Articles - Dreams of Anarchy - Professional Missions

This is the second of a series of articles based on my extensive game experience. I have written editorials in the past with suggestions to Funcom on changes that I would like to see in AO to improve the game (some which were implemented).

These articles will be on the same subject, but it will be detailing what would I change if I was a Dev, and I will be very thorough going through each area of Rubi-Ka. Not only will I cover what I would like to change/update about my favorite game, but also what I would like to add to it, expect to read ideas about new quests and locations that could enhance the AO experience if they were ever done.

As I was exploring Mort (which will be the focus of the next article) it came to me...why not have solo missions for professions that actually requires players to do what they are technically supposed to be?

Solo missions specific for each profession with rewards that they can use (unique or nodrop items).

Here is how I envision them:

Adventurer Missions: In theory they love the wild (that is what the game manual says), so having an in-door mission doesn't really make sense, they're sort of 'treehuggers'. It would make sense to create an artificial environment that simulates the outdoors, like a small forest with bushes and trees where the goal is to stop some criminals from burning it to the ground or storing illegal goods. With SL Devs have proved that they can create indoor missions that look like the outdoors.

Agent Missions: They would be mostly dependent on concealment, breaking and entering, agility, sense. As an agent myself I would see a mission like the ones in 'Splinter Cell' where hiding and sneaking past enemies and assassinating targets or retrieving information either from a 'contact' inside the mission or a chip/terminal which you need to manually access would be nice.

Bureaucrat Missions: Well, 'crats are supposed to be diplomatic, politicians and paper pushers. I would think that a mission would involve acquiring the right paperwork and access cards to get through doors instead of using lock picks. Goals would be like reaching someone and 'convince' him to change orders which will affect your professional career, finding a terminal to 'upgrade diplomatic access' or perhaps 'removing' some 'unofficial records' which could negatively affect the crat's job.

Doctor Missions: As healers, it would make sense if a doc's mission it to retrieve some antidote needed, medicine supplies or 'acquire' medical equipment needed or destroy a group from releasing a biological weapon on an innocent town. This of course would mean infiltrating facilities with some guards and mostly armed personnel in white coats in an environment that has a feel and look of a laboratory (some RK missions do look like that).

Enforcer Missions: Alright, think 'Conan the Barbarian' with tank armor and a large hammer/2HE weapon. An enforcer would face pure brute force (no locked doors or any terminals that requires hacking), fighting his way through to a boss that has something stolen from him, or it could be looking for an old enemy that he believed to be dead but was in hiding instead.

Engineer Missions: Ah, one of my alts is an engie, and in my eyes going in a mission makes me see nothing but bots everywhere in the way of the engie. An idea that came to mind is perhaps the ability to 'dismantle' hostile bots. And having to 'rebuild' terminals so he can open the door to the next section of the mission? After all engies are the best tradeskillers in the game, why not have them use the skills in a mission.

Fixer Missions: Ah, for this one....if you ever seen the movie 'Hackers' you may get the concept. The player would enter an in the first room he would find the door locked and he must hack the keypad next to it to open it (this may apply to most doors). Instead of using a lock pick like an agent they could use a Hacker Tool. Goals would be...being hired by a client to erase some 'bad data' (like in one of Bazzit's Quests), or 'acquire' a new communications device prototype.

Keeper Missions: Since this one starts in the SL, why not keep the keeper (pun intended) there? Imagine fighting some vile beasts in a mission to recover a symbol of heroism or valor (which is what their prof description describes it as). Rescuing damsels in distress (think Paladin perhaps if you're familiar with medieval style games), saving a child, slaying a dragon (there are those in SL so it makes sense in this case). Having specific NPC's giving mission in the SL gardens would make sense and it would sort of compliment those already in Adonis/Penumbra/Inferno. Perhaps taking place in old abandoned ruins.

Martial Artist Missions: Devs made the Shadowlands Banana-color Tier armor in homage to Bruce Lee. In the spirit of martial arts all foes in their missions should be melee-only foes and the 'boss' should be another MA 'challenging' you to a fight calling him a coward or a lousy martial artist (like in most kung fu movies). The environment could be a more oriental theme (for example using the chinese hanging lanterns which are in-game). Goals could be to rescue 'a kidnapped girl', find and kill a 'gangster boss' while fighting through his minions or maybe even reaching a secret room that contains a scroll with a secret fighting style that your 'sensei' has sent you to retrieve.

Meta-Physicist Missions: Being an MP and 'manifesting' emotions to create meatballs (flying pets) and demons would make me think that in a mission all there would be is horrible monsters where some are MP-class calling their own pets against you. The environment I see is like a cave, dark and eerie. It is harder for me to see goals, but maybe...fighting dark cultists and demons like in totw, or perhaps stopping a madman from opening some dimensional doorway to a hellish dimension to create an army of darkness to take over RK? just some thought.

Nano-Technician Missions: Master of nanotechnology, I can see an NT nuking his way through a mission...blowing a door right open (now that would be nice, why use a lock pick when you can blow things up?). Imagine the effect of door exploding into the room (which of course would mean any mobs inside automatically aggro you) and seen a bunch of mobs coming at you? exciting huh? As for goals...I would think missions to steal prototype nanotechnology tools or research would make sense, also destroying a lab or facility (which could only be done through nukes of course...nuke nuke nuke!), hunting down another NT that destroyed one of your experiments (nuke vs nuke baby!) and maybe in the mission an NT has the ability to enter rooms which are isolated (no doors or button to teleport) through their skills somehow.

Shade Missions: Ah, the most 'shady' character in AO (pun intended of course). Like the Keeper, I would like to see this profession excel in the environment which was created, the Shadowlands (after all both can't be played without SL). Missions to find a target and just suck the life out of him, no combat...just drain him of life and turn him into ashes in the process just because you're a shade and it is what you do best. I believe the original version of both Keeper and Shade were for Redeemed and Unredeemed however you will see omni keepers and clan shades. The missions would depends on faction...a clan shade would face unredeemed-style mobs while a omni shade would see redeemed-style mobs in their way. Other goals of a mission could be stealing from a notum reserve facility (since shades are dependant in it by the game manual description), finding a certain mob to 'extract' a tattoo from their body BEFORE killing it,

Soldier Missions: I must admit, the first thing that comes to mind are the movies 'Commando' and 'Rambo'. Tough warriors with an itchy trigger finger taking on military personnel. Clanners would face Omni-AF and omnis would face Sentinels in missions (as for neutrals uh...only think I can come up with is mercenaries). Goals would be to stop a group from detonating a nuclear weapon, destroy a cache of weapons,

Trader Missions: Ah the cheapskate...I mean....the businessman who will get the lowest price for what he wants and sell it for as high as humanly possible. How about instead of fighting through every level...the trader has to deal with some greedy mob to allow him to go deeper in the mission? maybe it can be based on comp lit and allow for some 'bargaining' to take place. As for goals, I would think that a trader would go after some valuable item he can sell or want to add to his private collection...art, antiques or just some item that can show he is wealthy or maybe 'convince' someone (no killing) to hand over a business contract to obtain shares in a company.

Maybe Funcom would consider profession specific missions to make things a bit more rewarding for those who want to enjoy soloing missions or just want a bit more variety in their gameplay.

And with that, I end the second Dreams of Anarchy article. Please remember these are suggestions based on what I would do if I was an AO Dev.

Until next time Rubi-Ka!

Last updated on 12.07.2011 by Khuri
Article written by Windguaerd
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