Who are
you and what is your role at Age of Conan?
Hello, I am Craig
Morrison and I am the Game Director and Executive Producer for Age of Conan.
What are some of the Key Features in Update 5 that will appeal to players?
I think there is quite a bit in there to be honest, and at least a
little something for everyone.
Firstly there is the revamp
of the item and character statistics, some major changes to the classes with
all the classes getting improved and updated feat tress that take into
account the new system, a complete overhaul of the gem crafting system, a
lot of new goals and additions for guild cities…and all that before we even
talk about the content itself!
Then we have the addition
of new game-play content. This update brings with it a new outdoor playfield
with associated dungeons in Tarantia Commons and is aimed at players 75 and
above, with the dungeons aimed at level 80 players. The zone features a lot
of quest driven content based around gangs inciting civil unrest in the
commons district of King Conan’s capital city. Players are able to influence
the unrest in different directions based on their actions. I think it’s
turned out to be a really interesting addition to the game’s content and
features some compelling new quest lines and encounters that the players
will really enjoy.
The content in Tarantia
commons follows the various gangs and factions that live in the commons
district of King Conan’s capital city. The area is wracked with civil unrest
and disputes between these gangs, players will find themselves in the middle
of this urban melting pot and will have to make some choices about which
faction or gang they choose to help and whether they get involved in the
unrest itself.
Howard created a very real
world for this universe and it is great for us to be able to dive into the
some of the harsher parts of the world. Despite it being the seat of King
Conan himself, the city has an underbelly. The commons district is a seedy
and dangerous place where everything is cast in a moral shade of grey. This
isn’t your clean ‘black and white’ battle between good and evil; it’s a tale
of survival on some very dangerous and bloody streets!
Let's say I played the game originally, and left for
some reason. What has been done since the early days of release that might
entice me to come back and what direction has the game taken since I left?
I think that depends on why
they left in the first place, but we have tried to cover all the major areas
that we received negative feedback on at launch. Earlier in the year we
summarized it for the interviews I did at GDC in San Francisco and I think
that list is relevant here. I actually found it quite hard to distill it
down to a single page, so the short answer is that a lot has been done, the
longer answer breaks down into quite a few areas!
- New Content We have added
countless hours of more content through updates such as Ymir’s Pass – the
largest playfield yet that comes with an entirely new storyline inspired
by the classic Howard tale ‘The Frost Giant’s Daughter’. Then you have
Xibaluku, a new end game dungeon packed with dynamic and engaging boss
encounters for maximum level players. In addition we have added countless
more quests and rewards to the game for players of all level ranges. The
launch dungeons have also been revisited, revamped and generally improved
to provide new and more interesting game-play and rewards.
- Enhancing PVP The world of King
Conan is a brutal one and we have made sure to focus on building on the
games PVP offerings. One of the key elements that players reported
enjoying in the game was the ability to be part of a bloody and exciting
game-world and we wanted to build on that. Not only have we added a full
PVP leveling system, with a host of rewards we build upon this with a full
PVP consequence system that adds a true meaning to PVP combat and allows
those that would tread a darker path to actually become criminals based on
their actions, opening up a whole new game-play experience.
- Improved Sieges Building on the
desire to have truly meaningful and engaging PVP in every update we are
continuing to refine, add to and improve the Siege warfare PVP elements.
We are striving to keep adding new features to make guild vs. guild
game-play matter more. In the most recent updates new PVP specific
resources required to build and repair battle-keeps have been added. These
resources must be fought over between players, and can be looted from
vanquished foes corpses, adding more intensity and drama to the siege
experience.
- Stability and Performance Our
technical team has been hard at work ensuring that there are constant
improvements being made to performance and stability. Framerate has been
increased on a wider range of computers, memory leaks have been corrected
and bugs have been ironed out making the game-play experience a lot
smoother and stable for the user.
- General Improvements The big main
features always get the headlines and previews, but we have also gone to
great lengths to ensure that the smaller points and general polish also
get some care and attention. A huge amount of general improvements and
enhancements have been made, some small, some larger, but all combining to
provide a better Age of Conan experience. More travel options have been
added, more voice-overs, a new friend interface, the raid interface has
been improved, a new GUI options mean it’s now easier to locate and get
into PvP mini-games, tradeskills have been improved, loot rewards have
been re-distributed, vanity pets are available as a special reward for
those who adventure through the new Xibaluku dungeon… and the list goes
on! These changes may never be in the spotlight but they all contribute to
improving the experience for players each and every time they log in
Tarantia
Commons looks amazing, what went into it's development, how many people, how
long, tell me about the bloody fist-fights over making sure the right
content went into this expansion, we love nity grity.
You know, to be honest we tend to avoid any fist fights! The team work
very together and I’m really proud of how well the Tarantia Commons
experience came together. In this case it was knocking around for some time,
and several different members of the teams were involved at different
stages.
In all, I would guess that
when you count in the artists, designers, scripters and testers involved it
is probably well over a dozen people across several of our teams. Building
an entire zone is something that calls on all the different disciplines
involved in the development. Parts of the play-field design were done before
the launch, but we had to push it to one side for a while to work on other
areas before focusing on it again with a smaller part of the team since late
last year.
The hardest challenge I
think was probably the dynamic nature of the riot events in the Commons.
With quests and tasks that allow the players to interact with the outcome of
the riot it was a real challenge for our scripters to account for all the
possible permutations. It would be hard enough to get something like that to
work in a single player setting, that they managed to have it work in a
multiplayer setting was really an accomplishment I think they should be
proud of.
Likewise a lot of thought
went into how to best use the urban setting, which lead to the rooftop
game-play and the very distinct factions that exist in the playfield. The
designers went to great effort to give each faction a specific look so that
players could identify the various factions very easily. I think that
element worked out really well. Being able to loot some elements of their
actual costumes from the specific factions was a nice additional touch as
well.
Overall I think everything
came together quite nicely to provide players with a really engaging and
interesting area that offers something a little different.
What are some of the things, in your mind, that really
stand out about Tarantia Commons? Say I've got one day that I'm able to
explore the area - what are some things that I just shouldn't miss out on
doing?
I would say make sure you try the Crow’s Nest group dungeon. There are
some really fantastic boss encounters in there that I think are really good
fun to play through. I am always one who really likes the boss encounters
that are memorable and fun, that present their mechanics to the players in a
different way. I think a couple of the bosses in this instance fall into
that category and leave a good ‘that was cool’ impression.
I think the dynamic nature
of the civil unrest in the playfield and the riots are a really cool touch
for players. That they can influence a zone wide event by their actions,
even competing against each other adds a really cool element to the
game-play. Whenever you set foot in the Commons district the current
situation might be very different, I think that makes for an interesting
dynamic for the players.
Are there any future enhancements to Guilds, the Guild
System, or the areas given to guilds?
Yes, the guild
functionality will be something that is about to get a major focus. There
will be a key new feature of the next update cycle that is built around
improving guilds and their role in the game. We will be discussing this in a
lot more detail as soon as we are done with the current update cycle. It is
definitely an area that we want to focus on and improve over the coming
updates.
What does AoC have planned in the near future, and
long term, specifically to bring players back into the game so they're able
to experience the amazing enhancements, new content, and all the hard work
you guys have put into it?
I think in terms of what
players should return for there will be reevaluation offers starting in the
near future, and there is already the free trial available for people to
come back and try it for themselves.
In terms of the future the
focus for the next update cycle is really in three main areas.
The first focus, and the major feature addition, for the next cycle will be
additional features in guild game-play we have just mentioned above. As we
have mentioned before one of the major focuses for this next set of content
is improving our guild functionality and the purpose and role of guilds in
the game. I will explore this in more depth, and reveal a little about the
direction these changes will take, in the next community letter.
In addition we will have new content as we move on to looking at the
addition of new high level content for both groups and raids in the majestic
halls of the House of Crom. The team is preparing some really fantastic
game-play suitable for such an epic location. Continuing to add even more
high level content is an important goal for us and this location plays a
huge part in that. As the next major content addition you can look forward
to hearing much more about this over the summer months as we prepare the
challenges and encounters that await you in this most imposing and deadly of
dungeons.
Then we also have the ongoing task of adding more goals and objectives to
the Borderlands PVP play-fields. This is something that we are busily
planning and working on already and hope to be able to add to over the
course of the next update cycle.
What do you have planned to entice new players, will
you go after existing MMORPG players, or new, or both - what's been
discussed and what elements of the game will you highlight to attract these
players? (I know this and the previous question are similiar but I'm looking
for more of a difference between how you approach NEW players and players
who have tried the game previously).
I think in that regard the
things that attracted people to the game in the first place are still
attractive to potential new players. We have a game-world and setting quite
unlike anything out there. It is darker and more brutal, a truly mature
setting and everything that comes with that. I think it also looks
absolutely amazing and the team did a fantastic job realizing the world
first described by Robert E Howard in the Conan stories. Then you have the
combat system that was very well received and outside of the issue people
did have at launch, people did react well to the more involved and reactive
nature of our combat, again I think that is still very true today and great
draw for the new player. Likewise the start of the game, the very story
driven content in Tortage Island was also very well received and I think is
a great experience for an arriving player.
When you then throw in on
top all of the issue we have addressed over the last year I think we do have
a fairly unique and compelling
offering for new players.
