Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures - updated impressions

Godagercontinues: “Also well, destroying other people’s buildings gives them the opportunity to build their own there. You get ownership of resource nodes when you build in these PvP areas, and there’s a mechanism we call the ‘opportunity window’ where you define when you can be attacked- so you don’t get woken up in the middle of the night being told your guild is being attacked. It’s epic, it’s grand, it’s over 100 players battling it out using mounts and siege weapons.”

Oh yes, mounts. Age of Conan’s planning on utilising mounts in far more interesting ways than the go-faster-look-nicer steeds of WoW, not just horses either, but camels and woolly mammoths too. “Mounted combat changes some of the core rules of what you can and can’t do,” claims Godager, “it adds new elements about movement and damage. Being on horseback strips you of combos and most spells, but as a melee character you use the speed of your horse to add damage to your weapon. So the faster you ride, the more damage you do- but you can’t turn very well, that’s how it balances. It’s less DPS, but a shock-and-awe approach.”