OT: Morrowind?

[AgentZero]

Distracted, yes, but happily distracted! I know Hugh Manatee is a fan of Guild Wars, how about anyone else. I figure between GW & AO, and SEV of course, my gaming needs will be thorougly satified.

[deccan]

AgentZero said:
Blast. I was rather hoping to get ahold of a bunch of implants to boost my skills in things I shouldn't be investing points in. What should an adventuerer invest in, anyway?

Hmm, didn't notice this post earlier.

Best place to get this kind of advice would be to read the official AO adventurer forums here. This thread in particular looks like a complete guide:

http://forums.anarchy-online.com/sho...d.php?t=112446

AgentZero said:
Blast again. Are they worth it, in your opinion? What do they do, exactly?

I've upgraded myself, so to answer:

Perks don't do much at low levels, but since multiple levels of perks all stack, they become very powerful at high levels.

But the big advantage of upgrading is access to Shadowlands itself and all the Shadowlands only equipment. I think SL is much prettier than Rubi-Ka, but one point that grates on some players is that SL makes AO look more like a fantasy game than an SF game.

Also, SL players can go heckling. Basically, in each SL playfield, there is an area called the Brink, which supposedly represents where the forces of Chaos are enroaching and trying to corrupt the SL.

In the Brink are special mobs called Hecklers. In the starter SL playfield, Nascence, meant for levels 5-50 players for example, the hecklers there are level 80. So they're tough, but they are incredibly rewarding in terms of xp and money. The first time I went heckling with a team, I jumped from level 46 to level 58 in less than an hour of play. Each heckler killed gave me about 15k xp. I only stopped because I wanted to finish exploring the Temple of Three Winds, which won't let you enter if you're level 60 or above.

Apparently, there are people who do nothing but powerlevel on heckles until they reach the high-end content, which is frowned upon by many people on the forums, because they end up being very high level but know little about the rest of the game.

Personally, I avoid heckling too much with my main. My main character gains xp mostly by exploring the SL (generally SL mobs give more xp on average than RK mobs, but never drop cash) and doing quests (essential for gaining access to fast travel methods in SL). Occasional I will heckle to hit specific target levels, as when I wanted to go from level 78 to level 80. Now I'm back in RK, soloing level 88 missions in order to get level 88-90 equipment for free.

AgentZero said:
Wow. I've never even heard of Rome. Are you sure froobs are allowed?

Well, you've seen Rome now. One thing I forgot to mention during my tour guide session was that the live events team in AO has an e-mail address to allow players to opt in or opt out of live events. During live events, AO employees or volunteers role-play key NPCs who give out new plot development information.

Also, I forgot to take you to Reet Retreat. If you pay attention to the news channels, the live events team sometimes organizes parties at Reet Retreat. About a month back, there was a Pirates vs. Ninjas party during which they gave out free pirate / ninja costumes and drinks at the club.

[deccan]

I just had an amazing experience today in AO. I was exploring between Varmint Woods and Tir County when I noticed this huge starship in the sky. Another guy went on chat about it. As it turned out he was near the front of the ship and I was near its rear end, and we worked out that its length was at least a quarter the length of the Varmint Woods playfield.

We tried to work out where it was heading and I arrived first at the player city it was heading to attack. It launched a bunch of scout ships that beamed down aliens. I only caught the tail end of the battle though, and arrived just in time to see two level 220 city defenders take on the giant alien general.

There was no chance of me actually fighting anything, since even the general's honor guard was way too high for me, so I just hung back and watched the pyrotechnics. Fun!

[AgentZero]

Coool... Here's a little question for all you more-experienced-than-me AO players. When you're given a mission to retrieve something, and bring it back somewhere, what the devil do you DO? I've retrieved whatever it was I was supposed to, and got a new mission waypoint. I went there, and it's just a mission area with nothing in it. Am I supposed to drop the item and leave or what?

[deccan]

No, you return the retrieved item to the mission terminal you got the mission from. Use the retrieved item on the terminal.

[AgentZero]

Cool, thanks. Probably never would have figured that out on my own, daft as it may seem.