The KGB Oracle Forums KGB National Announcements, News, and Help The KGB Sentinel Highlight on upcoming improvements to Age of Conan

The following features should be coming in the next few weeks.
I've bolded the features I'm most excited about.

PvP consequences – the fugitive system

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No longer will evil misdeeds go unpunished. Of course, Hyboria is ruthless and barbaric so don’t expect anyone to deal out justice just because someone smacks you about with a very heavy axe, but some justice is actually now being introduced to the world.

This is where the fugitive system comes in, presented in a set of colors defining your fugitive status – from blue to orange and eventually the deadly red.

Everyone is by default classified as “blue”, but your actions as a player killer will affect your fugitive rating. If you kill someone way under your level, you will notice that you will very quickly move to red. So will actions such as killing someone repeatedly, or other general unfairness. The more serious the crime, the quicker you rise in fugitive.

Obtaining red status will be quite painful to you. This means that other players can kill you without rising in fugitive level, and if they manage to kill you while you have red fugitive you will actually drop one of your better items and gold that they can loot!

Of course, turning red will be a double-edged sword. Sure, it will get you a lot of attention and many will probably see you as a danger to be avoided. But at the same time, people will hunt you down for your items and your gold so be very, very careful!

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PvP levels, ranks and PvP gear enabled

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Soon you will be able to gain PvP levels by simply engaging in such activities, and there will be 10 such PvP levels in total.

However, that’s not all. Once you have reached the 10th PvP level you will be able to earn special PvP ranks beyond that. These are very hard to acquire, and you will lose ranks if you get defeated so it’s a constant battle to keep you rank up. And you will want to both gain PvP levels and keep your PvP rank up, as this will give you very exclusive benefits.

That’s because we will be introducing PvP specific gear in this update. You will be able to seek out a special vendor that sells this gear, and if you can afford it and you have the required PvP level (or PvP rank for some higher level items), then you can buy it!

PvP gear will come in all shapes and sizes. Some will be class and race specific, while some will be usable by everyone.

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General fixes and improvements to PvP

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First off, we are introducing a dueling functionality. This allows players to duel each other, both on PvP and PvE servers, without any serious repercussions. It also allows players on PvE servers to engage in PvP without having to go into the PvP mini-games, allowing them to test their grit (or solve an argument) against each other directly!

We are also doing major changes to the way damage is handled in PvP (without going into any more specific details right now), and we are also making it so that you can not attack members of your own guild (now you can duel instead, of course).

Other changes you will observe are for instance improvements to the “charge” ability that all soldier classes have. If you charge someone you will stun them, making it much more useful. Casters will also see major improvements, so keep your eyes out for more news!

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List of current quests that will be getting voice acting


Enhanced graphical interface for chat, friends and guild!

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These enhancements include being able to divide friends into categories, simulating an interface resembling what you find in popular instant messaging services. We are also enhancing the chat interface.

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Notable enhancements being made to important Stygian dungeons

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We have identified a few dungeons in Stygia, mainly the Khopshef Province that will be receiving some special loving. These dungeons include Pyramid of the Ancients and Treasury of the Ancients, and we will be breathing some new life into them so you can spread death in them.

Most noticeably we will be redoing some of the gameplay mechanics in the dungeon, and thereby adding more encounters and a better scripted experience. And, of course, we are doing enhancements to the loot distribution there as well.

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A massive new dungeon for the Thunder River area!

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Funcom are focusing heavily on adding even more content to the game, not only in terms of quests as described above, but also in terms of areas and land mass. In the not-too-distant future we will be introducing a new high-level dungeon to the Aquilonian Thunder River area!

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Vast enhancements being made to equipment and loot!

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We are always working on having as good as possible loot, but recently we have added even more resources to this vital part of the game, and there is a good chance you have already seen the fruits of this labor. The item team is now working relentlessly on making items and equipment considerably more exciting in the game. This involves re-distribution item visuals and improving the loot drops.

There are tens of thousands of items in the game already, and our job now is to make sure everything looks visually diverse and that useful loot can be found without having to raid the most challenging dungeons.

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The following features should be coming later this year.
I've bolded the features I'm most excited about.

Powerpoints has arrived in Hyboria, but the benefits awaits!

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In an effort to reward players who put time and effort into Age of Conan, we have devised the Powerpoints system. These are points you will gather by doing special actions in the game, such as being a member of an active guild, owning a battlekeep, or advancing beyond level eighty.

You will also collect Powerpoints simply by staying subscribed to the game. You can already now start collecting Powerpoints in the game, but the services and benefits will be added to the game at a later date.

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Guild alliances

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We want to allow guilds to get together and form alliances, creating strong accumulations of power that can take on some of the biggest challenges on the server, and we will be employing various tools for them to create a strong common identity for the alliance.

Here is a list of some of those tools:

* Alliance flag – you will be able to acquire a flag that you can carry around on your back, and this flag can be customized for you alliance.
* Alliance cloak – you will also be able to acquire a cloak that you can customize for your alliance, showing everyone what gathering you hail from.
* Alliance chat – of course, just as with guilds you will be able to share a common chat channel with all members of all the guilds in the alliance.
* Alliance name – you will be able to select a name for the alliance, and that name will be shown after your guild name and your character name.

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Legendary battlekeeps

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Situated next to the three big cities – Conarch, Khemi and Tarantia – will be something called legendary battlekeeps. Massive constructions that can be seen from inside the major cities themselves, and there will only be three of these in total in the online world – one for each capitol city. Conquering these battlekeeps will be the ultimate challenge!

Guilds will effectively have to team up with each other and become alliances if they want to have any chance of conquering a legendary battlekeep. These will be gigantic battles, and we are aiming for over 300 players to be involved in the battle simultaneously!

That also means we will be doing some technical improvements to the massive battle system to allow for this great number of players in one battle at the same time.

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Wonders of the World

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Another feature we will be introducing with this upgrade is Wonders of the World. These are powerful constructions rooted deep in the identity of that nation (e.g. the “Golden Lion of Tarantia” for Aquilonia) and they look epic and magnificent. Each nation has two of these wonders, and they can be built in the legendary battlekeep for that nation.

Building these wonders is a huge effort for anyone in the alliance, and will involve a lot of team work. Once you have built the shell of the wonder in your legendary battlekeep, other guild alliances can steal it and bring it to their city – so you need to protect it!

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A huge, new Cimmerian outdoor area – introducing Ymir's Pass!

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Right now a part of the live team is working on realizing an entire new outdoor region called Ymir’s Pass. This region, located in Cimmeria, will be comparable in size to Eiglophian Mountains and will include a slew of new monsters, quests and some very interesting geography!

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Enhancements to player cities, battlekeeps and the crafting system

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Many guilds have now begun conquering the many resource and gathering areas of Hyboria – Laceish Plains, Poitain and Purple Lotus Swamp. Here they are constructing entire guild cities, getting ready for the ultimate opportunity to construct a battlekeep in the Border Kingdom!

We have been getting a lot of feedback on these areas, so in the months ahead we will be doing numerous changes both to the cities as well as to the crafting system, making it more robust and more exciting. We will also be opening up more opportunities to define and customize your cities!

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To read more about these features, check the newsletter.

My Thoughts

I find all this really exciting. I couldn't help but notice, though, that some of these ideas are inspired from other games. You've got the fugitive system (UO, L2), Powerpoints (CoH has similar rewards for keeping an active subscription), and PvP levels and Wonders of the World (DAoC RR and Relics). But that's great. If they can pull this off, it can be real cool.

The only disappointments are PvP gear (what about crafted gear?) and Powerpoints, which seems unnecessary.

But, c'mon! Loot and money drops off RPKs!

Re: Fugitive system

This brings flashbacks of UO. Noto system never correctly worked in UO, why would it work for AoC? Why do you even need such system on PvP servers?