Age of Conan News

The folks at 1up.com have some more in-depth screenshots and news from inside the beta.

Here’s how Age of Conan works: During the day, you quest with other people in the traditional style. Random NPCs offer quests to kill 30 of this or gather 5 of that. You group, you slay, you craft. But an NPC in the basement of a tavern allows you to switch day to night at will. (OK, OK, so I was exaggerating a bit back a couple paragraphs ago: Technically, you can group up with people any time you want by switching to daytime — but the mission design certainly doesn’t lead you in that direction.) During the evening hours, the architecture and landscape’s the same, but there’s not another human-controlled soul in sight. At night, this is your island — or instance, in the parlance — and essentially a separate game. It has different quests. Its NPCs move, live, and die by your hand only.

Popularity: 27% [?]

Saw this over on Curse.com:

“Battlegroup9.com is going to be organizing a server selection for a Free-For-All PvP Server in Age of Conan. Some of the best players in WoW and even many of AoC’s top Closed Beta players will be joining the BG9 community to create a truly epic gaming experience. Don’t forget to set your bookmarks because we will be announcing instructions on how to roll with us on May 10th, three days before the pre-release.”

Popularity: 47% [?]

In the 2nd half, IGN goes into what you can expect from the Rogue and Mage archetypes.

“in Age of Conan, you can pick a racial type of character before selecting a class, though doing so doesn’t actually affect your statistics. Instead, it limits your class selection. Picking a Cimmerian restricts you to picking between guardians, dark templar, conquerors, bear shaman, barbarians, and rangers. An Aquilonian get access to guardians, dark templar, conquerors, priests of Mitra, barbarians, assassins, and rangers. To get access to the Mage-types you’ll have to be Stygian, whose available classes include tempests of Set, assassins, rangers, demonologists, heralds of Xotli, and necromancers.”

Popularity: 48% [?]

IGN has an in-depth look at the character classes available in Age of Conan. First up a look at the Soldier and Priest, check out the video also, it contains more details on the combat system.

Popularity: 48% [?]

Funcom and Eidos announce that Age of Conan pre-order programs are now fully available in all major territories, including USA, Germany, France, Spain, UK, Oceania and the Nordic countries. Conan fans and MMO gamers are already raving about the incredible pre-order items, including the War Mammoth and Killer Rhino, and today Funcom ups the ante and confirms that everyone who pre-orders may access Hyboria several days prior to the retail launch.

Players may enter Age of Conan as early as the 17th of May. Mere weeks away, early adopters can now live, fight and explore in Hyboria, as well as getting an essential head-start before the hordes invade.

Pre-order the Age of Conan: Collectors Edition now!

Popularity: 53% [?]

You might be starting at this for awhile, so here it is!

“The very latest, cutting-edge, ganked from the developer’s desktop, version of the character selection screen. What’s interesting is that has a life of its own, like a day-night cycle (it’s night in the clip you’re seeing), plus wind and all sorts of things.  Some of this is still not even ready for beta, much less public viewing, but we’re bringing it to you anyway!”

Popularity: 58% [?]

The Age of Conan wiki is running a contest to find, Mitra. Follow a series of clues to find Mitra, and compete for five beta keys as well as five three month pre-paid game cards! This dosen’t seem hard, so I suggest trying for a chance at a key!

Popularity: 55% [?]

All you need to do is send AoC an email and hope for the best. Every month AoC Community picks out three people who will be sent a bunch of prizes such as inflatable Conan swords, the Age of Conan comic, games and even hardware.

These three people will also receive a place in the
Age of Conan beta test!

If you want to be one of the lucky three who gets Funcom kit delivered in the mail, you will need to contest@ageofconan.com and include your full name, address, and telephone number in order to be eligible. You must also keep the subject of the email “Age of Conan February Newsletter Sweepstakes”. Those who enter and get picked out will have the opportunity to receive one or more prizes such as:

 •  A spot in the Age of Conan general beta
•  Dreamfall: The Longest Journey PC game
•  Full-colored Age of Conan comic book

Popularity: 85% [?]

Funcom announces a new release date for Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures.

The highly anticipated MMO receives 8 more weeks of development, allowing Funcom to deliver a more polished MMO experience when the game launches on the 20th of May 2008. Despite great feedback on vital aspects like immersion, fun factor and the exciting combat system, the management of Funcom has decided to polish the game even more. Eight weeks of development work is therefore added to stress game systems and polish the game further leading up to launch.

Popularity: 92% [?]

 Age of Conan - Half Giant Fight
 Age of Conan - Sword Slashing
 Age of Conan - Cliff Side Battle
 Age of Conan - Sword and Sorcery
 Age of Conan - Spell Casting
 Age of Conan - Interview

Popularity: 100% [?]