Gamer Monkey » Age of Conan

Age of Conan: Unchained crafting updates and new content

Lifebane — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 01:24:56 +0000

In the August edition of the Funcom Monthly Development Update for Age of Conan: Unchained the dev team talks about what’s been keeping them busy since the launch of the “Unchained” or free to play variations of the MMORPG. The development of The Savage Coast of Turan, the new adventure pack coming in early 2012, as well as the upcoming changes to the tradeskill/crafting system has had them all burning the midnight oil it seems. Below is a quote from the Monthly Development Update:

We have started preliminary work on a revamp of the tradeskill system that exists in the game. Now that many of the other areas have been tweaked and improved, it is an area that we have wanted to get at for some time. While tradeskills were never a huge selling point for a game with a license like ours, they are a key part of an MMO, so we have started work on new designs to revamp and invigorate the crafting systems in the game. This will be a lengthy process, as it is no small undertaking, and we will talk a lot more in terms of details towards the end of the year, and envision the new systems going live at some stage in the first half of next year (providing, as always, that all goes to plan). We didn’t want to try and band aid the existing system, so this is more of a substantial update that will hopefully integrate a deeper, more involving system for people to enjoy.

check out the original announcement over at the Age of Conan site.

Rise of the Godslayer to launch on May 11th

Lifebane — Sat, 24 Apr 2010 02:05:39 +0000

Durham, USA – April 23rd, 2010 – Funcom is proud to announce the launch of the pre-order campaign for ‘Rise of the Godslayer’, the first expansion for the highly acclaimed massively multiplayer online role-playing game ‘Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures’. The expansion, set in the eastern empire of Khitai, builds on an already extensive Conan universe and will let players travel to a unique part of Conan’s world where an ancient traditional culture clashes with dark forces. ‘Rise of the Godslayer’ expands on an already massive game world, and will also introduce entirely new and exciting gameplay mechanics.

The expansion will launch on May 11th and will be available both through retail and as a digital download. In retail the expansion will come in an all-new packaging that includes both the expansion and the original game, allowing new players to quickly get up to speed with all the new content and gameplay. The retail product comes bundled with a new social pet as well as a package of virtual items to welcome new players to Hyboria.

Funcom is proud to be working with two new distribution partners, Deep Silver for the European territories and CompuExpert for the North American markets. Both Deep Silver and CompuExpert are heralded industry-leading distributors with over 35 years of combined experience.

“We are now ready to publish the expansion and it feels great to sound the horn and let players into this great new world that we have created,” says Morten Larssen, Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Funcom. “It is also very exciting to be re-engaging with retail together with our great distribution partners with an updated product that contains both the expansion and the original game, making this release relevant to both new players, previous players and our current playerbase.”

As a pre-order reward a new form of in-game pet that aids players in battle is premiered. This pet will immediately be given to all existing customers that pre-order before the launch date, as well as to all retail customers that register up until the 25th of May. Combined with this launch, Funcom is also introducing a digital Collector’s Edition optional upgrade, which among other things gives immediate access to a flying fighting pet. The upgrade to the digital Collector’s Edition is now available through the customer account page.

The soundtrack of the expansion content is simultaneously being made available in all major territories through Grappa records, including a bonus DVD with full 5.1 surround recording. The soundtrack will also include a key that will unlock a unique in-game bone flute.

Launching in May 2008 ‘Age of Conan’ quickly became a smash hit in retail, shipping over 1.2 million copies around the world. In North America, the most prominent online gaming market in the west, ‘Age of Conan’ became the third best-selling PC title of the year in 2008. In the weeks after launch ‘Age of Conan’ simultaneously topped the charts in 17 countries, and the game received critical acclaim from gaming press across the globe. ‘Age of Conan’ is now available in English, French, German, Spanish, Russian and Polish localized versions, and is being prepared for launch in Korea as well.

Go to http://www.ageofconan.com for more information such as a complete list of features.

New mounts come with Rise of the Godslayer in AOC

Lifebane — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 15:22:19 +0000

The folks over at Funcom have snuck us a peek at the mounts which will be released as part of their upcoming expansion, Rise of the Godslayer. They have two mounts, the wolf and the tiger, that will be available to players through a curious quest series. Apparently you will pick up your mount as a young cub/pup then through a series of events raise it through adolescence and up to its ride able adulthood.

This is definitely a different way of introducing mounts, but is not unheard of since those of you that recall the original Creature Handler from Star Wars Galaxies would be all too familiar with this concept of raising your pet or mount. Below is the official post about these creatures and we’ve also linked the mount preview video for your viewing pleasure.

“Rise of the Godslayer – Mounts

Rise of the Godslayer introduces some new mounts to the Age of Conan universe. Funcom is proud to announce the fearsome wolf mount, in addition to the previously revealed tiger mount as well as the Hyrkanian horse. The wolf and tiger mount follow an all new series of epic quests where the player will not simply be given the mount – they must capture it as a cub and hand raise it in order to one day ride these magnificent beasts. The quests to tame these beasts will see the players traverse several regions to train the cub and gather supplies.

“Some of the thinking behind this new system is that players will create a connection with their new mount,” says Joel Bylos, Lead Designer on the Rise of the Godslayer expansion. “Raising the mount from a cub and teaching it how to hunt, track and fight is a long process, and by the time players have proven themselves worthy of riding it a bond has been created. When you see players riding a tiger or a wolf you’ll know that it is not just a right to do so, it’s an earned privilege.”

Riding a Wolf

”They say that dogs are man’s best friend, but wolves? Wolves are stand-offish and they don’t like humans much. We smell.” – Wolves of the Steppes Raider

Eventually being able to ride a wolf into battle will not be an easy task, and the player must go through several quests where the wolf will grow with each quest completed. The types of wolves range from a small cub that merely follows the player around, to a fully grown wolf, capable of carrying its master and inflict pain on those standing in its way.

The only way to get a wolf is to get it young and separate it from the pack. This will prove that you are worthy to be the pack leader – if you die then you were not strong enough to replace the pack leader. Finding the pack is the first challenge –killing them is the second. At first, the wolf is too small to be much help to the player. The wolf needs to learn to hunt and kill prey. This will take some time and effort.

A wolf must also be able to scent their prey and use that scent to determine between friend and foe. The player must teach their wolf to understand the different scents of the world and to teach them the smells. The wolf must then be tested to ensure that it knows the difference.

The wolf is not a creature inclined to carry a rider; indeed it is far more likely to cast off the player and use them as a meal. But if the player wishes to ride the wolf, they must make a harness which is strong enough to hold and direct the wolf. In time, it will become used to their efforts.

The Wolf mount comes with two special abilities – firstly to be able to scent nearby enemies and warn their master of impending stealth attacks. Secondly to be able to dig for buried treasures in the landscapes of Khitai.

The wolf mount has the longest endurance of any mount in the game, it can be used to sprint for very long periods of time.

Taming a Tiger

”Do you think that these beasts simply roll over and let you scratch them on the belly? This isn’t like riding horse – that is unless you’ve ever heard of a horse with claws as long as your forearm and teeth that would give a dragon nightmares.” – Tamarin’s Tigers Mercenary

The tiger, known to the Vendhyans as the Vaaghasan, is closely linked to the Tamarin’s Tigers faction. To be eligible to even attempt to ride a tiger, the player must first become a member of Tamarin’s Tigers.

The first task that the player must undertake is to find a worthy companion. This is both a rite to prove oneself as one of Tamarin’s men, and also the rite in which the player gains their very own tiger. Players must first find a tiger den. They must then remove all of their armour and weapons and kill the Tigress using nothing but their bare hands. The reward for this quest is a tiger cub that will follow the player.

Now that the player has their companion, they will need to grow them into the predator they were always meant to be. This will take some time and effort on behalf of the player. They must start with small prey and work their way up to some of the toughest beasts that can still be eaten.

Soon, the cub has grown into an awkward adolescent. It knows how to eat and even how to use its teeth to kill, but it knows nothing of subtlety. Now it must learn how to stalk like a beast in the woods. In Vendhya, the Tamarin’s Tigers train their animals using some of the spirits that they summon from their own mythology. But here… there is only one choice. The Vendhyans have heard of a white tiger spirit, revered by the Khitan as the very epitome of grace and virtue. The player must speak with some local priests to learn how to summon the animal spirit. Once the spirit is summoned, the player and their tiger pet must follow it on the hunt, and remain undetected.

The young tiger has learned how to hunt and stalk its prey, but now it must be taught the lesson of survival as a man. Not all creatures can be eaten, not all creatures can be avoided. Sometimes men simply fight and kill for the sheer need of it. Such bloodlust is not natural for an animal – it must be taught at the hands of a master.

Tamarin judges that the man and the vaaghasan are as one. He will be the judge to see if the bond is now strong enough that the vaaghasan will consent to let them ride. But first, there is the matter of the saddle. The saddle of a Tiger is not something that can be purchased – it must be assembled by the one who wishes to ride.

Once a player has fully trained their tiger mount, they will be able to use it to stealth around playfields without being seen.

The vaaghasan is the mount with the fastest sprint speed in the game. This emulates the explosive power of the tiger over short distances.”

Age of Conan: Patch notes Feb 4, 2010

Lifebane — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 15:03:45 +0000

Update Notes 1.06 – 4th February

New Feature: Guild Renown

Guild Renown is a new leveling and reward system for guilds in Age of Conan. Members of guilds can experience their epic adventures as they normally do today while contributing to their guild’s Renown simply by playing the game. There are three types of Renown – Valor (PvE), Glory (PvP), and Artistry (Crafting), which broadly describe three different play styles. As players progress in game, they will be able to progress their Guild Renown for the entire guild and unlock awesome rewards to be shared with each member of their guild. Guild Renown has a maximum of 20 levels to be achieved by the entire guild.

Every week, Age of Conan will rank the top-earning guilds, not only in total points earned (of any kind), but also in the total Valor, Glory, and Artistry earned for that week.

This article here provides further details about the rankings and rewards for each of the 20 Guild Renown levels.

New Tier 3 Raid Instance: “Thoth-Amon’s Stronghold”

Thoth-Amon’s Stronghold is our new Tier 3 raid instance. It has seven boss encounters, including Thoth-Amon himself. In addition players will encounter some of Thoth-Amon’s most powerful allies, both new ones and some they might have met, or at least heard of, before – like Hathor-Ka. Thoth-Amon’s castle is located in the city of Kheshatta.

Read this article to learn more about this new raid instance.

New Raid Loot Token System

Update 1.06 also adds something the players have been requesting for a long time – a token system for raid loot. The token system is added to Tier 1 and Tier 2 as well as Tier 3 raids.

More details about this system can be found in this article.

Assassin Revamp

Update 1.06 introduces a number of improvements we could make to the Assassin class in several different areas. We have generally taken a somewhat different approach to the class revamps which have occurred since the 1.05 update, and this was applied to the Assassin during the course of its revamp. Among other things, it involves giving a revamped class some unique set of mechanics that encourage meaningful tactical choice on the battlefield. But also a distinct identity in how the class feels and plays to the player, as well as opponents facing the class and also how the class is viewed by group members.

This article describes the Assassin revamp in detail.

Changes to the Crowd Control System

Based on ongoing feedback from players concerning crowd control abilities, and the impact of these abilities specifically in PvP scenarios, a number of improvements have been made to how crowd control behaves in Age of Conan. These are changes which have generally been evaluated and considered for some time, and we feel 1.06 is the right update to deliver these to players, due to other CC changes also going in the same update.

Read this article to learn more about the changes to the Crowd Control System.

GENERAL

New player emote added – /emote sleep.
The “Skewbald Pinto Horse” by the Mount Vendor in Old Tarantia should now correctly resemble the visual appearance of a Skewbald Pinto.
Aegis of Blood gem proc has been given a buff.
Fixed issues with spellcasting-animations that caused them to play too fast/end abruptly/not match the actual spell being cast very well.
PVP Armor Vendors and Token Vendors should no longer, under very rare circumstances, spawn multiple times.
Fixed an issue which caused raidlocking to not work properly.
Target’s target should now work properly again.
There is now a new launcher window with a new look and added functionality.
Fixed an exploit with a tier 2 crafting encounter.
Players should no longer see two characters entered in chat instead of one, on certain keyboards.
The Old Tarantia PvP vendors have been moved into their own instance. Look for the new Tarantia Armory!

COMBAT

Classes that do not use stamina for combos will no longer be able to use stamina potions.
Fixed an issue where damage from offhand attacks was granting too much hate for multi-hit combo finishers
Fixed various issues regarding hate and aggro management.
Pets will now spread in a wider area around the owner (within 6 meters). This should greatly decrease the issues with pets randomly dying.
Combo starter tooltips now show the same damage independent of your state.
Fixed an issue where sometimes effects from buffs and debuffs were getting applied twice, such as with the death penalty.

CLASSES

Assassin

A full detailed list of changes for this class can be read here.

Barbarian

Too Many To Count should no longer taunt guards.
It should once again be possible to trigger fatalities with the Whirlwind-combos.
Blood Crazed is now called Blood Fury, and has been changed to be a clickable which consumes 5 stacks of Blood Rage for a small DPS boost.
Back in the Fray has been slightly buffed.
Changed tooltip for Reaver Stance so it accurately reflects maximum stack size.

Conqueror

Crushing Onslaught will now apply two separate debuffs – one for the snare effect and another for the damage debuff. The snare effect will follow all normal rules for crowd control immunities. This is to support raid encounters where a boss needs to have only one of the immunities.
Thunderhead Banner now does an AoE mana burn (similar to how Fireweave Banner works) in addition to its current effects.

Dark Templar

Blood Hex will now do increased healing when in Frenzy Stance.
Invulnerable Soul should reapply its buff effect after resurrecting from a PvP death.

Demonologist

Reduced the range of the Fiery Torment, Storm Chains, Possession, Gate of Hell, Wicked Bolt, and Detonation spells to 5 meters.
Reduced the range of the Agonizing Jolts spell to 15 meters.
Inferno of Amher and Shockblast will now critically hit like they are supposed to when you have the spellweaving buff Hand of Doom.
Fixed text of Draw forth the Heart. Should now reflect that the caster is indeed a demonologist.
Increased the proc rate of Incinerate from the third rank of Blazing Fire. This should allow Incinerate to always apply when Combustion is feated.
Pets should now have out of combat health regeneration.

Herald of Xotli

Hellfire Breath and Demonic Fortitude have been given a new instant-cast animation that resembles the non-instant casting animations for the same spells.

Necromancer

Reduced the range of the Freeze spell to 5 meters.
Reduced the range of the Ice Shackle spell to 10 meters.
Reduced the range of the Unholy Hands spell to 15 meters.
Necromancers are only able to have one Frozen Hatred. Instead of a new Frozen Hatred spawning, the duration of the pet will increase by 60 seconds for every fatality. This is capped at 5 minutes. To visualize the duration, the Fronzen hatred will grow and shrink based on the time remaining. Larger means longer duration.
Necromancers get a new spell from level 1 called “Frozen Hatred”. This spell works like a stance applying a buff that persists over death and can be deactivated by casting it again. This buff needs to be active for the Frozen Hatred to appear when you or your group members do a fatality. This way necromancers can choose when they want these frozen giants to appear.
Touch of Winter should now apply snare immunity when affecting players.
Pets should now have out of combat health regeneration.

Priest of Mitra

Reduced the range of the Eye of Judgment and Condemn spells to 5 meters.
Reduced the range of the Repudiate spell to 10 meters.
Removed the casting time of the Condemn spell. This spell will now apply its stun effect instantaneously.
Reduced the cast time of Repudiate to 1 second.
Repudiate will now follow the normal rules for crowd control breaking (breaks on % health loss instead of a % chance when taking damage).

Ranger

Immolation should do a fire damage hit when executed, as intended.
Traps have been given an overhaul, and should now behave more reliably.

Tempest of Set

Reduced the range of the Cobra Stare spell to 5 meters.
Reduced the range of the Quicksand, Visions of Hatred, and Puppets of Set spells to 10 meters.
Reduced the range of the Thundering Voice spell to 15 meters.
Thundering Voice should now properly interrupt the target of the spell.

PVP

General

When a player is attacked guards will now attempt to protect this player, instead attempting to chase the aggressor.

Massive PvP

Spellweaving players now properly get affected by knockback when getting hit by enemy siege weapons.

Minigames

Hallowed Vaults: The direct passage from the center room to the flag rooms is now filled with Poisonous Gas. It’s best to not stay in this area very long, as it can be hazardous to your health.
Totem Torrent: Adjusted some collision walls to improve the gameplay flow.
The amount of PvP XP in the minigames has been doubled. The amount of PvP XP rewarded will depend on the duration of the minigame.
Capture the Skull: Guardians are now able to safely use their Last Stand ability while picking up and carrying the skull.
It should now be more difficult to interrupt players that are picking up the skull.

RAIDS

Kylikki and Leviathus now have a chance of dropping rare unique social pets. This is also the case with the new raid boss Thoth-Amon.

QUESTS

The following quests in Thoth-Amon’s Stronghold have been removed:

Traitors to Stygia
Mizra’s Lost Child
So Speaks Mighty Set
The Renegade Legion
The Keeper of Artifacts
Apostates of Acheron
Appeasing Crazed Demons
Heretics of Acheron

The following quest in Thoth-Amon’s Stronghold has been changed:

The Fall of Thoth-Amon

Unlimited free trial for Age of Conan

Lifebane — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 23:11:27 +0000

Following in the footsteps of their rival mmo company, Funcom announced that they are offering unlimited free trial accounts to those that register before January 1st, 2010. Back in November, EA and Mythic announced a never-ending trial for Warhammer Online, with a level cap of 10 of course.

Funcom is following their example with this limited time offer that lets players slaughter people in Age of Conan indefinitely and with an even better level cap of 20! Take that Mythic! Those of you that create a trial account before January 1, 2010, will enjoy this unlimited trial and you can live out your life perpetually on the Island of Tortage. Ironically some might argue that this is a great deal since that area is without doubt the most fleshed out and polished part of the game even today.

Remember now, the Unlimited Free Trial offer ends with the new year! Go see some nipples and heads chopped off for free! Quite possibly the most perfect way to spend your holiday season wouldn’t you say?

Age of Conan Letter from the Game Director

Lifebane — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 14:19:37 +0000

This month has been a bit hectic with work on the next major update alongside the work on the expansion and managing to wedge in a trip to Korea for the GStar even in Busan. This has meant that it was a little bit of a rush for me between all the travelling to prepare this text.

Trying to write a coherent text from airport lounges is always a little challenging! I didn’t want to miss the month though!

Postcards from Busan
The show in Busan went very well. Our partners at Neowiz did an amazing job of presenting the game. The show-floor booth was very well put together and they put on a wonderful show for the Korean players. It was great to see people enjoying the localized version and getting to grips with Age of Conan for themselves.

Online gaming is more established and the number of choices of available titles for the Korean gamers is wider. It is a very competitive market and it will be really interesting to see if we can make some inroads into that market with our own game. It’s definitely a daunting challenge, but an enjoyable one all the same. We make games for the people that play them, and one thing that visits like the one this week confirms for me is that there is definitely the appetite for good online games there!

What’s coming up…
The team is busily preparing the 1.06 update for the test servers this week. Prepare to see a lot more information on the update as soon as the update is available for testing. We will have full preliminary release articles for the features for you all to digest. We are really looking forward to getting the feedback on the Guild Renown and the tier three raiding. It has been a few weeks of hard work resolving the technical issues that popped up after 1.05.6 and we are looking forward to catching up with the 1.06 progress.

Looking at the balance.
The next major update to the character development system will be in the form of the Alternate Advancement system that comes with the expansion. That said, we are looking at a few areas where we can make some minor adjustments prior to the alternate advancement system. In the course of the 1.06 series we will be making a series of changes based on the balance concerns surrounding the balance between melee users and casters, in particular on two areas – crowd control and stamina usage.

In terms of the crowd control we are going to be making some significant changes to the crowd control abilities. Specifically we are looking at reducing the range on the majority of the casting class’s crowd control abilities. The intention is to not have those abilities be something that allows people to keep someone at range, rather they will become escape abilities more than ‘pinning’ abilities as they will require your target to already be inside melee range.

Combined with this we will be preventing the casting classes from utilizing stamina potions. This should significantly reduce the duration of the casters ability to ‘kite’ melee players, while still reserving it for escape situations or well timed usage.

Obviously we will be testing these changes during the course of the 1.06 cycle testing on the test servers.

The remainder of the feedback is being taken into consideration when the systems team is working through the new feat trees, combos, spells and abilities for the Alternate Advancement system.

See you in Hyboria!

As we head into December I am really looking forward to being able to get the 1.06 update really put through its paces. Keep your eyes out for the preliminary update articles very shortly and I hope you all enjoy the month in Hyboria!”

Funcom reports 69% drop in revenues

Lifebane — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 23:05:28 +0000

The Norway-based Game and MMO developer, Funcom, released its latest financial results for its third quarter. The financial results are grim and indicate that revenues were down year-over-year by 69%!

During this same quarter, Funcom posted a loss of 9.6 million US Dollars, compared to the 3.3 million US Dollar profit they made last year. According to the financial statement the company still has approximately 34.8 million US Dollars in cash reserves and steps taken thus far have reduced monthly costs by around 400,000 US Dollars per month. They did open a new facility in Montreal back in September so who knows what havoc that will play on expenses as the months go by.

Funcom’s current major title, Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures, is scheduled to launch next year in Korea. That along with the upcoming new expansion may breathe some much needed life into their ailing MMO empire. They have great aspirations for their “in the works” new MMO, The Secret World. Time will tell if the new title can gain them market share and enough profitability to stay afloat in this competitive MMO market.

Q4 revenue is not expected to be any better than Q3, rough seas ahead folks.

Return to Age of Conan offer back in effect

Lifebane — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 22:43:10 +0000

The folks over at Funcom have renewed their “come back to Hyboria” campaign so previous players of Age of Conan can return to try the game out again for 14 days free of charge. No purchase is required to go revisit the land of Conan and they’ve extended some new appealing offers and bonuses for people who choose to renew their subscriptions.

Below is the content of the recent email they sent out with this new set of offers:

“Now you can play Age of Conan again for 14 days completely FREE of charge! This offer does not require any purchase as long as you act before November 27^th, 2009. There are also some amazing rewards available to you if you purchase game time now!

Funcom is currently working on the game’s first expansion called Rise of the Godslayer. Set in a distant, eastern empire, this expansion promises to deliver countless hours of new high-level content. Now is the time to start playing again to prepare for this whole new adventure!

If you choose to purchase additional game time during this campaign period, you will receive:

	Subscribe for 1 month and get one week of additional gametime for free
	Subscribe for 3 months and get guaranteed access to the closed beta test of The Secret World + the reward above*
	Subscribe for 6 months and get the Hyrkanian Headguard, an epic armor piece with a 10% XP boost + all rewards above
	Subscribe for 12 months and get the Rise of the Godslayer expansion for free + all above**

In addition we have also increased the discounts on the longer subscription cycles: 3 months gives a 20% discount, 6 months gives a 30% discount, and 12 months gives a 45% discount.
Each bonus item can only be received once per account.

* Access to later stages of the closed beta, date of access to be announced
** When launched in first half of 2010

Your free 14 day re-evaluation period starts when you first log into the game.

Click here to learn more
or Click here to reactivate now

Welcome back to Hyboria Adventurer!”

Age of Conan Exec Producer talks melee balance

Lifebane — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 02:30:21 +0000

The folks over at mmorpg.com managed to tie down Age of Conan Executive Producer Craig Morrison and get his opinions on the future balance of melee versus ranged/casters. The article sheds some light on the developers perspective while still not giving us that ever elusive “balanced” pot of gold for the poor melee classes out there.

Check out the original article here. You can read below for an excerpt from the post.

“I think before you look at the challenges specific to MMO combat in terms of balance between any two sets of character types you have to define what we are usually trying to achieve in terms of balance.

You might think it was easiest to define it very straightforwardly as ‘every time I fight I have a 50/50 chance of winning or losing based my skill and approach’ but when you actually push players about what many feel about gameplay the reality is that they would feel balance was better when they have a chance of losing, but that they should win more than lose. Most seem to tend towards wanting something like a 75/25 mix of winning to losing…so they recognize the need for, and want, a chance of losing, but they generally feel that its more fun when they win more often than they lose, as long as it isn’t too much.

So that is where the old ‘rock, paper, scissors’ approach comes in. Someone always has a chance to beat someone and lose to someone…but that isn’t directly translatable into an MMO setting as you don’t want to establish any situation where a player will lose every time. So we end up with systems where certain classes have advantages and disadvantages against others and thus can win more often that lose if they pick their targets correctly (and learn when to run away!), but with MMO titles often having up to a dozen classes that balance also has various pitfalls…is it fun to have classes you almost always have to avoid? Is that balance? That is not a fun scenario if the chances are absolute, you don’t want any class to always win over another, so we as designers have to have a form of weighed chances. You might want Class A to have an advantage against Class B but you rarely if ever want it to be absolute, rather you want the various balances weighted in specific ways across the total number of classes you have.

In terms of controlling that there are three main elements that we as designers have to control. Maximum values, Availability and Mechanics…..”

Rise of the Godslayer Expansion info

Lifebane — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 02:38:34 +0000

What’s new in Age of Conan and and “Rise of the Godslayer” Expansion?

Funcom recently gave the community a pretty solid list of what’s upcoming with Age of Conan in the near future. Quite a bit of hype revolving their first ever Expansion, “Rise of the Godslayer” largely here but good info if you are a die hard AOC fan. Read below for Funcom’s words on the matter:

“The coming updates will include many great new features like Guild Renown system, new PvP Tower system, Tier 3 Raiding, and gearing up for our first ever expansion. We’re also listening and absorbing the feedback both from our test server community and forum communities to address some of the top concerns and issues. Below you will find each new feature and development as it stands right now but these will surely mature over time as we get closer and closer to their release!

Guild Renown
Guild Renown is a system whereby the actions of any individual player count towards their guild’s reputation. Collectively, guild members can level up their guild in three distinct categories to gain access to new guild rewards and bonuses. The system has two primary components, the Renown level, and also Renown rankings which place guilds against each other and measure your successes against those of other guilds on your server.

Let’s take a look at the Renown levels first, before moving on to the rankings. Renown levels act much like the levels for your character, i.e., as you accrue Renown points through your actions in game, you will in effect ‘level up’ your guild.

Almost every action in the game will earn some form of Renown points for your guild. There are three categories of Renown points that contribute to your overall Renown level:

Valor points: Earned from PVE gameplay, killing mobs, doing quests, beating bosses and raids.
Glory points: Earned from PVP activities like winning mini-games.
Artisan points: Earned through crafting actions.
Your Renown level is a combination of all three of these totals, which allows you to level up your Renown level in any way you choose. You do not have to do all of the categories if you do not want to. It will be perfectly possible to try and level up your Renown level with any combination of the above actions.

As your Renown level grows, you will earn new rewards for you and your guild and access new features for your guild cities, like new pet or mount vendors, and even another new building type for your city, among other amenities. Some of these new rewards will benefit every member directly, and some will be for the guild as a whole. You will get more details on the rewards themselves when the update goes to the test servers.

Renown rankings are where the competitive element comes in. People like to claim bragging rights, and the Renown ranking system will allow players to see how their guild has compared to others both on the overall Renown earned and also in each individual category. You will be able to see which guild has accrued the most Valor, Glory, or Artisan points in any given period. The rankings will reset after each ranking period (currently planned to be weekly, but that may be adjusted during testing), and everyone starts on equal footing.

PvP Towers
During the update 1.06 cycle we will be adding a new system to the Border Kingdoms that will allow players to fight over new PVP Tower locations. This system is being designed to allow more players access to objective based PVP game play without needing the resources to own a full Battlekeep.

Tier Three Raids
The coming update brings the next expansion to the raid content in Age of Conan. Thoth Amon’s Stronghold will become available for raiders to explore, fight and die in! With over half a dozen great new encounters the Stronghold will introduce players to tier three raiding complete with new armor and other new rewards. Thoth Amon has long been a thorn in king Conan’s side and players will be able to experience the battle with this iconic Conan villan for themselves…will they stand loyal to the King and be able to thwart the plans of this most powerful of adversaires.

‘Rise of the Godslayer’ Expansion
The most important development would be our first ever expansion ‘Rise of the Godslayer’. Inspired by the rich and colorful cultures of eastern Asia, ‘Rise of the Godslayer’ will send players on a voyage through the Empire of Khitai where countless hours of more brutal, sexy and savage adventure awaits. ‘Rise of the Godslayer’ not only introduces a whole new storyline and a vast new world to explore, it also adds new features such as faction gameplay and an alternate advancement system.

Concerns and Issues
The list wouldn’t be as complete unless we also addressed some of the important concerns and issues affecting our game and player community. We will continue our efforts to tweak and improve the siege and dungeon issues reported by the official forum and in-game communities on live. We’ve already made several changes to the siege systems in 5.6 and will continue to make these as more reports come in.”

Age of Conan Free Trial!

Lifebane — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 16:51:37 +0000

Funcom is being freecom, well sort of. They announced their new free trial program recently in order to get new blood into the game through the tried and proven “test drive” programs common in pretty much all real MMO’s these days.

Here are the details/info on their free trial offer for Age of Conan.

“Welcome to the free trial for Age of Conan.

Get ready for the most savage, sexy and brutal MMO ever created! The free playtime will start from the first time you log into the game. Please note that trial accounts have some restrictions to them, the most noticeable are inability to trade with others, restrictions to use public channels, inability to post on forums and inability to send in-game mail.

All these restrictions are lifted once you upgrade your account to the full version of the game.”

You can sign up for this free trial here.

Rise of the Godslayer Trailer for Age of Conan

Lifebane — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 04:07:21 +0000

Inspired by the rich and colorful cultures of eastern Asia, “Age of Conan: Rise of the Godslayer” sends you on a voyage through the Empire of Khitai where countless hours of more brutal, sexy and savage adventure awaits, not only introducing a new storyline and a vast new world to explore, but also adding new features such as faction game play and an alternate advancement system.

“Development on `Rise of the Godslayer’ is progressing very well, something gamers can see and experience for themselves this week,” says Funcom CEO Trond Arne Aas. “We have the game up and running on the showfloor at GamesCom, and we encourage everyone there to come visit us and give the expansion a try. We believe `Rise of the Godslayer’ will be a strong addition to the `Age of Conan’ brand.”