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[Hardknock]

http://www.gamespot.com/news/2004/12/15/news_6115157.html

"We feel very confident in the unique features and heralded qualities of our game and are now openly inviting everyone playing [massively multiplayer online games] to find out what Anarchy Online is all about, completely free of commitment," stated Ole Schreiner, Project Director for Anarchy Online, in a statement.

To qualify for the offer, gamers need only register an AO account with Funcom before January 15. After registration, gamers will have free access to the game until 2006. Those already registered with Funcom need only re-register to qualify for free play. Credit cards are no longer necessary to register.

I may have to check this game out. Is it any good??

 

[shuri]

sounds.. desperate

 

[wobedraggled]

I used to play AO pretty hardcore, it's worth checking out esp for free.

 

[Unison]

This should do wonders for the quality of the player community...

 

[Pimpbaa]

This makes no sense. Free till 2006? Most who signed up for the free account will be bored of it by then.

 

[Pimpbaa]

The offer is not good with any of the AO expansion packs, and upgrades to expansion packs will require a monthly subscription.

Makes sense now.

 

[MrAngryFace]

See, this is my problem with WoW and Everquest and other big ass MMORPGs, no one recognizes the bigger accomplishements.

Anarchy Online is probably the most improved MMORPG ever. The team behind it has done nothing but work to improve the game to current levels. What started out as a disaster soon turned into one of the more solid, but lesser known online productions.

Give these people some cred, they've worked harder for what they've created than Blizzard will probably ever hope to.

 

[Hardknock]

Makes sense now.

Yeah I think the idea is to get you hooked on the main game, so you'll purchase the expansions, and thus have to start paying a monthly fee. But I kinda like that they are giving me this long to try it out though.

 

[Gattsu25]

Will definately check this out, I've never gotten around to playing this game and one great way to test a MMO out is to play it FREEE for MONTHS





Semi-OT: For more FreeMMO goodness, check out http://www.MapleGlobal.com

fair bit of warning though, it's a korean game so expect "collect 90 of these and 70 of these items" type quests

Edit: I'm well aware of that, suprisingly :\

 

[GDJustin]

Maple story is shit. The EXP grind is literally the worst in any MMO EVER.

 

[Gattsu25]

The AO installer is buggy for me...it says it can't find FileList.txt from the server =\

has it worked with anyone else?

 

[Mr Nash]

Seems a lot of the lesser known MMORPGs are going for long term free play options these days. I'm wondering if a lot of companies will charge for premium goodies instead of charging monthly fees in the future. We've already seen that a lot of people have no problem shelling out a fair amount of real life cash for in-game items, as has been the case with gil selling in FFXI, item selling in EQ, and so forth. Maybe MMORPG developers are starting to see a profitable market in it, and as such will sell luxury items and such themselves. So instead the developer makes the money, and not a company like IGE. By making the game free on top of this, it may attract more players, and with it more people who are willing to spend real money to get their characters all glammed-out in-game.

 

[Hardknock]

I'm downloading through bittorrent now.

 

[Gattsu25]

fuck bitorrent up its fucking ear. I'd rather keep clicking retry until it somehow works than download the game at 0K/sec~5K/sec over a few nights

*sigh* might as well try it though ;_; This error message is getting on my nerves

 

[Fixed2BeBroken]

that game sucked balls from what i remember.

but for free..its ok.

 

[Templar Wizard]

since the game was a buggy mess when it was released and now, apparantly, it is fixed fixed fixed, can anyone point us to a good 'review' site or a good community site for more info?

 

[Hardknock]

since the game was a buggy mess when it was released and now, apparantly, it is fixed fixed fixed, can anyone point us to a good 'review' site or a good community site for more info?

Gamespot has a pretty good review of the game. And the official AO site has a forum with basically all you need to know to get started...

 

[Gattsu25]

played it for a bit...not as bad as I expected but has a TERRIBLE lack of polish and an ungainly UI

 

[Ferrio]

Anarchy Online is probably the most improved MMORPG ever. The team behind it has done nothing but work to improve the game to current levels. What started out as a disaster soon turned into one of the more solid, but lesser known online productions.

Wait wait, we should be giving awards for people who improve a game to playable levels? Shouldn't we expect games on playable levels and give awards for people who make outstanding games?

 

[wipeout364]

My only problem with it was that there was never people to play with. It plays fast like WOW and has greater customization. But I started late and never was able to get groups going. Really though if it had some lower level players and people in the cities it would rock. Anyway I canceled my account this month and went to WOW.

 

[Optimistic]

So has anyone downloaded this? I'd like to hear some impressions if possible.

 

[miyuru]

Wait wait, we should be giving awards for people who improve a game to playable levels? Shouldn't we expect games on playable levels and give awards for people who make outstanding games?

I partially agree with you Ferrio, but being an MMORPG, there are simply some bugs (and further bugs) that do not become apparent until the game has been released to the masses.

 

[oxrock]

gonna try it, sounds cool

 

[Optimistic]

Okay, so I played it for around half an hour last night, and, it kind of sucks. I'm sure it would get better, but it looks to me as if I'd have to put at least a dozen hours into it before this happens. Also, is it just me or is the combat completely broken?

 

[Hardknock]

Okay, so I played it for around half an hour last night, and, it kind of sucks. I'm sure it would get better, but it looks to me as if I'd have to put at least a dozen hours into it before this happens. Also, is it just me or is the combat completely broken?

I've only played it for a few minutes aswell. But the graphics completely suck ass, and the character creation was a joke. I haven't tried combat or anything yet. I'll probably give it another go some other time when I'm bored. : /

 

[LakeEarth]

Hope this doesn't turn out like DroidArena. Say "The next season is gonna be free!" and then 2 weeks later, after Slayn, Iapetus and I (to a lesser extent) prepared the GA corp and figured out the best ways to set up your bot in the game, and suddenly go "WHOOPS, NEVERMIND!"

 

[Spiritreaver]

I played this for a good couple of hours the otehr day, and I just can't get into it. It's not as exciting for some reason as back during the beta, and perhaps because I also just got my DS my attention is divided, but I don't have any urge to return to it at the moment. :/

 

[Templar Wizard]

does anyone have a direct download link? i cant use bittorrent and the FTP link is gone from the main site.
Fileplanet have it, but they are slooooooooooooooooooooooooooow.

any other sites?

 

[Kiriku]

I tried this games a few days ago and I can't belieeeeeeeeve how slow it was. Tons of different stats and crap I had to learn, lots of backstory being shoved down my throat. I can't take kind of massive overload of info right away. Just let me take it easy and play damn it...

 

[Templar Wizard]

ftp://ftp.funcom.com/cd/

for those of you who cant use BT