Jealous Yet?

Perusing the web I came across this story which made me think …

I don’t know that much about Age of Conan except that it had some hype swirling about it prior to its launch in May 2008. What it had going for itself was first, it was based on Conan and second, the graphics were top notch. From what I understand it had some issues soon after it went live … from a lack of content to slow performance to some other things. The game then lost subscribers resulting in the web predicting the game’s demise. Funny thing, no one told Funcom their game was dead and a little over a year after launch they announced their first expansion: Rise of the Godslayer. And now … less than a year since that announcement that expansion is being released.

I find it funny when a game doesn’t live up to expectations or it isn’t as successful as the pundits predict the “masses” turn ugly. I know that the game did have some real issues but reading along over time Funcom slowly fixed their game. I’ve read a lot of hate around AOC but mixed in amongst the troll-posts there are real fans telling their side. Reading those posts I smiled because I knew exactly where they were coming from. I could see how much they really loved their game and they stuck with it and enjoyed it for what it was, not what others thought it should be.

There’s a lot of variety out there for MMO gamers these days and one should root and cheer for them all to keep the lights on. I ask this rhetorically but why do people feel the need to shit on others’ MMO’s? AOC obviously has a nice playerbase or they wouldn’t be getting an expansion so soon after it launched. And I’m sure those players go through their days looking forward to getting home so they can login to play. Escaping the stresses of real life these players are happy to enter the Hyborian Kingdoms to level their toon … to hunt for lootz … to play with friends. For them, this is a slice of joy and something they look forward to. So again … why do people feel the need to shit on someone else’s joy especially when it’s merely a game?

Because they are dicks. Their joy outweighs yours and your game sucks because it didn’t meet their expectations.

If you’re reading this it’s because you either play Warhammer Online or are interested in it. Us WAR veterans have lived a similar tale as those from AOC. Granted, the hype levels were waaaaaay more for WAR than AOC but our game went through some similar doldrums. I’ve read here, there, and everywhere how crummy WAR was and how pathetic Mythic is for the game they released. I’ve read a ton of hypotheses for why the game “failed” and why it was no good. FAILHammer! Those same AOC trolls take similar pleasure in taking a crap on WAR whenever they can. The sad thing is … many of these trolls obviously haven’t played either game in a long, long time or never played at all. But they are experts nonetheless.

So I’m here to say to my AOC brothers and sisters I’m happy for you as your game’s first expansion is released. As you wait in anticipation for all the new shinies and content know that not everyone out there is readying a pile of dung to lob onto your joy. GRATZ!

Now let me ask my WAR brethren … are you jealous? We’ve walked that long, rough road ourselves for a game we look forward to playing, to escaping the stresses of everyday life. We’ve heard how awful our game is and how it failed. And sure, WAR definitely has had its issues. No one denies that. Mythic has worked hard to make right the wrongs of a hurried launch. Our player base dwindled and we heard how our game was dead. There have been some signs these past few months to give us hope and anticipation for “something” to renew our fervor for this game we love.

It’s been 19 months since launch … will we hear about our expansion?

/jealous