I have seen lots of folk out there trying to find ways to download the AoC client, even though it’s a hefty almost 13GB.  I was looking too and what I found was this:

• There is no (official) digital download/delivery method in place for the AoC client from Funcom.  Right now, if you want the game, you have to buy it retail.
• That being said, I found that the early access client that was available for download by the players that signed up for early access to the game, will work for playing live right now.  After the download, it will patch up to live (another ~800MB) and you can then play.
• There are two clients, one for the US and one for the EU.  If you are in the US, you need the US client, and the same for EU.

So, after much searching, I found links to the early access downloader.  This is a small file that will then download all of the game install files.  I don’t know how long this will work, but as of 5/23/2008 it was still working and allowed me to buy a key from an online retailer (Offgamers), download the game and start playing.  Make no mistake, I paid for the game, this is not a way to play for free and I don’t in any way condone stealing. However, for people like me who live in rural areas where you can’t buy it off the shelf without a long trip to another town, and didn’t want to wait for Amazon to ship to play the game it’s a great thing.

Here are the links that I found to the US and EU downloader tool:

• http://funcom.cachefly.net/AoC-US-EarlyAccess.exe
• http://funcom.cachefly.net/AoC-EU-EarlyAccess.exe

Good luck!