Age of Conan is going free-to-play! Following in the footsteps of titles like Lord of the Rings Online, Champions Online and Pirates of the Burning Sea, Funcom will re-launch the game as Age of Conan: Unrated this summer under a hybrid business model. This means you'll be able to play the MMO for free or become a premium subscriber to gain access to extra content. And of course there will be an in-game shop where you can spend Funcom Points.

Your first question is probably, "what's the difference between free-to-play and premium?" Funcom's put out a content overview that showcases the differences, as well as a FAQ that will answer most of your questions. For example, free-to-play players will start off with two of 18 characters slots and have access to four of the 12 character classes. All outdoor playfields in Aquilonia, Cimmeria, and Stygia are available to all players. Some dungeons are free, while others require passes and expansion purchases. You can see the free-to-play vs. premium content chart after the jump.

Funcom is adding the word "Unrated" to the game's title because it's going for the full "barbaric, brutal and sexy" experience you'll find in the original works of Conan author Robert E. Howard. Age of Conan has always been for a mature crowd, but it looks like they truly plan to embrace the unrated route with the re-launch.

To put things in perspective, Age of Conan is celebrating its third-year anniversary this month. Also, this free-to-play switch will tie in perfectly with the release of the new "Conan the Barbarian" movie on Aug. 19. In fact, Funcom announced yesterday that a new in-game adventure pack will include content from the film.

Free and Premium Content Overview