I am weak!

Yes I broke down and activated my Age of Conan subscription. So much for me adopting the “wait six months rule”…

I’ve just got my toon to level 21 and have left Tortage. I opted to roll up an Aquilonian Guardian, seeing as I envisioned this new character as a Roman legionary type sword and board front-fighter.

I love the facial customization options in this game which let’s you choose what kind of expression your toon typically has. I chose the “disciplined” expression, which actually kind of makes him look like a zombie at times. Heh. I spent about an hour trying to find him a suitable latin name to go with his imposing physique and his rock-like demeanor. I was surprised that some of my first choices were already taken, I guess a lot of people like giving latin names to their characters. I ended up calling him Firmus, which means “solid, steadfast”. Just like a good tank should be.

I will not get into an in-depth review of the game here but here I will say that overall, my first impressions of AoC are favorable. Prior to playing it I had read the forum threads about the game on MMORPG.Com as well as listened to many other people’s impressions of the game on various podcasts, so I had a few pre-conceived notions about the title going in. That being said, I found that many of the negatives often pointed out about the game didn’t seem that bad to me, the instancing being a good example. Maybe the “shiny new toy” effect has skewed my perception and has artificially smoothed over my initial contact with AoC’s flaws. In any case for now, I am glad I bought it and feel this game will be a keeper for me.

We’ll see How I feel about it in two months.