Please release shadowlands before everyone quits

Anarchy Online General Discussion
21

That’s exactly what MMOs are about, but how are you out of new gear to acquire already at level 100?

Quick tour around ICC inspecting people shows most people are still wearing premade ql125 implants. I found just one guy who had q200 on.

Seems like plenty of people still have a lot of room to push their characters with new gear. I find it hard to believe that on the forums somehow everybody is already decked out in full set of q200 imps and VTEs on shoulders and just can’t seem to find things to do without SL.

I’m not a fan of a cap system, but I adding SL this early will solve far less problems than people imagine. SL was released to level 200s decked in full Azure and with billions of credits to burn in banks. Not to level 100s where 10 million is still a lot of money and people are running around in Newcomers Armor wearing store implants.

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22

Quit once I learned I wasn’t building a character that would someday exist in the primary server

23

I find it hard to believe that on the forums somehow everybody is already decked out in full set of q200 imps and VTEs on shoulders and just can’t seem to find things to do without SL.

I’m glad someone gets it. It’s just a small vocal brigade on here and discord making these claims over and over. If there were as many of them as they claim then they could easily go back to the regular server and make it vibrant and alive again. But they know that’s not the case so they just whine over and over here and make up skewed polls and stats. I’m glad FC is tuning them out and hopefully SL will arrive when it originally did back in the day and that’s at a 200 level cap.

I got 200 back in the day when the game was young and pre-SL and it wasn’t that bad. I found plenty of fun things to do on the way there because I didn’t make it all about leveling. With all the extra things on RK2019 (Subway, Temple etc.) it’s actually even more easy this time around.

So no, everyone is not quitting but I wish some people would and give the rest of us a break from this same stuff day after day.

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25

Same vocal minority that advocated back in the day for harder endgame content and got us db3 and poh so they could farm and sell endless loot rights while casual players were put out by the huge increases in difficulty and became their debt slaves.

26

As someone who would like the release of SL i want to ask what fun things there are on RK/vanillla AO that wont be there anymore with the release of SL.

Back when i played on the old server, about 11 years ago, i started out as a froob and at around level 150 i felt like i stopped progressing really, i could cast the highest nanos, had my endgame weapons equiped and was looking forward to 50 levels of slow grind in missions or borgs.
I stopped at level 167 because i just didnt find any motivation to level further and started fresh about a year later with a payed account.

Dont get me wrong, its not all about leveling and i even did a bit of RPing but the “everyday” grind was just boring for me on RK after level 150, with SL you at least get a perk every 10 level and can look forward to shadowlevels after reaching 200.

I dont want to invalidate your points or tell you you are wrong i just dont get why people are so against SL, the only arguments i read is that people dont like the setting or that it will be heckler grind all over again (which is not that much different to borgs now)

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27

Why would I need 200 level implants to go SL? Why would I want do SL content fully geared at level 200? Because doing garden quests and other things in nasc/ely/sheol with fully equiped 200 level char would be the same as doing your precious mercs raid with 220 endgame characters.
And please dont compare rk2019 with AO 2003, when SL was released. It is not the same game anymore.

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28

You don’t say. Well, in my opinion, you are the vocal minority that does not want Shadowlands.

29

As a fragment of evidence: I considered grinding yet more levels and creds in RK, decided I couldn’t bear the thought of it, and just this moment unsubscribed. Hoping to rejoin when Shadowlands comes out as I found that a brilliant expansion (later undermined by AI), and I’m looking forward to doing it in something like its original form. Things like: Jobe Research starting area, revisiting Crippler Cave, collecting Tier armour that has some point, and interesting quests, even if I know them almost too well.
Good hunting, those who remain.

30

Of course SL makes RK a lot less fun. It does it by making RK gear and by extension RK content obsolete. That’s what expansions do.

And why would you want q200 implants? Because that’s what MMOs are about, getting new gear, pushing your character and trying harder things. Isn’t that exactly the argument people were trying to push here?

We’re far from peaking on RK gear and content, so there is plenty for you to do. You just don’t wanna do it. All these claims about lack of content isn’t something I’m buying. Content is there, you just don’t wanna do it.

Most people never did any of the lowbie stuff, RK and SL. Which is why everybody spend the last decade skipping this supposedly amazing SL content and running straight to Inferno. And why adding SL solves nothing because people will continue to powerlevel to cap and complain about lack of content.

And of course I’m going to compare AO 2003 to RK2019, because that’s the only reference point we have. SL isn’t an expansion designed for level 100 characters in newcomers armor and couple of million in bank. Garden prices alone will clean out the accounts of just about everybody including the multiboxers.

The truth is this server, while a cool idea, suffers from poor planning.

It shouldn’t use live server shop prices which were designed to drain 15 years of colossal inflation out of the economy. And it should have at least some of the drop rates adjusted to account for the fact most of us aren’t quite as young as when we first discovered this game.

But that’s another conversation entirely.

Hey ho.

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31

Well, if the goal in mmos is to get new gear and try harder content then SL would be the perfect expansion.

after so many years of maxed out characters and twinks people tend to forget that SL is alot harder than RK.

also, there is so much talk about going straight to inferno for powerleveling. Why is is this even a topic, it will take month until people get to inferno.

  1. we still have a progression server and have the level cap
  2. even if the cap gets raised enough there are no high level sl items in circulation

also, can you give me an example of all the stuff that gets obsolete? with the serpentine armor we already have a pretty amazing rk armor where you need to visit all the mayor dungeons in order to get it

now i do know that some weapons will get obsolete

but do also keep in mind that right now, there are certain professions that are screwed when it comes to good weapons, this will actually get better with SL and again with AI. RK is unbalanced when it comes to this

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32

You’re right, SL is much harder. And I for one am not looking forward to camping all the tradeskill dingies on the massive SL playfields with my engineer who doesn’t even have runspeed raised because all the IP went into tradeskills.

Which are professions that lack good weapons? RK definitely was unbalanced, the biggest problem being lack of good pistols between desert reet and pan of patricia. But I would think the addition of excellent and easily to equip Reck weapons solves the problem quite nicely.

33

OK, so now you don’t want SL because it’s to big and you don’t run fast enough?

I give you props for really really trying to find new reasons when others are debunked, but you have to admit that is some pretty thin ice your’e on? :smile:

34

That’s not a new reason, that’s still the same reason - SL wasn’t designed for the characters people currently have and the fact it has massive playfields that will be time consuming to be travel is just another part of that. And you don’t debunk a thing. It’s a simple fact that SL wasn’t released nor designed for level 100 people wearing carbonum armors.

Meanwhile all the reasons people came up with for adding SL so far are demonstrably false.

Not enough gear to push your character - wrong
Not enough content - wrong
Lack of weapons for some professions - wrong

All of your arguments amount to nothing at all and it’s clear I was right from the start - what you really want to do in SL are nasc hecks, tiigs, ely hecks. Then you’ll wait for the next cap and go back to Discord and forums complaining how bored you are.

35

First of all, SL is lvl 1-220.

And i have only pointed out the good things i think SL would ADD as
content to what we already have on RK, asking how it would hurt RK.

I actually still don’t really know what you want, but you say things like:

  • no we won’t actually, it will be impossible to skip to inf now, took years on old server.
  • No, i gave you around 10+ things i like added with SL.
  • Even if that was the case, its just another choice to mish n borgs so whats really the problem?
  • what items, current RK is filled with BiS even with SL?
  • ok, so then symbs is just another choice then, that wont break current RK, i agree.
  • ok, so then SL nanos wont break current RK either, i agree.
  • ok, so then weapons is just another choice then, that wont break current RK either, i agree.
  • So even you don’t wanna do the grind to 200 on current RK?
  • I know exactly what SL will give me, and it would solve most of my problems.
  • Well, a matter of perspective sure, but we are at 3rd out of 12 months already,
    and have done less than 5% of the game. This is supposed to be a progression server ye?

In the end, if you don’t like SL that’s fine, but just say that you don’t like SL and give that as a reason then.
And maybe even let us that do like SL enjoy it?

I mean, would you enjoy doing subway and totw foremans with quests etc first at lvl 200?

36

Tbh you’d right that 90% of the characters do not have anywhere near a fully twinked out setup. Also most people have more than 1 character they level up on RK2019, making it difficult to equip all of them (I have like 6 100s, only 2 of them are well equipped).

I appreciate that you’re providing good points against SL, however the fact that not everyone is twinked doesn’t mean there’s still good RK content to do.

Sure everyone can farm mantises, mishes or borgs till they drop to get the best gear, but what’s the point when it will become far easier to get these things in the next level cap, and there’s no actual content worth doing that requires good equip (except maybe cerubin, which becomes pointless once you’ve killed it once for the serp armor).

The twinking experience with RK only is repetitive - it’s always just laddering the best implants, putting on the best armor and then slap on your weapon. Perks not only increase the possibilities, but also makes twinking more of a challenge and adds more gameplay than just pressing Q and 1 or 2 specials/nanos.

P.S. I would be open to having AI released before SL, although it might have the effect of making SL gear more obsolete when released

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37

Demonstrably false, but provides no demonstrations just a single word saying wrong. Great job there Alcoydel, great job.

38

And since when you have to be twinked to do stuff at sl, lmfao…

No, SL before AI thanks :smiley:

39

First, my 5 year old i7 4790K processor has no problem with ICC, nor any other game that’s interested me, because I would love to build a new PC, and can afford to do so, if only I needed one.

Second, SL will not cure your 2 button problem.

Third, I’ve been playing AO off and on since 2001, beginning with people from my Everquest guild, i.e., people very well used to grinding boring content. Most left after a few months, and the issues that caused it have still not been cured, such as the plethora of useless items compared to good ones. As well as, at the time, Funcom constantly changing the rules, i.e., nerfing things constantly, without providing good alternatives. Like a good choice for my advent back then was a nova flow (AR/ranged energy - how dumb was that - but it was better for my then soloing advent, since it could be bought in shops).

i.e., the game was, and still is, poorly itemized. Huge amounts of junk that new players have to wade through, but vets know immediately are crap.

You must do the dungeons to get good gear. It’s nice that they are contested, so you can wander in and have the possibility of finding a group to get what you need. And hope that after everyone else gets their CDR, they’ll stick around to help you get yours, but don’t count on it.

After spending a few weeks in RK2019, a friend interested me in playing FF14 again (which is now down for maintenance, so the only reason I’m posting here now).

I started a new character and was immediately plagued by guild invites, then joined one that is a good fit, which made me realize why AO is failing.

For one, I don’t have to wade thru a plethora of useless gear.

I can solo, and queue for a dungeon spot, which might take me 15 minutes or so (as a dps toon, my healer gets a spot immediately. As well as with my guildmates, regardless of the class I choose to play).

It’s been years since I’ve seen anyone in AO actively recruiting newbs, and RK2019 is no different.

After the first two SL zones, SL is tough to solo, which is why it has bad rep, that combined with the insular AO community.

40

First, lag has nothing to do with how powerful your PC is, it depends on the server and your internet connection (although i dont think icc is the problem but that there are so many people)

second, did you just want to disagree because you dislike AO now? because one of the major things SL gives you is perks, some of them giving you aditional actions, both offensive and defensive depending on your class, giving some of them alot more than 2 buttons to press

third, again, this is mainly a classic AO problem, SL and later AI greatly reduce this and give every weapon skill a good choice.

and im happy that you like ff14 but while you might get an invite to dungeons quicker and can solo while you wait its still a modern mmorpg, dumbed down equipment system, no twinking no buffs (as in, you can get buffs that you carry with you, not those from your own party) just get to max level and start grinding dungeons

i mean, there is a reason you keep coming back to AO since 2001 and i dont think its because its so much worse than other mmorpgs but because it does something different

also, dont get me wrong, FC handles ao poorly sometimes but the game itself is something special in the current market

41

Absolutely, AO provides something different. But it’s not SL that I play when I come back.

I don’t recall SL giving perks, that was AI. Some nice quality of life that have now been incorporated in RK, like one cast for all MP teachings.

Lag is affected by PC hardware, although I agree internet connection matters as well. I’ve had to turn off things, such as level of detail, like particle effects and the like before, but not with this 5-year old CPU, and several years old GPU (GTX 1070).

It’s certainly no reason to get rid of ICC because the OP’s setup can’t handle it.