The Anvil Of Crom: Age Of Conan Turns 4, Taps SWG For Crafting Inspiration

The last time I did an anniversary retrospective for Age of Conan, we had a current enlargement, some new dungeon content, and a number of other class revamps fresh on our minds. The yr before that, we had the earth-shaking combat and itemization modifications. This past year, the key improvement was, of course, the swap to a freemium enterprise mannequin, adopted closely by the game's first journey pack.

Be part of me after the break for a quick rundown on the last 12 months as they occurred in Hyboria, in addition to an anniversary interview with sport director Craig "Silirrion" Morrison that sheds a bit of light on the crafting revamp.

The tip of June noticed AoC be a part of the ranks of Western freemium converts with the Unchained replace. Nearly all of the original Hyborian Adventures campaign was made freely out there to all comers, along with 4 of the game's 12 lessons. The game's 2.6 patch additionally introduced us the Breach and Forgotten Metropolis dungeons in Khitai as well as look armor functionality (and there was much rejoicing).

Every week later, Funcom threw a bone to its hardcore PvP crowd with the introduction of the Blood and Glory particular ruleset servers. Deathwish and Rage were initially quite widespread, and Funcom also hinted at some curious instancing tech within the works. We have not heard a lot about it since, however I expect that we'll study extra this summer time after the launch of The key World.

The end of August introduced us AoC's first journey pack. The Savage Coast of Turan was too small to be called a proper growth but too massive for a easy "patch" moniker, and Funcom has hinted that this might be the primary distribution mannequin going ahead.

We got a brand new stage 50 to 55 playfield with a ton of quests, a level 50 to eighty scaling solo dungeon, a max-stage solo dungeon, a max-level group dungeon, and a new raid occasion, all of which had been based around the Jason Momoa Conan film that debuted in the summer of 2011.

January noticed the introduction of the long-awaited Home of Crom dungeon. Unfortunately (or happily, relying on how you have a look at it), this happened after my personal AoC sabbatical, so I've but to cowl the dungeon right here within the pages of The Anvil of Crom. That will probably be remedied briefly order, though, and within the meantime, you can learn all about it on the game's official web site.

March introduced us the new Jade Citadel raids, also fodder for a future column installment or four. The Priest of Mitra class was given an extensive makeover on this replace too, and that brings us as much as the present day.

As per AoC anniversary tradition, I had an opportunity to ask just a few questions of government producer Craig Morrison. Keep studying to see what he has to say about the upcoming crafting revamp plus a whole lot more.

Massively: Is there any overlap between the AoC and TSW dev groups? Any cross-pollination of concepts? For instance, TSW's crafting system looks pretty nifty. Any chance that AoC's upcoming revamp shares something in widespread with it or is impressed by it in any manner?

Craig Morrison: The teams are run independently and have their own sources and administration. Keep in mind that we both run on the identical expertise platform, which is independently developed by one other separate department, so we get many inherent upgrades merely through that course of. In that way, there are lots of shared initiatives and concerns. Meaning we could use the identical Dreamworld characteristic in different ways, just as we are going to with the single server technology that's at the moment within the works. It is a cool scenario for a game of our age to be in because it means we will generally benefit from some fairly cool technical work that we merely would not be able to afford in any other case.

In terms of the crafting system, that is something very unique to TSW. They took their inspiration from Minecraft when it came to their form- and location-primarily based crafting, and it is a cool system, really good fun to play with. Then again, I am actually looking forward to the brand new system for Conan. We are wanting again a bit more, taking our inspiration from games like Star Wars Galaxies and the opposite earlier MMOs, with a focus on components and discovering the very best combinations. That provides a layer of depth that you do not discover in the other modern MMOs which have used more simple listing sort crafting programs, where you get the identical results all the time.

Personally I believe it's thrilling to see correct crafting making a comeback in our games. Each approaches have advantage, and I feel what the workforce is cooking up for Conan is more suited for the slightly extra stat-based mostly degree progression we've got in Conan, as opposed to the flatter system in TSW. Nonetheless, both methods are putting a premium on true experimentation and asking players to assume and discover the system rather than just read an ingredient itemizing. I feel it's something that MMOs can profit from exploring once more.

In regard to a excessive-degree view of the crafting revamp, how a lot can we count on crafters to be necessary to the in-game economic system? Will players be capable of get end-sport gear and consumables from crafters, or will those gadgets remain completely loot-drops?

The intention is for the crafted goods to be competitive will all but the better of the endgame gear, and maybe even in some instances, present some of the best objects, although I don't assume I would like to cast that as a definite in a single path or one other and make some form of sweeping blanket statement.

What I'll say is that we're aiming for the objects to be helpful for veterans and endgame and that the liberty it'll characterize will permit those who concentrate on it to make the best objects. We hope to create a symbiotic relationship there, where some of the better items will come from crafters, and crafters will need the assistance of the raiders to gather a number of the rarer elements.

Can you give us any hints about the subsequent adventure pack? What part of Hyboria will it cowl (geographically, even a basic space if you can't get specific)? Can we expect it in 2012?

We aren't revealing the precise location of the pack just but, but as we teased within the final development letter, we're trying south again, close to one in every of the original game areas.
The journey pack is at present aimed for the end of the yr, sure. The team is currently onerous at work on it in order that we are able to release it towards the tip of Q4.

South, you say? Stygian content is pretty barren in comparison with the sport's different zones. There's Khemi and Khopshef for levels 20-35 or so, after which Kheshatta from 70-80. Is the journey pack set there, or are there any plans to add some extra Stygian content between, say, 40 and 70?

I feel we addressed that degree vary in different playfields, like Ymir's Go and Tarantia Commons. I do not assume we ever set as much as essentially have an equal number of locations in every of the video games territories, partly for visual and cultural diversity and partly to cowl some totally different concepts and concepts from Howard's Hyboria.

Since we're looking south, yes, the adventure pack content material may well stray close by geographically, but the cultural and mythos that can affect it is another beast altogether. Anticipate to hear extra in regards to the journey pack a bit later in the summer season. Whereas the manufacturing teams are separate, as we talked about above, since we're an independent studio, all of our central groups are shared, so the advertising and PR of us are a touch busy right now with the launch of The secret World, so we'll hold the adventure pack reveal until after that.

There is a perception out there that due to the perceived inadequacies of AoC's launch, the game is not worth trying out even 4 years later. Why do you assume that is, and would you agree that MMOs like AoC are utterly different animals from their launch builds?

MMOs all the time evolve. That is without doubt one of the few constants within the style. Personally I all the time try and check out video games a second or third time, and I believe many veterans are the same. We're also helped by the fact that thanks to the Dreamworld engine, the sport nonetheless seems to be aggressive with latest releases. After all the issues that the game had at launch does have an impact on some veterans' opinions, and that is an anticipated a part of working in that genre.

I do not assume you possibly can hold it against anyone, at the end of the day there have been very high expectations for that launch, and the original staff fell simply wanting some of those expectations. It is pure that some gamers won't provide you with a second likelihood. You will never, ever, win everyone again over. However, it is somewhat of a shame as a result of MMO titles do evolve. So long as you always concentrate on improving the sport and adding content material, then there is a continuing move of people who come again to check out the sport once more.

In actual fact, these gamers typically end up as a few of your most loyal followers after that as a result of someone who had an issue with the game and returns to see the issues they'd resolved appreciates how far you may have come. Of course, that fluctuates for every player; some actually just like the changes while some feel a sport may need moved away from what they preferred about it, but overall we generally hear fairly good things from those who had prolonged absences from the game. MINECRAFT SERVERS LIST They come back, and they remember simply how much they preferred the fight system, or they get to embrace the viscerally mature setting that Hyboria gives.

Any plans to regulate the free-to-play choices in the near future, or is Funcom fairly pleased with the quantity of access Unchained players presently have?

General we are pretty glad, but we could consider some tweaks and adjustments. As part of the birthday celebrations for instance, we're giving free players the power to grab permanent access to the premium dungeons from the unique game, so we're open to continuing to evolve the free participant offering so that the game stays aggressive. I believe free gamers in Age of Conan Unchained have one of the most open systems on the market.

No necessary quest or development content material blocks till they attain max stage is a fairly sweet deal, one that offers more than many other F2P titles. It is an ever more competitive market, though, so we will definitely continue to alter issues up as and when we see match as a way to attraction to the ever-rising and ever-extra-demanding army of free players out there.

Nonetheless, one essential level is that we really need to be able to avoid having to go down the whole pay-to-win path. We have been very careful to keep away from that for a cause, so we want to keep up the value to players of being premium members. That in flip means that you just can't give the whole lot away without spending a dime until you are prepared to totally embrace a pay-to-win method, and that is not someplace I'd be comfy taking the game.

What about an AA respec for subscribers -- any plans to supply that at some point?

The alternate development system was designed to not need "respecs" as you can in spite of everything merely earn extra points since there is no steep curve within the progression, and it is a flat worth. So at a fundamental stage, there are no plans to permit for players to re-use already spent points.

If we added a respec we might have to contemplate the entire set-up, since gamers would then by no means have to get past X variety of feats they've decided are optimal for different conditions, and they might just swap between them. That stated, after all you do not need to face in the way in which of players feeling they can progress, so we could look at it from another angle, be that some type of adjustments to the AA development, or possibly sooner or later, some type of a number of-specification system as we are doing for feats.

Lastly, as good as the questing and the storyline in Tortage is, a few of us have literally run it two dozen occasions now on various alts. Any probability veterans may get a "skip Tortage" capacity sooner or later?

Sure, I'd love to get something like that in at some stage. We've talked about it just a few instances, nevertheless it tends to be a kind of issues that loses out within the precedence conversations. As we move towards a fifth 12 months, it should hopefully be one thing we are able to sneak in at some stage.

Sounds good -- we're wanting forward to the subsequent 12 months!

~~~

In addition to offering us with an interview scoop, Funcom has also thrown some prizes our means to give to Massively readers. Now we have 10 codes that grant four months of premium time to any present account. If you do not have an current account, you possibly can all the time create a free one and apply the codes from there.

How do you get your palms on one of those codes? Simply watch our Facebook and Twitter pages where we'll give out all codes from now until Friday night. Better of luck!

Jef Reahard is an Age of Conan beta and launch day veteran as well as the creator of Massively's bi-weekly Anvil of Crom. Be happy to counsel a column subject, propose a information, or perform a verbal fatality through jef@massively.com.