Age of Conan at Ten Ton Hammer - Taking MMOG Gamers to the Next Level!

“You're absolutely right, there were ups-and-downs. On one hand we delivered a game that shipped over 1.2 million copies - making it the third best-selling PC release of 2008 - and the game worked great at launch. People had a lot of fun early on, and the reviews were great. But as time went by and players got deeper into the game issues turned up that needed to be addressed. That's basically what we've done during the past year (we're nearing out one year anniversary now!), and we have managed to address most if not all of the most important issues players have voiced. The game is better than ever, and the feedback we're getting from returning players is great. It goes without saying that we learned a lot from this experience, everything from core game design decisions to production priorities, and we'll certainly take that with us for the future. We're very happy with Age of Conan's current standing, and we look forward to both the expansion and re-evaluation campaigns. The Secret World is building momentum, the game looks and plays amazingly well, and we're very happy with the public interest in the game. At the same time we've also started working on other projects that looks equally as exciting, and all in all I would say the Funcom future is looking very bright. We can't wait to reveal more on what we're working on, and we definitely have some very special surprises coming up later this year!”

But even with the very successful launches of Warhammer Online and Wraith of the Lich King and the plummet of Funcom's stock price, Conan has kept on kicking. Although he wasn't part of the initial launch of the game the current game director, Craig Morrison, had this to say about the situation facing the early part of AoC and how the game has progressed in the last few months:

“To be honest I am not the best person to ask given I only took the reigns after the launch of the game. As with any project on this scope and scale I think the team faced a lot of challenges, some things I think they got right, like the more action orientated combat and really bringing the world of Hyboria to life in some great looking environments that really capture the feeling of the brutal world of Conan. Of course some things also didn't work out, I think we really missed not having all the PvP systems in place for launch and the client performance issues did prevent many players from really enjoying the experience. Thankfully, through a lot of hard work, we have managed to work through those issues and expand upon the game experience very positively in the post launch updates.”

Age of Conan has now settled into a core audience of players who enjoy the game and agree that many of the changes have made the game much better. Game Director Craig Morrison talks about the current state of the game:

“I think it's a good testament to how far we have come that many players now speak positively about the game and that the 'word of mouth' is turning in our favor. I think that speaks volumes for the effort that the team has put into improving the game over the last year. At the end of the day I could talk endlessly about how much we think we have improved but that pales into insignificance compared to the reactions of the players. That is really the pay-off for us! I think most of the players appreciate the fact that we have listened to their feedback and aimed our updates towards addressing the issues that were raised around the time of the games launch. Performance has been massively improved, the PvP systems have been added and expanded upon, a ton of new content has been released, and we have worked very hard to make that new content engaging, interesting and most importantly fun for the players to play through.”

So if you logged back into AoC right now, you might find a very different experience than what you might have discovered back in the early days of the title. Craig and his current team appears to be driving the game in the right direction and working with player feedback to create the best MMO possible for his current players. No one can argue that Age of Conan hit the Hyborian nail right on the head with themes, storylines, and especially R-rated content. So after one year we asked Craig what Age of Conan has in store for players now, here was his response:

“I think it's a good mix of both PvE and PvP to be honest, both parts of the game have been expanded upon and added to over the last year. I think there are several factors that work towards making Age of Conan a game that offers some pretty unique draws. At the front lines of this is our setting and game-world. As I mentioned at the top I think the art and design teams really did do justice to the brutal world as written RE Howard. The world of Hyboria is realized in a very visceral and compelling manner that does justice to the mature setting for our game. It's a game world unlike any other out there at the moment. I think it's also one of the best looking MMOs out there! We also have the more action orientated combat system that doesn't play quite like any other title out there right now. It really adds another unique element to the experience for players. Then when you throw on top the expanded PVP systems and constant content additions I think you have a very compelling offering for players to enjoy. We obviously have to keep the work up, and there are still many areas that we want to expand on and improve. There will be more additions to both the PVP and PVE parts of the game over the coming year!”

As Erling points out in his earlier quote, here we are in April 2009, and it has been almost one year since AoC’s launch. Funcom remains steadfast as a company with lots of projects planned. I asked Erling what Funcom has learned from the experiences in 2008 with Age of Conan and how they will apply the knowledge to their newest project The Secret World, he had this to say:

“You grow as a company with every title you put out there. We learned a lot from Anarchy Online that we brought with us to Age of Conan, and we will certainly do the same for The Secret World. One of the things that really took a lot of work for us on Age of Conan was the core technology. It was a groundbreaking title in terms of MMO graphics, and getting there took a lot of time and resources. With The Secret WorldThe Secret World will definitely see a leap forward from Age of Conan, but having that technology as a solid foundation to build upon is great.”

The Secret World holds many puzzles and codes.

At GDC this year, we began seeing some of the concepts behind their new game. The Secret World trailer is linked here: first trailer (if you have not seen it). The cinematic opened up a lot of questions from players as to what they will be doing in the game. The fact sheet that Funcom has provided about the game is very ambitious. This excerpt is from The Secret World write up:

Enter the real world: Discover the hidden places of the present-day world. Enter the thriving urban environments of New York, London and Seoul, and enjoy the social bustle of modern life. Then leave the cities behind and plunge into epic adventures that will take you through grand locations across the globe, from Egypt to New England, from ancient past to an apocalyptic future.

Is the modern world too complex a setting for an MMO? With cities the sizes of New York and London will players have endless side streets and alley ways to explore? It seems like an interesting start but is the world too deep? Some players complained that the content in Age of Conan after the opening of the game was lacking. Will The Secret World be different? With the game updates that Funcom has put into Age of Conan over the last year and the fact that they have been listening to players carefully gives us hope that some of the mistakes in the past that have been fixed in AoC will now be overcome with The Secret World.

• « first
• ‹ previous
• 1
• 2
• 3
• next ›
• last »

There's more! Continue reading this article on the next page.