I doubt it considering the invasion should take place on RK and not in the SL.

Is Grid Armor going to be nerfed in this expansion's zones like it was in the Shadowlands?

Looks good

Pandora Studios programmer
creator, Frag.Ops

I always loved the atmosphere in AO. It was a lot easier to get into the feel of the game than other MMOs. And the music is just great. Like icing on the cake.

Plus the graphics are pretty sweet. The sky and all of the different effects it has are awesome (the lightning especially).

I'm getting the urge to install it again just thinking about all of the cool stuff.

To whoever said AO wes empty.

Where were you?

I only ask cause Old Athen seems so filled lately, as well as BB in ent and platform and the like.

If you started neutral though, Newland is dead..

Sad, it used to be one of the most packed cities of the game but AO is far from empty.

Awesome news. I didn't know it was this close to being released.

Looks like it's time to re-activate my account and bring my level 205 MA out of retirement!

I've been playing it off an on since release. Its the only game I keep comming back to.

Its excellent! It is for the *hardcore* MMOG players amongst us, due to its complexity.

Quick examples

1) Class structure
2) Tons of Skills to understand
3) The myriad of Implants and clusters
4) A crap load of damage types and weapons, and armors that take advantage of all of them.
5) Spell system (nanos) is insanely difficult to grasp due to the naming of them.
6) Tradeskill system is difficult to master since you actually have to learn practical scientific terminology.

In fact, the names of everything (from weapons, armor, nano's (spells), implants, clusters) are based on real scientic theory... not just 'Healing Spell 1' 'Damage Spell 1'. heheh

I mean, the list goes on and on. You could easily sit for 3 hours and do nothing but tweak your character out in armor, implants/clusters, skills, nano's (spells), and weapons.

Not to mention Gridstream! Listen to great music from 'inside' the game (ShoutCast), and give requests to the live DJ via in-game tells.

The game is clever, smart, and well worth the time to check out.

Again, this game is for the hardcore RPGer amongst us.

++Randle.

AO is a great game. There's not another MMORPG that looks like it or has a more interesting back story. The production design is amazing. The sheer number of different looking mobs beats most games out there. Rather than 100 different kinds of spraggons spread across 50 levels, you can fight something new each time you advance.

Their use of "instanced" content came about years before any other game. PvP has a purpose and is possible at any level of the game. There are several modes of transportation so getting around the game world is pretty quick and painless.

That being said, it's probably got one of the steepest learning curves of any game out there. To be effective you have to be familiar with the thousands of different stat-effecting items and buffs in the game. It's a twinkers dream but a nightmare for casual players.

I've played it on and off since launch and I'm considering going back again for this expansion pack.

I've been playing on and off over those three years. The game has massively improved - the first two expansion packs got great reviews, and there are more people playing now than have ever played.

The main problem right now is that the last expansion pack's content made a lot of the rest of the game moot - properly set-up, you can level up MUCH faster in the new areas than you ever could in the old game. Still lots of fun, though.

#3:
There are still lots of spots where there are lots of people and you can do this.

Very fun game, kinda gets dull up in the levels, but im glad to see another option on the 'things to do' list. Yea the game really came out to be one of the top mmorpg games.. but they didnt just polish this sucker, they got the bondo out(they had to) XD

I hated the concept of MMO till I tried the little 7 day trial of AO, it came with Notum wars, and ive been playing on and off for about 2 years now.

I tried it again about a year after release. It improved greatly. You could actually zone, but the world was empty. The best time I had in AO was at release, when 100 or so people were stuck in town and you sit down, follow someone, and be dragged around. Good Times.

I'm playing it from time to time.. It's cool, though much like most other mmo's (run around, kill monsters, get stuff..). The social aspect of it is pretty good though.
I got the 2 week galaxies trial this weekend, gonna check it out later today.

good to see they are giving the community a lot of new goodies. I remember when this game first hit about (jeez...) 3 years ago? It was buggy but got better... how did the final product come out (anybody still playing it?)?