How many playable classes will there be?
For the first five levels you are a “commoner”, without class, but of Cimmerian, Aquilonian or Stygian origin. Then at level five you choose your base class from four archetypes: Mage, Priest, Thief or Warrior.
At level twenty you get further three to four class selections for each archetype (14 in total), which branches again into two specialized classes for each selection at level sixty.
Additionally you can pick one of four distinct professions at level 40, which gives an additional, parallel, path of development. You can be a Craftsman (making things), a Master (earning you a full time squire), a Commander (adept at multiplayer gameplay) or a General - an expert on siege gameplay.
The World of Conan
When in the timeline of the Conan Universe is the game set?
The setting is chronologically directly after the Robert E. Howard book “The Hour of the Dragon”, in the era when Conan was king of Aquilonia. This novel is heralded by many as one of Howard’s strongest, and gives us a great entry point into Howard’s world.
Will I be able to ‘be’ Conan?
No, Conan will not be a playable character, rather you will be playing in King Conan’s world. You can in some way see the journey through the game as many alternate ways of sampling Conan’s history, and getting to know him. This will gradually bring you closer and closer to the grand King of Aquilonia, to his royal court and who knows, maybe even joining him at this top table!
How true to the original writings of Howard are you intending to be?
The world that Howard created was a dark and gritty place and we certainly aim to very true to that feeling and atmosphere. Obviously Howard wrote the original works in the 1930’s, a long time before world war two, Martin Luther King or the 60’s sexual revolution, and some of his themes and characters are very much creations of their time that do occasionally jar our modern sensibilities, so Age of Conan will not be done in a tasteless, exploitative manner. Rest assured however that the world of Conan will never, ever, be politically correct and we hope that the game will capture all the elements of Howard’s creation that make it what it is!
