All Posts by burmese

Side XP (determined by which faction has the most tower land under their control) varies month to month.  Currently clan has the upper edge, but that is not always the case.  In any case picking a side simply because you get 110 XP from a kill versus 107 XP from a kill due to slightly better side XP is a pretty shallow motivation.

The pricing of the game and it's expansions is different than the subscription fees (what you pay per month).

If you download the client (large or small with large recommended) you can play the core game + Notum Wars expansion for free - no monthly payments.

Beyond that point you have to -buy- a package that includes one or more expansions and, depending on what expansions you bought, you have to pay a monthly fee, ranging from $5 to $15.

Currently on their registration page they hav the following options as far as  -buying- expansions goes:

Shadowlands expansion - $9.95 - $5/mo subscription

Alien Invasion expansion - $9.95 - $15/mo subscription

Lost Eden expansion - $14.95 - $15/mo subscription

All of the above expansions together - $19.95 - $15/mo subscription

However please note that from time to time Funcom puts out sweeter deals as far as obtaining the expansions themselves.  The subscription rates stay the same.

Did you notice if the game placed you on the Atlantean or Rimor server?  If Rimor (RK2), I might be able to help you out.

Some people bought AO in 2001 and have paid $15/mo ever since then but for them to say they then bought Notum Wars, Shadowlands, Alien Invasion, and Lost Eden and don't pay monthly fees on those is both beside the point of the thread, and misleading.  The context of the thread is what pricing brackets exist as of today for people new to the game or looking to upgrade from their current status.  Most people reading your original post would assume you were claiming that they did not have to pay $15/mo while accessing AI or LE content, which is not true.

The new pricing structure is:

Free: Core game + Notum Wars expansion

$5/mo: Core + Notum Wars + Shadowlands expansion

$15/mo: Core + Notum Wars + 'any or all expansions aside from Shadowlands'

( and, yes, some people do get AI and/or LE and do -not- get SL)

(subscription fees on the last category can be lowered somewhat by paying in advance by the year, etc..)

Originally posted by Doomcow

 

AI and LE Expansions $15 UPFRONT, no further monthly fee's.

 

No, you got it wrong.  If you buy the Alien Invasion (AI) or Lost Eden (LE) expansions you have to pay a -subscription- fee over the $5/mo fee for the Shadowlands expansion.  It is $15/mo (less if paid bulk in advance).

Depends on what you want in a game.  The graphics are (currently) dated but functional.  The content is deeper than just about any MMO, certainly much deeper than anything introduced since (and including) WoW.

When was the last time 2 different games by one company had the number 1 and number 2 slots for hits during the course of a day?  As of a few minutes ago, Anarchy Online had 8,500 and Age of Conan had 8,000 hits; both games by Funcom.  I'm sure it's happened in the past, just can't recall...

Funcom has posted their own links to the new graphics engine video:

ftp://ftp.funcom.com/media/ao/newEngine2008/

Funcom is adding a new subscription tier where you get the Shadowlands expansion for $5 (or eu) a month.  AI LE are still part of the $15/mo plan and you still have to view the ads on the billboards when on Rubi-Ka.

http://www.anarchy-online.com/wsp/anarchy/frontend.cgi?func=publish.show&template=content&func_id=2405&table=CONTENT

Depends on the situation.  For Eve, the graphics were directly modified to look nicer but the change is a small evolutionary update - you might categorize it as a sort of content update.   In the case of AO, the current engine is DX7 driven - practically a dinosaur (although that has the paradoxial effect of allowing much older PC's to run it while slowing down newer ones in many cases).  Anarchy Online's update is a full under-the-hood engine update but they will not necessarily change the textures or models.  It will greatly reduce lag and still run on most anything made since 2003.  Aside from reworking the 'world' effects like water and sky and grass, they probably will just run all the old textures thru an updating process w/o actually redoing them anew.

I'm sure there are some older games, like Acherons Call, that could use a similar upgrade but I don't think any new MMO's will get much benefit from a graphics upgrade.

http://www.mmorpg.com/gamelist.cfm/setview/features/loadFeature/1718/gameID/10

Interview with Silirrion about the new AO graphics engine

the linked video is a puny one, though...wtb more links to the 40mb version

UI will stay the same, player model movements also.  The player textures will probably be a lot better.  The UI is, imo, one of the best out there and almost no complaints about it in the forums so don't expect FC to touch it.  Player models could be better and ppl would like but that is very time and money intensive to do.

FYI, Anarchy Online, the original Sci-Fi/Cyberpunk MMO, is getting a graphics engine upgrade this year. They just put out a demo video showing off the engine as it is on the alpha servers right now.

See 

http://mmorpg.com/discussion2.cfm/thread/163799

for details and links to the video.

The new graphics engine will help with hooking people new to the game in the important, early stages.  The game already has a ton of content - and they have been adding a -lot- this past year, much of it back on Rubi-Ka, where the freebie players can get involved.  There was a time a couple of years ago when I knew without referencing any database, everything that buffed every skill and what every encounter or quest accomplished.  Now there is so much new stuff that I don't begin to have to time to examine/quest/explore.  The current population is good and stable but FC has put in enough new stuff to keep 4x the ppl very busy.  OFC there is still the usual crowd who gets in the game and their only goal is to hit 220 and acquire by any means the best gear eBayed credits can buy, then still get their butts kicked in PvP by the vets, and then become bored and quit, having missed 90% of the games' content.

They have indicated in comments last year that the engine was due to go online this year.  I suspect we'll see it before the 4th quarter.

Verified...check their home webpage