Worst MMO Ever? - Age of Conan: Unchained

[@MitchManix]

This was fun mate. Cheers bro 😝

[@LeoArctica]

That was such a dick move right at the end XD but it was hilarious XD

[@henryy.4878]

Who

[@tailmonkey]

Bro-nan.

[@nazgulsenpai]

I'm still playing Age of Conan thanks to you Mitch. :)

[@wavelength3856]

Top 10 anime brotrayals

[@kirbinato5201]

"Do you know who I think I am?" Is such an amazing line. Truly excellent writing.

[@henotic.essence]

Seriously, Josh made my day with that one 😂😂😂😂

[@thatssodagan1661]

Pretty sure he just took it from FOB m.kzbin.info/www/bejne/oJ-9aZeDfdCfgtU

[@ozoahameg3582]

im using that line everytime i get a chance now

[@tinyywhiskk]

​@@henotic.essencealong with "that succubus be succubussin" 😂

[@juampan]

It's what people who say "do you know who I am" really sound like. Got me rotflmaoing.

[@lukerosacker5370]

That music during the snake fight wasn't an indication that YOU were in a boss fight. The music was the snake's because you were ITS boss fight.

[@TheScrubExpress]

Hrngh SNAKE BATTLE

[@trontosaurusrex9532]

​@@TheScrubExpress look at those fangs! It could tear a tank apart.

[@heramaaroricon4738]

MitchManix being the good friend he is, helping Josh quit that MMO before it sucks him in.

[@emrahdelan7566]

20:35 underrated joke “because that succubus be succubussing”, caught me off guard

[@keithrombough3409]

This was one of the best 1-20 levels in any game. And one of the worst 40+. The funny part is, whenever I hear talk of live services, and why they fail, I'm like "Am I the only one that remembers the MMO rush of the late aughts? Did NO ONE learn from their collapses?"

[@Noordledoordle]

Time is, indeed, a flat circle.

[@Zoocsgo]

Played first 6 levels was a boring linear non dangerous world

[@luketfer]

Yup, jesus christ there were *so many* MMOs, numerous WoW clones and a few that tried different things. City of Heroes was my goto MMO and it's kind of a shame that NCsoft shut it down just as the MCU was becoming a thing. Still at least you can play it now on various private servers (as is the way with a lot of old MMOs these days).

[@seanmaclean1341]

I remember getting Warhammer Online and Age of Conan like... 2 weeks apart? Something like that. Everyone wanted that WoW money, like how everyone wants that Destiny money today

[@luketfer]

@@seanmaclean1341 Eh probably not Destiny money, Fortenite money definitely but then we've already been through the same phase with Battle Royales as we did with MMOs. Besides you have a free to play option of Warframe if you don't fancy Destiny.

[@Morgannin]

Assuming Josh's Alchemia Story body pillow is designed after his support character that he designed, I am in a state of renewed terror at the thought of that face staring at me while I try to sleep.

[@paulmahoney7619]

Man got it printed real fast, like less than two months.

[@Morgannin]

@@paulmahoney7619 Rush order. Probably won't even last that long...

[@dumbwaystokai]

i still don't want to see it

[@larrymantic2635]

What, over a darn egg with blue pigtails?

[@vxicepickxv]

I almost forgot Josh Wife Hayes.

[@JasonStorey]

I am endlessly impressed with how well your humour can walk the line between brovocative and brofessional. brolific but never brotracted. well done.

[@Kasaaz]

Just replying to this with a comment so that your comment makes it further up the page. It's that good.

[@tarnetskygge]

I'll also reply to help bromote this comment

[@Sazandora123]

Brrrrrromotion!

[@jakubmedved679]

This comment is brolliant

[@TheIcarusFalls]

I'll take a broment to help as well.

[@Iymarra]

I miss this game, it had amazing atmosphere and music. I remember walking through somewhere in aquillonia and there was mist everywhere, music playing nicely. I got into a fight I couldnt handle (PVE but still, who wants to die?) and some rando jumped in and saved me. A short while later, I saw the same rando fighting stuff, jumped in and gave them a hand...and that was how I joined a guild. Khitai was a great expansion, the Gates of Khitai soundtrack is still amazing. I miss this game.

[@mattheewsumner7840]

its still going

[@ThatOneCloudGuy]

"saying jiggle is like a cheat code" *checks the video bar for most replayed, it's at when he says jiggle* Damn, he's right.

[@anaguma90]

The random snake getting its own boss music was exquisite

[@bostilhorrorstory]

it was damn hilarious

[@proxy1035]

i applaud your persistence. i remember when you started the Patreon and later when you had a few complained that you had to think of a way to show them all so you just decided to keep making the font smaller to have them all on a single screen, and you still do that to this very day. amazing!

[@Bluelightzero]

Going to need a 4K second monitor soon.

[@Wiles731]

This is the way

[@bgforever]

ramiel brrrrr

[@Septimus_ii]

He puts out polls to the Patrons every now and again, and they always vote to just keep making the font smaller

[@a-blivvy-yus]

I want to upvote this, but you have 420 upvotes, so I won't.

[@NyehnyehNoice]

Josh if you're reading this and don't have Flyff on your 'Worst MMO Ever' backlist of games to make videos on; you'll love making a vid on that one. It's so technically advanced it even has New World's swimming... and an entire one button rotation for every classes combat. Absolute gem.

[@NyehnyehNoice]

The music is mint though tbh

[@coopmore69]

The music slaps hard

[@Nomence]

First MMO i actually really played but even back in like early 2000s it was an obvious cashgrab

[@TheToffen]

my god damn childhood. It's weird its entire legacy nowadays is dead modern version on its like 40th publisher, a shitty mobile game, and a browser-based reboot with a myriad of technical issues due to being browser-based. I really tried getting back into it with Universe but it just "felt" inferior to its original release. I do hope he checks out Universe at least, while also briefly covering the modern/original Play2Bit version of the game.

[@Annatar_Lord_of_Gifts]

That game was a big part of my early teenage years

[@Gregg2G]

Age of Conan was a lot of fun at its peak. The territorial Guild vs Guild PvP warfare in particular was a great time. The raids were quite challenging too. Honestly one of the top MMO's I've ever played.

[@azynkron]

Take your medication and you will be like "Jesus.. did I really say that?"

[@joezar33]

Lucky u been wanting too play this mmorpg, sense it went free too play , it's 2024 and I still can't play it , authentication failure , reading the comments on Steam , I see I'm not the only 1 with that problem.

[@ImotekhtheStormlord-tx2it]

youre 18 yo at most. back in 2009 you played with your diaper.@@azynkron

[@maolcogi]

I just remember charging people and one shotting them with my Herald of Xotli and then impaling them and setting them on fire. Fun stuff.

[@Micisonit]

Yes , gane was realy fun ! I hat a grade time

[@domomonstero3077]

Funcom has a habit of making 1 live action game at a time and only serving it until the next one launches, then they abandon the older one. Conan Exiles with be abandoned the moment Dune launches.

[@EchoSixMike]

funcom doesn't have the devs to do 2 things at once.

[@Sotanaht01]

Not having any discount for higher coin packages in the cash shop is a GOOD thing, because it's at least one way that they are not manipulating players into spending more. It also makes it clearer (or at least less obscured) how much you are spending when you spend those coins on cash shop items, because it means that X coins are always worth Y dollars. So that's a point in their favor. It's a small point, basically completely undone by everything else the cash shop does, but it's still a point. As an aside, cash shops using special premium currency isn't JUST a thing they do to manipulate players. It also dramatically simplifies the backend development, reduces cost in transaction fees, and allows buying stuff to be much more responsive in general because each transaction with coins doesn't need to go through all the external authentication steps that purchasing coins with money does. Now when they filter stuff through multiple currencies that's just scummy.

[@KaldarisX]

Agreed. Cash shops offering higher or more efficient currency conversions at higher prices is just a poverty tax to people that can't afford to spend that much in one go.

[@tz496]

@@KaldarisX While at the same time likely still pushing some people to buy currency a bit more often and in a granular matter by making them think "well, there's a sale anyway, might just as well."

[@Tyrael2k3]

Ok but then they should also always display the real money value right beside the coin value and let the player buy any amount of coins they like without discounting larger amounts

[@briannelson27]

A 20 minute rant on fonts is the EXACT reason we watch you Josh! Keep it up!

[@natecw4164]

That first Steam review is mine... My god what a small world 😂 This game was great back in the day, if not for 4 issues. 1. It launched in WoWs shadow 2. It had serious performance issues (ex. Memory leak) 3. Class balance was handled with the same care and attention as a baboon performing open heart surgery 4. The content 1-20 was SO solid it made the drop in quality afterwards far more noticeable than your normal MMO

[@TheGamermage]

I kept wishing i could find my way back to Tortuga once I was out in the open world and eventually just gave up on the game.

[@mm-gu9of]

How dare you disrespect Dr. Rafiki, one of the most respected heart surgeons in South Africa

[@bset2603]

I remember launch, unplayable memory leak ruined this games popularity so fast.

[@kingleech16]

@@mm-gu9ofNo worries, he’s a mandrill. 🙂

[@dr.zoidberg8666]

And it didn't just launch in WoW's shadow. It launched in Wrath of the Lich King's shadow: the pinnacle of classic era WoW. Imho GW2 only survived because it launched near the end of Cataclysm. I don't think Conan could have made it even if it were perfect.

[@Oesterplayer]

19:54 Dayman (ah-ah-ah) Fighter of the Nightman (ah-ah-ah) Champion of the Sun (ah-ah-ah) You're a Master of Karate And friendship For Everyone

[@derekbaldwin4021]

Dude idk how you do it but that bit at the beginning was comedy gold 😂

[@darksh1ne1]

Personal story time: After Blizzard murdered my server with Cataclysm expansion, I quit it and tried several MMOs. AoC was the one that I got stuck in for 2 years and it was.... magnificent! Back in the day there was no cash shop (or at least I don't remember it?), there were 4 servers - RP and RPPvP in addition to these 2. The population was huge, you'd constantly run into someone. PvP was no stop. Dungeons were absolutely amazing, especially the expansion ones. There's castle building by the way. Yep, your guild can build its own castle in special zones! And then do massive guild on guild raids with siege weapons! I've done pretty much all the content the game had to offer except for the Khitai expansion main raid. It was a bit too hard. And then... the Funcom came up with a brilliant idea. "Why don't we merge RP servers with the regular ones, to fix the dwindling population?" So... you got innocent RPers who sometimes like to PvP stuck with tryhard PvPers of the regular server. It was a disaster.

[@Drothen-]

who asked

[@rodrigo.55]

​@@Drothen-what hurt you

[@hawkshot867]

@@Drothen- I did

[@neonblack211]

@@Drothen- jesus bro..... do say that on every single comment you ever read?

[@Ninja40K]

Good all RPers deserve it. JK

[@ArmundJay]

1:46 "Do you know who i think i am?" Josh, your humor always gets me. cheers.

[@Cam-pe3nd]

Age of Conan was something I picked up out of curiosity for like 5 bucks at Half Price Books and it completely captured my imagination. The lore, worldbuilding, atmosphere, class design, music, and visuals (for an MMO in 2008) were all just amazing to me. I don't think it's a particularly enjoyable game to play today, but it introduced me to Hyboria and I would love another RPG set in this world (Exiles doesn't count).

[@DantesTyphoon]

Very cool to hear someone else with this experience. I had the same $5 half price books big box purchase. At the time it just seemed unlike anything else available.

[@JustinMartinshrapnel]

I also got my copy from half price books. Lol

[@stankobarabata2406]

Exiles is good. It had more potential and it's not a true mmo, and it's jank shows really hard at times. But it really does carry that Conan spirit. The giant maps full of cool spots give it an even better feeling. The dungeons were pretty nice at times too. There was no real plot to speak of unless you liked reading journal entries for the most part. It's a flawed game but it had soul when it comes to actually representing the Conan world in all it's gruff ruggedness. Helps that they started working on it again after abandoning it for like... years. They dropped a new map, several content drops like Sorcery and new weapons, perk reworks and balancing, as well as better servers. For anyone who enjoys a survival game with plenty of pvp, pve and rp opportunities, and a sprinkle of Conan on top, it's amazing. I personally give it a solid 7 or maybe even 8, though I am not unbiased so take that as you will. I've had plenty of fun in that game despite it's jank.

[@Cam-pe3nd]

I like Exiles and put like 100 hours into it, but wish it was a more fleshed out game world with more RPG elements. The harvest/craft grind isn't enough for me. @@stankobarabata2406

[@furiousapplesack]

@@stankobarabata2406 While I'm not into PVP... well, anything anymore, it's not my kind of game but I enjoyed watching my friend play Exiles a LOT. It seemed like Conan vibes mixed with Rust (minus the toxicity). I enjoyed contributing advice from my Rust experience for my friend during his base-building and it seemed pretty decent overall.

[@grogak1553]

I played this game for 2-3 years while it still was subscription only. It's by far the best MMO I ever played and it's sad that you'll never see a Dungeon or even a Raid in this game.. Raids are so incredibly hard and fun at the same time. I've spent so many evenings with my guild trying to achieve World First Kills on new Raid bosses and I even was one of the players who finished T4 first.. This was during a time the game had active support and even the game developers watched our tries and congratulated us when we finally made it. Even Dungeons are incredibly hard and require tactics and a lot of skills to finish them. Such a good time and I completely forgot about the game until now.. maybe I'll start again but I'm pretty sure I'll cry seeing what they did to the game

[@LordJaroh]

I bought the special collector pack of this when it launched. I truly loved the game...until leaving the first main city, where they gave up on voice acting and interesting quest design and getting you into the world. I was very disappointed.

[@ruinedberserker7608]

This is awesome, now I have something to watch while I wait for Josh to ipload

[@KewlImp]

Okay. That cult thing is funny. I was GenCon this year, and either Wizards paid for a few actors and an actress, but I joined the Cult of Tiamat. My version of the joke was, "You know, who hasn't just randomly joined a cult on a whim."

[@alyssabaerne9508]

Sounds like an average thursday to me 😂

[@xelldincht4251]

I did play that game for over a year when it was subscription-only. Exploring the world was pretty cool and it had a small but dedicated German-speaking community. Tourtage is still one of my favorite tutorial areas in an MMO Funny fact about that game: There was a rumor that having sex was a possibility and it would give you buffs

[@ChristmasLore]

So not surprised about the German community in game! I'm new to Eso, and the German community seems to be big also there. And, was the rumor true?

[@xelldincht4251]

@@ChristmasLore cant say anything abut i because i haven't played ESO yet

[@MrDoenyon]

This copyright infringement is not acceptable. As a sign of protest I will now go watch all their videos, and leave a strongly worded comment under each so the algorithm knows to share it to more people, who will undoubtedly join in the protest !

[@MaximumCarter]

19:53 he's also the fighter of the nightman lol. Loved the Always Sunny reference Josh!

[@SneveYT]

27:05 Josh failed to realize that this was the penultimate battle to Wedge Snake's heroes journey. A climactic battle to take vengeance on the man who farmed so many of his NPC friends

[@wthall11689]

I love how he looks back to make sure there isn't some big epic boss sneaking up on him.

[@Lord_of_the_sixth_house]

It was a climactic battle for Wedge Snake, for Josh it was Tuesday.

[@_Vengeance_]

Funny thing is that the Funcom points don't just not get cheaper the more you buy, they even get *more expensive* the more you buy. Granted, we're only talking about a couple of cents, but still: upscaling all of them to the biggest amount you can buy at once (12000), all compared to the 600 package, the 1200 package is 10 cents more expensive, the 2400 package is 15 cents more expensive, the 6000 package is 18 cents more expensive, and the 12000 package is 19 cents more expensive.

[@Alice_Fumo]

That is insane. It's like getting a better deal if you only pay in 1ct coins. Heck, the transaction fees alone when you'd buy ten 600 packages as opposed to one 6000 package would make this so much worse for the game to begin with.

[@hazukichanx408]

I noticed that too. Actively punishing players for buying _more_ of your stupid tax-evading fake currency, even if the amount you punish them by is "just a few pennies", is... I mean... it's like they don't really want your money? But at the same time, every other part of the cash shop makes it very clear that they do? So it's more like they actually just want to siphon off all your money while also flipping you the middle finger as you pay. Which is on brand for Funcom, I suppose.

[@tacitus6384]

I honestly love the Hyboria low-fantasy setting. A big problem I have with something like Warcrafts current lore is how insane and far removed it has gotten from Warcraft 1, 2 and 3, where now you're fighting extra-dimensional threats and aliens, orcs are now the size of cars and there's whole underground steam-punk cities blah blah blah, it's so far removed from a guy tending his field and picking up a spear and shield to go and investigate a threat of some 6'6", muscular green guys called orcs. Just a grounded, low-fantasy setting where people with swords matter, sorcerers are rare and take time to cast spells (that are powerful if they can do so), and the world is this iron age-like setting of adventure and wilderness.

[@belstar1128]

yea seems like a problem with a lot of franchises as they get older

[@What-he5pr]

Changed to appeal to below room temperature IQ teen girls and latchkey kids with adhd.

[@Heckinwhatonearth]

Wow classic hardcore is still exactly that. Best version of wow imo

[@belstar1128]

@@Heckinwhatonearth its bad wow was not made for permadeath .the only reason people play it is because the people who still play wow classic now have memorised the entire game. but anyone who has played for less than 10 years wont make it out of the staring zone like this .

[@Heckinwhatonearth]

@@belstar1128 I have never died below lv 37 in classic hardcore...not difficult at all. The only times I've died was when I got greedy and grouped up woth strangers for a dungeon while my hearth was on cd and I couldn't elune macro out (3 times a row lol) If you can't make it out of the starting zone that's very much on you, ngl.

[@Aikurisu]

Though the graphics are dated by today's standards, I still remember when I first stepped into this game and couldn't believe my eyes how beautiful it was. The water physics were the best out there and sometimes I'd just sit by Tortage's port watching the water. It was relaxing. Heck, the tutorial alone made me really immersed in the world, I didn't want to leave. ... and I didn't. No joke, I loved that area so much I never bothered to advance beyond it. Kinda like how I left one character in the pre-searing timeline of the original Guild Wars. I forget the details now, but there's this one questline where you have to lift the curse from a family bloodline and getting there felt like an epic journey, which ended in a bittersweet victory where you did lift the curse, yet the bloodline itself had met its end. The music accompanying that moment, and the surroundings themselves, is my fav mmo moment of all time.

[@christianalanwilson434]

Yeah the tutorial island was by far the most polished area in the game. Once it was over, I found the main world to be relatively bland and disappointing. Most of my playtime was just rerolling characters so I could do the starting area again.

[@NecoTheSergalGAME]

I played this game yeaaaaaaaaars ago, I recall joining after they changed the combat (From what we see in this video) it apparently used to be less forgiving and penalize you for getting combos wrong and the combos you needed to perform skills were lengthier. I made a clan called Black Annihilus, was a cringe edgy clan name but it was one of those random public clans that grew a bit, had a fun community and it made the game contain some good nostalgic memories with it, even when I know how bad and predatory it was. What I really loved was the Clan-related Base-building, you had your own hunk of land and depended on immense resources being pooled together to build exclusive clan-shops and built your own little Keep/Castle, castle gates and castle walls to truly claim your OWN plot of land that was shared with 2 other clans at once that could visit/attack you varying on the server. Seeing the Walls be built up one by one as your very own castle and little kingdom gets built after lots of effort and teamwork of collecting resources was fun. Even as it dies and continues to die, I'll remember it for the fun times, even when it was always destined to die in mediocrity. [Update]: I also don't even remember doing anything relating to 'Blocking' during combat.

[@treadwyck]

There is, as best I recall, one raid encounter where you have to block or its instadeath; T5 Yahkmar. Like they tried to make it a pertinent skill, lol!

[@Rev_Boneman]

"That succubus be succubussin'" - Joshologist Strife Hayes

[@pilotmorgan8669]

For about 6 months after the release of AoCs one and only expansion, this game was a ton of fun. The dueling scene was actually super satisfying. Lots of movement and animation canceling. End game dungeons were tough with hidden hard modes. The classic must have classes, and some really unique seen nowhere else classes. Bear shaman ripped your head off fatality for the win. Just a cool game. With really cool class mechanics and spell effects.

[@sertandoom4693]

Then it got "Funcommed" a process we got to see happen in their other games.

[@chaosgyro]

I used to be an Anarchy Online GM (called ARKs - we got our sub fee comped, but otherwise were volunteers) and met the Funcom folks at some annual meetups at their US office around when they were developing and releasing this game. I doubt many, or any, of the same people are still around, but they were legitimately awesome folks with passion that just couldn't get their projects to crack through into the big time. I wish you could play through the Anarchy Online of 20 years ago for this series because it was bonkers.

[@vincentromezin8702]

AO was awfully amazing and amazingly awful. I played it a LOT back in 2005-6, back when the free accounts lasted a full year. No game had a better community (and I include Guildwars2, which is renowned, justly, for its great community). The game was just too complex and demanding for trolls, beggars, and "kevins" to stick. I remember spending hours planning my stepping stones items, implants and buffs so that I could equip a high-level weapon with just 75% of the stats, and going around asking half the playerbase in the neutral city for said buffs. I remember spending an equal number of hours just hanging out in the Omni-Tek City just having real conversations with my guildies of Froobs But Intelligent [FBI]. I remember spending my birthday stuck in bed after a car accident and having guildies and friends join me in one of the in-game nightclubs, where we had a downright party ! I remember all the useful bots that anybody could use in map chat to link help for new players... All that in service of a moment-to-moment gameplay... well, let's just say it was not the best. And of graphics that even then were less than great. But that community, that world... I'll cherish them forever in my heart.

[@chaosgyro]

@@vincentromezin8702 Getting buffs to equip equipment was a head trip for sure. I remember sitting with some guildies in Baboon's playing Truth or Dare and I dared a friend to take off his +100 level tank armor. He damn near cried.

[@SharienGaming]

@@vincentromezin8702 while i didnt play for long, i still remember when my cousin got me into playing AO - and my experience with it was pretty similar to yours lots of helpful people and a pretty interesting game... the game just couldnt really keep me, but i think that was because MMOs really werent for me - i just had not realized it back then yet it was still a really fun experience =)

[@Shadowburn2]

The same Anarchy Online that uninstalling forced people to reinstall windows? AO just launched in too bad of a state to really get big. AoC was similar, except the problems were all at end-game(and the lack of content for max level players).

[@j.a.1785]

Man I loved AO...miss it.

[@RowanNagy97]

That's very sweet that you found a way to show everyone "Stop coming at my friend, I KNOW him, he has my permission" in a fun way lol

[@Azguella]

God I love the idea of Josh trying to gatekeep people from doing similar things

[@exposenetworklimited4497]

He wasn’t bro it’s a joke… 🤦‍♀️ woosh

[@Azguella]

@@exposenetworklimited4497 I know

[@Kawamura2]

@@exposenetworklimited4497 I'm pretty sure OP knows that...

[@TheYoutubeUser69]

Holy shit😂

[@ihaveaplan.ijustneedmoney.9777]

​@@exposenetworklimited4497 that's why Azguella said "I love the idea" they're aware its a joke, but thought it would be funny if it were true.

[@volcranoii7709]

I had this on in the background while I was working on a very dry case brief and I took a moment to look over and right as I did you said “jiggle”… eerie

[@sandimtavares]

Great video as always Josh. i'm still excited for the day this series brings you to Tibia, an MMO that used to be incredibly, WILDLY popular in Brazil (and in some other countries like Poland) in the 90s that is somehow still going today.

[@alpha-0874]

I enjoyed the steady descent into madness with each new character.

[@conanmaolcheann5088]

I’m no MMO player though I enjoy hearing Josh talk about the game design, but I love Conan and the Hyborian age which is why I play this one. Whether or not it’s really that good I love this game because I get to explore and exist in Hyboria

[@drutarthesavage5156]

Same. I've never been an MMO fan, but I love Howard's universe. I always hoped they'll make an Elder Scrolls-esque single player RPG, with Age of Conan's atmosphere. If there's one thing they nailed in this game, it's the atmosphere. Largely due to it's fenomenal soundtrack.

[@bert.hbuysse5569]

*Like a giant butcher: the stakes are high. * I like what you did there

[@FalandraAoC]

Age of Conan, I knew he would play the game at some point... I played AoC from 2009 to 2020, needless to say that I enjoyed it. The music, the world, the story, the gameplay are probably in my altime favorites of games. The dungeons and raids are difficult, require preparation and knowledge of the games mechanics and pose great challanges - as does the solo content, the world really feels dangerous because you can easily be killed. However, all those positive memories I have get heavily overshadowed by the fact that Funcom is managing, or well, managed, the game so horribly. Bugs from release in 2008 are still present, cheaters run rampant and content delivery died off in 2014 pretty much completely (there were some content updates but these were honestly insignificant). All of that has led to a declining player base - obviously. Nowadays both servers are very dead (at least 3 years ago when I quit it was that way), since there are no solo versions of dungeons and raids most of them will be forever abandoned, the community itself isn't in the mood to teach new players either, from level 80 on its a harsh and insanely steep learning curve that most people will not be able to climb due to an unwilling community of hardcore players and the lack of resources elsewhere to learn mechanics and so on. It's sad to see the game in this state. The item shop is egregious, yes, but also insanely unnecessary at the same time. None of what they offer there is worth the price or actually any price. Why pay 30 bucks for a low level armor set that becomes irrelevant 5 levels into the future? Why buy a T3 raid armor set for 60 bucks when the balancing of T1 to T3 armors is so bad that every experienced player skips these sets completely? The only things worth buying in the shop are the expansions, they add new gorgeous areas and story lines (forums have some guides regarding those expansions and what they offer) but the rest? In all my years playing the game I never bought anything from it. So, would I recommend playing this game? If you just want to experience Hyboria and awesome stories with a great combat system then definitely yes. There is so much to do, so many areas to explore, great stories to experience. If you want to play it to reach the best gear possible and do the hardest content? Then no, you will only be disappointed by the steep learning curve and inaccessibility. This video somehow made me think of returning to the game, just to look at my characters again (I loved collecting armor pieces for vanity sets to dress my characters up) and maybe run around in the world, listen to the music and maybe even do a dungeon run. But no, I won't do that, I must resist the urge to delve into nostalgia because in the end, the trip down memory lane will only break my heart again, realizing what kind of state the game is in and what could have been if Funcom were to invest into the game.

[@tomigun5180]

Yep, Funcom successfully convinced me to never buy any of their games anymore. AoC could have been the WoW-killer everyone was waiting for if they listened to the feedback the players gave them.

[@RafterPigeon]

Well said…. What was your mains name and which server?

[@FalandraAoC]

@@RafterPigeon Since I didint play PvP at all I was on Crom (well, Für was dead from the beginning anyway) when all the servers merged. My main was a ToS, Siramy, and my secondary character was a Barbarian, Zaryn. I had several other characters though that I played from time to time too.

[@KwBeee]

Don't worry, they're making the new Dune MMO. Surely that one will be a breath of fresh air and a success. Surely????

[@The-Black-Death]

Honestly as sad as it is, this game technically has been the BEST Conan game out there that's ever been made to this day considering how much it's got people introduced and interested in the source material, and that's saying a lot also considering how popular and loved Conan Exiles is, and with how badly Age of Conan has been sabotaged and mismanaged by Funcom. There was clearly some love in there and you can see it in the very music and concept art, and how much it got many of us interested in the Conan series as a whole. I'd love for a better company someday to remake this game and redeem it into the gem it truly deserved to be.

[@RaidenX196]

Odd thing about the premium currency I just noticed: If the initial cost is 4.99 for the smallest pack, and the next pack up is 9.99 for double the amount of currency. It's cheaper to buy two 4.99 packs. It may only be a penny in this instance but it counts, especially once you get into the metrics of the larger packs.

[@AmorphisBob]

That penny is negated in countries that charge tax on digital transactions

[@RaidenX196]

@@AmorphisBob That's true. Hadn't thought too much into that aspect.

[@HappyBeezerStudios]

@@AmorphisBob assuming those prices aren't already with tax included. Which is pretty common in terms of digital currency. I've played my fair share of games with cash shop and I have yet to find one that doesn't include VAT in the advertised prices. If it says 4.99 € in the game, they take 4.99 € On the other hand, paying 9.98 for two small packs instead of 9.99 for the bigger one might save a cent, but also takes twice as long. So you basically pay that tiny amount for the convenience of not having to buy a dozen packs.

[@dizu_5]

I dont know why but at 17:33 I laughed so hard because of Josh's comment before hearing the dialogue of the NPC, he sounded like he was garggling his throat and also constipated. Btw, these videos are great! Love this series and love watching a mix of critique of the game, gameplay, and funny comments made throughout. Great job as always

[@haidervonaltschauerbergen5103]

Glad you used the Josh dry face joke again. A friend and I have been exclusively referring to you that way since the first time you did and this felt strangely validating

[@carmalone91]

Hahaha i love this so much. Also thanks for the shoutout for my other favorite youtuber Mitchmanix, bro !

[@sumdude5172]

I was getting the classic Josh experience, as in minimized on the 2nd monitor while i work. Turned my head at the word jiggle and immediately got called out for it.

[@sebastiancintron29]

Your rivalry with that other guy who made Bronan is hilarious.

[@brindle21]

Mitchmanix

[@admiralackbar4767]

Josh: "The bearded clam", i see what you did here. Me: *mind blown*

[@maddyleaf]

2010-2012 was the golden era in this game, the raids, the pvp, the players, the worldbuilding, it was just different from all the other very safe options at the time, the fantasy felt more realistic and unique, it's brutal. And of course, it has the best tutorial in any MMO, Tortage is such an awesome vibe, feels like an actual adventure in a hostile strange world. Also, it has some incredibly unique class designs I have never seen anywhere else. Glad you found some enjoyment in it, even though the cash shop is laughable and the free version greatly limits the player.

[@insertcoin1981]

Bear shaman is Still The best healing class of any MMO. Very different from any other

[@belstar1128]

Yea too bad everyone was only playing wow and runescape back then .around 2012 all mmos started going bad so there is more demand for a game like this now .but the devs don't want to make stuff like this anymore

[@chrish813]

​@@insertcoin1981by far

[@mickypain2959]

First game I worked on (before it became unchained)… what a ride that was

[@MarlonDait]

@30:15 "For you. For all of us." am I spying a cheeky Loki reference?

[@aeoxgaming8128]

Day man, nice one, big approve, really great to watch new ones in this series after watching all of them in a few weeks, thank you!

[@street-zombie]

I used to love Age of Conan, and I still remember the Necromancer class as one of my favorites in a game. The further I got, though, the harder it was for me to find things to do, and eventually I felt like I was just grinding. And I always thought the game didn't give you new, better-looking equipment nearly often enough

[@maddyleaf]

Looking back, you kinda did look like a leatherman or a linen dress wearer until your first raid tier set. For me, that just made me wanna get to endgame faster.

[@UnblockedOne2]

same experience here. You leveled up, but not much really changed.

[@treadwyck]

Yeah, before they added the vanity tab there wasn't much diversity in appearance at all, let alone at the lower levels. Big reason why carries through Sanctum were so popular at 40. A lot of that gear was good and looked good too. Originally, gear wasn't meant to make a big difference, but they changed that within a year or so of release. Then you had to group up to grind bosses in the elite version of the maps to get better gear at your level, which people really didn't do much except to farm on their 80s to sell BoE pieces.

[@nathanmiller3447]

Damn, I remember playing this during release and my god was it a frustrating, hilariously fun mess of a game. Checkerboarding, broken raids, broken raids, unwinnable dragons. The bonds I made over the 3 yrs of playing was peak MMO.

[@tacitus7797]

Good description - plus it got more broken the further along you went. I only made it 6 months I think. Frustrating covered it.

[@some-replies]

That 7ft butcher joke was just pure cheese. I actually put down my dinner and typed this

[@michel0dy]

The fact that the question mark above characters is shaded makes it feel so solid and real. I can't not think that it's something that actually physically exists in-universe.

[@ZorValachan]

I loved this game when it came out. Every so often I go back and have to relearn everything I forgot, then once I have everything down pat again, I get distracted by another shiny game. I will note that this is the ONLY game I play with the music on. I really dislike music when playing games (it always distracts me from world sounds, but I once found myself really wanting to hear Conan music so played the Arnold Movie soundtrack and then went, "Duh, I just need to turn the music on." Music is spot on for me in this single game.

[@FirstLast-cg2nk]

To be fair, lava in real life pretty much does have an instant death aura around it. Heat travels from places that are hot to places that are not, so the area around lava is going to be hot enough to cook you alive instantly. Imagine putting your hand on a hot stove for five seconds, but instead it's 2000 degrees F and its your entire body, your lungs if you breathed in at the time, and your eyeball jelly flash boils and pops in their sockets. Yeah, jump over lava in real life, and you're either dead or wishing you were.

[@darknessml6145]

taking into account how jumping works, the brunt of the heat is on my balls and feet. So yeah makes sense

[@Echiewel]

To be fair to the other side though, given how many other games and movies use lava, some sort of warning might have been appropriate.

[@professorhaystacks6606]

So it's like sticking your hand into a stove only completely different. Got it.

[@Shadowburn2]

Uh, yeah, none of that is true. You can get pretty close to lava without being harmed. Hell, you can find numerous videos on youtube of people doing exactly that. You also cannot fall into lava. You tend to fall *onto* lava and just burn.

[@xenn4985]

​@@Shadowburn2Uh, yeah. Youre an idiot. The videos youre talking about are cooled down lava. Red uncooled lava does indeed have a death aura which is why you need reflective fireproof gear to get close to it.

[@faerieknight2298]

I also feel I should point out that the respawn upon death mechanic in Age of Conan does in fact have a lore reason for it.

[@Rynjinivar]

What's the lore behind it?

[@austenschiratti397]

@@Rynjinivar the big "tattoo" looking thing on your chest is called the mark of acheron, as a slave you were branded with it, which replaced your soul with a subservient, undead Acheronian one, making you technically undead and, in the game's own terms, "trapped in eternal undeath" reappearing at an acheronian stone when slain but never truly returned to life. the "touched by a god" bit Josh mentions is when the ship carrying you crashes you sink into an Atlantean ruin, which is where a piece of the Phoenix Medallion once was, which is the key item of the game's story and "temporarily" returns your soul to you, but you remain bound to the mark of acheron. The first half of the story revolves around piecing together the shattered Phoenix Medallion in order to banish the mark from yourself.

[@faerieknight2298]

@@Rynjinivar The tattoo every player character is required to have is a ritual marking that both lets a spirit forcefully possess the one so marked, and revives the one marked upon death so long as (in theory) their body isn't completely incinerated. This is a major plot point in Age of Conan's first 20 levels, (especially for Rogue type classes) and continues to be a plot point throughout the base game's story as you occasionally retrieve fragments of an ancient Atlantian amulet. The ship your char was on merely passing near one of the fragments ejected the possessing spirit from your character's body.

[@Arnil34]

Can I just say. I subscribed to both your channel and dumb ways to Kai solely on the quality of the first 3 mintues of this video. Bravo chaps! Good show!

[@Rubafix989]

At 21:36 In France the voice actor for that character is a super famous guy in the industry who voiced Zeus in Disney's Hercules amongst many others

[@guitars357]

Can’t remember how I found this channel, but I can’t stop watching you Josh, great content as always. I haven’t played an mmo since Maple Story in like 2009, but these videos make me feel so nostalgic in the best way

[@CakeAddict]

Aah, I remember playing this one when it first came out. Picked it up with two classmates but we didn't stick with it that long. At the time once you left the tutorial area the quality dropped drastically and it became fairly obvious that the game was very much unfinished. I mainly have memories of kicking people down cliffs with my horse and finding a broken build with a bow that could one-shot most enemies.

[@doctorsloth2707]

"succubussin'" legitimately got a good laugh, well done. Dabbled in this game a little, definitely far from the "worst" just overall boring which is a shame because I love the setting. Keep up the good work!

[@latioshunter]

"And then the most epic music happened while fighting this snake." Me: how epic could it be The Angels getting ready to sing in the Italian choir:

[@slay-many-foes1160]

I spotted a lot of animations that are reused in Conan Exiles from Dances to whole enemies like the giant bat, I found that pretty funny.

[@Lee-zn7lj]

Absolutely love your MMO reviews and have so far made it about 90% of all the ones you've made. I know it's not the exact same game as when it was live, but what are the chances of you doing City of Heroes: Homecoming? I think that was the first MMO I really got into and played for more than a few months (played it from about 2 years after it started and continued until it shutdown. Now that it's been resurrected I would love to see what you think of the current version. Anyway thanks for all the videos, a lot of them have brought back great memories of fun games and the wonderful people I played them with. I hope you continue to keep making them for a long long time!

[@luketfer]

Ah here's a question, is the Homecoming coverage ban still in effect? Wasn't there some issue with NCsoft basically saying "the Servers can keep existing without a Cease and Desist letter but we don't want people streaming them on twitch/doing youtube videos on them" I heard talk that it had been lifted but couldn't be sure.

[@Lee-zn7lj]

Yeah I'm not too sure about that either, which is partly why I asked the question. I thought if anyone would know it would probably be Josh. Hopefully it's possible but I honestly don't know the answer. I'll be keeping my fingers crossed hoping it is possible but if not I can still relive the experience in person if not get Josh's take on it. :)@@luketfer

[@Lee-zn7lj]

not sure if you saw it but within the last 10 days or so NCSoft officially licensed Homecoming!!! haven't seen the details of their license so not sure how this changes things like having Josh review them but seems like a highly positive development imo!@@luketfer

[@JJCUNSC]

10:15 bro you got me good. i do look at the second monitor every time you say jiggle haha

[@Cynndora]

Played this when it launched, was a fun and unique experience in what would soon become the era of the WoW-clone. Late in the main storyline you lose the tatoo you get at the start, but back at launch it was bugged and didn't get removed, so you had a kind of symbol of "i was there". i still remember the combo Assassins had where they could charge up their strongest combo and then before finishing it use their charge ability to basically 1 shot anyone that wasn't a tank, fun buggy times.

[@f.r8580]

The bit with Kai was so wholesome, god gave us two monitors for a reason

[@ridoranalighthouse]

the fact the alchemia story episode is the first recommendation after this one is comedy gold combined with the opening skit

[@FiendMatadorSlayerOfNoobs]

I played this way past it's prime as a f2p. Got to level 77 on a Necromancer through a ton of grinding and tried to find a secondary main class. Never managed to do so, but I think Demonologist was the closest I got. Quite a lot of the classes were pretty freaking cool. Loved Herald of Xotli as well. As for the game itself, I didn't dislike it, I just wish it managed to stay as strong as the 1-20 tutorial bracket in Tortage was. Loved the Spellweaving mechanic though. Also I'm still waiting for a video in this series on Perfect World or Rappelz.

[@foxyahriana]

A good thing to know is that voice acting stops for non main story quests after Tortage. They might have fixed that since I played so many years ago. But I doubt it!

[@mikeromney4712]

I really wonder if voice acting is actually such a loss of quality.

[@foxyahriana]

It disappointed me on launch. All the marketing just showed Tortage and everyone I watched doing the beta only did Tortage. So I just wanted to let ppl know if they want to try this. @@mikeromney4712

[@Tiberious125]

The game I NEVER got to play because my parents KNEW what the Conan the barbarian/Hyborian Age setting was like. Thanks for the video.

[@belstar1128]

and now that you are adult the game is ruined so younger generations can never enjoy it

[@neoxen1yes415]

bro engaged in combat with the serpent from the garden of Edan

[@13thcentury]

I played this since launch. Still have the box set and map 👍 Played a Barb called "Skog". Some really good memories from this game.

[@Moewenfels]

Gotta say Josh. Considering a recent wonderful plagiarism-on-youtube video it is WONDERFUL to see how well you treat other peoples content. You literally turned jokes you wanted to make, but realized they already were made into jokes about wanting to have made them first. And how its all integrated in showing off other peoples content in a wholesome instead of competetive or copy pasta way is great to see. All the thumbs up. (edit: geeez Josh, whats with your fanbase tho?)

[@Whitesxde21]

Josh is the hero we need

[@theremix54]

Hbomberguy lost his credibility when he got mad at IH for claiming his dashcon video was "transphobic". Cant listen to somebody who unironically says shit like that.

[@ahouyearno]

IH is a plagiarist as well as a general doofus. He said what he said and hbomb gets to call it what it is. If you prefer a transphobic plagiarist over someone with integrity, you do you but for everyone except you, hbomberguy still has all the credibility while IH has none

[@batdoge5507]

We also can't invalidate an entire argument by pointing at one take and discarding the rest. @@theremix54

[@igooog]

(he actually takes hbomberguy seriously lmfao)

[@avekrso285]

I remember when this game came out, it had the best mmo graphics ever released, and it's mechanics revolutionary to me and my friends. It had some of the best pvp montages videos ever with the execution like finishers

[@DantesTyphoon]

This game still has the best classes and class balance. Everyone is equally as valuable solo, group, raid, and pvp. The base rotation is very fun. The games opening 20 levels are just a fun rpg id recommend to anyone even if you have no interest in continuing My favorite unique class is The Bear Shaman is a melee healer who does dps to boost healing and healing to boost dps

[@ChristmasLore]

Currently playing an Arcanist solo in ESO, and I'm having fun! (But then, I'm a complete noob, only level 38, mostly questing and exploring)

[@woulfmondsden7520]

I cant watch these videos fully but the intros are allways the best, keep up the good job

[@dylanmiranda911]

The random epic music for the snake caught me hella off guard. Thought the rapture had begun

[@XDeadzX]

Yeah, probably. Definitely going to enjoy this one after spending years playing it _ages_ ago.

[@Merin167]

Top memmory I have of Age of Conan. 0 (Zero) was in the random loot roll numerics, so you could random NEED ROLE, an item.. roll a 0 (Zero) and it would say you "Passed" on the item. Lost out on a staff that would have carried my Priest of MItra for 10 levels or more at the time because of that.

[@Patryk-nd3uk]

My god this game was glorius in it's peak, spend more time in it then i'd like to admit. The music brought back some nostalgia

[@EgaoKage]

21:18 I recognize his voice too. Did he do the male Nord voices in Morrowind, as well as do lots of other voice-acting for TES games?

[@dixieflatline1189]

Thx for the video! Back in 2008/9 I was that Dark Templar - tanking was horrendous until you juiced up a bit. Its was all fun until population tanked. Good memories

[@soulslider5117]

Mitchs video is the reason I have a level 71 Dark Templar rn. I think the combo system hooked me, along with some rather good dungeons. The community is bigger than you think, tbh. Easily my main of 2023. Remember seeing ads for this game when I was a super broke 14 year old 😂 Also, nothing beats hearing "The Dreaming" while exploring the snow peaks of Aztels Approach. The soundtrack is the best MMO soundtrack to date, imo!

[@nazgulsenpai]

Same and level 62 Assassin here :)

[@The.Crawling.Chaos.]

Been playing since 2012 and I still play these days. Which also mean that I have done everything on nearly all classes. So these days I mostly show up for Tier 5 and 6 raids and do Master+ timers in 6mans :)

[@insertcoin1981]

Not best MMO soundtrack. Best game sountrack in general. It is Still amazing

[@jessaminehaak8253]

As someone who still plays The Secret World (the original version, not Secret World Legends), it's funny how many of the things Josh ends up liking about how the story is crafted (different classes go to the same area but have different narratives) are a big part of Secret World but he just didn't get to find out about because he only played Illuminati. This isn't said as a criticism of Josh but more as a way to ruminate on whether you can really count something like that as a game feature if it requires the player to give up on and replay certain content. Secret World is a bit more lenient than only having one character slot (you get three, one for each faction), and I do enjoy seeing the various story quests from each faction's side as a particular draw to Secret World, but as a storytelling style for Funcom to develop it clearly has its drawbacks in that its not immediately obvious to the player. For people who play a lot of it it's clearly an interesting aspect, but it's equally clearly not enough to pin your hopes of sucking players in on when it's so easy to miss.

[@HappyBeezerStudios]

I feel like having as many character slots as there are factions is something every MMO should have. Perhaps with the option to buy more slots if you want to later. But just the ability to play each side is important to truly dive into the game.

[@ebeleingram8048]

Three question for you 1) How are you playing OG Secret World when I thought it was shutdown/replaced by Legends. 2) Why do you still play, is it not dead and harder to play since its geared towards cooperative play? 3)Do you actually recommend either of them or do you play it for nostalgia.

[@HappyBeezerStudios]

@@ebeleingram8048 my guess is they are playing on a private/3rd party server.

[@jessaminehaak8253]

@@ebeleingram8048 Apologies, I didn't see this reply until now because youtube messed around with how it does notifications in my region. They left the OG Secret World servers up when they started Secret World Legends and since I was playing at the time there were a fair number of people looking for a way to keep playing the original (I don't enjoy a number of the gameplay changes that were made, so I was never interested in Legends). You can find tutorials/explanations of how to get your launcher to boot to the OG servers online - it's been so many years now that I don't even remember how to do it. I still play because Secret World scratches a particular itch for me that I've never found any other game to replace; being able to pore through all of the skills and come up with your own totally unique class build is too cool for me to let go of. I'm sure there are guides out there that have found the specific combinations with The Best Numbers, but I personally am not someone who plays MMOs to be the best DPS on the server and am more interested in what I can make and how fun it is than maximising output or following the meta. I also find it intimidating to play with strangers in any MMO so I'm pretty used to there being heaps of content I just can't do (though it can be a little disappointing sometimes of course). With all that in mind I don't exactly think the reasons I still play Secret World will be ones that many other potential players would relate to. I've never played Secret World Legends because (as I said) I didn't like a number of the gameplay control changes that were made from the original. I have physical disabilities that make mouselook games much, much harder for me to play for any decent period of time than fixed camera games. That said, I wouldn't exactly say that I would recommend *either*, unless you're someone making a horror videogame and looking for something to analyse to give you tips on what to do and not do, or someone who wants to do like. A video essay on videogames with incredibly wasted potential. If it had been handled right, I kind of think that Secret World could have been an incredibly popular single-player scifi thriller game with eldritch horror elements, but the MMO scaffolding really only detracts from its good points. The writing is overall very good and often compelling (Josh was annoyed by the Illuminati characters, but the Illuminati are SUPPOSED to be annoying... it's their whole schtick. Not that I'm defending the Illuminati because I hate them lmao, but that's why I just don't play my Illuminati character very often.) and the voice acting is extremely high quality. The locations are extremely detailed and very atmospheric, the puzzles are appropriately difficult and varied, and I obviously find the gameplay very fun... but it just shouldn't have been an MMO.

[@toddbrickley]

This game has such great ambiance. It's a shame it didn't take off. Such a great world.

[@raafmaat]

it did take off! i played during launch and a couple of months after, it was stupidly busy! i remember when i arrived in the big white hub city that i fugured some kind of event must be going on, it was super crowded!

[@Wyzai]

Story of all their games, maybe. Secret World has great ambiance and an interesting world. It has atrocious game mechanics and no playerbase.

[@raafmaat]

@@Wyzai yeah secret world also used to be pretty good, but then they rereleased it under the Legends name, but suddenly we could no longer have things like bazookas etc..... it was just dull after Legends came out so obviously the player base died

[@DamnedEyez]

That was thoroughly enjoyable. As someone who hasn't played Age of Conan in something like 15 years, it was nice to see where it is nowadays. Some things are familiar, others not, but you made it quite entertaining.

[@ExtremeDeathman]

AoC was released 15 years ago, so you didn't actually play it?! 🤔😎

[@DamnedEyez]

@@ExtremeDeathman I played it heavily for 6 months in the first year it came out. Unfortunately there was a rather loud population of ex WoW players that go the devs to change things so it was a little bit more like that, so I didn't play a whole lot after the first year. Popped in once in awhile to look around, but not much else.

[@haaly7245]

I don't think I'll ever get tired of "Behold!" (pause for effect) "combat."

[@DalariusPVP]

Got to level 60-something on there, leveled solo up until 15-ish then joined a Guild and they weren't on all the time bc from what I've gathered from playing on and off for a while was that mostly Euros play, I barely see any NA people, which caused me to not play as much as I struggled grinding solo after level 50, it gets gnarly, and I think that has to do with the fact that the exp needed goes up exponentially due to all the group content available at that point, but there's NOBODY to run dungeons with. So I quit.

[@axllaw427]

I like the part where Bronan said "It's Bronin' Time!" and bro'ed all over the place. Once again, another fantastic video and top tier narration

[@jeuxantistress]

Age of Conan is still one of my favorite mmorpgs out there. Not necessarily because of its gameplay, but funcom did a great job with the whole artstyle, the worlddesign, the stories. I can realy feel Howard when im wandering throuth the beautiful and wide areas of hyboria. Especially Rise of the Godslayer. Khitai has such ja good vibe. And did i mentioned the music? This game has such an fantastic soundtrack! Damn i love this game. I wish it had more active players these days.

[@grugg5353]

I completely agree the gameplay is fun I like it but the art style and the whole aesthetic of the game music armor architecture of the different regions and cultures is really cool, despite fun com’s short comings I think they could not have done a better job with the world of hyboria visually

[@leeisringhaus7513]

Aaaaaand... now I'm following your friend's channel too. That was hilarious.

[@jakeurbs2208]

Cheers Mitch, Great video