Addressing the Backlash - Was I wrong about Anarchy Online?

I understand you want to rub their nose in it for not applying context to your video but remember, we all suffer because of it and they, most likey, will still feel exactly the same feeling of being victimized. LIFE.

Josh, as someone who has watched like 90% of your worst MMO serious, you've given every game their fair shot. This game looks like a nightmare for a new player. What a nasty community they have

I tried AO a very long time ago. It was BRUTAL, but I enjoyed it. Back then I was a student and I could immerse myself in complex pc games.

Juicy vid. Mad respect

It's fun how people just miss the humor and satire that you spent hours writing and researching to create an entertaining video.
Must be a sad life if you can't laugh at yourself once in a while.

Josh got gaslighted so hard lmao.

Delusion is the killer of a person's reality.

so 10 people who play that game go butthurt, big deal

Have you done one of these for Angels Online by IGG? Kinda funny that it also goes by AO.

AO community trolled Josh and got double the free advertising on his channel.

I played AO way back in the day. I've forgotten most of what it was like but I do know I liked the game. But I'm also sure there were issues with the game especially by today's standards.

I still have fond memories of the game but I also know that there's valid criticisms about it too.

Monsters and Memories early access 2026 ! Free open tests randomly until then. Boomer mmo with cool stuff

Did the guy who made the guide remove their video? I can't find it anywhere

This game looks absolutely terrible and disgusting. Can't people play this shit 😂

PSO2 NGS NEXT!

As someone who grew up on EverQuest. Before you said the line "This game looks like EverQuest" I said that to myself also and was like "!!! HE THINKS SO TOO."

I would just like to bring an mmo to your attention because I've never seen it mentioned, not even in your crazy mmo ranking video. The game is called Requiem: Desiderium Mortis. I played it briefly the year it launched, and I recently learned that it's still up and running. It claims to be a "horror" mmo. I disagree. Dark aesthetic and some blood does not equate to horror. Anyway, I'll leave the reviewing up to you. Hopefully.

i played AO since it launched and think it has such a fun class/skill system, impactful progression and fairly well written lore which made even banal tasks in the game feel like they had purpose. believe it or not, funcom used to be good because their games were so well written and told

but the game never stood a chance long term because it (and the players) had always refused to adapt and evolve to incorporate new innovative features from the whole MMO genre

i would argue that the reason for this was a result of funcom suddenly experiencing a cultural corporate shift that became prominent when funcom became listed on norwegian stock markets. the company sought to restructure itself in order to increase profits, but that was at the expense of any sort of meaningful development. yeah AO is awkward to play and nearly dead because they just stopped caring about the game experience for its players. if over those nearly 25 years since it came out they refined the game from the start, people may have continued to play it. it's one of my favourite games but absolutely a product of its time and a refusal to evolve

I have great time playing this old one last week. Its feel like SWTOR online a lot. Now testing eqemu.

i tried playing AO about 8 years ago, it was trash then and its still trash today. these AO fans are unhinged lunatics if they think this game is good.

I have so much respect for how you handled this, and frankly the fact you bothered at all just goes to show how passionate you are about this community. This is such a compassionate, considerate video with that kind of excellent balance of humility and confidence that comes from someone who is both very knowledgeable but also cares enough to acknowledge that there is always more to learn, and something could very well have been missed because that's just being human. You gave it more than a fair shot and engaged with the critiques in excellent faith to come to your conclusion, and I do hope that the kindness and hard work you put into this response may be reflected back into the community. Bravo!

Loved AO.

Stop being a wimp: Do EVE Online

Anarchy Online was my first MMO and i had a heck of great fun in it, ist has it flaws like all games but some systems, like the mission booths with it's choices are sorely missed in other mmo's, also had some of the best classes i ever played (might be nostalgia tho). Loved the bureaucrat class, still haven't found a class with a pet system i enjoy as much. Thank you for showing your consideration to all games, always enjoyable to view your videos.

the second the guy said ''google it'' I would of just ignored the comment, if the GAME can't teach it me... then its a problem

The way this community reacted is enough to make you avoid this game. What a bunch of losers. Lmao

There's some things in life you just have to accept, and one of those things is; if someone has reviewed 86 different MMOs, they might know more about MMOs than you do. Josh is basically an MMO expert at this point, he knows what makes a good one and what makes a bad one. He's been doing this quite a long time. If he says the MMO was bad, i basically should just trust his opinion as an expert. It's fine if someone likes those MMOs, and plays them, I've tried out MMOs in the past Josh has reviewed and thought they were good, only for Josh to lambast them. I kinda just accepted "yeah it kinda is bad, isn't it?" I didn't go online and whine about it, because even he is entitled to his opinion on the subject.
Just as I'm allowed my opinion that everquest is trash and RuneScape is the best MMO ever made. You could disagree, you would just be wrong.

I have very fond memories from Anarchy Online, one of those classics that got me into gaming in general. Toobad endgame of AO is kinda... Icky.. Like twinking is boring AF, having bots AFKing in town. They also do this in SWG, but atleast in SWG there's [most of the time] some interacting, AO are 100% AI bots

edit: ah you actually talk about twinking, awesome!

i think many games could learn from castlevania symphony of the night
its tutorial gives you a defacto endgame gear, shows how the game plays when you have your all, and them makes you work for that when it put you back into the ground and you have to deal 3 damage with a knife or 2 with a punch
other example is god of war 2, you start it with mostly all the powers you had at the end
most mmos could start with you using a lended power to do high level task, like you are in the army thats why in tutorial armor you had a mk4 power armor to play with, but now that youre back in civilian life you have to have do with construction worker exoskeleton

Their complaining that he doesn't know a lot of stuff, because he doesn't use online guides, except the fact that you NEED online guides to understand the most basic shit is exactly why an MMO is bad. I came from this era of online gaming and I have NEVER found it acceptable at all. Especially since these games have been out for DECADES and the developers are always claiming they "fix the new player experience", although they clearly haven't.

An example of this was the Star Wars Galaxies R3 reboot that happened a few years back. I found the game very interesting, but after a couple days I got lost and couldn't figure out how to progress. People kept telling me to use guides (which were VERY poorly written) and I still didn't know what I was doing, so I quit. I lasted a lot longer with Asheron's Call, but that's only because of an extensive wiki and live Discord chat... which you really shouldn't NEED for basic gameplay crap.

It's not a case of being a bad player, it's poor game design. It just doesn't seem that way to someone who devoted their life to memorizing every minute detail of an ancient game. This is also why modern games are so heavily explained to the point of dumbing them down, but in some cases it has to be done, simply because of poor design in the first place.

Did you know if you buy a subscription to AO and it runs out, your account is locked until you continue paying?

players, specially mmo players forget that them not accepting criticism towards their game is exactly what kills it.

Admittedly I was 1 of these players. With a different game but that's besides the point. Tourism is what it is, problematic at times but generally not a downside. Tourists are usually welcomed imo for most games, ie more players = more interactions. Since I took your videos with a good helping of salt knowing your satirical style 😅. I'm suprised I got upset back when I did. Hope you're well, good luck have fun!

Challenge accepted.. well played sir!! GG

I know it's unrelated to this video, but this is your most recent, so I figured it'd be the most likely for you to see, @JoshStrifeHayes

I was watching your old "Was it Good: Baldur's Gate 1" video, and at a couple of points, you talk about identifying CURSED items. This reminded me of Diablo 1, where you don't actually have to identify an item to equip it. You'll just get it's tats anyway, even if you don't know what they are. The catch is, sometimes they're negative. Sometimes, they're cursed.

Anyway, I would love to see you do a "Was it Good: Diablo 1" video. You've done Diablo Immortal videos, I know you're at least somewhat aware of Patb of Exile. You know at least something of ARPG'S. Here's to hoping you see this and that others have asked as well. Either way, I hope to see a Diable 1 video at some point.

Anarchy Online WAS great, it's not that great anymore.

There was nothing wrong with the critique. Technically the game was/is mostly a dumpster fire, it was mainly the mmorpg elements and social interactions that made it good. Some of the customization options for how to build your character were also something that modern mmos should learn from.


Ps. as Martial Artist you were supposed to use fists everywhere except in Shadowlands content, because in SL zones the mobs have very high armour. Fists have pretty low minimum damage, against high armour your hits will be doing minimum damage all the time, but some MA weapons raise this minimum damage quite a bit, but the weapons don't have as high MAX damage as your fists. I played MA like 20 years ago and still remember this.

So in summation, no, you weren't wrong.

Ew. THIS is their community? I dont even wanna try this mmo now. Total yikes. and i thought LOL players were toxic. Talk about barf.

Assuming Reddit users represent any community is ridiculous. Assuming they are people is even worse. Redditors are goblins. Their opinion is worthless.

Josh should've just said "'twas a joke man" could've saved him a couple of weeks of work. I understand his reasoning but a CLEARLY near-dead game which is just....old....and outdated with everything is bad, and yes, some may love the vibes and the community it provides, but the game itself is "now" bad. It was cool at one time, but now it's bad.

Oof I am late to this. But yeah no - I don't wanna play Anarchy online now. Goodness did the community make it icky.

How dare you for not making a perfect video that all old neck-bearded basement dwellers that still play Anarchy Online would like! JK. Keep up the good work! Love your videos!

This video was kind of beautiful. The way you discovered the communities ways to keep their favorite game playable. 🥀