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Age of Conan to close servers
New Age of Conan game director Craig Morrison posted some lengthy comments about the status of the game. First the good news. Loot is getting phatter! According to Morrison:Currently the items account for a maximum contribution of 25% of your characters total in any given statistic or ability…We are aiming to increase that so that your statistics from items contribute closer to 50%...while also adjusting the formulas so that ability statistics (strength, stamina etc) contribute more meaningfully to your visible abilities, like health and Damage per Second. …So what does it mean to the game-play? It means that items will have more varied and more meaningful statistics.
That's actually a pretty dramatic change, and I'm a bit surprised it's being made. The balance between gear and skills is a pretty integral part of a game's design. Shifting it 25% isn't something you do casually.
But then there's the bad news, which should surprise no one:I can today confirm that we are actively working on an approach to merge servers, both in Europe and North America.
You'll never hear MMO developers talk about "closing" servers, even though that's exactly what's happening. "Merge" is simply a euphemism. And as far as I know, server mergings/closings are a sure sign that a game is under-performing. But look on the bright side, Age of Conan: at least you're having a better week than Paul Newman, John McCain, or the US economy.
By jdurdan at 8:38 AM ON 10/02/08
Not that I care one whit about the game, but the Paul Newman comment was just way out of line.
By WNB11 at 10:35 AM ON 10/02/08
I agree that using Paul Newman as an example is tasteless and insensitive.
By Tom Chick at 7:14 PM ON 10/02/08
Actually, the Paul Newman comment probably was a poor choice on my part. I hate that he died as much as the next guy (Cool Hand Luke! Fifty boiled eggs! Cutting the tops off parking meters!) and I didn't intend it to be disrespectful. He was a rare humanitarian in a world narcissistic celebrities. But at least it let me get in a minor McCain dig. I'm sure Newman would have approved.
RIP Paul Newman. You'll be sorely missed, dude.
By Tony at 1:55 AM ON 12/22/08
Hi Tom,
Oh darn, at first I thought you were the cool one in the Tom vs. Bruce articles. But now I realize you must be the creepy liberal one - the archytypal ignorant Bay Area liberal. Congrats, on voting for someone who won't "change" anything except your tax rates (um, newsflash, did you notice the big "change" in your veep? Idiot.) You're a complete douche. Please, die in a fire so we can get TWO Bruces and be spared your limp-wristed sissy whining in CGW.
Tony:
Hi Tom, Oh darn, at first I thought you were the cool one in the Tom vs. Bruce articles. But now I realize you mu...More »