Old vs New – Anarchy Online vs Aion
I am a mmorpg gamer all the way since 1999.I started with Asheron’s Call, then moved to DAOC, Lineage 2, AO, EVE, WOW and many others. While playing so many mmorpgs, i cannot stop to compare Asheron’s Call, Anarchy Online, EVE Online with the rest. Since these games offer a complete character control, good pvp, and innovative features.
Recently i been in Aion with the massive number of players and i only managed to play it for 2 weeks until lvl 25, then quit. During my time in Aion i was about to quit that game for about three times, and last time i actually did and i don’t regret it. Why you ask? Well Korean developers were never good in developing good mmorpgs and probablythey will never will.
Let’s start with the good things:
– i loved in Aion the crafting system, grindy but good, you could actually craft valuable items, and with the crit system even more good items for you or to sell.
– superb music
– super graphics and locations. There were some locations that made just say WOW!
– combo / chain system and the animations, good stuff; being able to stop a mob casting with a skill or a critical hit, good stuff
– the limited flying system, pretty good.
– some of the campaign quest with the cut-scenes
Bad stuff
– horrible quest design, where some quests simple were made to piss you off, go here X, and y, and then Z
– the lore and the way the game tried to present you the story, it was very artificial and they didn’t managed at least on my side to actually made feel something, that i am actually doing something that matters, that i am part of something big.
– Abyss is just a instanced battleground. I thought that will take the Lineage 2 castle system in, but they actually broke it, and made some more WAR battleground type, which i don’t like it overall.
– PVP is ok, but nothing new in it, besides that you can fight in AIR which is decent, but nothing special for me. After playing EVE Online, Asheron’s Call, this PVP in Aion is far from good.
– lack of diversity. Basically all of you game you grind your way to lvl 50, and then you will “PVPEW” in groups in Abyss or Rifts, where the rewards come in a form of WoWish honor system, the more you kill you get points to buy Abyss PVP equipment. It’s ok, but only fighting for equipment, i don’t see a point in that. I played Lineage 2, WOW and other games, to do this again and to call it good. So basically as a new player you do a lot of quests, some group campaign quests, lvl your crafting if you want, some pvp in Abyss, some instances, that’s it. I did this in the last 10 years, and it was much better in other games, on every level. It been done before.
– disguised WOW with another theme, system
– nothing real interesting to do until high lvl besides maybe to participate in sieges from lvl 25, and doing some rifts in groups.
– the developers are not communicating with the players, and they have serious bot problems, tho lately they actually did something. On EU official forums you will see no community manager, since he stays on twitter. I think it the last NC Soft game for me.
So after i cancel my subscription, i said ok, what now. I started to research again looking for a new mmorpg, tried about everything, and returned unexpectedly to Anarchy Online. It been a week in the game and it made admit that mmorpg have been going down in quality since 2004. THANK YOU WOW!
Lets start with what i like in Anarchy Online
– old school character development system. You basically control each ability and skill you have and raise it every time you level.
– superb character customization through nanos, implants, and the attributes distribution
– great sci-fi atmosphere, and conflict between 2 sides
– there is so much to do in this game, that will probably take me a year to explore it again. From lvling for items and xp in different locations, instances; doing missions from Mission Terminals; crafting good stuff ; participating in Alien Raids which are incredible even now; Notum Wars PVP; Station Battles PVP; LE Notum Wars with Mechs; twinking your character; fighting Dyna bosses; it like a huge universe there and the atmosphere it incredible, and you have a lot of things to explore.
– great community, the ARK GMs, which are like players GM that help you, talk with ya from time to time. A few days ago one spawned near me and asked if i need for help. i was like omg ( after NC Soft experience, where they don’t give a frack about their customers), a GM asked if I need help.
– several vehicles to choose from, some that are able to fly and even battle mechs.
I don’t like:
– Control system could use some love, but with some options on you can play normally
– new graphics i would like (it is in development by Funcom)
– better tutorial, and documentation. While i can handle the game through several guides from some sites, new WOWish players, will stand no chance, since this is game is complex, it gives you complete control over you character, is not just a template with 30 skills until lvl XX, and that’s it.
– it requires a good guild if you are new player, otherwise you have no chance, there is so much to do and learn, but hard to learn, explore without help.
In conclusion AO which is made in 2001(8 YEARS and one engine update), wins over almost any current mmorpg game at this moment(they are exceptions), since every MMORPG released in the last 4 years, it just mainstream pile of shit, made only to be played by as many players possible, and simple as possible with a huge grind. They have, some of them, very interesting features, but overall more of them they fail for me.
If i would compare Anarchy Online with the most of today’s mmorpgs, i would say Anarchy Online is “Pulp Fiction” or “District 9” and the today games are “G.I. Joe Rise ofThe Cobra” or “Transformers”. All flash no substance, and yes, Hollywood fails.
/end whine
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** Edited **
Was thinking to explain how terrible game AO became (was playing since 2004). But nevermind, just go on playing and see. GL
I love how many people tout PvP but never understood why UO lost its perch to EQ. Most people don’t *want* pvp, especially in uncontrolled manners. For a game to do good PvP, it must be carefully controlled. (The type of player attracted to pvp in MMO is the largest reason for this.)
Play Planetside or Qualke III if you want PvP, MMORPGs focus correctly more on PvE environments. That being said, do not forget that many games since EQ are simply clones of EQ. (Eve Online, as you mention, is not.) I hate to say it, but Anarchy Online uses very similar mechanics to all other mmorpgs.
PVP in uncontrolled manners is what makes pvp fun and rewarding, if i want a brainwash pvp i go play counter strike, call of duty or other limited multiplayer game, without playing a subscription. Play EVE or read about it, if u didnt already. Mass pvp (tho somewhat broken now, since ppl are afraid to fight) is what shapes the entire galaxy in that game, and it incredible and small gangs, solo pvp is superb but rare this days due to too many mainstreamers subscribed to the game they dont understand.
I am not looking for the next mainstream game with dumb pvp, they are too many on the market and few are worth mentioning, i want a good PVP, with balanced looses, rewards, and persistent damage, similar to EVE. Not WOW II, that doesnt mean that the other games’s PVP is bad, I just find it horrible.
Basically if i won a fight, i want to inflict physical damage to my opponent as in money, items and so on, in a balanced matter, EVE did it well with insurances, but other developers dont have the balls to make a proper PVP system because it wont sell as much as without it, so we go back to money and not gameplay…
As for the rest of features, man.. they need reinvent the quests system, raids, instances, WAR did a nice job here with public quests, failed with high-end content.
You are so right. Unfortunately.
I’ve started my mmorpg playing Anarchy Online and i remember how interesting that game was to me. It was very difficult to master, very complex, but it was a rewarding experience to learn it.
From that time, i tried many new mmorpg, hoping to find something like “AO improved” but it simply does not exist. All new games are made so simplistic that it hurts.
Anyway, i’ll enjoy AO once again now, since im returning to it again.
It’s only sad that community is almost dead there and graphics is really outdated. But with that in mind its still much better choice for me then those new mindless games.
I only hope that after this great mmorpg hype, there will rise some developers that will aim for players like me and original poster and create game that will have nice graphics, ai, but with AO depth.
Good graphics, great PvP, but horrible storyline and not much content…yet. Game has been out for a little over a year, but they are working on releasing housing, mounts, swimming, etc. They have increased the amount of experience you get from quests, so you don’t have to grind as much, but even before the grinding was nowhere near as bad as Lineage II. They’ve also increased drop rate on items from bosses. Either way it’s still not a game where you can max out the level of every class in a month and give you the illusion that you’re awesome at MMO’s nor does it try to hide the fact that you fall under the lazy category with much of the Western Market (aka WOW).
But, Shawn is right. I’m not sure on other markets, but in the Western Market the vast majority of people don’t want open PvP…they want structured PvP. UO for example…Felucca was open PvP outside of town. However, as soon as they created a mirror version of Felucca (called Trammel) where there was no open PvP 97% of the population migrated to Trammel and rarely returned to Felucca destroying open PvP. Sadly, most people just can’t handle a suprise attack 1v1….or a a straight up 2v1 or more. In both UO and Aion I would jump 6-man groups alone and they would just hesitate on whether they should attack or run. All they’d have to do was turn and focus on me and they could easily kill or fend me off. But, instead they panic and by the time they reach any conclusion I’d have 1/2 their party killed.
Right now I’m stuck in a rut. I don’t know what to play. I like good storyline and PvP, but I’ve yet to find a MMO that has both. Aion had PvP for me until their lack of providing new content for the Western Market quickly caused a large decline in population and ruined PvP for me.