[Official] Age of Conan

[BoDEAN]

Since no one made an official post, I guess I'll start one.

Published by: Funcom / Eidos Interactive

Developed by: Funcom

Genre: Persistent Online Action RPG

Number of Players: unlimited

Release Date:

US: May 20, 2008

Europe: May 20, 2008

Australia: May 2008

MSRP: $49.99

ESRB Content Descriptors: Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Language, Nudity, Sexual Themes

Also Available On: Xbox 360

Minimum configuration (1024x768, detail reduced)

* OS: Windows XP Service Pack 2 or Windows Vista

* Processor: Intel Pentium 4 3Ghz or equivalent

* RAM: 1GB

* Video card: NVIDIA GeForce 6600 or better

* Video memory: 128MB

* DVD-ROM: Quad-speed (4x) DVD-ROM drive

* HARD DRIVE SPACE: 30GB

Recommended configuration (Up to 1280X960, most features on)

* OS: Windows XP SP 2 or Windows Vista

* Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo 2.4GHz or equivalent

* RAM: 2048MB Dual Channel DDR2

* Video card: NVIDIA GeForce 7900 GTX or equivalent

* Video memory: 512MB

* DVD-ROM: Quad-speed (4x) DVD-ROM drive

* HARD DRIVE SPACE: 30GB

Classes:

Assassin

Barbarian

Bear Shaman

Conqueror

Dark Templar

Demonologist

Guardian

Herald of Xotli

Necromancer

Priest of Mitra

Ranger

Tempest of Set

Races:

The Stygians

The Cimmerians

The Aquilonians

Server Types:

* Server types (PVE, PVP, RPPVP). There will be rules of etiquette and a restricted naming policy on RPPVP server.

* There will be European and US servers. If you buy a US version of the game, you can only join on US servers, if you buy a Eu version (UK, german, french, spanish), you can join any Eu server. The censorship is based on the dvd key, german version is cut, you will see blood, but no fatalities like chopping heads and limbs off. US version will be uncut now (Correction Thread). You could buy a european version of the game in the US, but then you can only join EU servers and will get higher pings and the timewindow for sieging will be late night/early morning for you.

PVP

* anyone who is not in your group is attackable (they think about adding guildmembers to the non attack list no matter if they are in another group or solo)

* there?s a pvp variation of all equipment stats

* there will be a pvp ranking system which increases with pvp kills and decreases with pvp deaths

* the highest ranked pvpers will be awarded with ingame items

* different styles of CTF arenas, the ones we saw at CES etc were stygian style maps, there will be more after launch

* besides CTF, there will be team annihilation

* CTF battles involve battling it out with the other team in an 8 player, 4-vs.-4 format where you have 10 minutes to win the match completely, of which involves capturing the other team's flag three times before they capture yours the same number. (curse article)

* there is also a Team Deathmatch type of instanced PvP, both with Ranked or Skirmish options. In Ranked matches, dying means you lose "PvP experience"

* no death penalty besides loss of pvpranking and blood money. you don?t drop a tombstone when you die by another player.

Crafting

* you can only learn one crafting profession per character

* current minimum level is 40, but they think about lowering it to 20

* crafting profs are: weaponsmith, armorsmith, alchemist, gemcutter, architekt.

* crafting experience will only be gained through crafting quests

* recipes will be always usable (are non consumable)

* leveling crafting is bound to your adventuring level, means you cant craft tier2 items before you reach a certain adventuring level

* nearly all items have 2 variations, crafted with normal resources and with rare. only craftable items have sockets for gems

* sockets come in different sizes, 4 per item are usable

* gems cant be removed, once equipped, however, very rare gems might be removable.

* most of the crafted items or even all wont have stats like strength or intelligence. they?ll have base values.

* crafted items without gems are not comparable with very good looted items, however they are more flexible then looted items. they are good against opponents with special resistances or weaknesses.

* higher quality items can only be obtained from people who are in a guild and in a guildcity.

* crafting works everywhere (currently not sure if you will be able to craft more complicated items everywhere)

* Avery?s report from Oslo about crafting! http://forums.ageofconan.com/showthread.php?t=53149

* TenTonHammer crafting video from Oslo http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/21062

* SunCe?s compiled list of crafting: http://forums.ageofconan.com/showthread.php?t=55749

* Crafting/Harvesting Video from Oslo: http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/21062

Guild Cities

* there are 3 instanced zones for every guild:

Cimmeria: Lache flats

Aquilonia: Poitain

Stygia: Redlotus Marches

* A guild needs 30 people to build a city. Some of them have to reach level 60.

* You can only choose the country when founding a guildcity (Cim, Aqu, Sty), the instance and the city plot is automatic

* all buildings need a combination of wood, stone, metal, gold, i.e. 1500 wood, 1500 stone etc, which will be a massive amount of resources.

* inside the building site, there are dozens of cornerstones in different sizes. an architect, with guild permission, will be able to build different buildings on those spots. after the "payment", the building process has been started

* the first building is always the keep

* nearly all building can be upgraded one or two ranks

* upgrades raise the level of the city

* walls are buildings too and there are specific building sites for them. there are inner and outer walls. towers and stairs can be placed nearly everywhere.

* you will be able to teleport to your guildcity?s keep everytime. they think about a cooldown of that feature.

* within your guild city are tradeposts, you can mark a bank item to be traded on the tradepost and set a instant sale prize

* you get different buffs from building like barracks, alchemist towers etc as combatant and crafter

Harvesting

* 6 harvesting profs (Mining, Prospecting, Skinning, Stonecutting, Weaving, Woodcutting)

* you can learn all harvesting profs at once

* every resource has 6-8 levels (i.e. for mining: bronze, iron,...)

* chance of getting a rare resource (within level) during harvesting

* resources are displayed on the minimap

* can be found in the city zones (crafting city and border kingdoms) and rarely in the world

* there is no plan to specialze in a specific resource

* there are additional resources, dropped by specific mobs

* Gemcutter and Alchemist harvest their resources through killed mobs

* harvesting nodes are specially designed with particle effects to make it easier to notice them (curse.com)

Border Kingdoms

* 9 battlekeeps per server. this number will be reduced on lower populated servers at game start

* to obtain a BK keep, your guild has to have a guildcity rankIII

* one keep per guild, however you can attack other keeps

* the longer the guild holds the keep, the stronger the bonus every guildmember gets.

* different forms of keeps can be made, but it wont be as customizable as a guildcity, it wont be a second guildcity

* every guild can set an attack timer, there is a minimum timeframe however. there are specific timezones when a keep can be made attackable (depends on which server you play, i.e. EU or US). so it wont be able to set the keep attackable at 0300 server time.

* the bigger the attack window, the easier it gets for the defending guild to hold the keep

* siege maximum time is 90 minutes so far. if the attacking guild isnt succesful, the keep has been defended.

* if the keep is attackable, attacking players can build a wartent. defending guildmembers receive an alarm.

* two ways for the attacking guild to win:

- "partial victory" when the keep inside the keep is destroyed. the defending guild loses all their bonus, but keeps the keep.

- "total victory": obtained by destryoing all buildings inside the keep, the attacking players can build their own keep straight away

* siegeweapons wil lbe build on the battlefield and require wood, iron, stone, gold and can only be build at specific spots. (ca. 8 slots)

* there are siege slots for the attacking and the defending guild

* destrying of the walls is quite fast (several minutes). hiding inside the keep wont be a good option

* a partial destroyed keep (partial victory) or a new keep cant be attacked for a specific time

* there are other targets, besides the keeps inside the bk, for example, towers. its something for smaller guilds. there is currently no limit how many towers a guild can hold.

* there are no plans to upgrade towers so far, if so, there will be limited upgrades.

Raids:

* 4 groups, each 6 players

* loot = items not tokens

* master looter can distribute loot

* 20 raid encounters at start of the game

- devided into 8 dungeons in different sizes

- the 8 dungeons come in 3 different levels, but minimum level will be 75

* most dungeons can be accomplished in 1-3 hours for experienced raid members

* it will be easier to accomplish the higher levels if you done the previous levels by looting the items in the first runs

* cooldown of 7 days for raid dungeons. player based.

* Funcom is also going to be saving the state of the dungeon, and most of the monsters will not respawn for that week once they've been killed

According to the update, players will be plunking down $60 (?50) for a retail boxed copy and shelling out $15 per month to spend time in the Conan universe.

The update also makes mention of an upcoming "open" beta for the game. Beginning May 1, Fileplanet.com users will have a chance to become one of the 50,000 beta testers selected to assist in a stress test of the game.

Edited May 4, 2008 by BoDEAN

[spaceelf]

I don't care about the Conan universe at all, but on the other hand it might be nice to see a Mature rated MMO for a change of pace. I'm looking at the beta.

[Osiris]

Mature rating, plenty of blood by the looks of it, classy graphics, classes, classes classes and a whole new MMO universe to tear up - the old WoW accounts may have to go back on hold. That 30GB of HDD space requirement is pretty crazy though.

[+longgonebn Subscriber²]

I have been waiting for it, that and Warhammer Online, but not sure if I will get both. I will have to try both before hand and see which is better!

[spacer]

I have been actively following this game for a while now. The combat system and mature nature of the game are really appealing.

I wanted to get into the beta, but no such luck. Hower, I did preorder through Amazon so I will at least get to start 3 days ahead of the usual rush that comes with an MMO's first day.

I have high hopes for this one.

[gigapixels Veteran]

I'll wait for the demo but it does sound pretty cool.

[Badie05]

I am sooo buying this. The WoW killer has arrived in DX10 :D

[FocusX]

Preordered 2 months ago, can't wait to play :D I was in the PvP Beta Weekend, and I'm waiting for Open Beta to start

[BoDEAN]

What were your opinions on the PvP beta? Do you have any comparisons with other MMO pvp and this one? Please share.

[Dotdot]

I am sooo buying this. The WoW killer has arrived in DX10 :D

Doubt it, one of the many reasons wow does so well is because u can play on just about any PC, without the need for Dx10 and big fat gfx card.

[spaceelf]

Doubt it, one of the many reasons wow does so well is because u can play on just about any PC, without the need for Dx10 and big fat gfx card.

You can play just about anything on just about any PC if you lower the graphics settings. WoW just looks like crap on a decent system.

Having been in the recent PvP beta, Conan certainly looks decent but from what I've seen so far I'd definately give the nod to LOTRO for having better visuals. Still, I am intrigued on the promise of an M rated MMO. I'll probably give it a chance.

[FocusX]

My only other MMO was LOTRO which I enjoyed for 5 months. But when I hit lvl 50 there was nothing to keep me interested. As you may know LOTRO isn't so PvP oriented, so any comparison is probably pointless. As for the visuals, I quit LOTRO last October and I was playing with highest settings. While LOTRO was (is) a great looking game, AoC is superior in that department as well IMO.

I liked what I saw, considering it was beta and only a small portion of the actual game. I like the combat system, it's challenging and fun. Character models look amazing and animations are top notch.

[BoDEAN]

Any update from those who tried the beta? Unfortunately im on the road working and wont be able to try it til Sunday.

[gregb0b]

My friends beta experience was to say the least.... utter crap.

Lag is the worst problem he says, hopefully they get the kinks worked out because its garbage atm.

[SMELTN]

got to level 8. Its different I will say that, honestly I am not liking it so far.. And the blood is more of a maroon color than red, looks more like dirt flying off the mobs than blood.

but yeah very disappointed so far.

[kazuyette]

Does someone have any ideas about the kind of results I should get when playing this beast on a mighty P4 3,6 Ghz with teh Hyperthreading / 2gigs of RAM / and a GF7800GT-PCI-e ?

Jeez this game takes its damn sweet time to install ...

[SMELTN]

its EXTREMELY slow installing.. Also pretty slow loading for the first time..

[kazuyette]

its EXTREMELY slow installing.. Also pretty slow loading for the first time..

You're damn right ! I fear the worst for my rig ... I hope it won't melt when trying to run this game ! :)

[kazuyette]

I'm on teh first server : kazuyette is my name of course :)

[mundox]

Well I got a beta key but that 12gb download is keeping me away from the game, might give it a try before it ends though.

They released 2 video tutorials:

Combat System

Interface

[HawkMan]

Funny how Fileplanet keps mentioning the open beta from may 1'st everywhere, but despie it being the 3rd, no open beta to be seen anywhere...

[SMELTN]

the open beta has been open since Thursday HawkMan? What are you talking about? I got a beta key from fileplanet and have been playing it since thursday.

[HawkMan]

Ope =! open for FP subscribers. I've yet to find anywhere to get a beta key without paying for it.

[mundox]

Ope =! open for FP subscribers. I've yet to find anywhere to get a beta key without paying for it.

Try there: http://www.mmorpg.com/contests/aoc_beta_promo2.cfm

[BoDEAN]

I'm anxious to try out this siege pvp!