The Conan Game I Really Want to Play

[kentbrockman]

In my perfect world I would love to play a wow clone with Conan lore but I know that can't happen because it would cannibalize aoc subs. Funcom also seems to shy away from imitating anything Blizzard does in its mmo perhaps out of fear of litigation. But I still have a feint hope that someday when we all use VR goggles for games and aoc population has dwindled to a point of barely being self sustaining, that Funcom might write an AOC 2.0 mmo that is done right from the outset with code maintenance and expandability in mind. Hell, why not do that plus incorporate a Second Life type of economy where Funcom sells rights to run in-game storefronts for everything from customized armor and weapons to contracted mercenaries, to private rooms for exotic dancing and chat. AOC 2.0 could even retain the same quests, just convert the dialogue into spoken lines so it is similar to swtor. But be smart and use semi-realistic computer generated voices so you can make changes cheaply and easily later. And for God's sake make it transition smoothly from one zone to the next. Those instanced playfields you use are so clunky. It makes it feel like I'm playing one of those graphic adventure games from the early 90's. Look at me everybody, I'm Leisure Suit Conan in the Land of the Lounge Lizards! And some of the skeletal models could be pulled into an updated 2.0 game but a number of them look horrible. I can forgive a purely fictional creature looking like crap but not wolves. Bring a german shepherd dog in from home and have it stand in a 3d scanner to replace that model with the scan of a real animal. I chuckled a little when Joel said 'Age of Conan did an amazing job of capturing the essence of the Hyborian Age' but then realized he was right, but *only* with respect to the lore. The game play and the interface was barely par for the course in 2008 and has never been significantly upgraded. But yes, the lore, the environment, the dialogue feels mostly true to Howard's 1930's pulp fiction. That's good. Yes, a VR wow clone with mostly canon Conan lore would become my home for the next decade. Just replace the stupid crap like pet battles with in-game gambling and dens of iniquity (restricted access by age verification) and I'm there! Allow me to hire other players as sellswords for pvp missions with a peer rated reputation system and I'm there! Funcom always seems to want to be first to come up with some creative new system of combat or assigning character stats but sometimes it's better to just improve on a system that is proven and accepted. I am thinking of your Viking ancestors who discovered North America in the 10th century then sat on their hands for 500 years till the Spanish, French, and English decided to move in. Coming up with creative new systems is cool but very hit and miss, and every piece of them must work well or it ruins the whole experience. It's like biting into a shiny red apple and discovering that you just ate half a worm. And for Conan Exiles and every other game you may ever write, don't stop development just because the game is released. When swtor came out it was a buggy pile of poop. They lost about half their subscriptions after 60 days. But they listened to the complaints and kept up a brisk release schedule of patches and 12 months later it was pretty good. 18 months after release it was very nice. Do that. Expect to continue developing 18 months after release just to get it to the state where it should have been at release. Budget for it. Plan for it. Good luck. The more of a success it is I hope will mean better revenue at FunCom and therefore more of a chance of seeing the game I really want to play actually get developed. (By the way did I mention I would love to play a wow clone with Conan lore?)

[White, the Loiterer]

To those that fear to scale the wall of text:

The OP wants a VR World of Warcraft clone but set in the Conan lore.

Also the OP seems unaware that it will begin in Early Access, or they assume there is a good chance it will be abandoned immediately.

Also they throw in some philosophical stuff about vikings colonizing North America (which actually didn't work out for them, they eventually left)

[VhagarTheLastOne]

If they survive from this, Funcom should do Conan Skyrim Clone instead, or Witcher clone, MMORPG is dead end, SWTOR and ESO under-performanced so badly its not even funny and I cant say any old-school MMORPG developers what arent almost dead. Ive a bad feeling CE came too late, Im sure ARK2 is already in production, but it doesnt mean they cant turn profit with this before it, like 50 mill profit with CE and they are back in the business. They must focus on single playing multiple platform games after this, if this doesnt make enough money, Diablo or Path of Exiles is the way to go or CE2.

[Jens Erik (Community Manager)]

Originalmente postado por kentbrockman:

*snip*

I gotta say, kentbrockman, your Conan VR MMO sounds like a pretty awesome game. I know I'd play it. :D At the moment that's not the game we're making, but I think you'll like Conan Exiles as well. Keep in mind that it's not an MMO, though, it's a surival game like ARK or Rust, but set in the Conan universe.

We're releasing in Early Access in January, so we will obviously be supporting the game as more and more stuff is added to it in the following months. Feedback from the players will be incredibly important once we launch the Early Access build. :)

[Gabriel]

I prefer a Sandbox mmo like Star Wars galaxies

[Wraith99]

There is a reason why SWTOR and ESO failed. They tried to copy WoW. That is the very LAST thing any developer should be doing. Even WoW is bleeding subs at the moment, and has been for years. Sure, there is a surge every time a new expansion launches, but three months later and the subs are lower than before and sinking.

The fact is that people are sick of WoW and its way of doing things. And trying to compete with them on content alone is a lost cause. I've always admired Funcoms decision NOT to follow in anyone else's footsteps. AoC and TSW are very unique entries in the MMO genre, both in terms of content and mechanics. It's exactly that kind of out-of-the-box thinking that will lead to the "next" WoW.

And i don't think you need to worry about them dropping CE shortly after launch. Last i checked Anarchy Online was still active.

[MassivelyIndie]

Originalmente postado por Wraith99:

There is a reason why SWTOR and ESO failed. They tried to copy WoW. That is the very LAST thing any developer should be doing. Even WoW is bleeding subs at the moment, and has been for years. Sure, there is a surge every time a new expansion launches, but three months later and the subs are lower than before and sinking.

The fact is that people are sick of WoW and its way of doing things. And trying to compete with them on content alone is a lost cause. I've always admired Funcoms decision NOT to follow in anyone else's footsteps. AoC and TSW are very unique entries in the MMO genre, both in terms of content and mechanics. It's exactly that kind of out-of-the-box thinking that will lead to the "next" WoW.

And i don't think you need to worry about them dropping CE shortly after launch. Last i checked Anarchy Online was still active. :spazwinky:

Dude, ESO has not failed. Its thriving and only getting better.

Wow is still very much King and will be until THEY finally pull the plug.

[Wraith99]

Originalmente postado por Cal Varrus:

Dude, ESO has not failed. Its thriving and only getting better.

Wow is still very much King and will be until THEY finally pull the plug.

ESO switched from a subscription based model to a B2P model within a year of release. The reason was that they failed to get the required number of subscribers to maintain it. Why did they fail? Because it wasn't different enough from what people were already getting from WoW. It seems a lot of these MMORPG developers fail to realize that if you're going to throw your hat into the ring, you better damn well bring something new to the table.

As for WoW, you are absolutely right. It is the king of MMORPGs, but to assume that it will always be the king is unrealistic. They went from 12 million subscribers in 2010 to 5.5 million in 2015. They are losing roughly a million subs every year. Which is my point. If the king can't generate enough interest to maintain its sub base, why would anyone want to copy it?

[MassivelyIndie]

Originalmente postado por Wraith99:

Originalmente postado por Cal Varrus:

Dude, ESO has not failed. Its thriving and only getting better.

Wow is still very much King and will be until THEY finally pull the plug.

ESO switched from a subscription based model to a B2P model within a year of release. The reason was that they failed to get the required number of subscribers to maintain it. Why did they fail? Because it wasn't different enough from what people were already getting from WoW. It seems a lot of these MMORPG developers fail to realize that if you're going to throw your hat into the ring, you better damn well bring something new to the table.

As for WoW, you are absolutely right. It is the king of MMORPGs, but to assume that it will always be the king is unrealistic. They went from 12 million subscribers in 2010 to 5.5 million in 2015. They are losing roughly a million subs every year. Which is my point. If the king can't generate enough interest to maintain its sub base, why would anyone want to copy it?

haha it hasn't failed. lol

Switching payment models is not failing its called adapting which they have done successfully. 2015 mmorpg of the year, increase to 7 million users speaks for itself.

[Gabriel]

We dont care if the failed or not we only care if its not a wow clone and it inovates

[VhagarTheLastOne]

ESO was quite innovative, but in the heart it was still themepark, that was its problem, imho. ES series is open world series, why ESO was themepark, what I find odd, after 15+ year of making open world games then Themepark thats just mind blowing, everything what was fun about Skyrim/ES games was gone. Im taking break from ESO, I go back when they add Housing or I might go back when they add Dungeon DLC, after 2 year long break sounds like a great idea.

[VhagarTheLastOne]

Originalmente postado por WarlordOfRome:

Originalmente postado por Superman:

ESO was quite innovative, but in the heart it was still themepark, that was its problem, imho. ES series is open world series, why ESO was themepark, what I find odd, after 15+ year of making open world games then Themepark thats just mind blowing, everything what was fun about Skyrim/ES games was gone. Im taking break from ESO, I go back when they add Housing or I might go back when they add Dungeon DLC, after 2 year long break sounds like a great idea.

I should point out that Bethesda did not make ESO, Zenimax did.

I know very well, I believe ESO could have been GTA5 kind of success, but thats what you get when you let amateurs do your product.

[Isostran]

Want!