Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures Pre-E3 Preview
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As a level 13 character, I now had access to a variety of combat "stances" that could be equipped on my hotbar. These stances were melee combat moves that would have a variety of effects on enemies ranging from damage-over-time to stuns to slows to finishing moves that would decapitate an opponent and splash the camera with blood. Tharaldsen explained what each of the stances was as he helped me equip them. It wasn't until I started fighting, however, that I realized that these abilities wouldn't just be triggered by clicking on a hotbar, they'd have to be manually activated by completing a combination of moves. More sophisticated effects might require a chain of combos.
During combat, an indicator at the bottom of the screen lets players know which combat key they'll have to press in order to make the next move in the chain that will complete the combo. As the player grows in power and deploys more stances, more and more chain possibilities open up from any given starting move. That means that players will need to learn by heart which combo move they want to use and be able to deploy it in the thick of combat. I realized while getting my clock cleaned by Picts, demonic bats and a very ticked-off Yeti that using an "enrage" combo when the rest of your party is counting on you to use stuns for crowd control is a good way to end up with holes in your body in places nature never meant them to be.
