Age of Conan Class Interview #1: The Dark Templar
Questions by Cody “Micajah” Bye
Answers by Jørgen Tharaldsen, Product Director for Funcom
When it comes to anticipated games, few are as sought after as Funcom’s upcoming MMORPG epic, Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures. With the backing of the Conan IP and their previous experience with MMOG games, Funcom has set a high bar for themselves and their competition, creating a world that will include intense player versus player and player versus environment interaction. From the screenshots we’ve seen of the game, Age of Conan looks tremendous and seems to be offering something for every player.
But despite all the hype and anticipation surrounding the game, Funcom has kept a tight lid on Age of Conan and has withheld a lot of information concerning the classes in the game. While short class previews have been published for several of the in-game classes on the official website, many questions still remain unanswered about the classes. Fortunately, the staff at Ten Ton Hammer is hoping to alleviate some of those worries.
Starting with today’s Dark Templar interview, Ten Ton Hammer will be running in-depth bi-weekly class interviews with Funcom’s Product Director, Jørgen Tharaldsen, in an attempt to iron out all of our questions before the game’s release in March 2008. As the first in this series, the Dark Templar interview explores the evil nature of the Dark Templar, his specific class combos, whether this class is a hybrid, and much more!
So grab your axes, don your armor, and prepare yourselves for some dark magic….the Ten Ton Hammer AoC class interviews have begun!
Ten Ton Hammer: On the official site, the Dark Templar is described as essentially “an evil warrior.” What sort of visual and gameplay characteristics make him evil? Does this class choice affect the NPCs that the player might meet, making them hesitant (or eager) to work with such an evil being? Will other players be able to see that a certain character is a Dark Templar when they see them on the battlefield?
The Dark Templar will definitely be identifiable on the battlefield when he calls upon his dark magic.
Jørgen Tharaldsen: In Hyboria the divide between good and evil depends on the eye of the beholder to a large extent, but the Dark Templar is indeed marked by all the dark forces he is dabbling with. Even though you would call him, or her, evil, the world itself will not react to the Dark Templar as evil. This means that the NPC’s won’t shy away, or treat a Dark Templar any different than they would another class. Given the extreme freedom we have within the game when it comes to customization and choice of armor it might not always be possible to spot a Dark Templar in action, but the trained eye should quickly mark him out when in combat. The Dark Templar will be right at the front of the action, and you will see the dark magic surrounding him.
Ten Ton Hammer: Being a melee class, the Dark Templar will certainly have a variety of combos to work with. Will there be class specific melee combos that only a Dark Templar will use? Or will those combos access some of his dark magic?
Jørgen: Yes, the Dark Templar will for sure have class specific melee combos, and also class specific fatalities (by the way; there really aren’t any cross-class combos in the game). The Dark Templar has five core combo lines, with a total of 18 combos in total (from level 20 to 80), and another five combos which can only be obtained from certain feat choices. Many of the combos will directly tap into the dark magic, and many of these effects are first triggered when performing a combo in the right manner (i.e. some of his life drain abilities will only kick in after successfully drawing enemy blood). In general he can also run two core kinds of spell lines; namely Auras and Soul Covenants. The choices you make at various times also ties into the general damage output.
The Dark Templar can also remove his shield, and instead focus on holding magical talismans in the offhand, which will give him additional combat effects like bonus damage or procs. He won’t actually make any attacks with that offhand and gets absolutely no benefit if not using a shield and not having a talisman equipped.
Since his many magic attacks have different effects, it becomes a choice for the player what to focus on in different situations, and this need to “go with the flow” will be evident as you learn his many forms of attacks and buffs.
Ten Ton Hammer: In some of the other class descriptions you’ve gone through on the main site, you’ve listed some “top-tier” abilities that your classes can choose from or transformations that might occur when a class gets to a high-level. Will the Dark Templar have access to “top-tier” abilities and can you give us some hints at the top-tier abilities for the Dark Templar?
Hyboria is full of evil and dark entities, the Dark Templar is always looking for the one that can best serve his needs.
Jørgen: We have ensured that every single class will get special “top-tier “ abilities, and the Dark Templar is no exception. This is an important aspect of the RPG evolution in the game, and as a player you can expect new stuff all the way to level 80. A lot of this evolution is also tied to the feat system in Age of Conan, like mentioned above. In addition the Dark Templar naturally has a whole host of dirty tricks up his sleeve, and many are based around dark magic. As this class is the only one outside the Mage Archetype who can wield dark magic, it makes for an interesting fighter with both the ability to wield damage and tank.
Ten Ton Hammer age of conan gold : When it comes to worshiping particular gods, it sounds like the Dark Templar really doesn’t care what sort of demon being he makes his pact with. Will player controlled Dark Templars be able to choose a god that they make their demonic pact with? If not, how does the Dark Templar stand out in the darker Conan storyline compared to the classes that worship Set or any other vile god?
Jørgen: That is entirely correct, a Dark Templar is not bowing to any one god or demon, but to the ones who at any given time can give him the best (or worst *winks*) beneficial powers. We have not made direct god encounters a part of the gameplay when it comes to worshiping though, so don’t expect, for instance, that a “Monty Python-like” hand of god will come down. A lot is therefore explained through other aspects than pure encounters. This is done on purpose; making such encounters worthy enough would be tricky to pull off for each individual class.
When it comes to the role of the Dark Templar in the bigger storyline of Hyboria, it is a great archetype from lore and one we’ve worked hard on so players can enjoy the role of a sorcerous warlord from the Hyborian age. This class seeks to carve out their own kingdom, lead their own armies and fight for their own personal glory. By not tying them to any specific god or mythos we allow players to determine what type of dark powers they sell their soul to – demon lords, elder gods of pre-history or viler unnamed gods of Hyboria. The warlord aspect really identifies them, for they wield both the soldier’s sword and armor with the sorcerer’s foul magic. They contrast well with the holy powers of the Mitran Priest, the alien powers of the Herald of Xotli and more martial based soldiers. Playing the role of a Dark Templar warlord well will give a totally different insight into the Age of Conan storyline. But it is in the player-generated side of the MMO we expect the Dark Templar to really stand out as it rewards power hungry players who feed off battle, almost in the literal sense. And who knows, maybe they’ll get that chance to forge their own kingdom in the brutal world of Conan age of conan gold …
Ten Ton Hammer: The Dark Templar, while being a solid melee combatant, seems like he falls into a sort of hybrid-class when compared to some of the other melee classes like the Guardian or Barbarian. Is this a correct assumption? What sort of benefits will a Dark Templar bring to a group-oriented situation? You list one ability - “Martyrdom” - in the class preview, but how else will a group benefit from a Dark Templar compared to the other melee combatants like the Guardian or Barbarian?
Melee combat is the Dark Templar’s first priority despite being able to wield awe-inspiring magic.
Jørgen: Well, I guess that is partially true, but the Dark Templar is first and foremost a melee class, as his primary abilities are with one-hand edged and one-hand blunt weapons. He can also equip a crossbow at level 50. However, in essence, he shares the role as tank with two other classes in the game. Still, he has been given several special abilities that the other tanks cannot access, for instance his dabbling with dark forces and the constant stream of life he can drain from enemies (or give to his team). As a consequence we have given the Dark Templar less health than the other two tanks (but still way more than other classes). A well performing Dark Templar can therefore, at times, be quite self sufficient, allowing the healers in a group to be a bit more “careful” on buffs on them compared to, say, a Guardian. That is also a weakness, of course, for by securing most for himself the Templar also has less to spare for others, in many cases.
We have tried to ensure that our tanks, in general, are good damage dealers. This is in order to ensure that there can be more than one tank in a group. There are also some other aspects about the Dark Templar I find intriguing, and I think Templars played by skilled gamers have interesting ways of shifting combat outcomes. For instance, we have a mode in the game called Frenzy, and a Dark Templar going into this mode can deal around 150% extra damage, so say you hit 100 normally you would deal 250 with this running. On the other hand that gives (approximately, differs from class) three times the damage if someone hits you, so you would need to time the attacks carefully. Since the Dark Templar also gets increased life drain (and more), when hitting with this kind of extra damage it means that a correctly timed Frenzy can really bring the Templar back into the fight, giving you the upper hand when you were about to lose.
Ten Ton Hammer: Finally, is there anything else you’d like to tell the Ten Ton Hammer readers about the Dark Templar?
Jørgen: In Age of Conan we have tried to make all of the classes interesting and intriguing, and I think the Dark Templar is a great example of that. He is a tank, which you know from most all MMOs, but he is also something more. In this Q&A I have just touched on some of the aspects surrounding this class, but as a player you will soon enough figure out the entire depth by yourself. *smiles*
Suffice to say becoming a Dark Templar is a journey of power and death, dark magic and self-focus. I am also pretty sure the Dark Templar will be a worthy challenger in PvP. For instance the Frenzy / drain attacks will lead to many an enemy death, but also many a death for the Dark Templars themselves. *winks*
Related Topics:
- Hands-on Preview on Videogamer.com
- Developer Blog update
- 500 Beta Keys Giveaway at mmolecule
- Age of Conan and Dark Horse Comics
- Class Preview - Conqueror
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