Age of Conan discussion

sans drama

I'm excited about a bunch of games coming out in the next few months. WOH and AoC being top 2 on my list. The one i'm looking forward to the most is AoC. Not only am i a fan of the IP. I'm also a fan of most of the mechanics they're offering. It's combinations of what i like the most of the MMO's i've played in the past.

They've been updating their site with new information and all sorts of things but ever since E3 it's been more than anything an update on the links that lead to various interviews done at or around E3 or perhaps because of E3. Interview after interview after interview all stating the same information and questions. Nothing new divulged which makes me a sad panda.
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Guys, hype just isn't worth it. Getting actual play reports is better, but really--none of us is going to know until we play each of these.

Aside from broad features that match or don't match our preferences (the kind of PvP, f'rinstance), only gameplay will tell us if we like it.

This "drunken tavern brawl" thing suggests to me the Funcom guys "get it" in the same way Mythic gets Warhammer.

But flamewar... flamewar never changes.

What do you guys think of the drunken bar brawling feature? I know back in the EQ days when EC was the place to hang out there would always be a brewer or two standing around passing out booze while a good number of people were engaging in drunken dueling and such. I wouldn't say this would ever be a game make or break feature but it was certainly a fun way to pass the time while buying and selling or waiting for a group to fill up. Hopefully the drinking will have a similar effect to that of EQ where it actually impares your vision in game as well as raising/lowering associated stats. It just made it more entertaining when you were swaying all over.

i think stuff like this make a game more durable. if the day 2 day grind in the game gets to ya just pop down to a pub and have a few. If a guy looks at ya funny you can slap them for it and let the mayhem commence I think have some kind of system system set up where the more you drink obviously the harder it is to hit, but you're also supposed to be able to get special "drunk" moves the more you drink.

I think what they need to do is just think of all the cool social activities that can be had in the lands of Hybornia in that type of era. As long as they stay in that mindset esspecially with an established Mature rating the social aspect will be pretty good. Think of all the drunken bar fights that will be had not to mention the wenching that needs to be done. The pit fighting for sport, money and fame. Betting on pit fights would be a neat way to lose and make money. I don't suggest however they cross the line into raping the poor villagers but running through and slaughtering and pillaging them is probably fine. The land is limited now but they absolutely have space to expand and other ethnic groups to bring in. I really do hope it takes off and all bugs are worked out quickly. Lots of fun.

Doing a bit of reading on the forums it sounds like the player city building will be a bit odd. Supposedly if you build your city in the PvE areas then only NPCs can attack it. Some people were saying that an NPC town would spring up near where you built your city and start launching attacks. I am not sure if you can build cities in PvP areas. It almost sounds like these areas contain pre-existing structures for players to take over and upgrade. I am kinda curious how this will work out on a PvP server.

kilroy0097 wrote:

I think what they need to do is just think of all the cool social activities that can be had in the lands of Hybornia in that type of era. As long as they stay in that mindset esspecially with an established Mature rating the social aspect will be pretty good. Think of all the drunken bar fights that will be had not to mention the wenching that needs to be done. The pit fighting for sport, money and fame. Betting on pit fights would be a neat way to lose and make money. I don't suggest however they cross the line into raping the poor villagers but running through and slaughtering and pillaging them is probably fine. The land is limited now but they absolutely have space to expand and other ethnic groups to bring in. I really do hope it takes off and all bugs are worked out quickly. Lots of fun.

Don't forget taking slaves.

mven wrote:

Doing a bit of reading on the forums it sounds like the player city building will be a bit odd. Supposedly if you build your city in the PvE areas then only NPCs can attack it. Some people were saying that an NPC town would spring up near where you built your city and start launching attacks. I am not sure if you can build cities in PvP areas. It almost sounds like these areas contain pre-existing structures for players to take over and upgrade. I am kinda curious how this will work out on a PvP server.

I'll have to reread but the wild areas was where the FFA pvp would take place but it was my understanding you could build your house anywhere (well within some kind of approved zones of some sort). I've seen screen shots of a player placing his town hall. Granted these are placed by guilds and not just anyone can plant one down. You're right about the NPC town which totally rocks IMO.

kilroy0097 wrote:

I don't suggest however they cross the line into raping the poor villagers but running through and slaughtering and pillaging them is probably fine.

LOL

Has anyone even gotten into Beta yet? Damn I want to see what is up with this game.

I didn't know General Beta was going until they announced it in this past Friday's Update post. From what i've been reading in the forums they've been on a Technical Beta phase. I've not been online this weekend to keep reading but im sure the forums are going apesh!t.

Still for the release to be 7 months away i doubt we'll see serious invites for another 3-4 months

Time to get yourself psyched by reading some sword and sorcery. Black Gate magazine is great, the Lords of Swords collection is slashed in price, and I keep hearing good things about Knoxville's own Karl Edward Wagner.

hehe Wagner is one of Knoxville's geek icons.

Who are the others?

Lowell Cunningham writer for Men in Black.

Quentin Tarratino went to highschool here.

There's the 2 that first come to mind... i'm sure there's more.

It almost seems obvious to mention this here, but there have been some nice collections of Robert E. Howard's original Conan short stories released in the last few years.

Also, there is a FANTASTIC Conan comic being published by Dark Horse right now that is basically taking the short stories and adapting them chronologically, as well as interspersing some original tales. I could not recommend it more highly, and the art is out of this world. I've been picking up the trade paperbacks as they've come out.

The only caveat at all about the comic is that it contains adaptations of the original stories, so if you fancied reading them straight from Howard's mouth then you'll want to do that first.

ditto on the comics... awesome stuff