Funcom announcing Age of Conan expansion in August
by Griffin McElroy 
{ Jul 8th 2009 at 2:30AM } 
The developer is planning on unveiling the expansion during GamesCom, a gaming convention (comvention?) that will be held in Cologne, Germany from August 19 - 23. Details about the add-on are non-existant -- hopefully it won't include any mammarical modifications, which have already been proven to be decidedly unpopular with Conan's subscribers.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
ifalldownstairs @ Jul 8th 2009 3:06AM
Does anyone know how much has this game improved since launch? I remember complaints that there really wasn't much to do beyond lvl 30, but I assume much of that has been fixed by now. I started Lord of the Rings Online less than a month ago, and I like it much more than WoW, but I'm not too invested in my character yet. Is AoC finally worthwhile?
Wes @ Jul 8th 2009 3:42AM
Sadly, the game is still riddled with bugs. Its just less riddled than before.
TwistedBishop @ Jul 8th 2009 5:41AM
The game is fantastic shape. The complaints about a lack of content post 40 were always exaggerated for effect.
Since launch they added in two entire new zones (Ymir's Pass and Tarantia Commons) in the 55-60 and 77-80 range that were the two main dead spots for solo questing. They've added four new normal dungeons, two new raid dungeons (bringing the endgame content up to 6 raid dungeons split between the two Tiers), overhauled the PvP system, overhauled the crafting, changed the stat system to be easier to understand and make gear more important, and entirely reitemized the game to take advantage of that change.
thekingdose @ Aug 7th 2009 9:58PM
i like it i got it when it first came out and it was bad lots of bugs so i waited about a year and tried again and it s alot better now i used to play WoW and this game is way better
Viking @ Jul 8th 2009 3:09AM
I've heard AoC is quite good now actually.
I think it's sad that Funcom didn't get the success they deserved.
Hope things goes better with The Secret World.
Tony Montana @ Jul 8th 2009 3:18AM
The game has defintely improved since launch by a country mile.
All in all its never been a bad game but they launched it before it was ready for prime time and now they carry that stigma of bad press with them.
Huey2k2 @ Jul 8th 2009 3:17AM
What is the actual playerbase for AoC these days?
This isn't me trolling I just didn't think that many people played it anymore... which is a shame, always kinda wanted to try it.
Kadamon @ Jul 8th 2009 3:28AM
Last I heard it was a couple hundred thousand...however, that was a while ago.
In fact, I'll go looking for this information for you right now.
Kadamon @ Jul 8th 2009 3:40AM
The most recent estimate I can find in my crappy search is about...
70k and that was an estimate back in Febuary I believe. I'm going to assume the population has gone downhill since then.
TwistedBishop @ Jul 8th 2009 5:47AM
If you read their most recent quarterly financial report, and take a look at the revenue coming in from subscribers alone, it appears the game has a 150,000 playerbase. I've played off and on since launch and recently (within the past few months) you can visibly see more and more people coming back. My server (Set) has no lack of people to quest with or raids to join.
People jumping on AoC for a small subscriber base never seem to look at the rest of the non-WoW MMO world. Most successful MMOs not named World of Warcraft hover between 100k-300k these days.
Kadamon @ Jul 8th 2009 6:10AM
I know they were giving away free copies with an extra 30 days over the past little while too in some mag subscription...and I saw that one site will be giving away 1000 free copies with another 30 days. So if what you're sayng is correct, they may have closer to about 200k
Which is more than I thought. I've never played the game, and it's not because I play WoW.
It's just that AoC won't run well on my laptop, nor will Warhammer...nor does Aion. I'm sure they're good games and all...but I have an average laptop. (2ghz 64 bit proccessor and 2 Gigs of RAM) and they all look like crap. The sad part is, WoW looks better than Aion on my machine.
Anyway, that's off on a tangent. It's good to see that AoC isn't failing miserably and hopefully they pick up some steam.
Justin F @ Jul 8th 2009 3:22AM
I hate announcements of announcements.
Sivious @ Jul 8th 2009 4:44AM
The expansion is placed in Khitai so we will see samurais, oriental demons... i am really tired with the oriental-japanese lile mmorpg. Until now i loved AoC. Hyborea is really big to implement Khitai, before that would come Balck Kingdoms, Hoth, Vanaheim... the middle kingdoms. Why fall in the easy mode bringing oriental aadventures?
TwistedBishop @ Jul 8th 2009 5:53AM
The answer is probably that Asian markets do triple or quadruple the business in MMOs compared to the rest of the world. Last I heard WoW only had a couple million North American subscribers, while at least half of their 12 million players come from China, Korea and Japan.
Blank-Mage @ Jul 8th 2009 5:14AM
This time, axe loses to tree.
Mike @ Jul 8th 2009 5:16AM
Hello,
Age of Conan on/off player here (always depends if I have the money to pay that month) nonetheless, I played last month (not this month :() so I can answer a few of the questions being asked.
Yes, the game is much better than it was on the day of its release, much, much better. There is quite a bit of end game content (it isn't WoW level yet, but its solid).
People are talking about the community dwindling, but I have actually seen quite the opposite, it actually seems to be growing. There was a huge drop in the first 3 months there is no doubting that (they closed over half their servers) but since then the forums and the game are loaded with "Wow, just came back to age of conan) and I have always noticed people in every area of the server I play on (which is actually the one known for having the smallest community).
So, why not give it a try guys? I love the Conan book series, so maybe I'm a bit biased, but if you tried it at release and put it down I recommend giving it just one more shot. If you haven't played it yet, its 20$... thats a month of playing so why the hell not?
TwistedBishop @ Jul 8th 2009 5:51AM
I agree completely.
They have a free trial available. If you were a former player or always found the game interesting, judge for yourself.
redrum.and.coke @ Jul 8th 2009 2:22PM
I agree as well that the population is growing. I played at launch and then stopped due to framerate issues despite having 2 crossfired 3870s. My FPS would be good in some areas but then sharply drop and then shoot right back up. I also had flickering inventory icons and kept bumping into invisible objects.
I just re-subsribed to check on the progress and my fps is now smooth, inventory icons no longer flash, and I have not yet bumped into any invisible object. I don't see this surpassing WoW (I don't think anything can at this point) but I do think it will grow enough of a solid population for a good niche MMO for those who prefer AoC style combat. At any rate, I'm enjoying it a lot now!
Shagittarius @ Jul 8th 2009 11:37AM
This game was and is a giant piece of shit. Avoid at all costs.
Mike @ Jul 8th 2009 4:33PM
You sir are one ignorant mother fucker.
double9s @ Jul 8th 2009 12:45PM
I see deals on the game pretty frequently, like GoGamer had the CE for $9.99 recently. You can get the regular version shipped for $12.99 at NewEgg:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832174001
svisher @ Jul 13th 2009 11:25AM
Ive been playing age of conan almost from the start, and in the beginning it really felt like it wasnt complete, i also stopped playing for a while, and since 1 month now iam playing it again, and the new changes they made are really good, the game feels almost finished now :D this was the first mmo i played, after this i tried wow, but believe me, right now , wow SUCKS balls compared to age of conan, believe me ppl,
AGE OF CONAN RULES NOW !!
thekingdose @ Aug 7th 2009 10:18PM
like any mmo it takes time for it to get good . WoW when it first came out it was like that , they been around for a long time , and age of conan is the same its been out for just overe a year , and i ve been playing it since the new changes and i think it better the WoW now thats just me but what ever . in 1 to 2 years this game is going to kick ass. the graphics alone is so good compaired to WoW it makes WoW look like lego lol .