crafting-revamp
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Age of Conan's January Director letter talks PvP gear, daily quests, and crafting system
Age of Conan's January Game Director letter delved into the game's most recent patch as well as the upcoming re-balancing of PvP armor, an update on the crafting system overhaul, and a look at new daily quests. Additionally, the next world boss to start rampaging through Hyboria (which will have more frequent spawns than those before it) will begin its menacing spree on February 5th. PvP armor will be receiving the same re-balancing treatment that PvP weapons recently got, giving newly level-80 players a fighting chance to land some good blows and dish out damage in PvP. As an update on the long-awaited crafting revamp, the letter notes that all existing items can be broken down into salvaged components for upcoming crafting recipes. And finally, new daily location quests will give players a reason (and rewards) for traveling across Hyboria each day and visiting different locations.
Funcom gutting Age of Conan's crafting system, starting over
Age of Conan's latest development update is here, and producer Craig "Silirrion" Morrison has quite a lot to say about the game's forthcoming crafting revamp. And when we say revamp, we mean revamp. "When we sat down and looked at the system and how we could add depth and improve engagement, it became clear that it was better to start over," Morrison says. He isn't kidding either, as the new system does away with awkward quest blocks to progression and instead ties your advancement directly to making items and using the relevant skills. Harvesting nodes will also spawn with more variety (and at more locations), and the much-reviled random NPC attacks that used to happen while harvesting are finally being dropped. Still want more details? Well, material quality will matter, there will be some sort of refining process, and there's an entirely new system for the actual production of an item. There's a lot more to Age of Conan's new crafting system, of course, but we're out of space, so you'll need to head to the official site to check it out.
The Anvil of Crom: AA resets, tradeskills, and hardcore PvP stagnation
Welcome back to the Anvil of Crom, dear readers. After the content explosion of the past couple of months, it seems almost strange to be relatively relaxed when it comes to Age of Conan. I'd gotten so used to scrambling around re-writing columns at the last minute -- and polishing up interviews and impression pieces -- that I had almost forgotten what it feels like to settle into a comfortable gameplay groove. In looking around for interesting topics this week, I realized that it's been quite some time since I turned the column over to the community. So without further ado, join me after the cut to see what's on the minds of Hyborians at home and abroad as we power through the week's hot topics.
The Anvil of Crom: Surviving the craftpocalypse
So last week we started talking a bit about Age of Conan's 2012 crafting revamp. I laid out a few things that foul up the current system -- from a tradeskiller's point of view, naturally -- but I didn't quite get around to talking about solutions. Though that's on the to-do list, I may not get around to it this week either, since a few mails and some forum discussions brought up a couple of interesting tangential points that I hadn't considered. Surprisingly, I got email from folks who aren't really looking forward to the big tradeskill upheaval that Funcom game director Craig Morrison hinted at in the August development update. Even more mind-boggling was the fact that these folks aren't even crafters.
Age of Conan dev update outlines a year's worth of content
Age of Conan's latest monthly development update is hot off the presses, and it's kind of a doozy. Funcom game director Craig "Silirrion" Morrison takes the gloves off and lists five major updates coming to AoC over the next year -- and he also offers a few disclaimers in terms of schedule changes and dates. As far as content goes, fans can look forward to new Turan boss encounters, the House of Crom dungeon, tier four raids, and a major Dreamworld/quality-of-life update prior to the end of the year. Moving into 2012, Age of Conan will be adding a new multi-feat specification system (apparently the feature was a landslide winner in the recent summer survey). The devs will also be giving Priest archetypes some "care and attention" as well as implementing the single-server tech that will allow for cross-server minigames and "all manner of cool things." There will also be new variants on The Breach, The Forgotten City, and Dead Man's Hand dungeons, all balanced for high-level characters. Finally, the second quarter of 2012 is the tentative launch date for AoC's latest adventure pack as well as the tradeskill revamp. There's more too, so head to the official website to check it out.
The Anvil of Crom: What's wrong with AoC's crafting?
In the wake of Funcom's glorious announcement that Age of Conan is due for an extreme tradeskill makeover in 2012, I thought it might be fun to brainstorm a few crafting-related design ideas. To be frank, I think any change will be an improvement, as it's hard to fathom a more boring and ultimately worthless gameplay system than what currently passes for crafting in Hyboria. This is a pretty huge topic, of course, so join me after the cut for the first part of what will likely be an ongoing discussion over the next few months. Before we can talk about solutions, though, we've got to identify what's wrong with AoC's crafting.
The Anvil of Crom: Evaluating the dev update - crafting edition
Hallelujah, amen, and by frickin' Crom! What's got me all excitable this week? Well, the latest dev update, for starters, and I apologize in advance for reneging on last week's promise to devote today's column to a deeper examination of the new Savage Coast of Turan content. The last time we met, I gave you a quick rundown on the Ardashir Coast, but with all due respect to Funcom's content designers, the most interesting bit of Age of Conan news from the last little while is the crafting revamp that Silirrion hinted at in the August 31st update letter. But Jef, how interesting could it be if it's taken you over a week to write about it? Well, you got me there, and I could throw in some excuses about needing to get something Turan-related out last week, as well as the fact that I was doing the DragonCon shuffle, but I won't. Anyhow, holy shitaki mushrooms! Funcom mentioned AoC's tradeskills! Join me after the cut and bring the smelling salts.
Aventurine reveals a few Darkfall 2.0 changes
Aventurine has updated the Darkfall Epic Blog again, and this time there's a good bit of info regarding the upcoming 2.0 reboot. Producer Tasos Flambouras reiterates that 2.0 is "a new game created on top of the current game rather [than] simply an expansion." He also states that the devs don't want to get too specific and give everything away just yet. That said, this week's entry does provide a very interesting list of changes "that are already implemented." First and foremost is the game's new skill set customization which is in turn tied to a new armor system. In a nutshell, your armor choice will affect your usable skills by rendering certain abilities ineffective and leading to highly specialized character roles (as opposed to the current game where every character can learn every skill, given enough grinding). Skill and attribute gains have also been tweaked, and players who focus on skilling up a single role will excel at it in short order through "casual play." The catch, though, is the inability to have more than one specialization active at a time. Crafting has also been overhauled, and the world map has been "completely changed." There's more big news where that came from too, including UI tweaks, alignment tweaks, incapacitation, dungeon and magic school redesigns, and new combat mechanics like momentum and crosshair wobble. Read all about it at the official Darkfall website.
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.
Darkfall devs planning crafting, alignment revamps and more
Curious as to whether Aventurine listens to user feedback relating to its Darkfall MMORPG (and if so, what it does with said feedback)? We were too, and as such we found the most recent activity report to be an interesting read. Aventurine's Tasos Flambouras gives us a bit of insight into the creative process, outlining a developer meeting that saw a good bit of discussion regarding GUI suggestions, alignment considerations, and newbie experience feedback. "This is a topic of great importance for us and we might call it the newbie experience but changes in this should improve the general player experience as well," he writes. Regarding alignment, Flambouras states that "we agree [with the playerbase] that as far as alignment goes, going red is too forgiving when it needs to be more of an active decision with implications for the player." He also touches on a potential auction house implementation, a significant crafting revamp, and quest and questing system enhancements. While none of these items is divulged in detail, the report is an interesting look at considerations currently on the table for Agon's near future.
Turbine revamps LotRO crafting window, simplifies Farmer recipes
Fancy yourself a Lord of the Rings Online crafter, or perhaps a purveyor of pipe-weed? Well, put down that Longbottom leaf and take a look at the latest LotRO dev diary, as it contains quite a bit of information on the forthcoming tweaks to the game's tradeskill system. For starters, you'll be greeted with a revamped crafting window that's leaner, meaner, and considerably larger, allowing for a bigger recipe list on the left and more recipe information on the right. In addition to layout changes, you can now click the "Increase Craft XP" button and go directly to the LotRO store, where you'll find new crafting acceleration scrolls available for purchase. These scrolls will boost your output by 25 to 50 percent depending on which you select, and you can also pick up new ingredient packs to replace your normal crafting consumables. Finally, the Farmer profession has undergone a few changes, chief among them a simplification of seed ingredients (for example, the recipes for Cauliflower Field and Green Onion Field now call for the Expert Crop Seed sub-component rather than separate ingredients). Turbine has also tweaked Field Recipes, first by reducing the number of seeds for all recipes from five to one, and second by changing the output of all recipes to only produce good crops. For a full list of the changes and additions, visit the official site.
