Anarchy Online
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| Anarchy Online | |
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| Developer(s) | Funcom |
| Publisher(s) | Funcom |
| Version | 17.8.2 |
| Platform(s) | Windows |
| Release date | June 27, 2001 |
| Genre(s) | Sci-Fi MMORPG |
| Mode(s) | Multiplayer |
| Rating(s) | ESRB: T (Teen) |
| Media | Download, CD |
| System requirements | Recommended |
| Input methods | Keyboard, mouse |
Anarchy Online (AO)[1] is a science fiction MMORPG released in June 2001 by Funcom set on the world of Rubi-Ka and its extra-dimensional twin, the Shadowlands. It is one of the few popular MMORPGs that makes use of a science fiction setting as opposed to the more common fantasy setting.
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[edit] Background and story
The story is set in the years following June 29475; the current game year is 29482. The story of Anarchy Online revolves primarily around two factions, the hypercorporation Omni-Tek and the rebel worker caste, the Clans. These two factions are fighting for control of Rubi-Ka. In addition to these two, there is a third faction of Neutral observers, people who have decided to take no side in that particular conflict. The war has been waged on and off for centuries. In addition, there have been larger conflicts between Omni-Tek and other corporations over the control of Rubi-Ka.
Rubi-Ka, a seemingly useless desert planet, is of such tremendous importance because it is the only known source in the universe of the fictional substance notum. Omni-Tek, having been granted exclusive ownership rights to the planet, controlled notum for many years and benefited tremendously when it was discovered that the mineral would revolutionize, and eventually become the key component of, nanotechnology. The discovery of notum's properties led to the development of technologies that seem very much like magic, including programs that create things such as fire and ice, heal injury, shield people from harm, affect their physical bodies, and even achieve resurrection. Notum even makes its way into the very genetic makeup of some sub-breeds of humans.
Due to Omni-Tek's unfettered control of Rubi-Ka, the corporation was largely free to do as it wished with its colonists and the planet. For most of the early years, Omni-Tek did its best to treat its people well, even to the point of receiving commendations for its treatment of workers. However, over the centuries, Omni-Tek's policies degraded, until finally, approximately 500 years after the planet was first settled, a significant number of poorly-treated colonists rebelled and began to secretly trade stolen notum to a rival corporation. This led to a series of wars between Omni-Tek and the colonists, and between Omni-Tek and its rival corporations.
The background of the game is described in greater detail in the book Prophet Without Honor: Anarchy Online Book 1, by the Anarchy Online creator Ragnar Tørnquist. A detailed timeline of events, from the discovery of Rubi-Ka until 29479, is available at the official Rubi-Ka Timeline page.
[edit] Character creation and professions
Players are presented with four breeds each with male or female choices, except for the neuter Atrox race. Breeds affect a character's primary abilities, which will affect the distribution of improvement points in the skill system later on. There are four breeds: Atrox, big and strong but not too smart; Nanomage, frail but intellectually developed; Solitus, effective at any task, but excellent in none; and Opifex, physically lacking, but agile and cunning.
After the selection of a breed, players choose from a multitude of faces, their height, and their body size, then select one of 14 professions:
- Adventurer — A generalist profession, the Adventurer combines a balance of weapons and nanotechnology with a deep understanding of nature, which enables him to morph himself and others into several animal forms conveying various benefits. He is adept with either pistols or one-handed edged weapons, typically wielding a pair of them at once. The Adventurer can serve as a front-line combatant and a secondary healer, with a healing ability second only to Doctors.
- Agent — The Agent is a ranged combatant who fights with a combination of stealth and disguise. He favors rifles, especially those capable of the high-damage special Aimed Shot attack that can only be used while hidden. Agents are able to temporarily assume the guise of other professions, albeit with significant penalties, and gain use of items and nanoprograms normally exclusive to the imitated class.
- Bureaucrat — Bureaucrats use nanoprograms to hinder, immobilize, and pacify enemies, either singly or in crowds. They also use nanoprograms to damage foes directly, as well as summon a robotic servant and use mind-control on up to two enemies, all of whom can be ordered to fight on the Bureaucrat's behalf. In a nod to the stereotypical image of bureaucrats, the profession features formal suits, briefcases and Bureaucrat-only coffee machines.
- Doctor — Doctors are the primary healers in the game. They use a range of nanotechnology to keep characters alive, from maximum health bonuses to continual health-replenishing effects to instantaneous healing. They slow enemies' attacks and whittle them down with damage-over-time nanoprograms.
- Enforcer — Enforcers are the primary tank profession of Anarchy, front-line combatants with the potential to excel with any melee weapon type. They protect teammates by attracting the attention of nearby enemies onto themselves. They protect themselves through nanotechnology that boosts their health and absorbs damage on their behalf.
- Engineer — The Engineer creates, augments, repairs and controls fearsome combat robots. Defensively, Engineers provide a variety of shielding effects that reduce damage to their teammates and/or injure the enemies who attacked. Engineers also have an affinity for crafting items. Engineers also have the ability to warp players to the Engineer's current position.
- Fixer — The Fixer is a master of escape and shady acquisitions. He can greatly boost characters' running speeds and can bring characters into an alternate version of one of the game's global transportation systems — one with a significantly greater number of destinations. In combat, a Fixer keeps his foes at a distance both by hindering their movement and by augmenting his own, all the while pelting them with his favorite submachine gun. Fixers also use nanotechnology to become difficult to hit, and what few injuries they do suffer are treated by continual health-replenishing effects.
- Keeper — The Keeper is the first of two professions introduced in the Shadowlands expansion, and is similar to the fantasy RPG paladin. Keepers have a range of nanoprograms that provide continual benefits to themselves and all nearby teammates (including damage increases, health and nano regeneration, and armour improvements). They prefer to fight in melee combat with two-handed edged weapons.
- Martial Artist — An offensively-leaning front-line combatant, the Martial Artist eschews weapons in favor of his bare hands, a multitude of special attacks and nanoprograms boosting the chance for critical hits. As a defense, Martial Artists evade most blows and heal the ones that land.
- Meta-Physicist — Meta-Physicists are exemplified by their trio of individually-controllable pets that they use to attack enemies, pacify enemies, and heal allies, respectively. These pets can be temporarily improved by the Meta-Physicist as well. MPs also use nanoprograms to damage foes directly, weaken and slow enemies' attacks, and greatly increase their allies' nanoprogram skills.
- Nano-Technician — The Nano-Technician uses nanoprograms to cause damage, either to single targets or to all foes nearby. They also immobilize and pacify single enemies, or blind them so their weapons are less effective. Nano-Technicians also wield the program "Nullity Sphere", which immobilizes them for a small period of time but grants total reflection of all damage except incoming reflection damage from attacking shielded enemies.
- Shade — The second profession introduced in the Shadowlands expansion, the Shade is this game's version of the fantasy RPG assassin. Shades favor offense heavily over defense. In exchange for an inability to wear most protective gear, they can cause unrivaled damage with their piercing melee weapons. Their strikes may steal health from their victims, or afflict them with further damage over time or other debilitating effects.
- Soldier — Soldiers are a ranged, front-line combatant favoring assault rifles, heavy weapons, or a pair of high-damage pistols. Much like Enforcers, Soldiers taunt nearby enemies, living through the subsequent attack with the help of nanotechnology that partially reflects some or a majority of that enemy's attacks back at it.
- Trader — A Trader's defining characteristic is trading — taking health, nanoenergy, armor, or all weapon and casting skills from his enemies to improve his own, as well as lending any of these from himself to his allies. Foes that still prove troublesome can be immobilized or pacified. A Trader's weapon of choice is his trusty shotgun. Outside battle, Traders have an affinity for crafting items and for improving other players' abilities to do so. Furthermore Traders may access special Trader shops and sell items for higher prices there.
[edit] Gameplay content
[edit] Skill system
- Base skills:
As in many RPGs, characters in Anarchy Online gain experience points, and thus levels, through defeating enemies and completing missions. However, a character's level has almost no direct impact on his capabilities. Instead, the game is skill-based. Each level awards the character with a number of Improvement Points, which may be spent at any time to raise skills of the player's choice. It is these skills that determine what a character is capable of doing. The improvement cost of each skill depends on profession; however, no skill is denied outright to anyone. Since there are 85 improvable skills, character development is flexible and complex.
- Perks:
The perk system adds skills to the base skills a player has earned. Players earn one perk point every 10 levels, and one perk point each level after they reach level 200 (40 total points). These points are used on so called "perk lines", most of which have 3 to 10 levels of improvement that stack with each other. Each perk may have a bonus to a skill(s), a powerful new ability, or both. There are over 30 perk lines in-game. Unlike base skills, perks can be reset and reused as many times as the player wishes with a 2 hour wait period in between. These are only available to those with the Shadowlands or Alien Invasion expansions.
- Research:
Anarchy Online's third skill system comes in the form of research. Research is gained by designating a percentage of your earned xp towards research lines. This percentage can be changed in real-time with no time limits. Each profession has around 7 unique research lines, each of which have up to 10 levels of improvement. Unlike perk lines, once a player has learned a new line of research it cannot be lost or reset. Research is only avaiblable to those with the Lost Eden expansion.
[edit] PvP and faction PvP
The war between the Omni-Tek corporation and the Clans continues in the form of player versus player combat. Designated areas allow characters to freely attack anyone of similar level but from a different faction. A player may also "flag" himself or enter special arenas to allow combat even against members of his or her own side. Additionally, with the release of version 17.8 a new dueling system as been added to the game. Players can challenge each other to one on one duels, as long as they are within the normal PvP level range.
Factional PvP is further supported by the introduction of tower sites and orbital battle-stations in the Notum Wars and Lost Eden expansions, in which players can fight to control different areas. The benefits of control include experience bonuses for one's entire faction, the right to construct buildings that provide skill bonuses to the player or his entire organization, and bragging rights.
[edit] Social
There are a variety of social elements in Anarchy Online, ranging from emotes to social clothing. Over 200 new social clothing items were added with Alien Invasion, on top of the hundreds of existing social clothes. A variety of emotes are also available to express emotions or dance at parties at one of the many night clubs. Several popular shoutcast radio stations like GridStream Productions are operated by players which, among other things, help organize in-game events.
In the 17.8 patch of Anarchy Online, a social equipment tab was also added in order for players to display whatever clothing and armor they wish while still getting the benefits of armor and weapons located in their regular wear tab.
[edit] Economy
The in-game currency is the credit. Unlike many MMOs, Anarchy Online has no traditional money-making class. Shops do provide basic items up to a certain quality, but almost all mid- and high-level items must be looted in one way or another. Because of this much of the game's economy comes in the form of trade and barter with other players in major cities. Those with goods and services that others want will find no lack of money. For instance an Engineer who has the skills to craft an item, or a Fixer who can acquire items quickly from missions. The Alien Invasion expansion allows organizations to create market buildings where individuals can set up personalized shops.
Additionally, not all items are bought with credits. 'Victory Points' are acquired through PvP battles, 'Paid Points' are bought with real-world money, and 'Veteran Points' are awarded to long-time players. Items acquired through 'Paid Points' and 'Veteran Points' are not beneficial toward the skill of the characters, nor do they serve as a significant advantage over players without these points. Instead, they serve as either social items or items of small conveniences.
[edit] Dynamic mission system
Players can generate private missions in dynamically-generated indoor zones. Players can customize many of the mission's details, such as how powerful its enemies will be, what tactics they prefer to use, and whether the enemies are more likely to be humanoid or creatures. The mission will also have an objective, such as defeating a named enemy within the mission area or locating a randomly-placed item, and a reward consisting of an item plus some combination of experience and credits.
[edit] Tradeskilling
There are several skills and tools that can be used to create or modify most items in the game. This is commonly known as tradeskilling. Because the tradeskills are increased the same way as other skills, a player will often need to decide between developing his character's ability to create items or to fight. Tradeskills range from simple combinations to complex and involved builds that require a large amount of items. Although any class can raise these skills, Engineers and Traders will excel the most.
[edit] Instancing
Anarchy Online has both team-instanced areas and instanced-zones. Servers automatically generate multiple instances of certain heavily-populated zones to the extent necessary to prevent overcrowding. Dynamic missions, on the other hand, are team-instanced and only available to those in your team.
[edit] Transportation
Three forms of global transportation exist in the game world: Whompahs, the Grid, and the Fixer Grid.
- Whompahs:
The whompah network connects key cities via point-to-point teleportation booths. It can take multiple trips, sometimes through hostile territory, to reach one's final destination. On the upside, all whompah booths can be used by anyone simply by entering them.
- The Grid:
The Grid is a hub. Grid travel involves exactly two trips: one into the Grid, one out. Characters enter the Grid at terminals in key locations throughout the world, travel directly to their desired exit terminal, and leave. Unlike the whompah, Grid terminals require varying amounts of Computer Literacy skill to use.
The Fixer Grid is accessed via special keys that only experienced Fixers can produce. It may be entered anywhere the normal Grid can, but has different and more plentiful exit locations.
- Vehicles:
A wide array of personal transportation options are available including flying jets, hover bikes, hover boards, and scout mechs. Other crafts exist but are rarely used due to having very specialized utility or being exceedingly difficult to acquire. There are many types of any particular vehicle that vary in cost, speed, and aesthetics. Hover boards are the only vehicle that can be used inside the Shadowlands expansion playfields.
[edit] Additional equipment
Many MMORPGs allow players to equip various armors, weapons, and jewelry to improve their performance. Anarchy Online goes two steps further. First, each beneficial nanoprogram ("buff") affecting a character takes up a certain amount of nanocontrol units, or NCUs. Players can improve their characters' memory gear to allow more powerful programs to be applied to them. Second, characters can wear an entire additional set of equipment inside their bodies in the form of implants and advanced ancient symbiants. It should be noted that members of the Shade profession, due to the process which their bodies are subjected to in order to gain their unique abilities, are too frail to use either implants or symbiants, and instead make use of solidified spirits captured from creatures in the Shadowlands.
[edit] Insurance and death
The game features insurance terminals where players can "save" their character. The terminal captures a character at a particular moment of time, and upon the character's death, the terminal recalls and resurrects the character at its location. The act of resurrection has a negative impact on the character, termed "resurrection sickness," which temporarily reduces skills.
In addition, upon dying, all experience that the character gained since the last time he either insured himself or gained a level is transferred to a separate pool, where it no longer counts toward advancement. Some experience is recovered from this pool, as a bonus, each time the character subsequently earns new experience, until all XP lost from the death is recouped.
[edit] Leets
A "Leet" is a furry, cuddly creature resembling a rat. Living up to their name, leets speak in leet speak and have a strong following of players. The names of the various kinds of leets found in the game world plays on the term, with progressively stronger leets named Eleet, Leetas, Soleet, Phear Leet and Supa Leet, in addition to special unique leets named Joo, Ownz and brb. Their cuteness has in many ways made them a mascot for the game, with calls for plush leet dolls being common, and stories such as the Leetville series being made. Additional variations of leets have appeared in the game during special events such as Halloween or Christmas. Players are able to transform into a leet through the use of an aptly-named nanoprogram called "Pronouncement of Greatness."
[edit] Expansions
[edit] The Notum Wars
Anarchy Online received its first major upgrade, labeled a "booster pack" by Funcom, in late November 2002. It has since been packaged with the core game. This expansion introduced one of the major components of the game's PvP system, the towers. In this expansion, players and their organizations (AO's name for player guilds) became capable of building towers on specific land areas across Rubi-Ka. These towers include a central controller and an array of defensive towers, which typically confer bonuses to individual players or their organizations, or which confer penalties on invading players. These towers would regularly become open to attack by players of opposing factions, who, after successfully destroying the towers of their enemy, could claim the land as their own.
[edit] The Shadowlands
Perhaps the most well received of Anarchy Online's expansions, the Shadowlands presented a tremendous new world, collectively called the Shadowlands, which is the last remnant of the world Rubi-Ka was before it was wrenched apart in the game's fiction by a dimension-breaking cataclysm in ages past. Enriched in notum, this diverse world is inhabited by vestiges of the ancient races that lived on Rubi-Ka, called the Redeemed and the Unredeemed, as well as a giant, world-reaching computer, named Ergo, who recognizes character races as descendants of the past and whose motives in propelling players through the Shadowlands are ambiguous at best.
Released in September 2003, the Shadowlands expansion was well-received critically.[2][3] In addition to the tremendous world the expansion added, it also introduced significant changes, improvements and additions to virtually every aspect of the game, including music, character development, items and interface.
[edit] Alien Invasion
Building on the storyline introduced in The Shadowlands, Alien Invasion was the next expansion to the Anarchy Online game. This expansion introduced player-built cities, player-owned shops, new social interactions and clothing, and, most significantly, a new threat to the world of Rubi-Ka in the form of an alien race that has suffered tremendous pain and death because of human interference in the Shadowlands. It was released in September, 2004.
[edit] Lost Eden
Lost Eden is the title of Anarchy Online's fourth expansion pack. The expansion was released in mid-December 2006. The expansion focuses on PvP elements and adds a variety of new features, including player-controlled robotic vehicles, additional PvP arenas and attacks, additional items that can only be acquired by spending points awarded for winning PvP conflicts, and the option of dedicating experience towards gaining new abilities rather than levels. Much of Lost Eden's content has been, and continues to be, released in subsequent content patches.
[edit] Administration
The game, like many MMOs, is administered by paid employees known as GMs [4]. Typically, this stands for Game Master; however, in Anarchy Online, they are referred to as Genetic Manipulators, a decision by Funcom to add a more creative aspect to the game and promote roleplaying.
[edit] ARKS
ARK stands for Advisors of Rubi-Ka. ARKs are volunteer players that help GMs answer problem reports in-game, provide new player orientation, and help coordinate both official and player-run events. A player wishing to become an ARK must file a formal application and meet minimum requirements. [5] There are many departments to ARK, including Operations (In game petition support), Events (Roleplay support), Community Relations, Personnel (concerning internal affairs in ARK) and Bug Hunters (Quality Assurance). Most departments in ARK are identifiable by unique uniforms (The first department to get these were the Bug Hunters)
[edit] Subscription cost
The subscription cost of Anarchy Online is approximately 14,95€ (US$14.95) a month if paying monthly, or 7,95€ (US$7.95) a month if paid a year in advance. The core game plus the notum wars expansion is freely downloadable. Other expansions must be purchased, though free trials are available via the Anarchy Online website. On January 21 2008 Funcom announced a new "tier" subscription system which would allow players to play the Shadowlands expansion alone for only a $5.00 monthly subscription fee as well as a one time purchase fee of $10.00.[6]
[edit] Free play program
Since December 15, 2004, Funcom has run a promotion allowing players to download and play the core game, plus the Notum Wars expansion since October 27, 2006, entirely free of any charges. This programme was recently scheduled to end on January 15, 2008,[7]. Though it has historically been extended past previous deadlines for several years now because of its success, that the bulk of AO's members are such "froobs"[citation needed] (or "free newbies", a word Funcom has even incorporated it into the game as a t-shirt slogan[8]). On January 4th, 2008, Funcom announced that they would extend the Froob programme throughout 2008. [9] Players using free accounts are subject to billboards featuring real-world and game related advertisements. Paying customers are able to remove these advertisements or replace them with ones for fictitious game-world products. Free players wishing to use the content available in any other expansion would need to purchase that expansion, after which monthly subscription fees would begin.
Other online games have similar offers of indefinite free play with restricted content.
[edit] Future of Anarchy Online
While the game may have been created in 2001, the game community is still very much alive with the introduction of the free-play program as well as the Lost Eden expansion. Although Funcom is busy preparing two new MMORPGs in various stages of development (Age of Conan, and The Secret World), the company has seen a lot of growth[10] in the last few years and Anarchy Online still appears to be one of their top priorities. In 2007, Anarchy has received major content updates to most of the Shadowlands areas, additions to Alien Invasion content, new Lost Eden items and encounters, and several new high-level encounters on Rubi-Ka. The game was also recently migrated to new blade servers and plans are in the works for a graphics engine overhaul in 2008[11].
[edit] References
- ^ anarchy
- ^ IGN: Anarchy Online: Shadowlands Review
- ^ Anarchy Online Shadowlands Review - PC
- ^ Advisors of Rubi-Ka
- ^ Advisors of Rubi-Ka
- ^ Funcom - Funcom introduces tiered subscription system in Anarchy Online
- ^ Funcom - Funcom extends unique free offer in Anarchy Online to 2008*
- ^ http://auno.org/ao/db.php?id=258543
- ^ Anarchy Online·:.· :. .· .Front·:.· : .· .Free Anarchy Online Continues In 2008·:.· : .·
- ^ Funcom - Investor relations
- ^ http://www.anarchy-online.com/wsp/anarchy/frontend.cgi?func=publish.show&template=content&func_id=2404&table=CONTENT
[edit] External links
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