Age of Conan

I'm not in beta, launch is iminent and still not much about the core of the game, I can't purchase AoC and most should not  unless we know what is hiden.  ( remember you can't return this game) I'm not expecting everything from a launch and I've been in a lot of betas to know better. ...BUT how about some basic questions answered.

I'm SURE the number one question most people would like to know is how much does the game opens up after the starting area. Every morning I get up and search here for this answer and nothing , and what about load times is it more or less after 20 ? 

In summery :

Do you load far less after 20 ?

Zone size, and freedom after 20 ?

I'm sure EVERYONE would like to know, no GUESSING, and not what the devs tell us !!!

TBH i did not get to explore any more than 1 city because everytime i stepped into the real world i had a bunch of Gankers riding my ass lol so wish i could help yaand im not sure too many can the city's were quite a size so once you were loaded into it  there was no more loading unless you wanted to leave oh except the inns they were zoned.

I read on the official forums from a few guys who team up, ganked there way throu and went 2-3 zones away to explore.

I dont remember their words exactely, but it was in a summary bigger and wider zones out in the snowareas where they went (or sumthing like that).

He also spoke of how the first zones where perfect for the beta event with how "tin" they where forcing ppl  into fights naturally.

Anyways, you can take my words for what you want, this is my impression of how other zones are gonna look like. I usually want the open worlds to comming from Lineage2 and feel its alittle closed of. But the graphics are worth it for me.

Thanks for the reply charlizd and fagerercraft.

With 167 views and only 2 replies in less than 2 hours, this showes us that people are interested in what the core of the game is like, but still not much is released "whats up with that ". I guess when I asked people not to guess or no quotes from the devs there is just not a lot about zones out their.

Just remember NO RETURNS, and THE HART OF THE GAME STARTS AFTER 20 !!!

Smart Funcom, very smart !

my live after the 20 ? mass gaming ! lol

i was sure this topic was about that hehe

Life after 20. 

I witnessed the General Beta.  (/COUGH via my wife).  The first "13" levels were very, how do i say this, Oblivion/Diablo 2 like.  The quests were very entertaining (funny) and the story was great!  I was worried, however, about how the land was so blocked and linear.  This changes post 20 though.  I won;t go in to great deatail becuase of NDA (not sure if it really counts for observers or not) but after 20 the game is VERY MMOish, so if you are worried about the solo/light mmo first 20 levels, then dont. 

=)

Originally posted by page

Thanks for the reply charlizd and fagerercraft.

With 167 views and only 2 replies in less than 2 hours, this showes us that people are interested in what the core of the game is like, but still not much is released "whats up with that ". I guess when I asked people not to guess or no quotes from the devs there is just not a lot about zones out their.

Just remember NO RETURNS, and THE HART OF THE GAME STARTS AFTER 20 !!!

Smart Funcom, very smart !

I think it may mean that no one except the people in the closed beta really know and they are obviously still under NDA and cannot talk about it.

Maybe you can try to dig up some answers to your questions here: community.ageofconan.com/wsp/conan/frontend.cgi

Mordria is right.  I am in closed beta, and for the next couple days can't say a thing past level 13.  I will say however.... Don't be so skeptical, its not accurate in this case.

As for answering the question in your header...

Life after twenty is great!  I recently hit 40.  Things are so open as to what choices I have.  And Im not nearly bound by money limitations as I was earlier on.  I can go where I want, with very few boundaries in the world.

I was struggling with the gankers and personal video card issue so I only made it to level 22 (well, 22.5 just so I can feel a bit better, lol) and I didn't find it overly constricting at all.

I picked the Conall's Valley/Cimmerian run and it was..well a valley. Sure it funneled you down a ways but I felt it was almost in keeping with the game mechanics of introducing you to the area. There were quests in town at least a couple of which lead you outside. Then a couple of quests outside the gate got you heading down the valley.
Ooooo a Wolf..KILL it! (or more correctly a badger and a moose for me). Then you get to see some Yeti critters up on the rocks..neato...KILL!

That  sort of lead you to a cliff in the middle of the valley and once you looked over..damn.. a TOWN..(not really..just a Cimmerian village that was under seige and semi-burned out). Quite a few quests there. Some had you running around in the village so you got a look at the graphics, some introduced you to other NPCs where you happily ran by some vendors (YAY---SUPPLIES) and some push you further into the valley.

I have no idea how long the valley was but I had quests that I am reasonably sure would have seen me to level 24 or close enough without ever seeing the end of the valley.

I thought about 80% (maybe 70%) of leveling could be down with quests and that the other 20-30% could be gotten with incidental killing.
After the Cimmerian village, there we're paths leading up the cliff faces so if the 'instance' wasn't quite 'open' it certainly belled out more than the initial funnel affect.

I liked it. Yum Yum Gimmee some!

Originally posted by Mordria

 

Originally posted by page

Thanks for the reply charlizd and fagerercraft.

With 167 views and only 2 replies in less than 2 hours, this showes us that people are interested in what the core of the game is like, but still not much is released "whats up with that ". I guess when I asked people not to guess or no quotes from the devs there is just not a lot about zones out their.

Just remember NO RETURNS, and THE HART OF THE GAME STARTS AFTER 20 !!!

Smart Funcom, very smart !

 

I think it may mean that no one except the people in the closed beta really know and they are obviously still under NDA and cannot talk about it.

 

Exactly. This info will come out before release. Just hang in there.