Anarchy Online preparing to launch an item shop

What exactly is endgame all about in AO? Raiding spaceships?

I can't believe I never played this game. It sounds so cool, but I'm afraid I'd be coming in to a bit late...which is to say, I'd be a little disenchanted with the graphics, I'm afraid.

As per the topic...while I am totally pro-cash shops for things like content and cosmetics, the whole idea of buying items so that you can catch up to high-level characters sounds like a bad exercise in design.

Why not just up loot drops, or experience gains or something? Making people pay for items on a 10 year old game is a little...well, perhaps someone else has something nice to say about the topic.

-Birk

I play AO, and I've played off and on since 2001 or so - I love it precisely because of its classic style MMO charm... but I suppose it could be a little offputting to new players.

As far as the XP and token cash shop items go, I think veteran players will utilize these more than newcomers, as vets are constantly creating new alts to experiment with builds and explore the changes that have been made to the game over the years, and many of them will definitely want to take advantage of the opportunity to speed development along on those new characters.

New players coming into AO for the first time, I'd honestly warn them away from spending any money in the cash shop right off the bat. AO rewards patience in new players - don't leave the Newbie area until you've done everything there. Try different weapons. Read profession guides so you'll spend skill points wisely. Once you're level 10 or so you can enter the game proper, but even then - don't rush. Take your time and get accustomed to the way the game works. AO Classic is free, and offers plenty of content (especially if you're brand new) - the mechanics are rather complex and you'll want to be very familiar with them before you start buying expansions, or paying for items that will speed up development.

Of course, there are fun social items in the cash shop too, but that's another discussion entirely.

Also, new players are very much welcome in AO. The newbie area's always busy and usually friendly (usually), and though the game is clearly from a different era, it really is an engaging and immersive experience for those who haven't been too spoiled by the flashy graphics and themepark mechanics :)

AO has had an item shop for the last 3 years (2007)
http://funcom.vnewscenter.com/press.do?step=pkview&contentId=1191846050087&companyId=1101739674196

That shot looks awesome. I take it that AO got the engine update? I haven't been following it closely but i know they were talking about it for a long time.

I tried AO a few times years ago, never making it off the newbie area once. I had no idea what i was doing so i gave up. Maybe i ought to give it another try...

AO Classic is free? Wowzers, I have to check that out. I wonder if my old trial characters are still there.

There's times I miss playing AO. My main account has been inactive for 4 years because I pulled a completely boneheaded move. They were offering a free upgrade to all expansions, with a free 30 days to try out all of the new stuff. I upgraded my account, played for a few days, then walked away for a few months. I discovered that since I upgraded my account, I was no longer able to revert to being a froob, despite the fact that I had no items that were expansion specific, nor had I even walked into any expansion specific areas.

4 years in regular froob land, and I never even got to take advantage of what the expansions had to offer. And as I don't care enough to pay for an account, I never will.

I think the term "endgame tokens" used by the author is grossly misleading.

Tokens - used for upgrading sided tokenboards - are useful from level 1 and are usually collected by running missions (regular 'classic' leveling) or later on by grinding weapon collection missions.

Victory Points (VPs) are used to buy armor sets, which are - except for a few select pieces - worthless to 'endgame' players.

So, Funcom doesn't really sell 'endgame' stuff for cash.