AoC Game Director declares server merge, previews coming changes
Filed under: Fantasy, Age of Conan, Patches, PvP, PvE
Age of Conan players have been curious to see what new Game Director Craig Morrison will bring to the table. He's already proven willing to wade in to the forums and give players clear answers to their questions, and today he's provided a lengthy and frank letter about what will be coming to AoC in the future. There's a lot of information to digest.Although it's low down on the list, the news of coming server merges caught our eye immediately: 'we are actively working on an approach to merge servers, both in Europe and North America.' While this can (and no doubt will) be interpreted as an admission that the population is low on certain servers, it is also indicative of a willngness to do something decisive about the situation, so that the players can have the best experience. That gets points from us.
In addition to explaining Power Points and Kingship, which were announced some time ago but not really mentioned much since, Craig also provides some very interesting new information about the PvP consequence system, which adds more detail and game world immersion than had previously been announced.
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The consequence system will not just alter the players' status. It seems there will be whole new settlements in the game world to reflect the existence of a criminal stratum of society:
'As you know the system is meant to bring repercussions for repeated evil behaviour (i.e. killing players outside of your level range), so should you chose to "gank" other players, a whole new gameplay area opens up! For one, it will result in you no longer being welcome in many parts of the game-world, but in its place you will have to rely on a newly arrived network of camps and areas that function with a little more moral ambiguity. This is very true to the essence of the Conan lore, and a change I think many players will find intriguing.
You will be able to access the same services as you can in the "orderly" parts of the world, but you might find your new 'friends' have a price for their services. We felt it was very important to make the system as immersive as possible and not just a purely mechanical system on top of the game-world to support PVP. So to that end, these new camps and NPC's function as a kind of "shady network" for those with more nefarious reputations. Be warned though. It also means that those who hunt for such criminally inclined adversaries might find out where to look for you!'
The full letter can be perused on the official forums.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
djpostman1 said on 1:43PM 9-29-2008
The new game director is really doing a hell of a job. they are communicating alot better and addressing alot of the issues that the community is concerned about. Everything is really looking on the up and up, and its about damn time. my only wish is that Sil was in the drivers seat from the begining
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Nettegen said on 2:34PM 9-29-2008
To piggy-back on what djpostman1 said, for better or for worse, MMO players have become savvy enough to know when all avenues of communication and improvement are being exhausted. Gamers have come a long way from accepting the idea of "Blue" coming into a forum to critique a piece of fan-fiction while exploits are the norm in PVP.
Developers and community managers might have thought it was absurd to give daily updates as to the state of the game and what is being down to alleviate player issues...but what does it really take to post once per day? Some players are hustling to produce add-ons and provide tech support to pretty much everyone that needs it. I have seen some community managers posting in forums and e-mailing players directly while away from the office...much in the way that "normal" people spend the weekend in the office or give clients their personal numbers because we genuinely care.
It's a new day. Hopefully Funcom can find the time to continue communicating as djpostman1 alluded to. Going an entire year without seeing a Blizzard employee post anything of significance in the Hunter forum might just end up being an old joke that has no basis in reality anymore.
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crsh said on 2:40PM 9-29-2008
Too bad Funcom didn't appoint this guy at launch, would've saved them some trouble.
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Tony said on 3:08PM 9-29-2008
I think a lot of people agree this game had some good ideas, but few of them came to fruition. If this guy makes Funcom go through with all of this, I think the game would be worth trying again. I hope it works out because I hate feeling like I wasted $50 on AoC.
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david said on 3:43PM 9-29-2008
Sorry to tell ya... AOC is already dead...
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djpostman1 said on 3:44PM 9-29-2008
I by no means consider myself a fanboi, but i really dont think i wasted $50 at all on AoC. its had a rough start and a LOT of hate kicked its way, but like i've said before it will ONLY get better. I guess in my circumstance is a little diffrent. ive hooked up with a group of friends in my guild that you just cant find in any game, so that makes a huge difference. the only thing with the server merge that concerns me is that as a guild we rolled on a new server (tyranny), roughly 30 people, and i hope that our efforts arent going to be wasted. But in light of that im having a great time on a new server that has a pretty decent population and non stop pvp.
and what happened to that guy that alwasy posts the hate in the AoC articles? he on vacation :)
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Nadril said on 4:44PM 9-29-2008
If you're talking about me, I'm too busy playing Warhammer.
Tasogare said on 5:38PM 9-29-2008
lol that guy's above you and I think he's finally running out of steam.
Even though I only played for the initial month and have zero intention of ever going back, I wouldn't consider the money I spent on the game wasted. Sometimes you spend money and realize that it just wasn't what you were looking for. AoC did a lot of things I liked, it has one of the best early level experiences I've ever seen, but unfortunatly that feel just floats away once you leave Tortage, and even that content feels stale once you've run a few toons through it.
That being said, I'm glad for Funcom that they're finally getting back on the right track. I think WAR is more what I'm looking for in an MMO and the last thing Mythic needs is a bunch of disgruntled AoC players coming in and getting pissed because the things they liked in their game don't exist Mythics. If they stay on their present course, I think both Conan and Warhammer can have very long, happy lives ahead of them.
Ada said on 5:38PM 9-29-2008
Oh zing. :p
I'm really happy to see this guy doing things right. I too feel like I may have wasted $50 on AoC (not to mention the new system I got mostly because of that game) - hopefully things look up and it becomes worth playing.
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Merkur said on 8:11AM 9-30-2008
Sil is definatly the right for the Job. What a great relief that gaute guy got kicked out of the raid.
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kingjames said on 11:01AM 9-30-2008
Never has a game with so much potential, miserably failed. AoC has turned out to be one of the biggest letdowns in MMO history and the changes they are making now will only ever be appreciated by the select few who chose to keep funding the live beta. This game will never regain 1/3 of the intial players it had.
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KingJames said on 11:02AM 9-30-2008
Never has a game with so much potential, miserably failed. AoC has
turned out to be one of the biggest letdowns in MMO history and the
changes they are making now will only ever be appreciated by the
select few who chose to keep funding the live beta. This game will
never regain 1/3 of the intial players it had.
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Caldruid said on 1:07AM 10-02-2008
AoC has improved more than any MMO I have played in the timesince launch. AoC from launch day to today is like night and day. The PvP patch two weeks ago fixed almost all technical issues, added content, and added real PvP in the game. Sieges which were broken at launch are fully functional and incredible. I'm approaching 30 in WAR and quickly losing interest. WAR just feels bland to me, despite some excellent MMO genre changing elements to the game design. I'm back in AoC and loving it more than ever. If you have not played AoC in the last 3 weeks, and you saw the potential the game had but it just was not enough to keep you around, you would be foolish not to take another look. AoC is close to realizing that potential.
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SethOMEGA said on 3:05PM 10-27-2008
Close, but not quite there, and I refuse to pay for BETA: Live Edition, especially when it's a game I'm not all that interested in. I'll let the numbers do the talking; when/if the population and general customer service starts hitting the higher marks, I might consider activating my membership (got the game free, but luckily the free time you get was just enough to let me know this title was released =far= too early.
Kudos to the new guy, at least.. though I wonder as to whether or not he has any intention of addressing the issues surrounding the content being watered down in lieu of a more "Microsoft Friendly"™ product.
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Vicerant said on 2:48AM 11-27-2008
Ummm to all of the elitists that think they are mmo connoisseurs, AoC, as some above me have said, has become a great game and an intense pvp and rp experience. I haven't had this much fun since Lineage 2 which held me for 4 years. If you want a grown up game and don't need the "majority" to tell you if a game is good or not, then reactivate, make some friends, and enjoy the game. Send a tell to anyone in a larger guild on tyranny and forget about the crap that happened in the beginning (which is the same crap that wow went through). Crank up those video settings and turn up the in game music, you will forget about whatever pathetic things are going on in your life lol.
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