Joel speaks once more!

The April Dev Letter has arrived and with it came some very important information concerning the future content of the game. The topics themselves weren't all too surprising, I mean this is the same content we have been talking about for the past 6+ months, but what is refreshing to see is some honesty in regards to a reasonable and realistic "roadmap" as the creative director put it. Either way, I still want to dedicate this blog post to talk about the coming additions to the game and my thoughts on them.

Interestingly enough, there is also an interview with Joel Bylos (creds to mmorpg.com) where he more-or-less goes over the same topics, but I feel that the way he talked about stuff in the interview was not exactly how he put it in the Dev Letter. Don't get me wrong, I am not about to take what he says out-of-context and call him the devil, but what I am saying is that you should definitely take a look at both! In the Dev Letter he talks more about the content less about the reasoning, and vice versa in the interview by mmorpg. For example we did not really understand how much of the single-server tech we were about to get, or anything at all really. All we had in the beginning was "it'd be cool to get this in the game" which sounded like a promise at the time. Now though we understand in the letter that they have divided it into phases and the team will eventually try to pave the way for really cool stuff like cross-server minigames. An idea I personally pitched in 2008 but proceeded to get shot down by my own freaking community.. but that's beside the point. Anyway in the interview he did not talk about the single-server tech in phases all that much, but he did talk about the reasoning behind it. Fact is, we will never get single-server tech like in the Secret World. Craig Morrison (A man not needing of a description.. I HOPE) toyed around with the idea of having a single, large, happy universe where you get to choose whom you spend your merry days with. It actually sounded incredibly awesome, yet somewhat unrealistic as this is also expected from an upcoming MMO called ELDER SCROLLS and even they are struggling. That's not to say I am disappointed with what we are getting, and in the end I think it is great that we get to benefit from The Secret World now that there's a single team of (hopefully) experienced people working on all Funcom games.

Next couple of items on the list are the Unchained additions coming to the game (+dragon's spine content)!
The PvP part of this is way more interesting than the PvE part in my opinion, seeing as how we know that we usually get a good amount of 6-mans and a .5 raid of some kind. However, I did not expect to hear about an Unchained version of PvP minigames, and it almost completely overshadowed the fact that there's a NEW minigame linked to the Palace of Cetriss raid? Both of these are fantastic pieces of news though, and at this point I think PvPers are so starved that they'd accept pretty much anything playable. The only real concern I am having with this is; with Unchained Minigames, gear and pvp levels are useless. What will happen now that there's no PvP reward system? This is a great start, but I hope there's a follow-up in the future.

Speaking of PvP; I did notice two things, I fear that I might derail too much, but they are worth noting. First of all they are going to change the guard situation on PvP servers to get some more World PvP happening, and at the same time there is also the question of "will the B&G ruleset survive?". No guards, Tortage PvP and Player Looting were the key defining factors here and now key factor #1 for all the endgame players is looking a lot less impressive. I say the PvP situation is looking more and more dire, and I dearly hope to see some awesome revamps coming here like how the Murder System is handled, how Sieges are handled, how World PvP is handled. Unchained Tournaments maybe?!

It is a very important topic, but I am going to leave that for now. Funcom is at least looking at PvP and that is worth more than any piece of content, but trust me, when the time comes to discuss what sort of competitive endgame content we want in the game, I believe the community will be more than happy to share their opinion on just that. This text is getting longer and longer, but sometimes they need to be! What I can tell you though is that there is only two things left to talk about, and first up is crafting. (because I love it so!)

I love it so much in fact that it pains me to even copy/paste this quote: "This feature is still some months away from delivery". At least he is being honest, I know, but I feel like I have already used up that excuse. Fact remains the same, and even though that was the one feature good enough to bring me back I do still feel like resubscribing this summer, so I have. I have not experienced the newest Adventure Pack, nor have I written a review on it, so I do still have some content to burn through. With a new raid, minigame and revamped crafting system being pushed back further this also means Fall/Winter 2013 is going to be a great time for Age of Conan (yes I am willing to settle for that).¨

Speaking of good times (smoothest segway you're ever gonna see here man), the Devs are actually planning to do something cool for the 5th anniversary. To be honest I was pretty happy when I read that and it rounded off the letter with something positive. Some optimism on the side to wash down that postponed crafting revamp. I like that idea, so I intend to do the same. For this very occasion, have a funny* picture!

*funny is a subjective term here and will not necessarily guarantee laughter in any way, shape or form.

...Meanwhile, on the forums!

Seeing as Funcom likes to take their time, I am not going to experience or talk about crafting just yet. This does not leave me with a lot of options, but it is the job (well not really, unless anyone wants to pay me) of any blogger to keep busy any way he can!

In light of this, I have a couple of things to talk about starting with the absence of last month's Dev Letter and the general cutbacks of community news. If any of you imaginary readers out there have visited the new forum at any point since March you might have noticed two things: There is no March Letter, and Joel Bylos decided to pull the plug on the now very long-running weekly update tradition brought to us by Oliver.

That information alone is enough to cause concern, but as always I would like to play devil's advocate and look at the real consequences here. Mainly there being none, except missing March was a real bummer in my opinion. Joel said that there are better ways of communicating to the playerbase than a weekly update. There simply isn't enough information going out, and whenever there is they will be sure to let us know anyway. The Monthly Letters will stay, as they for example don't just give us information on what is, but what will be.

I can go on and on about what Devs say, so that's exactly what I am going to do with my new irregular, probably-never-going-to-happen-again, column simply called "What Devs Say". Since I've cheated and talked about his response to the weekly update closing down business, I'll start for real in my next report!

Bring on the Crafting!

As one of the weird people who thoroughly enjoyed crafting in this game, my one true desire since.. October 2011 has been the Crafting Revamp. The way I see it, people displeased with the current system should be looking forward to this even more than myself. After I made a post about it back in march 2012 I am to this day still waiting for it. The year is 2013 goddamnit, but at least they informed us around August 2012 that it was not going to happen until the end of the year or the start of the next year.

The content that the community was delivered instead included several (well-received) class revamps, in addition to the new feat system and in the end; Dragon's Spine. As most of you can imagine, a lot of people were left content starved and I personally stopped paying for the game. Since I was now given the opportunity to simply continue on as a free player I did so, even though I did not really want to. However, I could not justify paying for nothing.

The reason why I personally choose to return with the introduction of the Crafting Revamp is because it is the biggest addition to the game since I do not even know! It will (hopefully) be the perfect example of how System-based additions can add way more content than "Adventure Packs" ever can. Who cares about mounts and a dungeon when you can actually just enjoy a whole new system?

Arenas/Duels/Team PVP are other examples of this. PvPers need some definite loving, and system-based content is the way to go. We are at the point where more minigames might hurt the PvP and resources are better spent getting players together on some PvP platform! This is a social game, right?

Anyway, I am basically sitting here with money in my hands waiting for the update, and when it comes I will give my thanks to the former Game Director, the new Creative Director, and of course the Team. 

Until then, should I resume my chain-of-thought?

The F2P Flood

YES, this is what grinds my gears. Do you have any idea how many videos are out there this very minute displaying broke americans making fun of F2P games because they CAN? Worst thing is, it is not even Dedicated F2P games, it is games that used to be P2P. If you are not familiar with the terminology (which is OK, by the way) F2P means Free to Play and P2P means Pay to Play.

Age of Conan is the creme de la freaking creme for these people, and they are so undereducated, you can smell it through the video. It is not like I don't tolerate new players, in fact I LOVE new players, but beating on an enemy where it's shields are and consequently dying because of it, followed by a "THIS GAME SUCKS" even though you played a CASTER, is ludicrous!!! LUDICROUS I TELLZ YA.

I know what you are thinking, "oh dear, another rant :(", well you are right! However, I don't like rants myself, so I'll stop at the peak of my burst of anger/childishness (LUDICROUS I TELLZ YA will surely bolster people's belief that I am a professional blogger... surely).

The true point of this post (Point of the Post, I quite like the sound of that), is to point out how strange this gaming community is. I hear a lot of talk saying Free to Play will truly become the ultimate model for any and all Multiplayer games. Games will just have to adapt, or perish.

They say this with such extreme confidence, and these are people who do indeed value their opinion (Quick example: Totalbiscuit, youtube commentator). However, I cannot see myself fully agreeing just yet. Simply because after all these countless videos mocking the transition, it is clear that people are not embracing it.

Clearly, there is a split community here, and it is affecting Age of Conan! Funcom, I feel, is a company ready to adapt and will happily accept the model if need be, especially with EA poking them every now and then. However, I think we all know how internet trolls feel about Funcom. Age of Conan was arguably the first BIG pay to play MMO to come out since World of Warcraft, and nobody knew how the genre would develop. Some just believed since World of Warcraft was good, Age of Conan would just be better since it is newer. In addition to that, not everyone knew that playing MMOs can make you very attached to it.

I wish I could conclude this whole discussion here and now, but there is a reason why people are arguing. Only time will tell, and until a general consensus can be reached, people will make bad F2P Reviews of Age of Conan.

I guess I can leave you with this nice little quote though, maybe you can hold me to it two years from now!

Coming out as a F2P game on the internet, is like coming out of the closet to a bunch of Frat Boys at your local High School.


P.S: Kudos to this guy: http://www.youtube.com/user/jaedrian for being the only one to make a decent F2P Review/Let's Play of Age of Conan so far.

Summer 2.0

Hello again!

Impressively enough, my summer started very late this year (for me, I know in some countries July is "where it's at, yo"), but that does not mean I can't make something out of it anyway. Some may know that this blog started last summer with the goal of combating the coming boredom of living on the country side with a less-than-ideal laptop (which I am now using once again...) and a somewhat unstable internet connection!

Along with that, I am also not a fan of writing about myself - my thoughts/opinions are fine, but in no way am I interesting enough to hold gamer people's attention long enough to make them follow what would be my "personal" blog. I HAD a saying about it once, but it more or less goes like this; "IF you want a successful blog, write about a topic of interest instead of your day-to-day life. Because unless you're a Hollywood celebrity I am pretty sure nobody cares about it". CYNICAL, I know, and perhaps a bit mean to all the people who do just that, but it is true. I can go into detail another time (don't get your hopes up, I still have a long list of things not yet talked about and I have no problem adding to that list haha).

So, to stay true to just that, the topic of this particular blog is Hyboria, and the game Age of Conan neatly falls into that category. As of July 2012 it is still the best game to play if you love Hyboria and the original Robert E. Howard stories. There are of course times I go off-topic or simply touch on my personal life in relation to this blog, but you will typically not hear about what I had for lunch! In this case, I will also throw in a second post about something Hyboria-related just to make up for it.

I know it is not that big of a deal, but since this is a summary/update post, I might as well remind y'all of the only real rule/principle of this blog: No typical day-to-day talk!

I might as well also stress that I am taking advantage of (well, more like exploiting) the liberty of not actually needing to talk about my adventures ingame. You will always find something Hyborian, but I really do enjoy talking about what grinds my gears in terms of Community - and my true speciality is finding out everything there is to know about the Hyborian Community. Lately, I have been looking at a blog (http://cynarablog.wordpress.com/) that is doing what I should be doing. It is everything I am not, funny AND intellectual. My jokes merely consist of self-deprecation and the occasional fart joke for good measure.

There is no way I have the time to commit to all that blogger has done (aka, being good), but I still have my uses mind you, and we might as well continue on to my second post, which will appear above you. Which probably means you read that first, which means I am in essence means I am making a fool of myself as I am typing this right now. NO MATTER, all in a day's work anywho.

The Great MMO War: April 2012 Trailer

Meanwhile, in King Conan's Castle, a young Messenger is trying to get an audience with the King himself. However, the guards are proving to be quite... vigilant.

"I am going to see this one more time... LET. ME. IN!"

The guards remain adamant, "And again fool, you do not simply walk into mordor King Conan's Throne Room!"

As they are about to drag him out, the doors open and you hear Conan's powerful voice echo; "Let him in"

"Sire,

The news from the Real World... It is not good!

Hyped MMOs are approaching the Retailer... and our Fanbase is spread thin!

QQ is flooding the Forums!

The waring MMOs consists of WoW's MoP, GW2, SWTOR, and to some degree AoC, Rift, TERA and TSW.

WoW's MoP has the biggest army, but also a lot of deserters/traitors and overall moral is low.

SWTOR has not had sufficient time to prepare itself, and is already battling for it's survival - their chances for survival will depend heavily on the actions of the Generals and other commanding officers.

GW2 will suck in a lot of attention, and will rally a lot of people from a lot of different places - bolstering their numbers as each day passes. However, their philosophy of war and unorthodox strategies will eventually be the deciding factor.

The rest does not pose a threat respectively, but will collectively have the power to turn the tide. In the aftermath, they will also enjoy the liberty of picking up the pieces and strenghtening themselves!"

Conan smiles... "Messenger... tonight, we dine... IN HELL" 

well, okay, I made up the last part, but hey, all work and no play makes Cray C a dull boy!

Anyway, the reason I made this post the way I did was because of the fact that this Blog is called Everything "HYBORIA", and my posts will always be somewhat relevant to AoC or at least Hyboria! Not because there is a gun to my head right now, but because it is a matter of dignity and that this Blog is probably the one proper thing I do, and I feel good doing it!

Oh, and one of these days I'll pick up on that chain-of-thought thing!

How "livestreaming" is my salvation! Part 2 aka, I AM PLEASED

FunCrom, I do not ask for much, I do not have the tongue for it, but... Grant Me Livestreams!
(At this point I'm not gonna bother looking up the exact quote, but hey - close enough!)

Ask and you shall receive, yesterday Craig (Game Director) was part of not only one but TWO livestream session where he explained the where's, why's, who's, how's, but's and and's (You get the point, right?)

What else is there to say? "STEPHEN, ROLL THE CLIP - Stephen?"