Below I will describe leveling builds. Where, what and when on AoE leveling.
Skills:
Renew Mana - Max every level.
Mana Attractor - Set to half of the max for every level.
Casting Consentration - 100. Only raise after when you get interrupted.
Climbing - Highest you will need is 600 that I have come across.
Hiding - 30 So you can hide from other players.
All other skills are personal refrence like Run Speed, Perception etc. Bandaging and Recovery are completely useless to Priests. Use potions if needed.
Gear while leveling:
Max Health - Gives you a health boost.
Max Mana - Increases your mana pool.
Wisdom/Magic Damage - Increases Damage from spells (Supposedly)
Mana/Health/Stam Regen - Increases the rate of regeneration to your Stam/Mana/Health.
While solo grinding make sure to use:
S - Solo
H - Healing
I - Is
E - Easier
L - Less
D - Damage
Use a Book/Staff when grouping and not taking any incoming damage from players or NPC's for better stats.
Nastal's AoE Feat Build:
I know there is many builds out there that are playable or may excell in one area or another. I prefer to speak upon my experience rather then the experience of others.
This is my level grinding build at level 80. Been AoE grinding with a mixture of quests since mid 40's. I have to say this has been very easy with practice. You will be grinding most of your levels post 50.
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Start in the Vengeance feat tree.
Vengeance:
10-14 Improved Smite
15-19 Cleansing Fire
20-23 Holy Vengeance
24-25 Revivication (2 points only)
26-28 Glowing Radiance
29 Searing Light (Wont be able to spend point untill level 30)
General:
30-33 Ether Flow
Divinity:
34-38 Lance of Mitra
39-42 Divine Lance
General:
43-44 Far-Reaching Spirit
45-47 Grace
48-51 Presence of Mind
Divinity:
52-56 Holy Accession
57 Clarity of Mind
58-61 Wrath of Mitra
62-64 Force of Will
65-67 Purification
68-70 Improved Repulse
70-74 Holy Surge
75-78 Overwhelming Light
79 Avatar of Mitra
80 Empowered Repulse
Here is what the build would look like at 80.
http://www.conanarmory.com/feat.aspx...ef16ef2e2f5ef7
This is ofcourse my opinion as of being level 80. I havent had any trouble grinding or PvP for that matter. Feel free to criticize my build or give constructive feedback.
Spell Rotation:
Smite > WoL > Repulse > Lance > Cleansed Fire > Radiance > Lance.
Leveling 1-80:
*Always try to select the instance with the least amount of people in your area. If you find your area crowded, change instances untill you find something more suitable. Also do quests. They are few later in the levels so enjoy them while you can.*
1-20: Tortage
Quest here, 1-5 is self explanitory. Once your in the Multiplayer part, start your destiny quests. If you happen to be below the required level to continue your destiny questline then I suggest going to Acheronian Ruins first then White Sands followed by underhalls last. I got to 20 before doing my final destiny quest.
20-24: Wild Lands of Zelata
You can get here by going to Old Tarantia and going to the SW gate. Pickup as many quests in town as you can then start knocking them out. AoE grinding isn't really needed as much before 35-45.
24-32: Conall's Valley
To get to here you need to go to Conarch Village in Cimmeria. If your leaving Wild Lands head back to Old Tarantia then use the West Gate to get to Conarch. Once in Conall Valley you will have a few quests you can pickup in Conarch for the beginning part of the zone. Optionable to skip these. You want to make your way to Cimmerian Settlement to start your quests. Also quest hubs are at Mountain Glade, Cascade Falls and Gravesinger gives a couple. You will find plenty of quests and a few elite quests for some decent gear to obtain.
32-35: Wild Landz of Zelata
After completing Conall Valley head back to Wild Lands, there is a slew of quests to get here again. You will be getting quests for Border Range aswell. I suggest completing every quest in Wild Lands before doing the Border Range quests. Before heading to Border Range make sure to pickup the quest from Fabio in Old Tarantia in the Market District. His chain leads to a Sanctum of Burning Souls quest.
35-36: Outflow Tunnels
After completing Wild Lands and Border Range you will have a couple quests to do in here. Its decent XP and the mobs arent too bad. Also you need to complete this for a Sanctum quest from Fabio. Also explore around to find the Sarcophogus it has a book on it that starts another Sanctum quest aswell.
*Optional* 35-37: Sanctum of the Burning Souls
You can get here in Wild Lands, after completing all of Border Range, Tesso and Zelata quests you should have quite a few quests here to do. You need to find a group for this instance and make sure everyone is atleast 35+.
*Optional* 35-40: Wild Lands of Zelata
The VERY NE part of the map there is Vanir Camps galore! You can get here by following the road North from the Lynx's, there is also a ressurection point up here. Great if you die you are still close to getting back into action. If you happen to run out of quests and dont want to go to Kopshef for questing then there is an extraordinary place to AoE grind here. Take some practice and alot of running but your constantly killing it seems. Took me about 2 1/2 hours to grind 35-40 out.
*Early 40's you can choose between two different zones. Field of the Dead or Tarantia Noble District.*
40-43: Field of the Dead
Directly connected with Conall Valley. Questhub at Crossroads, Foothills, Stream Bridge. Follow the quests here in this zone while leveling. Like I previously stated. Quest as much as you can they are few later in the levels.
43-45: Tarantia Noble District
You can get here by crossing the bridge in Old Tarantia from the Trade District. Alot of good quests you can do here. Some are bugged some are not. The bugged quests for killing the NPC's seem to work if you do them in "Epic Instanced" mode. Also start your arena chains. Your gonna wanna come back to finish at 54.
45-50: Field of the Dead
Directly connected with Conall Valley. Quest Hubs at Lookout Point and Stream Bridge. Doing these with a little mix of grinding should get you to 50 without any problems. Also don't forget to try and do the Death to the Vanir line. Decent XP and good blue reward at the end.
50-60: Eiglophian Mountains
Direct connected with Field of the Dead in the SE. Quest Hubs at Main Town, Hunting Lodge and a few around the roads as you travel. Can do some decent grinding in Cannibal Cave once your 52. Later in the levels you can grind out 60 in the Vanir Camps West of Hunting Lodge.
60-62: Thunder River
You can get here through Poltain. Quest Hubs in the town and across the adjacent bridges. Decent grinding on Cannibal Camps on the SouthEast part of the zone. Quest as much as possible.
62-72: Atzel's Approach
You can get here through Lachiesh Plains. Quest Hubs by Entrance and at the First Rez point. Quests will start becoming scarse. So you may have to grind some on one of the few camps I mention below on my AoE Hotspots section.
72-80: Keshetta
You can get here through Purple Lotus Swamp. A few quests to do here, although I suggest saving them for level 79. Can easily knock out half a level through the quests at 79. AoE grind alot here, look below on locations.
AoE Hotspots:
**When doing most of your AoE leveling. Its generally best to get a group together. Experience is still spectacular and you have more ability to control your area. If on PvE server, just hope the spots aren't taken already. Make sure to have the highest level apprentice everyone.**
My AoE Group Make-up.
We have yet to lose a spot unless swarmed by 80's. Keep HoT's stacked and Damage going and you will survive huge groups or another attacking group trying to take over your camp. WoL doesn't stack with other priests HoT's (Unless you outlevel your companions by 3+ levels) so only keep up Emanation of Life.
Priest of Mitra
Tempest of Set
Herald of Xotli
Gaurdian
Bear Shaman
Demonologist
Eiglophian Mountains
53-57: Cannibal Caves - Directly East of Hunting Lodge.
57-60: Vanir Camps - West of Hunting Lodge.
Atzel's Approach
60-65: Vanir Camps - Before Skammestein.
65-69: Vanir Camps - Skammestein.
69-73: Vanir Camps - Fortress.
Keshetta
73-76: Cohort Camp - SE of Entrance.
76-80: Death Master Camp - SE of Main Town.
Good Leveling Duo's:
Herald of Xotli - After enough practice the both of you can do well together for PvE and really well at PvP. They have good AoE from Hellfire Breath to compliment yours.
Tempest of Set - By far the best class to Duo with in my opinion. Whenever I have grouped with a ToS. We were able to clear camps 5x faster then I could solo. Also as a duo you are hard to kill unless you are extremely outleveled. Anyone 5+ and below in groups of 4 or less you should dominate.
Demonologist - Great AoE and a Damage Absorbtion shield. They kinda suck earlier in the levels but they really shine 40+.
Necromancer - Same as the Demonologist but takes a bit more dedication. Alot of people have been turned off by this class Because they are completely lackluster early in the levels. Necro's really compliment you well though later in the levels with all their minions to boost your stats.
Helpfull Links:
Conan Armory - Feat Calculators, Playefield Maps etc.
http://www.conanarmory.com
AoC Wiki - General Information about anything AoC. Great site.
http://www.wikiaoc.com/The-Age-of-Conan-Wiki
Curse Gaming - Customize your UI by getting UI Mod's here.
http://aoc.curse.com/
Level 80 Builds:
PvE Spec:
(Current spec for PvE Raiding).
http://www.conanarmory.com/feat.aspx...efe3f2ef3efef7
Divinity:
Lance of Mitra - Damage and Healing spell, very usefull for spike healing.
Divine Lance - Makes LoM heal on damage.
Sacred Lance - Improved range of the Healing radius effect from LoM.
Vengeance: Early talents arent as important so I'll start where it matters.
Glowing Radiance - +5% Melee/Ranged/Magic Damage when casting Radiance.
Revivication - Places EoL when your struck by melee attacks on yourself.
Guiding/Empowered Hand of Mitra - With more talents increased the duration of HoM to 12.5 seconds and makes it an instant cast spell.
Determination - Decreases the casting time of all your CC spells allowing you to get that CC spell off faster.
Relentless Faith - Increases the duration of your CC/Debuff and HoM spells.
Immortal Spirit - Key talent in PvE raiding, Increases your EoL from 13 to 20 seconds and WoL from 20 to 30 seconds, allowing more time for DPS in between keeping your HoT's up.
General:
Ether Flow - Increased Mana Regeneration, very needed to maintain a healthy mana pool.
Far-Reaching Spirit - Gives your Radiance spell a +2 Meter range.
Spirit Armor - Increased your base stats to +3% for melee damage.
Guiding Spirit - Makes WoL recast time go away, allowing you to spam heal this spell.
Presence of Mind - Makes your Radiance spell Instant with no casting time. In clutch situation 1.5 seconds could mean to death or life of yourself or your tank.
PvP Spec:
http://www.conanarmory.com/feat.aspx...cf2ef5ef2ef2ef
Divinity:
I have found the Divinity Tree to be more PvP oriented deeper in the tree than Vengeance. The above build Maximizes your DPS while giving you some key abilities for survival. Don't underestimate the power of Avatar of Mitra, a AoE stun that lasts for 5 seconds allowing your to get a free repulse on anyone effected by the stun.
Vengeance:
Holy Vengeance is the key feat here, while Cleansed Fire and Revivication are just helpfull spells. Holy Vengeance when stacked with Wrath of Mitra, Exemplar basically increases your Holy damage by 150.
General:
Ether flow/Far-Reaching Spirit/Spirit Armor/Presence of Mind are all longevity and survivability talents for PvP environments. Exemplar and Vengeance of the Gods are your damage modifiers for bursting down your enemy.
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
AoC: PoM Guide to Leveling 1-80
Thursday, May 15, 2008
AoC: The Video Emotes Guide
Age of Conan Hyborian Adventures has a large assortment of emotes for players to have fun with. To make learning these emotes easier Ten Ton Hammer has established an emotes video guide for you to become familiar with these fun little emotes in-game. We have listed the commands for each emote below and attached a short video to each to give you a preview of them. Just click below to view your chosen emote. You can also pull up a shortcut list in-game by typing /emote and pressing Tab two times.
/emote afraid
/emote amused
/emote angry
/emote applaud
/emote apprehensive
/emote approve
/emote ashamed
/emote bearhug
/emote beckon
/emote beg
/emote blowkiss
/emote bow
/emote burningman
/emote burp
/emote bycrom
/emote bymitra
/emote byset
/emote cheer
/emote chicken
/emote clap
/emote combhair
/emote confused
/emote cough
/emote crossarms
/emote cry
/emote curse
/emote curtsey
/emote disagree
/emote disappointed
/emote disgusted
/emote dismiss
/emote drink
/emote embarrassed
/emote embrace - (Coming Soon)
/emote emphasize
/emote formalgreeting
/emote frustrated
/emote gigolo
/emote greet
/emote grin
/emote haggle
/emote hi
/emote horizon
/emote hugefish
/emote irritated
/emote kneel
/emote laugh
/emote laughheartily
/emote lightheaded
/emote lookaround
/emote lowembrace
/emote mediumfish
/emote ovation
/emote play - (Coming Soon)
/emote point
/emote pointback
/emote pointdown
/emote pointleft
/emote pointright
/emote pointup
/emote ponder
/emote poundchest
/emote pumpleftfist
/emote pumprightfist
/emote pushaway
/emote rude
/emote sad
/emote salute
/emote scared
/emote scout
/emote scratcharm
/emote scratchhead
/emote shakehead
/emote shocked
/emote shoo
/emote sigh
/emote slitthroat
/emote smallfish
/emote social_expression_suspicios
/emote stop
/emote surprise
/emote sway
/emote tantrum
/emote think
/emote thirsty
/emote toast
/emote track
/emote uneasy
/emote vixen_worship (Coming Soon)
/emote vomit
/emote warn
/emote wary
/emote waveaway (Coming Soon)
Sunday, May 11, 2008
Age of Conan Race Guide
Races
Upon the launch of Age of Conan users will be able to create a character in three different races known as Aquilonians, Cimmerians and Stygian. Players will be able to roam by themselves or with their allies meeting both other online users and computer controlled people. Unlike the typical MMORPG, Age of Conan doesn't have dwarves, elfs or any other typical types of race. Each of the three races have their own advantages and disadvantages in each type of class. Cimmerians are known for their skills with a blade while Stygian's are known for their magical capabilities so picking your race carefully is a key aspect as it will help or hinder what class you might choose.
Aquilions- Their kingdom called "Flower of the west" is the jewel of Hyboria. It is a land with vast cities, great wealth, with a highly enlightened culture. Although any faith is free from oppression, Aquilionia is a land where the cultures class and chaos is always ensuing. Unlike other races, an Aquilonian is a character with not many stereotypical features which some users will like. Many people compare the Aquilonian's to the Romans because of their high regard for structure and their highly cultured state. Unlike in Cimmeria where strength is respected and war is in the blood, in Aquilonia scholars are held in high regard and the people are cultured and well educated. 
Cimmerians- If a user's favorite type of play is to charge in out numbered with blades swinging then the Cimmerian's might be a race for you. Cimmeria is a barbaric nation that is in a constant state of war between feuding tribes on this cold and rugged terrain. Crom is the acknowledge God of Cimmeria and it is told that Cimmerian's believe that at birth Crom gives them the strength they will need to face life and deal with its struggles. Cimmerian's pride themselves on surviving on their own by killing with hands or weapons and they don't rely on mysterious abilities for anything. As a Cimmerian, players will be able to dwell into three out of the four archetypes namely, Soldier, Priest and Rogue. 
Stygians- Stygians are ancient people who were born from a culture 1500 years before any other race. Stygian's are mysterious and have great magical ability which makes this race perfect for anyone who enjoys casting magic and attacking from afar. A stygian may also take on the role of a rogue whose job it is to sneak in and grab goodies from all of the upper castles. Stygians are a diverse group of people who can take may different roads of life and players will find a ton of fun and unique opportunities. Stygia is split up into three hereditary casters called "The Nobility", "The Aristocracy" and "The Peasant". The noble caste is very few and far between in this age rarely being seen in big cities or traveling around. Some are known to even spend their entire lives in contemplation in their estates. These tall, black haired and hawk-nosed Stygians are the true ruling power of the realm and provides the scholars and teachers who take care of the kingdoms many temples and libraries. The Peasant caste is there to serve the Aristocracy and to please their God Set and even a minor infraction can result in a brutally horrifying death. Due to their disdain for gruesome weapons, Stygians are more civilized, educated and enlighten folk more focused on their heightened magical ability. For this reason, the Stygians are the ONLY race that is open to the Mage archetype while also making the Soldier Archetype unavailable to Stygian users.
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
Age of Conan beta guide: The priests
Continuing our examination of the spellcasting classes in Age of Conan, today we're going to investigate the situation with the priest archetype. As with all of the archetypes in AoC, there are three choices when it comes to the priests: Bear Shaman, Tempest of Set, and Priest of Mitra. We'll give a rundown of the three of these during the early stages of the game, go over some of their class-defining spells, and stack them up in head-to-head comparisons after the break.Before talking about any healer in particular, one thing that is important to mention is that all healing spells are only half as potent for the caster themselves. If you start playing a healer, and then worry that the sort of numbers you're seeing on yourself won't keep a group up, remember that it's doubled if you're healing others.
Another thing worth bringing up is that healing spells in general aren't too outstanding until you get to at least the higher teens, when things start to get a little better. Finally, we haven not included values for our spell lists, as most of them scale depending on level. The comparison section at the bottom of the page will examine similar spells across classes.
Bear Shaman
The Bear Shaman is the priest that is the furthest removed from being an actual caster. Its offensive abilities are in the form of melee combos, not spells like its other priestly counterparts. The only melee weapon type that the Bear Shaman can use is the two-handed blunt variety, which gives you some idea of the intended play-style -- to get right in the thick of the battle and pummel heads off. The ability to wear Medium Armor helps them to sustain more of a beating when they're on the front line as well.
Just because the Bear Shaman is proficient in melee does not mean that its healing suffers, however. The Bear Shaman uses two heal-over-time spells, and has another direct heal that can be used every so often. After getting past the lower levels where heals aren't too good, the two HoT's combined are usually enough to keep the Shaman healthy, even during multiple-mob pulls.
Early Spells:
Healing/Buffing
Renewal: Next melee attack triggers a healing effect on the group, instant cast
Blood Flow: Powerful heal-over-time spell, 0.5 second cast time
Fierce Recovery: Powerful direct heal for the group, cannot be healed by this spell more than once a minute
Claws of Stone: Increased slashing/crushing/piercing/poison resistance, enemies attacking you have a chance of becoming more resistant to attacks
Spirit of the Bear: Maximum hp buff
Spirit Totem: Feral: Increases natural (in-combat) hp, stamina and mana regeneration Grizzled Hide: Increases defense rating Utility/Offense
Note that the majority of a Bear Shaman's offense is in the form of melee combos, not spells.
Awakening: Used to revive players Ursine Crush: Stuns mobs around the player Ferocious Smack: Instant knockback
Tempest of Set
The Tempest is defined early on by the crack of lightning that you'll see coming out of them over and over again, as groups of mobs are relentlessly AoE'd down. It has a focus on quick and deadly kills, and it's just as well because survivability isn't a really strong point for them while their heals are still not very useful at lower levels. Unlike the Bear Shaman, the strongest armor they can use is Light Armor, and they don't have a lot of hitpoints, so there's not too much room for error when planning multiple-mob pulls during the first 20 levels.
This changes somewhat when healing really kicks in later. The ToS has two HoT's, and a direct heal as well, like the bear shaman. When the values for healing scale better, after the Tortage area, the survivability of the ToS goes up. They're still not intended to be the recipient of too much beating. They have some buffs to make things better, and even at the lowers levels you can see that they have some useful utility spells to even up the playing field.
Early Spells:
Healing/Buffing
Healing Lotus: A heal-over-time spell of moderate strength, 1.8 second cast time
Life of Set: A strong heal-over-time spell, 0.5 second cast time
Vitalizing Jolt: A direct heal, 1.5 second cast time, cannot be healed by it more than once a minute
Mark of Set: Maximum hp buff Set's Armor: Increases defense rating
Degradation of Set: Lightning Strike, Call Lightning and Storm Field make the target more susceptible to electrical damage. Costs mana every tick to have this buff on. Utility/Offense
Lightning Strike: AoE electrical damage, 20m range, 3m radius
Charged Blast: Quick-casting electrical damage spell, 7 second recast
Quicksand: AoE root, 20m range, 6m radius, 1.5 second cast time
Cobra Stare: 5-second stun, 20m range, 45 second recast
Spark of Life: Used to revive players
Priest of Mitra
The last of the three priests. Similar to the ToS, the PoM spends a lot of early levels spamming one spell, in this case Smite. It is surprisingly strong, and when backed up later on with a few other spells, it is fairly easy to get through some tougher pulls. Their survivability early on does seem better than the ToS, but we'll discuss that more in a bit.
As for healing, the PoM has 2 HoT's and a direct heal -- noticing a trend? The PoM also has buffs, and can become immune to all forms of damage for a short time. For the early levels that we're comparing, a lot of the crowd control that the PoM will have is not available yet, but the extremely handy Repulse spell does have a good knockback on it.
Early Spells:
Healing/Buffing
Emanation of Light: Moderate strength heal-over-time spell, 2.5 second cast time
Wave of Life: Strong heal-over-time spell, 0.5 second cast time
Radiance: Direct heal, with the same 1 minute debuff stopping it from healing you again Divine Vigor: Maximum hp buff Shielding Litany: Increases defense rating Utility/Offense
Smite: Holy damage on target, 20m range, 2.5 second cast time
Rebuke: Quick-casting holy damage, 18m range, 0.5 second cast time, small recast timer Repulse: A cone knockback that deals heavy damage, 2.5 second cast, 15 second recast.
Hand of Mitra: Grants immunity from all forms of damage to the caster, 4 second duration, 5 minute recast
Reincarnation: Used to revive players
Comparison
It's plainly obvious when comparing these three that one class is vastly different. The Bear Shaman does not play very much like a caster at all -- you put on your 1 hour buffs, and then the only casting you'll really do is to use your HoT's before a fight. From there it's mostly melee combos with the occasional heal, and thus, the BS is far removed in play-style from the other two priests.
The Priest of Mitra and Tempest of Set feel like pure casters. People wanting that play experience and to play a priest will be tossing up between these two. So what makes the PoM seem to have better survivability early on, even with the ToS' powerful Lightning Strike? For one thing, while they each have an hp buff, the PoM's gives about twice as much hp at the same level -- but they don't end up too far apart in terms of total hp. Part of the PoM's advantage could be the Repulse spell, which is extremely damaging, and the knockback gives a chance to get off a few spells without taking hits.
Having said this, the Tempest is perfectly capable of surviving these lower levels, it may just take a bit more ingenuity. The Quicksand root can be used while groups are running back to you, or point blank while fighting so that you can step back and avoid being hit by extra mobs. Also, the Tempest's AoE killing capabilities will become more pronounced as levels increase. This is an area in which the PoM cannot compete with the ToS.
In closing, we'll say that although you may be picking a healer with these three classes, don't expect heals to get you out of too much in the whole Tortage area. Potions are usually adequate at this stage of the game to keep most classes alive, but they don't scale as well later on, whereas heals do. If you're starting out and think healing in AoC sucks, try to get to at least level 20 and see if your opinion changes.
Age of Conan beta guide: An early game audio/video tour
Below the cut, we have a series of videos showing footage from early in your game experience. Join us as we walk through the first moments of a new character's life, and make sure to check back for all of our Beta guide content!
Age of Conan beta guide: The mages
We've given you some hands-on impressions from our time with Age of Conan's mages from the Gamespot PvP weekend, but over the past few days we've had a chance to play these classes in the beta proper. Unfortunately, due to some unforeseen (and very trying) performance issues that were out of our control, our finely crafted plans of digging deep into these classes were viciously assassinated like a Necromancer in Age of Conan's PvP.
That didn't stop us from prying further information on the Herald of Xotli, Demonologist and Necromancer classes. So if you'd like the expanded low-down on these magic-manipulating mages, read on!
Herald of Xotli
The more you play a Herald of Xotli the more you realize how much in common the class has with fighters instead of magic casters. While this may be a Mage Archetype, the HoX is definitely more of a fighter than any other magic-based class with exception to the Bear Shaman.
So you might be wondering what the big difference is between the HoX and any of the martial combat classes offered. It comes from being able to unleash your combos alongside spells, as they tend to work off of each other in a specific way. For instance, the Molten Steel Slash combo will cause your target to take more damage from fire magic, which means you'll want to unleash some nasty Hellfire Breath afterwards.
Of course, the big trump card that Herald of Xotli players have is their demonic transformations, which turn them into killing machines for several seconds. Anyone can hit a button to take on demonic form, but to become an efficient Herald of Xotli, players have to know when to activate the transformation spell. Originally, we were using the transformation during battle, this led to a couple deaths. There's a cast time associated with using Desecrating Esence, so if you need to use it in an upcoming fight then activating it beforehand is a better choice.
Desecrating Essence - This is your demonic transformation spell, which is attained at level 5. It has a 1.5 second casting time, a 25 second duration and a two minute cooldown. During the course of being transformed, a player gains improved health and fire damage.
Hellfire Breath - The Herald of Xotli starts out with this very useful ability. While combat is always an options, this fire-based cone attack is extremely effective at dispatching enemies. An instant cast, this spell lasts for 2.5 seconds and has a 2 second recharge that makes it easy to use repeatedly. The actual duration and recast of Hellfire Breath seem like they could be tweaked before launch, though.
Molten Steel Slash - A Two-Handed Edged upper-right side combo, this attack has high damage with the added benefit of making your target more susceptible to fire damage.
Hell Strikes I - A Two-Handed Edged mid combo that's simply a powerful attack, good for chaining though.
Slam - Your basic knockback attack that works well as a finishing move.
Sweep - Standard starting combo that hits the upper-right side of an enemies shields. Every melee class starts out with this combo.
Necromancer
Do you like the smell of an undead minion on a hot, musky day? If you do, then there must be something wrong with you because zombies smell terrible, especially in 109 degree heat. Besides, Necromancers are all about ice and unholy magic in Age of Conan.
The first thing to know is that Necromancer pets do not hold aggro, which bears repeating -- so we're going to repeat ourselves. Your pets are essentially animated DoT (damage over time) spells and basically useless. As if this wasn't disappointing enough, there's no way to macro pet controls to your keyboard. Funcom wants all their players to click tiny little buttons just above the left end of your hot bar. Yeah, we're pretty sure that's not going to be a problem at all in PvP.
So you might be asking: If Necromancer's aren't really much of a pet class, then what are they? Well, the truth is that the Necromancer is the most pet-orientated class out of all classes in AoC. However, that doesn't mean your primary concern isn't lots of deadly spell slinging -- because it completely is that.
Knowing how to manipulate your pets into being slightly more effective in battle will definitely help, but expect to pretty much be a straight-up nuker with semi-useless pets if you play a Necromancer in AoC.
Undead Minion: Mutilater - This is your first pet summon and thus your most basic, it takes three seconds to cast. These lovely and sometimes-disgusting pets are slicers and dicers who deal bleeding damage that can build up over time.
Frenzy - One of your undead minions grows in size and receives improved attacks. This will allow that pet to actually pull aggro for a short while, as they normally can't cause any aggro whatsoever. Pets are unable to be healed "normally" in this state, whatever that means.
Vile Insight - A three-second cast time spell that buffs you for one hours, giving a plus one to Unholy Specialization at rank one.
Flesh to Worms - An Unholy DoT spell that takes one second to cast and does 13-18 points of damage over seven seconds at rank one.
Pestilential Blast - An Unholy direct damage spell that takes two and a half seconds to cast. It causes 12-20 points of damage.
Demonologist
From what we've seen so far there isn't much difference between this class and the Necromancer, aside from their spell-types and pet styles. Many would argue that the Demonologist pet is largely useless, as most -- if not all -- of what the Demonologist does is simply nuking targets with lots of lightning and fire spells.
To be honest, it feels like the pet this class summons is largely cosmetic. Beyond the fact that the Demonologist is probably the best DPS (damage per second) class in the game right now, there isn't much more to the class. We have to admit that we're feeling a bit discouraged about both the Necromancer and the Demonologist as they both feel very much alike. This is a problem that we certainly hope Funcom fixes before or soon after launch.
There is a chance that Spellweaving could change up the way that the two spell-heavy mage classes play. However, as of right now Funcom hasn't added that feature into the beta. So we'll just have to wait and see how that system plays out once released.
Infernal Knowledge - An hour long buff that takes three seconds to cast. It will increase Fire Specialization by 0.8 during the time it remains in effect.
Whispers of War - This is a buff spell that increases the attack rating of the caster and their allies, lasts one hour and takes three seconds to cast.
Fires of Gehenna - A direct damage spell that takes 2 seconds to cast and causes 42-70 points of fire damage.
Hellfire Stream - A quick-casting direct damage spell that causes 18-30 points of fire damage. Waves of Flame - Fire-based cone spell that must be channeled. Currently the game doesn't give exact stats for its damage.
Age of Conan beta guide: Your first steps in Hyborea
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
Age of Conan Classes Guide
Age of Conan Class System
Unlike other MMORPG's users don't pick a specific class at the intial character creation screen. Instead users pick specific height, size, shape and other bodily features to go along with the gender and race of the desired character. At level five players choose a specific archtype that fall into the categories of Soldier, Mage, Priest, and Rogue. Each Archtype bring specific advantages and disadvantages along with archtype specific moves. Once players really get intuned with the game and achieve a level of 20 they are able to choose one of several classes that fall under their chosen Archtype. One interesting is that not every race can choose every class in the given archtype so choose carefully when you create your character as to not hinder you from choosing your favorite class. The list of classes in the archtype are as follows.
Soldier
Guardian
Conquerer
Dark Templar
Priest
Priest of Mitra
Scion of Set
Druid of the Storm
Bear Shaman
Rogue
Barbarian
Assassin
Ranger
Mage
Lich
Necromancer
Herald of Xotili
Demonologist