This game is very unfriendly to newbs. The community is ok though, there are ppl who look out for new players, but you need to find them.

Learning about AO is mainly about forumdigging. The official forums has great guides. But its a lot of work, because there is no natural learning curve ingame. Even the toon skilltips ingame suck. Learning about all the player addons, bots, playermade maps and clicksaver, might be tricky to some new players. Because these kind of mods are usually to be distrusted in other games. And in AO they are simply listed in the official forumstickies (not all of them).

An annoying part of the community in AO, is that they dont get it when you ask for improvemens that make the mods obsolete. As in other niche game, the community consists of a lot of fanbois who cant stand critism. So it is very easy to rub them the wrong way :) Those geeks (I was also one,but evolved :) ) dont understand players who dont want to deal with all the preperation for  a game, but instead just want to jump in and play. Which doesnt work in AO. Its a lot like linuxusers vs windowsusers, their whole 'rtfm' attitude :)

And there is definately serverlag. The AO servers simply cant handle large pvp battles or raids. Its a common problem in older MMO's. Dont believe the denials about this.

Originally posted by xenorace

I 100% Agree! AO was my first MMO ever and imo still has the most imagination of any mmo to date. I tried coming back and played for about 2 months last year sometime. The graphics did rub me the wrong way, but not to the point I just had to quit. The most frustrating is the outdateness of the leveling. Sure getting into a group and just doing QL200+ missions or grinding on Hecklers was fun, but after playing your more modern MMOs where you can solo quest to max, the game just seemed dull in that sense.

 

I still love the class design. I mean it's your typical tank/caster/healer/pet class game, but the way AO had it, it just felt very original even still.

 

To be honest I much rather seen an AO2 then and AoC or even TSW they are working on now. ALthough I do enjoy the crap out of AoC and so far TSW sounds very interesting, nothing best the good ol setting of Rubi-Ka, Shadow Lands, and the endless conflict of Omni vs Clan.

 

Hopefully one day Funcom will return to the MMO that I fell in love with.

Aoc Was a kick in the face. I big let down. It was nothing like I thought a game form the Makers of Anarchy would be.

Originally posted by Sweede

Soloing works great in AO my engineer at 165 has soloed all the way without any real problems, and with a minimum of hecklers, my enfo is in the upper 130's and soloes nicely to.

As for lag in Wow and stormwind i get same crap fps when in sw at 3 am when there is barely any people around, and the forum has many people complaining about the low fps in the game.

Soloing works in AO yes, but its much slower then teaming. You level so much faster teaming.

I played AO form Release in 2001 till 2005.

Originally posted by Hydroblunt

Originally posted by stygmaz

  From what it sounds like to me you have some type of hardware issues, and it is possible that the bug I discussed earlier could be the cause. 

Yes, it's hardware issues that only Anarchy Online can uncover.  In fact, they are so severe that several people in Bor chat complained of the same thing.  We were all mistaken by thinking it is server lag, no it's all hardware issues from my end.

What it is and its long been the problem is AO Runs off the Processer/CPU and not your graphics Card.

Originally posted by pompey606

Well youve obviously been playing too much WoW. AO is still a very good game, and it is great because it dosent hand everything to you on a stick like most newage mmos. And the player shop/GMS is brilliant and makes more sense then an auction house.

I 100% agree. People are getting spoiled and get anoyed when they have to actually do something for themselves. A company out there needs to make an MMO that already has bots and macros in place so players that don't wanto have to exert any effort can kick back, watch some TV, talk on the phone, etc,, and just have to hit a button every few minutes. Every so often this message can pop up on the screen that says "You're doing such a great job" like a kindergarten teacher would so they'd feel all warm an fuzzy like they actually did something.

i see big flame comeing for the  . but has to be said   if  ao keep  going  the way it is  it will die off  in the end  . for it to survive   it needs to bring in the  wow  players as every one keep going  on about   . it sad fact   players have got lazy  but  that the why things go.    when this game came out  there was probly not much in the way of games  to match this   so people  just got on with it and played  and learned the ropes the hard way  . and  came to love it  .as i did  im back playing now  ive   lvled up  more now than i did  few  years ago 

   this game is full of to many people  harping  on ive been playing this game since  blah blah no one cares   if  funcom  took any notice of the  old players this  game will never move on . 

this game is like the army  when i first joined  up hard has hell none of this im telling on you  cus your being mean to me  now it  would like me to took you in befor you go to sleep would like breakfast in bed   things change  this  game need to get rid of few things  for one  make my mp pet  imba like used to be   i did not spend all that money to be able to cast a lvl 200 at  120  . . yes lvl 120  i  had to redo my mp as i messed it up

look at my sig im not a 3 hr gamer  ive been playing ao for ages as well

and i get bad server lag as well  just slight stutter  but it is there  . i know not my pc  i can play aoc with 80 fps only place i lag in wow is on the steps  to the ball room in kara for some strange reason lol

any one wanting a ga,e that offers a challenge  where have to think about  your  build of your   toons from day one just like eve this   then try this it free yes  graphics  not the best  but give it that grtiiy feel to it  nuke waste land feel 

any  one wanting to team up here list my toons

billywhizz-----161 mp (midgar)
billywhizz2----68 enf (midgar)
skullquaker----51 ma (midgar)
leetjob--------55 crat (midgar)
ralphitc--------25 nt
help911--------44 fixer (star dust)neut
leetkong-------20 adv
deathchantuk--31 trader

Originally posted by Mandy

Originally posted by Hydroblunt

Originally posted by stygmaz

  From what it sounds like to me you have some type of hardware issues, and it is possible that the bug I discussed earlier could be the cause. 

Yes, it's hardware issues that only Anarchy Online can uncover.  In fact, they are so severe that several people in Bor chat complained of the same thing.  We were all mistaken by thinking it is server lag, no it's all hardware issues from my end.

 

What it is and its long been the problem is AO Runs off the Processer/CPU and not your graphics Card.

AO used to run better with 10 times the population on an average 2002 PC than it does now on a 3.0 Ghz dual core with 4Gb RAM.  Think about it.  Funcom has neglected the game that made them into the toilet.

Originally posted by skullquaker

for it to survive   it needs to bring in the  wow  players as every one keep going  on about  

In case you missed it, they tried that already with Shadowlands.  Going fantasy, going more quest type grinding, more running, juiced up items, easier XP & credits.  Big mistake in my opinion and the results speak for themselves.  Going for the ADD WoW crowd is a big mistake.

Funcom needs to realize that AO at the core is an amazing game that has and can enjoy a good population from a niche audience, just like EvE is doing.  There are a lot of players trying to find a new game that is not MMO retard themepark like WoW is, but has depth, sandbox elements, good PvP, significant challenge, hardcore twinking & a solid tradeskills system.

This game, now moreso than ever, has huge potential.  I just hope someday Funcom wakes up and revitalizes it.

hope when they get the new enginge up and going for this game that it will wake it up again and attract more players!

I love when people make sweeping generalizations like this.  One person or  afew people, be it in game or on a thread, probably said "This aint WoW" and now the ENTIRE AO community is bashing a practical idea.  So you played for 10min, you didnt even give the game time to open up and reveal how awesome it is.  And the lag?  what lag??  I have never experience lag in AO, ever, save for the release date.  There is a little lag when zoning initially but thats pretty minimal, so to say its server lag doesnt really make sense, try to update your drivers or something.  AO is an old game and is programmed to run differently than alot of the newer games, i've heard of cases where players having a quad core setup experienced high amounts of lag, also, AO is a bit of a ram hog, if you only have one stick then you sir need to update.

Im not going to bash you too bad, but you're comments are generalizing the entire community and Funcom has what i feel to be, supurb support for a 9 year old game.  I mean, getting right down to it, its just not profitable to keep a large staff for a game thats probably hemorrhaging money as is.

Originally posted by Polishbat

I love when people make sweeping generalizations like this.  One person or  afew people, be it in game or on a thread, probably said "This aint WoW" and now the ENTIRE AO community is bashing a practical idea.  So you played for 10min, you didnt even give the game time to open up and reveal how awesome it is.  And the lag?  what lag??  I have never experience lag in AO, ever, save for the release date.  There is a little lag when zoning initially but thats pretty minimal, so to say its server lag doesnt really make sense, try to update your drivers or something.  AO is an old game and is programmed to run differently than alot of the newer games, i've heard of cases where players having a quad core setup experienced high amounts of lag, also, AO is a bit of a ram hog, if you only have one stick then you sir need to update.

 

Im not going to bash you too bad, but you're comments are generalizing the entire community and Funcom has what i feel to be, supurb support for a 9 year old game.  I mean, getting right down to it, its just not profitable to keep a large staff for a game thats probably hemorrhaging money as is.

Seriously, you may need to go back to middle school.  I suggest reading my original post.  I played AO hardcore before you even know that it existed.  I am an old school player, joined not too long after it launched and played for years.  I know the game well enough to make a direct comparison of how horrific it runs on modern PCs as opposed to modern PCs of 2002.  The game is simply unplayable on my PC, and it is the fault of the game client, which is way too outdated.

As for Funcom not keeping up support, apparently their AoC project turned out to be a huge success huh?  Oh wait, nm, it is considered one of the biggest MMO failures.  AO has a great system in place and has good IP.  A simple engine update would have kept the population going, or a solid expnasion.  Better yet, AO2 should have been made, instead of focusing all their resources toward AoC.

One thing they could do to fix this game is make it harder for their numerous bad apples to grief newer players.  When you're level 35, and you spend five minutes getting a boss to just above half health, only to have some level 220 come along every time and smack it dead to take the loot, it's easy to lose interest fast.  These killstealers have timers for boss spawns, and there are large numbers of them roaming around in instances and zones.  Or there were before I quit, anyway.  I know at least one who is still around.  Hi, Dagget. 

And no, I'm not a carebear.  I just went from WoW's pvp servers (where getting killed by bored level 80s is rather common) to Eve Online (a more brutal place than AO ever dreamed of being). I'm not afraid of player vs player conflict and I'm not afraid of dying, and I'm not afraid of losing all my stuff.  If they ever do make AO2, I wouldn't mind a pvp zone or pvp server where I could be killed for my loot, either the loot on my person, or on the mob I was killing.  What I do mind is the complete and total asshattery of high level killstealers roaming around low level areas in search of that rare, 25 million cred drop, and I haven't been back to AO because of these idiots, nor will I be.

Lol, trolls are funny.  I don't Killsteal, 'nough said.  If I'm killing dynas out in WW, for example, and I see someone has already engaged a dynaboss, I just move on to the next one (and, yes, I'll probably get the next 3 on the circuit while that small char is fighting that first dyna).  Done with subject.

You did from me, in Wailing Waste.  When I cussed you out for it, you told me to 'cry moar'.  I was going to report you to your org prez, then I learned, to my astonishment and disgust, that you were your org's president, which just made it an even more goofy, loser thing to do, since you obviously didn't need the creds that bad.  Either that, or you have some pretty terrible financial management issues.  Anyway, Funcom should, at very least, make it so killing a mob someone else has already hit flags you.  It won't help a lone level 35 against a level 220, but great fun could be had from hiding a lvl 220 agent friend or main nearby to snipe the griefers.