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Help me find a game (long post)

Sorry if this isn't where I am supposed to post these, so feel free to move it to where it should be.



So I'm obviously looking for a new game to play, preferably an MMO. 
I'm pretty picky about games, so I will basically just mention my
previous gaming experiences and what exactly I am looking for.



My first MMO (if you consider it that) was Guild Wars.  I loved this
game because it was a skill-based game, not an item-based.  There was a
lot you could do in both PvE and PvP and I felt there was generally a
very good balance in the gameplay (with a few exceptions).  I liked the
quests, fighting, guilds, skills, and pretty much everything about the
game.  This was until Factions was released.  At first I didn't plan on
buying it, but then realized to stay competitive in PvP, which I was a
big fan of, I had to.  I bought Factions expecting it to be as
interesting and unique as the first one.  Big mistake.  As far as I'm
concerned, they only added 2 new classes (which I wasn't really a big
fan of either), a few new skills for each class, some dull PvP extras,
and a campaign that can't even be compared to the first game.  Still, I
played Guild Wars for a little big longer, until I just got bored of
the PvP (I mostly played HA and GvG once Factions came out).  I've
tried to get into the game a few times in the last few months, but it
just doesn't seem to interest me anymore.  I am considering buying Guild Wars: Nightfall,
as I have heard it was designed by the guys who made the original game,
but I have heard mixed reviews about it and I'm not even sure if this
can re-spark my interest in a game I once loved.





I am also currently playing WoW on a 10-day trial account.  The first
few days were interesting (as with most games), but I began to see the
game wasn't actually all that fun.  I can also see why the game can
become very addicting, but most of the time I didn't really enjoy the
long hours I have spent over the past few days.  I find that I am just
running around trying to finish pointless quests, which lead me to
similarly boring and useless quests.  Another thing I hate about the
game is the fact that I have found it is item-based, rather than
skill-based.  This also means its just a grind-fest.  I want a game
where a player with good character movement, quick reactions, knowing
what to do in certain combat situations, good teamwork, etc. can beat a
player who has the best items but none of the above.  I also didn't
like how you could bring EVERY skill with you in combat.  Comparing
this to Guild Wars, there is so much less strategy and planning when
you go into combat because you could only bring 8 skills into a match
so you had to actually think about it.  My PvP experiences in WoW have
been quite disappointing to say the least.  I have a level 17 paladin
who I brought to Warsong Gulch.  I found PvP had 2 types of players:
the new ones who played the game the honest way, and the people who
just gave themselves the best equipment as a result of another level 60
character on their account.  I was frankly disgusted beyond belief
during the brief fight I took part in.  I know I didn't have the best
armour that I could've, but something is wrong when 3 guys can stun you
and kill you before you even have a chance to do anything about it. 
This would happen every time I respawn too, we would just get picked
off by flies.  Not because we were worse players, but because our
opponents were "twinked" characters.  Another thing that bothered me
was the inability to dodge projectiles.  A fireball would be coming at
me, so I would strafe, jump, dodge and it would just follow me.  What
is the point if the player behind the character has no ability to
change anything that will happen (with the possible exception of some
skills I didn't have yet)?  I also hated the community which was just
full of people who didn't bother helping you and people who were just
extremly immature shouldn't be allowed to play these games. On the plus
side, I did like the graphics, but I would be unwilling to pay for a
grindfest like this ever.



I also tried a free trial for City of Heroes a little while back.  I
probably only played for about 4 days of the 2-week trial because I
just found the game so boring.  There was no originality in the quests,
cities, or anything except the character design.  Every quest I did was
the same.  Find the building, kill the minions, rescue the
innocent/kill the big boss.  There also didn't seem to be much content
in the game.  If I'm not mistaken, there was nothing to do except
quests (no trade skills, no real exploring, very limited PvP).  It was
an interesting idea, but there was just too little to do in the game so
it got boring fast.





Some points to sum up what I have learned from these 3 games:



What I would like in a game:



- Intruiging PvE (quests, story, replayability is good)

- Balanced PvP where grinding for months has little advantadge.

- Skill-based games over Item-based games

- No intensive grindfests

- Free Trial is a bonus (but not necessary)





There are also a few limitations that I have:



- Not TOO outdated (Wouldn't mind player a 3-year old game as long as playerbase is steady and it's not expected to die soon)

- Must be able to run on a semi-decent laptop (I was able to run WoW
and the only times I had major fps problems were in huge cities while
riding gryphons.  Most of the time it was fine with maybe a few
slowdowns in PvP)

Here are my main System Specs:

CPU: 3 GhZ

446 MB of RAM (I think it should be 512 but I believe my graphics card takes up some)

ATI Mobility IGP 9000. 64 MB



I don't think other requirements are really a concern for most games. 
As you can see, my 3d graphics card and lack of RAM will be the biggest
problems with a lot of new games out there.  I'm not sure how difficult
and costly it would be to change my graphics card and to add more RAM
would be, but I am considering that as an option if I think it will be
worth it.



This is a list of games I think I might enjoy with the games I am most interested in at the top:



- Vanguard: Saga of Heroes (A part of me died when I didn't meet the reqs, but they are estimates and I might upgrade my laptop)

- D&D Online (Might be a bit too slow for my tastes, but I liked Baldur's Gate series)

- Guild Wars: Nightfall (As I said earlier in the post)

- Dark Age of Camelot (Again, an older game I've heard good things about but how long will it last)

- Ultima Online (Fading playerbase?  Heard it was better back in the day)



Any suggestions/comments/stories about these above 5 games would be very helpful to me.



I know this was a VERY long post, but this will probably be a game I
spend a lot of time on over the next few months so I want to make sure
it is the most enjoyable game for me.




Comments

  • paulscottpaulscott Member Posts: 5,613
    chronicles of spellborn would be worth looking into.


    I find it amazing that by 2020 first world countries will be competing to get immigrants.

  • AelfinnAelfinn Member Posts: 3,857

    Sounds like your looking for a game that doesn't exist yet.

    Have a look into Age of Conan, it is primarily based around the concept of player skill beats gear. And don't worry, no Arnolds in this game, its based on the original Howard books, with nothing whatsoever to do with the craptastic movies, or worse, the TV show.

    No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.
    Hemingway

  • MMHELMMHEL Member Posts: 313



    Originally posted by Aelfinn

    Sounds like your looking for a game that doesn't exist yet.
    Have a look into Age of Conan, it is primarily based around the concept of player skill beats gear. And don't worry, no Arnolds in this game, its based on the original Howard books, with nothing whatsoever to do with the craptastic movies, or worse, the TV show.




    lol No Arnold that a major Plus. Any way to be more serious I dont think Age of Conan can run on a Semi-decent laptop.

    P.S There was a Conan TV Show holy *$&% !!! Also if they did it right a Conan movie would be cool.

  • DrunkDogDrunkDog Member Posts: 17

    Heh, I have no idea what you guys are talking about when you say no Arnold.

    Edit: Nevermind, I just did a search and found out about the Conan movie starring none other than Arnold himself.

    Anyways, thanks for the suggestions.  I was looking into Age of Conan as well actually (forgot to mention that in my post), but if I am going for a new game I would probably rather go with Vanguard depending on later reviews of course.  The Chronicles of Spellborne also looks like a fairly decent game that would keep me interested with a skill system similar to Guild Wars, with a bit of a twist.  The problem is none of these games have any system requirements up yet.  It looks like I will just need to find a game to pass the time until these newer MMOs come out, and I will have to get some more RAM and maybe a new video card.


  • Lunar_KnightLunar_Knight Member Posts: 292
    Age of Conan is also due to come out on the XBox 360. So if you don't feel like upgrading your lap you could splash out on one.

    .....................................

    ...but time flows like a river...

    ...and history repeats...

    -Leader of "The Fighting Irish" in DAoC on Hib/Kay-

  • DrunkDogDrunkDog Member Posts: 17
    I can't say I am really a big fan of console games.  I never really liked the controllers and I would much rather play on a computer.  It would probably cost me more to get all of that stuff (Xbox 360, Xbox Live, Controllers, the game).  I could upgrade my laptop quite a bit with the money from all that or maybe even get a new one if I save a bit more.


  • andyrsandyrs Member Posts: 70




    Originally posted by DrunkDog
    Sorry if this isn't where I am supposed to post these, so feel free to move it to where it should be.

    So I'm obviously looking for a new game to play, preferably an MMO.  I'm pretty picky about games, so I will basically just mention my previous gaming experiences and what exactly I am looking for.

    My first MMO (if you consider it that) was Guild Wars.  I loved this game because it was a skill-based game, not an item-based.  There was a lot you could do in both PvE and PvP and I felt there was generally a very good balance in the gameplay (with a few exceptions).  I liked the quests, fighting, guilds, skills, and pretty much everything about the game.  This was until Factions was released.  At first I didn't plan on buying it, but then realized to stay competitive in PvP, which I was a big fan of, I had to.  I bought Factions expecting it to be as interesting and unique as the first one.  Big mistake.  As far as I'm concerned, they only added 2 new classes (which I wasn't really a big fan of either), a few new skills for each class, some dull PvP extras, and a campaign that can't even be compared to the first game.  Still, I played Guild Wars for a little big longer, until I just got bored of the PvP (I mostly played HA and GvG once Factions came out).  I've tried to get into the game a few times in the last few months, but it just doesn't seem to interest me anymore.  I am considering buying Guild Wars: Nightfall, as I have heard it was designed by the guys who made the original game, but I have heard mixed reviews about it and I'm not even sure if this can re-spark my interest in a game I once loved.


    I am also currently playing WoW on a 10-day trial account.  The first few days were interesting (as with most games), but I began to see the game wasn't actually all that fun.  I can also see why the game can become very addicting, but most of the time I didn't really enjoy the long hours I have spent over the past few days.  I find that I am just running around trying to finish pointless quests, which lead me to similarly boring and useless quests.  Another thing I hate about the game is the fact that I have found it is item-based, rather than skill-based.  This also means its just a grind-fest.  I want a game where a player with good character movement, quick reactions, knowing what to do in certain combat situations, good teamwork, etc. can beat a player who has the best items but none of the above.  I also didn't like how you could bring EVERY skill with you in combat.  Comparing this to Guild Wars, there is so much less strategy and planning when you go into combat because you could only bring 8 skills into a match so you had to actually think about it.  My PvP experiences in WoW have been quite disappointing to say the least.  I have a level 17 paladin who I brought to Warsong Gulch.  I found PvP had 2 types of players: the new ones who played the game the honest way, and the people who just gave themselves the best equipment as a result of another level 60 character on their account.  I was frankly disgusted beyond belief during the brief fight I took part in.  I know I didn't have the best armour that I could've, but something is wrong when 3 guys can stun you and kill you before you even have a chance to do anything about it.  This would happen every time I respawn too, we would just get picked off by flies.  Not because we were worse players, but because our opponents were "twinked" characters.  Another thing that bothered me was the inability to dodge projectiles.  A fireball would be coming at me, so I would strafe, jump, dodge and it would just follow me.  What is the point if the player behind the character has no ability to change anything that will happen (with the possible exception of some skills I didn't have yet)?  I also hated the community which was just full of people who didn't bother helping you and people who were just extremly immature shouldn't be allowed to play these games. On the plus side, I did like the graphics, but I would be unwilling to pay for a grindfest like this ever.

    I also tried a free trial for City of Heroes a little while back.  I probably only played for about 4 days of the 2-week trial because I just found the game so boring.  There was no originality in the quests, cities, or anything except the character design.  Every quest I did was the same.  Find the building, kill the minions, rescue the innocent/kill the big boss.  There also didn't seem to be much content in the game.  If I'm not mistaken, there was nothing to do except quests (no trade skills, no real exploring, very limited PvP).  It was an interesting idea, but there was just too little to do in the game so it got boring fast.


    Some points to sum up what I have learned from these 3 games:

    What I would like in a game:

    - Intruiging PvE (quests, story, replayability is good)
    - Balanced PvP where grinding for months has little advantadge.
    - Skill-based games over Item-based games
    - No intensive grindfests
    - Free Trial is a bonus (but not necessary)


    There are also a few limitations that I have:

    - Not TOO outdated (Wouldn't mind player a 3-year old game as long as playerbase is steady and it's not expected to die soon)
    - Must be able to run on a semi-decent laptop (I was able to run WoW and the only times I had major fps problems were in huge cities while riding gryphons.  Most of the time it was fine with maybe a few slowdowns in PvP)
    Here are my main System Specs:
    CPU: 3 GhZ
    446 MB of RAM (I think it should be 512 but I believe my graphics card takes up some)
    ATI Mobility IGP 9000. 64 MB

    I don't think other requirements are really a concern for most games.  As you can see, my 3d graphics card and lack of RAM will be the biggest problems with a lot of new games out there.  I'm not sure how difficult and costly it would be to change my graphics card and to add more RAM would be, but I am considering that as an option if I think it will be worth it.

    This is a list of games I think I might enjoy with the games I am most interested in at the top:

    - Vanguard: Saga of Heroes (A part of me died when I didn't meet the reqs, but they are estimates and I might upgrade my laptop)
    - D&D Online (Might be a bit too slow for my tastes, but I liked Baldur's Gate series)
    - Guild Wars: Nightfall (As I said earlier in the post)
    - Dark Age of Camelot (Again, an older game I've heard good things about but how long will it last)
    - Ultima Online (Fading playerbase?  Heard it was better back in the day)

    Any suggestions/comments/stories about these above 5 games would be very helpful to me.

    I know this was a VERY long post, but this will probably be a game I spend a lot of time on over the next few months so I want to make sure it is the most enjoyable game for me.


    I think that RuneScape and World of WarCraft are the games for you. Because they both have quests, and PvE, and PvP, and skill-based games, diffently, there isn't an intensive grind, and they both have free trials, RuneScape, (Free Worlds), World of WarCraft (10 day free trial) Some other reasons are it's not outdated (gets updated very frequently), and will be able to play on an semi-decent laptop diffently, and also visit:

    http://www.mmogchart.com (It says on the part of the pie chat, it says that World of WarCraft has the most subscribers, and lineage and lineage 2 have the 2nd and 3rd most subscribers, (not as good as RuneScape and World of WarCraft in my opinion, but worth a try), and RuneScape has the 4th most subscribers, so also try that too.

    Websites you should visit:

    http://www.mmorpg.com

    http://www.runescape.com

    http://www.worldofwarcraft.com

    http://www.mmogchart.com

    http://www.mmorpg.com/discussion2.cfm/thread/107009

    http://forum.runescape.com/lang/en/aff/runescape/forums.ws?48,49,168,13799965

    http://www.mmorpg.com/discussion2.cfm/thread/107144

    http://www.mmorpg.com/chat.cfm

    http://www.mmorpg.com/discussion2.cfm/thread/107037

    I know that's a lot of websites, but trust me, they are all worth it, (even if some of them are off-topic.)

    They will all help you find some good games... try and read them in the order I showed you...

    I'm sorry if this is long, but I believe someone who needs a good MMORPG deserves a good list of games and information.

     

    http://forum.runescape.com/lang/en/aff/runescape/forums.ws?48,49,168,13799965

    I don't need LIFE as a 1337 GAMER, I have never-ending life!
    MMORPGs:
    RuneScape, World of WarCraft

  • DrunkDogDrunkDog Member Posts: 17
    Thank you for not reading my post at all.

    I used to play runescape, maybe 5-7 years ago before they came out with P2P and before it went 3d.  Back then it was good, and probably only because I was 13 years old.  I also said WoW was making me sick and I know at higher levels it is ONLY grinding.  The quests are boring, the combat is extremely dull, and the community is unspeakably bad.

    P.S. Thanks for those links.  They were very helpful in reminding me how much I dislike WoW, Runescape, and their respective communities.



  • JK-KanosiJK-Kanosi Member Posts: 1,357

    Vanguard will be a grindfest and items will be important.

    DAoC is also a grindfest, where items are important. But the PvP and community are both good. You will need a good computer to run this though. Nothing worse than a Geforece 5 series, and no less than 1gig of RAM, because of the graphic updates. Community is small compaired to the largeness of the world. You do have twinks in the BG's however, but the community is nice enough to help you out if you find a nice guild, which isn't hard.

    Nightfall, I haven't played, but it remains the logical choice for you. But I have played Prophecies and I know enough to know that it is who you meet and form friendships with on whether or not you will like the game. Communities can make or break the game, as you've seen with WoW.

    No idea about UO, but if yo decide to play it, wait for the graphic update to buy the game. Then buy the package deal they will release. That is what I might do. From what I hear, there isn't really a grind, but it is a game that relies on what skills you choose to level up and how you use them. UO is more of a virtual world, than a game you just jump into like Guild Wars.

    DDO would be perfect for you if you have the time to look for groups, because this is a group only game. I liked the game, but I felt constricted only being able to travel within the city. I also like player housing and exploration. This game offers only one side of DnD. That is the side of dungeon crawls and character development.

     

    So, finally, I suggest Nightfall. If Nightfall doesn't do it for you, I would wait until another game is released. Be prepared to upgrade your computer though.

     

    MMORPG's w/ Max level characters: DAoC, SWG, & WoW

    Currently Playing: WAR
    Preferred Playstyle: Roleplay/adventurous, in a sandbox game.

  • xxxmonkxxxxxxmonkxxx Member Posts: 257
    Find something to do until a half decent MMORPG comes out. Sad, I know.

    On the moon, nerds have their pants pulled down and they are spanked with moon rocks!

  • DrunkDogDrunkDog Member Posts: 17

    Originally posted by JK-Kanosi
    Vanguard will be a grindfest and items will be important. DAoC is also a grindfest, where items are important. But the PvP and community are both good. You will need a good computer to run this though. Nothing worse than a Geforece 5 series, and no less than 1gig of RAM, because of the graphic updates. Community is small compaired to the largeness of the world. You do have twinks in the BG's however, but the community is nice enough to help you out if you find a nice guild, which isn't hard. Nightfall, I haven't played, but it remains the logical choice for you. But I have played Prophecies and I know enough to know that it is who you meet and form friendships with on whether or not you will like the game. Communities can make or break the game, as you've seen with WoW. No idea about UO, but if yo decide to play it, wait for the graphic update to buy the game. Then buy the package deal they will release. That is what I might do. From what I hear, there isn't really a grind, but it is a game that relies on what skills you choose to level up and how you use them. UO is more of a virtual world, than a game you just jump into like Guild Wars. DDO would be perfect for you if you have the time to look for groups, because this is a group only game. I liked the game, but I felt constricted only being able to travel within the city. I also like player housing and exploration. This game offers only one side of DnD. That is the side of dungeon crawls and character development.   So, finally, I suggest Nightfall. If Nightfall doesn't do it for you, I would wait until another game is released. Be prepared to upgrade your computer though.  
    Thanks, that was really helpful.  I need to look into Vanguard a bit more, but even though people say it will be a grind-fest and items will matter, I think I will enjoy it more than WoW.  The idea of player houses, building ships to explore seas, even having player towns and outposts sounds really interesting to me.  They are also saying they will try to reduce the amount of tedium in the game (which I assume they mean grinding) and hopefully it will be a mainly player-based economy (not like WoW where you have to PvP or raid to get the best items and no crafters can make them).  I have been hearing a lot about how items will be very important in this game and I have heard little about what actual skill the player needs.  Obviously, I will have to wait a bit longer for more information on these topics to make my final decision about this game.

    I have heard great things about DAoC, but I think its days of glory are no over.  Looking at the forums, I can see that the playerbase has shrunk too small for many of the PvP options to work effectively.  I am also worried that the game will soon be cancelled, especially after the release of several newer and (hopefully) much better games in 2007.  So it looks like DAoC and UO (for the same reasons) are out of the picture.

    Nightfall will probably be the choice I go with, I just want to slowly get back into the game and get a general feel for the metagame again before I purchase it.  If I can find a good guild I like and enjoy my time on gw again, it is very likely I will purchase Nightfall in the next few weeks.

    DDO is another option.  I played the trial and found it pretty decent, but I will probably be trying it out again to see if it is really something I would be willing to pay for.  I'm also a bit worried about some of the criticism I have seen on the DDO forum, but most of it hasn't really applied to me thus far.

    I am also now looking at Age of Conan.  I've been hearing a lot about this game because everytime I mention Vanguard, people tell me AoC will be better.  I took a quick look at the site and it seems very interesting with this revolutionary combat that you actually get to control.  It looks very interesting, but here are no system requirements up yet so I will just have to wait and hope it is something that won't cost me too much to upgrade.  AoC also has many features from Vanguard that interested me such as player-built cities and such, but it says you can only have 1 city at a time and they are instanced.  In a world that is supposedly very large, I am wondering if 1 city per guild will be enough, especially if you are doing quests or something on the other side of the world of your city.  Anyways, this is just me rambling and I'm sure it won't be a problem.

    The last new game I just saw was Chronicles of Spellborn.  Haven't looked into this game too much, but it seems like the skill system is very similar to GW, except with a twist.  You get 30 skills to choose from, on 6 different skillbars.  Each time you use one of the 5 skills from one skillbar, it changes to the next skillbar and you will have 5 new options.  Obviously this is a very new system and I am wondering how successful it will actually be.  I think it has potential to be a great game, but I'm still not convinced this will be able to beat out AoC or Vanguard.

    Right now, it looks like I'll be getting Nightfall and then upgrading my laptop for AoC when it comes out.


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