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If we could skip the damned Shadowlands to get to 220 then I would love to return.
Mr_C
Member Posts: 112
AO was my first MMO, and it still holds the largest spot in my heart of all MMO's I ever played.
Then Shadowlands was released. AO is brilliant, only until the moment I set my feet into Shadowlands. Then it becomes so bad that I feel I am on some psychedelic drugs. And the higher up I get in the zones, the weirder & worse things becomes. Shadowlands is the worst of all expansion in any MMO I have ever played.
I bet my head that if FunCom could let us level to 220 without setting a foot in Shadowlands, alot of players would return. I would at least. Heck, I wouldnt mind if I could get to 220 even only by Alien Mission; which would be ridicolously easy to implement.
It's been ages since I played, but even back last time I played it was hard to gather groups in Shadwolands. If I am not completely wrong, things have only gotten worse as the time has goes by since then? Such a shame, cause AO is a game with an insane potential. Too bad it is a pain to get to 220.
I would love to hear me wrong here, so if anyone has something new to tell me that AO has now implemented something new of a system that either allows us to solo to 220 without too much time sink OR something extraordinary has happened regarding leveling to 220, pretty please let me know.
Comments
200 regular levels + 20 Shdaowland levels which are the "max level", then 30 Alien levels added to this aside. Enough pts, perks & traits to develop your charater with (VERY sandboxy feeling!).
AO is by far the most complex MMO ever made. It is a gem. Unfortunately it got ruined by Shadolands (my opinion), with it's psychedelic setting without sci-fi; just a bad trip in a medival landscape packed with super-hard-to-kill mobs (especially for newbs)
Not neccesseraly.
There are "Froobs" in AO, which are the free acounts that gets access to vanilla AO. Many/most if not all that has a paid account usually have a "Froob" account for buffing, banking, and/or transactions etc.
Froob accounts is max level 200. Then you can add to this 20 levels more, getting to 220 if you have Shadowlands expansion. You can get 30 Alien Levels as well from a 3rd expansion "Alien Invasion", but these levels are offering perks/traits, not "max" levels.
I miss playing AO, but the graphics are so out of date that it bugs me a little.
Any one know when they are bringing out the graphics engine update?
I also loved AO back in its day...the most underrated MMO of all time in my opinion. I only made it to level 167 tho heh.
I recently went back to check things out and OMG, those graphics were painful! we're talking graphics so old they needed carbon dating. If Funcom redid AO today with updated graphics that made the game's graphics on par with today's games, it would blow all other MMOs out of the water.
And also....if you hung in there for 200 levels, what's 20 more?
Remember Old School Ultima Online
Aye, the payment system wasn't great. It is rather odd or was when I last played. Original level 0 - 200 free but the expansions cost monthly... each. Now how many expansions are out? Quite a lot of money. But if and when they update the graphics engine then it would be worth playing it with no expansions, but if they want to make money then they will have to change their payment method otherwise people would just stick to the froob.
Well for me shadowland is a great expension i had a lots of fun with it. I dont know why you hated it so much.
I dont know if there is a new way to get to lvl 220, maibe the best way to find it is to ask on the official forum.
For me i would probably play again if the new engine was release but i dont have much hope.
What the...?
I love SL and enjoyed leveling through it. One of my favorite zones in AO.
Cause you can solo quite easy to 100ish, but after level 100 things gets insanely much slower. After 200 it is virtually impossible to solo without risk getting mad; people stop soloing around level 100, cause the time sink is just not worth it. It is not unusual to hear people have tried to find a team for 3 days without any luck.
The 20 levels after level 200 is "not only 20 more levels" since 1 level after 200 is around 10 regular levels. The higher up in level you get, the fewer there is around to level with as well as the mobs becomes way harder to kill. There are people around who can level fast, but these are the "elitistic" ones of AO, and does not care at all about lower level players except themself and/or a few of their friends. Another "option" is to pay massive ammounts of credits to "professional levellers". The amount of credits these charges is so high that it is impossible for a newb without buying credits on ebay.
None of my RL friends who I played AO with liked SL. It was so bad that most of us stopped playing AO and left for other MMO's. We returned occasionally, but unfortunately SL expansion was the beginning of the end for AO as I see it.
All my friends loved SL. And that was the only reason why we stayed in game for so long. But don't think how that matters though.? or it is the old trick where people starti mentioning friends, families and even their dogs and cats to give more weight to their opinion?
AO is an old game, that is the only thing working against it. SL infact brought a lot of players back who were getting bored of classic AO zones. Pandamonium raids were the highlight of AO back then and most fun i ever had raiding and zerging. So to say SL was beginning of end for AO..maybe for you. Don't be too hasty to speak for rest of us.
I only played the Shadowlands expansion and I really enjoyed it. The zones were brilliant and different monsters was good also. I really enjoyed my Adventuer, I played on the German server as I had better connection there and it was good for a young lad (at the time) to interact with people from another country for the first time.
Once the graphics engine is updated I will take a look, but from what I heard they are making it so it has the same amount of graphics as Age of Conan. So it may not be perfect but its better than the old carbon dated graphics, hehe.
I can't say that I hated the SL but I am with the OP in that I would be very happy if I could play AO without ever setting foot there again.
SL cost me most of my org, friends and led to me quitting once I got to the range I "had" to go there.
It did not belong in AO.
Kind of like pandas and pekomen in WOW.
Shadowlands killed AO for me.
It did not fit the lore.
It made most of the equipment from Rubi -Ka worthless.
Most of the people I knew in game tried it and hated it. Then they left.
Some of the skills would not work in SL. ie Grid armor, Yalms.
SL seemed like a different game, like they were trying for Everquest ver 1.5.
Anyway those of you that liked it, you are welcome to it.
I think it literally was from another game - they basically ported the content straight over to reuse the assets after said game fell through.
We all know how it went for AO after SL was released; straight downhill; it; AO was nearly killed instantly after SL. Those who were left like it, but the majority disliked it, even hated it like me.
Put any newb from any game into Shadowland and most of the will wonder if itæs made by programmer with some mental disorder; cause a worse nightmare of an expansion does not simply exists.
SL has nothing that even resembles a Sci-Fi setting as well as morbid places (in a negative way) where you have to search for exits of the zones for hrs upon hrs IF you are even then able to suceed without either dying from some ridiculously OP mob or from choking from some stpid gas where you are trapped in.
If I was a billionaire I would give FunCom 100 million nkr to tear SL out of AO then devlop something playable for the money.
I rate Shadowland 0/10; and I am even considered an "AO fanboi". Shadoland is just bad; TERRIBAD. When I get my toon to 220 I will NEVER set a foot back in Shadowland again. I just have no pleasure whatsoever in self-torturing me.
I made a shameful "Please help me in Shadowland" add to my LFT status some days ago as I was on the brink of leaving AO yet again due to me unable to handle the Shadowlands, again. It is the smartest move I have ever done since I have tried comebacks since 2004 and failed due to Shadowlands:
2 lovely ladies sendt med ingame tell and wondered what I needed help for, and I said truthfully "everything; I need be carried. My character is a totally outdated toon and I really would love to get to 220 since I have tried numerous comebacks but failed miserably everytime and I love AO so much".
The 2 ladies picked me up, then took me to Penumbra where we (actually they lol) killed a boss that dropped the ring for the Penumbra zoning portal! Then they even gave me Hold Hell At Bay as well(!) No need tosay; I was speechless. After that they took me to the shortcurt from the alien area into Penumbra where ppl gather for Inferno missions and I saved there. These ladies help in a few hrs in the late night/early morning was more than I had achieved since 2004 after I started trying all these comebacks.
I used Maw of the Abyss then changed into dual wielding Alien pistols (also given by ladies to me),I regeared a bit + perk reset, and went from 6500HP to 11500HP too! My toon is now transformed from a pure laughingstock of a wimp to one who now can hold his"own" little ground that finally "packs some punch", and most important of all I am having fun soloing in Shadowlands (which I never thought could happen). I can even finish some Alien Missions alone now; which I struggled with just killing the regular ones before and had NO chance finishing any!
Needless to say; I am extatic about what these 2 gorgeous ladies did for me and I will forever be in debt to those as long as I meet them ingame; they have saved AO for me!
On top of this I have become a member of a very friendly Organization that consists of mature, laidback players that are extremely kind & helpful. I have to underline that I am very humble that I have gotten all this help as I feel I have like "nothing" to contribute with other than pocket the Elysium Hecklers (which I really enjoy). Motivation is on top, things are going forward and I now have a real hope of becoming 220 for the first time ever
Please; if any of you have a good idea what I could do to show my gratitued to these 2 ladies and the Org, let me know. I really want and will show my gratitude for what they have done to me. I havent any gear or such to giv them that is anything other than old froob stuff, but if I could do something cool for them, a small RP'ish think, I might be lucky to make them smile a bit
Thank you for taking your time reading this.
AO used to be like that. I doubt the ladies would expect anything in return, this was common practice. Everyone helped, there were leveling teams in every heckler spot in Elysium and Adonis etc. In Inferno, in the Tuin place, you had to "queue" for a spot in the team. Yes, leveling was long (no idea how it is now), my first 220 took 18 months (learning the ropes took a few months only), but everything leveling-related was made in a group and every minute of it was a blessing. Have been in a great org though.
Of course Shadowlands would feel bad and weird for someone who goes solo. AO is a team (group) game, NOTHING shines in AO if you go solo. All those beautiful symbiants and the work you have to put in order to twink them in, the factions, the Pande raids, the Inferno key (Sanct key also) pattern gathering, the unique mobs to kill for patterns and rare drops, the runs for the Inf boots, the Pen glasses and the Pande ring, or the simple pattern runs, the SL class-specific armor ingredients gathering... lots of fun. Shadowlands was a great expansion back in its days. It somehow does not fit in the lore, that i agree,
Proud member of Riders of the Lost Org.
Omni-Tek Protects.
Thank goodnes it has kept those nice ladies ingame
I have no problems that you need team upp to get the goodies, my main problem with AO, en especially Shdaowlands is that you need to be in team. Now that AO has become extremely elitistic, the game is a hell for newbs and people who would like to enjoy the game a bit on their own, maybe just get some levels. That is just not possible when you get to a certain point without risking you sanity.
Still; I really would like some tips wo repay them ladies, in any cool way. I know thye don't want anything back but they have saved this MMO for me which I have loved since it's release. Without them I would dtill be jumping between lots of other MMO's but ALWAYS thinking that the "coolest thing would be to have a 220 in AO whatsoever".
Yes, your first paragraph is one of the reasons i'm not playing anymore (other ones being lacking motivation in doing anything, i've got "everything", did everything a million times, my friends aged and got caught in real life). Lots of old (most of them rejected) players turned into elitist pricks. They do not realise that, without supporting the new blood, their game will die. AO was designed so that you always are in team, unfortunately.
You already did repay the ladies by staying in the game and joining their org. Trust me, that's the most important thing for any nice and sane player out there. AO would die without guys like you who still want to be part of the crowd and appreciate this amazing game. Now i remember the moments when i used to set my alarm clock at 4AM to wake up, not to miss Beast or Tarasque... AO is truly an amazing game and you'll see that now, because you have what seems to be a strong org, new things will really open up for you. Unfortunately, the game is VERY newb-unfriendly, and lost lots of great players because of that - people reaching 60-100 on their own, then realising that they cannot do anything alone and giving up - it's a somehow normal attitude, with so many other games out there which have better graphics, smoother gameplay, being way more intuitive etc.
My "goal" is to get me 1 level each week. If I can get that, then my motivation will be there until I get my 220 doc and can start be totally self sufficient (almost).
And yes, AO definately need be more newbie friendly cause it looses player day by day. Some do come back for short while cause they are fed up with all the brain dead MMO's outthere, but I bet they soon leave again, just because it is hard even for a 220 to find motivation alone in Anarchy Online. Such a shame, cause the game is brilliant and has such potential. I could care less about the GFX there, just give us more solo content and it would be a blast.
They allready did and it should be a blast for solo players right now.
Its not even possible to give more solo content ,close to everything is allready soloable.
Well next step is boost canisters that you can drink and while doing nothing your character gains 100 levels or 200 ,and the amazing thing is,those things are really coming.
It is like soloing v2.0 ,less you do,more you get.Ultimate MMORPG.
Let's internet