Age of Conan video interview focuses on player concerns
Erling Ellingson, Funcom's Product Manager for Age of Conan, recently gave a video interview with Jon Wood from MMORPG. Wood brought some tough questions to the interview regarding the problems many players are having with the game, questions that may not have simple, clear cut answers as the footage implies. Or perhaps they're just not the answers many gamers are hoping to get.
Wood's interview covered the gambit of player concerns about the game: the lack of DX 10; missing and upcoming features; and speculation about changes in mature content. Perhaps of greatest significance to the Age of Conan player base is the content drop off after level 20. On the post-20 game experience, Ellingson likened Age of Conan to being two titles in one -- a single player experience and an MMO. The introduction to the game is meant to be very detailed to draw the player into the setting, but the second part is a different experience. Some people may like the first part more than the second, he says. Also, in terms of content thinning as levels go up, he feels that this happens with most MMOs when they launch, and states that even when World of Warcraft launched, "the higher level content was relatively sparse." To remedy this, Funcom is now focused on adding higher level content, including level 80 dungeons, and Ymir's Pass -- a level 55+ zone.
Player reactions to this interview on the Age of Conan forums has been negative, likewise on the MMORPG forum connected with the Ellingson interview. However, is all of this justified? If you're a high level AoC player, how do you feel about the official response to these issues, and are you optimistic about the new content improving your game experience?
