Anarchy Online

[stormlord]

I started playing AO with a froob account in 2010. Last time I logged in was last year or something. Anyway, one of the reason I wanted to try it was I remember playing everquest in 2001-2 and a friend telling me he was going to play AO and was suggesting I should play it too. I liked EQ and didn't, but the memory stuck.

I like the atmosphere on Rubi-Ka, especially the music. It's the kind of feeling that makes me want to cry, since the game could be so much better. The game is overall hampered by years and years of decay. Part of the problem is I never had a paid account. Perhaps the game is better than I realize.

I liked the "complexity" of the implant/etc system(s). I know a lot of players do not like it if they have to examine gear in order to upgrade. Just look at EQ live and how the gear system went from being more non-linear to being more linear. Linear gear systems and/or simple gear systems are just more popular because people don't like examining gear to use it or upgrade it or whatever. Sadly, I find myself in a minority on this issue and many others. Fortunately, I still manage to find games now and then that have what I want. I can't say exactly why I like to examine things and figure out a way to mix and match to optimize. For me that has always been a big part of the fun in these kinds of games. Not the only part, but a part.

(One other thing of note is how AO used "holes" in hte gearing system. As a froob I saw how some old gear had holes in it. What this would do is cause you to figure out how to fill those holes or work around them or to have a second or third set of gear to patch them when needed. I've researched this some and I actually like the concept. In Whadowlands they removed it, but I am a fan of the "hole" system.)

The instanced missions are kind of interesting. What boggles the mind is AO had these instanced missions BEFORE they created Shadowlands. One has to examine the history behind Shadowlands to understand how crazy it's what they did. Basically, they reasoned that EQ players liked to play with each other in open areas. This fed into the development of Shadowlands. Shadowlands was essentially an EQ-clone tacked onto AO. Not only did it move away from the instanced mission idea towards open area group zones, but it also limited travel by not allowing players to use their vehicles. Their hope was to grab EQ players and get them to play AO. The insanity of this is that instances would become so popular in the future and yet this somehow escaped them. Their tunnel vision was so focused on mimicing EQ they just weren't aware of the potential.

I may yet try it again, but honestly, I'd rather try Mortal Online. Right now I'm playing Wurm Online. It's hard for me to enjoy the theme-park games as much as I used to. Sandbox games have spoiled me. I especially like the ones where there's lots of risk and freedom. Many games protect me too much; don't like.