I have been playing AO intensively for a couple of weeks now, and have made some observations both as a programmer and as a game player. Observations, hmm no it's a complaint session.
AO does some nice things with perspective and with landscapes. Why then can't they fix the stupid layout on the right?
The mini-map should take the same screen real estate regardless of resolution. Don't say it can't happen - they scale graphics with the plus and minus keys now.
Vertical real-estate. Dont let it roll off the screen. Hide dialogs that aren't used together. I dont need to see maps/what I am wearing while I am doing team or chat groups.
Chats - Make them persist between logins. Give me the ability to see who is in a group, and to add other groups to a chat group. Don't force the other ppl to accept, just allow them the squelch. Use a tree control. Chatting is so vital that this interface makes me want to start slapping people.
Game goals. Ok, they have a long running story line. Great. So what are we supposed to do in the short run? Missions? Two weeks in and I am bored of them. Killing Omni's? Then either have us level faster, or make guards weaker. I don't have the attention span to spend two months building a character just to kill guards. Since the mechanics of killing are basically automated, purely combat intensive goals will flop (as they have)
Put a cap on resurrection. If you die after lvl 50, stay dead. Right now, being a high lvl character only means you don't have a life.
Lag. AO competes against free services, and still lags me. at $15 per month, that's not acceptable.
Why does a map have a navigation requirement? Are you saying that 30K years in the future, they can't make maps as simple as my gas station can? - jhlglljg (pounding head on keyboard here)
I am trying to be patient. I know that this is a new product. It will take a while to address issues, and make it more playable.
AO does charge real money though, and if I don't see these problems being addressed, I will vote with my feet. At this point, I can't see forking over money very long to play this game.
(Posted also on www.yagyu.com)