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Anarchy Online - Shadowlands Toured
Thanks to GameSpy for their in-character guide tour of Anarchy Online:Shadowlands, the newest expansion pack for Funcom's PC cyberpunk MMORPG. The article references the game's botched launch back in 2001: "The very name brings up images of anarchy when one remembers the disastrous first effort at colonizing the planet. Basic services didn't work, colonists disappeared, weapons and equipment suffered from mysterious breakdowns, and there was fear that the entire notum project would have to be abandoned." But it goes on to suggest that: "Even now Omni-Tek Corporation has difficulty recruiting colonists. That's unfortunate, though, because the corporation has long since stabilized the situation." Can/should MMORPGs be given a second chance after a bad launch?
I tried (for the 3rd and final time) last weekend to play AO, as one of my friends wanted to try the 7 day demo...
so I downloaded it (again), and proceeded to sign on.
I was a Soldier, and I (think I did anyway) assigned my skill points so that I could use the super cannon of a rifle I was given (it actually just LOOKED impressive), yet I still couldnt kill anything. I couldnt kill Leets (rat like things), I couldnt kill Eleets (they looked the same, maybe stronger?), rotting corpses (nope, they kicked my ass too), and there was another thing, looked like a pissed off gopher, it kept hostiling me.
All in all, it was complete anarchy. And it was online... I guess it lived up to its name.
I give it a 2/5, the character creation was better than it was the last time I tried it, obviously they are trying to make it better... but in the end, it was a waste of three hours of my life...
This is my sig. Its pathetic.
Sometimes it's even good to be there in the buggy beginning. I remember I started playing ultima online a week after release and it was the buggiest game ever, with exploits mistakes and rough edges all over the place. As it turns out, these led to hillarity and fun beyond anything the game has become after it was 'fixed'. It was absolute chaos, and that made it an incredibly good game to play.
Oh, but don't give it a second chance if the game sucks. *cough* Asherons call 2 *cough*
Liberty.
Anarchy Online? Isn't everything online basically Anarchy? Especially with MSBlast, Melissa, Code Red, Sircam, skript kiddez running around, etc.
If that doesn't define anarchy, I challenge you to tell me what does.
Overrated / Underrated : Moderation
The golden rule of developing MMOG's.
You _will_ have startup problems.
The only way to counter it is to be prepared by not sending off the entire project team to a new project, the game ain't finished until it works properly.
This is a really underated MMORPG, and while it had its share, and the share that should have gone to about a half dozen other games worth of problems it really is a pretty decent game.
You have a huge world, lots of different classes to choose from with very different abilities (build robots, pilot vehicles, use a matrixesque alternate world) Lots of randomly generated dungeons that you have to yourself or your party alone rather than having to share it with 400 other people crowding in to it, and relatively steady character advancement (that is, the treadmill moves along a little faster than most games)
That bad launch is still haunting them though; When I started playing it about a year ago during a free demo, and actually found it pretty good, my apporval for it was meet by laughter and disbelief by my other MMORPG playing friends.
On Wall Street they say "buy low, sell high" On the pad we say, "buy high, sell high" Isn't that somehow better?
I gave AO a try a few months ago. I got to about level 20 before I gave up due to boredom and a very poor socialization system.
The people who played AO were the lease conversive group I've ever encountered. I could get no questions answered by anyone, and if you weren't already part of some clique, people just ignore you. The only people I talked to in the few weeks I played were other newbies, who were just as lost as I was.
The only thing I found to do in the game was endless missions. I think the mission system was kind of cool, but it got boring fast and I had no guidance to tell me what else the game offered.
I also enjoy crafting in most of the MMO games i've played and I could not for the life of me find anything resembling a resource gathering + crafting system in AO.
My conclusion based on a couple weeks of play is that AO is an MMO game where people powerlevel by doing missions until they reach the top and then they just PvP all day.
Being an Explorer-Achiever-Socializer type player does not fit well with AO. However a Bartle Killer-Achiever-Explorer types will probably find it to be a great game.
I still think Earth & Beyond has the most wasted potential. I haven't played it as much as SWG in the past few months, but I keep going back to see how it's progressing.
Please consider making an automatic monthly recurring donation to the EFF
Back when EQ was first starting, it was acceptable. People would tolerate a few bugs on launch. Now though, with a new MMORPG coming out practically every week, the bar is getting higher and higher for how stable your launch is. There are too many MMORPGs out there for people to care about all the problems the game has. They'll just find a new one that IS going to have a good launch. And I haven't even addressed the issue of releasing without much content and planning to add it in with a later expansion *cough*Starwars:Galaxies*cough*.
Buy Steampunk Clothing Online!
when they're busy playing music or trying to 'become Jedi' in SW Galaxies. I'd like to see a chart of the massive drop in other MMORPG subscriptions when that particular game came out. [I've quit playing DAoC and Earth and Beyond - I was considering going back to EnB once they went to war in the storyline - but I won their screenshot contest BACK IN MAY and despite getting two emails asking for my address and fax number to sign a release; I have not gotten my prize - so I'm not going to waste money on a game with that kind of 'community support'.]
I think with the interesting people, their lives can't possibly be wrapped up into a nice little package.