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?

Comments

Gave it a try

[jafuser]

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.