future-development
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Age of Conan's plans to borrow tech from The Secret World
Funcom's focus of late has obviously been on The Secret World, but that doesn't mean the company has forgotten about Age of Conan. Quite the opposite, in fact; the success of The Secret World's single server technology means that Age of Conan can start moving to an equivalent server architecture. According to the newest monthly update, the process will probably not be finished until early next year, but it will allow people to freely switch shards to play with friends and enjoy cross-server events. One of the other updates -- and one that will have far-reaching implications for the game -- regards the current pace of content development and deployment. The development team is considering moving away from large content updates and toward smaller updates at a faster pace. Feedback is being requested from the community on this and other topics, so if you're an Age of Conan stalwart, you should examine the full letter and give the company your opinion.
The Mog Log: The fall of the ivory tower
No, I'm not talking about Delkfutt's Tower. That's cermet, not ivory, and by all indication it's still standing just fine. No, I'm looking at the ivory tower that any Final Fantasy XI fan is familiar with, that high and imposing structure from whence developers hand down their proclamations, nevermind whether said proclamations have any relation to things people would actually want. Considering that Final Fantasy XI and Final Fantasy XIV have both been seeing a lot of new and open communication from the development team, it's safe to say that those days are over. Whether or not you like the content of the updates is... actually pertinent, now. The developers seem to be listening to us in a way that we're just not accustomed to. I mean, seriously, show of hands, who expected the removal of Fields of Valor cooldowns? It's a big change. And it makes me hopeful about both games, because in light of the leadership shakeups, it looks as if the new development direction is something I can really get behind. I might have a few reservations here and there, but last week's news leaves me excited.
