May 26
Worst. MMO. Player. Ever.
I know I’ve said this before, but I think it’s startling how terrible a gamer I actually am. Despite my passion for this subject matter and my enthusiasm for the MMO genre in general, I’m really bad at one of the most important parts of actually being an MMO gamer: slotting a bunch of hours together continuously to do that whole ‘leveling’ thing.
From a practical standpoint, this is simply because I try to keep busy. My new work situation has me about 10x less stressed than even a month ago, but I’m still humming along with various projects. Massively, MMOG Nation, Random Dialogue, GameSetWatch, the occassional GWJ article, a wife, friends, family, etc, etc … whine, whine.
In any case, I’m still just at about level 13 in Age of Conan. I’m going to endeavor to play a bit more today, but I’ve got even more barriers between me and Conan’s fun. I really apologize, because this is going to sound extremely faffy and pompous … but I’ve kind of seen everything I need to. This is the real reason that I’m so bad at these games; once I’m out of the tutorial element I tend to find that there’s not a lot of incredibly new stuff This is a discussion I’ve had before with games journos and designers.
The deal, basically is that once you’ve been inside the machine and seen its guts its hard to really just enjoy the paint job. Now, I’m no designer. I don’t go into their part of the machine. But, the journalists have their own bit, and (despite best efforts) there’s lotos of exposed piping up in there. I’ve seen a lot of piping. So (in my mind) it’s hard to just enjoy the creamy outer layer Conan has to offer. Fundmentally, Conan is almost exactly like WoW, EQ2, etc. Beneath the real-time combat thing, it’s the same diku we’ve been playing since 99′.
That said, I’m really looking forward to WAR and WotLK. I had it pointed out to me recently that in my writing story plays a very critical role. If I like something, it tends to be because I really liked the story. Fundamentally I don’t care all that much about Hyboria, but I really like the tale behind Mythic and Blizzards’ offerings.
Maybe it’s actually not the pipes that distract me - maybe it’s the color of paint? Regardless, I’m not done with Conan yet. I’m playing more today, and I’m (at the least) grateful that we have a stopover here between PotBS and WAR.
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Hey mate!
And I thought that for sure you had found the Time Warp machine that adds hours upon hours to a typical day, allowing you to sleep 8 hours, eat for 2, shower, clean and other bodily functions for 1 hour, work for 8 hours, have fun with RL friends for 4 hours, play your console for 3 hours, entertain your-better-half for another 4 hours and finally play MMO for at least 12 hours - all in a typical 42 hour day.
So you too only get 24 in a day? =)
CK
I’m stuck around level 17 and kind of feeling the same thing you are, sadly. I want to play more because the game does offer a decent measure of fun, but I also know it’s just the same thing I’ll be getting with WAR and WotLK later this year. Oh and there’s a lot of other stuff for me to be doing, too.
Now, if you bring up Stargate Worlds I’ll say that the game seems genuinely different to me from what I’ve read. Although until the game has a set release date I guess I’ll just hold onto my excitement.
I realize other people have said this (on the AoC forums at least) but it’s true that things are different after Tortage. Well, at least the paint job is different. Being able to go to Cimmeria, Acquilonia, and Stygia opened up a very fun and interesting set of adventures, more interesting plots, and gorgeous graphics. I have not played WoW before, so I can’t compare, but get over the hump (Lev20) before you judge the game. My lev32 ranger is kicking tail, and my lev 21 bear shaman (while being absolutely frustrating to play between lev10-15) is coming into his own.
Once they fix the economy and traders and we see how the guild cities run, I think you might change your opinion considerably.
[...] a good article, maintain your daily responsibilities, and maybe, just maybe, play an MMO for fun. (Ironically, Michael Zenke wrote a great entry about this as I was putting this together) In general, those who do it, do it well. But why not seek out the [...]
I hear ya buddy. Everything that is *currently* in the game can be experienced well before 20. There’s a lot of cool stuff they have *planned*, but veterans have experienced that statement so often we’re all just at the “believe it when I see it” point.
Mostly that just means we’re likely to quit early and come back later when or if the stuff is actually added (full crafting, city building, sieges, etc). And that’s not a bad thing… unless they rely on our money to fund their operations :)
AoC launched right in my opinion: get the combat right FIRST, then add the meta. But I’m concerned that the advancement rate is so fast, a lot of people are going to be hitting the content-less parts well ahead of Funcom’s development curve. It’s only been a week and there’s already a good amount of folks in their 30s.
[...] think Michael really said it best in this post. It’s interesting he posted that because a few of us had a conversation that said the [...]
To say that age of conan looks exactly like WoW is probably the most ignorant thing any inexperienced and impatient MMO player could say. Every MMO requires macros and key bindings to be a smooth and enjoyable experience however AoC is nothing like WoW, hence the appeal.The game is absolutely spectacular and the battle system is highly more complex and entertaining that of the “twelve year old” simplicity of mashing buttons and running in circles on WoW. WoW is completely outdated and their graphics engines as well as gameplay need to be retired. Seriously. The Wrath of the Lych King is Blizzard’s last hope in maintaining any sort of respect in the MMO genre. Between the monthly feeM horrible servers with no proper maintainance and pathetic random patching and tedious beginners quest, WoW is a bust. How many brain cells does it take to kill ten wolves for hide and bring back for xp? Not much. Lvl 80 and a new class does not inspire me to continue playing this outdated and overall pathetic game. Video games are more than just charging people monthly fees for mediocre polygons and frumpy looking characters, its an art and a pass time that deserves respect. that which Blizzard does not deliver. The game was great prior to Burning Crusade even with its horrible download times and server disconnections but now the game is dominated by foul mouth no talent kids who race to get the next epic piece of armor and one strike kill their enemies with no skill whatsoever. They had four years to make the Lych King expansion something to look forward to and be memorable. Instead its a huge disappointment and more and more people are spending their money updating their computers for AoC rather than saving up fifty plus dollars for Blizzards last stand. As it should be. Hopefully SC2 will be as fantastic as it’s planned to be. Stick to strategy and tatics games.
Hey, Michael
Not much to say about AoC. Just wanted to do a little thumbs up: I’ve just read your whold 99 pages Archive (work is a little slow these days) and I find you damn interesting :p
I’m… Gonna try out WoW, and am waiting for WAR, partly because of you, now. And considering my reluctance to get into MMORPG despite my friends, that’s saying something.
Keep up the articles coming, man!
I do understand where you are coming from, but here’s the thing: if it’s not all that different from WoW, but looks a little better and feels a little better, why is this not a stunning achievement? It’s a bit like saying “well, the BMW M3 is just another $50,000 sports car, it’s just a little faster and I like the interior.” Doesn’t that still make it an amazing car?
To some extent I think all MMOs require a substantial time commitment to even get the feel. I know in LOTRO I didn’t get a sense of it until maybe 20 hours in. I didn’t really get hot and bothered about AoC until I hit the harder group content around level 30-35, and some of the instances from there have blown away Moria and the Balrog, my previous high spots.
But ultimately, if it doesn’t work, eh, that’s OK. We’ve got lots to play with.
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