Although World of Warcraft seems to have almost completely engulfed the MMO market, Anarchy Online is one of the oldest and most loved MMOs available. Thanks to this, Funcom studios are preparing to release the fourth major expansion for the game - Lost Eden - and in order to find out what novelties this new addon will feature, we talked with Erling Ellingsen - Funcom product manager.

        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 we speak! 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.

        Q: Tell us more about these orbital strikes, isn’t this a very powerful weapon?
        A: It truly is, but we’re confident about the design of this system and that it’s going to fit quite well into the structure of the game. These things are truly amazing to look at, so they are best appreciated from a distance as getting too close will surely blow you to bits, even if you ordered it!

        The way it works is that a player place a special beacon on the ground in a land controlled area (which are areas players fight over), a beacon the enemy players won’t be able to see. A remote teammate in your organisations headquarters will then be able to call a strike down on that location from a command interface.

        Then back on the battlefield a gigantic, glowing beam will shoot down from space and hit that spot on the ground. It will destroy anything within a good radius of the point where it hit, and even you will have to run to safety once the beacon is placed.

        Q: How will player-versus-player combat on these orbital space stations work?
        A: Going around in orbit outside Rubi-ka, are massive space stations - called battlestations – that players can fight for the ownership of. By visiting the Unicorn landing-pad in Andromeda, players can sign up for battle on a terminal. Immediately they will be teleported to the battlestation where the battle takes place.

        Actually, up to one hundred and fifty players can populate one single battlestation! This creates the opportunity for some epic struggles between the opposing sides (The Clans and Omni-Tek, of course) – struggles where players will run around the battlestation capturing specific control points that in turn will lead to victory over their opponent.

        Being on the winning team gives you great rewards, more specifically victory points that you can use to purchase specific weapons and armor.

        Q: Can you tell us a bit about what mechs are and how players will use them?
        A: Mechs are gigantic “walking robots” that the players can jump into and ride. There are several different ones, from those that look like a walking open weapons platforms to those that could almost be a tank on legs! Our artists have done a wonderful job and these mechs truly are amazing to behold, and when a player steps into a crowded area using one of these, I can promise you heads will turn.

        Everyone who buys the Lost Eden expansion will get access to an exclusive mech design that won’t be available through any other means!

        In terms of mechanics the Mechs are used for player-versus-player combat. I’ll leave you to imagine how awesome it looks when a group of mechs invades a player-owned land area!

        When in a mech the player effectively becomes the mech and takes on all the strengths and abilities of the vehicle. So even players who aren’t quite equipped as well as the hardened PVP veterans can jump in a mech and take part in the combat!

        There are also vehicles available that won’t immediately look like a mech to you. For instance, stationary turrets that players can control and use to fire upon the enemy players or vehicles.

        There are also several different levels of upgrades for the mechs that can be gained by taking part in the new global research part of the game, which is a new feature we’re introducing with Lost Eden.

        Q: What is personal and global research and how will this tie into Anarchy Online?
        A: One of the new features in Lost Eden is research, which can be done on either a personal level or a global level. Accessible through a menu system, you will be able to observe a magnitude of different perks, skills and abilities that can be unlocked through research.

        Players can allocate a certain percentage of their normal XP to go towards research instead of their normal advancement.

        You can choose to research certain things, like for instance an ability that will enable you to use a new weapon. It is also possible to research much grander things, like unlocking the ability to operate new types of mech, or even “inventing” the mech itself so that everyone on your server can use that mech.

        This is where global versus personal research come in. You can choose to research things that only affect you personally, but you can also invest in a global research pool that will enable technology and abilities for the whole planet.

        This can, for instance, be the invention of a new mech that will enable everyone to use it, or perhaps a certain upgrade to an already existing mech. There is plenty of stuff to research!

        Q: In Alien Invasion, your last expansion, you introduced aliens. In Lost Eden you are allowing people to board alien motherships. Why and how will it work?
        A: Yes, in Alien Invasion – which was a massive expansion for us – aliens started invading Rubi-ka. Players became able to construct their own cities, and aliens would suddenly start appearing over their cities – just like you saw in that Hollywood movie “Independence Day” – and strike without remorse or mercy.

        This resulted in massive battles on ground, and players were also able to board the smaller alien landing ships and fight them there. But the massive motherships, the gigantic spaceships that were seen hovering over the cities, were always inaccessible.

        In Lost Eden you have the opportunity to actually go up into these motherships and explore them at your own will. You can bring a group with you, and explore the mysterious hallways of these motherships. Players will be able to visit the Outlands Unicorn Staging area and obtain a mission to board an alien mothership. A Unicorn shuttle will then transport them up to the mothership.

        Q: What sort of challenges will players find when visiting these motherships?
        A: Alien motherships are unique locations quite unlike anything previously seen in Anarchy Online.

        Alien motherships are very dangerous encounters and you’ll be wise to bring others with you. However, as with the mission system we developed for the original Anarchy Online, the mission will actually be scaled to you – so whether you’re a low level player or a high level player, you can still experience the alien motherships!

        Onboard the alien motherships, players will traverse environments that look very organic and living. Some of our beta testers have said it feels like being inside a human body, and if you look at the screenshots, you can easily understand how one might think that. It all looks very unique. There are also a host of brand new aliens and alien boss encounters for players to experience as well of course as some of their ‘old friends’ from the existing alien forces!

        Q: Related to these alien motherships, there have been talks about something called the ACG (automatic content generation) system. Can you explain what this is?
        A: Yes, the automatic content generation system, or ACG, is a feature that enables us to give players several different and unique experiences when doing alien mothership missions. The game will actually a distinct and unique environment each time you visit a new alien mothership, giving you a new challenge every time you log into one. Every alien mothership will have a familiar type of “architecture” if you may, but the layout of the corridors and where the enemies are placed, will be different. In all alien motherships there are also boss encounters, a massive alien that you must defeat to be victorious.

        Q: Is there anything else that Lost Eden is going to add to Anarchy Online?
        A: Aside from the actual gameplay content on the battlestations and Alien Motherships, and the character advancement of the research systems we’re also adding tons of new weapons, items, armor and nano-formula (AO’s version of spells).

        With the Victory Points you earned on the battlestations and the alien motherships you can acquire a variety of great new unique equipment, such as a special new armor set that has been granted to each profession in the game. We’re also adding new nanos that are particularly useful in player-versus-player combat, in that they target specific other player professions.

        Q: Many would say Anarchy Online is getting old now. What is Funcom doing to maintain and add to the game, outside of the released expansions?
        A: Anarchy Online has been very successful to us. Since the launch we’ve been working very hard on keeping it up to date and constantly expanding upon it, just as you need to do with any living, breathing MMO.

        We have a full development team dedicated to it and we’re constantly patching and adding to it as we go. Over one million people have actually played Anarchy Online and we have an amazing and loyal community that constantly drives us to improve the game. Without our dedicated players and such an amazingly devoted community it would be hard to maintain a game the size and scope of AO, but with so many people enjoying it on a daily basis its really more of an honor then a job to keep creating content that keeps people entertained.

        The community around a game is almost as important as anything we could possibly code into it! That’s why we always support the community with as much involvement as we can through an extensive volunteer program, active forums and a dedicated test server community.

        Also I think one of the reasons why Anarchy Online is still going strong today is because we’ve dared to venture into new grounds and trying out new things. For instance, Anarchy Online was actually the first MMO to use in-game advertisement that means the free players provide a revenue stream as well, something vital to putting resources back into the game.

        Anarchy Online was also the first western MMO ever to let people play it for free! You can download the original game for free from the Internet and play it for free without paying for the subscription!

        Q: How does this free play work, and how do people get into Anarchy Online?
        A: By visiting our website, people can download the client for free and install the original, core game Anarchy Online. It now also includes the Notum War expansion so people can engage in player-versus-player combat over land control.

        Signing up is completely free, and if you only wish to play the original game and the booster pack, you will not have to pay any subscription. If you want to upgrade to the expansions, you will need to pay a subscription however.

        If you purchase Lost Eden, you will get access to Anarchy Online, Notum Wars, Shadowlands, Alien Invasion and Lost Eden – all in one package. Note though to enjoy the exciting new features in our expansions you will have to pay a monthly subscription fee that can be as low as $8 a month depending how long you sign up for.

        Providing people the opportunity to first play Anarchy Online for free, we think we’re giving them the chance to see if it’s something for them.