It seems that the walls of World of Warcraft are impenetrable as yet another hyped MMO is broken against them, I’m of course speaking of Age of Conan. Age of Conan was probably the most hyped MMO in the last few years and while the hype helped AoC to break sales records, it didn’t last long. Age of Conan became the fasted selling MMO of all time, shipping 1 million units by June and Funcom stated it had 700,000 accounts by June 30th.
While off to a good start in terms of sales, the game itself did not start off so well. Across any MMO gaming site you’ll read about player complaints and gamers leaving AoC due to the many issues. While Funcom has not released any figures since June 30th, it is rumored that about 1/2 of the player base has left the game. Blizzard CEO Mike Morhaime also recently mentioned that “40% of the World of Warcraft subscribers that left for Age of Conan have since returned“.
Although the walls of WOW still stand strong, like all great world powers they must eventually fall. In an article at GamePlayer.com.au, they write about the recent “Recruit-a-Friend” campaign as a sign that subscription numbers are falling and Blizzard is looking for ways to bolster them until the release of Wrath of the Lich King. I myself made a prediction back in May stating that WoW would reach its peak this summer and then start to decline.
It seems that with every new big MMO, WoW is slowly starting to feel the pinch. With Warhammer Online on the horizon and a few other MMOs (Huxley, The Chronicles of Spellborn) before the years end, can WoW continue it’s growth? I’m sticking with my earlier statment and say no, it can’t.
Also, this article is not to say that AoC is a failure, I’m merely stating that AoC did not live up to the hype and is little to no threat to the WoW empire.
Yea i must admit.. ive played AoC too.. Too bad they have so much bugs and problems..
It wasn’t ever supposed to be a ‘WoW killer’. Even the devs mentioned that in interviews, several times. It’s the players themselves who dubbed AoC as the next ‘WoW killer’.
AoC definately wasn’t the most hyped MMO. That title firmly rests in WARs hands.
Secondly AoC did lose almost half of their potential subscribers. It’s not a rumor. They said as much in their Q2 report to investors which has been talked about in many messageboards and other news sources.
Andrew: But WE the players make these things true. if we say it is a WoW killer, then it is and the Dev team should plan on making the best game they could.
Instead, they pooped out some badly planned game, scooped it into their hands and shoved it in their loyal gamer’s faces. I beta tested and played their game and sunk easily $350+ into their game, plus a new rig ( though, I prob would have gotten it anyways) and they screwed us.
This was not the hailing of the PvP game.
There is no item loss on death.
What the HECK is the point of PvPing, if the person you beat doesn’t lose anything? prestige… BLEH. F-that.
People don’t play games for shiney new items for long. They play because they are playing against other humans and want that competition, but competition for competition’s sake is not fun.
When I know the guy I played loses an item or loses xp or loses stats for an hour or something, I know I won something tangible and I know if he challenges me to a re-match 100 times, then I still gain something 100 times.
human interaction requires an understanding of social dynamics. Something Funcom failed at miserably.
Even if WoW were too lose 1 million or 2 of players big deal
they still have a huge subcription base to keep them going.
After the merger of Activision and Vendi U the pressure
has been put on Blizzard to boost subscriptions to as high as they can
get them. It’s just good business.
I left AoC after 2 months of bitter complaining falling on death ears. This is the most pathetic game to date based on all the hype that FunCom couldn’t live up to. I’m glad they’re sinking in active accounts and bet they would never tell the world the truth about how badly they’re hurting in active accounts.
I played the warhammer beta yesterday, let me tell you it is for real.
With only half the classes in at the moment It is PVP friendly and most importantly SOLO friendly, and you can level from
PVP XP.. which also makes a would be twinks life SHORT.
Pluses so far.
IF you go to a BG on the way to somewhere else, you drop back where you started.
NO stunlock mechanic… none.
Attacked from behind you still attack as normal.
Running through mobs and players.. not happening.. nope.
Solo killing 3 or more players, not unless your GREAT.
Healers.. get one.
you can join a BG at ANY time from level one, you are leveled to the next highest bracket when you join.. with a noticible lack in talents and skills.. but since you can level in BGs why not just be a meat shield for a bit eh?
Dwarves look GOOD.
Goblins look BETTER.
Tom Chilton does not work there.
I threw 59$ at funcom and picked up a copy of AoC.. It was fun for about 2 days, then I finished my class quest thingy and went exploring the real world.. it was painfully boring not having any friends to party with.. and pretty much going from dungeon to dungeon doing the same thing over and over again is kind of irretating… dont buy this game
There can never be a game that kills WOW. That game is too childish and easy to play , that’s why it has that amount of ppl playing it. New games that are coming out have new and more “difficult” ways to play them.
So basically what you need to kill WOW is a game with nice graphics, good story and easy interface and gameplay.
And If all those ppl that say AOC is not a good game, go play it. That game is 10x better than WoW but is harder to play. Also There is AION coming out which is a lot better than WoW but has the same problem. Not an easy game that a 9 year old kid can play.
I played WoW for a long time and can’t say it’s a bad game. It’s just too easy and ones you start trying other MMO’s you realise how much time you have wasted in a game full of carebears and kids.
Ive played WoW for 2years and for my birthday i got AoC, and i must say if my graaphics card and ram was better a wouldnt go back to WoW.
It’s more realistic than WoW and WoW seems a bit disney compared to this.
You can solo play and multiplayer play and the fatalities in AoC make it even better.
So I would advise all those who say AoC isn’t aqs good as WoW to get a free trial and try it.
It will blow your socks off!!!
Just to Clarify all AOC is a must play. It isnt the stunning visuals neither is it the combat system that would keep you but it is the comunity itself. a 18+ game makes the quality of gameplay so much better as you dont have a 12yo trying to explain to you how to down a T1 boss.
It is brilliantly laid out with its quest lines and soon there will be a expansion due this year with new areas a new race and loads of content.
The PVP is brilliant as you do not loose items wen you die but you gain a amount of xp and with each PVP lvl you gain better gear for pvp you can obtain.
Yes as every MMO at the beginning there were bugs and problems but it has almost been 2 years now and the game has improved alot since then.
So im not saying this is a WOW killer but a slight improvement in comunity.
So do yourself a favour give it a try and treat yourself to a new expierience in the world of MMO’s