Hard to master, rewarding when you do, Anarchy Online will redefine your view on MMORPGS.
One of the first things you'll notice about Anarchy Online when you enter is the detailed character creation. You choose your class as the first step in creating your character. While you can pay a monthly fee for the expansion sets (and several in-world bonuses), they aren't necessary to enjoy gameplay, and instead act more as a fun addition to Anarchy.
Basic Classes:
Adventurer Agent
Doctor Enforcer
Engineer
Fixer
Martial Artist
Meta-Physicist
Soldier
Nano-Technician
Trader
Expansion Add-ons:
Shade
Keeper
Bureaucrat
Anarchy Online also boasts an incredible skill system. Each class can easily acquire over 50 unique skills (or as they are called in Anarchy, "Nano Programs"). With the exception of an Agent, the classes can only use skills designated for their class. On occasion you'll be able to find or buy rare items that let you use other classes' skills, but they can take over an hour to refresh once used.
Anarchy's stat system makes you plan ahead. With each level you gain, you get more stat points but the more you add to a certain attribute the more it costs. At a certain level, the amount of points you get per-level is raised, further making you do the math. And with over 30 skill trees to attribute points to, planning is nearly essential
Other than the highly futuristic Nano Programs and great stat system, I would rate the fighting system poor to medium. There isn't really any effect to an attack, and not much excitement to battles. None the less, when your with a team it is rather fun to see the aliens drop. And quiver as they die. Damn I'm twisted.
Anarchy's weapon and armor system is highly plausible. I estimate that there are over 1000 different types of weapons and somewhere near 1500-2000 armor pieces, not counting the customizable armor/weapons (and did I mention that it's possible to build just about any item, given the right materials?). The shops are constantly shifting their wares, so if there is a good weapon in the shop at 2:30 it could be gone at 3:00. This makes the game highly entertaining, as you never know when some rare stuff might show up (or leave!).
As for the money system (Credits).... it fails. It's very hard to get credits unless you have a guild or some cool player donates to your unworthy cause. Be careful, it's very easy for someone to scam you. KNOW the prices and be sensible, or learn the hard way.
The shear size of the world of Anarchy is enough to take your breath away. Without a vehicle, flying machine or speed buff, it would take well near an hour to run from one end to the next. Of course this brings us to another common gaming aspect of Anarchy: Sides. Que scary music now, please.
There are two apposing forces you are asked to join upon entering Anarchy: The greedy, heavy-handed, money-hogging, Omni-Tech (who have more advanced armor and weapons and get credits easier), or the freedom-fighting, team-faring Clans who boast a massive amount of players who all like to gang together and overrun the overpowered Omni-Tech.
Another fun feature in Anarchy Online is the quest system (called missions) that you can get either from NPCs or Mission Terminals. You have the ability to customize what kind of quest you're looking for, and normally you can pick and choose from about 10 results. After a while these become dull and you find yourself doing them only to gain experience and items.
overall rating of Anarchy's graphics sits somewhere around 7.5 for me, since they're pretty much stuck back in the days of easy-street prim modeling. However this game should be prized above all other games for it's ever changing economy, players and gameplay.
Has about a 1-2 hour learning curve for experienced MMORPG players, and 4-5 hours for a non-experienced MMORPG player, but both numbers are variables and can go much higher.