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[AoC] Their priests fell by the sword, and their widows made no lamentation
Carnarvon
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures
The new MMORPG of the Bad Ass Mother Fucker Conan the Barbarian.
Features:
Revolutionary PvP(Up to 100 people!)
# Take part in massive and epic PvP battles, and fight for the right to control large battlekeeps in the Border Kingdom
# Build your own guild city in regions outside of the Border Kingdom, and protect it from computer-controlled invaders
# Engage in brutal PvP mini-games such as last-man-standing
# Fight it out in the unique PvP form called drunken brawling -- get drunk, stir up trouble and make mayhem as you crush your enemy with fists, tankards and broken table-legs
# Earn Blood Money, a separate PvP currency which can only be gained on the battlefield. Crush your enemies and use the riches to acquire benefits
# Let the catapults sing their merry song of death as you defend your battlekeep with siege engines, or destroy your enemies' fortifications with the same means
# Buy a piece of land, collect resources such as wood and stone, and then erect functional buildings such as the blacksmith, the city hall, the barracks and much more
# Build fortified city walls to defend your city from invaders
# Become a resident of your own city, walk around between its buildings and invite other players to come and trade on your streets
# Like in a real-time strategy game, computer-controlled enemies will start building their own city next to yours, eventually launching attack
# Lay siege to computer-controlled cities, and let the catapults sing their merry song of death as you crush their defenses
# Guard your city with computer-controlled guards, and allow vendors to sell their merchandise in your city
Revolutionary Combat
# A real-time, dynamic combat system that let sword-wielders, spellcasters and archers fight their own battles in real-time -- no more combat on autopilot!
# Choose where to attack with six directions of impact in melee combat
# Archers get to string their bow, zoom in on their targets and manually let go of the arrow to make deadly real-time strikes
# Magic-wielders get to create powerful spellweaves -- a series of combined spells that can lead to devastating destruction other powerful results
# Fight from horseback -- mount your creature and bury your sword into the backs of your foes as you crush through them
# Enter player-made battle formations to maximize your damage and defense
# No more targeting -- when you swing your weapon, you can hit many enemies in one blow if you're close enough
# Discover and equip hundreds of different weapons
# Got a game pad? Use it to fight like you would in a console game
In-depth Character Customization
# Race - Chosing your starting race will of course be the first choice you have to make!
# Bone scaling on all parts of the body, including arms, legs and torso etc, allowing you to define the height, weight and porportions of your character
# Over twenty sliders for facial expressions (for example there are five sliders just to customise the nose - length, width, placement, angles and more...)
# Skin Coloring of character.
# A wide selection of hair and facial hairs.
# An age slider so your character can be a determined younger man or a seasoned veteran
# Texture Layering for Tattoos, scars, facepaint and more.
# Ability to wear piercing, bands etc...
Races of Hyboria
Aquilonians:
Aquilonians are tall, but under 6 feet in height. Those living in rural and wilderness areas are lean and rangy. Although the same is true of some city-dwellers, many are noticeably overweight. "See yet the fat merchants of Tarantia that have taken the last of my coin" (Aquilonian lyric). The complexion of an Aquilonian varies with the area he is from. "...then there assembled his war host. The wire-thewed tawny lions of the north (Gundermen) and the brown-skinned warriors of the southern hills raised their spears..." (Fragment found in an Aquilonian tomb).
Aquilonia has organized trade and currency. The regular coin is a luna. The currency is clearly strong, since the luna is used as a common coin throughout the continent. The country does not have a standing army, but a small force controlled by the king and levied troops from the various provinces. The army is mainly mounted knights, with Gundermen spearmen and Bossonian archers forming the bulk of the foot. The Black Dragons are elite Aquilonian troops under the king's command. The Black Legion are troops that comprise the king's personal bodyguard.
Religiously, the worship of Mitra is the semi-official state religion. Other temples exist, including secret ones for the worship of Asura. Priests of Asura are recently in the favor of the king for they have been a valuable help against the Nemedian invaders. The Gundermen originally worshiped Bori, but after their association with the Aquilonians, adopted the teachings of Mitra.
Aquilonian characters can choose any of the following classes:
Assassin, Ranger, Barbarian, Priest of Mitra, Druid of the Storm, Guardian, Dark Templar, Conqueror
Cimmerians:
Cimmerians have a notorious reputation as formidable opponents, noted for their wild savagery and physical prowess. The people are typically fair-skinned, dark-haired, with blue or grey eyes, and tall -- at an average height of 6 feet. As a rule, they seldom venture far from their homeland.
The Cimmerians never developed a government. The land is divided into a number of semi-nomadic tribes, most notably into north and south branches.The northerners are a mountain people, possibly hardier and fiercer than the southern lowland tribes. The people live as hunter-gatherers with a mixture of skilled crafts, particularly in blacksmithing and metal work. They do not make permanent settlements. As a people, they do not practice human sacrifice.
Since horses are rare, Cimmerians fight on foot. Their tactics are probably similar to those of the Gauls in the time of ancient Rome, except of greater ferocity. Young men are expected to be fit for raiding and war by approximately the age of 15.
Apparently, devotion to Crom and a group of lesser gods is a near universal trait of the Cimmerians. Perhaps their living conditions explain their attachment to this gloomy god.
Cimmerian characters can choose any of the following classes:
Ranger, Barbarian, Bear Shaman, Druid of the Storm, Guardian, Dark Templar, Conqueror
Stygians:
Contemporary Stygians are a mysterious people whose society is strictly organized in a class system dependant, by and large, upon physical types. The royalty and the most ancient nobles are relatively tall people with black hair and fair skin. Below these, the ruling elite of aristocrats and a powerful middle class are dusky-skinned, hawk-nosed men, haughty of mien. The lowest classes are peasants and slaves of hybrid stock, a mixture of Kushite, Shemite, Hyborian, and Stygian ancestry.
Stygian society is dominated by the priesthood. The chief god of the Stygians is Set, the Serpent God, whose influence has stretched from the lands of Stygia into nearly all other lands.
Rarely will a Stygian venture from his own lands. Even more rarely will an outsider enter his, as it is death for one who is not a Stygian to enter a Stygian city. Any wanderers found inside Stygian territory are killed. This may be done unceremoniously, or it may involve a sacrificial ritual. The Stygians have never been known to allow captured trespassers to live. The only exception to this rule is the harbor-city of Khemi, where foreign merchants are allowed entry during the day, but must return to their ships at night.
The Stygians have developed an economy based on nomadic herding, fishing, and harvesting the palm date; major industries include the production of sorcerous charms and amulets, as well as drugs and pharmaceuticals for both medicinal and magical use. Silk and steel arms are also manufactured here and are sought after for trade by the merchants who travel the numerous caravan routes across the nation.
Stygian characters can choose any of the following classes:
Assassin, Ranger, Barbarian, Scion of Set, Druid of the Storm, Lich, Necromancer, Herald of Xotli, Demonologist
Classes of Conan
Soldier:
Dark Templar
The Dark Templar is one who, while excellently versed in the art of war, has also fallen foul of the lure of ancient dark magics. They are able to draw on these abilities to augment the team with powerful auras and are able to transfer life to their team.
The Dark Templar suffers for these abilities as the dark pacts made to sustain their power means the Dark Templar is susceptible to soul corruption effects more that most other classes.
Wearing heavy armor and carrying a shield and blade, the Dark Templar drains the life from enemies while attacking. The Dark Templar is the only class not in the priest class that has healing spells.
Specialties
* 1HE
* 1HB
* Shields
* Life drain
* Unholy damage
Conquerer
The standard bearer of the battlefield, the Conqueror leads the charge into battle. Their courage and bravery acts as a rallying call for their allies and instills fear and dread into their enemies.
Wearing heavy armor, the Conqueror relies upon their quick wits and reflexes to evade their enemies attacks. The standard they proudly carry into battle provides a boost to the Conqueror team, typically increasing damage. In times of need, the Conqueror is able to take the standard and plant it into the ground in a devastating attack.
Superbly trained in the combat arts these adaptable warriors are equally at home dual wielding weapons or using more powerful but slower two-handed weapons.
Specialties:
* 1HE, 1HB, 2HE, 2HB
* Specialized combo lists for dual wielding and two-handed
* Can dual-wield any combination of 1HE/1HB, group buffs
Guardian
This ancient warrior tradition usually forms the front line of any respectable army. They protect and serve their comrades in arms through strength of will and determination, holding off blows and foes that would strike down a lesser mortal.
While adept with wielding a shield in combat, they are also uniquely trained in the use of pole arms that can surprise their enemies with the swiftness and effectiveness of their attacks.
Encased in the heaviest armor, the Guardian focuses on powerful directional attacks that temporarily damage armor and protection, increasing the amount of damage the enemy takes.
Specialties
* 1HE, 1HB, Pole arm
* Specialized combo lists for on-hand and polearm lines
* Shield
* Directional damage mods
Rogue:
Assassin
The Assassin is a master of all that means death to those who cross their path. As knowledgeable in the dark arts that verge into necromancy as they are in the ways of the blade these masters of pain are experts in ensuring their foes meet a painful and untimely demise!
Trained with teachings shrouded in mystery, the Assassin utilizes various forms of poisons and ancient arts in order to cause harm to his enemies or aid himself and his allies. Although a crafty and resourceful fighter they prefer to use their subtle arts of death wherever possible to leave their opponents open to the final swift strikes of their daggers.
Specialties:
* Dual-wielding daggers
* Option of using either bonus poison damage or bonus unholy damage
* Draining soul essences to use with special attacks
* Damage-over-time
* Damaging disorienting
* Slowing poisons
* Restorative elixirs
Barbarian
The Barbarian is a muscular combatant, focusing on a combination of pure strength and panther-like agility to overcome their enemies. Specializing in using two-handed weapons for maximum impact, many of the Barbarian's attacks are area-of-effect. Having a mastery of sweeping and wild swings, the Barbarian relishes the opportunity to crush as many opponents as possible in a single blow.
They also have guile that most of their foes do not credit them with, well versed in dirty street fighting and bar brawls the Barbarian has learnt many tricks the hard way and is also capable of being a devious and deceptive foe that can easily catch their opponent off guard.
Specialties:
* 1HE, 1HB, 2HE, 2HB
* Has specialized combo lists for dual wielding and two-handed.
* Can dual-wield any combination of 1HE/1HB
* Damage debuff
* Snare
* Blind
* Damage-over-time
* Berserking
* Armor debuffs
Ranger
The Ranger is a ranged specialist, preferring to stay out of melee combat and dispatch his foes from afar. Relying on accuracy and precision, Rangers are less concerned with mobility and more with self-preservation and using their skills to keep their enemies at a distance.
Masters with either bow or crossbow, they can provide essential ranged cover for their allies, be it through blanketing areas in arrows or sniping vulnerable targets that may be cowering behind the front lines or use power of their mighty crossbows to rip right through opponents, plunging their bolts into opponents standing or hiding behind them.
Specialties
* Volley attacks
* Sniper attacks
* Damage-over-time
* Piercing attacks
* Knockdown attacks
* Bow and crossbow
* 1HE and 1HB
* Shield
* Mounted range combat
* Ranged combos
Priest:
Priest of Mitra
Proud and devout, the Priest of Mitra (PoM) ensure that the teachings of their god is protected and passed on to their followers. Their faith allows them to draw on great determination and belief that they cannot help but instill in those around them.
The Priest of Mitra is likely to be the primary healer in any group it joins. With a great repertoire of healing spells, it's the most pure healer of the Priest archetype in Age of Conan. The Priest of Mitra has several different AoE healing spells, both Cone heal and spells that heal all team-members around the priest.
The Priest of Mitra isn't a very competent melee fighter, preferring to smite it's enemies with spells from a distance. Even though the priest is able to use shields, it's soft armor makes it an easy target for melee fighters if withing range for a longer amount of time. The priest can however learn a Repulse spell, used to throw away enemies in the vicinity of the priest.
The priest also has some buffs, among others the spell Divine Vigor increases the maximum health of team members around the priest.
Specialties:
* Healer
* Repulse area of effect ability
* 1HB, 1HE
Scion of Set
Dedicated to the god Set, the Scions are often considered fanatics whose dedication to their god reaches devotion that many would confuse for insanity.
While well schooled in the healing arts the true power of the Scion of Set comes from their being blessed by the snake god. This grants them with the ability to inflict damaging poisons upon their enemies and call upon the poisonous powers of Set to augment their allies attacks with the venom of the snake god.
With the ability to take a lethal snake form with the spell Avatar of Set the Scion is not a foe to be underestimated.
When they are faced with the enemy they prefer to wield their sacrificial and ceremonial daggers.
Specialties:
* Healer
* Poison spells
* Dagger
* 1HB
* 1HE
Druid of the Storm
Primal and resourceful, these priest of the shamanic arts are masters of the world around them, at one with nature. Masterfully in touch with the elements themselves, the Druid of the Storm can control and call upon the power of weather to hinder and attack their foes, calling down lightning and creating storms such as the Eye of the Storm.
Just as they use their knowledge of nature to use the elements the Druid of the Storm have learnt ancient arts that allow them to call upon swarms of bees and hornets to smite their foes.
Their understanding of the world around them also means that they have an almost endless knowledge of natural healing remedies that can keep their allies standing in battle.
Specialties:
* Healer
* Electrical damage
* Summon storms and hurricanes
* Damage over time
* 1HE, 1HB, Pole Arm
Bear Shaman
Like the Druid of the Storm, the Bear Shaman foregoes belief in any particular deity and instead places their faith in the power of nature. Unlike the Druidic shaman however they place that faith in those creatures that share the world of man.
This type of shaman has a powerful mystical kinship with bears and is able to call upon and be infused with the strength of a bear, and even become a bear themselves, providing great melee powers.
While still having good restorative abilities, the Bear Shaman prefers to rend and maul the enemy. The Bear Shaman is also the only priest class that is able to wear medium armor.
Specialties:
* Healer
* Group resistance
* Defensive buffs
* 2HB
* 2HE
Mage:
Herald of Xotli
Some demonologists are either too weak minded or venture too far down the path of demonology to remain untainted.
The Heralds are those that bargained with the demon god Xotli and paid the ultimate price, becoming a host to true demonic powers. In battle, the Herald transforms into a demon, preferring to melee opponents and feel the enemy's flesh tear rather than rely on spells, although they retain a fearsome arsenal of spells to call upon as needed.
Specialties
* Summon weapons
* Demon form
* 2HE
* 2HB
Demonologist
The Demonologist bargains with demons for power, binding them to his will.
While able to use certain magic without the aid of demonic powers, the Demonologist is not as studied as other mages, having a need to make blood pacts to reach full potential.
Still, the Demonologist is powerful enough to bring demons to this realm and bind them to service.
Specialties:
* Fire or Electrical Direct Damage
* Demon pet
* Short duration buff to increase casting abilities
Necromancer
Of all the mages the Lich is perhaps the most feared by the ordinary travellers. Where the Necromancer animates the dead, the Lich actually embraces and joins the dead, becoming one with the foul and decaying undead they can channel great power from by their sacrifice of parts of their mortal soul and body.
By fusing with the bones of the dead, the Lich gains impressive physical strength and resilience. In this form the Lich prefers to wade into battle and club enemies to death, although retains access to their full array of spells.
Specialties:
* Summon weapons
* Undead form
* 2HB
* 2HE
Lich
Evil and twisted Necromancers bring the cursed and dead back from beyond the mortal realm to do their bidding.
The master of unholy magic, the Necromancer animates the dead and corrupts the living. Looking down on the Demonologist for needing to strike bargains for power, the Necromancer needs no such crutch, relying on his own master of death of kill his enemies.
Specialties
* Cold or Unholy Direct Damage
* Undead pets
* Lifetap
Lands of Hyboria
The Frost Swamp
The Wild Lands of Zelata
The Desert of Khemi
The Field of the Dead
The Province of Khopshef
The Gates of Tortage
Miscellaneous
The Frost Swamp
The Wild Lands of Zelata
The Desert of Khemi
The Field of the Dead
The Province of Khopshef
The Gates of Tortage
Miscellaneous
Sites:
Age of Conan Homepage
Wiki of Conan
Various AoC Videos
Various AoC Videos 2
Videos:
Siege Warfare PvP
Character Creation
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Combat just looks terrible. Swing, wait, swing, wait fake dodge that looks like poop, swing, wait.
If AoC had melee fighting where swords clashed and you fought like your life depended on it and not like you were swinging you're sword on a cool down.
This has to be the most frustrating concept in todays sword and board MMO's. Just swing for the stars, forget about making the combat actually seem like real combat instead of just a random sword swinging fest.
It is nice to see a fantasy MMO that doesn't have elves in it, though.
Yes, it did suck. The reason they pushed the release date back 6 months is solely because the combat system was clunky. All of your sources are true, the combat they experienced sucked balls.
It's being redeveloped, current articles on it are obsolete.
Well, I won't invite you to my Conan D20 game then. Hmph.
Oh god yes, even SCIFI games have fucking elves in them now.
I, too, will play the fuck out of this game. I can't decide if I want to play a Lich or a Bear Shaman first.
My major concern about combat is this though, they've promised an innovative, amazing new combat experience from the get go...and at first it sucked balls. One at first would assume that promising such a system meant that they actually had one...but turns out that no...no they just said that. Now they're just trying to build one. In my mind I had envisioned something that would feel somewhat akin to a beautiful mix of Mount and Blade and Jedi Knight: Outcast/Academy. Not gameplay or control wise but at least in the feel of the game. That beautiful feeling as you time your swing just right and the opponent swings too early and you charge, missing their blade and with deep satisfaction yours tears straight through them.
Now? 40k's been doing that for two decades.
And I hadn't heard about the combat system revamp... that was the one component that people kept citing (well, besides blood and tits) as being revolutionary and putting Conan apart from the pack.
I'd still love a beta invite to give it a whirl.
Age of Conan is a 'Games for Windows" game, almost guaranteeing the fact that it's going to be on 360. The last bit I heard about the 360 release is that it's coming out within a week of the PC date(I read this a while ago, so it may no longer be true).
They are not actually 'building' a new system, they are stripping down and optimizing the old one. The problem with it was that it was very clunky, and had a steep learning curve.
This looks like crap?
Eh, the Eldar are different enough from Elves for me to not hate them on sight.
For sys reqs, they are going to have both DX9 and DX10 versions.
The beta has apparently been going for several months, off and on, but there have been remarkably few leaks, leading many to question how many people are in it. It may just be friends and family still.
I find the complaints about combat rather ironic coming from folks with WAR sigs.
Anyway, I of course have yet to play Conan, so who knows. I would say I'm about equally interested in this game as I am in WAR - though the player citites kind of give Conan the edge. Ultimately it will come down to which game makes combat the most fun and exciting - which right now seems to be the biggest problem in both games.
It does have Bear Shamans though...
Heh, very interesting. It isn't civ 4 though. If that shit isn't dumbed down, I'll be over it.
Tromsø 2
Tromsø 3
HD version
New gameplay videos! Shameless bump so that this doesn't die like the last AoC thread!
Edit:These videos do showcase the new, revamped, combat engine.
He ended a bar brawl by picking up and throwing a tavern maid on another fighter.
I am so preordering this game.
Totally. Especially when the game was supposed to be out a week ago.
Link
Spoiled:
Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures is very much a traditional role-playing game in the sense of you developing your character by gaining experience points and rising in levels. As you progress you’ll advance your character in a number of ways, such as:
* Attributes: Your basic attributes, such as strength and intelligence, increases automatically as you gain new levels to further advance your character.
* Skills: Every character has a basic set of skills such as perception, climbing and hiding, and you can distribute points into these every time you gain a level.
* Feats: By gaining levels you get points that you can invest in a multitude of feats that gives your character new capabilities or that improve existing ones.
* Abilities: Gaining a new level may also grant you new combos for melee fighting, new stances that alter your combat style, as well as new spells.
(Above: A defensive stance on the left, attacking stance on the right.)
Simply put, you gain experience while playing – either by killing enemies or by completing quests – and by gaining experience you will also gain levels. There are eighty levels in Age of Conan, and progressing through them is they key to making your character more potent and to unlock a vast array of different feats and abilities.
Attributes
Native to all characters in Age of Conan is the attributes. Everyone has them and they will affect your character in multiple ways, such as determining how much health and how much mana you have. The basic attributes – strength, dexterity, constitution, wisdom and intelligence – are automatically raised for you as you level up.
Here are some of the attributes available in Age of Conan.
* Strength: Gives you a damage bonus for melee attacks, and also increases the attack rating for certain specific weapon types.
* Dexterity: Gives a bonus to defense rating and increases attack rating for daggers and ranged weapons.
* Constitution: Provides you with health and stamina.
* Intelligence: Provides you with mana and increases the magic rating for mages.
* Wisdom: Provides you with mana and increases magic rating for priests.
Of course, you might also encounter items in the world of Hyboria that can strengthen your attributes. Surely any adventurer would brave the deepest depths of the Black Ring Citadel in search for the sword that grants its bearer a stronger arm? Or how about that magical ring guarded by the demons within the Sanctum of the Burning Souls that will expand your wisdom and grant you intelligence beyond your mortal boundaries?
Skills
All characters have a set of basic skills applied to their characters. These include, but are not limited to perception, bandaging, renew mana, casting concentration, hiding, climbing and taunt. Whenever you gain a new level you get a small amount of points that you can distribute freely between these different skills. They do not increase through use.
Below are some of the skills available in Age of Conan.
* Perception: How well you observe the environment around you, for instance noticing hidden enemies or possibly even traps.
* Bandaging: Allows you to quickly heal when you’re not in combat.
* Renew mana: Similar to bandaging, but this affects your mana pool.
* Casting concentration: Determines how prone you are to having your spell cancelled when casting. For instance, being attacked causes distraction.
* Hiding: In the world of Hyboria everybody can hide a little, making you difficult to spot. Not everyone is equally as good at it, though!
* Climbing: Determines the difficulty of objects you can climb.
* Taunt: The higher your skill is in taunting, the greater chance you have in increasing the hate value of your attack. Perfect for tank characters.
Some skills are based on so-called clickable abilities, meaning they must be activated by clicking on an icon on your hotbar. This includes, for instance, the perception skill. This skill will always work in the background and notify you about certain things such as hidden enemies. But if you get a message saying you’re detecting something, you have to use the clickable ability to try and reveal the hidden enemies. Others are passive skills, such as the taunt skill or the casting concentration skill.
You will notice that you do not improve weapon skills. Your class determines what weapons you can use, and you do not have to improve any skills to hit any harder.
“While skills are less character-altering than feats, they are still an important part of character development,†says game designer Andre Griffin. “For example most spell-using classes will want to invest heavily in the Casting concentration skill to avoid interruptions as much as possible, while player-versus-player players will want to invest in the Perception skill so you are less likely to be ambushed.â€
Feats
At the core of the character development system in Age of Conan are the feats. This allows you to use points gained when leveling up to give your character new capabilities and more existing ones more potent. It can be compared to the talents system found in other games, usually being a tree-shaped system to display the various talents.
Every character has three feat trees and they can be viewed at any time by clicking the appropriate icon in your interface. There is one general tree specific to your archetype (Soldier, Mage, Priest or Rogue) and two trees specific to your class.
As an example, the Dark Templar has access to the general Soldier feat tree in addition to his class specific feat trees called Depravity – focusing on combo-oriented feats – and Desecration which focuses on spell-oriented feats. The feats are designed to improve his combos and his spells, as well as to grant him new abilities. Feat trees all have different names for the different classes, such as the Juggernaut and Tempest trees of the Guardian class and the Brute and Carnage trees of the Conqueror class.
(Above: Dark Templar Depravity feat tree, note that everything here is work-in-progress.)
One example on a new ability the Dark Templar receives through the feat system is the Dread Shadow that lies at the far end of his Depravity feat tree. Using this will summon a shadow companion that will rise from below and fight for him.
Here are some examples on a few other feats available in Age of Conan:
* Ravenous Eater: this Dark Templar feat gives you a large damage increase whenever you use your life tap combos (thus making them more potent).
* Overcome the Odds: this Conqueror feat raises his invulnerability ratings based on how many enemies he’s fighting, making him stronger if he’s ganged up on.
* Nature’s Revenge: this Bear Shaman feat allows all their melee attacks to have a chance of triggering a counter and when that counter goes all the way up to ten, all friendly targets around the Bear Shaman will receive a heal.
* No Escape: this Barbarian feat allows them to throw their weapon at a target, causing a large amount of damage, but it will also disarm the Barbarian.
* Fortify: this Guardian feat increases the weight of all your team members causing them to resist knock-back effects. Another feat will improve this feat and cause a counter knock-back attack on all enemies that attack the team members.
* Impish Horde: this Demonologist feat kills your current pet and then summons four to eight small imps that goes berserk and wreak total havoc.
“Our feat trees aren't being designed to define the character or character roles as much as they are there to help you customize your character somewhat and enhance elements you already have,†says game designer Evan Michaels. “We don’t want to punish you for making the choices that you want. We don’t want to make it so that you feel like you are less effective because you trained a certain series of feats.â€
There are also different feats in the game that will be trained automatically as you gain new levels, specifically the feats that determine what weapons and armor you can use. You also have crafting specific feats, but these are trained by performing crafting quests that will take you from novice to master in your chosen professions.
Abilities
Last, but certainly not least you will find the combos, the spells and the stances that you will acquire through leveling. As you gain new levels you will be able to find shopkeepers who sell spell scrolls, and some might even be found through adventuring. The stances and combos, however, will be automatically granted to you as you level up.
* Combos: These are melee combat techniques that you receive as you level up. You perform combos during fights by executing a series of different swings with your weapon, resulting in a fascinating animation and a bigger damage output. It can also lead to other effects, such as stunning your opponent.
* Spells: It wouldn’t quite be a fantasy role-playing game without it (though Age of Conan is very much a low-fantasy game where magic is terrible and dangerous), and by purchasing spell scrolls or finding them in your adventures you will be able to acquire new spells that you can cast. They are not automatically trained.
* Stances: To make combat even more interesting we added the stance system which allows you to go into a certain position when fighting. Attacking stances might allow you to do more damage but will also lead to you taking more damage. Then again, a defense stance might work the other way around.
(Above: a Barbarian's combo bar.)
Combos and spells can increase in effectiveness, for instance by investing in certain feats. For instance, the Glowing Embers feat for the Demonologist will make the Flamestrike spell do more damage, while the Boiling Blood feat for the Barbarian will make all his Berserk combos do even more devastating damage than usual.
“We are putting a tremendous amount of effort into making character development in Age of Conan something you can really sink your teeth into,†says game designers Griffin and Michaels. “We want to give you a lot of different ways to play the game and we want to make sure character development feels easy to understand.â€
When asked why they did not add Charisma as an attribute, designers Griffin and Michaels replied "After a year of beta testing we decided to remove it, as not a single player raised it beyond eight".
yeah I agree at least have some variation of CTF make it I don't know treasure or something.
Because I want to drunken brawl as a barwench.
Damn Conan is awesome.
From some videos I saw on youtube I would have to say yes.
chair to Creation and then suplex the Void.
I'm really looking forward to it. With every new updated WAR is just looking more and more like WoW with a new coat of paint, so AoC looks more and more appealing as something that might actually be different and fun.
I really like that they are staying incredibly true to the lore (only humans, only one race can have arcane spellcasters, but that race can't have warriors etc.). I'm definitely planning on playing a fat, ugly khemi cossbowman.
Edit: Wow. I just saw the latest developer diary on the the games graphics, animation and art. Simply jaw dropping.
you must have seen diffrent updates then I have
Looks pretty darn nice to me.
Talking to people, one of the reasons why the animations were so bad at first is that unlike most MMOs they wanted to do motion capture on live actors for all their human animations, but were having a really hard time finding motion capture actors.
no I mean the WAR ones if anything AoC looks more like WoW to me what with CTF and all.
lol I just watched the city siege video and I just love how everyone is lined up perfectly as they prepare to attack. Thats a nice way to make your video and game look good but it is in no way how its going to be. In reality everyone is going to be running around and jumping all over the place while a few female toons strip and dance.