LF New or Old Fantasy MMO

Dominarr

Wife and I need to start playing something again.  We loved EQ1.  We currently play Project 99 but I want to try something different.  We DON'T like too much of the " ! " above peoples heads and gathering 10 pelts, running back, 15 rabbit taints, run back.  The freedom of exploration is cool and god forbid some grinding.  Doing dungeons to get items whilst gettign exp is a good thing.  Grouping is a good thing, socialiation.  Those are keys.  The " ! " above heads thing does not promote grouping a lot.

 

Any suggestions?  Thanks

faeran

Well from what you are saying you may want to try Vanguard: Saga of Heroes if you haven't already. I hear a lot of people talk about how that game reminded them of when they used to play EQ1. Open world, with lots of persistent dungeons to run through that have names on a PH cycle. Classes are mostly familiar to EQ1 players, but different enough to feel fresh.

Downside would be that it's not getting any love from SoE these days, and the game is down to one NA server and one EU server, but from what you are looking for, coming from a classic EQ1 player, it may give you the new experience you are looking for while still retaining the atmosphere you desire.

Dominarr

I hear ya, I have played that.  Problem is it's too much for one of the computers.  Plus it isn't free or doesn't have a trial.  Maybe I'll give it a shot but can you think of anything else?  Some " ! " stuff is OK, like WoW is cool cuz you can get group dungeon quests plus farm.

faeran

Well they did end up making a 14 day trial for Vanguard: http://vanguard.station.sony.com/isleofdawn/

But I hear you about the computer requirements, it can definitely run sluggish if you don't have the PC to run it.

 

I've been in the same kind of boat as you at one time, played EQ1 for 8 years and wanted to find another game that recaptured its charm. Luckily Vanguard did that for me for a few more years, but recently I haven't had the urge to find a game like this.

 

There's also some small indy games you may find enjoyable:

Crowns of Power was a game that my brother and I had a little bit of fun with, might be worth checking out. I believe it's free to play.

http://www.crownsofpower.com/

 

Minions of Mirth I played with a few of my old EQ friends for a bit, but I'm not sure what the state of the game is these day. It used to be free to play with an option to pay a one time fee to upgrade to premium (I assume that hasn't changed since I played):

http://www.prairiegames.com/

 

Just some ideas... Good luck

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Sid_Vicious

Originally posted by Dominarr

Wife and I need to start playing something again.  We loved EQ1.  We currently play Project 99 but I want to try something different.  We DON'T like too much of the " ! " above peoples heads and gathering 10 pelts, running back, 15 rabbit taints, run back.  The freedom of exploration is cool and god forbid some grinding.  Doing dungeons to get items whilst gettign exp is a good thing.  Grouping is a good thing, socialiation.  Those are keys.  The " ! " above heads thing does not promote grouping a lot.

 

Any suggestions?  Thanks

Try Darkfall Online's free 14-day trial as it may be what you are looking for.

 

The art is not cartoony. Absolutely nothing about it is like another dumbed-down EQ clone like most of your options. The game will bring emotions back that you probably have not felt in a long time (like dying deep down in some EQ dungeon and not being able to get back to your corpse . ...) so the game seems to be more for adults that miss the good ol risk that games used to have. The average player is around 27.

 

I absolutely love the controls which are really hard to get used to at first. In fact, when you first log in it can be very frustrating but fortunately it is completely customizable. It has the funnest bunny-hopping game physics in existance so if you are a fan of older FPS at all than you are in for a treat.

 

Visually it is more like real life than most games. No floating names or floating numbers. No big red circles around the mobs. No "!" above quest-giver's head. No level restrictions (can't even see what anythings/anyones level is). Sound is as important as it would be in real life. You drop everything that you are carrying if you die so can get quite the adrenaline rush. You make friends and enemies just as you would in real life so nothing about it is like going around spamming your class, level, and that you are LFG like in most games. No instances or invisible walls in the biggest handcrafted open seamless world in existance (I have been playing for 18 months and still havent seen everything, only little more than half). Siege warfare over player-made holdings, mounted combat, real-time action so real military strategies can be used, naval combat, and weapons of mass destruction for big battles make the PVP feel very epic and unpredictible being FFA. You find a place to live and earn an income just as you would in real life. No more running from NPC to NPC doing quests as most of the content is controlled by players and politics.

 

Hope you find what you are looking for.

 

I play this game with my GF and we would love to group up with you if you would like to try it out.

 

Some fan vids:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKGAfYpKW2o

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KG4Kq_Ycckc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4f4zkfLcpc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQdIipvn55g

enjoy!

a7fold

Try LoTRO it just went F2P and its a nice game that will run on mostly all computers. It is mostly questing, but there is a lot to explore in the game and it definately has that polish of  P2P game which is nice. Don't believe what people say when they say you have to pay money to be able to do a lot of it, its not true at all. Yes maybe some of the best stuff will most likely be P2P, but gurantee you will get a good few months out of free stuff alone and then you can decide if you want to spare a few dollars every now and then for some great stuff.

Other than that, If you kind of like exploring and grinding and want plenty of content. 9 Dragons, only thing is you have to wait until gamersfirst gets it running, since they just got the rights from Acclaim to run it now. (Thank the gods)

Dominarr

Thanks for all the suggestions guys, one thign is we are not big on pvp.  What I find with PVP is that you either end up facing someone who is very good at what they do 1 on 1 and never possible to win, or its a huge massive cluster free for all (warhammer) where you die, get up, die, get up, over and over.

 

No thanks, PVE ftw.  Just need a better graphiced EQ with a server population, and WoW's dungeon finder.  That would SO kick ass.