For all you people saying you want to come back after 6 months and see where the game is:
When you cancel your account from the funcom site it tells you that they delete characters after 3 months.

Just sayin'.

Yadama

What the hell is "reviewable" supposed to mean? It was reviewable at launch, it was just stupidly incomplete. If the game comes out and it's not done, a review should reflect that.

Aethyr

@Koztah: Oh, true enough. I think I got to 54 fairly fine, grinded about 4 more levels/did ridonkulas red quests because I ran out of other quests, and then gave up. The mid 50s is definately the danger zone.

But you have to admit, there is a dip in quality past 20. You can see it with the voice acting suddenly stopping.

Rookerith

I enjoyed the game thoroughly up to level 40-something.
Then I kind of lost interest.

The gameplay is fun as hell, quests are good (fun to do/well written), and it was overall a really good game.

But it was missing two things:
Polish, and Motivation.

Motivation: It really doesn't give you much incentive for getting higher. I mean, yeah, the fun is in the journey and all that jazz, but still. You'd go levels and levels without any new abilitites or feats, and all the armor looks the same (which they've stated they will fix).
You're leveleing just for the sake of leveling, which is boring, no matter how good the combat is (which I love the combat).

Polish: I don't know why, but it lacked that certain something to pull me in completely. I rembember when I played WoW, I used to spend all day thinking about it. In classes, I'd be thinking of my next moves, and whenever I was about to finish my shift at work I got that giddy "OMG I can go play WoW after this!" feeling.
But AoC just didn't have it. I'd sit around my house with nothing to do (summer vacation ftw!) and I'd think of firing up AoC, then I'd think "sigh...nah, I'll play it later".
This is very heavily tied to the previous issue.

AoC is an awesome game, but those two issues I mentioned are the biggest things affecting it, enough to make me unsubcribe and not miss it.

I'm not holding any grudges. I mean, AoC is the first MMO since WoW to get such massive attention (I don't remember any other releases getting mentioned so much in gaming websites), so I doubt FC was expecting what it got.
But still, it's a little heartbreaking that such as fun game is not very 'addicting'.
I really hope WAR learned from this, I've been looking for a good MMO that pulls me in as much as WoW did (and doesn't have endgame that consists entirely of grinding the same hnadful of maps).

Coquiton

Here's how you demo an MMO. You set a week/end to host an "open beta" which serves both the demo function and stress testing your hardware. WoW had one and it's what got me hooked enough to buy it the day it came out. Strange thing is that I didn't experience the dreaded "loot lag" that I would wrestle with for the first few months of play.

Anyway for me levels 1-45 were fun, I was enjoying myself while playing the game. But once I got past that it just seemed like I was grinding away. Hopefully the content patches fix that, but I'm back to WoW till at least 6 months after the expansion at this point.

Chewbenator

any mmo that is being released is never fully ready, because they want money to come in as fast as possible, and patches can come later

it took more than 6 months for WoW to be ready, i can almost add that it took the first expansion pack for WoW to be ready

... anyway, i just do not play any mmo in it's first 6 months anymore

waza

@Rookerith:

I found the game plenty meaty up until level 56. Then you're stuck between grey quests and red quests annnnnnnnnnnd STOP! Villa time!

But you grind your Villas and the occasional real quest and get to 60 and suddenly there's plenty of stuff to do again.

Koztah

Too bad the game lacks content post level 55 and don't get me started on the shitty crafting system.

Boudabras

@Elderwulf: You're level 7 man. The level 1-20 game is fantastic. This is why Faheyman hasn't written a full review yet, because you can't write a few review until you level through the whole game, and see it as a whole.

The meat of the game's polish is in the first 20 levels.

Rookerith

At least the guy was honest about when they believe the game to be in a feature complete state. It's just too bad that customers pay to beta test MMOs upon release.

MSUSteve

I think i will enjoy the game allot; however, im worried about warhammer. There has been allot of hype on that game so one could only wonder.

OnimousDante

The game is so much fun, but they break as much as they fix each patch. I haven't been able to rebind my hotkeys in a week due to a bug they introduced last patch, and they didn't fix it in todays patch apparently. 2 weeks without being able to rebind any hotkeys? WTG.

I like the premise of the game, but I think I'll put it down for 4-6 months and come back when its done.

jamouq

@Ishmae1: Because launching an MMO with all of the promised features already included is just crazy. That's what patches are for!

Gouki4u's avatar has a severe case of Jekyll and Hyde

BUuuuuuuuuuug tastic. But I enjoy it a lot.

LemmingX

I do wish though that Kotaku had some sort of Commenter Review Board. Where Commenters are selected by the masses that they feel would give an accurate mini-review or gauge of a game. Then they could give us an idea if it would be something worth playing ourselves and avoid the "uninformed review rant" syndrome since we can choose who we trust to inform us.

Elderwulf

I just started the game despite many Kotaku Commenter comments and bad reviews. The good reviews I have seen have been more detailed than the bad. So far I like it, but I am only level 7. However with updates twice a week, I think they will pay close attention to the users.

Elderwulf

I enjoy the game, but it does need some work. End Game content needs to be added, and sieges really need to be ironed out. Last week, we couldn't even damage the walls of a battlekeep, which made sieges rather difficult :-P

A month? Eh...they're only patching once a week now, but those patches are growing in size. We'll see, but I think it'll be more than a month until it's in a better-than-beta state. It is a game with a lot of potential that got rushed out the door. To be honest, WAR's devs should take note of this as cutting cities and classes to make a release date indicates that they are doing much the same thing.

Aeralindor

maybe they should release the fabled friend codes that were promised with pre-orders etc. my friend was going to give me one of his so i could check it out, possibly get hooked and play with him, but the fact that its been 2 months and still no availability.. yeah, ive got no desire to bother if the company is gonna slack on a basic thing.

krztov

It takes some brass ones to say something like that about your game. I hadn't heard of any major problems with Conan post-launch, so I just assumed it was in relative working order. Of course, I haven't really heard anything great about it, aside from the kicking people off of cliffs deal, either.

KirbyMorph

@semjaza: Gotta agree with you here. I tried to be impressed, as I spent the first month trying to get around all the crashes, and broken quests (that you didn't know were broken until a few hours into them).

I bought into the hype, and lost a month for it. At the moment though, Warhammer Online has my eye... but AOC has caused me to be catious, and wait for an informed review, rather than take it on the word of a charismatic product manager.

Tenth

So why did it ship if it wasn't ready to be reviewed / played?

Ishmae1

"A decent MMORPG LAUNCH is possible" I meant.

semjaza

I'd say it was reviewable the second it came out. If a game's a mess, a game's a mess. Games like LotRO have proven that a decent MMORPG is possible. AoC's has almost been on the level of random micro-transaction Korean MMORPGs that seem to be a dime a dozen.

Any MMORPG is going to get patched up and adjusted. I certainly would have appreciated knowing what a mess this all was (and would likely be for the next few months) before blowing money on it since there's no easy way to demo it.

A review and an update would probably have been a better route... but that's just my opinion.

semjaza

I couldn't play the game because of the crafting system. I like to craft and gather in MMOs, especially when the system is like AoC is supposed to be. Wander around, find a tree, and cut it. Oh, there's a the rock I need, mine it. It's all fun and good till you realize that you get hardly anything from the node.

Every node seems to be almost empty, and you keep getting interrupted every minute by gangs of Mobs attacking you. It was very frustrating.

I also they think there were a lot of bugs in gathering since I never seem to get any leather from killing creatures, which was another problem. You don't actually skin anything like in world of warcraft, you get the skin from the loot (boring).

stetsonblade

@V.Volker: I've had the exact opposite experience. I was pretty excited at first, and I finally got the game. And, the longer I played, the less I like it.

I just cancelled my account yesterday. I'll go back to Guild Wars and bide my time until Warhammer comes out. I really really hope Mythic doesn't screw it up. :D

antialias02

I bashed this game till my heart was happy. I bashed it because when it first came out it was a piece of shiz. It was a superficial review here on Kotaku, along with the positive comments which made me go out an buy the game.
Just a week ago i revamped my rig. The works pretty much. I'm now running the game on full blast getting around 70-80 fps outdoors (daytime), and 100+ indoors and nighttime. I have to say, within the month or so that i stopped playing and now, they have made some progress. Not to mention the fact that i'm playing the game with the intended eyecandy making it all that more appealing!
But again, i did not hesitate to bash this game, and bash the developers, as i wrote numerous emails to them stating my discontent and how Warhammer was gonna kick their teeth in. But i was wrong. Although there are "still" some bugs, some video corruption, getting stuck on planks on the floor, etc... I think it's turning out to be a decent experience. Although Warhammer still has my interest and most likely take over AoC come Fall/Winter.

V.Volker

@Rookerith: That is exactly why I stopped subscribing. :/ I just can't get myself to play the damn game anymore...such a shame.

sweetie55

"When will Age of Conan be complete enough for a full review?" His answer? "About a month."

Ya, that just doesn't fly. The game has been at market for over a month now, I think a review of it as is is fair enough.

MantisDragon

@V.Volker:
Uhhh. Flagship Studios is out, which means no Mythic AFAIK. Sorry. :(

man in gauze is king ramses II, silly.

@antialias02: "I really really hope Mythic doesn't screw it up. :D" Amen to that! i hope they don't screw this up!
I feel what you are saying. I've had a lot of my colleagues dump the game around lvl 30. I'm not there yet, but i'm not really taking it too seriously as i did WoW. I honestly don't think i will get that far, as i re-enabled my account just to pwn my vid cards, which i haven't been able to yet. Might as well play it since i enabled it for a month...

V.Volker

Funcom was lucky that the first 20 levels were as fun as they were. If it hadn't been for that, I'd have demanded my money back, instead of only canceling my account.

Mercuttio

AoC has become worse and worse with each patch. Honestly, just go to the offical forums and see for yourself, unless you are unlucky enough to still be playing.
This IS the worst MMO currently on the market, hell, it makes Vanguard seem like a paradise.
I will never, ever support a Funcom project again, I swear on my life, I learned my lesson.
(Hmm, said "worst" three times describing the game, but its the best word I can put to the game)

Thrillkiller

@Coquiton: I'm right with you on the motivation part. I haven't played in a week because I have that "ah...I'll play it later" thing goin. I still need to beat Devil May Cry 4, so that's what I'm doing.

Back when I played WoW my games gathered dust. But it's not the same situation with AoC. It's not a bad game, but it's not a game that makes you want to play alot.

Thassodar

@Aethyr: Except they don't. I'm astonished at the number of 8s and 9s this game received and when you read the actual reviews they gloss over the extent to which AoC is unfinished and broken.

There's a lot of "hopefully" and "potential" talk, and the review scores just seem to reflect what the game "might" become.

That's fucking bullshit. I remember buying Hellgate at launch, playing it a few days and then wondering how the hell PC Gamer came up with an 89/100 score.

These cozy, advertising-based relationships between the gaming media and developers just end up fucking the customer over. If AoC isn't even "reviewable" yet, then why is Funcom charging a monthly fee?

Beta subsidies ftw.

Silverbackne

I've been playing since nov 2007 and in that time I've had maybe a half dozen crashes ..only one of them was after release, the rest were in beta. The game could use some attention here and there but overall I really like the game ; I havent played anything else since nov 2007

Tastes_like_chicken

Cancelled my AoC account and am currently in Warhammer Beta 3 leveling a Black Orc.

I can honestly say that neither game compares to WoW. They just don't have the quality or quantity that WoW delivers.

Playing through both just make me more excited about the launch of Wrath of the Lich King.

rljohn

@Yadama:

Biggest mistake they could ever make, if true.

I think that is a ploy, there's no way they would delete 3 month old characters. It would be stupid.

Jas49

Cancelled my account.

Jas49

@krztov: that actually just got patched in supposedly

Fert

It took a month to stop playing... so yeah. A month to review it's pretty accurate.

AndrewDB

@Yadama: Well, that's just another negative to the game, isn't it? I left WoW for roughly a year, and then joined back up and all my characters were still on the account. Why are they making something worse that what came out over 4 years ago. Seriously, learn from the best and then build onto that, don't detract from it and then go downhill.

masterdingo

If you want people to have any respect for you as a reviewer then you need to review the game people bought, not the game the developers want to show you.

Fallom

or understanding...lol

Mrjoemama

:Translated:

"Keep paying us 15 bucks a month. If enough of you do we might be able to fix/finish the game in a month of two after we get another few million, thanks for your understand."

-Funcom

Mrjoemama

Level 1-30 has some technical woes but I thought the content was there and most importantly I had fun. Level 30-40 is so-so depending where and what you're doing, but it's really at level 40+ that the problems start to flood in. Age of Conan needed a couple more months to cook, but I thought it was very fun to play when it actually worked. Rather than bad design I'm willing to believe it was pushed out the door, like quite a few MMO's are.

The largest and perhaps most refined MMO, World of Warcraft, wasn't so hot 40+ when it released. The Wow launch was a lot more messy (generally speaking) than AoC. I think AoC has a lot of potential and will come into its own later in the year. I still shouldn't have gone live when it did.

Replica23

@Fert: just checked, still says Coming Soon. what a joke.

krztov

Thanks for releasing an unfinished game Funcom never mind having shitty GM's, shitty forum moderators and terrible support. I'm glad I canceled to go roll pubbies with Goon Fleet in EVE.

GreyFoxV1

I still feel bad that I had my girlfriend buy the game. We played the first 20 levels and loved it. But right after that we were both like..."uhh....wtf is this?" Seriously, the games a joke. Beside the combat, it's basically Guild Wars 1.5, but without the story.

macr0planet

@man in gauze is king ramses II, silly.: You realize that Volker is probably talking Mythic as in Warhammer Online. Not the game that was being made by Flagship.

MantisDragon

@MantisDragon: I concur; that's the context I was referring to as well.

@Fallom: I tend to agree with that assessment, but it can be a real toss-up when it comes to actually writing a review about MMO's. Virtually everyone agrees that MMO's don't launch with the polish of a 'typical' retail title anymore, and some reviewers prefer to wait a little bit after the game releases to get a better balance between the "intended" experience and the "delivered" experience.

Besides, it takes at least that long for a reviewer to play enough of the game. I wouldn't want someone who was level 15 reviewing the game, because that reviewer has - in effect - reviewed only the first fifteen levels. Reports from players suggest the game changes a bit after 20, and a bit more after 50ish. Three different reviews at three different power levels might read very differently.

So it's a fine line to walk, and I can't blame Fahey a bit for not having reviewed the game yet.

antialias02

The only things that I really hate about the game is that it's so hard to make some money and the itemization is poor. The game economy isn't that strong yet so resources are selling for below market price on my server.

Speaking on the itemization, some of the random (non-blue) drops are completely worthless. There's rarely a chance that those items are better than what you get from quests. Also the armor models and designs are so generic. A level 10 wrist armor looks the same as a level 60 wrist armor. They need to do something about that.

Phlycheez

@MantisDragon:

Yes, I am an idiot. :D

man in gauze is king ramses II, silly.

Yeah Erling is awesome, met him like 3 times now :P

But even though AoC has had it's share of flaws I'm glad it's done as well has it has.. Means Funcom can stay in buisness and I'm hopefully getting my damn Dreamfall Chronicles!

Cragen

What's really bad about the game is Funcom's clumsyness and cluelessness in going about changes and updates. Remember the bug that made females attack slower and deal less damage than males and that made the whole MMO community laugh? Well. Yesterday they "solved" that, by slowing down considerably EVERYONE (females included), so now the very nice, quick combat is slowed to a crawl, tanks can't keep aggro against casters, and most of the high level content is almost impossible.
I'm debaffled at how clueless they are, seriously.

Abriael

@Cragen: This.

/Long live adventure games!!!!

MPgmr

@man in gauze is king ramses II, silly.: LOL, i didn't reply cause i really didn't know what to say to you... lol

V.Volker

Been playing the game since paid launch. The starter city of Tortage gives the initial impression the game is going to be extremely well developed and fun, after leaving it one is in for a shock. Picture broken feats, broken quests, broken pvp character balance, client side memory leak, server side lag spikes that disconnect you from game. The questing content drops off a cliff to practically nothing 50+ and the fact a person can reach 50 in less two weeks of 2 hour a day game play. Save your money

jakegravy

Discussion of article at the forums, whic of course was closed:

[forums.ageofconan.com]

"Erling here. This was a misunderstanding and has now been cleared up. Basically we were discussing with the journalist about when he should review the game as he made it clear he wanted specific improvements and additions in before he made the review, and that's when we said that those things he mentioned should be in within a month time. We did not mean to say that the game is not reviewable until then. Our opinion is, of course, that the game is perfectly reviewable now as many glowing reviews have shown."

`I'd be interested in hearing what the specific improvements and additions were pointed out that Erling gave the estimate of a month.

kaheidt

Discussion of article at the forums, whic of course was closed:

[forums.ageofconan.com]

"Erling here. This was a misunderstanding and has now been cleared up. Basically we were discussing with the journalist about when he should review the game as he made it clear he wanted specific improvements and additions in before he made the review, and that's when we said that those things he mentioned should be in within a month time. We did not mean to say that the game is not reviewable until then. Our opinion is, of course, that the game is perfectly reviewable now as many glowing reviews have shown."

I'd be interested in hearing what the specific improvements and additions were pointed out that Erling gave the estimate of a month.

kaheidt

Discussion of article at the forums, whic of course was closed: http://forums.ageofconan.com/showpost.php?p=1612690&postcount=60 "Erling here. This was a misunderstanding and has now been cleared up. Basically we were discussing with the journalist about when he should review the game as he made it clear he wanted specific improvements and additions in before he made the review, and that's when we said that those things he mentioned should be in within a month time. We did not mean to say that the game is not reviewable until then. Our opinion is, of course, that the game is perfectly reviewable now as many glowing reviews have shown." I'd be interested in hearing what the specific improvements and additions were pointed out that Erling gave the estimate of a month.

OsmondGriffin

Discussion of article at the forums, whic of course was closed: http://forums.ageofconan.com/showpost.php?p=1612690&postcount=60 "Erling here. This was a misunderstanding and has now been cleared up. Basically we were discussing with the journalist about when he should review the game as he made it clear he wanted specific improvements and additions in before he made the review, and that's when we said that those things he mentioned should be in within a month time. We did not mean to say that the game is not reviewable until then. Our opinion is, of course, that the game is perfectly reviewable now as many glowing reviews have shown." I'd be interested in hearing what the specific improvements and additions were pointed out that Erling gave the estimate of a month. Kevin Heidt, Data Programming Specialist PSC Info Group P.O. Box 703 Valley Forge, PA. 19482 610-650-3916 voice 610-529-8565 cell 610-666-5939 fax kheidt@pscinfogroup.com Visit us on the web at http://www.pscinfogroup.com . A Leader in Document and Information Management Technologies. Confidentiality Notice: This e-mail message, including any attachments, is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply e-mail and destroy all copies of the original message.

OsmondGriffin

@antialias02: I really doubt that Mythic can screw up. Rather, I'm hoping Mythic doesn't screw up. If DAoC still had a decent player base, I'd be playing that game right now. It was great, and I'm expecting something decent with Warhammer. :-)

Voxenn

The patches are poorly thought out and more trouble arises from them than any game I have ever played.

Like this latest patch people are randomly disappearing from your screen, players names and health bars are disappearing from their heads and hovering over nearby enemies. Another problem with this patch is they changed how combos are completed, allowing melee characters to chain combos that have 1-5minute cooldowns back-to-back-to-back without ever stopping. This allows them to kill anything they get near in less than 5 seconds.

If there is one thing Funcom is not, it's honest. There Devs are going to become best friends with the guys at Flagship in the unemployment line.

RaynR