Age of Conan’s Craig Morrison Talks Gangs of Tarantia

Age of Conan director Craig Morrison gives The MMO Gamer an update on the game’s latest patch, which offers up some sweeping revisions.

The MMO Gamer: Based on our previous conversation, I guess my first question is: What changes have been made to the game in this latest patch which embody the philosophy of fun over tedium?

Craig Morrison: We started the process with the previous updates that introduced content like Ymir’s Pass and Xibuluku, and I think the content in this update does continue the progress on that front we started with those updates. I think the experience in Tarantia Commons is a fun one, there are some great moments to be had in the area, from the ever evolving civil unrest that dynamically generates based on players interactions (or goes ahead on its own if they choose to stay out of it!), to the roof-top game-play that adds another element to an urban environment (in particular on a PVP server!) through to things like the boss encounters in the Crows Nest group instance that players seem to be reacting really well to!

So I don’t see those as much as ‘changes’ more of the focus that we ask the team to have. We ask our content designers to try and inject interesting and engaging elements to their designs so that they are interesting for the players. I am really proud of well the team approach this and that the game-play experience in these new areas is really interesting and feels fresh to players. Yes, the mechanics are largely the same, it is about how those mechanics are applied, with a little imagination the designers can take their tools and craft something a little different for the player. It is those little things that make the experiences memorable.

At the risk of a slight spoiler, the boss called Jovus in the Crows Nest is a great example. He uses a special powder in a fireplace to generate toxic gas. At certain points in the encounter, he runs over to the fireplace mid fight and throws something into the flames, that creates fumes around the room that applies a debuff of some kind… all pretty much standard sounding MMO mechanics so far.

The difference comes with how the players have to deal with the gas. In order to remove the clouds the players have to grab fire-side fans and actually fan the smoke out of the room. The fans are visible and have an animation, something visible the players can see and appreciate. So rather than just saying ‘have players apply X spell or item to remove debuff Y, the designers came up with an imaginative way for them to have to remove the debfuff. Something the players remember and react to…’oh this is the guy we have to do the thing with the fans’.

It is all about making those encounters have something to them that makes the player go ‘that’s cool’, and to be able to achieve it within the confines of our usual mechanics. Basically it’s just not accepting that the ‘standard’ thing to do here is have another player cast a spell that removes the debuff, or have them just use an inventory item to remove the debuff. Sure, some of the time you will do that as well, but it’s important to have the designers also come up with those moments that twist things a little and let the players have a little fun with it, even if technically the response is the same – they did after all use X to remove Y, just not in the way that the players might expect.

The MMO Gamer: You had quite awhile to get most of the kinks worked out on the test server, so there shouldn’t have been too many surprises. But now that it’s gone live, have you been taken aback by any reactions to it from the playerbase?

Craig Morrison: I don’t think surprised is the right word, at least not in any negative sense. We always knew, and told people quite clearly, that we fully expected there to be tweaks and adjustments we would have to make after the update went live, and that is the case.

If anything we have been encouraged that those issues haven’t been as serious or as difficult to address as you sometimes fear with your ‘worst case scenario’ head on, which as producer is pretty much my default state! There are of course some things we need to address, as we expected, but by and large, outside of the expected balance adjustments, the changes seem to have been quite well received.

The MMO Gamer: As a bookend to that last question: How do you respond to the derogatory “Age of Casters” label being applied to the patch on the boards and in global chat?

Craig Morrison: See, that why I said, ‘outside of the balance adjustments…’ above, as that is of course where our attention has to turn now. As we have already addressed on our forums, that is definitely one of the areas that we will be looking at in the post-update tweaks and adjustments mentioned above.

There are two factors here, the first in more of a general distinction between spell using classes and melee classes in our game. The spell using classes in Age of Conan are inherently easier to play, or rather more forgiving to play that leads to the opinion of them being easier to play, and they are certainly easier to master. That element won’t really change. Those classes are a deal more forgiving and easier to really master. That said I think that I think on the other hand a really well played melee character is a far more challenging foe and adversary at the hands of a skilled and experienced PVP player.

All that said, and to get down to the bare bones of it, No, the balance there isn’t quite right out of the gate as it were in respect with 1.05 and that is an area the subsequent balance adjustments will focus on. As I mentioned above we always knew there would be issues like that this that would come out of the changes as players adapted to the new power scales and abilities. It is something we were prepared to react to and already are preparing the follow-up update to address some of these issues.

The MMO Gamer: Has the reaction to the item stats changes been as positive as you hoped it would be? Or has a new vocal minority sprung up already, to pine about how things were better in the old days?

Craig Morrison: I think the item changes themselves have been pretty well received across the board. The majority of the issues people have are with the balance concerns, like those we have already discussed, that people have now they are getting used to the new system.

Of course there are a few players who preferred the ‘old way’ completely, but if you set aside the balance issues (only for the sake of this question, they are off course very important and being worked on…just to be clear before someone quotes that previous sentence out of context!), then I think those who don’t like the new items at all, are a very small minority, and by and large players understand and appreciate the benefits of the revamped RPG stats.

It would be great to be able to please everyone, all of the time, but alas in an MMO setting that is rarely possible. I think most though do see that these changes are very beneficial to the games continued success.

The MMO Gamer: When we last spoke, you cited the Tortage experience as an example of quality storytelling within the game. Having now had the chance to play it since our interview, I would tend to agree with you. But, it also seemed as through the story aspect ground to a screeching halt the moment you left the island, when the next step in your epic quest basically says, “Well, good luck, come back in ten levels!”

Is there anything in this patch, or a patch to come in the near future, that keeps the story at the forefront after you get out into the world?

Craig Morrison: I think it’s about bringing players into the rest of the quests, and leading them to the other areas where there are also other great quest lines. That’s an area we will keep improving on over time. Is there still a slight ‘step’ when they arrive in the mainland? Yes, that is probably still there to some degree, and is something we will be trying to improve further as time goes on.

The MMO Gamer: You are sitting across a table from someone who played Conan at launch. They quit after the first month, and vowed to never return without some serious changes being made to the game. What would you say to get them back?

Craig Morrison: Firstly I would say that there have been serious changes made to the game! Then I would say that they shouldn’t just take my word for it and to them come back and try it for themselves! I am of course a completely biased opinion in that respect!

There is a free trial available and there will soon be a reevaluation offer to previous players so they can come back and try it out for themselves. Try it, speak to people playing the game, and they might just find that the serious changes they wanted to see have been made!

The MMO Gamer: Word association. What is the first thing that comes to mind when you hear the version number: “1.06”?

Craig Morrison: The first thing? That would have to be ‘guilds’, which doesn’t really do justice to everything else we will be looking at adding in the 1.06 cycle! Things like a new raid dungeon and another new dungeon for groups and multi-group activities, and new goals and objectives for PVP in the Border Kingdoms… but ‘guilds’ is certainly the area where you will see the major new addition to the game.

That’s something we will be talking more about very shortly once we have worked through these immediate post-1.05 updates!

The MMO Gamer: Thank you for your time, Craig.

Stay tuned to The MMO Gamer for more Age of Conan coverage in the days to come. In the meanwhile, as Craig mentioned, the game is currently offering a ten day free trial. If this, or our prior interview with him has whet your appetite, you can give the game a shot right over here: http://www.ageofconan.com/trial/