The server was a good idea but in classic Funcom m.o., It was poorly executed with little to no forethought going in to it as to how everything would be handled throughout each level bracket, plus the lack of anticipation of backlash to implementing pay to win system the way they have.
The lack of level bracket specific gear sets that aren’t store purchasable for example. And therein lies the irony. How do you make a purist pvp server and give everyone the same gear to compete in without making them grind 6 mans? You sell it to them or give it to them for free.
What is everyone going to do once the cap raises to 40? They’ll be farming sanctum nonstop just to get decent gear and what’s the whole point of this server then? It’s a waste of time. If We wanted to farm 6 mans we’d just stay on Crom.
The whole point of this server was to hop on and just do pvp nonstop. Not 6 mans or epic white sands!! I don’t mind ponying up a few bucks to avoid having to pve for the sake of pvp.
Pay to win? I prefer that over pve to win. I’ve said it many times, 5 bucks is a measly paltry sum. If you can afford a gaming computer then you can afford 5 dollars!
Now the server is flat just like Fury and minigames aren’t even popping. It’s depressing.
Chalk it up to an exercise in failure. There’s no way the pvp saga was going to pull off the same success as the pve saga simply because the player dynamic changes when a pure pvp environment is introduced. Feelings of extreme butthurt are exacerbated and saltiness ensues.
The delicate snowflakes of AoC and the mmo genre in general aren’t/weren’t ready for a pvp saga any more than they were ready for age of conan pvp.
Also the total lack of new creative content is a poor sign. All sagas are just vanilla with exception of one quest coded in the game! I didnt even get how the last saga was somehow themed on zath. Other games introduce season specific items, that can only drop in the season which is much more encouraging… and I mean real items not a ugly vanity.
while I could agree, and I do to a certain extent,
I will say that minis are the only place where you have 6v6 fights… in open world there is never equal numbers, and some like it, some can’t stand it.
so I don’t think minis should have been disabled, but I TOTALLY agree that people need to break their habits of solo spamming minis (for a leaderboard without W/L ratio), and instead team up and find someone to gank and start something in daily zone or PvP festivals.
I’d say FC is also to blame for implementing a leaderboard with minis won only stat. totally useless and devastating stat (makes people spam minis instead of doing organized play in open world)
as for OPs question, was PvP saga a good idea? yes. but the implementation wasn’t great, and still is not implemented well with a leaderboard with stats that have very little meaning. But lets note that no gear bundles is definately the way to go, so that has helped.
Personally Im having quite fun questing for gear or doing black castle for gear to PvP with. just how I like AoC. Today had zerg vs. satetkas army, which was fun. Hope more guys that were turned off from the starting days and all the troubles that occured (crashes and servers offline) will come try it out again later.
Just fix the leaderboard with W/L stat and its a start! Also remove the legendary ring with lvl 80 stats from lowbie play.
At level 40 you can buy pvp small pieces and jewellery from the Armoury. Buy the unbound epics from Vanahiem on trader and you good to go. No need for any pve grind.
but now Im looking forward to lvl 70 minigames. it’s fun without AAs and without everyone critting every 3rd hit, along with crazy bursts. also CCs are way more effective, so it’s more about the joint effort and target focus, over individual plays. totally different pace minigames and people playing more together, which is good.
current progression is OK. people are just traumatized over 1st week still. maybe extend 40-bracket and 60-bracket into two weeks instead of just one.
have a feeling people are gonna miss the lowbie pace of the game once the server hits 80 and it’s all the same things that we had for years already.
Personally i think No storegear is a good thing as it doesnt make the new players completely gimped if they dont drop money.
Also, open world gives people something to do in the offtime (low population playtime) to do. I enjoy doing achievements and quests etc during those hours, and pvp during more active hours.
I don’t want to see any level bracket extension personally. A week is long enough.
Most of the players here are new and or returning players so they haven’t been experiencing it as much as you or i have.
In the pvp vendors. There is one in every hub city. The thing is there are still no armor or weapon sets for low levels, only a couple rings and necks so the pve grind is still a must sadly. Unless someone has info that says otherwise.
Basically there are items for pvp1 you can use at level 30 - 40 - 50 for now, probably they will add more. Those items are indeed bound, i don’t know if they will add some exotic items but i guess they will be bound too.
The real meaning of the topic, is that by capping the toons they did good so we can have fun with low level toons as well, and we will avoid to see rushers getting level 80 with pvp 10 items in few days, but by not capping the maps, the players went all around the maps and the number of PvP raids went down to the point that quite often there is nobody to fight with.
The concept of the server is sound, unfortunately the community not only is microscopic, but it’s also terrible for this type of game simply because generally 60%+ of an entire zones population is in the same raid at any given time, when 6 mans are roaming its because there are no other 6 mans in the zone. AoC shoulda died its final death in 2010 imo, seriously doubt it’ll retain any new or returning players from this. Again, aside from the blatant P2W boxes it’s the players not the game.