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AoC developers get specific about coming fixes and features

A little developer communication can go a long way. Today we see two substantial communications from the Age of Conan developers. Twicer has posted a hefty account of what's coming next in the ongoing drive to patch up the game. In the spotlight are tradeskills, resource playfields and massive PvP. Not all of what's here will be welcome - rare resource drops, for example, are actually working as intended and not bugged - but Funcom do seem to be keeping the player base more in the loop, which is a positive step.

Meanwhile, Gaute Godager has issued a new letter to the players, expanding upon (and revising) what he said last time. We learn the he new PvP changes are expected to come out in early August, and the DX10 part of the engine is now scheduled for this fall, with a preview at Leipzig in August. To our surprise, buddy keys are scheduled to be activated next week (at long last) in apparent contradiction of Ellingsen's denial that a trial program is coming any time soon.



Many of the tradeskill fixes Twicer mentions, such as rendering skinning and weaving useful, don't have an exact time estimate and are simply set to be done 'as soon as we can'. However, we're told the next patch to go to Testlive will feature traders and trainers in the guild cities, along with NPC guards to keep out unwanted intruders. That should go a long way towards making this somewhat wobbly feature feel populated and useful.

If this sounds familiar, it's because Erling Ellingsen alluded to it in a recent interview. Twicer also gives more details on the guild city customization Ellingsen mentioned, detailing some of the possible additions to the cities: 'totems that produces team-buffs while in range, Waystones to teleport team-members and/or self, guild-city improvements such as statues, flags, etc.' In other news, blue recipes are all designed and waiting to be added, while tradeskills in general will be less costly.