Anarchy Online

[Ace McCloud]

I just started playing Anarchy Online just recently, about 2 weeks ago. I find it to be the best MMORPG I have played so far. Not only is the adventurer profession built exactly for me, but it actually has a great story. Compared to SWG, this is the god of all MMORPG's. So, I was wondering if anyone else played and perhaps we can hook up and hunt or something?

I've got a Level 30 Solitus Adventurer. I use dual pistols, right now I have 2 BBI Faithfuls :smokin

[Master Yoghurt]

Oh, finally someone saw the light!

Yes, I played it for 2 months or so, it is excellent and much better than SWG. I believe it is THE supreme MMORPG out there.

Unfortunately, with my limited time schedule, and also playing SWG + BF1942 in competitions, it would be a bit of a social suicide for me to play AO in addition right now. :x

What I can do for you though, is heartily recommend AO to anyone who would like to try a MMORPG for the first time. There is a 7 day free trial. While you do have to enter a creditcard number for verification purposes, you simply cancel the account before the 7 days are over. Its as simple as logging in and select "cancel", no questions asked. I strongly suspect you will continue the subscription though, because it is both very fun and addictive.. :)

Anyway, here is the link:
http://www.anarchy-online.com/content/downloads/tryout/

[ReaperFett]

I nearly beta tested this, but bad WOM made me decide not to (Would have taken ages to DL). The plot didnt really interest me either.

[Master Yoghurt]

Yes indeed, it had a bad WOM. In fact I dare say, it had the worst launch in the history of MMORPGs (and that is no small feat!). It was bug ridden beyond playability, the netcode was so instable you were lucky to stay logged in for more than 2 hours, frequent crashes and freezes and terrible unbalanced gameplay and exploits. Obviously, it got bad reviews because of this. The complaints got so bad, Funcom had to shut down their message boards. 90% of the subscribers went to cancel their accounts. Anarchy Online had lived up to its name..

That was more than 2 years ago. Despite all these flaws, there were still a lot of subscribers and reviewers who had seen that beyond the bugs there existed a real gem of a game. Slowly, the bugs got fixed, and Funcom really listened to the community what they wanted.

As it is now, it racks in one award after the other. Shadowlands is being one of the most critical acclaimed online expansion packs of the year, following the success of Notum Wars. Right now, AO is arguably the most content rich and fun MMORPG there is. The visuals and sound gives real atmosphere and character. The mission system and the character classes provides great versatility. Team missions and combat are very exciting. Gameplay feels very balanced and reqarding. I played for 2 months, and did not notice much of lag, bugs or glitches at all, it was a fairly flawless experience. The implementation of story elements seems to go far beyond what other MMORPG's provide.

[Darth Viscera]

I still don't get what it's about. What's the storyline? Their website seems awfully reluctant to talk about it.

[Ace McCloud]

It's kind of wierd. Their official site has a pretty detailed timeline, you should look at it. As for the shadow lands, well, you learn about it as you go along. Essentially its just one big quest. Er, well make that humongus quest. I'm still figuring it out.

[Master Yoghurt]

If you are interested to learn more about the story/setting, check out the online novel Prophet Witout Honor:
http://www.anarchy-online.com/content/game/story/past/novel/

You could also check out the animated series (recommended), which are IMO very cool done, and worth a watch even if you are not interested in the game:
http://www.anarchy-online.com/content/downloads/media/movies/episodes/

Shadowlands actually feels more like playing Baldurs Gate, because as Ace said, its a one big quest where you learn more about whats going on as you progress.

You might also check out these links:
http://www.anarchy-online.com/content/game/story/past/

http://www.anarchy-online.com/content/game/story/present/

Timeline:
http://www.anarchy-online.com/content/game/story/past/timeline/

[Darth Viscera]

Nice story. What's the object of the game? What do you get to spend hours doing?

[Ace McCloud]

Um, Some people like to level up really fast, cuz naturally the higher level you are the more things you can do. I like to take it slow. I usually set a goal and spend a few days trying to get to it. Recently it was to get the morphs for the adventurer, such as the bird and the leet. Now I'm just kind of chilling out and doing quests and exploring and stuff. It depends on how you like to play MMORPG's