Age of Conan - Revisiting PvP

Massively takes another look at Age of Conan to see what has changed in a year, focussing on PvP.

Blogs and players universally praised the quality of the Tortage area and the early play experience, suggesting that the rest of the game should be redesigned to fit the same standard. Instead, Funcom have added more high level areas, worked on an expansion for a waning playerbase and desperately tried to fix the game's itemisation issues. I can't help but be disappointed, not because I expected more this time around but because the game's visuals and audio have been some of the best in the MMO genre. For the game to fall down on gameplay and mechanics after that achievement is a horrific shame.

This time around, I gave the level 20-30 areas another chance but still couldn't get past how wrong they felt. After an incredibly irritating time in Khemi and the Khopshef Province, all I wanted to do was go back to Tortage and set some people on fire. Every player I've met on my two week re-trial has had a similar story to tell and yet most of the game's content seems to have been engineered for higher levels and an endgame few ever stick with the game long enough to reach. With all of its initial success with the Tortage area and early gameplay, it's almost shocking that they haven't made a considered effort to analyse why Tortage works and replicate the experience in the rest of the game.