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

One of the foremost complaints players have had about Age of Conan has been its somewhat linear and closed-off environments. Each region has been almost independent of the others which has taken away from the feel of a much larger world. We were pleased to hear that Funcom has taken this complaint seriously and the expansion has been designed as a much larger, less linear world. Not only are the playfields the largest play space yet with paths, caves, cities, and rivers contributing to a large and epic feel, but all playfields are connected logically. You can swim across a river or cross a bridge to the next region. You’ll be able to actually see the next region from the adjacent areas. No more will you click a seemingly out-of-place door and magically be transported from a swamp to a snowy mountain.


A hazard that some games face when they create a large playfield is that it goes largely unpopulated. Sure, it may be big, but is there anything to actually do? Rise of the Godslayer answers this with a great big “yes.”

All cities were designed to be PvP friendly, with lots of nooks and crannies and walls and rooftops on which you can climb. You can strategically place your comrades for battle, or try to break enemy defenses. The guards won’t bother you unless you’re one of those merciless gankers preying on the weak, in which case they’ll wedge a boot up your rear.

Additionally the play fields have lots of hidden areas to make exploration interesting. You’ll find hidden caves and some cool easter eggs. Shrines are placed all over the map and it will be up to you to find them. The shrines can either buff you or curse you depending on the emotes you perform in front of them.

Dig spots are placed everywhere. These are small areas that will allow you to dig a hole should you be carrying a shovel. Ok, granted, digging ditches in a MMOG may sound a little unconventional, but it’s worked in other games. By digging you can uncover treasures or quests.


Faction is going to play a very large part in the expansion. There are several factions you can either go to war with or befriend, and each faction has several ranks with rewards. As you rank up you’ll unlock more rewards at the cost of perhaps making travelling through opposing faction-controlled areas a little more challenging. There are so many factions, ranks and rewards that a whole new addition to the UI was required to help you keep track of it all. Each faction has four tiers of armor that you can attain, making partaking in the war not only fun, but well worth your time.

And the Khitan war is 24/7. As you travel through the lands you’ll come across battlefields that have many computer controlled entities fighting each other for the upper hand in the war. You can join in the fight for the side of your choice and earn rewards there as well.

The expansion does look to be promising from what we saw today. Keeping players busy and having fun is always the challenge of a MMOG and no game is ever “done.” Funcom realizes this with Age of Conan and they’re not giving up. All of this new content and new mechanics can only extend the game’s overall lifespan and would have someone like Chucky giggling with glee at its evolution over the past year and a half.

The release date of Rise of the Godslayer has not yet been announced.