Lounge L33ts Episode 8: Reets Retreat - The Glass Floor Room

     For the second season premiere, we try something a little different: and improvised (kind of) RP session. Weefleboy schools us on the professions available, shows off his shiny new smurf suit, and refuses to address some intimate questions on the details of his operations. Meanwhile Pinqi wonders if he/she's chosen the right path in life, and Mad Matt shows off his gun. It's anarchy, I tells you! Anarchy Online!
    Also make sure to check out our Youtube channel!  https://www.youtube.com/user/LoungeL33ts/about

Lounge L33ts Episode 4: The Prancing Pony

We manage to get Randy to play LOTRO, Sarah Bloy joins us to bestow some Tolkien wisdom, and we hear the Tale of the Bag of Devouring (it involves a dragon).

Lounge L33ts Episode 3: The Ski Chalet Part 2

In the second part, we come to a conclusion. NC Soft is the FOX of MMO's.

Liunge L33ts Episode 2: The Ski Chalet Part 1

     I think we spend more time reminiscing about City of Heroes/Villains, than we do berating NC Soft for...well...being assholes and shutting down the game in late November. I'm sorry if you're tired of hearing the CoH community voice their disapproval over the game's closure. I disagree with Ran-san (aka "Nomiru" in previous posts), I know the game wouldn't have been around forever. Eventually everything ends. This was not the way to end it though, and NC Soft has only themselves to blame for the bad PR. However, even after all that, I'm still going to play Guild Wars 2. I figure I paid for it, there's no subscription, and I'm pretty sure I can enjoy the game without paying into the cash shop, so why not? I've only managed to log about 2 hours of gameplay, but it was fun enough to make me want to return.
     This episode, I also introduce Eric "Setzer" Craig, the current Head of Registration for Geek.Kon 2013 as one of our guests. He's been playing CoH for quite a while and I hope I can have on in future episodes to discuss other MMO's.
     We wind up touching on a wide variety of topics this episode including Tabula Rasa, Korean Grinders, esports, The Secret World and other Funcom games, etc. As always, polite, constructive criticism is welcome, as this show is still very much a work in progress.

Lounge L33ts Episode 1: The Grind (Pilot)

Well, here we go! The very first episode of Lounge L33ts. There was a bit of trouble with recording for this episode. Like I said in the inroduction, this was an episode of firsts. If FRAPS shows numbers in a magenta/pinkish-puple hue, it may not be recording properly. When we finished, I opened the file to find that only the last three minutes had been recorded. Then Matt let me know FRAPS should be loaded (although not necessarily recording) before the game is loaded. In order to get the backup footage to me through the dropbox folder (restricted to 2GB in the free version), Matt converted the file to an flv file. Unfortunately, Sony Vegas Movie Studio HD doesn't read flv's and I had to use Total Video Converter to convert the file into a wmv, a file type I knew the editing software would recognize. After editing, it was rendered into one of the "Internet HD" file types offered and sent through Total Video Converter to become an flv file again. At 1.9 GB, it was too big to post on Bliptv. So I went back into Sony Vegas and rendered the edit into an "Internet SD" file, which was small not to have to be converted in TVC. It was a bit of work, and hopefully the next episode will go more smoothly. Anyway, in this episode Matt Winchell, Ran-san, and I meet up in Anarchy Online's The Grind where we discuss  how we all got caught up in MMO's, the news on Game Director Fia "Lindelu" Tjernberg's departure, and the prospects on the future of the game:

Lounge L33ts Introduction

     So why am I doing this? Well, I've been sitting on the sidelines for a while, enjoying other people's webseries and podcasts, always with an itch to try something of my own. I have always wanted to do a Let's Play series, however I don't feel that I could bring anything new to this over saturated field. At least not just yet. Video games are my latest interest, but I wanted to do something I felt hadn't been overdone. I don't know of any webseries that focus exclusively on recording  podcasts/vlogs from within taverns and bars in MMO's. I'm sure they exist. I know some shows will do a live streaming broadcast of at least one episode from within an MMO or other web based game. But when compared to the glut of Let's Plays, Playthroughs, and Walkthroughs out there, it still feels like a novel idea. At least to me, anyway.
     When I have a question about a game, "Mad" Matt Winchell and Randy "Ran-san" McCullick are usually the people I go to along with Robert "bob" Laib and "Drenivian." So I naturally turned to Matt and Ran-san as guests for the first episode which took place in Anarchy Online's The Grind bar, Atlantean server. For now, the series will probably just focus on me and my friends sitting around in various bars and taverns in our favorite MMO's. I have no idea how people will react, though. So far, I'm assuming people with either like it, or think it's boring and move on to something else.
     There are quite a few bugs to work through still. The pilot episode was the first time I uploaded a video to Bliptv (I've only ever uploaded one video to Youtube before this). It was the first time I tried to record video game footage with FRAPS (it failed and I wound up having to rely on Matt's backup footage). It was also the first time I'd used Sony Vegas Movie Studio HD (or other video editing software) to edit a video, and the first time I used Total Video Converter (rather than TsunamiEnc, which I used in 2006 to make my own DVD's). Bliptv also wanted me to come up with promotional materials, which I was kind of expecting. However, screencaps of the episode, while they worked well for filler on the Facebook page, would not do for the actual show's webpage. Fortunately I came up with the basic idea of the beer and martini glasses lit up in neon under the "Lounge L33ts" title. We'll see how this goes.
     Monday (10/1/2012) Tuesday (10/2/2012), I plan on doing the show again with Ran-san and Matt, and maybe a couple other people. We'll be in City of Heroes, Pocket D, Virtue server to discuss last month's shocking reveal of that game's shut down at the end of November. You can tune in to new episodes on Bliptv:
http://blip.tv/romeomoon

I also have a Facebook group set up here: http://www.facebook.com/LoungeL33ts

"The lounge is open 24 hours with no age limit."

Great Expectations: The News So Far...

     If you haven't seen it yet, the monthly update posted by Game Director Lindelu on Anarchy Online's forums was a big one:
http://forums.anarchy-online.com/showthread.php?t=598287

     I'll be sad to see the Org cities disappear from the landscape, as they were some of the most familiar landmarks to make for if you were under attack and needed a quick escape. While they were fairly uniform in structure, they still had to be set up by the org owner. This lent to a feeling of player ownership and the idea that players could control, in a limited way, the landscape around them. That being said, I am interested to see what the devs come up with to replace them. The fact that they are willing to make such drastic changes to the game, changes that every player will notice no matter what their level is, points to the fact that the devs very much want to improve this game and keep it going for years to come.
     A change I'm really looking forward to is the possibility of a new GUI. I've always had some problem or other with the current GUI, mostly accidentally dragging a portion so that it detaches and won't click back into place. I usually eventually get it to work, but not after spending a bit of time trying to remember what to do. Friending people is another area that could use improvement. Pretty much now you type in the tag: /cc addbuddy PLAYERNAME. It works, but then I'm spoiled by the City of Heroes option of right clicking on someone, or their name, and sending a request to either their specific toon, or their global name.
     The new GMS will be quite helpful to use on my paid account, which I re-upped for about a month. I like the idea that they are at least letting fr00b account players look at the what's for sale in the shops.
     Also, am I the only one who doesn't think a server merge is the death of a game? The devs have assured the players that they are looking to keep the game going and in order to do so, it would be better to move everything onto a newer machine.
     This is especially true when/if the new graphics engine hits. Speaking of which, a new teaser trailer was released for the graphics update (WARNING! This trailer involves strobing lights which may cause seizures or blackouts. Proceed with caution):
http://www.mmorpg.com/gamelist.cfm/game/10/feature/6234/Anarchy-Online-Fia-Tjernberg-Interview-New-Engine-Video.html


     From what I could glean from the trailer, everything looks good. While I agree that the current graphics are very old looking, I still like the cyber punk feeling the overall art design presents. This is a game that thoroughly embraces ugliness as well as beauty, which I find refreshing.
     Lately, I've been playing some City of Heroes. I've mostly been working with Matt on getting the Midnighter missions out of the way for some of my characters. In fact, I've always wanted to post some of my character bios from that game. Hopefully something to make note of for the future.

MMO Grinder....is awesome!

     I'm a pretty busy person. When I'm not working 40+ hours a week at the local upscale grocery store, I'm doing artwork for Mad Matt Reviews, writing, reading, watching TV, and playing either single player games, or MMO's.
     I've been interested in MMO's since I started playing City of Heroes back in 2008. Strapped for cash, I began asking around for sites where I could find free-to-play MMO's. Someone on the Gaia Online forums pointed me toward onrpg.com. That's when my eyes were opened to the wide world of free-to-play MMO's. I had been on Gaia's zOMG beta, and it was okay, but this site offered real 3D games. Shooters, RPG's, Strategy, pretty much topped the list for me. Unfortunately, my ancient laptop couldn't play them. I had to settle for scrolling through the pages of games, watching video clips of game play and trailers, until my roommate moved and gave me her old Dell Dimension 4700 desktop.
     This was about that time that Bob and "Namiru" introduced me to Anarchy Online. By late 2009-2010, I had the second-hand desktop up and running and  a new netbook to chat over Skype with. Along with "Mad" Matt Winchell, I learned the ropes of AO from twinking in Backyard 5 to raiding in Temple of the Three Winds and Biomare. I joined The Independent Rubikans and now have about 8 toons spread out over a paid account and a fr00b account. I've even reupped my paid account for the month thanks to a game time card.
     I still visit onrpg.com, though, pining for what might have been. What if I had chosen the salad instead of the soup? Every time I visit, I see a new free-to-play MMO going into alpha or beta testing. I would love to try a few more games, but there just isn't time for them all!
     That's when I came upon MMO Grinder. Internet based review shows have become very popular in the past three years, or so. MMO Grinder seeks to inform people on many free-to-play MMO's such as Pangya, LUNA, and Lord of the Rings Online. Games are reviewed based on Graphics & Art Design, Music & Sound, Gameplay, Community, and Cash Shop. Other criteria are reasons to Play the game, reasons to Pay or use the cash shop, and why a player may want to Pass on a game. Each episode seems to be about half an hour long, and a lot of attention to detail is incorporated into the show. If you don't have time to actually play a lot of the free-to-play MMO's floating around out there, head on over to the show and see if ChaosD1 has reviewed one you're interested in.

Furnishing Your Home Through Questionable Means

The Hallway

 

     Beneath the Aegean trees near a Rhinoman village, there is a man waiting to be mugged. His wife in Stret West Bank stands outside their small dwelling, a knot tightening in her stomach. She's waiting to see where her husband has gone, and to see if some kind soul might assist her in locating him. As it is, your apartment here on Rubi-Ka is looking a bit bare, and you have some time on your hands to help a desperate woman sick with worry for her husband's well being.

      You approach the young alien looking woman. She has a rather blank, thoughtless look in her eyes. Could she be thinking of him lying dead in a ditch somewhere?

      “Have you seen my husband? His name is Pietro Molla, 

Gianna Molla, the origin of the quest.

Pietro Molla, a jerk.

I'm afraid he might have been abducted by aliens.” You stop for a second, taken aback.

      “No, I don't recall the name, so I don't think I've met him,” you reply hesitantly. She goes on to describe him, but it still doesn't ring a bell. You can see she's desperately worried, and apparently the investigators she sent earlier have dropped the case without telling her anything. It's almost as if no one cares about poor Pietro. She goes on about how bad the aliens are and how she's seen them with her own eyes.

      You try to sooth her, “I know they are bad, but I haven't heard of any abductions, though!” Her belief unwavering, she tells you she's convinced some soldiers from the government are covering up the abductions by hiding all evidence of them.

      “Who are they? You don't really think someone is trying to hide what happened to your husband?” you ask incredulously. She seems to think Omni-Tek is responsible for the cover-up and may be responsible for the disappearance of the investigators she's sent after her husband. You offer to look for her husband for her. She's hesitant to involve you, lest you disappear as well. You assert that you aren't afraid of “them.”

     “Well, I'm very greatful for your offer to help me. Please be careful!Oh, and if you find him, and bring me some evidence that he's still alive, please bring it to me, and I'll make sure you get a little something for your trouble.”

      After a long run, you find yourself approaching the husband, and skipping the pleasantries, you simply shout hey and ask him if he is Pietro Molla.

     “That's correct. What do you want?” he asks, eying you suspiciously. You tell him you've been looking all over for him. It was quite a jog to get here.

      “Oh yeah? This has, of course, nothing to do with my wife now, has it?”his suspicions seem to be growing. He tells you this is something she would try. Apparently she's living in the denial with the fact that their marriage is over. Nothing more left to do or say.

      “No, your wife didn't send me.” Smooth. All the suspicion in the world can't save him now. He chuckles nervously and, reaching into his pocket, pulls out a gold ring.

      “Oh, well, what do you want? If you're trying to mug me, I can ensure you I have no valuables. Maybe except this marriage ring. I don't need that anymore anyway.” and he hands you the ring. Smiling, you thank him for his generosity. He goes on about a great burden being lifted from his shoulders and how great it is to be free. You have your own suspicions about this man's true wealth, both concerning his character and his material possessions.

      However, you can't stop to think too long upon this. The long trek back to Gianna lies ahead.

You at least have the heart to tell the woman about her husband. Indeed, she's overwhelmed with happiness when you place the ring in her hand and tell her he is on his way back. She's going to make dinner for him, but before she goes she gives you her reward. In fact, she's so grateful, she gives you her husband's This Means couch.

This Means Corner Couch

It just barely fits through the Wampa doorway, as you drag it through the portal to join the rest in your apartment. You may sell one, or two and even get a good chunk of credits in return. You know you can get at least 75,000 for one of the bars. It's a good life, and you plan to enjoy it in a fully furnished home.

      Thus I learned how to farm up credits by selling furniture in the Sci-Fi MMO Anarchy Online. There is a tutorial for the Gianna Molla quest which you can find here: http://www.ao-universe.com/index.php?id=14&pid=25
It's quite a bit tedious, and best done between missions.  However, with the free jetpack from the 10 Year Anniversary event, it's a bit faster to get through. This is also a timed mission, but as you have over 8 hours to complete it, it can be finished with plenty of time to spare. If your looking to really shake things up in the apartment, you can apply the furniture to just about any surface including the ceiling. 

Planted ceiling with Lava Lamps

You can also buy furniture at Uncle Bazzit's in Meetmedere. Be careful not to over fill your apartment with stuff. 

The Living Room

One of many paintings bought in Borealis.

A dark corner of the Living Room.

Martial Artist's Meditation Room

Jilnas meditating while sitting in a couch.

The glowing sculpture in the Meditation Room.

The regular apartments on RK can hold up to 30 items, after which any new item placed will disappear. The Luxury Jobe apartments can hold 100. Apparently in the old days, The Luxury Jobe held 30 and the regular apartments on Jobe and Rubi-Ka could only hold 10 items. I know very few people care about the apartments in Anarchy Online, but I have found it quite a bit fun along with adding an extra dimension of immersion to the game. And who doesn't want a couple of bars to come home to?

Two Bars

Behind Two Bars

The Tale of Mad Matt and the Union

      Listen my child and you shall hear...of how “Mad” Matt made some IRK members lives a little more interesting. We all have met those players, the ones who don't seem to pay attention to the chat channels and rush into trouble without preparing for it. Some of us have even done it ourselves, before we knew better. I've been gaming online with Matt since early 2009. On Anarchy Online, we belong to The Independent Rubikans org, now being run by our friend “Namiru”. Nam encourages us to help out others in the game and strengthen overall relations with the rest of the community.

      This story came about as we were in the middle of leveling our paid account characters in the Temple of the Three Winds static dungeon. Nam was on his Temple services toon, “Keepdafaith”, when a team of people from the Union org came to us in need of help gaining the Stygian Desolator.

      A marvelous, blade this thing is! It is the size of most people's toons (about five or six feet in game space), with a bright orange-red, curved blade. The description for it reads thus:

“...the path back to Paradise is lined with the bones of my enemies. Their screams soothe me during the long nights, when I dream of what I have lost. I laugh when I recall their writhing anguish, their groveling to please me, the hope that their suffering will be put to an end. But I feed from their anguish and the begging look in their eyes as they grovel at my feet, hoping for a cessation...“

      It is dropped by Aztur the Immortal in a room deep within the Temple. However, first, we had to fight our way through the bosses who spawn before Azi: Uklesh the Frozen and Khalum. And before them, we had Gartua the Doorkeeper, the Guardian of Tomorrow, and other enemies agging us. Which was everything. In ToTW, even if it's grey and several levels below you, it will attack. A lot of people don't even bother killing on the way out, but rather train all the minor enemies (and some bosses) up to the exit.

Now this was the first time Matt and I had ever heard of the Styg (as it is affectionately called). I remember Nam telling us about it over the Skype call we were on. He made mention that we were to let a specific person from the Union loot Azi's corpse when we were done, but a certain person didn't seem to be paying any attention. Matt was on his Martial Artist and was busy killing his way through the corridors with the other team members.

      We broke into the room and killed everything, then turned our attention to Uklesh. After the first two bosses fell at the alter, we found ourselves face to face with the big bad, himself. This was actually the first time Matt and I had faced any of the final bosses for the Temple. Nam and the other IRK members had warned us of trying to take them on. We managed to make it through Azi, but it was a close call.

      Then Matt rushed forward. Then Matt opened the corpse. The Nam and I heard Matt say, “Ooooo! What's this? Well no one's going to be using it, so I guess I'll take it!” In the chat window, the team saw the phrase: “ looted Stygian Desolator.” The Styg is, of course, “No Drop” and ”Unique”, meaning that once you pick it up, it's yours. There's no trading it to other players and no selling it to a shop.

      Our escort proceeded to flip out in the chat, “A MA?! Are freaking kidding me?!” Matt and I were promptly kicked from the team, and Matt's toon went on to commit obligatory seppuku. It was one of those Oh-Shit-What-Have-We-Done moments. We'd seen their members running around, so they were a definitely an active org during a time when even the biggest orgs lay barren, gathering dust. The last thing we wanted to do was make 'em mad. Fortunately Nam was able to run the Union members through again, after waiting for the lowbie escort to run back from the Shadowlands. In fact, one of the guys apologized for the escort blowing his stack, and said the guy was a bit of a n00b. Eventually Nam was able to kill Azi again and the Styg was gotten by the appropriate player and all ended happily ever after

      Later we discussed the incident with our friend Bob, another IRK member. “What?! Oh man, we shared a chat bot with them!” he exclaimed in despair. However, IRK hasn't suffered from any severe fallout from the event. We still see members of the Union around along with quite a few orgs that are still hanging in there. Perhaps if the graphics update goes through, we'll see a resurgence, if brief, in the ones that have shut down in recent years. Matt and I are now playing on our fr00b Enforcers, which have far surpassed our paid mains in levels. Matt has also been doing a review show on Mad Matt Reviews bliptv and Mad Matt Reviews Youtube. I'm sure he'd appreciate polite constructive criticism. Don't forget to say hi to the IRK on Rubi-Ka!

Of Anarchy Online and The Future

        As many of you may already know Colin “Means” Cragg recently stepped down as Game Director for Anarchy Online and has passed the torch to Fia "Lindelu" Tjernberg. Sometime this month, Lindelu will make her first post updating players on the what to expect from here on out for the game.

        Some people seem to think this signals the end of Anarchy Online; that Means was leaving a sinking ship. Other more optimistic folks, such as myself, feel this could make for a breath of fresh air and will allow new ideas to germinate. I know I only post to this and others blogs once in a blue moon, but I found myself so excited by this news I had to write something up. My head has been swimming lately with the possibilities a new Game Director brings.

         Now that 's not to say I don't appreciate what Means has done. I started playing AO in 2009 and Means is pretty much the only GD I've known. According to his farewell post, he worked on the Alien Invasion and Legacy of the Xan expansions, as well as play testing the Crypt of Home static dungeon. For the past 8 years, he has tried his best to please the player base, while playing a dual role as Game Director and Producer.

         But there have been some less than spectacular content updates as well. One that comes to mind in particular is 10th Anniversary event, or what my friends call the “Failaversary” event. You and a host of other players were tasked with hunting down a mob called Desert Nomads which dropped certain “no drop” (nontradeable, nonsellable) items that were then to be given to a special NPC called the “The Tinker” at Stolts Trading Post in Newland Desert. Once that NPC had collected 5,000 of the items, a level 220 boss known as The Desert Rider would spawn. Killing him required a large number of level 200+ characters to gather and work together. However, once he was taken down, there was no crowd control to make sure by-standers couldn't loot the corpse. Thus, you had a crowd of 50-100 players of all levels sitting on the corpse, clicking it like mad and coming up empty handed. The loot included 6 Clio Yalms (a small speeder like ship; the Clio comically resembled a Prius) and 6 sets of quality level 300 Nomad armor which requires all of your base abilities to be 750+ in order to even equip it. In other words, this event seemed more geared toward high level players.

         I talked to my friends in The Independent Rubikans, one of the first Orgs (guilds/clans) founded in game. “Namiru,” who has been playing AO off and on for the past 10 years, had a problem with a lot of the new content being tagged for end game, rather than creating content to bring in new players. As a consequence, he and the others felt the game's population was falling, and they blamed Means and some of the other developers for it. I try my best to see things from both sides. I understand that the game can't run on good will alone and that Funcom relies on both in-game ad revenue and subscriptions to keep things running. And to keep people who've maxed out their toons subscribed, one of the few things I can think of is adding end game content along with bolstering the PvP experience.

         On the other hand as someone playing for free (“fr00b”) with a toon that has reached level 90, I feel like I'm running out of options for gameplay. There are daily missions, epic daily missions, and the regular mission terminals, and there are still bosses in the Biomare static dungeon to take out. However, when I and my mostly fr00b team first got to Biomare, Namiru turned to us and said that this was pretty much the end of the fun when it came to being a fr00b. I mentioned some of the other static dungeons such as Crypt of Home, Steppes of Madness, the Inner Sanctum, and Camelot. He shot down most of them stating that these where simply meat grinders and that you usually only went into them with the idea of obtaining certain No Drop items. He felt that Camelot in particular would be a better dungeon if the devs made it strictly PvE, instead of a mix of PvP and PvE. Not only do you have to fight the monsters there, but also the other teams camping the big boss at the end.

        Now I'm a casual player who's highest level toon is at 92. I've only just barely gotten Namiru and another fr00b friend, Matt Winchell (host of Mad Matt Reviews), to try running through Crypt of Home with me. I'm not a dev and I have no idea how much work goes into maintaining an MMO of this age, let alone refreshing the experience for those who feel they've done everything here. I guess, though if I were to improve the game, I'd try to:

1. Give fr00bs access to at least the buying portion of the auction house (this is was initially a suggestion made by Namiru).
2. Another idea that has been brought up to Means on the forums is to add a coherent story/quest line to the open world experience. If well written, this quest line could really enhance the sci-fi aspects of the game and further acquaint the player with the three factions we first met on n00b island.
3. The devs could even offer more unique items encouraging players to experiment with different builds. AO is a fully customizable game when it comes to the 14 classes available, the only limit being how many Improvement Points you're willing to invest in nontraditional skills for your class. Some players feel it is throwing away IP to make an Adventurer class run around with a shot gun, or a two handed sword, etc. instead of the typical pistols, but the fact that the game takes such customizability into account is unique and worth reenforcing. I admit, that last suggestion was based on the fact that I have a dual wielding one handed blunt Enforcer.
4. Or perhaps streamlining some items would be better. There are several types of equipable lighting items which could be combined into one. Perhaps more isn't better.
5. Yet another idea is cheaper, easier to access to vehicles. Even with the fast travel provided by the Wampa Network and the even faster Grid, you still will have to run quite a distance to get to mission doors. I was able to purchase a Yalm at 2 million credits only because I found a ring Namiru bought from me for $20 million credits. I also had to wait to be able to equip it once my navigation flight skill got up there. An idea would be to keep the jetpack available, if not for free, then perhaps as a quest reward or shop item.
6. Maybe someone could write a better guided? Or maybe fill out the AO wiki (I think there's a couple out there)? Then again there are quite a few guides already put out by such fine sites like AO Universe, really a site everyone should read when they first start out. I think that if I had taken the time to read it more thoroughly, I could have saved my friends a lot of time. There's so much info associated with this game that I'm surprised anything coherent exists.
7. Maybe adding more map variety to the missions might help boost interest in them and boost the variety of game play. In fact, varying the writing for the missions themselves would help. Every other mission seems to be find this person, kill that person, find this object, etc. with of the dialogue in the transmissions being cloned in the same 4 or 5 selected missions.
8. More variety in mobs might also boost interest. There certainly is a lot of unique looking creatures, but there's others such as some of the mutants in Biomare and the SoM that Namiru describes as “place holder monsters.”
9. How about more social garb? I loved the Halloween costume pieces for 2011. Also, something that allows you to try on clothing without having to buy it first would be much appreciated. Many times, I thought a pair of boots would fit my ensemble only to find they don't work at all with any of my toon's outfits.
10. How about improving and adding to the furniture in apartments? I like sitting on my couches rather than in them. More furniture of different varieties could be gained either through shops, crafting, or questing. Another idea would be to give each profession a way of taking basic furniture, and crafting it into something that matches that profession’s aesthetics.
11. I keep reading about a balance problem. Namiru is always telling me how he thinks Agents are over powered and Fixers (the computer hacker class) are neglected. Being a casual gamer, I've really only experienced a few classes, the Martial Artist and Enforcer being my main paid and fr00b classes.
12. Another topic people keep mentioning on the forums is the weak PvP. Now I don't usually do PvP except for dueling with friends, usually with a veteran player looking on to see if there is something awry with my character build. From what they are saying, the Battlestations where people can enter PvP instances according to their levels, are very empty thanks to the new daily PvP missions. I don't know much about it, but maybe there are ways to offer trophies for one on one, team, and even org PvP battles. I know Namiru gains Victory points for defeating foes in the Battlestations, but maybe unique or rare items could be handed out to the victors as well.
13. Okay, one last thing I can think of for now. I would love to see more books, soundtracks, and other merchandising for AO. In fact, I was a bit disappointed to see there was only one book written for the game's mythology. I have no idea how Shadowlands or the Alien Invasion could be written into a coherent storyline, though it would be interesting to see someone try it.

        To reiterate, these are just suggests, many or all of which may never even come to pass, or they do exist and I just haven't come across them yet. I understand the devs are not some magical little fairies that, with the wave of a wand, can change the game at will. And again, I have no game development experience, whatsoever. Consider this a wish list for AO, a recording of my hopes and dreams for the future of the game. If anything, the rumor mill is still churning out gossip pertaining to a possible Anarchy Online 2 (reported canceled a while back) in the works after The Secret World wraps up.

         The Secret World is another beast altogether, and I might write about it depth some other time, nce it's been released and once I have a computer that can handle it. From what I've heard, it doesn't implement a level or class system. Rather, the selected skills are grouped together into 7 active and 7 passive, many of which can be used across the board for either ranged, melee, or miscellaneous. It's kind of similar to AO, in that varying amounts of IP can be invested into any skills you wish on your toon. However with Secret World, you might not be gimped so much in return for your creative character building.

         So there's the news, and then some if you haven't checked out AO in a while. It's showing it's age graphics wise, but gameplay is quite fun. That is, when you have the people to buff/twink you into your armor, weapons, and cybernetic implants. But I might get into more about the actual gameplay and socializing in another post sometime. For now, I'll wait with baited breath for Lindelu to post her update, and go forward into 2012 with high hopes for Anarchy Online.