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.

I recently did the exact same thing.. With the exception of doing dailies to make money, its not worth it to me to play wow until the next content patch hits.. So I returned to AO to check things out.  I was pleasantly surprised at how smooth the game ran.  I have had absolutely no lag whatsoever.  Characters load quickly, nano effects and such look good.  I run about 60FPS in Borealis and OT Trade.  I remember the performance for ao used to be horrendous, and there is a bug that will load an entire zone when you zone in, when it should only load the immediate area.  If this is happening, and you're loading several zones then it causes a perceived memory leak.  It appears to be one but it is not.  This bug doesn't happen for everyone though.  I would suggest checking the AO forums about how to increase performance.  I remember in one thread it suggested turning all the graphic settings to high, b/c it took more processing power to compress the textures than to display them.  There is also a trick in win xp to change your memory priority to programs instead of system, when i was running xp this helped alot.  Also you noted that the LAG was terrible.  It is important to know the difference between lag, and hardware performance issues.  Lag is when your connection to the server is poor, or you are unable to allocate enough bandwidth to the game to ensure that the required amount of information can be transmitted in time.  Thus resulting in lag, (i.e. taking several seconds to purchase an item from a vendor).  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.  Otherwise, it could be the usual performance problems that occur on a day to day basis with PC's, viruses other programs taking up alot of memory or cpu time... I'm currently running Windows 7 with a dual core 3GHz processor, 3Gigs of ram, and a GeForce 9800 with 768MB of memory.. And for me the game has been running beautifully.  I can't wait to see the game on the dreamworld engine.

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.

Sometimes AO does, in my experience, suffer from great serverlag and then there isn't much to do but log off or wait for it to pass away but I experienced quite a lot of lag in certain areas as well, mostly and namely Borealis.

I discovered it was my framerate that was extremely low even though my system is very good. So I tried changing the rendering device in the settings before login (Settings->Visual tab->Rendering Device), can't really recall what I changed it to but it helped me a lot and I never experienced any lag in Borealis again.

Much of the lag in AO is caused by HD searchtimes for items (armor etc, that's why it's worse in Borealis or large raids) in ResourceDatabase.dat. This is one file of about 1gb, but with windows it will quickly become fragmented quite badly.

Many players do the following to fix it: forums.anarchy-online.com/showthread.php

Originally posted by Brezjnev

Much of the lag in AO is caused by HD searchtimes for items (armor etc, that's why it's worse in Borealis or large raids) in ResourceDatabase.dat. This is one file of about 1gb, but with windows it will quickly become fragmented quite badly.

Many players do the following to fix it: forums.anarchy-online.com/showthread.php

 

Yeah, like I said earlier:  always defrag after an update.

This is especially true after the recent patches increasing the size of the database.

Also, I seem to recall having problems years ago with AO hogging  space on my hard drive when it was running  (but not RAM, for some odd reason).  If possible, install AO to a different hard drive than your swap file, to cut down on seek time when your computer is trying to access the swap file vs. the AO database.

You can access market terminals if you pay a sub. I think that you need the expensive sub for it. So no Auctionhall like facility for froobs.

And yes, the client is very inefficient. Modern graphic cards are useless, the game is mainly dependant on CPU power. But even with nowadays pc's which are basically overpowered for AO, the game still lags severely during pvp or any occasion with loads of toons around. Game is still good though. Even as froob.

Originally posted by Khenthir

Originally posted by Brezjnev

Much of the lag in AO is caused by HD searchtimes for items (armor etc, that's why it's worse in Borealis or large raids) in ResourceDatabase.dat. This is one file of about 1gb, but with windows it will quickly become fragmented quite badly.

Many players do the following to fix it: forums.anarchy-online.com/showthread.php

 

 

Yeah, like I said earlier:  always defrag after an update.

This is especially true after the recent patches increasing the size of the database.

Also, I seem to recall having problems years ago with AO hogging  space on my hard drive when it was running  (but not RAM, for some odd reason).  If possible, install AO to a different hard drive than your swap file, to cut down on seek time when your computer is trying to access the swap file vs. the AO database.

Lol this shouldnt matter with such an old client. Nowadays pcs should be able to run multiple instances of the client without a problem. The client is just crap. Both Vanguard and AO have crappy inefficient clients.

Originally posted by cc170

Well, I was looking to try this game out. I guess I shouldn't?

Someone here said you should try it, since someone loves it & other hates it.

Well, go on try it. A very few loves it, most people hates it. At least you can move along after having tried it, then either exclude it for rest of your life, or torment yourself through the "content" and inbred community.

Good luck.

Originally posted by chrisel

Originally posted by cc170

Well, I was looking to try this game out. I guess I shouldn't?

 

Someone here said you should try it, since someone loves it & other hates it.

 

Well, go on try it. A very few loves it, most people hates it. At least you can move along after having tried it, then either exclude it for rest of your life, or torment yourself through the "content" and inbred community.

 

Good luck.

try the classic version of the game, which is f2p. its got a fairly steep learningcurve and its very hard to make money when you start but, for the love of god, do not beg. if you do, prepare to be flamed (even ive done it when i stil was playing, something just snaps when you get 20 tells a day of ppl asking for money, not even politely)

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.