Age of Conan Open Beta - 1st of May

[Barrichello]

Managed to get a Beta key this afternoon So currently downloading the 12.9Gb client.

Over the course of the last few months i prob downloaded 25gb+ of patches/updates etc -its changed allot over the last months (all for the better) - good thing im not on a metered connection

P.S at some stages you may not get download at full speed - so don't worry. May do a increment of say 50mb at say 80kbps but then that bit will install and then you resume and get a massive chunk down at full speed.

[TiG]

I played WoW, I bought the battlechest and didnt enjoy it. Lotro wasnt really too good either with the rubbish combat sytem and I didnt get hooked to either.

However I have been hooked to Guild Wars from a long time, and from people playing the AoC beta, they are saying that while the game is very unique and not a clone of other MMORPG's (yay, not another WoW clone!), it is close to a combination of Guild Wars, Vanguard and Mortal Kombat, so I am believing that I will enjoy it.

There is lots of anticipation for this game and lots of people are interested in it. Players arent going to keep on playing WoW and Guild Wars forever, they are getting bored of those games and looking for something new. AoC is something new.

Just about my whole guild in guild wars is moving over to AoC. While it may not ever be as successful as WoW, it is deffinately set to be a successful game. And also it wont ever get as many subscribers as WoW has, because of the 18+ mature content which should hopefully keep children out of the game.

But I really dont measure the number of players playing a game meaning that it is going to be good just because 10 million+ people have an account on it. In WoW, a lot of these accounts are bots, and a lot of people, like myself will have bought an account to try it, and given up. But our accounts are still there contributing to the 10 million+ players that have bought the game. Also, marketting plays a huge part in selling a game, and dont forget that WoW has been out for 3 years now. That is 10 million subsribers over a 3 year period, to which Blizzard's marketting has helped a great deal.

Secondly, WoW has an incredibly low system requirement. This immediately means that a lot of people with low end old PC's are able to play WoW, and it is one of the best games available for thm to play. However, I chose not to carry on playing and paying for an outdated game and took a 3 month Lotro subsription, which while it had great graphics, I also didnt enjoy as it was just a WoW clone. In terms of graphics, AoC also has the best graphics yet for any MMO, and they are good enough to last a very long time.

AoC uses a brand new and unique combat system which puts the systems in traditional MMO's to shame. Just about everyone that is playing the beta is praising AoC's unique system and enjoying it a lot more then combat in other games.

PVP is also a lot better then in WoW, and just as competitive and well structured as PVP in Guild Wars. PVP only has 20 seperate levels to PVE, and seperate armor. AoC stands as the first game to seperate PVE from PVP to keep both sections fun, challenging and balanced. For example, while Guild Wars has a brilliant PVP system, the PVE for a lot of people is a total disater, whereas in WoW the PVE experience is brilliant (for a lot of people), but the PVP is incredibly inbalanced at not a fair or competetive experience as Guild Wars PVP is. AoC basically sets the bar up on offering both an amazing PVE and PVP experience without sacrificing either one.

That is all I can think of saying right now. AoC is a far more polished game then any other MMO has been before. Its success will depend on marketing (something that blizzard are brilliant at), player recomendations, trials which will come out shortly after release, and also however many people are willing to leave other MMO's for a new one. And as there are quite a significant amount of players in both WoW and GW that are bored and looking for something new, AoC is the perfect game for them.

Bhavv,

Good post and informative. I agree with you comments regards pvp/pve in wow. PVE is what I enjoy the most and historically world pvp was awesome fun, but with the huge change in how this worked it is nowhere near balanced now.

Too much scope for difference in gear now, which is a shame..

I shall look forward to hearing more about the game, but i still think Warhammer has better lore to it and i'm hoping that the game reflects that.

TiG

[j.o.s.h.1408]

AOC is gunna be somthing special lads dont worrie. it will totaly pwne WOW. WOW cant last forever lads

[beanbandit]

Over the course of the last few months i prob downloaded 25gb+ of patches/updates etc -its changed allot over the last months (all for the better) - good thing im not on a metered connection

P.S at some stages you may not get download at full speed - so don't worry. May do a increment of say 50mb at say 80kbps but then that bit will install and then you resume and get a massive chunk down at full speed.

Thanks for the info

I've now got the full client(after a slight cock-up by me, which resulted in me having to delete 6gb of download, and restart it again, oops, but i then got much better dl speed ) and will be installing tonight and getting ready for the beta to start tomorrow. Is there anything i need to know before i start playing? Any recommended mods, or are they not worth it yet?

[Splash]

Well I took out a 1 month sub to Fileplanet on the basis that if the game blows hard I'll be saving myself £25 on release... Downloading the client now but I'm not likely to be playing until the weekend due to work and stuff. Hopefully by then the servers will be stabilised

What I want to know is how can they call it an open beta, then slap an NDA on it? I'm in the WAR closed beta, and I have no issues with an NDA, but to me the main difference betweeen open and closed beta is the presence of an NDA.

As for J.O.S.H's comment above... way to sell the game as being aimed at a more mature audience. Thanks. Seriously, I can live with most of the kids in WoW, but it's the pwn-sp33k that gets really grinds my gears. Just like when I can't find the droids that I'm looking for.

[beanbandit]

Well I took out a 1 month sub to Fileplanet on the basis that if the game blows hard I'll be saving myself £25 on release... Downloading the client now but I'm not likely to be playing until the weekend due to work and stuff. Hopefully by then the servers will be stabilised

What I want to know is how can they call it an open beta, then slap an NDA on it? I'm in the WAR closed beta, and I have no issues with an NDA, but to me the main difference betweeen open and closed beta is the presence of an NDA.

Didn't know about the NDA, just said yes i agree and got on with it, but it does sound bloody stupid considering the game has gone gold, and its an open Beta.

If WAR means Warhammer online then you sir are a very lucky git

[Splash]

Didn't know about the NDA, just said yes i agree and got on with it, but it does sound bloody stupid considering the game has gone gold, and its an open Beta.

If WAR means Warhammer online then you sir are a very lucky git

Indeed I am, been in the beta for a good few months now. But due to the NDA that's all I can say

[j.o.s.h.1408]

Well I took out a 1 month sub to Fileplanet on the basis that if the game blows hard I'll be saving myself £25 on release... Downloading the client now but I'm not likely to be playing until the weekend due to work and stuff. Hopefully by then the servers will be stabilised

What I want to know is how can they call it an open beta, then slap an NDA on it? I'm in the WAR closed beta, and I have no issues with an NDA, but to me the main difference betweeen open and closed beta is the presence of an NDA.

As for J.O.S.H's comment above... way to sell the game as being aimed at a more mature audience. Thanks. Seriously, I can live with most of the kids in WoW, but it's the pwn-sp33k that gets really grinds my gears. Just like when I can't find the droids that I'm looking for.

i realy dont use such silly words like pwnage. but this game looks amazing. i'l wait till im bored of gta4 before trying this out. and they say pc gaming is dying

[kalniel]

AOC is gunna be somthing special lads dont worrie. it will totaly pwne WOW.

[j.o.s.h.1408]

yes help!!!!

[kalniel]

For what it's worth, I think AoC will flop miserably.

[beanbandit]

For what it's worth, I think AoC will flop miserably.

I can't see it competing with WOW, it may have a good first month, then you'll see people not renew their subs. I don't know what a success means with MMO's now, WOW has changed the whole scene. Will they be happy with 350K still playing 2 months after release? Or will they see that as a failure? Not sure how this game is going to fair, its doesn't have much to fall back on, unlike WOW and hopefully WAR.

[kalniel]

Well you can either be cheap to make/maintain and not sell all that much (Ragnarok, DDO etc.), or expensive and sell a lot (Lineage2, FF, WoW in some respects), but you can't be expensive to develop/maintain and sell little (what I see AoC doing).

[j.o.s.h.1408]

your all to negetive bashing this game and it hasnt been eleased yet. i asked a question on what would make a mmo better then wow and not one of you gave me any points on how to.

so WOW is flawless? nothing bad about it at all? nothing that could be changed? whats bad about AOC thats not bad in WOW? do you still love the graphics of it? when will the time come when you will feel wow's graphics are pants?

i hope AOC is better and more popular then wow.

[kalniel]

your all to negetive bashing this game and it hasnt been eleased yet.

I haven't seen any bashing. My presumption of failure is actually based on the fact it's a better game than it should be.

i asked a question on what would make a mmo better then wow and not one of you gave me any points on how to.

Simple - needs to be playable on more machines, and attractive to more people. AoC fails on both accounts.

so WOW is flawless? nothing bad about it at all? nothing that could be changed? whats bad about AOC thats not bad in WOW? do you still love the graphics of it? when will the time come when you will feel wow's graphics are pants?

I feel WoWs graphics are pants already, but I think it's probably nice and artistic in many places. They're good enough for people to enjoy the gameplay though.

I think lots could be changed to make me personally play WoW - making it subscription free for a start. But I can see why other people would want to play it as is.

i hope AOC is better and more popular then wow.

What do you have against Blizzard then? Have they wronged you personally or something?

[j.o.s.h.1408]

nothing againts blizzard but mmo's need to move forward in terms of technology