Hitting the wall

I have had very little time to actually play MMOs lately.  I keep trying to log into AOC and get through the 70s, but more and more I feel like I am hitting a…

Is it me or could AOC have used another 70-80 area?  I am getting sick of Kheshatta and I have found Tarantia Commons to be a little on the dull side.  I am sitting at level 77 and am honesty thinking about using the Offline Leveling to take me the rest of the way.  I try to log in and burn through some quests, but I get bored way too quickly because I am so sick of those areas.  I really want to check out the expansion because people seem like they are having fun with it.  I am just wondering if AOC really needed another 20-40 zone when we could probably have used a little love for 70-80.

Don’t get me wrong, as I do like that Funcom threw something out there for people who are new, returning, or running alts.  But when I look at the balance of content and see myself not having very much fun in the 70-80 range, I keep thinking that something should have been added for those levels.  They could even have started the first RotGS area at 75 rather than making it all for 80s.  *shrugs*

Anyways, my WAR icon is glaring at me something fierce for neglecting it recently.  So it’s definitely time to go get my WAAGGHH on I think.  I have a young White Lion to level up, after all!  I will mention one thing I have noticed in my time back in AOC when comparing it to WAR.  I have truly come to appreciate the way Warhammer Online allows you to level from both PvE and PvP.  I enjoy PvPing in Conan, but that halts the leveling process for me because I only receive PvP experience for it.  In Warhammer, I receive both regular experience and renown for taking part in PvP.

I do love that system, I must say. 

Life

It does have its own way of reminding you that you’re not always in control, doesn’t it?

I have been busy, busy, lately…so much so that I have barely had the time to sit down and play me some WAR or AOC.  I was finally able to get my hands on Rise of the Godslayer after that little side adventure, so I jumped into game for about an hour yesterday.  I roamed through some of the zones in Khitai and checked things out, got a feel for the place.  The aesthetics of the new continent work very well in my opinion.  There is a wonderful sense of scale that is buoyed by the draw distance of the graphics engine.  Only Vanguard can match AOC on that level.

But I wasn’t really able to play much, though I did take advantage of the Offline Leveling and bumped my Barb up to 76.  Only four more levels to the cap, and the last ones are usually the toughest.  Fortunately, I snagged the Collector’s Edition upgrade and now I have that 12 hour double-xp potion.  So I will be saving that for a day when I can really sit down and let loose.  I need to start working on my Bear Shaman (50) as well.  I haven’t played that class much since I used my free level 50 to get him.

I had completely forgotten about that little perk.  Once you get a character to level 50 in AOC, you gain a one-time ability to create another character who begins at level 50 instead of level 1.  You gotta love little gifts like that, and it certainly brought a smile to my face when I realized that I had not taken advantage of it yet.

As for WAR, I think I will be alternating my time between my SW and my WL for the foreseeable future.  I regret not being able to take more advantage of that double xp Mythic had going, especially for my Shadow Warrior’s renown.  But life just gets in the way of your fun sometimes.  I’ve had plenty of class work to tend to and it has kept me occupied lately.  I am enjoying the Scout spec I have settled on, though, and Scout is still the most viable SW spec in my opinion.  The others have advantages as well, but they just aren’t tuned well enough yet in my eyes.

Moving on to my young White Lion, I want to see how he feels once I get pounce.  So it looks as though I’ll be starting the leveling grind all over again.  I do wish Mythic would get the pat pathing smoothed out, as it still seems to be an issue and has been since launch.  Other WLs are telling me that they alter their specs for large battles not because of actual strategy, but because the WL pet pathing is so poor it detracts from their efficiency and so they switch their spec around so they can still be viable.

That screams…

…to me.  But as with all things, I will level up and see how it plays out for myself.  That’s all I have for now.  Happy gaming! 

Fun(fail)com Strikes Again?

(Update #2)

Final Word

I will say this one more time, as it seems my criticism has incited a few people to come here and hurl personal insults at me.  I’m still trying to decide which comment was the most hilarious, but I haven’t come to a conclusion yet.    Anyways, my intent here was certainly not to insult anyone, though plenty of insults have been thrown at me for writing about this.  But my fire shield is solid so I can take it.  This was not an error on Funcom’s part, but a policy they have regarding any kind of payment on an account.

If a payment fails for anything….server transfer…name change…whatever…their policy is to freeze the account even if the payment has nothing to do with your actual subscription.  That was part of the email they sent me explaining what happened, as you can see below.  I don’t really think this is good policy, but that is just my opinion and you can take it or leave it.

On the upside, Funcom did do right by me and unfroze the account.  So for that I thank them and for all the hard work they have done making AOC a better game for all.  I can disagree with one of their policies and still enjoy their work.  It is possible to do that in case some people are unaware.

So I don’t have much more to say about this other than I disagree with the policy.  I would have no problem if they froze an account for a subscription payment failure, as that would make perfect sense!  But their policy is to do so for any kind of payment failure.  That just doesn’t sit right with me and I think they should change it.  But all is well and Funcom treated me right at the end of the day by unfreezing the account, so kudos to them.

So trolls and non-trolls alike, get out out there and enjoy your expansion already! 

(Update #1)

I just received an email from Funcom stating the following…

Greetings,

Thank you for contacting Funcom Customer Support.

I have removed your failed payment for the expansion upgrade and your
account has been unfrozen. I apologize for the inconvenience. Anytime
there is a failed payment for gametime or any other service, the account
is frozen until the outstanding payments have been paid.

If you have any more questions or concerns, please reply to this e-mail
without changing the Subject line. Have a wonderful day.

Why would they freeze an account in the first place if a payment fails for something non-subscription related?  That just doesn’t make sense.  However, they did right the situation and unfreeze my account so I sent a polite email to thank them for doing so.  This has nothing to do with Age of Conan, the game, of course.  There are many hard working people who have been doing a great job at improving AOC and making it a fun place to spend some time.

I am proud of those people and the work they have done.  Their dedication has helped AOC to grow and become a stronger MMO.  But I have received a healthy dose of flame and insults for talking about this, but that really comes as no surprise.  I understand that some people simply feel that they must jealously defend “their game” and the company that makes it no matter the facts or situation.

But as you can see…this was not an error…and while I do appreciate that Funcom righted the situation, I still think that freezing an account for a payment failure on something non-subscription related is a poor practice to have.  But to each his own, I guess.

(Original Post)

So apparently, if you don’t buy the latest Age of Conan expansion then Funcom just freezes your entire account.

I don’t really know what to say about these guys anymore.  I continue to give them chance after chance and they just continue to fall all over themselves.  So let me catch you guys up.  Recently, I bought a 60 day subscription card at Gamestop for Age of Conan.  I applied the card to my account on May 3, 2010.  So on my account page, it says that the next payment is due on 07-03-2010.  Ok, everyone with me so far?

Now, I actually use a prepaid Mastercard for all my gaming transactions.  This came in very handy when I got overcharged during the Mythic fiasco because I didn’t get hit with overdraft fees.  Age of Conan’s expansion, Rise of the Godslayer, is being released today.  I pre-ordered it directly from Funcom using my Mastercard, but was informed the charges would not go through until about 5-7 days before the expansion would be launched.

Unfortunately, something came up in RL at the last minute and I had to withdraw those funds from my card.  Real life is more important than gaming, after all.  No problem, I thought, the charge won’t go through and I will just have to wait until I get paid before I can buy and play the expansion.  Oh no, says Funcom, because when the charge for the expansion didn’t go through they decided to freeze my entire Age of Conan account.  I can’t play anymore.

I got an email from them this morning.

Dear Age of Conan customer,

We are sending you this mail to notify you that your account was frozen on May 11, 2010.

Since your subscription was not canceled, the reason for this freeze may be due to a failed payment transaction. Please log in to https://register.ageofconan.com to either purchase additional game-time or check for the following:

*  Check your card has not expired, if so please enter a new payment method under the “Change My Payment Option” menu-choice.
*  If you have been sent a replacement card by your bank you may also need to re-enter your details.
*  If paying via PayByCash: Check menu option “View my Subscription”, “View Subscription Payment History” to ensure that no action is required.
*  Check that your Billing Address matches the address your credit card is registered at.
*  Check that the available balance on your credit card is sufficient.
*  If all of these have been checked please visit the Check menu option “View my Subscription”, “View Subscription Payment History” and try to resubmit your payment.

If  none of the above helps you solve this issue, please send an e*  mail to account@ageofconan.com including your account name (but not your password).

Best regards,
Funcom

Since I was unable to purchase the expansion they have decided to not only deny me the expansion (which is expected and fine), but they also think that I no longer have the right to play Age of Conan even though I already paid them for 60 days of game time.  I give to you, the hilarity of my account page.  Notice that they froze me today, but you can clearly see that I have paid them to play until 07-03-2010.  Look under Next Payment Date…it shows July 3, 2010.

Alas, Failcom has struck again.  I paid them for 60 days of game time and they froze my account just because a charge for the expansion didn’t go through.  So let me ask a question to Funcom since they feel that I no longer have the right to play their game.  Do you plan on freezing the accounts of everyone else who fails to buy the expansion, or am I just a unique case?

These guys must really hate money or something.

If this is some sort of account error I will let you all know and recant, of course.  But stuff like this just burns me after so many years.  This is not the first issue I have had with Funcom either, so that also increases my anger.  They have some talented people working there but they just can’t seem to get their act together in the PR/Customer Service department.

Age of Conan – Worth your time?

Hey all.  I’ve been busy back in AOC getting ready for the expansion, and then we all have some Tier 2 action to look forward to in WAR tonight.  A quick word about AOC, though.  If you haven’t played since launch…and judging by the subscription plummet there are a lot of you out there…then you are missing a game that has made many great strides since that time.  I was talking with someone earlier today who told me that if AOC had launched in the state it is now then they would never have left.

AOC is one fine MMO these days and is well worth of your time and money.  The performance of the game is like night and day from launch, stats and attributes actually work as intended now, itemization is vastly improved, and you have plenty of new content to experience.  Along with a boat load of new quests, they have added entire whole areas like Ymir’s Pass (50-60) and Tarantia Commons (75-80).  There are also new dungeons to play through of both the group and solo variety.

They have finally added PvP levels, with different gear sets available to you the higher you go.  This also brings a Murder Point system to the game, where you will become KOS the more you gank lower level players.  Plenty of debate exists on whether or not this system works as well as it should, but such is the way with these kind of things.  Just recently, Funcom has brought the Shrines of Bori to the game, which gives players and guilds some nice open-world PvP content to go along with current PvP in Sieges and the Mini-games.

Massively.com – Shrines of Bori Unveiled

Curiously, they have also included a new Offline Leveling System.  I was a little perplexed by this, as I never felt that AOC was a slow leveling game.  But for every 4 days you are subscribed to AOC you gain 1 level that you can add to one of your characters.  It’s not a bad system and certainly won’t make the game unbalanced, it’s just an odd choice for a game that suffered more from lack of content than it did leveling speed.

But the lack of content is an issue no more, and with the expansion coming in just a few days (May 11th) that will only hold even more true.  Rise of the Godslayer will bring an entire new Asia-themed continent to AOC along with a new race.  We will see Faction gameplay become a prominent fixture in the game, and the new areas will range in level from 20-40 to 70-80.  Rise of the Godslayer is also bringing an Alternative Advancement system to AOC, with many new abilities to unlock for each class.  New tiger and wolf mounts will also be introduced with the expansion, which must be raised as young animals until they grow strong enough to serve as our trusty steeds.

AOC also features gorgeous DirectX 10 graphics as well, another feature that was slated for launch but got pushed back.  The DX10 enhancements include parallax mapping, more realistic shadows, improved lighting effects, better water and particles, improved draw distance, and even textures that are slightly sharper than those in DX9.  The lighting effects alone are worth the upgrade, as featured in the following video…

So in summary, if you partially enjoyed AOC despite the issues at launch and thought to yourself, “I might be able to have fun with this game if it didn’t crash every 60 seconds.”  Then my suggestion to you is to get up off the mat and come back ASAP.  Age of Conan is in fine shape these days and looks to only get better as time goes on.  I was quite surprised at the amount of fun I had these past few days, and I look forward to the expansion more and more with each passing moment.

I have said before that an expansion is exactly what Warhammer Online needs to stir up the masses and get them interested in the game again.  After witnessing the level of excitement in the AOC population these past few days, I feel even more confident that this statement holds true.  There are so many threads on the AOC forums where returning players are seeking info and asking questions, so the expansion announcement alone has definitely made an impact.  I’ll have more commentary and videos on the Rise of the Godslayer launch later this week.

Until next time…game well, my friends. 

AOC Rise of the Godslayer – Launch Trailer

It looks more and more like I will be dusting off my old Barbarian next week, so I figured I would throw up the Rise of the Godslayer Launch Trailer for those who haven’t seen it yet.

WAR and AOC

Warhammer Online and Age of Conan have always felt like distant cousins to me.  After all, they were both released to huge box sales and initial critical acclaim back in 2008.  Both games had a ton of money behind  them and ridiculous amounts of hype to swell the population.  Both of them suffered from very different issues after launch, and eventually watched as subscription numbers plummeted and servers were shut down.  Their attempts at success faded into bitter memory and most people moved on, confident that we would never hear from either game again.

You think people would eventually learn that MMOs are forever in a state of growth and change, so what is true now might not be in 6 months.  Sometimes these games change for the better, sometimes for the worse.  But it is never a good idea to write a game off for dead, given that only a small percentage of MMOs have ever been closed since the genre began.  That number has gone up in the last few years, however, as more and more companies grapple to get a piece of the subscription pie and ultimately fail at doing so.

With WAR and AOC, both games began under similar troubled circumstances and now find themselves gaining respectability.  WAR is steadily improving, with brand new City Sieges on the way and many improvements made since launch.  As for AOC, it has undergone a titanic level of bug squashing and made significant improvements to performance, player attributes, PvP Murder System, better gear itemization, along with adding Offline Leveling and new PvP/PvE content on top of all that.

I have said for some time that what Warhammer really needs is the announcement of an expansion.  With all the positive changes that have been brought to WAR, an expansion would really draw some attention towards WAR’s progress and get the playerbase fired up in a way that only an expansion can.  That is exactly what has happened to AOC and now could not be a better time for them to launch their new x-pack.

MMORPG.com – Rise of the Godslayer Beta Impressions

Rise of the Godslayer, the first AOC expansion, will be released on May 11, 2010.  It will feature an Asian-themed continent for players to explore, more dungeons to plunder, NPC factions to align yourself with, faction armor sets, new mounts, and the addition of an Alternative Advancement system similar to that of EQ 1 & 2.  As I said, this all couldn’t come at a better time for AOC.  I am a little jealous actually, as I would love to see Warhammer benefit from the exposure an expansion would bring.

I have had my troubles with Funcom in the past (haven’t we all), but I am sort of curious to check out this expansion on the side and see how the new content holds up.  This might all mean that my little trip back to Star Wars Galaxies could be put on hold.  But that is the difficulty we all face…so many games to play and so little time to play them all in.