Review:
While I'm not the Conan expert Rob is, maybe that's no bad thing. At the beginning of last year (when Funcom posted losses of $23 million) Conan's subscribers were estimated to have dropped below 100,000, and it's anyone's guess where that figure is today. So, in all probability, you're the same as me: a thousand miles away from Rob's rippling virtual muscles and proud collection of "alts", and simply curious as to whether Rise of the Godslayer makes Age of Conan something worth playing - or returning to.
On paper, things look pretty grim. Rise of the Godslayer doesn't feature the level cap increase you might expect from a serious £20 expansion, nor does it feature any new classes (not that Conan necessarily needed any, but still). Godslayer is actually meant to address the most significant criticism levelled at Conan - the same lack of content that both drives players to make new characters when they hit the level cap of 80, and that makes playing the game through a second or third time a chore.
'Age of Conan: Rise of the Godslayer' Screenshot 1
In seeking to thicken the Age of Conan experience rather than lengthen it, Rise of the Godslayer introduces the sprawling province of Khitai, a war-torn land that repurposes the imagery of Chinese, Korean and Mongolian history. Despite the region of Khitai collapsing into bloodshed after King Conan accidentally mercy-killed their God, the place often feels less fantastical than you might expect from the Conan universe and more like a wild, uneducated stab at Chinese history with monsters doodled in the margins. Unimaginative pagodas, paddy fields and jade carvings make a poor substitute for the occasionally spectacular architecture of Age of Conan's other areas.
Khitai itself is exclusively for level 80s, but the approach to the Great Wall of Khitai (an area known as the Gateway to Khitai, but technically the territory of neighbouring Hyrkania) provides a massive area for levels 20 to 40 to quest in. Any concerns that Conan's quest zones were cramped have been rigorously addressed, with Hyrkania's sprawling grasslands providing ample space for several very different camps of quest-givers and their respective quests.
You've got the barbarous Hyrkanian nomads with their enormous coliseum-sized wagon, the ruined caravan that they just attacked with its angry, scared survivors, and the trading town that's sprung up around the Wall's gate. This is smart MMO design, crafting a sense of place and motion from three static settlements of NPCs.
And yet the decision to make Gateway to Khitai a level 20-40 area is a weird one. The lack of content that puts Conan players at risk of having to grind appears between levels 50 and 80, not 20 and 40. All Funcom has done with this new area is extend the joy that begins with the introductory island of Tortage, which takes players by the hand to level 20 with lots of love and attention to detail. Entertaining as Gateway to Khitai is, it's not going to cushion the disappointment of the game's final 30 levels that see you having to meticulously track down almost every single quest.
On paper, things look pretty grim. Rise of the Godslayer doesn't feature the level cap increase you might expect from a serious £20 expansion, nor does it feature any new classes (not that Conan necessarily needed any, but still). Godslayer is actually meant to address the most significant criticism levelled at Conan - the same lack of content that both drives players to make new characters when they hit the level cap of 80, and that makes playing the game through a second or third time a chore.
'Age of Conan: Rise of the Godslayer' Screenshot 1
Khitai itself is exclusively for level 80s, but the approach to the Great Wall of Khitai (an area known as the Gateway to Khitai, but technically the territory of neighbouring Hyrkania) provides a massive area for levels 20 to 40 to quest in. Any concerns that Conan's quest zones were cramped have been rigorously addressed, with Hyrkania's sprawling grasslands providing ample space for several very different camps of quest-givers and their respective quests.
And yet the decision to make Gateway to Khitai a level 20-40 area is a weird one. The lack of content that puts Conan players at risk of having to grind appears between levels 50 and 80, not 20 and 40. All Funcom has done with this new area is extend the joy that begins with the introductory island of Tortage, which takes players by the hand to level 20 with lots of love and attention to detail. Entertaining as Gateway to Khitai is, it's not going to cushion the disappointment of the game's final 30 levels that see you having to meticulously track down almost every single quest.
But let's say you do reach level 80, or already have a fully levelled character eager to come out of retirement. In that case the meat of Rise of the Godslayer's content, Khitai itself, is waiting for you. And I do mean meat. Massive, chewy, bloody meat.
Khitai is big enough to render the fact that Rise of the Godslayer doesn't include a level cap increase absolutely absurd. There are four huge, wide-open areas to explore, each as big as Gateway to Khitai, except with more dungeons. By Conan's standards, there's enough here to hypothetically nudge a player up to level 100, or perhaps even 110.
But then perhaps you wouldn't get to have as much fun with the Faction system, Funcom's attempt to ground the game's psychotic free-for-all PvP and reward repeat play-throughs. Khitai's populace is about as good at calm co-operation as your average Daily Mail headline, and every Khitan region is home to several warring factions keen to offer you quests and rewards that make will make you an enemy of another faction, and perhaps a target to all of its players. It's through factions that you'll acquire some of the epic loot that's your only real goal in Khitan, since you're not levelling up.
It's also through factions that you get access to another of Rise of the Godslayer's touted features, raising your own personal wolf or tiger from a cub to a mount. This takes the form of a long series of quests for either the Wolves of the Steppe (bandits) or Tamarin Tiger (warrior-cannibals - no relation to the Tamil Tigers, then). Both mounts look extraordinarily cool, but much like the loot you're scratching through Khitan for, they're perhaps unlikely to excite statistically.
Similarly appealing yet slightly underwhelming is the new Alternate Advancement system, which gives Godslayer players a second talent tree containing of passive buffs, combos, abilities and spells that has its "General" branch unlocked at level 20 and a second, class-specific branch opened up at level 80.
'Age of Conan: Rise of the Godslayer' Screenshot 3
Unlike Conan's existing Feat trees, Alternate Advancement isn't tied to your level. Instead, you progress through it using points earned in PvE and PvP, and eventually (at level 80) you get the option of switching from 'Points' to 'Time', meaning you can click on what you want in the AA tree and it fills up slowly whether you're logged in or not.
My guess is that Alternate Advancement was meant to fix the lack of momentum that dogs Conan by giving players more character progression, more often, and while it is a welcome system, it's perhaps not as effective as Funcom might have hoped. Addictive play in RPGs doesn't simply come from "dings", but from growing your character in meaningful ways.
Without wanting to be facetious, Diablo or Torchlight are overwhelmingly moreish despite giving you very few abilities, simply because when you do improve your character it's with a tough choice that results in a significant change you can see and feel right away.
Age of Conan already had redundant abilities and a wealth of tactical options, so with the addition of dozens more perks and powers, character advancement can begin to feel a little sordid. Dropping into one of the level 80 characters Funcom kindly provided me with, I found myself having to study four racks of abilities and stances with at least a dozen more powers sat eagerly in menus, waiting to be given slots. But then once I did figure out what I was doing I found I could slouch through every fight with the same series of combos.
Khitai is big enough to render the fact that Rise of the Godslayer doesn't include a level cap increase absolutely absurd. There are four huge, wide-open areas to explore, each as big as Gateway to Khitai, except with more dungeons. By Conan's standards, there's enough here to hypothetically nudge a player up to level 100, or perhaps even 110.
But then perhaps you wouldn't get to have as much fun with the Faction system, Funcom's attempt to ground the game's psychotic free-for-all PvP and reward repeat play-throughs. Khitai's populace is about as good at calm co-operation as your average Daily Mail headline, and every Khitan region is home to several warring factions keen to offer you quests and rewards that make will make you an enemy of another faction, and perhaps a target to all of its players. It's through factions that you'll acquire some of the epic loot that's your only real goal in Khitan, since you're not levelling up.
It's also through factions that you get access to another of Rise of the Godslayer's touted features, raising your own personal wolf or tiger from a cub to a mount. This takes the form of a long series of quests for either the Wolves of the Steppe (bandits) or Tamarin Tiger (warrior-cannibals - no relation to the Tamil Tigers, then). Both mounts look extraordinarily cool, but much like the loot you're scratching through Khitan for, they're perhaps unlikely to excite statistically.
Similarly appealing yet slightly underwhelming is the new Alternate Advancement system, which gives Godslayer players a second talent tree containing of passive buffs, combos, abilities and spells that has its "General" branch unlocked at level 20 and a second, class-specific branch opened up at level 80.
'Age of Conan: Rise of the Godslayer' Screenshot 3
My guess is that Alternate Advancement was meant to fix the lack of momentum that dogs Conan by giving players more character progression, more often, and while it is a welcome system, it's perhaps not as effective as Funcom might have hoped. Addictive play in RPGs doesn't simply come from "dings", but from growing your character in meaningful ways.
Without wanting to be facetious, Diablo or Torchlight are overwhelmingly moreish despite giving you very few abilities, simply because when you do improve your character it's with a tough choice that results in a significant change you can see and feel right away.
Age of Conan already had redundant abilities and a wealth of tactical options, so with the addition of dozens more perks and powers, character advancement can begin to feel a little sordid. Dropping into one of the level 80 characters Funcom kindly provided me with, I found myself having to study four racks of abilities and stances with at least a dozen more powers sat eagerly in menus, waiting to be given slots. But then once I did figure out what I was doing I found I could slouch through every fight with the same series of combos.
Phew, this is turning into a dismal review, isn't it? Let's talk about the strongest part of Rise of the Godslayer for a bit. Let's talk about Kara Korum, best of Khitai's four areas.
There are moments in Age of Conan when the game abruptly blindsides you with a vision of how awesome this MMO could have been - usually by grabbing hold of the Conan universe's lore and thrusting it at you with both hands. Arriving in the beautiful city of Tarantia where King Conan rules is one of these moments. Another is the entirety of Kara Korum.
Kara Korum is a region sat on the edge of the abyss. A vast crater containing some impossible, venerable evil lies to the North East, and the surrounding land wrestles with its taint on a daily basis. Locals have become warped, the flesh on their faces stretching to cover their eyes and mouths. Children sing songs of praise that nobody taught them under skies exhausted by perpetual lightning. A river of black fluid runs from the crater into a nearby lake, causing animals to grow to the size of trees, and trees to grow to the size of mountains. That place is now known as the Valley of the Gods. In the middle of Kara Korum sits a hermit living in the stinking ribcage of some long-dead behemoth; he explains that he heard the evil speak to him in the womb, and he's merely trying to return there.
Your faction choices in Kara Korum are The Last Legion, a miserable force of soldiers who pass the time by burning the dead and rushing to the defences whenever the crater burps out another wave of horrors, and the Scarlet Circle, a tiny group of scheming sorcerers perched in a fort built into the rim of the crater itself.
'Age of Conan: Rise of the Godslayer' Screenshot 4
There are moments in Age of Conan when the game abruptly blindsides you with a vision of how awesome this MMO could have been - usually by grabbing hold of the Conan universe's lore and thrusting it at you with both hands. Arriving in the beautiful city of Tarantia where King Conan rules is one of these moments. Another is the entirety of Kara Korum.
Kara Korum is a region sat on the edge of the abyss. A vast crater containing some impossible, venerable evil lies to the North East, and the surrounding land wrestles with its taint on a daily basis. Locals have become warped, the flesh on their faces stretching to cover their eyes and mouths. Children sing songs of praise that nobody taught them under skies exhausted by perpetual lightning. A river of black fluid runs from the crater into a nearby lake, causing animals to grow to the size of trees, and trees to grow to the size of mountains. That place is now known as the Valley of the Gods. In the middle of Kara Korum sits a hermit living in the stinking ribcage of some long-dead behemoth; he explains that he heard the evil speak to him in the womb, and he's merely trying to return there.
Your faction choices in Kara Korum are The Last Legion, a miserable force of soldiers who pass the time by burning the dead and rushing to the defences whenever the crater burps out another wave of horrors, and the Scarlet Circle, a tiny group of scheming sorcerers perched in a fort built into the rim of the crater itself.
'Age of Conan: Rise of the Godslayer' Screenshot 4
Exploring Kara Korum, it's hard not to feel an electric fluttering of excitement in your chest, an excitement I feel that most of Age of Conan, for all of its hearty competence, sorely lacks. Forming a group and going roaring into the crater to assault one of its three dungeons is a hugely dramatic experience, not least because the closer you get to the crater, the more the Taint debuffs your character and the more your surroundings become very unsettling indeed.
It's unfortunate that Kara Korum is a high point buried amid more dreary content. As such, if you're looking for a reason to get involved in Age of Conan, Rise of the Godslayer almost certainly isn't it.
As for former players thinking of returning to Hyboria, well, I'd just offer one point: most of Conan's free updates after its launch concerned themselves with adding content that should have been there in the first place. What Rise of the Godslayer adds is comparable to what World of Warcraft or Lord of the Rings Online put out in their first two years, for free. (It's also worth pointing out that on the beta server I played Godslayer on, the memory leaks and general instability of the client were still an issue, and crashes were regular, although Funcom assures us things will improve in the live version of the game.)
It's unfortunate that Kara Korum is a high point buried amid more dreary content. As such, if you're looking for a reason to get involved in Age of Conan, Rise of the Godslayer almost certainly isn't it.
As for former players thinking of returning to Hyboria, well, I'd just offer one point: most of Conan's free updates after its launch concerned themselves with adding content that should have been there in the first place. What Rise of the Godslayer adds is comparable to what World of Warcraft or Lord of the Rings Online put out in their first two years, for free. (It's also worth pointing out that on the beta server I played Godslayer on, the memory leaks and general instability of the client were still an issue, and crashes were regular, although Funcom assures us things will improve in the live version of the game.)
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