Hi, I'm the new Site Manager here at AO Vault. For the last three years, I've been the Assistant Site Manager for AC Vault and I've been hired to bring that experience to improve AO Vault. But I can't do that alone...
Anarchy Online Vault is seeking staff to join our team to bring this site up to a standard to make it the best it can be. If you feel you have something that you can contribute, you are encouraged to send an email to me via the online form at AO Vault, or you can reply directly to this thread.
We are looking for all sorts of people; News Authors, Fan Fiction Authors, Guide Writers, even Comic Artists. If you feel you have something unique to bring to the table (yes, even something I didn't think of!) let me know.
All staff are (subject to history checks) given VIP on the VN Boards, their own custom title, and free Insider on the boards for the duration of their stay.
Even if you don't think you have the time to fully contribute, you can still submit items of interest (fan fiction, news tidbits, comics, player editorials) by sending them in an email to me
"Kaltemar"
Site Manager, AO Vault
Assistant Site Manager, AC Vault
In the first of the paid content updates for 2007, Funcom has just announced the impending release of the Vehicle Pack. Points are bought for real money (presumably with a credit card) and can be traded in for the vehicles.
17.6 - Vehicle Pack
The first of our paid content packs to be launched this year will contain a series of great new vehicles that players will be able to purchase individually or as an entire pack.
Boards and Bikes!
Featuring fantastic new jet bike and hoverboard designs these new creations will mean you never need to worry about not travelling in style again! The Phasefront corporation has been busily manufactoring these new vehicles and is looking to release them to the Rubi-Ka market very soon!
The hoverboards will come in a variety of designs, colours and skins and even allow you to pull off some awesome tricks! The boards will even be able to be used in Shadowlands!
The bikes will also come in a series of great designs and skins and will allow you to fly around Rubi-Ka in style!
How do they work?
They will be items that give you a new nano formula, the nano can then be used to summon the bike / board. We did it this way to avoid people having to have dozens of different items in their inventory with all the different bikes and boards that will be available.
The items will be purchasable from a special vendor that will use the 'paid points' as its valid currency. You will be able to transfer points into the game from your account page.
The raw points will go to each character on an account (like veteran points, and like veteran rewards the items aren't tradeable) and the bikes will then be able to be purchased from the vendor even individually or as 'packs' (the packs will be items that when activated spawn their contents into your inventory in a similar way to the veteran items that come in packs.)
Video Previews
You can also check out this footage of the boards and bikes in action!(right click and select save target as to download)
This week's Anarchy Online community update is mostly about the new, updated, AO website at http://www.anarchy-online.com. Also, there's mention of a small hotfix being scheduled in to fix some issues introduced in 17.5
The previously mentioned 17.6 update has been pushed back and relabeled, and will now be 17.7. 17.6 will now be the vehicle update pack (post to come!)
Today's community news welcomes you to the new look Anarchy Online website and brings news of the latest game updates.
New Website
Welcome to the new Anarchy Online website, we have been working on this quietly behind the scenes for a while now and are very pleased to be able to release it to you all today! We hope the new layout and sections will make everything a little easier to find, be more dynamic and enable us to keep bringing you the latest news from Rubi-Ka!
Game Updates
We are currently building and testing a 17.5.2 update to resolve a few of the issues that cropped up in the 17.5 series that we have been slightly delayed in addressing due to the server issues since the migration.
We hope to be able to deploy the update on Thursday, but it might be next week depending on the status of the servers.
We are also actually in the process of moving things around a little internally, the vehicle pack is now going to be labelled as the 17.6 update, with what was the 17.6 content to come in 17.7. It wont effect the timings though, the vehicle pack will be coming very soon, hopefully within the next four weeks or so (the server issues have obviously pushed us back a little in terms of update schedule). You will find updated previews for both in the 'Coming Soon' section of the site!
Hopefully not too confusing, its mainly so we can keep the version names consistent and the vehicle pack doesn't end up as anonymous 17.5.x update.
The fixes slated for 17.6 (and there are quite a lot of them again, another round of old bugs will be squashed with that update) will still be there though as they are prepped and ready.
Upcoming Previews
Keep your eyes peeled over the coming days and weeks as we reveal more of the skins that will be available for the new jet-bikes!
Pharamond sends us an email to draw our attention to the winners of the Jetbike naming contest. The top winner, as you will recall, can look forward to an awesome new Anarchy Online themed gaming rig, and a lifetime free subscription
From the Anarchy Online official forumsThe corporation is pleased to report that customers have succeeded where the Board has failed. The final name for the production jetbike and hoverboard will be Phasefront. We are indebted to Olak of the Atlantean dimension for the suggestion, and the gratuity will be sent in a few days.
We would also like to thank Mireiawen of the Rimor dimension and Calpurnianna of the Atlantean dimension for their suggestions. While the corporation regrets it could not use their submissions on the final production models, we will also be granting them a small measure of our thanks for their fine suggestions.
We would like to thank all of the participants for helping us clear through this red tape and we look forward to bringing you the Phasefront Jetbike and Hoverboard once the construction on the initial batch finishes production and testing.
With the recent release of the 17.5 update, Funcom have gone on to post the preliminary release notes for the 17.6 update.
Highlights are, of course, new quests. With this we'll also be seeing some small changes including new items on the vendors, new items on the loot tables, better scaling on engineer pets (higher over-equip levels), and an increased lockout timer on orbital strikes and air raids.
The 17.5 Patch mentioned earlier has been deployed to live, and the live dimensions are available again. As always, there are a couple of small issues which can be resolved by downloading a clean copy of the Default UI.
Click "Read More" for a summary of what has gone in this patch.
Anarchy Online Vault's newest feature, the Guild Database, is now live! You can now list your guild at AO Vault for everyone to see, exposing your guild to many thousands of viewers.
If you experience issues with this feature or have suggestions, please e-mail me.
We've just been alerted to a forum post by Pharamond about an upcoming concert next weekend.
The event will be live on all dimensions, but unfortunately it appears that only North America based players will be able to enjoy this special treat.
In a special event next weekend, we have teamed up with our partners at Massive and Verizon Wireless to provide a great in-game concert event.
Preparations have been completed for the grand concert in the ICC area in Andromeda and we invite all North America-based citizens of Rubi-Ka to attend this unique musical event.
The concert features The All-American Rejects and the event kicks off at 7PM Eastern Time on August 12, 2007 (To figure out what that means in your local time check here ).
Keep your eyes peeled for teasers and more information during the coming week for this exciting event!
__________________
Shannon 'Pharamond' Drake
Community Manager – Funcom
In case you haven't noticed the launcher message yet, there will be a downtime of approximately 48 hours next Tuesday 7th August for major system maintenance. Sillirion states that the plan is for the 17.5 patch to be implemented into live at this time, but there are no guarantees.
Funcom's community update for the week has just gone up! This week, we're saying Happy Birthday to Gridstream Productions, who provide entertainment and parties to the communities of the dimensions.
Also, a reminder that you could win a pretty awesome gaming rig and a lifetime free subscription to Anarchy Online in the "Name the Jetbikes" competition!
As well, we have an estimated ETA on the 17.5 update to live. This is currently scheduled to start on the 7th of August and may involve up to a 48 hour downtime.
As usual, click on the "Read More" link for the full details.
The Vault Network is very excited to announce the launching of our latest site, Two Worlds Vault! Please take a moment and drop by to see what is going on with this highly anticipated game from TopWare Interactive. The game is set in an epic open-ended world for immersive gameplay that will appeal to a wide range of players. Two Worlds is also slated for both the PC & Xbox 360. Stop by and see what's going on...
Further to yesterday's post about the 17.5 test notes, Funcom has made good on their promise to deliver the 17.5 update this week - it's available now!
All subscribers are encouraged to visit the tester information page on the official site and join the beta test. If you don't have a subscription, you can get a FREE subscription until February 2008 by visiting the official AO site. Note that free subscriptions don't have all the expansions included.
A forum post by Silirrion details the preliminary changes due to arrive in the 17.5 update, and notes that we should be seeing it this week.
Highlights include the new quest content mentioned in the community update, as well as some battlestation updates, various improvements and fixes, and controversially the removal of the "Save Password" option to log into the game.
To read the full notes, you can view them here at AO Vault or at the official forums
Funcom have just released the community update for the 20th of July, with some really cool stuff to report. First, in combo with iBuyPower, you can submit your ideas for brand names for the upcoming Jetbikes - with a pretty awesome gaming rig as first prize (and a free lifetime AO subscription).
If that's not your thing, then the features of the upcoming 17.5 content patch have been announced. This includes all new content and quests in the area of Penumbra, and the return of a Dust Brigade threat.
DURHAM, N.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Funcom is proud to announce the introduction of a additional business model for Anarchy Online, exactly six years after the launch of the world's first sci-fi MMO. Set to launch this summer, Funcom now introduces a point-based system where players can purchase selected virtual items, as well as new content and services. The new approach comes as an addition to Anarchy Online's existing business models, and it is a current Funcom focus to only introduce items which do not affect gameplay balance.
The first virtual items to kick off the program will be the introduction of jetbikes and hover boards, giving players the chance to cruise around Rubi-Ka in an all new fashion. In addition Funcom will offer previously released scout-mechs, luxury apartments, Leet pets and various sets of social clothing. By using points the players can also get access to previous and upcoming expansion and booster packs, as well as new services like changing in-game names or moving to another server.
“Funcom has long been a pioneer on new MMO business models, and with the introduction of virtual item sales we are once again moving our game in an exciting new direction,“ said Trond Arne Aas, CEO of Funcom. “Selling virtual items and smaller content upgrades is now a prevalent MMO business model in Asia. This has yet to be fully explored in the west, but we believe that the time is now right to test a limited version of such a model. At the same time we remain committed to the overall evolution of the game, making sure that Anarchy Online will be a success for many years to come.”
“Celebrating six years is a fantastic milestone for Anarchy Online, and we are genuinely honored to still entertain so many people,” said Craig Morrison, Producer and Director on Anarchy Online. “As we now introduce a new addition to Anarchy Online we have ensured that our paying customers get certain privileges. At the same time we also want to show our commitment to taking the overall gameplay experience forward. I am therefore glad to announce that we are developing a new graphics engine for the game, replacing our entire server farm, as well as developing exciting booster packs which include new playfields and more.”
The Funcom points can at first be purchased in 10 and 20 USD / EUR packages. As an example of the price a new jetbike starts as low as 3 dollars, while a complete set of bikes can be bought for about 10 dollars. Players who are paying subscribers of Anarchy Online will get a set of monthly points included in the subscription price, and longer pricing plans like 6 and 12 months gives extra points. As an added incentive Funcom will send points to the player account upon receipt of subscription dues.
For more information about the game please visit www.anarchy-online.com.
At the end of June Anarchy Online will be celebrating its sixth anniversary and we are taking the opportunity to have a great giveaway that will give all the citizens of Rubi-Ka an opportunity to snag themselves some great prizes.
Every Friday from now until the birthday celebrations at the end of June* we will be giving away the following:
- One free life-time account** amongst all paying subscribers.
- Two places in the Age of Conan beta program, selected from all active paying subscribers.
- One place in the Age of Conan beta program selected from all active free players.
- One free 'all expansion upgrades' to free players and 30 days subscription.
- One each of the exclusive in-game items: a Jobe luxury apartment key, a leet pet key and the pre-order mech key.
All you have to do to be eligible is to have logged into the game that week (running Saturday to Friday each week) and you will automatically be in with a chance of winning one of these great prizes!
You can get all the information and the latest news from the game on our website here: http://www.anarchy-online.com/free/ad_campaigns/birthday/
The birthday weekend will also feature extra special events, parties and activities that you won't want to miss, including exclusive birthday items and new items available from the veterans vendors!
Keep your eyes out for more details over the coming weeks!
We have learned via the official forums that the next update (17.3) will be made available on the test servers just after easter. We've got the quote below:
"...on a serious note we hope to have 17.3 on Test live just after Easter, so hopefully next week at some point."
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