i love it
My biggest concern with content is there are not enough high level raiding zones. We are stuck with 3 tier 1 isolated zones, 1 chained tier 1, and 2 chained tier 2s. Honestly, this is stale and there is only so many times I can take killing vistrix, yak, kaliki, wing 1 and wing 2 before I want to poke my own eyes out and play a new MMO. Don't get me wrong, I am grateful to the developers for designing Ubaluku, the slaughterhouse cellar, Iron tower, commons, and finishing up wing 3. However, the problem remains and this is not enough. This game should have had wing 3 completed and more high level raiding zones available prior to release. I believe Funcom is still playing catch up and doing damage control to an unfinished product that was released to soon. This game has gone through way more remediation and fixing than any polished MMO should have to go through.
My next concern focuses on the little things. What are the little things? The little things are the things that make you feel immersed in a world. The little things are the things that create a sense of purpose, and drive the player to continue to challenge themselves and others. AoC was designed as a zone based game to alleviate the feeling of endless commuting. They moved away from the seamless world model. The problem I have with this model is I feel like I am hopping from zone to zone rather than adventuring through a world. Some people will argue that a world too big to walk through is frustrating. However, if the developers do it right, they don't have to make it an arduous walk or run fest like wow. Keep the quests and quest givers close by for the appropriate level and have them phase into other areas while the player gradually advances in level. Segmenting entire zones by level and then having to run from 1 side to the other to complete a quest and get a reward is tedious and tiresome. There are not enough quests in this game and some of them are as stupid as running back and forth between two people. At no point should anyone have to grind mobs to level, unless that is the purpose of the quest.
The other little things that give a player purpose are things like titles, a global ranking system, housing, equipment diversity, reputation, arenas, and custom crafting. K/D ratios and pvp level is not a ranking system. Lets create a non-exploitable ranking system to see who the best pvp players are. Or a reputation system for pve players. There is not enough equipment diversity or visual differences. We all know tier 2 is the best and pvp 5 is the best. It's one set per class and this is boring. I should be able to walk around and not recognize half the stuff people are wearing. And some of this stuff should be as good as tier 2. I think there needs to be another way to obtain cool stuff and not just from raiding. I recommend creating an in-game pve reputation system that offers rewards and could be added to a ranking system. Crafting is lackluster. There is no customization in crafting. I cannot craft the attributes or design of my equipment. I am railroaded into the confines of the gem or clothing type. I understand balance is an issue, but restriction limits game play. I think there should also be more incentive to use the border kingdoms and sieges. You could tie in equipment rewards to sieges. The more sieges you win, you get to buy better equipment. This would give those who don't want to duel, grind mini games, or raid another option to get good eq.
In conclusion, the combat system and graphics are still the best out there but the game play and content is stale due to a quick release, understaffing, and a lack of money. There are solutions out there and I know you guys are working hard, but look at the overall picture. You have now fixed the game and it is now time to focus on the little things and more content.