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
The 3rd person view
# Jul 24 2001 at 5:25 AM Rating: Default
Something to mention. I also did AO beta and one thing that annoyed me was the outright clunkiness of the combat. It is worse than UO (if thats possible). EQ has the most user-friendly attack. And the third person view in AO is horrendous. I dunno what I was doing wrong but the view swings all over the place and was just plain annoying.
Having said all that the graphics and sound were nice. The dungeon made just for you and your buds is really great too. Still, I don't think this will be any type of EQ-killer, oh Horizons please get done soon :-)
good with the bad
# Jul 24 2001 at 5:11 AM Rating: Default
i've been playin EQ for close to a year now and personally i think AO is a whole different animal. and it's a baby compared to EQ. yes the lag sucks and people are meaner but but this is a newly coloized world with problems from the get go. that's ok with me, the people you stick with it now will be the ones who shape this world for others to come. that's a plus in my book. not to mention it's this first sci-fi game of it's kind, i'd say we're doin good. let those funcom guys throw us a 3/4 finished product, we'll show'em what they did wrong so it's better for us later. taking good with the bad +)
#Anonymous, Posted: Jul 24 2001 at 3:15 AM, Rating: Sub-Default, (Expand Post) after reading the review and posts I wonder why anyone plays either game Diablo 2 is the shining example of an ideal game if verant and whoever made anarchy online would pay attention to the world around them they would realize that diablo 2 ROCKS
RE: DIABLO2
# Jul 24 2001 at 6:24 AM Rating: Default
Only that Diablo 2 is to many ppl a repetive hack n' slash game... The quests are the same and they are sparse, you can do them without thinking cause most of them are part of the plot. You just can't avoid doing them even if you try :P

Only reason I played D2 a little was cause I wanted to find an item which was just a liiiitle better. But that isn't much fun for long.

D2 is just click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click.... rinse and repeat.

I like Diablo 2. :D
The verdict is still out
# Jul 24 2001 at 3:10 AM Rating: Default
Folks, I think it is still to early to vote one over the other. I kinda agree that right now very many aspects of EQ still stand head and shoulders over EQ (and before anyone flames I havent even loaded up EQ since I got beta 4 of AO, i have played solidly on AO). I have to say that the client side video lag is still very bad, and dont give me the "get out the city line" cos you actually only need a few dozen around to make life bad. (this arguement about ppl in zone and comparing them is frankly hogwash, push EQ outside what it was designed for and its bad, right now AO should be doing exactly what it was designed for and it flat out isnt..get real folks). I can forgive the general fit a finsh stuff like the graphic glitches in mission areas, fighting through walls, zoning problems, cos they are fixable real quick. I get very frustrated with people saying how gorgeous the graphics are. LOL. They sure as hell arent the people getting playable framerate. Every now and then I turn the graphics up to where I (p4 1.5g geforceII) would "expect" them to be and I get some fabulous pictures...) otherwise with everything off and the draw distance down the effects and not immersive. There is one heck of a lot of nothing out in most of the zones, rolling hills and flatish desert abounds, although I love the grass and tree effects when you get them.

Equipment is a mixed bag. I know I used to get frustrated at how other EQ players got better gear, but once you get on and aquire stuff then you at least build up equipment that you can take pride in (even if you save and buy). Right now, and I know its early, I am not getting this in AO. I absolutley love the way they restrict gear by skills, however I personally think they have gone too far in giving gear out, and in having QL ramping so much. I laughed when Verant used to trot out they lines about "if everyone could and did get everything life would be boring" but I have a nagging doubt they may be right.

Class distinction in AO is not good up to 20, but should start to get better after that, and I think will imporve the social aspects which are in general pretty minimal right now. I see people trying to trade and sell loot, but to be honest, there is no real need to buy since your next great piece of armour is likely to drop in your next mission. I find the only thing worth selling is nanos that you get that are not your class.

Overall AO is still early days and mighty frustrating at times. I hope that it doesnt end up as RP quake at the higher levels though with the increased emphasis on PvP at the high end.

Finally, dont flame Alla for this post. Respect his opinion (something a lot of posters in AO forums dont seem to like, they can be a pretty agressive bunch in just proclaiming EQ as @@@@@ and AO as God....:-) ).

Ian S, UK
About classes.
# Jul 24 2001 at 2:53 AM Rating: Default
AO is ultimately an PvP game. After lvl 75 all restrains come out and you are to kill the clan scum or nuke the omni facists as much as you can. More so it is a faction based combat so group PvP will be difficult, exciting and full of ideas and strategies. All I've seen people compare is PvE in AO and EQ. And we both know that EQ has almost no PvP except for two-three small populated servers. So this games are not even comparable in that. All PvE in AO is balanced only to a point of leveling you fast enough so it doesn't becomes tedious (hello, 30-minutes-looking-into-the-book-while-medding-EQ-people). Combat is fast paced, easy and doesn't need you to have 60 people to kill one pathetic mob so another person can be considered Uber on the server. All my advice is ignore everyone elses advice, wait a couple of week/month and play AO for yourself. Game is so deep, I still don't know what some stuff is for.
About the lag.
# Jul 24 2001 at 2:47 AM Rating: Default
There is no lag per se in AO. People who like using labels for everything jsut put it on and can't let it go. Ao has a memory management problem which means they allocate resourses for textures and models but never truly free it. Solution? Get yourself 512 megs of SDram. it is known and i've done it myself to remove all so called "lag" from the game. If it is not a lag what is it? You own computer swapping 200 megs to disk is what it is. No matter how fast your computer is it will take it's time swapping. It is impressive how many computer illiterate people have an opinion about computer. And yes, Funcom is working on correcting this problem anyway.
RE: About the lag.
# Jul 24 2001 at 9:26 AM Rating: Decent
Excuse me Mr. Expert, but I don't recall seeing anything about requiring 512M of Ram to play this? How can anyone consider themself a computer expert recommend buying more ram to fix a buggy product.

Just a DBA's opinion.
AO = crap...
# Jul 24 2001 at 2:38 AM Rating: Default
I played AO for about a week, then put it on the shelf.

Here's why.

Get in....half the classes you don't even know really what the hell they are going to do...

Take EQ.

Cleric = main focus healing
Warrior = main focus tanking, slashing stuff.
Bard = little of this, little of that, basically can do most things other class's can do, but not as well.

Hybrid class's: alot of what their parent classes can do, while being able to tank.

pure casters:

Necro- master of undead...summon skeleton, casts spells that are poison/diseased base.
enchanter - charm stuff, turn into different races, illusion based.
Mage - masters of the elements
druid - nature freaks...cast nature based spells.


You have what? 12 - 14 base classes for EQ...they each are different from each other, and each have their own feel....you notice this from being that class once you hit level 2.

AO - they have like 25 different classes, and asside from the doctor, adventurer, and soldier...you don't really know wha the hell the others do.




I haven't played AO for more than 1 week, I don't have any characters higher than level 1, and I haven't stayed on very long, because of one thing....thers some bug where every time I hit [ENTER] I crash to desk top.

MMOG without communication = crappy single player game.

Until they fix their game, I won't play.
AO
# Jul 24 2001 at 2:36 AM Rating: Default
One thing I noticed when I USED to play AO was that they had one of the most dedicated,blind following and hostile "Fanboy" clubs I've ever seen.
As has been said before, bottom line is AO is buggy, got technical and gameplay problems/issues and should have been beaten back to Beta land.
For those that disagree I have a few choice pieces of swamp land for sale, or maybe you could just post your credit card details so others can take your money.
Oh my god,
# Jul 24 2001 at 2:36 AM Rating: Default
I never seen such a wrong and biased review. I played EQ for 2 years and now playing AO for 3 weeks. I have lvl 53 necro in AO and several other characters and lvl 35 soldier in AO. AO by far corrected and improved EVERYTHING EQ has. Literally, I went point by point and discovered that AO is beyond great. Yes it is buggy. EQ was buggy a year after the release and AO has only one major resourse managment problem and ocassional crash which doesn't affect your character at all. Looks wise AO is stunning. Space wise? 100000 players playing in the same world, 2000 in the same zone often. EQ gets 200 people in the zone and zone IS DEAD. So don't tell me which game is buggier. i am dissapointed in Allakhazams review. Give it couple of month and AO will be better then EQ 4 years after the release. You do the math.
THIS here is real review, read on
# Jul 24 2001 at 2:17 AM Rating: Default
OH god.. this review is SO taken out of flame/rant board it makes me sick. Where to start?
At first - AO has 200 levels, EQ has 60. Level 40 in AO equals level 12 in EQ. KEEP THAT IN MIND! Allakhazam haven't seen anything past level 15 which is about level 5 in everquest. Take this review of his as comparison of first 5 levels in everquest to the same relative advancement in Anarchy Online. Now read mine.

Playability - this is OK. You can slowly walk through a crowd of maybe 200-300 players in bigger AO cities. Have you ever seen more than 100 in Everquest? Yes, EC tunnel.. is that lagfree to run through? No way! Ok, multiply that with 2-3 and you think you can actually zone in there in everquest??? In AO i'm talking about 200-300 players in VISIBLE range.. 700-800 in whole soft zone. There is very few hard zones.. where you get "You entered 'this and that'" message. So PLEASE - if you compare the MOST crowded places in AO to the general zone like DL or WC in everquest.. it's just plain setting AO on fire.

Graphics and sound.. the world is drab? Do you find Greater Faydark in Everquest the most exiting zone? Because that's how much you CAN see the world with a hour of running. AO is SO MUCH larger that to get to see the different places without transportation it takes few hours of running. But NO, you have to make a review based on newbie zones, well thank you very much.

Soloing and grouping.. this is where Allakhazam made the biggest mistake. AO is very much a social game.. People are actually complaining that level gaining by grouping is too fast and too easy, NOT soloing. Hell yes you can get half a level with a mission within a hour.. but you can do the same in everquest! Think about the level for a moment - 200 versus 60. Level 40 in AO is the same as level 12 in everquest. Half a level at around.. what i guess level 15? It's about one yellow bubble of exp in Everquest at level 5. IN ONE HOUR! I mean.. you CAN do that in everquest, right? I sure could when i played it.
At level 30 you don't see soloers running around in AO anymore.. It's just so much slower than grouping. That's about level 9-10 in everquest.. sounds about the same?

Proffessions.. umm, hello? Don't all the lower levels in everquest pretty much melee themselves up to level 15-20 or so? WOW - they have melee damage for ONE THIRD of their level span! When you saw maybe first 30 levels of AO, then mobs don't even hit you so hard that you need a bunch of buffs and stuff. Did your groupmates in everquest at level 10 fill their later roles in game? Chanter mezzing and hasting, shaman slowing and buffing, rogue backstabbing! NO! Because at level 10 you all melee/nuke and shaman heals you and rogue doesn't even have a backstab yet. So, yet again compare the same level ranges please.

Items and quests.. you're bashing quests? Exactly how many quests were working in everquest one month after release? FLAWLESSLY? 99% of the missions in AO work perfectly. All negativity is again from some flame/rant board where players go scream at Funcom when one of their missions (out of 40-50) didn't work. .... Twinking.. it's possible to certain extent.. you can create higher level implants/give some minor buffs to lower level character.. but that requires couple higher levels always watching over your shoulder and continuous implant creation, etc.. It's hard and slow and definately not like everquests "Powerleveled to 55". ... And ease of getting items.. Yes, you can items easily.. the same items you can buy from stores in everquest! You are STILL talking about first 5-10 levels of everquest!!! The superior stores in AO support your armor/weapons/nanoformulas up to level 100-100. NOT MORE. and up to date only way to get better items is to hunt. Besides, nobody is really there yet.

Overall Game Play.. i would NEVER go back to everquest. The first time i saw that double-sunrise from a hill when it slowly brought light and warmth to the plain i had crossed during night - i am NEVER going back to wow-green-fog-instead-of-gray-Everquest. And i definately prefer hmm-two-more-missions-until-those-new-leggings-AO to DAMN-QUEST-MOB-SPAWN-ALREADY-SO-I-CAN-GO-CAMP-ANOTHER-ONE-for-my-breatplate-so-that-I-can-look-exactly-like-others-EQ. Or I-can't-afford-aircraft-yet-so-i-buy-a-car-AO to 50pp-for-port-to-DL-EQ. Wouldn't you?

Verdict - Allakhazam did a very good job of painting Anarchy Online with sh*t and forgetting all Everquest flaws. But go to AO and find all the beauty and diversity out yourself :) And please don't write a review about GAMEPLAY when you have seen 1% of the world and achieved 0.5% of levels.

Thanks for reading, feel free to comment.

Jerim, your local MONGO!
My review...
# Jul 24 2001 at 1:52 AM Rating: Decent
Well, I've got some differing opinions... though not all of them being drastically different. But I'll cover the same areas. I'm assuming a basic level of knowledge of AO.

Playability:
This is such an odd topic because it seems to vary so much. Some people say they can't play at all, while I, on the other hand, can play for hours with few problems. Yes, there currently seems to be an issue with large number of players in the same area. But I don't get five minutes or more of lag, instead, it hiccups for maybe 30 seconds. For reference, my computer is a T-Bird 900, with 256 megs of RAM, and a GeForce 2 card, running on Win2k. Not the top of the line system, but still a fairly fast computer. At the moment, would I say the game is playable? Maybe. But if you're not the patient type, I wouldn't recommend it. Still, this is a strange issue because it's at once the most and least important issue. Playability has improved greatly since it's release, and will continue to do so. But right NOW, it's the biggest issue in the game.

Graphics and Sound:
Hrm. I'll agree that there isn't quite the variety as EQ, but there's still a good bit of variety. From forests, to swamps, to rolling hills, to plains and deserts, I've found AO's world to be one of the best things it has going for it. The color palette seems to be more muted compared to EQ, but then, it may just be more realistic. And the lighting and weather effects are just lovely. Sound, likewise, is good, and I actually don't mind listening to be music. UO and EQ quickly drove me crazy. Characters seem to be fairly well-modelled, and armor is interesting and detailed, but... and this is my main concern. It just doesn't have the distinction of a game like EQ. There's no prestige in wearing a, say, Quality Level 50 Desert Omni-Pol body armor vs. a level 11 one. This, however, will surely change as more things are discovered. We'll see.

Soloing/Grouping:
I have no idea where the writer is coming from on this. I find grouping to be SO much faster than soloing that it's ridiculous. You can kill much stronger things much faster, that even at a fairly low level (say, low teens) it's more profitable exp-wise to group. Soloing, however, nets you more items and money (unless you do group missions). You can, however, spend some time and feel like you've advanced solo. Personally, this is my favorite system. It's not as laborious as a game like EQ, but it still give incentive to group.

Professions and Combat:
Here's my biggest concern with AO. At this point in time, the various nanoformulas are just not enough to define professions well. I am certain this will change as time goes on, but to what extent, I don't know. A number of professions have balance issues (a number of them due to bugs). How Funcom will sort this out will ultimately influence whether I remain interested or not.
Combat is another area of concern. Right now, combat just isn't very interesting at level 21. There's not much strategy involved, mainly due to the mechanics that, to me, feel somewhat awkward. In EQ, positioning, timing, rationing mana, coordination, all played a large part in how well a group performed. In AO, the lack of distinction in the professions leads to most combat being reduced to a, well, gangbang of the intended target. That said, my level isn't high enough to judge whether or not this changes as things go up. Time will tell, but given my list of new NFs and such, I'm not certain it's a level thing. It will ultimately boil down to balance...

Quests/Items:
The mission system is one of AO's stronger points, as well as one of it's most promising. The ability to go and fairly easily do missions in a reasonable amount of time solo is a large draw. Also, as time goes on, it's quite possible for them to add more variety in mission layouts (already, it seems to get increasingly more complex as you level), as well as more types of missions. Even semi-static missions to gain unique items seem possible. Don't want to camp for phat lewt? Undertake a very treacherous and involving mission with friends to gain the Uber Pistol of Leetness.

Final Thoughts:
Whether or not one should switch from EQ to AO is a rather difficult question. EQ is an old game now, but one that has been polished a great deal. AO is incredibly rough around the edges right now. I can see the potential in it, however, and many of the changes they can make to the system are quite reasonable (add NFs, increase chat options, add more mission types and layouts, add static dungeons, add unique items... no, I don't want this to be EQ, but I do want someone to actually be able to work for SOMETHING and get it, rather than work for random reward X)... and the prospect of the story arc is enticing enough to tempt me for a few more months yet. It's got the potential, we'll see where it's going...

-Datura, Level 21 Omni-Tek Bureaucrat
Caldabuse, Level 49 Gnome Wizard
AO VS EQ
# Jul 24 2001 at 1:45 AM Rating: Default
I tested in Beta for AO and played EQ for over a year. You really can't compare the two right now due to the fact that people are only experiencing the lower end of the spectrum for AO, where characters and equipment will be pretty much the same. Its obvious to me that this will change later in the game in that regard as well as being able to affect things in the game politically, having your own apartment and being able to decorate it, as well as owning your own land and air based craft. The higher end of the game in AO will require grouping for those who are group fanatics, which in my opinion is not the basis of socializing, but just a facet of it. I found AO to be very sociable and the general attitudes much more optimistic and less sarcastic than EQ. The fact that AO caters to both casual and power gamers is very appealing to me and that you are free to express your character in many different ways, something unheard of in EQ. Aside from the glaring network and cd-key issues, AO is definitely superior to EQ in every way. Its nice for once to have to actually approach someone to talk to them rather than being spammed zone wide with senseless drivel and arguments in /shout and /ooc.

Kyros
AO vs EQ
# Jul 24 2001 at 1:40 AM Rating: Default
I wonder what Allakhazam is going to say Dark Horizons comes out. I believe that allakhazam is totally one sided and is scared that this December when the new expansion comes out, its got to be make or brake EQ.

You can donate your two cents to my Paypal account.
RE: AO vs EQ
# Jul 24 2001 at 2:23 AM Rating: Decent
-
How many of you...
# Jul 24 2001 at 1:27 AM Rating: Good
How many of you got this game within the first 2 days, and cancelled your accounts before the first patch in final?

Seriously?


The lag is not NEARLY as bad as it used to be (unless you're in a big city), my framerate is decent (playing it at 1280x1024x32 on a GeForce2 MX), and I can play for a few hours in a stint before the memory leak makes it crash (they REALLY need to fix it).

As for all the classes being the same, there's little difference between a rogue and a warrior at level 10 in EQ, so why do you expect there to be any more of a difference between a fixer and a soldier at level 20 in AO (lv20 in AO fairly equivalent to 10 in EQ).

Yes, anyone can (in theory) use any armor/equipment they want, if they have the skill requirements. Skills are based on ability scores, and how easy it is to raise ability scores is based on breed. An Atrox is almost guaranteed to have more HP and do more melee damage than a Nano, while the Nano can cast better, but not take as much of a beating.

As for everyone finding the uber-armor and using it, it really all depends on what sort of AC you want. Some armors have better protection against fire than others, some cold, disease, energy weapons, melee, etc, etc, etc. Throw quality levels into the picture, as well as weight and the fact that different armor require different stats (Cyber req psych and Int, whereas metaplast requires str and sta, for example), and the fact becomes that while anyone *can* in theory use almost anything (there are some items that are breed or even gender specific, I've seen a 2h blunt weapon that was Atrox only (a support beam), and a gun that required you be female and/or solitus to use it, as well as a gun that only opifex could use, that had the ability to root the enemy listed in it's stats), not everyone will.

For example, the Atrox Doctor the post above mentioned is more likely to wear metaplast or omni-pol armor than a Nano Doctor, who will more likely wear cyber armor (since it requires stats that a nano can raise easily), although either char could use either armor (given appropriate stats).

I currently wear most of a suit of cyber armor (have Plasteel gloves and nail boots) and wield a pair of Sparkling Freedom Arms 3927s (these WILL be nerfed, I can see it coming). I play a nano-technician, which is the closest thing to an EQ wizard in AO. It's more of a 90% wizard, 10% enchanter. I get the biggest nukes, but also the nano restoring spells, spells that make casting more efficient, a root line, a blind line, and Bewilderment (causes the target to lose aggro, and not aggro unless attacked for 1:06). I don't have all those yet, but I'm only level 15, and kind of gimpy for a level 15 at that.

As for soloing vs grouping, you can solo if you want to, but you can also group. There are plenty of people doing both styles of play. Solo seems to be the best way to get cash, but grouping is far better in terms of xp.

As for the comment that people don't have defined roles in the group and thereby just blast the mobs, I ask you this. If you were a cleric in EQ, and you had a crossbow you could use by hitting auto attack (rather than pressing fire for each shot), and you weren't worried about getting aggro from your massive damage because the warrior is taunting VERY thoroughly, wouldn't you be shooting the mobs with your crossbow between heals?

I nuke, shoot while nuke recycles, nuke again, lather, rinse, repeat. I have a friend whose a Doctor. He DoTs, nukes, shoots while nano recycles, heals if needed, nukes again, lather rinse repeat. His top nuke is MUCH weaker than wat I had when I was his level. Enforcers bash, slash, bash again, brawl, slash, taunt, etc. Soldiers do the same thing with guns. MAs do it with their bare hands. Traders will be godlike in PvP when it comes to debuffing casters to where they can't cast even remotely current nukes. I mean, what good is a nano-tech who has to use a nuke from 10 levels ago?

Anyways, I just wanted to make it clear that this is a GREAT game, and that many of the comment made here are unfounded, or based on people comparing the equivalent of EQ level 3.5 characters, and saying that all professions are the same. The big problems it does have are the lag (most noticeable in cities), the framerate (again, most noticeable in cities), and the memory leak (most noticeable after extended play). If they fix the mem leak, the others will be slightly less of an issue, since I ahve a feeling that a good bit of the framerate issues are caused by the steady loss of available resourceses time goes on.
AO
# Jul 24 2001 at 1:23 AM Rating: Default
AO is simply superior to EQ (and i actually liked eq), At least for those of us that can get it to work, which is the majority of us contrary to popular belief, I have a 600mhz, 128mb Ram, and Diamond Stealth III card (nothing special) and the game runs fine except in the cities, which is no big deal because you can get away from them quite easily.

As for the Soloing vs Grouping in AO grouping is way more efficient you get probably close to 4 times the exp in a decent group as apposed to soloing. I currently have a lvl 49 Fixer and a 36 Soldier so I cant say much for the higher levels.

No offense to the reviewer but I feel like you havn't played the game enough to write this review, especially when you talk about class distinctions which is where you are WAAY off. I dont see how you can even think that all the classes are the same, how does a Nano Technician compare to an enforcer at ALL even at lvl 2 they are completely different. Its like comparing an Warrior to a Wizard, they have nothing in common except in AO NT's can actually try anddefend themselves with pistols.

I do feel sorry for those who cant play and can see why they are so angry, but when you can actually play the game it is great.
Anarchy? I'll say...
# Jul 24 2001 at 12:59 AM Rating: Decent
I think Allakhazam is being overly polite in order to sound like he's reeeealy giving Anarchy a chance (And to avoid being flamed).

The fact of the matter is, that noone can disagree with the conclusions that are made, which are "Nice graphics", "Wow there's actually some decent sounds" and "What great ideas" but that nothing else is really working right now.

I LOVED the ideas in Anarchy, and I have bought the game. For now, however, it will be going back on the shelf until FunCom makes it a bit more playable.

What I REALLY hate is this:
1) They start selling a game before it's even remotely finished.
2) The free month starts in this bugged period, making many people (yours truly included) waste the free month. When/if I go back to Anarchy, I will have to pay each time I want to see if the game has improved a bit.

MY MOST IMPORTANT POINT, PLEASE READ:
3) FUNCOM IS NOT A SAFE PLACE TO SHOP!!! THEY MAKE MISTAKES WHEN HANDLING YOUR CREDIT-CARD INFORMATION, AND CLAIM NO LIABILITY FOR THE MISTAKES MADE. A server-malfunction back when I registered my game has resulted in my account being registered TWICE, AND my creditcard being billed $49.99, even though I entered my correct registration key. Now 2½ weeks later, this problem has still not been resolved, and I feel this really is an area where you can't afford letting down your customers.

Consequently: I URGE EVERYBODY TO CHECK THEIR BANK-STATEMENTS, AND I WOULD SUGGEST TO ANYONE WHO IS ABOUT TO REGISTER THIS GAME THAT THEY WAIT UNTIL FUNCOM CAN GUARANTEE A SAFE TRANSACTION, WHICH THEY CAN'T AT THE MOMENT!! It's just no fun to enter all the important information from your card and then submitting it, only to receive a message that the server handling the submissions isn't working properly, AND then finding out that you will be billed twice PLUS 50 bucks for a game that will be collecting dust on the shelf for a while yet.

Sorry about the capitals...I just can't stress enough how disappointed I am with the way things are being handled. Once again, please be careful and check that the registrations goes through properly, because if it doesn't, FunCom really couldn't care less, it seems.
in the future
# Jul 24 2001 at 12:41 AM Rating: Default
What excites me about AO is thet story. From what I`ve heard, AO has a 4-year story revolving around the conflict in Ruby-Ka. I think this means that there will be changes in the environment reflecting what occurs. This sounds a lot more fun than the world staying the same for eternity. Sure there are new continents added to EQ, but there really isn`t a solid story. If you do a /time in EQ, you`ll find that EQ is in somewhere around the year 3200. In 3200 years, the EQ world has barely changed.

I also like AO BEACAUSE of the fact that it`s possible to get along soloing. This means no having to rely on incompetent groupmates, no waiting around for 2 hours looking for a group, and no jack@$$es that don`t know what they`re doing, pull too much, and loot everything. I also find that when I do make good friends with someone, It ends up that I can`t play enough to keep up in levels with them so we end up not being able to group with each other.

I also like the mission/quest system. I know this has been mentioned plenty already, but I`m sooo glad that I don`t have to wait 8 hours (which I can`t) just to kill a rare spawn that *may* have the item I`m looking for. Also, doing missions is just a great way to find something to kill. A lot of times in EQ I wander around looking for things that I can solo, since I have such a hard time finding a group. The mobs that I can kill with relative safety, never give good exp. The more riskier mobs do give decent exp, but a lot of times I end up dying, or having to sit and recover for long periods of time.

Some other good things about AO are no long corpse recoveries, the fact that you can "save" before exploring or doing anything risky, and I also have a lot of fun buying stuff for my apartment. I know the apartment may be useless, but it`s a little fun extra to have. I just wish they`d sell more couches and stuuf, and less vases.

Lastly, if you think raids in EQ are fun, imagine how they`d be in AO. Now, I`m really not sure whether there will be uber mobs that will require groups of 20+ people, but assuming there are, I`d probably take a lot more screenshots of AO raids than EQ. The kind of picture I`m talking about is the one in the opening movie, with lasers flying everywhere. Plus, I read later on that there will be vehicles that have the ability to fight. Cooooolllll. That`s what the air, ground, and water vehicle skills are for.

I really can`t wait till AO becomes more playable. Just like others, I am experiencing horrendous lag in the cities, often to the point where I can`t even log on to a character that I`ve logged off in the city. But think about it, I`m sure that funcom is somewhat aware of all of our rants about gameplay issues, and they`re *hopefully* doing something about it. If they were all just sitting on their ***** doing nothing, they`d end up going out of business. Anyone with some degree of common sense knows that. The lag issues have improved, and I hope they`ll continue to or else a potentially good game idea will be lost....
My take on AO
# Jul 24 2001 at 12:40 AM Rating: Decent

Aye there is a lot of lag on AO but is working out ok , i use a 660 compag and cable modem ive even heard a 1.4 gig still had same lag. Anyhow who said AO would not be a group game I got to disagree, I like AO much more then eq. You can actually partake in battles that show tracers hear the right sounds see the lighting as it arcs across the sky. Depending on your video card you can see a whole lot of details Eq forgot to put in like animations different spell effects we all knnow lighting in Eq is not really a orange ball of flame. Exp is here to be had if you group with btw 6level difference still gets good exps unlike Eq can play all month to get 1/2 bub die you loose it. Ive gained 5 levels here in one day soloing it gets much harder as you go up in levels I play a Nano Tech Eq equivalnt of wizard. Each class starts with a healing pack and nano tech gear. To me these thing are trivial i like to feel part of something I use to think Eq was a great game but you can only kill a Orc so many times reguardless of their names is still an orc. I like that clothes show up on Icons in Ao
You even get to choose your height if you want to be thin, heavy tall short and lots of faces to choose from. So my take is this Ao is still beta i agree to that point the lag if you drop to lowest settings on visual control you wont suffer as much lag. Hopefully it will get better even in bad shape Ao has more potential then Eq does in all its glory. And yes there is Chat and Auctions and Shouts just like in Eq and ya know maybe im all wrong but the people seem lot more nicer to me here then they do in Eq. So take you choice Eq with a 2 year working program still needs patches or Ao slow and slighty bugged I chose Ao

Blacmoon Shadowborne 39th wiz Eq
Blachawk Soldier Shadow Company Athens
good review, but...
# Jul 24 2001 at 12:30 AM Rating: Default
I liked the review, but a real comparison of the two games probably can't fairly be done until a significant number of people have experienced AO's high-level game. Until then, comparisons should probably only be done comparing the low and mid level content in both games, and the experience players have during that level range.
get a clue
# Jul 24 2001 at 12:00 AM Rating: Default
ok people lag is horrendous in cities, but I have no clue what you mean by it is impossible to group or that this is a solo game. Let me tell you, you obviously know nothing about the hunting areas. There are so many people at the best ones to date it is incredible. Also roleplaying is going to be the main key to AO if you don't want to RP go back tro EQ god knows not many RP's there. I have owned AO since day 1 and I can say this. AO at first was not very playable for most, I was luck enough to be able play until the 3rd day and had major trouble on the weekends at there peek points. That being said today 4 weeks later lag issues in missions and outside of the cities have been solved unless you head into the cities. city lag and the em leak will eat your comp up. As far as there not being any significant differences in each class, well let me just say this at low levels in EQ does a enchnater mez, yes he can but can he not also do the dmg a wiz can. I have an enchanter and low levels such cause not a damn person knows how to assist and such so I wish I was able to defend myself as good as the next person. no one in EQ unless they are secondary char no what is going on really for the first 20 levels and in AO this is even more so because this is new there are no level 200 people starting over because they want to try another class they saw in a group. Eq is old AO is new this review is bogus because you can not compare the two. In my honest opinion AO is a much better game at earlier levels. Jury still out at the higher levels and for this reason you need to shut the **** up about comparing AO to EQ!
AO is not just a solo game
# Jul 23 2001 at 11:58 PM Rating: Default
I have played AO since Beta II. And I have a 60 monk and wizard on EQ. So I have a very good knowledge of both games. I perfer AO personally due to the fact that grouping in EQ past lvl 50 just wasn't fun at all. With a wizard being the worst class to find a group and monk not that much better, AO was a welcome change that no matter what class I played, I would get in a full group with almost no time spent shouting. With a doctor for heals and a enforcer for hits, using missions for exp or open plains so there is no competeing for spawn points, I would progress extremely fast. I haven't soloed in AO since lvl 5, and I'm 44 right now. Trust me on this one, AO is easily both a solo and grouping game. I doubt Allakhazam ever got far enough to find that out.
#Anonymous, Posted: Jul 23 2001 at 10:59 PM, Rating: Sub-Default, (Expand Post) It would be dope if Sony creates a server that allows EQ characters ans AO characters to battle eachother. I'd like to kick they're thecno A$$'s. Then they'd wish they had at least some type of cleric that could actually heal differently then everyone else. I'd root them so fast it wouldn't be funny. then I'd send my elemental after him. See how he fares with that.Haha. *Just me 2cp*
AO shouldn't really be compared to EQ after reading this rev
# Jul 23 2001 at 10:26 PM Rating: Decent
After reading this review I would actually think of this game to be more compared to AC(Asheron's Call), because of the unique looks, everyone getting pretty much same items, except all but quest armor in AC was different. Just AC was so easy after lvl 50 solo, so I gave it up and moved to EQ. AO and AC have close to same soloing grouping aspects. Soloing was easier, but at points you have to group in AC. Haven't played AO yet so wouldn't know about the PvP on it, but PvP in EQ didn't really exist unlike PvP in AC which was very common sight in the higher lvl towns. Yes, EQ and AO are two totally different games, and I think AO and AC are much more comparable. Sorry for rambling but I had to state my opinion.
LOL
# Jul 23 2001 at 10:00 PM Rating: Default
AO SUCKS! and I mean SUCKS! shame I have EQ friends leave me for it, they will be back...lol
AO review
# Jul 23 2001 at 9:58 PM Rating: Default
Other than it's unique flavor and PvP aspect, I think the place AO really shines is its custom generated dungeons for your own missions. Once you choose your mission and reward you do *not* have to go to the dungeon to find the spot is already camped. You do *not* have to sit for 3 days and kill placeholder after placeholder after stupid placeholder. You do *not* have to go through all that, have your mob pop, then find he *doesn't* have the item you came for.

When you go in, your mob or item *will* be there.

You do *not* have to worry about idiots zipping in and killstealing it from you just for spite.

I'm not sure what the upper level game is going to be like...when the AO equivalent of Rubicite is found. Hopefully, it'll be similar to what they have in place now: You get the mission, it may be very tough, but the dungeon is created *just for you* so you can go in, do the work, get the reward and not have to worry about all the Verant-type crap.
Post Comment

Free account required to post

You must log in or create an account to post messages.