With today's huge announcement that Age of Conan will be utilizing a
hybrid free-to-play / premium subscription revenue model, players are
bound to wonder about some of the specifics of the decision. MMORPG.com
Industry Relations Manager Garrett Fuller caught up with AoC Executive
Producer Craig Morrison to talk about those decisions and more.

Will there be a player shop to buy various items that allow you to advance in the game?
Yes, we have already been selling those types of convenience and
progression benefits for some time through the game’s account pages, so
this just places those kinds of items into a store setting similar to
that you would find in other free to play games. This is already
something we have integrated in the Korean version of the game, and our
backend for that type of service is already well established and tested
as it currently runs the store in Anarchy Online.
-------------------------------------

MMORPG.com:	Age of Conan moving to a hybrid Free to Play model is a big move, what made you decide on the new path for the game?
Craig Morrison:	This is something that we have been constantly assessing for several years now. As a company we have always been willing to consider different models. We were really the first western company to adopt this model with Anarchy Online way back in 2005, so this isn’t new ground for us. We have always felt that it is a natural progression for an MMO title at a certain stage in it’s life cycle. The time is right for Age of Conan now as we recognize the opportunity presented by the increased profile of the license, with the new Conan movie coming out this fall. So we realized that the time had come to make the switch to make sure we were in the best position possible to market the game again, and draw in even more users to this wonderful world that we have brought to life.
MMORPG.com:	How will veteran players be rewarded for their loyalty within the new model?
Craig Morrison:	The veteran reward system remains in place and provides all the same bonuses that it did before. In fact many of those rewards could even be considered inherently more valuable as buying them with veteran points means that premium veterans can get those items through that system rather than having to pay for them as a free players might. We will also continue to add new items to the veterans vendor as we have done recently with the faction items. As with Anarchy Online (and the host of other titles that followed us into free to play like DDO, LOTRO and Champions Online) this is really a hybrid free to play model, or ‘freemium’ as some like to call it. So there is still a whole host of really good reasons to be a premium player. Going to the Free to Play model is really about having that terrific opportunity to have more and more players come and check the game out without the need for an upfront investment.
MMORPG.com:	What would you like to say to players who will be trying the game for the first time on a free to play basis?
Craig Morrison:	Mainly that they should come and enjoy the game! The game has come amazingly far from where it started three years ago, so you really have nothing to lose by checking it out for free! The game is really one of the most unique settings out there for an MMO, with a mature focus for our storytelling, and a really brutal and bloody combat system, that is much more visceral than most of the other games in this genre. Hyboria is an unforgiving place, not in the sense that you will be griefed over and over (although it does make sense to have friends on a PVP server) but in the sense that with over three years of content additions we now have a great selection of content, that tells a compelling, and very adult story. With the vicious mix of adventure, betrayal, corruption and combat that so identifies the world created by Robert E Howard all those decades ago.
MMORPG.com:	What options will be available to players that allow both game modes to work together?
Craig Morrison:	The only differences between free and premium players in that respect will be the content they have access to, for all content that someone has available to them, free players and premium players will be able to play together without any gameplay barriers in that sense. Players won’t be separated at all in that respect. This is a really important part of the offering for us. Free players will become an important part of the community, as they have done with AO. We don’t want to alienate or discourage those players, so everything is designed to allow them to really feel that they are getting fantastic enjoyment value from their time in the game, and will ultimately recognize that by becoming a premium subscriber or supporting their character through items or upgrades….but at a fundamental level, a player really can play through levels 1 to 80 completely for free. There won’t be any arbitrary roadblock there; the path to maximum level really is open to them. We have found with AO that the longer a player plays for free, the more loyal they become when they do switch to premium or start making purchases, so it is in our best interests to allow players the freedom to play the leveling content like that for free.
MMORPG.com:	If I am a free to play gamer and want to convert over into the other model how hard will it be?
Craig Morrison:	It will be a simple and intuitive process on our billing pages. All you will have to do is upgrade to a premium account on your account pages.
MMORPG.com:	Will there be a player shop to buy various items that allow you to advance in the game?
Craig Morrison:	Yes, we have already been selling those types of convenience and progression benefits for some time through the game’s account pages, so this just places those kinds of items into a store setting similar to that you would find in other free to play games. This is already something we have integrated in the Korean version of the game, and our backend for that type of service is already well established and tested as it currently runs the store in Anarchy Online.
MMORPG.com:	Age of Conan’s first twenty levels play as a storyline, how will this be incorporated into the new model?
Craig Morrison:	It will be there in its entirety and won’t be changed, or compromised, due to the change in business model. You will be able to play through Tortage just as you could in the past. In fact, while the previous trials were always restricted to within Tortage, the cool thing about the new model is that it also allows you to play beyond Tortage for free!
MMORPG.com:	What can we expect from Age of Conan in the coming months in terms of content for the new model?
Craig Morrison:	The content additions won’t stop or change due to the business model, all of the new content we have already announced, and the just announced movie tie-in adventure pack – The Savage Coast of Turan – will all come over the rest of the year, so there will be lots of new content for all our players, newcomers and veterans alike. Over the next few updates you will see the likes of the two new dynamic solo instances, The Breach and The Forgotten City, as well as more revamps and improvements to the existing instances (both in Khitai and the original lands) as well as the adventure pack taking us to Turan for a really interesting experience. So it’s going to be a busy year for all things Conan!

An overview describing the Free and Premium content


What are the differences between the free and the Premium offering?

Please consult the chart below for the main differences between the free to play option and the Premium subscribers option.
How do the character slots work after the hybrid model launches?

Free
players can only make two characters by default, while Premium players
get eight character slots. Returning customers get to keep the number of
character slots they already had. How many character slots can I have in total?

All accounts have a maximum limit of 18 slots.Each
account type starts with a basic number of slots (2 for free players, 8
for premium players). Any slots purchased in addition to this base will
be added no matter what subscription type you currently use.What happens if I go from Premium to free?

After
downgrading from Premium to free, any characters in the slots beyond
the two default ones can not be played, unless enough additional slots
have been purchased from the item shop to compensate. Your characters
will be there, but any beyond your two slots will be unplayable. You get
to pick which characters will be your included slots once you downgrade
to free.What character classes are available to free players?

The following four classes are available for all players of ‘Age of Conan: Unrated’.

• Barbarian
  
• Demonologist
  
• Guardian
  
• Priest of Mitra
  

The following classes are only available to Premium subscribers:

• Assassin
  
• Bear Shaman
  
• Conqueror
  
• Dark Templar
  
• Herald of Xotli
  
• Necromancer
  
• Ranger
  
• Tempest of Set
  

How much of the game can I actually play for free?

All outdoor playfields in Aquilonia, Cimmeria, and Stygia are available to all players.How do I get access to the expansion content?

Access
to the Khitai content is available via an 'expansion pass' - granting
access to all of the expansion areas and dungeons. Anyone who already
bought the expansion has this enabled automatically. Subscribers who
have not purchased the expansion before do not have access to this
unless they buy the 'expansion pass'. Will we be able to play through all of the dungeon content?

Some
of the instanced dungeon content will be completely free, and other
will be accessed through new passes or expansion purchases.

Free dungeons:

• Tortage Underhalls (solo)
  
• Acheronian Ruins (solo)
  
• Bubshur House (solo)
  
• Abandoned Smuggler Tunnels (solo)
  
• The Maze (solo)
  
• Spider Caverns (solo)
  
• Border Ranges (solo)
  
• Outflow Tunnels (solo)
  
• Ice Cave (solo)
  
• Cannibal Cave (solo)
  
• Catacombs (group)
  
• Toirdealbach’s Tomb (group)
  
• Prison Colony (group)
  
• Scorpion Cave (group)
  
• Caravan Raider Camp (group)
  
• Atzel’s Fortress (group)
  
• Onyx Chambers (group)
  

Premium dungeons:

Access
to Premium dungeons will work in several ways. Some access passes are a
once off purchase, some allow access for a set duration, and some are
linked to expansion content.

• Pyramid of the Ancients (solo) –permanent-only purchase
  
• Treasury of the Ancients (solo) –permanent-only purchase
  
• Villa Camillus, Amiel, Verde, Paetus, Lentulus (solo) –permanent-only purchase
  
• Slaughterhouse Cellar (solo)
  
• Attilius Mansion (solo) – permanent-only purchase
  
• Black Castle (group) – permanent-only purchase
  
• The Cradle of Decay (group) – permanent-only purchase
  
• Sanctum of the Burning Souls (group) – permanent-only purchase
  
• The Cistern (group) – permanent-only purchase
  
• Main System (group) – permanent-only purchase
  
• Ampitheater of Karutonia (group) – permanent-only purchase
  
• Halls of Eternal Frost (group)
  
• Imirian Ravine, Oasis of Zaara, Frost Swamp (group ACG)
  
• Xibaluku (group)
  
• Crow’s Nest (group)
  
• Iron Tower (group)
  
• Khitai Dungeons - accessed through Rise of the Godslayer expansion purchase
  

Can a free player take part in all the raids?

Free
players may access the beginnings of raids and the raid equipment
ladder, but they can’t complete tier 1 without switching to Premium
access or purchasing entry to more raids, which will be available in the
item store.

Free raids:

• Kylikki’s Crypt
  
• Yakhmar’s Cave
  

Premium raids:

• Vistrix's Lair
  
• Black Ring Citadel (all wings)
  
• Thoth-Amon’s Stronghold
  
• All raids in Khitai
  

Can a free player take part in Sieges?

Free
players may purchase time-limited passes to the zones related to sieges
(Bori and Borderlands), while subscribers may participate in as many
sieges as they like, whenever they likeHow much personal bank space does a free player get?

Free
players get access to half of the bank slots that are available to
Premium players. In the future, further bank and/or inventory slots will
be available for purchase.
Do free players earn Guild Renown?

All players may contribute Valor, Glory, and Artistry to their guilds, regardless of their subscription status.Do free players gain Alternative Advancement (AA) points?

Free
players may not earn AA points, even if they are level 80. These are
only available to Premium subscribers. Free players can however purchase
items to enable AA point gain in the item shop.Are there limits to which Mount Training can be done on a free account?

Free
players may only ride the horses which require the Basic Riding skill
by default. Premium players retain all their mount abilities and may
learn to ride swift horses, armored horses, mammoths, rhinos, tigers and
wolves as usual.

Last week, the team over at Age of Conan made the big announcement that this mature MMO would be taking some big strides by going free-to-play this summer. While Funcom has yet to announce any major plans for the future beyond their Conan the Barbarian movie tie-in, Age of Conan will go by a new title by the end of this shift to Age of Conan: Unrated.

With so many new changes on the way, I decided to catch up with Game
Director and Executive Producer Craig Morrison to see if I could get
some clarification on Age of Conan's movie tie-in plans, as well as the
details on what's to come when Age of Conan goes free-to-play. Keep
reading after the jump for his answers!

---

ZAM: Hello there! With so much going on for you these days, thanks for sparing the time to answer a few questions!
Craig Morrison: No problem at all, good to get to talk about the game!

ZAM: First, congratulations on Age of Conan hitting its third
birthday! Looking back over those years, do you feel that there has
been much change in the MMORPG industry? Has the overall vision for Age
of Conan changed much since its original conception?
Morrison: I think an MMO always evolves, and little
parts of each person that works on it show through over time. I don't
think the overall vision has changed much really. I can't really speak
for the original team, but we definitely follow the same direction of
constantly trying to create great content that is keeping to the world
that Robert E. Howard created. The industry as a whole probably hasn't
changed that much in terms of content and approach, things have been
pretty consistent with the current generation of titles.


ZAM: Your first big announcement last week was that Age of
Conan was going to feature a lot of new content from the upcoming Conan
the Barbarian movie, in the form of an adventure pack called "The Savage
Coast of Turan." In the press release, Paradox's CEO and the producer
of the film, Fredrik Malmberg, noted that the film team has been working
closely with Funcom's creative team since 2003. How did that
collaboration process work?
Morrison: The team at Paradox is
great. They are a very inclusive operation, and all the partners that
work on the Conan license are kept updated, and co-operations is always
encouraged and supported. That has included things like sharing assets
and concepts and the folks behind the movie making sure that we were
aware of the script and kept up to date with the current drafts as they
went along. The movie is looking really good, and I think people who
have played the game will recognize the fact that the art direction is
taking from the same inspirations…it really does feel like the same
world.
ZAM: You note that this movie tie-in content will come in the
form of an adventure pack. While you're probably not aiming for the
same scope as your most recent expansion, Rise of the Godslayer, adding a
brand new area in the form of Ardashir certainly elevates this above a
regular patch update. Any specific hints as to what sort of new goodies
players can expect? What were your overall goals in creating this
adventure pack?
Morrison: The movie presented one major challenge in
that it is set some 20 years in the past, long before Conan is king as
he is at the time of our game. So we really wanted to concentrate on the
characters, and revisit them many years later. Given his
responsibilities as king of Aquilonia it made sense that Conan can't
always go heading off to help old friends, so he sends the players
instead!

With the adventure pack we aimed to add a little of something for all
the types of content, a large outdoor area to explore, alongside a solo
instance, a dynamic instance, a team instance and a raid. It is also
cool because given the location in Turan we also got to take inspiration
from some of Howard's original tales, and I think Conan fans will get a
real kick out of one of the instances in particular.

ZAM: Of course, the biggest change coming to Age of Conan is
your most recent announcement that it's going free and "unrated." You've
already stated that "going unrated" means you can stay even truer to
the gritty setting created by Robert E. Howard (author of the original
Conan series), but should players expect a significant change from the
Age of Conan that they are used to? What spurred this full push for the
game to go unrated?
Morrison: Players won't see any changes to the
existing content, at least not at first. Age of Conan is already the
most mature MMO on the market, but going Unrated gives us additional
freedom to pursue Robert E. Howard's original vision for a savage
Hyboria when creating new content for the game. And keep in mind that
Unrated is also somewhat of a mission statement, it's not necessarily
adding content that pushes it beyond the Mature rating. It's about
embracing the real vision of Hyboria.

I don't know if this hybrid model is going to work AoC but It just can't make it worse. I mean, the game was dying (that's what I read on mmosite a few months ago). This could be a chance to save the game or at least delay it's death thus allowing the publisher to leave the scene unharmed or with just a few scratches.

they kinna waiting for that new conan movie then with their new version patch might ignite interest back to the game

Age of Conan's free-to-play service will begin today on June 30, according to PCgamer
who just made an interview with AoC's Executive Producer Craig
Morrison. Whether you are formal AoC players or new gamers who plan to
try the game, you can step into the savage world to see what's different and what's new.


The game will be launched with a new name, Age of Conan: Unchained
and offer free players only half of the total gameplay contents. Despite
numbers of limits
to free players, Funcom brings in a good number of fresh contents,
including new dynamic instances The Breach and The Forgotten City. They
are suitable for solo play and provide an alternative to players to
level up(now you can level up by running dungeons as well as doing
outdoor quests). On the other hand, the cash shop will be selling
weapons, armors, pets, and etc..


Later this year, more new contents will be implemented: the mythical
House of Crom dungeon for end-game characters and the tier four raids.
But before these, you will first get the next adventure pack The Savage
Coast of Turan.

im trying it, well downloading atm, gonna try see if its any good since I never tryed it.

keep us posted after u have ur reviews ^^

What's a good encore for the week following a huge, game-altering freemium revamp? How about a new and much-anticipated server ruleset. Yep, Funcom is gearing up to release Age of Conan's hardcore Blood and Glory PvP shards tomorrow according to an update on the official boards.

The American and European servers are scheduled to receive four hours of
maintenance, after which time two new shards, Deathwish (US) and Rage
(EU), will be brought online. These aren't just any servers, either. The
Blood and Glory ruleset features free-for-all PvP throughout the game
world, corpse-looting, and one character per account.

Age of Conan's
PvP community has been very vocal in its disdain for the game's turn
towards the PvE side of the MMO street in recent years, and the new
ruleset will finally give the die-hards an opportunity to put their
money where their mouth is. For more on the ruleset, check out our exclusive interview with Funcom's Craig Morrison as well as our Blood & Glory opinion piece.

If you haven't taken the plunge on Age of Conan's new Savage Coast of Turan adventure pack yet, you can still get a good look at the new location thanks to a developer video recently posted by PC Gamer.

The clip runs for over six minutes and is narrated by Funcom's Craig Morrison, otherwise known by his forum handle Silirrion and for his deeds as AoC's
game director. The video hits all the adventure pack's highlights, and
Morrison says that the dev team set out to offer something for everyone
in the form of new solo instances, a group dungeon, and a large
quest-driven playfield.

The video also delves into a bit of the lore behind the Persian-themed
Ardashir coast region and mentions the cross-over between the recent
Conan the Barbarian film and several of the storylines and characters
that players will encounter in their adventures. See all the sights
after the cut.