Welcome to Part II of ZAM.com's revisit to Age of Conan's Hyborian Kingdoms. If you haven't already, be sure to check out Part I of our revisit, where we addressed the early stages of the game and gave an in-depth introduction for players who have only heard of Age of Conan by rumours alone. This week we checked out what looms beyond the compelling Tortage story arc and delved into the biggest problem holding back this stunning game.

In last week's revisits, one of the biggest observations we noticed during our play-through was  that these Hyborian Kingdoms are quite sparsely populated, and this serious lack of adventuring fellows made us feel quite lonely - especially once we moved beyond Tortage's awesome solo "destiny" quests. While low populations are a problem for any multiplayer game, MMOs are definitely hit the worst because there are a lot of stigmas involved with joining an established, persistent player base in decline (with little to no fresh blood joining up!).

Starting today, Funcom is offering a wealth of incentives to entice players to either return to the game or extend their subscriptions throughout November. If you're interested in gaining access to The Secret World beta, keep reading. Previously active players get to play free of charge for two weeks to see if they want to come back, and all players get to enjoy double experience for the rest of the month.

Now, let's get to the multi-month subscription deals. Any player who extends their subscription by three months gets guaranteed access to the later stages of The Secret World closed beta. Players who add six months to their subscription get a level 40 helmet with a 10% experience boost and the beta access. Extend your subscription by 12 months and get the upcoming Rise of the Godslayer expansion for free, as well as the helmet and the beta access.

Players who signed up for these subscription plans in October have already secured their rewards. Will you be returning to the game or extending your subscription? Christopher "Pwyff" Tom recently decided to give Age of Conan a second chance, so check out his article to see his current thoughts on the game. Stay tuned to ZAM.com for part two of his journey in the Hyborian Kingdoms.

GameIndustry.biz is reporting that Funcom has been awarded a $262,000 grant to help create Board with the World, a free-to-play social MMO based around extreme sports. Erling Ellingsen, the director of communications at Funcom, said the game will focus on snowboarding at first, but different sports may be added later.

"We also want this to be a social world rich with different types of media content and pop-cultural elements such as music, video and even fashion," he said, noting that Funcom expects to start working on an initial prototype in January 2010.

Fantasy MMO based on Conan the Barbarian? Check. Upcoming creepy MMO filled with conspiracy theories and secret societies? Check. Free-to-play extreme sports MMO? It looks like Funcom can now check that off their list as well.

Stigmas are very common in the MMORPG industry, especially if you've been playing in this field for as long as I have. For example, World of Warcraft has commonly been associated with being "too easy" in the eyes of some MMOers, while Final Fantasy XI has that (somewhat deserved) stigma of being a bit complicated and a bit slow (and a lot of frustration!) in the eyes of other gamers. Of all of these prevailing stigmas that have been floating around for quite some time, however, Funcom and their enduring-despite-the-odds MMO, Age of Conan may have gotten the shortest stick of them all, having been stuck with one stigma that has virtually defined their game in the eyes of gamers and journalists alike (guilty!); that of having one of the worst MMO launches in a long, long time.

Unfortunately, one of the biggest problems with gaming stigmas, especially ones like AoC's, is that companies tend to run into giant brick walls when they try to work their way out of the muck that they've found themselves in. Here at ZAM, we chatted with Craig Morrison, Producer and Director of Age of Conan about the problematic launch of the game, and we've already done some heavy coverage on just what went wrong, but, on the alternative side, I think a lot of the general populace doesn't realize just how dedicated Funcom is to their ailing MMORPG, and just how far this game has grown beyond its inhibiting stereotype. We here at ZAM decided that, with their newest "Rise of the Godslayer" expansion announced and in development, now would be a perfect time to check out Age of Conan and find out what everyone's missing out on. Read on for Part I of II of our revisit to the Hyborian Kingdoms!

Age of Conan Game Director Craig Morrison published his monthly letter to players today, and he chose to focus on the topic of community to demonstrate what players can do to help the development team and the game as a whole. He touched on the new recruitment system that launched with update 1.05.6 and unveiled the new Age of Conan Knowledge Base portal, which is "designed to put all the latest news and updates, and indeed previous ones, at your fingertips."

After stating that volunteers are needed to help the Age of Conan community, Morrison said the team is focused on getting the first builds of 1.06 ready for internal testing and is working on the new Guild Renown feature and the new Tier Three raid encounters. You can read the full letter after the jump.

Update 1.05.6 is now live in Age of Conan and brings with it the "Night of Lost Souls" Halloween event. It also introduces the veteran reward system, which grants players veteran points for each month they've paid for through their subscription or game cards. These points can be used to purchase various items and rewards.

The patch marks the launch of the new recruitment program for Age of Conan that rewards you for bringing your friends into the game. You can earn free gametime, veterans points and rare in-game rings that increase your character's movement speed if your friends end up subscribing to the game.

In addition, 1.05.6 adds the Iron Tower group dungeon to the game. The full patch notes can be found after the jump.

Funcom announced today that it has increased the discounts for players who purchase multi-month subscription plans for Age of Conan. The three-month subscription now offers a 20% discount, the six-month subscription yields a 30% discount and the year subscription has a whopping 45% discount. According to the post, this is more than twice the discount that was previously offered.

Also, it is now possible to purchase additional gametime and immediately get veteran points, which will be implemented in the next patch. You can read more about the new system in Game Director Craig Morrison's recent letter. Basically, players will earn veteran points for each month they've paid for through their subscription or game cards. These points can be used to purchase various items and rewards.

Senior Assistant Community Manager Glen 'Famine' Swan announced today on the official European Age of Conan forums that patch 1.05.6 should hit the live servers next week of all goes according to schedule. The update will include the "Nights of Lost Souls" Halloween event, which puts a Hyborian spin on the holiday.

According to the event's description, players will be able to participate in two new solo quests and an additional team quest to track down and defeat three Lost Souls. "The quests will take you to places you thought you knew, but this time of year casts a shadow over things you once found familiar."

As far as rewards are concerned, keep an eye out for "the Fermented Brain Juice that causes you to vomit and become drunk, or the Void Essence that changes your skin." More details about the event can be found after the jump.

Funcom announced today that seven-day free trials have returned to the Age of Conan Web site. If you've been wanting to try out this MMO but have been hesitant to purchase the game, now's your chance to enter the Hyborian Age with no strings attached . Trial accounts do have some restrictions on them, and "the most noticeable are inability to trade with others, restrictions to use public channels, inability to post on forums and inability to send in-game mail."

The Age of Conan team has implemented numerous changes to the game since it launched, and you can view them all on the updates page. Also, check out our recent interview with Executive Producer Craig Morrison and Lead Expansion Designer Joel Bylos for information on Rise of the Godslayer, the game's upcoming first expansion.

Senior Community Manager Oliver 'Tarib' Kunz has posted an update on Funcom's Age of Conan testing plans on the official European forums. "1.05.6 is on the test server at the moment and we are going through the testing for the veterans system and the new Iron Tower instance. The current plan is for the update to most likely have another two weeks on the test servers before launching on the live servers (testing permitting of course!)," he said.

After that, the 1.06 update will be up on the the test servers. The first phase's focus should be on the Guild Renown system and the Tier three raids. The testing will then move onto the other features that will be a part of 1.06.