I played the Age of Conan (AoC) technical beta tests. They sucked. I lost all faith in the game. I understand that technical beta tests are not for my enjoyment. I understand beta testing. I submitted the information they requested for feedback. I still lost all interest in the game. There wasn't even a sliver of hope that the game would be enjoyable in the long run and would most likely crash horribly at launch.
The game hasn't officially launched, but open beta ended successfully from all accounts, aside from obvious FFA PvP server rules. Now, the early access period is in full swing and going well. Supposedly a Miracle Patch occurred between the late stages of beta and the live version of AoC.
Of course, I'm not playing and didn't play in open beta, so I can't really confirm or deny it. However, over a decade of online gaming has taught me that Mircale Patches do not exist. If Funcom pulled something off that fixed the majority of crashes that plagued beta, all while adding the entirety of their high level content in a bug-free way, and without so much as a bleep as to why it took so long, then I will simply eat crow and silence myself.
But I'll wait for the "real" launch and subsequent launch reviews to occur before I make any official calls. Regardless, I'm not starting at level one again for the promise of end-game PvP anytime soon. Either a game gives me what I want from the start or I'm voting a big zero dollars down.
