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Does no one think that AO lost it's sting?
tck_tokyo
Member Posts: 125
Hey everyone,
Anarchy Online was the first MMORPG I ever played, and I absolutely ADORED the game when it came out. Sure there was lag, and bugs, and I had a worse computer, but what I loved was that it was an authentic, original sci-fi game with a variation of good and bad players, and a really fun community. A few months in to the game I ran out of time and had to suspend my account for a while, eventually I came back and everything was different! Firstly way too many people are a ridiculously high level, the few lower level players that were around were often alternate characters of people who already had big time characters, and in that sense big time connections to people that could offer them some big time power leveling. I guess the point I'm getting at is that it became spoiled because the game is so reliant on the leveling system and what level your character is, which firstly isn't all that much fun, since all you do is get a higher and higher level to fight higher and higher mobs (in essense this is what many RPGs are about, but many can find more discreet ways of doing it which make it feel like more fun) and well the other problem with so many high level players was that it lost it's entire feel of realism.
For some reason that community that I was with before seemed to vanish, no one was interested in just talking, or doing some realistic trading or exploring, or having fun in some city, etc, everything was about how fast you could level up. It got to the point at which I felt that it started feeling very 'nerdish' if I dare say so.
Trying SWG I found that they took alot of the problems I had with AO and fixed them, very decent game but it wasn't for me either, I played SWG for a few weeks and then decided that it wasn't for me, but don't let this get your hopes down, I'm trying to sya that SWG is a fantastic game, plus it has a much better property system, there's more emphasis on exploring and entertainment and all of those old factors that I was missing from AO. Plus with JTLS coming out I don't think AO stands much of a chance. Basically I think another one of AOs problems is that the producers were working too hard on trying to make more high level items and programs and making everything more complex when possibly they should have been worrying more about adding features and improving things like character animations which look kind of like crap now compared to other games, for example.
I wish AO would have become more advanced graphically and with a wider variety of features and some of the emphasis on leveling should have been flattened out into other game factors, adding something like space flight even would have taken away some of that 'nerdish' feeling and been a huge improvement for the game, this would probably have been a much better idea than adding 68 expansions. Now it looks like it's too late in the game to start making changes, I'm quite certain the population will simmer down, I don't think AI will save it. It's ashame though because it was a fantstic game with fantastic potential. Anyway, it was a wonderful experience and it introduced me into the genre so it does have a special place in my heart (wow that sounded gay, but you know what I mean).
I think AO has lost it's sting, but that's just me. What do you think?
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I love rain, the color gray, and small apartments.
I hate CS, the term n00b and this thing --> ^^
But that's just me.
Comments
I feel the same way. It will always be the one that pulled me in and wrecked my free time
I had mega fun on AO and lots of marathon sessions but now I don't even see how you can get into a group. There is nobody around and what is left is all high levels. I think AI should have come in the place of shadowlands and that is only if AI adds to Rubi-Ka and not some other area that will make the player base even more fractured. The point I am trying to make is when you allready have a massive playiing area add to what you have so the players can still find each other. Funcom is working on another game, I am stoked to see what that one will be, in the mean time see you in EQ2 or WOW.
People just moved on to higher playfields.
Mostly in SL. Still is the game with the best content I know of and AI is going to bring a lot of new stuff. I'm as excited about the game as when I started playing it.
nope game is going strong.. Loving it..
Im sorry but anyone who says that this game is still going strong is kidding themselves.. That or they have no clue what this game was like last year this time and earlier...Ever where you went from noobie backyards to well almost everywhere there were people running, sitting, chatting, selling.. You name it...
The chat channels were full of people and so were the zones..Tower wars where going on ever 20 mins it seemed like.. People were trying to find groups non-stop, the powerlvling places where locked up, the dungeons where full of people (so much so it was hard trying to actually get in the zone with your team), Huge Raids where constanlty going on...
Then SWG came and hit SO with a Sucker punch (it wasnt too hard but it hurt alittle) then the AR nerf patch came and it was a low blow but still AO staggered on... Then came the haymaker (S freaking L) now this was alittle more then could be handled.. Long term Vets bailed on the game quicker then sh .. Huge Orgs left to never come back... (god I miss my org and its ememy orgs who left)
AO is a ghost town now compared to what it used to be.. I dont buy this crap about its not that people try to spew... I dare someone who is in the know to post some numbers to prove me wrong.. Some legitmate numbers that is.. Its sad cause prior to SL Anarchy Online was perhaps the best game out there and would have been for a while to come...Shawdowlands ruined a great game and destroyed alot of great orgs.
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You see, every mammal on this planet instinctively develops a natural equilibrium with their surrounding environment, but you humans do not. You spread to an area, and you multiply, and you multiply, until every natural resource is consumed. The only way you can survive is to spread to another area. There is another organism on this planet that follows the same pattern. Do you know what it is? A virus. Human beings are a disease, a cancer of this planet.-Mr.Smith
I don't know anything about shadowlands... can you tell me a bit more about it and why it's bad?
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EVE-Addict
Anjelle [Freelancer Union]
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I love rain, the color gray, and small apartments.
I hate CS, the term n00b and this thing --> ^^
But that's just me.
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I love rain, the color gray, and small apartments.
I hate CS, the term n00b and this thing --> ^^
But that's just me.
My personal problem with SL (specifically) is the linear 'level' design. FC wanted/needed to stop players (specifically the higher level ones) jumping right to the #end' content, 'completing it' in a few months and then going back to saying there was nothing to do/no high level content
Thus SL has to be progressed through in a linear fashion with each zone being completed before being able to move on to the next one. I didnt stick around long but I believe theres a lot of MOB camping needed in each zone to collect the correct multiple components of a specific item (similar to sections of the shoulderpad quest/fixer grid quest)
AO is still going strong. Accusing existing players of delusions .. well, you're the one who make assumptions based solely on your own misinformed "understanding" of the "new" AO
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Well, the world changed, in some aspects it changed a lot, some ppl moved on, others stayed and new arrived. I can understand that some don't view AO as the AO they started playing. As an analogy, consider your small home town, you grew up there, had your friends there, your life was there. Then you went away for school a year or two, when you came back, ppl had changed, some had moved on, new buildings and new ppl, the feeling of the place wasn't the same. So what do you do? You either adapt (the new place isn't nessecarily worse, just different, and in the case of AO, it has been greatly improved in many aspects), or you fall out, moving on, or whatever.
Yes, I've been lucky, I am part of an large, active and involving org, this helps a lot. And we kept the org in other games as some moved on, connecting the people cross-game-and-time. Many, I'd say as many as 90% of those moving on to these other games, have came back to AO even tho they could play with the same community in other games, the reason AO beeing the better game overall.
I don't have real numbers for you (FC will never release those numbers), but an estimate will be about 2000-2500 online on RK1 on average, peaking during weekends on 3500 or so (ok, wild guessing but still
). On an average, high lvl mass pvp is about 150+ players, maybe as much as 200+ in peak hours.
Much babble, point is, AO is far from dying and AI will make it stronger. Lets just hope that FC has something up their sleeve concerning character graphics ... starting to look a bit dated.
The industry standard for the intended shelf life of a successful MMORPG.... is 5 years.
AO has been out for 3+ years. It has already re-couped ALL the money invested into it. Right now it has roughly 50,000 accounts. It IS a successful MMORPG. A runaway success? No. But it is a success. If AO stays online 2 more years, then it will be running itself from a buisness P.O.V. The same way EQ now runs itself. (EQ cost 5 million to make, it has grossed between 200 million (conservative est.) to 400 million (liberal est.) so far. It has a 40% profit margin!).
AO cost roughly 10 million to 15 million to make. From a buisness P.O.V. it is profitable enough to not be in danger of getting canceled. The real, major, undoing of AO, was NOT the release of SWG. It was the horribly bug filled release of the game itself. During its first 4 to 6 months of release it was 100% UNPLAYABLE for the majority of players. They left. First impressions are everything. AO has never fully recovered from its horrible release. BTW the major game bug AO had was a sever memory leak that made the game unplayable the more one kept trying to play it. The AO game DEVs finally listened to the players and fixed that major game crippling bug. By then AO was going on being 1 year old, and lost toooo many players who had horrible memories, horrible first impressions of AO.
The moral of the story is.... never ever release a MMORPG if it is not 90% or more ready and playable. SWG almost suffered the same fate as AO. The game DEVs theirselves rallied the fans to get SWG postponed by 3 months. SWG was unplayable the first day of release, but by its 2nd day, the majority of players were able to play it.
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MMORPG games I've played:
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http://community.webshots.com/user/xplororor
Star Wars Galaxies:
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http://community.webshots.com/user/capt_xplororor
More games:
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http://community.webshots.com/user/xplororor_archives01
Just something I wanted to add. Make new friends. My org completely vacated the game and I left for several months. I am back and have joined a new org, and made many new friends. The game is fun if you put some effort into it. Yes, the team channels are very empty these days. But I can barely get through Borealis because of all the peopl in front of Free Trade. There are still people haning out at OA hill. Searc haround, find some people to team with, talk to people on the main forums. I got the AO bug back. And I think AI will make it better.
AO became just another timesink when it introduced shadowland.. anyone remember Frogloks from EQ? Well thier just named Hecklers in Shadowlands and lok like rock instead of frogs. Smae thing.. kill rocks , over and over and over and over and over again if you want to level. not only that you must compete with other teams to kill them over and over and over and over. Great animosities exist just in that action.. trying to level and better your character. Ubsurd timesink which is no fun. Hoping Alien Invasion will help with the droll boring lame crap that is Shadowlands
Not sure what server you are on but Adonis Hecks are camped 24/7 which is way more than 7 people in the zone.
Few people set around in the cities or the gardens they go out and do stuff with their orgies. Those you see in the cities or gardens are usually looking for a pick-up team or selling stuff or providing TS services.
Loved AO. Loved Funcom. The game was magical. Jumping on the roofs of buildings, hanging out in bars and nightclubs, doing missions with friends ; generally having a blast al lthe way around.
The patch before Shadowlands killed it for me personally, that is when they nerfed jumping. When Shadowlands came out it was essentially EQ. Farming/camping for uber gear and loot... over time RK just kinda emptied out, with everyone levelling off of hecklers.
All the socialness pretty much left in my opinion. Hell you couldn't even teleport from SL to RK except for once every 4 hours. Good luck getting your high level guildie trader to come back just to make you something. If you didn't have the transpot perk, get ready to run your ass off and take portals home (yeah right) that's going to happen when they've been camping the same dungeon for 8 hours straight trying to get the pieces for Inferno boots.
SL ruined AO. It was a sad day when I realized I would never be happy playing it again.
Huh ?
Getting from SL to RK and vica versa is very easy....
From SL, you just go to the brink in any zone, and jump off... voila you end up on Rubi-Ka..... yalm up and fly to closest grid/wompah and you can be anywhere in no-time.
Going the other way is also easy.... for omni's, wompah to 10-3, then use your SL garden key on the anchient statue, and voila, you are in the Garden of the Key you used.....
Doesnt get much faster or easier than that....