Anarchy Online Makes Top 10 List on MMORPG.COM!

[Flipyap]

It felt all the years like we are 5% ImprovementPoints short.

Which, in a way, is a good thing! If we had enough IP to max every single skill we wanted, this game would be "dumbed down".

[Crisalys]

Consider- we enjoy a game that has graphics that are ten years old! In this age, where the attention span of the general public is roughly that of a gnat on crack, what is it about Anarchy Online that maintains our attention and continues to draw people in? I've said it before and I'll say it again- AO's backstory is one of the richest, most detailed, and most unique epics you'll find anywhere, let alone in an MMORPG.

Most fantasy MMOs (Everquest, World or Warcraft, Dark Age of Camelot) are built based on well-used "lore"; Orcs, goblins trolls and such are evil enemies of the good humans, dwarves, and elves. Lord of the Rings Online is based in the world created by J.R.R. Tolkien, who used the same script (very well written too- one could even say all those stories that came after are mere derivatives of his work). Some MMOs, like Age of Conan, break away from the generic fantasy designs used above... but it still has to adhere to the basic tenets written in the Conan books of the 1930s.

Most sci-fi MMOs were built off of someone else's ideas too- Star Wars Galaxies from George Lucas, Star Trek Online from Gene Roddenberry's epic universe, Stargate Online from the Stargate TV shows developed by Brad Wright and Jonathan Glassner (SG1 and Atlantis mostly), while the shows themselves are derivative works based on Roland Emmerich and Dean Devlin's Stargate movie.

I haven't played Eve Online since it's beta, but there have been more than enough space flight sim games in the past to justify saying it's hardly unique.

I'd like to point out I'm not reviewing gameplay and interface styles- I played EQ minimally, never played WoW, DAoC or LoTR, and didn't get very far in Eve's beta... They all have their merits and their pitfalls, and I don't mean to set this post up as a review of games I haven't played. But every one of them does have a common thread- Each one derives their origins from some other story that someone else thought of first.

Anarchy Online has always been different because it built up it's backstory pretty much from scratch- almost everything is not based on some well-tried formula. Even if something has been seen before, like Douglas Adams' Marvin in Outpost 10-3, or Frank Herbert's sandworms in the deserts of Tir County (or even the use of the Mayan calendar year 2012 as the time when humanity nearly gets wiped out), I believe these are tributes rather than attempts to copy their designs (as their inclusion within the AO universe bears little or no relevance to the story itself).

I mean, where else can you find in literature or film that describe:

1) The development of the Galactic corporate system (after the fall of the Omega and the rise of the Homo-Solitus) of which Omni-Tek is a part of...
2) The justification for why we have a "cold civil war" on Rubi-Ka between the Clans and Omni-Tek, when it wouldn't be too difficult for Omni-tek to merely carpet-bomb the Clan settlements from space...
3) The mere justification of being able to respawn after you die... I mean, in EQ, you just "respawn" at your "home base".... In AO, there's a whole backstory (described in the timeline) explaining the cloning system and the insurance scanners.
4) Were you aware that the Unredeemed had punched through to "our universe" to communicate and convinced the Omni-Tek Board of Directors to take out a mining lease on the remote planet of Rubi-Ka? The Neutral MPs and NTs in Jobe opened the portal before Omni-Tek and The Unredeemed were ready- allowing the Redeemed and the Clans to become allies and perpetuate the stalemate on both Rubi-Ka and the Shadowlands. I think the only place you can read that is from the liner-notes written on the side of an original Shadowlands expansion box...
5) Invading aliens are nothing new (see Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Independence Day, Signs, and any of the Alien or Predator movies), but the story as to who the Kyr'Ozch are, why they're invading Rubi-Ka and their ancestral relationship to the Redeemed and Unredeemed in the Shadowlands (justifying the question as to who really are the invaders) was fantastic... Combine that with how we, as game players, justify "mixed" teams of Omni/Clan/Neutrals fighting together against them during our aforementioned cold, civil war...

There still are aspects in the AO world that have yet to be written about; Who is Hezak the Immortal, how did he get Heckler-like creatures in his temple, and how did his cult form? What really made Ljotur go completely nuts? When and why were the structures in north EFP and east DAV made, and why are they constantly patrolled by Medusas? All of these things are being built off of one of the most unique story-rich environments ever developed.

My understanding was that AO's "shelf life" wasn't expected to last much beyond 5 years... If you compare that to the average human lifespan of 80 years, then AO is nearing 160, and is so confident in it's survival that rather than fade away it's planning a facelift (the game engine update). Although some may argue FC should have scheduled this facelift long before now, the fact that AO has been able to go so long without it is testament to how well the story has allowed us to look past it's age.

Tell the truth- Sophia Loren is currently 76, and Raquel Welch is 70... While they both look fabulous for their respective ages today (regardless of how much or how little "work" has been done on them), tell me whether it'll be worth the effort of a facelift on either of them 80 years from now.

The video demo of the AO engine ends perfectly-- with a pan down to the shop in Tir named "Still Alive"... To me, AO is still very much alive, and it's ongoing epic saga is proof that AO deserves the awards it continues to receive.

[snakeeyes]

Well said Crisalys, well said

[Wulf-GTI]

I no feel AO pull me deep in "Prophet without honour" story.

[Crisalys]

I no feel AO pull me deep in "Prophet without honour" story.

So what does pull you in? I doubt it's the graphics.

Heck- I can play AO on a computer with an onboard video chip today.

I can remember when I first installed AO on my computer having to upgrade from a Voodoo 5 5500 card to a Geforce 2... and the best framerate I could pull was about 30 fps staring at a wall at 1280 x 1024.

Now I can have two 1920 x 1080 windows on two monitors going at 70+ fps with my Radeon 4870 X2 card (and since the game engine is being redone in DirectX9, I still won't have to upgrade the card yet.)

[Ctrlaltwin]

The truth is AO is #2 if you exclude ship games and comic book games.

I feel Fallen Earth is rather weak (played it in Beta). The whole sanbox thing is nice, just like the class-less system really gives it a nitch; however, long runs, too much open space, feeling like it's not much of an MMO, PvP gets nothing unique with class - less system. It truly makes me wonder, what is the true #1?

The only knock on AO is the graphics. I feel ship games get knocked because you aren't truly RP'ing to me...I feel if you can't even be a person, you aren't truly roleplaying.

The bottom line - As an AO player it's easy to say we are #1 in my mind, but my argument is that story line, genuine Scifi characters, a twinking system, and great gameplay makes AO a consensus #1 all-around Scifi, the only knock is graphics.

Edit: I shared these opinions on the comments section.

The truth is there is a good chunk of people looking for the next generation AO/Neocron FPS style game with good graphics, a good twinking system, not so much of a Sandbox (Fallen Earth).

All AO needs is better graphics, but I don't think it could use a FPS style combat system.

[Cergorn]

"If you can stomach some heinously dated visuals, AO is still one of the best sci-fi offerings on the market"

I know graphics ain't everything, but come on FC, hurry up and get that engine sorted

[Neon_1]

Most fantasy MMOs (Everquest, World or Warcraft, Dark Age of Camelot) are built based on well-used "lore"; Orcs, goblins trolls and such are evil enemies of the good humans, dwarves, and elves. Lord of the Rings Online is based in the world created by J.R.R. Tolkien, who used the same script (very well written too- one could even say all those stories that came after are mere derivatives of his work). Some MMOs, like Age of Conan, break away from the generic fantasy designs used above... but it still has to adhere to the basic tenets written in the Conan books of the 1930s.

This is absolutely true and good point. For me AO has always been the one and only scifi-game that I have really liked. Fallen Earth was kinda interesting, but lacked something "intriguing" to keep me playing it. Eve Online still is ""too complicated"" and slow for me. Cant get a good start there before getting bored. But what comes to those Lores; the good thing about having a well known background is that you can instantly get into the plot and action. You basically know where you stand and what the very basic scheme is. Of course you know that in AO also, but I at least feel that it isnt told clearly enough. Sure there are ""bad"" omnis and ""good"" clans with neuts chilling out. But other than that, I have always wanted to know more. Now you can say, that "you should read books/forums/etc.", but I would like to get that same information from ingame, in form of some quests related to story or so. In Shadowlands you get that info better by questing, but still most of things are almost unexplained in this game. For example, after 7 years of playing, I still dont have a clue;

- Who are Virgil or Abmouth, why are they at Subway ?
- Who is that guy that stands outside WA when you spawn ? Some clan "leader" ?
- Who are the Vanguards ?
- Who are the Sentinels ?
- Where do Neutrals stand in all this ?
- What is the story for Lien, Azur, cultists in general, SoM, etc etc from most RK dungeons. Almost no quests there eather, and when there are quests, they cant be easily found.
- Omni/Clan history, present and planned future ? After the start, you really dont get that much info on what has happened between factions, and what is going on now.
- Shadowlands in general. What is it, and how is it related to RK ?
- Beast/Pande, how is that related to everything ?
- Where does the player come in at this world ? Is it just by doing random missions/hecklers all the way to 220 ?
- What is Dust Brigade ?
- What are Yuttos ?
- What is Ergo ? Why does it speak so much and why doesnt it speak faster ?
- What are towerfields ?


I can think of 3 things to help these points out;

1. Make more quests including backstory of differend stuff in AO. I know this has been worked on in last few years, but its still kinda little. Also daily quests are a good way to get people over RK and get familiar on differend backgrounds and lores. So more work on them please. A LOT more work.

2. Make more random events lead by GM:s/ARK:s, that are related to Clan/Omni conflict, make threads to forums afterwards to point out the purpose of those events or give out "mysterious" info to pump up the hype. Include players as much as possible. Let Mercs attack Newland for example. Make a big omni force try to invade OA or TIR.

3. Make world more dangerous place to be in, add lot more pvp stuff in quests, make more areas contested (25% or so) and give players higher rewards on completing quests on that area. I dont count Battlestations to this area at all, since altough the pvp is kinda "good" there, it is too generic environment with 1 (????!!!!!) map to fight.

4. Addition to point 3; Give more dynabosses some little background info, little quests or something. Make them harder, make mobs generally harder in all RK. Harder doesnt mean more HP btw, I dont want to kill one mob 20mins like in SL.

5. Towers. Remake these please and give them more factional purpose than before. Pure XP isnt going to cut it. For example, make it so, that who wins daily tower battles (dont know what system could be used to see who is the winner, or then just totally overhaul it), will get access to Pande or some other main instances for next 24 hours. That will surely make people interested on making an effort. I dont know if this suggestion is good, but make it something differend. Make it more interesting, wrap some story behind it.

6. Delete AI-expansion(ofc wont happen). Its almost useless. Gives players "too good" armor and items, and the substance of it is really small. Nowadays when there actually are some other instances than purely Ai-raid or Ai-missions, its gotten better though. Imo if there are aliens threatning us, why do they only attack when we choose to ? That has never gotten to me. More randomness, a lot more random alien raids, bigger ai-raids to main cities. Make them actually count so that some cities would get under Alien control if you dont defend well enough. That would be also a good way to get rid of inactive player cities; if you dont take care of it, Aliens will wipe it clean. And yeah, delete Ai-armor from game, and update other armors so that you actually have to choose again from differend aspects of game rather than getting a set of CC for all toons, like it is today.

The bottom line - As an AO player it's easy to say we are #1 in my mind, but my argument is that story line, genuine Scifi characters, a twinking system, and great gameplay makes AO a consensus #1 all-around Scifi, the only knock is graphics.

This is all true, but imo AO has lots of problems too. Lag, stability problems, class inbalance in both pvp and pvm, lack of real RK-conent, lack of decent quests outside dailies, and the most important thing; it doesnt have players anymore. I could add "not listening to any player complaints or making any additional content/updates for almost 5 years" to the list, but that has somewhat changed nowadays.....Aaand yeah, almost forgot:::::: UNEXCISTING CUSTOMER SUPPORT !!


This post might again sound complete whinefest, but it isnt all that. I think AO is a great game and hopefully due those crucial updates it will shine once again. Mainly these points that I made are because I still love this game, and I think it still has so much potential, that people or even FC doesnt realize it well enough, and Im afraid they wont before the server(s) shut down. The engine imo isnt so much about the graphix at least for me, but more of an hope that many things that make me pissed off nowadays (lag, LD:s, rubberbanding, glitches all over maps, dissapearing corpses, getting stuck on everywhere etc. etc.) will be better or even fixed after the release. That is actually huge deal for me, since they really make my playing more difficult even today, and have been around the whole 7 years that I have played. That is also one disbelief for me and I think for many others too; why havent these things been fixed ? I hope that AO gets a good advertising campaing when the new stuff hits live servers, and they get the word spread all over the gaming media too to get new ppl to sign up.

[Crisalys]

I can answer some of them...

- Who are Virgil or Abmouth, why are they at Subway ? Dunno- the Subway was created after I leveled high enough to enter it, and I never spent the time to create a new character to go in there.

- Who is that guy that stands outside WA when you spawn ? Some clan "leader" ? Like most of the NPCs at the start of the game, they're there as guides to help you along with info- as to their back story, and why they're standing there helping people... maybe they're doing community service.

- Who are the Vanguards/Sentinels/Dust Brigade ? From the generalized history of Rubi-Ka (like the timeline and historical story of the Council of Truth), they're just a few of the many clans that stood together (at least at some point) and opposed Omni-Tek. In the United States, we refer to ourselves as Californians, Floridians or Iowans, depending on what state we live in, but we're all US citizens... So in spite of their individuality, they're all considered Clanners.

The Dust Brigade is a bit different though- that "clan" has a very polarized view of dealing with Omni-Tek. Their belief is to fight until no Omni breathes Rubi-Ka air, and anyone that seeks a "peaceful alternative" (like the Council of Truth) is working against them- this is why they're considered a terrorist organization by both Omni-Tek and The Council.

- Where do Neutrals stand in all this ? The Neutral faction developed from those groups that didn't like what the Clans evolved into after the first Civil War. At first they broke from Omni-Tek because they didn't like Omni's strong-arm policy, but when they saw the likes of the Dust Brigade's fanaticism, they realized they didn't like what was happening on the other side of the fence either... so they took the middle ground, deciding to choose neither side.

- What is the story for Lien, Azur, cultists in general, SoM, etc etc from most RK dungeons. Almost no quests there eather, and when there are quests, they cant be easily found. There are mini-stories concerning all sorts of groups and factions... Again, I was too high a level by the time the Temple of Three Winds came about, but one could say they're a lower-level offshoot from the Inner Sanctum, which culminates in battling Hezak the Immortal. Inside the Inner Sanctum, runspeed is reduced (much like flying isn't allowed in SL) and there are creatures that spawn that are similar to SL Hecklers (again suggesting an SL connection)...

The Steppes of Madness seem to be the creation of Naleb, the insane Meta-Physicist at the end of the cave... There's another NPC that's also gone off the deep end, named Ljotur... Some ex-Clanner named Ghasp (according to lore) was obsessed with ancient earth mythology, and in particular the Knights of Camelot, and with his wealth (apparently he came to Rubi-Ka with creds to spare) built a castle out in Avalon, hired some MPs and NTs to create his very own dragon named Tarasque, after which he proclaimed himself "Lord" of his own little world... but he too went all fruit-batty, and the results of his own insanity maintain the castle and keeps him and his dragon trapped in his own dungeon.

- Omni/Clan history, present and planned future ? After the start, you really dont get that much info on what has happened between factions, and what is going on now. The best I can tell you about that is to look at the timeline. It's kinda set up backwards (with page 1 being the most recent developments), but for the most part, The "game history" (the point where the timeline and the game's events merge) kinda starts around page 12ish... The Notum Wars expansion comes in around page 9; The Shadowlands appear on page 8; The Alien Invasion expansion comes about on page 4.

- Shadowlands in general. What is it, and how is it related to RK ? much of what I learned about The Shadowlands comes from the side of the box that the expansion discs came in...

Apparently, before Rubi-Ka was even considered (this is well before page 24 in the timeline), the Unredeemed were able to "break the barrier" between dimensions, allowing them to reach our universe... but only communicate- not crossover. The peoples that the Unredeemed found most amenable were... the governing board members of Omni-Prime.

The Unredeemed proposed that Omni lease a small planet, far away of the normal expansion and trade routes... the planet was a desert and totally inhospitable, but the Redeemed tempted Omni-Prime with promises of technology that would allow them to rule the galaxy. The only thing Omni had to do was to help the Unredeemed with their war - They hoped that by having Omni-tek forces join them in the Shadowlands, it would tip the balance and allow them to win their millenia-long battle with the Redeemed.

So Omni-Tek sent it's ships and made planetfall (the beginning of the timeline). On Rubi-Ka they discovered Notum, and found that this planet was it's only source. According to the timeline, rival corporations cried foul, and the first in a string of corporate wars were fought. In retrospect, it was the over-zealousness of Omni-Prime (in a rush to reach this new technology,) that made them push it's citizens to the breaking point, eventually driving some of them away, forming the Clans.

The "Floating City of Jobe" was created by a group of Neutral Nano Technicians and Meta-Physicists and Omni recognizes it's autonomy for fear of incurring sanctions from the ICC (bottom of page 16 in the timeline)... Because of this autonomy, the MPs and NTs are able to conduct their own experiments and research, and broke through the dimensional barrier first (timeline, page 8)- Due to the Corporate Wars of the past, and Rubi-Ka's Civil Wars, Omni-Tek was unprepared. the Jobe Council opens the portal to travel by all factions, and the Redeemed are able to find an ally with the Clans, thus maintaining the stalemate between them and the Unredeemed- the stalemate that the Unredeemed tried to break by convincing Omni-Prime to come to Rubi-Ka in the first place.

- Beast/Pande, how is that related to everything ? This is a story that hasn't quite been told yet... We know that the Redeemed and the Unredeemed have been influenced and mutated as a result of their use and/or exploitation of the Source, which we've learned was the source of the Xan's power a million or so years ago... But while there are both Redeemed and Unredeemed in Pandemonium, they don't fight each other- they fight us. We know (from the Inferno Quests and the Kyr'Ozch Envoy) that the Aliens came (came back, actually) to Rubi-Ka because they received a message from the Anansi that the "Guardian of the Source had fallen." I figure that means the Anansi was telling the Kyr'Ozch of what we, the players and current citizens of Rubi-Ka were doing when we raided the Lair (constantly).

As to whether the Beast is good or evil, that can only be theorized... but remember, once the Beast dies and you use the portal to return to Rubi-Ka, you appear in a room with an ancient floating android named "Number 9". I suggest talking with him sometime...

- Where does the player come in at this world ? Is it just by doing random missions/hecklers all the way to 220 ? That's up to you to decide- some enjoy grinding levels, merely clicking through the dialogs until they see the next mission in quest... Personally, I like to read through them and see if I can fill in the historical gaps.

- What are Yuttos ? Again, that's a story that has yet to be told.

- What is Ergo ? Why does it speak so much and why doesnt it speak faster ? Ergo is the Xan central planetary computer which they used to control, develop and manipulate the Source a million years ago. After the Cataclysm, which tore the Source from Rubi-Ka, Ergo (at least what was left of him within the Shadowlands) attempted to cope with the disaster as best he could... For the past million years, Ergo has used the Source to keep the land masses that are trapped in the Shadowlands in a state of equilibrium.

- What are towerfields ? These came about in the Notum Wars expansion. According to the timeline, the Notum Fields were opened to mining by the individual guilds.

[Dagget]

"Apparently, before Rubi-Ka was even considered (this is well before page 24 in the timeline), the Unredeemed were able to "break the barrier" between dimensions, allowing them to reach our universe... but only communicate- not crossover. The peoples that the Unredeemed found most amenable were... the governing board members of Omni-Prime."

Actually, it goes back much further than that, back to Prophet Without Honor where the Unredeemed were steering people in the 20th century, or possibly even earlier. The Redeemed were also at work then, more subtly still, steering a genetic lineage that led to David Marlin.

[ZenWon]

#4
If you can stomach some heinously dated visuals, AO is still one of the best sci-fi offerings on the market.

The 2012 list may AO bring to place #1.
After the engine upgrade, AO is still the best sci-fi offering on the market.

/rocky

hahahaaaa whats this "engine upgrade" of which you speak? Ill believe itll happen when my dog dons a tie, waves and sez see ya bud im off to work.

[Crisalys]

Apparently, before Rubi-Ka was even considered (this is well before page 24 in the timeline), the Unredeemed were able to "break the barrier" between dimensions, allowing them to reach our universe... but only communicate- not crossover. The peoples that the Unredeemed found most amenable were... the governing board members of Omni-Prime.

Actually, it goes back much further than that, back to Prophet Without Honor where the Unredeemed were steering people in the 20th century, or possibly even earlier. The Redeemed were also at work then, more subtly still, steering a genetic lineage that led to David Marlin.

Well, yes... The creature that helped Roman Dragovich Zubov escape Stalinist Russia in 1949, who eventually joined the Farmatek Corporation as Roland Drake in 1971, and then reappeared to speak with Roland in 29475 does go by the name Vanya, the same Unredeemed "prophet" in Penumbra.

But when Vanya appeared in 1949 and in 29475, he at least had a visually passing resemblance to being human. The Unredeemed Vanya we know today couldn't possibly be mistaken for human. One could argue that Vanya had cast a morph nano on himself before jumping out of the Shadowlands and going to earth, but I think there's something different going on here.

The side of the expansion's box was quite specific about the course of events that introduced the Shadowlands, referring to the Unredeemed making contact with Omni-Prime board members (I wish I could find my old Shadowlands box now- I probably still have it somewhere), so I believe there's a logical argument that the Unredeemed tempting Omni-Prime with wealth and power may very well be totally unrelated to the appearances of Vanya that transpired in 1949 and 29475.

The thing is this- If Vanya's involvement with humanity in the past is related to or a part of the general plan the Unredeemed had in store for us, then I think we end up limiting the scope of where AO can take us- if the Unredeemed (or even the Redeemed) have been influencing humankind for millenia, then what happens next? If everything we've been experiencing is merely according to a master plan laid out millions of years ago, then what's left to do?

On the other hand, if Vanya was working independently, it opens up some interesting possibilities. If Vanya had his own agenda, regardless of whether it corresponded with or worked against his own faction, it opens the door to a whole slew of variations...

The environment within the Inner Sanctum seems to support a connection with the Shadowlands, and if this is proven true through some future quest, then would Hezak be considered a Rogue Redeemed or Rogue Unredeemed?

The Envoy said there were Kyr'Ozch that did not support their military offensive against Rubi-Ka, so do you think it's possible we could get Kyr'Ozch allies? A Kyr'Ozch city somewhere in the Outzone where we can fund new items and equipment?

I recall one of the Yutto stories (can't remember which quest series it was- could be anywhere from Scheol to Penumbra to Inferno) that told the tale of an Unredeemed and a Redeemed that fell in love with each other... This shows that, in spite of the rather polarized "us vs. them" mindset we experience throughout the game, we could show dissent among the Redeemed and Unredeemed...

Wouldn't it be something if, in some future expansion, we find an outpost somewhere on Rubi-Ka populated by Neutral Redeemed, Unredeemed, Kyr'Ozch, Xan and Yuttos, all working together to fix the damage done by their more radical factions?

[Ebondevil]

I recall one of the Yutto stories (can't remember which quest series it was- could be anywhere from Scheol to Penumbra to Inferno) that told the tale of an Unredeemed and a Redeemed that fell in love with each other...

That story makes me think of snow and trees so I'm reasonably certain it was Penumbra.

[Crowena]

Isn't there a connection also between ToTW and Shadowlands? Isn't there a portal you can use if you have ring from Ergo?

Well, I guess my memory failed me. I even went to get the ring from Ergo and when I ran to TotW and where I thought I had seen the portal before there was just empty wall. Feeling really stupid right now...

[haxi]

Isn't there a connection also between ToTW and Shadowlands? Isn't there a portal you can use if you have ring from Ergo?

Well, I guess my memory failed me. I even went to get the ring from Ergo and when I ran to TotW and where I thought I had seen the portal before there was just empty wall. Feeling really stupid right now...

Don't feel stupid there was a portal to Elysium in ToTW at one time. It stopped working long ago, see here:

http://forums.anarchy-online.com/sho...d.php?t=325646

[Ayria]

The environment within the Inner Sanctum seems to support a connection with the Shadowlands, and if this is proven true through some future quest, then would Hezak be considered a Rogue Redeemed or Rogue Unredeemed?

He, and Aztur, look more like Hisii (sp) from Penumbra Hollows to me. I always thought they were Hisii who fell (or came on purpose) to gain power away from the Redeemed and Unredeemed.

[lainbr]

He, and Aztur, look more like Hisii (sp) from Penumbra Hollows to me. I always thought they were Hisii who fell (or came on purpose) to gain power away from the Redeemed and Unredeemed.

I think the Hiisi is a diferent race, like Yuttos. So, they are kinda neutral, but beligerant ^^

[Crisalys]

Isn't there a connection also between ToTW and Shadowlands? Isn't there a portal you can use if you have ring from Ergo?

Well, I guess my memory failed me. I even went to get the ring from Ergo and when I ran to TotW and where I thought I had seen the portal before there was just empty wall. Feeling really stupid right now...

As Haxi mentioned, there used to be a portal in ToTW (I've never been in the temple, but I have no reason not to believe him or the thread link).

But there's obviously a definitive connection between ToTW and the Inner Sanctum (as at least one of the robes you can loot in ToTW can be used to get IS passes); If there's a connection between the Temple of Three Winds and and the Inner Sanctum, and a connection between the Inner Sanctum and and The Shadowlands, then it stands to reason there's a logical connection between the Temple and the Shadowlands.

Again, this is what I love about AO- Not so much that there are so many "holes" in the various mini-stories that haven't been filled, but the fact that the holes can provide points of discussion such as these- So many stories with so few endings, leaving room for expansion.

[animaly]

What we read recently in Fw(o)M, they gonna go that "dumb down" way.
No Maps needed, that was what i remember, so we wont have a map shop anymore, no skills to upload these maps are needed, no upgrades are needed and in general, mapnavi skill is obsolete.

Let me clearly say, I DO NOT LIKE THAT WAY !

Flatten or dumb'n AO = wrong

Give out some extra IP for every Profession.
We got so many new things, weapons, options, but we never got more IP, except from the Shadowlands expansion.

It felt all the years like we are 5% ImprovementPoints short.

Yes because we ALL use maps and invest tons of points in these skills. Fact of the matter is especially with twinks and such who can't really spare ip. not many people invest much into this skill anymore. I know most everyone in my org doesn't. This was a freebie not really dumbing anything down...

IMO giving out more IP is a closer step to dumbing everything down than making maps available to all...

[Lheann]

That story makes me think of snow and trees so I'm reasonably certain it was Penumbra.

Read Thar Armor descriptions. The story is on the armor descriptions.