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Serpent Men abound in Age of Conan's new Dragon Spine dungeon
Age of Conan updates have slowed somewhat since Funcom restructured itself over the past year, but the dev team is still adding new stuff to its rendition of Robert E. Howard's Hyboria. The latest patch features a new dungeon called Coils of Ubah Kan which offers a "brutal challenge" for six-man groups along with appropriate loot and rewards. The instance is part of AoC's Dragon's Spine content, which became the title's second adventure pack when it released in early January, 2013. Players must fight their way into the ancient underground city of the Serpent Men in order to complete the new dungeon. Funcom says that "even more content will come to this area in the near future." [Source: Funcom press release]
Funcom teases Age of Conan Secrets of the Dragon's Spine trailer
Funcom released Age of Conan's Secrets of the Dragon's Spine content update last week, and the company wants to make sure you haven't forgotten about it already. The friendly reminder comes courtesy of a new trailer that shows off plenty of gorgeous Stygian desert fly-through shots as well as brief glimpses of new mobs and subterranean locales. The adventure pack is targeted at high-level AoC players and boasts a new dungeon called The Sepulcher of the Wyrm. View the video in its entirety after the cut. [Source: Funcom press release]
Age of Conan gets some lovely new concept art for Dragon's Spine
Age of Conan is about to get a heaping helping of new excitement and adventure, thanks to the upcoming Secrets of the Dragon's Spine update. Some of the Dragon's Spine content has already hit the test server and should be joining the live game in the rest of 2012 and early 2013. To help stir up some excitement for the update, Funcom released four new pieces of concept art on the game's Facebook page. We wouldn't want your clicking finger to get too much of a workout, so we've gone ahead and collected them here for you. Think of it as a special favor to those of you who detest Facebook and all that social media stands for.%Gallery-173464%[Thanks to barbarous tipster John!]
Age of Conan's Dragon's Spine content on test servers
Funcom released its traditional end-of-the-month Age of Conan update over the weekend, and it revealed that the dev team is crunching hard on the Secrets of the Dragon's Spine content update. Executive producer Craig Morrison says that some of the new stuff is starting to appear on the game's test servers, so players are free to poke around provided they can't wait for the official release. And when, exactly, is that official release? "It's getting down to the wire now in terms of the release window, so we are currently working hard to bring the first Dragon's Spine updates to the live servers before the holidays. In all honesty it is very tight right now, and as we write this we can't say for certain which side things will fall on," Morrison explains. He also touches on the status of the crafting revamp and post-Dragon's Spine PvP updates, though the nature of the latter is very much up in the air at this point.
Age of Conan dev letter talks new content, scheduling
Age of Conan's monthly dev update is here, and Funcom's Craig Morrison uses the latest installment to talk about the fantasy title's content release schedule. The near future will bring an update to the Amphitheatre of Karutonia aimed at level 80 players. Tweaks for the Conqueror and Bear Shaman classes should make the cut as well. After that it's on to The Secrets of the Dragon's Spine updates, which Morrison says will release in stages over the end of 2012 and the first quarter of 2013. The long-awaited tradeskill update also falls into this release window. Finally, Funcom is planning to revamp several of AoC's old-world dungeons as well as add a new PvP minigame and a new raid. More updates are in the planning stages, too, but you'll need to head to the official AoC website for more details.
Age of Conan heralds Secrets of Dragon's Spine update series
Hyboria's about to get a lot more rowdy, as if that was possible. Funcom announced that it is planning a series of updates for Age of Conan called Secrets of Dragon's Spine, with the first update coming in the next few months. The key focus for this content will be in the titular desert region of the Dragon's Spine, located southwest of Pteion. These updates will not only introduce a new zone, but also plenty of additional quests, dungeons, challenges, and even a new mount type. Funcom says that the Dragon's Spine will be around the same size as the coast of Ardashir, and will feature a new raid and PvP area. The three dungeons to be introduced are the Coils of Ubah Kan, the Sepulchral of the Wyrm and the Slithering Chaos. Creative Director Craig Morrison hopes that this announcement gets fans pumped up: "Our version of Hyboria has grown into a vast online world since we launched back in 2008. With the Secrets of Dragon's Spine update, we are moving into an incredibly exciting part of Robert E. Howard's work, and I think both Age of Conan players and fans of Howard's work alike will find a lot to enjoy once they get to explore this new content." [Source: Funcom press release]
Massively Exclusive: Funcom's Morrison on player-driven games, new Age of Conan content
This month's Age of Conan development update had the potential to be quite depressing in light of Funcom's recent layoffs. There's actually a lot of good news, though, as game director Craig Morrison reveals some juicy bits about AoC's upcoming content release plans. Due to the downsizing, what was once an adventure pack on par with last year's Savage Coast of Turan will now be released in installments over the next few months. The collective title for all the new content is Secrets of the Dragon Spine, and it will take place in various new playfields along the border of Stygia and Keshan. There will be a new raid, a new outdoor playfield (approximately the same size as Turan), several new dungeons, a new mount type, and a new PvP area. We had the chance to ask Morrison about the new stuff as well as Funcom's future, and he had some interesting things to say regarding player-driven content and the kind of games the company plans to make going forward. Join us after the cut for the full interview.
