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Looking for an MMO - Sorta picky
TheScavenger
Member EpicPosts: 3,321
I'm having trouble deciding on an MMO to play. I've tried a lot, but here is the MMOs I've played and why I liked/disliked them.
EVE Online-
Liked: The industry
Disliked: Too much focus on PvP, PvE sucked and not very good solo/2 man group game
SWG (from a long time back)
Liked: Great solo, great group. Great PvP AND PvE, amazing crafting, lots to explore
Asheron's Call Darktide (I won't be playing this again, game is kinda too old to get into for me)
Liked: Its like Darkfall, except vastly better PvE and great for solo and small group and tons more content than darkfall
Darkfall:
Liked: Better graphics than AC
Disliked: Very little content compared to AC
FFXIV:
I tried this recently and just couldn't get into it. I think its because the world is so linear, completely unrealistic and so small. I felt like a person trapped in an elevator in a closed space...the world was so closed in. I have a huge fear of closed in spaces, and FFXIV made that fear reality. I liked everything else, but the world made me so nervous and feeling scared and trapped in real life I couldn't play. Its why I don't play call of duty or any linear hallway game.
Otherwise the crafting, PvE, classes and everything were great.
ESO: (might play)
I tried this a few months back. New update looks cool. Dunno why I stopped...I think the inventory system pissed me off so much I stopped playing. Crafting was great, world was great...inventory system failed. Coming from skyrim and WoW, I expect to hoard :P Everything else was great though.
Its on my list of MMOs I'd try again.
WoW (with new expansion):
Leveling was great, at 100 there was a lot less to do than in mists of panderia. All I did was log on once a day for garrison...panderia had a lot more things to do for solo or 2 man group players. Was a waste of money.
SWTOR (might play)
I played this A LONG time back. I never played past beta though and never played when it went free. No idea how I'd like it, but like ESO, its on list of MMOs I'd play. I wouldn't play for free though, I hate restrictions, I'd pay for it
LOTRO
Won't play, it has terrible anti-hack thing that auto installs on my P. Netnanny or whatever its called that I uninstalled. I never had anything like that installed with any other MMO I played, and it slowed down my PC a lot. Otherwise, I didn't like it anyway...when I played, I felt like playing WoW and then went to play WoW instead.
GW2
Too much focus on cash shop, and like FFXIV...I felt really trapped in a linear space in a very unrealistic world. I was very nervous and felt scared in real life when I played GW2...the world was so linear and unrealistic feeling. Its same feeling I got when I played the first guild wars. I know WoW is linear, but each zone feels very open. GW2 is open obviously, but it felt rather closed in to me and like I said, the world felt so unreal that it gave me massive anxiety.
Ryzom
Didn't like it, no good for solo and even with 1 other person it was too hard. I tried playing with my real life friend, but we couldn't do anything together. More better for 3+ people which isn't good at all for me.
And...any other games not on my list that sound like they'd fit me? So far I only have two options: ESO and SWTOR...I did try ESO not that long ago, but the new update sounds good. Never played SWTOR past beta, and I imagine tons has changed. But I have a feeling I might get that major anxiety of trapped in unrealistic world. Otherwise both ESO and SWTOR look good. But I never play for free, and I only want to pay for one MMO at a time.
Any help? Thanks 
My Skyrim, Fallout 4, Starbound and WoW + other game mods at MODDB:
https://www.moddb.com/mods/skyrim-anime-overhaul
Comments
Those are the two I'm playing, so I can only recommend them! As for SWTOR having changed a lot, the answer would be yes, you're right.
I've also suffered from the limited inventory in ESO, since I'm very much a hoarder. Some of the things to do:
-Bank early and often!
-Increase your inventory and bank space ASAP!
-Get a mount and start training it for extra inventory space. (Provided you've got the Imperial horse, the others are way too expensive to be viable at the low levels for this)
-Give up on collection materials for crafting skills you're not using. (For example I stopped hoarding every alchemy component I came across of since I don't have an alchemist yet.)
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 don't think I specifically said. So to sum up above.
I like PvE mostly, PvP is fine though if I can choose to do it or not (AC darktide (I can always play pve servers, so I have choice)...SWG I could choose...UO was no choice when I played it. But all three have amazing PvE content, it isn't deathmatch PvP like darkfall. and eve is almost good, but the PvE is rather boring for me and I don't tend to like space games.
I LOVE crafting (so that be a downside to SWTOR) and exploration. Hate linear closed in worlds like in FFXIV and GW1. Don't like totally unrealistic worlds either, worlds that feel very unreal and unnatural (GW1, FFXIV and GW2 fall into that. EQ2 falls into that category to for me. EQ2 partly might be because the graphics aged so horribly compared to MMOs released around the same time. I don't like EQ2 graphics style, as it ages very fast)
I don't raid end game (because I only play with 1-2 other people at most, my other friend has to really enjoy the game though. One of my friends always comes to MMOs with me though), but I love dungeons and small group content. It isn't just solo. But almost always its just me and my good friend, so MMO content tends to be too hard for raids.
But mostly crafting, exploration, owning a house and property. Doing all that stuff.
ESO seems to match everything I'm looking for, but that inventory system really bugged me. I may just need to look past it. Its newer too, which is what I like. Older MMOs tend to give more of an unrealistic anxiety inducing fear to me, partly because graphics too. Like EQ2, AC darktide both fall into that category. Istaria as well.
My Skyrim, Fallout 4, Starbound and WoW + other game mods at MODDB:
https://www.moddb.com/mods/skyrim-anime-overhaul
Would help you if i could, but your reasoning is very inconsistent.
A few of the games on that list are surprisingly similar, and yet you criticize them for completely different things. For example, you say you felt EvE was too PvP focused, but you liked Darkfall (one of the most PvP oriented sandbox MMOs) and didn't mention the pvp at all. You also say you hated how linear some of the themeparks were, but you loved lvling in WoW (which is also a very linear experience). Same thing with SWTOR (though maybe it's the moral options in the personal story that distract from this?).
The only thing that kind of shows some consistency (with the exception of SWTOR) is you seem to like the older MMOs (regardless of what kind they were), and dislike the newer ones. So my advice would be to either stick to older MMOs, or be more open minded with your games, and try new things. Maybe even try some non-MMO online pve games to get more perspective.
I'm not trying to be mean, but if you were to make a chart of all your reasons (regardless of game), I think you might find that there's a lot of paradox in there. Which generally indicates a lack of independent opinion, or that your perception from game to game is easily swayed.
Thanks
I see you posted when I was typing up my other post.
I plan to get the imperial edition if I go back to ESO, I have a 50% off coupon for the official site for it so it would only cost me 10 dollars+15 dollars for the monthly subscription. So I'd get the horse right away, which might help a lot.
Though, it sounds like I should have bought more bank+inventory space sooner. And if the horse has inventory, that would help a lot. I'm still gonna want to collect all materials though :P I love crafting, thats my favorite thing to do. Not much of a combat person.
My Skyrim, Fallout 4, Starbound and WoW + other game mods at MODDB:
https://www.moddb.com/mods/skyrim-anime-overhaul
At this point i would NOT recommend ESO due to the buggy quests and unbalance in PvE. SW:TOR is good if you pay for it but it can be an action button fanfest (annoyingly so).
I would recommend The Secret World (if you want to immerse yourself in story and aren't totally focused on combat).
Star Trek Online isn't too bad either as F2P. Once you gain ranks it gets more fun.
I wouldn't recommend any of the Everquest games at this point. SOE has really ruined them.
GW2 is well done as far as combat goes but... you kind of get stuck from time to time when leveling.
I'd mainly suggest The Secret World or S.T.O. at this point. I'm nto currently playing anything except for Single Player and Co-Op games. Call of Duty: AW, Alien: Isolation, Hitman:Absolution, etc etc Been having some fun with those and steam achievements. I do play Diablo 3 occasionally.
HOpe this helps and this is all just in my opinion.
That's kind of what I took away from the OP as well.
Skyrim is a good recommendation, there are also a lot of other action-RPG single player games. Many of which are good options. Also Divinity is a good one if u like that oldschool D&D style.
Actually, I might have wrote it wrong. But I actually don't like Darkfall. I like Asheron's Call DARKTIDE, because it offers TONS of PvE that is good quality. But AC darktide is too old now.
I also have the choice of PvE servers in AC
So I didn't like both EVE and Darkfall for the same reasons pretty much, except EVE did have a bit more PvE content than Darkfall.
As for linear. It also partly has to do with how the world feels. WoW felt like a world that might actually exist. Linear, but huge open zones. Dunno about SWTOR.
GW2 feels like a world that would never exist, very unrealistic, arcadey and gamey...hard to explain...but it had a thing about it that made my anxiety go WAY up and felt scared in real life playing it, because how unnatural it was. Maybe partly uncanny valley kind of thing, is that correct term?
WoW never felt like that to me.
My Skyrim, Fallout 4, Starbound and WoW + other game mods at MODDB:
https://www.moddb.com/mods/skyrim-anime-overhaul
If he had concerns about GW2s cashshop than this one would be way off the mark.
OP I have put 100s of hours into GW2 and haven't spent a dime on the cash shop other than one character slot.
There are so many of these threads every day it is to bad that there isn't a section just for it.
How about LOTRO, that is always a safe bet, or possibly Rift?
Death is nothing to us, since when we are, Death has not come, and when death has come, we are not.
LOTRO is good, except every time I refuse to install the anti-hack thing, it doesn't let me install it :P And that anti-hack slowed my PC down a lot when I did let it run. And when I removed it, my PC was fast again but LOTRO wouldn't let me play. I never played an MMO that installed things like that, LOTRO was first. And combofix detected it as bloatware and removed it for me.
Rift falls into same category as GW2 to me, very uncanny valley (dunno if I use that correctly)...too unrealistic. Like I said, WoW never felt like that to me even though it was linear themepark. WoW felt more like a living world, and Rift again gave me huge anxiety in real life.
I said before, but a lot of MMOs and games with very unrealistic worlds (Call of Duty hallway linear gameplay, Rift, GW1/2) all give me huge anxiety. I tried getting treatment, but I can't afford it so I stopped going.
My Skyrim, Fallout 4, Starbound and WoW + other game mods at MODDB:
https://www.moddb.com/mods/skyrim-anime-overhaul
Skyrim is good too, but I want an actual MMO.
I do like MMOs.
I loved UO/AC/SWG, ESO was really good except inventory. I dunno about SWTOR, but if I recall, I did get a bit of anxiety playing it in beta...so might not be the best choice.
But for modern MMOs, ESO is only one I've played thus far that doesn't give me anxiety when I play and it feels like a real world unlike the really scary/anxiety inducing worlds of FFXIV, GW1/2 and Rift.
Maybe ESO is best for now, but I was seeing if there were other choices
My Skyrim, Fallout 4, Starbound and WoW + other game mods at MODDB:
https://www.moddb.com/mods/skyrim-anime-overhaul
Epic Music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAigCvelkhQ&list=PLo9FRw1AkDuQLEz7Gvvaz3ideB2NpFtT1
https://archive.org/details/softwarelibrary_msdos?&sort=-downloads&page=1
Kyleran: "Now there's the real trick, learning to accept and enjoy a game for what it offers rather than pass on what might be a great playing experience because it lacks a few features you prefer."
John Henry Newman: "A man would do nothing if he waited until he could do it so well that no one could find fault."
FreddyNoNose: "A good game needs no defense; a bad game has no defense." "Easily digested content is just as easily forgotten."
LacedOpium: "So the question that begs to be asked is, if you are not interested in the game mechanics that define the MMORPG genre, then why are you playing an MMORPG?"
That makes a bit more sense, and yes you may want to change 'Darkfall' to 'AC:Darktide' they are very much different games.
That said, if I'm understanding you correctly, you're mainly looking for 2 things:
1) PvE-oriented gameplay
2) Immersion
If I had to add a third I'm guessing you also prefer a fantasy environment. The unfortunate thing is that the game that best fits what you seem to be looking for, you've already ruled out. And that is LotRO. There is also EQ2 (which is actually F2P atm), I'm not sure how cashshop dependant it is, but it was a pretty good fantasy MMO for its time. Though the graphics aren't the best.
If you're okay with stepping outside of fantasy there are some other good games in other genres. TSW has a great story / environment. It is zoned, and the combat isn't too great tbh. Some of the superhero games (DCUO) are also good, but again, completely different genre.
Even still I think you're best bets are probably in LotRO (which u won't play), and EQ2. If you like SWTOR, great. It's very much your standard linear themepark, but it's also starwars, so it's easier to look past it's flaws.
You can train them to have inventory: http://www.tesoelite.com/2014/05/mount-guide/
I've been raising carrying capacity on my mounts whenever I get the chance. (Once every 20 hours)
I still constantly hit a full inventory, but at least it's given me some extra wiggle room. All those little food ingredients are EVIL on one's inventory!
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/
Yeah, actually, that is pretty much 100% I'm looking for.
Haven't thought of DCUO, I hadn't played that in ages (since release). TSW isn't my cup of tea, and EQ2 hasn't aged well graphics wise. And SWTOR mostly just like you said, its star wars...honestly that is mostly why I even considerate it.
How is DCUO these days? Like I said, haven't played since release. I remember EPIC PvP battles between villains and heroes, taking control of part of the cities. Does that still happen? Most fun PvP and gameplay I ever had.
My Skyrim, Fallout 4, Starbound and WoW + other game mods at MODDB:
https://www.moddb.com/mods/skyrim-anime-overhaul
I am considering trying out ESO (I still haven't redeemed my deluxe edition or w/e it was, so I have a free month whenever), and SWTOR which I haven't played really since a week into launch.
I would suggest trying out Project Gorgon, I haven't logged in for awhile, but it's a pretty fun MMO, I don't think you can build in it though, maybe I'm wrong.
The Secret World is much different than any other MMO, it's mainly about the lore, reading clues to do quests, you can choose where to go, what mission to do, you can explore, the maps are pretty huge. And there's a lot of customization when it comes to your character, and your combat skills.
If you want some fun sci-fi shooter MMOs, Global Agenda and Firefall can be pretty fun and time consuming. If you like the more popular style of MMO, maybe try out Rift, or Neverwinter Online.
The game that fits everything you said here would be Mortal Online, similar to Darkfall, most of the Darkfall players play both games.
There's a lot of fun indie games out there too, you just have to find them. I've been having fun with some games like Dungeon Defenders 2, Dragon Nest and Elsword.
Tbh I haven't played DCUO in months. Last I played it was still doing fairly well, same type of game I remember it being. It is free to play now, so you can see for yourself without much trouble. It's probably not going to be as good a fit as LotRO, but it should be friendlier to your computer.
You keep bringing up ESO and SWTOR and wanted to do a sub. I agree with those who said hold off on ESO because of all the major updates that are coming up which means lots of re-balancing until the dust settles, but if you want to get it out of your system go ahead and give it a one month sub. or SWTOR or both. At least that way you wouldn't have left over doubts about if they were for you or not.
May you find what you seek.
"We all do the best we can based on life experience, point of view, and our ability to believe in ourselves." - Naropa "We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are." SR Covey
few games not on your list you might like
large open sandbox world ARCHEAGE- f2p w sub model Open-world sandbox. insane crafting capabilties, countless ways to play, hundreds of class combinations, So open world you wont know what to do and wish you had someone to hold your hand and keep you on track. but because it was too open ended free-roam sandbox i couldnt bring myself to focus on one thing, with a million choices, i couldnt make one and walked out. too easy to make a bad class combo, unless you research heavily.
more module style zones, NEVERWINTER,-another f2p with sub model like archeage, heavy on PvE content, great story/lore has that older mmo feel to it but is only few years old, great for solo players , or few friends for quests or dungeons, lot of in-depth crafting available, and out of game option to earn items xp, rare items, thru boroswer based app accessible from tablets or pcs, ITs basically what wow copied when they made garrisons, except without having to build your hub first, lets you do crafting /companion-questing/farming out of game BEST PERK-PLAYER MADE CONTENT, plenty to do at endgame for solo-players made by devs and players themselves
EDIT ALso WILDSTAR, has alot of what you mention you are looking for
"We all do the best we can based on life experience, point of view, and our ability to believe in ourselves." - Naropa "We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are." SR Covey