Since Sil has been saying they intend to start adding more play areas to AO in the future, I thought it would be nice to post this original map, which shows both the current ingame playable areas ( in the tan color ), along with areas that are ingame but inaccessible (the gray areas ). All of the gray areas are fully developed as far as land mass, but never had any npcs, mobs, buildings, etc. placed in them.

This may also show how much bigger ( and Rubi-ka is currently not a small world ) the whole of Rubi-ka really is. This will also explain why there are maps in the vendors which are unusable.

In fact, if you run through I believe the Market area of Jobe in the Shadowlands, you will occasionally get the ingame message "Entering Sea of Jobe". This is because that area of SL is actually above the area on Rubi-ka called the Sea of Jobe (bottom of map next to Coast of Peace ).

ahhhh many thanks for this.  Looking at that map gave me a few moments remembering playing that game before I moved onto others.

AO will always have a special place in my heart.  I've tried to go back but because my tastes and needs have now changed, its just not the same.  As I've always said, you'll never recapture that "first kiss" scenario in MMO's.

However, with that said, it will be interesting to see what they do with AO when it gets a face lift.  Although I think they'd need to update the UI as well.  Would be fun to see Funcom kick the butts of other dev houses this year.......AoC, AO''s facelift, The Secret World.......quite a diverse portfolio.

Btw...loved the Big Bird / SWG vet reference....made me chuckle hehe.

Originally posted by Tarka

ahhhh many thanks for this.  Looking at that map gave me a few moments remembering playing that game before I moved onto others.

AO will always have a special place in my heart.  I've tried to go back but because my tastes and needs have now changed, its just not the same.  As I've always said, you'll never recapture that "first kiss" scenario in MMO's.

However, with that said, it will be interesting to see what they do with AO when it gets a face lift.  Although I think they'd need to update the UI as well.  Would be fun to see Funcom kick the butts of other dev houses this year.......AoC, AO''s facelift, The Secret World.......quite a diverse portfolio.

Btw...loved the Big Bird / SWG vet reference....made me chuckle hehe.

Yeah, i'm hoping for an overhaul of the UI with the new graphics as well. Right now, we mostly use Misat0s' skin, and I'd be happy if they just paid her to let them add it to the game as a default.

Far as Funcom on the whole, they're definitely looking good right now. AoC looks like it'll be a solid game, AO getting the facelift will bring back alot of players plus some new blood, and The Secret world hasn't even begun to ramp up yet. Good things are a-comin, I think.

I do hope they do a big "promotion" thing with regards to Anarchy Online when it gets a face lift.  It will be nice to see both "Before" and "After" shots of both areas in the game (inc Shadowlands) and how pc's and npc's look.

I gotta admit I hear rumours that in the last few years the Shadowlands has become more enriched with extra quests and dungeons etc.  God I remember "Heckler" hunting for weeks on end.  Those are days I don't miss. 

So, when the face-lift comes I might just be persuaded to give it another go.

TSW is certainly piquing my interest, mainly because of all the secrecy behind it.  I gotta admit that the whole "conspiracy" thing is a work of marketing genius when you read how it played out.

I hope TSW goes even further than the starting "lore" in AO......those 18 chapters were absolutely captivating.  Well done Ragnar!

There's actually a bigger map around that includes such places as Sparta but I take it that they never created playfields for those areas.

Originally posted by burmese

There's actually a bigger map around that includes such places as Sparta but I take it that they never created playfields for those areas.

Yeah, this was the oldest map I could find. I'll keep looking to see if I can find any more.

Hmmm that is interesting I never knew that such places existed.  FC!!!! I demand that you open those areas!!!!  Oh and, uh....get some more players also.

Wow that's quite a chunk of unused potential! It's nice to know that more is on the way besides the graphics update which I'm eagerly awaiting.

FC has never indicated if they would ever open those areas and I'm not holding my breath. They ight eventually open one or two, though.

Well, everything might hang on the success of AoC.  If Funcoms new flagship MMO pulls in the punters it may offer knock-on opporunities to further develop AO.

Originally posted by Tarka

Well, everything might hang on the success of AoC.  If Funcoms new flagship MMO pulls in the punters it may offer knock-on opporunities to further develop AO.

Some more cash maybe, I have understood that AO pretty much has subcriber base to keep it up and running for quite a long time still. Likely they won't kill it before they can't make profit anymore...

New areas would be cool, just hope they put whompas and grid points in there... Realy no need for more areas like Coast of Peace or Trainqulity... Dead areas, beatiful, but boring without any content apart from player cities...

Exactly my point.  A big influx of cash may help to bolster the future of Funcoms other two MMO's, though one has yet to be released (The Secret World / Cry Gaia)

It would be strange and a travesty to give AO a facelift and do nothing else with it.  Sort of a waste of time and resources.