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State of the game?
Saranth
Member UncommonPosts: 269
What is the current state of the game?
Buggy?
Population?
Content?
Fun?
I know the engine is getting old, but it still looks good. Didn't they upgrade the textures in AI?
Comments
Not buggy at all.
Population seems good. I see people all the time
Content: 2 massive expansions in the past 3 years. Plenty of content. It was huge when it came out... it's 3x huge now.
Fun: That's the debatable part. AO is kind of slow paced, combat wise, so it feels a bit slow to me. It's ok I guess. I play it for free but I have played shadowlands for about 2 months a year ago. And the combat is still the same there. It is just very slow paced to me, especially considering you're firing machine guns, lasers, etc. I enjoy it, but only on occasion. I much prefer guildwars.
Currently Playing: Dungeons and Dragons Online.
Sig image Pending
Still in: A couple Betas
Most probably there will be an overhaul on the graphics engine when the Lost Eden expansion is released.
Regarding the fun aspect how much you do in battle depends on the prof you're using, your level, if you have available specials and what you're fighting. Early on it can be mostly a matter of hit auto attack and wait with maybe the odd special thrown in. Later you could have many weapon, item and perk specials to use as well as combat nanos which are all manually activated. Your opponents over time can use more than standard attacks which require you to deal with using different heal items if you don't have a doc on hand. Being in a group can also make things more interesting.
It's not as fast paced as an action based game but so long as you're not fighting the same thing for long periods on end and you remember there are others out there to talk and do things with you should be kept entertained. Like anything AO won't be for everyone but I rather like it.
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As for the textures each expansion, especially SL added new stuff which did look progressively a bit better. Although in a patch late last year they changed some of the Rubi-Ka ground textures and changed Old Athens up some. They have said they'd like to put in a new engine for AO but that it would have to wait till after the coming Lost Eden expansion. Hopefully it will happen.
Unless they re-tool the graphics of every *existing* area a new engine won't mean much for the old zones. Not sure they'd be willing to put that much effort into it. The only MMO I know of that did that much work when releasing a new engine was DAoC. When they upgraded to the Catacombs engine they retooled the entire game. And now they're doing it for the DR engine.
More than likely if they do get an engine upgrade into AO they'll only implement 'new graphics' in it for new content. Like EQ1 did/does. If they DO go the extra mile I'll be very impressed.
Currently Playing: Dungeons and Dragons Online.
Sig image Pending
Still in: A couple Betas
population isnt too bad, seems their froob program has worked to some degree
From what I see, the character models are what needs the most work.
By the way, I tried to reactivate one of my accounts, but both seem to be frozen for some reason. I'm currently playing the free version.
But back to the graphics thing, I've been playing EQ2 which is arguably one of the most grahically advanced game out right now. I have a athlon 64 3700, nvidia 7800gt, 2gb pc 3200 and I can play eq2 at very high or extreme in most cases(not in a raid though).
Once I get into AO I forget that the graphics are so dated. The character models need work, but the environment is still quite beautiful.
Shadowlands is a lot different because if focuses play on outdoors and you might see a lot of players out in the wild, especialy in Adonis.
AO does have bugs, as does any MMO, but they're very minor. A lot of the bugs have been fixed and I can't think of one bug I encountered that I can list here as being gamebreaking. I couldn't say that 2-3 years ago.
Lag? Yes there are certain times when the server just farts and there's lag. They said they added some new hardware, so it's not very bad at the moment, usualy lasts a few minutes then goes away. Doesen't happen too often I think.
And yes, it's been confirmed that Lost Eden will have a graphical overhaul.
Fun? That realy depends on your playstyle. If you're more into fast paced games, then AO probably won't be for you. AO heavily relies on gear and implants. I do find level 1-40 or 50 to be somewhat boring levels, because you don't have a lot of specials at that time and combat is just click, special, auto-shoot. That realy depends on the profession you play, but for the most part it's like that.
The fun in AO picks up after about level 50 or so, then goes steady to about 100. At 50-100 you're teaming a lot, killing difficult monsters. At level 100 if you have Shadowlands, you are doing Hecklers which can get repeaditive until about 140. After level 150 is where AO shines however. You have good equipment and weapons at that point, hopefully QL200 implants. PvP happens a lot more often at these levels because of the higher level bracket, and the sense of pride and accomplishment just enchances yout 'want' to play.
I do not recommend playing the free AO unless you just want to try out the game. Shadowlands is an amazing expansion that enchances many aspects of your gameplay, including your pace of combat because it gives you more specials from perks.
Enjoy.