First up a word from Game Director Gaute Godager on the subject of guilds and the Prestige classes on all the interest shown amongst the community.

"I thought I would write a section for you about the balance between guild- and solo play. This has generated a lot of heated debate on the forums, which is something we really do appreciate, honestly, and it does inspire us to make sure we get this balance right.

The core of the question is: can we give any advantage to social gameplay without affecting negatively some peoples’ perception of solo gameplay? I guess that is impossible. The problem is, I want to reward people for being social, without alienating the true image of Conan as a truly solo friendly game. I have thus decided on making a compromise for the social classes, the Prestige Classes as we call them. The compromise is to let all abilities be available for your social class, but simply in a somewhat weaker form. You are barred from nothing, but you can not reach your full potential.