Game Is Lyf

There was a lot of excitement when Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures first came out. It was a somewhat-gritty, adult-oriented MMO set in an established universe. The visuals were sharp, the combat system was different, and there were mammaries. The first part of the game was highly polished, with solid voice acting, plenty of quests and a relatively gentle learning curve. Then, as people progressed to the later zones, the content petered out and there was little for players to do. This resulted in players unsubscribing by the thousands, closures of over half the game's servers and millions of dollars in losses for Funcom. Yet the game survived, and Funcom retained enough staff to produce regular content patches as well as Age of Conan's first expansion, Age of Conan: Rise of the Godslayer.

Rise of the Godslayer, being an expansion, brings a slew of new features to the fold. The brand new continent of Khitai, accessible from a caravan master in Stygia, contains five zones. The first, Gateway to Khitai, is designed for level 20 to 40 players, while the rest are designed for players who have reached the level cap of 80, and tuned to accommodate for players with above-average gear. Along with the new areas come additional dungeons, hundreds of quests, and ten factions to ally with or fight against. You can make a new Khitan character, although the only functional difference between a Khitan and any other is the selection of classes you have available. There are no new classes or professions and no change to the level cap, but there is a new alternate advancement system.



Alternate advancement (or AA), which works separately from the feats, gives you points from pretty much anything you do and puts them into its own pool. After you accumulate one million points, either from player-versus-player (PvP) or questing and player-versus-environment (PvE) you gain four AA points to spend on perks. Points awarded for PvP are different from points awarded for PvE and can be spent on perks that improve your character in their respective area. Both PvE and PvP take the same number of points to advance, so if you're on a PvE server then PvP is extremely sparse and you'll either have to use 'mastery' points (one of the four points awarded can be used for either PvP or PvE) or the second method of AA advancement, time. After reaching level 80, players can select any perk and, for each point it costs, it will take 18 hours to train, regardless of whether or not you're playing, a la EVE Online. The system, although slow to get anything out of initially, is simple and easy to use, and earning perks even while you're not playing is a nice addition. The PvP and PvE point distinction works well in theory but in practice somewhat limits the options of players on PvE servers.

Perks range in usefulness. Some have decent passive benefits while others will depend on your group makeup and situation. Many give you almost unnoticeable benefits at lower ranks, but as ranks increase (which can take many hours) you can actually perceive a difference. Being able to choose only 2 perks max from each of the three tiers makes the system quite interesting, and means that even with a cookie-cutter spec on your character, your perks could set you apart from another. Perks were certainly the driving force for me while playing, and as my perk bar slowly filled, I found myself trying to track down more quests to speed the process up. All the while, another perk was slowly ticking away with the time system.



The difficulty level in Khitai is a noticeably higher than in the old country. Unless you're very well geared, you're probably going to need a few perks under your belt before you will be able to tackle Paikang, the 'final' and prettiest open-world zone of Rise of the Godslayer. That's not to say that the rest of the zones aren't pretty. Each of the new areas is much larger than any previous open-world zone in the game, and they are filled with quest-targets. It is rare to find an enemy that isn't somehow linked to a quest somewhere.

Most of the quests are also designed to be completed in bunches. One might have you destroy bodies in a river, while another will have you slay many enemies in the same area. If you're diligent about picking up quests, regardless of where you are or what you are doing, chances are you're completing one of them. This makes it feel like you're constantly accomplishing things. The factions you join determine who your quest-givers will be, and what quests they give you, and as you complete quests for them, you'll gain their favor. Gaining favor with one faction pushes you down with another, though, so it's important to choose your factions carefully at the start.