Age of Conan beta signups

[jg93]

Well maybe you can expect a "Gold" version for open beta in non-MMO games. I don't think it's realistic to expect the same for a MMO. Reality is that most MMOs experience significant problems even on launch day.

It's realistic for me as a consumer to expect a relatively bug free product, no matter an FPS, RTS, Adventure game or MMO.

There are many conjectures for the decline in PC gaming, and I suspect most of them are true in part, but one that isn't talked about enough is the buggy state most PC games are released in, and MMOs do not get a pass in this regard. There are just too many other forms of entertainment vying for my time and money; other, more polished games being just some of them.

Again, I thought Conan to be compelling enough for me to overlook some of its flaws, but I have to imagine there are many others who play this and say 'why bother.'

[skyride]

I thought the whole siege battle thing doesn't actually exist yet?

We've seen video footage of it. Developers have stated it's in internal testing. The in-game field manual has a section on it. Other than that, I don't know. I'm sure it will eventually make it in if it doesn't make launch.

[idrisz]

there suppose to be a battle keep up in the latest patch, but I haven't checked it out yet.

From what I heard it's huge.

[skyride]

there suppose to be a battle keep up in the latest patch, but I haven't checked it out yet.

From what I heard it's huge.

You'd think everyone on the beta forums would be talking about it if that were the case. Are you sure?

[idrisz]

You'd think everyone on the beta forums would be talking about it if that were the case. Are you sure?

it's in the purple lotus swamp. I was playing around with the changes last night so I didn't bother heading over there.

[Tankero]

Can't seem to get the downloader for the early access torrent going. Is anyone else doing so with any degree of success?

[John Reynolds]

I don't know if anyone has mentioned this, but they want $89 fucking dollars for the Collector's edition. Geezus.

Collector's Edition content:


In game items:

Ring of Acheron gives the player higher XP points
Drinking Cape gives free drinks in all of Hyboria’s taverns

Leatherette map of Hyboria
124 page Art book
Game on two DVD’s
72 page manual
Exclusive DVD with bonus material, trailers, interview and “making of”
Exclusive soundtrack CD
Buddy card (for five friends)
30 days free play

Is this really worth $89??

Good luck finding it, because it's sold out at Amazon, Best Buy, Gamestop, etc.

[Charlatan]

Can't seem to get the downloader for the early access torrent going. Is anyone else doing so with any degree of success?

I got it to work just fine, and just finished downloading the early access client. What issues are you having?

[SteveS]

Can't seem to get the downloader for the early access torrent going. Is anyone else doing so with any degree of success?


After you create an account a link should become available at the top of the registration page to download FC's downloader. I let it run overnight to finish the 13 GB DL. One problem I had was only getting ~1 KB/s the first time I tried it. I simply stopped it and started it again and the DL speed was an acceptable 250 KB/s. I periodically stopped the DL during the day yesterday to do other stuff on the net and sometimes when I restarted the AoC download the problem would reoccur.

[CastOutDevil]

Started it up last night. Very slow going, as expected. I think it was as slow as 122 kb/s, was up to about 226 kb/s this morning. Should've completed for me around 1:00 today. I'll find out when I get home.

[idrisz]

Can't seem to get the downloader for the early access torrent going. Is anyone else doing so with any degree of success?

if it's slow, maybe you need open some ports.

I finished it in a day, was going at 500k/s.

[Tankero]

Nope, just got a network error...

Basically, the status pane reads "Initializing" and then goes to "Unable to connect to Network".

I set up a DMZ to the IP on the computer at the time, no dice.

[Charlatan]

Sounds like some sort of router issue. Did you try opening up some specific ports on the downloader, like this page (http://funcom.solidstatenetworks.com/about/) suggests (yeah, if it didn't work for your PC being on the DMZ, this likely won't work but I dunno what else you could do).

[Tankero]

I did, in fact. I thought the link might've been down for the past few hours.

[TheWombat]

Supposedly the keep siege stuff was demonstrated at the Oslo bash today, so it does exist.

[LionelThompson]

Lots of furor on the boards at Funcom and the game isn't out yet.

Apparently there were only 100,000 early access keys and those have all been reached, annoucnement here: http://forums.ageofconan.com/showthread.php?t=93019

Many people it seems pre-ordered the game and either did not get their keys or for whatever reason were unable to enter them and are now unable to do so. Because of this, they not only are not going to be able to begin plaing early on the 17th, but now they do not get the '10 days of access' so they are locked out until they get their physical boxes shipped, which will likely be the 23rd or so, putting them a week behind.

I will admit that I was getting ready to pre-order the game and play this weekend, ignoring my new puppy and my pinball machine that needs to be shopped, but this has sealed the deal and while I hope the game does well, I am starting to get an Anarchy Online clusterfuck feeling from the announcement and that they will not be ready to handle the crowds.

[GuildBoss]

I just the game on Amazon about an hour ago. Time to cancel....

Lots of furor on the boards at Funcom and the game isn't out yet.

Apparently there were only 100,000 early access keys and those have all been reached, annoucnement here: http://forums.ageofconan.com/showthread.php?t=93019

Many people it seems pre-ordered the game and either did not get their keys or for whatever reason were unable to enter them and are now unable to do so. Because of this, they not only are not going to be able to begin plaing early on the 17th, but now they do not get the '10 days of access' so they are locked out until they get their physical boxes shipped, which will likely be the 23rd or so, putting them a week behind.

I will admit that I was getting ready to pre-order the game and play this weekend, ignoring my new puppy and my pinball machine that needs to be shopped, but this has sealed the deal and while I hope the game does well, I am starting to get an Anarchy Online clusterfuck feeling from the announcement and that they will not be ready to handle the crowds.

[LionelThompson]

Well, there has been no official announcement, but people at page 30ish of the thread linked above are stating that they are now getting keys to go through. No idea if it is limited to one country or whatnot, but keep an eye open if you are interested.

I'll be waxing my Terminator 2 and changing light bulbs instead.

[Lorini]

Well when I went to get my Early Access key yesterday, it did say that there were a limited amount of keys available. I got mine however.

I would think that they are actually trying to avoid a 'launch' issue by allowing just 100k users on at first. This way if there are problems with the early access folks, they can more easily recover, than if they had half a million people on at launch and had problems.

BB and EBgames will have the real boxes on Tuesday, so at this point I would definitely go with retail over online. In fact, Amazon is awful with sending out keys, so avoid them at all costs.

[idrisz]

Well when I went to get my Early Access key yesterday, it did say that there were a limited amount of keys available. I got mine however.

I would think that they are actually trying to avoid a 'launch' issue by allowing just 100k users on at first. This way if there are problems with the early access folks, they can more easily recover, than if they had half a million people on at launch and had problems.

BB and EBgames will have the real boxes on Tuesday, so at this point I would definitely go with retail over online. In fact, Amazon is awful with sending out keys, so avoid them at all costs.


actually Amazon is great at sending out key, but they don't tell people where the keys are :).

it's actually listed on your amazon account's digital media section the very moment you make the purchase.

[Charlatan]

While I agree Funcom has done a poor job of advertising that Early Access would be limited, it makes sense.

However, I wouldn't be surprised if they backpedaled on this one and eventually let all the codes in.

And Lionel, to be honest, the "10 days of access" are just a mechanism Funcom set up so people with early access had time to procure the real game. So anyone will be able to go to the store on Tuesday, buy and install the game, and be playing that evening. I agree that missing out on the early access weekend might be a bummer, but it's not the end of the world if you're interested in AoC.

[NuclearWinter]

Well when I went to get my Early Access key yesterday, it did say that there were a limited amount of keys available. I got mine however.

It's not that there was a limited amount of keys, it's that there was a limited number of slots available to those who have keys. So places were still giving out keys, but the Early Access program was full. Getting a key is no guarantee that you can use it for early access.

Anyway, they seem to have opened it back up now.

[GuildBoss]

actually Amazon is great at sending out key, but they don't tell people where the keys are :).

it's actually listed on your amazon account's digital media section the very moment you make the purchase.

Not so for me. I waited an hour before I finally gave up and bought it from Gamestop. I suppose I'd rather have the mammoth than the bow anyway...

[tiohn]

So what's the word on this game? Does it suck? Does it rule?

[Lorini]

So what's the word on this game? Does it suck? Does it rule?

There you go, using that suck word again! :) :)

We need a new thread to discuss the game. I was hoping Tom might start one, otherwise I'm sure something will pop up in the next couple of days.

[LesJarvis]

Is there a coherent QT3 plan of action for this game? Like have we picked a server yet? Have they even announced the names of the servers?

[GuildBoss]

In my limited beta experience it definitely felt like MOTS but the promise of some brutal PVP action is why I'm signing up. Oh, and as a fan of Howard's stories I'm intrigued to explore some of the places in the books.

There you go, using that suck word again! :) :)

We need a new thread to discuss the game. I was hoping Tom might start one, otherwise I'm sure something will pop up in the next couple of days.

[barstein]

As much as I've been looking forward to getting into another MMO (particularly this one) I now plan to delay my purchase a little bit so I can make a more informed decision this time. I still flinch when I think about my numerous issues with Anarchy Online and Funcom's abysmal customer support.

[zengonzo]

I'm still hoping they put out a trial. I'm pretty skeptical of MMOs in general, and while I'm somewhat interested in the tone and setting, barbarian tits don't seem like enough of a compelling angle to warrant the same sort of gameplay I've never gotten into.

[Doctor Hillbilly]

I can't imagine why Funcom thinks pissing off the pre-order customers who didn't get to pay money for the early access is a good idea.

Now the discussion will be about the process whereby they took preorders but didn't deliver the full benefit (regardless of value) instead of being about how enjoyable the game is (or isn't - I haven't played).

Launching your new big-money MMO while angering what's probably a significant number of already-positively-inclined customers (they having preordered and all) seems really foolish to me.

[Kunikos]

I'm still hoping they put out a trial. I'm pretty skeptical of MMOs in general, and while I'm somewhat interested in the tone and setting, barbarian tits don't seem like enough of a compelling angle to warrant the same sort of gameplay I've never gotten into.

Maybe they'd get your business with bronze age masectomies if the decapitations aren't enough.

[Banzai]

Is there a coherent QT3 plan of action for this game? Like have we picked a server yet? Have they even announced the names of the servers?

They haven't released server names yet. I've been hoping to get my guild ( The Wanderers, http://www.thewanderers.us ), GT, OO, and Qt3 all playing on the same server, and from our recruitment forums, it looks like a lot of GT and OO folks are planning to join us. I know we'd be happy to have anyone from Qt3 either join us or form an allied guild on the same server. It'd sure be nice to have 40 people still driving enemies before us in a few months.

[zengonzo]

Maybe they'd get your business with bronze age masectomies if the decapitations aren't enough.

I prefer Neolithic castrations.

What's the THAC0 of a loincloth?

[wisefool]

What's the THAC0 of a loincloth?

Thac0 of a loincloth is:

010

[Lorini]

Ok, looking at the box I got from Best Buy, it definitely says that a benefit of preordering is the Early Access, which they also say costs $5. So yeah, if they don't honor that, they could actually be in some trouble. I wonder what the numbers will be on the pre-orders?

And yes, I'm interested in joining a guild too, once they actually get the servers named and assigned.

[Charlatan]

Lorini, the $5 charge (which actually goes towards playing for 10 days) isn't made until you're entered into the Early Access program. I believe they're being quite careful not to charge people for something they're not delivering.

Even if you don't get into the Early Access program, people who preordered still get the rhino/elephant/bow/whatever, as a reward for preordering.

One number I saw was 100k for the early access, but no idea how close that is to reality.

[LionelThompson]

Lorini, the $5 charge (which actually goes towards playing for 10 days) isn't made until you're entered into the Early Access program. I believe they're being quite careful not to charge people for something they're not delivering.

Even if you don't get into the Early Access program, people who preordered still get the rhino/elephant/bow/whatever, as a reward for preordering.

One number I saw was 100k for the early access, but no idea how close that is to reality.

The problem though is that it does not say this anywhere on the box. The box, and sites like Gamespot simply state that if you buy this pre-order, you WILL get into the early access. Only once do you open the box and go to the registration website do you realize that early access is closed.

Like you said, you still get the preorder items, but they advertised something that they are clearly not delivering on.

And as mentioned before, if I bought the game online from a retailer, waiting for it to be shipped figuring it to be no big deal if I didn't get the box until next Thursday or whatever, I am going to be doubly screwed by not getting in the early access because that code was to be good for 10 days and instead of playing on Monday like any guy who buys a copy off the street, I am sitting waiting for the box to be shipped.

I do not wish ill on much, but I do hope that they have the same kind of opening day success that they did with Anarchy Online.

[Jafisob]

More than 1 million people sign up for the Age of Conan beta
http://community.ageofconan.com/wsp/conan/frontend.cgi?func=publish.show&&func_id=2471&sort=PRIORITY&table=CONTENT

The main reason WoW had problems at launch was because of the massive amounts of people who played their game. Blizzards open beta was much longer and much smoother than Funcom's which has had tons of glitches. Blizzard seems much more technically competent than Funcom. Even Blizzard had problems with the the then unprecedented amount of subscribers.

Prediction: If AoC has anywhere near the amount of people that WoW had at launch their servers will explode.

[Charlatan]

LT, I agree the issue of not getting into Early Access was not spelled out, and obviously Funcom dropped the ball on this one. It sure seems as though they were prepared to let everyone who had a code in early. I guess some network engineer counted up the number of EA codes entered and saw how many servers they were going to have to bring up and panicked.

I still don't understand why they printed up more EA codes than they were prepared to handle.

And of course we're still waiting for server names. I don't understand why putting out a list of server names is so hard, yet they run poll after poll to make sure the servers are named with the most "popular" names. WHO CARES!

I also shudder at the thought of AoC being more popular than Funcom anticipated. I agree that if there is a similar kind of rush to what Blizzard experienced with WoW, the servers will indeed explode. Or melt down.

[Jason Cross]

More than 1 million people sign up for the Age of Conan beta
http://community.ageofconan.com/wsp/conan/frontend.cgi?func=publish.show&&func_id=2471&sort=PRIORITY&table=CONTENT


Word is, a whole lot of that is bot spam because they didn't have a captcha on the singup. I'm in closed beta now and there's no way in hell there are anywhere remotely close to 1 million people on it. Maybe closed + open beta, including fileplanet people, was 1 million. I dunno. It's an impressive sounding number.

Unfortunately closed beta is NDA'd, so I can't talk about the game too much. I'll say this much: I'm liking the gameplay in general - the pace and the setting and the more action-y combat (it's still MMO combat, but "one press one action" more like City of Heroes, only faster). The game is currently a hilarious mess of bugs, from scripting and AI bugs, animations bugs, core graphics engine bugs, server stuff like zoning bugs, you name it. It's also lacking some basic polish like enough unique icons for things. On the other hand, it's going through pretty much daily patches that are steadily taking two steps forward, one step back. Each patch fixes a really surprising number of bugs and flaws and adds polish, while introducing one or two new things that weren't problems before.

Will it be ready for launch? Four or five days ago that would have made me laugh. Now, some three or four patches later, I'd give it a 50/50 chance. I was thinking it was going to be the broken mess Hellgate was, but it's already come a really long way in a really short time. They're going nuts fixing stuff. So you know, maybe.

[GuildBoss]

Looks like Funcom has made some more Early Access upgrades available. Just log in to your account, click View Subscription, and then Upgrade Subscription. Worked for me not 5 minutes ago...

[idrisz]

Looks like Funcom has made some more Early Access upgrades available. Just log in to your account, click View Subscription, and then Upgrade Subscription. Worked for me not 5 minutes ago...

Damn, here I thought I have 3 days of time with the elite few!

[GuildBoss]

Damn, here I thought I have 3 days of time with the elite few!

Sorry...but I *am* l33t. :)

[idrisz]

One of the big problem I have with the game is the Global channel!

First thing whenever I make a new character is turning off the damn channel.

Advice: Turn off the Global Channel.

[GuildBoss]

One of the big problem I have with the game is the Global channel!

First thing whenever I make a new character is turning off the damn channel.

Advice: Turn off the Global Channel.

That's Standard Operating Procedure for all MMOs.

[idrisz]

That's Standard Operating Procedure for all MMOs.

WOW didn't have a global channel which I was very happy about, even though the zone channel get stupid sometimes but only in certain zones.

[RobotPants]

Since so many people started shunning the General channel, the retards apparently transplanted their Idiot Chat™ to the Trade channel. It's basically useless for anything now except being a retard or spamming commercials for the new stupid guild you're trying to make.

[Marcin]

Since so many people started shunning the General channel, the retards apparently transplanted their Idiot Chat™ to the Trade channel. It's basically useless for anything now except being a retard or spamming commercials for the new stupid guild you're trying to make.

This is also S.O.P. :P

[idrisz]

they need make the global type channel cost money in order to be used. every line should be 1s deducted from your balance..

[Joe M.]

Even Blizzard had problems with the the then unprecedented amount of subscribers.

"Problems" is a wild understatement. If anyone is surprised by server problems the first month of AoC they haven't played an MMO before.

[skyride]

Global isn't that bad, at least late at night when there is less chatter, I've got a lot of questions answered. Like most other MMOs with OOC channels, they should split it by zones so that it's not too spammy. It got a little crazy when people figured out the {name} command. It was pretty freaky for the first few minutes if you didn't know what was going on. Hopefully that bug is fixed.

[idrisz]

Global isn't that bad, at least late at night when there is less chatter, I've got a lot of questions answered. Like most other MMOs with OOC channels, they should split it by zones so that it's not too spammy. It got a little crazy when people figured out the {name} command. It was pretty freaky for the first few minutes if you didn't know what was going on. Hopefully that bug is fixed.

I don't think I went one page of the global chat without someone using "Nipple " in one of their chats.

[marxeil]

Damn, I registered for the beta and then deleted the confirmation email by mistake.

[Hanacker]

That's Standard Operating Procedure for all MMOs.

Yeah, I think I've only ever used the WoW Trade channel for trading once or twice. Its main purpose these days is Looking For Group (yes, that channel already exists). It is also really good channel for really stupid random conversations with really stupid people :P

[GuildBoss]

Well, I'm feeling a bit better about AoC now that I've got a few more levels under my belt. Took my Assassin to level 10 last night and got to do and see things I hadn't before:

- Combos: I *think* I figured em out. Not sure, but sometimes it looks like I'm doing something special in combat. Maybe it's just dumb luck.... But it's still just mashing keys, just gotta do it in the correct order to fire it.
- Single-Player Content: This is cool. As part of one's Destiny Quest (class/archtype-specific) you get to do some *training* in Tortage by night, which puts you into your own little private game instance(s). It's not a small place, either.
- Feats: I finally got to see the Feats trees. I have two for my class/archtype and one generic.
- Hiding/Climbing: As an Assassin, I spent a lot of skill pts here and it's paying off. Sneaking around is sorta like Thief, where you've got the little "light" gem indicator showing your hiding status. So far, at night, mine has been solid black no matter where I go with the skill maxed. I can sneak right by MOBs...in front of them! It's really much too easy, IMO. It's probably a different ballgame with players with high Perception skill though. Climbing is pretty straighforward--walk up to something climable and click your USE button. If your CLimb skill is high enough you grab on, otherwise you can't climb it. My Destiny Quest had me climbing and slinking around Tortage's rooftops.
- Stances: I have access to Holy and Poison stances. I keep my Poison Stance active pretty much all the time. It simply adds Poison damage to each attack or it could be a proc..I haven't really been watching. There doesn't seem to be any negative side effect to keep the stance active 100% of the time.
- Nipples: Tina, waitress at the Thirsty Dog tavern in Tortage, lost her nipples in the last patch. Her skimpy tunic actually revealed half an areola and nipple but now it's covered. Looks like US version is gonna get CENSORED.
Voice overs: All the quest-givers speak (at least so far) which is a very nice touch. Definitely helps with immersion, particularly the accents which appear to coincide with Conan's cultures. For instance, a Zingaran has a sort of Spanish/Italian accent. I'm also realizing how badly I've f'ed up the pronunciation of names like Stygia and Thoth-Amon while I was reading the books. I guess I have to assume the developers got the *right* pronunciation from somebody in-the-know.

Anyway, that's it for now. Off to work!

[Jafisob]

"Problems" is a wild understatement. If anyone is surprised by server problems the first month of AoC they haven't played an MMO before.
I played LOTRO which came out recently. No major problems.

I would expect in this day and age to have a hiccup here and there. Servers coming down for several hours and major issues should not be considered the norm.

WoW's problems did not surface for a few days after launch irrc until they started getting unprecedented levels of people signing up. To their credit they did not make more games until they had some of the problems under control.

[Wallapuctus]

- Nipples: Tina, waitress at the Thirsty Dog tavern in Tortage, lost her nipples in the last patch. Her skimpy tunic actually revealed half an areola and nipple but now it's covered. Looks like US version is gonna get CENSORED.


I read there's a mature toggle in the game. Maybe the latest patch defaulted it to On for you?

I'm skeptical, WoW has kind of killed MMOGs for me. I don't have the time required to succeed at them anymore. Still, I'll probably give this a try, but if my PC can't run I'm not spending a dime on upgrades. I got out of the PC gaming money pit years ago and I have no intention of falling back in.

[Brian Rucker]

I understand there will be PvP-RP servers but not standard RP servers? I appreciate the idea that the devs think FFA PvP will be more immersive and true to the lore but I'm pretty skeptical that this is going to work out. Unless there's permadeath or massive loss of items (ala Eve-O) PvP tends to just be a nasty, irresolveable and pointless, game of rugby as conducted by Tourettes victims rather than a dramatic life or death event that can change the course of a story - as in the Howard stories or 0.0 struggles in Eve-O.

Has anyone checked out the PvP-RP server at all? Are rules enforced there? Are there really any roleplayers to be found? I know it's just prerelease at this point but I think I'm going to have a peek in just to see what's there. Likely, after the massive PvP burnout the PoTBS guild I ran with suffered there, they'll head to a PvE server. But if the PvP-RP server is any good I may check it out with an alt just so I can assess the difference in community quality, if any.

[Matt Perkins]

So, from all I'm hearing... it sounds like I should wait a couple of months after launch to see how the game is progressing before giving funcom my monies...

[skyride]

I play almost exclusively on the FFA server. There is no FFA-RP server in beta. Life actually is pretty easy for anyone with stealth despite the fact that there is no ruleset yet. You can get killed while you are watching cut-scenes, talking to NPC, merchants. Spawn camping is IN. You can get perma spawn camped and the only way to escape is to use a command to switch instances or turn the game off (odd that they left out the option to respawn at a safe city). If you don't play a stealth class you probably should play in a group most of the time. There are level 80s and guilds often camping low level quest hubs. I think this is encouraged because of the way PvP levels are designed (based on kill-to-death ratio I believe) but at this point PvP level doesn't seem to do anything. So there is lots of incentive to go gank low levels to increase your kill ratio with little chance of death. I still think the FFA server is pretty fun but I don't know if that has to do with me playing a stealth class or just having a higher tolerance for ganking.

[wisefool]

The 'cleave' melee attack does a 90 degree slash in front.

It reads "Cleave 3 UR". Does that mean I am supposed to hit Upper Right 3 times? It seems to fire off just fine pressing UR once.

So it seems that you really don't need to target enemies, cept to read the shield facing. Game keyboard layout also seems to be designed to move with the right hand and attack with the left. A bit backwards.

(Wait, maybe I can remap attacks to numlock. Now I wish I had a square-shaped abilities toolbox)

[idrisz]

yeah, it does hit upper right 3 times, but some of later combos take more than 1 move to fire them off.

Oh yeah, you can only score fatality when you kill something with a combo, normal attack doesn't give you fatality which is horrible I think.

[skyride]

It reads "Cleave 3 UR". Does that mean I am supposed to hit Upper Right 3 times? It seems to fire off just fine pressing UR once.


That "3" stands for the default key "number 3" to activate UR attack.

[Jason Cross]

- Nipples: Tina, waitress at the Thirsty Dog tavern in Tortage, lost her nipples in the last patch. Her skimpy tunic actually revealed half an areola and nipple but now it's covered. Looks like US version is gonna get CENSORED.

Actually, it's supposed to be covered and it was originally. A recent patch (the one you started with I guess) for some reason slightly increased every female's breast size in the game, it seems. The half-nipple you saw wasn't a result of a shabby tattered top or anything, it was the breast geometry clipping through the top! It happened on a couple of other NPCs as well, and you could see weirdness in certain animations. The "censoring" just put things back to regular (still quite busty) size, so there's no clip-through. To show the beta version you still have is uncensored, make a female character and remove her armor. You still get nekkid boobs.

Voice overs: All the quest-givers speak (at least so far) which is a very nice touch. Definitely helps with immersion, particularly the accents which appear to coincide with Conan's cultures.

Not all quest givers speak. Quite a few random NPC quest givers around town do not. But the vast majority do, even for little BS gathering filler quests, so I'm guessing the ones that don't talk just don't have the voice in yet.

Which brings up something else. They really gotta do more than lip-sync on these talking NPC quest givers. My character is shorter than most of them, and they look straight over my head the entire conversation. They don't tilt their head, or eyes, or anything, and it makes them seem more like a signpost than the typical "signpost NPC quest givers" in games like WoW. Can't they at least make their heads tilt toward your character's head?

Fatalities - yeah it's combos only, but I don't think that's so bad. In fact, it's combos to an unshielded side. I just wish they made the "you just fatality'd a guy" buff last longer.

[idrisz]

That "3" stands for the default key "number 3" to activate UR attack.

hmm woo I didn't notices that, but the attacks are listed in the info too.

I think for some combos I see UR UL UR.

Voice-Over

I haven't hear a npc with voice after Tortega, Funcom probably think "we just need to sucker people in with the first 20 levels, and we win!!!".

[SteveS]

Has anyone checked out the PvP-RP server at all? Are rules enforced there? Are there really any roleplayers to be found? I know it's just prerelease at this point but I think I'm going to have a peek in just to see what's there. Likely, after the massive PvP burnout the PoTBS guild I ran with suffered there, they'll head to a PvE server. But if the PvP-RP server is any good I may check it out with an alt just so I can assess the difference in community quality, if any.

There have been no rules released for the PvP servers, RP or not.

The FFA server in open beta is something of a gankfest. There are no factions, no realms, no reputation and, as far as I can tell, every incentive to get as many kills as possible, regardless of the level of the kill. I tried out a priest (PoM) and gave up in frustration after being killed at a zone camp and then repeatedly killed at the rez spot.

I was a big fan of the UO FFA PvP when that game was released. However, the big difference between a game like UO and AoC is that AoC is all about choke points. In UO you could leave the safe zones at any point on the edge. In AoC there are very few zones, and when you zone in you always appear at the exact same spot. To put it in EVE terms, imagine a game with only six or seven systems, with two gates per system, and the gates are camped 24/7. It seems to me that a few higher level players could effectively shut down entire zones.

We'll see what the release looks like, but I'm not getting my hopes up. The FFA seems borked because of map design and on PvE it looks like you have to essentially run a bunch of WG/AB-like mini-games to get a shot at periodically running a pre-made AV-like mini-game. Not to say doing this a few times wouldn't be fun, but I wasn't really looking for eSport PvP.

[skyride]

It seems to me that a few higher level players could effectively shut down entire zones.

Yep, I've seen this happen. Some guilds already have a really bad reputation for basically locking down quest hubs in the whole 20-30 zone. If you don't care about quests and have stealth then it's not a problem. But not everyone loves grinding for xp and stealth classes.

[Soapyfrog]

Can't they at least make their heads tilt toward your character's head?
Maybe they don't want to look at you. Maybe you're hideous. Did you ever think of that?

[Spect]

Looks like Funcom has gone 2 for 2 with PR nightmares prior to an MMO launch.

http://forums.ageofconan.com/showthread.php?t=96395

Sold out of early access spots, and now bunches of people with pre-orders are creating drama on their forums.

LoL, MMO pre-launch drama is always an entertaining read.

[skyride]

Maybe they don't want to look at you. Maybe you're hideous. Did you ever think of that?
...

Moi? (http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q120/skystride/Brienne_picture001.jpg)

[quatoria]

Looks like Funcom has gone 2 for 2 with PR nightmares prior to an MMO launch.

http://forums.ageofconan.com/showthread.php?t=96395

Sold out of early access spots, and now bunches of people with pre-orders are creating drama on their forums.

LoL, MMO pre-launch drama is always an entertaining read.

There's nothing there except an announcement from Funcom. Was that what you intended us to see?

[CastOutDevil]

Funcom didn't anticipate so many people wanting in on Early Access, I guess. May 20th should be a fun day for Funcom.

[quatoria]

Hrm. Well, my gamestop preorder didn't get me in, apparently, but supposedly paying Funcom did. They list 'early access' in my account info, at any rate. We'll see if it works on the 17th.

[LionelThompson]

Funcom didn't anticipate so many people wanting in on Early Access, I guess. May 20th should be a fun day for Funcom.

I'm sure they've learned from Anarchy Online. Right... RIGHT?!

[Lorini]

Right now they are saying that all of their available server capacity is committed to either the EA program or closed beta. So that is why they are not permitting anyone else into the EA program. One would wonder why they can't use the (hoped for?) additional servers that should be there for launch for the EA stuff but I guess that is not an option.

[Ben Sones]

For what it's worth, they never made any secret of the fact that the early access slots were going to be limited, and given out on a first-come first-serve basis. There were forum threads about it on the official forums, and it said as much right in the preorder ad on the official site. I'm not sure why people are having a hissy fit about it now, unless they just didn't bother to read the, er, regular-sized print.

[GuildBoss]

For what it's worth, they never made any secret of the fact that the early access slots were going to be limited, and given out on a first-come first-serve basis. There were forum threads about it on the official forums, and it said as much right in the preorder ad on the official site. I'm not sure why people are having a hissy fit about it now, unless they just didn't bother to read the, er, regular-sized print.

But it wasn't printed on the preorder boxes nor was it on sites like Amazon. Not everybody is an obsessed gaming forum groupie...er, like us.

[Lorini]

For what it's worth, they never made any secret of the fact that the early access slots were going to be limited, and given out on a first-come first-serve basis. There were forum threads about it on the official forums, and it said as much right in the preorder ad on the official site. I'm not sure why people are having a hissy fit about it now, unless they just didn't bother to read the, er, regular-sized print.

Because on the box when you go to buy the pre-order they promised early access. It's really that simple. And now they are not delivering. And there is no fine print on the box that says that the early access will be limited in any way.

EDIT: GB beat me to it:)

[Ben Sones]

Ah, gotcha.

[Tankero]

Haven't they done a round of further early access slots already?

[GuildBoss]

Haven't they done a round of further early access slots already?

Aye, some people were trickling in last night that definitely did not have access right away...like me.

[Spect]

There's nothing there except an announcement from Funcom. Was that what you intended us to see?

Sorry, I thought it was clearly stated in my text under the link about the drama going on at their forum.

On a side note, UPS just arrived with my AoC box. That's pretty decent given that the EA doesn't start until Sat.

[RobotPants]

It was my understanding that stores were only alotted as many Pre Order boxes as Funcom had access to give. I don't recall seeing anyone with an actual Pre Order box being denied early access. Is this not the case?

[idrisz]

It was my understanding that stores were only alotted as many Pre Order boxes as Funcom had access to give. I don't recall seeing anyone with an actual Pre Order box being denied early access. Is this not the case?


pre-order != Early access.

you get other bonus for pre-order, but early access is just first come first serve, there are people with pre-order bonus but didn't get into early access.

[Spect]

It was my understanding that stores were only alotted as many Pre Order boxes as Funcom had access to give. I don't recall seeing anyone with an actual Pre Order box being denied early access. Is this not the case?

Not exactly. Companies like EB/Gamestop and others sell pre-orders to everything, with or without bonuses from the pub/dev. So just because a limited number of those pre-orders came with a spot in the EA, doesn't mean EB had to stop taking pre-orders. Thus the drama on the FC website about people buying pre-order copies but not getting into EA.

Apparently, the trick was to register at Funcom as soon as you pre-ordered. You got a code from the place you pre-ordered from. Up until a certain point, entering that code granted you a spot in the EA. Then they sold out of those EA spots, but the pre-orders kept happening. You still got the in-game bonus but not the EA.

[Lorini]

I will say that there were no more pre-order boxes at the local BB today, whereas two days ago there were lots. Sure wish BB would have given out the regular boxes like Gamestop did; I could be patching tomorrow!

[RobotPants]

Not exactly. Companies like EB/Gamestop and others sell pre-orders to everything, with or without bonuses from the pub/dev. So just because a limited number of those pre-orders came with a spot in the EA, doesn't mean EB had to stop taking pre-orders. Thus the drama on the FC website about people buying pre-order copies but not getting into EA.

Apparently, the trick was to register at Funcom as soon as you pre-ordered. You got a code from the place you pre-ordered from. Up until a certain point, entering that code granted you a spot in the EA. Then they sold out of those EA spots, but the pre-orders kept happening. You still got the in-game bonus but not the EA.

That's why I included the word "box" with the "preorder". I'm fully aware stores allow people to preorder as many as they can, but I thought these special preorder boxes didn't say anything about guaranteed early access. I could be wrong, however. I ordered mine online and got the early access thing in my email the next day.

[quatoria]

So, is anyone able to get on? I keep getting rejected at the authentication server, which I'm sure is getting HAMMERED.

[idrisz]

the GMT they use is a different one. it actually start at 10am PST 1PM EST instead of 12 EST

GMT timezone confuses me but don't ask why the fuck there is 2 different gmt

[JM]

BST and GMT I guess.

[quatoria]

the GMT they use is a different one. it actually start at 10am PST 1PM EST instead of 12 EST

GMT timezone confuses me but don't ask why the fuck there is 2 different gmt

hahaha what

[idrisz]

hahaha what

not even joking, the gmt they used bug the hell out of me, because downtime during beta is always 1 hour off.

Windows time have 2 GMT listed, the Reykjavik and Lisbon timezone are both GMT but 1 hour off.

[quatoria]

Since when are there two Grenwiches?

[idrisz]

you learn something new every time you wait for early start on MMO :)

[Johan O]

I think it is a matter of daylight savings hour that mucks up the GMT. And that would also be why they display 2 differemt GMT's.

[JM]

not even joking, the gmt they used bug the hell out of me, because downtime during beta is always 1 hour off.

Windows time have 2 GMT listed, the Reykjavik and Lisbon timezone are both GMT but 1 hour off.

Uh... I think you misunderstand the use of GMT. Iceland, unlike practically everywhere else, simply doesn't do Daylight Saving Time.

[idrisz]

Uh... I think you misunderstand the use of GMT. Iceland, unlike practically everywhere else, simply doesn't do Daylight Saving Time.

It would be nice if someone explain that to me. or funcom can list their schedule in PST or EST

[JM]

Yes, funcom - a European company - should cater to you! :P

You could've found out for yourself, the rest of the world seems to handle it just fine.

[quatoria]

I'd just like to know in what world EST isn't GMT - 5. MY MIND IS BLOWN.

[idrisz]

I'd just like to know in what world EST isn't GMT - 5. MY MIND IS BLOWN.

apparently a couple areas in GMT does not have daylight saving, so basically their hour is sometimes 1 off from rest of the GMT, and Funcom apparently use that particular timezone instead the normal ones.

[Marcin]

You guys that are in need to post some screenshots of what it looks like on an average QT3 rig :)

[John Reynolds]

Well, it's 1:02PM EST here and I can't hit the authentication servers. Damn you, Funcom, damn you!!!

[idrisz]

everyone is busying hammering the connect button..

[quatoria]

DAMN I CAN'T BELIEVE THE AUTHENTICATION SERVERS ARE HAMMERED OH NOOOOOO

[Spect]

I'm in the patching process now. I thought I was up to date, so they either threw in a new huge patch today, or I wasn't quite up to date as I thought.

[idrisz]

update suppose to be now 8PM GMT.

Everyone back to the hole/cave/dungeon/old mansion/cellar.

[quatoria]

update suppose to be now 8PM GMT.

Everyone back to the hole/cave/dungeon/old mansion/cellar.

Wait, what? Where are you seeing this?

edit: nevermind.

[Soapyfrog]

C'mon, you weren't actually EXPECTING a punctual launch, were you? ;)

Funcom: "Uh, we need more time to... uh... test! Yeah! So it'll be better for YOU! Yeah! that's it!!"

I can just picture the chaos at Funcom right now. It's Nervous Breakdown time...

[quatoria]

Let's just hope this goes better than the Anarchy Online launch. Then again, how could it possibly go worse?

[SteveS]

We were testing a possible release client just last night, so...

It actually looks in pretty good shape. They did introduce a bug in a Destiny quest that everyone would have run into within a few hours, so that simply had to be fixed before launch. Otherwise nobody could get out of the starting town. In game support would have been overwhelmed, people would have been freaking out and such. Very good move to take a few hours.

All this was learned while helping out by running fresh characters (which we are allowed to talk about) through the starting zone, so don't yell at me for NDA breaking.

[Jab2565]

One question about starting a character (if it's still in the NDA then you don't have to say it). Last time I read a preview about AoC I remember hearing that you could play the beginning levels in a single player mode which would not be attributed to the monthly fee. Is that still in AoC or was that altered?

[idrisz]

there are lot's single player instance mission, but they aren't free.

[SteveS]

One question about starting a character (if it's still in the NDA then you don't have to say it). Last time I read a preview about AoC I remember hearing that you could play the beginning levels in a single player mode which would not be attributed to the monthly fee. Is that still in AoC or was that altered?

No, it doesn't work like that. Instead, there is a line of quests that you complete solo. You have an instance created just for you. The critters scale to your level within these instances, so you can complete them whenever you want.

So you could do the first Destiny quest, then pop back into the world bit and do some questing to get gear, and then pop back into the solo bit some more or whatever.

There are some level restrictions on parts of the Destiny line, but I found I only needed to get a few levels doing world quests to allow me out of the starting town. For your first character you may want to spend some time doing more of the world quests, however, since FC spent considerable effort on content for the first 20 levels, and some of it is not half bad.

[wisefool]

Oslo, Norway
Standard time zone: UTC/GMT +1 hour
Daylight saving time: +1 hour
Current time zone offset: UTC/GMT +2 hours
Time zone abbreviation: CEST - Central European Summer Time


I think everyone should either use GMT or Beijing time and get rid of daylight savings. Popular opinion claims it helps farmers, but as far as I can tell, the rooster doesn't care whether your watch says 5:26 AM or 6:26 AM, it's still going to make a racket at the same time.

[idrisz]

No, it doesn't work like that. Instead, there is a line of quests that you complete solo. You have an instance created just for you. The critters scale to your level within these instances, so you can complete them whenever you want.

So you could do the first Destiny quest, then pop back into the world bit and do some questing to get gear, and then pop back into the solo bit some more or whatever.

There are some level restrictions on parts of the Destiny line, but I found I only needed to get a few levels doing world quests to allow me out of the starting town. For your first character you may want to spend some time doing more of the world quests, however, since FC spent considerable effort on content for the first 20 levels, and some of it is not half bad.

if you want to get out first town fast. you basically do the destiny quest right away after you get into town, at lvl 5, it basically boost you to lvl 9 right away, so you go out and do a few town quest and go back start the destiny quest at lvl 10.
the 4 destiny quest you need to complete is restrict at lvl 5/10/15/19

Destiny quest rewards is actually weapon/armor specific to player's category, and they are decent, better than any quest reward outside in the first town.

[Lee Johnson]

apparently a couple areas in GMT does not have daylight saving, so basically their hour is sometimes 1 off from rest of the GMT, and Funcom apparently use that particular timezone instead the normal ones.
GMT never has a daylight saving time adjustment, if it's being used correctly. Your local time zone may have a DST adjustment, if you're in a part of the world that uses DST and it's the right time of the year. Eastern Standard Time (EST) is GMT-5, but Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) is GMT-4. It is 14:25 EDT (2:25 P.M.) here, but 18:25 GMT.

British Summer Time (BST) is not the same as GMT. It is GMT+1.

[idrisz]

GMT never has a daylight saving time adjustment, if it's being used correctly. Your local time zone may have a DST adjustment, if you're in a part of the world that uses DST and it's the right time of the year. Eastern Standard Time (EST) is GMT-5, but Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) is GMT-4. It is 14:25 EDT (2:25 P.M.) here, but 18:25 GMT.

British Summer Time (BST) is not the same as GMT. It is GMT+1.

so very very confusing...I still think funcom should just release a schedule with all the major time zone, instead just GMT.

Stupid European companies..

[Lee Johnson]

It's only confusing if you are incapable of simple addition or subtraction. :-P

You're in California? That's Pacific Daylight Time now, GMT-7. Funcom is now saying that the servers will open around 20:00 GMT... so that's (20-7) = 13:00 PDT, your time: 1:00 P.M.

[idrisz]

It's only confusing if you are incapable of simple addition or subtraction. :-P

You're in California? That's Pacific Daylight Time now, GMT-7. Funcom is now saying that the servers will open around 20:00 GMT... so that's (20-7) = 13:00 PDT, your time: 1:00 P.M.

I don't even know PST is GMT-7, it's hard to add or substract when you only have one number out of 2.

[John Reynolds]

3:20 and I'm hung at downloading patch information.

[SteveS]

3:20 and I'm hung at downloading patch information.

FYI that simply means the patch servers are down. Would have been nice to actually give people that feedback instead of just hanging. On the FC to-do list I'm sure.

[John Reynolds]

3:46 and Crom is not happy.

[John Reynolds]

4:08 and Crom is coming off his mountain to kick someone's ass.

[TheWombat]

I am shuddering to think what is going to happen when the servers do open. I envision all these people sitting there clicking the PLAY button simultaneously.

I'm probably rolling on the RP-PvP server, which I think for the US is Cimmeria.

[Spect]

From www.ageofconan.com (http://www.ageofconan.com)

Our web and forum servers are currently experiencing an exceptional high volume of traffic. In the mean time please use the links below.

Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures is expected to open at GMT 21 / PST 12 / EST 15

Register (https://register.ageofconan.com/) Register your copy of Age of Conan.
Support (http://support.ageofconan.com/) Browse through our knowledge base or contact us.
Forums (http://forums.ageofconan.com/) Talk with other Age of Conan fans.
Gmt 21 does not equal 15 est. it would be 17 est which is 5pm. They fail at launching, and they fail at telling time.

[GuildBoss]

I am shuddering to think what is going to happen when the servers do open. I envision all these people sitting there clicking the PLAY button simultaneously.

I'm probably rolling on the RP-PvP server, which I think for the US is Cimmeria.

You are correct, sir. Seems a few of us are headed there so should give us a decent starting group.

[idrisz]

look like server is up, the message change at update to welcome now..

I like they wish player a smooth sailing and the first thing I see is can't connect to patch server..

[John Reynolds]

look like server is up, the message change at update to welcome now..

I like they wish player a smooth sailing and the first thing I see is can't connect to patch server..

Can't connect to either patch or authentication servers.

[Spect]

look like server is up, the message change at update to welcome now..

I like they wish player a smooth sailing and the first thing I see is can't connect to patch server..

it's just traffic. My patch is going now. it's only 5mb

[quatoria]

From www.ageofconan.com (http://www.ageofconan.com)

Our web and forum servers are currently experiencing an exceptional high volume of traffic. In the mean time please use the links below.

Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures is expected to open at GMT 21 / PST 12 / EST 15
Register (https://register.ageofconan.com/) Register your copy of Age of Conan.
Support (http://support.ageofconan.com/) Browse through our knowledge base or contact us.
Forums (http://forums.ageofconan.com/) Talk with other Age of Conan fans.Gmt 21 does not equal 15 est. it would be 17 est which is 5pm. They fail at launching, and they fail at telling time.

It now says EST 16, which is a dirty lie, since the patch server still isn't up.

[quatoria]

it's just traffic. My patch is going now. it's only 5mb


That's not the patch that everyone is hanging on. That's the patch to let you know you can't connect to the patch servers for the real patch.

[John Reynolds]

it's just traffic. My patch is going now. it's only 5mb

My update manager d/l went from a whopping 4kb/sec down to 1 byte per sec. Good to see Funcom was ready for the volume today.

[John Reynolds]

Oh, lovely, the d/l corrupted the patch files and I'm now being told to install a fresh copy and start over. A fresh copy of what? The entire fucking client? I launch the game directly and get told I'm using the wrong client version. Looks like I'm now hosed at this point, at least until I can lay hands on the latest conanpatcher.exe file.

[Spect]

I'm at char creation

[Cal]

Oh, lovely, the d/l corrupted the patch files and I'm now being told to install a fresh copy and start over. A fresh copy of what? The entire fucking client? I launch the game directly and get told I'm using the wrong client version. Looks like I'm now hosed at this point, at least until I can lay hands on the latest conanpatcher.exe file.

Happened in beta a lot. Just rename ConanPatcher.exe.0.xxxx to ConanPatcher.exe get rid of anything after the exe

[John Reynolds]

Happened in beta a lot. Just rename ConanPatcher.exe.0.xxxx to ConanPatcher.exe get rid of anything after the exe

Excellent, once the icon was changed I didn't even notice the backup versions. Thx!

Edit: But, hey!, the authentication server is now playing soggy cracker with the Crom/Mitra/Set circle-jerk boys.

[Xemu]

Anyone know how you send tells or add friends?

[Cal]

Excellent, once the icon was changed I didn't even notice the backup versions. Thx!

Edit: But, hey!, the authentication server is now playing soggy cracker with the Crom/Mitra/Set circle-jerk boys.

You'll have to bear with it, they just added 2 new PVP servers, 2 new PvE and 2 new EU servers, looks like they are staggering the servers, which is causing lag spikes.

It will work if you keep retrying it.

It was needed though some servers have Queues of up to an hour. Most have at least 5min queues now it seems.

Its prolly best to give it a while though.

Xemu this adds friends : - /cc addbuddy <name>

Press / then tab for a list of commands or just look here http://conanvault.ign.com/wiki/index.php//Command_List

[Royal Fool]

I never received my Play.com code, so I can't even attempt to buy early access.

I still have the closed beta client, of course, but it's not exactly as interesting to level up a character that'll be stuck on the test realms forever. :(

[JM]

My demonologist doesn't display the graphics for the spells. Strangely satisfying watching people die from wavy hand gestures.

[Lorini]

The patcher seems to have died. Does anyone know if there is a mirror somewhere? Also, it won't let me on the forums, even though I have registered a forum id, so if anyone knows anything about the patcher, I'd appreciate it a lot if you'd post here. Thanks.

[JM]

It's a little pointless - without the patch server up you can't connect anyway as far as I know.

Struggling to fix performance issues here - I've got a better rig than everyone I know who's playing the game but I'm getting 8-15fps. Vista SP1, latest drivers for my 8800gtx, tried all sorts of tweaks and no joy. Add that to the missing particle effects and it's all a bit "bleurgh" right now.

[idrisz]

turn off bloom and use dx 10

[JM]

Believe me when I say I've tried every combination of ingame settings possible.

[idrisz]

even on low setting?

[JM]

If there was an emoticon for "I am thinking of beating you to death with a broken oar" I would be using that right now.

(Yes, even on low settings the FPS is immensely variable, but clearly I shouldn't be having to run the damn thing on low when everyone else is running it on far higher settings and getting much better fps...)

From what I can gather in beta there was a super-special configuration screen that allowed a "soft particle" option to be turned off that fixed the no-effects issue. Sadly that's no longer available.

[Lorini]

The problem with the patcher was on my system. NOD32 had decided the patcher was a browser (!). So I'm currently downloading Vista SP1 which for some reason even though I have Windows update turned on, isn't installed on my system. ONE DAY I will join you!!

[idrisz]

If there was an emoticon for "I am thinking of beating you to death with a broken oar" I would be using that right now.

(Yes, even on low settings the FPS is immensely variable, but clearly I shouldn't be having to run the damn thing on low when everyone else is running it on far higher settings and getting much better fps...)

From what I can gather in beta there was a super-special configuration screen that allowed a "soft particle" option to be turned off that fixed the no-effects issue. Sadly that's no longer available.


I had the same problem with no fatality but with a 8800GTS and 4g ram the game runs on high around 60fps

[Rich4757]

I'm running the game on High at 1920x1200 in XP using a G80 8800GTS 640MB card paired to a 6750 dual core with 4g of ram installed but not used and I'd say I'm getting around 20fps in most cases when running around. I think I had Bloom turned on, I haven't booted into Vista to try it there using dx10 yet.

[John Reynolds]

No AA with DX10, at least with my 8800 GTX. Flipped to DX9, 2x AA, 2560x1600, bloom, and it's fairly playable even in the starter city. Got my demonologist up to level 10 and called it a night.