Originally posted by clearSam

Originally posted by vinzone

I'm happy to hear about this patch finally coming out, I had been waiting for it while I was playing but didn't last long enough.

I'll be waiting to see if vets get any free time this summer and if not I will have to resub and check it out.

i would love to see Funcom launching a vet win back program, a 2 weeks free trial or something... i think they deserve it and Funcom owes it to them especially those who played at launch. Also it is more likely that they will stick around if given a free trial cause 1.05 has most of what they have been asking for. so i think it is a good idea and a win win situation.

They just did a 30 day vet win back program for AO.

Those who came back got met with massive lag and disconnects ( RK3 even got totally brought down ) due to a script kiddy hammering the database with a chat bot last week, followed by a massively broken patch yesterday which removed players XP, perks, research, levels, etc., which caused a rollback to be necessary, and the /petition system being offline so they couldn't even contact an ARK/GM ingame.

You really sure you want them to try the same for AoC?

Originally posted by SaintViktor

...and it also has a large sticker announcing "Free subscription for 30 days!" on the front of the box -- something more than most online games provide regarding their subscriptions.

What the hell are they smoking? 30 days free with sub is pretty much an industry standard with pay to play mmorpgs.

Originally posted by Sojhin

Mortal Online, Fallen earth...though i cannot vouch for fallen earth having full loot.

 

Earth rise.

The only one of those close to AO would be Earthrise, since it's sci-fi. Fallen earth would be close, but has little sci-fi elements as far as alien tech, space, aliens, etc.

By the way, small bit of useless trivia: AO originally allowed you to loot players you killed.

FC really needs to give Avery a raise for all the overtime he puts in for 'em.

Anyone who says stories don't belong as an important part of an mmo should take a moment to consider that this genre would not exist without stories. Or is everyone too damn young to remember mushes and muds, the backbone of the mmo beast?

Originally posted by alacres

Originally posted by Lickitung

Some clarification here:

The vanadiel collection is not a expansion.  It is a FULL PACKAGE.  It has the game AND 4 of the expansions AND a stamp on the front of the box stating "FREE Subscription for 30 days".  CoH had this and honored it when I purchased the CoH/CoV Good vs Evil Pak which is 2 complete games instead of one.

Seriously, wish flamers would read before mouthing off.

I've never played an mmo, in my entire history of gaming in the last 10 years, that offered a free month to exisiting accounts; no matter if it was a single expansion upgrade or a compilation. It's just never typically worked that way.
 

I hate to sound harsh, but you're just going to have to get over it. They most likely don't list it specifically on the box because, at this point, it's pretty much universally understood by the majority of mmo gamers. But I'll admit; it wouldn't kill them (as well as other gaming companies) to be more specific I suppose.

Anarchy Online gives 30 days free if you upgrade from SL to the full deal. I also received the 30 days free when I upgrade EQ2 with the RoK expansion AND whe I upgraded with the TSO expansion. So yes, some games do do this.
 

However, I do find it telling that PlayOnline has been dumped for FFIV. It has never been a customer friendly experience.

niche = niche

shitty = shitty

Therefore, Darkfall is special due to being multi-categorical. It's both niche AND shitty.

Originally posted by Ihmotepp

Originally posted by Phelcher

Originally posted by heartless

Even without Mortal Online Darkfall will finish itself off. Amateur developers, poor design descisions, horrible community, easy hacking--everything that possibly can, is contributing to this game's downfall.

At this point, I don't even know if SOE buying this game will do anything.

Anyone who is having fun in Darkfall, good luck, I'm not sure how long it's going to last.

 

^^ Exactly... as stated by many people. The existance of Mortal Online is moot. Darkfall was doomed the moment the lifted the NDA. Some beta testers predicted an September Bankruptacy...  it's gonna be close, possibly October. 

I do not see Darkfall making it to November

 

And MOrtal Online is not the next coming of Jesus Christ or a better invention than sliced bread. It might be fun, might be a turd.

Yes, MO has a 50/50 chance there. But do you know the difference?
 

MO hasn't released. It has the luxury of a 50/50 chance.

Darkfall is released. It doesn't have the luxury of a 50/50 chance anymore.

Originally posted by beauturkey

 All those positions can be had by anyone, the OP included. So OP, become a correspondant and get the interview yourself! :)

 

 Beau

 

 

The editor and admins of this site would never approve of that question to be asked in the first place, so it wouldn't matter. mmorpg.com takes a very "middle of the road" stance in every interview they do. This is not a site known for it's hard hitting interview questions.

http://forums.anarchy-online.com/showthread.php?t=555264

Today, 08:07:54 #1
Means
Game Director


 

Join Date: May 2004 Frid...*ahem* Saturday with Means - June 13th, 2009 - I'm not dead.

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

Sorry for missing Friday completely. I was sick as a dog yesterday and accomplished nothing but holding down the couch/bed for many consecutive hours. This timing was less than perfect and I missed the company summer party...as well as the annual presentation of AO to the rest of the company. I anticipate being made fun of uver this for at least 6 months. This was a short week for me as I was away in Stockholm until Wednesday and did not make it in on Friday. Good thing the rest of the team is working hard.

Metaing was in town this week for meetings concerning the rebalancing of specials, perks, healing etc with Genele. I was horrified when meeting them on Wednesday to see their ideas all making sense. None of these changes will be coming in the next update. ..so we will get a chance to discuss them. No reason for panic. A side benefit of him being here this week was also that he got to attend the summer party...and make an appearance at the Ark event in Oslo this weekend. Yep..the guy from Copenhagen made it to the summer party....the guy who could hear it from his house missed it. /fail

Work continued this week on getting the heart of the new instanced cities, instanced pande and the apartments working. There was supposed to be a new version on testlive for the weekend...I'm hoping it made it there.

Server Stability:

I'm truly sorry it took us as long as it did to figure out how some players were managing to casuse absurd lag through the use of bots. The German dimension was completely unplayable for an unnacceptable period of time. It is easy to forget that there are idiots out there who want to hurt us...a video game...staffed by players like themselves. I imagine it was too tempting with us running a reevaluation to let the returning players enjoy the new servers and the improved performance they have been delivering for the last few weeks. The timing was not coincidence and was done in the manner that would hurt us the most. It is honestly getting to the point where the next time this sort of childish behaviour happens I am going to make use of law enforcement and all other means available to me to ensure the perpetrator receives more than a meaningless ban for their efforts. This kind of thing hurts us financially and by extension hurts our ability to fund new development for our players. I am an exceptionally patient man...but I have my limits....and I will stop at nothing to destroy the next person who does this. I no longer care if this was a "childhood indescretion" that will cripple your future or not. This warning is much more courtesy and forgiveness than last weekend's offenders deserve....and it will be the last warning. At heart I am a vindictive, heartless, ruthless bastard and behaving in any other way is an effort for me. Moving in the video game industry made me more relaxed as the day-to-day activities were lighthearted and fun...if continued activity like this forces me to be serious someone will regret it.

Sorry to be all "doom and gloom" this week but I'm hoping this message gets where it needs to go and that we can all just go back to enjoying the game we love. People like this rarely take the second chance they are offered...but we can always hope.

Have a great weekend.
__________________
This "Means" Cake
Game Director

"I killed my boss and all he dropped was an iPhone..."
 

Originally posted by kumar7685

With a vast world and the most in-depth class system i've ever seen, Anarchy Online is one of the most unique mmo's on the market.  Although it is not graphically appealing, Anarchy Online makes up for it's graphics with it's enormous amount of features; from limitless skills, to its personal dungeon system. At the start of the game, you are asked to choose a race, you are given a choice between 4 different races, then a choice of around 19-23 different classes. The beginning of the game is a bit slow and you often get tired of the constant grinding to please the quest givers, but work hard enough and your efforts will soon pay off when you are transported to the main lands to begin your journey. You will soon learn that most of the quests at the beginning of the game will be given to you by a machine. There, you can choose the best quest for your level and/or party. The whole 'machine gives you quest' idea was pretty good, but it gets old when you've run out of quests to do and the only quests availible are the ones that are too high for your level and are forced to take a party with you.

Overall, Anarchy Online is good if you are into Sci-fi games and are a beginner mmo'er like all of us used to be, or if you are just looking for a game that will keep you working to upgrade the plethora of skills in the game.

I give this game a:  7.6/10

 

For The RECORD:

Played this game for about a month, 2 weeks, and 4 days, then pulled an all-nighter last night.

 

 

look forward to seeing more of my reviews on MMORPG.com

-Kumar7685

"19-23 classes"? First, they're "professions", not "classes.

Second, get your glasses checked.

There are 12 professions open to free players and 2 exclusive professions open to subscribers for 14 total professions.

And the "machines that give quests" are called mission terminals. First, they DO NOT run out of missions and they DO NOT give you missions higher than you can handle unless you move the level slider higher than you can handle. The only thing they may do is send you into a higher level area to get to the mission, but 1 minute asking in chat would have gotten you a description of how to use the terminal to get missions in closer areas. You get more than one mission option when you request a mission. You DO NOT have to take the ones far away. Hell, you can pull missions right in the same city you're in until level 50.

And how do you "get tired of the constant grinding of the quest givers" on the newbie island when the most casual new player with no mmo experience at all can finish the island in 2 hours?

I'm sorry, but you may have had an account for "1 month, 2 weeks and 4 days", but your "all nighter" last night was probably the only time you played. I'd be interested to know your ingame name so we can look it up on auno.org and see how far you got in the time you say you played.

Do not give "reviews" when you don't know what you're talking about.

As far as looking forward to your other reviews on mmorpg.com, I highly doubt anyone will be looking forward to more "reviews" of their games by people who don't even know the basics of the game they are supposedly reviewing.

I don't touch anything Infogrames ( a.k.a. Atari ) related.

I only made exception for games by Bioware under Atari because somehow Bioware managed to keep those idiots back while finishing the game. Unlike companies like Obsidian and others under Atari that turned out rushed, buggy shit because they couldn't stand up to Atari. KotOR 2, NWN 2, Alone in the Dark, etc, etc, all shit because of Atari. Although KotOR 2 and NWN 2 also suck because of Obsidians less than adequate development skills.

Originally posted by Routver

It's always good to see constructive suggestions. I find it bad how in forumfall they added that moderator approval bs for the suggestions forum. Only makes people pissed at how they can't even accept having an open suggestions forum. And in the end, people post their ideas in general chat...

Are you fricken serious?

Brannoc can't tie his shoes without Tasos reading the instructions for him and the other mods are even lower on the intelligence scale. And these are the morons who get to decide if a suggestion is good or not?

I've said it before and it still applies. No other game will kill Darkfall. Its own people are handling that nicely enough.

Originally posted by Lydon

Originally posted by mlauzon

Is this really news, seeing as how it's not being released in NA and not in English..?!

Maybe one day you'll realise that there's actually more to the world than North America. Thankfully, most of us live in that part you'll find out about.

On a site made primarily for NA, with the EU as an afterthought. You're really quite funny.

This sites very own rules state a game must be available in the U.S/E.U and must be in English to be here. So why advertise a game which is neither?

And yes, there is more to the world than just North America and the U.S.

Of course, we consider them practice targets, but they are there.

"If you don’t like social gaming, well, then I guess you’re just not invited to the party."

Funny coming from a guy who list SW:ToR as his number one pick.

Originally posted by Punkre

Their is an old saying trick me once shame on you, trick me twice shame on me.

 

This holds true with MMOs, if this was being developed by a different game company or a different team of Square Enix I would say go for it, but its not. This is the same game company that made the failure of that was FFXI, if you liked FFXI you will like FFXIV that much will be sure.

They will tweak the game a bit, better graphics, maybe increase some solo ability but its gonna be the same, game companies don't change over night, (well not without a massive merger or restructuring of the company from the ground up.)

Which is why I don't understand all the hype for this game, they might as well have stated they were going to make FFXI-part 2 and it would of said the same thing, only now they get to make up a completely different story for a world that doesn't make sense. On top of this the races look the same, which is argueably one of Sq-Enix biggest flaws with FFXI, No playable Moogles, No wolf men from FFV, No ancients/Centra, (or what ever their name was from FFXIII.)

Let players play their favorite races from past FFs, thats the reason so many people hated SW:G, no one could be a Jedi, then every one was a Jedi and it was just lame because all the other classes sucked. Imagine a FF MMO where you could be a Red XIII race or a Black mage race (similar to Vivi from FFIX.)

 

Final Fantasy games had always had so many races in each game that its silly to have such a limited race selection that are from non of the previous games.

 

It was the Cetra, of which Aeris ( or Aerith in the Japanese version ) was one. That was Final Fantasy VII. FFXIII isn't even out yet.

It's missing when using IE8 also. And I have no ad blocking software running.

Like Paul Burnett is a shining example of a man who knows the gaming industry or even his own customers.

OP, at least find someone credible who isn't a bag of hot air past their prime to quote next time you try to "prove" a point.

Originally posted by twitch242

Why ask here, doubt anyone even knows around here. AO have very active and good official forums why not use those ?

Maybe because their lame account page is fucked 90% of the time and their so-called "customer support", including Famine, haven't been able to enable my forum access in the 3 years I've had this particular account, so I can't post there. Does that help with your query?

And "very active and good" official forums? LOL

It's the same 20 people that have been posting for the last 2-3-4 years.

It won't be long. His snideness is already peeking through the cracks of his thin skin. After all, don't be off topic when such a valid Star Wars Galaxies thread as "my neighbors dog died" is the topic at hand. LOL

Draakull

**CRM**

Joined: May 19, 2009
Messages: 287
Location: ATX
Offline

barrahm2 wrote:

Welcome, Draak. As a nearly 5-year member of the SWG community, I would like to offer some advice.

1. Don't be overly combative. We appreciate you as much as you appreciate us. Many of us lash out at the idiots and trolls. You need to keep yourself above that. Your ... ahem ... outburst the other day did not set you on the right path. Keep you base instincts in check and do your job, first and foremost. The people who know these forums backwards and forwards will weed out the idiots. Concentrate on keeping everything in line rather than tearing into those who question your capabilities.

2. There are a few websites that dedicate themselves to tearing down SWG, its players and the people who work for it, be they developers or community relations folk. Ignore them. They do not care about you, they only seek to destroy you. They are the internet equivalent of human excrement. Pay them no heed.

3. Unban my 2 perma'd accounts. Pl0x. kobie_173 and barrahm. DO EET.

4. DO NOT BE OVERLY COMBATIVE. Your predecessor (Elias, not Valara) made the mistake of treating people as subjects rather than as people. He was excessively nasty and basically unpleasant. Be our friend, and we'll be yours. Be mean to us, and we'll be mean to you. Treat your position of authority not as a right, but a privilege. We are still for the most part a friendly (albeit very jaded) community. Treat us that way. You catch more flies with honey than vinegar.

5. Get a decent sig. A good sig goes a long way. Hell, I have a mancrush on Millbarge simply for his Spies Like Us sig.

6. Welcome to the jungle. We got fun and games.

thank you for the public career advice. I don't mean to be rude but this thread is for another topic. I am happy to chat about this with you via PM but this is not the topic for this discussion. It's good information but could be considered a violation of the rules.

Thanks.