Level 10 (almost) – More Impressions
stargrace 
On the advice of a few comments from my previous post about initial AoC impressions, I decided to remake a character on the Rp-PvP server (thanks for the suggestion) and I also remade as a Stygian Herald of Xotli. I love helpful comments where the people commenting don’t rip into me for not instantly loving their game but offer me useful and helpful suggestions that may make the game (or trial of it) a little more enjoyable if I’m on the fence. Everyone has their opinion, and everyone is entitled to it – but if you’re going to act rude and insult me as a gamer for having a different opinion and play style, it’s the wrong way to get me playing a game. As a side note, telling me what sort of gamer I am and judging me based on this web site is also the wrong way to go about things. This site is a small glimpse into my play style, thoughts, and opinions. There’s plenty more that doesn’t get mentioned here or that you simply don’t see unless you’re gaming beside me. Sorry for the rant!
Onward!
The beginning was much the same. Find myself on a beach, free a maiden (if she can be called that) dangling from some bonds, lead her to Tortage and then speak with Turach to free myself of my bonds. Head to the Thirsty Dog, and begin the quest line there. Off for a boat ride to an island after speak with some npc and meander around slaying crocodiles and panthers while I search for another npc. The story is quite interesting – or at least it was once I got past the parts that I’d already played through with the first character.
I do enjoy the combat – but I’m also used to 7 years of playing a caster or healer. That’s not to say I don’t enjoy melee combat on some small level but it’s certainly not my favorite. The way AoC combat swivels (I’m unsure of how else to describe it) is great. I also LOVE the music. It’s scary and as the snow falls outside today and it’s dark and dreary, I felt immersed in the game. It was nice to hear new music, that I hadn’t already heard before.
The Herald of Xotli is interesting, it can take on the form of creatures and gets some spells along with melee, which suits me just fine. One bug with this class (and it’s a small bug but it’s one none the less) that bothers me every time is that as you shift from your monster form (which only lasts a number of seconds) back to your regular form – your character goes bald.
Now, I know this is just a graphic glitch and each time you enter or leave an instance it fixes itself (until you use your monster form again) and I apologize if it’s silly – but – I don’t enjoy being a bald character.
I continued to work through the quest line – and noticed that trial accounts are indeed flagged with one channel. I think this was a poor option, how am I able to judge what a server is like if I can’t even see regular conversation. Instead we have a trial channel – and of course the main discussion for the majority of the day was WoW vs. AoC. It (understandably) went downhill from there.
Eventually, I managed to level most of the way to 10 – after becoming a minion subject of Mithrelle and bringing her some eyeballs, a lotus flower, and a trinket to prove myself and then heading to another instance to deal with a slave trader. The zones look very nice, I still haven’t gotten the grasp of climbing yet, but that will come. I only had one quest left and my quest was flagged as level 10. It told me to visit a trainer. Except I wasn’t level 10 yet. I figured, no problem. I’ll go back to the lava instance and kill some things there to gain the last 25% or so I needed. Except since I wasn’t on the quest, the instance wasn’t an option. Nor was the boat that headed to the island near the beginning. The only creatures I could find were level 5 and barely granted me any experience at all. A few panthers, some scorpion, a few men who dotted the hill side. I must be missing something to get that final level. I figured it was as good a place as any to stop for now, so that’s where I stand.
I’m not a blood and guts type of gal. I do enjoy PvP, I do enjoy questing, and yes all those little sides that AoC doesn’t provide (or doesn’t provide right now – ie: crafting) typically make or break a game for me – simply because I have the time to play and devote to all of these other little facets. Much like WAR when I played, I don’t want to spend all of my time doing one thing. I don’t want to just pvp all of the time or just quest all of the time (typically they are linked on a pvp server). This is why the games I do play end up holding me. It’s the option of other things for me to do in game – and not just what someone else thinks I should do, but what I personally feel like doing which is never the same as what everyone else wants to do and that’s a GOOD thing because diversity in games and gaming style help make games what they are today.
That’s right, I said it. I don’t like the same games as other people and they don’t like the same games I like, and THAT IS OK! It doesn’t make them bad people, or me. It simply makes us different. I wish more people would stop trying to argue why they think their game rocks and other games suck – when some times all it comes down to is a simple matter of opinion and no wrong or right answer.
I still have a few more days on my trial, and I do plan on playing more. I don’t hate the game, I don’t even dislike it. To take the quote of Dlanger in his comments:
” If you’re looking for something innovative and different, you won’t find it in AoC. But if you enjoy the lore of Conan at all, or are interested in seeing new places and killing new beasts, then AoC provides plenty of that.”
It won’t draw me away from the games I’m playing as my ‘main’ games (EQ2 / LotRO) but it certainly is fun to give it a try and see first hand what others are talking about.