The State of the Game.

[KullOfValusia]

In your opinion, what do you believe is the current state of the game from 0 - 5 stars. 0 being this game will die any minute to 5 being we'll rival warcraft soon!

Finally, what do you think is the SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT factor that led you to your score?

[KullOfValusia]

2 stars. I think the game has some serious structural flaws but I think there is hope that with some tweaking, especially in PvP (especially making PvP more about player skill and less about gear/aa's/class)

Actually, I think its a 4 star all things being equal but its at 2 currently because I think management is in damage control mode and less about actually bringing about strategic change to the game.

The fear management has is "how the heck do we retain the current players and try to sub up the long term f2pers". However, this line of thought is bound to fail. What they should be thinking about is "how do we make this game attractive to new players, how do we get new player numbers up?" If you can solve this question I think you can solve the first question. If you try to just solve the first question... you're going to slowly bleed out.

[Prima]

There is simply no decent competition in the mainstream MMO market for AoC's combination of

• mature features,
• environments,
• the visceral feeling of the combat, and
• the unique classes.

Leveling (5): 1-80 again (5th time, no power/offline leveling) was a blast. Turan and Gateway made former slow spots the new highlights of the game. The item shop and veteran shop made a couple past speedbumps (like farming up a swift mount for the fifth time...) disappear.

End-game (4): The retuned Khitai is great: a steady sense of progress even with casual play, and rewards for all play styles. I love the selection of solo instances. I wish the 80+ progression for 6-mans was a little more clear, but that helps encourage guilding. There are a handful of dungeons I haven't seen in years and probably won't, but having them out there is kind of fun in a way; it blurs the confines of the world. "There is more out there." Raiding is still a little dull and doesn't reflect the game's strengths, but now it's just one way to progress.

PVP (2): Doesn't appear to have changed much since I phased out in 2010, but I haven't met a game yet that balances PVE and PVP, and any that has tried has hurt both. Still, this game would be an obvious fit for open warfare somewhere, even if it has to be propped up with NPCs.

Community (3.5): I got invites almost every night while leveling from guilds advertising their willingness to help new players. There are a handful of players on the forums who think they are jilted shareholders, but besides that, the refreshed forums feel far more relevant. Tons of 6-man and Tier 1/2 PuGs on my server.

Conclusion: I just realized I've been back almost 9 months. I thought it was three. Says it all. Some of you guys should consider taking a break rather than working yourselves into a state. It helps! There is not five years of content here. If you've stayed, great, but nobody owes you for that. I promised myself when I came back that as soon as it got dull and frustrating, I'd take a new break. No end in sight yet. I think any MMO that can occupy for a year+ at a time is doing A-OK nowadays.

4.5

[twinklez3]

1

decreasing population, poor systems to retain new players. bad return (content,support) on subscription fee compared to other games in the marketplace.

great game with major problems in progression and payment model. It's probably too late to fix anything because all bridges into town have been burned, hence the 1

[letsdance]

2 Stars.

Itemization is the single largest content problem in the game in my opinion.

It's the reason why we have a shitty economy, it's the reason why few does the harder dungeons, and T3.5 raids.

If they can add more powerfull items we can sell on the trader, more rare items in harder dungeons, and more stuff to spend rare trophies on then the game can be changed around. Also either make the T3.5 loot more intresting to raiders or downgrade the dungeon to pug raid standard.

[NotApplicable]

3,5

Point of this thread is..?

[Mustaine]

• mature features,
• environments,
• the visceral feeling of the combat, and
• the unique classes.

Leveling (9.5): 1-80

End-game (7):

PVP (6.5):

Community (6.5):

Conclusion: It's good
Turn it up to -11

[KullOfValusia]

3,5

Point of this thread is..?

You really want to know why I've been making these threads? I'll tell you but its scary.

For the past month or so, Ive been taking screenshots of the players on @8-12pm east (prime time east coast players on and west coast players getting on).

Although, more analysis is needed, depending on the day the # of players range from 600 to 800 on US Set(the most popular server) generally. That's TOTAL players. Not only that its usually the same old names.

This is near death levels, the number of players can't even fill up a single server on WoW. And this game had a bigger production investment when it launched relative to WoW.

This means something needs to be done to grab more players for the sake of the game.

[twinklez3]

thanks for getting this thread locked guys.

[Lednail]

0

Funcom has:
no money (stock price nose dive, in debt from The Secret World)
no employees (laid off)
no projects (except lego MMO LOL)
no players (<1000 Set)
no income
no future
no hope

Funcom is not a AAA game developer. It's downsizing means that it's on the level of a tablet/mobile games studio. It doesn't have the manpower or know-how to develop for Age of Conan anymore. Age of Conan will be left to slide slowly into oblivion, while its diminishing playerbase get milked for all they have right up until the very end.