F2P or P2P?

Comments

• bmjames80 Member Posts: 49

  September 2007

  AO Classic is free to play.  That contains the original AO and its first expansion, wich is a buttload of content.  AO is the 2nd MMO i ever got hooked on.  Absolutely great game, with tons of things to do.  It has a hard learning curve at the beggining, but once ya get it down you'll see that it is the most complex, indepth MMO still to date. 

  
• Kartuhn Member Posts: 139

  September 2007

  One recommendation for anyone attempting to play AO for the first time is to wait until you have at least one relatively high level toon developed before diving into the expansions! The learning curve is very steep and the content is phenomenal even with the basic F2P account. If you wait until you understand the game and the mechanics of your chosen profession you'll enjoy the expansions even more. It can be extraordinarily frustrating at first so just give it some time and be patient with how your character(s) grow.
• courtdog Member Posts: 73

  September 2007

  AO is an excellent game. What the others have said is very true. Before you start creating toon, reading about the professions first. I would recommend an Adventurer, since they do good damage and can heal themselves. You will notice that when selecting a profession a difficulty rating will be shown. The implants and symbiants used to boost your toons potential is by far the best customization feature "EVER". I have yet to come across another MMO, with something similar.
• Davynelord Member Posts: 122

  September 2007

  Like already said, AO classic and it's first expansion (notum wars) is free.  Shadowlands, Alien invasion and Lost Eden expansions you have to pay a fee for those and then a small monthly sub from there on (which comes out to something like $9 a month if you sub for a year).   The Free game (nicknamed Froob) is always said to be on a limited trial basis.  Currently it's supposed to end sometime in january 08'.  However, FC gives the free play a one year deadline every year and they always end up extending it another year....it's been around for 3 years now.   they have in-game ads to help pay for us to play AO classic for free so as long as that's the case many players believe FC will always continue the free program.   It does help keep the AO classic area populated though, most people with expansion rarely come to rubi ka (where froobs play), they are usually in shadowlands.

   

  I've been on  a froob account (2 accounts in fact) for about 2 years now.   If FC ever ends the froob plan or I simply get bored of AO classic (haven't yet, still got many professions to level as they all play very differently) then I'll most likely upgrade both my accounts.    It is a good game and definitely isn't geared for casual players in my opinion.   Casual players can probably expect to spend a couple years just leveling 1 profession as their is 200 levels to gain as  a froob and another 20 for paying customers.

   

  Also, it has been said that FC plans to upgrade the games graphics starting sometime next year....not definite date was given though.   They have already did a major upgrade to all the game servers so that tells me they will do it.   Since they are still actively developing expansions and adding new content all the time as well, that tells me the game plans to be around for many more years to come.   I believe FC thinks these upgrades will pull in more paying customers since the game will basically become a little more visually pleasing for todays gaming standards....remember AO is a 6 year old game....but still one of the best MMO's around in my opinion.

   

  Lastly, like others have said, if you plan to upgrade to paying customer to get the other expansions, first level up a single profession first to learn the game as it will make playing the expansions easier.  The Classic game is already tough to learn and play as it is, adding the extra things you need to know in order to play the expansions will just make things that much harder.    It's pretty common to have people abandon the game before they reach level 20 due to it's difficult learning curve (especially for less experienced MMO players).

   

  I recommend less experienced players start with the following professions......adventurer (the player friendly jack-of-all-trades), martial artist (cheap and easy to play), enforcer (tank of the game, great damage, can take a beating) or maybe even fixer (pretty straight forward and highly fun to play).   All these professions are pretty much self-sufficient, don't need loads of money to play and aren't complexed to play.

   

  On the other end, for more experienced MMO players, well I say choose any profession you want except for Agent.   Agent should be one of, if not the very last profession anyone should try and play.   However, if you feel confident, have patience, are a fast learner and have lost of MMO experience....then you certainly can try an agent (but not as your first profession).   The reasons are because AGent is the not so player friendly Master-of-all-trades.  Unlike the Adventurer who can basically take on the function of any professions role in a team environment (depending on how you build it up), the agent literally takes on a slightly lower and slightly lessor role of any of the other professions (except shade and keeper).    Agent's use false profession (FP) nano formulas to temporarily morph into any of the other professions in the game.   While in FP mode, the agent must know all the inner workings of the profession he changes into.   compound that with the fact that you must buy, loot or earn nearly 75% of all nano formula's and items/gear for all professions in the game just so you can be effective in FP mode...well it all makes Agent the hardest profession to play as you need knowledge of every FPable profession in the game.   If you simply play only as an agent, well lets just say you won't be that great because what makes agent great is FP.  

   

  I personally started as an adventurer, then nano-technician, then soldier, then engineer.    I never got the NT, soldier or engineer past level 30.    Then because I'm a very experienced MMO player, I decided to try agent as my 5th profession....I'm a very quick learner and I have lots of patience....however, Agent was very difficult to play and I spent most of my time developing him...he's now my highest level toon, with my meta-physicist not far behind him.    I now have played and leveled every profession past or up to level 60....as well as FPing them with my agent, so I consider myself to have pretty good knowledge of which professions are easier or harder.    Like if you don't mind micromanagement, pet classes can be fun to play...but you have to do a lot more management and be tactically aware with pet professions (engineeer, meta-phsyicist, bureaucrat and trader somewhat).

   

  Also read up on your some guides players have written on the official forums and go over to AOfroobs.com to learn more about free player restrictions and other things before you even load up your first game session....you'll need to know a lot of things if you wish to have some fun early on...it can be mind numbing to start out.

   

  Good luck and hope to see you around Rubi-Ka....I'm always happy to help new players if needed....
• arvinder Member Posts: 7

  September 2007

  rappelz is much better in my opinion

   

   

  I RULE