Looking for complex RP-sandbox

Lawndart

So, I'm looking for a game (preferably P2P) that meets as many of the following criteria as possible:

 

- I like toying around in a sandbox world. In fact, I love it. Player cities, housing, politics, exploration, influencing the game world in whatever way possible etc. etc.

-Complexity. Not necessarily "Oh my god, that'll take me years to figure out"-complexity but more like "Sorry, you'll need more than 2 brain cells for that"-complexity. Rule of thumb: if it's too complex for the main WoW target audience, I'll probably love it.

-Roleplayers. At least some sort of RP-community would be nice.

-PvP: I'm not a huge fan of battlegrounds, arenas etc. but the basic ability to engage in some sort of PVP (preferably RVR) is something I consider fun at times.

-Crafting & economy: well, I'm not a huge crafter myself, but I love trading player made items, resources and loot. I've never done those things full-time, but having some sort of player economy always adds to the immersion.

-Character customization: Not really essential, but playing a unique toon makes me feel... better. Or at least better looking than all the others. Obviously, my taste is clearly superior and I'd like to express that...

-Setting: Anything goes, as long as I can play with my actual toon (i.e. no spaceship-only, vehicle-only etc.)

 

Now, i'm guessing the obvious choices for someone like me would be:

-Vanguard: tried it (~3 months ago). It's better than it was at launch, but still somewhat sterile and empty. Not really my cup of tea. It always felt a bit distant.

-EVE Online: great sandbox game. If I was into spaceship-MMOs, this would be my choice.

-SWG: Played it off and on in the past, starting from 2003. I do consider myself a vet, though not one of the rabid pre-pre-pre-somepatch-ones ("Things were better in my time!"). I have been gone from that game for several months now and although it currently ranges as one of my top picks, I'm not sure if it's worth coming back to, with decreasing player numbers, rumors of ghost servers and all.

-AoC: Not released yet, obviously, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed. I'm still looking for something to close the gap in the meantime though.

 

 

Now, I do realize that I'm quite picky here. I don't expect to find the one, true MMO for me but if there is someone with a similiar taste around here, I'd appreciate any recommendation.

sweetdjfd

My first suggestion would have been eve, but you covered that so lets try this then.

 

I suggest having a look into ryzom, however that being said the company is currently in receivership and looking for someone to take over.

But for now the game still runs and meets a fair amount of your criteria.

-The game is very sand box, in fact most of the games lore is player created, you even make your own spells in the game. this is also not a class based game you create one character and this character can do anything you want (swing a sword you get fight xp, cast a spell get magic xp). They also have somthing called the ryzome ring, allowing you to make your own content such as missions dungeons ect.

 

-Complexity, comes in the customisation all the armor in game can be made serveral ways, this is because depending on what you use to creat something it will have completely different stats. Also again you make your own spells with a credit/option system that has to balance out.

-there is a surprizing amount of RP guilds in place, of verying levels, the comunity is by far the best i've ever met.

-RvR type pvp comes into play with defending or taking over outposts in the games "outer" regions.

-crafting i kinda went over befour, i'm not a huge fan of their auctioning system but it works once you get the hang of it.

-character customisation is pretty far, i'd say slightly better then wow as face morphing of features is allowed, and if you don't like it you can changing you hair and facial attributes in game.

-you run around with your char in 3rd (or 1st if thats your thing) person

 

As i said however the unfortunate thing about this game is the company is bankrupt but is currently looking someone to buy the game and if someone does then it's back to normal. Right now you can play the trial unlimited no level cap or anything. But if you can get ahold of a box copy you can activate a full access account and play for free for as long as the company looks for a buyer, due to some legal loophole.