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Disappointment
fhtagn
Member Posts: 29
Hey all, this ISN'T just another "OMFG AO SUX" post, or at least I hope it isn't. I really want to address what bothered me as I re-played AO as a froob. I played around when AI came out for a while but quit a long time ago.
I used to play anarchy online a long while ago, and with the release of LE I thought I would go and try it out again. I can only say that I was very disappointed that the games potential seems to never have been reached.
I will only briefly touch on the graphics, because I knew what to expect, most MMOs don't have graphical updates after all, but I was getting a low frame rate as I played and would get quick breaks when new things loaded on the horizon, something that shouldn't happen, because I can run much newer games without a hitch. (Half-life 2 multiplayer, prey, city of heroes/villains and oblivion all work fine) That was the real annoyance, not the low graphics, but the low performance. In addition, I personally thought that the new armors looked bland while some of the weapons were ill conceived. (The new 2HB weapon is WAY to small, it looks like a toy)
The largest annoyances, by far, were the bugs, many of which were there years ago when I played AO as my main MMO. Things like running into doors for a long time before they would load, and strange graphical glitches at times. I was told that FA was still messed up, and I noticed some of my nanotimers were still off. These are things that should be addressed and fixed, but they just aren't.
Another problem is the balance. It seems like, despite the hundreds of helpful ideas given by the players for years, that the devs have done little to balance the game. The NTs got some much needed love, (those LE nukes look nasty!) but many of the professions still peak out early and end up lame by endgame. Some of the new features don't even make sense. The SMG's higher upgrades all need full auto? The new soldier gun is worse than items previously in game? It just doesn't make too much sense. Many old items remain useless, and in all my days of playing I have seen exactly one manta. (doubt most people even know what those are!) Worst of all, nanomages are still utterly worthless.
And finally, the community. It was hard to find a team as I played, very hard in fact. Maybe its because I play at night, but the game just seemed empty. The players were rather helpful, but there just weren't many of them who weren't already past 200.
That all said, AO has some amazing features. Its skill system and item system are amazing, and the world is interesting and unique. I would love to hear that an AO II is in production, but AO isn't really worth the trouble to me. Amazing potential, just never realized.
P.S. Whatever happened to the GM events they did every once in a blue moon. I remember they did this one just before I left where they executed a man in OMNI-1 and we all gathered in a huge circle, are they still doing those? It really seems like the game is being maintained by a ghost crew now. like 4-5 devs.
Comments
I know exactly what you mean i love ao but funcom ruined it,even more so with le.The last i checked fc has 230 total employees if you go by their stock report for q4 2006 and i know all them are on aoc and not one on ao.They still do events every once in a while like for halloween or etc but nothing else.Events are still run, on the order of one or two a week, hardly just for the holidays, for that matter, the "Legionaires" terrorist organization struck again just last night. If on the other hand you two are playing on Rimor, its not surprising you haven't seen it. Nearly all of AOs roleplaying community remains on server 1 Atlantean, so that is where most events are held.
And Masterville, that stock report doesn't show the hundreds of people in the ARK program, since they are not employees. Not to mention your "estimate" of the distribution being way off.
No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.
Hemingway
Maybe you'll get all the love and balance and whatnot you demand from Funcom when you play at the release of Age of Conan, I'm sure they'll care then.
I really like AO, and every 9-12 months I go back and re-activate my account to have a new shot at it. But it has problems.
I dont mind the graphics, but they could be improved, but they are at least distinctly AO. I do love the open look and feel of the world.
It has too steep a learning curve, a bit like EVE, you need to do a lot of research to work out what is happening in the game, and to be good at it.
It doesnt have enough players... I find it amazingly hard to find a group (I started a new character).
They have a great idea in generated missions, but they need a re-vamp, after doing 100 of them they all start to blur. More variation is needed.
It is still a fascinating game (hence why I keep trying it) but a serious re-vamp would do it wonders.
im still upset i didnt get to hunt santa leets this year O.o
And yeah, even though I like the game (you'll get used to the things with the doors btw), it's sad that there are so few people playing it. I remember two years ago I played it, and when I went to Temple of Three Winds, all the people outside were screaming 'lvl 55 enf lft' and stuff. Now I go to Foreman's and see maybe 4 people outside. I even went to Cyborg Barracks and I didnt even get to the entrance because it was so full of mobs (meaning no one went there to take care of some).
I was originally planning on going to the Crypt one day, but with so few people playing, I wonder if anyone will be there. And you can't go to the Crypt alone, regardless of what your level is (You need at least two people to pull switches to open the main door).
When I was playing fr00b, TOTW was easily the most populated static dungeon (except for maybe the subway) that I found. Foreman's had a couple people hanging around usually. For the Crypt of Home (Panther farming, ug) I usually found someone to help me open the door but there weren't a ton of people hanging around outside. I never even went to the Barracks.
The mobs in Foreman's and COH were pretty useless experience point wise. The only reason to go into Foreman's was the quests and loot. Only reason to go into COH was the unique loot.
I found some groups for Bothackers after TOTW and after that usually the Mort Crater Cyborgs.
This is my first post ever here on the mmorpg.com boards. I played AO for quite a while, from a little bit after release, and then off and on until about a year and a half ago. I bought the expansions from NW to AI. I agree with you completely, AO had amazing potential with its amazing storyline, atmosphere and look of its world, its unique items, and professions. However its potential was completely squandered in my view.
"I will only briefly touch on the graphics, because I knew what to expect, most MMOs don't have graphical updates after all, but I was getting a low frame rate as I played and would get quick breaks when new things loaded on the horizon, something that shouldn't happen, because I can run much newer games without a hitch. (Half-life 2 multiplayer, prey, city of heroes/villains and oblivion all work fine) That was the real annoyance, not the low graphics, but the low performance. In addition, I personally thought that the new armors looked bland while some of the weapons were ill conceived. (The new 2HB weapon is WAY to small, it looks like a toy)"
My comps never ran AO without graphics lag. I played AO on three different comps, with three different graphics cards and though the last time I played AO I had a much beefier system than the system I first began AO with, I always felt like my computer chugged and that I could never find the right settings to optimize the running of the game so that it was enjoyable. SL was very bad in particular for me, and in RK once they implemented player cities, I had a lot of gfx lag in those areas. Include in a severe memory leak, and I had to reboot AO every 45 minutes to an hour to keep it from running like a slug. I haven't seen the new armours.
"The largest annoyances, by far, were the bugs, many of which were there years ago when I played AO as my main MMO. Things like running into doors for a long time before they would load, and strange graphical glitches at times. I was told that FA was still messed up, and I noticed some of my nanotimers were still off. These are things that should be addressed and fixed, but they just aren't. "
Those bugs are very old that you mentioned. I am a bit surprised, though not terribly surprised, to hear that they still haven't fixed them.
"Another problem is the balance. It seems like, despite the hundreds of helpful ideas given by the players for years, that the devs have done little to balance the game. The NTs got some much needed love, (those LE nukes look nasty!) but many of the professions still peak out early and end up lame by endgame. Some of the new features don't even make sense. The SMG's higher upgrades all need full auto? The new soldier gun is worse than items previously in game? It just doesn't make too much sense. Many old items remain useless, and in all my days of playing I have seen exactly one manta. (doubt most people even know what those are!) Worst of all, nanomages are still utterly worthless."
This is again not a new problem. In fact, remember when AI came out, a lot of soldiers were saying that the new SMG weapons stank and went with pistols? Kinda the same deal here. Same with Engies: a lot of us dropped Grenades and picked up AI pistols instead. With every expansion, one weapon category seems to get boosted at the expense of all of the others for each profession.
"And finally, the community. It was hard to find a team as I played, very hard in fact. Maybe its because I play at night, but the game just seemed empty. The players were rather helpful, but there just weren't many of them who weren't already past 200."
I can't comment much on this, but even a year and a half ago there were population issues. The froobs boosted the population up some, but in many cases, there weren't that many ppl in the lower level gardens or areas of SL. It was ok once I got to Adonis/Pen. I read another post where people were describing absence of players at CoH and Foreman's Dungeon... it's been like that for a very long time, even on RK1.
"That all said, AO has some amazing features. Its skill system and item system are amazing, and the world is interesting and unique. I would love to hear that an AO II is in production, but AO isn't really worth the trouble to me. Amazing potential, just never realized."
Agreed. In some ways, the new content ruined a lot of AO for me... I think they should have worked more with the original content they put in the game, which I loved. Nothing can compare to the dark humoured, gritty, dirty sci-fi aspect of the original AO. Instead of putting in schmalzy sci fi-fantasy like SL or boring aliens, imo they should have just added more Omni vs Clan vs Neutral content and filled out the extra areas of RK. Oh well
The biggest tragedy is despite the amazing player community that had amazing patience and suggestions for FC, it was still not acted on. This simply could have been and could still be one of the best MMOs out there. So sad. Now FC is resorting to its old business model of providing expansion lites at high expense to the player and not providing the quality that should go with it... I felt that way with NW. I bet you that there will be a fantastic deal in 6 month's time for froobs to get LE and all of the other expansions for $9.99 or something. Just another way for FC to say thank you to its longstanding paying customers
Back in EvE. Started with BatMUD. Main MMOs have been EvE and DAoC.
Yes so true.... this was one of the funnest aspects of the game for me. I really enjoyed tweeking my toon's stats and also using implants to twink into ridiculous items at ridiculous lvls. I also enjoyed collecting items to twink into the implants to twink into items (!). I was a tradeskiller on my Engineer, and enjoyed making things. I spent hours and hours happily in the trade section of every OT or Neutral store. I filled mules with 'useless' tradeskill items. It was funny, I never got to lvl 200 because though my goal everytime I logged in was to level, I always managed to find something else to occupy my time, whether it was to go and help someone make 8 VTEs, or help an orgmate convert their 5 bags of metal into crafted jewellery so that they could make some creds. That is something I miss in the more recent MMOs that don't really cater to the community aspect, and concentrate more on the acquisition or achievement aspect of the game.
I was sad when symbs came out because I felt like they eradicated some of the need to plan out your character by putting too many uber stats on them. I know that implants petered out overall past a certain QL, and that at QL's higher than 200, most people couldn't wear the infused cluster implants outside of a few professions. But I found the symbs to be a lazy bandaid to that issue.
I like games where I can number crunch a little and tweek my character. The only games I've played recently that allow for that are DAoC and EvE. And even then, you still can't really do it to the same degree as AO.
Back in EvE. Started with BatMUD. Main MMOs have been EvE and DAoC.
Anyways, to those who were dissing AO due to its graphics, I dunno. I play some of the free mmorpgs out there like Corum Online, and sure, they're graphics aren't anything to brag about, but the fact remains that they're incredibly fun to play. I didn't start playing AO cause of it's graphics, I played it because it was fun.
What ended my desire to subscribe again was Funcom and 40% of what they did to the game. I could go on to explain but it's already have been mentioned many times on these forums of FC's downfalls as a game developer. Funcom is also the reason why I won't get AoC(even if there are some new employees..) The other thing that has ruined my desire to play again is the community. Ao is a sided game to which lately I find no one seems to care about the storyline. Most of the Omni side doesn't seem to care about the land control on Rk1. Of Clan, half do half don't. (I've played all three factions). On Rk2, same situation BUT more people play as clanners and there they seem to care about land control. Also I find players in general can be asshats(more of on Rk1 imo) which I feel that most consist of the old Diablo crowd.
Don't get me wrong the "old" crowd of players that once where around made the game great, it's this "new" generation of players that are making the game well...suck.
So I carry on looking for a game that had all the good things AO offered but with a good design team and community with it. It's a tough journey I must say.
I have been playing AO for about 2 1/2 years and I must say the game has changed alot since then. I started as a froob and levelled my soldier till about level 132 at the places mentioned previously TOTW, COH, Borgs in MORT crater, team and solo missions. I enjoyed learning about the game, implants and many many ways of tweaking yur toon. However at this point I got slightly bored and felt that I saw pretty much everything that the free account had to offer. At that point I decided to subscribe. For the first week or so I hated Shadowlands, AI I always enyoyed for some reason but Rubi-Ka was the place I knew well and liked. It was the perks and the items that persuaded me to subscribe. In fact I think for the first week of having expansions I went to SL once.
However, I decided to make a new toon and ended up spending much of my time in SL, it was new and a quicker way to gain levels. I must admit quiet a few hecks perished but I found it to be fun
Since then I spend most of my time in SL or doing AI radis/mishes. Only on Rubi-Ka if I am helping org mates or buying/selling stuff. Not much of a PVPer but that would be another reason to be on RK
I find that people who only played the froob version to low levels can never really understand what is AO, it is free after all and therefore limited. In terms of populations, well they seem lower then when I first started but as the world has grown and there are more things to do it is reasonable that the population is more spread out, and places like Rome less populated. People are in Gardens, Omni Trade, Bor doing BattleStations, AI mishes, Alien Playfields, etc. When LFG system was introduced I didnt like it but I got used to it and like it much more now. It is global and you can carry on doing whatever you are doing until you are contacted by a group. Before you had to stand in one of these areas and shout LFG, this has made these areas redundant and its why it is harder to find places where people just hang out. It does make things quicker and easier though
.
Graphics is not great but SL is much better than the froob version of Rubi-KA. Proffessions are not balanced and are not meant to be as it is about team combat. Funcom has always said they are not interested in balancing 1v1 pvp. Bugs, yes some old ones are there, nothing game breaking, but FC should strive for perfection. Lag is so so much better then 2 1/2 years ago when I started. New items have been brought in post LE and much needed love was given to certain proffessions. FC has employed an ex-ARK as its Game Director who has known the fan base for a long time, run his own AO websites, and maintains a very direct contact with the fan base.
This game is going strong and people are returning..
There are of course issues, tower warfare has been negatively affected by things such as Orbital Strikes brought in with LE and that needs tweaking, some of the pvp on Battle Stations has become a bit too quick for me but thats a personal taste.
I am taking a break from AO at the moment due to work related issues but will be back as soon as possible as I miss the friends I have made in game and just hanging out and doing stuff with them. AO changed me from wanting to rush contstantly to higher level, better gear, to taking a more relaxed approach and I am enjoying the game much more now. IMO FC is not planning to abandon this game any time soon and while AoC will affect the populations somewhat I think the huge difference between the SciFi/Fantasy means that many will remain. I for one could not be bothered with another Fantasy MMO. But each to their own...
I hope people give something a chance to get to know it before they bash it, I see comments where people played for a couple of hours and say, you can only do this, it sucks, I couldnt be uber in 2 minutes, the 2hb weapon is a bit small, nanomages useles? (rubbish), soldier guns not improved, (excuse me Shark VI) etc....If it were true ok, but much of it comes down to lack of patience and knowledge about the game.
Enjoy, sry for the long post just a bit annoyed by some of the comments here.