Which game has the 'best' PvE?

Boxtripper

Of course, the word 'best' is subjective...

The criteria I use are:

-Pure FUN: What game can you have fun from level 1-?? without feeling the grind?

-Skills required: Unfortunately, many mmorpgs involve little skill and much time. What game requires the most player skills in PvE?

-Things to do: what game has the most fun, different things to do? crafting, exploration, etc... not neccesarily just killing mobs.

Spathotan

---

Originally posted by Boxtripper

Of course, the word 'best' is subjective...
The criteria I use are:
-Pure FUN: What game can you have fun from level 1-?? without feeling the grind? EQ2 from my experience, but its very group oriented when you hit about level 20+, soloing becomes difficult.

-Skills required: Unfortunately, many mmorpgs involve little skill and much time. What game requires the most player skills in PvE? Although I dislike the game ill have to say EvE, just because its theonly "skill" based game around really.

-Things to do: what game has the most fun, different things to do? crafting, exploration, etc... not neccesarily just killing mobs. For all out exploration id have to say SWG, since the planets are rather large, and you arent held back by mountains and stuff like you are in say EQ2 or WoW. But the crafting is preety bad to say the least, so is the combat.

---

VixenHeart

Each person [and fanboy] will say their game is better then the others.

I believe I would just start downloading trials and checking them out for yourself.

I found EQ2 to be vast in exploration, adventurs, quest, crafting and had a mature community.

jhall229

If you just wanted PVE, hell, I would just play a single player game that is focused solely on PVE.  Play Oblivion.

Boxtripper

I've played through Oblivion. Very fun game, but it gets a bit lonely in there.

Besides, the game is totally imbalanced and poses no challenge because of things like 100% Chameleon, 100% Absorb, magic weakness stacking for exponential damage, etc, etc.

Also, your character ends up being good at everything, which is nice, but gives little feeling of playing a 'class'. My warrior is just not a warrior... he's a warrior/thief/mage! he is 50+ in every single skill, many are 100, all my attributes are 100....no specialization. No replay value as a second class, etc. But for one play through = VERY good game.

SimplyMichae

EQ2, Guild Wars, and City of Heroes all have very good PvE.

EQ2 and GW both have fairly rich worlds with plenty of nooks and crannies to discover.

GW and CoH both have fairly fast-paced combat requiring at least some skill and strategy at later levels.

EQ2 is probably the one with the most grind, but is only title of the three that is not completely combat oriented, with a fairly robust crafting system.

GW is the title with the least grind, but suffers (for many) by the lack of a shared world space and nonexistant crafting.

MadAce

ES 4: Oblivion. Alt-Tab to Mirc if you want to chat.

Lardarz

I would go with Guild Wars

Only Problem is, once you have completed the PVE side and got all the cool armor and stuff the PVP is mindblowingly dull.

GW has about a 2 month lastability then move on to something else.

voodookhan

---

Originally posted by SimplyMichae

EQ2, Guild Wars, and City of Heroes all have very good PvE.

---

^^^^

What he said.

CoH/CoV - I can solo/duo/or go full team in both games with ease. The character customization system is still the best I've ever played with in an MMORPG, the graphics alone are great, the gameplay is fun but very combat orientated (missions/task forces/trials). The only things that may wear on you is after awhile the missions become pretty repetitive and there is no crafting. You can create items for your bases via salvage, but it's still not real  hardcore crafting tho. I know there was a free trial of CoV going on, it might still be available.

EQ2 - At lower levels it's easy to solo/duo the game, at higher levels not so easy (but doable). There is a lot of PvE in the game but IMHO some of it gets boring pretty quick. The UI is also very solid (to me a decent UI is a big deal). Also, the graphics are a love/hate thing for some. I personally perfer to use the SOGA models. The "Trial of the Isle" is available for you to play the tutorial part of the game. Gives you are fairly decent idea of what you're getting into. Also, I liked the crafting in EQ2 (nowhere near as good as ole SWG ) but I like it nonetheless.

Guild Wars: Prophecies/Factions - I think the PvE side of GW is pretty damn fun. Again great graphics and solid UI. However, there is no real crafting (pseudo-crafting a la salvaging items and then heading to an NPC to actually do the crafting) and once you go through the PvE side once (even tho the story IMHO is kinda nice) you're basically replaying for better gear, trying out the PvP, or playing with another class.

If you really want hardcore RP I'd recommend both CoH/CoV and Saga of Ryzom, both with good communites and a lot of RP guilds/supergroups.

Games that are not out yet...

- Age of Conan
- The Chronicles of Spellborn

Both will have plenty of PvE at release (and AoC looks like it's going to kick major ass).

Boxtripper

Thanks for the replies guys! But this really shows how subjective things are.

A lot of people say Guildwars PvE is good... I'm sorry, but I think GW has some of the worst PvE I have ever seen. For example, there is no taunt skill and no functioning aggro system. How can you make good PvE out of that?

Rayx0r

Id have to say Everquest 2 based on the criteria asked by the OP

voodookhan

---

Originally posted by Boxtripper

Thanks for the replies guys! But this really shows how subjective things are.
A lot of people say Guildwars PvE is good... I'm sorry, but I think GW has some of the worst PvE I have ever seen. For example, there is no taunt skill and no functioning aggro system. How can you make good PvE out of that?

---

Well a good PvE system is a lot more to me then a taunt skill and aggro system. Story, immersion, all play a part in what I consider good PvE (not just the combat). Also I play a Warrior (various ones with different secondaries) and I've never had a problem "pulling" mobs. No I don't have taunt, but then again I haven't needed it to be a good tank. To each his own I guess. If you're really intent on the combat aspects of PvE then go with CoH/CoV or EQ 2 instead.

Elnator

---

Originally posted by Boxtripper

Of course, the word 'best' is subjective...
The criteria I use are:
-Pure FUN: What game can you have fun from level 1-?? without feeling the grind?
Guild Wars and Planetside both jump to mind.  UO wasn't bad either.

-Skills required: Unfortunately, many mmorpgs involve little skill and much time. What game requires the most player skills in PvE?
PlanetSide, UO, EVE, Guild Wars

-Things to do: what game has the most fun, different things to do? crafting, exploration, etc... not neccesarily just killing mobs.
UO, EQ2, EVE...  a few others

---

Hmm I managed to mention UO in all of them so I'd have to go with UO   If only it's graphics weren't so damn outdated

Boxtripper

Yeah voodookhan, you are right. PvE is more than an aggro system. I just felt like Guildwars PvE was not very deep though.

I think I'm gonna download the free trial of EQ2 and see how that goes. I have some fond memories from EQ1 with my troll 'shadderknight'(lol). The troll models in EQ1 really rocked. So big, so ugly... I think the new ones look a bit too glossy, but we'll see.

reavo

Most definitely EQ2.

Boatloads of content.  Pretty content.  Very much an adventure.  Good stories, quests, and the voiceovers are amazing.  Just wait until you hear Lucan D'Lere (sp).  The AI for the mobs seems a bit better than in other games too. 

Yeah, I'm hooked.