If you've been keeping up since I started writing this blog in earnest, you know that I tend to flit from game to game like a deranged hummingbird, and yes, it's happened again...sort of.
I hit level 60 in TERA a few days ago and decided it was time for a break. I've still got plenty to do in that game and I know I'll get back into it at some point, but I've decided to revisit Age of Conan. I opened a trial account a long time ago, just after it went free-to-play, when free accounts were limited to the opening area and not much more beyond that, but I never actually subscribed to the game.
When I revisit a game I haven't played in a while, I'll often start new character, like I did in TERA. I find this helps me remember the game's back story and relearn how to play. In the case of AOC, not only were both of those things true, but because there's so much to do in the opening area of Tortage, I've actually found myself doing missions I'd never done before, and I always enjoy that. It doesn't have to be actually new as long as it's new to me.
So, why AOC? Well, I like the Conan storyline, but it's really more than that. As with TERA, one of the things that attracts me to a game is a unique combat system. As much as I love the flipping around, zap-and-dodge, free-flowing combat style of TERA, there's just something viscerally satisfying about bashing an enemy over the head with a big club. The graphics, while not quite up to the level of TSW or TERA (at least in Tortage), are still quite pretty and I find myself getting lost in this game in a way that I have in very few others.
The real question will be how much time and money I'll invest in AOC going forward, but if I end up having as good a time with AOC as I have with TSW, I expect I'll be buying Funcom points with regularity for use in both games, something which has now been made much easier by Funcom's excellent Customer Service Department.
After spending about a week in AOC, I decided that I liked it enough to keep going, at least for a while. I soon realized that the Funcom points I bought for use with TSW weren't usable with my AOC account. I got in touch with Funcom's customer service department and asked if I could use the points in both games. I got an initial response that told me that because I had two different Funcom master accounts the answer was no. I replied, asking if there was any way to link the two accounts, and offering to prove my ownership of both accounts. I got a response very quickly from one of their GM's who told me he linked the two accounts for me, but that the bonus points I'd earned in TSW were not transferable between the games, though the Funcom points are.
That's a minor disappointment for me because right now there's a lot more I'd be interested in buying in AOC's cash shop than in TSW's (I've already spent a bit there but until TSW gets better stuff in their cash shop, there's not really much that interests me there), but I guess I can live with it. Still, the fact that I can buy Funcom points and use them in both games without having to fund two separate accounts or create a new AOC account and start from scratch is a major convenience, and so overall I'm very happy with the result.
So, I'm a pretty happy camper as a Funcom customer these days, both in terms of being an actual paying customer and in terms of being a player. Both TSW and AOC are keeping my attention right now, and I'm anxiously awaiting the drop of TSW's Issue #6. I expect I'll be hopping between both games for the nonce, and that's probably the best way to keep an ADD gamer like me happy.
Keep it up, Funcom...at this rate, you'll end up on the receiving end of most, if not all, of the disposable income I spend on gaming...at least for a while, anyway.
I hit level 60 in TERA a few days ago and decided it was time for a break. I've still got plenty to do in that game and I know I'll get back into it at some point, but I've decided to revisit Age of Conan. I opened a trial account a long time ago, just after it went free-to-play, when free accounts were limited to the opening area and not much more beyond that, but I never actually subscribed to the game.
When I revisit a game I haven't played in a while, I'll often start new character, like I did in TERA. I find this helps me remember the game's back story and relearn how to play. In the case of AOC, not only were both of those things true, but because there's so much to do in the opening area of Tortage, I've actually found myself doing missions I'd never done before, and I always enjoy that. It doesn't have to be actually new as long as it's new to me.
So, why AOC? Well, I like the Conan storyline, but it's really more than that. As with TERA, one of the things that attracts me to a game is a unique combat system. As much as I love the flipping around, zap-and-dodge, free-flowing combat style of TERA, there's just something viscerally satisfying about bashing an enemy over the head with a big club. The graphics, while not quite up to the level of TSW or TERA (at least in Tortage), are still quite pretty and I find myself getting lost in this game in a way that I have in very few others.
The real question will be how much time and money I'll invest in AOC going forward, but if I end up having as good a time with AOC as I have with TSW, I expect I'll be buying Funcom points with regularity for use in both games, something which has now been made much easier by Funcom's excellent Customer Service Department.
After spending about a week in AOC, I decided that I liked it enough to keep going, at least for a while. I soon realized that the Funcom points I bought for use with TSW weren't usable with my AOC account. I got in touch with Funcom's customer service department and asked if I could use the points in both games. I got an initial response that told me that because I had two different Funcom master accounts the answer was no. I replied, asking if there was any way to link the two accounts, and offering to prove my ownership of both accounts. I got a response very quickly from one of their GM's who told me he linked the two accounts for me, but that the bonus points I'd earned in TSW were not transferable between the games, though the Funcom points are.
That's a minor disappointment for me because right now there's a lot more I'd be interested in buying in AOC's cash shop than in TSW's (I've already spent a bit there but until TSW gets better stuff in their cash shop, there's not really much that interests me there), but I guess I can live with it. Still, the fact that I can buy Funcom points and use them in both games without having to fund two separate accounts or create a new AOC account and start from scratch is a major convenience, and so overall I'm very happy with the result.
So, I'm a pretty happy camper as a Funcom customer these days, both in terms of being an actual paying customer and in terms of being a player. Both TSW and AOC are keeping my attention right now, and I'm anxiously awaiting the drop of TSW's Issue #6. I expect I'll be hopping between both games for the nonce, and that's probably the best way to keep an ADD gamer like me happy.
Keep it up, Funcom...at this rate, you'll end up on the receiving end of most, if not all, of the disposable income I spend on gaming...at least for a while, anyway.
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