Age of Conan's Alternate Advancement demystified
by Krystalle Voecks 
Feb 24th 2010 at 2:30PM
Filed under: Age of Conan, Expansions, Game mechanics, News items
Thankfully, the Funcom staff have written up an excellent post about the Alternate Advancement system in Age of Conan for players from levels 20 to 80. The full post over on MMORPG.com offers a solid breakdown of what players can expect -- from the use of Prowess, Mastery and Expertise on down to offline achievement points that should keep more casual players in the earning loop. For adventurers who like to call the wild lands of Hyboria home, this is a must-read dev blog, so be sure to pop over there and give it a look.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
MrGutts said on 2:51PM 2-24-2010
This is one of those things that should have been in place, at the start.
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Mize said on 3:00PM 2-24-2010
OK
SCS said on 3:50PM 2-24-2010
So when are you going to stop complaining and beating up on the developers? From what I have read Funcom have been making great strides with the game since launch.
Respect it for what it is and move on.
I haven't ever played the game but I wish Funcom the best of luck. Have been giving it thought to trying it out. They have yet to give a release date on the expansion from what I have seen so perhaps now is a good time to jump in and see the game first hand.
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ashmedai said on 8:09PM 2-24-2010
As soon as they (a) stop deserving it, (b) demonstrate that this new behavior is a consistent and long-term departure from what led to the prior bad reputation.
Orphan said on 4:34PM 2-24-2010
Seriously, if you haven't played AoC over the past 1.5years and you still bitch and moan about the state of the game - please stop. Why should this feature have been included upon launch? This feature is uncommon and it's cool to be added at all. AoC has apprenticeship too, which also exists in other MMOs and was added post launch - but it is there now and really, that is what matters if you are considering trying it out.
I've been on/off AoC since it went live. The craptastic launch and seriously lacking quality of the 20+ content was why I first quit. I returned to the game 2 more times and each time quit again due to low server population and activity. I resubbed to AoC a month ago and brought three of my friends along for the ride. We are each enjoying the game and playing numerous times per week. Servers are modestly populated and always active. Guilds are recruiting (sometimes at spam levels, which is annoying) and the community is engaging, helpful and passionate.
Each of my friends started with the Unlimited Free version and within a few days subscribed to the 12mo plan - which reduced monthly sub fee to approximately $9. I plan on playing regularly and plan to purchase RotGS. Yep, I like the game enough to purchase the upcoming expansion.
AoC is a fantastic MMO with greater range of options, more sophisticated and ambitious game play and creative expression, superior graphics and lower monthly subscription than the majority of the competition. Plus, you can skewer, behead, bludgeon and incinerate your enemies in glorious DX10! State of the Game = Awesome.
My 2 cents.
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tigerbunny said on 4:38PM 2-24-2010
just a BTW.
Time cards = 13$ for 60 days online, that year sub is still a rip off.
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stabdriver said on 5:10PM 2-24-2010
So much good stuff being said about this game now, that I am seriously thinking of reinstalling.
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Jack said on 6:41PM 2-24-2010
Yep time to reinstall AoC and check it out again :)
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spamero said on 7:23PM 2-24-2010
guys.. check the official forums... just a thought...
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spamero said on 7:53PM 2-24-2010
oh yeah found it.. check this out:
http://forums.ageofconan.com/showthread.php?t=213650
this guys sums it up pretty good.. typical shortsighted funcom's approach.. it's like they graduate some 'lets do without thinking' college or something..
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Ingrod said on 9:22PM 2-24-2010
Only one thing, all his rant is about PvP, not about the whole game.
Goonja said on 10:16PM 2-24-2010
Like Ingrod said just another PvP rant like in any other game,the same type of thread can be found on the EU forums.
Kyroc said on 9:56PM 2-24-2010
Anyone know if there is a decent Oceanic population anymore?
Im thinking of re-installing but my old server Gwahlir (sp?) doesn't exist anymore so will need a new one.
I don't want to go through all the hassle of a re-install then patching if there is no one in my region playing anymore tho
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Hans Gruber said on 12:05AM 2-25-2010
That sounds like a fantastic mechanic to me. I may dig up a trial to see if the client still crashes on my system. If not, I think I'll give the game another go once this change gets published. I'd love to be able to take a character to max level and already have an alt that's part of the way there, that I can advance slowly while still augmenting my "main".
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