Which MMORPG do you like best?

[Silver]

Alright, thinking of finally trying one of these. Which one do you like best and why? How does it compare to others with price, grind, PvP, PvE, story, etc?

 

 

Right now I'm dl'ing WoW and going to do a 10 day trial with that.

[SinisterDeath]

Of all the MMORPGs i've played EQ still remains the funnest one i've played.

 

Every MMORPG at the end of the day, falls into the grinder fest.

WoW, starts as a level grind to lvl 70, then develops into a Grind to obtain better gear, through PVE/Rading or PvP, its still a grind.

SWG, I neededn't say anymore.

FFXI, when I played was almost nearly as bad of a level grind as EQ, but not nearly as bad as L2

L2 (Lineage 2) is probably the one mmorpg out there, that I haven't touched (the official version) simply because, its been rumored to take roughly 4 years to grind from 1-60... (of a maximum of something like 120)

 

EQ, still has a massive Level grind, and like FFXI, they have changed the leveling curb abit.

EQ now has 85 levels (or is it 80? I lost track)

Its still takes several months to obtain teh highest level.

I spent roughly 3 months, 8 hours aday, 7 days a week, getting from level 1 to 45. I then spent anouther 6 months, during the same amoun to ftime daily going from 45 to 60. Then after I hit 60, I was lvl 65 within a week. >_<

Anyways, EQ still remains the only game, that after you hit the level cap, I have found simply getting a group of 5 people, and killing mob after mob, for 8 hours a day, the same spot, and hitting only a few buttons, actually FUN. Its strange, but its the only game that i've actually felt like I was accomplishing something, even when I wasn't obtaining gear!

 

Of course every MMORPG experiences may change. I had an awful experience with players in FFXI, but great experinces in EQ and WoW. But the two mmorgps I played the longest (4 years EQ, 2 years WoW +1 if you count Beta <3) i've quit not because of the players per-say, but because of Guilds, guilds that you must join to get into the high end content.

 

I currently havea subscription to Vanguard: Saga of hereos,It maintains what EQ was orginally, (in some regards) and imo has the potential to beat EQ in its fun factor. However, I don't have nearly the amount of time I'd like to invest in such a game at this point in time, that I can't say if its better or worse. I can't put 3 hours into the game atm everyday and I need at least 3 hours daily to even do anything, in any mmorpg.

 

I'm looking forward to the Conan MMORPG, because it looks like its offering the classic hack and Slash real type of fps combat, with an RPG style, in a very fleshed out Universe.

Did I mention theres the possibility of Nudity!? :P

Though, I know exactly what I'll do.

 

Step 1) Create a warrior, or necro type character, someone big and strong that strikes fear in all who oppose I.

Step 2) Create a town.

Step 3) Create a harem.

Step 4) Sit in the throne in the harem, and collect my bounty while I sit back and watch the strippers stripping, and all the newbies wondering in and paying me a generous fee for the use of my buff bots.

 

(FYI, you get 'buffed' for having 'relations' with a prostitute in the conan mmorpg)

[Majsju]

KoL of course.

[Vemynal]

I played World of warcraft for 4 years because I loved the story line of the warcraft games. I spent a year getting to 60, a year trying to gear up so I could raid, a year and a half of raiding and then the burning crusade came out. I decided to switch things up and go horde. After 4 months I quite the game because:

 

nothing new was actually introduced. Raiding was still nothing more then a gear grind and so was pvp. But when I say there was nothing new in the game you gotta realize that I saw parts of naxxaramas (the big raiding spot pre-BC) that only 3% of wow's player base saw so I really played the game all out.

 

The game was fun but heed my warning: Wow is heavily addictive!

 

When I quit wow I was taking a psychology class and I mentioned to my teacher that I wanted to play less then I was and asked about how to stop reinforcing the negative behavior of playing so much. So I kept a journal that exposed how much time I spent on wow and doing other activities as well as describing the game and she showed me material that prove the game is meant and built to be psychologically addictive.

 

 

I've been off for a year now and rarely I still get an urge to play but its still there. But it helps because I have friends who still play and when we have a good time, and call them up and ask if they want to hang out, they usually tell us that they are raiding and can't hang out. They miss out on some really good times just because they want to get cooler stuff in a *video game*.

 

In 4 years of playing the video game I thought I had made some friends online, a good number actually, and I gave out my email address and MSN account to all of them. I have never heard back from a single one since quitting, the people you meet arn't your friends.

 

Wow is built by blizzard to *never end*. A video game you can enjoy and beat and it has an ending, replay ability is a good thing but wow is endless and it keeps you constantly playing. Even if you play rarely raids can take commitments of 5+ hours to do the raid. And instances can take commitments of 2+  hours to complete with no stopping point.

 

My suggestion is that you don't play wow or any mmo. If you like playing multi player games, play something that has real people (preferably your rl friends) involved.

[Barmacral]

Vem, do you have that proof your teacher showed you? If so, can I see it? I think that would be really cool to see.

[Vemynal]

Well I can go digging for the notebook and my class book (they wouldnt let me return it it was used to much ^^)

 

But basically its like this: Wow is entirely designed towards the immediate pleasure response

[ironcross]

i dont know if you would put it in the same ganra or not but i used to be relly into the online mutiplayer vertions of wolfenstien.  had the same addickting nature as wow but was much simpler. just a good online shootem up. but you did get points and whatnot to make your carecter better.  dont relly play it much anymore though. getting a wife and kid kinda put an end to that.

[Guest Far Dareis Mai]

I've played FFXI for nearly 4 years, and if you are up for a challenge, then it's the game for you. I don't recommend it for people under the age of 18, nor people who are impatient to get everything at once. You've got to work for what you acheive in this game, and that's why I like it. They've brought extraordinary improvements to the game since I started back in the day, and I'll probably be playing it until the last server finally shuts down. :P

 

I've played EQ and Wow, and just did not enjoy them like I do FFXI. EQ I primarily played because I had friends playing, so I wasn't really into it in the first place, and WoW I thought too simple, very juvenile, and has a MUCH younger crowd than FFXI, and I HATED how you have to start a new character for each job or class you develop. In FFXI, you have one character, and you can level all the different jobs and classes on that character.

 

Unlike Vemy's experience, I've made (and met) quite a few friends on FFXI. Some of them don't play anymore, but we still keep in touch through phone and email. They are all older players though (21+), I don't really invest any time with the youngsters that play.

 

price, grind, PvP, PvE, story, etc?

Price: $12.95/month; The latest release of the game itself, with 3 of the 4 expansions, is $19.99. The newest expansion, Wings of the Goddess ranges from $20-30, depending on where you live.

Grind: Depending on the class you take, can be bad or not so bad. High demand jobs like Bard, Red Mage, and such are an easy grind to the top. My husband leveled his Red Mage from 1-75 in less than 3 months, and we only play for a few hours a night 3-4 nights per week.

PVP: FFXI does not focus on PVP, so there are no PVP servers/areas you have access to, Instead they do what is called "Ballista", and they are scheduled PVP times where you can do that sort of thing, if you are into it.

Story: Very multi-faceted. With each expansion they add onto the story, which is fantastic, because it just keeps going. Pretty easy to move along in it, I do most of the main storyline stuff on my own anymore.

Misc: Again, if you are young (under 18), I don't recommend it. Focus on school, get a girlfriend, socialize with people your age.

If you are 18+, you need to be willing to take initiative, do things on your own, research the game online, and get involved with other players to get stuff done. If you sit in a main city whining about how things are too hard, and you don't know how to do anything, you'll quickly become a pariah. It's a time sink, but all MMO's are.

 

Whatever game you get into though, you have to prepared for some sort of grind. That's just how it goes. Good luck!  :D

[chillimous]

Very much in agreement with FDM. I've played L2, WoW, GW and FFXI and FFXI still stays as my favourite. FFXI is undoubtedly one of the more hardcore, time-consuming ones in all honesty. And definitely not for those who don't enjoy having to spend a lot of time and work on gaining anything. Generally to get your first job to lvl75 it takes around a year But past there getting any additional jobs to 75 is much easier due to your expanded knowledge and general ability to make gil at a faster rate, thus not having to stop and make gil to buy your equipment.

 

I've made many friends on FFXI, just like Far, I've moved server twice yet am still in touch with most of the good and close friends that I made on my travels and adventures across my past two servers which I am thankful for. I also never experience the elation you can in another MMO like you can in FFXI. Because doing certain things can take a lot of time and effort you gain a great sense of satisfaction when achieving it.

 

An example of how far you can get into loving this game and some of the storylines is my friend. He finished the Chains of Promathia storyline a long time ago, and that's not a simple feat. Back then the fights were tough and It is a very lengthy list of missions. He almost cried when he completed it because he didn't want to have it all end, that's how much he loved it.

 

Endgame is expansive to say the least. This is a quick list of what there is to do:

Ground HNMs(Hyper Notorious Monster) - General HNMs that pop on the continents of Vana'diel. Pretty camped, sadly.

Kings - The higher tier of Ground HNMs that drop some very exclusive items that're quite lusted after in the game.

Sky - An Endgame zone dedicated to the 5 gods, some pretty lucrative items here but as it was the first true endgame area it's pretty much deserted. There are still groups that focus on this, and older groups only go there on occasion as most people have what is there for them.

Sea - The Chains of Promathia endgame area, there is a monster here that today the secret to defeating has still eluded them. It HAS been defeated, but by a vast amount of people are illegitimate playstyles.

Dynamis - Also one of the earliest endgame areas, there are 9 areas in total offering a set of equipment for almost every job in the game. Most of which have very lucrative stats.

Einherjar - A fairly recent endgame area, similar to an instance. It varies dramatically, some fights are easy yet some fights are insanely difficult and alliances can easily wipe. It's fun, to say the least.

Besieged - A frequent event in the eastern continent, beastmen lay siege to the city and you fend them off. Not necessarily endgame, just an additional activity.

Nyzul Isle/Assault - Instanced fights and events, Nyzul Isle consisting of over 50 floors and many very tough monsters to fight. Of course, every certain number of floors can be fought seperately and you can pick up where you left off.

Salvage - Instaced fights where an alliance enters an area and is stripped of all of their abilities. Fighting through the areas to regain their abilities strategically and then fighting what is a pretty tough boss with those limitations in place.

Temonos/Apollyon - An area in Sea that is fairly simple and easy to do, other than the final boss fights which are done seperately.

 

The greatest thing about FFXI is that, unlike games like WoW, as new equipment comes out it often does not make any older gear redundant and pointless thus why all of these old areas have remained alive for so many years. Not to mention that there are a total of 20 jobs all with fairly unique characteristics.

[Werthead]

I had to stop playing it as it was absorbing too much time, but IMO the best MMORPG on the market is EVE Online, by an absolute mile (although if you hate science fiction and fantasy is your thing, then obviously it's not going to appeal).

 

price, grind, PvP, PvE, story, etc?

 

The game itself is free, you just start paying the monthly subscription (€10 or about £7.50 or $15 a month) and can download the game. However, you can usually find old boxed copies really cheap (I've seen them for £2 or £3 in GAME in the UK) and they come with a month's free subscription. However, you do have to leave the game for about three hours whilst it sorts out the last several years' worth of patches. It should be pointed out EVE Online has annual expansions released which, more or less, exceed WOW's in size and content and are absolutely free of charge. The game automatically updates the new content on day of release. There are usually 2-3 big patches per year with additional large gameplay additions/changes. Every 2-3 years the game or so the game undergoes a massive overhaul which, in effect, transforms it into its own sequel, with graphics engine overhauls and major gameplay changes and additions. Again, this is free of charge.

 

Because there is so much to do in the game, grind is not much of an issue. Get bored mining? Go pirate-hunting. Get bored of that? Run courier missions for one of the regional governments. Tired of that? Join up with a corporation and do research for them.

 

The biggest achievement of EVE, which puts it way ahead of most of MMORPGs out there, is that there is no maximum level your character can achieve. You instead learn skills, and those skills give you new abilities, unlock new weapons and ships you can use and new ways to make money. The best bit is that skills continue to train up even whilst you are offline, although sadly you cannot queue them up (yet). There are people in the game who have been playing since release six years ago and still haven't got more than half the skills in the game, so it is difficult to be a really good jack of all trades. Specialisation is the way to go.

 

The game universe - which is gigantic, consisting of several thousand star systems - is divided into sectors of varying security ratings. In most sectors, including where you start, PvP is impossible. A single few shots fired at another player incurs an immediate and lethal response by the police (although extremely powerful players may overcome the initial police response, so bigger and bigger warships are despatched until the player is finally put down), not to mention - far more serious - a massive fine. In outer sectors, which are lawless, unclaimed and unpatrolled, it's a PvP free-for-all where only the most experienced, toughest, and seasoned players dare venture.

 

PvE is pretty straightforward. Instead of dungeons there are 'deadzones' which, although still protected by the police (so no PvP), have been given over to computer-controlled pirates and raiders. The player or a group of players can race in and perform missions in these areas (usually of the "Kill everything in sight and grab their loot," variety). Missions increase in size and complexity as the player becomes more experienced.

 

As time has passed the developers have taken a bit of a back seat with the storytelling, as the players themselves (now numbering over half a million) have grown more powerful, formed megacorporations, built enormous fleets and fought enormous wars. That said, there are still major scripted events from time to time, such as the fall of established races, the rise of new ones, the constant opening up of new regions of space to explore and so forth.

 

This year and next year are particularly major ones for EVE, with the introduction of planetary landscapes (allowing you to fly over planetary surfaces: previously the planets were just scenery and you could just fly through them with no harm done) and a new 'social' mode that allows you to exit your spacecraft on a station and wander around and chat to people.

 

Obviously EVE isn't going to appeal to everyone. The learning curve, although much better than it was, is still on the steep side and it takes a few days or weeks of playing to really get into the headspace of the game. However, its incredible longevity (no 'getting to Level 70 in four months and starting again' stuff here), immense variety and, most importantly, the ability to chaingun other people in the head does make up for the slightly off-putting challenge of starting up a new game.

 

True story: about 2-3 years after release, two big corporations finally went to war. A small skirmish between two of their members in a remote system turned into a free-for-all as both players called in their friends and allies. Other players in the corps on other sides of the world were woken up in the middle of the night with the urgent call to arms. Apparently (this may be apocryphal) some people called in sick from work to join the fight. Eventually, when the number of ships involved in the battle topped 2,000, the servers finally melted down and crashed. When they came back online many of those involved in the battle found their ships annihilated (although their lifepods survived). The developers have now had the biggest and most advanced server in the world custom-built in their Iceland HQ which routinely handles battles of this size without blinking (oh yeah, the whole game, all 500,000+ members, are hosted on one server, no shards, no multiple worlds or anything like that, just one big universe).

[Myndrunner]

ULTIMA ONLINE!!!!!!! ..........what? people still play it!....they do!  I've seen them.....for reals!

 

*pouts and kicks rocks*  >:(

[Segurant]

Of all the MMOs I have played I would have to say City of Heroes was my favorite.  But like all MMOs I got tired of the grind and whatnots.

 

List of games played:

 

Everquest I & II

Asheron's Call

Earth and Beyond

EVE Online

Star Wars Galaxies

Planetside

World of Warcraft

Anarchy Online

Horizons

Guild Wars

Dungeons and Dragons Online

City of Heroes/City of Villains

 

[Niamh Sedai]

My brother plays Eve Online. I very rarely see him when I'm home as he is too busy with his spaceships  :P

[Jhaenara]

I currently play Lord of the Rings Online.  When I early beta'd it, I didn't think I'd play after release and I didn't initially.  But it's really improved and if you like the LotR story, then you might enjoy this.  They're going to keep expanding the story and adding in more of the lands.  It has raiding and some PvE too, almost more like RvR.  There is a 7 day trial I believe too.

 

I also jump in and out of EQ2.  It's allright, though more grindy, so more time consuming.  Not that I mind that sometimes, but I have a four year old, etc.

 

Here's a list of all I've played or beta'd:

 

EQ1 - My first and played briefly until DAoC came out.

DAoC (Dark Age of Camelot) - Played this a good two years or so, probably because my husband played, otherwise, I tend to not stay in a game too long... I have MMO ADD...  :P

Anarchy Online - briefly while breaking from DAoC

Shadowbane - beta

Horizons - beta

Sims Online - beta

Planetside - beta

FFXI - briefly

CoH/CoV - Very fun in spurts, otherwise much grindier than most of the games.

Star Wars Galaxies - beta and from release for a few months.  We had a very lucrative guild at one time.  Think it got mentioned in some online articles.

WoW - beta and on and off until just before the first expansion came out.

EQ2 - Still play this on and off with my guild.

LotRO - Playing currently, but not heavily.

 

I think that's it... lol... other than very briefly trying Guild Wars in beta and EVE.

 

As for WoW, it's a fun game, but it's geared for the newer player, so if you've never played another MMO and play WoW, other MMOs are going to tend to be tougher... more time consuming... grindier... in comparison.  I've heard good and bad things about the recent changes in WoW.  Smaller group raiding is nice, etc.

 

I agree these games can be addicting, like anything really.  Unlike Vem, I have made some very good friends that I have gamed with for more than five years... seven+ with a couple of them.  Yeah, they're not my RL friends or RL family, and some do come and go within the guild, but we have a small group that are in contact almost daily...  :)