Anarchy Online is a unique MMO game developed by Funcom, featuring an unofficial mascot called the leet, a furry creature resembling a rodent. The game’s graphics are superior to those of EverQuest and Dark Age of Camelot, with the mascot being the “Anarchtopus”. The leet has an all-black body that can hypnotically adjust to produce various colors (green, red, pink, or purple).
The game offers a unique RPG system and character database, with players aiming to become mascots by building a network with industry professionals. The game also features Shepard’s hodag, a 7 feet long, 30 inches high, black, and hairy creature with 12 horns rising along its spine and short legs ending with long claws.
Players assume the role of a new colonist to Rubi-Ka, progressing through the game through the improvement of their skills. The Solitus is a general character with no special abilities but excels at nothing. The Beast is the biggest and last Boss in the AO-Universe, dropping 4 Parts of Armor, both Hilts, 1-2 Stars, and 2-4 Weapons on every kill.
The game has a lot of depth, and any help or guidance would be appreciated. The game also provides a gallery of screenshots, original player-made comics and art, images, and AO concept art.
Pandemonium is a floating island inside Shadowland’s core, the very essence of the evil that threatens Shadowlands. Mishbuddy, a trojan-like creature, is often described as a voracious sheep-like creature with a massive set of fangs. The Ao Ao is often described as a large, voracious sheep-like creature with a massive set of fangs.
📹 Anarchy Online & why it’s a shocking MMORPG 🔥
Anarchyonline #mmorpg #mmo Anarchy Online Playlist …
What is the Japanese name for anarchy reigns?
Anarchy Reigns, also known as Max Anarchy in Japan, is an online beat ’em up game developed by Platinum Games. It is the fifth game in their publishing deal with Sega and was released for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 in January 2012. The game is described as an ‘online action combat’ game where players control various fighters and use extravagant moves to defeat opponents. It offers various multiplayer modes, including Tag Team and Battle Royale. The game is the spiritual successor to MadWorld and is being produced by Atsushi Inaba and directed by Masaki Yamanaka.
What is the most powerful gun in Red Dead online?
The Bolt-Action Rifle is a powerful melee weapon in Red Dead Online, offering higher damage and accuracy compared to repeaters. Its increased range allows players to safely line up shots from a distance, making it the deadliest weapon in the showdown series. The LeMat Revolver, with its higher capacity and devastating secret, can fire 9 revolver shots before reloading and has a second barrel that fires a single shotgun shell, making it incredibly powerful at close range.
Dual-wielding LeMat Revolvers can help players clear groups easily. Arrows, while often preferred in shootouts, can be just as deadly in the right hands, dealing massive damage to enemies and heavily wounding other players. Both weapons are considered one of the best melee weapons in Red Dead Online.
What is the best fixer breed in anarchy online?
Opifex is a well-suited breed for professions that rely on speed and sidestepping attacks. In Anarchy Online, breeds are genetically engineered with specific purposes, with the exception of the Solitus. These breeds, like the Opifex, Nano Mage, and Atrox, were developed by Omni-Tek for Rubi-ka. The Solitus, a well-rounded breed, is most similar to an original human being and can perform well in most professions and skill sets. However, they may not be as well-suited for specialization as other breeds.
Balanced abilities allow the Solitus to access armors and implants requiring any of their abilities with greater ease than more specialized breeds. This balanced abilities also lead to a more even spread in trickle down, making them good choices for classes with access to multiple lines of symbiants, classes that change weapon/armor lines, and those balancing between survivability, weapon skills, and nano skills.
Can I run anarchy online?
The minimum system requirements for Anarchy Online are an Intel Pentium III 1400 CPU operating at 1400MHz and a minimum of 4GB of RAM. The system requirements include a graphics card, an unidentified CPU, a file size of 3 GB, and the Windows operating system, versions 98, ME, 2000, XP, Vista, 7, 8, or 10. The recommended system specifications and system setup for Anarchy Online are currently unavailable.
What is the story of Anarchy Reigns?
Anarchy Reigns, also known as Max Anarchy in Japan, is an open world beat ’em up video game set in a post-apocalyptic future in Altambra. After being arrested for his wife’s murder, former Bureau of Public Safety agent Maximillian Caxton stages a jailbreak and his former team, the Strike One Unit, is dispatched to find and kill Max. The game was released in Japan on July 5, 2012, in North America on January 8, 2013, in Australia on January 10, and in Europe on January 11. It serves as the spiritual successor to the Wii video game MadWorld.
Is Anarchy Reigns a sequel to Mad World?
Anarchy Reigns, also known as Max Anarchy in Japan, is an online beat ’em up game developed by Platinum Games, published by Sega. The game, released in January 2012, is the spiritual successor to MadWorld. It features an ‘online action combat’ mode where players control various fighters and use extravagant moves to defeat opponents. Multiplayer modes include Tag Team and Battle Royale. Anarchy Reigns is described as an ‘online action combat’ game, with players controlling fighters and using extravagant moves to defeat opponents. The game is available on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.
What is the best gun in Watch Dogs Legion online?
The silenced MP5 submachine gun is a highly effective weapon in Watch Dogs: Legion due to its fast fire rate, accuracy, and stability. It is often the primary weapon once obtained. A unique mission in the game requires infiltrating a restricted area and destroying a new replacement AI at Nine Elms Dock. Completing this mission grants a “transient” recruit access to the silenced MP5. The GL-06 grenade launcher is a popular choice in open-world games due to their overpowering nature but their fun and effectiveness.
What is the best breed for soldier in anarchy online?
The author believes that the best breeds for soldiers are Solitus and Atrox, with Opifex being a close third. They believe that any breed can be made work if hard enough. Opifex is a unique breed that offers the experience of a nanomage, but it may not be suitable for everyone. For more information on stat differences for each breed, check out Hellfire’s thread on how breed affects each stat at endgame.
What is the best weapon for enforcer anarchy online?
The user, who has been engaged in this activity for 20 years, suggests that 2hb is the optimal choice for individuals with low levels, up to and including level 100. 2he is the most effective option until the level cap is reached, at which point 2hb with blood bats is the most beneficial course of action.
Is Anarchy Online worth playing?
The MMORPG is a brilliant and engaging experience, with a large community, helpful forums, and no enemy hunts. It has stability comparable to older games, with minor bugs and occasional graphical glitches. The game offers the deepest and best gaming experience on any computer or console. New players may need to spend time getting past the complex UI before things loosen up. However, with time, the game will reward players with its deep gameplay, music, and community. Overall, the game is highly recommended for future gaming.
Is Anarchy Reigns online only?
Anarchy Reigns’ co-op mode is an online only affair, with no local play. The standard version of the game consists of a simple Survival Mode where players and two friends face waves of NPC enemies like Killseekers, Drones, armored cars, and super mutants. The mode has a 10 minute time limit, and if the team doesn’t defeat all waves by the time the clock expires, they lose. Each wave gets progressively harder, and each session features a finale with a badass boss unique to each of the five stages.
The ten-minute timer doesn’t stop until the boss’s death animation is complete, making it easy to get screwed out of a victory. At the end of each public co-op match, players are awarded XP that goes toward unlocking new characters. If a Game Stop exclusive preorder is acquired, there is a downloadable mode called “Mad Survival”, where players play against other player characters instead of NPC grunts. The mode is more enjoyable and may become available as a fee add-on.
📹 Anarchy Online 20th Anniversary – A Walk Down Memory Lane
Would you believe it? Anarchy Online is 20 years old and still kicking! On June 27th, 2001, the world’s first sci-fi MMORPG first …
Having been an avid player of Anarchy Online from 2005 to 2012, I can’t help but reflect fondly on the countless hours spent immersed in its riveting universe. The personal reasons that led to my departure from the game came far too soon and, to this day, I still yearn for the virtual camaraderie I left behind. In a landscape crowded with countless MMORPGs, Anarchy Online stood out with its unique blend of compelling narrative, richly detailed environments, and a community that was second to none. The friendships I forged with people from around the globe are among my most cherished memories, serving as a testament to the power of this game to connect individuals across cultures and continents. What I particularly loved about Anarchy Online was its community spirit, a sense of belonging that transcended the usual player-vs-player conflicts typical of the genre. This community will forever hold a special place in my heart. I recently returned to the game, driven by nostalgia and longing for the experiences that once defined my virtual life. Sadly, the world I rediscovered was far removed from the thriving, bustling universe I had left. The servers felt desolate, the player count was markedly reduced, and the once-thriving community seemed to have diminished. It is truly disheartening to witness such a pioneering game in the MMORPG genre become almost a ghost town, especially when I consider its immense potential and the meaningful memories it continues to evoke for many former players.
I have based my life around this game. I think it influenced my brain development. It certainly provided escapism and helped me deal with trauma. Its community taught me there were good people in the world, and I think the clunky and unyielding gameplay might have been deliberate (if idealistic) to force that jolly cooperation. I don’t know of any other game where a pioneer CAN be so powerful, but the multiplicative effect of working as a group is just as viable. If there was a political agenda it showed that Anarchy is a viable path to Utopia. It taught me critical thinking as well as the ability to visualise distant goals and the power of an appetite for problem solving. My job is about as close as I can get to everything I loved in terms of industry and how I execute my tasks. I recently got burnt out at work and spent a couple days off finishing a level 10 trader twink that I first started 11 years ago. It feels like much of society is losing a lot of these skills and values, including AOs publisher. There are no long term goals anymore, only tiny dopamine hits between 20 seconds articles, or quarterly earning reports. We are more technologically advanced than ever, and yet I think many children today have no idea what is possible. Don’t get me wrong, the world is a very big place with lots of cultures, but the western capitalist model massively influences global lifestyle. I think this is what makes part of me wish I could remain in AO’s Utopia, even after all these years.
I sank COUNTLESS hours into this game back in the day. This game cost me relationships with women, lol. I remember getting my superior perennium gun on my sniper, getting the bright orange tier 3 armor, gwydwinn (?) hammer, heavy notum tank armor and a helmet that looked like bull horns on my enforcer. Standing in the main areas asking for buffs to squeeze on your newest item. A remake of the game with the latest technology would be amazing!!
What a nostalgia trip perusal this. I was there at launch and then played for 7 years, what were certainly some of the darkest times for me outside of the game, but the community that existed in AO was my refuge. Those of us that were around all the time, we were all close. When tragedy hit the community we all grieved. When drama occurred, there was no hiding it from anyone. To this day I will sustain that I had deeper friendships with players of this game than perhaps half a dozen folks, outside, ever. I recall fondly when the biodome content was added, I organized my clan to be one of the first groups to approach it. The devs were so invested that during and after, in secret, GM Means was messaging me, asking for live feedback. We went on to become good friends over the next couple of years, I watched my influence shape a world. I went on to help with some deeper beta testing, but then something happened. It may have been the release of WoW or an expansion. The community left quickly, and the game started to lose appeal for all. It was a formative time in my life though and I will never forget it.
I played alot of AO back in the day. I had twinks for lower dungeons. That was the most awsome part of the game for me. Like a level 25 Subway dungeon twink with GTA+Styg or Perennium beamer. I never experienced thiskind of satisfaction in other MMORPGs. Twinking in this game = maxxing out your skills needed, making sure you dont waste any points, gathering special buffs from around town, buying or loaning special items, buying or loaning special armor, making custom special implants etc to equip an item, then you do it all over again to equip the next item, and so on and on until you finally can put on your one special item. Bascially you had to make implant sets to get on higher level implants to get on higher level implants and do it until you ran out of options (since there were only certain slots you could use for certain stat increase). And you have to know exactly what your stats are afterwards also (since you cant change gear afterwards, you can only get buffs, and your NCU is limited), not be too weak to be able to use it. All that brainstorm was what i enjoyed. And also then you can showoff what you have equipped in town and flex in the dungeons with your insane damage. Everyone noticed when you had a special piece of armor or a weapon on you. Since everyone knew the BiS items, but never either got them because the boss was too hard or they farmed and it did not drop or they just couldnt equip it. Never ever seen anything like that in other MMOs. Oh and getting level 220.
Played this for a long time and had several 200+ characters. One thing that stood out way back when was the procedurally generated missions. End game it was fun to have a fixer that could “blitz” these missions for high value items and sell them to other players or shops. I had a friend who was a GM of sorts try out my character and she wondered how I could stand playing with my crazy runspeed. I miss those days.
I did enjoy playing this game back in the day, so unique. The names of creatures when exploring (the various failed experiments) or the vast number of nanos for classes and their names, like the Bureaucrat (Red Tape or Demotivation Speech: Let’s Make a Committee 😄). We’ll never see things like this again sadly. But I’ve always been a casual player and AO was really not for casuals. Max twinking was required for group content, and Shadowlands was f’ing hard! I tried it again a couple times with the new updates but couldn’t get into it again.
My first MMO, still the best MMO because of it’s complex mechanics. Sadly updates stopped and my guild slowly died, so I too left it like a decade ago. Played since 2005 when I started clicksavering for concrete cushions in order to purchase my first Yalm (flying mount). Played all the way to 2012, when I routinely played two accounts simultaneously, alt tabbing between game windows. Killing end game raid bosses by myself because others in my guild had already vanished into the ether. – Tchu to create Hold Hell at Bay rings and Inferno boots for sale from parts gathered on half a dozen alts. (enf + doc) – The Night Heart in Pandemonium for giggles and some loot (enf + doc) – Mitaar hero for loot to get and sell (solja + crat) Between there I was one of the clan faction raidleaders for Phatznet and Alien playfield, including the huge sector 42 artillery commander progression raids. It really was something special in a time that has passed us by, but the memories and a few screenshots still remain. Rimor / Coven of Hunters
Hey Marle, great job really diving in to this even as a relatively new player (I think?) you picked things up very quickly! Played it since release, then on and off for another half of my life and haven’t been on for a handful of years now but always in the back of my mind I think; one day I’ll come back. I dream for another MMO that has a buff system like this does, as well as all the combinations of clothes/gadgets/weapons/implants. (Crazy how buffs alone can change how powerful you are to the point of being able to do something or not, to even making yourself so, so much more powerful with outside buffs as well.) Also great to see people like Caloss keep the youtube vids alive as well, inspires some cool builds to try out in the future! Are you pretty much done with AO for now? What’s next?
20 years has passed since last I played and a YouTube article renewed my interest. Back into Anarchy Online I went! Kinda. My account was…frozen? Having to watch another article about a really shady way of going to a random website to enter login information, the account was unfrozen. Here’s a few nods to AO: 1.) Anarchy Online is sci-fi themed, which automatically puts the game into a rare niche 2.) AO doesn’t ask me for money every ten minutes, although there was a strong push in the beginning for me to subscribe & maybe the game does later 3.) Open world feeling 4.) Quiet. Ah, no hordes of players spamming chat 5.) Chill, not frantic about combat and a thousand buttons 6.) Anarchy Online still exists whereas most MMOs from the area are gone with a capital “G”. Gonna ride this wave out as far as I can. Thanks for the article! Liked & subscribed, always welcome to check out my website to see if there’s anything of interest as well. Blessings be.
I don’t think I’ll ever love another game the way I loved this one. If I had the power to make one sequel for a article game it’d be this one. I was one of the better players on my server during the Shadowlands and Alien Invasion days. I still think about my metaphysicist, though I’m not sure I could even get back onto my old account. I think the thing you’re missing about the complexity of the stats is that it gives you every single stat to work with, even though you’ll only use a small percentage of them. You have the power to up the completely wrong stats, though there are levels of which are easiest to level based on your profession. Also, a lot of them have little to do with combat. And back in the day you got used to knowing how much stats you could buff yourself to put on better gear. You’d often have to switch implants just to equip a piece of gear, that you then could never take off because you wouldn’t be able to put it back on again. I’ve played a lot of these games, but nothing has ever felt like the AO world. I played a character that used nanobots to create manifestations of their feelings to fight people with. I always thought that was a cool idea.
One of my favourite games of all time. Takes a long time to get to grips with but I love the challenge and depth to your characters. You get a shiny new piece of armour? Cool, now you gotta figure out how to even get it on! Each profession (class) have their uses too so it makes the MMO part of it really awesome, everyone will need everyone else’s help at some point so everyone needs to work together. What a game! Great article btw, thank you for making!
Never played Anarchy Online past the tutorial. However since I love both Project Gorgon as well as Wurm Online and don’t find those games particularly difficult but rewarding. I think I will jump back into AO and give this a try again. I just wish AO had private servers like Project 1999 does. It’s unfortunate how Funcom literally abandons every MMO they make in order to make more money on a new IP. I wish they would just sell their old MMO’s to new studios like LOTRO did.
I spent so many years of my youth in this game, it’s by far the best MMO I’ve played still and the depth and complexity and what you could accomplish in terms of twinking your characters and trying out new ideas. The faction wars between Omni and Clan, the tower battles, the duels, the battlestation, the community. Rubi-Ka and The Shadowlands is always going to be something that I remember and look back to with happy thoughts. My first Burden of Competence from Beast, my first 220/30 ding and the countless hours of farming Alien invasions alongside my friends, and yet again, the PVP battles! Best regards and if any of the oldies but goldies read this, hi from Jinxz/Momento/Nuek RK2
This awakened some deep nostalgia in me. I was part of the initial Beta test team for this game, and I still even have the beta CD from back then. Even this many years later I still have vivid fond memories of this game. The developers and the community in this game were amazing and helpfull even back then, and it offered a unique atmosphere and experience that I havent experienced since. I’m tempted to delve back into it again to see how much it has changed after not having touched it for atleast 15 years.
God I spent 10 years of my life 15 years ago on this game and it still leave a impression upon me that nothing ever will ever meet the greatness we had. We all hated WoW when it came out cause it took from our community. I remember raids with 100 people all rolling for 1 piece of armor a week. This was life changing game play for me and if its back like it was someone let me know I might return 15 years later. I played a soldier and agent alongside eachother the whole time.
I bought anarchy online on disc day one from Game here in the UK! I remember reading the book cover to cover on the way home in my mums car. It has the best soundtrack of any MMO that I’ve heard, and some of my earliest pc gaming memories was due to this game! I still listen to the soundtrack cd even to this day! I also remember turning into a bird, having my mind blown, and flying to the oasis to farm the big diplodocus looking dino’s 😂good times! Great retrospective article too!
This was my first MMORPG that I really played. My brother and I were very hooked on this in early 2004 and I would pretty much play it on and off from then to now. I still remember going to this little “Beach Party” outside of Borealis somewhere. There was like 40 people just hanging out, dancing, chatting and listening to a radio stream on winamp hosted by another DJ who would also play the game. The social aspect in Anarchy Online was always crazy. Even today the community is one of the greatest that you will find on the internet.
Ah AO. A game that I sank like 6 years of playtime into. It was such an immense world. Filled with lore and amazing players. I was in middleschool going into highschool during this game and my Org mates paid for my subscription. I miss them deeply. Final Haven and Black Brigade forever. Shout out to the boys of Weyland Yutani too. Hope you all found a new MMO or hell, are still enjoying this one.
The way you explained this and worked on the details is immaculate! Well done sir! My main character in AO was created on 13 December 2001, I played the MMO intensely for over 13 years and then resolved into WoW. I still to date know about everything there is to know about this game yet, I can not get any of my newer MMO friends to play it because of it’s complexity. Me and my old friends still go back to it once or twice a year for nostaligic purposes. We have each class on max level/gear and so on, but it took over 1 year to build each of them. That is what we called the ‘AO Grind’ there is no end, there is no perfect build. You missed some important parts for me though that AO captured that no other MMO has done before like twinking and PVP on different levels. If you ever want to do another article on this feel free to reach out I can show you what we build up in 22 years of AO and some of the more hidden problems you may not have mentioned. Very very well done sir! <3
I remember when someone hit AI Level 30 (highest expansion level) there would be a global server announcement, and then everyone would shower the person with congratulation ‘tells’ (direct messages). Great sense of community. I have fond memories of finding all the items (concrete pillows anyone?) and buffs from other players in order to twink into overleveled gear. Or seeking out player crafting specialists who could build things for you.
I think you have missed some things in your discussion about complexity and complication in the skill and equipment systems, or glossed over them. I don’t contest that they are (perhaps needlessly) complicated for newer players. But these systems are what make AO stand out for me, it’s what makes it unique (and uniquely hostile to new or uninterested players). When you discover how far you can push these systems, when you discover that you can ladder implants and gear to equip gear you wouldn’t think was possible. When you discover that most gear let you use items at full effect even though you no longer possess the skills required to equip it as long as you have 75% of the requirements. When you discover that this rule is with exceptions: Memory belts and memory chips, and implants will never be “over-equipped”, you can push it as hard as you want with treatment, stat and computer literacy buffs. In AO I met players that had played for years and never made max level, they either played low level characters and focused on world pvp (which is level capped, meaning only +- certain ranges can actually hurt eachother) or making characters that can solo subway, or foremans, or Sector10(iirc) — Dungeons that also have max level to enter. They made some money on helping people or running randomly generated missions to fund their main character or just help guild mates. It is the only MMO I’ve played where people were content to just chill at level 92, this can largely be attributed to that leveling alone used to be a real slog and almost unfeasible.
I personally only really like to play moddable single player RPGs, such as the many from Bethesda, but something about Anarchy Online successfully scratched that modding itch. The implants, the funny items and outfits you could equip that seamed like something a modder would come up with rather than an official developer, all those little details conspired to eliminate the feeling so common to MMORPGs that you’re playing within a restricted walled garden. For example, the ability to bootstrap your character up a few levels by swapping implants consecutively until you couldn’t go any further was an important mechanic to the game, but felt like a cheat, so it made you feel special. I think it’s that kind of thoughtfulness that made Anarchy Online such a great game.
I quit AO as Funcom pretty much just stopped supporting the game and content but I got to say, AO was by far the absolute best MMORPG ever made. The fight system, the building character system, everything was just amazingly put together and sure, you could over twink if you knew how to and had the money for it but I never saw that as bad. AO was the first in designing and creating features, many many features such as the implant system, the skill system and more. It’s just amazing when you think about it how much time had to go into creating this system. I would still play it today if they would continue to support it, 100%!
For those interested there is a book which serves as a prequel for Anarchy Online. The book in and of itself is a masterpiece (from famed game developper/writer Ragnar Tornquist). It is named : A prophet without honor. It is available through a Google search on Anarchy Online’s archive website. Unfortunately in PDF only.
I remember getting arrested in the game. Me and my friend were in TIR marketplace making a fuss. Anyway we figured out how to agro the big mobs on top of the trade building. So we got it to agro on the players at the market. Eventually the game makers caught up on us and transported me to their prison plane. /Terminate right in front of their eyes and was teleported back to the prison plane and said im sorry I will never do it again. And was set free.
Aaah the many many good memories of this game. The cultist trains in the temple is still the biggest laughs I got from a MMO. Seeing a confident group of player marching into the depths only to have a desperate half death guy running out moments later yelling “TRAIN!!!!” all the way. Followed by a huge army of cultists as enemies simple don’t de aggro xD And when you were higher level I might occasionally draw a train to the entrance just for the lols.
This article made me remember all the fun I had with this game. MMO’s today don’t encourage community like they did back then and give players too many ways and incentives to play alone. In AO maybe I want money so I go farm something even as early as the subway. Maybe I want to try to do a dungeon so I go and find people outside to try with and make new buddies. Maybe I want to make a twink character at a specific level for reasons. I did what I wanted to do to get stronger and work toward my goals. New mmo’s are so formulaic that everything feels like what I have to do instead of what I want to do. I mean sure, grinding mobs isn’t for everyone but I found it relaxing. Good music, chatting to people and getting stronger was enough. Dungeons sometimes had people training monsters for a party wipe but not instancing them out made people interact with people and made them community hubs so it was worth it. WOW quests felt like chores from the very start, didn’t encourage social interaction and was the only way to level up into a pretty much clone of everyone else. AO was more like ARK where youre motivations to play and progress came from you and what you wanted to do rather than what the game tells you to go and do and it was so much better. Add in the layers of systems in AO and every character felt personal and unique and it rewarded intelligence by making you feel like an unstoppable force thats breaking the game. Pure gold. My highlights were a lvl 49 nano tech in lvl 150 gear with no points in hp so my absorb shields made me almost invincible because pvp hits could only do a max % of hp per hit at the time so my shields were unbreakable.
The first time i played this game was magical. Such a vast dystopian and intresting world to explore. All different classes were extremely valuable in their own way. Which caused teams to always look for people, because without a doctor, NT, fixer or enforcer you could not clear that final boss. Another quality of the game was that it is was not just pay to win. Especially in the early years some of the best players out there were non- paying players who simply had a large enough brain to game the system.
I loved AO, I love coming back to it and I hate it 🙂 . Never found a MMO I like as much, the math problem to slove of twinking that item on. That a lot of items are not level locked but skill locked and with buffs, implants and gear to equip it way earlier than if just level your way into it, is a great part of why this game still speaks to me. The combat and the requirements of need a group to do things does not so much anymore 🙂 waiting for hours to get your team, for the healer to leave when you get the tank, classic MMO problems.
The best MMO that awarded skill and knowledge. Played from NW to AI and when SL dropped, there was nothing like it. The music in SL zones, the world, it was just on another level. Adonis and Penumbra were just INSANE. Played during the golden age on RK1 of Clan guilds like Synergy Factor, Redemption and my guild, Storm (before the whole superguild Spartans stuff). Still have tons of screenshots from my agent days getting all types of pvp titles on a bunch of characters (Apprentice -> Expert) and all the hate tells for ganking flagged players. Really miss that game, its just too dead to play.
My first MMO, back in 2002. Bucketloads of fun running around with NO CLUE how to play my class(es). A skill and eqipment system unmatched since, even with the utter trash crafting system. My first experience raiding, getting Complete Heal on my doc around level 135, and jumping directly into uncounted Mercs raids. Having full sets of Azure armor and Notum tanks on two toons as a Neutral player back then was pretty much unique. Shoutout to Desert Winds, Independent Rubikans, the Nanomage Liberation Front and all the other fantastic Neutral players who made up such a unique and delightful community back in the day. If Funcom took the core of this game, and applied current knowledge of systems turorials, and put it in a new engine with updated graphics and animations, pure nostalgia would drag me back like a magnet.
i remember playing this when it first came out. thought it was pretty neat, but decided i liked Dark Age of Camelot more. and so i all but forgot this game even existed for the last 20+ years. then, just the other day, a memory of Anarchy Online sparked up in my brain for no reason and i looked it up to see if i could find a post mortem. crazy that its still online and active. i might have to give it another shot.
I have a lvl 209 Trader in the original Rubika, and am redownloading it now only to find there’s a 2019 client, apparently. But I played for 3 years nonstop. Never hit 220, which I aim to do at some point. But jumping from AO to WoW back in the day was strange to me, because WoW was really cool, but I had a hard time getting into it because it was missing all of the community strengths. Over the years I started logging into AO less and less. Now, the community is basically unrecognizable, but I have an Ark account and never have to pay for it ever again. So, here I go, trying it once more in 2023.
It was nice seeing some fresh eyes on a game I used to play for a decade. That bit at the end about content being hard to find cracked me up! See, this is the “easy” way, players used to actively protest each time when the developers made it easier because they thought that the changes would also deprive new players the great experiences they had with beating the challenge, let me explain the process: TOTW started as just another static dungeon out there for people to randomly stumble upon. Its located in the middle of a random desert and AO playfields are relatively large, you could spend hours exploring the area and not have a clue it was there. In addition to that, anyone level appropriate to its contents would be in constant peril while looking for it as the random mobs roaming around the area could easily kill them. Once the playerbase got wise about its existence and the best ways to get there, the easiest way was still a dangerous journey for the level appropriate characters, even as experienced players. It would require at the very least running through a mob infested desert for a good 10 mins or depending on your alignment, also dodging hostile guards that could kill you in one hit or finding your way through a safer path but extending the journey by half an hour. The first simplification that was made was by adding a relatively safe transport terminal in a nearby zone from where it was now possible to get to the temple in a mere 5 minutes of mobs chasing you, assuming you spent a significant sum of your skillpoints to have the skill to use the terminal.
I was there for the launch of Anarchy Online. Barely able to stay connected for minutes, plenty of issues. This was my first serious attempt at an MMO and I was smitten right away. I loved to community, the roleplay aspect. The first time I was approached by a guild (The Honored Maidens). The complete immersive experience of being part of this. Through pounding your first leet to raiding the Mercenary Camp. The first time buffing myself into some absolute top tier armor, getting complete sets (style over substance). Having an outfit named after out guild (the Frapper suit). Having a personal guard (effin loved you Bgumble). The developer had great relation to the community. And with guilds becoming cooperative partners and aides made this game take on an entire new expericence for me. I was gutted when I had to move and never got back to Rubi-Ka. My account has probably been deleted although now I really want to see if I can get back on. I can write 1000s of more words about experiences in AO. But I’ll stop here for now. Thank you for reigniting memories long forgotten. I will download the client now once again. How things has changed i bet.
This game has been one of my absolute favorites. I was introduced to this game back in 2006, and have played it on and off for every single year inbetween until this very day. I love this game deeply, even if theres a lot going wrong with this decrepit mmo. I do have one or two gripes about this synopsis. 1: choosing your faction has deep implications to game play. Theres whole cities and play fields that become hostile to you, because of what youve chosen. This can be brutal to new players. Getting one shot by a city guard because you went omni and walked into athens can be jaring. 2: while i agree with your assessment of skills, theres whole subsets of the skills you ignore and can ignore on most toons. I agree though that its cumbersome and is incredibly overwhelming for new players. The ip scarcity can make you feel like youre doing everything wrong. In closing; this is a very detailed and delightful look at one of my favorite mmos of all time. Its very accurate and calls to bare a lot lf the issues plaguing it. (New graphics engine when?) Its an amazing game woth tons of depth marred by a disinterested company in its development and its sheer age making it most surely unprofitable. This game is on life support and i will truely mourn the day of its passing… till then, im gonna go play my MP. If you see Tubbamp rolling around, or anyone from wayland yutani were still out there and still playing!
I started in 2003, Ao is king for depth and story – its based on an original novel and was made with pure love and idealism before corporate cynicism was rampant in the industry! In the first few years, MIT had to block access from its campus because so many smart people were playing – the reason is that it doesnt hold your hand, you actually get tons of ability points to use, its possible to screw up a character, and possible to twink a character to perform many levels above the norm with time and effort! If you like an intellectual challenge and a deep sci fi story, go for it!
Curious to check this game out again, I played when it first released so it’s been a while. Just got a new gaming PC, having not really gamed since 2011 when I left WoW. Now I’m looking at MMOs that I might try. This is for nostalgic reasons but who knows might be fun still. Also looking at New World, which is obviously more up to date.
As an original player who still logs from time to time, i can safely say you ended at a good note. ToTW is a required area for everyone due to 4 key items practically all players need, but are guarded behind 4 equally massive bosses. After that? You would have had to find your way to the steps of madness which is also convoluted to a new player, get the last item all players need to progress at that level, and then you would have been ready for the 3rd real dungeon. OT mines, which scales in difficulty practically every room. Loot however becomes something that will take the broken currency system and make you a part of it however, as most items sell for hundreds of thousands just at an NPC vendor, which is what i’ve always considered the real start of the game, as you’ve gotten a credit farming area that lets you buy all of those nice implants that make you OP early game. Being able to say you could solo Abmouth (Abby in chat) used to be, and is still pretty big bragging rights due to just how complex the beginning phases are.
used to love this game, then phantasy star online 2 was almost like a successor but then that fell, then finally diablo IV is filling all the stuff I used to like about it oddly enough and diablo IV is practically an MMO at this point. It might be a weird comparison but… They both have an open world that can be explored with mounts or vehicles and feature public events, world bosses and PvP zones. They both have a variety of classes to choose from, each with its own abilities, skills, weapons and playstyle. They both have a system of character customization that involves talent trees, skill runes, perks which are similar to research lines, implants and nanoskills. They both have a loot-driven gameplay that involves finding, crafting and upgrading items, weapons and armor. They both have a social aspect that involves clans, chat websites, friends lists and group content.
I have been playing on and off since 2002. And I have never lost an account, even if I’ve been away from the game for a year or more. Another thing in this game are that you don’t have to finish a quest to continue playing. Just do something else, and finish that quest later. And there are fully possible to twink your character. To wear better armor, and weapons. Just find ways to put in better implants, that exceeds your level.
I remember playing this at some point during the second tutorial area era. I barely understood english and can’t really remember much about the game since i couldn’t figure out a lot of stuff. But i remember how friendly the players were. And how fun it was to do group content. I remember i somehow got to the temple. I have no idea how, i don’t remember doing any of the stuff to unlock it so probably someone helped me.
I cannot stress this enough for new players if you wish to play your inevitably going to feel COMPLETELY overwhelmed with limited resource for guides while combat is fairly underwelming at first it gets fun and EXTREMELY entertaining has a certain charm like no other the difficulty is easily as hard as it gets
I personally started disliking Anarchy Online following Shadowlands. However that time between the original game release, through Notum Wars and up until Shadowlands, I have the fondest memories ever within my gaming “career”. The game was advanced and didn’t really hold your hand, but it WAS still easily playable because of the colored stat bars to indicate how much of your skill points it would cost to increase and that increasing the green colored ones you would at the very least not be leveling up the wrong skill. Implants were difficult to grasp for 13-14 year old me, but once I did it became a minigame on its own to maximize the gear out of your character. The setting was by far my favorite one. It was apocalyptic, corporate and anarchy combined into one. You could live any style you wished and freedom from the oppressive Omni-Tek was never more than a whompah away… even if I absolutely adored the Omni-Tek aesthetics and while I started Clan, I ended as Omni. The reason I didn’t like Shadowlands was because it traded technology with mysticism. Redeemed and Unredeemed. Areas that went South to North. Gone were the feelings of freedom that the vast Rubi-Ka originally had.. and weapons had become one type of weapon above all. The blue dildo (of varying sizes and shapes.. ribbed for your pleasure) weapons. I lost near all fondness for the game then. One of my greatest sorrows were that the attempted “classic” launch they did was one of the most laughable cash grab attempts I have ever seen.
just to point out a mistake in your comments, I mean it doesn’t matter much, there were several but one that really stood out to me was the comment about needing to do the mission in ICC to enter the Temple of the 3 winds, you don’t need to at all, all that mission does is opens a portal to click that warps you right in front of it, otherwise you could just run there and still enter it without have ever needing to do the mission. so no the Temple is not locked behind an obscure mission at all.
if it look like as half as good as its artist’s concepts and had better animation, maybe that would be a reason to play it. What was more a pain in the butt, was and just as complex, more was than the leveling mechanics, was Aarchy’s crafting system. Talk about threading the eye of needle with the camel. Battling and spawns, it was like the game was geared to troll. KSing( Steal Killing), i don’t think I experienced that in any other game, there were so many exploitable ways you could level up and rank by suckering people that were not involved in battling, even at a safe spaces. I remember a friend wanted spare and unknown to us both or, or maybe I was set up, there was some one hiding in the place it was allowed to spare, and out of my friend was lay a few taps on me, I was hit with a debuff, a buff that removed your mitigation that had recently buffed, so soon as my friend taped me with in the next second, ended up as a one kill shot and me dead. Then i saw report someone I never heard of ranking up for killing me. There tons of exploits in Anarch that would let you take advantage of another player. I was so suppressed how well coded and thoughtful other games were coded after Anarch, I often wondered if programmers used Anarch’s failing, as a model of how not to code a MMO I had fun but it was too frustrating and there were always conflicts with other players, and not the good kind. I was ether angry or depressed. In all it was a very ambitious game just poorly thought out
I used to love this game, but support was horrible back in the day. My account got hacked while i had taken time of from the game and i did not notice until i went back to play it. Even though i had Serial and store receipt they would not restore the account to me because i could not give them the credit card number used by the person who had hacked and stolen my account. Like how the actual hell would i know the credit card of the person who stole my account…
It’s certainly a game I look back fondly on. New games are far too “easy” in that they limit choices for a more friendly experience. There are certainly some plus sides to that but no other MMO let me run around as a Doctor with a giant red sword soloing mobs or play as the “weak” magic race as a tank and be extremely valuable because I was able to use spells earlier and more often compared to the tough HP race. Also what kind of MMO now makes it that basically an entire archetype is behind an extremely rare random drop like Grid Armor Fixer? Or a classes only defensive spell being just as rare with Nullity Sphere Nano Technician? You just don’t get that in modern MMOs. Some may think that’s a good thing but I really miss it. Nothing comes close to the accomplishment I got from finally getting all the nanos for my NT or the first time summoning grid armor or the satisfaction from getting living dragonskin chest or a level 200 rifle on my level 60 agent.
As a person who has had every class to 220, and a few classes twinked at specific levels to play around in the dungeons. I can say the learning curv of the game is extreame. The should give more detail’s in the stat algorithem so you dont have to do research outside of the game to find out what stats corispond with each. Such as atributes giving slight bonuses and allowing more IP added into specific stats at diffrent break points. But once you do get to that point of understanding, having the ability to build your character as strong as you can thery craft is an amazing experince. An example of this is my Enforcer twink for subway. I say this one sense you did experience it in your experence on this article. My enforcer is equipped with 2 lvl 125 special weapons called Mortiig beater of torure. The stat requirement was extreame to get on due to that. getting 625 1h blunt at 24 was extreamly difficult especailly sense this was done many years ago before the subway level was increased to 25. Having the ability to equip diffrent armor’s to add stats, just to be able to push yourself a little bit further for higher level implants and then doing the same to your armor is an experience I have never been able to replicate on any MMO I have ever played sense.
5400 dimensions of complexity required to spec and equip a character does seem daunting…but if you ask ‘which class is the best at X’ its really only one or two builds per class :P. since you cant to ‘endgame X thing’ with anything but like 2 classes, in the role of tank, say- it really narrows it down to ‘google a guide for what skill levels, at what character lvl’ and you’re done :S. i am NOT a longtime, diehard player, i’ve never paid anything, eternal Froob here too, i just love the feeling of achievement of draining up to equip hiiiigh lvl gear and weapons on my 25 trader heh, theres nothing like it in other games, you’re absolutely right. that said…im not sure i can plow through the learning cliff again, after another two years away, and play it again, knowing im not going past froob this time either :S. honestly i just wish they’d put ads in somewhere and make it free to play, and enjoy the influx of players again, before the final heat death of the universe a couple years later >_<.
I am so proud of people that they can play this. Sometimes I feel lost with my life Then somehow I get back to the light. I just messaged my friend Sean And felt I’d lost on life somehow So I said something good and big to reconnect him to himself. (I have a friend Drew Youngs who has a Son from Denmark) It seemed like he gained a son instantly (though I’m sure that it actually happened in a healthy natural way… Anyway, I saw the picture on my Facebook of Drew and his Son The amount of honor for me was nearly unbearable but so good 00 I played Anarchy Online when it first came out I remember starting in the backyard and my robot with his tiny cute arms would almost mini pry at the mob (really cute) And somehow that killed it lol Such a magical game In the hayday as a Nano Technician you could get a range extender for nano skills where you could kill mobs about a mile away
Well not widely known, The ICC shops do not give you the bonus to selling goods as Omni only shops do. For example I can fill an entire backpack worth of shit, sell it at ICC and only get about 3000-4000. But if I travel to Rome blue and enter one of those shops, I will get anywhere between 8,000 to 9,000 credits. Omnitek had always had this feature. But with the new ICC starting zones, people dont realize. Especially once the noob island part is over and you end up shopping at fair trade, an ICC shop. its not run by omni! So you dont get the omni prices.
I followed AO from the earliest teasers, through arguably the worst launch in MMO history, into the free to play model. Anarchy Online has never been a shallow player experience. The sheer number of ways you could modify your player: Leveling, equipment, implants and on and on. Then with the vast amount of purely social items, player housing….. there is a lot of things that made AO ahead of its time and gives it staying power
With a nice license like AO, they should either sell it to another company, or give us an AO2, since we’ve been waiting for it. And for this license to continue to live, we must simplify the gameplay and the overly large world, a minimum, to attract new players. I like Funcom, they have some great ideas, but they have the worst follow-up to their license I’ve ever seen. And in the article we didn’t even mention Age of Conan ^^ What did I like my bureaucrat in AO ^^ Thanks for this vidéo !
Biggest issue for new players are the economy. Things are so expensive, if you compared to 5 years ago. Due to people getting many high lvl and playing for a decade or 2. And the total lack of groups, there are non! Ppl are power leveling their alts with high lvl NT. Just sitting all day in different zones.
anarchy online is def not new player friendly, it relies on old vets to guide new players cause if you are a brand new player you can easily screw your character up by investing in the wrong skills and you are limited on being able to reset a skill and re spend those points that being said my greatest mmorpg memories are from anarchy online, prolly cause it was my first mmo i ever played before going to WoW back in 2004 but as much as i love wow there is just something special about anarchy online it’ll always hold a special place in my heart
Ao is THE best mmo, even tho its unsupported, not molly cuddled (as in do x and be rewarded with y) you have to figure stuff out yourself, when i first started playing in 2004 (as a 14 year old mind) i spent most of my time figuring out the game, and playing as a froob until 2012, when i finally went paid (fresh account from scratch) i learned quite a bit about twinking and the game, its not a game to rush or try to complete, its a game to make charachters and have fun! Massive misconception and as you said, its that diverse with its skills, factions, perks, research, orgs, towers, its all how you want to play, have fun, spend your time, and to what degree of difficulty. And because of the close knit community, help is always on hand if you ask for it 🙌
The best mmo ever made. No other game has the depth and complexity that AO has, so many games now are just so dumbed down. AO has a wide range of classes with very different an unique abilities, compare that to any modern day MMO which tends to have class names but really they are just healer, tank, DD with different skins. DisoDoctor / Bug Busters / RK2 Rimor.
ah where a doctor is an actual healer so powerful, it can, and does, dedicated to crowd control and keeping a whole party from wiping, and you’ll need one in anarchy online lol, this is truly where my online gaming began many moons ago, (heck I bought it on CD and played via a modem paying BT by the minute) and I can tell you that while it looks dated, if you haven’t tried it, you really should. I think you need to go in with a different mindset to ‘modern’ type MMORPG’s though, sure you can solo somewhat, but its definitely about complexity, longevity and community, and this game has that in spades. You will become your character (used to call it a toon not sure if that stuck). After all these years, I’ve never played a game in the same way. One word of warning though, its a long haul, hard game, and it could overtake your real life in the process, in fact that’s the single factor that I haven’t stepped back in, I know I wouldn’t have the time to dedicate to it. I had many experiences of helping newbies (is that still a term?) overcome the complexity of this game, and been the receiver of help too. The community was always one of the friendliest. Need an item? or help equipping it? Just ask. You’ll be surprised at the friends you make. And when you are more skilled, you will love passing it on. Truly my all time favourite. Its a shame Funcom didn’t have the funds or the foresight to push this game on (still not too late though).
Anarchy Online is a radiant gem of a game sullied by poor coding leading to dupes, breaking the economy and making it MUCH harder for new people to break into it. With their “fixes” it got a little better, then a lot worse again. Prices have skyrocketed and I think switching the city shops (each org could purchase a city to first and foremost have a home, host alien raids but also have each of their members have a shop in the city shop making people have to fly to the spesific player shop all over the map, which was awesome, to buy stuff.) to a global market was one of the final nails in the coffin for the economy system. Duplication was immensely game-breaking and made sure some players forcefed NPC shops all of it to get creds and so making sure the inflation skyrocketed thus increasing the sales price on all items making it even more impossible for new players to get into the game as most drops that have some value is either locked in by people camping spawns, high lvl mobs dropping them or nodrop tag. There are some other items that could only be found in missions that were player-locked so you could get lucky. But there’s too many things to list for one comment. On the other hand. As you say in the article, the skill system in AO is still the absolute best piece of genius any game has created. The fact that you can ladder up implants for skills you need so you can get weapons, armor, trinkets, ncu chips and nanoskills far beyond your level is what makes this game so incredibly satisfying. I have loads of old characters wearing items far beyond their lvl. A lvl 21 atrox fixer with GA armor (yes not that amazing these days but this character is 15 years old at least) a high ql peren beamer and stuff like that making him incredibly evasive and still somewhat deadly. You can’t do shit like that in other games as most items are lvl locked! There are just so many amazing builds for any character you can do that makes them unique and incredibly powerful with just some item knowledge (there are programs that list all items needed for particular skills), some math skills and general knowledge about what skills you do need to gain. It’s so fulfilling giving people a good beating in this game and they can’t even touch you. It also works in PVE making sure you can solo mobs far above your lvl so you can help your friends lvl up faster and safer. You can even get paid for it in creds although I never did bother with that. For better or worse, I still play AO every now and then just to feel nostalgic. Maybe see if I can reconnect with old ingame friends. I booted up AO again after your last article just to make a new Martial Artist character (I have 5) so I could solo a bit but ended up twinking him just so I could give hecklers a good beating. This game will never be dead to me. Sometimes in a coma, but never dead! <3
Great, unique game that was amazing at one point in time. Why it isn’t more popular? 1. The economy is beyond ruined thanks to duping and exploiting which is something that goes on to this day. 2. Unbalanced af. Some classes just suck and are basically useless while some are extremely OP and can solo/duo every boss in the game. 3. They want 17 euro a month for this where I live. Just absolutely ridiculous. The only way I could see this game getting some sort of population boost again is: Trying to at least fix the exploits. Some attempt at a rebalance pass. Starting a fresh server. Going F2P. Or just reboot it at this point. To me the coolest part about this game was always the setting and the aesthetics. I’d play anything in it tbh. A first-person shooter. A roguelike. A 4x space sim. Do it, Tencent.
I would still be playing this today if it had more players. As it stands you basically have to run multiple clients and play your own group to get anything serious done, even for froob content like dust brigade or inner sanctum. For me MMO’s thrive on having people to play them with, playing alone isn’t the point, I can just play single player RPG’s like Baldur’s Gate for that.
I have a love/hate relationship with this game. I love the atmosphere, the music, the classes, the lore, the scenery, and even the events, but I hate Funcom and the obscene amount of grind needed just to have fun. It’s like the best MMO if taken care of. But I quit after I lost a gazillion dollars of stuff in the mail because I forgot there was like a 3 day time limit or something. Of course there was only like 1 ARK working, I think Shadowlands hurt the game. I played for the cool Scifi Feel, not being forced to abandon my Yalm that I worked so hard for. But other than the dang on antlion like monsters that popped out the ground and blinded you, it was mostly ok. Mostly. Despite the setbacks, this game will always have a spot in my cold black heart. I miss the days of chilling with people at Reets Retreat, or griefing people at arenas. Yelling TRAIN in the temple of the Three Winds. It really was a 2nd life. A way to get away from the stuff I didn’t want to deal with when I was younger.
I played this game from around 2001 through 2003. The developers never gave us updates – almost nothing. It ended up dying and we all played other games like planetside or shadowbane. All the games officially died in 2004 when WOW came out. Anarchy Online could have been an amazing game if not for the lazy development team.
Teh reason why they dont do anything with this game is because all people behind this are no longer working for funcom, there was alot of sh#t going on there.. and all the people that do work for funcom do not understand its game script.. thats why nothing is happening anymore. Used to play this game from the start for years, and it became a better game every time, its a shame the game is no longer being taken care off .. there’s also very feew players, most people that keep this game alive are using multiple accounts at the same time.
Difficulty. Simply that. AO has the unique ability to break a weaker player by level 25. Because unless you come in knowing someone whos going to help you, you’re going to hit walls. And mistakes you make early on with the Ip can have lasting consequences you can’t even consider because no one informed you just how precious IP is at lower levels. The freedom, also is the freedom to hang yourself, coat yourself in oil, set yourself on fire, and invite the booty warrior on a cruise, all at once.
i got a cool game u might wanna check out called (( silica )) it comes out in 4 days is a RTS FPS hybrid im so impressed i might try to join the dev team or help test.. i tried to do what thay r dong back in the SC/WC modding days but the cam just didn’t work out:( … & my thoughts on BDO should be a good game but looks like sleazy corpo devs r wrecking it 🙁 the combats fun thow :)& i hope thay no it would be a top 10 MMO if thay got real devs . the shady systems is just shameful creating problems & complexity just to cash grab it will = loosing money . gamers r nerds not fools lol🖖🤓 lol ish
r u going to the sever smash for Diablo4 ????? im pretty Shure thay r not going to pull any cash grab stuff in D4 .but i do see some problems with some systems.. like doing power keep & lvl scaling is just silly better of just doing a flat leveling system & the hole lvling up & getting stronger is fake because the monster get stronger to & the lvl scaling makes it feel like your just getting weaker hhummm i wonder if u can beat the game naked & stay at lvl1 lol naked druid any1? … & some of the stuff/afxes i feel should be in the skill tree not on random drops its gong to make players made when thay cant fined the drop to make the build work but thats a super E Z fix just put a lesser versions in the codex of power. i acutely gave/posted them 1 of my cool gear systems waer u make wight gear that adapts/scales to lvl & u strip the stats and stuff of blues yellows and golds & socket them on to the wight = u still got gem sockets so u can probably hand craft something = to the power of a uniq but tailor made super good system if u want all drops to be useful..i drop 1 of my a big dyslexic poste every thing from combos/memory macros for the lack or hot pars .to reincarnation from like BDO . FPS cam W A S D twin stik . i just spit balled the hell out of the devs lolol & that’s nothing wait till i do a play throw . i want bizzerd to make good games again but thay need to learn to innovate & take risks shake the box D4 is vary clean but vary unoriginal
i hop u no like all the olde school devs like raf dav jef ………u no the devs that made the best MMOs in all of history r all in the black boxes working on WEB3 stuff u might wanna research it OR u might not….. im pro crypto so im happy as long as thay do it right:) but some people that fear the unknown r not going to be happy:(
When the game started, the canal in Tir was full of toxic goop; it was not uncommon for new players to stumble into the canal and die before they could get out. We clanners held an in-game, in-character protest, and Funcom went along with it – in the next patch, they had the city administration clean it up, and fill it with clear water. You never really see that kind of interaction between developers and players anymore. I was there on first day live, and spent most of it stuck in one starter area, unable to zone out. I still had more fun with that than I did the entire time I played Everquest (the big game at the time).
Circa, 2003. I was a kid hooked on FPS games like UT and CS, but a friend of mine that was fond of RPG games begged me for months to try out AO. He told me stories about raid parties, roleplaying, random missions, hundreds of people battling for tower control. It seemed overwhelming and hard to be true. One day he came to my house with the CD ready to install it on my Athlon 1400. We spent some time trying to clear up my hard drive to find room for AO, but after some minutes we finally did it and installed the freaking game. Waited an hour or so for the updates and here we go! It all started there, at that moment. The loading sound with the music after creating my first character. Welcome to Rubi-Ka. I was a teenager at the time, 16, didn’t had much money and certainly not a credit card so I did an trial account and I was definitely impressed. Rolled an engie first, had a blast killing stuff on the backyard, met people from all over the world, teamed up, learned to role play and tried desperately to cast new robots. Time went on and I got tired of trial accounts, money was an issue and froob accounts weren’t a thing. Fast forward to 2004. Me and my friends from high school decided to try the game together with froob accounts and my, my… What a epic journey it was. I made a shitload of friends in Anarchy Online, I laughed a lot, I twinked for hours, I raged, I loved (actually met my first serious girlfriend in AO), I cried (one time I got hacked but thankfully the GM’s retrieved my deleted items).
Congrats on 20 years, Funcom, and a special thank you to the entire team that started this all back in the nineties. Hopefully you guys know how much you’ve impacted the lives of so many, myself included. Thanks for two decades of the best article game ever, cheers to all of you. Maybe y’all should do a article with a bunch of player interviews as a follow-up to this article to show some love!
Funny this should show up today. I just had a memory flash yesterday about how, after much complaining from the Soldier class about not being the “Masters of ranged combat” as was in their description, Funcom solved the problem by removing “Masters of ranged combat” from the Soldier class description. Joking and friendly rude gesture Still had a lot of fun times there, not regretting a minute or a Euro spent.
Congratulation on 20 years. It was the first large MMO I played, although I had to downgrade my Pc to play since the game couldn’t handle my graphics card back then. Things got better later, but it felt like I was too late for the party. So after a while, I moved on to other games. But if Funcom ever makes a remastered version on brand new servers, I will jump back into the game without a doubt.
20 years! AO was my first MMORPG. I subscribed from its launch and kept an active account for 7 years (might have been more, I’m not sure). I loved this game and to this day, hearing the music brings me right back to some of the best times I’ve ever had in a game. I was a member of The Dojo with my MA, had a great Doctor named PerfectDrug (and many others), and it was so fun. I loved it. But if ever I go back into it to relive old memories, it just isn’t the same. Happy Anniversary Anarchy Online!
Great vid! 29 now but been a fan of this game since I was 14 and it’s great there is still a loyal fanbase. I still play and have so many fond memories from various different periods in my life so will always count this as one of my favorite games of all time. No game I’ve played since makes it a challenge just to equip your gear and with all the buffing and help needed there is a real communal feel to it being an MMO.
Prophet Without Honor got to be the book I made my high-school book review+essay on. That was over 10 years ago and I thought I was an old-time player playing a withering game and needed to do a “last gasp”…. Fast forward to last month I was still working on my level 200 Advy and twinking a Keeper for S10.
Hello Funcom, can you please add the new engine client to the Steam beta tab of the game? I ask because a bunch of ppl have been asking for this over in the Steam forums, myself included, because the new engine runs really well on Linux with Proton and DXVK. Performance is great and the game looks much, much better. It’s a nice retro mix of the old meeting the new and the graphical advancements of the new engine make it look and feel both nostalgic and fresh at the same time. It’s minimal effort and would make the game much more interesting to new ppl trying it out. Make no mistake, you were onto something with the new engine client. Don’t drop it like it is nothing. Thanks!
I really, really, really wished the crew you made to mimic the WoW relaunch had actually done a proper release of the classic AO rather than what they did. I spent months being so excited, only to be let down severely the closer we got to release. Basically was just a release of the game with none of the expansions. Shattered my hopes severely. Mind you I have no bad memories of the game that it used to be. I still cling fondly to these memories from near 20 years ago when I played it as a young teen. Best game I ever played and the best experience I had ever had. I wanted to just embrace that feeling one more time.. and it was not even remotely attempted to be the game it used to be (sans bugs and issues, naturally).
Thanks Funcom for putting this together! I remember being in the second wave of the closed Beta. I remember Tir being so laggy that everyone just hung out on the outskirts of the city. The launch didn’t go so great but we all as players till had an amazing time. I’ve been playing off & on ever since. Congrats on 20 years & I still hold out hope that a sequel gets made some day!
I talked shit about this game when it came out. All the bugs, all the hilarity of FailCom .. but in the end, mad props for making a sub game, non-p2w and sticking with it. I have no idea of the state that it is in now, but I’m confident its better than most of the trash copy cat microtransaction pieces of shit that have come out in the past 5 years
Too bad the game has been neglected since 2006 when we were due for that engine but we were told too bad so sad, and it went to AOC instead, then we jumped the shark with the server merges… this game could have had more expansions if they just sat down and talked to the community more and we could have given them so many more wonderful ideas to add on to or to work from and this game still could have the pull it use to and no where the game has done so poor that the company is no longer on a stock market Y__Y Also R.I.P ARK Program it is a shadow of what it use to be, and it now takes weeks to get tickets/petitions answers. Main reason why I play as little as I do anymore. Such a shame, really.
WHEN ARE YOU GOING TO MAKE AN ANARCHY ONLINE 2? Use some of that Tencent money and give us a proper sequel with action combat and updated everything. I mean its so simple. Slightly updated graphics. 3rd person action combat system (kinda like the later version of star wars galaxies where you can aim to shoot). All the classes and races make a comeback, with 2 new races and at least 4 new classes (one class being crafting and harvesting focus). Then you give us more dungeons, a bigger map, open world pvp, open world housing. It would be a great way to revive mmo’s as a whole. You could make AO2 and completely destroy the industry. And you have a TON of LORE to go along with the game. Instead of 3 factions (omni, clan, neutral) you can include two more factions (new planet, or even multiple plants worth of content). There is so much you can do. And the game is wasting away with people like myself dumb enough to buy 12 month subscriptions because we miss the game but also crave more. Fuck conan. Dead genre. Any time you try to make a article game using pre-established lore that doesn’t fit a article game you end up with a terrible game. Star wars Galaxies tried and failed (basically no story just pvp and grinding even though it was a decent game crafting wise) then you have Star Wars the Old Republic which has tons of custom story, but lacks gameplay. Doh! Lord of the Rings online, another example where pre-established book lore doesn’t fit article games at all because the story has been told.
first … why did you abandon this awesome project… that might be reason so many people abandoned that too. I would LOVE to see it’s still kicking… but logged in recently and didn’t see anyone at hecklers none at ado none up for pande… none for LE missions… or AI or anything. Game changed totally when you can go buy ‘Heckler Juices’ for 100€/$ to get lvl200 lol wtf seriously? I sank so many euros to this game lol (not regretting)… two paid accounts (so i can self-raid lol) and three freebie accounts… I still remember first time i bought my Yalm or Yalmaha lol first raids to temple of three winds (TOTW)… i still remember those all like yesterday… but it’s all gone 😐
There were only 5 good MMORPG’s that existed before WoW came out and irreparably ruined the genre: Ultima Online, EverQuest, Asheron’s Call, Dark Age of Camelot, and Anarchy Online. Everything else had major flaws, i.e City of Heroes not having any sort of equipment system outside of cosmetic costume pieces, or Star Wars Galaxies having very little content to do in general outside of the PVP, like a barebones version of Ultima Online. AO was one of the all time greats, and it’s sad to see it slowly languish and die because most people aren’t interested in playing it anymore (probably because of the dupe bugs that ruined the economy and multi-stacking equipment bugs), and it doesn’t make enough money for Funcom to try and fix it. My only hope is that when AO does finally shut down, Funcom will give the community everything they need to run private servers, and maybe the community will ensure the game continues on after its official shutdown. Asheron’s Call did it, after all.