I’m leaving ESO and coming to play AOC. I only played the game when it was first released. I actually loved it then, but all my friends went to something else and I ended up going too.
I don’t mind playing alone, but I’m also interested in playing with others. Are there still low level players to be found?
I’ve heard this game isn’t friendly to brand new players (because basically that’s what I am). Is that true? Will I have a problem leveling or doing content alone or otherwise? I’m patient and in no rush to reach the destination (highest level), so its about the journey for me.
Im a new player myself, started in March i believe, i see a lot of low level players. I got to level 80 and was able to find groups for most of the dungeons that i had quests for. From what i saw the only real problem us new players will have is to do The Purist achivement, but i have a feeling once Saga server will merge with Crom than i think we will be able to do it, but it it will take a lot of time. I don’t think you will have problems with your journey to 80 especially if you join a big and helpful guild. Even on Saga where people now just rush to finish Saga quests you can still see in NPH chat people gathering groups for dungeons for fun or quests or achivements, a few days ago i even saw someone gathering a group for a Purist Run if you can believe that.
The problem now is that new players on Saga server rush to 80 just like 80’s rush to finish the raid bosses for the quest, once the merge happens, low levels will take their time to quest and 80’s will have time to help low levels with dungeons and quests. So if you can’t find help now with your journey understand that people’s minds are set towards Saga of Zath rewards which ends on 15 of May.
All in all i think we new players won’t have any problems leveling and doing content when the merge happens, even if we won’t be able to complete The Purist achivement that’s not a tragedy, it’s one achivement among hundreds. By the way, i have no idea who told you that this game is not friendly towards brand new players, but i think he’s wrong, i found help both in my guild and in NPH chat for most of the problems i had.
Glad to see more new players coming to check out this game. It’s my favorite mmo I’ve ever played. The notion that all veterans aren’t helpful is false. There are alot of great players that spend a majority of their time doing just that.
I can’t speak to the PvP side of things but where some might get the impression that the community isn’t helpful is when it comes to the challenging end game content, the hard mode dungeons and high end raids. In most pug groups they expect all players to be experienced playing their class and have an appropriate level of gear for that content. The dungeons and raids in AOC are a little different than some other MMOs. There is more of an emphasis on player skill and less on gear. While gear really helps make things easier it doesn’t matter if a player doesn’t know how to use their class. So don’t expect to get to max level and then just hop into the most challenging content. You’ll have to gear up and level up your AAs after you hit max level. This isn’t one of those games where you need to have the gear from a particular place before people will let you to do that said place with them. I’ve seen that alot in other MMOs and it drives me mad. But this game has lots of different levels of gear and you’ll need to progress your way up.
So my tips would be to look at the old forums for class advise or ask questions here or in-game chat. Learn to play your class as you level up and don’t do over level and go back to do easier quests to level all the way to 80, which is Max level. If your always alot higher level than the enemies while questing then the game will be too easy and you won’t be forced to learn your class. Also you should try joining a guild and since you are a new player I’d recommend a smaller guild that will be helpful. If a guild ninja invites you without any questions then don’t join. Chances are they do that to everyone and there will be so many people in that guild you’ll get lost and it won’t help you.
Leveling alone is no problem at all, you can play the game like a single player game to level 80 (and a little bit beyond that) if you want to but since AoC is a MMORPG the main focus lies on doing group content, especially on level 80 where you will have the biggest variety of dungeons to choose from.
Joining a guild might be the most useful thing you can do since there is a lot to explain, not only for the mechanics of the game itself (like where to travel to other areas, how to pick talents and so on, daily challanges) but also for the classes, the faction choices on level 80 and the mechanics in the dungeons and raids itself. Obviously, you should join a “beginner-friendly” guild, not one of the “elite” guilds that only do hardcore raiding but there are far more beginner-friendly around so you can easily choose one you like.
I would just suggest you to try the game since you don’t want to rush to level 80, play a few classes to level ~40 since on the lower level they play very similar or just stay with the one you chose if it’s fun. All classes are equally needed on level 80, especially since class stacking is no problem and other people can probably switch to something that is needed.