“Fatalities are one of the sweetest extras that Age of Conan brings and the added graphic of blood splattering on the screen never seems to get old. ”
The one problem I was plagued with at the outstart of the Age of Conan was the fact that the versatility of character classes was not reflected in the 3 races that a person could choose from. The races of Aquilonian, Stygian and Cimmerian can be seen as Roman, Arabic and Germanic respectively. So my dreams of a powerful Kushite or Khitai warrior seemed dim but I gave it a chance anyway. Choosing the shady Stygian class, I found that regardless of the description of each race, the creation tool was sophisticated enough to allow me to make a character of any ethnicity. Making my typical goateed, dark-skinned toon, I chose the Stygian race. Then it was time to choose a class…
HoX First Impression
The Herald of Xotli is a mage/warrior who worships an alien demon god and through his power wields fire along with giant swords to defeat his enemies. This class seemed badass and after 20 levels of flames and demon pwnage I realised that the only 2 weaknesses is his lack of armor certification and a proper root to stop the runners. The perks of the class is the incredible fun gameplay and badass moves… My favorite being the “hell step” where my demon locks unto an enemy and runs to them in a flaming dash of fury. He also breathes fire and has an assortment of devastating sword combinations!
Pvp so far with my Herald has been pretty successful. Even without armor I am able to give a barbarian a good fight blade to blade. Assassins are food and annoying Rangers slow me and kite… The strength though has been in the element of surprise, playing on a free for all server I get PKed occassionally and find myself stalking my killer to punish him. A surprise hell step can drop opponents in a matter of seconds while they recoil from your dash but the fun is watching them scream in pain when a random fatality lands from the coup de’ grace. Fatalities are one of the sweetest extras that Age of Conan brings and the added graphic of blood splattering on the screen never seems to get old.
A Fatality is an animation that happens based on a percentage and the type of weapon being used… When you kill your opponent it can decapitate, puncture their jugular vein or send them screaming from a fiery death. The bonus for doing a fatality is a buff in stamina and health… Berserker logic at it’s best!
Negatives…
So far the community has been the only disappointment. Ya I know… Expecting mmorpg players to not be a-holes, how dumb of me… the ooc (Out Of Character) channel is a pre-school of whiners and griefers warring verbally in typical nerd fashion and the forums are an abortion. To cope with this nonsense I’ve had to avoid the forums and turn off general, ooc chat permanently. Although these problems plague every mmo (the same bunch of losers doing it game to game) it seems to be as bad here as it was in the early period of the World of Warcraft. That being said, aside from a few visual glitches here and there (sword floating meters away from my toon’s hand…) The game is solid and tons of fun.
If you are between MMO’s, tired of playing on a dead erver on your current game or want a more adult oriented slasher then pick this game up and have a ball. I am now level 26 and look forward to writing part 2 of my journey to level 40. DO NOT go to the Age of Conan forums to find out about the game, unless you like to read arguments between losers. Check out the Age of Conan website at www.ageofconan.com and see if it peaks your interest. For me, this game is my new Star Wars Galaxies… and that is a huge compliment.
GOD KING GRADE: (C) ★★★★★
