Ive played AoC since mid way through open beta and was early enough to get into the early access group before release so have been playing for a few months now.
The pc version is still nowwhere near what I would call at a good release version...... steadily getting better? Yes. But now they are going to take resources away from fixing all the crap that's still missing and stuff thats in game but so utterly craptacular and in dire need of a fix....... and work on making the game console friendly?
So now they'll have 2 target audiences with mediocre results?
FFS!!
If thats not the worst tell-tale sign of trying to make a buck I dont know what is.
For all you consolers out there..... IF they do try to push this crap out DO NOT buy it. Make them publish a demo that includes access to the full game (not just the single player instance that you start the game in). The open single player instance and the starting "newb" city is tight..... if the whole game were like these 2 areas it would be very good for an initial release client. But as soon as you leave the starting city thats where things start down hill.
What a load of crap.... I have been trying to give these guys a chance and work through issues but seeing this just takes the cake. They need to be focusing on getting the game right to begin with........ then when they have a game that everyone cant get enough of... THEN focus on pushing it out to other platforms.
Games only been out a few weeks and already A LOT of people are putting this game on the shelf for a few months and see how it improves. Some of my long term guild members who have been in many games together have dropped it altogether saying that it's not even worth their time. Im really darn close to doing the same thing...... No tolerance in paying someone to beta test their program anymore.
If companies were smart... their open betas would be just that..... FULL open. Make the game Free for the first 1-2 months work out most of the critical issues every MMO seems to have when they start..... then shut the servers down for a month to do the fixes...... then full blown release. All this stupid headstart and limited open beta crap is just a marketing scam to pull people in.
Im not a long term console person but Ive had it long enough to witness the release of some pretty damn good games.... Assassin's Creed, Forza 2, Orange Box, CoD4..... In my mind console game companies do a much better job releasing a final product than PC MMO companies and even PC RPG companies do. Yes the console games sometimes have issues but they are usually pretty tight come the first few weeks after release.
I think the PC MMO problem is mainly due to the fact that so many people feed into the monster....... if the gaming community would just stop and say "this is unacceptable and im no longer going to pay for this crap" things would change really fast.
Come to think about it..... why dont any of the gaming review articles or mags ask the tough questions like "Are you guys going to release an unfinished product and let the following 6 months flesh out your beta testing like every other MMO has done over the past 10 years?" "What are you doing differently to ensure when your product is released you have a game that is 90% done?"