Funcom has managed to generate quite a hype surrounding their upcoming MMORPG release: Age of Conan. Much like with previous hypes such as Crysis, many gamers are already frantically upgrading their hardware to run this game at maximum settings. Most other review websites call it "very promising" and I've even heard people on the internet referring to this MMORPG as a "possible World of Warcraft killer".

1) Siege battles: Much like raids in World of Warcraft, except you get to destroy buildings and keeps. In order to actually get a keep, as a guild, you need to conquer one of 9 locations. Once so done, you can build a keep and will have to defend it from other power-hungry guilds. "Hundreds of players in siege battles" is being tooted everywhere. I've so far not found a single MMORPG which can -actually- do this properly. Dozens, sure. Maybe a hundred. But hundreds? Well, let's give them the chance to prove this before the bashing begins.

I do like the idea of keeps you can conquer, but with a grand total of nine it is not hard to foresee what will happen: Massive, impersonal guilds in which your only contact with other members is through messageboards and the occasional "hey, you're on our Ventrilo server too! I know you". Smaller guilds will stand zero chance of holding a keep, but can build small "crafting villages" which can't be conquered. That saddens me; why can't they own little castles? Why is it that always always always, MMO makers only allow cool content for extremely large guilds? Can't we give the small guilds something?

2) Mounted combat: You can actually hit people from the back of a horse. To be honest, I find it saying more about the current games out there that this hasn't been done yet than it does about this game. We can make games which look like Crysis, but we can't do mounted combat? And besides, it will just be another "strike and see your sword move through an opponent without cutting". What I mean with that is that you never see games in which you can -actually- battle, i.e. raise your own sword to block the enemy's, or where your body moves in sync with an enemy weapon: it strikes you and your avatar moves along with the blade.

3) The Graphics: This game certainly shows it's been under development for five years: It's gorgeous. Most users will find their systems strained to the max, usually. However; should you be involved in these "hundreds of players siege-battles", I would expect part of your preparations for it is lowering the details of the game. Hundreds of players means hundreds of visual effects.

But Quietus, what -would- make you excited? Well, I would like an -actual- improvement on other MMORPG's such as World of Warcraft. Can we please work on combat systems, where the weapons actually hit things? The best this game can do is some fatalities, and we've seen that for years now. I'd like to be able to stab a person, and he actually bends a bit at the waist, eyes wide open. He stumbles back to get free of the sword, slicing ferociously as he does so. Yes, that's very ambitious, I know, but heck, our technology can do this by now.

That all said: This hype will very, very likely actually work for the game, and it certainly will become massively popular. I'd go as far as saying that eventually World of Warcraft will be what Everquest is to current World of Warcraft players; that thing in the past that only ancient geeks remember. Furthermore: I will definitely check the game out when it comes out, so I can give an actual review as opposed to brainstorm what this game could possibly have based on other folks' previews ;)

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