I had originally avoided including multiboxers in the list above given how uncomfortable a discussion it can be in AO, given that in its low population state multiboxing has kept the servers alive - but, the reality is that Multiboxing is a significant concern from a lot of the community as is evidenced here and further on the AO Discord. I decided to include it to try to reflect where the community’s at. Even if there isn’t a clear solution, it should be noted nonetheless.
I multibox with 6 accounts for my own gain and I don’t like doing things with people out of my org or people who don’t have a clue, for example if I want a new tl7 I won’t do one with randoms I’ll do with my multi box it’s much faster
But as for the new server I don’t want to see it there, don’t want it ruining everyone’s experience and ruin it. I’ve spoken to many people, people willing to come back to game and play the fresh server from pvpers to pvmers, just hope things like this and the cash shop won’t ruin it and make everyone quit.
Hi everyone!
Assuming it’s going to be a fresh server - with everyone starting from the scratch, don’t you think that AO should once again become what it used to be - a MMORP , not an “i can afford several accounts so i don’t need to team anyone game”?
Being level locked at the start, means a lot of players will be at the same level, or leveling together, which is great for population of any kind. Meaning we should all get back to actually teaming up people, rather than farming stuff solo. Teaming people makes a game fun, as you can chat and socialize with them. Not just going after a specific item that you want to loot.
This will make the game A LOT more enjoyable for both newcomers and veterans, as they could gain knowledge from each other too.
With a proper advertisement (marketing), AO 2019 server can have a very stable population. If FC are removing the character-boost items from the shop, so it could be equal for all, you might as well not-allow multiboxing (not even one person logging 2 clients and alt-tabbing them.)
Basically, you’re removing the “I pay to win” method, but please, this time do it properly. It’s nonsense if a person doesn’t have access to a shop, but has access to a lot of content/loot solo, just because that person can afford several accounts.
That way even the most experienced players will have to team up with complete newcomers, so they can gain items/levels together.
This will make people to actually need to rely on each other. It will bring a lot more players together in organizations, it will gradually reduce the toxicity/trashtalking between players.
Not being able to transfer items alone, but with a friend instead, not being able to solo stuff alone,but actually rolling for them in a team would make a game way more challenging and friendly.
A good idea could be, that everyone gets a GRACE at the start of the game, a person could choose if they want to use it, or rather save it and sell it later for something of it’s value. Also you could use this as an advertisement - you pay for 1 month and you get 2 months of playtime.
That could also bring a lot of newcomers.
To wrap it up - my suggestion is to have bigger population, so more people are paying x1 account , rather than having less people, paying for several accounts and eventually, sharing them between.
That way , a game would be much more enjoyable by everyone, as you’ll always see tons of people on lft and/or in your org chat, willing to do stuff with you , which results after all, in having fun while playing.
I have a question though, when you’re planning on bringing back all of the veeery old content, would there be guides/a webpage like ao-universe.com or auno.com that will be using the database from the current state of the game, to actually guide everyone for the new locations/missions/loot/nanos and so on?
Simply launching a 19 year old version with 0 knowledge left for it doesn’t seem like a very good idea to me. All the newcomers and even the experienced players had long forgotten what it was on day 1.
Bump! Hope to see some good replies and thoughts on that one!
P.S. Adding a way that the client detects itself would be the easiest and best solution to prevent multiboxing. Or even account sharing.
I’m sure it’s not that hard, as many, many other games and programs have it.
“You’re already running a client” message is more than enough 
Nope, not easy at all and infinite ways to get around it: virtual machines, multiple physical machines with keyboard sync, etc. Limiting players to 1 client = many pissed off non-multiboxers who use 2nd accounts to store stuff/craft/chatbot. Any solution to the multibox “problem” should NOT effect normal players OR its a bad “solution”.
Multiboxing is its own huge thing that we should leave out of this discussion
I would tend to agree with you, which is why I left it out of my original post - but I want the list to reflect community concerns regarding the 2019 server. It’s pretty clear that multiboxing is a primary concern for a lot of folks, so I felt I needed to add it.
Glad to see someone start a good thread on the progression server topic.
Given the scant information provided in the announcement, I see it as more of a “raise the flag and see if anyone salutes” type of marketing research by Funcom. It is an easy way to get a handle on the questions players will ask if and when they actually produce such a product.
I just re-subbed for a year at about $8 bucks US a month, so I don’t see the sub cost as excessive.
My concern is that the progression server might be a precursor for eventually replacing the current live server for all new accounts and eliminating new Froob account creation.
This is an interesting idea but there is a lot to it. These are my thoughts on this after playing on the new client beta server before all the free goodies were enabled.
- Even limited to RK with no NW you can level to 60 in about 5-6 hours and not even really be trying.
- Credits will be no problem. Should be able to buy a yalm outright in a store by level 40. Back before NW I did research on how many credits you can make in your first hour in the old back yards and solo missions. It was stupid how much you can make in an hour. Basically in one hour you can pay for level 30 pre built implants and all your nano’s you need through level 30.
- If people have not considered this yet then remember first ever 200 was a MA named Kicky and that took under 3 months back at launch time frame. Since then things like evades work, new stims, knowledge of med suits, pre-built implants and the general impressive damage of MA’s will almost certainly make them one of if not the best choice for a first toon to level and grind items with. Not having to buy a weapon, working evades and a vagabond cloak will make the MA a good the first few weeks. Probably will have the best damage of class given only access to RK weapons.
- Armor - Carb and Miy’s will still have their place. Shoulder pads were non-existent in release AO. So Miy shoulders will be god tier items the first few weeks. I don’t care if we have click up armor.
- Team missions done solo. Big loot, good credits and great XP. Team missions did not work at AO release. However they did work when the first Test Server wipe occurred and a group of Bratpack players reached level 25 in just under 2 hours doing full hard team missions back in the days of permant XP lost on death. Don’t under estimate how fast any level cap can be reached when a team of six just keeps doing full hard team missions.
- TOTW weapons and the subway weapons. Yep way better than anything we had at AO release. Again just makes leveling faster.
- There are a lot of really cool quest that give great times if all we have access to is basic AO.
- If the first level cap is 60. I figure a team of 6 equipped players will be able to take down worms and farm up a good amount of Sandy Goo. Really there is no class that does not benefit from them.
- Missions - Mantis and Cyborgs - Not only do you get Miy’s armor but Rings of Defense and Offense.
- Oh yeah most of you might not remember but the old school back yard boss drops XP rings and damage rings.
- Just put this here. Level 25 Trader max Comp Lit parked by a trader shop to sell your loot for max credits.
- If this is going to be true old school are we getting LLTS and IQ Rings back?
- Item store and vets shop will pretty much make this a waste of time.
- Is MeetMeDere going to be PVP again?
- The fixer grid quest without highlevel to assist you. Oh gee thank you not for this.
- Scheol quest without a 220 to help you through it. Again WHY??!?!!?
A bunch of random thoughts but the point is. An experienced player base is going to be at the level caps in a day or two. A week tops and be well equipped and sitting on credits. I figure Level 60’s will be camping Newland Desert Dyna’s by the end of the first week. GMS if enabled will make it easy to buy and sell to each other. Mail will allow toon transfers.
So we will be down bots and mule/buff toons. If they wait till after 200’s are on the server to activate SL then Scheol will be lots of fun and very crowded with people building faction and doing quest. I guess hecklers in Ely will be camped too.
I don’t know how they expect this to work. Enforced caps to slow us down will just piss people off. Experience and knowledge levels are so high now that anyone that struggles has to be a true newb. So unless we are going to slow down and smell the roses I just see this as a race to the level cap and PVP till next cap is unlocked.
I have had the pleasure of a fresh server start with Launch, Test Server Wipe and New Client Beta server. After doing it three times I am really not looking forward to it again. Test server wipe had subway and TOTW and frankly that made life so easy compared to launch. The New Client beta server had SL and with Nasc pearls and pattern parts I had like 4 or 5 million at level 40 after fully equipping myself.
I really think a MA in med suit, vagabond cloak and the new stims/medkits will be able to level to 60 in 5-6 hours and not die once. If they team with a crat and mp they may be able to do it 4 hours. More time upgrading and equipping than actually doing anything.
And if anyone goes anything but Omni ( best shop sell prices save traders after 25 and easy med suits to name 2 reasons) then they are just hurting themselves.
Last note, Old Back yard mission give lots of stims and kits as reward and are available to level 5. Turn of XP gain and rack up your stim and kit count to save money at the start. Again it is the little things we know now that will make this so very race to 220/30/70 in the end.
I just don’t know if I have it in me to do a fresh start for a 4th time. It really is not all that great of thing after the second time. I know not everyone has had the chances I have. Just my view on this.
Dont think so. In 2001 i needed more than 1 month to level 50. And first lvl 200 in rk2 was in june 2002, that was 1 year after launch time.
Flojojojo was one of the first guys who dinged 200
https://auno.org/ao/char.php?dimension=2&name=Flojojojo
About money i bough my first yalm with lvl120, i payed 7 million creds and inhad to borrow 1m from a org mate.
And still i enjoy that pretty much. Tbh i hope new server will be the same. I dont want to reach lvl cap in few days.
Current code base is a different beast than the first year. When we originally went live, we had no dungeons like ToTW or Subway and missions were far less functional. Plus, we have nearly 2 decades of hindsight knowing exactly how to game the systems. People have froob mechanics down to a science, and that is what we’re looking at. My original concern about a reboot server was that it would only last a couple of weeks before getting stale.
I dont would keep the hopes to high about MB.
If we look into the past, FunCom only did decent actions to restrict it.
If MBHelper never works again, then that is more than many have ever hoped for. I am very grateful for patching it. But to think that FunCom would restrict Multiboxing in PvM is illusional imo.
I do not understand the concern on the new armor, there has already been scaling armor in the game, it only scales to a certain level then stops. pretty sure that is what this armor is gonna be too, adding some new noob items to play with is great
I can see a lot of very ,very good topics (pros and cons for a new server).
In my opinion, wouldn’t it be best, if we get a poll with options, what can be removed/added at the start, so people get to vote what might be good or not in a game. (with reasonable options)
Basically, i’d suggest having a good amount of old players that you could listen to, that have been playing for over a decade, and understand how AO population/content had worked out through the years, as these people are way more experienced into the game, than what’s left of FC GM’s/Advisors.
Personally, i think the harder AO is , the better it would be for everyone.
Including you Funcom, if a player takes a while to reach a certain level/gear, that would result in players subscribing for a longer period, in order to reach a certain goal. Which generates a better income for you, as a company.
you gonna level with me this time <3
Lots of great input (I hope FC is reading)
Like I’ve said, I’m an old school player (2001-2009) who plays for about 1 to 2 months every year to see the changes, so disregard my input opposed to many of you that have gone hard these last 18 years.
So, a level cap…
It’s going to be pointless, and drive people away who came back (seriously, who’s gonna max and wait till its raised?)
So, I guess some xp tweaks are gonna be HIGHLY needed to adjust for this… Honestly tweaks I’d be ok with cause I come from a sense of missing Pre-2005 MMO’s where it was GRINDDDDDD lol
In saying that…
Perma XP loss will need to make a comeback?
Perhaps adjusting needed xp levels? Say, double or triple? Half Mob Xp gain?
Eliminate all +XP items?
And, I’d go as far as messing with high value item drop rates.
I also think even tho its ‘AO oldschool’ adding in the subway and TOTW wouldnt be that bad of an idea.
They added a bit of charm between missions, dynas, and hunting.
But again…mess with dungeon boss spawn rates maybe? Make drop rates on high value items even harder to get? Half XP gain from mobs/increase needed XP?
Basically, AO is at a state where after 18 years even on froob mode we all know how to log in and select ‘Easy’ mode…
So…
Let’s make AO ‘New Game+’
I am going to be quite honest and say that unless this game is practically exactly like the game of old that I remember from late Notum Wars, but BEFORE Shadowlands… I am not going to play. I’m going to side eye/evil eye every Unicorn guard I see… but I can do my best to ignore them. Though such guards would make it extremely unlikely to ever see any Clan groups invade Omni territory… which is exceedingly stupid.
If I feel that the game is clearly catering to new players I am going to be severely dissapointed and leave just like that. If you didn’t play pre Shadowlands, you’re a ‘new’ player… as that is when they started to dumb down the game. There’s a huge difference between playing Shadowlands and Notum Wars. You never got to fully enjoy Rubi-ka… and even less so if you did start playing after Alien Invasion when slick looking cities that looked even better than what the richest, most influencial faction in the galaxy (Omni-tek) has! I HATED seeing the charm of wastelands going away and cities popping up in the distance. Charming little shack-towns became surrounded by multimillion “dollar” cities that had all the luxurious amendities you could imagine and skyscrapers all over the place. Then… within spitting distance of that… there was… oh say… the little shack-town that had the whompah from Newland city in Newland Desert. It killed so much atmosphere for me.
Anarchy Online Notum Wars has all the content one could possibly need for well over a year. Unless you’re a grindy person that’s willing to multibox… even if it’s intended to give an experience of old. It’s not cheating per se, but I do find it to be defeating of the purpose. I doubt too many of us had the money to pay for multiple accounts back then. What kind of experience would you be recreating then? I could be wrong, but I am fairly certain that each account back then had to actually BUY the game and it had a one-time fee that was way higher than the monthly subscription. To multibox you had to have -a LOT- of money available… and a killer PC. So… you wouldn’t be recreating any sort of experience at all.
They are rolling back the game on a fresh server to pull in old, old players. To get us to open our wallets once more for a monthly payment. If the game doesn’t deliver on an old-timey experience, I find it unlikely that most of us will stay. Once we’re gone, the playerbase will go back to the same amounts as it is today… a playercount that seems to be barely enough for ONE server. They had to shut down Rimor for crying out loud. You think that the 2019 server will stay up for long once the rest of us find that this is not the game we remember and shut down our accounts once more? No… the server will be shut down for sure.
-Maijorpayne, played the game from late 2001.
I vaguely remember some armor pieces that you had to right click to level them up, but I do not remember which pieces these were and even if it was in Anarchy Online classic. However I am also fairly certain that these pieces scaled up on LEVEL REQUIREMENTS… where the other pieces were Quality Level. The armor that leveled up was highly inferior due to its Quality Level and Level Req relationship. You wanted to push the boundraries of your Quality Level stuff. To twink them on, as it were.
Scaling armor as we see today is not like that. It’s generally a be all, end all type of thing. It’s the best piece, because they give you all the stats you need and could possibly want. They are practically Symbiant implants, except Armors… which practically make them the CC armor set (and the sets peers for other classes). I loathe that. I cannot see them adding a new set that would in any way inferior to the armor pieces of old. What kind of reward would they be then?
Have to agree that the leveling armor will be a real letdown. The most fun thing in AO is raiding for and twinking gear, including juggling buffs.
That is why the game is “less fun” now - there are just so many ways to get by without working, and getting gear (like van Horn’s vest etc) is pointless.
they could implemented the new scaling armor 3 months out or something.
i dont want to see any item advantage when i start fresh, and i think most of the people feel the same.
we want it to be as identical to classic as possible. obviously this wont happen, but throwing out starter armor once server is up that scales and maybe has some nice stats to it wont realy make me happy.
but i wouldnt complain if they came with levling armor later on. just not in the begining. throw the levling amror out in the itemstore insted after 3 months and earn some extra creds then from us.