The game is on schedule for launch the 20th of May as we speak． We polish, remove annoyances, and optimize． Finally the client is approaching the target rendering performance, and it certainly is looking smooth． We are working hard on the features we haven't shown off in beta, features we have held back on purpose to have some new revelations at launch． Among these are spellweaving, massive PVP, and DirectX 10 [graphics]． In addition to this, the classes are getting their final overhauls before launch．

Massively multiplayer games usually start you out as a wimpy adventurer in a high-fantasy world, beating up rats with a rusty dagger in the hopes of one day being able to afford a shiny new leather cap to wear． Funcom's Age of Conan： Hyborian Adventures will take a different tack by offering brutal real-time combat that will let you hack and slash your enemies into mincemeat． That's not an exaggeration--the game's extremely violent combat, which includes skewering enemies and lopping off limbs and heads, is in keeping with the source material from author Robert E． Howard, and will soon be available to try out in the GameSpot player-versus-player beta weekend． We sat down with game director Gaute Godager for more details． Let's say: You are really lucky today! You find the right place.

Today Funcom sent out a press release with the title "Age of Conan Reaches One Million Milestone．" At first glance, many took the headline as meaning the Norwegian developer's massively multiplayer online role-playing game Age of Conan： Hyborian Adventures had already enrolled 1 million subscribers．

Famine, official Community Manager for Funcom's Age of Conan, has released a statement today concerning the physical measurements of the game's female player characters． Here's what he had to say：

With the frequency of patches for Age of Conan Hyborian Adventures since launch, Game Director, Gaute Godager took some time today to address the community and elaborate on some of the future plans for Age of Conan． Once the major issues have been ironed out the team will be turning their focus to adding new content to the game．

According to the NPD Group Age of Conan Hyborian Adventures is topping the sales charts surpassing World of Warcraft in their recent sales charts． This quite a feat to say the least as it also topped the chart in the number one slot while the Age of Conan Hyborian Adventures Collector's Edition took the number three slot． It probably missed the number two slot due to the fact they sold out． This week we continue the Cryer post launch coverage as we take a look at some of the top discussions and great content for the Age of Conan community． Ten Ton Hammer has been pumping out game related goodies and guide content and you can expect that flood of information to continue． The discussion has been raging across the forums since launch as the community settles in and the battle for the Border Kingdoms begin．

Age of Conan Hyborian Adventures is topping sales charts and gaining momentum with players everywhere． With AoC officially live Ten Ton Hammer has been rolling out loads of content and the Border Kingdom Cryer is here to summarize this weeks content and the top pieces of discussion across the forums． With all the newly energized discussion and huge amounts of players pouring into Hyboria it can be a difficult job to keep up with the best pieces of discussion． Let Ten Ton Hammer do it for you． Join us as we save you the trauma of reading through the drama．

By default your Health Bar is located above the Toolbar at the bottom of your screen． The Health Bar is symbolized by a red strip, with a green strip below it; or if you are a magic caster a green and blue strip below it． The green strip is your Stamina and the blue strip is Mana． When your health is depleted in combat your red bar will begin to empty． Just as the stamina bar will begin to empty as you use up energy for performing combos, and the mana bar will begin to empty as you cast spells． When you engage an enemy their Health Bar will also be viewable so that you may see how close to defeating them you are．

Age of Conan allows for a limited time single player experience, which you can use to get accustomed to the game, user interface and controls． Of course it's not all about learning, plenty of adventure also awaits you during this time． In the single player portion of Age of Conan you may still communicate with others on the same server． Although you may spend as long as you like exploring the beach and jungle, you should be able to reach the city of Tortage within an hour, at which time you will begin to see other players． Once you hit Tortage you are able to switch between the single player story (night) and multiplayer stories (day) freely．

This is a pretty important question you need to consider． Some players like to play through a game solo and enjoy it as more of a single player experience． You get the benefit of not answering to anyone, and you set your own play times, and experience the game at your pace． You have no allegiances and you can just enjoy your random interactions with all the players around you． Or you may decide you want to be part of a community and develop slightly more involved relationships with other gamers． DO you want to work together to achieve bigger goals, and act as a team? When doing this you should consider what type of team you're looking for． Are you interested in mainly PVP? PVE? A social /casual environment? A crafter heavy society? Figure out the top 3 things you want from a guild before approaching one to join．