The Digital Continuum: Reentering the Age of Conan

by Kyle Horner Jul 13th 2009 at 12:00PM

Filed under: Age of Conan, News items, Opinion, The Digital Continuum

When I decided to come back and check out Final Fantasy XI, I'm fairly certain that I was in the small minority of people returning in that moment. With Funcom offering previous subscribers a chance to take a second look at Age of Conan, I somehow doubt I'll be in a minority this time around.

So here we are, coming back to the digital realm of Hyboria just past a year since everyone first ventured into its lush and deadly landscapes. What will I find? What will I think? These are just a few of the many questions that go through my mind as I boot up the game for the first time in a while.

I'll come clean on something, however. Earlier this year I did actually attempt a return to Age of Conan for a brief period of time. It was early January and I wanted to take a look at how things had progressed since Craig Morrison had taken over the reigns. My visit was brief, mostly because I don't think I was ready to change MMOs, since many of my friends were still involved with Wrath of the Lich King.

So coming back now after the big item system update should prove to be an interesting experience. I've only logged in three times before this writing -- each time consisting of a few hours of play -- but that was plenty of time to tinker with the new item system and romp around in the game world. However, before discussing that let's quickly address some of the many changes since the game's launch.

For starters, performance is much smoother on the very same machine that last year had all sorts of issues. Granted, I'm running Windows 7 Release Candidate 1 but I've spoken to a few friends who've recently played on Vista machines without any glaring problems. Also, my experience with the DX10 "test" mode has been mixed, but then again this isn't the finalized version, so take that with a grain of salt. The game still looks wonderful in DX9 mode, anyhow. My exploration occurred throughout Tortage with a new character and in the Cimmerian areas with a higher level character.

If you're looking for PvP discussions, this probably isn't the best article to find it -- yet. I haven't had enough time to familiarize myself with the changes there. On the other hand, I can say Funcom has definitely added plenty of new PvE content. I really don't need to explore the world for that, though -- it's something they've been quite happy to discuss all on their own.

Mostly what's been impressed upon me so far is that AoC is largely the same game design without all the problems. The item system has of course changed something fundamental about the game's design, though.

It's really not that complicated of a concept but I'm sure the work involved was anything but simple. Essentially, the original design called for as little emphasis on equipment as possible. Of course, AoC still being a largely traditional MMO made this something the player base didn't enjoy at all. It effectively made equipment almost entirely cosmetic, which would've been fine if equipment weren't being used as carrots for instances and PvP gameplay -- but it was.

This, as you can imagine, was a big problem. Why switch to a level 70 dagger if your level 20 version pretty much acts the same, and potentially even looks the same? With the new system this problem is solved. Gear -- and all the player stats -- have been completely reworked so as not to be obscure and vague. Now, when you get a dagger that has +22 dexterity and +20 strength, you'll know it's better than your +18 dexterity and +12 strength counterpart. It seems obvious in hindsight, but when the development team was creating the original system they thought it was what people wanted. Like the saying goes: They can't all be winners.

Ultimately, I'm going to need some more time to bring deeper AoC discussion to the table. My general feeling on the game right now is that I love the setting, but have a hard time getting into the flow of things. Even for an MMO, AoC has a lot of backtracking, but since I've got two weeks free I'll be doing everything I can to muscle past that so I can hopefully get to the juicy parts.

Tags: age-of-conan, aoc, cimmerian, featured, funcom, the-digital-continuum, tortage, vista, windows-7, windows-vista

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)

Iokthemonkey said on 12:11PM 7-13-2009

Come back when you've actually played it, okay?

Funcom must be laying out some serious spend on AoC to have their press releases reported as news.

Shadowlords said on 12:15PM 7-13-2009

Conan is one of the best re-dos on a bad game I have ever seen. Its like a whole new lunch with a new game company. If you have not tried it you are missing out.

The only complaint is still that PvP is pointless. There is no carrot except for kill ratios ( weeeee ). You build a town but you dont risk it in a siege. instead you risk a characterless instanced tower. If you die, you don't risk any xp, gold or items. The chance of losing items on death is gone now with itemization and thats fine- not everyone can be Darkfall but Im holding out hope they will go with xp or gold. Otherwise, the game is truly turning into WoW with just and item based jerk off fest.

GRT said on 12:16PM 7-13-2009

I started over since I couldn't remember how to play :).

On your high level character, do items look different now? I hate how all the armor and gear looks pretty much the same at low levels, but that's typical of low levels in MMOs. Back when I first played, that never changed even as you got higher level. Does it, now?

I don't anticipate going past the free 2 weeks, but that's mostly because I'm happy where I am now, more than any problem with the game. I'm playing on Vista and it runs really nicely. I'll at least leave the 2 week free period with a positive feeling towards AoC and I can see myself coming back to it at some point when I'm between MMOs.

jmckinney71 said on 12:18PM 7-13-2009

Nice grammar and spelling on your troll.

Yes, AoC has done a lot of marketing, but it's working! I saw a LOT of folks on this weekend and had a blast. I am glad they are getting their act together.

MeowCat said on 12:18PM 7-13-2009

Pass. Too many other good MMO things to do out there. The moment has come and gone.

Starpoke said on 12:22PM 7-13-2009

The thing that killed Conan for me was the world design, the instanced zones just didn't feel like a persistant believable world, unlike WoW and LotRO. Shame really as I loved the classes particularly the PoM.

Andrew said on 2:37PM 7-13-2009

Quite funny coming from someone who plays a game that has a ton of instances in and of itself. The continents are instanced, outlands is instanced, etc.

Intances shouldn't kill "Immersion". I play FFXI, and every zone is an instanced. But, I'm still immersed. Maybe...just maybe if you didn't have to roll so many different toons to enjoy all the classes and professions, I might consider WoW to be an immersive game.

Dblade said on 3:47PM 7-13-2009

FFXI's areas are semi-instanced really, and some of them really do kill immersion. Nyzul isle is just a box of featureless walls and posts, and many of the other semi-instances are boring boxes. Out of them really only dynamis and limbus have enough character, and dynamis is based on non-instanced areas.

Happyfish said on 4:58PM 7-13-2009

I feel the same here. For some reason I was immersed in the instanced FFXI but found the instances in AoC to be game breaking. Now that I have played in non-instanced worlds like WoW and Lotro, I dont think I could ever go back. The zones are beautiful in AoC but I never really felt like they connected together.

starzzareblind said on 12:40PM 7-13-2009

My friend and I came back, as well and so far we are loving it. They've fixed a tremendous amount of issues with the game.

crsh said on 12:41PM 7-13-2009

I've used the 14-day reactivation trial they sent me last week, but haven't signed up for a new subscription. I was able to pick up where I left off almost a year ago with my lv70 Priest of Mitra clad in crafted gear and weapons.

First off, client performance and stability is, to me, pretty much the same; I really never had much grip with it last year (it was weird to me as every other player seemed to be crashing on a regular basis and I wasn't).

Class abilities have changed, so I was a bit confused at first and found myself reading all tooltips carefully. Not sure if PoMs were turned into healbots, but I had a bit of a surprised when I found out my melee damage was subpar. Of course, I didn't think of checking my spec sheet, because (duh!) all my points were sitting unused. Put them back in there, and try again to kill stuff - ok, better, but damage is still kinda low.

To be honest, I don't remember all that well if my PoM was that mighty last year, I remember using heals on myself to last through tougher fights, but I found that my heals weren't as potent. Yeah the PoM class was overpowered last year because their heals made them unkillable, but now I'm confused as to what my PoM is good for; damage output is low, healing is also lower than it was, I'm going to be a Repulse bot in PvP?

In any case, I didn't find that feeling I had when I first played AoC last year, and I'm not in the mood these days to level a new character from scratch; the one-time free lv50 character is a nice enticement, I'll admit, but I don't feel like commiting time to this game.

torak said on 2:03PM 7-13-2009

I never played AoC until about 2 weeks ago and I gotta say the game is pretty darn good so far.
To bad they borked the launch, so much time and resources spent on getting the game to a launch state.

But hey, thats nothing new for MMO's. Never pay for an MMO within 6 months of launch, you will regret it.

Lateris said on 3:47PM 7-13-2009

I came back and worked out some issues I was having with their support. DX 10 is still in a test phase and had some issues with my Windows 7- no biggie. The combat was a lot of fun.

fester said on 1:20PM 7-13-2009

Thanks for the tip that they've completely ruined the item system and have decided go with a gear treadmill model. Makes my decision to never come back that much easier. If I wanted to deal with item-centric gear inflation systems, I'd go back to UO post-Age of Shadows bullcrap or even WoW.

mysecretid said on 4:39PM 7-13-2009

fester, I think you've misunderstood.

AoC is still not a loot-grinder game; all that happened is that the effects of loot was made easier to understand, and you can notice a difference between a level 10 sword, and a level 70 sword.

Even then, this is still not a game where phat loot = an "I WIN" button. As before, loot will not make up for player stupidity, as in some other MMORPGs.

Graill said on 1:47PM 7-13-2009

Enough banter, i will ask the tough AOC question..........

Exactly what type of neutral base did Ellingston use with his red rouge and lipstick on his pr shots?

Bryan said on 1:53PM 7-13-2009

I have been playing the 2 week freebie time and have come to some conclusions.

1. The item system is fine, nice change.

2. I am only comfortable playing the caster classes(mainly because it is most similar to other mmo's) and I have a hard time playing the melee classes.

3. The community is HORRIBLE. Flat out rude, nasty, uncaring and unhelpful.

4. I like the music, the graphics and the questing. I don't like the instanced zone feel, I spend more time watching the loading screen than I do playing the game.

Based on these points, which funny enough are close to why WAR isn't that good for me either, I won't be playing this game after the 2 weeks are up.

Jess said on 12:36AM 7-14-2009

"3. The community is HORRIBLE. Flat out rude, nasty, uncaring and unhelpful."

You forgot immature.

AoC has, without exception, the absolute worst community I have ever encountered in an MMORPG....and that's saying something.

Abriael said on 1:53PM 7-13-2009

I'm afraid, Kyle, that you'll still be a minority. I gave it a re-try myself, and the servers are still quite deserted (sensation heightened by the horrible, horrible, horrible over-instancing). Really nothing to see there.

Bottomline, a game touted as a PvP-centric game, in which tanks need to spec as gimped damage-dealers to be viable in PvP, falls horribly short for me.