Has a MMO finally beaten WoW’s Hunter Pet System?

Okay, I am on a posting frenzy right now but I keep finding stuff I want to talk about.  So, you will just have to deal with it!!

In perusing all the AoC expansion news from the last post I came across something incredibly cool.  The new AoC pet/mount system.  Let me explain it a bit:

• Two of the 10 or so factions in RotGS have a quest that involves picking up a tiger cub or wolf pup.
• Once you get that pup or cub, you continue on quests that slowly “grow” him/her over time.
• They eventually arrive at a time when they become actual combat pets.
• At this point, you can stop their growth and use them as a combat pet permanently.
  

  I really like the tiger.....

• Alternatively, you can continue along their “growth” system and they will eventually grow into a mount.
• If you choose for them to be a mount, they can no longer be a combat pet.

Okay, this is cool.  I loved the WoW pet system for hunters.  Actually going out, picking a pet, training it and then growing it to be more powerful was an incredibly cool experience for me.  It certainly beat having a pet arbitrarily assigned to you and was one reason why I thought the hunter and his pets were much cooler than the Warlock and his.

but I am a wolf kinda guy!!!

This takes that awesome pet system in WoW and upstages it.  Frankly, I think it might even just blow it away.  The fact that every class can have the combat pet is also very cool.  I can not wait to see my Bear Shaman with his trusty wolf by his side.

Oh, but the terrible choice:  the mount or the pet?!?!  That will take some time to decide!

Could be the “COOLEST INSTANCE EVAR!!!!!!”

A ton of GDC news is breaking today about the new AoC expansion, Rise of the Godslayer.  Seems they went pretty in-depth about it at GDC and they revealed a bit of info.  One of the coolest things I have seen from it thus far is a presentation they did about some of the instances in the new expansion.  There seems to be some pretty unique features contained in these instances.  I am a PvP’er at heart but I do love me a good instance.

Check out the video:

Some added links for RotGS info:

Character Creation Video

MMORPG.com Coverage

Conan (IGN) Vault

Game Reactor Video

Ten-Ton Hammer

VGChartz Coverage

A Player Perspective

Kotaku Article

Eurogamer Article

Alternate Advancement Video

That is a metric ton of info. Thanks to Avery from the MMORPG.com forums for compiling them all in a single thread, located here!!!

All I can say is: Wow! This expansion is looking really, really nice. I really like that they are relying on lateral advancement instead of an increased level cap. It adds new content but does not invalidate all the old content. DAoC did all their expansions this way and I always prefered it to the WoW-style of raising the level cap.

The question I have, is there another MMO that has went from being a massively bad game to a very, very good one like AoC has? I can not think of another that has done as much to turn around a bad launch. WAR has improved a lot as well but nowhere near what AoC has. They have really impressed me with how they are treating this game and not putting it on life-support while they work on Secret World. That is to be commended.

Hopefully, the early adopters who left after the bad launch and the subsequent will be tantalized enough to give it a shot again. The game seems to have come a long way and I think they will be rewarded if they return. I know the servers could use a shot of returning players. Its not dead by a long shot on Cimmeria but I could stand to see a heavy population.

Oh, Derek. You never change do you?

So, my post the other day concerning Alganon and its new leadership under the illustrious Derek Smart detailed how refreshing a bit of honesty is coming from a MMO developer. Telling it like it is, pulling no punches and trying out honesty, for once, instead of evasion.

But, Derek Smart just couldn’t leave it at that, could he?   As per his normal MO, he is now airing out dirty laundry and getting into arguments with posters on message boards.  Derek will never, ever change.

Take a look at this quote from the posts located here:

Even so, this has nothing to do with recommendations. HR managers are not idiots – especially in our industry. So the three of you can tool around with each other all day long, but my guess is that given how competitive the industry has become and how it is now focused (now more than ever) on hiring based on experience in *shipping* games, you guys will most likely never – ever – work in this industry again.

Or how about this one:

So this goes beyond the mistakes made with the **game**. It has to do with fraud, embezzlement and mismanagement and everything else in between. I stand by those words and any one of you three is more than welcome to sue me for saying it. I’ll be waiting.

There are police and FBI complaints filed by the investors, there is a lawsuit in the works etc. Go ahead, tell me you didn’t know anything about that. Nor the fact that not only was he siphoning money in order to overpay himself and his buddies, but also had an inexperienced family member – with *zero* industry qualifications – on the team *and* being paid higher than any other person *with* industry experience and qualifications. I fired that person as well as you well know.

Or this one (italics and emphasis mine!):

Tell you what, I’m just going to write a Post Mortem blog about it from start to finish since thats the industry norm. I’m not interested in airing dirty laundry or making problems for you three if I don’t have to. But when the investors filed a police complaint (in Chandler, AZ) it became public knowledge. When you three started scratching each other’s backs on LinkedIn and elsewhere, taking potshots at the folks you leave behind to clean up your mess etc, you drew a line in the stand. The mistake you’re all making is that you clearly forget just *who* it is you’re dealing with.

Now, I am not a lawyer but Derek seems to be dangling very close to lawsuit material here, is he not?  Hell, companies now a days are scared to give references for former employees over fear of being sued!  Now, Derek is airing it out on a comment section of a news post?

Yeah, that’s smart.

Well, it may not be smart but it is entertaining.  That is one thing you have to give to Derek, he certainly entertains!

Postcards from Cimmeria

Realistic or Stylized

One of the biggest differences between Age of Conan and other MMOs, such as WoW, is their dedication to a realistic look in armor and weaponry.  Funcom went for a purely realistic look in AoC and they achieved it.  Armor is rendered in muted browns, reds and blacks.  Weaponry is of a realistic size and actually looks like something a medieval warrior would wield.    This is in sharp contrast to the fantastical looking armor and weapons in WoW, Aion or even Warhammer.

Do you prefer this...

I liked most of the armor and weapons in WoW but there were some that just went over the top.  For instance, I liked the design of the old Dragonslayer Hunter armor from Vanilla WoW but, come on, gold and purple?  Really?!?!  Hunters are supposed to be nature like and blend in.  Not stand out with garish armor like a pimp on a street corner!  Some of the various doodads, skulls and such that stuck out of your armor were out of place too.  I really do not need a huge globe of light dangling over my shoulders…thank you very much.

or this??

Aion was even worse.  I don’t like Anime to begin with, so Aion really pushed my buttons.  Come now, a guy who probably doesn’t weigh 105lbs, yet he is carrying an axe that is three times his size and probably weighs 300lbs?  Not only is he carrying it but he is doing flips with it?  Nope.  Not for me.

Most MMOs fall squarely in one of those two camps.  Either realistic or fantastical.  WoW, Aion, Allods, FF11 and Tera Online all go the fantastical route.  DAoC, AoC, Darkfall and, from what I have seen, all go the realistic route.  There are some overlaps, however, with EQ2 and Warhammer having a mix of both.

So, the question is; which do you prefer?  Do you like the fantastical armor of WoW or do you prefer the gritty realism of AoC?  The pictures above are not a fair comparison.  The AoC engine is obviously better but, all things being equal, if they were both rendered in the same engine, with the same detail, which would you prefer?

Cimmeria. I am home.

My wife and I have constant arguments about where we are going to retire to when we get older.  Now, my wife loves the beach and the warm sun.  I, on the other hand, love mountains, trees and snow.  I don’t know, maybe it is my Norwegian ancestry but give me cold mountains, lakes and trees over the beach.  Anytime.

My wife would love Tortage, I mean as long as she ignored the blood-thirsty Picts and the 12 foot long Alligators.  Oh, and the undead things.  Those too.  Tortage is bright and sunny.  With long white sand beaches and a warm sun.  Perfect for my wife.  Not for me, though.

I'm sorry but tell me this is not a scene right out of a Conan novel!

Maybe that is why I am actually enjoying Cimmeria more than Tortage.  It is absolutely beautiful.  No doubt one of the most beautiful areas I have been to in any MMO.  It looks perfect.  Right out of the books.  Huge snow-covered mountains, beautiful pines and winding creeks.  It is all there.

But for everything beautiful in Cimmeria, there is also a brutality.  There is a war going on there between the Vanir and the Cimmerians and you can certainly tell.  Forts with spiked walls, bodies stacked underneath.  Vanir waiting in bushes to ambush you.  Villages burned to the ground.  Yeah it is brutal.

A Cimmerian fort to hold back the Vanir tide.

The quests here all center around defeating the Vanir.  Killing the lookouts and the raiders.  Gathering supplies for the camps.  All in all they are your normal quests in an MMO war zone.  Nothing special there.  But, the environment makes it special.  It was a bit of a shock the first time I clicked on a quest giver and, unlike Tortage, was not treated to a voice over but I quickly realized I did not really need a voice over.  Yeah, they are nice but, really, who cares?  Give me the quest and send me on my way.

Red-head demon! Feel mah hammer!!

One of the early quests I received had me working my way up a mountain, killing Vanir along the way, to face a Vanir boss at the top.  I fought my way up, sometimes fighting 3 Vanir at a time.  Here is where I truly started to learn my character.  Each fight was intense and I came out of each with a sliver of health.  I learned to use my AoE stun, step back and heal, to make sure I used all my HoTs constantly.  It was a struggle.

This.....is going to hurt.

Alas, I got to the top of the mountain and got one add too many and I fell at the feet of the boss I was sent to kill.  I was disappointed but I actually look forward to scaling that mountain again.  It was that fun.

Notice the texture work on the shield and armor. Simply amazing.

On a related note, I sure could use another lowbie to level with!  If any of you fine readers have considered getting into AoC, either for the first time or to return, now would be a great time!  It’s tough to go it alone, even for a mighty Bear Shaman!

Further AoC Impressions: The UI, Quests and PvP!

Following up my earlier post on AoC, here are my further impressions on other aspects of the game.  I am going to talk a bit about the UI, Quests and PvP.

The UI in AoC is….adequate.  At best.  For a game with such a complex combat system, the UI is certainly lacking.  I believe this might be a sacrifice to the possible X-Box AoC port and they developed it with the port in mind.  There is a serious lack of customization options available.  You can not resize any of the UI and you are unable to move the targeting windows around.  In addition, the UI takes up a large chunk of screen real-estate.  I enjoy a minimalist UI design in my MMOs.  Keep the size and function of the UI as invisible as possible.

In WoW most of my bars were completely invisible and my screen only displayed the mini-map, the targeting windows and the group windows.  This is not possible in AoC.  Luckily, there are a number of UI mods out there and I am experimenting with them at the moment.  I hope to find one I like soon but I really hope Funcom improves the UI in the upcoming expansion.

Questing in AoC is just like every other MMO out there, though the stories might be a bit more interesting.  Much of that is because of the world.  Hyboria has always been an interesting intellectual property and it certainly strengthens the quest lines in AoC.  The cut scenes are fairly cool but, again, they are something I do not need. There is a bit of traveling involved which, coupled with the amount of instancing, can get a bit annoying.  Still, I am having a lot of fun overall and I enjoy the quests.

Now for the all-important PvP.  I rolled on the Cimmerian server, which is a PvP server.  In AoC that means that, other than the cities, you can be attacked almost anywhere, by anyone. There are no factions, so you really have to be on your toes.  You can consider no one friendly and you have to watch your back constantly.

My first experience in PvP was not out in the world but in the mini-games, AoC’s version of Battlegrounds.  They are very enjoyable and not unlike WoW at all.  The only problem I had with them is how infrequently they popped at my level.  I think a lot of this, at low level at least, is because the queuing interface is so difficult to find.  It is tucked away in a screen that you would never know was there, unless you went looking for it.  I would imagine a few new players miss it entirely, which really could cut down on the number of pops at low level.

The first mini-game I entered was a standard “capture-the-flag” affair.  I, of course, entered the game and found myself in a PuG against a pre-made.  Aaaah, memories of WoW!  We were summarily annihilated and I had very little chance to do anything at all.

The other three games I played were in a mini-game called Totem Torrent.  This is a bit different than any BG in WoW.  Basically, the two teams have to just kill each other.  At each end of the playfield there are totems, which can be destroyed.  If your teams Totem is destroyed, your team can no longer respawn after death.  Which means it is only a matter of time before you lose.  Alternately, you can simply concentrate on killing the other team until the timer runs out and the team with the most kills wins.

Again, upon entering, I found myself in a PuG against a pre-made.  This time was different, however.  We beat them.  Three straight times in fact!  We decided to simply defend our totem and not attack theirs at all.  They tried multiple times to attack the totem and we pushed them back every time.  They changed tactics and tried to lure us away from the totem but we stayed disciplined and did not allow it.  In the end, every game was a massacre.

We were also lucky in that we had three healers.  Myself, another Bear Shaman and a Priest of Mitra were able to keep our team healed pretty well.  It took some getting used to as far as healing is concerned.  I am so used to targeted healing but all the Bear Shaman’s heals are AoE or cone effect.  Indeed, I believe all heals in the game are like that, so you never have to target the player you want to heal.  Because of this, positioning is very important and took some getting used to.

So far my strategy with the Bear Shaman is to stay at the periphery of the fight and rush in after battle is engaged.  Keep my HoTs up and help finish people off.  What I heard about the Bear Shaman is true; they are slow builders.  You really feel inadequate at low levels, before your heals get stronger but, at level 20, he is starting to come into his own.

Of course my first PvP experience was marred by what I call “new-player” lock up.  You know, when something new happens and you suddenly forget what every key does and what order to push them in?  Yeah, that was me.  It happens most often in PvP, until you finally figure it out.  I stood there and watched myself die, all the while muttering:

Oh shit, what do I do?  What do I press first?  Damn….I’m dead.

After that first experience, I slowly started to figure it out.  And I had fun.  A lot of fun.  The games went quickly and my machine handled them like a champ, with nary a hiccup.  I am so proud of my little PC!

Other than the mini-games, my only other PvP experience was a coupla higher level ganking me, though there was one really interesting and fun encounter.

I was about to zone into the sewers for a quest and I saw a Bear Shaman that was two levels higher than me standing at the door.  I parked myself at the door (outside the instance is non-PvP) and went to get a drink.  When I came back he was gone.  I figured he had went inside so I zoned in and prepared myself to get jumped.

Upon zoning in, I heard the sounds of battle and found myself watching the level 21 BS laying the smack down on a couple of level 12 players.  Being the awesome person that I am, I could not allow that!  So, with a mighty battle roar, I launched myself into the fray.

With only a few hits, and the help of the two level twelves, I had the Bear Shaman down to a sliver of life.  Of course, he decided at that moment that discretion is the better part of valor and made for the zone exit.  Ah-ha! I was ready for this and this time did not lock up.  I used my Ferocious Smack.  This ability does a bit of damage but, more importantly, knocks the target down.  The Bear Shaman promptly landed on his ass and I finished him with my Shrewd Blow.  Even better, it ended up a fatality and I knocked his head off his shoulders!

Triumph!!

The two level twelves thanked me and I zoned out to the save zone to take a quick break.  When I returned I saw that the level twelves had just zoned out and were both at less than half health.  Of course, the Bear Shaman had jumped them again after I left.  They invited me to group and we went Bear Shaman hunting.

We zoned back in, only to find the Bear Shaman gone.  Heading down a ramp and into a bigger room we ran into the Bear Shaman.  He initially only saw my group mates and he charged in, only to find himself on the receiving end of my massive Warhammer.  He tried to get up the ramp and escape but I blocked him off (collision detection ftw!) and we ended him again.

This time he griped in the general channel about how I was ruining his fun and that I should leave him to gank the level twelves in peace.  Oh, the irony….

That’s it for now.  I will probably post more later but now I am heading back to Hyboria!

And….I am DONE.

Found this posted over at the K&G forums, originally taken from Allodsfan:

1) Level cap – 42.
2) New location for 40-42 levels.
3) Cursed items. Players will have chance to receive new type of items. Cursed items don’t give stat bonuses. Instead they make attributes lower. E.g. helm which added +100 to your Luck will give -100 when cursed. Cursed items may drop from heroic instances bosses. Also one of player’s items may become cursed after death. Any curse can be removed through special ritual.
4) Cash Shop consumables will now vanish after 7 days after you’ve bought them.
5) New boss in Demon City.

WHAT. THE. FUCK????

Small Level Cap increase: Cool

New Zone to level in: Cool

New boss: Cool

Cursed items that will probably need a CS item to remove: NOT. COOL.

CS consumables that disappear seven days after you purchase them: ABSOLUTELY. POSITIVELY. NOT. COOL.

Yeah, I am pretty much done.  Astrum Nival just does not get it.  Not in any way shape or form.  I don’t blame this on gPotato, these decisions are coming straight from AN.  Regardless, this is idiocy at its finest.  A great game is now dead to myself and thousands of potential players.  A sad thing really.

I had my doubts about the F2P model and, unfortunately, Astrum Nival has proven my initial foreboding correct.

Oh well, it was fun while it lasted.

Impressions of Age of Conan

Age of Conan has been out for quite awhile but I am just now giving it a shot.  Because it has been out for so long, I am not going to go in depth with a lot of the features of AoC but, instead, give my overall impressions of the game.  I downloaded the demo version just a few nights ago and I am currently level 17 on my first character, a Bear Shaman.  I am almost done with the Tortage area, I believe, and should be heading to Cimmeria soon.

I had done quite a bit of reading while I waited for the huge demo to download and had pretty much decided on a Bear Shaman.  A big brute that uses a huge two-handed hammer and calls on the spirit of bears to heal and strengthen him?  Come on, how can you go wrong with that?

After the download finished and I got into game, I found a decently deep character creation system.  You find yourself on board a slavers ship, where you pick gender and race first.  Bear Shaman can only be Cimmerians, so that was an easy decision and since I rarely play female characters, this decision was easy as well.

From there you pick a basic face type and body type, as well as body and face “markings” (think of the warpaint in Braveheart!), to go with it.  After that, you are able to choose eye color, hair style, facial hair and hair colors.  All very standard but it works well.  You also get to pick body  type, so you can be short and fat or tall and skinny or anywhere in-between.

Next comes even more individualization, as you can tweak every aspect of the body and face type you just decided on.  Sliders for making your arms more muscled, your cheeks more pronounced or your nose more crooked.  By the time you are done, you have a pretty unique looking character.  My end product looks like a metal guitarist on steroids, with long black hair and big, thick sideburns.

Done with that, I named my character and headed off into the world of Hyboria.  And what a world it is! You are initially treated to a cut-scene, which shows your character stranded on the isle of Tortage after your ship is caught in a massive storm.    Washed up on shore, you are greeted by some old dude who tells you the basics of the where/when/why of the story.  The story is actually decent and the voice-acting is superb, surprising for a MMO.

The first thing that will catch any new player of AoC a bit off-guard is how amazing the graphics are in the game.  I messed around with the settings quite a bit and played in both DX9 and 10, at various detail levels.  It doesn’t matter where you set it, it looks amazing. Interestingly, it also ran well at every setting, though on max in DX10, I was only getting around 40-60 FPS.  I finally settled on DX10, with a few of the options set down a bit.

The detail in the game is stupendous.  Textures are convincing and look better than any MMO I have ever played.  Rocks, trees and water all look breathtakingly real.  Diving below the waves is a real treat, with light rays fracturing as they hit the surface of the water and diffusing down below.  It is all almost overwhelming.

Just as important, if not more so, than the technical side of the graphics, is the art-direction.  Technically good graphics do no good in a game if the art-direction is not there.  For an example of good art-direction, one only has to look at WoW.  WoW certainly does not have the best graphics engine in the genre but their art-direction is phenomenal and makes up for it.  I still remember walking into Stranglethorn Vale and being amazed at this jungle environment.  It felt like a jungle, not because every tree and leave looked real but because the art-direction was so good it felt that way.

AoC has both.  An amazing graphics engine, coupled with great art-direction.  This is the most realistic jungle I have ever traversed in an MMO.  Bar none.  Everything about it screams quality and talent.  Funcom outdid themselves with this game graphically.  They really did.

But, who cares about graphics if the game is not good?  Not me, I will tell you.  Well, I am happy to say that, so far, AoC is not disappointing me in that area either.  The game plays much different than any MMO out there.  The combat system is truly unique and adds a “freshness” to the game that I have not experienced lately in MMOs.  At its core it is still a “button-smasher” but the idea is fresh enough to make you forget that.

Combat is combo based and every swing in combat is controlled.  No auto-attack here.  You decide when you attack and from which direction your attacks are going to be aimed at.  At the start, you have four swing attacks; a high-left, a high-right and a overhead swing.  Your enemy has “shield” icons around him, denoting which side he is concentrating his defense on.  Your opponent guarding his left side?  Then swing to the opposite side or overhead and do more damage.

As you level you will get additional abilities that add to your melee arsenal.  These abilities normally consist of combos that must be “chained” together to complete the combo.  For instance, one may require the starter and then a swing to the left and then it will go off.  At the beginning the chains are short, two keys at most but later turn longer and more complex.  This makes for a high learning curve but also an involved experience.

No more going through your “rotation” while watching your character auto-attack.  Yes, you are still hitting buttons, just like you would in WoW or Warhammer but there is a difference in feel that makes all the difference.  In WoW, if you miss a spell in your “rotation” its not too big a deal…you will just lose a bit of DPS.  If you do not get your combo off correctly in AoC, the entire ability does not fire and bad things can happen.

There are other intricacies in combat that I have not even begun to master.  In addition to your enemy having “shields” that he can move around to different sides, you do as well.  This means if you notice your opponent concentrating his attacks to one side, you can adjust your defense to that side to compensate.  Of course, this leaves you open on another side, so you have to really watch whats going on.  This makes for a very intense combat system and one that, I imagine, is very, very difficult to master.  I would assume that there is a huge discrepancy between the really good player and the mediocre ones in this game.

Adding to the combat is the visceral feel of it.  The animations are superb and blows land with satisfying smacks.  Wading through multiple enemies feels like something out of a movie.  Many fights involve you against multiple enemies and it is a lot of fun wading in and decimating three or four enemies at a time.  Finishing with a fatality is even more satisfying.

This post has went a lot longer than I intended for it to be.  I will post more tomorrow about my impressions of the UI, quests and the all important PvP.

Well, this is certainly a different way to do it….

MMO companies are known to be very reserved with their communications to the public.  When Mark Jacobs left Mythic the company was very careful in its wording announcing it.  They assigned no blame and were very vague in their wording.  This is the norm for the industry.

Quest Online, makers of Alganon, are not your normal MMO company.

Yesterday word came down that David Allen was leaving the company.  It was a fairly standard notification and, with the horrible quality of the game, completely expected.  The announcement that Derek Smart was taking over was not expected and came from left field but, even so, the announcement itself was par for the course.

Now comes this.

Now, this, is a bit different.  Very different in fact.  Smart comes right out and says that Allen was fired for “insubordination”.  Not only that but his “best buddy”, Jason Blood, was fired for the same reasons.  Not only does it state in, no uncertain terms, the reason why they are not with the company, it also comes across as pretty condescending because of the “buddy” remark.

Smart also goes on to say that he is scrapping the entire UI of the game because of how WoW-like it is.  Matter of fact, he calls it complete rubbish and states that the team never wanted to do a WoW-a-like game but David Allen insisted on that direction.  Ergo, the entire UI and art direction is being dumped and started anew.

In addition, all subscription fees paid up to this point are going to be refunded.  All of them.  The quote:

All paid subscriptions are going to be refunded 100% with the game’s official launch and there will be an email address setup for you to request your refund.

I already approved the budget to do this. Believe me, nobody likes giving money away, but I felt that it is the right thing to do given the current circumstances and the team valiantly backs me up on this. For me, it is an apology of sorts because the game you paid up to a year for is not the game that you got when you signed up. Though I wasn’t around when it happened, I would still like to apologize for that.

The entire post is an interesting read.  Totally different from what you have come to expect from a MMO development company.

So, what is my take on this?

Well, my feelings on Alganon are already known.  I found it to be completely derivative crap that bordered on plagiarism.  I could find no redeeming qualities in the game that would entice my to play it rather than WoW.

But, this has me intrigued.  Really intrigued.  Derek Smart has a unique reputation among PC gamers, to say the least, but this post comes across as something so different and so surprising that I can not help but root for them.  For once, a MMO company lets someone speak to the customer without double speak, without worrying about marketing and PR.  This came across as honesty and frustration and, perhaps, a willingness to make it right with the fans.

I hope Derek Smart and Quest Online can pull it off.  I hope they can right that ship and show other companies that honesty just may be the best policy.  The odds are against them, perhaps way against them.

I still hope they can do it.  Good luck Mr. Smart and Quest Online.