06.22.08
Age of Conan
Nine Dragons is a MMO from Japan, played and downloadable for free. Something I’ve had my eye on since it was first announced (it was hyped, and it apparently is playable in both China and Korea too). So here I am downloading for the past half hour (only 10%) to see if I’d get to have a go on it. I’ve had troubles from Japan-based MMOs before, so I’ll have to see how things go. Here’s one of the PV trailers available on YouTube:
The first impression that Age of Conan gives is pretty positive. For the last week, any other games I’ve been playing has been put on hold, and I’ve spent an inordinate amount of time in the world where Conan’s king.
Like any MMO, choose and customize your character, but the starting place up until you’re about level 20 is in the Barachan isles, more specifically around the town of Tortage. You were shipwrecked, and have no idea of who you were… so the story goes that by playing, you find out more about yourself. During the time spent around Tortage, you can set yourself to play Night (single player only) or Day (multi-player). Level 20 is when you can get yourself a gathering skill, level 40 when you can learn to make things. Just bear in mind though that you will have to travel quite a ways in some areas to get to where the professional trainers are.
The interface is pretty easy to get used to, especially if you’ve been playing other MMOs like LOTROnline or WoW. Mobs will give up on you if you zone out or you run far enough away, WASD are the directional keys… But there are a few differences that make this game refreshing:
1) Climbing – surprising that none of the MMOs I’ve come across so far has had this feature. But here it is. You can climb vines, walls, ladders… as long as your skill in climbing matches the skill in whatever you’re trying to climb.
2) Succubus – we’ve said this all along, and I’m so glad someone’s noticed. Warlocks in WoW can summon a succubus, but it always got to us that whether your character was male or female, the resulting minion was always female. In AOC, if you have a female character, your minion is male! And vice versa.
3) Traders – they are both a bank and auction house. Yes, you can store items in there, but should you wish to sell things, right click and set your price. The price can be changed at any time without additional cost. (Lowest currency is Tin, then Copper, Silver, Gold.)
4) Cooldowns – Path of Asura (HearthStone function) has half an hour, potions have 60secs. Either way, half the time of WoW items, which helps a lot!
5) PVP – Guilds can build their own town, their own buildings etc., and these can give rise to PVP action. Pretty cool idea.
6) Quest – whichever quests you choose, you will always know where to go. Follow the arrows and you can’t go wrong.
7) Instances – you can choose Normal or Epic mode. Either way, you do not need to party up before entering, and most missions can be done on your own.
No doubt I’ll be playing this MMO for a while to come.