The hot new MMO on the market, Age of Conan, is so innovative; you might temporarily go blind while reading this article. How many new features could Conan actually bring you ask? A lot. A three directional combat system is the highlight. Also, to stop players from creating lower level alts to craft, you have to be level 20 to even gather resources, and level 40 to make something with them. That’s great not even considering your guild can build its own city and buildings, which improve the strength of certain classes. (Ex. Your guild builds a barracks; all soldier classes get more hit-points and attack.)In this review, I will tell you about the soldier subclass, the Conqueror (Each class has 3 subclasses). Instead of a tank, the Conqueror is a fast-striking damage dealing maniac. The combat system, and madness of level requirements are all in your immediate future!

The Conqueror, the fast hitting dual wielding maniac that is the essence of the combat system. With lots of combos and room for gore, many enjoy the conqueror instead of the traditional guardian who is more of a tank. Tearing up enemies in a bloody rage while the priestess stands at a safe distance healing and sometimes rezing you (Hint: sometimes they have to cast rez like 3 times) is how you will fight out your battles. Also, remember, you will always be the meat shield in the eyes of the caster.

The Combat! Your foes will annoyingly decide to guard all, two, or one of the following areas. Their head, they’re left side, their right side. You must, actively, decide which you chose to strike. They decide to guard these areas, distributing three shields over these three locations. If they guard one with three, they will be vulnerable in all areas but that one. If you hit a side guarded with three shields, you do next to no damage. Hit a side with two shields, you do less then average damage. Hit a side with one shield, you do average damage. But catch the bastard with no shields on one side? You do extra damage. Combos are like special attacks; you hit a hot key, 1-0, to start the combo. You must then follow the on-screen directions as to where you must hit your foe. If you complete the combo, you do a boatload of damage to the poor fellow. Thanks to the combos, you will often find yourself hitting guarded areas for the pay-off of the combo damage. At first the combo will only require the combo and then a directional strike. After getting several others like that, you will get two strike combos, and then three strike combos, and so on.

The Madness of level requirements! Not only do you have to be a level 20 to leave the n00b area, but you also need to be a level 20 to gather resources! If that wasn’t bad enough, you need to be level 40 to have a crafting profession! You also get a mount at level 40, but you’ll be level 50 by the time you can afford one! So let’s hope you love Conan’s combat system so much, you won’t mind doing much else for the first week you have the game.

All in all, Conan is fun, but they really forgot about the magic classes and healers. I’m going to say that Conan gets nine bloodied axes out of 10.