Age Of Conan Developer: WoW Is Losing Its Appeal

Age of Conan quest designer Joel Bylos believes people are getting tired of World of Warcraft.

While Bylos' claims are contradicted by the ridiculous profits still enjoyed by Blizzard thanks to their MMO, he cites a "feeling on the Internet" that people are now looking for something different from the genre.

Based on that sentiment, Bylos believes his game will succeed where so many other MMOs have failed. "I think one mistake a lot of people make is they design a game to be WoW and WoW was successful on its own two legs and that's what Conan is going to do," Bylos says.

While I can't say I agree with his assessment that World of Warcraft is losing its luster -- WoW could lose half of its population and still be the most successful MMO to date -- I wholeheartedly concur with his last point. Too many games try far too hard to beat Blizzard at their own game, yet almost no developers have the time or resources to compete on anything resembling an even-footing with them.

The only way to make a mark in the genre at this point is to create something new and inventive and hope players will respond to it. I'd love to see the Age of Conan developers create something drastically different yet compelling, but market forces have a way of forcing every MMO into being a WoW clone despite the best intentions of developers.

Age of Conan dev: Gamers tired of Warcraft [Videogamer.com]

Age of Conan - Video Preview

Theres a pretty cool preview video at Gametrailers with Jorgen Tharaldsen, Product Director for Fun Com, for Age of Conan. It shows a lot of in game footage as well as explains how the combat and PVP will be in the game. He also mentions the game will be available on Xbox360 for you console gamers.
Some highlights
Special fatality moves with keyboard/mouse combos
3 types of PVP

Capture the flag

Bar brawles

End game seige battles (guild vs guild)

Player built cities
Dedicated free for all PVP servers
Demon pets, even naked pets
“Of course tits” Mature MMO (his words not mine)

Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures

Age of Conan (commonly abbreviated as AoC) is a upcoming fantasy-themed massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) developed by Funcom for PC and the Xbox 360. Funcom has stated the release date is to be March 25, 2008, for the PC version with the Xbox 360 version to follow later in 2008. Age of Conan began internal beta testing in Summer 2006, and opened the beta registration process on April 3, 2007.

Hyborian Adventures is the first installment in the planned Age of Conan series that will include expansion packs hinted at on the official forums. The Age of Conan series is set in the Hyborian Age, a fantasy setting created by Robert E. Howard in 1932. Age of Conan itself takes place within the continent of the Hyborian kingdoms, a year after the events depicted in Howard's sole Conan novel, The Hour of the Dragon. Hyborian Adventures' release will celebrate the 76th anniversary of the Conan franchise.

There is also a slated Age of Conan Fantasy Battle Game in development by Mongoose Publishing and an Age of Conan Strategy Board Game published by Nexus Editrice.

In development since 2003, Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures is an upcoming online action role-playing game based on the Conan the Cimmerian stories written by Robert E. Howard in the early 1930s. The game is being developed for the PC and the Xbox 360 by Funcom, the creators of the science fiction MMORPG Anarchy Online and the critically-acclaimed adventure game The Longest Journey. While the game appears to be a traditional MMORPG, Funcom prefers using the term "online action RPG" instead.

When first entering the world of Hyboria, the game is divided into two sections: In the first section you can choose if you want to play alone or with other players. At night, the game is a single-player-experience, while at day it is a multiplayer-experience. Switching between the two is done by sleeping in an inn. This whole first part is done on an island called Tortage. When you reach level 20, you are allowed to leave the island and thus the second section takes the character created during the first portion to a whole new environment. The online world promises to be dynamic, as players may form guilds (player organizations), conquer territories and erect cities which are vulnerable to attacks by humanoid NPCs.

Originally the Tortage-part was going to be a full single-player-experience, but that has now been changed.

One of the primary attractions of Age of Conan is the "Real Combat" system, which promises greater player interaction during combat than previously seen in online role-playing games. The player is able to direct the swings of their character's weapon during combat to attack six separate target zones. Funcom has stated that this system will be easy to learn even for veteran MMORPG players who are used to "click and wait" combat; however, the specific details of this system have yet to be unveiled. In order to utilize the combat mechanics, the player will use 5 keys; 1, 2, 3, Q, and E. Other features will include battle formations, which impart bonuses to the group using them, and mounted combat, which will also use the "Real Combat" engine.

Funcom is focusing on developing content for the "end game," the time at which characters have reached maximum advancement, rather than the "grind" and promises a fast leveling process. Funcom has also promised the graphic nature of Robert E. Howard's short stories will not be toned down for the game and that they expect Age of Conan to receive an ESRB rating of Mature due to its content.