F2P AO:Classic?

just2duh

 "Play Anarchy Online with no subscription fees until at least January 15th, 2011. Now includes the Notum Wars expansion!"

 

 So it seems AO is free to play, exactly how free is it? I understand some expansion content is unavailable, but what else is missing or not included in a free account? Any level caps, or other game-breakers to know about before playing?

Harafnir

Nope.. its just free.

Oh! right... If you pay, your character will be just a little bit better, since paying characters get a specialisation tree. Its real nice. But otherwise than that... Its pretty much just free. And amazing.

Unknown

AO will remain f2p as a "froob" till AO ceases to exist.

Things you miss out on when being froob are:

- slower leveling. It becomes quite a bit slower at level 60ish. 

- weapons and armor as a subscription player will be better than ones you can obtain as a froob, except for some professions at specific levels. For example, at 60ish, an enfo froob twink could put on weapon of similar quality to an enfo paid twink.. however, the paid enfo will have perks backing him, and a higher ql version of your weapon (speaking about the CoH weapons such as Panther, Howlet, Chirops, etc)...

- Won't be able to play Shade and Keeper classes as a froob.

- Max level of 200, rather than 220 with expansions.

- No research levels (70 research levels possible I believe)

- No Shadowlands/alien/lost-eden perks (make a huge difference when it comes to the defensive and offensive power of your character.) 

- Its very hard to compete with paid player twinks as a froob, especially when just starting. As you level, the gap of abilities between a "froob" and a paid player continues to increase. At REALLY low levels it ain't all that bad. Trader lowbie froob twinks pwn. Docs too. Meh.. Thats pretty much it really. People will argue that other froob classes do well as a lowbie. Maybe enfos at VERY low levels.. but really.. but when you get into the level 30s and 40s.. a decently twinked paid player that knows how to play should wipe the floor with any froob twink. Doesn't matter how well twinked the froob is really. 

 

Things you gain being froob - These are pretty much purely opinionated:

- Perhaps the EPEEN of being froob is enticing.. it is to some people. Having an a decent froob twink can be fun, even though you get stomped sometimes. I've seen some kick arse 60 enfo froob chirop enfo twinks and 74 MA froob twinks. When it comes down to skill and the way you play your character, you can kill a lot of paid players that don't know how to play, with a froob twink, at lower levels. 

- The dungeons as a froob are far superior in terms of how interesting and fun they are, as opposed to expansion leveling zones and instances. The only draw back, and rather large draw back, is the substantial difference in exp gain.. 

- LORE! more fun to role play as a froob! I don't know.. heh.. This is probably totally not true for a lot of people but I enjoyed role playing when i was froob, and being an expansion player never made me feel the same way. 

 

 

Conclusion advice - Give the free version a shot for a few months maybe. It is a lot of fun even without the things that the expansions offer. Experiment and have fun with the implant mechanic, which is, in my opinion, the most enjoyable mechanic AO had to offer. Shadowlands expansion will give you the fast exp and 220 level cap, as well as a ton of new options, and it costs only 5 bucks a month now by it self... get that later, you shouldn't be disappointed . 

 

Hope you enjoy the game!

 Signed - Holyheart

Harafnir

Well, he DID say AO Classic, so I THINK he knows he will not get the other expansions and their content. But hey, it was a nice attempt

logansmom

Every year since 05 they renew the free to play program and only recently they allowed free accounts to access there official forums.   I find it strange they did that because froobs felt excluded for such a long time, whats changed now?.  The gap between a free player and paid is huge for example a paid lvl 60 twink may have 1k more health and 2k more armor and 500-1k more skills from items and perks and research.  So what happens is f2p players mainly just play with other f2p or just stay away from pvp all together.  Since the game is old and they don't advertise the population is really low.

burmese

And, as they have mentioned, they won't advertise until the new engine goes live.  Doing so before that would just be throwing money away.