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According to the latest community update at the official forums, two FC German-speaking community heads - Tarib and Waldgeist - are visiting Role Play Convention in Cologne, Germany, this weekend. Check their sneaky ROTGS presentation schedule in this handy pdf timetable (and don't worry if you don't see it there, they might be preparing some nice surprise while at the convention). Also, devs confirm that ROTGS entered final stage of its development, you know, polishing, introducing new bugs etc.. Read the official announcement below:
The expansion machine is in full swing now. Every department from developers over QA to marketing is working hard on the final tweaks, polishing, testing and PR. This week we invited thousands of new players into the expansion beta for the final steps of testing. This is a very exciting and important point in development and is crucial to the final stages we entered now with the expansion. Soon the gates to Khitai will open!
We are also working on another update to fix some of the remaining issues that came with Update 1.07 and 1.07.1. This also includes getting the Offline Character Progression System ready for the live servers. The issues encountered with this new feature after Update 1.07.1 have been nailed down and our coders are working to get them fixed. It might well be that there will be another update next week or the week after. We will let you know as soon as we have the details.
And for those of you living in Germany or close by ... this weekend, Tarib and Waldgeist will be at the RPC (Role Play Convention http://www.rpcgermany.de) in Cologne, Germany to present the Rise of the Godslayer expansion on several stages. So if you planned to go to the RPC, make sure you catch one of these presentations.
Don't forget to book your train ticket to Cologne (K�ln), and too bad if the Icelandic smoke cloud prohibits you from visiting - if you're into true roleplay, cosplay and LARPing this is THE place to be!
Funcom has announced the first tests of their new CS support system via Live Chat. So far it's working for account related issues and problems, not actual in-game stuff, but the expedience of the problem solutions (should there be any) more than makes up for the limited scope. Here's what Tarib had to say on the matter:
Customer Support is testing a new feature which will allow players to contact a CS representative for account issues over a Live Chat option (text chat). The idea is to provide players with a fast and easy to handle tool to get answers and solutions for account related questions and topics. The goal is to answer customers over this tool within a few minutes.
Please note that all in-game issues still need to be reported over either the in-game petition tool or by mail to support@ageofconan.com (or tech@ageofconan.com for technical issues). Only account related topics will be handled over the Live Chat option.
We encourage all our players to try out this new option during the initial testing phase that has started now. During the testing, support over Live Chat is provided in English only and is available from 15:00 to 0:00 GMT (11am to 8pm EST // 17:00 to 02:00 CEST). You find the button to start a Live Chat session on the billing pages at https://register.ageofconan.com. Please note that the button is only visible during the hours mentioned above.
We also would like to mention that there will be a survey sent to you by e-mail after every Live Chat support session. Customer Support is relying on your feedback to make sure any point that needs addressed is taken care of. So by filling out the survey you can help improve the process and the service to make sure it will fit your needs and expectations.
Please remember that this is the first testing phase of the new Live Chat feature so please be patient in the beginning. But we are confident that with your help and feedback, we will get this new service ready and in place very soon.
Don't worry if you don't yet (or already) see the button - as FC states, it's only the first trial run of the system and it'll be tweaked further in the coming weeks. Here's hoping you'll never actually have to use it while adventuring in Hyboria!
Bryan the Necromancer strikes again! Fifth part of the Roleplayin' adventures by The Outer Rim Productions, involves finally learning about the mysterious ANOMALY, a guy who can teleport back to the place he was killed in seconds. This one is... epic! Watch it now!
Bryan and his friends seek information on the Anomaly
Just in case you were wondering, there's never more than one or two guys in those scenes (apparently). Bryan the Necromancer explains how this is possible in the cute Machinima editing video below. It'll teach you how to position characters properly, blend or crop two steadycam shots and how to merge the steadycam footage so that minute differences are not visible after the post-production. A must-see for every AOC Machinima fan or creator!
This smaller post-1.07 update brings with it Offline Character progression, a feature designed to get rid of the alt-grinding, PVP minigames quest changes, and a nice set of improvements to the Thoth-Amon's raiding. In addition, buggy or mis-implemented GUI changes from 1.7 have been also corrected. Check the full notes below:
New Feature � Offline Character Progression With this new feature you will get additional levels gained over time that can be allocated to characters in the character selection screen if you wish. It is designed to earn and allocate additional levels to gain over time even while being offline and it�s only available to put on characters that are at least level 30. The progression will not be so huge that it will make it unnecessary to actually play that character but it gives a nice little bonus even during times when you are on holiday or have to take a break from playing. This offline character progression feature is not available to Trial players.
-Unfortunately, this feature has been removed once more since people found an exploit and gained too many levels too fast. The feature will be bundled with another 1.7 update before ROTGS. See the official forums - here
Raids - Thoth-Amon�s Stronghold * The Keeper of Artifacts: fixed an issue which sometimes caused this encounter to crash.
* Storm Magus: Living Thunderstorm should now correctly display as a world particle.
* Hathor Ka�s health has been slightly reduced.
* Thoth-Amon�s pets Overlord, Havoc and Obliterator now have correct collision.
Classes - Demonologist * Inferno of Amher and Shockblast will now critically hit like they are supposed to when you have the Hand of Doom spellweaving buff.
PvP * Campaign badges now show the proper icon.
Minigames * Minigame quests should no longer get resolved if the other team leaves.
* Capture the Skull: Fixed an issue with the skull interaction that could cause players to interrupt themselves.
Massive PvP * Destroyed buildings will now revert to their location objects after 30 seconds. This should improve client performance. Please keep in mind that buildings can not be rebuilt while a siege is in progress.
NPCs/Mobs * The Gem Appraiser in Old Tarantia will now accept more than one Emerald of Zath�s Venom during the same conversation.
GUI * You will now get feedback during logout regarding the progress of your preferences being saved. Logout will still be possible, even if saving your preferences should fail for any reason.
* Fixed an issue with Group Invites which sometimes didn�t show the invitation accept window to a player.
* World Map: Waypoint labels will no longer show when zooming out far on the world map. This should provide better overview by showing less text on the map.
* Some strange text messages in the trader window have been fixed so they should now show correctly again.
Guild Renown * Changed the description of one of the Renown level 5 rewards to better explain what the horse vendor actually sells.
Quests * A Mistress Held Tightly: San-Mi the Lurk should now correctly spawn every time.
We're continuing to show the weekly renown rankings from CROM, the biggest PVE General server in AOC and provide a brief commentary on the guilds' progress/regress. You can also check numerical stats for current week globally at the official AOC Online Guild Rankings site, http://guilds.ageofconan.com/
Weekly Summary
Tenth week of Renown rankings was quite slow... at first glance. Totals show rock-steady positions held top 5 guilds, with total numbers slightly off compared to last week (by ca. 2 mil in case of no.1 guild). Usual suspects proved themselves worthy once again, with AmbrosiA, Band of Brothers and Carnage firmly at the forefront of all CROM events. One look beneath the frozen exterior proves that there's been a struggle - skirmish, considering the pure numbers - between some of the server's most ardent PVPers and PVErs, and even crafters. While actual changes there usually amounted to one-two spot drops or increases, Valor (PVE) had shown definite shifts in power, in favor of BoB and AmbrosiA, but deteriorating CRO guild and Brothers of Arms positions.
This week is also the first time since the introduction of the Renown system that the guild with less than 100 members managed to climb into the top 10; White Castle is both a runner-up and a promising achievement in PVP this week. This is due to mechanics of both PVP (in which said guild excelled judging by the numbers... or NOT, considering BORI farming really requires only co-ordination and timing, not actual fighting skills) and the way Renown is collected for Rankings purposes (only top 50 active people are considered, and with 49 members this guild, it seems, has been created entirely for the purpose of rankings domination). At only renown level 2, White Castle sets a perfect example of how a little creativity can go a long way when playing the system :D - or, and it's also a possibility, how some great players can band together and fight it out against the "big boys".
Numbers Speak
In pure numbers, Valor has increased by almost 30% this week, marking an increase in server-wide PVE activity. An even greater increase in pure Glory numbers, however, simply means that some guilds managed to dominate Border Kingdoms C.E. to farm BORI in peace, or perhaps took advantage of the new minigame PVP quests. In terms of crafting, there's been a smaller (yet noticeable) decrease in activity, with 4mil pts decrease on last week among the top 3 guilds. The server, it seems, enters the stabilized Artistry vs. Valor state finally (after more than 3 months of intense fighting over simple ranking domination). Addition of Bori shrines and PVP exp increases means that we'll see some more Glory contests (even on this PVE server) for a while longer.
See the details and screenshots below!
Total Renown rankings for Week 10, CROM EU, April 4 - April 10, 2010
VALOR, ARTISTRY and GLORY Renown rankings for Week 10, CROM EU, April 4 - April 10, 2010
Rankings summary:
TOP 3 TOTAL RENOWN GAINED:
AmbrosiA (598 members - 43 more) - 35.8 million points (no change, down by 1.2 mil pts)
Band Of Brothers (431 members - 1 less) - 28.1 million points (no change but down by 7.2 million pts, you're slacking off guys!)
Carnage (510 members - 11 more) - 27.6 million points (no change, up by 3.8 mil pts, great job guys!)
TOP 3 VALOR RENOWN GAINED:
Band Of Brothers (431 members - 1 less) - 12.8 million points (up by 3, bravo!)
AmbrosiA (598 members - 43 more) - 12.4 million points (up by 7, impressive! That's why you're no.1 in totals, then!)
CRO Guild (664 members - 29 more) - 11.6 million (down by 2, you're losing momentum guys!)
TOP 3 GLORY RENOWN GAINED:
Tainted Souls (466 members - 20 less) - 10.8 million points (no change, 4.1 mil more pts, but still not enough for Totals position!)
The Unforgiven (302 members - 11 more) - 8.6 million points (up by 1, replaces EzO)
{EzO} Circle of Eternity (294 members - 34 less) - 7.1 million points (down by 1, dropping 2nd week in a row despite earning so much more glory!)
TOP 3 ARTISTRY RENOWN GAINED:
AmbrosiA (598 members - 43 more) - 24.1 million points (no change for 2nd week in a row, 6.3 mil pts less but solid position!)
Carnage (510 members - 11 more) - 19.2 million points (up by 1, struggled with BoB - 2.6 mil pts more on last week)
Band Of Brothers (431 members - 1 less) - 15.4 million points (dethroned by AmbrosiA last week, pushed back further by Carnage this week, 11 mil pts less - you're losing guys!)
This week's Winners:
There were no huge winners this week, despite the struggles in Valor, Glory and Artistry. While there were significant jumps ahead in Valor by BoB and AmbrosiA, those 2 guilds are firmly in top 3 anyway, so no surprises here.
This week's Runners-up:
{EzO} Circle of Eternity managed to climb 7 spots in Artistry, while at the same time only dropping one spot in Glory. This suggests that the guys are now experimenting with diverse activities and are likely to reach out further. If they also manage to get their grip on Valor, they could pose serious threat down the line in Totals, despite still being 6th there at the moment. White Castle, mentioned above, is firmly using game's mechanics to their advantage, insofar as Renown gathering is concerned. Whatever the source of their high score in Glory, it's still a pretty cool achievement - guilds ten times the size of theirs, with continued activities in all fields may be unable to keep up with their pace. Size doesn't matter then, after all! Kudos White Castle, and best of luck {EzO} Circle of Eternity!
Check back with AOCVault in a week for new Rankings rundown and commentary, check http://guilds.ageofconan.com/ for the official continuous rankings per server and globally to check how well (or badly) your guild has done in comparison to guilds on other servers!
Street dates and prices known for Age of Conan: Rise of the Godslayer Expansion!
Just yesterday devs confirmed that ROTGS enters the final stage of development and a semi-open betatesting began for all active 6/12 month subscribers, as well as to additional invitees. In light of that, new street-dates and prices set out for the Expansion in retail seem to be final. You can already order the Expansion (DVD/download) at Amazon.de (for English or German copies) or Play.com (for UK and International copies).
At Amazon.De (EN/DE) ROTGS can be bought for EUR26,99 and street-date is May 11, 2010
At Play.com UK (EN/UK) ROTGS can be purchased for GBP 17,99 and retails on May 14, 2010.
In both cases pricing and dates might be changed, but we're hoping at least availability dates won't be pushed back :D. In the meantime, don't forget to check out our Aggregate ROTGS info page with all current media and infos on the Expansion gathered in one spot!
Update 7 is already well-established on all servers, and according to devs (see the official forums thread) FC were happy with the direction Bori PVP points to, but admit they're thinking already on some changes to PVP sets&Bori; tokens. But what about the community and overall current feedback on the 'not-so-dynamic' PVP content? Check a few choice comments below:
Bori is not impressed with pvp! That is right: the freaking god of war rewards the humble ones that do not spill innocent blood.
Allow me to elaborate: pvp slows your gathering, god forbid if you die and drop precious resources.
If you are attacked "guerilla style" by 2-3 guys then just get togehter, track them down with ranger and kill off. But what if you face equal or bigger group? Damn, guess you will have to bring more people. That means: less tokes, less xp.
The conclusion is: not doing pvp is an ideal scenario where you can farm tokes at optimal rate. FUN? That's Bori for ya!
Joyooze says that he likes the Shrines, but it's... "too easy to make fun of them". Take a look at a typical "day at the shrines" shown in his video:
The community is definitely somewhat polarized by the new content, but the voiced opinions in the negative prevail. Take a look at some of the quotes from this thread:
Bottom line: collaborating and taking turns is *BY FAR* the optimal way of getting tokens, in the long run, unless there's more than 4 different groups in the zone.
So yes, the players are indeed "gaming the system" by choosing to not pvp. However they are not "descending to a suboptimal routine" by doing that; quite the contrary. It is simply impossible to gain tokens faster by fighting than it is by cooperating. And this can't seriously be considered a design goal of any pvp system. -by Magnus LL
There is still "old" PvP content (probably everyone is bored by playing it for almost two years...) and no one is forcing you to gain tokens and new gear. It is not a race, you dont have to be first, you cant win in this game. You can wait (not like those transffering/farming ppl) and eventually you will get what you want.-by Bandytaz
Before you join the fuming and raging about the feature's perceived lack of incentive for PVP, also consider the following statement on the issue by Craig Sillirion himself:
I think that is exactly what the information I posted from Ilaliya earlier in the thread addressed. While we always try to create systems that have as many controls, and incentives as possible. We can't completely control the way that players approach it.
Is it a perfect objective based system? No, probably not, I'd be hesitant to claim a 'perfect' system was possible. It is a feature set that provides opportunities to players to engage in the activity should they choose to, or should they personally decide the rewards are worth it.
Trust me, we would love to be able to develop any system (PVP or otherwise, although PVP does usually prove tougher) that kept everyone happy in every way. Alas, it's usually more about providing the best possible frame-work within which the players can find their path. The opportunity for the open-world conflict is there.
So what do you think? Is there room for non-competitive, "cold war"-style PVP (which doesn't involve actual skirmishing) in modern day AOC? Is simple opportunity (i.e., nothing forced) to attack enough to make the players fight it out in FFA PVP? Join the discussion!
Alicia Williams of the Angry Guild Leader, a unique view on gaming and a community blog, has just published her own review of the Hyborian Age viewed by a "returnee". There's been a lot of positive buzz around the game for a while now, so don't hesitate to try the game out - with massive changes to every single meaningful aspect of the game it's getting better every day. Check back at Angry Guild Leader for an in-depth comment on the veteran player's Return to Hyborea Hyboria!
We're continuing to show the weekly renown rankings from CROM, the biggest PVE General server in AOC and provide a brief commentary on the guilds' progress/regress. You can also check numerical stats for current week globally at the official AOC Online Guild Rankings site, http://guilds.ageofconan.com/
Weekly Summary
The 9th week of Renown Rankings marks the first week with Update 7 running (on and off due to login problems). This means that Glory (PVP) numbers have increased immensely, owing to farming Bori shrines and new minigames PVP XP rewards and quests. Despite superior organization of their forces, Tainted Souls didn't manage to regain their spot in Totals, even though they pretty much destroyed all the competition in PVP. AmbrosiA - last week's top dog - managed to shake the competition and reached for the 1st spot, using the tried&tested; Artistry approach. At the same time, Awakening dropped in Totals because of the deteriorating Valor count among all guilds. While they managed an awesome 12-spot growth in Glory, the deterioration in Valor and slowing down their Artistry attempts cost them their Totals.
Numbers Speak
The numbers pretty much spell out the issues with the server connections and this update's hectic on/off nature over the week. Valor plummeted - its count is almost 4 times less than a week ago. Artistry stayed at similar (although also lower) amount, while Glory skyrocketed, at least for the guilds that managed to monopolize the Border (Boredom) Kingdoms. It will take time for CROM to recover, for sure.
See the details and screenshots below!
Total Renown rankings for Week 9, CROM EU, March 28- April 3 2010
VALOR, ARTISTRY and GLORY Renown rankings for Week 8, CROM EU, March 28- April 3, 2010
Rankings summary:
TOP 3 TOTAL RENOWN GAINED:
AmbrosiA (555 members) - 37 million points (up by 1, rise to the top.)
Band Of Brothers (432 members - 8 less) - 35.3 million points (down by 1)
Carnage (499 members) - 23.8 million points (up by 1, replaces Awakening)
TOP 3 VALOR RENOWN GAINED:
CRO Guild (635 members) - 9.8 million (up by 4, impressive!)
Brothers of Arms (389 members) - 9.6 million points (up by 1, slowly rises to the top)
Awakening (494 members) - 9.2 million points (down by 1)
TOP 3 GLORY RENOWN GAINED:
Tainted Souls (488 members - 38 more) - 6.7 million points (up by 1)
{EzO} Circle of Eternity (294 members - 34 less) - 3.7 million points (down by 1!)
The Unforgiven (291 members) - 2.9 million points (up by 2)
TOP 3 ARTISTRY RENOWN GAINED:
AmbrosiA (555 members) - 30.4 million points (up by 1 and finally 1st spot)
Band Of Brothers (432 members) - 26.4 million points (dethroned by AmbrosiA)
Carnage (stays at solid number 3!) (499 members) - 16.6 million points (no change.)
This week's Winners:
There were no huge winners this week. CRO Guild managed to finally re-appear among the top dogs, going up by 4 in Valor even though all the others were frantically PVPing it out. The Unforgiven also increased its position by 2, in Glory, as a result of devotion to the new types of PVP activities. Next week's summary will most likely reflect a more stable situation, but hopefully this week's winners will still be around.
This week's Runners-up:
This week's runners up include last week's winners, Awakening, and a relative newcomer to the first 5, Demonic Knights - who climbed steadily Artistry rankings and went overboard this week, gaining awesome 7 spots. The Awakening had managed an even more impressive feat, by doing a 12-spot leap in Glory, possibly uncovering some good tactics for farming Bori or minigames once more.
Check back with AOCVault in a week for new Rankings rundown and commentary, check http://guilds.ageofconan.com/ for the official continuous rankings per server and globally to check how well (or badly) your guild has done in comparison to guilds on other servers!
...And the results of our New AOC Features poll are IN!
It's been a while since we changed our polls here at AOCVault, but now more than ever there's a reason to switch from the 1.06 poll - Renown gauge - to 1.07 poll - "Boredomometer". Read on!
Patch 1.6 introduced with it a veritable frenzy on many servers as guilds now found a semi-objective tool to measure their prowess in PVE, PVP and crafting. The three cornerstone activities in AOC are not equally weighed in that system even now, with more PVP options in place. Artistry and Valor, as time has proven, are the only focal points for the regular competitions in Guild Rankings, but our poll didn't only measure that.
From the results you can clearly see that Update 6's Renown part - the biggest part of the patch aside from Thoth-Amon's stronghold - has not been equally important to many. 40 votes came towards the players not being part of the Renown system (i.e. not in a guild), while smaller amounts went to the parts of the scheme - Valor, Glory, Artistry, Rankings system.
And so, most among you (15) simply worked towards making your guild higher ranked, while only a fraction (1) were already in a guild that 'topped the charts'. No surprises in terms of Glory/Valor/Artistry split, either - 12 votes went for the noble (right.....) art of Crafting, 6 - for activities in raids and groups (Valor) and only 4 for the hardest part, PVP (Glory). Considering the dynamics of gathering points in each of those groups of activities, it's not a surprise; Crafting remains the easiest way to boost Renown, with Valor accounting for more or less half of the points here, and Glory representing the smallest amount for the greatest effort.
The disparity between guild-members who voted (a total of 38) and non-guilded players (a total of 40) suggests that half of the players didn't receive all that much with Update 6. So, does that mean that Update 7 is all the rage in that aspect? Let's see what you think in our newest poll!
Question:
I think Update 7 is...:
Options:
Great! Moar PVP fun!
Cool - love the numerous little tweaks and GUI changes!
Shrines of Boring and Boredom Kingdoms *yaawn*
Travelling, maps, events... but where's the beef?
What's update 7?
So don't hesitate - VOTE!Your continuous voting keeps Nemedians out! Vote now or Aquilonia loses the War on Horrors!
...and with it a whole host of changes. If you're unsure how some of them work, take a look at this handy article we've put together for ya some weeks ago. In bold are the changes that we find particularly important (since this update incorporates a lot of minute tweaks as well). Have fun discovering the Silver Atrium - don't forget to /CLAIM it as soon as you're online!
In addition, devs removed Offline Progression XP from the Update for now, and it will be rolled out with a different future update instead. The amount of features offered by this patch, though, especially to make PVP more challenging and balanced is already a boon!
Update 7 Full notes
New Features:
New PvP Content � �Shrines of Bori�
With Shrines of Bori players will experience challenging guild-based ongoing outdoor PvP conflicts with capturable objectives, which take place in the Border Kingdoms: Cimmerian End. The gameplay includes capturing shrines and defending them against other players. There are also new rare PvP resources involved that players have to harvest and bring back safely to the captured shrines in order to make an offer to the war god Bori and receive his favours.
You can read more about the Shrines of Bori in this article.
Additional PvP Levels, PvP Tokens and New Tier 2 PvP Gear
Update 1.07 also opens PvP levels 6 to 10 and introduces new Tier 2 PvP Gear. This gear will require a player to have reached the appropriate PvP level, and is priced in new PvP Tokens similar to how raid gear is priced in Raid Tokens. The PvP Tokens obtained from performing a Sacrifice of Bori are of only one type. A different type of PvP Token is obtained through mini-games and is rewarded upon the completion of wanted-poster style quests to win at the various mini-games (one quest per mini-game type). These quests are on several hours cooldown.
Expansion Teaser Event � �The Silver Atrium�
Experience �The Silver Atrium� � a new in-game event that challenges you with new quests found in Stygia and Aquilonia. Meet and battle mysterious spies, assassins and other shady characters from the far east to get great new rewards.
* Players of level 40 and above will be able to visit the new mysterious Silver Atrium (entrance can be gained by players level 20 and above but the quests available during this event will be for players level 40 and above).
* You access the Silver Atrium by first claiming the consumable item �Embroidered Invitation� (by using the command �/claim�). Afterwards use the item to get the quest added to your quest log. Your first travels will take you to the city of Khemi.
* The Silver Atrium offers two brand new solo quests and a new group quests based around the appearance of mysterious harbingers from eastern lands.
* Includes great new Khitan themed rewards.
* This quest series will only be available up until the launch of the expansion, so make sure you check it out before it's gone!
Read more about the in-game event in this article.
New Regional Fast Travel System
New wagoner NPCs present in major outposts and quest hubs allow players to travel to notable locations within that playfield for a small fee. For example: in the Eiglophian Mountains you will find the new NPC in the village of Dinog and he will offer one way transportation to a number of locations within the Eiglophian Mountains playfield such as the Hunting Lodge, entrance to Ymir�s Pass or Yakhmar's Cave.
In addition there are also new vendors available right next to the new wagoner NPCs who sell �Wagoner Route Maps� consumable items. When used, these will transport you directly to the central hub of the current playfield.
Check full list of other changes, like PVP minigame exp and multitude of in-game tweaks after the jump!
We are excited in announcing the launching of our latest site LittleBigPlanet Factory for the ultra-fun series by Sony. So please take a moment to drop by and see what is going on over at the Factory. While there, be sure to check out the LittleBigPlanet Wiki section for all your needs and maybe add a bit of your knowledge while you are there!
We're continuing to show the weekly renown rankings from CROM, the biggest PVE General server in AOC and provide a brief commentary on the guilds' progress/regress. You can also check numerical stats for current week globally at the official AOC Online Guild Rankings site, http://guilds.ageofconan.com/
Weekly Summary
The 8th week of Renown Rankings resulted in a huge rankings turmoil, with notable movers and shakers from before being moved and shaken themselves. Only Band of Brothers remained on their solid 1st spot in Valor and Artistry, thus securing their Totals no.1, all the other guilds from the top positions have been visibly moved around. AmbrosiA and Awakening, as we predicted some time ago, started a full-out offensive. Sneak attack from {EzO} culminated in them stabbing their way to the top in Glory, while Tainted Souls and Carnage have dropped like lead balloons (that last one managed to actually grow in Artistry, but was pushed back in other aspects).
Numbers Speak
Objective amounts of Valor, Totals and Artistry were increasing for the first time in almost a month. Guilds found their footing, or perhaps, lesser known guilds have become more involved in the Rankings game, and knocked their efforts up a notch. Whatever the reason, Totals have grown by an impresive 4.2 million at the top, Valor has shown a slightly less notable (but not non-existent) 400.000 boost, while Artistry went up by a whopping 5 million points (which, as can be easily counted, was the driving factor behind the increase in numbers). That combined with such drastic changes in the leaderboard proves that things are starting to stir once more in CROM's domain.
GLORY changes next week!
It's also interesting to see this in a broader perspective, considering Glory specifically - this was the last week with "old" PVP XP rules, minigame rules, and without Bori feature - we've just received word that Update 7 might go Live as soon as tomorrow, so fingers crossed next week will see a more exciting and fair Glory split-up!
See the details and screenshots below!
Total Renown rankings for Week 8, CROM EU, March 21-27, 2010
VALOR, ARTISTRY and GLORY Renown rankings for Week 8, CROM EU, March 21-27, 2010
Rankings summary:
TOP 3 TOTAL RENOWN GAINED:
Band Of Brothers (440 members - 1 more) - 44.7 million points (no change, up by 4.8 million, and managed to survive the assault from below!)
AmbrosiA (508 members) - 37.6 million points (up by 5, a HUGE achievement!)
Awakening (497 members) - 35.6 million points (up by 3, nice! Don't say we didn't warn ya about those guys in previous ranking summaries!)
TOP 3 VALOR RENOWN GAINED:
Band Of Brothers (440 members - 1 more) - 13.9 million points (no change, 400.000 more points, ironclad position, it seems!)
Awakening (497 members) - 12.7 million points (up by 2 - what did we tell you?)
Brothers of Arms (375 members - 8 more) - 12 million points (up by 8 last week and STILL managed to keep that spot without change, kudos! +700.000 pts)
TOP 3 GLORY RENOWN GAINED:
{EzO} Circle of Eternity (328 members) - 2.8 million points (growth in objective numbers by 600.000 compared to last week's winners. and UP BY 7 spots - those guys are HARDCORE!)
Tainted Souls (450 members - 7 less) - 1.6 million points (down by 1, down by 700.000 pts -> they're slowing down...)
CRO Guild (622 members and still trouble regaining position) - 1.2 million points (up by 2, but up by 100.000 on previous week's SolidLine's position.)
TOP 3 ARTISTRY RENOWN GAINED:
Band Of Brothers (440 members - 1 more) - 32.2 million points (no change, 4.3 million more, finally on the up!)
AmbrosiA (508 members) - 29.8 million points (up by FRIGGING 5 SPOTS!, up by 4 million points on last week's 2nd spot!)
Carnage (dethroned Tainted Souls from last week) (488 members) - 25 million points (up by 1!)
This week's Winners:
There have been very clear winners this week - AmbrosiA (+5 in Totals, +7 in Valor, +5 in Artistry) and Awakening (+3 Totals, +2 in Valor, +1 in Aritstry). While AmbrosiA managed to jump exceptionally high (kudos, guys!), it's Awakening that deserves highest praise for sticking to their solid, slow (but sure) growth, which allowed them to overtake such guilds as Tainted Souls or Carnage. Truly, they show all signs of "awakening" from their ranking slumber.
The big surprises this week, considering the assault of many guilds on the rankings leaderboard, include {EzO}, who managed to kick a lot of behinds in PVP (nevermind if in in-guild minigames or regular sieges/Border kingdoms). It's especially baffling that that same guild has actually DROPPED by 1 in Totals (so, that probably means that either they focus on PVP, or on other stuff, no middle ground). They managed, however, to also show growth in Artistry, but where below top 10 in Valor. All things considered, {EzO} could probably try to designate some guys for at least instances runs - this might propel them higher in Totals
This week's Runners-up:
This week's high jumps (apart from the Awakening, AmbrosiA and {EzO}, who jumped high enough to actually be winners) are Dawnsong and La Hermanidad del Fuego Azul. The fist one is possibly one of the oldest active guilds on the server, while the Spanish-oriented Hermanidad truly spurred their brethren into a tight, coherent PVP machine. It'll be interesting to see what other surprises those 2 reputable guilds hold in stock for next week. Keep up the good work!
One last thing of note is the presence of smaller guilds in the board. Glory top 10 once more includes a smaller (below 200 members) guild, this time - Free Spirits. Nice work guys!
Check back with AOCVault in a week for new Rankings rundown and commentary, check http://guilds.ageofconan.com/ for the official continuous rankings per server and globally to check how well (or badly) your guild has done in comparison to guilds on other servers!
We're proud to announce that as of today, our Vault contains complete and 1.6+ compliant databases, chock full of data on:
Spells - learn everything there's to know about spells, including Feat dependencies, ranges, recasts, casting times, @level80 mana costs and much, much more!
Comboes - learn everything about current-day AOC's comboes of all combo-wielding classes, including @level80 stamina costs, speed, cooldowns, weaponry required and a ton more infos!
Skills and Abilities - a massive (and most informative on the Web) compendium of all abilities in the game, including their modes, costs, intricacies of use and all documented/undocumented effects - and then some!
Attributes - full information on what each basic stat does and which classes have more or less of the stat, how much each stat gives to every class, and more!
Classes - all that you need to know about current (1.6+) classes, their basic strengths, weaknesses, roles in PVP, groups and PVE, and (of course) a lot more!
At this point we can thus boast the fullest databases for dynamic elements in AOC... Next in line for our extensive updates - Items database! Stay tuned @ AOCVault for the most in-depth and fullest databases as we continuously work to make them more comprehensive than anywhere else!
March Director's Letter "On Faction Armors" is out!
This month's community letter is up, and Craig 'Sillirion' Morrison seems to have outdone himself in showering us poor players with infos. This time around, it's FACTIONS in ROTG and their armor. First of all, Game Director finally confirms the armor rewards split per faction, rank and class of player.
In theory, each class can get 2 types of armor sets, and each of those sets is offered at 4 different tiers of quality. The differences between types are visual, while tiers slowly "wear up" the player into the more and more complex designs. Because both types of armor (i.e. light, heavy, full-plate) and faction tiers differ substantially, every class will be able to benefit from as many as FIVE different sets spanning different factions.
This also means that no factions show specific preference towards one class, but possibly rather towards an archetype (which is very good news!). Of those five possible sets, some will offer more health (or defence), some more DPS (or magical power, etc..) and some - class-specific bonuses (e.g. dexterity for rogues - we hope :D). Speaking of Rogues, Sillirion provides Ranger as the example:
So for example the first two sets of the five available to the Ranger class cover their two base sets (general health and general DPS) and then you have the three specialist sets. The first of which focuses on critical damage, evades and hit rating, the second set focuses on protections and immunities and a third specialist set that focuses of taps and regeneration.
Let's quickly recap per-faction sets and usability for classes. GD groups them by class, we will try to group them by faction instead, to show which factions favor which archetypes most with regard to armor sets:
ASSASSIN, CONQUEROR, DT, DEMONOLOGIST, GUARDIAN, HOX, NECROMANCER (all soldiers, all mages, assassin - most classes!)
In addition to wide variety for all classes, the system is designed with almost 'forcing' the players to do dungeons (group content) and faction-task progression (solo content), balancing the two any way the player wants. This is cause armors can come in three ways to the player:
-In dungeons, as drops from bosses.
-In the course of any group activities that generate faction tokens, via token merchant
-By straightforward buying at faction trader (presumably, for gold pieces).
In itself, this wouldn't be limiting, but in addition, only a third of each set is available at each of the sources, and they're additionally mixed/matched to encourage group activity (via a healthy mixture of tokens, dungeon drops and regular purchases). Find the FC-made chart of armors below:
In addition to all that nice armor splitting, true worth of those items is shown by the introduction of new stats - critigation. It only appears in those armors, so that they offer something different from raids and crafted items. Critigation mitigates incoming critical damage - and seeing as many of the Alternate Advancement abilities can supposedly work on critical damage, this also ties nicely into the AAS.
The system is additionally supported by catering to a variety of roles in a group. This is crucial for soldiers, who currently get only one type of build (hence role) supported via raid and craft items and have to get by not fully realizing their tanking potential (DT, conq) or not fully showing their DPS (Guardian). AAS and armor looks are not the only factors at play when considering Faction armors, though. In closing, GD also states, that:
It also means however that you will have some meaningful choices to make. It is by design that these choices exist. You won�t necessarily be able to get everything, at least not immediately, and you will have choices to make. Some of the faction rewards are in effect mutually exclusive and you will have to make choices about what suits your character best.
Which essentially means that you either WON'T be able to collect everything or won't be able to benefit from all types of armor equally (i.e. mutually exclusive faction rewards). Let's hope that all that complexity and variety in the system actually works to produce somehting meaningful, then!
You can read GD's letter in full here (EU) and here (US)!
The last update before Expansion is almost ready for deployment on Live servers, and the last few changes are all the more welcome - for FC have listened to players' pleads and Shrines of Bori along with numerous PVP minigames tweaks' are now available in the patch. Update 7 will most likely see the light of day next week, at least according to Sillirion's Twitter, so keep your eyes peeled for Bori's sake (also spelled 'Borri' :-D )!
GENERAL
* The Shrines of Bori are back on Testlive!!
* The crossbow and bow will now animate and play sound again.
* The StandUp emote has been removed from the few rare cases where it existed, as this was a superfluous command and the same accessibility can be achieved through the '/stand' chat-line command.
CLASSES
Ranger
* Mezz Shot will now grant the correct crowd control immunities.
PVP
* PvP Kill XP will now be calculated based on the killers level, not the victims level.
* PvP Kill XP will no longer be affected by diminishing returns for grouped players that are out of range when the PVP Kill XP gets awarded.
Minigames
* The experience in minigames has been adjusted. A good amount of experience now comes from completing the minigame objectives, such as capturing a skull and destroying a totem. If a minigame exceeds more than a specific duration the amount of experience rewarded for completing the minigame will also start to diminish.
* Totem Torrent: The status of the totem is now taken into account when determining the score. This means if one side loses their totem the side which still has their totem will win the minigame. If the minigame times out and both sides still have their totem (or both have lost their totem) kills are taken into account to determine the winner.
Shrines of Bori
* Increased the time required to capture an objective by 50%.
* You must be level 80 to interact with the objectives.
* The waypoints for the shrines will now get updated when a player joins or leaves a guild.
* All guild members should now receive a message when someone places an offer on an altar.
RAIDS
Thoth-Amon's Stronghold
* Increased all respawn times on Thoth-Amon trash. Some timers have been increased more than others.
* Favored of Louhi: Phylacteries should no longer aggro players prior to the encounter.
* Gyas: Execute can no longer be blocked by line of sight.
* Hathor-Ka: The buff given by Consume (Omen) has had its power increased slightly at lower stacks and drastically at higher stacks.
* Ixion: Lowered casting time of Wrath, and increased his run speed.
* Adjusted the frost and fire version of "The Keeper of Artifacts".
* Arbanus: "Blood Draw" and "Unholy Word" can no longer be avoided by using LOS.
* Hathor Ka: Harbingers of Death will now hate their initial target a bit more
The Secret World GDC presentations are now flowing in (since the embargo has been lifted), including new screenies, a new teaser, and a ton of hands-on reports from many corners of the Web. You can find an aggregate post-GDC TSW page at the official forums or...
Check out the GameReactor video review of their hands-on session with TSW, in which the editors tell a bit about locations, feel, combat and mechanics of the playable pre-alpha they'd had a chance to play at GDC.
Browse through the new screenies and read about Gamespot Editors impressions of the game from the GDC presentation!
Finish your juicy TSW meal with a pre-GDC teaser of the game @ IGN - below!
We're continuing to show the weekly renown rankings from CROM, the biggest PVE General server in AOC and provide a brief commentary on the guilds' progress/regress. You can also check numerical stats for current week globally at the official AOC Online Guild Rankings site, http://guilds.ageofconan.com/
Weekly Summary
The 7th week of Renown Rankings showed that CROM guild competition is far from over, and no-one can rest on their laurels. CRO guild, which previous week tried to steal the limelight from the competition, didn't manage to retain their positions. SolidLine has been brutally thrown off their game and only Tainted Souls and Band of Brothers managed to retain their No.1 positions in multiple activities. But who dethroned CRO, ousted SolidLine and other guilds that were safeguarding their "unchanged" positions for several weeks now? Relative newcomers to the Renown Race - aggressive Brothers of Arms, previously bobbing up and down Carnage and slowly growing Sanctuary.
Numbers Speak
Objective amount of Valor and Totals have dropped again for all the guilds. This shows an all-round drop in server activity in all aspects but Glory - which shows slight increase. It's hard to contribute Valor and Artistry dropping to some specific elements, aside from the obvious 'running out of' rare resources and being generally fed up with doing Instances for the sake of Valor alone. It may be possible that the guilds are now struggling with TAS and possibly lose some raiding Valor in the process, or it may simply be a temporary slow down. Hopefully, next week will show at least some guilds picking up the torch for the Valor dominance in sheer numbers, not in relation to one another.
.
See the details and screenshots below!
Total Renown rankings for Week 7, CROM EU, March 14-20, 2010
VALOR, ARTISTRY and GLORY Renown rankings for Week 7, CROM EU, March 14-20, 2010
Rankings summary:
TOP 3 TOTAL RENOWN GAINED:
Band Of Brothers (439 members - 5 more) - 39.5 million points (no change, lower by 4.2 million)
Carnage (482 members) - 34.5 million points (up by 2!)
Tainted Souls (457 members - 10 more) - 34.5 million points (no change, almost 3 million MORE pts!)
TOP 3 VALOR RENOWN GAINED:
Band Of Brothers (439 members - 5 more) - 13.4 million points (no change, 2.3 million LESS points!)
Carnage (482 members) - 12.3 million points (up by 6 - now that's the offensive!)
Brothers of Arms (367 members) - 11.3 million points (up by 8 - massive growth!)
TOP 3 GLORY RENOWN GAINED:
Tainted Souls (457 members - 10 more) - 2.2 million points (no change, up by 300.000 pts)
The Unforgiven (279 members - 12 less) - 1.6 million points (no change, up by 100.000 pts once more!)
SolidLine (397 members) - 1.1 million points (up by 1 - the only time this week when Solids' retain top position!)
TOP 3 ARTISTRY RENOWN GAINED:
Band Of Brothers (439 members - 5 more) - 27.9 million points (no change, 1.5 million less once again -> slow decline!)
Sanctuary (259 - 35 less!) - 25 million points (up by 1, up by 1.8 million points!)
Tainted Souls (457 members - 10 more) - 24.6 million points (up by 3, slowly regaining dominance!)
This week's Winners:
There were both big winners and big losers this week; SolidLine has seen the greatest decline, both in their objective numbers in Artistry and Valor and in their relative Totals position, dropping far below the 'top guild' thresholds across the board, except Glory. This is the only place where the guild managed to show 'who's boss'.
Tainted Souls didn't regain their prowess in Valor just yet, but they still show their supremacy in Glory and slowly crawl up the ladder in Artistry, making sure only slight PVE effort allows them to still be in top 3 guilds in Totals. TS's and BoB continual show of strength display an immutable will to hold 1st spots no matter what.
The big surprises, however, appear in Valor and Artistry; Carnage and Brothers of Arms managed to oust 2 other players from the top 3, and Sanctuary moved one up in Artistry. The biggest change has been brought about by Brothers of Arms and Carnage - and those are thus not only Big Winners this week, but also the most Promising Achievers. SolidLine, however, will have to do something more if they wish to appear similarly promising (of victory) - because at the moment, numbers show they're only promising defeat...
This week's Runners-up:
There were two notable 'seconds' this week. AmbrosiA, who managed to gain 12 (!) spots in Totals within one week, and Sangue Lusitano (a Portuguese-speaking guild) who managed to gain 14 positions in Valor. Considering the overall drops in numbers for the top guilds, who simply retain status quo but don't show spectacular activity growth, the two guilds might be on the lookout for weakness. Top guilds should sit up and take note of the guilds as the runners-up momentum is quite high at the moment!
Check back with AOCVault in a week for new Rankings rundown and commentary, check http://guilds.ageofconan.com/ for the official continuous rankings per server and globally to check how well (or badly) your guild has done in comparison to guilds on other servers!
Early this week, MrCozzano released his video post-1.06 Assassin guide, which included basic tips and tricks as well as tools of every PVPer trade. The swift (and deadly) response in the form of much more detailed (albeit still only scratching the surface of the Assassin) guides followed at Slith's Assassin's Hideout Forums and Slith's Blog.
Guide 1 encompasses the meta-skills involving playing PVP assassin in modern-age AOC. It has been posted by Ghost; you can read all about Hunting&Scouting; your prey (if you're an assassin) or learn how your assassin enemies are able to locate you within Hyboria even when you're stealthed or anonymous. This guide will be also VERY useful to basically anyone wishing to solo the PVP FFA zones without being constantly ganked - including Kheshatta's dreaded stairs and oasis. What's more important, if you have not been PVPing in AOC for a long while, this will tell you when you're vulnerable without even knowing it (e.g. while climbing) or how to use the camera and targeting system to your aid instead of a hindrance (which it is by default if you're a dedicated PVPer).
Guide 2, regarding the numbers behind Assassins' basic new instacast abilities - Miasmas - has been written by Slith as a part of the new set of learning aids for those who're new to post-1.06 Assassin. Drop by his blog to read it, and stay tuned for more guides like these - Slith comes up with them whenever something changes about the Assassin, and you can see the guides helping out Assassins as far back as Fall'08. This current guide is just a start though, and not as in-depth as one would like - but we're hoping for some more guiding goodies from Slith soon!
Conan Vault
constantly ganked - including Kheshatta's dreaded stairs and oasis. What's more important, if you have not been PVPing in AOC for a long while, this will tell you when you're vulnerable without even knowing it (e.g. while climbing) or how to use the camera and targeting system to your aid instead of a hindrance (which it is by default if you're a dedicated PVPer).
