Recently we had the opportunity to interview Craig Morrison, Game Director on Age of Conan. During our interview we discussed some of the changes that have been made to combat, the expected changes to PvP with the notoriety system as well as some of the newer content plans on the Age of Conan drawing board.

Tamat : Hello Craig. Thank you for taking time out of your day to talk with us about Age of Conan.

Craig : No problem at all. Glad to get the chance to answer some questions and talk a little bit about the game.

Tamat : Let's start with the most obvious question: How do you feel about Age of Conan in its current state?

Craig : I think we are in a pretty good position to build on the launch of the game. Obviously there were some elements of the game that people have really reacted well to, and some that haven’t worked out as well as we would have liked. We definitely recognize that there are some areas of the game that need improvement and we are working through those at the moment.

I think it’s a natural process, with a new product in a space where there is very well established and more mature competition that you will have to do that quite a bit during this early stage of the games life cycle. It’s a challenge I enjoy to be honest, and am looking forward to tackling. It means we get a pretty good focus on what areas we need to concentrate on and improve on. We need to constantly challenge ourselves to find ways that we can set ourselves apart and create interesting and unique content to make sure that the game offers something engaging to players.

We have a fantastically well realized game-world and system to build upon. I don’t think there is anything out there that quite looks and feels like the world we have created for the game. On top of that our combat system really stands out in the current crop of games and gives us something unique to build upon.

Tamat : Let's talk about changes made to combat. Can you give us a general rundown about what's been changed?

Craig : When we came to consider the recent combat changes, we were looking to improve on the areas of the combat system that worked well in the first place and refine them so they work well across the board. Players have really enjoyed the faster paced combat system and we felt that, at the higher levels, and especially in PVP, the length of some of the combo moves was too long to be effective. Those combos meant they weren’t quite in keeping with the overall pace of combat we wanted. Therefore, we looked at ways to reduce the number of steps required for the higher level combos, in order to keep that pace and feeling that sets our combat apart from the competition. We never wanted it to feel like player had to work around our systems in order to feel optimal (as was happening with players ‘charging’ their combos before engaging other players in combat) All the recent changes are designed around improving the pacing, and building on the reactive nature of our combat system.

Tamat : How do you expect PvP to change in the long run with the new notoriety system?

Craig : For me it’s all about giving the players choice. When it comes to such systems you could just take the 'cheap' option and prohibit anti-social behavior in PVP entirely. We didn’t want to take that route; the Hyboria described by Howard is after all a brutal and dangerous world. So I think that a system like this adds a really nice dynamic element to the PVP. It allows players to become famous or infamous through their actions and have the game world react to them accordingly. I think it makes the PVP more interesting in the long run and makes it about more than just trying to maximize your ability to land ‘cheap shots’ on your prey. It will allow the truly talented and dedicated PVP players to really shine, while also allowing those who actually enjoy preying on weaker targets to make a name for themselves for just that. I think it’s good to separate the two and identify them differently as they are two very different play-styles.

Tamat : Would you say that players have been receptive to the changes that notoriety brought to the game??

Craig : I think so. I feel we have managed to find a pretty good balance between protecting players from the anti-social behavior associated with open PVP and still allowed the game world to be a dangerous place. Of course there will always be advocates for leaving the world totally open with no protection for players at all, but I think they are a minority and that by and large the players appreciate the difference between those with true skill in PVP and those who prey on the weak, and they are therefore being very receptive to a system that allows that difference too be clearly marked.

Tamat : In the latest update, "The Cistern" was changed to be an instanced dungeon. Are there any plans to "improve" other dungeons?

Craig : Yes, while the next set of dungeons you see will actually be totally new creations in Thunder River, we will continue to look at the launch dungeons as well and continue to tweak and improve them over time.

Tamat : Can you give us some information about the new dungeon in Ymir's Pass that will be coming to live servers?

Craig : I don’t want to spoil too much to be honest. I think the team has done a wonderful job with that dungeon. It ties directly into a really cool story from the original Conan lore and offers a really interesting game-play and story experience. It is also one of the nicest looking indoor locations I think we have done yet and it has a wonderful set-piece at the end of the experience. I am really looking forward to seeing how players react to it. The Conan stories give us a rich vein of ideas to pull from and being able to base an experience around ‘The Frost-Giant’s Daughter’ was great fun and makes for some interesting events in Ymir’s Pass and the dungeon that can be accessed through it.

Tamat : Let's shift gears a little bit and jump to a feature of the game that quite frankly wasn't favored in the community at launch. Of course, I'm referring to tradeskills. Now there have been some major improvements; how have these changes made the games tradeskill content a more enjoyable experience?

Craig : I think overall that we wanted to add more meaningful options for players through the tradeskill system. With the introduction of new crafted items and new dropped recipes we have hopefully offered some nice alternatives to other armor and items and incentivized players to go out and find those recipes and defeat the bosses that drop them. With the items we chose we wanted to add some value to those tradeskills that we felt might have been a little lacking.

Likewise with the Alchemy changes, it was important for us to give players a real reason to seek out crafted potions rather than just rely on those they could loot or purchase in the vendors. So I think that overall, yes, the changes have made tradeskills much more meaningful to the players and thus, hopefully, a degree more enjoyable. It’s something that we will continue to work on as well so that we can keep adding in new options for those that like to pursue tradeskills.

Tamat : Besides the first expansion that's in development -- is there anything else on the drawing board such as changes or new content?

Craig : Yes, and we’ve touched a little on some it already. We are aiming to add two high level dungeons to Thunder River for level 80 players, one for solo play and one group instance. Then beyond that, probably early in the New Year, we are already working on releasing another large story driven outdoor playfield, in the shape of Tarantia Commons, where the players will find themselves in the midst of riots in the city itself. This will be aimed at higher level players as well.

We are working on the new systems to improve the character itemization and progression at the moment and hope to have the results on the public test server before the end of the year. This has been a process of going through the abilities and statistics in the game and making them a degree more useful to the players, adding another true purpose to the character development. It’s one of the key areas we are focusing on for improvement and something we think is important for ensuring players see better reasons to keep developing their characters.

Then we also have the DirectX 10 version of the game almost ready for the public test server, we are really looking forward to being able to allow players to experience the game world with the added splendor that the new technology allows. It was always important to us to ensure that this version added something visually to the game when it arrived and we really feel the extra work has been worthwhile and that it will open up for even better effects moving forward.

Tamat : It certainly appears that Age of Conan is heading back into the right direction. We’re looking forward to great things in the future.

Craig : Thank you, I feel that the players are already starting to see the results of our current focus and that with each game update we are aiming to bring something new and worthwhile to the experience the game provides. We will definitely be trying our best to keep it going and provide our players with interesting and engaging content so they can continue to enjoy Age of Conan for many months and years to come.

Andrew "Tamat" Beegle
Editor-in-Chief
Allakhazam.com