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I'm probably the biggest fan of this game that never plays it, lol
TekDragon
Member Posts: 19
I have the official strategy guide and I still read it (along with my other guides) when I'm using the bathroom. I loved the concept of the game, loved how customizable the classes were, loved the idea of the crafting, etc.
Yet every time I tried playing I just couldn't get past the low levels. It always got frustrating soloing and, for some reason, I could never find a group of people to play with (unlike every other MMO i've played).
But I still pull out the official guide every few months or so and read it for a few days and think about giving it one more shot 
Comments
I have the novel and read it twice. Watched the episodes more than twice when the game first came out, and have been keeping an eye on it ever since. I wish shadowlands didnt come out. I'm coming back to the game in a little bit. I just wish they kept with the storyline.
I wish they re-made AO but with graphics to fit the decade.
I have a very good pc and AO is lagging (eq2/wow doenst and its a lot more demanding)
I like the concept of the game and everything, the complexity but I cant stand the environments / landscapes / graphics. Some of the stuff looks ok but when youre walking on an almost totally green texture for 10 minutes and occasionally spotting some rocks/trees you just cant take it anymore. Its poorly made and I just cant spend my time on something that looks like its made with no love.
personally, i'd rather play a game with good game play and diversity, rather than an eyecandy clone any day.
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TheCore
If the only thing that's keeping you from coming back is finding a team - come join our clan on RK-1. We have 1800+ alts and lots of regular players - avg online count is between 20 and 50. We always have teams forming and plenty of helpful people to answer questions that come up.
So quit dreaming and get playing! It's much more fun.
Contact Beekeeper or Gunzfx on RK-1 and let us know you found out about us on the mmorpg forums.
I don't know what you are smoking but you need to put it down.
AO is a bit behind graphics wise but that is eclipsed by its far superior gameplay. The dedication that went into coming up with back stories for a majority of items, the purely tourist spots in AO where one would visit to see something that the creators threw in just to add a little extra scenery (like those giant faces carved into the landscape), dynamic background like those giant alien carriers that would block out the sun when the passed over wailing wastes. Other seemingly trivial but pleasing fluff that showed a dedication to craftsmen ship.
Of course its not just the fluff that makes the game. AO is the MMO that should set the standard for all the others with its wide variety of activities and absorbing quests.
Those koean mmo's especially could learn something from AO.
If you are not being responded to directly, you are probably on my ignore list.
I don't know what you are smoking but you need to put it down.
AO is a bit behind graphics wise but that is eclipsed by its far superior gameplay. The dedication that went into coming up with back stories for a majority of items, the purely tourist spots in AO where one would visit to see something that the creators threw in just to add a little extra scenery (like those giant faces carved into the landscape), dynamic background like those giant alien carriers that would block out the sun when the passed over wailing wastes. Other seemingly trivial but pleasing fluff that showed a dedication to craftsmen ship.
Of course its not just the fluff that makes the game. AO is the MMO that should set the standard for all the others with its wide variety of activities and absorbing quests.
Those koean mmo's especially could learn something from AO.
I really wish I could feel the same
In essence, what I mean with my post is that I dislike the traveling aspect of the game. I read a post in a thread below this one and a guy wrote exactly what I felt and it was the traveling part of the game thats annoying
I often wonder how this game would have turned out if it had not had such a miserable release. It really was a very decent game once bugs/servers/ lag were fixed. The problem is they lost tons of future revenues due to people just not willing to put up with what I still consider the worst release of all time for a MMO.
Still, AO was a building block for MMos because of it being the 1st game to implement private instances.
In a time when there really is so little innovation in MMOs, I still think back to games like AO which tried something no other game had to that point. Instances became 1 of the most widely copied aspects of MMos and AO was the 1st.
I hope companies today are willing to at least try new ideas the way the developers of AO were.
I don't know what you are smoking but you need to put it down.
AO is a bit behind graphics wise but that is eclipsed by its far superior gameplay. The dedication that went into coming up with back stories for a majority of items, the purely tourist spots in AO where one would visit to see something that the creators threw in just to add a little extra scenery (like those giant faces carved into the landscape), dynamic background like those giant alien carriers that would block out the sun when the passed over wailing wastes. Other seemingly trivial but pleasing fluff that showed a dedication to craftsmen ship.
Of course its not just the fluff that makes the game. AO is the MMO that should set the standard for all the others with its wide variety of activities and absorbing quests.
Those koean mmo's especially could learn something from AO.
I really wish I could feel the same
In essence, what I mean with my post is that I dislike the traveling aspect of the game. I read a post in a thread below this one and a guy wrote exactly what I felt and it was the traveling part of the game thats annoying
I take it you never tried the grid?
I often wonder this, too. The release was a nightmare, but there really was a great, innovative, fun game buried beneath the bugs and lag. It's too bad Funcom couldn't afford to wait a year or so to fix the issues before releasing it.
nope, Fixers can hack into the grid and teleport theselves around right?
That might be something..
edit: something thats saddening aswell is that I have this computer
XFX Geforce 7600GT XXX edition
AMD Athlon 64 x2 3800+
2048Mb Corsair 533Mhz RAM
and while Anarchy Online my fps is low. I can play BioShock without fps problems for crying out loud
But lets say I were to create a fixer, what should I spend my IPs on (If its not too much to ask) and which server (in your opinion) should I roll on. It was a while since I played and I only got a fairly good agent to level 17 or something.
I am somewhat puzzeled by the response concerning travel since there are numerous and easy ways of traveling. Whompas, grid, fixers grid, yalms, calias parrot, teleporting if an engineer is in the zone you want (have used that method on occasion, rarely available but can happen)
If you are not being responded to directly, you are probably on my ignore list.
Hmm quick question. Does froobs get any expansions?
No, but really you have plenty to do on RK anyway.
If you are not being responded to directly, you are probably on my ignore list.
Fr00bs get the Notum Wars expansion as part of the free game now. Allows them to post towers and gain benefits from them. Also allows access to some vehicles.
~\_/~\_O
There's the regular grid and the fixer grid. Regular grid has a terminal in most zones then the fixer grid (there's a self-only and team version) has multiple exit points in almost all zones and is entered from regular grid terminals. Multiple profs have nanos that can stuff their char and/or team into the regular grid from anywhere on RK. There are also beacon warps on RK for engies to bring people to their location. Add the whom-pahs and a yalm on top of that and getting around RK isn't too bad at all.
In SL there are statues all over each area you can use to get to and from one of the two SL sides sanctuary and/or garden. SL recall nanos for engi and MPs can bring people in their team to their location (little more involved than the RK engi beacon warps). There are garden/santuary keys to get you from one to another plus vet items (beacons) to help you get to or from SL and RK.
Getting around in AO isn't bad at all, if you have to go way out to the ends of RK where there are no handy access points you could be flying about in your yalm for a few minutes from the nearest one but generally (especially if you're a fixer) you can get around in pretty good time where ever you need to go. At earlier levels and when you're poor you're slower and it takes longer but before long you can get all over quite nicely.
.
Regarding performance the current graphics engine (an updated one in in the works) is from back when the graphics engine of a game relied largely on the CPU, not the video card (it is an older game and that was the norm then). In fact AO can play better on some older machines than newer ones as some of those had CPUs with extra help for graphics. Lower some of your settings then the in game ones that will make the biggest impact are the two distance ones. Press F10 in game, then select Preferences > Visual > View Distance and move the two sliders there to the left as much as needed. Those control how far another player needs to be for you to see them (you'd still see their names floating there, just not them) and how far you can see things like trees, objects and the like clearly. After some tweaking you should be in good shape.
I understand some people only need a good gameplay, but I agree with you. I cant play a game with outdated graphics. It's probably unfair for a good game like AO, but, is a matter of taste I think.
As for the graphics, I prefer AO graphics over WoW graphics, for example. On the other hand, WoW can play on even gimpier PC's than AO. AO avatars have a wider range of emotes than most other MMO's (thinks of games where you can't even 'jump'), the night skies are excellent, trees and bushes sway a bit in the breeze, etc...
~\_/~\_O
Im really fond of the atmosphere of AO - the classes are so different and the world is completely fresh but the game mechanics are stale and even the merchant npcs seem to have hyperinflated prices - its so difficult as a complete n00b that it just doesnt seem worth the effort.
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Note: PlayNC will refuse to allow you access to your account if you forget your password and can't provide a scanned image of the product key for the first product you purchased..... LOL
Still AO was one of my first MMOs and I love it.. I just wish they'd make a AO 2, because in honestly, modernizing/improving gameplay would probably make an NGE and no one wants that...
Not to say that it's a bad game, because it certainly isn't..
Funcom has said they would be updating the graphics code and smoothing out the kinks in the game by updating its code to something more modern. They have stated that the graphics improvement isnt going to change the game overnight and that most things will look the same, its just that at that point they can choose to use more features for their graphics, and take advantage of directx 10. I dont know if you've ever played the game, but the graphics in AO have nothing to do with your graphics card, its rendered via your cpu, which was a horrible way to do it and probably my biggest pet-peave with the game.
Im all for them freshing up the game and making some new and exciting changes, id like a little bit of some class revamp or even add a few more classes in. I want to be immersed in my cyber-punk/sci-fi game not focus on its problems.
I think funcom's stubborness in refusing to fix their mistakes for so long and just trying to patch them has been their biggest downfall. The agent class has always been broken and practically non-functional with no clearly defined role besides replacing another class horribly. Rubi-ki needs to be revamped and touched up to make it worth going back there again, the first step was the TOTW but that was pretty much their last good effort. LE to me was a disappointment, and i was hoping it would add something new to pvp, but it just added more headaches, because in the end, they fixed nothing, they didnt revamp anything...
I hope these upcomming changes are funcom shouting that they are finally going to change.
AO was the first mmorpg I ever played and got me hooked many, many years ago. The initial game was great, but SL really destroyed the game for me. The game got schizofrenic and everybody and their mother went to SL and the cities back on rubi ka were all but deserted. I tried going back a few years ago but couldnt stand it. Today the graphics are far too outdated to grab my attention. I'm probably a pretty demanding customer since I wont play a game that doesnt have great gfx AND substance! Back in its glory days AO would get 10/10 from me.