http://www.thesecretworld.com/news/last_chance_to_be_a_grand_master1

New sales of The Grand Master Lifetime Membership package are being discontinued as of February 5th, 2016. As a final blowout sale, Lifetime Membership is 25% OFF!

THE PACK INCLUDES:

Lifetime Membership with full Benefits and Loyalty Rewards
Extra Character Slot
10 XP Booster potions
Permanent 20% Item Shop Discount
Exclusive Snakeskin Jacket
Set of Starter Talismans

If you already have a Lifetime Membership, you get to keep everything! You will not be affected by this cutoff. Act now!

http://www.thesecretworld.com/news/last_chance_to_be_a_grand_master1

New sales of The Grand Master Lifetime Membership package are being discontinued as of February 5th, 2016. As a final blowout sale, Lifetime Membership is 25% OFF!

THE PACK INCLUDES:

Lifetime Membership with full Benefits and Loyalty Rewards
Extra Character Slot
10 XP Booster potions
Permanent 20% Item Shop Discount
Exclusive Snakeskin Jacket
Set of Starter Talismans

If you already have a Lifetime Membership, you get to keep everything! You will not be affected by this cutoff. Act now!

Challenges

• Added a new daily challenge to complete a dungeon through any of the Group Finder's Randomisers.
  
• Added a new daily challenge to win a game in Shambala and claim the Champion's Cache from the PvP spoils window.
  
• Daily PvP challenges for El Dorado and Stonehenge now require reaching a score of 125,000 on the final scoreboard. This change should not affect challenge completion for anyone who actively helps to play the minigame.
  
• The weekly PvP challenge may now be completed by winning and surviving a Shambala match.
  
• The weekly challenge Nightmare Dungeons has been split into 2 challenges:
  
• • Classic Nightmare Dungeons - Complete each classic/pre-Tokyo Nightmare Dungeon once.
    
  • Tokyo Nightmare Dungeons - Complete each Tokyo Nightmare Dungeon once. This challenge also includes The Penthouse.
    
  • You may see which dungeons have yet to be completed this week by zoning into any Nightmare dungeon. This will place a buff on your character which displays this information.

DUNGEONS AND RAIDS
General

• The Strange Totem will no longer linger in an invisible state at the start of Nightmare dungeons.
  
• The first time a character completes a dungeon on Elite or Nightmare difficulty, all players in the group will receive a bonus reward:
  
• • Elite: 1 Mark of the Pantheon and 16 Black Bullion
    
  • Nightmare: 6 Marks of the Pantheon and 50 Black Bullion
    
  • All players in the team will receive a notification upon or shortly after entering the dungeon if the bonus is active.
    
  • If all characters who have not yet completed the dungeon are kicked or leave before the dungeon is completed, the bonus will be lost.

Manhattan Exclusion Zone

• The lockout barrier should always be removed when the encounter is completed.
  
• Significantly reduced the likelihood of Guardians being invisible.

LAIR BOSSES
Cta-Tha

• Call the Huskarl now properly stacks

Challenges

• Added a new daily challenge to complete a dungeon through any of the Group Finder's Randomisers.
  
• Added a new daily challenge to win a game in Shambala and claim the Champion's Cache from the PvP spoils window.
  
• Daily PvP challenges for El Dorado and Stonehenge now require reaching a score of 125,000 on the final scoreboard. This change should not affect challenge completion for anyone who actively helps to play the minigame.
  
• The weekly PvP challenge may now be completed by winning and surviving a Shambala match.
  
• The weekly challenge Nightmare Dungeons has been split into 2 challenges:
  
• • Classic Nightmare Dungeons - Complete each classic/pre-Tokyo Nightmare Dungeon once.
    
  • Tokyo Nightmare Dungeons - Complete each Tokyo Nightmare Dungeon once. This challenge also includes The Penthouse.
    
  • You may see which dungeons have yet to be completed this week by zoning into any Nightmare dungeon. This will place a buff on your character which displays this information.

DUNGEONS AND RAIDS
General

• The Strange Totem will no longer linger in an invisible state at the start of Nightmare dungeons.
  
• The first time a character completes a dungeon on Elite or Nightmare difficulty, all players in the group will receive a bonus reward:
  
• • Elite: 1 Mark of the Pantheon and 16 Black Bullion
    
  • Nightmare: 6 Marks of the Pantheon and 50 Black Bullion
    
  • All players in the team will receive a notification upon or shortly after entering the dungeon if the bonus is active.
    
  • If all characters who have not yet completed the dungeon are kicked or leave before the dungeon is completed, the bonus will be lost.

Manhattan Exclusion Zone

• The lockout barrier should always be removed when the encounter is completed.
  
• Significantly reduced the likelihood of Guardians being invisible.

LAIR BOSSES
Cta-Tha

• Call the Huskarl now properly stacks

NEW!
The Group Finder makes its debut! This system allows agents to queue up and automatically be placed alongside like-minded individuals who wish to tackle the same content. New achievements, challenges, and rewards await those who utilize this new feature!

The Shambala combat scenario is now available for all active agents. This new PvP warzone pits two factionless teams against each other, as players vie to be the last person standing for their group. Players may queue for this new warzone from either the World Domination UI, or from the Scenario console in Venice.


GENERAL

• The Blue Mountain - Deconstructed Workers now provide XP when killed.
  
• The Blue Mountain - Corrected the health and damage of Deconstructed Workers in the Golden Wigwam to the standard lair monster curve.
  
• Fixed a typo in the Winter's Majesty - Cervine Headdress item.
  
• Weapons and Talismans from Elite Raids should now disassemble properly.

GUI
General

• A Vote Kick option has been added to teams.
  
• Players who are kicked from a team while in a dungeon or raid will be removed from the area.
  
• Changed the order of mission selection in the mission tracker when the current mission is completed.
  
• Added a button to the top bar to open the item store.
  
• Buffs should more reliably update in the Team UI.
  
• Added a display to the Team UI to mark players who are no longer in the fight.
  
• Fixed a case where auxiliary active abilities could not be dragged from the search pane into the active ability bar.
  
• Added a get effect for when a team enters a dungeon with a player who has not completed that dungeon previously.
  
• Issue 13 item mission locations have been added to the map.
  
• Players who have died in Shambala and in dungeon boss fights are now indicated on the Team UI.
  
• Moved option for showing challenges on login from Interaction -> World to Hud Functionality -> Notifications

Group Finder

• Added a new GUI window to access the Group Finder tool (Shift+V).
  
• Group Finder has been added to the Main Menu.
  
• Added a notification for when players are queued in the Group Finder.
  
• Added an option to show or hide Group Finder queue notifications.
  
• Players cannot use the Group Finder until after they discover Jack Boone.
  
• Players are prompted for role when their team leader signs them up for the Group Finder.
  
• Confirmation popup for the Group Finder will display the role and activity that has been selected for you.
  
• When in a Group Finder dungeon, players can right click themselves in the Team UI to start a vote to retreat. If the majority of the group votes to retreat, the group will be disbanded and all players will be removed from the dungeon.

PvP

• The Leave Group option should no longer be available in the right click menu for teams in PvP, since you cannot leave those groups anyway.
  
• Added a new GUI for claiming PvP Rewards.
  
• A button to access the PvP Spoils UI has been added to the bottom right corner of the World Domination Map.
  
• The PvP Spoils button on the World Domination UI will flash when new rewards are available.
  
• Added a new notification for when new PvP Rewards are added to your character
  
• Added a new option for disabling PvP Reward notifications.
  
• A new objective type for PvP battles has been added to the scenario activation console in Venice.
  
• Updated the PvP scoreboard to support two-team factionless minigames.
  
• Updated the rewards of El Dorado, Stonehenge, and Fusang Projects in the World Domination screen to properly show that they award Marks of the Pantheon.

SIGNETS AND GADGETS

• Signets which increase subtype damage (Blast, Burst, Focus, Chain, Frenzy, Strike) now increase damage by 1.5% / 3% / 4.5% (was 1%/2%/3%) for green / blue / purple versions of this signet.
  
• Signet tooltips should now all use a consistent color for variables.
  
• Fixed an issue where Thirst and Equilibrium signets could affect enemy targets in specific cases.
  
• Fixed The Osmium Configuration stating two durations and incorrectly stating its effects in the buff applied by the Curiosity.

COMBAT
Assault Rifles

• Increased Anima Shot's damage by 10%.

Pistols

• Bond, Strong Bond's cast time has been increased to 3 seconds. The channeling interval of this ability has not been changed, meaning that it now hits 10 times instead of 5.

Blood

• Cold Blooded will no longer affect players who have died in Shambala and dungeon encounters.

MISSIONS
Tokyo Flashback

• Ground Zero - Logging out during Ground Zero will no longer leave new characters unable to progress.

New York

• The Animate Clay - Fixed an issue that could prevent re-entering The Creature's Abode.

Kingsmouth Town

• Horror Show - Fixed a camera seeing through walls.
  
• The Captain's Playlist - This mission is now repeatable.

The Savage Coast

• Taking the Purple - Reduced mission region to prevent confusing Tier 4 and Tier 5 cameras.

City of the Sun God

• Dust Devils - Corrected placement of the waypoint to The Howling.
  
• Dust Devils - Resuming on Tier 3 will now properly allow disrupting the Hellrift.

The Besieged Farmlands

• Of the Forest - Disconnecting or leaving the zone during the Tier 4 defense will now properly fail the event.
  
• Ripples - Headless Terror should now reset properly.

Kaidan

• My Bloody Valentine - Fixed an issue that could prevent mission credit in the kitchen when in a team.

NEW!
The Group Finder makes its debut! This system allows agents to queue up and automatically be placed alongside like-minded individuals who wish to tackle the same content. New achievements, challenges, and rewards await those who utilize this new feature!

The Shambala combat scenario is now available for all active agents. This new PvP warzone pits two factionless teams against each other, as players vie to be the last person standing for their group. Players may queue for this new warzone from either the World Domination UI, or from the Scenario console in Venice.


GENERAL

• The Blue Mountain - Deconstructed Workers now provide XP when killed.
  
• The Blue Mountain - Corrected the health and damage of Deconstructed Workers in the Golden Wigwam to the standard lair monster curve.
  
• Fixed a typo in the Winter's Majesty - Cervine Headdress item.
  
• Weapons and Talismans from Elite Raids should now disassemble properly.

GUI
General

• A Vote Kick option has been added to teams.
  
• Players who are kicked from a team while in a dungeon or raid will be removed from the area.
  
• Changed the order of mission selection in the mission tracker when the current mission is completed.
  
• Added a button to the top bar to open the item store.
  
• Buffs should more reliably update in the Team UI.
  
• Added a display to the Team UI to mark players who are no longer in the fight.
  
• Fixed a case where auxiliary active abilities could not be dragged from the search pane into the active ability bar.
  
• Added a get effect for when a team enters a dungeon with a player who has not completed that dungeon previously.
  
• Issue 13 item mission locations have been added to the map.
  
• Players who have died in Shambala and in dungeon boss fights are now indicated on the Team UI.
  
• Moved option for showing challenges on login from Interaction -> World to Hud Functionality -> Notifications

Group Finder

• Added a new GUI window to access the Group Finder tool (Shift+V).
  
• Group Finder has been added to the Main Menu.
  
• Added a notification for when players are queued in the Group Finder.
  
• Added an option to show or hide Group Finder queue notifications.
  
• Players cannot use the Group Finder until after they discover Jack Boone.
  
• Players are prompted for role when their team leader signs them up for the Group Finder.
  
• Confirmation popup for the Group Finder will display the role and activity that has been selected for you.
  
• When in a Group Finder dungeon, players can right click themselves in the Team UI to start a vote to retreat. If the majority of the group votes to retreat, the group will be disbanded and all players will be removed from the dungeon.

PvP

• The Leave Group option should no longer be available in the right click menu for teams in PvP, since you cannot leave those groups anyway.
  
• Added a new GUI for claiming PvP Rewards.
  
• A button to access the PvP Spoils UI has been added to the bottom right corner of the World Domination Map.
  
• The PvP Spoils button on the World Domination UI will flash when new rewards are available.
  
• Added a new notification for when new PvP Rewards are added to your character
  
• Added a new option for disabling PvP Reward notifications.
  
• A new objective type for PvP battles has been added to the scenario activation console in Venice.
  
• Updated the PvP scoreboard to support two-team factionless minigames.
  
• Updated the rewards of El Dorado, Stonehenge, and Fusang Projects in the World Domination screen to properly show that they award Marks of the Pantheon.

SIGNETS AND GADGETS

• Signets which increase subtype damage (Blast, Burst, Focus, Chain, Frenzy, Strike) now increase damage by 1.5% / 3% / 4.5% (was 1%/2%/3%) for green / blue / purple versions of this signet.
  
• Signet tooltips should now all use a consistent color for variables.
  
• Fixed an issue where Thirst and Equilibrium signets could affect enemy targets in specific cases.
  
• Fixed The Osmium Configuration stating two durations and incorrectly stating its effects in the buff applied by the Curiosity.

COMBAT
Assault Rifles

• Increased Anima Shot's damage by 10%.

Pistols

• Bond, Strong Bond's cast time has been increased to 3 seconds. The channeling interval of this ability has not been changed, meaning that it now hits 10 times instead of 5.

Blood

• Cold Blooded will no longer affect players who have died in Shambala and dungeon encounters.

MISSIONS
Tokyo Flashback

• Ground Zero - Logging out during Ground Zero will no longer leave new characters unable to progress.

New York

• The Animate Clay - Fixed an issue that could prevent re-entering The Creature's Abode.

Kingsmouth Town

• Horror Show - Fixed a camera seeing through walls.
  
• The Captain's Playlist - This mission is now repeatable.

The Savage Coast

• Taking the Purple - Reduced mission region to prevent confusing Tier 4 and Tier 5 cameras.

City of the Sun God

• Dust Devils - Corrected placement of the waypoint to The Howling.
  
• Dust Devils - Resuming on Tier 3 will now properly allow disrupting the Hellrift.

The Besieged Farmlands

• Of the Forest - Disconnecting or leaving the zone during the Tier 4 defense will now properly fail the event.
  
• Ripples - Headless Terror should now reset properly.

Kaidan

• My Bloody Valentine - Fixed an issue that could prevent mission credit in the kitchen when in a team.

Hey everyone!


My name is Romain Amiel, but you may know already know me as Tilty. I'm the "new" Game Director for Age of Conan, stepping in for Matt.

I'm actually not that new to the project, I was one of the Gameplay Designers of AoC starting in 2007 when I first joined the team. Back then I worked on the content for the 1 to 20 level range, I particularly enjoyed setting up the events happening in the Volcano, or creating the city life in Old Tarantia. Soon after launch I worked on the Treasury of the Ancients and revamped Black Castle, before moving to Ymir's Pass where Joel and I spent a few months designing and implementing the zone. During that time one of my fondest memories was working on the associated dungeon, the Amphitheatre of Karutonia. They asked for an epic looking fight involving the Frost Father, and they got it!

I then moved on to Rise of the Godslayer where I worked on the monster population of the playfields, establishing their behaviors in and outside of combat. Being a fan of grouping in any MMO myself, a large part of my focus during that time was also spent designing the 12 expansion dungeons, going from traditional to... more unusual. An interesting bit of trivia: I was asked to design a dungeon that made use of our emote system, and this is how the Celestial Necropolis came to be. This was a really interesting challenge which raised several new issues for us to consider. We needed to create a new language as part of the fight that allowed the player to quickly understand what emote to use and when. We then had to make sure that player learned and understood that language prior to engaging the boss for the first time. And of course we needed to make sure that everything still made sense within the rules of the Conan universe. It may have ended up being somewhat a polarizing dungeon, but given the "theme" set on this dungeon, I think it turned out pretty cool!

While we're on the subject of controversy, I'm also the guy "responsible" for the Enigmata of Yag! This was intended to be the last and hardest dungeon of RotGS and I was challenged to write a design that was like nothing that was ever done before, in a most unique location... simple! I started with the idea that the players would actually not be fighting the boss. The design evolved from there to keep things interesting and get all players constantly engaged. This may have ended up with a few curses thrown my way (with a keyboard or two...) during some of the internal playtests... but it was all worth it!

And that is it for my introduction, I'm still in the process of catching up with the status of the game and figuring out the plans for the future. Once everything is sorted out I'll get into more details about what we have planned for 2016 in AoC, but in the meantime I'll leave it to Andy/Odonoptera to give us all a recap of what 2015 brought to the game!

Talk to you guys soon!

-Romain

Hey, folks! I’m Community Manager Andy “Odonoptera” Benditt, and we’re going to be taking a look back at what we’ve accomplished in 2015, and also take a gander towards the horizon in this new year.


Starting with February 2015, we released a comprehensive achievement system that provides incentives to go about your daily business, try something new or unusual, or return to an area you haven’t visited in a long time.


In April, thanks to your feedback and comments, we were able to expand and improve upon this feature, and now there’s a huge list of things to strive for. We also added the Panorama achievements to the game, which let you explore some of the gorgeous backdrops and landscapes Hyboria has to offer--from a new perspective!


We also want to thank the community for all the videos we’ve seen pop up that show these vistas off. You’re doing good work, everybody!


May saw us celebrate our 7th Grand Anniversary celebration, as well as marked the release of the Shadows of Vanaheim scenario pack! We were happy to release an adventure that expands on the stories that Hyboria has to tell. We also learned a lot from the feedback you provided regarding this content release, and we’re going to apply that for our future releases. This world is steeped in lore and history, and there are still so many untold tales from unvisited factions and nations that we want to share with you.


October heralded the release of the Palace of Cetriss raid encounter series as well as new Halloween event content that ran alongside previous years’ festivities. We’ve enjoyed keeping track of your progress through Tier 6 raids from our official forums, and congratulations to all those who conquered the palace!


Now, moving forward: We are still committed to new updates and content releases. The arena system is being diligently worked on, and the raid search feature will be introduced. We are still in the process of a full review of our membership system and payment models, and we can’t wait to finalize and share these details with you all.


There’s also the subject of the brand-new Conan title that we’ll be releasing details on later this month. A couple of astute players already may have sniffed out a trail. . .

Stay tuned for more soon!


Thanks for reading, everybody!

-Andy

Celebrate the new year with a Golden Week and the first Gilded Rage event of 2016! Beginning January 20th and lasting through the 26th, you’ll be able to experience and take advantage of the following:

Doubled Ability Points
- Every time you gain an Ability Point during this week, you will be awarded an additional bonus Ability Point! This effect stacks with Timed AP boosters that are available from the Item Store.

Golden Vendor & Event Bags
- The Merchant of Glitz opens for business with a fresh stock of High Roller’s Valises, pets, and new clothing items! High Roller’s Valises purchased from the Item Store will now grant 1 Lucky Coin upon use! Plus, The Golden Bag of Lady Luck makes its comeback for those who want to spread the joy, and now grants 3 Lucky Coins to the benevolent soul that opens it.

New Shinies in the Store
- The Gold Tuxedo and Extra Heavy Metal outfits are back at their 90% discount, and are joined by a new outfit! A golden mount has also made its way into the Item Store, and this one will only be available during the event!

Gilded Rage
- The golden Guardian of Gaia, Samsu Nasiru, walks the earth again. Gather your best allies and hunt them down to earn your special rewards and tokens!

Great deal on Funcom Points!
- During the Golden Week, we’re running a special offer on Funcom Points! When you purchase 6000 Funcom Points, you’ll get an additional 600 Funcom Points! Go for 12000 Funcom Points and get an additional 1800!

Celebrate the new year with a Golden Week and the first Gilded Rage event of 2016! Beginning January 20th and lasting through the 26th, you’ll be able to experience and take advantage of the following:

Doubled Ability Points
- Every time you gain an Ability Point during this week, you will be awarded an additional bonus Ability Point! This effect stacks with Timed AP boosters that are available from the Item Store.

Golden Vendor & Event Bags
- The Merchant of Glitz opens for business with a fresh stock of High Roller’s Valises, pets, and new clothing items! High Roller’s Valises purchased from the Item Store will now grant 1 Lucky Coin upon use! Plus, The Golden Bag of Lady Luck makes its comeback for those who want to spread the joy, and now grants 3 Lucky Coins to the benevolent soul that opens it.

New Shinies in the Store
- The Gold Tuxedo and Extra Heavy Metal outfits are back at their 90% discount, and are joined by a new outfit! A golden mount has also made its way into the Item Store, and this one will only be available during the event!

Gilded Rage
- The golden Guardian of Gaia, Samsu Nasiru, walks the earth again. Gather your best allies and hunt them down to earn your special rewards and tokens!

Great deal on Funcom Points!
- During the Golden Week, we’re running a special offer on Funcom Points! When you purchase 6000 Funcom Points, you’ll get an additional 600 Funcom Points! Go for 12000 Funcom Points and get an additional 1800!