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Age of Conan patch notes for the 17th of July
The next weekly update for Age of Conan has been deployed, and while it's not the PvP patch, there are a number of things to be happy about this time around. Along with the expected patch notes, Funcom decided to post their reasoning behind the bigger changes in the patch, something which they hope to do every week from now on. After the break, we've made a shortlist of some of the more interesting changes, and due to popular demand we've also included the entire patch notes for your perusal.
Old BG Mount haunts Karazhan
Akussa sent us this ghost of Battlegrounds-past, which he and some guildies spotted being rode outside Karazhan. (You can see that it's relatively recent in that it's open to the Blood Elf race ... kinda.) The source of interest in the item comes because it only requires level 55, for a "very fast mount." What some may have thought was a bug, a patch change, or even some kind of clever exploit is actually a remnant of times gone by. A veritable gremlin of the wonder-years of a battleground where -- to get the really good stuff -- you competed against every person in your own faction. Back in that day, you'd try and outplay every person in your own faction to earn the top-dog spot. The better you did against your faction-mates, the higher rank you got. Then, in the old Honor system, if you got to Rank 11, you could buy your faction's honor mount pretty simply. When they changed the mount system (making training expensive, and mounts cheap instead of vice versa), if you had the Rank 11 Mount. . .you got grandfathered to have the riding skill. WoW Insider extraordinaire, Daniel Whitcomb, reports still seeing the occasional 59 twink hanging out upon ancient War Wolf. I, on the other hand, ain't seen one in forever.
Breakfast Topic: Mount money and patch 2.4.3
The most anticipated change coming with patch 2.4.3 for a good portion of the player base is the lowering of the requirement for basic land mounts to level 30, complete with a slash of the price of training down to 35 gold. Overall, this is very good news for anyone who is leveling or plans to level a new character any time soon. With this change, though, has come a dilemma for many people with characters in the level 30-40+ range in the past few weeks: If my character just hit 30, do I keep on going, or shelve him until I can buy a mount so I don't have to hoof it through Stranglethorn Vale? If my character just hit 40, do I buy the mount now, or do I wait until the patch so I can save a whole pile of gold?
Forum post of the day: Moving moments
Since its inception World of Warcraft has been an evolving game. Someone who played only shortly after release would hardly recognize the game now. Blizzard has always welcomed feedback, but some changes have elicited more feedback than others. In a thread entitled "Epic moments in WoW QQ history," Gatsukaa chronicled some of the most upsetting events that have occurred in the evolution of our game: Moment 1: WoW is first released. Hunter and warlock pets could be one-shot. Hunter dps was pretty lackluster. Soulstones gave you rez sickness (I think). No soulshards from PvP. The first emo whiners in WoW were born: Hunters and Warlocks. World of Roguecraft video is released showing how a rogue in crap gear could wtfpwn people while warlocks were so gimp. Result is that warlocks went on to get buffed in nearly every patch as they were on their way to god-hood. No more world of roguecraft videos. Hunters saw substantial improvements as well, but weren't made into demigods.
Northrend mount attunement will not be expensive
We've known for a little while now that our existing flying mounts will not be usable straight off the bat in Northrend. The reason for this is that they don't want us little level 70s hopping onto the frozen plains, mounting up, and zipping right off to Dalaran or Arthas or wherever; in short, they don't want us to skip content. After all, imagine if you had a flying mount at the beginning of Outland – you would've gone to Shattrath even sooner. We also know from the WWI Q&A live blog that there will be some kind of "attunement" process for getting our fliers working up there, which has jokingly been referred to as "mount mittens" (it's cold in Northrend, you know). What we haven't known is precisely when the mounts will be usable (though Ulduar's Halls of Stone, a level 77-79 dungeon, was said to require flying mounts), and whether the "mount mittens" (or whatever they actually implement) will be a tremendous gold sink. Today Bornakk puts as all at ease, by saying that flying mounts are currently set to be usable in Northrend at level 77, you will use the same mounts currently used in Outland, and it is not expected that "a large sum of gold" will be required (for another tier of mount skill or something). As always, this could change before the expansion goes live, but for now, it seems that we can look forward to not spending several thousand gold on griffin defrosting equipment.
The week in Massively features
Massively interview: KingsIsle on Wizard101We recently had the chance to check up on KingsIsle and talk to them about their three-year conjuration, Wizard101. We sat down with the studio's director, Todd Coleman, to discuss what's in store for the tween-centric wizard school MMO. First Impressions: Requiem: BloodymareWe've been talking about this game for months now, and Requiem: Bloodymare is finally available to play. Hailed as the first horror MMO, there are definitely aspects of R:B that are pretty gruesome. EVE Online Community Spotlight: a Q&A with ChribbaTrust is a rare commodity in EVE Online. Many players are drawn to the game by the fact that almost any form of deceit, betrayal, and outright treachery is allowed in EVE. Not all players head down this path, of course, but plenty do. This element of risk is what makes the game exciting ... MMOGology: Mobile MMOGsSeveral weeks ago at Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) Steve Jobs announced the 3G iPhone. The announcement wasn't much of a shock to industry experts since other cell phones have been using 3G networks ... MMO MMOnkey: Why I stopped playing Age of ConanI like Age of Conan. I like the combat system that demands active engagement rather than the auto-attack, go-make-a-cup-of-coffee style of combat used in so many other MMOs. I enjoy exploring Funcom's recreation of Hyboria ...
Poll: How much would you pay for an Amani War Bear?
We've covered the topic of an insane amount of money being paid for an Amani War Bear before, namely about 20,000g. Gold is much easier to come by now-a-days, and most people are finding it easier to amass a small fortune. This number of 20,000g for a bear mount isn't seeming all that far off.My guild is running two bear groups through Zul'Aman a few times a week, and many of us have our bear mounts now. Those that don't are going to get it quite soon. When this is done we have some different options. We can either run some of our alts and what not through and have a character in greens-galore with a bear mount, or we can sell one of the spots on our run.This selling thing has got me thinking. While our guild doesn't need any more money for repairs and such (we have plenty in the coffers), we can definitely all go to have a few thousand more gold individually. If we ran one person through on a run for 20,000g we'd each make 2,000g for doing 45 minutes of farm content. That's not too bad. %Poll-16453%
WWI '08 notes from WoW Insider's chat with Xfire
Our very own Mark "Turpster" Turpin and Jennie Lees were invited to sit down with Xfire users and chat about their thoughts from the Worldwide Invitational. You can read the entire transcript, but we've encapsulated most of the goodies for you in this post.Mounts and battlegroundsAnswering a question about water mounts, Jennie said that they don't seem to be in the works. Still, you can get your H2O kicks with the non-player-controllable boats in Lake Wintergrasp. Another questioner asked whether the flying combat mounts will take damage. Some of these combat mounts will have shielding to protect the player from damage, but the mount will take damage instead.Killing ArthasConsensus in the chat was that there is a lot of excitement around the idea of being able to kill Arthas, the Lich King, even if it takes up the same progression as Kil'Jaeden currently does in TBC. The hope is that Frostmourne will drop, but the consequences of getting the sword are not yet known. Will it corrupt the player and take away stats? Will players become the new Lich King if they pick it up? We'll have to wait and see.That's just one of the questions awaiting an answer for us in the post-Wrath world. Another came from a chat question about whether there would be any future for the Warcraft franchise after Arthas is dead. From what our bloggers have heard, there's no standing still for the franchise. Turpster says, "I think a favourite King of mine might be making a return to a Stormy City!"
Breakfast Topic: What mounts should we get for Brewfest?
It's official. No Kodos for Alliance and no Rams for Horde this year at Brewfest. The decision has been made and there doesn't seem to be anything we can do about it for this year. But what should Blizzard have done? Kodos really aren't too exciting, in my opinion. They feel slow. I ditched mine for PvP mounts as soon as I possibly could. Rams aren't really very interesting either, but they are at least a novelty Horde-side.Should the mounts be faction neutral, brewfest only mounts, like a steampunk car or a wooden horse made of beer barrels? Or should this be an opportunity for the factions to see how the other half lives -- at least on mounts?What mount would you like to see for next year's Brewfest?
How mounts at level 30 may affect gameplay
I intend to sidestep the question of whether getting mounts at level 30 with upcoming patch 2.4.3 falls on the Dark Side or the Light Side of the Force. For now, I'm going to muse briefly on what impact this change will have on gameplay. Speed of leveling: Obviously leveling will be faster with a mount between levels 30 - 40. I doubt it will be 60% faster, though. Questing: Going through Thousand Needles, Alterac Mountains, Desolace, Arathi Highlands, and Stranglethorn Vale will be much easier. I remember Desolace, in particular, being one long drag after another. Economy: Lower levels will probably do more farming professions in order to raise the necessary gold for training and a mount sooner. This influx should drive down the cost of materials a bit in the short term. Also, given the low amount of silver rewarded at low levels, expect to see even more begging. Guild recruitment: Players who normally would've waited to join a guild before Level 40 (to help with mount costs) will want to join earlier now. On the other hand, guilds may have a tougher time keeping those players through endgame since there will be a longer span between getting the normal mount and getting the epic one at Level 60. After the jump, read about more gameplay impacts.
Forum post of the day: Ride your pony
I had to look twice at the 2.4.3 patch notes before I could bring myself to believe that the developers are planning on reducing the level requirement for ponying up. It makes a lot of sense, as we ramp up toward Wrath of the Lich King, it will progressively longer to reach the endgame, especially for new characters and particularly new players. The change makes sense to me, and I'm looking forward to Desolace being a less crummy place to level alts. No, you won't get a refund on previously purchased mounts, but nobody got refunds when the cost of the level 60 riding skill decreased either. The community seems to be having primarily positive reactions to the news that basic mounts will be purchasable by characters at level 30. Ithnnin of Scarlet Crusade (posting on a level 40) feels that this change is an added insult to the game. He feels that Blizzard has spent too much energy catering to a "small new audience." He feels that the changes to make leveling easier have a negative effect on the accomplishments of those who when through the process when it was more difficult.
Patch 2.4.3 patch notes
var digg_url = 'http://digg.com/pc_games/WoW_Patch_2_4_3_notes_are_now_live_with_a_few_surprises'; Patch notes for patch 2.4.3 are up. Click below for the full patch notes, and stay tuned to WoW Insider for more analysis of the effects these changes will have. Additionally, the PTR client for 2.4.3 is now available to be downloaded. However, the PTR server is not up yet.Highlights of this patch include: Mounts at level 30 Changes to non-combat pets Curse of Shadow and Curse of Elements have been combined Hunter pet changes Magisters' Terrace nerf Changes to Rogue's Cheat Death ability
Sneak a peek at AoC's test server patch notes
Curse.com has posted a list of patch notes from Age of Conan's test server, which will likely go live in one of this coming week's scheduled downtime slots. You will notice that stat gains from equipment will finally be functioning correctly, and it's going to be interesting to see just how much of a difference this will make to the strength of each class.The patch notes also feature another round of class tweaks, notably some buffs for Dark Templars and damage changes for Priests of Mitra. Confusingly, Bear Shamans will be getting improved Wreck Armor combo visuals and sounds -- however, this is a Barbarian combo, so is this change actually for Barbs or did they mean the BS combo Crush Armor? Other really good things: lower level mobs will knock you off your mount a lot less (although higher mobs will do it more) and attackers at your sides will have half the chance of knocking you off -- attackers from the front will never knock you off. Finally, player cities will be able to get their Trader NPC at last. Take a look through the full patch notes for some other changes, including quest and item fixes, and perhaps start speculating on what changes will be left off the list this time.
Revisiting epic flyer costs
Drysc has written a book about epic flying mount costs on the forums -- there aren't many goldsinks left in the game, but that 5000g you've got to pay for an epic flying mount is still there for sure (just ask anyone who doesn't have one).He says that yes, the flying mount is definitely worth it (it makes playing the game much faster, since most of the time spent in the game is actually travel anyway), but also that actually obtaining an epic flyer was always meant to be optional -- only for players who want to "go the extra mile." Not sure how he can say both of those things at the same time, but there you go. He also says the main consideration in the cost wasn't any effect on the economy, but rather simply making sure that it took a certain amount of time for players to obtain all that gold -- they averaged how quickly players could pick up gold versus how long they wanted players to work for the mount, and arrived at 5000g.There is some (kind of) good news on the horizon for players who don't want to spend all that money, however. If and/or when Blizzard releases a higher riding skill, Drysc says they'll probably drop the price on this one. Of course, that doesn't really tell us anything concrete -- with the onset of siege vehicles, there may be all kinds of changes to how riding and driving works in the game. Until then, keep grinding, because apparently the only thing that will get you flying fast is a whole lot of gold.
AoC mount bug fixes and speed boosts on the way
If you already own a horse mount in Age of Conan, you are probably extremely unimpressed with your new companion's speed -- it almost seems like you don't move any faster at all. According to this post at AoC's official forums, this is in fact the case. One of the game's designers has confirmed that, currently, even the mighty horse trots along at regular run-speed. A proper fix for this is coming in a future patch, but a temporary workaround is shared for now (which a lot of people in the community had already figured out): simply sheathe or unsheathe your weapon while mounted, and enjoy the mount's speed boost as it was intended.Also included in the post is the fact that the speed boost itself will be increased very soon. Horses will be slightly faster, and Mammoths and Rhinos will get a smaller boost. As well as this, to address a complaint that those with Mammoth/Rhino pre-order privileges have, the riding skills (charging, attacks, etc.) associated with these mounts will be given automatically with the "/claim" command after a future patch, and those who already have the skills through buying Basic Riding will need to perform the command to receive them again.EDIT: Going by this forum thread, the mount speed increase is already in effect as of today's patch. Some in-game testing of our own shows that at the very least, the bug requiring weapon sheathing/unsheathing is fixed. More on these other undocumented patch changes shortly.
Horse goes homicidal in Age of Conan
Funcom went to some lengths to make Age of Conan's horses seem realistic. The game's mounted combat system even makes it possible to use a horse as a weapon. But despite all the thought they put into this aspect of the game, Funcom probably didn't predict that a rather devious AoC player could use his horse to take out opponents as depicted in this video. Check it out to see an entirely new type of mounted combat, and learn why you should never stand behind a horse. Via WanderingGoblin
Breakfast Topic: A waste of money
Aysel is a little ashamed about spending 1000g on a title, though she shouldn't be -- "of the Shattered Sun" is as honorable a title as any other, and if you've got the money to get it, more power to you (though her suggestion that her guildies call her AOTSS is pretty funny).But I like her other question better: what's the dumbest thing you've ever spent a bunch of ingame gold on? My waste of money is probably more of a mistake than an actual embarrassment -- I remember spending a good 100g to outfit my level 40 Mage in the shiniest stuff I could find on the AH, including a couple of world drops and the whole shabang. I had in mind that I was going to take her all the way to 70 -- and then I think I never played her again. What a waste.I'm sure you all have better stories, though -- ever accidentally dropped a lot of cash on something you couldn't actually use, or splurge on an item that was a little silly, just so you could have it? What's the most money you've ever wasted on anything in the game, and what did you buy?
Age of Conan for World of Warcraft players
Funcom's new MMO Age of Conan opens up their servers today (the game is set for release tomorrow), and like many WoW players, you might be wondering what all the fuss is about. Our good friends over at Massively have put together a guide specifically for you -- it's a look at Age of Conan from the point of view of a player of World of Warcraft.A lot of things are the same between the two games -- talents are very similar, and there are a lot of comparable mechanics and spells (DoTs, healing, and aggro, of course, all play a role in AoC as well as in Azeroth). But there are a lot of differences, too: Age of Conan's combat is based on real-time, which means you actually press a button to strike, rather than just setting a target and going to town. Instances play a different role, too -- you start out in a private instance, and can level in a world by yourself for a much longer time than in World of Warcraft. And Funcom has put in quite a few things designed to pull us away from WoW also: mounted combat, a deeper guild system, player cities, and some more PvP mini games.Of course, even if you do go to play some AoC, Wrath of the Lich King will probably bring you back to WoW anyway -- as fun as killing stuff in the Hyborian Age is, it doesn't hold a candle to meeting Arthas Menethil, in our humble opinion. But if you've heard about Age of Conan and are wondering what the difference is, Massively's guide has you covered.
WoW Rookie: Mount up!
WoW Rookie is brought to our readers to help our newest players get acclimated to the game. Make sure you send a note to WoW Insider if you have suggestions for what new players need to know. UPDATE: The magic number is now 20! Read our updated version of mounts for the leveling player. In the World of Warcraft, 40 is a magic number. Once you hit this level you get access to a 31 point talent, which usually does some pretty nifty things for your class. You really start specializing into your role as a healer, tank or DPS character. The best part about 40 is getting your fancy new mount. Once you get used to traveling the world on you pony (wolf, nightsaber, raptor, ram, etc) it can be really hard to go back to hoofing it on foot.
Gameplay Wishlist: new mount abilities
Mounts in World of Warcraft are essentially organic vehicles that allow the player to traverse the landscape more quickly. Level 60 Epic mounts are faster than level 40 mounts, and of course flying mounts grant vertical movement. Mounts in other games are mostly the same, barring, of course, smaller games of which we might know nothing. It's a big game universe out there; it's possible.But it seems that there's unaddressed potential with these mounts. Sure, they look menacing, and it's better to ride than to walk, but is that all? Watching the recent Vanguard mounts video made us yearn for more from our noble steeds. Here's what we'd like to see in future games.
