Anarchy Online Update

Anarchy Online got a patch today, re-invigorating the in-game mission system. From the patch notes:

The auto-generated mission areas have received a major upgrade in looks and layout, and should now be both more varied, challenging and visually pleasing.

New dangers in missions include proximity mines, cameras and gun turrets. The “Map Reader Upgrade – Machines” will help somewhat against some of these hazards, and you might be able to locate a central control unit for them. In addition, more variation has been added to creatures found in missions. In fact, some completely new creature variants will only be found in missions. Watch out!

Some other changes with missions are

  • Supplies can now be found outside of chests too. Look around, and with some luck you’ll come across some special goodies.
  • When selecting a mission in the mission booth interface, the coordinates for the mission will be automatically uploaded to your map and compass.
  • All missions now have a time limit of 48 hours.
  • The “brown cave” mission style is no longer available.
  • You will not always be offered an item reward for a mission. Remember to check the mission info.

My vote for funniest bug fix: Some individuals of several four-legged species had a gene error causing them to walk in strange angles, e.g. nose in the ground and hind legs in the air. This has now been corrected by natural selection, as they were unable to run from Omni-Tek biogenetic regulation units.

And my vote for the only real ARGH! change: Mission terminals in Tir, Omni-1 Entertainment and Newland no longer serve characters of levels above 25. (And its not really that big a deal, just slightly inconvenient.)