Anarchy Online Complete Beginners Guide, Part 1

Codemunkee

Shared on Tue, 06/16/2009 - 08:00

I have gotten BACK into Anarchy Online again, to scratch my MMO itch. I don't know what happened over the last few days but it has got me pretty good... once I struggled again mightily through the first 20 levels. But through a combination of some great folks in game who walked me through a lot of my questions and putting together a lot of disparate information on the web, I have finally gotten a grip on the basics. The game, however, is incredibly intimidating to new players, and I'm hoping a few of you will read this guide series and give it a try (price: FREE, and has a tremendous amount of free content), and get with me online for some team fun. Bear in mind its pretty ugly by today's graphical standards, but it has some awesome gameplay, Once you get through the overly complex exterior, you find an very deep, rich experience. Funcom DOES make you work for it though.

This is a QUICK and DIRTY guide to get you started - more in-depth resources will be listed at the end of this guide entry. So without further ado...

What is Anarchy Online?
Anarchy Online (or AO) is a science fiction based MMO. The general premise is this - the planet Rubi-Ka has been leased by Omni-Tek, an evil corporation for a thousand years and they are refining the planet's major resource called Notum and using it for profit. The Clans are their main enemies and they are bent on stopping the evil Omni-Teks. The Neutrals are not sided and can take advantage of both sides (this also has downsides too). That's the general premise. You level your character (free characters go up to 200) through quests, missions, dungeons, and PvP. Typical MMO stuff, right?

Getting Started - Download the Client
You can download the client here. The small client has only the free content, the larger client has the paid content but is not accessible. Download the small client for now, and create your free account. Your account name is NOT your character name, so just call it whatever you like. You do not have to enter any payment information at all. Once you're done, complete the install and you're good to go.

Starting Up - The Game Client
When the game client starts, you'll see a place to select your Dimension - you want Atlantean. Although Rimor is also fine, it has a lower population than Atlantean right now. If you haven't created an account yet, you can do so by clicking the Account button. One last thing - if you want to tweak your graphical settings (resolution, color depth, etc), click the Settings button. You'll see a dropdown box with available options. When you're ready, enter your username and password for your account and click Login, and you'll be presented with the option to create a new character. Click Play to get started, and watch the introductory movie.

Character Selection
First, lets select a Breed. There is MUCH more to it than what I'm about to list, but here's the very quick basics:

- Solitus - a lot like Human, balanced in Nano pool (think of this as Magic points), and Health.
- Opifex - fast, high agility and defense, decent Nano pool, but low health
- Nanomage - squishies, high Nano, low health
- Atrox - big beef, high health but low Nano

For new players I strongly suggest Solitus or Atrox, but it really depends on your play style. If you prefer Nano (again, like Magic points) based characters that do a lot of damage with nukes (spells), choose Nanomage. But as a new player, lets pick an easy Breed - select Solitus. The Breed sex is unimportant and has no effect on base statistics at all, except for Atrox, who cannot wear gender specific clothing (they are gender neutral). Then click Next.

Character Customization and Modification
You have very limited customization options. You can choose from a number of pre-defined heads, and 3 body types. Pick what you like and click Next.

Character Class
Now we get to the goods. You should have 12 different options to choose from, with 2 greyed out (these are for paid content). The lowdown on each:

- Metaphysicists are a pet-based class that rely heavily on nanos. Weak in combat because they use their pets to fight. Their pets are balloon looking alien things. Fun to play but complex for new players due to the pet management needs.
- Adventurers are melee or ranged weapon specialists. They are the jack of all trades but masters of none... but they are pretty good at everything. Can self-heal, self-buff, and have decent nano and hit points to start.
- Engineers are another pet class that uses robots as pets. Tough to play at first for same reason as Metaphysicist class. Lets learn the UI before we bring pets into the mix.
- Soldiers are a pure damage based class. They use ranged weapons like assault rifles to fight, and use nano technology to create defense buffs.
- Fixers are melee and ranged class that specialize in rooting and kiting. Stay away until you learn these.
- Agents are the equivalent of Rogues or Assassins. Tough to play due to their reliance on stealth and nanotechnology.
- Traders are heavily reliant on nanos. Very tough to start but the game's most rewarding class arguably.
- Doctors are healers. VERY hard to solo due to their squishyness.
- Enforcers are the game's tanks. Melee class specialists with a nice assortment of weapons to choose from.
- Bureaucrats are another pet-based class that is difficult to start with due to their reliance on nanos. Low damage output.
- Martial Artists are hand-to-hand combat specialists. Great to start with since we don't need to ever buy weapons.
- Nanotechnicians are the game's nukers (Mage class). Very high reliance on nanos and hard to solo with.

Pick whatever you like, but since this is your first character I strongly suggest Adventurer. You get to do a little of everything, which makes using other classes later MUCH easier. Once you do, pick the Next button.

Name your character and you're done. Welcome to Noob Island! :D

Other Resources
www.aofroobs.com is a loose community of new players. This has some great in depth guides to start with.
www.ao-universe.com has some excellent guides on quests, items, and more.
www.auno.org is the complete searchable items database for AO.

Tomorrow we'll talk about Noob Island, the UI, and starting quests. Until then, login and play around, try some things out, get frustrated a little. In the end it will all make sense, I promise ;)

 

Comments

ATC_1982's picture
Submitted by ATC_1982 on Tue, 06/16/2009 - 08:31
wow that is a lot of information. Glad your taking care of your itch bro. 8)
Brad's picture
Submitted by Brad on Tue, 06/16/2009 - 10:51
you lost me at Rubi-Ka...

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