Information about Anarchy Online

[baloo]

Note: Originally posted by DamionFury

Thought people might find some of this info useful:
Anarchy Online info (at the time of this post)

Owning Company: Funcom

Player Base: Approximately 13,000 (data as of Jan '06 - see http://www.mmogchart.com)

Cost: Free (see below in the Notables) or $14.95 per month (with the usual 3, 6, and 12 month options)

Max Level: 250 (there are 200 basic levels, 20 'shadow' levels, and 30 'alien' levels)

Races (called Breeds): 4

• Homo Solitus - Your basic human
• Homo Opifex - Streamlined with great reflexes, sacrificing some strength for better agility.
• Homo Nano - Smart and great with Nanos (magic) but not physically adept.
• Homo Atrox - Kinda like an ogre. Strong and tough but dumb.

Professions: 14

• Adventurer
• Agent
• Bureaucrat
• Doctor
• Enforcer
• Engineer
• Fixer
• Keeper
• Martial Artist
• Meta-Physicist
• Nano Technician
• Shade
• Soldier
• Trader

Expansions: 4

• The Notum Wars
• The Shadowlands
• Alien Invasion
• Lost Eden (not yet released)

Basic Storyline Primer:
It's something like the year 30,000 and humanity has spread throughout the stars. Hypercorporations (humongous corporations owning whole planets, star systems and more) pretty much run everything even though there is supposedly some kind of galaxy spanning government. One such hypercorp, Omni-Tek, owns a planet called Rubi-Ka. This planet produces a substance called Notum that revolutionizes Nanotechnology, allowing it to do things that look very much like magic. Since this planet is the only source of this amazing substance (anyone else thinking 'Dune' here?) and Omni-Tek owns it, they do everything they can to keep the monopoly on it as well as to increase their profit margin using any means necessary. This has created unrest among the workers that eventually led to an uprising and the formation of The Clans, a rebel faction that sells Notum to a rival corporation to finance the rebellion. With the release of the Shadowlands expansion, players could travel into an area known, appropriately enough, as the Shadowlands, where the storyline further explains the history of Rubi-Ka and, indeed, all life including humanity. It also added new factions for the players to align with. In the Alien Invasion expansion, an Alien faction entered into the mix (though players are not able to side with it at this time) and the story further expounded upon. As much of the current story is revealed through game play, I'll not list it here (though you can certainly Google it). More info about the story is available here.

Expansion information:

• The Notum Wars - Basically added the Tower System and a few game play enhancements. Official site: http://anarchy-online.com/content/game/notumwars/
• The Shadowlands - Opened up an entirely new section of the game and added two new Professions, 20 new "shadow" levels, and a "Perk" system. There's more but that's the basics. Official site: http://www.anarchy-online.com/content/game/shadowlands/
• Alien Invasion - Added organization built cities, a new faction to fight, 30 "alien" levels, new perks, and a ton of new items. Official site: http://www.anarchy-online.com/conten...alieninvasion/
• Lost Eden - Not yet released. There supposed to be a considerable improvement to the games graphics as well as new content (of course). Official site: http://www.anarchy-online.com/content/game/losteden/

Notable Features:

• Missions - Basically instanced dungeons, tailor made for your particular character or team. Access to these dungeons is limited to you, your team (if you did a team mission), and characters you specifically give a key to.
• "Perk" system - Available only with the Shadowlands and Alien Invasion expansion packs, the "Perk" system allows players to further customize their characters by adding special abilities unique to their particular breed and profession. As with anything there are some really great ones and some really bad ones but it really adds some variety. It's fairly similar to the "Talent" system in World of Warcraft.
• Dyna-bosses and pocket bosses - Dyna-bosses are randomly generated mobs that usually appear within "camps" of other creatures of the same type. They usually have considerably more hit points and possess one or more special damage types. Pocket bosses are specific boss mobs that can only be encountered by collecting the individual pieces of the pattern (often dropped by Dyna-bosses), putting them together, and using them. Both drop rare and sometimes unique items, some of which may only be available from these specific creatures.
• Organization (read Guild) owned sites where "Notum Towers" may be erected. Other organizations may assault in an effort to take them over, prompting often huge PvP battles to defend/assault them. Because ownership of tower sites grant the organization special bonuses, these sites are often quite a coveted commodity.
• Organization owned cities that are periodically attacked by the Aliens. Since killing Aliens is the only way to gain "Alien Levels", this is often considered quite important (though not strictly necessary since a relatively recent content patch added zones populated solely by Alien mobs). Organizations that are particularly interested in fighting the Aliens can even trigger an Alien attack on demand. Cities grant the organization members special bonuses as well as the ability to place "shops" where players may list their items on a world-wide player market. Cities have a monthly upkeep that must be paid to maintain ownership.
• Close-knit Community - For a game with less that 30,000 total players (across all servers), the community behind it is remarkably close and very involved. A great many players will go out of their way to help a new player, asking only that they return the favor for someone else one day. It has the distinction of being one of (if not the) first game with it's own Internet radio station. It's called Gridstream and has programming 24/7. It's entirely player created and maintained, run by volunteers, and has become such a hit that the GMs and ARKs (see below) often help them arrange special events. For more info, head to http://www.gridstream.org
• Advisors of Rubi-Ka (ARK) - To my knowledge this program is one of a kind. If you thought of GMs as Gods and the players as mere Mortals, then ARKs are demi-gods. They help the GMs deal with many common issues players have (getting stuck, players harassing other players, etc) and also offer orientation to new players. ARKs are players that have played long enough that they know the game quite well and wish to help the community. The application process is stringent and more info is available at http://ark.funcom.com/Public/
• Free (limited) game play - Currently billed as ending in January of 2008, Funcom offers players the opportunity to create an account and play for free. There are two catches: you have limited access to the game and you cannot turn off the in-game advertisements. To expound upon the first of these issues, free accounts only have access to content from the basic game and the Notum Wars expansion. Officially, you must purchase the other expansion packs to receive access to them, however they often send out e-mails to those with free accounts offering free or reduced price upgrades to include all expansions (players will then have to pay the monthly charge). The e-mail claims that the upgrade is available "for a limited time" however I've come to believe that this "limited time" is pretty much until the end of the free play period.

For more information, I recommend you check out these sites (note, I'm not affiliated with any of them):

• http://www.anarchy-online.com
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anarchy_Online
• http://ao.stratics.com/

Oh, and of course, you could always Google it
Hope this explains a bit.

Note: Originally posted by DamionFury

[Punchline]

I was gunna check this game out, and then forgot to. Thanks for reminding me!! :p

[baloo]

Hehe np

[Uzbeki]

Both me and Baloo used to play AO back in the days when it was buggy as hell (Pre Shadowlands)

[baloo]

It was, wasn't it

[Punchline]

Should I try it, or not worth it?

[baloo]

Back in the days there was a free trial, I don't know about now.. but if there still is, I don't see why you shouln't try it

[DamionFury]

Thought people might find some of this info useful:

Anarchy Online info (at the time of this post)

Owning Company: Funcom

Player Base: Approximately 13,000 (data as of Jan '06 - see http://www.mmogchart.com)

Cost: Free (see below in the Notables) or $14.95 per month (with the usual 3, 6, and 12 month options)

Max Level: 250 (there are 200 basic levels, 20 'shadow' levels, and 30 'alien' levels)

Races (called Breeds): 4

• Homo Solitus - Your basic human
• Homo Opifex - Streamlined with great reflexes, sacrificing some strength for better agility.
• Homo Nano - Smart and great with Nanos (magic) but not physically adept.
• Homo Atrox - Kinda like an ogre. Strong and tough but dumb.

Professions: 14

• Adventurer
• Agent
• Bureaucrat
• Doctor
• Enforcer
• Engineer
• Fixer
• Keeper
• Martial Artist
• Meta-Physicist
• Nano Technician
• Shade
• Soldier
• Trader

Expansions: 4

• The Notum Wars
• The Shadowlands
• Alien Invasion
• Lost Eden (not yet released)

Basic Storyline Primer:
It's something like the year 30,000 and humanity has spread throughout the stars. Hypercorporations (humongous corporations owning whole planets, star systems and more) pretty much run everything even though there is supposedly some kind of galaxy spanning government. One such hypercorp, Omni-Tek, owns a planet called Rubi-Ka. This planet produces a substance called Notum that revolutionizes Nanotechnology, allowing it to do things that look very much like magic. Since this planet is the only source of this amazing substance (anyone else thinking 'Dune' here?) and Omni-Tek owns it, they do everything they can to keep the monopoly on it as well as to increase their profit margin using any means necessary. This has created unrest among the workers that eventually led to an uprising and the formation of The Clans, a rebel faction that sells Notum to a rival corporation to finance the rebellion. With the release of the Shadowlands expansion, players could travel into an area known, appropriately enough, as the Shadowlands, where the storyline further explains the history of Rubi-Ka and, indeed, all life including humanity. It also added new factions for the players to align with. In the Alien Invasion expansion, an Alien faction entered into the mix (though players are not able to side with it at this time) and the story further expounded upon. As much of the current story is revealed through game play, I'll not list it here (though you can certainly Google it). More info about the story is available here.

Expansion information:

• The Notum Wars - Basically added the Tower System and a few game play enhancements. Official site: http://anarchy-online.com/content/game/notumwars/
• The Shadowlands - Opened up an entirely new section of the game and added two new Professions, 20 new "shadow" levels, and a "Perk" system. There's more but that's the basics. Official site: http://www.anarchy-online.com/content/game/shadowlands/
• Alien Invasion - Added organization built cities, a new faction to fight, 30 "alien" levels, new perks, and a ton of new items. Official site: http://www.anarchy-online.com/conten...alieninvasion/
• Lost Eden - Not yet released. There supposed to be a considerable improvement to the games graphics as well as new content (of course). Official site: http://www.anarchy-online.com/content/game/losteden/

Notable Features:

• Missions - Basically instanced dungeons, tailor made for your particular character or team. Access to these dungeons is limited to you, your team (if you did a team mission), and characters you specifically give a key to.
• "Perk" system - Available only with the Shadowlands and Alien Invasion expansion packs, the "Perk" system allows players to further customize their characters by adding special abilities unique to their particular breed and profession. As with anything there are some really great ones and some really bad ones but it really adds some variety. It's fairly similar to the "Talent" system in World of Warcraft.
• Dyna-bosses and pocket bosses - Dyna-bosses are randomly generated mobs that usually appear within "camps" of other creatures of the same type. They usually have considerably more hit points and possess one or more special damage types. Pocket bosses are specific boss mobs that can only be encountered by collecting the individual pieces of the pattern (often dropped by Dyna-bosses), putting them together, and using them. Both drop rare and sometimes unique items, some of which may only be available from these specific creatures.
• Organization (read Guild) owned sites where "Notum Towers" may be erected. Other organizations may assault in an effort to take them over, prompting often huge PvP battles to defend/assault them. Because ownership of tower sites grant the organization special bonuses, these sites are often quite a coveted commodity.
• Organization owned cities that are periodically attacked by the Aliens. Since killing Aliens is the only way to gain "Alien Levels", this is often considered quite important (though not strictly necessary since a relatively recent content patch added zones populated solely by Alien mobs). Organizations that are particularly interested in fighting the Aliens can even trigger an Alien attack on demand. Cities grant the organization members special bonuses as well as the ability to place "shops" where players may list their items on a world-wide player market. Cities have a monthly upkeep that must be paid to maintain ownership.
• Close-knit Community - For a game with less that 30,000 total players (across all servers), the community behind it is remarkably close and very involved. A great many players will go out of their way to help a new player, asking only that they return the favor for someone else one day. It has the distinction of being one of (if not the) first game with it's own Internet radio station. It's called Gridstream and has programming 24/7. It's entirely player created and maintained, run by volunteers, and has become such a hit that the GMs and ARKs (see below) often help them arrange special events. For more info, head to http://www.gridstream.org
• Advisors of Rubi-Ka (ARK) - To my knowledge this program is one of a kind. If you thought of GMs as Gods and the players as mere Mortals, then ARKs are demi-gods. They help the GMs deal with many common issues players have (getting stuck, players harassing other players, etc) and also offer orientation to new players. ARKs are players that have played long enough that they know the game quite well and wish to help the community. The application process is stringent and more info is available at http://ark.funcom.com/Public/
• Free (limited) game play - Currently billed as ending in January of 2008 (though it's been extended in the past), Funcom offers players the opportunity to create an account and play for free. There are two catches: you have limited access to the game and you cannot turn off the in-game advertisements. To expound upon the first of these issues, free accounts only have access to content from the basic game and the Notum Wars expansion. Officially, you must purchase the other expansion packs to receive access to them, however they often send out e-mails to those with free accounts offering free or reduced price upgrades to include all expansions (players will then have to pay the monthly charge). The e-mail claims that the upgrade is available "for a limited time" however I've come to believe that this "limited time" is pretty much until the end of the free play period.

For more information, I recommend you check out these sites (note, I'm not affiliated with any of them):

• http://www.anarchy-online.com
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anarchy_Online
• http://ao.stratics.com/

Oh, and of course, you could always Google it
Hope this explains a bit.

[Rexi]

imo AO sux quite hard, i played it like 3 weeks with couple of friends but there wasnt anykind point in AO. so its not worth it

[Punchline]

Originally Posted by baloo

Back in the days there was a free trial, I don't know about now.. but if there still is, I don't see why you shouln't try it

I saw that now they have a totally free version, but you have to pay for the expansions.