It's going to take you 250 hours to get to level 80 in Age of Conan. That's the big news today, and I'm not sure exactly how I feel about that. On the one hand, that tells us very little about the actual game. Saying you have 250 hours of content means nothing unless that content is fun content. On the other, it does let you know exactly what you're getting into as far as a time commitment goes (on average). It's also important to note that that's pretty close to World of Warcraft's benchmark, too -- most players can get from 1-70 in 6 to 14 days played. I think my first 70 took me about 7 and 1/2 days.

What's a good length of time for the leveling game to be, anyway? If you make it too long and drawn out, won't many players quit in frustration before they ever get to the top (EverQuest was notorious for having players that never capped)? Maybe. Let them level too quickly, though, and they'll quit if there's nothing to do at the top. Even if there is something to do when you're capped, for many people, leveling is the game. I'm probably one of those people. I hate structured PvP (like arenas) and while I dabble in raiding, I really have more fun leveling. So is 250 hours long enough to keep you interested? And why even tell us that in the first place? What does Age of Conan's 250 hours mean to you?

Continuing our examination of the spellcasting classes in Age of Conan, today we're going to investigate the situation with the priest archetype. As with all of the archetypes in AoC, there are three choices when it comes to the priests: Bear Shaman, Tempest of Set, and Priest of Mitra. We'll give a rundown of the three of these during the early stages of the game, go over some of their class-defining spells, and stack them up in head-to-head comparisons after the break.

Everyone and their brother seems to be writing about Age of Conan over the last few days, but hopefully you're hungry for a little more. I've spent the last day and a half trying out different classes and playing through the various starting missions, and I'm ready to serve up some impressions. If you want the quick and dirty version, I'm really impressed with what Funcom has done. This game is worth your money. I'll try to talk about the aspects of the game that I haven't seen discussed much yet, as well as the stuff that everyone is talking about.

It's also important to note that I've been playing with the closed beta client -- not the open beta one. There is a serious difference. I should mention that when I wrote Friday's article, I hadn't yet played the game and I was basing my arguments largely on the claims of people who had had bad experiences with the open beta client. I still stand by my arguments about making games with outlandish system requirements, but I think Age of Conan will run just fine on many systems. Keeping all of that in mind, here's what I think of the game.

You've seen our views on Age of Conan as a whole, and gained a few insights on your first steps into Hyborea via our tutorial. If you're itching to get into the game but still can't, we have something that might help you out. We've got a walking tour of the early game, entirely in video and screenshots. Below you can check out our gallery of high resolution screenshots, All the way from your character's washing up on shore through to the very end of the tutorial area.

Below the cut, we have a series of videos showing footage from early in your game experience. Join us as we walk through the first moments of a new character's life, and make sure to check back for all of our Beta guide content!

We've given you some hands-on impressions from our time with Age of Conan's mages from the Gamespot PvP weekend, but over the past few days we've had a chance to play these classes in the beta proper. Unfortunately, due to some unforeseen (and very trying) performance issues that were out of our control, our finely crafted plans of digging deep into these classes were viciously assassinated like a Necromancer in Age of Conan's PvP.

That didn't stop us from prying further information on the Herald of Xotli, Demonologist and Necromancer classes. So if you'd like the expanded low-down on these magic-manipulating mages, read on!

When you create your character in Age of Conan, you'll end up the tutorial area of Tortage. In typical MMO fashion, you start off with almost nothing in the world, washed up on the beach without a shirt on your back. However, it isn't long before you've stabbed and sliced your way to bigger and better things, as you progress through the jungle towards the city. Join us as we make that journey, and even glimpse the inside of the city itself, in our look at the opening levels of AoC.

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Can't wait to get into Hyborea? Massively has your early ticket. Check out all of our Age of Conan Beta guides starting on May 1st and continuing throughout the month!

How do you convey the beginning of a journey in words? Journeys are important in so many ways. Not only are they meaningful for the travelers, but for the people that they meet on the way. Age of Conan is just setting out on its own journey into the world of retail and public launch. Open Beta begins today, and within just a few weeks we'll be entering Hyborea en-masse, slaughtering picts and saving women.

The question hangs in the air ... is it any good? Has the wait been worth it? Today along with some information on the game's tutorial elements, a bit of class knowledge, and a slew of screenshots and videos, Massively would like to offer you a view on the state of the game. These views are based a week's worth of play at low levels - enough to make a few observations, but nothing like a 'review'. At the very least we can prepare you for what you'll experience in the Open Beta, and likely in the first days of retail as well.

Read on for our view on where the game is today, and how we think launch is going to go 'tomorrow'.