Age of Conan is different in that the focus of the game is on the combat, there’s none of that crafting crap as the sole focus is on finding new ways to kick ass with your character which for me is a nice touch. One of the things that annoyed the hell out of me for Auto Assault was that most of the loot you collected in the game was pieces and parts for the crafting system and all I really wanted to do was drive around and blow stuff up.
The game will allow you to do fun things like travel to exotic locales in the 185 square miles of game world, meeting new and exciting people using the advanced search tool, and kill them in fun different ways. The same class system that pervades every other MMO is present here as you have your standard Tank, healer, and ranged weapon classes. Pets are also present but with a small twist. At the highest level your character can have eight pet points. You can then choose to spend all eight on eight short combat units, or four magical pets, or two really powerful pets. I’m assuming you can do a little bit of mixing and matching but it’s nice to see something different.
Spell casting is also a bit different as you can weave spells together to make more powerful spells. This is also one of those things that can back fire on you as certain spells do not work well together.
It looks like there will be a lot to do in the game. Outside of the main arc of the game players will be able to participate in sieges on player created castles, AI Cities, fight back invasions, and participate in other mini games like a drunken bar room fight. Those who can’t dedicated their lives to the game will be happy to know that the game will have a master/apprentice system built in which will allow you to partner with those of higher levels and be able to compete at or near their level.
From what I saw the game looks good and the team indicated that they are on track to hit their October 30th deadline. Console fans will have to wait until next year for the Xbox 360 version though.
