Age of Conan will be more "player-centric"

Following last week's surprise departure of Age of Conan's game director, Gaute Godager, a Funcom spokesman has reassured gamers the MMO will be more "player-centric" in future.

"I think that the fact that Gaute leaves means that we get a direction which is more player-centric," said product manager Jorgen Tharaldsen, "since [new game director Craig Morrison] is so good at being hands-on with the communities at all times."

He also paid tribute to Funcom founder Godager's experience and influence. "Gaute was one of the founders of Funcom and has been one of the luminaries of the MMO world," Tharaldsen said.

"The MMO genre would not have been the same without him - this was the man which got instancing into MMO games for the first time, or the action combat system in Conan."

Godager cited dissatisfaction with Age of Conan as his reason for leaving Funcom. The game has come under fire for being unfinished, and lacking in updates since launch.

In fact, the first major content update for Age of Conan launched simultaneously with Godager's departure on Wednesday last week, introducing the new player-versus-player system to the game.

The anticipated and much-delayed update introduced a PVP levelling system and new armour sets and rewards for PVP play to the game. However, another important part of the overhaul - the "Notoriety" system which will bring consequences to your PVP behaviour - was not included.

"We had hoped to include both at the same time, however the consequence system needed some extra work to be fully realized," said a post on the game's website.

"Since we took the decision to support the idea of players being 'notorious' in PVP and including consequences for their actions we felt it was important to ensure we did it properly."