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Hi guys, let me tell you a brief story.

It's May 2006. I'm playing World of Warcraft. 3-4 nights per week i do raids to get purple item. One day is Blackwing Lair, two days for AQ and if we care maybe one night we do Molten Core for alts. When i'm not raiding i don't have much to do. I can do some not very polished pvp trying to boost my pvp rank, do some world pvp in the Eastern Plaguelands and maybe farm some gold. Putting time intro crafting is not an option, because everyhing is based on random recipes drop that makes all the system very simple and uninteresting. Basically, beside raiding, there's not much else i can do. Azeroth is a big and beautiful world, but it's also empty and shallow. No social content, no true rpg and socialazing element, nothing. Every zone is just a hub for quests and mobs to kill to get xp and loot.

Hi again, it's May 2009. Now i'm playing Age of Conan. Totally different game. 2-3 nights per week i do raid, mostly BRC, and if we care we do TIER 1 raid for alts. When i'm not raiding, well, i don't have much to do. I can do some not very polished minigames trying to boost my pvp rank or do some world pvp in Keshatta, all while dealing with huge class balance issue. And of course i can farm some money doing Villas or some quests. Putting time into crafting is not an option here neither: all the recipes i get from my trainer are almost useless, and the system is based all on random recipes drop. Again, totally uninteresting and not fun. Basically, beside raiding, there's not much else i can do. Hyboria is a stunning world, far more beautiful than Azeroth. The story, the caracters, the lore, all is simple amazing. But again, this is another empty shell: no social content, no way to build some kind of relationship within other characters or between guilds, nothing of this. Every zone is just a hub for quests and mobs to kill to get xp and loot.

Now, before someone came and tells me that, yes i know WoW made it to 11 milions subcribers with that formula. I was one of them. But that's WoW. Repeating the exact same formula content wise won't do any good to AoC in my opinion.

When i started to play this game, i did because i thought this was a complete different and innovative game. And it was, at least at the beginning, with the real time combat, the low fantasy setting and the ffa pvp. But now, months after months, if feels like you're trying to normalize your own game. AoC was supposed to be about a brutal world, about war between guilds, a dynamic and fun pvp, but what i'm hearing from months now is just talks about new raids, new shiny purple items, with a blatant intent to make gear and items the true core of this game. Just like..you know.

I don't know, maybe i shouldn't even blame Funcom. Probably you're just giving people what they want, and people like me are just a minority to be ignore and forgotten. Oh well, end of the rant.