Funcom Announces Age of Conan Expansion

Andy Chalk

One Flag, One Fleet, One Cat
Nov 12, 2002
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Funcom Announces Age of Conan Expansion


Funcom has taken the wraps off Rise of the Godslayer, the first expansion to the Hyborian MMOG Age of Conan [http://www.ageofconan.com].

Rise of the Godslayer will take players into the Empire of Khitai, a land inspired by eastern Asia where "countless hours of more brutal, sexy and savage adventure awaits." Along with a brand-new setting and storyline, the expansion will also introduce factional gameplay and an alternate advancement system.

The Empire of Khitai is being torn apart by warring factions in a conflict set in motion years ago by a young Conan when he killed the Elephant God in the Robert E. Howard classic The Tower of the Elephant [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tower_of_the_Elephant]. Players can join these factions, earning rewards as they advance through the ranks with either their existing characters or one of the Khitan, a new race available in the expansion.

"Since the turn of the year the team has been working hard on bringing the Empire of Khitai to life," said Executive Producer Craig Morrison. "Our focus now is on expanding on the strengths of the game by providing massive new regions of the world to explore, and the Empire of Khitai offers a whole new perspective on the Conan lore and universe. Age of Conan has evolved leaps and bounds since its launch last year, and we are making sure to build on the existing qualities and expand them further with the brand new content and gameplay in Rise of the Godslayer."

The expansion will include two new mounts, the Tiger and the Wolf, but there will be no new classes, nor, strangely enough, will the level cap be raised. Instead, players will have to master the new "alternate advancement abilities," feats and combos that open up new abilities that can then be trained and perfected over time. No release date has been set.


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Anachronism

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Apr 9, 2009
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Malygris said:
Age of Conan has evolved leaps and bounds since its launch last year
Really? I thought it had been crashing and burning. Honestly, I'm surprised anyone's still playing it. I thought it had all but died a while ago.

I don't know what their plan is, but I can only assume that they're hoping the expansion pack will be enough to lure a lot of their old players back. Whether it will work or not is debatable, frankly; as we all know, the game didn't exactly do well at launch, and has been struggling to keep going ever since. To my knowledge, at least; I suppose it might have started doing better recently.

It'll be interesting to see if enough people are still playing AoC for this expansion to be worthwhile. I suppose the upcoming remake of Conan the Barbarian could help give it publicity, but the odds aren't great, in my opinion.
 

Cowabungaa

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Anachronism said:
Malygris said:
Age of Conan has evolved leaps and bounds since its launch last year
Really? I thought it had been crashing and burning. Honestly, I'm surprised anyone's still playing it. I thought it had all but died a while ago.
O no, it's true, AoC has improved a lót. I tried it a short while ago, and had a very good time in Hybrodia. There still is a dip after Tortage, but it's nowhere near as deep as before. It's an MMO worth playing now, after that abomination of a launch.
 

CymTyr

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I did the free reactivation thing for my account and wasn't swayed to resub. I do not predict huge success for this expansion unless a LOT of people are/have coming/come back to the game.
 

Aanorith

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Mar 17, 2009
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Ill prolly give the expansion a try. I played AoC for 9 months and when I quit the game was still rather unstable. They sould have a ninja class for the asian race o.o
 

Rigs83

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Feb 10, 2009
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Oh goody maybe Yahtzee can bring back Thinderella The Necromantic Naturist.
[video=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/embed/138]http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/embed/138[/video]
Can't figure out how to get the video to work though.
 

hansari

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Anachronism said:
Malygris said:
Age of Conan has evolved leaps and bounds since its launch last year
Really? I thought it had been crashing and burning. Honestly, I'm surprised anyone's still playing it. I thought it had all but died a while ago.
Thats what everyone was saying...

http://www.shacknews.com/onearticle.x/57362

Some websites say its doing better, but I think its funny that no definitive number of subscribers have been given.
 

PieMaker

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Oct 7, 2008
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Anachronism said:
Malygris said:
Age of Conan has evolved leaps and bounds since its launch last year
Really? I thought it had been crashing and burning. Honestly, I'm surprised anyone's still playing it. I thought it had all but died a while ago.

I don't know what their plan is, but I can only assume that they're hoping the expansion pack will be enough to lure a lot of their old players back. Whether it will work or not is debatable, frankly; as we all know, the game didn't exactly do well at launch, and has been struggling to keep going ever since. To my knowledge, at least; I suppose it might have started doing better recently.

It'll be interesting to see if enough people are still playing AoC for this expansion to be worthwhile. I suppose the upcoming remake of Conan the Barbarian could help give it publicity, but the odds aren't great, in my opinion.
It's alive, i can tell you that. the developers are trying hard to appease their public, and it's more fun than ever was. Hopefully this expansion will bring more colour to the game.
 

Ushario

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Its really a shame, if the game wasn't a completely instanced world then I might be interested in returning. I want the Massive part in my MMO and Age of Conan failed to deliver.

Honestly on that kind of scope I would have preferred it to be a single player game more like fable - an action RPG. Age of Conan was epic but no where near Massive.
 

AmrasCalmacil

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Jul 19, 2008
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Rigs83 said:
Oh goody maybe Yahtzee can bring back Thinderella The Necromantic Naturist.
[video=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/embed/138]http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/embed/138[/video]
Can't figure out how to get the video to work though.
Is this going to end up like Emanuelle?
 

Rigs83

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Feb 10, 2009
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AmrasCalmacil said:
Rigs83 said:
Oh goody maybe Yahtzee can bring back Thinderella The Necromantic Naturist.
[video=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/embed/138]http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/embed/138[/video]
Can't figure out how to get the video to work though.
AmrasCalmacil said:
Is this going to end up like Emanuelle?
Had to google that one. I don't watch too many French films but I'll Netflix it.
 

AmrasCalmacil

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Jul 19, 2008
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Rigs83 said:
AmrasCalmacil said:
Rigs83 said:
Oh goody maybe Yahtzee can bring back Thinderella The Necromantic Naturist.
[video=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/embed/138]http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/embed/138[/video]
Can't figure out how to get the video to work though.
AmrasCalmacil said:
Is this going to end up like Emanuelle?
Had to google that one. I don't watch too many French films but I'll Netflix it.
I saved myself the trouble and wikied it after watching a Carry On film based on it.
It's softcore, as far as I know.