Age of Conan goes F2P, Unrated This Summer
Wednesday Funcom announced that its barbarian-laced MMORPG Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures will be re-launched this summer as Age of Conan: Unrated. The new name seemingly indicates that the game will receive an extra injection of heated naughtiness during the hottest time of the year, and indeed that will be the case. But more importantly, the game will feature an additional free-to-play model so that everyone can feast in all the barbaric "assets" without having to shell out a monthly subscription fee.
According to Funcom, Age of Conan: Unrated will feature a "hybrid" business model: players can roam Conan's backyard for free or go old-school and cough up a monthly subscription fee. As seen with other free-to-play models, an in-game store will be inserted into the realm so that players can purchase exclusive content such as weaponry and mounts. But naturally there will be limitations placed on free accounts so that players get hooked to the point of going premium.
As seen here, there will be several major differences between the Free and Premium accounts. Those who don't want to take the subscription route will be locked down to four available character classes. They'll also have access to non-premium dungeons, two raids, two characters slots (although there's a max of 18), and only basic mount training. Free players can't partake in sieges, they only have 50-percent of the personal bank space available, they can't level offline and they can't earn veteran points.
As for the extra dose of naughtiness, Funcom said that going "unrated" means the development team has the freedom "to stay even more true to the original works of Conan author Robert E. Howard, and use even more of the barbaric, brutal and sexy setting that is Howard's Hyboria." New locations, monsters, equipment and storylines are already in the works, and will even incorporate the previously-announced ‘Conan the Barbarian’ movie tie-in adventure pack.
"Everyone on the team is excited about opening up our world to an even larger audience," said Creative Director and Executive Producer Craig Morrison. "The online world of Hyboria is constantly expanding as we continue to introduce new gameplay features and new content, and we truly believe that ‘Age of Conan: Unrated’ will offer something truly new and unique to both new players and to those have already experienced the brutal online world of Conan the Barbarian."
The original Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures launched back in May 2008 and is now available in English, French, German, Spanish, Russian and Polish localized versions, and has also launched in Korea. Funcom didn't provide an exact date of when the MMORPG will get the re-boot, so stay tuned.
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Wow i cant wait to play it when it becomes free to play! :D Come visit my computer website at www.Pchelpful.comReply
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Ragnar-Kon Ah yes the old "we can't beat world of warcraft" business model.Reply
Seriously though, this could do wonders for Age of Conan. It had a huge release but most players left due to the lack of end-game content and thousands upon thousands of bugs. That and they realized they liked WoW better.
But now that most of the bugs are fixed and there is more end-game content, the free reboot should bring some players back. -
If they just got rid of the retarded combo attack system I'd go back to playing it for free. But as long as that terrible terrible combo system remains the game is not worth it.Reply
Having to hit 13115 to do 1 instant attack is stupid! And having melee use their resource bar to do attacks and to run to be able to catch ranged as also really retarded and ruined the pvp. -
This game was actually one of my favorite mmos ever. My computer just sucked to much to play it like I wanted. Maybe now that I have a better rig ill go back to it. This is one of the most beautiful games ive ever played though hands down.Reply
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naww I loved this game.. a shame they have lost the plot.Reply
The best model i have seen is the one used by "Dragons Nest".
Free players get the chance to have the same gear as payed players.
However if you pay you get the gear early.. if you do not pay you
have a long slow path to get the gear..
The best system i think..
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jalek Necro was the only class worth playing. 20 pets swarming over some noob was just ridiculous and if it was on water, my computer was a slideshow anyway.Reply -
The game has come miles and miles since release guys i confirm that since i resubbed about a year ago and im having a blast and looking so much for the future. Even the game runs much better now, i get a minimum of 45 fps in the most demanding zones playing at max settings 1920x1200. Needless to say AoC has the best graphics by far, immersion, music and combat system.Reply
AoC will rise again :) imo, its the best mmo out there by far now
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HappyBB It seems there are more restrictions on the free-to-play version than I expect. I was excited a bit to read this article. However, seeing how they restrict the functionality of the free version, I now don't have that excitement.Reply