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The Anvil of Crom: All I want for Christmas
Buuurrrp. Ah. Begging your pardon, but you know how it goes this time of year, leftovers and all that. Seeing as how this is a Thanksgiving holiday weekend here in the States -- and the annual Christmas shopping orgy has begun -- it seems an appropriate time to indulge in a bit of list-making with regard to Age of Conan. I don't normally do lists here at The Anvil of Crom, as many seem to be the game journalist's equivalent of the oh-crap-I've-got-a-deadline-but-no-topic safety net. Occasionally, though, they serve a real purpose. In my case that purpose is bitching politely talking about what I'd like to see Funcom add to its AoC recipe. So, in honor of the pilgrims and their pilfering of North America (or the cold turkey sandwich you're no doubt stealing from your fridge at this very moment), I present to you three things Age of Conan should pillage from other MMORPGs. Join me after the cut for the rundown.
The Anvil of Crom: Community update - The Musical
Welcome back, intrepid readers. This week, the Anvil of Crom is going to crush our collective enemies, drive them before us, and hear the lamentations of their women. Also, I'll be singing today's column in the key of QQ, to the tune of Conan the Musical. OK, maybe not literally, but we will visit a place that seems to revel in over-dramatized lamentation, namely the forums! Yes, it's high time for another community roundup, that time-honored tradition by which I take a look at what Age of Conan's playerbase is currently up in arms about and add my fuel to the fire. This time around, there are actually some constructive discussions going on in addition to the usual Craig-Morrison-broke-our-PvP wailing, so join me after the cut to see what's what in the meta-cloud surrounding Funcom's Hyboria.
The Anvil of Crom: Sun, sand, and the serpent kingdom
Welcome back to the Anvil of Crom and the latest edition of the Hyborian travelogue. This week, we're going to visit the lands of Stygia in Funcom's Age of Conan for a look at the final post-Tortage lowbie zone. Previously we've journeyed to the Gateway of Khitai, the Wild Lands of Zelata, and Conall's Valley, all of them race-specific 20-to-40 zones that you can visit when you're through with the Isle of Newb. Stygia's corresponding 20-to-40 content isn't quite 20-to-40 though, as I found out this week while adventuring through the region for the first time. Join me and my brand new Tempest of Set after the cut for some impressions of Hyboria's serpent kingdom as well as a bit of questing advice. %Gallery-107238%
The Anvil of Crom: Class guide #1 - The Demonologist
This week I'd like to kick off something a little bit different. Thus far The Anvil of Crom has been somewhat reactionary, meaning things happen in the Age of Conan game world that make for good discussion, or things happen in the community surrounding the game that do likewise. Aside from my semi-regular Hyborian travelogue series (and an occasional guide or two), the column has basically reflected the current game-related news. Initially that was by design, as I didn't want it to be yet another gaming blog that talked about more of the same stuff you'd find at 100 other destinations. The problem is, Age of Conan doesn't feature a large internet presence, and every time I look for a guide, I'm reminded of the fact that I should write one. Beginning today, I'm going to embark on a series of class guides designed to give newbs and vets alike the information they need to determine whether a particular archetype is right for them. My initial thought is to offer three guides per class: a 1 - 40 examination, a 40 - 80 synopsis, and a look at the class at endgame. Obviously this will be an ongoing experiment, since Age of Conan boasts a hefty complement of classes (12 as of this writing), each of them fairly unique from the others and their conventional MMORPG counterparts. Join me after the break for a look at the life and times of a young Demonologist, as well as a brief gameplay video of the class in action.
The Anvil of Crom: Squashing the negativity bug
MMORPGs tend to attract a rather ranty segment of the gaming population. Actually, let me back up. MMORPG forums tend to attract a rather ranty segment of the gaming population. Whether or not a given game's general population is as perennially dissatisfied as the vocal folks on the official boards is a matter of conjecture, but conventional wisdom holds (and I happen to agree) that most of the people are contentedly playing while a subset are engaging in all manner of forum drama. Writers aren't immune to this negativity bug either, as occasionally things will rub us the wrong way about our favorite genre (or a particular game), and we'll feel the need to speak out. I've been battling this particular demon lately myself, and whether it's a matter of burnout, stress, or simply observing that a lot of things really do suck, I feel it's important to occasionally step back and examine why exactly I'm playing a particular game as well as spending a part of my professional life covering this genre. It stands to reason that I wouldn't be here if everything were all bad all the time, so this is as fine a time as any to highlight some of the good.
The Anvil of Crom: Hives of scum and villainy
Once, a long time ago, I stood on the summit of a sandy cliff with my MMO mentor. His sage-like eyes took in the desert around us, surveying the burgeoning multiplayer landscape. On one side of us were MMOs; on the other, FPS titles and social networking games. Surrounding us from all directions I saw a writhing, rioting mass of digital humanity, overlapping chat bubbles floating toward the horizon for miles around. Some of these bubbles were legible, though many featured bizarre butcherings of the king's English as well as certain phrases that I couldn't even begin to decipher. Almost all of them sported excessive punctuation and some variation on LOL. Squinting his eyes against the glare and covering his ears with both hands, my mentor inclined his head down the slope. "Global chat," he said, a weary sign escaping his chapped lips. "You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy. We must be cautious."
The Anvil of Crom: Wild times
Welcome back to the Anvil of Crom, your weekly peek into Funcom's Age of Conan. I'm your host, ranger rantypants, and today we'll be returning to a happier place, namely, the latest installment of my ongoing Hyborian travelogue. This week, I visited the well-traveled Wild Lands of Zelata, the third of the game's four post-Tortage regions and home to some of AoC's premier questing zones. The trip was something of a homecoming, as my original launch character made his way to the Wild Lands after leaving Strom's broken body on the Tortage docks a couple of years ago, and playing through the zone again after numerous graphical and performance tweaks was quite an enjoyable experience and even a bit nostalgic. Port past the cut for more. %Gallery-105153%
The Anvil of Crom: Ranting ranger is ranty (oh and some opinions on the dev update)
Yes, it's that time of the month again: It's time for another analysis of a Funcom development update. This time around, there's the added bonus of a new patch (2.0.7) to discuss, but for the most part I'll spend today rant... er, talking about Craig Morrison's latest monthly roadmap for Age of Conan. After two weeks of positivity, I guess the time is right to bring a little balance to the Force (or at least, to The Anvil of Crom), so join me after the cut as I break down the good, bad, and fugly in relation to where the Hyborian Express seems to be headed.
The Anvil of Crom: Roll the bones
MMO guilds are complex beasts, simultaneously serving as competitive outlets, support groups, and even extended families for those of us who devote a good portion of our free time to this strange and marvelous hobby. Guilds come in all shapes, sizes, flavors, colors, and descriptions. Heck, sometimes they're not called guilds at all, but rather corporations, kinships, legions, or even supergroups. Many guilds focus on powering through PvE content in the most efficient way possible, while others are driven to excel at PvP, conquest, or server firsts. Still others spend their time roleplaying and storytelling in a medium that seems increasingly hostile to it. Funcom's Age of Conan features the usual assortment of PvP, PvE, and roleplaying guilds spread across its four American servers. Then there's Venja.
The Anvil of Crom: Gateway to adventure
I've been spending so much time in Khitai's Northern Grasslands lately that I'm starting to dream of wolves, 50-foot-tall golems, and crotchety warmonk bosses that mop the floors of their monastery with the remains of my asphyxiated assassin. As such, I figure it's time for a little change of pace, as well as a change of scenery. Ah hell, since I'm an incurable altoholic, let's go ahead and throw a change of character in there as well. Goodbye squishy 'sin, I'll miss you (not). Anyway, several alts are in the works, but rather than focus on the hows and whys of a new class (more on that in the coming weeks), we'll chew the scenery in this week's Anvil of Crom. Join me after the cut for a look at the majestic Gateway to Khitai, the latest stop on our tour of Hyboria's many and varied questing zones. %Gallery-102809%
The Anvil of Crom: What's going on
Funcom's Age of Conan is a title that's changed quite a bit over the two-plus years it's been on the MMORPG market. Whether you're talking about the recent Rise of the Godslayer expansion, the game-changing 1.05 update, or the hundreds of smaller tweaks, balances, class revamps, and content additions that Hyboria has seen since 2008, there's never been a shortage of things to discuss. Through it all, AoC die-hards have debated, pleaded, flamed, and in some cases, constructively discussed the merits of the title in one primary place: the official forums. Owing to its existence as a niche title with a smallish population, AoC doesn't feature huge third-party fansites like EQ2Flames, AionSource, or any of the legions of communities that have sprung up around World of Warcraft. No, all the Hyborian meta-gaming action is centralized in one spot, and in this week's Anvil of Crom, we're going to highlight and discuss some of the more noteworthy threads that you may have missed over the last couple of weeks (including a definitive answer from Craig Morrison as to the size of the game's development team). Flip past the cut for more.
The Anvil of Crom: Storming the Warmonk Monastery
Woo! After a few weeks of toodling around Rise of the Godslayer's new Khitai zones, I finally managed to get in on the 6-man instance action that serves as some of Age of Conan's new endgame content. Life as an assassin in a small guild isn't all it's cracked up to be, so I bit the bullet and joined a PUG or two (when they'd have me). Pro tip for players thinking of taking a sin to endgame: be really good at your class, train up Tainted Weapons and Finely Honed, or join a big guild that doesn't mind taking along the most disposable of the game's DPS classes. As I haven't yet partaken of the extensive raiding content in Age of Conan's old world, the Khitai 6-mans were my first taste of what Funcom offers for endgame folks. Read along after the cut for some impressions and advice.
The Anvil of Crom: Deconstructing the development update
Crom bless Craig Morrison. Not just because Age of Conan is developing into a terrific MMO under his watch, but also because he's one of the rare developers who communicate with both the fans and the press on a regular basis. From a fan's perspective, it's gratifying to see the head honcho hob-knobbing with the customers and keeping folks reasonably well-informed. From a journalist's perspective, the monthly development updates (as well as the frequent forum postings) make the job of finding something to write about Age of Conan a veritable walk in the park. Speaking of development updates, Silirrion released the latest this past week, and with it a preliminary glimpse at Age of Conan's fall patch schedule. Join us after the cut as we break down what's coming, and what we hope is coming.
The Anvil of Crom: Traveling the Silk Road
Last week we spoke briefly with Funcom executive producer and game director Craig "Silirrion" Morrison regarding Age of Conan's random encounter mechanic, which will invoke a series of one-off solo instances designed to add a bit of flavor to the journey to Hyboria's Far East. We also checked out five of the 11 available instances: four sea-faring adventures and one rare-spawn quest-giving encounter. This week, we'll step through the remaining five adventures, all of them land-locked, in addition to taking a quick look at the second rare spawn. Voyage past the cut for more.
The Anvil of Crom: Random encounters with Craig Morrison
So, what do random encounters and Age of Conan executive producer Craig "Silirrion" Morrison have in common? Truthfully, not much as far as The Anvil of Crom and its author is concerned, as I've never had the pleasure of meeting Funcom's game director in person. That said, he was kind enough to answer a few questions for this week's column via email, all of them pertaining to the random encounter mechanic implemented with last May's Rise of the Godslayer expansion. What's a random encounter, you may find yourself asking? Peek behind the curtain and find out.
The Anvil of Crom: Journey through the Grasslands
The assassin moved forward, slowly, the soles of his padded boots gliding soundlessly over the dense packing of leaves and mulch that formed the forest floor. His eyes darted this way and that, scarred hands never far from the ivory-inlaid hilts of the blades hanging loosely at his waist. Quickening his pace, he ducked and dodged around the endless stalks of greenish bamboo that reached for the canopy high above. Thin sunbeams bathed portions of the glade in an otherworldly light. They also cast parts of the dense bamboo thicket into semi-darkness, and it was from one of these dim pockets that the bear emerged. A towering, snarling monstrosity, it leered at the assassin, then charged. Stalks of bamboo snapped and splintered in its path as the assassin whirled and fled. The ground shook as the beast gained; he felt its breath on his neck as he emerged from the forest into blinding sunlight. A rock wall loomed ahead of him and he leaped for it, his feet finding purchase on the tiny ledges as he scrambled up the sheer side of the cliff. Panting, he finally reached the summit and turned to watch the stalks of bamboo swaying far below him like a sea of grass that parted as the beast rumbled back into the undergrowth. Sneak past the cut for more. %Gallery-99125%
The Anvil of Crom: Building a Khitai PC
So I've finally started to have technical issues with Age of Conan. Despite being in the original closed beta, the launch weekend headstart, and several bug-ridden months of playtime after that, I've never really been unable to run the game until recently. I'm playing with the same PC I used back when the game debuted in 2008; the only concession to hardware advancements I've made in the past two years is an updated video card. For some reason though, Khitai has become increasingly unplayable on my rig. This is curious because I was in the Godslayer beta with no problems, just like I tooled around in the Gateway zone when the expansion went live with no problems. After the last couple of patches though, I'm unable to play in Hyboria's far east for more than a few minutes before a memory crash takes me back to the desktop. Also, I've had to completely bottom-out my graphical settings to be able to load into the new zones (and even with this concession, it literally takes four to six minutes -- yes I've timed it -- of staring at the loading screen and progress bar). Slog past the cut for more. %Gallery-98996%
The Anvil of Crom: Secrets of Hyboria
I thought we'd do a bit of a departure from our usual format for this week's installment of The Anvil of Crom. As the column is a long-term chronicle of my experiences in and out of game, it's occasionally appropriate to throw a guide or two in the mix. Age of Conan is developing into a pretty deep title, and as such it's got plenty of little nooks and crannies that aren't readily apparent to either the veteran skull-splitter or the bright-eyed newb fresh off the boat in Tortage. Luckily for you, I've been making a list of the oddities I've encountered, as well as the various unanswered questions I've had since my return to Hyboria several months ago. By combining a little in-game and wiki research, I've put together this listing of a few of the game's notable quirks. Some of them involve combat, but as I'm really a PvEer at heart, you won't find much in the way of strategy or advice here. Most of this is along the lines of what I lovingly call fluff, i.e., it'll probably make your game experience more enjoyable, but it certainly isn't required reading if you just want to jump in and pwn face.
The Anvil of Crom: Uncommon fun
I'm standing high above the stone and stucco portcullises of Tarantia, the glare of the sunshine doubly bright as it bounces off the dirty white dwellings and the twin daggers poised in my calloused hands. The Iron Tower, a bleakly bronzed pillar of darkness amid a sea of sandstone, rises menacingly to the west, casting a lengthy shadow over the maze of rooftops that stretches in all directions. My cloak whips to and fro in the hefty breeze; my sandalled feet inch backward toward the edge of a high rooftop as three masked Crows close fast. I risk a glance over my shoulder, and the dizzying height makes my head spin. One of the Crows lashes out with a short sword and whiffs as I step off the ledge and drop like a stone toward the glassy surface of the canal several stories below. With a rush of wind, the building walls bleed and run as I plummet past, indistinguishable streaks of tan on white. The shock of the water whips me back into the here and now; I surface for air and drag myself up on the bank, trying not to dwell on the stench that plasters the cloak to my skin. Welcome to another leisurely stroll through the Commons.
The Anvil of Crom: Curing the alt disease
Alas, my poor rangers. Left to rot in the aftermath of the great ranger nerf revamp of 2010. Twisting in the wind like those gruesome impaled corpses Funcom is so fond of sprinkling throughout Age of Conan's various zones. Yes, I've abandoned the class, simply because I don't have the desire to relearn it from scratch, which is what such a complete overhaul requires. To be fair, it's not so much a nerf as it is a re-imagining, and one of these days I'll get around to leveling at least one of them the rest of the way to 80. For now though, the change has prompted me to return to my original character, rolled way back on the head-start weekend in May 2008. He's an assassin, and I recently got him to 80, though he too has gone through quite a revamp since his original creation. Anyway, once I heard that final, magical ding, guess what I did? Nope, I didn't head to Khitai to partake of the new level 80 content. Nay, I didn't start grinding my perks or faction either. No, I promptly logged back to the character select screen and rolled up a guardian, planting his newbie feet on the beach at Tortage and wriggling his virtual toes in the sand before beginning the process all over again. Point and laugh after the cut.
