So I came back to give AO another shot and TBH it’s just as much fun as I remember.
My only real questions are simple lol
I decided to go Crat as from what I’ve read it’s become a great will class and good group class, any guides or advice? My main back then was a enforcer and since the game has changed I want to start fresh.
I have up to the alien invasion expansion so is shadowlands still the best Exp or is Rubi better?
Last question is netural good to go or should I pick a side? It’s been a long time and I was clan but I can do any of the three.
Hi, I’m a long-time Neutral player, I only have one sided character for roleplay reasons and I can say Neutral is still very much a viable alignment to take and comes with some benefits such as aggro-free travel, more quests (can do both sides of some quest lines) and some unique Neutral only items from some raids like Hollow Island. However most people find that the benefits granted by choosing a side are of greater value to them so it’s really up to you.
Since you last played there’ll have been changes to a lot of the nano-programs and there’ll be new areas to explore, take some time to familiarise yourself with the changes if you were used to knowing certain things. For example, NTs, Crats and MPs can all now cast Neuronal Stimulator instead of just NTs among many other changes.
The best way to get experience these days is through daily missions, on Rubi-Ka you can visit either the Omni or Clan agencies to receive a regular daily quest, an elite daily quest and an alien invasion daily quest. You can also approach the bartender in the antiques shop in Borealis for a PvP daily. In the shadowlands you will have access to DOJA chip dailies and when you approach the end-game elite shadowlands dailies.
Once you’ve accomplished your daily quest quota (available from levels 1->220/30) you can do RK dungeons or shadowlands quests to get exp, farming exp from cyborgs on RK or hecklers in SL are also still viable options.
If you want to level even faster you can buy the “New Colonist Bundle” from the steam store page (Listed under DLC for Anarchy Online) this will give you a code you can redeem on your account for a set of luxurious armour that grants a lot of addition % exp and scales with you as you level.
My advice is to take your time with coming back and pace yourself. If you have any other questions please ask, there’s a semi-official discord you can join where the community are extremely helpful and asking in OOC chat channels can be a great way to find answers in game.
You can do SL garden quests of both sides, making travel easier.
You can team with both sides in inferno missions. (There are brink missions which mean omnis and clanners can play together anyway, but they’re not as popular.)
The non-pvp raidbots generally accept neutrals, which means you can raid with both sides. In pvp, neutrals usually side with omni.
And some disadvantages:
The biggest penalty is not having a token board. There are various neutral-friendly neck items though, but they’re less powerful.
The neutral shadowbreeds are not as powerful.
Neutral organisations have fewer towerfields and thus lower side XP.
Also I totally agree with @kerrigan to join the discord
Note that your subscription is not higher if you were to get the Lost Eden and Legacy of the Xan expansions; they’d be a one-off purchase. Lost Eden in particular gives you research and items that are nice at all levels. Legacy of the Xan becomes relevant only at 201+. Just something to look into You can play fine without them too.
One other resource is Facebook. The AO community there is a bit more active then the forums here. Here is better for questions & knowledge, there is better for social stuff IMO.
These days pistols see a lot of love for crats, especially because of things like the Pen Quest buff and late-game crat only pistols. However you shouldn’t feel restrained into only using pistols, if you want to try out some other weapon go for it.
Weapons choices are numerous. You can pick up a ofab peregrine in the subway. 000 weapons… probably a Borealis, Dog of War, the master pistol (probably know it as the engie pistol) Dark pistol from CoH and then buff weapons like old English/Jess pistols for +intelligence, or the +experience pistols oyu can buy out of the wep terminal, the ncu pistols from the . second hand peddler. Stuff like that.
So your options right now for creds are simple things only. You can farm Exarch Robes in TotW and trade them with the blind cultist outside for Sealed Inner Sanctum Passes, they sell for 1-2m each on the GMI pretty readily. Another option is to run low-level buffing items in missions and sell those on. Outside of that your best credit making techniques open up to you at later levels.
This mainly comes down to friendships you end up making in game and your typical (RP) play style. Everyone is OOC sometimes but some will lean heavily towards playing their characters in a specific manner (RP) depending on how they see fit. Then again some try to be OOC 100% of the time in every situation. If you don’t care about this sort of thing…or, more accurately, only care about this sort of thing when it suits your purpose, then that will have a heavy impact on what side you end up choosing.
I would only add that you will be playing with characters that see you choosing Neutral as choosing a side against them and that you being Neutral means that you cannot be trusted and will swing whichever way the wind blows. Choosing Neutral doesn’t get you out of the burden of having to choose a side and intrinsically make you at peace with everyone. In fact its very easy for an Omni or Clan to make a very logical argument that a Neutral is more of a threat to them than their opposition. Of course the choice is yours I just think you should be aware that there is a very real negative side to choosing the Neutral position as I don’t think most consider this. Neutrals participate in NW which means they purposefully take land from both Clan and Omni, depriving them of experience bonus. They also are often seen as spies as they have they ability to travel to sided areas, read both sides chat, etc. Again, I’m sure you’re going to bake cakes in Newland all day but I just want you to be aware of some possible differing opinions.
You can play fine without them too.