Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures [PC]

Aside from those features, the combat seems pretty standard. In high level dungeons, like in many other MMOGs, your party huddles around powerful creatures and hammers away with attacks for a span of minutes until the thing falls over. There are a few more distinctive elements, however. In battle characters actually collide with each other, letting characters block for others and giving an advantage to those with long range weapons who can hide behind a front line of party members. Sneaking, something all classes can do, will let you pass through others, all small creatures and pets have collision turned off, and it's off in social zones as well.

Healing and weapon damage are dealt with a little differently as well. Instead of being limited to a single target, weapon slashes target an area, with larger and more powerful weapons having a greater area of effect. The same goes for healing. Priests shouldn't resign themselves to hiding in the shadows behind a battle, as some heals like the high-level cone heal are area of effect, requiring the healers to run around and get the best vantage point to unload their magic on the optimal number of targets. Funcom suggested the tactic of calling out to teammates to line up so their health can be replenished simultaneously.

Moving beyond the dungeons, we were shown a brief demo of mounted combat, which differs depending on what animal you're seated on. Special animations are built in as you climb aboard, such as the epic mammoth mount bending down to accommodate you. There's also an epic rhino mount, which according to Funcom was put in because they liked the movie 300 so much. While riding you can still use your left attack, right attack and such on the quickbar, and the horse mounts can kick backwards and forwards. Momentum plays a role in attacking as well, as the faster you run on your mount, the more damage you'll do. The damage calculation is also based on weapon type and skill as well. Every mount has a different kind of handling, meaning something like the mammoth will require more room for acceleration and a larger turning radius. Funcom states it's similar to how the cars' handling in the Grand Theft Auto franchise differs.

In PvE you can use these mounts to break outdoor camps and access new areas. In PvP there's more to it because movement and speed come into play. Mammoth and rhinos can even be used to attack walls and buildings while assaulting cities.

The demo then shifted concentration to northern Sumeria, and area of open plain upon which players can build their own cities. Initially they're used as crafting cities and you need a guild of about 30 to 40 to set them up. Resource nodes are littered around on the map and you click on them to check requirements of wood, stone, and the like. Once gathered the structures can be build up, represented visually with large scaffolding structures emerging from the ground, and the main structure rising slowly behind like in an RTS. Initially you'll need a keep, the city's central structure, but can add inner and outer walls in addition to unique crafting stations which make available special items to your guild. to let you build your city.

If you're a member of one of the eight or nine best guilds on the server, your city is entered into PvP eligibility, which means others can attack, break apart structures, and if they manage to smash your keep, can take over. After a keep is destroyed, there should be enough resources lying around so the conquerors can at least build a keep of their own, so they don't have to wander around scouring for resources to merely claim ownership. For defending, the city's owners have the ability to parade along the spines of the inner and outer walls. Funcom has built in a system to give those higher up a distinct range advantage as opposed to those trying to attack from below, which seems to mean the attacking guild will need to bring along some serious siege equipment.

All in all we're still looking forward to this one. It sounds as though Funcom has implemented some interesting ideas, and we're especially relieved to see the previous framerate issues have been addressed. We'll of course have more in the months leading up to release.

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