Update 1.06 is now live in Age of Conan, and it introduces the new Guild Renown system, a new Tier 3 raid instance and a token system for raid loot. The patch also brings some changes to the crowd control system and revamps the Assassin class. You can read the full release notes after the jump.

In addition, Funcom has given IGN some details on Gateway to Khitai, the starting area for the upcoming Rise of the Godslayer expansion. The zone acts as "the entry point for existing characters and newcomers from the island of Tortage" and features content for characters level 20-24.

New Feature: Guild Renown

Guild Renown is a new leveling and reward system for guilds in Age of Conan. Members of guilds can experience their epic adventures as they normally do today while contributing to their guild’s Renown simply by playing the game. There are three types of Renown - Valor (PvE), Glory (PvP), and Artistry (Crafting), which broadly describe three different play styles. As players progress in game, they will be able to progress their Guild Renown for the entire guild and unlock awesome rewards to be shared with each member of their guild. Guild Renown has a maximum of 20 levels to be achieved by the entire guild.

Every week, Age of Conan will rank the top-earning guilds, not only in total points earned (of any kind), but also in the total Valor, Glory, and Artistry earned for that week.

This article here provides further details about the rankings and rewards for each of the 20 Guild Renown levels.



New Tier 3 Raid Instance: "Thoth-Amon's Stronghold"

Thoth-Amon’s Stronghold is our new Tier 3 raid instance. It has seven boss encounters, including Thoth-Amon himself. In addition players will encounter some of Thoth-Amon’s most powerful allies, both new ones and some they might have met, or at least heard of, before - like Hathor-Ka. Thoth-Amon’s castle is located in the city of Kheshatta.

Read this article to learn more about this new raid instance.



New Raid Loot Token System

Update 1.06 also adds something the players have been requesting for a long time – a token system for raid loot. The token system is added to Tier 1 and Tier 2 as well as Tier 3 raids.

More details about this system can be found in this article.



Assassin Revamp

Update 1.06 introduces a number of improvements we could make to the Assassin class in several different areas. We have generally taken a somewhat different approach to the class revamps which have occurred since the 1.05 update, and this was applied to the Assassin during the course of its revamp. Among other things, it involves giving a revamped class some unique set of mechanics that encourage meaningful tactical choice on the battlefield. But also a distinct identity in how the class feels and plays to the player, as well as opponents facing the class and also how the class is viewed by group members.

This article describes the Assassin revamp in detail.



Changes to the Crowd Control System

Based on ongoing feedback from players concerning crowd control abilities, and the impact of these abilities specifically in PvP scenarios, a number of improvements have been made to how crowd control behaves in Age of Conan. These are changes which have generally been evaluated and considered for some time, and we feel 1.06 is the right update to deliver these to players, due to other CC changes also going in the same update.

Read this article to learn more about the changes to the Crowd Control System.



GENERAL

• New player emote added - /emote sleep.
• The "Skewbald Pinto Horse" by the Mount Vendor in Old Tarantia should now correctly resemble the visual appearance of a Skewbald Pinto.
• Aegis of Blood gem proc has been given a buff.
• Fixed issues with spellcasting-animations that caused them to play too fast/end abruptly/not match the actual spell being cast very well.
• PVP Armor Vendors and Token Vendors should no longer, under very rare circumstances, spawn multiple times.
• Fixed an issue which caused raidlocking to not work properly.
• Target's target should now work properly again.
• There is now a new launcher window with a new look and added functionality.
• Fixed an exploit with a tier 2 crafting encounter.
• Players should no longer see two characters entered in chat instead of one, on certain keyboards.
• The Old Tarantia PvP vendors have been moved into their own instance. Look for the new Tarantia Armory!

COMBAT

• Classes that do not use stamina for combos will no longer be able to use stamina potions.
• Fixed an issue where damage from offhand attacks was granting too much hate for multi-hit combo finishers
• Fixed various issues regarding hate and aggro management.
• Pets will now spread in a wider area around the owner (within 6 meters). This should greatly decrease the issues with pets randomly dying.
• Combo starter tooltips now show the same damage independent of your state.
• Fixed an issue where sometimes effects from buffs and debuffs were getting applied twice, such as with the death penalty.

CLASSES

Assassin

• A full detailed list of changes for this class can be read here.

Barbarian

• Too Many To Count should no longer taunt guards.
• It should once again be possible to trigger fatalities with the Whirlwind-combos.
• Blood Crazed is now called Blood Fury, and has been changed to be a clickable which consumes 5 stacks of Blood Rage for a small DPS boost.
• Back in the Fray has been slightly buffed.
• Changed tooltip for Reaver Stance so it accurately reflects maximum stack size.

Conqueror

• Crushing Onslaught will now apply two separate debuffs - one for the snare effect and another for the damage debuff. The snare effect will follow all normal rules for crowd control immunities. This is to support raid encounters where a boss needs to have only one of the immunities.
• Thunderhead Banner now does an AoE mana burn (similar to how Fireweave Banner works) in addition to its current effects.

Dark Templar

• Blood Hex will now do increased healing when in Frenzy Stance.
• Invulnerable Soul should reapply its buff effect after resurrecting from a PvP death.

Demonologist

• Reduced the range of the Fiery Torment, Storm Chains, Possession, Gate of Hell, Wicked Bolt, and Detonation spells to 5 meters.
• Reduced the range of the Agonizing Jolts spell to 15 meters.
• Inferno of Amher and Shockblast will now critically hit like they are supposed to when you have the spellweaving buff Hand of Doom.
• Fixed text of Draw forth the Heart. Should now reflect that the caster is indeed a demonologist.
• Increased the proc rate of Incinerate from the third rank of Blazing Fire. This should allow Incinerate to always apply when Combustion is feated.
• Pets should now have out of combat health regeneration.

Herald of Xotli

• Hellfire Breath and Demonic Fortitude have been given a new instant-cast animation that resembles the non-instant casting animations for the same spells.

Necromancer

• Reduced the range of the Freeze spell to 5 meters.
• Reduced the range of the Ice Shackle spell to 10 meters.
• Reduced the range of the Unholy Hands spell to 15 meters.
• Necromancers are only able to have one Frozen Hatred. Instead of a new Frozen Hatred spawning, the duration of the pet will increase by 60 seconds for every fatality. This is capped at 5 minutes. To visualize the duration, the Fronzen hatred will grow and shrink based on the time remaining. Larger means longer duration.
• Necromancers get a new spell from level 1 called "Frozen Hatred". This spell works like a stance applying a buff that persists over death and can be deactivated by casting it again. This buff needs to be active for the Frozen Hatred to appear when you or your group members do a fatality. This way necromancers can choose when they want these frozen giants to appear.
• Touch of Winter should now apply snare immunity when affecting players.
• Pets should now have out of combat health regeneration.

Priest of Mitra

• Reduced the range of the Eye of Judgment and Condemn spells to 5 meters.
• Reduced the range of the Repudiate spell to 10 meters.
• Removed the casting time of the Condemn spell. This spell will now apply its stun effect instantaneously.
• Reduced the cast time of Repudiate to 1 second.
• Repudiate will now follow the normal rules for crowd control breaking (breaks on % health loss instead of a % chance when taking damage).

Ranger

• Immolation should do a fire damage hit when executed, as intended.
• Traps have been given an overhaul, and should now behave more reliably.

Tempest of Set

• Reduced the range of the Cobra Stare spell to 5 meters.
• Reduced the range of the Quicksand, Visions of Hatred, and Puppets of Set spells to 10 meters.
• Reduced the range of the Thundering Voice spell to 15 meters.
• Thundering Voice should now properly interrupt the target of the spell.

PVP

General

• When a player is attacked guards will now attempt to protect this player, instead attempting to chase the aggressor.

Massive PvP

• Spellweaving players now properly get affected by knockback when getting hit by enemy siege weapons.

Minigames

• Hallowed Vaults: The direct passage from the center room to the flag rooms is now filled with Poisonous Gas. It's best to not stay in this area very long, as it can be hazardous to your health.
• Totem Torrent: Adjusted some collision walls to improve the gameplay flow.
• The amount of PvP XP in the minigames has been doubled. The amount of PvP XP rewarded will depend on the duration of the minigame.
• Capture the Skull: Guardians are now able to safely use their Last Stand ability while picking up and carrying the skull.
• It should now be more difficult to interrupt players that are picking up the skull.

RAIDS

• Kylikki and Leviathus now have a chance of dropping rare unique social pets. This is also the case with the new raid boss Thoth-Amon.

QUESTS

The following quests in Thoth-Amon's Stronghold have been removed:

• Traitors to Stygia
• Mizra's Lost Child
• So Speaks Mighty Set
• The Renegade Legion
• The Keeper of Artifacts
• Apostates of Acheron
• Appeasing Crazed Demons
• Heretics of Acheron

The following quest in Thoth-Amon's Stronghold has been changed:

• The Fall of Thoth-Amon