Age of Conan Early Access Liveblog

So, like I suspect quite a lot of MMO players, I’m sitting here waiting for the Age of Conan servers to come up for the Early Access period.

I shall be attempting to record my first experiences for posterity, that folks not in early access may live vicariously through my adventures!

5:55 BST I’m all patched up and ready to go. The servers are due to open at 5 GMT, which will be 6 BST. I notice that the official forums are down right now, presumably to get rid of the pre-release forum, and replace it with an equally annoying hive of scum and villainy.

6:01 BST They’re late! Consider my account cancelled, Funcom!!!!

6:07 BST Turns out early release has been delayed to 8 pm GMT. Let’s meet back here in 2 hours and fifty.

Conan the King will be along in his own good time.

6:36 BST Rain stopped play for most of today’s England vs New Zealand Test Match. This has been quite a day of waiting for things to happen! Still, let us remain calm. I wasn’t in AoC’s beta, or I’d have an awful lot more worth saying at this point. My primary goal is to set up a happy little crafting guild, and if possible, build our town next-door to that of the Scions of Nordheim. Knowing precious little about costs, I don’t know yet if that is a realistic ambition.

7:29 BST Halfway there! What are you doing to pass the time, apart from randomly checking blogs for information? Drop me a note using my handy comment thingy down below! Me, I’m eating cherry cake.

8:49 BST OK, let’s try this again! Ten minute warning for the arrival of King Conan!

9:01 BST Oh Funcom, must you toy with us?

Conan laughs at your puny timezones!

9:09 BST Oh dear. Well, see you in 50 minutes then!

9:23 BST I have some patching action going on. It’s a bit slow though, what with everyone else also patching.

9:24 BST And then the patch server went down again :(

9:27 BST I’m all patched! However, the login server seems unwilling to make my acquaintance.

9:54 BST Well, I’m in! I was a little dismayed by the lack of decent hair options, but Alfric is born!

Behold the mighty Alfric, bearer of bottles!

11:26 BST OK, I’ve played through with a character up until opening the Acheronian gate now, and am now the proud owner of a level 5 Necromancer. I had been, right up until the end, a little concerned that combat was too easy, but it does seem to be getting a little more dangerous so I guess those crocodiles were just going easy on me!

Things began with my slave ship exploding, for reasons I have yet to discover. I washed up on a sandy beach, and was instantly approached by this gentleman.

A murderous old man.

A strange old man who apparently feels comfortable inciting complete strangers to commit murder. I am sorry, Sir, but I really don’t know you well enough yet.

But it didn’t seem like I had a lot of choice but to follow through with the bloodthirsty fellow’s plan, and so I set forth through a jungle wherein most everybody seemed to want to kill me, to their own regret.

The much vaunted combat system, thus far, seems to me a lot like hitting the 1, 2, and 3 keys at random until things fall over. I didn’t really need my spells up until the final bit. I do suspect that once I face some beefier opponents, taking a little more thought about what the heck I’m doing is going to wise.

Graphically, everything seems decent enough, especially given my meagre specs. A healthy enough framerate to play with, though I have yet to step into a city with other players, which is where framerates tend to suffer the worst.

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