AO free!

Saw over at Evil Avatar that if you register between Dec. 15 and Jan. 15, you can download and play Anarchy Online for free for a whole year! I'm a WoW whore through and through, but this at least deserves a look see...

Doesn''t it tell you something that they have to resort to giving it away for free?

AO is not that bad, but it''s so well-established, you''d be advised to have a friend in the game to hook you up. I enjoyed it for a while, but the group I was playing with left, so...

Hmm... might be worth a shot...

I mean, come on... I''ll try anything once, for free...

Actually AO is a pretty good sci-fi MMORPG. I think this offer is just coming about because they took a pretty good user hit when EQ2 and WoW came out. The freebie is only for the basic game. If you want to play with all extras from the 3 expansion packs then you have to pay. I suspect they figure most people who they get to play for free won''t be able to go an entire year without that (especially when they make friends online and they talk about the cool extra things they have) and will end up paying for a subscription before Jan 2006.

I think I might just register a new account for this now and just keep it around incase 6 months from now I''m either bored or WoW goes sour or something.

"Warlock" wrote:

... I''ll try anything once, for free...

Even the cheesegrater thing?

AO is a great game actually and for free you can not beat that price.

Sure it is old but it has almost all the features any of the current games have and more from housing, vehicles, dungeons, instance missions, quests, one of best UIs ever (the original UI at least) and even a slightly more in depth character creation process then current games.

I have great memories of tense fights in instance dungeons in that game. They instance every little mission that is not just ""go deliver this"" or ""kill 5 of these"". I like the way they do it. They also have cool cities and a great transport system (the Grid).

I found the game dry after a while, but as I said, that''s largely because I was soloing after my clannies gave it up.

I remember being interested in AO when it first came out, but refrained as it paled in the shadow of my Eversmack addiction at the time, and sort of faded from my consciousness after a while. Might be worth a second look.

"maladen" wrote:

AO is a great game actually and for free you can not beat that price.

I can beat it, they pay me $125/hour to play the game. That beats free any day...

I can beat it, they pay me $125/hour to play the game. That beats free any day...

Umm... hate you?

I''ve never felt actual HATE for someone online... until now.

If there were no World of Warcraft I''d be taking advantage of this, but I''d never take the time to play AO with WOW around. So, it''s a neat trick, but there''s no point for me.

"Elysium" wrote:

If there were no World of Warcraft I''d be taking advantage of this, but I''d never take the time to play AO with WOW around. So, it''s a neat trick, but there''s no point for me.

Ditto.

I tried AO, on the off chance there was something there worth playing. Nah, not for me.

I kept pining for WoW, oddly enough, like WoW does this thing better, that thing better....I will not cave.....

I might give AO a try. I don''t know if it would run on my computer though. I''ve also never played an MMORPG except for the WoW and Guildwars Betas.

If WoW runs on your computer, AO probably will.

I do have to say that it''s pretty fun once you get your bearings. It doesn''t really hold your hand the way City of Heroes does. That''s the one thing I like about CoH - anyone can plop right in and play; they''ll teach you how.

I''m enjoying it so far. There''s a guide on gamespot for it here to help you choose a class. I started as an Engineer but didn''t really love it, so I''ve started up a Fixer. Apparently they''re the only ones that can travel the ""grid"" transport system. For now I haven''t yet left the newbie island.

http://www.gamespot.com/gamespot/gui...

I''m going to cancel my FFXI subscription lapse since it''s become excruciatingly hard to find a random group to adventure with, and you can''t solo at all in that game once you''re out of the first ten levels. FFXI is clearly the better game. It''s prettier, but if I can''t get good entertainment value out of an hour with it like I can (so far) with AO, it''s just a chat channel.

Until AO lets me down in a big way I won''t consider the $50 + $15/mo for WOW.

I''m on the Atlantean server as Rezoh the Fixer or Kubernos the engineer.

Free? I''ll give it a try.

I''m on Rimor as Almaida the Agent.

I''m probably going to be making a new guy, soon.

Yikes! I tried this out a night ago and I couldn''t really make heads or tails of it. Once I start having to do things like ""CTRL-4 to open your mission log"" I just zone out. I don''t mind complex games, but surely that doesn''t need to apply to the interface as well? Are most MMORPGs like this, or am I just being overly picky?

Since free is such a good price I might try again if I''m bored...

Lord_Xan, while I am not currently playing AO, I did play it back in the days when there were only Ultima Online, Everquest, and Anarchy Online to choose from. Having played UO until burn-out stage (three years), I was desperately looking for something very different than your typical fantasy-themed MMORPG to play.

So, as noted, choices were extremely limited and I went for AO.

Yes, as you mention, the interface was a bit clunky. However, given time it became quite second nature and I played AO for about a year. Then came the Earth & Beyond beta, followed closely by the Star Wars Galaxies beta, and I was completely taken away from AO for about eight months.

My point is this: AO really does have a great storyline, and is perhaps the best (and most) realized sci-fi themed game available which I''ve played. If I weren''t in Grad School at this moment, I''d take up their free offer and start over.

I played AO for 2 years and i used the free offer to return to my friends.

Its still a great game, but i have to admit that the start is probably
a bit rough for a new player... theres so much you need to know
until you really can enjoy this game.

But if you manage to overcome the first confusion, theres really a
gameplay jewel under all that complexity.

While you do not know what all those options for your char mean in the beginning (What weapon is good? Implants?, which Skills to raise? What is this NCU-thingie? What do all those thousands of items i loot?), they later allow you for char tuning and development in a degree never found in another MMO (including the new ones).

While you do not know what all those options for your char mean in the beginning (What weapon is good? Implants?, which Skills to raise? What is this NCU-thingie? What do all those thousands of items i loot?), they later allow you for char tuning and development in a degree never found in another MMO (including the new ones).

Yeah, What is that NCU thing?

I started an Omni Soldier on the Atlantean server at my cousin''s suggestion over the holiday, but I''ve really only played for an evening. It seems alright. For free, it''s definitely worth starting a character, just to see what''s up with it.

NCU determines how many active nano''s you can have running. Each nano takes up so many slots of your NCU, low level version take up less than higher versions.

NCU is basically your buff slots...

My vid card is currently refusing utterly to play anything DX9, so until I get a new card I''ve been playing this instead of EQ. The irony, of course, is that the game about future technology requires the least advanced technology of current mmorpgs...

The new newbie isle is much gentler on players than the original game. I played this game at release and it was horrible. Not only does it have a steep, no a better word would be MOUNTAINOUS learning curve (18 skill trees, 4 to 12 different items in each branch of the tree), it''s PvP orientation means that the average player doesn''t really want to help too much as they''ll be playing to crush later.

The new island is pretty much a happy, joy filled place. The birds drop loot that you can sell right off the bat for 200 credits (you''ll be about 20th level before general loot sells for this) and spawn about 10 seconds after death. There are also 8 ""bosses"", named monsters that glow with an aura that you can kill. The aura determines their power (damage shield, extra HP, etc) in case you are timid. The bosses drop better quality loot and rings that increase a variety of stats. It is for these rings that they are almost constantly camped. They sell for 250K on the mainland...

You now get newbie chat, and leaving the isle you get added to assorted other chats where you can ask questions. The people who remain in these channels are generally the folks who are willing to answer questions. It really helps blunt the sharp learning curve. Additionally, after leaving newbie island, you can go to The Subway, a place you literally spawn in front of when you leave the isle, for a further 15 or so newbie-learning levels. Loot here, as well, sells for ungodly amounts to higher ups.

All in all, the AO of today is a solid game. It''s not a great game, but there''s a lot more to it than there was when it was released. I left the game originally when the 12.13 patch was released...a patch known and famed in AO history as driving away about half their users due to the amazing amount of bugs and nerfs. Playing again for free is nice.

Would I buy this game for a complete play? Not sure. It still has some aspects that are silly and time wasting, most notably the weapons. There are, from what I understand, 200 different weapon types. These can come in 200 different levels. That means you can get 40K different weapons. Considering that about half of the weapons are useless, and a further quarter half a single ""cool factor"" (be it a neat look or a somewhat interesting critical or similar), you find yourself often at low levels dealing with a very poor weapon, causing poor damage output, and getting smashed by the monsters. Luckily healing is easy to get, and portable, but it does detract from the fun.

Last night, in between taking down christmas decorations, I camped the weapon stores for new guns for my adventurer. Pistols are one of the worst items to obtain, I have been told. The shops refresh themselves about every 15 minutes, and I sat between 2 of them, with 3 more a very short run away, and would check them hoping for one of the three guns that I could use at my level that didn''t outright suck. In 4 hours of on off checking, they never showed. Well, at one point one did, but it was of a level that was far far below what I was using currently.

I''m still playing it for a little bit I suppose, and if you even remotely consider giving it a try, I''d recommend creating an account before the freebie sign up period ends in two days. If I can help ya, give me a shout on the second server (Rimor I think?), as Evadrepus.

"Ozzie" wrote:

Last night, in between taking down christmas decorations, I camped the weapon stores for new guns for my adventurer. Pistols are one of the worst items to obtain, I have been told. The shops refresh themselves about every 15 minutes, and I sat between 2 of them, with 3 more a very short run away, and would check them hoping for one of the three guns that I could use at my level that didn''t outright suck. In 4 hours of on off checking, they never showed. Well, at one point one did, but it was of a level that was far far below what I was using currently.

Try using Clicksaver. Maybe it came out after you quit? It''s Funcom approved and makes finding a particular item (as long as it''s avail as a mission reward) cake. Absolutely essential IMO.

If I weren''t playing WoW I''d be tempted to reopen my AO account, even though I''m not eligible for the free offer. Really solid game IMO.

I wouldn''t know what to look for, really.

Anyone know of a website that lists recipes for upgrading weapons? I want to know if I can get my current submachinegun upgraded for my Fixer.

You''d be wanting the Anarchy Mainframe

...which looks terribly out of date, but I don''t know of a replacement for it.

Ya, clicksaver is new. Been using that for my missions lately and it helps. I was hoping to find a gun in the shops since on 40 or so missions had not found one. Tonight had a great luck streak and found 3, so finally upgraded.

"Infinity" wrote:

I wouldn''t know what to look for, really.

Anyone know of a website that lists recipes for upgrading weapons? I want to know if I can get my current submachinegun upgraded for my Fixer.

Good Question. I''m in the subways still using my newbie gun as a soldier. I''d love to upgrade, but nothing else seems to deal as much damage or have less delay than my little newb assault rifle. Is there anything I need to be looking for? Also, anyone know how to tell if a drop is good or not?

Any GWJ play AO and if so on which server?