Tired of questing in Hyboria but don’t have the time or patience to join raids? Well, Funcom is giving you an alternative by introducing several new solo instances in Age of Conan, which are part of the 2.1 content patch due out in the next few months.

Funcom game designers divulged the secrets of these solo instances in the latest Age of Conan development update, starting with designer Peter Lavoie Massicotte who described how the Refuge of the Apostate will give all level 80 players a rewarding and repeatable challenge. Meanwhile, designer Tim Gottschalk talked about the two auto content generation dungeons that will be scalable in difficult for level 40 to 80 players.

Read on for more spoilers on the difficulty, lockouts and loot found in each solo instance.

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Well, hello my fellow Hyborians and Khitans. Welcome to another week of Hyrkanian Insight. This time we will be discussing the Art of Healing in FunCom’s Age of Conan; reviewing the differences, but also the similarities, of the three healing classes: Bear Shaman, Priest of Mitra and Tempest of Set (listed by alphabetical order, not by personal preference.)

So if you enjoy keeping your brothers in arms alive, or if you are curious about the mysterious ways of those in whom you trust your life, sit down and grab an argossean red, or maybe a good Cimmerian stout while I share my humble knowledge of the healing art with you all.

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Have you ever wondered how a guild grows in level? Are you one of those who, maybe, believes it impossible to grow a small guild? Then allow me to contradict you. Oh yes, things have changed since launch, and even though some might complain that it is unfair to lower certain requirements, the truth is, building up a guild city and raising the level of a guild could both use a good thorough revision.

Hello again and welcome back to Hyrkanian Insight, where you’ll find all sorts of thoughts and facts concerning the game Age of Conan, which we love (and sometimes hate) with a passion. As you may have guessed we will be talking about renown in its various forms and how to acquire it. Come with me, stranger or friend, to see about work and fun…

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In 2006, Electronic Arts (EA) nabbed Mythic Entertainment in an effort to diversify their product output beyond the usual console mix. In a traditional corporate environment, actions such as these are looked upon with scrutiny due to their financial implications. In an entertainment-oriented corporate environment, customer experience holds stock majority – so to speak. Do actions such as these benefit the consumer directly, or do they simply fuel advertisement funding and other business-related functions?

Continue past the cut and decide for yourself!

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Hello dear adventurers. This week in Hyrkanian Insight we’ll be talking about getting to know your class while leveling your “toon” in Age of Conan; and doing that during the process of leveling up and getting to the maximum level, (rather than speeding up to 80 and then having to learn everything about the class while, probably, messing up pulls, heals, or aggro in groups doing an instance or maybe even a raid.)

So, let’s have a look at the possibilities, come with me to the tavern for a friendly chat…

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Hello once more, fellow adventurers, and welcome to another week of Hyrkanian Insight, in this first day of a brand new year. As I don’t think many of us will have a head for much thinking I thought I’d entertain you with a little story of how this woman spent the last night of the year and the strange circumstances in which she awoke the next morning…

Now, before we proceed, I ask you to kindly bear with me during this attempt at storytelling.

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Hello my barbaric friends. I’ll start wishing Merry Christmas to all of you who follow the festivities and, if you’re not among the group, let me at least wish you… interesting dates. I will not follow the general idea of making top lists, or making balance of what’s already gone with the fading 2010, maybe another time. This week though, I bring you something I hope you’ll find as interesting as I do.

Have you ever wondered where the developers of a game get their ideas? I think I’ve stumbled across one of the sources that served to shape and give color to FunCom’s Age of Conan. Come sit with me and let us discuss this statement…

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Good news, dear barbarians and other species; First batch of 2.1 patch is now live in FunCom’s Age of Conan, and with it a new seasonal event: A Bloody Solstice, where players get to help the Aesir with their Solstice festivities which have been disrupted by the Vanir. At first I thought of making this a special, but since the event is much shorter than I expected, we’ll be having a look at the rest of the patch content, some of which has already been revealed in previous posts here at MMOCrunch.com.

Walk with me, stranger, and let me tell you of all this.

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Oh, hello there. Here you are, yet another week; welcome once more to the world of Age of Conan: Rise of the Godslayer (formerly Hyborian Adventures.) That’s what expansions do to game names. This week I would like to introduce you to Delinor, ex-“Lord” of a guild in AoC. No, don’t be mistaken, she is not a man; little Deli is a girl, a bird, a woman, a lass. Call her what you want, she definitely is not male. So why on earth do the titles of the different guild government types not change when gender does? It doesn’t make sense at all. Particularly when the tips and tutorial of the game clearly specify that ranks can be customized when, in fact, they can’t be.  But we’ll come back to this point later.

Let’s follow Deli in her ordeal through various events where the words that gave this article its title kept springing to mind…

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As the upcoming release of FunCom’s Bloodline Champions approaches with the end of the year, more bloodlines are revealed to the gamers. Eager PvPers will be able to enjoy a wide variety of bloodlines (classes/characters) with which confront other gamers in this arena based MMO developed by Stunlock Studios.

So let’s have a look at the two new Bloodline Champions classes revealed over the last few days: Stalker and Guardian, though there is yet more to come very soon. Watch the video about the latest one, the Guardian, which also is the first female tank available.

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