The guys at Funcom are real jerks. Yesterday I post 10 reasons not to play Age of Conan (scroll down, you can't miss it) and today, they make a whole slew of announcements about how they're improving the game. Way to upstage me, guys.

You can click here to read their latest newsletter, which has links to more detailed explanations for the various announcements. Most of these relate to a patch scheduled for late June or early July. Here are the highlights:

* Meaningful PvP is finally being implemented. This quote was amusing:

Following the launch of Age of Conan we sat down immediately and started fleshing out some ideas for what we wanted to do with the PvP (player vs. player) features in the game, and now we are ready to reveal it to you.

* A new fugitive system will give players a color-coded wanted status based on how many lower-level player characters they've killed. There are greater PvP rewards for killing more wanted fugitives. You can even steal items and money if you beat someone with the highest fugitive status.

* Loot is being reworked, presumably to make it a more meaningful part of character progression and mob genociding. This might also cut down on the litter problem of all those unwanted loot bags lying around, dirtying up the scenery.

* A new achievement system bearing the unfortunate title Powerpoints ("And on this next slide, you'll see that our third quarter growth rate is up by 3%..."). These are points you earn mostly from endgame activities, but you even get them as a steady trickle just for keeping your subscription up. Spend your Powerpoints on special abilities and gear. They'll be retroactively applied after they're implemented, so you're earning them even now, as you read this!

* A new chat interface can only be an improvement. There is virtually no way the chat system could be any worse.

* It looks like improvements to crafting and guild cities, and the implementation of the larger-scale battlekeep sieges, won't make it into the game until later in the year.

One of the best things Age of Conan has going for it– and this is going to sound weird – is Anarchy Online, the developer's first MMO. When Funcom released Anarchy Online in 2001, it was an execrable mess that would barely run. Within a year, it was firing on all cylinders. The Shadowlands expansion effectively doubled what it had to offer, adding a whole new world and a whole new way to play. Anarchy Online looks dated now, but it's still going (in fact, I'd say it's probably a better way to get a sci-fi MMO fix than Sony Online Entertainments big-name Star War or Matrix MMOs). If Funcom supports Age of Conan half as well as they did Anarchy Online, it will be an MMO to be excited about. I expect my list of 10 reasons not to play Age of Conan may very well drop to 4 or 5 reasons not to play Age of Conan.