Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures Interview
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MTV Multiplayer: Is Funcom aware of fans' disappointment with some of the promised things not appearing in the game? If so, how are you addressing those issues?
Tharaldsen: Oh yeah, very aware, I would say. And we are naturally working hard to ensure that this disappointment gets changed into something positive. Firstly, it's important to note that these kinds of (things) break down clearly into two very different situations. You have some ideas that were just that: ideas, when we came to actually implement them in the game they simply didn't work well, or at all.
Sometimes when you take an idea from concept and plans on paper to balance in the game it just doesn't fit, or causes too many other issues. In those cases, it's actually better that we cut them; those were informed decisions in the best interests of the overall player experience formation combat was probably the major thing here. In practice it just didn't work anywhere near as well as it sounded like it should on paper. We are glad we didn't try and force something through there for the sake of it!
Then of course there are the areas that, at some point during the final stretch, we were caught between a rock (time and resources) and a hard place (our promises), and that the end results did not deliver on all the promises made. Personally, as I see it, I think this let down some people more than what the game actually delivered (because (Conan) is an awesome game in many ways!).
As a result the game many played in their heads before launch didn't necessarily match the game delivered. It's easy to be wise in hindsight, but now that we are past the launch crunch we have time and resources to focus more on the quality of each deliverable, as well as time to put focus on what is important to the players, right here and now. And this is the way forward: more real results, and then results which lead to fun and meaningful experiences inside the game.
