Friday Updates

[Quazimodo]

Class Preview - Druid of the Storm


- Feb 02, 2007
This week we take a deeper look into another of the classes available in Age of Conan - The Druid of the Storm.

Primal and resourceful, these priests of the shamanistic arts are masters of the world around them, at one with nature.

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. Not just a healer they can utilise ancient arts, runes and charms passed down by their forefathers to protect and keep allies safe from harm

While obviously adept at protecting their allies makes them respected travelling companions, these Druids are actually more feared for what they can call forth from 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.

They can use the power of wind to throw their enemies back, and harness the raw energy of lightning to burn their foes, or call forth the bitter winds of winter to bite their opponents with the extreme cold that only nature can summon forth.

As an example their defining ability at level 80 is called ‘Eye of the Storm’ and calls forth a great hurricane down upon the Druid themselves that acts as natural shield, a wall of wind that not only keeps attackers at bay but charges the air around the caster with such electrical energy that it can augment the Druids lightning spells.

‘Eye of the Strom’ thus grants the Druid vastly improved defence against ranged attacks but has the down side that it is almost impossible to move. It increases electrical magic damage and the radius of effect for their lightning based spells. Enemies attacking the caster have a chance of being knocked back while the druids themselves become immune to most knockback effects.

Far from being ‘just a healer’ these Shaman are powerful and dangerous foes to cross on the battlefield.

[Uzbeki]

Very cool class indeed. I cant wait to hear about all of the other classes. I hope they all got abilites like "Eye of the storm"

[Quazimodo]

Class Preview - Lich


- Feb 09, 2007
This week the dark and menacing Lich class falls under our spotlight as we continue our previews of the classes available in Age of Conan.


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.

A Lich is a mage who has moved beyond merely summoning the dead and instead chooses to make the darkest of pacts with the undead. They allow themselves to be one with those who have passed from the mortal realm and can merge their own flesh and blood with that of the dead.

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.

When using Champion of Death for example, that the Lich gets access to from level 20, The Lich inhabits the form of a powerful undead warrior, increasing health, attack rating and their unholy magic rating.

Calling forth dark and menacing clouds laden with the foul black reek of pestilence and disease the Lich can easily inspire dread on the battlefield.

The power of the undead is not just called upon to help the Lich defeat their foes, it can also protect. Pact of Dead Flesh for example, that is available from level 25 onwards, protects the caster's team against damage, absorbing the first X points of damage from each hit. There is a maximum amount of damage that can be absorbed before it fails though.

At Higher levels the Lich gets access to powerful and ancient magics like ‘Flesh of the Wight’ and ‘Acheronian Abomination’, the latter allows the Lich to literally take the physical form of an ancient Acheronian warrior. Twisting in pain that might cripple those not used to dealing in such foul arts, the Lich’s skin becomes re-enforced with the thick leathery, puss ridden hide of these powerful undead incarnations, his convulsing face masked by the ornately carved and distinctive helms that mark the source of these evil beings.

The Lich’s muscles and bones are infused with the ancient strength and malice that is breed by centuries of undead anguish and can then be unleashed upon their foes.

These spells Increase the amount of damage absorbed each hit by spells such as Pact of Dead Flesh. The caster also gains additional unholy damage on melee attacks, and attackers have a chance of being afflicted with a damage over time curse when they attack the caster or getting extra healing from foes that attack them. These are examples of where casters spells at the higher levels also increase the effectiveness of their other spells.

The Lich is a dread inducing and fearsome foe whose dark pacts with the undead give them a wide variety of options in battle, whether it is defending their allies or striking out against their enemies.

[Uzbeki]

Sweet, so this is a shapeshifter class? Sounds like a fun class to play.

[Quazimodo]

Class Preview - Herald of Xotli


- Feb 16, 2007
We continue our preview of the playable classes in Age of Conan with a look at the demonic and fearsome Herald of Xotli.

Some of those who meddle in the demonic arts are either too weak-minded or venture too far down the path of demonology to remain untainted for long. The Heralds are those who with an insatiable lust for power regardless of the cost have bargained with the demon god Xotli and paid the ultimate price.

They become a host to true demonic forces, allowing their very flesh and blood to be twisted and shaped to the purposes of their master.

The arcane and twisted pacts that have allowed the Herald to call upon the power of Xotli mean that they are powerful and dreaded foes in combat. Whereas other priests or students of the demonic arts can call upon the servants or blessing of their respective deities the Herald actually transforms themselves into a walking incarnation of Xotli’s wrath.

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 powerful arsenal of spells to call upon as needed. With their frenzied appearance and blood soaked muscles rippling with demonic strength the Herald becomes one of the most fearsome sights on the battlefield.

While many of the Herald’s abilities concentrate on strengthening themselves and their allies they can also call upon the primordial forces of fire and brimstone, hewn from the demonic depths, to smite their foes.

‘Hellfire Breath’, that the Herald can cast from level 25 onwards, deals instant fire damage to enemies in a cone in front of the caster. Likewise from 55 onwards, their ‘Hellflare’ spell blasts the enemies around the caster with an intense searing wall of heat, lowering their damage output and causing them to take more damage from physical attacks.

When combined with spells like their ‘Inferno Curse’ these attacks can be even more lethal. 'Inferno Curse' is available from level 40 onwards and allows the Herald to curse enemies in his near vicinity so that they take increased damage from fire based attacks.

So while the demonic flames might be their specialty the Herald is usually in the thick of the action and uses spells like ‘The Exultation of Xotli’, which is available from level 45 onwards, to increase their melee damage for a short period of time but with a period of reduced damage for a short while afterwards.

At higher levels the Herald gets access to the ability to not just strike fear in their opponents but can actually force them to run away in terror through their ‘Dread Visage’ ability. So the Herald is not only a fearsome foe at close quarters on the battlefield but their demonic powers can actually instill dread and make even the most hardened of opponents flee from them in stark fear.

[Quazimodo]

Originally Posted by Uzbeki

Sweet, so this is a shapeshifter class? Sounds like a fun class to play.

Yeah, they seem to be doing some great stuff on the spell casters. Just hope rangers will be interesting.

[Punchline]

Originally Posted by Uzbeki

Sweet, so this is a shapeshifter class? Sounds like a fun class to play.

*cough, DRUID, cough*

[Quazimodo]

Class Preview - Necromancer

- Mar 02, 2007
We continue our preview of the playable classes in Age of Conan with a look at the mysterious and dangerous Necromancer.

Evil and twisted Necromancers bring the cursed and the dead back from beyond the mortal realm to do their bidding. Looking down on the likes of the Demonologist for their reliance on bargaining for power, the Necromancer requires no such crutch, relying instead on his own mastery of death to dispose of his enemies.

The true power of the Necromancer is two fold, with a mastery of unholy magic, the Necromancer animates the dead and corrupts the living, while this is complimented by their ability to marshal the freezing winds of death itself and deal devastatingly cold attacks on those who would cross their path. Thus the icy touch of death is instilled in everything the Necromancer does and they have a wide variety of spells and foul magics to call upon.

Spells like ‘Flesh to Worms’ and ‘Pestilential Blast’ deal painful and disturbing unholy damage to their targets while ‘Gelid Bones’ and ‘Ice Strike’ use deathly cold to deal their damage. The stench of death itself provides the Necromancer with this tainted arsenal and their ability to manipulate it to their benefit is unsurpassed.

Not content with simply smiting their foes the Necromancer can also use their dark arts to boost their allies. Spells like ‘Runed Flesh’ allow the Necromancer\s team to absorb some damage, while ‘Bone Ward’ increases the Necromancers defences.

Lastly, but by no means least, the Necromancer can also command the dead themselves. Tearing the corpses of the fallen from the ground and animating them to their own evil intentions the Necromancer can summon forth a series of twisted cadavers to do their foul bidding.

With the ability to summon expendable foot soldiers called Undead Minions, through to raising magically adept Deathless Acolytes, the Necromancer can ensure that these rotting and malicious puppets of flesh are at hand to deal with any enemies that get too close.

Like much of the magic in Age of Conan the abilities of this mage are greatly enhanced by their later abilities, for example the pinnacle of their powers - Loathsome Teachings, that is available only at level 80, provides a boost to their ‘Ice Strike’ and ‘Glacial Storm’ spells while active, triggering an additional Freeze effect. Likewise their ‘Pestilential Blast’ and ‘Blasphemous Ruin’ spells benefit from an additional ‘Gangrenous Touch’ effect. It also benefits the amount of health returned when their Lifeleech spell is cast and any attacks against the Necromancer while it is active have a chance of applying a healing effect on the caster. At the same time the ability grants additional cold and unholy damage to the caster's team.

Their mastery over death itself means that Necromancers are amongst the most feared practitioners of magic you are likely to meet on the battlefield. Their icy grasp and command of undead mean that they are a threat taken lightly at your own risk!

[Quazimodo]

Update from GDC

- Mar 09, 2007
Take a peek at the process involved in bringing Age of Conan to GDC, and also check out what the press is saying about the game at the show. And oh, we’ve also got a bunch of new screenshots for you!

For the last couple of weeks, both marketing and the development team have been hard at work preparing for the Games Developer Conference that this week took place in San Francisco. While the developers have been working on polishing many of the game’s features – such as the fatality moves – the marketing team have been working towards getting as many journalists as possible to drop in and have a look at the game.

Web sites such as IGN (click here to read) and Gamespy (click here to read) have already given their thoughts on the game, but more will most likely follow in the coming days. Several new screenshots have also surfaced thanks to coverage from the conference, and you can check many of them out here in the community site’s screenshot section.

“This year’s GDC has been great for us. We’ve had the opportunity to show Age of Conan to many members of the press, and we’re thrilled to see how enthusiastic many of the reactions have been,” says product director Jørgen Tharaldsen who is in San Francisco together with several members of the development team as well.

The Games Developer Conference is first and foremost an industry event, a place where like-minded programmers, artists and other people involved in game development and marketing can meet and share their experiences with each other. But still, it’s also a great place to showcase your product and get the attention of the world’s gaming media. That’s why you will also see news articles and in-depth previews coming out of the conference.

The days leading up to the show are always hectic at Funcom. First comes the easy part, where everyone comes together and brainstorms over what they would like to show. Of course, everyone would like to show everything right away, but when you work with marketing a computer game you also have to consider the fact that you need material to show for several months ahead, and you don’t want to be revealing everything at once!

When both marketing and development have banged their heads together and have finally settled on what to show, reality quickly sets in and the “to do list” suddenly becomes a huge two-headed monster that eats developers for breakfast and forces marketing to watch. When developing a computer game, everyone is working on their little bit and it’s not until the latter part of development and during the beta period that it all fits together and works seamlessly as a game. For tradeshows, the developers often has to improvise by putting things together in haste and bug fixing as they go along.

It’s an industry fact, and we all have to do it. It becomes easier as the game matures and more features becomes available, and because Age of Conan is so far into the development of the game right now, we’ve been lucky enough to be able to more or less pick and choose what we want to show at the Games Developer Conference this year.

“Right now it’s all about determining what to show and when to show it. Early in the game’s development we had to create makeshift solutions to be able to show advanced features, but now our biggest concern is just making sure we don’t reveal everything in one go. And that’s a challenge, because we want to show it all now!” says Tharaldsen.

Still, things do need to be polished before they can be shown to the world, and for the last couple of weeks the developers have been hard at work going through their task lists and making sure everything works the way it should. A so-called strike team is created who works relentlessly on preparing a version that those going to the conference can bring with them -- with all the deadlines that involves!

One of the biggest challenges we face when setting out to demo Age of Conan, is how to show as much meaningful content as possible in the usually short amount of time that we have. Massively multiplayer online games are, as the name says, massive. It can take hours upon hours to reach different levels of character development, and getting to some parts of the game can mean months of actual gameplay.

So how do you show the good stuff right away when you only have half an hour to impress a journalist?

“I’ve created a series of scripts that quickly lets whoever is playing the game level up their character and get access to really cool equipment, feats and combos. That way they are able to quickly develop into a character that looks impressive, and show off features that wouldn’t really be available until later in the game,” says item designer Mats Remman.

One of the characters that are being showed at the Games Developer Conference is the Soldier who turns into a Guardian. Whoever is playing the game can quickly level up to the sort of Guardian that they want, and all the combo moves will suddenly become available to them along with some of the better gear. This allows us to show diversity in characters and gears without having to actually go questing for hours to get there!

As the week comes to and end and the conference closes its doors, both marketing and developers head back to the offices to continue working on the game, preparing it for the upcoming beta phases and finally launch.

Here is some of the coverage that has come out of GDC so far:

Preview on TenTonHammer
Preview on GameSpy
Preview on IGN
Preview on Kotaku

[Quazimodo]

Class Preview - Demonologist

- Mar 16, 2007
This week we take a look at those who would trade their very souls in the quest for absolute power - The Demonologist.

Of all the mages the Demonologist may be the most power hungry and twisted amongst them. Such is their pure thirst for absolute power that they are willing to trade their very souls to whichever demonic power is currently seeking to extend their influence into the affairs of man.

Through demonic pacts and sacrifices they tread a fine line between the mortal world and the depths of the demonic realms, drawing forth the power of their immortal masters at the price of the corrupting influence of that power.

The Demonologist is not as studied as other mages, and while they might have some rudimentary knowledge of the magical arts it is their ability to wield and command these ancient and sinister arts that allow them to strike down their opponents on the battlefield.

The Demonologist has two main areas of expertise, firstly in the command of demonic minions and then also a variety of fire and electrical based direct damage spells.

The demons are of course the most trusted weapon in their arsenal, with the Demonologist having the power to control and command demons summoned from the pits of the ancient, long forgotten worlds below the world. With their 'Demonic Servitude ' ability allowing them to bind a demon to their will, the Demonologist can command these minions to do their bidding and bring agony and despair to their foes.

Dripping with the eternal blood of their victims and a twisted visage that can inspire dread in even the most battle hardened of warriors, the demons are a fearsome sight on any battlefield.

The demon alone though is not what makes the Demonologist a powerful and dangerous foe. They have the ability to smite their enemies with devastating fire and electrical attacks, channelling the searing heat and magical energy of the demonic realm into potent and potentially lethal attacks.

'Flamestrike' and 'Shockstrike' are amongst the first spells the Demonologist learns to wield and these are supplemented from level 35 with the likes of the 'Firestorm' and 'Shockblast' spells.

The Demonologist can also bargain with their demonic masters to sacrifice their own health in return for yet more powerful damage through their 'Sacrifice' and 'Blood Sacrifice' spells

As with the other mage classes the Demonologist also has access to powerful abilities as the highest levels that can greatly improve the performance of their other spells and abilities. For the Demonologist this comes in the form of their 'Archfiend's Pact' spell, which while active means that Flamestrike, Shockstrike, Firestorm and Shockblast have no cool down times and the caster gains very high mana regeneration. With their Magic damage greatly increased and stacking with both 'Sacrifice' and 'Blood Sacrifice' the cost of this powerful spell is not to be taken lightly. The Demonologist pays for such a wanton display of their power with a heavy amount of damage to their own health over the course of the spell and a very high Soul Corruption penalty.

So the Demonologist treads a fine line between eternal damnation and the power that can be bestowed upon them by their demonic masters, with their constant thirst for power comes the risk of insanity and worse, but while they retain mastery of their borrowed powers they are a powerful foe. With demonic minions to do their bidding, and such power at their disposal, the Demonologist is truly a mage to be feared.