Nobody wants to be lonely in Age of Conan

At least the first twenty character levels of Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures is supposed to be, for the most part, a single-player experience. A single-player quest, or “destiny quest”. At least that was the Funcom devs’ intent. If there was going to be any MMO experience during this “destiny quest” phase (or else, why call it an MMORPG?), it would be in “communal areas” for, in the devs’ own words, social interaction and “drunken brawls”.

Hey, from our perspective, a drunken brawl’s a good enough reason to socialize in an MMO world (are we talking about early PvP here, Funcom? Maybe not…). But we digress.

But things change during beta tests. Players give their opinions, or they rant, or they ask for certain features to be included in the game. So in the latest Behind the Scenes feature from the community site, the devs reveal that, within this single player-centric “destiny quest” portion of the game, they’re throwing in a multiplayer co-op dungeon/area to play in as a team. Because the players wanted more MMO than just social interaction and drunken brawls.

So, in the game world of Hyboria, Tortage island becomes a part-time co-op grind of sorts. Confused? In the daylight hours (game time), players can team up with others to explore the area and the dungeons of Tortage as a team, much like in any MMO. This is, of course, optional – Tortage can still be played solo if that’s your thing.

At night, though, Tortage reverts back to single-player mode, and players continue their “destiny quests” and their respective character’s storyline. How to get to night, though? Visit an Inn and go to sleep. Sound familiar? Should be… (it’s one of the biggest RPG cliches around).

At least the first twenty character levels of Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures is supposed to be, for the most part, a single-player experience. A single-player quest, or “destiny quest”. At least that was the Funcom devs’ intent. If there was going to be any MMO experience during this “destiny quest” phase (or else, why call it an MMORPG?), it would be in “communal areas” for, in the devs’ own words, social interaction and “drunken brawls”.

Hey, from our perspective, a drunken brawl’s a good enough reason to socialize in an MMO world (are we talking about early PvP here, Funcom? Maybe not…). But we digress.

But things change during beta tests. Players give their opinions, or they rant, or they ask for certain features to be included in the game. So in the latest Behind the Scenes feature from the community site, the devs reveal that, within this single player-centric “destiny quest” portion of the game, they’re throwing in a multiplayer co-op dungeon/area to play in as a team. Because the players wanted more MMO than just social interaction and drunken brawls.

So, in the game world of Hyboria, Tortage island becomes a part-time co-op grind of sorts. Confused? In the daylight hours (game time), players can team up with others to explore the area and the dungeons of Tortage as a team, much like in any MMO. This is, of course, optional – Tortage can still be played solo if that’s your thing.

At night, though, Tortage reverts back to single-player mode, and players continue their “destiny quests” and their respective character’s storyline. How to get to night, though? Visit an Inn and go to sleep. Sound familiar? Should be… (it’s one of the biggest RPG cliches around).