That game brings to much complication into an MMO if u like to figure alot of shat out then this game for you otherwise dont bother wasting valuable MMoRPG hunting time lol anywho this game will not amuse you for very long it brings upong great bordem
Well. I started playing this in Januray. paid 6 months with SL expansion.
I made it far enough to be a 208 Nano technician, with enough money to buy me gear, 80 mil Yalm and other stuff.
the game is oke, but very unbalanced at the moment. The professions adventure is basically the best prof in game, it can do anything and never dies in pvp nearly.
The developer suck badly, they don't do much and the game is a bit empty imo.
After level 200 you need groups to get to 220 and sometimes it takes forever to get a group especially for a Nano technician, the suckiest prof in game.
I got bored now i wanne play something else, it's oke but imo everquest was way more fun for me. Can't compare it to other games.
Originally posted by lyzah I played AO for 1 year - it was fun cause the system was very different from what I played before. But its not well balanced as many already said. BUT NOW THAT THEY STRIPPED THE PRICES lol I think its a good MMO to try. And: beginn with an adventurer. L.
Yup, if you're going to suffer through it, Adventurer is the best class to start with. It's the most forgiving.
Personally I couldn't stand the game. Fantasy Game dressed up as Sci-Fi.
Currently Playing: Dungeons and Dragons Online. Sig image Pending Still in: A couple Betas
Well, I have played AO, amongsy others, and I have to say, it's a nice game, it's interesting, but i have to agree with one of the other posts here in that it felt more like a job. It's a very complex game, and the graphics are a little messy, everything sorta looks alike and blends together into a visual potluck.
Did that make sense? Anyway, I got bored of it in two weeks although I found there were people who were very nice and helpful, I think partly because most of the people playing are AO veteran's. Most people starting games are starting with W.O.W or FFXI. I DO recommend FFXI over AO, btw.
Of course, that is just my opinion. The userface could be a little more friendly, there's not alot of "fun" things in the game. It's very dark and... serious.
I cancelled my account about 10 days ago. There are countless issues about Anarchy Online nowadays, they were pointed out and discussed in its section on this website. I'm not going to repeat them all again. I've got some nice memories which mostly belongs to beginning of my AO experience. However the higher level I reached the more frustration I suffered. So I decided to quit, it's over. In my opinion Anarchy Online needs a complete revolution about every element of it.
By the way, there's nothing to lose when you play with a free account, yet sooner or later you will have to buy Shadowlands to level up faster and for some advantages expansions bring. I suggest you to consider carefully when you get that stage. When a game gets addictive you're unable to judge it objectively and AO is very addictive and competitive. Most people ignore its major defects as they put a great time into their character development, but I pay for it monthly, and I want to see defects sorted out and things got better.
Give a try, you will enjoy as hell at your first levels.
Had you asked me a year or two ago, I would have told you that AO was the best option for a MMORPG; but now with games like EQ2 and WoW, it has become obsolete: The relatively small zones that constituted AO (in terms of area explored without having to load at all) have now been surpassed by WoWs massive continental areas. The pvp that was once (somewhat) unique to AO, but very restrictive cannot vie with the large continuous pvp zones of WoW. The class skill set was very well done, but exclusively weighted (until the implementation of the expansion, where skill trees were introduced).
What set apart AO from its counterparts before the arrival of WoW, was its freedom (the grind could barely be felt before the expansion): You had massive areas (albeit with loading) to explore with so many different kinds of mobs (and Im not talking about textures, but MODELS) that sci-fi/creature fans would have an incentive to explore for the views as well as the quest items.
Also its random mission generation feature set it apart: Instead of a set number of npcs to give you a finite number of quests you could use its awesome random quest generation system (along with a third party program that THEY ACTUALLY ENDORSED!) To find items that you needed...
The three-degrees of freedom in AO were also implemented nicely with the terrain, so that you could often use the three dimensions to your advantage, or to immerse yourself in the game.
What might have been my favorite feature was the ambience itself: The amount of detail put into the game was staggering: Caves often had hidden carvings within their texture patterns with messages or evil toothy grins.. There were places such as "The Subway": A dark and gloomy subway system that ultimately lead to an awesome looking monster boss. Or the gothic-cyber-punk style of the cities.
There were even hidden extras (such as a dance club), or restaurants with a twist of dark-humor (human remains used as decorations)..
In its time, the details were astonishing (and you will not find them in any of the new games, ironically).
The world of AO is expansive as well: Its along the lines of 2-2.5x the size of WoW. Or EQ2 with surface area taken into consideration (I can say that even with half a year of dedicated play that I havent seen every nook and cranny in the game).
The combat system is so much like WoW, that you will think that it was even inspired by it: You have a point and click system, but with moves that require some timing or positioning to execute.
However, the tactical moves didnt come until the expansion.
So why didnt AO become the EQ killer that it should have been? I entered the game when it was at its prime: I had almost never crashed or experienced anything other than lag, but upon its launch many users had trouble running the program and so it was doomed by its first impression.
Despite its failed launch, AO picked up some momentum with all of its new and unique features that its servers could barely contain the crowds playing (I mean..: with two servers how many people can you expect to play at the same time in a 3d environ?). I would definitely have to say that if the devs had pulled their brain power together, received some extra funding for servers and paid more attention to their player audience that they would have created a MMORPG that nothing else could have rivaled, but.... it didnt happen:
The expansion Shadowlands did introduce some very useful features (like Skilltrees) that furthered the complexity of its char creation system, but it did something moronic that essentially made the old AO defunct: Both in drops and in experience, the new areas that were only accessible to Shadowlands users made the VAST areas found in the pre-expansion no longer necessary to explore and als The new areas werent equipped with random mission generators, because the new areas that were introduced werent 1/10th the size of the pre-expansion so that the incentive to explore new areas for quests that would give items no longer existed.
To further make matters worse: Shadowlands not only cut off the old AO from its expansion, but also didnt introduce enough quests or unique models and land-area to the expansion to prevent the vicious grind that begun almost during mid-game; because of the limited surface area people would have to camp a certain type of mob over and over again... for the drop of a certain item (EQ anyone?).
So, after the expansion, the immense, complex cities of Rubi-Ka (continent of the pre-expansion) became empty. The expansion users still had access to the old Rubi-Ka, but since there was little incentive to hunt or explore, they were now merely a relic of the past.
Oh...and I almost forgot to mention: In the old Rubi-Ka, the storyline was updated (not daily, but every week or so) with some sort of new event that would try to spur conflict between the two enemy factions (although there was a neutral faction as well that would occasionally become hostile to one of the other factions) .
If you do plan to play AO, spend as little time as possible in the starter areas: Explore as much as you can of Rubi-Ka through missions or for some obscure sub-quests that you can find through fan-sites (if they still exist). The subway is also a great place for low-lvls to explore and lvl while finding items that will aid them for the lvls to come. I hope that funcom and its developers pull their heads together one last time and introduce the next step of innovation that the genre badly needs (not only the polish found in WoW and EQ2)
This is a sequence of characters intended to produce some profound mental effect, but it has failed.
For the life of me i dont know what current mmorpg´s have copied from AO, mission terminals?
Every single mmorpg that has Instancing, personal missions. ( If you cannot name which current mmorpgs have instancing and personal missions, then you prove you have not been playing any mmorpgs lol!)
And yes, every mmorpg that has "mission terminals"
Every single mmorpg that allows characters to fly in the sky (*ahem* City of Heros). Heck if it were not for AO, CoH would have never been thought of or invested in. Just the idea of it being possible to have characters fly in the sky with full atmospheric flight was unheard of before AO!
Any mmorpg with underwater adventures. (Not even EQ had this. There were some monsters in the sewages, but that was not underwater heheh.)
Every single mmorpg that allows players to enter and exit a city without having to load. AO further pushed "non-zone" technology to its limits and then some.
hmm, i think SWG did a better job at it, more streamlined and interesting, skill system?
SWG admitted they copied from UO+AO = SWG. SWG is obviously a more modern game than AO, so SWG would have a better chance to further build on what AO originally did. As it did with UO - by also further building on what UO originally did.
well, skill system were already in use by UO well before AO was launched, i for one think it was the other way around,
AO revolutionized even what UO did. AO mixed Skill Based with Level Based. AO is 50% skill based and 50% level based. The last time I checked, even UO never allowed players to re-set all skills for a character. AO for the longest time allowed players to not only reset all skills, but to re-set specific skills - over and over as many times as a player wants.
Currently at present time in AO, it no longer has this. It has a dumbed down version of what it first had for years.
AO was supposed to be a scifi game, instead it borrowed classe models from fantasy games, like the MP with his pets, MA in a future society with laser guns? wouldnt last long, the over abundance of melee weapons when the game is set in the far future? SWG made the same mistake, but they have corected it somewhat with buffing ranged weapons.
1. Yes AO is Sci-Fi. Next, it borrowed nothing from fantasy games. Many Professions in AO can have pets, not just the MP. No fantasy game allows soo many different classes/professions to have pets. In AO a MP ( Meta-Physicist) can also fly in the sky like superman. Please name me a single fantasy game that has classes that can fly in the sky like superman? I am talking full atmospheric flight. (CoH eat your heart out heheh.)
2. Yes there are Martial Artists in AO. And guess what? They can use laser guns! It is the choice of the player if they do not want to use laser guns. And if you ever take the time to read up on the background story of AO, there are no humans. The humanoid MA can legitimatly get shot and still battle based on the background story in AO. So sorry but in AO a character can indeed use melee weapons and indeed last long.
3. There is no "over abundance" of melee weapons in AO. AO has an insane amount of all types of weapons. Insane amounts of different types of guns (laser guns, radiation guns, fire damage guns, cold damage guns, poison damage guns, electric damage guns, and much, much more.) As well as conventional melee weapons.
4. AO's story line is about a new planet discovered hundreds of thousands of years in the future. New colonists on any planet will indeed use melee weapons, heck any weapons they can get their hands on.... when battling. Even now in our modern warfare time soldiers, elite soldiers (Army rangers, Navy Seals, etc...) must learn high level MA, and use of melee weapons. What happens when your ammo runs out? What happens in close quarter combat? What if you get shot in just 1 arm - no longer abe to shoot your gun?
AO was never really good to start with, i preordered the game and it ended up burning me from preordering any more games in my life, it is prolly the worst launch in MMORPG history,
Everyone has agreed with this! AO did so have one of the worse game launches ever. It has since done a complete 100% turn around. It currently is one of the greatest mmorpgs ever made. As far as the worse launch in history? Re-read what I posted before - WW2Online took the title from AO. HZ then took the title of worse launch in history. AC2 then took the title and currently has kept it.
i checked back after each expansion, SL further makes up my mind that this game is just another fantasy mmorpg wanna be, AI had a poor launch, almost like the initial AO launch, it was heavily bugged, the new gameplay features were poorly implemented and in the end it was never worth the price tag, Funcom should learn from EvE what quality free expansions mean.
Yes, AO has had its problems. But it has had far more positives than negatives. If you personally dislike AO, no problem. From your post it shows you never checked out the current AO. Did you actually play in Shadowlands? Did you actually play in Alien Invasion? Taking over land? Battling other players to defend your land?
My point is, AO is not worth the agravation even if the core game is free, the mission grind is beyond words, you have virtualy no quest content apart from some poorly designed quests that dot the landscape here and there.
Umm sorry, but you are incorrect..... the current AO has an insane amount of quest content. Not just the personal missions, but regular quests too. AO has some of the best ever dungeons ever done in any mmorpg. It has personal missions/instancing, as well as standing dungeons that all players can go into. There are no zones in the dungeons. Temple of Three Winds dungeon is a NICE example of the incredible features, and game play in AO.
When was the last time you have played AO? What is the highest level you have reached? Did you ever engage in PvP? Did you ever engage in battles to take other player's land? Did you ever get to destroy other player's defenses?
Originally posted by Yeebo I thought it was pretty fun personally. Still one of the better instance systems, imo.
Don't try anything too crazy for your first character. Go for something newbie freindly such as an Adventurer, a Martial Artist or...I'm spacing but there is a third class that's Ok for beginners (Soldier?). A few of the classe are supposedly pretty broken right now, but the random four or so I tried all seemed fine. Finally, I found it was a lot better to manually download the patches from the AO website and install them myself then wait for their client to do it.
Calling Advy's and MA's newb friendly? ur kinda insane?
There are no easy classes in AO .. AO is hard and will always be hard , go for the class that you like the most and stick to it thats all
Yes there are easy classes/professions in AO. There are more newbie friendly classes in AO. In order from easiest to hardest are:
First the easiest breed (in other games known as the race, species) is Atrox. The hardest breed is Nano-tech.
In AO it is called Professions (in other games known as classes). Order of easiest to hardest:
Martial Artist, Enforcer, Meta-Physicist, Adventurer, then which ever. With Agent being one of the hardest. And Nano-Mage the absolute hardest of all to play.
SOrry but i dont understand where you be coming from, where do knife fighters fit in today society? they dont,
They do. Please tell all of us why modern elite military are still trained in the deadliest hand to hand combat like Krav Magna?
Get off your lazy bum and rent the recent Lethal Weapon movie. That move Jet Li does in taking apart Mel Gibson's gun is a real life move. What did Mel Gibson do after Jet Li crushed his gun? Mel Gibson's character did not know good hand to hand combat and got smacked down.
if someone comes at me with his fists or a melee weapon in the far future where i have acess to energy weapons... that someone would not last very long,
What if that person were not a human? Again, read up on AO's background story. No humans are in AO. Just humanoid looking beings on another planet. You can shoot someone like Superman, Colossus, The Thing, The Incredible Hulk, as long as you want with your energy gun LOL! While you are re-loading they will have a chance to take you out.
and to be honest i did read the sotryline for the game and it lacks any serious forethought, nanos beeing the way funcom justifies the "magic system" ? they must think we be all stupid, nano machines as a tecnology is not even remotly capable of such a thing, the whole Rubi Ka story line is a mess, scifi mmorpg´s that want to be sucessfull need to have at least some science behind them, a thing AO lacks, more like it never had any at all.
Oh man, YOU need to do some serious, serious, research! Modern scientists can now write words on molecules! Nano-technology is currently doable in its earliest stages. Since AO takes place hundreds of thousands of years in the future, it is very possible nano-technology would be in its hey day considering our modern technology is a measly 100-200 years old!
SWG can get away with many of the ingame systems because it was always set in a galaxy far far away as the movie title screens showed, so it could do all kinds of unrealistic things because its not based on our galaxy and we dont know that the laws of phisics aply there, but AO was suposed to be a progresion of earths current timeline.
SWG is a far worse example. SWG must rely on the Star Wars lore to define it. The Star Wars lore litterally revolves around magic over science. *ahem* midichlorians living inside of you? Giving you magical powers? And again YOU need to do some serious research!
Remember that little, unknown, movie called ET ? In Star Wars, ET and his family, make an appearance. ET traveled to earth in the 1980's in his movie. He then travels to the Star Wars galaxy! So that "galaxy far, far, away" is not that far away, nor that "unrealistic".
Next, there is no such thing as "realistic". A very famous sci-fi author once said "Science fiction has a looong, looong, way to go before it catches up to science fact". Did you know there are Pyramids on Mars? (Google "Mars, Pyramids"). There is a sphynx on Mars too. The planet Uranus has been knocked over sideways by something. 3 new planets have been discovered (re-discovered is more like it) in our solar system (NY Times March 16, 2004 issue. Discover Magazine November 2004 issue).
Check out the 12th Planet book series by Zecharia Sitchen. Ancient societies on our planet had star charts showing all our planets, in addition to more planets. Some which are being re-discovered in the past 5 years. Go google "Antikytheria Computer". People had computers as far back as 2,000 years ago. Go google "Piri Reis Map". You try explaining how someone made an ariel map of Antartica before it got its two mile thick ice cap. It is a map of Antartica made from the air, showing rivers, streams, lakes, ponds, etc... Antartica was warm enough to have rivers 12 million years ago.
Another well known sci-fi author once said "Magic is what we call superior technology". Meaning the technology of ancient humans is what we today call magic (teleportation, casting "spells", etc...)
How the heck did Johnathan Swift know Mars had 2 moons, AND know their measurements? Decadesbeforeanyscientistworldwidediscoveredthe 2 moons of mars and took their measurements? Swift wrote his info in a sci-fi book heheh.
Indeed, but when we are talking of a society heavily modified with nano tecnology, if we imagine 2 beeings with equal enhanced reflexes, the one who can damage at range is the one who has the advantage.
No one in AO has equal reflexes. There are different skills in AO. For example in AO there litterally are 10 or more skills associated with guns. And that is before we go deeper into different types of guns. (If a player uses a monster 2 handed gun, he needs different skills than a player using a one handed gun.) Then there are different types of guns! Just like in real life different guns shoot at different speeds no matter how quick on the draw you are!
So no, but you are incorrect, the one who can made ranged damage is not always the one with the advantage. And we have not even factored in the type of armor, or the type of ranged damage. AO has the most types of damage out of any mmorpg ever made. There is radiation damage, cold damage, hot damage, poison damage, electric damage, and much, much, more.
I agree that martial training and combat is necessary in todays society, but can we say the same of a space faring society?
What does the ability to travel in spaceships have to do with martial training suddently being not needed? In fact, martial training would be more useful, since resources would be more scarce with the colony being light years away from the home planet. With the rich hording resources.
I only treid to make a point concerning the lack of imagination of AO´s classes, they could ahve done much better than the standart "warrior" - Soldier, "Nuker" - Nano specialist, "healer" - Doctor, "rogue" - Agent, "PEt class" - MP, and so on.
No. AO is also skill based. This means anyone can use guns, even duel wield guns! As well as any type of weapon in the entire game - as long as they train in the needed skills. Thus a doctor can be a warrior. A nan0-specialists can also duel wield 2 guns. Everyone can be a healer. Agent has nothing to do with a rogue LOL! Agent is a shapeshifter - able to take on any class in the game. Anyone can be a nuker. Anyone can be a warrior. In AO there are no specifically defined templates - unless a player on purpose wants to limit their own self.
i couldnt get bit torrent on my comp. i hav Free Download Manager. i uninstalled that, but stil couldnt get bit torrent. i may hav messed with settings, active x or something
For anyone who does NOT want to use Bit Torrent, you can download AO at download.com
Well, when i read that any profession can heal as good as a doctor, tank as good as an enforcer or soldier and so on, im left thinking that the game has changed much in a couple of months, no? when i played it only martial artists could use MA nanos, only enginers could use enginer nanos, only doctors or adventurers could heal eficently, MA could heal some, but not great, i didnt see any shades running around with laser guns, i didnt see any MA duel wielding blasters, there goes "any profession can become skilled at any activity in the game as long as they invest the skill points in it" argument, wich is total missinformation, lets face, this game has nowhere near the capacity to diversify professions as UO or SWG had.
The agent is a shapeshifter? my god, that only goes to show how lacking your knowledge is, taken directly from the AO site:
"An Agents life is spent in the shadows. Agents focus on concealment and subterfuge skills and one of their special abilities is going undercover. Doing so enables them to use nanotechnology normally only available to other professions. When it comes to combat, the Agents speciality is sniping opponents with high velocity rifles using unique nanotechnology to further increase the damage."
I played an Agent in AO, amongst other classes, and no i didnt "shapechange", i stood back and fired my rifle and used my nanos, it was mainly a rouges job untill funcom introduced the Shade in SL, how do duel wielding dagger users that need to be behind a target to do extra dmg fit into the sci-fi theme? or the paladin wannabe keepers? its ridiculous.
The argument that COH stole flying from AO is just the dumbest thing i have ever heard on these forums... ever.
Super heros fly on comic books, books that far precede AO, COH is supposed to be a super hero game, as such, super heros will fly in the game because thats what super heros do, it has nothing to do with AO, NCsoft didnt go "hey AO has a class that can fly, why dont we take that idea and use it in our game" pfft.
Nother thing, to say that AO´s dungeons, quests and such are great and well designed, is just beeing so blind that it borders on sheer "genuine article fanboy" category, the camelot dungeon must have taxed the developers imagination, heh? as well as the mobs names inside and the end boss there, hmm?
Im not even going to say anything about the "AO invented the fighting underwater category" what the hell is that about? when did you do any fighting underwater in AO? many dungeons in the middle of the sea?
As can be seen, i disagree on many points that were made, and these comments just go to show the point that ppl go to spread missinformation about the game.
Yup, sorry, yes there are skills and anyone can learn certain aspects of them but your class choice severely restricts what you can learn and how fast you can learn it and how much it costs to learn it.
AO is a Class Level based system with skills overlapped on top of it. It's not a skill based system by far. In a skill based system your profession and level is determined by what skills you choose like in UO or SWG. In a class/level based system your skills are based on your class and level, a-la DAOC, AO, EQ, etc.
AO is a decent game... but it's not skill based. It HAS skills but they don't determine your profession, your profession determines your skills.
Currently Playing: Dungeons and Dragons Online. Sig image Pending Still in: A couple Betas
Well, when i read that any profession can heal as good as a doctor, tank as good as an enforcer or soldier and so on, im left thinking that the game has changed much in a couple of months, no?
You stated that the professions in AO mirror classes in fantasy mmorpgs. In fantasy mmorpgs it is impossible for a Cleric to tank. It is impossible for a Barbarian to be an effective healer. It is impossible for a rogue to tank, to nuke, etc...
In AO anyone can learn the unique buffing system, then get the right implants, and then use a General Nano and be able to do high level Healing, or use a higher level nano to be able to wield a powerful gun, or whatever weapon. Thus a Doctor can effectivly duel wield 2 guns at the same time. Name me a single fantasy mmorpg that allows a cleric to duel wield 2 swords and deal major damage?
when i played it only martial artists could use MA nanos, only enginers could use enginer nanos,
Correct, there are specific MA only nanos, specific engineer only nanos. Now you tell me how Burecrats are able to also get high level pets? Now you tell me how my Adventurer is able to get a high level Junior Wen-Wen pet robot? (Funcom later nerfed them badly LOL!)
only doctors or adventurers could heal eficently,
Incorrect. You have not learned the high level game of AO. AO can be one of the deepest, mmorpgs, with an incredible learning curve - if one decides to study it deeper. Any profession can:
1. Get an implant that allows one to get an even better implant that allows one to get an even better implant.
2. Then get enough NCU's to allow a self-buff, or a buff from another player to further buff them.
3. After doing #1 and #2 one can then buy, and/or make ultra-high level nano's. Including obtaining and using an ultra-high level healing nano. There are ultra-high level General healing nano's.
MA could heal some, but not great,
Re-read my above post steps 1-3.
i didnt see any shades running around with laser guns,
Shades are from a new expansion. I have not checked out shades. Even if Shades cannot use guns (which I have yet to verify) shades are only 1 of many, many, different characters available.
i didnt see any MA duel wielding blasters, there goes "any profession can become skilled at any activity in the game as long as they invest the skill points in it" argument, wich is total missinformation, lets face, this game has nowhere near the capacity to diversify professions as UO or SWG had.
I will tell you what, I will make a MA a few days from now, and equip him/her with duel guns at the same time and use them. Then post screenshots for your viewing pleasure.
The agent is a shapeshifter? my god, that only goes to show how lacking your knowledge is, taken directly from the AO site:
"An Agents life is spent in the shadows. Agents focus on concealment and subterfuge skills and one of their special abilities is going undercover. Doing so enables them tousenanotechnologynormallyonlyavailabletootherprofessions. When it comes to combat, the Agents speciality is sniping opponents with high velocity rifles using unique nanotechnology to further increase the damage."
Re-read your own post. I underlined the parts that prove my point. Agent is one of the hardest professions to play - IF one intends to use them to their full capacity. One has to have a grasp of what every profession in the game can do, and what their nano's can do, instead of just learning about the nano's for 1 profession.
I played an Agent in AO, amongst other classes, and no i didnt "shapechange", i stood back and fired my rifle and used my nanos, it was mainly a rouges job untill funcom introduced the Shade in SL,
A true Rogue is a theif. They steal, they skulk, they sneak around. Rogues do not snipe with rifles LOL! In traditional fantasy mmorpgs, it is the Ranger who "snipes" with his bow and arrow, not a rogue. The Agent in AO has an easier time learning and using rifles aka doing super long range damage. But it is not the ONLY thing an Agent can do. If a player wants, they can train their Agent to use Bow and Arrows, duel wield 2 handguns instead of rifles, be a healer, or use melee weapons, etc.. etc...
And by "shapechanging" I am talking about the ability fo the Agent to be able to use nano's normally only other professions can use.
how do duel wielding dagger users that need to be behind a target to do extra dmg fit into the sci-fi theme? or the paladin wannabe keepers? its ridiculous.
Anyone in AO can duel wield weapons. If they choose to learn that skill. Next, you ask how does this fit into a sci-fi setting? I already answered this. AO takes place on a newly colonized planet. Resources are being horded by the rich. This means whatever can be used as a weapon is being used as a weapon. Daggers are easier to come by than guns. There you have it.
The argument that COH stole flying from AO is just the dumbest thing i have ever heard on these forums... ever.
I did not say CoH stole flying from AO. I said it was AO showing that flying could be successfully done in a mmorpg that led to game DEVs noticing that this was possible. AO was the first ever mmorpg to have full, atmospheric flying. Not CoH. Just like AO had instancing before EQ2. EQ2 did not "steal" it from AO. AO simply showed it could be successfully done in a mmorpg. Which led to other mmorpgs noticing that this was possible. Kind of like how when 1 person breaks the 4 min mile record, suddently everyone else does it, because the 1st person shows it is possible.
Super heros fly on comic books, books that far precede AO, COH is supposed to be a super hero game, as such, super heros will fly in the game because thats what super heros do, it has nothing to do with AO, NCsoft didnt go "hey AO has a class that can fly, why dont we take that idea and use it in our game" pfft.
Characters do fly in comic books. But not in mmorpgs - until AO came along. NCsoft said, hey, it is now possible to design a mmorpg game engine that allows players to fly!
Nother thing, to say that AO´s dungeons, quests and such are great and well designed, is just beeing so blind that it borders on sheer "genuine article fanboy" category, the camelot dungeon must have taxed the developers imagination, heh? as well as the mobs names inside and the end boss there, hmm?
I named The Temple of Three Winds dungeon as an example of what I am talking about. Care to comment on Temple of 3 Winds? You have played AO right?
Im not even going to say anything about the "AO invented the fighting underwater category" what the hell is that about? when did you do any fighting underwater in AO? many dungeons in the middle of the sea?
Go outside the main capital city. As soon as you exit it, make a sharp left, heading west. Sooner or later you will reach the coast. Dive into the water. There are underwater mutant sharks you can battle. Also if you are ever brave enough, go to the biggest river on the map. In the middle of it are mutant Piranhas. Very deadly! Have fun battling them. In one of the cities, there is a giant in-city pool/lake. Inside it is 1-3 giant mutant sharks. You can dive in and battle them.
As can be seen, i disagree on many points that were made, and these comments just go to show the point that ppl go to spread missinformation about the game.
And I responded back. You obviously never been to Temple of 3 Winds. BTW, how long have you played AO? Highest level? Name of server? And the last time you ever played AO? Just so we all have an idea where you are coming from.
I will be posting my screenshots of my new MA duel wielding 2 guns at the same time and using them..... very soon.
I did play AO, in fact i preordered it before launch, got burned with the launch, returned shortly after shadowlands, played trough shadow lands, didnt like it much, canceled again and returned again with alien invasion, wich i tried for a few weeks before all the bugs in the new expansion killed my interested for good.
I played in RK1 server, played several characters, but mainly a MA, i did experienced with implants and i trully didnt find it worthwile to buff skills that were of little use to me as a MA, its beyond me why someone would deviate from their profession´s skill set, as was pointed before, AO is mainly a class/level based game, where classes detirmin your skill templates, its not a bad system and is deeper than the one in most fantasy mmorpg´s, but its far far behind the skill system in SWG.
Concerning the TOTW, i dont think you would want to mention that as a good example of a dungeon, that place is filled with one bad design decision aftert another, first theres the spawn camping, want a tank armor? then get in line with everyone else, want a styg? get in line, want those notum rings? get in line.
Then theres the trains, a person cant move inside that place without agroing every mob in sight, you want to exit the dungeon? run your way outside leading a 30 mob train or fight your way trough mobs so low level to you that they shouldnt agro... but they do... its ridiculous.
About the flight feature in the game, its mainly a gimmic without much use except if you have a yalm, plus, the game having loads between zones kinda breaks any kind of immerison you would have from flying around.
Another thing, and this is more of a personal view than anything else, so i understand how amny might disagree, but i think mission terminals were one of the biggest detractors for me in AO, especialy with third party programs that made it possible to cycle trough rewards, it made mission grinding a very real thing, anyway you choose to look at it, AO has the biggest grind in mmorpg´s with maybe the exception of Lineage 2, AO´s grind is beyond any compreention, after 100´s upon 100´s of missions with very few texture variations on the interior designs, mobs and tactics, it makes for a very boring game feature add to that the fact that AO has very little quest content, and you have very boring gameplay, at least in galaxies you have space combat, deep crafting system, complex player cities, not the cookie cutter AO player cities, theme parks where you could take part of progressive quest lines, AO has none of that.
I keep mentioning SWG beacuse its a Scifi game, AO tries to be one, EvE online is Scifi without a doubt, those are the three competitors in that niche market, and i dont expect AO to gather potential players away from those games when every feature it offers is sub par to the competition.
I did play AO, in fact i preordered it before launch, got burned with the launch,
You have not mentioned exact time. Since you say you "got bored with the launch" one is inclined to see you playing a few months. So you played for what ... 2 months after launch?
returned shortly after shadowlands,
Do you know how many years after launch SL finally came out? LOL! This means you went roughly 2 years without playing AO.
played trough shadow lands, didnt like it much, canceled again
When you say you "played through SL" did you explore every dungeon? All its content? SL is still getting worked on, it is still recieving new content. So it is near impossible you have experienced all of SL.
and returned again with alien invasion, wich i tried for a few weeks before all the bugs in the new expansion killed my interested for good.
You finally give a specific time... in this case you say you played for a few weeks.
I played in RK1 server, played several characters, but mainly a MA, i did experienced with implants
You still are refusing to say what level is your highest character. And what was your character name. (So all the lurkers can look up your character on the AO public profile section heheh. ). One does not start to experience the deep level of implants until one reaches roughly level 40-50. By level 100 one has the chance to experience the deepest aspects of implants, how they work, and their full effects.
and i trully didnt find it worthwile to buff skills that were of little use to me as a MA,
Well, if you did not understand the unique strategy then that is you. Here is an example:
1. MA are the best at hand to hand combat, the best at combat using absolutly no weapons.
2. Make a MA that can also duel wield 2 guns, and he is ultra-unique. While waiting for his physical power-ups to re-power, he can lay down a line of fire.
3. MA are one of the best at using Bows and Arrows. B&A deal unique melee damage.
4. Imagine having a MA who can use Bow and Arrow, duel wield 2 guns? The amount of total firepower available to him is ultra-unique! WHAM! Come in with a bombardment of melee physical attacks and power-ups, then back up and WHAM unload a full clip of ammo from guns then WHAM use the bow and arrow while the gun is re-loading. By time the Arrows are finnished being fired, the MA is re-healed and can start the barrage of attacks again with melee.
At much higher levels many enemies have varying degrees of insane armor protection. Ultra-unique characters really shine when they go up against enemies with various types of armor protection. If an enemy has insane protection against physical attacks, then duel wielding 2 energy guns rips him up. If an enemy has insane protection against melee, then the MA can stay a safe distance while using guns, or do a bombardment of melee attacks, then back off and use guns while waiting for his power-ups to regenerate and he re-heals.
There is sooo many more stratagies associated with ultra-unique characters/templates.
its beyond me why someone would deviate from their profession´s skill set,
It is called experimenting. "I wonder what happens if I try this?". This is how intresting things are discovered in any type of game, arcade, RPG, and even MMORPGs. Heck, in EQ I once saw a gnome shadowknight. Talk about diviating from their usual profession/class and skillset LOLOL!!! In AO a Doctor duel wielding 2 guns is an incredible sight! He has DOTs,(like medical poisons he can inject into enemies) can super-heal himself, as well as deal out major damage the usual way with 2 guns, and/or other physical weapons.
as was pointed before, AO is mainly a class/level based game, where classes detirmin your skill templates, its not a bad system and is deeper than the one in most fantasy mmorpg´s,
And I was the one who pointed out before, that yes AO is 50% skill based, and 50% Level Based. EQ is at the other extreem by being far more Level Based. SWG is at the other extreem by being far more Skill Based. In AO class does not automatically determine your skill templates. Unlike in EQ, in which it is impossible for a Wizard to duel wield 2 swords, or for a Barbarian to learn spells and/or do signifigant healing.
In AO yes, different classes have an easier time learning certain skills. But any class can learn just about any skill. Doctor has an easier time learning to heal, but a Doctor can also use a mega-huge 2h submachine gun, and/or duel wield 2 guns at the same time. A nano-tech does have an easier time using offensive nano-formulas, but a nano-tech can also duel-weld 2 guns, etc... Which makes him even more ultra-unique. He can huke 2 times over and do it non-stop. While his nano-formulas are regenerating, he can empty out 2 clips from 2 guns. While he is re-loading his guns, he can use his now regenerated nano-formulas to nuke.
The equivilant in a traditional fantasy game would be a Wizard/Barbarian unique character - with the Wizard duel wielding 2 swords at the same time, while being able to cast nuke spells. Since no fantasy game will ever allow this, then yes you and I fully agree AO's system is far deeper than traditional fantasy mmorpgs.
but its far far behind the skill system in SWG.
I fully agree. I have always said AO is only 50% skill based. While SWG is closer to 100% skill based. There is a market for all three types of games - 100% Level Based, 50% skill based/50% Level Based, 100% Skill Based.
Concerning the TOTW, i dont think you would want to mention that as a good example of a dungeon, that place is filled with one bad design decision aftert another, first theres the spawn camping, want a tank armor? then get in line with everyone else, want a styg? get in line, want those notum rings? get in line.
This is why AO is super-unique! AO has BOTH static dungeons, and instanced dungeons! Unlike in EQ and games like it - one is forced to camp no matter what. In AO one is not forced to camp. One can simply go into an instanced dungeon. This is why static dungeons (like Temple of 3 Winds) are even more attractive because there is camping yes, but it is not as bad as in EQ. One merely "waits in line" for 30 mins - 1 hour. In EQ the "waiting in line" is from 24hours to 1 week to litterallly 3 months and sometimes even longer!
Then theres the trains, a person cant move inside that place without agroing every mob in sight, you want to exit the dungeon? run your way outside leading a 30 mob train or fight your way trough mobs so low level to you that they shouldnt agro... but they do... its ridiculous.
1. Yes there are trains in static dungeons. In fact, there are trains in every type of dungeon in every single MMORPG ever made. The trains in static dungeons tend to be worse because static dungeons are being shared with any player who walks in.
2. Only a brainless newbie would end up aggroing every MOB in sight while moving around. Players who play smart hide from mobs, move while out of their line of sight (sneaking along the walls), and using the proven method of pulling a MOB then killing it, before moving onto the next MOB, and/or next room.
3. To exit the dungeon, one uses the same methods in #2. AO has 2 main servers. (I know , htere is a 3rd server, but it is German only. But the majority of the world speak more English than German. ) There is always a path through the MOBs made by other players whenever one wishes to exit the dungeon. But yes there are times one must run for the door heheh. The majority find this fun. It is just like playing football. And it is very possible to do this successfully! Very few MOBs can outrun you!
4. Actually it IS possible to get litterally more like 100+ MOBs on the train after you LOL! I usually only get a train of 8 MOBs avarage by playing smart. I have never ever had a train of 30 monsters after me. Only a brainless newbie would ever bring that down on him/her.
5. MOBs aggro for different reasons. Many do not aggro if you are high enough level. But many will aggro on you even if they are level 4 and you are level 50. This can be Role-Played that their boss who is always higher level than you - is commanding them to stop you - even it it means automatic death for them. Heck, this has always been done in war in real life! It is called the Hamburger Hill scenario. A commander will tell troops to stop and enemy, even if it means automatic death for ALL the troops!
About the flight feature in the game, its mainly a gimmic without much use except if you have a yalm,
Flight in AO is not a gimmic. It does have a use. And it can be done many different ways. Flight serves as unique transportation. Quick transportation. Fun transportation. Just like it servers in CoH. Trying to degrade it as a gimmic means everything done in every mmorpg is simply just a gimmic. Housing in UO, spaceships in SWG, factions in EQ, teleportation in EQ, flight in CoH, portals in AC, etc.... etc...
Flight in AO can be done with airships/spaceships aka Yalms. It can be done by shapeshifting into a winged animal. And it can be done by simply flying through the air like Superman.
plus, the game having loads between zones kinda breaks any kind of immerison you would have from flying around.
AO is inbetween being a zoneless game and a zone game. The zones in AO are mega-huge. 1 zone in AO is roughly the size of 4-8 zones in EQ. AO does a nice job of not "breaking immersion" that badly. Even when one finally reaches the zone boarder, the load time is not long enough to make the game unfun to play aka break immersion.
Another thing, and this is more of a personal view than anything else, so i understand how amny might disagree, but i think mission terminals were one of the biggest detractors for me in AO,
Well, you did say this is your personal view. In defense of AO, it is your view vs the view of the 50k players in AO, the 300k players in SWG, the 2+ million players in WoW, the 200k players in EQ2, and the hundreds of thousands of other players in any other mmorpg that has personal instantcing/personal missions. AO was the first to have this revolutionary feature, all other mmorpgs saw AO do it, and put it in their mmorpgs. So it was really a mega-plus for AO. One of the most positive, unique things about AO.... based on what everyone else's response was.
especialy with third party programs that made it possible to cycle trough rewards, it made mission grinding a very real thing,
AO on purpose allowed certain 3rd party programs to be used. This further helped the loyalty of players to AO, instead of AO fighting and banning every single player who used a 3rd party program. But again, it is only your view that 3rd party programs made mission grinding far worse. To the majority of other players, it made the grind far less of a grind - and I agree with them. The specific 3rd party program you are talking about is called "Nano-Nanny".
anyway you choose to look at it, AO has the biggest grind in mmorpg´s with maybe the exception of Lineage 2,
How many different mmorpgs have you played to highest levels? Lin2 does have a notorious grind. Lin1, EQ, DAoC have dibs on who is in 2-4th place. DAoC actually has the worse ever grind in mmorpgs. Proof? Their game DEVs on purpose allow players to ..... get this... skip levels.
AO has an avarage grind. Not the worse. Just avarage. Not bad enough to make the game unfun to play though. AC2 during its 1st year out had the easiest grind in mmorpg history. Which led to one of the biggest exposures in mmorpg history. (During its first 6 months out, soo many players made it to the top level, they found out no content was in the game for top level players! Nothing! Proof AC2 was even more horribly incomplete than imagined.)
AO´s grind is beyond any compreention, after 100´s upon 100´s of missions with very few texture variations on the interior designs, mobs and tactics, it makes for a very boring game feature
There ARE many OTHER ways to gain levels in AO instead of grinding missions! Get out of the city and explore the planet! Fight the roaming bosses, wildlife, and NPCs. Heck fight other players in PvP and you gain experience! You can also gain experience by crafting.
Next, AO allows players to personalize their missions. Say (just for example) it takes you 100 missions to make it to level 50. For those who studied the game, they can make it to level 50 with 10-50 missions. Goodbye "grinding beyond any comprehension". Before one gets a mission, one can customize it! Have more experience, less loot, more chests, more traps, greater difficultiy, less traps, more loot, less experience, more henchmen, more locked doors, less locked doors, etc... etc....
Want to do less missons while leveling up as quick as possible? Customize missons to have far more experience, more chests, more difficulty, more henchmen. Onewellknown tactic, is to get 1 or more players to group with you, pick your mission, then end the group. (First tell them ahead of time your plan to group temporarily for you to pick a mission.). You will now get 2-8 times more experience for doing the mission!!!! 2-8 times more loot! 2-8 times more money! 2-8 times more specific rewards!
add to that the fact that AO has very little quest content, and you have very boring gameplay,
You have not played AO in present time. AO as of July 2003 has injected an insane amount of quest content. Static quests, as well as instanced quests. The Cybor Armor quests, the Wine Quest, and tons of more quests. Many quests lead to other quests.
at least in galaxies you have space combat, deep crafting system, complex player cities, not the cookie cutter AO player cities, theme parks where you could take part of progressive quest lines, AO has none of that.
Want to hear something funny? Every single thing you say SWG now has that makes it better than AO...... was exactly how SWG was described as NOT having just a few months ago. The exact same complaints were said about SWG - "Not enough static quest content." , "boring game", "cookie cutter SWG cities", "theme parks with no progressive quest lines". SWG recently changed. AO has also recently changed.
I keep mentioning SWG beacuse its a Scifi game, AO tries to be one, EvE online is Scifi without a doubt, those are the three competitors in that niche market, and i dont expect AO to gather potential players away from those games when every feature it offers is sub par to the competition.
If you like SWG, then you should thank AO. SWG took 50% of all its ideas from AO. In fact the SWG game DEVs posted about the fun they had playing AO back when SWG was still being made. What is the current definition of Sci-Fi? Anything in which the emphasis is on technology. AO definatly emphisizes technology. AO is definatly sci-fi.
SWG first targeted Star Wars fans who never ever played a MMORPG. So SWG was never trying to target AO players. It peaked at 330k players. It currently has roughly 200k players. It is 3rd behind AO (2nd) and AC2 (first!) in terms of most players lost in shortest amount of time. (AC2 lost 90% of all its players right after release, over a 6 month period. AO lost 50% of its players over a 12 month period. SWG lost 33% of its players over a 6 month period.) SWG from the get go intended to first have land only themes, then later add the space theme. It can be said SWG now is a well rounded Sci-fi mmorpg. SWG copied half its features directly from AO.
EvE is a nitch game. It currently has roughly 50k players. It targeted sci-fi players who enjoy being in a space-only sci-fi mmorpg. It never intended to have anything land-themed. Thus EvE is 1 sided.
AO is a nitch game. It currently has roughly 50k players. It targets sci-fi players who enjoy being in a land-only sci-fi mmorpg. It never intended to have anything space-themed. Though there are hints of sci-fi flying vehicles. But since there is only 1 main, mega-planet, no chance for AO to have space travel... for now. Thus AO is 1 sided. AO still has features its competition does not have. And some its competition will never have. AO's biggest ace card over SWG is the fact AO does not have to play by the rules of an already pre-set universe. This problem is what led to SWG hurting its own self after reaching a peak of 330k subscribers. SWG had no idea how to properly impliment Jedi. SWG put itself into a trap. (Jedi are not suppose to exist in SWG's timeline. But SWG put Jedi in. This led to the JHMess which ripped SWG apart, and cancelled its non-stop explosive growth.)
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Sooo...... AO is indeed different from traditional fantasy mmorpgs. AO does allow players to learn skills not normally traditional. To learn litterally almost any skill in the game - no matter what breed and class.
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Back to the main topic... I already posted the link to dowload AO without having to use Bit Torrent. AO is still FREEEEE to play for 1 year. Technically until January 2006 (FREEE for 5 months!!!) since the program actually started in Jan 2005.
Comments
That game brings to much complication into an MMO if u like to figure alot of shat out then this game for you otherwise dont bother wasting valuable MMoRPG hunting time lol
anywho this game will not amuse you for very long it brings upong great bordem
Well. I started playing this in Januray. paid 6 months with SL expansion.
I made it far enough to be a 208 Nano technician, with enough money to buy me gear, 80 mil Yalm and other stuff.
the game is oke, but very unbalanced at the moment. The professions adventure is basically the best prof in game, it can do anything and never dies in pvp nearly.
The developer suck badly, they don't do much and the game is a bit empty imo.
After level 200 you need groups to get to 220 and sometimes it takes forever to get a group especially for a Nano technician, the suckiest prof in game.
I got bored now i wanne play something else, it's oke but imo everquest was way more fun for me. Can't compare it to other games.
yoz
I played AO for 1 year - it was fun cause the system was very different from what I played before. But its not well balanced as many already said.
BUT NOW THAT THEY STRIPPED THE PRICES lol I think its a good MMO to try.
And: beginn with an adventurer.
L.
Yup, if you're going to suffer through it, Adventurer is the best class to start with. It's the most forgiving.
Personally I couldn't stand the game. Fantasy Game dressed up as Sci-Fi.
Currently Playing: Dungeons and Dragons Online.
Sig image Pending
Still in: A couple Betas
i couldnt get bit torrent on my comp.
i hav Free Download Manager. i uninstalled that, but stil couldnt get bit torrent.
i may hav messed with settings, active x or something
Well, I have played AO, amongsy others, and I have to say, it's a nice game, it's interesting, but i have to agree with one of the other posts here in that it felt more like a job. It's a very complex game, and the graphics are a little messy, everything sorta looks alike and blends together into a visual potluck.
Did that make sense? Anyway, I got bored of it in two weeks although I found there were people who were very nice and helpful, I think partly because most of the people playing are AO veteran's. Most people starting games are starting with W.O.W or FFXI. I DO recommend FFXI over AO, btw.
Of course, that is just my opinion. The userface could be a little more friendly, there's not alot of "fun" things in the game. It's very dark and... serious.
Well theres my two cents. Good luck!
Worse interface ever. Get something else.
I cancelled my account about 10 days ago. There are countless issues about Anarchy Online nowadays, they were pointed out and discussed in its section on this website. I'm not going to repeat them all again. I've got some nice memories which mostly belongs to beginning of my AO experience. However the higher level I reached the more frustration I suffered. So I decided to quit, it's over. In my opinion Anarchy Online needs a complete revolution about every element of it.
By the way, there's nothing to lose when you play with a free account, yet sooner or later you will have to buy Shadowlands to level up faster and for some advantages expansions bring. I suggest you to consider carefully when you get that stage. When a game gets addictive you're unable to judge it objectively and AO is very addictive and competitive. Most people ignore its major defects as they put a great time into their character development, but I pay for it monthly, and I want to see defects sorted out and things got better.
Give a try, you will enjoy as hell at your first levels.
...
Had you asked me a year or two ago, I would have told you that AO was the best option for a MMORPG; but now with games like EQ2 and WoW, it has become obsolete: The relatively small zones that constituted AO (in terms of area explored without having to load at all) have now been surpassed by WoWs massive continental areas. The pvp that was once (somewhat) unique to AO, but very restrictive cannot vie with the large continuous pvp zones of WoW. The class skill set was very well done, but exclusively weighted (until the implementation of the expansion, where skill trees were introduced).
What set apart AO from its counterparts before the arrival of WoW, was its freedom (the grind could barely be felt before the expansion): You had massive areas (albeit with loading) to explore with so many different kinds of mobs (and Im not talking about textures, but MODELS) that sci-fi/creature fans would have an incentive to explore for the views as well as the quest items.
Also its random mission generation feature set it apart: Instead of a set number of npcs to give you a finite number of quests you could use its awesome random quest generation system (along with a third party program that THEY ACTUALLY ENDORSED!) To find items that you needed...
The three-degrees of freedom in AO were also implemented nicely with the terrain, so that you could often use the three dimensions to your advantage, or to immerse yourself in the game.
What might have been my favorite feature was the ambience itself: The amount of detail put into the game was staggering: Caves often had hidden carvings within their texture patterns with messages or evil toothy grins.. There were places such as "The Subway": A dark and gloomy subway system that ultimately lead to an awesome looking monster boss. Or the gothic-cyber-punk style of the cities.
There were even hidden extras (such as a dance club), or restaurants with a twist of dark-humor (human remains used as decorations)..
In its time, the details were astonishing (and you will not find them in any of the new games, ironically).
The world of AO is expansive as well: Its along the lines of 2-2.5x the size of WoW. Or EQ2 with surface area taken into consideration (I can say that even with half a year of dedicated play that I havent seen every nook and cranny in the game).
The combat system is so much like WoW, that you will think that it was even inspired by it: You have a point and click system, but with moves that require some timing or positioning to execute.
However, the tactical moves didnt come until the expansion.
So why didnt AO become the EQ killer that it should have been? I entered the game when it was at its prime: I had almost never crashed or experienced anything other than lag, but upon its launch many users had trouble running the program and so it was doomed by its first impression.
Despite its failed launch, AO picked up some momentum with all of its new and unique features that its servers could barely contain the crowds playing (I mean..: with two servers how many people can you expect to play at the same time in a 3d environ?). I would definitely have to say that if the devs had pulled their brain power together, received some extra funding for servers and paid more attention to their player audience that they would have created a MMORPG that nothing else could have rivaled, but.... it didnt happen:
The expansion Shadowlands did introduce some very useful features (like Skilltrees) that furthered the complexity of its char creation system, but it did something moronic that essentially made the old AO defunct: Both in drops and in experience, the new areas that were only accessible to Shadowlands users made the VAST areas found in the pre-expansion no longer necessary to explore and als The new areas werent equipped with random mission generators, because the new areas that were introduced werent 1/10th the size of the pre-expansion so that the incentive to explore new areas for quests that would give items no longer existed.
To further make matters worse: Shadowlands not only cut off the old AO from its expansion, but also didnt introduce enough quests or unique models and land-area to the expansion to prevent the vicious grind that begun almost during mid-game; because of the limited surface area people would have to camp a certain type of mob over and over again... for the drop of a certain item (EQ anyone?).
So, after the expansion, the immense, complex cities of Rubi-Ka (continent of the pre-expansion) became empty. The expansion users still had access to the old Rubi-Ka, but since there was little incentive to hunt or explore, they were now merely a relic of the past.
Oh...and I almost forgot to mention: In the old Rubi-Ka, the storyline was updated (not daily, but every week or so) with some sort of new event that would try to spur conflict between the two enemy factions (although there was a neutral faction as well that would occasionally become hostile to one of the other factions) .
If you do plan to play AO, spend as little time as possible in the starter areas: Explore as much as you can of Rubi-Ka through missions or for some obscure sub-quests that you can find through fan-sites (if they still exist). The subway is also a great place for low-lvls to explore and lvl while finding items that will aid them for the lvls to come. I hope that funcom and its developers pull their heads together one last time and introduce the next step of innovation that the genre badly needs (not only the polish found in WoW and EQ2)
This is a sequence of characters intended to produce some profound mental effect, but it has failed.
Umm sorry, but you are incorrect..... the current AO has an insane amount of quest content. Not just the personal missions, but regular quests too. AO has some of the best ever dungeons ever done in any mmorpg. It has personal missions/instancing, as well as standing dungeons that all players can go into. There are no zones in the dungeons. Temple of Three Winds dungeon is a NICE example of the incredible features, and game play in AO.
When was the last time you have played AO? What is the highest level you have reached? Did you ever engage in PvP? Did you ever engage in battles to take other player's land? Did you ever get to destroy other player's defenses?
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Calling Advy's and MA's newb friendly? ur kinda insane?
There are no easy classes in AO .. AO is hard and will always be hard , go for the class that you like
the most and stick to it thats all
Yes there are easy classes/professions in AO. There are more newbie friendly classes in AO. In order from easiest to hardest are:
First the easiest breed (in other games known as the race, species) is Atrox. The hardest breed is Nano-tech.
In AO it is called Professions (in other games known as classes). Order of easiest to hardest:
Martial Artist, Enforcer, Meta-Physicist, Adventurer, then which ever. With Agent being one of the hardest. And Nano-Mage the absolute hardest of all to play.
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SWG is a far worse example. SWG must rely on the Star Wars lore to define it. The Star Wars lore litterally revolves around magic over science. *ahem* midichlorians living inside of you? Giving you magical powers? And again YOU need to do some serious research!
Remember that little, unknown, movie called ET ? In Star Wars, ET and his family, make an appearance. ET traveled to earth in the 1980's in his movie. He then travels to the Star Wars galaxy! So that "galaxy far, far, away" is not that far away, nor that "unrealistic".
Next, there is no such thing as "realistic". A very famous sci-fi author once said "Science fiction has a looong, looong, way to go before it catches up to science fact". Did you know there are Pyramids on Mars? (Google "Mars, Pyramids"). There is a sphynx on Mars too. The planet Uranus has been knocked over sideways by something. 3 new planets have been discovered (re-discovered is more like it) in our solar system (NY Times March 16, 2004 issue. Discover Magazine November 2004 issue).
Check out the 12th Planet book series by Zecharia Sitchen. Ancient societies on our planet had star charts showing all our planets, in addition to more planets. Some which are being re-discovered in the past 5 years. Go google "Antikytheria Computer". People had computers as far back as 2,000 years ago. Go google "Piri Reis Map". You try explaining how someone made an ariel map of Antartica before it got its two mile thick ice cap. It is a map of Antartica made from the air, showing rivers, streams, lakes, ponds, etc... Antartica was warm enough to have rivers 12 million years ago.
Another well known sci-fi author once said "Magic is what we call superior technology". Meaning the technology of ancient humans is what we today call magic (teleportation, casting "spells", etc...)
How the heck did Johnathan Swift know Mars had 2 moons, AND know their measurements? Decades before any scientist worldwide discovered the 2 moons of mars and took their measurements? Swift wrote his info in a sci-fi book heheh.
No. AO is also skill based. This means anyone can use guns, even duel wield guns! As well as any type of weapon in the entire game - as long as they train in the needed skills. Thus a doctor can be a warrior. A nan0-specialists can also duel wield 2 guns. Everyone can be a healer. Agent has nothing to do with a rogue LOL! Agent is a shapeshifter - able to take on any class in the game. Anyone can be a nuker. Anyone can be a warrior. In AO there are no specifically defined templates - unless a player on purpose wants to limit their own self.
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For anyone who does NOT want to use Bit Torrent, you can download AO at download.com
http://www.download.com/3120-20_4-0.html?qt=anarchy+online&tg=dl-2001
Well, when i read that any profession can heal as good as a doctor, tank as good as an enforcer or soldier and so on, im left thinking that the game has changed much in a couple of months, no? when i played it only martial artists could use MA nanos, only enginers could use enginer nanos, only doctors or adventurers could heal eficently, MA could heal some, but not great, i didnt see any shades running around with laser guns, i didnt see any MA duel wielding blasters, there goes "any profession can become skilled at any activity in the game as long as they invest the skill points in it" argument, wich is total missinformation, lets face, this game has nowhere near the capacity to diversify professions as UO or SWG had.
The agent is a shapeshifter? my god, that only goes to show how lacking your knowledge is, taken directly from the AO site:
"An Agents life is spent in the shadows. Agents focus on concealment and subterfuge skills and one of their special abilities is going undercover. Doing so enables them to use nanotechnology normally only available to other professions. When it comes to combat, the Agents speciality is sniping opponents with high velocity rifles using unique nanotechnology to further increase the damage."
I played an Agent in AO, amongst other classes, and no i didnt "shapechange", i stood back and fired my rifle and used my nanos, it was mainly a rouges job untill funcom introduced the Shade in SL, how do duel wielding dagger users that need to be behind a target to do extra dmg fit into the sci-fi theme? or the paladin wannabe keepers? its ridiculous.
The argument that COH stole flying from AO is just the dumbest thing i have ever heard on these forums... ever.
Super heros fly on comic books, books that far precede AO, COH is supposed to be a super hero game, as such, super heros will fly in the game because thats what super heros do, it has nothing to do with AO, NCsoft didnt go "hey AO has a class that can fly, why dont we take that idea and use it in our game" pfft.
Nother thing, to say that AO´s dungeons, quests and such are great and well designed, is just beeing so blind that it borders on sheer "genuine article fanboy" category, the camelot dungeon must have taxed the developers imagination, heh? as well as the mobs names inside and the end boss there, hmm?
Im not even going to say anything about the "AO invented the fighting underwater category" what the hell is that about? when did you do any fighting underwater in AO? many dungeons in the middle of the sea?
As can be seen, i disagree on many points that were made, and these comments just go to show the point that ppl go to spread missinformation about the game.
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Yup, sorry, yes there are skills and anyone can learn certain aspects of them but your class choice severely restricts what you can learn and how fast you can learn it and how much it costs to learn it.
AO is a Class Level based system with skills overlapped on top of it. It's not a skill based system by far. In a skill based system your profession and level is determined by what skills you choose like in UO or SWG. In a class/level based system your skills are based on your class and level, a-la DAOC, AO, EQ, etc.
AO is a decent game... but it's not skill based. It HAS skills but they don't determine your profession, your profession determines your skills.
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And I responded back. You obviously never been to Temple of 3 Winds. BTW, how long have you played AO? Highest level? Name of server? And the last time you ever played AO? Just so we all have an idea where you are coming from.
I will be posting my screenshots of my new MA duel wielding 2 guns at the same time and using them..... very soon.
I did play AO, in fact i preordered it before launch, got burned with the launch, returned shortly after shadowlands, played trough shadow lands, didnt like it much, canceled again and returned again with alien invasion, wich i tried for a few weeks before all the bugs in the new expansion killed my interested for good.
I played in RK1 server, played several characters, but mainly a MA, i did experienced with implants and i trully didnt find it worthwile to buff skills that were of little use to me as a MA, its beyond me why someone would deviate from their profession´s skill set, as was pointed before, AO is mainly a class/level based game, where classes detirmin your skill templates, its not a bad system and is deeper than the one in most fantasy mmorpg´s, but its far far behind the skill system in SWG.
Concerning the TOTW, i dont think you would want to mention that as a good example of a dungeon, that place is filled with one bad design decision aftert another, first theres the spawn camping, want a tank armor? then get in line with everyone else, want a styg? get in line, want those notum rings? get in line.
Then theres the trains, a person cant move inside that place without agroing every mob in sight, you want to exit the dungeon? run your way outside leading a 30 mob train or fight your way trough mobs so low level to you that they shouldnt agro... but they do... its ridiculous.
About the flight feature in the game, its mainly a gimmic without much use except if you have a yalm, plus, the game having loads between zones kinda breaks any kind of immerison you would have from flying around.
Another thing, and this is more of a personal view than anything else, so i understand how amny might disagree, but i think mission terminals were one of the biggest detractors for me in AO, especialy with third party programs that made it possible to cycle trough rewards, it made mission grinding a very real thing, anyway you choose to look at it, AO has the biggest grind in mmorpg´s with maybe the exception of Lineage 2, AO´s grind is beyond any compreention, after 100´s upon 100´s of missions with very few texture variations on the interior designs, mobs and tactics, it makes for a very boring game feature add to that the fact that AO has very little quest content, and you have very boring gameplay, at least in galaxies you have space combat, deep crafting system, complex player cities, not the cookie cutter AO player cities, theme parks where you could take part of progressive quest lines, AO has none of that.
I keep mentioning SWG beacuse its a Scifi game, AO tries to be one, EvE online is Scifi without a doubt, those are the three competitors in that niche market, and i dont expect AO to gather potential players away from those games when every feature it offers is sub par to the competition.
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If you like SWG, then you should thank AO. SWG took 50% of all its ideas from AO. In fact the SWG game DEVs posted about the fun they had playing AO back when SWG was still being made. What is the current definition of Sci-Fi? Anything in which the emphasis is on technology. AO definatly emphisizes technology. AO is definatly sci-fi.
SWG first targeted Star Wars fans who never ever played a MMORPG. So SWG was never trying to target AO players. It peaked at 330k players. It currently has roughly 200k players. It is 3rd behind AO (2nd) and AC2 (first!) in terms of most players lost in shortest amount of time. (AC2 lost 90% of all its players right after release, over a 6 month period. AO lost 50% of its players over a 12 month period. SWG lost 33% of its players over a 6 month period.) SWG from the get go intended to first have land only themes, then later add the space theme. It can be said SWG now is a well rounded Sci-fi mmorpg. SWG copied half its features directly from AO.
EvE is a nitch game. It currently has roughly 50k players. It targeted sci-fi players who enjoy being in a space-only sci-fi mmorpg. It never intended to have anything land-themed. Thus EvE is 1 sided.
AO is a nitch game. It currently has roughly 50k players. It targets sci-fi players who enjoy being in a land-only sci-fi mmorpg. It never intended to have anything space-themed. Though there are hints of sci-fi flying vehicles. But since there is only 1 main, mega-planet, no chance for AO to have space travel... for now. Thus AO is 1 sided. AO still has features its competition does not have. And some its competition will never have. AO's biggest ace card over SWG is the fact AO does not have to play by the rules of an already pre-set universe. This problem is what led to SWG hurting its own self after reaching a peak of 330k subscribers. SWG had no idea how to properly impliment Jedi. SWG put itself into a trap. (Jedi are not suppose to exist in SWG's timeline. But SWG put Jedi in. This led to the JHMess which ripped SWG apart, and cancelled its non-stop explosive growth.)
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Sooo...... AO is indeed different from traditional fantasy mmorpgs. AO does allow players to learn skills not normally traditional. To learn litterally almost any skill in the game - no matter what breed and class.
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Back to the main topic... I already posted the link to dowload AO without having to use Bit Torrent.
AO is still FREEEEE to play for 1 year. Technically until January 2006 (FREEE for 5 months!!!) since the program actually started in Jan 2005.
-Personal Website (A Work still in progress):
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-EVE Online !!!
http://community.webshots.com/user/sica_xol_archives01
-DAoC
http://community.webshots.com/user/sica_xol_archives02