1.Is the current release date of March 25 2008 still valid?

No has been changed to May 20th 2008 for further stress testing and polish.

2.Would you mind telling me when in January they are going to release all the new info?

Right now

3.When can they show the Lich forms?

Lich has now being merged with the Necro and the Herald of Xotli, feedback found the Lich to be very similar to the Herald and therefore most the Lich has been merged. Most of the Lich will go into the Necro, continuing the 'Undead' theme and being a perfect fit. The Necro will now have the ability to transform into a Lich. Almost everything has been preserved of the Lich in what it was before and now has been used to strengthen the Necro and the Herald of Xotli. Funcom doesn't see this as removing more of merging as pretty much of what the Lich was will live on as part of other classes. Right now they are already re- working later combo's for the Necro, the transformation is pretty much the same. Previous Lich melee combo's will now goto the Herald more or less, boosting that Class too.

4.What will the system requirements be like? Will it be possible to play on a computer that isn't brand new?

Very much so, whilst touring around Funcoms offices I even saw an older x850 ATI card. A partial official announcement will come soon. In the Q&A panel of devs at the community event where part 1,  25 mins video was a Friday up date last week, forthcoming questions are "can you tell us more about system requirements?" which was kinda answered. 128mb RAM Graphics Card etc etc more to come soon.

5. Will players be able to reduce the graphics to prevent lag?

Yes the game is really scalable. In the options area's there are many, many option to adjust all sorts of graphical options from shading, to viewable distance. Funcom has also built into its game engine specific protocols if anyone experiences lag, in that the action from when for eg. a weapon swing is activated it will continue thru with the action even though you might just stutter on your screen. There has been testing in house where they set the 'ms' to adjust / compensate for any lag occurances and if so, the lag, if any wont hinder the actions you do in game. 

6. What kind of weather can we expect to see (snow, hale, rain, thunder)?

a. Will it be fully dynamic or a static/triggered event?

Dynamic, examples can be seen here: http://www.gametrailers.com/player/29849.html?r=1&type=wmv

Right now operates on a 2 hr - day to night cycle.

a. Will it affect gameplay(hindered movement, bad visibility, death by lightning?

Weather wont affect gameplay as in 'movement' but will create more immersion and provide a different experience.

7. Will the xbox 360 controller be supported since release?

Not sure yet, most likely it will be. There are a few in Funcom's office at the desks of some dev's

8.How much will AOC cater to roleplayers?

Very much so. There will be an RP PvP Server at launch, and maybe further down the road a normal RP PvE server type.

Age of Conan also has quests that can be role played :P

As an example. in one quest

"During one part of the game you actually get a quest to go to the Speaker's Corner in Old Tarantia, which is actually mentioned in The Hour of the Dragon,  and a priest of Set is actually preaching to a bunch of people. He talks about how great Set is and how Mitra and Conan are terrible for the world. As a player, you basically can get up and debate this guy. There's actually a priest of Mitra in the crowd that asks you to get up and debate this guy. This is one of the places in our game where the quests are unique, because you can roleplay these quests however you'd like.

If you're a Priest of Mitra, you're obviously going to defend Mitra and Conan, and if you're neutral, you can just choose the middle ground between the two. If you're a worshipper of Set, you're more than welcome to join the guy and start saying bad things about Mitra. Based on the three options, you get a different reward. It's hard to do in MMOGs, but we can do it on a character level.

That's one religious quest, but there are obviously other ones where priests are dealing with issues and things, but they're not too confrontational. We want people to play different ways if they want to.

It's not in the beta yet, but in the Black Dragon Barracks there are three people that have been sentenced to death. Essentially the barracks commander is very busy and he basically sentenced those three individuals to death because they were captured sneaking into the safe area at night. You argue with him a bit about whether he truly considers that justice, and he basically tells you to go talk to the prisoners and determine whether they should be put to death or not.

It's going to be a fairly black and white option between the three characters [live or die], even though the dialogue with the characters is a bit more interesting. Essentially there are some characters that do evil things, but they've tried to sneak into the area for noble purposes.

Once you've decided how many of the characters you're going to kill, your quest reward will be different based on how many you've executed. If you kill all three you may get an axe with particular stats based on your decision'

9. For those players who like mostly solo play. What do you have in store for them after you reach level 80?

Depends on what those players like to do: PvP, PvE, exploration? In PvP there will be a ranking system for motivation for participation, Quests are plentifull and will be on goingly supported, Crafting is being slightly re-vamped so thats an option too if your into that. There are promises of a massive world, and not a great deal of the world in the lore is covered in the game. The xbox360 version will essentially ship later on including an expansion, the PC version will be constantly update with its own dedicated team. Funcom's other game Anarachy Online is still well supported to this day for content.

10. How will you make sure that the same thing that happened to ShadowBane, will not happen to Age Of Conan? (PvP insanity)

Didn't get a chance to ask this sorry.

11. Will they have an Oceanic Timezone server?

This will be decided at a later date closer to launch, things are stil being setup right now.

1. Will we be able to physically knock other players and NPCs backwards using melee attacks, arrows, or spells?

There are some great knockback effects in the game, from weapons and 'shoving'. You might be able to see more from the videos that came out for the community event.

2. Can they give a more in-depth explanation of formations?

This will be coming soon, they are in the game and still being tweaked. Evan Michaels designer; "Formations are something that we’re not really considering at the moment when looking at how the combo system works. We’re primarily making sure it works in just normal combat. I try to make sure that the character itself plays well.
In addition, we’ve created feats and abilities that are focused around group combat and how they interact with groups"

3. Will there be some type of restriction placed on high level buffs being able to be cast on low level players by high level characters.

This is still being worked on with feedback from beta testers. No definate answer yet.

4. What else is there to kill time in game? I.e. mini-games during downtime.

Drunken brawling mini game might be in for this launch date if not will come later. However, Funcom say they dont want you to just 'kill time' they want you to enjoy your playing experience! They hope to only keep downtime only for essential maintainance and dont think that it would inhibit players that much. They are satisfied upon release when players play for themselves they will be happy with the content provided.

5. Does size matter? Does a small and slender woman (or man) have a small advantage when it comes to find a break in the wall (formations and mounted formations, escaping a PvP attack, and so on...)

No, sex - male/female choices doesn't give an advantage and neither does the size of the character. Collision detection is the same basis on all characters, all effecting same area outwards from your player. Being a 'mini-me' with uber melee skills, won't give you an advantage over 'andre the giant' looker with uber melee skills for example.

6. How far can you fire with bow and are there penalties for range?

There were no specifics, however, in game you can set based on how good a system you have, the level of view in game, in metres. To help with caster / range there will be soft locks done in a 'tab target' way.

a. Is there a difference between crossbow and bow?

Again specifics are still being fleshed out from beta testers and in house testing as with above. Crossbows might be slightly faster but that is just an assumption for now;) However, I can give you a nice render of an Assassin sporting a Crossbow =)

7. Does it take time to switch between weapons?

Yes there are different animations and as if you try in real life there is a time. Its not instantaneous specifics are still being tweaked.

8 Is there global cooldown? Are there any abilities which don't have a cooldown?

There are cooldowns and particular combos for example however, these aren't global from what I could tell with other combo's. As for spells im unsure sorry as I didnt get to play a caster. So I couldn't tell you if 'global' is in place or if some abilities dont have cooldowns.

9. Does attack speed increase with leveling?

Unknown. It didn't look like it to me, the only speed increase was in a frenzy stance as an ability for some melee class types.

10. Do Rangers get tracking, and how will it work?

Didnt get a chance to ask sorry.

11. I was wondering how group looting and exp. distribution will work, especially if a high lvl person is grouping with a low lvl buddy.

Specifics wont be available for a while as this system is still being tweaked.  In a raid though the raid leader distributes loot. Anyother time its based on a 'Need' or 'Greed' System in which again some specifics aren't available sorry but here is what was learnt:

* small xp bonus for killing stuff in groups
* 3 loot options:
- round robin
- free for all
- master looter. loot can be distributed by the master looter

* Quest items always drop for every groupmember with the quest

* nearly all smaller caves or mini-dungeons (like the maze or acheronian ruins) have a hero mode (a challenging group game), because those dungeons are normally made for solo or minigroups.

12. Will players have to constantly have to raid the same place to get any good other forms of getting good items, like crafting? 

Here is a raiding interview I filmed: http://www.stage6.com/user/AcolyteAvery/video/2123683/

Basically, there will be some places that have item exclusives in that area.  Also no drops from monsters that aren't useful for the monster they are: like chickens don't drop plate armor etc.

a. Is there a reset timer for raid dungeons?

Yes see video :)

b. Will dungeons have traps and hidden doors a rogue could detect?

Yes

c.    End Game 

Do they have anything planned other than the typical raids and sieging?  Do they have any plans to build systems that we can do that are realistic to hyboria for end game content? Will there be other end game raid dungeons besides Black Ring Citadel at launch?

Again all pretty much in interview above:

8 end game raid dungeons in the game right now, 15 raid targets at launch. Tradeskills will be a continuing focus throughout the game and more so later levels. There are PvP mini games too.

1. I would like to know more on the different types of mounts.
2. Regarding the mounts...if something attacks you while riding will you fall off?
3. Will we be able to Cast from our mount? And if ‘Yes’ will the same conditions apply for mounted casting as does for regular (feet on the ground) casting? i.e. do you have to be standing still?
4. Is mounted combat formations still in?

The second half of the video link above in raiding also has info about mounts too (http://www.stage6.com/user/AcolyteAvery/video/2123683/)

Knockbacks will work with mounts I believe, you can swing melee either side (horses and rhino's) Mounted Combat is still in as far as I know.

* There will be a big choice of horses (5-10 in different colours)

* Differ in hitpoints, turn radius, stamina, speed

* All mounts can attack on their own and cause different damage

* Many spells can be fired from the back of a horse

* Its possible to get kicked of the horse during a fight

* The war mammoth and the rhino are nearly the same in stats, the rhino is more agile though and the warmammoth has more HP

* Mammoth and rhino are exclusiv preorder items atm

* Requirement for a mount is lvl40 which might come down to lvl 20 when you get off Tortage.

* Mounts are inventory items, you can have many of them

* Currently mounts cannot be customized at release, but they will come up with something later. 

* They look Freakin Kick Ass! 

1. Any plans of implementing stats to crafting resources?
2. Any plans of implementing traderoutes / caravans between cities and tradeposts?
3. Can vendors be placed by players, or only by guild officers?
4. More infos please. Especially about raws.
5. Are there fixed sets of armor and weapons or are we able to customize our looks ? Anything like dyes (Lotro) or fashion slots (eq2).
6. Will weapons/armor decay to the point where new ones must be made to replace them? If so, this would keep the crafters like myself in business.
7. Will there be armor dyes that perhaps crafters can make with Alchemy?
8. Will there be rare/one of a kind patterns/recipes for crafters? 

1. Can you manually aim catapults under sieges? 

Yes from the battle keep video above you can see you can aim quite far in all angles, although they have decided to make the Trebuchet Siege weapon static / fixed. The rhino and mammoth act as mobile weapons for damge. You can just goto resource tent and build a new tebuchet its easy to do.

2. Can the defending guild intercept firing of siege engines by attacking them before the walls are destroyed?

Yes. gates on you Keep can be opened... feel free to charge out and destroy the opposing siege weapons.

Siege weapons are destructible and one player cant operate 2 at the same time. You build them around the Keep (or within walls if defending) A siege equipment tent has to be contructed first, from this tent you get your resources to be able to build. You can see from the battlekeep video the Architect stuff top right I zoomed in on.

3 What happens if siege engines are destroyed? Can you build new ones during the battle?

Yep as above.

4. Any chance of inventory looting on PvP servers?

I asked that question to Gaute on the Dev Q&A panel they are still looking into the different types. They appreciate and read all feedback they can find on the subject. Expect clarification maybe in the next Q&A community video maybe on next Friday.

5. Will shadows, noise, and positioning relative to visual cone affect your chance to stay stealthed in PvP?

Yes

Every class is able to stealth with different possibilites to detect a stealthed player:
- stealth skill: raised with skillpoints
- perception: if its higher then the stealth skill of a player, you detect him faster
- noise: dependent of the gear you wear, the surface, the speed and weight
- viewcone: a stealthed player infront of you,will be detected easier
- lighting level: easier to see a stealthed player at day, shadows play a part
- there will be a interface which lets you see the lighting level

6. Any information you can find about the FFA PvP server(s) you can find out would be appreciated

I asked, PvP server will be at launch, this is open pvp everywhere. If your meaning FFA=Full loot, then loot options still to be decided. Testingin Beta still going on for balance issues.

7. What are the rewards going to be for playing the CTF games? What kind of rewards will there be for PvP? 

Ranking system in place, they are also still discussing PvP rewards from mini games and PvP in general.

8. Will there be any Guild vs Guild modes other than the Battlekeeps and player cities? Maybe in a future expansion? (several guilds attacking each other, for instance.

Maybe, you can get several guilds attacking each other in the borderlands, its not instanced anyone can come to the fight:)

9. Will AoC "require" PvP to advance/compete in PvE?

You will need to learn the basic's in PvE first then only PvP specifics from trainers can be learnt. But this is still under discussion, because they have seperate levels.

10. Will a mostly PvE player be able to PvP in balanced scenarios like WoW's battlegrounds?

Again if you dont raise your PvP levels its not going to do you much good. There are specific PvP trainers around the world. You also loose EXP when you Die in PvP this stops zerging etc. You can however, have a chance if your predominantly a PvE player.

More PvP info:

* Anyone who is not in your group is attackable (they think about adding guild members to the non attack list no matter if they are in another group or solo)
* There´s a pvp variation of all equipment stats
* There will be a pvp ranking system which increases with pvp kills and decreases with pvp deaths
* The highest ranked pvpers will be awarded with ingame items
* CTF battles involve battling it out with the other team in an 8 player, 4-vs.-4 format where you have various minutes to win the match completely, of which involves capturing the other team's flag three times before they capture yours the same number. (curse article)
* There is also a Team Deathmatch type of instanced PvP, both with Ranked or Skirmish options. In Ranked matches, dying means you lose "PvP experience"

Extra Info:

* Fans of Spear and Shield look can still pull this off with equiping a similar shield type (in game) and also equip the throwing spear which will give that look, but you wont have the stabbing moves and such like in 300 the movie.

* There are a huge variety of sex / race specific quests with varying degrees of resolution. Sex can be a reward in some quests, screen fades to black.

* The game opens up big time after Tortage ( lvl 1-20)    Right now there is a focus on solo play with quests at the start of the game lvl 1-30 but from  there on out group focus will help in your questing. Although it can be solo'd up to lvl 80 apparently.

* 1500 Armor Sets right now in game compromising of 4-8 pieces each set.

* Confimation the game will take advantage of any extra CPU cores you have, its multi-threaded.

* There are a stack of emotes in the game. A large amount, some very funny.

* People playing the game with pings of over 500ms shouldnt be a problem when playing. There is a invisible action queue. FC was concerned about different internet connections and constructed the game engine in a way that everyone will enjoy the game.

* Gaute Godager announced that the game will be shipping with the ability to modify the look of interface elements; changing the graphics and so forth. However, post-launch, Funcom plans to add the ability to interface with the Age of Conan UI API, allowing the ability to create unique and new UI elements, similar to what World of Warcraft currently employs.

* With Alts: they migh implement that alts have to do just levels 1-5 at the start then can go straight from Tortage instead of 1-20. (1 - 5 takes very short time) The thing is that Alt will have to do the Destiny Quests for Tortage though to continue the story off the island. So from feedback they are trying to give the player the option not for repetition with an alt.

* Post Launch they will be adding in multiple starting area's.

* From testing so far they hope to have around 3.5k to 5k per sever.

* Players will have the ability to teleport to their player city if they have a guild with one.

* As it stands right now the Dark Templar is probably the best Tanking class. Although it does probably the least amount of DPS in game. It has great ability to hold up mobs / aggro, it also has a team heal.

* From Feedback the Demonologist and Necro seem to be favourite class types for the Solo player.

* The Barbarian has the most DPS but the Conqueror comes close in Frenzy Stance.

Here are the differences between the New Tempest of Set and the Priest of Mitra:

Tempest of Set:

Does better healing from more Damage dished out

Is more offensive

Has Nukes type spells - >> Electrical Damage Area Effects - the area offensive ability really boosts the damage done and therefore the ability to multiple buff your team.

The Tempest of Set almost has all of the toolsets almost completely from the Stormcaller/Druid/Scion, but re-themed to the Tempest of Set

So all in all, the more damge he does the better he / she can heal everyone.

Priest of Mitra:

Does more damage by better healing. Heal good, kill good.

For every friendly target hit by a heal you have a chance of extra buffs upon yourself

Everything else remains the same, although there are constant tweaking from beta feedback.

* Funcoms game Midgard that they cancelled some time ago, from that game pretty much nothing Age of Conan borrows from that game. Only maybe a slight visual comparison could of been made at earlier developement of AoC

* Guilds in the Border Kingdoms can have as many "Towers" as they want to , just only one battlekeep.

* The better your PvE city the better your Battlekeep (PvP city) will be. PvE City might operate status by levels, so you might have a level 1,2 or 3 city with 3 being the best, most well kept.

*Guild are free to go off destroying other keeps. If they already own one, they cant take it over, you can go spy on how well built an opponents city is and then go declare and set up for a siege if you think you can take them.

* Some devs have some very cool idea's still, one thing some talked about was about having blood on your characters body after fighting, which would fade away after a certain amount of time. Inspiration, like from braveheart where he has blood all over him after the first battle scene.

* There is a weapon in game called the Vanquisher of Poultry from a quest :P This is a reward from an NPC called the Cock Handler !! haha

* There is also another quest where a really messed up guy in Conalls Valley, asks you to go kill the Vanir People. He wants their teeth to make a necklace. So you have to go off and get 150 Vanir Teeth. This doesnt mean you have to kill 150 vanir, as the human mouth contain lots of teeth you might get say 12 from one kill or 20 from another etc etc. So its a twist on the norm. There are lots of quests with a true unique story attached.

* Expansions are in the pipe-line.

* Small traveling loading screen is planned (let´s you see from where you travel and where to). anyone remember indiana jones games? loading screen will be edited and will be different for each zone.

* There will be smuggler quests which leads you out of Tortage City early if you want (starting zone)

* Spellweaving is still ingame, it works similar to the melee combo system now. you wont use spellweaving as often as combos, but the effect is stronger. Possibilty to damage yourself or your group with intensive use of spellweaving. There are other disadvantages planned. No more hell for intensive use of spellweaving. Tests found its not funny if some of your group members suddenly disappear during raid etc.

Anyway, hope you enjoyed reading thru =)

Avery

Wow, lots of info in here. Thanks for all the hard work. Hope you were able to find some time to have fun while you were there! 

Originally posted by Dulain

Wow, lots of info in here. Thanks for all the hard work. Hope you were able to find some time to have fun while you were there! 

I added some new render images to the sticky in the forum here  ;)

Thanks, Avery!

Originally posted by D|CE

Thanks, Avery!

Expect the Q&A session Funcom Videos to help clarify too over the next few weeks :)

Whoa!  This is awsome man.  Thank you so much .  I assume your trip went very well then, I like the look of this info, I have yet to read it all.

THANKYOU