Age of Conan: Re-Evaluation Evaluation Day 4

It's been a few days now that I went back to "Age of Conan," and I have to admit, if I didn't read my old blog, I might not have remembered that I did. MWAHAHAH. Take that fanbois!

I hopped on my old Tempest who had logged out harvesting in the Purple Lotus Swamp and after forgetting to set up my bars and resetting my feats, promptly got slaughtered by a three pack of level 80 snakes in record time: WELCOME BACK TO AGE OF CONAN!!

*tear* Yes, long gone are the days when I could slap down 50 Totems, toss up a Storm Field and watch everything between Conall Valley and Keshetta blow the fuck up. But being a shitty gimped version of myself isn't why I just ain't getting that warm, fuzzy feeling about the game.

Still, I want to give it an honest try, so I decide to start over to relearn the game and roll up a Herald of Xolti because it's been a year since I played (and judging from my performance on my ToS, I need practice.)

Character creation is still the same and so is the opening. DX10 is finally in, and the game does look gorgeous; but it was still a great looking game in DX9 when it was first released. The biggest difference is, I'm actually getting decent FPS (all the way up to 80?) when a year ago my max was 30 no matter what I did. I finish up the newbie island (and maybe it's because it was my 20th time through, I wasn't really feeling it) and zone into Tortage which in the past was the source of many woes. You see, back in the day, zoning into Tortage could take as little as 30 seconds to...ohhh, 30 years--Load Screen Roulette--since the game would pretty much just lag the fuck out. Zone in record time and I'm excited. Unfortunately, it's not about the game, but the game play.

Somehow, a year later, I just don't feel the same excitement as well I first got my grubby little hands on AoC. Maybe it's because I'm playing a HoX? So I hop onto my Bear Shaman, who was going to be my new main after they nerfed my ridiculously overpowered Totems. She wasn't affected too much, and still fun to play (I always liked the combat in AoC).

Since I left her ass at 51, my friends and I decide to head over to the EglopianFallopian Mountains. But since we're stupid, we decided to stop by the Field of the Dead first. Why is this stupid? Because back in the day, the Field of the Dead was another notorious load zone that could make and break your game...and bamn, we load right in. Awesome! We noticed that the broken spawns and pathing were now fixed, and in a group, you can tear up the place. Fatalities look tight, though I'm sad to say, it doesn't look like they added a lot more (but I could be wrong.) Good job, Funcom, you really fixed the place up.

Yay! Hey, there's new quests and a new area...but about four quests later, we kinda' got bored and side-tracked by Section 8 (giggle). It just didn't have the same pull it had for me a year ago. Actually, scratch that, a year ago, I was so starved for an MMO (ah yes, the great MMO Drought of 2008) that I almost considered Habbo Fuckin' Hotel. (I lie, but you get the point.) Yes, a year later and all that was lackluster (but glossed over by my own stupidity) is still lackluster I'm afraid.

So what's new pussy cat? Let's go over the pros and cons, shall we?

Game looks good, and the game actually plays well now. Funcom did a great job of fixing all those little game play things, including making greens and blue stats make some sense. They added a bit to crafting, making it kinda' worth it, but it's just not as in depth as I'd like it. (RIP pre-CU SWG.) There is pretty much nothing to do otherwise during downtime or cuddle time (like, when you don't feel like fighting.)

From what I could see, end-game wise, the mini-games...are as barren as ever, despite the 50 original servers being merged into 4 PVE, 3 PVP and 1 RP-PVP server, and I'm told the Sieges are still broken (though ours was the only city I saw in our instance so how could I possibly know.) I'll probably hop on a little later in the week to see if the raids are any better since that's what turned us off Conan in the beginning (nothing to do at 80) if I can force the enthusiasm.

The folks in Global can't help but gush about the game, but I wonder if they've left Tortage, because if not, ITS A TARP! What you get in Tortage definitely ain't what you get the rest of the game. Sure, 1.5 got rid of the stuttering and performance issues, it helped take away from the grind, but these are things that should have been there at launch. (WHAT!? A game that works?) It's like buying a faulty vacuum that only blows out dirt, returning it and getting a vacuum that sucks (in this case, it went from blow to suck.) Do you give the company a huge hug and throw your money at them for getting something right that should have been right in the first place? No. You give them a "good job" thumbs, but you're still weary when they try to get more money out of you. Once bitten, twice shy, and all that jazz.

I wonder if I can't love AoC anymore because it's just too little too late? Has that stumble at the blocks cost it a place in MMO history? Because from what I see now, even with the discount subscription price available to returning Vets, I don't see myself ever re-subbing to AoC, especially with newer, shinier games coming out.

Though, I hear that Funcom would consider going F2P, and they have with Anarchy Online in the past, where you just pay for the expansions, but then again, that was a few years after AO had been live, not a year later. Guess we'll see when they release the expansion in a few months.

Or shall we?