It's been a while since we last heard about Funcom's Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures (Microsoft Xbox 360, Windows PC) - now, we get the opening attack for the year of 2008 from none other than Evan Michaels, the system designer of the game itself, in this interview about the Barbarian character class. Let's check out what he has to say about the occupation that Conan himself made legendary.First off, Evan Michaels responded about the developing team's decision to put the Barbarian character class under the Rogue archetype - saying that Barbarians resemble rogues more in the way that they wear little or no armor, and how they rely on pure aggression and offense to survive. Soldiers, on the other hand, would focus more on surviving longer and making careful moves - quite the contrary to the Barbarian's tendency to go all out with disregard for their own safety.

As for what would make Barbarians a choice class (besides the fact that you'll be playing as one of Conan's ilk), Evan outlines a lot to like about the Barbarian, starting with some of its unique skills. For example, Rampaging Horde increase how much damage the Barbarian can deal based on the number of other Barbarians nearby. Thirst for Blood makes every attack within range of the Barbarian - be it from ally or enemy - to have a chance of buffing the Barbarian's damage and regeneration ratings. And then there's No Escape, where a Barbarian can throw their own weapon at an opponent, inflicting heavy impaling damage (as well as stunning them). Ouch.There's also the deal about Barbarians being a class where, as a player, you're encouraged to go all out and not be that concerned about whether you're going to survive or not - as there's the very likely chance that you just might. Sure, you'll probably be a half-inch close to death, but with a high degree of offensive capability and a killer move set, you'd have already taken out a lot of your enemies even before they could have blinked. Evan Michaels puts it succinctly:Having many abilities which hit multiple targets, become more effective when more enemies are around, and also having the ability to become empowered by being at low health means that Barbarians will always be a really useful class for any group to have around in a pinch—in addition to being fast-paced and enjoyable to play.

That's all about the Barbarian Class for now. You can check out the full interview by clicking on the via link below.

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