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Majestico
Member UncommonPosts: 481
First off, let me start by saying that I am new to the forums here, so if this topic has been done to death, then I apologise in advance. However, as someone with a short attention span, and limited means, it means that I only ever have at maximum three subscriptions running at a time, and I am going to have to limit even that to one or at most two games in 2007. In all the time I have went from one MMO to the next, I noticed that most people stick to one particular game, which they often become devoutely loyal to, and will not even entertain the idea of trying a different one.
So as I am still looking for my special game, I would like to get your opinions on the game that you play the most. So, if you had to pick one game only to play for the next couple of years, what would it be, and why? Please can the list any bad points, as well as the good, so that I can make an informed choice when selecting my subscription/s. It can be any genre (sci-fi/ fantasy, etc) and it may even be a game that you are currently beta-testing. Please no flaming what anyone chooses though, I don't mind if you are passionate about your game, as long as you don't slag of anyone else's choice.
Thanks in advance to anyone who posts, as although I could just read a review, I prefer to hear what a game's actual player thinks.
Comments
Wurmonline
the world: is two maps both of which are 16Km by 16 Km. The world itself is based around community, crafting and freedom. It is also divided into the home server and the wild server.
Community wise the game is based very much so around city building(and homesteading). By city building it means that players literally build a city and live in it. There is also relatively active trading. Also on both the servers the communities are very tight nit, and on average very welcoming to new people. Another very good thing about the community is that what you do sticks with you meaning that people are very civil towards each other(you can earn your name back though if you get remembered for the wrong reasons).
Crafting a majority of your time will be taken up crafting its one of the main focuses of the game 99.9% of all items are made by the players(less your starting tools, and holiday uniques). Even The most avid fighters on the 'wild' server spend a good deal of their time crafting to some extent or another. Also very rarely would one craft to get there skill up as you could always do something that would improve the town or the environment.
Freedom the game is designed to allow characters complete freedom within reasonable bounds. Want to make your house right here do it(assuming you aren't on some on else's deed), want to make a town do it, sick of walking around the mountain make a tunnel through it.
The home server is a server that severely limits PvP.
And the wild server which allows full PvP(its a RvR type thing with the temple of libila and the temple of three(eventually two enemy kingdoms for the temple of three though right now its just the the religions vs each other)). The PvP has full looting for enemy sides(PvP encounters are some what infrequent)
all deaths have a slight(some times not so slight in some skills) skill loss penalty. Its also the server I'm playing on so if you've ever wanted to kill me go there.
I find it amazing that by 2020 first world countries will be competing to get immigrants.
Cool, thanks for the post, as I'd never heard about this before, so it gives me something to check out.
I'd like to hear from you guys, even if it's a game I've tried. Just so that I can see everyone's favourites, and then make a choice of which ones I'll subscribe too.
A lot of games I have tried for the first, free month, and then given up on. I feel that I hadn't given these games a fair crack of the whip, so I'm interested in hearing about any MMORPG'S. Just choose your favourite, and let me know the pro's and cons. For example, I tried the EVE online trial, but because I never had a lot of time, I did not even finish the training! I just thought that it would be like an MMO version of Freelancer (which would actually quite good). Wish I'd tried it more though, as I've been hearing some great things about it.
There's other games which I am really close to buying, just as I've always fancied having a go at them. Top of this list at the moment is D&D Online, as I loved the pen and paper game, and the crpg's, to this day, Baldur's Gate 2 is my all time favourite game (alongside the original Bard's Tale on the C64, and Doomdark's Revenge on the ZX Spectrum!). However, I have heard a lot of criticism about this which has put me off. If someone would choose this as their favoutite and let me know why, I'd appreciate it. Other games I'm keen to know more about are Dark Ages of Camelot, and if anyone is beta-testing Lord of the Rings, or Chronicles of Spellborn.
Basically your favourite MMO of all time (and if it's discontinued, your current favourite). Can be beta, or free, anything, as long as it's your favourite.
You should know that DDO is not at all like the pen and paper game, and no I'm not just talking about the fundamental differences between the two modes of gaming. However, I will say no more, as its not my favorite game.
Back on topic, how about a choice of reviews? Each from a different generation of MMORPGs?
Anarchy Online - 6 year old cyberpunkish science fiction game. A revolution unto itself in its heyday, but rather outdated now.
EVE Online - 3D Space simulation game, very high learning curve
Age of Conan - mythos/ low fantasy game; yet to be released, but I've been following its development for almost a year and can probably tell you a lot more off of the top of my head about it than anyone else on these boards.
Which one perks your interest?
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
Actually, two. I am curious about EVE. Like I say, I never even finshed the training tutorial. I was thinking that all it would be was a modern-day 'elite'. I mean is just flying your craft about space, and selling cargo, fighting other spaceships? What else is to it (bearing in mind I haven't even read any reviews on it), I mean how do you get quests? Is there any storyline, and role-playing? If so, how is this incorporated into the game?
Also interested in Conan. What will make it stand out from the games I currently play? Why should I choose this above other MMO's coming out this year, like Lord of the Rings? Will it have story immersion, or more hack n slash?
Remember I can only afford to have at most two subscriptions this year. So I'm wanting this thread to help me choose wisely. Which of the two do you think you would play, if you could only pick one, and why?
A large part of what you do in EVE depends on what method you choose as a career (note, there is no actual choice, you can do any or all of them), In a nutshell:
Noncombat activities:
Mining- probably the most profitable over the long term, at least in terms of steady cash, also the most boring. Time is spent maneuvering close to the asteroid you're mining, waiting for your cargo hold to fill up, then warping back to a station to offload. If in the more dangerous star systems, an eye must be kept out for pirates, NPC and otherwise.
Trading- buy low, sell high; simple concept, difficult to master. Time is primarily spent warping in between systems, and possibly once again watching for pirates. Warping manually is much faster than using the autopilot.
Combat related activities:
Salvager- plenty of money can be made by killing NPC ships, looting their cargo holds, and salvaging the wreckage for repairable parts. Time is spent mopping the floor with AI mobs (and in some cases hoping said analogy isn't reversed)
Pirate- For the dangerous type, fast easy cash can be made this way. By preying on freighters and other ships, one can make a living off of looting other's livelyhood. Warning: you will get shot at, a lot. Time is spent scoping out targets, also trying to figure out how to get the particularly juicy ones away from the safety of Concorde sentry guns
Bounty Hunter- the antithesis of the player pirate, bounty hunters prey on the unlawful, seeking the extraordinarily high sums of money to be gained by simply wiping out this or that bad boy of the EVE universe.
Combat is autoattack, the skill involved here is in terms of strategy, what weaponry and items are best used in what situation, and against which of the myriad targets on the screen. And of course, what to bring to the fight in the first place. One of the neatest things I've ever seen was the sight of my destroyer blasting in literally all directions at once.
There is storyline, but little roleplay. this last fact is due to the lack of significant avatars, your character is a poster image attached to the info page of your pilot bio, your avatar is your ship.
Quests are gained through agents located at various stations, they are all about earning "street cred" with the various factions, which in turn can get you substantial rewards, there is of course a more direct cash reward, but this is minimal. Security missions are also an easy and plentiful source of NPC pirates for the salvager's use.
Skills are gained over time, you can train only one skill at a time. Your attribute selection can significantly affect the time it takes to train certain skills, so pay attention to those when creating your character. Each skill can go up five levels before maxing out, and has benifits at each stage (for example, the "Drones" skill grants me controll of one additional automated ship per level), each level naturally takes more time than the last. On the plus side, the timer is still going while you are offline. Some players log in every once in a while, just to get a new skill going, then logging out.
There are literally hundreds of skills you can invest in, and each will take up a significant portion of real time, so choose wisely. Level one takes of any skill takes up an hour or so at the most, level five of some can potentially take up to as much as 24 days, depending on your attributes. Although its more than just rare that you end up waiting that kind of period, Its one hell of a timesink.
Lets see, upon the destruction of your ship, you get "podded". The encapsulating pod around you ejects from the ship, it has limited warp capabilities, but no other functions. It will serve to get you to a station and into another ship. While NPCs cannot fire on a pod, players can. If your pod is destroyed, your clone is activated. If you have a clone model of insufficient quality because you haven't been updating it, some of your skills are lost, the time invested in them wasted. Fortunately, better clone models are fairly cheap.
On the whole, you need two things to enjoy this game: A lot of patience, and a lot of planning.
Age of Conan:
The crown jewel of AoC is its melee combat system. Disdaining the "standard" autoattack and skillbar style used by nearly all MMORPGs of today, it uses a real time combat system in which you controll every swing of the weapon. Six directions of attack are available: a downwards attack at the head, a diagonal slash from the upper left and right, lower left and right, and another for the torso. combining these attacks together in a logical, flowing pattern allows you to attack much faster and more efficiently than any kind of button mashing. The animation system makes sure each maneuver flows into the other, in fact, a martial arts and weapons combat expert temporarily working with the Funcom team claimed it had the most realistic looking combat of any game he had ever seen. The idea is that player skill will play a factor like never before.
Ranged combat, magical or otherwise, is aimed, no fireballs that will track you through brush, over mountains and into the lake you dived into here. Most characters are melee based, but all have access to some form of ranged weaponry (even if they happen to suck the hair off of the shriveled old balls of Thoth-Amon with them)
Another system never seen or done before, spellweaving. Magic users can combine different spells to cast one particularly powerful one. For example, a mage first casts a container spell, then adds a concussive AOE blast that is intended to knock enemies back with no damage, then a powerfull touch based fire spell, and finally a basic single target DOT. The final product, when casted, is an AOE attack that causes a large amount of fire based damage over time to affected targets. Obviously such an ability has to have a drawback. Aside from the time it takes to "weave" those spells together, it is extremely difficult to pull off. And if you fumble, or are interrupted, the consequenses can be disastrous for you and those around you, effects ranging from an uncontrolled demon rampaging everywhere, to an explosion that kills or badly wounds the caster and everyone nearby, or simply a gruesome death for the caster himself. Additionally, whether or not the spellweave is successful, it causes a lot of soul corruption. (explained later)
Funcom has a well earned reputation for three things: One, their customer service which has time and again been considered to be number one out of every MMORPG. Two, pushing the bounduaries of gaming standards. And three, their ability to write deep, complex, engaging, and evolving storylines. Working with the rich world of Hyboria, and the moving and deep stories of R.E. Howard, there is little doubt about the quality of the background lore.
The first twenty levels is mostly a single player experience. It serves two purposes, one to get you introduced to the background questline, and two to let you learn the ropes before tossing noobs out into the mainland, think of it as a kiddie pool if you will. Once you've gone through it, you can skip it everytime from then on with any new characters.
PvE and PvP have seperated skill trees, xp and level, item sets and feats. It is quite possible to PvE the entire time without ever PvPing if you so desire, or vice versa (after getting to a certain PvE level).
Crafting is the lifeblood of the economy in AoC, crafted items are the most versatile, with the final product being custom made to the needs of its intended user, and have the potential in the right tradeskillers hands to be the most powerful items in the game.
Quests have a richness to them lacking in most MMOs. For example, as opposed to popping back into town to walk up to the same old NPCs to get slight variations on the quest you just finished, you might stumble upon the wreckage of a violent struggle in a Cimmerian's abandoned homestead, and get a quest to find out what happened to the family who had lived there.
Mob AI is quite advanced. First of all, all NPCs and monsters have three sensory systems. Sight, hearing, and smell, their ability to sense you with them varies with the type of mob, and the environmental conditions. (For example, a human mob won't be able to sense you in the dark with a loud wind blowing in his direction, but a canine or feline variant would be able to see and/or smell you). Secondly, mobs are able to analyze a situation and react appropriately. For example, a band of picts spots you, depending upon their party size and strength, the percieved party size and strength of you and any companions, and possibly some other factors, they will react differently. It might be an immediate attack, they might start shouting, hoping to warn you to stay away from them, or they might simply start running away. No matter what, you won't have mobs stupidly staring at you untill you get "close enough" to attack.
Stealth is a function of both skill and environment. Anyone can hide in dense underbrush in the middle of a moonless night, not everyone can hide in the shadows casted by the sun, and no one at all can disappear in the middle of a fricking brightly lit road. (Of course, players must remember that not all enemies primarily depend on sight
) Those with the right skills can climb on and enter buildings, stealing items from the poor hardworking NPCs who just might be waiting to smash that poor theiving skull of yours into pieces.
This will very much be a mature game, with mature content. Blood and gore won't be drenching everything, but will be prevelent and quite visible. Various fatality maneuvers are available, including one that I personally have got to try, the Herald of Xotli class (a mage that tranforms into a demon) can literally punch into a victims chest, pull out the heart, and take a bite. There will incidently, also be a toggle for both the squeamish and the more responsible parents to turn that content off.
Formation combat and mounted combat. Two things are quite important to keep in mind about this game. One, collision detection is in, this means that players can and will be able to physically shield weaker targets from attack, quite simply because enemies must go around or kill them first. Tougher melee combat units can form ranks at the front and sides of a formation, with healers, ranged units and mage casters protected in the center. Two, mass and inertia matter, a character attacking from, or for that matter being attacked while on moving horseback will cause and/or recieve significantly more damage. Even if the character misses, the horse (or camel, or wooly mammoth for that matter) can knock down and trample enemies. A massed charge from a cavalry formation would wreak havoc among any kind of infantry, unless they had some way to turn that inertia back on them (pikes, a blistering ranged volley from close range, etc.)
Soul corruption is a system in which mages get their just due for dealing with fell forces. The more one uses magic (note, magic in this case is not to be confused with divine powers), and especcially the more one uses his/her inner reserves, the more soul corruption they get. Fumbling a spell can also cause a lot of SC. This corruption can have a variety of effects, partly dependant on the character class. For example, if a Priest of Mitra finds himself tainted he will be quite helpless untill cleansed, as the god Mitra would grant no favors to him. On the other hand, a Herald of Xotli's main source of strength is the corruption itself. Other affects range from stat boost/drains, the chance of your character literally going insane (with high levels of SC), or even an instant death. If a character dies, and has too much SC, he must fight his way to where his soul is being held by demons of one of the various hells before respawning.
The endgame revolves around the sieging and defense of playerbuilt cities. Guilds can build in two locations, the resource zones, or the borderlands. In the resource zones, enemy mobs begin to swarm and construct a city of their own, a sister city to your's, once they get strong enough, they begin to send out stronger and stronger raiding parties untill either they burn your town down or you return the favor and raze their city first. The greatest rewards go to the guild that can survive through the waves up to the hive cities maximum strength, and only then burning and looting, it becomes a balancing act between how much you think your keep can handle, and the desire for rewards. In the borderlands, the concept is essentially the same, only in this case, your opponent is the forces and construction of other player guilds. In both regions, the longterm objective is controll over precious resource nodes in each area.
Ok, now for the bad news:
-high system requirements
-Funcom's last MMO had a horrible bugtastic launch even though the game was fixed again in a mere matter of months, it happened because they didn't test it properly before release. In AoC's case, they have appeared to have learned the lesson and are taking every precaution to prevent a repeat, but its still something to keep in mind.
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
Are you insane?
Funcom has a well earned reputation for three things:
"One, their customer service which has time and again been considered to be number one out of every MMORPG." - User based GMs (ARK). Banned accounts without due process and validation. Random deleted items.
"Two, pushing the bounduaries of gaming standards." - With low Quality Assurance. Lost Eden, Shadowlands, Notum Wars.
"And three, their ability to write deep, complex, engaging, and evolving storylines. Working with the rich world of Hyboria, and the moving and deep stories of R.E. Howard, there is little doubt about the quality of the background lore." - Killing Hecklers over an over again in each area to grind to 220 is not a deep, complex, engaging and evolving storyline.
I may have a negative bias to AO/Funcom but dam you obviously work for them or have never played AO.
Thanks for the information Aelfinn. I particularly like the sound of Age of Conan. It sounds like there will be some real-time physics engine implemented, and this should make for a very real, and immersive playing experience.
There's one thing that is worrying me about all these next generation MMO's, and that is the computer specifications required to play them. As my beta for Vanguard did not work, I am putting it down to my pc not being up to scratch. This is a major bummer, as I got my pc overhauled and upgraded last year, forking out several hundred punds (about $500 plus) in doing so. This was on top of what I thought was quite a good machine in the first place. I figured that if I could run Oblivion without any problems, then I should be able to cope with the next-gen MMO's, even if I did have to lower the in-game specs. So far though, it's looking ominous.
Do you have a run down of the required and then recommended specs for Conan?
"It will run well enough on our minimum specs which are roughly 3 ghz P4 (or equivalent), ATI 9800 / NVidia 5700 and around 1 gig memory."
That was FC's most recent word on the subject of AoC's requirements.
Excuse me one moment, it seems your thread got infected with a troll:
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
Is that both graphic cards or individually? (Think it must be individually because I don't think you can run both ati and nvidia at same time.
Well that and the ram is fine, just maybe my processor speed might let me down. Fingers crossed though. The thing with this type of game though, is that you really want it to be smooth. *sigh* Perhaps yet another upgrade is in order!
yeah, individually.
If you decide to upgrade, you should know that AoC's graphics are significantly improved with the addition of DX10, which will require windows vista.
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