Age of Conan - All Your Questions Are Belong to Us!

[USMC Kato]

link was put up on the IGN boards..for early access...http://funcom.cachefly.net/AoC-US-EarlyAccess.exe

Right on Arclight! Downloading the whole client now and it should be done in about 6 hours (13.7 gig download)

 Had a blast playing with Harkonis during the FFA PVP Beta Ending Event.  It was just the two of us, but we pretty much destroyed anyone we came across   

Was awesome fun, I definitely have to say that after playing the FFA portion of beta, I'd be downright bored without the open world pvp.  It was great fun with Kato and I watching each other's backs while questing and xp'ing.  Added a great deal of excitement to the game.  Very few frustrating 'gank' moments and usually it was just in the starter towns where the average joe figures he could/would/should attack anything that moves.

Would love to have more people for the pvp experience on the PVP-RP server come launch.  Let Kato or myself know and we'll get you in the guild   All classes welcome and as long as we play together any class is viable. 

If you will be playing solo often I'd suggest avoiding Necromancers since they seem to be pretty hard to keep alive solo in the pvp environment at lower levels.

9hrs left on my download.  I hope to see many of you on Sat.

Kato, did you decide on a main character for release?

Ok Harkonis, I have the list narrowed down to Guardian, Ranger, or Conquerer.

[skystride]

I've been playing on the closed beta FFA server almost exclusively (almost level 30 now) but I just don't see the appeal.  Basically no thought is put into creating this mode, it's just a simple switch to turn PvP on in most areas.  If they design a game with FFA in mind then I am completely in favor of it (i.e. Shadowbane).  It's not the ganking that bothers me, I've had no problem dealing with it especially since stealth is the uber and I can even get away from level 80 characters.  Some say it adds to realism, is spawn camping that realistic?  I love PvP however so I'm hoping the standard server offers some good goal oriented PvP action.

[CeeKay]

well, swung by my Gamestop and asked about the early start deal and got a blank stare from the newish guy.  I guess I'll swing by when one of the regulars is working but right now I have a feeling I'm going to get screwed out of the head start.

[Harkonis]

I've been playing on the closed beta FFA server almost exclusively (almost level 30 now) but I just don't see the appeal.  Basically no thought is put into creating this mode, it's just a simple switch to turn PvP on in most areas.  If they design a game with FFA in mind then I am completely in favor of it (i.e. Shadowbane).  It's not the ganking that bothers me, I've had no problem dealing with it especially since stealth is the uber and I can even get away from level 80 characters.  Some say it adds to realism, is spawn camping that realistic?  I love PvP however so I'm hoping the standard server offers some good goal oriented PvP action.

other than where you spawn, what's really different about this and shadowbane?  both were ffa pvp.

spawn camping is a sad part of any ffa game and I wish they had some sort of timer of invuln.  They will probably add one eventually, but even as it is you can often stealth and get away.  All classes can stealth well enough to run away from a spawn.  you can also choose from multiple spawn points so you don't have to always spawn where it's camped.

Kato and I were never held back by spawn camping, never had a problem with doing a quest and had a great amount of extra fun watching over our shoulders while doing quests and while grinding.  Our time in the instance where nobody can sneak in and we didn't have to watch our backs (or couldn't sneak up on someone) was really boring, but good xp.

There is definitely the potential to be camped and ganked, and I would not recommend it for most people especially people who would have to solo.  (though I solo a lot, I'm a lot more masochistic than most ) 

I was just a bit surprised that people that loved SB didn't flock to it is all, the dynamics of xp'ing while keeping an eye out is very much the same and it's the first game in awhile that feels 'dangerous'.

I wish there was a stronger pvp death penalty though, as it is you lose nothing but time which means gankers don't risk much by trying.  Of course the other side of that coin means people that get ganked aren't really losing anything of value and when they die can just spawn somewhere else.

[skystride]

other than where you spawn, what's really different about this and shadowbane?  both were ffa pvp.

A lot of things, they actually thought about PvP and consequences.  SB kept track of who killed you so you can get your revenge.  They actually put some thought into stealh, SB had classes that could hunt down stealthers.   There was a point to PK, i.e. you get loot.  Also outside of the city/mine fighting, there was also a point to fight for rune drops.  What are you fighting for in AoC?  PvP xp which currently has no effect.  Leveling up was super easy in SB so you couldn't really say that hardcore players have a huge advantage over you.  And with regards to that last point, I know you personally are pretty hardcore at these games and will likely shoot up to 80 very quickly on the FFA server (any vacation coming up? ).  For others who take a more casual approach, they are going to be left behind and have to deal with higher level pwning them as they try to catchup.  What you didn't experience in the FFA open beta event is level 80s coming in and pwning everyone at quest hubs.  Sure it might be fun to get revenge if you are of comparative level but that's only fun for those that have ground to 80.
 
Instance switching to hide from PKs seems like a bit of a hack.  In SB you had 360 degrees of movement but AoC is much more linear which means it's easy to control the entire zone by just watching some choke points.  This would be very hard to do in SB.  I suppose the ganker mentality people might actually consider these bottlenecks a good feature.

Anyway, I understand why you guys want to play in FFA, I'm just trying to explain why AoC implementation (or lack thereof) of FFA ruleset has no appeal to me personally.  The only positive aspect of FFA, i.e. the added element of danger in PvE is obviously not as important to me as it is to some of you guys.

[Mikagami]

There's a class called BEAR SHAMAN?!
Oh man that sounds cool.

Count me in for the pvp server with ya two.
Need to start the download when I get home tonight.

[drifter]

bear shaman is a type of melee healer/caster.  Its the one "magic" class Cimmerians can be; they no likee the magic.

[Razgon]

Well, its really more one of the "priest" classes in AoC ;-)

[drifter]

Well they wear medium armor and do good damage with melee weapons.  Not what most people think of as the preist class.  Thats is a Preist of Mitra or whatever its called.

[Razgon]

well, when you choose a character, there's three disticnt archtypes - one of them is Priest, and Bear Shaman is listed under this- when you choose a character. Also, thats actually pretty much the definition of a priest (cleric) from the old D&D game ;-)

Priests of Mithra does nice damage as well, and can use shields and light armour too as far as I remember.

There's three types of mages , Necromancer, Demonologist, and Herald of Xotli.

[drifter]

Razgon I am in the closed beta and have played the bear shaman.  You dont need to explain it to me. 

I havent played the preist of Mitra so I didnt know much about them.

[Mikagami]

It says that the class can use medium armor , two hander blunts, bows, cross bows, and ranged weapons.
Sounds like a ranged decent armored healer to me.

And that sounds FREGGIN AWESOME!

[Harkonis]

other than where you spawn, what's really different about this and shadowbane?  both were ffa pvp.

A lot of things, they actually thought about PvP and consequences.  SB kept track of who killed you so you can get your revenge.  They actually put some thought into stealh, SB had classes that could hunt down stealthers.   There was a point to PK, i.e. you get loot.  Also outside of the city/mine fighting, there was also a point to fight for rune drops.  What are you fighting for in AoC?  PvP xp which currently has no effect.  Leveling up was super easy in SB so you couldn't really say that hardcore players have a huge advantage over you.  And with regards to that last point, I know you personally are pretty hardcore at these games and will likely shoot up to 80 very quickly on the FFA server (any vacation coming up? ).  For others who take a more casual approach, they are going to be left behind and have to deal with higher level pwning them as they try to catchup.  What you didn't experience in the FFA open beta event is level 80s coming in and pwning everyone at quest hubs.  Sure it might be fun to get revenge if you are of comparative level but that's only fun for those that have ground to 80.
 
Instance switching to hide from PKs seems like a bit of a hack.  In SB you had 360 degrees of movement but AoC is much more linear which means it's easy to control the entire zone by just watching some choke points.  This would be very hard to do in SB.  I suppose the ganker mentality people might actually consider these bottlenecks a good feature.

Anyway, I understand why you guys want to play in FFA, I'm just trying to explain why AoC implementation (or lack thereof) of FFA ruleset has no appeal to me personally.  The only positive aspect of FFA, i.e. the added element of danger in PvE is obviously not as important to me as it is to some of you guys.

I'll agree with a lot of these, but there are classes that can hunt down stealthers, just not with tracking.  Rangers get a flare that uncovers and ignites stealthers in an area.  Even without it, Kato was unstealthing people all day just by hearing their footsteps.  Instance switching is indeed pretty lame. 

[Harkonis]

I'm slowly starting to consider playing on the standard server just to play with all my friends.

Hopefully we can get enough pvp'rs to make it worthwhile.

[drifter]

Evenon standard servers there will be PvP.  There are only so many locations for the player cities and there is other forms of PvP like battlegrounds.

[drifter]

Ugh another patch. 

[Harkonis]

Evenon standard servers there will be PvP.  There are only so many locations for the player cities and there is other forms of PvP like battlegrounds.

I don't want to have to level up to start doing pvp, and I don't want to have to stop levelling up (minigames) to get my pvp either.

[USMC Kato]

Evenon standard servers there will be PvP.  There are only so many locations for the player cities and there is other forms of PvP like battlegrounds.

I don't want to have to level up to start doing pvp, and I don't want to have to stop levelling up (minigames) to get my pvp either.

Oh well, right now I can see myself starting on either side (Good pro's and con's on each server)  Damnit, now I can't decide!

[CeeKay]

Evenon standard servers there will be PvP.  There are only so many locations for the player cities and there is other forms of PvP like battlegrounds.

I don't want to have to level up to start doing pvp, and I don't want to have to stop levelling up (minigames) to get my pvp either.

Oh well, right now I can see myself starting on either side (Good pro's and con's on each server)  Damnit, now I can't decide!

give into the dark brown side.....

[Harkonis]

I'm back on the pvp side of the fence now.

We've got about 5 people, possibly 6 right now.  If we can get a core group of around 10 we should be fine to start with until we hook up with more in-game.

[Booner]

So, could anyone give some impressions of the different classes they've played?

[USMC Kato]

Since I am going through Age of Conan withdrawals, I have finally opened up my copy of LOTRO.  I can see myself playing this for a week until Conan goes live    I have a 10 day buddy key if anyone wants it (For LOTRO of course)

[Daehawk]

Wow! After that new patch today that stuck me on open test it works fine. Course it was in a 115something x 800 window. Im now going to try fullscreen and enter tortage...probaly freeze up and explode

[rittchard]

So, could anyone give some impressions of the different classes they've played?

I didn't play much (and only up to lvl 20 max so very limited) but here are some basic impressions:

Conqueror - played this the least, but reminded me a bit of Barbarian from Diablo 2.  Melee based with warcries.  I thought it was going to be Paladin-like with auras but I think it's more like Barb.  Seemed to carve through stuff in melee very well.

Priest of Mitra - I played this the most.  Reminiscent of a Cleric in DAOC.  Buffs, nukes and heals, melee to finish stuff off.  Fairly traditional MMORPG-style of play.  Healing was unimpressive.

Demonologist - nuker with a main pet.  Reminded me a bit of a mage/summoner in Shadowbane, or maybe one of the pet classes in DAOC.  The pet was unimpressive, the nukes seemed better.  Also much more of a traditional MMORPG class.

[rittchard]

Wow! After that new patch today that stuck me on open test it works fine. Course it was in a 115something x 800 window. Im now going to try fullscreen and enter tortage...probaly freeze up and explode

Sweet!  We'll keep our fingers crossed.  Any idea on what the patch changed that might have helped?  We had a couple people with older systems who also couldn't get the game to run, just curious...

[Daehawk]

No idea. I tried so much tweaking on it before i have no idea what got changed. I can now run it full screen too. But just now before the servers were coming down i started having a frame rate problem out on an island for a quest. it ran fine then after my 4th death or so it was dropping to 2 fps and then back up. Was very choppy. im hoping a reboot and also the servers getting a new patch in a min will help. ill see later after Jeopardy

[drifter]

Rundown on the classes I played.  They have the four primary classes with three subtypes one is usually the pure class.  

Priest : Priest of Mitra / Bear Shaman / Tempest of Set

Rogue :  Assassin / Barbarian / Ranger

Mage :  demonologist / necromancer / herald of Xotli

Soldier :  Guardian /  dark templar /  Conquerer

Healer:

Bear Shaman - medium armor, most weapons.  Can cast healing spells some are based on doing damage able to hold their own in melee

Rogues:

Assassin - pure rogue class (Dual) wields daggers and missile weapons light armor.  With talents you can learn poison "auras"; very high damage class stealth attacks

Barbarian - Use most melee weapons and missile weapons can dual wield various one handers.  Talents can turn you into a "berserker" or weapon specialist (path I chose).  Good damage dealer can wear armor heavier than the rogue can attack from stealth as well.

Mage:

Demonologist - can summon pets to fight as well as cast spells.  Can specialize via talents into the various types like ice etc.

Herald of Xotli - able to run in and melee and do good damage.  Able turn into a Demon and go to town; also has area of effect auras to do damage.


Some of these classes I didn't get beyond level 10 so there is a lot of information on the AoC site and some places have wiki's up to check.  I think there is a place with a talent calculator up already.

[skystride]

Ranger - Medium armor wearing scout with good ranged damage and moderate melee damage from dual wielding.  Able to stealth and lay down traps.  If you play in first person perspective, you actually have to aim the bow.  If you play in 3rd person, no need to aim but you lose some range.

Guardian - They can wear the heaviest armor (full plate).  Sword and board or Polearm specializations available.  Damage is probably lowest of the soldier classes but they have the best defence.  They also have good disruption like knockdowns.

Dark Templar - Sword and board Shadowknight type tank with life drains.  Reports say that they are very good at end game 1v1 PvP.

All 3 priests start out pretty weak and even have trouble doing their Destiny quests but post level 20 they start getting really good at healing.  I hear PoM is also the best CC class in the game although that is probably not a main role.

[Mikagami]

Hey Hark, is your group of PvP server players the same or a part of the group that Crux mentioned in the Wanderers recruitment post?
If they are separate groups it might be worthwhile to connect with him on that so we can roll on the same server to increase the ranks.

Also, this might be a little early into it, but have people started picking classes yet?
Just want to get a feel for what direction the PvP folks will each go in so that I can play the "fill the gap" class.

Downloaded the early access yesterday and ran the install while I was away at work.
I must agree, that was some snazzy fast client download as somebody mentioned earlier.
Patched it up this morning and it looks like it's ready to go for Saturday.

[Daehawk]

I have a lvl 8 or so Tempest of Set. I started out with a AoE lightning attack that would insta kill groups  at the beach area. Since then its not been as effective but its pretty fun to cast.

[Fuzzballx]

Hey Hark, is your group of PvP server players the same or a part of the group that Crux mentioned in the Wanderers recruitment post?
If they are separate groups it might be worthwhile to connect with him on that so we can roll on the same server to increase the ranks.

Also, this might be a little early into it, but have people started picking classes yet?
Just want to get a feel for what direction the PvP folks will each go in so that I can play the "fill the gap" class.

Downloaded the early access yesterday and ran the install while I was away at work.
I must agree, that was some snazzy fast client download as somebody mentioned earlier.
Patched it up this morning and it looks like it's ready to go for Saturday.

I'm not sure he was referring tot he same group, cause i'm part of Hark's crew...  If he isn't, then yea, we definitely need to hook up cause we were to critical mass for being viable yet i don't think...that would put us up there.

Yes, i know Hark's crew largely has classes already selected for start.  I've chosen lightning/electric track demonologist here.

[Harkonis]

Hey Hark, is your group of PvP server players the same or a part of the group that Crux mentioned in the Wanderers recruitment post?
If they are separate groups it might be worthwhile to connect with him on that so we can roll on the same server to increase the ranks.

Also, this might be a little early into it, but have people started picking classes yet?
Just want to get a feel for what direction the PvP folks will each go in so that I can play the "fill the gap" class.

Downloaded the early access yesterday and ran the install while I was away at work.
I must agree, that was some snazzy fast client download as somebody mentioned earlier.
Patched it up this morning and it looks like it's ready to go for Saturday.

It's a separate group right now, but I'm working on getting us together.  At the least on the same server and hopefully in the same guild.  That would give us around 20 people which is pretty close to the minimum for the guild town and activities.

Confirmed classes that I know of as mains are an assassin, guardian and demonologist.  Could use one of the healing classes and pretty much anything else will do.

[Ibby]

I confess my closet appreciation for all things Conan will probably result in myself giving AoC a shot.  Can't wait.

[Mikagami]

Cool.

I'm down with any class that makes a balanced group, and that Bear Shaman concept interests me very much, so I will gladly fill in a healer slot for the initial batch of people.
I'll have a read through the talent calculator while at work later, to see what that class can specialize in.

Yeah I figure, the more on a PvP server, the better.
Nothing quite like one person walking down a road, with 19 other's stealthed around him. 

[IkeVandergraaf]

I know nothing about this.  I don't want to read a 12 page thread.  Can someone summarize what I need to know?  Thank  you in advance.

[Harkonis]

RP-PvP players, plan on meeting on Asgard for the server.

I'll have a forum setup at www.harkonis.com for us and we can get together to put the guild up.

[Hamlet3145]

They released server names?

[EngineNo9]

Has anybody gotten an official email for the download of the early-start client?  I thought today was the day that they said downloads would begin? 

I'm assuming that my closed beta client won't be able to work with retail updates and servers. 

[USMC Kato]

Has anybody gotten an official email for the download of the early-start client?  I thought today was the day that they said downloads would begin? 

I'm assuming that my closed beta client won't be able to work with retail updates and servers. 

YEah EngineNo9, get rid of the beta client.  Check your funcom account and there should be a link to download the early start client.  Or you can go here:

http://funcom.cachefly.net/AoC-US-EarlyAccess.exe

[crumsteel]

Looks like if you haven't gotten the early access and still want it you are out of luck. all sold out.

http://forums.ageofconan.com/showthread.php?t=93019