Here there be Dragons! or I should have started this game six years ago...

lordpenquin

I recently found Istaria while digging around for a new mmo.  I have become annoyed with all the wow clones out there because quite frankly, I don't like wow.  Therefore I'm not going to like any game based on the wow concept.  I tried all the brand spanking new ones, some even in beta, and went back to some older ones to see if they had gotten any better or worse.  Nothing I found sparked my interest. 

That is until I found istaria.  You can BE a dragon?  That intriqued me.  I saw that you could play the game for free indefinately if you were a human, but quite honestly who wants that when the Dragon is an option?  The game is six+ years old now so I expected to hate the game immedately and log out never to return.  I was surprised by the quality of it.  It's a little rough around the edges but overall the textures are clear and there are some very beautiful vistas in the game. 

I'm a crafting nut, and I sometimes enjoy crafting more than adventuring.  This game has an amazing crafting system!  At first it starts out with you doing combat quests but then it teaches you the basics of the crafting system.  You aren't limited to only two professions.  You can do them ALL.  there's something called enhancements that I haven't learned yet that is similar to socketed items only more expansive I think.  I'm looking forward to making my lair and decorating it with crafted items.

The starting quests are great.  Part of the first quest line is going to a large beautiful city and learning the lore of the game.  Another quest has riddles you have to solve.  I haven't had this much fun questing in over ten years. 

While the GUI is a bit ugly, it is functional.  The controls take some getting used to but I'm learning easy enough.  My only regret so far is not playing the game when it came out.

The community is wonderful.  Everyone is friendly and very helpful.  I'm on the RP server (Order) and it's real.  Most RP servers are junk because only 10% of people RP.  So far I haven't met anyone that doesn't.  Everyone is RPing and emoting all over the place.  A TRUE roleplaying server finally after all these years and it's been here the whole time.

Amazing quests, absolute blast playing a Dragon, wonderful community.  It's all here!  And it's been here the whole time.

I am still on my 14 day trial but when that expires I will become a full subscriber to this wonderful game.  Forget next gen, go back to old gen when they knew what they were doing!

Long live Istaria!  The diamond in the rough.  The needle in the haystack.  A game worthy of your time and your subscription!

Rihahn

Congratulations on finding Istaria!

I'm in a similar boat - I've played just about everything available (it's sort of my job) and while I've spent a great deal of time in Azeroth (WoW) as both a solo PvPer and a 'hardcore' raider, I always considered WoW to merely be a stop-gap in game design... Then everyone started cloning it...

So far I've 'beaten' WoW three times. To me beating an MMO happens when you run out of content and are forced into a tight content-loop (faction grind, daily quest, arena pvp, farming, etc) just to keep you paying until the next expansion - so having a level 60 with full Tier4 that I retired when the new races hit, and having 'killed' everything in Outland/Sunwell I just wasn't interested in doing the same thing again in Northrend.

(http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2008/11/14/)

I've been waiting for an MMO that really grabs the player and puts them into the game world (I have high hopes for 38 Studio's 'Copernicus') but so far that doesn't seem to be part of the design criteria in these 'next gen' MMOs.

So I, like you, started looking at older games. I've got a shelf full of boxed MMOs dating all the way back to UO, and since Shadowbane shut down July 1st and there was this rumor floating around the Horizons just got some new content (and a Vista-ized client), I logged and have been having a lot of fun ever since.

I do keep wondering if I should re-roll on 'Order', the RP server... I just mistrust RP servers anymore.

shadowmage

Just so your not to disappointed  the only decorating of your lair you can do is in the selections of the rooms you pick to build and the endcaps you select for dead ends. The engine does not support hook points for stuff like wall hangings and furniture and such. But I am glad you like the game and welcome.

Amerelium

Originally posted by shadowmage


Just so your not to disappointed  the only decorating of your lair you can do is in the selections of the rooms you pick to build and the endcaps you select for dead ends. The engine does not support hook points for stuff like wall hangings and furniture and such. But I am glad you like the game and welcome.

The secret behind a good looking lair is in the placements of the myriad of chambers you have to chose from. Through good planning you can dig out wonderous labyrinths