With Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures offering some seriously significant competition to the ever-prominent World of Warcraft, developer Funcom and publisher Eidos plan to capitalize on that success with, what else, additional content. So, here's the new stuff you'll be getting and what you'll see improving on in the coming months:
The PvP system. This one will be ready by the end of the month. Titled "To the death!", more rewards to PvP (Player vs. Player) are promised as well as a stronger emphasis on the Fugitive system (which sees you hunted more easily the lower the level of the person it is you kill). Furthermore, you get ten PvP levels with more ranks, and PvP-specific gear (fighting to the death is ample cause for specialty gear, no?).
Powerpoints, i.e. rewards. Accomplishing certain tasks, such as owning a Battlekeep (a structure you can build and maintain in the Border Kingdoms which benefit your guild) or winning PvP matches will net you weapons, armor, items, or the ability to level up faster. Will these unbalance the game, you think?
New areas, dungeons and quests. Just what it says. But specifically: 60 fully voice-acted quests (talk about fan service). A new dungeon in Aquilonia is expected, three "reshaped" dungeons in Stygia, and a mountain range in Cimmeria. Villages made by players will be improved, as well as Battlekeep systems.
Guild Alliance Warfare. "Kingship!", as it is called, is being pushed as the most important of all the updates; we won't see this until later in the year. Kingship! will see the guild system evolve, allowing guilds to form alliances (sound familiar?). An emphasis will be placed on integrality, meaning each member will be important to the alliance as a whole. Together, gamers will create unique Battlekeeps affiliated with their alliance, culture specific "wonders of the world" (which will be linked to "higher powers"), and participate in grander-scale battles.
Combo-dancing. Apparently this is Funcom's idea of improving the game's social aspect (I think I'm just foreign to this MMORPG thing). But yeah, motion captured combo-dancing, honey!
About as important as the updates themselves, this is all apart of the developer's plan to never have an expansion for AoC. Might sound like a terrible thing at first, but really, personally, I think it's great. Just tons of new content as soon as its ready, and you never have to pay extra or bother with a second (or third) installation. How do you guys feel about it, and would you like to see it with more games? And how are you enjoying your AoC experience thus far? Is it, dare I say, a WoW-killer?
Age of Conan Future Content Detailed
