Broken gameplay compounded with more broken patches made Age of Conan the biggest waste of potential ever seen in an MMO
I'm not the first to say it. Almost every review, even the bad, GLOWS about the potential this game had for them.
For good reason, too. The first twenty levels envelops you in an MMO world that FEELS different. From the prostitutes, to the dark ritualistic magic, the engaging environments, the absorbing and almost disturbingly vicious combat...Age of Conan showed a glimpse of a well conceived and fully realized MMO world more absorbing and convincing than any other I had ever played before.
Then, the first 20 levels gone, you go out in the big game world, only to find that everything takes a turn for downhill very fast.
First, you notice the voice acting all but dissapears. Which is not THAT big a deal, except it loosens up your connection to the game world. Then you go out on a quest and realize it can't be finished. Well, whatever...I mean, every game has a glitch or two...no biggie. Then your map greys out. Then you go into an instance, and fight the first of many very buggy, poorly tuned encounters. Then the already poor crafting system gets obliterated in the name of boosting a poorly implimented PvP system.
I could go on...easily...but eventually, there's a point where every player in this game hits their "ENOUGH!" point, and just cancels.
I canceled my account after 1 month of absolute joy, and three more of sheer frustration. The broken content remains largely unaddressed. Many raid and group encounters reamin poorly tuned, and full of illusion breaking bugs that can ruin an evening's experience.
And, I look back, and think "what a waste." I mean, this game had bucketloads of potential. The class mechanics are fantastic. Never before have I played a game and grown so attached to a character. But poor class itemization and even worse content implimentation took the wind out of the sails after a while. Raid content is broken. Class itemization is in need of a serious overhaul, and crafting is a complete waste of time.
The world, however, was wonderful, even when these things frustrated me, and kept me playing, praying and hoping that these issues would somehow become as well thought out as the world in time. Well, time passed, the buggy content and piss poor itemization remained, the server populations declined, and eventually I left, having so little to do, while so much of it remained broken.
There is alot compellig about this game. I'll never forget my first 40 levels playing it. The first dungeon (Sanctum) still remains one of the most darkly atmospheric landscapes I have ever trudged through. The combat will live on in my memory, not only for it's skill in execution, but in it's fittingly violent implimentation. I have never played a game where combat was so deeply enjoyable and personally rewarding.
And, I have never played a game where so much that was good about it was counterbalanced with even more that was bad about it. What suprises me still, to this day, is that what was bad, remains bad, yet they simplified combat, which to me, was the only thing this game did absolutely right in the first place. It amazes me that so much content so critical to personal and multiplayer progression remains broken, while other things get changed for the worse that kept people playing through their frustration.
A little more attention, and a more solid commitment to quality control would have helped this game immensely. Sadly, quality control took a backseat to a dev team more interested in making "changes", rather that just fixing the game that didn't work out of the box, and still remains broken, and what wasn't, is on it's way to be.
This game, for me and many others, will live on in our memories as one of the largest dissapointements in recent gaming memory. And, it's not because it's the worst game ever, because it certainly is not.
But never have I played a game that began with the promise of being one of the greatest games I would ever play, only to watch unattended glitches and poor implimentation of both current content and direction changes tear that promise completely apart.
Age of Conan had potential. It still has potential, and will always have potential. unfortunately, that potential is tied to a development team with little intention of ever backing that potential with the working content it, and the players who continue to play, deserved to have when the game was first released, and both still continue without.