Everquest versus Anarchy Online (A Review)

Anarchy Online has been out almost a month now. I know there have to be some Everquest players out there wondering about Anarchy Online and how it compares to EQ. I beta tested Everquest and have been playing it ever since. I also beta tested Anarchy Online and have been playing it since it was released a few weeks ago. Of course, I have seen a lot more of EQ than AO, so there are things that I can’t compare quite yet, but I still thought I would give you my initial impressions to help you decide if AO is a game you might want to try. So here is my comparison and review. Playability This is something I feel needs to be stated right up front, because I am going to try to ignore it for the rest of the review. At the moment, Anarchy Online is not a quality, playable game. The game was released with Funcom fully knowing that it was bugged, incomplete and unplayable. I was a beta tester and I was astounded when I discovered that the version we were playing those last weeks of beta was truly just a step from the release version. Frankly, I believe that any legitimate company should hang their heads in shame after releasing a game in this bad a shape. Funcom then rubbed salt into the wounds of even their most loyal customers by announcing that the game was “110%” playable two weeks after release, setting off the clock on the 30 days you get with your purchase and assuring that they will start charging people for a game many cannot yet play. The lag in the game is horrendous. Anytime you get close to more than a handful of other players, your frame rate drops to almost nothing and you find yourself standing in place. What’s worse about this is that you can’t sit or move your curser enough to even log out of the game, and you are often forced to stand there for five minutes or more hoping to just get out of the game. Of course, you can always alt-tab to windows and control-alt-delete the game closed, but that seems like a pretty extreme measure. Basically, this means that you are better off just not trying to play during the typical prime time hours. The pathing in the game is so bad that when you are in a mission your best chance is to move to a room, stand still and wait to see what starts to shoot at you. Of course, then it is often in another room and shooting through the walls, but at least you can shoot it back that way. Mobs can attack you through walls and across the playing field without you even seeing them or knowing where to go to fight back. Quite often you will lag out during a fight, which makes it impossible to use your special attacks, and then come back in and find out that you died. High patience and a low frustration level are required to play this game right now. A high performance machine and high speed internet connection are also a lot of help. If you go in expecting a beta quality game, you will probably still be amazed at the problems. Still, many people are able to play the game, so for those of you who are willing to overlook the obvious problems and want to delve into the actual game lurking behind the bugs, I’ll try to give you my view of how it plays. Graphics and Sound The graphics of Anarchy Online are crisper and more realistic than those of Everquest. There are nice little touches that really add to the feel of the world. The sky effects are pretty amazing and there are things like little robots and flying birds that add a touch of realism to the game. The player models are stunning and the number of outfits you can wear are astonishing. I created a female character just to experiment with the rather racy outfits you can buy at the store. This is definitely a PG game. With all the variety, I don’t doubt that you could really get to the point where you can recognize a person just by his or her looks. They also programmed some fun emotes into the game, letting you really express yourself. I know I got a lot of work out of the /anger command when the zones weren’t working right after release. Still, even with such crisp graphics, I find the world to be a little drab. I am sure it is by design, since Rubi-Ka is defined as a dead world that is slowly being terraformed, but there is very little color and variety amongst the cities and zones. Part of the fun in Everquest is zoning into a new zone and seeing how different it is from the rest of the world. Everquest has forests, plains, jungles, oceans, lakes, mountains and a whole variety of other types of terrain. From what I have seen so far, much of Anarchy Online is the same. So, while I like the individual graphics in AO better then EQ, overall I think I prefer the look of Norrath to the look of Rubi-Ka. When it comes to the sound track and sound effects, AO has EQ beat by a mile. I always thought that the music in Everquest was almost an afterthought by the developers. If I recall correctly, music was not even introduced into the game until several months after its release. A good soundtrack can help get the heart thumping and add to the excitement of a battle. AO has this and EQ doesn’t. When I play EQ, I find myself turning down the sound, but when I play AO I like to really crank it. Soloing and Grouping This is an area where these two games differ significantly. Everquest is strictly a group game. While soloing is possible, it is difficult to do and time consuming. In general, groups are easy to form and, because the classes are so well defined, you can form a group of total strangers and fairly quickly figure out everyone’s role in the fights to come. Anarchy Online is just the opposite. It is very easy to solo, and in many ways it is preferable. I have found it very difficult to find a group because most people have quickly discovered that you can get higher experience and better rewards by soloing. Moreover, when you do get into a group most people are confused about what they are supposed to do and in the end everyone basically just blasts away at the mob until it is dead. I assume as people get higher in levels and more specialized that things will change, but groups will never be as easy to define as in Everquest simply because the professions in AO are not so easily pigeonholed into defined roles. This has led to an interesting development in the game. Anarchy Online is simply not as social a game as Everquest. There is no general chat like the zone chat of Everquest and with fewer groups and faster leveling, it is much harder to meet people and make friends. It is more like a bunch of single player games being played simultaneously on the same server. Some of this is due to the lag, which causes most people to do everything they can to avoid other players, but even without the lag, I doubt this will ever be much of a group game. The advantage of this soloability is that Anarchy Online is able to be played in short bursts. If you only have an hour or two to play Everquest, it is almost not worth playing. By the time you log in, get to a zone, find a group and get into a rhythm it is time to log back out. However, with Anarchy Online, you can grab a mission, play it through and gain a half a level’s worth of experience and a nice reward all within about a hours playing time. This alone makes it a far better game for the casual gamer than Everquest. Still, I like the social aspects of Everquest and find Anarchy Online really lacking in that regard. Without more chat features and more incentive to group up with other players, the game will never really seem like a MMORPG to me. What I have discovered is that when I have an hour to play and just want to play a quick solo game, I log onto Anarchy Online. But when I know I can really sit down and immerse myself into the game, a find myself going back to. So far, I don’t think AO has the same addictive hook that EQ can exert on you. Classes/Professions In my opinion, Anarchy Online went the wrong way with their profession system. I don’t doubt that there will be some significant changes as they start to see how the players deal with it. Anarchy Online tried to overlap the professions and also, through a skill system encourage diversity even within the professions. In and of itself, this is not a bad thing. This supposedly lets the players determine their own destiny rather than be pigeonholed into a role determined by the game designer. Unfortunately, from what I can see, it has had the opposite effect. First, the professions don’t vary that much from each other at the start. Because of the easy availability of healing and nano restoring devices, everyone in the game can heal themselves and cast multiple spells. Plus, everyone can wear the same armor and use the same weapons. Naturally, everyone is going to start to figure out the best weapons, armor, nanos, etc and use their skills accordingly. This is especially true because you get so few improvement points that you feel you can’t waste any on any skill that is not strictly necessary. So what you get are few actual variations in classes. Maybe they will vary more in later levels. Also, with the sole exception of the doctor, all of the AO classes are attack classes. With the exception of the doctor class, there are no true support classes. There are classes that could be used in support roles, but because most players will spend a lot of time soloing, players who choose those classes will inevitably end up spending their improvement points on attack skills rather than support skills. This really hurts the grouping process and also reduces the variety in the game. In contrast, Everquest’s class system is very well defined, with each class getting their own specialties, armor, weapons, spells, etc. This can sometimes be frustrating, but it builds up a very well developed reliance upon other players and encourages grouping and interaction. It also makes it easier to know who and what you are dealing with. When you meet a level 25 barbarian shaman, you pretty much know what he can and can’t do. That certainty is not present in AO. On top of that, EQ’s variety increases replay value. The class and race you choose in EQ will significantly effect how and where you play the game. Play an Ogre Warrior and then play a High Elf Wizard, and you will find your aproach to the game to be completely different right from the start. In AO, the breed and profession seem to have little effect on how you play the game. Everyone gets weapons and spells. They may vary in name, but they all work pretty much the same. Are you really going to stop playing your level 150 character and start over with another profession that does much the same thing, only shoots pistols instead of machine guns? So I have to give Everquest’s system the nod over Anarchy Online. I have a feeling others may disagree on this. There is something to be said about having the ability to diversify your character. Still I know that when I switch from a Rogue to a Warrior in Everquest, I will get a completely different game experience, whereas in AO switching from a fixer to a soldier will not really change your style a whole lot. Items and Quests This is an area where Anarchy Online has really improved over Everquest. I love the generated mission system. You go up to a mission generator, put in your parameters and request a mission. You will then be sent to an area to perform a duty, whether it is fixing a machine, killing a traitor, finding a lost item, or some other similar quest. When you get there, your own private dungeon is created. It generally takes an hour to finish and at the end, you usually get a nice reward. You can do missions privately or in a group. This sure beats Everquest’s go camp 10 monsters for a cheesy reward quest system. However, the missions are better in concept in execution, which is a general theme running through much of Anarchy Online. I know I promised not to mention this again, but right now AO is a truly flawed game. Missions are often broken and can’t be finished. The pathing is so bad that you have no idea which Mob will start to shoot at you and you can often find yourself firing at a Mob through a wall while another one stand right in front of you oblivious to your presence. When you lag, the doorways disappear and can’t be crossed, stranding you in the middle of the mission. Still, assuming all of this gets fixed, the missions may well be the best part of Anarchy Online. Anarchy Online also gets a huge thumbs up for making their equipment level sensitive (well actually skill level sensitive, but it works the same way). There will be no twinking in AO, so a newcomer will not find himself wondering why everyone else in the game his level seems to be decked out in great gear while he’s scrounging for enough credits to buy the basics. Plus, equipment drops randomly in accordance with the level of the mob, so there is no camping in AO either. And on top of that, just about everything can be bought in the stores. You are not going to be forced to sit in one place for 15 hours just to get that Phat Lewt. These are huge plusses in Anarchy Online’s favor. There is a negative side to this though. Because it is so easy to get the items you want by yourself, there is little trade going on. Also, there seem to be few, if any, unique or rare items. I always thought items in EQ should drop more randomly, but that doesn’t mean they should become more common. I think that the lack of rare items in AO will somewhat take away from the competition that a true game player likes to feel. While a game should not be all about Phat Lewt, that is still a fun element of EQ that seems to be missing from AO. Still, overall I like the way AO handles quests and items better than the way EQ handles them. Overall Game Play So which game is more fun to play? That’s really the bottom line in evaluating a game. When you are sitting at the computer looking at the AO and EQ icons side by side, which one are you more likely going to click? Well, that’s a complex question. They are both fun games. If you can afford both, I recommend you play both. Why? Because of the differences. While they are supposedly of the same genre, in many ways these are completely different games. AO is a nice solo game that has the added advantage of having other people around to occasionally chat with and interact with and even group with. You can play it for an hour and actually accomplish something. Plus, I haven’t even mentioned the pvp aspects, mainly because I have not tried that yet. EQ is a great group game where you can really lose yourself in a group experience. When you have enough time to truly immerse yourself, this is the game to play. In all, even after setting aside the bugs and lag and lack of playability of AO at this time, I definitely prefer Everquest over Anarchy Online. Of course, EQ’s had more than two years to polish and hone itself to relative perfection, and I’ve also played EQ a lot more than I have played AO, but I doubt that even in four months or so when Anarchy Online finally reaches its potential and becomes a truly final product it will surpass Everquest. This does not mean Anarchy Online is a bust. If you can get past the bugs and the lag there is a pretty nice game in there. If you only have the ability to purchase one more game this year, then by all means save your money and wait for The Shadows of Luclin expansion or perhaps Dark Age of Camelot. If you don’t mind paying $50 for something that is flawed but still kind of fun, then this game is worth a try. Whatever you do, don’t cancel your EQ account though, because you may find yourself wanting to come back in a month or two and you will want that level 60 warrior still sitting there when you return.

Comments

Post Comment
Torn
# Jul 24 2001 at 12:19 PM Rating: Default
I think EQ's emphasis on grouping, camping and it's general quest systems sucks. I'm not in high school or college, so I don't have 8 to 12 hours a day to play. Alla's comments on the AO's emphasis being on soloing really appeals to me. I almost want to run out and buy the game because of it. Then I think about all of the reported bugs/lack of playability and I hear a bunch of people saying that it's completely the opposite in terms of being soloable.

/sigh

I just hope the folks over at Shadowbane and/or DAOC are taking notice.
My experiences
# Jul 24 2001 at 12:14 PM Rating: Excellent
I'd like to say, it may have been said already, I havnt read all the posts, when the reviewer saidthat soloing is faster than grouping, he was more wrong than he could, possibly, possibly know. I am currently a level 59 engineer. I can tell you with 100% certainty, that grouping, is 10 times faster than soloing, and Im not even exagerating. The only reason I do missions know, is for cash and rewards /mission tokens. it also becomes harder to solo after around level 40, alot harder. That orange mob will lay a smack down for 120 a time and running isnt such an option like EQ.

Another points Id like to add is about the reviewer talking about classes being similar. i would wonder what levels he has played too, because as you get higher, the roles start to come through more than say how it is, below 50, which is shoot shoot shoot no matter what class. But as the non total fighter classes start to do less and less damage with their pistols or whatever, theirs roles change and its more efficient for them to use some of their class specific skills to help the group.

Anoter small points, when EQ was released, servers were down 75% of the time, thats no worse than the problems AO has had, I mean we are only weeks in, and now a massive amount of problems are fixed, in fact just about only memory leak still remains, and lag with huge amount of people.

Also you said about how all classes can use all weps and armour. Maybe so, from a lower level charachters point of view, as with most of the review. As you get higher, you do not have enough skill, say as an engineer, to keep your casting skills, your weapon skills, and engy (trade and related) skills, and stats up, you have to narrow down. This will result in 1. You wont have as much, not even nearly as much AC as say an enforcer, who can devote all his points into str, stam, agil, anything he needs for the best armour.
2. There is no way, a casting based class, can keep up with say, ranged energy, fling, burst, rifle, SMG etc, the kind of skills that are required to use most top class items. most wont even have say their pistol and multi ranged maxed, and will be using much lower qaulity level than say a soldier. As you grow higher, you will start to see a very, very large rift between fighters, and other classes damage output, and the weapons they can use. I can currently as a fighting engineer, use just over half the qaulity level weapon as say a soldier, who has skills to insure he can use those weapons. So although its true we can all use same weps and armour, only to a certain extent, and a certain qaulity level. So really there is a large difference in classes, and what equipment they can use.

A last point, you said how playing one class, doesntr seem different to playing another, I ponder weather you have actually played more than one class, above the level of about 50, it seems unlikely, because there are so many routes that can be taken, ive tried two different engineers over level 50, and my game play was absolutely different, I took a fighting route, with dodging skills, and little trade, other than to use trimmer,s which my other engy specialised in, I also get pets lower than my nano mage engineer, and its interesting finding ways to boost those skills, also being an atrox now, my stat allocation is totally different, I am a tank engy (heh) and my game is completely different, to my frail nano mage engy.

One LAST thing, I would like to see rare items on AO, that added alot of fun to my EQ game play, the idea of one day getting that glorious piece. Also I would like to see missions, that go on over a long period (like EQ quests could take you weeks etc) and the final reward be very desirable, possibly even that rare I spoke of.

Ok thats it, I hope you read this, and dont flame me for this, just give me your opinions
#Anonymous, Posted: Jul 24 2001 at 12:07 PM, Rating: Sub-Default, (Expand Post) Really nice to review a game after you played it for a week and have no clue what it's about. Soloing is more lucrative than grouping? What game are you playing? If you are a half-decent, sociable player you will easily get groups and do very well. No public channel? You've never used /shout or /say?
I disagree
# Jul 24 2001 at 12:06 PM Rating: Default
There is one thing i have to agree on with Allakhazam, this game is buggy like hell and should NEVER have been released in the state of development it was.

Nevertheless when you can play it it's a very fun game making up for most flaws that always ruined my EQ experience..

No more camping, no hours and hours of CR no more gathering for hours to get a shot at an Uebermob.

Also may loot be less interesting for some players because it is more common but it takes away ALLOT of the greed that ruined EQ for many players..

Ebayers will hate this system and so will twinks but did we all really enjoy those in EQ?

There is one thing worht ot mention about grouping in AO though.

In a group the experience for each kill is pretty much the same as it is when you solo and does this not motivate people enough to group and sozialise?

You really want to compare EQ and AO?

Well the first one is an enormous time sink almost impossible to enjoy for casual players the second is the game most people playing EQ always wanted.




WTF?
# Jul 24 2001 at 12:06 PM Rating: Decent
I've never disagreed more about what Allakazam is saying. I have a cable connection and a AMD 1.2 ghz with a 64 mb video card. The game lags slightly in the cities, but otherwise there is no lag.

Allakazam says this about professions

"First, the professions don’t vary that much from each other at the start. Because of the easy availability of healing and nano restoring devices, everyone in the game can heal themselves and cast multiple spells. Plus, everyone can wear the same armor and use the same weapons. Naturally, everyone is going to start to figure out the best weapons, armor, nanos, etc and use their skills accordingly."

What a bunch of ********* He obviously doesn't understand that the cost of ips differs greatly for each profession for the same skill. A nano-tech isn't going to invest in 1h Edge because it would take all it's ips. And nanos are mostly profession specific. I lost a lot of respect for Allakazam today. Pls know what you're writing about before you post something like this, k, thx.
Some faults in the review, my opinions and experiences
# Jul 24 2001 at 12:05 PM Rating: Default
I'd like to say, it may have been said already, I havnt read all the posts, when the reviewer saidthat soloing is faster than grouping, he was more wrong than he could, possibly, possibly know. I am currently a level 59 engineer. I can tell you with 100% certainty, that grouping, is 10 times faster than soloing, and Im not even exagerating. The only reason I do missions know, is for cash and rewards /mission tokens. it also becomes harder to solo after around level 40, alot harder. That orange mob will lay a smack down for 120 a time and running isnt such an option like EQ.

Another points Id like to add is about the reviewer talking about classes being similar. i would wonder what levels he has played too, because as you get higher, the roles start to come through more than say how it is, below 50, which is shoot shoot shoot no matter what class. But as the non total fighter classes start to do less and less damage with their pistols or whatever, theirs roles change and its more efficient for them to use some of their class specific skills to help the group.

Anoter small points, when EQ was released, servers were down 75% of the time, thats no worse than the problems AO has had, I mean we are only weeks in, and now a massive amount of problems are fixed, in fact just about only memory leak still remains, and lag with huge amount of people.

Also you said about how all classes can use all weps and armour. Maybe so, from a lower level charachters point of view, as with most of the review. As you get higher, you do not have enough skill, say as an engineer, to keep your casting skills, your weapon skills, and engy (trade and related) skills, and stats up, you have to narrow down. This will result in 1. You wont have as much, not even nearly as much AC as say an enforcer, who can devote all his points into str, stam, agil, anything he needs for the best armour.
2. There is no way, a casting based class, can keep up with say, ranged energy, fling, burst, rifle, SMG etc, the kind of skills that are required to use most top class items. most wont even have say their pistol and multi ranged maxed, and will be using much lower qaulity level than say a soldier. As you grow higher, you will start to see a very, very large rift between fighters, and other classes damage output, and the weapons they can use. I can currently as a fighting engineer, use just over half the qaulity level weapon as say a soldier, who has skills to insure he can use those weapons. So although its true we can all use same weps and armour, only to a certain extent, and a certain qaulity level. So really there is a large difference in classes, and what equipment they can use.

A last point, you said how playing one class, doesntr seem different to playing another, I ponder weather you have actually played more than one class, above the level of about 50, it seems unlikely, because there are so many routes that can be taken, ive tried two different engineers over level 50, and my game play was absolutely different, I took a fighting route, with dodging skills, and little trade, other than to use trimmer,s which my other engy specialised in, I also get pets lower than my nano mage engineer, and its interesting finding ways to boost those skills, also being an atrox now, my stat allocation is totally different, I am a tank engy (heh) and my game is completely different, to my frail nano mage engy.

One LAST thing, I would like to see rare items on AO, that added alot of fun to my EQ game play, the idea of one day getting that glorious piece. Also I would like to see missions, that go on over a long period (like EQ quests could take you weeks etc) and the final reward be very desirable, possibly even that rare I spoke of.

Ok thats it, I hope you read this, and dont flame me for this, just give me your opinions.
#Anonymous, Posted: Jul 24 2001 at 12:04 PM, Rating: Sub-Default, (Expand Post) AO review on EQ website = bad idea
Grouping vs soloing
# Jul 24 2001 at 12:00 PM Rating: Good
I played all the way up to the end of the beta...and I take exception to one item you mention (Unless they drastically changed things at the 9th hour after going live, since I do not have the live version as of yet). Grouping is FAR more rewarding than solo'ing in AO. The breakdown of the grouping chart back in beta went something like this:
1 person: 100% xp from mob
2 people: 75% xp
3 people: 72% xp
4 people: 70% xp, etc
While I don't remember the exact chart the following rule was true: If your group could kill 2 monsters in the time you can kill one solo, you get more xp...this was true even for FULL groups. If your group can't take out multiple mobs in the time someone else your level can take out 1 something is wrong :) The way to get experience in AO is to group, not solo...
Matches my Experiences 100%
# Jul 24 2001 at 11:43 AM Rating: Default

I think this article is right on the money... it matches my experiences 100%. I think he painted it exactly as it was...

IMHO, AO's huge advantage over EQ is that it fits into (normal) people's schedules. You can play for a 90 minute block of time in the evenings... make progress... and then have a massive PvP brawl every other weekend for a couple hours. AO will live (or die) by the quality of the PvP experience.

Playing EQ, I feel that unless I can devote a 4-5 hour block of time... its not even worth logging on. I still think its a great game (better than AO, truthfully), but I find the time requirements oppressive. It is so unfriendly to the casual player, that it does everything to drive you away.

AO comparison to EQ
# Jul 24 2001 at 11:09 AM Rating: Default
This has to be the most Biased Review I've ever read.

AO is playable now, I can play for 8 hours without a crash. Yes there was problems the 1st 2 weeks & the only way they were going to get fixed was to do what funcom did, release the game. If you did play EQ's Beta & release you will recall that it was 5 times worse, & EQ's graphics were outdated one month after the game was released (much like UO). As for the lag, you should exspect it, there is only 1 server currently & the game is only a month old. People have not yet had the time to spread out in Rubi-Ka, so everyone crowds the level 1-30 areas in the game. As for Graphics, I think your smoking Crack if you think that they are "drab" either that or color-blind. The skill system does take time to get use to but is much more realistic. It also allows for much better charecter development & customisation than EQ. EQ is more of a SOlo game than AO is, unless your only level 5. In AO if you want to get some EXP then you need to group. There is no Necromancer or Druid in AO, your gonna need a group. Honestly I think AO is a better game for everyone. But if you don't like AO, don't play it. Your one less person to lagg/*****/cry/throw a fit. Have fun in EQ, it's got about 6 months left. :)

- Bloodgather
AO comparison to EQ
# Jul 24 2001 at 11:04 AM Rating: Default
This has to be the most Biased Review I've ever read.

AO is playable now, I can play for 8 hours without a crash. Yes there was problems the 1st 2 weeks & the only way they were going to get fixed was to do what funcom did, release the game. If you did play EQ's Beta & release you will recall that it was 5 times worse, & EQ's graphics were outdated one month after the game was released (much like UO). As for the lag, you should exspect it, there is only 1 server currently & the game is only a month old. People have not yet had the time to spread out in Rubi-Ka, so everyone crowds the level 1-30 areas in the game. As for Graphics, I think your smoking Crack if you think that they are "drab" either that or color-blind. The skill system does take time to get use to but is much more realistic. It also allows for much better charecter development & customisation than EQ.

- Bloodgather
RE: AO comparison to EQ
# Jul 24 2001 at 2:29 PM Rating: Default
Settle down he has made a website for AO. And dont think EQ has 6months left the new expansion will make it more 3D then it is now.
Games
# Jul 24 2001 at 10:56 AM Rating: Decent
*
77 posts
I've been playing EQ since beta. I've got several 50+ characters, so I guess you could say I know EQ quite well. However, about 2 months ago I lost the desire to play. EQ became boring. I started doing crazy things.... I took all the equipment off my level 52 druid and gave it to a newbie cleric and shaman. I would purposely solo my 53 necro by root/dot/dd - never use a pet. (I ended of getting killed half the time.) I would use my shaman (56) only for plvling people, no camping or grouping. I quit all the guilds I was in.

AO came out. Whoop! Something new to try. I had a great time in the newbie section doing missions. I thought AO was really cool. When I finally ventured out of the newbie area into town, I discovered what the definition of LAG really meant. I've never experienced anything like it in any game I've ever played. Stuck for minutes. Unable to move. I started to avoid Newland and Tir like the plague. AO is fun when it worked..... WHEN being the key word here.

All in all, they're just games. A way to have fun. Both of provide enjoyment and as long as we remember they ARE JUST GAMES, it's cool.
my 2 cents
# Jul 24 2001 at 10:17 AM Rating: Decent
Playing AO reminds me alot of the early days of UO. New, different and lots of problems. Since I played all three from the retail beginning I'll give you all my 2 cents. UO started with tech isssues (lag) and never were able to fix it. EQ had small tech issues effecting playeability and were fixed. At this point I wonder if AO's lag type issues are correctable. If the lag and tracking does get fixed I believe this will prove to be an awesome game. When it comes to playing AO the first thing I notice is it's much easier than EQ. All the issues that drove me nuts with EQ are not a problem in AO. You die? no problem you pop up at a safe reclaim center. No more 3 or more hour corpse runs and begging some necro to help. You want to travel? no problem, hop the whompas. No more 3 hour zone hopping and boats to get to the other side of the world. Of course you could beg a druid for a lift. Personally I dislike begging. Then there is grouping. Finding a group in EQ has more than often been a real pain. There's no place to go hang out and find a group while you do something else fun. Often in zones you want to group in there is not enough people your level or too many people in the zone to make it worthwhile. So your off on another 2 hour run to find a group in another zone around your playing level. In AO if you want a group go hang out at a mission center in a town. People run thru EQ cities grab what they need and leave. In UO people hang out in cities and chat, do trade skills, socialize. Eventually in AO I think you'll find people setting up groups, learning trade skills, auctioning and socializing. Then there is the problem of all the places in UO and EQ that nobody ever goes to. That has always seemed like such a waste. It's called lack of content folks. From what Ive seen so far in AO, people are everywhere. And then there is the issue of auctioning in AO. Click the friends list and check the box for the shopping channel. Auctioning is very much alive and growing by the day in AO, folks. And no more lvl 50's twinking their lvl 5 chars. I'm giving AO a chance because I have faith in the overall playeability and fun potential of AO....but, (only) if they get the lag fixed.
Opinions are like........
# Jul 24 2001 at 9:48 AM Rating: Decent
48 posts
There are so many worlds coming out over the next few years, I can't see how one can get a foot hold everywhere. EQ still has alot of life left, and AO surely will get over its starting hurdles . Anyway, unless everyone has the same computer specs and internet connection conditions you could only offer a one sided opinion. After reading some of the posts, it seems like a well beatin topic. The fun is when someone argues against something that someone else is experiencing:) I don't get it;) Just pick up your rusty sword or cheesy blaster and have fun :)

____________________________
For the Good of the Realms!
Uh... OK
# Jul 24 2001 at 9:42 AM Rating: Decent
I have not played AO and I don't know if I will, but from what I can gather reading up on all the reviews/comments, AO is just a futuristic Asheron's Call. I think i'll hold out for AC2 myself.
Books and AO
# Jul 24 2001 at 9:30 AM Rating: Decent
Have you ever heard the saying, 'Don't judge a book by it's cover'?
well, many people do.
Say you read 20 pages from a book and say its completely boring and do you ever go back? Maybe, but not for a while.
there are a few that will keep reading, but most dont.(i know im taking the term literally but it works)

anyway, if you read many of the posts, people are already leaving the realm of AO. Once SOL comes out, you can bet that all the EQ players on AO will be coming back. Not to mention the boost in graphics.

i think another thing they did wrong was the speed in leveling. think back to diablo and diablo 2. AO has my same opinion. it is the reason of fast lvling that make games like that undesireable for me.

with a little more thought, and more effort, i think this game could have been more successful, but with the release of SOL, quite a bit of the population of AO will dissapear.
My review on AO
# Jul 24 2001 at 8:59 AM Rating: Default
AO Has to be the most anticipated, but most disappointing game ever...a friend of mine went to play it and now after about 2 weeks, he has come crawling back to EQ because of how many bugs and how laggy the game is. Some of the missions you are assigned cause your computer to CTD(Crash to desktop), or some of the items you are soposed to get are not moveable. Lag in citys is so bad that without the most up to date computer, video card and a Cable+ connection, you have no chance. In my opinion anyone who just wants to play a game and have fun should stick with EQ, AC or UO for now and let Funcom fix AO up alot before they attempt to play it.
EQ/AO/UO
# Jul 24 2001 at 8:50 AM Rating: Default
In my personal, and humble opinion.....I love EQ. Yes, I am fairly new (Ok ok, so my highest lvl is 17 wizzy) but, none the less, it is a great game!

For three years I played UO, and just recently heard about EQ, and like I said, it's a blast! About a month after EQ, my friend called me up and said "Got to get AO!!!" So I did, because he was an avid UO player and would not switch to EQ...

I played it for maybe 2 weeks, strait. At my first successfull login/character attempt, I thought this game was awesome, would never play EQ again, and soon (Very soon) I missed the grouping/social aspect of EQ...but I stayed with it. I gained a few levels, tried a few characters, and came to the final conclusion "This sucks". I die a lot, can't stand up, get stuck, get lost, can't see, cant' zone etc. I have actually gotten two characters stuck in a place that they can not get out, and it's not a bug, but rather the way the laid out the game....just fell between a wall and a gate...

All in all, the graphics are great...the game play is awfull. I feel as I did near the end of my UO carreer hehe ; )

Try it though, it could be for you :)

Kazly
17 wizz A$$(or so my friends call me)
Terris-thule


(Good hunting friends :)
Leveling in ao
# Jul 24 2001 at 6:53 AM Rating: Default
if you read the posts on the http://community.anarchy-online.com/news

leveling go's as thay want to ... lvl 50 is like lvl 25 in eq ... lvl 100 is lvl 50 in eq ..

the only bigest problem ao got now is the memory leak and thay say there working hard on that to fix it ..

i played ao from beta 4 and i knew the game wasnt ready when it came in my mail .but i still play it .

i see mutch difrence from the start of ao and what it is now ad i think there doing a good job
this game can make it to be a good game.

and thay never wanted to be ao to be a EQ2 .
ok so it looks a lot like it and i think thay used it for some ideas if ya dont like it dont buy it ... if ya wanna thry it out so go a head but dont crack this game up becorse of its flaws (uo and eq where that to in the begining though funcome had a good vieuw how not to do it but thay failed :)

i see a lot of people whining in game about the game ..

and the fighting is a cross of uo and eq ... uo you always solo (till thay put in those team groupings) you can just choose i wanna solo or i want to go in team .. and i know there are teams out there just check outsite the gates of newland city

this was my words (and mistakes in typeing :P )

If ya dont like it dont play it!

Tarcy clan fixer
Eq suck ao rocks
# Jul 24 2001 at 6:42 AM Rating: Default
I played eq for 1 and a halfyear now i have had lots of fun with that game (i may go back though when Sol comes out)

i agree on one point in the revieuw eq is a realy time consuming game .. find cleric . find tank snarer . en other people then walk 15 min to go to a dungeon (maby longer) . camping stuff like in lguk can you ever camp with the lvl it intended to be in that dungeon the frenzy room ? no there always a lvl 50+ necro camping the place
and some people just take that game to serious ..read all those forums about eq ... frustrating as hell... "i hate him i hate that i want that spawn i want in the trakanon turns"

ok the 50+ game in eq just sucks ... the 50 minus levels are kinda fun .. think about it ..

ao isnt this yet ..

Darcy lvl 58 rogue luclin
Tarcy lvl 31 fixer
RE: Eq suck ao rocks
# Jul 24 2001 at 12:07 PM Rating: Default
Hey, Darcy the Lizard. :)
AO rocks there is no question in it. I bet you all EQ players remember the feeling when after 2 days of hard leveling you get into death loop and end up 2 lvls lower or begging a necro for a corpse that is underneath Nagafen... well, nothing like that ever happaned to me in EQ and I still now despise it :) It just wasn't fun anymore. Wake up, get a group, camp a spot. Woohoo. 17 Fear raids tog get my armor. And that means overnight raids or whole weekends. How many of you got that much time? Anyway, I'm ranting just wanted to say, EQ was good when there was no competition. AO is better and with 100000 subscriptions already I hardly see it going away anytime soon. Give it time then join in. We'll have much fun.

Necrataal lvl 53 necro Luclin.
Daemonik lvl 35 soldier.

*Omni-Tek is your friend*
Sol make or Break EQ
# Jul 24 2001 at 6:34 AM Rating: Default
Small note... Shadows of Luclin has almost 300,000 preorders already... I hardly think that is something that will *make or break* Everquest... that's what an additional 9 million dollars gross of income to SOE, I ponder if AO will sell nearly as many units as EQ sells of it's expansion...

That being said, to be honest AO really really screwed up shipping out a product in the shape that it's in. The negative feedback from users in the beginning of it's actual release, it's decision to start charging customers for a product that is not fully functional with huge bugs will really cost them. They probably have no option from a financial standpoint, but with all the competition in the market upcoming from Shadowbane, Star Wars Galaxies, Dark Age of Camelot, etc, It is hard to imagine that this game will survive with this type of planning and forethought.
Quit
# Jul 24 2001 at 6:24 AM Rating: Decent
I played it for 3 weeks and have quit. Played a Doc, and a Meta. One thing I saw was that xps is incredible when you group, but grouping is hard to do right now till some where in your teens, as few realize its power till then. This game has tons of potential, but is a different game from EQ. No one knows what's going to happen with the higher lvls, though we will soon find out, as people are lvling like crazy. I think this is one of its biggest problems right now.

This game's basic structure is very much like AC (which I find funny since so many flamed that when it came out) and though they have taken many steps to keep it free from AC's problems I think we will see many of them surface. The real question is will it ever reach it's potential?

What is clear is that EQ, even when/should AO reach it's potential, will still have some things over AO and AO will have some over EQ.

One thing I see is that if it becomes a RPing world then it will not retain its audience. Most people don't RP. The ones who do are very vocal and so many think that there is a big market there but I have never seen it. This game has a lot of niche things that draw the RPers, but to the average player they don’t mean jack.

What may increase its draw is the pvp aspect. People may get drawn into this regardless of the RPing. Though few that play these RPing games seem to want this, though that may be do to the structures that have been offered so far. Those that want pvp generally play strategy games, and AO has none of that right now.
Eqplayer
# Jul 24 2001 at 5:36 AM Rating: Default
Think its great that evryone has a opinion about eq and ao but it almost always comes down to what kinda og games u like playing ive never been it to games with guns myself only liked Roleplaying fantasy games with swords and spells and thats the main reason i play Eq i think the game has tons of flawes that could be improved but what games dosnt so i still play it and just do the parts of the game that i think fits me the best but i think its great that they keep making lots of online games so people atleast can choose many that play Eq dont play because they are fans of fantasy games they probably dont even know what real roleplaying is and thats ok since it dosnt realy mather the game gives evryone what they crave or feel is fun well thats all i got to say keep making tons of games so evryone finds something they like to play
PSO??
# Jul 24 2001 at 5:35 AM Rating: Default
This game sounds a great deal like Phantasy Star Online for dreamcast...what da ya think???
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