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

Age of Conan Game Director Craig 'Silirrion' Morrison is warning players about the road to Khitai in the upcoming expansion, Rise of the Godslayer. In the April "Letter from the Game Director", Morrison explains a new mechanic that hasn't been talked about yet and one that he is pleased to say is one of those times that a Game Director is glad to be wrong.

When players exit Tortage and head for the new lands of Khitai, they will have two options of travel. First, they can hand over their hard-earned coin or they can choose the more interesting path and serve as a caravan/boat guard to pay their way. This is where the new feature comes into play. As the caravan/boat makes its way to Khitai, players will enter a solo instance and be presented with one of nine different scenarios that may occur. Some of the examples given include: defending your boat from a Kraken, defending your caravan from raiders or investigating a strange oasis plagued by the undead. once the player completes the given objective their boat or caravan can continue on its way. The feature sounds somewhat akin to the traveling between areas in Dragon Age: Origins, which can present players with random encounters along their travels.

This section of the expansion is completely optional as players can choose to just fork over the coin to get to Khitai, but it provides a nice little surprise and a good way for the devs to highlight the dangers on the road to Khitai.