Age of Conan's rendering engine dynamically occludes objects, including moving ones, to save framerate.

In plain English, that means players and NPCs can appear or disappear depending on how many of them there are. This can be both good and bad, it's not a perfect system but it does keep the framerate sane in busy areas, while also allowing for some pretty extreme ranges when there is less going on.

This vid clip demonstrates how players can still be seen at far distances. If you can make it out (video compression blurs it), that little dot jumping up and down is Michelle playing on her Priest of Mitra:

You can spot her character better once she starts casting just to get noticed, she lights up like a candle. If she were fighting mobs, you would see those too.

The opposite of this isn't as fun, in some of the crowded city and town areas, NPCs and players can pop in and out of existence rather close to you. Hopefully Funcom continues to optimize it, because the potential here is amazing.

The MMORPG playing field has suddenly become very competitive.

I've heard from various friends and acquaintances who've just been invited into the Warhammer Online Beta, plus I suspect Mythic is handing out select invites to bloggers and press. Apparently Blizzard isn't the only one that sees Age of Conan's release window as fair game to kick up some interest.

WAR is looking bright.

Mythic deserves the attention mind you, by most accounts WAR (Warhammer Online) looks slated to kick some ass.

I distinctly recall Marc Jacobs saying in an interview they were shooting for second or third position in the market, but that was before the EA buyout. Now, I'd put good money that they're aiming to dethrone WoW as the top MMORPG. It will take them some time to pick up the steam, but I think WAR can actually do it.

It would be fitting really, given the borrowed look-and-feel of the Warcraft universe.

Age of Conan goes over the top.

Age of Conan has gained a lot more traction than expected, it's definitely a success and I think what Funcom fully intended to be a niche game has broken into the mass-market.

As a player, I'm pleased that Funcom will have significant leverage to improve the game. It has more than its fair share of rough edges to round out, although I think the core gameplay is solid.

Reaction within my own guild is good. There are some grumblings about a few shortcomings, or changed expectations, but each of these is tempered with happy cries of surprise at other details and features better than expected. Mind you, I think we're Funcom's target audience, because WoW has bored us and WAR doesn't seem our thing.

I've solidified my plans to blog my experiences in Age of Conan, starting from launch day.

Around the blogosphere, I see a lot of general-purpose MMO / MMORPG blogs, a large number of WoW-specific blogs and a few blogs gearing up for WAR (Warhammer). Although interest seems to be high for Age Conan, I haven't seen any noteworthy blogs specifically about the game.

Mind you, I might be looking in the wrong places, or just not seeing what's directly in front of me. After all, my own blog doesn't have a lot of apparent signs of my plans, other than my just stating them now. Once the game is rolling, the players will be more evident.

I think also, for many people, WAR is the MMO they're waiting for and they've been looking at AoC as the distraction until then. I was much the same way when I played City of Heroes before WoW.

If you spot any good sources of bloggers likely to concentrate on Age of Conan, let me know. If I find myself reading them, I'll drop a link down my left sidebar here (which needs reorganizing anyway).