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What game is most deserving of a loyal, long-term commitment?
Clovis
Member Posts: 16
OK so the title sounds like an Oprah topic, but I would like some advice from those of you with more MMORPG experience than I have. I have dabbled in MMORPGs for about 10 years. I played Ultima Online for a year around 1998, Everquest for a bit around 2000, EQ2 for nine months in 2005 and 10 days ago I picked up LOTRO to see what the fuss was all about. Briefly, my impressions of each game:
UO: I loved that you could develop your character's abilities independent of any preset class (has any other game used this approach?). Crafting was fun and challenging, socially it was active and people had good times hanging out in the towns shooting the breeze as much as hunting and crafting. Having a rune book to travel all over the world was very handy...marking the spots you could recall to etc. Treasure hunting was a blast. PvP areas added real fear/caution to the game. Player housing was also a big plus. One of the classics.
Everquest: Exploring the world and making in-game friends was the part I remember enjoying the most. Entering a zone for the first time where you knew you might be in trouble was exciting. The immersion I felt when first playing EQ hasn't been matched yet by another game. Not much in the crafting realm when I played, but that didn't bother me much. The camping was the biggest drawback for me...and corpse runs could be a bummer. The social aspect of hunting with friends was the strongest plus for me.
EQ2: The crafting was much more developed and the idea of reactives added a new wrinkle to it. You can actually make decent money selling stuff from your house when you were offline. Combat was fun for the most part and though there wasn't much of a social hang in the cities, I joined a guild and had a few friends in there that made grouping up for epic quests fun. I had some memorable times in-game and if I didn't swear to never play an SOE game ever again (they autocharged my account for another year (legally as it is in the small print of the user agreement but to have that included in there is slimy) 6 months after I stopeed playing) I might have given it another shot.
LOTRO: I really wanted to feel like this was the game to invest in long-term. I will still give it some time to see where it develops as it is still early. The fact that it's Middle-Earth and has well-designed graphics is a plus. The towns are basically refuelling stations with little interaction. The world looks great, but it feels impersonal. I like the Deed system alot, and combat as a Guardian is much fun. Socially it seems a bit cold so far. People I have grouped with are always rushing off to the next quest and I have yet to meet a role-player in-game or even someone who cracked some jokes though I do some of that myself. Never any need to talk to anyone without a ring over their heads or your trainer/vendor. Crafting needs an overhaul as it is pretty one dimensional and a money-pit. I don't want to pass final judgement until the developers get some time to respond to initial player-feedback so for now I'll say I'm a little disappointed but have hope.
I only have 1-2 hours each day to play, but I want to play one game for the next several years so i can actually develop some characters and reap the rewards of sticking with it. Maybe there isn't one out there right now. I'm just testing the waters and looking for opinions. So what I want to know from those of you who read this is:
1.) What game have you played that had the most in-depth/rewarding crafting system?
2.) Which game do you feel has the most social interplay and least power-levelling?
3.) Which game do you feel has the most varied character options in regards to class and abilities?
4.) What game made you the most excited about logging in and feeling immersed in the world?
5.) If you had to commit to one game for the next 3 years, which one do you feel has earned your loyalty?
Comments
SWG (pre-Cu)
1.) What game have you played that had the most in-depth/rewarding crafting system?
I can name alot of indepth systems, but add in rewarding and it gets harder to narrow down. SWG has an involved crafting system that makes many useful things, most of the others have complexity with no real reason to make the stuff since you quest or raid for better. I do see promise in Vanguard, and possibly Pirates of the Burning Sea.
2.) Which game do you feel has the most social interplay and least power-levelling? Most games have an RP server, and if you can find a group that is role playing, they typically are not power levelers. I guess the extreme would be Sims Online, though most poeple wont enjoy that game, Guild Wars would be another decent game to look at here as the level cap is so low, and you can start a lvl 20 right off for pvp if you want.
3.) Which game do you feel has the most varied character options in regards to class and abilities? Vanguard, EQ2, ShadowBane
4.) What game made you the most excited about logging in and feeling immersed in the world? Planetside, Dark Age of Camelot, City of Heros, WoW.
5.) If you had to commit to one game for the next 3 years, which one do you feel has earned your loyalty? none that are currently out, I have high hopes for Conan, Warhammer or Warhammer 40k online, and PotBS.
Rage - Head Honcho of the Revilers
"Ragemore and Whine Less"
In my case, all of them.
Like many, when i play a new game I usually dislike it pretty quickly or stay until i max out a number of chars.
From my experiences, I have most enjoyed longevity in EQ2, Eve and AO.
Lotro is a new addiction and im looking forward to Tabula Rasa joning the list
To err is human....to play is divine
massive world, based primarily around crafting rather than fighting, community based, even though it takes a long time to get to higher levels you are still doing something worth while and meaningful at lower levels.
I find it amazing that by 2020 first world countries will be competing to get immigrants.
Question 5, I would say COH has earned my loyalty more than any current game (pre-CU SWG does not exist so it can't really be one I would play for another 3 years). I'd be bored with it long before the 3 years is up, but I cannot fault the hard work the dev team has put into that game over the years, and they have been the most decently behaved toward their player base. Perfect? Not even close. But far better than, say, Sigil, SOE, Turbine, etc.
C
was that a sarcastic comment?
"If we don't attack them, they will attack us first. So we'd better retaliate before they have a chance to strike"
2. UO
3. CoH and CoV
4. EQ2
5. None, because there isn't any good MMORPG out there. They all lack in some level or I demand too much.
MMORPG.COM has worst forum editor ever exists
The one that you an your friends will have fun playing.
Well yes, of course...but hearing people's opinions based on their experience hopefully will help me shorten the search for the one that my friends and I will enjoy playing. There are so many out there now and you have to give a game some time and get into at least the intermediate levels before you can get a good feel for it. The poster who commented on Cryptic and CoH hit home with me. I want to know that the company behind the game is responsive to the player community and goes about it's business in a way that the players respect. From what I've heard so far SOE and Turbine do not fall into that category on a consistent basis.
1.) What game have you played that had the most in-depth/rewarding crafting system? SWG pre-NGE
2.) Which game do you feel has the most social interplay and least power-levelling? SWG pre-NGE
3.) Which game do you feel has the most varied character options in regards to class and abilities? SWG pre-NGE
4.) What game made you the most excited about logging in and feeling immersed in the world? SWG pre-NGE
5.) If you had to commit to one game for the next 3 years, which one do you feel has earned your loyalty? SWG pre-NGE
Yep...only one choice there. To bad SOE totally mucked it up and destroyed the best MMORPG going on the internet.
Seriously, I've played MMO's from as little as a month to as long as 2.5 years. With all the new titles on the horizon, such as AOC, WAR, TR, Huxley and many more, I can't see limiting myself to a single game for a long period of time right now. (well, maybe WAR)
I'm keeping busy over the summer with LotRO and EvE, but come fall I'll be trying the new games to see if there's something different/better than the current crop provides....
"True friends stab you in the front." | Oscar Wilde
"I need to finish" - Christian Wolff: The Accountant
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
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"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
1.) What game have you played that had the most in-depth/rewarding crafting system?
- This is a hard one, so I'm going to list my three favorites. Horizons, EQ2, Vanguard.
2.) Which game do you feel has the most social interplay and least power-levelling?
- Ultima Online, back when there was no real way to communicate across the server people had to actually socialize with each other in personal so to speak, and since UO had a skill system rather than a leveling system, it was just easier and more fun.
3.) Which game do you feel has the most varied character options in regards to class and abilities?
- Hmmmm this would probably be a toss up between UO, AC and DDO. Each game gave the player so many choices that it was easy to gimp yourself if you didn't do some research.
4.) What game made you the most excited about logging in and feeling immersed in the world?
- UO, EQ and WoW. Each has their own special immersive feel that I enjoyed.
5.) If you had to commit to one game for the next 3 years, which one do you feel has earned your loyalty?
- I'm not sure I could pick just one. it'd be between UO, AC and WoW. UO is a very inventive game, I can't think of any game like it off the top of my head. AC was an amazing world that gets updated every month with new content. WoW has kept my attention for around 2 years, so it is definatelly in the running.
2- WoW's RP servers and playing a Horde (pre-Burning Crusade) was extremely fun- the Horde Rp'ers chatted a lot and we had a ball
3- Idk
4-AC- for a good 2 yrs I couldn't wait to play every day!! Then the 2 yrs after that- the desire was less urgent but I still had fun
5- LOTRO- I did the Lifetime fee happily. What other game out there has 9 planned expansions in their future and each is the size of the original world? I look forward to the excitement and exploring each new part of that world. It's nice to have something of that magnitude to look forward too. I just hope Turbine does what they are famous for and gives good monthly patches in between the expansions.
1.) What game have you played that had the most in-depth/rewarding crafting system?
That would have to be SWG. The complex resource system was VERY fun!
2.) Which game do you feel has the most social interplay and least power-levelling?
From the sounds of it though the OP may have been playing on one of the RP light servers. I tried other servers and only 3 out of the whole list had any rp compared to the one I'm on.
Lord of the Rings Online has to hold that title for me at the time. Bars are full of players chatting away smoking and just generally gossiping. People tend to actually take the time to discuss there beliefs and plans. I wont say the server because frankly I dont want more people on it
3.) Which game do you feel has the most varied character options in regards to class and abilities? Depends on what you define as varied. As far as the character design, that goes to COX. If your talking about skills.. Ryzom or SWG in the past.
4.) What game made you the most excited about logging in and feeling immersed in the world?
Hands down LOTRO. Simply because I can identify with the world and the charecters so well. Not to mention the graphics just aesthetically please me.
5.) If you had to commit to one game for the next 3 years, which one do you feel has earned your loyalty? LOTRO at the moment.