What type of system does AO use?

metalhead980

what kind of game is AO?

Ive been playing AO off and on (basically just a noob froob on newbie island)

I understand the game has classes and levels but under the hood is a skill based game.

Levels only give you more skill points to spend.

So what is AO considered? a Skill based game? or a Class/level based game?

a buddy and myself got into a conversation the other day, with me saying it was mostly skill based and him telling me its like  Old EQ with a Sci-fi theme.

Is AO considered a Hybrid system? when people talk about good skill based mmo's AO doesnt usually come up.

Anyway i wold like a clear cut answer, i talk about MMO's with my friends and it would be nice to explain the system AO uses so maybe they would try it out.

 

My buddies are all old school i think the newest MMO any of us play is Eve.

They dont care for graphics or smallish player bases they play EQ,UO and muds mostly.

They seem like a good fit for AO if i could just explain the system right, maybe they will join up.

 

 

aleos

AO is completely skill based. Granted Levels help you but its been my experience that the level 200 mob can be killed by a level 100 player or whatever. Levels in this game really don't matter because like you stated they just give you more skill points to spend. And plus come on...that game has like a billion skills to learn. So yeah skill based.

Brezjnev

AO allows you to raise any skills you want, with different professions being more proficient in different skills.

However, nanos and perks force professions into narrow profession paths (even more so for expansion players), so while the basis of the game may be skill-based, the game itself is played as an almost completely class-based game, where how a profession plays is almost entirely dependent on class. AO equipment requirements are mostly based on skills and not on level, but since you gain more skills as you level it is still mostly level dependent. The skill instead of level requirement has lead to extreme twinking at low levels, at very low levels pvp twinks are equiped with higher level equipment than a normal pvm player twice his level for example. But in general the rule holds up that a higher level character can do more as a lower level one.

So yeah, it's a hybrid with the class based game placed over the skill based basis.

adit: also different is the way you earn skills. In most real skill based systems (fe The Elder Scrolls series or EVE) you raise skills by using them or researching them. In AO practically all xp comes from killing mobs and completing quests, this xp translates into levels which translate into ip points. It's these ip points you use to raise skills: a tradeskiller doesn't get his skills by crafting, but almost exclusively by killing mobs.

burmese

AO is an altogether hybrid system.  Capabilities depend on skills, levels, and available nanos (mostly class-locked), skills depend on IP, IP depends on level.  Any char can devote skills to non-typical areas but will end up less proficient than a class that has an aptitude for that area.  Some classes have pretty hard niches (NT's, Shades for example) while some are very flexible (Agents, Adventurers). Players of the free core game has less structured advancement pathways.

Zorvan

Originally posted by Brezjnev


AO allows you to raise any skills you want, with different professions being more proficient in different skills.
However, nanos and perks force professions into narrow profession paths (even more so for expansion players), so while the basis of the game may be skill-based, the game itself is played as an almost completely class-based game, where how a profession plays is almost entirely dependent on class. AO equipment requirements are mostly based on skills and not on level, but since you gain more skills as you level it is still mostly level dependent. The skill instead of level requirement has lead to extreme twinking at low levels, at very low levels pvp twinks are equiped with higher level equipment than a normal pvm player twice his level for example. But in general the rule holds up that a higher level character can do more as a lower level one.
So yeah, it's a hybrid with the class based game placed over the skill based basis.
adit: also different is the way you earn skills. In most real skill based systems (fe The Elder Scrolls series or EVE) you raise skills by using them or researching them. In AO practically all xp comes from killing mobs and completing quests, this xp translates into levels which translate into ip points. It's these ip points you use to raise skills: a tradeskiller doesn't get his skills by crafting, but solely by killing mobs.

 

You can level up XP wise from tradeskilling ( would really be monotonous, but doable ), but the last bit of XP to ding has to be mob or quest XP.

Brezjnev

If you wanted to purely level from level 1 to 220 by tradeskilling (except for that last xp point you mentioned) you might even double the total amount of tradeskilled items in the game. The xp gained per tradeskill is simply too low at higher levels and you know it

Zorvan

Originally posted by Brezjnev


If you wanted to purely level from level 1 to 220 by tradeskilling (except for that last xp point you mentioned) you might even double the total amount of tradeskilled items in the game. The xp gained per tradeskill is simply too low at higher levels and you know it

 

I said it was doable, not practical or even recommended.

Brezjnev

Yeah, I just realized I said solely. Changed it now in case someone were to nitpick on my post

metalhead980

Thanks for the posts guys.

One of my friends joined today with me and were out of noob island and having a good time

Playing a soldier and hes a Engineer both level 10 Clan on Rubi-ka 2.