MMORPG.com Age of Conan Correspondent Mike DeHart writes this overview of the Tempest of Set, the Stygian healer in Funcom's Age of Conan. Tempests of Set in Age of Conan are the official priest class of the Stygian nation. They worship the snake god Set and call upon lightning powers to deal excellent single-target and area of effect (AOE) damage. They also have the ability to heal and resurrect allies. This guide will provide you with an overview of the tempest class, their pros and cons and give some helpful builds to get you started. .Archetype: Priest .Permitted Races: Stygian .Weapons: One-handed blunts, one-handed edged, polearms, daggers, bows, crossbows, and thrown weapons. .Armor: Cloth armor, light armor, and shields. Check out the Tempest of Set Class Overview

The folks at Funcom have sent us a new internally conducted Q&A where System Designer Dave Williams addresses what's coming in terms of Culture Armor and Weapons. Funcom: How many new recipes will there be? Dave Williams: There are 24 culture armor recipes. Each recipe makes three pieces of set. Thus for patch 3 we are releasing twelve 6 piece armor sets -- one set per class. There are four culture weapon recipes grouped by geography, and each weapon recipe can make 3 weapons related to that theme. There are a couple of details that I'm going to leave to discovery, that I think players will find interesting. This is the first iteration of what is currently planned to be a more extensive system, as we want to make small incremental steps in order to both get content out to pl ...

The folks at Funcom have published a new dev journal which gives players a look at some of the new culturally themed armor in Age of Conan. Developer Dave Williams provides us with a couple of nice screenshots as well as background information about some of the new Culture Armors which will be introduced to Age of Conan very soon. From A Treatise on Niello Long before the rise of countries which today are scattered across the continent, there was commerce between the ancient nations of Stygia and Acheron. Trade brought discovery, as goods traveled the span of the known world - and elements native to the far-flung reaches of the civilized kingdoms were first mingled in forges and workshops to form hybrid metals that exhibited the best properties of each ingredient. Many such all ...

MMORPG.com Managing Editor Jon Wood had the opportunity to ask new Age of Conan Game Director Craig Morrison a little bit about himself and his philosophies on gaming. MMORPG.com: How does your vision for the game differ from your predecessor's? Craig Morrison: I'm not sure there are all that many core differences there in terms of the game-world and what Age of Conan represents. I think the game has a fantastically realized game-world and an experience that is genuinely different and sets us apart from other MMO titles. We really have already captured that brutal energy of the Conan universe and it is reflected in the very action orientated combat system and the lush vibrant game-world. I think it would be foolish to not be proud of that and to strive to extend it even further ...

MMORPG.com Age of Conan Correspondent Mike DeHart writes this introductory overview of the Ranger class in Funcom's Age of Conan. The Ranger class in AoC is a pure archer akin to the scout or ranger classes in Dark Age of Camelot. That means no pets and very few nature themed spells. Rangers rely on stealth and distance to deal damage with bows and crossbows. They are also adept with a sword and shield, for close combat fights. The ranger is a ranged DPS class with medium armor, stealth, and considerable crowd control; these abilities can make the ranger formidable in both PvP and PvE. Read it all here.

Funcom has announced that the guild called Ascendant has become the first to have a city reach Tier 3 in Age of Conan. Dagoth server is now the proud owner of new tier 3 city Today we received notice that Dagoth guild 'Ascendant' had completed the construction of their tier 3 city! Ascendant had this to say: CONGRATULATIONS ASCENDANT!!! In a mere 4 months, through a phenominal display of teamwork and dedication, at 9:30 on October 2, 2008 Ascendant constructed our Tier 3 Architect Workshop, completing our WORLD FIRST TIER 3 CITY!

Craig Morrison, the new Game Director for Age of Conan has posted a lengthy outline of upcoming changes and updates for the game, including details on server merges, Ymir's Pass and the PvP update. Today I wanted to take the opportunity to go over some of the updates, changes and developments you will see in the game over the coming weeks and months. Hopefully this will give you a little insight into what order things are being addressed in and what sequence you will see the new content arrive in. There are two things on the immediate horizon that will very soon be on the test server for public testing in the shape of Ymir's Pass and the second stage of the PVP update. There are a couple of things I want to address on these. Firstly Ymir's Pass is a large zone and has quite a bit ...

MMORPG.com Age of Conan Correspondent Jean-Francois Doyon writes this article giving his own opinion of the customiztion in Funcom's flagship title. Back in the days of glory of single-player games, your introduction to a new game would usually be the tutorial, or the first mission in the game's campaign. In the world of MMORPGs, your introduction to the game usually has one more step before you can jump into the action (not counting installation issues, server crashes and unbelievably long patching times, which are in the best of cases an annoyance, and in the worst of cases an introduction of the game to the trash bin): the character generation system. This system fulfills a need that most players will have; the need to give their avatar in the world a look they like and to differenti ...

MMORPG.com has learned that Age of Conan Producer and Game Director Gaute Godager has resigned his post with Funcom. His replacement, Craig Morrison previously held the same position on Funcom`s Anarchy Online. MMORPG.com has learned that Funcom Producer and Game Director Gaute Godager has resigned his role at the helm of the company's flagship title, Age of Conan. Funcom wasted no time in announcing his replacement, however in the form of Anarchy Online Producer and Game Director Craig Morrison. Godager cites elements of Age of Conan that he was unhappy with as the reason for his departure from the company that he helped to build and grow over the last 16 years: "I have done my very best making this fabulous game, but I have concluded there are elements which I am dissatisfied wi ...

MMORPG.com has received an exclusive English version of Funcom's most recent Hyborian Insider. In it, Erling Ellingson tells us about some of the new content that is being added into the game as well as some information on (and a good look at) some of the DX 10 features that are planned for the game. Watch the interview here