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If you already own a horse mount in Age of Conan, you are probably extremely unimpressed with your new companion's speed -- it almost seems like you don't move any faster at all. According to this post at AoC's official forums, this is in fact the case. One of the game's designers has confirmed that, currently, even the mighty horse trots along at regular run-speed. A proper fix for this is coming in a future patch, but a temporary workaround is shared for now (which a lot of people in the community had already figured out): simply sheathe or unsheathe your weapon while mounted, and enjoy the mount's speed boost as it was intended.

Also included in the post is the fact that the speed boost itself will be increased very soon. Horses will be slightly faster, and Mammoths and Rhinos will get a smaller boost. As well as this, to address a complaint that those with Mammoth/Rhino pre-order privileges have, the riding skills (charging, attacks, etc.) associated with these mounts will be given automatically with the "/claim" command after a future patch, and those who already have the skills through buying Basic Riding will need to perform the command to receive them again.

EDIT: Going by this forum thread, the mount speed increase is already in effect as of today's patch. Some in-game testing of our own shows that at the very least, the bug requiring weapon sheathing/unsheathing is fixed. More on these other undocumented patch changes shortly.

Videogamer.com is featuring a new developer diary for Age of Conan, presented by Erling Ellingsen, all about the mounted combat that will be found in the game. Rather than going into fine details about the system, Ellingsen elects to describe some of the cool things that will be possible when engaging in mounted combat.

Players will get to either fight while on their mount, or actually use their mount as a weapon. With the former, the faster you are moving, the more damage you will inflict upon a target, making old fashioned drive-bys the order of the day -- Ellingsen says that you can lop someone's head off as you zoom past, if you're going fast enough. It will also be possible to make your mount attack, and these attacks vary depending on the animal you're riding. Check out the roughly two-minute video to see the mounts in action, rearing up and knocking crowds of enemies to the ground.

We could write reams of text that describe in loving detail all the features that await you in Lord of the Rings Online's Book 13 content patch. We could lay out screenshot after screenshot that could perfectly capture the chilly northlands that are being introduced, the eerie agent of Angmar who is tearing apart the land or the monstrous beasts that roam the wintry tundra.

Or you can just click after the jump and watch a video that sums it up in less than 5 minutes. Plus, glimpses of Fishing, new trophies and new environmental effects.

Don't worry you lovers of words and pictures, a write up is coming your way in the next day or two complete with a gallery of shiny shots to accompany the purple prose.

Massively had the chance to sit with the Age of Conan developers yesterday, to take in a brand-new preview of the blood-and-guts gameplay due out later this year. One of the highlights of that demo was the chance to see mounted combat in action. We traveled to the desolate landscape of Khopshef province for a look at what the riding animals of Hyborea could do in a scuffle.

Game director Gaute Godager walked us through the tusk-tossing and hoof-stomping, revealing details of when and how you'll be able to grab your mounts. He also hinted at post-launch possibilities for some of the bigger animals, and touched on the nteraction these mighty steeds will have with the game's signature 'seige PvP' gameplay. Read on for just a taste of what it might be like to rampage across the ancient world on the back of War Mammoth. Or, alternatively, check out our audio recording of this part of the presentation to get the word straight from the mammoth's mouth.

Today's Lord of the Rings Online One Shots comes to us from Maerlin of Brandywine. We really aren't quite sure what to make of it, save that this NPC giant apparently didn't read our column yesterday on the best ways to (discreetly) handle virtual romance! There again, we wouldn't have such a strange screenshot to share with you today if he had. As Maerlin told us:

I was traversing the Misty Mountains when I came upon a Giant and his pet. I quietly excused myself and ran as fast as I possibly could in the other direction. I hold this picture as blackmail whenever I have to pass through this particular Giant's territory.

We don't know if we'd have had the courage (or is it the stomach, perhaps?) to snap this particular screenshot, but it certainly gave some of us a good chuckle. If you're feeling brave, and would like to show off some of your blackmail photos, or just fun and funny things you've seen in your game of choice, then send those screenshots in to us here at oneshots@massively.com! Without your screens, we have to pilfer the screenshot folders of the staff here -- and they get really edgy when we go near their screenshot folders for some reason...

Reader Griz sends us this link to some amazing new Age of Conan screenshots debuting at CES. At first I wasn't sure that these were in-game photos until I scrutinized them more closely, they look so good. But they appear to be the real deal. As if the anticipation over this thing could get any hotter.

My favorite of the bunch, which include various demons and beasties, is the shot of a war mammoth being beset by spectral warriors while grey, hazy clouds mass overhead. What's going on in this shot? We'll know in March!

[Thanks, Griz!]

Keen on Keen and Graev points out an interesting announced feature of Age of Conan: mounted combat. Yup, Funcom is going to put people on all kinds of different mounts (horses, rhinos, and even a wooly mammoth, seen above), and pit them against each other in PvP. And each mount will not only have its own stats (in terms of defense, HP, and manuverability), but players will able to customize their mounts (as, I'd guess on the spiked tusks above). Wild.

So, wonders someone on the Warhammer Online forums, will WAR do the same thing? Developer Marc Jacobs doesn't exactly say "no," but he does say that they promise nothing-- mounted combat is tough to get right, and Mythic isn't overextending any promises if they can manage it. Fair enough.

But wow, if AoC does everything awesome that Funcom says it will, we might have a real bit of competition on our hands. Massively will have lots more on AoC tomorrow-- stay tuned for some exclusive coverage of what might be one of the best MMOs of 2008.