Howdy, Stranger!
It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Quick Links
Skill based MMOs? (yes again, sorry)
JimLad
Member CommonPosts: 187
Sorry, I know this topic has been done a bazillion times before but god knows how many pages back the last one is now. 
Can anyone name me some skill based MMOs, that's MMOs that don't use the player leveling (or whatever the game might call their numbers) system. They can be out or in beta or in development etc.
The ones I know about that are out now are EvE, Planetside, and The Saga of Ryzom.
The ones I know about that aren't out yet are Darkfall, Roma Victor, and The Chronicle.
I'm after fantasy really but I wouldn't mind hearing about any other themes. Good PvP would be nice as well as quality build and maintenance.
Thanks.
Comments
Although, EA made it from gold to dung, so...
No PVP.
It's Fantasy. Medieval Times, but it has wizards, magic, and such.
Although, EA made it from gold to dung, so...
No PVP.
EDIT: Woops, Double Post.
Can someone delete the first one?
Irth Online
---------------------------------------
No Userbar here, sorry to disappoint.
Well I have mixed opinions on the entire subject. In general MMOs of all kind take a certain degree of "skill" as far as planning and strategy and such goes. However mass communication means that while the "best" people figure out the tactics and such first eventually everyone learns them.
In an RPG setting this is how things arguably should be as you are playing a character. Levels also reward long-term committment and such. Also most MMOs feature "endgame" zones where the bosses require specific strategies to take down which frequently differ from the general tactics used in the game.
As far as true "skill based" MMOs where the player matters more than the character, I feel these have always been around. Actually before MMO RPGs and such. Pretty much any First Person Shooter with a multi--player feature is exactly what your looking for since it's one person's reflexes and on-the-spot reactions versus anothers. MMORPGs tend to be dominated by the most cunning and the most charismatic if not the most intelligent (ie those who can figure out the best angles to use, and those who can convince the people who found out to share this information), other kinds of MMOs tend to be dominated by those with the fastest twitch reflexes which usually means the younger childen (while kids play MMOs there is still a high adult population that are competitive, I've found the more reflex oriented a game is the younger the player set tends to be since in most cases those kinds of reflexes degrade when you get older).
As far as a Medieval setting goes, to be honest the genere has been somewhat neglected as far as FPS shooters has gone. I mean there have been some like Hexen or Witchhaven over the years but most are modern (horror/crime themed) or science fiction.
A few games like Neocron (which I never tried for reasons that had nothing to do with the nature of the game, but rather due to their attitude involving real money and in-game items which was reported at the time) tried to blend the FPS thing with a more involved world but so far it has not been especially successful.
As far as the whole concept of PVP goes, I have mixed opinions on the subject. See I enjoy PVP to an extent, usually in the context of battlegrounds and such and in fighting for specific objectives. The idea of free "PVP everywhere" does not appeal to me. One of the reasons why I think you see so few games like that (and why the games that are set up for it tend to be less-successful than ones that do not ) is because the people who are attracted to such games are looking for victims and not serious competition. A free-for-all/free-looting game usually attracts 10,000 bullies and as they are all predators noone winds up being satisfied. The guys at the top have to fight to stay there and the guys on the bottem want stupid people who try and PVE farm in an enviroment like that to kill. Alas the very nature of the industry means that all those who would have been the victims in an old-school UO enviroment are simply going to play other games since they aren't forced into that kind of an arena by a lack of other alternatives (it used to be that if you wanted to MMO that was your only option).
What this means is that the so-called "Griefers" are never going to be able to capture what they are looking for no matter how much they talk about "Care Bears".
The only way you are ever going to see a true "Griefing" enviroment again is going to be if there is a major leap in technology. Say for example home "Trideo" instead of 2-dimensional video, or actual VR. If such comes into people's homes on a massive scale and if MMOs are invented for it and IF the first games are made specifically by/for the Griefing crowd then you might see the massive herdlike crowds caused by everyone having to tolerate it if they want to play the new games. In the long run however this "silver age" of Griefing will turn out the same way (and it takes a lot to get to that point to begin with mind you) and as new games come out the market will diffuse and the Griefers will again find themselves without guys who try and farm/mine/hunt PVE style while PKers run around and with a little creativity wind up farming them.
>>>----Therumancer--->
Orky Name Generator, only at www.bigchoppaz.com
MMORPGs tend to be dominated by the most cunning and the most charismatic if not the most intelligent
>>>----Therumancer--->
I'm going to have to disagree with that...having been an experienced MMORPG player, I can tell you that MMORPGs are dominated by those with large amounts of time at their disposal with a talent in organizing. Intelligence rarely plays a role in how successful you are with any online game...if MMORPGs catered to the intelligent few, they would alienate the mass market that is essential for any mmorpg to thrive.
Orky Name Generator, only at www.bigchoppaz.com
Well take this in context with the message I just wrote. In general I've found that the people who are at the very top of the game are rarely people who just put a lot of time into them (although they might have that too). For example in WoW it's rarely the oriental "Farmer Guilds" who are the best on their server despite their members being online almost constantly (24/7 effectively in many cases). Indeed if you don't know what your doing, it doesn't matter how many hundreds or thousands of hours you invest eventually your not going to the top, your going to tap out at a certain point.
In most games to beat the highest echelons of the game requires more strategy than just "Zerging". You have to do very specific things, and use very specific tactics. The guys who wind up being the best are the ones who are the quickest to figure these things out, followed by the ones who they share this information with first (the charismatic). Eventually things trickle down and everyone figures out how they can beat the big-bad endgame zone or whatever by reading it on the web, but by that point a huge guild or two are already so far ahead of you (from being the first) that your not going to catch them.
Lifestyle gamers who are cunning are the worst (or best depending on your perspective) out there; but people who are just lifestylers are just more cattle who need someone to lead them to pasture. I've met a lot of people who are around constantly and are nothing special due to their investment of time. In a game like WoW there are people with entire stables of level 60 characters who play constantly who have never been to the MC or BWL or whatever. They just develop character after character without obtaining any kind of dominance.
Note though that as someone who works for a living and has a single level 60 character (albeit one who has tried to do a lot of stuff) I'm a total non-factor in pretty much every game I've played in.
As far as LLTS goes, that is a huge joke. I think LLTS came into it's dominance by simply having a ton of members. It's so mind-numbingly huge between so many games that it's not surprising that some people have figured out that it can ultimatly represent a market in of itself.
I am not an LLTS member but I will be honest in saying my experience is that anyone can join and that among their ranks there are people at all ends of the spectrum which is not surprising because the guild is so huge.
In general I see LLTS as being more in the mould of "Da Valkyries" (women gamers alliance) than a true guild.
>>>----Therumancer--->
Arg, me thread's been hijacked lol.
I was just looking for games that mainly use custom skill trees or 'profession' systems.
Jim lad we are in the same boat
You Tale in the desert which is pretty good for a non combat mmo
and DarkFall which is in teh works. ummm i am not sure of too many others as of right now
Faranthil Tanathalos
EverQuest 1 - Ranger
Star Wars Galaxies - Master Ranger
Everquest2 - Ranger WarhammerOnline - Shadow Warrior
WOW - Hunter
That's right I like bows and arrows.
Faranthil Tanathalos
EverQuest 1 - Ranger
Star Wars Galaxies - Master Ranger
Everquest2 - Ranger WarhammerOnline - Shadow Warrior
WOW - Hunter
That's right I like bows and arrows.