The long awaited MMO that has Blizz on fire...
Those two are Anarchy Online and WoW.
While these two have nothing in common I will tell straight that AO had more substance and an incredible degree of customization which WoW players can only think of.
Nevertheless WoW is a good game and loved it. But as with any product I became saturated by the grind you are put through at high levels. It was the same with AO.
Now, onto the Age of Conan.
When I heard they were making a MMO in a fantasy world I thought, "damn another fantasy MMO", but with a glimmer of hope because it was made by the same team that made AO I looked over the previews. And I understood right there that AoC will never try to be a WoW or any other MMO out there but simply a new concept.
Most of the younger players will not like this game simply because for them the best game is out there, WoW. I strongly suggest them not to try/purchase/review this game because they are simply not targeted.
Also I suspect that all manga lovers won't be so happy with the realistic graphics the game throws at them. Tough luck.
For the rest of you this will be a treat.
Solid storyline, evolved combat system, never seen before epic PvP battles with mounts(return of the king style), awesome graphics and incredible soundtracks. All for us, mature players.
IMO this is the game most us were waiting for and if you are not bothered to see a loading screen when you exit an area as big as a region in WoW then you won't have any problem with the instanced game world.
Character customization is awesome and you can simply create your avatar exactly as you want to. No more pre-made faces, bodies and so on. this is the real deal and goes way beyond Oblivion in that aspect.
The reqs for the game are medium considering anyone can now purchase a 8800gt or equivalent, a dual core processor and 4 gigs of ddr2. With this kind of rig you will run the game at HD resolutions with everything maxed out. It really is amazing the degree of optimization that was put into this game.
My only problem so far with it is the social aspect, chat system and so on but I do believe this will be polished very soon.
This game, ladies and gents is a must for any self respecting gamer out there.