Flux

Age of Conan has five different types of armor from cloth to full plate.  It also has a multitude of weapon and item types.  But it may surprise you that this doesn’t mean as much as you think.  For example, heavier armor doesn’t increase your armor more than cloth.  The type is mostly for class restrictions. However there are some hidden differences.

The key to understanding this is that almost all the effective stats are displayed on an item.  Armor by itself with no stats adds nothing.  For example a piece of cloth and plate armor which both list +1 defense, have exactly the same defense.  There is no hidden stat or ability of plate to give you extra defense. This leads to strange situations.  For example you can find armor that requires a higher level but has worse stats.  This is common when the color quality is different.  You can also find armor with no stats, which is purely for fashion.  And sometimes you can find armor with no stats but still requires a high level to wear.

There do seem to be some differences between item types, at least for armor.  The game is new but there is a consensus so far that heavier armor reduces knockback and decreases stealth chance.  There may be an effect on run speed or stamina usage but this hasn’t been confirmed, especially since the modifications to these stats may not yet be working as intended.  Note that, even though the game has directional attacks the armor defense is a total defense, not defense for that location.  Equipping a helmet with +2 defense and a chest piece with +1 defense doesn’t protect your head more than your chest.  Both locations have the same defense, the total of all your defense bonuses.

When deciding between items, look at the listed stats.  The better the stats the better the item, provided that you can wear it.  You can ignore the type and quality or just use it as a guide.

Author: aos

This entry was posted by aos on Friday, June 6th, 2008 at 5:48 pm and is filed under AoC, Games. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.