Saturday, October 27, 2012

This Week In Hyboria #6

The Legend of Conan

Big big news! Schwarzenegger is at it again and he is returning to play the role of the old Conan the King in the upcoming "The Legend of Conan". I, for one, am very excited to hear about this. The CTB reboot with Jason "Fail" Momoa failed pretty hard. I even gave this movie a second chance going back to it on DVD couple of months ago only to....watch first 10 minutes, skipp another 20 and ebay the DVD.
Nuff said. 

Is Schwarzenegger up to it physically? Lets keep in mind that ol'Arnold is not just an actor, before he became that he was 7 times Mr.Olympia and a legend to a sport of bodybuilding. If anyone, at his ripe age of 65 or so, can still pull of decent, muscle bound Conan then I think it is ONLY Arnold. Also I love the setting: I don't want to see another Conan where he is in peak shape and WTFPWNS everyone, I want Conan to be old and crafty as the  king of Aquilonia. Just please, pretty please: NO MORE DAMN ACHERON! Give the Acheron a rest, will you?

Source: http://www.superherohype.com/news/articles/173359-arnold-schwarzenegger-returning-for-the-legend-of-conan (and the whole damn internet)

Best MMORPG of 2012
Is it Age of Conan? Yeah, right. Look, AOC might not be perfect but we are still playing, right? Show your support for the game and cast your vote for Conan at http://bestmmorpg2012.com/. Pointless you say? Well, it seems like AOC takes #2 so far!

Source: http://bestmmorpg2012.com/

AOC: Active Blocking
What to know a thing or two about active blocking in Age of Conan? There is a vid for that.



Age of Conan stream
Check out AOC steams from spunkki who delivers both PVP and high end PVE to his viewers. A good way to show someone what AOC is all about.

source: twitch.tv/spunkki

New feat planner(s)
After the fall of yg.com the Age of Conan community got left without any tool to plan and share their builds. Then, out of no were, two very well done feat planners showed up. Check out http://aocfeats.com/ by Nedbee and http://joharaoc.eu/ by Johara.

Source:  1/ http://aocfeats.com/
              2/ http://joharaoc.eu/

New blog!
Yet another blogger join the few and the proud that report on Age of Conan: Ragnarx from Red Nails guild on Tyranny. Always glad to see more writers at it implies game's growth (probably don't).

Source: http://ragnarx.blogspot.com/



Friday, October 26, 2012

I am more lost than these souls..



Once again we are here to find that what I hoped would be lost forever: lost souls. I know I that I have said that I probably won't report on this "event" anymore, but I am compelled to do so...Just like the lost souls are compelled to return to haunt me each year. So what is in the bag for us this year? Get this: same stuff. Yeah, it is not even "more of the same stuff", kind sir, it's rather "EXACTLY same stuff". Funcom decided to go 100% lazy and simply re-apply the content from the previous years. Re-apply? Yeah, same quests, same items, hell even the visual effect in villa is same red mist-bullshit.
Old easter egg. Your armor never wears out because the devs made decision not to introduce armor decay mechanic to the game.
So you can now get all the rewards that you have missed for 3 years straight. I find that offensive. I have been subscriber for those last years and I was there for 3 years to repeatedly "find" the lost souls and claim my rewards. That is what makes the rewards unique: those are showing that you are veteran players (big epeen). Remember that cloak we got for 4 years anniversary? Yeah, would you like to see it given away again in two years? It devalues your "old" item while providing no new rewards. It's a double slap on the cheek for the veterans. Hell. You know what? Screw it, FC can give out old rewards again if they want, but I am getting screwed on this deal as paid subscriber. Yes, we got used to your yearly "copy/paste, villa effect, lol" content in the form of "The Night of Lost Souls", but providing ZERO new items is just offensive. Last year FC recycled NPC uniform in the form of Red Hand's tunic. It would have taken next to none effort to recycle some other item too, but Funcom didn't. I am hoping that this "no new stuff policy" is due FC being busy with SDS content updates which would be understandable. 

I am crying but those are not the tears of joy. See you next year, dear forest..
In the future I would like to see major changes to those events, but I am pretty sure that we will see same thing next year. Oh well, you know that I will be here to shit all over it again. See you next year, souls..
Same old same old same old villa effect. +158 headache ratting..
Oh boy, which one to pick? One that I already own? One that is already in my possession? Or perhaps one that I have already claimed...

Thursday, October 18, 2012

Assassin patch notes [comprehensive reference]

Please note: oldest patch is referenced on top and the newest patch is in the bottom of the post

Update Notes - 12th of June
http://forums-eu.ageofconan.com/showthread.php?t=41537

Assassin
* Assassins in Unholy Stance will now generate a Soul Fragment from performing a Sneak Attack.

Update Notes - 16th of June
http://forums-eu.ageofconan.com/showthread.php?t=45997
Assassin

* Flesh Rot now applies a separate debuff for each player
* Lotus Weapons now applies a separate debuff for each player.

Update Notes - 23rd of June
http://forums-eu.ageofconan.com/showthread.php?t=53257

Assassin
Core Revision Adjustments

* Kidney Shots will now properly go on cooldown, is now stackable for 12 second from the original 6 seconds and it's stacking buff duration has been increased to 10 seconds.
* Flesh Necrosis has been given a new and improved visual.
* Atrophy has an added persistent effect on the target while the debuff is in effect.

Update Notes - 10th of July
http://forums-eu.ageofconan.com/showthread.php?t=67652
Assassin

* Golden Lotus Extract now has a new particle effect.

Update Notes - 17th of July
http://forums-eu.ageofconan.com/showthread.php?t=72612
Assassin

* The following abilities now have new effects: Cat's Paw, Opportunistic Strike, Kidney Shots, Avatar of Death, Lotus Overdose, Necrotic Leech, Corrupting Strikes, and Lunge.

Update Notes - 31st of July
http://forums-eu.ageofconan.com/showthread.php?t=79227

Assassin
* Combos granted by feats should now deal significantly more damage than before.

Update Notes - 19th August
http://forums-eu.ageofconan.com/showthread.php?t=86508

Assassin
* Grim Corruption I's debuff will now stack with the other Grim Corruption debuffs.
* Grim Corruption will now debuff Unholy and Poison Invulnerabilities by 5% at each rank.

Update Notes - 28th August
http://forums-eu.ageofconan.com/showthread.php?t=89169
Assassin Epic Tier 3 chest piece no longer hides arm pieces, and texture clipping on shoulders has been fixed.

Update Notes- 17th September
http://forums-eu.ageofconan.com/showthread.php?t=93095

Assassin

* Assassination (2) buff will now properly appear in the Buff GUI instead of the debuff GUI.
* All Assassin combo damage and stamina costs have been rebalanced to match some newly adjusted animations.
* From the Darkness and Ambush should now occur correctly, when performed from stealth.
* When executing From the Darkness in stealth, you should now properly leave stealth.
* Clarified the tooltip and combat log for the Blindside ability to show that the target is the one losing the stamina specified.
* From the Darkness can be used while visible again.
* Feat ability From the Darkness' charge combo attack now has 100% crit chance.

Update Notes - 29th October
http://forums-eu.ageofconan.com/showthread.php?t=98617

COMBAT - CROWD CONTROL CHANGES
* The way crowd control and immunities work has been changed. All player stuns, fears, roots, snares, and charms will now break if the victim's health is reduced by a certain percentage (depending on the effect type).
* Immunity buffs will now, in general, last a bit less time, since they are applied at the start of the crowd control, and not at the end.
* It is no longer possible to apply a new crowd control debuff of the same type before the previous one runs out and immunity has been applied.

List of Crowd Control abilities that have been changed:

Assassin:
* Death's Gaze
* Curse of the Lotus
* From the Darkness


Update Notes - 18th February
http://forums-eu.ageofconan.com/showthread.php?t=110900
Assassin

* ‘Curse of the Lotus' should now snare victims by 50% for the duration of the fear effect.
* ‘Death's Gaze' has a new casting animation.

Update Notes 1.06 - 4th February
http://forums-eu.ageofconan.com/showthread.php?t=141495

Assassin Revamp

Update 1.06 introduces a number of improvements we could make to the Assassin class in several different areas. We have generally taken a somewhat different approach to the class revamps which have occurred since the 1.05 update, and this was applied to the Assassin during the course of its revamp. Among other things, it involves giving a revamped class some unique set of mechanics that encourage meaningful tactical choice on the battlefield. But also a distinct identity in how the class feels and plays to the player, as well as opponents facing the class and also how the class is viewed by group members.

This article describes the Assassin revamp in detail (http://forums-eu.ageofconan.com/showthread.php?t=141490)

Update Notes 1.06.2 - 16th February
http://forums-eu.ageofconan.com/showthread.php?t=142551

Assassin
Venom Spike toxin should now apply the intended major crowd control immunity effects.

Update Notes 2.0 (Rise of the Godslayer Expansion Launch) - 11th May
http://forums-eu.ageofconan.com/showthread.php?t=148705

Assassin
The Lotus Overdose effect can now only be triggered once every 10 seconds.

Update Notes 2.0.5 - 30th of June
http://forums-eu.ageofconan.com/showthread.php?t=154199

Assassin
Fixed the particle effect for Choking Powder.

Update Notes 2.0.6 - 1st September
http://forums-eu.ageofconan.com/showthread.php?t=158109

Assassin
Cover of Dusk will now be removed if a soldier switches to frenzy stance.
Cover of Dusk should no longer affect characters that have Distraction running.

Update Notes 2.1 - 14th of December
http://forums-eu.ageofconan.com/showthread.php?t=162177

All silences now follow the same rules for breaking as other Crowd Control effect. They have also had their immunities changed to 40 seconds:
Assassin: Choking Powder and Miasma: Lotus-Coated Dart

Assassin
Added a new icon for Sins of the Flesh.
Swift Strike I has had its combo-starter changed from UP to UL.

Update Notes 2.1.1 - 20th of December
http://forums-eu.ageofconan.com/showthread.php?t=162464

Assassin/Rogue
Distraction will no longer cause non soldier classes and soldiers not in defensive stance to get the increase hate from Cover of Dusk.

Update Notes 2.1.3– Dreamworld Technology Update - 8th of March
http://forums-eu.ageofconan.com/showthread.php?t=164719

Assassin
Fixed an issue that caused the assassin miasmas to have an incorrect cooldown.

Update Notes 2.2 - 4th of May
http://forums-eu.ageofconan.com/showthread.php?t=166246

Assassin
Curse of the Lotus is now classified as a fear.
Vampyric Nature is now classified as a stun.
The animations for Grim Corruption ranks I to IV are now all equally long.
Added an extra attack direction to Snap Kick - UP. The finisher direction is now UP.
The debuff effect of Impede Life will no longer stop the Natural Stamina and Mana regeneration on targets for up to 30 seconds.
Avatar of Death will now give 100% resistance to knockbacks.

Update Notes 2.2.1 - 11th of May
http://forums-eu.ageofconan.com/showthread.php?t=166548

Assassin
Added a casting animation for Curse of the Lotus, and tweaked the visual effects slightly.
Added a casting animation for Opportunistic Strike, and added some basic visual effects to show the effects of the ability.
Added a casting animation for Death's Gaze, and added some basic visual effects to show the effects of the ability.
Added a casting animation for Vampyric Nature, and added some basic visual effects to show the effects of the ability.

Update Notes 2.7 - 20th of July
http://forums-eu.ageofconan.com/showthread.php?t=169760

Assassin
Grave's Blossom and Death Whirlwind have been adjusted. They will now scale somewhat differently for 1-4 Soul Fragments, and should still do about the same for 5 Soul Fragments. Both these combos will now also hit a second target with full damage, but will follow the normal rules for damage reduction on any targets beyond the second.
Grave's Blossom and Death Whirlwind damage has been reduced, but will now hit two targets with 100% damage.
Fixed an issue where the cone for Grave's Blossom was skewed and would pick targets on the assassin's right side.

Update Notes 3.0 (Savage Coast of Turan) – 31st August
http://forums-eu.ageofconan.com/showthread.php?t=171570

Assassin
All ranks of Swift Strike and Sins of the Flesh changed to 3 second cooldown

Due to shorter animations we have buffed the following combos:

Assassin
Death Whirlwind
Graves Blossom

Update Notes 3.1 - 13th of December
http://forums-eu.ageofconan.com/showthread.php?t=173943

Assassin
The Corrupted Poison feat now also lowers the reuse time of the Grim Corruption combos.
Increased the finisher bonus damage of the Slow Death Strike combos.

Update Notes 3.3 – 29th of March
http://forums-eu.ageofconan.com/showthread.php?t=176312

Assassin
Removed the soul fragment consumption on Sins of the Flesh.

Update Notes 3.3.8 - 22nd of August
http://forums-eu.ageofconan.com/showthread.php?t=178485

Assassin
Impede Essence will now allow the Impede Life combo to prevent an enemy from regenerating Energy
Bewilder will now allow the Blindside combo to prevent an enemy from regenerating Energy

Update Notes 3.4 - 11th of October
http://forums-eu.ageofconan.com/showthread.php?t=179095

Assassin
Lotus Overload now has a 10 second cooldown after it expires.
Increased the resource burn feat upgrade of the Blindside combo ('Bewilder').
Increased the resource burn feat upgrade of the Impede Life combo ('Impede Essence').

Saturday, October 13, 2012

Epic stories, Big Epeens - TEH HAX0Rz!

 As you know I am PvPer and in pvp things happen that can make you want to grab your keyboard and smash it against the wall. That's cool. I can respect that quality of character. Matter of fact I always keep plastic bottle of water near me when I am pvping. Why? One is hydration is good for you. Duh! Second: I can smash that bottle in anger and not be regretting that later (like smashing  50 EURO mouse..). What makes people angry in pvp? Well, bullshit in general, but to be more exact: losing to bullshit....lets just say losing in general. Losing is not cool. There is nothing good about losing duel, minigame or whatever. Lets just say that is universally NOT desired outcome of any pvp encounter. We can all agree on that, RIGHT? And what do people do when they lose? Most suck it up with silence and dignity and I salute those brave men and women of Hyboria. Then there are some that, THE VERY SECOND things don't go as expected, they get up and scream: HAX! HAXORZ! Cheats! How else those unbeatable heroes of Conan's era would lose in PVP if not for obvious hax?
I AM being snarky here because the truth is: sometimes you fuck up and die, deal with it. Therefor I have never played the "blaming game" when it comes to PVP. Since 2008 I haven't seen one pvp encounter in which I would clearly say: that is someone running third party software to alter the game (aka "ZOMG THAT IS HAX!"). Sure, we all have heard epic stories of people doing some funky stuff in pvp and the forums are filled with videos of so called teleports. Are those true? In most cases I would say it is a lag that is desyncing the player's client and the server resulting in game not registering all the movements. I like to believe that, it keeps me sane. If I lose in pvp I just assume it is my very own fault, smack the water bottle around and move on with my life. That is smart thing to do, that is right thing to do. 

Well after that rather lenghty introduction I am going to drop the epic story on you: I have witnessed the real hax! It was few days ago on the map Lost Temple. My team kinda overpowered the opponents so we were holding the bridge and they were on a nearby cliff that leads to their spawn (mages like to stand there and spell weave and this is what they did). There was this ranger that pretty much was trying to snipe our cloth users (with little to none success I might add). In one of our merry chases after this ranger he did strange thing: when cornered and with about 50% health he turned around and simply jumped from the bridge straight into the lava. Now you know me, I am sadistic stabby stabby kind of guy so it was natural for me to go to the bridge just to watch him burn. To my deepest disbelief he landed in the lava, took several steps and..at this point he should have been crispy, fiery and umm...burny. And what happened? He literally LOOKED UP and SWOOOSH next thing I know (literally in a second or so) he was standing near the necro and that cliff, raining arrows at us!!!!

Pwnt? Turns out: not so much.

I made a quick petition and oddly enough in 2 minutes the GM was talking to me and promised to take immediate action on this matter. I have no idea if that ranger got banned, but having GM respond so fast was super nice.

My "PVP" bottle...

There you have it: my epic hax story. Do you have your own to tell? But please  GOOD ONES :D