Age of Conan Q&A #1

Loads of information on Age of Conan this weekend!  This is a compiled list of the latest and first Community Q&A.  There’s loads of information on battlekeeps, pvp, and gameplay mechanics, armor, and more.  The more I hear about AoC the more I am interested in following the game.

I hope you’ve all had a great Labor Day Weekend (in the U.S.) and great weekend overall!
Friday update: Community Q&A #1

– Aug 31, 2007
At the beginning of August, we took questions from our community, and today, we bring answers.

Due to the quantity of submitted questions, and some have been answered, but may appear in a later installment. Please keep in mind the answers to these questions may changed based on feedback from our beta testers.

Note that all of this is subject to change – Age of Conan is still in development!

Bloodz: How many battlekeeps will be available in the Border Kingdoms?

Based on our current estimates for server population, there will be a maximum of three Battlekeeps per region, with a total of nine possible on each server.

Entaro: Are there any differences in consequence that results from a PvE death versus a PvP death?

When you die in PvE, you receive a debuff that lowers attack and defense rating. When you die in PvP, you do not get this debuff. However, in PvP, there is of course the chance you may have lost some coin, or, who knows, maybe even an item, but looting is not something we have fully addressed at this time.

Borluc: Will we be able to strategically control resources in PvP areas?

There are many types of objectives in the Border Kingdoms in addition to the Battlekeeps. Controlling these strategic resources will benefit those who hold them and give them some advantages. So, in short, yes.

Strone-Decessus: In melee combat, will there be positional and reactionary styles/combos? (I.e.: A different set of combos is opened up if you are to the side of your opponent, or behind him/her. A different set of combos is opened up if you parry, or block, or dodge. These different combos could then have increased dps and/or utility depending on complexity.)

Satisfying positional requirements does not open new combo lines, but does add additional enhancing effects to existing combos depending on the class. When you successfully block or dodge an opponent, you can get a counterattack option that will briefly give you the opportunity to do a rare and more powerful unique combo. You can also specialize your character to try to increase the chances of this happening.

SoulAssassin: How will dual wield work with the combat system (Q,1,2,3,E) Will both weapons swing one way, will there be two attack systems or will you attack main hand.

A long time ago, we made the decision to make dual wielding a weapon set and include it in all animations rather than just have it be a proc. The left attacks use only the left handed sword, the right only the right handed sword, the middle uses both, and all the combos use both. The damage calculations then take into account the added damage potential of the second weapon.

Nunkuruji: Will wearing heavier armor or using a shield decrease your walking/run speed, or your speed in combat, compared to lighter armors?

No, this would in general be terribly unbalancing if the heavier classes were slowed constantly. These classes have trained all their lives in this armor, it’s not just like they threw it on a whim, and it makes sense that they know how to use it. Obviously, some lighter armored classes are a bit more nimble and likely to dodge a blow or use an evasive maneuver, but they are not faster in base movement speed.

Delta Odaeus: Can everyone use all weapon types? I know that classes have their weapon types listed in their profiles (such as Druid’s 1HB, 1HE, and Polearm), but does that mean that they can use ONLY those weapons? Or does it mean they only have unlockable Feats for those weapons?

Many classes can also equip and use other weapon types. However. They cannot use as high a tier of alternate weapons, and they cannot use their class combos while wielding an alternate weapon.

Xand: What is the general balance between offense and defense for the healing classes? Will they be able to adequately solo and hold their own in pvp if there is no one around to heal?

All of the healing classes have been designed to have respectable DPS and can solo. The balance varies slightly class to class, but no healing class is way better at healing and way worse at doing damage, we absolutely did not want to create a healbot class.

Isvind: Will there be factions available for us to earn reputation with (in relation to the city gang wars you have been talking about and/or other parts of the game)?

No, we did away with factions early in the game, as we unanimously agreed that faction grinding was never fun and was a cheap mechanic for a time sink.

Drevnar: How exactly will PvE levels affect PvP?

PvE and PvP levels are basically additive although not in a 1 for 1 ratio. This means when fighting a monster your PvE level is only what matters when fighting a player it is your PvE plus your PvP level that is taken into account vs their PvE level plus their PvP level.