Age of Conan Early Access First Impressions

Last night, the gates to Hyboria opened to the Early Access masses and I was among the lucky players to get inside. For those unfamiliar, Age of Conan is an MMORPG five years in the making. The game boasts an exciting and revolutionary combat system and jaw-dropping graphics. Blood and gore and partial nudity have earned the game a Mature (18+) rating.

Pre-ordering the game granted players the chance to purchase a limited spot in the Early Access event. For the US players, the Early Access grants them three extra days in Hyboria, while for the European players it grants them six. The game will be launching May 20th and May 23rd respectively.

I participated in the Age of Conan Open Beta, an event that many players criticized for its awful playability and stability. Funcom promised a smoother launch and as far as I’m concerned, they delivered.

The Early Access event got off to a rocky start, as Funcom promised players a 5pm GMT launch time and ended up with a four hour delay. I’m glad for whatever Funcom did in those four hours, though, as the gaming experience was particularly wonderful.

The game ran smooth as silk for me, save for a couple of spots when my FPS dropped down into single-digits. I merely waited it out for a few seconds and it climbed back up. There were no server/client crashes whatsoever. I was suprised by this given the amount of people trying to access the game at the same time.

The loading screens loaded quickly and the opacity effect toward the end of the load gave it a very smooth, transitional look.

I will note, however, that was I on the EU side of things and that there was at least one server that had to be brought down for emergency maintenance. So I’m certain that the experience was different across the board.

Overall, I was incredibly impressed with the improvements Funcom managed to drop into the game the past week. I noted a lot of people praising Funcom in the general chat, so I’m confident that I wasn’t the only one having a smooth time of things.

Today is a new day in Hyboria, so I’m uncertain what it will bring, but I’ll be sure to keep you guys updated from news on the other side.

Feel free to share your tales of adventure or frustration!

Image courtesy of Eidos/Funcom.