Age of Conan

You remember how Fable (PC, XBOX) was supposed to be this really great open world kind of like Elder's Scroll Morrowind, but when it came out there was pretty much only ONE path you could take the entire time with the rest of the area being fenced off or bordered off? (with the exception of the1 or 2 pathways that vined out from certain towns, but same concept nonetheless).

But before you answer, if you can that is.  I am mainly referring to levels PAST LEVEL 20.  Ie) >lvl 20 (and out of Tortage or w/e the newb area is called, if that helps clarify).  I don't care about linearity prior to level 20 or prior to the main world, if you will. 

I am wondering if AOC is like that, in the sense that when you leave town you only have a couple of pathways to choose and you pretty much just follow the pathways to advance to next level on a constant basis?  Now that I think about it, WOW kind of did what I'm talking about in a way, but not significantly I guess...

In contrast....(in my mind)

NON-Linearity- think SWG (completely open-ended and no path whatsoever) or Elder's Scroll Morrowind

Linearity- think Fable or WOW I guess to a much smaller extent than Fable, but I suppose still somewhat viable enough for comparison, at least to me.  (maybe the reason I'm even considering WOW in that category is because of the fact that you leveled up so fast that you were constantly traversing to new towns and areas via the dirt road)

I understand that eventually you are probably going to have to end up following some path somewhere, yes.  But I just want to know to what extent is this/how much freedom do we have in a sense?

Thanks!  I hope this wasn't answered before because I couldn't find it. 

I remember seeing videos of Khemi and other high level places that were very open looking as far as exploration. Also the player city areas looked very expansive. The 20+ AoC areas will probably be very similar to LOTRO/WoW with a bit more land to explore, but with it's share of linear paths through mountains and things like that.

I think AoC is very comparable to Lotr or EQ2.  For instancing and linearity the general world feels a lot like EQ2 to me.  The destiny quest in the first 20 levels feels a lot like Lotr to me, even upto the eventual battle in the city while it burns.

The destiny quest once you leave the city appears to be on hold till you are lvl 30 so I am not able to tell yet how it feels.

All  instanced areas that are dungeon like are available in two modes, solo mode and group mode.  This is kinda nice as it gives groups a great alternative for a little more challenge.

So far it does seem linear in that you have a set path through the content.  go the wrong way and you will encounter lvl 40 mobs and die fast...  It definitely is not like say a vanguard where you can go pretty much anywhere.