The near-death of caravan escorts in Age of Conan's expansion

Rise of the Godslayer is coming on May 11th, and if you're an Age of Conan fan the day probably seems like it can't come fast enough. While the developer letter for the end of April doesn't help hurry the date forward any, but it does highlight one of the smaller but interesting portions of the development process -- the sort of thing that can get lost between the more major systems. And interestingly enough, it was an element that director Craig Morrison originally looked at and declined to leave in the expansion!

Originally, the design team had included a feature where you could either hand over money and be automatically transported to and from Khitai, or you could volunteer your services as a caravan guard and make the journey for free. The trade was that as a guard, you would be expected to defend the caravan against assaults, resulting in a small instanced encounter. Morrison felt that the encounters weren't really adding anything that wouldn't be better served as a part of Khitai proper. The full story of the process and the change in philosophy can be found in the director's letter, certainly a nice tease for Age of Conan players.