Erling Ellingsen, Product Manager in Funcom, has provided us with the following Question / Answer article about the new expansion for Anarchy Online, Lost Eden.
Q: It's been five years since Anarchy Online launched – what has happened since then?
A: A world of changes! The game has grown tremendously in those five years, and we're confident in the fact that we've been able to get rid of everything the players disliked and that we've been able to add what they requested.
When Anarchy Online launched in 2001 it was the first science fiction MMO on the market, and it was also the first MMO that Funcom ever did. So even though we believe we delivered a really good game when we launched, we know that we made some mistakes. With a lot of effort from a dedicated development team the launch issues were rectified and the game has gone from strength to strength since, going on to receive multiple awards and glowing reviews. I think it was PC Gamer US that named it online game of the year, and wrote "You must play this game!" to their readers.
We've released three expansions for Anarchy Online to date, Notum Wars, Shadowlands and Alien Invasion, with the latest Expansion Lost Eden on its way as I write this! The game is at this point simply huge in scope and depth, and it's a living, breathing science fiction world online that has been visited by over one million people from all over the world!
Q: For those who are not familiar with Anarchy Online, could you give us a brief introduction?
A: Certainly. Anarchy Online was the first-ever science fiction MMO on the western market. AO took the online gameplay that fans of the genre had come to know through games like Everquest and Dark Ages of Camelot set in a science fiction environment, where thousands of players from all over the planet can log into the same world and play one of the many roles that is available to them – like the nano technician, the soldier, the adventurer and so on.
The game is set on the planet of Rubi-Ka some thirty thousand years into the future, where the player can choose to either join the rebel Clans or the Omni-Tek Corporation that rules the planet of Rubi-Ka.
Players can group with each other and adventure into the beautiful landscapes of Rubi-ka, they can complete missions, take on the various dangerous inhabitants of the planet and collect wealth and new items to build their character. They can also take part in social activities like parties and visit nightclubs with other players in one of the game's many cities.
In addition they can fight each other in Player versus Player combat over the Notum Towers.
Anarchy Online is as much a social universe as it is a game where players must come together and face multiple challenges that will help their characters develop new skills and abilities.
Q: You've already released the Shadowlands and Alien Invasion expansions for Anarchy Online and now you're releasing Lost Eden. What's new this time around?
A: In Shadowlands we introduced a whole new world where players could adventure through some truly epic environments consisting of multiple dimensions and the breathtaking city of Jobe.
In Alien Invasion invading aliens attacked the planet of Rubi-ka, and players could construct their own cities and then defend them from these hostile attackers.
There were really two things we wanted to achieve with Lost Eden, firstly to make the PVP experience in Anarchy online much more engaging and exciting. Secondly we wanted to expand on the alien theme we had established with the previous expansion and allow the players to take the fight back to the Invading aliens!
With the introduction of impressive mech vehicles, orbital battlestations and massive alien mothership encounters we are really think we are adding not just some pretty epic visuals but also a really interesting gameplay experience for our players
Q: It's also been said that you're expanding the Notum Wars booster pack that you released a few years back? How will Lost Eden impact Notum Wars?
A: Yes, we're giving the Notum Wars features a boost with the Lost Eden expansion. With the addition of Notum Wars a few years back, players could claim ownership of a certain piece of land and install a Notum tower there to collect valuable resources.
Other players could then attack this tower and fight for its control. In Lost Eden, we're taking it even further, giving players weapons such as rocket launchers, automatic turrets and even terrible orbital strikes that the players can call upon, where you will actually see a beam of light coming down from space and strike at any given place on the planet, leaving nothing in its wake but pure destruction and death. Again, this just shows how much work we've put into making Lost Eden a truly epic player-versus-player expansion.
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