More details on monster Conan patch

By Oli Welsh Published 19 May, 2009

New playfield, extra slot for veterans.

Age of Conan celebrated its first birthday yesterday with some encouraging news on subscriber retention - and also a letter from game director Craig Morrison.

After reminiscing about joining Funcom, Morrison discusses update 1.05 for the game, which he hopes to have ready for release "within the next few weeks".

The update will be one of the most dramatic changes to an MMO seen outside of paid expansion packs, with every character class getting a complete overhaul, and sweeping changes to the RPG system and itemisation aimed at making loot more important and rewarding.

There will be a new playfield with attendant quests and storyline added. In a recent interview with IGN, Morrison confirmed that this would be the Tarantia Commons district of the capital city, aimed at players in the level 70-80 range.

New details confirmed by Morrison include an extra, ninth character slot for all accounts over six months old, and the availability of two further slots for purchase if you really want to try every (well, almost every) class.

He also adds that improvements are being made to vendors, guild cities, travel options and guard AI. That's in addition to the ability to create new characters at level 50 if you've already passed that mark once.

Plenty more at the Age of Conan gamepage.

Picture of Oli.

About Oli Welsh

Oli is Eurogamer's acting deputy editor and reviews editor and likes to take things one word at a time. He is among the best dressed people in South London.

Read more articles from Oli by visiting the Oli Welsh archive page.

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Comments (9) Latest comment 3 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Plewt #1 3 years ago

    Funcom up to their usual shenanigans. Having unsubscribed to their newsletter a long time ago I got one about this patch sent to me anyway. Not the end of the world but it's the same shit they pulled on some of the actual game subs.

  • Atropos #2 3 years ago

    If I had the time for an MMO I would so be playing this now; I checked it out again after EG ran their article about the changes made, and manohman is this game improved. So give it a try, it is now definitely where it should have been soon after launch and more.

  • MaxiSleep #3 3 years ago

    "The update will be one of the most dramatic changes to an MMO seen outside of paid expansion packs, "

    WTF is this supposed to mean?

    Fixing broken systems = dramatic update?
    Changing itemisation = world changing?

    FFS Eurogamer stop quoting this crap without a bit of journalistic common sense

  • Oli Verified Reviews Editor, Eurogamer.net #4 3 years ago

    I'd say changing your itemisation and RPG system at a fundamental level and overhauling every single character class is pretty dramatic, yes, and it's not a quote, it comes from me.

    This isn't "fixing broken" things about Conan, it's changing the philosophy of the game, for better or worse (and "dramatic" doesn't imply that I necessarily think it will be for the better).

    Outside of actual content updates, I believe this is one of the biggest changes to an MMO since Star Wars Galaxies NGE.

  • Slabbathepave #5 3 years ago

    I want Oli and Maxisleep to have a fight.


    Pretty interesting stuff regardless. I am tempted to have a bit of a whizz round the test server and see these changes for myself. For those still on the fence about AoC it really is worth another look.

  • makememoo #6 3 years ago

    I bought it on release based on trying the first 20 levels in beta.. boy was that a surprise at like level 30.

    Seems like its definitely worth throwing a months sub at this to see how things are shaping up. If I don't slideshow from the memory leaks in tarantia 40's zone then I might even keep going a bit.

  • SleepyMagpie #7 3 years ago

    I got spammed one of their newsletters yesterday as well, having also unsubscribed..

    Sigh.

    Just go away AoC.

  • hiddenranbir #8 3 years ago

    FFS Eurogamer stop quoting this crap without a bit of journalistic common sense

    EuroG admitted themselves they're just a bunch of bloggers no more special than you or I. Well, that is what they say when they manage to pull out a terrible review.

  • Orange #9 3 years ago

    The focus on itemisation kills off any desire I have to play the game. I much prefer games where choice of abilities matters more than numbers, especially one which had the pvp potential of Conan. I'll give Craig Morrison his dues though, he seems to work terrifically hard at improving the games he works on, first Anarchy Online and now Conan. Deserves to be put in charge of his own game.