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*NEW* AoC Developer Interview - Have A Read!
AmazingAvery
Age of Conan AdvocateMember UncommonPosts: 7,188
This Content can be viewed from its original destination here at new and very cool website AoC Ding!:
http://aoc.mmoding.com/exclusive-age-conan-interview-jason-stone
Game Designer Jason Stone took some time out of his busy schedule to answer some questions on Funcom's upcoming MMORPG, Age of Conan.
What is it about the Conan franchise that made you want to get involved, and why does Conan lend itself so well to the world of MMORPGs?
Conan is an incredibly rich world with more than 70 years of lore so it’s an amazing world to make an MMO of. The depth of it all, the cultures, the magic, the lush environment, the sense of danger, the Conan license holds so much. One of the coolest things about Age of Conan is getting to be one of the driving forces in bringing the license back in a big way. Hyboria is simply massive, and it borrows from so many cultures and time periods you really get a global feel. For an MMO of course this is great because it gives us oodles of additional content we can continue to add to the game.
How much research and time have you spent researching Conan? What have you studied for that matter and what are you looking for when seeing those materials?
This is a big question in a way. Almost all of us on the design team have read all of the Howard writings and a great deal of the Pastiche books and also comics. But we have also played a lot of other games, using them to inspire us for the combat system. Games like Dynasty Warriors, Soul Calibur, Ninja Gaiden, Mount and Blade, Severance etc.
Say you picked one archetype, but a few levels later you found you don't like that character and want to try another one, or even for the classes in the same way. Will players be able to change their classes if they don't like what they've picked, or will they need to re-roll and start over to make this new character?
You cannot change archetype once you have chosen, but part of the reason we give you the choices a little bit at a time so to help you discover what it is you want to be. Getting to archetype level (you choose it at 5) and even class level (choose it at 20) should be easy enough for even a casual player to not feel stuck and unable to start again.
Though a more fantasy setting, there are supposed to be some sci-fi elements with aliens. How will aliens play into the game? Are they going to be involved in the story? An enemy we'll fight? Laser weapons, space ships and space stations, any of that?
I would say more than Sci-fi the alien aspect comes from Howard’s friendship with Lovecraft and ties to the story of Atlantis. No pew pew laser guns, space ships etc, it’s all much more like ancient relics of what might have been from a long extinct advanced people.
It's been said that player skill will win out over gear in Age of Conan. What changes to the fundamental MMORPG philosophy has allowed for this? I mean, can we really expect loincloth wearing noobs with a low level sword being able to kill someone who is up in the levels with the most top-notch gear and weapons?
Of course not, but the combat system is designed in an easy to learn, hard to master method of layers. A player who makes good use of all his tools will be able to noticeably outperform even a reasonably competent player, let alone someone completely inexperienced.
It would seem in the game that players with ranged weapons would have an automatic advantage against those with only melee weapons. What has been done to ensure that everyone has a fighting chance against each other?>
Generally melee classes tend to have more stamina which means they will be able to sprint farther, and you can attack while on the run, but cannot perform actual combo’s while running. Kiting is something we are very aware of and are constantly tweaking it so that range isn’t steamrolled, but melee has a chance to catch up. Having running away be the best tactic in PvP is extremely boring and not what we want in Conan.
A lot of people are really wanting to know the requirement specs Age of Conan is going to have, so they can make sure whether their computer is up to par or they need to upgrade. Can you tell us the specifics yet or an inkling of what they might be leaning towards?
I can tell you the same thing we usually say which is to hint towards another open world based single-player 3d role-playing game released last year (Oblivion). We know that sold really well, and we tried to make sure we were in that spec range. This means that most gamers out there should be able to have a great experience with Conan. I personally have run it on a number of configurations and would say I prefer to have 2 gigs of ram and a more than 256 meg GFX card.
How is PvP going to be handled in regards to character levels? I know in some cases people are going to want to test themselves and putting their lower level character against someone higher than them, but on the other hand some players aren't going to want to be killed off just because they stumbled across the wrong player by accident.
If you play on our normal servers PvP is always by choice. In this way we prevent the player from getting into a situation he/she is not anticipating. In addition to character levels you also have PvP levels and these increase stats additively (It’s not a 1to1 relationship however) and in the mini-game PvP people who are below the max level of their tier (for example 30 in 20-30) get “bumped” for the duration of the mini game to level 28 so they are competitive.
How long are you finding it is taking players to ding off an individual level and the time frame it is usually taking to reach the archetype, class, and prestige choice levels?
This is constantly in flux but it moves pretty quickly with quest exp being added in as well. I haven’t felt one class was slower than another. We naturally have calculations on expected playing time, and for instance to reach level 40 we have calculated around 47 hours of effective gametime. This does not include social aspects, just “hardcore” leveling, so most gamers would use a lot more than that. And how long it takes to get to level 80? You will soon know?
Are there any plans for a Collector's Edition of the game yet, and if so have there been any talks about what it might include special?
There have been talks, and we will get back on this in the not too distant future, but as to the contents of the Collector’s Edition Mums the word for now (Bamse Mums would be even better!).
How did you decide on the play style and what classes you were going to include in the game, and why are there four classes for both the Priest and Mage archetype, but only three for the Soldier and Rogue?
That’s just mainly a side effect of the class merges we did where we pulled classes together to give them more depth. It seemed silly to just add another class or keep one that we didn’t think would be as fun standalone just to keep the numbers the same. How we decided is really something to broad to answer, we just thought about what we thought defined them and then started working out what would make them feel cool and unique.
Is there an archetype and/or class you find most of the people who have played the game so far flocking to more, and what would you chalk up to that reason?
It changes every-time we add something new, and if we have done our job right every class will offer something unique and exciting. Then it becomes a matter of what you prefer.
How are mounts going to be treated in the game? Will players have to be a certain level to attain mounts? How much money will players have to have saved up? And how will they be handled so when you need them they don't just magically pop on the screen?
Right now you spawn them via your inventory, but we have discussed having them run in from off screen as if called. You will have to be level 40 to get a mount, and it will be affordable. We have various mounts, and I think everyone will be blown away by the quality on them.
Is there a limit to how many characters players can have at one time or at least on one server?
The current plan is to allow for eight characters.
Are the plans known yet for subscription pricing? If not, is there at least an idea about what to expect?
We are going to have a standard market pricing plan.
What's been some of the most difficult development challenges bringing Age of Conan to life?
Pulling all the small pieces together, it is hard to make everything work when you have so many different things to do.
How will death be handled in the game in both PvP and normal, in-game scenarios? Will players lose experience or loot? After they die where will they next appear – where they died or start back at some other checkpoint?
There are resurrection locations in different areas and you will choose. There will never be experience loss for death. PvP looting is still in discussion as this really needs to be tight if we are to have it in. We do have bloodmoney as already announced.
What can you tell us about the summoning classes of the game and how that will work? What type of summons will players be able to perform and how long will they last (time based or HP loss based)?
Pets are HP based. Summoners get pet points and can summon different types of pets. My favorite pet class right now is the necromancer and his undead horde of minions.
What is the collision detection of Age of Conan going to be like? Will players be walking through other players in cities and such, having to walk around them, etc.? And how will collision detection play in combat too?
Collision is always there in combat both friendly and hostile, but in hubs we will be a bit more lenient on friendly collision letting players squish past.
Thank you so much Jason. It sounds fantastic!
Enjoy! 
Remember its E3 next month!
Comments
Of course not, but the combat system is designed in an easy to learn, hard to master method of layers. A player who makes good use of all his tools will be able to noticeably outperform even a reasonably competent player, let alone someone completely inexperienced.
That sounds great. I really hope there are many layers to learn so that you really can become excellent, not just average with good gear..
Only ~2 days to level 40... A week (constant "hardcore levling") to level 80? I would guess you have some players at level 80 within 2 weeks at least..
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Age of Conan Wiki
Member of The Axemen
- What archetype will you play?
Just because people think - Holy Moly - 80 levels its going to be another grind forever game - its not like that - from my interpretation.
They just want to make it accessible to all players without having the headache. He is on about Hardcore leveling there too, the thing is ppl should be more concerned how your character is doing that others in the game. There are always going to be those who race thru, I for one will enjoy every moment spent at a normal speed, progressing!
Leveling in PvE and Crafting is mainly done through questing, and there are tons of quests!
Fast leveling just means I can try more classes out without getting tired of the game
edit: OOoooo! This is fantastic if its true. Makes their combat system sound like it will work better.
What is the collision detection of Age of Conan going to be like? Will players be walking through other players in cities and such, having to walk around them, etc.? And how will collision detection play in combat too?
Collision is always there in combat both friendly and hostile, but in hubs we will be a bit more lenient on friendly collision letting players squish past.
I'm probably not going to hardcore grind up to level 80, but I won't be running around RPing, sitting in inns and talking to people etc either. I've read Robert E. Howard's Conan stories, and if they keep close to his writings I think it'll be fun to take a bit more time to "enjoy" the game instead of leveling as fast as possible. Ofcourse, the goal is to reach level 80 (if they have enough high-end content).
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Age of Conan Wiki
Member of The Axemen
- What archetype will you play?
Im personally looking forward to getting the 20 PvP levels up and the crafting ones too
Less grind is good, its another area where they have taken into consideration not only their own experience from gaming but also the communities.
' If you play on our normal servers PvP is always by choice."
Does that mean you chose to enter the pvp zone(border kingdoms) or Consensual PvP via a flag.Quit confusing us jason
Of all that is written, I love only what a person has written with his own blood. -Nietzsche
I miss DAoC
When you enter a PvP zone, you choose to take part in the PvP.
Best MMO experiences : EQ(PvE), DAoC(PvP), WoW(total package) LOTRO (worldfeel) GW2 (Artstyle and animations and worlddesign) SWTOR (Story immersion) TSW (story) ESO (character advancement)
Best MMO experiences : EQ(PvE), DAoC(PvP), WoW(total package) LOTRO (worldfeel) GW2 (Artstyle and animations and worlddesign) SWTOR (Story immersion) TSW (story) ESO (character advancement)
Seeing as how it was designed on the premise that the core player would be playing 10-12 hours a week, I'm guessing your wish wont be granted at all. So if leveling speed is that big an issue for you, might be time to rethink how much it matters to you.
It depends on how you play. I log in about 20 - 30 + hours a week into LoTRO and I have a 39 Minstrel, a 22 Lore Master, 15 hunter and 15 Burglar. I don' craft except gather hides and ore. I spend a lot of time exploring and actually read ever word of the quests not just what I have to kill / gather/ etc. I help guildies, chat and explore doing my leveling where, how, and at the speed I feel like . In DAoC I could get a Hib to 50 in about a month, most of that time was spent grinding 40 - 50. In EQ1 when froglocs were first introduced there was a lvl 50 in less than 48 hours ~shrug~ . Leveling speed is all relative to your play style in other words.
In LoTRO I just spent 2 weeks at lvl 32 and 33 because I was just messing around playing alts and helping guild mates out on quests I had already done , then went from 33 to 39 in less than a week. Play the game, don't let the game play you.
As far as the OP I like a lot of what the man had to say and am looking frorward to seeing how al this plays out in practice. After teh Vanguard mess I doubt if Funcom is going to make a grindy game like old school EQ and DAoC, they would be foolish to do so.
I miss DAoC
There are quite a few ex-vanguard guilds out there up in the Guild Hall on the official forums.
I too can hardly wait to see how things pan out.
Yay, no more kiting.