Sunday, May 13, 2012

Lore Whore: REH's Conan > all


 Today I want to talk a bit about my love for the all things REH. I find that there are very few AOC players that in fact know things or two about Conan. Sadly most are as clueless as general population with their preconceived notions of skin clad, brainless barbarian brawler that drinks, fights and womanizes. While that is 
true to some extend, I cannot help to notice that this image of Conan is mainly a blend of 70' Marvel comics and 80' Arnold Schwarzenegger movies. Those have one other thing in common: both were bad.

I think I can safely say I am REH purist or....Conan nerd. I love all things that are REH cannon and despise anything that was not penned by Mr.Howard himself. There are some exceptions: Dark Horse Conan and perhaps Savage Sword of Conan comics. I like those because, rather than re-invent the wheel, those build upon the foundations that REH has set. Same is true about Age of Conan: I can say many bad things about Funcom, but when it comes to the creative and respectful use of the lore they are amazing. One of my main grudges against non-REH is the above mentioned lack of respect for both the lore and the reader. Conan pastiche authors simply DO NOT research the world nor the Conan character  and therefor are making them inconsistent with REH's vision. I bet you would like an example? Here you are:

J.M.Roberts writes: "for Cimmeria was a treeless land...". This kind of thing makes my inner nerd, rage SCREAM and throw the book against the wall.

*deep breath* Ok Mr. Roberts, I would like you to take a look at a poem by REH called..."Cimmeria".  To make it easier on you, since you obviously don't like reading that much, I will just point your attention to the parts of poem that should have been of an intrest to you:
"I remember

The dark woods, masking slopes of sombre hills;
(...)
Slope beyond slope, each dark with sullen trees,
(...)
And the dark woodlands brooding over all,
(...)
The dimness of the everlasting woods.

 (...)
--Cimmeria, REH


Same goes for other authors like De Camp who also has written some dumb shit (like Conan learning magic *face palm*).

So I am mostly re-reading pure, unedited REH stories and honestly I am enjoying them each time. More So I am finding those little details that REH is giving out about the Hyboria which make me smile. Example: there are several references to legal system in Hyboria. Apparently Aquilonia had some kind of supreme court that defendants could appeal to, which implies a very advanced legal culture. See? It's not all about splitting skulls and grabing some gal's ass.

I would like to very much encourage you to check out REH's Conan or, at a very least, to check out Dark Horse comics featuring Conan.There are over 75 non-REH Conan books written, but I simply cannot stomach those for I am of an option that only Howard did justice to Conan character. I cannot help but wonder what other, breath taking stories would REH had written if it wasn't for him taking his own life. And perhaps, just perhaps, I will one day visit REH's museum?


Map of Hyboria on the wall.

My comic collection. Mostly Dark Horse and Savage Sword, but also some classic Marvel

Books. Original REH and some Polish translations with Frazetta covers

Thursday, May 3, 2012

Next stop? South.



The monthly dev update letter is here and it contains a teaser for the upcoming add-on:

"Lastly, some of our adventurers have been venturing further afield than ever before, and are returning word of a ruined city to the south ... we sense there may be more there to explore ..."



It is pretty obvious that it is not Hyperborea, but previous tips are still applicable:


1. FC want to step back from eastern theme (Khitai and Turan),

2. The new zone is bordering with existing zones,

3. It's ancient, buried (??) and mysterious

4. Some Lovecraft tie-ins.


Lets look at the map, shall we?

 

To the south we have Shem, Kush, Darfar and Keshan and all those have two things in common:


1. those are next to Stygia,

2. those have mysterious, ancient cities.


Here is what I have been able to figure out so far:

City of  Kuthchemes

"He stood, the one atom of life amidst the colossal monuments of desolation and decay. Not even a vulture hung like a black dot in the vast blue vault of the sky that the sun glazed with its heat. On every hand rose the grim relics of another, forgotten age: huge broken pillars, thrusting up their jagged pinnacles into the sky; long wavering lines of crumbling walls; fallen cyclopean blocks of stone; shattered images, whose horrific features the corroding winds and dust storms had half erased. From horizon to horizon no sign of life: only the sheer breathtaking sweep of the naked desert, bisected by the wandering line of a long-dry river course; in the midst of that vastness the glimmering fangs of the ruins, the columns standing up like broken masts of sunken ships--all dominated by the towering ivory dome before which Shevatas stood trembling"

- REH, The Black Colosus
Why it might be the location: The city is indeed ancient and in pretty rough shape. When you look at the artwork you will notice that there is a lot of dust and decay being shown and the strong sun implies desert.

Why it might not be the location:
the letter clearly states "our adventurers have been venturing further afield than ever before". Shem lies closer to the already explored areas because it is roughly between Aquilonia and Stygia.  The story itself lacks the "Lovecraftian" beast, it is about sorcerer and how his skull met Conan's sword.

City of Xuchotl

"They were not looking into an open street or court as one would have expected. The opened gate, or door, gave directly into a long, broad hall which ran away and away until its vista grew indistinct in the distance. It was of heroic proportions, and the floor of a curious red stone, cut in square tiles, that seemed to smolder as if with the reflection of flames. The walls were of a shiny green material.

"Jade, or I'm a Shemite!" swore Conan.

"Not in such quantity!" protested Valeria.

"I've looted enough from the Khitan caravans to know what I'm talking about," he asserted. "That's jade!"

The vaulted ceiling was of lapis lazuli, adorned with clusters of great green stones that gleamed with a poisonous radiance."

- REH, the Red Nails

Why it might be the location: Pretty much nothing to support the claim that this is they city picked for new add-on expect that it is "further in the south".

Why it might not be the location:the city of Xuthal had very unique look for it's walls were made out of Jade and the whole city was covered by a single gigantic roof. The artwork clearly shows open space and no jade walls. Besides the way the story ends....lets just say the wouldn't be whole lot of NPC to talk to :D


City of Xuthal

"She murmured a faint assent and followed him so closely that she stepped on his heels, to his irritation. Dusk had fallen, filling the strange city with purple shadows. They entered the open doorway, and found themselves in a wide chamber, the walls of which were hung with velvet tapestries, worked in curious designs. Floor, walls and ceiling were of the green glassy stone, the walls decorated with gold frieze-work. Furs and satin cushions littered the floor. Several doorways let into other rooms. They passed through, and traversed several chambers, counterparts of the first. They saw no one, but the Cimmerian grunted suspiciously.

"Some one was here not long ago. This couch is still warm from contact with a human body. That silk cushion bears the imprint of some one's hips. Then there's a faint scent of perfume lingering in the air."

A weird unreal atmosphere hung over all. Traversing this dim silent palace was like an opium dream. Some of the chambers were unlighted, and these they avoided"


- REH, Slithering Shadow (Xuthal of the dusk)

Why it might be the location: The city has a lot of magic in it and the beast found it it's bowels is a CLASSIC creation lifted by REH from the works of Lovecraft. The city is located in the middle of the desert.

Why it might not be the location: The city is packed with luxurious items and decadent drug users, it is "alive" in it's own twisted way so hardly a mess that is shown in the artwork.

City of  Alkmeenon
"Nevertheless he went warily, sword in hand, his restless eyes combing the shadows from side to side, his springy tread making no sound on the sward. All about him he saw signs of an ancient civilization; marble fountains, voiceless and crumbling, stood in circles of slender trees whose patterns were too symmetrical to have been a chance of nature. Forest growth and underbrush had invaded the evenly planned groves, but their outlines were still visible. Broad pavements ran away under the trees, broken, and with grass growing through the wide cracks. He glimpsed walls with ornamental copings, lattices of carven stone that might once have served as the walls of pleasure pavilions.

Ahead of him, through the trees, the domes gleamed and the bulk of the structure supporting them became more apparent as he advanced. Presently, pushing through a screen of vine-tangled branches, he came into a comparatively open space where the trees straggled, unencumbered by undergrowth, and saw before him the wide, pillared portico of the palace."


-  REH, Jewels of Gwahlur

Why it might be the location: The city was ancient and in rough shape, but it was used from time to time by the priests who came to the city to seek the audience of a goddess. In the artwork there are clearly some torches so that implies the presence of humans. The story also have some Lovecraft tie-ins in a form of monsters dwelling under the city.

Why it might not be the location: The city is supposed to be enveloped by vegetation which is not shown in the artwork.

To sum it up:

Most likely localization: Shem and the city of  Kuthchemes.

Second most likely localisation: Alkemeenon, Keshan.

Sunday, April 29, 2012

The epic saga of...COMGALL the barbarian!

Seeing how recently I have been less that satisfied with my game play I have decided to....roll a barbarian on Crom server. An alt in the world of MMOs is nothing really to brag about, but I have a special case of obsessive compulsive disorder where I can play only 1 character at once. No, really, it's a thing, ask your doctor. So I will come clean: this is not an alt. Through this barbarian I intend to re-live my Tortage experience from 2008. Yes, last time I have helped zee Resistance was 4 years ago and I can honestly say I remember nothing of it. In effect this whole Tortage stuff is a wholly new experience for me and one that clearly shows me how people can fall in love with Age of Conan. It is a delicious experience. While endgame in AOC has it's issues the pre lvl80 content, the leveling process is just great. My only regret with Slith character was power-leveling through pre lvl 80 content. Big mistake. If I could have turned back the time (which I can't, mind you) I would have went and read every single little bit of quest text in the game. ALL OF IT. The story of Tortage and the Resistance is rich a deeply stepped in REH lore. This is what I am doing with this character: I am experiencing the Tortage as I should have done so first time around and I am having a blast. However, I had to make a deal with myself right from the start that this is a temporary thing, a guild free pleasure. No plans to do whatever with this character. Early on I have caught myself thinking like this: "I really like this class, oh this feat will be great, but its lvl70, ok I can combine that with those perks...ok so I will get Brittle Blade armor, but which weapon..hm.." Oh snap! I have just planned 4-6 months of intense gaming with my barbarian and felt the DREAD of the grind ahead of me. I had to step back and remind myself that I am just messing around in here. I know that this sounds like one of the most nerdy of problems, but I can't really enjoy what I am doing unless I am clear why exactly I am doing it and what for. I am like that with all things in life: I get very good at things that I focus on, but at the same time I lack the versatility. Kind of a double edged sword, but I digress.
Ladies can literally lose their heads for Comgall
The barbarian was not a random pick. I had this idea of playing "what if game" with myself. I remember that back in may of 2008 I was seriously considering rolling one of the two classes: barbarian or conqueror (assassin kind of came out of no were). What would have happened if in 2008 I have stayed with my freshly rolled barbarian? Would I have sticked with the game? Would I have had this blog? Would I have turned more to the PVE side of things? These things I will never learn, but playing a barbarian is a pleasurable experience. So much pleasurable that at one point I felt very awkward: am I enjoying this more than my main? Have I just "wasted" four years playing the wrong class??!! Being the mmo vet that I am I remembered that the "new and shinny" feel of a class quickly wears off. I was not mistaken: around level 15 the barbarian started feeling "just ok". However this brief experience with barbarian made take a long and hard look and this class and it's feats and perks. By Bel, barbarians are unstoppable killing machines. Assassin 2.0!.  The CRUSHING advantage that barbarian has over assassin (apart from superior HP, regen, armor and reach) is especially evident in the Alternative Advancement where their perks make assassin's perks look like pile of poo. PILE I SAY! If anything I will feel less bad now whenever I get killed in PVP by barbarian player.
Halls of the Black Ones. I missed this place first time around in 2008 and I just had to come back here to finish it up
There is one more thing, a feeling that is still present with me after all those years: the generic feel of a barbarian. I simply cannot get it out my head that every barbarian is basically Conan. Conan undoubtedly had so amazing impact on pop culture (see Conan the Phenomenon) that whenever you think of long haired savage with a two hander you think of Conan. Therefor my Comgall lacks the depth of my Slith character because I have so many preconceived notions about barbarians. It is impossible for me to come up with any background story that would make Comgall "not Conan" even slightly. I know that there are (or atleast used to be) some Cimmerian RP guilds out there and that Cimmerians are very different from THE Cimmerian we know and love. There is a lot of room for a good Cimmerian RP but I just don't have it in me. Speaking of which I am penning down my "Slith's background" post. I want to flesh out a real, believable person rather that another "WTFPWN" heros of official roleplaying boards. Don't you just love "I seek bloody revenge for the death of my parents" stories? Seems like 90% of Hyborians are orphans and at least 5% are in fact vampires/dragons/demons that walk the earth in human form.

Now, if you excuse me, I have a Barachian Isle to save from a tyrant. 

Thursday, April 19, 2012

Assassin's Hideout Podcast - ep.27


show notes:
- what is going on?
- AA system and new content
- dungeons revamps
- my raiding experience
- AOC facebook integration


http://dl.dropbox.com/u/516323/podcast/Assassins_hideout27.mp3


Friday, April 13, 2012

Content in Age of Conan? Doom & Gloom!

All Right, time for some good old QQ. You haven't seen THAT on the hideout for a while, now have you? You have been warned! Nerd rage inside.

Recently I am very bitter about my Age of Conan. It very much feels like I just don't have anything to do inside my MMO of choice. This is 2009 all over again and it makes me bitter. You see I am a progression whore. I love to progress my character, to expand it, to grow it. If I don't get to do that I quickly lose interest and get annoyed. If  I can get anything out of my gaming time, even a shitty piece of vanity armor, it gives me a great satisfaction. I can play less and be satisfied with my gaming when I am making any kind of progress. Example? I wanted to get "darkslayer hood" drop from Amphitheater of Karutonia purely for my vanity. Had a blast doing low level quest chain in Ymir's Pass and then solo farming the Boss 5-6 times until the desired loot dropped. See? I am a reasonable man and I don't expect purple candy showers from every mob. Whatever content will do just fine.

The problem is that I am out of content to do. Completely.

PvP - hitting pvp lvl 10 made me very bitter about minigames. I have lost my focus. With random people in my team (that don't even speak English mind you) what difference does it make whether I win or lose? I won? Gee, I get token that I don't have anything to spend on and prowess gain that I can spend on perks I don't need or want. And it is not like I farmed my ass in Bori: pvp lvl 5 to 10 content lasted me TWO YEARS. I think is is reasonable for me to expect new stuff to do in pvp after 2 years. And lets say I lose a minigame? I don't need pvp xp anyway, can't read group's chat rage  coz it's in russian and minigame wins/loses are bugged so those aren't even tracked anymore.I am pvp lvl 10, the deed is done, but I learned the hard way that current pvp without friends is a pvp for the sake of pvping. Just not fun, lonely and pointless struggle.

AA System - I like AA system. It lasted me for a very long long time. But, alas, I am done. I don't have IT ALL, but I got all I wanted or needed. Whatever addition to my perk collection won't add any more passive power to my character nor I will ever use said perk. Maxing out all the perks for the sake of maxing them out seems like less that desirable goal.
Khitai Factions - another aspect of AOC that I have enjoyed thoroughly. During my "crazy years" in Khitai I have leveled up every faction to rank 4. Every single one. Brittle Blade and Shadows of Jade twice even. It is done.

Dungeons - I got my full epic Brittle Blade armor from Khitai. Also got me that sweet cloak from House of Crom. Beyond that there isn't just anything I might want from 6-men dungeons. Fort in Ardashir and House of Crom are also very poorly itemized with crappy blue stuff Sure, those are great for vanity, but apart from that you are BOUND to be wearing something better already. Otherwise if  you wouldn't have killed the Boss to get them dropped in the first place. There is just no incentive to re-do those "new" dungeons and Khitai stuff after 2 years is farmed to the death.
Rare tokens - Funcom already gave us Apostate and Iron States from which you can get rare tokes for solo play. In the upcoming patch also "Lost city" and "Dead man's hand" will  yield same rare tokens rewards. More ways to get tokens is good, right? But what good are those if there isn't anything to spend them on? Again, after 2 years I got every single item from faction vendors and I got my tokens very very slowly from solo play. Took me like a year since Apostate launched.

Raiding
- I am not a raider. I can't commit 3 hours straight to raid on a weekly basis. Sure, I will sign up for the raid from time to time, but this isn't my cup of tea. I am in a guild that raids T4 so I can't feel very privileged. Hell, I am "elite" of AOC's population because for what I know people are still stuck in T1 & T2. Whatever. This content is just out of my reach for scheduled reasons alone.


ALTs - I am 1-character player. You should know that by know :D. The very idea of re-rolling some new class seem nightmarish for the AA leveling alone. But main thing is that I like to play one character. My brain is just wired this way.


There you are. If there is something else to do in Age of Conan than I would like to hear about in the comments because I am out of options. And my play style is something I would have described as "dedicated regular". I don't achieve things in the game because I am hardcore and I burn through content, but rather because I play regularly and am dedicated to the one game and one character. I reap the benefits over time. So if I got out of content with my "turtle's crawl" slow play style no wonder so many people quit Age of Conan out of sheer boredom. MMOs shouldn't be boring, those should be addictive.


Bah, what happened to you Age of Conan, you used to be cool....

Tuesday, April 3, 2012

[Guide] Picking your dagger

Assassins, when it comes to melee, are limited to daggers. In this guide I want to cover what should you be looking for when picking your pair of daggers. Please note that I wrote "pair" and not a "set". Very rarely a "set" (two same daggers) will be preferable over two different daggers, hand picked for their individual roles.

Main dagger and offhand dagger

Is there a difference? Yes there is. The main hand's dagger's DPS is what is counted towards your overall DPS score. On the other hand your offhand dagger is only as good as it's stats, the DPS doesn't matter.

Main Hand Dagger
You main hand dagger should have as big DPS as you can get, the other stats are secondary at best.Your main hand dagger's DPS is what is affected by +% Weapon Damage (Lotus Blades feat). It also makes your face stab damage whole lot better.

Offhand Dagger

You offhand dagger should have stats needed for your build, raw DPS of the dagger doesn't mater at all. Two good things to have on your offhander is +combat rating and +constitution.

Confused? Lets do some math on PvP T1 and T3 dagger.

Which one should you have as a main hand dagger? This is no brainer, Highlord's Dirk has superior DPS. Now the tricky part: should you be using 2 x Highlord dirks or perhaps Main hand the Highlord and offhand the Skrimisher dirk? Lets do some MATH!

Highlord's Dirk

64 Dex = 192 Combat Rating
250 Combat Rating + 192 Combat Rating = 442 Combat Rating

Added stats from dex:

+32 Evade Rating
+128 Stamina
+3.2 Natural Stamina Regen
+9.6 OOC Stamina Regen


Skrimisher's Dirk

485  Combat Rating

Added stats:
+160 Health
+3 OOC Health Regen
+40 Stamina
+1 Natural Stamina Regen
+3 OOC Stamina Regen
+26 Stamina Tap Rating

So as you can see Skimisher's Dirk is superior when it comes to both useful stats and damage. There will be some loss on Critical Rating and Critical Damage Rating, but those differences are not big enough (+8 critical rating is super marginal) to sacrifice your overall damage output. This simple example illustrates how your should think about what are you REALLY getting out of your daggers.



Sunday, April 1, 2012

April Fools - TL trade skill revamp

First batch of promised trade skill revamp is finally on the TL. Strangely enough now there is a split between classic "crafting" and "gathering skills". The core crafting changes are far from ready to go TL, but we can already play around with some of the gathering skills. Right now on live servers you can pretty much pick up every gathering profession from skinner to miner. The revamp will add depth to those, but at the same time it will limit your choices to just 2. If you check out the latest patch notes you can take first two of the many to come: fishing and skinning.

Skinning

There is not much to skinning right now. If you have "skinner's knife" in your inventory then after you have slain an animal that is "skinnable" an icon will pop up and you will have an option to gut it. As of now every animal drops "generic leather" since the new ingredients and materials are not yet implemented.

Fishing

This I like. I have no idea how will this profession generate materials for other professions (you can bet it will for alchemy and cooking), but it is obviously more of a money maker: stack of 10 trouts (took me about 10-15 minutes to fish) sold to NPC for 50s. The real fun begins when a combo bar pops up which means you have cough a special fish. You need to quickly and without any mistake go trough combo motions and if you succeed you will fish out either more valuable fish or a loot box. I got this on my second attempt and the loot box had pretty neat blue ring in it. The best part is your chances to catch fish/get boxes rises the more difficult is the area you are trying to fish. In Paikang fishing was much better, but I have failed a lot of times because the fishes were exceeding my level of skill.
Even with this muddy waters the best fishing spot is in Paikang

Skinning is definitely far from being done, but fishing is fun and engaging minigame of itself. Sitting in the Old Tarantia port and trying to catch "the deadliest catch"? With this system I can imagine myself doing it. Also check out the video by Kehml from AOC Test Live Servers featuring fishing combos.



EDIT: yes, so this was APRIL FOOLS joke. There is no fishing in AOC, nor there will ever be (most likely). I made this screenshot about 1 year ago and just had to use it this way. The rod is just sticked into the ramp and my charactered is doing /danglefeet emote. Oh well, enjoy!! :D