As the pre-launch hype machine for Age of Conan (AoC) has reached a fever pitch with Funcom’s PR working overtime to releasing beta keys and exclusive content to the media, would be players having pre-ordered AoC within weeks of the game launch are only now hearing of some disconcerting game mechanics – and they’re none too happy about it.
Keen from Keen & Graev’s blog first stirred the pot on this issue in response to the IGN article detailing PvP & Raiding in Age of Conan, as a follow-up to his excellent Gamespot PvP Weekend Coverage. Titled “AoC = Another Raiding Treadmill… #$%*” over 120 responses have piled up, a good portion strongly against Funcom’s direction on the implementation of WoW style raiding for incremental gear upgrades for ‘endgame’ play.
At the core of the issue is the impression gamers have had of Age of Conan’s billing as PvP centric game featuring some hard core elements, only to see quotes such as this:
If you want to get the best armor and weapons in Age of Conan, you’re going to have to raid, something you can’t actually engage in until you hit level 80. There’ll still be dungeons that players can band together and delve into before the cap, but for large-scale, 24-player encounters against enormous bosses that require highly coordinated attack patterns to defeat, you’ll have to wait until the end game.
A last minute announcement such as this is a slap in the face for many would be players looking to jump ship from WoW’s hardcore raiding mechanics, and eSport Arena ladder play. It’s simply unheard of in game design to tie PvE Raid rewards with gear for an entirely different playstyle such as PvP.
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