Archives for July, 2008

We have made some introduction about the classes in the Age of Conan last time, covering the assassin, barbarian, bear shaman, conqueror, dark templar, and demonologist. Now I go on with the following ones.
Guardians:
In Hyboria, Guardians can be rated as the most important and powerful in terms of the amour and equipment. Capable of withstanding punishment like no other, they also have an array of deadly attacks that deal devastating damage.
The guardian is the sturdiest of all the soldiers and their strength lies in their ability to mitigate damage with their heavy armor and shield. They do not use magic but focus on fighting with sword and shield or wielding pole arms capable of sweeping through ranks of enemies. As well as daunting defenses, they are renowned for their devastating charges, capable of ripping through enemy lines and slaughtering their opponents.
Archetype: Soldier
Permitted Races: Aquilonian, Cimmerian
Weapons: One-handed edged, one-handed blunts, pole-arms, crossbows, and thrown weapons
Armor: Full plate, heavy armor, medium armor, light armor, and shield
Heralds of Xotli:
Heralds of Xotli are hybrids of the mage and soldier archetypes who wield alien spells and two handed weapons, making them a formidable enemy on the battlefield.
This class is for players who want to master both brutal swordplay and spectacular sorcery.
The result of demonology that went beyond the realms of hell and earth and out into the cold empty wastes beyond the realm of existence, they now faithfully serve Xotli, a demon-god of the Elder Night and an entity even the Atlanteans learned to fear.
Archetype: Mage
Permitted races: Stygian
Weapons: Two-handed edged, crossbows, daggers, and thrown weapon
Armor: Cloth and silk armor
Necromancers:
Necromancers are endued with the ability to summon and command the undead. Their ghoulish minions are capable of tearing men apart or casting their own death magic.
The rotten corpses of the dead follow wherever the necromancer leads.
The dark magic wielded by necromancer’s ranges from the unholy to pestilent corruption and the freezing touch of death. Through careful study they can develop the ability to call corpses from the earth to rise up and surround a foe or even attain lichdom, and finally become terrifying undead archmages.
Archetype: Mage
Permitted races: Stygian
Weapons: Daggers, crossbows, and thrown weapons
Armor: Cloth and silk armor

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What class you choose for your character determines his or her skills in combat, the ability to equip specific type’s equipment and what feats they can acquire as they level up. Therefore, together with one’s preference to the characters and the specification of the classes’ specification, one may have a clearer mind towards the choice of the class. Now let’s take a look at the classes in the Age of Conan.
Assassins:
Assassins are the most lethal killers in Hyboria. No other class can deliver blows as deadly as an assassin. Their arsenal of lethal combos is complemented by their ability to slip past enemies unseen.
Assassins can dual wield daggers with lightning speed and can modify their attacks against specific targets, such as unholy attacks against heavily armored foes, or poison attacks versus mana users. Few can stand against an assassin in combat.
Archetype: Rogue
Permitted Races: Aquilonian, Stygian
Weapons: Daggers, crossbows, and dual-wielding
Armor: Cloth armor and silk armor
Barbarian
The barbarian is one of the most dangerous and feared sights on the battlefield. Their combat style focuses on strength, aggression, and relentless assault.
Whether wielding two-handed weapons that sweep through enemy lines or fighting with a weapon in each hand, when the opportunity to deliver that devastating killing blow comes, they are ready.
Wounding barbarians enrages them, making them stronger and more deadly in battle and their varied array of powerful attacks can knock an enemy senseless, immobilize them, or make the very ground shake around them. Like other rogues, they excel at sneaking and the arts of ambushing.
Archetype: Rogue
Permitted Races: Cimmerian, Aquilonian
Weapons: One-handed edged, one-handed blunts, two-handed edged, two-handed blunts, bows, thrown weapons, and dual wielding.
Armor: Cloth armor and light armor
Bear shamans
Bear shamans can inherit aspects of the great bear like claws, savage strength or adrenaline surges and use spirit totems that heal and counter-attack enemy blows. They can also gain the power to heal and eventually resurrect fallen companions.
Bear shamans are able to equip the heaviest priest armor (medium) and are the sturdiest of all the priests. Capable of mighty combos with their two-handed weapons, and a complement of druidic enchantments, this makes them fearsome enemies in combat. In common with other priests, they also have many healing powers.

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Armor in the Age of Conan:
Succeeding in battle takes more than just a good weapon. It also requires that you have the right outfit to defend yourself properly from the attacks of your enemy. Armor is divided into different types such as cloth, leather, plate and more.
Here is some of the armor types explained:
Cloth armor
This material provides the least amount of defense, but allows the wearer more freedom of movement. Mostly used by casters and in various types of social clothing.
Light armor
This is used to categorize armor types such as leather and hide which is stronger than cloth, but still fairly weak. Some casters can use it and most if not all melee-oriented characters.
Medium armor
This is used to categorize armor types such as chain-mail and splint-mail. Considerably stronger than the armor types above and mostly reserved for melee-oriented characters.
Heavy armor
This is used to categorize armor types such as half-plate and full-plate. This is some of the strongest armor you can find, and it can only be used by skilled melee-oriented characters.
Shields armor
Some character classes can equip a shield to aid them in battle. Shields can be heavy and hard to manage, so only the most able fighters are able to use them when fighting enemies.
Weapons in the Age of Conan:
Battling your way across Hyboria is no easy task. You’ll want to wield the best weapons that money can buy (or that can be pried from the corpses from your enemies). Together with the proper armor, you will enjoy a more wonderful adventure in the Age of Conan.

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Age of Conan Storyline

As an MMORPG, there isn’t a storyline to the game per se. There is quite an immense back story - over 70 years of Conan stories have been written for the game developers to use to create the world of Hyboria. The game’s premise is that Conan of Cimmeria is already King of Aquilonia, but his reign is slipping due to nomadic tribes and a rather aging Conan. It’s up to others to become heroes of Hyboria able to fill Conan’s shoes. And believe me, that’s by no means an easy feat. So what makes Conan so great anyway?

Well, for starters, he’s one of the greatest warriors Hyboria has ever known. He was born and raised in Cimmeria, the wild barbaric lands of northwestern Hyboria (similar to the British Isles/Celtic civilization). Some novels have Conan as having started fighting when he was just five years old, though personally I think that may have been too young even for him. Although he was actually born on a battlefield when his tribe of Cimmerians was fighting the Vanir (Scandinavian peoples of the Hyborean age) it’s unknown exactly when Conan found civilized people or even saw them. He went back with the Aesir/Vanir to Hyperborea and stayed there for a few years, then went south to the city of Zamora. He liked being a thief, so did this for a while. Over the next few decades, Conan journeyed practically everywhere in Hyborian borders and outside them (into the spirit realm in Conan the Champion namely) gaining a lot of fame as pirate, thief and especially warrior.

Age of Conan Quests

One of the staple parts of MMORPGs, apart from the combat, is the presence of quests. Quests are adventures that enable a player to develop a character through either role playing, gathering experience points or finding rare items/weapons to defeat a certain enemy. Most quests in MMORPGs to this day tend to have been focused on the ‘kill monster, take item to someone’ variety, but in Age of Conan/: Hyborian Adventures the developers decided to focus a little more on the quest side of the game than other games did.

There are a couple of quest that are particularly of note - one of them is given when you try to slip past a certain mountain with a dragon guarding it. You have to go find ice worms to give this dragon so it’ll be too busy eating to notice you slipping past it and on up the mountain. Another quest is given when you’re trying to go through a particular swamp. It turns out there are some sort of magical bushes blocking your way, so you have to go find a special magical torch that will hold the flame needed to burn through them in order to go into the swamp.

Quests in Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures are a mixed bag of long and epic, like the old Conan stories, or short and sweet, so that casual players can just sit down to play for a short time and get a quest done without having to devote ungodly amounts of playtime to it. The larger quests are multi-layered - they’ll take some interaction with other players or NPCs to complete. Say, another character has an item you need, you can trade them for it and they can help you on your own quest in return.

There is also puzzle-solving, which makes Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures feel somewhat like a Zelda game. NPCs interact with player characters through cut scenes as well, with actual voice-acted dialog. Most MMORPGs have large boxes of spoken text, but not here. You can actually feel like you’re in the game and not just reading the game.

In Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures, there isn’t a system in-game to transfer quests between players. This would just defeat the spirit of the game - would Conan just say ‘I don’t feel like doing this quest, someone else take it on?’ No, he’d carry through regardless. Of course, you can do so unofficially, but you’re the one missing out on game play experience and experience points.

The locations where you can do quests are varied; you start out getting quests in the capital city of your country of origin (Khemi, Conarch Village or Old Tartage for Stygia, Cimmeria and Aquilonia respectively) You can go to ancient ruins, old castles, newer castles, and more places. Even though it might seem that, being Conan, the game is all about violence, there’s a lot more to it than that. MMORPGs can learn a lot from Age of Conan once the developers have ironed the bugs out of the game.

Depravity:

Blighted Touch 5 points: Awesome feat adds DPS and procs decently.

Blighted Soul 5 points: Basically makes Blighted touch an AOE; however the other skill in the tree is useless.

Crystallized Ether 0 points: Total waste, the only time you use mana is to buff, even if you have Soul Barrier, the shield will drop faster then this skill will replenish it, use a mana pot instead.

Dark Hand 5 points: Basic DPS add to your melee weps.

Devouring Blood Frenzy 3 points: Since I do often hit frenzy prepping for PvP this seemed to be a decent investment of 3 points. I have not noticed a significant difference so I may investigate this more in the future. It is supposed to give you some health while in frenzy stance.

Consuming Bulwark 0 points: I do not do defensive stance in PvP so this is a waste.

Pact of Malacodor 0 points: Since I already frenzy I did not want to take a large health hit to cause more damage.

Devourer’s Might 5 points: DPS boost to an already powerful combo, I had no problem spending the 5 points here.

Dark Burden 0 points: I originally had this feat, however you had to be very close and I simply did not seem to have time to use it in PvP. As a tank class I am chasing healers and casters, I can stun them. Even if I am stuck chasing them, what good is a healer/nuker to the enemy team if they are constantly running?

Dissipate Ether 3 points: Needed this to cause double damage with incinerate ether. (Mana and HP)

Incinerate Ether 1 point: 1 point to double damage? Heck yeah.

Vile Soul 0 points: I have quite a few reservations about Sadism with a DT, the PBAOE is only double digit damage when it procs, almost useless in the fast pace PvP battles.

Sadistic Glee 0 points: Another Sadism feat.

Dread Lord 1 point: For 1 point you cannot complain about lowering cooldown on combos, even if it is not a massive reduction.

Reaper of Malacodor 0 points: Need Pact of Malacodor for this.

Mind Wrack 1 point: 1 Point for a stun ability, awesome.

Ether Reap 0 points: Will not waste 5 points for the tiny mana Regen when I use Mystical Bane.

Hexer’s Might 5 points: Another feat that adds DPS to a powerful combo.

Gore Fiend 0 points: Sadism Feat

Masochism 0 points: Sadism Feat

Touch of Death 5 points: Awesome skill for one shotting (Combo) casters

Air of Death 0 points: Decent skill however you must use Touch of death to trigger it. TOD has too long of a cooldown to justify this feat.

Sadistic Vengeance 0 points: Sadism Feat.

Mind Shatter 1 point: 1 Point for a more powerful stun, easy point placement here. Note the two stuns are on different cooldown timers.

Unholy Strength 5 points: Raises DPS of ALL combos.

Drain Strength 0 points: Wanted to place one here, but since I hunt healers and caster strength is meaningless to them.

Ravenous Eater 0 points: Did not have the preq for this.

Dread Shadow 1 point: This was the largest disappointment. Yes the skill works, however the pet spawns for a very short time 5 - 10 seconds. This should have been a 3 point feat at 10 seconds per point. Only 1 point, but almost useless.

General:

I did have some reservations about putting any points at all in this tree. As such I only put 5 in recovery, since the Regen is half decent for the 5 points. The 2 points in improved frenzy stance are “left overs” that I did not see a better place for. The rest of the tree seems mostly for defense with the exception of Sustained Rage, which I did not have enough points to get. Remember this is a PvP build, NOT a PvE or raid build. In PvP you are not a prime target, healers and nukers are, and as such you can sometimes afford to be in frenzy stance to take down the enemy healers and nukers.

Desecration:

Devouring Touch 5 points: This beginning tree skill adds to your lifetap.
Covenant of Arms 5 points: This, IMO, is the best Covenant to run for DPS.
Vigor Leech 5 points: This is not an optional skill, the bane of a DT is stamina, and this stamina leech is a must have for PvE and PvP. This also leads to Ether Leech.
Talisman Mastery 0 points: I have not found a single decent talisman, and losing the shield does not seem to be intelligent.
Curse of Gwahlur 5 points: Decent skill that gives you health, causes damage, and seems to proc decently.
Ether Leech 1 point: Only 1 point here is awesome for a mana leech. (Note I do have Soul Barrier)
Corrupt Weapon: 2 points: A little disappointed here as it does not do much damage and it does not proc much, however I was forced to place 2 points to get the later Soul Barrier)
Improved Dread Fury 0 points: I cannot even cast a basic buff of this as I get an error that a more powerful spell is currently in effect.(Covenant of Arms) So there was no need to waste points here, I use Aura of Infusion which is awesome for survivability.
Approach of Death 1 point: Only 1 point needed here, I do notice it once in a while, not a huge benefit though.
Improved Martyrdom 0 points: I am not a healer, although this does do a good boost to health, I did not wish to spend the points in this.
Improved Soul Covenants: 1 point: Awesome skill for only 1 point, it is supposed to raise the proc % of the covenant itself.
Soul Barrier 1 point: This is a controversial skill, when you cast this (Lasts 20 seconds) damage is applied to your mana pool before your actual health pool. If you do have time to cast it, it is an awesome spell. The only bad thing is the cast time, if you get jumped you do not have time to use it, however if your group is initializing the PvP, this is a very nasty bonus. Note that I did take the two stuns in the other tree, using one of them does give me time to cast it in solo PvP, and popping a mana pot works wonders while under its effects.

The level 80 PVP spec’ed DT

General comments on leveling:

While I made this guide, The Dark Templar (DT) seemed a little “gimped” from levels 1-25, able to handle his own, but not much more. From level 25 to 45 you will notice that the Dark Templar (DT) starts to come into his own strength, in this area you should be able to easily handle 3-4 mobs your level or 2-3 mobs a level above you. (This is with minimal downtime) From 45 to 65 the DT really becomes strong; anything your own level becomes a waste of time. Above 65 mobs even 3-4 levels above you are fair hunting game as long as you do not pull too many. You will find that more then other classes the DT becomes very dependent on properly placed feat points, even more then actual gear. The DT also seems to be a “late bloomer”, not really coming into his own strength until 65+.

Skill points:

Bandaging and Fast Healing I have at 500. This seems to work fine with getting HP up between fights.

Recovery and fast Recovery I also have at 500. Stamina is the primary problem with DT’s when leveling solo. You might even consider taking 100 points from bandaging and 100 points from Fast Recovery and putting them into Recovery and Fast recovery.

I have 200 in Endurance and 200 into Run Speed. These were both used until I bought a mount. For end game PvP, you may wish to put 400-500 into run speed. (You DO NOT use sprint in end game PvP, unless you are happy with popping stam pots.)

Climbing has 450 only because of a climb point in Aztel’s Approach. (There is a shortcut there that you need to climb in order to use it)

Hiding has zero as this skill is not needed at all, in end game PvP you want others to see you, in order to come after you instead of the healers and nukers.

Perception has zero as I simply did not have enough points to place here. If you are going to use perception you will need to have this capped at 80 to be used effectively, and with a DT you cannot afford to do this.

Taunt has zero as this is not a PvE build.

I do have 152 points left over, however I am saving these in case there is a climb point in a raid/group dungeon that has a 600 point requirement. If this turns out not to be a concern, it will go into run speed.

The Feats:

Trained Feats
Blighted Touch5/5
Blighted Soul5/5
Dark Hand5/5
Devouring Blood Frenzy3/3
Devourer’s Might5/5
Incinerate Ether1/1
Dissipate Ether3/3
Dread Lord1/1
Combo - Mind Wrack1/1
Hexer’s Might5/5
Touch of Death5/5
Combo - Mind Shatter1/1
Unholy Strength5/5
Dread Shadow1/1
Trained Feats
Devouring Touch5/5
Spell - Covenant of Arms5/5
Vigor Leech5/5
Curse of Gwahlur5/5
Ether Leech1/1
Corrupt Weapon2/2
Approach of Death1/1
Improved Soul Covenants1/1
Spell - Soul Barrier1/3
Recovery5/5
Improved Frenzy Stance2/5

General and Desecration

General:

I did have some reservations about putting any points at all in this tree. As such I only put 5 in recovery, since the Regen is half decent for the 5 points. The 2 points in improved frenzy stance are “left overs” that I did not see a better place for. The rest of the tree seems mostly for defense with the exception of Sustained Rage, which I did not have enough points to get. Remember this is a PvP build, NOT a PvE or raid build. In PvP you are not a prime target, healers and nukers are, and as such you can sometimes afford to be in frenzy stance to take down the enemy healers and nukers.

Desecration:

Devouring Touch 5 points: This beginning tree skill adds to your lifetap.
Covenant of Arms 5 points: This, IMO, is the best Covenant to run for DPS.
Vigor Leech 5 points: This is not an optional skill, the bane of a DT is stamina, and this stamina leech is a must have for PvE and PvP. This also leads to Ether Leech.
Talisman Mastery 0 points: I have not found a single decent talisman, and losing the shield does not seem to be intelligent.
Curse of Gwahlur 5 points: Decent skill that gives you health, causes damage, and seems to proc decently.
Ether Leech 1 point: Only 1 point here is awesome for a mana leech. (Note I do have Soul Barrier)
Corrupt Weapon: 2 points: A little disappointed here as it does not do much damage and it does not proc much, however I was forced to place 2 points to get the later Soul Barrier)
Improved Dread Fury 0 points: I cannot even cast a basic buff of this as I get an error that a more powerful spell is currently in effect.(Covenant of Arms) So there was no need to waste points here, I use Aura of Infusion which is awesome for survivability.
Approach of Death 1 point: Only 1 point needed here, I do notice it once in a while, not a huge benefit though.
Improved Martyrdom 0 points: I am not a healer, although this does do a good boost to health, I did not wish to spend the points in this.
Improved Soul Covenants: 1 point: Awesome skill for only 1 point, it is supposed to raise the proc % of the covenant itself.
Soul Barrier 1 point: This is a controversial skill, when you cast this (Lasts 20 seconds) damage is applied to your mana pool before your actual health pool. If you do have time to cast it, it is an awesome spell. The only bad thing is the cast time, if you get jumped you do not have time to use it, however if your group is initializing the PvP, this is a very nasty bonus. Note that I did take the two stuns in the other tree, using one of them does give me time to cast it in solo PvP, and popping a mana pot works wonders while under its effects.

Depravity:

Blighted Touch 5 points: Awesome feat adds DPS and procs decently.

Blighted Soul 5 points: Basically makes Blighted touch an AOE; however the other skill in the tree is useless.

Crystallized Ether 0 points: Total waste, the only time you use mana is to buff, even if you have Soul Barrier, the shield will drop faster then this skill will replenish it, use a mana pot instead.

Dark Hand 5 points: Basic DPS add to your melee weps.

Devouring Blood Frenzy 3 points: Since I do often hit frenzy prepping for PvP this seemed to be a decent investment of 3 points. I have not noticed a significant difference so I may investigate this more in the future. It is supposed to give you some health while in frenzy stance.

Consuming Bulwark 0 points: I do not do defensive stance in PvP so this is a waste.

Pact of Malacodor 0 points: Since I already frenzy I did not want to take a large health hit to cause more damage.

Devourer’s Might 5 points: DPS boost to an already powerful combo, I had no problem spending the 5 points here.

Dark Burden 0 points: I originally had this feat, however you had to be very close and I simply did not seem to have time to use it in PvP. As a tank class I am chasing healers and casters, I can stun them. Even if I am stuck chasing them, what good is a healer/nuker to the enemy team if they are constantly running?

Dissipate Ether 3 points: Needed this to cause double damage with incinerate ether. (Mana and HP)

Incinerate Ether 1 point: 1 point to double damage? Heck yeah.

Vile Soul 0 points: I have quite a few reservations about Sadism with a DT, the PBAOE is only double digit damage when it procs, almost useless in the fast pace PvP battles.

Sadistic Glee 0 points: Another Sadism feat.

Dread Lord 1 point: For 1 point you cannot complain about lowering cooldown on combos, even if it is not a massive reduction.

Reaper of Malacodor 0 points: Need Pact of Malacodor for this.

Mind Wrack 1 point: 1 Point for a stun ability, awesome.

Ether Reap 0 points: Will not waste 5 points for the tiny mana Regen when I use Mystical Bane.

Hexer’s Might 5 points: Another feat that adds DPS to a powerful combo.

Gore Fiend 0 points: Sadism Feat

Masochism 0 points: Sadism Feat

Touch of Death 5 points: Awesome skill for one shotting (Combo) casters

Air of Death 0 points: Decent skill however you must use Touch of death to trigger it. TOD has too long of a cooldown to justify this feat.

Sadistic Vengeance 0 points: Sadism Feat.

Mind Shatter 1 point: 1 Point for a more powerful stun, easy point placement here. Note the two stuns are on different cooldown timers.

Unholy Strength 5 points: Raises DPS of ALL combos.

Drain Strength 0 points: Wanted to place one here, but since I hunt healers and caster strength is meaningless to them.

Ravenous Eater 0 points: Did not have the preq for this.

Dread Shadow 1 point: This was the largest disappointment. Yes the skill works, however the pet spawns for a very short time 5 - 10 seconds. This should have been a 3 point feat at 10 seconds per point. Only 1 point, but almost useless.

 

About Age of Conan

Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures is a fantasy-themed massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) developed by the Norwegian computer, video game developer company Funcom for PC and the Xbox 360. The game launched at 9 p.m. (GMT) on May 17, 2008 in a limited way, being available to those who had pre-ordered the game and registered for early access. The full release of the game for North America was May 20, 2008 and for Europe May 23, 2008 for the PC version. The Xbox 360 version is scheduled to be released a year after the PC release.

Hyborian Adventures is the first installment in the planned Age of Conan series. Age of Conan itself takes place within the continent of the Hyborian kingdoms, a year after the events depicted in Howard's sole Conan novel, The Hour of the Dragon. Hyborian Adventures' release celebrated the 76th anniversary of the Conan franchise.

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