ActionTrip has had a chance to sit down with Jørgen Tharaldsen, the all so familiar Product Manager for Age of Conan at Funcom. Jørgen talked some about PvP tactics and team collaboration, the DX10 graphics and other interesting aspects of their upcoming game. Below is a snippet of the interview and some screenshots:

ActionTrip: How important are tactics and collaboration between players in Age of Conan?

Jørgen Tharaldsen: Since Age of Conan is an MMO collaboration between players will be an essential part of mastering the game, and a fun part at that. I mean, just think of a massive siege PvP battle, where all classes work together to bring down the enemy (I will be riding the war mammoth!). Even though there is solo content in the game you will find that some of the most epic moments will happen when you are in a group or a guild. If you plan to raid a mighty demon, for instance, you need to hone those tactics;)

ActionTrip: We understand there's still plenty of optimizing to be done. Are you satisfied with what your team has accomplished so far in terms of DX10 features?

Jørgen Tharaldsen: Yes, extremely happy to be honest, we were the first gaming company in the world to get something visual on DX10 up in full resolution. Seeing what a challenge this was I am nothing short of impressed of what the coders managed to pull of. As a result of their work, I think everyone is impressed by the graphic tech (and art direction) in Age of Conan, but we still have ways to go. Just wait until we launch and it will look even better.

ActionTrip: Tell us a little bit about various items and the different types of weapons that will be available throughout the game.

Jørgen Tharaldsen: It has been essential for us to create items and weapons which really reflect the Hyborian age; meaning that you will wield some pretty devastating tools of death. While some might consider a sword, halberd or morning star primitive weapons, I assure it's wonderful seeing them in action on the battlefield ;) In addition to a vast range of weapons for both ranged and meelee combat, you also have numerous other items in the game, ranging from social items to magical items, potions and a whole lot more. This is a virtual world after all.

As a part of the item system you can also craft your own items. This gives a whole new level of flexibility on what you can get out of the items, compared to what you can get as drops from monsters. Crafted items might not be more powerful than regular loot, but since we use a socket system (up to four sockets where you can place gems) you can modify the items according to your liking.

This system can also be used to create special PvP gear, which is a new thing to the genre. You will have "pre-made" PvP gear as well, but with the socket system players can customize their PvP gear to a greater degree. This means that those who want to spend most of their time on PvP can still get uber armor, dedicated to PvP, without having to raid.