So I was browsing through Shacknews and came across this interesting and worrying article [LINK] detailing that Funcom's MMO Age of Conan has had its subscriber levels drop to around 100,000 or less. And this comes not long after Funcom shut down a number of servers for the game and merged the playerbases into a small number of servers [LINK].

I started playing AoC from launch onwards until about late September when I finally packed it in because the level of support for the game was just not up to scratch. Every update broke more than it fixed and for a game that was released with a lot of technical and gameplay issues that required a monthly fee to play and suffer through, it seemed like an utter waste of money.

This recent news is a little worrying, I can't help but think it won't be long until we see Age of Conan go the way of Tabula Rasa and Hellgate London. A pity since the concept of Hyboria and all the deep Conan lore in the game was fun and it brought a mature feel to what is usually a very child friendly genre of video games. But this news also emphasises the point of not rushing the release of a game and for an MMO you need to provide a decent standard of quality in both community and game support. Funcom did neither of these things with AoC.

Anyone who bought the game at launch still continued to play it longer than I did? Care to share how the experience has been over that time? I got my Guardian to the late 70's and my Necro to 80 and found the nickname 'Age of Casters' to be quite fitting. Terrible class balance issues are what really made me throw the towel in. So whats everyone elses opinion on this?

Ouch. MMOs are definitely risky business.

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I'm just mad I can't return it and get my money back.  It's too bad the game is failing, but it's no surprise to see another non-innovative MMO bite the dust.

"I'm just mad I can't return it and get my money back.  It's too bad the game is failing, but it's no surprise to see another non-innovative MMO bite the dust.
"

They rushed the game, thats what they get, the game was complete shit when it was released and I won`t give it another chance even though I would like to.

End Game Content = $$$$

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"I'm just mad I can't return it and get my money back.  It's too bad the game is failing, but it's no surprise to see another non-innovative MMO bite the dust.
"

"non innovative?  I think the idea they had was great, the combat was amazing and different.  In my opinion, AoC was completely innovative.  It's just unfortunate it only ran on high end computers, and the post  level 20 stuff was uncomplete, or maybe it just needed more work for end game.  Anything past lvl 20 was boring.  But as far as being innovative, their combat system idea was ahead of the times."

It's always sad when an MMO closes, but to be honest I thought this would happen way back when they just announced the game, the premise didn't sound too great and the company that made it didn't seem that capable.

A shame. A MMO game using the rich world of the Conan should have been awesome. I am sad that they didnt pull it off, but glad at the same time thatr I didnt buy into a broken and failing product.

"DOUBLESHOCK said:

"I'm just mad I can't return it and get my money back.  It's too bad the game is failing, but it's no surprise to see another non-innovative MMO bite the dust.
"

non innovative?  I think the idea they had was great, the combat was amazing and different.  In my opinion, AoC was completely innovative.  It's just unfortunate it only ran on high end computers, and the post  level 20 stuff was uncomplete, or maybe it just needed more work for end game.  Anything past lvl 20 was boring.  But as far as being innovative, their combat system idea was ahead of the times."

"01001000 01100001 01101101 01111010 00100000 01110100 01101000 01101001 01110011 00100000 01101001 01110011 00100000 01101101 01111001 00100000 01101100 01100001 01101110 01100111 01110101 01100001 01100111 01100101 00100000 01101111 01100110 00100000 01101100 01101111 01110110 01100101 00100000 01001001 00100000 01101100 01101111 01110110 01100101 00100000 01111001 01101111 0111010"

"Hamz this is my language of love I love yo:"

at this rate, the amount of GB subscribers will match Age of Conan within a year and a half......

You don't need end game content though when you can run around topless and kicking people off ledges with horses. What else can a dude ask for?

Someone needs to make an MMO that isn't all fantasy-based or future-based. If someone made a quality MMO that took place in the old west, I would play it like no other.

"Someone needs to make an MMO that isn't all fantasy-based or future-based. If someone made a quality MMO that took place in the old west, I would play it like no other."

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Surprised no ones said this yet but, At least its, OVER NINE THOUSANNNNNDDDD!!!!