I’ve written before about how much I’ve missed good, old-fashioned dungeon crawls, and I’m happy to say that I’ve found them again in Age of Conan.  I’ve played several types of games now in my MMO career, and I’ve come to the conclusion that I am a traditional kind of girl.  I like a six-man, instanced dungeon with lots of creatures to fight, bosses to overcome, and a sense of accomplishment when you finish it.  Thusfar, Age of Conan has not disappointed me.

In my first attempt at AoC, I never experienced much dungeon content.  I solo’d most of the time, and rarely attempted to join a group to explore any of the content.  And to be fair, I think that the content was a bit more…lacking…at the time.  There definately weren’t as many quests, but that’s another topic for another day.  When it came to dungeons, I was a true AoC noob upon my return a few weeks ago.  Since then, I’ve explored several dungeons with a group of friends–our core group consists of a conqueror, a priest of mitra, a barbarian and a tempest of set.  We’ve been able to fill out the extra spaces with no problem, usually with dps classes.

My first experience was the Black Castle.  I can’t tell you how much fun I found this dungeon.  Located in Kophsef Province in Stygia, it is quite extensive, requiring a full evening of gaming to complete–at least 3 hours if you are slightly below the level of the mobs inside (the mobs are 30-32).  There are entire wings to explore, each culminating in one or several boss fights, some of which aren’t overly straightforward and which yield a nice bit of loot, usually the expected armor or weapons.  The fights are challenging, and there are several rooms that require you to solve a puzzle of some sort in order to proceed.  I’ll happily point you to Cal’s Blog on this, as he goes into quite a bit of detail on the dungeon.  Needless to say, my first impression of dungeons in AoC was a good one.

The next one I ventured into was the Pyramid of the Ancients, also located in Kopshef Province in Stygia.  It’s a faster dungeon, if you do it in a group, but unlike Black Castle, it would be do-able solo.  It is split into floors as well, with the traditional boss fight set-up and appropriate trash mobs to clear.  There are traps to avoid, including poison gas clouds, spikes in the floor, a confusing maze of hallways–all in all an enjoyable way to pass an evening.

A solo instance that I tried that is located next to the Pyramid of the Ancients is the Treasury of the Ancients.  This is a neat little instance that is set up like a ring event, with a series of statues coming to life.  There are several quests that are tied to this instance, and it is easily soloed at the appropriate level.  The loot was unimpressive, but the experience was fun.  It isn’t something I’d care to do more than once or twice, however.

Sanctum of the Burning Souls is a fun group instance located in the Wild Lands in Aquilonia.  There are quite a few group quests tied to this dungeon, so it’s possible to come out with a nice chunk of adventure experience if you complete them while you are there.  This dungeon, like Black Castle, has fantastic ambiance.  It is dark, dreary, crawling with spiders, fanatics and has quite a few pools of blood through which you must wade. It also houses the biggest staircase I’ve ever seen in any MMO ever!  The boss fights are very straightforward–spank & tank–but the loot was very good-enough to tempt me to go back several times to try to get a piece or two.

Next on my list is Cradle of Decay, which is one of the new instances that FunCom added in this last big update.  I’m very much looking forward to trying out this low-40’s instance with my group.  I’ll be sure to report how it goes!