AO and Universe

[aramsunat]

Although i'm definitely not a hardcore RPer, I still feel that AO is intended to be a cyberpunk-like mmo game.

Despite that, places in Rubi-Ka are nothing but desolate zones and conflicts (RP-wise) are halted or at least they are not visible for most players. Also the cyberpunk atmoshpere and setting became less and less important.

The story is well thought-out but I really do not feel it while playing.

I dunno, its hard to put into words, but AO's cyberpunk aspect seems to be diminished during the years.

Will the story develop furher? Will some basic concepts change (or change back to be more precise)

[Triadninja]

when I first started the game, I liked it, in the fact that it was a Sci-Fi MMO. As I played, each dungeon and mission felt like it was futuristic, running through Rome Blue and Rome Green was amazing when I was a noob. It's feeling kind of left after awhile, but I think thats time's fault and not the game dev's.

[Righteous]

yeah when I first played I got more of a Escape from New York meets Half-Life vibe. I liked it.

[Threezey]

it's definitely true that places, especially rome and other omni-owned zones, seem chilling and cyber-punk-esque ... i remember when i learned about the grid .. and went in it, and was like HOLY BAJEEBUS. lol

then later learning as a fixer I had my own special grid just waiting for me to get access to it xD

discovering those things in the game happens once, and the "ooooh, ahhhh" always wears off, that's just life =p

I do agree, though, that the devs havn't seemed to try much at all to implement more zones with obvious atmosphere...

The most recent zone update I can think of is Old Athens revamp... and although it is nice, it's sort of strange and confusing [is it a giant garden with a city mixed in... or a junkyard that grew plants... or a master landscaping artist's prized creation] - in any case, it still doesn't carry much atmosphere with it. The chilling music you first hear when you enter Rome is very unique, and slightly depressing, which really brings you into the storyline of the game.

Funcom always does amazing work with music, AO had some excellent background music [most of us are simply tired of it now, after so long]. Age of Conan's music produced a boatload of forum threads asking about it and praising it, because it was so fitting.



I really, really wish there would be storyline progression [even if it's superficial stuff that doesn't really contribute to the overall plot] - Events that would spark interest and conversation, not just from fr00bs with nothing better to do but even with 220's just curious about what's going on. I honestly can't recall the last time I was part of, or even witnessed, any sort of event in-game that wasn't entirely pointless. (Aliens invading borealis and other cities is fun, but ultimately boring - aliens die, life goes on).

IIRK was nice but usually regurgitated the same content every week... Now I admit I'm not familiar with AO's story at the moment, but something to capture the interest of players like an election for a new, imaginary position an npc would hold would be amazing. IIRK could release links to a website where players could cast their votes - maybe on, or connected to the forums even, so every active subscriber has the ability to vote [once].

The results of the election could have an effect in-game, so players would have to individually decide which way to vote...
for example... let's say Joe Shmo prominent clan activist is on the ballot, along with Billy Bob the neutral worker's union representative [and some omni dude, use your imagination].
Depending on which one wins, there could be a few different superficial results [which would be disclosed AFTER the election]. They could give speeches and such, and there would be an incentive to vote not just for your side, but for the candidate who appeals to you most...

okay this is very abstract, but just a quick [and ENTIRELY DOABLE] plan that would make people feel more involved...

Rather than simply sitting down with your design team and figuring out "hey, what type of playfield should we make next?" why not call elections for the head of a new public Rubi-Ka Research and Development Corporation. Each candidate would have a different primary research goal - further exploring shadowlands, reckoning with the alien threat, or continuing the terraforming and development of Rubi-Ka for future generations. THIS WOULD GIVE PLAYERS DIRECT INPUT INTO WHAT THEY WOULD WANT TO SEE, AND TIE THEM INTO THE GAMES STORYLINE - GET THEM INVOLVED. This would also take alot [not all ] eyes off of "THE NEW OMGZ ITEMS IN PATCH 18.X" and bring more attention to the game's development instead.


God I hope a dev actually reads this

[grumpy-mcfart]

IIRK could release links to a website where players could cast their votes - maybe on, or connected to the forums even, so every active subscriber has the ability to vote [once].

The results of the election could have an effect in-game, so players would have to individually decide which way to vote...
for example... let's say Joe Shmo prominent clan activist is on the ballot, along with Billy Bob the neutral worker's union representative [and some omni dude, use your imagination].
Depending on which one wins, there could be a few different superficial results [which would be disclosed AFTER the election]. They could give speeches and such, and there would be an incentive to vote not just for your side, but for the candidate who appeals to you most...

okay this is very abstract, but just a quick [and ENTIRELY DOABLE] plan that would make people feel more involved...

Rather than simply sitting down with your design team and figuring out "hey, what type of playfield should we make next?" why not call elections for the head of a new public Rubi-Ka Research and Development Corporation. Each candidate would have a different primary research goal - further exploring shadowlands, reckoning with the alien threat, or continuing the terraforming and development of Rubi-Ka for future generations. THIS WOULD GIVE PLAYERS DIRECT INPUT INTO WHAT THEY WOULD WANT TO SEE, AND TIE THEM INTO THE GAMES STORYLINE - GET THEM INVOLVED. This would also take alot [not all ] eyes off of "THE NEW OMGZ ITEMS IN PATCH 18.X" and bring more attention to the game's development instead.

This.

[Chrys]

With all the emphasis on Xan, the new content has a much more Dune feel than Cyberpunk feel. But Omni-tek cities are totally cyberpunk, clan is sorta utopian (OA) or Dune (Tir) ever since they wiped the old OA (which was the flip side of cyberpunk).

Shadowlands is a blight on AO, hope they never go back to that now

[Gonido]

I really, really wish there would be storyline progression [even if it's superficial stuff that doesn't really contribute to the overall plot] - Events that would spark interest and conversation, not just from fr00bs with nothing better to do but even with 220's just curious about what's going on. I honestly can't recall the last time I was part of, or even witnessed, any sort of event in-game that wasn't entirely pointless. (Aliens invading borealis and other cities is fun, but ultimately boring - aliens die, life goes on).

IIRK was nice but usually regurgitated the same content every week... Now I admit I'm not familiar with AO's story at the moment, but something to capture the interest of players like an election for a new, imaginary position an npc would hold would be amazing. IIRK could release links to a website where players could cast their votes - maybe on, or connected to the forums even, so every active subscriber has the ability to vote [once].

The results of the election could have an effect in-game, so players would have to individually decide which way to vote...
for example... let's say Joe Shmo prominent clan activist is on the ballot, along with Billy Bob the neutral worker's union representative [and some omni dude, use your imagination].
Depending on which one wins, there could be a few different superficial results [which would be disclosed AFTER the election]. They could give speeches and such, and there would be an incentive to vote not just for your side, but for the candidate who appeals to you most...

okay this is very abstract, but just a quick [and ENTIRELY DOABLE] plan that would make people feel more involved...

Rather than simply sitting down with your design team and figuring out "hey, what type of playfield should we make next?" why not call elections for the head of a new public Rubi-Ka Research and Development Corporation. Each candidate would have a different primary research goal - further exploring shadowlands, reckoning with the alien threat, or continuing the terraforming and development of Rubi-Ka for future generations. THIS WOULD GIVE PLAYERS DIRECT INPUT INTO WHAT THEY WOULD WANT TO SEE, AND TIE THEM INTO THE GAMES STORYLINE - GET THEM INVOLVED. This would also take alot [not all ] eyes off of "THE NEW OMGZ ITEMS IN PATCH 18.X" and bring more attention to the game's development instead.


God I hope a dev actually reads this

/signed

[-Bugsplat]

I hate to say it but....

Shadowlands is a blight on AO, hope they never go back to that now

ditto.

[Technogen]

I would love to see them say "F IT, we know what SL was we're changing it to make the game more enjoyable to play" and rework the whole dang thing.

[Honorbound]

The background and setting of AO has not much to do (if anything) with cyberpunk, imo, where, by cyberpunk, I mean what it actually is (or more like, was, since the genre was at it's best around the '80-'90 era, with authors like Gibson, Stephenson, Sterling, and works like Neuromancer and Snow Crash). AO has almost nothing of the things that define classic cyberpunk, except maybe the cliche of very powerful corporations oppressing the life of the "common man" and pursuing their own goals regardless of any and all resulting consequences, but nothing beyond that.

The game has a very solid and powerful background of its own tho, (if you did not yet read Prophet Without Honor, you really should, although you'll be feeling a little let down at the end because it screams for a second, third, etc. book to continue the story), which includes the Shadowlands pretty much from the get go.
In fact, what happened back on Earth 27k years ago was the direct consequence of things that happened to the planet that once the Shadowlands was and things were set to motion by powers residing in the Shadowlands.

I never understood why a lot of people feel that adding the Shadowlands to the game was a mistake. It may be because they don't know what the Shadowlands is (at least as far as it can be known by piecing together what little information you get from PHW and in-game sources), how it came to be, and most importantly, why it does look like the way it does.

As for advancing with the storyline, it may be a lot more difficult than you'd think.

The backstory of the game is built around the conflict of two godlike power-factions which the Xan had split into a very long time ago (and which caused their homeworld to get destroyed and scattered throughout several dimensions and across a very wide timespan). This conflict was brought to Earth roughly 27k years ago, with the intent of pulling a new species into it, and eventually getting them to Rubi-Ka to fight the last battle of this war, that will decide everything.
This falls in line with the fact that AO was to have a set lifespan, so the story could've been evolved towards the victory of one or the other side based on what the players do in the game, which faction seems to be getting the upper hand, etc.
However, since it was decided that the game should not get closed down after this intended period, there are only three options at this point to evolve the main story into:
- The Clans (and Redeemed) wins the war, and take control of the Source. Story ends, game ends.
- Omni-Tek (and Unredeemed) wins the war, and take control of the Source. Story ends, game ends.
- No one is allowed to win, the fighting continues indefinitely. Not much possibility to include major story events, but the game can go on maintaining this status quo we have now.

So while I also would like to see some progress regarding the storyline, I also understand that the game got pretty much deadlocked by it's own original/intended story. The only way things could fundamentally change would also sadly mean the end of the game.

[ninor]

sorry honorbound but i got to severely disagree.

One nice thing would be for ICC to step in, take over borealis and 2HO or something and open up a third faction or make neutral a real faction with focus on defending "humanity" against aliens and helping ergo rebuild SL. More than enough source for new stories.

As for the existing conflict, how about opening new areas of RK for colonization and make them fight over it. Global research race for building new cities. Lot's of ground to go on as well.

Then there are lot's of side stories. Let there be a Grid 2, now updated for only twice the cost. Dustbrigade should offer a lot more nice conflict stories instead of just beeing an excuse for new play fields.

The story will only work out in a dead end if you really want to...

[Chrys]

Everyone knows Omni wins in the end sheesh That's what OS/SB is for

[Devdas]

[...] I really, really wish there would be storyline progression [even if it's superficial stuff that doesn't really contribute to the overall plot] - Events that would spark interest and conversation, not just from fr00bs with nothing better to do but even with 220's just curious about what's going on. I honestly can't recall the last time I was part of, or even witnessed, any sort of event in-game that wasn't entirely pointless. (Aliens invading borealis and other cities is fun, but ultimately boring - aliens die, life goes on).

IIRK was nice but usually regurgitated the same content every week... Now I admit I'm not familiar with AO's story at the moment, but something to capture the interest of players like an election for a new, imaginary position an npc would hold would be amazing. IIRK could release links to a website where players could cast their votes - maybe on, or connected to the forums even, so every active subscriber has the ability to vote [once].
[...]

What you are describing there sounds quite a lot like the stuff the ark events team does.
Over the years of our existence we have done quite a lot of events.

One of the things we did, admittedly some time ago, was the election of the mayor of newland.
His latest public statement can be found here.

If you would like to know more about events and what we do check out this post.

[aramsunat]

Look, we know that the community team is working on satisfying the RPers needs. I'm not an RPer myself, but actually I see (and appreciate) that Funcom is caring about them. For example IIRK or the "living" NPCs or how do you call them.

Although I see the resemblance to the cyberpunk "clisches" (which arent bad) I also see that the dev team is not really focusing on making it a more Shadowrun like thing. I understand they wanted to differentiate (which is good) but AO is very, very derailed from that path by now, loosing lotsa atmosphere.

Secondly, its not very interactive. I mean, a majroity of the players (this is an assumption without facts tho) dont give a f... about the things in IIRK. I mean even if the storyline progresses, people do not feel it.
This means:

1, players can not really affect the storyline. whether borealis is invaded by omnis or not is not based on or at least affected by players
2, lets say: new alien playfields coming next patch.
patch notes: "New alien playfields to fight the Alien threat blah blah" = grind 'n' phats
This concept would sound better: "Aliens invaded another part of Rubi-Ka! ICC requires instant help before the aliens secure themselves in the area."
and then, soon after in IIRK would pop: "Rubi-Ka in peril? Aliens stood ground in a Rubi-Ka sector the currently nearest from populated sectors! Interview with XYZ blah blah said that blah blah"
then the billboards would start promoting recruitment to fight the alien threat.
Later on some news about what the hell aliens are doing here. Etc.



aand ps: the desert regions of rubi ka are very Dune-ish which is very cool imo

[Xaun]

RP Points system v3!

http://forums.anarchy-online.com/sho...d.php?t=476590 *older v2 discussion

That is the old thread which I will leave in the past as I had a few refining ideas during its discussion and will re-propose it here updated to reflect peoples concerns in its time.

Its someone's job at Funcom to decide what next nefarious plot each side will come up with. Where to take the story and along with every other thing the players in the game want.. every little change or addition to the storyline runs the risk of upsetting xyz groups of people. So instead of making the storyline as rich and in-depth as possible... alot of plots are rather shallow, lack any true impact and or go unfinished due to changes in the Storyline ARK team. This causes Chaos because the new members of the ARK team have to figure out who/what/when/where/why of what is going on.. then try to conclude it some how. My idea was to provide a player feedback tool to both Funcom and the ARK coordinators as to where they would like to see their side go.

Now lets imagine for a second that there is a database that has each side pushing one goal higher than the others in a list based on what players contribute during their regular day to day routines. This option being proposed has no way to influence other than physically having a check mark in a box for your desired objective and being online. The premise is this:

When you are out there killing XYZ, or in the Cup or in Reets or Farming, Camping, Raiding.. what is your characters true goal? Sure everyone wants to get the phats! But why? What reason would your "character" have for doing those things. Now how you handle your personal storyline plots is your own thing. This would be an additional tool for RPers of all types casual, closet, Epic Story etc.. to tell funcom what their up to without having to email feedback to do so.

Any ARK current or future would be able to see what plots people are most interested in seeing happen. Would have player based feedback on a large enough scale to make a large group of the player base happy with storyline changes, etc. In the end this would result in a boom of RP because guess what? There are actual EVENTS WITH ARKS based on what your faction has been trying to achieve.. which would spawn all sorts of "little personal RP buzz" which would in turn draw more people into it. Additionally, RPers would want to do that "little pushing" of plots with their friends in "small personal RP" to get them to agree with why you are pushing an agenda (ie convince others to put a check in that box too!) Some plots would disappear when others completed because they would no longer be relevant and would be replaced by new story arcs continued from the other but ranging from Pro-Anti various positions on political things in the game world.

Funcom would in the same fashion as our LE research windows give us a place where the Story Team could put up potential future goals for a side with no visible feedback to the user so it cannot be exploited. The user would select a position ranging from Aggressive - Neutral - Passive type of plot lines. Examples could range from invading Borealis and reclaiming it for the clans or for omni-tek or the neutrals and the side that spends the most RP Resources in this goal does so. Other goals could be invading say 4-Holes and taking it back by Omni-Tek, Defending 4-Holes by Clans or Leave 4-Holes. It could deal with voting system in game for elections such as Omni-Leadership/Clan leadership/Neutral Local Leaderships. It could serve to allow us to add some more rounded out things such as the wild antics of ARK like new Pie factories and even offworld character involvement such as ICC or SolBanking.
{EDIT: I had an epiphany during proof reading this.. what if you had just a basic "RP" bar that only worked if you enabled it in the event participation option. Anytime you are online you are earning points in this little counter.. when it "levels" you get to assign RP Points to various plot lines just like we assign IP to stats.. In effect you would get to spread out your characters "spent time" doing things how you like instead of just having to mentally remember to go swap to another plot line you like. This would allow you to support invasion of XYZ, while still saying you want a new Pie shop in OA!}

The player's written stories in the forums & The special event meetings with ARK teams could be a palate by which the ARK team could use to come up with potential story lines. Then compile a list of say 10-50 possible major story arc per side and the related potential outcomes. Then regardless of wether you sit in the cup all day long chatting or are out there doing something else, at the end of the day there are 5k players who left a check mark in the same option adding .005 more points to that STORY ARCs progress as what they were trying to accomplish all day long wether talking, twinking, pvping, tower bashing, pvm'ing etc...

The end result would be RP would have the ability to change the world without changing how you have been playing the game thus far. It would just be giving you a direct feedback line to Funcom relating to what the players want to see Funcom do with the story but still leave the final control utterly in their control to make things happen and to pick when to do it..

Additionally.. imagine this scenerio:

ARK team wants to run an event.. so they do get it written etc.. then they do a check using this new tool:

!online EventP1 (event participation == yes)
:::LIST RETURNED:::
!filter OTStory1 (online people supporting a particular story arc)
:::LIST RETURNED:::

Mind you they'd likely have a cute lil gui to do this if someone put enough time in to it and they could see level ranges of players supporting a cause locations and if the new updated map & waypoint system was implemented that would allow them to contact and rally people in minutes without having to warp etc and even coordinate the event with the players.

I suggested this as a system of handling player desires for story advancement in AO's future quite a long time ago. The idea is simply that player choice controls their sides fate. Nothing more. I'd probably limit it to only pay accounts to prevent the obvious froob abuse possibilities.. and for main story loving RPers it would actually be a reason to go beyond the froob if they want to effect the world.

[Threezey]

What you are describing there sounds quite a lot like the stuff the ark events team does.
Over the years of our existence we have done quite a lot of events.
[...]
If you would like to know more about events and what we do check out this post.

I really appreciate the fact that you've dedicated so much time towards this, and I also immagine you don't get an abundance of support from the development team [work-with-what-you've-got kind of situation I immagine(?)], but the main problem as I see it is that learning about all the events, characters, and history of AO seems time intensive and ultimately pointless [from certain points of view].

A good example of a situation which draws attention, but doesn't REQUIRE you to be informed, is the presidential election which just took place in the U.S.. It was controversial, and if not for just that fact alone people who normally have no interest in politics decided to participate in voting. Similarly the poli-sci grad who's been on top of the political scene since as far back as he can remember (which we can consider the hardcore RP'ers - those who know the story and players through and through), is of course interested as well.

[...]
lets say: new alien playfields coming next patch.

patch notes: "New alien playfields to fight the Alien threat blah blah" = grind 'n' phats
This concept would sound better: "Aliens invaded another part of Rubi-Ka! ICC requires instant help before the aliens secure themselves in the area."
and then, soon after in IIRK would pop: "Rubi-Ka in peril? Aliens stood ground in a Rubi-Ka sector the currently nearest from populated sectors! Interview with XYZ blah blah said that blah blah"
then the billboards would start promoting recruitment to fight the alien threat.
[...]

Which brings me to my second point... If events were more "in-your-face," they would undoubtedly draw more attention. What Simon mentioned was a very good example of how the Development team and [the probably one of the more neglected] ARK Events community aren't exactly on the same page. If the ARK Event team had more control over ads on billboards, IIRK news spam, even the PATCH NOTES, it would allow them to more easily draw in the average player. Patch notes could still say what is clearly being updated in the patch, but an addendum [Click here for more info...] kind of thing giving some background information would be amazing.

I shouldn't have to scrounge the forums to make myself learn about this aspect of the game... and I can't say I don't blame alot of people for not bothering... This is something that can definitely improve but needs some creative thinking behind it.

=)

[Honorbound]

Which brings me to my second point... If events were more "in-your-face," they would undoubtedly draw more attention. What Simon mentioned was a very good example of how the Development team and [the probably one of the more neglected] ARK Events community aren't exactly on the same page. If the ARK Event team had more control over ads on billboards, IIRK news spam, even the PATCH NOTES, it would allow them to more easily draw in the average player. Patch notes could still say what is clearly being updated in the patch, but an addendum [Click here for more info...] kind of thing giving some background information would be amazing.

I shouldn't have to scrounge the forums to make myself learn about this aspect of the game... and I can't say I don't blame alot of people for not bothering... This is something that can definitely improve but needs some creative thinking behind it.

This is probably a very significant part of the reasons why events are not nearly as "popular" and attended as they could be, no matter how well the ARK Event team does their job to plan and make them.

Many players, who would be otherwise interested, don't even get to know, ever, that there was something interesting going on, simply because there were no easily and widely accessible information about it, something that you don't have to proactively keep looking for because it's tucked away in some shady corner of these forums.
If I knew there is something about to happen, and not even necessarily from "bluntly" being put up on the login news page like "there will be an event at here and here on this day and at that time", more like giving relatively easily interpretable hints and pieces of events and news leading up to something major in the near future, I'd be interested in going there if I have the chance, see what's it about, and maybe even try to participate in a way that makes some sense RP-wise, even though not being a "practised" RPer myself.

Plus, on the occasions I somehow got to know there was something happening some time after it actually happened, it usually turned out that it took place in some US-based timeframe, which usually means something between 0000-0600 for us Europeans. So, when events are timed like that, we can't possibly participate no matter how much we would have liked to.

[Vhax]

There is no AO.

[aramsunat]

There is no AO.

what a thought out and meaningful statement that was....

[Vhax]

what a thought out and meaningful statement that was....

I'm so deep, sometimes I even impress myself.