Age of Conan definitely wants to get you hooked for months to come, if not through its exotic Rise of the Godslayer expansion, then by dangling sacks of goodies for availing the long-term premium subscriptions.

For the 3-month premium sub, players get an extra 14 days of game time, 5 additional character levels and an owlet pet.

Meanwhile, the 6-month sub rewards 30 days of game time, 10 additional character levels, and owlet pet and the Warlord’s Cache, an account-based collection of consumable potions, scrolls and foods.

The grandest freebies are attached to the 12-month premium sub; gamers get free 60 days of game time, 15 additional character levels, the owlet pet, the Warlord’s Cache and Wings of Power, a wearable item at level 40 that gives a 10% XP boost. And yes, these leveling flappers can be shared among all your lowbies.

Funcom said the subscription perks will be given out until Sept. 30, 2010 so you have more than a month to enroll your account. And if the bundle price makes you think twice, just think about the savings and grind-less convenience these freebies have to offer.

For a more detailed list of what’s inside the Warlord’s Cache, read the official post at the Age of Conan website.

Rise of the Godslayer, the much-awaited first expansion for Age of Conan, went live today with minor hiccups usually seen in major content releases. The undisclosed glitches seem to be centered on the EU community and will have a domino effect on the US release, according to a post from Senior Assistant Community Manager Oliver ‘Tarib’ Kunz:

We are extending the downtime for the US servers by 4 hours due to the issues that have cropped up during the EU deployment of the expansion. Unfortunately, the EU regions have already been delayed and we are expecting their release to come very close to their expected uptime.

This means that we must delay the US uptime so that we can fully launch EU first and the follow up with the US launch like every other major update released. Overall, we are aiming to come up within the 2 hour extended delay, but it highly depends on how the EU deployment goes when it’s fully launched.

Rise of the Godslayer is set in the Asian-inspired continent of Khitai, and opens up 12 new team dungeons and quests for Hyborian heroes. Funcom Game Director Craig Morrison also said in an interview that progression will revolve around the 12 new factions in the expansion. Players will have to deal, scheme or battle against these factions to obtain faction armors and other rewards. With so many factions advancing their own agenda, it becomes crucial to choose the side that offers greater rewards or a more exciting storyline.

The land of Khitai is a sprawling landscape broken down into five game play regions. Newly made characters will still have to start in Tortage before heading to the Gateway of Khitai for level 20-40 quests. Existing players will be taken straight to Gateway of Khitai via caravan in Khemi then proceed to explore the level 80 quests hubs in Northern Grasslands, Chosain Province, Kara Korum and Pai Kang. Be sure to get tiger and wolf mounts which lend and exotic feel to Khitai travel.

Check out the full Rise of the Godslayer patch notes to learn about the cool new features, including the Alternate Advancement System that grants bonus abilities when you’re logged. Yeah, how cool is that?

Delays have been pretty much par for the course in Age of Conan, but its developers have been trying very hard to turn a new leaf.

Another win for them is speeding up the release of Shrines of Bori, an outdoor PvP pack originally pushed back due to production clashes with the upcoming Rise of the Godslayer expansion.

In a blog announcement yesterday, Game Director Craig ‘Silirrion’ Morrison said Shrines of Bori will be part of the 1.07 update being released in the next few days.

This means AoC players can soon capture shrines and bash altars all day long in the Border Kingdoms: Cimmerian End. Guilds who can hold one of the four altars long enough to trigger a “sacrifice” will earn PvP xp, tokens, glory Renown and a 15-minute buff.

Judging from its mechanics, Shrines of Bori requires a lot of teamwork to accomplish smoothly (or if you’re lucky, very low participation from the opposing team). But hey, that’s the way we roll in Age of Conan right, spoils and glory to the best facebasher!