Age of Conan: Unchained now free-to-play

By Robert Purchese Published 1 July, 2011

Have a pec at it for nothing.

Oily barbarian MMO Age of Conan has turned free-to-play.

The game is now known as Age of Conan: Unchained.

Turning free-to-play means there are no barriers - besides waiting for the client to download - to prevent you giving Funcom's much improved virtual world a try.

Free-to-play members of Age of Conan get a choice of four character classes and two character slots. Bank space, adventure zones, dungeons, raids and mount training are limited. Sieges, alternative advancement, offline levels and veteran points are unavailable.

A premium subscription unlocks all the content. This costs €12.95 a month.

Age of Conan, like most MMOs, has changed considerably since its May 2008 launch - most notably with expansion Rise of the Godslayer last year. In 2011, Age of Conan will welcome a wealth of content relating to the new Conan the Barbarian Hollywood film.

Journey to the Age of Conan: Unchained website to get the ball rolling.

The Rise of the Godslayer expansion.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds. @Clert on Twitter.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (19) Latest comment 9 months ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Bradach #1 11 months ago

    does free to play mean the game is a free download or do i have to buy the game and there are no monthly fees?

  • Jmog #2 11 months ago

    Free to download and play. The article lists the extra content you have to pay for.

  • Tyranix #3 11 months ago

    Free to download and free to play, but you won't get as much as subscribers. I assume there's a cash shop now too.

    It's an increasing trend in the mmo genre known as "freemium".

  • Darkjinxter #4 11 months ago

    There is indeed an item shop. Camel mount now available for a bargainous 15 euros.

  • neems #5 11 months ago

    Presumably the client is still 800 kazillion gigabytes?

  • Bradach #6 11 months ago

    thanks for the response lads. I think i'll give this one a look!

  • FortysixterUK #7 11 months ago

    AOC is one of the better MMO's out there that would have had a stronger fan base had it not been so heavily bugged and un-supported in the first year.
    That's changed now but other MMO's have come and gone since and stolen its thunder.

    As for the current MMO market, my personal number 1 is WOW. AOC is a close second. ( as close as it can get, WOW is still a long way out in front ) & Rift lagging behind a distant third.
    No other MMO comes close to those three for quality in my opinion. And I've played 'em all for quite some time.
    Including many of the asian ones.

    Except Virtual Existence spreadsheets in space of course. That's a tad poo.

  • gmmonkey #8 11 months ago

    I was there on launch day. It was a total mess. I played it for three weeks then gave up because it kept crashing randomly on me. Saying that though, it was a fun game when it wasn't crapping out on me. Deffo worth a try if they've sorted it out and now that it's free.

  • Markusdragon #9 11 months ago

    The virtual in-tray of F2P games continues to increase. And as if I didn't have enough on my plate...

  • Meto #10 11 months ago

    @46ster Agree AOC is quite fun. Love the combat and the gritty environs. Surprised you don't list LOTRO in that list, which I always thought was the most polished. Not a Tolkein fan, maybe?

  • alientude #11 11 months ago

    A couple minutes of trying to understand the combat by reading their "tutorial" was enough to get me to uninstall the game. I can't remember a worse tutorial in any game I've played.

  • WinterSnowblind #12 11 months ago

    The tutorials are really bad, it took me quite a bit to understand the combat.. It's worth sticking with, it's one of the few MMO's I've actually enjoyed playing.

    The freemium model is hard to get behind though, so much of the content is parted out and it's completely impossible to access certain areas without subscribing. I wish we could see more MMO's following the GW pricing structure.. Completely ditch the subscription and make people pay for full price games and regular expansions.

  • iokthemonkey #13 11 months ago

    The combat was always a bit shonky IMO. The combo system really doesn't add anything and whilst I appreciate they were trying to make a more ''dynamic/interactive'' system, it ends up being a bit button-mashy.

  • scoop #14 11 months ago

    @iokthemonkey

    The combat system is kinda marmite in nature. I love it, makes a great change from the other MMOs but long hours will give you tendonitis :p You can always play a caster class if you want to avoid all the combo button mashing; they're a bit more traditional.

  • Seoh #15 11 months ago

    I can't find where it tells you which 4 of the 12 character classes are free, is this the case or have they mistaken classes for races?

  • Riotpoll #16 11 months ago

    @Seoh from the FAQ on the forum the following are f2p:
    ● Barbarian
    ● Demonologist
    ● Guardian
    ● Priest of Mitra

    http://forums.ageofconan.com/showthread....

  • iokthemonkey #17 11 months ago

    Re-installed it for ''free'' and am trying it. It still seems a bit unstable (I've had a few crashes or exits and restarts that have somehow ''corrupted'' the data) and the combat is just a bit lacking - not just the Karaoke button combos but also in that it seems as if you have Attack 1: does some damage; Attack 2: does some damage, also; Attack 3: does damage and so on. It just seems to lack some of the subtle combat stuff like armour breaker attacks, stuns, bleeds, etc.

    I'm still grinding through Tortage (ugh) and I want to see how it is post 20 but at the moment I'm only playing it when I've nothing else to do.

  • hobojebus #18 11 months ago

    They could pay me and i still wouldent re-install that shitty game, i played the launch i'll not touch it ever again.

  • Kostas #19 9 months ago

    I was there at the start. Horrible, if fun, work. Technical problems were all around and content after level 40 was non existent. That being said i have a die hard friend and i have seen the progress of the game and i must say i am very impressed. I can go as far and say that this is the best fantasy hardcore MMO out there right now. I only wish the fremium built was more akin to Guild Wars than LotR. Stepping into the world only to be blocked from a dungeon because i have no "premium" account is a bad idea.