Anarchy Online to be Subscription Free

According to the offial site, Anarchy Online is removing fees for new users who subscribe to the game between the 15th of December 2004 and the 15th of January 2005. From the release: "We feel very confident in the unique features and heralded qualities of our game, and are now openly inviting everyone playing MMO's to find out what Anarchy Online is all about, completely free of commitment" said Ole Schreiner, Project Director for Anarchy Online. "Not only can we boast of a fantastic game which has been expanding for years, we are also constantly adding exciting new content, progressively making the ultimate sci-fi MMORPG even better." Commentary on the Zen of Design blog.

Comments

well, the price is right

[Tibor the Hun]

not only is there no subscription fee, but they're giving the original away for free according to their site.

i've been curious about galaxies, WoW, and some others, but I've always stayed away from them because of the monthly subscription fees.

I know what i'm downloading after work tonight!
And best of all they're doing it with BitTorrent!

awesome!

It's all about the expansion packs.

[borkus]

After reading the fine print at the bottom of the page closely, I noticed the following -

The free version does not include access to any of the three expansion packs. Should you wish to upgrade to any of the expansion packs monthly subscription and client fees will be added.

So if you buy an expansion pack, you end up paying a monthly fee as well. This gives them a way to sell their remaining expansion packs without having to manufacture and distribute copies of the core game. In fact, the core game doesn't seem to be in stock anywhere.

The fine print:

[fearanddread]

"*The offer is only valid if you sign up a new Anarchy Online account between the 15th of December 2004 and 15th of January 2005. You can play free of charge until 1/1 2006. Should Funcom deem that a too high-increase in server load or other unforeseen events will lessen the experience for existing players the offer will be terminated at our discretion. The free version does not include access to any of the three expansion packs. Should you wish to upgrade to any of the expansion packs monthly subscription and client fees will be added."

Just the basic game with no expansions. Sounds like you might have to pay more money if you want to use the expansions. Guess they feel they finally have a product that people will want to stay and play if given the chance.

Very tempting even without the expansions.

Re:Appeals to cyberpunk/sci-fi fans?

[Shihar]

Does the game appeal to anyone in this sense, the whole gloomy futuristic science-fiction style?

In a word? No. There are two reasons why this game has zero appeal to your average cyber-punk fan.

First, the game is not set in the city. The game is mostly set outside of the cities. You might hit a city now and then, but for the most part the envirnoment is that of a planet's wilderness. The cities are all relativly small when compared to the rest of the gaming world and they don't feel terribly alive. I don't know about anyone else, but when I think cyber punk, I think of cities, and AOs cities are worthless for anything other then looking at.

Second, the game is traditional MMORPG in every sense of the word. I don't know about you, but when I think of cyber punk, spawn camping or hunting down random critters for mad l00t is not what comes to my mind. At its core, AO is Everquest. Your goal is to go hunt shit for experience and loot, and when it comes down to it, that is the very core of the game play. Perhaps other disagree, but hunting shit for experience and loot is not what I think of when I think of cyber punk.

Take Everquest, throw in a few alterations to the generic hack and slash modle, replace all fantasy words with future words, and give everyone a gun. You now have AO. Yawn. There is nothing inovative to see in AO.

Re:So how limited is this?

[GearType2]

The notum wars update basically allowed guilds to get these towers and lay claim to the land. Without the update you can't place them. You can still reap all the benefits from them, being in the guild(in AO they are called organizations) and all.

The next update shadowlands, adds a new land, two new classes. It was built just for the new classes and new lands, and although fun, do not take away from the game if you do not have it.

Alien invasion is their newest expansion, and I haven't got a chance to play that yet, as far as I know, it is basically high level quests and such.

As graphic upgrade and such, don't worry, it's all in game so there is no reason if you like any game, to not try this game. Ok so maybe if you don't have an internet connection, but /. hate's anti-internet people anyways :)