dark-templar
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Behind the Mask: From the shadows, I come
There have been a lot of updates to Champions Online recently. The dev team has really focused on putting out small bits of content at a rapid pace, including a new costume pack, the Light Speed travel power, and two big updates to the Darkness and Gadgeteering frameworks. The Void, the first of CO's premium archetypes, basks in the twilight and wields the power of darkness. She came with a big update to the Darkness framework as a whole, and we'll cover all the changes to her sexy powers this week in Behind the Mask.
The Anvil of Crom: Class selection guide
Welcome, my barbaric friends, to The Anvil of Crom. Last week we kicked around the difficult dilemma of server selections for my return to Age of Conan, and with that out of the way we can delve into some of the class choices available in Funcom's version of Hyboria. Given that I'm currently playing two rangers (one on Wiccana, one on Cimmeria), this column will ultimately focus heavily on those experiences. I'll also toss in the occasional comment on assassins (my launch day character and now an alt) as well as how my rangers fare against all twelve classes. Age of Conan is a unique title in many ways, but none are more readily apparent than the melee combat system and the newish take on traditional MMORPG class roles. If you're new to the game or newly returned, chances are you're having a bit of a time deciding which class is right for you. If you pick one based on prior genre experience, you may find some surprises in store. Hit the link below for some basic class breakdowns as well as my reasons for going ranger. Page 2 of 3 >>
AoC dev blog discusses class tweaks and recruiting more advocates
Funcom's Glen "Famine" Swan has put another entry into his blog at MMORPG, discussing Age of Conan's upcoming guild features (which Craig Morrison elaborated on in his recent game director letter) as well as some class tweaks that the developers have been working on. Right now the dev team is looking at the Bear Shaman and Barbarian classes, with the Conqueror and Dark Templar up for possible changes after they're done with the first two. He doesn't spill the beans on exactly what might be happening with these classes but we're told to stay tuned for more information soon.The rest of Famine's blog post relates to things outside of the game. It sounds like the Advocate Program has been going well, but Funcom would like to bring a few more advocates on board. Along with the existing class advocates, they might be recruiting advocates specifically for areas like roleplaying and player-versus-player, as was planned some time ago. Famine also gave a quick update on Funcom's plans for Dragon*Con in Atlanta this September. Among the activities will be a developer panel featuring Age of Conan's lead designer Joel Bylos.
One Shots: Sunset in the Wild Lands
The screenshots keep rolling in from lots of people who are really enjoying the look and feel of Funcom's Age of Conan. Today's One Shots submission comes to us from Konig, who appears to have found a lovely place to look across the mountains in Wild Lands. Konig writes: Here is my (relatively) early level Dark Templar In the Wild Lands in Age Of Conan. I was trying to find a shortcut across some mountains when I moved the camera back and swing it around to find [this] amazing shot.Have you run across an amazing vista in your travels? Maybe you've just had an exciting time in battle lately, and have a triumph screen of you among a field of bodies. Heck, if it's an MMO screenshot, we want to see it! Just send those in to us here at oneshots AT massively DOT com along with a description of what we're seeing. We'll put it up and you get the credit! How easy is that?%Gallery-9798%
Patch notes available for AoC's 10th of July update
The next major patch hits Age of Conan's live servers today. The patch notes are lengthy, chocked full of details on all of the quest, item, UI and NPC fixes that made it in. Necromancers, Dark Templars and Heralds of Xotli took the lion's share of class tweaks, although Priests of Mitra, Rangers, Assassins and Barbarians also had some smaller changes.Female characters received some fixes to the way they swing their weapons, and had their other combat animations corrected. Among the quest amendments, the "Obtaining the Noble Arena Key" fix stands out, hopefully allowing the poor people who could not enter the Arena in the Arsman's Tavern to finally complete their quests. As good as all of this progress is, we're going to sound like a broken record by mentioning the big PvP update again -- can we pretty please have it next patch? You can take a look at what we do have for now in the full patch notes.
Undocumented changes for AoC 26th of June patch
In keeping with tradition, Age of Conan players have found some changes that did not make it on to the official patch notes for today's update. The community's findings have been compiled into one handy forum thread, and here are some of the more significant items on the list (although the thread will likely have more added to it later on): Barbarian talent "Cyclone of Razors" has had its damage lowered from 28% to 10% at 5 points. Necromancers can no longer send pets to attack while hidden. Assassin ability "From the Darkness" animation changed and damage after charge reduced by up to 70%. Rangers mez shot seems to not be working properly. Dark Templar's magic damage coefficient is bugged. A bug with casting from your mount, a feature reintroduced today on the official notes. Casters can begin casting a spell while standing still on their mount, and are then free to run around while casting it without interruption, leading to easy kiting. Still to be verified: Variety of loot from epic Kheshatta bosses increased, and new blues dropping.
Sneak a peek at AoC's test server patch notes
Curse.com has posted a list of patch notes from Age of Conan's test server, which will likely go live in one of this coming week's scheduled downtime slots. You will notice that stat gains from equipment will finally be functioning correctly, and it's going to be interesting to see just how much of a difference this will make to the strength of each class.The patch notes also feature another round of class tweaks, notably some buffs for Dark Templars and damage changes for Priests of Mitra. Confusingly, Bear Shamans will be getting improved Wreck Armor combo visuals and sounds -- however, this is a Barbarian combo, so is this change actually for Barbs or did they mean the BS combo Crush Armor? Other really good things: lower level mobs will knock you off your mount a lot less (although higher mobs will do it more) and attackers at your sides will have half the chance of knocking you off -- attackers from the front will never knock you off. Finally, player cities will be able to get their Trader NPC at last. Take a look through the full patch notes for some other changes, including quest and item fixes, and perhaps start speculating on what changes will be left off the list this time.
Twelve trails of blood in Age of Conan
Over the years of its development cycle Age of Conan has seen a lot of class changes and mergers. After all this time Funcom has settled on providing players with four archetypes that each have three classes to pick from, resulting in a total of 12 classes. Each class in AoC has a specific set of skills, but none are fully pigeonholed into any singular role. We've gone ahead and created an easy-to-navigate list of the archetypes and classes offered. Funcom has released more information for some classes than others, but at this point each one is pretty clear in the role they'll play in Age of Conan come May 20th. Twelve trails of blood in Age of Conan >>>>> %Gallery-19934%
Age of Conan Friday Update with new screenshots
Funcom has issued another Friday update. It mostly covers the announcement from earlier this week about Age of Conan's packed to the gills Collector's Edition. But they did sneak in three more new screenshots in today's update as well.The first is above and shows off PvP mounted combat. When I was talking to the Funcom folks earlier this week at CES during my Dark Templar hands-on, they mentioned there were two pre-order combat mounts: the Woolly Mammoth and the Rhino. I wasn't able to see the gameplay of mounted combat, but I did see Woolly Mammoths that you could kill. If the mounted version is any where near as big, you will definitely have your enemies trembling before you as you bear down on them on one of those bad boys.The second and third screenshots are in the gallery below and show an Ice Demon as well as a battle over an expansion bridge. Hopefully the next Friday Update from Funcom will have more new information.%Gallery-9836% %Gallery-13299%
Hands-on with Age of Conan's Dark Templar class
The Consumer Electronics Show has hit Las Vegas in full force. The Massively team is here to roam the corridors of shiny, shiny, shiny gadgetry and ignore it all to to focus entirely on the content that is important to you. And that would be the shininess of Age of Conan. Funcom is on hand with live connections to their AoC beta servers and two classes available for demo play. Before diving in, you should check out Michael Zenke's hands-on post he wrote for our mother site, Joystiq. It explains how combat works. Then come back here to read about my experiences with the Dark Templar. And a little later, I'll have another post detailing my Barbarian play.Video of Dark Templar gameplay and Talent descriptions after the jump!%Gallery-13299%
Age of Conan Product Developer interview, with gameplay video
var digg_url = 'http://digg.com/pc_games/Age_of_Conan_interview_and_video'; On December 5th, I was invited to the Eidos/Funcom Age of Conan press event, where I was privileged enough to be granted access to both the game itself and the development team. I was able to play the opening area, leading into the first town. I sussed out the combat and the conversation interface. I spoke with Jørgen Tharaldsen, the Product Developer, and he let drop a metric ton of knowledge upon my fevered noggin. I reprint here our conversation, interspersed with my handheld-shot video pieces, the first of which is shown above, which is where the game starts, with you as a survivor of a shipwrecked slaver ship. I'd like to thank Jørgen and the entire Eidos/Funcom team, all of whom I found to be gracious, witty, and enthusiastic about their game, which is refreshing to see. My take? The game looks incredible, and it's extremely immersive from the get-go. They say they're on schedule for an early 2008 release, so this is something to anticipate indeed. More videos and the interview after the jump!
Age of Conan's Dark Templar in-depth
Most classes of characters in MMOs are generally morally ambiguous, blank slates for characters to impose their own personalities. At the very worst they're chaotic neutral, vaguely menacing looking but still ambiguous. In an interview with TTH, Age of Conan product director Jørgen Tharaldsen describes how the Dark Templar is noticeably, convincingly evil, evidenced by his very visible use of the powers given him in his pact with dark gods.From the sound of the interview, the Dark Templar will be a unique sort of tanking hybrid, pairing the use of single-edged weapons with auras and enemy draining abilities that rob enemies of health to sustain himself and his teammates. The interview itself has something of a worshipful character to it, but we're willing to look past that because of the depth of information there. As time goes, we're starting to hear more and more about the game's combat system and the kinds of characters we'll see in it, and what we've heard sounds pretty exciting.
