Age of Conan – An Untapped Gem Worth Reviving | A Call to Funcom

Age of Conan General Discussion
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Hello Funcom and fellow Hyborians,

This post comes from a place of deep passion and genuine admiration for Age of Conan. I am a returning player who has recently rediscovered how much beauty, potential, and raw strength this MMO still carries. But that potential is sleeping—waiting for Funcom to see the treasure they are already sitting on.

Age of Conan is not just another old MMO. It is a game with modern design ideas far ahead of its time, backed by a loyal player base that still cares and still pays. In today’s MMO climate, that is a rarity. And it is absolutely worth capitalizing on.

Below is a structured, actionable breakdown of how Age of Conan could thrive again with realistic, achievable steps—many of which require minimal content investment thanks to Funcom’s existing assets.

1. The Business Opportunity: A Small but Paying Playerbase

Age of Conan already operates on:

  • Optional subscription

  • A functioning cash shop

That means the foundation for sustainable monetization is already in place.

Most studios launching an MMO today would beg for this head start. You already have:

  • A working game

  • A paying audience

  • A recognizable IP

  • A fully developed world

  • Years of assets, animations, classes, and lore

Why not build on that?

Players want to support the game—just give them something to support.

2. Expanding the Cash Shop (Low Development, High Return)

Conan Exiles is an excellent example of how to run a cosmetic-driven shop. Regular updates with:

  • Armor sets

  • Cosmetics

  • Weapons

  • Emotes

  • Pets

  • Building pieces

  • Animations

All of these categories already exist within Funcom’s pipeline.

These types of additions could easily be adapted into Age of Conan without requiring new massive systems. Cosmetics are exactly what MMO communities are used to paying for in 2025.

Players are ready. The monetization potential is already proven in your other games.

3. A Reason for Content Creators to Return

Recently, MadSeason, a respected YouTuber from the WoW community, showcased Age of Conan and encouraged his viewers to try it. This is huge free promotion—exactly the sort of moment a studio should build on.

Video link: “Why You Should Try These Old MMOs”
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWvLNCdANOc&t=100s)

The interest is there.
The players are there.
The curiosity is there.

Imagine if Funcom supported that spark with:

  • A small QoL update

  • A cash shop refresh

  • A social media post

  • A short “State of the Game” message

  • A seasonal event

Content creators would jump on it immediately. The community is hungry—literally looking for a reason to cover Age of Conan again.

4. The Game Experience: AoC Is Basically “Classic+” WoW

As a new/returning player myself, Age of Conan feels like:

  • Vanilla WoW’s world-building

  • Modern, flowing combat

  • Gritty, mature storytelling

  • Classic+ quality improvements

The rise of Classic WoW, OSRS, Warhammer Online (private revival), FF14 reanalysis, ESO, SWTOR, and other older MMOs shows a clear trend:

Players WANT older MMOs with modern improvements.

Age of Conan fits this niche perfectly—if given the slightest push.

5. A Treasure Trove of Already Existing Assets

Funcom has something most studios can only dream of having before launching an MMO:

  • Complete libraries of animations

  • 3D models and textures

  • Established lore

  • Polished class designs

  • Playable races

  • A simple and effective race/faction system

And beyond AoC’s own assets, you have:

  • A massive arsenal of Conan Exiles content:
    Weapons, armors, building parts, emotes, character models, cultural sets, hairstyles, racial aesthetics—and more.

These could be adapted into AoC with far fewer resources than building new raids or entire expansions.

No player expects an AoC → CE engine overhaul. We only want movement. Effort. Signals of life.

6. Race & Class Expansion Potential

Currently Playable in AoC

  • Cimmerian

  • Aquilonian

  • Stygian

  • Khitan

Potential Races from Conan Exiles Lore

  • Kushite

  • Nordheimer

  • Turanian

  • Shemite

  • Zamorian

  • Zingaran

  • Darfari

  • Pict

  • Vendhyan

  • Hyborian Tribal

  • Himelian

You could easily justify several new classes and races just from ConEx assets alone.

This is not a request for a massive expansion—just the acknowledgment that the potential is there.

7. Quality of Life: The Easiest, Most Impactful Improvements

QoL is where AoC could shine fast, without huge investment. Examples:

Questing Overhaul

  • Keep Tortage as the iconic voiced experience

  • Simplify post-Tortage quest flow

  • Highlight major lore quests

  • Improve quest tracking UI

Modern Accessibility

  • Better UI scaling

  • Improved interface builder support

  • Updated API for addon creators

  • Controller support (huge for modern players)

Performance & Engine Updates

  • Basic upscaling

  • Stability patches

  • Lighting improvements

  • Texture touch-ups

Many AO files are already in solid condition compared to other MMOs from 2008.

Payment Model Improvements

  • More cosmetic bundles

  • Seasonal passes

  • Store rotations

Players WANT to spend money.
Give them the option.

8. The Hardcore Mode Advantage

Fun fact:
Age of Conan already has Hardcore / Unconquered mode.

World of Warcraft added their Hardcore mode 20 years later.
You had it first.

This is a massive marketing angle in today’s MMO landscape, where hardcore challenges are trending.

But creators hit a wall at level 20 because voiced storytelling stops and quest flow becomes harder to present.
Example: this recent YouTuber struggling to continue Unconquered content after Tortage:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LeFdzfFLX14

Give creators a reason to continue past level 20, and they will.

9. Transparency & Presence Matter

Funcom is active on social media for your newer titles.
Why not for Age of Conan?

A single monthly message.
A single roadmap note.
A single “we’re exploring options.”
A single QoL patch.

That alone would electrify the community.

This is not criticism—this is a plea for redemption.
You have a game people still love and want to play.
Don’t let it fade.

10. Conclusion: Funcom, You Already Have Gold

Age of Conan has one of the most dedicated niche communities in the MMO world.
We WANT to play.
We WANT to support the game.
We WANT to spend money.
We WANT to promote it.

You don’t need to reinvent it.
You don’t need to build a full expansion.
You don’t need to rebuild the engine.

Just start somewhere, with:

  • QoL updates

  • Cash shop additions

  • Communication

  • Asset reuse

  • Light modernization

  • Recognition of its potential

MMO communities adore “revival stories.”
FFXIV, OSRS, GW2, Classic WoW—
Age of Conan could easily be next.

You already have the mantle.
You only need to pick it up again.

Thank you for reading,
PowerCandy

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Would be great if Funcom didn’t give up on it over a decade ago :confused: We don’t want exiles or TSW or anything else. Just focus on AoC and start working on a new expansion. That and advertising to pc owners and gamers who have never played AoC or an mmorpg before. Players that will appreciate how great it is, rather than getting burnt out, jaded, bitter mmo veterans to come here and then rage quit the moment they don’t get something they want.

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Classic+ Has a BIG Problem… — I could only do checkmarks here of what Age of Conan Already have build in, makes this post even more valid.

@darkxaosaoc tagged u here instead of answering u , so the reply is visible aswell :slight_smile:
I highly agree with you, I am glad you enjoyed the read, lets cross fingers for a respond

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Yes! I have been here aince May 20th, 2008. Wonderful game, got me into reading all the REH books as well as others!

The time and energy the devs spent putting this game together is amazing, management changed, then they tried to leech off of WoW, instead of staying true with how this game was made and advertised.

I 100% would buy new expansions, dlc, or even and Age of Conan 2, with hopefully a better name. Maybe, “Age of Conan: Undiscovered Lands”. Could be AoC 2, but better as a Khitai sized expansion. The story continues after the fall of Cetriss. The adventurer, you the player, through a dream or vision from a new god that has formed from the death of the Grim Grey God, have been show a terrible cataclysmic happening that you need to try and stop. Faithful to King Conan, you bring the news to him, setting off great adventures to new lands undiscovered by civilized mankind. Soooo many places in the world of Hyborian times to go, such as Mu or many countries connected to the border kingdoms. Could even have some quests to sneak into the heart of Nemedia and speak with their king!

I could go on forever on the extend that REH created the universe in Hyborian times!

Let’s get this rolling!! :crossed_swords::crossed_swords::crossed_swords::crossed_swords::fire::fire::fire::smiling_face_with_sunglasses:

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Lets go bro! I am stoked for u being here making wanting to make this all roll :slight_smile:
Lets keep the fire up!!

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I agree that just a little attention would do wonders for the game Age of Conan.
Please start by fixing the log in screen error; heck then just give us another Saga of Zath? I mean it has already existed in game as it has been done before; seems as there was a big rise in player participation. I wouldn’t expect a full revamp but if there was ever additional content after Grim Grey God or Ethram… OMgoodnes I would be so happy. ( any new expansion I would purchase )

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I 100% agree with you my friend! - a new expanssion or anything for that matter I would purchase to show my support :smiley:

  • any transparent pattern from the devs would make wonder!
  • I also felt the rise in popularity, it is amazing !
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The MMORPG market is flooded with games that feel like copy paste JRPG’s, Gotcha titles, and WoW replicates, but Age of Conan comes from an era before there was a hard established formula for the genre, and that’s a huge advantage.

Guild Wars Remastered is seeing a lot of success and very positive reviews from new and returning players alike for the same reason. Some QOL updates and some simple resolution patches near completely revived an almost entirely dead game. Old School Runescape gets a ton of play now that they’ve rereleased it in a similar fashion.

One of the main reasons people love these older MMO’s isn’t just about how the mechanics are different, it’s also because of how micro-transactions are handled. Some games are so invasive for their demands that the games are near unplayable; all of the cool content is locked behind a paywall, and the freebies are always very obviously free content. These companies prevent the free-players from really interacting or enjoying the experience if they intend to play alongside paid players. Age of Conan comes from the disk era - a time when live service updates wasn’t really much of a concept, and micro-transactions in MMO’s were at most a service subscription. One of the huge pulling factors for games like WoW was that the only micro-transactions they saw aside from the server sub were game-sized DLC’s.

Conan Exiles itself survives on a community of PVE-C players who treat the game more like an MMO than a survival builder. The biggest surges in play were all tied to the releases of story-driven components that encourage co-operation instead of pure competition.

MMO’s are a great way for budget gamers to invest a ton of their time. A lot of people don’t particularly have the resources for a modern gaming PC, especially with the current price of parts due to AI and Bit farming. Age of Conan was the first game I ever installed from Steam for that reason - it was free, and I was playing on a laptop that couldn’t run a AAA title. The free starting point will always be a draw for these games, but Guild Wars Remastered also proves that people certainly don’t mind paying to play. As much as I hate micro-transactions, they are what can keep games like AoC alive if they’re done right.

AoC starts strong and starts losing its budget for dialogue past about level 20. The game looks fantastic on older set ups, but if you’re running a 2k or 4k screen it starts looking pretty dated.

First and foremost, I recommend keeping the game and all of its content that it currently boasts, free. Beyond this, I think there’s some serious profit to be made in reclaiming that disk-era ideology that DLC should be game-sized. The AoC 4k texture pack could be paid, and I don’t think people would complain because it doesn’t impact their gameplay. The game could do with some new content - a new map or something potentially, or at least new quests, breathing some new life into an older community. Unlocking new playable races and classes by paywall would be a good addition.
And aside from that, once you’ve established several of these game changing DLC add-ons that cost $20-40 each, offer a subscription service for 6.99 a month where the DLC becomes available for the duration of your subscription without the need to buy it independently. In order to offer a service like this, you need to also consistently add new content on occasion so that seasoned players don’t get bored.

I do think that the game desperately needs some modernized QOL features added for free to draw players in. We need a UI overhaul, maybe some animation changes.

The fantastic thing about AoC is that with its age and established code, it should be easy to program and modify. Creating assets for this game doesn’t require the same type of intensive processes that a lot of other games would, and so not only would the time investment be highly profitable, it would also come at a fairly low cost to Funcom.

If an AoC 2 or an Exiles 2 is ever on the horizon, I think Funcom needs to find a way to combine these two communities into an action-rpg-mmo that has quests, survival, pvp, and building, but I think funding something like this and getting the community interest starts with resurrecting Age of Conan.

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Thank you for the thoughtful and well-written response, I really appreciate the feedback.

We’re very much aligned in our core points. Age of Conan still has a loyal, paying community and real revival potential through QoL improvements, better communication, and respectful monetization. Where my post focused more on the overall revival philosophy, your post clearly outlines how Funcom could realistically act on it using existing systems and assets.

I’m genuinely glad to see such solid and grounded input. It reinforces that this is a shared wish from players who care deeply about the game and want to see it succeed. Thanks again.

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Funcom - we don’t want to play Exiles or your single-player version of TSW. We have always wanted Age of Conan. We don’t need huge expansions, just regular attention and maybe some new content a couple of times each year. Over 15 years and still there is so much potential.

Please advertise to the hundreds of millions of PC owners that have no idea AoC exists, many who don’t even know what an MMORPG even is! That is how all MMORPGS would gain so many new players - because they started out with AoC and remained loyal. There are too many jaded, burnt out players who are already playing other mmo games. Promote the game to them if you wish, but also, please promote it to all the potential gamers who do not know about our amazing, beloved mmorpg Age of Conan! Thank you, of course, for keeping the game online.

If you need help with designing marketing, reach out as I own a design firm and would happily lend my aid and do pro bono work to help. Let’s make this count! S!

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thanks for the reply i’m very much on the same page

none of us want aoc to become exiles or tsw we just want age of conan to be treated as age of conan with some regular attention and signs of life small updates now and then would already mean a lot

i also agree that steady care matters more than big expansions even a couple of updates a year would change how players and creators see the future of the game

marketing is important but first funcom just needs to show that aoc is alive and supported once that trust is there promotion actually works

really respect your offer to help with marketing it shows why this game is still here after 15 years because of players who care

in the end we’re all saying the same thing aoc doesn’t need reinvention just recognition care and a future

thanks for adding to the discussion

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People play ffxiv for the “story” the story is pretty bad, age of conan is actually a good story

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an amazing story yes, there would be very few things for Funcom to start implamenting to make the game worth for many to revisit for have their first time experience with the game.

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Anyone can simply look at the dev tracker and know noone at Funcom is reading these forums

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AOC has no devs since Saga, and only has 1 GM left. :slight_smile:

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So how did this work out for everyone? Looks like no developers have posted in years. This is what happens to all funcom games. They are literally just left to rot until the next toy comes out and everyone flocks to it and it fails to aka exiles, dune etc. People really need to stop giving money to these sort of predatory companies and stop buying their games so they can go the way of the dodo.

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the thread was created in a time where alot of older MMOs and general games like Oblivion etc. Where popping off and getting alot of attention

I intialy was hoping as this thread was shared on alot of Social media platforms - where AoC community is very active - i was hoping it would generate some hype
it was ment as a survery / proof of interest

imo it is always good to keep these up - show Funcom what they actually have - and not alot of work has to get into to in order to revive - to remind them that they actually have alot to continue to build on

Thanks none the less for sharing ur thoughts