Saturday, July 19, 2008

When will I buy AoC?

Initially I didn't buy Age of Conan because given it's high requirements, I was a little worried that it wouldn't run on my PC. I thought I'd hold off and wait for reviews to see if there were many problems with frame rates or computer crashes. To my surprise the reviews came back with very mixed opinions. Problems with frame rates seemed like small change compared to the greater issue of the game being unfinished and released with bugs. There was even mention of an exploit that allowed you to power level your character to max in less than a day! News like that is a big turn off for a major MMORPG connoisseur like myself ;)

I thought about buying the game despite it's issues, as the screen shots looked fantastic and the 'revolutionary' combat system definitely sounded intriguing. As more reviews and articles pored in, the combat system was described as a button mushing fiasco, which could be circumvented using G15 keyboard macros. This definitely didn't instill confidence. Then the nuke landed: "AoC World Siege Failure". I am a huge, repeat huge fan of PvP. Purchasing AoC would now be like asking me to buy a blind and mute guard dog with no teeth. It would never happen.

There is however still some hope. The game didn't completely die and Funcom has a good reputation for MMORPGs. Bugs can be fixed and unfinished content can be finished. So when will I buy AoC? Put simply, when they fix all the issues and Funcom drop the purchase price a bit to show that they are serious about making up for their mistakes. I can't see it happening before the release of WAR, and with Stargate Worlds and KOTOR Online scheduled for release within the next year, it may be a while before I pick up an AoC box.

2 comments:

Talyn said...

I was originally going to open my AoC box this winter. Give 'em the 6-month thing and all. But I'm just so disinterested in the whole thing I may end up selling or eBaying my AoC since it's still in the unopened box.

Crimson Starfire said...

Hmmm... I'm not sure if it would be worth getting rid of. Given it's popularity at the moment, you would incur a large loss on it's resale.

The game has potential, but it's unfinished and buggy. I'd probably hold on to it and play it 3 years from now when you're in between MMOs.