| Weapons and Armor in Age of Conan |
| Posted by Administrator | |
| Monday, 31 December 2007 | |
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One of the biggest incentives for spending hours upon hours gaining experience and advancing your character is the big, shiny – beautiful-looking – sword that sits there waiting for you at the end of it. The type of sword that has this aura of power surrounding it, a sword that just looks different from all the others. You want it not only because of the damage it deals, but also because it's a rare item that will make other players look at you in awe, respect – and envy! It's simply a status symbol.
One of the biggest incentives for spending hours upon hours gaining experience and advancing your character is the big, shiny – beautiful-looking – sword that sits there waiting for you at the end of it. The type of sword that has this aura of power surrounding it, a sword that just looks different from all the others. You want it not only because of the damage it deals, but also because it's a rare item that will make other players look at you in awe, respect – and envy! It's simply a status symbol. Playing a massively multiplayer online role-playing game, you'll always work towards making your character different – making your character stand out from the crowd of other players that even so pursues the same dream as you. «Clothes make the man,» the saying goes. In a game such as this, that can mean finding a rare piece of clothing that you only get from finishing a particularly challenging quest, or simply combining different types of clothing to create your own, unique style. And who haven't said to themselves – as you're running about in some virtual city wielding a newbie dagger looking at that high level adventurer scooting past you with a big sword engraved with mystic runes – that you too one day will wield something similarly fantastic and spectacular. This sense of status achieved through materialistic gain (let's face it, we're all very vain) is very much present in Age of Conan, as well. We have an entire strike-team – a group of developers focused on one thing only – dedicated to creating incredible equipment that you will acquire throughout your journey in Hyboria. Whether you end up purchasing it from a greedy, Nemedian merchant or happen to pull it out from the hands of a dying Pict as he gasps for air in his final moments, this team will ensure that the sword you just acquired will be worth the trouble getting it! Culture-based equipment Equipment in Age of Conan is largely based around cultures. Hyboria is a vast land compromised of many diverse cultures, and the item designers used this as a starting point when they began working on the thousands of different weapons and armor-pieces that can be found in the game. You'll find equipment from many different Hyborian cultures, such as the Shemites, the Cimmerians, the Stygians, the Aquilonians, the Argosseans, the Bossonians, the Zingarians and many, many others. That means you will end up discovering anything from Argossean blunt weapons to Atlantian polearms or Bossonian bows. You'll see Aquilonian platemail, Stygian splintmail, Vanir leather and just about anything else you could possibly imagine. This culture-oriented approach to equipment gives the designers a unique opportunity to create items with great visual differences to one another, from the lavishly embroidered Stygian robes to the more functional Cimmerian winter-clothes. «There are thousands of different armor sets, weapons and social garments in Age of Conan,» explains item designer Mats Remman. «We have to design them visually, give them attributes and make sure everything is balanced against everything else in the game. It’s a task that involves people from multiple departments, from concepts to 3D models to texturing and implementation.» In terms of what you can wear Age of Conan offers anything from functional armor providing protection to social clothing that is more or less «for show». By day you can be out fighting for your life wearing the impressive Atlantian fullplate and when the evening falls you can slip into the more comfortable fabrics of the Aquilonian nobleman robes. The team is aiming to provide you with plenty of choice, from the early days on Tortage to the days of warfare in the Border Kingdom. Weapon and armor types In Age of Conan, the armor you can wear and what weapons you can wield is determined by the feats you have unlocked. Armor is divided into different categories determined by what materials have been used to make it. You'll see anything from cloth (silk, cotton etc.), light (leather, hide etc.), medium (chainmail, splintmail etc.) to heavy (chainmail, platemail etc.). Also, the Guardian class can acquire an armor type even more resilient to damage – the treasured «fullplate» armor. «The weapons are also based on different cultures,» Remman explains. «We really want you to be able to identify what culture the weapon comes from just by looking at it. Looking at a simple axe with a wooden-handle and some basic engravings and it’s probably Cimmerian. Looking at a golden saber with an intricate design and over-the-top adornments and it’s probably Stygian.» Weapons are also divided into different types, such as one-handed hammers, two-handed swords, bows, polearms, daggers, thrown weapons and many more. All weapons have their unique combo animations made for them, making it equally as impressive to watch a fight with daggers as watching a fight where polearms is the weapon of choice. There is an abundance of weapons in the game and what weapons you can use all depends on the feats you have acquired as you have gained experience and advanced in levels. Of course, not all feats are available to all classes. The inventory system The actual inventory system in Age of Conan will be easily recognizable to most people familiar with role-playing games. By pressing the “I” key or clicking the correct button in the GUI; you will bring up your inventory and your character’s “paperdoll” that are displayed on the same screen to give you a complete overview of your equipment. You can unequip items by double-clicking on the different slots and you can equip something by double-clicking on that item in your inventory. There are a great number of different equipment slots for your character in Age of Conan, such as a slot for your head, back, wrists, waist, legs, feet, fingers and more. Several parts of your body have more than one slot, for instance giving you the opportunity to put on a pair of pants and a skirt. Or how about putting on a shirt and then your chest armor on top of that? Multiple slots let you do so. Moving your mouse pointer over an item or a piece of equipment in your inventory or on your character, you’ll notice a window appearing giving you all the necessary details on that item. To give you a better idea of how the item looks in terms of visual style – and frankly because it looks rather nice (or so we think, at least) – we’ve also made it so that the item will stand out from the slot and spin around as a three-dimensional model instead of just being a two-dimensional icon. With all this talk about armor, weapons and social clothing, we would also like to show you how these things look in action. Below you will find a series of screenshots showing you a select few of the many pieces of equipment you can find in Age of Conan. We’ll show you some armor sets, some weapons and some social garments based on different cultures within Hyboria, just to give you a sense of how visually different these cultures will be portrayed in the game world. Related items |
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