Julius "Amrac" Kuschke: After the release of Age of Conan was rescheduled more than once all the fans are now looking forward to May 23rd. How sure can we be that this will definitely be the day AoC will be in stores?

Erling Ellingsen: Provided something terribly unforeseen happen, like the burning down of a production facility or something out of the ordinary like that, Age of Conan will ship on the 23rd for Europe. The game is looking great and the launch procedures are well under way.

Julius "Amrac" Kuschke: There is a rumor spreading in the community that the open Beta will start on May 1st. Can you confirm that date?

Erling Ellingsen: I can not confirm anything until we have made a proper public announcement. Expect to see some new information about the open beta popping up very soon, though!

Julius "Amrac" Kuschke: World of Warcraft, Lord of the Rings Online and other MMOGs have shown that a beginner-friendly access to the game is needed to be really successful. In the past you mentioned that exactly this is something on which you still have to work. Can you tell us what the current state is? How fast can a noob learn e.g. the combat system of AoC?

Erling Ellingsen: You're absolutely right; we had to work on the learning curve for a long while. Age of Conan is a complex game when it comes to the combat system, but definitely in a good way. We have taken many steps to ensure there is a natural learning curve from when you enter the game. Just recently we added a tutorial video to the start of the game that you can play in-game when you first put your feet on the golden beaches of Tortage Island.

Julius "Amrac" Kuschke: One special feature of Age of Conan is the player cities. Can you tell us a bit more about that? What buildings can be built? Will every guild city look the same or are there customization options to create buildings in different styles etc.?

Erling Ellingsen: This is a substantial feature in Age of Conan's feature set, and we hope to expand it post launch as well. At launch, however, the system works something like this: any guild that lives up to the requirements (guild size, money, resources etc.) can create a peaceful city. You will need to collect the resources from Mother Nature herself and build it up building by building, and you actually need crafters to create the blueprints needed to start construction!

You will be able to make anything from entire city walls and towers, to the central keep and a variety of crafting and class specific buildings. You will see temples, blacksmiths, a guild house for thieves and much more. All buildings give your guild a bonus, and they can all be upgraded into various tiers that make them look different. All buildings can be entered.

Julius "Amrac" Kuschke: Do you support alliances between guilds? Will it be possible that one guild helps a friendly guild with defending their battle keep against another guild?

Erling Ellingsen: There is no in-game system for doing alliances, but you will definitely see guilds teaming up! I think this will create a lot of drama, as everything will be verbal, and you will see things like backstabbing and political intrigue happening. Yes, one guild can help another guild attack a battlekeep or defend a battlekeep. So alliances will surely pop up in Hyboria.

Julius "Amrac" Kuschke: You already mentioned new races will be implemented with future AddOns. Can you give us a hint what we can expect with the first AddOn? How long will the intervals between major content updates in general be after release?

Erling Ellingsen: I'm afraid we can't reveal anything just yet; this is something that will make a huge splash when we eventually do! Of course we are walking around with tons of ideas in our head, many of which are slowly finding their way onto the paper, and we can't wait to start talking about it. Right now, however, priority number one is getting Age of Conan out the door.

Julius "Amrac" Kuschke: In the latest letter to the community it was said, that it's still possible to play solo up to level 80. Is with this meant that you have to grind all day long to get to this level or are you really offering enough quests and other challenges for solo-players through the whole game?

Erling Ellingsen: That's a very good question. There really is stuff to do solo all the way up to eighty. Will that include some grinding? Quite possibly, but our focus is on giving you quest opportunities all the way there. We're designing Age of Conan to be a truly casual friendly game, but we're also maintaining some "hardcore" aspects like raiding, massive siege warfare and so on.