The Anvil of Crom: A tale of two Conans
It was the best of games, it was the worst of games, it was the age of PvE, it was the age of PvP, it was the epoch of skill-based, it was the epoch of gear-based, it was the season of battlegrounds, it was the season of FFA, it was the spring of Wiccana, it was the winter of Tyranny, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way -- in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.
Whoops. It seems I've gone and butchered another literary quote in service of my column, and while Dickens may not have had a pulp lit-based MMORPG on his mind when he began his opus, his line of thought nevertheless applies to Age of Conan (and really any game that undergoes radical change).
Head past the cut for more on Age of Conan's intriguing duality.
First things first; I know last week I ended with a promise to clue you guys in as to the progress of my newly minted guild city. Well, due to the fact that we started doing a lot of other crazy fun things in game this week (i.e., minigame PvP and some pretty epic roleplaying), we didn't get quite as much harvesting and crafting done as we intended. Also, we're about 2.5 bazillion granite, electrum, and iron short of being able to start the keep upgrades. Consequently, tier two is going to take a little bit of time, and we'll save the city-focused column for the next couple of weeks once I've had more of an opportunity to put the system through its paces.
What I would like to talk about is an interesting dynamic in Age of Conan, namely that of the pre-1.05 player and the post-1.05 player. Every so often, the official boards erupt with the righteous indignation of folks who feel that the epic 1.05 patch took their game away from them. It's not as well-publicized a rage as that still in evidence over the Star Wars Galaxies NGE, but Age of Conan did change the core mechanics of the game rather radically in June of 2009, approximately 13 months after release.
In a grossly simplified nutshell, prior to 1.05, survival in Funcom's Hyboria was highly dependent on player skill and mastery of the intricacies of AoC's newfangled melee combat system. After 1.05, the game took a marked turn away from this original direction and headed more towards the gear- and level-based paradigm so common to the MMORPG genre. That's not to say there weren't levels before; of course there were, but they didn't matter quite so much in terms of player-on-player competition, and gear mattered not at all (aside from a hilariously overpowered gem exploit).
It's clear that Funcom supposed most players wanted a more traditional set-up, as they basically nuked the core of AoC's original game systems and put in lots of new itemization and gear dependency. Whether or not they were successful in their plan is debatable, and depends upon which side of the PvP/PvE fence you happen to sit on. Financially, the game is clearly in good health, as it simply makes no sense to lavish the kind of time and money obviously spent on Rise of the Godslayer if your game were hemorrhaging customers.
Funcom won't come right out and say it and (of course) won't release sub numbers, but based on my experiences on both Wiccana and Cimmeria in Eastern prime time, the game has never been healthier in terms of player population. Minis happen fairly frequently across all level ranges even without cross-server convenience; getting a dungeon group happens in a matter of minutes; and global chat is constantly alive with both guild recruitment spam and newbs asking newb questions.
Why then is there this vocal group on the official boards that is constantly either a) bemoaning what happened to the original game or b) asking for things like servers that exclude caster classes and other assorted silliness? The answer is that these folks love PvP, and honestly PvP is now an afterthought in Age of Conan. The game has morphed from a niche ganker's paradise into a very respectable PvE theme park, with a ton of quests and dungeons to complete, and a ton of varied and beautiful locations in which to complete them. There's also the aforementioned itemization, both in looted and crafted gear (though the latter is still ridiculously tied to adventuring levels, effectively preventing pure crafters from existing in the game). If it wasn't clear that PvP now plays second fiddle, the Shrines of Bori hiccups (in which players exploit their way to PvP level 10 via purely PvE means instead of using the system as intended) cemented the suspicion.
PvP guys, honestly, I love you all to death because you're so cute when you cry about MMOs in general and AoC in particular.. I just want to run over there, wrap you in a big carebear hug and pinch your little rosy-red QQing cheeks. In all seriousness though, I do feel for you a little bit as I can relate to having games (and heck, even the sandbox genre) basically disappear before my eyes. Yes, Age of Conan started out being your type of game. Reality set in fairly quickly though, as Funcom realized that PvP-centric MMORPGs really don't make a lot of money, hence the huge dearth of them on the current market -- and thus the 1.05 patch and the slow reversal of AoC's fortunes that we're still witnessing to this day. Craig Morrison, the architect of AoC's seismic shift, is the devil to a lot of pro-1.04-and-earlier players, but the reality is that his direction saved Age of Conan from turning into Shadowbane, which is often held up as the shining beacon of PvP awesomeness and is also tellingly dead and buried due to an unpopular, unsustainable design.
Now, this is not to say that MMORPG PvP, or Age of Conan PvP, is a lost cause. It isn't, and even though I'm not a big proponent of the playstyle, I still enjoy both minigames and the Border Kingdoms as much as anyone. That said, they aren't the reason the game, or the genre, exists, and the folks pretending that they are anything more than a sideshow to the main event (PvE) are deluding themselves. MMORPGs are, and likely always will be, about two things: your character and your stuff (maybe we could add a third thing if you want to allow for the minority roleplayers in the audience, your humble author included, but for all intents and purposes, these games are about you and your items). Notice I said items, not skills. If it's truly skill-based PvP competition you want, I have to tell you that you're playing in the wrong genre, and I highly recommend Call of Duty, Counterstrike, and their ilk. The majority of MMORPG players want their time invested (in the form of level progression and gear acquisition) to translate into advantages in both PvE and PvP. That's why they play RPGs. And it's why you shouldn't play them if you want a level-PvP field, true skill-based tests, or the ability to hold your own with someone who has been playing a lot longer than you.
Happily for the red-equals-dead crowd, it's not all gloom and doom, as Age of Conan still throws the occasional bone to PvP-focused players. The upcoming ranger revamp is a prime example. The class works completely fine as-is, and in fact is rather good at both PvE and PvP (even in the hands of a casual player), but Funcom has decided to listen to the folks who value challenge over accessibility. I'm not saying this is good or bad -- we really won't know until the changes have been live for awhile -- but make no mistake: these changes are driven by the PvP mentality of certain developers and perhaps inspired by certain loud voices in the ranger community. It will be interesting to see whether Funcom follows suit with additional class revamps over time.
Anyhow, we're about out of time (and word count, as my editor is giving me dirty looks) for this week. Next time I hope to talk about my shiny new tier two city, but no promises (gawd that's a lot of resources). Until then, I leave you with the with the world's coolest concept art.
Jef Reahard is an Age of Conan beta and launch day veteran, as well as the creator of Massively's weekly Anvil of Crom. Feel free to suggest a column topic, propose a guide, or perform a verbal fatality via jef@massively.com.
