Patch 5.4 patch notes
Virtual Realms feature revealed
The Proving Grounds are coming
The latest patch 5.4 newsBreakfast Topic: Did Age of Conan pull you away this weekend?
by Dan O'Halloran 
May 18th 2008 at 8:00AM
Funcom's Age of Conan opened yesterday to those who pre-ordered. Considered one of the two MMO's this year that has a chance to take a chunk out of WoW (Warhammer Online being the other), this newest entry into the overcrowded fantasy genre officially goes live on Thursday, but Early Access was granted to those willing to lay out the cash.Now, I'm not fool enough to predict that AoC will take down WoW, but I do believe it will take a chunk out of WoW's playerbase in the short term. There is a malaise setting in among WoW players and guilds now that we are in the long wait until Wrath's launch. And nothing kicks you out of gaming doldrums like something new and shiny (not to mention bouncy and bloody.)
This morning we ask you not if you are leaving WoW for AoC, but if you are indulging in a little weekend sideline fun in the lands of Hyboria. Or have your stalwart guildmates suddenly disappeared yesterday?
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Breakfast Topics
Reader Comments (Page 2 of 4)
Pent May 18th 2008 2:47PM
not with the $10 surchage on every game in Canada
sasha vukelic May 18th 2008 9:15AM
waiting for trial... but considering how bad beta was, my expecations are very low.
Dass May 18th 2008 9:45AM
The beta bugs where all fix and the game looks great and run great on my crapy 7200 LE
Basil May 18th 2008 2:42PM
I tried the open beta and it sucked so bad. I couldnt play the game for days, finally got it working and it was choppy and buggy and annoying as hell.
BUT now I just started the actual game for the pre-launch and the thing runs PERFECT. I am truly amazed and impressed by how fast they fine tuned things. It's been a great pre-launch so far and I am now actually excited to see more of the game.
JMS May 18th 2008 9:59AM
After spending time playing Anarchy Online, I have absolutely zero confidence that Funcom can build something that will sustain more than a passing interest. Even if AoC does siphon off some WoW players in the short term, chance are they'll all come scurrying back the moment WOTLK comes out.
Frostwolf May 18th 2008 9:40AM
Conan came out? I guess WoW players like me really aren't gamers. I play WoW
Forestkeeper May 18th 2008 9:42AM
I pre-ordered the game, I was accepted in the Early Access program and yes I did play the game yesterday. First off I will say this, AoC is a very interesting and unique mmo-rpg that has a lot of potential to be great. The reason I say potential is the mere fact you will need the latest graphics card to really be able to enjoy playing this game. That is the main reason I will be going back to WoW.
Chiroptera May 18th 2008 9:42AM
I thought to myself - I might go have a look at AoC
Instead of a nice shiny page with lots of info they have a basic placeholder with the following - looks like they have not planned their resources
"Our web and forum servers are currently experiencing an exceptional high volume of traffic. In the mean time please use the links below.
Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures servers are now open!
Register
Register your copy of Age of Conan.
Support
Browse through our knowledge base or contact us.
Forums
Talk with other Age of Conan fans."
bmiller May 18th 2008 9:58AM
This might be slightly intentional - "Look how busy the AoC site is, they must have a TON of ppl playing!"
Probably not though, since only certain players are allowed in.
Runstadrey May 18th 2008 10:24AM
I went over there on a slow Sunday morn intending to DL a trial (that's how I got started in WoW over a year ago) and was greeted with the same 'Oops' screen.
I would think that if their intent is to dethrone WoW, they would have more than enough server capacity to handle the predictable surge in interest on this opening weekend.
Now, with the window of opportunity closed and my WoW enjoyment not diminishing, AoC has a very small chance of ever getting my $$$.
Pzychotix May 18th 2008 5:39PM
Um... This is the smart thing to do. Instead of overloading their servers with a fat webpage, they slim it down to the bare minimum. You can't just say, "Oh, it's their fault for not buying more web servers. AoC going down!" Think of what use these servers will actually SERVE once the initial rush dies down. Nothing.
Their options are either:
1) Pay extra on a waste of money just so you can have a shiny web page during the initial rush.
2) Slim down the web site so that money is conserved, everything works faster, and everyone is happy.
Hell, even BLIZZARD did this for TBC.
People will whine about ANYTHING. /facepalm
Vendrill May 18th 2008 10:15AM
doesn't look like it's worth installing windows on my mac to play it.
Tristan May 18th 2008 4:15PM
omg use wine. i'm almost positive it would work.
superfrank May 19th 2008 6:50AM
wine's not always so good with the latest and greatest. one of its strengths is that it will run older things that the latest versions of windows no longer support!
KURMAman May 18th 2008 10:26AM
as JMS said, they'll go for abit, but as soon as they hear of "lich King beta" or "patchnotes updated", they'll surely be coming back to WOW. FTW!
Shikozu May 18th 2008 10:49AM
I played AoC for a few hours yesterday, also hoping to have some diversion till Wrath comes out. I was *really* excited to have a new game. Unfortunately, it's not even interesting enough to me to serve as a diversion.
1- It requires a ridiculous amount of computer power to play. I have a pretty sweet new computer with 2g of ram and an nVidia 8800 512mb graphics card. When I play WoW with all settings maxed, I get 40-50 fps. In comparison, in AoC I had my settings on High (but not at all maxed) and was getting about 15 fps. My husband, who has the SAME pc but only an nVidia 6800 216mb card, was getting an unplayable 8-10 fps.
2) Oh sweet lord, buggy buggy buggy. Lock ups, crashes, weird armour applications.
3) Too linear. All characters start the exact same way, and do pretty much the same drawn-out quest chain in the same area when they start. REALLY BORING if you wanna try out a few different classes.
4) The much-lauded combat system isn't fun at all. Instead of autoattack, you actually click/type for each and every swing. It's supposed to make fighting more precise - but guess what - you can be a helluva fighter just randomly buttonmashing. I was taking out 4-5 enemies at a time typing 123123123123123123. Not interesting.
5) Where's the fun? I will give AoC props for some amazing graphics (although wow, while less realistic, is prettier). The water and fire effects are awesome. The character customization rocks, the hybrid-is classes are interesting. (No clear cut tanks or healers per se) But somehow, through all the innovation, graphics, blood, naked people, etc - they somehow managed to miss the point entirely. The game just isn't fun.
Thanks for reading my ramblings.
FOR THE HORDE
Pzychotix May 18th 2008 5:50PM
1) So you can't play the game on Max details. Lower the details a bit. Is it unplayable at low settings? I doubt it. Does it look extremely worse than WoW at those settings? I doubt that too.
How about at Max settings? Does everything look much much better than WoW? Let's face it, WoW has some outdated graphics, and doesn't have such great detailed graphics. Doing a straight comparison from Max to Max performance-wise without comparing the graphics is pretty ignorant.
2) All games have bugs at launch. Doesn't excuse it, but you should expect it.
3) WoW is the same way. I don't see the difference. EVERYONE does the same quests. Everyone does the same quest chains in the beginning of WoW. Hell, everyone does the same quest chains for ALL of wow, except for a few minor class quests that come much later.
4) EVERYONE does the same tired experience in WoW as well. Rogue: Walk up to someone, spam 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 till dead. Mage: Spam 1 1 1 1 1 1 till dead. It's only at the higher levels when you get more skills to play with is it actually fun. I'd give it a chance before you toss it to the wayside.
Do you know why they do this? It's because not everyone can handle jumping into a game with a million different skills to figure out, and others may just find it daunting.
5) Levelling up isn't fun. I didn't find levelling from 1-70 fun. Find some people to play with. It's an MMORPG afterall. Go do some PVP once you've obtained some more abilities. But don't shod it off because you've only went through the tutorial quests.
khronix May 18th 2008 11:19AM
everyone go back to their cartoon network game full of 12 year olds because your PCs suck and you dont have the skill to press a few buttons and can only play softcore casual games with autoattack lol
Vendrill May 18th 2008 2:05PM
Someone's PMS'ing pretty badly...
Matt May 18th 2008 1:50PM
if you thot wow was sooo dull why are you reading a website all about wow...gtfo already and QFT