Anarchy Offline
Anarchy-Online hit stores yesterday, and I had hoped to bring you a review of what was supposed to be the world's first and greatest MMORPG set in a science-fiction world. At the moment, the best thing I can say is that disgruntled gamers sick of blasting Daikatana will be pleased to know that there's a new outlet for their rage and frustration. But there's one key difference between Daikatana and Anarchy-Online; you can actually play Daikatana out of the box.
About six months ago, one of the developer/playtesters for Anarchy-Online logged onto a MUD I built (www.iconoclast.org) to tell us all that he was building this ultra super-cool cyberpunk futuristic MMORPG called Anarchy-Online, and that we should all go check it out.
I was admittedly excited about the prospect of a sci-fi themed MMORPG, and so I eagerly awaited its release. Today, when a friend and I picked up our copies at the store, we discussed how we planned to create characters tonight, log on and play all night and on into the morning.
Heh. Right.
The cover of Anarchy Online contains a quote from IGN.com, which was apparently written about another product. It says, "With such a rock solid product, it would be no surprise if anarchy online dominates its competition ... as the top online title for years to come." Someone was obviously smoking the crack rock when they wrote that. Or perhaps that little ellipsis mark is replacing the words "... in the field of being entirely unplayable. There is no way that it will come anywhere close to reigning..."
If and when I finally get the damn thing loaded and working, I promise I'll post a follow-up review of the actual game, with my honest opinions. But since all I have to review at this point is my inability to get the game working, and I have a deadline to meet, let's just summarize the experience thus far, shall we?
10:15 pm. Arrive home, unwrap game. Read back cover. Bad sign number 1. "The year is 29,475 AD." Which is about when you'll actually be able to play this game in the real world (more about that later). But seriously, who the hell came up with this year? I think I'm going to make a game that's set in the year Twenty Gazillion AD next. This way I can make stuff up too and pass it off as an authentic sci-fi experience. And what's with AD? I thought everyone was using CE at this point. And what meaning does CE or AD have since this game takes place ON ANOTHER PLANET?
10:20 pm. Delete several other games on the hard drive to make room, since AO wants 1 Gig to itself.
10:25 pm. Start installer. Actually attempt to read the rulebook. I'd say this thing looks like it was photocopied at Kinko's, and cut and stapled by Kindergartners, except that would be an insult to Kinko's and Kindergartners. The edges are ragged, the stapling is off center, the pages have no right-hand margins to speak of and in some places the text is even chopped off at the page edge. And gee guys, thanks for the 12 blank pages for "Notes" at the end of the book. As if I can't grab a sheet of paper from the printer. Oi. Did this take all of a day to put together in someone's kitchen?
10:30 pm. Installer finishes loading. Yay. We're going to play.
10:35 pm. Have to register to play first on funcom.com. WTF is this all about? No branding there to indicate this is for Anarchy-Online. No user Interface to speak of. Just naked HTML forms to enter information into. I've seen better web page design on Geocities homepages.
10:37 pm. We get to the "Enter your username and password" page. I point out in passing that the page is apparently not using a Secure connection. In its unencrypted form, our chosen username and password is being sent, unsecure, across the Internet. The URL, which begins noticeably with HTTP instead of HTTPS is a pretty solid clue that this is the case, as is the little unlocked icon.
10:38 pm. We get to the credit card information page. Still no sign of Security anywhere. Our personal credit card information is going to be sent, unencrypted, across the Internet. To a foreign country. The rulebook cheerfully informs us that all transactions are secure, but our browser insists that the transaction is not secure. Um.
10:45 pm. After pondering the risks, we opt to risk the $50 we'd be liable for if some 12 year old script kiddie decides to go shopping for Limp Bizkit CDs, and enter the card number. If anyone's bothering to listen at the other end, and this is indeed as insecure as it appears, someone has a nice list of credit card numbers by now.
10:50 pm. We finally get to the Personal Profile Control Panel page, which consists of a single line of black text on white background that says something along the lines of "Oops, this is where the control panel would be if it was working." Oi. We skip it.
10:51 pm. The game informs us that it is UNPLAYABLE out of the box and must download the 1.1.3 patch. We go eat dinner.
11:15 pm. It becomes clear that the game is not just patching, but is totally rewriting itself. This is like patching a hole in a tire by replacing the tire. Did nobody playtest this game first?
11:30 pm. The 1.1.3 patch downloads, and... yay. As it turns out, the 1.1.3 patch wasn't playable either. It was just the patch that allows you to download the other patch that really works. Really. Honest.
11:45 pm. The 1.1.5 patch is still downloading. It becomes clear that everyone else in the world is attempting to download the same mandatory patch for the same game at the same time. Thus, apparently, giving the European hackers plenty of time to buy CDs from Amazon.com with those stolen credit card numbers.
12:00 am. The patch download stalls and locks the computer. We have to reboot in the middle of the patch. Bad things.
12:15 am. The patch resumes download at about 2 Bytes per second. I give up and come home to go to bed, and write this review.
Obviously, I'm not accusing the Funcom people of stealing credit card information (I'm joking... I think), but the fact that it's not using a secure connection is entirely unacceptable in this day and age. As is releasing a product to the market that is, out of the box, unplayable in its entirety. As is forcing users to patch a patch.
If anyone has actually purchased this game, and played it, please feel free to post a review here. I wish I could. I also invite the Funcom people, or anyone who was involved in the development of Anarchy Online, to defend their decisions to:
- Release a product that does not work out of the box.
- Force users to enter username, password and credit card information on a non-secure, non-encrypted page. Or if it IS using a secure connection, explain to me why it is my browser doesn't recognize it as secure.
- Provide no explanation on their website for why the game doesn't work, and why users must patch their game twice before they can even play.
- Include a rules manual and guide that is in such pitiful, shoddy condition.
I'm sure the 'Anarchist cyberpunks' who developed and tested this game are the sort of people who believe in freedom of expression and individual opinions and such, so they certainly won't mind that I expressed mine here. I invite them to express theirs.
Bring it on.
(Addendum) As of 1:00 am, my friend informs me that he has the game running. His initial impression: "It's freaky." Freaky doesn't make me want to spend the next 3 hours trying to load a game. I think I'll play Diablo instead. The Diablo II Expansion Set, which I also purchased yesterday, works out of the box. Imagine that.
- Login to post comments
And check out http://community.anarchy-online.com/upgradePlease/
Fark you. I love giving $50 plus $12 a month to a company that can't even be bothered to create a web page that works with my browser. Upgrade *this*.
Their servers are going down more than a 5 dollar hooker on Friday night. I guess they have to take the entire game down when Vebjorn has to reboot his Commodore 64 to tweak the Modem settings. Here's a hint guys... ATDT*70 will turn off call waiting. This way when Didrik's little sister Helga gets a call from her boyfriend Sven, the entire game won't crash.
Fair comments...I suppose....
Gameplay excellent. Better than excellent subperb.
Laggy and prone to occasional crashs.
So far my communication with there CS team has been excellent. That gives me faith that the game will be sweet in a day or so. Shame that the launch wasn't perfect but I've seen worse.
CheersFenian(Yes I am a bit of a Fanboy)
Look at aoforums.funcom.com
Thats where the PLAYERS are helping each other fix things. I posted more than a few well directed flames and also good info tohelp people get past the patching and install screwups.
However, after finally getting on line, the game is pretty good - gfx nice, and the UI is excellent once you get over the initial learnign curve. I got disconnected a few times, but I think thats probably because Funcom is sucking all the bandwidth Norway has.
Tonight the servers and client were both a LOT more stable than during beta 4.
Give it a day or two and it will be pretty playable. Yell in the meantime if you want to let them know they should ahve waited 3 more week on the real release.
Some points in the review that were not needed.
Patches - There are 2 patches because they patch different aspects of the game and only overwrite some of the old patch
Dateline - Well they could have said the year is 0.001 ORK (on rubi-ka, i made that up BTW) but what in that gives us an idea when the game is set in line with us? nothing.
Last and most important thing - A REGISTRATION PAGE TO HANDLE 50,000+ ppl IS GOING TO BE HAMMERED, the last thing you want on it is heavy graphics.
The credit card thing does suck tho
Hey guys. This game rules. I'm sorry, but this reviewer is an idiot.. I played for over 8 hours today, and I am level 9. I didn't do it offline you know :) EverQuest was unplayable for over a week, so was UO and WW2 Online. AC had major problems too. AO has had the BEST release of them all so far.
This game is VERY VERY good.. if you played EQ and liked it, buy this. Its awesome.
At least you got you cd-key to work. The are some of us that are getting that our cd-key is already is use. :-( REALY NOT GOOD. I even took the first copy I bought back and got another one and guess what I got the SAME error. It’s been 12 hrs from the time I sent FunCom and e-mail about this problem and I have not gotten a response.
Yep, I heard about those problems. Sucks, I know.. I'd be pretty mad if that happened to me.
Funcom didn't manufacture the cds themselves remember, they probably handled the cd-key database and all but there could have been problems with the middle men..
ROFL, any Tw@ who expects a MMORPG to run out of the box shouldn't even be able to post on the INTARNET. This review is so backward it's not true - I suggest he deletes it before it gets around he is a complete ass...oh wait, too late !. AO HAS HAD THE SMOOTHEST LAUNCH OUT OF UO, EQ and AC.
Exactly the same type of half-witted posts were made about all the above games on their launch, but they seem to have the last laugh, especially EQ which seems to have a license to print money.
And as if he hasn't dug himself a big enough hole filled with nonsense, he gives himself an extra kick in the face by trying to compare D2 to AO. let me see, a non-presistant world based game vs a persistant one...you sir, are a fool.
AO is the most advanced MMORPG we currently have the pleasure of playing. In a few weeks when all the connection problems are sorted out (yes, just like UO, EQ etc etc), AO will be an excellent gaming experience and one I am very glad you will not be a part of.
Myself and MANY others are still waiting for any kind of reply from FC about getting us online, we have patched up but can not proceed since the registration process didn't seem to take our passwords... Sure would like to at least hear from them that they are working on the problem and if it will take another hour (almost 24 now) or another day...
In short, their tech support appears to be non existent.
Bub,
Let me get this straight. You paid $50 for a game that doesn't work out of the box, and you' defending that as being normal and acceptable? So, if UO, EQ and AC didn't work out of the box either, ah, AO blending right in with that trend is actually a good thing?
I was in EQ Beta and iam still a member of the Verant Beta team, yes EQ had some start up problems but the game was playable from box and there was a secure sign up. Ok since beta testing AO i must admit the gameplay / graphics etc ate superb they do listen to all bug reports. My dig with Funcom is in 2 parts.
1. why oh why did you not forsee the problems with Secure servers for registration. sheesh get with the system guys non-secure = failure and tendancy for people not to trust you.
2. need for more servers what happened to the euro server in finland that was apprently live on the 27th also. now that would of helped the lag etc if 50% of people went over to that server but since beta 3 and below you have removed the option to change dimmensions.
Anyways thats my moan over its all teething problems i know but hey get with it guys i know youve put alot of hard work into this so a little more will pay off for you in the long run.
Dav
a) You're not as funny as Lum.
b) Get your facts right.
EndUser,
You are missing the point. I am not defending it as being acceptable, I am saying that this is what you should EXPECT from this type of game. If you CANNOT deal with this, then don't buy this type of game. EQ was not playable from the box, you had to endure a massive patch and oh yes, it was so great when you got on, that they gave everyone a free months worth of play on top of the 1 month free that came with it.
What I am saying is I am in AO for the long term, I can see the potential in this game and I am prepared to accept a few weeks of instability whilst they get the game sorted out. I can absolutely totally and utterly guarantee you that there will never be a MMORPG released that will play perfectly from day 1, straight from the box with no patching required - it won't happen.
If you can't handle this concept, go back to server based, non-persistant world games or single player ones.
So you didn't actually play the game?
Hmmm, review a game that you didn't play?
That makes sense.
I do agree that a non-secure transaction is totally unexcusable.
BTW - I can't get Iconoclast to work. I only put as much effort into it as you did AO...
One thing that bothers me is that most people knew there were going to be huge problems (there always is with these types of games) but yet they insist on being the first online, why? just so they can complain when it don't happen. I don't think FC put a gun to anyone's head to buy it the first day.
I dunno about you but when i buy a game i try to read as many forums as possible to see how things are going. If anyone had read the forums they would have seen the beta 4 DL was a nightmare and would have expected it to be almost as bad release day. The disconnects also were reported on the forums may times so you should expect that as well. The lag was bad at peak times was also posted many times.
All in all if want to play a game when it first hits the shelf, read the forums so you will know what to expect. Most people knew what to expect so they buy it just so they have more rights to complain.
Give it some time, there are huge improvements from beta4 and will get much better with time.
They need to fix the disconnect problem - i get booted every 2-5 minutes and then have to reboot if i want to be able to play again
So you're expecting to play an online game that never needs patching? How the heck do people like you get to write gaming columns? I do agree that their patch servers are being hammered heavily though, that's why I'm putting off buying it until later.
"I thought everyone was using CE at this point. And what meaning does CE or AD have since this game takes place ON ANOTHER PLANET?" THEY ALL CAME FROM EARTH DUMBSHIT
I can't even play the game. Someone has registered my cdkey or its giving me that error. It appears that I'm not alone. Their tech support sucks too.
I expect patching, I just would like to be able to download the patchs.
What bothers me the most is the lack of community responses from Funcom. The most recent response from them is that the problems are "Minor" and everything is going great.
Everything is not going great. The problems may be minor to Funcom but they are not minor to me.
Holy Christ, this guy is suffering from galloping cretinism.
10.15pm: Did he really ponder 5 mins on why the year is 29,475?
10.25pm: Spends a full 5 mins attention to try to read the manual. Obviously not a successful attempt. Wonder what page he got to, it looks like he skipped from page 3 to study the empty notes pages...
10.35pm: OK, first things first. The company's name is Funcom, NOT fun.com... Second, is he surprised to have register himself as a user? It certainly sounds like it. Just hope he didn't register himself for something at www.fun.com... Maybe they have some Flash-powered bonanza there to suit his likings...
10.38pm: The lack of a secure protocol is indeed a very bad performace by Funcom.
But this reviewer is obviously a blueprint of the stereotype arrogant nihilistic American, as not to trust anything not American. More on this later. FYI, the server is located in the US, and what does it matter anyway if you give away your credit card number on the Internet? Sorry ppl, but this way of throwing suspicion upon anything not from your own country simply makes me sick.
11.15pm: What does the reviewer think patching is? Of course it overwrites old stuff and adds new files. Duh... And BTW, it's 11.3, not 1.1.3.
11.45pm: Going on with the rant on the patching. The reviewer again casts suspicion on ppl from other countries, implying that Europeans are thiefs and hackers. Excuse me, where do you think you'll find the majority of hackers if not in the US? This chum obviously has a very relaxed relation with reality...
12.15am: This guy gives up and starts to write a review of a game he obviously hasn't tried yet, or even seem to have the slightest clue about what it's about. On the other hand, he never actually reviews it...
Addendum(1am): Yes, *please* play Diablo instead, and please do not try to finish your patching AO. May Rubi-ka stay free from this kind of un-informed, arrogant types.
Note: No pun intended on US citizens, I hope you understand that. Just that this kind of persons (the reviewer) who choose to publish something they wrote and have no clue about, and who blatantly cast supicion on ppl because they are from other countries, they make me sick wherever they come from.
Cheers,/Scip.
First off, let me say that non-secure transaction is completely unacceptable. However, it is still be extremely difficult for someone to intercept your credit card number, and if they did, you would not be responsible for the charges anyway. Some people felt is was worth the risk (like me), and registered. You take a greater risk when you hand your CC to a waiter at a restaurant. However, many people registered without knowing that the connection was non-secure. There should have been a warning on the registration page from the beginning.
Also, although I haven't experienced the CDKey error, you can certainly blame Funcom for that.
However, slow downloads, lag, disconnections, and poor customer service are to be expected when 50k people try to install a game at the same time. It's unavoidable. Give it a little time, and all these problems should disappear. If they don't, then you can blame Funcom.
I would say that this release was much better than EverQuest or Ultime Online, and on par with Asheron's Call. Considering AC had a fraction of number of people on opening day as Anarchy Online had, I'd say they did pretty good.
Hey, dumbass review writing guy, it's Funcom.com you ferkin moron.
I don't care if people insult me or say I'm wrong... I invited flames, and I'm glad I got them. But two things bug me about the nasty, ignorant comments directed towards me above.
1) The assumption that I am "giving up" on the game due to the patching process and credit card bugs. I BOUGHT the game, I have researched the game for many months, and I plan to install and PLAY the game... when they fix these issues. I am not talking about Everquest or Ultima Online in this article, so comparisons to those games are moot. That's like saying "I killed my other two children, so murdering my third child must be OK.". Simply because games have been poorly launched in the past does not excuse this sloppy, shoddy job from Funcom. The comparison to Diablo II is valid because unlike Anarchy Online, Diablo II patched itself cleanly in under 15 seconds and ran out of the box othewise. I was comparing two games I bought on the same day, not apples and oranges.
2) The argument that I am a minority in my criticism of Funcom and Anarchy Online. I am hardly alone. Hundreds, if not thousands, of people have complained about the same things I have. Why? Not because they're "minor issues", but because they're major issues. I buy a game and then can't play it because the CD-Key is missing or invalid? That's a minor problem? Um, excuse me. No. That's like buying a car without an engine. And this whole "let's just ignore the credit card security issue" thing is ignorant and inexcusable.
Let's try this: anyone who thinks that giving out your credit card number on the Internet in a non-secure, non-encrypted format, please post your credit card number here in this forum. Because it'll be fine. Nothing bad will happen. Nobody will ever actually use it.
Right. I thought so.
Get your heads out of your asses and simply accept the fact that out of the box, Anarchy-Online has some crippling issues that need to be resolved. Accept the fact that regardless of whether or not YOU personally managed to get online and play the game, thousands of others could not. Accept the fact that the world does not revolve around you and your ego. Accept the fact that the company line is not always the truth. Accept the fact that Funcom screwed up, bigtime. And accept the fact that I'm not going to mince words because someone says it's no big deal.
There are over 30 posts here in just a few hours. Obviously others care enough to share their opinions too. I rest my case.
For those wondering about the "hey dumbass, it's funcom.com" comments, I fixed the single instance where I posted "fun.com" in the original rant because yes, I typoed. Gasp! Amazing how people latch onto a single little "." in an article like this one as something worth criticizing. People never cease to amaze me.
"Gasp! Amazing how people latch onto a single little "." in an article like this one as something worth criticizing. People never cease to amaze me."
Yes, because if you can't even get a simple fact like the name of the company you are berating right, why the fuck should anything you say be taken seriously?
I never said you should take anything I said seriously, phatbOy. Lighten up.
Nice creative capitalization there, I might add. R u a L337 d00d?
Aeon, you used Fun.com again in your second to last post. Get it right man, just pickin at ya. Yea, AO is all messed up right now; just give it time guys. I believe it will be one of the better MMORPG's after they get the kinks worked out. Pretty much everyone in beta told them not to release yet, but I guess they had to since it was pub when they were releasing.
The problems that are unacceptable in my eyes right now are as follows:
1. Ppl with corrupt CD keys should be made top priority. We had this same prob during beta, and they still have not gotten it fixed. If the percentage is still the same, then I would say about 5% of ppl can't login because of corrupt keys.
2. Since you can't phone Funcom, atleast post an ETA of when you will have the more severe problems fixed. I'm figuring you don't know or you would have answered. Are you scared this will make you look incompetent???? I guess in your eyes it is better to say nothing than to lie. I like that thinking, but it is putting a large strain on the community.
3. Secure online processing. Yes, it adds another loophole for hackers to get your CC, even though they would end up better just hacking the db that holds the CC #'s. I guess the reason they didn't do a secure server, is because they didn't have time. I believe they have been busting their asses trying to get the kinks worked outta the game, even though I could be wrong.
4. Lag issues are awful. For anyone who played in beta, 11.2 or 11.3 was better. In the beta the trend seemed to have been sort of a seasaw effect, what I mean is one patch something would get fixed and then lag would get worse; then next patch lag wouldn't be as bad.
As stands the only tech support is the ppl that played Beta. If you goto the forums at AO you will notice that it is ppl from the outside answereing all the questions about vid card conflicts and the such. Funcom has not set up any kind of help on their site to reflect what ppl have done to get some ppl's games working. Funcom you better be greatful to these ppl, they are trying to help your game survive by offering help/advice to the population at large. If these ppl start responding as much as you guys do, then you are gonna be up the creek. One reason I spend time on those boards is to help also, I want the game to do well; I want this to be a great game, but we need your help guys(Funcom).
This one deserves a more direct response.
> 10.15pm: Did he really ponder 5 mins on why the> year is 29,475?
No, he didn't really. He was attempting to be funny. Nevertheless, the number does seem manufactured and silly. Is there really any reason to set a game 27 thousand years in the future other than it being an entirely arbitrary number that someone thought sounded really cool?
> 10.25pm: Spends a full 5 mins attention to try to> read the manual. Obviously not a successful> attempt. Wonder what page he got to, it looks like> he skipped from page 3 to study the empty notes> pages...
Several people have mentioned this, and are totally failing to read what I wrote. I was not criticizing the content, I was criticizing the layout and the presentation. The paper is ragged, the margins are all crazy, and on numerous pages the text is chopped off on the left hand side. All unacceptable.
> 10.35pm: OK, first things first. The company's> name is Funcom, NOT fun.com... Second, is he
This was a typo. I fixed it. I won't mention it again because it's a non issue.
> surprised to have register himself as a user? It> certainly sounds like it. Just hope he didn't> register himself for something at www.fun.com...> Maybe they have some Flash-powered bonanza there> to suit his likings...
No, not surprised to have to register as a user. Surprised that since the game is Anarchy-Online, there wasn't a customized interface for Anarchy-Online. To compare to Blizzard's Battle.net, when you register for Diablo II you don't get shoved to a plain html page with "Battle.net" on the top, you get a slick UI that's customized for Diablo II and is obviously registration for the game you purchased. If Funcom wants to be perceived as a third- world game company that can't afford UI designers, more power to them.
> 10.38pm: The lack of a secure protocol is indeed a> very bad performace by Funcom. But this reviewer> is obviously a blueprint of the stereotype> arrogant nihilistic American, as not to trust> anything not American.
I made numerous indications that I was joking. Exaggeration in a rant like this is not necessarily to be taken at face value.
> More on this later. FYI,> the server is located in the US, and what does it> matter anyway if you give away your credit card> number on the Internet? Sorry ppl, but this way of
Post your credit card number here and we'll see exactly what matters when your credit rating gets ruined because of credit fraud. People are all up in arms when hackers steal card numbers from secure websites, and yet we're supposed to excuse it because it's a game? Right.
> throwing suspicion upon anything not from your own> country simply makes me sick.
Try Pepto-Bismol.
> 11.15pm: What does the reviewer think patching is?> Of course it overwrites old stuff and adds new> files. Duh... And BTW, it's 11.3, not 1.1.3.
11.3, 1.1.3, whatever. As far as I'm concerned the first version they put on the shelves is V 1.*. If it really took them 11 tries to get it right, and they still fnorked it up, this does not say much for their testing process. Nevertheless I'll assume 11.3 is correct. I stand corrected.
And I know what patching is. The point was, they didn't just download a little patch, they overwrote basically the entire contents of the CD. They shipped thousands and thousands of programs on CD-ROM Media that didn't work. This is sad.
> 11.45pm: Going on with the rant on the patching.
Because it took a long time.
> The reviewer again casts suspicion on ppl from> other countries, implying that Europeans are> thiefs and hackers. Excuse me, where do you think> you'll find the majority of hackers if not in the> US? This chum obviously has a very relaxed> relation with reality...
Actually, there's a sizeable hacker risk from China, Russia, the Ukraine and some other areas of northern and eastern Europe, as well as the Middle East, Pakistan, India, Brazil, Argentina and Malaysia. Eastern European hackers in particular have been responsible for stealing over a million credit card numbers, including some lists of over 300 thousand at a time. I'm not saying that Funcom is going to steal them. I'd suggest you do some research on how unencrypted information can be intercepted in transit. Even Funcom admitted there's a risk, and the risk increases exponentially if the hacker is aware of where the little unencrypteed numbers are going.
The threat of credit card fraud or interception online has consistently been ranked as the number one fear of Internet users when it comes to making purchases online. Just because you and a few other hardcore gamers think it's no big deal doesn't make you right. It's a serious issue.
> 12.15am: This guy gives up and starts to write a> review of a game he obviously hasn't tried yet, or> even seem to have the slightest clue about what> it's about. On the other hand, he never actually> reviews it...
Gamegrene has a REVIEWS section and a RANTS section. Please remove head from ass and note which section this article is posted in. Thank you.
> Addendum(1am): Yes, *please* play Diablo instead,> and please do not try to finish your patching AO.> May Rubi-ka stay free from this kind of> un-informed, arrogant types.
Sniffle.
> Note: No pun intended on US citizens, I hope you> understand that. Just that this kind of persons> (the reviewer) who choose to publish something> they wrote and have no clue about, and who> blatantly cast supicion on ppl because they are> from other countries, they make me sick wherever> they come from.
Pepto-Bismol, dude. Trust me. It works.
The unsecure CC thing is another myth blown all out of proportion on the good old intarnet.
Statistically, more fraud is commited from handing your CC over at a shop or via the phone, than across the Net, yet nobody posts endless crap about the dangers of giving your details over the phone to some mail order comp or the horror of visiting the local restaurant and paying via CC.
I bet if FC had set up a telephone hot-line for registration, not one person would babble on about the dangers of CC fraud.
It's really shitty for FC not to have had a secure site, but it's really no big deal considering the other places you let loose with your CC numbers.
Oh, and big roofles to the reviewer who again shows his complete ignorance by asking people to post their numbers here to try and justify secure transactions.
YUO = st00pid
>Oh, and big roofles to the reviewer who again>shows his complete ignorance by asking people to >post their numbers here to try and justify secure >transactions.
I am well aware of the differences. I run several sites which involve credit card transactions of one sort or another. My point is that people are being glib about the fact that it's no big deal if other people get your credit card number. It is a much bigger deal than that. Funcom apparently aspires to be a leader in the MMORPG field; for them to pass off a failure to get security certificates in place as a "minor problem" shows just how far behind the curve they really are. If Amazon.com tried to pull this, nobody would buy anything from them. But I guess it's OK because it's a game company. Is that what you're trying to say?
By the way, it appears the place a bunch of people are coming from is the following URL, just for those who have no idea why this thread is suddenly so popular:
http://aoforums.funcom.com/showthread.php?s=7af1062a9354b4b4c6911b6b28bd...
Ok lets look at history here
- Ultima Onlines release....sucked
- Everquests release....sucked
- Asherons Call release....sucked
- Anarchy Online's release....sucked
Now if I was building a MMPOG, the first thing I would do is look at my competition. Hmm... their releases all sucked so maybe OURS shouldn't.
Say we were in a totally different software sector... hmm like Health Care. They have software right? They have nationwide systems hooked together constantly sending information right? (at least in canada they do)
Now when they get their software it works, it works or people die.
When we as consumers get our software we somehow have decided that you *shouldnt* get a working product, WTF is that???? Do you like being raped by FUNCOM? Everyone who has bought a copy of Anarchy Online has been ripped off. Funcom doesnt care they already have your money, you're screwed. If you bought your kid a car, you would expect that it didnt have any *bugs* that made it *crash* right?
And all you fanboys who are so religious about this game are pathetic. Your basic statement is this....
Even though the game doesnt run, even though there is no customer support, even though you have to basically POST you credit card information on the internet (even a script kiddie could get at it). This game will one day be the bestest game in the whole wide world!!!!
This game will fail, and when/if it ever runs as well as its supposed to, you will have paid for at least 12 months of 12.95 for something you should have gotten at the start.
This post on the Aoforums page sums up the mentality of the fanboy posters here to a tee.
http://aoforums.funcom.com/showthread.php?s=ecac07806539cc7160fee51785c5...
Let me start off with a disclaimer, I bought this game on the first day because I wanted an edge, and I was concerned about the names I wanted being taken. I was ready for the series of problems I was about to hit, and boy Im sure glad I prepared properly.....
11AM, drive to local EB and pick up game.
11:45 Installed and patching begun.
Crashing during patch. A whole lot of it, for hours. A whole lot of them.
Various errors during patches, for over 3 hours. I bought a book to read because I knew it wouldn't work, glad I did :)
2PM Off to the store to get Coronas. MANY of them.
3PM patching still all fuxxored up.
5PM STILL crashing, coronas are nice and chilled, time to go get some food.
7PM still can't patch, so far I've tried the auto patcher, resuming, starting over again, reinstalling AO 4 times, the .exe patches from the ftp site, nothing seems to work.
8PM Drinking heavily, patches still not working.
Midnight, beer gone, I haven't tried patching in a few hours, so I try and what do ya know? It goes through. Start playing AO.
5AM Stop playing AO lol, performance was good, a few lag spikes and about three disconnects in 5 hours. Was a blast, this game has such incredible depth. Even with the terrible AI the missions are still a blast. This game has nothing but potential and I hope Funcom has what it takes to make AO realize that potential.
Day one was shitty but even with the bugs and disconnects it beats every other MMORPG hands down.
Chris
It's true that the game still has many critical bugs in it. As any database developer knows, nothing works perfectly when going live the first time.
However, this game has true potential. It represents so many things that we wished we could have in other established online games.
For example:
- You can own an apartment and furnish it. Wasn't possible in UO cause of land shortage. Was never intended in EQ.
- Self healing for everyone. Very difficult to do in EQ.
- You can make good money as a newbie selling loot to vendors, and you can purchase useful things for reasonable prices. Impossible in EQ.
- Epic 4 year storyline which can be shaped by player actions (Haven't seen it yet but EQ and UO never even promised that)
- Anyone can use weapons or armor. Not possible in EQ.
- Teleporters for everyone. Not possible in EQ.
- Futuristic Sci-Fi setting. This game is the first!
- Selection of 30+(?) face models per breed, many with Sci-Fi cosmetic details. The nanos look like wicked hellraisers. You can also adjust your height and width. EQ had 8 faces? UO had 1 face with customisable hair.
- An incredible selection of clothing to choose from. EQ had only naked, leather, banded, plate, and robes. UO had somewhat good selection but solid colors only.
- A variety of professions and the character can branch into parts of other professions with skills. Soldiers can use nano-magic. Nano-types can use weapons and armor. EQ had only classes. UO had only skills.
- The ability to save your character at an insurance booth. EQ and UO will never have this.
- Ability to log into the grid, bionic body modifications, own cars. No other online game has these.
- You can see your points in numbers [current]/[total] on the health, nano (mana), and exp bar. EQ doesn't want you to see all these. UO had way too few points.
- There are 15 body locations for clothes, weapons, and implants. Thats 45 body slots!
- Very detailed 3d environment. Complex multi story cities. EQ only had a simple 3d environment and having 15 different cities so far away without a teleporter made most of them ghost towns, UO had only 2d bird's eye view.
- An amazing collection of body emotes with a scripting system. Even your pet robots can emote.
- True persistent world. Players don't have to fight. The city has other things to do. Nightclubs, missions, political bureaucracy, trade. I don't consider EQ persistent world.. just persistent hack and slash: if you're not fighting or questing, you're sitting in the commons as a nomad in a world where nothing changes. UO had persistent world in some ways but there was no built in storyline, just a static environment where nothing changed.
One of two things is going to happen..
A) AO will fix their bugs, become incredibly popular for fulfilling online players' wishes for so many options and alternatives. By the time it becomes a huge game i'll already have uber-powerful characters with premium choice names for believing in AO and playing since day one.
B) Or AO never catches on, and i'll go back to EQ until something better comes out.
AO comes so close to having the best of many online worlds.. and more.
..publishers have found out that shit, if nicely packaged and properly hyped, sells.
ph34r.
Unless you've actually played Anarchy Online why in the fuck do you even waste your time writing this?
I was a beta person, and totally love Anarchy Online but I was smart enough to not try to sign up until at least Saturday.
ALL MMORPGs are fucked on release, and I knew AO wouldn't be ready for the public.
Anarchy Online stomps all the other MMORPGs on the market, and if I have to hear another loser newbie whine about problems that everyone with at least half a brain predicted.
Shut the fuck up gimp.
MMORPGs will never be "playable" outta the box.
Games go gold unfinished. Why? MMORPGs are the hardest games to develop since you'll have 1000s of people doing everything humanly possible that might screw the game up. Patches occur every fricking day or two for the first month or so!
So please, will the original author find something sharp and dive head-first on it?
That will be smarter than writing this ass-smear on the 'net.
Oh dear,
> I made numerous indications that I was joking.> Exaggeration in a rant like this is not> necessarily to be taken at face value.
No, you didn't make numerous indications that you were joking about what I critizised you for.
> Post your credit card number here and we'll see> exactly what matters when your credit rating> gets ruined because of credit fraud.
This issue about no secure protocol is, as I said in my previous posting, *indeed* a very bad performance by Funcom. Don't say I said otherwise.
Personally, I took a calculated risk in giving my credit card number away to Funcom, so I'm just waiting for your *European* thieves to rob me blind... Bah, it's just plain stupid. Do you honestly think it's the same thing as posting your credit card number here on this page?!? Again you're exaggerating and you're losing credibility...
> Actually, there's a sizeable hacker risk from> China, Russia, the Ukraine and some other areas> of northern and eastern Europe, as well as the> Middle East, Pakistan, India, Brazil, Argentina> and Malaysia.
Here we go again, it's really sad. We (the rest of the world) are all after you, right?
Tell you what, when I got home from a trip to the US not so long ago, I noted a bunch of transactions on my account that I never made. Not surprising really, since you don't have to identify yourself in any way over there when using a credit card. Never trust anything not American, eh?
> The threat of credit card fraud or interception> online has consistently been ranked as the > number one fear of Internet users when it comes> to making purchases online.
Yes exactly, fear. Not real threat. Show me statistics on the risks of online transactions, and we can start talking. The only thing you're achieving with this is adding to the myth. BubbySoup is right.
Your second point from your first reply I sincerely don't understand at all. Why do you make such a big deal over this patching issue? Sure, the patch was very large at 12Mb or so, which takes a lot of time to download with a 56kbit/s modem. But after the patching, the game does work for the vast majority of users. And I can't see why you let yourself compare AO to Diablo 2, but not to UO, EQ, or AC. As you said, Diablo 2 also required a patch, so by definition it didn't work straight out of the box (why that should be so important anyway for a game which requires Internet access to work). Then, is it the size of the patch you're really complaining about? Otherwise, I fail to see your point.
Also, where did you get the information that there are thousands of ppl who can't get AO to work? I wouldn't be surprised if you're right, but don't spread figures if you can't back them up.
Finally, I feel sorry for the ppl who didn't get the game to work properly, I've been there too. I had quite some problems before I got AO to work correctly. Hope that all of you who have problems with AO get them solved quickly, because it's really an excellent experience... :-)
Cheers,/Scip.
I have a feeling that this website doesn't have much going for it. It probably gets its viewers by drawing them to the overcriticized articles.
For example, Aeon has written 14 out of 17 articles on the main page, some of which include plugs to his (?) sci-fi online game iconoclast.
15 minutes of fame is up.
Yup, you're a complete dumbass.
All valid comments and nowhere near being a rant, just a simple statement of fact. I was a Beta tester and apart from disconnection issues which were the real big bug in Beta, the game loaded and patched without a hitch. It looks like Funcom have totally fubar'd the game by overworking it to get the bugs out. As for the registration debacle, whichever dept. was supposed to look after this has a lot to answer for, it shows a total lack of any planning.
That was uncalled for Reet of Paradise. I don't agree with all of what he says, but that was straight up ruthless and childish of ya. Maybe this isn't Dr Twister or the likes, maybe this is a new startup site. Where do you think most of the other gaming sites started?????
BTW, the site looks fine....... Good luck to you guys if it is a startup......
I have been in the beta and now in the so called release, beta 5 pay to play. All your problems I encountered from the start, I just spent the 8 yes 8 hours to get it working :) sad. Now let me give you my problems in game!
1. Server goes down or is rest every few hours! Same with alot of the zones!
2. Zoning is bad! disconnects while zoning, crashes on zoning or does not allow you to zone because the server cannot init a connection!
3. Lag! lotsa lag and probelms, some times you press the sit key 'x' and wait about 1 - 2 mins! no joke!
4. Missions are bugged! Some times you can get missions without the end area being added to the random map! or your time to finnish the missions are set to zero! wow!
5. No AI on any NPCs! You can shoot and case threw walls! woop!
6. Did I mention disconnects? sigh...
Im sure it will get better in about a month when the game should have been released...
sorry Kilgor...you're the idiot if you used an unsecure webpage to register.
I got in!! After about 3 more hours trying to figure out why everything is black, I got the lights turned on (disable fog in video card system settings). I make a toon, and go into newby zone, and crash. Reboots, ok! I can move, and see solid black outlines of what should be people. suddenly the wall turns into a HUGE stretched out texture of someone's face, and it crashes. More reboots, ok! I get back on, it crashes. I get back on again, my guy has been running off into the wilderness, and is stuck in a mountain. I eventually get out and see huge blue triangles floating around before it crashes again. I want to change my video card settings, but because the video settings options are on the pick-a-toon page, and my toon isn't logged out, I can't get to it.
So I give up.
I'm glad I paid $50 for a neat-o patch program. Why, it kept me entertained for a good 12 hours! Right on FunCom!! Now wheres this WW2 game i've heard so much about....
Yeah, I did register using that.. I didn't notice no SSL. Anyway, I was literally one of the first 10 to register, the second the register page came up.. so I think I am safe on that one.
Hork, it sounds like video card problems or settings. I played beta 4 and now retail on my Geforce 2 MX without any problems.. it doesnt look all messed up like it does for you.
Not trying to get into a flamewar here guys, but seriously, there are problems with the game but many are minor ones (the lag, the crashing etc can get fixed soon. They fixed some of it during beta) .. the SSL issue was a big screw up I admit, hehe..
Anarchy Online is a great game. No question about it. ALL MMORPGs have problems the first week or two. Anyone remember UO or EQ. Since EQ is fresher in my mind... the dang servers were sh*t, everyone had packetloss of 75%, disconnect every 5 mins and we got a free month because they new they screwed up and knew it. The is only the second day of release and servers are trying to handle up to 50k ppl. NO ONE has tried to have that many people online at once without different server farms.
Customer service is outstanding. I had problems with my apartment key. Within 10 minutes I received another key. I've seen people get stuck and a GM was there to help in a very short time. Compare that to hours in EQ because "guides" can't do squat.
Gimme a break here and see what happens in a couple of weeks. If its still bad then rant and rave.
This game will be absolutely incredible once the bugs are patched out. No kidding. It will blow the competition away in a couple months.
I was lucky enough to have no problems at all yesterday. The only time I was disconnected was when the servers went down. However..I suffered from horrendous lag in the city zone. (Omni-one) Now in a lot of posts..I've heard people saying that a 600mhz proccessor and motherboard can't handle the 'full' graphical display. This is crap right here. Printed on the bottom of the box are the system requirements for the game. Why would funcom say that the recommended requirements are a 450mhz PII, 128mb of ram, 32mb vid card and direct X 8 when they really mean to run the game on the full graphical cocktail you need a P4 and 500mb of ram? Or are the city zones just suppossed to be plagued with lag? This is another concern that needs to be looked at...because if only the uber of high end machines can enjoy a lagless AO, I may have reconsidered my purchase. No doubt the game is AWESOME. I just lvled to 22 when the servers came down last. No doubt anarchy will be a leading MMORPG. However bugs do exist. (excuse the long paragraph..but I'm in a hurry, no time for english checks.) I've walked through buildings...got stuck in walls, fought invincible monsters, seen player characters float and worst of all, seen action come to a complete holt while the server trys to untangle its unending confusion. My only concern is why would funcom release a game in this type of condition? We will be lucky to play an unbugged version of AO maybe..no POSSIBLY...next month or the month after. We all are still beta-testers...beta-testers that are paying them, financing the remainder of their unfinished product. I know it sucks, but its the truth.
> Here we go again, it's really sad. We (the rest of> the world) are all after you, right?
Yes, you are. Which is why we feel it necessary to dominate you by occasionally bombing you back to the Dark Ages.
> Yes exactly, fear. Not real threat. Show me> statistics on the risks of online transactions,> and we can start talking. The only thing you're> achieving with this is adding to the myth.> BubbySoup is right.
SPSS Data Mining says that "credit card fraud cost online merchants over $230 million in the last year. Online credit card fraud is 10 times higher than offline."
A National Consumers League survey found that 6 million consumers have been victims of credit card fraud or misuse online. The National Fraud Information Center and the Internet Fraud Watch have never had a case of credit card fraud when a consumer used a secure site for a transaction.
US Law Enforcement officals have reported that their job gets more diffculty when overseas/offshore/foreign hackers are involved in stealing credit card numbers because it's more difficult to prosecute. The following link explains why: http://www.msnbc.com/news/376973.asp?cp1=1
Shall I continue?
> Your second point from your first reply I> sincerely don't understand at all. Why do you make> such a big deal over this patching issue?
Because in this instance, on this particular day, it was extremely annoying to discover that a company had released a huge game that required thousands of people to patch their games with huge patches from an obviously overly-taxed server, several times, with (according to reports) the patches not working all the time. This indicates poor planning, poor beta testing, poor resource management and a generally poor user experience. This being a RANT, I chose to rant about it, as have others. I'm happy everything went smoothly for you.
> Also, where did you get the information that there> are thousands of ppl who can't get AO to work? I> wouldn't be surprised if you're right, but don't> spread figures if you can't back them up.
I'm estimating based on percentages of feedback; there are more negative posts than there are positive posts blindly following the AO/Funcom company line. Someone please just say "They screwed up, bad" and get over it.
> Finally, I feel sorry for the ppl who didn't get> the game to work properly, I've been there too. I> had quite some problems before I got AO to work> correctly. Hope that all of you who have problems> with AO get them solved quickly, because it's> really an excellent experience... :-)
I've heard mixed reviews, but I plan to judge for myself once they fix these problems. It's not worth the frustration. This is a game. Games are supposed to be fun, not a pain in the ass to register for and install. Based on my experiences, I think everything I've ranted about is justified, and the posts of others with negative experiences only goes to prove that I wasn't alone in my initial impression.
You are kickin' ass if you are already to lvl 22. Anyway, yes the cities suck big time. My recomendation to you is change the texture settings to medium instead of high, this will cut down on alot of the disk swapping. Hit f10 or click options in the bottom right corner and choose visual, it is up top of that screen.
> I have a feeling that this website doesn't have> much going for it. It probably gets its viewers by> drawing them to the overcriticized articles.
What's wrong with that? It worked on you, didn't it? Besides, at least one person noticed the story and posted it elsewhere, which brought in many interested parties. Gasp. God forbid we should write something that would be interesting to people and inspire discourse on the topic. Let me just stop all this now and go back to posting press releases touting the official company line. Bad me. Bad.
> For example, Aeon has written 14 out of 17> articles on the main page, some of which include> plugs to his (?) sci-fi online game iconoclast.
As the post after yours indicates, we are just starting out. While other gaming sites have gone under, we've managed to grow by working on a small budget with limited resources and time. In these early stages, yes, I've shouldered a lot of the burden of posting, but starting this month we're bringing on a staff of several paid writers who'll be adding additional content on a regular basis.
Anyone interested in writing articles that aren't shiny, happy press releases and shiny, happy reviews is welcome to email me for more information. We want writers who aren't afraid to speak their opinions, and aren't afraid to talk back to readers. If you've got a voice and you think you can take the heat like I have here, drop me a line.
BTW, Busta Reet is me. I put that nick cause it looked appropriate for his nick. If you guys thought it was someone trying to hide so no one would know who it was, it wasn't. If you notice they used an annon, I used that nick as a joke.........
Aeon has some really strong points, and hes backing them up with facts, which is unique to this board of people. I see a lot of opinions here, but the bottom line is AO is incomplete!! We spent between 49.99 and 54.99 for a game that doesen't work and isn't done yet. I understand that 'maybe in a couple of months' the game will be outstanding, but we gave funcom our money today!
Aside from that, this is a SECOND GENERATION MMORPG. It should not be plagued with these problems, and if it was they should have charged for the first month but made their half-finished software free. Or better yet, delayed the release date. (I have to admit I expected that one) The amount they charge for a game that needs a double patch to play is ridiculous. (thats not including the server problems and game bugs that are the lvl 250 monsters of Rubi-Ka)
To top it off, we have an insecure form for our CC numbers. Of course, when I saw that I went straight to the neighborhood 711 and purchased a 25 dollar gift card to use for my subscription. Umm...guys...how long does it take to make your forms secure?
Anyways, I'm sure AO has the potential to become a major MMORPG in the future, but potential and perfomance are two very different things. AO has potential, but it sure as hell isn't perfoming. If it was, no one would be wasting time on these posts would they? AO could break both EQ and UO, but in order to do that they need to PERFORM. AO dosen't have the huge amount of time EQ and UO did on their release, there are many very impressive MMORPG's on the horizon with just as much potential as AO. Funcom needs to realize this, and they need to establish their place in the market NOW. They don't have 2 months to fix a game that should have been right in the first place, by that time the talk will be 'Shadows of Luclin' or 'Horizons.'
Hmmm... Better release than say EQ (where i couldn't play at all for days) in my opinion. Took me 30-45 mins to DL the patches, not bad. In 17 hours i had like 27 desktop punts was able to log right back in. Saw one bad spike period, but the servers were brought down and that was fixed. I expected for primetime to be unable to play but was surprised there was very little lag in zones outside the city.
When you have thousands of people trying to DL huge files at once i always see this problem of slow DL's and corrupt files.
I was one of the naysayers saying no way would you be able to play this game in the beginning, expect days of not being able to logon, but i was surprised and wrong, thank god :) I think it is for the best that everyone could not get in, it gives the first influx of newbies a chance to move on to another area/server and freeing up bandwith for others.
In my opinion this release was better than UO and EQ but was worse or the same as AC (can't remember exactly how AC went, old age i guess ;p)
Hmm? Bubby, users on release should expect a game to work right out of the box, maybe a small patch or two. I belive with the release of WWIOL drawing 16,000, Funcom should have expected 50,000 - 75,000 people and geared up (more servers, etc) for it. I'll wait two weeks to buy the game, that is, if I haven't blown it on girls by then.
Forget EQ based games, unless maybe EQ 2. EQ is way to screwed up at it's present state and can never be fixed in it's current client. Yes, Lucilin is a brand new client, but it is still based on the old EQ; which makes it a no go for me. I bought the last 2 expansions, but I want buy the thrid one; and suggest anyone just now considering EQ not to. You missed the boat if you didn't play EQ atleast 9 to 10 months ago, no use in starting now. It is to hard and entirely to many whiners/assholes in EQ now.
I do agree with you Starlette that AO is screwed up right now, I believe that they were running out of financial backing like some of the others posted. That doesn't make it right that they released it, but they may have just had no choice. I beta tested and I thought and expressed that it shouldn't be retail yet, but it was either to late to turn back for them or the financial situation was just to overwhelming.
We will never know, all we can do at this point is play the game in the state that it is in and hope that patches will come along sooner not later. Everyone who has already started playing their free month, might as well finish it out and hope some of there personal stabability issues get resolved before the free time is up. If not, then just quit playing til you hear it has gotten better. I believe in the end this game will be great, it just has more issues than the common gammer can cope with at this point.
BTW, I'm not the common gammer. I will be paying and playing unless 2 to 3 months down the road it doesn't get much better. If this happens to be the case, time for DAoC.......
This doesnt look good....
"FUNCOM!! Absolutely urgent!!
There are other people that have in excess of 4 billion credits in thier account. This bug is the absolute most critical one, period. It will absolutely ruin the economy. PLEASE tell me you are fixing this!"
http://aoforums.funcom.com/showthread.php?s=be86518d8ebc2fa108703873d6a3...
Actually, I played beta 4 and Funcoms support is very good at responding to complaints. During the month that I played I emailed them with problems 4 times and every time I got a response back. It took a few days sometimes, but they got back to me.
You guys have to remember that there are about 100,000 players hammering Funcom right now and that it may take time for them to get back to you. Just because you don't get a response in a few minutes, doesnt mean that their support sucks.
Be patient, they will get to you as soon as possible. They go on a first come first serve basis, and surely you dont think that you should be ushered to the front of the line do you?
> If the best response you can come up with is name
> lames then you need more practice when it comes
> to insulting people, you parasitic half-assed
> wannabe shock-jock.
I didn't think it was possible to be as hypocritical as this in a single sentence.
What I'd like to know is why you're getting so angry over this. Do you own stock in the company or something? If what people are saying bothers you, then don't read this page any more. Nobody is putting a fucking gun to your head, after all.
Do you want "name lames" defining?
Using somebody's name as the basis of an insult is the equivalent of giving the bird to a blind man.
As for what I wrote, I'm not getting angry, try reading though it again and put things into the context in which they are written you fucking retard. The only thing that angers me (and I use the word "anger" in it's loosest sense possible), is the amount of pricks like you that think because they can write a cliched rant with a few token profanities that they are God's gift to journalism and/or creative writing. You're nothing more than a banal parasite. Don't give up your day job, whatever the fuck that is.
For somebody who claims to be a reviewer/ranter/INTARNET-POWAR-WEBMASTAR!!1 you really are incredibly stupid. Talk about shallow end of the gene pool.
"If you've got a voice and you think you can take the heat like I have here, drop me a line."
Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzt! Wrong. Insert a coin to continue.
Chapeau, chapeau! People defending their viewpoints with so much furor they can't see the contradictions in their own arguments, name-calling, moral-highgrounding..keep it up, kids. You might beat pre-Stalin era Whineplay someday.
Love,
EU
I don't beleive Funcom will be able to fix all the problems. The lag on my comp (in city zones and now even in some wilderness zones) has gotten to the point to where it has made the game unplayable. I've already dusted off my old 53 wizzy on EQ for play today.
Why has Funcom done this? I'll tell you why..it all comes down to the dollars. Funcom had to show profit, regardless of how that fact negatively affected their customers. I logged on for 15 minutes this morning before crashing out, after being plagued with inexcusable lag for a good portion of my time on. Why is my computer struggling to run this game? Or is it just their shoddy programming and half-assed design thats making my computer lock up?
First of all, I know my hardware can handle that kind of graphical display. It runs games like Quake III and Unreal Tournament like water. And these games look MUCH better then AO. Again, backing my belief in incompetence in programming.
Secondly, graphics will never take the place of gameplay. This has been the mistake of many game manufacturers who have believed that they could make a game that looked spectacular in exchange for solid gameplay. It has failed everytime.
Thirdly, for my entire time on, I have grouped maybe once, I don't get that team-feeling like I do when playing games like EQ or UO. There is hardly any social interaction, (when the chat-servers are up) all the way to lvl 22. How are you gonna make a MMORPG with no social requirement?
All the stores and equipment shops are hidden within the city, which woulden't be so bad if not for the annoying crippling city zone lag which forces you to change your display setting to walk comfortably from point A to point B. With their 2 second zoning time, was it really that hard to break the city up into different zones?
Mission generators NEVER work. It is near impossible to get a mission, and when you do finally successfully receive one, never plan on completing it because its almost a sure-shot you will crash out before even getting the chance to begin. It gets better...if you crash in the middle of a mission, I've noticed the terrain changes when you log back on. So if your in an office the first time around you can be in a sewer the second time in. Oh and when you get the feel for that...you crash yet a third time.
I walked through a zone, and got stuck in a wall for 2 hours last night. I petitioned, which I cheerfully noticed you can only petition twice in a 4 hour period...which I guess balances things out since you have to wait a good 2 hours before getting any help.
The bottom line is, I've had 0 fun with AO. All problems. I paid 54 bucks to frustrate myself and deal with a bullshit product. (maybe incomplete should take the place of bullshit.)
Until today...well earlier this morning, I had no problems with crashes, but do beleive I have made up for it within these last few hours! I'm irritated beyond belief, and that is not why I purchased the game. I bought the game to play a quality product that was at least in HALF-WAY working order. I can deal with any other problems but LAG and CRASHES are the number one thing on my reasons to stop playing a game list.
I do hope they can improve this game. From what I've seen so far, AO has its high's but it also has some very very deep lows.
----and by the way...my system spec are
P3 600Mhz
192 Mb ram
Voodoo 5 64MB graphics accelerator (latest drivers installed)
Windows 98 (fully updated and patched)
Direct X 8
Am I a l33t d00d? Er...No. It's an old name thats happened to stick from the Amiga scene (when that sort of shit was common and relatively "new"). If the best response you can come up with is name lames then you need more practice when it comes to insulting people, you parasitic half-assed wannabe shock-jock.
Anyway, back to AO.
Yes, the game is in a terrible state at the moment. But couldn't you people who were bitching see that coming? Unfinished software is a problem inherent to the PC market. Half-Life, Quake I/II/III, Unreal Tournament, Deus Ex, EQ, UO, AC...Can we see a pattern developing yet? All major titles in their respective genre that were sold unfinished or poorly tested, and required patches. It's nothing new, and with the demands that are put on developers to have things out on the shelves in time - it's not going to change in the near future. Get over it.
I never heard of Funcom until AO, I suspect this was the same for a lot of people. Their technical prowess has been pretty good from what I've seen so far (the game mechanics and graphics speak for themselves), but their organisational skills and PR seem quite lacking. The secure transactions for the account creation were a MAJOR oversight, but I can forgive that. Not because I'm a fanboy, but because it was a mistake, this is probably the first time they've ever attempted to produce and operate something of this scale, and if they got it wrong on their first attempt who cares? Annoying, worrying and amateurish, but certainly forgiveable.
As it stands at the moment AO can go down two routes. Theres the Starpeace route (lets not go there, eh?) and the EQ route. Judging from Funcom's behaviour during the beta I would say that it will be the latter, but you never know. The game certainly has a lot of potential, and theres no way you can deny that even with the game in its current state. But whether that potential gets realised or not is a different matter. I hope it does, because even as it is now I love the game (when I'm able to log on).
I don't think Funcom were prepared for the interest in AO, and because of this they should be allowed a little slack before people start throwing their toys out of the pram and overdosing on Ritalin. Let them at least try to fix things. If you've bought the game and can't play it in it's current state - wait a month - nobody is putting a fucking gun to your head. Though thats wishfull thinking on my part in some cases.
I agree with Aeons Micheal Anarchy sucks... I know cause i beta test it (beta 2 and beta 3) and guess what after 2 month playing it(when i was able too) I beg funcom not to release this game cause it was not ready.
In my case i was being disconnected from server every 10 or 15 minutes, they were so many function that were not working as well as so many bugs active. I play Asheron's call and for stability you cant compare with Anarchy, they release this product way too early without sufficient testing and bug resolving. The idea and game design was nice and great but i guess lack of competent programmers and gear as ruin a nice project with good idea s behind... buy at your own risk
I played AO for a week recently... I have to say that the majority of their technical glitches have cleared up...
Neat game but it's too little too late... They've already lost their player base and now their starting to make even more mistakes...
To those who stated that giveing your CC info over an unsecured connection is "no big deal", your extremely foolish... How hard is it to set up a secure server, as compared to how easy is it to set up a sniffer to get all that info...
The answer is easy to both questions...
I have to say it. This is the WORST game i have ever played. First of all, the newb area is impossible to complete...so i try spawning as a different group member. ITS EVEN WORSE! cmon devs, what were you thinking??? This is a perfect example of theft of everyone's money. i am upset that anyone bought the game and Aeon, if u still havent played it...DONT
"the newb area is impossible to complete"
Umm what is to complete? there isnt a quest in there, its a place to learn the basics and get some XP.
Next time try the game longer than 15 min.
your all fucked in the head, wtf is wrong with you people, your giving yourselves arthritis over a fuckin game!!!
Oi Vei. Let's see:
1. International affairs. Everyone here is paranoid of other people. That's okay, I think the whole Roswell/Area 51 deal is just a mere ploy the governement uses to develop superweapons and call them U.F.O.'s and then the international community knows nothing about it. How we got to international prejudices from credit fraud, I know not. but it seems that there is some political correctness here. Bummer.
2. The game itself. It sounds like most online gaming. It's a boil on Keerg's arse to set up, but it's kind of fun to fool around with once you get the stupid thing to work. Pretty typical.
3. I wish I hadn't read this rant. Hearing all of you argue in my head....the voices.....THE VOICES!!!!!! DIIIEEE EVIL LAYWERS DIEDIEDIE!!!!!!!!!!!
Now that that's out of my system, chill out, it's a bloody game, not the end of the world/s. Stay civil. It's usually been pretty peaceful around here, and that's why I like it more than most other BBS systems.
But then again, I suppose the stupid have freedom of speech, but I would hate to see the folks in charge have to get mad because people are being way out of line, Y'know? I like that this is a civil and low-moderation board. Makes me think people have a chance if they have a decent common cause...
Somewhat politely yours,
Theophenes
God be with all the huntters in woods& in the water
Aside from this post being a little over 6 months after the oldest one..... I would like to say that I've been playing since Shadowlands came out. I admit that I was not there for all the initial problems. I am sorry to hear that you all had problems. I agree that the hour of patching that I have to go through everytime I format my HD (don't ask) is annoying, but OH no!! Anyhow I was suspicious about this game when I first started. Now that i've played it for a little while tried most of the professions, and put hours into it... I have to say that I enjoy it. It's something to take my life off of RL. Just like any other game on the planet be it consol, PC, boardgame. It's something to do. Kinda like drugs only not as harmful(sometimes). My opinion may be invalid because as I said I didn't play back in the day. However, I know that the pre bought cards were available at least since notem wars good god go buy one of those. Also if your not willing to risk patching something out of the box. Don't buy the fncking thing. Is posting a cc online risky yes. Are you liable for more then $50 NO. If you can't risk $50 than don't. Don't bitch, don't rant, just don't risk the fncking money. I agree with theophenes It's a bloody game and that's that. One more thing... Yes I could have just hit the back button. No, I didn't have to read this. But you know what? I get a kick out of reading people bitch when they get screwed. Buyer beware.... So ya'll have fun with your crack, I mean quest. and Ultima and the like. For those of us that can except dieing occasionally and not getting boned. We will just continue playing this game and watch it grow and not listen to the people who had no faith in a budding company. Oh wait sorry i lied one more thing then I promise you can return to your paranoia of everyone on the planet other then you being a thief. To those of you that bitched and ranted about wanting the finished product NOW because you paid NOW. I want you to go start a business, build your product PERFECTLY, I don't ever want that product to be upgradable it has to run perfectly from now to the end of time. oh yeah it has to be ahead of tech to so it better be UBER so ahead of the curve that science will never EVER think of it. In fact once you invent it I want the whole of humanity to bow before you. Then I'll give you fifty dollars. for it. If there is a single problem with it I want my fifty back. No patches, no upgrades. My point is that you seem to think that making a good product that works the way everyone wants it to is really easy and then once it's released that everyone will have the reqs on their pc to run it. Well Get a clue then go buy a life. If your still in your fantasy realm of your reality then make that product for me.
Just glad to see that AO is still alive and kicking. ALien Invasion looks awesome.
Well. 2005 is winding to a close and where is Anarchy now?
I first came across Anarchy when it was still just in the planning stages. Marked it as potentially awesome if they ever got it out of the idea stage. Then mostly lost track of it aside from looking at it a year later in beta. Impressive, but a pitty some of the original ideas had to be scrapped.
Pretty much a year ago Funcom put the basic game up for free play, stating it woulf be a limited offer and the free accounts lasting only a year. A friend talked me into giving it a try an I can only say that the patching has only gotten bigger since the start.
I play on an older machine with a weaker graphics card and modem, while my friend plays with a pretty good set up and fast connection.
Guess who has the easier time and less lag? Yep. Me. Still dont know why. But from talking and listening to other players, its not an uncommon thing. I am very impressed with the gameplay over modem so far.
As of when I started play the game had 12 or so professions, 2 of these being exclusive to one of the expansion sets. Gone was the backyard start area. Now players begin the game by embarking at a spaceport and then shuttling down to the planet. Things go wrong fast.
Now you have a large ICC Port (Newby Island as most call it,) with several restrictions on what you have access to, and alot of things you can make exclusive to the island, as well as some simple quests to complete.
All this is to help new players get a better start once they get to the mainland. Plenty of low level bosses that gave great rare items quite often, and even a small taste of the alien invaders.
(Unfortunately Funcom has newfed the island drastically now. Bosses are gone, replaced with weaker demi-bosses that give a fixes roster of simple armor, gems, and rings. No more weapons and rare goodies. This seems to have been done to curtail players who were camping bosses to mine for rares to the point that no one else could get a thing done. But, true to Funcoms SOP, the cure was worse than the malady. Now people mine the island for the rare rings that sell for a tidy sum. )
Lag spikes when I first started seemed to come in waves and I have to agree with one posters idea that one patch would lessen it while the next would increase. Lately though the lag spikes have been less.
Most common cause are the big cities and now the player built cities. Anywhere a player city is near, there is more lag, and at least two warp points have two or more clustered near. Another lag source is wherever a lot of players are clustered. Or someone transformed into a dragon (AKA Lagzilla. heh...)
Gameplay is good for the most part, combat is relatively easy to get the hang of and skill and power use is mostly click and click with only a few twists depending on the situation. (If you play a Nanotech or other offensive caster. Be prepared to blast yourself at least once, possibly to death... ow... heh...) Movement is good, and Funcom seems to make an effort to remove potential terrain traps wherever they are found when they can. The game has vehicles yes. But those vehicles are strange indeed. The ground car looks like a a tiny RC, and the rest do not get much bigger. The aircar flyer also has the problem of costing a huge sum. but worth the investment for some.
The expansion vehicles are larger Im told. And the game world is vast! Needs more variety and vitality. But still impressive. Sometimes I wander around in first person mode just to sight-see.
Anrchy has a rather large base of things you can craft, and some professions are better at it or a few specific areas than others. Logically enough, the trend is for the more usefull craftable gear to also be the hardest to get all the parts needed.
The game has a set of mission terminals where you can apply for missions within a set of paramaters you define. The missions being the followin types.
Observe person or item: Just find it and click it.
Kill person: Just find it and click it... HARD! heh.
Kill person with special weapon: Sometimes vexing to finish.
Retrieve item: Go get it and bring it back to the EXACT terminal
you got the mission from.
Missions gain a new twist when you form a team and apply for a Team mission. These tend to be multi level buildings or caves with a special boss at the end who helps guard the target.
One problem no one yet mentioned is that the game is heavy into PVP.
There are areas where you will be made vulnerable and of late the instances of PVP exploiters and cheats has increased tenfold. Be prepared to say "NO" alot, especially if you just got off the island. New players are a favored target if these scum and likely makes things really hard for the few honest PVPers out there. To date I have yet to meet an honest one. 25%? Start digging your grave. She just wants to test out her new weapon or pet? Kiss breathing goodbye. You are a big-bad-soldier with a gun and he's a wimpy little beauracrat with a bot? Nice knowing you... Expect them to be tricked out into stuff you couldnt shouehorn jello into or having friends standing nearby waiting to heal them or fry you.
Aside from this and a heavy tendency for camping important areas and other low behavior. The game is pretty good. The helpstaff tend to get on a problem ASAP about 50% od the time, within 30 min 25% of the time, and unfortunately within the next 2-3 hours the rest of the time. They do at least try. Things seem to be at their lowest when its a harassmant issue and fastest when its a system problem.
In game hosted events are not as frequent as they once were. but things are still changing plot-wise. and world-wise.
As for selling a game thats unplayable out of the box... No. Thats not good marketing. But its curently SOP for companies even now.
As to why there are so many problems in the game even now? I'll quote one of the developers as stating that Anarchy is built upon code from developers long gone. Sometimes a fix for problem A, creates Problem B, etc, etc, etc... Anarchy's code is VERY kludgy Im told. But it works, and they are trying to improve and fix things.
If a Sci-fi setting with some techno-magic tossed in sort of setting appeals to you. Then at least give it a look over or try the free version for a bit. You might love it. you might loathe it.
Omega