Age of Conan noob questions.

human_male

Math and girls is hard.
Joined
April 4, 2009
Messages
526
Location
Auckland, New Zealand
Hiya. I'm the MMO noob from the other thread. I bought Age of Conan Hyborian Adventures and Guild Wars. I've had a little play with both but I'm focusing on Conan since my free game time runs out in thirty days, and I want to get my money's worth before I decide if I'll pay for another month. Which I doubt I will.

I have some questions if you'll endulge me, and I thought it better to start a proper thread so other people who might be looking for a thread about Conan can find it.

Question one is what do the coloured marks over NPCs heads mean… exactly? Obviously they denote quest givers, but why are some question marks and some are exclamation marks, and some are gold and some are grey? I thought the grey ones might mean there's a quest but I'm not yet at a sufficient level, but why do they bother with colour coding the quests in the journal according to difficulty if the NPCs restrict the quests to your level?

Also, as I look at some of the icons on the map, I can see quest objectives for quests that I haven't recieved yet. Is that supposed to be like that or is it a bug? It takes some of the fun out of it don't you think? Personally I'd prefer to have no quest indicators at all because I'd like to actually talk to the character to see if they have anything new for me to do, but I can live with the icons. But I certainly don't like that.

Question two is about the shields. I've noticed my character also has shields because they show up in yellow when I get hit, but hitting the shield key (Ctrl) or the shield direction keys (Ctrl+1 ect) doesn't seem to do anything. Do I have control over my shields or are they automatic and the yellow shield indicators are just, well… indicators? Also, can I set something so they don't show up at all as I find it very distracting? Sometimes they show up and sometimes they don't.

Question three is about other players. I've just arrived in Tortage and I see other players running about. So far I've just ignored them and they ignore me. This is how I'd prefer it, but the manual seems to indicate this is only an option up to level 20. What happens then? Can I continue to play by myself or not?

Thanks very much, there's sure to be more questions. Cheers.

Another question; is there a vendor in Tortage where I can offload all the bits and pieces you pick up like animal parts, pearls and pict nose bones and such?
 
Last edited:
Joined
Apr 4, 2009
Messages
526
Location
Auckland, New Zealand
Hiya. I'm the MMO noob from the other thread. I bought Age of Conan Hyborian Adventures and Guild Wars. I've had a little play with both but I'm focusing on Conan since my free game time runs out in thirty days, and I want to get my money's worth before I decide if I'll pay for another month. Which I doubt I will.

I have some questions if you'll endulge me, and I thought it better to start a proper thread so other people who might be looking for a thread about Conan can find it.

Question one is what do the coloured marks over NPCs heads mean… exactly? Obviously they denote quest givers, but why are some question marks and some are exclamation marks, and some are gold and some are grey? I thought the grey ones might mean there's a quest but I'm not yet at a sufficient level, but why do they bother with colour coding the quests in the journal according to difficulty if the NPCs restrict the quests to your level?

Question marks are for those waiting for you to return from a quest. The exclamation parts are for quest givers.

As for the grey exclamation marks: I don't remember if that indicated a too low level quest or a high level quest. If you don't get a quest from the grey ones, when you talk to them, the quest is too high above your level.
Also, as I look at some of the icons on the map, I can see quest objectives for quests that I haven't recieved yet. Is that supposed to be like that or is it a bug? It takes some of the fun out of it don't you think? Personally I'd prefer to have no quest indicators at all because I'd like to actually talk to the character to see if they have anything new for me to do, but I can live with the icons. But I certainly don't like that.

Don't remember seing that.

Question two is about the shields. I've noticed my character also has shields because they show up in yellow when I get hit, but hitting the shield key (Ctrl) or the shield direction keys (Ctrl+1 ect) doesn't seem to do anything. Do I have control over my shields or are they automatic and the yellow shield indicators are just, well… indicators? Also, can I set something so they don't show up at all as I find it very distracting? Sometimes they show up and sometimes they don't.
I never used shields actively. (I don't pay much attention, do I?)

Question three is about other players. I've just arrived in Tortage and I see other players running about. So far I've just ignored them and they ignore me. This is how I'd prefer it, but the manual seems to indicate this is only an option up to level 20. What happens then? Can I continue to play by myself or not?
You can play solo all the way to the top level. What's special about level 1..20 in Tortage is the night time quests which are strictly solo-play. You don't see any other players when you enter night time (You select that from several NPC's in the inn). Observe that the night time quests are the only ones part of the main quest chain in Tortage. You have to complete those if you want to leave the city (But you can if you want skip quests by talking to NPC's in the inn)

Thanks very much, there's sure to be more questions. Cheers.

Another question; is there a vendor in Tortage where I can offload all the bits and pieces you pick up like animal parts, pearls and pict nose bones and such?

There are vendors to the left where you enter the town. There is also an auctioneer at the town square just below the city gate area. The auctioneer can also be used for storing items you might need later.
 
Thanks for that lghartveit. I was mistaken about quest objectives showing up on the map before I'd recieved them. I'd forgotten about one I'd already got.

I'd noticed those merchants, but there is one who only sells food, one who only sells armor ect. I didn't want to clutter them up with inappropriate stuff. But I guess there isn't a general merchandise guy.

I'll probably end up playing by myself but I thought I might as well know how to talk to people should the need arise. Like to thank someone for helping me in a battle or something. When I first started the game I played around with the chat box trying to close it down because it was in the way. I inadvertently deleted one of the tabs (channels), and I don't know which one. The manual says you can add channels and the most important are Vicinity, Playfield, Tells and Group but I can't find all of them in the little drop down box. And it says in order to talk to one person only you type /tell then their name and the message. Is that seperate words or all one string? So it would be /tell Bob Hi Bob right?

What do I do if I want to speak everyone in the area? And what's the most commonly accepted method to talking to someone so I don't come off as a complete noob? I mean, do people use tells or do they all chat on one particular channel (probably the one I deleted)?

Thanks very much. This is a big help.
 
Joined
Apr 4, 2009
Messages
526
Location
Auckland, New Zealand
I've been playing for a couple of days now and I'm finding it a bit of a mixed bag. On the one hand there are tons of quests which is great! I love doing quests. I'm a questaholic actually.

But I'm having a big problem with the degree, or speed of enemy respawns. I know things must respawn because other people need to do the same quest. But it's literally seconds. If I have a quest to kill a few pirates and pick up some items from them, I go to the place they are, kill them and just as I start to pick up their stuff they respawn. So I have to fight them all over again. Quite often I've got stuck just killing the same group over and over as I try to pick up the loot and get away but they keep respawning.

And I don't know if they intended to make my character's combat voice as irritating as they possibly could but if they did they succeeded.
 
Joined
Apr 4, 2009
Messages
526
Location
Auckland, New Zealand
Move back a little bit away from their spawning point once they spot you.
 
Joined
Sep 6, 2009
Messages
26
Would anyone know if the amount of enemies in the game and their respawn rate is set by the individual servers or is it common to all? If so I'd be happy to swap servers if it was to one that toned it down.
 
Joined
Apr 4, 2009
Messages
526
Location
Auckland, New Zealand
It should be the same on all servers. I think it's controlled by how many players are active in the area. You can sneak past enemies with your hide skill too if you don't walk too close. If they spot you, you can run away and eventually they'll lose interest. Just make sure you don't hit them or use other combat skills when you're escaping.
 
Joined
Mar 30, 2008
Messages
1,163
Location
Scandinavia
It should be the same on all servers. I think it's controlled by how many players are active in the area. You can sneak past enemies with your hide skill too if you don't walk too close. If they spot you, you can run away and eventually they'll lose interest. Just make sure you don't hit them or use other combat skills when you're escaping.

Hey there. I have been using Hide a lot but it only works here and there. Most of the time I get spotted. It's best used as an ambush tactic rather than an avoidance tactic. Its 120 now, maybe that's still low.

Also running away rarely saves me. First off they keep hitting you while you're running even though they may be several meters behind you (which really effs me off), and you just run into more and more enemies as you flee so you end up with an entire army chasing you. It's fine until your stamina runs out and you can't sprint, then you're dead.
 
Joined
Apr 4, 2009
Messages
526
Location
Auckland, New Zealand
I went from Tortage to Cimmeria and I'm finding it a bit tough. I get the feeling it's for higher level charcters, there's level 60 monsters running around and most the wares in stores is for level 70 and 80. I'm wondering if one of the other countries would be better to start out with? Is there an easier one or are they all pretty much the same?

On a brief jaunt to Old Tarantia I found a vendor that sells pet rats. Would one be worth getting? What do they do, do they fight for you? Are they any good? Do they die, and if they die do they respawn or do you have to buy a new one?

Are there any NPC companions that you can get to follow you and fight with you?
 
Last edited:
Joined
Apr 4, 2009
Messages
526
Location
Auckland, New Zealand
The difficulty is pretty much the same everywhere. Nevertheless you could try the other two regions getting more quests for your level or just for fun if you get bored of cimmeria. I did it once cause i ran out of quests in my starting region. I don't know about the current level progress in low levels and if changing the region will make it easier. They made i much more harder to level up some month after the game was released. People made level 80 very quick at that time and many left because there was not much content for a max level char (think that didn't much change up to now). Changing the difficulty was a way to keep people busy and subscripted.

I don't know about that rat but would have no second thought about spending some virtual gold to try it and to answer your last question it will be the only npc companion you get in this game.
 
Joined
Sep 6, 2009
Messages
26
What's the most generally accepted way of arranging to team up with other players (if you're not in a guild)? I'd rather play solo most of the time, but a few quests in Cimmeria apparently require a team. The quest giver made a point of mentioning I will need to recruit more warriors, and there's an icon next to the quest in the journal that I presume means team required. I thought I'd just wait until I was a higher level and do it alone, but the quest is green, the monsters are lower levels to me but I can't so much as scratch them.

I quite seldom run into other players, and when I do and I follow them for a bit they don't seem even slightly interested in teaming up. They ignore me until I stop following them. There was one exception when I met a couple of guys who invited me into the group for a bit but I haven't seen them since.

What I need to do is arrange to join up with at least two others and help me just with these three or four missions. How do I arrange that? Do I post on the server forums and arrange a time and a place to meet, or just ask people in the game (even though they seem terribly busy)?

Also, what good do potions do? The ones to regenerate health and the ones that regenerate stamina. They seem useless. I regenerate my health outside combat by resting, and in combat they don't do anything. If I'm getting hurt enough that I need a potion, what little good it does is useless. Same with the stamina. I need it to help me sprint yet I still run out just as quickly.

And is there any point at all to using two weapon sets? My primary weapon is a bow but I like to get stuck in with a sword now and again. But since I can't run out of arrows and there's no penalty for using a bow in melee what's the point?

Thanks very much.
 
Joined
Apr 4, 2009
Messages
526
Location
Auckland, New Zealand
For a party use the local area chat to ask if anyone wants to join for a group quest. You have probably seen some of this messages in the chat window.
There is no use trying that group quests on your own with a higher level by the way. They made that nearly impossible on purpose. Some people were farming low level instances for unique armor drops. You can't sell them but they often have a different look from the boring standard armors. Some other people were complaining because they couldn't complete quests in a group instance in old tarantia due to the farmers and funcom made a little change to the dungeons. I tried a lvl 35 boss with a 80 char after that change to help a guild mate with a quest and gave up after about 1 hour Boss 1 Dmg me 1 Dmg ......:).

Potions and food help to level faster or in other words you spend less time resting.

If your primary weapon is a bow you should have at least one melee attack to slow an enemy down to give you time to retreat and and use some more ranged attacks. In a close fight this could be the difference between life and death.
 
Joined
Sep 6, 2009
Messages
26
For a party use the local area chat to ask if anyone wants to join for a group quest. You have probably seen some of this messages in the chat window.

Which channel is the local area chat that you refer to? All I have is General and I haven't noticed any chat from other players. When I started the game I think I inadvertently deleted a channel while trying to close or minimise the chat box. That's likely to be the one you mean. I know how to add them, I just don't know which one.

If your primary weapon is a bow you should have at least one melee attack to slow an enemy down to give you time to retreat and and use some more ranged attacks. In a close fight this could be the difference between life and death.

Do you mean the Tendon Stab combo to slow them down? I tried that once, used the combo then retreated a bit and took out my bow to finish them off. But it made so little difference to their movement speed they were on top of me again by the time I'd fired one arrow.

I tried switching to sword and shield when getting ganged and hit a lot, thinking the shield would protect me and enable me to last longer but I always do a lot better with a bow. There's obviously something I'm missing there.

Thanks very much.
 
Joined
Apr 4, 2009
Messages
526
Location
Auckland, New Zealand
Quit over a year ago so i'm sorry but can't help with more details neither the chat nor the skills. I remember i messed up my chat once and there was a way to select the channels shown but don't remember the way to access the settings.
I still had a old link with a description of ranger skills and their effects.
http://forums.ageofconan.com/showthread.php?t=51874
Perhaps it's still good but the skill effects may have been changed.
 
Joined
Sep 6, 2009
Messages
26
Quit over a year ago so i'm sorry but can't help with more details neither the chat nor the skills. I remember i messed up my chat once and there was a way to select the channels shown but don't remember the way to access the settings.
I still had a old link with a description of ranger skills and their effects.
http://forums.ageofconan.com/showthread.php?t=51874
Perhaps it's still good but the skill effects may have been changed.

Thank you.
 
Joined
Apr 4, 2009
Messages
526
Location
Auckland, New Zealand
How do you use pets? I bought a white rat (whom I call Hank) and he's useless. The handbook says you open the pet control panel in the upper left of the screen to give him orders but I can't find it. And I can't find any controls to command him. He's really slow and hops along behind me and just gets left behind. And I got into a battle and turned around to see if he was attacking (savagely nibbling my enemies ankles or something) but there was no sign of him.

He cost me nearly ALL my money!

What do bound items do? Some items give you a warning that they will bound to you once picked up or equipped but as far as I can tell they don't do anything. I can still unequip and sell them. What does that mean exactly?

Does what gender you are make any difference to the adult content? So far the only adult content I've had is flirting with some characters and looking at my own boobies. Is there more content if you're a male?
 
Last edited:
Joined
Apr 4, 2009
Messages
526
Location
Auckland, New Zealand
Back
Top Bottom