Age of Conan Game Director Craig Morrison has published his monthly letter to the community for September, and it gives details on the new veteran reward system that's going live in the next update. Basically, players will earn veteran points for each month they've paid for through their subscription or game cards. The points will be added retroactively, so you'll get a bunch if you've stuck with the game since it launched.

The points will be available on each of your characters, and the rewards you purchase will be bound to each character. The rewards will include convenience and social items, such as mounts and fireworks. You can find a list of some of the rewards in the letter after the jump.

Morrison also discusses a new level 80 team instance that will be released with the new update. The Iron Tower in Tarantia Commons "functions as climax of the questing experience and story of Tarantia Common District. Players will have the chance to pit their wits against four boss and five mini boss encounters. There is also the possibility to encounter one of the five rare bosses on each visit."

For this month’s letter I want to go into some details on the new veteran reward system that will go live with the next game update. The update is getting ready for the test server (at least when I am writing this, there is every chance the build will already be on the test servers as you read this!)

Veterans System

As I mentioned in my last letter this new system offers veterans a whole new set of rewards that they can purchase from new veteran vendors depending on how long they have subscribed for.

Veteran Points and how you earn them

Players will be awarded new veteran points for each month that they have paid for (whether it is through subscription or game-cards). Each month that a player pays for will accrue a certain number of points, with the number of points awarded each week (months I guess?) growing after each six-month period they have subscribed for. In addition there is a bonus amount awarded at each six month interval. These numbers are still subject to possible change over the next couple of weeks as the system gets put through it paces on the test server.

Month 1 to 5 – 6 points awarded per month
Month 6-11 – 8 points awarded per month
Month 12-17 - 10 points awarded per month
Month 18-23 - 12 points awarded per month
…
(etc.)

This means that players who have paid for six months will have 38 points (5x6 pts plus 8) and players who have paid for twelve months will have 88 points (38 points plus 5x8 points plus 10). So at a top level the more months you have paid for the greater value you get from the veteran system.

All the veteran points will be awarded retroactively as we have already a log of how many months a player has paid for to date. So when the system goes live players will have access to their points to use at the vendor.

The points will be available on each character separately. So you don’t have a pool for all your characters, you have the same number of points to spend on every character you have. The rewards however are character bound so you can’t just keep making and deleting new characters to try and horde veteran rewards.


Veteran Items

The idea behind the veteran items is not to create items that make characters more powerful, but to offer convenience and social items for veteran players to enjoy, either to offer things like better travel options for their characters or to make things a little easier when they start a new alt character. So let’s take a look at the list of the rewards for the start of the system. Again, this list is subject to change as we work through the versions on the test servers, but this is the current plan as we enter testing.


Convenience Items

Veterans Path - 10 points (reduces the cooldown on your Path of Asura and Path of Comrades)
Veterans Teleports - 12 points each – Separate teleport items that share a cooldown that can take you to The Fire Beacon, the Hunting Lodge, Khesshata City, Iron Tower, Prison Colony or The Lair)
Veterans Home Paths - 8 points each – Separate path items that return you to either Khemi, Old Taranatia or Conarch Village that share a cooldown, but are on a separate cooldown to the Totem of Origins
Basic Riding Training - 2 points
Basic Horse - 10 points
Advanced Riding Training - 35 points
Swift Mount - 110 points
Full Feat Respec - 5 points
Reset Feat Cost - 25 points
XP Potion - 2 points (stack of potions that increase xp rate for a given time)

Veteran Items

Straw Man – 5 points (allows you to summon a straw man similar to the ones found in guild cities)
Veterans Boots – 8 points
Veterans Cape – 10 points
Veterans Bag – 10 points

Social Items

Size potion – 2 points (potions that allow you to grow in size for a period)
Arm Enlarging potion (potions that make your character a little more buff)
Breast Enlarging potion (female only)
Fireworks – 2 points each
Companion: Casilida - (will summon Casilda to cheer you on just like she did on the beach when you started your Hyborian adventure!)
Pet: Hyena – (will summon a non combat Hyena pet)

A System for the Future

The veterans system will also be expanded upon in future updates with more items being added over time. This will give us the opportunity to allow us to reward veteran players on an ongoing basis with new rewards and new options.

The Iron Tower

The veterans system is not the only thing in the next game update. This update will also see the release of the new level 80 team instance the Iron Tower in Tarantia Commons. So what exactly is the Iron Tower?

"The grim Iron Tower stood apart from the citadel, amid a maze of narrow streets and crowding houses where the meaner structures, appropriating a space from which the more fastidious shrank, had invaded a portion of the city ordinarily alien to them. The Tower was in reality a castle, an ancient, formidable pile of heavy stone and black iron, which had itself served as the citadel in an earlier, ruder century." Robert E. Howard - The Hour of the Dragon

Under Conan the Iron Tower has found a new use as a prison for the most malicious and evil of criminals of Aquilonia. Murderers, thieves and rapists are here to await their judgment or carry out their sentence.

This group balanced dungeon functions as climax of the questing experience and story of Tarantia Common District. Players will have the chance to pit their wits against four boss and five mini boss encounters. There is also the possibility to encounter one of the five rare bosses on each visit. These individuals are the worst of the worst scum Aquilonia has to offer, Betty Wolfsmilk, Jack Knives, Horace the Shadow, Nightcharm and Vulferam. Approach with caution!

The tower itself though will present players with numerous challenges. Anoki the Scourge of the Common District and the leader of the daughters has bribed the Guards and has ventured into the Iron Tower.

What are her intentions? They can’t be good! If the player tries to follow her trail he will have to fight corrupt guards and a sadistic Executioner with the power to force his will on others causing them to hurt themselves. Higher up in the the tower you will encounter Anoki’s Officers who have freed prisoners and started a riot. Apparently Anoki is trying to free a mysterious prisoner but she can’t get to him as he is guarded by a strange cult that have formed around a priest of Mitra who calls himself Desumo. Gossip has it that he is here on his own free will in order to see that no one even gets close to the prisoner. Not only is he personally guarding the only way to the prisoner but it seems he has set up various defense mechanisms.

What exactly is going on in the Tower – it will be up to you to find out!