Anarchy Online - Brainstorming

[Korruptor]

Hey All,

I am not sure how many here are familiar with classes in AO but here is the setup I'm looking to try:

Doctor x1 - healer and HP buffer, uses a debuff on the target to slow it's attack speed by an incredible amount and has 3 stacking DoT's
Soldier x4 - The core DPS class, they have the best ranged Alpha in AO and 4 of them on one target just sounds beautiful - have shields and massive self only mitigation abilities for short periods
Trader or MP x1 - Buffer/Support for the group, decent DPS but nothing special, CC abilities

Pro: One benefit of using the 4 soldiers engineers is the incredible Alpha damage
Con: Far more expensive due to the requirement of needed player made weapons, harder to upgrade to keep all Soldiers up to snuff

Or..

Doctor x1 - healer and HP buffer, uses a debuff on the target to slow it's attack speed by an incredible amount and has 3 stacking DoT's
Engineers x4 - these guys have the biggest and baddest pets, although there is no alpha attack per se in this setup the sustained DPS is very good and each main bot is a tank in it's own right followed by a DPS pet (imagine having a VoidWalker and a Succubus at the same time), later in the game the engineers would augment DPS with a ranged weapon
Trader or MP x1 - Buffer/Support for the group, decent DPS but nothing special, CC abilities

Pro: One benefit of using the 4 engineers over soldiers is you can send your pets around corners etc preventing line of sight attacks on the group, 8 total pets would make short work of any non-boss mobs
Pro: Cheaper, by far.
Con: Slower DPS, weak alpha.


So to sum up...
more durability, off-tanking pets or more alpha damage?

Thank!

[Gurblash]

Aaahhh Anarchy Online loved that game.

4x Engineers is a bit overkill I'd say. 1 engineer buffed correctly can solo RED missions.

my dream setup would be...

Doc
Fixer - Grid warp, Speed Buffs, 5min Hot
Trader - Debuffs ftw and also being able to boost your own guys is helpful for twinking imps.
Crat - XP boosts are awesome
Soldier(s)
Also an MP buff bot is always helpful.

Doc, Fixer, Trader, Soldiers x2 - would be a good group setup.

Have always wanted to go back and play AO again since the finding of the MB community and its tools. And since its a free2play game now, minus the ShadowLands and Lost Eden content, it might be fun to casually play.

RK1 - 220 Fixer, 220 Doc, 220 MA, 220 NT

[Korruptor]

Thanks for the feedback

Yep it might seem overkill to have 4 of one class but the focus is on simplicity & DPS, this group would be used for running SL missions and I'd rather end the fight fast then have it last longer for something to go wrong. With a Doc I have really no need of Fixer Hot's and Crat exp perks are best only in conjunction with a heck kiting team for maximum effect.

So back to my original question:

more durability & off-tanking pets
or
more alpha damage?

Btw, just so you know they now have a $5 per month plan for the original game + SL (doesn't work if you have any other expansions like AI or LE)

[Gurblash]

just so you know they now have a $5 per month plan for the original game + SL

Wow thats a GREAT deal to be honest.

Unforunately I havn't theorycrafted AO in possibly 18 months so I can't really add to much to the actual question without knowing the hard numbers Engy Pets put out vs. 4x Alpha Soldiers. Hope there are more ex/current AO members of the forums, although I don't know of any publicly.

[Eteocles]

I made an account when they offered "Free 1 year accounts" to everyone who signed up by January of 06 or something...I liked the game but had issues soloing deep into the sewers...is it still possible to get free accounts or /follow? Id' be tempted to play around with it some...

[Gurblash]

the game is easy to Multibox. Has a /follow and /target command. Might boot up a few trial accounts this weekend and test it with KeyClone and do a run from 1-15 with 5guys just for shits.
And AFAIK its still free to play unless you want to get access to any of the Expansion content.

[Korruptor]

Whats the current favorite of WoW multiboxing?

I see some running 5 shaman, some 1 priest and 4 mages etc, which seems to work better?

The better resilience setups with lower DPS or the higher DPS (mage) setups?

EDIT:
The best thing about AO is that your characters can be set to autoattack when hit and also autoface when in combat.

[Gurblash]

Current 'popular' choices are 5x Shaman or 1xPally/4xShaman, those seem to be the most common. Although people are always comming up with whacky and new group setups.

[Korruptor]

Sweet, thanks for the info!

Edit:
Here is a link to the vid showing the new graphics engine they will bring in later this year.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bRmk0hZam7A

And here is for the registration of a new free account if you're so inclined (RK1 hint hint)
https://register.funcom.com/account/

[Gurblash]

Here is a link to the vid showing the new graphics engine they will bring in later this year.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bRmk0hZam7A

Funcom has been saying 'later this year' for about 3 years. I'll believe it when I see it, just another Dev team that can't meet deadlines.