Preview by: Toni Schwartz

Since its launch a year and a half ago Age of Conan (AoC) has endured a few bumps in the road. Rocky beginnings are not unusual for an MMO, but arguably AoC has had it a bit rougher than others. The first blow came when Producer/Game Director Gaute Godager resigned from Funcom after having worked there for 16 years. Then there was the much-touted server merge, usually seen in the MMO community as the kiss of death, a sign of a severe decease in subscribers. But Funcom has picked itself up, tended its wounds, and is ready to take on the next challenge.

That challenge is two-fold, as it’s currently working on two major projects: the first retail expansion for AoC called Rise of the Godslayer, and its latest upcoming MMO The Secret World. I was invited to a presentation of Godslayer, as Executive Producer Craig Morrison gave us a rundown of what to expect in this expansion. While there was no playable demo at the presentation, Morrison showed a ten minute video of Godslayer, which included in-game footage.

Morrison explained that whereas combat was the primary focus of AoC when it first came out, Godslayer leans more towards the concepts of choice and consequence in addition to combat. According to Morrison, it’s “Giving the players choices in the gameplay that directly impact their path through the expansion so that they have consequences to all their actions.”

Godslayer introduces a new Asian-inspired region called Khitai, which is divided into five massive playfields: Paikang, Gateway to Khitai, Northern Grasslands, Chosain Province, and Kara Korum. Unlike Hyboria, Khitai promises to be less linear and more explorable. Players new to the game or rolling alts will still have to spend the first 20 levels in the newbie area of Tortage, but later can choose to quest in the old content or level in Khitai, or in both. With this new region comes a new playable race, the Khitans. Although the new characters look primarily Asian, Morrison mentioned that they worked with Korean artists to create characters that combine Eastern and Western features.

The biggest hook in Godslayer is the faction system, which best illustrates the concepts of choice, consequence, and combat. You can join a faction and enjoy all its benefits and rewards (armor sets, friendships with certain factions) but at the same time risk making enemies of another faction. You need to be level 80 to join one, but can start earning points for them at earlier levels. In some cases you can belong to more than one faction.

The faction system to some degree affects your interactions with other players when grouping with them in PvE, or fighting against them in PvP. NPCs from your faction will help you but attack your group mates if they’re from an enemy faction. In fact, if you help a player from an enemy faction, your NPC friendlies will aggro on you as well. (However, mobs in instances and raids belong to no factions and will attack anyone.) Ditching your old faction also holds consequences. Not only will you lose all perks from your former faction, but you’ll have to work hard in gaining your new faction’s trust.