Anarchy Online?

[Shodex]

From what I've heard it's a science fiction MMORPG not unlike EverQuest (in terms of difficulty and community friendliness).

It's safe to assume none of you here are graphics junkies looking for an easy grindfest like WoW. So I'm curious what you guys think of it, if you've played it.
Is it worth a try? What do you like/dislike about it?

If you want it, click here (http://www.anarchy-online.com/). It's free to play now. I'm downloading it as I type, if you'd care to join me you're welcome to.

[Gorgetrapper]

I tried it years ago, and back then, it was terrible. There is a sort of skill in it, by putting all these implants and whatnot on your character to be able to put higher requirement shit on just to keep pushing yourself to the limit that way, but it's very time consuming and pathing is shit tbh.

[Dantes]

I've played AO off and on since beta. I still go back every once in a while now that classic AO is free. It's really sort of a mindless level ladder, there's not much too it. I really dig the graphics and I enjoy the music, the atmosphere is cool but there's just really not much to the actual gameplay.

The mission system was an early implementation of instancing. You could level up entirely playing your own custom "missions" where you can get loot items from chests and rewards for completing the missions. (Boring) They added dungeons and a newbie area to try and keep up with newer MMORPGs, with newbie armor quests and all that crap. Basically that just means nobody lower level has to hang around cities anymore, so it left them kind of empty and weird.

The mission templates get boring, and the dungeons are far and few between. PvP has some very bad class balance, as with many games there's some god classes who basically kick ass at everything and everyone else sucks in comparison.

There's not many uber rare items, rather items have levels. So you try your best with implants, buffs, etc to equip the highest level weapon or armor you can. Because of this, there's never poopsocking, but the downside is everyone is the same. Eventually they all have the same gear and weapons. There are a few dungeons with rare drops, and some items that are often camped but it's nothing compared to camping a rare in EQ.

If you've never played it before, it's worth a try. Has it's good and bad points.

[Fatalist]

I tried AO over and over again, the longest attempt was 5 month in 2008. It's a fantastic game, the best game after classic Everquest from what I played. I regret to have wasted years in WoW/AoC instead of playing AO or Lineage 2.

When you start today with AO it will getting boring after 3-4 weeks I guess. You have to solo, you will do solo missions over and over and when you find a group you feel useless when you compare your equipment with theirs. You will see lvl 50 chars with lvl 120 equipment because they managed it to wear it somehow. The equipment system is great but it can be frustrating. Theoretically you can wear all armor/weapons up to highest level. But - you need to meet the requirements of it. You may have 50 STR but the item needs 200 STR to wear it. With some STR buffs from others, STR items, own skillpoints etc. you can manage to wear it. People playing since years know how to manage it. But as newb you can be happy to wear somthing in your level area.

But its definately worth to have a look if you like a SciFi setting. You will see many strange things here and there. Using the "Grid" for travels (some cyberspace fantasies), flying around the first time with a "Yalm" (a little orbiter you will own), housing, ugly mutations... This is a game for very engaged gamers.

http://www.drosi.de/bilder2/3-85323-753-3_3.jpg

[Aadill]

Honestly I enjoy this game and from time to time startup my old account again. The original game is free to play and really only carries you to about level 100 before it gets boring (there are 200 levels in the free to play version). If you get the expansions there are 220 levels plus tons of perks to go through. Shadowlands is by far the BEST expansion for a game ever, as it is really atmospheric and engaging despite the depressingly clunky UI and quest system. It still has a place in my heart and I therefore pick up my rogue-like-Agent-that-can-change-into-any-other-class.

[StinkyGreenBud]

Was a great mmo to start with but i just resubbed a month or 2 back and it's nothing like it was. Pop is low and everyone pretty much is about maxed out lvl which is 220. So grouping is pretty much hard to find. Shame to cause it was the first mmo with a Mature rating on it. Didn't find many kiddies on it.

[OngorDrakan]

I really liked it in Beta...And then when it started too. It was really fun, a nice change from fantasy. I loved the instances because if you couldn't find a group or something, you could always instance. It was a nice universe to play in. Nice customizing for the time too. Really skill based where you could mold your character to how you wanted to play.

[Dantes]

Yeah I liked the fact that your character could basically use any type of weapon you wanted. There's usually a weapon or armor choice that's best for your profession (class), but if you wanted you could load out with anything you want. In that way your look became very custom. When they started adding dungeons and specific uber items, a lot of the higher level folks started looking the same.

The landscapes are vast and they look amazing. The word gets a lot smaller when you get a flying vehicle but it's still big enough that you can see new things every once in a while.

That's too bad to here the population has dwindled so much. The soloing is kind of boring. Mission templates get really old.

[stormlord]

From what I've heard it's a science fiction MMORPG not unlike EverQuest (in terms of difficulty and community friendliness).

It's safe to assume none of you here are graphics junkies looking for an easy grindfest like WoW. So I'm curious what you guys think of it, if you've played it.
Is it worth a try? What do you like/dislike about it?

If you want it, click here (http://www.anarchy-online.com/). It's free to play now. I'm downloading it as I type, if you'd care to join me you're welcome to.I noticed the small client is only 865mb about. Does it download anything more after that? I mean, when it's done download the 865mb does it install and then do another patch?

I know that I'll have to download the large client if I subscribe but right now I'm not interested. The only reason I think I might try it's because it's only 865mb and way back in 2002 I was killing sh** in lake ratheteer next to south karana on sullon zek when a guy i had been leveling with asked me to try out anarchy online with him. I never did and have never touched it. So maybe now is the time for me to see if I missed anything.

Let me know what your experiences are so far and what you think of AO. It doesn't look like MY kind of game, but it looks interesting enough just because you can get an apartment and it has that sci-fi setting that I like.

Do you have an apartment? Can you invite others to come over? Can you decorate it?