Age of Conan crafting to be overhauled, questing axed

Funcom has decided to improve Age of Conan's crafting system by throwing it all in the bin and starting afresh.

"This is a totally new system. When we sat down and looked at the system and how we could add depth and improve engagement, it became clear that it was better to start over," latest developer update emphasised.

"So rather than try and shoe-horn what we had into something a little more useable, we decided to bite the proverbial bullet and start over."

Most notably, Funcom will completely axe crafting quests.

"Progression in crafting and gathering will now be linked to actually making items and using the relevant skills. There will be no more make or fetch quests required to level-up your skills; instead, you will progress through the levels as you use the skills," the developer declared.

Random attacks when gathering will be removed, although random bonuses may still occur, and gathering locations will be overhauled to include more variety.

The actual process of crafting will change, too. The quality of materials now effects the quality of the finished product, but players can refine materials. Crafting will now take time to complete, but higher level characters will be able to queue up several items. You'll need two kinds of material to make each item, and different combinations may produce better than base results. Existing crafitng items will remain unaffected by these changes.

Thanks, Massively.