts of their own, if not about the game itself then about their own judgment.

AoC is just another example of MMORPG 1.0. If that is all you want, you'll like AoC... for awhile. The problem is that like many addictive drugs, it loses its effectiveness after awhile, requiring larger doses to generate the high you are used to. I'm practically immune to the charms of AoC at this point in my gaming addiction. :)

Translation: If you like MOGs regardless of their quality, you'll like AoC. If you don't, you won't.

Astute analysis at its best!

AoC does many, many things differently from 99% of the MOGs out there. The things it does differently may be just the thing to keep you there, or it may be overlooked entirely (see above.) Depending on which group you're in, you may like it or not.

It's also safe to say that AoC has a LOT of runway to get much better, which also puts it ahead of 99% of all MOGs out there.

[Savok]

OK this is getting ridiculous... I *still* can't access the forums and it's been almost 48 hours since I created the forum account. What's more, I still have yet to receive any response to my support emails (aside from one automated reply with a ticket number).

You'd think they'd at least give read-only access to the tech support forums at the very least... !
Magically, I'm in. Found a lot of people having the 3.79Mb file problem.

http://www.mediafire.com/?z5ifwwedfdh

There she is, download that, unzip it, stick in the Age of Conan directory/folder, fucking thing works.

Haven't looked for a preorder code solution yet, too damn busy.

AoC is just another example of MMORPG 1.0. If that is all you want, you'll like AoC... for awhile. The problem is that like many addictive drugs, it loses its effectiveness after awhile, requiring larger doses to generate the high you are used to. I'm practically immune to the charms of AoC at this point in my gaming addiction. :)
That's fucking super.

I'll be enjoying Hyboria now, call me when someone makes your magic game.

[Katslover]

I'm really glad you are in, Savok. Hope you enjoy the game as much as I am.

[Savok]

Ok, on the Preorder code front there's a 12 fucking page thread on it in the forums.

http://forums-us.ageofconan.com/showthread.php?t=27367

Just about everyone is Australian or a Kiwi, all with exactly the same problem. Some have been waiting 4 god damn days for a reply from support.

[Liquidus]

Does anybody have a buddy pass that I could use to try this game? I've heard a lot of good things about it and I'd like to try it before I buy it.

[Savok]

Buddy system doesn't work yet.

[Liquidus]

Oh, that would explain why nobody is talking about it.

[Savok]

Same reason no one is talking about how the game looks in DX10, is no DX10 game yet.

I'll tell you something that does work, taking off your top and flashing your tits at some asshole before jamming a broken bottle into his neck.

[Wyrm]

Same reason no one is talking about how the game looks in DX10, is no DX10 game yet.

I'll tell you something that does work, taking off your top and flashing your tits at some asshole before jamming a broken bottle into his neck.

Now that is gameplay I can endorse.

[Shifter]

1) I really hope they don't make me reinstall a DX10 client -- hope it's a patch.

2) Savok PM me your character names please.

[51|RandoM]

Translation: If you like MOGs regardless of their quality, you'll like AoC. If you don't, you won't.

You and I are textbook cases, just at opposite ends of the spectrum. We went through exactly the same process with LoTRO.

:)

[roboninja]

I'll tell you something that does work, taking off your top and flashing your tits at some asshole before jamming a broken bottle into his neck.

I think this game has more people playing female characters than any other, most likely due to the nudity factor. Bunch of pervs :p

Have to say, I got a Conqueror to level 11 on the first day, but have not booted it up since. I will give it more time, so I am not done with the game, but it has not captured me yet.

[Savok]

I'm a virgin, I'll take what I can get :p

And while I started a Dark Templar I've since deleted her, I have no grip whatsoever on battle flow in this game. Right now I have no characters, like with most choices, I'm paralyzed as to which to take.

Between a Guardian, Barbarian, Ranger and Herald of Xolti (mmm, Elder God) right now.

EDIT: And the preorder code thread is 13 pages now, people just begging for some response from Funcom. Even a "we're working on it".

[Karmakin]

Is there any walkthroughs or guides out there that I can get a grasp on how the dungeons are played in this game?

[tayaya]

Just my $0.02, not that it's going to change any minds or get any of the hardcore WOW players to believe that AoC has any redeeming value. I've played many MMO's in my years as a gamer. Everquest, EQII, Asheron's Call, Final Fantasy XI, Lord of the Rings Online, and WoW. Based on my experience with Age of Conan, I think it's one of the more enjoyable, if not the most enjoyable MMO I've ever gotten my hands on. The complaints about the lack of variety in the armor so far are legit, but no more so than FFXI is in the earlier levels of the game. I'm more interested in going on quests, advancing the story, and just having fun than trying to make my character look "teh epikz," so I really don't care what my armor looks like just yet... I just want it to help keep me alive. Money hasn't been a tremendous problem just yet as so far I can survive and fight very effectively just using quest rewards and NPC purchased armor. A lack of cool-looking clothing doesn't make the whole game shit.

I'm level 21 right now, and haven't had a single moment where I was bored or didn't have something to do. I finally got off of the starting area last night and really I could've stayed there and done all the quests as there were zones and parts of zones I hadn't even explored there yet. The game seems big enough, and there seems to be more than enough to do. I like the universe and the story so far and really going in I thought I wouldn't really care for the "conan" setting. Combat's a lot of fun and the pacing of the game is very fast and not at all like FFXI where you spend a lot of time resting.

It has a few big bugs and there are times that they can get frustrating, but I expect that from any new MMO and I truly believe they'll be ironed out in the coming months. I'm not disappointed in my purchase, and now that I'm in the game world proper I'm only more excited about the things I may find there.

[Deadend]

Ugh, I want my copy now, every fucking podcast seems to be singing the glories of Conan, Gamers With Jobs is on Wiccana, we can have some Alliance going with them.

[BlackPete]

Bah I think I'll give up on trying to get this to work for now until a new patch comes out that addresses graphical issues. I've tried 5 different video drivers I could get my hands on, and none of them worked in resolving my issues. Yet this is the same machine that could handle Oblivion, Prey, Bioshock, and C&C3 just fine.

[PopoWRX]

Once the GFW guys starting singing AoC praise...it seems I will be taking the plunge.

[Deadend]

Once the GFW guys starting singing AoC praise...it seems I will be taking the plunge.

Didn't they do that on the last podcast? I want to go PVP with them.

[SilentScreams]

All the AoC praise is making the fact that I tried and failed to play it on my crappy PC even harder to bear.
It doesn't help that for the first 5 levels, the game was pretty smooth and playable. It means I got a taste for it. I liked my Tempest of Set.

[51|RandoM]

Didn't they do that on the last podcast? I want to go PVP with them.

They dumped on it during last week's podcast. Did they like it this week?

[Suicidal ShiZuru]

Now twelve pages in I still dont know if I want to buy it.

[Savok]

Then wait for the buddy codes to get going.

Should have less bugs by then as well.

[Shifter]

They dumped on it during last week's podcast. Did they like it this week?

Yeah Sean Malloy dumped on it last week, then poop-socked it all last weekend and now he likes it. Of course it's more that he enjoys his usual griefing than either the story, setting or combat.

[Savok]

Renora my Conq seems to have struck a chord with me, mostly because I subconsciously made a German Big Barda.

I smashed out a dude's throat with my Mega-rod, that was pretty cool.

Preorder code topic is up to 17 pages now, some have found a solution by going through the in-game petition system. The few email replies back so far have been useless.

[Kem0sabe]

Have a small performance tip, if anyone is interesting in testing it.

Some months ago, when i was still playing WoW, if i had the windows media player on the background while playing, the game had marginally better performance. I think it was due to some optimizations that mp did to windows processing, but anyways, Blizzard eventualy integrated code into the WoW client to take advantage of it.

I've tried the same with AoC and i did notice some improvement, maybe it was just wishful thinking, but i would like for others here to test it out and confirm if this works or not. MP doesn't need to be playing anything, just running while your playing AoC.

[Deadend]

4 hour install... jesus. Copy the DVDs over to your hard drive before install.

But the game itself has much much much much faster load times than beta, way fewer bugs, runs faster, sounds better, maybe plays better too.

As so far I have found Conan to be the best playing MMO out there. I have yet to figure out the depths of the combo system, and I would love for an icon showing cooldown before next swing, and a way to rebind controls a bit... Conan combat needs me to have both hands hitting keys, as the mouse is not needed for melee.

[revelation]

Renora my Conq seems to have struck a chord with me, mostly because I subconsciously made a German Big Barda.

I smashed out a dude's throat with my Mega-rod, that was pretty cool.

Preorder code topic is up to 17 pages now, some have found a solution by going through the in-game petition system. The few email replies back so far have been useless.

Sav, my dad and I just resovled the Mammoth issue. Definitely petition in-game. GM fixed it in like...two minutes after we got him.

Did a /claim and bam, mammoth and 8-slot sack in the inventory right away.

[Savok]

Yeah I figure that's our best bet now, I don't see a real solution happening for ages.

[Intruder]

Ranger and I took the plunge this weekend, highly enjoyable so far. I great change of pace from WoW, and leagues and bounds better than TR, LotRO, or PotBS

[Kem0sabe]

Originally Posted by Gaute Godager - Game Director
Fellow Hyborians!

As you may have noticed we have had frequent patches the last two weeks. We hope this will soon start to quiet down, but as long as there are major issues – and there have been – we will dedicate the Conan team to fixing them and giving you these fixes as soon as possible! We have a plan on how to move this game forward because as you know, what you have today is but the platform – the dawn of this world. I hope you enjoy the game as is, but I can ensure you, this is but the beginning!

Our focus from now on can be summarized by these points:

1. We will add content, specifically in mid-late thirties and mid-late fifties and make the leveling speed smoother in those areas, reducing the need to grind.

2. We will have an overhaul of the PvP system – adding consequence and a host of small things.

3. We are fixing bugs you reported through all channels we can get information from.

4. We will add a new large outdoor region in the 55-60 range this summer!

5. This is only a small teaser! More information about the exciting summer and fall Roadmap will come the end of the next week!

6. We are staffing up Customer Service, Quality Assurance and Community departments!

I will spend some words on a bit more details now.


1. Filling “thin areas” in our content

We have seen that there are certain level ranges of these Hyborian Adventures that do not have the amount of quality we wish them to have. Most specifically these are the end of the Thirties and the end of the Fifties level ranges. We are addressing this in several ways.

* Several mid-late thirties dungeons are getting a complete overhaul (Black Castle, Pyramid of the Ancients and Treasury of the Ancients)
* Several quests are being made fuller and more entertaining. If people wish to revisit these quests, we will add a system to let them try them out again.
* we are adding first a batch of quests in Eiglophian Mountains (lvls 55+)
* We are also adding in a bunch of quests that didn’t quite make it for launch in the 30+ areas.
* Around 60 quests through the game have been flagged as “Lore Quests”. They will now be patched out with full Voice-Over. (Roughly 1 quest per level after level 20).


All this will come in June! In July the first level 80 additional Dungeon will be patched out. More on that later…



2. Overhauling the PvP System

People like our open PvP system. There are many plans on how to give this open free PvP even more meaning and Purpose. In the meantime we will be doing some smaller tweaks, and we plan to get these out sometimes in June. I will not go into 100% detail here, but that will come next week! What I can promise is:

* An update on how sneaking and perception works in PvP (nothing major, but an adjustment).
* A change in the amount of information you get when you hover over an other player.
* An added system of consequence to “ganking”. (Killing much-much lower level players).
* A system of adding consequence to losing a PvP match, and winning a PvP match + turning on PvP Leveling.
* A change in how Crowd Control (Root, Knockback etc) works in PvP.
* PvP gear.



3. New Massive Region

We will unveil this location later, but it will feature a host of quests, new monsters and places of dreams or horror. It will be styled towards the players in the late 50s and bridge the experience on the way to Atzels Approach. We have plans for releasing several of the areas that didn’t quite make it for the release.



4. Fixing bugs and increasing Customer Service

Funcom has always prided ourselves with having great customer satisfaction. The success so far for this title has left us with the need to increase the size of CS. This will go in parallel with the constant fixing of bugs and other issues that lead people to petition. Included in this is even better testing of the game by increasing the size of Quality Assurance and informing you better about changes by staffing up the Community Department. I know a blurb like this will haunt me always, but I will still venture one: We aren’t satisfied until all our customers are! You know we had a very, very difficult launch of Anarchy-Online! That was a very painful process for all of us working on it – 4 years. You might not understand how driven we are to make sure you enjoy this game, and all the support around it!


The future is very bright for Hyboria. There will be many bright mornings following this, the very first. Together we shall surge ahead and build the world even bigger, better and more detailed!

Yours truly,

Gaute Godager

Game Director
Age of Conan, Funcom

Finally they try to do something about the lack of content, hopefully they wont do the predictable thing and delay it beyond a June release... its already June 3rd :)

I find it funny that after the extensive beta test and 5 years in development, just now they realize that the game has such an extensive list of problems. Anyways, its nice to see they know where to focus on.

[zrikz]

Although they have a list, at least they are telling the public what the problems are and saying they are working on it, I like seeing big posts like this, at least they know how to communicate.

I enjoy SOE games and Vanguard for that matter, but they pretty much just say say we know about this and it will be fixed... in the near future (1-4 months).

Although there might be "Grind" levels, comon, people are already 80.. I went from like 28 - 34 soloing last night in only a few hours. Its not that hard to level in this game and killing monsters for exp is pretty quick as well.

[GrinR]

I just got to 21 and left the starter city (Tortage.) The new city.. I forget the name but the one in the middle, is just beautiful. I can't wait to play more.

[Phades]

My main just hit 21, I've also got a 15 and an 18. I'm completely hooked. To me the combat system makes all the difference. I think it's easily the most fun combat system I've played in an MMO.
I also think that the quests are fun and interesting. I love the fact that they all have decent voiceovers and some of the cut scenes are pretty good. I especially enjoyed the one with the talisman that had the ghosts trapped in it. *spoiler* It's funny that it finally ends with the blacksmith just smashing it. I love that they made him out to be so tough, cracked me up. */spoiler*

Good stuff, especially for an MMO.

[Kem0sabe]

Although they have a list, at least they are telling the public what the problems are and saying they are working on it, I like seeing big posts like this, at least they know how to communicate.

I enjoy SOE games and Vanguard for that matter, but they pretty much just say say we know about this and it will be fixed... in the near future (1-4 months).

Although there might be "Grind" levels, comon, people are already 80.. I went from like 28 - 34 soloing last night in only a few hours. Its not that hard to level in this game and killing monsters for exp is pretty quick as well.

Wait till you reach 55, from there onwards the only way to advance is to grind, no more quests.

The quests start again in the 60's, but are not enough to get you to 80.

[digitalErich]

Wait, so there's forced grinding in a modern MMO? Yew, I think I'll wait a good 6 months on this game. I'll come in when they've added more quests and the core mechanics aren't in large flux.

[Deadend]

I am really interested to see how the game will be once people get used to the fact that Conan has very different mechanics than almost every MMO before, even just with active X blocking and the fact that again... EVERYTHING is an AOE move. Right now on the Conan forums I hear lots of bitching about how healers can't keep up but I don't think most people are blocking when they should, as blocking MASSIVELY lowers damage taken, even though it costs a good chunk of stamina.

Really, I love block now. at lv 23 I go from taking 60-70 damage a thwack to 3-5 damage. That is enough to make a HoT worthwhile, and dodging. I am really excited about the game as I am trying to now play it more like an action game than WoW.

Switching weapons after every combo so I can use my best 2h combos and my best DW combos in a single fight... using weaker versions of combos to get around cooldowns. I have basically 20 combos I can use in combat + abilites.

In spite of the bugs and lack of content (I have not hit either in retail... aside from 1 crash) the core of the game is good. It is not Lord of the Rings which was a remix of WoW, nor is it another Anarchy Online 2.

[Savok]

Age of Conan has loads of content. The problem is it's all bunched up in certain lvl ranges leaving the rest barren.

[Zurik]

I don't think I'll be renewing. Everyone's equipment is too dull looking, and no real variety. Quests have you spending half your time taking really long walks back and forth between NPCs. I do like the combat system, but I can't see myself using all my free time on this game when there's so much else coming out soon. The thing that was really driving me nuts lately: Quest enemies that have a really slow respawn time and you have to camp there waiting for them. I know this is a common problem in most MMOs, but I don't have all night to sit and wait for a boss to spawn, only to have someone else run up and steal them away from me when they pop back in.

[Savok]

That's more a problem with MMOs at launch on spawn times, everyone's on the same quests. 6 months time things should settle down.

[Felonous]

The thing that was really driving me nuts lately: Quest enemies that have a really slow respawn time and you have to camp there waiting for them. I know this is a common problem in most MMOs, but I don't have all night to sit and wait for a boss to spawn, only to have someone else run up and steal them away from me when they pop back in.

You have no idea what long spawn times are if your complaint is about the spawn times in AoC. The longest I have seen is ~10 minutes (besides a broken respawn for wounded child quest in the wild lands that should be fixed soon), and I have leveled chars to the 40s in all three race areas.

In EQ I spawn camped for boots (made you run faster) for 23 hours straight. There was a line of people waiting for their turn to attack the mob when I arrived, and I was 21st in line. I quit EQ later that week.

[BScookies]

Does AoC have a free month like in WoW?

[Katslover]

Does AoC have a free month like in WoW?

Yea, when you buy the game it comes with 30 days of playtime.

[BScookies]

Yea, when you buy the game it comes with 30 days of playtime.

Ok cool. Sounds like I'm gonna pick it up!

[reimomo]

I find it funny that after the extensive beta test and 5 years in development, just now they realize that the game has such an extensive list of problems. Anyways, its nice to see they know where to focus on.

Oh they knew, they were just scrambling like mad to get a psuedo-finished product out the door. Not that I blame them, but it was obvious from beta that there were some pretty big holes (like, say, the NDA being in effect until release).

[zrikz]

Well of course there will be big bugs on a release title, I've yet to see one not have them. I must say though, this has been the smoothest MMO launch I've taken part in. Vanguard was pretty crappy, EQ2 was not very good and WoW sucked as well.

AoC I've never crashed or had any major bugs other than having to log out and log back in real quick to fix a group bug and the servers have been up during prime time almost 90% of the time I'd say.


As grinding 50-55-60ish.. meh. I've played EQ, EQ2, FFXI, UO, Vanguard, etc. what game does not have grinding?

Still even with grinding if people can go 1-80 and max out their level in the first week of launch, thats not what I would call significant grinding. The hell levels in EQ1, for 1 lvl it would take a day or two just for that level.

Spawn times are nothing so far, I'm sure big raid mobs or important mobs will be different, but if someone just killed a guy I need for a quest, I Stand around 5-10 mins max and it repops.

One of the interesting things I kinda like is I've soloed my guys 1-29 & then 1-35 in a matter of a couple of days, so anyone wondering, soloing is an option.

[Squidbot]

I find it funny that after the extensive beta test and 5 years in development, just now they realize that the game has such an extensive list of problems. Anyways, its nice to see they know where to focus on.

Blame Eidos, not Funcom.