Patch notes 6/12/08, official and unofficial

[Creole Ned]

You can read the patch notes for the June 12, 2008 update by clicking one of the links below.

Official patch notes (http://forums.ageofconan.com/showthread.php?t=72016)
Unofficial patch notes (http://forums.ageofconan.com/showthread.php?t=80048) (things that weren't in the notes but confirmed by players, not always 100% accurate, obviously)

And the winner for strangest patch change is:

Picts will no longer raise their eyebrows at people after having been killed by a fatality

[Tai]

darn, they should have left that in =/

[Circuit]

The 6/16 patch is live which, among other things, fixes stats that weren't working on items (strength, dexterity, intelligence and wisdom). I'm curious how much it's going to affect things. I'm also going to have to start paying attention to stats again instead of just going for the gear I think looks the neatest.

Nothing in the notes about the out-of-memory error, which concerns me.

[Creole Ned]

Don't those usually get lumped into "fixed more client crashes and errors"? Also, what is the one trivial fix they put in the notes for the rabid players to foam at the mouth over in that "WHY DO THEY SPEND TIME FIXING STUPID CRAP LIKE THIS INSTEAD OF [personal pet issue here]??? FUNCOM HATES THE PLAYERS!!" way?

[Circuit]

Well, there isn't even a mention of any "client crashes and errors" fixes.

[Tai]

Well, there isn't even a mention of any "client crashes and errors" fixes.

Might be this one: Fixed problem that would cause the resource manager to download the same resource again and again.

[Falhawk]

the last patch made the game run even worse for me, hopefully this one is better.

[Circuit]

Yeah, the patch that came out last Monday started giving me the out-of-memory crash almost once every time I play. Every single time I play, I get that "there was an error in your client..." message in the chat following a 10 second pause.

[Creole Ned]

June 23rd:

Official patch notes (http://forums.ageofconan.com/showthread.php?t=101439)
Undocumented patch notes (http://forums.ageofconan.com/showthread.php?t=101218)

Your rhino bag's slots have been doubled. Enjoy!

[Circuit]

Mammoth bag! :mad: :mad:

[Tai]

Looks like necros got a hell (haha) of a workover.

[Circuit]

The class forums on the official boards are hilarious. Every class is broken and over/underpowered and every change is bad. They should name every patch "The One That Didn't Fix What You Want".

[Falhawk]

i tried to play tonight, it crashed 3 times to desktop

oh well

[Circuit]

Seemed fine for me. The crashing seems to teeter back and forth between different groups of people each patch.

[Falhawk]

yeah maybe

the game's fun but just not enough to put up with paying for beta at this point. If I upgrade my PC in the future I might give it another shot. Then again WotLK will be out and perhaps warhammer

[Circuit]

Well, it was fun playing with you anyway!

[Falhawk]

tee hee

I just didn't see the point in playing a pvp game on a pve server

[Circuit]

That would make sense if the game didn't involve doing quests to level. Aside from the random, meaningless encounters on PvP servers, PvE servers are exactly the same. Siege combat might be neat, but you pretty much have to be in a large guild to take full advantage of that.

Don't get me wrong, it's cool if you enjoy the random killing, but this is no more a "PvP game" than WoW is.

[bridude]

Hopefully after my addition is complete Ill be back on some kind of normal play schedule

[Falhawk]

That would make sense if the game didn't involve doing quests to level. Aside from the random, meaningless encounters on PvP servers, PvE servers are exactly the same. Siege combat might be neat, but you pretty much have to be in a large guild to take full advantage of that.

Don't get me wrong, it's cool if you enjoy the random killing, but this is no more a "PvP game" than WoW is.

I disagree but that stems from the mindset going in. On the pvp servers the open pvp starts out as random ganking and moves towards more group battles similar to how shadowbane worked (or even DAoC's RvR). The other thing that really distances this PVP from WoW's "open" PVP is the fact that every class has a way to get out from campers etc. There are ways to avoid fights if you want or to get away from getting jumped. Sure you can get 1-shot by players much higher but then you can just change instances to avoid camps. They've also hinted at penalties for large level differences.

It also depends on who you play with I suppose. I was going with guys I played sb with so pvp was the goal. If you're playing with guys along for the pve ride you'd likely have a natural aversion to pvp. I view the game as a pvp slanted game, which it really is even if you choose to ignore that part, therefore I went towards the light.

Although I suppose I should expound on why I say its a pvp focused game. You're absolutely right you have to kill pve shit to level, but the levelling treadmill is much faster than other pve games. Most pve games want to ease you up the levelling treadmill to keep the content just ahead of you. Also most pve-centric games focus on item based character progression. WoW is a prime example. The game is all about gear really. You get gear from raids to progress to tougher raids to get gear etc. There are raids in AoC, but fewer than other games (even at launch). These raids are designed for larger guilds and do offer upgrades in gear. However player crafted gear is comperable or even better than what would drop here. It seems to be an add on to the main game. Siege warfare is the cornerstone of the end game. You can participate in siege warfare even if you aren't in a major guild as a mercenary. The game has so many different avenues for talent builds as well as skill point allocation that, combined with the excellent combat system, actual player skill can trump things like levels or gear etc. I mean a level 80 something will wtfpwn a level 20 guy, but a level 70 could kill a level 80 guy. Or two level 60s against the 80 etc. Team strategies come into play in a major way. In this regard it is very similar to Shadowbane, which is a pvp game.

[Harka]

I agree with Falhawks post.

And there is the added satisfaction of decapitating the fool who snuck up on you while you were fighting something and kills you.

[Creole Ned]

I'd agree that Conan's endgame (such as it is right now) is slanted more toward big PvP raids rather than big PvE raids and the PR has certainly played up that aspect of the game. But it's still fundamentally a PvE game. Unless they add pre-leveled characters, you'll need to run PvE to become viable for PvP. The faster leveling is beside the point -- most MMOs are moving or have moved toward fast leveling.

EDIT: To avoid a dumb semantics debate, I'll define what constitutes a PvE or PvP game to me. If you can pre-make a character at the level cap or if there is no significant PvE content, then it's a PvP game. If the game has a full PvE experience and requires you to engage in PvE to develop your character, then it's a PvE game, even if it has a strong PvP component. By my definition AoC is a PvE-focused game. That's just my take on it, though.

None of which has anything to do with patch notes, anyway. :P

[Circuit]

Fal, I wouldn't necessarily disagree with any of that and my intent is not to tell you what to enjoy. However, to say the PvE portion of the game is "pointless" just doesn't make any sense. It may not be your focus, but PvP in its current state in AoC is clearly not the only thing the game's got going on. PvP may be a strong part of what makes the game, but it by no means defines it as a "PvP game" simply because there's nothing there right now that sets it apart from other MMOs as such. Unless, of course, you go in with the mindset that PvP is your thing, then the game certainly doesn't discourage it.

But like I said, there are just really no meaningful mechanisms to promote PvP at the moment besides the newly added and largely unfinished Siege stuff, which doesn't even require a PvP server.

Either way, I'm sure in a few weeks it'll be just Ned and I left playing like always. :P