Classes should have fewer abilities, but make them matter more.

[Sagroth]

The gameplay in Age of Conan is pretty stale by MMO standards. Most MMOs that are still running with major updates have long moved on from the "giant slew of abilities" design philosophy that you could get away with last decade, and have come to embrace a leaner set of abilities, that share more synergy.

For example, the combo system could be revamped so that instead of having a large number of possible combos that all only have one set of attacks to execute, a single attack could have multiple effects depending on where you land the combo strikes.

The mage classes could all be significantly streamlined as well, since they tend to have huge amounts of buffs with relatively small effects, and dozens of auxiliary cooldown abilities. What they lack completely is a system that allows the player to apply some skill. Mages could use a system similar to the System Shock 2 psionics system for example to scale the effects of their attacks. For example you could have a spell that is an instant cast on a tap, a full nuke when the button is held for 2 seconds, and a nuke and stun if the player charges it to within a critical zone past 2 seconds. If the player charges too long however and misses the critical zone the spell backfires and does damage to the caster. Powerful effects like stuns or knockdowns would have an immunity timer on the target, rather than a large cooldown.


Since Age of Conan is supposed to be more action oriented than most MMOs I think it's imperative to take that to heart, and get the gameplay updated. As it currently stands AoCs gameplay is pretty stale compared to most contemporary MMOs because there is simply too much emphasis on cooldown juggling and having tons and tons of overspecialized abilities.

Especially with games like Neverwinter coming out Age of Conan just doesn't look like it really has good action in its fights anymore. Everquest Next might be even more devastating if it uses the Forgelight Engine, which can run a full fledged FPS with physics simulation on an MMO scale.

[LunaticAsylumLA]

The fast answer: classes should not have fewer abilities.
Every ability on every character is of great use and importance both in PvE and PvP: every 32 key bound, when timed well, brings a great satisfaction to a player.
Combos should not be reviewed on classes with combos, but the classes without it should have something similar. The ranger class, for example.

We have seen people complaining even on combos "not being executed with a macro" or combos being "obsolete notion".
This game is prominent for the amount of skills, combos, and abilities player can use, and it will remain so to our delight.


There is absolutely nothing preventing one to be engaged in very fast action in PvP and use over 20-30 abilities and combos. Games like Neverwinter scare people away with its primitive combat system and the fewer amount of skills. Check the previous forums for that.

[Sagroth]

I think you're kidding yourself if you think that anything that AoC offers beyond the world setting is still interesting to the MMO community at large.

If it did it would be much more successful than it is. The reality is, fewer abilities doesn't mean simplistic, it means the designers have to actually make them count and think of interesting mechanics for activation.

When all is said and done, this games ability roster is pretty much a WoW clone, and that really detracts from what the game would be capable of if it put more emphasis on the active combat elements. Even WoW has moved on from what this game still emulates.

[Prima]

I'd love to see every ability grow out of one combo starter. The next combo steps and whenever you choose to cast the finisher would determine what specific ability is cast and how strong it is. The devs could even work in secret combos for players to discover (up down up down left....).

Besides that, I disagree about making fewer abilities. It adds a measure of skill to the game in a way that few games achieve. It could be polished more. For example, it might be kind of nifty for abilities to link together a little bit more than they already do; e.g., even more abilities proc random buffs that -- if taken advantage of in time -- intensify other abilities, etc. (true combos).

[LunaticAsylumLA]

Prima: "I'd love to see every ability grow out of one combo starter."

Yes, in another game, I would love that too.

Prima: "... even more abilities proc random buffs that "
I am sure that is not good for PvP, as the skill component will be taken out. For PvE, it might requie debuffing a lot of bosses to set the fights complexity at par with the current one and gain advantage of the buffs. Add it to the new game. Age of Conan 2, perchance!

But Funcom really managed to appeal to the niche and hit the golden middle (yes, the game is a niche, not a mass-market "Idiocracy" game) with their system. Even though I deprecate casters and would like them to be more complex to control, it is the way of Funcom to get a broader selection of people, and it is all right.

[Sagroth]

It doesn't surprise me that the hand full of people who enjoy this game as it is are all "Change bad! Go away!" but that's exactly the attitude that makes games like this unable to get out of a slump.

The game isn't particularly popular, so why would it get any better by just continuing to do exactly what it has been doing?

[LunaticAsylumLA]

Because it will drive out all the current players?
And yes, changes are all right if they are tweaks in both ways (boosting and decreasing something, though companies are afraid to work it both ways), but a complete overhaul to make it something different is the worst suggestion ever (i.e. breaking the current core system).
Also, the rejoinders here are more intelligent then you picture them, apparently.

If you read us carefully here, you can notice that people want their own changes, but they do not offer them because they know how they apply to the current environment.

[Sagroth]

See, the problem you have is that you assume change is automatically bad. Saying "If you change anything all current players will leave" isn't in any way founded in reality. Changing the system to focus more on strong action oriented gameplay instead of bogging it down with lame cooldown juggling which is losing popularity rapidly, and every designer is getting the hell away from it to avoid getting crushed by the wheels of time.

Age of Conan can be a lot more than it currently is without sacrificing any of its strengths. You simply can't tell me that something like having 3 different pacts which do the same thing except with different magnitudes and cooldowns is some kind of brilliant mechanic that significantly adds to the game, or that casting 7 different buffs on yourself is somehow a skill that a player can be good at. Those aren't quality gameplay mechanics, they are relics of a bygone era where you could get away with lazy crap like that because nobody was doing it better yet.

Age of Conan has a great world setting, a solid amount of content, the graphics are still great, and enough classes to have a good variety. What it lacks most of all is good core gameplay. What it offers was stale when AoC came out, and isn't going to get more popular. That sense of in your face visceral combat just isn't there, and the only way to bring that to the forefront is to let the players get closer to the action instead of bogging them down with tedious micro management and cooldown watching.

[Azmith]

I'd love to see every ability grow out of one combo starter. The next combo steps and whenever you choose to cast the finisher would determine what specific ability is cast and how strong it is. The devs could even work in secret combos for players to discover (up down up down left....).

Besides that, I disagree about making fewer abilities. It adds a measure of skill to the game in a way that few games achieve. It could be polished more. For example, it might be kind of nifty for abilities to link together a little bit more than they already do; e.g., even more abilities proc random buffs that -- if taken advantage of in time -- intensify other abilities, etc. (true combos).

I believe the initial concept was to have to figure out the combos as you go...

[Azmith]

It doesn't surprise me that the hand full of people who enjoy this game as it is are all "Change bad! Go away!" but that's exactly the attitude that makes games like this unable to get out of a slump.

The game isn't particularly popular, so why would it get any better by just continuing to do exactly what it has been doing?

The combo system is the only real thing AOC has going for it, even after years of simplification.