Hello guys.
The last MMO that I truly looked forward to playing, before its release, was WoW. The last MMO I was completely floored by after only 20 minutes of playing was also WoW. Whenever a gaming product comes along that I really look forward to, I get excited about it and fantasize about reveling in its luxury. Once my excitement reaches a certain apex, I find myself carefully planning out exactly what I will do once I finally attain my precious goal. The usual, alluring products that wrap me in their post-release clutches are Magic the Gathering, MMO games and Table Top RPGs. This delightfully nerdy habit has manifested itself in the form of long lists of magic cards, pages of D&D character background, and lists of possible character combination. I am a silly and easily excitable person; I know this and have accepted my curse.
This brings me to this post. Age of Conan looms large on my horizon. As is the case with many others, (Keen) the delay of WAR has plummeted me into a free fall of boredom and dread about the long, desolate road to “Fall Release.” I have looked to Age of Conan as a windfall.
What follows is going to be a hydra with multiple, geeky heads: A list of races and classes, a short description of them and my personal opinion of their appeal to me. Hopefully some of you in Intarweb Land will be able to find this useful in your own planning for Age of Conan. Maybe some of you are a little foggy on what exactly is contained within Conan’s alluring mythos. Maybe some of you came for the waffles. I usually did.
-RACES-
—The Aquilonians—
The Aquilonians are a people of order, duty and discipline. The make great soldiers and present themselves as the variable Rome of the land. Most of their fighters are soldiers rather than warriors, seemingly shunning the chaotic ways of world. They value hard work and courage in the face of ones enemies. They do not believe in the mysterious ways of magic users, preferring directness and martial combat. While not having access to any of the magic classes, they do have access to the healer archetype and all of the various melee archetypes.
Soldier: Conquerer, Dark Templar, Guardian
Priest: Priest of Mitra
Rogue: Assassin, Barbarian, Ranger
Personally, I have never liked the strong, duty bound, smashy guys. There is nothing interesting there for me. They don’t like magic and prefer hard work and smashing faces? Cool…I guess…? If you liked playing the humans in games like WoW, then I guess they’re right up your alley. Definitely not mine. For me, they’re hulky, boring blond folks. They’re to close to what I’ve seen in other games and don’t offer anything unique to peak my interest. I would be willing to bet on an Aquilonian zerg.
—The Cimmerians—
The Midgardians…I mean Cimmerians are the barbaric people of the world. They live deep in the frigid mountain regions, surviving in a harsh, unforgiving land. This has caused them to grow very stout and possessing great courage. They typically have serious demeanor’s and they live on whatever they can find. Not being intellectual in nature and given that they’re all burly, mountain men, they are very much focused on direct, melee combat. The also have a deeply spiritual side that can be seen in their healer, the Bear Shaman.
Soldier: Conquerer, Dark Templar, Guardian
Priest: Bear Shaman
Rogue: Barbarian, Ranger
Ok. These guys are much more to my liking. These guys have flaws and some personality. They are mysterious and their ways are foreign to the outside world. They posses a keen spiritual knowledge that is unseen by others but shun the more sneaky arts of stealth and magic. Where the Aquilonians are the veritable frat boys of the world, Cimmerians are the Goth kids. Goth kids are twice as interesting.
—The Stygians—
The Stygians are a cunning and ancient people that can trace their history back farther than any of the other major cultures. They also worship the god Set and spend their time making dark pacts and studying mysterious cult secrets. Being strictly a scholarly people, they are usually, thin and frail, preferring to stab their enemies in the back than swing at them with clubs. They cannot access any of the soldier melee classes but are the only race that can access the magic classes.
Mage: Demonologist, Herald of Xotli, Necromancer
Priest: Tempest of Set
Rogue: Assassin, Ranger
Ok. How cool are these guys? Take a look at that class list. Necromancer? Demonologist? Tempest of Set? These guys are all sorts of cool. They’re the ‘bad guys’ of the world and as we all know, bad guys are always the coolest. These guys posses a dark, secret side and live in a culture radically different from the other two. While the Aquilonians and Cimmerians are somewhat similar, the Stygians are completely different in all major ways. I expect them to become the most popular with the more hardcore, PvP minded players.
-Classes-
—Assassin—
The assassin is a roguish, dps, melee class that will have all the bells and whistles that we’ve come to expect from a stealth class. They will be able to sneak past the enemy, deal surprising, punishing blows and evade attacks. Not a whole lot of interest here for me but I can see it being both popular AND annoying.
Weapons: Daggers, crossbows, and dual-wielding
Armor: Cloth armor and silk armor
—The Barbarian—
The barbarian is an alternate version of a rogue. Less sneaky and more stabby. They supposedly increase damage as they take damage. They also sound like they’re going to have some sort of a berserk ability as well as a stealth. I personally like the sound of this much better. I have always been a fan of melee combat in games it has to have some flavor to it that is out of the ordinary. The barbarian sounds more interesting to me.
Weapons: One-handed edged, one-handed blunts, two-handed edged, two-handed blunts, bows, thrown weapons, and dual wielding.
Armor: Cloth armor and light armor
—Bear Shaman—
The Bear Shaman is the Cimmerian healer. He can wield powerful weapons and the heaviest healer armor, medium. He has many damaging abilities that all revolve around bear aspects. He sounds as if he is going to be a very flexible healer, depending on how he is played. Think of a Shaman in WoW or a ‘jack-of-all-trades sort of character. That is how I picture a bear shaman. They sound like they’d be fun to play, but not my personal preference.
Weapons: Two-handed blunts, bows, crossbows, and thrown weapons
Armor: Cloth armor, light armor, and medium armor
—Conqueror—
The warrior. The biggest and the baddest melee force on the battlefield is right here. He can wield many of the strongest weapons and the heaviest of armors, aside from plate. He sounds bland but fun on a short term basis. Doesn’t sound like he has the depth necessary to keep my interest over a long term. I’m sure the conqueror will be one of the most useful classes to have with you though. Heavily armored, brutal strength and big weapons are always a plus.
Weapons: One-handed blunts, two-handed blunts, one-handed edged, two-handed edged, crossbows, thrown weapons, and dual wielding.
Armor: Heavy armor, medium armor, and light armor.
—Dark Templar—
The Dark Templar is a paladin minus the healing and plus dark sorcery. All of this equals awesome, plain and simple. Life drain, spells along with heavy armor? Sick. Thats all there is to it. I love the idea of playing this character. Even though he sounds like support, which is typically not my first choice, this type of support sounds like great fun.
Weapons: One-handed edged, one-handed blunts, crossbows, and thrown weapons.
Armor: Heavy armor, medium armor, light armor, and shields
—Demonologist—
One of the three powerful, Stygian spell casters. Think of a warlock from WoW. A powerful caster with devastating spells. He can even summon a powerful demonic pet to serve him in battle. Tons of cool stuff here too. This type of character sounds like a lot of fun and holds a good deal of interest for me. It has an interesting flavor and seems to be set apart from the other magic users. I would guess that this would be one of the lesser popular magic users.
Weapons: Daggers, crossbows, and thrown weapons
Armor: Cloth and silk armor
—Guardian—
A heavily armored soldier that specializes in taking a beating. A standard tank class but is the sole class that can dawn the mighty full plate armor set. While able to use sword and shield, they can also wield pole arms and made broad powerful sweeps into the enemies lines. Not a lot of interest here for me. I really do hate tanking.
Weapons: One-handed edged, one-handed blunts, pole arms, crossbows, and thrown weapons
Armor: Full plate, heavy armor, medium armor, light armor, and shield
—Herald of Xotli—
This is probably one of the most thought provoking classes for me. The Herald is a fusion of powerful spells and melee ability. They have the ability to morph into demonic form, along with the ability to cast powerful spells and wield mighty two-handed weapons. Although lightly armored, Heralds seem like they will be mighty opponents indeed. A lot of interest here for me. They have an interesting make up and a truly unique approach to the mage archetype. It should be interesting to see how they finally play out.
Weapons: Two-handed edged, crossbows, daggers, and thrown weapons
Armor: Cloth and silk armor
—Necromancer—
The Necromancer is a spell caster that focuses on manipulating the dark energies of existence and using them to strike out at his foes. Chances are, he will have some sort of raise dead ability and the capability to command the legions of undead against his opponents. They also have the ability to shift themselves into powerful undead forms, further increasing their power. This classes hold marginal interest for me. The necromancer archetype has been in tact for many, many different games and this one is no different. I can see it being the most popular magic type and generally, pretty effective.
Weapons: Daggers, crossbows, and thrown weapons
Armor: Cloth and silk armor
—Priest of Mitra—
The healer of the Aquilonians. This is the strongest healing class that also has access to various damaging abilities. I can see this classes being the ultimate healer and support classes. I predict the priest being an amazing force in deciding the victory or defeat of a combat engagement. Not my personal style of play and not terribly interesting for me, but will certainly be a well designed and useful class. I predict them to be more rare than people will want.
Weapons: One-handed blunts, one-handed edged, daggers, crossbows, and thrown weapons
Armor: Cloth armor, light armor, and shields
—Ranger—
The Ranger is a only true ranged class in the game. Along with its powerful, ranged bombardment abilities, it will have various abilities it can use to trip up opponents and escape danger. Normally, a class like this would have very, very low interest for me but because of AoC’s revolutionary way of handling ranged combat and actually making the play aim the bow, I have new found interest, if only for the mechanic. I see this class being a great annoyance for me.
Weapons: One-handed blunts, one-handed edged, daggers, bows, crossbows, and dual-wield
Armor: Cloth armor, light armor, medium armor, and shields
—Tempest of Set—
The Stygian healer seems to be more combat focused, something closer to the Bear Shaman but with dark magic and traditional melee abilities. They have access to powerful, destructive magic but also posses the ability to handle themselves in a fight if its come their way. This class sounds like the most appealing and interesting healer for me. Even though I am typically not a healer, this would be the one I would choose if I played one. I predict this being the most popular healer.
Weapons: One-handed blunts, one-handed edged, pole arms, daggers, bows, crossbows, and thrown weapons.
Armor: Cloth armor, light armor, and shields.
Ok. There ends the rant of races and classes. The races of Age of Conan were a let down for me…mostly. Aside from two of them fitting firmly into typical fantasy stereotypes, I felt disinterested in all but the Stygians. I’m sure others have felt the same way. Where Age of Conan hooked me was the broad range of interesting classes. Dark Templar, Necromancer, Herald of Xotli, Demonologist and Tempest of Set all struck my interest. The fighting mechanics of this game is where it is going to truly shine. I will probably wind up playing a Dark Templar a Demonologist or a Barbarian. All of these appeal to my preferred style of game play
Now if we could only get some more information about that mysterious spell system!
What do you think you’ll play?
Thoughts?
Hello gentlemen.
Its nice to see someone finally tapping into the mounted combat area. I have always wondered why none of these fantasy MMOs had mounted combat but no one has dared experiment with it. This looks like its going to be one more nice feature of Age of Conan that will give it some nice stay power.
Due to a distinct lack of events happening in my personal gaming life, I’m going to try to create this post to be one with a split focus. I ran across a few interesting articles this morning while I was surfing 
