Oct 15, 2008
The Re-Review of Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures
by windshell
 Four months after launch, the game is best summed up as disappointing. It still has potential and even flair, but for all that it could be, it's failing to live up even to what it should be.
Question is what's changed so much since June? Well there are few major things that have upset the players.
First, Funcom has disappointed players in terms of content delivery. Great share of patches, right after the launch, greatly improved the game’s performance and polished its content, but it was followed then by weeks of broken promises.
New zones, a new PvP system, class updates were promised. But, what’s the problem is the fact that these things should have been in the game at the launch.
Therefore, main features of the game are only half-implemented, and probably won't appear in full until midwinter.
Other problem is game engine that was impressing at the launch. But, many players reported instability and visual glitches that are obstacles to the smooth gameplay.
But there are positive things as well. This includes numerous tweaks seen to the rest of the game's content. Many great quests and encounters have been tightened up and bug-fixed. Also a whole new quest chains have been added. Process of leveling a character now goes much more smoothly.
Still, there's a ‘but’. MMORPGs do get a grace period that other games don't have, but that doesn’t mean a four-month grace period. For the new game such as AoC, it can be path to disaster. Leaving players to wait for promised ‘soon’ patches, can force them to turn their back and choose another game.
Biggest and best example is slow delivery of changes is AoC PVP system. Funcom was talking about a complex, level-based PVP system before the game even shipped. This system should give players PVP experience for their kills, opening up specific gear and even bounty hunt. But due to fears of potential and endless bloodbaths in PvP zones, especially performed by older and experienced users, this idea is calmed down significantly.
Players obviously recognized that they can level PVP faster by taking part in mini-games rather than open-world PVP.
PVE servers, of course, were immune to this problem. And not just them. Plenty of other servers suffered from no noticeable ganking, mostly because there was nobody there to gank you. Age of Conan's server populations have collapsed since launch, leaving many servers so empty that it's hard to find anyone to play with in certain zones.
Much of this exodus came when bugs and technical problems stopped being patched quickly enough to address serious concerns. Also, reason may be when players who have reached high levels, find that the end-game isn't satisfying enough to hold their interest.
Funcom is currently in the process of merging servers to keep the populations up, which should improve things, of course if Funcom fulfill their promises.
Despite all of mentioned problems, Age of Conan remains a compelling game. Its world is stunning and beautiful, but somewhat small and restrictive compared to many of its rival games.
The combat system is still entertaining and some of the classes are genuinely innovative hybrids that are great fun both to play and master.
However, there’s still room for optimism. Some good things and improvements are announced. There's talk of an overhauled crafting system and a far greater variety in how characters look
Only, if it takes as long to arrive as the PVP changes are taking, it's hard to tell how many players will be around to see it.
It can be concluded in this re-review that Age of Conan remains one of the most innovative and interesting additions to the MMORPG genre in recent years, but for now, it's hard to recommend it.
In absolute terms, the AoC game now is a better game than it was at launch, but due to lousy service from the developers, it’s really hard to predict its destiny.
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