funcom posts

Age of Conan releases 1.06 patch notes

by Rubi Bayer Feb 4th 2010 at 10:00PM

Filed under: Fantasy, Age of Conan, Patches, News items

Funcom has been planning Age of Conan Patch 1.0.6 for a while now, and recently gave us a look into what they have planned for this patch and beyond.

The patch went live today, and the full patch notes were presented with links to full explanations of each major new feature, as well as the Thoth-Amon's Stronghold, the new Tier Three raid instance. The much-discussed Guild Renown system was added with this patch, as was the Assassin revamp, raid loot token system, and changes to the crowd control system.

Quite a few smaller changes and bug fixes were added, and most classes received a few changes. The Age of Conan team took a look at PvP as well, making a few minor changes to mechanics, particularly in minigames.

The patch notes can be seen on the official forums, and be sure to take a look at the links included in the notes for further explanation.

Tags: age-of-conan, aoc, aoc-patch-1.06, Funcom, patch-1.0.6

January Age of Conan director letter details the road ahead

by Krystalle Voecks Jan 30th 2010 at 6:00PM

Filed under: Fantasy, Age of Conan, MMO industry, News items

While the January edition of the Age of Conan Game Director letter isn't the flashiest one we've ever seen, it is an excellent road-map of just what the team over at Funcom have in their sights for the next little while. They've been giving us tons of tasty Rise of the Godslayer news outside of the Director updates, so we certainly won't complain!

This month, Age of Conan's Game Director, Craig Morrison, sits down to tell us just what the team has in mind for the future of Hyboria. Patch 1.06 will be coming to the live servers shortly, bringing with it the Guild Renown system, tier three raiding, and a major revamp for the Assassin class. As for Godslayer, he says that more players have been invited into the beta and the feedback has thus far been great. There's also a good chunk of information on what they're planning for long-term PvP improvements for those who can't wait to bash Hyborian brains in. In all, it sounds like Craig and the team have some excellent things in motion for the future of Age of Conan, so be sure to pop over and check it out.

Having fun in Conan's homeland? Make sure to check out all of our previous Age of Conan coverage, and stick with Massively for more news from the Hyborian Age!

Tags: age-of-conan, aoc, aoc-patch-1.06, craig-morrison, directors-letter, funcom, game-director, pvp, rise-of-the-godslayer

A look into Rise of the Godslayer's Northern Grasslands

by Krystalle Voecks Jan 29th 2010 at 8:30AM

Filed under: Fantasy, Galleries, Screenshots, Video, Age of Conan, Expansions, Previews, News items

The team at Funcom are hard at work on the new content coming to Age of Conan, like guild renown and raids, as well as the upcoming expansion Rise of the Godslayer. Thankfully, they managed to steal a few moments out of that time to send along some screenshots, concept art, and a great video of the exotic Northern Grasslands area that players will be adventuring through in the upcoming expansion.

Players who pick up Rise of the Godslayer will be treated to beautiful yet dangerous locales, where they'll meet strange and fascinating new people, and then kill them. Just kidding! Well, not really. Mounted atop tigers, the Khitans will undoubtedly be a fierce fighting force -- and that shiny new armor certainly looks pretty cool too. (Thankfully, the red accents will hide the blood well when you strip it off your dead enemies.) Be sure to check out the gallery and the teaser video behind the break for all the latest from this future corner of Hyboria.

Gallery: Age of Conan: Rise of the Godslayer

Having fun in Conan's homeland? Make sure to check out all of our previous Age of Conan coverage, and stick with Massively for more news from the Hyborian Age!

Tags: age-of-conan, aoc, concept-art, expansion, funcom, guild-renown, khitan, preview, raids, rise-of-the-godslayer, screenshots, tiger-mount, video

The Secret World revealing more secrets soon, Funcom confirms Kingsmouth connection

by Kyle Horner Jan 26th 2010 at 4:00PM

Filed under: Fantasy, Horror, New titles, News items, The Secret World

Sources have told us the Kingsmouth website is in truth connected to the enigmatic developer known as Funcom. They've also informed us that this is just the beginning of a new The Secret World initiative from the mysterious developer. In fact, those very same dark forces- er, sources, told us that you can expect to see a significant reveal happen this very weekend.

We asked Funcom's Erling Elingson for a comment on these shadowy happenings, "The recent release of the Kingsmouth website is just one of many unique initiatives that will be happening around The Secret World in the next few weeks. Not only are we teaming up with a major site this weekend to give gamers a unique glimpse into the game through new and never-before-seen footage, but there are also other secrets lurking under the surface waiting to be discovered. The ever-growing community surrounding The Secret World did a great job deciphering the clues that led to the discovery of the Kingsmouth website, and they will have plenty more to play around with in the next few weeks!"

Success! Our dark lord's ancient powers worked wonders. Wait, we mean uh, our highly charismatic and soothingly baritone voice made them talk, yes. So, you'll want to keep a lookout this weekend TSW fans, and don't stop investigating for clues. If you did, the all-knowing master would be very upset...

Tags: breaking, community, funcom, h-p-lovecraft, kingsmouth, lovecraft, the-secret-world, tsw, weekend

All hail the Kingsmouth Horror: The Secret World pays homage to Lovecraft

by Seraphina Brennan Jan 25th 2010 at 2:30PM

Filed under: Horror, Culture, News items, The Secret World

For a while now, the community over at The Secret World has noticed things in the game that are distinctly influenced by the writings of horror master H.P. Lovecraft. From the original poster that revealed a beast that reminded many of Cthulhu to the whole idea of secret societies and monsters that exist beyond time and space. So when The Secret World community members stumbled upon a website for the fictional town of Kingsmouth, many weren't surprised.

Kingsmouth, a mash-up of Lovecraft's Kingsport and Innsmouth (and, to an unnamed extent, Arkham), is the typical New England town that Lovecraft so loved to talk about. It's sleepy, it's quiet, it's community is entrenched, and there are probably more monsters than people. Lovecraftian references are abound from the aptly named Miskatonic River (see Miskatonic University) to the town's presence as a port on the coastline.

Of course, with the addition of a brand new website, new puzzles are bound to pop up. The Secret World community is already pouring over the website, so jump into the discussion if you think you found something. Of course, for those of you who aren't into the whole conspiracy angle, we got the screenshots of Kingsmouth for you below. Beware though, the originals are small, as apparently the Kingsmouth locals don't know how to upload quality pictures.

Gallery: The Secret World

Tags: alternate-reality-game, arg, breaking, conspiracy, fictional-website, funcom, h-p-lovecraft, kingsmouth, maine, mistakonic, puzzles, ragnar-tornquist, the-secret-world

Shrines of Bori to offer Age of Conan players more outdoor PvP

by Seraphina Brennan Jan 21st 2010 at 5:00PM

Filed under: Fantasy, Age of Conan, Game mechanics, Guides, Patches, PvP

Even with all of the fuss around new tier 3 raids being added to the land of Hyboria, the developers at Funcom haven't forgotten about the PvPers! A brand new feature will be landing on Age of Conan's test server for all barbarians to enjoy, and it comes in a form many PvPers love -- outdoor PvP objectives.

The Shrines of Bori, a brand new addition to the Border Kingdoms playfield, will give PvPers the chance to not only engage in combat with others in a wide open zone, but also to earn their next set of PvP tier gear via a complex set of capture and hold objectives in the form of altars.

Have questions on how this new system will work? Say no more! We've got a full explanation of the brand new system for you right after the break.

Tags: age-of-conan, aoc, border-kingdoms, capture-and-hold, featured, funcom, outdoor, outdoor-pvp, pvp, pvp-tier-gear, sacrifice, shrines-of-bori

One Shots: Quiet night in Old Tarantia

by Krystalle Voecks Jan 21st 2010 at 2:00PM

Filed under: Fantasy, Screenshots, Age of Conan, One Shots

It's been a while since someone has sent in a panoramic screenshot from a game, but we're glad to have a chance to showcase another lovely large image for you. This one comes to us from Zypher in Age of Conan and is quite enormous -- and richly detailed -- at its full size. Since there wasn't much of a note to go along with this other than to let us know it was a "nice view of Old Tarantia", we're going to flesh it out with a bit of back-story, courtesy of the excellent AoCWiki entry:

Old Tarantia sits at the end of a huge bridge that leads to the rest of the bustling city, divided elsewhere by high walls and guarded gates. It uses its own docks and has a massive gate sitting on the Road of Kings. All are patrolled regularly, and watched for dangerous visitors. It is the root of the city itself, where the rest of the capital grew outward from, and is the base of the royal palace of King Conan himself. The shining towers of the palace rise high into the sky, overlooking the rest of the city and, some might say, the rest of Aquilonia.

Are you leveling through the treacherous lands of Hyboria? If so, we'd love to see some screenshots from you. If not, that's okay -- we can use all the One Shots we can get, from any MMO! Just email those to us here at oneshots AT massively DOT com along with your name, the name of the game, and a description of what we're seeing. We'll post it out here for everyone to enjoy and give you the credit.

Gallery: One Shots

Tags: age-of-conan, aoc, aocwiki, funcom, old-tarantia, one-shots, panorama, panoramic, screenshot, screenshots, zypher

Being in it for the money

by Eliot Lefebvre Jan 21st 2010 at 11:00AM

Filed under: Business models, MMO industry, Making money, Opinion

We might fight a lot of enemies in our MMOs, but a number of players will agree that there's one enemy that is bigger than anything else: the company that makes the game. Blizzard, Square-Enix, Funcom, Bioware -- according to this branch of the playerbase, they don't care at all about the people playing their game. All they're concerned about is making money. They just want to get your money by any means necessary.

However, the people who claim that say that like it's a bad thing.

Nobody ever smiles and says "boy, I'm sure glad Sony Online Entertainment is in this for the money." Oddly enough, when you start to think about it, the fact of the matter is that it's not only transparent that these companies are in it for the money, it's a good thing. We should be happy that most of these companies are there to get our money by any means necessary.

Tags: allods, allods-online, bioware, blizzard, champions-online, city-of-heroes, co, coh, content-cost, ddo, development-cost, dungeons-and-dragons-online, fallen-earth, fe, featured, funcom, greed, in-it-for-the-money, jack-emmert, microtransactions, money, square, square-enix

Funcom reveals more of Rise of the Godslayer's Chosain Province

by Seraphina Brennan Jan 18th 2010 at 6:00PM

Filed under: Fantasy, Galleries, Trailers, Age of Conan

During the last preview of Rise of the Godslayer, we were introduced to the wonderfully large play field of Chosain Province -- a land of war, corruption, and strife. Chosain is home to two rival clans, the Tamarin Tigers and the Scholars of Cheng-Ho, where Age of Conan: Rise of the Godslayer players will be able to take sides and work against one another in faction based PvP.

But the Chosain Province is home to much more than just the Tigers and Scholars. Corruption has worked its way deep into the land, warping nature and spreading with each passing day. Roads are becoming broken as they lead through swamps and war-torn land.

This time around, Funcom is introducing us once again to Chosain via beautiful concept art and a brand new trailer that highlights specific areas of the zone. We've got both of these things here for your viewing pleasure, so check out the gallery below if you're interested in the artwork, or hit the continue reading button to come face to face with the trailer!

Gallery: Age of Conan: Rise of the Godslayer

Tags: age-of-conan, aoc, chosain, chosain-province, conan, concept-art, corruption, funcom, rise-of-the-godslayer, scholars-of-chengho, tamarin-tigers

Funcom threatening to delete noob Age of Conan characters

by Krystalle Voecks Jan 11th 2010 at 1:00PM

Filed under: Fantasy, Age of Conan, News items

When it comes to character deletions, just about every MMO out there has a clause in their Terms of Service that indicates they have the right to delete your characters at any time and for no reason whatsoever. With that said, there are very few companies that choose to exercise that right.

Up until now it has been Square Enix as part of Final Fantasy XI (even then they occasionally restore characters as part of 'welcome back' promotions), and Alganon's new "trial" which allows you to play for 30 days free before they wipe your character if you don't subscribe. However, as you can see from the above image, Funcom has opted to join the ranks of "will delete characters" in regards to Age of Conan.

When contacted for comment about whether or not this was true, Erling Ellingsen, Director of Communications for Funcom said, "Yes, that's correct. It's a database clean-up. We're going through all accounts that's (sic) been inactive for a long period of time, deleting characters under level 20 to free space in the database."

Tags: age-of-conan, aoc, breaking, character-deletion, erling-ellingsen, funcom, level-20, low-level-characters

Funcom Games Canada hires new CEO and plans to expand

by Eliot Lefebvre Jan 8th 2010 at 10:00AM

Filed under: MMO industry, News items, The Secret World

2009 wasn't the best year to be in the business of making games, to the point where some of us weren't expecting good news like a major publisher hiring new people -- but it's happening. And it's not a small hiring push, either, aiming in the 100-150 range. That's the latest news from Funcom, whose recently opened Canadian studio has appointed a new CEO for the division.

Miguel Caron is going to be in charge of building up the staff of Funcom Games Canada, as well as overseeing the studio during the development of The Secret World -- according to Ragnar Tornquist, the Montreal-based expansion will play a key role in the game's development. Even if you aren't looking forward to The Secret World, however, it's excellent to have news of a company not facing security trouble, layoffs, or shutdowns.

Although the timeframe for the expected hirings is a year and a half, that's still a lot of work being generated by Funcom, which is a boon to both their existing games and their newfound plans of focusing on the casual gaming market. Let's hope this kicks off a trend of more positive news for the industry this year. We certainly need it.

Tags: developer-expansion, funcom, funcom-games-canada, good-news, hiring, migeul-caron, montreal, new-jobs, ragnar-tornquist, the-secret-world, tsw

Funcom plans a more casual direction for future games

by Rubi Bayer Jan 5th 2010 at 1:00PM

Filed under: MMO industry, New titles, News items, Casual, Kids, Pets vs Monsters

Back in December, we talked a bit about Funcom's new studio SweetRobot, which will be designing games for a much younger market than the Age of Conan crowd. Pets vs. Monsters is the first offering from the studio, with the promise of more to come. Funcom CEO Trond Arne Aas took some time to sit down with gameindustry.biz and discuss where the company stands now, and how that has influenced their decision to explore this new opportunity.

Of course, Funcom had to employ some cost-cutting measures in 2009: "...it's become almost a default thing for businesses in the last year it seems." Tapping into the vast tween market could be a very lucrative move in the face of those measures -- while their cash reserves are more than comfortable, gaining new subscribers is the way to keep the company moving forward.

Make no mistake - the grownup side of Funcom isn't going anywhere. Age of Conan is here to stay and The Secret World is still coming, but Funcom is also giving plenty of attention to their more casual new studio as well. The full interview can be read here.

Tags: age-of-conan, funcom, gameindustry.biz, pets-vs-monsters, sweetrobot, the-secret-world, trond-arne-aas

Funcom begins 2010 with new concept art

by Rubi Bayer Jan 4th 2010 at 9:00AM

Filed under: Fantasy, Age of Conan, Expansions, New titles, The Secret World

Funcom's concept artists have been letting their imaginations run wild again. After the last round of concept art was released for Rise of the Godslayer and The Secret World, fans had a good time speculating about what they were looking at, and now it's that time again.

Funcom has released Creepy Concept Art 2.0 via Facebook, and fan speculation is even more enthusiastic and varied than it was for the last round. The first piece of concept art is for The Secret World, and features a very small, very angry totem or pendant of some sort (It's tiny - check the size reference figure in the corner). The second new item is from the upcoming Age of Conan expansion Rise of the Godslayer, and garnered nearly as much interest as the other, with thoughts of Wookiees, Bear Shaman, and Picts from commenters.

You can take a look for yourself on Facebook, and join us in our thanks to Funcom and their concept artists for the new eye candy!

Tags: age-of-conan, aoc, concept-art, facebook, Funcom, rise-of-the-godslayer, secret-world, the-secret-world

Age of Conan director asks how you like your communication

by Rubi Bayer Dec 31st 2009 at 1:00PM

Filed under: Fantasy, Age of Conan, Culture

Craig Morrison, the Game Director for Age of Conan, posed an interesting question in his latest blog entry: How do you like your information?

MMOs, whether they are still approaching beta or have been around for years, are constantly changing as developers add improvements here, remove bugs there, work on new content and expansions, and just generally tweak things to keep it all attractive to the players.

The question for development teams is this: How much of the process do you share with the players? Do you say "We are working on stuff, and you'll know about it when we release it. Just trust us," do you share every step of the process with your fans along the way, or do you strike one of the hundred compromises in between?

Morrison's blog entry talks quite a bit about the difficulty of finding that balance, and how it's often a "damned if you do, damned if you don't" situation. He winds up with an interesting question, though: What do you as a player prefer? Take some time to read his thoughts on the issue, and then give your own.

Tags: age-of-conan, blogs, craig-morrison, development, funcom

Funcom gives us some AoC and TSW concept art for the holidays

by Krystalle Voecks Dec 27th 2009 at 4:00PM

Filed under: Age of Conan, Expansions, New titles, News items, The Secret World

Remember how we told you the other day that Funcom was looking for more friends on Twitter and Facebook? Well, it appears that they've decided to sweeten the deal from just the initial contest offering. Sure, you can win all kinds of goodies as we mentioned, but if you do wind up following, you'll find that Funcom is using these feeds to offer up tasty little concept art sneak peeks of The Secret World and the Rise of the Godslayer expansion for Age of Conan.

Currently out on their Facebook gallery are two pieces of Age of Conan art depicting the above scene and a Scholar of Cheng Ho. Both of these images show the strong Eastern art style for Godslayer that many find intriguing. As for The Secret World previews, there are two pieces as well. One appears to be a character sketch of a young man - perhaps an NPC that will help us move the story along. The second, much more haunting image, is a picture of a slavering six-armed demon wielding a blood-covered trio of tanto, wakizashi, and katana mounted to a pole. Definitely not the kind of thing you want to run into -- secret society to help you or not! Be sure to pop by and take a look at the concept art that Funcom have posted - and consider adding them to your page so you'll know when they post more!

Tags: age-of-conan, aoc, concept-art, facebook, funcom, preview, rise-of-the-godslayer, the-secret-world, tsw, twitter