Age of Conan adds Ymir's Pass zone

Well, OK, colour us impressed. Just two weeks after completing an overhaul of player-versus-player combat and crafting systems, Funcom has added a substantial content update to its troubled fantasy MMO, Age of Conan.

The new outdoor zone of Ymir's Pass is the biggest content update to the game since launch. It features plenty of questing, a large, mountainous area to explore, and a new dungeon, all aimed at players over level 50. Levels 50 to 60 were previously felt to be a problematic gap in Age of Conan's content.

We've added some screenshots of Ymir's Pass to our Age of Conan gallery, so take a look. We'll have video for you soon, too.

According to the press release, the Amphitheater dungeon " holds one of the most epic and memorable monster encounters ever created for the game". We think this is the Frostfather, an ice giant familiar to students of Conan lore.

Seems as though new game director Craig Morrison is licking his team into shape - and he's not about rest on his laurels.

"In the months ahead we will introduce even more new content, and coming up soon are two exciting new high-level dungeons intended for players who have reached the maximum level," he said.

"At this stage adding more content and keeping people entertained is very important to us," he added. It's important to us too, Craig. There's more info on what's coming in our report on Funcom's Leipzig presentation of the game.

Here's hoping all this hard work can do something about the game's dwindling server populations.

We'll be looking at Age of Conan's PVP in detail soon. In the meantime, find more articles - including an invterview with Morrisson, and a recent re-review - on the Age of Conan gamepage.