CoreTwo: I wish you would please leave these boards as you never have anything constructive to say...

Your expectations of what a game should be after release are redonkulious. I'm sorry to tell you, but no game will ever come out that will meet your expectations. If wow is such a great game, how come it seems over 70% of AoC's population is totally anti-wow, claiming what a horrible game it is... Obviously peoples opinions are going to vary.

Also, i'm sorry to tell you that development costs $, and it also requires feedback from the unbiased players. And by unbiased, i mean people who have nothing to do with the development behind the scenes to influence our decisions. We're the consumers, and so therefore our input is extremely important and valuable to the company. What better way to get that than have people play it. (dont tell me any bs about beta testers shoulda tested it, because beta testers are limited and the scale is not as broad or as vast as it is now with it being live...) Server maitnance is quite expensive, and so is development. You need ways to pay these people, so therefore we pay a monthly fee. I'd rather pay $15 a month to play a game quite often, than $10 to rent a video game for a few days from your local video store.

Your bitching is becoming annoying. You keep comparing WoW functions only achieved thru downloading 3rd party mods, to built in functionality in AoC.... If WoW is such a great game, why can't they add these "mod functions" to the default game, so you dont need to download 100 billion mods...

Maybe you should worry more about how you want to style your pubes once you hit puberty than playing MMO's...

Go troll around and wait for a Warhammer to come out so those people can listen to you complain about how horrible of a game it is when you realize how horrible the combat system is going to be...

I read many of the comments here and it seems that quite a few of them are coming in from a very biased perspective. Having said that, as a WoW player to an AoC player to currently not playing any MMO game (due to work), here's my take on the first impressions of AoC and the switch from WoW:

Is it worth it? In a nutshell, not at the moment. Why? Well...

WoW was/is/will always be designed for the masses. You never really needed too much skill to complete end-game stuff in WoW - all you needed was 40 people (pre-BC) knowing what to do and it was actually not so bad. I've played WoW when UBRS was the only raid available and it took 15 people who knew little about their classes, and learning them to kill Drak. From there to MC, BWL, ZG, AQ20/40 and then even Naxx. AQ40 and then Naxx really raised the bars for a challenging encounter - especially Naxx - but it was so short-lived due to BC that most people never really cared for it.

What made WoW so appealing was that fact that it had very rich lore, interesting plots and sub-plots, storylines, familiar names that most people got used to it very soon. Plus, it required an 'average' PC to play it smoothly. I am not gonna lie and give Funcom a blind-eyed view - WoW was NOT as buggy as AoC even at release. AoC's release has been a lot more smoother - less server-side crashes, fewer downtimes, smaller population, no queues - whereas WoW had far more of these. Part of it was because Blizzard did not anticipate the game to be as huge a hit as it became in a relatively short time.

The main problems I've had with AoC (after playing almost 6-8 hours a day during my time off from work, for a full 2+ months since release - and I reached lvl 73 before I had to go off for work again) are as follows:

1. The full voice feature was fantastic, but I felt cheated that it only was in the first zone. After that, it did not exist. Funcom should have done at least till the mid-40s range with full voice by release. And each week, they should have added more voice-overs during patching. This made the game feel like it was in Beta testing rather than release.

2. The class balance issue - some of the classes were so absurdly overpowered in pvp situations that it was getting to a point of no point trying to fight.

3. PvE on a PvP server was much worse. Respawns in AoC are so rapid that you feel like gouging your eyes out due to just respawns going up on you over and over again.

4. Instancing was very poorly designed. Each zone had multiple dungeons, but quality > quantity. Where you started out in WoW with Deadmines or Wailing Caverns - they posed a challenge. Instancing in AoC was either a cakewalk (the instance in Wild Hills - can't remember name) or ridiculously hard for a pug to complete (redesigned Black Temple in Khepshof for e.g.). Once again, they should have focused on quality instead of quantity to make a more enriching playing experience.

5. Economy/Inventory: The tin/copper/silver/gold mechanism was broken. As were bags or overall inventory management. That was a huge downside. Where WoW felt more organized - you know cities have banks, towns do not, AoC was not at all clear on a lot of these directives. The large cities were in fact way too large and took a lot of time just running around to get from 1 NPC to the other. World map is poorly designed since you could not 'click' on a zone to expand on it.

6. Bugs - oh lord the number of bugs. Right from the time you got out of the starting zone till wherever I went - far too many. Especially broken quests. Never made for a fun experience. These should have been fixed - a vast majority at least - before the game's release. I can understand class / abilities bugging out in certain situations, but quests should generally not be broken.

7. System requirements in terms of performance. These seem quite steep. I tried running the game on a Dell M1530 laptop with a 256 mb 8600M GT video card with 4 gb of ram and it was literally unplayable. And yes, I'm on a broadband connection - upwards of 5 mbps on my laptop and 8 mbps on my PC. The fact that WoW in its basic mode required very little system resources made it really scalable. To the poster above me - yes, we need to download a ton of mods in WoW to make it perform various functions - but that increased the system resources needed to run it smooth as well. I think it wasn't whether Blizzard 'could' add the mod functions built into the game - it was more because they did not want to. Adding mods changes the amount of resources required, hence possibly making it unplayable on certain connections. Since WoW was built for the masses, they did not want to do it. AoC already needs a whole lot of resources at the moment - I can't imagine what it would be like in a raid situation with 20-30 health bars on the screen (for a healer) and a lot of activity on screen as well.

8. Tradeskills / Gathering: That was another thing which was broken. A majority of them simply did not work as opposed to being buggy. Once again pushing the game to seemingly Beta stages than a full release. 'Rare' resources was another thing - I must've gathered at least a few thousand of the basic resources before getting my Tin, Quartz, Brindled Leather, etc. That seemed a huge waste of time. Make resources easier to obtain, but make the quantity higher on craftables. It's not as if the low-tier consumables were required for epic items that will be used in end-game.

9. Bad tooltips - I played a ranger (lvl 46) and a priest of mitra (lvl 73) and the tooltips on items and spells etc were just non-informative. It helps knowing the difference between a lvl 1 arrow vs. a lvl 40 arrow (apart from the fact that both vendor for 1t on vendors!)

Having said all of those, the really good points about AoC are as follows:
1. Graphics - the game is an absolute marvel to look at. The textures are magnificently designed and the environments feel astoundingly (sometimes annoyingly - with the buzzing sound of bees near corpses) real.

2. A very large world to play in - The world of Azeroth seems dwarfed in comparison with Cimmeria. But that is also a problem since at the early stages, you spend too much time running around rather than killing stuff :)

3. It deviates from button mashing with the active defense system. That was a nice change from WoW.

4. Character Models are mind-boggling. All the NPCs, mobs and your own characters are intricately modelled - once again makes it worth looking at.

So, my first 2-month impression of AoC was: They should have played on Beta a bit more or at least given the number of bugs etc, give their starting players 1/2 months of free time to help make their game a lot better. Another thing that bugs me is the fact that I have to pay for my subscription in Euros as opposed to the U.S. Dollar for American residents. That makes the game plan USD 21.00-23.00 per month for the exact same service that Americans get for 40% cheaper just because they have an American billing address. Not really fair to your customers now is it?

I DID, switch, and yes, while the game may have some bugs, and broken classes...

I think we can all agree wow was the EXACT same way when it came out...

I feel that AoC has a TON of potential, and that the AoC dev team is working extra hard (two patches a week) to make this game in to an amazing mmo

Shadow: It's always worth trying :) I actually loved it too - especially in the first 20 levels when everything had a voice-over and the endless ganking was even somewhat fun. But yea, after a while, the imbalances, bugs, UI shortcomings, overall lengthy runs due to the world size, start to get to you.

But yes - I definitely agree that it has a lot of potential. The combat system, coupled with the size of their world can make for a very long and fun game. I'm just waiting at the moment while this game fixes itself and will come back when it has evolved to 'v.1.1' so-to-speak :)

WoW was great game and easy for anybody to play it. i had really great times playing this game.... but it reached a point where it became repeatable and I didn't have fun anymore.

Then there was the release of AoC. I had great expectation from this game (i started playing from Open Beta onwards). My first impressions were great. Amazing graphics, fantastic story, new combat system. However, as levels went by things started to get worse. Lack of content, unbalanced classes (even against mobs), bugged raids, bugged dungeons, culture pvp does not deliver what it was intented to, FFA pvp sucks (I prefer to play counterstrike)... fun factor began to drop.... i now play AoC because I do not have an alternative (well... i have EVE and wow, but I want something fresh and new).

The game has potential and I may try it again at six to eight months time; now it simply is not fun to play.

I'd say, wait a bit and let them kill the bugs, balance the game and iron out lots of gaming issues.
but if you really don't have game to play.. is ok to play it i guess.

I quited already but I was enjoyed by AoC for a while.
'fun and refreshing' that is what I think about the game at first.

then all the bugs and poorly customer support killed me, and i left my toon at the graveyard and don't wanna rez up again :(

I am so tired of seeing people making excuses for game developers and companies when they are taking money from PAYING customers then not giving those customers a product they were advertising.

Let me put this in normal everyday terms.
If you bought a car, brand new, and right after you drove it off the lot the air conditioning didn't work, the tires were out of balance and you could only make left turns, so you tell the dealer and he says they will fix it. They give you the car back, and the air conditioning only works sometimes, the tires are different but now out of balance on the other side, and you can now turn right once a week, but now the engine dies at every third traffice light and it over heats when driven more than 30 minutes.

Would you feel bad for the auto manufacterers? Would you simply say , "Well that is how todays cars are made, we just have to learn to live with it". BS, you would go balistic and demand your money back or a new car.

Stop throwing up these BS remarks about how it's not the Game Developers fault. EVERYTHING in the game was desgined and created by them, if it doesn't work and they can't fix it then it IS their fault.

Out of 15 of my friends who started with AoC when it came out only 2 are still playing, that is a pretty bad ratio, and these are gamers who have played everythign from MUD to the current MMO's on the market.

I played WoW for 3 1/2 years and got to the point where I couldn't stay logged in for more than 5 minutes w/out getting bored. AoC is a great change from WoW but I do agree it was released to early. I played for 2 months and really got sick of a tanking class(Conqueror) that could be out tanked buy a PoM or ToS. The game really does need alot more content but I still have hopes for it. I loved the melee combat system and wish the game had more to it because I would still be playing it. I keep a close eye on it to see what they improve but nothing more than that. Been playing in the WAR closed beta and been loving it so I believe that is where I'll be for a long while.

The most memorable things about AoC that'll take with me is it's combat system and graphics. The combat system is great! The whole button-to-swing is the way MMO's should try to conform to as it's immersive, fun, takes skill, and offers combos. Graphics are the best if you have a good computer. Even on low settings, the game looks good. Funcom actually downgraded alot of the graphic features because even high-end machines choked on the detail and lighting.

AoC lacking? Alot to make this a top shelf game. Quests can be an absolute chore. They are creative which is good, but when you have to run thru 3 or 4 zones to the farthest extent of said zones to talk to 1 npc to further the chain, it's horrible! And a good part of the time, you don't kow who it is that you need to speak to (location wise) when you begin your trek so it can be disheartning to zone into an area and find out you need to walk the full zone. Content is at a low, especially in key areas where you transition level gaps of 10. 8 characters per account is weak these days, and there's still no log-out to the character select screen!

Biggest flaw to it's competition? Features....WAR's grahics suck, combat system is plain, but the game has a sick list of game features that's making me consider switching. I played WoW for 3+ years so I can deal with the crappy graphics and weak combat, but features make it fun.

I have a level 75 guardian and I have stopped playing for two reasons:

1. The post 70 content is appalling. Only one area to go to (Khesh) and about 1 dozen quests to work with.

2. I'm on a pvp server and gem stacking rangers can one shot me, a level 75 plate wearing class (complete with shield).

So, until they add a new zone I am off to play WAR where pvp will be better integrated.

EDIT: I played WoW from beta until about 7-8 months ago. (Joral on Kilrogg)

Seems the chat box of AoC's UI is annoying to use. Very hard to fight mobs and be able to go back and finish typing that sentence.
Also, there are other things that need to be changed. WoW is much easier to use. For example, you click on someone, scroll down, and select "Follow". In AoC, you need to type in a command: /follow person'sname

Now, I don't particularly care typing out /follow Bob, but when people have long names like Illiill, it can be bothersome.

These are all minor details that I'm sure will be fixed in the future. As far as gameplay goes, it's *the* game. Casters get incredible spellweaving. Melee get impressive fatalities.

Don't take PvP lightly. Taunt someone and you will see your own head being cut off and flying backwards at your screen. The FFA PvP is refreshing. I can't name how many times I wanted to kill that Alliance kid stealing my skins after I killed a whole mob of raptors in STV.

Guild cities are top notch, with many people in RP servers holding weekly PvP battles at a designated place.

I can't express the amount of things there are to truly appreciate in the game. The story is captivating and the M rating gives writers something better to do with quests than collect candles. Why not collect a whore's blood instead?

This was one of the worst game i ever played, the so called Age limit is a bloody joke, this game is full immature 15 year olds wanking off to some badly designed half naked models.

oh dont forget the cool 3 blood splats on screen when you do FATALITY (ohh wait thats another game), the whole game got too hyped, and now the ppl who hyped the game cant say "It actually is pretty bad", cause pride has taken over.

i rather get 3 shot by a rogue over and over again in wow then go back to AoC.

I have played eq for about 4 years daoc for about 3 and AO and wow. IMO daoc owned the aspect of pvp and everquest owned the pve aspect of mmo's. wow was a joke toony graphics gey fights and after playing daoc for 3 years wow pvp was a comical display for me so easy...wife and I had a group of allies /report us for cheating we just had the tactics for doing the impossible. aoc is interesting but so far the pve is trivial to me and death so what...they need penalty for death YES loss of exp not a stupid and very trivial loss to you attack. death in wow AO and aoc is nothing to worry about and I hate it because it doesn't inspire people to "do there best" nor work together. in eq if my guild failed a raid over and over I risked losing my level which forced me  to work harder at doing it right. that is what I want in aoc.

I meant THEIR not THERE

and another thing why the hell is it so bad to make quests a surious challenge with a super reward and not a dime a dozen and a means of leveling. Why not allow people to set up camp and do it the old fashioned way? That was alot of fun and inspire comaraderie especially when waiting on named spawns.I encourage aoc to do it all combine eq and daoc into one game and you will inspire real adventurers.

LK (Wrath of the Lich king) is coming soon and LK will crunsh AoC! only 1 month left!

I'm a lvl80 Demonologist in AoC. I can't advice you much since I haven't really played WoW for years, basically I quit even before the Burning Crusade was out. But I believe AoC is much less polished than WoW, and there also are a lot of balance issues. It's getting better though, and the new Game Director has some great things in store. He did wonders with AO before.

Despite all the bugs and problems it's still a fun game (I even blog about it) and it's improving, so I hope you won't be disappointed :)

Well.... I got WotLK and I almost immediatly got the feeling.. no.. not again.. Im bored with all games right now, they bring nothing new except AoC, for the more than lovely graphics and gameplay.

They suck at content yes, but with a nice group (guild) the raids are way more fun than they where on WoW (did SP till Mu'ru). The Sieges are the best ever.. really really tensed fights, its all about the honour of the guild.

But I agree with what someone wrote before.. this is not a game to play alone, specially not on a pvp server (you need to be a bit clever there).

Its a lovely game.. just too bad so many people are getting impatient, where they really work hard (maybe not hard enough) but are steadily improving. I think once they crystalized out this game it will be THE game for many years.

yeah. AoC rocks! Let's compare games ok?

3 High level characters are going to show off. 1 from WoW, 1 from WAR and 1 from AoC. Which character would you like to see?

For me it would definitely be the one on AoC. That sweet detailed graphics makes all your efforts to make a high level character in that game sooooo worthwhile.

Then give that character cool equips like,

Chestguard of Heroic Soul

Girdle of the Valiant

Crossbow of Jagged Barbs

.....

My imagination is just running wild right now.

Just check out the site it has a lot of cool items that I wish my characters could have in AoC.

I'm sure that if only funcom released AoC today, it would be the #1 MMO right now. But thats a thing of the past now, we all learn from our mistakes.

AOC is the reason why Funcom should stop making games. If you want to play a real game forget WOW - not a game more like a endless stupid grind with a bunch of people with no real life friends - Come Join us in Warhammer Online. I'm currently playing on Iron Rock.