What MMORPG makes YOU feel unique?

midgetman22 · June 2007

While playing WoW lately I have been thinking about this question a lot. Nowadays in MMO's nothing seems to set people apart from one another. Take for example WoW: you hit level 70 and then everyone has the same instance gear, or the say pvp gear, all of the same enchants...and granted some people are quite skilled, its mainly all about gear and unforunately everyone has the same. No one can set them self apart due to skill and or special gear that just they have, or a special spell lets say, or summon.

Another example I can think of is Guild Wars. I know many guilds are known for their skills and whatnot, but every couple of weeks there a new 'flavor of the month' for skills and group tactics that everyone shifts to...and then it happens all over again........its just all of the same nothing makes people unique.

When SWG first came out I didnt play MMOs at the time, but i use to read about what was going on, and something unique was like how you had to do so many things to become a jedi and then master and whatnot (i dont know all the details) but i think before they screwed up the game there was only a few of them...they were definitly unique and when other players saw them they would actually acknowlege them as special.

So after all this rambling, what MMO makes you feel special and unique? What game lets you do things that others either cant do or cant do easily that show your dedication and make you stand out? Im tired of seeing everyone in the same gear doing the same rotation of skills........

truenorthbg · June 2007

I would say EQ 2 based on customization options.

I would say Vanguard based on the many and varied abilities your class receives. All classes receive a number of abilities, and your real-life decisions for how you use them and in what order you use them will determine how good (or bad) you are.

midgetman22 · June 2007

lets get some more opinions going guys

smcb · June 2007

Shadowbane, no char is the same unless you got a build template from somone. Char creation is key to a great build. If you play, go to the Mourning server since its the most populated. You can be well known in Shadowbane by people for being an awsome killer.

Falelornfale · June 2007

None really.. every mmo I played there was a similar character.. WoW, EQ, EQ2, Shadowbane, LotRO, EvE, etc..

but doesnt matter to me

Nikoo · June 2007

Star Wars Galaxies back in the days was amazing just because of the numbers of professions, clothing options, character customization and all that. I never found another green Rodian with the frills like i had them, the length of this and that, wearing blue jeans (kinda normal kind), black dress-ish shoes, and a black muscle shirt

And yes of course.... The items/crafting! The materials... Everything in basic.... Unless you went for the ordinary batch made Scythe Blade from a vendor with 100's of them it was more or less QUITE random. Being the one with the best weapon made from the best Acklay Bones (Legendary) found on quite a few of the servers (A few had some betters but Legendary Acklay Bones were half-random anyway).

World of Warcraft could have bought me in for the 1 year break i made with 1-6 months from time to time if their Items and craftin had that kind of custom feeling and not every fricking ***** blade having the exact same fricking stats... It sickens me how overlooked item/stuff "randomness" really is in some games....

Redmow · June 2007

I would have to say SWG before the new 'Star-Warsy' professions.

midgetman22 · June 2007

ya im mad i wasnt into mmos at the time of the original swg because i wish i could experience it....but now its just deserted

Rehmes · June 2007

To me its EvE. Yes everyone is capable of training for the same thing etc.....but the amount of options avalable make it so that there are a lot of different types of characters. Even within one race and one ship class there are varieties. For example, my char is minmatar, i have most skills into BS atm and so do many other minmatar players. But i optimize my pvp skills for the tempest while some may prefer the typhoon and others will take the maelstrom (though this is usually a gang ship not a solo ship). Its not the game for everyone but i think this is the game that makes me feel the most unique. CoX being a second....considering the large char design options.

paulscott · June 2007

if you want avatar customization play second life. obviously it's true, and meant to be an amusing though.

wolfmann · June 2007

Simple answer?

NONE!

Why? Because all MMORPG's these days are focused on telling you a story, just like singleplayer games do.

You can maybe make yourself look different(but only in a few select games), but the game focus always end up making you a sheep that follows the storyline or does the same thing over and over and over and over and over again.

Mosy MMO gamers tend to think "sandbox" is bad..And that games need storylines for you to be handheld through so you can be the great hero. But ... along the way, they end up a clone of a clone of a clone... No one is unique, no one can do his own thing, everyone have to save Rosies Pig or the world.

So simple answer? None. The only game that did offer the possibility of being semi unique, as in creating what you wanted to havem was turned into the same brainless themepark as everything else.

flakes · June 2007

eve online

diarheasauce · June 2007

i felt unige in swg, i was a obese dude with a pink mullet, pink saber and shirtless wearing those cool dresses .

I tottaly felt like i was living the saga until SOE ... ya know the rest

Kasimir · June 2007

No game has ever made me feel unique.. I AM unique..

But a game that made me feel my Character was unique, then SWG was the best. I could actually build a perfect copy of myself, and make my own outfit... ANYONE that had ever met me, even once, knew exactly who I was when they saw my character. We were identical.

wolfmann · June 2007

Originally posted by Kasimir

No game has ever made me feel unique.. I AM unique..
But a game that made me feel my Character was unique, then SWG was the best. I could actually build a perfect copy of myself, and make my own outfit... ANYONE that had ever met me, even once, knew exactly who I was when they saw my character. We were identical.

I was unique in SWG too, and I was a stormtrooper for crying out loud.

Kyerna · June 2007

Originally posted by wolfmann

Simple answer?
NONE!
Why? Because all MMORPG's these days are focused on telling you a story, just like singleplayer games do.
You can maybe make yourself look different(but only in a few select games), but the game focus always end up making you a sheep that follows the storyline or does the same thing over and over and over and over and over again.

Mosy MMO gamers tend to think "sandbox" is bad..And that games need storylines for you to be handheld through so you can be the great hero. But ... along the way, they end up a clone of a clone of a clone... No one is unique, no one can do his own thing, everyone have to save Rosies Pig or the world.
So simple answer? None. The only game that did offer the possibility of being semi unique, as in creating what you wanted to havem was turned into the same brainless themepark as everything else.

Although I don't 100% agree with your post, I have got to admit you brought up a very good point.

Uniqueness can depend on various factors. For some it is merely aesthetic/cosmetic choices, for others it is character skills and/or rewards and then there is those that crave character and refreshing gamelore background, story involvement, fame and reknown and RP possibilities. Another factor may even be playerbase size; the larger the population, the less chance of being unique. And last gamebalance: flawed gamebalancing brings forth 'flavor of the month' type behavior, favoring certain class/proffesion/skillsets over others, forcing you down a certain road unless you can handle being 'gimped'.

I'm personally more in favor of 'sandbox' styles MMO's, story progression through live or player (RP)events opposed to Don Quichotte 'questing', skills over classes/templates, non-typical gamelore background and full player run item-economies with indepth crafting systems.

SWG used to have that for me.

EvE could have had it if they would have had avatar interaction. (personal opinion only, so it may still hold true for others)

Roma Victor ... let's just say it would need some more work and players to start with.

Ryzom's been the only thing that could quench my thirst these last few years, even if it's still not entirely what I believe it could be.

hristod · June 2007

1. EVE Online

It gives greatest character customisation options starting from the avaar interface to proffesion progression using the class skill system. This is the one MMO that uses non-linear playing story which is open ended and allows teh players to choose their own path. ( I believe SWG had a similar stile at the beging but cannot confirm )

2. D&D Online to a degree

I verry much liked the way the lesser casters are handeled. The option to multiclass at any level gives you immence options to create your own class and breakes the Holly Trio: Tank-Healer-DamageDealer. If you want to create funny characters this is the best MMO. Though it still lacks the open end quests and doing the same dungeons as everyone else can be a heavy blow to your unique ego.

Ico

GreenChaos · June 2007

CoH / CoV

Appearance: It's actually funny how different everyone looks from each other. Yesterday I saw a werewolf in knight’s armor - looked very cool.

Skills: Skills wise each character is more diverse than any other MMO I've played. Sure there are some popular builds, but a person can be very unique if they wanted to. You have your primary and second skill sets, several common pools to pick from, and you are limited in the number of skills you can have so you have to pick and choose. This makes for different builds.

Team builds: For people who play with the same people on a regular basis, very interesting team builds can be done. Basically gimping yourself for solo work and other teams, but having a killer specialized team. I haven't been in this situation, but it is something I would love to do.

Zarraa · June 2007

Hmm good topic.

I've felt the least cookie cutter in CoX & MxO. Honerable mentions also to EVE, SWG & EQII.

severius · June 2007

None anymore. The only game where I felt unique was SWG before jedi started popping up everywhere. Not only were people visibly different there was such a mix of skills to choose from you could do whatever it was you wanted to. Sure, there were the FOTM templates that some people swore by but it was a choice. You could, if you wanted, go against the grain.... learn how to play your skills and be as good if not better than the fotm'ers.

Cazero · June 2007

First few months of SWG... nothing even comes close to how great of a game it was!!!

chinesewaterboy · June 2007

pre-nerf SWG (so like SWG 2.5-3 years ago), especially when it just came out. Some would say the game felt incomplete and messy, but that's kind of what made it great (falling through the tusken fortress is not one of those great things). Everything was open to you, do what you want and when you want. It really had good RP value as well since the game was so community oriented, in WoW you do need to work in teams for raids and quests but all the good loot is found from drops. Back in the old days of SWG there were legendary crafters (weaponsmiths, armorsmiths, architects, chefs, tailor's etc...) who made the best items. The thing that made it even better was not only did the game rely on the players to make the game great but that everything worked in a big circle, you need great resources to make great gear and you need great gear to get great resources (i was really in to uber gear haha). This is turning into a rant, i just wish SOE didn't ruin my favorite game of all time. I had one of the first FS slots on Chilastra, i really worked my ass off for that and now i hear jedi is a starting profession

Oh and back to the topic, SWG made me feel most unique, my guys in WoW look just like the rest and doing the same raids over and over is boring as shit, SWG had a great crafting system and relied much more on the community and each individual player to make the game great because of it being so open ended. WoW is one quest after another after another until you ding 60 (now 70) and then its raid time until you get bored and sell your account.

Damnit my point is SOE!!! BRING BACK THE GOOD SWG!!!

tapeworm00 · June 2007

You should try City of Heroes. I've seen people look similar... but never the same. And some people can share the same sets and similar power selection... but then again their slotting will probably differ, which will make them better at some things than others with whom they share "professions". Besides, the powersets are diverse enough as to enable people to have playstyles that clearly differ even under the same circunstances. You'll se tanks play similarly, but never in the same way, thanks to the diversity of skills and powers available. It's a lot deeper than some people make it out to be.

chinesewaterboy · June 2007

i just saw you mention the first jedi's being 'acknowledged', to give an example as to how rare they were, when i first got FS (force sensitive slot) i made a crappy lightsaber (just to show off) and sat in a cantina for 5 hours while half the server flooded in to see what the lightsaber looked like haha. Jedi really was a pain in the ass to get at the time though, i mastered every single profession in the game aside from Bounty Hunter to get it (thank god it wasn't bounty hunter, for all the vets you know what a pain investigation tree is), and thus made getting it so much sweeter.

but then again, losing such a great game had it's ups, like losing 95 pounds haha

Keogh · June 2007

Originally posted by midgetman22

While playing WoW lately I have been thinking about this question a lot. Nowadays in MMO's nothing seems to set people apart from one another. Take for example WoW: you hit level 70 and then everyone has the same instance gear, or the say pvp gear, all of the same enchants...and granted some people are quite skilled, its mainly all about gear and unforunately everyone has the same. No one can set them self apart due to skill and or special gear that just they have, or a special spell lets say, or summon.
Another example I can think of is Guild Wars. I know many guilds are known for their skills and whatnot, but every couple of weeks there a new 'flavor of the month' for skills and group tactics that everyone shifts to...and then it happens all over again........its just all of the same nothing makes people unique.
When SWG first came out I didnt play MMOs at the time, but i use to read about what was going on, and something unique was like how you had to do so many things to become a jedi and then master and whatnot (i dont know all the details) but i think before they screwed up the game there was only a few of them...they were definitly unique and when other players saw them they would actually acknowlege them as special.
So after all this rambling, what MMO makes you feel special and unique? What game lets you do things that others either cant do or cant do easily that show your dedication and make you stand out? Im tired of seeing everyone in the same gear doing the same rotation of skills........

This is an easy one.

City of Heroes and City of Villains.

Most MMO's allow you to customize your skills/traits/abilities to some degree, but being gear dependent everyone looks the same.
The "City of" MMO's allow you to look impressive and different from everyone else the day you create your character. Even when teamed with a similarly built team member, I felt unique because of my appearance and the back story I created.

shad0w99 · June 2007

I don't see how people could even compare CoX to SWG in terms of how unique you feel.

Just so you know, I'm playing CoV at the moment, so this isn't a biased view :-P

On CoX, yes, you can look very unique - appearance-wise, more unique than any other game at the moment. However, you are locked into one archetype (class). While you can make your power selections and slots slightly different from other people.. you are still essentially a Scrapper or Defender or Mastermind or what ever.

On Star Wars Galaxies, you had SO much freedom. You could be unique in appearance, clothes. You could have a unique house etc.

On top of that, unlike CoX, you could be extremely unique skill-wise also. You could be a bounty hunter, tailor, marksman and politician if you wanted. Or a Swordsman and Doctor. Or a Doctor and Combat Medic. The skill combinations were absolutely endless.

CoX has subtle skill differences. SWG had MASSIVE skill differences.

I'm still searching for a game as unique as SWG. My eye is on Darkfall at the moment, but I have a feeling I'll be disappointed like I was with Roma Victor :-(

Howdy, Stranger!

What MMORPG makes YOU feel unique?

Comments

Howdy, Stranger!

Quick Links

What MMORPG makes YOU feel unique?

Comments