Matrix Online

[Sobelius]

Anyone in the Beta/Pre-order?

After a friend showed me his stress-test beta Monday night, I decided to check it out.

So far, from what little I've played (got up up to level 5 last night), it reminds me a lot of Neocron, without the PvP. There were moments when I *really* wanted to be able to engage someone else in PvP with the MxO's combat system. It offers ranged fire, close-combat ranged fire, and hand-to-hand close combat -- add in "on the fly" coding buffs and debuffs, and it gets interesting -- but not so much against AI. I'd really like to try it against a live mind. It took a little experimenting to get used to the combat system mechanics, which involve pre-selecting moves and watching the results, making it a game of tactical choices in a kind of real-time turn-based system that feels, to me, more interactive than typical MMO button mashing.

My only gripe so far has been the terrible slippery/sliding running physics. I'm spoiled by the crispness of CoH's movement physics.

The game actually feels very true to license -- especially getting into the Matrix. And seeing other characters do the hyper-jump thing even as low as level 12 tells me that this will not be a SWG take on getting to the fun stuff. I reserve final judgement though until I play it a bit more. So far, it feels right -- though I'm going in with no expectations or hyped prejudices, and maybe that helps.

Anyway -- if you're in, look me up as "Zyxanon" on the Algorithm world.

[stray]

So far, from what little I've played (got up up to level 5 last night), it reminds me a lot of Neocron, without the PvP.

Wait...I thought MxO had PvP. I'd be willing to try it out if it did.

[Sobelius]

So far, from what little I've played (got up up to level 5 last night), it reminds me a lot of Neocron, without the PvP.

Wait...I thought MxO had PvP. I'd be willing to try it out if it did.

It may -- that's why I said after *one night's* play it felt like Neocron without the PvP (Neocron is largely PvP from the get go).

I really expect there will be PvP given the 3 main factions. What seems to set this MMO apart in PvP from other games is the ability to completely re-make your character by loading/unloading abilities. This means you're not stuck with one role -- and it also means the person you meet on Day X may not have the same defenses or combat powers loaded if you meet them on Day Y. The possibilities *sound* cool, but I haven't really played it enough to say.

Here are a couple of things, though, that seem cool and consistent with the license:

- jack into a hardline (phone booth) in the matrix and you can teleport instantly to any other hardline you have accessed.
- manipulate matrix 'code' to build a 'proxy' (a.k.a. pet) that serves as a 'bodyguard' for you.
- access a number of different weapons and clothing pretty easily; some clothes are just visual adds, others improve your defense or skills
- all waypoints and interactive objects can be easily viewed -- kinda like having someone outside the matrix tell you "go through the door on the right" or "the safe is behind the painting to your left"
- close combat fights involve a lot of decent moves, from head-butts to throws, over-the-head-from-behind-Trinity-style-kicks and groin kicks, among others.
- traffic on the street stops at traffic lights and actually jams up at times -- ok minor thing, but after CoH's nonexistent city vehicle behavior, it was amusing to see traffic behave the way I'd expect. Cars will not kill you, though -- you automatically dodge/spin out of the way in a wire-fu kinda way.

Side note: real-time out-of-game internet radio station -- radio free zion -- broadcasting music and also commenting on in-game events (I just heard them mention a gathering at club succubus, providing in-game zone name and one DJ even mentioned map coords). The music feels a little 1997-9-ish, but that's cool. I like Chemical Brothers.

Will see if I can get some more info on PvP though.

Edit: Answer is Yes. Guess I'll have to find me some...

From the official FAQ:
Does The Matrix Online have Player vs. Player Combat ?

The Matrix Online includes PvP, for players who choose to play against other players, but there are plenty of computer-controlled characters in the missions to fight against as well. Player vs. player is a particularly intense style of gameplay. However, unlike some games, you needn't play PVP exclusively. You can choose to alternate between fighting other players or taking missions against non-player characters.

[stray]

From the official FAQ:
Does The Matrix Online have Player vs. Player Combat ?

The Matrix Online includes PvP....[snip]

Cool enough. The combat system has me intrigued. Glad to see it isn't being wasted away on a PvE only game.

I don't really care if it's the Matrix or not. Urban environments are cool, combat sounds interesting, it has PvP, and it doesn't have elves. I'll at least give it a shot.

edit: Hmm, servers are down....With the exception of "Algorithm". It says "Admins Only". I'm guessing that's a temporary thing?

So far, cool "launcher" I guess. I've yet to see the client. Heh.

[Shockeye]

Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and SEGA title to be released March 22

The highly anticipated continuation to The Matrix film trilogy, The Matrix Online has gone gold and is on track for a March 22, 2005 launch. The MMOG, co-published by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and SEGA, will take tens of thousands of players down the rabbit hole and unveil a story full of twists and turns allowing them to take an active role in helping determining the future of the Matrix saga.

Developed by Monolith Productions in conjunction with the Wachowski Brothers, creators of The Matrix Trilogy, the game will be a re-creation of the virtual world of the Matrix, employing cutting edge 3-D graphics, networking and server technology. Gameplay in The Matrix Online will be based on intricate and exciting "wire-fu" combat, an extensive mission structure, social interaction and completely customizable skill and ability system.

The Matrix Online also features many of the original talent from the films - Laurence Fishburne (Morpheus), Monica Bellucci (Persephone), Mary Alice (The Oracle), Lambert Wilson (The Merovingian), Harold Perrineau Jr. (Link), Harry Lennix (Lock), Nona Gaye (Zee), Collin Chou (Seraph) and Tanveer Atwal (Sati).

Gamers wanting to delve into the secrets of The Matrix Online before the game hits store shelves can check out a Sneak Preview event on Saturday, March 12 at 12:00 p.m. PST and ending at 9:00 p.m. PST on Tuesday, March 15.

Players will get a chance to see the newest version of the game, including many storyline elements from the continuation of The Matrix trilogy. Also, major player achievements and events that take place during The Matrix Online Sneak Preview will be published in the next issue of The Official Magazine of The Matrix Online. This is a unique opportunity for players to become a real part of Matrix history. Information on the Sneak Preview event is available at:

www.thematrixonline.com/web/live/sneakpreview.jsp

The Matrix Online will be sold through all major game retailers for a suggested retail price (SRP) of $49.99. Gamers can either subscribe online for a monthly subscription fee of $14.99 or purchase pre-paid game cards with 60 days worth of playtime for $29.99.

Fans who pre-order The Matrix Online will enjoy the added bonus of special in-game abilities, access to the beta and an early entrance into the game. There's still time to take the plunge and pre-order; simply go to: www.thematrixonline.com/preorder.html

For more information on The Matrix Online, please visit the official website at:
www.thematrixonline.com

Posted by MxO Team, 03-10-05

[stray]

Ok, finally got into Algorithm and played a little (to lvl 4).

First impressions:

Pros:

The presentation is top notch. They've put a lot a work into the "little things" that make it all feel consistent with the license.

The interface is excellent as well. Very easy to understand right off the bat.

The graphics, even though I'm on an average system, aren't bad. Call me vain, but this is probably the first point that either kills my interest in a game or encourages me to proceed further. The Matrix has passed this test at least. There's a good variety of character creation options as well, and not all look as ridiculous as the ones in demos and screenshots.

So far, I agree with Sobelius about the combat system. I'm just starting out, so I can't say for sure, but it seems a lot more promising than what most games have offered. I'll hold out on my verdict for now though.

Cons:

Dear God, this is crippling lag! I know it's beta and all, but I'll be pissed if Live is half this bad.

[AOFanboi]

Dear God, this is crippling lag! I know it's beta and all, but I'll be pissed if Live is half this bad.

What, aren't you aware of the existence of the Magic Patch that will fix everything before the March 22 launch date?

[TripleDES]

What's this beta you're talking of? I thought they announced Gold?

[stray]

What's this beta you're talking of? I thought they announced Gold?

Well, everything seems OK, except for the lag.

But then again, I don't think I've ever played one MMO that had stable servers. So it's not much to bitch about. I guess.

It is Gold. In MMOG terms at least.

*insert comparisons to urine and whatnot*

[stray]

Someone else needs to comment on this game. Where are all the haters at?

All I can say is that my experience so far doesn't really line up with all the negative shit I kept hearing about it.

Is it "Great"? Not at all. But I'm having a hard time believing that any of those people actually played it.

[Riggswolfe]

I did notice on their beta forums that alot of people were saying they need to push the release date back.

[Signe]

I did notice on their beta forums that alot of people were saying they need to push the release date back.

You suck at hate.

[schild]

I did notice on their beta forums that alot of people were saying they need to push the release date back.

You suck at hate.

lollercopter.

[ClydeJr]

Disclaimer: I'm a CoH fanboi so a lot of what I consider "good" is the way CoH does things.

I played some in the beta and I wasn't really that impressed. I made it up about lvl 8 going the Soldier route.

The controls felt very loose and sloppy. I could never make my character run in a nice smooth turn. I would jerk around, run straight a little, then all of a sudden turn a lot. Whoever decided on the physics for the standard jump should be shot. Anytime I tried to jump over anything (a railing, garbage in an alleyway, a bench), it would take about 3-4 jumps before I could finally make it over. If characters have the ability to jump in your game, make sure they can jump well and high.

The graphics just felt grainy to me, like they came from 1997 or something. Perhaps that's the Matrix-y look or something but I thought they looked pretty crappy. Buildings would switch from their low res textures to the high res texture way too close to the character. Many times I would run to a building to enter a mission and from a distance I couldn't see a door. Then all over a sudden, a door would appear when it switched textures. Maybe I missed a setting somewhere where you could choose how far away the high res textures would kick in. I did like it when all the textures were doing the Matrix code thing when you logged in. I thought that was pretty impressive. Unfortunately, it seemed that those texture would stay up for way too long.

The large number of costume options made it possible for characters to look vastly different. That's always a plus. I wish they'd do something to the icons to designate if the item was gender-specific. I tried to put on a pair of lady's pants way too many times...

Combat seemed a little boring, especially after playing CoH a lot. I'd get in a fight with one of the 3 fighting styles and if one didn't seem to be working, I'd randomly switch to one of the others. I picked up an ability that would tell me every so often when the bad guy was vulnerable to a certain style. That's great if I was already using that style. If I wasn't, by the time I'd switch, the vulnerability was gone. I had a few special moves (Head Butt, Cheap Shot, Overhand Smash) but I'd always forget to use them. I probably wasn't high enough to get all the really cool moves, but I still think you need to have some animation-candy for the newbs.

I haven't played in a few weeks so maybe things have changed. however I doubt things would have changed enough for me to shell out some money for the game.

[Soukyan]

Where are all the haters at?

You can simply ask "Where are all the haters?" The preposition at the end of the sentence is superfluous and poor grammar.

Back on the topic, where are all the haters? ;)

[stray]

The Duck of Death, I says.

[Sobelius]

The controls felt very loose and sloppy. I could never make my character run in a nice smooth turn. I would jerk around, run straight a little, then all of a sudden turn a lot. Whoever decided on the physics for the standard jump should be shot. Anytime I tried to jump over anything (a railing, garbage in an alleyway, a bench), it would take about 3-4 jumps before I could finally make it over. If characters have the ability to jump in your game, make sure they can jump well and high.

The graphics just felt grainy to me, like they came from 1997 or something. Perhaps that's the Matrix-y look or something but I thought they looked pretty crappy. Buildings would switch from their low res textures to the high res texture way too close to the character. Many times I would run to a building to enter a mission and from a distance I couldn't see a door. Then all over a sudden, a door would appear when it switched textures. Maybe I missed a setting somewhere where you could choose how far away the high res textures would kick in. I did like it when all the textures were doing the Matrix code thing when you logged in. I thought that was pretty impressive. Unfortunately, it seemed that those texture would stay up for way too long.

The large number of costume options made it possible for characters to look vastly different. That's always a plus. I wish they'd do something to the icons to designate if the item was gender-specific. I tried to put on a pair of lady's pants way too many times...

Agree on the jump ability -- of course, they do have the opposite extreme available -- hyper-jump (my guess is it works something like Superjump in CoH). I mean, I've literally seen someone standing next to me and when they hyper-jump away all I hear is a swoosh and they are gone in a blink.

As to graphics, I'm running an Athlon 64 3200+ with 1GB ram and a 256 GF6800 GT. The high detail city graphics look way better than CoH and it runs smoothly on my box. Now if only MxO had the smooth running movement physics of CoH. Perhaps the server speed issue is what's causing the problem, perhaps its the stress test, or the old beta-board standby: they have debug code running on the servers so of course it's slow! In all the games I've ever played in Beta, what you see is what you get at release. Period.

The annoying thing about the clothing is that with all the other filters they provide for inventory, they could have provided one to filter out opposite gender-specific items. Or they could have just let me don a pair of red pumps and let me camp it up. Their clothing options are quite nice and well done.

Coding items feels very license-correct -- I like the way they even used the matrix code symbology to apply to coded fragments, that are then assembled into specific coded constructs like clothing or weapons or abilities. Crafting anything from tools to clothing to abilities using the same coding/crafting components makes this quite true to form for the Matrix-as-a-coded-reality concept.

I would also like to see the speed of combat increased -- but my concern is, at what cost? As it is right now, it gets pretty hectic choosing moves even if the animations are a little slow at times (and not intentionally slow as in bullet-time slow, which is fairly cool when it happens). What bothers me most is that I don't get a good sense of feedback from the system as to whether or how my choices are affecting the outcome. Basically, if I'm much higher level than the opponent I can usually win, if the opponent is much higher level, they tend to win, and if we're close in level then the randomness of the rolls comes into play. I haven't tried getting or using the Consistency ability to see if that makes a difference. There are so many abilities to plug in and try, it's a bit overwhelming, especially since certain abilities can only be used at specific times during combat -- I'm going to try creating hotbutton bars for specific types of combat and see if that helps. I can almost always get a groin kick (cheap shot) in, and head-butt almost always works for me as a finishing move.

As far as movement goes, the thing I finally figured out is that the targeting reticle is separate from movement. For a while I thought they were connected. Once I started ignoring the reticle, I found it easier to use the keyboard for movement and then the reticle for targeting. This was a bit of a pain because I've gotten so used to mouse movement in EQ2 and WoW (though I still use the keyboard for CoH).

The mission system seems to work, though the missions are well written the actual mission events are a little lacking. Maybe I just haven't gotten to the more interesting ones yet?

Still haven't had a chance to do any PvP -- may try that this weekend.

[Trippy]

I tried out MxO when it first became available for pre-order people and things back then were horrible. If you think the rubberbanding and jerky movement is bad now you should've seen it back then. The networking code was so bad the game was almost physically unplayable (it was hard to move through doorways and the like). Things have gotten better on the networking side since then but it still feels like you are playing a circa-1993 online game over a dialup modem. Not only does it feel like you are always running into the wind but your character does not stop when you let go of the controls. For me this is especially a problem while turning since the screen doesn't stop moving when I think it should and it gives me a headache and slight motion sickness, and I never get motion sickness in real life or in another other 3D game I've played.

On my ghetto Athlon XP 2000+ and NVIDIA 5900 system the graphics, except for the models, look like crap from a texture quality perspective. They are much worse than what I was able to get in CoH (with a worse framerate in MxO to boot) and look like something from around the Quake 2-era. It sounds like the graphics are better at higher settings but unfortunately I don't see any of that.

The combat looks cool because of the synchronized movements but it feels entirely too slow to me and the "rock-scissor-paper" basic combat move system is just too random and the delay between what you pick and what happens on screen too long for me.

[Sobelius]

Things have gotten better on the networking side since then but it still feels like you are playing a circa-1993 online game over a dialup modem.

Yes, their networking code leaves a lot to be desired. And running into the wind -- yep, that describes it well. That has got to be server lag -- my ping times show up as consistently low and speedy. CoH has some of the best network code if only from the perspective that a ton of things happen on screen at the same time in large fights and when I'm playing with friends on Teamspeak none of us misses a beat. It feels totally synchronized.

On my ghetto Athlon XP 2000+ and NVIDIA 5900 system the graphics, except for the models, look like crap from a texture quality perspective. They are much worse than what I was able to get in CoH (with a worse framerate in MxO to boot) and look like something from around the Quake 2-era. It sounds like the graphics are better at higher settings but unfortunately I don't see any of that.

Sounds like they did a poor job for older/lower end systems. The visuals are quite good without being the plasticene-model variety of EQ2.

The combat looks cool because of the synchronized movements but it feels entirely too slow to me and the "rock-scissor-paper" basic combat move system is just too random and the delay between what you pick and what happens on screen too long for me.

Totally agree. I've played a bit more now and you hit the nail on the head -- when I wanted combat to be faster what I really want is my response times to be more in sync with my choices rather than a step behind. What I've started doing is anticipating, though not sure that's really working.

I got to duel another player my own level and the fight was quite fun and tense, though he didn't seem to know about combat buffs or defenses he could have used. I fault the tutorial for that -- while I don't mind figuring out stuff like that on my own, he clearly had not picked up on the things like Adrenaline Rush (skill buff) or the damage buff (can't recall name).

There is one issue, though, that is starting to rise above all the others -- the totally fucked up camera system during combat. It tries to be cool and zoom in and out for you and all it does is make me think WTF?

[Riggswolfe]

I did notice on their beta forums that alot of people were saying they need to push the release date back.

You suck at hate.

Well I haven't played it yet and I'm uncomfortable hating before I play. I will allow myself to love before I play but not hate.

[Signe]

Awww... you are such a romantic, Riggsy.  That made me misty-eyed.   

[Sobelius]

Ah well. Their 2 open servers are falling apart under the current load. This is 10 days before release. Not a good sign. Reminding me very much of the troubles that plagued Anarchy Online at release -- launcher problems, lag, zones crashing, character rollbacks. At least the system does send some warning signs and tries to gracefully shut things down. But this is a case that echoes what Haemish and others have said -- you can innovate all you want in an MMO but if you can't connect and play the damn thing all that innovation is worthless.

At least they had time to get some bizarre animations in. If you're ever in, try targeting another player and typing /dogsniff. If the other person agrees, your toon gets to smell their toon's ass. I kid you not.

Otherwise, the most positive thing I can say coming out of playing for about 20 or so hours now, is that they definitely delivered on the license, visually and in many ways even the game interface and mechanics are true to the conventions of the Matrix, such as they are. If they ever add wall running (maybe it's in there at a higher level?), they'll be set from that standpoint. But without solid connections and networking code, the game will gain a reputation as the Matrix Offline.

[schild]

the Matrix Offline.

That's hilarious. But I hope it's used sparingly. I'm so tired of hearing things like Evercrack, & sb.exe, & whatever else kiddies are using today.

[Riggswolfe]

Ok, played MxO briefly last night. I enjoyed making my character. I enjoyed the game in general though the graphics felt...cramped. Best way I could describe it. At low res the interface took up to much screen space. At high res the interface was impossible to see without squinting. (But maybe I'm just old. ).

I did the tutorial and one mission. Hand to hand combat was fun. Ranged combat was not. Interacting with objects felt clunky to me though I can't describe why. I think it is because it reminded me of SWG rotary menus.

No lag. No disconnects when I played. (Which was around 10pmish central time.)

[Shockeye]

What. the. fuck.

They want your credit card for the beta preview weekend?

Homey don't play that.

[Riggswolfe]

Age verification and all that. Though I haven't really seen much to require it yet.

[Shockeye]

Age verification and all that. Though I haven't really seen much to require it yet.

I don't care what it verifies. There is no reason for them to have my credit card information, especially my CVV/CVC code. I am not signing up for a subscription, I am helping them test their buggy POS software. The only reason I can see doing this is to limit the number of people willing or able to log on in order to not kill their servers. If their servers can't handle the people DON'T RELEASE THE FUCKING GAME.

[Riggswolfe]

I understand. I don't really agree with them but wasn't terribly bothered by it either.

[Sobelius]

After getting to level 7 I was able to improve some of my abilities a bit more. I even swapped out all of my close combat skills and replaced them with hacker skills to cause damage by infecting NPCs with viruses. Unfortunately, the virus attacks (which are essentially like mage spells -- DD, slow, root, debuff, etc.) don't have  much variety in the visuals department. The colors change. Big deal. Too bad, as well, since the hand-to-hand combat animations are so well done.

Well, even today, with the servers more stable than yesterday, multi-opponent combat gets way too jerky and out of sync. That awful combat camera is really a POS and they should remove it until they can get it right. Let me watch the fight and control the camera myself -- maybe there's an option to turn it off. As it is, I find myself hitting the camera reset button after every move during a fight. Sigh.

I can tell my MMO addict really wants to like this game. It's just different enough to be interesting, especially being able to really create a completely different set of skills just by unloading and reloading what I "know" from my "library". But the game really needs better running/movement physics and better networking performance. My guess is they're going to release as is and try to fix it over the next 6-12 months.

[SirBruce]

Yes, they still have a lot of technical issues, like the lag and jerky combat, that they really need to fix before its even worth playing.

The downloading abilities things is kinda cool; that way you're picking a different skill set every mission if you want, sort-of like how Guild Wars is doing their abilities thing.  And it has skill trees, which I like.

But the best parts of the game are really just imitations of City of Heroes, and you know, I've already played that, and if I want to enjoy that again, I'll just play City of Heroes.

The only thing that could really save MxO is if they really do all the great "story" things they are talking about, but come on, what are the chances of that?

Bruce

[stray]

The only thing that could really save MxO is if they really do all the great "story" things they are talking about, but come on, what are the chances of that?

Bruce

I don't know if they're to be believed, but the Wachowski's said they've always had the intention of an online Matrix game being the sequel after "Revolutions". I doubt that they could pull off anything really interesting here, but it does sound like they've really invested in the idea at least. I'd love to see them try.

It's funny though. The Matrix trilogy started out strong, then ended kind of weak. Most fans probably think that it couldn't have sunk any lower than it already did. That it could only go "up" from here.

But guess again folks! The Wachowski's have chosen the poorest storytelling medium of all -- The MMOG -- to continue where they left off. Even if they conjure up a storyline that would redeem them from their previous efforts, I expect the game itself will get the best of them.

But like I said, I'd love to see them try. Dynamic content is always fun, even if it doesn't last. And there will always be mission terminals, right? 

[HaemishM]

At least they had time to get some bizarre animations in. If you're ever in, try targeting another player and typing /dogsniff. If the other person agrees, your toon gets to smell their toon's ass. I kid you not.

...

I really, seriously have only one response to that. And I have to add a disclaiemer to it. I know good and well that the person who worked on that animation is not the same guy who worked on the server code. I'm well aware of that. However, that goes salary has to be paid, and paid to the exclusion of adding another server guy. Or adding more time onto the project. So somewhere, I hope there is an executive who is taking a final looksee over the project and seeing the shit fest of ass network code and is pulling his hair out while the server guys tell him they can't keep the servers up under beta load, and I hope in the middle of all that he gets to see someone dogsniff another player's ass. I really do. And I hope said sight sends this executive into a goddamn shit-flinging, tongue-choking, spittle-drenched conniption fit. And the fit ends when the animator, producer and designer who greenlit such a fucking thing into the game are fired.

On a barbecue spit. With an apple in their mouth.

Seriously, there is just no excuse for something so goddamn ridiculous in a game that is laggy and crash-happy. There just isn't.

EDIT: And I have to edit to agree with Shockeye, requiring a fucking Credit Card for a "FREE" Beta preview... fuck you. That's ass. It is beyond stupid. Age verification my ass. This isn't a pr0n site, it's a teen+ rated video game.

[Roac]

Purpose for age verification isn't so that some 10 year old gets exposed to obscene wire-fu.  It's so that when you click the "I agree" button to the privacy policy, it has some semi-legal legitimacy, or someone just comitted fraud. 

[Sobelius]

But like I said, I'd love to see them try. Dynamic content is always fun, even if it doesn't last. And there will always be mission terminals, right? 

Currently in game, missions are available from contacts much as in CoH. Except for contacts you discover hanging out in the street, you can call your main contact right from the start. Until about level 7, you work through the initial missions working for Zion as an awakened "red pill". After that, you are contacted by both a representative of the Merovigian and the Machines. Whichever faction you do missions for earns you positive rating with it and negative with the others.

There's an in-game paper you can read by clicking on the street newspaper vending machines. The paper hints at some story elements.

So far no "mission" has been of the kill x of y variety. There are collectors around town that will give enhanced equipment as a reward for turning in tokens/symbols/objects used by various street gangs, but these are (rightly) not offered as missions -- you're just getting a reward by taking out members of a gang that the collector usually has a grudge against.

You also get the option of setting a mission to easy/medium/hard difficulty. I was able to solo all my missions, with only a few being harder than expected.

One nice side effect of the Matrix Online -- the story becomes about the Matrix again since everything of consequence takes place within it.

There is a new twist as well -- areas called "Archives" that you buy keys to enter. A faction based archvist then teleports you into the archive. Reminds me of battleground teleporters in DAOC. The archives divided by level ranges (e.g. Archive for 15-25 is the lowest, I think). Apparently archives are previous versions of the Matrix that are hostile grounds for all factiosn (pvp areas?) as well as tougher NPC opponents. Supposedly they offer unique rewards as well. I have no idea what they're really like since I didn't buy a key to one.

Again, they need to resolve their server lag issues. I went to log in Sunday afternoon and the system showed one server as "full" but the load was "medium". Looks like they decided to cap population levels lower than they originally expected.

[Riggswolfe]

Well I've played a little more now. Only level umm..4ish or so. I Wanted to play around with tradeskills which are called coding in the game but couldn't figure out how to get recipes or anything. Guess I need to find an online manual.

So far I've played it in brief bursts. 10 minutes here, 15 minutes there. It's just not exciting enough to hook me and cause me to play for hours at this point.