Not enjoying my usual MMOs anymore. : /

Sciela

So, I'm a long time MMO player. Started with Runescape and Maplestory (if those count) when I was like 9-10, and then got into WoW on launch day. Played WoW up until the 6.0 prepatch (WoD prepatch), and quit on the spot because of how terrible all my favorite classes felt. I tried going back for Legion, but the game is just missing something, and I burn out so easily now -- don't know what it even is. So, I need a new game to play.

I've been playing League lately, but with how terrible the game is becoming, I just can't do it anymore (and I hate F2P anyway).

I tried GW2, and the lack of meaningful content and progression just pushes me away.

I tried BDO, but it's just not my kind of game.

I tried ESO way back in beta, and I just didn't feel it (though I hear a lot has changed).

I tried FFXIV, and while it was super, super fun the first time I did everything... hitting max level just killed the game for me, since I have nothing to do at this point (yes, I've done savage. It was fun the first time, but then was just boring.)

I tried BnS, and while I did enjoy the combat and overall aesthetic, I don't like any of the females except Lyn (people love "boob physics"... but I can't stand them, and all the taller females move like hookers or something), and the game was just really... Korean feeling, if you know what I mean. Grindy, things didn't make sense, lot of P2W or P2EnjoyAnything, and so on.

I tried TERA, but it had the same issues BnS has, but the combat in TERA got old pretty quickly for me.

I tried EVE, but I want a game, not a guided cinematic.

I tried Mabinogi as a kid and loved it, but any time I try going back I just get bored of it.

So, what MMOs have enjoyable combat, enjoyable content, and at least decent questing / leveling? If none exist... what's something that lasts long term that I could play while I wait for new games to come out?

Malathoos

Neverwinter isnt on your list or DDO both enjoyable and nice stories. You prefer the action combat so these should work.

Kyleran

Sciela said:

I tried EVE, but I want a game, not a guided cinematic.

I've heard EVE described in many ways, but never this, in fact a lack of guidance is a common complaint.

My assumpion is you never got past the tutorial which is the only guided thing I ever saw but you don't appear to be the sort who would enjoy it based on your history.

Consider giving MMOs a rest and play single player RPGs, I recommend Fallout 4 or even New Vegas, great entertainment for the money.

btdt

Sciela said:

So, what MMOs have enjoyable combat, enjoyable content, and at least decent questing / leveling? If none exist... what's something that lasts long term that I could play while I wait for new games to come out?

MMO burnout.  Your list includes every major release sans Rift, SWTOR, Archeage, and Wildstar.  Odds are pretty good nothing on the horizon is going to be all that different.  Especially since the majority of the content is either coming from Asia or is some pipe-dream kickstarter project.

Really, look at your list.  Out of all those games, is there really all that much different between them at the core?  Most of them are essentially the same game with a few tweaks or a different coat of paint.  So the reason you can't find one that you enjoy is because you have tired of the genre.  Could you play chess for 30 years straight and tell yourself that game 1,000,000,000 is just as exciting as game 1?

People keep saying they are looking for a new MMO and fail to find it because the person who started out playing and liking them is not the same person who is trying to play them now.  If you can leave bell bottom pants and platform shoes behind in the 70s, you can leave MMOs behind today.  

Nothing wrong with that.  You may find something that is far entertaining to boot.  But you never will if you keep trying on those bell bottom pants and platform shoes...

You look sexy in them, btw.

Lithuanian

So, what MMOs have enjoyable combat, enjoyable content, and at least decent questing / leveling?
There is no such MMO. In fact, never existed and would never exist.
There is MMO that is enjoyable by me. By other player. By group of players. The problem is, my ideal game may  be total nightmare for you.

What is enjoyable combat? Tabbed or action one? Spells that require mana or spells that does not require mana, yet have cooldown? Easy to kill monsters or those that only 50 players can kill?
What is enjoyable content? only PvE, only PvP? No quests at all or tons of quests?
What is decent levelling? Situation when you have to grind 100 pigs for level 10 and 200 pigs for lvl.11...ending with 9,8 million pigs for lvl.100? Situation where you are given thousands of quests so that you outgrow region?

Things would get easier if OP states what is he/she likes in games.

My two cents:
1. Istaria. Old game, not so huge population. Free to play, all content is free, no "purchase quest pack to quest here". Multiclass system: if you level, say, Cleric to lvl.100, feel free to level Warrior to lvl.100. And then Mage. And then Blood Mage. And then Berserker... Same with crafting: finished one school, you may max another and so untill you max everything (not easy). Many group content, i.e. you won't go far by soloing. Player-based economy - you will get that shiny axe, if someone crafts it. If you pay, you can become a might Dragon and own a plot of land (human) or lair (Dragon). Community you can count on: small, yet very loyal.

2. Lord of the rings online. The lore you know - Gandalf, Sauron, hobbitses, Aragorn, Gollum and many others. Free to play, content unlockable by Lotro points (obtained by doing deeds, like kill many monsters of certain type,. explore something, finish quests...). Sometimes may be grindy. Good, helpfull community. Even end-game grind is not so awfull: doing it right now and quite satisfied, Mordor is the place even top-geared player must choose actions carefully. Huge plus is that you will visit all places you know from movies/books: Bree, Hobbiton, Moria, Rohan, Mordor, meet many heroes you know (psssttt....even if you know how the war ends). Game is good for roleplayers. End-game is mostly group content.

Aethaeryn

Kyleran said:

Sciela said:

I tried EVE, but I want a game, not a guided cinematic.

I've heard EVE described in many ways, but never this, in fact a lack of guidance is a common complaint.

My assumpion is you never got past the tutorial which is the only guided thing I ever saw but you don't appear to be the sort who would enjoy it based on your history.

Consider giving MMOs a rest and play single player RPGs, I recommend Fallout 4 or even New Vegas, great entertainment for the money.

You definately need to finish the tutorial.  I tried 2 times before the 3rd time hooked me.  It sounds odd but it was worth it.  I didn't give it long enough the first 2 times.

Po_gg

@Lithuanian was faster... still, as a +1,

Sciela said:

So, what MMOs have enjoyable combat, enjoyable content, and at least decent questing / leveling?

LotRO is not on your list yet. Though it's a bit hard to get a grip on your kind of "enjoyable combat" (with many years of wow, leveling FF XIV and on the same time enjoying BnS), in LotRO you have the standard tab-target combat with lots of skills and GCD.
There are some twists (the later added classes, namely the warden, rune-keeper and beorning), but mostly it's the good old mmorpg combat. Lore is amazing though

An another not on your list, AoC. Great lore as well, fun quests and leveling, and the combat is an interesting one. HL summarised it nicely: https://youtu.be/3pBc51WqhCY?t=2m15s

Viper482

Sciela said:

So, what MMOs have enjoyable combat, enjoyable content, and at least decent questing / leveling? If none exist... what's something that lasts long term that I could play while I wait for new games to come out?

I second LOTRO. Run a blue line hunter (run and gun), satisfying combat and outside of SWTOR can't beat the story telling. If you don't like the Tolkien thing may not be for you, but it follows the books religiously. Really brings Tolkien's world alive, and still beautiful overall despite its age.

KGdio

Darkfall is an option, it's very different from your average mmo. It's a much more "hardcore" experience. Self aimed arrows/spells, and full loot pvp. But if youre looking for a pve game this isnt it.

JeffSpicoli

My advice would be to take a break from the genre all together, Sounds like the MMO grind has gotten stale. Hop on Steam and find something that looks interesting and give it a shot. Whether that be a MMO hybrid type of game like Elite Dangerous or War Thunder, Maybe something like fishing planet or The Hunter. A deep RPG or Turnbased game like the X-Com series-Darkest Dungeon the list goes on and on.

 

6stack_Chris

Give Project: Gorgon a shot. The graphics are a bit rough around the corners, and the animation could use some love; however, overall it is a fun game, tons of stuff to do and you get to customize your character to play how YOU want to play it. It is a pretty close step to old school MMORPG's where there is no hand holding, and you need to (if you choose to do quests) pay attention to the small details of the world. 

The game does a good job on the newbie island of introducing you to the vast array of skills and how the world lives and breaths. Once you get off newbie island, your mind will explode with all of the non theme park things that you can do all at once, or a little at a time. The game, right now is free to download and play (it is in Alpha) - give it a shot and see if you like the old school feel of games.

https://www.projectgorgon.com/

I have also provided a list of combat and crafting skills you as a player get to have, and remember, you are not locked into a class or playstyle, or even trade skills. You play this game how you want to play it. 

http://wiki.projectgorgon.com/wiki/Main_Page 

Sciela

btdt said:

MMO burnout.  Your list includes every major release sans Rift, SWTOR, Archeage, and Wildstar. 

Really, look at your list.  Out of all those games, is there really all that much different between them at the core?  Most of them are essentially the same game with a few tweaks or a different coat of paint.  So the reason you can't find one that you enjoy is because you have tired of the genre.

People keep saying they are looking for a new MMO and fail to find it because the person who started out playing and liking them is not the same person who is trying to play them now.

Actually, I did play RIFT for a while (and it was okay, I loved Bard and Chloro, but once I got to level 40ish, I just burned out on it), I tried SWTOR and couldn't get into it, and I fucking loved Wildstar (before it died and everyone left : /). Never played AA because I heard it was P2W from the start, and I don't really like sandboxes that have no meaningful PvE content anyway.

As far as me just outgrowing MMOs though... I don't think that's it. I can play on a private server for WoW and have a blast (but having a super low population bothers me, as well as the fact that the game won't be updating), I can play any of the older games I enjoyed like Maplestory and Mabinogi and enjoy myself before the grind gets to me, and all that. I can also play any of the old console games I loved and still love them, but I know them by heart so there isn't any challenge or sense of adventure.

I think it's just that, these days, games are built for a different audience: people who don't give a damn about the game, they just want a way to waste time, and don't want to put in any effort or anything like that. MMOs aren't like they were, and I see a lot of people saying as much on these forums and around the internet.

Sciela

Lithuanian said:

What is enjoyable combat? Tabbed or action one? Spells that require mana or spells that does not require mana, yet have cooldown? Easy to kill monsters or those that only 50 players can kill?
What is enjoyable content? only PvE, only PvP? No quests at all or tons of quests?
What is decent levelling? Situation when you have to grind 100 pigs for level 10 and 200 pigs for lvl.11...ending with 9,8 million pigs for lvl.100? Situation where you are given thousands of quests so that you outgrow region?

Things would get easier if OP states what is he/she likes in games.

Enjoyable combat, to me, can be either action or traditional, or even a mix like Wildstar, GW2 and all that. What makes combat enjoyable for me is if it keeps me engaged, rather than being autopilot or super rotational (WoW and FFXIV, respectively). I like RNG that mixes up what I do, and I like having to totally change gears because of something going on or a proc going off or something.

As far as enjoyable content... I love raiding and high-end dungeons and all that -- especially if I can wipe easily. Back when I was still in love with WoW, all I did was roll alts and make pug raids for everything (MoP era), and I had like five classes at 90, so I'd do that all week. Though I do enjoy PvP, just not a deathmatch style thing. I like objective-based PvP.

Decent leveling means that my class becomes more and more interesting as I go, instead of always being kind of the same, a la WoW, or progressing so slowly I'm borderline burned out before I get to "the good part" a la FFXIV. It also means that the quests have some kind of story behind them, and the world's lore is fun to learn -- but, at the same time, I want options as I level, not a one-way thing like FFXIV. Grinding to level is boring for me, I'd much rather do quests, dungeons and whatnot to level.

And, it's not super important, but I love having a music system like GW2, FFXIV and so on. And good music in the game is a plus too.

Darksworm

Max level tends to kill games for many people.  Before you get to max level, you don't have obligations and the "grind" is pretty varied (different leveling areas, etc.). At max level, progression changes up a bit.  Many people don't deal with that as well.

This is normal.  That's why people hop games a lot, these days.  The leveling experience is okay, but then they sort of lose interest because the end-game progression is not their cup of tea.

Sciela

Darksworm said:

Max level tends to kill games for many people.  Before you get to max level, you don't have obligations and the "grind" is pretty varied (different leveling areas, etc.). At max level, progression changes up a bit.  Many people don't deal with that as well.

This is normal.  That's why people hop games a lot, these days.  The leveling experience is okay, but then they sort of lose interest because the end-game progression is not their cup of tea.

Yeah, that's why I always rolled alts in WoW, but the leveling just isn't fun anymore. I liked the end game content too, though.

Po_gg

Sciela said:

...
And, it's not super important, but I love having a music system like GW2, FFXIV and so on. And good music in the game is a plus too.

Even more reasons to check LotRO, it has the best music system out there, and player concerts all the time (at least on the roleplay servers, but the regular servers have a lot as well). If you hurry you can catch Winterstock, it will be on this weekend   or you can watch it from outside, LotRO tweeted yesterday that they will stream it: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DTIZ4fNX0AAWLNC.jpg:large
(it's a good pic for the schedule and as a band list summary too)


LotRO fits for the rest of your post too, warden is fully fluid and not on rotation, story and lore definitely there, questing for level up is the way, and classes get more interesting as you advance. PvMP is totally optional, but when you do, it is not deathmatch style, more like strategic and has a limited PvE in it as well.

The only missing part might be the wipe. LotRO has tons of instances and raids, not only for the endgame but during the level-up too (and at the cap there's upscale for the lower level ones), but easy wipe... maybe on harder tiers. You definitely can wipe, and happens fairly often with uncoordinated pugs, but not "easy" in the old sense of "one group member fails for one second = raid wipe"  
For that, you could check the other suggestion, AoC. (also fit for the rest, good combat, story/lore in questing, the pvp has even more focus, while level the class gets more interesting and at the end you can hone it through AA. It lacks a music system however.)

edit: good music, fits for both as well. Those two are the only games I used to listen the OSTs regularly. (sure, I'm biased   but the music is really great, two awesome composers they've employed)

Astro6

You might want to look at Albion Online it is live very close to maple story end game is PvP though has arena similar to WoW more like Ultima Online.
No quests ,no classes lots of crafting everything is player crafted not f2p not p2w it is b2p you do what you want to do the more you do it better you get at it.
Given time a few years you would be able to wear all armor and use every weapon type there is player housing and faming and resouce gathering and has an auction house that is not global regional only that way nobody can capture or control the entire market.
Has a premium account you can buy with in game silver or Gold which can be bought with real money or bought with silver.

Dauzqul

It's called "getting older". Your mind yearns for depth and complexity, which none of the games you listed above offer.

We need some type of SWG-like game.

SomeHuman

I'd also recommend getting out of your comfort zone.  You will find that smaller games, even single-player games have some of the best gaming communities.  Try something that will blow your mind like Dwarf Fortress, Caves of Qud, or Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead (All free).  These games have been around forever, are still being developed, and have a huge following.  This is just one sub-genre example.  Poke the fire and see if you notice anything that interests you.  Why not?  GLHF!

Albatroes

Darksworm said:

Max level tends to kill games for many people.  Before you get to max level, you don't have obligations and the "grind" is pretty varied (different leveling areas, etc.). At max level, progression changes up a bit.  Many people don't deal with that as well.

This is normal.  That's why people hop games a lot, these days.  The leveling experience is okay, but then they sort of lose interest because the end-game progression is not their cup of tea.

Very good point. I dont know why this trend of end game actually meant that all the "good" stuff had to be at level cap. The only one that comes to mind that kind of tries to "broaden" the endgame formula is AA which pretty much has you working on your "end-game" stuff at 50 so hitting 55 becomes less important compared to getting gear pretty much. If "end-game" was broadened out again, games would be more enjoyable. Also, having gear/items being exclusive to certain activities would keep things fresh as well, instead of being able to "get a set doing this dungeon, then get a set doing this and a set doing this" all of that just saturates content and burns people out faster since its pretty much the same thing with a different skin.

Sasisuseso

I would say need to play a bit differently in order to enjoy (but compromise on competitiveness) the available mmo such as:

1. play ESO in first person, even better with melee spec

Well thats it, i think ESO is the only mmorpg that does first-person right

I do still find play paladin tank in FF14 enjoyable in case you havent tried paladin tanking

Other non-mmorpg games that i recommend is Overwatch, Clash Royale, AC:Origin, For Honor

Theocritus

Look around a little more...Looks like you go for the ones that appeal to the masses....maybe try something a little off the beaten path.

Phaserlight

Sciela said:

So, what MMOs have enjoyable combat, enjoyable content, and at least decent questing / leveling?

Vendetta Online

Dransik2012

check out ashenempires very good mmorpg

klash2def

you have mmo-fatigue op. it happens. take a 3-month break. Go SP game hunting. There isn't another MMO that will help you at this point.

Give AC: Origins, Horizon Zero Dawn or Kingdom of Amalur a shot. All of them have tons of things to do. Kingdom of Amalur is also a very underrated rpg.

Sid_Vicious

Sciela said:

So, I'm a long time MMO player. Started with Runescape and Maplestory (if those count) when I was like 9-10, and then got into WoW on launch day. Played WoW up until the 6.0 prepatch (WoD prepatch), and quit on the spot because of how terrible all my favorite classes felt. I tried going back for Legion, but the game is just missing something, and I burn out so easily now -- don't know what it even is. So, I need a new game to play.

I've been playing League lately, but with how terrible the game is becoming, I just can't do it anymore (and I hate F2P anyway).

I tried GW2, and the lack of meaningful content and progression just pushes me away.

I tried BDO, but it's just not my kind of game.

I tried ESO way back in beta, and I just didn't feel it (though I hear a lot has changed).

I tried FFXIV, and while it was super, super fun the first time I did everything... hitting max level just killed the game for me, since I have nothing to do at this point (yes, I've done savage. It was fun the first time, but then was just boring.)

I tried BnS, and while I did enjoy the combat and overall aesthetic, I don't like any of the females except Lyn (people love "boob physics"... but I can't stand them, and all the taller females move like hookers or something), and the game was just really... Korean feeling, if you know what I mean. Grindy, things didn't make sense, lot of P2W or P2EnjoyAnything, and so on.

I tried TERA, but it had the same issues BnS has, but the combat in TERA got old pretty quickly for me.

I tried EVE, but I want a game, not a guided cinematic.

I tried Mabinogi as a kid and loved it, but any time I try going back I just get bored of it.

So, what MMOs have enjoyable combat, enjoyable content, and at least decent questing / leveling? If none exist... what's something that lasts long term that I could play while I wait for new games to come out?

Recently I had a lot of fun getting into Star Trek Online... was surprised because I had heard so many bad reviews about the game but I sure as hell love it! I've been hooked playing every day but just found out that a new version of Darkfall was just released a week ago (which is one of the best MMORPGs to have ever existed...) and I am totally hooked... really curious what is going to happen with all the changes, localized banking, so many loot opportunities and racial wars are back. So much fun and its busy! Nobody has even seen a decent weapon or piece of gear yet.

Brand new.. woot! Feels great, but wow some of those changes sure are different. Makes me feel more like a ninja definitely!

Here's a good video. Don't miss out! It won't be around forever.




Here this video is better if you know not of Darkfall.