Post by Morreion on Jun 12, 2010 7:52:48 GMT -5
The Anvil of Crom: She's crafty, but not my type (Massively)
Age of Conan's crafting system is a fine example of the type of simplified sub-game that seems to have taken over. It's technically there, and thus qualifies as a marketing bullet point, but the reality is that players can level to 80 without relying on (or even interacting with) crafters at all. Due to the game's standard auction house economic system and the fact that good gear is sprinkled liberally throughout the loot tables, crafting is more of a diversion than a necessity, which is too bad...
On the surface, harvesting seems pretty cool. The nodes are helpfully marked on your map (and are plentiful in the resource zones which include Lacheish Plains, Poitain, and the Purple Lotus Swamp). The nodes are also pretty to look at, in keeping with the rest of the game's gorgeous visuals, and the character harvesting animations are fun to watch. They even degrade as you harvest them (maybe it's just me, but I enjoyed the little touches like picking cotton and seeing the blooms and bushes disappear as I worked).
It was here that I was introduced to what is quite possibly Age of Conan's most annoying mechanic, namely resource harvesting.
The fun stops, however, the first time you're rudely interrupted by a Jealous Prospector, Zealous Druid, or any number of other NPCs who will pop out of the ground and attack you mid-harvest. The first couple of times it's surprising and even a little amusing, but as it continues to happen, you realize that it is nothing more than a clumsy mechanic designed to prevent AFK macro harvesting (which you will eventually wish you could do once you reach the higher and more tedious harvesting tiers). Combined with the fact that you're often competing with other players for the limited resource nodes in your zone of choice, harvesting becomes an exercise in frustration very quickly. You can try zoning into another instance of the same zone if all of your favorite nodes are camped, or even leave the zone entirely and re-enter it in the "epic" (as opposed to "normal") version which usually equals fewer players (but more dangerous aggro mobs).
On the surface, harvesting seems pretty cool. The nodes are helpfully marked on your map (and are plentiful in the resource zones which include Lacheish Plains, Poitain, and the Purple Lotus Swamp). The nodes are also pretty to look at, in keeping with the rest of the game's gorgeous visuals, and the character harvesting animations are fun to watch. They even degrade as you harvest them (maybe it's just me, but I enjoyed the little touches like picking cotton and seeing the blooms and bushes disappear as I worked).
It was here that I was introduced to what is quite possibly Age of Conan's most annoying mechanic, namely resource harvesting.
The fun stops, however, the first time you're rudely interrupted by a Jealous Prospector, Zealous Druid, or any number of other NPCs who will pop out of the ground and attack you mid-harvest. The first couple of times it's surprising and even a little amusing, but as it continues to happen, you realize that it is nothing more than a clumsy mechanic designed to prevent AFK macro harvesting (which you will eventually wish you could do once you reach the higher and more tedious harvesting tiers). Combined with the fact that you're often competing with other players for the limited resource nodes in your zone of choice, harvesting becomes an exercise in frustration very quickly. You can try zoning into another instance of the same zone if all of your favorite nodes are camped, or even leave the zone entirely and re-enter it in the "epic" (as opposed to "normal") version which usually equals fewer players (but more dangerous aggro mobs).
