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The Anvil of Crom: On Age of Conan's 'bad launch'
I recently ran across an internet discussion featuring the worst MMO launches of all time. Age of Conan was in there, of course, and while I'm not going to tell you that the title's debut was perfect, I feel that there's quite a bit of misinformation stemming from the game's early days. Some of you may disagree and interpret this week's column as a fanboy defense of Funcom, but if you've been reading The Anvil of Crom for more than a month, you'll know that I take the devs to task far more often than not. The stark reality is that AoC's launch simply wasn't as bad as some people make it out to be.
A World of Warcraft player's guide to Age of Conan
World of Warcraft has brought thousands, millions of players to the MMO genre that may never have tried it before. Despite that, It's become increasingly obvious over the years that WoW players are not necessarily "MMO players." Even though they enjoy the style of gameplay, many of that millions-strong army only play World of Warcraft. When they want a break they go off to play completely different types of games. At Massively we try to love all of our MMO friends equally, so we'd like to introduce you World of Warcraft players to a brand new experience: Age of Conan.Join us on a brief tour through the world of Hyboria, to touch on some of the similarities and differences that join and separate Azeroth with Conan's world. We'll talk about mounts , crafting, PvP, combat, and several other gameplay elements. Join us on this cross-world expedition, and keep your pith helmets on!%Gallery-11743%
Unboxing the Age of Conan Collector's Edition
With the Age of Conan collector's edition sold out across the country, we thought it would be worthwhile to go through our copy of the box and share with you what Funcom has on offer. We've talked all about the CE before, as the company unveiled details all the way back in January. There's a big difference between knowing about the leather map or the art book, and seeing them firsthand, though.Today, in keeping with our Age of Conan launch-day coverage, we'll peel back the cover on this Massive chunk of MMO memorabilia. Check out the full gallery of unboxing screenshots here at Massively.com.%Gallery-23263%
Age of Conan opens its doors to the bloodthirsty hordes
It's been a long time coming - some four and a half years for the developers at Funcom. But finally, finally, the gates to Hyboria open. Today Age of Conan officially launches. We've got an enormous wrap-up of all the recent content we've had here on the site. We've also got a few more pieces up our sleeves for later today, just in case you didn't take the day off of work to play. For the moment, though, you'll have to be happy with Massively's "best of": Age of Conan. Six reasons to be excited about Age of ConanEveryone seems to be aware of one or two great features coming with Age of Conan, but we realized that not everybody has a complete view of some of the coolest ones -- which has led us to sort of a blind men and the elephant situation. Ask Massively: Age of Conan survival guide (for your computer)I have been playing the Age of Conan beta, and, like you, I had some fairly severe issues with frame rate. I was able to tweak a few settings in the game that improved my game play experience immensely. In fact, it improved it so much that I created a new character and leveled her to 10 in the time it used to take to load a zone in some of the older beta clients. Player vs. Everything: Age of Conan closed beta impressionsEveryone 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. Read on below the cut for our full coverage roster.
The Daily Grind: By Crom?
The day of much anticipation for fans of Howard, blood, and boobs has arrived: Age of Conan officially launches today! Whether you've had your preorder in the system since last year, or are studiously avoiding the game like the plague, you've got to have some opinion on this enormous launch. Age of Conan represents almost five years of Funcom's efforts, and marks the beginning of this year's struggle for the AAA MMO space.So what do you say, Massively? Did you take the day off of work to sign in first-thing? What class are you going to play? Are you giving this one a miss? How are you celebrating Hyborian Independence Day?
Funcom unveils the size of Age of Conan's preorder horde
Tomorrow's the day the gates of Hyboria open to all and sundry, and in anticipation Funcom has revealed just how many people are going to be entering the Age of Conan this week. The massive Collector's Edition, which we've discussed several times here on the site, has completely sold out. They even did a second run for the thing, and it still sold out. According to Funcom 111,000 copies of that box are now slated for sale. The regular edition, which still offers the possibility for some decent extras, has also completely sold out in some market areas. The company estimates that "it will be unable to fulfill all pre-orders in some markets due to current server limitations." Some 700,000 copies of the game have been shipped to retailers to meet tomorrow's demand. The Conan developer also estimates that this these are the largest pre-order numbers for an MMO ever - even surpassing the original World of Warcraft's launch figures. They also note that (despite hopes to the contrary), the DX10 version of the game won't be available until August. They still need more time to patch and polish that aspect of the engine. If their numbers are accurate, Age of Conan could represent the first true runaway success since WoW's launch four years ago. If Conan cracks the million-subscriber mark - which seems at least feasible - it will be a big wakeup call for the industry. All we can do now is sit back and watch the show.
