At Stratics, you will find everything you want to know about UO, except the truth.
Stratics and the UO developers developing the game based off forum complaints rather than experience, has been the bane of Ultima Online.
LOL are you kidding? The OP is looking for a guide to the game not a politcal party. Stractics has a comprehensive compendium, which would be perfect to answer his questions.
Just because you dont like where the game is going doesnt mean you need to ruin it for new people?
A Tale in the Desert is a crafters paradise and it does have housing, but the housing (when I played this past summer) lacked in actually being able to decorate it and nothing really worth collecting besides camels and sheep LOL. The crafting did have some unique inter-active things not found in other games such as building statues out of items you find or create that fellow players judge (you had to get so many positive votes to get past that stage in architecture). The fishing is also a bit more "realistic" with certain fish out at certain times of the day and/or in specific waterways. ATITD is a great game if you want to craft with a purpouse and "think" (its a whole technology story-line thing they have going for them).
SWG You obviousely know about. In my opinion, SWG had the absolute best craft-system of any game to date and decorating was tons of fun (could spend days decorating houses). Loads of collectables.
UO's craft system could be far better than it is, but their housing design is better than any other game. Where else can you make your house actually look like a boat? The 9th anniversary comes with tokens you can redeem for some of the older furniture styles (the vanity, unmade bed, covered chair, etc). Decoarting has gotten a bit better (up down /turn tools). UO takes the prize on housing design hands down (but don't get too excited on decorating, while you can move things up and down and turn them, they only turn north, south, east and west - when I last played). Loads of collectables!
Sims My son plays and likes it, but anything with that much "life" isn't my cup of tea - but if you enjoy getting the Mrs. out of bed to go clean up puppy pee, or try to get a baby that sleeps in a better bed than you do into bed before he/she falls asleep on the floor, that's the game to play. I couldn't be paid enough to even try it, it's painful enough just to watch someone else.
EQ2: Didn't try it to know.
DAoC has the absolute worst crafting ever (and no housing so it wasn't worth mentioning, but I just had to in case someone praises the crafting in DAoC - it sucks big time).
I would suggest trying A Tale in the Desert. I'm not sure if they have it now, but there was a free trial and you can pretty much tell whether or not you'd be interested in a paid monthly with what time they do give. Doesn't hurt to try the freebies first.
-Ashyn
Edited to add: I have no clue where the "craft" is in "warcraft" but there sure as hell isn't a whole lot of enjoyable crafting in WoW. I'd rather stand on my head for a day then hunt herbs ever again (no housing, but still had to discourage looking at WoW for crafting).
Originally posted by Flem Well in my opinion EQ2 has the best crafting and housing decoration etc with SWG second. If you've played them both then i got no other suggestions for ya except maybe Horizons, great house and land building options but rest of game kinda stinks.
QFE. Though EQ2's crafting was "dumbed down" a bit it is still one of the best I have seen. I have also heard A Tale in the Desert has a nice crafting system, but I have never played it. I dont think you would call the "crafting" that they do in A tale of the desert crafting. Yeah its artsy fartsy but there is no clothing or anything that you would normally craft. You can make wine for stat purposes and things like that. You can build a custom "house" which is a compound, but the only complex part of it would be the paint until you find the recipe you want then its just gathering gallons of raw materials and clicking. You can be creative though in many ways but not in the way we are used to in other games. Its hard to explain, but I dont consider the system of creating player made items in A Tale in the Desert really to be crafting.
Thought it might be worth mentioning Second Life aswell. Best 'crafting' of any game, more building it really. Probably not the sort of game your looking for though.
Thanks Brainy and Ashyn and others ... Stratics should have guessed ... they have a site for every MMO! Nice list Ashyn thanks...I agree on the Sims...I have a hard enough time taking care of the two little ones I have now cant imagine logging in because my virtual kids need me... /stressed out just thinking about it
*Disclaimer to Sims fans: Yeah I know...Sims probably isnt like that so dont reply
Comments
LOL are you kidding? The OP is looking for a guide to the game not a politcal party. Stractics has a comprehensive compendium, which would be perfect to answer his questions.
Just because you dont like where the game is going doesnt mean you need to ruin it for new people?
A Tale in the Desert is a crafters paradise and it does have housing, but the housing (when I played this past summer) lacked in actually being able to decorate it and nothing really worth collecting besides camels and sheep LOL. The crafting did have some unique inter-active things not found in other games such as building statues out of items you find or create that fellow players judge (you had to get so many positive votes to get past that stage in architecture). The fishing is also a bit more "realistic" with certain fish out at certain times of the day and/or in specific waterways. ATITD is a great game if you want to craft with a purpouse and "think" (its a whole technology story-line thing they have going for them).
SWG You obviousely know about. In my opinion, SWG had the absolute best craft-system of any game to date and decorating was tons of fun (could spend days decorating houses). Loads of collectables.
UO's craft system could be far better than it is, but their housing design is better than any other game. Where else can you make your house actually look like a boat? The 9th anniversary comes with tokens you can redeem for some of the older furniture styles (the vanity, unmade bed, covered chair, etc). Decoarting has gotten a bit better (up down /turn tools). UO takes the prize on housing design hands down (but don't get too excited on decorating, while you can move things up and down and turn them, they only turn north, south, east and west - when I last played). Loads of collectables!
Sims My son plays and likes it, but anything with that much "life" isn't my cup of tea - but if you enjoy getting the Mrs. out of bed to go clean up puppy pee, or try to get a baby that sleeps in a better bed than you do into bed before he/she falls asleep on the floor, that's the game to play. I couldn't be paid enough to even try it, it's painful enough just to watch someone else.
EQ2: Didn't try it to know.
DAoC has the absolute worst crafting ever (and no housing so it wasn't worth mentioning, but I just had to in case someone praises the crafting in DAoC - it sucks big time).
I would suggest trying A Tale in the Desert. I'm not sure if they have it now, but there was a free trial and you can pretty much tell whether or not you'd be interested in a paid monthly with what time they do give. Doesn't hurt to try the freebies first.
-Ashyn
Edited to add: I have no clue where the "craft" is in "warcraft" but there sure as hell isn't a whole lot of enjoyable crafting in WoW. I'd rather stand on my head for a day then hunt herbs ever again (no housing, but still had to discourage looking at WoW for crafting).
The craft in Warcraft refers to the art of war, the craft, if you will. The word predates the game(s) by centuries.
Though you should already know that.
I dont think you would call the "crafting" that they do in A tale of the desert crafting. Yeah its artsy fartsy but there is no clothing or anything that you would normally craft. You can make wine for stat purposes and things like that. You can build a custom "house" which is a compound, but the only complex part of it would be the paint until you find the recipe you want then its just gathering gallons of raw materials and clicking. You can be creative though in many ways but not in the way we are used to in other games. Its hard to explain, but I dont consider the system of creating player made items in A Tale in the Desert really to be crafting.
Thought it might be worth mentioning Second Life aswell. Best 'crafting' of any game, more building it really. Probably not the sort of game your looking for though.
Thanks Brainy and Ashyn and others ... Stratics should have guessed ... they have a site for every MMO! Nice list Ashyn thanks...I agree on the Sims...I have a hard enough time taking care of the two little ones I have now cant imagine logging in because my virtual kids need me... /stressed out just thinking about it
*Disclaimer to Sims fans: Yeah I know...Sims probably isnt like that so dont reply