Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Age of Conan: The Pyramid of Ancients and Multi-Sided Boobs

I spent a couple of hours playing Age of Conan last night. The patch seems to have really cleaned up the game even more. Hills and mountain sides are now much easier to traverse, and going down a steep incline doesn't result in my character getting stuck on some odd pathing blockage.

The experience points needed to level in the early to mid-game really has been decreased, but apparently the experience needed to level from about 75+ has been increased to balance this out. Not a bad idea to ease the pain of the mid-game, Funcom. Not bad at all. From what I've seen said on the forums, it's not 70-80 that need more quests, it's the late 30s and the late 50s. Now, I'm nearly 39 and I've still got a butt-load of quests, but then I also ended up doing two of the 20+ areas in Khopshef and the Wild Lands which is probably not the most ideal of leveling paths. One shouldn't have to do gray and green quests to level up. I'm not complaining, just saying that it goes against the grain of MMOG design and in an odd way.

Anyway, I finished up a few lower level quests that were still in my log which pushed me last bit of the way to 38. The new experience curve had cut the amount of experience I needed to level nearly in half, so that was a welcome change. Now 2 levels away from being able to ride my War Mammoth, I headed once again to Khopshef province where I had some upper 30s quests that were finally yellow in my quest log. The place I had to go into was called the Pyramid of Ancients, a level 38 or so solo-able dungeon of massive scale and winding paths that's altogether very easy to get lost in.

There were eunuchs galore around the place, trying to kill me with all of their testicle-less might. My goal was two-fold upon entering. To find a man's brother (presumed dead) and to seek the scourge of Khopshef Province and end his reign. I managed to find the man's brother (or the 4 pieces of him that were left), and I did end the life of the being that reigned darkness over Khopshef... but the quest for the latter didn't update at all so I'm afraid I'll have to try it again or just give up on it for the foreseeable future. Yep, another bugged quest.

However there were a few good things that came of this adventure. The first was a sheer shower of experience inside the place by killing mobs alone. I went from barely 1/15th of the way into 38 to nearly 39 in about 90 minutes of playing around in this Pyramid. I also managed to get a few good drops off of the mobs in this place, included a bitchin' looking new one-handed mace which I'll screen shot later. Lastly, the best thing of the night was undoubtedly the oddity that is Age of Conan's female anatomy. See below...



All in all it was a good night. I plan on trying that bugged quest one more time tonight, and finishing a few others I have in the area. And if there's time after I finish this week's "Lost In Hyboria" I might be able to get a Sanctum of the Burning Souls group going. The Sanctum is Age of Conan's first true full-group dungeon, and I'm itching to give it a go.

If not, I'll just keep chatting up Hudson and Saylah who have both joined the TTH guild recently. Yep, Hyboria so far is proving to be a very good investment.

Cheers!

4 comments:

Gamer Hudson said...

Sounds like a great time I cant wait to see places like that. I am also going to revisit some old MMO's since I dont think I can stomach leveling to 70 in WoW, I will just keep my alliance 70's. Couldnt hit 19 last night had to log out early which stinks.

Anonymous said...

Ryan over at Massively Online Gamer was talking about that dungeon on last week's podcast. Sounds like a fun place :)

Good for Funcom, continuing to tweak and fix things. It's nice to know that if WAR tanks next fall (or if it's delayed again!), I'll have a place to play.

Relmstein said...

I did that same dungeon around that level and had a lot of fun despite the emerald eyes quest being broken.

Best part was deffinitely the winding hallways filled with poison gas. Added a nice sense of danger even though there was little chance it could kill you.

Anonymous said...

I loved the classic Conanesque shot of the gorilla-beast in front of the bound woman you're to rescue. Just walking into that room was almost like stepping into a Frazetta painting.

Sanctum of the Burning Souls is worth doing, although I'll say if you take a full 6-man group even of the appropriate level, it's very easy. An okay intro into group dungeons.