From the moment I stepped into Age
of Conan, I knew that the chat functionality was going to
be lackluster. At the beginning of release, the social mechanics within
the game were the number one issue for many of the players. The chat
going on within your UI was often hard to read, and you’d
often need to reset your channel settings every time you entered a new
zone. A number of these problems have been fixed, but the general
social UI needs continued work. Social players are often the foundation
of any MMOG, and Funcom needs to insure that those players are around
to tell the world what they think of AoC.
Crafting Your Keep
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Crafting is something that needs a bit of improvement in AoC.
When any major MMOG is released in the modern era, guilds are often
concerned about two things: leveling up their members and creating any
piece of equipment that’s going to assist them in the long
run. Thus crafting plays a fairly important role in an MMOGs early
development. While the crafting system in AoC was in place when the
game first started – mostly designed around the building and
creation of guild cities – the players aren’t
actually allowed to begin crafting until level 40. Once players hit 40,
they can begin developing their crafting skills, going through the
various crafting “quests” and eventually being able
to help craft whatever their guild needs.
In the estimation of this reviewer, introducing crafting at level 40 is
a bit high for most players. With the second destiny quest and a number
of other special options being unlockable at level 30, it seems like 30
might be a more appropriate number for crafters to begin their work
without forcing them to level up for two weeks (or more) to get to
their crafting encounters.
Loot and Quests
One of the other major issues within
style="font-style: italic;">Age of Conan
– at least when this review was written – was the
lackluster itemization of the standard areas within AoC and at the item
vendors. As I journeyed throughout the world with my Cimmerian
Conqueror, I was often stunned to find that I had very little to spend
my money on when I would cash in my loot. Essentially I purchased a new
set of armor and equipment at level 20 and a new set at level 30, but
the levels in between were full of rather unoriginal loot that either
looked exactly like the piece I was wearing/wielding before, or with
just a slight alteration.
Although the weapons are often much more varied in their style and
structure, the selection of items in the game needs to expand.
Thankfully, a recent patch seems to have introduce better itemization
within the game, but MMOG players are often never happy unless they
have a whole treasure chest full of hats, boots, swords and staves to
choose from. Monsters also need to have their loot tables increased to
give players a chance to pick up some terrific armor or weapons off of
their corpses. Luckily, the quests within Age of Conan do provide quite
an assortment of armor and weapons for players to earn, if
they’re willing to undertake the quest. Who wants to play an
MMOG without the phat loot?
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Most gamers love getting new equipment for their characters.
Even if the loot for a particular quest doesn’t necessarily
match up with an item that your character might need, I would
personally recommend pursuing almost all of the quests with
style="font-style: italic;">Age of Conan. In
all honesty, the writers and storytellers at Funcom have done a
fantastic job creating a backstory for each of the quests that a player
encounters within the game. From interacting with Kern in
Connall’s Valley (who also happens to be the protagonist in
the first few Age of Conan novels) to the sinister snake priests that
slither around Stygia.
Despite the quests being beautifully written, I was a bit taken aback
when I first journeyed from Tortage to the areas beyond the island
stronghold. Unlike the NPCs within Tortage, a scant few of the
non-player characters outside of Tortage will actually have
professional a professional voice over. Funcom is hard at work
incorporating voices into the most played through quests within the
various provinces, but it remains doubtful whether the entire game will
ever reach the fully voiced threshold.
To read the latest guides, news, and features you can visit our Age of Conan: Unchained Game Page.
