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Looking for Fantasy/Modern MMORPGs (details inside)
StarryEyedGamer
Member Posts: 21
Hi! I'm searching for my long-term MMORPG, as someone who is pretty much new to the field.
I love questing, exploring...pretty much PVE. Mounts are definitely preferred.
I also want to be able to bond with people, and be part of a small guild.
I played Rift for a while, but something just wasn't clicking. I really didn't like the cash shop as it seemed like everything really cool was a bunch of gems and I felt underpowered.
I tried a trial of Guild Wars 2 in 2013, and while I loved the quests and live events, such as picking apples from a grove for apple pie, the story seemed a bit lacking for me and I disliked not having mounts.
I love Fantasy stuff, but I also do well with single-player games such as Dragon Age, Skyrim, Mass Effect, Bioshock, Tomb Raider, Uncharted and so on.
Basically, I like a combination of RPG and good story-telling.
From lurking various sites and my own research, these appear to be the contenders (I think):
-ArcheAge
-The Secret World
-EverQuest Next
-Star Wars:TOR
-Elder Scrolls Online
-Final Fantasy:ARR
-Guild Wars 2 (I played late 2013)
-WildStar (though I've heard it's more PVP than PVE?)
Ideally, I would like the "perfect" MMORPG, but that is probably unlikely. I really like the idea of The Secret World, especially since I'm such a fan of TLJ and Dreamfall, but I can't have that as my only MMO as it's just too depressing/scary. So, I'm thinking maybe The Secret World and a Fantasy/Less Scary one.
Help please? 
"The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes."
-Marcel Proust
Comments
Out of those on the list, The Secret World and SWTOR are probably my favorites.
Both offer an excellent story, with full quality voice acting. The Secret World is a bit harder than SWTOR however, and the story is shorter (since all the factions do the same main story, with only 2 quests being different/unique per faction or so).
Unfortunately TSW also doesn't have any mounts.
SWTOR is free, and you can easily get a free trial for TSW on The Secret World forum section of mmorpg.com. I'd say give them both a try.
My SWTOR referral link for those wanting to give the game a try. (Newbies get a welcome package while returning players get a few account upgrades to help with their preferred status.)
https://www.ashesofcreation.com/ref/Callaron/
I've really been enjoying Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn lately. It's pretty much got all of the things you described:
- Great PvE
- Excellent story
- Mounts
- Excellent community
It reminds me of an old school Final Fantasy game with amazing graphics and a multi-player setting. This is one of the few games in a long time that I've gone ahead and committed to a 6 month subscription. The story is engaging and the game has elements of solo and group play incorporated into the "main" storyline. To some people, the combat may feel a little slow at first, but I don't think it's much different from the old school "active time battle" mechanics of the single player games.
Also, dungeons in FFXIV:ARR are extremely fun.
If you're in NA, the Jenova server is fairly new and there are many active guilds with new players. I can't recommend this game enough!
(If you decided to play on Jenova server, feel free to pm me.)
I am going to say if you like questing, Elder scrolls online its basically all it is. As for Arche age you wont like it at all, that is more like dark fall. Wildstar quests are bad. The secret world quests are good, and so is swtor. But you would have to like starwars alot in order for it to be good.
"The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes."
-Marcel Proust
I think that'll just leave you with AA and EQN.
On the bright side, AA will be having an open beta next thursday, and launching on the 16th this month (12th for those who bought of the packs).
My SWTOR referral link for those wanting to give the game a try. (Newbies get a welcome package while returning players get a few account upgrades to help with their preferred status.)
https://www.ashesofcreation.com/ref/Callaron/
Fully agree, TSW is great indeed (same goes to TLJ and Dreamfall, and hopefully Chapters will be awesome too
)
"So, I'm thinking maybe The Secret World and a Fantasy/Less Scary one." how about LotRO? (ok, it's not on your list, and it seems I suggest it a lot lately... lol)
But seriously:
"I love questing, exploring...pretty much PVE. Mounts are definitely preferred.
I also want to be able to bond with people, and be part of a small guild.
I like a combination of RPG and good story-telling. (and left GW2 because the story was lacking for you) "
LotRO may not be a flawless game, but its main strength lies exactly in those areas, the story, the quests, the community and roleplaying. And it has so many mounts you can't even collect them all in years...
However, if Rift's f2p model wasn't really your liking, there's a good chance you'll turn away from LotRO too. But if you don't mind spending a few bucks, you can have a nice supplemental game next to TSW. (I play them simultaneously
)
Out of the list; I'd say give FFXIV:ARR and ESO a chance. Both require purchase and are sub mmos, if that's a factor at all.
Not on the list; I'd say WoW might be a good contender if you can find a good guild. It has a lot of stuff to do outside of the usual questing/raiding thing. They have pet battles (pokemon) that has an end game (look up the Celestial Tournament) which also needs a fair amount of "right pets" in order to work well. It's a bit of a grind, but it'll keep you entertained for a long time if you like it. There is also pet battle pvp. There's also Dungeons (5 man instances), Scenarios (3 man instances), Flex raiding (10-25 people), Normal Raiding, Heroic Raiding. Although the raiding system is changing with the new expansion, but it seems to be a nice improvement over the current raiding system. There's also plenty of collectibles in the game. Rare Mounts, Rare Battle Pets, Rare Hunter Pets (there are many unique looking pets for the hunter class that are hard to find). The biggest thing is finding a good guild and ignoring most of the community.
Wildstar has PvP and PvE servers. However, much of the game is focused on end game which is a focus on Hardcore Raiding. So, unless you really like raiding, you'll probably want to pass.
GW2, you could go back for the Living Story season stuff, but ANet hasn't really given us much to be excited about in a while.
ArcheAge is very PvP centric after level 30. There are ways to avoid it for the most part, but you'll most likely will have to encounter PvP of some sort. It has a nice class system.
EQN is a ways out, so I wouldn't count on it anytime soon. Landmark can be fun if you're into building stuff, but there isn't much else to do. Once PvE combat is integrated it may become more interesting.
Finally, also not on the list, but you may want to give Trove a look. It's a nice mix of Minecraft, Cube World and Landmark. If you can tolerate the very stylized look (which I enjoy), there's a neat game tucked in there. ARPG style loot system, with actiony combat, and sandbox elements building on your Cornerstone and Personal Home Instance Zone. Go look it up. It's a nice lil time waster.
This would be my recommendation as well.
I agree with this 100%. I didn't mention Trove because it technically hasn't been released yet. But I've had lots of fun in the alpha. This could become a long time go-to game for people. Not much for questing/story, but a fun game none the less.
Secret World, Guild Wars 2 and Final Fantasy are the ones I liked best by far on your list.
It sounds like cash limited free play and cash shops annoy you (welcome to the club!
) and Rift has probably one of the better F2P systems where you can do a lot more without paying than normal. So, if that one annoyed you...
There are only 3 MMOs in your list that have a sub model where you get everything (minus the usual "collector edition" extra crap): FFARR, ESO and Wildstar.
In very general terms, Wildstar is a good, cartoonish Scifi game with a heavy emphasis on end-game raiding. FFARR and ESO are both very good all around fantasy MMOs with more conventional graphics (i.e. not cartoonish with ESO having a western fantasy look and FFARR an Eastern one. The group PVE is probably stronger in final fantasy and ESO has better long-term group PVP that, on the surface looks a lot like GW2, but it's in a much larger seamless area.
Either of those would be my recommendation.
“Microtransactions? In a single player role-playing game? Are you nuts?”
― CD PROJEKT RED
Thanks for all of the replies so far!
Does anyone happen to know if Rift is any better since last year? At the time, they had some lag/optimization issues they were trying to fix, which is pretty much when I had tried to join.
I see they have this new underwater expansion, which looks bada$$. Do they release expansions pretty often?
It doesn't have to be a Sandpark/Themebox hybrid, I just suggested that.
I've heard ArcheAge has questing and such until about level 30, and then it's more do what you want?
Ideally, I'd like either buy to play, free to play without pay 2 win, or even buy to play with money spent on expansion packs or something.
I am just really itching to find the best game for me as well as meet/befriend some cool people. I'm lacking a "family" type feeling to not only have fun with, but learn from their experiences of the game.
"The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes."
-Marcel Proust
SWTOR is hands down the best story telling MMO on the market. It's free so check it out yourself.
If you are looking for Family type I have to recommend WoW. It may take some time to find the perfect fit but once you do you will never want to leave.
The great thing about WoW is the vast amount of players no matter what type of player you are you will find a guild that fits your needs.
My first guild I joined it was a small group with 5 players and we leveled through dungeons non stop back in Vanilla, it was very close group and I was heartbroken when it finally broke up.
I doubt you will find a better game to group up in. I have played most other games and I have always felt lost in them due to not having a guild that I could call home, it seemed like in other games they werent as close nit as the people in WoW.
I remember I tried a WOW trial a while back the combat seemed very...slow/clunky?
And do you know when they are updating their character models? I've seen pictures, but can't seem to find a release date.
Trove certainly looks different.
I myself have never played Minecraft, haha.
Oh! The biggest influence on me over the years would be The Legend of Zelda. Has puzzles, enemies, great art design, a nice sized world. Of course, in an MMO a bigger world, or one that *feels* bigger would be preferred.
Any MMO with a Zelda type feel to it? Probably not...
"The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes."
-Marcel Proust
Lord of the Rings online has a lot of great thing going for it.
Lots of mounts, outfit system, music system, decent story (though later on some of the quests can be a little "trying".
It really isn't a "modern" mmo but it's the least "fantastic" fantasy mmo.
Elder Scrolls online and Star Wars the Old Republic have better quest presentation.
Godfred's Tomb Trailer: https://youtu.be/-nsXGddj_4w
Original Skyrim: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/109547
Serph toze kindly has started a walk-through. https://youtu.be/UIelCK-lldo
Out of the list: Maybe you can try Aura Kingdom. Its a mix of PVE and PVP. Fantasy MMO and they have cool mounts.