Funcom has made its barbaric MMO Age of Conan free-to-play -- well, at least in a sense. From today through January 1, those who download the game client and create an account will be able to play for free until their character reaches level 20 (basically the game's first zone).
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It's to Funcom's credit, then, that its developers have realised this and thought laterally. There's no raised level cap in Rise of the Godslayer. There is a new continent, the Asian-themed Khitai (which comes with a new player race, the Khitan), but it contains lower-level content - for level 20 up - as well as a high-level challenge.
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...for this update, we have the Tarantia Commons playfield...It was originally slated to be pitched somewhere in the level 40-50 range. However, upon further analysis after launch, we decided to switch it to be in the 70-80 range... As with Ymir's Pass, it offers a very unified and interesting story...
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By Crom indeed! A literal tidal wave of patch notes has hit the Age of Conan boards this morning, giving all of the gritty details of Conan's next major patch.
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Our test ran through the streets of Old Terantia where we wound our way from the East Gate to the docks and back. ... We found that the city test represents the absolute worst case scenario. We easily saw our frame rates double as soon as we stepped outside of cities, and combat instances in enclosed areas proved much less taxing than the civil environments.
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We've spoken to the Game Director of Age of Conan. What is the status of Age of Conan, as of right now? The game is eight months on since launch, and much has changed. We have been focusing a lot on different areas based on feedback given by the players after release...
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Speaking at the Leipzig Games Convention, Funcom's Erling Ellingsen confirmed that the company's Age of Conan MMO will tie in with the new Conan film being produced by Lionsgate.
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Funcom and 1C Company announces the signing of a Service Partnership Agreement for a Russian version of Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures. According to the agreement 1C will fully localize voice and text and operate local customer service, communities, websites and in-game support for Age of Conan in Russian, while Funcom takes care of back-end technology, server infrastructure and continuous development of the game. A dedicated Russian realm is to be created...
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Funcom, developer of the upcoming Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures, has acknowledged that the MMO will be censored in Germany. Subsequently, Drake corrected a post and revealed that the US version was submitted to the ESRB and given an M-rating without any server-side censorship. It will therefore feature full blood, full fatalities and breasts with nipples. The "elsewhere in Europe" version, rated 18+ by PEGI, remains unchanged.
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Michael Zenke writes on his impressions of Age of Conan's showing at CES 2008. "Sitting down with Age of Conan: Hyborean Adventures today was something of a wakeup call for me. ... For me, Conan's moment was when I finally 'got' the combat."
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