Funcom released some very interesting screenshots and concept artwork surrounding Rise of the Godslayer.

Set in the eastern empire of Khitai, the expansion promise a whole new world to explore, new gameplay features such as the faction system, and tons of new quests, items and enemies to combat.

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Funcom is proud to announce that the company has released another massive free update to ‘Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures’. The new update follows in a long line of free updates that have all introduced massive amounts of new content, new features and groundbreaking enhancements to the massively multiplayer online game that was awarded ‘Most Improved MMO of 2009’ by MMORPG.com earlier this year due in part to the many additional hours of content and gameplay that the development team has introduced to the game since launch.

“I am very pleased to say that the feedback we have received from our community on Update 6 so far is very good,” says Funcom Game Director and Executive Producer Craig Morrison. “The new guild renown feature is becoming very popular, and we are already seeing guilds compete against each other in order to score higher on the guild rankings. We really feel that this additional layer of gameplay will add a lot of depth to the game, especially in terms of creating an even better social environment on the servers.”

Update 6: ‘Return of Thoth Amon’ introduces the much anticipated guild renown feature, where any guild on any server can acquire renown points that unlock exclusive rewards. Anything that the members of that guild do – fighting monsters, fighting other players, crafting items – will generate renown for the guild. Renown points will unlock guild levels, and will for instance allow the guild to decorate their guild city with new buildings, statues and banners, or allow the guild’s members to gain access to exclusive item rewards. Players can view a list of the top ranking guilds on all servers from inside the game as well as through the new guild rankings website available on the community portal.

The update also introduces tons of new content, mainly the addition of Thoth-Amon’s Stronghold – a new dungeon featuring, for the first time ever, tier three raid content. Here players will be able to encounter Conan’s arch-nemesis Thoth-Amon and even fight alongside King Conan himself.

Launching in May 2008 ‘Age of Conan’ quickly became a smash hit in retail, shipping over 1.2 million copies around the world. In North America, the most prominent online gaming market in the west, ‘Age of Conan’ became the third best-selling PC title of the year in 2008. In the weeks after launch ‘Age of Conan’ simultaneously topped the charts in 17 countries, and the game received critical acclaim from gaming press across the globe. ‘Age of Conan’ is now available in English, French, German, Spanish, Russian and Polish localized versions, and is being prepared for launch in Korea as well.

My guild still misses me. They send me messages over the guild forums. I do miss the game, kind of.

I am going to wait and see how this new expansion plays out, but it seems to me all the content, all the depth of the game was focused on the upper levels. I would've like to see more lower-level stuff, like more than just Tortage for starting out.

Yeah, I know, my standards are high. I remember how "little" other, big gammes used to be...

The good folks over at mmorpg.com have some cool new videos showcasing some of the faction armour coming with the pending expansion.

Go check them out!

Link: http://www.ageofconan.com

Funcom announces a unique holiday offer for its massively multiplayer online game ‘Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures’. Anyone who downloads, registers, and starts playing the trial before January 1st 2010 will be able to enjoy all of level one to twenty – the entire Island of Tortage experience – without ever having to upgrade to a full account or pay a subscription fee. This unique Unlimited Free Trial campaign is only available until January 1st as a special holiday offer to anyone who wishes to experience the sexy and savage world of Conan.

Funcom has decided to repeat the successful re-evaluation campaign that went live earlier this year for the best-selling massively multiplayer online role-playing game ‘Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures'. Previously active players are encouraged to come back to the game and play free of charge for two entire weeks.

As an additional incentive for players to come back and play for free, they will also receive a double experience boost throughout their free period. Those who decide to continue playing beyond their free period can also look forward to fantastic rewards such as guaranteed access to the beta test for The Secret World, a free copy of the expansion and more.

Sounds like a good time to check out all the changes!

I have problems with the UI being clunky. I wish I could customize it more. Sure, there are good third-party add-ons, but they don't do enough. I want to be able to see my avatar and the action. Everything stacked at the bottom-center of the screen just blocks the view.

I have issues with the lack of depth. There's just not enough fun, trivial things to do while grinding away to eightieth level. Crafting, housing, repeatable reputation quests would all be nice additions to this game.

I still don't understand why there is no emote channel in chat, but some great animations. So I type /bow and my avatar bows, but if no one is paying attention, no one sees it, nor knows to whom I am bowing. It's clearer to type: ~bows to %t~, or use an add on.

But I am in a great guild with awesome leadership. They are fun and helpful, even if I don't join them in Ventrilo. One of these days I may have a reliable link to the internet and be able to use it. But even then, probably not, I think it would break my immersion.

I grouped with my kin leader last night, well, early this morning actually, when I should have been in bed. We ran around the roof tops in the Tarantia Commons, the newest zone, and killed everything. He apprenticed my sixty-sixth-level conqueror so she became seventy-nine. He took the time to teach me some of the new feats and skills from the newest update.

I used Resurgance, the conqueror's resurrection skill, on him a couple of times when he fell to the streets below. But there are still a lot of features I don't understand. I usually stick with the straight-forward damage and surviveability feats. His advice, though, was to ignore the general tree of feats and concentrate on the group buffs.

The update reworked the conqueror's disciplines and formations. They make a bit more sense now. And these can be used to click on an individual buff: prescision, or a group buff: planting a banner. Not sure how or when to use those yet.

We were joined by an even lower-level Priest, whom I apprenticed. This made him sixty-fifth level, so he drew aggro with every heal. I got to practice my taunting abilities. I have grouped so infrequently that this was a fun challenge.

When grouped, it works to share the mobs, not just have everyone concentrate on one, unless they are epic. I like this because it seems more immersive than everyone standing on top of each other to hit one target. I like the idea of trying to grab the guy who is trying to stab my leader in the back, or is going after the priest. The archers on those roof tops were especially challenging.

Overall, the combat in this game has a good flow to it. It feels right and doesn't get too bogged down in its own mechanics. If I didn't need to get some chores done, I'd be playing right now.

Not sure how it happened, but Leyek, my conqueror, made sixty-sixth level the other day. Most likely it was in the Thunder River, but I don't specifically remember. She's made most of her experience gathering resources in the Lachesh Plains around her guild's village. Gathering is a fun, mindless activity.

Well, her experience bar was utterly empty now. I wanted something more involved, and I needed to clear some space in Leyek's quest journal, even after deleting many of those Atzel's Approach Quests that were frustrating me. So I ventured back to Tarantia's Noble District to finish those villa quests.

I had three villa quests, one was grey (easy), one was green (fair), and the last was yellow (possibly impossible). I got lost and took Leyek into the villa containing the grey quest. Leyek still received decent experience for completing it. And the new villa quests that she accepted are yellow to her, too.

Also, because villas are instanced, the mobs there are her level. So it's decent kill experience and bonus too. She ended up filling almost four bubbles on her experience bar. Only sixteen more to go.