Dev's Comments
"One of the main goals with Age of Conan was to improve the well-known MMO formula, and take the genre in an innovative new direction. As of such, Funcom have focused on taking the best from past MMO games, while creating innovative and fun new systems. Playing Age of Conan should feel new, fresh and exciting."
Character Development
Age of Conan starts all new characters off in a solo scenario - You start off as a commoner with nothing else but a few old rags to cover your body and a broken oar to fight with. Over the course of the single-player experience, you become better equipped, discover treasures, complete quests, and choose a class.
Although a player will be playing alone in this scenario they are able to communicate with the 'global' environment via the chat system. Players are weened in to the MMO scenario after about an hour or so of solo play, playing alongside other players during the games daylight hours and playing solo during the games night.From lvl 20 players are effectively out in the big wide world of MMO, interacting with and playing along side other players at all times.
At level 5 a player chooses an archetype for themselves then at level 20 they can choose a class - this will depend on the archetype they selected at level 5. At the time of launch the level cap will be lvl 80.
Feats are used in Age of Conan as opposed to skills in many other MMO's. There are hundreds of different feats in the game, you can choose them as you go and/or have some automatically assigned to you. Feats can do anything from modifying statistics to controlling which items you are allowed to use. One feat can, for instance, allow you to use a special form of armor, while another feat would allow you to perform certain attacks. The feat system in Age of Conan is extremely elaborate, giving you the chance to create characters that are as unique as yourself.
Social/Class/Guild Structure
There is an extensive guild system in AoC. There are requirements for founding a guild ie a certain number of members. Anyone can join a guild and anyone can start one too. Being a member of a guild will let you take part in the political struggles of the Border Kingdoms and also gives you a chance to build player-made cities. Only guilds are able to build and conquer battlekeeps in the Border Kingdoms, and only guilds can build player cities.
Combat/Skills
The combat system is quite unique in AoC it uses a real time combat system which means when fighting with a sword, an axe or other melee weapons in Age of Conan, you actually have to direct your weapons in certain directions yourself. Whereas in other games of the genre you usually just have to target something and then click a “fight” button, in Age of Conan you have to perform the strikes yourself in one of six different directions. With the unique targeting system you can also hit multiple enemies at once, so if you happen to slash your sword through two enemies standing next to each other, both of these will suffer damage.
Players who enjoy fighting with ranged weapons will also experience the real combat system. In Age of Conan you will actually have to string the bow yourself, aim and fire manually.
Another feature of AoC's combat system is the ability to fight whilst mounted.
Crafting Professions
All of the four prestige classes – the Lord, the Commander, the Master and the Crafter – have access to certain crafting classes. The latter, the crafter prestige class, will be the most flexible one when it comes to this, simply because he or she is dedicated to dabble with all the crafting skills available in the game.
There are several different crafting skills available to the prestige classes, and the crafter prestige class will have access to all of them these include: Weaponsmith, Armorsmith, Gemcutter, Alchemist and Architect.
There are six tiers of crafted goods in each different crafting school. Each tier is achieved by performing a number of quests for an NPC master crafter. The player-made items are the only ones where you can insert socket gems - thus increasing their flexibility and adaptability. The crafted item's quality will depend on statistics and on the materials being used.
Quests
Quests play a huge role in Age of Conan, whilst it may be possible to advance a character through to high evels without ever doing a quest, the game has definitely been designed to include character progression through questing. There are some areas that are only accessable if a quest chain has been completed etc.
The quests in AoC have been designed to try and steer clear of the typical 'go kill 10 of this type of mob' quest, many instead involve problem solving. Another feature for the questing system is the player and NPC interaction, instead of being given a pop up window of instructions, you are encouraged to role play by having a conversation with an NPC much like a dialogue tree and its up to the player to interact effectively enough to get the information they require.
PvP
Age of Conan has a deep PvP system where you can tests your skills against other players in different kinds of modes and environments. There will be three main PvP modes in the game, Siege PvP, PvP mini-games and drunken brawling.
Fighting between players is consensual because it is limited to certain areas of the game world. If you want to avoid player-versus-player combat, all you have to do is avoid these areas. The Border Kingdom is the main region for the massive PvP combat, and here player guilds fight over ownership of battlekeeps. You can also pick a fight at a tavern once you get drunk enough, or you can get involved in mini-games in the arenas. But generally other players will not be able to harm you outside the Border Kingdom unless you want them to.
There is a reward system for the PvP side of AoC, players are awarded Bloodmoney for killing other players in PvP and this can be exchanged for items and equipment not available using the regular currency in game.
Lore
The setting of the game takes place shortly after the Robert E. Howard story “Hour of the Dragon”, and puts you in the middle of Conan’s savage world, filled with brutal combat and great adventures.....more...
Additional Information
