Video Games : Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures

Rating: - Dissapointed That AoC Was Even Released.
This is my first review of anything and I enjoyed the game for the the first 19 levels, which pass by in hours. I have played a countless number of games over the last 20 years in all genres...and aside from the couple that just wouldn't run, this one disappointed me the most, because there is no content and what is in the game is mostly broken.

It seems like all the development went into the first 19 levels, which take place in one zone, as after that there is nothing new and quality drops dramatically, except, the player has time to realize how broken and unfinished the game actually is. At 80 the player can sit around to realize how poor the game is, while they wait on the developers to add/fix content.

Bugs and bad development features include: Poor thought out combat systems, combos(which are special moves) take 6 seconds to perform and fail often due to player movement and phantom misses. the dodge system is not usable in PvP because of player movement. Many class abilities and Feats simply do not work at all. Basically, all classes can do damage, though some can heal or tank. Lack of content, generally is one zone per
10 levels...with go collect this or go kill this as the only quests available. Poor customer service, I once brought up a new player tested game breaking issue issue and was put down and censored by Fun Com, yet no word of the issue has ever resurfaced. The game can't handle PvP sieges, as it becomes a lag and freeze fest, even with the best PC's available. Not to mention technical issues for a wide array of systems.
Gear and player statistics mean very little in the game and in PvP many are intended to not work at all, so there is and never will be much defense Vs. the one shot instant gibbing that occurs all the time in AoC.

The game is actually going to deter world PvP in the future by implementing rules that if you kill another player to often, which happens in back and forth zergs, that player can then kill and lott you.

I really hate being critical, and there is a lot more wrong with the game and I believe I'm missing a few key issues, but at least I conveyed my sentiment. I'm quite disappointed with this purchase and am saddened by the sunk time costs I invested in testing this game.

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Rating: - A Huge Disappointment
Given the hype behind this product, I expected to be amazed by its unique 'adult' approach to MMOs. Unfortunately, blood splatter and naked torsos are no substitute for quality. Here are my primary issues:

1) Bugs. Bugs. Bugs. Someone call an exterminator because this game is infested. From terrain to objects to mobs to quests. This game never should have been released given the extensive amount of issues. I understand that all new releases go thru a debug stage, but this should never have left beta in its state.

2) Traveling. This is a fairly spread out game and there are no forms of travel short of mounts which a normal player can't afford. I spent more time runing around trying to reach areas than actually playing. Anyone that has played MMOs understands the tediousness involved. My only consolation was the graphics were pretty the first few times I saw them as I ran by.

3) Support. There is virtually none. Due to previous mentioned bugs, I've sat in queues that have lasted hours with no response.

4) Quests. Not only boring but predictable. I realize it can be difficult to come up with something original, but giving the adult theme there was so much more that could have been embraced that wasn't.

5) Player Interaction. I spent so much time fighting for mob spawns on those rediculous 'collect X number of items and kill X number of mob' quests. That I played PvE and not a PvP server meant not only did I have to wait, I had to either accept the people that would just run up and take what I was clearing to or become a rather obnoxious person and do it in return.

There are more general issues that I've encountered, but these are the primary ones. Dont waste your money on this. Go play WoW or wait for the next MMO to roll out.

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Rating: - The latest in a stream of mediocre releases....
This game was very hyped and was in the top two in terms of anticipated MMORPGS for well over a year. Now that it has released one can readily identify its problems and they are all too familiar.

Whether you look at the ridiculous things that are broken like armor stats, spell buffs actually affecting you, or main quests that define zones being broken or if you look at how the game is moving backwards in terms of technological advances by reimplementing zoning in every aspect one can see the tell-tale signs of a game rushed towards a release it was not ready for.

The first, most obvious problem, will be the fact that this game requires FAR too many resources to play considering it is entirely instanced. It took the model of Everquest 1 and Guild Wars and combined those two in that not only is every possible building and zone seperated by 'zone walls' that equate to load screens, but once you enter the zone there are several 'instances' of that zone with new ones being created once a certain number of players fills the previous one. This simply kills communities as it is difficult to run into the same people or even simply find friends. When you factor in PvP this zone and instance system makes ganking and griefing much more difficult as people can instance or zone-hop at will and often engage in fighting only when they can zone out if they start to lose or if you bring friends to exact revenge. Years ago now it was considered a revolution that MMORPGs were coming out as seamless environments that no longer required zones and now here we go backwards in time to accomodate graphics that look great, but aren't really worth the tradeoff of community and the feel of a wide open world at your feet. Some would say they could overcome this inconvienance if it meant better performance etc, but rest assured you will need to upgrade your computer to play this game at anything above 15 FPS unless you have an absolutely top of the line system built within the last year. The trade off in performance just isn't there; in fact this game doesn't feel optimized at all at this point making for a more aggravating experience than anything else. Beauty is present but it comes at the expense of not only dollars but overall MMORPG environment that gives the genre its popularity.

Then there is the fact that this game has 80 levels which move along faster than they should totally negating the purpose in having extra levels. If in one week you can hit 50 there is a problem.

Class balance is completely off as usual for these types of games. How some of these classes get through beta testing is beyond me but as usual you have your classes that can't be beaten when played by compentent players like the Priests of Mitra. The scenario of a level 75 player being unable to take down a level 50 Priest of Mitra is just one example of this. So far I haven't seen any real organization on the PvP servers to do the matched guild and team fighting that was touted; this may come with time but for now it is just a Free for All gankfest with no purpose and no reward at all. You get a counter showing your pvp deaths and kills and pvp experience that I presume will be turned into something useful someday, but at present it is useless and pointless I might add.

This game is largely driven by quests as well. Lots of quests that are all easy enough that you never have to read them. Just click on any exclamation point you see on the mini map, breeze through meaningless dialogue, and follow the arrows to the quest encounter. Its exactly the same as guild wars only more tedious. The combat system is typical, nothing new accept new button sequences to push and you can dodge.

In the end there is not really much of anything new in this game. It is fresh and just released but there isn't really any innovation. I dont' really see much difference in this and Vanguard currently as both are beautiful games with lots of potential but still lacking overall.

My final assessment is this game will bore you quickly unless you are new to MMORPGs or are only coming from playing WoW. It may turn into the super-game it was touted to be with time, but it isn't there yet. It is also not for kids if you care anything about content, language, nudity etc for your little ones.

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Rating: - Wait for a trial or a better game
This game is lacking in so many aspects. Almost every feature that is listed above either dosnt work properly or was very poorly added to the game. There is nothing being done in this game that hasnt been done before and been done better by another game.

It seems as though nothing was tested except the first 20 levels which is only the starting zone and since there is only one starting zone for everyone it gets old fast when you try to play a new character. I have never written anything about a game before but I truely cant beleive that the developers feel that people would be fine paying for this game in its current state.

Yes it can and will get better in the future as it really cant get any worse as far as it stands right now. I would pass on this as like I stated earlier there are several other games out there now that have way less problems and does what this game does but better. For a fantasy type game having only one starting location and one race with three different names is a bad way to start off. I mean how many games can you play where playing a human is the only option.

WAIT FOR SOMETHING BETTER!!!

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Rating: - Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures
Outstanding game, the combat system is refreshing and revolutionair.
Graphics are great, game play is very smooth.
The game is also very providing on gear and items from quests, helping you level up nicely and with upto par gear.