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Age of Conan's May Director's Letter details new content and tech
Crush enemies, see them driven before you, lamentations of their women, yadda yadda. You know the drill. The Age of Conan Game Director's Letter for this month has hit the interwebs, and the topics of discussion are the recent 5th Anniversary event (and the new event system that it utilized), the impending transition to single-server technology, and a number of updates heading to the game soon. The first phase of Age of Conan's switch to single-server tech (which involved moving all of the servers to the same physical location) has been completed, and the AoC team is now "preparing to move towards the new phase," which means merging all same-ruleset servers. Meanwhile, in Hyboria proper, Age of Conan recently held an in-game event to celebrate its fifth anniversary, and this included the introduction of some snazzy new event tech. In a nutshell, the previous system required that the game be patched in order to both begin and end an event, but with the new system, the devs can run and adjust events on the fly. On top of that, AoC players can expect a smattering of new content over the summer, beginning with the new Coils of Ubah Khan dungeon. Later additions will include new Unchained Dungeons, the Palace of Cetriss, and a shiny new tradeskill system. To get all the delicious information straight from the barbarian's mouth (ew), just click on through the link below.
The near-death of caravan escorts in Age of Conan's expansion
Rise of the Godslayer is coming on May 11th, and if you're an Age of Conan fan the day probably seems like it can't come fast enough. While the developer letter for the end of April doesn't help hurry the date forward any, but it does highlight one of the smaller but interesting portions of the development process -- the sort of thing that can get lost between the more major systems. And interestingly enough, it was an element that director Craig Morrison originally looked at and declined to leave in the expansion! Originally, the design team had included a feature where you could either hand over money and be automatically transported to and from Khitai, or you could volunteer your services as a caravan guard and make the journey for free. The trade was that as a guard, you would be expected to defend the caravan against assaults, resulting in a small instanced encounter. Morrison felt that the encounters weren't really adding anything that wouldn't be better served as a part of Khitai proper. The full story of the process and the change in philosophy can be found in the director's letter, certainly a nice tease for Age of Conan players.
January Age of Conan director letter details the road ahead
While the January edition of the Age of Conan Game Director letter isn't the flashiest one we've ever seen, it is an excellent road-map of just what the team over at Funcom have in their sights for the next little while. They've been giving us tons of tasty Rise of the Godslayer news outside of the Director updates, so we certainly won't complain! This month, Age of Conan's Game Director, Craig Morrison, sits down to tell us just what the team has in mind for the future of Hyboria. Patch 1.06 will be coming to the live servers shortly, bringing with it the Guild Renown system, tier three raiding, and a major revamp for the Assassin class. As for Godslayer, he says that more players have been invited into the beta and the feedback has thus far been great. There's also a good chunk of information on what they're planning for long-term PvP improvements for those who can't wait to bash Hyborian brains in. In all, it sounds like Craig and the team have some excellent things in motion for the future of Age of Conan, so be sure to pop over and check it out. Having fun in Conan's homeland? Make sure to check out all of our previous Age of Conan coverage, and stick with Massively for more news from the Hyborian Age!
Age of Conan Director's letter for October
The October Director's letter for Age of Conan has been released, and it looks like the AoC team is continuing to seek player support and suggestions for improvement. The increase in player questionnaires and surveys will continue in an effort to get feedback from fans, as will weekly updates from the community teams to keep players informed of what's happening. They're also working for increased player interaction by seeking more members for the volunteer program and continuing the recruit-a-friend program. The big news, as always, was the upcoming update. The 1.05 cycle is coming to an end and the 1.06 cycle is in the works, with the hope that it will hit the test servers in the next few weeks. The Director's letter gave a few hints as to what to look for in 1.06: "We are now focusing on the new Guild Renown feature and the new Tier Three raids encounters. We will be running several initiatives one the test servers during the testing to ensure you get your chance to have your say!" The full letter can be seen on the official site.
Age of Conan director's letter unveils veteran rewards and level 80 instance
The September edition of the Age of Conan director's letter is offering some exciting developments for dedicated players in the form of a new level 80 dungeon, the Iron Tower, and the implementation of a veteran rewards program.The veteran rewards program works a bit differently than most other programs, utilizing the new currency of "veteran points" instead of a reward per-month interval system. Each month players will be rewarded X amount of points that they can either save or spend in a new veteran reward shop, which contains items of convenience. The points rewarded will increase after each six month interval passes, giving the players more options the longer they play.
Age of Conan's game director outlines the future of the game
At the end of the week, Age of Conan Game Director Gaute Godager offered up a letter to the players on the official game site. Saying that it had been too long since he last spoke with the playerbase, the Director sought to touch base and clarify Funcom's future plans for the M-rated title. Now live for some seven weeks, the team is hard at work on new and updated content for the game. Some of the content mentioned in the June letter, unfortunately, hasn't seen release yet. The updates to PvP are the most obvious MIA content, which Godager says are not yet in the game because they haven't reached the quality standard they're aiming for. The changes are now on the internal test server, and full details of the PvP changes can be found on the official site. They're also hard at work on new dungeons and zones. Ymir's pass looks to be the first on the block, a new 55-60 zone. It may see release this summer if they can get the level of quality right in time. After that they're aiming for a level 80 dungeon in the Thunder River area, which should see release alongside another dungeon in the same zone, and of the same level. Godager didn't give details on those additions, but assured they would both contain "new bosses and cool loot". They've put some work into improving siege PvP optimization (to get over the buggy lagfest issues), and overall are striving to improve performance in the game. Beyond that, Godager offers a number of other positive-sounding plans for the near future in the letter: improved customer support, a DX10 version unveiling at Liepzeig in August, and the activation of buddy keys as soon as next week. Hyboria fans owe it to themselves to check out his open letter, and see the face of Age of Conan's tomorrow.
