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The Emperor’s Wrath

This week's update sees the launch of the new Tier Four raid instance in the Jade Citadel, complete with three brand new raid encounters.

Players will now get to venture deeper into the mysterious Jade Citadel that dominates the Paikang skyline, and is home to the Emperor himself. Having battled the evils that plague Khitai, can you now face down the most powerful foe you have yet faced?

Raid parties will now experience the dangers of the palace garden, where a mystical creature bound by the emperor is manipulating the forces of nature and makes the gardens a domain almost impossible to comprehend for the human mind.

The challenge level rises in the majestic stardome of the Jade Citadel, where a mysterious stargazer has been seen tampering with forces from the skies and beyond. The living Zodiac awaits all players foolish enough to enter this domain of madness.

Those who survive these challenges and keep a grasp on sanity, even if only a fleeting one, will finally be able to make their way to Yah Chieng, the God-Emperor of Paikang! And when they do, some might wish they had not tried to hold on to their sanity for so long, as what is awaiting them here is rumored to drive even the strongest men and women across the threshold of madness and eternal damnation.

Senior AI Designer Matthew Bennett reveals some of the details on these new Khitai raids.

"The three new encounters in the Jade Citadel itself are some of the most complex we have done in the game. I think players will find the mechanics interesting and challenging, and they really play with your mental alacrity as much as they test your mettle with sword or spell. For the first encounter the players will be entering the Jade Citadel itself and will be immediately confronted by a garden filled with strange and deadly plants and its unlikely warden. This encounter will test players co-ordination in a raid setting.

Then they have to venture deeper within the citadel where the players will find themselves in the Zodiac chamber, a grand room in the depths of the Citadel where the emperor has plotted out a vast map of the stars. Through his magical power the players will face conjured avatars from the Khitan zodiac and use the very stars themselves to defeat their foes. This encounter is something quite different to anything we have done before, and I am really looking forward to seeing how players approach this one in particular.

Then we have a major encounter with the emperor himself, and the players will be faced with a momentous choice involving some of the characters they should be very familiar with by now. Battling the Emperor will be no easy feat, and will test all that you have learned in raid combat up until this point. The cool part though, is that there is also some great storytelling in this encounter that I think people will really appreciate. It is the start of solving the mysteries of Khitai!"

These encounters will then pave the way for the final Tier Four encounters later in the year, as the players have to solve those mysteries ... but first ... the emperor awaits!

To find out what other improvements and additions where added with update 3.3, please check out the official Update Notes on the Age of Conan forums.