As many of you know I was in the AoC beta where I only managed to get to lev 15 or so with my barbarian, but since last Thursday, when I finally managed to get a copy of the game, I’ve been battling it out in Hyborian and currently have a lev 20 Demonologist. So I thought I’d give you guys my thoughts on the game so far.

AoC so far is basically like any MMORPG I’ve ever played except with nudity. Yes, it has a unique combat system, but so far for demonologists it hasn’t come into play. Demonologist are basically mages who can use fire or lightning spells and also get a demon pet that follows them around. While the combat system comes heavily into play of melee characters, it is almost non existent for magic characters. My spells are target or AE spells, which work the same way every other MMORPG does. You might say yes when attacking, but when defending I can move my defenses around to block attacks from certain directions. You would be right, the only problem is Demonologist are extremely weak, we can only use cloth armor and combat is so fast that I can’t even tell what side I’m being hit from, then before I know it I’m dead. This is even more true when battling PvP.

Another grunge I have is my demon pet. I’m not sure if they get any better in the later levels, but right now my demon is as useful as a retarded turtle. They do not pull aggro, so they don’t tank. I’ve tried standing far away and having my demon pet attack first, the mobs just run past my pet and straight to me. Completely worthless, not to mention they do almost no damage. Seriously I’m fighting guys now that have about 600-800 HP and my demon does around 2-11 dmg. What the hell is that? I have just stopped summoning my demon because the 10 seconds it takes to summon them is a waste of my time. Which brings me to my next gripe.

Buffs. So far at level 20 I have 4 friendly buffs and my summon demon spell. All spells except for one, last for 30 mins - 1 hr, the one that doesn’t lasts for 5 mins. Now the problem is that everytime I die, which is a lot, I have to recast all 5 spells which takes about a min total. I’m only level 20, how many buffs am I going to have to recast when I’m lev 80? Am I going to have to sit there for 5 mins evertime I die to rebuff myself? I don’t understand why some of these spells aren’t passive? If it lasts longer then 15 mins it should be passive.

Ok, enough of my whining. What I do like about the game so far is obviously the violence and adult content. It’s good to see a head lopped of every once in a while and talk to a prostitute with sexual content. The graphics are also top notch, but they aren’t mind blowing. As for game play, I’m definitely enjoying the PvP server, however 99% of my time right now is just quest grinding which sucks. I can’t wait for developers to realize that no one likes quest grinding. I’m sure the game will get better in later levels once I get more involved in the PvP battles and player built cities, it just sucks that I’m going to have to play 60-80 hrs worth before the game gets fun.

I’ll give you guys another update once I hit lev 40.