After the boggled open beta release for age of conan Hyborean adventures, I clearly had the impression that this game was gonna be all hype and no substance.
The beta client fiasco, the rampant complaints on the forums about glitches, lag and bugs.
There was a steady stream of negative forum comments bashing the game. Maybe "stream" it too light, perhaps a tidal wave, monsoon or tsunami is more appropriate.
Cries of doom rang out! Clearly the last days were at hand!
So what happenes at pre-release? The Apocalypse?
No, of course not...
just the opposite. From what I Gather all is well and good in the land of hyboria. The so called "Miracle Patch" that would be needed to save the game actually worked. Many gamers enjoyed a steady dose of conan over the weekend.
Albeit not perfect by any means, it does appear that the game is stable enough for release.
They say you never get a second chance to make a first impression. But I think funcom just did.
Showing posts with label beta. Show all posts
Showing posts with label beta. Show all posts
Monday, May 19, 2008
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
AOC Beta Issues updates
I came across this article
http://www.mmorpg.com/gamelist.cfm/game/191/feature/1927 at mmorpg.com.
It has an interview with some interesting insight on some of the issues many people on the forums and blogosphere have been having with the Age of Conan Open beta.
Explanation of what caused alot of the load issues is explained to be due to an "update" to the code prior to the open beta. Apparently, in an effort to bow to consumer demands and "peer pressure" Funcom wanted to squeeze in a couple of new fixes to enhance the beta.
If you believe this I've got some swampland in Florida I'd like to sell you!
I find it hard to believe that an experienced mmo developer would find the need to insert code that was not properly quality tested, prior to a major release. In fact according to the article I can only assume it was done mere hours before the beta began!
This article didnt really alleviate my concerns, if anything it made me more skeptical that funcom has it's ducks in a row this close to release.
But who knows, maybe its just me?
Monday, May 5, 2008
THE OPEN BETA BLUES
Boy, did funcom drop the ball with this one. With the highly anticipated release of aoc, I was looking forward to new video’s, glowing reviews and walkthrough guides for the first 13 levels. Instead, I got heated debate about how the game is unfinished, instancing sucks, and only high end pc’s can play it.
This was disturbing news indeed, then the news that the open beta was actually on an older client started creeping to the forefront. Of course, being the logical person that I am, I couldn’t not believe this and dismissed it as just a rumor. I mean what kind of marketing genius purposefully releases a buggier game client to the people who are going to be giving the first widespread glimpse of the game. Surely an experienced mmo developer like funcom would have lessons learned from past games and not do that. Boy was I surprised when it was actually confirmed to be the case.
It made me lose a lot of confidence in the people behind the game. At the very least , if you are going to do something like that. Please leave the NDA up, and in full force. I cant help but to wonder with the mish mash of players, pc’s and expectations if removing the NDA for this open beta was a mistake.
Granted with the game approaching its release date, it is very troubling that the need for a NDA is even present.
Perhaps companies should make an effort when conducting open beta’s to inform the player’s what type of information they are trying to gleam from the test. Players need some type of baseline to measure the type of gameplay they are seeing. For instance, if they are lagging heavily and have no idea whats going on. Versus, lagging heavily and knowing that the city has a max pop of 300 but there are 700 currently in game. At least with a small bit of information, beta testers would be more open to understanding why they are getting the results they are saying.
As far as I’m concerned the open beta news has been a disappointment, but I will take it with a grain of salt. I wont be picking aoc up on opening day, but I do still plan on giving it a shot. As long as the release reviews are descent.
Has the open beta given anyone else second thoughts?
This was disturbing news indeed, then the news that the open beta was actually on an older client started creeping to the forefront. Of course, being the logical person that I am, I couldn’t not believe this and dismissed it as just a rumor. I mean what kind of marketing genius purposefully releases a buggier game client to the people who are going to be giving the first widespread glimpse of the game. Surely an experienced mmo developer like funcom would have lessons learned from past games and not do that. Boy was I surprised when it was actually confirmed to be the case.
It made me lose a lot of confidence in the people behind the game. At the very least , if you are going to do something like that. Please leave the NDA up, and in full force. I cant help but to wonder with the mish mash of players, pc’s and expectations if removing the NDA for this open beta was a mistake.
Granted with the game approaching its release date, it is very troubling that the need for a NDA is even present.
Perhaps companies should make an effort when conducting open beta’s to inform the player’s what type of information they are trying to gleam from the test. Players need some type of baseline to measure the type of gameplay they are seeing. For instance, if they are lagging heavily and have no idea whats going on. Versus, lagging heavily and knowing that the city has a max pop of 300 but there are 700 currently in game. At least with a small bit of information, beta testers would be more open to understanding why they are getting the results they are saying.
As far as I’m concerned the open beta news has been a disappointment, but I will take it with a grain of salt. I wont be picking aoc up on opening day, but I do still plan on giving it a shot. As long as the release reviews are descent.
Has the open beta given anyone else second thoughts?
Thursday, May 1, 2008
AOC OPEN BETA REVIEWS UP!
Funcom official site has links posted to a couple of open beta review articles.
http://community.ageofconan.com/wsp/conan/frontend.cgi?func=publish.show&&func_id=2426&table=CONTENT
For all those having trouble logging into the beta, maybe this will tide you over a while
http://community.ageofconan.com/wsp/conan/frontend.cgi?func=publish.show&&func_id=2426&table=CONTENT
For all those having trouble logging into the beta, maybe this will tide you over a while
AOC NDA LIFTED FOR OPEN BETA!
There will be no NDA for age of conan open beta that starts tonight!
Great news!
Great news!
AOC NDA LIFTED FOR U.S. REPORTERS!
Great news! Hopefully more details about the games mechanics will be arriving soon. You can check out the story here!
Monday, April 28, 2008
Quick Aoc Spellweaving thoughts
Wow! After reading the article this seems to be a really new and exciting element of gameplay in AOC. Being rather partial to the melee types myself, I must admit it actually has me contemplating rolling a spellweaving alt at release.
If you missed out on spellweaving you can find detailed spellweaving info here.
A common complaint in mmo's is that mages are either OverPowered or are not strong enough dps'ers due to their frail, cloth wearing habits. But this solution looks like it gives the best of both worlds.
Mages can be the deadliest of opponents if they have the time to get those brutal spellweaving combos off. But with great power comes great responsibility.... and consequences.
Its a very interesting and new twist on the mmo spellcasting class. Only time will tell how fun it is! Hopefully the Open Beta NDA wont last too long and we can get some detailed updates!
If you missed out on spellweaving you can find detailed spellweaving info here.
A common complaint in mmo's is that mages are either OverPowered or are not strong enough dps'ers due to their frail, cloth wearing habits. But this solution looks like it gives the best of both worlds.
Mages can be the deadliest of opponents if they have the time to get those brutal spellweaving combos off. But with great power comes great responsibility.... and consequences.
Its a very interesting and new twist on the mmo spellcasting class. Only time will tell how fun it is! Hopefully the Open Beta NDA wont last too long and we can get some detailed updates!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
