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The Anvil of Crom: Musings on MMO mortality
Most of you are probably aware that Star Wars Galaxies announced its impending closure recently. As I booted up Age of Conan for my daily faction runs and tossed around some ideas for this week's column, I couldn't help but return to the fact that the MMO space is going to be that much dumber on December 16th. What does SWG have to do with The Anvil of Crom? Admittedly not much, unless you count the fact that AoC was the first of many games I migrated to when taking extended breaks from SWG beginning in 2008. The game's demise did get me to thinking on MMOs as a whole though, and of course Funcom's fantasy title in particular. While it may seem like an obvious conclusion in some respects, the fact that MMO players are ultimately no more than renters living on borrowed time was a sobering thought.
The Anvil of Crom: Unchained, free at last, and some initial observations
Timing, as they say, is everything, and so I'd like to take a brief moment to thank Funcom for fouling up my carefully laid column plans this week. Also, it's a rare day that I'm not prowling the interwebs in search of news for our fair website, so of course, the second day out of the last six months that saw me take some time off was naturally the very same day that Funcom decided to launch Age of Conan: Unchained. And yeah, I said Unchained, not Unrated, and if you think you're going to have trouble referring to the game as such after cozying up to the former moniker for the last month, console yourself with the fact that you now have David Lee Roth careening around inside your head for the foreseeable future. You're welcome. In all seriousness, though, Age of Conan is free at last, free at last, thank God almighty it's free-to-play at last (even if it was a little sudden).
The Anvil of Crom: Can AoC Unrated keep up with the Joneses?
Sooooo, City of Heroes and LEGO Universe caught the free-to-play bug this week. Fallen Earth did so the week before. What does this have to do with Age of Conan? Quite a lot, if you think about it, and that's what I'm given to doing every week around this time as I sit down to hum a few bars relating to Funcom's Hyboria. In case you've forgotten (and it's easy to do thanks to the rash of announcements lately), Age of Conan is gearing up for its own version of freemium MMORPG madness. At this point it's anyone's guess as to when the big day will actually roll around, though, and the longer Funcom waits, the more it concerns me.
The Anvil of Crom: Ranging across the border
"Know, O prince, that between the years when the oceans drank Atlantis and the gleaming cities, and the years of the rise of the sons of Aryas, there was an age undreamed of, when shining kingdoms lay spread across the world like blue mantles beneath the stars. Hither came Conan, the Cimmerian, black-haired, sullen-eyed, sword in hand, a thief, a reaver, a slayer, with gigantic melancholies and gigantic mirth, to tread the jeweled thrones of the Earth under his sandaled feet." -- The Nemedian Chronicles Conan fans will recognize the above passage as one of the most famous in the barbarian's extensive canon. It appears at the beginning of 1932's The Phoenix on the Sword and serves as a brief teaser for the history that underlies the world of Hyboria. Being something of an MMO lore junkie (and given the fact that I'm slowly working my way through Robert E. Howard's Conan library), I've often wondered about the origins of the Nemedian Chronicles and the people who wrote them. While Nemedia itself is not yet accessible in Age of Conan, Funcom's nods to Nemedian culture are numerous, and nowhere is this more evident than the Border Range. Join me after the cut for some impressions on this war-torn zone and the stories behind it. %Gallery-126465%
Catch up on Hyborian changes with Funcom's new Age of Conan newsletter
If you haven't been paying attention to Age of Conan lately, Funcom has just sent out a handy newsletter designed to catch you up on all that's new and exciting in the realm of Hyboria. The mailing covers the recent AoC Unrated free-to-play announcement as well as some of the new content that takes the form of the Breach and Forgotten City solo dungeons. Don't forget about the Savage Coast of Turan content coming later this summer (and coinciding with the Conan feature film reboot), and of course there's the Blood & Glory hardcore PvP server ruleset (also coming soon). If you're a former AoC subscriber, check your email for the newsletter, and stick with Massively for more exclusive AoC coverage throughout the summer.
The Anvil of Crom: Recessions, appearance tabs, and PvP for the returning player
Welcome to the Anvil of Crom, Conan fans. It's been a whirlwind couple of weeks, and all of the announcements, new content, business model changes, and general gameplay shenanigans are only going to generate more Age of Conan discussion as the summer wears on. This week I'd like to take a brief time out to highlight some worthwhile (and ongoing) community discussions. Every so often it's good to take a bit of a break from my rantings and ravings and hand the microphone to you guys, and what better way to do that than by examining a few of the more interesting forum discussions to be found on both the U.S. and EU boards. Without further ado, join me after the cut and add your two copper to the comment section.
Age of Conan game director talks Blood and Glory server rules
Age of Conan's game director has penned a new developer diary at MMORPG.com. The subject is the new Blood and Glory server ruleset, and if you haven't been keeping up with Hyboria lately, suffice it to say that the initial announcement made a lot of waves last February due to its player looting and free-for-all components. Craig Morrison's new post talks about how the desires of MMO veterans are often mutually exclusive with the industry-wide accessible design trend, and he goes on to outline Funcom's desire to give its displaced PvP fans something to sink their teeth into. In terms of ruleset specifics, they include no transfers, no offline levels, no guards, no Shrines of Bori, limited player looting, and open PvP restored to White Sands and the Underhalls. PvP kills will also grant additional XP in comparison with the game's normal servers. Finally, Morrison says that Battlekeep rewards will be adjusted, though he gives no specifics as of yet. For additional coverage, check out our March 2011 Blood and Glory interview with Morrison as well as our server ruleset and sharding discussion.
The Anvil of Crom: Server merges, separation, and why both are potentially swell
Last week I mentioned that the Age of Conan Unrated announcement has given us a lot to talk about. There's the 800-lb. free-to-try elephant in the room, there's a bunch of new content that's both coming soon and already here, and there's also an endlessly fascinating quote from Funcom game director Craig "Silirrion" Morrison that is, well, endlessly fascinating. This last bit got lost in the big announcement blitzkrieg, and because it was buried in the depths of a thread about roleplay on the EU boards, it's safe to assume that 99.99% of Age of Conan players didn't read it. Regardless, it may well be one of the more interesting and exciting developments in Age of Conan's short history. What was it about? Well, it involves servers, server merges, and new technology that could change the way we think about MMORPGs and server populations.
Funcom profiles Age of Conan's Forgotten City and The Breach solo instances
By now, everyone's aware that Funcom is getting ready to unleash the world of Hyboria on the free-to-play scene. What you may not know is that in addition to the hybrid payment model, the Age of Conan Unrated update is going to be be bringing new content to the game as well. Said content comes in the form of two new solo dungeons located in the lands of Khitai. Both instances are repeatable and designed to scale to a player's level (between 40 and 80), providing an alternative to the Tarantia Villas 40 to 80 experience that formerly filled in the gaps in AoC's mid-level curve. Funcom has told us that the new instances -- The Breach and The Forgotten City -- will be freely available to subscribers and available to Unrated F2P players for a small fee. Join us after the break for Funcom's take on the game mechanics, the storylines, and the locations themselves. While you're at it, check out the new dungeon images in our Age of Conan gallery below. %Gallery-9836%
Age of Conan merging U.S. servers today, EU tomorrow
It's server merge time in Hyboria. Age of Conan's launcher indicates that the U.S. servers are offline for up to 24 hours while the American PvP shards (Cimmeria and Tyranny) are consolidated. Tomorrow will see the European servers undergo a similar process, with Crom, Hyrkania, and Ishtar merging into a single PvE mashup and Fury, Aquilonia, and Stygia joining forces as the remaining PvP shard. Funcom has thrown up a server merge FAQ for your reading pleasure during the downtime, and in it you'll find details on everything from duplicate character names to duplicate guild names to the fate of guild-controlled battlekeeps. "Since build spots for battlekeeps are limited on each server, all build spots will be cleared and guilds will be reimbursed the resources for their battlekeep. This is to make sure that the guild gets the needed resources again and every guild gets the same chance," says the FAQ. Read up on all the details at the official AoC forums.
The Daily Grind: Are there too many F2P choices?
You'll have to forgive us for using the Age of Conan Unrated announcement as fodder for yet another Daily Grind. Western free-to-play conversions are a big deal, both because they're changing the genre and because there are so many of them (with more potentially on the way). It's this last bit that begs a bit of discussion this morning. By all accounts, MMORPGs are time-consuming beasts. Even if you do manage to reach endgame in a particular title, you've usually got raiding or some sort of gear grind to occupy you for months on end. Put another way, rare is the gamer who manages to actually see all the content that a game has to offer. The explosion of F2P titles, then, may offer more choice in terms of what titles are available, but it can also lead to gamers experiencing bits and pieces instead of the whole enchilada. There's only so much time in the day, after all, and a gamer can only play so many games even if they're all free. This also leads into the long-term profitability of F2P, particularly since so many players swear they never spend a dime on these titles. For today's early morning discussion, we'd like to know whether you're struggling with all of the AAA options that F2P may be opening up for you. And do you think the market will continue to bear an ever-expanding roster of titles? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
The Anvil of Crom: Beggars, choosers, and why Unrated isn't a sign of "failure"
Hi folks, and welcome back to The Anvil of Crom. First off I'd like to thank Funcom for single-handedly making my writing life absurdly easy for the foreseeable future. The tidal wave of Age of Conan announcements this past week have basically pushed all my carefully laid column plans back about two months. Which is fantastic. The only problem is what to talk about first. F2P? The Savage Coast? Various Craig Morrison interviews as well as an obscure quote that's more interesting (and exciting) than the rest of this stuff put together? I guess it only makes sense to get the reaction to Unrated out of the way first, so join me after the cut as I do just that.
Age of Conan monthly update details patch schedule, talks Khitai difficulty
It's been a big week for Age of Conan, and Funcom game director Craig Morrison has capped it off with his traditional end-of-the-month development update. Though it's a bit redundant if you've been paying attention over the last few days, Silirrion does let us in on a general patch schedule now that all the cats are out of the bag. The next update will officially bring about AoC: Unrated and the new business model and will also feature new content in the form of the Forgotten City and Breach auto-content generation dungeons we've discussed previously. The Funcom team has also eased up on the Khitai dungeon difficulty, at least for normal mode, and Morrison says, "the earlier instances have also been made more accessible for those arriving in Khitai for the first time, and will not require AA investment to be worthwhile options." Finally, we get a look at the list of tech-related improvements in the offing as well as confirmation that the film-related Savage Coast of Turan adventure pack will be part of the game's fall update cycle. Check out all the goods on the official forums.
Funcom planning Age of Conan: Unrated F2P launch this summer
Yep, it's official: Funcom has just announced this morning that Age of Conan is switching to a free-to-play/hybrid business model. While no date has been set, a posting on the game's European forums confirms that the title will be relaunched this summer as Age of Conan: Unrated. Highlights of the new service include free access to all of the outdoor playfields in the original game (Aquilonia, Cimmeria, and Stygia), two free character slots, and access to non-premium dungeons as well as four character classes (Barbarian, Demonologist, Guardian, and Priest of Mitra). Alternate advancement points, veteran points, and offline levels are reserved for premium subscribers, as is the majority of the Rise of the Godslayer expansion content (the exception being the level 20 to 40 Gateway to Khitai content). You can check out the full list of free and premium services, as well as a F2P FAQ, on the European Age of Conan forums. Also be sure to read Massively's exclusive F2P interview with Craig Morrison to learn about plans for server merges and other details.
The Anvil of Crom Extra: Craig Morrison on pioneering the hybrid business model
Conventional wisdom holds that Turbine is responsible for bringing the free-to-play/subscription hybrid to the west. It might surprise you to learn, then, that Funcom's Anarchy Online F2P implementation pre-dates the much-hyped Dungeons and Dragons Online experiment by a good four years. Yes, Funcom is no stranger to free-to-play, and the MMORPG maker is looking to expand Age of Conan's playerbase -- much as it did Anarchy Online's -- by trotting it out again. It's no accident that this is happening alongside the latest salvo in a substantial content rollout that started earlier this spring and will continue well into late summer. Funcom is timing the buildup to take advantage of an expected upsurge in Conan interest as Robert E. Howard's barbarian reaver re-enters the public consciousness with the August release of a film franchise reboot. I recently chatted with Funcom's Craig "Silirrion" Morrison for my second exclusive interview in as many weeks, this time picking the game director's brain about business models, content updates, and why we won't see additional servers to handle the new player load.
