AoC grinds out the fixes

by Adrian Bott Jun 12th 2008 at 9:30AM

Filed under: Fantasy, Age of Conan, Bugs, Patches

By Mitra, is it Thursday already? That should mean a new patch for Age of Conan - and true to their word, FunCom are keeping up the relentless assault on AoC's bugs. Mounts come in for some more attention, Necromancers get a round of buffs, a host of quests are fixed or revamped, some of the sluggish female animations are addressed, and in short, we're impressed. AoC has had its teething troubles, but nobody can say FunCom aren't putting in the hours to get them sorted out.

Also true to emerging tradition, the players are compiling their own set of unofficial patch notes, one in the EU and one in the US, collating everything they've found that wasn't documented. Good news for all players: it looks like the promised alteration of outdoor bosses' loot tables has made it in, along with an overall increase in blue loot drops. The not so good news is an apparent nerf to the Bear Shaman's Untamed Regeneration feat. According to the unofficial player-created patch notes, 'The stamina, mana and health regeneration on the ability "Untamed Regeneration" has been reduced by approximately 40%. Additional damage received has been increased from 10% to 15%.' Nerf or bug? We're waiting to find out.

Tags: age-of-conan, aoc, bear-shaman, bug-fixes, bugs, funcom, patch, patch-notes

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Lethality said on 9:42AM 6-12-2008

So... answer this: Why is it that they can do all of this now, instead of delaying release for 30 days and provide the public with a much more playable product?

The author of this article is one of the sheep.

Arabica said on 5:04PM 6-12-2008

Brilliant logic. Considering that no MMO is ever truly finished you could make the case for simply never releasing any MMO's at all.

That sounds absurd? How long did the 2-handed weapon Shaman bug exist in WoW(skill reset to 0 when Shaman respec'd)? Lineage 2 still doesn't have lockable short cut bars and until the last major patch you could fall through water and die.

Anymore bright ideas?

Lethality said on 5:23PM 6-12-2008

AoC is in HORRID shape compared to WoW at release. Don't deny it. At least WoW was finished, and playable.

I'm tired of fanbois for whatever game giving the developers a get out of jail free card. It's time we as consumers held them responsible for not being slack-asses. No, no MMO is truly every finished. But finishing what you promised people and they paid for is key. Funcom did not deliver.

heartless_ said on 2:31PM 6-12-2008

Lethality, aside from the sheep comment, bravo.

Origosis said on 9:21PM 6-12-2008

To: Lethality and heartless

As I said. this is the smothest launch "I" have ever experienced. on what grounds?... playability (lag, glitches, quests working.) and server uptime. I was not there for the LOTRO launch so I cannot comet towards that.

I was however around for the WoW launch ad I do remember may hours of downtime, broken quests, and other glitches.

I am ot trying to say AoC is god and all oter MMO's are crap. I like WoW I love EQ2 and AO has a special place in my heart, but is for me the WORST MMO launch Ever lol.

I may just be lucky and never ran into the AoC glitches, but random luck aside FOR ME AoC was a very smooth launch. I was on Release day when I got home from work, and played till 3am. I crashed about 3 times, ad saw a few gltches like characters moving in T form, but other ten that it was nothing that preveted me from playig the game.

If you want more specifics about why I think WoW or other games were not as good... honestly I cannot think of any specific examples to give you. So for that matter I do not have much ground to stand on.

I guess I should have further expanded on the MPG comment... right now WoW and others are firing on all cylinders and are at thier 100MPG per say. I am just saying fo me the initial releas was subpar and AoC is much closer to being (for it.) 100% thn those games were...

as for Recent launches.... what does it matter? if I compare a 2 year old game to a 10 year old game (On certain aspect... not all.) such as release quality... Everquest 2 could ave waited till t was perfect till release, and so could WoW, so could AO, so could Acherons Call... bu none of them did some were unplayable, others just had some annoyances...

ok example: popular opinion rates HALO as a near perfect FPS, popular opinion also rate Golden Eye as a near perfect FPS, but they are... I don't know 10 years apart? while Haze and Crysis just came out and they recieve ALOT of crap for being buggy... Crysis for not working with SLI, and Haze for aving bugs and being a bad game.... when a game came out is not overly importat unless comparing only certain things like graphics. you can't compare Golden Eye to Haze graphically.. it's not fair, but you can compare thier quality and how playable they were at launch... heck even Crysis had a few glitches at launch where Golden Eye was essentialy 100%

ad you know to make bot our Argumets COMPLETELY mute (atleast in my tiny little head.) This stuff is all subjective... and has many other factors involved.

Lets say someone was really looking forward to the release of AoC they may set aside all issues, or, vice verse, because they were looking forward to it they will set aside nothing.... 2 people, same computer, same glitches, same downtime, same patch nerfs... oe gives it a 9/10 the other a 3/10

So lethality if I tell you I believe that AoC is great because that is my opinion are you going to bash me cause you have a conflicting opinion... or maybe you think a game being good or bad is not a matter of opinion that it is a matter of fact?

Is that the american/british/allied way of thinking? you get your panties all in a knot cause I just happen to like one game over another? sorry I can't play EVERY MMO and sorry my opinion of a good launch is different from the rest of the world, but I have my own personal reasons for thinking that AoC is the Smoothest launch I have ever Experienced... Key phrase there.

"I have ever Experienced" My experiences lead ME to form this opinion.

Sorry Lethality if you feel a need to bash me cause of my opinion then please make your way over to tiananmen square I'm the guy in the middle of the road.

Sincerely,
Ori

Machineman said on 9:28PM 6-12-2008

You kind of went emo on me there...

You certainly are entitled to your opinion, but you are stating things that are facts.

WoW in FACT had more complete quests at launch. WoW in fact had a bank, auction house, and mail system. WoW in fact also had more server lag than AoC.

But AoC has factual problems even stated by the developers... not simple hardware or infrastructure problems like WoW had.

So what I am saying is there are measurable items that do indeed make one game better than the other.

If you really believe that the AoC launch was better than WoW, either you weren't there, or you aren't being honest with yourself... there aren't too many people that will dispute that.

Angel said on 12:34PM 6-12-2008

there are two reasons for this... limited time table for beta test (regardless of what players think should happen investors can and do force developers to push a not so finished product out the door. if the product is not launched the funding is pulled then the product never will get launched). many launch bugs do not manifest under light load conditions. even stress tests, which are actualy very breife, cannot simulate a near full server load accurately.

MMORPGs are an incredibly complex set of programs that have to work together. no amount of beta testing will ever iron out all of the bugs in the system. this holy grail of "the perfect launch of a completely polished game" can quite literally never happen. the users are obviously incapable of understanding this. developers/publishers know the truth of this in a launch.

no one likes this answer. people respond to it with uninformed and uneducated assertions that basically take the for of "if they did this or that" which ultimately amounts to the same process a child goes through when they don't get the answer they wanted "but, but, but". these are the facts jack.

the world is not perfect so why should virtual worlds be prefect? at least a VR can be fixed with a few lines of code.

TwistedBishop said on 12:36PM 6-12-2008

You mean like they delayed it for over a year already?

I've been playing AoC since early release and it's been perfectly playable. When viewed from a distance bug lists can give a distorted impression which does not accurately reflect a given player's experience.

Now if it's perfection you want, you'll never find it in an MMO. There will always be class changes, quest changes, and bug fixes, even years and years after launch.

Lastly, regarding your personal attack upon the author: grow up.

Origosis said on 2:25PM 6-12-2008

Like many many reviewers have been saying and i have been saying THIS is the smoothest MMO release I have ever experienced. I was there for release day for Acheron's Call, Anarchy Online, Acherons Call 2, Everquest 2, Planet Side, Lineage 2, Vanguard, WoW, Tabula Rasa and a many others.... MMO releases may not be perfect yet, but this is as good as it get's! (for now.)

ie Stop calling the 70 MPG car crap cause it is not 100 MPG, while everyone else is 45 MPG... you follow? Dattebayo.

Lethality said on 5:27PM 6-12-2008

On what grounds do you determine this was the smoothest MMO launch? Because I can tell you categorically that it was not. It was not smoother than WoW, it was DEFINITELY not smoother than LoTRO... and I'd prefer to compare it to recent games.

Seriously, I'd love to hear.

Origosis said on 10:10PM 6-12-2008

Why do you bring facts to the table? my original comment was about opinion. and my rebuttal was about opinion... so why do you bring facts to the table.... ok you want to compare facts. well you win here it is *white flag* I have no idea how many bugs, quests, glitches, or crashes there are in AoC compared to WoW... you know why I don't know? CAUSE I DON"T CARE.

I like WoW ALOT I Like AoC Alot. Not like I am biased and my experiences withe the two and my opinon is... AoC launch better then WoW launch... have I not made it clear? I am a AoC fanboy lite and I simply like WoW and am not a WoW fanboy.... so I say again in a much more direct manner...

As things stand for me at this MOMENT in time AoC Launch = Great... WoW Launch = Good... a ton of crases could chage that or me suddenly not enjoying the game could change that..

So again if I am stating my opinion you have no idea what it is based on... so just scroll passed it next time and take it for what it is... MY OPINION. when I start talking facts me and you can argue facts all day I am up for it.

You want some Flame bait just to get you started? Buying a $1000 CPU that is only 10% faster then a $200 CPU s a waste of money! ready for more? when you can overclock that $200 CPU to beat the $1000 CPU ad overclock the $1000 CPU and it is now only 3% faster ten the $200 CPU... there are some cold hard facts....

Why Spend $20000 on a Prius to save 30% on Fuel about $500 a year, when you have to pay 40-100% more for the car about 100-300 a month?

and yet people still buy the $1000 CPU cause thier opinion makes tat 10% worth it in thier mind

and paying a car payment tat is twie as large to save 30% on gas is worth it in some peoples opinions... comparing facts wen opinion is such a strong factor is nearly useless...

Te Amo Y'all

ClockCat said on 6:31AM 6-14-2008

I distinctly remember servers going down constantly, horrible unplayable lag, and the boats dropping people in fatigue-death waters time after time in WoW. It was so bad they removed the boats and put in "Captain Placeholder" to teleport you. In addition, servers quickly developed a 2-3 hour waiting list to get in...just to play. Many quests did not work. Many abilities were broken, or useless. Paladin's True North ring a bell? A spell that made you point north? Yeah. Paladin's entire talent trees were made 2 weeks before release, and the spells were created then too. (Old ones, like holy strike removed). Warlocks were a joke. Hunters were not very good either, since they hadn't finished them. WoW's release was horrible.