- I haven't been able to spend as much time in Age of Conan this week for various reasons, but was able to make a couple forays into Conall's Valley in Cimmeria. It seems I'm still in the honeymoon phase with the game since I'm still having a great time whenever I do log in.
- The zone is beautiful. I know I said that about Tortage, but Funcom has really captured the barbaric north here. The villages are all huts with a couple wooden buildings and log palisades with muddy paths between them. Then when you step into Conall's Valley, you literally have to follow a path down the hill, past moose and wolves and rabbits, into a valley. And it's not just a ramp to change elevations. There are switchbacks and log bridges where the path has fallen away. But the most beautiful and terrifying sight is just east of the cleverly named Cimmerian Settlement. Just past the wall separating the Cimmerians from their Vanir enemies is a field of corpses skewered on pikes. This grotesquerie hits you right in the face with the brutality you see in this conflict.
- Quests here are the standard "Kill Ten Rats," "Collect Ten Rat Tails," and "Fed-Ex" style. However the story dresses all of these up real pretty so you won't care as much. They do tend to mix multiple objectives in the same quest which makes them a little more interesting. The last quest I completed last night had me kill ten Vanir guardsmen, kill a specific Vanir supply master, and collect a supply crate from the camp. Nothing unusual but themed nicely.
- I've quickly gone from level 21 when I left Tortage to my current 26. That's over the course of only two good play sessions and a couple stray hours here and there. Either the early leveling curve is a little low or I'm burning through content too fast. We'll see if the level 30 speed bump is still there as other people have warned.
- There are, of course, other lands to explore and I have several breadcrumb quests leading me there. But now that I've found the next outpost, the just-as-cleverly named Mysterious Glade, I want to see what else I can do to lay waste to the Vanir invaders.
© 2009 Marty Runyon. All rights reserved.
You have found the secret right there.
ReplyDelete"Kill many, kill boss, collect an item"
The uniquity of pulling these off is what makes the questing more interesting.
I am playing Aion in CB right now, and the AoC quest system has not been more prevalent in my mind.
Kill 10 x is ok, but needs to be a lot better than go "Go get me 10 of this" ...done.
As to the visual quality of the world..it is also glaring to me. AoC feels more real and lived in...and maybe I have had enough of shiny, pretty happylands.
Guess longevity will tell.
Good luck
@ Openedge1 - I'm reminded of the Zeth'gor quests in WoW. One guy wants you to burn the place down. But while you're there someone wants you to capture a floating eye and someone else wants you to collect vials of blood and so on. Those aren't quests, they're errands. Quests in AoC at least feel like more than busy work.
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