Age of Conan: Is it a fun mess or just a mess?
by Matt Warner 
Jun 17th 2008 at 9:00PM
Filed under: Fantasy, Age of Conan, Bugs, New titles, Opinion
Two bloggers recently set the contrast displaying both their points well. Scott Jennings, AKA Lum the Mad, in a post titled "It's the Fun, Stupid," espouses that Age of Conan is a mess, albeit a very fun one. On the opposite side, a more dissenting opinion comes from Heartless Gamer. In his post titled, "Age of Conan Troubles Continue to Surface," he believes Funcom would have been much better off if they added more content and didn't launch for at least a few more months, and this negligence is one reason why he is not playing Age of Conan. Both sides understand that the game is far from perfect, and that every MMOG goes through their growing pains, but one is having fun and the other didn't. It all boils down to the fun factor which is of course completely subjective to each player.
It leaves us with one question for our readers: Is Age of Conan a fun mess, or just a mess?
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Scopique said on 9:41PM 6-17-2008
Fun mess...There's always a difference for MMOs at launch between "yeah, they COULD have left it in the oven a little longer to get the bugs out" and "ZOMG THIS GAME IS A POS AND IS TOTALLY UNPLAYABLE!"
People who bitch and whine about a game released with bugs are attention whores: unfortunately, it's the nature of the genre, like it or not. I agree, however, when a game is released that is unplayable -- as Funcom's own Anarchy Online was when it launched -- there's really no excuse to kick it out the door.
To complain about the state of AoC in the face of TWICE WEEKLY UPDATES, which to me indicates Funcom's dedication to getting the issues fixed through what can only be considered an inhuman amount of work, is really shallow and self-serving.
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zuluhammer said on 9:43PM 6-17-2008
i didn't find playing my bear shaman all too fun until i hit lvl 20, now i like it much more. i am in no rush to hit lvl 80 and i think this makes the experience much more enjoyable and hopefully lets me avoid the messy higher lvl gameplay.
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sikk said on 10:08PM 6-17-2008
AoC shouldn't have been released when it was. Getting a jump on WAR and WotLK is the only reason it probably was. I already quit AoC due to bugs, lack of content later in the game, horrible melee combo system, cloned instances? lol. I mean seriously AoC is just a bad clone of other MMORPG's. It sounds like I'm a troll but I really wanted AoC to work and instead it failed me. The ONLY thing AoC had going for it was its combo system which they decided to leave broken by not allowing people to move while you do the combo's thus make most pvp encounters useless to even try to do a combo. Anyways this day and age companies can't just throw a beta at the public and expect people to stay with it. When WAR, WotLK, and hopefully Darkfall(crosses fingers) come out later this year, AoC will die.
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Nadril said on 8:25AM 6-18-2008
@ sikk: You have to be trolling. FYI you CAN MOVE during a combo. If a combo is U-UR-UL you can do U-UR move up to the enemy and use UL and have its cast time. The only thing is that after 6 seconds (?) or so the combo will automatically fail. It really sounds like you just played the game for a day and dropped it.
However combos do have a short "cast time" after them simply because this means skilled players can actually try and weave in and out of combos, but they won't be doing many themselves.
The combat system is not flawed, and is actually one of the best points in the game thus far. For example, the Active Block button (X) is incredible as it's just like blocking in a fighting game -- you take much less damage but can't attack yourself. With this PvP encounters become even better, with people blocking others and trying to set up their own attacks. The problem is that Funcom hasn't really made it well known that active block even exists, so a lot of people (such as you) complain about a lacking or boring combat system.
The game is a ton of fun, albeit a messy mid-end level questing game right now. However, as another poster said, 2 patches a week is madness and shows true dedication to making this a great game.
Also @ sikk, I laugh that you are waiting on Darkfall -- the game which is going to be the biggest flop since Dark and Light. The things the developers have said about the game is just stupid ("our AI is so advanced it could bug test for us" WTF?) and it just reeks of vaporware. Sure, they show you guys a screenshot now and then but it's really just pathetic watching all the hardcore PvPers drooling over an obvious vaporware product.
Sure, IF it releases (keyword being IF) and IF it is what they have it hyped to be it'll be a great game. However, I very much doubt that their studio has enough talent to do so.
Back onto conan, however, I've been playing my Tempest of Set. Unlike my Conq (who is 57) I've been taking my time on my ToS, enjoying the game and not just powerleveling through. Just like what happened with LoTRO people raced to the end game level and then were faced with little content. Meanwhile those who are taking their time, enjoying the game and (at least on PvP servers) actually PvPing are enjoying the game so much more.
I haven't had as much fun with World PvP since my Lineage II Private server days, it's great because skill really does come into question here.
The major thing is that if the game is fun now imagine it 6 months from now. They have a FREE expansion pack, Kingship, coming out later this year which will add Guild alliances, legendary battlekeeps and "wonders of the world" to fight for. They also are going to have much larger scale battles than the 48v48 offered right now, so it is clear they are listening and reacting to their community.
With the new PvP system coming out soon, an entire new questing area and numerous other improvements the game is shaping up to be incredible. When WAR comes out (when is a good question, their beta is unfinished beyond release and has 4 months left or so) Age of Conan will have been polished and given an extra layer of flare with their free expansion pack. I really want to see WAR and WoTLK go up against it then.
Case in point: If you insit that everything be working 100% squeeky clean, wait 4-5 months or so. Maybe 3. However this is true with any MMO that has entered the market (save for maybe UO/EQ) and that includes titles known for their polish, such as LoTRO and WoW. LoTRO lacked higher up content (sound familiar?) and WoW had plenty of annoying bugs (loot bug lol) and horrible server stability that took months to stable out.
censorman said on 2:53PM 6-18-2008
I combo and move all the time. Must suck to be a keyboard turner. Go back to ezmoad auto-attack carebear combat.
PurityKnight said on 10:07PM 6-17-2008
I will try AoC in another 6 months or so after they've addressed a lot of issues and added content.
MMORPGs are always so much better, 6 months, a year after launch. Unfortunately, when I really want to play something, there's no chance I'm gonna wait to play it. I can't remember how many times in WoW they'd add new features a couple years in where we were like, "wow this would have been awesome at launch". But by they get to you, you're already jaded.
I recently just started playing LOTRO on the 1 year anniversery and it was nice to have your very first experience with the game a very polished experience that has had tons of patches and content added in.
So based on that positive experience, I'll look into AoC in another 6 months or so and see how it's going.
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Mark said on 10:14PM 6-17-2008
Mess? I love AoC. The game is far from a mess. It's stable and runs beautifully on my PC. Are there minor bugs and typical MMO growing pains to fix? Yes. But a mess? Give me a break. AoC kicks ass.
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GabrielRunfeldt said on 10:28PM 6-17-2008
Heartless's blog is always a great read but he's a bit of gaming curmudgeon on purpose sometimes. Age of Conan seems to be very good at dividing bloggers on whether they like the game or not. I would say there are slightly more that don't like it but then again the high techinical requirements prevent a lot of people from experiencing the game and having their say.
I'm personally enjoying it a lot right now even with its bugs.
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heartless_ said on 10:40PM 6-17-2008
I don't see the fun support. I saw it in the first week, but that is something we've seen during the first week of almost any MMO. Since then it has been terrible news followed by some sort of patch, only to be further convince many of my friends to swear off the game before the first month is up.
So, I admit there is probably fun to be had, but it doesn't show any signs of lasting and at the end of the day I'm not voting for MMOs that are the equivalent of a five-minute-man.
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pescarojo said on 11:22PM 6-17-2008
Fun! All MMO's are rough at launch, and require patching. Funcom's commitment to fixing things fast has been great. I am loving the game, and am definitely not an AoC fanboy. I bought it *planning* to only play the first free month...but I'll be sticking around. Great game, and will only improve with some time and yes, content (as do all MMOs).
I'll never understand people who want to powergrind their way up to max level in the first week and then complain that there's not enough content.
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Arabica said on 12:30AM 6-18-2008
I like AoC a ton, but I am leaning towards it being both a mess of fun and a bit of a mess. The crashes and bugs can be problematic, but even with those issues the game is still a lot more fun than I ever had in WoW or L2 and that's actually saying a lot.
Even in its current state it is the best MMO I have ever played.
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DeathMutant said on 12:53AM 6-18-2008
A mess? Maybe if you raced to max-level and ignored the finished content, sure. Me? I'm just taking my time, enjoying the ride and by the time I get there, I am confident it will be ready. And to those guys that race to max-level: I'm like a Settler in the "Wild" West that appreciates the Fur Traders, Miners and Soldiers that came before him. No arrows in my back and I still have my scalp, all thanks to you. ;-)
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Leshrac said on 12:57AM 6-18-2008
Mess, canceled - and it lacked any fun.
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Rollins said on 1:37AM 6-18-2008
I'll have to agree with the opinion that it's a fun mess, albeit messier the further you get. Having hit level 40 recently, I've noticed that the content seemed to be getting messier as I got up (and supposedly it becomes non-existent relatively soon). Broken quests suck.
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Alex Hortin said on 8:28PM 6-18-2008
yeah....a lot of guys in my alliance in EVE tried it out, and in 2 weeks to a month they were back podding in 0.0
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Marty Dodge said on 4:45AM 6-18-2008
All I have to say is that I have played releases that were far worse like Shadowbane. As is a writer above I am taking it easy and not power-leveling. There are a few buggered quests but overall its a bit of fun.
Lets put it this way compared to my experience of TR and Hellgate; AoC is far ahead in terms of fun.
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lord_drucifer said on 6:43AM 6-18-2008
Fun, not so addicting that I don't eat and well worth taking my time to enjoy all the content as none of the content is locked out due to raced, class, or previous finished quests.
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Bam! said on 8:09AM 6-18-2008
Just as someone above said, I'll try it 6 months from now when a box is 20 dollars and the bugs are worked out. I said in another post, my girlfriends brother plays AOC, every time I look at the screen there is another wacky graphical glitch.
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pufonthis said on 10:06AM 6-18-2008
The games a big mess that should never have been put out in it's current state. The only reason they did is because they know the fanbois will be kissing their a&$% and playing anyway.
It's an "ok" game to play until something good comes out.
Because really, when you take away all the bugs, all the crashing, all the lack of content. Fast forward to 6 months from now when all these things have been fixed you're still left with only an average game at best.
There is nothing innovative or original about this product. The combo system boils down to the fact that instead of pushing 1 button to do a skill you need to press 3, big whoop. Boring.
There was more originality, thought and innovation put into The Deadmines instance of WoW than the entire game of Age of Conan.
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crsh said on 10:07AM 6-18-2008
I've been taking my sweet time so far, lv40 only on the only character I created almost a month ago now; the strange thing is I'm more or less progressing at the same rate as Funcom is fixing content, so that works out really well.
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