Anarchy Online "All Upgrades" special offer

[Lyrical]

Dear citizen of Rubi-Ka,

Your account can now be upgraded to everything Anarchy
Online has to offer for just $9.95!

This offer is valid until from Friday the 19th of May and until Thursday
the 1st of June 2006. You can save up to $39.95 on our award winning
expansions.

Take a look at some of the features from the expansions that you will
receive:

Shadowlands:
- Astonishing playfields.
- New soundtrack.
- Two additional professions.
- A new array of armor, weapons and other items.
- 20 additional character levels.
- Perks to make your character even more powerful.
- Shadowbreeds to tap into your inner spirit and do incredible moves.

Alien Invasion:
- Help to defend your city and Rubi-Ka from the awesome power of the aliens.
- Build cities and guild houses.
- Board and attack alien spaceships.
- Powerful new perks, weapons and armor.
- New trade skill interface.
- Alien Levels giving you access to incredible Perks and Alien Technology.
- Player Shops allowing you to sell your hard earned loot!

Notum Wars:
- Purchase or build towers
- Fight and conquer enemy territories

Continue to take part in the ultimate sci-fi game, your experience is about
to get even better.

If you'd like more information about the Anarchy Online expansions, we
invite you to find out more at http://www.anarchy-online.com Trailers are
available in "The Game" section for the Notum Wars, Shadowlands and Alien
Invasion expansions.

Ready to upgrade?* Simply log into your account at
https://register.funcom.com and upgrade.
If you require additional files to take advantage of this offer please
visit: http://www.anarchy-online.com/content/downloads/tryout/

Note! Upgrading an account is permanent and cannot be reversed.

In order to upgrade your subscription you must enter valid payment details,
subscription fees starting as low as $7.95 per month for a 12 month plan.

Please note that billing will apply immediately if you chose to upgrade!

We thank you again for joining Anarchy Online and hope you will remain with
us for many years to come.



Sincerely

Funcom Inc.
PO Box 14390
Durham, NC 27709
USA

* Upgrading your subscription requires that your account has your payment
details. Subscription fees starting as low as $7.95 per month for a full
year plan.

------------------------------------------------------------

I downloaded the first expansion, since it is free (because of the in-game advertising). It's not a bad offer. $9.95 for all the expansions is pretty decent.

I haven't played it much since downloading it. Call me shallow, but the graphics engine (circa 2001) looks like it needs updating.

I am curious, does anyone play AO and like it? I have heard several people say this is the best MMO out there. I played at launch and it was a disaster. I haven't really given them a chance since that time. It was probably the worst launch ever of any MMO. In my opinion, once a turd, always a turd.

Another thing that seems daunting is the sheer complexity of the game. The game systems seem overly complex.

[Rathmort]

I have been getting emails on average once a month trying to get me to re-sub AO. I tried a free month about a year ago, and have been getting these emails regularly, slowly offering me more and more if i resubbed. Still not tempted tho.

[Samus Aran]

I've played it for quite some time (I've never made it past level 150 or so w/ any one character, but yeah, I like the game) and I really enjoy it. I like the missions system, and the dungeons kick ass as well once you get there. Having always been a Star Wars, I'm a sucker for the genre, and I wish they released more quality sci-fi MMO's like it(quality from launch, not two years in ><).

BTW, the "9.95 for upgrades" has been around since they started letting people play for free.


edit. regarding the complexity, it is very daunting at first, my reccomendation would be to go to the official forums and the class specific boards and read up on some suggested builds and such, lot of info there

[Vorph]

Originally Posted by Lyrical

I downloaded the first expansion, since it is free (because of the in-game advertising). It's not a bad offer. $9.95 for all the expansions is pretty decent.

I play it occasionally (Fixer around L100 or so). I resist adding in the expansions because once you add them to your account you can't play the free version of AO anymore.

I haven't played it much since downloading it. Call me shallow, but the graphics engine (circa 2001) looks like it needs updating.

It's getting a bit dated for sure, but they had some of the best models when it was released, so it's not as bad as it could be.

I am curious, does anyone play AO and like it? I have heard several people say this is the best MMO out there. I played at launch and it was a disaster. I haven't really given them a chance since that time. It was probably the worst launch ever of any MMO. In my opinion, once a turd, always a turd.

I like the game itself a lot. It has some flaws though. Guns are just melee weapons with a really large reach, and combat looks silly when you're fighting toe to toe with a SMG or rifle. The game also lacks in variety when you play it for a while. You end up doing lots and lots of door missions, or farming camps outdoors when you need a specific nanodisc.

The community and economy both suck massively. Some nanos (spells) are available only as extremely rare drops from mobs that generally are group-only, and cost an ungodly amount of credits if you try to buy them from another player. When you play with a pickup group, it's highly unlikely that people will default to you a rare nano for your class.

Another thing that seems daunting is the sheer complexity of the game. The game systems seem overly complex.

It's only really complex once you start getting into high end implants, and over-equipping weapons/nanos. You basically get a bunch of buff items (expensive, but you can get a lot of them yourself if you plan properly while still low level), find a bunch of people willing to all cast buffs on you at the same time, and then equip the stuff before the buffs wear off. Oh, and you need someone with the skills to put the implants together for you too. Designing the implants isn't as hard as it seems, there's a few windows apps people have made to make that part easier.

The real problem is getting a bunch of people from 5 or 6 different classes to all help you out at once. Some stuff can be done in advance, but the really big buffs are also really short duration so you have to have multiple people willing to help.

Last time I loaded up AO, I was getting used to the UI again after WoW and EQ2, and I accidentally unequipped my SMG. I couldn't re-equip it without buffs, of course, and I also had a hacked MPS (shitty gun) in my inventory along with all the parts to convert it into a MCS (good gun). I figure, np, I'll just get the new gun made, grab a high level Mocham's/Wrangle, and be good to go. Heh, right... couple hours later and I'm still looking for someone who'll take the 30 seconds to put the gun together, nevermind the Doc and MP to buff me afterwards.

Stuff like that is why I don't play AO.

[Nazbuk]

I think it's the best sci-fi MMO out there right now. The only problem I have with the game is leveling. At 60 I'm killing these rock things until I hit 100. At 100 I kill the same rock things but just at a higher level.

I know there are other ways to grind, but that grind is just not fun at all. It starts getting crazy after 150 or so.

And then there's end game....does that really exist? I've heard rumors, but that's all.

PvP was fun when the game first came out but since then I haven't seen any PvP happen like it used to.

I still think its the best Sci-Fi MMO out there, but again that's not saying much.

I'm going to cry to baby jesus now and ask him how many kittens I need to kill because they didn't make the Shadowrun game an MMO.

[Venjenz]

I had a 203 keeper and 220 enforcer when I quit. I raided high end Shadowlands crap, was part of mercbot for maybe 8 months, and did AI stuff for a few months. Here's my take:

The bad stuff:
-Hecklering. Those aforementioned "rock monster thingies" would be Shadowlands hecklers. From about level 60 to about level 210, you grind on a steady diet of hecklers. It gets old...fast. Everyone hates it, but it's the best leveling. Adonis hecklering ftl.

-The 1k token board. A great item that is pretty much must have gear. Problem is, you only get 6 tokens per mission at the point you begin farming the tokens. Grab 6 missions in one spot, run all 6 in about 2.5 hours, spend 30-45 minutes selling off gear, rinse repeat about 25 times. Then came the 1750 token board. Ugh.

-The sided shoulder pads and the Trash King. TK not really a hard kill, but he is a timed spawn with a 20% chance to pop every 20 minutes. On top of that, if you go to the junkyard he pops in, expect to find at least a dozen players all there for the same thing, so you wait in line. It sucks. I got every one of my TK kills at around 5 AM eastern time. Bleh.

-Mochams Gift. If you are an MP, then you are cursed by being able to cast it. If you are a caster, then you spend every game session looking for it. +140 to MM skill means much better pets and available nanos castable. A twinkers delite that makes KEI look pitiful by compare.

-Shadow knowledge. They fixed a lot about the SK system, but not when I was grinding.

-Melee weapons pretty much sucked at the time I left.

The Good:
-Mercbot. The raiding bot system kicked ass. The game kept track of your DKP, bids, items won, etc. Made it so pickup raiding was a reality, and one everyone was cool with. No more "guild as second job" living for the good gear, and my enforcer got a bunch of gear through mercbot.

-Implants and Symbiants. The learning curve was steep, but your character was so much more customizable than in any other game.

-Bag and bank space. 30 slots bags in all your personal slots, 30 slot bags in every bank slot. Easy and cheap to get from container vendor NPCs. I miss that more than anything about AO.

-Insurance/Reclaim. Best death system so far besides EQ. All experience gained since last insure gone at death, and you popped up at the reclaim booth nearest your last save. In some cases, this meant a long ass trip back to where you were at when you died. Rezz sickness of 10 minutes, and all those tasty buffs = gone.

-The Yalmaha personal aircraft. It took a lot of camping in Rome Blue/Green or Tir, but once you got one on the market for less than 5 million credits, the game changed forever.

-Enforcer tanking. Funnest tank gig in any MMO I have played. Plus, atrox enforcers with 2H I-beam just looked like tanks. I loved my enforcer.

-Travel. Between the whompah network, the grids, and the SL garden system, travel was pretty slick.

-Shadowlands catacombs. Scheol and beyond, those catacombs were hellah hard and hellah fun. Took no effort at all to have a TPW with a momentary lapse of concentration. Great rewards, even though the loot tables sucked for drop percentages (tier 2 profession armors = bleh for farming).


It was a good game, and I even consider going back to it. I just have all new stuff to do in EQ2, and I am more explorer than grinder, so all the new goodies in EQ2 Norrath have me interested. But I will always say good things about AO.

[Lyenae]

AO was good in the day, until they started telling you how to play (i.e. labeling everything that doesn't conform to their vision an exploit.)

But they really missed the boat. Originally the game was supposed to be a side v side war of epic proportions, guided with GMs and complete with an adaptable story skeleton spanning 4 years. That + a scifi universe was extremly appealing during EQ's time

That all got trashed (in addition to a ton of other game design concepts) and game became a pure PvE grind. I wouldn't recommend picking the game up anymore.

You either were there or you missed out.

[Saban]

AO really dropped the ball on pvp, dropped it hard.

[Kreugen]

So that's what the email that always pops up in my spam folder says.

[Jaytan]

I think AO would have been a lot more popular if they didn't completely botch the launch. If I'm not mistaken, the game sold over 100k units the first month, but from what I remember was peaking out at about 10k users 3 months in. I played it at launch (staying away from crowded areas kept the lag bearable), and about 2 years ago. I had fun both times, but the community in the game just blows.

[Soygen]

Originally Posted by Jaytan

I think AO would have been a lot more popular if they didn't completely botch the launch. If I'm not mistaken, the game sold over 100k units the first month, but from what I remember was peaking out at about 10k users 3 months in. I played it at launch (staying away from crowded areas kept the lag bearable), and about 2 years ago. I had fun both times, but the community in the game just blows.

I agree completely. The horrid first month of AO(maybe longer, I wouldn't know since I said fuck it after a week or so) was AO's downfall. The game and mechanics have always been very cool, but what a "turn off" trying to play at release.

[Aamry]

If you started playing now, as a beginner, I'd recommend you have atleast 4 friends who want to play it also, as a designated team. It would make the game so much easier since There is no real social-ness like in EQ and WoW.

[Vorph]

Yea, 5 or 6 people would be ideal to start the game now. You could cover all the important stuff--Enforcer, Doctor, Meta-Physicist, Fixer, and Trader. Ideally you'd want one more person playing some sort of high dps. With a regular group like that AO would be a lot of fun.

[AngryGerbil]

I only briefly played AO but it always did leave a good taste in my mouth, so to speak. Of course, I never got into the upper echelons of the game, and when I played, I had 2 other RL friends who played with me in a persistent group, but there was a lot I liked.

Alot of the little things I liked about it were just general MMO tweaks from my EQ days that have since been done 100 times in other MMOs, but at the time, I REALLY appreciated it. (A few things really but specifically, the quests told you what to do instead of cryptically hint at it ala EQ).

The level of character customization was nice. Implants were a bit confusing to me, but I still appreciated the fact that they existed. In this light, WoW is pretty much no improvement over EQ. It seems augments/charms/etc are inc for WoW, but as they are already in EQ and as both came/come to pass WAY after AO's implants, hats off.

Little things, the GM's were not only existant, but helpful and curtious. Now, some of the grizzled AO vets on this board may speak to the contrary on this and they may even be right, but my first impression of the GMs at AO was a very good one the day I got stuck behind a map somewhere and found my way back only to find I could not interact with the world in any way. GM was fast, curtious, helpful, and even chatted with me a bit.

And I will certainly second the motion on the floor that AO had and still has the best death system ever. You basically pay a marginal fee to "save" your character (they call it "insurance") at one of the terminals in town. If you die, you simply revert back to that save with a rez effect. It gave you the option of how much money you wanted to spend. If you wanted to, you could chance it and go run an instance without saving and hope you don't die and save yourself a few bucks. Or, if you wanted to, you could spend the money and save every 3 seconds. Simple, effective, not too weak, not too harsh. I liked it.

[venom]

I was addicted to AO about 2 years ago. Played an Adventurer and a MP, but the Heckler grinding was what eventually drove me away.