Age of Conan has launched a "re-review" campaign among several top fan sites,
and approached us to take a second look at the game and highlight for our users
some of the benefits and enhancements seen at AoC since launch. They're
currently running a "Tell
your friends to come BACK to Hyboria" campaign that gives players
2 free weeks playtime to experience some of the changes! Recently,
with Update 5, a new area came into the game known as Tarantia Commons.
Tarantia Commons offers level 70 and up players new exciting game features
that take place in the area including gang wars, riots, and several new
encounters. Encounters can occur differently depending upon your standing, how
you've gotten to where you are now, what is going on in the area, and previously
encounters that could have lead to the encounter you're fighting now. There are
also a few new factions in the area that fight for control of Tarantia, one gang
owns the rooftops and the other the streets, you're able to take on missions for
either group and improve or hurt your standing with them based on the missions
you choose to play. By giving both the rooftops and the streets their own unique
set of missions and events the game creators have added double the content into
the same amount of real estate, and allowed players to mingle with these
factions in the way that they see fit.
Here's a developer introduction to Tarantia Commons:
While Update 5 brought lots of new content into the game, there have also
been major improvements over the past several months that are worthy of a
mention; we've done our best to detail some of them below:
1. Character Statistics Updates: The statistics system has been
changed to include a new functionality that allows a players core stats to
interact with their armor and weapon ratings adding meaningful usefulness to
specific classes that utilize them the most.
2. Improved Itemization and Abilities: Items play a larger role now
than they originally did. The addition of statistics to items and abilities make
weapons and abilities useful and an important part of gameplay.
3. New Social Pets and Improved City Life: As your guild city grows,
its population becomes more dense and varied with new vendors, animals and
patrolling NPC’s that make cities more enjoyable and rewarding. There are also
new pets such as cats, dogs, and snakes that can be purchased from those vendors
the follow you on your epic journeys.
4. Technical Stuff: Lots of scalability has been added for visual
options, allowing for users with great systems to see great visual detail, and
those without them to turn down settings as needed. They've also fixed some of
the memory leaks and technical issues that caused difficulty early in the life
of the game.
5. New Content: Ymir's Pass, Xibaluku, and Tarantia commons offer
players hours and hours of fun playtime.
Ymir's
Pass is one of the most expansive areas in any MMORPG and reaches a climax when
you try to free the Frost Fathers son who's bound in shackles on top of a
massive structure. He flails and slams around the whole time the you're trying
to cut his chains and ward off the evil that captured him!
Xibaluku has several instances and an amazing design of traps and puzzles
that must be worked for you to make your way deeper into the dungeon. Several of
the instances have unique gameplay opportunities that players can take advantage
of or ignore, and you're able to re-play instances that really appeal to you.
Tarantia Commons is, of course, the latest addition to the game and offers
players the ability to take part in events that are happening in the area in
real time. You might find yourself facing off against another player who's
actively trying to squelch the rebellion you just incited or vice-versa, and
area wide updates are communicated through the chat channel to give you
up-to-date intel on how the event you're involved in is proceeding.
6. PVP/Sieges: A notoriety system now exists that will lets players
who commit murders be hunted or achieve legendary status by having their name
feared by all as they become a notorious murderer! Other advancements include
the ability to earn experience in PVP situations, improved performanc of siege
gameplay with expanded tools for guilds to carry out these assaults, and changes
to city building and battlekeep construction including live guards!
These are just some of the updates we've seen from running around and doing a
little research on Age of Conan. These and many more await those who give this
game a second chance or try it out for the first time via the
Age of Conan Two Free Weeks preview!
