Introduction

Anarchy Online is a big game—a really big game, with thousands of players online at any given time. The game’s epic plot unfolds over the course of four years, making AO’s storyline perhaps the largest of any game to date. However, as your character is only a minute piece of this grand scheme, you’re free–within the limits of your chosen profession–to act as you please. By the very nature of MMORPGs, gameplay is entirely nonlinear. Feel like hunting? Grab some friends and go kill some enemies. Money burning a hole in your pocket? Go shopping. Need cash? Take on a mission and earn some. Or just explore the vast expanses of land between inhabited cities on Rubi-Ka. This guide focuses on assisting you create and evolve your early character in an efficient manner, rather than walking you through the game step-by-step. After reading our guide, you’ll be ready to enter Rubi-Ka and take an active part in the conflict–for the “evil” Omni-Tek corporation, the rebel clans, or as an undecided, neutral character.

 Breeds

In lieu of the race-based system that the vast majority of role-playing games employ, Anarchy Online uses genetically engineered breeds. There are four breeds from which you can choose: Solitus, Opifex, Nano, and Atrox. The Solitus, Opifex, and Nano breeds are available in both male and female persuasions, while the huge Atrox only comes in one form: unisex. Each breed has its own strengths and weaknesses, detailed in the table and breed-specific sections below.

Depending on your breed and profession, raising different skills and abilities will cost you improvement points (or IPs) awarded every time you level up. The cost of raising each skill or ability will be reflected by the color in your skill view (accessed by pressing the letter U on your keyboard or by clicking “skill” at the bottom of your screen). A colored bar represents your character’s aptitude in specific skills and abilities: A green bar shows that your character is extremely adept, and it will consequently cost you very few IPs to improve these skills; a light blue bar represents average ability; and a dark blue bar represents very little talent, and it will cost you a large number of IPs to significantly raise these skills.

Breed Strengths and Weaknesses

The breed you choose will also determine the starting value of each of your abilities, with adept abilities beginning higher than average, and so on. However, realize that this starting value has virtually no importance in the grand scheme of things. The relative cost of raising the abilities is much more important, so choose a breed that will lower the cost of improving your character in the areas you need most, rather than one that will simply start you out with slightly higher values in a certain area.

Solitus

The Solitus is the epitome of the “average” person. The Solitus breed has no particular strengths or weaknesses, so choosing this breed for your character will provide you with the most well-rounded base for your character. However, unless you plan to be a jack-of-all-trades of sorts, you’d likely be better off with a more specialized breed.

Opifex

If agility is your thing, the Opifex is your match. On the whole, the Opifex is still pretty average: Strengths in agility and sense are offset by weaknesses in stamina and body development. However, stamina is much less important to the big picture than agility or sense, and as such the Opifex often winds up being an excellent choice of breed.

Nano

Most definitely not an average breed, the Homo Nano is extremely skilled at nonphysical abilities but is inept at those abilities that do rely on physical prowess. Obviously, the Nano breed is not a good choice if you plan to be along the front lines; however, for characters planning on choosing a profession that will bring a heavy reliance on nanobots, the Nano is a most excellent breed.

Atrox

At the other end of the spectrum is the Atrox. Devoid of any talent for nano-related activities, the Atrox is extremely big and strong. Not a good choice for a nano-technician, for example; however, the Atrox is the perfect breed for an enforcer or other melee-heavy profession.

Which breed should you choose? That depends somewhat on how you intend to play, and even more so, it depends on what profession you plan to choose. See the next section for advice on which breed best fits each profession.