Behind The Scenes with Gaute Godager:

We are doing something different in the MMO world. We are making a booster pack! "What is that?" you wonder. Well basically it is additional game-play and add-ons which we deem: 1. too big in megabytes to patch and 2. too small in content for an expansion pack. I'm sure many of you are familiar with this concept from card-trading games, for instance. In addition to some beautiful graphic updates and new sounds, the first booster pack for Anarchy Online will feature land control.

Basically, all over the Rubi-Ka world, we are assigning areas that you, the players, can take over and "own"! You will be able to do this by placing towers of control and influence. This will give you and your organization (A.K.A. guild in other games) sweet-sweet skill bonuses, titles and more! Eh, only there is a catch. By placing these towers, the suppression gas will cycle (PvP on-off) and enable the other side to attack your towers during a few hours of the day, and try to place their own! Oh, no! These towers give you personal and organizational bonuses so you'll want to do everything you can to hold on to them.

With this addition, the conflict between the clans and Omni's will be raging more than ever! Every character can have several permanent towers in the world, staying on even when they log out! These will help to defend your organization's area in case of a surprise attack. You will also be able to have temporary robot-service towers that can be placed outside the control areas, making temporary camps for instance. These will give you temporary bonuses and might (hint, hint) be useful in attacking another organization.

This land control feature was originally planned as part of the Shadowlands expansion pack. As we sadly see that Shadowlands will have to be delayed into next year, we wanted to offer you (the players) something sooner. But don't worry; there will still be plenty in the expansion pack! I also want to assure you all that the work on Shadowlands is still the only focus for that group and content patches are still being produced by another group.

We're just giving you the basics here but I'm sure many of you are now bursting with questions. I will definitely get back to you with more details on the balance and operations of the towers later.

Yours truly,
Gaute Godager,
Anarchy-Online Game Director