Age of Conan players get to grips with new PvP mechanics

by Adrian Bott Sep 19th 2008 at 9:00AM

Filed under: Fantasy, Age of Conan, Patches, PvP

By a startling coincidence that probably has something to do with a planetary alignment in Capricorn or some such, the first big PvP patch went to the Age of Conan servers at about the same time a certain other game was gearing up for final launch. We have no idea how or why this could possibly have happened, and are frankly amazed at the synchronicity.

At any rate, the players have been getting busy killing each other; there are even reports that some servers are now 'booming'. We're seeing quotes like 'This is the most fun I have ever had on AoC.' Of course, we're also seeing posts that report tumbleweeds and lone and level sands stretching far away.

In the midst of this exuberance, one group decided to get technical and work out what the hard facts of the new system actually were. Drocmar and his associates have put together a nice, solid, informative post explaining how PvP XP works. He's explained the diminishing returns, who gets what for killing who, and how much PvP XP you'll need to ding first level. There had been some numbers available before on the Testlive forums, but as any tester knows, what appears there isn't necessarily going to appear on Live. Players helping players: that's what we like to see. As well as players decapitating players.

Having fun in Conan's homeland? Make sure to check out all of our previous Age of Conan coverage, and stick with Massively for more news from the Hyborian Age!

Tags: age-of-conan, aoc, drocmar, funcom, patch, pvp

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

david said on 9:11AM 9-19-2008

Haha... screw AOC and screw Funcom (aka Failcom)

WAR IS AWESOME! Check out my siege warfare video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHCy1gblZn4

Rollins said on 10:52AM 9-19-2008

Give it a rest. WAR's great, I love it too, but just let the Conan fans be. If they still enjoy it enough to keep paying, no one should be telling them otherwise. It has its redeeming qualities.

MightyIdle said on 10:18AM 9-19-2008

I'll revisit AoC in a year or so, if it's still around. That should give them time to shake the bugs out and it'll be a really great product.

Right now, Warhammer is so much fun. I think that anyone who currently plays WoW will be in for an eye opening experience if they try WAR.

Tony said on 12:03PM 9-19-2008

I'm hoping that people who still play AoC aren't scared away from the incessant complaints on sites like this. I would really like to know what those still subscribing think of these updates for once.

djpostman1 said on 1:19PM 9-19-2008

Qoute Tony
"I'm hoping that people who still play AoC aren't scared away from the incessant complaints on sites like this. I would really like to know what those still subscribing think of these updates for once."

I still play AoC, and have been since closed Beta. None of these comments ever bother me personally, but i dont like seeing it b/c it drives potential players away. People have a hard time forming their own opinions. Fanboys will love their game and trash everyone elses, and it wont ever stop. We live in an instant gratification society, everyone wants to be FOTM, and if it doesnt work out their way the troll/flame/hate starts. My arguement still stand though: show me a game that was perfectly balanced and hod no issues at launch.
i thought so.

The PVP patch has been great. It fixed ALOT of bugs, tweaked alot of feats and classes in a great way, and added pvp content that alot of people where really starving for. Personally the pvp xp doesnt mean much to me, i dont need shiney armor and fancy titles as a reason to pvp. I was more excited to see people return to the game after the patch, that had been taking a break while certain mechanics ie gems, where getting fixed, and they are returning. Alot of those that are sick of the dwarf elf orc type high fantasy game, and enjoy the combat are starting to trickle back in.

At this point i think AoC will only improve, especially with the new producer.

Nadril said on 1:25PM 9-19-2008

WAR isn't perfect but it's damn well near the closest thing to a WoW-quality game in terms of polish.

Stop trying to fucking make it sound like every game has the problems AoC does, it's pitiful.

djpostman1 said on 3:07PM 9-19-2008

i never said every game currently HAS the problems AoC has right now. i think HAD is the key word here.

quote djpostman1
"show me a game that was perfectly balanced and HAD no issues at launch. at launch. at launch. shortly after launch. a few months after launch"

briannewton said on 7:11PM 9-19-2008

I'm also a fan of AoC, and I agree with being sick of the general hate for the game. I've been in the WAR beta for about 8-10 months and my opinion remains the same: It is WoW with some new features. Sure, public quests are cool, the RvR stuff is cool, but at its essence, it is WoW, right down the UI.

A lot of people are probably thinking "Why's that a problem? WoW is great." But there are those of us that didn't think WoW was God's gift to MMOs.

I'm much more of the Ultima Online, Shadowbane, original, PvP freeform MMO fan, so the extreme evolution of the level grind/gear grind MMO that WoW perfected didn't hold much interest for me.

I was impressed with AoC and I still am. I've definitely taken long breaks when I hit the content gap for example in the 50s, but I've remained subscribed the whole time.

I maintain that once the higher level content is filled out and the PvP reward/consequence system is fully in, AoC will be the game I expected it to be when I heard about all their grandiose original promises.

Sure, you can hate on FC for not releasing it with all its features, with bugs, lacking content etc, and you'd be right. I'm not going to make excuses for the quality. The Game Director stepping down was an acknowledgment of that. But for me, AoC remains for me the only current gen MMO that is really trying something different and outside the WoW mold. For me, that's enough to give them some leeway and stay interested. WAR definitely is not.

To each their own. I don't hate on people who like WoW and WAR, even though I find their basic structure incredibly boring, and I hope people don't hate on people who enjoy AoC because it provides something different, even if it's rough around the edges.