Age of Conan - A 180 can exist

And the wife enters Hyboria...for 6 hours to prove it.



Last night (after a good talking to she gave me) we decided to sign her up. I told her that the game basically feels more alive and new.
I found a game key only (no box) online for only 26 bucks...a VERY nice sale.
We then re-enabled her account.

As she found out, trying something new helps offer a different perspective of a game.
She decided to buck the norm, and play a caster class.

Normally of the Rogue, Tank style of gaming, she has not strayed far from this path of class selection in the past.
Thanks to Guild Wars, she tried something new, and really enjoyed herself.

The same has happened in Age of Conan.

And 6 hours later we left this game world...

We also decided to try something.

Is the "Destiny" story line the reason to play AoC?
Most people applaud "Tortage", the tutorial section of AoC, up to level 20.
With a great storyline, a lot of people are enamored with this level of interaction...once.

We decided to buck this...
We have yet to play the storyline, and have found we still have a quest log full of things to do. We hit level 10 (yes, in 6 hours, and ONLY playing the quests, we find the level curve to be more normalized, and not so "rushed") and are ready to enter several of the "dungeons".
Quite a few sections exist for more hardcore playing.
The Coastal Caves has all sorts of little creatures to kill, and tunnels which could get you lost thanks to their maze like qualities.
The Underhalls with various quests, the White Sands and the Mausoleum, and there is also another dungeon I never stepped foot in, and then the Acheronian Ruins.

In so many words, a LOT to do just in Tortage alone. And we do not need to resort to the "Destiny" quests if we wish.

Supposedly if you level to 18, then there is a way to finally bypass Tortage.
So, the experiment is on.

We ran the game for hours with ZERO crashes and no OOM. The Gray Map issue has finally been fixed, and besides the various "sliding" character, we have yet to hit a "bug" to prevent us from going further.

I will attempt to see if the "Tortage" experience can be sampled in a different way, and report back on this.
With new management, and a commitment to discussion (not even 2 days after the announcement, the new Game Director has already gave a progress report, and I will have more on that soon), the game could basically change for the better.

I will myself, be pushing on the forums for a more PvE material, as Conan has a lot of potential in this arena.
But, I will save that for next time.

For now, the fact the game has made these changes, and seems to be running great, I see a lot of potential there.

Lets hope Funcom is not too late.