I really wanted “Age of Conan” to be good. Conan, as a story, has a special place in my heart. It’s more than a story; it’s a memory from my childhood. So I really wanted to like the game. I really did.
For the uninitiated, Conan is the name of the main protagonist in a series of stories written by a guy called Robert E. Howard. Howard was what could be called a pulp writer. He was friends with H.P. Lovecraft, and therefore their stories shared more than a few elements. As authors, both of them were rather mediocre. However they were both very competent world builders. As a result it is safe to say that today’s fantasy literature has its roots in two stories. “Lord of the Rings” and “Conan”.
We have a saying around here: “You don’t mess with a bear in its own lair.” In this example the bear would be “World of Warcraft” and the lair would be the MMORPG scene. Like it or not, “World of Warcraft” is a franchise transcending its own scene and identifying its own market. It’s not the name of a product; it’s the name of a series of products. The name “World of Warcraft” now stands for what we knew as MMORPG, much like “Gillette” stands for razorblades, or “Chicklets” stands for chewing gum. Much like “Atari” back then stood for arcade cabinets.
Blizzard pretty much set the rules for what an MMORPG shall be. For other companies producing a game like “World of Warcraft” and beating the sales of Blizzard is incredibly hard. On this table Blizzard holds all the cards and knows all the rules. They are the dealer, the house and the player. This is their town now. You cannot stride through the gates of that town and yell at people. You cannot make the next “World of Warcraft”, because people who’d play the next “World of Warcraft” are already playing this one. So unless Blizzard suddenly goes entirely stupid and shoots itself in the foot, it’s impossible to win a duel against them. So what is the solution?
As Miyagi-san of Karate Kid always said:“The best way to evade a punch is not being there at all.” The phenomenon called “Me Too” was always present in the gaming industry. If something succeeds countless games of the same ilk will follow. But just like there is no genre called RPG, there is also no genre called MMORPG. Any game with many players’ characters going around and getting experience points by killing stuff is called an MMORPG. Now that is a very broad definition isn’t it?
The solution is simple: Do something else. Broadly speaking MMORPG is a an umbrella of genres. So far there have been a few genres beneath it. There was the “Ultima Online” style games, the slow and hardcore “Everquest” like stuff and the new “City of Heroes” style games. “World of Warcraft” is a refinement of the latter. True to Blizzard fashion, they have not created something new. They have just taken something and refined it. This is what they do best.
I’m sad because “Age of Conan” seemed to be headed for the correct direction. Years prior to release the promised features were all pointing at an entirely new breed of MMORPG. It was going to feature Real Time Strategy-like features, a lengthy single player component, NPCs and mobs would have needs, desires and emotions, according to which they would move around the world, and attack or flee from players and/or other mobs. The quests would feature dialog trees instead of simple windows and there would be an ongoing storyline. What’s more the fighting system would be locations based. You’d be able to climb on top of large mobs, hack limbs off people. You’d start off as a Slave and earn classes on the way, evolving your character. Needless to say that many of these things didn’t happen.
So what was the problem? In short, the problem is the director.
As a rule of thumb in any project the director has to have a clear vision. It is always good to listen to feedback from other people, but if they want to change your project into something else, you should resist the urge. Here is an example:
About one year prior to release, the biggest problem in the community was the lack of free for all PvP. “Age of Conan” was supposed to be a controlled PvP game. PvP was only possible in certain areas or under certain circumstances. This, according to some members of the community, wasn’t realistic. Some considered an MMO would not be worth anything without the thrill of free for all PvP. Note that these people mostly hadn’t even played “Age of Conan” yet. They were comparing the game to the MMORPG’s as they knew. A few months later the team announced they would have servers with free for all PvP rules. Even today PvP in “Age of Conan” has no direction or no purpose. The game simply wasn’t designed for PvP.
“Age of Conan” started as something and half way through production it turned into something else. It was going to boldly go where no MMO had gone before. But during its journey, it got scared of itself and wanted to take the safe route, the safe route being the “World of Warcraft” route. Now it’s a little bit more than a “World of Warcraft” clone with incredibly good visuals and some gimmicks.
I wish they had spent the same time they spent on developing the combat system for developing an original system for spell casting too. I wish the dialog choices mattered somehow and the conversations were not simply glorified but less functional quest windows. I wish my character would evolve more evenly throughout the game. I wish I could start crafting before being half way through the game. I just wish they could have made a realistic Conan universe and found a new way of replacing spell casting classes instead of giving in to the cries of the community. I wish… But that’s not the topic.
The topic is wasted potential. “Age of Conan” is like a movie with its intelligent and original script heavily rewritten to be a summer blockbuster hit. You can still feel the intentions beneath that thick layer WoW-ness. But it’s all buried now.
In contrast, I found “Warhammer Online”, a game which openly challenges “World of Warcraft”, surprisingly well executed. Yes, its quest is a rather foolish one. But you can tell that was its quest all along. What Mythic is trying to do is beating Blizzard in their own game in more than one meaning. They want to take “World of Warcraft”, a highly refined version of modern MMORPGs, and further refine it, shouting into Blizzard’s face :”See? This is how it’s done!”
Of course their chances are not high. But that’s not the point. There is a thin line between courage and foolishness. Both of these are qualities of a hero. Where Funcom cowered and tried to hide beneath Blizzard’s robe, Mythic openly challenges the king of the land. It may be courageous or foolish. Regardless of which, I salute their heroic attempt.