14 DAY TRIAL // Age of Conan will be getting some pretty significant updates in 2015, the biggest things being the brand-new achievement system and the planned revamp of the crafting system.
Joel Bylos, Age of Conan's game director, made the interesting reveals in a new game director letter posted on the game website, outlining what gamers should expect from the massively multiplayer online role-playing game this year.
Age of Conan is somewhat of an underdog in the MMO world, being the kind of game that isn't great enough to be a real contender for World of Warcraft but is interesting and different enough to still maintain a healthy user base.
Back in 2014, developer Funcom added World Boss Events, a system designed to provide gamers with a monthly opportunity to take down massive world bosses in outdoor settings, releasing a new monster upon Hyboria and challenging the community to come together and deal with it, rewarding players for participating in a shared environment.
The World Boss system will see a return over the course of 2015, with some improved mechanics, new bosses, and more exciting rewards.
Another big change made in 2014 was the introduction of the Player versus Player events, a natural continuation of the ongoing efforts to improve PvP and take into account all the feedback gathered over the years.
The PvP festivals will continue throughout 2015, with all-new quests and class balance tweaks aimed at improving the user experience. Players can purchase new mounts, social pets and morphs, and can exchange multiple lower tier tokens for higher tier versions, a move intended to give veterans an incentive to play with newer players and guide them through lower tier raids.
Big additions for 2015
The first big thing scheduled to land in 2015 is the Achievement System, with Funcom aiming to have it live in late January or early February. The first wave of achievements will include Trials, awarded for dungeon speed runs, and a wealth of general PvE and PvP activities.
The new notification system which is set to go live with the achievement one will be streamlined throughout the year in order to provide a smoother introduction for newcomers and to offer useful information about available content to more experienced players.
The second major focus for the development team this year is the long-awaited Crafting system, which Funcom hopes to have ready sometime in early 2015. The company plans to tie the itemization of upcoming content to the crafting system to some extent.
In addition to this, the developer will also deliver new content in the form of Palace of Cetriss and The Slithering Chaos later this year. Furthermore, Bylos points out that gamers will be able to engage in PvP arenas with expanded team sizes, following feedback from fans, but that teams will need to be self-organized, as the game does not have a matchmaking system.
