Age of Conan (MMO)

[MLE]

Chojin and I just picked this up at our local Best Buy. It's been getting really good reviews from a lot of different places, so we thought we'd try it out. It takes FOREVER to install, but we'll give you some updates later!

[Dr. Boogie]

I heard the servers collapsed for some amount of time the day the game was released. Have they fixed that yet?

[MetalMilitia]

So wait, they've taken the fantasy genre and made an MMO out of it? Unheard-of!

[MLE]

Females can take their tops off and have nipples.

and Boogie? I don't know. It's still installing.

[Guitar Woman]

just wait until I make a hilarious joke about late night talk show hosts!

[ItalianStereotype]

yawn. wrath of the lich king alpha!

[Tadao]

My brothers been telling me about how you control all movements of you arm in a sword swing while on a horse and so on. Fuck that.

[Chojin]

So far the game is pretty fun. It's a very BETA game, though - tons of really strange graphic bugs and stuff that - while it doesn't kill the game - really smacks of rush-to-release. Then again, that's so enormously typical of any MMO released ever.

The best way to describe the game so far is a combination of Guild Wars and traditional MMOs - there are multiple instances of towns and areas, but unlike Guild Wars, leaving town doesn't leave you cold and alone. In the newbie zone, you can choose to work at 'day' or 'night', and the latter will let you travel around all alone with easier enemies.

Quests so far are your typical MMO choreboy bullshit - find X item here, kill 20 of enemy Z, etc. I still am on newbie island, though, and will continue to be marooned here until level 20. There's a level cap at 80, and after maybe 6 hours of playing, I'm level 13 or so. Combat for warriors is pretty satisfying after you wrap your head around what's really going on - until then it seems a little too crazy to understand what's happening on screen. Instant-kill moves are fucking wicked. Dual-wielding different weapons is cool as shit, too, and when you attack left you use the right weapon and vice-versa, and you swing them both around and bring them down on someone for the center attack.

The writing for the dialogue is well-written and totally non-engaging. The voice acting is absolutely terrible, but I hear that that shit stops entirely after you leave the newbie island anyway.

Adventuring in the wilderness is kinda cool since you can leap all around and find your own way to various locations, but the great outdoors is more confined to paths than some wholly open-ended worlds like Lineage 2 or WOW.

You can ride horses, rhinos, and mammoths. Guilds can build 'entire cities' of buildings and shit, and the rhinos and mammoths can plow through them and break shit up.

There are naked boobies.

Graphics are pretty good, but run a little worse than they should. From what I hear, the way it runs now is MUCH improved over even yesterday, when they introduced a new patch.

The game installs on 2 DVDs which takes a ton of time (the game whole is 32 GB), and then you have to download 700 MB of patch updates.

Character gen is above average - about 20 hairstyles, 20 facial marks, 20 body marks, and then complete face and body morphing.

The game's M rating and pay-to-play system seems to be keeping a few members of the younger crowd out, which is a godsend.

MORE BULLETINS AS EVENTS WARRANT

[executioneer]

how does the mounted combat compare to say, mount & blade

(if you've played that, i mean)

[Emu]

I wanna hear more about these boobies

[Guitar Woman]

the game whole is 32 GB
Jesus fucking christ

[bigtimecow]

meowmixcity: So here's the update note from Age of Conan for today:"Withdrawing cash from the bank should now correctly add coins to your inventory instead of replacing the already existing ones."
knife side down: :(

i don't know why she told me

[Chojin]

how does the mounted combat compare to say, mount & blade

(if you've played that, i mean)

You don't get mounts until level 30 or 40. So, I don't know.

[Guitar Woman]

meowmixcity: So here's the update note from Age of Conan for today:"Withdrawing cash from the bank should now correctly add coins to your inventory instead of replacing the already existing ones."
knife side down: :(

i don't know why she told me
Because it's like that hilarious Korean MMO updates thread we had!

You should talk to me more often, Emily, I understand stuff.

[AChimp]

Age of Conan was rushed out in the hope that they'll be able to fix all of the bugs before Wrath of the Lich King is released, which will probably be around Christmas.

It might work to their advantage, but then again, it might not. DDO was rushed out to beat Burning Crusade, and it has essentially died because they couldn't fix the bugs fast enough and cut down on a lot of content so players ran out of things to do before they got bored.

Plus, people don't have a lot of patience anymore for dealing with buggy MMOs, especially if the company isn't handing out massive amounts of free time like Blizzard used to do.

[Chojin]

DDO?

[Guitar Woman]

Dungeons and Dragons Online, mabye?

[Chojin]

Oh, I assumed that no one ever talked about DnD without the N.

Like I said, Conan's buggy as fuck, but most of it's graphical bugs and not horrible gamebreaking bugs. Except for that time today where I was standing on a mountain and it said YOU ARE BEING INCINERATED and I was all WHAT NO and then I died, and it was apparently because I was standing 20 feet away from a river of magma with an errant kill box.

Besides, most of the graphical bugs are endearing, like when you talk to an NPC and the camera zooms in on their feet while they talk, or that time there was a lightshow rave going on in town for a few minutes before it bluescreened my computer.

On second thought, maybe I just REALLY ENJOY beta testing.

[darkvare]

whats the point of being topless?

[Emu]

whats the point of being topless?

Age of Conan (MMO)You've never heard of Conan, have you

So can you adjust the size of your jubblies or are they restricted to the "Lady Gym Teacher" model?

i ask on behalf of science

[Guitar Woman]

that is ridiculous and now I want to play it.

I'd rather not take up half my hard drive, though.

[Chojin]

Yes, bust size is one of the sliders during character gen.

[executioneer]

man i want to play this game if only so i can be all fake-racist and then get all "dude i was just being in character, have you not READ any of the original conan shit" when i get in trouble for it

[Chojin]

Oh, forgot to mention - there are PVE servers, where you have to ask players if they want to PVP, and there are PVP servers, where you can kill anyone at pretty much any time, though I think the town guards will chase you around if you do that in town. Also, there are RP PVP servers, which I imagine involves the guy ganking you monologing before he does it.

All these servers are labelled as such on the server list. There's no RP PVE server yet.

[OxBlood]

One thing that gets on my nerves are all those loading screens...I even get a loading screen, when I´m being rezzed by someone. Thats really not necessary...and of course the whole thing does not feel like a "World" even for one second...it´s just a bunch of maps with teleport-spots that connect them. At least thats what it seems like to me.

[Chojin]

I just became a REAL MAN on the RP PVP server.

http://www.i-mockery.com/chojin/ageofconan/Durandal_picture007.jpg

A REAL MAN WITH BIG FUCKING CLUB

http://www.i-mockery.com/chojin/ageofconan/Durandal_picture012.jpg

http://www.i-mockery.com/chojin/ageofconan/Durandal_picture014.jpg

http://www.i-mockery.com/chojin/ageofconan/Durandal_picture016.jpg

I also listen to the pirates of the caribbean soundtracks while I play and recommend everyone else in the world do the same.
http://thepiratebay.org/tor/4090663/Pirates_of_the_Caribbean_-_All_Soundtracks

[darkvare]

so have your boobs been patched XD
http://www.gametrailers.com/viewnews.php?id=6002

[Dimnos]

Nope. town guards dont do shit.

[Dimnos]

One thing that gets on my nerves are all those loading screens...I even get a loading screen, when I´m being rezzed by someone. Thats really not necessary...and of course the whole thing does not feel like a "World" even for one second...it´s just a bunch of maps with teleport-spots that connect them. At least thats what it seems like to me.

QFT! I couldnt have put it better myself. At the moment i dont feel like this game is worth paying to play. It feels like it has some potential if they fixed some things. Then chat window is kind of a pain and it feels like you have more abilities / skill / spells than you need or have room for on your action bar. Speaking of the action bar... is it just me or does it seam to big and clunky?

[Dimnos]

oh and the "friends" window WTF is up with that? You really need everyone in your guild listed on your friends window when there already on your guild window?

[Chojin]

http://i-mockery.com/forum/images/mockery/buttons/edit.gif

also

The fact that you can only have 7 special moves was intentional, you big dum-dum.

To say that the game isn't worth paying for due to some polish issues is ridiculous - there are way bigger things to cry about in AOC than friend lists not working quite the way you'd like them to.

[Pub Lover]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v253/urbansuicidejunkie/linkedjunk/2008/june/edit.gif

[Guitar Woman]

http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1818404

[executioneer]

oh that is rich

[Dimnos]

So... what does make a game not worth paying to play? hmmm? The fact that it sucks? How does a game suck? The fact that it feels and plays like a game thats not finished? If I wanted to play bata I would have sighned up for it. I never said the friends window was a deal breaker for me, just that it was one of the many things that still needs to be smoothed out. And whats this about only haveing 7 special moves? I have way more than 7. So many more than 7 its more than I feel the clunky action bar can handle. Ill be willing to give it another try in a few months after they have had time to smooth it out and for the pricks like the one in the video above to chill out.

[Fat_Hippo]

http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1818404

This video just convinced me that I would get the game if I wasn't such a damn cheapskate. Any game that let's you kick other players off narrow ledges with a horse if A-OK with me.

And Dimnos, chilling out is what that guy was doing. Annoying other people for fun is just another way of chilling.

[executioneer]

paying for any MMO where you can't grief other players is pointless

[Dimnos]

Well i do have to admit what he was doing was funny so i have to give him credit for that. The pricks that need to chill out are the lvl 80 guys who roam around in groups of 3 or 4 in lvl 20 - 30 areas just to camp people over and over. Yea your lvl 80, your a bad ass, lvl 20 people have no chance against you and your 3 friends, everyone knows that... now can we move on? no? oh well... this is going to be a looonngg boring night. Its like ole chuck noris vs your granny. Yea it might be fun to watch once but such an uneven fight is only worth so many laughs.

[executioneer]

also, any mmo where there are other people allowed to play is not worth paying for

[Dimnos]

Im all for giving grief to other players. I LOVE me some PvP. In fact crappy PvP is the main reason i quit playing most MMOs. But if you have to be SOOO much higher lvl than someone else just to do it, your gay, plain and simple. PvP is all about bragging rights. If there is no challenge in the kill, there is nothing to brag about.

[AChimp]

Player collisions is a horrible game mechanic.

[Dr. Boogie]

So far, that video has been the strongest case for getting AoC.

[Chojin]

Chuck norris, a hot topic t-shirt avatar, and at least several 'your gay's. All in one thread!

You're really batting a thousand on this forum so far, mr. dim.

[executioneer]

any mmo you don't have to pass an extensive personality test to enter is going to suck ass

[Nick]

Is Conan actually in the game?

[pac-man]

Is Conan actually in the game?

I was going to ask the same thing.

http://www.bagofnothing.com/uploaded_images/conan-773777.jpg

[MLE]

What do you think, you dippy dong?

[RaNkeri]

This game looks awesome :(

I'd love to try this one out, if giving up on MMORPGs hadn't been one of the best decisions I've made.
(Was this correct grammar-wise? I haven't used these condition sentences for a while)

I wonder how long it will take 'till adolescents start ruining this game

[MLE]

I'm pretty sure that was correct, and you should play this anyway. It's a great game.

[Dimnos]

Is it a hot toppic Tshirt? I wouldnt know. I just thought it was a little funny.

[Fathom Zero]

I thought you were funny. Then you died.

[MLE]

By the way, I really love this game.

[Tadao]

The character faces look ugly, I can't jerk off to that!

[MLE]

Mine or Cho's aren't ugly ;< He or I will update later with pics :o

[timrpgland]

I've been playing this a bit and enjoying it for the most part. Highest level I have is a 32 conqueror on Hyperborea (sp?). One of the pvp/rp servers.

The combat is pretty enjoyable and pvp can be fun. The questing is really boring and getting around the world can be annoying as well. Haven't had the fortune to do any siege battles but our guild just met the reqs so that's to come.

Characters:
Kefka (conq)
Grimnir (barb)

[Chojin]

Those faces in the front on that last pic are ugly because the idiot players made them that way.

[MLE]

Also, we play on Cimmeria PvP/RP.

[Guitar Woman]

BUT CAN YOU DANCE?

[Sacks]

There must be a lot of hot feet action if MLE likes it so much. :love

[MLE]

Yes, you can dance.

[Guitar Woman]

Conan loves Jamiroquai

[Nick]

I want pictures of Conan kicking ass. He better look like Ahnuld.

[Chojin]

AGE OF CONAN PATCH UPDATES (6/26/08)

>> Kidnapping and Torture: You can no longer interact with palisades while the NPC is burning. This should help make it clearer when the quest can be completed.
>> Cimmerian and male Stygian dancers beware - dancing near the edges of tall cliffs may be fatal to your health.
>> Ante Up - Giants Approaching: When the timer expires you should be able to interact with the Rock to restart the event.

http://www.celebrityvalues.com/images/the_rock_300.jpg

Those are the silliest ones from today, I think I'll make this something of a tradition.

They also 'fixed' active blocking, too - before, it would make you almost invincible, but you couldn't attack and it'd drain your stamina like crazy. Personally, I preferred that method, because it meant I could protect myself from gankers for a few seconds until my guildies could distract them.

[ValientKid]

I'm a 58 Ranger. :O

The game is fine. I still feel stupid for paying a monthly fee on what really is a beta of the game, but I'm having fun going on ganking squads with friends.

[Chojin]

Anyone who joins an mmo in the first 6 months of its run will be 'paying for a beta', and this universal truth hasn't changed for over 10 years.

[ValientKid]

I don't remember much problem with City of Heroes at launch. Although there wasn't much to notice since there was no PvP. As soon as that came up everyone knew the truth about ice tanks and their ability to kill anything with just a stare.

[MLE]

Their icy stare, as it was. Personally, I loved the fire tank + bubble defender combo until they both got nerfed in, what, issue 6ish?

[Guitar Woman]

how topical!

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/zero-punctuation/138-Age-of-Conan