Hoping all this trouble is worth it.

mith

Well, I have finally given into my friends pleas and decided to give AC a whirl.  The only problem is that some higher power doesn't seem to want to allow me to play.

First Problem:  MSN Gaming Zone decided it didn't like my comp enough to install the zone files correctly.  Called AC tech Support went through everything with them, came to the conclusion that the quickest and least amount of headache fix was to format.  Well okay, I keep everything I need backed up on another comp anyhow so thats fine.

After a few hours I've got my compy back on its feet and as good as new.  Time for the new problem.

Second Problem:  This game HATES my router.  Yes I understand all the port forwarding that needs to be done and to disable any desktop firewalls I may have running, I've also tried the delete cell.dat fix.  And yet no luck.  Worked with tech support for a bit on this issue.  When I get into portal space I am able to get an initial connection to the server, and tech support is able to boot me manually.  The biggest problem is after about 10 seconds my router decides to stop sending/recieving packets to and from the server.  Tech supports solution, try a router or cable modem other than the Toshiba PCX5000.  Frankly I agree, it is one of the least supported modem/routers I've heard of, but hey its what my ISP provides in my area, and you get no monthly discount for providing your own router.

So now I wait for a friend to try to find me a cable modem I can trade mine out for.  The good thing is I have a bunch of xbox buddies who have halo lan parties and most of them wouldn't mind switching out their linksys surfboard/router combo for my wireless/ethernet/usb combo modem/router heh.

Anyhow back to my main question, if any of you made it this far

I played UO for 7 years, co-ran a player run shard for over 4 years.  I've looked into AC for about 2 weeks now, and it has the main thing I'm really looking for, a skillbased character system.  I don't really like the lack of a true crafting system, but hey thats something that can be looked past.  I plan on playing on Thistledown, as 5 of my RL friends play there.

The main things I'm looking for are: Playability, Role-Play Friendliness, and things to keep you interested at end-game level.  I came here as asking my friends would just give me some pretty biased answers since they all want me to play so much.

Playability:  I don't mean how much their is to do, but how does the game keep you interested.  Like I said I played UO for 7 years, and thats just because the game system is great, and hunting IMO is never really boring.  Also since armor wears down, you always need to go out hunting etc to be able to buy more, unless your a mule, unless you don't mind getting your ass handed to you by other Pk's or APK's.  I've given a try to a few other MOG's such as EQ, SWG, Planet Side, Horizons and even Anarchy Online.  SWG held me for a bit just because it seemed like the game system wanted to promote roleplaying, their mood system is one of the best "extra" features I've seen yet in a game.  Yet the game still got boring pretty fast.  The skill tree system is nice, but I feel a bit too restrictive.  The rest of the games were either too easy to play, or too linear in play (such as EQ and their boss based zone system).  What can you tell me that makes AC different, or give me ideas that make this game interesting enough to keep a loyal playerbase for so long, even with its ups and downs (and as with many MOGs that have been around as long as AC, there have been many from what I've seen.)

Role-Play Friendliness:  What I mean here does the actual ingame system do much to support roleplaying (I see that there is a lot of lore for AC and the story arch's look awesome, but is there any features built into the system to promote roleplaying?)  Also as I said earlier I will be playing on Thistledown, and was wondering if there are any RP oriented Monarchy's on the server that anyone could give me some info, or a link for.  I will be joining my friends PA initially so that they can help me get the swing of things in the game, but I plan on role-playing 75% of my time ingame, and its not a much supported RP monarchy.  But I don't want to go play on a different more RP oriented server, because the main reason for me playing this game is to hang out with some RL friends in a game that looks enjoyable.  So any thoughts on how well RP can be done on AC, and how well if at all RP is supported by the player base or individual Monarchy's that are RP oriented would be appreciated.

My final concern, end-game enjoyment:  Now I've read that the levels are basically a gauge of your power, and not really anything else.  You can continue to increase your skills attributes after you are at level 126 and can in a sense continue "leveling".  I actually like this system, but what is there to do when you feel your character is as far as its going to go.  Most games I've played I ended up going PvP at end-game levels because there was really nothing interesting to do at end-game besides PvPing and Role-playing.  Now I love both of those things, and they can be a lot of fun, but are there things like end-game quests or places to hunt to keep players at these levels interested if they don't want to go out and hunt other PvP's.  Any suggestions on this issue would be really appreciated.

AC looks like a promising game, even if it is a much older one.  But for one who still MUDs, Out dated graphics aren't really a big concern for me   Yes I could go and look up Monarchy websites and ask them directly, but I feel you get knowledge by posing questions directly to the general public than just reading a FAQ or Info page.

Also yes I do plan to eventually PvP if AC can hold my attention that long, but not on a place such as Darktide.  I PvP for fun, not as a way of gaming.  Also  I know there are some exploits out there that players can use to gain advantage in PvP, but they seem not really bad and may be tweaked down the road.

Anyhow any advice or info, or just a friendly post is appreciated.  Thanks much to any and all who took the time to read this Probably way too long post.