Heres a write up from a Kabukie (A guildy of mine) in beta -
I recently had the chance to play AOC. I was going to post a link to the beta page on file planet but it seems that the open beta has been locked =( no worries though, the game goes live on the 17th of this month (if you pre ordered it), and the 20th for the rest.
AOC is a breath of fresh air. I played WoW since release and all I can say is I am really stoked that AOC has finally come. There are 4 different character sub classes that you can choose from in AOC. I'll try and give a brief overview of them as I go along. Keep in mind that the level cap for the beta is only 13 so most of my insight is strictly solo game play.
One major difference between AOC and WOW is that AOC has good graphics...REALLY good if you are running direct X 10. They are not cartoonish by any means.
My first toon was a Conqueror which is an off tank melee DPS class that can wear heavy armor and either dual wield or use 2 handed weapons. I rolled a female cimerian due to their body tatoos, (you can customize your toon based off of the race that you choose). Once in game I couldn't resist and immediately stripped off all of her clothing...I know what you are thinking but judge not lest ye be judged, I know most of you have rolled a female NELF and did the same thing lol. To my surprise I quickly learned why this game has a mature rating.
Melee combat is way different than it is in WOW. You have to push a button in one of 3 directions to swing your weapon. As you level up you get offensive combos that require you to hit a series of keys. Combos are your real damage source and if timed correctly will proc a fatality that slices your opponents head from their body, (pretty neat as it splatters blood on your screen).
As you may have guessed, spell casting is different as well. When the game goes live you will get a stance called spell weaving that increases your damage at the cost of stamina. I have only played a necromancer and herald of xotli, (the herald is a battle mage so it doesnt really count as a caster as his spells are up close and personal). The necro was a lot of fun though and when timed right, his spells proc fatalities that summon a minion to fight by your side.
I havent had the chance to play a healing class just yet. But rest assured that I shall try one and update this write up.
From what I gathered the PVP is pretty fun. You can enter one of many different pvp mini games like capture the flag (think wsg inside of a ruined temple). There is also loads of world pvp and ultimatley guild sieges. I am really looking forward to seeing this game on a PVP server.
Loot in this game is similar to wow in that the color indicates the power of the piece. Ive had green items a plenty and a few blues. Not sure if purple is the top of the line.
I'll keep updating this as much as possible in the coming weeks until the game goes live.
Elf you were asking about who is playing what from my guild and heres the list so far -
Current List of AoC players -
Healers
- *Twystyd - Tempest
Crabby - Priest
Tanks & Off Tanks
- *Shepp - Guardian
*Cretin - Conqueror
Shennanigans - Dark Templar
DPS
- Mush - Barbarian
undecided
- Sofiya
*Nailzz
*Kabukie
*Toophat
* already preordered