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Funcom went to some lengths to make Age of Conan's horses seem realistic. The game's mounted combat system even makes it possible to use a horse as a weapon. But despite all the thought they put into this aspect of the game, Funcom probably didn't predict that a rather devious AoC player could use his horse to take out opponents as depicted in this video. Check it out to see an entirely new type of mounted combat, and learn why you should never stand behind a horse.

Via WanderingGoblin

Mounts in World of Warcraft are essentially organic vehicles that allow the player to traverse the landscape more quickly. Level 60 Epic mounts are faster than level 40 mounts, and of course flying mounts grant vertical movement. Mounts in other games are mostly the same, barring, of course, smaller games of which we might know nothing. It's a big game universe out there; it's possible.

But it seems that there's unaddressed potential with these mounts. Sure, they look menacing, and it's better to ride than to walk, but is that all? Watching the recent Vanguard mounts video made us yearn for more from our noble steeds. Here's what we'd like to see in future games.

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.

Once again we're treated to an insightful AoC "Ask a Dev" Q&A, courtesy of Ten Ton Hammer. In this week's installment, we get a look into some of the smaller details on the minds of players as we get closer to retail release. This includes everything from hardware requirements to accounting details.

One of the most interesting features of this article is the mention of mount speed as it relates to travel and mounted combat. Apparently, there will be three speeds: walk, trot and gallop. Galloping will be achieved by holding down the shift key, yet it prevents mounted combat and actually drains the horse's stamina. This seems to be a higher level of mount usage that has not only been overlooked in current MMOs, but may be a sign of things to come with future MMOs, if it goes over well with AoC players.

Among the many things that should differentiate Age of Conan from the current pack of MMOs (that is, besides nipples) is the ambitious mounted combat that the game will sport from day one. You see, some games try and sneak in mounted combat months after the release and it's just not the same. Not Age of Conan; Funcom seems committed to shipping with their full pallet of features at the table.

Videogamer.com has a pretty slick write-up of their impressions of the mounted combat, with role playing and everything. Of course, while we found ourselves extra hyped up about the upcoming release, upon reflection we realized that the preview actually told us very little we didn't already know. And since not everybody won their way into the the PvP stress test, we had to curse Grom for getting our hopes up. Still, if you're looking for an morale boost in lieu of the game's launch a month from now, it's definitely worth a read.

Age of Conan

Conan gets mounted

One of the hottest tickets for MMO enthusiasts at GDC08 was the Funcom session showing off new features in their upcoming Age of Conan. Mounted combat was the eye candy of the day. Game Director Gaute Godager walked our team through the basics of head to head battles astride War Horses, War Mammoths and War Rhinos. For the reading-averse, you can also listen to an audio recording of the presentation.

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.

Sunday got you down without much to do? Well maybe this will eat up a few of those boring minutes for you. It appears that the WarCry Network has a nice little interview with Joshua Drescher, Adam Gershowitz and James Nichols of EA Mythic. This interview happens to be about Warhammer Online (who knew?), so sit down, strap in, caffeine up and listen in because we can never get enough juicy information about WAR.

Many of the subjects are nothing too special, such as the revelation that EA Mythic is going to let players re-spec their characters. To be more specific, players will have the opportunity to re-spec their Mastery, meaning any tactics or morale abilities that were selected in the system. This doesn't include core tactics or morale, as well as anything received from the Tome of Knowledge. The reason being that these are granted through automatic unlocks (such as gaining a level or killing 200 haughty High Elves).

A recent newsletter for Warhammer Online gave us a glimpse at the concept art for some of the player mounts that the game will have, and TenTonHammer has posted these up in a handy gallery. Featured are mounts for the Greenskin, Dwarf, High Elf, Chaos, and Empire armies. For some races, we see a Light, Heavy and Medium version of the mounts, and the Greenskins have two different kinds of mount shown, boars and wolves.

The newsletter that these images came from gave us a few scraps of information on some mount mechanics. There will be temporary mounts for rent, aimed at lower level characters, and riding into water will throw you off your mount. Similarly, you can be shot off your mount if you ride into battle (though no word yet on whether mounted combat will at all be possible). Missing from any of the concept art shown was a mount for the Dark Elves. The newsletter promises more details soon on mounts in general, and perhaps we will learn about their mode of transportation at that time.

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.

Two Lord of the Rings Online dev chats within one week? It's like Christmas came early for LotRO players. But it looks like some players are getting presents and others are getting coal.

German website, Lotro-Welten, held its monthly LotRO dev chat for European players last week. And last night US players got their own dev chat at MMORPG. Strangely, the EU dev chat held a wealth of new information while the US chat had very little new or interesting. Here are the highlights from Lotro-Welten's chat, mostly applying to the upcoming Book 12 content patch:

• Fishing is being introduced as a new profession category called Hobbies
• Hobbies are professions that anyone can level up in regardless of their other tradeskill choices
• The barber in Book 12 will offer new hairstyles
• The new cosmetic system allowing you to display different clothing will not extend to hand held items and will be entirely disabled in PvMP zones
• More solo content is a big priority for the dev team and Angmar is getting a pass in Book 12 to become more solo friendly

Funcom sent out the new "Clan of Conan" newsletter today, and it includes a bunch of cool stuff to whet your Age of Conan appetite. It's mostly the usual sorts of stuff, just new content.

This time we got an article on mounted combat, info on a couple of new enemies and the "Sanctum of the Souls" location, as well as screenshots, desktop wallpaper, and a two-minute video of the area. You can also download a complete 23-page Age of Conan comic book, but it's the same one that was included with the last newsletter, so if you were already on top of that, it's nothing new.

The article on mounted combat is the most interesting part of the package. Mounted combat is not something we're used to in MMOs; it's one of the most exciting innovations AoC offers. According to the article, there are many different kinds of mounts with different kinds of strengths and weaknesses. One mount might charge faster than another, for example.

[Via Warcry]