If there's one class in Funcom's Age of Conan that will be played more than any other, it will be the Barbarian. Derived from the namesake of the universe (Conan the Barbarian), this class has been described as a savage, brutal, and undisciplined brute. To find out a few more details about the blood-thirsty class, Ten Ton Hammer's managing editor, Cody "Micajah" Bye, sat down with Funcom's Evan Michaels and really got to the core of what drives this enraged berserker. Cover the eyes of your women and children because the Barbarian is going to be one hell of a nasty combatant!
Quote:
Evan Michaels: The way we have looked at it is that Soldiers are what one would view as more “martial” types of warriors, whereas Rogues are a bit more on the individualistic side. Barbarians, at their core, are far more Roguish—wearing lighter armor, being extremely offensive-minded, and generally not being what may be considered a “disciplined” fighter. We’ve always felt that there was an important distinction here, which is why we branded the others as “Soldiers” rather than the typical “Warrior” or “Fighter” labels to be a bit clearer.
You know, that class is going to be severely overplayed maybe... but I still want to play one, simply based on the fact that it could end up being the craziest in terms of combat.
I've been playing the Conan 360 game a bit lately, and all it's doing is getting me pumped to have that kind of brutal action in MMO-form. Here's hoping this one turns out a winner.
In many MMORPGs the end game consists of slaying single ultra-powerful foes like gods, etc.
Traditionally companies have made "area attack" characters less effective against single foes. For example, an AoE melee type(Barbarian) might do 10 damage against everyone around him or 20 damage with a normal attack against a single foe and a Soldier might do 20 damage with a normal attack BUT have much better defense.
So in the end game, a soldier type would fare better against a single god-like foe.
It's difficult (not impossible) to avoid.
I would balance the Barbarian and Soldier a different way...
1. Barbarian gets enough hitpoints to balance with a Soldiers better defense, making them nearly equally "defensive" capable. The article says the Barbarian is only a bit better than a mage in defense. lol
2. Barbarian gets area attack = Soldier gets defensive stances
3. Barbarians magic item slots focus on dealing damage = Soldier magic item slots focus on either dealing damage or defense
If Assassin is too squishy than I think this may be the class I pick up. Poor/Decent survivability, a reckless mindset, and throwing my sledgehammer at cowards.....sounds mighty fine.
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Age of Conan Class Interview #5: The Barbarian
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